Perspective, color and rhythm are the basic elements I lend to create my abstract aesthetic form. I seek subject matter that is both of the aesthetic and of the world. Spontaneity is achieved through the collage technique I have adopted. This technique uses magazine color fields and textures out of context to create contemporary image fragments into design. The reverse glass medium gives my work its own degree of formality. Formal concerns involve the purity of the glass surface, increased color intensity and the fragile existence it embodies. Some of the glass paintings broke, which gave me collage materials in glass. This led me to create a form that exists only in slides. The "Project Series" is a three dimensional installation that constantly changes. The installation reveals certain lines of sight which allow a balanced composition within the borders of the slide.


On mouse female fetuses, mammary gland bud development was studied ultrastructurally. This development is characterized by: - primary bud dichotomization into two secondary ductules, - lumen formation in the primary bud and in the secondary ductules. The lumen is formed by necrosis of central cells and around it cells are organized in an epithelium.


Cleaning within the food industry is a complex process which is necessary for both
product sterility and also for efficient processing conditions. At present, cleaning is
expensive, mainly due to the cost of chemicals and plant downtime. Some attempts have
been made to optimise the process, but these were inadequate due to the lack of
understanding of the fundamental mechanisms. The primary aim of this work is to develop
a better understanding of those mechanisms.
This dissertation studies the chemical and physical factors affecting the removal of whey
protein deposits from stainless steel tubular heat exchanger surfaces. The cleaning process
involves diffusion of the cleaning solution into the deposit matrix, reaction to form a
swollen gel and dissolution of the reaction products away from the surface. As well as
these chemical effects, the fluid imparts shear stresses on the deposit surface.
Overall mass removal during cleaning was measured using a protein assay. At the same
time a micro-foil heat flux sensor (MHFS) measured heat recovery over a section of the
surface. The data showed the unexpected result that mass removal and heat recovery
feature different sequences. This difference was shown to be due to deposit swell,
providing a greater thermal resistance, whilst deposit removal still occurred from the
surface. The MHFS was also used to measure the thermal conductivity of the deposit (0.28
W/mK), which was found to be significantly lower than water. A kinetic analysis of the
data suggested the process was mass transfer controlled ..
A novel approach to cleaning using pulsed flow was investigated. The aim of this work
was to increase cleaning rates and hence reduce cleaning times. A cleaning rate
enhancement of up to 70% was found by applying a reverse flow pulse to the system of
frequency 2 Hz and displaced volume 2 ml. The reasons for this enhancement were partly
due to increased mass transfer rates but mainly due to the higher shear forces acting on the
deposit surface. Reverse flow pulses as opposed to non-reverse flow pulses had a
significant effect on the enhancement.
The change in the deposit microstructure was studied during cleaning, using a range of
surface analysis techniques: SEM and freeze drying, X-ray elemental mapping, CSEM,
SEM and glutaraldehyde fixation. These techniques showed that the cleaning solution
diffused into the deposit structure within 3 seconds. In addition, the deposit morphology
changed from an aggregate structure to a fused structure after 3 seconds and then changed
further, after 4 minutes, to a structure resembling a fine stranded gel.
On the basis of these results, a physical model was proposed to predict both heat recovery
and mass removal during cleaning. The model initially assumed that the deposit consisted
of a series of nodes, all of the same height. The observed swelling of the deposit was
modelled as an increase in node height and removal was modelled stochastically as a
decrease in node height. The removal mechanisms included uniform (assumed to be due to
mass transfer or reaction limitation) and random removal from random nodes. A sensitivity
analysis was carried out to investigate the balance between these effects. The best fit mass
removal curve was achieved by assuming that 99% of the deposit was removed randomly.
The heat recovery curve was found to fit by: (i) the deposit swelling and affecting the
superficial velocity, resulting in a higher Do and (ii) removal occurring from inside the
deposit structure, resulting in no change in the deposit thickness but in an increase in the
deposit voidage.


BACKGROUNDS
The abnormal adaptation to exercise after Fontan operation, is primarily due to a suboptimal increase in cardiac output. We postulated that abnormal pulmonary function could cooperate in reducing effort tolerance of these patients (pts).

METHODS
We have evaluated 10 pts, mean age 15 +/- 8 yrs, with a mean postoperative follow-up of 6 +/- 2 yrs. Seven pts were asymptomatic while 3 had mildly decreased effort tolerance. These pts were evaluated with echocardiogram, cycle ergometer stress test, basal and effort spirometry and perfusion lungs scanning.

RESULTS
Basal ejection fraction was normal in 9 pts and mildly depressed in 1 pt. Basal cardiac index was 1.8 + 2.2 l/min/m2 and increased to 4.8 + 5 l/min/m2 during exercise. Effort tolerance was 73% +/- 21% of predicted values, with maximal O2 consumption of 60% +/- 13% of predicted. Basal spirometry showed a mild restrictive pattern in 7 pts with a decrease in total pulmonary capacity and in forced vital capacity (mean values respectively 79% +/- 14% and 75% +/- 18% of predicted), otherwise respiratory reserve resulted normal in all pts. Carbon monoxide diffusion was impaired in all pts with a mean value of 49% +/- 10% of predicted. O2 saturation near normal in basal condition decrease during exercise (mean value 96% +/- 2% and 91% +/- 7%). The VE/VO2 and Vd/Vt ratio were both abnormally increased (respectively 111% +/- 28% and 186% +/- 39% of predicted). Lung scanning was abnormal in 6 pts with defects of perfusion localized prevalently in left lung (5/6) especially in upper lobe (4/6).

CONCLUSIONS
After Fontan operation exercise tolerance is reduced as consequence of 1) a suboptimal increase in cardiac output and 2) abnormal gas diffusion probably due to a damage of alveolo-capillary membrane and/or to a ventilation/perfusion mismatch as showed by abnormalities in lungs perfusion and by increase Vd/Vt ratio.


The collaborative training platform for postgraduates of clinical medicine and standardized training of resident doctors is network service platform that provides resource sharing, remote teaching, research interaction and planning management for the education of postgraduates of clinical medicine and standardized training of resident doctors as well as a system formed by the mother and daughter platforms that connect to each other. The realization of the technical platform is based on multi-level distribution network system structure, distributed architecture technology and applied techniques such as Web, multimedia, databases, etc.


Recognition has emerged that nutrient inputs from the submarine discharge of fresh, brackish, and marine groundwaters into the coastal ocean are comparable to the inputs via river discharge. The coastal areas of the Korea peninsula and adjacent seas exhibit particular importance in the role of submarine groundwater discharge (SGD), in terms of the magnitude of SGD and associated continental material fluxes. For example, in the southern sea of Korea, SGD transports excess nutrients into the coastal regions and thus appears to influence ecosystem changes such as the outbreak of red tides. Around volcanic island, Jeju, which is composed of high permeability rocks, the amount of SGD is higher by orders of magnitude relative to the eastern coast of North America where extensive SGD studies have been conducted. In particular, nutrient discharge through SGD exerts a significant control on coastal ecosystem changes and results in benthic eutrophication in semi-enclosed Bang-du bay, Jeju. In the entire area of the Yellow Sea, tile submarine discharge of brackish groundwater and associated nutrients are found to rival the river discharges into the Yellow Sea, including those through Yangtze River, Han River, etc. In the eastern coast of the Korea peninsula, SGD is significantly higher during summer than winter due to high hydraulic gradients and due to wide distribution of high permeability sandy zones, faults, and fractures. On the other hand, in the estuarine water, downstream construction of the dam in the Nakdong River, SGD was highest when the river discharge was lowest (but water level of the dam was highest). This suggests that even though there is no visible freshwater discharge into this estuary, the discharge of chemical species is significant through SGD. On the basis of the results obtained from the coastal areas of the Korea peninsula, SGD is considered to be an important pathway of continental contaminants influencing tidal-flat ecosystems, red tides, and coral ecology. Thus, future costal management should pay great attention to the impact of SGD on coastal pollution and eutrophication.


Perisynaptic Schwann cells (PSCs), descendants of the myelinating Schwann cells, cover the axon terminal of the vertebrate motor endplate of the skeletal muscle fiber. PSCs are assumed to support the function of the axon terminal. This function suggests a net material transport in the direction of the axon terminal. Morphologically it is to be expected that these cells have a cytoskeleton aligned to the axon terminal. Investigations clarifying this statement have not yet been undertaken. From previous investigations we know, however, that the PSCs have a microtubule‐organizing center, which is a part of this cytoskeleton. The centrioles of the organizing center may also participate in the formation of a modified cilium structure whose function is unknown. In the present investigation, characteristic ultrastructural features of the modified cilium structure and its relationship to the Golgi apparatus and the axon terminal are presented. A function for the modified cilium structure is discussed. Microsc. Res. Tech. 63:149–154, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


This research paper seeks to examine the reasons behind people's career aspirations and the decisions they make about careers. Through a series of twelve semi-structured interviews I have identified a range of factors which have shaped the direction of travel in both education and careers. By working with participants from across four age groups, ranging from 11 to 70, I have also been able to identify which of these factors varies across generations and which remain the same.

The factors which affected aspirations and choice of careers could be categorized under six themes:

• Social position
• Family
• Friends and peers
• Teachers and school environment
• The media and role models
• Other factors

The most significant factor in shaping career choice was under the theme of the family. The nature of this influence was complex and involved both positive factors such as encouragement and practical support, and negative factors such as excessive pressure to succeed.

Despite existing research suggesting that friends and peers play an important role in shaping the choices young people make, there was very little evidence of that in this study. Similarly participants felt the media had very little influence on their career choices, however there was a marked difference in access to the media across the age groups and this presented some interesting findings.

By comparison the role of the teachers and experiences of school consistently influence people for the future although, for the participants in this study the practical application of careers education and guidance appears to have had very little effect.

Perhaps most interestingly the study highlights an apparent incongruence between a continued focus on guiding young people towards making comprehensive and structured career plans, whilst recognizing that for many people the career path they take in life is not rigidly planned but often arrived at by chance and shaped by a host of unpredictable life experiences.


Having concepts is a distinctive sort of cognitive capacity. One thing that conceptual thought requires is obeying the Generality Constraint: concepts ought to be freely recombinable with other concepts to form novel thoughts, independent of what they are concepts of. Having concepts, then, constrains cognitive architecture in interesting ways. In recent years, spurred on by the rise of evolutionary psychology, massively modular models of the mind have gained prominence. I argue that these architectures are incapable of satisfying the Generality Constraint, and hence incapable of underpinning conceptual thought. I develop this argument with respect to two well-articulated proposals, due to Dan Sperber and Peter Carruthers. Neither proposal gives us a satisfactory explanation of Generality within the confines of a genuinely modular architecture. Massively modular minds may display considerable behavioral and cognitive flexibility, but not humanlike conceptualized thought.


This paper addresses the task of designing an online course. Which considerations have to be made? Many factors have to be regarded: technical options, the didactical design, the institution, the subject of the courses and the students. This task becomes even more difficult when we get aware that these factors are very much independent and that the decision in one field cannot be made without considering the others aspects. The didactical design of an online course has to be implemented based on technical option in order to shape and support the teaching and learning process. Different internet media can be uses such as web pages, email, discussion boards and chats as well as specialized software packages. These media types are characterized by certain functionalities which are appropriate for certain learning methods. What are the factors which influence this choice? Besides the aspect of synchronization the technical equipment at the learners' place and their media competence is essential. Additionally CD ROMs can be used as a media for data transmission as well as a supportive function for the learning process. The didactical design of a CD ROM can support different learning methods and provide additional learning material which can be used according to the students' demands. In this paper some examples are given as how to implement different didactical elements with different technical features. The learning process does not have to take place on the level of the individual learner but should integrate social interaction in different social forms. learning can take place on different levels such the individual learner, small groups, and plenary settings. But:: group learning processes have to be properly planned and prestructured in the didactical design of online courses and need sufficient technical support in order to work properly.


Air pollution poses serious problems as global industrialization continues to thrive. Since air pollution has grave impacts on human health, industry experts are starting to fathom how to integrate particulate matter (PM) sensors into portable devices; however, traditional micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) gas sensors are too large. To overcome this challenge, experts from industry and academia have recently begun to investigate replacing the traditional etching techniques used on MEMS with semiconductor-based manufacturing processes and materials, such as gallium nitride (GaN), gallium arsenide (GaAs), and silicon. However, studies showing how to systematically evaluate and select suitable materials are rare in the literature. Therefore, this study aims to propose an analytic framework based on multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) to evaluate and select the most suitable materials for fabricating PM sensors. An empirical study based on recent research was conducted to demonstrate the feasibility of our analytic framework. The results provide an invaluable future reference for research institutes and providers.


Today's social and economic development of Russian regions is characterized by extreme unevenness and depends on many factors affecting the potential possibilities of the territory. Proceeding from this fact, the article studies key economic trends, which research theoretical foundations of regional growth and territorial development, reveals their main idea and identifies factors influencing the development of regions in order to use them in the analysis of Russian regional inequality. The authors investigate differentiation of Russian regions' inequality by a number of social and economic parameters and distinguish groups of regions, which gives an opportunity to discover key factors of their development and find reasons for their backwardness. On the basis of the comparative analysis they came to the conclusion that territorial polarization of Russian regions goes on rising, mainly in wages, investment budget revenues, while investment concentration is still observed in regions with max competitive advantages, i. e. high agglomeration and rich in raw materials. According to the authors, these problems can be resolved by complex measures of state policy, which have both general regional and selective nature. For each group of regions lines of selective regional policy were put forward, which could effectively smooth regional disproportions and promote the development of economy as a whole.


Background The Wirral Hospice understands the need for expert benefits advice and guidance to assist and support patients and carers to maximise income and reduce hardship. We set up and audited a volunteer benefits advisor service at the hospice and its effectiveness over an 18-month period. Aim The audit of a new temporary volunteers benefits advisor service (unpaid specialist advisor) via appointments with patients/carers and to assess benefit of specialist intervention. Method Quantitative data collection. Via referrals, intervention and outcomes measures -Benefits correct, Benefits gain and Benefits overpayment, use of DS1500, and referral to third party agencies. The average number of referrals were 3–4 patients/carers PW during an 18 month period. Over 110+ patients took part. Results The evidence showed that the service prompted a financial gain for many patients and carers, which was around 64%; Financial gain is not the only measure in value – patients/carers found reassurance that their benefit was correct. It gave the opportunity for some families to discuss future financial position if a person dies; The timely use of DS1500 was very important to avoid people missing out on their entitlement. 21% of patients were issued a DS1500 as they met criteria and were not receiving higher/enhanced rates of disability payment; 10% of patients/carer were referred on for complex issues requiring paid skilled benefit advisors. Conclusion It was established that the benefit to patient/carers were considerable based on audit. The service needs to grow and move to a day time provision which would allow for the provision of benefits awareness sessions for staff and volunteers. We have agreed a four-hour weekly CAB provision at the hospice to start September 2019.


Despite the continuing "discovery of southern religious history" and the growing scholarly fascination with southern intellectual and cultural history, historians of the South have devoted all too little attention to the origins of southern evangelicalism in the colonial period. Over the past thirty years or so, they have generally tended to follow the lead of Samuel S. Hill, Jr., arguably the single most important and influential southern religious historian, who concluded in an interpretive survey article that "the history of religion in the South before it was the South … is, in all candor, not very impressive." In his pioneering Religion in the Old South, for instance, Donald G. Mathews paid but scant attention to the origins of popular Protestantism in the South during the middle decades of the eighteenth century. What is more, he focused almost exclusively on colonial Virginia.


Background The pathological basis in RA is synovitis characterized by hyperplasia of synovial lining and synovial stroma with neovascularisation and inflammatory infiltration. B-cell lymphoma (Bcl) 6 is a nuclear sequence-specific transcriptional suppressor and its target genes, such as p53, p27, have been reported overexpressed in RA synovium. However, little is known about Bcl6 expression and its significance in RA synovium. Objectives To explore the correlation of synovial Bcl6 expression with synovitis and its components. Methods Synovial tissue was obtained by arthroscopy or closed-needle biopsy from 45 active RA patients fulfilled the 1987 revised ACR criteria and 12 OA patients. Serial tissue sections were stained with H&E and IHC for Bcl6, CD3, CD20, CD38, CD68 and CD34. Percentage of lining Bcl6(+) cells and densities of sublining Bcl6(+) cells per mm2 were calculated. Three synovitis subscores (lining hyperplasia, inflammatory infiltration and stroma activation) were summarized to yield total synovitis score (≤4: low-grade synovitis; >4: high-grade synovits). Results 1. Among 45 RA patients, 82% were female, median age was 55 years (range 23∼80), median disease duration was 36 months (range 2∼480), median DAS28 was 5.2 (interquartile range, IQR 4.4∼6.3) and the median synovitis score was 5 (IQR 4∼6). 2. In RA synovium, Bcl6 expressed strongly in the nuclei of synovial lining cells and sublining stroma cells including fibroblast, fibrocytes and endothelial cells (Fig.1). The median of lining Bcl6(+) cells percentage and sublining Bcl6(+) density was significantly higher than that in OA synovium (lining: 56% vs 25%, sublining: 1529 cells/mm2 vs 129 cells/mm2, both p<0.001). 3. Twenty-five patients had high-grade histological rheumatoid synovits and sublining Bcl6(+) density in high-grade synovits was significantly higher than that in low-grade synovits (median 1978 cells/mm2 vs 1297 cells/mm2, p<0.05). No significant difference of lining Bcl6 between these two groups (p>0.05). 4. Spearman's rank correlation test showed significant positive correlation of sublining Bcl6(+) cells density in RA synovium with total histological synovitis score, lining hyperplasia subscore, stroma activation subscore, CD34+ total vessels and microvessels densities (r=0.354∼0.412, all p<0.05), but not with inflammatory infiltration subscore, sublining CD3+T cells, CD20+ B cells, CD38+ plasmocytes and CD68+ macrophages (all p>0.05). 5. The Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve showed sublining Bcl6(+) density≥1666 cells/mm2 could discriminate high-grade synovitis from low-grade synovitis with sensitivity of 60% and specificity of 70% (AUC=0.694, P<0.05). RA synovium were divided into Bcl6 high-expression group (n=21) and Bcl6 low-expression group (n=24) according to this cutoff value. Lining hyperplasia subscore, stroma activation subscore, but not inflammatory infiltration subscore, in synovium with high-expression Bcl6 was higher than that with low-expression Bcl6 (all p>0.05). Conclusions Our results showed over-expression of sublining Bcl6 correlated with hyperplasia of synovitis in RA. Together with similar reported expression of p53, it is speculated that Bcl6 may regulate the proliferation and apoptosis of synovial stromal and lining cells by regulating its downstream target genes. Acknowledgements It was supported by Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (no.20130171110075), Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (no.S2013010014396), Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (no. A2013201). Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3497


The National Audubon Society began a population program in 1979, set up a 5-year plan of public education, advocacy and coalition-building in 1985, and joined a broad-based coalition of the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, the Population Crisis Committee and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America in 1990. The 1985 impetus resulted in production of teaching materials and staging of focus groups across the U.S. The 1990 coalition has directed funds to the USAID Office of Population. Another project is the International Environment/Population Network, which organizes letter-writing, media programs and town meetings for ordinary citizens to press for sustainable development. Many of the Audubon's 510 local chapters have partnerships with similar groups in other countries, as do 8 wildlife sanctuaries have links to sanctuaries abroad. An example is the Indus River in Pakistan visited by the manager of Audubon's Platte River Sanctuary in Nebraska. The 2 rivers share the problem of reduced flow and vegetation overgrowth as a result of engineering projects upstream.


A system which performs a complex combination of behaviours has two superficially independent architectures. One is the functional architecture, which separates the behavioural features of the system into feature modules made up of groups of similar behaviours, and defines the interactions between features. The other is the system architecture (alternatively called the physical or information process architecture) which separates the physical information handling resources of the system into modules that perform different types of information processes, each module optimized to perform a different type of process. Any one feature module will employ information processes performed by many or all resource modules. Many different functional architectures are possible, but the need to limit the resources supporting large numbers of different behaviours tends to constrain the form of the system architecture. In the limiting case as the ratio of the number of behaviours learned to the available resources becomes very large, the system architecture is constrained into a very specific form. In the case of a complex learning system this form is called the recommendation architecture. Because there are natural selection advantages for species that require fewer neural resources to learn a given set of behaviours, there is a tendency for the recommendation architecture form to appear in biological brains including human, mammal and avian brains. A system designed to perform a complex combination of behaviours will be much more effective if designed within this form..


Vision is the most important sense for people, and it is also one of the main ways of cognition. As a result, people tend to utilize visual content to capture and share their life experiences, which greatly facilitates the transfer of information. Meanwhile, it also increases the risk of privacy violations, e.g., an image or video can reveal different kinds of privacy-sensitive information. Researchers have been working continuously to develop targeted privacy protection solutions, and there are several surveys to summarize them from certain perspectives. However, these surveys are either problem-driven, scenario-specific, or technology-specific, making it difficult for them to summarize the existing solutions in a macroscopic way. In this survey, a framework that encompasses various concerns and solutions for visual privacy is proposed, which allows for a macro understanding of privacy concerns from a comprehensive level. It is based on the fact that privacy concerns have corresponding adversaries, and divides privacy protection into three categories, based on computer vision (CV) adversary, based on human vision (HV) adversary, and based on CV \&HV adversary. For each category, we analyze the characteristics of the main approaches to privacy protection, and then systematically review representative solutions. Open challenges and future directions for visual privacy protection are also discussed.


The objective of the present study was to assess the Czech warm‐blood stallions based on results of basic performance tests of their daughters. We evaluated 1140 daughters of 51 fathers. On the basis of calculations we eliminated the following effects: year of the test, registration of the mare in the appropriate section of the Stud Book and group of commissioners. Data were evaluated using the GLM procedure and included the effect of the stallion, year of the performance test of the mares and filing in the respective section of the Stud Book. We discovered that the impact of all three effects was statistically significant. The effect of the stallion was just below the margin of significance P ≤ 0.05, the other two effects were below P ≤ 0.01. We compared the stallions – fathers, according to the average performances of their daughters in the basic performance tests. The performances of daughters of stallions 1850 Cannavaro, 2901 Lancelot, 1659 Jimtown, 1028 Manillon Rouge and 1053 Guidam Sohn were the highest; the performances of daughters of stallions 1260 Askano‐T, 718 Mineral 1599 Norman, 2726 Cartouche and 1358 Lord Caletto were the lowest.


Abstract Introduction: The Gynecologic Oncology Group (GOG) is a multidisciplinary and international organization committed to improving cancer prevention and treatment options as well as patient care through clinical trials and translational research (TR). This review focuses on the GOG treatment trials with specimen banking and TR in women at risk for or with invasive epithelial ovarian, primary peritoneal, and fallopian tube carcinoma (EOC/PPC/FTC). Patients and Methods: The trials have embedded prospective or retrospective TR objectives, and involve either patient specimen accrual or banked specimens and resources. Results: The GOG-199 protocol focuses on women with increased risk of breast and/or ovarian cancer. Phase III trials with prospective or retrospective TR target distinct subsets of patients including women with (1) previously untreated, high-risk, early-stage disease in the GOG-157 and 175 protocols; (2) previously untreated, advanced-stage disease in the GOG-111, 114, 132, 158, 172, 182, 218, and 252 protocols; (3) biochemical recurrence in the GOG-198 protocol; or (4) platinum-sensitive recurrent disease in the GOG-213 protocol. Consolidation/maintenance are examined in the GOG-175, 212, 218, and 213 protocols. Examples of the TR incorporated into the GOG studies include evaluations of tumor suppressors, oncogenes, cell cycle, angiogenesis, DNA damage and repair, immune cells, resistance, splicing factors and genetic modifiers, as well as genomic and proteomic profiles. Conclusion: The GOG trials continue to identify novel treatments and combinations, establish new standards of care, and define biomarkers and profiles with diagnostic, prognostic, and/or predictive value. Ultimately, the GOG trials will use biomarkers and profiles with relevant clinical factors to refine treatment selection and individualize patient care for women at risk or with EOC/PPC/FTC.


Standard molecular dynamics (MD) simulations generally make use of a basic description of intermolecular forces which consists of fixed, pairwise, atom-centred Coulomb, van der Waals and short-range repulsive terms. Important interactions such as many-body polarisation and many-body dispersion which are sensitive to changes in the environment are usually neglected, and their effects treated effectively within mean-field approximations to reproduce a single thermodynamic state point or physical environment. This leads to difficulties in modelling the complex interfaces of interest today where the behaviour may be quite different from the regime of parameterisation. Here, we describe the construction and properties of a Gaussian coarse-grained electronic structure, which naturally generates many-body polarisation and dispersion interactions. The electronic structure arises from a fully quantum mechanical treatment of a set of distributed quantum Drude oscillators (QDOs), harmonic atoms which interact with each other and other moieties via electrostatic (Coulomb) interactions; this coarse-grained approach is capable of describing many-body polarisation and dispersion but not short-range interactions which must be parametrised. We describe how on-the-fly forces due to this exchange-free Gaussian model may be generated with linear scale in the number of atoms in the system using an adiabatic path integral molecular dynamics for quantum Drude oscillators technique (APIMD-QDO). We demonstrate the applicability of the QDO approach to realistic systems via a study of the liquid–vapour interface of water.


BACKGROUND: Observational studies have repeatedly linked obesity to increased cancer incidence, recurrence, and mortality, leading to cancer treatment guidelines that call for maintenance of a healthy body weight, regular physical activity (PA) regardless of body mass index (BMI), and modest weight loss for overweight and obese cancer survivors (CS). Despite these recommendations, newly published reports suggest that more than 70% of CS are overweight or obese, and only 1/3 engage in the recommended levels of PA. Although trials have demonstrated that energy balance (EB) interventions are feasible in CS, it has been concluded that ongoing behavioral support is needed to implement and sustain changes in weight and PA. Through the subsequent Energy Balance Research (EnBaR) the incorporation of a weight management and PA program focused on ongoing behavioral support for breast cancer survivors (BCS) as an effective method for implementation of lifestyle modifications will be investigated. TRIAL DESIGN: This is a single-arm prospective observational study investigating if implementation of an EB Program for BCS is an effective intervention for producing lifestyle behaviors. Eligible subjects must be female BCS ≥18 years with BMI ≥25 who are initiating hormonotherapy (HT) as their only oncology treatment modality. Subjects will consult with a Registered Dietitian (RD) to establish goals based on specified interventions for reducing overall BMI at the time of initiating their prescribed HT. Subjects will subsequently receive telephone calls from the RD at bi-monthly intervals to discuss the established points of intervention, answering questions proposed by the RD from a set intervention measurement scale. Patients will also report for body composition analysis performed by the RD via InBody at Baseline, Day 90, and Day 180. InBody is a validated tool that utilizes direct segmental multi-frequency bioelectrical impedance analysis (DSM-BIA) to provide a highly accurate report of an individual9s body composition. AIMS: Determine change in Percent Body Fat (PBF) and BMI during adjuvant hormone treatment for breast cancer patients. STATS/TARGET ACCRUAL: To assess % change in BMI and PBF between baseline and 180 days, one-sample t -tests will be used. Assuming an average (avg) baseline BMI of 33.7 with a standard deviation of 8.5; a sample of 120 patients will yield 89.4% power using a two-sided t -test to detect a 13% reduction in BMI to an avg of 29.32 and 82.8% power to detect a 12% reduction to an avg BMI of 29.656. Similarly, a t -test will have 83.7% power to detect a 12% decrease in % change in PBF assuming an avg baseline PBF of 41.36 with a standard deviation 10.5. The power calculations were accomplished by generating simulations of size 10,000 replications conducted at the 0.025 significance level using the TTEST procedure of SAS 9.4 [SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA]. The calculations assume a linear correlation of 0.5 between the baseline and Day 180 measurements and are Bonferroni corrected to maintain a familywise error of 0.05 for the primary analysis. All statistical analyses will be conducted using SAS 9.4. Statistical significance will be defined as p Citation Format: Scheuer R, Bendinger GM, Ensor Jr. JE, Nixon D, Randolph K, McGuirec E, Rados K, McNight JE, Pabbathi H, Panicker R, Johnson AT, Langlois C, Lammersfeld C, Alvarez RH. Positive behavior change and weight loss in breast cancer survivors on hormonal adjuvant therapy: An energy balance research in cancer (EnBaR) prospective study [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr OT3-07-03.


Bayesian entity resolution merges together multiple, noisy databases and returns the minimal collection of unique individuals represented, together with their true, latent record values. Bayesian methods allow flexible generative models that share power across databases as well as principled quantification of uncertainty for queries of the final, resolved database. However, existing Bayesian methods for entity resolution use Markov monte Carlo method (MCMC) approximations and are too slow to run on modern databases containing millions or billions of records. Instead, we propose applying variational approximations to allow scalable Bayesian inference in these models. We derive a coordinate-ascent approximation for mean-field variational Bayes, qualitatively compare our algorithm to existing methods, note unique challenges for inference that arise from the expected distribution of cluster sizes in entity resolution, and discuss directions for future work in this domain.


The results in this manuscript represent a demonstration of RDX vapor detection in real time at ambient temperature without sample preconcentration. The detection of vapors from the low volatility explosive compound RDX was achieved through selective atmospheric pressure chemical ionization using nitrate reactant ions (NO(3)(-)) and NO(3)(-)·HNO(3) adducts generated in an electrical discharge source. The RDX vapors were ionized in a reaction region, which provided a variable (up to several seconds) reaction time. The reaction times were controlled either by flow in an atmospheric flow tube (AFT) or by an electric field in an atmospheric drift tube (ADT). Both AFT and ADT were interfaced to a quadrupole mass spectrometer for ion detection and identification. Recorded signals were observed for RDX concentrations below 25 ppq using selected ion monitoring (SIM) of the RDX-nitrate adduct at m/z 284.


Racemic mixtures of boronic acid-derived salicylidenehydrazone (BASHY) complexes were enantiomerically resolved. The chiroptical properties of the stereoisomers, containing an asymmetric boron as the only stereogenic unit, are translated into mirror-imaged electronic circular dichroism spectra and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL, dissymmetry factors of 3-5 × 10-4) is observed. The spectral position of the CPL emission is determined by the push-pull character of the dye. These features expand the functional scope of the brightly emitting BASHY dye platform.


The potential use of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as a means for water pollution abatement was  investigated. Two types of industrial wastewaters, namely that from the textile/dyeing industry and raw  sugar manufacturing were studied in batch systems. The percentage reduction in COD for textile effluents was on average 67% for a one-week retention time, while a maximum reduction of 83% was obtained  with sugar wastewater. It was observed that the rate of COD reduction was higher with higher initial  CODs. The system was also very effective in Total Suspended Solids (TSS) reduction from sugar factory  wastewater, and prevented growth of algae as well. The pH during retention time tended to be near neutral. Plant decay and odour due to presence of hydrogen sulphide were the main problems encountered with  some of textile set- ups. These could be attributed to the high salt content and sulphate content of the wastewater respectively. The results obtained indicate that water hyacinth can be considered as a treatment option for sugar  factory effluents, while the complex and varying nature of textile  effluent makes it unsuitable for such a treatment system. Keywords : Wastewater treatment, tropical climate, water hyacinth, biofilter, industrial wastewater.


ABSTRACT The Devils River is a spring-fed river that drains desert landscape in southern Texas and provides essential habitat for several endemic and threatened fish species. To evaluate potential effects of seasonal changes in physical habitat on fish distribution and abundance, we examined species-habitat associations in two reaches separated by 1.5 km. A distinct assemblage pattern existed in each of three mesohabitat types (pool, riffle, run). At the scale of stream reach, species distribution and abundance were associated more with factors related to geomorphology than physicochemistry. Similar mesohabitats had similar fish assemblages, irrespective of reach. Reaches and mesohabitats displayed seasonal variation in physicochemistry and fish assemblage structure. Assemblages associated with runs were least variable across seasons, however no species was strongly associated with runs. Because runs had comparatively little structural complexity and provided little protection from piscivorous smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu), species probably use these areas primarily as migration corridors. Densities of two threatened species, Etheostoma grahami and Cyprinella proserpina, were negatively correlated with smallmouth bass density.


The enigma of skin sunburning, skin ageing and skin cancer and essential vitamin D production both resulting from solar ultraviolet‐B (280‐315 nm) (UVB) exposure has long puzzled photobiologists. Advice to patients by non‐photobiological clinicians is now often to sunbathe to acquire vitamin D adequacy. However, modern work shows only mild UVB exposure is needed to maintain satisfactory levels, which have been demonstrated as very similar in summer and winter from about 25° to 70° north. Even very careful high protection factor 15 sunscreen use does not prevent adequate production, although it is slightly reduced, such that obsessive use of very protective screens of 50 + might. Dark skin pigmentation too usually at most minimally impairs production. However, confinement indoors and widespread clothing cover can, but oral supplementation overcomes any such deficiency. Thus, vitamin D adequacy needs just mild regular UVB skin exposure well under sunburning levels, unlikely to cause significant skin damage. This suggests mild UVB exposure may also be needed for other bodily requirements, which is indeed so. Thus, it also prevents the development of contact dermatitis and polymorphic light eruption through suppressing adaptive immunity. It also prevents the occurrence of multiple skin infections resulting from this suppression through stimulating innate immunity and cutaneous bacterial defensin production. Finally, blood pressure is reduced through low‐dose UVB‐induced production of the vasodilator nitric oxide (though UVA, 315‐400 nm, is more efficient). Thus, mild UVB exposure is important for several aspects of internal health, whereas high‐dose exposure is extremely detrimental to cutaneous health.


Objective: This paper aims to describe the way a multidisciplinary team set out to redevelop a consultation–liaison (C-L) service at a tertiary paediatric hospital. Method: The activities and processes in which the team members engaged were documented within a continuous quality improvement cycle. These activities included literature review, analysis of referral patterns, consultation with extant services, survey of referral sources and consultation with other tertiary paediatricservices. Results: The outcomes of these initiatives were integrated into a re-formulated multidisciplinaryteam model dedicatedto providing C-L services to the paediatric hospital. Signi?cant challenges identi?ed in the initial process were ongoing issues with caseload management and clari?cation of boundary demarcations. Conclusion: There has been a gradual acceptance of the new C-L service by medical staff. The structure has resulted in a focused and coordinated C-L team that has contributed to innovations in the C-L process within the hospital.


Modern scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) increase the ability to study a wide range of materials. Especially, an application of low vacuum conditions enables characterization of nonconductive samples without complicated preparation procedure. However, the operator must be aware of several problems he may encounter collecting electron diffractions in the SEM with variable pressure. The charge control and quality of the surface are the challenges when running experiments on insulators. Specimen charging obscures forward scatter electrons images and decreases the EBSD pattern quality making indexing difficult or even impossible. Another crucial question is how to limit the influence of so called "skirt effect" caused by ionization of gas molecules followed by electron beam broading above the sample. The influence of several important parameters (gas pressure, a type of gas, working distance and energy of electron beam) on the EBSD pattern quality must also be considered. When it is properly done, a coupling of crystallographic information with the chemical data obtained from Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) in the LV-SEM allows to perform phase identification of insulators. The paper presents some ideas how to deal with the (Pb, La)(Zr, Ti)O3 ceramics in high resolution Quanta 3D SEM (with thermally assisted Schottky type FEG) equipped with EDAX-TSL system in low vacuum environment. The problems occurring during EBSD analysis of the PLZT ceramics are discussed and some solutions are suggested. Paper summarizes the results obtained from PLZT ferroelectric ceramics in the low vacuum FEGSEM and shows how to optimise experimental parameters in order to achieve the best quality of orientation maps acquired from nonconductive samples.


A quantitative comparison is made between the Finite Element Method and four variants of the Transfer Matrix Method, as applied to free vibration analysis of rotor systems. The results are as follows: The Finite Element Method is the most robust method and can identify the largest number of natural frequencies. The finite-element-based Transfer Matrix Method is the most accurate method and uses the least amount of memory. The Polynomial Transfer Matrix Method is the fastest. The Riccati Transfer Matrix Method performed well but did not live up to its superior reputation. The Lund Transfer Matrix Method also performed well except on processing speed where it fell far short of the other methods.Copyright © 2001 by ASME


The bending oscillations of the film-substrate system, explained by magnetostriction interaction, were observed at parametric excitation of thin magnetic films at the frequency 11 MHz. The frequency of the bending oscillations changed from 104to 105Hz. The dependences of the elastic modes on dc and HF magnetic fields affecting the film have been investigated. Some advice for the technical applications of the observed phenomenon is given in this paper.


We study the optimum location of an eavesdropper from a secrecy capacity perspective in multiterminal networks with power control. We determine the logical location of an eavesdropper (represented by the channel gain from all the transmitters) which 1) results in zero secrecy capacity for maximum number of users in the network and 2) results in zero secrecy capacity for the bottle-neck links. We then analyze the asymptotic secrecy capacity of the system and the asymptotic behavior of the optimum logical location of the eavesdropper. Results indicate that power control can make eavesdropping more difficult as it results in infeasible locations for the eavesdropper. Power control is also shown to provide scenarios which can result in positive asymptotic secrecy capacity for all the users.


The impact of children's early development status on parental labor market outcomes is not well established in the empirical literature. We combine an instrumental variable approach to account for the endogeneity of the development status with a model of non- random labor force participation to identify its impact. A one unit increase in our poor child development index reduces long-term maternal weekly hours worked by 9 hours and weekly income by 215 Australian Dollars. We provide evidence that mothers substitute working time with childcare to compensate for early disadvantages. We do not find any responds of fathers to early child development.


IgG4-related disease is a fibroinflammatory disorder of unknown etiology that can affect any organs. It is characterized by diffuse or localized infiltration of the involved tissue by IgG4- positive plasma cells associated with lymphoplasmacellular inflammation, storiform fibrosis and obliterative phlebitis. Elevated serum concentrations of IgG4 are present in many patients. Here we report the case of a patient with multi organ involvement due to IgG4-related disease. A 71-year-old Caucasian man presented with sialadenitis of the left submandibulary gland. Biopsy of the gland revealed distinct chronic sclerosis as well as lymphoplasmacytic infiltration with more than 100 IgG4-positive plasma cells per high power field. The patient developed progressive dyspnea and a chest CT scan showed thickening of the interlobular septum and alveolar walls as well as bilateral infiltrates and ground glass opacities. Serum concentration of IgG4 was 1050mg/dl (reference value 5 - 125mg/dl). The patient was initially treated with steroids with substantial clinical improvement and decrease of IgG4 serum levels. As the steroids were tapered, the patient developed cholangitis and pancreatitis. Another course of glucocorticoid therapy and adjunctive Rituximab therapy resulted in full clinical remission. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.6187


This study is part of the project called "Familiar cocoa agriculture and associativity in the West of Boyaca" managed by the GIDICON Group of the Pedagogical and Technological University of Colombia. The research developed tries to highlight the transcendental role that the cocoa-grower woman has played in the sustainable regional development of the Municipality of Mari pi Boyaca in the post-conflict period. To this end, from the case study, in the association ASOCAPAZ, it is evident how the woman with her enterprising spirit is the protagonist of sustainable development: (i) in the social sphere, generating actions from the rural family, in the search of the countryside rebirth as an opportunity for inclusion; (ii) in the economic sphere, its leadership supports the activities necessary to overcome poverty; and (iii) in the environmental perspective, their actions contribute to the application of Good Environmental Practices and Good Agricultural Practices, in this sense, the substitution of crops allows an important improvement in the environment of the Municipality of Maripi.


Abstract The cavitation erosion is the phenomena that causes degradation of fluid flow machinery components due to repetitive implosion of cavitation bubbles adjacent to the solid surface. Cavitation erosion is a complex phenomenon, which includes not only hydrodynamic factors of liquid, but also properties of erodible material e.g. microstructure, hardness or Young modulus. In order to reduce the negative impact of erosion on machine components, there are many methods to increase cavitation erosion resistance. The paper discusses the correlations between structural and mechanical properties and the resistance to cavitation erosion (CER) of pure materials, their alloys and coatings. Methods to increase CER have also been described - using heat / thermo-chemical treatment and application of coatings by various methods.


The field-shape imperfections measured at room temperature before and after thermal cycling and excitation up to maximum field in three 10 m-long models of the LHC dipole are presented. A systematic variation is observed in the normal sextupole and decapole components. The variation of the other components turns out to be negligible or to randomly vary (as for normal and skew quadrupoles). We show how the systematic variation can be justified by assuming outward radial shift in four blocks of the inner coil. Qualitative tests using Fuji paper confirm this conjecture.


Dairy cow farming plays an important role in the UK and worldwide economies. Significant challenges are currently being faced regarding sustainability of the dairy industry. Dairy cow subfertility remains an important issue limiting herd productivity, resulting in annual losses of hundreds of millions of pounds in the UK alone. To address this, accurate monitoring of reproductive status and early detection of fertility issues in individual cows is essential. The aim of this study was to gather farmer and veterinarian opinions on current practices and perceived gaps related to diagnosis of fertility issues and pregnancy testing in UK dairy farms. Using online questionnaires, data were collected and analyzed from a total of 40 farmers and 59 veterinarians. The results showed that non-seen bulling checks and ultrasound were the most frequent tools to detect fertility issues, and that most farmers tested post-calving, and often again before or during mating. Most farmers believed that current tests did not meet their expectations, with half of those being willing to pay more than they were currently paying for fertility testing. In regard to pregnancy testing, ultrasound was most commonly used, at 30–50 days post-insemination either in individual or groups of cows. Again, most farmers believed that current tests did not meet their expectations, and a majority would consider paying a higher cost for a test that was better than those currently available. In addition, a majority of farmers would consider using a test that could detect pregnancy within 2 weeks post-insemination, if such test existed, because they believed it would help improve their herds' reproductive performance. Overall, the opinions of farmers and veterinarians indicate that there is significant scope for improving dairy herd fertility monitoring practices in the UK, through development of improved assays that can diagnose pregnancy and infertility earlier, are less disruptive to farm operations and are more cost effective than available tools. They also provide useful information to guide the future development and implementation of better diagnostics for improving reproductive performance of dairy cattle.


An ultrasensitive and portable colorimetric enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) sensor for antibiotics was fabricated by immobilizing antibodies inside the largely porous and highly hydrophilic nanofibrous membranes. Different from regular electrospun nanofibrous membranes where antibodies may frequently be blocked by the heterogeneous porous structure and sterically crowded loaded on the surface, the controlled microporous structure and increased hydrophilicity of nanofibrous membranes could improve the diffusion properties of antibodies, reduce the sterically crowding effect, and dramatically improve the sensitivity of the membrane-based ELISA. The limitation of detection (LOD) for chloramphenicol (CAP) reached 0.005 ng/mL, around 200 times lower than the conventional paper-based ELISA, making quantitative analysis and portable on-site detection achievable via the use of smartphones. The successful design and fabrication of the nanofibrous membrane-based ELISA with novel features overcome the structural drawbacks of regular electrospun nanofibrous membranes and provide new paths to develop highly sensitive on-site detection of hazardous chemical agents.


Eight immunocompromised patients presented with upper lobe infiltrates that radiographically simulated tuberculosis. Bilateral lobar consolidation was present in 5, and apical or posterior segmental consolidation was present in 3. Pneumocystis carinii was diagnosed in 7 patients from material obtained at bronchoscopy after sputum stained for mycobacteria had been negative. In the eighth patient, sputum submitted for cytologic evaluation demonstrated P. carinii. The 7 patients surviving this episode of pneumonia responded clinically and radiographically to specific therapy directed against P. carinii. Predominant upper lobe involvement has not been previously emphasized as a pattern of P. carinii pneumonia but should be considered in immunocompromised patients.


Although studies within linguistics are quick to demonstrate how language constructs identity, little attention has been given to the symbolic uses of names in the construction of identity in Nigerian novels, and this tends to undermine the fundamental role of lexis such as names in the construction of identity. The present study therefore employs Castells' identity framework to investigate how names are a linguistic resource for identity construction in selected 21st-century Nigerian novels. Four novels by Nigerian authors representing the four geographical zones of Nigeria were purposefully sampled. The analysis is both quantitative and qualitative. The study illustrates that identity is an incoherent concept, revealing that the study of identity requires the application of systematic and methodological approaches.


We study the problem of finite ontology mediated query answering (FOMQA), the variant of OMQA where the represented world is assumed to be finite, and thus only finite models of the ontology are considered. We adopt the most typical setting with unions of conjunctive queries and ontologies expressed in description logics (DLs). The study of FOMQA is relevant in settings that are not finitely controllable. This is the case not only for DLs without the finite model property, but also for those allowing transitive role declarations. When transitive roles are allowed, evaluating queries is challenging: FOMQA is undecidable for SHOIF and only known to be decidable for the Horn fragment of ALCIF. We show decidability of FOMQA for three proper fragments of SOIF: SOI, SOF, and SIF. Our approach is to characterise models relevant for deciding finite query entailment. Relying on a certain regularity of these models, we develop automata-based decision procedures with optimal complexity bounds.


How is European integration changing the location of industry? And what part are national and EU aids to industry playing in this process? We show that states and regions are becoming more specialized within the EU, but this process is very slow. While there is no evidence of polarization occurring at the national level, some regions are losing out. National state aids to industry appear to have little effect for either good or ill, since their effectiveness at attracting economic activity and employment is limited. European Structural Funds expenditure, by contrast, does have an effect on the location of industry, notably by attracting industries that are intensive in research and development. However, this effect has mostly been acting counter to states' comparative advantage – R&D-intensive industries have been encouraged by these aids to locate in countries and regions that have low endowments of skilled labour. Only in Ireland, where Structural Funds reinforced rather than offset comparative advantage, have poor regions been enabled systematically to catch up with the EU average.


We learn a controller for a flat-footed bipedal robot to optimally respond to both (1) external disturbances caused by, for example, stepping on objects or being pushed, and (2) rapid acceleration, such as reversal of demanded walk direction. The reinforcement learning method employed learns an optimal policy by actuating the ankle joints to assert pressure at different points along the support foot, and to determine the next swing foot placement. The controller is learnt in simulation using an inverted pendulum model and the control policy transferred and tested on two small physical humanoid robots.


In agriculture and the production of grain feeds, in spite of all the measures of protection and control, the presence of molds in grains is almost unavoidable. Molds contaminate the animal feed and/or nutrients during the growth of plants, as well as in all the handling operations - during harvest, mowing, picking, transport and storage. The comparative research on presence and identification of molds, shown in this paper, was carried out in two phases, in 2011 and 2014, on the samples of grains, stored and intended for animal nutrition. In total, 72 samples of different grains were examined, most of them related to maize (56) from a domestic production in the Banja Luka region. Mycological analysis i.e. quantification and determination of fungi in all samples revealed dominant presence of Fusarium species in both phases. The occurrence of Fusarium species in 2011 and 2014, expressed as relative values, were 61.11% and 80.55%, respectively.


Background: Anemia is a global public health problem affecting both developing and developed countries with major consequences for human health as well as social and economic development. Aim: This study was conducted to assess awareness of anemia and its causes among Saudi population in Qassim region kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: This cross-sectional community-based study was conducted throughout the Qassim region which has been divided into 11 provinces were evaluated.A total of 1281Saudi citizens participated in this study. Each participant was asked to answer a total of 18 questions from a pre-piloted questionnaire. Results: Data were analyzed statistically using (SPSS) version 16.The participants response rate was 95.7%, and general aware ness of anemia was 89.2%, whereas Satisfactory, fair, and poor awareness of anemia represented 20.5%, 50.5%, and 29.0% respectively, while the mean of awareness was 44.0 ± 22.8. Males represented 62.2%. In high education males were approximately twice times.Drinking tea,eating fava bean and pregnancy as anemia causes in both male and female showed highlysignificant awareness (p ≤ 0.001) in additionvegetarianism, drinking tea during meal, pregnancy, inheritance, renal failure and intestinal worms represented as well known (p≤ 0.001) causes of anemia in all levels of education. Moreover,vegetarianism, drinking tea,pregnancy and renal failure as well known causes (p ≤0.001) of anemia in different categories of education.Conclusion: Saudi citizens in Qassim region has satisfactory general knowledge of anemia, however, they are not very well aware of anemia causes. Therefore, our study suggests that more efforts should be made to increase the knowledge of anemia causes in the population (Waggiallah H A et al NJIRM 2013; 4(6) :


Cost-benefits analysis is a powerful method of evaluating the economic merits of public sector investments. Demands by treasury departments for justification of budgets of government agencies, and new developments in measurement of non-market costs and benefits, ensure wide use. The availability of powerful computer spreadsheets with built-in financial functions has greatly facilitated the application of CBA. At the same time, the computational ease with the technique can be applied has frequently led to a rather mechanistic approach being adopted. No two projects will have exactly the same characteristics, and it is unlikely that a standardised approach to CBA can ever be relied upon. Blind use of the technique can lead to results which do not truly represent the investment situation, and to misinformation rather than good information. CBA is often inadvertently and sometimes deliberately misused. The practitioner needs to be aware of a number of complexities which often arise and to comprehend the best ways of dealing with them. To some extent, successful application of CBA is an art rather than a science, and there is no substitute for experience in carrying out real-world applications. However, there are a number of technical issues and complexities of which potential users should be aware. This discussion paper examines some of the major decisions which must be faced when carrying out CBA, then some further complexities which often arise. As well, common misuses of the technique will be considered.


Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) has a particularly poor prognosis despite the high initial response to first-line systemic therapy, and there is a well-recognised lack of meaningful treatments beyond the second line. A number of reasons have been put forward to explain this, including a lack of common, easily-druggable genetic mutations in SCLC and rarity of high-quality tissue samples due to late presentation. Liquid biopsies, including circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) are increasingly used as surrogates for tumour tissue and have the advantage of being easily obtained serially to inform on the biology of disease progression and acquired chemoresistance, and may provide a pathway to improve care in this notoriously refractory disease. Here we discuss the current evidence behind these liquid biopsy methods in SCLC, and how they could be employed in future clinical care.


This research was conducted during spring and fall seasons, 2015, at the fields of Field Crop Department– College of Agriculture– University of Baghdad. The objective was to evaluate response of corn synthetic variety 5018 traits in next generation  to harvesting moisture in the first generation. In spring season 2015, seeds of the synthetic variety 5018 were planted. When moisture of the ear grains was reached the first treatment (37-42%), ten ears were harvested. Ears harvesting dates were performed manually when the grains had 37-42%, 34-36%, 30-33%, 25- 28% and 19-22% moisture content. In fall season 2015, varietal trail was carried out to the five treatment materials, using Randomized Complete Bock Design, with four replicates. The results showed, significant differences among treatments for all the studied traits, except grain filling duration. The highest grain growth rate (7.23 mg.grain.day-1) and grain yield (159.46 g.plant-1), were produced from plants grown it's seeds harvested with (19-22)%, which didn't differ significantly from the plants grown it's seeds  harvested with moisture (25-28)%. It can be conclude that the perfect corn grain moisture for harvesting (19-22)% for the nex generation seeds .


ABSTRACT Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of nosocomial and community-acquired infections, including soft tissue and skin infections and bacteremia. However, efforts to develop an effective vaccine against S. aureus infections have not been successful. We evaluated serotypes 5 and 8 capsule polysaccharides (CP) CRM197 conjugates as vaccine candidates in murine models of bacteremia, lethal sepsis, and skin infection. The conjugate vaccines elicited a good antibody response, and active immunization of CP5-CRM or CP8-CRM conjugates protected against staphylococcal bacteremia. In the skin infection model, CP8-CRM but not CP5-CRM protected against dermonecrosis, and CP8-CRM immunization significantly decreased the bacterial burden in the lesion. However, neither CP5-CRM nor CP8-CRM protected against mortality in the lethal sepsis model. The results indicate the capsular vaccines elicit protection against some, but not all, aspects of staphylococcal infection.


There have been few clinical reports of the long term results of implantation of long coronary stents. The authors performed a retrospective study of the long term results of 213 implantations of long stents (20 mm long) in 202 patients. These results were compared with those obtained in patients implanted with short stents (< 20 mm long) during the same period (630 implantations in 530 patients). The angiographic and clinical success rates were respectively 96.5 and 95.4% in the "long stent" group compared with 97.2 and 94.9% in the "short stent" group. In the "long stent" group, at 6, 12 and 24 months (follow-up, the cumulative incidence of nex revascularisation procedures of the target lesion were 9.8, 14.3 and 20.6% respectively, whereas the cumulative incidences of major cardiac events (mortality, infarction, angina, coronary bypass surgery and angioplasty) for the same periods were 12.7, 21.1 and 40% respectively. There was no significant differences compared with the "short stent" group concerning all these events. However, after 6 months, there was a tendency for more major cardiac events and for more new revascularisation procedures of the target lesion in the "long stent" group. In multivariate analysis, the independent predictive factors for major cardiac events were: a Jeopardy score > 6 (p = 0.002), and the complex nature of the lesion (B2 or C) (p = 0.045), whereas the indépendant risk factors for a new revascularisation procedure of the target lesion were: minimal luminal diameter after the procedure, a Jeopardy score > 6, complex lesions, diabetes and the reference diameter of the stented arterial segment. The authors conclude that although the length of the stent as such is not a long term predictive factor, the complexity of the lesion and the severity of the coronary disease which are more common in the "long stent" group explain the non-significant tendency for a higher incidence of major cardiac events in this group.


The authors calculate the Knight shifts, K(V), and spin susceptibilities of the light alkalines Na and Li in the frame of the spin density functional theory (SDA) in the volume range covered by the experiments of Bertani et al. (1990). All contributions to K have been evaluated rigorously using the data of self-consistent KKR-band-structure calculations. Whereas for Li they get reasonable agreement with experiment, in the case of Na none of the available exchange correlation potentials, KXc, reproduces the minimum of K(V) found in the experiments, and they show that moderate changes in Kxc would be able to remove this deficiency.


This paper draws on data collected through in-depth interviews with multi-generational participants recruited from various online sites to explore the place-making strategies among lesbian, bisexual, and queer (LBQ) women and transand gender-non-conforming people (tgncp) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Historically denied public space, placemaking in immaterial space (i.e., digital spaces) has been essential to the production and maintenance of communities for LBQ women and tgncp. Because these populations rely on non-traditional placemaking strategies that are not always instantiated in material space, sociologists often overlook their efforts to create place for themselves. This paper corrects this omission by exploring how communities create place through the deployment of subcultural capital onto immaterial space. Introducing four main strategies of community placemaking, material-constant communities, material-transient communities, immaterial-constant communities, and immaterial-transient communities, this article expands sociological conceptions of space to accommodate the placemaking strategies of marginalized communities who might lack the economic and political resources to foster communities in material spaces. Beyond the investigation of lesbian-queer placemaking, this research contributes to the growing sociological literature exploring the multifaceted, fluid, contested, and ephemeral nature of place and placemaking in the context of increasing Internet use. Placemaking and Community-Building among Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer (LBQ) Women and Non-Binary People during the Covid-19 Pandemic, Page 3


One shows how the approximate controllability of nonlinear parabolic problems may fail although it is a well-known property for linear equations. For the case of the obstacle problem the answer depends on the negativeness of the right hand side term and for semilinear equations it depends on the sub or superlinear character at the infinity of the nonlinear term.


This article provides an insight on the power-performance issues related with the CPU-GPU (Central Processing Unit-Graphics Processing Unit) parallel implementations of problems that frequently appear in the context of applications on bioinformatics and biomedical engineering. More specifically, we analyze the power-performance behavior of an evolutionary parallel multiobjective electroencephalogram feature selection procedure that evolves subpopulations of solutions with time-demanding fitness evaluation. The procedure has been implemented in OpenMP to dynamically distribute either subpopulations or individuals among devices, and uses OpenCL to evaluate the fitness of the individuals. The development of parallel codes usually implies to maximize the code efficiency, thus optimizing the achieved speedups. To follow the same trend, this article extends and provides a more complete analysis of our previous works about the power-performance characteristics in heterogeneous CPU-GPU platforms considering different operation frequencies and evolutionary parameters, such as distribution of individuals, etc. This way, different experimental configurations of the proposed procedure have been evaluated and compared with respect to a master-worker approach, not only in runtime but also considering energy consumption. The experimental results show that lower operating frequencies does not necessarily mean lower energy consumptions since energy is the product of power and time. Thus, we have observed that parallel processing not only reduces the runtime, but also the energy consumed by the application despite a higher instantaneous power. Particularly, the workload distribution among both CPU and GPU cores provides the best runtime and very low energy consumption compared with the values achieved by the same alternatives executed by only CPU threads.


This article examines Japanese International Relations in the last quarter of the 20th century, highlighting the history of IR academic development and the opportunities and constraints posed by the International System. It demonstrates that Japanese approaches to IR varied in strength and representativeness, despite the co-existence of four strands of thought:Staatslehre, Historicist, Marxist and American Style. The lack of integration between these approaches and in methodological refining can be held accountable for the absence of a stricto sensubumiputra(autochthonous) Japanese theory of IR. The 1997 Asian Crisis was a fracture point in Japanese scholarly debate as it represented the ultimate failure of theGankou Keitairon (Flying Geese) paradigm, pertaining to the until-then highly reputed Staatslehre strand of thought. This effectively yielded towards a greater popularization of the American style approach and evidence suggests that such strand gained more and more adepts as years went by. Being heavily influenced by international events, however, it is difficult to predict how Japanese IR will develop in the future. To be sure, there are simply too many variables in Japanese regional and global political and economic environments for one to tell for sure if the American style approach will continue gaining adepts or if it is going to be rolled back and lose ground. International challenges, especially in the case of Japan, might produce unpredictable results, as to the academic debate in the field of IR.


With the right form of engagement, so-called hard-to-reach communities can play vital roles in shaping and improving services. This article describes some of the innovative ways in which Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust engages with local communities and offers some advice to senior nurses and managers who want to make contact with people in their localities


The presence of asylum seekers within the UK and their claims to social welfare and employment rights presents one of the greatest challenges to sovereignty and the traditional constructs of Marshallian citizenship. Yet in an increasingly cosmopolitan world the UK's obligations stretch beyond responsibility for its own citizens, as evidenced by the case of asylum seekers whom upon the declaration of seeking refuge must be admitted to the State and provided with subsistence to avoid destitution. Accordingly, the UK is bound by a number of international instruments that provide rights outside the legal constructs of UK citizenship which results in conflict between the traditional boundaries of social inclusion centred on citizenship, and those based on universal human rights.

Drawing upon a number of primary and secondary sources, including international human rights law and cosmopolitan theory, this thesis analyses the welfare and employment arrangements for asylum seekers in the UK using NGO data to ascertain the impact of policies in practise. It argues that the withdrawal of social rights from the asylum seeking community over the last two decades has resulted in a significant imbalance between the rights and interests of the State and those of asylum seekers. In light of these conclusions, the thesis recommends that the Government adopt a cosmopolitan approach to welfare provision which prioritises human need over immigration status and suggests a number of reforms which will better respect the asylum seeking community. In doing so, it is hoped that the study will contribute to the development of an ethical asylum support system which reflects the humanity of its subjects. Within the current political climate such an exploration is considered crucial as the specific policies of the asylum support system and their impact upon human rights remain relatively unexplored within academic literature.


Sir, Recent studies of anaerobic bacteria in both the male and female genital tracts have included techniques for the isolation of Clostridium difficile. 1-3 Hafiz et al isolated Cl difficile from 71 of vaginal specimens from patients attending a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic and 18% of women attending a family planning clinic, and from all of 42 men with non-specific urethritis (NSU).4 The results of more recent studies have been contradictory. Cl difficile was isolated from only two out of 79 patients with balanoposthitis, and not at all from 24 men with NSU, 19 men with both NSU and balanoposthitis, or from 28 asymptomatic controls.2 Moreover, Moss failed to isolate Cl difficile from 20 men and 34 women attending an STD clinic. A vaginal carriage rate of I% in consecutive female patients attending an STD clinic and 1807 in pregnant women was reported by O'Farrell et al using a selective broth medium.3 In this laboratory 206 vaginal swabs from 187 women, and urethral swabs from 20 men attending a special clinic were examined for Cl difficile. Swabs were broken off into cooked meat broth and incubated at 370C for five days before subculture on to modified CCFA medium,5 6 but Cl difficile was not isolated from any specimen. There exists an apparent dichotomy between the high carriage rates observed in both symptomatic and asymptomatic populations,3 4 and the negligible isolation rates encountered in this and other laboratories.1 2 This discrepancy might be explained by the use of isolation techniques of differing sensitivities, but the methods of Mossl and Masfari et a12 were essentially similar to those employed by Hafiz et al,4 and all recent investigations including the present one used enrichment culture and a highly efficient selective medium. The existence of a geographical variation in urogenital carriage of Cl difficile remains a possibility and requires further study.


Abstract This article summarizes the collaboration between two historians of medicine on Sino-European medical exchanges. Gianna Pomata researches the history of medicine in early modern Europe and Marta Hanson researches the history of medicine in early modern China. The following covers the concept of epistemic genres that Pomata first developed out of her research on the history of the genres historia, observationes, recipes, medical cases, and the commentary in Europe. She connected these genres variously to empiricism, erudition, scientific observation, norm-making, and recording practice. The paper then evaluates how Pomata and Hanson used epistemic genres as a method for doing cross-cultural research on 17th–18th-century Sino-European medical exchanges. Pomata then wrote a comparative history of the medical case in Europe and China. The article concludes with how Hanson applied the distinction of epistemic genres to analyze the history of Chinese medicine from a new perspective.


Strontium ferrite based permanent magnets are attractive for applications in electric machines due to several reasons. Their price is some two orders of magnitude less than the price of rare earth magnets. They are chemically inert, which makes them suitable for applications in aggressive environments. Strontium ferrite magnets have high specific electric resistance, so they do not experience thermal problems due to eddy current losses. On the other hand, their low residual flux density imposes the need for special machine construction when high air gap flux density is needed. It is shown in this paper how a synchronous motor with strontium ferrite permanent magnets can efficiently replace an induction motor in low power applications, and why a round stator is a clear winner against a U-core permanent magnet motor.


This study examines the performance of Micro finance Institutions (MFIS) in Lagos State, based on the development of small and medium Scale Industry. Simple random sampling technique was employed in selecting the 110 (SMES)s that constituted the sample size of the research. Structured questionnaire was designed to facilitate the collection of relevant data which was used for the analysis. Descriptive statistics which involves simple percentage ,and Chi-square (contingency test). The findings indicate that the operations of MFIs have grown phenomenally in the last three years, driven largely by expanding informal sector activities, the conversion of the community banks to micro finance banks and the reluctance of banks to fund the emerging micro enterprises. The study also reveals the sub-sector faces a number of challenges, which have been addressed in this research. They include the urgent need to approved and implement a policy framework that would regulate and standardize the MFI operations; -accessing medium to long term sustainable commercial sources of funds, such as SMIEIES. Commercial banks traditionally lend to medium and large enterprises, which are judged to be creditworthy. They avoid doing business with the small and medium scale industry because the associated cost and risks are considered to be relatively high. Microfinance institutions (MFIs) have therefore become the main sources of funding small and medium scale industry in Africa and in other developing regions.


We present a T = 0 K renormalization group (RG) phase diagram for the hole-doped 2D Hubbard model on the square lattice. The RG method employed is nonperturbative in treating quantum fluctuations of the single-particle occupation number via the unitarily decoupling of one electronic state at every RG step. As a result, the RG phase diagram possesses the quantum fluctuation energy scale (ω) as one of its axes. Using effective Hamiltonians and wavefunctions for the low-energy many-body eigenstates for the doped Mott liquid obtained from the stable fixed point of the RG flows, we demonstrate the collapse of the pseudogap for charge excitations (Mottness) at a quantum critical point (QCP) possessing a nodal non-Fermi liquid with superconducting fluctuations, and spin-pseudogapping near the antinodes. The QCP is characterised using both thermodynamic and quantum information-theoretic measures. d-wave superconducting order is shown to arise from this quantum critical state of matter. The pseudogap phase possesses a variety of fluctuations that lead to several symmetry-broken phases at low-energies. Benchmarking of the ground state energy per particle and the double-occupancy fraction obtained from a finite-size scaling analysis against existing numerical results yields excellent agreement. We present detailed insight into the T = 0 origin of several experimentally observed findings in the cuprates, including Homes law and Planckian dissipation. We also establish that the heirarchy of temperature scales for the pseudogap (TPG), onset temperature for pairing (Tons), formation of the Mott liquid (TML) and superconductivity (TC) obtained from our analysis is quantitatively consistent with that observed experimentally for some members of the cuprates. Our results offer insight on the ubiquitous origin of superconductivity in doped Mott insulating states, and pave the way towards a systematic search for higher superconducting transition temperatures in such systems.


Poly(L-lactic acid) and its copolymers with D-lactic and glycolic acid were used to fabricate various porous biodegradable scaffolds suitable for tissue engineering and drug delivery based on a thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) technique. A variety of parameters involved in TIPS process, such as types of polymers, polymer concentration, solvent/nonsolvent ratio, and quenching temperature, were examined in detail to produce a wide array of micro- and macroporous structures. A mixture of dioxane and water was used for a binary composition of solvent and nonsolvent, respectively. In particular, the coarsening effect of pore enlargement affected by controlling the quenching temperature was used for the generation of a macroporous open cellular structure with pore diameters above 100 microm. The use of amorphous polymers with a slow cooling rate resulted in a macroporous open cellular structure, whereas that of semicrystalline polymers with a fast cooling rate generated a microporous closed cellular structure. The fabricated porous devices loaded with recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) were tested for the controlled delivery of rhGH, as a potential additional means to cell delivery.


Objective To report a case of untreated classic 21 hydroxylase (OH) deficiency congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) in a transgender patient resulting in pulmonary embolisms (PEs) and bilateral adrenal masses. Methods A 36-year-old male (birth sex: female) presenting with bilateral PEs in the setting of long-standing, untreated classic 21OH CAH was also found to have bilateral adrenal masses (unconfirmed myelolipomas). Results Further history revealed a known diagnosis of CAH. The patient had been treated with glucocorticoid and mineralocorticoid replacement in childhood but stopped taking these medications against medical advice. During his hospital admission, he was noted to have elevated 17-hydroxyprogesterone, low cortisol with elevated ACTH levels, and male-level testosterone measurements. CT of the abdomen/pelvis revealed a 23 cm mass in the left renal fossa and a 2.5 cm mass in the right renal fossa consistent with bilateral adrenal myelolipomas. The patient attended follow-up in clinic, but declined any further hormonal treatment as he identified as male and felt further treatment was unnecessary. Conclusion This case demonstrated the unique long-term effects of untreated classic CAH due to 21OH deficiency, including bilateral adrenal myelolipoma, adrenal compensation to the point of producing male-level androgens, and possibly PEs. Treatment with hydrocortisone was recommended to suppress ACTH and it was planned that the patient would eventually start on testosterone (although this would have been complicated by his bilateral PEs). Potential aetiologies for the PEs included vascular compression of the renal artery (which could explain the elevated EPO/erythrocytosis contributing to hypercoagulability) or the renal vein by the adrenal mass. LEARNING POINTS Gender dysphoria in patients with congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is not uncommon. Adrenal enlargement can allow untreated CAH patients to compensate. Pulmonary embolisms can be a consequence of treating as well as untreated CAH.


Essential hypertension is a polygenic disease involving a major contribution of various environmental factors. It is therefore not surprising that antihypertensive medications, whatever their mechanism(s) of action, only normalize the blood pressure for a fraction of hypertensive patients when administered as monotherapies. It is unfortunately not possible to predict with any degree of certainty which type of blood pressure-lowering agent is the most appropriate for a given patient. Although very attractive, genetic mapping is not really helpful in selecting a treatment for any individual patient. In most patients the association of two medications having different impacts on the cardiovascular system is necessary to normalize blood pressure. Fixed-low-dose combinations are becoming increasingly popular as first line treatment as they increase the probability of bringing the patient's blood pressure under control while minimizing the incidence of dose-dependent adverse effects.


Over the past decades, the internationalization of higher education in China has had considerable achievements, and has contributed to the current transformation of the Chinese system into one of the largest and arguably most promising ones in the world. Setting the Chinese experience in an international context, this article assesses the latest developments. It argues that China's internationalization of higher education is part of a much larger process of cultural integration between China and the West. From this perspective, it concludes that although China's recent developments deserve to be noted, China has a considerable distance to go before its aspirations to create truly world-class universities are fulfilled.


Abstract Bumble bees, Bombus spp. (Apidae), are important native pollinators; however, populations of some species are declining in North America and agricultural chemicals are a potential cause. Fungicides are generally not highly toxic to bees, but little is known about sublethal or synergistic effects. This study evaluates bumble bee exposure to fungicides by quantifying concentrations of boscalid and pyraclostrobin in nectar and pollen collected by colonies of Bombus huntii Greene, 1860 (Hunt bumble bee) deployed in a commercial cherry Prunus avium L. orchard in the spring of 2016. Seven colonies were placed adjacent to an orchard block that was sprayed with a fungicide mixture of boscalid and pyraclostrobin and a control group of seven colonies was placed next to an unsprayed block of orchard 400 m away from the treated block. Nectar and pollen were collected daily, beginning 1 d before spray application and continuing for a total of 12 d, and analyzed for both fungicides. Fungicide concentrations varied spatially by colony and temporally by day. The highest concentrations in nectar occurred 1 and 3 d after spraying: up to 440 ng/g boscalid and 240 ng/g pyraclostrobin. Six days after application, pollen from cherry flowers contained the highest concentrations of the fungicides: up to 60,500 ng/g boscalid and 32,000 ng/g pyraclostrobin. These data can help to determine field-level fungicide concentrations in nectar and pollen and direct future work on understanding the effects of these compounds, including their interactions with important bumble bee pathogenic and beneficial symbionts.


The mucosal immune status of Australian Antarctic personnel was monitored during six wintering expeditions at two Australian Antarctic Research Stations, Casey in 1992, 1993, 1994, and Mawson in 1992, 1995, 1996. Salivary immunoglobulin and albumin levels were examined for differences between stations and expeditions, and for monthly changes over the expedition year. Salivary IgA and IgM concentrations were on average higher for the 1993 Casey expeditioners, and all salivary protein levels were lower for 1996 Mawson expeditioners compared to levels of the other expeditions. The change in salivary IgA and IgM concentrations over the 1‐year period revealed a consistent pattern between expeditions. Salivary IgA levels were lower in March, April and May compared to other months of the year (P = 0.0002). Salivary IgM levels were lowest in the first 4 months of the year, with peak levels in June and July (P < 0.0001). There were no changes in salivary IgG and albumin concentrations over the expedition year. Though the cause of the changes in salivary IgA and IgM levels over the year is unknown, the changes could reflect alterations in mucosal immunity in response to stressors associated with isolation.


Abstract Aim We sought to create and describe a self-made simulator designed and created for teaching purposes: a high-fidelity ultrasound phantom for demonstrating antral follicle count, ultrasound supervision of controlled of ovarian stimulation, and ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval. Materials and methods The uterus and ovaries of the ultrasound phantom were made from beef tongue, a male condom, latex gloves, cotton suture threads, bi-distilled water, and ultrasound gel. The components were placed in a pelvis created using three-dimensional (3D) printing. The phantom was presented to and evaluated by a group of 14 physicians pursuing a postgraduate course in reproductive medicine. Two training stations were structured: one to simulate antral follicle count and controlled ovarian stimulation and the other to simulate ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval. Future specialists were requested to complete a feedback questionnaire evaluating the self-made simulator and the two practice stations. Results The transvaginal ultrasound phantom was successfully created, making it possible to simulate antral follicle count, ultrasound control of ovarian hyperstimulation, and oocyte retrieval, and to capture ultrasound images. A review of the answers provided in the feedback questionnaire showed that the phantom had a good appearance and design, was realistic, helped to improve motor coordination, and could be a useful tool in the training of specialists in assisted reproduction. Conclusion This phantom was designed to enable instruction and practice in the evaluation of ovarian follicles and ultrasound-guided oocyte retrieval in a supervised training environment. This self-made simulator is proposed as a training tool that could be included in the curricular structure of residency and postgraduate programs in reproductive medicine.


Two-wavelength interferometry combines measurement at two wavelengths lambda(1) and lambda(2) in order to increase the unambiguous range (UR) for the measurement of an optical path difference. With the usual algorithm, the UR is equal to the synthetic wavelength Lambda=lambda(1)lambda(2)/|lambda(1)-lambda(2)|, and the accuracy is a fraction of Lambda. We propose here a new analytical algorithm based on arithmetic properties, allowing estimation of the absolute fringe order of interference in a noniterative way. This algorithm has nice properties compared with the usual algorithm: it is at least as accurate as the most accurate measurement at one wavelength, whereas the UR is extended to several times the synthetic wavelength. The analysis presented shows how the actual UR depends on the wavelengths and different sources of error. The simulations presented are confirmed by experimental results, showing that the new algorithm has enabled us to reach an UR of 17.3 microm, much larger than the synthetic wavelength, which is only Lambda=2.2 microm. Applications to metrology and fringe tracking are discussed.


Infant formula is one of the most regulated foods in the world. It has advanced in complexity over the years as a result of numerous research innovations. To ensure product safety and quality, analytical technologies have also had to advance to keep pace. Given the rigorous performance demands expected of these methods and the ever-growing array of complex matrixes, there is the potential for gaps to exist in current Official MethodsSM and other recognized international methods for infant formula and adult nutritionals. Food safety concerns, particularly for infants, drive the need for extensive testing by manufacturers and regulators. The net effect is the potential for an increase in time- and resource-consuming regulatory disputes. In an effort to mitigate such costly activities, AOAC INTERNATIONAL, under the direction of the Infant Formula Council of America-a trade association of manufacturers and marketers of formulated nutritional products-agreed to establish voluntary consensus Standard Method Performance Requirements, and, ultimately, to identify and publish globally recognized, fit-for-purpose standard methods. To accomplish this task, nutritional reference materials (RMs), representing all major commercially available nutritional formulations, were (and continue to be) a critical necessity. In this paper, various types of RMs will be defined, followed by review and discussion of their importance to the infant formula industry.


Hereditary hemochromatosis (HH), a widespread hereditary iron metabolism disorder, is characterized by an excessive absorption of dietary iron, resulting in increased body iron stores. Some studies indicate a sex difference in disease expression, with women showing a slower disease progression and a less severe clinical profile. This is usually attributed to iron loss during menstruation and pregnancy. However, this link has not been clearly demonstrated. The Hfe-/- mouse model recapitulates key aspects of HH, including an iron overload phenotype similar to that observed in human patients. In this study, we use it to test the impact of multiple pregnancies in the iron stores. One-year-old nulliparous and pluriparous (averaging 29 weaned pups per female) C57BL/6 (B6) and Hfe-/- mice were euthanized, and blood and tissues were collected. Several serological and erythroid parameters were evaluated, as well as tissue nonheme iron content and serum ferritin. Hepcidin 1, hepcidin 2, and bone morphogenetic protein 6 (BMP6) expressions in the liver were determined by real-time PCR. No significant differences were observed for many serological and erythroid parameters although differences occurred in transferrin saturation and mean corpuscular volume in Hfe-/- mice and total iron-binding capacity in B6 mice. Hepatic iron concentration was similar for nulliparous and pluriparous mice of both genotypes, but total iron per organ (liver, spleen, heart, and pancreas) was higher overall in pluriparous females than nulliparous. Hepcidin 1 and 2 and BMP6 expressions were significantly decreased in pluriparous females, when compared with nulliparous, in both genotypes. In conclusion, multiple pregnancies do not reduce body iron stores in Hfe-/- mice.