A high protein intake at old age is important for muscle protein synthesis, however, this could also trigger protein oxidation with the potential risk for DNA damage. The aim of this study was to investigate whether an increased protein intake at recommended level or well above would affect DNA damage or change levels of reduced (GSH) and oxidised glutathione (GSSG) in community-dwelling elderly subjects. These analyses were performed in two randomized intervention studies, in Austria and in New Zealand. In both randomized control trials, the mean protein intake was increased with whole foods, in the New Zealand study (n = 29 males, 74.2 ± 3.6 years) to 1.7 g/kg body weight/d (10 weeks intervention; p < 0.001)) in the Austrian study (n = 119 males and females, 72.9 ± 4.8 years) to 1.54 g/kg body weight/d (6 weeks intervention; p < 0.001)). In both studies, single and double strand breaks and as formamidopyrimidine—DNA glycosylase-sensitive sites were investigated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells or whole blood. Further, resistance to H2O2 induced DNA damage, GSH, GSSG and CRP were measured. Increased dietary protein intake did not impact on DNA damage markers and GSH/GSSG levels. A seasonal-based time effect (p < 0.05), which led to a decrease in DNA damage and GSH was observed in the Austrian study. Therefore, increasing the protein intake to more than 20% of the total energy intake in community-dwelling seniors in Austria and New Zealand did not increase measures of DNA damage, change glutathione status or elevate plasma CRP.


BACKGROUND
There are different surgical procedures for the treatment of advanced haemorrhoidal disease, being described by Milligan and Morgan as well as closed haemorrhoidectomy published by Ferguson. Haemorrhoidopexy with circular stapler was used since 1998 and nowadays is a widely accepted procedure and more institutes confirm its efficiency and safety.

OBJECTIVES
Initial one year experience is presented in patients selected for haemorrhoidopexy with stapler, evaluating post-operatory pain, early and delayed complications, day-in hospital stay and reintegration to daily activities.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Patients operated with haemorrhoidopexy with circular Ethicon Endo Surgery Inc. PPH 03 33 mm (Cincinnati, OH) were included prospectively in the period between November 1st 2004 and October 30th 2005 in Mexico's ABC Medical Center.

RESULTS
Thirtynine patients were included in this study, of which 17 (44%) presented a III degree haemorrhoidal disease and 22 (56%) with IV degree. Post-operatory bleeding was observed in 3 patients (8%); post-operatory pain was evaluated with Mankoski scale. After day five, every patient reintegrated to its daily activities, and none required re-intervention.

CONCLUSION
Haemorrhoidopexy has shown to be a safe and effective procedure. If this technique was once questioned and controversial, today is recognized by the vast majority of colorectal surgeons.


. – BACKGROUND: In recent years, procalcitonin has emerged as a promising marker for bacterial infection, with the high sensitivity and specificity. CASE PRESENTATION: This report presents a 76-year-old woman with fever, vomiting and diarrhea. The clinical and laboratory examination revealed that the patient had a suspected serious intestinal infection and sepsis. The extremely high level of procalcitonin and positive blood culture result confirmed our diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Early identification of severe sepsis sometimes is very difficult. Procalcitonin is a useful tool in the early diagnosis of sepsis, differentiating from other inflammatory syndrome. The high PCT level (10 ng/ml) in this case could suggest serious bacterial infection and sepsis, and also predicts mortality and worse outcome.


In this Rapid Communication we investigate the coupling between excited electrons and phonons in the highly anisotropic electronic structure of the prototypical topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_3$. Using time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy we are able to identify the emergence and ultrafast temporal evolution of the longitudinal-optical A$_{1g}$ coherent-phonon mode in Bi$_2$Te$_3$. We observe an antiphase behavior in the onset of the coherent-phonon oscillations between the $\overline{\Gamma K}$ and the $\overline{\Gamma M}$ high-symmetry directions that is consistent with warping. The qualitative agreement between our density-functional theory calculations and the experimental results reveals the critical role of the anisotropic coupling between Dirac fermions and phonon modes in the topological insulator Bi$_2$Te$_3$.


The secondary group (Nitrate NO3, Boron B and Fluoride F) with group of Trace elements (Cadmium Cd, Lead Pb, Manganese Mn, Iron Fe, Cupper Cu, Zinc Zn, Nickel Ni and Chromium Cr) of Inorganic category are tested in water wells of Alton Kubri Basin to get suitability for human and agricultural consumption. Result shows the concentration of No3 is more than recommended limits at Nabiawa, kuchuk bibani, qalwazi and Buyukhisar groundwater wells. The concentration of Boron in water wells of Nabi-awa and Zardic shows enrichment above the recommended limits in some months of year. The concentration of Nickel is also higher than the recommended limit in water wells of Dobozni, Qalwazi and Buyuk-hisar wells. Study is illustrated enrichment in the concentration as above reputation of water wells at local area only. The source of enrichment for Nitrate NO3, Boron B and Nickel Ni is originated from the agricultural activities and the natural occurrence of these elements in the rocks consists aquifer.


The thirty papers in this special issue discuss the research challenges currently being addressed globally, in academia and industry, in the evolution to delivering the vision of power supply on chip technology, or PwrSoC. In most cases, two key target applications are considered. At one hand, there is the idea of replacing the ubiquitous low cost, but low efficiency Low Drop Out linear regulator with a fully integrated monolithic dc-dc switching converter with a similar footprint and cost, but with much higher efficiency. At the other end of the spectrum, there is the concept of monolithically integrating a complete power management system architecture with a complex system on chip.


Numerous studies indicated a tremendous need of a competent leadership to lead transformation process within the South African small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially after 1994. Over the past years, a number of SMEs failed in innovation due to lack of innovative culture. Leadership has been proven as a critical factor to create an innovative culture within organisations. Thus, this paper proposes a theoretical model to emphasize the impact of innovative leadership on organisational culture. Data were collected through a semi-structured questionnaire from a group of SMEs (n = 15) within the manufacturing sector from the Western Cape. A descriptive analysis was carried out through the SPSS 19 program. Both alternative (H 1) and null (H 0) hypothesis were used to test the relationship between leadership characteristics and organisational culture. The results revealed that the key factors such as lack of business management skills, knowledge of leadership transition, education and training, market and technological know-how, entrepreneurial drive, and resistance of changes remained the primary determinants for leaders to manage innovation successfully in SMEs. The model provided a guideline for leaders to influence employees to be creative and innovative to ensure the success of innovation within their organisations.


The General Medical Council has announced that it will be able to test the English language competence of doctors from other European Union countries from June this year.

The Department of Health in England confirmed in January that it would implement a UK-wide plan to allow the GMC to begin the tests.1

After a public consultation the regulator announced that it would require doctors from other European Union countries to provide evidence of their English skills or to undergo a language assessment if it had concerns about their ability to communicate effectively.2 The GMC said that it expected to introduce the checks in June, subject to the legislative process.

At the same …


To investigate the intramembranous domains of the major band-3 polypeptide, human erythrocyte membranes were labelled with 1-azido-4-[125I]iodobenzene. The anion-exchange protein has been isolated by a new procedure that decreases possible contamination by other integral membrane proteins of similar molecular weight. After chemical modification, the protein was subjected to proteolytic cleavage by several proteinases to yield a distinct pattern of peptides, a few of which contained radioactivity.


The aim of this study was to determine test-retest reliability of a Functional Capacity Evaluation for patients with non-specific Work Related Upper Limb Disorders (WRULD FCE). The study sample included 33 healthy adults, consisting of 14 males and 19 females with a mean age of 29.2 years. The WRULD FCE consisted of 8 different tests including 26 items measuring repetitive movements, duration, working in awkward positions, forceful movements and static postures. Two FCE sessions were held with a 10-day interval. Means, 95% confidence intervals, one-way random Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs), 95% limits of agreement and repeated measures were calculated. An ICC between 0.75 and 0.90 was considered as good and an ICC above 0.90 was considered as an excellent reliability. The results showed that 14 of 26 items (54%) had excellent reliability, 9 of 26 items (35%) had good reliability and 3 of 26 items (11%) had moderate reliability based on ICC values. Significant learning effects were present in the Purdue Pegboard Task and in the Complete Minnesota Dexterity Test. It is concluded that the WRULD FCE is reliable in healthy adults.


Aurora kinases are key regulators of cell division and important targets for cancer therapy. We report that Binucleine 2 is a highly isoform-specific inhibitor of Drosophila Aurora B kinase, and we identify a single residue within the kinase active site that confers specificity for Aurora B. Using Binucleine 2, we show that Aurora B kinase activity is not required during contractile ring ingression, providing insight into the mechanism of cytokinesis.


Objective

 Enterococcus species are the third most common organisms causing central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). The management of enterococcal CLABSI, including the need for and timing of catheter removal, is not well defined. We therefore conducted this study to determine the optimal management of enterococcal CLABSI in cancer patients.
Methods

We reviewed data for 542 patients diagnosed with Enterococcus bacteremia between September 2011 to December 2018. After excluding patients without an indwelling central venous catheter, we classified the remaining 397 patients into 3 groups: Group 1 consisted of patients with CLABSI with mucosal barrier injury (MBI), Group 2 included patients with either CRBSI or CLABSI without MBI, and Group 3 consisted of patients who did not meet the CDC criteria for CLABSI. The impact of early (< 3 days after bacteremia onset and late (3–7 days) catheter removal was compared. The composite primary outcome included absence of microbiologic recurrence, 90-day infection-related mortality, and 90-day infection-related complications.
Results

Among patients in Group 2, those whose catheters were removed within 3 days of bacteremia onset was associated a better overall outcome than those whose catheters were removed later between days 3 to 7 (success rate 88% vs 63%). However, those who had catheters retained beyond 7 days had a similar successful outcome than those who had early catheter removal. Early CVC removal in in non-CLABSI cases (group-3) was not associated with higher success rates.
Conclusion

If removal of central venous catheters is clinically indicated in patients with enterococcal CLABSI earlier removal in less than 3 days may be associated with better outcomes.


The importation of the creative industries 1 policy and discourse in China in the early twenty-first century has both reinforced the government's desire to encourage more innovation and amplified existing tensions over differing conceptions of creativity. Along with China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the adoption of policies to develop the creative industries has bolstered the nation's rapid modernization program. Producers of creative content in China have found themselves having to navigate difficult domestic and international policy domains, where restrictions on content and pressure to project a certain image of China at home have been complicated by a need to produce content which appeals to highly commercial global markets. As this chapter will demonstrate, attempts to resolve this tension have engendered a creative industries policy approach significantly different not only from other continents, but from the rest of Asia too. It is against this background we conducted interviews to explore how and why some of today's Chinese artists choose to identify themselves as 'literati'. The literati's 'purist' view of art opens up a space for critical reflection, from the perspective of the Chinese creative producer, on China's integration into global creative industries discourse and policy making.


A combining of GSPNs (generalized stochastic Petri nets) and PERT networks is used in order to reduce the computational complexity of performance evaluation of concurrent processes modeled by GSPNs. The authors propose the following methodology. First, for PERT networks, an algorithm with good accuracy and computational complexity criteria should be formulated. Second, for safe GSPNs with acyclic behavior, a modification of the algorithm should be created. Third, another algorithm for safe GSPNs with cyclic behavior should be constructed.<<ETX>>


The phases in alloys(Tb1-xCex)Co2 with x=0,0.1,0.2,0.3,0.4 and 0.5 were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis,and the magnetocaloric effect for x=0-0.4 was studied by magnetization measurement.The samples were almost single phase with MgCu2-type cubic structure.The magnetization decreased with the increase of Ce.The Curie temperatures(Tc) of Tb1-xCexCo2 alloys with x from 0.1 to 0.4 were 180,165,160 and 152 K,respectively.For x=0.5 in the range from 100 K to 230 K,the point of magnetic transition was n...


Higher cost medications pose a serious question for physician executives. Learn how common administrative databases can provide clinical resource utilization and identify success factors and barriers to devising cost-effective medical management strategies.


The authors propose the robust controller via Hinfin approach for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems in the parametric strict-feedback form. The controller incorporated with adaptive dynamic surface technique and the Hinfin control technique is developed to reduce the influence of the parameter uncertainties and external disturbances on system performance. Finally, the one-link flexible joint manipulator is simulated to confirm the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed control scheme


End energy user is dependent on fossil fuel-based main-grid and contributes toward greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions. Changing its energy source will change the dynamics of the power plant, contribution towards GHG production. This case study aims to highlight the minute but positive role of a single end energy user, invisible to the main grid in GHG mitigations through photovoltaic energy source, selected among Pakistan's top 10 most populous cities as per census 2017. Quetta is a selected city in Pakistan as the best fit location based on annual average daily solar radiations (AADSR) data retrieved from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) meteorological data. Helioscope software is used to select −15° tilt and 180° azimuthal angles, which further increased Quetta's AADSR value from 5.54 kWh/m2/d to 5.93 kWh/m2/d. For research significance, a realistic approach is undertaken by proper selection of solar panel type based on Quetta's annual average temperature, load categorization, user selection and inputs from a solar energy expert. Finally, initial cost, investment and GHG mitigation analysis are carried out in RETScreen Expert software, which validates the minute but the prominent role of a single, end energy user by mitigating 122 tons of CO2 in 25-year project life span. Further, the proposed project favors end-user financially by recovering its $4501 initial cost in less than four years by effectively meeting its energy demand and saving $1195 per annum.


Abstract In an earlier paper, we appealed to various empirical studies to make the case that the unconscious mind is capable of robust self-deception. Paul Doody has challenged our interpretations of that empirical evidence. In this reply we defend our interpretations, arguing that the unconscious is engaged in strategic and flexible goal pursuit.


The authors have operated on 13 haemophilic joints. The operation included 5 knee synovectomies of the knee, 2 corrective osteotomies, 4 soft tissue procedures on the knee or foot (tendon lengthening, capsulotomy), 1 arthrodesis of knee and 1 excision of heterotopic ossification. The type of operation needed varied with the degree of involvement. Indications for associated haematological treatment are given. The indications were both preventive and curative. The results were gratifying, although two cases of post-operative infection were seen.


In this activity you will learn how to hook up a band and their equipment ready for the recording session.


The high resolution and global coverage of the Magellan radar image data set allows detailed study of the smallest volcanoes on the planet. A modified classification scheme for volcanoes less than 20 km in diameter is shown and described. It is based on observations of all members of the 556 significant clusters or fields of small volcanoes located and described by this author during data collection for the Magellan Volcanic and Magmatic Feature Catalog. This global study of approximately 10 exp 4 volcanoes provides new information for refining small volcano classification based on individual characteristics. Total number of these volcanoes was estimated to be 10 exp 5 to 10 exp 6 planetwide based on pre-Magellan analysis of Venera 15/16, and during preparation of the global catalog, small volcanoes were identified individually or in clusters in every C1-MIDR mosaic of the Magellan data set. Basal diameter (based on 1000 measured edifices) generally ranges from 2 to 12 km with a mode of 34 km, and follows an exponential distribution similar to the size frequency distribution of seamounts as measured from GLORIA sonar images. This is a typical distribution for most size-limited natural phenomena unlike impact craters which follow a power law distribution and continue to infinitely increase in number with decreasing size. Using an exponential distribution calculated from measured small volcanoes selected globally at random, we can calculate total number possible given a minimum size. The paucity of edifice diameters less than 2 km may be due to inability to identify very small volcanic edifices in this data set; however, summit pits are recognizable at smaller diameters, and 2 km may represent a significant minimum diameter related to style of volcanic eruption. Guest, et al, discussed four general types of small volcanic edifices on Venus: (1) small lava shields; (2) small volcanic cones; (3) small volcanic domes; and (4) scalloped margin domes ('ticks'). Steep-sided domes or 'pancake domes', larger than 20 km in diameter, were included with the small volcanic domes. For the purposes of this study, only volcanic edifices less than 20 km in diameter are discussed. This forms a convenient cutoff since most of the steep-sided domes ('pancake domes') and scalloped margin domes ('ticks') are 20 to 100 km in diameter, are much less numerous globally than are the smaller diameter volcanic edifices (2 to 3 orders of magnitude lower in total global number), and do not commonly occur in large clusters or fields of large numbers of edifices.


I wish to draw your attention to an unfavorable review by B. Mysen of my book. Composition and Petrology of Vie Earth's Mantle, published in the March 1977 issue of EOS (pp. 133–187). It seems to me that the publication of this review raises some serious issues of principle.

The first concerns the objectivity of the reviewer. It is well known in petrological circles that during the last few years, Mysen has been involved in an intense public disputation with myself and colleagues concerning the conditions under which andesitic magmas might or might not be formed by hydrous melting of peridotite in the mantle. In view of this record it is questionable whether Mysen should have accepted an invitation to review the book. It is just possible that he may have been unable to fulfill the responsibility of a reviewer to his readers to be objective. Whether or not this is so 1 leave for others to judge. I should point out, however, that Mysen's review presents a remarkable contrast to reviews of the book published in other journals. I have also been impressed by the number of U.S. colleagues who have approached me and volunteered their opinion that the review was unfair.


We present a quantitative method for describing how heterochronic changes in ontogeny relate to phyletic trends. This is a step towards creating a unified view of developmental biology and evolutionary ecology in the study of morphological evolution. Using this representation, we obtain a greatly simplified and logical scheme of classification. We believe that this scheme will be particularly useful in studying the data of paleontology and comparative morphology and in the analysis of processes leading to adaptive radiation. We illustrate this scheme by examples drawn from the literature and our own work.


The wild enthusiasm for big data and open data has brought with it the assumptions that the utility of data-sets is what matters, and that privacy interests are to be sacrificed for the greater good. As a result, techniques have been devised to reduce the identifiability of expropriated data-records, on the assumption that privacy is to be compromised to the extent necessary. This paper argues for and adopts data privacy as the objective, and treats data utility for secondary purposes as the constraint. The inadequacies of both the concept and the implementation of deidentification are underlined. Synthetic data and Known Irreversible Record Falsification (KIRF) are identified as the appropriate techniques to protect against harm arising from expropriated data-sets.


This article presents the results of a Dutch national study into performance of mechanical ventilation systems and its effect on the self-reported health and perceived indoor environmental quality of occupants. Ventilation systems with natural supply and mechanical exhaust ventilation (MEV) and balanced mechanical supply and exhaust systems with heat recovery (MVHR) were investigated. Surveys were performed in 299 homes, which included visual inspections and measurements of ventilation rates per room and installation noise levels. An additional survey regarding perceived indoor air quality and self-reported health was completed per household. Results show that shortcomings are common in many homes and for both MVHR and MEV. Shortcomings include insufficient ventilation rates, high noise levels, unclean systems and insufficient maintenance. The causes have been found to be related to failures during all the different stages of the building process, from design to use. The indoor environmental quality was perceived more positive in homes with MEV when considering air quality, perceived dryness of air, noise and control options. There was no clear relationship between self-reported health and shortcomings of ventilation systems. Some practical implications are presented to avoid shortcomings in future dwellings.


Mobile ad hoc networks (MANET) is a very complicated distributed systems that comprise of mobile nodes in wireless network that can easily and freely arrange themselves into random and momentary ad hoc network topologies as per the situation in network. The changing topology and resource restriction are the main characteristics which pose a number of tasks for efficient and lightweight security protocols design. Centralized identity management is not present in case of MANETs. The requirements of a unique, distinct, and permanent identity each node are primary requirements for their security protocols, due to this Sybil attacks create a harmful threat to such networks. Many or single identity in ad hoc network, can be created by a Sybil attacker in order to release coordinated attack on the network or can change identities in order to make it weak for the detection process, thereby alter it in lack of accountability in the network. This is the research which will be implemented to detect the identities created by attackers illegitimate node with a lightweight scheme without using any extra hardware, like directional antennae or a geographical positioning system.


[1] Permafrost is a defining characteristic of the Arctic environment. However, climate warming is thawing permafrost in many areas leading to failures in soil structure called thermokarst. An extensive survey of a 600 km2 area in and around the Toolik Lake Natural Research Area (TLNRA) revealed at least 34 thermokarst features, two thirds of which were new since ∼1980 when a high resolution aerial survey of the area was done. Most of these thermokarst features were associated with headwater streams or lakes. We have measured significantly increased sediment and nutrient loading from thermokarst features to streams in two well-studied locations near the TLNRA. One small thermokarst gully that formed in 2003 on the Toolik River in a 0.9 km2 subcatchment delivered more sediment to the river than is normally delivered in 18 years from 132 km2 in the adjacent upper Kuparuk River basin (a long-term monitoring reference site). Ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate concentrations downstream from a thermokarst feature on Imnavait Creek increased significantly compared to upstream reference concentrations and the increased concentrations persisted over the period of sampling (1999–2005). The downstream concentrations were similar to those we have used in a long-term experimental manipulation of the Kuparuk River and that have significantly altered the structure and function of that river. A subsampling of other thermokarst features from the extensive regional survey showed that concentrations of ammonium, nitrate, and phosphate were always higher downstream of the thermokarst features. Our previous research has shown that even minor increases in nutrient loading stimulate primary and secondary production. However, increased sediment loading could interfere with benthic communities and change the responses to increased nutrient delivery. Although the terrestrial area impacted by thermokarsts is limited, the aquatic habitat altered by these failures can be extensive. If warming in the Arctic foothills accelerates thermokarst formation, there may be substantial and wide-spread impacts on arctic stream ecosystems that are currently poorly understood.


Disasters require quick, decisive action by disaster managers under intense conditions of uncertainty. The response organizations that form to meet the challenge are a collection of actors with a variety of experience, training, priorities and communications abilities, and form a unique, emergent social network. The size, scope and dynamics of the event make it difficult to gather clear, timely, pertinent data, assign and share meaning to inform critical decisions. This study describes the planned, reported, perceived and desired (PRPD) networks in emergency management mass care response operations and the information needs of the disaster manager during the threat and immediate response phases of the disaster to build an effective common operating picture (COP). Utilizing the National Incident Management System (NIMS) and the Emergency Support Function (ESF) organizing concept of the National Response Plan as a framework, the networks of actors and information are identified and compared to actual data and networks that were demonstrated in federal and state disaster response operations through the historic Gulf Coast hurricane season of 2005.


Most deformation twins in nanocrystalline face-centered cubic (NC fcc) metals are reported to produce zero-macrostrain, which is attributed to either random activation of partials (RAP) or cooperative slip of three partials (CSTP). Here, we report that when the RAP mechanism is suppressed, ∼44% twins in NC Cu produced zero-macrostrain via the CSTP mechanism. This indicates that both RAP and CSTP are major mechanisms to generate zero-macrostrain twins. In addition, our results also indicate that stress state affects the twinning mechanism in NC fcc metals, and monotonic activation of partials with the same Burgers vector dominates twin formation under monotonic stress.


Hepatocyte transplantation may provide an alternative to orthotopic liver transplantation to treat liver failure. However, suitable systems to transplant hepatocytes and promote long-term engraftment must be developed. In this study, highly porous, biodegradable sponges were fabricated from poly (L-lactic acid) (PLA), and poly (DL-lacticco-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and utilized to transplant hepatocytes into the mesentery of three groups of Lewis rats. The portal vein was shunted to the inferior vena cava in one group of rats (PCS). The second group of animals received a PCS and a 70% hepatectomy on the day of sponge-hepatocyte implantation (PCS + HEP), and the control group (CON) received no surgical stimulation. The sponges were vascularized by ingrowth of fibrovascular tissue over the first 7 days in vivo. Approximately 95-99% of the implanted hepatocytes (determined utilizing computer-assisted image analysis) died in all three experimental groups during this time. The number of engrafted hepatocytes in the CON group further decreased over the next 7 days to 1.3 +/- 1.1% of the original cell number. However, the number of engrafted hepatocytes in the PCS and PCS + HEP increased over this time to 6 +/- 1% and 5 +/- 2%, respectively. The number of engrafted hepatocytes in the PCS group continued to increase over the next 2.5 months to a value of 26 +/- 12% of the initial cell number, and a large number of engrafted hepatocytes was still present at 6 months. These results indicate that stable new tissues can be engineered by transplanting hepatocytes on biodegradable sponges into heterotopic locations if appropriate stimulation is provided.


Twenty-two cases with carcinomas of the nasal cavity, sinuses, buccal and orbital regions treated in the Radiotherapy Clinic of University Central Hospital in Turku, are presented. The dose delivered to the eye was 1400 to 6300 rd. The most usual radiation complication was keratitis which appeared in 15 cases, cataract was diagnosed in seven cases, corneal ulcer in three, iritis in two, retinopathia in two, and glaucoma in three cases. Most of the complications could be relieved or cured with appropriate therapy. In only one case the eye was to be enucleated because of severe glaucoma and corneal ulceration. As the prognosis of malignant tumours in this area usually is bad, irradiation to the eye on the affected side is to be taken as a calculated risk to achieve a more effective cancer control.


The electronic states of the BBr molecule, including 12 valence states and 12 low-lying Rydberg states, have been studied at the theoretical level of MR-CISD+Q with all-electron aug-cc-pVQZ basis sets and Douglas-Kroll [Ann. Phys. (N.Y.) 82, 89 (1974)] scalar relativistic correction. The spin-orbit coupling effect in the valence states was calculated by the state interaction approach with the full Breit-Pauli Hamiltonian. This is the first multireference ab initio study of the excited electronic states of BBr. Potential energy curves of all states were plotted with the help of the avoided crossing rule between electronic states of the same symmetry. The structural properties of these states were analyzed. Computational results reproduced most experimental data well. The transition properties of the a (3)Pi(0(+) ), a (3)Pi(1), and A (1)Pi(1) states to the ground state X (1)Sigma(0(+) ) (+) transitions were obtained, including the transition dipole moments, the Franck-Condon factors, and the radiative lifetimes. The evaluated radiative lifetime of the a (3)Pi(0(+) ), and a (3)Pi(1) states are near 1 ms, much longer than that of the A (1)Pi(1) state.


Abstract. Maria Angeles Rodriguez Rius. Doctor of Philosophy. The University of Manchester, 2012. ?Novel interfacial adsorption properties of collagenous polypeptides and their interactions with model surfactants?.The interfacial adsorption and bulk properties of a collagenous polypeptide derived from chicken eggshell membranes, the 40 KDa polypeptide, and its mixtures with common low molecular weight (LMW) surfactants, SDS, DTAB and C10E8, have been studied for the first time using surface tension, ?-potential, foam observations and neutron scattering techniques. The biopolymer has been shown to act as an effective biosurfactant by lowering the surface tension of water below the values commonly achieved with conventional LMW surfactants, i.e. ? = 32 � 1 mN/m. This capability is maximized at its isoelectric point, pH ~5, and addition of NaCl does not have a major impact upon adsorption. On its own, the 40 KDa polypeptide lacks the ability to foam. When mixed with cationic and anionic surfactants, a positive synergy is observed at low concentrations of both materials that exceeds the expectations from the individual components due to the formation of polypeptide/surfactant complexes with high surface activity and high ability to foam and foam stability. At these concentrations, maximum interfacial adsorption is achieved. The synergy is observed in spite of the type of charges present in the surfactant polar head. However, under the conditions studied, there is a difference in behaviour in regards to colloidal stability and surface film formation between the mixed solutions with the anionic SDS and the cationic DTAB. The non-existence of the synergy in the surface adsorption profile of the mixtures of the polypeptide with the non-ionic surfactant C10E8, as obtained via the plate method, suggests that electrostatic interactions are necessary for this strong synergy to act. ?-potential has been used to prove the electrostatic nature of the synergy. Specular neutron reflection and SANS measurements offered an insight into the complex size and structure. The 40 KDa polypeptide thus offers a promising alternative to the use of high amounts of LMW surfactants in a range of products in which low surface tension and/or high and stable volumes of foams are needed, by combining small amounts of polypeptide and an ionic surfactant. This could be exploited by industries which have an interest in nanoparticle formation such as personal care or pharmaceutical companies. However, further work is needed to fully characterize these interactions.


We report the first experimental observation of three distinct forms of two-wavelength switching (clockwise, anticlockwise, and butterfly) for a 1550 nm vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) operated just above threshold and subject to orthogonally polarized optical injection. The spectrum of the device exhibits two modes, a main mode emitting in a "parallel'' polarization and a subsidiary "`orthogonal'' polarized mode. Low input-power switching of the emission wavelength of the VCSEL by an orthogonally polarized external optical signal injected to the long-wavelength side of the subsidiary mode is observed. Clockwise switching and bistability of the main lasing mode with very high on-off contrast ratio has been measured in all cases. Three different switching shapes: anticlockwise, butterfly, and clockwise, have been measured for the output of the optically injected VCSEL. This diversity of switching behavior with a 1550 nm VCSEL subject to optical injection offers promise for the use of these devices in all-optical switching/routing as well as optical interconnect applications.


The wire electrical arc spraying process is widely used for surface treatment. Electric arc spraying is an advantageous method in many applications due to its high deposition rate and economical operation. The fast development of cored wires as a feedstock material over the past few decades has made it possible to extend the metallurgical choice of sprayed coatings significantly. New coatings with low porosity and small grains were obtained by arc-spraying. Alloys including Cu-Al intermetallic coatings are new candidates for use in tribologic and corrosion environments because of the combination of low cost and a remarkable resistance to abrasion under different working conditions. In the present work, the results concerning the development of arc-sprayed Cu-Al and Cu based coatings for application are presented. The initial phase contents of coatings were studied by X-ray diffractometry. The optical micrograph was SEM analyses were applied to cross-section of samples.


In recent years, various forces within and outside the music industry - record producers, hardware and software suppliers, and Internet service providers - have created techniques and tools that allow recording studios in remote locations to be networked in ever more complex and intimate ways. The effort behind the creation of the 'network studio' is, in part, the result of an overall progression in the historical development of the tools, architectures and practices of the contemporary recording studio. Studios do not exist in a musical or cultural vacuum, however: traditionally, music scenes, session musicians, and local aesthetics and practices have played an important role in the development of specific approaches to recording and have had an influence on the resulting sounds. But the rise of the network studio raises fundamental questions about such relationships and about the role of space and place in sound recording and, in this regard, can be considered as an expression of larger tendencies described within various theories of globalization. This paper addresses how the emergence of the network studio, with its emphasis on standardized technologies and practices and its reliance on the virtual space of network communications, may have an impact upon and/or work alongside conventional recording studio practices


Background: The number of computed tomography (CT) centers and examinations in Nigeria has shown a steady increase. This will increase the collective dose and may potentially result in an increased incidence of cancer, hereditary diseases, and the possibility of mild deterministic effects. Objective: To determine radiation dose output and its relationship with anthropotechnical parameters. Methodology: A retrospective analyses of digital CT files. Effective dose was derived from the dose-length product and factor for examination of head CT (0.0023 mSv/mGy-cm). SPSS version 20.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) was used to analyze the data. Results: Files of 43 male and 42 female (n = 85) adult patients were analyzed. The mean (and 75 th percentile) of the CT dose index (CTDI), dose-length product (DLP), and effective dose in noncontrast examinations were 48 (59) mGy, 874 (1301) mGy-cm, and 1.8 (2.7) mSv, respectively. Contrast examinations yielded 54 (61) mGy, 1476 (2044) mGy-cm, and 3.1 (4.3) mSv, respectively. DLP showed a weak relationship with BPD (r = −0.220), age (r = 0.211), cephalic index (r = −0.186), height (r = 0.158), and gantry tilt (r = 0.154). There was no relationship with weight (r = 0.076), range (r = −0.073), occipitofrontal diameter (r = 0.037), and body mass index (r = −0.018). The correlations were neither statistically nor clinically significant. Conclusion: The CTDI is comparable with local values while the DLP is lower by a range of 5-31% but higher than foreign values by a range of 19-35%. Further optimization of CT radiation dose should be explored to eliminate the gulf between local and foreign dose outputs.


Associated with each point (s, t) E Z2 is a random variable X; and we assume that for each (s, t) E Z2 we possess an observation which is a value of the variate X st • On the basis of the observation set we wish to test whether the underlying random variables are mutually independent or whether they satisfy a moving average field. In the event that the moving-average field hypothesis is accepted the other problem considered is that of obtaining estimates of the model's parameters.


We consider finite state channels, where the state of the channel is its previous output. We refer to these as Previous Output is the STate (POST) channels. We first focus on POST(α) channels. These channels have binary inputs and outputs, where the state determines if the channel behaves as a Z or an S channel, both with parameter α. We show that the nonfeedback capacity of the POST(α) channel equals its feedback capacity, despite the memory of the channel. The proof of this surprising result is based on showing that the induced output distribution, when maximizing the directed information in the presence of feedback, can also be achieved by an input distribution that does not utilize the feedback. We show that this is a sufficient condition for the feedback capacity to equal the nonfeedback capacity for any finite state channel. We show that the result carries over from the POST(α) channel to a binary POST channel, where the previous output determines whether the current channel will be binary with parameters (a, b) or (b, a). Finally, we show that, in general, feedback may increase the capacity of a POST channel.


Background: Adolescence can be a stressful time for children, parents and adults who work with teens. We believe that a scale measuring the events perceived as stressful by an average Indian adolescent is necessary due to the presence of irrelevant items and absence of items related to our culture on foreign scales. Aim: This study was done to adapt and test the validity of a scale measuring stress caused due to life events in an Indian adolescent; to assess clinical value of the instrument in exploring causal relationships between stressful events and behavioral problems; and to compare the degree of overlap in stress-causing events between adolescents and their parents during the same timeframe. Materials and Methods: An adolescent life event stress scale (ALESS) containing 41 items was administered to 156 adolescents for formulation and 102 adolescents for validation. A third set of 112 adolescents was used to compare ALESS scores with child behavior checklist (CBCL) scores and parental stress scores due to life events. Results: The comparison showed a strong positive correlation with CBCL scores with a model fit (r2 = 0.32) and a weak positive correlation with parental stress (Pearson's coefficient = 0.011) due to life events. Conclusion: Thus, a life event scale for adolescents was especially adapted to the Indian conditions.


Given the continuous increase of malicious threats targeting embedded systems, the potential malicious modification of an aircraft application, by exploiting an unknown software or hardware vulnerability of the execution platform, must be seriously considered for future systems. Indeed, an insider attack breaking the organization's security measures to insert a malicious function on board could have significant consequences. Various solutions can be investigated to provide enhanced protection against such threats, including intrusion detection techniques. To design an Intrusion Detection System (IDS), and more specifically to evaluate its performance, abnormal data are required. However, to our knowledge, there is no publicly available attack data for aircraft applications. This paper proposes an approach and a tool aiming at automatically performing application code mutations that mimic the behavior of malevolent pieces of code introduced inside an application. The approach relies on three code modification strategies, designed to cover both generic and specific mutations. The tool takes into account the specific characteristics of avionic applications (dedicated hardware, real-time execution, threat model). This paper describes the architecture and implementation details of the tool, as well as some experiments, in which it is used in order to calibrate a Host-based Intrusion Detection System (HIDS) that we are currently implementing. For that purpose, specific code changes are introduced, targeting application integrity and availability as well as safety.


As the world becomes a highly interconnected place, there is an increasing demand for providing ubiquitous access to content and services over a wide variety of platforms and devices. There is an increasing need to provide rich, intelligent and personalized services to the user irrespective of his location or method of access. There is a need to be connected and have access to resources and services round the clock. All of the above requirements need to be fulfilled in a seamless and scalable fashion in order to support a rich user experience. The cloud computing paradigm has been proposed as the next generation infrastructure to support a highly scalable service oriented architecture to achieve these goals. Providing personalized content recommendation services that recommend content relevant to the user irrespective of his location or access device is an important step in improving user experience. In this paper we investigate the use of a context aware recommendation service based on the cloud model.


Anisah Azhar. 2018. The Effectiveness of Picture Series in Teaching writing at Seventh Grade Students of MTs N Mlinjon Klaten. Thesis. English Education Department, Islamic
Education and Teacher Training Faculty.
Advisor : Muntaha, M.Pd
Key Words : Writing, Picture Series, Procedure text
Media is important in teaching and learning process. It helps teacher deliver the material more effective. Picture series as the media that can help to develop students
imagination of the chronological events in the story immediately can be used to teach writing as writing is the process of thinking to invent ideas, thinking about how express into good writing and arranging the ideas into statement and paragraph clearly. Therefore, the objective of the research is to know the effectiveness of Picture Series to teach writing at seventh grade of MTs N Mlinjon Klaten.
This research is a quantitative and uses experimental design. This research was carried out in MTs N Mlinjon Klaten. The population of the research was the seventh
grade student of MTs N Mlinjon Klaten. The researcher chose class VII G and VII H as the sample of the research. The class VII G as the experimental group was taught using
picture series and class VII H as the control group was taught using cue card. In collecting the data, the researcher used pretest, treatment and posttest with essay as scoring. Then data were analyzed using T-test.
The mean score of posttest of the experimental group is 79.23 while the mean score of posttest of control group is 72.88. The result of T-test above Tvalue > Ttable.
that was 9.436 > 2.000, and also can read in p-value (sig 2-tailed) < 0,05. That was 0,000
< 0,05. So, with those can be concluded that Null Hypothesis (Ho) was rejected and Alternative Hypothesis (Ha) was accepted. It means that there was significant difference
in achievement of writing text between students taught by Picture Series in teaching writing text. The findings of this research are first the score is increasing after students are taught using Picture Series. Second Picture Series has significant different on the seventh grade students' writing skills of MTs N Mlinjon Klaten in academic year 2017/2018. From that finding, it can be concluded that Picture Series is recommended to teach Writing to junior high school level. So, Picture Series is effective to use by the teacher in teaching writting.


The main objective of the present paper is to construct a new class of space-time discretizations for the stochastic $p$-Stokes system and analyze its stability and convergence properties. We derive regularity results for the approximation that are similar to the natural regularity of solutions. One of the key arguments relies on discrete extrapolation that allows to relate lower moments of discrete maximal processes. We show that, if the generic spatial discretization is constraint conforming, then the velocity approximation satisfies a best-approximation property in the natural distance. Moreover, we present an example such that the resulting velocity approximation converges with rate $1/2$ in time and $1$ in space towards the (unknown) target velocity with respect to the natural distance.


Abstract Large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia is a rare disorder of cytotoxic lymphocytes. LGL cells play an integral role in the immune system and are divided into two major lineages of CD3−natural killer (NK) cells and CD3+ T cells that circulate throughout the blood in search of infected cells, in which they will make contact through a receptor ligand and induce cell death. LGL cells are also programmed to undergo apoptosis after contact with an infected target cell; however, they continue to survive in individuals with LGL leukemia. This unchecked proliferation and cytotoxicity of LGLs in patients results in autoimmunity or malignancy. Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common autoimmune condition seen in individuals with LGL leukemia; however, LGL leukemia is associated with a wide spectrum of other autoimmune diseases. Patients may also suffer from other hematological conditions including hemolytic anemia, pure red cell aplasia, and neutropenia, which lead to recurrent bacterial infections. Currently, the only established treatment involves a low dose of an immunosuppressive regimen with methotrexate, in which 40–50% of patients are either resistant or do not respond. In order to establish new therapeutics it is important to understand the current state of LGL leukemia both in the clinic and in basic research.


The Floquet method (non-perturbative) is used to investigate the multiphoton vibration-rotation excitation of SH, SH- and SH+ ions in the presence of an intense infrared laser beam. A number of interesting features such as line broadening and the dynamic Stark shift are studied as a function of laser intensity and frequency.


This study examines the effects of the 1919 introduction of qualified retirement allowing federal judges to retire rather than resign. Retired judges, unlike those who resigned, could perform judicial duties, and their retirement pay could not be diminished. Departures from the U.S. (Circuit) Courts of Appeals from 1892 to 1953 are examined to determine whether the 1919 reform altered how or why judges quit. The effects of political, personal, and institutional factors on departures are analyzed, with their influences expected to vary over time and among types of departures. Political factors are expected to be more influential from 1919 to 1953 as the retirement option made departure more attractive. Quantitative analysis reveals that retirements differed from resignations, and that personal and institutional factors were more influential than political considerations. The results indicate that judges respond to incremental reforms to their duties and benefits when they consider leaving office and, at least before 1954, did not exploit the opportunity to quit strategically.


Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an ongoing pandemic infectious disease outbreak that has significantly harmed and threatened the health and lives of millions or even billions of people. COVID-19 has also negatively impacted the social and economic activities of many countries significantly. With no approved vaccine available at this moment, extensive testing of COVID-19 viruses in people are essential for disease diagnosis, virus spread confinement, contact tracing, and determining right conditions for people to return to normal economic activities. Identifying people who have antibodies for COVID-19 can also help select persons who are suitable for undertaking certain essential activities or returning to workforce. However, the throughputs of current testing technologies for COVID-19 viruses and antibodies are often quite limited, which are not sufficient for dealing with COVID-19 viruses' anticipated fast oscillating waves of spread affecting a significant portion of the earth's population.
In this paper, we propose to use compressed sensing (group testing can be seen as a special case of compressed sensing when it is applied to COVID-19 detection) to achieve high-throughput rapid testing of COVID-19 viruses and antibodies, which can potentially provide tens or even more folds of speedup compared with current testing technologies. The proposed compressed sensing system for high-throughput testing can utilize expander graph based compressed sensing matrices developed by us \cite{Weiyuexpander2007}.


The process of genome DNA injection, after adsorption, by phage PL-1 into host cells of Lactobacillus casei was monitored by using the electron microscope. Injection of DNA was inhibited by the protein-synthesis inhibitors chloramphenicol and erythromycin at concentrations where the colony-forming ability of cells not infected by phage was unaffected. The results suggest that protein synthesis may be involved in some way in the process of genome injection.


Phase-change Memory (PCM) is a promising alternative or complement to DRAM for its non-volatility, scalable bit density, and fast read performance. Nevertheless, PCM has two serious challenges including extraordinarily slow write speed and less-than-desirable write endurance. While recent research has improved the write endurance significantly, slow write speed become a more prominent issue and prevents PCM from being widely used in real systems. To improve write speed, this paper proposes a new memory micro-architecture, called Parallel Chip PCM(PC2M), which leverages the spatial locality of memory accesses and trades bank-level parallelism for larger chip-level parallelism. We also present a micro-write scheme to reduce the blocking for read accesses caused by uninterrupted serialized writes. Micro-write breaks a large write into multiple smaller writes and timely schedules newly arriving reads immediately after a small write completes. Our design is orthogonal to many existing PCM write hiding techniques, and thus can be used to further optimize PCM performance. Based on simulation experiments of a multi-core processor under SPEC CPU 2006 multi-programmed workloads, our proposed techniques can reduce the memory latency of standard PCM by 68.5% and improve the system performance by 30.3% on average. PC2M and Micro-write significantly outperform existing approaches.


Explore general resources for international research. For in-depth, esp. foreign language sources, please consult relevant reseach guides focusing on specific regions, such as guides for East Asian Studies, Latin American Studies etc.


Abstract Despite a favorable effect of imatinib on glucose metabolism in animal models, human reports are inconsistent. We retrospectively studied the long-term effect of imatinib on fasting plasma glucose (FPG), glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C), LDL-cholesterol (LDL), and triglycerides (TGs) in a large HMO cohort of patients initiating therapy. In patients with diabetes (n = 118), significant reductions in HbA1c (0.53%, IQR 0.09, 1.19; p < .001) and FPG (10.2 mg/dL, IQR −3.5, 32.2; p < .001), independent of demographics and of glucose-lowering drugs utilization, were observed during the first year of imatinib treatment. Significant reductions in LDL (17.8 mg/dL, IQR −1.3, 34.0; p < .001) and TG (25.0 mg/dL, IQR −2.3, 58.3; p < .001), also independent of demographics and of statin utilization, were evident in the entire cohort (n = 611) during the first imatinib year. All reductions persisted during the second treatment year. To conclude, imatinib is associated with durable metabolic benefits, which may guide TKI choice in patients with cardiovascular co-morbidities.


In this paper, we analyze 1420 MHz continuum and H i observations of the supernova remnant (SNR) 3C 397 (G41.1-0.3). The H i absorption spectra show clear absorption up to the tangent point velocity and also the absence of absorption at 50–60 km s−1. This yields lower and upper limits to the distances of 6.3 ± 0.1 and 9.7 ± 0.3 kpc, which are better and more robust than previous estimates. We apply generalized SNR models to 3C 397, including the ejecta-dominated phase and the transition-to-Sedov phase. Using emission measures from the X-ray and mean gas density from the infrared, we show that the hard X-ray component has the dominant filling factor and the soft X-ray component has a very small filling factor. The models are required to be consistent with 3C 397's measured properties, including the observed shock temperatures and shock radii. Consistent models are found if 3C 397 has a distance in the range of ≃8–9.7 kpc. For an 8 kpc distance, the estimated age is ≃1350 years and the explosion energy is 1.0 × 1051 erg, while for 9.7 kpc, the the most probable age is ≃1750 years and the energy 1.5 × 1051 erg.


While there has been substantial research conducted in the business to consumer (B2C) sector on brand loyalty, there is scant evidence of the same in the business to business (B2B) sector (Russell-Bennett, McColl-Kennedy, & Coote, 2007). This paper seeks to advance the understanding of business brand loyalty through the use of a tri-dimensional approach to brand loyalty and the identification of the psychological function that these dimensions of brand loyalty provide to the business buyer. The four functions of utilitarian, knowledge, value-expression and ego-defence provide insight into the benefits that are gained by the business buyer from being loyal. Mail surveys were completed by 105 Australian businesses. The relationship between the functions and three dimensions of loyalty were examined using correlation analysis. The results show that all four functions of brand loyalty were identified as benefits by different business buyers and there were different relationships between these functions and each of the three dimensions of brand loyalty. Importantly, the role of emotions in business buying has been highlighted as an area needing further investigation.


P neuropathy is one of the commonest long term complications of diabetes mellitus which has been reported to be prevalent in 22% of d iabe t i c cohor t . 1 Pa in fu l d iabe t i c neuropathy (PDN) occurs in 6% of the patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and this is most distressing symptom which impairs quality of life.2 Patients seek advice to get relief but unfortunately treatment has been inadequate. Mechanisms of PDN involve many biological, structural and electrophysiological alterations of nervous tissues. They can be enlisted asA. Pe r i p h e r a l m e c h a n i s m s w h i c h include changes in sodium channel distribution and expression, changes in calcium channel distribution and expression, a l tered neuropeptide expression, sympathetic sprouting, loss of spinal inhibitory control, altered peripheral blood flow, axonal atrophy, degeneration, or regeneration, damage to small fibres and increased glycaemic flux.3 B. Central mechanisms which include, Central sensitisation, changes in the balance of facilitation/inhibition within descending pathways and increased thalamic vascularity. Myriad of pathogenetic mechanisms of PDN is a challenge to develop a drug that can be definitive treatment to alleviate miseries of the condition. I t is a lso not certain which of the mechanisms i s over t ly media t ing the pain in one individual. Several pharmacological treatments have been proved effective in the management of painful PDN to certain extent. It is efficacy and safety that is considered while choosing pharmacological agents. Many times, a principle of "hit trial" help selection of the drug for PDN. Treatment of Painful Diabetic Neuropathy


physiological basis of crop growth and development is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our book servers saves in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the physiological basis of crop growth and development is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Many flagellated bacteria possess multiple flagellins, but the roles and the compositions of each flagellin are diverse and poorly understood. In Ligilactobacillus agilis BKN88, there are two active flagellin gene paralogues but their function and composition in its flagellar filaments have not been described. The aim of this study is to find the function and composition of the flagellins by employing mutant strains each of which expresses a single flagellin or a modified flagellin. Two single flagellin-expressing strains were both flagellated while the number of flagella per cell in the single flagellin-expressing derivatives was lower than that in the wild type. Nonetheless, these derivative strains were apparently equally motile as the wild type. This indicates that either flagellin is sufficient for cell motility. The immunological activity via Toll-like receptor 5 of the single flagellin-expressing strains or purified single flagellins was readily detectable but mostly variably weaker than that of the wild type. The flagellar filaments of wild type L. agilis BKN88 were more acid-/thermo-stable than those of single flagellin-expressing derivatives. Using a combination of immunoprecipitation and flagellin-specific staining, wild type BKN88 appeared to possess heteropolymeric flagellar filaments consisting of both flagellins and each flagellin appeared to be equally distributed throughout the filaments. The results of this study suggest that the two flagellins together form a more robust filament than either alone and are thus functionally complementary.


This essay explores the differences between legal pragmatism and formalism as working forms of legal thought. After a short overview of pragmatism and a discussion of Louis Brandeis as an exemplar, it turns to the evolving caselaw regarding presidential removal. This issue has led to notable faceoffs between formalists and pragmatist, from Taft v. Holmes and Brandeis, to Roberts and Thomas v. Kagan. Because of their preference for bright-line rules, formalists have tended to oversimplify Founding era history and post-Founding practice. Pragmatist judges have provided more nuanced historical accounts and have tried to come to grips with the tradeoffs involved in issues of institutional design. The choice between these styles of thought is not inherently tied to differences in ideology or substantive constitutional views. Legal pragmatism has the potential, however, to connect judicial decisions to issues that are meaningful to the public, to provide more transparency into the reasons that motivate decisions, and to promote better dialogue among judges.


Quantum mechanics (QM) plays an important role in current technological developments and scientific research. Therefore, QM has become part of the secondary schools curriculum in several countries. However, there has been little research into secondary school students' understanding of quantum mechanics. In this thesis we present the results of an investigation into how QM can be successfully introduced at the secondary school level. We first conducted a literature review to investigate the current state of research on secondary school students' understanding of QM. Results showed that students have difficulty relating QM to physical reality, and that there is a need to investigate students' difficulties concerning wave functions and potential wells. Additionally this study showed there is a need for the development of assessment tools for secondary education Secondly, a Delphi study was conducted in order to explore what topics of QM Dutch experts consider important to teach at secondary schools and why. The results showed that there was a moderate to strong consensus on the topics that are considered to be important, i.e. duality, wave functions and atoms. Interviews showed that the experts' opinions were based mainly on the idea that students should have a certain understanding of important scientific concepts. Topics that were considered too complex or abstract were viewed as less essential. In the third study, we researched Dutch students' misunderstandings after they learned quantum mechanics. Quantitative analysis of a concept test showed that Dutch secondary school students experience the same difficulties that were reported for undergraduate students. A qualitative analysis of open ended questions and interviews showed that Dutch students have difficulty connecting knowledge of the 1D infinite potential well and tunneling to their prior knowledge. Finally, we investigated the influence of prior knowledge of potential energy on students' understanding of QM in a quasi-experimental study. Results showed that the experimental group not only had better understanding of potential energy, but also of QM even before they were being taught QM. Analysis also showed that there was a significant correlation between the understanding of potential energy diagrams and the understanding of quantum mechanics.


Viscosity and conductivity data of [BMIM]Zn(Ac)xCly(x = 0, 1, 2, 3; y = 3, 2, 1, 0) ionic liquids were detected at temperature ranging from 323.15 to 353.15 Kwith an interval of 5 K.The conductivities of different ionic liquids at the same temperature followed the trend [BMIM][ZnAcCl2] > [BMIM][ZnAc2Cl] > [BMIM][ZnCl3] > [BMIM][ZnAc3]. The viscosities of different ionic liquid abided by the order [BMIM][ZnCl3] > [BMIM][ZnAcCl2] > [BMIM][ZnAc2Cl] > [BMIM][ZnAc3]. Acetate ion could reduce the viscosity of ionic liquids. The relationship between viscosity/conductivity and temperature obeyed the Arrhenius equation and Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann (VFT) equation very well with above 0.99 correlation coefficients.


A bidirectional selection cooperation approach based on Multi-Agent is presented, in which some parameters, such as the ability value, communication costs and so on, are introduced into the classical contract net protocol. More importantly, the bidirectional selection mechanism between assign task agent and perform task agent is introduced into collaboration for the first time. These parameters reduce the communication consumption and balance the resource load among all Agents. The bidirectional selection cooperation increases cooperation efficiency and ensures the reliability and correctness of the whole Multi-Agent system. At last, taking detonator production schedule as an example, it proves that the bidirectional selection cooperation approach prolongs the system lifetime, improves the system load and increases the accomplished tasks in unit time.


The results of the treatment of 250 patients with a carbuncle of various location were analyzed retrospectively. A differential approach to choice of surgical method with consideration of the degree, phase and localization of inflammation is preferable. Early and radical surgery, antimicrobic drugs, infusion therapy make base of up-to-date and adequate treatment. In the phase of infiltration deep incision often stops the disease or promotes a decrease of the necrotic zone. In suppurations linear incisions were made only on the face for cosmetic reasons. In other areas a few large connected T-, [symbol: see text]-, [symbol: see text]- or cross-formed incisions were preferable. In 30 cases I-formed incision with two rectangular flaps was used.


Clinical studies of spinal cord injury (SCI) have evolved into multidisciplinary programs that investigate multiple types of neurological deficits and sequelae. In 2007, the International Campaign for Cures of SCI Paralysis (ICCP) proposed best practices for interventional trial designs, end-points, and inclusion criteria. Here we quantitatively assessed the extent to which SCI trials follow ICCP guidelines and reflect the overall patient population. We obtained data for all 288 SCI trials in ClinicalTrials.gov. We calculated summary statistics and observed trends pre-2007 versus 2007 onward. To compare the trial population to the overall SCI population, we obtained statistics from the National SCI Statistical Center. We generated tag clouds to describe heterogeneous trial outcomes. Most interventional studies were randomized (147, 73.1%), and utilized active (55, 36.7%) or placebo controls (49, 32.7%), both increasing trends (p=0.09). Most trials were open label (116, 53.5%), rather than double- (62, 28.6%) or single-blinded (39, 18.0%), but blinding has increased (p=0.01). Tag clouds of outcomes suggest an emphasis on assessment using scores and scales. Inclusion criteria related to American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) status and neurological level allowed inclusion of most SCI patients. Age inclusion criteria were most commonly 18-65 or older. Consistent with ICCP recommendations, most trials were randomized and controlled, and blinding has increased. Age inclusion criteria skew older than the overall population. ASIA status criteria reflect the population, but neurological lesion criteria could be broadened. Investigators should make trial designs and results available in a complete manner to enable comparisons of populations and outcomes.


Background: Total ankle replacements (TARs) have higher rates of osteolysis than hip or knee replacements. It is unclear whether this is a pathologic immunologic process in response to wear debris, or expansion of pre-existing osteoarthritic bone cysts. We aimed to determine the incidence of bone cysts in patients with end-stage ankle arthritis prior to surgery and review the literature on bone cysts and osteolysis in relation to TAR. Methods: This is a descriptive/prevalence study in which all patients with end-stage ankle arthritis underwent plain radiographic imaging and computed tomographic (CT) scans prior to TAR surgery. Their imaging was assessed for the presence of cysts, measured on sagittal, axial, and coronal slices of the CT scan at the widest diameter. All cysts that would be removed as a result of the bone resection for the implant were excluded using digital analysis software. We assessed 120 consecutive patients with mean age of 63.4 years. Results: Seventeen patients (14%) did not have any bone cysts based on CT images. Ten patients (8%) had cysts that would have been completely removed by surgery, leaving 93 patients for analysis (78%). In 60% of these cases, the cysts were not seen on the plain radiographs. In 39 patients (33%), the cysts were greater than 5 mm in size. The medial (36%) and lateral malleoli (33%) were the most common location for the cysts (mean diameter 4.6±2.0 and 4.2±2.3 mm, respectively). Conclusion: Bone cysts outside of the resection margins for a TAR were present in 78% of patients with ankle arthritis prior to undergoing surgery. In 30% of cases, cysts were greater than 5 mm in size. In 60% of cases, the cysts were not seen on plain radiographs. Preoperative 3-dimensional imaging can provide a foundation to observe and quantify cyst presence, expansion, and time of onset in the postoperative setting. Level of Evidence: Level IIc, diagnostic/prevalence study.


Lung volumes, diffusing capacity (DLCO), quasi-static pressure-volume curves (P-V), forced expiration (FE) and He-SF6 single-breath washout (SBW) were performed in Wistar rats with emphysema induced by different doses of pancreatic elastase in saline, instilled intratracheally 6 wk prior to the tests. Emphysema was quantitatively assessed by mean linear intercept (Lm) measurements on 5-microns lung sections. Lung volume, P-V curve, and FE dependence on Lm, as well as the nonsignificant dependence of DLCO on Lm, are generally similar to results reported by others. The most interesting observation concerns the SBW: N2 slopes of the alveolar plateau, compared for identical lung volumes, did not change with the degree of emphysema. By contrast, the He-SF6 slope difference did depend significantly on the degree of emphysema. Based on the diffusion front theory, the present work suggests that in rats with elastase-induced emphysema, the phase III slope modifications relate mainly to elastic and not to structural alterations.


Discontinuities in histograms may appear as side effects in the acquisition and pre-processing of images. Although these can be indistinguishable from real cluster peaks in univariate histograms, they are clearly detected in bivariate histograms. The effect of such discontinuities over the isodata algorithm and over a non-parametric clustering algorithm has been tested. Though it is not clear that they directly affect the isodata classifier, classes created do not match at all the number, shape and location of spectral clusters observed in bivariate histograms. Conversely, the non-parametric clustering algorithm can be clearly affected by histogram discontinuities; but, if these are previously removed by a low pass filter, it may be able to describe correctly the structure of the spectral space.


Here, we present the first example of application of single-electron transfer living radical polymerization (SET-LRP) process to a controlled grafting of cellulose esters, cellulose diacetate (CDA), and cellulose acetate butyrate (CAB). The cellulose ester macroinitiators with various functionality densities have been prepared by acylation of the backbones with 2-bromoisobutyryl (BrIB) and dichloroacetyl (DCA) groups, respectively. Methacrylate monomers were polymerized using DCA-functionalized macroinitiators in the presence of pentamethyldiethylene triamine as a ligand. At 30 °C, the reaction is rather slow, reaching about 10% conversion after 3 to 6 h of polymerization, whereas the higher temperature (60 °C) perceptibly speeds up the polymerization so that methyl methacrylate (MMA) conversion is ∼30% after 5 h. Graft copolymers with random-type and diblock-type grafts having amphiphilic character were also synthesized. For acrylate grafting (BuA and t-BuA), BrIB-functionalized macroinitiators are more convenient in a combination with a low concentration of Cu(0) and Me6TREN as a ligand and polymerization is detectably faster even at the lower temperature than that of MMA. Kinetic studies show "living" character of both the graftings. Important advantages of SET-LRP, compared with classic ATRP, are (i) higher polymerization rate, (ii) lower extent of recombination of the growing grafts and (iii) negligible coloration of the products with catalytic residua, so that the prepared polymers do not require additional careful purification. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010


Optical based analysis in microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip systems are currently considered the gold standard methodology for the determination of end point reactions for various chemical and biological reaction processes. Typically, assays are performed using bulky ancillary apparatus such as microscopes and complex optical excitation and detection systems. Such instrumentation negates many of the advantages offered by device miniaturisation, particularly with respect to overall portability. In this article, we present a CO2 laser ablation technique for rapidly prototyping on-chip planar lenses, in conjunction with capillary action based autonomous microfluidics, to create a miniaturised and fully integrated optical biosensing platform. The presented self-aligned on-chip optical components offer an efficient means to direct excitation light within microfluidics and to directly couple light from a LED source. The device has been used in conjunction with a miniaturised and bespoke fluorescence detection platform to create a complete, palm sized system (≈60 × 80 × 60 mm) capable of performing fluoro-immunoassays. The system has been applied to the detection of cardiac Troponin I, one of the gold standard biomarkers for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction, achieving a lower detection limit of 0.08 ng/ml, which is at the threshold of clinically applicable concentrations. The portable nature of the complete system and the biomarker detection capabilities demonstrate the potential of the devised instrumentation for use as a medical diagnostics device at the point of care.


We propose an adaptive reordered method to deal with the PageRank problem. It has been shown that one can reorder the hyperlink matrix of PageRank problem to calculate a reduced system and get the full PageRank vector through forward substitutions. This method can provide a speedup for calculating the PageRank vector. We observe that in the existing reordered method, the cost of the recursively reordering procedure could offset the computational reduction brought by minimizing the dimension of linear system. With this observation, we introduce an adaptive reordered method to accelerate the total calculation, in which we terminate the reordering procedure appropriately instead of reordering to the end. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of this adaptive reordered method.


This study contributes to investigation into the benefits of mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in regard to Spanish GAAP for analysts' earnings forecasts. In a sample of listed Spanish firms we find that mandatory IFRS adoption led to improvements in the quality of the information provided to financial analysts in the post-adoption period. We provide evidence that the benefits of IFRS take time to materialise. We also observe that the expected benefits and costs of IFRS adoption in relation to financial analysts' forecasts were not randomly distributed among Spanish firms. In terms of analysts' earnings forecast error and dispersion after implementation of IFRS, benefits are concentrated mainly in firms audited by the Big 4 audit firms.


RFID technology is the recent emergence of a non-contact automatic identification technology. And compared to currently used bar code technology, RFID technology has the read distance, penetrating ability, high efficiency, large amount of information and other advantages, and have wide applications in various fields. Therefore, radio frequency identification technology research has become the focus of research.


T2K is a long baseline neutrino experiment in Japan.
Its main physics motivation is the precise measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters ($\theta_{23},\Delta m^{2}_{23},\theta_{13},\delta_{CP}$) by $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance and $\nu_{e}$ appearance.
Neutrino oscillation analysis requires precise understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions to predict event rates at the far detector.
ND280 is a near detector complex used to measure the neutrino beam before oscillation, which allows us to constrain uncertainties in the neutrino interaction and accelerator flux models.
In these proceedings, the neutrino-nucleus interaction model used in T2K's 2017 oscillation analysis and the result of a fit to the ND280 data are presented. A study of the robustness of the fit to the choice of neutrino interaction model will also be discussed.


Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to aim at taking a closer look at the decline in the inequality of the distribution of four health variables, infant and child mortality, child stunting and underweight, that took place in various Southeast Asian countries during the past 25 years. More specifically its goal is to check the extent to which this decline in health inequality, as well as the overall reduction in infant and child mortality, in child stunting and underweight, affected the poorest wealth quintile of the population of these countries. Design/methodology/approach - – In the first part of the paper the author presents a systematic comparison of the values taken by various consistent measures of the inequality of health attainments and shortfalls for several countries in Southeast Asia and for four health indicators: infant mortality, child mortality, child stunting and underweight. The second part of the paper uses the concept of Shapley decomposition to determine the respective impacts of the decrease in the average value of these health variables and in the inequality of their distribution on the reduction observed for each of these variables in the lowest wealth quintile. Findings - – During the period examined there was an important decline infant and child mortality as well as in child stunting and underweight in all countries of Southeast Asia for which data were available. As far as the poorest wealth quintile is concerned this decline was mostly the consequence of the overall decline in these health variables rather than to the reduction of the inequality of their distribution. Research limitations/implications - – Data were available for only four health variables and for many countries data were available for only one period. Practical implications - – A decline in health inequality should be considered as an important aspect of poverty reduction. Social implications - – Development should not be limited to its economic components. A broader view of development is indispensable. Originality/value - – This study is probably one of the first ones to provide the reader with data on the reduction in health inequality in Southeast Asia as well as on the impact of this decline on the poorest wealth quintile.


Background Women with pregnancies with suspected fetal anomalies are routinely referred to fetal medicine units for management. Some of these pregnancies end in spontaneous fetal loss or termination of pregnancy. Objective We sought to determine the accuracy of antenatal detection of lethal fetal structural abnormalities by ultrasound following fetal loss evaluated by fetal postmortem. Study design We retrospectively reviewed registry data of consecutive fetal autopsies, before 24 weeks gestation, performed in a regional perinatal pathology service in South Yorkshire England over a 5 year period comparing the postmortem findings to the antenatal diagnosis made in the regional fetal medicine unit which informed parental decisions. A subset of women who had antenatal care locally has been analysed. Results There were 81 fetal postmortems of which 32% of the anomalies were diagnosed in the first trimester and 68% in the second trimester. Ninety-eight per cent were full postmortems. There was full agreement between antenatal and post-mortem findings in 86% of the cases. There was partial or major disagreement in 9% and 5% of the cases respectively. With the major disagreements, the post-mortem findings could result in modification of the postnatal counselling for recurrence and management of subsequent pregnancies. Conclusion Antenatal ultrasound detected 86% of the fetal abnormalities for which parents opted for pregnancy termination or which led to spontaneous miscarriage. Postmortems not only provide reassurance of the antenatal diagnosis but also modify the management of future pregnancies.


This study investigates the association between reading habits and aesthetic preferences in different cultural contexts. In particular, we explore two questions: (1) Is the association between reading habits and aesthetic preferences the same in Taiwanese culture as it is in other cultures? (2) Is such an association relevant to the design of applications? Readers of Taiwanese were presented pairs of images, one being the mirror-image of the other, and were asked for their aesthetic preference. We found a significant effect of reading habits on aesthetic preference that right-to-left readers preferred stimuli with a leftward directionality. Despite the popularity of computer use (which have a left-to-right directionality), the influence between reading habits and aesthetic preferences still exists in Taiwan. In contrast, when we apply it to design, we cannot see any effect of reading habits on aesthetic preference. Perhaps the constitutional factors of the images are more complex. This also indirectly reminds us that considering the balance of the screen is more important in design.


The design of a 6 transistor SRAM cell with 0.5 μm layout rules requires an N+ to P+ spacing across the well edge in the order of 2 μm. Punchthrough and latchup sensitivity are the major factors which limit the reduction of this spacing. The process reported in this paper solves the problem of the p-type implant with its lateral diffusion at the same time the number of masking steps of the generation of the wells is reduced. Using I-line lithography with 0.5 μm resolution, SRAM cells with a spacing of 2.1 μm have been characterized and shows good isolation behaviour with low subthreshold currents.


To get a better insight in hydrodynamic forces and moments acting on a planing hull during a manoeuvre in the horizontal plane oscillation runs have been performed. During these tests the model was fully constrained and forced into a manoeuvring motion (pure sway, pure yaw and yaw with drift). Forces and moments were measured in six degrees of freedom. Draught, trim angle, forward speed and swayand yaw velocity have been varied systematically. Based on the measured forces and moments a mathematical model has been formulated by performing regression analysis with the varied coefficients as input variables. Subsequently, the mathematical model has been implemented in a simulation program, which has been developed earlier to describe the motional behaviour of a planing hull in six degrees of freedom. A number of simulation runs has been performed to observe the behaviour of a planing hull. Hydrodynamic terms as added mass appear to depend on forward speed.


Generators are the most complex and expensive single element in a power system. The generator protection relays should to minimize damage during fault states and must be designed for maximum reliability. A conventional CDR(Current Differential Relaying) technique based on DFT(Discrete Fourier Transform) filter have the disadvantages that the time information can lead to loss in the process of converting the signal from the time domain to the frequency domain. A WT(Wavelet transform) and WT analysis is known that it is possible with the local analysis of the fault and transient signal. In this paper, to overcome the defects in the DFT process, an application of WT for fault detection of generator is presented. This paper describes an selection of mother Wavelet to detect faults of generator. Using collected data from the fault simulation with ATPdraw, we analyzed the several mother Wavelet through the course of MLD(multi-level decomposition) using MATLAB software. Finally, it can be seen that the proposed technique using detail coefficient of Daubechies level 2 which can be fault discriminant of generator.


—Shoulder beds may have a significant effect on the resistivity log responses. This problem is especially acute in studies of complex strata composed of thin beds with contrasting properties. Different approaches to taking account of the shoulder-bed effect on logging signals are known, such as correction charts, deconvolution operations, and using advanced algorithms of numerical data inversion, which allow one to consider the vertical inhomogeneity of the section. The best result is achieved using the inversion toolkit, but the high labor- and resource-intensiveness of the approach limits its widespread use. The deconvolution approach does not have these disadvantages, but it does not take into account the influence of radial changes in the medium properties on the shapes of measured signals.The possibility of using artificial neural networks (ANN) to increase the vertical resolution of the measured logging data is explored. We assume the existence of a deconvolution-like transformation in which change in the medium properties in the radial direction is also considered. In this case, we can find its approximation using a neural network. The approach is demonstrated by creating a transformation algorithm for the high-frequency electromagnetic logging (VIKIZ) sounding tool, which is widely used in the CIS countries for petroleum exploration. The developed algorithm has been tested on the VIKIZ logs from the Fedorovskoe oilfield (Latitudinal Ob' region).


Cutaneous manifestations of malignancies in children are not uncommon. A thirteen year old girl presented with multiple skin nodules on the scalp, face and trunk. Histopathology established the diagnosis of T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma. This case is being presented for its rarity and clinical interest. CASE REPORT A 13 year old girl presented with multiple nodular lesions over her scalp and plaques of violaceous discolouration over her chest and face. She was otherwise well and had no constitutional symptoms. On examination she was afebrile, had no enlarged lymph nodes and abdominal examination showed no hepatosplenomegaly. She had multiple nodules over the scalp, hyper pigmented, violaceous, non tender, rubbery-firm in consistency and measuring about 2-4cm. There were similar lesions on the chest and abdomen (figure 1,2). Figure 1 Figure 1: Lump on scalp Figure 2 Figure 2: Lesions on skin Her full blood count and biochemistry were normal except for a raised LDH level of 525. {Normal <300} X-ray chest revealed widened mediastinum. CT scan showed lymphomatous deposits in the anterior mediastinum and liver(figure 3,4). Multiple skin nodules as presenting feature of lymphoblastic lymphoma: a diagnostic dilemma 2 of 4 Figure 3 Figure 3: Mediastinal lymph nodes, No tracheal compromise Figure 4 Figure 4: CT scan with lymphomatous infiltrates in liver Skin biopsy showed a patchy dermal infiltrate of lymphoid cells that have scanty cytoplasm indented nuclei and granular chromatin. These cells were positive for CD3, CD4, CD8, tdt and CD10. They expressed CD79a and were weakly positive for CD5. A diagnosis of T cell lymphoblastic lymphoma was confirmed. Figure 5 Figure 5: Biopsy of skin lesion showing Lymphoblastic infiltration She has been treated with chemotherapy on the MRC ALL 97/01 protocol Regimen B for a total of 2 years and 2 months and finished treatment Oct 2005. Despite her unusual presentation she responded well to treatment and remains in remission at the present time. DISCUSSION Non Hodgkin Lymphoma represents 4-6% of all malignant neoplastic disease of childhood. Paediatric non-Hodgkin lymphomas differ from adult disease in that they are almost all high grade, have a diffuse growth pattern and commonly involve extra nodal sites .1 Majority of cases fall into one of three diagnostic groups: Burkitts lymphoma; lymphoblastic lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma. 1 Cutaneous involvement in lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL) has been described. In one series, 1.8% of paediatric patients with ALL or LBL presented with skin lesions before diagnosis of haematological malignancy or simultaneously.2 However cutaneous infiltration is more common in B cell lineage lymphoblastic lymphoma 2. The commonest sites of presentation of cutaneous LBL have been described as the head and neck area.3 Involvement of the back and generalised tumours can occur. 4 A further 3 cases of T cell lymphoblastic Lymphoma presenting with cutaneous lesions have been described in the literature. 4,5Our index case presented with an initial skin lesion before progressing rapidly to involve the scalp, chest, and abdomen and was T cell in origin rather than B cell. Multiple skin nodules as presenting feature of lymphoblastic lymphoma: a diagnostic dilemma 3 of 4 It is also important because the patient had no clinical features of a T cell Lymphoma and was thought to be a skin condition till the biopsy was done. Since the cutaneous lesions are part of a generalised systemic aggressive disease treatment is with chemotherapy on Leukaemia/lymphoma protocols. Prognosis of patients who present with cutaneous infiltration is still uncertain (due to its rarity), although there is evidence to suggest that this condition is highly curable despite dissemination at presentation6. The index case continues to make excellent progress with complete resolution of scalp and cutaneous lesions.


Abstract : According to current United States (US) Army doctrine, operational art fulfills a bridging role to pursue strategic objectives throughout the arrangement of tactical action in time, space, and purpose. The German Wehrmacht and the US Army as part of the Allies applied their contemporary art of operations in the complex testbed of World War II successfully. By comparing the doctrinal frameworks, this monograph raises the initial research questions about a comparable doctrinal perception to today's sophisticated understanding. This enables the utilization of three lenses intent, synchronization, and risk to evaluate the application of an art of operations during the Operations Mercury (1941) and Husky (1943). Although both operations were successful, they achieved their objectives at high costs and faced significant impediments. This monograph argues for a comparability of the contemporary and the current concepts of operational art. The German Wehrmacht and the US Army applied similar characteristics and principles without having a cohesive doctrinal understanding. The use of the lenses revealed that both armies utilized a constrained application and rarely exploited the potential of their art of operations. Operation Mercury was a reflection of German operational skills and their art of operations that highlights the relation to cognitive efforts and the intent. Furthermore, it emphasized the adaptability of the German Wehrmacht utilizing their leadership philosophy to adapt quickly to emerging challenges. Nevertheless, poor synchronization and less prioritized logistical and intelligence aspects had a negative influence. Operation Husky highlighted the impediments of indecisive leadership, vague political guidance, inter- and intra-service rivalry, and an only partially filled role of an operational artist.


Depolarization data is provided for several normal retinas. Mueller matrix images of normal human fovea were acquired with a custom imaging Mueller matrix retinal polarimeter (the GDx-MM) over a 9° field at 780nm and have been analyzed for depolarization index and the variation of degree of polarization with incident polarization state. The degree of polarization (DoP) was often above 50% and varied in complex ways as a function of the incident polarization states. The depolarization properties around the macula loosely correlated with the retardance image. High spatial frequency depolarizing structures were evident throughout the fovea.


The numerical estimation of the position of the water table in unconfined aquifers is important for many practical applications. Its determination through observations or analytical methods is restricted to a few cases. Therefore, it is often estimated through numerical simulations, which may be affected by numerical artifacts and/or poor stability. We use MODFLOW to estimate the position of the water table for a seemingly simple example problem and demonstrate difficulties that can be faced when performing this kind of numerical simulation. We explain the causes for the numerical challenges that originate from the properties of the mathematical equations that must be solved. Based on the results of more than 600 steady‐state simulations, we show how the stability of the numerical solution can be affected by the values of physical parameters that define the problem (e.g., recharge rate, anisotropy ratio, and other parameters that control the numerical algorithm such as settings of the linear and nonlinear solution methods). Finally, we comment on some best practices to apply numerical simulations to estimate the water table position.


Background and aims Resistance to platinum-based chemotherapy remains a major obstacle in the treatment against human ovarian cancer. In this study, binary combinations of platinum compounds: cisplatin, carboplatin and oxaliplatin with phytochemicals: artemisinin, thymoquinone, curcumin, lupeol and oleanolic acid have been applied to human ovarian cancer cell lines: A2780, A2780cisR, and A2780ZD0473R using three different sequences of administration (0/0h, 0/4h and 4/0h) where 0/0h means both the drugs added at the same time, 0/4h means platinum added first followed phytochemical 4 h later and 4/0h means the converse. Methods Cytotoxicity was determined based on MTT reduction MTT assay. Median effect analysis was done to characterize combined drug action and combination Index (CI) was used as a measure of synergism or antagonism whereas cellular accumulation of platinum, platinum to DNA binding levels and proteomic studies were done to provide insight into drug resistance and synergism from combined drug action. Results The combinations of platinum and the phytochemicals produced sequence- and concentration-dependent synergism in the ovarian tumour models. The degree of synergism was greater in the resistant cell lines than the parent cell line. It was found that combination with phytochemicals also increased intracellular accumulation of platinum and the level of platinum binding with DNA. Proteomic study identified a number of proteins believed to be associated with cisplatin resistance in ovarian cancer cells A2780 and A2780cisR. The expression of the proteins were either down- or up-regulated in A2780cisR cell line as compared to A2780 cell line but fully or partially restored after treatment with synergistic combinations. Conclusion The results of the study indicate that appropriately sequenced combinations of platinum drugs and phytochemicals can provide a means of overcoming drug resistance in ovarian cancer. Citation Format: Safiah I. Althurwi, Jun Qing Yu,, Philip Beale, Charles Chan, Fazlul Huq. Sequenced combinations of platinum drugs and phytochemicals towards overcoming drug resistance in ovarian cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2534. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2534