It is well recognized that the conventional cellular networks can no longer meet the user performance requirements in terms of throughput and coverage, which is due to the significant increase in the number of mobile users along with their traffic demands and the limited spectrum resource. This has stimulated the search for new approaches to alleviate this problem. Recently, cooperative communications at both the base station (BS) and mobile station (MS) levels has been proposed as a key technology to address this problem. Multicell cooperation is a new and emerging communication paradigm promising significant improvement in system capacity by mitigating intercell interference. It has been shown that, with the aid of multicell cooperation, a significant improvement of cellular system performance can be achieved, and the increase in throughput can be as large as an order of magnitude. Although the advantages of multicell cooperation have been demonstrated, many problems related to the research and development of practical and effective schemes for multicell cooperation exist. They have attracted considerable research attention in both academia and industry. This special issue of IEEE Wireless Communications puts together some recent results in the area of multicell cooperation for the next generation cellular wireless networks. It includes 11 articles, a brief account for each of which is provided below.


A new type of tactile sensor using pressure conductive rubber with electrical-wires stitches method was presented. The sensor is thin and flexible. In order to verify the effectiveness of tactile sensor grasping sphere and column, an experiment was conducted using a robot hand equipped with a tactile sensor. The sensor structure and characteristics were described. The sensor control system and experimental results were also described. Moreover, as an example of application, the transfer of tactile sense information detected by this tactile sensor through the nerve system of a human's arm, was presented.


OBJECTIVE
The efficacy of short-course triple eradication therapy has been documented in patients with Helicobacter pylori infection and normal renal function. We have evaluated a one-week proton-pump inhibitor-based triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication in a retrospective review of patients with chronic renal failure.

METHODS
We studied 25 patients (mean age 65.1 +/- 2.4 years) with creatinine clearance <30 ml/min/1.73 m2 or serum creatinine level >200 micromol/L (13 on dialysis), who had Helicobacter pylori infection, documented by histological examination or rapid urease test, together with either peptic ulcer disease or severe gastritis. The combination of Omeprazole 20 mg BID or Lansoprazole 30 mg BID, amoxicillin 1 gm BID and clarithromycin 500 mg BID was given for one week, in addition to therapy for peptic ulcers. All patients were re-endoscoped four weeks later.

RESULTS
All but one patient (96%) had successful eradication. On repeat endoscopy, all 13 patients with peptic ulcers had healed ulcers. For the 12 gastritis patients, three became normal and nine had persistent gastritis. For patients not on dialysis, the serum creatinine level and creatinine clearance remained stable at two weeks after treatment (303 +/- 37 vs. 330 +/- 36 micromol/l, p=ns; 23.6 +/- 3.4 vs. 26.0 +/- 3.9 ml/min/1.73 m2, p=ns, respectively).

CONCLUSION
The short course triple therapy was highly efficacious for Helicobacter pylori eradication in patients with chronic renal failure, with no adverse effect on renal function.


Dark brown ceria, CeO2, with excellent photocatalytic properties, was synthesized by constructing a crystalline-core/disordered-shell heterostructure using NaBH4 reduction. The structure, crystallinity and morphology of the as-prepared samples were characterized using x-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The x-ray photoelectron spectra confirm a high concentration of Ce3+ and oxygen vacancies in the CeO2 sample. The dark brown compound shows excellent properties especially with respect to solar-energy absorption but also the transfer and separation of charge carriers—due to its heterostructure-related features. The photocatalytic activity of the treated samples is obviously higher than that of pure CeO2 and reaches the maximum with Ce3+/Ce molar ratio of 51.7%.


Over the past few years, the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the huge volume of data available in the cloud, and machines' and software's increasing capacity for learning have prompted an ever more widespread debate on the social consequences of these developments. Autonomous cars or the application of autonomous weapon systems that operate based on self-learning software without human intervention, are deemed capable of making life-and-death decisions, are leading to questions on a wider scale about whether we as human beings will be able to control this kind of intelligence, autonomy, and interconnected machines. According to Basl, these developments mean 'ethical cognition itself must be taken as a subject matter of engineering.' At present, contemporary forms of artificial intelligence, or in the words of Barrat, 'the ability to solve problems, learn, and take effective, humanlike actions, in a variety of environments,'2 do not yet possess an autonomous moral status or ability to reason. At the same time, it is still unclear which basic features could be exploited in shaping an autonomous moral status for these intelligent systems. For learning and intelligent machines to develop ethical cognition, feedback loops would have to be inserted between the autonomous and intelligent systems. Feedback may help these machines learn behaviour that fits within an ethical framework that is yet to be developed.


GREENER THAN THOU: HOW THE RHETORIC OF THE GREEN FOOD MARKET REINFORCES SOCIOECONOMIC HIERARCHIES THROUGH THE ILLUSION OF MORAL SUPERIORITY Piper Corp, MA George Mason University, 2009 Thesis Director: Eve Wiederhold The market for "green" foods has expanded in recent years, largely due to the powerful rhetoric it employs. The rhetorical strategy behind green consumerism draws on deeply embedded cultural narratives to assert a rift between consumers and nature, a rift that is both initially unavoidable and entirely resolvable through acts of consumption. Green consumption is thus presented as an opportunity for enlightenment (e.g. living in harmony with nature) and political activism (e.g. protecting nature by supporting sustainable agriculture). Drawing on the theories of Lyotard and Debord, this thesis suggests that these two features create an occasion particularly well-suited for acts of differential representation. Consumption, in other words, provides consumers with the feeling of social responsibility and spiritual ascendance, which together create an illusion of moral superiority. By definition, this superiority only has meaning with reference to an amoral other, a role inhabited in this case by non-green consumers. This discourse is particularly problematic because of the significant price difference between green and non-green products—individuals without the financial means to purchase green products are recast as amoral consumers. A moral hierarchy emerges on top of the existing socioeconomic hierarchy, creating what appears to be a morally justified elite. It is ultimately this discourse, rather than a desire for environmental reform, that sustains green consumerism.


Foundation pit engineering is a complex system with multi-tier and multi-parameter. Since the scheme design and detail structure design belong to two different tiers of its optimum design, the foundation pit engineering's optimum design needs to combine these two tiers for co-optimization. Thus, this paper offered mathematical model for optimum design of foundation pit engineering's scheme, detail, and sub-detail. By decomposing foundation pit engineering's optimum design system into a few low-dimensional, sub-system corresponded, relatively independent sub-optimizers and a low-dimensional system optimizer for global co-optimization, it aims not only to construct a decompose-collaborated evolution model for foundation pit engineering based on genetic algorithm but also to design and realize a distributed co-evolution system to improve the convergence speed and global searching ability, and gain the better solutions.


Recombination-kinetic study was carried out of the ratio between collagen secondary structures in human eye cornea of different age in the norm and in keratoconus. It has been shown that in both normal and pathologically changed cornea the portion of peptide chain in telopeptides is not changed within the age interval studied.


We present new results in physical analysis of acoustical SAWbased (Lovewave) resonators and magnetoelastic microsensors in biofluidic applications where the negligible amount of biomolecular material can be monitored in situ in a liquid phase. We reported the exact solution of the dispersion equation of surface acoustic waves (SAW) of Love type for the first type of resonators and demonstrate the importance of size effects in magnetoelastic resonators never taken into account before in such systems. Our results can readily be applied to the correct interpretation of resonance frequency and quality factor changes measured in various biofluidic applications. Our choice of the resonators has been motivated by the following. SAW-based microsensors operate at high frequency (up to GHz) which is a great benefit for monitoring of mass since the measurable signal, the shift in phase velocity ΔV/V, is ~ω2. The Love wave polarization corresponds to the no-slip conditions for example, when the biomolecular coating material is covalently bound to the substrate. Magnetoelastic sensors is a type of acoustic resonance devices considered as the magnetic analog of SAW sensors. Besides of simple design, miniaturization and low cost of the magnetoelastic materials, the advantage of magnetoelastic resonators is a possibility of wireless remote measurements [1,2]. Their working principle is based on a usage of magnetostrictive ribbon-shaped elements of a few mm in size as transducers that mechanically oscillate at a fundamental frequency when placed in ac magnetic field. Viscousor mass loads cause a variation in the resonance frequency of the resonator. Simultaneous monitoring of the dissipation factor 0 f


The paper introduces a higher-order, type-theoretical formal language LST GP of information content that is partial, parametric, underspecified, dependent on situations, and recursive. The terms of the formal language represent situation-theoretic objects. The language has specialized terms for constrained computations by mutual recursion. It introduces terms representing nets of parameters that are simultaneously constrained to satisfy restrictions.


Wireless integrated sensor networks are a new class of embedded computer systems which have been made possible mainly by the recent advances in the micro and the nano technology. In order to efficiently utilize the limited resources available on a sensor node, we need to optimize its key design parameters which is only possible by making system-level design decisions about its hardware and software (operating system and applications) architecture. In this paper, we present the design of a sensor node development platform in relation to an application of wireless integrated sensor networks for sow monitoring. We also discuss the related hardware/software codesign tradeoffs.


Background: Traditionally, hypermetabolism is described in sickle cell disease (SCD). Despite this, few studies have compared rest energy expenditure (REE) with estimated by predictive equations (EEE) in the assessment of adults with SCD. Aims:  To compare REE values determined by indirect calorimetry (IC) with that EEE in adults with SCD. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was performed with 46 individuals over 34 years old in the treatment from two reference centers for SCD located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and IC  were used to assess BC and REE, respectively. Blood levels were measured to assess hemolytic and protein markers. Pearson's correlation test was used in the univariate correlation. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the Bland-Altman analysis were used in the comparison between EEE and IC. P-values ≤ 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results: Most participants were from the female sex, Hb SS genotype (80.4%) and with black color (52.2%). The mean age was 50 years old. Weight (r= 0.469; p=0,001), LM (r = 0.631; p=0.000), BMC (r = 0.508; p=0.000) and CRP(r=0.319; p = 0.002) correlated positively with the REE. There was no linear correlation between makers of hemolysis with REE. The REE was overestimated in the EEE when compared to IC (p<0.001). Conclusions: The prediction equations developed for healthy populations are not accurate enough to determine the energy requirements and more studies are needed to better understand how REE role in middle-aged and elderly adults with SCD.


Vascular invasion and admixture of the nude mouse cells with seeded cells make it difficult to reapply the regenerated tissues to the restoration of host tissue defects. Therefore, a device that is capable of allowing for autologous or allogenic tissue growth while preventing host tissue invasion will be a valuable tool for in vivo tissue engineering. We have previously fabricated a novel silicon-perforated chamber. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether this chamber, after being implanted subcutaneously in experimental animals, would hinder host tissue ingrowth while providing an environment inside its cavity for in vivo growth of either autologous or allogenic implant cells. We found that the chamber did not induce severe foreign body reaction, and the chambers with perforated pores of 1-3 mm in diameter effectively inhibited the host granulation tissue or vascular invasion for as long as 3 months. In addition, the exudates rich in vascular endothelial growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor, transforming growth factor-β, insulin-like growth factor-1, and platelet-derived growth factor-BB were steadily generated and collected in the chambers. In vitro cell culture studies revealed that the exudates were able to support the viability and proliferation of rabbit chondrocytes, rat mesenchymal stem cells, and human fibroblasts. The results indicate that this novel chamber could potentially provide an environment favorable for in vivo tissue engineering while effectively preventing host tissue or vascular invasion.


COPD is projected to be the third-leading cause of death by the year 2020. Pharmacotherapy for COPD is palliative at best, having no impact on slowing the progression of the disease. The introduction of newer therapies such as long-acting forms of bronchodilator and anticholinergic agents, together with the inclusion of inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) in the recent Global Initiative for COPD therapeutic algorithm, have expanded the pharmacotherapy options for the treatment of COPD. This article provides a methodologic critique of the available pharmacoeconomic evidence on drug therapy for stable COPD in an effort to complement treatment guidelines and to identify any need for future pharmacoeconomic research. Relevant search strategies revealed a total of 28 economic evaluations of which 7 satisfied the study inclusion criteria. The Drummond 10-point checklist was used for the methodological critique of the economic evaluations. Five of seven pharmacoeconomic studies were conducted alongside a randomized controlled trial, and six of seven were cost-effectiveness analyses. Of the bronchodilators, the long-acting anticholinergic agent tiotropium is considered to be cost-effective relative to ipratropium. No conclusive information could be reached for the cost-effectiveness of long-acting beta-agonists. A Markov analysis showed ICSs to be cost-effective for patients with moderate-to-severe COPD relative to standard care. However, assumptions of the model may bias this conclusion, and additional studies are warranted, especially compared to other treatments. The authors suggest that additional pharmacoeconomic studies be conducted to assess the cost-effectiveness of long-acting beta-agonists and ICSs, between classes of bronchodilators, and between various combination therapies.


As an important measure of traffic demand management, congestion pricing can guide and regulate traffic flow to achieve the purpose of easing the traffic congestion. Therefore, it has been paid more and more attention of scholars. Congestion pricing methods are the core and foundation of congestion pricing theory, and the rationality of the pricing model is directly related to the scientific congestion pricing strategies. In the traditional congestion pricing model, it doesn't correspond to reality, if a traveler is assumed absolutely rational, but the decision-making process can be exactly described by the cumulative prospect theory in the uncertain situation, and it is consistent with the bounded rationality of traveler character. In this paper, on the basis of cumulative prospect theory and Wardrop user equilibrium principle, the psychological effect factors of travelers are brought into the congestion pricing model that well overcome the defects of the traditional pricing model, analyses and prove the feasibility of the model at the same time.


This study estimates the accuracy of the focused lung ultrasound (FLUS) compared with systematic thoracic ultrasonography (TUS) as the reference test for diagnosing pneumonia in pre- and postweaned dairy calves. One hundred thirty-five Holstein Friesian calves, aged between 1 to 6 mo were enrolled and were kept in the same pen with one or more animals showing signs of bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC). One operator performed FLUS on each calf, and then a second, blinded operator performed TUS on the same calf. For the FLUS, we only scanned the lung lobes that are most frequently affected during BRDC and are thus easier to detect, such as the caudal aspect of the cranial lobe of the left lung (fifth and fourth left intercostal spaces; ICS), the middle lobe of the right lung (fifth right ICS), and the caudal aspect of the cranial lobe of the right lung (fourth right ICS). Pneumonia was diagnosed when a calf had a minimum of one small lobular lung lesion that was at least 1 cm deep within a normally aerated lobe (TUS score of ≥2). Diagnostic accuracy indexes of the FLUS were calculated using TUS as the gold standard. The McNemar test was performed to evaluate the differences between the 2 techniques. In addition, an intertest agreement was assessed using the weighted kappa test. A total of 76 out of 135 calves had a TUS score of ≥2 and were therefore considered to be affected by BRDC. The FLUS had a sensitivity of 81.6% (95% CI = 71.0-89.5%), specificity = 100% (95% CI = 93.9-100%), positive predictive value was 100%, negative predictive value was 96.6% (95% CI = 94.7---97.9%), and accuracy was 97% (95% CI = 92.6-99.2%). The McNemar test highlighted a difference of 10.3% between the FLUS and TUS. The agreement between the TUS and FLUS was substantial (weighted kappa test 0.78). Although FLUS shows some limitations in diagnosing lung lesions associated with BRDC compared with the systematic approach, this study shows that the focused method could be used as an additional tool for evaluating consolidation, especially when examining a large number of postweaned dairy calves.


Presents an efficient look-ahead technique which incorporates the language model knowledge at the earliest possible stage during the search process. This so-called language model look-ahead is built into the time-synchronous beam search algorithm using a tree-organized pronunciation lexicon for a bigram language model. The language model look-ahead technique exploits the full knowledge of the bigram language model by distributing the language model probabilities over the nodes of the lexical tree for each predecessor word. We present a method for handling the resulting memory requirements. The recognition experiments performed on the 20,000-word North American Business task (Nov. 1996) demonstrate that, in comparison with the unigram look-ahead, a reduction by a factor of 5 in the acoustic search effort can be achieved without loss in recognition accuracy.


In Intersalt, positive relations between 24-hour urinary sodium and potassium excretion and blood pressure were observed in over 10,000 men and women in 52 centers around the world. Body mass index (BMI), alcohol intake and smoking showed different associations with blood pressure in various population groups. We investigated these variables in the 2 Canadian centers and could not confirm the sodium-potassium relationship. In a multiple stepwise regression analysis, BMI and alcohol had the strongest relation with blood pressure in men. Among the female participants, BMI and sodium were the most influential factors on systolic blood pressure. For diastolic blood pressure, BMI and smoking showed the strongest significance. Neither in men nor in women could the influence of high sodium and low potassium excretion on blood pressure be discerned.


Most low-mass protostellar discs evolve in clustered environments where they are affected by external radiation fields, while others evolve in more isolated star-forming regions. Assuming that the magnetorotational instability (MRI) is the main source of viscosity, we calculate the size of a poorly ionized, MRI inactive and hence low viscosity region – the 'dead zone'– in these protostellar discs. We include disc ionization by X-rays, cosmic rays, radioactive elements and thermal collisions, recombination by molecules, metals and grains, as well as the effect of turbulence stimulation in the dead zone by the active layers lying above it. We also calculate the gap-opening masses of planets, which are determined by a disc's viscosity and a disc aspect ratio, for discs in these environments and compare them with each other.

We find that the dead zone is a robust feature of the protostellar discs that is largely independent of their environment, typically stretching out to ∼15 au. We analyse the possible effects of dead zones on planet formation, migration and eccentricity evolution. We show that the gap-opening mass inside the dead zone is expected to be of the order of terrestrial and ice giant mass planets while that outside the dead zone is Jovian or super-Jovian mass planets, largely independent of the star-forming environment. We show that dead zones can significantly slow down both type I and type II planetary migration due to their lower viscosity. We also find that the growth of eccentricity of massive extrasolar planets is particularly favourable through the planet–disc interaction inside the dead zones due to the large gaps expected to be opened by planets.


The controversy which followed the theory of emotions outlined by William James and Carl Lange saw also the active involvement of Charles Francois-Franck, Professor of Physiology at the "Collège de France". Nevertheless his refusal of the aforementioned theory is as yet unknown to the audience. In the light of his previous work on the vascular innervation of the organs, the French physiologist rejected firmly Lange's hemodynamics version, hence anticipating on many points the work of W.B. Cannon.


Very recently we have shown that the spherical transform is a convenient tool for studying the relation between the joint density of the singular values and that of the eigenvalues for bi-unitarily invariant random matrices. In the present work we discuss the implications of these results for products of random matrices. In particular, we derive a transformation formula for the joint densities of a product of two independent bi-unitarily invariant random matrices, the first from a polynomial ensemble and the second from a polynomial ensemble of derivative type. This allows us to re-derive and generalize a number of recent results in random matrix theory, including a transformation formula for the kernels of the corresponding determinantal point processes. Starting from these results, we construct a continuous family of random matrix ensembles interpolating between the products of different numbers of Ginibre matrices and inverse Ginibre matrices. Furthermore, we make contact to the asymptotic distribution of the Lyapunov exponents of the products of a large number of bi-unitarily invariant random matrices of fixed dimension.


In captivity, Orkney voles Microtus uruulis orcudensis show an activity pattern that consists of regularly alternating periods of rest and activity with a periodicity of about 2.8 hours. Captive voles kept under ambient conditions are equally active day and night at all times of the year. Free-living voles also show a regular short-term rhythm of activity but in addition the partition of activity between day and night varies seasonally. At two sites on Orkney Mainland cyclic variation in diurnality with a period of 12 months were recorded. Although surface activity occurred during both the day and night throughout the year, day activity predominated, particularly during the winter months. The cycle appeared to be synchronous at the two study sites.

Seasonal variation in diurnality appeared to be associated with population density and due largely to the proportion of juveniles in the population. Given the 12-month cycle of diurnality found in the Orkney vole, phase relationships with photoperiod are likely to be consistent between years. This may explain why populations of this subspecies do not appear to undergo multi-annual population cycles.

Despite intense levels of predation by raptors, including the short-eared owl which switches between nocturnal and diurnal hunting, Orkney voles exhibit a relatively simple and highly predictable cycle of diurnality. This cycle is unlikely therefore to have evolved as a means of preventing predator specialization with respect to time of day, season or year.


This study aims to reveal effectiveness of RTI (Responsive to Intervention) model on math learning of 5th grade students with special educational needs (SEN). The study also targets to reveal inabilities of students in learning math within the frame of general education through different approaches, test functionality of interventions for elimination of these inabilities, and determine whether students, who are thought to have SEN, are actually in need of special education. In the study, qualitative research method is adopted and holistic multiple case study design is used. Participants of the research consist of two students in the fifth grade in a state secondary school. Ten-week individual support educations, participant observation notes, video records, structured student interview forms, math achievement tests and daily math exercises are the data collection tools used in the research. Findings show that reasons arising out of teaching methods play a significant role in continuity of students' failures. Although participants, who were thought to have SEN at first, have poor mathematical skills, it is determined that observed behaviors of these participants are not directly related to general characteristics of learning disability.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the bleaching efficacy and erosion potential of various over-the-counter bleaching products following a test method specified in ISO 28399.

METHODS
Specimens were prepared from bovine molars, stained in tea solution, embedded and randomly assigned to six groups of 10 enamel and dentin specimens each. Color was assessed at baseline, 1 day and 1 month post-bleaching with the Vita Bleachedguide 3D Master shade guide. Surface roughness changes (deltaRa), determined by baseline and post-treatment values were measured with a profilometer. The negative (NC) and positive control (PC) was treated with grade 3 water and 1.0% citric acid, respectively. Over-the-counter products were used according to manufacturer's instructions. Brite Teeth Pro (BT), Natural White 5-Minute Whitening (NW), Luster Premium White (LP), and Crest 3D Whitestrips (WS) represented a brush-on-paint system, tray system, light-activated system and adhesive-strip system, respectively. Kruskal-Wallis procedure was used to compare surface roughness changes among groups. Color change was assessed with Friedman-test and stratified by hard tissue type with alpha= 0.05.

RESULTS
WS was the only group demonstrating color changes in enamel and dentin (P< 0.05). There were no differences in deltaRa for enamel and dentin among NC, BT, LP, and WS. NW showed increase in deltaRa in dentin (P< 0.05), while PC demonstrated an increase in deltaRa regardless of hard tissue type (P< 0.05).


The cuts made for the first performance of Comus tend to reduce the explicit sexual content of the Lady's and Comus' speeches. This decorum, and the "cleansing family ritual" of the masque itself, were probably designed to repair the Bridgewater family's reputation, damaged by the trial and execution, three years before, of the Earl of Castlehaven and two of his servants for sexual crimes. Testimony and reports of the trial in diaries and letters describe the rape and promiscuity of the Earl's wife (sister to the Countess of Bridgewater), homosexuality between the Earl and his servants, and the conversion of Elizabeth Audley (Alice Egerton's twelve-year-old cousin) into a "whore." Letters of the Countess Dowager of Derby, for whom Milton wrote Arcades, reveal her distress over the scandal and her efforts to obtain pardons for her daughter and granddaughter. For the first audience, seeing Lady Alice Egerton act out her resistance to sexual temptation, Comus affirmed the Bridgewaters' possession of the aristocratic virtues which their relatives so notoriously lacked.


Neck of femur (NOF) fracture is a common and life threatening injury. Prompt treatment and mobilisation of this cohort of patients will reduce perioperative complications and cut the cost to the health care providers. The current economic environment requires short hospitalisation and early discharge without compromising patient safety. The current concept of enhanced recovery is widely accepted with successful outcomes in elective hip and knee arthroplasty. This can be applied to enhance recovery for neck of femur injuries with the potential to improve outcome and reduce cost. The aim of this review is to actively encourage the use of the individual interventions mentioned below in unison and work towards a unified national enhanced recovery programme for neck of femur fractures. Using a thorough electronic literature review we compiled a list of evidence based interventions that aim to reduce length of stay and encourage early active mobilisation. Pre-operative interventions included pre-operative injury scoring, patient education, facia iliaca block, pre-operative nutritional support, surgery within 24 hours of admission and a liberal transfusion policy. Intra-operative interventions included epidural analgesia and anaesthesia, high concentration Oxygen, optimal fluid management and minimally invasive surgery. Post-operative interventions included wound infection prophylaxis, intensive physiotherapy and early mobilisation, and early discharge planning. We acknowledge that more research is needed in order to adequately assess the benefits of enhanced recovery in neck of femur fractures and hope that this thorough evidence based literature review is the first step needed.


The method of chromosome aberration count in the bone marrow cells of male BALB/c and C57Bl/6 mice was used to study the influence of intraperitoneal injection of verapamil in doses of 0.1-10 mg/kg and its administration into the stomach in doses of 2.5-10 mg/kg on the clastogenic effect of cyclophosphamide (10 mg/kg intraperitoneally) in a single and repeated (5 times at intervals of 24 h) administration. In repeated administration in all the doses used, verapamil significantly intensified the mutagenic activity of cyclophosphamide in C57Bl/6 mice and in doses 10 mg/kg in BALB/c mice. A single intraperitoneal verapamil injection (0.1-0.4 mg/kg) caused a statistically increase in the clastogenic effect of cyclophosphan in mice of both strains. The same effect was encountered in intraperitoneal injection (2.5 mg/kg) and administration into the stomach (5 mg/kg) of the calcium antagonist in BALB/c mice. Thus, the effect of verapamil on cyclophosphamide clastogenic activity depends on the dose, method, and schedule of administration of the calcium antagonist.


: Previous research has demonstrated that jurors perceive a female victim who is drunk at the time when she is sexually assaulted as less credible and more deserving of such punishment than a sober victim. In this experiment, we investigated the effect of an alleged acquaintance rape victim's type of substance use and closeness of relationship with the defendant on the judgments of 152 student mock jurors. Participants read a case summary and answered a series of questions about their impressions of the actors and actions involved in the case. Participants perceived a victim who was sober at the time of the incident as more credible than a victim who was intoxicated due to illegal substance use (alcohol or LSD), and convictions were also most likely when the victim was sober. Women perceived the victim as more credible than men did. Higher victim credibility judgments were associated with less rape myth acceptance (RMA) on the part of participants.


This paper analyzes the economic consequences of property institutions. Federal land reform policy privatized American Indian reservation land in the 1880s. This reform intended to foster economic development on American Indian reservations by creating a system of individual private property. However, these new ownership rights were incomplete and accompanied by restrictions that have led to the fragmentation of land parcels into millions of shared ownership claims. Because land rights on Indian reservations do not include all of the sticks in the traditional property rights bundle, Indians face higher costs for real estate transactions. These additional costs preclude exchange and impede the productive use of reservation-land resources. Using data on Indian land ownership and agricultural leases in 2010, we provide the first quantitative evidence that incomplete property rights have worsened economic outcomes on Indian reservations. Our results show that increased ownership fractionation has reduced the incomes of American Indians on reservations and is associated with lower agricultural lease income, a measure of land productivity.


Knee osteoarthritis is the most common cause of disability in adult and older adults, and it increases as people age. Illness representations and coping behaviors may have decisive impacts on management of this chronic disease. The aims of this study were to describe the differences in illness representations and coping behaviors among adult and older Thais living in rural and urban areas and to examine the relationship between illness representations and coping behaviors among those individuals in rural and urban areas. One hundred and sixteen participants with knee osteoarthritis living in rural areas and 112 individuals living in urban areas responded to the Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire and the Knee Osteoarthritis Coping Behavior Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, t-test, and Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient were used to analyze data. There was no significant difference in illness representations between two groups, but the participants living in rural areas had a significantly lower mean score of treatment control and emotional representation subscales than those living in urban areas. The participants from urban areas had a significantly higher mean score of total coping, cognitive-focused coping subscale, and emotional adjustment than those living in rural areas. A negative correlation between illness representations and coping behaviors was found in the rural group, but no significant correlation was observed in the urban group. Our findings suggest that a further intervention which emphasizes the need for raising awareness of knee osteoarthritis and promoting appropriate coping behaviors would be beneficial.


Objective To investgate the correlations of serum matrix metalloptoteinase-2,-9(MMP-2,MMP-9) contents in the transitional cell carcinoma of bladder(TCCB) with tumor invasion and metastasis.Methods Serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 contents were detected in 46 patients with transitional cell carcinoma of bladder and 18 healthy controls by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA).Results Serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 contents were significantly elevated in cancer samples compared with normol control group(P0.000),serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 contents had significant difference along with clinical stages elevation(P0.000).MMP-2 and MMP-9 contents in stage Ⅱ and stage Ⅲ were obviously higher than in stage Ⅰ(P0.000),but there was no significant relationship between stage Ⅲ and stage Ⅱ(P0.05).Conclusion MMPs was closely related with the occurrence,development and invasion and metastasis of urinary bladder transitional cell cancer.Serological determination of MMPs could be used as one of the prognostic indicators in the transitional cell carcinoma of bladder.


This work provides a new smart projection frame (IPS), which authorize uncovered finger touch group on normal planar surfaces, with one projector and one camera. The test of detection finger touch identification is recovering the touching facts just from the 2-D image catch by the camera. In this system, the graphical user interface (GUI) catch is expected at initial glance and is distorted by the finger when press it, and there is a large positive relation between the button's twisted and the finger's position to the surface. Therefore, this project suggests a new, fast, and strong calculation, which exploits the catch distortion to determine the touch activity. The present keyboard used keys structured keyboard for typing in light of the computer. These keyboards are chipping away at the mechanical push level. In anyway, for the small tools like cell phones and tablets it is hard to carry large console with them. The touchscreen basis keyboard to reach in such tools is very poor designed to formation in light of the fact that the measure of individual's finger is huge and the extent of the keys on the touch screen is little. So, writing chip away at the small tools is not useful and on computer our fingers get torment in the wake of doing long time typing work as a result of mechanical vibration of the keys. This work is about a virtual keyboard on any planer surfaces for convenient touch action. The Region of interest extraction is through a Homography mapping which is used to reduce the computational complexity of the work.


Abstract Prior to adolescence, the rates of depression are similar in girls and boys, or are slightly higher in boys. However, with the onset of puberty, the gender proportion of depression dramatically shifts to a 2:1 female to male ratio. What is the relationship between menarche and the onset of major depression in early adolescence? A recent theoretical model proposes that vulnerability to depression may be rooted in normal female hormonal maturational processes and gender socialization. Information regarding the management of depression in adolescent and young adult women is provided, including gender differences in the presentation of depressive symptoms, instruments to facilitate assessment, and treatment options. Pubertal and other hormonal changes should be monitored prospectively along with individual, genetic, constitutional, and psychological characteristics. The burden of illness associated with onset of depression following menarche reinforces the importance of expeditious recognition and intervention.


Purpose
The paper advances research on the heterogeneity of client behavior and the understanding of "the client" as a key topic in the research of management consulting. First, this issue is addressed by summarizing the clients' reasons for acquiring and utilizing management consulting services. Second, the purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which these reasons vary in four key client groups.

Design/methodology/approach
Building on 1,127 responses to a survey questionnaire, the clients' motives for acquiring and using management consulting are examined in four different client groups. Principal component analysis with an eigenvalue greater than one and varimax rotation method was used to discern the motives for acquiring and using consulting.

Findings
The analysis identifies two co-existing factors as key reasons for acquiring and utilizing management consulting: "Impact" and "Significance." This typology is used to show that the reasons for acquiring management consulting services are dependent on the hierarchical level of the client. While reasons related to "Impact" are consistently emphasized in the four examined client groups, reasons related to "Significance" show greater variance and are emphasized less higher up in the organizational hierarchy.

Research limitations/implications
The paper argues for the need to reconsider the conventionally marginal and subordinate position of subjective motivations in the management consulting literature. The paper creates bridges between previously contending paradigms by developing a holistic and comprehensive framework of the client motives for utilizing management consulting.

Practical implications
For practitioners, the results complement prior understandings of client purchase decision making. More fundamentally, this paper provides elements for restructuring the overall discourse on the roles and uses of consultants.

Originality/value
The paper is the first large-sample examination of client heterogeneity, developing an empirically verified typology of the reasons for utilizing management consulting. More importantly, the paper specifies how these reasons vary among four key client groups. The primary contributions of the paper are: the paper posits a robust typology on the previously multivocal and fragmented reasons for utilizing management consulting. The paper specifies how the reasons vary in four key client groups, developing a more nuanced understanding of the heterogeneity of "the client."


This is a review of the history of labor migration as it has affected the Arab world from the oil boom of the early 1970s to the present with particular attention to the changing flow of remittances from migrants to their country of origin. (SUMMARY IN FRE AND SPA) (ANNOTATION)


Vasodilators like nitrates, hydralazine, captopril and prazosin all improve left ventricular function of patients with chronic ischemic heart failure. The influence of these vasodilator agents on coronary hemodynamics and myocardial oxygen consumption, however may not be similar. With nitrates and captopril, improved left ventricular function is associated and with decreased myocardial oxygen consumption; in contrast, with prazosin or hydralazine no consistent or significant change in myocardial oxygen consumption is observed. Thus, the metabolic cost for the improved left ventricular function with these vasodilator agents is not similar.


Urban mining is seen as a key strategy for the recovery of secondary raw materials from the built environment. Although large material stocks have been reported in infrastructure networks, their actual recoverability over time has received little attention so far. This article presents a case study on the prospection and exploration of the anthropogenic resources deposited in Vienna's subway network. After quantifying the built‐in materials in the network, a resource classification was performed, distinguishing between (1) materials that have to be replaced and are thus potentially extractable as secondary raw materials after a considerable time span (<100 years) and (2) materials remaining in the subway and thus are not extractable. Results given in tonnes (t) show that the subway network consists mainly of concrete (12,000,000 t), iron & steel (600,000 t), gravel (300,000 t), bricks (250,000 t), copper (10,000 t), and aluminum (6,000 t). A first evaluation demonstrated that 3% of the built‐in materials (mainly copper, aluminum, and gravel) have to be renewed after a considerable time span (<100 years) and, consequently, can be seen as potentially extractable resources. Ninety‐seven percent of the built‐in materials were classified as not extractable (mainly concrete, iron & steel, and bricks), because they were found in permanent structures and lines that have been declared as cultural heritage monuments. For the materials that were found to be potentially extractable as secondary raw materials, a further investigation that particularly considers their end of life in practice and the existence of a hibernating stock is required.


We consider the application of finite-difference methods to the numerical solution of boundary-value problems. In particular we are concerned to study the feasibility and convergence of the difference-correction method for the solution of partial differential equations of elliptic type. These topics form the subject matter for §§ 3 to 6. The material of the first two sections is intended to serve as a preliminary for the main discussion. The topics considered here are finite difference formulae for numerical differentiation, and finite difference methods for the solution of partial differential equations.


From the Publisher:
Robert Clark delves into 100 millennia of human history to create a unified and consistent explanation for humankind's need to spread itself across the globe. Examining events from different eras, Clark melds them together to form a framework for understanding the process of globalization. Drawing from a variety of academic disciplines, the book reveals the spread of humans and their cultures to be part of an ongoing struggle to supply the needs of an increasingly large and complex society.


The excited state characters of HY103 have been studied by means of time-resolved photon emission (time-correlated single photon counting) and time dependent density functional theory calculations. The experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that HY103 dyes undergo an efficient one-bond-flip motion after photoexicitation at room temperature, which leads to a very short lifetime of the normal fluorescence state, and a weak fluorescence emission around 670 nm. However, when HY103 are excited in amorphous glasses at 77 K, the normal fluorescence emission is prolonged to nanoseconds time scale about 2 ns, and the fluorescence emission is enhanced. Furthermore, a new emission state is produced, which is characterized as a volume-conserved twisted (VCT) state. This is the first observation of a VCT state. The experiment indicates that the VCT motion of excited state of π-conjugated molecules in restricted environment can form a stable emission state, and the excited state character of π-conjugated molecules in restricted environment is complex.


The use of a benzofuran to mask phenol and arylacetaldehyde moieties simultaneously in the synthesis of analogues of mycophenolic acid (MPA) was explored. Benzofuran 4 provided a stable and easily handled intermediate for the preparation of unnatural derivatives at the C-6 position of MPA. Preparation of the highly potent 6-ethyl MPA analogue 2 was accomplished via aldehyde 2c through this facile route with high-yielding steps and crystalline intermediates.


Difficult calvings and stillbirths are problems in Swedish dairy production that result in large expenses for the farmers and welfare issues concerning the animals. A common opinion is that the live weight of SRB and SLB is increasing, and whether increased weights have caused the increase in calving problems has been discussed. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the relative birth weight (calf/cow) and calving difficulty and stillbirth, respectively. The importance of breed and parity for the relative weight has been investigated, and comparisons with previous studies have been made to evaluate whether the relative weight has changed over the last decades or not.

The study was based on 807 calvings, registered during the period 1993-2003 in the experimental dairy herd of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Jalla). During this period a selection experiment was in progress, consisting of two selection lines of SRB with low or high milk fat content at equal and high milk energy production. Because of this, three breeds/selection lines were investigated; SRB-low fat, SRB-high fat and SLB. Cow and calf were individually weighed after the calving and calving performance was assessed based on the extent of assistance required; easy calving (unobserved successful calving or unassisted calving), normal calving (assistance of one or two persons required), difficult calving (assistance of two or more persons required), and very difficult calving (veterinary assistance required). Calves dead at birth or within 24 hours of birth were considered stillborn.

The frequencies of difficult calvings and stillbirths were highest in SLB, 11,2 % and 8,1 % respectively. The proportion of difficult calvings was comparable between the two SRB lines, 3,3 % in the high fat line and 3,0 % in the low fat line. The frequency of stillbirths on the other hand, was twice as high in the high fat line (4,5 %) compared to the low fat line (2,2 %). In general, heifers had more problems at calving than cows.

The results indicate an increase in the live weight of SRB and SLB during the last decades. The weight of the mother at calving has increased more (in per cent) than the birth weight of the calf, resulting in decreased relative weight. The low fat line had slightly lower relative weight (6,5 %) than the high fat line and SLB, and no difference could be shown between the latter two (6,7 %). Bull calves had higher uncorrected relative weight compared to heifer calves, and the difference ranged between 0,46-0,60 percentage points among the three breeds/selectionlines. The relative birth weight had an influence on the viability of the calf, but no effect on calving performance was found.

The cow weight at calving, expressed as a percentage, increased with age most in the low fat line of SRB, followed by SLB and SRB high fat line. Heifers showed the greatest change in weight, and the change decreased gradually in later parities. Higher dam weight appeared to result in increased birth weight of the calf. The increase in birth weights did not, howewer, show the same trend as the dams weights, but were comparable between the breeds/selection lines. The birth weight of calves born by heifers seemed to have increased more than the birth weight of calves born by cows, and the largest increase was found in calves of SRB heifers. The uncorrected mean birth weight was slightly less than 46 kg in the calves of SLB heifers, and in the calves of SRB heifers the corresponding weight was just over 41 kg. The calf birth weight was more than 2 kg higher in later parities. The sex of the calf had a significant effect on birth weight, and bull calves were in general heavier than heifer calves. The difference in birth weight between male and female calves was 4,4 kg in SLB, and 3,2 kg and 2,8 kg in SRB low and high line, respecively. Calving performance and stillbirth were both influenced by the birth weight of the calf.


In species where males provide nuptial gifts, females can improve their nutritional status and thus increase their fecundity by mating when in need of resources. However, mating can be costly, so females should only mate to acquire resources when the need for resources is large, such as when females are nutritionally‐deprived. Two populations of the seed‐feeding beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, a species that produces relatively large nuptial gifts, are used to test whether female nutritional status affects mating behaviour. Female access to water, sugar and yeast are manipulated and the fitness consequences of these manipulations are examined together with the effects of diet on the propensity of nonvirgin females to mate. Access to water has a small but significant effect on mass loss over time, lifespan and fecundity of females, relative to unfed controls. Access to sugar (dissolved in water) improves female fecundity and lifespan above that of hydrated females but access to yeast has no positive effects on female survival or reproduction. Diet has a large effect on both receptivity of nonvirgin females to a male and how quickly they accept that male. Unfed females are both more likely to mate, and accept a mate more quickly, than females provided access to water, which are more likely to mate and accept a mate more quickly than females provided with sugar. This rank order of behaviours matches the order predicted if females increase their mating rate when nutritionally deprived (i.e. it matches the effect of diet on female fitness). The results obtained also suggest that mate choice may be condition‐dependent: females from one population (Burkina Faso) show a preference for large males when well‐fed but not when unfed, although this result is not found in a second population (South India). It is concluded that nutritionally‐deprived females are more receptive to mates than are well‐fed females, consistent with the hypothesis that females 'forage' for nuptial gifts, or at least more willingly accept sperm in exchange for nuptial gifts, when they are nutritionally deprived.


Despite the great progress in research on chiral molecular nanocarbons containing multiple helicenes, controlling the stereoselectivity is still a major challenge, especially when attempting to increase the number of helicene moieties. Herein, a novel molecular nanocarbon imides composed of C204 skeleton and eighteen imide groups was successfully synthesized via an inside–out ring closing strategy involving repeated Suzuki–Miyaura coupling for C–C bond formation and photocyclic aromatization. Because of the presence of quad–core twelvefold [5]helicenes, there are, in theory, more than one hundred stereoisomers. However, only one pair of stereoisomers with D3 symmetry was observed. Despite the large and rigid skeleton, the (3M,3M,3M,3M)+(3P,3P,3P,3P) enantiomers were successfully separated by chiral HPLC, and the chiroptical properties were investigated by CD spectroscopy.


1. Meeting the Challenge: Opportunities, Roadblocks, and Detours (Megan R. Gunnar and Dante Cicchetti). 2. Roots of Social Cognition: The "Like Me" Hypothesis (Andrew N. Meltzoff). 3. Attention, Joint Attention and Social Cognition: Lessons Learned from Research on Autism (Peter Mundy). 4. Enhancing Self-Regulation in School and Clinic (Mary K. Rothbart, Michael I. Posner, M.R. Rueda, Brad E. Sheese, and Yiyuan Tang). 5. Learning is Not a Four-Letter Word: Changing views of Infant Language Acquisition (Jenny R. Saffran). 6. The Emergence of Emotion: Experience, Development, and Biology (Seth D. Pollak). 7. What Are Little Boys Made Of? Snips & snails & puppy dog Tails: Etiological Bases of Conduct Disorder and Related Conduct Problems (Elena L. Grigorenko). 8. Translational Issues in the Development and Prevention of Children's Early Conduct Problems: Challenges in Transitioning from Basic to Intervention Research (Daniel S. Shaw).


PURPOSE
To evaluate the effect of maxillary protration in skeletal anterior crossbite patients in early permanent dentition and determine the optimal timing for orthopedic treatment.

METHODS
18 patients (11 males and 7 females with a mean age of 11.5 years) with concave profile were treated with protraction headgear. For each patient lateral cephalogram was taken before and after treatment. Cephalometric analysis was carried out by using linear and angular measurements. Statistical analysis was performed using SAS6.12 software package.

RESULTS
All subjects were treated to normal overjet. SNA was increased by 2.06 degrees (P<0.001) ,A point was protruded by 3.94 mm(P<0.001), U1-SN was increased by 6.97 degrees (P<0.001).SNB was decreased by 1.39 degrees (P<0.01),SN-MP was increased by 2.64 degrees (P<0.001),Y axis was increased by 2.42 degrees (P<0.001), Pg point was decreased by 7.42 mm(P<0.001). Maxillary incisor was promoted by 6.86 mm,which was a result of 57.43% skeletal change and 42.57% dental change.

CONCLUSIONS
Maxillary protraction can significantly promote maxillary growth, change mandibular growth direction and inhibit mandibular protrusion in early permanent dentition.


Using high‐intensity femtosecond laser pulses for surface structuring, we produce the black metals using Au and Ti90/Al6/V4 that have absorption over 90% over a broad wavelength range from ultraviolet to infrared. The enhanced absorption of the black metals is caused by surface structures. The black metals produced here can find uses in a variety of applications.


A general model of a typical adaptive optics system is described in the report. The model includes all main elements of a real system: the path of a beam propagating in the atmosphere, wavefront sensor, and adaptive mirror with continuous surface. Solution to the some of adaptive optics problems was obtained with the model. These results were included in the report as illustration ofthe model utility.


275—276).I agree that this is an important topic. Among the 7887 men in the two lipid-lowering drug trials mentioned (Lipid Research Clinics Program, 1984; Frick et a!, 1987), there was an excess of 17 coronarydeathsinpatients assignedtoplaceboas compared with those assigned to the drug, but there was an excess of 13 violent deaths in those assigned to the drug. Since there was an excess of 8 other deaths in the drug groups, there were overall 4 more deaths in the drug than in the placebo groups. Thus lipid-lowering drugs are not saving lives. At besttheyaremerelychangingthecauseofdeath.Itis therefore ofmajorimportancethattheyshouldnot be causing side-effects which may change the quality of life for patients and those close to them. Death is an extreme outcome of violent or impulsive behav iour. Drugs which increase violent deaths are also likely to produce greater increases in milder forms of violence, leading to more aggression at home and at work, more abuse of spouses and children, and generally more unhappiness. There is other evidence, not mentioned by Drs McLoughlin & Clarke, which supports the relation ship between violence and lowered cholesterol levels. Virkkunen,aforensic psychiatrist fromFinland, was the first to draw attention to this when he noted unusually low blood total cholesterol levels in men who had committedviolentand impulsivecrimes, includingmurder (Virkkunen,1983).He then went on to study aggressive children and found a similar relationship there (Virkkunen & Penttinen, 1984). Thisisa potentially serious probleminviewofthe likely rapid increase in the numbers of men taking lipid-lowering drugs, and the likely lack of attention which will be paid to violence as a possible side effect. It deserves serious investigation by psy chiatrists concerned with aggressive behaviour. DAVID F. HORROBIN Efamol Research Institute P0 Box818 Kentvi!le, Nova Scotia Canada B4N 4H8


There are two fundamental questions concerning the Prologue, one literary, the other historical. The literary question was raised by Bultmann in his seminal article for the Gunkel Festschrift of 1923: 'Wie weit ist von dem prāexistenten Logos die Rede, von wo ab von dem in der Geschichte auf-tretenden, d.h. von Jesus?' The commentators, remarks Bultmann, disxsxsagree on the answer to this question, and this disagreement has persisted. For Bultmann the main difficulty arises from the fact that although v. 14 offers the first explicit statement of the Incarnation, the Christian reader cannot but take vv. 10 f. as an allusion to the life of Jesus, and consequently also v. 5 (which is parallel to it) and probably v. 4 also. Bultmann's solution was to see the Prologue as a pre-Christian Gnostic hymn, stemming from Baptist circles and subsequently taken over by the evangelist and adapted to form the opening of the Gospel. There have been many different answers since.


Plasma-HDL-cholesterol levels were determined in 104 patients (92 males and 12 females) with a mean age of 43 years (range 20-70 years). All were admitted to a clinic for alcoholics and had a mean drinking history of 13 years with a mean consumption of 48.2 l of pure ethanol per year. There was no correlation between HDL-cholesterol level and the total ethanol consumption in the year before admission or in the month before admission. However, weak negative correlations between HDL-cholesterol and smoking habits (r= -0.26, P less than 0.001) and body weight (r= -0.34, P less than 0.001) were found. In 40 patients the mean HDL-cholesterol level decreased from 1.94 +/- 0.75 mmol/l (SD) at admission to 1.29 +/- 0.36 mmol/l after 16 days of abstinence. Altogether, 33 (31.6%) of 104 patients had a HDL-cholesterol level above our reference value of 2 mmol/l while alanine aminotransferase (ALAT), aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT) and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase (GGT) were increased in 49, 52.9 and 70.3%, of the cases respectively. Although screening programmes have shown an association between plasma-HDL-cholesterol and the number of drinks consumed per day, no such association could be found in a sample of alcoholics. Decrease of HDL-cholesterol during abstinence, however, seems to be a marker in alcoholics.


Over the next century, near‐surface permafrost across the circumpolar Arctic is expected to degrade significantly, particularly for land areas south of 70°N. This is likely to cause widespread impacts on arctic hydrology, ecology, and trace gas emissions. Here, we present a review of recent studies investigating linkages between permafrost dynamics and river biogeochemistry in the Arctic, including consideration of likely impacts that warming‐induced changes in permafrost may be having (or will have in the future) on the delivery of organic matter, inorganic nutrients, and major ions to the Arctic Ocean. These interacting processes can be highly complex and undoubtedly exhibit spatial and temporal variabilities associated with current permafrost conditions, sensitivity to permafrost thaw, mode of permafrost degradation (overall permafrost thaw, active layer deepening, and/or thermokarst processes), and environmental characteristics of watersheds (e.g. land cover, soil type, and topography). One of the most profound consequences of permafrost thaw projected for the future is that the arctic terrestrial freshwater system is likely to experience a transition from a surface water‐dominated system to a groundwater‐dominated system. Along with many other cascading impacts from this transition, mineral‐rich groundwater may become an important contributor to streamflow, in addition to the currently dominant contribution from mineral‐poor surface water. Most studies observe or predict an increase in major ion, phosphate, and silicate export with this shift towards greater groundwater contributions. However, we see conflicting accounts of whether the delivery of inorganic nitrogen and organic matter will increase or decrease with warming and permafrost thaw. It is important to note that uncertainties in the predictions of the total flux of biogeochemical constituents are tightly linked to future uncertainties in discharge of rivers. Nonetheless, it is clear that over the next century there will be important shifts in the river transport of organic matter, inorganic nutrients, and major ions, which may in turn have critical implications for primary production and carbon cycling on arctic shelves and in the Arctic Ocean basin interior. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Abstract Objective The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected multiple areas of health care, including residency training programs. Elucidating the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on resident clinical experience, surgical training, and wellness is essential to identify areas in which programs can provide additional educational and personal resources to trainees. This study aims to evaluate the experiences of ophthalmology residents during the pandemic. Design The design is a cross-sectional, nonvalidated survey study. The survey was administered online with data collection from August 22 to August 31, 2020. Participants Applicants to the Bascom Palmer Eye Institute ophthalmology residency program during the 2016 to 2019 application cycles were invited to complete the survey to encompass trainees currently in ophthalmology residency during the COVID-19 pandemic. Applicants who were not training at an ophthalmology residency program during the pandemic were excluded. Methods This study involved eliciting feedback from ophthalmology residents on the perceived impact of COVID-19 on their residency experiences through survey questions. Main Outcome Measures Perceived didactic, clinical, surgical, and overall experiences of residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, effect on cataract and noncataract surgical case volume, and perceived effects on resident personal life. Results Responses were obtained from 357 (22.8%) individuals, 193 of which met inclusion criteria (59.1% male, 54.9% aged 30–34). Most participants reported overall worsening of their ophthalmology training experience due to COVID-19 (75.1%), with worsening of clinical training reported by 72.5% of participants and worsening of surgical training reported by 89.1% of participants. There were no significant differences in the perception of the impact of COVID-19 on overall training experience, clinical training experience, or surgical training experience among geographic regions (p = 0.43, p = 0.23, p = 0.27, respectively). A higher percentage of post-graduate year 3 (PGY3) and PGY4 trainees reported worsened clinical (p = 0.003) or surgical (p = 0.03) experience compared with PGY2 trainees. Participants also reported impact on personal life including time spent away from family (52.9%), worsened friendships with co-residents (29.5%), forced changes in living situation (15.0%), and increased expenses (13.5%). Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has substantially impacted clinical and surgical experience of ophthalmology residents, who also report personal stressors due to the pandemic. Identifying alterations in the ophthalmology residency experience is essential to provide additional resources to support ophthalmology trainees professionally and personally during this time.


Ketoesters derived from the acylation of o -hydroxyacetophenone with aliphatic as well as aromatic acid chlorides undergo intramolecular cyclization in the presence of low-valent titanium to afford benzofurans in good yields. The reduction of titanium trichloride with dry zinc powder in refluxing THF takes place in the presence of the ketoester which simultaneously cyclizes as the titanium catalyst is formed, rendering the pre-reduction of titanium trichloride in a separate step unnecessary. KEY WORDS : Ketoesters, Low-valent titanium, Benzofurans Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2011 , 25(1), 157-160.


In an attempt to demonstrate the paraneuronal nature of the human placenta, an immunohistochemical study was conducted. Paraffin sections of human placenta consistently reacted with a rabbit antibody to neurotensin, positive staining being restricted to the cytotrophoblast cells. Although the placenta is not an innervated organ it contains a neurohormone of the hypothalamic-hypophyseal region. On this basis, it is suggested that the cytotrophoblast is akin to a paraneuron and may exhibit similar genetic programming capabilities to the neural crest cells that are destined to form the neural tissue of the embryo.


Mild behavioral impairment (MBI), characterized by the late-life onset of sustained and meaningful neuropsychiatric symptoms, is increasingly recognized as a prodromal stage of dementia. However, the underlying neural mechanisms of MBI remain unclear. Here, we examined alterations in the topological organization of the structural covariance networks of patients with MBI (N = 32) compared with normal controls (N = 38). We found that the gray matter structural covariance networks of both the patients with MBI and controls exhibited a small-world topology evidenced by sigma value larger than one. The patients with MBI had significantly decreased clustering coefficients at several network densities and local efficiency at densities ranging from 0.05 to 0.26, indicating decreased local segregation. No significant differences in the characteristic path length, gamma value, sigma value, or global efficiency were detected. Locally, the patients with MBI showed significantly decreased nodal betweenness centrality in the left middle frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus (opercular part), and left Heschl gyrus and increased betweenness centrality in the left gyrus rectus, right insula, bilateral precuneus, and left thalamus. Moreover, the difference in the bilateral precuneus survived after correcting for multiple comparisons. In addition, a different number and distribution of hubs was identified in patients with MBI, showing more paralimbic hubs than observed in the normal controls. In conclusion, we revealed abnormal topological patterns of the structural covariance networks in patients with MBI and offer new insights into the network dysfunctional mechanisms of MBI.


A lot of "what if" situations in history can be imagined, with interesting results. But an event often taken as history in the past is now regarded as a literary creation the exodus and conquest. When we begin to see the consequences of taking it as actual history-surprisingly, not done by supporters of this interpretation-it becomes even clearer why there never was such an event. If the exodus and conquest had actually occurred, the outcome could have changed the whole of the history of the Western world, and we would have a completely different Bible today.


BACKGROUND
Foregut duplication cyst (FDC) is rare in the adult population. It is usually an incidental finding in clinical settings. As endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy (EUS-FNAB) becomes a preferred and popular procedure, it is imperative for cytopathologists recognize this rare lesion and avoid the diagnostic pitfall.

CASE
A 48-year-old man presented with a 3-cm mass on the lesser curvature of the stomach with regional lymphoadenopathy. EUS-FNAB revealed abundant tenacious, viscous, mucinous material with scattered histiocytes and gastric and esophageal mucosal cells. A mucinous neoplasm was suspected, and partial sleeve gastrectomy was subsequently performed for removal of the gastric mass. The histopathologic finding was characteristic of gastric duplication cyst.

CONCLUSION
The cytologic features of FDCs may closely resemble those of mucinous neoplasms, especially with clinically elevated carcinogenic embryonic antigen and CA19-9. The abundant mutinous material with scattered mucophages can create a diagnostic challenge and pitfall. Clinical information with endoscopic findings and knowledge of FDC are important for appropriate diagnosis of mucinous lesions.


NASA Wrangler is a loosely-coupled, event driven, highly parallel data aggregation service designed to take advantage of the elastic resource capabilities of cloud computing. Wrangler automatically collects Earth observational data, climate model outputs, derived remote sensing data products, and historic biophysical data for pre-, active-, and post-wildfire decision making. It is a core service of the RECOVER decision support system, which is providing rapid-response GIS analytic capabilities to state and local government agencies. Wrangler reduces to minutes the time needed to assemble and deliver crucial wildfire-related data.


Thai Traditional Medicine (TTM) has been popularly practiced in Thai culture and society since the Sukothai period. For the past decade, Thai government and private sectors have collaboratively worked to restore it to common use, after many years of inactivity. Many hospitals now combine TTM with western treatments. Data mining techniques were applied to a comprehensive dataset of TTM treatments collected between 2012 and 2015 by Bangkrathum Hospital. The original data with 56,160 records was preprocessed, cleaned and transformed to achieve a useable dataset for use with data mining techniques. Two different techniques were applied to discover symptom relationships and models. The association rule technique was applied to a 2,000 record dataset with 134 different symptoms, and the classification technique analyzed a dataset of 15,963 records. By applying the association rule technique using the a priori algorithmic approach, some symptoms that often occur simultaneously were discovered and coded in if-then type rules. Applying these rules suggests symptoms that could simultaneously occur with other symptoms. The classification techniques of Artificial Neural Network, Decision Tree and Naive Bayes, were applied to create models to predict likely diagnoses from symptoms recorded in new patient records. Ten rules for symptom association prevalence were identified using the association rule approach, based on the prevalence of 8 symptoms. The construction of a Decision Tree was proven to be the best classification technique. The data mining approach applied in the study and the resulting models can be effectively used by TTM practitioners for modeling patient diagnoses based on identified symptoms.


Index-linked securities with capital protection have recently been sought by pension funds, institutional investors, hedge funds and other financial institutions looking for downside risk protection while still providing upside equity index participation. The forward start option is the core ingredient for several types of cliquet option that can be integrated into a structured product providing the desired protection of the principal invested. Risk management can be difficult for the issuer and a Monte Carlo exploration reveals some caveats. Pricing forward start options is discussed under the constant-elasticity-of-variance model and new closed formulae are obtained under the square-root process model.


Research and development efforts in support of the Tar Sands program well completions and stimulation subactivity and new and novel concepts task have been initiated. The objectives of the well completion and stimulation efforts are to carry out research and development in areas with significant for long-range tar sand extraction development as well as provide potential interaction and support of the near-term tar sand field experiments. Evaluation testing of packers and computational analysis of well bore insulation for tar sands steam recovery injection wells have been investigated this quarter. Production well completions for the tar sand steam drive experiment have been examined, and a program to measure downhole steam quality in the experiment is under development. Initial examination of the application of the DOE downhole steam generator program to tar sand reservoirs has commenced. The examination of new and novel concepts for extraction of tar sands has been initiated. An overburden replacement technique was evaluated both computationally and in a laboratory scale experiment. Analyses of both microwave heating and in situ hydrogenation are being initiated.


Impacts of wind power generation facilities on neighborhood residents, animals, plants, water environment and landscape are a concern. Therefore, in 2010, wind turbine facilities were targeted to be covered by the environmental impact assessment law, which was enacted in 1999, and was amended with the environmental impact statement procedure in 2013. A guidance level of noise produced by wind turbines in quiet residential areas was set in 2017. In the environmental impact statement procedure at the planning stage of targeted projects, the trust of precedent users should be obtained and consensus building should be implemented. Projects of wind turbine facilities are accepted in accordance with the environmental impact assessment law using the new guidance noise level and the procedure of the environmental impact statement.


ROSOPHILA HYDEI Sturtevant and D . repleta Wollastonl are closely related species, both frequent in association with man in many regionsa t least throughout the United States, where both species are evidently of relatively recent introduction. There are numerous other species of the same group, mostly found in the Neotropical region and in the southern portion of the United States. All these agree in having a pale gray pollinose dorsal surface of the mesonotum, each hair and bristle arising from a dark blackish-brown non-pollinose spot. This spotted pattern has furnished the basis for most of the studies reported here. D. repleta has the chromosome configuration that is most characteristic for the subgenus Drosophila to which it belongs-five pairs of rods (one of which is X) and a pair of dot-like chromosomes. It is, of course, probable that each of these chromosomes also has a short heterochromatic arm (see STURTEVANT and NOVITSKI 1941). D. hydei differs in its metaphase configuration only in that there is an additional arm visible on the X ; this arm appears to be wholly heterochromatic. D. neorepleta Patterson and Wheeler, from Guatemala, resembles repleta in its external characters even more than does hydei; it differs from repleta cytologically in that one of the rod-shaped autosomes has become J-shaped-presumably through the occurrence of a pericentric inversion. For our present purposes the significant point is that the dot chromosome, or element F (STURTEVANT and NOVITSKI 1941), is present in all three species (for neorepleta see footnote on p. 261).


The smooth muscle of the gastric fundus maintains spontaneous tone, but the mechanism underlying this activity is not fully understood. The aim of the present study was to examine whether Ca2+ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) could play a role in the maintenance of the spontaneous smooth muscle tone of the cat gastric fundus. The effects on the contractile activity of SR Ca2+ release activators ryanodine and caffeine and of the inhibitor ruthenium red were studied. The contractile activity of isolated muscle strips was recorded under isometric conditions using organ baths. Ryanodine concentration-dependently (10(-7)-3.10(-5) mol/l) increased the tone of the fundus strips. In the presence of nifedipine (10(-5) mol/l), ryanodine induced a nifedipine-resistant tonic contraction. The tonic contraction induced after inhibition of the SR Ca(2+)-pump by cyclopiazonic acid was potentiated by ryanodine (10(-5) mol/l). In strips precontracted with supramaximal concentration of acetylcholine (10(-5) mol/l), ryanodine (3.10(-5) mol/l) further potentiated the tone. Caffeine (10(-4)-10(-2) mol/l) decreased and even completely inhibited the tone, suggesting some other effects of caffeine. Ruthenium red concentration-dependently (10(-6)-10(-4) mol/l) decreased the tone. The present data provide evidence for the role of Ca2+ release from a SR ryanodine-sensitive Ca2+ store in the maintenance of the muscle tone of the cat gastric fundus.


A massless up quark is an intriguing possible solution to the strong CP problem. We discuss how lattice computations can be used in conjunction with chiral perturbation theory to address the consistency of mu = 0 with the observed hadron spectrum and interactions. It is not necessary to simulate very light quarks—three flavor partially quenched computations with comparable sea and valence quark masses on the order of the strange quark mass could suffice. ∗firstname.lastname@example.com, firstname.lastname@example.com, email@example.com


This paper aims to investigate the rate of expansion and extraction within the solar system. We carried out the Solar system expansion calculations to do such a review. The Universe is expected to look the same from every point in it. After the big bang, Universe is expanding at some speed. Astrophysicists have been in a race to measure precisely how fast the Universe is expanding since Hubble announced that galaxies were systematically moving away from Milky Way Galaxy with a current speed in 1929. Hubble's observations came after Einstein's general relativity, which inspired the big bang theory. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe has created billions of years ago with an explosion and started to expand until today. The expansion of the Universe mostly happens in vast spaces, so clusters of galaxies move away from each other. For example, raising bread during baking will expand, but the raisings will stay the same size while moving each other to expand the bread. Observers have proven that an object (galaxies, a cluster of planets) held together by gravity has a patch of nonexpanding space produced by a gravitational field. However, some observers claimed the solar system is not expanding, while others claimed it is expanding. Does our solar system expand in an expanding Universe? The cosmological expansion of local systems is reviewed in the modern cosmological models. We showed answers related to this question with the help of literature. This review article revisited the proof of the Solar System's expansion and its speed with about 0.32 nm/s in an expanding Universe.


Introduction: Adulthood is associated with many challenges which requires adaptability. Differences between adults and the older adults are important to adapt with these challenges and facilitators of adaptation. The present study aimed to determine the difference between the meaning of life and psychological well-being through different age groups of adults, older adults and oldest olds.

Methods: The present study is a causal-comparative study. Samples were 60 adults, 60 older adult and 60 oldest old men and women selected in Tehran through cluster sampling method and responded to Meaning of Life Questionnaire  and Well-being Psychological Scale. The data were analyzed by multivariate variance analysis.

Results: In psychological well-being, the mean scores of the adults group were higher than the other two group and the higher age means resulted in decreasing in psychological well-being. No significant difference was observed in the component of purpose in life and variable of meaning of life among the male age groups. The mean scores of the adult women groups were higher than the two other groups based on psychological well-being and meaning of life. Among the women, higher age led to a decrease in the average psychological well-being. Based on the findings, higher age leads to a decrease in psychological well-being and the meaning of life.

Conclusion: The findings indicated that psychological well-being varies among male and female age-groups. Therefore, further studies are needed to identify the resources which can help to adjust to going to ages and should be considered in mental health services to prevent the decline of psychological well-being and  meaning of life. In addition, the promotion of psychological well-being and the meaning of life should be considered in parallel with the life time.


The effect on the distribution of urban services of the "geographical fragmentation" of American metropolitan areas into many local government jurisdictions, each with important service responsibilities, is often overlooked. Comparison with Australia, where services are generally administered and financed at the State level, is instructive. Australian centralism tends to have an equalizing effect, largely due to bureaucratic patterns of service delivery, but has also produced both an insensitivity to specialized local factors and an "organizational fragmentation." Developments in the 1970s suggest improvements in these areas of deficiency.


[1] The critical size for stable single-domain (SD) behavior has been calculated as a function of grain elongation for magnetite grains using a numerical micromagnetic algorithm. Importantly, for the first time, we consider the contribution of intergrain magnetostatic interactions on the SD/multidomain (MD) critical size (d0). For individual grains our numerical estimates for d0 for elongated grains are lower than that determined by previous analytical and numerical calculations. Nevertheless, the inclusion of magnetostatic interactions into the model was found to increase d0 to values significantly higher than any previously published estimates of d0 for individual grains. Therefore the model calculations show that there is a relatively wide range of grain sizes within which depending on the degree of magnetostatic interactions and elongation, a grain can be either SD or MD. The model results are compared to observations of magnetosomes found in magnetotactic bacteria. The newly calculated upper d0 limit for the interacting grains now accommodates the largest magnetosomes reported in the literature. These large magnetosomes were previously thought to be MD, suggesting that evolutionary processes are highly efficient at optimizing magnetosome grain size and spatial distribution.


1. The rapidly exchanging 24Na fraction was found to account for approximately a third of the sodium contained in desheathed terminal abdominal ganglia which had been previously made radioactive by the injection of labelled ions into the haemolymph. 2. This rapidly exchanging sodium was associated with the extracellular spaces which, with the aid of 14C-inulin, were shown to contain 18.2% of the ganglion water. Using this figure it was possible to calculate that the extracellular sodium concentration exceeded that in the haemolymph by a factor of 1.8 and was 2.5 times greater than that in the cellular fraction of the ganglion. 3. Experiments using 22Na, 42K, 45Ca, 36Cl and 3HOH showed that the concentrations of the ions in the rapidly exchanging extracellular fractions of isolated abdominal nerve cords were different from those of the external medium. The three cations were maintained at considerably higher concentrations in the extracellular spaces, chloride ions being present at a much lower concentration than in the external solution. 4. It was concluded that the ions were distributed between the extracellular spaces and the external solution according to a Donnan equilibrium. The evidence would seem to indicate that a significant proportion of the free anion groups in the extracellular spaces may be those of protein molecules in solution. An appreciable portion of the cations may also, however, be associated with the free anion groups of structural elements such as collagen and mucopolysaccharides. 5. It is suggested that the relatively rapid depolarization observed in desheathed preparations, as compared with intact nerves, in conditions of high external potassium concentration may result from the effects of the disruption of the Donnan equilibrium as well as to any properties of the nerve sheath as a diffusion barrier. 6. It was shown that because of their positive charges the diffusion of the cations in the extracellular spaces occurred more slowly than would be expected on the basis of their free-diffusion constants. The efflux of 14C-inulin also occurred more slowly than would be expected from its free diffusion, an effect probably caused by the passage of the polysaccharide molecules through relatively small spaces in the extracellular system.


The research reveals a profile of reflective thinking of elementary school students in problem solving fractions based on his mathematical abilities. The instruments used in data collection is Test Problem Solving (TPM), interview. Selection of research subjects in a way given test is based on the ability of mathematics, namely mathematical skills of high, medium and low and further categorized and taken at least 2 people to serve as subjects. The research objective is: describe the profile of reflective thinking that math skills of elementary school students High, medium, and low. Based on the results of the study found reflective thinking profile and high ability students were as follows: (a) the step to understand the problems students have information/knowledge or data that is used to respond, comes from inside (internal) and can explain what has been done; (B) the planned step problem solving students have information/knowledge or data that is used to respond, comes from inside (internal) and can explain what has been done; (C) on measures to implement the plan in terms of information/knowledge or data used by students to respond, comes from inside (internal), could explain what has been done, realized the error and fix it, and communicate ideas with a symbol or image, and (d) the checking step back, namely information/knowledge or data that is used by students to respond, comes from inside (internal) and can explain what has been done. Profile of reflective thinking ability students lowly mathematics, namely: (a) at the stage of understanding the problem, students can determine known and asked in the problem, but the students' difficulties to explain the identification of the facts that have been done, the students explained the understanding vocabulary, and feel of existing data the matter is enough; (B) at the stage of implementing the plan, the students explained, organize and represent data on the issue, describes how to select the operation in solving a problem though students are not sure, and students' difficulty in explaining what he had done; (C) at the stage of implementing the plan, the student has information on calculation skills although the answer is not correct. Students difficulty in explaining about the skills calculations have been done, trying to communicate their ideas in the form of symbols or images, even if students rather difficult to describe, and realized there was an error when using a calculation skills and improve it; (D) at the stage of check, students' difficulties in explaining whether obtained estimates it approached, it makes sense Keywords : reflective thinking, problem solving, fractions, and math skills.


On present evidence three different viruses may cause influenza this winter. Firstly, there are strains resembling A/Texas/1/77 (H3N2), the most recent of the variants which have evolved by progressive antigenic drift from the A/Hong Kong/68 (H3N2) virus, which first caused severe outbreaks in Britain in 1969-70. During the intervening years most of the British population will have been infected with an H3N2 virus so that a single injection ofvaccine incorporating an A/Texas/ 1/77like component should ensure a good antibody response in most people. Second is the B/Hong Kong,18/73 virus, which is representative of the influenza B viruses prevalent over the last six years; again a single injection of the corresponding antigen is thought to provide a useful measure of protection. Finally, influenza may be caused by strains related to the A/USSR/92/77 (H1N1) virus, which, after an interval of 20 years, reappeared last winter in China and spread to most other countries including Britain.' People over about 24 years of age will have encountered similar viruses before 1957, the year when HlNl strains were replaced throughout the world by the H2N2 "Asian" virus-which in turn was replaced in 1968 by the Hong Kong virus. Last winter the HINI virus mostly caused illness only in people under the age of 24, indicating that the immunity derived from natural infection had persisted for at least 20 years. The results of serological studies carried out during the summer suggest that most young people remain susceptible to HlNl viruses, only a small proportion having acquired antibodies as a result of infection last winter. Recent clinical trials of HINI vaccines, as yet unpublished, showed that a single injection induced a satisfactory antibody response in those over 24 years. Nevertheless, in younger people who had no experience of HlNl viruses two spaced injections were needed to ensure a reliable response, and it is partly for this reason that immunisation recommendations for this winter are a little more complicated than usual (see p 1237.) Additionally, the available vaccines include both trivalent preparations containing antigens of the three influenza viruses and a monovalent vaccine which has only HiNi antigens. There is one turther tactor to be taken into account. As well as high quality, zonally purified, whole virus vaccines, a new surface antigen vaccine is available. This preparation, Fluvirin, contains only the protective haemagglutinin and neuraminidase antigens of the virus, adsorbed with aluminium hydroxide, with virtually none of the other viral components. Surface antigen vaccines seem to cause fewer minor side effects, such as sore arms and febrile reactions, than zonally purified wholevirus vaccines, and in the view of many they are, therefore, preferable-especially for children and when two doses have to be given. Recommendations for use of these vaccines in Britain are based on the DHSS guidelines: influenza vaccination is advised in the main for the protection of those at special risk from the consequences ofinfection-sufferers from chronic chest or heart disease and elderly people in hospitals and geriatric homesand also for those particularly apt to acquire the infection, such as nurses and, possibly, older children and adults in residential schools and institutions. Against this background, the use of the available vaccines will depend on age. In people over about 24 a single injection should be given of a trivalent vaccine-that is, one containing H3N2, HlNl, and influenza B antigens. For this purpose a surface antigen vaccine may be preferred, but a zonally purified, whole virus vaccine will be perfectly adequate, giving rise to a similar antibody response, but possibly at the expense of a few more minor reactions. In people under 24 years an injection of trivalent vaccine should be followed about four weeks later by a second dose-to ensure an adequate response to the A/USSR'77 (H1N1) antigens. For this second injection a monovalent HlNl vaccine is appropriate, but if this is not available a trivalent vaccine may be given. Again a surface antigen vaccine may be preferred to keep minor side effects to a minimum.


We reduce the transition losses that occur between curved and straight rib waveguides, by offsetting the guides and placing isolation trenches. Using a three-dimensional (3-D) semivectorial beam propagation program, we also can investigate more novel effects such as rib heights and sidewall slopes. Our consideration of all these effects results in an optimized design.


Prospects and sustainability of Ecotourism in Finima Nature Park (FNP), Bonny Island, Rivers State, Nigeria was studied with the objectives of identifying tourist attractions in the park, and assessing the socio-economic characteristics of households in communities bordering the park. Data for the study were collected through observation, in-depth interview, review of management records and administration of questionnaire. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics while Chi square was used to test significance of associations. Results showed that FNP is endowed with unique attractions such as the quiet park environment (24.1%) where natural sounds from animals, wind and water waves are enjoyed by tourists; suspended wooden walkway (22.4%); beach that gives a panoramic view of the Atlantic ocean (22.4%) and nature trail (10.3%) that exposes various micro habitats of the environment. Even though the park is a  conserved area, tourist visitation therein has increased progressively between 2014 and 2016. Most visitors (82.10%) to Finima Nature Park were satisfied with the attractions and servicesin the destination. Majority of tourist respondents were resident in Rivers State.A test of association between frequency of tourist visitation and gender using Chi square was significant (p<0.05). Similarly, the occupation  (χ2=151.880) and level of education (χ2=51.952) of tourists had significant  (p<0.05) associations with the distance travelled to the park. The area is dominated by settlers from other areas especially AkwaIbom State (50.3%) and Andoni (37.9%) in Rivers State. Households from communities bordering the park were mostly secondary school certificate holders (62.0%), mainly involved in fishing (37.8%), schooling or trading and therefore rely on forest resources for survival. For sustainable conservation to be ensured in the destination FNP management should develop empowerment strategies to enhance survival of households. Keyword : Finima Nature Park, Biodiversity conservation, Bonny Island, Ecotourism, Tourist attraction


As it is known, the court is the body that administers justice. Georgia has a system of general courts, including District, Appeal, and Cassation courts. The district court is a court of first instance covering the entire territory of Georgia. Considering the specificity of insolvency, its cases are considered only by the city courts of Tbilisi and Kutaisi. The powers assigned to the insolvency court include reviewing the application, opening the rehabilitation regime, appointing a manager/supervisor, etc. The activity of a judge often goes beyond the scope of civil law and Civil Procedure Code. Accordingly, the rights and obligations established by other branches of law apply to him/her. One is the law of insolvency, which mainly has independent general and procedural norms. The current law envisages the court's involvement in such a regime as rehabilitation. In the work, the role of the court is considered within the framework of the regulation of the law of insolvency, the rehabilitation regime, which is regulated by the law of insolvency. And the research revealed that certain issues need to be regulated at the legislative level. Due to the fact that the role and rights, and duties of the court in the rehabilitation regime have not been elaborated in accordance with the new law by the researchers, the research topic is relevant and interesting. To properly discuss the topic provided by the article, the law "On Rehabilitation and Collective Satisfaction of Creditors' Claims", insolvency proceedings, and bankruptcy proceedings are compared. The normative acts in force in Georgia are used in the work, which regulates the rights and duties of the judge. In addition, various international acts are cited in the article for comparison and strengthening of the position.