BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Numbers of drug-related deaths have been growing in Europe and the USA, especially those attributable to mixed drug consumption. Overdose deaths account for about one third up to one half of all illicit drug deaths worldwide. In most cases opioids are involved. Opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is a well-established therapy option among people with opioid dependence. The aim of this study was to assess concomitant substance abuse in opioid-dependent patients under OMT in two centers in Munich, Germany.

METHODS
Oral fluid samples of opioid-dependent patients (n = 388) in OMT were randomly collected and analyzed by a multi-drug screening covering a wide range of psychotropic agents with UPLC-MS/MS techniques.

RESULTS
Fifty-one percent of the patients had concomitant substance abuse of at least one non-prescribed substance, 32% were positive for substances that were not tested in routine urine diagnostics, especially pregabalin. Fifty-seven percent received take-home opioid medication, and 26% had contact with underage children. Among the take-home subgroup, a concomitant substance abuse of 43.5% was detected. Furthermore 52.5% of the patients with contact to underaged children exhibited concomitant substance abuse.

CONCLUSIONS
Concomitant substance abuse is a serious issue among OMT patients. Screening for a broader range of substances than usually analyzed, reveals additional relevant abuse among OMT patients, including pregabalin-an anticonvulsant.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE
Our study underscores the importance of monitoring a broad range of substances including others than usually screened in opioid-dependent patients in OMT. (Am J Addict 2018;XX:1-6).


We explored the association between patienthood and prevalence of symptomatology in the community. Base line data on prevalence were obtained through the use of a household survey. Characteristics of survey respondents (N equals 938) and patients admitted from the surveyed area to a Connecticut Mental Health Center during a 12-month period (N equals 808) were compared. High utilization of facilities was associated with the prevalence of symptoms in the community, particularly where defining characteristics were descriptors of disadvantaged social status. A second set of variables correlated with mental health center use but not with the prevalence of symptoms in the community. By and large, these characteristics describe a lack of social supports not necessarily related to social status. Finally, certain groups were underrepresented as patients even though comprising polulations-at-risk in terms of levels of symptom impairment in the community.


The cluster Westerlund 1 (Wd1) is host to a large variety of post-main-sequence (MS) massive stars. The simultaneous presence of these stars can only be explained by stellar models if the cluster has a finely tuned age of 4–5 Myr, with several published studies independently claiming ages within this range. At this age, stellar models predict that the cool supergiants (CSGs) should have luminosities of log(L/L⊙)≈5.5 , close to the empirical luminosity limit. Here, we test that prediction using archival data and new photometry from Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy to estimate bolometric luminosities for the CSGs. We find that these stars are on average 0.4 dex too faint to be 5 Myr old, regardless of which stellar evolutionary model is used, and instead are indicative of a much older age of 10.4−1.2+1.3 Myr. We argue that neither systematic uncertainties in the extinction law nor stellar variability can explain this discrepancy. In reviewing various independent age estimates of Wd1 in the literature, we first show that those based on stellar diversity are unreliable. Second, we reanalyze Wd1's pre-MS stars employing the Damineli extinction law, finding an age of 7.2−2.3+1.1 Myr; older than that of previous studies, but which is vulnerable to systematic errors that could push the age close to 10 Myr. However, there remains significant tension between the CSG age and that inferred from the eclipsing binary W13. We conclude that stellar evolutionary models cannot explain Wd1 under the single-age paradigm. Instead, we propose that the stars in the Wd1 region formed over a period of several megayears.


Background Liver hepatocellular carcinoma (LIHC) is the seventh most commonly diagnosed malignancy and the third leading cause of all cancer death worldwide. The undifferentiated macrophages M0 can be induced into polarized M1 and M2 to exert opposite effects in tumor microenvironment. However, the prognostic value of macrophages M0 phenotype remains obscure in LIHC. Methods The transcriptome data of LIHC was obtained from TCGA database and ICGC database. 365 LIHC samples from TCGA database and 231 LIHC samples from ICGC database were finally included. Macrophages M0-related genes (MRGs) were screened by Pearson correlation analysis and univariate Cox regression analysis based on the infiltration level of Macrophages M0. LASSO regression analysis was employed to construct a prognostic signature based on MRGs, and risk scores were accordingly calculated. Then we investigated the MRGs-based prognostic signature with respects to prognostic value, clinical significance, strengthened pathways, immune infiltration, gene mutation and drug sensitivity. Furthermore, the expression pattern of MRGs in the tumor microenvironment were also detected in LIHC. Results A ten-MRG signature was developed and clarified as independent prognostic predictors in LIHC. The risk score-based nomogram showed favorable capability in survival prediction. Several substance metabolism activities like fatty acid/amino acid metabolism were strengthened in low-risk group. Low risk group was deciphered to harbor TTN mutation-driven tumorigenesis, while TP53 mutation was dominant in high-risk group. We also ascertained that the infiltration levels of immune cells and expressions of immune checkpoints are significantly influenced by the risk score. Besides, we implied that patients in low-risk group may be more sensitive to several anti-cancer drugs. What's more important, single-cell analysis verified the expression of MRGs in the tumor microenvironment of LIHC. Conclusion Multidimensional evaluations verified the clinical utility of the macrophages M0-related gene signature to predict prognosis, assist risk decision and guide treatment strategy for patients with LIHC.


In this article we look into the relationship between associational membership and political involvement in the case of the two largest groups of non‐EU citizens in Brussels, Moroccans and Turks. The aim is to evaluate the claim by Fennema and Tillie that differences in political participation between groups are to be explained by different levels of 'ethnic civic community', and more specifically by the differential presence of social capital (as participation in associational life). Primarily making use of data of a survey among Moroccans, Turks and lower‐educated Belgians, we conclude that the Fennema and Tillie hypothesis does not work in a straightforward way for Brussels. Although we see a high score of Turks on a number of indicators of 'ethnic civic community', it is the Moroccans who have a higher level of political involvement. Moreover, on the individual level, we did not find proof of a strong positive link between membership participation in ethnic associations as such and political involvement. Furthermore, links that can be found do not really help us to explain differences in political involvement of Moroccans and Turks on an aggregate level. Indeed, ethnic social capital has different effects on political involvement for Moroccans and Turks.


The performance evaluation of ATM switches is of paramount importance in the design and analysis of ATM networks. In this paper, we focus on the evaluation of the cell loss rate (CLR) and cell delay probability (CDP) in nonblocking ATM switches using computer simulations. In particular, we investigate the potential of using importance sampling techniques as an "superfast" alternative to conventional Monte Carlo simulation in finding the CLR and CDP in nonblocking ATM switches. We propose a "split switch" method to decouple the input and output queue behaviors, along with the notion of regenerative cycles. Numerical results will demonstrate that considerable computation cost can be saved using the proposed importance sampling techniques while maintaining a high degree of accuracy.


We have developed a new optical storage system that uses minute spheres arranged upon a surface-relief grating. By using dye-doped minute spheres as recording bits we can limit a sensitive region within a sphere's diameter. Using a reflection-type confocal optical system, we read out shape signals from minute spheres at high resolution. The shape signals from minute spheres are utilized as clock signals in recording and readout.


In this article, we report the successful surgical treatment of a patient, 34 years of age, who had a severe gummy smile and a class II malocclusion. The patient had an 11-mm gingival exposure during full smile and a convex profile. A LeFort I osteotomy combined with a horseshoe osteotomy was used for the superior repositioning of the maxilla;then, an intraoral vertical ramus osteotomy (IVRO) and genioplasty were performed for mandibular advancement. The maxilla was acceptably impacted 8mm at the first incisor and 5mm at the first molar. Both the occlusion and facial appearance were significantly improved by this surgical-orthodontic treatment. Our results suggest that the combination of a horseshoe osteotomy with a LeFort I osteotomy is a useful technique for reliable superior repositioning of the maxilla.


The low-temperature proton spin–lattice relaxation is analysed for lanthanum hydrides LaHx intentionally doped with Gd or Ce. These paramagnetic impurities were also characterized by static magnetic susceptibility and electron spin resonance measurements. A quantitative description of the proton relaxation rate maxima, as well as of the electron spin relaxation data, is presented. These analyses indicate that the density of states at the rare earth site disappears only for .


The borderless world is providing new opportunities for conducting business, both within Europe and between continents. Sustainable competition will be harder to attain and competition will become fiercer, day-by-day. The Austrian school of strategy emphasizes change, continuous innovation, and entrepreneurial discovery as sources of supernormal profits. An important assumption is that these supernormal profits are not sustainable. Richard D'Aveni's (1994) concept of hypercompetition is based on the same assumption about the nature of competitive advantage. In order to explore D'Aveni's model for hypercompetition through obtaining empirical evidences, the model is tested on three different markets. This is described in four papers, which have been presented at four different conferences. As the model by D'Aveni on hypercompetition can still be regarded as new, it has been important to do in depth theoretical studies as well as several field studies to validate if the model really is applicable. The objects are business relations and the strategies behind these business relations. The overall purpose of this thesis is to explore if new insights into strategic management of companies can be gained by the application of D'Aveni's framework for hypercompetition, with particular focus on the following two research questions; • How has each of the D'Aveni's 7 S's been made operational in the case studies? • Can D'Aveni's 7 S's provide guidance on choice of methods and concepts for handling turbulence in supply chains? The case studies start from a truck transportation perspective, as nearly everything we in some way consume has been partly transported on a truck. A product that is greatly influenced by the new open borderlines in Europe is the tomato, which during darker half the year is imported and during the brighter season is produced in Sweden, but under strong import competition. These tomatoes have to be transported through the viii whole supply chain in some type of transport packaging. How can you act to get control over these supply chains? Learning about the model does not make it mandatory to use it. Instead the model can be used for analysing and understanding what is happening or what is at risk to happen in a business sector. The findings and theoretical construct in this thesis are intended to be used in a manager's toolbox at all levels of an organisation. (Less)


New liquid waste streams will be generated as a consequence of closure activities at Waste Area Grouping (WAG) 6 at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). It is proposed that these waste streams be treated for removal of contaminants by adding them to the ORNL wastewater treatment facilities. Previous bench-scale treatability studies indicate that ORNL treatment operations will adequately remove the contaminants, although additional study is required to characterize the secondary waste materials produced as a result of the treatment. A larger scale treatment system was constructed to produce secondary wastes in the quantities necessary for characterization and US Environmental protection Agency toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) testing. The test system is designed to simulate the operation of the ORNL process waste treatment facilities and to treat a mixture of ORNL process wastewater and WAG 6 wastewater at a combined flow rate of 0.5 L/min. The system is designed to produce the necessary quantities of waste sludges and spent carbon for characterization studies and TCLP testing.


SUMMARY Aqueous suspensions of virulent Legionellapneumophila grown on solid medium retained virulence and aerosol survival characteristics for several months. Significant numbers of viable organisms were recovered from aerosols held at various relative humidities (r.h.) for up to 2 h. The organisms survived best at 65% r.h. and were least stable at 55% r.h. Exponential phase broth-grown organisms survived poorly in aerosols in comparison with stationary phase broth cultures or organisms grown on solid medium, suggesting that the metabolic status of Legionella pneumophila organisms may be an important factor affecting their ability to survive in aerosols and cause respiratory disease.


This paper presents the results of a front-end receiver module integrating GSM/DCS/PCS band select functions and a direct conversion IC on a low temperature cofired ceramic (LTCC) substrate. The front-end-module (FEM) integrated a SP3T GaAs PHEMT switch for band selection, three SAW filters for pre-selection, and a direct conversion IC for down conversion of the RF signal. Integrated passives included a PCS balun, direct conversion IC matching elements and structures to improve the performance of differential SAW filters. The LTCC module contained 24 embedded passives and 15 surface mount components integrated on a 328 mil/spl times/586 mil, 19-layer multi-layer integrated circuit (MLIC). Receiver sensitivity was better than -114 dBm, the system noise figure was less than 9 dB, and the return loss characteristics measured at the antenna input port were better than 10 dB for all three bands. EM simulation was used to achieve first pass design success and the modeling approach yielded excellent agreement between measured and simulated results.


The problem considered is the splittable bin packing with cardinality constraint. It is a variant of the bin packing problem where items are allowed to be split into parts but the number of parts in each bin is at most a given upper bound. Two versions of the splittable bin packing with cardinality constraint have been studied in the literature. Among these variants we consider the dual one where the objective is to minimize the maximum bin size while packing (may be fractional) the items to a given set of bins. We exhibit an EPTAS for the dual problem when the cardinality upper bound is part of the input. This result answers an open question raised by Epstein, Levin, and van Stee.


We derive a new Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) by formulating the problem of estimating the number of clusters in an observed dataset as maximization of the posterior probability of the candidate models. Given that some mild assumptions are satisfied, we provide a general BIC expression for a broad class of data distributions. This serves as a starting point when deriving the BIC for specific distributions. Along this line, we provide a closed-form BIC expression for multivariate Gaussian distributed variables. We show that incorporating the data structure of the clustering problem into the derivation of the BIC results in an expression whose penalty term is different from that of the original BIC. We propose a two-step cluster enumeration algorithm. First, a model-based unsupervised learning algorithm partitions the data according to a given set of candidate models. Subsequently, the number of clusters is determined as the one associated with the model for which the proposed BIC is maximal. The performance of the proposed two-step algorithm is tested using synthetic and real datasets.


Pollination causes increases in FW and DW of Cyml>idium ovaries and gynostemia. It also initiates FW losses in pe_rianth segments. Auxin (NAA) applications to the stigma have the same effects except that FV[ ?f ovaries decre:ises. All segments of unpo~mated flowt!rs increased in DW, whereas FW variations were mm1mal. These weight changes reflect the agmg and subsequent death and/ or redifferentiation and further development of pollinated and/or unpollinated orchid flowers.


The damage of Candida albicans blastoconidia exposed to the lowest concentration of chemical disinfectant and antiseptic passing the EN 1275:2005 at 5 min contact time was examined under transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The blastoconidia of C. albicans 82 exposed to the chemical products showed the following damage: Incidin Liquid Spray (disinfectant) and Spitaderm (antiseptic) – cytoplasm congealing; Incidin Plus and Lysoformine 3000 (disinfectants) – cell wall and cell membrane damage, and leakage of the cytoplasm; Medicarine (disinfectant) – cytoplasm denaturation and rough cytoplasm. The damage of blastoconidia of the strains C. albicans 24 and C. albicans 28, exhibiting different susceptibility to Lysoformine 3000 was compared under scanning electron microscopy. The blastoconidia of the strain C. albicans 28 did not exhibit essential damage at a concentration 16 times lower (0.02%) than the lowest concentration of Lysoformine 3000 (Lc‐LYS) for this strain (0.32%). At this concentration (0.02%, corresponding to Lc‐LYS for C. albicans 24) the more sensitive isolate 24 showed substantial damage. The conducted study exhibited the effects of the tested products against the viability and structural integrity of the cells. Blastoconidial buds at the early stage of development seem to be very susceptible to the action of the tested products. The budding areas are located mainly at the blastoconidial poles.


For the surgical treatment of uncontrollable epilepsy, it is essential to delineate the epileptogenic focus by the use of intraoperative electrocorticography. Most general anesthetic agents, however, suppress the epileptogenic focus. Therefore, such a patient is usually kept awake during the procedure using local anesthesia. We experienced 15 cases for these procedures. Anesthesia was induced with thiamylal and pancuronium was administered for tracheal intubation. Anesthesia was maintained with nitrous oxide, oxygen and enflurane or isoflurane. After the brain was exposed, volatile anesthetics were discontinued and replaced with intermittent fentanyl administration. Approximately 15 minutes before the start of intraoperative electrocorticography, nitrous oxide concentration was reduced to 30% or less. A resective epileptogenic focus was identified in every patients. In 2 patients, electrocorticographical focal seizure status was identified following the intraoperative electrocorticography. After the focus resection, seizure attacks were controlled only by the application of regular medical regimen in these patients. Low nitrous oxide and intermittent fentanyl administration can be recommended as a superior anesthesia technique for intraoperative electrocorticography.


Abstract A neurophysiological analysis of motor affections has been made in post-apoplectic patients during early convalescence. Altogether 26 patients aged 45-68 were examined on week 3-4 since ischemic hemispheric apoplexy. Magnetic stimulation of cerebral cortex motor zones, measurements of M-response and evoked skin sympathetic potential. Mild or moderate motor dysfunctions were characterized by reduced amplitude of the M-response and prolonged central pyramid conduction on the affected side. Severe paresis is associated with no M-response to magnetic stimulation of the cortex on the affected side. Pathogenetic mechanisms of the above disorders and their implications for treatment and rehabilitation are discussed.


The partially equivalent Lakota and Cloverly Formations comprise the basal Cretaceous strata in outcrop exposures along the eastern and western margins, respectively, of the Powder River basin. They unconformably blanket a subaerial erosional surface that developed during Early Cretaceous time. Paleocurrent analysis of outcrops surrounding the Powder River basin, together with petrographic data, demonstrates that the formations had different source areas: sediments of the Cloverly were derived from the Sevier orogenic belt, whereas those of the Lakota were derived primarily from areas east and southeast of the present-day Powder River basin. The formations also display different facies: conglomeratic sandstones of the Cloverly appear to have been deposited by braided stre ms, whereas the well-sorted, fine to medium-grained sandstones of the Lakota were deposited by meandering fluvial systems. Although confirming biostratigraphic data are lacking, stratigraphic relationships strongly suggest that initiation of Lakota deposition preceded that of the Cloverly. The upper parts of both formations include red, green, and beige mudstones and appear to be correlative. They record a period of slow sedimentation immediately prior to transgression of the sea. They also record a change in paleoslope over much of the Powder River basin, the original northeastward-sloping surface having been tilted northwestward in response to subsidence within the foreland basin. Cloverly deposition was terminated by rapid transgression of the Thermopolis sea. Basal beds of the Thermo olis interfinger southeastward with deltaic deposits at the top of the Lakota. Lakota deposition was terminated somewhat later, the youngest Lakota strata being overlain by the Fuson tongue of the Thermopolis. End_of_Article - Last_Page 850------------


This occasional paper explains why the bank lending survey was developed by the ECB and describes its main features. It discusses the importance of credit developments for both the economy and the functioning of monetary policy, and further clarifies why the survey was introduced. Furthermore, the paper demonstrates that the value added of implementing a bank lending survey for the euro area lies in particular in the way it provides greater insight into developments in credit standards, non-interest rate credit conditions and terms, the risk perception of banks and the willingness of banks to lend. Credit standards are the internal guidelines or criteria of a bank which reflect the bank's loan policy. The terms and conditions of a loan refer to the specific obligations agreed upon by the lender and the borrower. This occasional paper also considers similar surveys conducted by the Federal Reserve System in the US and by the Bank of Japan.


The co-genotoxic effect of di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) was studied in an in vivo Drosophila genotoxicity test. DEHP is categorized as a non-genotoxic carcinogen. In this study, DEHP also did not show genotoxicity in Drosophila. When larvae were simultaneously treated with DEHP and N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA), the DNA damaging activity of NDMA was increased in the Drosophila DNA repair test. Furthermore, DNA double strand breaks were increased by the same treatment of Drosophila. These results suggest that DNA double strand breaks cause the co-genotoxic effect of DEHP in Drosophila.


Recent focus on light-weight design and fuel efficiency in several sectors (such as aerospace and automotive), as well as advances in polymer technologies, have made plastic parts more viable for high-value systems. These are often low-production, high-precise parts which require expensive tooling for traditional manufacture, making them difficult to reproduce later; this is especially true when the original tooling is no longer available, and full additive manufacturing (AM) is infeasible. This study explores the application of fused deposition modeling (FDM extrusion-based AM) in the repair of cracks, chips, and broken features in such plastic parts. A framework for repairing various kinds of plastic parts using FDM is presented, including establishment of repair candidacy, selection of repair material and parameters, post-processing, and repair evaluation. Three case studies, one repairing an optimized truss, one exploring the use of sewing-stitch patch patterns, and one replacing a broken part feature, were developed to demonstrate the presented concepts.


This paper presents a high-order accelerated algorithm for the solution of the integral-equation formulation of volumetric scattering problems. The scheme is particularly well suited to the analysis of "thin" structures as they arise in certain applications (e.g., material coatings); in addition, it is also designed to be used in conjunction with existing low-order FFT-based codes to upgrade their order of accuracy through a suitable treatment of material interfaces. The high-order convergence of the new procedure is attained through a combination of changes of parametric variables (to resolve the singularities of the Green function) and "partitions of unity" (to allow for a simple implementation of spectrally accurate quadratures away from singular points). Accelerated evaluations of the interaction between degrees of freedom, on the other hand, are accomplished by incorporating (two-face) equivalent source approximations on Cartesian grids. A detailed account of the main algorithmic components of the scheme are presented, together with a brief review of the corresponding error and performance analyses which are exemplified with a variety of numerical results.


Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of surgical resection and amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) for treatment of refractory symptomatic giant papillae in vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC). Methods: This is a retrospective study of 13 eyes of 9 patients with refractory giant papillae associated with corneal shield ulcer and/or punctate epithelial erosions who underwent surgical resection of the papillae combined with AMT to cover the tarsal conjunctival defect. Results: During 14.2 ± 4.2 months of postoperative follow-up, smooth tarsal conjunctival surface was achieved in all cases, with no recurrence of the giant papillae in any eye. Corneal shield ulcers and punctate epithelial erosions healed within 2 weeks after surgery and did not recur during the follow-up. Best-corrected visual acuity improved from 0.26 ± 0.21 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution preoperatively to 0.02 ± 0.04 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution postoperatively (P = 0.01). Three patients experienced recurrence of VKC symptoms, but without giant papillae, which could be well controlled by topical medications. Conclusions: Surgical resection combined with AMT is an effective procedure for treatment of refractory giant papillae in patients with VKC.


In studies of gene-environment interactions, exposure misclassification can lead to bias in the estimation of an interaction effect and increased sample size. The magnitude of the bias and the consequent increase in sample size for fixed misclassification probabilities are highly dependent on the prevalence of the misclassified factor and on the interaction model. This paper describes a relatively simple approach to assess the impact of misclassification on bias in the estimation of multiplicative or additive interactions and on sample size requirements. Applications of this method illustrate that even small errors in the assessment of environmental or genetic factors can result in biased interaction parameters and substantially increased sample size requirements that can compromise the feasibility of the study. Also, an example is provided where nondifferential misclassification biases an additive interaction parameter away from the null value, even under conditions where a multiplicative interaction parameter will always be biased toward the null value. Efforts to improve the accuracy in measuring both genetic and environmental factors are critical for the valid assessment of gene-environment interactions in case-control studies.


Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic, neurodegenerative disorder that results from the loss of cells in the substantia nigra (SN) which is located in the midbrain. However, no cure is available for PD. Recently, fibroblasts have been directly converted into induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) via the forced expression of specific transcription factors. Therapeutic potential of iNSC in PD has not been investigated yet. Here, we show that iNSCs directly converted from mouse fibroblasts enhanced functional recovery in an animal model of PD. The rotational behavior test was performed to assess recovery. Our results indicate that iNSC transplantation into the striatum of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-injected mice can significantly reduce apomorphine-induced rotational asymmetry. The engrafted iNSCs were able to survive in the striatum and migrated around the medial forebrain bundle and the SN pars compacta. Moreover, iNSCs differentiated into all neuronal lineages. In particular, the transplanted iNSCs that committed to the glial lineage were significantly increased in the striatum of 6-OHDA-injected mice. Engrafted iNSCs differentiated to dopaminergic (DA) neurons and migrated into the SN in the 6-OHDA lesion mice. Therefore, iNSC transplantation serves as a valuable tool to enhance the functional recovery in PD.


In this paper, we propose a model-based quality-of-service (QoS) routing scheme for IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks. Unlike most of QoS routing schemes in the literature, the proposed scheme provides stochastic end-to-end delay guarantees, instead of average delay guarantees, to delay-sensitive bursty traffic sources. Via a cross-layer design approach, the scheme selects the routes based on a geographical on-demand ad hoc routing protocol and checks the availability of network resources by using traffic source and link-layer channel modeling, taking into consideration the IEEE 802.11 characteristics and node interactions. Our scheme extends the well developed effective bandwidth theory and its dual effective capacity concept to multihop IEEE 802.11 ad hoc networks. Extensive computer simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme is effective in satisfying the end-to-end delay bound to a probabilistic limit.


We have used synthetic lipidated peptides ("peptide-amphiphiles") to study the structure and function of isolated domains of integral transmembrane proteins. We used 9-fluorenylmethyloxycarbonyl (Fmoc) solid-phase peptide synthesis to prepare full-length phospholamban (PLB(1-52)) and its cytoplasmic (PLB(1-25)K: phospholamban residues 1-25 plus a C-terminal lysine), and transmembrane (PLB(26-52)) domains, and a 38-residue model alpha-helical sequence as a control. We created peptide-amphiphiles by linking the C-terminus of either the isolated cytoplasmic domain or the model peptide to a membrane-anchoring, lipid-like hydrocarbon tail. Circular dichroism measurements showed that the model peptide-amphiphile, either in aqueous suspension or in lipid bilayers, had a higher degree of alpha-helical secondary structure than the unlipidated model peptide. We hypothesized that the peptide-amphiphile system would allow us to study the function and structure of the PLB(1-25)K cytoplasmic domain in a native-like configuration. We compared the function (inhibition of the Ca-ATPase in reconstituted membranes) and structure (via CD) of the PLB(1-25) amphiphile to that of PLB and its isolated transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains. Our results indicate that the cytoplasmic domain PLB(1-25)K has no effect on Ca-ATPase (calcium pump) activity, even when tethered to the membrane in a manner mimicking its native configuration, and that the transmembrane domain of PLB is sufficient for inhibition of the Ca-ATPase.


This paper presents a summary of 630.0 nm emission observations made by the Cornell All-Sky Imager that have revealed an abundance of structure in the midlatitude thermosphere. Some events were so bright that the weaker 557.7 nm thermospheric line was readily visible and produced sharper images because of the shorter excitation lifetime. Global Positioning System observations show that the airglow features are traveling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs). The remarkable feature of the data is the overwhelming tendency for these low-velocity TIDs to develop with a northwest to southeast orientation and to propagate in the southwest direction. Speeds ranged from 50 to 170 m/s, and wavelengths ranged from 50 to 500 km. The Perkins instability is investigated as a possible explanation for the structures. The linear theory, including both winds and electric fields, predicts a positive but small growth rate. However, the real part of the dispersion relation gives the wrong sign for the wave propagation. Furthermore, the growth rate seems too small to amplify a seed gravity wave significantly during one period of neutral gas oscillation. We conclude that this class of low-velocity TID is not yet explained theoretically.


This paper proposes a novel method for constructing ultra wide band (UWB) pulses based on a linear combination of Gaussian pulses. These pulses while meeting FCC power spectral density (PSD) mask requirements insure negligible interference with narrow band (NB) systems using flexible interference avoidance property they possess. Improved performance is achieved when errors due to imperfect synchronization exist between the transmitter and receiver (timing jitter). The coefficients of pulses designed can be generated using simple delay elements and amplifiers. The performance of these pulses in multipath channel such as channel model 1 (CM1) with timing jitter is evaluated by simulation and is found to be better than that of other designs.


Abstract:This autoethnographic piece, cowritten through letters exchanged between Kitty Rotolo, currently incarcerated in New York State, and Nadja Eisenberg-Guyot, an abolitionist organizer and graduate student in New York City, explores elaborations of trans identity, affinity, and community across prison walls. Reflecting on the authors' friendship and the possibilities for mutual recognition that queer kinship has afforded them—even across the distance and disposability produced by incarceration—these letters reveal transness as a practice of seeing. Through letter writing and storytelling, the authors explore how Rotolo has negotiated incarceration in men's prisons, including the transphobic violence of prison, in order to articulate and live transness—as individual identity, as resistance, as affinity, as collectivity, and as practice—inside.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Due to a peculiar age-dependent increased susceptibility, neonatal cholestasis affects the liver of approximately 1 in every 2500 term infants. A high index of suspicion is the key to an early diagnosis, and to implement timely, often life-saving treatments. Even when specific treatment is not available or curative, prompt medical management and optimization of nutrition are of paramount importance to survival and avoidance of complications. Areas covered: The present article will prominently focus on a series of newer diagnostic and therapeutic options of cholestasis in neonates and infants blended with consolidated established paradigms. The overview of strategies for the management reported here is based on a systematic literature search published in English using accessible databases (PubMed, MEDLINE) with the keywords biliary atresia, choleretics and neonatal cholestasis. References lists from retrieved articles were also reviewed. Expert commentary: A large number of uncommon and rare hepatobiliary disorders may present with cholestasis during the neonatal and infantile period. Potentially life-saving disease-specific pharmacological and surgical therapeutic approaches are currently available. Advances in hepatobiliary transport mechanisms have started clarifying fundamental aspects of inherited and acquired cholestasis, laying the foundation for the development of possibly more effective specific therapies.


It is proved that the protein expression of IGF-1 is detected in several tissues including liver, brain, eye, lung, pancreas and muscle. This growth factor exerts autocrine and paracrine effect during embryonic and postnatal development and is involved in muscle development. The aim of this study was to determine the level of protein expression of IGF-1 in breast muscle during embryonic and postnatal development of broiler chickens. For the experiment were used fertilized eggs and broiler chickens of heavy hybrid "Ross 308", originating from parent flock at the age of 54 weeks. Samples of breast muscle were taken from embryos during the 15th and 19th day of embryonic development and 3rd and 21st day of postnatal development from 5 birds in each age category. From all of the embryos and chickens the right side of the brest muscles were individually sampled. The muscle tissue was macerated and then homogenized in buffer with protease inhibitors. After that immunoprecipitation, electrophoresis and transfer the Western blot analysis were performed on all samples. For visualization of proteins the membranes were incubated in chemiluminescent substrate. The results indicate statistically significant increase in protein expression of IGF-1 in breast muscle on the 19 day of embryonic development and 3 of postnatal development in compared to 15 day of embryonic development (p<0,05 compared to 19 day of embryonic development and p<0,01 compared to the 3 day of postnatal development). After the 3 day of postnatal development the protein expression was at the same level until the 21 day of postnatal development.


With the rapid advance of modern micro- and nanoelectronics, devices become more vulnerable to failure as well as to noise. The need for fault tolerant devices and circuits, that can compensate degradation and failure by adaptation, are inherently immune to noise, and compute at low-power gives new incentive to the motivation and goals of neuromorphic computing again. In particular, the realization of sensor signal conditioning and conversion by neural circuits coexisting with potentially large digital circuits on the same substrate is an attractive field for these techniques. In our work, for the case of a selected magnetic sensor (AMR), a spike-coded conceptual circuit employing coincidence detection and principles from the auditory system is developed, that already meets several of the goals mentioned above. The basic functionality of a 4 bit spiking neural ADC with a sampling rate of 1MHz could be shown with simple coincidence detection.An extended version with place coding using only 50% of the delay lines to obtain the same results with the same sampling rate is also shown. Extension to higher resolution by extended tap delay lines and place coding application, increased tolerance endurance due to collective adaptation as well as silicon realization will be investigated.


: Several commentators have noted the accelerating turbulence occurring in health care at the present time. Indisputably, hospitals in Australia are going through a significant period of transition. It is argued in this paper that the magnitude of these changes will result in those organisations that we call hospitals in the future only barely resembling their counterparts in the recent past. A description of the movement to reform health care policy provides the backdrop to this discussion. This discussion of public policy initiatives broadly informs the debate and allows the major thesis of the paper to be explicated: that there is a health service management revolution occurring and it is taking place principally at the hospital level. Evidence for this view can be discerned from an analysis of four areas — organisational structure, the quality movement, changes in the management of hospitals and patients, and alterations in the way hospitals are financed. Thus, the very process of the transformation as it unfolds can be glimpsed. This paper discusses the evidence in an attempt to explain the crucial factors underpinning the revolution.


Purpose To study the causes of gender differences in infection rate and mortality of COVID-19.Methods According to the confirmed results so far, it was found that the expression of ACE2, TMPRSS2, NRP1 and FURIN genes were related to SARS-COV-2 virus infected cells; CD4, CD8 and NLRP3 genes were related to human immunological response; NSP1 gene was related to immunosuppression; IL6 (IL-6), IFNG (IFN-γ) and TNF (TNF-α) genes were related to the occurrence of cytokine storm. The differential expression of these genes between male and female were analyzed in normal and tumor patients, and further analyzed in different locations of normal and tumor tissues to find out risk factors affecting the infection rate and mortality. Results In our study, we identified that in the lung tissue, the expression level of ACE2, TMPRSS2, NRP1 and FURIN genes in male patients were higher than those in female patients. In all normal tissues of patients: NRP1, FURIN and NSP1 genes were significantly higher expressed in female. In all tumor tissues of patients: ACE2, FURIN and IL-6 genes were significantly higher expressed in male, while TMPRSS2, CD4, CD8, NLRP3, NSP1 and TNF genes were significantly higher expressed in female.Conclusions The significant differential expression of SARS-COV-2 receptor related genes and immune response related genes between male and female patients may be the reason for the difference in COVID-19 infection rate and mortality. The expression of COVID-19-related genes in normal and tumor patients were also significantly different, so clinical treatment should be treated differently.


Hyperspectral imaging instruments measure hundreds of spectral bands (at different wavelength channels) for the same area of the surface of the Earth. Typically the data cube collected by these sensors comprises several GBs per flight, which have attracted attention to on-board techniques for compression. Typically these compression techniques are expensive from the computational point of view. Due to this fact, a number of Compressive Sensing and Random Projection techniques have raised as an alternative to reduce the signal size on-board the sensor. The measuring process of these techniques usually consist on performing dot products between the signal and random vectors. The Compressive Sensing process is performed directly in the optic system, however, in this paper, we propose to perform the random projection measurement process on a low power consumption Graphic Processing Unit. The experiments are conducted on a Jetson TX1 board, which is well suited to perform vector operations such as dot products. These experiments have been performed to demonstrate the applicability, in terms of accuracy and time consuming, of these methods for onboard processing. The results show that by using this low power consumption GPU is it possible to obtain real-time performance with a very limited power requirement.


Urbanity is the rapid continues concentration of structuralism, modernism and socio-cultural dynamic changes through urbanization process. Urbanization has been viewed as an important factor in the areas of economic transformation, orchestrating the breakdown of the feudal order and taking societies to higher levels of social transformation. The paper analyses the spatial pattern, process and trend of urbanization in the state of Sikkim on the basis of conceptualization theory & secondary data for the last seven decades. Thus, till 1970, the process of urbanization was very invisible. Sikkim has also witnessed rapid urbanization process in the post-merger years and trend is rather increasing. A town attracts people for a better opportunity, employment, urban facility, better lifestyle and easy access to the places of human activities and also for better human status. The number of urban towns has grown from 1 in 1981 to 8 in 2001. The number of the population residing in urban areas has increased from 2% in 1951 to 11 in 2011. Even in Sikkim, the rural-urban migration is the pouring potency for growing the urban population. There is also an urgent need to strengthen the carrying capacity of smaller town to brace up to the challenges ahead by checking in the migration of population and through appropriate urban planning, monitoring & government intervention policies for effect in future on natural beauties as well as environmental resources. Keywords : Definitional & classification Issues, urbanization, Urbanity, Degree of urbanization, City Size Classification, Tempo of urbanization.


The green synthesis of nanoparticles using plant extracts is an efficient eco-friendly approach. The present study is aimed at investigating the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) using aqueous leaf extract of Hyptis suaveolens and evaluation of their cytotoxicity against cancer cells. The formation of AgNPs upon incubation of AgNO3 with leaf extract was identified by color change (yellow to brown), further confirmed by characteristic UV-visible absorbance peak at 436 nm. The Extended dispersive X-ray spectroscopy in turn confirmed elemental silver content in green synthesized AgNPs (G.S.AgNPs). The scanning and transmission electron microscopy revealed randomly dispersed spherical shaped particles in a size range of 20–80 nm. The X-ray diffraction spectroscopy has shown distinct Bragg diffraction peaks corresponding to the planes of face centered cubic lattice, indicating crystalline nature of G.S.AgNPs. The Dynamic light scattering spectroscopy has shown average size distribution of NPs ranging from 80 to 207 nm, certainly higher as it measures the size of entire complexion of organic capping layer with the nanoparticle. The Zeta potential of G.S.AgNPs in water was found to be −13.7 mV, reflecting their higher stability. Further, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy revealed the leaf extract's phenolic compounds and certain proteins responsible for the biological reduction of Ag+ and stabilization of AgNPs. The MTT assay has shown prominent cytotoxic activity of G.S.AgNPs against PC-3 and MDA-MB 231 cells with IC50 values of 63.16 and 52.49 μg/ml respectively. Overall, the study clearly indicates efficient synthesis of AgNPs, which can have a scope for the application in cancer therapy.


Abstract:
 The "Noto's Satoyama and Satoumi" in Noto Peninsula of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan is a system of Socio-Ecological Production Landscapes and Seascapes (SEPLS) mosaics interconnected with highly productive coastal areas that have been formed and maintained through long-term human influence, which supports not only its diverse and traditional agriculture, forestry and fisheries, but also sustains local livelihoods and conserves its flourishing biodiversity. Since the designation of Noto as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) in 2011, there have been active developments of conservation and revitalization efforts amongst the local governments, and communities, as well as pouring interest from the academia, international community and private sector. The paper will discuss the developments of Noto's GIAHS through examining several case studies of recent conservation and revitalization efforts of new initiatives and those building on existing schemes. The report will be based on literature reviews, interviews with and information provided by Ishikawa Prefectural Government and field surveys conducted. It is found that modest but steady steps are being taken in conservation of GIAHS and Noto is taking an active role contributing to the GIAHS initiative.


This study was conducted at the field of the Department of Horticulture – College of Agriculture – University of Baghdad – Abu Ghraib during the growing season (2005 – 2006)to study the effect of nitrogen fertilization and calcium spraying on growth and yield in local garlic cultivar, The experiment include 9 treatments wich were the interactions between three levels of nitrogen fertilization,[ no fertilization(N0) ,80 kg/ha ( N1) and 160 kg / ha( N2)] and three concentrations of calcium foliar application ,[ no spraying( Ca0) , 2,5 gm ( Ca1) and 5 gm (Ca2)] ,Each treatment replicated three times in Factorial Experimental arrangement with RCBD . The experimental Results showed that interaction ofnitrogen fertilization and calcium spraying (N2Ca2) significantly gave the highest plant height of 54,36 cm , dry weight of Total vegetative of 18,52 gm and the highest average bulb weight of50,85gm and the highest number of cloves per bulb of 33,16 and yield of 15,45 ton / ha .while the lowest values of these parameters were found in the control treatment (N0Ca0). The T.S.S and cloves diameterdid not affected by nitrogen and calcium treatments.


New developments have been performed in diagnosis of the tuberculosis (Tbc) which is still the most common and the most mortal preventable infectious disease. Tuberculosis skin test (TST) an immunologic diagnostic method has been used in the diagnosis of Tbc ever since, and is still considered as a gold standart for diagnosis of latent Tbc infection but so far has lost its credibility as a diagnostic test due to its false positivity and negativity characteristics and due to this reason a more sophisticated diagnostic method search is underway. An alternative to the TST has emerged in the form of a new type of in-vitro T-cell-based assay: The interferon-gamma (IFN-?) assay. IFN-? assays are based on the principle that T-cells of individuals sensitised with Tbc antigens produce IFN-? when they reencounter mycobacterial antigens. In this article the principles leading to the production of IFN-? has been reviewed and its usage in real practise has been discussed.


The latest Cretaceous cool temperate environment of the Alaskan North Slope included dinosaurs (some species represented by both juveniles and adults) and mammals, all probably endothermic, and freshwater fish among its terrestrial vertebrate fauna. No traces have been found of amphibians or nondinosaurian reptiles, ectothermic vertebrates that are abundantly represented in approximately contemporaneous faunas of North American middle paleolatitudes. A geologically brief period of intense cold and darkness has been hypothesized as the primary cause of terminal Cretaceous extinctions. However, the extinction of the lineages of Alaskan dinosaurs and mammals, in contrast to the survival of most lineages of amphibians and nondinosaurian reptiles into the Tertiary, contradicts this hypothesis.


The current focus on maintaining normal body temperature in the operating room makes the use of patient warming devices routine—or even mandatory—in many hospitals. Forced air warming devices such as the Bair Hugger (3M Healthcare, St. Paul, Minnesota) maintain or increase core temperature in patients during the perioperative period, with benefits that include reduced surgical wound infections, maintenance of normal coagulation, and faster discharge from the post-anesthesia care unit (PACU)1-5. However, some recent literature has raised concerns regarding a possible increased risk of deep surgical site infections specifically associated with the use of the forced air warming systems in the orthopaedic operating room5-12. One concern is that a convective device could disrupt unidirectional downward laminar airflow, which may be especially critical in joint arthroplasty operating rooms. This concern is based on theoretical mechanisms, laboratory simulations, retrospective case series, and studies showing potentially pathogenic organisms growing in the hoses and filters of forced air warming devices6-12. However, multiple other studies13-15 and a Continuing Education statement by the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)16 suggest that proper use of the forced air warming devices mitigates or eliminates this risk while maximizing the benefits of patient warming. The purpose of the present manuscript is to review the current literature on the use of patient warming devices in orthopaedic surgery, specifically in joint arthroplasty.

Hypothermia (core body temperature, <36°C) is a constant risk during general anesthesia because of factors such as impaired thermoregulation, heat loss secondary to a cold operating room, redistribution of body heat from the core to the vasodilated periphery, and infusion of cool intravenous fluids. Major adverse consequences of perioperative hypothermia can include adrenergic activation, myocardial ischemia, thermal discomfort, decreased drug metabolism, coagulopathy and increased …


Abstract The matrix 1 (M1) gene, present in all subtypes of avian influenza virus (AIV), was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli. Reactivity of the expressed protein was confirmed by western blot. Subsequently, the M1 gene expression product was purified and used as the antigen to develop a latex agglutination test (LAT) for detecting antibodies against these conventional subtypes of AIV including AIV H3, H5, H7, and H9 from chicken sera. The LAT is specific for AIV, and no cross-reaction was shown with chicken antisera against other avian viruses. Compared with the hemagglutination inhibition test, the corresponding specificity, sensitivity, and correlation were 95.7%, 88.7%, and 89.0%, respectively, in detecting 491 serum samples from vaccinated chickens.


ABSTRACT The effects of corruption on economic development have been extensively examined. There is overwhelming evidence that corruption is detrimental to economic progress. This, in turn, has provided the rationale to combat corruption. With the insistence of international development partners, many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have put in place anticorruption strategies to fight corruption. This paper looks at the strategies adopted by some Sub-Saharan African countries to combat corruption with a view to identifying the strengths and weaknesses. Based on the successes or failures of the strategies in the cases examined, the elements that constitute a successful anticorruption strategy are identified. Of the ingredients of anticorruption strategy examined in the paper, the political will to fight corruption appears to be the overriding factor in mounting a successful anticorruption campaign. Besides identifying the necessary factors for a successful anticorruption strategy, the paper also serves as an update on the state of corruption in Sub-Saharan Africa and the literature on the causes of corruption.


We report a rare case of acute liver failure from acute hepatitis E virus (HEV) in a non‐pregnant woman without comorbidities who survived after liver transplantation. The source was likely consumption of partially cooked pig liver. HEV genotype 3 is the second most common genotype causing acute hepatitis E in developed countries. Fulminant hepatitis E rarely occurs without a risk factor, as in our patient. Vigilant monitoring for chronic hepatitis E in post‐transplant immunocompromised patients is needed.


Covid-19 is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Many measures have been made by World Health Organization (WHO), but these may be threatened by unconcerned infectious individuals (some infectious individuals who do not take the disease serious, by ignoring non-pharmaceutical intervention). A system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations that absorbs a class of unconcerned infectious individuals, is developed. An invasion threshold parameter, Rc, is derived using the next generation matrix approach. This is used to establish the global stability of COVID-19-free equilibrium points. The global asymptotic stability of COVID-19 persistence equilibrium solution is studied through the use of suitable LaSalle's Invariance Principle with a Lyapunov function of Goh-Volterra type. The intervention of themodel key parameters is assessed through sensitivity analysis. Our results indicate that increase in the rate of hospitalization of the asymptomatic infectious and unconcerned infectious individuals after a compulsory national testing, could bring Rc below one. Our results suggest that there should be compulsory national testing and continuous enhancement, the awareness through effective risk communication concerning COVID-19 to the general public. Numerical simulations are carried out to validate the analytical results. Key-Words: COVID-19, unconcerned infectious individuals, testing, stability analyses, sensitivity analysis Received: March 11, 2021. Revised: April 25, 2021. Accepted: April 30, 2021. Published: May 4, 2021.


Background and Objective: Alpha thalassemia is one of the most common hemoglobin disorders. Some combination of alpha globin gene mutations may cause HbH disease with severe anemia or intermediate thalassemia. genotype common deletions are routinely tested for suspicious alpha thalassemia couples but because of lack of information about the nature and frequency of point mutations and higher expe nosor of sequencing, less attention was paid to them. This study was done to determine the p revalence of common point mutations of alpha globin gene in Babol, Iran. Materials and Methods: This descriptive study was carried out on DNA of 153 adult suspected to α -thalasemia with deleted α - golobolin gene referred to genetic laboratory in Babol, Iran during 2005-09. a 1 and a 2 genes were amplified by using specific biotinilated primers by PCR method. PCR products were assayed using 11 specific probs correspondi ng to common point mutations in alpha gene (C19, IVSI ( -5nt), C59, Hb constant spring, Hb Icaria, Hb seal Rock, IVSI (148), C14, poly A ( -2bp), poly A2, Poly A1) and fixed on byodine C membrabe. Hybridization between the probes and PCR products was visuali zed after a colorimetric reaction using of conjugated streptavidin peroxidase and TMB (tetra methyle Benzidine) and H 2 O 2 . Results: The prevalence of point mutations in poly A2, 5nt , Hb constant spring and poly A1 were 28.75%, 14.38%, 7.84% and 2.61%, respectively. Conclusion: Point mutation in alpha globin genes was detected in %53.60 out of 153 adults suspected with alpha thalassemia without common deletion mutations. ___________________________________________________________________________


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a homodimeric glycoprotein that promotes angiogenesis and vascular hyperpermeability and interacts with two receptors, fms-like tyrosine kinase (Flt-1) and kinase domain-containing region (KDR). In situ localization in the pregnant human uterus revealed that VEGF mRNA is expressed primarily by the maternal decidua, whereas the receptor Flt-1 is expressed primarily by chorionic vascular endothelium and trophoblast cells-in particular, the extravillous trophoblast (EVT). We examined whether the mRNA and protein of VEGF and its receptors are expressed by invasive human first-trimester EVT cells propagated in culture and whether VEGF influences EVT cell proliferation, migration, and invasiveness. Proliferation was assessed by the uptake of [3H]thymidine. Invasion and migration across transwells were assessed by the degree of cellular transgression of a Millipore membrane coated, respectively, with and without Matrigel. Results of immunocytochemical and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis revealed that both protein and mRNA of VEGF, Flt-1, and KDR were expressed by cultured normal EVT cells as well as their premalignant derivative produced by SV-40 Tag-immortalization, and BeWo choriocarcinoma cells. Under serum-free conditions, exogenous VEGF121 (the non-heparin-binding isoform) stimulated proliferation of all three cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner. The effects were abolished with a VEGF-neutralizing antibody. The same stimulatory effects on EVT cells were also seen with exogenous VEGF165 (a heparin-binding isoform), only after a cleaving of the heparin-binding domain with plasmin or a blocking of heparin binding sites with excess soluble heparan sulphate proteoglycans (HSPGs), suggesting a regulatory role of HSPGs. However, VEGF121 and VEGF165 (with and without the HSPG pretreatment) had no effect on normal EVT cell migration or invasiveness. Thus, VEGF may provide a dual role in angiogenesis and EVT cell proliferation during normal placental development.


Reverse time migration (RTM) is considered as a high-end imaging algorithm due to its ability to image geologically complex environments. However, this algorithm suffers from very high computational costs and low-frequency artefacts. The former drawback is the result of the intensive computations and huge memory allocation involved in RTM. Wave propagation modelling, as a kernel of RTM, demands intensive computations, and conventional imaging conditions are associated with huge memory allocation. In this paper, a modification of imaging condition is proposed that improves the efficiency of RTM as a reduction of computational cost, memory (RAM) allocation and low-frequency artefacts. The proposed imaging condition is similar to the conventional imaging condition but with the reduction of modelling time to near half the maximum time of recording. As the main idea of the proposed imaging condition, the impact of wave propagation modelling time is investigated on the quality of RTM and illumination of reflectors. The performance of the proposed method is considered using two synthetic models (SEG/EAGE and BP) and a real dataset from an Iranian oilfield in the south of Iran. Results showed that the new imaging condition can properly image the reflectors and enhance the efficiency of RTM. By using the proposed imaging condition, we achieved ~25% increase in CPU performance and 50% decrease in the memory allocation. Despite the improvement of the performance, results showed that the proposed imaging condition had no significant effect on the illumination. We propose a modification of the reverse time migration imaging condition by reducing the modelling time to about half of the recording time. Results showed that the proposed modification has no significant effect on the illumination of reflectors, while increasing the CPU and memory allocation performances by about 25% and 50%, respectively.


The purpose of this qualitive content analysis is to examine and analyse how children are visualized in toy catalogs, depending on their gender, 2014 - 2015. It is important to observe how advertisement maintains the gender stereotypes norms of our society, since it has a major impact on our self-image and identity. Especially when it comes to children, who absorb everything and also because it is during the childhood the socialization process begins. It is common that toy stores and toy catalogs distinguish boy toys from girl toys, based on the toy's colour, form and function. This phenomena has become a topic of public discussion in recent years. Therefore, the two large toy companies, BR-leksaker and Toys "R" Us, claim to have published gender neutral toy catalogs by changing the gender roles and letting boys and girls play together with the same toys. In order to gain more knowledge of toys impact on gender roles, we studied previous research by scientist in the field of gender, e.g. Almqvist, Butler and Connell. By using a qualitative method with a semiotic perspective, we found recurrent underlying aspects in the advertisements, by the selection of twelve pictures. The studies result implies that the studied toy catalogs are not yet equal, although a certain level of progress can be ascertained. Not even the three most equal advertisements visualized girls and boys equally, because of details such as stereotypical hairstyles, accessories and clothing. Furthermore, the study shows that girls are portrayed with boy toys than vice versa, which implies that boys are to a greater extent regarded as abnormal.


ABSTRACT Human astrovirus is an important cause of acute gastroenteritis. We have generated, for the first time, a vaccinia virus recombinant expressing the astrovirus 87-kDa structural polyprotein. The results demonstrate that this expression results in the formation of virus-like particles in the absence of other astrovirus proteins and genomic RNA. The purified trypsin-activated virus-like particles strongly resemble the complete astrovirus particles.


Five functions of merit were used for the registration of 99Tcm-HMPAO brain SPET studies. The correlation coefficient (COR), the stochastic sign change (SSC), the standard deviation of ratios (SDR), the sum of the absolute differences (SAD) and a new function based on a local correlation coefficient (LOC) were tested in the registration of photic neuroactivation (ACT), epilepsy (EPL) and Wada (WAD) SPET studies. The comparison included simulated and real studies. The translation error in registration was 0.1 +/- 0.1 pixels (mean +/- S.D.) for all functions of merit for the complete set of simulated studies (10 runs for each ACT, EPL and WAD). For rotation, LOC yielded the best results with a mean error of 0.3 +/- 0.2 degree and a maximum error of 0.6 degree. Slightly higher errors were found with SAD (0.4 +/- 0.2 degree, maximum 1.0 degree) and COR (0.5 +/- 1.0 degree, maximum 1.0 degree). The highest errors were found with SDR (0.8 +/- 1.0 degree, maximum 4.8 degrees) and SSC (0.8 +/- 1.1 degrees, maximum 4.7 degrees). The results obtained from five real studies of ACT, of EPL and of WAD were in agreement with the findings from the simulated studies, thus confirming the robustness of LOC, SAD and COR for the registration of 99Tcm-HMPAO brain SPET studies.


Signal amplification strategies with spatiotemporally high sensitivity can provide more accurate information and hold great promise for improving the accuracy of disease diagnosis. Herein, a 808 nm near-infrared (NIR) light-activated plasmon enhanced fluorescence-catalytic hairpin assembly (PEF-CHA) signal amplification strategy was proposed for spatiotemporally controllable precise imaging of miRNA in vitro and in vivo with ultrasensitivity. The proposed 808 nm NIR light-activated PEF-CHA signal amplification strategy is constructed through combining up-conversion photocontrol and PEF technologies with CHA. It is worth noting that the laser irradiation-induced overheating effect could be effectively alleviated by using Nd3+-sensitized upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) to convert 808 nm NIR light to ultraviolet (UV) light, which is almost nondestructive to cells or tissues. In addition, nonspecific activation as well as false positive signals can be effectively avoided. Moreover, the detection limit can be reduced by approximate 38 times thanks to the high sensitivity of the proposed strategy. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the 808 nm NIR light-activated PEF-CHA signal amplification strategy can be expanded to sensitive and activatable imaging of intratumoral miRNAs in living mice, showing feasible prospects for precise biological and medical analysis.


Equations for the prediction of forage dry-matter intake, metabolizable energy (ME), rumen degradable protein and undegraded protein, based on those in the current Agricultural Research Council system, were incorporated into a computer program designed to be used by livestock advisors for on-farm rationing of beef cattle. The predictions of silage intake and live-weight gain are compared with experimental data. Voluntary intake of grass silage was generally over-estimated by the program by proportionately at least 0·06, with a root mean square error of ±0·18 of the mean observed silage intake for the all-silage rations. The prediction of ME requirement for observed production had an error of +0·15 of average ME intake but the calculations of ME intake were themselves dependent on the predictions of the ME concentrations of the silages and supplements. Similarly the comparison of protein supply with requirement was highly dependent on the value assigned to N-degradability. However, the program can be used to assess how changes in the input values would affect ration formulation. The mathematical basis of the program is described in the Appendix.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the efficacy and tolerability of empagliflozin as an add-on to metformin therapy in patients with type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Patients with HbA1c levels of ≥7% to ≤ 10% (≥53 to ≤86 mmol/mol) while receiving metformin (≥1,500 mg/day) were randomized and treated with once-daily treatment with empagliflozin 10 mg (n = 217), empagliflozin 25 mg (n = 213), or placebo (n = 207) for 24 weeks. The primary end point was the change in HbA1c level from baseline at week 24. Key secondary end points were changes from baseline in weight and mean daily glucose (MDG) at week 24. RESULTS At week 24, adjusted mean (SE) changes from baseline in HbA1c were −0.13% (0.05)% (−1.4 [0.5] mmol/mol) with placebo, −0.70% (0.05)% (−7.7 [0.5] mmol/mol) with empagliflozin 10 mg, and −0.77% (0.05)% (−8.4 [0.5] mmol/mol) with empagliflozin 25 mg (both P < 0.001). Empagliflozin significantly reduced MDG level and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) versus placebo. Adjusted mean (SE) changes from baseline in weight were −0.45 kg (0.17 kg) with placebo, −2.08 kg (0.17 kg) with empagliflozin 10 mg, and −2.46 kg (0.17 kg) with empagliflozin 25 mg (both P < 0.001). Adverse events (AEs) were similar across groups (placebo 58.7%; empagliflozin 49.5–57.1%). Confirmed hypoglycemic AEs were reported in 0.5%, 1.8%, and 1.4% of patients receiving placebo, empagliflozin 10 mg, and empagliflozin 25 mg, respectively. Events consistent with urinary tract infections were reported in 4.9%, 5.1%, and 5.6% of patients, and events consistent with genital infections were reported in 0%, 3.7%, and 4.7% of patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Empagliflozin 10 and 25 mg for 24 weeks as add-on to metformin therapy significantly improved glycemic control, weight, and BP, and were well-tolerated.


Introduction The antiretroviral therapy (ART), although is not a cure, allows the slow of the disease's course, while extending and promotes a better quality of life for the patient. Given that, the quality of health-related life is a concept that has as focus the subjective evaluation of the patient and is necessarily related to the impact of health status on the individual's ability to live fully, this study aimed to evaluate the satisfaction of the aspects related to quality of life in patients who use of ART. Methods This is a cross-sectional study, with a descriptive character. The study included 215 patients who met the following inclusion criteria: in use of ART, age or over 18 years. The study met all legal and ethical issues. Results Most participants were male (144; 66.98%) with a mean age of 40 years. The vast majority of respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied: with sleep (127; 59%); the ability to perform activities of daily life (151; 70.23%), the ability to work (132; 61.40%). Conclusion To conclude, antiretroviral therapy contributes to the improvement of personal satisfaction related to health parameter. Disclosure of interest statement This study was funded by CAPES (Higher Education Personnel Training Coordination) and CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). No pharmaceutical grants were received in the development of this study.


By critical evaluation of published literature and the application of reasoning based on the laws of chemistry and physics, the potential for addressing staling in beer has been assessed. The key factors that determine the flavor life of beer are oxygen content of the packaged product, the level of sulfur dioxide in the beer and the temperature encountered by the beer in storage. It is argued that upstream oxida tion, while not unimportant, has perhaps been overplayed. It is impor tant, however, that yeast has the opportunity to 'clean up' any upstream oxidation through its ability to reduce carbonyl species. Adducts between carbonyls and sulfur dioxide are not reduced by yeast, and therefore it seems that the preferred strategy would be one of minimizing 502 production by yeast, in particular as this would allow better conversion of acetaldehyde to alcohol. Acetaldehyde has a far greater binding capacity for S02 than have the staling aldehydes and its presence interferes with the ability of agents to bind staling substances.


INTRODUCTION: In Kawasaki disease, we have detected linear shadows inside large- or moderate-sized coronary arterial lesions (CALs) on high-resolution two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE). OBJECTIVE: For this study, we wanted to investigate the origin and clinical significance of these linear shadows compared with findings on coronary angiography (CAG), MRI, and intravascular ultrasound. RESULTS: Linear shadows were detected in 11 CALs on high-resolution 2DE in 9 patients with Kawasaki disease. The outer diameters of CALs on 2DE (7.0 ± 2.1 mm) were larger than those on CAG (4.4 ± 1.6 mm), whereas the inner diameters between linear shadows (3.9 ± 1.6 mm) were almost equal to the diameters of CALs on CAG. There was a statistically significant positive correlation (y = 0.99x − 0.10; r2 = 0.77) between the diameters of CALs on CAG and the inner diameters between linear shadows on 2DE. A thickened intima was revealed in the same regions that showed linear shadows on 2DE, in 7 of 11 lesions on MRI, and in all 4 lesions on which intravascular ultrasound was performed. In 3 patients who had been followed up over 3 years, linear shadows inside CALs on 2DE persisted, and the diameter between linear shadows was almost consistent with the diameter of CALs on CAG. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that linear shadows inside CALs on 2DE would reflect the existence of a thickened intima. We expected that following up the changes of linear shadows inside CALs was useful for noninvasive evaluation of coronary arterial remodeling such as intimal hypertrophy or stenotic change.


The paper briefly discusses the development of the tandem type of rolling mill and the requirements of electrical drives for such mills, and presents methods of calculation of power requirements.


We present a tutorial to realize a multidimensional fitting procedure capable of extracting all the relevant information contained in a sequence of charged particle images acquired as a function of time in femtosecond pump–probe experiments. The images are reproduced using a 3D fitting method, which provides the velocity (or center-of-mass kinetic energy) and angular distributions contained in the images and their time evolution. A detailed example of the method is shown through the analysis of the time-resolved predissociation dynamics of CH3I on the B-band origin (Gitzinger et al., J. Chem. Phys.2010, 133, 234313). We show that the multidimensional approach is essential for the analysis of complex images that contain several overlapping contributions where reduced dimensionality analyses cannot provide a reliable description of the features present in the image sequence. This methodology can be generalized to many types of multidimensional data analysis.


In this paper we are interested in speaker and environment adaptation techniques for speaker independent (SI) continuous speech recognition. These techniques are used to reduce mismatch between training and the testing conditions, using a small amount of adaptation data. In addition to reducing this mismatch during the adaptation, we propose to reduce the variation due to speakers or environments during the training itself in the context of Speaker Normalisation (SN) approach, using MLLR transformation. SN also includes a combination of the context-dependent, phone dependent and broad phonetic class dependent information. The use of linear regression to model broad phonetic class dependent information assures our model to be used in the case that the adaptation data or training data is not given for some phonetic symbols. SN is developed for Mixture Stochastic Trajectory Model, a segment based model. The approach can be used for speaker, gender or environment normalization. We show the performance of SN compared to SI recognition and to MLLR speaker adaptation, through experiments on continuous speech recognition.


A solution is presented for the general, wave-interaction problem of steady, irrotational, homentropic flow of a perfect gas. It can be interpreted as a convergent process of successive approximations, based on the solution of linearized theory, for shock-free flow. It constitutes an approximate solution for flow with weak shocks. In part I, the equations of motion are transformed into linear equations in characteristic variables. Their solution is of different type according to whether the flow is near-sonic, hypersonic, or in between these extremes. Special attention is given to the types of boundary condition which occur in physical problems, and solution methods are devised to cope with these types in the medium Mach number range. The method of Riemann functions is used to calculate accurately the pressure distribution in the first interaction region of a jet expanding from a perfect nozzle. It is shown by the help of double power series that shock waves will always occur in the first period of such a jet, even for pressure ratios arbitrarily near unity. The Riemann function approach is also shown to be suitable for the approximate calculation of the flow past aerofoils of prescribed shape; when the requirements of accuracy are exacting, the method of double power series expansion presents the problem in a form suited to high-speed digital computers.


Post-anthesis colour change (PACC) is widely thought to be an adaptation to signal floral viability to pollinators, and may be a developmental pre-pattern for bird pollination in Lotus. Lotus filicaulis and Lotus sessilifolius are insect-pollinated herbaceous legumes with flowers that open yellow, shift to orange and finally, red. This thesis examines the ecological and molecular basis for floral colour change in these Lotus species. L. filicaulis was cultivated in a glasshouse from which pollinating insects (bees) were excluded, and the rate of colour change was recorded in both unpollinated and manually pollinated flowers. Unpollinated flowers from both the yellow stage and red stage were sampled for sequencing. The transcriptomes of L. filicaulis and L. sessilifolius of both colour stages were analyzed for differentially expressed genes and enriched ontologies. Pollination significantly accelerates PACC in L. filicaulis, consistent with the hypothesis that PACC increases pollination efficiency by directing pollinators to unpollinated flowers. RNA-seq results show the synchronized upregulation of the entire cyanidin biosynthesis pathway in the red stage of PACC of both Lotus species – possibly at the expense of adjacent pathways competing for the same substrate. This thesis is the foundation for understanding the molecular evolution of PACC in Lotus and will be useful in testing the hypothesis that PACC is a preadaptation to bird pollination in Lotus.


An ensemble Monte Carlo particle simulation of AlInAs/GaInAs heterojunction bipolar transistors was carried out to investigate the influence of the hot-electron transport regime in the base on the steady-state and high-frequency characteristics of the device. It was found that the electron transport in the base is ballistic or near-ballistic for base thickness WB<0.06 mu m and is diffusive for WB>0.2 mu m.


OBJECTIVE
To study the toxicity of methomyl to acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in different regions.

METHODS
The optimal temperature and time for measurement of AChE activity were determined in vitro. The dose- and time-response relationships of methomyl with AChE activity in human erythrocyte membrane, rat erythrocyte membrane, cortical synapses, cerebellar synapses, hippocampal synapses, and striatal synapses were evaluated. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) and bimolecular rate constant (K) of methomyl for AChE activity in different regions were calculated, and the type of inhibition of AChE activity by methomyl was determined.

RESULTS
AChE achieved the maximum activity at 370 °C, and the optimal time to determine initial reaction velocity was 0-17 min. There were dose- and time-response relationships between methomyl and AChE activity in the erythrocyte membrane and various brain areas. The IC50 value of methomyl for AChE activity in human erythrocyte membrane was higher than that in rat erythrocyte membrane, while the Ki value of methomyl for AChE activity in rat erythrocyte membrane was higher than that in human erythrocyte membrane. Among synapses in various brain areas, the striatum had the highest IC50 value, followed by the cerebellum, cerebral cortex, and hippocampus, while the cerebral cortex had the highest Ki value, followed by the hippocampus, striatum, and cerebellum. Lineweaver-Burk diagram demonstrated that with increasing concentration of methomyl, the maximum reaction velocity (Vmax) of AChE decreased, and the Michaelis constant (Km) remained the same.

CONCLUSION
Methomyl is a reversible non-competitive inhibitor of AChE. AChE of rat erythrocyte membrane is more sensitive to methomyl than that of human erythrocyte membrane; the cerebral cortical synapses have the most sensitive AChE to methomyl among synapses in various brain areas.


Iceland ranks highly on international indices of gender equality, but the labor market is among the most gender segregated in the world. Gender differences in vocational interests play an important role in explaining these disparities, as interests are highly related to career and educational choices. In this quantitative review, we examine gender differences in both Holland's RIASEC categories and basic interest scales using data from 10 studies in Iceland. The studies contained populations ranging in age from 13–60 years (N = 9494). Both imported (SII, SDS) and indigenous (Bendill) interest inventories were used to measure interests. First, we found that that the RIASEC scales in the inventories conform to Holland's structural model both for women and men, except in the youngest age group. Second, and most importantly, the results show the same pattern and extent of mean gender differences that have emerged in other countries. The largest gender differences are in Social interests, which favor women, and Realistic interests, which favor men. Women are also higher on Artistic interests, and men are higher on Investigative and Enterprising interests. These gender differences reflect the gender segregated labor market and educational choices. We discuss the possible influence of sex-role socialization, gender identity, and gender essentialist ideologies on the development of interests and career choices in Iceland.


This article presents the application of the Universal Named Entity framework to generate automatically annotated corpora. By using a workflow that extracts Wikipedia data and meta-data and DBpedia information, we generated an English dataset which is described and evaluated. Furthermore, we conducted a set of experiments to improve the annotations in terms of precision, recall, and F1-measure. The final dataset is available and the established workflow can be applied to any language with existing Wikipedia and DBpedia. As part of future research, we intend to continue improving the annotation process and extend it to other languages.


A simple theory is developed that relates the amplitude of eddy heat (or density) flux across a narrow front to the basic frontal parameters. By assuming that heat is transported primarily by baroclinic eddy pairs, an analytical expression for the cross-front eddy heat flux is derived as u9r9 5 ceVmDr, where u9 and r9 are deviations from the temporal or spatial mean cross-front velocity and density, Dr is the density change across the front, Vm is a scale for the alongfront velocity (which may be interpreted as the maximum alongfront velocity for a front with density change Dr over a horizontal scale of the deformation radius, assuming a deep level of no motion), and ce is an efficiency constant. Similar expressions for the eddy heat flux have been proposed previously, based on scaling or energetics arguments, but neither an a priori estimate for the value of the efficiency constant ce nor a clear dynamical understanding of what determines its value has been forthcoming. The theory presented here provides a dynamically based means of estimating the efficiency constant, which may be approximately interpreted as the ratio of the speed at which eddies propagate away from the front to the alongfront velocity, resulting in ce 0.045. Eddy-resolving numerical models are used to test this theoretical estimate for both unforced and forced frontal problems. For a wide range of parameters the cross-frontal heat transport is carried primarily by heton-like eddy pairs with values of ce between 0.02 and 0.04, in general agreement with the theory. These values of ce are also consistent with numerous previously published laboratory and numerical studies.


Aims A Delphi study to triangulate and determine the relative importance of the key qualities of trainees identified from qualitative interviews that sought to understand how consultant histopathologists determine diagnostic competences in trainees. Methods Twelve participants were purposively chosen for the Delphi to form an expert panel of relevant stakeholders. Participants were asked to score and rank the items presented to them. Results A total of 22 out of 27 of the key qualities of trainees (items) reached 'consensus in' after round 2 suggesting participants were able to agree that the majority of the items identified in the qualitative interviews were important to diagnostic competence. Five items reached 'no consensus'. Participants did not suggest any additional items. Participants particularly valued qualities of reflection and professionalism and trainees who understood the process of reaching a diagnosis and how their pathological report could impact on patient care. Conclusions This study has triangulated findings from our qualitative interviews and show that consultants value a wide variety of qualities when determining diagnostic competence in their trainees. The judgement is complex and is therefore best assessed longitudinally and on a number of cases, so consultants can look for consistency of both approach to diagnosis and of trainee behaviour.


Recently, the deep learning method of sequence to sequence (seq2seq) form has achieved excellent results in non-intrusive load monitoring(NILM). However, due to the particularity of NILM task, which requires continuous output of appliance power, when using this form, there will be a situation that only part of the operation time in appliances will be included in the input sequence of meter power, resulting in a decline in the effect of energy disaggregation. In this paper, a convolutional neural network in the form of sequence to short sequence (seq2sseq) is proposed. The seq2sseq network only outputs a short appliance power sequence corresponding to the middle position of the input sequence. As more input information outside the time period of the output sequence can be seen, the problem of inaccurate estimation in the sequence edge can be solved. The experiments show that the seq2sseq-based neural network can achieve better results than the seq2seq-based one while ensure computational efficiency. It is a more suitable form of neural network for NILM task.


Advanced contacting seals, such as leaf seals or brush seals, can offer reduced leakage during engine operation when compared to conventional labyrinth seals. The flexible elements of these seals provide better compliance with the rotor during flight maneuvers. The functionality and performance retention attributes of an engine-scale prototype leaf seal have been investigated on a seal test facility at Rolls-Royce that achieves engine-representative pressures and speeds and allows dynamic control of the seal position relative to the rotor, both concentric and eccentric. In this paper, the experimental setup and the test method are described in detail, including the quantification of the measurement uncertainty developed to ASME standard PTC 19.1. Experimental data are presented that show the variations in leakage and torque over typical variations of the test parameters. Insight is gained into the interactions between the operating pressure and speed and the concentric and eccentric movements imposed on the seal.


In this letter, we study the performance of optimum combining (OC) and maximal ratio combining (MRC) diversity schemes in wireless digital communication systems with Rice fading and cochannel interference. New simplified closed-form expressions are derived for the probability density function (pdf) as well as the outage probability for OC and MRC when the desired signal has a line of sight and the interferers are assumed to be scattered and further away from the receiver. It is assumed that the interferers have equal powers and their number (L) is larger than the diversity order (M), i.e., L>M.


Contemporary models of autobiographical memory attribute a prominent role to the conceptualisation of the self. In an attempt to better understand the impact of the self as an organising feature of autobiographical memory, narratives of personal episodes were elicited, either after a questionnaire about the self (self-prime condition) or after a distractor task (control condition). Participants also wrote a narrative of a turning-point memory, which is by definition a self-focused narrative. Narratives were divided into propositions and analysed for the types of statements used. As predicted, when writing self-focused turning-point narratives participants included more statements relating to the meaning of an event and connecting it to the self, and fewer statements focusing on the who, what, where, and when of the narrative. Narratives written after the self-prime also demonstrated characteristics that were similar to turning-point narratives, although not on all measures. This shift in narrative focus in turning-point and self-primed memory narratives indicates an increased attempt to fulfil goals of coherence rather than correspondence (Conway, 2005). These findings lend insight into the nature of the relationship between the semantic conceptualisation of the self, and the process of retrieving event-specific knowledge in episodic memory.


A recent survey of congenital hand anomalies has revealed that symphalangism of the distal interphalangeal joint is more frequent than had previously been reported. To date, however, only 3 familial pedigrees have been documented in the literature. The family reported in this article had 9 individuals spanning 4 generations affected with symphalangism of the distal interphalangeal joint. In all cases, this was associated with ankylosis of the distal interphalangeal joint of the second through fifth toes. One child in the family also had brachyphalangism bilaterally as well as a bifid distal phalanx of the thumb. The world's literature does not seem to include a similar case. As with previous cases of fusion of the distal interphalangeal joint, there was little functional disability resulting from this anomaly and we do not recommend operative procedures to restore motion.


There are many mathematical and engineering methods, problems and experiments which make use of the finite element method. For any given use of the finite element method we get an approximate solution and we usually wish to have some indication of the accuracy in the approximation. In the case when the calculation is done to estimate a quantity of interest the indication of the accuracy is concerned with estimating the difference between the unknown exact value and the finite element approximation. With a means of estimating the error, this can sometimes be used to determine how to improve the accuracy by repeating the computation with a finer mesh. A large part of this thesis is concerned with a set-up of this type with the physical problem described in a weak form and with the error in the estimate of the quantity of interest given in terms of a function which solves a related dual problem. We consider this in the case of modelling the large deformation of thin incompressible isotropic hyperelastic sheets under pressure loading. We assume throughout that the thin sheet can be modelled as a membrane, which gives us a two dimensional description of a three dimensional deformation and this simplifies further to a one space dimensional description in the axisymmetric case when we use cylindrical polar coordinates. In the general case we consider the deformation under quasi-static conditions and in the axisymmetric case we consider both quasi-static conditions and dynamic conditions, which involves the full equations of motion, which gives three different problems. In all the three problems we describe how to get the finite element solution, we describe associated dual problems, we describe how to solve these dual problems and we consider using the dual solutions in error estimation. There is hence a common framework. The details however vary considerably and much of the thesis is in describing each case.


The Road Safety Code of Good Practice states that highway authorities should consider obtaining supplementary road safety data, to give a better assessment of the level of under-reporting and to improve the safety studies they undertake. This paper examines the extra sources of data that are available and used by highway authorities. It shows an improved system of linking police and hospital injury data and assesses the potential for the use of other such data. A questionnaire survey of all highway authorities in Britain was undertaken which showed that data sources such as traffic flows were used regularly, whereas others such as hospital data were rarely used. It was also found that when attempts were made to combine data much of the work was done manually. One of the most useful supplementary sources of information on accidents is hospital casualty data. A method of linking this with police reported casualty data by using, among other things, the name and address of the casualty has been shown to produce a considerably improved match than that in studies previously undertaken. This has thus been used to evaluate under-reporting and the nature of specific injuries to those involved in accidents. This study looks at the possibilities of including other data sources which could be used to assist authorities in validating accident forms and aiding in the selection of accident sites suitable for remedial treatment


REGIONALISM IN AFRICA by MWITA CHACHA (Under the Direction of Douglas Stinnett) ABSTRACT Although regionalism has proliferated in sub-Saharan Africa since the advent of decolonization, success in terms of economic development are not promising. Examining intraregional trade shows that there has been an increase as a result of regional trade integration; however the rate of increase differs among 4 key blocs in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines and test factors that affect the level of intra-regional trade among four regional trading blocs in sub-Saharan Africa: the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).


Scientific Publications Ltd. Vol. I, No.1. pp. vi+218, with half-tone illustrations, line diagrams and tables. Published twice a year, 70s. net. Annual subscription: post free 1205., U.S.A. and Canada S20. The first number of the Journal of Applied Ecology appeared in May 1964. The distinction between pure and applied science is somewhat unreal, but the fact that Professor Bunting is one of the editors is encouraging in that many remember his views on this subject made clear in his presidential address to the Association of Applied Biologists a few years ago. Both the editors of the new journal stress the view that "applied ecology is not to be regarded as an ancillary or poor relation of a hypothetical pure ecology. Ecology today can draw its inspiration as much from work in the economic field as from any other:' A contribution by Sir Boris Uvarov deals with what might be called the ecological strategy involved in the replacement of the natural vegetation of a developing country by economic crops. He suggests that ifpests appear as a result of segregation of a reduced number of species already present in the wild, much might be learned from a study of the pest potential of the original insectfauna. Three papers are concerned with the ecology of agricultural grassland. J. N. Black compares the potential and actual production of subterranean clover swards in South Australia in relation to growth rate, leaf area index and solar radiation. J. P. Cooper surveys the pattern of leaf expansion in ten local populations of Lolium perenne and Dactylls glomera/a in Europe. Langer et 01. report a study of plant density and degree of tillering in swards of timothy and meadow fescue in differing cutting regimes. Three contributions refer to aquatic habitats. Ansell et 01. provide two papers on the growth rate and reproductive activity of the American hardshell clam at several sites in southern England and particularly in localities adjacent to warm water outfalls from power stations. Edwards et 01. in a paper rather unsuitably titled "The Control of Chironornid Larvae in Ponds, using T.D.E." discuss the effects of T.D.E. application to ponds on the populations of chironomids and some other organisms. Four papers are concerned with the measurement and effects of particular physical factors in various environments. A.l. Rutter has studied the water relations BOOK REVIEWS