This work presents the design, implementation, calibration and test of a transducer system for Particle Material — PM based on the sensor GP2Y1010. This sensor is the principal element of many commercial PM transducers, but its sensitivity for environmental perturbations (such as humidity, temperature, etc.) implies the using of complex instrumentation circuits which increases the final price of this product. In this work is proposed a low cost PM transducer, the main characteristics of its instrumentation circuit are detailed. The characteristics of the proposed transducer such as resolution, precision, range of measurement, temperature operation are near among of the characteristics of commercial transducers. The purpose of this transducer is the monitoring of particle material due to mining activity around the Arequipa city, since the particle material concentration out of permissible range is a potential risk for the public health, in this sense the measurement with a reliable and low cost device is a challenging task.


This paper is aimed at a kind of photovoltaic generation heating equipment based on double parabolic reflector focusing and tracking technology, and a wireless remote monitor system based on Zigbee and LabVIEW technology is proposed. This system is divided into host and lower computer structure, and master and slave communication mode. Through the design and development of the upper-computer software, the system realizes the goal of on-line monitoring, remote control, fault detection, etc for the photovoltaic generation equipment. The experiment results validate the perfect function, friendly maintenance, easy operation, flexible configuration, and high universality of the designed system, which can provide the basis of industrialization for the widespread use of the photovoltaic generation equipment.


The Great Plains region of the United States is characterized by a significant dependence on agriculture;specifically irrigated agriculture.  The regional economic dependence on irrigated agriculture and the decline of the Ogallala Aquifer due to agricultural pumping have been much of the basis for the relatively recent governmental interest in developing policy alternatives for conserving water in the aquifer.  The objectives of this study were to analyze and evaluate the outcomes of specified water conservation policy alternatives on the Ogallala Aquifer underlying the Southern High Plains of Texas and Eastern New Mexico using non-linear optimization models.  Results indicate that due to varying land use and hydrologic conditions in the Ogallala Aquifer, blanket water conservation policies will likely be inefficient.


This study attempted to investigate the moderating effect of organizational culture between the leadership style and normative commitment to change. The study relied on the data collected from 371 employees of Yemeni public sector. The finding of this study shows that organizational culture plays an important role of moderating the relationship between leadership style either transformational or transactional and normative commitment to change. Furthermore, the results light out that the transformational leadership is positively related with normative commitment to change. In the same line, transactional leadership is found to be not only positively related with normative commitment to change but also as stronger effect on it. This study was carried out with numerous limitations as example is cross sectional was conducted in this study and this could not figure out the effect pre and after change, thus longitude study is highly recommend in order to look in deep and compare the result. Not only this but also there may conduce in another sector and industry, it may come out with different light. With believing of different culture and its effect, future study can be conducted in different research context. This research has figured out the weakness of empirical study in change management literatures by connecting the leadership style, and organizational culture, and how they are associated to employee normative commitment to change. In the same way, it has provided a guideline for the public sectors in general and particularly in Yemen context on how to successfully implement change phenomena as well as how to get effective and efficient leadership with change management.


Introduction: Despite remarkable progress in childhood survival, sub-Saharan Africa still experiences the highest under-five mortality globally. Indeed, the risk of childhood death is 14 times higher in low income countries compared to high income countries. Egypt and Kenya are both low middle-income countries with varied under-five mortality experiences. While Egypt has reached the Sustainable Development Goal target, Kenya is still lagging behind. Objective: This study aimed to identify and compare the key determinants of under-five mortality in the context of socio-demographic and behavioural characteristics of the mother as well as demographic characteristics of the new born in Egypt and Kenya. Method: The data source for this study was the 2014 Egypt and Kenya Demographic and Health Surveys. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Binary logistic regression analysis showed statistical significance of p-value < 0.01 for both countries. Also, the model could correctly predict 99% and 98% of cases in Egypt and Kenya respectively. Results: A total sample of 7576 and 9713 births in Egypt and Kenya, respectively was drawn from women who reported their last birth within the five years preceding the survey. Under-five mortality was reported at 1% and 2% in Egypt and Kenya respectively. In the final model, richer women in Egypt (OR = 3.375); older mothers 25 - 39 (OR = 1.592 Kenya, OR = 1.916 Egypt); those aged 40 - 49 (OR = 3.043 Kenya, OR = 5.191 Egypt); mother's higher education (OR = 0.342 Kenya, OR = 0.194 Egypt); being female (OR = 0.717 Kenya); contraceptive use (OR = 1.992 Kenya, OR = 4.241 Egypt) showed significant association with under-five mortality compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Under-five mortality was significantly associated with mother's age, education and contraceptive use. Educated women are best placed to use contraception to space and limit births as well as promote campaigns against risky old age childbearing thereby reducing childhood mortality.


In the absence of synaptic coupling, two or more neural oscillators may become synchronized by virtue of the statistical correlations in their noisy input streams. Recent work has shown that the degree of correlation transfer from input currents to output spikes depends not only on intrinsic oscillator dynamics, but also on the length of the observation window over which the correlation is calculated. In this paper we use stochastic phase reduction and regular perturbations to derive the correlation of the total phase elapsed over long time scales, a quantity that provides a convenient proxy for the spike count correlation. Over short time scales, we derive the spike count correlation directly using straightforward probabilistic reasoning applied to the density of the phase difference. Our approximations show that output correlation scales with the autocorrelation of the phase resetting curve over long time scales. We also find a concise expression for the influence of the shape of the phase resetting curve on the initial slope of the output correlation over short time scales. These analytic results together with numerical simulations provide new intuitions for the recent counterintuitive finding that type I oscillators transfer correlations more faithfully than do type II over long time scales, while the reverse holds true for the better understood case of short time scales.


Software is in constant evolution and many approaches have been suggested to study software maintenance productivity. This research reports on a process to design and implement a productivity model of legacy software based on the measurement of small functional enhancements using the COSMIC ISO 19761 international standard. Two motivations influence this research: 1) understanding the productivity of the software maintenance process to help manage the cost of maintenance; 2) understanding the cost drivers that affect the software maintenance productivity. This research reports on an empirical study of a productivity measurement program implemented in a large banking legacy system.


Abstract Habitat fragmentation causes loss of biodiversity and may alter the reproductive patterns of the species. Phenological studies help understanding the cyclical events of vegetables and ecosystem dynamic. The objectives were to correlate reproductive events with climate variables, classify the species and the ecological succession and dispersal syndromes and compare the reproductive patterns between edge and interior. Were followed 155 individuals (96 edge and 59 interior), between August/2008 and August/2010 on monthly observations of reproductive phenophases using the activity index and intensity of Fournier. The production of flowers and fruits was observed over the years, with the fruiting longer duration than flowering. Reproductive events were more intense on the edge. Intensity Fournier was similar to that of phenophases activity index. The pattern community was "steady state" and continued, with the majority of annual species. Edge and interior had the same time of occurrence of phenophases, but the activity and the intensity of reproductive individuals were higher on edge. Pioneer species were more common in edge and secondary in interior. Zoochory was more frequent in both areas. Not significant correlations between the phenology and the climate were found, suggesting the action of other factors for induction of reproduction.


Video Object Segmentation (VOS) is an active research area of the visual domain. One of its fundamental subtasks is semi-supervised / one-shot learning: given only the segmentation mask for the first frame, the task is to provide pixel-accurate masks for the object over the rest of the sequence. Despite much progress in the last years, we noticed that many of the existing approaches lose objects in longer sequences, especially when the object is small or briefly occluded. In this work, we build upon a sequence-to-sequence approach that employs an encoder-decoder architecture together with a memory module for exploiting the sequential data. We further improve this approach by proposing a model that manipulates multiscale spatio-temporal information using memory-equipped skip connections. Furthermore, we incorporate an auxiliary task based on distance classification which greatly enhances the quality of edges in segmentation masks. We compare our approach to the state of the art and show considerable improvement in the contour accuracy metric and the overall segmentation accuracy. Our source code and the pre-trained weights are publicly available11https://github.com/fatemehazimi990/RS2S.


Optimal transport distance has been recently promoted as a tool to measure the discrepancy between observed and seismic data within the full-waveform-inversion strategy. This high-resolution seismic imaging method, based on a data-fitting procedure, suffers from the nonconvexity of the standard least-squares discrepancy measure, an issue commonly referred to as cycle skipping. The convexity of the optimal transport distance with respect to time shifts makes it a good candidate to provide a more convex misfit function. However, the optimal transport distance is defined only for the comparison of positive functions, while seismic data are oscillatory. A review of the different attempts proposed in the literature to overcome this difficulty is proposed. Their limitations are illustrated: Basically, the proposed strategies are either not applicable to real data, or they lose the convexity property of optimal transport. On this basis, we introduce a novel strategy based on the interpretation of the seismic data in the graph space. Each individual trace is considered, after discretization, as a set of Dirac points in a 2D space, where the amplitude becomes a geometric attribute of the data. This ensures the positivity of the data, while preserving the geometry of the signal. The differentiability of the misfit function is obtained by approximating the Dirac distributions through 2D Gaussian functions. The interest of this approach is illustrated numerically by computing misfit-function maps in schematic examples before moving to more realistic synthetic full-waveform exercises, including the Marmousi model. The better convexity of the graph-based optimal transport distance is shown. On the Marmousi model, starting from a 1D linearly increasing initial model, with data without low frequencies (no energy less than 3 Hz), a meaningful estimation of the P-wave velocity model is recovered, outperforming previously proposed optimal-transport-based misfit functions.


Various lectins were examined to determine possible induction of gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) in human leukocytes. Among the seven positive lectins (Concanavalin A, pea lectin, lentil lectin, rice bran agglutinin, pokeweed mitogen, wheat germ agglutinin, phytohemagglutinin-P), six except rice bran agglutinin belonged to those which recognize carbohydrate chains connected to polypeptide through a glycosylamine linkage between N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) and asparagine residues. The specificity of carbohydrate chain recognition of rice bran agglutinin, residual one positive lectin, has not been reported. Induction of IFN-gamma by wheat germ agglutinin, one of the positive lectins, was inhibited by the addition of GlcNAc during the induction, but not by the addition of glucose, galactose, alpha-methylmannose, N-acetylgalactosamine, N-acetylmannosamine, and lactose.


This chapter analyzes the current position of United States supremacy, in light of the debate on hegemony and domination that acquires greater relevance after the formulation of the 'Bush Doctrine', which is systematized in the document 'The National Security Strategy of the United States of America'. Our approach will emphasize the following aspects: establishment of a parallel between the transition from the 19th to the 20th centuries, from studies that point out the characteristics of imperialism at different times; an analysis of the current foreign policies of the United States, focusing on the debate between unilateralism and multilateralism, emphasizing the reactions caused by the intervention in Iraq; a critical argument about the approaches that highlight in the security agenda of the Bush administration an indicator of a loss of hegemony, which would impose open domination over the search for consensus.


In this paper, we propose a novel method to extract keyframes from motion capture data. A hybrid approach, which combines a curve-simplification algorithm with an initialization procedure including principal component analysis, is adopted. The developed method automatically extracts an appropriate number of keyframes at high speed without performance degradation. Experimental results prove the effectiveness of the present method. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


The switch from diffusive combustion to premixed combustion in a modern gas turbine will change the combustor exit temperature profile to a more uniform one. Hot spot may occur from 10% to 90% vane span. This will directly affect the cooling of the first stage vane especially the endwall region. Cooling characteristics and metal temperature prediction of endwall become critical.A typical endwall configuration with matched non-dimensional parameters to the engine condition was investigated experimentally in this study. Two endwall cooling arrangements at four different coolant to mainstream mass flow ratios (MFR) were tested in a linear cascade. Detailed measurements of aerodynamic, heat transfer coefficient, adiabatic film cooling effectiveness and overall effectiveness of the endwall were performed. The temperature sensitive paint (TSP) and pressure sensitive paint (PSP) were used to acquire these parameters. The conjugate heat transfer characteristic of endwall with film cooling and impingement cooling was discussed. Besides, the influence of coolant mass flow ratio on conjugate heat transfer of endwall was analyzed. The results suggested that for film only case the overall effectiveness increases with the increase of MFR but for the combination case with both film cooling and impingement cooling the growth slows down. 1D and 2D method for overall effectiveness prediction based on experimental data for separate parameters and correlations were also studied.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Summary The aim of this study was to increase pregnancy rates by administering lesireline five days after artificial insemination (AI). Five days after AI, lesireline acetate (2 ml) and physiologic saline solution (2 ml) were injected intramuscularly in Group I (n=29) and Group II (n=27), respectively. Blood samples were collected at AI (day 0) and 5, 10 and 20 days after AI to determine serum progesterone concentrations. Pregnancies were diagnosed via palpation per rectum at day 60 after AI. Pregnancy rates were 24.1% and 22.2% in lesireline (Group I) and control (Group II) groups, respectively, and these pregnancy rates did not significantly differ between groups (p>0.05). Serum progesterone concentrations ten days after AI were not significantly different between experimental and control groups (p>0.05). Although serum progesteron concentration in lesireline group (6.3±0.9 ng/ml) was higher than those in control group (5.2±1.0 ng/ml), it did not significantly differ between groups (p>0.05). In spite of the fact that administration of lesireline resulted in significant rise in progesterone levels in the middle of the cycle, pregnancy rates did not differ between groups.


We study positive streamers in air propagating along polycarbonate dielectric plates with and without small-scale surface profiles. The streamer development was documented using light-sensitive high-speed cameras and a photo-multiplier tube, and the experimental results were compared with 2D fluid streamer simulations. Two profiles were tested, one with 0.5 mm deep semi-circular corrugations and one with 0.5 mm deep rectangular corrugations. A non-profiled surface was used as a reference. Both experiments and simulations show that the surface profiles lead to significantly slower surface streamers, and also reduce their length. The rectangular-cut profile obstructs the surface streamer more than the semi-circular profile. We find quantitative agreement between simulations and experiments. For the surface with rectangular grooves, the simulations also reveal a complex propagation mechanism where new positive streamers re-ignite inside the surface profile corrugations. The results are of importance for technological applications involving streamers and solid dielectrics.


To the Editor: In the recent edition ofArchives of Ophthalmology, credit for the film program at the 20th International Congress of Ophthalmology was erroneously given to The International Eye Film Library. I would like it to be noted that the complete film program for the congress was organized by Professor Harms and Professor Mackensen of Tubingen, Germany, and a film committee. I was privileged to participate as a member of their committee. The International Eye Film Library did conduct its second international eye film festival during the 20th Congress in Munich, Germany. Professor Harms served on the international panel in the selection of the award film. The third international eye film festival will be held during the Pan American Congress of Ophthalmology in Argentina in 1968 and it is hoped that the fourth film festival will be held during the 21st International Congress of Ophthalmology in Mexico in 1970.


Punching Machine is one of the principal machines in paper cutting industry & sheet metal industry. It is mainly used as the name indicates to cut strips. So we are going to make a machine for '' PUNCHING INDUSTRIES " and make it multipurpose & should be used to cut the card board , asbestos sheets, papers, foam, thin plastic sheets. The machine is simple to maintain, easy to operate. Hence we tried our hands on "automatic punching machine." Automatic punching machine is working on the principle of electromagnetic. This type of punching machine is used to punch basically card board, asbestos, sheets, papers, foam, and thin plastic sheets. Punching is depend on feed rate which done manually. The Greatest challenge faced by an engineer is to overcome the energy wasted due to friction in any mechanical process. In a conventional punching process, mechanical or hydraulic force is used to operate the punch which involves large amount of metal to metal contact in the drive system components, as well as inaccuracy in the control of the punching forces at the micro level. This paper introduces the basic construction of an electromagnetic assisted punching machine to carry out the punching operation. After successful fabrication, the set up was tested and the punching force produced was validated.


The main goal of this work is to provide an analysis methodology for assessment of water scarcity
problems based on supply and demand. To this end, we must first determine what can be considered
as supply and demand in the water scarcity problem. Although some variables involved are
physical, economical or demographical, in our approach social factors are also included. This leads
us to objectify water demand standards in relation to acceptable welfare levels. Within this
approach, water scarcity will appear when demand reaches a higher value than supply. Two supply
levels are defined based on other works. Demand is calculated within several scenarios. These
scenarios represent the outcome of political or management decisions taken to reach a welfare
standard. A special scenario will represent, simply, the continuation of the current state of affairs.
The variables needed to calculate demand are obtained through a multilevel model where the lowest
level is formed by disciplinary models and the highest level takes into account social and political
factors. The methodology is applied to the countries of the gulf of Guinea. Its application to Cote
d'Ivoire is described in detail and results are given for the other eight countries of the area. To
summarize the results, two indexes are suggested. With this methodology, it is possible to divide the
region of the gulf of Guinea in three areas of different freshwater capacity, giving new insight with
regards previous studies that did not state differences between the countries of the region.


The article analyzes the features of theorization, verification and structuring of regionalism and regionalization as a possible basis for politicization of ethnicity in Ukraine in 1991-2013, i.e. before the Russian-Ukrainian war, in particular in its local phase since 2014 and in large-scale phase since 2022.This is done at the background of the statement that aggressive Russia has always proceeded from the ideological and propagandistic (including instilled in Ukraine) assumption that Ukraine is not a united and consolidated country, because it has historically been characterized by regionalism and regionalization, which Russia expects should were the basis for the politicization of ethnicity and the ethnolinguistic issue in Ukraine in 1991-2013. However, as the political and military practice of 2014-2022 showed, this calculation turned out to be largely erroneous and incomparable with the electoral, religious, linguistic, ethnic and other socio-political cleavages that historically characterized (and significantly were overestimated by Russia) post-Soviet Ukraine. To demonstrate this, various approaches to understanding and organizing regionalism in Ukraine were proposed, including two-component, four-component, eight-component, etc., each of which was structured and characterized. The author argued that any attempt to use the idea of regionalization of Ukraine – especially in its twofold logic (divided into "West" and "East" or the Right Bank and the Left Bank relative to the Dnipro River) – in the real socio-political process in this country, but especially in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which began in 2014 and intensified on a large scale in 2022, failed. However, this does not mean that the issue of regionalism and regionalization in Ukraine should not be continued and developed, but in a completely different way and direction, especially in the context of European integration of this country.

http://jcee.wsgk.com.pl/wp-content/uploads/archive_2022/Białobłocki  T. 17-2022.pdf


An important issue in multiobjective optimization is the quantitative comparison of the performance of different algorithms. In the case of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms, the outcome is usually an approximation of the Pareto-optimal set, which is denoted as an approximation set, and therefore the question arises of how to evaluate the quality of approximation sets. Most popular are methods that assign each approximation set a vector of real numbers that reflect different aspects of the quality. Sometimes, pairs of approximation sets are also considered. In this study, we provide a rigorous analysis of the limitations underlying this type of quality assessment. To this end, a mathematical framework is developed which allows one to classify and discuss existing techniques.


Abstract Lolium perenne L. (perennial ryegrass) shows variable levels of seed physiological dormancy (PD), which depends on the genotype and environmental condition during seed development. To analyse the effect of field temperature and precipitation during seed filling on the PD, two cultivars were sown on five dates in 2014 and 2015. After harvest, the level of seed PD was 4–28%. High-temperature stress (>29°C) in the field during seed development, measured as heat stress units (HSUs), reduced seed PD (increased germination) at harvest. After 9 months of dry afterripening under laboratory conditions, mean dormant seed values were reduced from 15 ± 8 to 8 ± 7%. An increment in the seed PD level reduced seedling emergence in the field. Seed with 20% PD produced only 50% of field emergence, under optimal environmental conditions. Different vigour tests were conducted and each was compared with field emergence. The speed of germination, through the first count at 5 d of the standard germination test, and the shoot length at 10 d were better associated with the seedling establishment in the field. The HSU could be useful to establish a possible PD range in the seed of perennial ryegrass after the growing season. The development of models considering the HSU and other climatic parameters could motivate future studies.


The activation of carbon dioxide (CO2) mediated by NbBN2- cluster anions under the conditions of thermal collision has been investigated by time-of-flight mass spectrometry combined with density functional theory calculations. Two CO double bonds in the CO2 molecule are completely broken and two C-N bonds are further generated to form the novel molecule NCNBO-. To the best of our knowledge, this new molecule is synthesized and reported for the first time. In addition, one oxygen atom transfer channel produces another product, NbBN2O-. Both of the Nb and B atoms in NbBN2- donate electrons to reduce CO2, and the carbon atom originating from CO2 serves as an electron reservoir. The reaction of NbB- with N2 was also investigated theoretically, and the formation of NbBN2- from this reaction is thermodynamically and kinetically quite favorable, indicating that NCNBO- might be produced from the coupling of N2 and CO2 mediated by NbB- anions.


With the increasing use of the Internet and social media for knowledge and social connections, we might expect that people more easily expand their opportunities for new learning through social relationships online. Yet, this mixed methods study of teens' use of technologies (e.g. YouTube and social media) in informal learning contexts reveals that, in teens' preferred learning activities, few interact with new ties outside their immediate networks (school, family, and friends). Given the value of social interaction and weak ties for learning new knowledge, this research investigates teens' use of networked technologies with people and resources outside their immediate networks. Based on 23 semi-structured interviews, we describe teens' informal learning activities and technology practices, from which we identify design opportunities. To inform these, we examine teens' paths into extended networks, including the role of digital skills, technology access, intrinsic motivation, and sense of relatedness. We find that relatedness both motivated and inhibited teens to reach beyond immediate networks into extended networks for informal learning activities.


According to observations, different visual objects have different salient features in different scenarios. Even for the same object, its salient shape and appearance features may change greatly from time to time in a long-term tracking task. Motivated by them, we proposed an end-to-end feature fusion framework based on Siamese network, named FF-Siam, which can effectively fuse different features for adaptive visual tracking. The framework consists of four layers. A feature extraction layer is designed to extract the different features of the target region and search region. The extracted features are then put into a weight generation layer to obtain the channel weights, which indicate the importance of different feature channels. Both features and the channel weights are utilized in a template generation layer to generate a discriminative template. Finally, the corresponding response maps created by the convolution of the search region features and the template are applied with a fusion layer to obtain the final response map for locating the target. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed framework achieves state-of-the-art performance on the popular Temple-Color, OTB50 and UAV123 benchmarks.


This book provides a theoretical and application-oriented analysis of deterministic scheduling problems in advanced planning and computer systems. The text examines scheduling problems across a range of parameters: job priority, release times, due dates, processing times, precedence constraints, resource usage and more, focusing on such topics as computer systems and supply chain management. Discussion includes single and parallel processors, flexible shops and manufacturing systems, and resource-constrained project scheduling. Many applications from industry and service operations management and case studies are described. The handbook will be useful to a broad audience, from researchers to practitioners, graduate and advanced undergraduate students.


Access to safe and quality drinking water is a fundamental requirement and
a basic human right. Water quality is determined by its biological, physical,
and chemical properties. Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) area consists of
the largest population who utilize pipe-borne water supplied by the National
Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWS&DB) Sri Lanka. The objective of
the study was to assess the water quality of the drinking water under selected
parameters within the Colombo Municipal Council area. In this quantitative,
retrospective, cross-sectional study, 268 water analysis reports from 1st July
to 30th November 2021 were considered with the permission of the Ethics
Review Committee of KIU (KIU_ERC_21_194A) and relevant authorities
of NWS&DB. Data on selected parameters such as color, turbidity, pH, Total
Dissolved Solids (TDS), Free Residual Chlorine (FRC), the total number
of coliform bacteria, and the total number of Escheretia-Coli (E-Coli) were
extracted. Data analysis was done using SPSS (Version 25). All values
were considered based on reference ranges of Sri Lanka Standards (SLS)
guidelines. The study indicated that, among nine water schemes and four
water reservoirs, the highest contributions for purification were from the
Maligakanda water scheme (15.9% n =56) and Maligakanda water reservoir
(51.6%, n=139). All the samples were fully treated water and the mean of
the color was 4.03 Hazen Units which was within the permissible level,
though ( 3.7 % n=10) of samples exceeded the range. The mean value of the
turbidity was 0.49 Nephelometric Turbidity Unit (NTU) which was within
the permissible level and only one sample had deviated from the maximum
permissible level. The mean pH value was 7.33 and except for one, all other
samples were within the permissible level. The mean value of the TDS was
24.51mg/L and the majority (95.8 %, n= 257) of FRC values varied between
0.6-0.8mg/L which was within the permissible level, while 3.39% (n=10) of
samples had 0 mg/L. All samples were free from coliform and E-Coli. Most
of the samples were within the permissible range of color, pH, turbidity, TDS,
FRC, and free from Coliform and E-Coli which can be recommended for use.


A new case of pneumonia and empyema by Pasteurella multocida diagnosed by culture of pleural fluid is reported. It is also reviewed the most common ways of infection, the characteristics of the rare pulmonary diseases, the risks factors and the treatment.


Carbohydrate histochemistry of the scale and hinge epidermis of the chequered water snake, Nalrix piscator, throughout the sloughing cycle, has been described. The small amount of mucopolysaccharide present in the Oberhautchen, mesos layer, α-layer and β-Mayer (in its initial stage of differentiation) is comparable with that in amphibian epidermis and the epidermis of certain freshwater fish undergoing keratinization. Moderate amounts of mucopolysaccharide in the lacunar tissue and clear layer may protect against environmental pathogens and retain water to protect the epidermis from desiccation. Mucous cells could not be located in the epidermis throughout the sloughing cycle, contrary to some previous observations that they occur in the hinge region. The general absence of glycogen in the epidermis in most stages of the sloughing cycle suggests that the glycogen metabolized in the epidermis is utilized immediately, in view of the high energy requirements of proliferation and differentiation. Accumulation of glycogen granules in the presumptive α-layer in stage 2 and in the clear layer, presumptive Oberhautchen and presumptive β-Mayer in stage 3 is correlated with low energy requirements, indicating a slowing down of the process of keratinization of cells in these layers.


On 5 April 2018, the documentary Period. End of Sentence. premiered at the Cleveland International Film Festival in Cleveland, Ohio. In the documentary, Rayka Zehtabchi, the director of the film, documents the stigma surrounding menstruation [5] in India and follows a group of women in Kathikhera, a rural village in the Hapur district of India, as they manufacture and distribute sanitary pads. A group of high school students at Oakwood High School in Los Angeles, California, raised money to produce the documentary after one student was inspired by her visit to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York City, New York, which focused on the stigma surrounding menstruation [5] in low-income countries. Period. End of Sentence. draws attention to the obstacles impeding proper menstrual health management in low-income contexts by documenting the women of Kathikhera's journey to manufacture and sell sanitary pads.


Multiferroics offer an elegant means to implement voltage control and on the fly reconfigurability in microscopic, nanoscaled systems based on ferromagnetic materials. These properties are particularly interesting for the field of magnonics, where spin waves are used to perform advanced logical or analogue functions. Recently, the emergence of nanomagnonics is expected to eventually lead to the large-scale integration of magnonic devices. However, a compact voltage-controlled, on demand reconfigurable magnonic system has yet to be shown. Here, we introduce the combination of multiferroics with ferromagnets in a fully epitaxial heterostructure to achieve such voltage-controlled and reconfigurable magnonic systems. Imprinting a remnant electrical polarization in thin multiferroic BiFeO3 with a periodicity of 500 nm yields a modulation of the effective magnetic field in the micrometer-scale, ferromagnetic La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 magnonic waveguide. We evidence the magnetoelectric coupling by characterizing the spin wave propagation spectrum in this artificial, voltage induced, magnonic crystal and demonstrate the occurrence of a robust magnonic band gap with >20 dB rejection.


Dilated convolution kernels are constrained by their shared dilation, keeping them from being aware of diverse spatial contents at different locations. We address such limitations by formulating the dilation as trainable weights respect to individual positions. We introduce Pixel-wise Adaptive Dilation (PAD), a light-weighted extension that allows convolution kernels to flexibly adjust receptive fields based on different contents at pixel level. By inferring dilation via modeling inter-layer patterns, PAD-Nets also provide a possible way to partially understand the hierarchical representations of CNNs. Our evaluation results indicate PAD-Nets can consistently outperform their conventional counterparts on various visual tasks.


Based on a convolutional neural network (CNN) approach, this article proposes an improved ResNet-18 model for heartbeat classification of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals through appropriate model training and parameter adjustment. Due to the unique residual structure of the model, the utilized CNN layered structure can be deepened in order to achieve better classification performance. The results of applying the proposed model to the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database demonstrate that the model achieves higher accuracy (96.50%) compared to other state-of-the-art classification models, while specifically for the ventricular ectopic heartbeat class, its sensitivity is 93.83% and the precision is 97.44%.


Sustained load bending tests were conducted on large size %-inch-thick, 12by 39-inch red oak veneered-hardboard composites, hardboards, and red oak lumber. A greater initial elastic deflection generally resulted in a greater total creep and irrecoverable creep deflections. Creep deflections of all composite panels were affected by the load level, core density, and shelling ratio in this study. The red oak lumber exhibited the most creep resistance. However, the composite panel with a shelling ratio of 0.262 was nearly as resistant to creep as red oak lumber. Creep deflections of all composite panels were very well described by a power-law function, based on two separate test models of 2 to 10 min and 10 to 100 min. The extrapolation of log-log regression for the approximation of creep appeared to give reasonable values for up to three weeks. Three multivariable regression models were developed to predict the initial, total, and irrecoverable creep deflections as a function of shelling ratio, load level, and hardboard core density. Their R' values were 0.96, 0.87, and 0.85, respectively. Kryt.ords: Qurrc,us spp., rheology, creep deflection, irrecoverable creep deflection, sustained load level, hardboard, core density, shelling ratio, veneer thickness, composite panel, wood-base materials.


In order to reduce the surging acceleration of ocean fishing boats and improve the comfort of crews, based on the theory of regular wave and irregular wave potential flow, the six- Degree-of-Freedom (6DOF) motion performance, wave excitation forces and seasickness incidence of crew before and after modification of an ocean fishing boats were predicted and analyzed by panel method. The forecasting results show that the motion range of the modified fishing boats is obviously reduced and the seasickness incidence has been significantly improved.


Cochlear implants have become an acceptable method for management of the deaf patient, adult and child alike. Since the advent of implants there has been much research into objective methods for setting electrode values. The most common method is the electrical auditory brainstem response (EABR). The result of EABR threshold measurement is frequently reported as an arbitrary stimulus level set by the manufacturer. However, there has been recent discussion of whether an arbitrary stimulus level is acceptable or if the results should be reported in absolute units, either charge or current, particularly when combined data are used. This report compares two methods of data presentation for the EABR, arbitrary stimulus level and absolute units measured in nanoCoulombs (nC). Data collected from a previous study were used in this comparison. All patients were fitted with the Nucleus multi-channel device and Mini Speech Processor. The correlation between stimulus level and log charge (nC) was 0.990 with a slope of 0.987 which suggests the method of data reporting does not alter EABR results materially when using the Nucleus device.


The present invention provides highly injectable, long-lasting hyaluronic acid-based hydrogel dermal filler compositions which are particularly advantageous for correction of fine lines in the face.


Neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) stabilization by an electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) has been studied by using the numerical model on the basis of the modified Rutherford equation coupled with the 1.5 D transport code and the EC code. The transport code solves the current diffusion equation, including the EC current profile. The background current modification and the resultant movement of rational surface by ECCD are taken into account. The EC code consists of the ray tracing method and the Fokker-Planck calculation. Undetermined parameters in the modified Rutherford equation are estimated from a comparison with the JT-60U experiments. Sensitivity of stabilization to the EC current location is investigated by simulation. The low EC current and peaked EC current profile mitigates the sensitivity, whereas the high EC current and peaked EC current profile moves the rational surface more largely via background current modification by the EC current and intensifies the sensitivity. The high EC current and broad EC current profile mitigates the sensitivity. The EC current necessary for the full stabilization is studied for ITER parameters. The necessary EC current strongly depends on the parameters of bootstrap current and ECCD terms in the modified Rutherford equation. Necessary ECCD power on ITER is evaluated on the basis of parameters estimated from comparisons with JT-60U experiments.


A twisted stack of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tapes soldered into copper profiles was used as a strand in the fabrication of the 60-kA/12-T HTS cable prototype at the Center for Research in Plasma Physics (CRPP). Considering the strand in general as a modular element for the high-current cables, design parameters of the strand need to be optimized in order to best fulfill requirements of appropriate application field. During the development program of the HTS fusion cable at CRPP, influence of the design parameters on the strand's performance was obtained as input data for the optimization process. In this paper, we summarize the results of the twisting, bending, and transverse pressure tests on strands of various tapes and profile's geometries. Finite-element model for the transverse pressure test was developed, validated with the test results, and used for the design proposals. Effect of the stack aspect ratio, tape properties, and anisotropy, as well as selection of HTS material for the strand, will be discussed.


This revised and updated second edition of "Global Technological Change" reconsiders how we make and use technology in the twenty-first century. With human-centred 'soft technology' driving machine-based 'hard technology' in ever more complex ways, Zhouying Jin provides a much-needed understanding of the human dimension of technological advancement. Through a theoretical framework that incorporates elements of both Eastern and Western philosophy, she offers insight into the dynamic between the two as it relates to a variety of technological innovations. More relevant than ever, Global Technological Change continues to challenge assumptions about technology and the gap between the developed and developing countries in the twenty-first century.


Vitamin C powder ingredients are popular food fortificants and are among the most commonly added nutrients. While information on degradation kinetics and shelf life of vitamin C exists, current models are limited in their applicability to systems where relative humidity (RH) and temperature are varied simultaneously, and where phase transformations occur. This study monitored stability of two forms of vitamin C (sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid) under various RH and temperature conditions. Vitamin C was measured colorimetrically, and stability data were used to improve understanding of vitamin C shelf life when deliquescence occurs during storage. RH and temperature both significantly impacted vitamin stability, though RH had a larger effect. Vitamin dissolution preceded extensive degradation and was found to be a good predictor of vitamin C loss. This research highlights the importance of considering phase transformations when constructing shelf life models and maintaining vitamin C in the solid state for enhanced stability.


Abstract. Can we improve machine-learning (ML) emulators with synthetic data? If data
are scarce or expensive to source and a physical model is available,
statistically generated data may be useful for augmenting training sets
cheaply. Here we explore the use of copula-based models for generating
synthetically augmented datasets in weather and climate by testing the
method on a toy physical model of downwelling longwave radiation and
corresponding neural network emulator. Results show that for
copula-augmented datasets, predictions are improved by up to 62 % for the mean absolute error (from 1.17 to 0.44 W m−2).


In this article we studied the permeable characteristics of thiol-modified double-stranded DNA (ds-DNA) self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on a gold substrate assembled under different NaCl concentrations by electrochemical methods. It was based on the inspection of five important parameters including interfacial capacitance (C), phase angle (Φ(1 Hz)), ions transfer resistance (R(it)*), current density difference (Δj) and electron transfer rate (k(et)) through cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Three sections were included: (1) Investigation of the relationships of C, Φ(1 Hz), R(it)*, Δj and k(et) with NaCl concentrations and comparison with the reports from literature. Experimental results showed that ds-DNA-SAMs were permeable films. (2) Construction of a simple model for exploring the permeable characteristics of ds-DNA-SAMs on gold. (3) Confirmation of the simple model by chronocoulometry (CC) and application of the model to explain the permeable mechanism. This study was significant for exploring the mechanism of electron transfer through the interior of ds-DNA duplex helix.


I have to thankMr. F. H. Langlandsfor his investigation of the literature. Twenty-flve casesof undoubtedperforation of the colon by compressedair were collectedand pub.lished by G. Jean,of Toulon, who operatedin two instances with success. In the majority of the reported cases the pathological appearancesdiffered considerablyfrom those of the case which I have reported, in that there was a much greater laceration of the serousand muscular coats of the colon than of the mucosa,which tended to herniatethrough the tear in the outer coats. The other coats becameretracted towards the mesentericattachment. In each case of the seriesthe tear in the mucosawassingleand small, although the lacerations in the outer coats were multiple and as long as 35 cm.. The common site of the lacerationis the recto-sigmoidal junction or the sigmoid colon itself, but all parts of the colon and csecum have suffered and in one case the compressed air passed the ileo-crecal valve and reached the small intestine,whereit producedecchymosisof themucosa. The lacerationswere always along one of the longitudinal bands although in experimentson the cadaverthe laceration ゥ セ usually situatedon the mesentericeuge, There is no mention in the literature of the occurrence of pneumothoraxand in the majority of: the cases the emphysemawas limited to the inguinal region, but in one instance reached the 'neck. In .no instance was the emphysemageneralizedas in this case. . In none of the reported caseshad the tube been introduced into the rectum or even placed in direct contact with the skin. The clothing was not damaged,nor was the anal region lacerated. Some of the cases had been the results of practical jokes as in the instancenow reo ported. In others the pipe conveying the compressedair had blown out as it passedbeneaththe workman and the released. air appearsto have been conductedby a funnel action, as it were, of the perineal region to the anus, the sphincterof which was easily overcome. The symptoms in all cases were similar, but showed varying degrees of severity. Those patients on whom operationswere successfullyperformed, were admitted to hospital within three hours of injury and the pulse rate . rangedbetween100 and 120 per minute. In view of the extensive injury to the bowel wall the operation performed in the majority of instances was niviston of the bowel at the site of injury, closure of the kwer segmentand colostomy. Simple suturewas possible in one case and enterectomywith anastomosiswas sueceisfullv performed in one case. A small incision in the abcomlnal cavity, to relieve the air pressureon the diaphragm, was part of the early treatment in some cases, but this procedure should apparently not be carried out too ioon, since one observerreportsthat it was followed by card.ac failure. Of the twenty-five cases in which the dtasrostawas establishedeither at operationor at autopsy, operatonwas not performed in nine, since the condition of tln patient did not permit interference. These nine patierrs died. Of the sixteen patientssubjectedto operation, nne died and seven survived. The majority of the survtvo-s had a permanentcolostomy opening.


AbstractFactors related with parental involvement on their childrens education continues to be a pertinent issue. Some school going children in Kenya post detrimental results amid claims that parents are not supportive. This study sought to establish influence of Parental Level of Education on Pre-PrimaryLearners performance in curriculum activities in Nandi County, Kenya. Epsteins Theory and descriptive survey design was used for the study. Purposive sampling technique, stratified random technique and simple random technique were used to select the sample of the study. The sample for the study was 50 head teachers 100 teachers and 100 parents in pre-Primary schools from a population of 500 head teachers, 1000 teachers and 10000 parents. Questionnaire, interview guides and focused group discussions were used to collect data. A pilot study was conducted in two schools to determine the validity and reliability of instruments. Both content and face validity were ensured while split half technique was used to determine the instrument's reliability. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive such as frequencies and percentages and presented in form of tables while inferential statistics used simple linear regression. Qualitative data was analyzed and presented in narrative form.


The population of the northeast region's native rabbit, the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis; NEC), has declined by more than 80% in the last 50 years. In 2006, it was listed as a candidate species for protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. In 2010, a captive breeding program was developed to help reverse this trend, and islands were identified as having the potential to serve as ideal release sites for captive-bred NEC. Two islands were chosen as possible release sites: Nomans Land Island National Wildlife Refuge in Chilmark, Massachusetts; and Patience Island, located in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. To evaluate their suitability as release sites, an intensive habitat analysis was conducted on each island. The major habitat types on Patience Island also were delineated manually. To inform future releases of NEC on islands, an impact assessment was conducted on Penikese Island, which is known to have hosted previously a population of introduced cottontails. A pilot release of NEC was conducted on Patience Island and the population was monitored using radiotelemetry from April 2012 to February 2013. Rabbit locations were triangulated and home ranges were calculated using an adaptive kernel density estimator. The impact assessment on Penikese Island yielded inconclusive results, but the results of the habitat analysis on Patience Island and Nomans Land Island NWR indicate that both islands are well-suited to support a population of NEC. Survivability was high on Patience Island, and all rabbits spent the majority of their time in bramblevine thicket and mixed forest habitats. My findings indicate that islands could play a significant role in the recovery of NEC, and releasing NEC on islands should be strongly considered as a management strategy to help preclude the need for listing under the Endangered Species Act.


-Lissencephaly is a human brain malformation manifested by a smooth cerebral surface and severe mental retardation. Some of the patients have been shown to have deletions in chromosome 171)13.3, and recently, LIS-1 has been proposed to be the disease-associated gene. We have now mapped the mouse homolog of LIS-1 to mouse chromosome 11B3 by using fluorescence in situ hybridization to metaphase chromosomes. The analysis of yeast artificial chromosome clones placed Lis-1 in close proximity to the microsatellite marker D11Mit65.


I begin this article with a brief history of the use of "the normative" in anthropology, starting with Kant and concluding with discussion of the concept within theories of practice. This is followed by an account of an ethnographic study of blue-jeans wearing in North London. The importance of becoming ordinary is exemplified in that study by migrants' experience of being comfortable in blue jeans. I argue that jeans are the first postsemiotic garment, an antithesis to identity. I end by considering the challenge represented by the concept of "the ordinary" for anthropology's foundational presumption of the normative.


The presence (perceived or otherwise) of people of different social categories (perceived or otherwise) in a given social context-Those categories may include: ethnicity/race attractiveness gender/sex weight age physically challenged SES / Class group membership of any kind


Implicit and explicit methods are described for reliability and risk analysis of systems with dependent or correlated basic events. General rules are presented for modeling any group of n mutually s-dependent events with 2/sup n/-1 s-independent events. The probabilities of these virtual events are determined based on the joint probabilities of the original s-dependent events, typically known by s-correlation or conditional probabilities. The transformations preserve the values of all terms (e.g., minimal cut sets), independent of system success criteria. This facilitates general use of ordinary fault-tree computer codes that assume basic events to be s-independent. Explicit basic event probabilities are obtained for calculating the probability of failure on demand of standby safety systems when the s-dependency is caused by scheduling and synchronization of test episodes between n redundant components (1 /spl les/ n /spl les/ 4), and by statistical variation of failure rates. Interesting "negative probabilities" are encountered in this exercise, mainly due to negative s-correlation between the component unavailabilities with staggered testing. Results obtained for human-error events are useful when the conditional probability to repeat an error is larger than the probability of an error in a single isolated task. Explicit results are obtained for systems with time-related common-cause failures modeled by general multiple failure rates. The impacts of test intervals and test staggering are included. Staggered testing is optimal with an ETR (extra-testing rule), although ETR is not important for 1-out-of-n:G systems. An economic model provides insights into the impacts of various parameters: the optimal test interval increases with increasing redundancy and testing cost, and it decreases with increasing accident cost and initiating event rate. Staggered testing with ETR allows for the longest optimal test intervals. Rules are presented for changing s-dependency probabilities when some component is known to be failed. Current fault-tree quantification tools are not well geared to use the implicit method in spite of the fact that it would simplify the fault-tree construction, reduce the number of cut sets, and allow different types of dependencies or correlations in the analysis. A recommendation is to computerize the implicit method or include it as an option to current codes. It would need only a data table for joint probabilities and the ability to pick-up data from this table whenever two or more of the s-dependent events appear in a term (or a cut set).


While efficiency is still the major driver in combined cycle power plant design, there is an increasing need for operational flexibility along with additional operating cost reduction. nightly and weekend shutdowns and subsequent start-up capabilities should be considered during the overall evaluation of a power plant. Technological advancements in power plant design involving gas and steam turbines, heat recovery steam generators (HRSGs), generators and comprehensive plant component integration have increased thermal performance and allowed greater operational flexibility. Advancements in gas turbine technology have increased power and efficiency while decreasing emissions and life-cycle costs without sacrificing reliability. Siemens advanced gas turbines are equipped with 3-D aero blading, high temperature tolerant coatings, advanced cooling technology and low emissions combustion systems. These features have been incorporated into a well-proven technology base that includes many gas turbine design features that have been adopted as industry standards. Despite advances in gas turbine power and efficiency, when used in combined cycle application, plants were traditionally forced to choose between high efficiency or operational flexibility (at the expense of efficiency). Although it has always been important to provide operational flexibility in order to enhance the value and agility of power generation assets, it has not been economical. Gas turbines have traditionally been required to compromise their fast-loading capability to accommodate the limitation of the HRSG, steam turbine and other components. By properly designing and integrating the plant components to allow a fast start capability while dramatically reducing startup fuel and water consumption as well as emissions, an economical solution is now available. Plants capable of achieving traditional base-load combined-cycle efficiency, incorporating fast starting and cycling capability now allow owners to meet a variety of challenging and sometimes changing market demands. This paper addresses results of a comprehensive integrated program within the authors' company to develop the FlexPlant a combined-cycle plant design that offers fast starting and cycling flexibility without jeopardizing efficiency or reliability. The FlexPlant design integrates proven plant concepts with highly efficient components and advanced technology to exceed the capabilities of existing combined cycle plant designs.


CellMiner (http://discover.nci.nih.gov/cellminer) and CellMinerCDB (https://discover.nci.nih.gov/cellminercdb/) are web-based applications for mining publicly available genomic, molecular, and pharmacological datasets of human cancer cell lines including the NCI-60, Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE), Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC), Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (CTRP), NCI/DTP small cell lung cancer (SCLC), and NCI Almanac cell line sets. Here we introduce our RNA sequencing data for the NCI-60 and their access and integration with the other databases. Correlation to transcript microarray expression levels for identical genes and identical cell lines across CellMinerCDB demonstrate the high quality of these new RNA-seq data. We provide composite and isoform transcript expression data and demonstrate diversity in isoform composition for individual cancer- and pharmacologically relevant genes, including HRAS, PTEN, EGFR, RAD51, ALKBH2, BRCA1, ERBB2, TP53, FGFR2, and CTNND1. We reveal cell-specific differences in the overall levels of isoforms and show their linkage to expression of RNA processing and splicing genes as well as resultant alterations in cancer and pharmacological gene sets. Gene-drug pairings linked by pathways or functions show specific correlations to isoforms compared to composite gene expression, including ALKBH2-benzaldehyde, AKT3-vandetanib, BCR-imatinib, CDK1 and 20-palbociclib, CASP1-imexon, and FGFR3-pazopanib. Loss of MUC1 20 amino acid variable number tandem repeats, which is used to elicit immune response, and the presence of the androgen receptor AR-V4 and -V7 isoforms in all NCI-60 tissue of origin types demonstrates translational relevance. In summary, we introduce RNA-seq data to our CellMiner and CellMinerCDB web-applications, allowing their exploration for both research and translational purposes.


ABSTRACT This investigation sought to understand whether performance in naturalistic virtual reality tasks for cognitive assessment relates to the cognitive domains that are supposed to be measured. The Shoe Closet Test (SCT) was developed based on a simple visual search task involving attention skills, in which participants have to match each pair of shoes with the colors of the compartments in a virtual shoe closet. The interaction within the virtual environment was made using the Microsoft Kinect. The measures consisted of concurrent paper-and-pencil neurocognitive tests for global cognitive functioning, executive functions, attention, psychomotor ability, and the outcomes of the SCT. The results showed that the SCT correlated with global cognitive performance as measured with the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). The SCT explained one third of the total variance of this test and revealed good sensitivity and specificity in discriminating scores below one standard deviation in this screening tool. These findings suggest that performance of such functional tasks involves a broad range of cognitive processes that are associated with global cognitive functioning and that may be difficult to isolate through paper-and-pencil neurocognitive tests.


The way to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending, which is a top priority for any government in any country, implies the introduction of Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB). One of the more advanced government-wide performance budgeting systems that uses performance information systematically in the preparation of the government budget is program budgeting. It is important to keep in mind that without systematic development and use of program performance information and adequate and effective performance indicators, program budgeting in the defense sector does not make sense as a tool to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the defense resource management process. Only by defining and tracking success can it be known if the defense organizations and units perform efficiently and effectively. In this article, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was considered as an excellent mathematical programming tool that can be used to measure, evaluate, and analyze the efficiency of the defense organizations, in particular of the infantry battalions of the infantry brigades under the Eastern and Western Commands of the Georgian Defense Forces (GDF), on the delivery of readiness. A sample DEA model was proposed to measure the efficiency of the abovementioned units. Some recommendations to facilitate the use of the DEA and other statistical tools to measure and evaluate the performance of the GDF units were also proposed.


Knowledge of the spectrum and frequencies of paediatric emergencies presenting to an emergency department (ED) of individual developing countries is vital in optimizing the quality of care delivered locally. A prospective 6 wk review of all paediatric (< 18 y) attendees to an urban ED was done with patient age presenting complaints diagnoses time of arrival and disposition recorded. Complete data were available on 1172 patients with an age range of 4 d to 18 y (mean ± SD 6.9 ± 5.6 y); 43% were aged = 4 y. The main presenting complaints were injuries (26.9%) fever (24%) and breathing difficulties (16.6%). The most common diagnosis was minor trauma (24.2%) with soft-tissue injuries predominating (80.6%). The other diagnoses were asthma (12.6%) upper respiratory infections (12.1%) other infections (12.1%) and gastroenteritis (11.8%). Equal proportions of patients were seen throughout the day. 25% of patients were admitted. Young age (< 1 y); presence of past medical history general practitioner referrals diagnosis of bronchiolitis and pneumonia were significantly associated with risk of admission. A wide spectrum of paediatric illnesses was seen in the ED with an over-representation of young children. This supports the decision to have either a separate paediatric ED or paediatric residents on the staff. The training curricula should emphasize the management of paediatric trauma infections and asthma. Alternatively developing guidelines for the five most common presenting complaints would account for 82% of all attendees and could be directed towards all staff on the ED. (authors)


Approximately 3.0% of young Americans have used anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). A traditional model of adolescent substance use, the gateway hypothesis, suggests that drug use follows a chronological, causal sequence, whereby initial use of a specific drug leads to an increased likelihood of future drug use. Therefore, the use of illicit appearance and performance enhancing drugs (APED), such as AASs, also follows an analogous progression, whereby legal APEDs, (e.g., nutritional supplements) precedes illicit APED use. We examined the relationship between nutritional supplement use, beliefs about APEDs, and APED use in 201 male (n = 100) and female (n = 101) undergraduates. Participants completed measures of muscle dysmorphia (MDDI), body checking (BCQ, MBCQ), eating disorder symptoms (EDE-Q), perfectionism (FMPS), positive beliefs about the efficacy-safety of AAS use and APED use patterns. A series of covariance structure models (CSM) showed body image disturbance, compulsive exercise, illicit drug use, and perfectionism, independent of gender, were significant predictors of positive beliefs about AAS. Those who used both fat burning and muscle building supplements reported the strongest beliefs in AAS efficacy-safety, which was associated with higher likelihood of current illicit APED use. There was evidence of significant indirect relationships between supplement use and illicit APED use through contact with other AAS users and beliefs about AAS. The potential role for nutritional supplement use in the initiation of illegal APED use is discussed. Future prevention efforts may benefit from targeting legal APED users in youth.


User modeling plays an important role in delivering customized web services to the users and improving their engagement. However, most user models in the literature do not explicitly consider the temporal behavior of users. More recently, continuous-time user modeling has gained considerable attention and many user behavior models have been proposed based on temporal point processes. However, typical point process based models often considered the impact of peer influence and content on the user participation and neglected other factors. Gamification elements, are among those factors that are neglected, while they have a strong impact on user participation in online services. In this paper, we propose interdependent multi-dimensional temporal point processes that capture the impact of badges on user participation besides the peer influence and content factors. We extend the proposed processes to model user actions over the community based question and answering websites, and propose an inference algorithm based on Variational-EM that can efficiently learn the model parameters. Extensive experiments on both synthetic and real data gathered from Stack Overflow show that our inference algorithm learns the parameters efficiently and the proposed method can better predict the user behavior compared to the alternatives.


Abstract This article examines how language, liminality, and social marginalization converge in the institutional lives of two displaced children in Angola. A displaced child is very likely to be placed into institutionalized care, which in Angola exists in the form of centros de acolhimento, residential centers that house minors affected by orphanhood, poverty, displacement, or abandonment. Drawing on one year of ethnographic research in two residential centers, the article argues that despite being sites of care and protection, some children come to desire living on the street as a byproduct of persistent marginalization and forms of liminality in the institutions. Utilizing audiovisual recordings of everyday interactions among children and the center's staff as data, the focus of the article is a set of communicative practices that routinely positioned certain children as liminal subjects who possessed the negative attributes with which liminality is most often associated: danger, pollution, and being an ambiguous nonentity. As a result, those children occupied marginalized positions within the centers and their attempts at claiming their belonging were repeatedly undermined. The lived experience, talk, and perspectives of two children, a boy and a girl, are closely analyzed to illuminate the micro-processes involved in the discursive production of their liminality and social marginality. More broadly, the article elucidates the everyday forms of liminality that take place in the mundane, rather than in ritualized rites of passage, and questions the traditional notion of liminality as a temporary state.


The global colour model in free space is extended to finite temperature to study the deconfinement and chiral phase transitions at high temperature T and zero chemical potential in the mean field approximation. Both possibilities of coincidence and non-coincidence of the two distinct phase transitions are found when the model parameters are varied in a certain range. The underlying mechanisms of the coincidence and noncoincidence are analysed and discussed. The validity of the T-dependent model propagator as the input is also discussed.


To test the hypothesis that N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and possibly other nitrosamines are synthesized naturally in the gastrointestinal tract, the urinary excretion of nitrosamines has been measured in people whose first pass clearance and metabolism of nitrosamines had been inhibited by administration of ethanol. Five fasted volunteers consumed 350 mg of nitrate in beet juice followed, 1 h later, by a volume of 10% alcohol in carbonated water sufficient to raise their blood alcohol concentrations to 50-80 mg/100 ml. This alcohol concentration was then maintained over a 6 h period. No NDMA or any other volatile nitrosamines were excreted in urine during this 6 h period or during the subsequent 12 h (detection limit = 0.01 mumol). These results suggest that less than 0.5 mumol NDMA, formed by endogenous nitrosation in the fasting human, is likely to be present in the stomach at any time.


Abstract We assessed relative abundance, demographic, and reproductive success data for two lizard species in a Northern Arizona ponderosa pine forest, a fire-dependent system unnaturally modified by fire suppression over the past century. During May to October 1997–1999, we employed up to 70 pitfall arrays to sample lizards over 6990 array-days. At each array, we described macro-vegetative cover, stand, and microhabitat characteristics. Sceloporus graciosus responded to habitat variation at all three spatial scales. Adult S. graciosus were widely distributed among cover and stand types. However, reproductive success and hatchling abundance were highest in the most open cover (meadow) and stand (savannah) types, and lowest in pure ponderosa cover and dense ponderosa stands. Adult females replaced themselves annually only in meadows, savannahs, and forest with a deciduous component. Eumeces skiltonianus adults and juveniles were least abundant in meadows, but females replaced themselves each year in meadow and ponderosa-pinyon-juniper vegetative cover and in savannahs. Hatchlings were least abundant in intermediate- and high-density ponderosa stands, whereas juveniles of both species were most abundant in areas containing a deciduous tree component. Both species were present in plots having lower percent duff groundcover than at plots containing no lizards. Increased tree densities, canopy closure, and litter accumulation influenced distributions of both lizards. Furthermore, abundance and reproduction in these lizards were generally optimized in habitat with features most similar to that present prior to fire suppression activities and in areas containing a deciduous tree component.


Frequency dynamics is one of the most important measures of an electrical power system status. To better understand power system dynamics, an accurately measured wide-area frequency is needed. The concept of building an Internet-based real-time GPS-synchronized wide-area frequency monitoring network (FNET) was proposed in 2000 by Qiu et al., and this concept has been realized. The FNET system consists of frequency disturbance recorders and an information management system. The FNET has made the synchronized observations of the entire U.S. power network possible with very little cost for the first time. This paper summarizes the implementation of the FNET system and shows some preliminary observations and analyses of the data that have been collected from the FNET.


The article deals with the concept of war in modern political realism. Realism claims to have an original notion of war, which distinguishes it from empirical war studies and from other schools in international relations theory. Realism does not have a strict formal definition of war like empirical studies do, it focuses on understanding the causes and nature of war instead. The distinction between realism and other international relations theories like idealism, Marxism or constructivism consists in the realist notion of politics. Realism understands politics as an eternal struggle for power that underlies all social life, while war is the most intense manifestation of this struggle. Thus, the possibility of war cannot be eradicated. The article shows the normative aspects of such understanding of war. Realism, unlike pacifism or just war theory, is less enthusiastic about ethical or legal regulation of war; furthermore, it shows the dangers that may be caused by political moralism and "criminalization" of war. On the other hand, realism fails to provide a set of norms or principles that would surpass the just war principles. The realist principles of national interest and prudence are as vague, unclear and prone to misuse as classic just war principles are. Author draws a conclusion that to be able to create a valid set of principles of war, realism needs to further converge with international relations theory schools and "enlarge" the set of its base theoretical notions.


ABSTRACT A nucleic acid extraction system that can handle small numbers of specimens with a short test turnaround time and short hands-on time is desirable for emergent testing. We performed a comparative validation on three systems: the MagNA Pure compact system (Compact), the NucliSens miniMAG extraction instrument (miniMAG), and the BioRobot EZ1 system (EZ1). A total of 75 urine specimens submitted for polyomavirus BK virus detection were used. The human β-actin gene was detected on 75 (100%), 75 (100%), and 72 (96%) nucleic acid extracts prepared by the miniMAG, EZ1, and Compact, respectively. The miniMAG produced the highest quantity of nucleic acids and the best precision among the three systems. The agreement rate was 100% for BKV detection on nucleic acid extracts prepared by the three extraction systems. When a full panel of specimens was run, the hands-on time and test turnaround time were 105.7 and 121.1 min for miniMAG, 6.1 and 22.6 min for EZ1, and 7.4 and 33.7 min for Compact, respectively. The EZ1 and Compact systems processed automatic nucleic acid extraction properly, providing a good solution to the need for sporadic but emergent specimen detection. The miniMAG yielded the highest quantity of nucleic acids, suggesting that this system would be the best for specimens containing a low number of microorganisms of interest.


Objective: Patients with abdominal obesity are at increased cardiovascular risk. However, it is evident that this clinical group is heterogeneous. The aim of the study was to assess clinical correlates of C-reactive protein level in hypertensive and normotensive patients with abdominal obesity. Design and Method: We investigated 55 middle-aged adults with abdominal obesity including 34 hypertensive and 21 normotensive subjects. Abdominal obesity was defined according to IDF definition (2009). In addition to routine clinical investigation we measured serum levels of high sensitive C-reactive protein and insulin. Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated with Cockroft-Gault formula. Spearmen's correlation coefficient (rs) was used to assess the correlations between the clinical and laboratory parameters in each group. Results: Elevated serum level of C-reactive protein was found in 4 out of 34 hypertensive and in 1 out of 21 normotensive patients with abdominal obesity (11.8% vs. 4.8% respectively). In both groups this parameter had no significant correlations with age, body mass index, serum levels of urea, creatinine, LDL, HDL, triglycerides and left ventricular mass index. In hypertensive patients serum level of C-reactive protein correlated with serum insulin (rs = 0.422, p = 0.016), HOMA-IR index (rs = 0.439, p = 0.013), total cholesterol level (rs = 0.395, p = 0.023) and estimated GFR (rs = 0.344, p = 0.048). In normotensive patients it correlated with waist-to-hip ratio (rs = 0.511, p = 0.036) but not with serum insulin (p = 0.185), HOMA-IR index (p = 0.128), total cholesterol level (p = 0.642) or GFR (p = 0.566). Conclusions: The results of the study suggest that hypertensive and normotensive patients with abdominal obesity are characterized by different clinical correlates of C-reactive protein level. Further studies are needed to elucidate clinical implications of these findings.


The procedure of skin grafting has been performed since 3000BC and with the aid of modern technology has evolved through the years. While the development of new techniques and devices has significantly improved the functional as well as the aesthetic results from skin grafting, the fundamentals of skin grafting have remained the same, a healthy vascular granulating wound bed free of infection. Adherence to the recipient bed is the most important factor in skin graft survival and research continues introducing new techniques that promote this process. Biological and synthetic skin substitutes have also provided better treatment options as well as HLA tissue typing and the use of growth factors. Even today, skin grafts remain the most common and least invasive procedure for the closure of soft tissue defects but the quest for perfection continues.


The author describes the status of JET as at December 1987. The status of various categories of staff is outlined. Details of the construction and operation of the JET are presented, along with the internal behaviour of the JET plasma. Results of pellet injection are briefly examined, and future directions of research are indicated.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text Background: Presenting a wide clinical spectrum and large variety of clinical features, successful treatment of Apert syndrome necessitates performance of sequential multiple surgeries before a patient's facial skeleton growth is complete. The objective of this study is to compare forehead contour asymmetry and clinical outcomes between Apert patients who underwent either fronto-orbital advancement (FOA) or posterior vault distraction osteogenesis (PVDO). Methods: A retrospective study was performed on consecutive patients with Apert syndrome who underwent either FOA or PVDO between 2007 and 2019, and participated in at least 6 months of follow-up care. Forehead contour asymmetry and surgical outcomes for each of the included patients were verified through medical records, clinical photographs, and interviews with the parents of the patients. The need for additional craniofacial procedures based on the surgical outcomes of each patient was graded from I to IV utilizing the Whitaker outcome classification system. Results: Forehead contour asymmetry for all included patients was rated under the Whitaker grading scale as type II (n = 4) 44.4%, type III (n = 2) 22.2%, and type IV (n = 3) 33.3% for FOA, and type I (n = 5) 35.7%, type II (n = 7) 50%, and type III (n = 2) 14.3%, for PVDO (P < 0.05). The average transfused blood volume was 47.77 ± 9.42 mL/kg for patients who underwent FOA, and 22.75 ± 10.31 mL/kg for patients who underwent PVDO (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Patients who underwent PVDO had lower forehead contour asymmetry as per the Whitaker outcome grading scale than patients who underwent FOA.


Mutations in the Sex comb on midleg (Scm) gene in Drosophila cause strong derepression of homeotic genes, the hallmark phenotype of mutations in Polycomb group (PcG) genes. The SCM protein is conserved between Drosophila and mammals, but its role in PcG repression has remained elusive. In this issue, Wang et al. (14) provide evidence that SCM plays a role in recruitment of the well-characterized PcG protein complexes PRC1 and PRC2. Not only does this paper provide insight into the role of SCM in PcG repression, it helps to explain why Polycomb response elements (PREs), the DNA elements that bind PcG proteins in Drosophila, are so complex.

PcG genes encode a diverse group of proteins that act together to repress gene expression (for recent reviews, see references 2 and 12). Originally discovered in Drosophila as important for maintenance of the spatially restricted expression patterns of homeotic genes, PcG proteins bind to hundreds of sites in the Drosophila genome and are now thought to regulate hundreds of genes. Similarly, mammalian PcG proteins are bound to hundreds of genes and are implicated in stem cell maintenance, as well as differentiation. Levels of PcG proteins are also altered in some cancers, where their misexpression may alter the expression levels of critical genes. At the Drosophila homeotic genes, PcG proteins are epigenetic silencers of gene expression, while at other loci, they may modulate expression levels. The regulation of gene expression by PcG proteins is an area of active exploration.

Many PcG proteins act in protein complexes to modify chromatin. The best-characterized complexes, Polycomb repressive complexes 1 and 2 (PRC1 and PRC2), are conserved between Drosophila and mammals. Here we describe only the Drosophila complexes; the mammalian genome contains multiple paralogs of many of the Drosophila PcG genes. The core components of PRC1 in Drosophila are Polycomb (PC), Polyhomeotic (PH) (there are two homologs, PH-D and PH-P), RING (also called Sex combs extra [SCE]), and Posterior sex combs (PSC) [or its homolog SU(Z)2]. Biochemical activities attributed to PRC1 in vitro include inhibition of chromatin remodeling, inhibition of transcriptional elongation, and chromatin compaction. In addition, RING/SCE is an H2A ubiquitin ligase, but this biochemical activity is more likely mediated through another recently identified complex in Drosophila, RAF, which includes RING/SCE, PSC, and the demethylase KDM2 (encoded by the CG11033 gene), coupling histone H2A ubiquitylation to histone H3 demethylation (4). Thus, RING/SCE and PSC are present in two PcG complexes, and their activities must be evaluated in that light. PRC2 consists of the PcG proteins E(Z), ESC (or its homolog ESCL), SU(Z)12, and the histone-binding protein CAF1 (also known as NURF55). PRC2 methylates histone H3 at lysine 27, and H3K27me3 modified chromatin is a hallmark of PcG-regulated genes. Finally, the DNA-binding PcG protein Pleiohomeotic (PHO) (or its homolog PHOL) is in a complex called PhoRC (for Pho repressive complex) with the PcG protein SFMBT. All of these protein complexes are bound to PREs, but exactly how this occurs is unknown.

How does SCM fit into this scheme? SCM copurifies with PRC1 in substoichiometric amounts. Further, SCM can interact with the PRC1 component PH in vitro and can even be incorporated into a PRC1 complex when coexpressed in the baculoviral system (8). Despite this, the bulk of SCM in Drosophila embryos is in an uncharacterized protein complex that is distinct from PRC1 (8). More recently, SCM has been shown to interact both physically and genetically with SFMBT (1). A discussion of the domains present in SCM, SFMBT, and PH is useful at this point in making sense of this information.

The conserved protein domains in SCM provide some insight into function. The SCM proteins contain two copies of the mbt domain, a protein domain of about 100 amino acids that binds methylated histones. First identified in the Drosophila l(3)mbt [lethal (3) malignant brain tumor] protein, mbt domains appear to be present only in metazoans. In addition to SCM and l(3)mbt, Drosophila has a third mbt domain-containing protein, SFMBT (Scm-related gene containing four mbt domains). Urochordates and vertebrates have homologs of all three Drosophila mbt-containing proteins. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has only two MBT proteins (LIN61 and MBTR-1), both of which contain four mbt domains. Sequence comparisons also suggest that the nematode proteins are more related to SFMBT homologs than to SCM or l(3)mbt homologs. mbt domains appear to occur in tandem arrays with from two to four domains per protein, but for the Drosophila proteins, only the most carboxy-terminal mbt domain of each array appears to have a binding pocket that can accommodate methyl-lysine residues (1). The functions of the remaining mbt domains are not clear.

There are also Zn finger motifs in all three Drosophila MBT proteins, as well as in the PRC1 component PH. The Drosophila SFMBT and SCM proteins interact physically through N-terminal fragments that include the Zn finger motifs (1). Finally, a C-terminal putative protein interaction domain, an SPM-type SAM (sterile alpha motif) domain, is present in SFMBT, SCM, and PH. The SCM SPM domain mediates interactions with the PH SPM domain, as well as with itself (8). Mutations in the SPM domain disrupt SCM function both in the endogenous gene and in an artificial repression system where SCM is tethered to DNA by a heterologous DNA-binding protein (10). Tethered SCM repression is dependent on PH, suggesting that SCM can recruit PH (and presumably PRC1) to DNA. Overexpression of the SCM SPM domain disrupts PcG repression by an unknown mechanism (8). It is worth noting that SAM domains may also be able to bind RNA, which could add to the complexity of PcG-induced silencing (3).

How do all of these protein complexes (PhoRC, PRC1, PRC2, and the 500-kDa uncharacterized SCM complex) get recruited to the target genes? As stated above, PhoRC contains the DNA-binding protein PHO, and PHO-binding sites are required for the activity of all PREs tested so far. Some genome-wide studies suggest that PHO is bound at nearly all sites where PRC1 and/or PRC2 is bound, (11), whereas other studies suggest that it is bound at only 50% of these sites (cited in reference 12). Nevertheless, there is no doubt that PHO binding is an important component of many PREs. In experiments utilizing RNA interference (RNAi) and mutations to knock down various PcG proteins (approaches also used in the work described by Wang et al. [14]), PHO binding was required for the localization of both PRC1 and PRC2 to a PRE (13). Further, PRC1 binding was dependent on PRC2. The model that emerged from these studies is that PhoRC recruits PRC2, which then trimethylates histone H3K27. The PRC1 subunit PC then binds to H3K27me3, which could mediate PRC1 recruitment. In vitro, PHO interacts with the PRC2 subunits ESC and E(Z) as well as the PRC1 subunits PC and PH (6), suggesting that it could directly recruit both complexes. Enter SCM. Wang et al. (14) used RNAi and mutations to knock down expression levels of various PcG proteins and show that the binding of PRC1 and PRC2, but not PhoRC, to the PRE is SCM dependent. They further suggest that SCM might be in a complex with an unknown DNA-binding protein, protein X, and that the SCM-protein X complex could cooperate with PhoRC to recruit PRC1 and PRC2 (Fig. (Fig.1).1). This attractive model provides not only a role for the SCM protein but also a potential role for one of the myriad of other DNA-binding sites required for PRE function.

FIG. 1.

Model for the role of SCM in Polycomb-induced gene silencing. PHO-SFMBT and SCM-protein X are recruited independently to the PRE. SFMBT and SCM physically interact, and both facilitate either recruitment or retention of PRC2 and PRC1 at the PRE. PRC2 ...

PREs are complex elements made up of binding sites for many different proteins (reviewed in references 7 and 9), including PHO, GAGA factor (GAF), Pipsqueak (PSQ) (which binds the same site as GAF), the Sp1/KLF family of proteins, DSP1, ZESTE, and Grainyhead (GRH). While the role of PHO sites in PRE function is well established, the roles of the other protein binding sites are less clear. Numerous studies have shown that GAF/PSQ-binding sites are important for PRE function, and in vitro studies suggest that binding of GAF may make the DNA more accessible to PHO binding (5). Genome-wide chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) studies show that only a subset of locations that bind PRC1 and/or PRC2 have GAF bound (11). It is not known whether PSQ associates with PREs in vivo. Likewise, DSP1 and ZESTE are bound only to a subset of PREs. There are 9 or 10 Sp1/KLF family members in Drosophila, and it is not known which, if any, are PRE associated. Thus, the current understanding of which proteins are necessary for PRE function is poor. Nevertheless, it is absolutely clear that PHO sites alone are not sufficient for PRE function, that PREs contain binding sites for at least three different proteins, and that mutation of any one binding site disrupts PRE function.

Could one of the known PRE-binding proteins be protein X? Characterization of the proteins present in the 500-kDa embryonic SCM complex may provide the answer. Another approach is to look at whether SCM binds to PRE transgenes that contain mutations in the DNA-binding sites necessary for PRE activity. The model predicts that mutation of the site that binds protein X will cause a loss of SCM binding. This interesting paper (14) has brought us much closer to an understanding of PRE function and PcG recruitment.


Paternity testing is based on the genetic analysis of human polymorphism markers. Recently, studies of short tandem repeats (STR) after DNA amplification have led to increased standardisation and performance of the tests and have become the reference method. Thus, the results expressed in terms of probability achieve a high level of certitude, for example the probability of paternity can exceed 99.999%. All these analyses, which are performed according to a specific quality assurance program, are a very useful tool for courts of justice.


This study offers insights into determinants of SME exporting according to the characteristics of exporting firms and their resources, thus contributing to a limited literature. The dataset comprised 4,838 respondents from a survey of the UK Federation of Small Businesses. The dependent variable used was two-category ('do not export' and 'export'), allowing a binary logistic multiple regression approach to be used, with separate binomial (logit) regression equations generated for the complete sample and then for different firm age groupings, allowing relationships between exporting and each individual independent variable to be determined whilst holding all other independent variables in the equation constant. The results show that determinants of SME exporting include industry sector, age and the characteristics of the SME owner-manager, along with the firms' available resources, including the human capital of the owner-manager, use of technology and intellectual property. While an innovation focus was consistently found to be positively linked to exporting, a growth focus was not. These results inform both practice and policy, as the exporting activity of SMEs remains closely linked to economic development policy.


The low energy effective theory of quantized gravity is currently our most successful attempt at unifying general relativity and quantum mechanics. It is expected to serve as the universal low energy limit of any future microscopic theory of quantum gravitation, so it is crucial to properly understand its low frequency, long wavelength, "infrared" limit. However, this effective theory suffers from the same kind of infrared divergences as theories like quantum electrodynamics. It is the aim of this work to characterize these divergences and isolate the infrared behavior of quantum gravity using functional methods. We begin with a review of infrared divergences, and how they are treated in QED. This includes a brief overview of the known applications of functional methods to the problem. We then discuss the construction of the effective field theory of quantum gravity in the linearized limit, coupled to scalar matter. Proceeding to the main body of the work, we employ functional techniques to derive the form of the scalar propagator after soft graviton radiation is integrated out. An eikonal form for the generating functional of the theory is then presented. In the final chapter, we use this generating functional to derive the soft graviton theorem and the eikonal form of the two-body scalar scattering amplitude. The result is a concise derivation of multiple known results, as well as a demonstration of the factorization of soft graviton radiation against the eikonal amplitude. We conclude with some comments on how these results can be extended, and we argue that the functional framework is the best candidate for a unified understanding of all relevant infrared features of quantum gravity.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the efficacy of fluconazole with amphotericin B plus flucytosine in the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis.

DESIGN
Patients were randomly assigned to oral fluconazole, 400 mg/d, for 10 weeks or to amphotericin B, 0.7 mg/kg body weight daily for 1 week, then three times weekly for 9 weeks combined with flucytosine, 150 mg/kg d, in four divided doses.

SETTING
Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center.

PATIENTS
Between 15 February and 7 December 1988, 42 patients had evidence of their first episode of cryptococcal meningitis, of whom 21 participated in the trial. All patients enrolled were men with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) except one woman who was receiving prednisone therapy and was excluded from the final analysis.

RESULTS
Of 14 patients with AIDS assigned to fluconazole, 8 (57%; 95% CI, 29% to 82%) failed; none of the 6 patients with AIDS failed who were assigned to amphotericin B plus flucytosine therapy (0%; CI, 0% to 46%) (Fisher exact test, P = 0.04). The mean duration of positive cerebrospinal fluid cultures was 40.6 +/- 5.4 days in patients receiving fluconazole and 15.6 +/- 6.6 days in patients receiving amphotericin B plus flucytosine (Mann-Whitney test, P = 0.02). Overall, 4 patients assigned to fluconazole therapy died whereas no patient assigned to amphotericin B plus flucytosine therapy died (Fisher exact test, P = 0.27).

CONCLUSION
Amphotericin B used in combination with flucytosine has superior mycologic and clinical efficacy compared with fluconazole for the treatment of cryptococcal meningitis in patients with AIDS.


There has been significant research appearing in the marketing literature regarding customer lifetime value (CLV) and its consequence, customer equity (CE), over the past decade. However, little has been done to incorporate these concepts into the literature on simulation and gaming. One of the implications of taking a CE approach is an increased emphasis on product mix. This paper discusses a simple method for incorporating strategic product-mix decisions into marketing simulation games. It illustrates the importance by showing how this addition will model Rust, Zeithaml, and Lemon's (2000) concept of the Profitable-Product Death Spiral into a CLV design developed by Cannon, Cannon, and Schwaiger (2005).


The magnetotransport properties of a lateral-surface superlattice, a two-dimensional (2D) electron system in a 2D periodic potential, are studied with use of a Monte Carlo technique, where the effect of the magnetic field is included through a Lorentz force and the interparticle Coulomb interaction is included with a molecular-dynamics method. Excellent numerical energy conservation is achieved by adopting a predictor-corrector algorithm to integrate the equations of motion. The simulation shows that the diffusion constant, as a function of the magnetic field, is not a simple monotone function but has a structure with multiple minima. This structure is attributed to the correlated circular electron motion, and this is reminiscent of classical pinning orbits in a 2D antidot array, even in the presence of the Coulomb interaction. The radial-distribution function shows no significant dependence upon the magnetic field up to ten flux quanta per unit cell.