The objective was to determine the pharmacological treatment patterns of headache disorders in a Colombian population. Cross-sectional study. The dispensations of drugs for the management of tension-type headache, migraine, and cluster headache in the first trimester of 2019 were reviewed from a national medication dispensing database. Sociodemographic, diagnostic, and treatment variables (acute or prophylactic; concomitant drugs) were analyzed. During the study period, 7450 patients were identified: 68.5% with migraine, 25.1% with tension-type headache, and 6.4% with cluster headache. A total of 79.7% (n = 5937) were women, and the mean age was 38.6 ± 14.7 years. The 87.8% (n = 6539) were prescribed drugs for acute pain management, mainly nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (n = 3559; 47.8%), acetaminophen (n = 3390; 45.5%), ergotamine (n = 2158; 29.0%), and opioids (n = 1750; 23.5%). The 50.3% (n = 3750) received at least one drug used for prophylaxis, mainly antidepressants (n = 1769, 23.7%), flunarizine (n = 927; 12.4%), and β-blockers (n = 764; 10.3%). The main comedication was proton pump inhibitors (n = 921; 12.4%). Patients with tension-type headache, migraine, and cluster headache receive mainly medications for acute management, some with low therapeutic value or not recommended, such as opioids or ergotamine. Prophylactic management is mainly directed to migraines, although patients with other kinds of headache also used it, even though it was not indicated.


Purpose
Even though insect products increasingly receive attention as a sustainable food alternative to meat, consumer acceptance remains low. The purpose of this paper is to test consumer acceptance of two different insect species with varying degrees of processing which led to different degrees of insects' visibility.

Design/methodology/approach
Insect dishes that varied according to species and degree of visibility were presented to participants of a self-administered personal survey within a meal context. Consumer acceptance was measured through the willingness-to-try the different dishes, and a hierarchical linear regression was applied to estimate the role of insect species.

Findings
Consumer acceptance can be improved by focusing on different forms of food processing and different insect species. The lower the visibility of insects, the higher the consumer acceptance, independent of insect species. However, this is not sufficient to overcome consumers' widely held rejection. Main barriers for consumer acceptance seem to be low social and cultural acceptance, fear of trying unknown products and a lack of taste experience.

Originality/value
A huge body of literature has examined determinants of insect consumption, but the majority of these studies did not consider the effects of insect species. The study's main objective is to close this research gap while checking the most relevant individual traits as identified through a literature review: food neophobia and familiarity, social and cultural norms, awareness of benefits of insect production, meat consumption and socio-demographics.


Background: Current treatment options of acute lymphoblastic leukemia(ALL) include chemotherapy alone or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) following induction chemotherapy both along with CNS prophylaxis. The usual and standard induction regimens currently administered could have severe complications and mortality. Materials and Methods: To lessen induction regimen complications in ALL patients who undergo HSCT, we used a cytoreduction induction regimen including dexamethasone (8 mg, IV, three times a day, for 28 days) and vincristine(1.4 mg/m2, IV, on days 1,8,15 and 22) for 49 newly diagnosed adult ALL patients followed by an early sibling donor HSCT within two months. The results were matched with outcomes of HSCT in 172 ALL patients inducted by standard induction regimen. Results: Median follow-up time was 5.41 years in the standard group and 5.27 years in the other. All patients of the case group (100%) achieved complete remission. Landmark analyses were performed to scrutinize the effect of treatments on different time intervals: first two years and 2nd to end years. Type of treatment had no significant effect on the hazard of death in the first landmark (HR=0.87, P=0.64). Cytoreduction regimen amplified the hazard of death 3.43 times more than the standard regimen in the second landmark (HR=3.43 P=0.035). Multivariate analysis showed that the cytoreduction regimen reduced the hazard of relapse about 22%, but not statistically significant (HR=0.78, P-value=0.24). Conclusion: Overall, it seems despite achieving complete remission in induction therapy, depth of response is a critical predictor for long-term outcomes of HSCT in ALL patients, and the use of multiple agents may be necessary to decrease tumor cell burden and minimal residual disease(MRD).


A theoretical model is presented to compute the characteristic impedance and wavelength in a slotline printed on or embedded in a dielectric substrate. In this treatment the effects of the fringing field caused by the finite width of the conducting strips are taken into account. The main task is to calculate the capacitance per unit length of the slotline. First, the Green's function for the potential of a pair of filament sources in a dielectric substrate is solved; this is used as a building block to construct the overall solution of the boundary value problem. Then, the surface charge density on the conducting strips is found by using a moment method and imposing the source condition (equal potential) on the conductors. From the surface charge density, the characteristic impedance of the slotline is computed for various input parameters. The formulation is applicable to a single-sided, sandwiched, or double-sided slotline printed on or embedded in a dielectric substate. >


In this article, we discuss the public health provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). We first set forth a framework to identify the key reforms that are needed for a robust public health system. These include workforce and infrastructure investments. We then assess the PPACA against these criteria. We conclude that although the act would make significant investment in public health (especially in wellness and prevention programs), it does little to improve the existing structural deficiencies that the public health system must overcome if it is to be effective in improving the population's health.


Abstract When the Reagan administration first invited Israel to join the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) in 1985, Israel was only expected to play a relative minor role in the program and bid for non-sensitive research grants. However, starting in 1986, the focus of the endeavor began to shift. In time, the US was funding Israeli efforts to indigenously develop the Arrow, a missile defense system designed to use land-based interceptors to address regional ballistic missile threats. This was a sharp departure from the objectives of SDI and the imagined role that Israel was supposed to play within that initiative. This article addresses how and why this shift had occurred. I examine the existing narrative in the literature which maintains that Israel had initiated Arrow with the help of the Israel Lobby, and dispel it. I demonstrate that it was the Reagan administration, motivated by domestic political considerations, legal and diplomatic calculations, and strategic priorities, which pushed for Arrow's initiation, despite reservations expressed by the Israeli government and the Israeli military.


Twenty one inbred lines obtained at the Instituto Agronomico from the wheat breeding program plus the cultivars BH-1146, IAC-18, IAC-17, and Alondra-S-46 were evaluated in field experiments carried out at Campinas Experiment Center and Capao Bonito Experiment Station, during the years of 1982 and 1983, at Tiete Experiment Station, in 1982 and at Floresta Negra Farm, Maracai, in 1983. Grain yield, plant height, number of days from emergence to flowering and from emergente to maturation, percentage of layed plants, head length, number of grain per spike and per spikelet, number of spikelets, weight of 100 grains, and resistance to stem and leaf rusts were evaluated under field conditions and tests of resistance to stem and leal rusts and to aluminum were also made, respectively, in greenhouse and in laboratory. Considering the trials planted under sprinkler irrigation, at Campinas, the lines IAC-60 and IAC-67 showed good performance regarding to grain yield. In Capao Bonito, represented by acid soils, the lnes IAC-66, IAC-60 and IAC-69 showed high grain yield. The lines IAC-64, IAC-68, IAC-71 and IAC-60 presented good productivity at Tiete Experiment Station and IAC-67, IAC-63 and IAC-64 were more adapted to high soil fertility showing the best grain yields at Maracai. The lines IAC-52, IAC-53, IAC-54, IAC-55, IAC-56, IAC-57, IAC-58, IAC-60, IAC-64, IAC-65, IAC-67, IAC-71 and the cultivar Alondra-S-46 exhibited semi-dwarf type when compared to the tall cultivar BH-1146. In relation to stem rust, the lines IAC-62 and IAC-65 and the cultivar Alondra-S-46 showed very good resistance presenting at seedling stage, resistance to seven rates under both greenhouse and field conditions. The line IAC-64 was resistant to four and IAC-52 and IAC-55 to three races of leaf rust in the seedling stage under greenhouse condition. The lines IAC-51, IAC-56, IAC-61, IAC-62, IAC-63 and IAC-67 presented good resistance to this rust in natural infection out in the field. The lines IAC-51, IAC-60, IAC-63, IAC-68 and IAC-70 as well as 'BH-1146' and 'IAC-18' were tolerant to the presente of 10 mg/l of Al3+ in the nutrient solution.


Repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs) in somatic cells is primarily accomplished by error-prone nonhomologous end joining and less frequently by precise homology-directed repair preferentially using the sister chromatid as a template. Here, a Drosophila system performs efficient somatic repair of both DSBs and single-strand breaks (SSBs) using intact sequences from the homologous chromosome in a process we refer to as homologous chromosome-templated repair (HTR). Unexpectedly, HTR-mediated allelic conversion at the white locus was more efficient (40 to 65%) in response to SSBs induced by Cas9-derived nickases D10A or H840A than to DSBs induced by fully active Cas9 (20 to 30%). Repair phenotypes elicited by Nickase versus Cas9 differ in both developmental timing (late versus early stages, respectively) and the production of undesired mutagenic events (rare versus frequent). Nickase-mediated HTR represents an efficient and unanticipated mechanism for allelic correction, with far-reaching potential applications in the field of gene editing.


The use of UML throughout the design process of low-cost distributed control systems is here proposed. In absence of a unique standard for the hardware and the software the only way to proceed is to conduct the control systempsilas design at a high level of abstraction, deferring integration issues to the physical layer implementation phase. The first contribution of the paper is to show how UML can help doing this, by expressing, for example, systempsilas requirements. Moreover it is here discussed the idea of conferring an ldquointelligencerdquo to real objects, making them smart objects by combining new technologies with UML, so that they can cooperate to fulfil the desired tasks in a distributed plant. To illustrate the proposal, a case study is presented.


To enable a mobile station, when a base station carries out a measurement of a radio signal coming from an adjacent cell while suspending at least one of radio transmission to and radio reception from the mobile station when a base station's own cell is in operation, to recognize that the adjacent cell is being measured. A home base station 1 carries out a measurement of a radio signal coming from an adjacent cell while suspending at least one of radio transmission to and radio reception from a mobile station 3-1 when a base station's own cell (home cell) is in operation. Further, the home base station 1 notifies, prior to beginning the measurement, advance notice information indicating an execution of the measurement to the mobile station 3-1.


Setting: The study was conducted at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam in the department of Histopathology and Morbid Anatomy.
Study design: The study was a retrospective cohort type in which prostatic biopsy reports of patients with histological diagnosis of BPH were microscopically re-evaluated in order to reveal whether there was any presence or absence of HGPIN, which is a significant risk factor for the development of prostatic adenocarcinoma.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of high-grade PIN in BPH as diagnosed at Muhimbili National Hospital and relate it to its histomorphological types as well as the ages of the patients and its distribution in different types of prostatic biopsies and also compare the distribution of HGPIN with that of adenocarcinoma in prostatic biopsies during the same period of study.
Methodology: The data was retrieved from register books, histological reports and computer files. The data was used as a source of information in order to determine the number of PC and BPH histologically reported , types of prostatic biopsies, and age of the patients. H&E stained slides on which the diagnosis of PC or BPH was previously made were retrieved from archives and then microscopically reviewed for histological confirmation of the diagnosis. The slides with the diagnosis of BPH were further re-examined for the presence or absence of HGPIN. For those slides which were missing, their corresponding paraffin blocks were re-cut, stained with H&E and reported for the presence or absence of high-grade PIN.
Results: Out of 687 specimens of prostatic biopsies received in 3 years (mean 229 per year), 321(46.7%) were diagnosed as adenocarcinoma and 366 (53.3%) were supposedly diagnosed as BPH. The mean age of patients with prostatic cancer (PC) was 75.6 years while that of BPH was 67 years. The number of patients with PC below 60 years was 23 (7.2%) and those with BPH was 46 (12.6%). However, 122 (38%) patients with PC were between 60-70 years of age while in those with BPH, 172 (47%) were in the same age range. Of the 366 patients who were diagnosed as having BPH, 163 (44.5%) were also found to have HGPIN. The mean age of patient with high-grade PIN in PBH was 69.6 years. In the 163 patients with HGPIN, 20(12.3%) were below 60 years of age , 83 (50.9%) were between 60-70 years and 60 (36.8%) were above 70 years. Of the 366 prostatic specimens in which the diagnosis of BPH was made, 238 (65%) were from needle biopsy (NB), 47 (12.9%) from transurethral resections of prostate (TURP) and 81(22.1%) were from open prostatectomy (OP). Similarly, out of 238 NB, 82 (34.5%) had HGPIN while in 47 TURP biopsies, 21 (44.7%) had HGPIN and in 81 RP specimens, 60 (74.1%) had HGPIN. With regard to morphological patterns of PIN, tufting was the most frequent in all types of biopsies followed in descend order by Cribriform, micropapilary, and flat.
Conclusion: The study has conclusively shown that there is a high prevalence of HGPIN in prostatic biopsies diagnosed and reported solely as BPH at our hospital as has been suspected before. The age distribution of HGPIN has indicated that the lesion is an intermediate stage between BPH on one hand and PC on the other, further confirming that HGPIN is precursor or pre-invasive stage to invasive prostate carcinoma. The identification of increased number of HGPIN in biopsy specimens has an important implication for the management of the patient.
Recommendations: Bearing in mind that HGPIN is strongly predictive of the presence of prostatic carcinoma, HGPIN should be included in pathology report. The finding of HGPIN in a patient should clinically be closely followed-up with serum PSA, digital rectal examination (DRE) and ultrasound, preferably trans rectal ultrasound or repeated needle biopsy for a defined period of time. Tanzania Medical Journal Vol. 23 (1) 2008: pp. 1-4


Load alleviation of wind turbines by yaw misalignment Vertical wind shear is one of the dominating causes of load variations on the blades of a horizontal axis wind turbine. To alleviate the varying loads, wind turbine control systems have been augmented with sensors and actuators for individual pitch control. However, the loads caused by a vertical wind shear can also be affected through yaw misalignment. Recent studies of yaw control have been focused on improving the yaw alignment to increase the power capture at below rated wind speeds. In this study, the potential of alleviating blade load variations induced by the wind shear through yaw misalignment is assessed. The study is performed through simulations of a reference turbine. The study shows that optimal yaw misalignment angles for minimizing the blade load variations can be identified for both deterministic and turbulent inflows. It is shown that the optimal yaw misalignment angles can be applied without power loss for wind speeds above rated wind speed. In deterministic inflow, it is shown that the range of the steady-state blade load variations can be reduced by up to 70%. For turbulent inflows, it is shown that the potential blade fatigue load reductions depend on the turbulence level. In inflows with high levels of turbulence, the observed blade fatigue load reductions are small, whereas the blade fatigue loads are reduced by 20% at low turbulence levels. For both deterministic and turbulent inflows, it is seen that the blade load reductions are penalized by increased load variations on the non-rotating turbine parts. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Objective Using quantitative Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) in colorectal cancer screening enables adjustment of the cut-off for a positive test. As men have higher stool blood levels and higher prevalence of colorectal neoplasia, different cut-off levels can be chosen for men and women. We evaluated participation and positivity rates switching from guaiac-based faecal occult blood test (gFOBT) (Hemoccult®) to FIT (OC-Sensor), using gender-specific cut-offs. Methods The colorectal cancer screening programme of Stockholm-Gotland, Sweden, started in 2008 and invited individuals aged 60–69 to biennial testing using gFOBT. From 1 October 2015 the test was switched to FIT, with positivity cut-offs of 40 (200) and 80 (400) µg Hb/g (ng/mL) faeces for women and men, respectively. The first year was evaluated for compliance and positivity, number of reminders and incorrect/inadequate tests, compared with gFOBT in the preceding 12-month period. Results There were 127,030 and 87,269 individuals invited to screening with gFOBT and FIT, respectively. The change of test increased overall participation by 11.9% (95% confidence interval 11.5%–12.3%) from 56.5% to 68.4% (p < 0.001). The increase was larger in men (14.3%) than women (9.7%), and in those aged 60–64 (14.2%) than those aged 65–69 (8.7%). The positivity rate was 2.6% in women and 2.5% in men. There was a lower rate of reminders and incorrect/inadequate tests with FIT. Conclusions Within a well-organised colorectal cancer screening programme, changing the test from gFOBT to FIT markedly increased participation, especially among men, and in the younger age group. With a lower cut-off in women than men, the positivity rate was similar.


We investigate the formation of dust grains in the ejecta of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), adopting the carbon-deflagration W7 model. In the calculations of dust formation, we apply the nucleation and grain growth theory and consider the two extreme cases of the formation of CO and SiO molecules: complete formation and no formation. The results of the calculations show that for the sticking probability of αj = 1, C, silicate, Si, and FeS grains can condense at early times of ∼100–300 days after the explosion, whereas Fe and SiC grains cannot form substantially. Due to the low gas density in SNe Ia with no H-envelope, the average radii of the newly formed grains are generally below 0.01 μm, being much smaller than those in Type II-P SNe. This supports our previous conclusion that the radius of dust formed in the ejecta is smaller in SNe with less massive envelopes. The total dust mass ranges from 3 × 10−4 M☉ to 0.2 M☉ for αj = 0.1–1, depending on whether or not CO and SiO molecules are formed. We also estimate the optical depths and thermal emission by the newly formed dust and compare them to the relevant observations of SNe Ia. We find that the formation of C grains in SNe Ia must be suppressed to be consistent with observational constraints. This implies that energetic photons and electrons heavily depress the formation efficiency of C grains or that the outermost C–O layer of SNe Ia is almost fully burned. Finally, we calculate dust destruction in the SN remnants and find that dust grains formed in the ejecta of SNe Ia are almost completely destroyed in the shocked gas before being injected into the interstellar medium. This indicates that SNe Ia are unlikely to be the major sources of interstellar dust.


In 2006, Richard Gwyn was given a year to live unless a suitable liver donor were found. A novelist and poet, he lost nine years of his life to vagrancy and alcoholism in the Mediterranean, principally Spain and Crete. This memoir is an account of his "lost" years; of addiction and reckless travel; serial hospitalizations; redemption via friendship, imagination, literature, love and fatherhood; recovery; living with viral hepatitis, and the life-saving gift of a liver graft.


This study demonstrates that the electron beam irradiation of materials, typically used in characterization measurements, could be employed for advanced fabrication, modification, and functionalization of composites. We developed irradiation equipment using an electron beam irradiation source to be applied in materials modification. Using this equipment, the formation of a thick Ag film on the Ag3PO4 semiconductor is carried out by electron beam irradiation for the first time. This is confirmed by various experimental techniques (X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy) and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. Our calculations demonstrate that, at the earlier stages, metallic Ag growth is initiated preferentially at the (110) surface, with the reduction of surface Ag cations forming metallic Ag clusters. As the (100) and (111) surfaces have smaller numbers of exposed Ag cations, the reductions on these surfaces are slower and are accompanied by the formation of O2 molecules.


13 Multiple lines of evidence support the causal relationship between inflammation and cancer. In an attempt to clarify the contribution of ulcerative colitis to colon carcinogenesis, we treated male ICR mice with a single i.p. dose (10 mg/kg body weight) of azoxymethane (AOM) followed by 2% dextran sulfate sodium salt (DSS) in drinking water for consecutive 7 days. DSS administration caused chronic inflammation, which markedly enhanced the burden of AOM-initiated colon tumors. At the 16th week of combined AOM and DSS treatment, 83.33% mice developed colorectal carcinoma, whereas only 22% in the AOM-treated and none in the DSS-treated mice developed colon tumors. Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible nitric oxide synthase, p16, and mutated p53 were markedly elevated in the colon tumors produced by AOM plus DSS. The serum levels of nitric oxide, interleukin (IL)-8, IL-1β, and IL-6, were also elevated in mice bearing colon tumors. In addition, the mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), such as MMP2, MMP9, MMP13, and MT2-MMP, was increased in the tumors. However, the tissue inhibitor of MMP2 was down-regulated in the tumor tissues. Differentially expressed gene analysis revealed the upregulation of several genes including heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein M, deleted in malignant brain tumors 1, interferon induced transmembrane protein 1, in colon tumors compared with the normal tissue. By utilizing the same mouse model, we evaluated the chemopreventive effect of celecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor. Oral administration of celecoxib (0.1 or 0.25 mmole/kg) by gavage for 14 weeks significantly lowered the AOM plus DSS-induced tumor incidence and multiplicity (83.33% and average 6.00 tumors/mouse in the AOM plus DSS group; 44.44% and 3.95/mouse in the low dose celecoxib group; 40.0% and 1.75/mouse in the high dose celecoxib group). The celecoxib treatment significantly inhibited the expressions of COX-2 and iNOS as well as activation of NF-κB and AP-1 in the colonic tissues. Moreover, celecoxib treatment reduced activities as well as mRNA expression of MMP2, MMP9, MMP13, TIMP1, MT1-MMP and MT2-MMP in the colon. When we compared the AOM-induced and DSS-promoted colon carcinogenesis in COX-2 wild type and knock-out mice, genetic inhibition of COX-2 attenuated 30% of AOM plus DSS-induced tumor incidence in wild type. Tumor multiplicity was significantly reduced in the COX-2 deficient mice (2.43 ± 1.4) than wild type (7.7 ± 2.5). These findings suggest that DSS-induced ulcerative colitis effectively promotes colon carcinogenesis in mice, which can support the causative association between inflammtion and cancer development. Moreover, a selective COX-2 inhibitor celecoxib and COX-2 deficient mice exhibit chemopreventive effects through modulation of several gene expressions altered in the AOM-initiated and DSS-promoted colon carcinogenesis model.


We report, for the first time, a replication-defective retroviral vector-associated neoplasia in a nonhuman primate. Five years after transplantation with CD34+ cells transduced with a retroviral vector expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) and a drug-resistant variant of the dihydrofolate reductase gene (L22Y), a rhesus macaque developed a fatal myeloid sarcoma, a type of acute myeloid leukemia. Tumor cells contained 2 clonal vector insertions. One insertion was found in BCL2-A1, an antiapoptotic gene. This event suggests that currently available retroviral vectors may have long-term side effects, particularly in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells.


In the paper are considered the basic mechanisms, leading to accumulation of methemoglobin in the red blood cells. The inherited methemoglobinaemia, due to enzymatic failure of cytochrome B5-reductase is considered.


Did in the Roman world exist a gender-oriented representation of old age? A brief survey of the stereotypes commonly used by Latin authors to construct the character of the elderly woman reveals a bias to circumscribe her identity within the horizon of seduction and sexuality, leaving aside her mothering and child care functions. In this context, the main characteristics of old age are perceived, unlike to what happens to men, to be entirely negative for the woman: the physical changes of aging signify the loss of female seductiveness, and the wisdom she obtains through experience is viewed as a dangerous instrument of control and manipulation.


Markov Decision processes have been widely used to control the execution of a static set of tasks with limited resources. But little attention has been paid to adapt these techniques to cope with changes in the environment. This is a problem of the dynamic optimisation of resource allocation to a changing set of tasks. We transform this problem into a dynamic composition of local policies (each of which controls a task) to approximate the optimal control policy. Our main claim in this paper is that it is possible to dynamically compute good decisions without completely calculating the optimal policy. We develop an approach which provides more flexibility for MDPs to deal with dynamic environments. This approach is made up of two steps. The first step consists of an off-line pre-processing of tasks and the compilation of policies for all possible available resources. The second step concerns a quick on-line approximation of the policy of executing the current task taking into account the current state of the queue. We present a preliminary analysis of the performance of our approach.


Introduction: national problems faced by Indonesia today is the handling of the low quality of Human Resources (HR). HR issues that need attention is the problem of performance. Performance is the rate of success in carrying out the task, as well as the ability to achieve the intended purpose. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of individual factors, organizational factors, and factors of organizational culture on Nurses Performance Ponkesdes in Tuban and Lamongan district. Methods: The study design used is cross sectional study approach. The population used in this study were nurses ponkesdes Tuban and Lamongan district in accordance with the inclusion criteria as much as 55, with a sample size of 48 respondents specified research using simple random sampling technique. The independent variable in this study is the individual factors (abilities and skills), organization of cultural factors and organizational factors, sdeangkan dependent variable is the performance of nurses ponkesdes. Instruments used in data collection in the form of questionnaires and performance assessment form. Research analysis using simple linear regression test. Results: This study showed significant organizational factors influence the performance of the p-value (0.027), and the variable factors influence organizational culture significantly on the performance of the p-value (0.000), while the variable individual factors (abilities and skills) no significant effect on the performance of the p-value (0.103). Discussion: The approach suggested organizational culture can be a reference DHO in improving health worker performance.

Keywords: organizational culture, Ponkesdes, Performance


It is seen that studies on learning spaces in higher education institutions are very few in the literature. However, spaces have the power to affect behaviors and interactions with others. This study aims to determine the wishes of university students regarding the physical environment. For this purpose, it is planned to determine the missing things in the existing physical environment according to the "wish poems" of undergraduate students and their related wishes. Accordingly, the sample of the study consisted of 211 participants among the students of the faculty of education at a state university. In the study, for the purpose of revealing the views of the undergraduate students on the physical environment of their school, they were given a semi-structure, open-ended question format as "I wish there were … in my classroom/faculty/campus" and asked to write down 3 wishes regarding the physical environment. The obtained data were analyzed by using the content analysis method. In the study, different numbers of conceptual categories were reached under each sub-title with the method of coding and imaging. At the end of the study, 578 clear responses were obtained, and after examination, these responses were gathered under 35 conceptual categories in total. The categories about which the students had the most wishes were related to the furniture and equipment in their classrooms (f=51, 26.2%), social (f=33, 18.5%) and scientific (f=32, 17.9%) areas at the faculty and green spaces at the campus (f=61, 29.6%). Consequently, as pioneers of social and scientific change, it is important for universities to reevaluate their existing physical facilities based on the wishes of students in terms of feeding their innovative instincts.


Business process models are increasingly used to create clarity about the logical sequence of activities in public and private organizations belonging to different industries and areas. To improve Business Process Management (BPM), semantic technologies (like ontologies, reasoners, and semantic Web services) should be integrated in BPM tools in order to enable semantic BPM. Semantic Business Process Management (SBPM) approaches and tools aim at allowing more efficient and effective business process management across complex organizations. By semantic BPM decision makers can get transparent, fast, and comprehensive view of relevant business processes for better analyzing and driving processes. In defining semantic BPM tools aimed at improving the quality of process models and subsequent process analyses, a key aspect to take into account is to represent in combined way static knowledge regarding a specific application domain (i.e. domain ontologies) and dynamic knowledge related to process schemas and instances that are typically performed in a given domain. For example, in the health care domain, where the evidence-based medicine has contributed to define and apply clinical processes for caring a wide variety of diseases, a process-oriented vision of clinical practices may allow for enhancing patient safety by enabling better risks management capabilities.


The risk of political predation impedes the achievement of economic prosperity. In this study, we analyze how the risk of predation evolves in different political regimes. Formally, we look at the interaction between a government and citizens in which, in each period, the government has an option to predate. Citizens prefer governments that are competent and non‐predatory and strive to replace ones that are not. Regimes differ in the degree to which citizens can succeed in doing so. In pure democracies, citizens can displace incumbent governments; in pure autocracies, they cannot; and in intermediate cases, they can do so in probability. After economic downturns, the posterior probability that the government is competent and benevolent declines. According to the model, in intermediate regimes, but not in others, governments can separate by type. One implication, then, is that these regimes are politically and economically more volatile, with higher levels of variation in assessments of political risk and in economic performance. Another is that in such regimes, political leadership can make an economic difference. Empirically, we test our argument by measuring the impact of economic downturns on the perceived risk of political expropriation in different regime types, using as instruments the incidence of natural disasters and unexpected terms of trade shocks.


In the extensive geographical distribution of the common dolphin, several morphotypes of uncertain taxonomic status, identified by the relative length of their rostra, have been established. We investigated variation in skull morphometrics and isotopic signatures of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) in individuals from the subtropical waters of the North Atlantic Ocean, in order to assess population structure and taxonomic status. The distribution of the relative rostral lengths (RL) of individuals followed a cline with no subgrouping. Both δ13C and δ15N showed high variability, which suggests that individuals use habitat heterogeneously. δ15N correlated with RL, indicating that longer beaked individuals either feed at a higher trophic level and/or inhabit waters located further offshore than shorter beaked animals. Although δ13C and δ15N were correlated, RL and δ13C failed to show any correlation, possibly because the incremental effect of trophic level on δ13C has been offset by the potential allopatric distribution of the morphotypes. We conclude that both the long-beaked and short-beaked forms of common dolphin do occur off Mauritania but, in contrast to other areas, the existence of more than one species in the region is questioned because both stable isotopes and skull morphometric appear to reflect differential use of habitat rather than taxonomy. Even though proposed previously by some authors, this is the first time that skull differentiation in common dolphins has been demonstrated to be likely due to niche segregation and not to speciation. This reveals that caution is needed when considering that long-beaked and short-beaked common dolphins from outside the eastern North Pacific fall into the taxonomic model described for this region.


The concept of patient satisfaction has become an independent evaluation criterion in the context of quality assurance. A review of patient satisfaction surveys referring to consumer satisfaction as a relevant health care concept, mostly being conducted in the USA, identifies numerous theoretical and methodological deficiencies. A consistently high level of patient satisfaction is reported, which is difficult to interpret. This requires critical analysis of what is meant by the term "satisfaction", considering theoretical concepts of satisfaction taken from various research areas. The paper concludes by pointing out that the concept "patient satisfaction" as it is used at present should not be seen as a valid indicator for the quality of care.


There are more poor people and poverty reaches further into middle-income countries around the world than ever before. Adequate governmental capacity development is considered one of the critical missing factors in current efforts to reduce poverty and, by doing so, to meet the millennium development goals. If the development of sustainable capacity is not given greater attention in the near future, development efforts in the poorest countries are expected to fail even if they are supported with substantially increased funding. One effective way to improve the quality of democratic governments is by their learning from the past and from each other's experiences. But to what extent are governments capable of and/or willing to learn? And if they are, what are they supposed to learn-and how? Is the way they learn different from the way individuals or organizations learn? Under what conditions do they learn best, and to what extent can learning events enhance their capacities to improve the performance of their public sectors? These and many related questions are examined in the black box of governmental learning.


Forty new bent-core compounds, unsymmetrically substituted about a central phenyl ring, were investigated for their mesomorphic properties. The effect of fluorine substituents in different positions of the phenyl rings of one of the arms of the bent-core compounds on the mesophases were examined in detail. Most of the compounds exhibit the lamellar antiferroelectric B2 mesophase. The mesophases were investigated by textural observation by polarizing microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction and electro-optical studies.


Few cultures had as rich a vocabulary for pictures of specific places as did eighteenth-century Japan. Why then did yet another word, shinkeizu (literally "true-view pictures"), come into being in the late eighteenth century? The answer is that none of the existing terms satisfactorily articulated the ideological essence of a new kind of painting advocated by a group of artists who sought to incorporate into their work styles and concepts associated with the art of the Chinese literatus. These Japanese masters came to constitute a school known as Nanga (the Japanese interpretation of the Chinese "Southern school" of painting; it was also called bunjinga, "literati painting"). For a picture (zu) of a given scene (kei) to be profound, argued the connoisseurs of Nanga, the artist must experience the vista at first hand and then absorb and transmit its essential reality (shin). It was in the circle of the brilliant literati artist Ike Taiga (1723–76) that the concept ofshinkeizu became the integral element of the new Japanese conception of depictions of actual scenes.


Introduction Health care professionals are the most critical link in the organ procurement process and therefore, their knowledge and attitudes are essential factors in the creation and promotion of an environment that has a positive influence on organ donation rates. Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude towards organ donation among medical residents. Material and Methods A cross sectional study was conducted among medical residents (n=180) at a public tertiary care hospital, Lima-Peru. The survey contents consisted of the organ´s general characteristics, education status, religion, general information about donation and trasplantation and the attitude toward the donation and trasplantation. The survey was validated (Spearman=0.67, &agr; Combach=0.812). Used SATA 12, level of significance was 5%. Results The mean age were 29.2 years ± 4.2. More than half of the respondents had the correct knowledge about organ donation (58%). Nearly half of the respondents have an ID Donation (52.8%) very willing to donation (82.2%), refuse to donate (17.8%) are not willing to donate due to religious and cultural reasons, similar to latinoamerican studies. More than 80% of the study participants in our study accepted that they would donate their organs, similar to mexican and colombian studies, but different some spanish and german studies. They found information in medical school (44.4%) and hospital information (31.1%), others sources of information such as social networks and internet (56%), in our country this the first study that evaluated this tecnological aspects in this population. There are relationship among clinical and surgery residents and knowledge about organ donation and procedence (p<0.05). No statistically significant differences were found among years of residents, gender and cultural aspects. Conclusion The present study demonstrated favorable attitude among medical residents towards organ donation despite their limitations/gaps in knowledge about the same. Need to implemented courses and workshops about on organ donation and transplantation in the medical residents curriculum in order to improve knowledge of medical students. Figure. No caption available.


Nesidioblastosis, which is the formation of new islets and the differentiation of cells within the islets, represents part of the spectrum of hyperfunctioning states of the islets of Langerhans at the clinical level. Nesidioblastosis in the Syrian golden hamster can be induced by wrapping the head of the pancreas with cellophane tape. Ligation of the duct is not involved, and acinar cell atrophy does not occur. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the induction of nesidioblastosis could be used as a means of reversing streptozocin-induced diabetes. Outbred hamsters (n = 32), 8 wk of age, were rendered diabetic by treatment with 40 mg/kg i.p. streptozocin, administered daily for 3 days. Four days later, 16 animals chosen at random underwent laparotomy with cellophane wrapping of the pancreas. Before surgery, the serum glucose and insulin levels (means ± SE) in the unoperated control animals (389.0 ± 18.6, 33.9 ± 3.8) did not differ from those in the animals awaiting the operation (373.2 ± 18.6, 37.9 ± 3.8). After 7 wk, 50% of the operated animals had serum glucose and insulin levels that were normal, compared to only 12% of the unoperated control animals (χ2 = 5.53, P < .05). Islets from normoglycemic operated animals were characterized by increased numbers, including many small islets, positive immunoreactive insulin staining, and minimal vacuolation of cells. Islets from hyperglycemic operated hamsters and from the unoperated control animals were decreased in number and generally larger in size, demonstrated little or no immunoreactive insulin staining, and exhibited marked vacuolation of cells. It is concluded that cellophane wrapping of the pancreas induces the formation of islets and endocrine cells that are functionally capable of reversing streptozocin-induced diabetes.


ABSTRACTRetail power markets offer many opportunities to energy buyers, but the procurement process may present pitfalls. While most power suppliers are honest, a few are less so, as are some brokers and at least a few consultants. Troubleshooting the process and the contract before signing it could avoid problems and save a bundle. Doing so may also help a customer avoid later feeling like he's been "had." Understanding and reviewing some of those potential pitfalls is the first step to buying like a professional. Training and certification are both available, as are fee-based services, to handle power procurement.


In fluorescence microscopy, computational algorithms have been developed to suppress noise, enhance contrast, and even enable super-resolution (SR). However, the local quality of the images may vary on multiple scales, and these differences can lead to misconceptions, which is especially intractable in emerging deep-learning ones. Current mapping methods fail to finely estimate the local quality, challenging to associate the SR scale content. Here, we develop a rolling Fourier ring correlation (rFRC) framework to evaluate the reconstruction uncertainties down to SR scale. To visually pinpoint regions with low reliability, a filtered rFRC is combined with a modified resolution scaled error map (RSM), offering a comprehensive and concise map for further examination. We demonstrate their performances on various SR imaging modalities, and the resulting quantitative maps enable better SR images integrated from different reconstructions. Beyond that, we provide a strategy for learning-based restorations, allowing a direct detection of both data and model uncertainties, and expect the representative cases can inspire further advances in this rapidly developing field.


Previous research offers little large-sample evidence on the magnitude of non-financial firms' risk exposure hedged by financial derivatives. Among 234 large non-financial derivatives users, if the median firm simultaneously experiences a three standard deviation change in interest rates, currency exchange rates, and commodity prices, its entire derivatives portfolio will generate, at most, $15 million in current cash flow and will rise in value by $31 million. These amounts are modest relative to firm size, operating cash flows, investing cash flows and other firm benchmarks. The findings indicate corporate derivatives use is a small piece of non-financial firms' overall risk profile, and suggest the need to rethink some empirical research documenting the economic importance of firms' derivative use.


Abstract The analysis of chosen selected Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), populations representing different seed regions: 107 (Międzyzdroje), 305 (Woziwoda), 206 (Strzałowo), 208 (Białowieża), 504 (Bolesławiec), 606 (Józefów) were performed using 10 isoensyme markers: Gdh (E.C.18.104.22.168), Sdh-A, Sdh-B (E.C.184.108.40.206), Pgd-B (E.C.220.127.116.11), Mdh-A, Mdh-C (E.C.184.108.40.206), Got-A, Got-B, Got-C (E.C.184.108.40.206), Dia-C (E.C.18.104.22.168). There were calculated following genetic parameters: allelic frequencies, observed and expected heterozygosities, and Wright's fixation indexes. In populations, the results of analysis indicated presence of rare alleles. In all study populations, the average effective number of alleles per locus was 1.46 and was lower than expected number of alleles per locus of 1.93. The results for the effective number of alleles of the population per locus were as follows: Strzałowo and Białowieża 1.54, Bolesławiec 1.48, Jozefów 1.44, Świnoujście 1.42, Woziwoda 1.35. Average observed heterozygosity in the studied populations was calculated at the level of 0.26 and it was lower than the expected heterozygosity at 0.28. For populations, the level of heterozygosities were as follow: Strzałowo 0.35, Bolesławiec and Białowieża 0.25, Józefów 0.27, Świnoujście 0.23, Woziwoda 0.26. In particular loci level of heterozygosity was different, as the most heterozygous Mdh-C locus was estimated, while minimum Got-C. Significant differences in allele frequency of Hardy-Weinberg deviation equilibrium were found in 10 cases: Strzałowo (Got-C), Bolesławiec (Got-B), Białowieża (Got-B, Gdh), Józefów (Mdh-C), Międzyzdroje (Got-B, Got-C, Mdh-C), Woziwoda (Got-C, Gdh). All studied populations had a lower effective number of alleles per locus (Ne) comparing to the observed number of alleles (Na). Wright's fixation indices were negative for populations: Strzałowo (-0.09), Józefów (-0.03), Międzyzdroje (-0.01) and positive for: Białowieża (0.12), Woziwoda and Bolesławiec (0.07). The extremely high Wright's fixation index (0.12) was observed for Białowieża population.


Animal models and human neuroimaging studies have shown that tinnitus is generated through pathologically altered spontaneous activity of neurons in the central auditory system. Sensorineural hearing loss has been identified as an important trigger for the development of these aberrant neuronal activity patterns, but the functional mechanisms underlying this process are still under investigation. Using a computational we could show that the activity stabilization through homeostatic plasticity, development of neuronal hyperactivity as observed in animal studies after hearing loss. The model's predictions of tinnitus frequencies from the audiograms of patients with noise-induced hearing loss are close to the observed tinnitus pitch. The model thus proposes a specific mechanism for how plasticity in the central auditory system could lead to the development of tinnitus after cochlear damage. However, as hearing loss does not always lead to tinnitus, we here investigate whether the development of spontaneous ...


We demonstrate wavelength-division-multiplexed transmission of 16 10-Gb/s nonreturn-to-zero channels with 50-GHz spacing over 840 km of conventional single-mode fiber (SMF), or 14 times the 10-Gb/s dispersion limit, using a total of eleven chirped fiber gratings for dispersion compensation. Each grating has a nominal dispersion of -1330 ps/nm km for compensating 80 km of SMF and a bandwidth of 6.5 nm, and one grating has additional dispersion slope compensation of -35 ps/nm/sup 2/ equivalent to 480 km of SMF. The large number of closely spaced wavelengths and long transmission distance significantly stress the wavelength uniformity, bandwidth, and cascadability of the fiber gratings.


Background Nowadays goods which are sensitive for explosion are transported along alternative routes that exclude tunnels. These are mostly secondary roads. The transport along these alternative roads has many disadvantages, such as the safety along the route, the air- and noise pollution along the road and the higher transport costs. Therefore, it is preferred to permit the transport of dangerous goods through tunnels. In case of multiple use of space this leads to the question what are the possible consequences and risks for buildings of structures above the tunnel. In the Delft Cluster work package "Bijzondere Belastingen" (CT01.21) the consequences of an accident with a transport of explosion hazardous goods are considered: BLEVE1 and gas explosion. These phenomena have a low probability of occurrence, but might have immense consequences. Therefore, a deterministic consideration is not possible. The results of the work package must facilitate the quantitative risk analysis of the phenomena, which supports the authorities in their decision of allowing transport of dangerous goods through tunnels or not. The work package focus is on the mechanical description of the loading and the response. However, it requires an interdisciplinary approach, which integrates knowledge of risk analysis, explosion and evaporation of liquefied gases, structural dynamics and soil dynamics. Project description The work package contains two main stream research lines: 1. Loading due to BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) and gas explosion. The BLEVE research is mainly executed in a PhD project at Delft university of Technology. This part focuses on an improved understanding and modeling of the BLEVE phenomenon. TNO Defense and Safety will participate in this research line by introduction of practical mechanical modeling of the vessel behavior and creation of a practical engineering model for BLEVE load prediction, based on the results of a PhD-study. 2. Dynamic Response of the structure-soil system under BLEVE and gas explosion loading. Here TNO Built Environment and Geosciences concentrates on the structural part of the problem, whereas GeoDelft and Delft University of Technology will take care of the soil response. TNO Defense and Safety will provide data on appropriate loads for realistic cases.


Fast detection of hydrogen at a wide concentration range is desired for many applications. We report detecting hydrogen using Au-TiO2-Ti and Ag-TiO2-Ti diodes. While hydrogen-Au and hydrogen-Ag interactions are very different, at a constant biasing voltage, the measured current in both diodes is highly sensitive to the partial pressure of hydrogen contamination in the surrounding atmosphere. Work function variations were investigated by connecting the I-V specifications to the energy barrier height established at the Au-TiO2 and Ag-TiO2 junctions. Electronic features of the devices were described based on the assumption of two different hydrogen-noble metal interactions: Hydrogen reduces Ag work function by reducing the adsorbed oxygen species from the silver surface, while Au work function is reduced by the same mechanism as well as the direct adsorption of hydrogen species to the gold surface. Both of these mechanisms result in hydrogen detection by Schottky barrier height reduction and current increase.


Over the past decade, perovskite-based nanomaterials have gained notoriety within the scientific community and have been used for a variety of viable applications. The unique structural properties of these materials, namely good direct bandgap, low density of defects, large absorption coefficient, high sensitivity, long charge carrier lifetime, good selectivity, acceptable stability at room temperature, and good diffusion length have prompted researchers to explore their potential applications in photovoltaics, light-emitting devices, transistors, sensors, and other areas. Perovskite-based devices have shown very excellent sensing performances to numerous chemical and biological compounds in both solid and liquid mediums. When used in sensing devices, Perovskite nanomaterials are for the most part able to detect O2, NO2, CO2, H2O, and other smaller molecules. This review article looks at the use of lead-free halide perovskite materials for humidity sensing. A complete description of the underlying mechanisms and charge transport characteristics that are necessary for a thorough comprehension of the sensing performance will be provided. An overview of considerations and potential recommendations for the creation of new lead-free perovskite nanostructure-based sensors is presented.


Images captured in bad weather are not conducive to visual tasks. Rain streaks in rainy images will significantly affect the regular operation of imaging equipment; to solve this problem, using multiple neural networks is a trend. The ingenious integration of network structures allows for full use of the powerful representation and fitting abilities of deep learning to complete low-level visual tasks. In this study, we propose a generative adversarial network (GAN) with multiple attention mechanisms for image rain removal tasks. Firstly, to the best of our knowledge, we propose a pretrained vision transformer (ViT) as the discriminator in GAN for single-image rain removal for the first time. Secondly, we propose a neural network training method that can use a small amount of data for training while maintaining promising results and reliable visual quality. A large number of experiments prove the correctness and effectiveness of our method. Our proposed method achieves better results on synthetic and real image datasets than multiple state-of-the-art methods, even when using less training data.


The high perimandibular approach is a feasible surgical technique for treating mandibular condylar fractures with open reduction and internal fixation, followed by fewer complications. Temporary trismus is the only postoperative complication that may occur. This study evaluated postoperative complications following open reduction and rigid internal fixation (OR-IF) of mandibular condylar fractures using the high perimandibular approach. Twenty consecutive patients undergoing OR-IF were included in this study. They included 11 male and 9 female patients, of an average age of 58.5 years, all of whom responded to a follow-up call at least 12 months after the surgery. All patients were evaluated for range of mouth opening, postoperative complications, and radiological findings. A statistical analysis of the relationship between range of mouth opening and related clinical parameters at 6 months postoperative evaluation was conducted. The fracture of the condylar neck was associated with a limited range of mouth opening and longer operation time. However, longer operation time was not associated with a limited range of mouth opening. The high perimandibular approach with OR-IF in mandibular condylar fractures is a feasible and safe technique; however, prolonged surgery and mandibular condylar neck fractures could affect the postoperative range of mouth opening.


Education has become a burning issue in our soceity. In the political arena, for parents and children in the home as well as in the classroom, it is steeped in controversy. Dr Boyson marshalls the facts and takes a fresh view of the ideas. However controversial his conclusions, he sets the terms in which the discussion will have to be carried on.


Collective Harm Cases pervade the modern world. In these cases, people collectively cause harm, or fail to prevent it, but no individual seems to make a difference. For example, while climate change is caused by millions of people acting in certain ways (driving in cars, flying in planes, using coal-generated electricity, etc.), it seems that no individual such act will make a difference. Similarly, while the large-scale consumer patterns of wealthy nations can affect the lives of people in poorer nations, it is hard to believe that any individual purchase will make a difference for the worse. In cases of this sort, if it is true that no individual act will make a difference, it is unclear how we can say that anyone ought, or even has reason, to act otherwise. But if we cannot, this would be very troubling. Morality would be powerless in a wide array of cases in which it should have force. This is the Problem of Collective Harm.I argue that the key to solving the Problem of Collective Harm is to reject a standard, intuitive assumption that underlies it. The assumption is that if an act cannot make a difference with respect to an outcome, then it cannot play a morally significant, non-superfluous causal role in bringing that outcome about. Or, to put it another way, we must reject the assumption that helping to bring about an outcome requires making a difference to it. This assumption is highly natural, but I argue that it is mistaken and that once we see that it is mistaken, the central puzzle of the Problem of Collective Harm is resolved. Chapter 1 is devoted to setting out the problem and how I will approach it. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss a range of proposed solutions that have been put forth by others. The upshot of the critique of these views will be that we cannot solve the Problem of Collective Harm unless we can reject the assumption that helping requires making a difference. In Chapter 4, I turn to my positive proposal. There I give an account of what is required for an act to help to bring about an outcome, where this does not require being able to make a difference. I use this account to explain our reasons for action in Collective Harm Cases, and I give an error theory that explains why the standard assumption seems right, even though it is not. In Chapter 5, I highlight some noteworthy features of my proposal and some important questions about it that still need to be addressed.


Evolutionary studies often assume that energy is the primary resource (i.e. "currency") at the heart of the survival-reproduction trade-off, despite recent evidence to the contrary. The evolutionary consequences of having a single trade-off currency versus multiple competing currencies are unknown. Using simulations, we modeled the evolution of either a single physiological currency between reproduction and survival, or of multiple such currencies. For a wide array of model specifications varying functional forms and strengths of the trade-offs, we show that the presence of multiple currencies (e.g. nutrients, time) generally results in the evolution of higher lifetime reproductive success through partial circumvention of such trade-offs. Evolution of the underlying physiology is also more highly contingent with multiple currencies. These results challenge the paradigm of a single survival-reproduction trade-off as central to life history evolution, suggesting greater roles for physiological constraints and contingency, and implying potential selection for evolution of multiple trade-off currencies.


Sheep are considered as a major contributor of global food security. Moreover, sheep preweaning growth traits as well as in vivo carcass composition traits such as ultrasonic measurements of Longissimus dorsi muscle depth (UMD) and back-fat thickness (UFD) are crucially important indicators of meat yield and hot carcass composition. Despite their relative importance for productivity and profitability of a sheep production system, detected QTL for these traits are quite scarce. Therefore, we implemented GWAS for these traits using animal mixed model-based association approach provided by GenABEL in Esme sheep. Three genome-wide and 14 individual chromosome-wide associated SNPs were discovered. As a result, ESRP1, LOC105613082, ZNF641, DUSP5, TEAD1, SMOX, PTPRT, RALYL, POM121C, PHIP, LOC101106051, ZIM3, PEG3, TRPC7, FBXL4, LOC105610397, LOC105616489 and DNAAF2 were suggested as candidates. Some of the discovered genes and involved pathways were already annotated to contribute growth and development in various species including human, mice and cattle. All in all, the results of this study are expected to strongly contribute to shed a light on the underlying molecular mechanisms behind growth and carcass composition traits, with potential implications on studies aiming faster genetic improvement, targeted low-resolution SNP panel designs and genome-editing studies.


Abstract. Partasasmita R, Cahyani NT, Iskandar J. 2020. Local knowledge of the community in Cintaratu Village, Pangandaran, Indonesia on traditional landscapes for sustainable land management. Biodiversitas 21: 3606-3616.  Cintaratu, a village in Parigi Sub-district, Pangandaran District, West Java province, Indonesia has various landscapes. The recent developments of the community reflect a shift in values towards the attainment of economic prosperity. However, scaling-up the use of landscapes in this capacity can cause negative impacts. A cultural approach to landscape management can assist the village community in identifying sustainable practices. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the community's knowledge of the variety of traditional landscapes that exist in Cintaratu Village and the historical influence on variations in the landscapes. The qualitative method was applied in this study. The result of the study showed that some landscapes, i.e., leuweung karamat (sacred forest), kebon (garden), sawah (rice field), astana (grave/ tomb), pamukiman (residential area), pekarangan (homegarden), walungan (river), solokan (small river), tampian (bathing and washing place for residents), and balong (fish pond) are documented in Cintaratu Village. On the basis of ecological history, it has been revealed that village community's behaviors have changed various landscapes in Cintaratu Village. Conservation efforts carried out by the people themselves towards the traditional landscapes are usually associated with a customary prohibition or pamali that develops in the village community. The local people of Cintaratu recognize various landscapes that can be classified as natural and cultural landscapes. Based on the information provided by informants, the village landscape changes can be traced from the 1780s to 2019. The history of these landscape changes is the result of various factors, including an increase in population density, the implementation of government policies, and market economic development in the village.


Sir, I recently conducted a pilot study of normal bruises in normal 3to 4-year-old children in a Manchester day nursery. A group of 6 children was examined over a period of six weeks and bruises and other signs of trauma recorded. The results will be familiar to every parent, as well as to every clinician seeing children, but for me they were a salutary experience in relation to child abuse. No child had fewer than three bruises at each of the 60 examinations. Certainly shins, knees, and elbows were common sites but finger-tip size bruises over the lumbar spine were seen in all 6 children, and bruising over the biceps and scapulae were also common. Explanations were often highly improbable and totally believable, including 'Fischer-Technic rocket', and for a 10 x 1 cm bruise on the buttock 'missed pot sit'. As far as I know no child suffered abuse during the period of observation. I recommend this exercise to anyone concerned with child abuse; it highlights pathological trauma just as it is possible to contrast accidental and nonaccidental trauma when abused children are admitted to the lively community of a children's ward. I thank Mrs Ryder and her staff at Nuthurst Road Day Nursery, and her superiors who authorised my visits.


Computational e-mail systems, which allow mail messages to contain command scripts that automatically execute upon receipt, can be used as a basis for building a variety of collaborative applications. However, their use also presents a serious security problem because a command script from a sender may access/modify receiver's private files or execute applications on receiver's behalf. Existing solutions to the problem either severely restrict I/O capability of scripts, limiting the range of applications that can be supported over computational e-mail, or permit all I/O to scripts, potentially compromising the security of the receiver's files. Our model, called the intersection model of security, permits I/O for e-mail from trusted senders but without compromising the security of private files. We describe two implementations of our security model: an interpreter-level implementation and an operating systems-level implementation. We discuss the tradeoffs between the two implementations and suggest directions for future work.


Runtime service reconfiguration is put forward as one of the means by which we may provide dependable service-oriented architectures (SOA), and more precisely, continuity in service provisioning, and robustness in the presence of change. Indeed, with the advent of wireless networks, computing environments are becoming highly dynamic. From a user-oriented point of view, this dynamics comes at the price of dependability, due to runtime variations in terms of (1) service availability, and (2) network connection/infrastructure availability, according to user/service mobility. In this context, the main focus of this thesis is to incorporate support for dynamic reconfiguration in SOA systems, in order to tolerate runtime variations and ensure continuity in service provisioning for the users. In particular, we focus on middleware support for runtime service reconfiguration. Our main contribution consists in enabling service continuity by (1) substituting a service that becomes unavailable at runtime with a semantically similar one, and (2) translating and transferring the current state of interaction to the substitute service in order to resume the execution after its interruption. The need for state translation is due to the environments' heterogeneity, since the unavailable and substitute services are not assumed to be identically implemented, nor are they identically described. However, state translation may not be sufficient to guarantee state compatibility between the substitute service and the unavailable one: in some cases, the substitute service may be compatible with an earlier state of interaction, instead of the last one. Hence, we need to invalidate a set of results performed by the unavailable service, in order to synchronize the state of the substitute service. Indeed, the execution of the substitute service may provide different results from those provided by the execution of the unavailable service. In the case of service composition, still-available services –involved in the SOA system– may be affected by the substitution due to their data dependencies with the substituted service. Thus, the middleware synchronizes the state of still-available services according to the state transferred to the substitute service. The outcome of our contribution is SIROCCO (ServIce Reconfiguration upOn serviCe unavailability and Connectivity lOss), a middleware infrastructure that enables transparent runtime reconfiguration of SOA systems upon service unavailability. The middleware discovers candidate substitute services that can be used in the place of the service that becomes unavailable. It then tries to identify the best service amongst these candidates that can be used as an actual substitute. In the best case, the selected substitute service must be such that its current state can be synchronized with the last state of the service that is substituted. In the case of service composition, the middleware also checks data dependencies with the still-available services and synchronizes their state with respect to the transferred state. The above concepts of SIROCCO are discussed along with an experimental evaluation of our prototype. Our findings show that SIROCCO provides the necessary means for achieving dynamic service reconfiguration, where the gain in close-to-seamless continuity in service provisioning outweighs the computing and communication overhead on the execution of the SOA system.


The article is composed of three separate parts for which the common denominator is the use of the iconography of Bohemian deniers from the first half of the twelfth century. The images featured on the coins of Duke Svatopluk (1107–09), Vladislaus I (1110–25) and Soběslaus I (1125–40) constitute a point of departure for reflections on the essential components of the political culture of the Early and High Middle Ages. In contrast to existing Czech literature the author interpreted the scenes presented on the deniers of Svatopluk and Soběslaus I (Cach nos. 460, 570) as an illustration of a ritual toast raised by the duke in honour of St Wenceslaus. It probably constituted a heretofore-unknown element of an annual celebration of the martyrdom of the saint (28 September), which entailed a convention and a three-day feast attended by the ruler and the lay and ecclesiastical lords. Reflections in the second part focus on the depictions of Svatopluk, Vladislaus I and Soběslaus I (Cach nos. 460, 557, 573) in foundation scenes. The author examines the degree to which the application of a likeness of a ruler holding a model of a church reflected an actual religious foundation or the universal idea of the generosity towards the clergy. In the case of Vladislaus I and Soběslaus I the sources contain information about imposing ducal foundations, but in the case of Svatopulk there is no such correlation while the episode described by Cosmas and concerning the seizure of Church property by the duke for political reasons compels us to assume that the portrait of the ruler-founder on the coin was to obliterate the unfavourable impression produced by his conduct. The third fragment is a new interpretation of a scene featured on a denier of Soběslaus I, earlier associated with the inauguration of his reign in 1125 (Cach no. 571). In this case, the author noticed a reference to current political events from 1130–31 (chiefly the conflict involving Soběslaus and Meinhard, the bishop of Prague). The scene showing two men praying in front of a centrally located object is interpreted as an act of swearing an oath by both antagonists on the relics of St Wenceslaus, probably after the bishop was cleared of an accusation of treason during the celebrations of the day of St Wenceslaus on 28 September1131.


Everyone talks about the computer user, but virtually no one has studied him in a systematic, scientific manner. There is a growing experimental lag between verified knowledge about users and rapidly expanding applications for them. This experimental lag has always existed in computer technology. Technological innovation and aggressive marketing of computer wares have consistently outpaced established knowledge of user performance—a bias in computer technology largely attributable to current management outlook and practice. With the advent of time-sharing systems, and with the imminence of the much-heralded information utility, the magnitude of this scientific lag may have reached a critical point. If unchecked, particularly in the crucial area of software management, it may become a crippling humanistic lag—a situation in which both the private and the public use of computers would be characterized by overriding concern for immediate machine efficiency and economy, and by an entrenched neglect of human needs, individual capabilities, and long-range social responsibilities.


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) are pathogens responsible for millions of new infections each year; together, they cause high morbidity and mortality worldwide. In addition, late-stage HIV infection increases the risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) by a factor of 20 in latently infected people, and even patients with controlled HIV infection on antiretroviral therapy (ART) have a fourfold increased risk of developing TB. Conversely, Mtb infection exacerbates HIV pathogenesis and increases the rate of AIDS progression. In this review, we discuss this reciprocal amplification of HIV/Mtb coinfection and how they influence each other's pathogenesis. Elucidating the infectious cofactors that impact on pathogenesis may open doors for the design of new potential therapeutic strategies to control disease progression, especially in contexts where vaccines or the sterile clearance of pathogens are not effectively available.


Rising temperatures are increasing environmental habitats for thermotolerant pathogens, such as the so-called 'brain-eating amoeba', Naegleria fowleri. To the best of our knowledge, however, Naegleria species have not been reported in environmental water sources in Canada. We surveyed popular recreational lakes in Alberta, Canada during the summer bathing period to determine the presence or absence of Naegleria species. While N. fowleri was not isolated in this study, we identified other thermotolerant species, including Naegleria pagei, Naegleria gruberi, Naegleria jejuensis and Naegleria fultoni using culture-based methods, hence indicating the potential conditions to support N. fowleri. Ongoing monitoring and examination of water for pathogenic amoebae is recommended in order to assist in the public health management of water sources.


We studied the growth performance and biochemical composition (including soluble carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, phenols, chlorophyll-a, carotenoid and the C/N-ratio) of Nannochloropsis oceanica under various CO2 concentrations. The cell density of N. oceanic increased with a rise in CO2 concentration and got the high level at a CO2 concentration of 1000ppm or 1500ppm. In addition, except the proteins all tested biochemical composition were significantly affected by CO2 concentration (0.01 <P< 0.05; one factorial ANOVA). However comparing with other biochemical components, the contents of phenols in N. oceanic showed the opposite trends (P<0.01; one factorial ANOVA). In general, the short-term stimulation of elevated CO2 concentration to N. oceanic can promote cell division and synthesis of most of biochemical components (expect proteins and phenols).


Background /Objectives: Hypertrophied adenoids are the most common cause of refractory sinusitis in paediatric age. We study 42 cases of patients of chronic adenoiditis with adenoid facies and refractory chronic rhinosinusitis managed by endoscopic assisted adenoidectomy (EAA) and conventional adenoidectomy (CA). Materials and method: 42 cases of chronic refractory sinusitis with adenoid facies secondary to hypertrophied adenoids were randomized into 2 groups during the study period of 12 months from August 2012 to July 2013. Group A (n=21) underwent endoscope assisted adenoidectomy and Group B(n=21) underwent conventional adenoidectomy. Result: Endoscopic assisted adenoidectomy proves to be more effective in managing adenoid facies and chronic refractory rhinosinusitis with adenoid hyperplasia. Conclusion: Visualization of the adenoid mass using endoscope helps complete removal of the diseased adenoids. Endoscopic assisted adenoidectomy is treatment of choice in adenoid facies and chronic refractory rhinosinusitis with adenoid hyperplasia and more effective than conventional adenoidectomy.


An onshore oil well in Japan, referred to as Well M-1 in this paper, experienced a serious emulsion problem soon after the introduction of artificial lift using a hydraulic jet pump. Even though the problem was resolved after switching to a new demulsifier, it is possible that the operator could experience another emulsion problem as the production condition changes in the future and accordingly, the new demulsifier becomes less effective. Therefore, a laboratory case study was conducted to understand not only the cause of the emulsion problem encountered, but also the relative magnitude of several factors affecting emulsion stability. Knowing the conditions that lead to the emulsion problem helps in understanding how to remove the emulsion and in designing intervention treatments to restore long-term well productivity.
 At first, the oil and brine samples from Well M-1 were mixed and agitated to form emulsion, and subsequently emulsion stability was evaluated. Subsequently, the mixing conditions were altered to investigate the individual impact on the emulsion stability: (1a) replace Well M-1 oil with another field's oil, (1b) replace Well M-1 brine with another field's brine, (2) change concentrations of asphaltene, (3) change concentrations of wax, (4) change concentrations of toluene insolubles, (5) vary temperature between 20 and 70°C, (6) vary shear stress (rotational speed between 3,500 and 15,000 rev/min), and (7) vary water cut between zero and 100%.
 The result of the emulsion stability in every test was different. All the above factors showed some impact on emulsion stability, except for brine composition and toluene insolubles, which had little impact on emulsion stability in this study. Operationally speaking, because it was found that the emulsion was stabilized by multiple factors, multiple preventative approaches are required to sustain stable production, free of emulsion.


Evidence is mounting that influenza virus, a major contributor to the global disease burden, interacts with other pathogens infecting the human respiratory tract. Taking into account interactions with other pathogens may be critical to determining the real influenza burden and the full impact of public health policies targeting influenza. That necessity is particularly true for mathematical modeling studies, which have become critical in public health decision-making, despite their usually focusing on lone influenza virus acquisition and infection, thereby making broad oversimplifications regarding pathogen ecology. Herein, we review evidence of influenza virus interaction with bacteria and viruses, and the modeling studies that incorporated some of these. Despite the many studies examining possible associations between influenza and Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitides, respiratory syncytial virus, human rhinoviruses, human parainfluenza viruses, etc., very few mathematical models have integrated other pathogens alongside influenza. A notable exception is the recent modeling of the pneumococcus-influenza interaction, which highlighted potential influenza-related increased pneumococcal transmission and pathogenicity. That example demonstrates the power of dynamic modeling as an approach to test biological hypotheses concerning interaction mechanisms and estimate the strength of those interactions. We explore how different interference mechanisms may lead to unexpected incidence trends and misinterpretations. Using simple transmission models, we illustrate how existing interactions might impact public health surveillance systems and demonstrate that the development of multipathogen models is essential to assess the true public health burden of influenza, and help improve planning and evaluation of control measures. Finally, we identify the public health needs, surveillance, modeling and biological challenges, and propose avenues of research for the coming years. Author Summary Influenza is a major pathogen responsible for important morbidity and mortality burdens worldwide. Mathematical models of influenza virus acquisition have been critical to understanding its epidemiology and planning public health strategies of infection control. It is increasingly clear that microbes do not act in isolation but potentially interact within the host. Hence, studying influenza alone may lead to masking effects or misunderstanding information on its transmission and severity. Herein, we review the literature on bacterial and viral species that interact with the influenza virus, interaction mechanisms, and mathematical modeling studies integrating interactions. We report evidence that, beyond the classic secondary bacterial infections, many pathogenic bacteria and viruses probably interact with influenza. Public health relevance of pathogen interactions is detailed, showing how potential misreading or a narrow outlook might lead to mistaken public health decisionmaking. We describe the role of mechanistic transmission models in investigating this complex system and obtaining insight into interactions between influenza and other pathogens. Finally, we highlight benefits and challenges in modeling, and speculate on new opportunities made possible by taking a broader view: including basic science, clinical relevance and public health.


Cardiovascular disease (CVD) has become a severe threat to human health, with morbidity and mortality increasing yearly and gradually becoming younger. When the disease progresses to the middle and late stages, the loss of a large number of cardiomyocytes is irreparable to the body itself, and clinical drug therapy and mechanical support therapy cannot reverse the development of the disease. To explore the source of regenerated myocardium in model animals with the ability of heart regeneration through lineage tracing and other methods, and develop a new alternative therapy for CVDs, namely cell therapy. It directly compensates for cardiomyocyte proliferation through adult stem cell differentiation or cell reprogramming, which indirectly promotes cardiomyocyte proliferation through non‐cardiomyocyte paracrine, to play a role in heart repair and regeneration. This review comprehensively summarizes the origin of newly generated cardiomyocytes, the research progress of cardiac regeneration based on cell therapy, the opportunity and development of cardiac regeneration in the context of bioengineering, and the clinical application of cell therapy in ischemic diseases.


The manifestation of a pyogenic spondylitis only in the dorsal part of a spinal segment is very rare and causes even more diagnostic problems than the typically anterior located spondylitis. We are reporting on a patient with known isthmic spondylolisthesis who developed the inflammatory process primarily in the intervertebral joint and in the interarticular portion. For a few months the cause of his complaints was thought to be due to spondylolisthesis till radiological adn laboratory methods lead to the correct diagnosis and adequate therapy.


Objective: Genetic variants of polymorphisms of Ile50Val were known to upregulate receptor response to IL-4. IL-4 was found in cervical cancer cell lines and known to promote cervical carcinogenesis and the progression from cervical intraepithelial neoplasia to cervical cancer. So, we aim to explore whether the Ile50Val polymorphisms of Interleukin-4 receptor alpha () gene increase cervical cancer risk, which could serve as useful genetic markers for assessing the risk of the development and progression of cervical cancer in Korean population. Methods: The blood samples of 228 cervical cancer patients who were diagnosed at Seoul National University Hospital from 1999 to 2002 and 204 subjects who had screened at the health care system of Seoul National University Hospital and confirmed as non-cancer controls, were obtained. PCR amplification and TagMan assay were used. We used the chi-square test to evaluate whether the distribution of genotypes varied significantly between cervical cancer and controls. Odds Ratio and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using logistic regression test after age adjusting. Results: The distribution of homozygotes and heterozygotes closely approximated the expected values under Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium in cases and controls (p=0.33, chi-square=0.94; p=0.15, chi-square=2.04). In cervical cancer group, allele frequency of Ile was 46.1%, in comparison with 43.4% in control group which showed no significant difference statistically (p=0.52). Using subject with the Val/Val homozygote as a reference group, we found no association between the Ile/Val and Ile/Ile genotypes and the risk of cervical cancer with age adjusted regression analysis (=1.09, 95% CI=0.70-1.72, p=0.7; =1.21, 95% CI=0.67-2.19, p=0.52). Subanalyses of the cervical cancer according with clinical stage, histologic type, lymph node status and parametrial invasion status showed no statistically significant association with these polymorphisms. Conclusion: The polymorphisms of the gene are neither associated with increasing risk of cervical cancer nor more vulnerable for cervical cancer progression in Korean population.


Osteoclasts are derived from hemopoietic precursors in the marrow. Their differentiation pathway is still underfined, but an important role was obserned for the marrow micrienvironment in the regulation of osteoclasto genesis. various marrow stromal cell subtypes were used to study their possible role in the formation of osteoclasts from myeloblast (M1) cells. Interactions between M1 cell and the 14F1.1 endothelial‐adipocyte stromal cell line were demonstrated in a coculture model. M1 cells attached to the adherent layer of 14F1.1 cells and formed distinct focireminiscente of "cobblestone areas." Follwing these inteactions, M1 Cells developed specific enzymatic activites and became multinucleated. Both monouclear M1 cells became positive to tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRaP) and ATPase, a feature charactreistic of osteoclasts, and were also responsive to calcitonin. Furthermore, they attached to mineralized bone particles and their membrane changed into a ruffled border at the zone of interaction with the bone matrix. We thus demonstrated that marrow endothelial‐adipocytes may play a role in regulating the differentiation of myeloblast into osteoclasts.


We read with interest the case report by Diekman et a1 (1 992 j entitled 'Spontaneous regression of Ki-1 positive T-cell non Hodgkin lymphoma in a patient with HIV infection'. They reported the case of an HIV-1 antibody seropositive male who developed cutaneous lesions and tumours in the respiratory tract, with an autoresolutive course. Both cutaneous and bronchial biopsies showed an identical anaplastic Ki-1 positive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. In the differential diagnosis, Diekman et a1 (1992) considered lymphomatoid papulosis (LyP). We think that another suggestive differential diagnosis for this case could be a regressing cutaneous phase of Ki-l positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma, also called regressing atypical histiocytosis (RAH) (Matley et al, 1992). Clinically, this lymphoma is characterized by large spontaneously remitting nodule-ulcerative lesions, confined to, or initially arising from, the skin. Although LyP is also characterized by self-healing skin lesions, their lesions are smaller and more widespread than those of RAH. Originally described by Flynn Pt a1 (1982). 19 cases of this particular type of Ki-1 positive lymphomas have been reported to the best of our knowledge (Matley et al. 1982: Cerio &Black, 1990). To date, systemic involvement in RAH and fatal outcome have been reported in four cases (Matley et al, 1992). The differential diagnosis between certain cutaneous Ki-1 positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma, RAH and LyP are controversial, as well as the ultimate nature of these diseases, included in the 'rhythmic paradoxical eruption spectrum' (Macaulay, 1989). Thus, recently, both LyP and RAH were diagnosed in the same patient (Cerio et al, 1990). The authors suggested that these diseases are variants of the same disorder, and proposed that RAH should be more accurately renamed 'pleomorphic giant lymphomatoid papulosis'. An identical rearrangement of the T-cell-receptor alpha chain gene in a patient who developed consecutively a LyP, a Hodgkin disease and a cutaneous T-cell lymphoma is of interest. It suggests a common T-cell clone in the origin of these diseases in this patient (Davis et a!, 1992). It supports the idea that diseases included in the 'rhythmic paradoxical eruption spectrum' are a common disease type with differing manifestation (Matley ct nl, 1992). The case reported by Diekman et a1 (1 992) which could represent a regressing cutaneous phase of Ki-1 positive anaplastic large cell lymphoma (or RAH), with systemic involvement from the initial phase of the disease, suggests that HIV infection and subsequently immune disregulations. could favour a more aggressive course of the diseases included in the 'rhythmic paradoxical eruption spectrum'. Thus, in the AIDS era, the study of clinical, pathological, immunological and molecular events in HIV seropositive patients with any of these diseases (LyP, Hodgkin disease, RAH, Ki-1 positive lymphomas, mycosis fungoides) may aid in understanding their intricate nature.


Endospore formation in Bacillus subtilis provides an ideal model system for studying development in bacteria. Sporulation studies have contributed a wealth of information about the mechanisms of cell-specific gene expression, chromosome dynamics, protein localization, and membrane remodeling, while helping to dispel the early view that bacteria lack internal organization and interesting cell biological phenomena. In this review, we focus on the architectural transformations that lead to a profound reorganization of the cellular landscape during sporulation, from two cells that lie side by side to the endospore, the unique cell within a cell structure that is a hallmark of sporulation in B. subtilis and other spore-forming Firmicutes. We discuss new insights into the mechanisms that drive morphogenesis, with special emphasis on polar septation, chromosome translocation, and the phagocytosis-like process of engulfment, and also the key experimental advances that have proven valuable in revealing the inner workings of bacterial cells. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Microbiology, Volume 74 is September 8, 2020. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.


The reaction kinetics of fine particles of zinc oxide and zinc titanate with H2S were studied using a drop-tube furnace in order to test the potential of the sorbent injection hot-gas desulfurization process. Fine ZnO sorbent particles with diameter smaller than 50 tm were sulfided with H2S and/or reduced with H2 in a laminar flow reactor over the temperature range of 620-910 C. The reacted sorbent particles were separated from gas and size-classified using a cascade impactor and an absolute filter. Sulfidation conversion was measured by thermo-gravimetric analyses and compared for different particle sizes and reaction conditions. Other sorbents such as zinc titanate, metallic zinc, and ZnO with different porosity were also tested and compared. In the experiments of the reduction of ZnO without H2S, it was deduced from the change of size distribution of particles that a significant amount of Zn was formed and vaporized. On the other hand, the presence of H2S suppressed the change of size distribution of particles. This suggests that H2S suppresses the reduction of ZnO by rapid surface sulfidation and/or that gaseous Zn reacts with H2S immediately and forms fine particles of ZnS, most of which deposit onto the original particle surface. Formation and vaporization of elemental Zn from zinc titanate sorbents was slower than from zinc oxide with and without H2S. Surface reaction rate of ZnO and zinc titanate sulfidation was obtained and a reaction model for a single particle was formulated and compared with experimental results in the drop-tube furnace. Thesis Supervisors: Professor Maria Flytzani-Stephanopoulos Professor Adel F. Sarofim


Inadequate attention has been given to integrating EA and project design. To move EA from a negative, adversarial role to a proactive creative role as a design tool, it must transform from being directed at the production of a standalone report to a process able to contribute apposite environmental advice in good time for each of the decision-points in the planning process. We introduce the concept of decision-scoping into the standard scoping exercise as the essential precursor for this integration. Decision-scoping develops a schedule of all planning and design decisions to be made during the planning and approval cycle, and identifies the information on environmental constraints and opportunities that will be pertinent before each decision-point. This schedule becomes the framework around which the EA manager can creatively design each EA process.


The 3Rs, or the replacement, reduction, and refinement of animal research, are widely accepted as the best approach to maximizing high-quality science while ensuring the highest standard of ethical consideration is applied in regulating the use of animals in scientific procedures. This contrasts with the muted scientific interest in the 3Rs when they were first proposed in The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique (1959). Indeed, the relative success of the 3Rs has done little to encourage engagement with their original text, which remains little read and out of print. By adopting a historical perspective, this article argues that one explanation for this disjunction may be found in another, more celebrated, event of 1959: C. P. Snow's Rede lecture on The Two Cultures. The moral outlook of The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique derived from an earlier ethos wherein humanistic and scientific values occupied a shared culture. While the synthetic style of The Principles has hindered its readership, this article concludes that there is value to recovering the notion that the humanities and social sciences can contribute to the improvement of animal research.


An off-line controller design method of a tension and looper system is derived based on hybrid systems approach. By employing a multi-parametric programming method, a nonlinear feedback control law, which is equivalent to the model predictive control, is constructively given. The feature of resulting control system is illustrated with numerical example.


This article studies how a mechanism designer can influence games by promising payments to the players depending on their mutual choice of strategies. First, we investigate the cost of implementing a desirable behavior and present algorithms to compute this cost. Whereas a mechanism designer can decide efficiently whether strategy profiles can be implemented at no cost at all our complexity analysis indicates that computing an optimal implementation is generally NP-hard. Second, we introduce and analyze the concept of leverage in a game. The leverage captures the benefits that a benevolent or a malicious mechanism designer can achieve by implementing a certain strategy profile region within economic reason, i.e., by taking the implementation cost into account. Mechanism designers can often manipulate games and change the social welfare by a larger extent than the amount of money invested. Unfortunately, computing the leverage turns out to be intractable as well in the general case.


This paper proposes a new selective encryption scheme and a key management scheme for layered access control of H.264/SVC. This scheme encrypts three domains in hierarchical layers using different keys: intra prediction modes, motion vector difference values and sign bits of texture data. The proposed scheme offers low computational complexity, low bit-overhead, and format compliance by utilizing the H.264/SVC structure. It provides a high encryption efficiency by encrypting domains selectively, according to each layer type in the enhancement-layer. It also provides confidentiality and implicit authentication using keys derived in the proposed key management scheme for encryption. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.