The present chapter addresses the problems of gas turbine gas path diagnostics solved using artificial neural networks. As a very complex and expensive mechanical system, a gas turbine should be effectively monitored and diagnosed. Being universal and powerful approximation and classification techniques, neural networks have become widespread in gas turbine health monitoring over the past few years. Applications of such networks as a multilayer perceptron, radial basis network, probabilistic neural network, and support vector network were reported. However, there is a lack of manuals that summarize neural network applications for gas turbine diagnosis. A monitoring system comprises many elements, and many factors influence the final diagnostic accuracy. The present chapter generalizes our investigations that are devoted to the enhancement of this system by choosing the best option for each element. In these investigations, a diagnostic process is simulated on the basis of neural networks, and we focus on reaching the highest accuracy by choosing the best network and its optimal tuning to the issue to solve. Thus, helping with enhancement of a whole monitoring system, neural networks themselves are objects of investigation and optimization. As a result of the conducted investigations, the chapter provides the recommendations on choosing and tailoring the network for a particular diagnostic task.


To address transient execution vulnerabilities, processor architects have proposed both defensive designs and formal descriptions of the security they provide. However, these designs are not typically formally proven to enforce the claimed guarantees; more importantly, there are few tools to automatically ensure that Register Transfer Level (RTL) descriptions are faithful to high-level designs. In this paper, we demonstrate how to extend an existing security-typed hardware description language to express speculative security conditions and to verify the security of synthesizable implementations. Our tool can statically verify that an RTL hardware design is free of transient execution vulnerabilities without manual proof effort. Our key insight is that erasure labels can be adapted both to be statically checkable and to represent transiently accessed or modified data and its mandatory erasure under misspeculation. Further, we show how to use erasure labels to defend a strong formal definition of speculative security. To validate our approach, we implement several components that are critical to speculative, out-of-order processors and are also common vectors for transient execution vulnerabilities. We show that the security of existing defenses can be correctly validated and that the absence of necessary defenses is detected as a potential vulnerability.


The storage behaviour of cooking banana cultivars, Bluggoe (ABB), Pacific plantain (AAB), Blue Lubin (ABB) and Pisang Awak (ABB), was compared in air and in modified atmospheres at 28, 20, 13, 7 and 3°C. All cultivars responded markedly to storage in modified atmospheres; the storage life was usually increased by a factor of two in the absence of an ethylene absorbent and a factor of three when the absorbent (potassium permanganate on aluminium oxide) was present. Reducing the temperature of storage from 28 to 13°C further increased storage life. Pisang Awak showed the least response. The cultivars differed considerably in their response to low temperature (.)


Typical atrial flutter may now be definitely treated in a single session. However, the very meaning of the term, atrial flutter, is confusing because it is a multiple entity. In fact, flutters may be classified with respect to their electrocardiographic and electrophysiological features. In addition to typical common atrial flutter with biphasic, predominantly negative F waves in the inferior leads and positive F waves in V1 due to an anticlockwise macro-reentry circuit localised to the right atrium, there are other forms which may be described as typical in that they pass through the cavo-tricuspid isthmus. They include typical flutter with inverted rotation, short loop inferior flutter and flutter with a double reentry circuit. In 2001, it would seem licit to call all flutters which do not pass through the cavotricuspid isthmus atypical, independently of their surface ECG appearances. The term flutter still refers to a continuous electrical activity with absence of an isoelectric line in at least one lead but with extremely variable ECG features. They may be classified as flutter on pre-existing lesions, with right or left atrial macro-reentry circuits. The ECG appearance is then that of very atypical flutter. More recently, flutters with circuits passing through the coronary sinus have been described. Ablation of the muscle of the coronary sinus seems to be able to treat this type of flutter, the prevalence of which is not yet known.


Background: Since 2001, Tanzania has been making concerted efforts to strengthen its Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response system. In this system, malaria is one of the priority diseases that are to be reported monthly. The objectives of this study were to (i) assess malaria surveillance system at facility and district levels to identify key barriers, constraints and priority actions for malaria surveillance strengthening; and (ii) to explore the use of evidence in health planning and decision making at these levels. Methods: The study was carried in Kilosa District in central Tanzania, during October 2012 and involved health facility workers and members of the district health management team. The existing information system on malaria was evaluated using a structured questionnaire and check list. Data collection also involved direct observations of reporting and processing, assessment of report forms and reports of processed data. Results: Three district officials and 17 health facility workers from both public and private health facilities were interviewed. Of the 17 informants, 15 were familiar with disease surveillance functions. A good percentage (47%, 8/17) received training on disease surveillance during the previous two years. Public transport and motorcycles were the main means of reporting epidemiological information from facility to district level. Most of the health facilities (93%, 14/15) faced difficulties in submitting reports due to lack of resources and feedback from the district authority. Analysis of malaria data was reported in 52.9% (9/17) of the facilities, but limited to malaria incidence per age groups. Challenges in data analysis included unavailability of compilation books; lack of computers; poor data storage; incomplete recording; lack of adequate skills for data analysis; and increase in workloads. Data at both facility and district levels were mainly used for quantification and forecasting of drug requirements. Conclusion: Malaria surveillance system in Kilosa district is weak and utilization of evidence for planning and decision making is poor. Capacity strengthening on data analysis and utilization should be given a priority at both facility and district levels of the health systems in Tanzania.


The variety of articulatory configurations used for American English rhotic liquids suggests that speakers used different articulatory strategies to achieve similar acoustic goals. In this paper, we focus on a variant of this liquid produced with strong retroflexion of the tongue tip and no sublingual space. Previous models of "bunched" articulatory configurations and less extreme "retroflex" versions of /r/ have ascribed the F3 resonance to the front cavity. In this paper, we propose that speakers who use the extreme retroflex version of /r/ have switched the cavity affiliation of F3 to the back cavity.


Seminal plasma is a fluid that originates from the testis, epididymis,prostate, and seminal vesicles, and hence, proteomic studies may identify potential markers of infertility and other diseases of the genito-urinary tract. We profiled the proteomes of pooled seminal plasma from fertile Control and post-vasectomy (PV) men. PV seminal plasma samples are void of proteins originating from the testis and the epididymis due to ligation of the vas deferens, and hence, comparative analysis of Control and PV data sets allows for identification of proteins originating from these tissues. Utilizing offline MudPIT and high-resolution mass spectrometry, we were able to identify over 2000 proteins in Control and PV pools each and over 2300 proteins all together. With semiquantitative analysis using spectral counting, we catalogued 32 proteins unique to Control, 49 at lower abundance in PV, 3 unique to PV, and 25 at higher abundance in PV. We believe that proteins unique to Control or at lower abundance in PV have their origin in the testis and the epididymis. Public databases have confirmed that many of these proteins originate from the testis and epididymis and are linked to the reproductive tract. These proteins may serve as candidate biomarkers for future studies of infertility and urogenital diseases.


The aim of this paper was to investigate whether sinoporphyrin sodium (DVDMS) could be a novel sonosensitizer in sonodynamic therapy. We used two kinds of leukemia cells (K562, U937) as main tumor cell models and cells (peripheral blood mononuclear cells, spleen lymphocytes) separated from healthy ICR mice as normal cell models. The multivolume spectrophotometer system and fluorescence spectrophotometer were used to determine the spectral characteristics of DVDMS. The uptake of DVDMS by tumor cells and normal cells was measured by flow cytometry. The MTT assay was used to examine the cytotoxicity and sonotoxicity of DVDMS. The absorption spectra showed that DVDMS had five distinct peaks at 359, 514, 548, 580, and 631 nm, respectively, and the maximum peak was at ∼359 nm. The fluorescence emission spectra showed that DVDMS fluorescence emission was at 642 nm. DVDMS showed an advantage of quick cellular uptake and selectively accumulated in tumor cells compared with normal healthy cells. The cytotoxicity of DVDMS by the MTT method was dose dependent, and DVDMS had little cytotoxicity to normal cells. The sonotoxicity of DVDMS showed that in the presence of DVDMS, under appropriate conditions, the cell-damaging effect of ultrasound was significantly enhanced. The present study showed that the newly synthesized sensitizer, DVDMS, under appropriate experiment conditions, can act as a potential sonosensitizer for tumors in sonodynamic therapy.


............................................................................................................................. v LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Coordination Variability ............................................................................................... 1 Attentional Focused Instructions .................................................................................. 4 Attentional Focused Feedback ...................................................................................... 5 Need for the Current Study ........................................................................................... 7 Purpose of the Study ..................................................................................................... 8 Limitations and Delimitations ....................................................................................... 9 Significance of the Study .............................................................................................. 9 Operational Definitions ............................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................... 12 Cycling ........................................................................................................................ 12 Dynamic Systems Theory ........................................................................................... 14 Attentional Focused Instructions ................................................................................ 16 Attentional Focused Feedback .................................................................................... 20


Biofeedback training is a well established method for the treatment of faecal incontinence. Prior to any biofeedback training program, a definitive diagnostic study is essential. Idiopathic faecal incontinence is the main indication for biofeedback training. Additional indications are a menacing faecal incontinence after deep anterior rectal excision with restoration of the rectal reservoir by an ileoanal pouch, anal sphincter reconstruction, rectopexy and rectocele repair. Only four studies provide evidence-based medical criteria. These, as well as numerous uncontrolled studies, show the effectiveness of biofeedback training for the treatment of faecal incontinence. Electrical stimulation of the anal sphincter is only shown to be effective in one controlled study in which it was combined with biofeedback training.


This contextual note introduces a SESAR Solution (for which maturity has been assessed as sufficient to support a decision for industrialization) with a summary of the results stemming from R&D activities contributing to deliver it. It provides to any interested reader (external and internal to the SESAR programme) an introduction to the SESAR Solution in terms of scope, main operational and performance benefits, relevant system impacts as well as additional activities to be conducted during the industrialization phase or as part of deployment. This contextual note complements the technical data pack comprising the SESAR deliverables required for further industrialization/deployment.


The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is an espionage novel of John Le Carre which takes place in the 1950s and early 1960s. The world war is over but the cold war still continues severely at that time. The western world has perpetuated the vital importance of democracy over the years. In this respect The Spy unveils such untouched issues of the western world. Le Carre highlights the conflicts of the western world. The Spy is the story of the victimization of some people for the sake of society. Within this context, Le Carre deduces the hypocrisy of the west. This study aims to set sight on the experiences of the main character and to uncover the hypocrisy behind democracy


Abstract:Nikolai Przheval'skii (1839-88) was one of the most prominent Russian explorers of the nineteenth century. His journeys across Central Asia captured the imagination of the Russian public, but he also articulated a set of ideas that encapsulated how Russia perceived its Asian neighbours. Przheval'skii saw Asian peoples as inferior and he argued that Russia had a duty to extend its influence in Asia. His ideas were in the tradition of Russian nationalism that justified Russian imperial expansion, and Przheval'skii's adventures, scientific work and thinking had a substantial impact on both government policy and the public perception of Russia's empire.


OBJECTIVE
Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is effective in infection control during treatment of severe open fractures. However frequent dressing changes during NPWT are costly and cause patient discomfort. If the interval between dressing changes could be extended, these problems would be reduced. In this article we compare the outcomes of open IIIB fractures with 3-day versus 7-day intervals between dressing changes.

METHOD
Patients who sustained Gustilo IIIB open fractures were included. All underwent conventional orthopaedic fixation with delayed latissimus dorsi flap coverage. Group 1 had 3-day intervals between dressing changes and group 2 had 7-day intervals. The final outcomes in the two groups were analysed.

RESULTS
There were 38 patients in group 1 and 34 patients in group 2. Although the period between admission and final operation was similar in the two groups, the mean number of NPWT changes was 4.54 in 3 day in group 1 and 1.95 in group 2 (p<0.001). This led to a difference in NPWT-related costs; $341.26 in group 1 and $237.49 in group 2 (p<0.001). There was no difference in the frequency of complications such as infection or non-union of fractures.

CONCLUSION
NPWT is useful treatment option for open fractures, to bridge between initial debridement and final microsurgical tissue transfer. Considering patient comfort, the costs related to the NPWT, and the final flap results, a 7-day interval between changes of the NPWT is acceptable.


Purpose of reviewIncreasing prevalence of BK virus nephritis after renal transplantation has prompted review of important publications on this topic. Recent findingsNephritis from the BK virus occurs specifically in renal transplant recipients, but not after other solid organ transplantation. A mouse renal transplant model of polyoma nephritis unveils the role of alloimmune activity in the development of BK virus nephritis. BK virus nephritis occurs approximately 1 year after transplantation, as opposed to acute rejection, which occurs early after transplantation. No identifiable donor, recipient, or transplant variables correlate with this disease. Recipients who receive a kidney from a seropositive kidney donor and the lack of HLA C7 in either donor or recipient may play a role in BK virus infection. Mycophenolate mofetil and tacrolimus combination therapy is associated with a slightly higher chance of infection. Recovery from BK virus nephritis is associated with increase in BK virus-specific humoral and cellular immunity, which suggests that they are relevant factors in the pathogenesis of this disease. SummaryNephritis from BK virus infection occurs through seropositive donors. Lack of HLA C7 in donor and recipient and BK virus-specific humoral and cellular immune deficiencies may precipitate infection.


Skin/eye chemical splashes are a significant workplace problem. Initial water decontamination is usually recommended, but there are few well–conducted experimental animal and human studies of efficacy. An extensive review of the literature and other available information sources was performed to define the scope of the problem and critically review the evidence for water decontamination efficacy. Although water decontamination can decrease the severity of chemical skin/eye burns, it cannot completely prevent them. An ideal replacement decontamination solution would be sterile, nontoxic, chelating, polyvalent, amphoteric, and slightly hypertonic to retard skin or corneal penetration of the chemical.


A general formulation is presented for finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) modeling of wave propagation in arbitrary frequency-dispersive media. Two algorithmic approaches are outlined for incorporating dispersion into the FDTD time-stepping equations. The first employs a frequency-dependent complex permittivity (denoted Form-1), and the second employs a frequency-dependent complex conductivity (denoted Form-2). A Pade representation is used in Z-transform space to represent the frequency-dependent permittivity (Form-1) or conductivity (Form-2). This is a generalization over several previous methods employing either Debye, Lorentz, or Drude models. The coefficients of the Pade model may be obtained through an optimization process, leading directly to a finite-difference representation of the dispersion relation, without introducing discretization error. Stability criteria for the dispersive FDTD algorithms are given. We show that several previously developed dispersive FDTD algorithms can be cast as special cases of our more general framework. Simulation results are presented for a one-dimensional (1-D) air/muscle example considered previously in the literature and a three-dimensional (3-D) radiation problem in dispersive, lossy soil using measured soil data.


Objectives Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is one of the most common reasons for sudden cardiac death. Many events may prevent paramedics from timely arrival to treat cardiac events. In the USA, more than 400 000 adult deaths each year are due to sudden cardiac death, and 80% of all the sudden cardiac arrest cases are associated with VF. In China, more than 540 000 adult deaths are due to sudden cardiac death each year. Most patients experiencing cardiac events have structural heart diseases such as coronary heart disease, myocardiopathy and pericardial disease. The others have congenital cardiac arrhythmia such as Brugada syndrome and long QT syndrome. Implantable cardio verter defibrillator (ICD) is the best treatment for patients at risk, but many people in China cannot afford this treatment. So antiarrhythmic drugs have become the first choice for preventing cardiac arrhythmia, especially VF, and may be the first emergency drug used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation in China. Lidocaine is a traditional class IB antiarrhythmic drug for VF and pulseless ventricular tachycardia (VT). Amiodarone, a class III antiarrhythmic agent, has been widely used for cardiac arrhythmia. Many clinical trials have demonstrated that amiodarone may be used to replace lidocaine. The Amiodarone versus Lidocaine in Prehospital Ventricular Fibrillation Evaluation (ALIVE) trial and the Amiodarone in Out-of-Hospital Resuscitation of Refractory Sustained Ventricular Tachyarrhythmia (ARREST) study are two large, randomised trials finding the benefit of amiodarone to treat refractory VF during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). However, in these trials, the mean time to receive first aid was about 8 min. In the ALIVE trial, the time that patients received the first shock was 8±3 min in the amiodarone group and 9±4 min in the lidocaine group. In the ARREST study, the first responder arrived within 4 min, and paramedics arrived and gave patients the first shock within 9 min, though the accurate time from sudden death to receive first aid is difficult determined during prehospital or out-of-hospital investigations. In a Japanese clinical study comparing nifekalant and lidocaine to treat refractory VF, the time to start CPR was about 7 min. In developed countries, the emergency medical system is better and the CPR technique and devices for first aid such as AED are more widespread than in developing countries. So, especially in less-developed countries, if patients experiencing sudden cardiac events cannot receive rescue measures in time, antiarrhythmic agents may have a positive effect on refractory VF. However, which agent is better, amiodarone or lidocaine? Few studies have compared the two drugs. The purpose of this randomised, experimental canine study was to compare the effect of amiodarone and lidocaine on CPR when given simultaneously with adrenaline in a canine model of prolonged VF. Methods Twenty-one mongrel dogs of both sexes (13.5–19 kg) were used. The dogs were anesthetised with pentobarbital (25 mg/kg intravenous, bolus). Animals were restrained in the supine position at the four extremities on the experimental table. A 5.0 cuffed tracheal tube was inserted into the trachea for intubation. The tube was attached to a ventilator. Ventilation began at a tidal volume of 10–15 ml/kg, a ventilator rate of 16–20 breaths/min, and an inspiration: expiration ratio of 1:1.5–2.0. Three electrocardiographic leads were placed to correspond to standard lead II electrocardiography (ECG). The right femoral artery was cannulated, and the tip of a fluid-filled polyurethane catheter was positioned in the proximal descending aorta for measuring aortic systolic pressure (AOSP) and diastolic pressure (AODP). A second fluid-filled polyurethane catheter was introduced through the right femoral vein into the right atrium (RA) to measure systolic pressure (RASP) and diastolic pressure (RADP). The remaining cannulated femoral vein was used for drug infusion. Heparin, 100 U/kg, was administered for anticoagulation. A continuous infusion of 0.9% NaCl, 3 ml/kg/h, was given throughout the experiment. Heart rate (HR) and QT interval were measured at baseline and after resuscitation, during stable sinus rate. The corrected QT interval (QTc) was calculated by Bazett's formula. The catheters were connected to pressure transducers connected directly to a computer for on-line recording of data (Acknowledge, Biopic Systems, Inc, CA, USA). Aortic and right atrial pressures were monitored throughout the study. Coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) was calculated on-line at mid-diastole by subtracting RADP from AODP. After baseline measurements, VF was induced by delivering a 5-s alternating current at 50 Hz externally across the thorax through two needles. Assisted ventilation was discontinued immediately on establishment of 12 min VF, dogs were allowed to breathe spontaneously, to simulate the delay that often occurs after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. After 12 min, external chest compression and ventilation with 100% oxygen was started. The rate of compression was 100/min, and a synchronised ventilation: compression ratio of 2:30 was delivered by a manual bag-valve ventilator (Ambu bag Glostrup Denmark) at a constant tidal volume of approximately 20 ml/kg body weight. Ventilations were delivered during the decompression phase of CPR. After 2 min of compression, defibrillation with 150 J biphase was attempted immediately. Animals that were still in VF or pulseless VT after only once defibrillation were randomised to three groups (n=7 for each) for treatment: amiodarone plus adrenaline, lidocaine plus adrenaline or placebo and adrenaline. Adrenaline was given in intravenous boluses of 0.02 mg/kg; amiodarone (Cordarone, amiodarone hydrochloride injection, polysorbate-80, a diluent which on its own is a potent vasodilator and may be also negatively inotropic, was not included), 5 mg/kg; lidocaine, 1.5 mg/kg; and placebo (normal saline) 5 ml. Amiodarone was injected in 2 min. All drugs were followed by a 10-ml saline intravenous bolus to decrease the time for medication to reach the central circulation. Researchers were blinded to the treatment. CPR was not interrupted during drug administration. After the first administration of drugs, canines were given 6 min external thoracic compression (2 min per turn) and one shock with the same energy of defibrillation in every 2 min CPR as necessary. If animals were still VF, we gave drugs once more. Animals with successful return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) (defined as arterial-systolic pressure >50 mm Hg sustained for >1 min continuously within 30 min of CPR were treated with advanced life support and observed for 2 h. Animals without successful ROSC after 30 min of CPR were allowed to die. The study endpoints were ROSC, survival for 2 h under advanced life support, and death. Results The three groups did not differ in survival rate, hemodynamic measurements after drug administration, or heart rate, PR interval or QRS complex (p=0.074, 0.077 and 0.415, respectively). ROSC did not significantly differ among the groups (p=0.807), with 4, 5, and 3 dogs achieving ROSC in the amiodarone, lidocaine and placebo groups, respectively. Three, 5, and 3 dogs in the amiodarone, lidocaine and placebo groups, respectively, survived for more than 2 h. The survival rate for the three groups was 42.9%, 71.4% and 42.9% respectively, with no significant difference between groups. ECG measurements did not differ between the amiodarone and lidocaine groups, except for QT interval (420.0±192.2 vs 234.0±19.5 ms, p=0.036). One case of atypical torsades de pointes was found in the amiodarone group. Three, 5, and 3 dogs in the amiodarone, lidocaine and placebo groups, respectively, survived for more than 2 h. Conclusions In the prolonged VF model, amiodarone and lidocaine had a similar effect on terminating VF, hemodynamics and survival rate. Lidocaine may be safer than amiodarone in terminating refractory VF.


Blood glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-Px) was determined in 61 healthy subjects and 506 patients with various skin disorders. Depressed levels were observed in patients with psoriasis, eczema, atopic dermatitis, vasculitis, mycosis fungoides and dermatitis herpetiformis. Low values of GSH-Px were also found in some patients with pemphigoid, acne conglobata, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis, scleroderma and systemic lupus erythematodes. Vegetarian diet, malnutrition and alcohol abuse could possibly account for the low values in some patients. Fifty patients with low GSH-Px levels were treated with tablets containing 0.2 mg selenium as Na2SeO3 and 10 mg tocopheryl succinate. The GSH-Px levels increased slowly within 6-8 weeks of treatment. The clinical effect was encouraging and calls for controlled studies.


Drawing upon a wide range of primary sources, this article argues that a study of the medieval laundress can illuminate wider social attitudes to hygiene as well as to low status women. Having considered the many types of laundry workers active in England and northern France between c.1300 and 1550, it examines the techniques they used, as well as the hazards encountered through exposure to difficult conditions. Such factors, along with the freedom of movement enjoyed by many laundresses, often harmed their collective reputation. That responses to those who dealt with the community's dirty clothing were highly ambivalent is reflected in contemporary writing about laundresses, and in the measures taken to regulate them. Finally, we turn to remuneration. The sporadic survival of financial evidence means that our knowledge of wage rates remains impressionistic. But some laundry workers were surprisingly well rewarded. This confirms the value placed, in elite households at least, upon the cleanliness of personal linen.


As mobile cloud computing facilitates a wide spectrum of smart applications, the need for fusing various types of data available in the cloud grows rapidly. In particular, social and sensor data lie at the core in such applications, but typically processed separately. This paper explores the potential of fusing social and sensor data in the cloud, presenting a practice - a travel recommendation system that offers the predicted mood information of people on where and when users wish to travel. The system is built upon a conceptual framework that allows to blend the heterogeneous social and sensor data for integrated analysis, extracting weather-dependent people's mood information from Twitter and meteorological sensor data streams. In order to handle massively streaming data, the system employs various cloud-serving systems, such as Hadoop, HBase, and GSN. Using this scalable system, we performed heavy ETL as well as filtering jobs, resulting in 12 million tweets over four months. We then derived a rich set of interesting findings through the data fusion, proving that our approach is effective and scalable, which can serve as an important basis in fusing social and sensor data in the cloud.


Increasing digitization in healthcare promises easier exchange and more efficient use of medical information for patients, institutions and research. The number of sharing options for medical data increases, e.g., through personal health records, as well as the volume of data. To use this data in medical research patients' consent is important. As more and more data access is regulated by consent forms and their complexity also increases. For the patient, it becomes less comprehensible which information could be gained from his or her disclosed data. This becomes more important when pressumably anonymized data has the risk of potential re-identification of an individual. In this paper we introduce a consent-privacy-impact-quantification (CPIQ) as a risk model of consent forms for the release of personal medical data for use within research projects. CPIQ evaluates how reasonable a consent decision is for the patient. It takes relevant factors such as the patient's preferences into account, the circumstances and benefits of the research project, and the potential risk to the patient. The model can be parameterized so that different aspects such as the benefit of the research project, the risk of a data leak or the risk of a patient's confidential data becoming known can be represented. We present the feasibility of this model by including it in an existing consent management system.


The aim of this study was to assess the effect of oral vaccination against Yersinia ruckeri based on oxidative stress biomarkers in different tissues of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum). Vaccine consisted of three Y. ruckeri strains (O1 serotype) that originated from rainbow trout cultured on the different farms, where fish exhibited clinical signs of enteric redmouth disease. Concentrated vaccine was incorporated in the fish food; treatment was delivers three times at one day intervals. One month after immunization, gills, hepatic and cardiac tissues were sampled. The vaccinated trout showed tissue-specific oxidative stress responses in the gills, liver, and heart. The gill tissue was the most sensitive to oxidative damage among the samples. Accumulation of oxidative stress biomarkers in the rainbow trout was tissue-specific with following accumulation: gills > heart > liver. These results suggest that the trout expressed tissue-specific oxidative stress mechanisms due to anti-Yersinia vaccine treatment. There were no statistically significant alterations in the activities of antioxidant defenses instead superoxide dismutase activity in the hepatic and cardiac tissue and glutathione peroxidase activity in the gills of vaccinated trout. Correlative analysis confirmed the role of catalase in the antioxidant defense in vaccinated trout. The oxidative stress biomarkers, i.e. content of oxidative modified proteins in the gills, and liver, and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances level in the gills, and total antioxidant capacity in the liver, were sensitive to vaccination of trout against Y. ruckeri and may potentially be used as biomarkers in evaluating vaccine toxicity in rainbow trout.


Endometriosis is a painful reproductive disease afflicting about up to 20% of women. It is one of the most frequent benign gynaecological diseases, however, little is known about the pathological of endometriosis. Over the past decade, high-throughput proteomics technologies have evolved considerably and have become increasingly more commonly applied to the investigation of female reproductive disease, including endometriosis. In this mini-review the authors look at the application of proteomics technologies in order to find biomarker associated with endometriosis.


Detraining can be defined as the partial or complete loss of training-induced adaptations, in response to an insufficient training stimulus. Detraining is characterized, among other changes, by marked alterations in the cardiorespiratory system and the metabolic patterns during exercise. In highly trained athletes, insufficient training induces a rapid decline in VO2max, but it remains above control values. Exercise heart rate increases insufficiently to counterbalance the decreased stroke volume resulting from a rapid blood volume loss, and maximal cardiac output is thus reduced. Cardiac dimensions are also reduced, as well as ventilatory efficiency. Consequently, endurance performance is also markedly impaired. These changes are more moderate in recently trained subjects in the short-term, but recently acquired VO2max gains are completely lost after training stoppage periods longer than 4 wk. From a metabolic viewpoint, even short-term inactivity implies an increased reliance on carbohydrate metabolism during exercise, as shown by a higher exercise respiratory exchange ratio. This may result from a reduced insulin sensitivity and GLUT-4 transporter protein content, coupled with a lowered muscle lipoprotein lipase activity. These metabolic changes may take place within 10 d of training cessation. Resting muscle glycogen concentration returns to baseline within a few weeks without training, and trained athletes' lactate threshold is also lowered, but still remains above untrained values.


Background The Emergency, Triage, Assessment and Treatment plus Admission care (ETAT+) course, a comprehensive advanced pediatric life support course, was introduced in Rwanda in 2010 to facilitate the achievement of the fourth Millennium Development Goal. The impact of the course on improving healthcare workers (HCWs) knowledge and practical skills related to providing emergency care to severely ill newborns and children in Rwanda has not been studied. Objective To evaluate the impact of the ETAT+ course on HCWs knowledge and practical skills, and to identify factors associated with greater improvement in knowledge and skills. Methods We used a one group, pre-post test study using data collected during ETAT+ course implementation from 2010 to 2013. The paired t-test was used to assess the effect of ETAT+ course on knowledge improvement in participating HCWs. Mixed effects linear and logistic regression models were fitted to explore factors associated with HCWs performance in ETAT+ course knowledge and practical skills assessments, while accounting for clustering of HCWs in hospitals. Results 374 HCWs were included in the analysis. On average, knowledge scores improved by 22.8/100 (95% confidence interval (CI) 20.5, 25.1). In adjusted models, bilingual (French & English) participants had a greater improvement in knowledge 7.3 (95% CI 4.3, 10.2) and higher odds of passing the practical skills assessment (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 2.60; 95% CI 1.25, 5.40) than those who were solely proficient in French. Participants who attended a course outside of their health facility had higher odds of passing the skills assessment (aOR = 2.11; 95% CI 1.01, 4.44) than those who attended one within their health facility. Conclusions The current study shows a positive impact of ETAT+ course on improving participants' knowledge and skills related to managing emergency pediatric and neonatal care conditions. The findings regarding key factors influencing ETAT+ course outcomes demonstrate the importance of considering key contextual factors (e.g., language barriers) that might affect HCWs performance in this type of continuous medical education.


BACKGROUND
Sickle cell disease (SCD) has a prevalence of 2-3% in Nigeria (population: over 150 million). We present our first allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for a 7-year-old patient with severe sickle cell anemia and debilitating right-sided hemi-paraparesis.

CASE REPORT
Conditioning was with (Reduced Intensity Conditioning (FLU/BU).[Fludarabine 160 mg/m2 (days -6 to -2) and Busulphan 16 mg/kg (4×25 mg 6 hly days -5 to -2) and Anti-thymocyte globulin(ATG)(ATGAM) total dose 500 mg (days -6 to -4)]. Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was with Cyclosporine A (2×50 mg daily) and Mycophenolate Mofetil (2×500 mg/day). Stem cell source was bone marrow harvested on the 28 September 2011 with 9.8×108 nucleated cells/kg in a total volume of 900 mL from his 14-year-old HLA-matched sibling (6/6). Neutrophil and platelet engraftment was day +18 and +21, respectively. At day +70 full blood count was a total white blood cell count of 3100/µl, absolute Neutrophil count 1200/µl, Hemoglobin (Hb) 11.3 g/dl, Platelet 198,000/µl, Hemoglobin phenotype AA, and no acute or chronic GVHD. He is clinically stable with a Chimerism at 2 years post-HSCT of 95% and responding to physiotherapy.

CONCLUSIONS
We have successfully performed a stem cell transplanted in a 7-year-old Sickle Cell Anemia case. With the assistance of Government and improved Health Insurance Policy, we could make HSCT available as a cure for many Nigerians with both malignant and non-malignant disorders.


STUDY DESIGN
An electrophysiologic study to examine effects of exogenous application of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha ) activities and nociresponses of dorsal horn neurons in the spinal cord at L5.

OBJECTIVES
To investigate the role of TNF-alpha in the induction and development of hyperalgesia in neural mechanisms responsible for a radicular pain.

SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA
TNF-alpha is found in the herniated disc and known to play a pivotal role in the development of inflammatory hyperalgesia; however, it is not known whether TNF-alpha causes abnormal discharge in the dorsal horn neurons and enhances nociresponse.

METHODS
Single-unit activities of neurons in the L5 superficial dorsal horn were extracellularly recorded, using 28 urethane-anesthetized rats. The wide dynamic range and nociceptive-specific neurons activated by stimulation of the hind paw were selected. Effects of exogenous TNF-alpha were examined regarding 1) spontaneous discharges of wide dynamic range and nociceptive-specific neurons, 2) responses of wide dynamic range neurons to noxious stimulation, and 3) morphologic changes in the dorsal root ganglion.

RESULTS
Application of TNF-alpha to the nerve root induced 1) a significant increase in spikes/sec in spontaneous discharges of wide dynamic range and nociceptive-specific neurons, 2) enhanced responses of wide dynamic range neurons to noxious stimulation, and 3) inflammatory changes in the ganglion.

CONCLUSION
These results suggest the possibility that TNF-alpha produced in the vicinity of nerve roots due to disc herniation might cause ectopic discharges in primary afferent fibers and thereby induce the prolonged excitation in pain-processing neurons responsible for radicular pain.


Offshore wind farms (OWFs) in the North Sea are proliferating, causing alterations in local ecosystems by adding artificial hard substrates into naturally soft-bottom areas. These substrates are densely colonized by fouling organisms, which may compete for the available resources. While the distribution of some species is restricted to specific parts of the turbine, others occur across depth zones and may therefore face different competitive environments. Here we investigate the trophic niches of seven invertebrate species: three sessile (Diadumene cincta, Metridium senile, and Mytilus edulis), one hemi-sessile (Jassa herdmani) and three mobile species (Ophiothrix fragilis, Necora puber, and Pisidia longicornis) that occur in multiple depth zones. We hypothesized that these species would be trophic generalists, exhibiting trophic plasticity by selecting different resources in different depth zones, to cope with the different competitive environments in which they occur. We analyzed δ13C and δ15N of these species and their potential resources across depth zones. Our results show that most of these invertebrates are indeed trophic generalists which display substantial trophic plasticity, selecting different resources in different zones. Degree of trophic plasticity was not related to mobility of the species. There are two possible explanations for these dietary changes with depth: either consumers switch diet to avoid competition with other (dominant) species, or they benefit from the consumption of a non-limiting resource. Only Diadumene cincta was a trophic specialist that consumed suspended particulate organic matter (SPOM) independent of its zone of occurrence. Altogether, trophic plasticity appears an important mechanism for the co-existence of invertebrate species along the depth gradient of an offshore wind turbine.


Purpose, The present article was built on the assumption that the form of an examination may influence learning, and may also reflect different kinds of knowledge. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the results of an examination differ when short answer questions (SAQ) or modified essay questions (MEQ) are used. Method, Forty-nine students in the internal medicine course in Gothenburg, Sweden, performed a written examination in 2003, which included both SAQ and MEQ. Result, The correlation between the results of SAQ and MEQ was 0.59 (P < 0.001). The percentage correctly answered questions in the two types did not differ significantly. Some students had poor results in either SAQ or MEQ. Conclusion, The general outcome of the study indicates that results of SAQ and MEQ demonstrate a significant correlation. However, they may also reflect differences in mastery of the knowledge domain, which should be considered in relation to aspects of validity


The increasing interest in vehicular communications draws attention to scalability and network congestion problems and therefore on techniques to offload the traffic, typically carried through the infrastructure, to the Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) network. Floating content (FC) represents a promising paradigm to share ephemeral content without direct support from infrastructure. It is based on constraining geographically within the Anchor Zone (AZ) the opportunistic replication of a given content among vehicles, in a way that strikes a balance between minimization of resource usage and content availability. Existing works on FC performance modeling are based on standard, homogeneous synthetic mobility models, and it is hence unclear how they actually fit in realistic mobility scenarios. Moreover, the approaches to FC dimensioning they propose assume users have full knowledge of Spatio-temporal mobility patterns, which is hard to achieve in practice. Finally, despite FC is an infrastructure-less communication paradigm, some form of infrastructure support could be available in the vast majority of those application scenarios for which it has been proposed. In this paper, we perform a first attempt at tackling these issues. We focus on how to dimension an Anchor Zone in a realistic vehicular scenario. We propose the first set of simple dimensioning strategies, based on the estimation of some key mobility parameters and of FC performance. We assess such strategies on measurement-based vehicular traces, providing a first indication of their relative performance, and of the feasibility of FC in practical scenarios.


There have been few reports concerning hepatic bruits in malignant liver tumors, especially in those other than hepatocellular carcinoma. Lately we noticed hepatic bruits in several cases of malignant liver tumors. The murmurs were confirmed by sound recordings. In cases of hepatocellular carcinoma the murmurs were continuous or continuous with late systolic accentuation. In a case of cholangiocarcinoma of the liver the murmur was continuous with late systolic accentuation and in a case of metastatic liver carcinoma it was systolic. These murmurs were considered to be caused by various mechanisms and some of them are discussed in this paper. Hepatic bruits would be a useful aid in diagnosing hepatic tumors.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the efficacy and safety of recombinant human thrombopoietin (rhTPO) combined with high-dose dexamethasone (DXM) in the treatment of children with refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP).

METHODS
Fifty-eight ITP children who had failed first-line therapy were randomly divided into two groups: DXM treatment (n=27) and rhTPO + DXM treatment (n=31). The DXM treatment group received two continuous cycles of DXM treatment; in each cycle, patients received high-dose DXM (0.6 mg/kg daily) by intravenous drip for 4 days every 28 days. The rhTPO group received subcutaneous injection of rhTPO (300 U/kg daily) for 14 days additional to DXM treatment. The overall response rate (marked response rate + slight response rate) and adverse reactions were evaluated after 3, 7, and 14 days and 1, 2, and 3 months of treatment.

RESULTS
After 7 and 14 days and 1 month of treatment, the rhTPO + DXM treatment group had a significantly higher marked response rate and a significantly higher overall response rate than the DXM treatment group (P<0.05). After 2 months of treatment, the rhTPO + DXM treatment group had a significantly higher overall response rate than the DXM group (P<0.05). One patient in the DXM treatment group had liver damage during the first week of treatment. There was no hypertension, fever, rash, allergy, or weakness in the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS
rhTPO combined with high-dose DXM is an effective and safe approach for treating refractory ITP.


From the material analyzed in this study it appears that, if a hundred patients with inerniated nucleus pulposus are subjected to disc excision, one may expect sixty of them to obtain long-term results which are satisfactory. If the same hundred patients should have spine fusions in addition to the disc excisions, the results will be satisfactory in seventy of them. Sixty of these patients would not have needed the fusion operation, and of the forty whose results are unsatisfactory only ten could have expected sufficient improvement to make them satisfactory. Furthermore, the fusion procedure is an added operation, and we have no reason to believe that its effectiveness is greater if it is done at the time of the disc excision than if it is performed at a later date as a second-stage operation. We are therefore led to the conclusion that, when surgical intervention is necessary for simple cases of herniated nucleus pulposus, the operation of choice is disc excision only. Spine fusion can be performed at a later elate in those patients whose poor results warrant additional surgery.

Recognition is given to the fact that technical improvements in the operative procedures may be expected. Such improvements may lead to results which differ from those found in this study and will justify a re-evaluation after a lapse of years.


It is now widely acknowledged that social theorists can make an important contribution to our understanding of environmental risk. There is however a danger that the current ascendancy of social theory will encourage a tendency to assimilate issues around environmental risk to those at stake in entrenched debates between realist and constructivist social theorists. I begin by citing a recent example of this trend, before going on to argue that framing the issues in terms of a monism/pluralism dichotomy would make for a more informative analysis. Noting that realists and constructivists can make common cause against risk monism, I turn, in the second half of the paper, to setting out a positive case for risk pluralism. Citing some fictional examples of risk behaviour, I show how different individuals might rationally adopt different perspectives on the same risk. I conclude by exploring some implications of the truth of risk pluralism for two current approaches to environmental decision-making (which I term, respectively, the 'teleological-pluralistic' approach, and the 'economic-monistic' approach). I argue that the importance of risk pluralism lies in its capacity to highlight the shortcomings of the latter approach.


Horses and grasses have a long history together, or so paleontologists have thought. When modern grasses appeared some 20 million years ago, the thinking went, the teeth of ancient equines evolved to crop this new food, developing the high crowns seen in modern horses, and their owners changed from deerlike browsers of shrubs and trees to pure grazers. But on page
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 of this issue, paleontologists show that in horses, at least, the tooth can fool the eye. By analyzing tooth wear and chemical traces in the teeth, the researchers found that some of the closest ancient relatives of today9s horses were primarily browsers--despite having teeth shaped like those of a grazer.


Long-term extracranial shunting for hydrocephalus has numerous drawbacks related to shunt malfunction and infection. In some cases outcome has been very disappointing. We successfully managed 5 patients with acquired aqueductal stenoses with no significant morbidity by the use of an intracranial cerebrospinal fluid diversion, namely a third ventriculostomy. First advocated by Dandy, ventriculostomy was largely passed over in favor of extracranial procedures. With improved surgical techniques, however, ventriculostomy is now considered to be a viable alternative in selected cases. In a further 19 patients, we subsequently broadened our patient selection to include those with Arnold-Chiari malformations, congenital noncommunicating hydrocephalus, and tumors. Two thirds of these children remain without shunts and apart from 1 child developing hemiplegia postoperatively, there has been no significant morbidity. Although the best results have been seen in the late onset groups, even early onset, noncommunicating hydrocephalus has been successfully managed. Even in patients in whom third ventriculostomy has failed and who have subsequently required ventriculoperitoneal shunts, we anticipate that they will remain less dependent on shunts because their hydrocephalus is now communicating, which tends not to have such a rapid onset or extreme levels of raised intracranial pressure.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies have found that ST-segment elevation and QT dispersion are smaller in second coronary occlusions than in first occlusions, a trend that suggests ischemic preconditioning. It has not been established whether nicorandil reduces ST-segment elevation and QT dispersion during coronary angioplasty.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Thirty patients with stable angina undergoing coronary angioplasty in the proximal left anterior descending artery were randomly assigned to one of two groups, receiving either 5 mg oral nicorandil 3 times daily (n = 15) or placebo (n = 15). In the control patients, the total ST-segment elevation decreased from 14 +/- 3 mm during the first inflation to 7 +/- 2 mm during the second inflation (P < .01). In contrast, in the nicorandil-treated patients, the total ST-segment elevation during the second inflation was roughly equivalent to that during the first inflation (8 +/- 3 mm vs 8 +/- 3 mm, P = not significant). After the first reperfusion, a significantly smaller increase in QT dispersion was observed in the nicorandil-treated patients than in the control patients (43 +/- 15 ms vs 54 +/- 15 ms, P < .001). However, after the second reperfusion, QT dispersion was similar for the two groups (32 +/- 15 ms vs 34 +/- 13 ms, P = not significant).

CONCLUSIONS
Nicorandil may precondition the myocardium and may prevent the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmias after coronary reperfusion by suppressing the increase in QT dispersion.


Organizations want to achieve successful performance in the market and if possible, to have sustainable economic growth. However, in the current state of globalization and strong competition, technology is evolving rapidly, thus making the market an unsafe environment. Business organizations need to make full use of all available resources. It is already a common fact that the human resources or staff of an organization are a key asset to achieving success. Yet, what makes employees satisfied or motivated to achieve the planned objectives? In this research, we analyze several factors that influence employee motivation to improve their performance. Through empirical and theoretical analysis, the study will identify the relationship between employee motivation and organizational effectiveness and ultimately the improvement of organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect produced by employee motivation on organizational effectiveness. Employee motivation will involve criteria such as employee bonuses, good communication within the work premises, and satisfaction in their workplace.


Modification of the visor/sandwich osteotomy in treating the atrophic mandible is described as a one stage osteotomy-sulcoplasty procedure. Seven cases, with a vertical dimension of 10 mm or less in the premolar region, were assessed over a 12-month post-operative period. Vertical measurements were obtained clinically and cephalometrically, from the symphysis and premolar regions. The rates of resorption varied considerably in each area and were most marked in the first 3 months post-operatively.


Contemporary process metaphysics has achieved a number of important results, most significantly in accounting for emergence, a problem on which substance metaphysics has foundered since Plato. It also faces trenchant problems of its own, among them the related problems of boundaries and individuation. Historically, the quest for ontology may thus have been largely responsible for the persistence of substance metaphysics. But as Plato was well aware, an ontology of substantial things raises serious, perhaps insurmountable problems for any account of our epistemic access to such things. Physical things are subject to change, and as such, they are poor objects of knowledge—if knowledge is to be more reliable than mere opinion. There is a reading of Plato's Theaetetus on which knowledge may be understood as a relation between an epistemic subject and a logos, where logoi are intrinsically dialectical, and where dialectic is a kind of intersubjective activity. Insofar as this epistemology may be attributed to Plato, the project of this paper is Platonic in spirit. It is also, in a sense, Kantian, in that it divorces ontology from the search for things-in-themselves, redirecting our attention from things to objects: epistemic objects. Such objects can be understood, as Maurice Merleau-Ponty proposed, as shared by multiple subjects by virtue of their participation in an intersubjective world, constituted by what Shaun Gallagher calls "participatory sense-making." On an epistemology constructed in this way, the fact that both epistemic objects and their subject are mutable is no obstacle to knowledge. Far-from-equilibrium systems are forever mutable; at thermodynamic equilibrium, there would be neither subject, nor object. Epistemic objects, on this picture, are metastable loci of interactive potential.


In this letter we report of Al65Fe15Cu20 alloy by means of electron and x-ray diffractometry. A new crystalline phase of body-center-cubic structure with a lattice parameter a = 1.407nm was observed together with the icosahedral phase in the same sample. The new phase is supposed to be an isomorph of Mg32 (Al, Zn)49 (R phase) on the basis of structure factor calculation.


As revealed by Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, countermeasures against severe accidents in nuclear power plants are an urgent need. In particular, from the viewpoint of protecting containment and suppressing diffusion of the radioactive materials, it is most important to install filtered venting devices to release high pressure contaminated gas to the atmosphere with elimination radioactive materials in the gas.A Multi Venturi Scrubber System (MVSS) is one of the filtered venting devices, and used in European reactors [1, 2]. One of the main components of the MVSS is a Venturi Scrubber (VS). It is considered that a dispersed or dispersed annular flow is formed in the VS by a self-priming phenomena. In the self-priming phenomena, the liquid was suctioned from a surrounding region of the VS to the inside of the VS. And a part of the radioactive materials are eliminated through the gas-liquid interface of the dispersed or annular dispersed flow. Therefore, to consider the MVSS operation characteristics, it is important whether to occur the self-priming or not and the liquid flow rate of the self-priming of the VS.The objective of this paper is to understand the self-priming phenomena of the VS for the filtered venting. And theoretical analysis and experiment were conducted. By comparing these results, we discussed about the mechanism of the self-priming phenomena. As results, the self-priming phenomena in the VS was confirmed and, at a high gas flow rate, the suspension of the self-priming is confirmed experimentally and theoretically.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


AIM
To evaluate the effects of posterior corneal surface measurements on the accuracy of total estimated corneal astigmatism.

METHODS
Fifty-seven patients with toric intraocular lens (IOL) implantation and posterior corneal astigmatism exceeding 0.5 diopter were enrolled in this retrospective study. The keratometric astigmatism (KA) and total corneal astigmatism (TA) were measured using a Pentacam rotating Scheimpflug camera to assess the outcomes of AcrySof IOL implantation. Toric IOLs were evaluated in 26 eyes using KA measurements and in 31 eyes using TA measurements. Preoperative corneal astigmatism and postoperative refractive astigmatism were recorded for statistical analysis. The cylindrical power of toric IOLs was estimated in all eyes.

RESULTS
In all cases, the difference of toric IOL astigmatism magnitude between KA and TA measurements for the estimation of preoperative corneal astigmatism was statistically significant. Of a total of 57 cases, the 50.88% decreased from Tn to Tn-1, and 10.53% decreased from Tn to Tn-2. In all cases, 5.26% increased from Tn to Tn+1. The mean postoperative astigmatism within the TA group was significantly lower than that in the KA group.

CONCLUSION
The accuracy of total corneal astigmatism calculations and the efficacy of toric IOL correction can be enhanced by measuring both the anterior and posterior corneal surfaces using a Pentacam rotating Scheimpflug camera.


Text coherence plays a key role in document quality assessment. Most existing text coherence methods only focus on similarity of adjacent sentences. However, local coherence exists in sentences with broader contexts and diverse rhetoric relations, rather than just adjacent sentences similarity. Besides, the highlevel text coherence is also an important aspect of document quality. To this end, we propose a hierarchical coherence model for document quality assessment. In our model, we implement a local attention mechanism to capture the location semantics, bilinear tensor layer for measure coherence and max-coherence pooling for acquiring high-level coherence. We evaluate the proposed method on two realistic tasks: news quality judgement and automated essay scoring. Experimental results demonstrate the validity and superiority of our work.


Current trends intensify the longstanding problem of how the rule of law should be institutionalized in the welfare state. Welfare programs are being redesigned to increase their capacities to adapt to rapidly changing conditions and to tailor their responses to diverse clienteles. These developments challenge the understanding of legal accountability developed in the Warren Court era. This article reports on an emerging model of accountable administration that strives to reconcile programmatic flexibility with rule‐of‐law values. The model has been developed in the reform of state child protective services systems, but it has potentially broad application to public law. It also has novel implications for such basic rule‐of‐law issues as the choice between rules and standards, the relation of bureaucratic and judicial control, the proper scope of judicial intervention into dysfunctional public agencies, and the justiciability of "positive" (or social and economic) rights.


. Several receptors are downregulated by internalization after ligand binding. Regulation of T cell receptor (TCR) expression is an important step in T cell activation, desensitization, and tolerance induction. One way T cells regulate TCR expression is by phos-phorylation/dephosphorylation of the TCR subunit clusters of differentiation (CD)3 (cid:103) . Thus, phosphorylation of CD3 (cid:103) serine 126 (S126) causes a downregulation of the TCR. In this study, we have analyzed the CD3 (cid:103) internalization motif in three different systems in parallel: in the context of the complete multimeric TCR; in monomeric CD4/CD3 (cid:103) chimeras; and in vitro by binding CD3 (cid:103) peptides to clathrin-coated vesicle adaptor proteins (APs). We find that the CD3 (cid:103) D 127 xxxLL 131/132 sequence represents one united motif for binding of both AP-1 and AP-2, and that this motif functions as an active sorting motif in monomeric CD4/ CD3 (cid:103) molecules independently of S126. An acidic amino acid is required at position 127 and a leucine (L) is required at position 131, whereas the requirements for position 132 are more relaxed. The spacing between aspartic acid 127 (D127) and L131 is crucial for the function of the motif in vivo and for AP binding in vitro. anti– (cid:98) -, or anti– (cid:103) adaptin antibodies followed by peroxidase-conjugated, rabbit anti–mouse antibodies (DAKOPATTS A/S). Bound antibodies were visualized using enhanced chemiluminescence (ECL; Amersham).


Adaptive loop filtering (ALF) is extensively investigated for lossy video coding to mitigate compression noise. Numerous learning-based ALFs have emerged recently and improved the coding efficiency significantly through the use of complexity-intensive, large-scale models trained on excessive samples, making it impractical for real-life applications. By contrast, lightweight, small-scale ALF models cannot promise convincing performance and model generalization. In principle, the ALF estimates the sample distortion for restoration. Instead of directly approximating the distortion as in existing solutions, we reformulate it as a Multi-hypothesis Sample Refinement (MSR) problem. To this end, we first generate multiple distortion hypotheses through a deep neural network (DNN) model. Then, these hypotheses are linearly superimposed to approximate the final distortion through the minimization of mean square error (MMSE) between the filtered reconstruction and its original, uncompressed input. Finally, the linear superimposition coefficients are explicitly signaled in the compressed bitstream. As seen, the superimposition coefficients inherently generalize the MSR to various content. And using DNNs to generate distortion hypotheses essentially models the spatial priors of a local block and its underlying compression error distribution. As a result, the MSR using a small-scale convolutional neural network (CNN) model with only 5k parameters and 5 KMACs/pixel achieves 4.35% (Intra) and 2.49% (Inter) BD-Rate (Bjøntegaard Delta Rate) gains over the AV1 anchor. Ablation studies further demonstrate that the MSR can be generalized to diverse small-scale network structures, different standards (e.g., H.265/HEVC and H.266/VVC), and diverse video content (e.g., screen videos).


Despite widespread agreement on the significance of Rom 1.16–17, agreement on its meaning has been elusive. This study focuses on one disputed phrase, εκ πιστεως εις πιστιν, suggesting that it should be read, in the light of Greek idiom, as indicating growth. In the context of Rom 1 the growth Paul is celebrating is not individual faith. Rather, in the gospel – the prophetic announcement of the arrival of eschatological salvation in Christ – the righteousness of God is revealed, resulting in the growing faith of the Gentiles. Paul does not cite Hab 2.4 in Rom 1.17 as a messianic prophecy but as scriptural confirmation that faith is the appropriate response to the gospel.


MOTIVATION
The driver genes play a key role in the evolutionary process of cancer. Effectively identifying these driver genes is crucial to cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, due to the high heterogeneity of cancers, it remains challenging to identify the driver genes for individual patients. Although some computational methods have been proposed to tackle this problem, they seldom consider the fact that the genes functionally similar to the well-established driver genes may likely play similar roles in cancer process, which potentially promotes the driver gene identification. Thus, here we developed a novel approach of IMCDriver to promote the driver gene identification both for cohorts and individual patients.

RESULTS
IMCDriver first considers the well-established driver genes as prior information, and adopts the using multi-omics data (e.g., somatic mutation, gene expression and protein-protein interaction) to compute the similarity between patients/genes. Then, IMCDriver prioritizes the personalized mutated genes according to their functional similarity to the well-established driver genes via Inductive Matrix Completion. Finally, IMCDriver identifies the highly rank-ordered genes as the personalized driver genes. The results on five cancer datasets from TCGA show that our IMCDriver outperforms other existing state-of-the-art methods both in the cohort and patient-specific driver gene identification. IMCDriver also reveals some novel driver genes that potentially drive cancer development. In addition, even for the driver genes rarely mutated among a population, IMCDriver can still identify them and prioritize them with high priorities.

AVAILABILITY
Code available at https://github.com/NWPU-903PR/IMCDriver.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.


In aquarium experiments using coho salmon as a model species, prior residents dominated intruders of the same size but intruders with a 6% length advantage were equally matched against prior residents. Prior winning experience (distinct from individual recognition) also strongly influenced competitive success and overcame a prior residence effect. Coho salmon reared in a hatchery dominated size-matched fish from the same parental population reared in a stream. Hatchery-reared salmon also dominated naturally spawned salmon, even when the wild salmon were prior residents. Thus the combined effects of greater size and rearing experience of hatchery-produced salmon were sufficient to overcome a wild salmon's advantage of prior residence. Efforts to rehabilitate salmonid populations must consider such behavioural interactions if displacement of wild fish is to be prevented.


The present invention provides a niobium granulated powder production method characterized by including: a step in which niobium hydride and a metal oxide are mixed and a mechanical alloy is obtained by using mechanical alloying; a step in which the mechanical alloy is pulverized; and a step in which the pulverized mechanical alloy is agglomerated by heat treatment and a granulated substance is formed. A capacitor using, as a positive electrode body therefor, a sintered body of the niobium granulated powder obtained by this method is capable of increasing capacitor capacity by preventing excessive formation of dielectric film.


In a toroidal system, circulating fast ions generated by neutral beam injection affect the beam stopping cross-section of the neutral beam itself. This effect is called "beam particle self-interaction (BPSI)". In a recent experiment in JT-60U with a 350 keV H0 beam, an indication of this BPSI effect was seen for the first time. In a low density discharge at about 1 × 1019 m-3, the beam shine-through decreased by about 35% within several hundred msec after beam injection. This result is consistent with a prediction by the BPSI theory.


We describe a patient with essential thrombocythemia (ET) who developed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) 10 years after his initial diagnosis. The association of ET and CLL is very rare, and only a handful of cases have been described in the literature. Although the association may be one of chance, some evidence suggests that the 2 neoplasms may be related. Such evidence includes the occurrence of B-cell malignancy and ET in different generations of the same family, with anticipation demonstrated in the pedigree.


BACKGROUND
Physician profiling is a method of cost control that focuses on patterns of care instead of on specific clinical decisions. It is one cost-control method that takes into account physicians' desire to curb the intrusion of administrative mechanisms into the clinical encounter. To provide a concrete example of profiling, we analyzed the inpatient practice patterns of physicians in Florida and Oregon.

METHODS
Data for 1991 from Medicare's National Claims History File were used to profile 12,720 attending physicians in Florida and 2589 in Oregon. For each attending physician, we determined the total relative value of all physicians' services delivered during each patient's hospital stay. Relative value was measured in relative-value units (RVUs), according to the resource-based relative-value scale used by Medicare in determining payments to physicians. The mean number of RVUs per admission was then adjusted for the physician's case mix according to the patients' assigned diagnosis-related groups. The influence of the physician's specialty and of selected types of services (such as imaging and endoscopy) was also examined.

RESULTS
Florida physicians used markedly more resources, on average, than their colleagues in Oregon (46 vs. 30 case-mix-adjusted RVUs per admission). The difference was apparent for all specialties and all types of service. To illustrate the profiling data potentially available to the medical staffs of individual hospitals, we examined specific data on individual attending physicians and for various types of service for three hospitals' staffs. Despite similar overall profiles that fell below the national mean, each staff had a different practice pattern and would require different efforts to improve efficiency.

CONCLUSIONS
In an effort to encourage further debate, we have described one method of physician profiling. Profiling data help identify and characterize differences in practice style to which individual physicians or hospital staffs can respond. Because profiling is not based on rigid rules, it is a cost-containment strategy that can easily accommodate legitimate exceptions; it is therefore preferable to methods in which the appropriateness of each clinical decision is judged separately.


Benign tumors of the esophagus are of special interest because of their comparative rarity and because the majority of such tumors are amenable to treatment. It is therefore essential that they be recognized and distinguished from the malignant tumors, which are comparatively numerous and resistant to all forms of therapy. Unfortunately, however, the benign tumors lack distinctive clinical and roentgenologic features, and the presence of such a growth must be considered in all cases of dysphagia of unknown origin. They can be accurately distinguished only by esophagoscopy and biopsy. The rarity of benign tumors of the esophagus is well illustrated by the studies of Patterson. 1 In a review of the literature from 1717 to 1932, she was able to find a record of only sixty-one cases, including those in which the tumor was first recognized at the time of postmortem examination. To this series she added


The specific component responsible and the mechanistic pathway for increased human morbidity and mortality after cigarette smoking are yet to be delineated. We propose that 1) injury and disease following cigarette smoking are associated with exposure to and retention of particles produced during smoking and 2) the biological effects of particles associated with cigarette smoking share a single mechanism of injury with all particles. Smoking one cigarette exposes the human respiratory tract to between 15,000 and 40,000 µg particulate matter; this is a carbonaceous product of an incomplete combustion. There are numerous human exposures to other particles, and these vary widely in composition, absolute magnitude, and size of the particle. Individuals exposed to all these particles share a common clinical presentation with a loss of pulmonary function, increased bronchial hyperresponsiveness, pathologic changes of emphysema and fibrosis, and comorbidities, including cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, and cancers. Mechanistically, all particle exposures produce an oxidative stress, which is associated with a series of reactions, including an activation of kinase cascades and transcription factors, release of inflammatory mediators, and apoptosis. If disease associated with cigarette smoking is recognized to be particle related, then certain aspects of the clinical presentation can be predicted; this would include worsening of pulmonary function and progression of pathological changes and comorbidity (eg, emphysema and carcinogenesis) after smoking cessation since the particle is retained in the lung and the exposure continues.


Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA

DNA glycosylases are required to initiate the DNA base excision repair pathway of lesions that are formed by DNA damage. Recently, several DNA glycosylases including NEIL1, OGG1 and NTH1 were identified as potential targets in combination chemotherapeutic strategies for cancer treatment. The potential therapeutic benefit for the inhibition of DNA glycosylases was validated by demonstrating synthetic lethality with drugs that are commonly used to limit DNA replication through dNTP pool depletion. Additionally, NEIL1-associated synthetic lethality has been achieved in combination with Fanconi anemia, group G. In this work, we designed experimental strategies to discover small molecule inhibitors of NEIL1, with subsequent analyses of the specificity of those molecules for other DNA glycosylases. Using NEIL1 as the proof-of-principle DNA glycosylase, we developed a fluorescence-based assay that utilizes incision of site-specifically modified oligodeoxynucleotides to detect enzymatic activity. Among the top hits of these screens were several purine analogs, whose postulated presence in the active site of NEIL1 was consistent with the paradigm of NEIL1 recognition and excision of purine-derived lesions. We also applied gas chromatography/isotope-dilution tandem mass spectrometry for the measurement of the effect of preferred small molecule inhibitors on activities of the DNA glycosylases NEIL1, OGG1 and NTH1. The release of modified bases, which are known substrates of these enzymes, was measured in the presence and absence of the inhibitors. These data revealed that several of the purine analogs were general glycosylase inhibitors with one compound being the most effective inhibitor for all three enzymes. However, there were significance differences in inhibition of enzymatic activities among these three DNA glycosylases. Overall, this work forms the foundation for the future discovery of DNA repair inhibitors as drugs in cancer therapy for the entire family of DNA glycosylases.

Citation Format: Miral Dizdaroglu, Pawel Jaruga. Small molecule inhibitors of DNA glycosylases as potential drugs in cancer therapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 2421. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-2421


Granulocytes, predominantly polymorphonuclear neutrophils, are the major components of the body's defense against acute infections. Starting from pioneering work done 20 years ago by Alexander and coworkers, neutrophil dysfunction after major thermal injury has been well documented. Defects in neutrophil function have been recognized as being serum-borne. Additionally, a review of granulocyte function in burns was presented in 1984, at the Conference on the Immune Consequences of Thermal and Traumatic Injuries. Because of methodologic difficulties, however, our knowledge of granulocyte kinetics has increased very slowly. Although the bone marrow produces 1.5 billion granulocytes per kg body weight per day and the marrow granulocyte reserve is enormous, the hematopoietic tissues, along with the release, distribution, and possible role of granulocytes in the pathophysiology of burns, have not been studied thoroughly. This article presents a current review of our knowledge of granulocyte kinetics in burns and the production and possible fate of granulocytes in tissues.


This paper explores the desirability and possibilit y of active student participation (ASP) in curriculum design. Rationale s for pursuing ASP in curriculum design are outlined. A conceptual model from community planning literature is then presented ‐ Sherry Arns tein's 'Eight rungs on a ladder of participation' ‐ a model that has been us ed widely in various disciplines but rarely in higher education. Arnstei n's model is adapted to enable exploration of different possible levels of ASP in curriculum design in higher education. Key features of this adapted ' Ladder of student participation in curriculum design' model are outli ned and illustrated through the use of examples. Discussion focuses on contextualising the desirability and possibility of different levels of student participation in curriculum design, and explores the utility of the adapted model. The paper concludes with some suggested areas of ASP in curri culum design that need further investigation.


Conceptual models are an essential part of groundwater investigations. The conceptualization process has lacked formality in the past, and has depended on the development of a set of 2-D cross-sections to portray a 3-D picture of groundwater flow as a means of bringing together the numerous and diverse relevant data sets. A more structured approach to developing the hydrogeological framework for the conceptual model is advocated using a 3-D visualization package to assemble the data, and working in three dimensions from the outset. The new method is tested on the complex central part of the English South Downs Chalk aquifer. Although the data needs areintensive, the model is extremely valuable in realisinga number of facets of groundwater flow previouslyunidentified. Other key advantages are that the 3-D model is flexible and can be amended from time to time without the need to start afresh, and that it provides a data platform and a means of further analysis bothin itself and in hydrogeological software such asMODFLOW.


A cardiac-renal syndrome (CRS) is defined as a disorder of the heart or kidney function in which acute or chronic disease of one organ is caused by acute or chronic dysfunction (injury) of the other. Patients with heart failure often associate with impaired renal function, correlated with increased morbidity and mortality. Such patients may be considered for pharmacological or surgical treatment, including organ transplantation, or mechanical cardiac support (MCS). The aim of this article is to discuss heart and kidney failure in the aspect of nursing care. Patients with renal failure and heart disease are challenging for therapeutic teams. Pharmacological and surgical treatment may be considered. The unique problems that occur during renal replacement therapy, organ transplantation, or mechanical cardiac support appear both in steady-state and out-patient settings. Adequate selection of candidates for implantation or transplantation is essential for the best results. If a patient is considered as a candidate for MCS implantation, a multidisciplinary team including a cardiologist, cardiologist, mechanical cardiovascular coordinator, nurses should engage in dialysis, nephrology, patient and family training in MCS management during renal replacement therapy.


Tunicates are filter-feeding estuarine and marine animals that are frequently exposed to chronic environmental pollution. This study demonstrates that exposure to low-level (i.e., below the threshold of acute lethality) contamination with tributyltin, creosote, and copper can have substantial effects on natural immune reactions in tunicates. Sublethal doses of toxicants administered either in vitro or in vivo profoundly affected phagocytosis, cellular cytotoxicity, and hematopoietic cell proliferation. Effects were not always inhibitory, and responses often varied depending on the route of toxicant administration. The data suggest that pollutants can activate cascades of cellular processes and compensatory mechanisms, as well as directly inhibiting some of the responses tested. Some evidence indicates that toxicants exert their effects by altering the relative frequencies of circulatory hemocytes.


The structure and electrical properties of mono- and multilayer poly(vinyl benzoate) (PVB) films have been studied by using the films as ultrathin insulating spacers between evaporated electrodes of Cu and Sn. PVB–stearic acid mixtures were also used. Form capacity measurements, autoradiographs, and the layering conditions it is concluded that the compacted PVB film on the aqueous subphase has an average area per monomer unit of ∼8A.2 and is composed of several superimposed layers of molecules rather than a single layer. Usually each transfer operation yielded a PVB insulating film whose average thickness was estimated to be ∼37 A. Under certain and still unknown conditions, the PVB layer appeared to separate on transfer to give an average film thickness of approximately half of this value. The dielectric constant of the PVB films at room temperature and 1 keycle/sec. was estimated to be ∼3.3, and was found to be frequency-dependent within the measured range of 100 cycles/sec. to 20 kcycles/sec. Conduction through the metal–PVB–metal sandwiches was highly nonlinear and was believed to take place by tunneling in the thinner films (∼20 A.) and by field-assisted thermionic emission in the thicker films (∼75 A.). Interpretation of the conduction measurements in terms of a molecular model was not possible because of the wide variations in electrical properties and lack of reproducibility.


The discrete vortex method is based on a Lagrangean description of the vorticity transport equation. In order to implement the numerical method one can split the vorticity transport equation into separate diffusive and convective effects. Several formulations can be used to model the diffusive effect, for instance, the random walk method, the core spreading method and the velocity diffusion method. The convection effect can be treated using the material derivative which avoids the solution of a non-linear term; this is the major advantage of the discrete vortex method since each discrete vortex moves with the fluid velocity field. However, the solution of the fluid velocity field requires three contributions which come from the incident flow, the flow perturbation due to the solid body (which is represented by flat panels) and the vortex-vortex interactions. The latter contribution is computationally expensive since the Biot-Savart law is used to compute the induced velocity by all discrete vortices in the vortex cloud. The fast multipole method is a very attractive algorithm used to accelerate the interaction among discrete vortices. It reduces the computational cost of the Biot-Savart law from O(N 2 ) to O(N). Here, N is the number of discrete vortices for a particular time step. The present fast multipole method algorithm is based on the original ideas of Greengard and Rokhlin, Journal of Computational Physics, 1987, which implemented the method for fast particle interactions. However, new implementation details are developed to further accelerate the solutions of the discrete vortex method. Thus, in the present work, we study the accuracy of the fast multipole method, and later, this study will be used for an analysis of the flow around a cylinder and around a NACA 0012, in different angles of attack, including under stall conditions.


Evidence of frequency broadening at ion kinetic scales due to large-scale eddies and waves is found in solar wind turbulence by a test for a random sweeping model using the magnetic energy spectrum in the frequency vs wave number domain in the comoving frame of the flow obtained from multispacecraft observations. The statistical analysis of the frequency vs wave number spectra without using Taylor's hypothesis shows Gaussian frequency broadening around nearly zero frequencies that increases for larger wave numbers and non-Gaussian tails at higher frequencies. Comparison of the observed frequency broadening with a random sweeping model derived from hydrodynamic turbulence reveals similarities with respect to the Gaussian shape. The standard deviation of the broadening scales with ∼k^{1.6±0.2} and differs from the hydrodynamic turbulence model that predicts ∼k^{2/3}. We interpret this stronger increasing broadening as a consequence of the more diverse large scale structures (eddies and waves) in plasma turbulence and the accompanied more complex sweeping. Consequently, an identification and association of waves with normal modes based on their dispersion relation only, in particular at ion kinetic scales and below, is not possible in solar wind turbulence.


We study a three-dimensional off-lattice protein folding model, which involves two species of residues interacting through Lennard–Jones potentials. By incorporating an extra energy contribution into the original potential function, we replace the original constrained problem with an unconstrained minimization of a mixed potential function. As such an efficient quasi-physical algorithm for solving the protein folding problem is presented. We apply the proposed algorithm to sequences with up to 55 residues and compare the computational results with the putative lowest energy found by several of the most famous algorithms, showing the advantages of our method. The dynamic behavior of the quasi-physical algorithm is also discussed.


A detailed set of experiments has been conducted in an attempt to characterize the inelastic flow behavior of materials used in aeronautics applications. These experiments have shown that aged (precipitate-hardened) Inconel 718 exhibits an initial nonlinear elastic behavior as well as a strength differential in tension and compression at room temperature. This nonlinear elastic behavior correlates reasonably well with a second order stress-strain law that was developed to account for interactions between dislocations and interstitial solute atoms. Flow loci in the axial-shear stress plane at 25 and 650°C have been determined from yield locus data using both inelastic power and equivalent inelastic strain definitions of flow. Flow loci are more theoretically meaningful than yield loci for describing the time-dependent material response. These flow loci are especially important if they are proportional to the dissipation potential since the normality rule is associated with dissipation and not necessarily with a particular yield or flow definition employed in an experiment. A threshold function that depends only on the second deviatoric stress invariant, J2, is inadequate for predicting the threshold surface (initial yield locus) for Inconel 718 due to the difference in flow behavior in tension and compression. Threshold functions including all three stress invariants (I1, J2, and J3) with each term having units of stress raised to the first or third power were equally successful in fitting the initial flow locus. Additionally, both F = a I 1 + b J 2 1 / 2 − 1 and F = b 3 J 2 3 / 2 + c 3 J 3 − 1 are shown to represent the data very well. The outward normals for these two representations of the threshold surface are consistent with experimentally determined directions of the inelastic strain rate vectors.


The first goal of this paper is to show that the relative cohomology group s of digital images are determined algebraically by the relative homology groups of digital images. Then we state simplicial cup product for digital images and use it to establish ring structure of digital cohomology. Furthermore we give a method for computing the cohomology ring of digital images and give some examples concerning cohomology ring.


A novel, room-electromagnetics-theory-based model for reverberation time, path gain and Power Delay Profile (PDP) is proposed. Unlike the traditional models describing only the reflections, the new model takes not only reflections at boundaries, but also the effects including scattering, diffraction and air absorption along the propagation path into consideration. Extensive measurements at 2.6 GHz under Line-Of-Sight (LOS) conditions are carried out not only in enclosed structures, but also in semi-enclosed scenarios which are normally with higher average absorptive coefficients. Hence, the application of reverberation model is extended compared to open literature. Reverberation time and path gain values predicted by the proposed model are in good agreement with these measurement results obtained in various indoor wireless environments. In addition, a novel PDP model with lower complexity is proposed based on measured path gain and Nakagami-m distribution. The proposed models are proved to be more accurate than traditional reverberation models.


The national burden of chronic liver disease is steadily increasing and is only expected to worsen with the ongoing obesity and opioid epidemics fueling growth in the prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and a resurgence of new hepatitis C infections. Our letter highlights the disparity between the rising prevalence of chronic liver disease and the proportion of medical students who receive exposure to patients with liver disease as part of their medical education. A more comprehensive survey of clerkship directors is needed to further corroborate this data, which may lead to reforms in medical school curricula to better address the expanding burden of chronic liver disease.


Analysis of alternatives is a systematic method to deal with the problem of selecting a reliable variant and a common approach to the efficient allocation of limited resources among the competing candidate alternatives. In this method, the alternatives for meeting the existing needs are studied by assessment of the quantitative effects and costs for each of the considered alternatives. This becomes the objective that is approached by means of mathematical, economic, statistics, and other scientific methods. The analysis of alternatives is a process that includes definition of goals, main parameters, assumptions and constraints for the analysis; preparation of a list of considered alternatives; collection of data into a database and evaluation of the effects and cost for each alternative; performing sensitivity analysis; and reporting the final results from the analysis. The practical realization of the analysis of alternatives is related to the elaboration of a plan for the analysis, whose content is presented in this article.


During the investigations of metazoan parasites of barbels (Barbus barbus L.) originating from the River Danube between Austrian villages Klosterneuburg and Mitterhaufen the seasonal aspects of occurrence and distribution of two monogenean gill parasites - Dactylogyrus carpathicus and D. malleus were investigated. Comparing the Dactylogyrus species, both prevalence and intensity of infection were apparently higher in D. carpathicus. There was no correlation between both species in seasonal fluctuations of prevalence while the seasonal changes in the intensity of infection correlated significantly between studied species, fluctuations of D. malleus being quantitatively higher. Classification of fish according to their size provided an effective basis for comparison of epidemiological field data. Levels of prevalence were not dependent on fish size and the prevalence appeared to be higher for D. carpathicus within all categories of fish size. On the contrary, difference in mean intensity of infection strongly depended on fish size. Significant increase in mean intensity of D. malleus appeared to be associated with higher age categories (8 -14 years) and relatively young host fish (age < 3 years) could be characterized by significantly decreased mean intensity of D. carpathicus. Prevalence of D. carpathicus was increased in males while no significant difference between sexes in the intensity of infection was observed in this species. On the other hand, D. malleus reached the same prevalence in both sexes while significantly higher intensity of infection was detected in the case of males. D. carpathicus did not show overdispersion pattern of frequency distribution which was determined as random. The frequency distribution of D. malleus was aggregated and showed typical overdispersion pattern. The biological significance of these observations is discussed.


Ecosystem services are a key to human survival and global sustainability. Consequently, there is the need to avoid unscrupulous or unplanned land use practices that can compromise these services in addition to the ongoing changes in the global climate whose potentially negative impact are yet to be fully comprehended thus far. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the Land use—land cover changes of some Eastern Shore sub-watersheds of Maryland from 1986-2006 and qualitatively assess the impact of the changes on some key ecosystem services. Landsat-TM data for Maryland Eastern Shore in the United States were analyzed in ENVI and ArcGIS environment and data interpreted qualitatively. The result showed that forest lands increased during the study period and thus enhanced carbon sequestration favorable for mitigating global warming in the area. Also, the extent of surface water cover increased slightly, possibly due to rising sea level and a thus a potential threat to biodiversity and barrier islands nearby. There was also a significant increase in urban lands due to population increase and thus increase in the extent of impervious layers that could lead to reduced surface runoff and increase the potential for surface water quality impairment; this could lead to a reduction in the capacity of surface water ecosystem to provide clean/recreational waters. The increase in the extent of surface water cover was at the expense of the wetlands that shrunk, thereby threatening the coastal ecosystem's ability to provide services such as storm and wave protection, nutrient cycling, and the protection of wildlife habitat. There was also a decrease in the extent of Agricultural lands which could lead to loss of food and fiber during the study period. There is therefore an urgent need to formulate or intensify existing policies to regulate land use from an ecological health standpoint in order to ensure sustainability of the various ecosystems within the watersheds of the Lower Eastern Shore of Maryland in the US, and similar coastal locations elsewhere.