We consider words or strings of characters $a_1a_2a_3 \ldots a_n$ of length $n$, where the letters $a_i \in \mathbb{Z}$ are independently generated with a geometric probability $\mathbb{P} \{ X=k \} = pq^{k-1}$ where $p+q=1$. Let $d$ be a fixed nonnegative integer. We say that we have an ascent of size $d$ or more if $a_{i+1} \geq a_i+d$. We determine the mean, variance and limiting distribution of the number of ascents of size $d$ or more in a random geometrically distributed word.


The risks associated with transfusion with blood components have been greatly reduced due to the implementation of innovative strategies for donor selection and testing, as well as safety measures such as universal prestorage leukocyte reduction. However, a variety of residual or unsolved risks, such as severe acute reaction of transfusion-related acute lung injury, transfusion-associated circulatory overload and transfusion-transmitted infections, remain. Patients with hematological disorders are at high risk, since they receive therapeutic interventions frequently requiring transfusion. Thereby, balancing risk and benefit for patients, hematologists should prescribe blood components through evidence-based decision-making, minimize unnecessary transfusions and then conduct safe and error-free transfusion with a standard procedure involving the transfusion process at the bedside.


ABSTRACT Teleosemantics is the attempt to naturalize mental content by resorting to the concept of biological function. The article argues that teleosemantics lacks the necessary resources to solve three problems: the indeterminacy of content, its abstract nature, and the biological uselessness of some of the representations of certain organisms such as human beings.


The realization on importance of knowledge has led many organizations in developing or acquiring Knowledge Management Systems (KMS), For consulting firms where knowledge is considered as the core business, proper application of the KMS is essential for operation and consulting services. With the goal to increase the user engagement, boost performance, and improve quality service for customer satisfaction, the gamification is enforced as a method to enhance the KMS design by identifying the game elements required. Furthermore, consulting activities are categorized based on the knowledge management processes in this research to be matched to the corresponding game components. The result of the obtained transformed and stored information will be applied to the system in forms of gamified features that is illustrated onto the user performance and activity dashboard. This paper aims to point out how the utilization of gamification for knowledge management can benefit consulting firm's daily operation by implementing the gamified KMS.


While it is useful and necessary to know where the industry and competitive market now stands and how it works today in order to formulate threshold or survival strategies, more is needed. Gaining competitive advantage and deriving financial profit from the results over the intermediate and longer term requires studying where the competitive market might be heading. Therefore, systematically listening to what that market is saying about the future becomes a creative art as much as it is a science. This article discusses exploring future trends and possible effective responses to these trends.


In this paper we develop models that incorporate general mobility patterns that are induced by the cell topography (e.g., road layout, street orientation, density of intersections). In particular, we study the effect of the different mobility patterns on the handoff probability. The mobility patterns are induced by common terrains such as random, Manhattan, circular and highway. We study the circular mobility pattern in detail and examine the impact of the base station placement on the handoff probability. The results in this paper suggest that we may be able to estimate the handoff probabilities from a knowledge of the cell terrain, the mobile trajectory, and the vehicular movements in a cellular network, and this may serve as a useful guide for cellular network engineering.


Psychosocial factors have been shown to play an important role in the aetiology of coronary heart disease. A strong association between coronary heart disease and socioeconomic status (lower-level education, poor fi nancial situation) has also been well established. Socioeconomic differences may thus also have an effect on psychosocial risk factors associated with coronary heart disease, and socioeconomic disadvantage may negatively affect the later prognosis and quality of life of cardiac patients. The aim of this study was to review the available evidence on socioeconomic differences in psychosocial factors which specifi cally contribute to coronary heart disease. A computer-aided search of the Medline and PsycINFO databases resulted in 301 articles in English published between 1994 and 2007. A comprehensive screening process identifi ed 12 empirical studies which described the socioeconomic differences in coronary heart disease risk factors. A review of these studies showed that socioeconomic status (educational grade, occupation or income) was adversely associated with psychosocial factors linked to coronary heart disease. This association was evident in the case of hostility and depression. Available studies also showed a similar trend with respect to social support, perception of health and lack of optimism. Less consistent were the results related to anger and perceived stress levels. Socioeconomic disadvantage seems to be an important element infl uencing the psychosocial factors related to coronary heart disease, thus, a more comprehensive clarifi cation of associations between these factors might be useful. More studies are needed, focused not only on well-known risk factors such as depression and hostility, but also on some lesser known psychosocial factors such as Type D and vital exhaustion and their role in coronary heart disease.


Contemporary education is awakening from a crisis that has held the development of its potential and its relevance at bay for well over a century. Revolutions in science and spirituality are emerging a new relational intelligence that demands commensurate educational paradigms for its blossoming into daily engagements with life and the world around us. At the same time as people are leading increasingly interconnected lives, aware of and often participating in the narratives of people and ecosystems in other parts of the planet, information and communications technologies are increasingly integrating with and serving to mediate the human experience. This article explores the power of this confluence at the current nexus of civilizational demands in the context of increased planetary stresses and destabilizations. The case is made for a thrivable education praxis that draws on these emergent aspects of our developmental potential and emphasizes the importance of functional conviviality as an operational principle of learning for life.


Investigators evaluating flexor tendon adhesions have utilized visual, histological, and gross mechanical methods in reporting their results. We have developed a device to measure tendon excursion and distal interphalangeal joint motion for a small animal model. The device was tested for accuracy and reproducibility using the rabbit hindfoot. There was no statistical difference between the right and the left in 30 paris of feet. This device provides an accurate method to quantify tendon excursion and relative adhesion formation in a rabbit model without destroying the specimen.


The interest in renewable energy has been increasing over the last few years, especially after global awareness regarding the hazardous effect of fossil fuel burning. Energy is the source of growth and the booster of the economic and social development of nations and people. This issue has prompted the Algerian government to adopt a new energy policy by promoting and supporting the development of the clean energy, specially the wind and solar energy. An important result of this policy is that the government intended to construct a wind farm in the southwest desert of Algeria. This paper shows the interest of this investment for the southwest region of Algeria, which is installed in Teberkine in Adrar city with an High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) connection to improve the power quality in this region without disturbing the network. The open source software  Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT) is used in our simulations to improve the calculations.


Background: Nigeria suffered waves of Highly Pathog enic Avian Influenza (HPAI) outbreaks that peaked twice in February 2006 and February 2007. The outbr eaks affected 3,057 commercial and rural household farms causing 1.3 million of the country' s poultry destroyed. The burden of Influenza is likely to be under estimated and because of the uns table nature of the virus it call for the mapping o f this virus to specific region, this study therefore seeks to identify the types, prevalence, strain, predilection of the organism so as to monitor the o ccurrence of influenza in this part of the country with the aim of providing a base line level of intervent ion of influenza virus and find the candidate virus for vaccine selection and production. This study is a c ross sectional survey, our target populations were all pediatric and adult patients admitted at the pe diatrics and internal medicine department of ATBUTH who has met the criteria for presence of cough, fev er (>37 o C), nasal congestion and dyspnoea. Samples were collected and analyzed using the polym erase chain reaction (PCR), for the presence and sub typing of influenza viruses in respiratory spec imens. Overall 5% of the samples collected tested positive for human influenza type A and B. During a verage epidemics, overall attack rates are estimate d to be 10–20%, but in certain susceptible population s such as schoolchildren or nursing home residents, attack rates of 40–50% may occur. 60% of the positi ve results were among the female samples where as 40% from the male samples


A 33-year-old male with a history of over 50 fractures visited our outpatient clinic for adults with osteogenesis imperfecta. Rotation of his elbow joint was limited. An X-ray revealed ossification of the radio-ulnar interosseous membrane. These findings are highly suggestive of osteogenesis imperfecta type V.


Effects of ATP on the potassium-activated hyperpolarization of bullfrog sympathetic ganglion cells, postganglionic and splanchnic nerve-axons were studied. The potassium-activated hyperpolarization recorded from ganglion-postganglionic nerve preparations by the sucrose-gap method was augmented in the presence of ATP in concentrations between 0.05-1 mM. The potassium-activated hyperpolarization of postganglionic and splanchnic nerve-axons was also augmented by ATP in the same experimental conditions. The facilitating effect of ATP on the potassium-activated hyperpolarization was depended on its concentration and was entirely reversible. The potassium-activated hyperpolarization recorded from ganglion cell-bodies by intracellular microelectrodes was similarly augmented by ATP (0.05 mM). ATP in this concentration caused no significant changes of the membrane potential and conductance in the presence of ouabain (0.002 mM), which completely and reversibly inhibited the potassium-activated hyperpolarization. ADP and AMP showed similar but less effects and adenosine showed no significant effect on the potassium-activated hyperpolarization. These results suggested that ATP applied to the extracellular fluid could be utilized without being decomposed to ADP, AMP or adenosine, and it augmented the sodium pump either by acting to cell surfaces or by being absorbed into cells.


A study of 100 patients from 14 months through 18 years of age with extrahepatic biliary tract conditions who have been treated from 1950 through 1979 is reported. For discussion, these have been classified into four groups including acalculous cholecystitis, nonhemolytic cholelithiasis, hemolytic cholelithiasis and stenosis of the common duct. Ninety-nine patients were operated on and there were no deaths. Except for unusual contraindications, cholecystectomy is preferred for acute noncalculous cholecystitis. The largest number having gallstones were those patients (87%) without hemolytic disease. Only 13% had an associated hemolytic disorder. Cholecystectomy is the preferred treatment and common duct exploration is utilized when indicated. Six children with chronic relapsing pancreatitis secondary to stenosis of the ampulla of Vater and two with common duct stenosis are analyzed. Although extrahepatic biliary disorders are usually not considered in the differential diagnosis of children and adolescents with vague abdominal pain, it is evident by this large number of patients that there should be greater emphasis placed on earlier diagnosis in the future.


ABSTRACT The growing senior population and persistent poor health status of seniors in Oklahoma compels a fresh look at what health promotion services would be well received. Surveys were distributed to a list of registered voters aged 65 and older in Oklahoma with a total of 1,248 surveys returned (19.8%). Survey items asked about interests in services, classes, and activities, plus current barriers to accessing and/or engaging in such programs. To account for survey weighting, Rao-Scott Chi-Square Tests were performed to determine differences by demographic characteristics. We identified services, classes, and activities that were (and were not) of interest to seniors in Oklahoma with legal assistance (52.1%), exercise classes (46.6%), internet classes (40.7%), and indoor exercise activities (45.5%) receiving the highest level of interest. Barriers to interest in participating in programs included not wanting to go and not knowing availability of such services. The results of this survey provide useful data on health promotion gaps for seniors, interests and barriers to engaging in such activities, and guidance for statewide program development. Future program development needs to be focused on areas of interest for older adults, including legal assistance, exercise classes, and internet classes.


The introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has led to substantial reduction in morbidity and near-complete suppression of HIV-1 replication. This progress has been tempered by a growing number of new adverse effects. Mitochondrial toxicity is one aspect of these long-term toxicities of antiretroviral drugs, with the role of nucleoside analogs being particularly underlined. Some cases of impaired mitochondrial function have been clearly identified, such as pancreatitis, neuropathy, miopathy and lactic acidosis. Beyond the inhibition of DNA polymerase-g using nucleoside analogs, it appears that several physiopathologic mechanisms interact to explain the observed toxicity. At present there is no reliable method to detect subclinical mitochondrial toxicity. There is no proven effective therapy for antiretroviral therapy-associated mitochondrial toxicity other than ceasing the implicated agent, and even with this strategy, resolution of symptoms may be incomplete. Therefore, investigation of mitochondrial toxicity of new compounds or new combinations is of growing interest for the clinical application of antiretroviral agents.


The development and persistence of leukoagglutinating and lymphocytotoxic alloantibodies were systematically studied in 54 patients who had received single massive blood transfusions because of open-heart surgery. Of these patients over 95% were sensitized when tested for both leukoagglutinins and lymphocytotoxins, whereas 74% were found to be immunized when searched for cytotoxic antibodies only. The optimal time for detecting antibodies was 2 weeks after blood transfusions.


Executive Overview Why is fitness so important? A good word to describe the job of executives today is intense. Many demands confront them—including physical ones. The international economic thrust of many businesses today has increased the amount of travel required by CEOs to develop and maintain a global presence for their companies. Another major physical demand is created by the stress related to being responsible for many people, their welfare, and the success of the company. Endless meetings, and extremely long working hours are par for the course for executives. We provide evidence that those executives who enjoy optimal fitness can handle these demands more effectively and thus perform better in their daily tasks. While many executives do take fitness seriously, what exactly constitutes optimal fitness behaviors is confusing. Given the numerous diet and exercise books on the bestseller lists today, it is easy to understand why such a quandary exists. We will attempt to provide clarity as we discus...


An inertia damper with a long spiral bypass pipe was developed in order to obtain a series inertia effects for vibration suppression of structures in practical use. The damper comprised a cylinder, piston, and MR fluid. The gap was spirally formed around the outside of a cylinder, and acted as a long bypass pipe. MR fluid is well known for its changeable damping effect, but the mass of the fluid is the focus of this study. It is obvious from previous studies that a fluid inertia effect is caused by quick motion in the long bypass pipe, and it depends on the length of the bypass pipe, compression ratio of area, and density. A large inertia effect can be derived if the fluid has a heavy mass. In order to confirm the inertia effect, a prototype damper was manufactured, and resisting force characteristics were measured. Seismic response tests using a 3-story structure were then performed using a shaking table with the damper installed. Each story of the structure had a height of 3 m, and a weight of 6 tons with a total height of 9 m and a total weight of 18 tons. Several types of earthquakes were input, and the response acceleration, relative displacement, and reaction force were measured. Finally the effects of vibration reduction were confirmed experimentally, and a feasibility study was discussed.


Objective To describe the incidence of hypoglycaemia, and variables associated with hypoglycaemia, in eating disorder patients following a mixed meal stimulus. Methods Postprandial blood glucose values of patients admitted to a specialist eating disorder hospital for treatment of an eating disorder between 2000 and 2006 were reviewed and compared to body mass index (BMI), electrolytes, and weight losing behaviours. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and stepwise logistic regression were undertaken. Results 22% of patients had postprandial glucose values ≤3.5 mmol/l (63 mg/dl). Only low BMI significantly predicted postprandial hypoglycaemia. Conclusion Clinicians should be aware that postprandial hypoglycaemia is a common finding in eating disorders patients receiving inpatient treatment. As hypoglycaemia is predicted by low BMI, weight restoration is a priority for treatment in patients experiencing hypoglycaemia. Future research should investigate the nutrient composition of refeeding regimens and whether altering the macronutrient composition attenuates the presence of hypoglycaemia. Investigation is warranted in a community sample of eating disorder patients to see if this finding is replicated in non-hospitalised patients.


BACKGROUND
R-CHOP can cure approximately 75% of patients with primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMLBCL), but prognostic factors have not been sufficiently evaluated yet. R-da-EPOCH is potentially more effective but also more toxic than R-CHOP. Reliable prognostic classification is needed to guide treatment decisions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We analyzed the impact of clinical prognostic factors on the outcome of 332 patients ≤65 years with PMLBCL treated with R-CHOP ± radiotherapy in a multicenter setting in Greece and Cyprus.

RESULTS
With a median follow-up of 69 months, 5-year freedom from progression (FFP) was 78% and 5-year lymphoma specific survival (LSS) was 89%. On multivariate analysis, extranodal involvement (E/IV) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) ≥2 times upper limit of normal (model A) were significantly associated with FFP; E/IV and bulky disease (model B) were associated with LSS. Both models performed better than the International Prognostic Index (IPI) and the age-adjusted IPI by Harrel's C rank parameter and Akaike information criterion. Both models A and B defined high-risk subgroups (13%-27% of patients [pts]) with approximately 19%-23% lymphoma-related mortality. They also defined subgroups composing approximately one-fourth or one-half of the patients, with 11% risk of failure and only 1% or 4% 5-year lymphoma-related mortality.

CONCLUSION
The combination of E/IV with either bulky disease or LDH ≥2× defined high-risk but not very-high-risk subgroups. More importantly, their absence defined subgroups comprising approximately one-fourth or one-half of the pts, with 11% risk of failure and minimal lymphoma-related mortality, who may not need more intensive treatment such as R-da-EPOCH.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
By analyzing the impact of baseline clinical characteristics on outcomes of a large cohort of patients with primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma homogeneously treated with R-CHOP with or without radiotherapy, we developed novel prognostic indices which can aid in deciding which patients can be adequately treated with R-CHOP and do not need more intensive regimens such as R-da-EPOCH. The new indices consist of objectively determined characteristics (extranodal disease, stage IV, bulky disease, and high lactate dehydrogenase), which are readily available from standard initial staging procedures and offer better discrimination compared with established risk scores (International Prognostic Index [IPI] and age-adjusted IPI).


AIMS
Platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) has been assigned a critical role in vascular growth and recruitment of perivascular mural cells. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the signalling events underlying the stimulation of vasculogenesis of mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells by PDGF-BB.

METHODS AND RESULTS
PDGF-BB increased vascular sprouting and branching of capillary-like structures in embryoid bodies as evaluated by computer-assisted analysis of CD31-positive cell structures. It also activated extracellular-regulated kinase 1,2 (ERK1,2) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase but not p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase or PI 3-kinase. Microfluorometric analysis of fluo-4 fluorescence revealed that treatment with PDGF-BB raised intracellular Ca(2+) levels in differentiating ES cells expressing the PDGF receptor beta, an effect that was abolished in the presence of the intracellular Ca(2+) chelator BAPTA. Furthermore, PDGF-BB raised reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in embryoid bodies as evaluated using the redox-sensitive dye H(2)DCF-DA. ROS generation was blunted in the presence of the NADPH oxidase inhibitors diphenylen iodonium (DPI) and apocynin as well as in the presence of BAPTA, suggesting that ROS generation is regulated by intracellular Ca(2+) transients. The stimulation of vasculogenesis of ES cells upon treatment with PDGF-BB was significantly inhibited by the ERK1,2 inhibitor U0126, the NADPH oxidase inhibitors DPI, apocynin, 4-(2-aminoethyl)benzenesulfonylfluoride and VAS2870, the free radical scavengers vitamin E, and N-(2-mercaptopropionyl)glycin as well as by BAPTA.

CONCLUSION
Our data demonstrate that the pro-vasculogenic effects of PDGF-BB are mediated by Ca(2+)-induced ROS generation, resulting in the activation of an ERK1,2-mediated signal transduction cascade.


Acknowledgements Introduction: Agamben and Colonialism, Simone Bignall and Marcelo Svirsky I. Colonial States of Exception Imperialism, Exceptionalism and the Contemporary World, Yehouda Shenhav 1. The Management of Anomie: The State of Exception in Post-communist Russia, Sergei Prozorov 2. The Cultural Politics of Exception, Marcelo Svirsky II. Colonial Sovereignty 4. Indigenising Agamben: Rethinking Sovereignty in Light of the 'Peculiar' Status of Native Peoples, Mark Rifkin 5. Reading Kenya's Colonial State of Emergency after Agamben, Stephen Morton 6. Colonial Sovereignty, Forms of Life and Liminal Beings in South Africa, Stewart Motha III. Bare Life and Bio-Politics 7. Encountering Bare Life in Italian Libya and Colonial Amnesia in Agamben, David Atkinson 8. Abandoning Gaza, Ariella Azoulay and Adi Ophir 9. Colonial Histories: Biopolitics and Shantytowns in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, Silvia Grinberg IV. Method, History and Potentiality 10. Metropolis and Colonisation, Leland de la Durantaye 11. 'The Work of Men is Not Durable': History, Haiti and the Rights of Man, Jessica Whyte 12. Potential Postcoloniality: Sacred Life, Profanation and the Coming Community, Simone Bignall Notes on Contributors Index.


Near-future electric distribution grids operation will have to rely on demand-side flexibility, both by implementation of demand response strategies and by taking advantage of the intelligent management of increasingly common small-scale energy storage. Home energy management systems (HEMS) will play a crucial role on the flexibility provision to both system operators and market players like aggregators. Modeling multi-period flexibility from residential consumers (HEMS flexibility), such as battery storage and electric water heater, while complying with internal constraints (comfort levels, data privacy) and uncertainty is a complex task. This paper describes a computational method that is capable of efficiently define and learn the feasible flexibility set from controllable resources connected to a HEMS. An Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization (EPSO) algorithm is adopted and reshaped to derive a set of feasible temporal trajectories for the residential net-load, considering storage, flexible appliances, and predefined costumer preferences, as well as load and photovoltaic (PV) forecast uncertainty. A support vector data description (SVDD) algorithm is used to build models capable of classifying feasible and unfeasible HEMS operating trajectories upon request from an optimization/control algorithm operated by a DSO or market player.


Highly purified N-acetyl-4-O-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu4,5Ac2), N-acetyl-7-O-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5,7Ac2) and N-acetyl-7,9-di-O-acetylneuraminic acid (Neu5,7,9Ac3) were used to study spontaneous migrations of acetyl groups between hydroxyl groups. The techniques applied involved thin-layer chromatography, gas-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography and 360-MHz 1H-NMR spectroscopy. It was found that at pH values at which no significant de-O-acetylation is observed: (a) Neu5,7Ac2 can easily be transformed into Neu5,9Ac2, (b) Neu5,7,9Ac3 yields an equilibrium of Neu5,7,9Ac3 and Neu5,8,9Ac3 in a molar ratio of approximately 1:1, and (c) Neu4,5Ac2 does not give rise to O-acetyl migrations. The importance of these findings is discussed in terms of the biosynthesis of O-acetylated sialic acids.


The conceptualization phase of a product plays a critical role in the design process. The decisions made during this phase directly affect the degree of innovation, quality of design solutions, costs involved, and overall competitiveness of the product. During this phase, a continuous process of accepting and rejecting options takes place, so that making decisions correctly becomes a very important activity for the company. However, decisions made during this phase often rely on subjective opinions, leading to uncertainty and errors. This paper presents the Waumap platform (https://waumap.ibv.org), that was developed as a methodological tool to involve potential consumers in the design process. This tool takes advantage of the potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to analyze in a standardized, agile and autonomous way the perception of the consumer expressed naturally by a representative sample of remote users, combining classical qualitative user research with natural language processing techniques.The paper shows also the results of the use cases carried out with different companies. In general, the companies state that the Waumap tool is very simple, intuitive and agile. They consider it very useful for their decision-making in their development processes, specifically, in the following application areas: new product concepts, supermarket shelf (physical and/or virtual), packaging and corporate image.The analysis of the perception of the consumers who have participated in the use cases have allowed to show that the automatic analysis of the user's perception through Artificial Intelligence reduces the time and effort of analysis to generate the keys that make it easier for companies to make decisions in the design of their products. The Waumap platform has positive implications for the decision-making process, facilitating a better integration of the target audience in the product conceptualization phase and offering the keys to design optimization from the point of view of market acceptance.


57 fractures of the femoral shaft, treated with an AO femoral interlocking nail, have been analysed in a retrospective study. 40 nails have been implanted primarily, 17 as secondary procedures following different operations. In the group of primary nailing 35/40 reached a good or very good result, 8 of them however, following secondary operations. In the group of the secondary nailing, 9/17 patients had a good or a very good result. 3 pseudarthroses persisted. The AO femoral interlocking nail therefore appears to be an adequate implant for the treatment of femoral shaft fractures, but a precise implantation technique is a prerequisite for the successful outcome.


Pilocytic astrocytoma is a benign variety of gliomas, which rarely spreads along the neuraxis. Leptomeningeal dissemination of pilocytic astrocytoma in children, either at the time of initial presentation or at recurrence, is a rare event. We report a case of chiasmatic pilocytic astrocytoma in a 4-year-old child with leptomeningeal dissemination at recurrence. A review of the literature is done regarding dissemination patterns, clinical picture, treatment, and outcome of pilocytic astrocytoma with leptomeningeal dissemination.


Some characteristic aspects of near ultraviolet spectra of supergiant stars, observed with the Utrecht ultraviolet stellar spectrometer S59 aboard E.S.R.O.'s TD1A satellite are described. A comparison of the observed maximum brightness of supergiants with theoretical computation shows that in the brightest early-type supergiants the outward driving forces due to radiation pressure and to the turbulent pressure gradient must be about equal.


The wait time clients spend during immunization clinic visits in low- and middle-income countries is a not well-understood reported barrier to vaccine completion. We used a prospective, observational design to document the total time from client arrival-to-discharge and all sequential provider-client activities in 1 urban, semi-urban, and rural immunization clinic in Nigeria. We also conducted caregiver and provider focus group discussions to identify perceived determinants of long clinic wait times. Our findings show that the time from arrival-to-discharge varied significantly by the clinic and ranged between 57 and 235 minutes, as did arrival-to-all providers-client activities. Focus group data attributed workflow delays to clinic staff waiting for a critical mass of clients to arrive for their immunization appointment before starting the essential health education talk or opening specific vaccine vials. Additionally, respondents indicated that complex documentation processes caused system delays. Research on clinic workflow transformation and simplification of immunization documentation is needed.


South Norfolk Council's latest give and take recycling and reuse event to save electrical waste being dumped has proved another 'astonishing success'.


As processor speeds increase relative to memory speeds, memory bandwidth is rapidly becoming the limiting performance factor for many applications. Several approaches to bridging this performance gap have been suggested. This paper examines one approach, access ordering, and pushes its limits to determine bounds on memory performance. We present several access-ordering schemes, and compare their performance, developing analytic models and partially validating these with benchmark timings on the Intel i860XR.


This paper analyzes the noise and vibration in permanent-magnet synchronous motors (PMSMs). Electromagnetic forces have been identified as the main cause of noise and vibration in these machines, rather than the torque ripple and cogging torque. A procedure for calculating the magnetic forces on the stator teeth based on the 2-D finite-element (FE) method is presented first. An analytical model is then developed to predict the radial displacement along the stator teeth. The displacement calculations from the analytical model are validated with structural finite-element analysis (FEA) and experimental data. Finally, the radial displacement is converted into sound power level. Four different PMSM topologies, suitable for the electric power steering application, are compared for their performances with regard to noise and vibration.


Background :The six-minute walk test (6MWT) provides a valid assessment of functional performance in persons with chronic cardiopulmonary disorders and has been broadly used in clinical settings. The aims of study are the following: (1) to determine six-minute walk distance (6MWD) in a sample of healthy Koreans, (2) to identify demographic and anthropometric factors contributing to 6MWD and to establish a reference equation, and (3) to examine the differences in walking distances of our cohort and previously published equations.

Methods : 259 healthy subjects (95males) aged 22–59 years performed two walking tests using a standardized protocol. 6MWD was defined as the greatest distance achieved from the two tests. The effect of anthropometrics on the 6MWD was investigated.

Results : The mean 6MWD was 598.5±57.92 m (range 447–761 m) for the group total and was 628.9 ± 59.51 m (range 447–761 m) for male and 580.9 ± 47.80 m (range 454–720 m) for female, with significantly longer distances walked by males than females ( p <0.001). Age, height, weight, and BMI were significantly correlated with 6MWD. In stepwise multiple regression, height was identified as a single independent contributing factor to 6MWD ( r2 =0.205, p <0.001). While the reference equations derived in Caucasian and North African populations tend to overestimate the distance walked by Korean subjects, Asian equations underestimate it. Conclusion : The average 6MWD in these Korean populations was 600 m. The regression equation revealed that height was the most significant predictor of distance, explaining 20.5% of the distance variance.


A near dc to 16.4 GHz wide band distributed amplifier, constructed using a 20 GHz MMIC GaAs process and optimised to operate as an optical receiver front end preamplifier, has been designed, realised and tested at 10 Gbit/s. The design uses a 75 /spl Omega/ gate line impedance to maximise the overall transimpedance gain without introducing severe bandwidth restriction.<<ETX>>


ABSTRACT Bimekizumab, a selective interleukin (IL) 17 inhibitor, is an emerging systemic treatment for moderate-to-severe psoriasis. Although IL-19, IL-22, and IL-36 are implicated in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, IL-17 drives the activation of these interleukins and the formation of psoriatic plaques. This review assesses the efficacy, safety, and implications of bimekizumab in the treatment of moderate-to-severe psoriasis. A review of literature was conducted using the PubMed repository in March 2022. Articles in English discussing the use of bimekizumab in the treatment of psoriasis were included. One phase II and four phase III trials were included. During clinical trials, bimekizumab was more efficacious, when compared to placebo, ustekinumab, adalimumab, and secukinumab in the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis. Bimekizumab is a promising, efficacious, and relatively tolerable emerging systemic treatment for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis.


[1] Three regional climate simulations covering the austral summer season during three contrasting phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation cycle were conducted with the Regional Spectral Model (RSM) developed at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The simulated interannual variability of precipitation over the Amazon River Basin, the Intertropical Convergence Zone, the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins, and extratropical South America compare reasonably well with observations. The RSM optimally filters the peturbations about a time-varying base field, thereby enhancing the information content of the global NCEP reanalysis. The model is better than the reanalysis in reproducing the observed interannual variability of outgoing longwave radiation at both high frequencies (3–30 days) and intraseasonal (30–60 days) scales. The low-level jet shows a peak in its speed in 1998 and a minimum in the 1999 simulations. The lag correlation of the jet index with convection over various areas in continental South America indicates that the jet induces precipitation over the Pampas region downstream. A detailed moisture budget was conducted over various subregions. This budget reveals that moisture flux convergence determines most of the interannual variability of precipitation over the Amazon Basin, the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone, and the Nordeste region of Brazil. However, both surface evaporation and surface moisture flux convergence were found to be critical in determining the interannual variability of precipitation over the southern Pampas, Gran Chaco area, and the South Atlantic Convergence Zone.


Oral contraceptives are highly effective contraceptive agents used worldwide that have a relatively low incidence of adverse side effects. Drug interactions that decrease the efficacy of contraception or that limit the efficacy of concomitant medications can occur. The most frequent clinically encountered interactions involve antibiotics or anticonvulsants. The incidence of adverse thrombotic events is low and can be further minimized by the use of low estrogen doses; avoidance of smoking or not prescribing oral contraceptives in smokers; and avoidance of exposure in genotypes at high risk for thrombosis (Leiden Factor V mutation).


Recent research has revealed that abscisic acid (ABA), synthesised in response to water stress, is an apo-carotenoid. Two potential carotenoid precursors, 9′-cis-neoxanthin and 9-cis-violaxanthin, have been identified in light-grown and etiolated leaves, and in roots of a variety of species. Experiments utilizing etiolated Phaseolus vulgaris leaves and deuterium oxide strongly suggest that 9′-cis-neoxanthin, synthesised from all-trans-violaxanthin, is the immediate pre-cleavage precursor of ABA. The cleavage of 9′-cis-neoxanthin, performed by an inducible and specific dioxygenase, is likely to be the rate-limiting step in ABA biosynthesis. Any apocarotenoids formed as by-products of cleavage are probably rapidly degraded by lipoxygenase or related enzymes. After cleavage xanthoxin is converted via ABA-aldehyde to ABA by constitutive enzymes in the cytosol.


Enterprises play a principle role in the energy conservation and emission reduction. The purpose of establishing emissions trading marketing is to introduce market mechanism to affect the enterprise decision-making behavior, and to bring out the initiative of enterprises to conserve energy and reduce emission. This paper, from the perspective of the micro-economy, based on the thought of integrating economy and management theories, establishes the market with considering the trade of emissions right-decision making model. The paper stared with the market structure and analyzed the interacting and coupling of enterprises' decision making further. So that it laid a foundation for a comprehensive and systematic study of the behaviors of company under the emission trading.


The growth of knowledge and the development of culture is a cumulative process based on a vast variety of distributed creative and intellectual activities of many individuals. In contrast to classical and neoclassical economics, evolutionary economics claims to deal 'essentially with slowly changing variables'; and the evolutionary economists are 'concerned mainly with change, not with the principles of resource allocation in a hypothetical static world'. Therefore, the evolutionary economics is a much more realistic approach to understand why people are creative, how the human mind originates novel ideas and what the nature of knowledge growth really is. Based on neo-Schumpeterian or evolutionary economics, this article aims to scrutinize the process and the nature of knowledge growth (including the origination, dissemination, adoption and retention of knowledge); and thereafter articulates a regulatory framework (copyright in particular) that is favorable to such process. To this end, this article proposes a relational theory of authorship which sees intellectual creations as a cumulative and collaborative process with involvement of massive amounts of individuals, and furthermore, intellectual and artistic creations are merely by-products of people's daily engagement in communication and creativity. The authors should not be regarded merely as Homo Oeconomicus whose production activities are perceived as a response to external incentives; instead, their commitment to the production of expressive works is driven primarily by their needs of communication and furthermore analysis on their behavior should focus on their propensity to originate, adopt and retain rules and knowledge.


Author Francis Akoetey Title Maximizing Export Performance of Alcoholic Beverage in Ghana through Packaging Year 2013 Language English Pages 72 + 2 Appendices Name of Supervisor Helena Blomquist There has been an increase in international competitiveness in the 21st century compared to the century that preceded it. This has made it imperative for manufacturers exporting across international borders to be wary about this fact. The issue of packaging quality and effectiveness is one that has been a major setback on the export performance of products provided to the export market from Ghana. This thesis is primarily focused on the alcoholic beverage industry in Ghana and it is aimed at investigating how alcoholic beverages are packaged in Ghana, challenges faced and how packaging can enhance the export performance of companies within the industry. In the quest to reach the above objective, both theoretical and empirical studies were conducted. The empirical part concentrated on two case companies namely, Kasapreko Company Limited and Gihoc Distilleries Company Limited with specific focus on the marketing departments of the above companies. Data collection was conducted through interviews, from available literatures and also from the internet. A comparative qualitative research method was used in gathering the empirical data with the aid of a questionnaire through an interview. The thesis did prove the fact that not only does packaging play the traditional role of product protection, but it also serves as a tool that provides both convenience and information to the user. It serves as a strategic marketing tool that enhances the sales performance of a product. It was gathered from the empirical search that there really existed challenges within the industry under review of which included inconsistencies in the supply of packaging and packaging materials and quality, and design variations. The study of the case companies revealed that there was the use of both adaptation and standardization of packaging strategies in their international markets. The findings also pointed to the fact that the use of effective and efficient packaging helps to maximize the export performance of companies within the alcoholic beverage industry in Ghana.


Modern power distribution systems experience a large-scale integration of Converter-Interfaced Distributed Energy Resources (CIDERs). As acknowledged by recent literature, the interaction of individual CIDER components and different CIDERs through the grid can lead to undesirable amplification of harmonic frequencies and, ultimately, compromise the distribution system stability. In this context, the interaction of the DC and AC sides of CIDERs has been shown to have a significant impact. In order to analyze and support the mitigation of such phenomena, the authors of this paper recently proposed a Harmonic Power-Flow (HPF) framework for polyphase grids with a high share of CIDERs. The framework considers the coupling between harmonics, but ignores the DC-side response of the CIDERs. Modelling the DC side and the AC/DC converter introduces a nonlinearity into the CIDER model that needs to be approximated for the numerical solution of the HPF. This paper extends the CIDER model and HPF framework to address this aspect, whose inclusion is non-trivial. The extended HPF method is applied to a modified version of the CIGRÈ low-voltage benchmark microgrid. The results are compared to (i) time-domain simulations with Simulink, (ii) the predecessor of the extended HPF which neglects the DC side, and (iii) a classical decoupled HPF.


Multi-level marketing (mlm) firms offer recruits the opportunity to earn compensation through starting their own direct selling business and often characterize mlm work as part of the "gig" economy. mlm promotes flexibility, autonomy, and income potential but data suggest that most participants fail to make money. Decisions are made under uncertainty as there is asymmetric information on potential outcomes and their respective likelihood. We use the first nationally representative survey (N = 1016) to understand the motivations for participating in mlm "gigs," the social and financial outcomes of participation, and the correlates of those outcomes. While approximately three-fourths of mlm workers report that they joined for financial returns, a similar share reported that they did not earn any profit. Results identify a mismatch between expectations and outcomes and underscore decision biases in the context of uncertain financial rewards alongside broader gig economy regulatory concerns.


In formal verification, we verify that a system is correct with respect to a specification. Even when the system is proven to be correct, there is still a question of how complete the specification is and whether it really covers all the behaviors of the system. The challenge of making the verification process as exhaustive as possible is even more crucial in simulation-based verification, where the infeasible task of checking all input sequences is replaced by checking a test suite consisting of a finite subset of them. It is very important to measure the exhaustiveness of the test suite, and indeed there has been extensive research in the simulation-based verification community on coverage metrics, which provide such a measure. It turns out that no single measure can be absolute, leading to the development of numerous coverage metrics whose usage is determined by industrial verification methodologies. On the other hand, prior research of coverage in formal verification has focused solely on state-based coverage. In this paper we adapt the work done on coverage in simulation-based verification to the formal-verification setting in order to obtain new coverage metrics. Thus, for each of the metrics used in simulation-based verification, we present a corresponding metric that is suitable for the setting of formal verification and describe an algorithmic way to check it.


AbstractSera from 378 patients were assayed for antibodies to extractable nuclear antigens (ENA), ribonucleoprotein (RNP) and nonnucleoprotein (Sm). Anti-ENA antibodies were not found in control subjects, patients with rheumatic diseases and negative fluorescent antinuclear antibodies (FANA), or in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, dermatomyositis, drug-induced lupus, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), or hemolytic anemia with positive FANA. Anti-Sm antibodies were found in 32 per cent of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and were not found in any other condition. There were no significant clinical or serological differences between patients with and without anti-Sm antibodies. Anti-RNP antibodies occurred in 15 per cent of SLE patients, 9 per cent of scleroderma patients, and in 100 per cent of patients with mixed connective tissue disease. SLE patients with anti-RNP antibodies had a significantly lower anti-DNA antibody titer and a significantly lower incidence of nephritis and impaired renal function. Anti-Sm and anti-RNP titers did not vary with changes in clinical status. Awareness of the presence of anti-Sm and anti-RNP antibodies is diagnostically useful. Anti-RNP antibodies have a prognostic value as well.


The isotropic harmonic oscillator in dimension 3 separates in several different coordinate systems. Separating in a particular coordinate system defines a system of three commuting operators, one of which is the Hamiltonian. We show that the joint spectrum of the Hamilton operator, the $z$ component of the angular momentum, and a quartic integral obtained from separation in prolate spheroidal coordinates has quantum monodromy for sufficiently large energies. This means that one cannot globally assign quantum numbers to the joint spectrum. The effect can be classically explained by showing that the corresponding Liouville integrable system has a non-degenerate focus-focus point, and hence Hamiltonian monodromy.


A three-month-old male Bull Terrier was referred to the Animal Medical Centre, Nihon University with chief complaints of subacute emesis and lethargy. Severe leukocytosis, high CRP, hypercalcemia and hypochloremia were detected. Moreover, severe calcification of gingival mucosa and abdominal skin, and abnormalities of the skeletal system were discerned. Abdominal X-ray and endoscopic examination revealed ulcer and hemorrhage on the mucosal membrane of the stomach. This might have been due to injections of high dose vitamin D at 3 and 2 weeks ago by another practioner, according to the detailed history of medication. After two months, a gastrointestinal and skin disorder disappeared, although calcification of the stomach membranes remained and abnormality of the skeletal system had worsened. Therefore, vitamin D should be carefully administrated to a puppy.


Litterfall is the principal mechanism for sustaining forests ecosystems. Besides nutrient cycling and carbon sink, there are other ecosystem services related with litterfall, such as the contribution of drift litter to neighboring areas in keeping soil fertility. The goal this work was quantify the nutrients of literfall in nearby area of the forest fragment as function of distance. Nets were installed for receiving litter, starting at the edges of the forest fragment. The litterfall deposited on the edge and at distances of 5 by 5 meters from the edge was collected during three months. In order to estimate the deposition of this litter after one year, wind data, and monitoring data of deciduous inside the fragment were used. The results showed supply of nutrients of literfall until 20 meters distant from the fragment. And when we are considering the export of nutrients at harvest of maize in crop with low use of inputs the replacement of Ca can reach 45% at distance of 20 meters, showing the relevance of nutrient input in nearby areas of forest fragments.


Abstract : This is a basic research project designed to understand the role of mechanically sensitive excitatory ion channels (MSC) in the pathology of chronic pain, and the use of a small pepti de inhibitor of these channels called GsMTx4 to treatment peripheral pain. Our first goal is to develop an in vitro assay using single neurons to study the prop erties of MSCs and to determine the affinity of GsMTx4 and muta nt analogs for neuronal MSCs. We have learned to prepare dorsal root ganglion neurons (DRG) from mouse spinal cord and have determined the types of MSCs expressed and the frequ ency of their occurrence in the cell-attached and outside-out patch assay. We have also designed a second assay for MSC activity by pressing on DRG with a prec ision controlled motion glass probe while measuring whole cell curr ents as a independent measure of the MSC activity. Stress on the internal cy toskeleton may play a critical role in the activation of MSCs on the surface and so we will measure stress changes in the proteins that make up the cytoskeleton of DRGs using a new FRET based stress probe we have made which can be inserted into the sequence of cytoskeletal pr oteins to report stress. We have tried to reproduce the pub lished findings of others showing GsMTx4 analgesic activity in whole an imals by treating inflamed tissue in mice, but were unable to d o so. However, we have learned new information about the pharmaco kinetics of GsMTx4 that will be used to redesign the study.


Aim: To determine whether the disability and the quality of life are related with the metabolic control or depression and anxiety levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Materials and Methods: Eighty-three outpatients with DM, were assessed using a sociodemographic and medical data form, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD-A and HAD-D), the Brief Disability Questionnaire (BDQ), and the Brief Form of the Quality of Life Scale (WHOQOL-BREF-TR). Results: The mean age of the sample (67 females and 16 males) was 50.92±8.42 (range: 23-70) years. Thirty-one patients (37.3%) scored above the cut-off point of HAD-D, and 16 patients (19.3%) scored above the threshold in HAD-A. The disability was found significantly higher in diabetes patients with high levels of both HAD-D and HAD-A. A positive psychiatric history was associated with higher disability and worsening in all domains of quality of life. Conclusion: Disability should be expected in type 2 diabetes patients with high levels of depression and anxiety. For the optimum treatment and healthcare conditions, psychiatric interventions may be useful in improving the quality of life and in reducing the disability.


BACKGROUND
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) has gained widespread popularity as a potential functional food due to its high phenolics content. Although in different studies pomegranate juice has been shown to exert anti-atherogenic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, the cultivar-related differences in phenolics content and antioxidant activity must be carefully taken into account when evaluating the health effects. The first aim of this study was to rank the juices of 15 different varieties of pomegranate according to their total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Then three juices were selected, better characterised and added to HepG2 cells as a supplement to evaluate the protective effect against induced oxidative stress.

RESULTS
The cultivars Wonderful, Hicaz and G2 were chosen according to the ranking and the corresponding juices used at two different concentrations as a supplement to HepG2 cells. Overall, all juices were able to protect cells from oxidative damage, but differences that could be related to the different phenolics content and pattern were detected among the three juices.

CONCLUSION
Our results show the advantage of screening cultivars prior to efficacy studies. This approach can be useful for food companies that focus on the development of food that has added nutritional and health value.


In per-flow based resource reservation techniques, bandwidth allocation for Variable Bit Rate (VBR) applications through real time flow measurements is limited. This limitation is due mainly to scalability problems. In aggregated traffic flow networks such as Differentiated Services (DiffServ), measurement-based bandwidth allocation leads to optimisation of network resources as it links resource allocation to actual usage. With Constant Bit Rate (CBR) applications, simple summation of pre-specified bandwidths is a sufficient solution for resource optimisation in DiffServ networks. However, the pre-specified bandwidth technique is an inefficient approach to DiffServ bandwidth allocation for VBR applications. These applications are generally unaware in advance of their specific bandwidth requirements. This paper describes an adaptive Quality of Service (QoS) management technique that provides an efficient resource allocation scheme for VBR applications in aggregate traffic flows. This method is, in effect, a measurement-based and linearly predicted bandwidth allocation scheme.


A brilliant account of religion's role in the political thinking of the West, from the Enlightenment to the close of World War II. The wish to bring political life under God's authority is nothing new, and it's clear that today religious passions are again driving world politics, confounding expectations of a secular future. In this major book, Mark Lilla reveals the sources of this age-old quest-and its surprising role in shaping Western thought. Making us look deeper into our beliefs about religion, politics, and the fate of civilizations, Lilla reminds us of the modern West's unique trajectory and how to remain on it. Illuminating and challenging, The Stillborn God is a watershed in the history of ideas.


The use of a dual-ended readout PET detector module based on Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes (GAPDs) with large-area microcells was proposed to obtain high photon detection efficiency (PDE) and overcome energy non-linearity problems. A simulation study was performed and experimental measurement were taken for the single- and dual-ended PET detector modules consisting of the two types of GAPDs with 50 × 50 μm2 and 100 × 100 μm2 microcells. A Monte Carlo simulation was conducted to predict the number of incident photons impinging on the GAPD entrance surface to estimate the light collection efficiency (LCE) and energy linearity performance. A depth of interaction (DOI) ratio histogram was also obtained. An experimental study was performed to acquire the spectra of different energy γ-rays, and the energy linearity was evaluated by analyzing the photo-peak channels. The simulation results showed that the LCE and energy linearity of the dual-ended PET detector modules were considerably improved compared to the single-ended one, with 100 × 100 μm2 microcell GAPDs. We also estimated that the proposed method can provide accurate (3–4 mm) and uniform DOI resolution. In the experimental measurement, the 511 keV photo-peak channels of the dual-ended PET detector modules were increased 26% and 71% compared to the single-ended one, with 50 × 50 μm2 and 100 × 100 μm2 microcell GAPDs, respectively. The coefficients of determination (R2) were increased from 0.97 to 0.99 and from 0.86 to 0.93 with 50 × 50 μm2 and 100 × 100 μm2 microcell GAPDs, respectively. The results of this study demonstrate that the dual-ended readout scheme using GAPDs with large-area microcells provides high LCE and DOI information with minimized energy non-linearity. This will enable investigators to configure PET detector modules with high sensitivity and resolution.


The implication of this study is to ascertain the wealth effect and credit price effect from various property investment vehicles to Malaysian stock index, where this can provide a guide for optimum investment portfolio decision making by understanding various characteristics. This study utilizes various econometric tools in VECM by exploring inter-relationship between stock index with residential properties and indirect property in Malaysia. The correlation exists between stock index and property markets by common exogenous factors, such as GDP, T-Bill rate and other contagion factors. By variance decomposition, short-run indicated the significant shock from Malaysian GDP, whereas significant long-run shock from stock index to various house price index and indirect property investment, except own shocks. Contagion effects from Singapore exist, particularly to Kuala Lumpur, Selangor Penang and Johor semi-detached house price index in short-run, possible because of medium class income earning in preference in upgrade their house which benefited by increasing Singapore business activities with Malaysia. By applying Granger causality test, it was found that there was a mixture of wealth effect and credit price effect in various locality and type of properties. As for indirect property investment, interestingly, Bursa Malaysia property index having wealth effect from the Bursa Stock index, whereas, S&P Malaysian REIT index experienced creditprice effect, which adversely performed to Bursa property index. Lastly, in short-run, it proven that inflation do caused the house price index, thus housing investment can be inflation hedged.


The rise of 'HR business partnering' over the last decade has led to an enormous growth in HR competency models. Competencies are believed to provide a mechanism for reinventing traditional HR roles and improving the effectiveness of HR professionals as business partners. But are they effective? The survey and interview evidence presented here suggest that the effectiveness of competency models is disappointing, and they appear to be particularly weak at predicting performance in a business partner role. There are also significant contextual variations in effectiveness based on the degree of change experienced by the HR function, how consistently business partnering is implemented, overall levels of reduction in transactional HR, and the patterns of centralisation–decentralisation of the HR function. The findings highlight the intrinsic limitations of competency models, as well as the powerful influence of contextual factors, and they raise important questions about the future direction of HR business partnering.


Abstract Diced cartilage grafts are used to increase and refine the nasal contour, providing easy molding and versatility when compared with block grafts. However, all grafts present the possibility of visibility, distortion, and absorption. The aim of this study is to evaluate, through a systematic review, the outcome of the use of the free diced graft cartilage in rhinoplasty. A systematic search of the literature was performed in the databases (PubMed, Lilacs, Scielo, Cochrane) with the terms "diced cartilage" and "rhinoplasty." Studies were selected according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and data extracted and grouped for analysis. Six eligible studies were included. In total, 4,044 patients underwent rhinoplasty with free diced cartilage graft, with 61 (1.51%) of them requiring reoperation. The main reasons were overcorrection and irregularities of the nasal dorsum. The infection rate was reported in three studies, with 2 (0.06%) of 3,252 patients presenting infection at the graft site. Two cases of displacement were treated with external molding, without reoperation. The graft resorption was reported in four articles, which described 22 (0.67%) cases of partial resorption in 3,288 patients. Therefore, the available evidence suggests that resorption of the graft and unfavorable outcomes are rare.


PURPOSE. To broaden the understanding of how medical schools can help students learn an approach to health care that reflects the integration of psychosocial and biomedical factors in health and illness. METHOD. A qualitative research design was used, with data collected through document review and semi-structured interviews conducted in the spring and summer of 1992 with 22 faculty and administrators from 17 U.S. and Canadian medical schools. The interviewees represented the following disciplines: internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, and preventive/behavioral medicine. An analytic framework was developed, within which the constant comparative method was used on a continuous basis during and after data collection. Category development focused on (1) defining the scope and character of an integrated perspective, (2) delineating various ways to incorporate such a perspective in medical education, and (3) identifying barriers to and facilitative factors for incorporating such a perspective in medical education. Validity was assessed by having the interviewees and three other faculty members review the analyses and preliminary results. RESULTS. The interviewees' conceptions of an integrated perspective on health care focused on the theoretical need for a broader scientific model and on the practical need for more inclusive approaches to medical practice. The interviewees described patient-level and community-level approaches as equally important. The ideal curricula envisioned by the interviewees were patient-centered, integrated, developmental, and population-based. In addition to naming many barriers to integration (e.g., negative attitudes of faculty and administrators, diffuse organization of medical schools, ignorance of appropriate curriculum design and implementation), the interviewees identified certain facilitative factors (e.g., strong leaders, faculty development programs, and reform of the faculty reward system). CONCLUSION. The interviewees envisioned an integrated model of health care that suggests that medical curricula should address the development of physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and skills regarding physicians' relationships with both patients and community.


This article is the result of a research on the project " The teaching of  Catholic Religion in in the XIX  century in the Nueva Granada and in the United States of Colombia" . it offers a review, a description and analysis about the main cathecisms. Some of them were authorized by the President from the Sovereign State (Cundinamarca 1882), and others by the Archibishop from Santa Fe de Bogota (Monsignor Manuel Jose Mosquera 1843), and after the Political Constitution of 1886 and the concordat of 1987, the Archibishop from Santa Fe de Bogota Monsignor Jose Telesforo Paul S.J. (1886) and  Monsignor Bernardo Herrera (1896). The main objective of this study is  pointing out the direct participation of priests from the Jesus Company ( The Jesuits), in the construction of a  Catholic Educative Project of XIX century as well as the direction of seminario Colegio de San Bartolome, schools owned by the authorship of main cathecisms, evangelization and the practice of being the Archibishops from Santa Fe de Bogota.


ObjectivesThirty-two carcasses were selected for this study from a commercial abattoir in New Zealand. One side was hot boned (HB) where fabrication occurred within 90 min post mortem, while the other side was subjected to a traditional cold boning procedure (CB) where the carcasses were chilled overnight and fabricated 17 to 20 h post mortem. Five subprimals were collected from each side, including the strip loin, cube roll, tenderloin, rump, and topside. The subprimals were further fabricated leaving only the longissimus lumborum (LL), longissimus thoracis (LT), psoas major (PM), gluteus medius (GM), and semimembranosus (SM).Materials and MethodsSubjective and objective color evaluation was conducted at two times in the fabrication process. Initial readings were taken when the subprimals were removed from the carcass. Bloom time was approximately 5 min from subrimal excision or from subprimal removal from vacuum packaging for initial and ultimate, respectively. Objective color was taken using a portable Minolta colorimeter (CM-2002; Minolta Camera Co., LTD, Osaka, Japan), averaging three readings per muscle. Subjective color was evaluated using Meat Standards Australia color chips (1A, 1B, 1C, 2–7). Initial temperature and pH were evaluated simultaneously at harvest using a portable handheld probe (TPS Model WP-90, TPS Pty Ltd., Brendale, QLD, Australia). Ultimate measurements were taken at d 2 for the CB subprimals and d 3 for the HB subprimals. Day varied between chilling treatment due to logistical restrictions. Data were analyzed as a split plot design using GLIMMIX procedure in SAS. Data were analyzed by muscle, evaluating the fixed effects of chilling treatment and sampling time. Significance was recognized at P < 0.05.ResultsFor subjective color, L*, a*, and b*, the interaction between chilling and sampling time was observed (P < 0.02) for all muscles (except PM a*). At carcass fabrication HB muscles were subjectively darker than CB muscles and had lower L*, a*, and b*, indicating HB was darker, less red, and less yellow than CB muscles. A similar trend was observed at steak fabrication; however, the magnitude of differences between HB and CB was greatly reduced. A similar trend to color results was detected for pH and temperature, as the chilling treatment by sampling time interaction was detected (P < 0.01) for all five muscles. Subprimals from HB sides had lower initial pH readings, but the CB muscles had lower ultimate pH values compared to their HB counterparts.ConclusionHot boning resulted in slightly higher, yet still acceptable, ultimate pH in all 5 muscles, which translated to darker muscle color scores, assessed both subjectively and objectively. These differences in color and pH should be considered when processors are implementing either of these carcass chilling and fabrication regimes.


Abstract. Asian dust is an important source of atmospheric ice-nucleating particles (INPs). However, the freezing activity of airborne Asian dust, especially its sensitivity to particle size, is poorly understood. In this study we report the first INP measurement of size-resolved airborne mineral dust collected during East Asian dust events. The measured total INP concentrations in the immersion mode ranged from 10−2 to 102 L−1 in dust events at temperatures between −25 and −5 ∘C. The average contributions of heat-sensitive INPs at three
temperatures, −10, −15, and −20 ∘C, were 81±12 %, 70±15 %, and 38±21 %, respectively, suggesting that proteinaceous biological materials have a substantial effect on the ice
nucleation properties of Asian airborne mineral dust at high temperatures.
The dust particles which originated from China's northwest deserts are more
efficient INPs compared to those from northern regions. In general, there
was no significant difference in the ice nucleation properties between East
Asian dust particles and other regions in the world. An explicit size
dependence of both INP concentration and surface ice-active-site density was observed. The nucleation efficiency of dust particles increased with
increasing particle size, while the INP concentration first increased
rapidly and then leveled, due to the significant decrease in the number
concentration of larger particles. A new set of parameterizations for INP
activity based on size-resolved nucleation properties of Asian mineral dust
particles were developed over an extended temperature range (−35 to −6 ∘C). These size-dependent parameterizations require only particle size distribution as input and can be easily applied in models.


In a consumer video, there are not only intended objects, which are intentionally captured by the camcorder user, but also unintended objects, which are accidentally framed-in. Since the intended objects are essential to present what the camcorder user wants to express in the video, discriminating the intended objects from the unintended objects are beneficial for many applications, e.g., video summarization, privacy protection, and so forth. In this paper, focusing on human objects, we propose a method for discriminating the intended human objects from the unintended human objects. We evaluated the proposed method using 10 videos captured by 3 camcorder users. The results demonstrate that the proposed method successfully discriminates the intended human objects with 0.45 of recall and 0.80 of precision.


In this paper, the fractal methods of compressing still images are investigated for transmission in multimedia applications. A modified search algorithm for similar blocks in the image is proposed, which differs from the existing by parallel simultaneous comparison of rank blocks in all domain-based indicators. Domain and rank blocks are described by feature vector. The feature vector includes the mean deviation in the block, the asymmetry in the block, the difference in contrast between the pixels in the block, the average deviation of the pixel brightness within the domain (rank) block. The deviation error allows you to adjust the compression ratio. If the desired quality is not achieved, then continue to reduce the size of or rank, or domain blocks. The code sequence is formed from the brightness values and color difference signals of the rank block, its feature vector and block addresses that are similar to it. The dependences of the compression ratio and the signal-to-noise ratio on the standard deviation of the average brightness of the rank blocks of the descendants on the brightness of the original rank block are obtained.


This paper describes the use of Citizen Curation to explore ways in which cross-modal experiences can be used and created by museum visitors. Citizen Curation can be defined as individuals and groups from outside the museum profession engaging in curatorial activities to communicate their own ideas and stories. Previous work has explored how Citizen Curation can be used to broaden the range of voices reflected in the museum, thereby widening its appeal and relevance to new audiences. Recent research suggests that cross-modal experiences, combining visual art with music, can enhance the cultural experience as the visitor simultaneously draws on both what they see and hear. Citizen Curation provides a potential method through which visitors can create and share cross-modal experiences for each other, combining visual art and music. In this paper, we introduce the Deep Viewpoints web application that has previously been used for the Citizen Curation of looking at visual art. We then describe how the application was extended to support two further contexts (i) a musicologist curating experiences that link music to visual art in a museum collection, and (ii) visitors to a museum exhibition experiencing and creating cross-modal experiences. Finally, we reflect on different ways in which technology could be used to support cross-modal museum experiences.


A small group of neuromuscular disorders appears to specifically target the innervation and development of the extra ocular muscles, resulting in congenital non-progressive ophthalmoplegia and ptosis. These clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorders are classified as congenital cranial dysinnervation disorders (CCDDs)1 and include Duane's syndrome (OMIM 126800 and 604356), Moebius syndrome (OMIM 157900), congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles (CFEOM) (OMIM 135700, 602078, and 600638), and congenital ptosis (OMIM 300245 and 178300). The extraocular fibrosis syndromes are congenital ocular motility disorders that arise from dysfunction of the oculomotor, trochlear, and abducens nerves, and/or the muscles they innervate. Each is characterised by a specific form of restrictive paralytic ophthalmoplegia, in most cases associated with ptosis. Individuals with the classic form of congenital fibrosis of the extraocular muscles are born with bilateral ptosis and a restrictive infraductive external ophthalmoplegia, with the inability to raise either eye above the midline. In the vast majority of families, this classical form was mapped to the FEOM1 locus on chromosome 12.2,3 Besides classical CFEOM1, variant phenotypes have been reported as CFEOM2 and CFEOM3. CFEOM2 is an autosomal recessive CFEOM, marked by a severe limitation of eye movements.4 CFEOM3 applies to patients who do not fit the typical CFEOM1 or 2 criteria, owing to clinical variations (table 1). As with CFEOM1, CFEOM3 segregates as an autosomal dominant trait.5

View this table:

 Table 1
 Clinical and genetic heterogeneity in CFEOM and classification

Three loci have been reported: FEOM1 on chromosome 12 (CFEOM1, 2, and 3),6–10 FEOM2 on chromosome 11 (CFEOM2),4 and FEOM3 on chromosome 16 (CFEOM1 and 3).5,10,11 CFEOM1, linked to chromosome 12, has recently been found to result from mutations in KIF21A , a member of the kinesin motor proteins superfamily.12 PHOX2A (ARIX) , encoding a homeodomain transcription factor, has been …


The chromosome of Escherichia Coli (E. coli) is riddled with multi-faceted complexity and its nature of organization is slowly getting recognised. The emergence of chromosome conformation capture techniques and super-resolution microscopy are providing newer ways to explore chromosome organization, and dynamics and its effect on gene expression. Here we combine a beads-on-a-spring polymer-based framework with recently reported high-resolution Hi-C data of E. coli chromosome to develop a comprehensive model of E. coli chromosome at 5 kilo base-pair resolution. The model captures a self-organised chromosome composed of linearly organised genetic loci, and segregated macrodomains within a ring-like helicoid architecture, with no net chirality. Additionally, a genome-wide map identifies multiple chromosomal interaction domains (CIDs) and corroborates well with a transcription-centric model of the E. coli chromosome. The investigation further demonstrates that while only a small fraction of the Hi-C contacts is dictating the underlying chromosomal organization, a random-walk polymer chain devoid of Hi-C encoded contact information would fail to map the key genomic interactions unique to E. coli. Collectively, the present work, integrated with Hi-C interaction, elucidates the organization of bacterial chromosome at multiple scales, ranging from identifying a helical, macro-domain-segregated morphology at coarse-grained scale to a manifestation of CIDs at a fine-grained scale.


It's unclear whether the combination of intense, chronic training and heat exposure during prepubescence improves thermoregulatory responses to exercise in artistic gymnastics athletes. The objective of this study was to compare thermoregulatory and perceptual responses between artistic gymnastics athletes and non-athlete girls while exercising both in heat and thermoneutral conditions. Seven athletes (8.7 ± 1.3 yrs) and 7 nonathletes (9.4 ± 1.5 yrs) cycled for 30 min at load (W) of ~55% VO2peak, on two separate occasions in a randomized order: heat (35˚C, 40% relative humidity) and thermoneutral conditions (24˚C, 50% relative humidity). Rectal temperature, heart rate, rate of perceived exertion, thermal sensation, thermal comfort and irritability were measured throughout the exercise. Initial rectal temperature was similar between athletes and non-athletes in both heat (37.2 ± 0.4 vs. 37.4 ± 0.2˚C, respectively) and thermoneutral conditions (37.3 ± 0.2 vs. 37.3 ± 0.3˚C). Final rectal temperature was similar between groups (38.0 ± 0.2 vs. 38.2 ± 0.2˚C in heat and 37.8 ± 0.2 vs. 37.9 ± 0.2˚C in thermoneutral conditions). Initial heart rate was lower in athletes in the heat (76 ± 7 vs. 91 ± 11 bpm, P = 0.01); however, throughout cycling, it became similar between groups. Athletes reported similar perceptual responses compared to non-athletes, with the exception of higher thermal comfort in the 10th minute of exercise in thermoneutral conditions (P = 0.003). It was concluded that athletes were similar to non-athletes with respect to thermoregulatory and perceptual responses during 30 min of cycling at similar relative intensities.


When one theorist publishes a book-a novel, at that-which contains in its title the name of another theorist, the academic reader is likely to be unable to resist looking for "in-group" ironies. When that novelist-theorist is Umberto Eco, who just happens to be someone who rarely mentions Michel Foucault by name, puzzlement may jostle for position with irony, even if we realize that Jean Bernard Leon Foucault was a nineteenth-century physicist whose famous pendulum hangs in the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris. Nevertheless, I want to argue that it is almost impossible not to think of Michel Foucault when reading this novel. But as the puzzlement dissipates, the ironies remain. Eco has made it his specialty to write learned novels, bringing together his two worlds as creative writer and critical theorist, media darling and dissertation fodder. He has also made it difficult for reviewers and critics to engage with those novels, despite the tantalizing lures, because he selfreflexively ironizes the position not only of author but also of reader, thus reminding critical commentators of their secondary, even parasitic role. Given that, what do we do with a novel likeFoucault' sPendulum that ironizes all attempts at either deconstruction or construction of meaning? What happens when pages of contradictions get welded into a totalized vision of order, when life imitates art, when the narrative structure, while seemingly loose and baggy, is in fact obsessively ordered around the form of the occult Tree of the Sefirot? And what has any of this to do with Michel Foucault? Despite its overt trappings and publicity blurbs, Foucault' s Pendulum is not really an adventure story, a thriller, or a detective story, like The Name of the Rose, Eco's first novel. Foucault's Pendulum ends, rather than begins, with the requisite deaths. There is a plot-or rather, a plethora of plots-all brought together into something called the "Plan." Instead of the causality we have been taught to expect in traditional plotting of popular genres, this Plan is governed by what Eco elsewhere calls "a sort of spiral-like logic of mutually sympathetic elements. If the universe is a network of similitudes and cosmic sympathies, then there are no privileged causal chains" [The Limits 19]. And this novelistic universe is just such a network, as we shall see. Michael Holquist has argued in "Whodunit and Other Questions" [135] that the detective story is to postmodernism what myth and depth psychology were to moderism. In Eco's perverse version of the postmodern, however, the detective as the metaphor of order and logic is ironized by the decisive


THE FIVE WAYS: ST THOMAS AQillNAS' PROOFS OF GOD'S EXISTENCE. By Anthony Kenny. Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969. viii+132 pp. 25S. "The systematic study of proofs of God's existence", Dr Kenny rightly observes, "is unfashionable among both philosophers and theologians." Nevertheless, he has thought it worth while to undertake a minute and rigorous examination of the most famous of all such proofs, the "Five Ways" of St Thomas Aquinas. He rejects briefly but convincingly the thesis of both the conventionalist and the verificationist school, that the concept of God is incoherent or vacuous, and he holds that the traditional arguments against the existence of God, such as those based on the problem ofevil or on the difficulty ofreconciling human freedom with divine omniscience and omnipotence, contain a number of flaws. On the other hand, his examination of the Five Ways leads him to a much more negative assessment of them than is usual among Catholic philosophers. He finds them repeatedly vitiated by the fallacy of the"quantifier shift", but his chief criticism is that it is much more difficult than at first appears to separate them from their background in medieval cosmology. "Any contemporary cosmological argument", he tells us, "would have to be much more different from the arguments of Aquinas than scholastic modernisations customarily are. A refutation of Kant's criticisms would be a prolegomenon to such an argument; but consideration of Kant is not essential to a critical analysis of the medieval discussion." Whether a satisfactory modernization can be in fact achieved and whether there are other valid arguments for theism are questions falling outside the strictly limited scope of Dr Kenny's book. Within that scope it is, however, a work of real importance, which no future student of Thomist theodicy will be able to ignore. In the course of the main treatment there occur many extremely interesting discussions, from which might be specially singled out the investigation of the precise nature of the argument from contingency in the Third Way and of the concept of teleology in the Fif~h. There are several easily corrigible misprints, in particular one in the middle of p. 65. King's College, London E. L. MASCALL


ZnS epilayers have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy on (001) GaAs from elemental zinc and sulphur sources. Reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) measurements were performed to study the surface reconstruction of (001) ZnS and to establish a surface reconstruction diagram in order to find the optimum growth conditions. The dependence of the growth rate of ZnS on the substrate temperature and on the beam pressure ratio ps/pzn has been measured. The strain relaxation of the ZnS epilayers was determined by high-resolution RHEED measurements. The low-temperature photoluminescence spectra of the ZnS epilayers show sharp ultraviolet exciton lines and a blue deep-centre emission.


We propose a theory of information expressed solely in terms of which transformations of physical systems are possible and which are impossible—i.e. in constructor-theoretic terms. It includes conjectured, exact laws of physics expressing the regularities that allow information to be physically instantiated. Although these laws are directly about information, independently of the details of particular physical instantiations, information is not regarded as an a priori mathematical or logical concept, but as something whose nature and properties are determined by the laws of physics alone. This theory solves a problem at the foundations of existing information theory, namely that information and distinguishability are each defined in terms of the other. It also explains the relationship between classical and quantum information, and reveals the single, constructor-theoretic property underlying the most distinctive phenomena associated with the latter, including the lack of in-principle distinguishability of some states, the impossibility of cloning, the existence of pairs of variables that cannot simultaneously have sharp values, the fact that measurement processes can be both deterministic and unpredictable, the irreducible perturbation caused by measurement, and locally inaccessible information (as in entangled systems).


The beauty itself cannot be changed by the time, but the concept of the beauty can be influence by the time and cultural background. The purpose of this study is to analyze the beautiful faces or ugly faces among the young women and to provide useful guideline to make up for the modem concept of beauty. The facial photographs of 180 adlut women(aged between 20 and 29) in Pusan and Ulsan area were sampled to be measured and classified as the beautiful or ordinary or ugly faces. Data were analyzed by Frequencies, Mean, Duncan's Multiple Range Test. The major results were as followings; the Beautiful face has a relatively small face with a broad forehead and a small lower face. It also has a wide palpebral fissure, narrow intercanthal distance, a narrow nose and a big mouth. Physiognomic face length was 182.38mm, the upper face length was 59.82mm, the middle face length 60.82mm, the lower face length 61.76mm, and the index of face length to face breadth was 1.35. And also the faces within the figures are considered as the beautiful or ordinary or ugly faces from those measurements like face length/bizygion breadth, intercanthal distance, mouth width, upper vermilion height, lower vermilion height.


Recent advances in targeting leukemic stem cells (LSCs) using venetoclax with azacitidine (ven + aza) has significantly improved outcomes for de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. However, patients who relapse after traditional chemotherapy are often venetoclax-resistant and exhibit poor clinical outcomes. We previously described that fatty acid metabolism drives oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and acts as a mechanism of LSC survival in relapsed/refractory AML. Here, we report that chemotherapy-relapsed primary AML displays aberrant fatty acid and lipid metabolism, as well as increased fatty acid desaturation through the activity of fatty acid desaturases 1 and 2, and that fatty acid desaturases function as a mechanism of recycling NAD+ to drive relapsed LSC survival. When combined with ven + aza, the genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of fatty acid desaturation results in decreased primary AML viability in relapsed AML. This study includes the largest lipidomic profile of LSC-enriched primary AML patient cells to date and indicates that inhibition of fatty acid desaturation is a promising therapeutic target for relapsed AML.


SUMMARY: The polymyxin B-dependent formation of protrusions (blebs) of lipopolysaccharides on the cell wall of whole bacteria is suggested as a specific reaction for the determination of the Gram type of newly isolated bacteria. A total of 35 different bacterial species from 27 genera were studied as well as the influence of various test parameters. The reaction was specific: all 13 species of the positive Gram type gave a negative reaction, but all bacteria of the negative Gram type gave a distinct positive reaction.


The channel characteristics of practical code division multiple access (CDMA) systems are usually unknown and difficult to model accurately. Type-based receivers, without assuming any a priori model, extract signals successfully from background noise. In this paper, we develop type-based receivers that address two major issues in CDMA signal reception: multiple access interference and multipath fading. We first present the type-based receiver with interference suppression capability, assuming the knowledge of the code and timing of the intended user only. We then show that equal-gain combining (EGC) of type-based statistics is the asymptotically optimal technique for diversity empirical detection. Compared with maximal ratio combining of matched filter outputs, the diversity receiver with EGC of type-based statistics assumes less channel knowledge and yields competitive detection performance in Gaussian noise and better performance in Laplacian noise.


This article discusses the application of a novel model-based fault detection method. The method is based on the interacting multiple model (IMM) strategy, which makes use of a finite number of known operating modes. A filter is used in conjunction with the IMM in order to estimate the states and parameters of the system. The smooth variable structure filter (SVSF) is a relatively new estimation strategy, and is based on sliding mode concepts which introduces an inherent amount of robustness and stability. The combined SVSF-IMM strategy is applied on an electrohydrostatic actuator (EHA), which is a device used in the aerospace industry. Two different operating modes were created, based on varying degrees of friction acting on the EHA cylinder. The results of the friction fault detection were compared with the popular Kalman filter (KF) based IMM strategy.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Cashew nut seeds were subjected to processing including autoclaving (121 degrees C for 5, 10, 20, and 30 min), blanching (100 degrees C for 1, 4, 7, and 10 min), microwave heating (1 and 2 min each at 500 and 1000 W), dry roasting (140 degrees C for 20 and 30 min; 170 degrees C for 15 and 20 min; and 200 degrees C for 10 and 15 min), gamma-irradiation (1, 5, 10, and 25 kGy), and pH (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13). Proteins from unprocessed and processed cashew nut seeds were probed for stability using anti-Ana o 2 rabbit polyclonal antibodies and mouse monoclonal antibodies directed against Ana o 1, Ana o 2, and Ana o 3 as detection agents. Results indicate that Ana o 1, Ana o 2, and Ana o 3 are stable regardless of the processing method to which the nut seeds are subjected.


This study includes 72 subjects with 90 soft tissue lipomas examined with high-resolution US. Forty-one lipomas were found in subcutaneous fat tissue, 29 in superficial muscles, 1 in the inguinal channed and 1 in the retroperitoneum. All the lesions were studied for: site, position in the body, number, shape, outline, size, echotexture, echogenicity and US beam transmission beyond the lesion. Sixty-seven lipomas were slightly ovalar (93%), 53 had regular margins (73.6%) and 21 exhibited a poorly- or well-defined capsule (29.2%). Twenty-two per cent of lipomas was homogeneous, 54.2% was slightly inhomogeneous and the extant 23.6% was inhomogeneous. Forty-five lesions were hypoechoic (62.5%), 13 hyperechoic (18.1%), 10 isoechoic (13.9%) and 4 exhibited a mixed echostructure (5.5%). In 24 cases (33.3%) sound was transmitted better through lipoma than through surrounding soft tissues. Posterior US beam attenuation was observed in one case (1.4%). Fifty-one lipomas (70.9%) exhibited the typical "striped" pattern, i.e., inner hyperechoic bands parallel to the skin. The clinical diagnosis of lipoma is based on patients' clinical history and on the palpation of a soft, well-defined and mobile mass. The US findings of an ovalar, well-defined, sometimes capsulated and, most important, "striped" mass, suggest the diagnosis of lipoma. Indeed, in our opinion, this pattern is characteristic of lipoma and represents the US appearance of its fibrous stroma. Therefore, we recommend US as the first-step method in the study of lipomas.


This collection analyses India's economic growth and its integration with the world economy. The essays, both analytical and prescriptive, offer fresh and unconventional answers to questions related to the turning point of India's economy, its pattern of economic development, status of public institutions and its economic future. The two broad themes underlying the articles are: analysing India's economic growth and its integration with world economy. The first relates to India's current and future growth. The chapters in this section are analytical in nature detailing the Indian growth experience in the last three decades. The second relates to the integration of India into the world economy in trade in goods, in ideas, and capital flows. This unique collection offers Indian policymakers and analysts several policy options and choices.


Urban pollution is usually monitored via fixed stations that provide detailed and reliable information, thanks to equipment quality and effective measuring protocols, but these sampled data are gathered from very limited areas and through discontinuous monitoring campaigns. Currently, the spread of mobile devices has fostered the development of new approaches, like Mobile Crowd Sensing (MCS), increasing the chances of using smartphones as suitable sensors in the urban monitoring scenario, because it potentially contributes massive ubiquitous data at relatively low cost. However, MCS is useless (or even counter-productive), if contributed data are not trustworthy, due to wrong data-collection procedures by non-expert practitioners. Contextualizing monitored data with those coming from phone-embedded sensors and from time/space proximity can improve data trustworthiness. This work focuses on the development of an algorithm that exploits context awareness to improve the reliability of MCS collected data. It has been validated against some real use cases for noise pollution and promises to improve the trustworthiness of end users generated data.


A survey of the treatment for empyema by continuous tidal irrigation 1 and supplementary suction for the past eighteen months 2 has shown that this method can be used in the presence of practically any type of organism; that it is satisfactory for patients of all ages; that it works best with a trocar thoracotomy but can be adapted for use with patients having a resection of the ribs; that many patients with chronic empyema can be cured without mutilating operations; that bronchial fistulas close within a few days; that the period of convalescence is shortened; that the mortality is relatively low, and that no patient has left the hospital with a draining sinus. The treatment has also simplified the postoperative care, eliminated the difficult and painful dressings, removed the necessity for special exercises and blowing of bottles to give expansion of the lung and chest, and decreased the amount


This volume focuses on early modern Italy and some of its key multilingual zones: Venice, Florence, and Rome. It offers a novel insight into the interplay and dynamic exchange of languages in the Italian peninsula, from the early fifteenth to the early seventeenth centuries. In particular, it examines the flexible linguistic practices of both the social and intellectual elite, and the men and women from the street.


In 100 healthy gynaecological patients the sedative properties of Thalamonal (2 ml) were studied using a standard scoring system and compared with morphine (10 mg). In 45 of the patients the changes in forearm blood flow which resulted from the application of the stimulus were studied. Both the scoring system and the measurements of the change in forearm blood flow showed that Thalamonal (2 ml) was a better preoperative sedative than morphine (10 mg). Thalamonal also produced a significantly greater fall in systolic blood pressure and heart rate as compared with morphine, and the postoperative emetic sequelae were significantly lower. There was a disturbingly high incidence of "shivering" in the immediate pre-operative period in some 25 per cent of patients who had received Thalamonal and it is considered that this is a limiting factor to the routine use of the drug combination.