Most political bargaining in the U.S. system has two features which are constitutionally mandated: (1) only one actor can make a formal proposal, and (2) he or she can make an indefinite number of proposals. Existing work in economics and political science ignores at least one of these features. I construct a model incorporating both of these components of political bargaining. The main finding of this article is that time preferences and the number of periods have no effect on the equilibrium policy outcomes, which are identical to those first stated by Romer and Rosenthal in a one-period model. This result suggests that impatience and time preferences may not be key features of political bargaining. This model has implications for constitutional and statutory rules regarding bargaining: it can be applied to presidential appointments, legislation, citizen initiatives, vetoes and filibusters (e.g., Krehbiel's pivotal politics model), and term limits. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.


The new high-density cropping systems (>1200 trees ha-1) represent a very interesting proposal for olive orchard profitability.
It is crucial to know the morphology and the dynamics of sprout elongation of a
cultivar in order to fully assess its suitability for a high-density olive
orchard. For this reason we planned a research on two cultivars, Coratina and
Arbequina, in a high-density orchard. The apical sprouts elongation of
Arbequina early stopped at fruit set without a further step, while Coratina
showed a little growth flux after pit hardening. Similar trends showed the
lateral proleptic sprouts. Only the sylleptic sprouts of both cultivars had a
second period of activity. In all cases, the sprouts elongation finished at the
end of summer, when oil accumulation started. Coratina showed higher apical shoot
growth and internodes mean length than Arbequina. On the contrary, Coratina
showed lower lateral proleptic shoot growth and nodes number than Arbequina,
but the same internodes mean length. No significant differences were observed
between cultivars for growth, nodes number and internodes mean length of
sylleptic shoots. The differences observed between the two cultivars could be
explained considering their different vigour. The introduction of this
innovative cropping system is allowed to register a considerable reduction of
production costs. The result is a considerable increase in the economic
performance of the olive grove and a consequent reduction in the unit cost for
kg of oil. These data are very useful for varietal choice and field management
in high-density orchards and then for new olive breeding programs.


By the middle of the nineteenth century, "consciousness" had arisen as a key term for English-language typifications and descriptions of the self. "Consciousness" plays a major role in the philosophical works of John Locke and Thomas Cogswell Upham, but it also influenced broader Anglo-American literary and cultural discourse; Noah Webster, for instance, finds that consciousness makes a person to be a self. One of the major philosophical and literary themes involved in the rise of "consciousness" is a concern with the way in which consciousness could imprison through its mediating and unifying capabilities. "Consciousness" appears in twenty-three of Emily Dickinson's poems, and analyzing these poems provides a way of examining how she responds to this narrative of conscious captivity. While some Romantics feared that conscious mediation could imprison the self, Dickinson finds that it can provide the prospect of liberty; the walls of consciousness afford barriers behind which the self can withdraw. That act of supposed liberation, however, can provide its own confinement. Her poems of consciousness demonstrate a tension between liberty and captivity because, for her, the self-reference that allows for a sense of (captivating) conscious coherence also allows for a disruption of this coherence. Dickinson connects the stakes of consciousness to a variety of topics, including embodiment, love, moral responsibility, and death. By focusing on the tensions of the lived experience of consciousness, she complicates the work of her philosophical predecessors.


This volume provides the first comprehensive survey of current methods, progress and debates in Roman demography, and offers new insights into key issues of population change and reproductive behaviour in the Roman world from Italy to Egypt.


Background

Carotenoid improves fruit external quality and benefits to human health. Although the mechanism underlining carotenoid metabolism is clear, the regulation of carotenoid accumulation remains poorly understand. Recently, 'Huangbao' pummelo was selected from the bud mutation of 'Guanxi' pummelo (yellow pericarp). The pericarp of mutant-type fruits is characterized by red colour development during fruit ripening stage. The aim of the study is to explore the molecular mechanisms in regulating pericarp colouration based on transcriptomic profile analysis of the two cultivars.

Results

Lycopene content in the pericarp of ripe fruits from 'Huangbao' (160.29 µg g-1 FW) was significantly higher than that of from 'Guanxi' (0.91µg g-1 FW). Lycopene is a main contributor for pericarp colouration. 929 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were indentified through transcriptional profiling in the pericarp of ripe fruits from the two cultivars. Expression levels of the Genes encoding for fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, enolase and pyruvate kinase isozyme were significantly higher in 'Huangbao' than that of in 'Guanxi', which possibly promote 3-phosphate-glyceraldehyde and pyruvic acid biosyntheses. This two productions act as precursors for the biosyntheses of Isopentenylpyrophosphate (IPP) and Dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) in Methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway. Genes ecoding for phytoene synthase and prolycopene isomerase were unexpected down-regulated in 'Huangbao'. Gibberellin-2-β-dioxygenase (GA2OX) gene was specially expressed in 'Huangbao', while the transcript amounts of genes related to auxin response and auxin transport as well as several negative regulators in ethylene signaling in 'Huangbao' were all down regulated. Additionally, Transcription factors (DELLA, NAC, MADS-box, WRKY) and post translational modification proteins (histone acetyltransferase and E2 ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme) involved in regulating ethylene and carotenoid metabolisms were also differentially expressed in the two pummelo cultivars.

Conclusions

The main differences in the carotenoid metabolism in the pericarp of ripen fruits from 'Huangbao' and 'Guanxi' were observed in the carotenoid precursor biosynthetic pathway. Differentially expressed genes in gibberellin, auxin and ethylene metabolisms and plant hormone signaling pathways, as well as several transcription factors and post translational modification protein genes involved in regulating ethylene and carotenoid metabolisms provide targets for further exploration in revealing mechanisms underlying fruit colour development.


A clear relationship between structures and desired properties is a crucial factor for further material design with diverse structure and performance optimization. Herein, a new design strategy to achieve efficient mechanochromism of Ir(III) complexes has been described by deeply exploring the photophysical properties of a series of cationic Ir(III) phosphors that contain the same main ligands but easily tunable donor–acceptor type ancillary ligands. All designed phosphors exhibit intense emissions in solid states due to intrinsic aggregation-induced emission (AIE) characteristics. By simply tuning the donor moieties on ancillary ligands, controllable and naked-eye visible mechanochromic luminescence behavior has been successfully realized. Compared with previous works, this design strategy reported herein is more simple and feasible. Subtle modification of the donor groups on ancillary ligands leads to obvious changes in the dipole moments. The larger the dipole moments, the more efficient is the mechanochromism for such a studied system. Benefiting from the prominent and reversible mechanochromism as well as intense emission in the aggregation state, an efficient data encryption device and a sensitive explosive probe towards 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) are achieved.


1460 In experience-based choice tasks, such as the n-armed bandit task, a decision maker selects an option in order to maximize benefit and minimize cost. In the n-armed bandit task, the participant makes repeated choices from n different options, with the objective of maximizing total reward by selecting the options with the highest payoffs (Sutton & Barto, 1998). On each trial, the decision maker must decide whether to exploit the option that has been giving a good reward or to explore other options in order to gain new information about the environment. This task is analogous to many real-life decisions, such as whether to dine at a new restaurant or to stick with an option that has been successful in the past. Several of the learning models developed for this task assume that decision makers compare the expected value (EV) of each option when determining the response to select on the next trial (Buse-to compute the probability of selecting each option. The probability of selecting option a is equal to the EV for option a divided by the sum of the EVs for all possible options. Action selection rules are ubiquitous in models of choice, and so it is important to understand their behav-ioral predictions and to determine whether human behavior conforms to the predictions of one selection rule or another. Action selection rules have been incorporated into models of choice behavior in animals (often in the form of In this article, we focused on a subtle difference in the implementation of action selection rules in computational models that is largely ignored in the literature. Some models compare the ratio between the values representing each alternative via a power function, whereas other models compare the difference between the values representing each alternative via an exponential function. Despite this distinction between the models, decision rules are typically incorporated into models without explicitly choosing one rule over the other on the basis of its psychological properties. Although many researchers may understand the differences between a power rule and an exponential rule, there have been few systematic examinations of the effects of using either action selection rule in modeling applications (however, see Rodrigues & Murre, 2007). Furthermore, there have been few empirical tests of theoretical predictions derived from using either rule. In this article, we compared these decision rules theoretically and empirically. We started by deriving behav-ioral predictions for power and exponential rules. …


Percolation transition (PT) means the formation of a macroscopic-scale large cluster, which exhibits a continuous transition. However, when the growth of large clusters is globally suppressed, the type of PT is changed to a discontinuous transition for random networks. A question arises as to whether the type of PT is also changed for scale-free (SF) network, because the existence of hubs incites the formation of a giant cluster. Here, we apply a global suppression rule to the static model for SF networks and investigate properties of the PT. We find that even for SF networks with the degree exponent 2<λ<3, a hybrid PT occurs at a finite transition point tc, which we can control by the suppression strength. The order parameter jumps at tc - and exhibits a critical behavior at tc +.


Article history: Received 17 March 2018 Accepted 20 April 2018 Available online 04 May 2018 Water is considered as a community resource and a symbol of hale and hearty culture. Water, being vital for the sustenance, has sacred and cultural connotations. This paper focuses on customary management of natural water resources by the Gaddi community of Chamba. The data for the present study was gathered from district Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, which is the home of this community. The indigenous Gaddi community has traditional values, beliefs and knowledge to conserve and sustainably use natural water resources. But, with the passage of time, these resources are affected by contemporary development and need to be conserved in the manner as before to ensure their availability in future.


Primary heart tumors are rare. The findings in 4 children with heart tumors are reported: a rhabdomyosarcoma, a rhabdomyoma, a fibroma and a myxoma. The symptoms depend upon the location (intrapericardial, intramural or intracavitary). ECG and X-ray provide no essential diagnostic information; echocardiography can give a decisive diagnostic indication in parietal and intracavitary tumors. Surgery provides a specimen for histology, but the tumor cannot always be removed. The prognosis, therefore, depends upon the result of surgery, but malignant tumors, mostly being diagnosed too late, have a very bad prognosis.


As more and more applications on the Internet become network aware the need and possibility to remotely control them becomes larger. This paper presents a framework for control and management of distributed applications and components. This is done using IP-multicast and an agent based application architecture. The target of the framework is to allow for resource discovery of both controllable elements and available control points in the these elements as well as real-time control. All this is done in scalable and secure way based on IP-multicast and asymmetric cryptography. The presented framework is also independent of the underlying transport mechanism to allow for flexibility and easy deployment. The framework bandwidth usage and introduced control delay is presented. Details on the reference implementation of the framework and example usage scenarios where the framework is used to create bandwidth adaptive applications and better group awareness is also presented.


Abstract This paper reports on aspects of a three-phase study whose aim was to gather information on undergraduates responses to the study of science. The emphasis of this paper is on the methodological issues arising from considerations of how to measure and analyse data on attitudes. The study draws on the methodology employed in an earlier study undertaken in Canada, the Views on Science-Technology-Society (VOSTS) study, applying the methodology in a new context. The first two phases involved the development and validation of an appropriate research instrument. The third phase involved using the instrument with students in the first year of study at Wits University. In addition to the quantitative data gathered, the students' responses on the instrument were used to develop in-depth 'profiles' of particular groups of students.


Li2WO4-LiI-Al2O3 solid electrolytes have been found to be a potential electrolyte for battery applications due to its high electrical conductivity at ambient temperature. The binary solid electrolyte with incorporation Al2O3 was prepared in solid state reaction and characterized by Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and 7Li Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) solid state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (ssNMR) technique. Maximum electrical conductivity of 3.35x10-3 Scm-1 was recorded for the sample containing 20 wt.% of LiI. The conductivity improved up to 3.92x10-3Scm-1 as 5wt.% of Al2O3 was added into the optimum composition of the binary system. Mobility of the charge carrier in the sample was investigated and NMR result showed that the electrolyte with high ionic mobility contribute into high electrical conductivity.


Background. An explanation of the etiology of atopic conditions based on the hygiene hypothesis remains controversial. Objective. To analyze exposure variables in childhood to assess their impact on hay fever, asthma, and sensitization. Methods . Data were collected on 1,232 young Chilean adults born between 1974 and 1978. Information was available on consultations for infections early in life, number of siblings, sharing a bedroom, nursery school attendance, and contact with animals in the first 5 years of life. Information on asthma symptoms and rhinitis were obtained from a standardized questionnaire. Sensitization to eight allergens and bronchial hyper responsiveness (BHR) to methacholine were assessed. The study design was non-concurrent longitudinal for infectious episodes and nutritional status in the first year and cross-sectional for the other outcomes. Results. Number of siblings was associated with sensitization only (p = 0.0048). Nursery school attendance was negatively associated with positive BHR (odds ratio (OR) 0.54, 95% CI 0.30–0.95). A severe respiratory infection early in life was protective of sensitization and wheeze combined (OR 0.29, 95%CI 0.12–0.74). Contact with dogs in the first year was a protective factor of rhinitis (OR 0.47, 95%CI 0.28-0.80), but contact with poultry and cats early in life increased the risk of rhinitis (OR 1.42, 95%CI 1.06–1.88; 1.82, 95%CI 1.06–3.14). Conclusion. The pattern of associations between environmental exposure in early life and atopic conditions was inconsistent. The significant associations were evenly distributed as protective and risk factors of atopic conditions.


The complexes [Et(4)N](3)[Ln(eta(2)-dcnm)(6)] (Ln = La, Ce, Nd, Gd, dcnm = dicyanonitrosomethanide) have discrete N, O 12-coordination owing to symmetrical chelation of the nitroso donor groups.


The original formulation [M. Piris, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 063002 (2017)] of the natural-orbital-functional second-order-M\o{}ller-Plesset (NOF-MP2) method is based on the MP2 that uses the canonical Hartree-Fock molecular orbitals. The current work presents a reformulation of the dynamic energy correction based on the orbital-invariant MP2, which allows one to attain both dynamic and static correlations even for those systems with strong orbital localizability and significant multiconfigurational character. To improve the reference Slater determinant formed with natural orbitals, the natural orbital functional that generates them is also modified to take into account only the interpair static correction. This more general NOF-MP2 is able to dissociate properly noble-gas dimers, which remain as nonbound species within the canonical formulation. Test calculations in a selected set of 30 polyatomic molecules demonstrate a substantial improvement not only of the relative energies, but also of the total energies calculated with the NOF-MP2 method.


This study forecast future infected patients from dengue and also sought optimum solution for its prevention. Previous years' data of dengue patients was used for forecasting numbers of infected patients in 2017. The novelty of the study is the application of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique in application of dengue control. We employed AHP to rank the alternative for dengue prevention using perception of general public collected via questioners from 100 respondents across Pakistan. The results show that public considered not to let the water accumulate inside their homes as the most economical, effective, efficient and less labour intensive alternative to combat dengue.


For over thirty years, George Kateb--along with John Rawls, the late Judith Shklar, and Sir Isaiah Berlin--has been one of liberal political theory's most distinctive voices. An eloquent spokesman for the moral dimensions of individual rights and constitutional democracy, he is a fierce critic of statism and communitarianism and a staunch advocate of individualism in the struggle against all forms of paternalism, conformity, and group-think. Kateb's broad concern as a political theorist has been to unveil the cultural, moral, and existential dimensions of constitutionalism in America. The essays in this book are assembled in his honor, but they are not only celebratory; they pay him homage through their authors' effort to understand the fate of democratic individuality in the modern age.John Hollander and Cornel West contribute reflections on Kateb as a person and a political theorist. Dana Villa, Judith Shklar, and Thomas Dumm write on political theory and the claims of democratic individuality. Democratic individuality and the politics of identity are discussed by Tracy Strong, William Connolly, Benjamin Barber, and Leslie Theile; culture, sensibility, and the self, by David Bromwich, Helene Keyssar, Kim Townsend, and George Shulman. Democratic individuality and civic action are the subjects of essays by Amy Gutmann, Jeffrey Abramson, and Austin Sarat.


Whiplash associated Disorder is a clinical entity that is well recognised by doctors patients and the legal profession. It is however a clinical syndrome that has few of the characteristics that are normally associated with the epidemiology and pathology of injury. The dilemma of Whiplash is the absence of hard evidence of any pathological process that would normally be considered evidence of a disease process. Epidemiology exposes some of the gaps in the current models of whiplash. There are unexplained cultural variations. The different legal mechanisms of claim should not influence a physical traumatic disorder. There is normally a clear relationship between the kinetic energy involved in injury and the tissue disruption that occurs. Experimental models using crash tests produce conflicting results. Studies of polytrauma reveal a very low incidence of post traumatic neck pain. A range of opinions are available in the literature on pathology and biomechanical factors. Systematic analysis reveals the level of evidence for the establishment of the disease of whiplash in the 1960's to be level two or three, while the evidence for discarding whiplash as a physical disease in the modern literature is level one or two. It is much harder for physicians to discard a cultural fixed belief in a disease that may never have existed rather than to accept the verifiable logic of modern models of disease. Various historical arguments that have been used to support a physical basis for whiplash associated disorder have a flawed logic. The current best evidence would suggest that the acute phase of a whiplash disorder may be the result of a minor soft tissue injury, the natural history of which is recovery. There is little or no evidence to support a physical basis for chronic symptoms, which on the balance of probability are due to psychosocial factors. Whiplash is a 'convenient' model of illness which results in 'gain' for all those involved in its manifestations. It is a convenient disease.


This paper provides the first econometric analysis of problem banks in Germany. Drawing on an original dataset of distressed co-operative and savings banks, we develop early warning indicators for banking difficulties using a parametric approach. Taking the idiosyncratic characteristics of the German banking sector into account and controlling for microeconomic variables, we evaluate as to whether bank type and location matter. Findings indicate that banks in West Germany are less risky than credit institutions in the Neue Lander and that co-operatives are more prone to experience financial difficulties than savings banks. We conclude that a model that combines both savings and co-operative banks is sufficient to identify problem institutions up to three years prior to the surfacing of distress.


This paper documents the growing linkages between primary care-centered medical groups and specialists and between physicians and hospitals under managed care. We evaluate the two alternative forms of organizational coordination: "vertical integration," based on unified ownership, and "virtual integration," based on contractual networks. Excess capacity and the need for investment capital are major short-term determinants of these vertical versus virtual integration decisions in health care. In the longer term, the principal determinants are economies of scale, risk-bearing ability, transaction costs, and the capacity for innovation in methods of managing care. Managed care began as a reform in health care financing but will culminate as a revolution in health care organization. Capitation payment dramatically changes provider incentives and creates the potential for population-based, cost-conscious practice styles. Without commensurate organizational changes, however, payment reforms offer too few tools and shift too much risk to providers. As long as physicians remain in solo practice and hospitals remain acute-care citadels, even the most sophisticated payment systems have only limited, one-time effects. In this context of organizational fragmentation, economic gains from lower prices easily are dissipated through increased administrative complexity and heightened adversarial tensions. The professional careers of managers and clinicians alike are solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Organizational change is proceeding farthest and fastest in California, where half of privately insured consumers already have joined health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and the other half are in preferred provider organizations (PPOs); unmanaged indemnity insurance has disappeared. Nearly one-third of Medicare beneficiaries in California are enrolled in HMOs, and more than one-half of the state's Medicaid beneficiaries will be in HMOs by the end of 1996. Physicians have coalesced into integrated medical groups and individual practice associations (IPAs), each capable of bearing capitation risk for tens to hundreds of thousands of patients. These groups are developing complex ownership and contractual relationships with hospitals and outside specialists and constitute the core of the emerging capitated delivery system. The central role played by organized physicians-whether in integrated medical groups or in IPAs-distinguishes the California model of managed care from managed care in other states, in which physicians often are employed by hospitals or contract as individuals with HMOs. California medical groups and IPAs have negotiated with HMOs to receive the part of each capitation dollar that goes for physician services and, in many cases, part or all of the dollars earmarked for hospital and ancillary services as well, which enables them to purchase these services in what they believe is the most efficient way possible. In California organized groups of physicians, rather than HMOs or hospitals, bear much of the financial risk of managed care. HMOs delegate much of the work of managing care to the Health Affairs, Volume 15, Number 1 © 1996 The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc. at UNIV OF CALIFORNIA on November 28, 2011 Health Affairs by content.healthaffairs.org Downloaded from ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS 9 physician groups and often play only a relatively inactive oversight role in the management of care. This paper investigates the logic of organizational transformation under managed care, with special emphasis on capitated medical groups and their marketplace relationships in California. We begin with a discussion of the primary care-centered medical group and its advantages over a system of solo and small-group practices. We analyze the potential advantages of large physician organizations in terms of economies of scale, enhanced riskbearing ability, reduced transaction costs, and the capacity for innovation in methods of managing care. We evaluate the linkages between primary care-centered medical groups and specialist physicians and between medical groups and hospitals. We then consider the two competing forms of organizational coordination under managed care: "vertical integration," based on unified ownership; and "virtual integration," based on contractual networks. We highlight excess capacity and the need for external sources of investment capital as major short-term determinants of vertical versus virtual integration decisions. The paper concludes by comparing the advantages and disadvantages of unified ownership and contractual relationships as means of achieving cooperation and coordination in health care. Medical Groups And IPAs: The Core Of The Delivery System Under retrospective fee-for-service payment, every component of the health care delivery system is both a cost center and a revenue center. Services are reimbursed a la carte, with more cost bringing in more revenue. The profit centers are those services and facilities that can price highest above cost; historically, this glory has accrued to specialist physicians and acute care hospitals. Under prospective capitation payment, however, every component of the delivery system is a cost center and none a revenue center. Revenues are received on a monthly per capita basis regardless of the level of services used. The profitability of the health care provider organization now depends on its ability to win contracts from HMOs, to attract patients, and to manage care so that expenditures are held below the capitated payment rate. All three of these objectives require that the organization have an adequate number of primary care physicians and that these physicians cooperate in managing the costs and the quality of care. Competition for primary care physicians. Exhibit 1 lists some of the largest integrated medical groups and IPAs in California. All of the medical groups and IPAs are aggressively seeking to bring in more primary care physicians while virtually ceasing to hire new specialists. Integrated groups are growing mainly by merging in small primary care practices as well as by merging with other integrated groups. IPAs are shifting from being domiat UNIV OF CALIFORNIA on November 28, 2011 Health Affairs by content.healthaffairs.org Downloaded from 10 HEALTH AFFAIRS | Spring 1996 Exhibit 1 Large Integrated Medical Groups And IPAs In California, According To Nature Of Ownership Relations With Hospitals Majority ownership HMO Inpatient services System by a hospital system p atient? Physician mix relations Facey Medical Group 57,000 Multispecialty group Contracts UniHealth Harriman Jones Medical Group 50,000 Multispecialty group Integrated UniHealth Huntington Provider Groups 195,000 Multispecialty IPA Contracts; UniHealth integrated San Jose Medical Group 85,000 Multispecialty group Contracts UniHealth Gould Medical Foundation 49,000 Multispecialty group Contracts; Sutter integrated Palo Alto Medical Clinic 59,000 Multispecialty group Contracts Sutter Sutter Medical Group 42,000 Multispecialty group Integrated Sutter MedClinic 70,000 Multispecialty group Integrated CHW Scripps Clinic Medical Group 72,000 Multispecialty group Integrated Scripps Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group 140,000 Multispecialty group Integrated Sharp Sharp Mission Park Medical Group 50,000 Multispecialty group Integrated Sharp Sharp Community Medical Group 70,000 Multispecialty IPA Integrated Sharp Good Samaritan Medical Group 62,000 Multispecialty group Integrated Health Dimensions Partial ownership by a hospital system Beaver Medical Group 60,000 Bay Physicians Medical Group 125,000 California Pacific Medical Group 109,000 Hill Physicians Medical Group 225,000 Multispecialty group Contracts UniHealth Multispecialty IPA Contracts Alta-Bates Multispecialty IPA Contracts California Pacific Medical Center Multispecialty IPA Contracts CHW nated by specialists toward giving more power and income to primary care physicians. Since most primary care physicians belong to more than one IPA, competition for their loyalty is fierce. The current situation in San Mateo County, just south of San Francisco, is an example of the intensity and the complexity of the competition. The San Mateo IPA, formed in 1979 to compete with Kaiser Permanente, includes most of the primary care physicians and specialists in the county. The Serra IPA was a specialist-dominated organization whose creation was largely financed by Seton Medical Center. Serra was centered in the northem part of the county and was composed of virtually the entire medical staff of the hospital (many of whom were also members of the San Mateo IPA). In 1987 an entrepreneurial physician created the Camino Real Medical Group, an IPA that included nearly all of the primary care physicians in the at UNIV OF CALIFORNIA on November 28, 2011 Health Affairs by content.healthaffairs.org Downloaded from ORGANIZATIONAL NETWORKS 11 Exhibit 1 Large Integrated Medical Groups And IPAs In California (cont.) No hospital ownership Bay Care Bristol Park Medical Group HMO Inpatient services System patientsa Physician mix relations 22,000 Primary care IPA Contracts Independent 110,000 Primary care group Contracts; Independent integrated HealthCare Partners Medical Group 240,000 Multispecialty group Contracts Independent Permanente Medical Group 4,617,000 Multispecialty group Contracts Independentd San Mateo IPA 56,000 Multispecialty IPA Contracts Independent CIGNA Medical Group 307,000 Multispecialty group Contracts Caremark Friendly Hills Medical Group 110,000 Multispecialty group Integrated; Caremark contracts FHP Medical Associateg 151,000 Multispecialty group Contracts FHP CompreCare Foundation Health Medical Group Mullikin Medical Centers 65,000 Primary care group Contracts Foundation Health HMO 320,000 Multispecialty group Contracts; MedPartners integrated


David Satcher, MD, PhD I have always considered veterinary medicine to be an important part of public health, and during my career I have had the opportunity to work with many outstanding veterinarians who have contributed much to public health practice. But I think there are ways we can work together to improve health in this country. As the former U.S. Surgeon General, I talked about the need for a balanced health system—a system that balances health promotion, disease prevention, early detection, and universal access. It is the collective efforts of a society that create the environmental conditions in which people can be healthy. There are many implications in that definition for our health-care system, veterinary medicine, and the collective efforts to create good environmental conditions, including the social environment. Only 2% of today's veterinary school students are black and 5% or fewer are Hispanic. I think we need to create the kind of environment in which people who are training to be veterinarians, or learning to be public health leaders, learn in a racially and ethnically diverse environment so they know how to handle diversity in our society. I believe there are three critical reasons why diversity is important. For one, our children may not be getting the opportunity to develop their skills and their talents. For another, diversity is an integral part of our environment. Diversity, or the lack of it, defines our environment. If only 2% of today's veterinary students are black, it means that many veterinary students will never get to know a black student. I think one of the ways that people learn cultural diversity is by getting to know people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. They get to know their life history. They get to know what makes them tick. They get to know their strengths and weaknesses. Finally, diversity can help eliminate health disparities. This is one of the two goals provided in Healthy People 2010 that is composed of a set of health objectives for the nation. Clearly, one of the critical issues in eliminating disparities is diversity in the health professions and in all areas of public health, including veterinary health. There is a critical need for more diversity to focus on universal problems, to get providers in communities where they are needed, and to create a system that supports those needs. Diversity is important because it defines the parameters of opportunities for our children; it enriches the lives of our future professionals; and because if we are going to achieve the goal of eliminating disparities in health, we'll need a diverse group of health professionals to accomplish it.


Marmosets, tamarins and Goeldi's monkeys Callimico goeldii (Callitrichidae) are well represented in zoos. Owing to their small size, their attractive appearance and their social organization in family groups along with extensive alloparental care, these clawed New World monkeys make fine contributions to any primate collection. In the wild, callitrichids became famous for their so-called 'social flexibility', whereas in captivity they can only be kept in heterosexual pairs or grown family groups. This contradiction is addressed in this article. Based on proximate aspects of behaviour, it is concluded that monogamy is the modal social grouping of any callitrichid taxon. In captive family groups of callitrichids, the underlying behavioural mechanisms that ensure the social and sexual integrity of that taxon-specific pattern give rise to the kind of social dynamics that zoo personnel have to cope with at regular intervals; that is, marked intra-group aggression and expulsion of group members. In summary, the overall behavioural theme of naturally grown groups of marmosets, tamarins and Goeldi's monkeys seems to be that their members are torn between cooperation and competition, resulting in occasional periods of social instability.


Two types of magnetic bubble generators suitable for a field-access bubble memory have been tested at 1.00 kHz bit rate at in-plane rotating fields above 15 Oe. The bias field margins of the generators at 30 Oe rotating field are equal to or greater than those of loop propagation. Both designs are based on the principle of stretching and cutting seed bubbles circulating around a Permalloy disk. Functions of stretching, cutting and transferring in the generator sequence are accomplished either with Permalloy elements or pulsed current conductors. The operating conditions of the generators in terms of current pulse amplitudes, widths and phase angles are presented. Among the two designs, namely Permalloy-stretch and conductor-stretch generators, the latter has a wider phase-angle margin.


Background: Previous studies indicated that lung health might be affected by both antibacterial chemicals and poor oral health. Aims and objective: Describe association between oral microbiome and paraben exposure, asthma and lung function. Methods: Interview data, lung function, gingival fluid and urine were collected from 288 adults (48% females, median age: 28 yrs) from the RHINESSA study in Bergen, Norway. Differential abundance in the gingival microbiome (Illumina sequencing) across dose groups (quartiles) for urine biomarkers of paraben exposure was evaluated using the Analysis of composition of microbiomes (ANCOM) methodology with 5% FDR, adjusting for gender and asthma status. Association between microbial diversity and lung function was assessed by linear regression with adjustment for height, weight, age, smoking, and asthma medication. Results: Propyl- and methyl-parabens were detected in 94% subjects, with 62 times higher concentration in women than men. With increasing exposure to parabens, Enterobacter spp in the gingival fluid decreased in a dose-response manner, whereas Fretibacterium spp increased. FEV 1 and FVC increased with increasing microbiome diversity in women; FEV 1 with b (95% CI) =0.13 (0.02, 0.24) and FVC with b=0.15 (95% CI: 0.01, 0.28) per unit increase in Shannon index. No association was seen for men. Conclusions: Lung function increased with increasing oral microbial diversity in women only. Paraben exposure was associated with bacteria linked to poor oral health (Fretibacterium), independent of gender and asthma status (including asthma medication). Exposure to antibacterial chemicals may modify the association between oral microbiome and lung health.


We specify and implement a test for the presence and importance of labor market networks based on residential proximity, in determining the establishments at which people work. Using matched employer-employee data at the establishment level, we measure the importance of these network effects for groups broken out by race, ethnicity, and measures of skill. The evidence indicates that these types of labor market networks do exist and play an important role in determining the establishments where workers work; that they are more important for minorities and the less skilled, especially among Hispanics; and that they appear to be race based.


Sediment from Lillooet River Basin, 3580 sq km of alpine and subalpine landscape, 7% of which is glacier-covered, is deposited in Lillooet Lake. During the summer when the lake is stratified by temperature and suspended sediment content, processes of interflow and underflow distribute sediment throughout the lake and give rise to a distinctive sedimentary sequence of varved silts and clays interspaced irregularly with massive beds of coarser grained sediments up to 120 mm thick. Coarse sediment deposited on the proximal delta slope is redistributed by infrequent slumps; mounds of slumped material cover the foreset slopes to their base at 120 m depth. Thickness of varves is related to the annual inflow to the lake, and continuous records of water temperature near the lake bottom indicate that the numerous laminae within varves are due to intermittent underflow events.


Recently, the isolated high frequency boost DC/DC converter has been used widely for PCS (Power Conditioning System) because of the requirements of small size and low cost. However, the high frequency isolated boost DC/DC converters applied the conventional voltage-fed converter and current-fed converter have some problems like high conduction losses and high surge voltage due to high circulating current and leakage inductance, respectively. To improve these problems, a novel secondary LLC (called SLLC) series resonant converter is proposed in this paper and its theoretical analysis, simulation and experimental results for a boost DC/DC converter using SLLC series resonant topology verifies the proposed topology. 1kW experimental prototype is designed and tested.


In this work, we report a portable microfluidic chip based on gold nanoparticle-enhanced electrochemical detection for single-bacteria diognostic. The possibility of single-bacteria detection is realized here by using electroactive molecules modified on gold nanoparticles (NPs) to detect and differentiate Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The detection limit of these two electroactive molecules is near femtomolar (1 pM) when immobilized on gold nanoparticles (NPs), and the minima amounts of gold NPs required in the detection is around thousands (103 particle/µl). A concentration of couples whole bacteria (<10 cells/µl) is detected by CV measurements. The liner detection limit concention is form 1–1000 cells/µl. The results showed that the portable biochip system has great potential as a device for single-particle or possibly even single-organism detection.


Functional brain imaging with positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging has been used extensively to map regional changes in brain activity. The signal used by both techniques is based on changes in local circulation and metabolism (brain work). Our understanding of the cell biology of these changes has progressed greatly in the past decade. New insights have emerged on the role of astrocytes in signal transduction as has an appreciation of the unique contribution of aerobic glycolysis to brain energy metabolism. Likewise our understanding of the neurophysiologic processes responsible for imaging signals has progressed from an assumption that spiking activity (output) of neurons is most relevant to one focused on their input. Finally, neuroimaging, with its unique metabolic perspective, has alerted us to the ongoing and costly intrinsic activity within brain systems that most likely represents the largest fraction of the brain's functional activity.


To what extent have the actions of the Reagan Administration and the national trend toward social and economic conservatism had on the support of local recreation and park systems? That question stimulated our interest in looking at the funding patterns of municipal and county recreation systems in North Carolina from 1977 to 1983. Using a stratified random sample and information developed by the Recreation Consulting Service of the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development, data on 24 municipal and 18 county systems were analyzed and adjusted for inflation. The results suggested that the Reagan policies and cutbacks at the federal level had had minimal influence on operational budgets, and that real growth in support of local park and recreation systems had occurred during the seven years of study. The cutbacks had affected support of capital development programs with municipalities being more affected by cutbacks than were counties. Where cutbacks were experienced, both counties and municipalities tended to rely more heavily upon general funds to compensate for loss of federal and state dollars than upon private enterprise strategies.?


The study reported here investigated the metaphorical conceptualizations of English teachers by students in a university in Thailand, and compared those conceptualisations with the metaphorical typology of language teachers produced by Oxford et al. (1998). An open-ended questionnaire was employed to gather data from 59 Thai university students. Findings show that Thai students conceptualized their English teachers using 32 metaphors. These metaphors were categorized into five groups: a guide (32.20%), a resource (27.11%), a caretaker (25.42%), an authority (8.47%), and a navigator (6.77%). The data show both positive and negative perceptions of English teachers. In a positive way, many Thai students (33.89%) perceived their teachers as a family member who takes care of them and is concerned about them in all matters. In a negative way, a small number of students (8.47%) perceived their teachers as moulders or commanders who assign them work and control how they behave. The findings also reveal that the Thai students' metaphorical perspectives were related to three philosophical perspectives of education ( Oxford et al., 1998 ): social order, cultural transmission, and learner-centred growth.


Image compression is an important topic in commercial, industrial, and academic applications. Whether it be in commercial photography, industrial imaging, or video, digital pixel information can comprise considerably large amounts of data. Management of such data can involve significant overhead in computational complexity, storage, and time processing. This paper presents the implementation of a Modified JPEG CODEC algorithm for color images based on inter pixel redundancy. The modification uses the similarity of the adjacent pixels in blocks to omit complex calculation which AC components require in 2D-DCT unit. It applies quantize operation to one element instead of 64 coefficients and eliminates the zigzag unit. Finally , the entropy phase will process a smaller amount of data. In the decoder side the Laplacian parameter is estimated adding to a reduction in the accounts of blocks that have same neighbors pixels. The extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can achieve best image quality .The Simulation results show that the Modified JPEG(MJPEG) algorithm can process a 512 X 512 color image in a reduced processing time ( more than 40%) compared to the original algorithm and by more resilience with higher compression ratio.


In international politics, as well as in physical geography, Svalbard is a most interesting place. Its political regime as a part of Norway stems from an international treaty (the Svalbard Treaty) signed at Versailles in 1920. But the sovereignty thereby conferred on Norway was qualified by obligations which detract from it: notably the obligation to accord all signatories of the treaty the same economic rights as Norwegians, to treat them all equally, and to prevent militarization of the area. The situation became potentially difficult when the Soviet Union proved to be the only foreign power claiming these rights and establishing a permanent presence on the islands. This book seeks to show how Norway has made out, and does it in a very honest, open, and objective way. The author is a research associate of the Fridtjof Nansen Foundation at Polh0gda, so he is not himself officially involved in Svalbard affairs. After giving necessary and useful background information, he considers what has happened, in the 50 years since the treaty was signed, to the principle of equal treatment, the principle of demilitarization, and the other aspects of Norway's commitment. (He helpfully prints as appendices the treaty, the Norwegian Storting's Svalbard Act of 1925, and the Svalbard Mining Code of the same date.) In doing so, he touches on a number of interesting and topical points: the preferential treatment accorded to the Russians in some contexts, the mechanisms within the Norwegian government for dealing with Svalbard matters, the argument about rights over the Barents Sea continental shelf, the famous case of the Soviet double beds at Svalbard airport. He has a chapter on Norway's alternatives, as she faces the probable appearance on the Svalbard scene of major foreign and multi-national oil companies. He is moderately optimistic here that the Russians will come to accept the constraints of Norwegian law, since they would be unlikely to want newcomers to enjoy the same freedom from some controls as they themselves now enjoy.


Three dimensional integration is a promising approach for reducing the form factor of chips. Scalable Networks on Chips (NoCs) are a necessity to support the communication requirements of such 3D ICs. Mapping of NoC topologies onto the different layers of the 3D stack, while meeting the 3D technology requirements and application power-performance constraints is an important problem. In this paper, we present an algorithm that addresses this issue of performing 3D layer assignment of NoC components. We also integrate the algorithm with an existing NoC interconnect floor planner. Our experiments on many SoC benchmarks show a reduction of 8 - 10% in the NoC power consumption and a 49% reduction in the number of vertical links (and hence, the Through Silicon Vias (TSVs)) when compared to existing approaches.


Twenty-one endomyometrial neoplasms among 93 nulliparous noninbred Chinese hamsters were evaluated. The median survival time of the 93 females was 1,040 days. The median age of hamsters with endomyometrial neoplasms was 1,200 days. Neoplasms were classified as carcinoma or malignant mixed müllerian tumors of the endometrium and benign or malignant myometrial neoplasms. There were 13 endometrial adenocarcinomas. Three tumors were mixed adenosquamous carcinomas, which occurred in significantly older Chinese hamsters than did adenocarcinomas. Three malignant mixed müllerian tumors consisted of 2 carcinosarcomas and 1 mixed mesodermal tumor. The 2 myometrial neoplasms were a leiomyoma and a leiomyosarcoma. The classification and relative frequency of these neoplasms were similar to endomyometrial neoplasms of women, which makes Chinese hamsters useful subjects for studies of spontaneous endomyometrial cancers.


Statecharts is a visual language for specifying the behavior of reactive systems. The language extends nite-state machines with concepts of hierarchy, concurrency, and priority. Despite its popularity as a design notation for embedded systems, precisely deening its semantics has proved extremely challenging. In this paper, a simple process algebra, called Statecharts Process Language SPL, is presented, which is expressive enough for encoding Statecharts in a structure-preserving and semantics-preserving manner. It is established that the behavioral relation bisimulation, when applied to SPL, preserves Statecharts semantics.


Magneto-optical properties in the visible wavelength region are studied on CdMnTe films grown on quartz glass and sapphire (0001) single crystal substrates by MBE. Good quality films with sharp spectra of X-ray diffraction are obtained on the sapphire substrates polished carefully and pre-heated up to 950/spl deg/C. Weak (111) film-growth is observed for films deposited on the quartz glass substrates. A value of Faraday rotation angle of -0.31 deg/cmG at 700 nm is measured in the Cd/sub 0.59/Mn/sub 0.41/Te film grown on the sapphire substrate. The values for the films on the quartz glass substrates are 1/3 of those on sapphire. It is shown that the specific rotation in CdMnTe depends strongly upon the crystalline quality of films deposited on the substrate. >


BACKGROUND
This prospective multicenter study evaluated the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in relapsing nonoperable or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (rHNSCC) treated by chemotherapy and cetuximab.

METHODS
In 65 patients suitable for analyses, peripheral blood was taken at day 0 (D0)D7, and D21 of treatment for CTC detection by CellSearch®, EPISPOT, and flow cytometry (FCM). Progression-free survival (PFS) was assessed with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test (P < 0.05).

RESULTS
At D0, CTCs were detected with EPISPOT, CellSearch, and FCM in 69% (45/65), 21% (12/58), and 11% (7/61) of patients, respectively. In the patients tested with all 3 methods, EPISPOT identified 92% (36/39), 92% (35/38), and 90% (25/28) of all positive samples at D0, D7, and D21, respectively. Median PFS time was significantly lower in (a) patients with increasing or stable CTC counts (36/54) from D0 to D7 with EPISPOTEGFR (3.9 vs 6.2 months; 95% CI, 5.0 - 6.9; P = 0.0103) and (b) patients with ≥1 CTC detected with EPISPOT or CellSearch (37/51) (P = 0.0311), EPISPOT or FCM (38/54) (P = 0.0480), and CellSearch or FCM (11/51) (P = 0.0005) at D7.

CONCLUSIONS
CTCs can be detected before and during chemotherapy in patients with rHNSCC. D0-D7 CTC kinetics evaluated with EPISPOTEGFR are associated with the response to treatment. This study indicates that CTCs can be used as a real-time liquid biopsy to monitor the early response to chemotherapy in rHNSCC.


Offshore software development is a new trend in the information technology (IT) outsourcing field, fueled by the globalization of IT and the improvement of telecommunication facilities. Countries such as India, Ireland, and Israel have established a significant presence in this market. In this article, we discuss how software processes affect offshore development projects. We use data from projects in India, and focus on three measures of project performance: effort, elapsed time, and software rework.


A process for the formation of low-resistance Ni–Ge–Au ohmic contacts to n ^+ GaAs has been refined using multivariable screening and response surface experiments. Samples from the refined, low-resistance process (which measure 0.05 ± 0.02 Ω · mm) and the unrefined, higher resistance process (0.17 ± 0.02 Ω · mm) were characterized using analytical electron microscopy (AEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), and x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) depth profiling methods. This approach was used to identify microstructural differences and compare them with electrical resistance measurements. Analytical results of the unrefined ohmic process sample reveal a heterogeneous, multiphase microstructure with a rough alloy-GaAs interface. The sample from the refined ohmic process exhibits an alloy which is homogeneous, smooth, and has a fine-grained microstructure with two uniformly distributed phases. XPS analysis for the refined ohmic process sample indicates that the Ge content is relatively depleted in the alloy (relative to the deposited Ge amount) and enriched in the GaAs. This is not evidenced in the unrefined ohmic process sample. Our data lead us to conclude that a smooth, uniform, two-phase microstructure, coupled with a shift in Ge content from the post-alloy metal to the GaAs, is important in forming low-resistance ohmic contacts.


We describe a rare case of metastatic choriocarcinoma, which presented with acute left loin pain due to a subcapsular haematoma secondary to a bleeding renal metastasis. The renal metastasis was embolised to prevent further bleeding. To our knowledge, presentation of gestational trophoblastic tumour (GTT) with such symptoms has not been described in the recent literature. Our case illustrates that, although rare, non-gynaecological symptoms can be the first presentation of metastatic choriocarcinoma in the appropriate clinical settings. It also demonstrates that the acute bleed from a renal metastasis can be effectively managed by embolisation.


A Saltstone waste form was prepared in the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) from a Tank 50H sample and Z-Area premix material for the first quarter of calendar year 2011 (1QCY11). After the prescribed 28 day cure, samples of the saltstone were collected, and the waste form was shown to meet the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (SCHWMR) R.61-79.261.24 and R.61-79.268.48(a) requirements for a nonhazardous waste form with respect to RCRA metals and underlying hazardous constituents. These analyses met all quality assurance specifications of USEPA SW-846. The Saltstone Production Facility (SPF) receives waste from Tank 50H for treatment. In the first quarter of the 2011 calendar year (1QCY11), Tank 50H accepted transfers of approximately 15 kgal from the Effluent Treatment Project (ETP), approximately 15 kgal from Tank 710 - the H-Canyon General Purpose Evaporator, approximately 73 kgal from the H-Canyon Super Kukla campaign, approximately 285 kgal from the Actinide Removal Process/Modular Caustic Side Solvent Extraction Unit (ARP/MCU) Decontaminated Salt Solution Hold Tank (DSS-HT), and approximately 21 kgal from other sources. The Saltstone Grout Sampling plan provides the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) with the chemical and physical characterization strategy for the salt solution which ismore » to be disposed of in the Z-Area Solid Waste Landfill (SWLF). During operation, samples were collected from Tank 50H and grout samples prepared to determine the non-hazardous nature of the grout to meet the requirements of the South Carolina Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (SCHWMR) R.61-79.261.24(b) and R.61-79.268.48(a). Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was asked to prepare saltstone from samples of Tank 50H obtained January 5, 2011 during 1QCY11 to determine the non-hazardous nature of the grout. The samples were cured and shipped to Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group-Radioisotope and Analytical Chemistry Laboratory (B&W TSG-RACL) to perform the Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and subsequent extract analysis on saltstone samples for the analytes required for the quarterly analysis saltstone sample. In addition to the eight toxic metals-arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, selenium and silver-analytes included the underlying hazardous constituents (UHC) antimony, beryllium, nickel, and thallium which could not be eliminated from analysis by process knowledge. B&W TSG-RACL provided subsamples to GEL Laboratories, LLC for analysis for the UHCs benzene, phenols and total and amenable cyanide.« less


Small groups are the most common of all organizations. In this thesis we apply a systems architecture approach to small group teamwork in order to study small groups. We propose five new systems heuristics and use these heuristics as lenses to view small groups. We make use of concepts from systems and complexity theories in order to come up with these heuristics. With each heuristic, we provide literature review both from systems and small group perspectives. We find that in many cases there is sufficient literature available to support application of each heuristic on small groups, but in some cases the literature is scant. We further apply these heuristics to small group work in a movie called "Twelve Angry Men" to provide an application example of these heuristics to analyze the work of a jury group presented in the movie. We find that each heuristic within its scope is able to provide significant insights into the working of the group. We finally provide guidelines for how these heuristics can be used for the practice of leadership in small groups. We report that each heuristic covers different aspects of group life and together can be used to analyze group work in details. Understanding group work in real time opens up opportunities for a member or members to influence the work and thus help practice leadership. Thesis Supervisor: Sanjay E. Sarma Title: Fred Fort Flowers '41 & Daniel Fort Flowers '41 Professor of Mechanical Engineering Thesis Supervisor: Bruce Cameron Title: Lecturer, Engineering Systems Division


Abstract The impacts of program subsidy on productivity growth is investigated in this study. Mundlak's concept of endogeneity is applied to technical efficiency and generalized within a dual framework. Technology is described by an aggregate cost function while technical efficiency is conditional on a vector of state variables. Empirical evidence from the U.S. dairy sector supports the hypothesis that protectionism, in the form of program subsidy, is the source of considerable technical inefficiencies.


We propose a learning-based approach for motion boundary detection. Precise localization of motion boundaries is essential for the success of optical flow estimation, as motion boundaries correspond to discontinuities of the optical flow field. The proposed approach allows to predict motion boundaries, using a structured random forest trained on the ground-truth of the MPI-Sintel dataset. The random forest leverages several cues at the patch level, namely appearance (RGB color) and motion cues (optical flow estimated by state-of-the-art algorithms). Experimental results show that the proposed approach is both robust and computationally efficient. It significantly outperforms state-of-the-art motion-difference approaches on the MPI-Sintel and Middlebury datasets. We compare the results obtained with several state-of-the-art optical flow approaches and study the impact of the different cues used in the random forest. Furthermore, we introduce a new dataset, the YouTube Motion Boundaries dataset (YMB), that comprises 60 sequences taken from real-world videos with manually annotated motion boundaries. On this dataset, our approach, although trained on MPI-Sintel, also outperforms by a large margin state-of-the-art optical flow algorithms.


To the Editor.— Stockard et al in the October 1976 issue of theArchives(33:726-728, 1976) indicate that recovery from clinically suspected central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) has not previously been reported. There have been two previous publications 1.2 of suspected CPM with recovery in an alcoholic patient and a heroin addict. While the authors suspect that brain stem auditory responses can help in the diagnosis of this disease, in fact, the electrophysiologic data simply confirm the localization of the lesion. In these and most cases, the localization is clinically obvious. As the authors correctly point out, the auditory-evoked responses in CPM may have their greatest value as serial tests that may have direct prognostic significance. 3 This would assume particular importance in CPM and other potentially treatable conditions of the brain stem.


Obesity has reached epidemic proportions, motivating research into the underlying mechanisms. Olfaction is a powerful mediator of food consumption, and obesity has been associated with altered olfactory sensitivity. The current study used an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the central processing of odor in humans to gain insight into the effect of the body mass index (BMI) on the neural processes involved in rating the pleasantness of a food odor during a hunger state and in a satiety state. We hypothesized that, during the hedonic evaluation of food odor, BMI would be associated with differences in brain activation within olfactory and higher order processing areas important for perception, reward, and memory. We report novel findings of a dissociation between the relationship between BMI and activation in reward areas and in olfactory and odor memory areas, i.e., activation in reward areas decreased as BMI increased, whereas activation in primary olfactory and memory regions increased as BMI increased. A greater BMI is associated with decreased activation in the reward and frontal regions, supporting a blunted reward response in obesity. These findings have important potential implications for decision making, response inhibition, and reward-based behaviors that may play key roles as causal and maintenance factors in obesity. In contrast, a greater BMI is associated with an increased activation in the primary olfactory and memory areas, which was observed during a hunger state. These results raise the speculative hypothesis that high BMI may be associated with hyperactivation in the olfactory and memory areas, and that over time, the resulting excitotoxic effects may contribute to neurodegenerative changes in these areas.


In high-gas pressure helium arc plasmas, a forbidden line (1s 1S-2p 3P : 59.1 nm) as well as the resonance lines 1s 1S np 1P lines of He I have been observed. The intensity ratio of the 1s 1S 2p 1P line of He I to forbidden line calculated from the Einstein A coefficients (NIST database) is ∼10−7, whereas the value obtained experimentally was as small as ∼20. The reason for the discrepancy between the experiment and database can be interpreted from that the photoabsorption (self-absorption) of the resonance lines 1s 1S np 1P lines can cause the drastic change in radiative processes in high-pressure plasmas. In order to validate our interpretation on this mismatch, we investigated the influence of self-absorption of the resonance lines 1s 1S np 1P lines by numerical simulations. The simulation code calculated the photoabsorption process by He atom along a line-of-sight by using coupled rate equations incorporated with the radiation trapping effect. As a result, the simulation yielded the line intensity ratio of 25 because of the strong self-absorption.


Forward model checking is an efficient symbolic model checking method for verifying realistic properties of sequential circuits and protocols. We present the techniques that modify the order of state traversal on forward model checking, and that dramatically improve average CPU time for finding design errors. A failing property has to be checked again and again to analyze the bug until it is corrected. The techniques, therefore, can have significant impacts on actual verification tasks. We use a modified regular//spl omega/-regular expression to represent a set of illegal state transition sequences of an FSM. It makes the problem clear and gives us a sense of depth-first traversal, not on the state space, but on the property.


The electroplating of Er metal on the reduced activation ferritic martensitic steel, JLF-1 (Fe-9Cr-2W-0.1C), in a molten salt was studied. The specimen was immersed in the molten ErCl3 doped LiCl-KCl electrolyte. The electroplating was carried out by a constant potential electrolysis method and a pulsed current electrolysis method. It was found that the Er metal was deposited on the specimen surface due to the electrochemical reaction.


Abusive head trauma is a significant and tragic cause of morbidity and mortality in infants and its victims often have a poor prognosis. With such high rates of morbidity and mortality, health care providers and parents are often faced with the decision to continue or discontinue life support for an affected child. Sadly, however, this decision becomes complicated when parents are accused of causing the victim-child's current state. In this situation, if life support is withdrawn, criminal charges for the accused may escalate from assault to murder. This escalation of legal charges creates a conflict of interest for accused parents. As a result, parents have a strong incentive to avoid murder charges by using their parental decision-making rights to keep the child alive, even when treatment is deemed futile or inhumane. In this article, we discuss the legal challenges health care providers may face when parents place their interest above their child's. We also propose solutions that give greater deference to the rights and interest of these critically ill children while still preserving protected parental rights.


Systemic histiocytic disorders, including Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) and the non-Langerhans cell histiocytic disorder Erdheim-Chester Disease (ECD) are clinically heterogeneous diseases whose underlying etiology has long been obscure. Recent identification of BRAF V600E mutations in ~50% of LCH and ECD patients, as well as mutations in MAP2K1 in ~25% of BRAF- wild type LCH patients has refined our understanding of these disorders as clonal malignancies driven by constitutive MAP kinase signaling. However, the compendium of mutations co-occurring with BRAF V600E and MAP2K1 mutations in ECD/LCH have yet to be defined since unbiased genomic sequencing studies have not been performed in ECD. Moreover, the molecular bases of the phenotypic differences between LCH and ECD have remained elusive. Therefore, we performed whole exome sequencing (WES) of adult and pediatric LCH and ECD patients to further elucidate our understanding of the molecular bases of these disorders.

Nineteen histiocytic disorder cases including fresh-frozen tissue biopsies from 10 adult (2 LCH and 8 ECD) and 8 pediatric patients (all LCH), along with paired normal tissue from blood were evaluated by WES (1 adult ECD patient had synchronous biopsies from 2 different anatomic sites- these 2 samples are treated independently in this analysis). Percentage of tumor involvement ranged from 25%-50% based on review of histologic sections by board-certified hematopathologists. High quality sequence variants unique to the tumor DNA including SNVs and indels were identified for subsequent analyses. All candidate missense genetic variants were evaluated by 3 in silico analysis methods (PROVEAN; SIFT; PolyPhen-2) for predicted mutational effects on protein function. For missense variants, only those determined to be damaging to protein function in 2 or more in silico methods were retained for further evaluation. Mutations passing these analytical steps were further evaluated for biological significance using several web-based, freely available pathway analysis databases.

We first examined mutations in the MAP kinase pathways identified by the WES of LCH and ECD patients ( Figure ). Of LCH cases, 40% harbored BRAF V600E mutations while 30% had mutations in MAP2K1 . Three patients carried in-frame deletion mutations in the negative regulatory domain of MAP2K1 . Interestingly, mutations in the JNK and p38 MAP kinase pathways were identified in 20% of LCH patients, one of which was BRAF/MAP2K1 wild type ( Figure ).

Of the ECD patients, 44% were BRAF V600E mutant, and we identified one BRAF V600E-wild type ECD patient as having a MAP2K1 mutation ( MAP2K1 K57N) and another as having an NRAS ( NRAS Q61R) mutation. As with LCH patients, WES analysis again noted mutations in p38 and JNK MAP kinase pathway members in BRAF/NRAS/MAP2K1- wild type ECD patients further highlighting involvement of all 3 MAP kinase pathways in ECD/LCH pathogenesis.

We next evaluated mutated genes not known to be directly involved in MAP kinase signaling in order to understand how non-MAP kinase signaling pathways might contribute to LCH/ECD pathogenesis. Recurrent mutations in members of the Notch, WNT/β-catenin, NF-κB, and FGF signaling pathways were identified ( Figure ). Interestingly, loss-of-function mutations in Notch pathway mediators identified in this study occurred only (i) in MAML3 and MAMLD1 and (ii) in LCH (60% of patients) but not ECD. These findings, combined with recent identification of the monocytic-origin of LCH and the discovery that loss of Notch signaling results in monocytic clonal disorders, highlights a potential role for Notch signaling in the pathogenesis of LCH. Likewise, identification of a DNMT3A mutation in a BRAF V600E-mutant ECD patient and the association of Dnmt3a loss with clonal dominance of Dnmt3a- deficient hematopoietic cells suggests a potential role for disordered epigenetic regulation in ECD.

This WES study of somatic mutations in LCH and ECD confirms previously reported frequencies of BRAF V600E and MAP2K1 mutations in LCH, identifies MAP2K1 mutations in ECD for the first time, and reveals additional candidate mutations in MAPK signaling that are mutually exclusive of BRAF / MAP2K1 mutations. Furthermore, this first WES study of ECD reveals somatic mutations in multiple genes that regulate diverse cellular processes co-occurring with recurrent mutations in MAPK signaling pathways.

![Figure 1][1]

Figure 1

Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

 [1]: pending:yes


Hydraulic fracturing is the gateway for achieving new levels of unconventional resource production. However, hydraulic fracturing requires careful planning and optimized design for it to be profitable. There are multiple parameters that affect the performance of a hydraulic fracture design. One of the most important parameters that effect the performance of hydraulic fracturing is the fracture cluster spacing (FCS). FCS design is a complicated task especially for a new area due to the complexity of rock mechanics involved in unconventional reservoirs. We developed a novel sensitivity analysis approach to optimize the FCS using a 2D and 3D hydraulic fracturing models built with field data acquired from a well producing in the Eagle Ford. Our optimization criteria include fracture conductivity, fracture cluster length, fracture cluster width, proppant coverage, and fluid loss. The main optimization constraint during the fracture design was to avoid stress shadowing effects and screenout issues. This approach consists of two phases. Phase 1: Investigation of optimum clusters per stage number. Phase 2: Creation of the optimum fracture design. First step in our methodology is generating the simulation model by importing the log data to distinguish potential pay zone(s) and calculate the stress profile of these zone(s). Second step is to build a permanent 2D simulation model by selecting a perforation design, optimum proppant size, proppant type, pumping rate, and fluid type to finally attain an injection schedule for the 3D model. The final step is to optimize the 3D model's performance by selecting the ideal FCS per stage. Our results show that the optimum cluster design is 3 fractures per stage with 200 feet spacing between fracture clusters (FCS). We observed that most cases outside the optimum design will cause stress shadowing which needs to be avoided for the sake of fracture efficiency and well productivity. Although, this FCS design is for a specific area, our comprehensive sensitivity analysis approach will be a guide to many operators to design fracture jobs more efficiently in the future because stress shadowing can happen for any area in the world. Our optimization study also revealed that we can get an efficient hydraulic fracture design with low number of clusters which will have a positive impact on the environment due to water preservation. It will also reduce the cost of the operation and the time it takes to complete the fracture job.


: A large amount of health and well-being data is collected daily, but little of it reaches its research potential because personal data privacy needs to be protected as an individual's right, as reflected in the data protection regulations. Moreover, the data that do reach the public domain will typically have under-gone anonymization, a process that can result in a loss of information and, consequently, research potential. Lately, synthetic data generation, which mimics the statistics and patterns of the original, real data on which it is based, has been presented as an alternative to data anonymization. As the data collected from health and well-being activities often have a temporal nature, these data tend to be time series data. The synthetic generation of this type of data has already been analyzed in different studies. However, in the healthcare context, time series data have reduced research potential without the subjects' metadata, which are essential to explain the temporal data. Therefore, in this work, the option to generate synthetic subjects using both time series data and subject metadata has been analyzed. Two approaches for generating synthetic subjects are proposed. Real time series data are used in the first approach, while in the second approach, time series data are synthetically generated. Furthermore, the first proposed approach is implemented and evaluated. The generation of synthetic subjects with real time series data has been demonstrated to be functional, whilst the generation of synthetic subjects with synthetic time series data requires further improvements to demonstrate its viability.


Understanding the complex flow of jets issuing into a crossflow from an inclined hole that has a short length-to-diameter ration is relevant for film-cooling applications on gas turbine blades. In particular, this experimental study focused on the effect of different velocities in a coflowing channel at the cooling hole entrance. Flows on both sides of the cooling hole (entrance and exit) were parallel and in the same direction. With the blowing ratio and the mainstream velocity at the hole exit remaining fixed, only the flow velocity in the channel at the hole entrance was varied. The Mach number at the hole entrance was varied between 0 < Mac < 0.5, while the Mach number at the hole exit remained constant at Ma∞ = 0.25. The velocity ratio and density ratio of the jet were unity giving a blowing ratio and momentum flux ratio also of unity. The single, scaled-up film-cooling hole was inclined at 30 deg with respect to the mainstream and had a hole length-to-diameter ratio of L/D = 6. Flowfield measurements were made inside the hole, at the hole inlet and exit, and in the near-hole region where the jet interacted with the crossflow at the hole exit. The results show that for entrance crossflow Mach numbers of Mac = 0 and 0.5, a separation region occurs on the leeward and windward side of the cooling hole entrances, respectively. As a result of this separation region, the cooling jet exits in a skewed manner with very high turbulence levels.


In this paper, a novel fault-tolerant source routing algorithm for Network on Chip (NOC) called Stochastic Prefix-based Source Routing (SPSR) is proposed. Compared to non-source routing algorithms, it releases the intermediate node from complicated decision-making or routing table maintenance. Unlike the traditional source routing algorithms which use broadcast packets to record the YD of every intermediate node in Route Discovery, it predetermine prospective routes, which can greatly reduces the packets generated and forwarded in the Route Discovery phase, and therefore reduces the power consumption. The proposed routing algorithm is implemented on the open source simulator Nirgam [14], incorporating Orion [15] to estimate the power consumption. Experiment results show that the proposed algorithm can greatly reduce the power consumption in the route discovery and the latency of SPSR is comparable with that of the broadcasting mechanism.


We have here the views and impressions of one of India's foremost journalists. Moraes is a convinced and liberal anti-communist. We have thus an eastern friend of the West speaking. It is an Oriental maxim that friendship is an obligation of mutual support, and friends do not appreciate being sacrificed to their enemies even in the name of peace. It is also clear that if we are to oppose an ideal to communism in the East it is futile (and insulting) to indulge high-pressure salesmanship for an uncompromising all-western ideal 1960 model, and expect the East to realize the benefits of a developed individualistic mass capitalism. If we are to be helpful to our friends in the East (and ourselves), we must consider their ideals as well as purely western conceptions. With the new opportunities of changing economies, the western kind of individualism is probably stronger today in the East than it has ever been. As it has no history in eastern traditional institutions, however, some form of socialism is more likely to be attractive than unbridled individual enterprise. Moraes emphasizes that some, even much, socialism is both desirable and inevitable in India, even if he is in favour of much private enterprise. Moraes is very fair about the past of Pakistan, though he does show the Indian disapproval of the fact of Pakistan. He has a very interesting comparison between Japan and Germany; and he is also worth listening to on Mao's China, and counters well some of the lines of Mao's apologists. Worth noting also are many remarks on the role of western errors in making the present menace.


Mining detailed opinions buried in the vast amount of review text data is an important, yet quite challenging task with widespread applications in multiple domains. Latent Aspect Rating Analysis (LARA) refers to the task of inferring both opinion ratings on topical aspects (e.g., location, service of a hotel) and the relative weights reviewers have placed on each aspect based on review content and the associated overall ratings. A major limitation of previous work on LARA is the assumption of pre-specified aspects by keywords. However, the aspect information is not always available, and it may be difficult to pre-define appropriate aspects without a good knowledge about what aspects are actually commented on in the reviews.
 In this paper, we propose a unified generative model for LARA, which does not need pre-specified aspect keywords and simultaneously mines 1) latent topical aspects, 2) ratings on each identified aspect, and 3) weights placed on different aspects by a reviewer. Experiment results on two different review data sets demonstrate that the proposed model can effectively perform the Latent Aspect Rating Analysis task without the supervision of aspect keywords. Because of its generality, the proposed model can be applied to explore all kinds of opinionated text data containing overall sentiment judgments and support a wide range of interesting application tasks, such as aspect-based opinion summarization, personalized entity ranking and recommendation, and reviewer behavior analysis.


Assessing the resilience of farming system to climate change through their cropping system diversity and socio-economic context is an important challenge for policy makers in the Mediterranean region. In fact, decision-makers are often confronted to contradictory demands when it comes to developing projects to foster suitable strategies of less resilient farms. This paper aims at developing and using a multi-scale quantitative approach for assessing, at short and long-term, the impacts of climate change on farm resilience behavior and various socio-economic and environmental indicators. Two scenarios, the business as usual and climate change, with a time horizon of 2030, have been developed and compared for representative farming system in northern Tunisia. The results of this study indicate that more than 70% are identified as resilient to climate change. Those farms are mostly cultivated with cereal and forage crops, less sensitive to water stress and soil salt accumulation. Inversely, 15% of farms which are dominated by orchards are usually less resilient. Those farms showed an important drop of their farm income (30217 DT), due mainly to their incapacity to adjust their cropping system under water stress condition and soil fertility degradation.


The determination of Se in serum by atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomization is presented. The method has the detection limit of 12.9 pg Se, which was determined with 100 ml samples. The method was verified using the standard reference material - SeronormTM Trace Element Serum, NYCOMED PHARMA AS, Norway. The median level of Se in the serum of healthy volunteers from Bratislava (Slovakia) was 83.6 mg.l-1). The median concentrations of Se in the serum of male donors were higher (85.7 mg.l-1) than in female donors of the similar age (80.1 mg.l-1).


This article deals with two Hebrew comic books, Uri Cadduri and Mar Guzmai ha-Badai [ Mr. Fibber, the Storyteller ], originally created by the poet Leah Goldberg and the illustrator Arie Navon, and published in the children's magazine Davar li-Yeladim in the 1930s and 1940s. They were re-illustrated by Rutu Modan and Yirmi Pinkus, respectively, and published in book format in 2013. Focusing on these books, the article studies the translation of multimodal texts, in which the replacement of one component—the illustrations, in this case—affects the entire work. By replacing the illustrations, Modan and Pinkus created a whole new set of relations: between the new versions and their originals, between the illustrations and the verbal text, between the works under discussion and other works. The article applies the concepts of translational equivalence and translational shifts to their work. These two books differ both in their artistic style and in the nature of the relations involved: Modan, who acknowledges her debt to Navon, distances herself from his work and establishes substantial intertextual relations with classical European and American artists, whereas Pinkus's work is characterised by a non-attributed relationship with Navon's art, on the one hand, and intratextual relations (between elements in his own work) on the other. This leads to the conclusion that the actual relationship between texts does not necessarily correspond to the acknowledgement of the act of translation. Rather, the article exposes the full complexity of the intra- and intertextual relations in these multimodal texts where non-verbal components undergo a process of translation.


Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a rare stress-related cardiomyopathy, has been observed in a few cases secondary to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Herein, we report an unusual case where a postmenopausal woman presented initially with Takotsubo syndrome, later developed thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and cerebrovascular events, initially without clinical or laboratory features of SLE. During the course of her illness, she was found to satisfy four of the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics classification criteria for a SLE diagnosis. This unique presentation of our patient, initially with Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, the development of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and cerebrovascular events preceding the diagnosis of SLE illustrates the importance of clinical observation and follow-up.


Previously published algorithms for finding the longest common subsequence of two sequences of length n have had a best-case running time of O(n2). An algorithm for this problem is presented which has a running time of O((r + n) log n), where r is the total number of ordered pairs of positions at which the two sequences match. Thus in the worst case the algorithm has a running time of O(n2 log n). However, for those applications where most positions of one sequence match relatively few positions in the other sequence, a running time of O(n log n) can be expected.


The development of seedless tomato fruits will be more attractive to both consumers and industries. Seedless tomatoes can be produced through parthenocarpy technology. Artificial parthenocarpy can be induced by conventional crossing, hormone application, or genetic engineering. The development of parthenocarpic tomatoes through genetic engineering has been carried out by inserting DefH9-iaaM parthenocarpic geneinto tomato genome via Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation. Sixty putative transgenic tomato lines were produced and three events (OvR1#14-4, OvM2#10-1, and OvM2#6-2) were selected as the best events. The background of the tomato lines was Oval variety, and based on PCR results, the three selected lines contained DefH9-RI-iaaM in their genome. The objective of this research was to determine the integration of DefH9-RI-iaaM gene in the progenies of three transgenic tomatoes lines using PCR technique. The research was conducted in the laboratory and Biosafety Containment Facility of Indonesian Center for Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Development (ICABIOGRAD). Parental variety, Oval (neither transgenic nor in vitro cultured), and elite line of CL 6046 were used as control plants. The results indicated that the progenies (T1, T2, and T3) of the three tomato lines contained the insert DefH9-RIiaaM gene.


The recent advent of high-throughput single-cell molecular profiling is revolutionizing biology and medicine by unveiling the diversity of cell types and states contributing to development and disease. The identification and characterization of cellular heterogeneity is typically achieved through unsupervised clustering, which crucially relies on a similarity metric. We here propose the use of Optimal Transport (OT) as a cell-cell similarity metric for single-cell omics data. OT defines distances to compare, in a geometrically faithful way, high-dimensional data represented as probability distributions. It is thus expected to better capture complex relationships between features and produce a performance improvement over state-of-the-art metrics. To speed up computations and cope with the high-dimensionality of single-cell data, we consider the entropic regularization of the classical OT distance. We then extensively benchmark OT against state-of-the-art metrics over thirteen independent datasets, including simulated, scRNA-seq, scATAC-seq and single-cell DNA methylation data. First, we test the ability of the metrics to detect the similarity between cells belonging to the same groups (e.g. cell types, cell lines of origin). Then, we apply unsupervised clustering and test the quality of the resulting clusters. In our in-depth evaluation, OT is found to improve cell-cell similarity inference and cell clustering in all simulated and real scRNA-seq data, while its performances are comparable with Pearson correlation in scATAC-seq and single-cell DNA methylation data. All our analyses are reproducible through the OT-scOmics Jupyter notebook available at https://github.com/ComputationalSystemsBiology/OT-scOmics.


Epidemiological and laboratory studies have suggested a protective role for non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) against various neoplasms, including ovarian cancer. In an attempt to clarify the mechanisms and molecular targets of tumor prevention by NSAIDs, we have studied the effects of multiple NSAIDs in several ovarian cancer cell lines. NSAID treatment decreased the viability of all the ovarian cancer cell lines examined. To determine the effect of NSAIDs on the cell cycle, flow cytometry analysis was performed. Cells treated with indomethacin, ibuprofen or celecoxib were arrested in G1 phase, while cells treated with diclofenac underwent an S/G2 arrest. In addition, induction of apoptosis was cell line specific. The levels of several cell cycle regulatory and apoptosis proteins were examined. The levels of phosphorylated Rb protein decreased and phospho‐p53 increased upon treatment with NSAIDs, suggesting an involvement of these proteins in the response of ovarian cancer cells to NSAID treatment. In order to further clarify the mechanisms of action of NSAIDs in ovarian cancer cells, gene expression profiling experiments were performed. Ovarian cancer cell lines Hey, OVCAR5, and UCI101 were treated with diclofenac, indomethacin, celecoxib, and ibuprofen, and microarray analysis was performed. A large number of gene expression changes were observed in the different cell lines treated with various NSAIDs. Among the most consistent and reproducible changes observed, S‐phase kinase associated protein 2 (Skp2) was found to be downregulated at the mRNA and protein levels in all cell lines with all NSAIDs tested. In addition, Damage inducible transcript‐4 (DDIT4) was found to be upregulated in all cell lines upon treatment with diclofenac, indomethacin and celecoxib. Skp2 forms part of the SCF ubiquitin ligase and is involved in the targeting for degradation of several proteins, including the cyclin dependent kinase inhibitors p21 and p27, therefore facilitating S‐phase entry. DDIT‐4, is transcriptionally activated upon p53 activation and it is known to inhibit mTOR signaling. In conclusion, we have identified a number of target genes that may be important for the NSAID‐induced cell cycle arrest and apoptosis and their exact roles are currently being investigated. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(12 Suppl):C96.


Ige, D. V., Abioye, O. S., Akinremi, O. O., Nyachoti, C. M. and Flaten, D. N. 2011. Phosphorus solubility in Manitoba soils treated with pig manure from phytase supplemented diets. Can. J. Soil Sci. 91: 947-955. Phytase supplementation has been shown to reduce manure P content. However, this manipulation can influence manure P solubility upon land application. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to investigate the solubility of P in soils amended with manure from diets with reduced or no inorganic P supplement with and without phytase addition and to evaluate the influence of soil type on the solubility of manure P from phytase supplemented pig diets. Two calcareous and two non-calcareous Manitoba soils were amended with manure produced by pigs that were fed with diets containing different levels of supplemental inorganic P with and without phytase. Manure was applied at the rate of 75 kg P ha-1 and the amended soils were incubated for 1, 4 and 16 wk. Soil P was extracted with water (H2O-P), Olsen (Ols-P) and Mehlich-3 (M3-P) solutions. Manure application mostly increased H2O-P above the control. Complete removal of supplemental inorganic P from the diet irrespective of phytase addition significantly increased M3-P (P<0.05) in the two calcareous soils during the 16-week incubation. Similarly, when no supplemental inorganic P was included in the diet, Ols-P was increased in the fine textured, calcareous soil at 16th week of incubation. Thus, the complete removal of inorganic P from pig diet has potential to increase P solubility in some soils. Addition of phytase to pig diet did not have consistent effects on the soil extractable P in these soils. Soil factor had the greatest influence (77 to 94%) on P solubility. Our results showed that while phytase supplementation with concurrent reduction in inorganic P will reduce manure P with no adverse effect on P solubility in soils, total elimination of dietary inorganic P through the use of greater rate of phytase may not be feasible as this has the potential to increase P solubility in some soils.


In oil refining industries, debutanizer column is one of the important unit
operations. Debutanizer column is the main column used to produce the main
product in oil refinery process. The online composition prediction of top and bottom
product of debutanizer column using neural network will be an aid to increase
product quality monitoring in oil refining industry. In this work, a single dynamic
neural network model is used in order to achieve the objective which is to generate
composition prediction online of the top and bottom product of debutanizer column.
Neural network is a computing system with several of simple and highly
interconnected processing elements that will process information using their dynamic
state response to external inputs. It is a software based sensor method or known as
"soft sensor" which is a helpful technology that utilizes software techniques to infer
the value of important but difficult-to-measure process variables from available
process variables which are requisite from physical sensor observation or lab
measurements. The neural network development and equation based model for ibutane,
i-pentane, n-butane, n-pentane and propane has been obtained. Then, these
results will be compared with proportional integral derivatives (PID) controller
design to show its supremacy over this method.


The aim of this study was to determine the recreational use value of three coral reefs in the Bays of Huatulco (Bahias de Huatulco), Oaxaca, Mexico. In total, 263 domestic tourists were interviewed, and their socioeconomic pro􏰀le and perception of the coral reef they visited were determined. Using the contingent valuation method, a willingness to pay $ 48.4 for conservation activities was determined, as well as a net annual benefit from the reef of $18 243 629.40. The results of the study show the high economic potential of the reef ecosystems in Huatulco, which should guide public policy strategies for the conservation and sustainable management of the resource.


This week the journal reports the 40 year results from the world's longest running study of smoking and death, which finds that in Britain about half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit (p 901,1 p 9112). Next week more than 1000 delegates will attend the ninth world conference on tobacco and health in Paris. These provide an opportunity to take stock of the current status of tobacco and health worldwide.

The World Bank estimates that the annual tobacco consumption will remain stable between 1990 and 2000 at 1.9 kg per person aged 15 and over.3 That apparent stability masks two divergent trends: falls in tobacco use in the industrialised world and increases in developing regions.

Per capita tobacco consumption is expected to fall by 17% during this decade (from 2.4 kg to 2.0 kg a year) among the 35 "established market economies" of the world. At the same time per capita consumption is predicted to rise by 12% (from 1.7 kg to 1.9 kg a year) in the 180 "demographically developing economies." Increases in con-sumption are also expected in five of the six formerly socialist economies of Europe for which the World Bank made projections.3

Smoking is responsible for three million deaths a year worldwide. If current smoking patterns continue that toll will have risen to 10 million deaths a year by 2025.*RF 4-6* Following trends in consumption, deaths attributable to tobacco will …