Author(s): Curtis, Matt | Abstract: Global CO2e emissions have declined during the COVID-19 shutdown. Much of the decline is due to reductions in transportation, a portion of which is attributable to increasing telework. This capstone explores the impacts of increased telework, both during the shutdown, and more importantly following the COVID-19 crisis, on climate action goals in San Diego and California. Passenger vehicle emissions make up significant portions of overall greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in San Diego and California. Nearly 85% of San Diego workers commute to their jobs alone in their vehicle. The project provides a brief history of telework, then explores various factors which make telework successful, including organizational support, job type, employee attributes, work environment, and organizational processes. Second, the GHG emissions impacts of increasing telework (reduced employee commutes) for one company in San Diego post-COVID-19 are calculated. Third, potential company cost savings and individual employee benefits are calculated. Fourth, assumptions are made about post-shutdown industry sector telework levels using bureau of labor and statistics data, pre-shutdown telework estimates, as well as industry surveys conducted, and public statements made by corporate figures, during the shutdown. Finally, overall reductions to GHG emissions due to increases in telework calculated for San Diego and the state of California, and a comparison is made against San Diego and California 2030 GHG emissions reduction targets. The company I used for the project is Illumina, Inc. headquartered in San Diego. The research conducted during this project found that the potential reduction to GHG emissions from various industry sector increases in telework post-shutdown are significant, approximately 10% of projected San Diego GHG emissions in 2030. California is projected to miss 2030 GHG reduction targets by approximately 25MMTCO2e; however, this research found that increases in telework could reduce the projected 2030 GHG excess over target by 32%.


This paper analyses confrontation that occurred between Armenia and
 Azerbaijan concerning Nagorno Karabakh territory, as well as the many
 attempts to finally get this conflict resolved. The war between Armenia and
 Azerbaijan over the territory of Nagorno Karabakh ended with the ceasefire
 agreement under the auspices of the OSCE Minsk Group, which is empowered for
 final resolvment of this issue. This process has been going on for years,
 but a solution is yet to come. The European Union in recent years is trying
 to reduce dependence on Russian natural gas and orients to new suppliers,
 primarily in the southern Caucasus region. Western countries are interested
 in resolving conflicts in South Caucasus due to its economic and political
 interests in the region and the fact that these conflicts pose a risk to
 investment. The authors of the paper will bring forth the views of all
 stakeholders in addressing the problem of Nagorno Karabakh and analyze their
 interests in an attempt to predict the possible final solution to the
 conflict.


In leisure studies, we often refer to leisure and the quality of life. Too often, we mention leisure and the quality of life in the same breath, thus implying that there is full understanding regarding the connection between these two concepts. Any lengthy discussion about the quality of life, however, will quickly leave discussants with the knowledge that there are many ways to define what is meant by the phrase.


Oestrogen pellets implanted in castrated or spayed rats cause both the males and females to take a considerable amount of voluntary exercise. Testosterone pellets cause implanted spayed females to take considerable exercise but their effect on the castrated male is much less. If the male has previously been under the influence of an oestrogen pellet, the amount of activity that results when a testosterone pellet is implanted is increased. The suggestion is made that once the responsible brain centre has been exposed to oestrogen it becomes sensitive to the action of testosterone.


Background Electronic cigarette (or e-cigarette) use has grown substantially since its US market introduction in 2007. Although marketed as a safer alternative to traditional cigarettes, studies have shown they can also be a gateway to their use. The purpose of this investigation is to identify factors associated with different patterns of tobacco use among active duty military personnel. Methods A secondary analysis was conducted using the 2014 Defense Health Agency Health Related Behaviors survey data. Results are based on 45 986 US military respondents, weighted to 1 251 606. Both univariate and regression analyses were conducted to identify correlates. Results In 2014, approximately 7.8% of respondents reported using e-cigarettes at least once in the past year. Among e-cigarette users, 49% reported exclusive e-cigarette use. Prevalence of exclusive use is highest among white people (58%), Navy (33%), men (83%) and persons with income ≤$45 000 (65%). Regression comparing exclusive cigarette with exclusive e-cigarette users revealed higher odds of being Air Force (OR=2.19; CI 1.18 to 4.06) or Navy (OR=2.25; CI 1.14 to 4.41) personnel and being male (OR=1.72; CI 1.12 to 2.64), and more likely to not receive smoking cessation messaging from healthcare providers in the last 12 months (OR=2.88; CI 1.80 to 4.62). When comparing exclusive e-cigarette users with poly-tobacco users, e-cigarette users had higher odds of being Hispanic (OR=2.20; CI 1.02 to 4.78), college educated (OR=4.25; CI 1.22 to 14.84) and not receiving tobacco prevention/cessation messaging (OR=4.80; CI 2.79 to 8.27). Conclusion The results demonstrate that exclusive e-cigarette users in the military have unique characteristics when compared with groups of other/mixed tobacco users. Findings can inform cessation and prevention efforts to improve both the overall health and combat readiness of active duty military personnel.


In this paper, a mathematical model is proposed to study the effect of pollutant and virus induced disease on single species animal population and its essential mathematical features are analyzed. It is observed that the susceptible population does not vanish when it is only under the effect of infection but in the polluted environment, it can go to extinction. Also, it has been observed that the replication threshold obtained, increases on account of pollutant concentration consequently decreasing the susceptible population. Further persistence results for the proposed model are obtained and the condition for the existence of the Hopf-bifurcation is derived. Finally, numerical simulation in support of analytical results is carried out.


Thermite serves as a kind of representative energetic material, which is extensively applied in the civil and military fields. In this paper, PTFE/Al/Fe2O3, PTFE/Al/MnO2 and PTFE/Al/MoO3, solid fluorine-containing thermite with different PTFE content, were successfully fabricated by referring to the traditional thermite and adding PTFE as a binder or matrix. Quasi-static compression tests were performed to investigate the mechanical and reactive behavior of fluorine-containing thermite. SEM and XRD were employed to analyze and characterize the energetic composites and reaction residuals. The results show that all types of fluorine-containing thermite exhibited different mechanical behavior. PTFE/Al/MnO2 exhibited the lowest yield strength and strain hardening modulus, but the highest compressive strength and toughness. With the increase of PTFE content, the strength of fluorine-containing thermite improved. No reaction occurred when the PTFE content was 60 vol%, while fluorine-containing thermite with a PTFE content of 80 vol% experienced a severe exothermic reaction under quasi-static compression. The ignition of PTFE/Al/MoO3 and PTFE/Al/Fe2O3 actually attributed to the reaction of Al and PTFE, and the reaction between Al and Fe2O3 or MoO3 was not excited due to the insufficient input energy. The thermite reaction between Al and MnO2, as well as the reaction of MnO2 and PTFE, was induced because PTFE/Al/MnO2 possessed excellent ductility and absorbed the most energy during compression, accompanied with the production of Mn and MnF2.


This study was conducted to establish accurate baseline values of clinical laboratory data with regard to age-related changes in the Oriental white stork (Ciconia boyciana). In addition, the availability of an automated hematological cell counter was evaluated. A total of 94 clinically normal storks, including 64 young storks (<1 year old; 30 male and 34 female) and 30 adults (> 1 year old; 17 male and 13 female) were included. Hematological assays were performed using manual and automated cell counters and serum biochemistry profiles were examined using an automated analyzer. There were no significant differences in any parameters between male and female storks, while 16 parameters were significantly different between young and adult storks. Of these 16 parameters, total protein, albumin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, creatinine, triglyceride, total bilirubin, potassium, white blood cell count, packed cell volume, mean cell volume and hemoglobin levels were higher in adult storks than in young storks, while the latter showed higher glucose, uric acid and alkaline phosphatase levels, as well as a higher sodium/potassium ratio. The results presented herein will aid researchers who work for the conservation and rehabilitation of this endangered species.


This study explored the impact of short-term study abroad on the language attitudes of college-level learners of Arabic in the United States. It investigated students' destination preferences in various Arabic-speaking countries, their attitudes toward learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and regional dialects, and the factors that they perceived as influencing their attitudes. Survey responses from 371 participants indicated that learning Arabic in the Arab world favorably impacted students' attitudes toward dialect learning and sociolinguistic awareness. Students in this sample rejected learning MSA exclusively, believed that learning any dialect was important, and they became open to learning multiple dialects, including those that are less commonly taught. Respondents attributed this attitude shift to the change in their learning context, i.e., learning Arabic in an Arab country.


Recent empirical studies of U.S. antidumping activity focus almost exclusively on the period since 1980. This paper puts this recent experience in historical context by examining the determinants of antidumping filings over the past half century. The conventional view that few antidumping cases existed prior to 1980 is not correct, although most did not result in the imposition of duties. The rise in antidumping activity is related to the increase in import penetration (closely related to the decline in the average rate of protection) and the shift of antidumping authority from the Treasury to the Commerce Department in 1980. Exchange rate fluctuations also influence the number of antidumping cases filed in any given year. This paper was prepared for a symposium marking the centennial of antidumping legislation, held at the University of Michigan on March 12, 2004. I thank Bruce Blonigen, Mike Finger, and participants at the Dartmouth International Lunch for helpful comments and advice.


Ethanol and other drugs of abuse modulate cAMP–PKA signaling within the mesolimbic reward pathway. To understand the role of the cAMP–PKA signal transduction in mediating the effects of ethanol, we have studied ethanol consumption and the sedative effects of ethanol in three lines of genetically modified mice. We report that mice with the targeted disruption of one Gsα allele as well as mice with reduced neuronal PKA activity have decreased alcohol consumption compared with their wild-type littermates. Genetic reduction of cAMP–PKA signaling also makes mice more sensitive to the sedative effects of ethanol, although plasma ethanol concentrations are unaffected. In contrast, mice with increased adenylyl cyclase activity resulting from the transgenic expression of a constitutively active form of Gsα in neurons within the forebrain are less sensitive to the sedative effects of ethanol. Thus, the cAMP–PKA signal transduction pathway is critical in modulating sensitivity to the sedative effects of ethanol as well as influencing alcohol consumption.


Nurses in their work are exposed to the factors that affect their health, working capacity and physical state: high physical workload, night shifts, psychological violence, organizational drawbacks, job duties stressors. Life and work satisfaction depends on these factors and influences quality of care, patient safety, employee retention and their commitment to the organization and the profession. The sample size consisted of 69 intensive care and surgical department nurses working in Klaipeda hospitals. The quantitative study was conducted in accordance with ethical principles. Life satisfaction questionnaire - short form was used in the survey. The data were processed with SPSS program (version 22). The results showed that intensive work and manual patient lifting are the most common nurse work environment risk factors. Nurses rated their satisfaction with life better than average (66.8 percent). The results showed that nurses who often have to lift patients manually are less satisfied with life.


The Cycladic granitoids (Ikaria, Mykonos, Naxos, Kos, Lavrion, Serifos, Tinos) intruded the Aegean crust during a rather short period (17-10 Ma) compared to the much longer Oligo-Miocene crustal thinning phase (35 Ma to the Present). Their geochemical characteristics show that their sources have changed through time and space, with a progressive decreasing component of continental crust contamination with time and from east to west. They all interacted with large-scale detachments, namely the North Cycladic Detachment System (NCDS) in the north and the West Cycladic Detachment System (WCDS) in the south. In Mykonos, Naxos, Serifos and Ikaria the plutons are also associated with a high-temperature metamorphic dome of Miocene age. Their intrusion period roughly covers the same time window as the fast clockwise rotation of the western Aegean evidenced by paleomagnetic measurements and they are contemporaneous with a surge of alkaline volcanism in the eastern Aegean that can be related to a slab tear imaged below western Anatolia. The continental crust component in the Middle Miocene Cycladic plutons is not found in the early Miocene plutons of the northern Aegean, like in Kavala and Vrondou. They thus probably record a quite sudden thermal event in the Cyclades that led to the partial melting of the extending deep crust. We propose a model involving slab tear starting at ~17 Ma, fast retreat of the slab west of the tear and southwestward influx of hot asthenospheric material below the Aegean crust, leading to melting of the lower crust. Partial melting of the whole lower crust above the hot asthenospheric flow could explain the flat Moho observed below the Cyclades. The close proximity of plutons with the detachments suggests that their ascent toward the upper crust is favoured by the extreme extension at work there. The first granitoids in the region of the tear (Ikaria) are the richest in crustal component and this component decreases while the crust thins more and more, the youngest plutons being more purely derived from the mantle as for instance Kos and the granitic dyke swarm of Samos.


Using a full configuration-interaction method with Hylleraas-Gaussian basis function, this paper investigates the 110+, 11(−1)+ and 11(−2)+ states of the hydrogen negative ion in strong magnetic fields. The total energies, electron detachment energies and derivatives of the total energy with respect to the magnetic field are presented as functions of magnetic field over a wide range of field strengths. Compared with the available theoretical data, the accuracy for the energies is enhanced significantly. The field regimes 3 < γ < 4 and 0.02 < γ < 0.05, in which the 11(−1)+ and 11(−2)+ states start to become bound, respectively, are also determined based on the calculated electron detachment energies.


A type confusion attack is one in which a principal accepts data of one type as data of another. Although it has been shown by Heather (et al., 2000) that there are simple formatting conventions that will guarantee that protocols are free from simple type confusions in which fields of one type are substituted for fields of another, it is not clear how well they defend against more complex attacks, or against attacks arising from interaction with protocols that are formatted according to different conventions. In this paper we show how type confusion attacks can arise in realistic situations even when the types are explicitly defined in at least some of the messages, using examples from our recent analysis of the Group Domain of Interpretation Protocol. We then develop a formal model of types that can capture potential ambiguity of type notation, and outline a procedure for determining whether or not the types of two messages can be confused. This work extends our earlier work on the subject in that it includes an explicit model of attacker and defender and extends the informal model of the type confusion attacks in terms of a game between an intruder and a set of honest principals in or earlier work to a more formal model in which actions of intruder and honest principals are described explicitly. This gives us a simpler, more intuitive approach that allows us to calculate probabilities in a more systematic manner, and to compare different intruder strategies and different assumptions about the way in which the protocol is implemented in terms of their effects on type confusion.


Those who are not experts in the field of accounting will most probably be of the opinion that interest should be expensed and therefore reduce profits. However, for financial periods beginning on or after 1 January 2009, the capitalisation of borrowing costs (interest) incurred on certain qualifying assets became mandatory for companies applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Apart from the practical implications of this change, some technical questions remain unanswered by IAS 23 Borrowing Costs, and since it is now mandatory to capitalise borrowing costs, it might be worthwhile to take a deeper look at the requirements of this standard. The study reveals that knowledgeable Financial Accounting academics were quite divided in their opinions regarding the finer technical details of the revised standard, for example the period that constitutes a "substantial period of time" as mentioned in the standard when defining qualifying assets. These differences in opinion might prove that accountants with equal knowledge may interpret the standard differently, which might lead to confusion and inconsistency in external reporting; to at least some degree a possible infringement of the modern plea towards accounting harmonisation. The findings of this research could prompt standard-setters to provide clearer guidance in the revision of future standards on borrowing costs in various different accounting frameworks, or even of other standards with similar uncertainties. In the instances where participants did agree on the correct accounting treatment, the findings in this research could also be used as guidance for what the correct accounting treatment should be for various scenarios. This could be useful, amongst others, to accountants in practice, auditors, textbook and guidance document authors, university lecturers and providers of continuing professional development (CPD) training.


Let A be an arbitrary countable set of reals, for example A=Q. Let g be an arbitrary mapping from A into the positive reals, for example g(a)=2^a.
We show how a strictly increasing real function f can be constructed such that f'(x)=g(x) for every x in the set A and f'(x)=0 for almost all real numbers x.


The article deals with the question of consequences of suturing perforating pyloroduodenal ulcer in late terms in 355 patients. Marking out the postulcerorhaphic syndrome which complicated the course of the ulcer disease in 24.5% of cases and requires the determination of early indications to reoperation was grounded.


SUMMARY. 1. The contribution of drift to macroinvertebrate colonization was studied over 10 days using pairs of substratum-filled trays, one suspended above the streambed (and thus able to be colonized by drift only) and one buried flush with the streambed (and thus open to colonization from all directions). Trays were filled with sand, gravel or stones.

2. Colonization of sand-filled trays was rapid, being completed within 24h (i.e. no subsequent change in numbers of individuals per tray); colonization of gravel or stone-filled trays was not completed by the end of the experiment.

3. Drift contributed an average of 86% of the colonizing fauna of the sand-filled trays, 36% of the fauna of the gravel-filled trays and 25% of the fauna of the stone-filled trays. The low contribution of the drift to the gravel and stones is at odds with some studies which, using similar techniques, suggest that drift is the primary source of colonizing individuals.

4. Most individual species showed low contributions by drift to colonization, with the majority having contributions under 66%.

5. Distinct differences were noted between the fauna colonizing the sand-filled trays and those colonizing the gravel or stone-filled trays (which were similar).

6. Several species common in the drift were rare in the colonizing fauna and several species which were common colonizers were absent or rare in the drift.


A general mathematical model is developed as an idealization of the problem of determining cloud motions from satellite pictures. The model consists of superimposed planes of rigid moving polygons. The problem is to determine from a sequence of scenes the linear and angular velocities of the figures, and to decompose the scene into its component figures. Study of the model reveals a number of fundamental relations that form the basis for an analysis program. In particular, a systematic anaylsis is given of the topological changes that can occur when overlapping figures move together or apart. A computer program based on these results is described, and experimental results are presented.


The development of housing study in Indonesia is relatively behind compared with the progressivity of this study in other countries. This study is a preliminary study on housing sector in Indonesia which concerns with the factors determining the probability of a person to own a house which is also known as housing tenure choice. This study will also reveal the factors that affect the expectation of a household that doesn't own a house to own one.  The explanatory variables in this model include age variables, highest educational achievement, and the category of job status of the household head marital status, number of household members, and access to housing credit (Kredit Pemilikan Rumah) which affects the probability and expectation of a household to own a house. To get the location aspect, we also estimate our model for urban DKI Jakarta, Java with the exception of DKI Jakarta, and Sumatera. The data utilized in this study comes from Indonesia Socioeconomic Survey (SUSENAS) 2001 which is the result of Indonesian Statistical Bureau (BPS) survey in all the provinces in Indonesia. This study focuses in urban area in Indonesia and use qualitative choice model in the estimation process. This study also focuses on multiple choices estimation process with logit model. The result shows that the proportion of Indonesian households which live in urban area and own a hose is 73% of the total households which is very big. The proportion of the households with rent/contract is 15.8%. DKI Jakarta has the biggest proportion of households with rent/contract which is about 31.4%. The estimation results of urban house ownership choice model in Indonesia show that number of household members, marital status, age of the head of the household and access to housing credit have a positive impact on the probability of a household to own a house (non rent/contract). From the study of the expectation of a household that doesn't own a house to own one we found that only 30% of Indonesian urban households have expectation to own a house for the next five years. Estimation of household expectation function to own a house shows that marital status, education level, income, and head of the household that works in formal sector have positive and significant impacts on the probability of a household to expect to own a house in the next 5 years.  One of the most important results concerns KPR and government policy concerning KPR. The Data shows that only 6.37% of the urban households in Indonesia utilize this facility. Down payment and increase in the household expenses as a consequence of credit payment are two of the major factors causing low access of the


The proposal of World Health Organization (WHO) for a basic and preliminary technique of diagnosing tuberculosis disease is based upon visual examination in microscopic image sequences of sputum samples stained with ZN-stain procedure. This examination which requires spending considerable time for specialists causes a significant increase in laboratorians' workload, misdiagnosis and loss of time. Therefore, in this paper a new method for automatic detection of TB bacteria from microscopic images is proposed. RGB color distribution of bacterial regions which is sampled in training period is performed to learning by using multi dimensional Gaussian distribution function. The Mahalanobis distances of training samples in multi dimensional color space are taking into account and noisy data in distribution space is removed from training set. After the image segmentation in testing images based on trained distribution function, image is restorated with morphological image processing. Then artificial neural network model is used for shape-based recognition. The performance of system is evaluated using some criteria.


ABSTRACT PfmR is one of four TetR family transcriptional regulators found in the extremely thermophilic bacterium, Thermus thermophilus HB8. We identified three promoters with strong negative regulation by PfmR, both in vivo and in vitro. PfmR binds pseudopalindromic sequences, with the consensus sequence of 5′-TACCGACCGNTNGGTN-3′ surrounding the promoters. According to the amino acid sequence and three-dimensional structure analyses of the PfmR-regulated gene products, they are predicted to be involved in phenylacetic acid and fatty acid metabolism. In vitro analyses revealed that PfmR weakly cross-regulated with the TetR family repressor T. thermophilus PaaR, which controls the expression of the paa gene cluster putatively involved in phenylacetic acid degradation but not with another functionally identified TetR family repressor, T. thermophilus FadR, which is involved in fatty acid degradation. The X-ray crystal structure of the N-terminal DNA-binding domain of PfmR and the nucleotide sequence of the predicted PfmR-binding site are quite similar to those of the TetR family repressor QacR from Staphylococcus aureus. Similar to QacR, two PfmR dimers bound per target DNA. The bases recognized by QacR within the QacR-binding site are conserved in the predicted PfmR-binding site, and they were important for PfmR to recognize the binding site and properly assemble on it. The center of the PfmR molecule contains a tunnel-like pocket, which may be the ligand-binding site of this regulator.


In the area of drug discovery, natural products represent a myriad of templates for new lead discovery. It is, however, most unlikely that the bioactive principle itself shall become a drug; it is much more likely that a medicinal chemistry project needs to be initiated as soon the potency or selectivity or specificity of the new natural product candidate has been disclosed. Brazil has an enormous biodiversity where just a few has been disclosed. Nevertheless, it urges to initiate a joint collaboration in order to circumvent a major breakdown linking between natural products and medicinal chemistry in this country. This paper is intended to encourage people to follow up one of the most pushing forward enterprise that needs to be settled: the pharmaceutical industry.


Imposing that the excursion distance of inflaton in field space during inflation be less than the Planck scale, we derive an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio at the CMB scales, i.e. $r_{*,max}$, in the general canonical single-field slow-roll inflation model, in particular the model with non-negligible running of the spectral index $\alpha_s$ and/or the running of running $\beta_s$. We find that $r_{*,max}\simeq 7\times 10^{-4}$ for $n_s=0.9645$ without running and running of running, and $r_{*,max}$ is significantly relaxed to the order of ${\cal O}(10^{-2}\sim 10^{-1})$ in the inflation model with $\alpha_s$ and/or $\beta_s\sim +{\cal O}(10^{-2})$ which are marginally preferred by the Planck 2015 data.


In nation states and regions including Australia, Hong Kong, other countries of Asia, the European Economic Community and elsewhere, Civics and Citizenship education (CCE) is a contested concept. The development of The Australian Curriculum is providing a national opportunity for educators to rethink curriculum priorities and to decide on new emphases for learning in Australian schools, but policy documents have emphasized the importance of CCE for all young Australians.

In this paper we discuss the notion of citizenship education as 'national education' in Australia. We suggest that while the development of CCE in Australia does include elements of 'national education', the new curriculum provides an opportunity to frame the civil, political and social components of CC for young Australians in ways that include local, national and global understandings. We argue that CCE should broaden young peoples' world views and their passion and capacity to express their own identity, so they can be active and engaged citizens in diverse communities that include their own communities, the nation and beyond.


The lunar technique is a method for maximising the collection area for ultra-high-energy (UHE) cosmic ray and neutrino searches. The method uses either ground-based radio telescopes or lunar orbiters to search for Askaryan emission from particles cascading near the lunar surface. While experiments using the technique have made important advances in the detection of nanosecond-scale pulses, only at the very highest energies has the lunar technique achieved competitive limits. This is expected to change with the advent of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the low-frequency component of which (SKA-low) is predicted to be able to detect an unprecedented number of UHE cosmic rays.In this contribution, the status of lunar particle detection is reviewed, with particular attention paid to outstanding theoretical questions, and the technical challenges of using a giant radio array to search for nanosecond pulses. The activities of SKA's High Energy Cosmic Particles Focus Group are described, as is a roadmap by which this group plans to incorporate this detection mode into SKA-low observations. Estimates for the sensitivity of SKA-low phases 1 and 2 to UHE particles are given, along with the achievable science goals with each stage. Prospects for near-future observations with other instruments are also described.


The purposes of the study are to identify marketing key features through content analysis of university library websites in Pakistan. Also compare the public and private sectors university library websites in terms of marketing activities. Similarly, expose marketing key features that lacks in public and private sector university library websites. Based on the adopted criteria, a checklist of marketing features was designed. A purposive sample of 53 main (Central) libraries websites of public and private sector universities having at least one marketing feature was selected for detailed analysis. The study reveals that the overall situation of university library websites in terms of marketing features is not good. However, public sector university library websites are comparatively better in this regard than the private sector. The results of the study help libraries to design and implement a strategic marketing plan that will ultimately create awareness about library resources and services via websites and help to improve the image of universities libraries in Pakistan. This study is new in Pakistan and fills the gap in the literature on the subject. Moreover, this study will support in developing library websites equipped with marketing features.


Levobupivacaine, the S(−) isomer of bupivacaine, is less cardiotoxic than racemic bupivacaine. In this prospective, randomized, double-blinded study of epidural anesthesia, the onset, extent, and duration of sensory and motor block produced by 0.75% levobupivacaine (20 mL, 150 mg) was compared with that of 0.75% racemic bupivacaine in 56 patients undergoing elective lower abdominal surgery. The time to onset of adequate sensory block (T10 dermatome) was similar in both treatment groups (13.6 ± 5.6 min for levobupivacaine and 14.0 ± 9.9 min for bupivacaine), with an average peak block height of T5 reached at 24.3 ± 9.4 and 26.5 ± 13.2 min, respectively. Time to complete regression of sensory block was significantly longer with levobupivacaine (550.6 ± 87.6 min) than bupivacaine (505.9 ± 71.1 min) (P = 0.016). Abdominal muscle relaxation was adequate for the scheduled procedure in all patients, and there were no significant differences between the groups in rectus abdominis muscle scores (P = 0.386) and quality of muscle relaxation as determined by the surgeon and anesthesiologist (P = 0.505 and 0.074, respectively). In conclusion, both 0.75% levobupivacaine and 0.75% bupivacaine produced effective epidural anesthesia and their effects were clinically indistinguishable. Implications: The results of this study indicate that the sensory and motor block produced by 0.75% levobupivacaine is equivalent to that of 0.75% racemic bupivacaine. Both local anesthetics are well tolerated and effective in producing epidural anesthesia for patients undergoing lower abdominal surgery.


IF A campaign to encourage women to examine their breasts for lumps is to succeed, it is necessary for women to read the literature produced. An attempt was made to estimate whether such literature was read, and in a group of women 90.6 per cent read the booklet, and 15.9 per cent altered their behaviour. There were several other non- numerical indicators which strongly suggested that women read the literature. A large-scale study is now under way.


OBJECTIVE
To study the indications, methods and experience of absorbable rib-connecting-pins fixation in the treatment of multiple rib fractures.

METHOD
52 cases with multiple rib fractures were performed internal fixation with absorbable rib-connecting-pins under epidural anesthesia.

RESULTS
All cases were followed up for 1 to 12 months, with an average of 5 months. All fractures were achieved healing in 3 to 6 months after the operation and were not found chest wall deformity.

CONCLUSIONS
Absorbable rib-connecting-pins fixation is a simple and effective method and worthies recommending to perform operation for the appropriate cases with multiple rib fractures.


A beamline for making X-ray lithography exposures using synchrotron radiation has been built and is now in operation at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The characteristics of synchrotron radiation and the reasons for using such a source are discussed. A description of the beamline and its control system is given, and results of early exposures are presented.


Aim Toxoplasmosis following liver transplant with donor–recipient mismatch is rare, but is often life-threatening. However, there are no data on the frequency of cyst carriage in the liver, nor consensual chemoprophylaxis guidelines. This study aimed at describing frequency and localisation of Toxoplasma cysts in the liver in a mouse model of chronic infection to predict the risk in liver transplantation. Methods Heart, brain and liver lobes of 21 mice chronically infected with Toxoplasma were collected for DNA extraction and amplification of Toxoplasma gondii rep529 sequence by real-time PCR. Results Parasite DNA was detected in the liver of 19/21 mice (90.5%), with no preferential anatomical localisation, but with higher parasite loads in the papillary process. Parasite loads in the liver were far lower than in brain and heart. The number of infected lobes was inversely correlated to the total liver weight, but was independent of the brain parasite load and of the parasite strain. Conclusions The liver is a frequent site of cyst carriage, confirming that transplantation of an organ from a seropositive donor to seronegative recipient is at high risk for acquired toxoplasmosis. Systematic serological screening prior to transplantation and chemoprophylaxis in patients at risk are fully justified.


A two-year study utilizing expressive dynamic group psychotherapy with gender-dysphoric patients is described. Two distinct stages in the emergent therapeutic relationship are labeled and clinically evaluated. Specific strategies and goals and the problems and processes of running such a therapy group are discussed at length.


The burden of preventable diseases is increasing in the South Pacific Island Countries and Territories. In Fiji, significant media attention and national finances are spent on public dissemination of the modifiable risk factors of chronic illnesses. However, little is known about lay societal perceptions of chronic illnesses and of people living with these illnesses. This preliminary study takes an area-situated approach to lay knowledge and examines Suva residents' moral evaluations associated with socially significant health concerns in Fiji. Using the case studies of HIV, cancer, and diabetes, the research employs content analysis to examine 144 Suva residents' Letters to the Editor, published between 2000 and 2019 in The Fiji Times. The findings indicate that letter writers on chronic illnesses are power sensitive, interested in governmental responsibility, and aware of the role of stigma in creating inequitable health outcomes. The study's findings locate chronic illness as not only a medical responsibility but also a social justice and human rights concern that requires a multisectoral approach, with community-tailored responses at the heart of all discussions. The lay-societal recognition of the three illnesses as being socially relevant suggests grassroots support for policies directed towards structural reforms for the prevention and management of these illnesses.


This article argues that values that apply to health care allocation entail the possibility of "spectrum arguments," and that it is plausible that they often fail to determine a best alternative. In order to deal with this problem, a two-step process is suggested. First, we should identify the Strongly Uncovered Set that excludes all alternatives that are worse than some alternatives and not better in any relevant dimension from the set of eligible alternatives. Because the remaining set of alternatives often contain more than one element, we need some complementary method of selecting a unique alternative. In order to address this issue, I suggest that we must invoke caps on the values that are used to evaluate alternatives, and that these caps must be grounded in collective commitments.


Lithium–sulfur batteries have attracted much attention as a promising next-generation energy storage system due to their high theoretical specific capacity and energy density. However, lithium–sulfur batteries are still facing some problems that hinder their large-scale commercial application. High conductivity molybdenum dioxide coated with carbon composite (MoO2@C) were introduced to coat the separator to study its application in lithium sulfur batteries. Molybdenum dioxide coated with carbon composite nanoparticles were synthesized by hydrothermal method and high-temperature calcination and then was coated on the separator with acetylene black. The coating layer can take advantage of the synergetic effect of physical barrier and chemical adsorption to reduce the loss of active substances. The electrochemical performance of the battery has been improved by applying MoO2@C in lithium–sulfur separator. The first discharge specific capacity is 917 mA h g−1 under the current density of 1.0 A g−1, after 300 cycles, the capacity is 618 mA h g−1; after 200 cycles under the current density of 2.0 A g−1, the reversible specific capacity can still maintain 551 mA h g−1.


The 1997 Asian financial crisis was a landmark moment and an important catalyst for financial transformation in the region. After the crisis subsided, Asian policymakers embarked on a series of initiatives aimed at developing robust local currency bond markets. The growth of bond markets across Asia has helped the region as a whole reduce its reliance on foreign funding dramatically since the crisis. Yet, a gap has emerged between creditor economies that are able to maintain large external surpluses and self-insure against risk and debtor economies that continue to remain dependent on borrowing and are exposed to capital outflows. As such, the goal of creating of sustainable funding sources for Asian economies is still a work in progress.


In this work, we attempted to gain insight into the detailed mechanism allowing correct transcription initiation of U1 snRNA genes by RNA polymerase II. Abolition of the CA motif residing at -1/+1 in the Xenopus U1 gene leads to a loss of the ability of the promoter to direct accurate initiation. A discrete site is selected only if a purine preceded by a pyrimidine is positioned at 58/57 bp downstream of the center of the PSE. The PSE alone is unable to designate a discrete initiation site. Rather, it serves to set the location of an initiation window without discriminating suitable from unsuitable initiation sites. The latter role is devoted to a PyPu sequence positioned at -1/+1. Therefore, it is the concomitant action of the PSE and an essential PyPu positioned at the proper distance from this promoter that specifies correct U1 snRNA transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II.


This paper describes the submissions of the "Marian" team to the WNGT 2019 efficiency shared task. Taking our dominating submissions to the previous edition of the shared task as a starting point, we develop improved teacher-student training via multi-agent dual-learning and noisy backward-forward translation for Transformer-based student models. For efficient CPU-based decoding, we pro-pose pre-packed 8-bit matrix products, improved batched decoding, cache-friendly student architectures with parameter sharing and light-weight RNN-based decoder architectures. GPU-based decoding benefits from the same architecture changes, from pervasive 16-bit inference and concurrent streams. These modifications together with profiler-based C++ code optimization allow us to push the Pareto frontier established during the 2018 edition towards 24x (CPU) and 14x (GPU) faster models at comparable or higher BLEU values. Our fastest CPU model is more than 4x faster than last year's fastest submission at more than 3 points higher BLEU. Our fastest GPU model at 1.5 seconds translation time is slightly faster than last year's fastest RNN-based submissions, but outperforms them by more than 4 BLEU and 10 BLEU points respectively.


This chapter compares various instances of everyday routine meetings in political institutions (such as the European Parliament and the European Commission) with meetings in business organizations, with the aim of, first describing similarities and differences in the genre (and subgenres) of meetings across organizations and social fields; and of secondly investigating the impact of organizational knowledge of the genre on presuppositions and context models of the participants related to the interaction and intended outcome of the meetings. I argue that the concept of a "prototype genre of meeting" is adequate for an integrated, interdisciplinary discourse-analytical and sociolinguistic theoretical framework which allows understanding and explaining the intricate dynamic of meetings in a systematic, in-depth, and context-dependent way. Moreover, I claim that organizational knowledge of the genre is part and parcel of successful interaction strategies; and that much miscommunication and problems could be avoided if manifest and latent genre conventions were sufficiently acknowledged. Drawing on transcribed data of 36 meetings in the European Parliament and European Commission, on the one hand, and of 6 meetings (2 away days, 4 regular) in one large business organization, on the other hand, I illustrate the salience of the genre characteristics in the interaction and its intended, expected, and actual outcome.


Abstract This paper presents a further detailed stratigraphic column showing the alternating sequence of sandstones and siltstones of the Lower Miocene Waitemata turbidite sediments. Descriptions of the sedimentary features, current direction indicators, grain size analyses, petrology, and trace fossils are given especially with regard to their use as possible correlation factors. The use of a model relating current direction variation within an expanding lobate turbidity current is discussed, together with its application for determining axial flow direction of the turbidity current and the direction of thickening of the turbidite sandstone. It is concluded that the best possible method of correlating the uniform sequence of unfossiliferous sediments available at present is by means of close spaced detailed stratigraphic columns together with graphs of sandstone-siltstone ratio and bed thickness variations with respect to stratigraphic height.


Using watermarking techniques and digital signatures can better solve the problems of digital images transmitted on the Internet like forgery, tampering, altering, etc. In this paper we proposed invisible fragile watermark and MD-5 based algorithm for digital image authenticating and tampers detecting in the Discrete Wavelet Transform DWT domain. The digital image is decomposed using 2-level DWT and the middle and high frequency sub-bands are used for watermark and digital signature embedding. The authentication data are embedded in number of the coefficients of these sub-bands according to the adaptive threshold based on the watermark length and the coefficients of each DWT level. These sub-bands are used because they are less sensitive to the Human Visual System (HVS) and preserve high image fidelity. MD-5 and RSA algorithms are used for generating the digital signature from the watermark data that is also embedded in the medical image. We apply the algorithm on number of medical images. The Electronic Patient Record (EPR) is used as watermark data. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in terms of robustness, invisibility, and fragility. Watermark and digital signature can be extracted without the need to the original image.


Abstract Jahnsites/whiteites are a large family of phosphate hydrate minerals of relevance to terrestrial and martian mineralogy. It was recently hypothesized as being present in Gale Crater sediments from XRD analyses performed by the CheMin analyzer aboard the Curiosity rover. However, the conditions of formation and thermodynamic properties of these compounds are essentially unknown. In this work, we have optimized the ThermAP predictive thermodynamic approach to the analysis of these phases, allowing us to estimate for the first time the standard formation enthalpy (ΔHf°), $\left( \Delta H_{\text{f}}^{{}^\circ } \right),$Gibbs free energy (ΔGf°), $\left( \Delta G_{\text{f}}^{{}^\circ } \right),$and entropy (S°) of 15 jahnsite/whiteite end-member compositions, as well as of related phases such as segelerite and alluaudites. These estimations were then used to feed speciation/phase diagram calculation tools to evaluate the relative ease of formation and stability of these hydrated minerals, including considering present martian conditions. Selected laboratory experiments confirmed calculation outcomes. All of our data suggest that the formation of jahnsites is an unlikely process, and point instead to the formation of other simpler phosphate compounds. The stability domain, as calculated here, also raises serious questions about the possible presence of jahnsites on Mars as in Gale Crater, which appears rather improbable.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE
Recent studies have suggested that the evaluation of coronary reserve is a sensitive method in the early detection of vascular alterations before plaques exist, and certainly before clinical detection of atherosclerotic lesions. Single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT) with thallium-201 (201Tl) provides a noninvasive tool for evaluating myocardial perfusion reserve. The objective of this study was to measure the myocardial perfusion reserve in two groups of subjects, some with and some without cardiovascular risk factors and in a group of patients with coronary artery disease.

METHODS
Seventy-four subjects, divided into three groups, were recruited to assess regional and global myocardial perfusion reserve. The control group consisted of 11 asymptomatic individuals without cardiovascular risk factors. The second group was composed of 49 patients with one or more risk factors. Finally, the third group included 14 patients with coronary artery disease. 201Tl-SPECT at rest and after pharmacological stress with a 7 minute adenosine triphosphate (ATP) infusion (140 micrograms/kg/min) was performed in all patients. ATP minus rest value subtraction was applied in order to obtain the stress data. Relative myocardial perfusion reserve indices were calculated as the ratio between stress and rest values.

RESULTS
Global and regional myocardial perfusion reserves of the vascular territories were significantly lower in patients with cardiovascular risk factors than in control subjects (Global: 1.48 +/- 0.19 vs 1.81 +/- 0.08, LAD: 1.52 +/- 0.21 vs 1.85 +/- 0.09, CX: 1.45 +/- 0.2 vs 1.79 +/- 0.86, RCA: 1.47 +/- 0.2 vs 1.79 +/- 0.86) and higher than in patients with coronary artery disease (Global: 1.48 +/- 0.19 vs 1.31 +/- 0.14, LAD: 1.52 +/- 0.21 vs 1.35 +/- 0.15, CX: 1.45 +/- 0.2 vs 1.2 +/- 0.24). Univariate linear regression analysis in a group of 40 patients with high risk lipid profiles revealed a significant negative correlation between myocardial perfusion reserve and total cholesterol (r = -0.35; p = 0.01), LDL-cholesterol (r = -0.38; p = 0.036) and LDL/HDL ratio (r = -0.39; p = 0.029).

CONCLUSION
Determination of myocardial perfusion reserve with 201Tl-SPECT allows the detection of abnormal vasodilatory response to intravenous ATP in patients with cardiovascular risk factors. These patients have higher reserves than patients with coronary disease, which might suggest an early phase of atherosclerosis.


The sun gently noses its way above the horizon in southeastern Montana with the seeming promise of a carefree, sunny day. But that promise won't hold true for 200 scientists readying themselves for another frenetic day in the largest field research experiment on storms and thundershowers.

Fieldwork for the 4-month project dubbed CCOPE (Cooperative Convective Precipitation Experiment) began this week near Miles City, Mont. CCOPE's principal objective is to measure storm development in detail to learn precisely how rain and hail are produced, with the eventual harvest being timely warnings for severe storms and accurate precipitation predictions. This knowledge will aid in the planning of water supply strategies.


Abstract This paper examines how Senior Games participants in one state experience their involvement and how this impact relates to perceived health. A random sample of 444 North Carolina Senior Games participants (55 years and older) completed a survey in 2006. A Reasons for Participating (RFP) scale was developed, and selected behaviors and demographic characteristics were analyzed. The RFP factors included physical health, interpersonal relationships, and intrinsic outcomes. Participants were found to be twice as physically active as other older adults in the state. Further, some demographic differences existed regarding reasons and health perceptions among the participants. This study points to the importance of a year-round community based recreation program in enabling older people to become and remain physically and socially active.


Tumor-selective drug delivery strategies maximize efficacy of pharmacological agents while limiting undesirable, off-target adverse events. The objective of this study was to identify novel peptide ligands that facilitate selective internalization of M13 bacteriophages in metastatic breast cancer and to assess endocytic pathways underlying cellular internalization of phage clones. Phage display technology allows identification of novel ligands for unknown receptors by functional screening of target cells using diverse libraries of peptides and proteins expressed as fusion with viral coat proteins. We performed four consecutive rounds of in vitro screening in the highly invasive, estrogen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line using a cyclic 7-mer peptide library expressed on the M13 bacteriophage platform. The SVP1 phage clone identified at the end of the screening expressed the cyclic CFSGGPFWC peptide as N-terminal fusion in the pIII coat protein of the M13 bacteriophage. Functional uptake studies found the SVP1 phage to be 6-fold more efficiently internalized in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells than the M13K07 control phage which did not express a targeting peptide. Preferential selectivity of the SVP1 phage clone for estrogen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231 cells was confirmed by comparing cellular uptake in estrogen-receptor positive MCF-7 breast cancer, PC-3 prostate cancer, ES-2 ovarian cancer, and Ishikawa endometrial cancer cells. To identify underlying mechanisms that contribute to SVP1 phage endocytosis, cellular uptake studies were performed using inhibitors of molecular regulators of different endocytosis pathways. The results from these studies suggest that the intracellular uptake of the SVP1 phage clone is ATP-dependent and requires functional dynamin, microfilament, and microtubule architecture. In addition our data support a significant contribution of macropinocytosis in the uptake of SVP1 phage in estrogen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Further experiments will explore therapeutic applications of chemically synthesized CFSGGPFWC ligand for targeted drug delivery systems in invasive breast cancer.


Hypothenar hammer syndrome is an uncommonly recognized, occupationally associated cause of Raynaud's phenomenon, induced by traumatic compromise of the vascular supply to the hand. Two patients are presented, one with preexisting Raynaud's phenomenon who sought attention after the development of cutaneous ulcers. The features of the syndrome are reviewed, and the importance of its recognition in the appropriate occupational setting as a potentially curable form of Raynaud's phenomenon is emphasized.


We present an updated study on assessing the axes stability of the third generation of the International Celestial Reference Frame (ICRF3) in terms of linear drift and scatter based on the extragalactic source position time series from analyses of archival very long baseline interferometry observations. Our results show that the axes of the ICRF3 are stable at a level of 10 to 20 microseconds of arc, and it does not degrade after the adoption of the ICRF3 when observations from new networks are included. We also show that the commonly used method of deriving the position time series (four-step solution) is robust.


Since the 90's, Korean Air transport market has been more expanded because of economic growth, the construction of airport infrastructure, and the advent of low cost carrier. Especially, the air traffic demand in Busan metropolitan area has been increasing steadily. Therefore, in this paper, we developed a new forecasting model which could expect the future air traffic demand in Busan area. This model is developed by regression analysis using social-economic variables such as GRDP, income, and the number of people, and dummy variables, for instance, KTX opening, Japan economic depression, SARS and so on. Result from demand forecasting by this new model suggests that the new airport system is needed in order to sustain the increasing air traffic demand in Busan area.


Lutheran teaching on ministry, as embodied in the Lutheran Confessions, includes a strong preference for the traditional episcopate and threefold ministry of the Western church, while granting that the church can, if necessary, live without them. This teaching permits Lutheran churches that do not have episcopal succession to adopt it from churches (whether or not Lutheran) that do. As the ongoing controversy over the Lutheran/Anglican agreement in the US exemplifies, however, Lutheran churches have been highly resistant to this step. The reasons for this are not peculiar to Lutheranism, but lie in the assumption of denominational self-sufficiency which affects virtually all modern ecumenism.


Robotics teaching in universities has faced important challenges, such as continuous technology evolution and overcrowded institutions, causing pressure on them to continuously reinvest in expensive resources. Over time, new paradigms based on remote and virtual laboratories, allowing to share resources, have been adopted to address these problems. But these approaches lose their efficacy when equipment reached obsolescence. One way to address this problem would rely on an approach, which could enable reusing existing robotics equipment, aiding it with new functionalities. This could be done by developing a remote laboratory platform with the ability to regenerate the functionality of existing robots. Using this strategy, robotics resources can be combined with software components that allow their enhancement with more sophisticated functionality. With this platform, students can use the equipment with new features. Institutions will suffer less pressure to invest in their replacement, allowing them to plan their budget as the curricula are modified to meet the needs of industry and services.


The direct regioselective oxidation of internal alkenes to ketones could simplify synthetic routes and solve a longstanding challenge in synthesis. This reaction is of particular importance because ketones are predominant moieties in valuable products as well as crucial intermediates in synthesis. Here we report the directed evolution of a ketone synthase that oxidizes internal alkenes directly to ketones with several thousand turnovers. The evolved ketone synthase benefits from more than a dozen crucial mutations, most of them distal to the active site. Computational analysis reveals that all these mutations collaborate to facilitate the formation of a highly reactive carbocation intermediate by generating a confined, rigid and preorganized active site through an enhanced dynamical network. The evolved ketone synthase fully exploits a catalytic cycle that has largely eluded small molecule catalysis and consequently enables various challenging functionalization reactions of internal alkenes. This includes the first catalytic, enantioselective oxidation of internal alkenes to ketones, as well as the formal asymmetric hydration and hydroamination of unactivated internal alkenes in combination with other biocatalysts.


We report a first study on the use of chemically nanopatterned substrates to induce long-range ordering (in the plane of the film) of perpendicular cylinders confined between the substrate and an upper homogeneous surface. Two conditions are essential for obtaining the long-range ordering:  a lower hexagonally patterned substrate, commensurate with perpendicular cylinders having the same dimensions and packing as in the bulk, and an upper neutral or weakly preferential surface for the longer blocks. By examining the spatial fluctuations of perpendicular cylinders, we propose that combining nanopatterned substrates with electric fields perpendicular to the film could reach the ultimate goal of producing long-range ordered perpendicular cylinders as templates for nanolithography.


Centella asiatica (L.) is a perennial, creeper, faintly aromatic and a valuable medicinal herb of both Old World and the New World. It is widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions of World. The use of Centella in food and beverages has increased over the years basically due to its beneficial functional properties. Its potential antioxidant, antimicrobial, cytotoxic, neuroprotective and other activities have been widely claimed in many reports and basically is very much related to its properties and mechanism of action of the plant's bioactive constituents namely the triterpenic acid (asiatic acid madecassic acid), triterpenic saponin (madecassoside and asiaticoside), flavanoids and other phenolic compounds. The present review is an up-to-date and comprehensive literature analysis of the chemistry and various heath beneficial functional properties of the Centella plant.


Five new Zn(II) complexes, namely [Zn(3)(L)(6)] (1), [Zn(2)(Cl)(2)(L)(2) (py)(2)] (2), [Zn(2)(Br)(2) (L)(2)(py)(2)] (3), [Zn(L)(2)(py)] (4), and [Zn(2)(OAc)(2)(L)(2)(py)(2)] (5), were prepared by the solvothermal reaction of ZnX(2) (X(-) =Cl(-), Br(-), F(-), and OAc(-)) salts with a 8-hydroxyquinolinate ligand (HL) that contained a trifluorophenyl group. All of the complexes were characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, and powder and single-crystal X-ray crystallography. The building blocks exhibited unprecedented structural diversification and their self-assembly afforded one mononuclear, three binuclear, and one trinuclear Zn(II) structures in response to different anions and solvent systems. Complexes 1-5 featured four types of supramolecular network controlled by non-covalent interactions, such as π⋅⋅⋅π-stacking, C-H⋅⋅⋅π, hydrogen-bonding, and halogen-related interactions. Investigation of their photoluminescence properties exhibited disparate emission wavelengths, lifetimes, and quantum yields in the solid state.


Acne vulgaris is a skin disease affecting many young people and, if it continues into their twenties, can be a substantial barrier to social relationships. Although there is evidence that sufferers are adversely psychologically affected, what is less apparent from research to date is whether this is because of negative self-beliefs or the discriminatory attitudes of others. This study set out to explore how far young people with moderate acne are viewed less favourably compared to their clear-skinned peers. The design was quasi-experimental. The faces of two male and two female 21-year-old volunteers with clear skin were photographed and then photographed again after having had facial signs of moderate acne simulated by a professional make-up artist. Photographs of a male and female face were given to 143 participants who were divided randomly into two conditions: "Clear" and "acne". The former were shown the unblemished faces and the latter were given the faces with acne. The participants were asked to estimate the age of the person in the photograph and then rate the volunteer on a scale of 16 personality items. It was found that the participants in the "clear" condition estimated the volunteers as two years older and more mature than in the "acne" condition. In terms of personality, the photographs in the "clear" condition were given higher scores for potential friendship, attractiveness and overall positive personality features than the photographs in the "acne" condition. The conclusion is that moderate acne vulgaris could be a potential barrier to social relationships for young people not simply because of their social anxiety but because they may well be meeting with prejudice. It is suggested that attitudes might be changed by more accurate information about the condition.


This article develops low cost moire deflectometry for two-dimensional temperature measurement in free boundary environment. Experimental setup uses a red monochrome light-emitting diode (LED) lamp with wavelength range of 625–635 nm as light source. In process, the light first runs through the convex lens and then propagates to the parabolic mirror with diameter of 406 mm and f/4.5 for generating the parallel light. The parallel light further propagates to test object and through two gratings both with pitch of 254 lpi which are printed by laser printer. Behind the two gratings, a CCD camera is applied to capture the image, the distorted fringes. Based on the moire deflectometry theory, the two-dimensional temperature distribution in free boundary environment can be determined in terms of the captured fringe shift analysis. This work has successfully measured the two-dimensional temperature distribution in free boundary environment with heat source models of 40–95 °C vertical wall, 60 W light bulb, and burning candle flame. The measured temperature deviations between moire deflectometry and thermocouple thermometer are all less than 5%.


In a symptom-oriented study 17 patients suffering from chronic auditory hallucinations were investigated by means of 99mTc-HMPAO-SPECT and compared with healthy controls. The results confirm the relative frontal hypoactivity in junction with a relative hyperactivity in the basal ganglia and mesial limbic structures in both hemispheres found in a previous pilot study in auditorily hallucinating patients. Our results should fortify the symptom-oriented approach in psychiatric research.


Objective To explore the affect of health education on drug therapy compliance of schizophrenic patients.Methods 100 patients with schizophrenia have been intervented with scheduled health education during they staying and leaving hospital for three years. Then compared 100 patients with receiving no special health education.Results There were very significant differences in the cognitive level to the disease and the attitude of obedience during they stay in hospital ,and in the patients, drug therapy compliance and the rate of recurrence in every half year after they left hospital between two groups (P0.05 or P0.01) .The cognitive level of relation to the disease of the patients in the study group were better than those in the control group . Conclusion The health education had benefit to improve the cognitive level of patients and their relations to the disease, and increase drug therapy compliance and decrease the recurrence rate of schizophrenic patients.


Nativistic explanations, which posit innate rather than environmental influences on development, characterize many theories of language acquisition. Marilyn H. Edmonds offers some reasons for this bias and discusses the deficiencies of nativism as an explanatory principle. She reviews and critiques existing theories of syntax and highlights the trend toward a semantic description of linguistic development. Combining this semantic emphasis with a Piagetian framework, Edmonds argues that a satisfactory account of language acquisition will not emerge until this process is viewed within a larger developmental perspective.


Recent years have seen the rise of sophisticated attacks including advanced persistent threats (APT) which pose severe risks to organizations and governments. Additionally, new malware strains appear at a higher rate than ever before. Since many of these malware evade existing security products, traditional defenses deployed by enterprises today often fail at detecting infections at an early stage. We address the problem of detecting early-stage APT infection by proposing a new framework based on belief propagation inspired from graph theory. We demonstrate that our techniques perform well on two large datasets. We achieve high accuracy on two months of DNS logs released by Los Alamos National Lab (LANL), which include APT infection attacks simulated by LANL domain experts. We also apply our algorithms to 38TB of web proxy logs collected at the border of a large enterprise and identify hundreds of malicious domains overlooked by state-of-the-art security products.


Cellulosic biomass, because of its massive availability, represent a feedstock source for production of ethanol and other fuels. Proposed processes based on cellulase enzymes combined with yeast fermentation have received intensive study but are currently not economical due to high enzyme cost and lack of a high-value co-product. An alternative cellulosic ethanol platform, consolidated bioprocessing (CBP), is limited by poor ethanol yields and concentration, but recent research efforts have begun to yield results that support some of the platform's theoretical advantages. One potential benefit of CBP processes is the potential to produce higher value co-products, including a novel plywood adhesive, that would improve process economics.


We investigated a cluster of postoperative febrile episodes and episodes of Acinetobacter baumannii bacteremia in obstetrics and gynecology wards after an electrical blackout and loss of the water supply. The use of patient-controlled analgesia was the only independent risk factor associated with postoperative fever, and A. baumannii isolates recovered from the blood of patients who had received patient-controlled analgesia were genetically related to an isolate recovered from the diluted morphine solution used for this procedure. After inappropriate preparation of the morphine solution was identified and stopped, the outbreak ended.


The skeletal status was investigated with noninvasive diagnostic procedures in 44 renal transplant patients (mean time since intervention: 5 to 195 months) treated with steroid and azathioprine (21 cases) or with steroid, azathioprine and cyclosporine (23 cases). 38.6% of the patients had reduced renal function (creatininemia: 1.6-3.0 mg/dl). Our patients underwent biochemical and hormonal tests of bone metabolism, digital radiographs of the skeleton and bone mineral density measurement with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA, Hologic QDR 1000). All the patients exhibited moderate to severe osteopenia at both radiographic and densitometric investigations; the risk of fracture was high in 47% of cases. Radiographic signs of vertebral fractures were observed in 4.5% of cases. Other major radiographic patterns were the aseptic necrosis of femoral head (9%), of carpal bone (4.5%) and of humeral head (2.2%). Fibrous osteitis was demonstrated in three patients. Geodes in the wrist were also observed. The correlation of bone densitometry values and time since renal transplantation was statistically significant (r = 0.381; p < 0.01). Moreover, the grade of osteopenia correlated with serum levels of calcitonin and calcitriol--the latter especially in the patients with severe osteopenia.


Journalists' expectations concerning the way in which the audience will react to news strongly influence their decisions in newsmaking. This article investigates the argumentative dimension of journalists' anticipatory inferences in newsroom editorial conferences. In order to study journalists' reasoning processes concerning audience uptake that lead journalists to publish a certain news instead of another or to publish a news in a certain way, we will use the Pragma-Dialectical framework at the interactional level and Argumentum Model of Topics at the inferential level. Through a case study, we will investigate the anticipation of the audience interest and the anticipation of the audience persuasion, showing how editorial conferences function as places of reflection in which certain kinds of standpoints are at stake and particular aspects of the audience uptake are anticipated.


The global Electronic Health Record (EHR) market is growing dramatically and expected to reach $39.7 billions by 2022. To safe-guard security and privacy of EHR, access control is an essential mechanism for managing EHR data. This paper proposes a hybrid architecture to facilitate access control of EHR data by using both blockchain and edge node. Within the architecture, a blockchain-based controller manages identity and access control policies and serves as a tamper-proof log of access events. In addition, off-chain edge nodes store the EHR data and apply policies specified in Abbreviated Language For Authorization (ALFA) to enforce attribute-based access control on EHR data in collaboration with the blockchain-based access control logs. We evaluate the proposed hybrid architecture by utilizing Hyperledger Composer Fabric blockchain to measure the performance of executing smart contracts and ACL policies in terms of transaction processing time and response time against unauthorized data retrieval.


Canola is sensitive to acidic soils, and therefore apparently to aluminium (Al). Selection for resistance to Al is thus an important canola breeding objective. The primary site of Al toxicity is the root apex which severely restricts root growth. Relative root weight (RRW= root weight relative to control), therefore, best reflects the level of Al resistance among plants. In one experiment, two canola and two wheat cultivars were evaluated for resistance to Al under 9 Al concentrations (0-160 ?M) in solution culture. The Al resistant wheat cv. Diamondbird and the Al sensitive wheat cv. Janz showed a typical Al-dose growth response while the canola cvs. Oscar and Rainbow were as resistant to Al as Diamondbird. In another experiment, 24 genotypes were evaluated in 100 ?M Al. Twenty three genotypes had a RRW above 50% and 7 genotypes above 75%; only the B. juncea genotype had a RRW below 50%. Although many rapeseed genotypes were highly resistant to Al in solution culture this resistance was not expressed in an acid soil. Plants grown in acid soil showed severe chlorosis, necrosis and shoot stunting. These results indicated that nutrient solution culture may be unsuitable for evaluating rapeseed germplasm for resistance to Al and hence resistance to acid soils. An alternative Al-resistance model of rapeseed that may explain the discrepancies observed between nutrient solution and acid soil evaluations is needed. (NSW DPI Acid Soil Action)


BACKGROUND
Nodal staging systems vary substantially across solid tumors, implying significant heterogeneity in the behavior of nodal variables in various contexts. We hypothesized, in contradiction to this, that metastatic lymph node (LN) number is a universal and dominant predictor of outcome across solid tumors.

METHODS
Retrospective cohort analysis of 1,304,498 patients in the National Cancer Database undergoing surgery between 2004-2015 across 16 solid cancer sites. Multivariable Cox regression analyses were constructed using restricted cubic splines to model the association between nodal number and mortality. Recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) was used to derive nodal classification systems for each solid cancer based on metastatic LN count. The reproducibility of these findings was assessed in 1,969,727 patients from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results registry. Two-sided tests were used for all statistical analyses.

RESULTS
Consistently across disease sites, mortality risk increased continuously with increasing number of metastatic LNs (P < 0.001 for all spline segments). Each RPA-derived nodal classification system produced multiple prognostic groups spanning a wide spectrum of mortality risk (P < 0.001). Multivariable models using these RPA-derived nodal classifications demonstrated improved concordance with mortality compared to models using American Joint Committee on Cancer staging in sites where nodal classification is not based on metastatic LN count. Each RPA-derived nodal classification system was reproducible in a large validation cohort for all-cause and cause-specific mortality (P < 0.001). High quantitative nodal burden was the single strongest tumor-intrinsic variable associated with mortality in 12 of 16 disease sites.

CONCLUSIONS
Quantitative metastatic LN burden is a fundamental driver of mortality across solid cancers and should serve as a foundation for pathologic nodal staging across solid tumors.


In efforts to strive for family planning repositioning in Botswana, the Ministry of Health convened a meeting to undertake an adaptation of the Medical eligibility criteria for contraceptive use (MEC) wheel. The main objectives of this process were to present technical updates of the various contraceptive methods, to update the current medical conditions prevalent to Botswana and to adapt the MEC wheel to meet the needs of the Botswanian people. This commentary focuses on the adaptation process that occurred during the week-long stakeholder workshop. It concludes with the key elements learned from this process that can potentially inform countries who are interested in undergoing a similar exercise to strengthen their family planning needs.


In Informatics, ontologies are essentially used to classify and to index information. to filter users' queries. to facilitate the man-machine dialogues, and to infer information relevant to the needs of the users. This article introduces the Structures of service and the objects of domain as a practical approximation to the concept ofOntology. These structures can be used in applications at different levels of complexity that would allow the free and creative intervention of system engineers.


Summary In this case study, we investigate how the use of different information derived from a seismic dataset improves the understanding of a complex gas reservoir in a development context. We are adapting a versatile imaging algorithm (the generalized radon transform) to create seismic images with enhanced S/N ratios and enhanced diffractions. These are better suited to the interpretation challenges of the reservoir. On one hand, the S/N enhanced images and gathers were used as clean and detailed input to an elastic seismic inversion. These complemented the structural interpretation and led to a better understanding of reservoir properties and connectivity in the main part of the reservoir. On the other hand, the diffraction images were incorporated in a more standard interpretation workflow as high-resolution input to seismic geomorphology in order to predict the quality at the fringe of the reservoir. This was not possible with conventional input and methods.


Performance analyses of in building distributed antenna (DA) systems for W-CDMA are presented. Uplink and downlink outage probabilities are related to the transmitted power, the shadowing statistics and the loading of the cell and it is observed that by deploying DA in a multi-floor environment the advantages in terms of both coverage and capacity are significant. However, capacity limitations are present due to the noise rise of home cell power controlled interferers, which give rise over thermal noise. In order to overcome these limitations two more flexible architectures, namely zoning and switching, are presented and compared.


Abstract The paper deals with a variable speed wind turbine fitted with a DFIG (Doubly-Fed Induction Generator) vector control system. A new rotor active power feedback, under the cascade regulation superordinated both to the DFIG rotor current internal feedback and the DFIG stator power external feedback has been introduced. The DFIG vector control system fitted with an external rotor active power feedback enables the wind turbine rotation speed to be controlled by means of the rotor active power reference. By introducing a rotor active power feedback into the DFIG vector control system, a power flow control in the generator rotor circuit is rendered possible in both stationary and dynamic wind turbine operation modes. The DFIG vector control structure has proved to be particularly suited to wind turbines with pronounced wind speed time changes. The paper also discusses the wind turbine dynamic characteristics with and without a feedback rotor active power within the DFIG vector control system at varying and sudden variations in rotation speed.


Technological progress appears to have shifted around 2001, when the median emerging economy's growth rate accelerated and surpassed that of advanced economies.


The IEEE 802.15.4 specification has enabled low-power, low-cost wireless sensor networks (WSNs) capable of robust and reliable communication. For the Oil & Gas industry, switching from wired to wireless sensors cost-efficiently eliminates the need for cables, allows data collection in remote or hostile areas, and enables new applications. However, there are concerns related to the use of WSNs, of which reliability, power consumption and standardization are most important. This paper identifies technical requirements for WSN deployment within the confines of the Oil & Gas industry. Experiments have been performed to determine whether or not currently available technologies fulfill these requirements. The conclusion of this work is that an open, and energy-efficient, standard is needed before WSNs can be fully utilized in the Oil & Gas industry.


Background: Modulation of gene expression is a fundamental requirement for adaptation of intracellular Brucella abortus. Since most of the current understanding mainly focus on professional phagocytes and renal involvement is uncommon in brucellosis, our aim was to identify and analyze changes in B. abortus gene expression in response to intracellular environment within a bovine kidney cell line.
Methodology: B. abortus RNA were isolated from Madin-Darby bovine kidney (MDBK) epithelial cells during replicative phase and the transcriptional profile of intracellular B. abortus was characterized using microarray analysis.
Results and interpretation: The microarray analysis revealed a total of 1,623 differentially expressed genes of ≥ 2-fold–788 (25.44%, 788/3098) upregulated and 835 (26.95%,835/3098) down-regulated genes as compared with free-living Brucella. Among these identified genes, 81 and 185 were upregulated and down-regulated at ≥ 7-fold, respectively, showing a marked induction of genes involved in transcription and distinct repression of genes involved in translation, ribosomal structure and biosynthesis.
Conclusion: The identified genes in this study may provide new insights into the molecular interactions between B. abortus and non-phagocytic bovine cell line, MDBK. In addition, several differentially highly expressed transcripts were hypothetical genes with unknown function and/or unclassified which require further characterization due to their potential contribution in the virulence and strategy of Brucella to survive and proliferate within the host.


The writing tablets discovered in 1959 near Pompeii (Tabulae Pompeianae Sulpiciorum or Tabulae Pompeianae Novae) provide a unique and extremely valuable insight into the 'law in action' in the Roman Empire of the first century AD. In particular, these tablets allow us to assess the functioning of the law of secured finance, as it was applied by the Sulpicii family and other commercial lenders in the seaport town of Puteoli (Pozzuoli). The focus of this article is on the enforcement of a right of pledge in case of default by the debtor. In particular, it discusses whether the creditor then acquired ownership of the pledged property or whether he was only entitled to suspend his obligation to return the pledged property to the debtor. It is argued that the most likely interpretation of the writing tablets is that the creditor acquired ownership when the debtor defaulted and that this enabled him to sell the property at auction or otherwise.


In the contemporary landscape of social media, an alarming number of users express negative emotions, some of which manifest as strong suicidal intentions. This situation underscores a profound need for trained psychological counselors who can enact effective mental interventions. However, the development of these professionals is often an imperative but time-consuming task. Consequently, the mobilization of non-professionals or volunteers in this capacity emerges as a pressing concern. Leveraging the capabilities of artificial intelligence, and in particular, the recent advances in large language models, offers a viable solution to this challenge. This paper introduces a novel model constructed on the foundation of large language models to fully assist non-professionals in providing psychological interventions on online user discourses. This framework makes it plausible to harness the power of non-professional counselors in a meaningful way. A comprehensive study was conducted involving ten professional psychological counselors of varying expertise, evaluating the system across five critical dimensions. The findings affirm that our system is capable of analyzing patients' issues with relative accuracy and proffering professional-level strategies recommendations, thereby enhancing support for non-professionals. This research serves as a compelling validation of the application of large language models in the field of psychology and lays the groundwork for a new paradigm of community-based mental health support.


This paper presents the comparative stability analyzed results of integration of a doubly fed induction generator-based offshore wind farm (OWF), a PMSG-based OWF, and a squirrel-cage induction generator-based marine-current farm (MCF) feeding into a power grid through a high-voltage alternating-current line and two high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) links. One of the HVDC links is based on a voltage-source converter (VSC) while the other is a multiterminal configuration that uses three VSCs at the converter station and a VSC at the inverter station. A power oscillation damping (POD) controller for the MT-HVDC system is designed, and the design steps include the selection for the POD controller based on the total effects on the remaining system. A frequency-domain approach based on a linearized system model using calculated eigenvalues and a time-domain scheme based on a nonlinear system model subject to disturbances are systematically performed to compare the damping characteristics contributed by the three transmission schemes. It can be concluded from the simulation results that the proposed MT-HVDC link is capable of rendering better damping characteristics to stabilize the integrated OWFs and MCF feeding into a power grid under a severe fault than the HVAC line and the VSC-HVDC link.


The New York Neurological Institute and several other New York hospitals have adopted a method for the recording of changes in cutaneous sensibility, which on account of its simplicity is, we believe, worthy of being used as a standard. The method was suggested by Dr. Elsberg, and has served in our institution to obviate the difficulties often encountered in the understanding of the records of sensory disturbances. Whenever such a chart is examined, whether it be at the bedside or in a medical journal, it often requires considerable study before the meaning of the markings by which the different disturbances of sensibility are characterized are understood. The sensory sheets we use at the New York Neurological Institute are of a uniform size to fit the hospital bedside chart, i. e., 85/16 inches wide by 10 11/16 inches long. The chart has printed on it a human figure in the anterior


Quite a little has been written on the etiology and treatment of cases presenting the appearance of protrusion of the mandible, the "chin-cap" treatment being recommended in young subjects and the removal of sections from each side of the mandible in older patients, and of late much has been written regarding the technic of this latter operation. In a recent article Dr. E. H. Angle mentions a case in which this operation was successfully done in St. Louis 1 and tells of a failure having been made in New Orleans. 2 I have heard rumors in New Orleans concerning this failure, but have never seen the case. Much has been written about treatment and a little about etiology, but apparently very little thought has been given to diagnosis, and the object of this brief paper is to emphasize the importance of a correct diagnosis on which to base an intelligent prescription. It


A simple, one-step chemical oxidation of triazolam (7) to its 4-hydroxy analogue, 7a, has been developed and applied to other triazolo- and imidazobenzodiazepines. The reaction may be used to convert diazepam to temazepam. 4-Hydroxytriazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepines have low central nervous system sedative and anticonvulsant activity in sharp contrast to metabolites of diazepam which remain active. While 10, an alpha-hydroxy metabolite of triazolam, retains much of the activity of 7, 10a, and alpha,4-dihydroxy metabolite of triazolam, is 250 times less potent than 7 on the nicotine-antagonism assay and over 300 times less potent on the traction assay.


Fish scales are useful to ichthyologists for the purposes of classification, identification, age determination and history study. The fatty acid profile of the hexane extracts of the fresh water fish scale of Catla catla were analyzed by gas chromatography. Fish scales were collected from a local fish market, Chidambaram. The fatty acid profile was detected in the scales, with the following fatty acids dominating: 16:0, 18:0, 18:1, 18:2, 18:3 and 18:4. The use of fatty acid profiling in fish scales has the potential for stock identification in addition to the identification of fish farm escapees. Key words : Fish scales, fatty acid, gas chromatography, Catla catla.


End-uses of household water have been changed by a life style, housing type, weather, water rate and water supply facilities etc. and those variables can be considered as an internal and exogenous factors to estimate long-term demand forecasts. Analysis of influential factors on water consumption in households would give an explanation to cause on the change of trend and would help predicting the water demand of end-use in household. The purpose of this study is to analyze the demand trends and patterns of household water uses by metering and questionnaire such as occupation, revenue, numbers of family member, housing types, age, floor area and installation of water saving device, etc. The peak water uses were shown at Saturday among weekdays and July in a year based on the analysis results of water use pattern. A steep increase of total water volume can be found in the analysis of water demand trend according to temperature from to , while there are no significant variations in the phase of more than , with an almost stable demand. Washbowl water shows the highest and toilet water shows the lowest relation with temperature in correlation analysis results. In the results of ANOVA to find the significant difference in each unit water use by exogenous factors such as housing type, occupation, number of generation, residential area and income et al., difference was shown in bathtub water by housing type and shown in kitchen, toilet and miscellaneous water by numbers of resident. Especially, definite differences in components except washbowl and bathtub water, could be found by numbers of resident. Based on the result, average residents in a house should be carefully considered and the results can be applied as reference information, in decision making process for predicting water demand and establishing water conservation policy. It is expected that these can be used as design factors in planning stage for water and wastewater facilities.


This paper describes the results of a research study on the establishment of a Community of Practice through social eLearning and Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). The sample consisted of 20 adult women of gypsy origin of various ages, educational level and work activity residing in Extremadura (Spain). The study makes a contextualization and then describes the design, implementation and evaluation of a training scheme in social eLearning about Equal Opportunities and Social Leadership. This is followed by an analysis of the content of the course forums, according to the dimensions of the «Community of Inquiry» model (CoI) which is one of the most promising theoretical perspectives on e-learning and collaborative and constructivist approaches developed in hundreds of studies during the last decade. And finally, the study evaluates the learning experience, using triangulation as procedure for data analysis. The most important research results are: a) the validity of the design and implementation of the training, b) the forming of an effective Community of Practice for Roma women in virtual learning environments, and c) the significant changes in the participants that can favor the cultural promotion of women. It provides a new model of ICTbased educational intervention in CSCL, aimed at improving training for and promotion of sociocultural groups in situations of social exclusion.


Biomedical technologies are having an increasingly central role in the modern medicine. In fact they are at the root of the diagnosis and follow up of pathologies giving to the clinicians quantitative outcomes necessary on the choice of the right therapy. In this paper we will focus on biomedical technologies used in the context of gait analysis describing the main ones used in the clinical practice about pathologies of neurologic, orthopedic and rheumatic interest and underlining their importance in the clinical setting. The main systems for gait analysis will be presented in this article: system with passive markers, stereophotogrammetric system, force and pressure platforms, surface electromyography system, system based on inertial measurement units underling the importance of each in investigating a different aspect of movement and how integrating all of them we can have a depth and whole gait analysis. The main gait analysis protocols will be presented too. Finally, advantages and disadvantages about gait analysis will be analyzed. In conclusion, the complexity of the described biomedical technologies for gait analysis underlines the importance of the presence of an expert technician that can help the clinician to interpret and to process acquired signals during the gait analysis.


PURPOSE
To assess the adequacy of prophylaxis for interventional radiologic biliary procedures and the etiologic organisms of subsequent bloodstream infections.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Data from 148 patients who underwent 480 interventional radiologic biliary procedures were evaluated for evidence of bloodstream infection. Data analyzed included type of procedure performed, whether an antibiotic was used, and evidence of infectious complications occurring during and within 72 hours after the procedure. All culture data obtained before and after the procedure were recorded.

RESULTS
Seven cases of new bloodstream infection were identified, five of which were caused by Enterococcus species. No substantial risk factors for bloodstream infection were identified, although it occurred only in patients who had recently undergone biliary surgery or underwent manipulations other than simple cholangiography. Microbial colonization of the bile was associated with older age. Evidence of possible or proved infection after the first interventional procedure was more common in patients with positive bile cultures.

CONCLUSION
Although the importance of enterococcal bacteremia is uncertain, current recommendations for cephalosporin prophylaxis for interventional radiologic biliary procedures should be reevaluated.


AIM
To evaluate the feasibility of using an automated spring-loaded needle device for endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided abdominal paracentesis (EUS-P) to see if this would make it easier to puncture the mobile and lax gastric wall for EUS-P.

METHODS
The EUS database and electronic medical records at Fukushima Medical University Hospital were searched from January 2001 to April 2011. Patients with a history of cancer and who underwent EUS-P using an automated spring-loaded needle device with a 22-gauge puncture needle were included. The needle was passed through the instrument channel and advanced through the gastrointestinal wall under EUS guidance into the echo-free space in the abdominal cavity and ascitic fluid was collected. The confirmed diagnosis of malignant ascites included positive cytology and results from careful clinical observation for at least 6 mo in patients with negative cytology. The technical success rate, cytology results and complications were evaluated.

RESULTS
We found 11 patients who underwent EUS-P with an automated spring-loaded needle device. In 4 cases, ascites was revealed only with EUS but not in other imaging modalities. EUS-P was done in 7 other cases because there was minimal ascitic fluid and no safe window for percutaneous abdominal aspiration. Ascitic fluid was obtained in all cases by EUS-P. The average amount aspirated was 14.1 mL (range 0.5-38 mL) and that was sent for cytological exam. The etiology of ascitic fluid was benign in 5 patients and malignant in 6. In all cases, ascitic fluid was obtained with the first needle pass. No procedure-related adverse effects occurred.

CONCLUSION
EUS-P with an automated spring-loaded needle device is a feasible and safe method for ascites evaluation.


After a long period of low nuclear investments owing to major political and regulatory obstacles, the governments of industrialised countries are again looking at nuclear energy as a major political option addressing long term weather and energy security risks. But the liberalisation of electrical industries currently adds a major requirement to that highly capitalistic type of investment perceives by investors as presenting specific risks. The reference competitive model is particularly incompatible with that type of investment in production for competing companies. But it is moving towards more investment-friendly structures. After indicating the specific requirements for nuclear investments in market environments, this article offers possible model adjustment options that could enable in boost such investments through drastic distancing: the development of long term electrical contracts, vertical and horizontal reintegration with a view to price - risk control and price - volume control, or the removal from the market of new nuclear productions through a purchase duty.