Three realizations of the atmospheric temperature representing the layer from the surface to about 18 km generated from microwave emissions were published in 2003. Their 1979–2002 linear trends were stated as +0.24 ± 0.02, +0.12 ± 0.02 and +0.03 ± 0.05°C decade−1. Because the upper portion of this layer includes the stratosphere, the opportunity to utilize radiosonde measurements as an independent assessor of these trend values is diminished. However, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) also produces a lower tropospheric temperature (LT) product (0–8 km, trend of +0.08°C decade−1) for which radiosondes are much more suitable. Comparisons of this UAH product with radiosonde‐simulated layer temperatures show no significant difference in LT trends, lending support for the least positive trend of the three deeper layer values (+0.03 ± 0.05°C decade−1) as it was constructed in the same manner as LT.


A guiding principle in hydrological modelling should be to keep the number of calibration parameters to a minimum. A reduced number of parameters to be calibrated, while maintaining the accuracy and detail required by modern hydrological models, will reduce parameter and model structure uncertainty and improve model diagnostics. In this study, the dynamics of runoff are derived from the distribution of distances from points in the catchments to the nearest stream. This distribution is unique for each catchment and can be determined from a geographical information system. The distribution of distances, will, when a celerity of (subsurface) flow is introduced, provide a distribution of travel times, or a unit hydrograph (UH). For spatially varying levels of saturation deficit, we have different celerities and, hence, different UHs. Runoff is derived from the superposition of the different UHs. This study shows how celerities can be estimated if we assume that recession events represent the combined UHs for different levels of saturation deficit. A new soil moisture routine which estimates saturated and unsaturated volumes of subsurface water and with only one parameter to calibrate is included in the new model. The performance of the new model is compared with that of the Swedish HBV model and is found to perform equally well for eight Norwegian catchments although the number of parameters to be calibrated in the module concerning soil moisture and runoff dynamics is reduced from seven in the HBV model to one in the new model. It is also shown that the new model has a more realistic representation of the subsurface hydrology. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This study investigates different approaches in contemporary math education. The author compares his experience in teaching Geometry in Russia and in the United States. The roles of Math and its purposes in the high school curriculum are discussed. The focus is made on theorems about congruent triangles. The set of congruency theorems can be arranged in different ways depending on the level of education and diversity of students. The central theme of the study is an investigation of the theorems and postulates used to conclude triangles are congruent. Every triangle consists of three angles and three sides – a total of six elements. For triangles to be congruent all these elements must be congruent. Specific theorems require only three elements to be congruent to determine the congruency of triangles. These theorems are: SAS theorem (it compares two sides and one included angle), ASA and AAS theorems (they compare two angles and one side), SSS theorem (it compares three sides), HL theorem (a specific case for right triangles). The problem under consideration is the case of SAS theorem in which the congruent angles are not the included angles between congruent sides. The author describes different cases related to this issue and investigates conditions regarding the congruency of such triangles – SSA conditions. Finally, proposals are made about options to teach congruence theorems for regular high school mathematics classes as well as Pre-AP mathematics classes.


Dynamic traffic control systems on freeways are highly complex facilities used for optimizing traffic flow and increasing traffic safety by, for instance, harmonizing speeds and displaying warnings to the road users. At the same time, the decentralized design of such systems comprising many distributed and inter-connected hardware and software components makes them costly to maintain in practice. Although there are several monitoring tools available, fault diagnostics still is an effortful (manual) process involving experienced staff in the traffic control center and in the field. Model-based support including the automatic generation of case-specific troubleshooting strategies depending on observed failures and evidences provide the chance to considerably increase the efficiency of fault management in this context. Bayesian networks as an established probabilistic framework for diagnostic reasoning in complex scenarios is discussed as a suitable model approach to meet these mentioned challenges. The general concept includes a transparent and human-interpretable deduction of diagnostic results as well as a high compatibility with current management processes in the traffic control center (e.g., ticketing). Not least, available system information and domain knowledge as already collected by common failure mode and effect analyses or similar approaches will support the creation of a valid diagnostic model in terms of a Bayesian network what is not possible in such an easy way for other popular modelling approaches as, for instance, neural networks.


BACKGROUND
Stent-assisted coiling (SAC) in the treatment of ruptured intracranial aneurysms (RIAs) remains controversial.

AIMS
In this study, we report our experience of SAC of wide-necked RIAs and evaluate the risk factors contributing to periprocedural complications.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
218 patients underwent SAC for ruptured, wide-necked saccular intracranial aneurysms at our center between 2011 and 2014. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the risk factors contributing to the periprocedural complications. Follow-up angiography was available in 178 (84.8%) patients. Clinical outcome was measured using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) through telephonic interviews.

RESULTS
Periprocedural complications occurred in 33 (15.1%) patients out of which 17 were thromboembolic (7.8%) and the remainder were hemorrhagic complications (n = 16, 7.3%). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that a positive history of hypertension (odds ratio [OR] 4.899, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.266-18.951; P = 0.021), and daughter blebs (OR 12.165, 95% CI 3.247-45.577; P = 0.0001) were the major risk factors for the periprocedural hemorrhagic complications, but not for the thromboembolic complications. Angiographic follow-up (mean, 19.5 ± 11.9 months) showed Raymond scale (RS) 1 in 158 (88.8%) patients and RS2 in 20 (11.2%) patients without any angiographic recurrence. At a mean clinical follow-up of 29.1 ± 16.2 months, 201 out of the 210 surviving patients had a good functional outcome (GOS score of 4 or 5).

CONCLUSIONS
SAC is an effective treatment option for selected ruptured wide-necked aneurysms, especially in patients who do not require external ventricle drainage for acute hydrocephalus. The periprocedural hemorrhagic complications tend to be more common in the hypertensive patients and in those with daughter blebs in the aneurysm sac.


The aim of the article is to explore ways of conceiving and organizing the recent past in contemporary rock music taking place in Sweden. Empirical basis is observations at music events, in-depth interviews, reading of news media and web pages, and analysis of recorded music, conducted within a current research project. The article develops three retrologies, literally "ways of thinking back". Rebirth is when musicians disappear and after many years reappear. In this case identity "the authority to claim personal continuity" and the capability to represent and manage a lost context are keys to an authentic performance and central to the musicians' chances to update and develop their sound. Resounding is the use of past sounds, instruments, grooves and melodic fragments that are put together in new ways. These bands are associated to the seventies, and listeners will find a number of historic references yet rarely or never find actual copies. Recreation is the meticulous work characterizing certain tribute bands in their effort to recreate historical concerts. In this case, the identity of the performing artist is erased in favor of the identity of the performed artist, placing authenticity in the matching of detailed performance and audience expectations. To conclude, each retrology points to different conceptions of authenticity, but they all create intimate historical spaces for their audiences to enter into.


Inflammatory conditions are associated with a variety of diseases and can significantly contribute to their pathophysiology. Neutrophils are recognised as key players in driving vascular inflammation and promoting inflammation resolution. As a result, neutrophils, and specifically their surface formyl peptide receptors (FPRs), are attractive targets for non-invasive visualization of inflammatory disease states and studying mechanistic details of the process. Methods: A small-molecule Formyl Peptide Receptor 2 (FPR2/ALX)-targeted compound was combined with two rhodamine-derived fluorescent tags to form firstly, a targeted probe (Rho-pip-C1) and secondly a targeted, pH-responsive probe (Rho-NH-C1) for in vivo applications. We tested internalization, toxicity and functional interactions with neutrophils in vitro for both compounds, as well as the fluorescence switching response of Rho-NH-C1 to neutrophil activation. Finally, in vivo imaging (fluorescent intravital microscopy [IVM]) and therapeutic efficacy studies were performed in an inflammatory mouse model. Results: In vitro studies showed that the compounds bound to human neutrophils via FPR2/ALX without causing internalization at relevant concentrations. Additionally, the compounds did not cause toxicity or affect neutrophil functional responses (e.g. chemotaxis or transmigration). In vivo studies using IVM showed Rho-pip-C1 bound to activated neutrophils in a model of vascular inflammation. The pH-sensitive ("switchable") version termed Rho-NH-C1 validated these findings, showing fluorescent activity only in inflammatory conditions. Conclusions: These results indicate a viable design of fluorescent probes that have the ability to detect inflammatory events by targeting activated neutrophils.


The aim of writing this book on "MBBS-Pharmacology Practical Book" is to help the second year MBBS students learn Pharmacology through practical exercises and apply the knowledge gained in Pharmacology in the treatment of diseases.
There are 28 Pharmacology practical exercises prescribed in the new undergraduate CBME curriculum which are categorized under Clinical pharmacy (CP), Clinical pharmacology (CPH), Experimental pharmacology (EPH) and Communication (C) to acquire the 21 competencies defined in the CBME syllabus. Among these competencies the students have to get certified in 4 competencies in clinical pharmacology which include acquiring skills to write a rational prescription, critically evaluate a written prescription and the drug promotional literature as well as contribute to the pharmacovigilance program of India.
Taking into consideration the above requirements, necessary exercises for identification and evaluation of drug formulations, drug administration through different routes using mannequins, calculation of drug dosage in different age groups and selected disease states, clinical problem-solving exercises, prescription writing, prescription audit, pharmacoeconomic and pharmacovigilance exercises have been dealt with in detail in this book.
In conclusion, these exercises can enable the students to acquire the skills to select and use different drug formulations in right dosage, and in right combination for the right patient through rational prescriptions. The exercises also train the students how to administer drugs, effectively communicate to the patient and public regarding drug use.


There is high possibility that the housing shortage in Malaysia will remain for a long time. However, while the existing housing stock is insufficient, constraints on income distributions have created affordability gaps by creating an imbalance between demand and supply. To increase housing supply, the government is providing homes directly as well as providing tax reliefs and subsidies to the developers, contractors and prospective home buyers. However, despite the measures the housing supply and distribution gaps are growing persistently. Therefore, there is the need to provide answers to a number of questions. It is the aim of this current study to examine the economic determinants of affordable housing. Through a cross sectional survey questionnaire, involving 71 homeowners, 13 cost determinants were established for affordable housing. The study provides insight into cost determinants of affordable housing. The results will be useful to policy makers, developers towards and the prospective home buyers.


At the centre of the Clinical e-Science Framework (CLEF) project is a repository of well organised, detailed clinical histories, encoded as data that will be available for use in clinical care and in-silico medical experiments. An integral part of the CLEF workbench is a tool to allow biomedical researchers and clinicians to query – in an intuitive way – the repository of patient data. This paper describes the CLEF query editing interface, which makes use of natural language generation techniques in order to alleviate some of the problems generally faced by natural language and graphical query interfaces. The query interface also incorporates an answer renderer that dynamically generates responses in both natural language text and graphics.


The tuned substrate self-bias in a radio-frequency inductively coupled plasma is controlled by varying the impedance of an external tuning LCR (inductor, capacitor and resistor) network inserted between the substrate and the ground. In experiments, it was found that the variation of the tuned substrate self-bias with the tuning capacitance demonstrated three features, namely, continuity, instability and bistability. In this paper, a numerical study is focused on the elucidation of the physical mechanisms underlying continuity and bistability. For the sake of simplicity and feasibility to include the key factors influencing the tuned substrate bias, the tedious calculation of inductive-coupling to obtain the plasma density and electron temperature is omitted, and discussion of the tuned substrate self-bias is made under the prescribed plasma density and electron temperature. On the other hand, the parameters influencing capacitive- coupling are retained in modeling the system with an equivalent circuit. It is found that multi-stable state appears when one of the parameters, such as the resistance in LCR, substrate area and plasma density, decreased to its critical value, or the rf voltage or electron temperature increased to the critical value individually. In the reverse cases, the tuned substrate self-bias varies continuously with the tuning capacitance.


The LHC will be a top quark factory, producing large numbers of top quarks even at the initial low luminosities. This will enable a rich program of top quark physics to be explored, both within the Standard Model and using top quarks as probes of physics beyond the Standard Model. Recent studies from ATLAS are presented, including prospects for the measurements of the production of top pairs and single top production, angular correlations in the top decay, and the precision measurement of the top quark mass. The search for physics beyond the Standard Model will be illustrated with searches for rare top decays involving Flavour Changing Neutral Currents, and the reconstruction of tt̄ resonances resulting from new heavy particles in various models.


All symbols used in the E-government is commonly conceptualized as governments 'use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) combined with organizational change to improve the structures and operations of government. E-governments are characterized by providing increased levels of convenient efficiency to citizens, thereby ensuring a better quality of customer service and convenience in accessing better information. Regardless of how advanced a country is in terms of ICT infrastructure and deployment; many technical and non-technical obstacles must be faced in the adoption and dissemination of egovernment. The understanding of e-government barriers and challenges is a significant strategic phase toward reliable and effective e-government adoption. The aim of the study is to identify barriers and challenges in adopting e-government in Sri Lanka. A range of earlier studies in India, Nepal, Nigeria, Romania, UAE have been critically examined and analysed to identify challenges of e-government. This paper then presents a critical analysis of barriers and challenges experienced in public sector organisations in the light of Sri Lankan context using an e government architecture consisted of four layers. Findings reveal that Sri Lanka faces similar challenges including financial constraints, policy barriers, infrastructure, lack of integration across government systems and organizations, change management, security risks, trust issues and low IT literacy which should be addressed in a holistic approach. Introducing a new e-government and ICT policy is recommended as an initial step to overcome the barriers and challenges.


Angiogenesis is involved in the development and progression of many human diseases,
including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic inflammation, and metabolic
diseases. Despite differences in microenvironment under various pathological settings,
angiogenic blood vessels share some common features in numerous diseases. This
thesis reveals novel molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis in tumors and adipose
tissues, as well as defining potential therapeutic targets for treatment of cancer and
obesity-associated metabolic diseases.

In Paper I, we showed that PDGF-BB is a tumor-derived vascular remodeling
factor that promotes tumor growth through activation of stromal fibroblasts and
perivascular cells in tumor microenvironment. Tumor-derived PDGF-BB activates
stromal fibroblasts to produce erythropoietin (Epo), which in turn triggers
extramedullary hematopoiesis thereby enhancing oxygen perfusion in tumor
vasculatures leading to an accelerated tumor growth rate. Epo is also known as a potent
angiogenic factor which acts directly on endothelial cells (ECs) to induce tumor
neovascularization. Therefore, PDGF-BB modulates tumor angiogenesis, vascular
remodeling and hematopoiesis, via activation of the Epo signaling pathway, thus
facilitating tumor growth, invasion and possibly reduces drug responsiveness.
Understanding the role of Epo in promoting tumor growth and angiogenesis not only
provides novel mechanistic insights into the complex interplay between various
signaling pathways involved in the stimulation of angiogenesis, but also highlights the
risk associated with using Epo in treatment of cancer-associated anemia.

In Paper II, we used mouse tumor models to propose a novel mechanism
underlying the combination therapy consisting of anti-angiogenic and
chemotherapeutic agents commonly used in human patients. We showed that tumorderived
VEGF induces severe aplastic anemia in mice, and delivery of
chemotherapeutics to these tumor-bearing mice led to an earlier demise due to the
synergistic or additive suppression of bone marrow hematopoiesis by VEGF and
chemotherapy. Switching to a sequential delivery of anti-angiogenic drugs prior to
administration of chemotherapeutics drugs resulted in significant recovery of bone
marrow hematopoiesis, and thus markedly increased tolerance to chemotoxicity. Given
the fact that a significant number of cancer patients die of chemotoxicity, our findings
provide an important mechanism in which anti-angiogenic drugs decreases
chemotoxicity.

In Paper III, we discuss the novel methods we developed for the study of adipose
angiogenesis, which are becoming increasingly used by other scientists. In Paper IV,
we showed for the first time that cold acclimation of mice markedly activates an
angiogenic phenotype via sympathetic upregulation of VEGF expression. Importantly,
inhibition of angiogenesis significantly modulates adipose metabolism. This work
provides the first example where targeting adipose vasculature might provide a novel
therapeutic approach for the treatment of obesity and metabolic diseases.


Analysis of the data from two Vortex-Induced Vibration (VIV) experiments conducted in the Gulf Stream on a 500-foot-long, 1.43 inches diameter, flexible, tension dominated riser model revealed that the response is predominantly characterized by the presence of traveling waves. It was also observed that the location of the VIV excitation region (power-in) affects the characteristics of the response. The conventional method of modeling the excitation force as a standing wave was found inadequate to predict the location of the peak measured response accurately, especially in the cases where the excitation region is close to a boundary (the ends of the riser model). A modified excitation force model consisting of a combination of standing and traveling wave excitation regions is demonstrated to predict the location of the peak response more accurately. This work presents the idea of modifying the VIV excitation model to include traveling wave characteristics and using mode superposition method for computing the response to this modified force. Examples of the implementation of this method are shown for the two distinct cases of the location of the power-in region — the power-in region adjacent to the boundary and the power-in region away from the boundary. Depending on the location of the power-in region, different proportions of standing and traveling wave excitations are used to yield predicted responses that match the measured response characteristics.© 2010 ASME


In an ideal human-computer interface, the computer would be able to understand and use modalities such as speech, hearing, facial gestures and body language in as realistic and natural a manner as a human. This paper discusses two kinds of computer-to-human interaction techniques which involve computerizea facial gestures: the first is the graphics representation of the human face projected on a video display; the second is the physical embodiment of facial expressions using an android robot. These simulated facial gestures may be accompanied by computerized speech synthesis, voice recognition capability or machine vision for recognition of the facial expressions of the human viewer. The author reviews both major techniques, then discusses current and proposed applications of this methodology.


Problem statement: Methicilin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Nosocomial Infection (NI) outbreaks and prevalence among vario us populations are well reported in literature particularly for developed countries. NI due to MRS A is a known cause of increased hospital stay, cost, morbidity and mortality especially among the critically ill. There is paucity of information on MRSA in developing nations including the carriage b y critical healthcare givers who are potential transmitters. In most hospital in developing countr ies like Nigeria, there is neither surveillance sys tem or control policy for MRSA. Approach: We screened healthcare workers in the critical car e units of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Ilorin, Nigeria for MRSA and determined vancomycin susceptibility of the isolates. Swabs of both anterior nares and web spaces of the hands were taken, transported and incubated in Tween 80 a t 35°C overnight aerobically before inoculation onto Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA). Inoculated MSA were incubated aerobically at 35°C for 18-24 h. Staphylococcus aureus was identified as Gram positive cocci with positiv e catalase, coagulase and DNAse test. MRSA were identified by combined oxacillin and cefoxitin discs diffusion method. Sensitivity to vancomycin was by vancomycin discs diffusion and vancomycin agar screen plating. Results: Of the 198 healthcare workers screened, 104 had MRSA either in the nose, hand or both giving a carriage rate of 52.5%. Nasal carriage (38 .9%) was higher than hand (25.3%). Doctors (22.7%) and Nurses (16.7%) were the predominant carriers. MRSA isolates were resistant to commonly available antibiotics. Only 1 (1.3%) of th e nasal isolates was vancomycin resistant. Conclusion: MRSA carriage among healthcare workers in the critical care units of the Nigerian hospital is high with doctors and nurses being the major carriers. The MRSA isolates were multi-drug resistant which may lead to increased morbidity and mortality if transmitted to the critically-ill. Th ere is need for MRSA control policies in hospitals with settings of our type.


The stability of strains within the vaginal microbiota is largely uncharacterized. Should these strains be capable of persisting for extended periods of time, they could evolve within their host in response to selective pressures exerted by the host or by other members of the community. ABSTRACT It is not clear whether the bacterial strains that comprise our microbiota are mostly long-term colonizers or transient residents. Studies have demonstrated decades-long persistence of bacterial strains within the gut, but persistence at other body sites has yet to be determined. The vaginal microbiota (VMB) is often dominated by Lactobacillus, although it is also commonly comprised of a more diverse set of other facultative and obligate anaerobes. Longitudinal studies have demonstrated that these communities can be stable over several menstrual cycles or can fluctuate temporally in species composition. We sought to determine whether the bacterial strains that comprise the VMB were capable of persisting over longer time periods. We performed shotgun metagenomics on paired samples from 10 participants collected 1 and 2 years apart. The resulting sequences were de novo assembled and binned into high-quality metagenome assembled genomes. Persistent strains were identified based on the sequence similarity between the genomes present at the two time points and were found in the VMB of six of the participants, three of which had multiple persistent strains. The VMB of the remaining four participants was similar in species composition at the two time points but was comprised of different strains. For the persistent strains, we were able to identify the mutations that were fixed in the populations over the observed time period, giving insight into the evolution of these bacteria. These results indicate that bacterial strains can persist in the vagina for extended periods of time, providing an opportunity for them to evolve in the host microenvironment. IMPORTANCE The stability of strains within the vaginal microbiota is largely uncharacterized. Should these strains be capable of persisting for extended periods of time, they could evolve within their host in response to selective pressures exerted by the host or by other members of the community. Here, we present preliminary findings demonstrating that bacterial strains can persist in the vagina for at least 1 year. We further characterized in vivo evolution of the persistent strains. Several participants were also found to not have persistent strains, despite having a vaginal microbiota (VMB) with similar species composition at the two time points. Our observations motivate future studies that collect samples from more participants, at more time points, and over even longer periods of time. Understanding which strains persist, what factors drive their persistence, and what selective pressures they face will inform the development and delivery of rationally designed live biotherapeutics for the vagina.


This thesis is concerned with a number of novel uses of spatial coupling, applied to a class of probabilistic graphical models. These models include error correcting codes, random constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) and statistical physics models called diluted spin systems. Spatial coupling is a technique initially developed for channel coding, which provides a recipe to transform a class of sparse linear codes into codes that are longer but more robust at high noise level. In fact it was observed that for coupled codes there are efficient algorithms whose decoding threshold is the optimal one, a phenomenon called threshold saturation. The main aim of this thesis is to explore alternative applications of spatial coupling. The goal is to study properties of uncoupled probabilistic models (not just coding) through the use of the corresponding spatially coupled models. The methods employed are ranging from the mathematically rigorous to the purely experimental. We first explore spatial coupling as a proof technique in the realm of LDPC codes. The Maxwell conjecture states that for arbitrary BMS channels the optimal (MAP) threshold of the standard (uncoupled) LDPC codes is given by the Maxwell construction. We are able to prove the Maxwell Conjecture for any smooth family of BMS channels by using (i) the fact that coupled codes perform optimally (which was already proved) and (ii) that the optimal thresholds of the coupled and uncoupled LDPC codes coincide. The method is used to derive two more results, namely the equality of GEXIT curves above the MAP threshold and the exactness of the averaged Bethe free energy formula derived under the RS cavity method from statistical physics. As a second application of spatial coupling we show how to derive novel bounds on the phase transitions in random constraint satisfaction problems, and possibly a general class of diluted spin systems. In the case of coloring, we investigate what happens to the dynamic and freezing thresholds. The phenomenon of threshold saturation is present also in this case, with the dynamic threshold moving to the condensation threshold, and the freezing moving to colorability. These claims are supported by experimental evidence, but in some cases, such as the saturation of the freezing threshold it is possible to make part of this claim more rigorous. This allows in principle for the computation of thresholds by use of spatial coupling. The proof is in the spirit of the potential method introduced by Kumar, Young, Macris and Pfister for LDPC codes. Finally, we explore how to find solutions in (uncoupled) probabilistic models. To test this, we start with a typical instance of random K-SAT (the base problem), and we build a spatially coupled structure that locally inherits the structure of the base problem. The goal is to run an algorithm for finding a suitable solution in the coupled structure and then "project" this solution to obtain a solution for the base problem. Experimental evidence points to the fact it is indeed possible to use a form of unit-clause propagation (UCP), a simple algorithm, to achieve this goal. This approach works also in regimes where the standard UCP fails on the base problem.


Study Design: Biomechanical. Objective: This study evaluates the biomechanical properties of lag-screws used in vertebral pincer fractures at the thoracolumbar junction. Methods: Pincer fractures were created in 18 bisegmental human specimens. The specimens were assigned to three groups depending on their treatment perspective, either bolted, with the thread positioned in the cortical or cancellous bone, or control. The specimens were mounted in a servo-hydraulic testing machine and loaded with a 500 N follower load. They were consecutively tested in 3 different conditions: intact, fractured, and bolted/control. For each condition 10 cycles in extension/flexion, torsion, and lateral bending were applied. After each tested condition, a computed tomography (CT) scan was performed. Finally, an extension/flexion fatigue loading was applied to all specimens. Results: Biomechanical results revealed a nonsignificant increase in stiffness in extension/flexion of the fractured specimens compared with the intact ones. For lateral bending and torsion, the stiffness was significantly lower. Compared with the fractured specimens, no changes in stiffness due to bolting were discovered. CT scans showed an increasing fracture gap during axial loading both in extension/flexion, torsion, and lateral bending in the control specimens. In bolted specimens, the anterior fragment was approximated, and the fracture gap nullified. This refers to both the cortical and the cancellous thread positions. Conclusion: The results of this study concerning the effect of lag-screws on pincer fractures appear promising. Though there was little effect on stiffness, CT scans reveal a bony contact in the bolted specimens, which is a requirement for bony healing.


Different chemical species have unique line spectra that contain information pertaining to their physical properties such as temperature, pressure, and species concentration. Line spectra must be calibrated with a high-temperature absorption cell in order to validate experimentally measured spectra with simulated spectra. The University of Tennessee Space Institute uses a high-temperature, single-zone absorption cell for spectral calibrations. Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) is the diagnostic technique used in this research to measure temperature and species concentrations of CO and CO2 mixtures in the absorption cell. However, TDLAS takes the path-average measurement of the line-ofsight, which is problematic because the absorption cell suffers from a nonuniform temperature distribution across the heated path. Thermal insulation is applied to the absorption cell in order to reduce that temperature gradient. The research presented in this thesis studies the effects that a reduced temperature gradient has on accuracy of the measured temperature and species concentration for a 3% CO/97% N2 and 1% CO2/99% N2 mixture. Results show that insulation was effective at improving the overall temperature measurement accuracy of CO by reducing the percentage difference of measured to known values from 21% 59% to 0.70% 8.6%; however, CO2 temperature measurement accuracy only improved half of the time. Unfortunately, the measurement system was unable to produce meaningful results for CO species concentrations, but CO2 species concentrations produced reasonable results that demonstrated an increase in percentage difference of measured to known values from 55% 155% to 87% 161% once the insulation was applied. These results indicate that insulation showed improvement in measurement accuracy for some cases, and that the data contained inconsistencies and non physical results. Therefore, a better correction system for the nonuniform temperature distribution is required.


Reed-Muller (RM) codes exhibit good performance under maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding due to their highly-symmetric structure. In this paper, we explore the question of whether the code symmetry of RM codes can also be exploited to achieve near-ML performance in practice. The main idea is to apply iterative decoding to a highly-redundant parity-check (PC) matrix that contains only the minimum-weight dual codewords as rows. As examples, we consider the peeling decoder for the binary erasure channel, linear-programming and belief propagation (BP) decoding for the binary-input additive white Gaussian noise channel, and bit-flipping and BP decoding for the binary symmetric channel. For short block lengths, it is shown that near-ML performance can indeed be achieved in many cases. We also propose a method to tailor the PC matrix to the received observation by selecting only a small fraction of useful minimum-weight PCs before decoding begins. This allows one to both improve performance and significantly reduce complexity compared to using the full set of minimum-weight PCs.


We address the problem of synchronous programs that cannot be easily executed in a classical time-triggered or event-triggered execution loop. We propose a novel approach, referred to as dynamic ticks, that reconciles the semantic timing abstraction of the synchronous approach with the desire to give the application fine-grained control over its real-time behavior. The main idea is to allow the application to dynamically specify its own wake-up times rather than ceding their control to the environment. As we illustrate in this paper, synchronous languages such as Esterel are already well equipped for this; no language extensions are needed. All that is required is a rather minor adjustment of the way the tick function is called.


Abstract This article investigates the formation of the Shatan scholarly group and the contribution of its leader, Zheng Zhen. Zheng benefitted from a vigorous trans-regional cultural network of returned local scholars such as Li Xun and Mo Yuchou and prominent scholar-officials from outside such as Cheng Enze and He Changling. Zheng Zhen remained true to the approaches and research topics of evidential research, i.e., historical philology and exegesis of pre-Qin classics, bibliography, and an inquiry into ancient institutions and technology, in an era when the general intellectual trend turned toward statecraft studies and the politicized Modern Text School, promoted by scholars like Gong Zizhen and Kang Youwei. The contribution of the Shatan group, Zheng Zhen in particular, embodies the rise of evidential research, a passion for facts, as well as concerns about society. More importantly, it prompts us to rethink Guizhou as an active agent in the late Qing Chinese cultural landscape.


Background and Objective: Endocrine disorders are common in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of the present study is reviewing available literature to give a deep understanding of complexities of endocrine disorders in chronic kidney disease. Methods: A narrative reviewing method based on the available literature was approached. Findings: Generally, when renal function decreases, sex hormones, hypothalamic-pituitary axis and thyroid function is commonly disrupted. The mechanisms of endocrine disorders in these patients is complex and including impaired hormonal feedback, abnormal production of hormones and disrupting hormone transmission and connect them to the receptor. Conclusion: Toxic and inhibitory factors in uremic patients and also the side effects of treatment in CKD patients caused to dysfunctions in function of hormones secreted from the glands.


Recent work has identified novel point mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) in the majority of the World Health Organization grades II and III infiltrative gliomas and secondary grade IV glioblastomas. Gangliogliomas consist of neoplastic ganglion and glial cells and, in contrast to infiltrative gliomas, are generally indolent. Yet distinguishing between a ganglioglioma and an infiltrative glioma with admixed gray matter can be difficult, perhaps accounting for some "gangliogliomas" that ultimately show aggressive behavior. In this multi‐institutional study, 98 cases originally diagnosed as ganglioglioma were analyzed for IDH1 mutations, 86 of which had follow‐up data available. Eight cases (8.2%) were positive for R132H IDH1 mutations; six had silent IDH2 mutations and two had nonsense IDH2 mutations. The presence of mutant IDH1 in gangliogliomas correlated with a greater risk of recurrence (P = 0.0007) and malignant transformation and/or death (P < 0.0001) compared with tumors that were IDH1 wild type. Furthermore, the age of patients with IDH1‐mutant gangliogliomas was higher than those without mutations (25.5 vs. 46.1 years, P = 0.0033). IDH1/2 testing of tumors suspected of being gangliogliomas may therefore be advisable, particularly in the adult population.


A lack of at least 70% of N-acetyl substitution of glucosamine in the glycan strands of the peptidoglycan from the gram-negative bacterium Rhodopseudomonas viridis is reported. A disaccharide, very likely GlcN beta(1 leads to 4) Mur, was observed in hydrolysates of the isolated peptidoglycan. The disaccharide was not observed when peptidoglycan was N-acetylated before hydrolysis. The peptidoglycan of R. viridis was resistant to lysozyme but became sensitive after N-acetylation with acetic anhydride. The disaccharide was found with peptidoglycan from all R. viridis strains investigated, as well as with R. sulfoviridis P1 and R. palustris strains, but not with peptidoglycan from R. gelatinosa, Rhodospirillum tenue, and Pseudomonas diminuta NCTC 8545.


Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems generalize poorly on accented speech. The phonetic and linguistic variability of accents present hard challenges for ASR systems today in both data collection and modeling strategies. The resulting bias in ASR performance across accents comes at a cost to both users and providers of ASR. We present a survey of current promising approaches to accented speech recognition and highlight the key challenges in the space. Approaches mostly focus on single model generalization and accent feature engineering. Among the challenges, lack of a standard benchmark makes research and comparison especially difficult.


Purpose: Sustainable functionality development (FD) is decisive to firm's profitability in their new innovation in a competitive market. While functionality instills attractive values in innovative goods leading to a dramatic increase in profit through increasing demand and higher prices, it obsolesces immediately in a competitive market. Therefore, how to maintain sustainable FD trajectory is decisive to firm survival strategy within the context of mega‐competition in a globalizing economy. Notwithstanding an increasing significance of this subject, dynamism enabling a sustainable FD trajectory still remains inside a black box. The purpose of this paper, on the basis of an empirical comparative analysis of the diffusion trajectories for copying machines developed by Canon and Ricoh, is to attempt to elucidate this dynamism. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employed a bi‐logistic growth model utilizing patent data for copying machine technologies. Findings: It was found that early undertaking of 2nd generational copying machinery initiated by Canon played a more decisive role in terms of its higher level of sustainable FD than with its competitor. Originality/value: This paper provides significant insight to firm's management of technology strategy in a competitive market.


With the increased use of intraoperative monitoring of the central nervous system (CNS) has come a need for better understanding of the effects of anesthetic agents on intraoperative recordings. The commonly used anesthetic agents and their effects on intraoperative electroencephalography (EEG) and evoked potentials (EP) are discussed. Halogenated inhalational anesthetics produce dose-related reduction in EEG amplitude and frequency after an initial activation. They also produce dose-related decreases in amplitude and increases in latency of sensory evoked potentials (SEP) that are most marked in cortically generated components. Subcortical, spinal, and peripheral evoked responses are less affected. Responses in the motor pathways are recordable in the epidural space; however, the relative contributions of sensory and motor tracts may be changed when both are present. Muscle responses are easily suppressed after spinal and motor cortex stimulation, probably by anesthetic effect at the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord. Intravenous analgesic agents (opioids, ketamine) are associated with less marked changes in EEG and evoked responses, with some increases in amplitude of cortically generated SEP caused by ketamine. Intravenous sedative-hypnotic drugs (droperidol, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, etomidate, propofol) produce dose-related depression of the EEG after initial activation and dose-related depression of evoked responses to a lesser extent than do the inhalation agents. Etomidate is associated with amplitude enhancement of EEG and cortically generated SEP. Muscle relaxants have minimal effect on the EEG and SEP. Their use, however, may alter muscle recordings from motor tract stimulation. These effects and their relevance to the choice of agents for specific monitoring techniques are discussed.


The present study focuses on the branchial basket in four Carapidae species: Carapus acus, Encheliophis boraborensis, Encheliophis homei and Encheliophis gracilis. The aim is to highlight the skeletal and muscular features of the branchial basket, especially those that are believed to be related to their way of life and/or to be linked to the presence of primary sound-producing muscles. The space occupied by the primary sound-producing muscles between the neurocranium and the branchial basket gives rise to distinctive skeletal and muscular features. They prevent the 1st pharyngobranchials from becoming attached to the neurocranium in the normal way. These do not seem to play any role in the suspension of the upper pharyngeal jaws, as it is usually the case in teleosteans. The 1st epibranchials are separated from the 2nd pharyngobranchials. Ossified interarcual elements jointed to the 2nd pharyngobranchials and 1st epibranchials are found in the position usually occupied by the latter. The presence of primary sound-producing muscles gives rise to the need for the reorganisation of the musculature which is seen in particular with regards to the levatores branchiales. These are not found on the neurocranium but on the hyomandibular. The general skeletal and muscular data and the observations of the stomach contents suggest that the action of the branchial basket is restricted to carrying food in Carapus acus, Encheliophis boraborensis and Encheliophis homei, whereas it could also play a role in the work of cutting up soft food in Encheliophis gracilis.


Abstract Background Description of risk of cardiovascular (CV) events associated with diabetes is evolving. This US-based real-world study estimated risk of future CV events and heart failure (HF) from type 2 diabetes (T2DM) only, prior CV events only or T2DM plus prior CV events, versus controls, and evaluated healthcare resource utilization (HCRU) and costs. Methods and materials This retrospective cohort study queried claims and mortality data for 638,301 patients: T2DM only (377,205); prior CV events only (130,964); both T2DM and prior CV events (130,132); and matched (1:1) controls, during 1 January 2012–31 December 2012. Cardiovascular diagnoses/events and death were assessed individually, and as composite endpoint (myocardial infarction [MI], stroke, transient ischemic attack [TIA], peripheral artery disease [PAD]), during follow-up, ending 31 July 2018. Results Adjusting for age and gender, patients with T2DM only were 1.6, prior CV events only 2.5 and T2DM plus prior CV events 3.8 times likelier to have primary composite CV events relative to controls, p < .001. HF development was elevated across all three cohorts. Adjusted results showed inpatient admissions for T2DM only, CV events only and T2DM plus prior CV events were 1.37, 2.76 and 3.63 times greater than controls, respectively. All-cause healthcare costs were highest in the T2DM plus prior CV events cohort ($2783 per patient per month [PPPM]) followed by the prior CV events only ($1910 PPPM) and T2DM only cohorts ($1343 PPPM), and controls ($825 PPPM). Adjusted all-cause total costs were 1.48 for T2DM only, 1.49 for prior CV events only and 1.93 for T2DM plus prior CV events times higher compared to controls. Conclusion In this large and geographically broad US based cohort, CV risk for T2DM patients was elevated, as was the risk for patients with prior CV events, while patients with T2DM plus prior CV events had the highest risk of future CV events. The substantial clinical and economic burden of CV events and HF in patients with both T2DM and prior CV events suggest a need for an integrated treatment and targeted intervention across both conditions.


A 23 month old child sustained a severe head injury when a crib tent inverted and collapsed, lodging the child's head against the top rail of the crib. A testing program was conducted using anthropomorphic child dummies to analyze the inversion danger during a crib tent collapse event. The primary goal of this investigation is to make crib tent designers, retailers, and users more aware of the inversion danger and to identify a design alternative to help reduce the number of these types of injuries.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


This study aims to find the optimal cutting conditions, which are obtained by grinding condition, and the grinding characteristics and condition of constant velocity joint were investigated with respect to wheel velocity, depth of cut, feed speed. Grinding machine has been widely used in manufacturing optical reflects of metal. Such as steel are easy to be machined because of their proper material. As a result I obtained the data of grinding conditions makes good surface roughness and the optimal condition of grinding and get the mesh condition. The purpose of this study is to find the optimum grinding wheel characteristics for cutting constant velocity joint.


Chicken is one of the side dishes favored by many people in the world. Therefore, many entrepreneurs do business with chicken. This research is the result of a survey of several technical journals about the temperature of the chicken coop taken. From observations and tests carried out in the field carefully, this research was carried out to analyze the temperature. The chicken coop regulation system is carried out with the aim of preventing livestock from dying due to the surrounding temperature not being appropriate for his age. This study uses the Atmega 8535 microcontroller as the main controller, LM35 as the main controller temperature sensor in the enclosure, and IC L293D as a DC motor driver. The microcontroller will instruct DCmotor to work if the measured temperature is above the specified temperature limit and will instruct the relay to turn on or turn off the incandescent light if the measured temperature is below the specified temperature limit. By using this relay, the temperature of the chicken coop will be appropriate for anticipating disease outbreaks from the chickens.


Recently, a few types of step-wedges for bootstrap sensitometry with a mammographic screen-film system have been proposed. In this study, the bootstrap sensitometry with the mammographic screen-film system was studied for two types of aluminum step-wedges. Characteristic X-ray energy curves were determined using mammographic and general radiographic aluminum step-wedges devised to prevent scattered X-rays generated from one step penetrating into the region of another one, and dependence of the characteristic curves on the wedges was also discussed. No difference was found in the characteristic curves due to the difference in the step-wedges for mammography and general radiography although there was a slight difference in shape at the shoulder portion for the two types of step-wedges. Therefore, it was concluded that aluminum step-wedges for mammography and general radiography could be employed in bootstrap sensitometry with the mammographic screen-film system.


There has been considerable debate concerning the adaptive significance of hominoid postcranial anatomy. One of the hypotheses promoted is that the early hominoids were adapted to a loris-like deliberate quadrupedalism. The aim of the analysis reported here is to test this hypothesis by examining features of the wrist and ankle anatomy of lorisids and hominoids that pertain to increased joint mobility, in a comparative context with other arboreal quadrupeds. These characters are then compared with the Proconsulidae from the early Miocene to discern any similarities between these taxa and the lorisids and/or hominoids. Fourteen characters were examined, related to the ulnocarpal and radioulnar articulations, and the talocrural, subtalar and midtarsal joints, across four lorisid and four hominoid genera, and a selection of primates from the other major groups. Original measurements were taken for two hundred and twenty-nine neontological specimens in total, from fourteen genera. Indices were devised and compared by statistical analysis. The results suggest that lorisids and hominoids are similar in some of the characters examined, but differ in others. The proconsul ids show varying degrees of similarity across the features, to the hominoids and lorisids. The results support a hypothesis that an early hominoid ancestor did indeed have similar functional adaptations to those of extant lorisids, but not across the whole suite of characters examined. It is therefore reasonable to assume that the ancestral hominoid locomotor pattern showed resemblances to that of the extant lorisids, but was not identical.


When it comes to talking about democracy in China, Chinese nationalists argue that it cannot solve China's problems, while Chinese liberals remain unduly silenced. But China is facing a national identity crisis, compounded by Tibet and Taiwan, where significant proportions of both populations do not identify with the Chinese nation-state. Could democracy realistically address the problems in China's national identity?. Baogang He opens up a dialogue in which Chinese liberals can offer viable alternatives in defence of key democratic principles and governance. He upholds the search for a political space in which democratic governance in China can feasibly be developed. Problematises existing hard-liners' realist policies towards Tibet and Taiwan by examining how democracy can or cannot provide an answer. Examines the different meanings, practices, institutions and various impacts of democracy with regards to the problem of China's national identity. Presents the difficulties and obstacles to the democratic approach to the respective Tibet and Taiwan questions.


Today, high-tech sharing platforms are cooperative sharing societies that dominate the social paradigm. The most important thing in constructing the space of modern information facilities is the spatial solution according to the acceptance of time value and paradigm. The purpose of this study is to propose an infrastructure prototype of public library user space that can reinforce library functions based on modern social culture. First of all, through theoretical considerations, the meaning and elements of contemporary sharing culture and public library were examined. Based on these sociocultural theories, the elements that make up the library's infrastructure were extracted. Also, the status and characteristics of shared infrastructure of user space in 20 cases of public libraries on domestic and foreign were identified. In addition, the process of deriving prototypes and verifying the structure of the shared infrastructure was carried out in stages. As a result, we extracted five elements ? accessibility, connectivity, flexibility, pluralism and openness ? as the infrastructure components that can support and enhance the library's sharing activities. And we proposed an integrated knowledge curator (PT1), a creative incubator (PT2), and a shared connector (PT3) as an infrastructure prototype of the public library user space in which the sharing culture of modern society is embedded. These mean that modern public libraries should serve as a place to ensure productive activities and creative growth through the sharing of knowledge and to connect various knowledge experiences. This study seems to be meaningful as a basic model of information facilities that can build a shared meaning system in modern society.


Let $G$ be a reductive algebraic group over an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic, $G_{1}$ the Frobenius kernel of $G$ , and $T$ a maximal torus of $G$ . We show that the parabolically induced $G_{1}T$ -Verma modules of singular highest weights are all rigid, determine their Loewy length, and describe their Loewy structure using the periodic Kazhdan–Lusztig $P$ - and $Q$ -polynomials. We assume that the characteristic of the field is sufficiently large that, in particular, Lusztig's conjecture for the irreducible $G_{1}T$ -characters holds.


Interoception is the process of perceiving afferent signals arising from within the body including heart rate (HR), gastric signals, etc., and has been described as a mechanism crucially involved in the creation of self-awareness and selfhood. The heartbeat perception task is a tool to measure individuals' interoceptive accuracy (IAcc). IAcc correlates positively with measures of self-awareness and with attributes including emotional sensitivity, empathy, prosocial behavior, and efficient decision making. IAcc is only moderate in the general population, and attempts to identify groups of people who might have higher IAcc due to their specific training (e.g., yoga, meditation) have not been successful. However, a recent study with musicians suggests that those trained in the arts might exhibit high IAcc. Here, we tested IAcc in 20 professional dancers and 20 female control participants on a heartbeat perception task. Dancers had a higher IAcc, and this effect was independent of their lower heart rates (a proxy measure of physical fitness), counting ability, and knowledge about HR. An additional between-groups analysis after a median split in the dancer group (based on years of dance experience) showed that junior dancers' IAcc differed from controls, and senior dancers' IAcc was higher than both junior dancers and controls. General art experience correlated positively with IAcc. No correlations were found between IAcc and questionnaire measures of empathy, emotional experience, and alexithymia. These findings are discussed in the context of current theories of interoception and emotion-highlighting the features of arts training that might be related to IAcc.


A critical but neglected issue in interpreting the incident in Acts 8:26-40 involving the Ethiopian eunuch has been the relevance of his reading of Isaiah 53 to his peculiar identity as a eunuch in first-century society. Social and cultural scenarios pertaining to honor and shame, purity and pollution, temple and household, and ritual and status transformation enable us to depict multiple dimensions of the eunuch's precarious place in the Jewish world of his day. But they also allow us to chart the process whereby Isaiah 53, interpreted christologically, challenges this traditional world and ultimately makes room for the devout eunuch within the scriptural-messianic community.


Dye-sensitized fully solid state cells having the structure of rough n-type semiconductor film comprising zinc and tin(IV) oxide/Ru-bipyridyl complex/p-CuI are found to generate high short-circuit photocurrents and open-circuit voltages in contrast to the cells of same type made with a single oxide (tin(IV) or zinc). The mechanism involved is explained as suppression recombinations of photogenerated carriers and dye ions resulting from interparticle charge transfer.


When strategic plans go awry and begin losing money, the smart thing to do is change course. But some leaders get so involved with the plan, they fail to navigate properly and fly right into the target. The organization can lose millions. Examine why this happens and what you can do to prevent it from happening in your organization.


BACKGROUND
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of zinc metalloproteinases capable of degrading components of connective tissues. MMP-10 is frequently expressed in human cancers. The aim of this study was to immunohistochemically evaluate its expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and verrucous carcinoma (OVC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A retrospective analysis of 73 samples (31 OSCC, 22 OVC and 20 non-neoplastic epithelium) was performed. All samples were immunohistochemically stained with monoclonal MMP-10 antibody and expression levels and staining intensity were evaluated with respect to microscopic features. Data were analyzed by SPSS (V.21), Mann-Whitney and Kruskal Wallis tests.

RESULTS
MMP-10 was detected in all OSCC and OVC cases. The expression of MMP-10 in OSCC was intensive (score 3) and in OVC was low and moderate (score 1 and score 2) more frequently. Non- neoplastic epithelium did not show MMP-10 expression. Differences between groups was statistically significant (p<0.05). However, the expression of MMP- 10 was not obviously different between various grades of OSCC.

CONCLUSIONS
According to our study, MMP-10 protein can be important possible factor in the transformation of normal oral epithelium to OVC and OSCC, also the level of MMP-10 expression at invasion front of the lesions can be helpful in the differentiation of OVC and OSCC.


Construction of biogas plants processing agricultural waste enables to reduce waste, limit emission of gases and odors in rural areas as well as gives the possibility to ensure self-sufficiency of energy. The amount of generated electricity and heat depends on the quantity and quality of biogas. The aim of this work was to show how the substrate affects the amount and composition of the biogas in agricultural biogas plants. The most commonly applied types of substrates in agricultural biogas plants in 2011-2012 and in the first half of 2013 were indicated due to the Agricultural Market Agency data. The research also showed the amount of agricultural biogas produced as well as the amount of electricity and heat generated from agricultural biogas during the time period mentioned above.


Background: Hepatitis B is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in the world. Health care workers (HCWs) are at high risk of contracting Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. HBV vaccination followed by confirmation of vaccine response aids to reduce the risk of attaining the Hepatitis B infection and decreasing the chances of the spread of the infection from Health care workers into the society. Aim: The aim of the study is to evaluate hepatitis B virus (HBV) immunization status and anti-HBs titre among HCWs. Materials and methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted at the Apollo Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Hyderabad. 200 Health care workers from different sections who were completely vaccinated with HBV vaccine were included in the study. With due consent, blood samples were collected and tested for antibody to Hepatitis B surface antigen by Chemiluminescent Microparticle Immunoassay from May 2014 to June 2014. Titre ≥10 mIU/mL was considered to be seroprotective. Statistical analysis: Statistical analysis of data was done in SPSS version 23 and p-value of <0.01 was considered statistically highly significant. Result: Among 200 HCWs included in the study, 167 (83.5%) were identified as responders to the HBV vaccine and 33 (16.5%) were non-responders. The anti-HBs titres were found to decline with increasing age due to waning immunity. Other risk factors found to be associated with low anti-HBs titres were sex, time since last dose of vaccine and poor life style habits. Conclusion: All HCWs should receive three doses of the vaccine and be monitored for their immune status 6-8 weeks post vaccination and after every five years. Boosters should be administered to those who lack protective level of anti-HBs antibody.


The purpose of this article is to provide counseling practitioners and researchers with an integrative review of the TFA (thinking-feeling-acting) counseling system, Tracing the 12-year evolution of the model from theory construction and instrument development to practical application provides in one place a comprehensive synthesis of published work on the TFA system. The theoretical principle guiding the model was the systematic combination of the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral domains of human functioning. The Hutchins Behavior Inventory (HBI) was developed to assess the interaction of thoughts, feelings, and actions that led to applications of the TFA system in counseling and related areas.


The mechanisms for Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonisation in the airways of patients with bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis are poorly understood. P. aeruginosa could evade mucociliary clearance by adhering to the basement membrane at areas denuded of intact respiratory epithelium. The authors have developed an in vitro model to study P. aeruginosa adherence tohuman basement membrane type-IV collagen by using scanning electron microscopy. P. aeruginosa adherence density was determined as the number of P. aeruginosa per 20microscope fields (2,000×) to log inocular size after incubation at 37°C for 45 min. The presence of phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-E, which binds specifically to d-galactose-β1–4-d-N-acetylglucosamine, significantly reduced P. aeruginosa adherence density compared with control. The presence of heparin and calcium also significantly reduced P. aeruginosa adherence density. P. aeruginosa adherence was not affected by the presence of proline, trans-hydroxyproline, glycine, galactose, N-acetylneuraminic acid, N-acetylglucosamine or Arachis hypogea. Pseudomonas aeruginosa adherence probably acts via recognition of the d-galactose-β1–4-d-N-acetylglucosamine sequence on type-IV collagen and this process could be inhibited by heparin and calcium. As persistent Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonisation is detrimental to patients with cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis and there is currently no effective treatment for its eradication, these results could lead to novel therapy for persistent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection.


Different industries exhibit significantly different leverage - the REIT sector is an extreme example. Their leverage ratio is twice as high as that of non-real estate firms in the U.S. We theoretically and empirically analyse why we observe a leverage ratio difference of 25.5 percentage points between these two groups. Firstly, we find that tangibility and operating risk are the most important capital structure determinants for deviation. By decomposing the difference into three channels (differences in determinants' average values, varying sensitivities to changes in the values of the determinants and an industry-specific fixed effect), we find that the industry-specific channel explains around 67% of the difference. The value-based channel is mostly responsible for the remaining part. However, when comparing samples of REITs and non-real estate firms matched according to tangibility and operating risk in order to take non-linear influences of extreme values into account, the relevance of the industry-specific channel is considerably reduced. Therefore, the REIT debt puzzle is not mainly a consequence of an unexplainable industry-specific fixed effect but, with careful analysis, can ultimately be traced back almost completely to a value-based effect driven by the characteristics of tangible assets and stock returns' risk.


We investigate the stability of utility-maximizing allocations in networks with arbitrary rate regions. We consider a dynamic setting where users randomly generate data flows according to some exogenous traffic processes. Network stability is then defined as the ergodicity of the process describing the number of active flows. When the rate region is convex, the stability region is known to coincide with the rate region, independently of the considered utility function. We show that for non-convex rate regions, the choice of the utility function is crucial to ensure maximum stability. The results are illustrated on the simple case of a wireless network consisting of two interacting base stations.


Objectives: Never-smokers may be a distinct subgroup among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, appearing to benefit less from immunotherapy than smokers. We report results from never-smokers enrolled in the Italian cohort of the nivolumab expanded access program in pre-treated patients with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer. Materials and methods: Nivolumab (3 mg/kg every 2 weeks for ≤24 months) was available on physician request. Efficacy data included objective tumor response, date of progression, and survival information. Safety was monitored. Results: Overall, 371 patients received at least one dose of nivolumab, including 31 never-smokers (8%). Objective response rate, disease-control rate, and median overall survival were 23%, 45%, and 12.1 months (95% confidence interval: 3.7–20.4), respectively, in never-smokers, and 18%, 47%, and 7.9 months (95% confidence interval: 6.2–9.6), respectively, in the overall expanded access program population. Any-grade and grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events were reported in 12 (39%) and 3 (10%) never-smokers, respectively, and in 109 (29%) and 21 (6%) patients, respectively, in the overall expanded access program population. Grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events in non-smokers were increased transaminases (n = 2; 6%) and diarrhea (n = 1; 3%). Treatment-related adverse events led to treatment discontinuation in 4 non-smokers (17%) and in 26 patients (9%) overall. Conclusion: Pre-treated never-smokers with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer in this Italian expanded access program demonstrated efficacy and safety that were consistent with those in the overall expanded access program population and clinical trials. These results suggest that a proportion of never-smoker patients with squamous non-small cell lung cancer may be responsive to immunotherapy. Other factors, such as the tumor mutational load and the status of programmed death-ligand 1, anaplastic lymphoma kinase, and epidermal growth factor receptor, might play a potential key role.


Background Next-generation sequencing enables to detect sequence diversity in populations of viruses, an essential step in the development of drug mixtures to combat viral infections. The process of sequencing patient samples using bidirectional Roche 454 amplicon sequencing technology, as implemented at the Delft Diagnostic Laboratory (DDL), introduces specific errors. There are various cleaning algorithms capable of removing these errors. However, low frequency mutations may also be removed, as these are assumed to be likely errors and errors are assumed to be independently distributed throughout the sequence. We tested the performance of three algorithms, AmpliconNoise, KEC and ShoRAH on the detection of low-frequency mutations. Results Through various experiments we show that some types of errors are not independent but are direction-dependent, caused by homopolymeric regions. Such errors can occur in up to 80% of the reads. As the methods tested could not remove these errors, we developed novel algorithms (MSAR, AFKnn and AFC) to correct these specific errors. Our algorithms combine the information present in forward and reverse reads to detect direction-dependent errors. MASR, AFKnn and AFC improved the detection limit of viral sequences when applied before KEC. In our experiments we found mutations with a frequency below 1.0% could still be detected. Conclusion Bidirectional sequencing is essential for 454 sequencing to detect and remove direction-dependent errors and thereby improve the detection of low-frequency mutations.


In an earlier contribution a particle filter for underwater (UW) navigation is proposed, and applied to an experimental trajectory. This paper focuses on performance improvements and analysis. First, the Cramer Rao lower bound (CRLB) along the experimental trajectory is computed, which is only slightly lower than the particle filter estimate after initial transients. Simple rule of thumbs for how performance depends on the map and sensor quality are derived. Second, a more realistic five state model is proposed, and Rao-Blackwellization is applied to decrease computational complexity. Monte-Carlo simulations on the map demonstrate a performance comparable to the CRLB.


6 cases with the sequelae of bones and joints tuberculosis underwent the distraction epiphysiolysis aimed at the lengthening of these extremities. The maximal lengthening reached 7 cm. The complications and treatment results are described.


AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
To develop an instrument to measure nurses' ethical sensitivity and, secondarily, to use this instrument to compare nurses' ethical sensitivity between groups.

BACKGROUND
Professional codes of conduct are widely accepted guidelines. However, their efficacy in daily nursing practice and influence on ethical sensitivity is controversial.

DESIGN
A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted.

PARTICIPANTS
One hundred and forty-three registered nurses from Barcelona (Spain) participated in the study, of whom 45.83% were working in primary health care and 53.84% in hospital wards.

METHODS
A specifically designed confidential, self-administered questionnaire assessing ethical sensitivity was developed. Knowledge of the nursing code and data on ethical sensitivity were summarised, with the quality of the questionnaire assessed using Rasch analysis.

RESULTS
Item on knowledge of the code showed that one-third of nurses knew the contents of the code and two-thirds had limited knowledge. To fit the Rasch model, it was necessary to rescore the rating scale from five to three categories. Residual principal components analysis confirmed the unidimensionality of the scale. Three items of the questionnaire presented fit problems with the Rasch model. Although nurses generally have high ethical sensitivity to their code of conduct, differences were found according to years of professional practice, place of work and knowledge of the code (p<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The questionnaire showed acceptable psychometric properties to achieve the proposed objective. Nurses' ethical sensitivity to the norms of the code was high. However, many factors might influence the degree of ethical sensitivity. Further research to measure ethical sensitivity using invariant measures such as Rasch units would be valuable.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Other factors, such as assertiveness or courage, should be considered to improve ethical sensitivity to the code of conduct. Rigorous measurement studies and analysis in applied ethics are needed to assess ethical performance in practice.


ABSTRACT Xu, Z.; Ren, Y.; Zhao, P., and Zhang, Z., 2019. The factors affecting the performance of marine environmental protection enterprises. In: Gong, D.; Zhu, H., and Liu, R. (eds.), Selected Topics in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 94, pp. 40–49. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. With the rapid development of coastal economy and marine development activities, marine environmental protection issues have become increasingly prominent, leading to the development of marine environmental protection enterprises which have gradually become a hot spot of concern. However, as China's marine environmental protection enterprises are mostly still at the stage of start-up and growth, it is urgent to maximize the value creation of marine environmental protection enterprises and optimize the value through the market value management. This paper selects 46 listed environmental protection companies as research samples, studies the management performance of them through factor analysis and multiple regression, and tests the relationship between various influencing factors and market value management performance. The study found that such factors as operational capacity, innovation capability, stockholder's rights drive, investor structure professionalism, and the number of disclosed mergers and acquisitions have a significant positive impact on market value management performance of marine environmental protection enterprises, while factors like capital structure, the number of litigations and arbitrations have a significant negative impact on market value management performance, and there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between ownership concentration and market value management performance. This research has certain enlightenment significance for marine environmental protection enterprises to improve the performance of market value management.


abstract:Following Charles Segal, I argue in this essay that there is an essential textual relation to the Other at the heart of Greek tragic drama. Instead of locating the origin of tragic performance in the being of the poet and poetic truth (á la Nietzsche or Heidegger), I argue that the use of scripts in Greek tragedy indicates an irreducible graphic element of dramatic performance, which I conceptualize in terms of Blanchot's conception of the Oeurve and the impossible relation of writer and reader. The Dionysian element of tragedy, I argue, has an irreducible graphic dimension in the use of scripts and masks. Following this theoretical and historical analysis, I offer several avenues for studying the textuality of Greek tragic drama and the ways that the Greek tragic text turns toward the essence of poetry itself.


Abstract Radio-tracking is a widely used method in studies of snake movement and habitat use. However, radio-tracking has some inconveniences, such as the invasiveness of surgical transmitter implantation and the high costs of receivers and transmitters. Here we describe a technique for external radio-transmitter attachment in snakes and the use of thread-bobbins (quilt-cocoons or spool-and-line device) as an alternative for tracking snakes. Both methods allow the animals to resume their natural behavior just after handling and to be monitored until the detachment of the device, usually upon shedding. These characteristics seemed to be particularly useful when the survey must be done within short periods of time with a high number of snakes. The use of thread-bobbins greatly facilitates the gathering of data on movement, habitat use, effective distance moved, and substrate use of snakes in the wild.


Abstract The South China Sea (SCS) is the largest marginal sea in the western tropical Pacific Ocean and is characterized by complex physicochemical environments. To date, the biogeographic patterns of the microbial communities have rarely been reported at a basin scale in the SCS. In this study, the bacterial assemblages inhabiting the epipelagic zone across 110°E to 119°E along 14°N latitude were uncovered. The vertical stratification of both bacterial taxa and their potential functions were revealed. These results suggest that the water depth‐specific environment is a driver of the vertical bacterioplankton distribution. Moreover, the bacterial communities were different between the eastern stations and the western stations, where the environmental conditions were distinct. However, the mesoscale eddy did not show an obvious effect on the bacterial community due to the large distance between the sampling site and the center of the eddy. In addition to the water depth and longitudinal location of the samples, the heterogeneity of the phosphate and salinity concentrations also significantly contributed to the variance in the epipelagic bacterial community in the SCS. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report that the variability in epipelagic bacterioplankton is driven by the physicochemical environment at the basin scale in the SCS. Our results emphasize that the ecological significance of bacterioplankton can be better understood by considering the relationship between the biogeographic distribution of bacteria and the oceanic dynamics processes.


SUMMARY The vitellogenin/very low density lipoprotein receptor (VTG/VLDL-R), a 95 kDa protein that belongs to the low density lipoprotein receptor gene family, mediates the uptake of yolk precursors by developing follicles during oocyte growth. However, the extent to which variation in VTG/VLDL-R expression plays a role in determining inter-individual variation in reproductive phenotype (e.g. follicle or egg size) is not known. Here we show that the mRNA sequence of the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) VTG/VLDL-R shows a high degree of sequence identity (92%) with chicken VTG/VLDL-R mRNA. Using quantitative real-time PCR we measured transcriptional expression of VTG/VLDL-R mRNA in various tissues, and for different stages of oocyte growth, in individual female zebra finches. VTG/VLDL-R mRNA was expressed at high levels in vitellogenic oocytes and in skeletal muscle, and was also detectable in liver, but these tissues expressed different splice variants: the short-form LR8–in oocytes and liver, and the LR8+ form in skeletal muscle. There was significant temporal variation in VTG/VLDL-R expression during follicle growth, with highest levels in ovary and a gradual decrease from pre-F3 to F1 vitellogenic follicles. Variation in ovary mRNA expression was correlated with inter-individual variation in clutch size and laying interval. Furthermore, variation in F3 follicle VTG/VLDL-R mRNA expression was correlated with inter-individual variation in egg mass and F1 follicle mass, suggesting that VTG/VLDL receptor mRNA expression is a key determinant of inter-individual variation in reproductive phenotype.


Probabilistic modeling needs specialized tools to support modelers, decision-makers or researchers in the design, checking, refinement and communication of models. Users' comprehension of probabilistic models is vital in all above cases and interactive visualizations could enhance it. Although there are various studies evaluating interactivity in Bayesian reasoning and available tools for visualizing the inference-related distributions, we focus specifically on evaluating the effect of interaction on users' comprehension of probabilistic models' structure. We conducted a user study based on our Interactive Pair Plot for visualizing models' distribution and conditioning sample space graphically. Our results suggest that improvements in the understanding of the interactive group are most pronounced for more exotic structures, such as hierarchical models or unfamiliar parameterisations in comparison to the static group. As the detail of the inferred information increases, interaction does not lead to considerably longer response times. Finally, interaction improves users' confidence.


The radio emission in radio-loud quasars originates in a jet carrying relativistic electrons. In radio-quiet quasars (RQQs) the relative radio emission is ∼10 3 times weaker, and its origin is not established yet. We show here that there is a strong correlation between the radio luminosity (L R ) and X-ray luminosity (L x ) with L R ∼ 10 -5 L x , for the radio-quiet Palomar-Green (PG) quasar sample. The sample is optically selected, with nearly complete radio and X-ray detections, and thus this correlation cannot be due to direct selection biases. The PG quasars lie on an extension of a similar correlation noted by Panessa et al., for a small sample of nearby low-luminosity type 1 active galactic nuclei (AGN). A remarkably similar correlation, known as the Giidel-Benz relation, where L R /L X ∼ 10 -5 , holds for coronally active stars. The Gudel-Benz relation, together with correlated stellar X-ray and radio variability, implies that the coronae are magnetically heated. We therefore raise the possibility that AGN coronae are also magnetically heated, and that the radio emission in RQQ also originates in coronal activity. If correct, then RQQ should generally display compact flat cores at a few GHz due to synchrotron self-absorption, while at a few hundred GHz we should be able to see directly the X-ray emitting corona, and relatively rapid and large amplitude variability, correlated with the X-ray variability, is likely to be seen. We also discuss possible evidence that the radio and X-ray emission in ultraluminous X-ray sources and Galactic black holes may be of coronal origin as well.


Recent progress in the field of catalytic, enantioselective vinylogous Michael reactions of latent dienolates is described which furnish optically highly enriched chiral 1,7-dioxo compounds of great utility in one synthetic operation. Emphasis is given to new catalysis modes which realise this challenging transformation with high regio- as well as enantioselectivity.


To elucidate the mechanism of synovial damage in rheumatoid arthritis, we studied the activation of latent collagenases released from adherent rheumatoid synovial cells in culture. Latent enzyme was not complexed with alpha2 macroglobulin, the prinicpal proteinase inhibitor in serum, and could be activated by trypsin in the presence of alpha2 macroglobulin if sufficient proteinase was added to saturate inhibitor. Latent collagenase bound half as effectively to collagen fibrils as active enzyme. Plasmin was a threefold better activator of latent enzyme than trypsin and could be generated by addition of plasminogen to synovial-cell cultures. Production of both collagenase and plasminogen activator was inhibited by dexamethasone (10(-9) M). These studies emphasize in importance of control of activation in regulation collagenase activity, It is likely that rheumatoid synovium produces both latent collagenase and plasminogen activator; plasmin is activated from its zymogen, plasminogen, present in inflamed tissues, and in turn activates collagenase.


Micrarchaeota are members of the archaeal DPANN superphylum. These so far poorly characterized archaea have been found to have reduced genomes and likely depend on interactions with host organisms for growth and survival. Here we report on the enrichment of the first stable co-culture of a member of the Micrarchaeota together with its host, as well as the isolation of the latter. Electron microscopic analysis suggest that growth is dependent on the physical interaction of the two organisms within a biofilm. The interaction seems to be ensured by the necessity to grow in form of a biofilm. Furthermore, transcriptomic analyses indicate a shift towards biofilm formation of the host as a result of co-cultivation. Finally, genomic, metabolomic, extracellular polymeric substance (EPSs) and lipid content analyses reveal that the Micrarchaeon symbiont relies on the acquisition of metabolites from its host and thereby provide first insights into the basis of symbiont-host interactions.


Since 2000, all Dutch Universities of Professional Education are confronted with three major renewals. The first was the European agreement to implement the Bachelor-Master system in Higher Education. The second was the strong tendence to renew eduction towards Competence Based Education. The third renewal came from the decision of the ministery of Education to contract lectures (lectoren) and research networks (kenniskringen) to improve research competences among students. Basic idea behind the latest renewal was that if students from Universities of Professional Education bring in more knowledge in companies, during and after their study, this will stimulate the innovative power of Dutch small and medium enterprices (SME's). Educational developers have been very bussy with these renewals.
Under the cloak of national assurance guidelines and external panels of inspection many educational developers automatically tended to use the instrumental paradigm for many design contexts. In accordance with the research of Gustafson (1993) and Richey (1993) we raised questions about the relevance of the instrumental paradigm for educational design contexts, because often the means-end thinking of the instrumental approach have seemed to be out of place. This research project by Lappia, De Boer & Van Rennes took place in 2006 at INHOLLAND university of professional education in the western part of The Netherlands with four pilots at School of Technology, Social Work, Education and Economics. The researchers started from the assumption that improving competence-based internships could not been based on an instrumental paradigma, because of the lack of absolute standards and the need to support deliberation among stakeholders.
The Design Science Approach of Van Aken (2004) and Andriessen (2004) was been used to reveal field-tested and grounded technological rules as design specifications for improvement tools. Beside that the research project used the communicative paradigm (Visscher-Voerman & Gustafson, 2004) to reach consensus among the practitioners, who accompanion students during their internships in organisations in order to achieve a growth of competences in the choosen working field.
Participants in the research project were employees of the School of Education, The School of Technology and the School of Economics, the department of Education, Quality, Research and development (OKR). Conditions for participating in the project were that the Schools recognized the problems with implementing Competence Based Internship and the School had to set the employees whe participated in the project free for half a day during the project.
The Schools as stakeholders in the project were primary interested in solution of their practical problem (practical stream). The department of Education, Quality, Research and development was interested in solution of the pratical problem for dissemination reasons, but would also learn new strategies for implementation (knowledge stream). Therefore was choosen to follow the Design Science Research Approach.


Background: Previous research has shown that exogenously short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) infusion attenuated the body fat deposition in both mice, humans, and pigs. However, limited studies have evaluated the effects of SCFAs on lipid and glucose metabolism independently of the gut microbiota. Therefore, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of exogenous infusion of SCFAs on lipid and glucose metabolism in a germ-free (GF) pig model. Methods: Twelve hysterectomy-derived newborn pigs were reared in six sterile isolators. All pigs were hand-fed Co60-γ-irradiated sterile milk powder for 21 days and switched from liquid to sterile solid feed for another 21 days. In the second 21-days period, GF pigs (n = 6) were orally infused with 25 mL/kg sterile saline per day, FA pigs (n = 6) were orally infused with 25 mL/kg SCFAs mixture (acetic, propionic, and butyric acids, 45, 15, and 11 mM, respectively) per day.Results: Orally infused with SCFAs tended to increase the concentration of adiponectin in serum, the activity of CPT-1 in longissimus dorsi, and the ANGPTL4 mRNA expression in colon (P < 0.10). Meanwhile, the mRNA abundances of ACC, FAS, and SREBP-1C in liver and CD36 in longissimus dorsi were decreased (P < 0.05), and the concentrations of ATP, ADP, or AMP in liver and longissimus dorsi were reduced (P < 0.05) in FA group. Besides, the mRNA expressions of PGC-1α in liver and LPL in longissimus dorsi were tended to (P < 0.10) increase and downregulate in FA group respectively. Moreover, the protein level of GPR43 was tended to increase (P < 0.10), and ACC was tended to decrease (P < 0.10), while the p-AMPK/T-AMPK ratio (P < 0.05) was upregulated in liver of FA group. Also, oral administration of SCFAs upregulated the mRNA expressions of SLC2a and GYS2 in liver (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the metabolic pathway associated with the biosynthesis of unsaturated fatty acids was significantly promoted (P < 0.05) by orally infused with SCFAs.Conclusions: Short-chain fatty acids could attenuate fat deposition and to some extent improve glucose control, and were occur independently of the gut microbiota.


Abstract A 'blank on the map' only 60 years ago, the Karakoram Range has been explored and surveyed with greater difficulty than the Himalaya and Tibet due to its rugged terrain and extensive glaciation. In the past ten years we have succeeded in doubling the number of gravity stations. A substantial improvement in coverage and overall quality was obtained by concentrating on previously unsurveyed areas and by validating older data with more accurate measurements. Our data were merged with earlier data, converted to full Bouguer anomalies and gridded. The resulting Bouguer anomaly map defines very precisely the gravimetric low associated with the Nanga Parbat-Haramosh syntaxis, and the huge negative anomalies between the Karakoram Fault and the Main Karakoram Thrust. Large negative values are now visible also in the Ghujerab-Khunjerab areas. Correlation of the topography and Bouguer anomaly shows that a plate of flexural rigidity with D = 2 × 1024 Nm fits the coherence data in the Karakoram at all but two distinct frequency ranges centred at wavelengths of 80 and 300 km. In a rheologically layered lithosphere developing a buckling instability under horizontal compression, the observed spectral features of the topography and Bouguer gravity anomalies constrain the depth of the competent layers to be in the range 13–20 km and 50–75 km respectively.


A novel scheme for the measurement of inelastic differential cross sections (DCS) at is presented. It uses a magnetically collimated electron-impact spectrometer where the backward-scattered electrons are reflected into the forward direction by a potential barrier, and enter the energy analyser located at . Pulsed incident electron beam and time-of-flight detection are used to differentiate the backward- and forward-scattered electrons. The instrument yields the ratio of the forward and backward DCS. This data is then normalized to the absolute DCS at , measured with an instrument using electrostatic hemispherical analysers, to yield absolute DCS at . The combined results from both instruments are absolute DCSs as a function of scattering angle continuously from to plus one more data point at . Absolute DCS is also obtained as a function of incident energy at and at . The technique is applied to measure the DCSs for the excitation of the four n = 2 states of helium as a function of scattering angle at 22, 25, and 29.6 eV, and as a function of energy from threshold to 28 eV at and . The results are compared with recent calculations.


This exploratory Internet-based study attempts to understand what eating disorder sufferers suggest when they mention the word recovery. All messages (N = 685) posted in a Finnish-language eating disorders discussion group during a 3-month period were analyzed for the contexts of the word recovery using text analysis software and qualitative methods. The discussion group participants' views of recovery changed according to their current stage of change. Mentioning recovery was least likely during precontemplation and relapse. Internet discussion group was seen as helpful in the early stages of change, but as impeding recovery in the last stages. Willpower and ceasing to identify with eating disorders were viewed as essential to recovery. The value of professional help in recovery was viewed as conditional on the eating disorders sufferer's own willingness to change. Internet-based support groups have many potential therapeutic applications. Motivational aspects need to be taken into account in promoting recovery.


Four patients are described with the association of adult coeliac disease, vasculitis, and cryoglobulinaemia. In each patient the cryoglobulinaemia was of the mixed type consisting of more than one immunoglobulin class. It is suggested that the mixed cryoglobulins represent circulating immune complexes and that their deposition in small vessels causes the vasculitis. This is supported by immunofluorescent studies of skin biopsies from one of these patients. The significance of these findings in the four adult coeliac patients is discussed.


Daniel Farber's contribution to this Symposium suggests that some aspects of constitutional jurisprudence can be best understood by treating constitutional rights as default rules. Specifically, he attempts to use the concept of default rules to clarify the hopelessly confused doctrine of unconstitutional conditions. Professor Farber's starting point is incontestable. Virtually everyone agrees that the unconstitutional conditions doctrine is a mess. To borrow Farber's description, the doctrine is a quagmire: there is no generally accepted explanation for how the doctrine is supposed to work, what limits exist on the application of the doctrine, or even what purpose it is supposed to serve. Various prominent academic commentators have offered different suggestions to clarify these issues, but these commentaries explain the doctrine in very different ways and tend to propose different (and even inconsistent) solutions to reconcile the problems posed by the doctrine.


Context: Estimation of facial height and nasal length from digital photography is important to evaluate and planning surgical treatment of facial trauma, facial defect and post traumatic deformity. So facial height and nasal length values are of great use in plastic surgery and reconstructive surgery. These values are also important for identification of a person in forensic anthropology and archeology. The reliability of estimation of facial height from nasal length by using multiplication factor is high. The values of facial height and nasal length vary among populations. Materials and Method: This is a cross sectional, analytical type of study conducted in the Department of Anatomy, Sir Salimullah Medical College, Dhaka from January 2010 to June 2011. One hundred (100) Bangladeshi 25 to 45 years old women were selected for the study. Fourth class female employees of Sir Salimullah Medical College and Mitford Hospital and part time housemaids of Mitford area were selected by purposive sampling as study subjects. Results: The values of facial height and nasal length were 17.949 ± 1.3111cm and 5.179 ± 0.5349cm respectively. Multiplication factor for measuring facial height from nasal length was 3.49 ± 0.2864 (Mean ± SD). No significant difference was found between the measured and estimated facial height from nasal length. Conclusion: The anthropometric base line data of different facial dimensions might help the surgeons in diagnosing and treating reconstructive cases DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bja.v11i2.20669 Bangladesh Journal of Anatomy, July 2013, Vol. 11 No. 2 pp 50-53