Nanocrystalline PbSe films were grown on GaAs(100) and on the As face of GaAs(111) substrates using chemical solution deposition. The microstructure of the films was found to be strongly affected by the deposition temperature over a surprisingly narrow temperature range. In PbSe deposited on GaAs(100), gradual increase in crystallite size and transition to 111 texture were obtained with increasing temperature. In contrast with PbSe deposited on GaAs(100), the 111 texture in PbSe on GaAs(111) dominated throughout the deposition temperature range. Since temperature directly affects reaction rate, the temperature-dependent morphological changes observed in this work occur primarily due to increasing sample thickness.


Introduction The use a of patients' own medications is improved at Trinity Hospice by patient's being encouraged to bring them in when being admitted. Advantages of using a patient's own medications are widely recognised and include aiding prompt completion of medicines reconciliation, thus achieving more accurate prescribing on admission, medication being available faster on the wards and of a quality that is suitable for self-administration, reducing the number of late and missed doses, patients continuing to use medication brands with which they are familiar or are required to due to inter-brand differences in bioavailability and considerable savings for the hospice's drug expenditure. Aims To establish a procedure framework that improves the re-use of a patient's own medications whilst minimising patient risk. To inform governance priorities for the re-use of a patient's own medications particularly those involving high risk drugs. Method A multidisciplinary team was established with representation from pharmacy, doctors and nurses in order to develop a clinical protocol for the management of a patient's own medications. The protocol manages how a patient's own medications are assessed for suitability to be administered using a decision-support algorithm, obtaining further supplies and the essential documentation. Staff were deemed competent to undertake this procedure provided they attended a training workshop and successfully complete the training competency. Results & Discussion In order to quality-assure the protocol adherence to the process will be audited on a regular basis. The results of this alongside incident surveillance will provide on-going risk management and identify areas for improvement. Conclusion Trinity hospice has approved this protocol. Staff eligible to undertake a role have been accredited to do so. Under the terms of the Hospice's approval an audit of adherence and critical risk assessment will inform the further development of this medicine system.


Energy levels of the configuration 4f135f have been observed for the first time in the spectra of Lu IV, Hf V, Ta VI, and W VII and have been interpreted by means of the Slater-Condon theory. The relative positions of two perturbing configurations 4f125d2 and 4f145p55f are discussed. The jj coupling scheme provides the best average purity for the labeling of the levels. Three hundred seventy-seven lines have been classified in these four spectra.


The U.S. Army operates and maintains the largest trucking fleet in the United States. Its fleet consists of over 246,000 trucks, and it is responsible for buying and developing trucks for all branches of the armed forces. The Army's tactical wheeled vehicle fleet is the logistical backbone of the Army, and annually, the fleet logs about 823 million miles. The fleet consists of a number of types of vehicles. They include eight different families of trucks from the High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicles to M900 series line haul tractors and special bodies. The average age of all the trucks within the Army fleet is 15 years, and very few have more than traditional driving instrumentation on-board. Over the past decade, the Department of Transportation's (DOT's) Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Program has conducted research and deployment activities in a number of areas including in-vehicle systems, communication and telematics technologies. Many current model passenger vehicles have demonstrated the assimilation of these technologies to enhance safety and trip quality. Commercial vehicles are also demonstrating many new electronic devices that are assisting in making them safer and more efficient. Moreover, a plethora of new technologies are about to be introduced to drivers that promisemore » greater safety, enhanced efficiency, congestion avoidance, fuel usage reduction, and enhanced trip quality. The U.S. Army has special needs with regard to fleet management, logistics, sustainability, reliability, survivability, and fuel consumption that goes beyond similar requirements within the private industry. In order to effectively apply emerging ITS technologies to the special needs of the U.S. Army, planning for the conduct of the Army's Vehicle Intelligence Program (AVIP) has now commenced. The AVIP will be focused on the conduct of research that: (1) will apply ITS technologies to the special needs of the Army, and (2) will conduct research for special needs wi th regard to vehicle control, driver assistance, integration of vehicle intelligence and robotic technologies, managing effectively the information flow to drivers, enhanced logistics capabilities and sustainability of the Army's fleet during battlefield conditions. This paper will highlight the special needs of the Army, briefly describe two programs, which are embracing ITS technologies to a limited extent, will outline the AVIP, and will provide some insight into future Army vehicle intelligence efforts.« less


The semiclassical approach to electron attachment processes in the framework of the nonlocal theory of resonance electron-diatomic system collisions is described. The basic integro-differential equation of this theory is reduced to a second-order differential equation, the semiclassical solution of this equation is given in an analytical form. This solution presents a straightforward generalisation of the semiclassical results in the local theory case. The cross section of the attachment process is determined with the help of the unitarity condition. This cross section may have an oscillatory dependence on the electron energy, the origin of these oscillations is elucidated.


This study investigates the relationship between financial crimes and economic – social sustainable development in developing countries and Iraq is one of these countries. The main objective of this study to explore and explain the above relationship. The economic analysis of current study points out of the existence of link between the variables that form that relationship. The main hypothesis of this study is that the financial crimes have important impacts on the achievement of sustainable economic – social developments goals. This study indicates some conclusions and recommendations to the policies financial crimes.


Although social sciences such as anthropology are often thought to have been organized as academic specialties in the nineteenth century, the ideas upon which these disciplines were founded actually developed centuries earlier. In fact, the foundational concepts can be traced at least as far back as the sixteenth century, when contact with unfamiliar peoples in the New World led Europeans to create ways of describing and understanding social similarities and differences among humans. Early Anthropology in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries examines the history of some of the ideas adopted to help understand the origin of culture, the diversity of traits, the significance of similarities, the sequence of high civilizations, the course of cultural change, and the theory of social evolution. It is a book that not only illuminates the thinking of a bygone age but also sheds light on the sources of attitudes still prevalent today.


In the practice of chemical-toxicological analysis, cases of poisoning of people with certain antihelmintic drugs have become more frequent. Some antihelmintics are on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines, the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines, which lists the most effective, safest and most affordable medicines. Despite worldwide recognition, effectiveness, availability and low cost, they have an important drawback - serious side effects. In cases of poisoning, it is important to conduct an accurate analysis of blood and urine for emergency medical care. Chemical-toxicological analysis of biological fluids requires accurate and accessible methods. At the same time, the correct and clean extraction of a poisonous substance from biological fluids makes it possible to accurately and quickly determine it. Methods for isolating antihelmintic preparations from biological fluids in acute poisoning have been developed. The extracts were purified from ballast substances by elution by TLC. A chromatographic analysis of antihelmintic preparations isolated from biological fluids was carried out.


Awareness of the digestive system began with the dawn of civilization, when man observing the feeding habits of animals in the surrounding environment, experimented with foods, edible and inedible. Identity came with discoveries of the digestive organs during the 16th and 17 th centuries. Function was revealed by physiologic studies of digestion, absorption and secretion, metabolism, and motility during the 18th and 19th centuries. Diagnostic access improved with the technological advances of the 20th century. Understanding of gastrointestinal (GI) disease followed growth of the basic sciences and gastroenterology's increased involvement in scientific research during the 20th century.

The scientification of medicine and gastroenterology began during the latter part of the 19th century when the discovery of bacterial causes of disease revealed the potential of research in the discovery of new knowledge, and when the dogma of the past began to yield to clinical and basic investigation. Additional impetus came from A. Flexner's 1910 report on medical education, documenting the importance of a scientific foundation in medicine. Funds for gastroenterologic investigation were small, but research was in progress in the physiology laboratories of academic medical centers. Early in the 20th century, gastroenterology was yet an incompletely defined activity; but during the 1920s, outstanding clinicians established gastroenterology programs at university academic centers and major clinics. The entry of scientifically trained young physiccians into gastroenterology during the 1930s and 1940s increased research interest.

Specialization in medicine was underway and, in the United States in 1940, gastroenterology was certified as an academic specialty, important to the attraction of students and support for education and research. Similar recognition occurred elsewhere, but further progress was interrupted by World War II (1939-1945).

Post-World War II was a highly productive period for the basic and biomedical sciences. Wartime discoveries had documented the remarkable success of research and had motivated public and governmental support of basic investigation. This trend accelerated in the United States, when the office of Scientific Research and Development (U.S. War Department) transferred 44 research contracts with universities and with industry to the then fledging National Institutes of Health (NIH) at the end of World War II. The General Medicine Study Section of the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases (NIH) became a major support of GI research and training. During the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, academic medical center faculties enlarged and research training programs increased, creating new technologies and new disciplines. Important advances occasionally developed from insightful clinical observations. A classic example concerns the "epidemic" of pellagra, considered an infection early in the 20th century and accounting annually for 250 000 cases and 7 000 deaths in 15 Southern cotton-growing U.S. states. In 1914, at age 40, Dr. Joseph G. Goldberger of the Public Health Service, through shrewd clinical observations of patients, hospital staff, and patient diets, implicated a dietary deficiency (confirmed later as a nicotinic acid deficiency) as the cause of pellagra. However, scientific activity was associated with much prestige, and gastroenterology sought to become more "scientific".

Gastroenterology essentially incorporates basic concepts and technology, from multiple scientific disciplines, into its own investigation. The early 1900s' view of swallowing, as the forceful "bolting" of food from the throat directly into the stomach, was replaced by the recognition of pharyngeal and esophageal neuromuscular function, facilitating the physiological management of swallowing disorders. Histologic and microbiologic examination of endoscopically obtained gastric biopsies replaced the subjective diagnosis of "chronic gastritis". Not until the 1980s, however, was the role of Helicobacter pylori in gastritis and peptic ulcer identified. Multidisciplinary research clarified the process of gastric secretion and led to the development of H2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors. Metabolic studies identified the specific L-glutamine requirement for the intestinal epithelium and the short-chain fatty acid, n-butyrate, for the colonic epithelium. Research into the nature of inflammation led to more effective strategies for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Cellular biology identified the intracellular heat shock proteins, trefoil peptides, and stem cell growth factors, with therapeutic potential. The important role of genetic influence, in the development of colorectal cancer, celiac disease, and inflammatory bowel disease, was extended to other GI diseases.

Gastroenterology's 20th-century technological progress was equally impressive. The study of esophageal motility progressed from balloon kymography to intraluminal catheter manometry, transducers, and neuropharmacologic methodology. Fiberoptic endoscopy expanded diagnostic access to virtually all areas of the gastrointestinal tract. Safer polyethylene tubing eased transintestinal intubation and perfusion studies, and with small bowel biopsy and radioimmuno-assays, clarified intestinal absorption mechanisms. Microbiological and chromatographic tech-nologies, including hydrogen and carbon-14 breath tests, increased knowledge of the enteric flora, enabling the diagnosis of bacterial overgrowth responsive to antibacterial therapy. Needle biopsy of the liver established the morphological basis of hepatic disease and provided guidelines for the treatment of hepatitis and the monitoring of liver transplantation. Discovery of the Australia antigen stimulated research, identifying seven types of hepatitis viruses (A, B, C, D, E, F, G), a major impetus in the growth of knowledge of liver disease. Biochemical and chromatographic technology determined the composition of bile and the process of formation, as well as the chemical dissolution of cholesterol gallstones. Enzyme and protein chemistry established the synthesis and trafficking of intracellular proteins and intracellular enzyme activation as the cause of acute pancreatitis. Transmission, electron microscopy and laser-scanning confocal micros-copy facilitated the study of intestinal epithelial cells, intracellular protein processing, and epi-thelial barrier function. Molecular biological techniques made possible the cloning of genes for cystic fibrosis, sodium, calcium, glucose, and amino acid transport. Advances in radiologic image intensification, ultrasonography, computed x-ray tomography of the abdomen, and magnetic resonance imaging among other achievements, increased access to the gastrointestinal tract.

Neuro-humoral and neuro-immune interactions of the GI tract, mediating colonic motility and visceral sensitivity, replaced psychogenic hypotheses of the irritable bowel. Studies of gastrointestinal immunology, including the gut mucosal immune system and the molecular mechanisms of inflammation, generated new pathogenic concepts and therapeutic resources in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Measurements of gastrointestinal blood flow, including laser Doppler velocimetry, facili-tated recognition of abdominal vascular impairment. Neurogastroenterology introduced methods of electrophysiology and cellular neurophysiology, identified the enteric nervous system as a "minibrain with intelligent circuits", and provided new understanding of "physiologic" GI disorders. Transgenic methodology created innovative animal models, enabling multidisciplinary studies of intestinal inflammation.

Expanded access to the gastrointestinal tract, including fiberoptic endoscopy, biopsies of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, and colon, X-ray (CT scan)-guided biopsy of the liver and the pancreas, tests of hepatic and pancreatic functions, breath tests, quality X-rays, ultrasonography, computerized abdominal tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and assessment of gastrointestinal motility improved the diagnosis of digestive disorders. Gastrointestinal therapy advanced with the discovery of sulfonamides, antibiotics, adrenocortical steroids, immune modifiers, H2 receptor blockers, proton pump inhibitors, anti-inflammatory compounds, nutritional supports, vaccines, cancer chemotherapy, organ transplantation, and increasingly skilled abdominal surgery.

Many favorable circumstances converged to bring gastroenterology into the mainstream of advancing scientific thought, including an enlarging body of scientific knowledge, technological innovations permitting safer, more precise human studies, increased support of research and training, controlled clinical studies, establishment of research and scientific training programs, by the NIH and private philanthropy, and the enlarging global scientific communication network (journals, databases, electronic and computer systems).

The major accomplishment of gastroenterology during the 20th century has been the successful application of new scientific knowledge and technology to the investigation of gastrointestinal disorders. Digestive diseases involving multiple disciplines and innovative technology today are recognized as exciting and challenging problems. Now that gastroenterologic research frontiers are at the cutting edge of modern science, including such "new" sciences as biotechnology, structural biology, and pharmacogenetics, together with the ongoing molecular disciplines (microbiology, immunology, genetics). They will establish the 21st century as the gastroenterologic century.


PURPOSE
Describe changes in the retina as vision loss progresses in Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) autosegmentation, and determine if relationship exists between retinal changes and vision loss.

METHODS
From patient records we identified nine LHON patients who underwent periodic neuro-ophthalmologic examinations and high-resolution SD-OCT as part of their care. We describe the impact of LHON progression on each retinal layer, and the relationship between these structural changes and visual acuity using generalized estimating equations and nonparametric tests.

RESULTS
The thickness of the ganglion cell layer (GCL) and inner plexiform layer (IPL) decreased immediately or soon after symptom onset, and this decrease was associated with worsening vision: in the GCL a 1-mm3 volume loss was associated with a 3.2 increase in logMAR visual acuity (95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.1-4.1); in the IPL a 1-mm3 volume loss was associated with a 4.9 increase in visual acuity (95%CI: 6.5-3.2). The retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) also thinned, but not until after the GCL and IPL, and only in the papillomacular bundle (PMB) and temporal layers was thinning associated with vision loss.

CONCLUSIONS
For the first time these analyses describe a structure-function relationship between the retinal changes that occur in LHON patients as their disease progresses and vision worsens. The structural changes in the GCL, IPL, and RNFL preceded structural changes in the other retinal layers. This analysis suggests that the first 6 months after diagnosis define a target for therapeutic intervention, and this can inform treatment guidelines for ongoing therapeutic trials.


The Swedish prehospital/ambulance organization has the last decades evolved from a transport organization to a an organization that focus on alleviate and treating acute medical conditions in the field as well as transporting patient to the emergency ward. The ambulance service is developing continually and offers today a high-tech and highly specialized nursing/care. Which in turn demand a higher standard and competence on the care provider. Ambulance mission can vary in priority and magnitude. This in turn demand a high medical competence our capacity. One of the most important task s in pre-hospital work is to prioritize and assess the patient status. The medical judgment lies as a foundation for further caring focus and triage. Feedback and patient monitoring from the hospital can be pin pointing the right diagnosis and support the ambulance nurse to decide if the right pre hospital diagnosis was judged.The aim of the study was to describe specialist educated ambulance nurses need of feedback according to the medical judgment and treatment after terminated ambulance mission.The study was performed as a survey investigation with a quantitative descriptive design. Fifteen specialist educated ambulance nurses in two ambulance stations in Halland participated in the study.The majority of the ambulance nurses recognized the need of feedback/patient monitoring and found it difficult to receive information about patient that been transported to the hospital. Personal relationships to certain patient responsible nurses on caring units showed in some cases important to obtain information about patients. To design a plan for a regular feedback according to judgment and treatment after concluding the assessment could serve as a cost efficient education to the ambulance nurses and increase patient assurance. The result could in the future be used to design a action plan for recurring feedback in regard to assessment and treatment after completed mission. In conclusion one can claim that this is a free of charge competence improvement where all parts can be benefiting if we let the ambulance nurse have the opportunity to patient follow up.


This study compared rates of intimate partner violence reports on a new, empirically-developed screening tool completed by 385 women in 2007 to those from an older tool completed by 420 women in 2006. Data were obtained from randomly selected medical charts across three health center locations, which were part of the same reproductive health care organization. Chi-square analyses were conducted to test associations between demographic characteristics and partner violence reports. Multiple regression analyses were used to compare odds ratios of disclosure by type of screening tool, adjusting for associated demographic factors associated with partner violence reports. Women completing the old and new tools were similar across all demographic characteristics. After adjusting for age and center location, women completing the new screening form were more than 2.5 times as likely to report any partner violence. When analyzed by mutually exclusive violence history categories, women completing the new screening form were over 2.5 times as likely to report past or current violence and over 4 times as likely to report experiencing both past and current violence. Findings suggest that implementing empirically developed brief screening tools for partner violence in reproductive health settings may elicit more disclosures from patients than more traditional tools.


This interesting book is directed to physicians, speech and hearing therapists, educators of the deaf, and those concerned with the evaluation of communication disorders. The book stresses the importance of early detection, diagnosis, and referral to the appropriate agencies. Emphasis is placed upon the team approach in a hospital setting for the evaluation of communication disorders. This approach begins with the routine pediatric and otological examinations. Referrals are subsequently made for audiological, speech and language, social and psychological evaluations. Specialty services, such as neurological, psychiatric, serological, and radiological, are obtained when indicated. The fostering of a close relationship between medical and educational agencies is strongly emphasized. This 117-page book is divided into six chapters which are devoted to the classification of auditory disorders, pathology, terminology, gross responses to uncalibrated sound sources, play audiometry in hearing evaluations, screening tests of young children, electrophysiological audiometry, diagnostic and therapeutic problems in the total


An extensive database of high-quality piezocone (CPTU) and laboratory oedometer test data on onshore and offshore clays worldwide has been established. The database covers a wide range of index parameters and overconsolidation ratios (OCR) in the range 1 to 5. The purpose is to derive general correlations to model preconsolidation stress in clays from CPTU data based on high-quality laboratory data. Several studies have already discussed such correlations for different clay types, where the preconsolidation stress is defined as a function of the cone resistance and/or the pore pressure measured in CPTU tests. Often, these correlations are characterized by high uncertainty, mainly because of the sample quality of the laboratory data. New correlations are proposed based on the new database. These correlations are meant to be used for preliminary assessment of preconsolidation stress in the absence of laboratory data or as a comparison tool when limited test data is available.


We present new number density and surface brightness profiles for the globular cluster M92 (NGC 6341). These profiles are calculated from optical images collected with the CCD mosaic camera MegaCam at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope and with the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. The ground-based data were supplemented with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric catalog. Special care was taken to discriminate candidate cluster stars from field stars and to subtract the background contamination from both profiles. By examining the contour levels of the number density, we found that the stellar distribution becomes clumpy at radial distances larger than ∼13′, and there is no preferred orientation of contours in space. We performed detailed fits of King and Wilson models to the observed profiles. The best-fit models underestimate the number density inside the core radius. Wilson models better represent the observations, in particular in the outermost cluster regions: the good global agreement of these models with the observations suggests that there is no need to introduce an extra-tidal halo to explain the radial distribution of stars at large radial distances. The best-fit models for the number density and the surface brightness profiles are different, even though they are based on the same observations. Additional tests support the evidence that this fact reflects the difference in the radial distribution of the stellar tracers that determine the observed profiles (main-sequence stars for the number density, bright evolved stars for the surface brightness).


Blends of polycaprolactone (PCL), a synthetic polymer and gelatin, natural polymer offer a optimal combination of strength, water wettability and cytocompatibility for use as a resorbable biomaterial. The enzymatic degradation of PCL, gelatin and PCL–gelatin blended films was studied in the presence of lipase (Novozym 435, immobilized) and lysozyme. Novozym 435 degraded the PCL films whereas lysozyme degraded the gelatin. Though Novozym 435 and lysozyme individually could degrade PCL–gelatin blended films, the combination of these enzymes showed the highest degradation of these blended films. Moreover, the enzymatic degradation was much faster when fresh enzymes were added at regular intervals. The changes in physico-chemical properties of polymer films due to degradation were studied by scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry. These results have important implications for designing resorbable biomedical implants.


By measuring magnetization curves of polycrystalline Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu8Oy superconductor, magnetitudes of the hysteresis against temperature T and applied field Ba have been obtained. Using the critical state equation, we have got an effective pinning force which varies with temperature and field and results from both contributions of winklinks and intragrain pinning. Peak effect of the effective pinning force has been found, and the peak moves to higher fields with temperature dropping. The peak effect is considered to be the results of two pinning mechanisms, which have different field relations. Finally, some discussions about the results are made.


A buffer liquid phase epitaxy method for lead free flux technology has been used to grow large size garnet single-crystal films. Lu2.1Bi0.9Fe5O12 (Bi:LuIG) films with excellent lattice match with the Gd3Ga5O15 (GGG) substrate and superior magnetic and magnetic-optical properties have been obtained by optimizing liquid phase epitaxy (LPE) technology. The saturation magnetization of the film is about 1562 Gs, the Faraday rotation is 1.6 ~ 2.0 deg/μm and the minimum ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth is 2ΔH = 5.1 Oe. Secondly, the growth of polycrystalline garnet films by radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering has be introduced, and the effects of buffer layer, sputtering parameters and post annealing on the performance of Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) films have been investigated in details. It will be shown that garnet films with smooth surface and adjustable saturation magnetization can be obtained by using a SiO2 buffer layer.


The theoretical modeling and design of a traveling-wave FET are described. The device shows the capability of wide-bandwidth performance and high gain and could be useful in power applications. The proposed analytical model considers the full mode effects of the three-coupled transmission lines and an accurate analysis of the FET model in the traveling-wave amplifier. Starting from electrode dimensions and active zone doping, such a model allows one to calculate the scattering parameters. Thus, it is possible to analyze the device as a six port network in a circuit analysis program. >


Background Pathologies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been poorly understood. Brain network analysis could help understand brain mechanisms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This study investigates the source-level brain cortical networks using resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Methods Resting-state EEG was measured in 38 patients with schizophrenia, 34 patients with bipolar disorder type I, and 30 healthy controls. Graph theory based source-level weighted functional networks were evaluated: strength, clustering coefficient (CC), path length (PL), and efficiency in six frequency bands. Results At the global level, patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder showed higher strength, CC, and efficiency, and lower PL in the theta band, compared to healthy controls. At the nodal level, patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder showed higher CCs, mostly in the frontal lobe for the theta band. Particularly, patients with schizophrenia showed higher nodal CCs in the left inferior frontal cortex and the left ascending ramus of the lateral sulcus compared to patients with bipolar disorder. In addition, the nodal-level theta band CC of the superior frontal gyrus and sulcus (cognition-related region) correlated with positive symptoms and social and occupational functioning scale (SOFAS) scores in the schizophrenia group, while that of the middle frontal gyrus (emotion-related region) correlated with SOFAS scores in the bipolar disorder group. Conclusions Altered cortical networks were revealed and these alterations were significantly correlated with core pathological symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. These source-level cortical network indices could be promising biomarkers to evaluate patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.


Abstract Objective: To assess, particularly in longitudinal studies, how close or far the food intakes of population groups are from a reference dietary pattern. Design: Computation of an index, called the Mediterranean Adequacy Index (MAI), by dividing the sum of the percentage of total energy from typical Mediterranean food groups by the sum of the percentage of total energy from non-typical Mediterranean food groups. The reference Italian–Mediterranean diet utilised was that of subjects from Nicotera in 1960. Setting: Different areas in Italy. Subjects: Men aged 45–65 years at the start of the study from rural areas of Italy in the Seven Countries Study followed for 26 years (Crevalcore and Montegiorgio), elderly men and women from Perugia followed for 11 years, men and women from Pollica (Salerno) followed for 32 years, and families from Rofrano (Salerno) followed for 41 years. Results: The median value of MAI among 40–59-year-old men from Nicotera in 1960 was 7.2; in Crevalcore it was 2.9 in 1965 and 2.2 in 1991; and in Montegiorgio, 5.6 in 1965 and 3.9 in 1991. In Pollica, the values in men ranged from 5.6 to 6.3 in 1967 and from 2.4 to 4.5 in 1999; for women, the corresponding ranges were 4.2–7.2 and 2.7–4.1. In elderly men of Perugia, median MAI value was 4.9 in 1976 and 3.2 in 1987; for women, the corresponding values were 3.1 and 2.6. Conclusions: The diet of these Italian population groups has changed over the last four decades, progressively abandoning the nutritional characteristics of the reference Italian–Mediterranean diet. The MAI proposed is simple to compute; it has satisfactory discriminating power particularly for longitudinal dietary data with only a few limitations.


Soil samples were obtained from the surface horizons of five untilled sites and adjacent sites under short- and long-term cultivation. The soil samples were fractionated based on density and organic materials were concentrated in various fractions which enabled comparative chemical composition of the organic materials in cultivated and uncultivated sites by solid-state C-13 CP/MAS NMR spectroscopy. Changes in the nature of organic carbon with cultivation were different in different soils and resulted from variations in the chemistry of carbon inputs to the soils and a greater extent of decomposition of organic materials in cultivated soils. Differences in the chemical composition of organic carbon between cultivated and uncultivated soils resided mostly in organic materials occluded within aggregates, whereas the chemistry of organic matter associated with clay particles showed only small changes. The results indicate a faster decomposition of O-alkyl C in the cultivated soils. Wet aggregate stability, mechanically dispersible clay and modulus of rupture tests were used to assess the effects of cultivation on structural stability of soils. In four of five soils, the virgin sites and sites which had been under long-term pasture had a greater aggregate stability than the cultivated sites. Neither total organic matter nor total O-alkyl C content was closely correlated with aggregate stability, suggesting that only a part of soil carbon or carbohydrate is involved in aggregate stability. The fractions of carbon and O-alkyl C present in the form of particulate organic matter occluded within aggregates were better correlated with aggregate stability (r = 0.86** and 0.88**, respectively). Cultivation was not the dominant factor influencing water-dispersible clay across the range of soil types used in this study. The amount of dispersible clay was a function of total clay content and the percentage of clay dispersed was controlled by factors such as clay mineralogy, CaCO3 and organic matter content of soils. The tendency of different soils for hard-setting and crusting, as a result of structural collapse, was reflected in the modulus of rupture (MOR). The cultivated sites had significantly higher MOR than their non-tilled counterparts. The soils studied had different MOR due to differences in their physical and chemical properties.


Malting barley has to fulfil several quality demands to be fully accepted, and paid, by the malting industry. The cultivar has to be selected by the industry, the vitality of the lot has to be high, the husk has to be uninjured and the grain protein content has to be at the proper level and as even as possible. Flat protein levels are hard to achieve, as the grain protein over malting barley fields often vary 3% around the field mean. The urge for even protein makes this crop a natural object for precision agriculture research, but surprisingly little has been reported. In the present project, precision agriculture methods have been used to monitor grain yield and grain protein of Swedish malting barley. The goal of the project has been, for spring sown Swedish malting barley, to understand the reasons for and patterns of the variability in grain protein, and design a method for fertilisation with a potential to produce more even protein with the proper mean level. It seems possible to design such a fertiliser system, provided that a restrained amount of compound NPKS fertiliser is combi-drilled at sowing and that the second fertiliser application as calcium nitrate is distributed, at the latest, at the two node stage of the barley. The second application needs the control from a remote sensor using an appropriate vegetation index. The most commonly used vegetation indices did not correlate well with the grain yield, or with the grain protein level at such an early stage, possibly because of disturbing reflections from the soil. However, a set of recently developed indices for maize did correlate with the patterns of both grain yield and grain protein. To get the mean values between years and places right, the regression algorithms also needed a measure of thermal stress during grain filling. A thermal stress index was designed as a temperature sum during three weeks, and a threshold for the temperature sum was optimised to 20 °C.


Abstract Branched broomrape, Phelipanche ramosa (L.) Pomel, is a globally distributed parasitic weed of economic importance. In Europe, where it is native, it can infest several crops, notably tomato, tobacco, and hemp. In western France, it has recently adapted to a new host crop, oilseed rape, causing substantial damage. The aim of this study was to investigate the evolutionary relationships and genetic differentiation among P. ramosa populations infesting different hosts. We collected 1611 P. ramosa samples from 109 fields cultivated with six different crops (oilseed rape, tobacco, hemp, tomato, lentil, and celery) and distributed among six European countries. All samples were genotyped for ten microsatellite loci and a subset of samples was sequenced for two nuclear genes and two chloroplast genes. Genetic differentiation among populations was high (F ST = 0.807) and mainly driven by differentiation among different host crops, with no significant geographic structure. Genetic structure analysis identified up to seven biologically meaningful clusters that matched with host crops of origin. Reconstructed networks of sequence haplotypes and multilocus SSR genotypes showed a large genetic divergence between samples collected on oilseed rape and samples collected on other crops. The phylogeny inferred from DNA sequences placed samples collected from oilseed rape as a basal lineage. Approximate Bayesian Computations were used to compare different evolutionary scenarios of divergence among the three main genetic clusters, associated, respectively, with oilseed rape, tobacco, and hemp as host crops. The best‐supported scenario indicated that P. ramosa infesting oilseed rape derived recently from an ancient, unknown lineage. Our results suggest that a more complete description of the genetic diversity of P. ramosa is still needed to uncover the likely source of the recent adaptation to oilseed rape and to anticipate future new host shifts.


This study investigates the effect of environmental vibrations on concrete permeability. Based on published field measurement data and relevant references, two different sinusoidal vibration parameters (5 Hz/4 mm and 20 Hz/2 mm) are selected and applied to a newly constructed concrete by a vertical vibrating table and AC impedance technique. The concrete permeability is examined, and the influence of some factors including different vibration time (before initial curdle, between initial curdle and finial curdle, and after final curdle) and different vibration energy are discussed. From the experimental results, the following conclusions can be drawn. Irrespective of whether or not the concrete is vibrated, the uniformity inside the concrete along the direction of concrete pouring is more discrete in the upper and lower part of the concrete. Furthermore, the permeability at both ends of the concrete is larger than that in the middle portion. The newly constructed concrete's permeability is increased when the vibration energy is lowered, and decreased when the vibration energy is increased, and the new constructed concrete permeability affected by environment vibration obviously before initial curdle time.


Two new species of the African and Madagascan hydraenid tribe Parhydraenini are described from South Africa. Discozantaena occidentalis n. sp. and Pneuminion fontinalis n. sp. are described and illustrated, including high resolution digital images of holotypes (online version in colour). Features distinguishing the new species from known congeners are presented, and notes provided on the ecology of these rarely-collected genera, both of which are associated with damp areas at the edges of water.


A classic result in the theory of extensive-form games asserts that the set of strategies available to any perfect-recall player is strategically equivalent to a low-dimensional convex polytope, called the sequence-form polytope . Online convex optimization tools operating on this polytope are the current state-of-the-art for computing several notions of equilibria in games, and have been crucial in landmark applications of computational game theory. However, when optimizing over the joint strategy space of a team of players, one cannot use the sequence form to obtain a strategically-equivalent convex description of the strategy set of the team. In this paper, we provide new complexity results on the computation of optimal strategies for teams, and propose a new representation, coined team belief DAG (TB-DAG) , that describes team strategies as a convex set. The TB-DAG enjoys state-of-the-art parameterized complexity bounds, while at the same time enjoying the advantages of efficient regret minimization techniques. We show that TB-DAG can be exponentially smaller and can be computed exponentially faster than all other known representations, and that the converse is never true. Experimen-tally, we show that the TB-DAG, when paired with learning techniques, yields state of the art on a wide variety of benchmark team games.


Background: The use of nutritional screening tools to identify nutritional risk in hospitalized children contributes to the adequate evaluation and intervention. Objective: Evaluating the nutritional risk and associated factors in hospitalized paediatric patients through the STRONGkids. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study including 122 both sex children and adolescents admitted in a public paediatric hospital in Bahia, Brazil, between October and November 2013. The patients were submitted to the STRONGkids screening, anthropometric and socioeconomic evaluations at the first 48 hours of the admission. The statistical analyses included the Poisson regression model and it was adopted the significance level <5%. Results: The mean age was 61,6 months (±5.12SD), predominantly male (68%). The mean time of length of hospital stay was 8.4 days (±7.31). Malnutrition prevalence was 13.9%, according to anthropometry. The STRONGkids identified 63.1% of patients with medium or high nutritional risk. Maternal age (p=0.02), anthropometric diagnosis (p=0.01) and socioeconomic condition (p=0.02) were factors associated to the medium and high nutritional risk. Also, we identified an association between medium and high nutritional risk at the admission and a longer period of hospital stay (PR=3.27; p=0.01), which was more relevant when adjusted by socioeconomic condition (PR=4.17; p<0.01). Conclusions: Maternal age, anthropometric diagnosis and socioeconomic condition were factors related to medium or high nutritional risk in this population. The medium or high nutritional risk at the admission was associated to a longer period of hospitalization. These are important findings that could guide the adoption of nutritional protocols to prevent hospital malnutrition.


OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use of leukotriene modifiers in preventing aspirin-provoked respiratory reactions in asthmatics. DATA SOURCES: Clinical literature accessed through MEDLINE (1965–February 2001). Key search terms included aspirin, asthma, leukotriene, and treatment. DATA SYNTHESIS: Aspirin-sensitive asthmatics experience a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from rhinitis to life-threatening bronchospasms, after the ingestion of aspirin or nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). The relationship between aspirin sensitivity, asthma, and nasal polyps was first reported in 1922. The exact mechanism of these reactions is not clearly understood. Four studies investigated the use of leukotriene modifiers to prevent aspirin-provoked respiratory reactions. The efficacy of these agents ranged from complete inhibition to no blockade. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who experience aspirin-sensitive asthma should be cautious when taking aspirin and NSAIDs, despite treatment with leukotriene inhibitors.


A test-situation which concerns the spatial character of hearing is demonstrated. The subject indicates the estimated location of the stimulus. The WN is presented at a short distance from the head and thus discrepancies in distance can also be discriminated. The subjective space of man (polar system of coordinates) consists of three dimensions (horizontal, vertical and distance equals radius); for each of these three dimensions the average shift of the centre and the standard deviation (representing the error) are calculated. When testing lateral (45 degrees right or left) the average error is a little smaller for the horizontal scale than for the vertical. As far as the distance is concerned the results of the 21 subjects varied considerably; while some of the persons showed surprisingly good location ability, others supposed the noise to come from even outside the camera silens. The investigation has been carried out to contribute to the exploration of subjective acoustic space. It is also planned to apply the test as a diagnostic procedure in various neurological disturbances.


Once held in high esteem worldwide, Canadian healthcare has taken a drubbing in recent international comparisons, posting repeated poor showings against similarly high-spending OECD peers. The erosion in the worldwide status of Canadian healthcare has been attributed to the failure of the provinces to adapt their aging health systems to the changing face of healthcare demand. Since the late 1950s, the provinces have only tinkered at the margins of the Canadian healthcare delivery silos – a system that is arbitrarily divided among hospitals, specialists, and the provision of prescription drugs, primary care, and home and community care. This Commentary provides an overview of current payment models for provincial health services, focusing especially on areas where there is misalignment among the methods. Then, turning our attention beyond Canada, we examine a diverse range of international integrated payment reforms – defined here as models that distribute single payments or funding envelopes across groups of once disparately remunerated providers in order to foster shared financial incentives. A series of emerging policy reforms in the United States, the Netherlands, England, and Germany has attracted attention from international policymakers for going beyond the silos of traditional payment reforms in healthcare to introduce new financial flows that bridge sectors and settings. New models such as bundled payments and accountable-care organizations disburse single payments across groups of provider entities, offering shared financial incentives to improve coordination, efficiency, and effectiveness across a patient's entire journey. Although still in their infancy, early evaluations have found compelling evidence of the potential for some of these models to reduce healthcare costs while maintaining or improving the quality of care. With a still relatively new federal government and the recent success of the pan-Canadian Pharmaceutical Alliance in providing a potential template for cross-provincial collaboration, the time appears ripe for collaboration on integrated payment reforms and greater sharing of experiences and expertise. Federal players such as Health Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information can have a strong role in facilitating this Canada-wide collaboration, with funding to facilitate transition, analytic tools that generate insights across the continuum, and information brokering among provinces.


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Many premature babies, especially those with a low birth weight are given multiple transfusions during their first few weeks of life. The major serious complications of prematurity include bronchopulmonary dysplasia, with lesser incidences of retinopathy of prematurity, intraventricular haemorrhage, and necrotising enterocolitis. Many studies have shown correlations between the receipt of blood transfusions and the development of these conditions, but little is known of the underlying pathophysiology of this relationship. Recent studies are beginning to provide some answers. This review examines recent findings with regard to the influence of preparation and storage of paediatric packed red blood cell units on heme, iron, and oxidative status of the units and relates these to the ability of the premature baby to deal with these changes following the receipt of blood transfusions. Paediatric packed red blood cell units are a potential source of heme, redox active iron and free radicals, and this increases with storage age. Haemolysis of transfused red blood cells may add further iron and cell free haemoglobin to the recipient baby. Premature babies, particularly those with low birth weight and gestational age appear to have little reserve to cope with any additional iron, heme and/or oxidative load. The consequences of these events are discussed with regard to their contribution to the major complications of prematurity and a novel hypothesis regarding transfusion-related morbidity in premature babies is presented. The review concludes with a discussion of potential means of limiting transfusion related iron/heme and oxidative load through the preparation and storage of packed red blood cell units and through modifications in clinical practice.


The rap mutation in Escherichia coli prevents the growth of bacteriophage lambda. Phage mutations that overcome rap inhibition (bar) have been mapped to loci in the pL operon. We cloned and sequenced three mutations in two of these loci: barIa to the left arm of the lambda attachment site (attP) and barII in the ssb (ea10) gene. The mutations represent single base-pair changes within nearly identical 16-base-pair DNA segments. Each mutation disrupts a sequence of dyad symmetry within the segment. Plasmids carrying a bar+ sequence downstream to an active promoter are lethal to rap, but not rap+, bacteria. The bar sequences isolated from the lambda bar mutants are not lethal. We synthesized a minimal lambda barIa+ sequence, 5'-TATATTGATATTTATATCATT, and cloned it downstream to an inducible promoter. When transcribed, this sequence is sufficient to kill a rap strain.


Abstract Marine turbidite records have been used to infer palaeoseismicity and estimate recurrence intervals for large (>Mw7) earthquakes along the Cascadia Subduction Zone. Conventional models propose that upper slope failures are funneled into submarine canyons and develop into turbidity flows that are routed down-canyon to deep-water channel and fan systems. However, the sources and pathways of these turbidity flows are poorly constrained, leading to uncertainties in the connections between ground shaking, slope failure and deep-water turbidites. We examine the spatial distribution of submarine landslides along the southern Cascadia margin to identify source regions for slope failures that may have developed into turbidity flows. Using multibeam bathymetry, sparker multichannel seismic and chirp sub-bottom data, we observe relatively few canyon head slope failures and limited evidence of large landslides on the upper and middle slope. Most of the submarine canyons are draped with sediment infill in the upper reaches and do not appear to be active sediment conduits during the recent sea-level highstand. In contrast, there is evidence of extensive mass wasting of the lower slope and non-channelized downslope flows. Contrary to previous studies, we propose that failures along the lower slope are the primary sources for deep-sea seismoturbidites in southern Cascadia.


Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been attracted much attention due to their high-energy conversion effi-ciency and low production cost. However, the issues of stability and toxicity are still remained. Our group focuses on the fundamental studies of PSCs devices, including development of a series of materials for compact layer, active layer, hole transfer layer, as well as back electrode of PSCs. In this lecture, we will introduce current progress of several types of Pb-free perovskites solar cells and remaining issues, as well as present the recent results of our group in development of Pb-free perovskites and application for solar cells. Several Pb-free perovskites have been designed and synthesized in our gourp. The electronic and optical properties of the lead-free halide double perovskites Cs2NaBX6 (B = Sb and Bi; X = Cl, Br and I) were investigated by first-principles calculation to ascertain the potential application of solar energy conversion. The designed double perovskites also were synthesized and carried out the characterization. Another work is preparation of composite active layer of bismuth triiodide (BiI3) and a layered perovskite (CH3NH3)3Bi2I9 (MBI) by a simple solution method. The nano/macrostructures of composite active layer were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). We found that the nanostructures and morphology of Pb-free perovskites affect significantly the performance of the solar cells fabricated.
References:
1. H.Zhou, Y.Shi, K.Wang, Q. Dong, and T. Ma., J.Physical Chemistry C. 2015, 31, 285
2. Q. Dong, Y. Shi, and T. Ma. J. Phys. Chem. C, 2015, 119 (19), 1021
3. K.Wang, Q. Dong, and T. Ma.,,Adv. Mater. 2016, DOI: 10.1002/adma.201505241
4. T. Xu, T. Ma, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2016,18, 27026-27050
5. S.Zhao, L. Gao, S. Hayase, T. Ma, RSC Advances, 2016, 6, 31968-31975


In common law jurisdictions which inherited admiralty practices from the English law, the following claims are recognised as maritime liens: (a) damage done by a ship; (b) salvage; (c) master's wages and disbursements; (d) crew wages; (e) bottomry and respondentia (now
obsolete).Maritime liens gain special status in admiralty law as they survive a good faith
purchase of the ship subjected to such liens. In the process of distributions of funds following the judicial sale of ship, holders of maritime liens also have priority over most types of claims. As Derrington and Turner helpfully set out the prima facie ranking system in their work:
" (1) The Admiralty Marshal's costs and expenses connected with the arrest of the vessel and its appraisement and sale.
(2) (i) The costs of the arresting party up to and including the arrest of the vessel concerned, and
(ii) The costs of the party who obtained the order for the appraisement and sale of the vessel, for the period up to and including the order itself.
(3) Maritime liens.
(4) Possessory liens.
(5) Mortgages.
(6) Other statutory actions in rem.
(7) In personam claims. "
A question arises as to whether a creditor of a ship, who is recognised as a maritime lien holder under other legal systems, can maintain such status before the courts in the United Kingdom or in other countries that have inherited the English admiralty practices and hence take advantage of the high priority from the distribution of funds. The majority of the Privy Council has given a negative response to that question since 1980 in The Halcyon Isle .
This judgment has met with mostly disapproval from academic commentators. The question of recognition and enforcement of foreign maritime liens came to be challenged again in Australia and the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia considered this question in length in The Sam Hawk .


Tamoxifen (Nolvadex), a selective estrogen-receptor modulator, or SERM, is currently the endocrine therapy of choice for all stages of hormone-responsive breast cancer. Only tamoxifen has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to reduce the incidence of breast cancer in high-risk women. Despite tamoxifen's antiestrogenic effects in breast tissue, it exhibits paradoxical estrogenic effects in other tissues in the body. These effects result in the maintenance of bone mineral density, but a three- to fourfold increase in endometrial cancer in postmenopausal women. Additionally, tamoxifen can result in troublesome hot flashes and serious thromboembolic events. For this reason, current research is focusing on new agents that may maintain the beneficial effects of tamoxifen while reducing its adverse effects. Raloxifene (Evista) is another SERM, approved for the prevention of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women and now being compared with tamoxifen in an ongoing breast cancer prevention trial. Like tamoxifen, raloxifene is associated with hot flashes and thromboembolic events, but its association with the risk of endometrial cancer is unknown. A number of new SERMs are in preclinical or clinical development in an attempt to improve upon the safety profile of tamoxifen. Additionally, selective aromatase inhibitors are being examined in the early breast cancer setting.


A Semiconductor package production method containing a Step in which a bond layer made of a Single-layer film thermoset bond is provided on the back of a wafer on which many Semiconductor devices are formed, a dicing tape is pasted onto its bond layer Side, and the bond layer and the wafer are diced simultaneously in order to obtain Semicon ductor devices with the bond layer, and a step in which the Semiconductor devices with the bond layer are detached from the dicing tape and die-attached to interposing Sub Strates Serving as bodies to which they are bonded; wherein, the aforementioned film thermoset bond contains an epoxy resin, an epoxy resin hardener, and a phenoxy resin as well as 50-80 wt % of spherical silica, and the bond layer is 100 tim or thicker. A Semiconductor device made by this method and a wafer for use with this method.


Abstract The existence and provision of emergency relief remains one of the more contentious aspects of poverty relief in Australia. This is largely due to a fundamental difference of opinion within government and the welfare sector about how to best tackle the financial hardship being experienced by people in need. Some contend that emergency relief should be expanded and better funded by the Commonwealth, whereas others believe it should be discontinued altogether and replaced by more generous social welfare payments. This debate continues unresolved for a number of reasons, including a lack of reliable and comprehensive data on who uses emergency relief in Australia and why. This paper reports on a State-wide investigation undertaken of emergency relief use in Victoria between 2007 and 2008. It has found that existing social welfare recipients—especially those on the disability support pension, parenting payment, and Newstart allowance—are the main users of emergency relief, who are living in households headed by a single adult, and forced to rent housing in the private sector. A disaggregation of the findings over both time and spatial regions of Victoria suggests that the level of need is not uniform. Several recommendations are offered to address the financial hardship that some people living in differing parts of Victoria face on an ongoing basis.


Hegel's dialectic "Consciousness," Part A from the Phenomenology of Spirit, is interpreted in light of the concept of "reading." The logic of reading is especially helpful for interpreting the often misunderstood dialectic of understanding, as that is described in chapter 3 of the Phenomenology, "Force and Understanding: Appearance and the Supersensible World." Hegel's concept of "the Inverted World" in particular is clarified, and from it Hegel's notion of originary difference is developed. Derrida's notion of "differance" is used to illuminate Hegel's use of difference and to interpret the Hegelian metaphysics that is developed in "Force and Understanding" and in the opening moves of Hegel's Science of Logic. It is argued that the philosophical projects of Hegel and Derrida are ultimately indistinguishable.


Objective: ADHD is a commonly diagnosed neuropsychological disorder among school-aged children with reported high rates of coexisting or comorbid disorders. As ADHD has been associated with academic underachievement, the current study examines this association in view of the presence of coexisting disorders. The purpose of the current study is to examine the relationship between the presence of coexisting disorders and academic achievement among children with ADHD using a large, nationally representative, and community-based sample. Method: To achieve this purpose, the presence of coexisting disorders with ADHD and academic achievement are examined across time utilizing latent growth models. Results: Our results indicate an inverse relationship between the presence of coexisting disorders and academic achievement across time among children diagnosed with ADHD. Conclusion: The authors conclude that practitioners must be concerned with the presence of coexisting disorders for children with ADHD with respect to academic achievement as well as other behavioral and psychological outcomes.


Multi-source domain adaptation has been intensively studied. The distribution shift in features inherent to specific domains causes the negative transfer problem, degrading a model's generality to unseen tasks. In Federated Learning (FL), learned model parameters are shared to train a global model that leverages the underlying knowledge across client models trained on separate data domains. Nonetheless, the data confidentiality of FL hinders the effectiveness of traditional domain adaptation methods that require prior knowledge of different domain data. We propose a new federated domain generalization method called Federated Knowledge Alignment (FedKA). FedKA leverages feature distribution matching in a global workspace such that the global model can learn domain-invariant client features under the constraint of unknown client data. FedKA employs a federated voting mechanism that generates target domain pseudo-labels based on the consensus from clients to facilitate global model fine-tuning. We performed extensive experiments, including an ablation study, to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method in both image and text classification tasks using different model architectures. The empirical results show that FedKA achieves performance gains of 8.8% and 3.5% in Digit-Five and Office-Caltech10, respectively, and a gain of 0.7% in Amazon Review with extremely limited training data. Moreover, we studied the effectiveness of FedKA in alleviating the negative transfer of FL based on a new criterion called Group Effect. The results show that FedKA can reduce negative transfer, improving the performance gain via model aggregation by 4 times.


Conformer, combining convolution and self-attention sequentially to capture both local and global information, has shown remarkable performance and is currently regarded as the state-of-the-art for automatic speech recognition (ASR). Several other studies have explored integrating convolution and self-attention but they have not managed to match Conformer's performance. The recently introduced Branchformer achieves comparable performance to Conformer by using dedicated branches of convolution and self-attention and merging local and global context from each branch. In this paper, we propose E-Branchformer, which enhances Branchformer by applying an effective merging method and stacking additional point-wise modules. E-Branchformer sets new state-of-the-art word error rates (WERs) 1.81% and 3.65% on LibriSpeech test-clean and test-other sets without using any external training data.


Membrane tethering is a crucial step to determine the spatiotemporal specificity of secretory and endocytic trafficking pathways in all eukaryotic endomembrane systems. Recent biochemical studies by a chemically-defined reconstitution approach reveal that, in addition to the structurally-diverse classic tethering factors such as coiled-coil tethering proteins and multisubunit tethering complexes, Rab-family small GTPases also retain the inherent membrane tethering functions to directly and physically bridge two distinct lipid bilayers by themselves. Although Rab-mediated membrane tethering reactions are fairly efficient and specific in the physiological context, its mechanistic basis is yet to be understood. Here, to explore whether and how the intrinsic tethering potency of Rab GTPases is controlled by their C-terminal hypervariable region (HVR) domains that link the conserved small GTPase domains (G-domains) to membrane anchors at the C-terminus, we quantitatively compared tethering activities of two representative Rab isoforms in humans (Rab5a, Rab4a) and their HVR-deleted mutant forms. Strikingly, deletion of the HVR linker domains enabled both Rab5a and Rab4a isoforms to enhance their intrinsic tethering potency, exhibiting 5-to 50-fold higher initial velocities of tethering for the HVR-deleted mutants than those for the full-length, wild-type Rabs. Furthermore, we revealed that the tethering activity of full-length Rab5a was significantly reduced by the omission of anionic lipids and cholesterol from membrane lipids and, however, membrane tethering driven by HVR-deleted Rab5a mutant was completely insensitive to the headgroup composition of lipids. Reconstituted membrane tethering assays with the C-terminally-truncated mutants of Rab4a further uncovered that the N-terminal residues in the HVR linker, located adjacent to the G-domain, are critical for regulating the intrinsic tethering activity. In conclusion, our current findings establish that the non-conserved, flexible C-terminal HVR linker domains define membrane tethering potency of Rab-family small GTPases through controlling the close attachment of the globular G-domains to membrane surfaces, which confers the active tethering-competent state of the G-domains on lipid bilayers.


We propose a new OFDM demodulation method in order to reduce the influence of the intersymbol interference (ISI) and improve the bit error performance in the presence of multipaths whose excess delays are longer than the guard interval (GI). The influence of the ISI is eliminated or reduced by a variable-length windowed reception, and then the ICI component is reduced by a multi-stage intercarrier interference (ICI) canceller. The simulation results show that the proposed method improves the system availability under more various multipath fading environments without changing the system parameters.


A Landau—Devonshire thermodynamic theory is employed to investigate the effects of composition and misfit strain on the room-temperature electrocaloric effect of epitaxial Pb1−xSrxTiO3 thin films. The "temperature-misfit strain" phase diagrams with the Sr composition x of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 are constructed. The introduction of Sr composition reduces the Curie temperature greatly, and enhances the electrocaloric effect. Moreover, the electrocaloric effect largely depends on the misfit strain. Therefore, the Sr composition and the misfit strain can be controlled to obtain the giant room-temperature electrocaloric effect.


OBJECTIVEOne concern with respect to stent procedures performed to treat patients with intracranial lesions is the fate of normal major arterial branches after stents are placed across them. Because most of these lesions occur at vessel bifurcations or at branch points, a normal major branch often arises near the lesion and may be difficult to avoid during stent positioning. The aim of this article is to describe the angiographic outcome of intracranial major branch arteries crossed by a stent in the intracranial circulation. METHODSWe examined the immediate postprocedural cerebral angiograms of the 40 patients who underwent intracranial stenting at the University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, between June 1998 and April 2000. In each of 10 patients, the stent was placed across a normal major branch artery. Stents were used to treat aneurysms in seven patients and intracranial stenosis in three patients. The latest cerebral angiogram available was reviewed, and the patency of the major branch arteries was evaluated. RESULTSThe angiographic follow-up period ranged from 4 days to 35 months (mean follow-up, 10 mo). Each of the 10 major branch arteries was patent. No infarcts were associated with the territory of the major branch arteries crossed by the stents, and no patient experienced a related episode of clinical ischemia. Four patients died as a result of causes unrelated to the stenting procedure. The histology of a middle cerebral artery stent that was placed across a lenticulostriate perforator is presented. CONCLUSIONThe flexible, low-profile stents used in this study had no angiographically or clinically apparent effect on the major intracranial branches across which they were placed.


The elimination of Pb2+ and recovery of lead metal during the treatment of industrial sewage is an important research topic. Montmorillonite (Mnt) is a promising material in this regard. The purpose of the present study was to improve the Pb2+ adsorption ability of Na-containing Mnt (Na-Mnt) by pillaring titania (anatase) into its interlayer spaces using a sol-gel method. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The ratio of Ti to Mnt affected the crystal phase of titania-pillared Na-Mnt (Ti-Mnt), and changed the interlayer spacing of the (001) plane of Ti-Mnt and the growth of anatase. The Pb2+-adsorption capabilities of Ti-Mnt were tested using an aqueous solution of lead nitrate as a wastewater model. The Ti-Mnt prepared adsorbed >99.99% of the Pb2+; leached and activated Ti-Mnt adsorbed >95.7% of the Pb2+, indicating that Ti-Mnt could be recycled effectively. Furthermore, the Pb2+-adsorption capability of Ti- Mnt was related to the interlayer spacing of Mnt, the distribution of anatase particles pillared in Mnt, and the specific surface area, especially with respect to the relationship between the anatase particles and the interlayer spacing of the (001) plane.


Introduction This longitudinal study aimed to identify aging trajectory patterns of social interaction by sex and determine the association between these patterns and all-cause mortality. Methods Participants were 4,065 community-dwelling older adults (1849 men) in Japan, aged 65–89 years, who responded twice or more to a mail survey conducted between 2012 and 2020. Social interaction was examined through the frequency of face-to-face and non-face-to-face contact with non-resident family and friends. The aging trajectories of the social interaction scores were identified using group-based trajectory modeling. Results Two groups were identified among both men and women. Among men with high-frequency interaction, a rapid decrease in the frequency of social interaction was observed after 80 years of age. Conversely, among women, the frequency tended to remain the same, even after 80 years of age. The social interaction score among those aged 65 years in the low-frequency group was approximately 4 points for men and 6 points for women. Among men, no decrease was observed; however, it tended to decline after 85 years of age among women. Among men, the factors associated with the low-frequency group were instrumental activities of daily living score, perceived financial status, and social participation, while among women, they were self-rated health and social participation. The adjusted hazard ratio in the low-frequency group for all-cause mortality was 1.72 (95% confidence interval, 1.27–1.72) for men and 1.45 (95% confidence interval, 0.98–2.14) for women. Discussion In the low-frequency group, men had a higher risk of all-cause mortality than women. Daily social interaction from mid-age is important to reduce the risk of social isolation and all-cause mortality in later life.


The Government of Jamaica commissioned landslide susceptibility assessment of the parish of Portland represents a response to the continuous landslide problem experienced there. Portland is known for the frequent occurrence of landslides, induced by rainfall or seismic activity. Losses amounting to millions of dollars and numerous disaster-related deaths are attributed to landslide activity. Medium-scale (1:50,000) landslide susceptibility analysis through a combination of direct (field) and indirect (statistical) methods is used to generate a landslide susceptibility model for the parish. Using an inventory of known landslides, the bivariate statistical method, specifically simple map combination, is applied to compute weightings for the predisposing factors of landslides originating from topography and geology. The methodology used attempts to maintain full objectiveness in the model. Field experience is introduced where statistical methods fall short of realistically predicting the natural environment. Experience is also used to test the practicality of the map, bridging the void from the ideal theoretical model to the realistic ground truth. The susceptibility model ideally predicts existing landslides with approximately 80% accuracy; a value that is highly acceptable. The model may be employed as a tool for rural and physical planning, engineering works, building and infrastructure developments, and importantly natural hazard mitigation.


This study deals with the traffic accidents of circular intersections in Korea. The goal of this study is to develop the traffic accident models using ZAM. The main results are as follows. First, in the case of `violating the operational method of intersection`, ZINB(zero-inflatednegative binomial) models were analyzed to be the best fit to the data. Second, in the case of` no maintaining the safe distance`, ZINB models were also analyzed to be the best fit to the data. Finally, such the common variables as traffic volume and width of circular roadway were selected as the independent variables. The more traffic volume and the less width of circulatory roadway were evaluated to make the more accidents. Such the specific variables as the number of approach lanes and speed reduction facilities were selected as the explanatory variables. The more approach lanes and the less speed reduction facilities were evaluated to give the more accidents. This study might be expected to give some implications to the accident research on the circular intersections.


Interaction patterns between parents and pediatricians were examined during 1,378 well-child visits to four public and private pediatric clinics. During 327 visits, parents listed at least one psychosocial concern related to their child's mental health. At 37 percent of these visits, parents said they did not wish to discuss the concern with the physician. Physicians failed to address concerns during approximately 35 percent of visits at which parents were willing to discuss them. Successful parent-physician interactions were three times more frequent in private practices than in a public clinic; they were more likely when fewer concerns were stated and less likely when behavior problems were the concern. Parents concerned about the parent-infant relationship were four times more likely to be referred to outside mental health services, although these cases were relatively rare. Older children and families receiving Medicaid were also more likely to be referred to such services.


This article is an attempt at developing a lens through which political culture in Mozambique can be analysed, described and interpreted. It is based on the notion of a political teleology that emerged out of the conditions within which the country fought for its independence. The paper argues that violence in a symbolic and physical form played a central role in the constitution of this political teleology by, on the one hand, allowing the liberation movement to produce an account of Mozambican history which both gave legitimacy to its own struggle while at the same time undermining alternative accounts and, on the other, set the scene for the implementation of a national project that came to be primarily concerned with the reproduction of the claim to power of the liberation movement. Forty years of independence in Mozambique offer an ideal time frame to attempt the construction of such a lens.


Introduction The Inpatient Unit at Dorothy House Hospice Care committed to comply with national guidelines for antibiotic prescribing. The document followed was the Department of Health's 'Antimicrobial Stewardship: Start Smart Then Focus'. Although the guidance had been produced for hospitals the guiding principles were also applicable in the hospice setting. We also wanted to ensure compliance with Criterion 3 of the Health and Social Care Act 2015 where it states "Ensure appropriate antimicrobial use to optimise patient outcomes and to reduce the risk of adverse events and antimicrobial resistance". Aims The aims were to ensure Dorothy House was compliant with local and national guidelines on antibiotic prescribing To identify how antibiotics are prescribed and supplied by Dorothy House and to improve antimicrobial stewardship. Methods A patient database was set up to capture all patients prescribed antibiotics. Standards were set to ensure: Compliance with local guidelines Documented indication for antibiotic use was on the medicine chart Documented indication for use was in the patient notes The prescription was clear and accurate A review date or duration of antibiotic use was prescribed Compliance with The Department of Health Advisory Committee on antimicrobial stewardship A quarterly audit using the above standards was performed capturing all patients prescribed antibiotics in that time period Conclusion There was a dramatic improvement in compliance from the quarter one audit to the quarter four audit in all standards but most specifically around documenting an indication for use on prescription charts and setting a review or duration date. There was also a decrease in the use of broad spectrum antibiotics. This audit now forms part of the Dorothy House Hospice Care annual audit plan.


Dr. Ricketts, Members of the Association and Guests: I am indeed highly honored that this Society has selected me, one who long since abandoned the bedside for the laboratory, to give the Banting Lecture. I am happy to join with this Association to pay tribute to a great physician whose discovery of insulin has done so much to diminish suffering in man. Outstanding discoveries in the field of medical therapy are rare. We count surgical asepsis, anesthetics, and antibiotics among the important ones. The imperishable studies of Banting and Best added insulin to these. Its discovery generated problems in many areas of medicine and these have aroused the imagination and stimulated the activities of scientists all over the world. Driven by insatiable intellectual curiosity, they have labored indefatigably to search out the mode of action of insulin upon mammalian metabolism. Although obscurity still darkens the field, these researches reveal a pattern which begins to have meaning. I have undertaken the task in this hour to describe this pattern as I see it.


We experimentally investigate two cycles of Fermi-Pasta-Ulam-Tsingou recurrence in optical fibers. Using three waves input, we characterize the distance of maximum compression points against the sideband amplitude and relative phase, outlining the qualitative changes of the dynamics due to separatrix crossing. Experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations and analytical predictions.


Sliding Rotary Vane Expanders (SVRE) are often employed in Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC)-based power units for Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) in Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) due to their operating flexibility, robustness, and low manufacturing cost. In spite of the interest toward these promising machines, in literature, there is a lack of knowledge referable to the design and the optimization of SVRE: these machines are often rearranged reversing the operational behavior when they operate as compressors, resulting in low efficiencies and difficulty to manage off-design conditions, which are typical in ORC-based power units for WHR in ICE. In this paper, the authors presented a new model of the machine, which, thanks to some specific simplifications, can be used recursively to optimize the design. The model was characterized by a good level of physical representation and also by an acceptable computational time. Despite its simplicity, the model integrated a good capability to reproduce volumetric and mechanical efficiencies. The validation of the model was done using a wide experimental campaign conducted on a 1.5 kW SVRE operated on an ORC-based power unit fed by the exhaust gases of a 3 L supercharged diesel engine. Once validated, a design optimization was run, allowing to find the best solution between two "extreme" designs: a "disk-shaped"—increasing the external diameter of the machine and reducing axial length—and by a "finger-shaped" machine. The predictions of this new model were finally compared with a more complex numerical model, showing good agreement and opening the way to its use as a model-based control tool.


Background GLPG0634 is an orally-available, selective Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitor. Less-selective JAK inhibitors have shown long-term efficacy in treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) but also dose-limiting side effects. Selective inhibition of JAK1 may combine favorable safety and clinical efficacy profiles with rapid onset of action. GLPG0634 showed encouraging pharmacodynamics, safety and efficacy in early clinical studies treating RA patients for 4 weeks. Longer term Phase 2B studies are ongoing. Objectives Support GLPG0634 dose selection for Phase 2b studies in RA using exposure-response modeling and simulation. Methods Population predicted and individual responses to treatment were investigated on the basis of simulated exposures to GLPG0634 and its main metabolite. Non-linear mixed effects E-R models were built to describe the proportion of cells showing phosphorylation of STAT1 following activation with IL-6 in healthy subjects (PD response) and DAS28 improvement from baseline in RA patients treated for 4 weeks (clinical response). The pSTAT1 response over 24-h at steady state and the contribution of the active metabolite to the biomarker response were predicted for a male with bodyweight of 75 kg. The DAS28 E-R model was used to predict the improvement of the clinical response following 12 weeks of GLPG0634 treatment. Simulations of both biomarker and clinical responses were investigated over a 30 to 300 mg daily dose range. Results The PK of GLPG0634 and its active metabolite were adequately described by an integrated model with two- and one-compartmental disposition, respectively. The observed pSTAT1 response was described by a sigmoidal EMAX model, with EC50 values of 471 ng/mL (1.1 μM) and 1770 ng/mL (4.9 μM) for GLPG0634 and its metabolite, respectively. The steady state inhibition of pSTAT1 was predicted to be between 64.3% (pre-dose) and 91.9% (at Cmax) following treatment with 200 mg GLPG0634 QD with no relevant increase in PD response at higher doses. Biomarker response over the dosing interval correlates with the time profiles of GLPG0634 and its metabolite. While inhibition is maximal at the peak of GLPG0634, the sustained metabolite exposure results in a continued basal inhibition when GLPG0634 exposure declines. The observed DAS28 change from baseline was adequately described by a linear direct response model using the individual predicted metabolite exposure as a predictor of response. The population DAS28 change from baseline was predicted of -2.2 and -2.6 at week 4 and 12 following 200 mg GLPG0634 QD with no improvement in DAS28 response at higher doses. Conclusions Current modeling and simulation on the basis of early clinical data suggests that the pharmacokinetics of GLPG0634 is dose proportional at doses up to 200 mg QD, in agreement with observed data, and shows that both GLPG0634 and its main metabolite contribute to biomarker response. Simulations of the pSTAT1 and DAS28 dose-response relation suggest that the efficacy is favorable up to a daily dose of 200 mg GLPG0634, with clinical response in the range of that observed with registered compounds. A daily dose range from 50 to 200 mg is currently being tested in the DARWIN Phase 2B program. Disclosure of Interest : F. Namour Employee of: Galapagos, C. Tasset Employee of: Galapagos, G. van't Klooster Employee of: Galapagos, P. Diderichsen: None declared, E. Cox: None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.2932


This paper concerns developing a managed system in a telecommunication management network. We suggest an overall architecture of a managed system and show how the proposed architecture can be implemented as a multi-threaded server. We analyze the weaknesses of the GDMO (Guidelines for the Definition of Managed Objects) in developing a managed system and propose three extensions to the GDMO to overcome these weaknesses. We mention how a managed object whose specification is given by our extended GDMO can be implemented. Finally we describe the development procedure and support tools for developing a managed system.


Abstract Background and Purpose: Volume and sophistication of scientific research related to different aspects of entrepreneurship have significantly increased in recent years. Many authors point out the positive influence that development of micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship has on economic growth and job creation. According to various researchers, youth entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurship are two very important elements of this global phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to provide the analysis of strategic framework for the support to the development of youth and women entrepreneurship in Serbia. Design/Methodology/Approach: Situational analysis of youth and women employment and examination of official Government strategic documents related to strategic framework for the support to the development of youth and women entrepreneurship in Serbia will be conducted. Results: Concrete activities have to be performed by different stakeholders, mostly non-government organizations. The activity stakeholders are on the bottom of the institutional framework, which provides the support to MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector that will execute the operations in accordance with the defined strategic framework. Conclusion: Youth-run enterprises provide numerous benefits for society; they reduce youth unemployment and help young people prepare for their future. Female entrepreneurs also have strong economic and social impact.


Fourteen cases of intrapericardial neoplasia seen over a three year period are reviewed. The clinical details and the electrocardiographic, radiographic and laboratory findings are summarised. The usefulness of two-dimensional echocardiography in the diagnosis of intrapericardial mass lesions is emphasised. The prognosis was generally very poor, even in cases in which surgery was performed.


Introducao: Shortages of rural physicians are worsening worldwide. Rural longitudinal integrated clerkships (LIC's) based in primary care practices represent a new way to train medical students in rural and underserved locales. These programs place medical students in rural/underserved settings for 5-12 months of their first year of clinical education, the third year of medical school in the U.S. model. Objetivos: Evaluate impact of the 3 oldest US rural LIC's on choice of specialty and practice site. Hypotheses: Students who participate in primary care rural LIC's during their 3rd year of medical school are more likely to chose primary care specialties and to practice in rural and underserved settings. Metodologia ou Descricao da Experiencia: The medical schools at the Universities of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Washington sponsor the 3 oldest rural LIC's in the US. Utilizing program data we studied the likelihood of participants graduating and entering primary care specialties and rural practice sites. An 8 yr. period from 2000-2007, when all programs were fully operational and allowing time for graduation, residency match/training, and practice site selection was utilized as the period of analysis. Choices made by participants of the programs were compared to choices made by other U.S. medical students who graduated in the same time period. Comparison data were statistically analyzed to determine significant differences. Resultados: The students who participated in one of the three rural LIC programs were far more likely to enter a primary care medical specialty than students who did not participate in the programs. This finding was especially true for Family Medicine. Additionally, students who participated in one of the three rural LIC programs were much more likely to enter rural practice on completion of their training than students who did not participate. Conclusao ou Hipoteses: Longitudinal integrated clerkships are an emerging approach to medical education worldwide. This study suggests that rurally located primary care based LIC's may be effective in encouraging medical students to chose primary care specialties and to practice in rural underserved locations upon completion of their training. This approach could be part of the solution to rural healthcare workforce shortages.


Poly-o-toluidine (POT) was chemically and electrochemically synthesized for the study of the electronic and steric effect of methyl substituents. It was found that the steric effect was dominant in POT. The IP 4.95 eV, EA 3.24 eV, Eg 1.71 eV of POT were found by the CV (Cyclic Voltammetry) and CCPSA (Constant Current Potentiometric Stripping Analysis).


INTRODUCTION
Cytomegalovirus infection (CMV) is one of the most common viral infections during pregnancy and one of the most common causes of birth defects in newborns. CMV infection occurs mostly through close contact with small children who can secrete the virus in saliva and urine. Children, especially in preschool and early school can also be a source of infection with other herpesviruses. The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of active infections caused by viruses from the family Herpesviridae (CMV, EBV, VZV) among members of families with children.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The study included 24 families raising children aged from 2 to 18 years. From all members of the families (46 adults and 39 children) saliva samples were collected from which DNA was extracted. The isolated DNA samples were tested for the presence of CMV, EBV, VZV genetic material by nested PCR. In addition, each family carried out a survey.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
The presence of CMV DNA in saliva samples were detected in members of 7 families and the presence of EBV DNA were detected in members of 11 families. Total DNA of CMV was detected in 8/85 samples of saliva (9.41%), of which 1/46 adults (2.17%) and 7/39 children (17.95%) and EBV DNA was detected in 18/85 tested saliva samples (21,18%) - 13/46 samples from adults (28,26%) and 5/39 samples from children (12,82%). VZV DNA was not detected in any of the tested saliva samples. The obtained results indicate that the active, asymptomatic infections with lymphotropic herpesviruses are common and affect more than 10% (CMV) and 20% (EBV) subjects.


The five thoughtful essays reviewing Markets over Mao: The Rise of Private Business in China remind us of the complexity of China and the seeming inevitability of widely varying interpretations of contemporary economic trends and events. Different perspectives stem from varying disciplinary backgrounds, research agendas, and a host of other factors. Thus the review essays are a useful guide to perspectives that are sometimes different from those articulated in Markets over Mao.As is suggested by the subtitle, the central theme of the book is that China's rapid growth after 1978 is largely the consequence of the growing role that markets play in resource allocation and the rapid expansion of private businesses that have operated increasingly successfully in this new emerging environment. The reviewers agree that private firms are more dynamic and thus have largely displaced state firms in broad swaths of the economy. They argue, however, that the book understates the influence of the state, and some of the reviewers even imply that the book argues that China's economy is entirely market-driven. But the book also points out that the state still controls fully one-third of all investment and demonstrates clearly that the role of the market is very attenuated in upstream oil and gas, electric power, and modern businesses services, such as finance and telecommunications, largely because the government has severely limited entry by private firms in these domains. The incumbent state firms in these sectors, shielded from competition, have become extremely inefficient and, in fact, are an increasing drag on China's economic growth. Thus the analysis in Markets over Mao shows that China remains short of a liberal market economy. The book concludes that the way forward is to implement the two key economic reforms embraced at the Third Plenum of the 18th Party Congress-i.e., eliminating most monopolies and fostering increased competition so that the market becomes the dominant force in the allocation of resources throughout the economy.How then do we measure the role of the party-state in the economy other than by ownership and the control of investment? Kellee Tsai in her review notes that the top management of the largest state firms is appointed by the Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party, which is a point made in Markets over Mao. But the 53 firms for which this is the case lie almost entirely in the segments of the economy that have never been opened up to competition from private firms. As a result, the role of the party there tells us little about its role in China's private sector, which in 2012 consisted of 6.5 million private enterprises and 40.6 million household businesses (the latter not organized under the Company Law and thus not classified as enterprises).Yukon Huang argues that the competition among provincial and local governments in attracting foreign and domestic investment to promote growth is unique to China and demonstrates that the state plays a major role in shaping growth that goes beyond its direct ownership of enterprises. Yet competition among U.S. states to attract foreign and domestic investment is pervasive, demonstrated clearly, for example, in 2013 when 22 states offered tens of billions of dollars in subsidies in an attempt to attract a new Boeing aircraft production facility. Huang also argues that private firm access to credit "depends on relationships with the party system." Yet he presents no evidence that this is the case, and it seems unlikely that the party could exert much detailed control of the roughly 15 trillion renminbi in bank loans outstanding to the millions of private firms and household businesses in 2012.Joseph Fewsmith believes that the government regulatory and approval process is another mechanism through which the state exerts control of private firms. But the extent to which these approvals are substantially more onerous than in market economies is not clear. …