The Tin Mountain rare element pegmatite of the Black Hills, South Dakota, has become an important source of geochemical data and interpretations, but its structure and bulk chemical composition have been unclear because of irregularities in the shape of the pegmatite and because most of it is concealed beneath the surface. Construction of structure contour and isopach maps based on surface and underground maps, three drill holes, and revised versions of previous cross sections has yielded a rather simple and orderly interpretation of the structure and has led to calculations of the tonnage of each of the internal units and of the bulk composition of the pegmatite.The outcropping part of the pegmatite trends S 75 degrees E for 90 m and then connects with an arm of the pegmatite that plunges gently north-northwest for approximately another 90 m. An albite-quartz-muscovite wall zone completely surrounds four inner units. Though these four inner units are termed zones, in accordance with standard practice, differentiation is more in a vertical direction than in a concentric arrangement. The upper two of these units are perthite rich: the uppermost is a perthite-quartz-albite hood, and beneath it is a body consisting almost entirely of perthite. Both perthite units are chiefly in the easterly trending arm of the pegmatite. These are succeeded by a quartz-spodumene-lithian muscovite core and an underlying body of albite-quartz-spodumene pegmatite, which are almost entirely in the north-northwest-trending arm of the pegmatite.The pegmatite has about 250,000 metric tons of rock. The wall zone makes up about 37 percent of this tonnage. The percentages of the other four units are, from the top down, about 22, 13, 21, and 7, respectively. The normative bulk composition is quartz, 34.5 percent; albite, 34.1 percent; orthoclase, 22.3 percent; spodumene, 6.3 percent, and corundum, 2.8 percent.


Abstract Objective: To assess whether asthma prevalence differs between Hispanic adults living in Puerto Rico and Hispanic adults of Puerto Rican descent living in the United States. Methods: We used 2008–2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, administered in Puerto Rico for Hispanic adults living in Puerto Rico (Hispanics in Puerto Rico), and 2008–2010 National Health Interview Survey data for Hispanic adults of Puerto Rican descent living in the United States (Puerto Rican Americans). We used 95% confidence intervals (CIs) to compare asthma prevalence between corresponding subgroups; non-overlapping CIs indicate statistical significance. Chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression were used to assess the association between current asthma status and socio-demographic factors and health risk behaviors within each Puerto Rican population. Results: Current asthma prevalence among Hispanics in Puerto Rico (7.0% [6.4%–7.7%]) was significantly lower than the prevalence among Puerto Rican Americans (15.6% [13.0%–18.1%]). The prevalence among almost all socio-demographic and health risk subgroups of Hispanics in Puerto Rico was significantly lower than the prevalence among the corresponding subgroups of Puerto Rican Americans. Adjusting for potential confounders did not alter the results. Asthma prevalence was significantly associated with obesity among Puerto Rican Americans (adjusted prevalence ratios [aPR] = 1.5 [1.1–2.0]), and among Hispanics in Puerto Rico was associated with obesity (aPR = 1.6 [1.3–1.9]), smoking (aPR = 1.4 [1.1–1.9]) and being female (aPR = 1.9 [1.5–2.4]). Conclusion: Asthma was more prevalent among Puerto Rican Americans than Hispanics in Puerto Rico. Although the observed associations did not explain all variations in asthma prevalence between these two populations, they may lay the foundation for future research.


Mainly designed and realized as a painless alternative to the hypodermic syringe, microneedle‐based devices are currently approaching commercial market placement. The considerable academic and industrial investment in this technology is reflected by a multitude of papers published and patents registered every year, which is also a sign of a field in full fermentation. New materials and innovative methodologies are continuously exploited in search of the best performance at the lowest cost. For these reasons, an updated review, focused predominantly on the last year of scientific production, is a useful guideline in this rapidly changing panorama. This report provides a critical review of microneedle technologies presented in the very recent literature with a particular focus on those closest to the needs of the healthcare field. Although a few devices are already commercial, further effort is still needed to achieve complete clinical translation and therapeutic efficacy competitive with or superior to those of the devices used as standards and adopted by national health systems.


BACKGROUND
In 1995, Health Canada started collecting fees from pharmaceutical companies for various drug regulatory activities. This study investigated whether this change in the source of revenue affected the postmarket safety of drugs.

METHODS
A list of all new active substances approved in the 5 years before (1990-1994) and after (1995-1999) the introduction of cost recovery was compiled. Drug safety warnings and market withdrawals due to safety reasons were identified from the Health Canada Web site and other sources. Information about total funding for Health Canada's drug regulatory program came from a report by KPMG, a global professional service company providing financial audit, tax and advisory services. Time-series analyses and Kaplan-Meier curves were used to determine whether cost recovery affected postmarket safety.

RESULTS
The introduction of cost recovery made no difference in the proportion of new active substances that received a safety warning, the number of safety warnings per new active substance or the time until the first safety warning or the likelihood that a drug would have a safety problem. Median drug review times decreased significantly after cost recovery was implemented (p = 0.02).

INTERPRETATION
The introduction of cost recovery and the associated reduction in review times did not affect the postmarket safety of drugs. Further changes to cost recovery, as are currently being proposed by Health Canada, need to be evaluated for any potential effects on the approval process that might influence decisions that Health Canada makes about the safety and efficacy of new drugs.


Factor VII, the initiator of the extrinsic coagulation cascade, circulates in human plasma mainly in its zymogen form, Factor VII and in small amounts in its activated form, Factor VIIa. However, the mechanism of initial generation of Factor VIIa is not known despite intensive research using currently available model systems. Earlier findings suggested serine proteases Factor VII activating protease, and hepsin play a role in activating Factor VII, however, it has remained controversial. In this work I estimated the levels of Factor VIIa and Factor VII for the first time in adult zebrafish plasma and also reevaluated the role of the above two serine proteases in activating Factor VII in vivo using zebrafish as a model system. Knockdown of factor VII activating protease did not reduce Factor VIIa levels while hepsin knockdown reduced Factor VIIa levels. After identifying role of hepsin in Factor VII activation in zebrafish, I wanted to identify novel serine proteases playing a role in Factor VII activation. However, a large scale knockdown of all serine proteases in zebrafish genome using available knockdown techniques is prohibitively expensive. Hence, I developed an inexpensive gene knockdown method which was validated with IIb gene knockdown, and knockdown all serine proteases in zebrafish genome. On performing the genetic screen I identified 2 novel genes, hepatocytes growth factor like and prostasin involved in Factor VII activation.


We investigate the clustering properties of dynamical Dark Energy even in association of a possible coupling between Dark Energy and Dark Matter. We find that within matter inhomogeneities, Dark Energy migth form voids as well as overdensity depending on how its background energy density evolves. Consequently and contrarily to what expected, Dark Energy fluctuations are found to be slightly suppressed if a coupling with Dark Matter is permitted. When considering density contrasts and scales typical of superclusters, voids and supervoids, perturbations amplitudes range from |δϕ| ∼ 𝒪(10−6) to |δϕ| ∼ 𝒪(10−4) indicating an almost homogeneous Dark Energy component.


This article provides the first comprehensive and conceptual account of all increases and decreases to the Supreme Court's size. In today's debate over court-packing, proponents cite and opponents concede that there is ample precedent for the tactic. Against this prevailing consensus, I argue that, although the Court's size has changed seven times, court-packing is nearly novel in American history and that it would pose unprecedented dangers if enacted today. I define court-packing as manipulating the number of Supreme Court seats primarily in order to alter the ideological balance of the Supreme Court. Court-packing's distinct danger is that it will lead to a tit-for-tat downward spiral of packing, ballooning the Court's size so large that its legitimacy pops.

Previous changes to the court's size fall into two groups. The first group was tied to the practice of circuit-riding, a now obsolete system that required the addition of Supreme Court Justices to staff newly created circuit courts. The circuit-riding justification created a set of norms regulating when and how the size of the Supreme Court could be changed, limiting the opportunities for partisan machinations. The second group were attempts at court-packing. While the 1801 court-packing attempt failed, the 1866/1869 attempt succeeded. However, this lone example of successful court-packing occurred in an extraordinarily low-risk situation in which there was less threat of partisan retaliation because the president at the time lacked the support of either major political party. In other words, previous changes to the court's size presented little of the perils that packing poses today.

The article concludes by explaining why the elected branches have sought and how they have managed to successfully curb the Supreme Court without leaving a permanent taint on its legitimacy. In an age of rising populism, the next step for scholars of constitutional hardball and departmentalism is to set outer boundaries on the attacks on the Court that they encourage.


Rangeland or hay-based finishing systems often do not allow kids to reach slaughter weights of 30 - 50 kg by 12 months. This study determined the effects of a complete feed (CF) and a self-limiting complete feed (LCF) alone or in combination with ad libitum access to sorghum-sudan hay (SS) on average daily gain (ADG) and cost of gain of Boer cross doelings. Thirty kids (21.1 kg) were randomly assigned to one of five treatments (SS, CF, LCF, SS + CF, and SS + LCF). The ADG over 63 days was greater for all treatments with CF and LCF when compared with SS (21.8, 152, 123, 181, and 172 g/d for SS, CF, LCF, SS + CF and SS + LCF, respectively). In this experiment, traditional and self-limiting supplements for forage-fed goats were useful in increasing ADG and controlling supplement intake when compared with supplement feeding alone. There were no statistical differences between the costs of gain for the five treatments. Finishing systems that promote gains of 4.6 to 7.3 times those of hay-only systems should be attractive to producers. Keywords : Forages, supplementation, small ruminant, intake limiter South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 36 (4) 2006: pp. 257-260


This article is a response to the challenge of nuclear non-proliferation for the 21st century. It describes the new landscape of nuclear risk and explains the role that the extraordinary developments in nuclear forensics science can play in generating an expansive deterrence to improve nuclear security by governments, and diminish the nuclear risk presented by terrorists and other non-state actors. Exploring the potential of nuclear forensics science, it provides the analysis to understand why that potential is not being realized. The article then proposes, as a practical and achievable foundation for a new and expansive deterrence, the establishment of an international nuclear forensics data bank, and the legal and institutional basis required. It explains the superiority of the proposed international data bank to alternative modalities of nuclear risk reduction such as the imposition of sanctions, revealing the guiding principles for effective nuclear containment in the twenty-first century.


Collections of dress and textiles can make subjects such as history come to life. However previous studies have shown that many collections are underutilized within university settings. The purpose of this paper is to examine contributing and detracting factors for use. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with curators and collection managers (n = 15) at twelve institutions. Respondents were then asked to recommend faculty members who did (n = 9) or did not use the collection (n = 6). Through data analysis, four major themes were related by the collection managers including: 1) ambiguous roles and unknown collections, 2) continual need for collection management maintenance, 3) lack of process and access to the collections, and 4) misperceptions about the collections. Faculty that used the collection (n = 9) stated previous knowledge of the collection and the importance of material culture to student knowledge and understanding. Barriers as identified by those faculty that did not use the collection (n = 6) included lack of access and difficulty in scheduling time to use the collections.


The popular cut flower, Leucadendron laxum (Marsh rose Leucadendron) was tested for its rooting ability, using various Indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) liquid hormone concentrations with different growth mediums. The IBA treatments included a control, 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 ppm IBA auxins. Growth mediums tested were a) peat and polystyrene; b) bark and polystyrene; c) bark, sand and polystyrene; and d) perlite and river sand. Basal ends of cuttings were dipped into the IBA solution for a few seconds after preparation, and planted under shade conditions. The experiment was planned in a randomised block design, with 10 cuttings and 3 replicas per treatment. The IBA application in comparison with the control, significantly improved rooting percentages in a) peat and polystyrene and b) bark, river sand and polystyrene mediums. The bark and polystyrene medium was more effective in the stimulation of roots, survival of cuttings, promotion of root length and the number of roots that developed. The overall application of IBA induced more root and shoot formation.


Although bio-inspired legged robots have advantageous mobility, they can be very inefficient. Their intrinsic walking mobility is sometimes outweighed by the inefficiency of their drive-train. Some of these inefficiencies are due to collision losses, but they are also due to suboptimal powering schemes. This paper addresses the powering schemes and seeks to clearly delineate an optimal solution to powering the walking motion of a two-legged or biped walker. We examine a simplified model of locomotion called the "rocket car" to extract the meaningful parameters that affect time and energy cost. Using Pontryagin's Maximum Principle, we dissect the cost function, the state equation, co-state equation, and control input constraints to describe the optimal control. The result of the paper shows a "bang-off" control, and we describe the "coasting line" between these extremes. It is not possible to find a complete closed-form solution for the problem, and numerical methods, such as dynamic programming must be used for future simulation and visualization of the results.


Recently, optically reconfigurable gate arrays (OR-GAs) consisting of a gate array VLSI, a holographic memory, and a laser array have been developed to achieve a huge virtual gate count that is much larger than those of currently available VLSIs. Consequently, ORGAs with more than tera-gate capacity will be realized by exploiting the storage capacity of a holographic memory. However, in contrast to current field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), conventional ORGAs have an important shortcoming: they are not reprogrammable after fabrication because, to reprogram ORGAs, a holographic memory must be disassembled from its ORGA package and reprogrammed outside of the ORGA package using a holographic memory writer. Then it must be implemented onto the ORGA package with high precision beyond the capability of manual assembly. To remove that problem, this paper presents a new programmable optically reconfigurable gate array and its lens-less imaging holographic memory writer system. Furthermore, this paper presents discussion of the availability of this architecture and future plans based on experimental results.


Yeast Sir2 is a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)‐dependent histone deacetylase that plays a central role in transcriptional silencing, chromosomal stability, DNA damage response and aging. In mammals, Sir2‐like genes constitute a seven‐member family whose function is largely unknown. To investigate the role of the Sir2 family in vertebrates, we have disrupted Sir2 homologues SIRT1 and SIRT2 in the p53‐deficient chicken cell line DT40. Both SIRT1−/− and SIRT2−/− cells had mild growth defects. Colony survival assays showed moderate and mild sensitivity to cisplatin in SIRT1−/− and SIRT2−/− cells, respectively, while SIRT1−/−, but not SIRT2−/− cells, were sensitive to ionizing radiation (IR). Cells rendered doubly deficient in SIRT1 and SIRT2 exhibited the same levels of IR and cisplatin sensitivity as SIRT1−/− cells. SIRT1−/− cells appeared to be defective neither in DNA double strand break repair nor in G2/M checkpoints, but were more susceptible to cell death induction following IR than wild‐type cells. Furthermore, both SIRT1‐ and SIRT2‐deficient cells were more sensitive to pro‐apoptotic stimuli including cisplatin and staurosporine. Our results indicate that SIRT1 and SIRT2 regulate stress‐induced cell death pathways in a p53‐independent manner.


Anaerobic co-digestion of organic waste has attracted attention as a promising technology for waste management and biogas recovery. Several parameters need to be considered for the proper operation of this technology including the feedstock selection and their ratios. This research was aimed to investigate the influence of mixing and lipids: proteins: carbohydrates ratios on biomethane production in anaerobic co-digestion of thickened waste activated sludge (TWAS), manure and source separated organics (SSO). The digestion reactors operated in batch mode under hemophilic condition. The results showed that the maximum methane yield was 356 mL CH4/g CODadded corresponding to TWAS: manure: SSO mixing ratio of 2:4:4 and lipids: proteins: carbohydrate ratio of 1: 3.5: 18.5. In comparison, 134, 299, and 332 mL CH4/g CODadded were obtained by mono digestion of TWAS, manure, and SSO. The trend of the methane yield variations in response to the COD: N and to the lipids: proteins ratios relatively conform to each other excluding some of the ratios. On the contrary, the methane yields demonstrated different responses to the ratios of lipids: carbohydrates and proteins: carbohydrates compared to COD: N ratios. Synergistic effect increased the methane yield by 19% in co-digestion of TWAS/manure/SSO.

Keywords: Biomethane Potential, Manure, Thickened Waste Activated Sludge, Mixture Ratio


Previous research documents relationships between unstructured socializing activities and in-person victimization in adolescents. In parallel, there is a body of research which has linked virtual socialization activities (i.e., social networking, texting, video chatting, phone usage) with both online and in-person victimization. The majority of research in this area, however, has assumed the relationship between time spent engaging in virtual socializing and victimization is linear. Yet, there are several reasons to anticipate that while virtual socializing may initially increase the risks for in-person victimization, after adolescents begin spending a significant portion of their free time socializing virtually this may function to displace time they would have otherwise spent engaging in unstructured socializing in-person. As a result, very high levels of engagement in virtual socializing may actually lower the risks for in-person victimization. This study addresses this gap in the literature by utilizing negative binomial regression and logistic regression to test for nonlinearity in the relationship between virtual socializing and three forms of in-person victimization (i.e., violent, property, and in-person bullying) using data from the 8th and 10th grade 2018 cohort of Monitoring the Future. In addition, this study tests for nonlinearity in the relationship between virtual socializing and one form of online victimization (i.e., cyberbullying). Our findings reveal that virtual socializing is associated with all four forms of victimization. In addition, tests for nonlinearity revealed that virtual socializing exhibits a nonlinear relationship with in-person property victimization and cyberbullying victimization. Additional analyses revealed differential relationships between individual virtual socializing activities and the risks for property victimization. On the other hand, three out of the four forms of virtual socializing activities were found to exhibit nonlinear relationships with the likelihood of cyberbullying victimization. Overall, these findings imply that virtual socializing activities appear to exhibit nonlinear relationships with several forms of victimization.


Financial inclusion is defined as an activity of facilitating banking as well as financial services to the low income group people and people from most vulnerable group in the society. The successful achievement of financial inclusion can be done by the most effective and transparent financial services. In India, government has taken several initiatives to foster financial inclusion. Financial Institutions like banks has shown an immense increase in its extent to provide their banking services to the people from the unreached and excluded sections in the society. But World Bank Global Findex Database 2014 has highlighted that, in India 21% of adults are unbanked and only 53% of adult population possess financial services from a formal financial institutions. This paper identifies that financial literacy, high cost, technology, trust, income level, distance and inappropriate products are the factors that determine the financial inclusion in rural areas. This study discusses about the various innovative delivery channels used to reach the rural people and a conceptual model is developed to find out the factors that drives the financial inclusion.


Objective: Evaluate whether the initiation of incontinence care education can improve pressure injury knowledge by an average of 5% in post-test scores over 1 month. Design: Theoretical Framework: Lewin's Three-Step Model for Planned Change and Evidence-Based Practice Improvement Model. Setting/Local Problem: A 20-bed acute care geriatric unit in a large metropolitan hospital in middle Tennessee with inappropriate use of incontinence management products. Participants: Nurses and nursing assistants employed at the project site. Intervention/Measurements: An educational tool was developed to improve knowledge on pressure injury prevention through incontinence management. A pre-test and post-test were conducted immediately before and after educational tool was viewed to measure knowledge gained from the tool. Results: Out of the 43 nurses and nursing assistants encouraged to participate in the intervention, there were nine responses. All of the responses were included in the data analysis because all of the responses were valid. The pre-test results were shockingly high, demonstrating the importance the project site places on pressure injury prevention. The average pre-test score was 93.3% and the average post-test score was 94.4%. Although it is reassuring that overall scores improved after reading the educational material, the difference in scores was minimal. This information suggests that the pre-test was too easy for the knowledge level of participants. This information can be utilized for future PDSA cycles. The results were not statistically significant, with a p-value of 0.106. Despite a lack of significance between pre and post-test scores, three respondents selected "strongly agree' and five selected 'agree' for the 11 question, "I will change my practice based on what I learned". The final respondent selected PRESSURE INJURY PREVENTION 2 'neutral' for this question. The last short answer question regarding what barriers staff members face to provide appropriate skin care also delivered important information. Although four respondents did not answer the question, all five of the respondents who did answer this question included staff shortage as one of the reasons that appropriate skin care is not provided. Conclusion: With only a 1.1% different between average pre-test and post-test score, it is evident that most respondents knew the correct answers before engaging in the education. For future PDSA cycles, it would be beneficial to modify the pre and post-test questions to a higher difficulty level. The difficulty of pre and post-test needs to match the advanced knowledge of the respondents. It could be hypothesized that participants in the intervention understand how to appropriately manage incontinence, but implementing those practices at the bedside is difficult. Future PDSA cycles might focus on motivating staff to implement evidence-based practices at the bedside. One way to do so is an educational tool that uses case studies that resemble patients frequently cared for at the project site. By centering the tool on scenarios similar to what the employees experience, it may be easier to apply what is learned. Additionally, it may be beneficial to remove briefs from the supply room. Decreasing accessibility to briefs may be the most beneficial way of encouraging nurses and nursing assistants to implement evidence-based practice at the bedside.


same. For instance, one method by which death is predicted is by observing a leap up in the acute physiological score (reflecting a deterioration in physiological state in the face of intensive care). In Chang's description, these 'leapers' only 'leaped' if the organ failure score changed by more than 2.5 in 24 h whereas Hope and Plenderleith have used 48 h. The Cardiff experience of the RICP program is that a prediction of death is a rare event and is almost always correct. We agree that unprecedented survival is the only useful end-point and our group has shown that the RICP does not produce this. However, until now our evidence and that of other ICUs in the UK indicated that it requires only a small degree of fine tuning to achieve its aim [ 1, 4, 51. Before anyone draws the conclusion that this is not so, further scrutiny of Hope and Plenderleith's methods is needed.


Objectives: To identify familiar factors influencing breakfast consumption and choices at breakfast in European adolescents participating in the Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence (HELENA) study.Methods: The HELENA is a multicentre school-based study. A total of 3546 adolescents aged12.5-17.49 years responded to questions about breakfast habits and determinants about eating behavior during the academic year 2006-2007.Results: 66% of boys and 58% of girls indicated to regularly consume breakfast. Boys whose parents support them to eat healthy are more likely to consume breakfast (OR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.43-0.85). Girls whose peers eat healthy are more likely to consume breakfast (OR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.51-0.91). Hunger (59%), taste (57%), health (48%) and parents (45%) are the most important factors influencing adolescents' food choices at breakfast.Conclusion: Parents' and peers' influences should be considered in the development and testing of intervention strategies.


A total of 150 blood and urine samples each were collected from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive patients who visited selected hospitals in Ebonyi State. The subjects were made up of 57 males and 93 female patients. The blood samples were screened for the presence of four human malaria parasites using parasitological examination of blood stained films and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Out of the 150 urine samples from the HIV positive individuals, 88 urine specimens were identified to harbor Plasmodium species. 75 (50%) urine specimens were identified to harbor Plasmodium falciparum while 10 (6.67%) and 3 (2%) were recorded against Plasmodium malariae and dual infection of P. falciparum and P. malariae, respectively. The result of the comparison of the specimens used showed the same result. None of the isolates that were negative by PCR test using DNA primers (template) from blood gave positive results by urine samples. Furthermore, when the primers (rOVA1 and rOVA2 ; rV1V1 and rV1V2) specific for Plasmodium ovale and Plasmodium vivax, respectively were used, none of the two species mentioned were detected in both urine and blood samples, signifying that these species may be absent in our environment. Our study demonstrated highly, the presence of P. falciparum and P. malariae, especially when specific Plasmodium species DNA markers were used for the analysis.


Fenretinide induces apoptosis in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells via a signaling pathway involving the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), 12-lipoxygenase activity and the induction of the GADD153 transcription factor. NF-kappa B is a key element of many cell signaling pathways and adopts a pro- or anti-apoptotic role in different cell types. Studies have suggested that NF-kappa B may play a pro-apoptotic role in SH-SY5Y cells, and in other cell types NF-kappa B activation may be linked to lipoxygenase activity. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that NF-kappa B activity mediates fenretinide-induced apoptosis in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells. Using a dominant-negative construct for Ikappa Balpha stably transfected into SH-SY5Y cells, we show that apoptosis, but not the induction of ROS, in response to fenretinide was blocked by abrogation of NF-kappa B activity. In parental SH-SY5Y cells, fenretinide induced NF-kappa B activity and Ikappa Balpha phosphorylation. These results suggest that NF-kappa B activity links fenretinide-induced ROS to the induction of apoptosis in SH-SH5Y cells, and may be a target for the future development of drugs for neuroblastoma therapy.


The correlation GDP – FDI is very important because it reflects the influence that foreign direct investments have on good domestic product growth. In order to have the possibility to realize such an analysis, it is compulsory to possess a database, which should be kept and actualized, each time we consider to realize an analysis on this theme. Performing the analysis of correlation between GDP and FDI impose the use of informatics models, performed through informatics systems, able to ensure accuracy, relevance and which are represented in a coherent way. Thus, informatics systems such as Eviews and Microsoft SQL Server Analysis help us identifying correlations and representing the evolution of macroeconomic indicators, in order to establish the upcoming governmental strategies for economic recovery or exiting economic instability. In the paper, the construction and use of an informatics model in correlation analysis are presented. This article represents a useful simulation of evidencing the efficiency of using the informatics model in analyzing the macroeconomic correlations. Therewith, in this paper, the efficiency of such a model in a limited way, based on the correlation GDP – FDI, are presented.


Shallow-water flow with free surface frequently occurs in ambient water bodies, in which the horizontal scale of motion is generally two orders of magnitude greater than the water depth. To accurately predict this flow phenomenon in more detail, a three-dimensional numerical model incorporating the method of large eddy simulation (LES) has been developed and assessed. The governing equations are split into three parts in the finite difference solution: advection, dispersion and propagation. The advection part is solved by the QUICKEST scheme. The dispersion part is solved by the central difference method and the propagation part is solved implicitly using the Gauss–Seidel iteration method. The model has been applied to free surface channel flow for which ample experimental data are available for verification. The inflow boundary condition for turbulence is generated by a spectral line processor. The computed results compare favourably with the experimental data and those results obtained by using a periodic boundary condition. The performance of the model is also assessed for the case in which anisotropic grids and filters with horizontal grid size of the order of the water depth are used for computational efficiency. The coarse horizontal grid was found to cause a significant reduction in the large-scale turbulent motion generated by the bottom turbulence, and the turbulent motion is predominately described by the sub-grid scale (SGS) terms. The use of the Smagorinsky model for SGS turbulence in this situation is found inappropriate. A parabolic mixing length model, which accounts for the filtered turbulence, is then proposed. The new model can reproduce more accurately the flow quantities. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


. The article talks about the process of erosion and its damage to the environment. It has been determined that as erosion develops, the natural processes within the soil are disturbed, and the upper fertile layer is destroyed. As a result of erosion, the upper fertile layer of the damaged soil weakens the rate of biomass formation and changes the direction of the soil formation process. This ultimately leads to the transformation of the ecological situation. It should also be noted that the soil is paraactive as a system. Diagnosis of the form, stage and degree of its development requires scientific research on a very large scale.


The key difference between the cognitive abilities of humans and other animals may be the ability to reason relationally; models of relational reasoning are one way to demonstrate this proposed difference. The present work uses the DORA model to simulate a task designed to assess the theory of mind capabilities of 4and 5-year-old children and apes. In the original experiment, the apes and children successfully completed a number of control tasks in which they used cues from an experimenter to reason about the hiding location of a reward. However, only the children succeeded on the critical manipulation in which it was necessary to infer what the experimenter knew. The simulations presented herein demonstrate that the apes' performances across all tasks can be accounted for by simple rule use. Conversely, the 4-yearolds succeeded via relational inference and learning; 5-yearolds alone had the requisite relational structures predicated beforehand.


Although recent molecular studies in patients with sex chromosome aberrations are consistent with a growth gene(s) being present in the pseudoautosomal region (PAR), the precise location has not been determined. In this report, we describe a Japanese boy and his mother with an interstitial deletion in Xp22.3 and review the correlation between genotype and stature in six cases of partial monosomy of the PAR. The results indicate that the region from DXYS20 to DXYS15 is the critical region for the putative growth gene(s).


Errors resulting from magnification variations of a optical system are largely generated in three-dimensional shape measurements based on depth-from-focus. In the case of measuring the surface morphology of tiny objects based on DFF, images are acquired with a very small interval so that magnification changes can be minimized. However, the magnification variations are actually existed in the acquired images and so focus measures are wrongly or ambiguously extracted. In this paper, a methodology with linear magnification calibrations, based on DFF, is proposed to make more accurate measurement in surface morphology with high depth discontinuity, compared with previous ones. Several experiments show that the proposed method outperforms existing ones without magnification calibrations.


The anion exchange system of human red blood cells can be completely inhibited by a large number of arginine-specific reagents. Kinetic studies have shown that these reagents act on the substrate binding site. Complete inhibition of the transport system with 14C phenylglyoxal is accompanied by modification of 2 to 3 arginine residues on the transmembrane segment of band 3. The inhibition and the binding of 14C phenylglyoxal to band 3 is reduced significantly in presence of chloride ions. The interactions between the reversible competitive inhibitor, 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylglyoxal (HNPG) and other irreversible anion transport inhibitors with well localized binding sites have been studied. A positive cooperativity between HNPG binding and the inhibition caused by eosin-5-maleimide (EMA), has been measured. Nearly no interactions have been found between HNPG binding site and the histidine residue(s) which react with diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC). Sulphate self-exchange is irreversibly inhibited by two carboxyl-group reagents, 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethyl-aminopropyl)carbodiimde (EDC) and N'-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-N-ethylcarbodiimid methoiodide (EAC), studies on their interaction with the HNPG binding site gave results showing that the reaction site(s) of these reagents do not overlap and are not adjacent to the essential arginine(s). A model concerning such interactions is discussed.


Longitudinally-linked microdata on U.S. manufacturing plants are currently available to researchers for 1963, 1967, and 1972-2009. In this paper, we provide a first look at recently recovered manufacturing microdata files from the 1950s and 1960s. We describe their origins and background, discuss their contents, and begin to explore their sample coverage. We also begin to examine whether the available establishment identifier(s) allow record linking. Our preliminary analyses suggest that longitudinally-linked Annual Survey of Manufactures microdata from the mid-1950s through the present – containing 16 years of additional data – appears possible though challenging. While a great deal of work remains, we see tremendous value in extending the manufacturing microdata series back into time. With these data, new lines of research become possible and many others can be revisited.


Congenital heart defects are the most common type of birth defect and contribute the most to infant mortality due to birth defects. This study examined the relationship between several demographic factors and selected congenital heart defects among the unique multiethnic population in Hawaii during 1986-99, using data from a population-based birth defects registry. Rates were significantly higher in 1993-99 than in 1986-92 for transposition of the great arteries and Ebstein's anomaly, and significantly lower for tetralogy of Fallot. Significantly elevated rates were found with maternal age of > or =35 years for ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, endocardial cushion defect, and hypoplastic left heart syndrome. When cases with a known chromosomal abnormality were excluded, elevated rates among the older maternal age group remained for ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect, and hypoplastic left heart syndrome. Whites had significantly higher rates than one or more of the other racial/ethnic groups for Ebstein's anomaly and coarctation of aorta, and significantly lower rates for tetralogy of Fallot, atrial septal defect, pulmonary valve atresia/stenosis, tricuspid valve atresia/stenosis, and anomalous pulmonary venous return. Significantly higher rates were found among males for transposition of great arteries, aortic valve stenosis, and interrupted aortic arch and, among females, for ventricular septal defect, endocardial cushion defect, and anomalous pulmonary venous return. Some of these differences were consistent with the literature while others were not.


Introduction: One of the most perplexing phenomenons in orthodontics is the crowding of anterior teeth, which brings the patient to the orthodontist seeking remedy because of its aesthetic and functional consequences. The present study was aimed to clinically evaluate and compare the efficiency of NiTi and multistranded stainless steel wire during initial levelling and aligning of crowded lower anteriors. Material and methods: 30 subjects aged between 14 -20 were chosen for the study and divided in to two groups. All the subjects were fully explained about nature, purpose and treatment. Both groups were bonded with 0.022" MBT prescription brackets. After bonding, for Group A patients 0.016" NiTi arch wire was placed and secured with elastomeric modules, similarly for Group B patients 0.0155"multistranded (SS) wire was placed and secured .Time period needed for decrowding of each group was calculated. Result: Average number of days taken by nickel titanium wire in de-crowding mandibular anteriors is 89.67 days while multistranded SS wire took 113.2 days to de-crowd. Even though multistranded wire has low stiffness, because of its shape memory and super elasticity, nickel titanium wire is clinically efficient in decrowding severely crowded lower anteriors. To conclude, a marginal advantage of NiTi wire exists in accordance to the time period taken to decrowd mandibular anteriors.


Since 1982, a national veterinary network has been involved in the monitoring of resistance to antimicrobial agents in the main pathogenic bacteria isolated from diseased cattle in France. It is based on 40 regional veterinary diagnostic laboratories and managed by a central reference laboratory (CNEVA Lyon). Highly standardized methods are used in the diagnostic laboratories. This network collects up-to-date information on antimicrobial resistance in veterinary isolates and gathers strains for specific studies on fastidious bacteria and for the analysis of mechanisms of resistance to antibiotics. Such a permanent survey is essential to establish a rational veterinary antibiotic policy. It could be connected to other compatible systems developed in other fields such as human medicine, food, and environment, to evaluate the importance of resistance and R-factors spread for public health. The limits and perspectives of this surveillance system are discussed.


Tibial, forearm, and distal radius fractures are some of the most common types of fractures in children. If secondary loss of reduction results in angulation beyond the natural remodeling potential of the child's bone, conservative treatment options, including cast wedging, instead of closed/open reduction, are possible. The plaster wedge is an effective and child-friendly therapy for displaced bone fragments in forearm and lower leg fractures in the first 10 days after the fracture event.

The wedge procedure enables a gentle, closed reduction, which avoids the risk of sedation or surgical intervention and at the same time minimizes treatment costs. Complications are rare and can be easily corrected.


This paper compares men and women lobbyists who work in the American states. Both in 1995 and 2005, systematic random samples were selected from official lists of lobbyists in each of the fifty states. Two USPS mailings each year produced sample sizes of 1,559 in 1995 (return rate of 51.4%) and 1,545 (return rate of 49.6%). In 1995, the breakdown of men versus women state lobbyists was 73.2% male and 26.8% female; in 2005, 71.3% and 28.7%. Using appropriate data analysis techniques (regression, crosstabs, analysis of variance) men and women are contrasted across three dimensions. First, the tracks to lobbying are examined, such as prior political office and years of experience lobbying. Second, differences between tactics employed (grassroots, campaign contributions, etc.) by men and women are investigated. Finally, the paper draws a distinction between the attitudes of men and women lobbyists toward lobbying, as well as one social psychological variable, Machiavellianism. Differences between men and women within the three dimensions are found in both sets of data, with changes over time in some instances.


Exposure to drugs is unfortunately common among high school students and its use has been linked to depression and suicide risk. We used the 2011 Arkansas Youth Risk Behavior Survey to estimate the prevalence of drug abuse and to measure its association with teen suicidality. Three types of substance misuse were reported by more than 10% of Arkansas high school students: cannabis (33.3% ever use). inhalants (18.7% ever use). and prescription drugs without a prescription (13.2% ever use). We found in all suicide outcomes a stronger association with prescription drug abuse, followed by inhalant abuse, then cannabis abuse.


Background/Aims Hepatic steatosis is caused by an imbalance between free fatty acids (FFAs) uptake, utilization, storage, and disposal. Understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in FFAs accumulation and its modulation could drive the development of potential therapies for Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The aim of the current study was to explore the effects of picroside II, a phytoactive found in Picrorhiza kurroa, on fatty acid accumulation vis-à-vis silibinin, a known hepatoprotective phytoactive from Silybum marianum. Methods HepG2 cells were loaded with FFAs (oleic acid:palmitic acid/2:1) for 20 hours to mimic hepatic steatosis. The FFAs concentration achieving maximum fat accumulation and minimal cytotoxicity (500 μM) was standardized. HepG2 cells were exposed to the standardized FFAs concentration with and without picroside II pretreatment. Results Picroside II pretreatment inhibited FFAs-induced lipid accumulation by attenuating the expression of fatty acid transport protein 5, sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 and stearoyl CoA desaturase. Preatreatment with picroside II was also found to decrease the expression of forkhead box protein O1 and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase. Conclusions These findings suggest that picroside II effectively attenuated fatty acid accumulation by decreasing FFAs uptake and lipogenesis. Picroside II also decreased the expression of gluconeogenic genes.


The significance of this research lies in the analysis of that appears in the comedy . It also aims to propose conceptual and analytical costume designs that emphasize the formal aspects of play by reflecting on the comical elements simultaneously. , the subject of this study, was played on November 12, 2009 at the Small Theater (Dalohreum Theater) in the National Theater as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of Suwon Women`s College. The costumes were designed by this researcher and were produced in collaboration with the Creative Performances Research Institute (Suwon Women`s College). The comic elements were categorized into deconstruction, deviation and unexpectedness according to previous studies on the humorous nature of comedy, and their aesthetic meanings were applied to the costumes. The designs that reflect the comic elements are as follows. The costume design reflecting deconstruction is a way that disassembles and recombines constructive aspects of clothing. It consists of seam margins outside or just left disassembled without sewing, dismantling the boundary of outerwear and underwear. The costume design reflects deviation because reformed shapes of collars, the variation of length and closure of skirts deviate from the traditional style. These are designed by distorting traditional designs with deviation and transcend of tradition. The costume designs the reflect unexpectedness integrates both tradition and the contemporary, and use materials of diversity and heterogeneity, and these are composed of external formats the result from incongruity. Because comic elements are metaphysical concepts that carry meanings that are difficult to define according to the country and period, it is required to analyze, organize and utilize their characteristics and meanings of each period. Since this study analyzed the comical elements of a play and applied them to costume design, it is hoped that a follow-up study of analytical costume design is be done, and that more diverse and more creative costume designs are in the next generation.


* In plants, UDP-glucuronic acid is synthesized by the oxidation of UDP-glucose by UDP-glucose dehydrogenase or the oxygenation of free myo-inositol by myo-inositol oxygenase (MIOX). In Arabidopsis, myo-inositol oxygenase is encoded by four genes. Transcriptome analysis of syncytia induced by the cyst nematode Heterodera schachtii in Arabidopsis roots revealed that MIOX genes are among the most strongly upregulated genes. * We have used beta-glucuronidase (GUS) analysis, in situ reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and real-time RT-PCR to study the expression of all four MIOX genes in syncytia induced by H. schachtii in Arabidopsis roots. All these methods showed that MIOX genes are strongly induced in syncytia. GeneChip data were analysed for the expression of genes related to the MIOX pathway (mapman). * Two complementary double mutants were used to study the importance of MIOX genes. Results of the infection assay with double mutants in two combinations (Deltamiox1+2, Deltamiox4+5) showed a significant reduction (P < 0.05) in the number of females per plant when compared with the wild-type. Furthermore, syncytia in double mutants were significantly smaller than in wild-type plants. * Our data demonstrate an important role of the MIOX genes for syncytium development and for the development of female nematodes.


This thesis aims to broaden the concept of science popularisation. It argues that the conventional view of popularisation as the public communication of appropriately simplified versions of established facts to lay audiences fails to capture the multifaceted nature of popularisation practices through which science and popular culture are recombined. Drawing on perspectives from Science and Technology Studies and from Cultural Studies a number of case studies are presented in order to explore anew what can be analytically treated as science popularisation and where popularisation begins and ends. The thesis commences by critically interrogating the conventional view of popularisation as a way to enhance public understanding and appreciation of science in society. This thesis argues that science popularisation needs to be thought of as a meaning making process that is far more diverse and complex than the conventional view acknowledges. It is a field where much more than the understanding or misunderstanding of established scientific fact is at stake. To extend the conventional view of popularisation, both science and popular culture are discussed in relation to constructivist theories and perspectives. For science, this means an emphasis on contingency in knowledge production where scientific practices are deprived of their 'specialness' and are considered more similar than different to other forms of ordinary human action. Thus, the strength and durability of particular scientific facts becomes worthy of empirical investigation dedicated to mapping the specific, local causes of credibility. Similarly, popular culture has been highlighted in Cultural Studies in opposition to conservative views offering cultural status to only a small selection of works deemed more valuable than others. Instead Cultural Studies scholars have argued for an anthropological concept of culture emphasising meaning making processes and the very distinction between fine arts and ordinary culture as objects of study. From these two traditions the thesis borrows a set of theoretical and methodological tools to examine the meaning of science in popular culture. Four studies have been carried out promoting an expanded concept of science popularisation. In "The First Swede in Space" the character and orientation of the conventional view of popularisation is explored in relation to the attention given to Sweden's first astronaut launched into space in 2006. The article is especially concerned with discussing how the astronaut achieves his elevated position as an ideal populariser and spokesperson for science. In "Food Fight!" the strict division between knowledge production and dissemination implicit in the conventional view of science popularisation is problematised. It is argued that while this division is designed to buttress the authority of science in society, it also leaves popularisation to 'capture' by skilled communicators. To illustrate this point the relative success of the proponents of a low-carb diet revolution in Sweden at bringing into question the authority of national recommendations on nutrition is analysed. In "The Advanced Liberal Logic of Nicotine Replacement", the idea that science popularisation is just as likely to come before as after the establishment of scientific fact is explored further with reference to changing understandings of, and approaches to dealing with, the health consequences of smoking. The study details how a number of Swedish and British researchers launched nicotine replacement as a popular and credible way to 'treat' smoking authoritatively reimagined and reconstructed as a problem of nicotine addiction. "Genetik i fiktion", finally, was written as a licentiate thesis and published in Swedish in 2006. It explores how genetics and gene technology are used as a narrative tool in a number of fictitious narratives. In relation to pedagogical worries about the corrupting influence of fiction on scientific understandings, genetics as a narrative theme is explored as a theme worthy of reflection in its own right. Genetics emerge from the analysis as something of a narrative utility tool suitable for discussing science as well as enhancing the credibility of the fantastical.


OBJECTIVE
To describe associations of weight excess and abdominal obesity with cardiovascular risk factors in a Japanese-Brazilian population from Mombuca, Guatapará, SP.

METHODS
Cross-sectional study with 131 individuals of Japanese ancestry (69.2% first and 30.8% second generation), aged 20 years or more, corresponding to 66.8% of the resident population from this age group. Data were collected through standardized questionnaires and laboratory and physical examinations were performed.

RESULTS
Prevalence of overweight and obesity was 29.6% and 46.3% in men and 25.6% and 39.0% in women, respectively. The prevalence of abdominal obesity was 55.6% in men and 20.8% in women. Body mass index was independently associated with triglycerides, waist circumference and age; systolic blood pressure with waist circumference.

CONCLUSIONS
Data from the present survey highlight the necessity of interventions to prevent obesity in the Japanese-Brazilian population from Mombuca.


Real-time analysis of Internet of Things sensor data is crucial for players in the industrial sector for staying competitive. That is, why highly capable and easy to integrate solutions are needed for this, which can be deployed close to the data sources. In this paper, we argue that Complex Event Processing (CEP), which is a model-driven data analytics approach, is such a technique. CEP is able to achieve high throughput of data without the need of the computing power available in modern cloud infrastructures, while producing semantically higher value data in real time.Our here presented solution using CEP is easily integrated, scalable and capable of processing big amounts of data while giving semantic assurances through meta data modeling. Users of our solution do not need to learn any languages to model patterns, but can do that with an intuitive, graphical approach running on mobile devices, which makes it a good fit for domain experts working in industrial environments today.Solutions like the one presented in this paper can be a key-enabler for new business models in the industrial sector and smart factories.


We compared signal-averaged electrocardiography with invasive electrophysiological study in patients after surgical repair of congenital heart disease to determine if potentially useful correlations exist between the two methods for assessment of risk for ventricular tachycardia. Thirty-one patients (age, 1-49 years; mean, 10.6 years) with congenital heart disease repaired with right ventriculotomy or postrepair right bundle branch block (77% postoperative tetralogy of Fallot) who had electrophysiological study were studied with signal-averaged electrocardiography. Patients were classified by electrophysiological study results as having no inducible ventricular tachycardia, nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, or sustained ventricular tachycardia. Signal-averaged electrocardiograms were examined for the duration of low-amplitude (c40 ,uV) QRS signal, duration of total QRS, and root-mean-square voltage of the terminal 40 msec of the QRS. Low-amplitude terminal root-mean-square voltage of 100 ,uV or less had 91% sensitivity and 70%,7 specificity for ventricular tachycardia inducible by electrophysiological study. Similar sensitivity but less specificity were seen using the criterion of 20 msec or more total low-amplitude QRS signal (initial plus terminal) or using total QRS duration of 128 msec or more. There was a weaker association between terminal low-amplitude QRS signal of 15 msec or more and inducible ventricular tachycardia. The signal-averaged electrocardiogram did not reliably distinguish sustained from nonsustained inducible ventricular tachycardia. Results of our study suggest that signal-averaged electrocardiography in patients with surgically repaired congenital heart disease correlate with presence or absence of either sustained or nonsustained ventricular tachycardia by electrophysiological study and that 100 ,uV or less terminal root-mean-square voltage is an appropriate cutoff for interpretation of signal-averaged electrocardiography in this patient group. (Circulation 1990;82:1690-1696)


Partial pressures in vacuum systems can be quite accurately measured by tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy in the infrared. To examine the possibility for its application as primary standard, for CO2 in the 2-μm-region we made full traceability to the respective SI unit for each input quantity of the model, evaluated the results according to the ISO guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement, and validated the method successfully by comparison with gravimetrically produced samples of CO2 in N2.


A single-shot autocorrelator based on the two-photon excited fluorescence of BaF(2) in the visible region at 400 nm has been developed for ultrashort KrF laser pulses at 248 nm. Operation in the visible region offers simplification in the required optical components as compared with previously reported systems, which used ultraviolet fluorescence emission. The fluorescence intensity is also used to measure the two-photon absorption coefficient of BaF(2), yielding a value of β = 1.3 ± 0.4 × 10(-10) cm/W.


The picking of one or more objects from an unsorted pile continues to be non-trivial for robotic systems. This is especially so when the pile consists of a granular material (GM) containing individual items that tangle with one another, causing more to be picked out than desired. One of the key features of such tangle-prone GMs is the presence of protrusions extending out from the main body of items in the pile. This work characterises the role the latter play in causing mechanical entanglement and their impact on picking consistency. It reports experiments in which picking GMs with different protrusion lengths (PLs) results in up to 76% increase in picked mass variance, suggesting PL to be an informative feature in the design of picking strategies. Moreover, to counter this effect, it proposes a new spread-and-pick (SnP) approach that significantly reduces tangling, making picking more consistent. Compared to prior approaches that seek to pick from a tangle-free point in the pile, the proposed method results in a decrease in picking error (PE) of up to 51%, and shows good generalisation to previously unseen GMs.


Details and considerations on a microepidemic of severe tuberculosis occurring in a hospital for chronic neuro-psychic patients are presented. This episode presents a practical interest by the knowledge of the circumstances of occurrence and progression, clinical-epidemiological features, associated favouring factors (immunodeficiency, absence of a sustained program for tuberculosis investigation) and biologic prophylaxis by BCG vaccinations and revaccinations. Several measures for avoiding such epidemics and, in prospect, of AIDS in the institutions at high risk are discussed.


Since the deployment of the first commercial polarization-multiplexed (PM) QPSK 100G systems, the evolution of coherent optical communications in the last decade has been largely dominated by single-carrier quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) based modulation of increasing constellation size. However, as the data traffic becomes more dynamic and heterogeneous, an efficient use of the optical link requires more flexible modulation schemes, capable of adapting data-rate and distance with fine granularity. While typical multi-carrier modulation schemes composed of hundreds of subcarriers may be inadequate for optical transmission, namely due its high peak-to-average power ratio and increased nonlinearity penalties, it has been recently shown that few-carrier modulation (with symbol rate in the order of 2–4 GBaud) can provide an increased robustness to nonlinear propagation impairments. In this paper, we exploit the concept of frequency-domain hybrid modulation formats (FDHMF) based on electronic subcarrier multiplexing with the use of different QAM formats on each subcarrier to simultaneously enhance the data-rate flexibility and the nonlinear propagation performance of the optical link. In addition, by properly designing the FDHMF signal, an increased tolerance against optical filtering can also be achieved. Using the enhanced Gaussian noise model, we report a comprehensive theoretical study on the performance of FDHMF, considering independent- and joint-subcarrier forward-error correction strategies, optimization of power ratio between subcarriers, and corresponding impact of fiber nonlinearities. These theoretical insights are then validated by a broad range of wavelength-division multiplexing experiments with per-channel bit-rates in the range of 150G to 250G. The obtained results demonstrate that FDHMF is an effective solution for the implementation of flexible transponders capable of adapting the data rate to the lightpath quality of transmission: An enabling technology for the introduction of future elastic optical networks.


The purpose of this study was the clinical application of 67Ga-DFO-DAS-fibrinogen 67Ga-fibrinogen in normal volunteers and patients with arterial or venous therombus, or bypass graft. DFO-DAS-fibrinogen was available as a lyophilized product and easily labeled by simple mixing with 67Ga-fibrinogen solution (2 mCi/2 ml). Images were taken by a scintillation camera 72 hours after the venous injection of 67Ga-fibrinogen (2 mCi). Ga-67 fibrinogen accumulated well in the liver and kidney in normal volunteers at the early stage, and radioactivity in the kidney, lung, and heart decreased after noticeably after 48 hours postinjection. Ga-67 fibrinogen clearly visualized fresh and old arterial thrombi localized in the thorax or abdomen of all patients suffering aneurysm, and in occlusive bypass graft, contrary to past observations with labeled fibrinogen. In venous thrombus, with the pulmonary artery included, visualization was limited to fresh thrombi of up to one month old. No adverse side effects were observed in any case.


Abstract Superlattices—alternating coherently grown materials of nm thicknesses—proved their potential for enhancing typically antagonistic properties of ceramics: ductility, hardness, and fracture toughness. Material selection, however, is far from trivial, as superlattice films do not simply combine mechanical properties of their layer components. Here we employ high-throughput density functional theory calculations to develop design guidelines for nanolaminates combining cubic transition metal nitride and/or carbide ceramics. Out of 153 MX/M*X* superlattices (M, M* = Al, Ti, Zr, Hf, Nb, V, Ta, Mo, W, and X, X* = C, N) 145 are chemically and mechanically stable and most often contain vacancies on the non-metallic sublattice. Superior ductility together with moderate-to-high fracture toughness and interface strength (above that of the cubic TiN) narrow the set of perspective candidates. Key ingredients promoting the interface-induced enhancement of hardness and/or fracture toughness are lattices parameter and shear modulus mismatch of the layer components. Adding the requirement of phonon stability yields MoN/M*N, M* = Nb, Ta, Ti; TiN/WN (nitrides); HfC/M*N, M* = Mo, W; NbC/M*N, M* = Mo, W; TaC/M*N, M* = Mo, W; VC/M*N, M* = Hf, Ta, Zr (carbonitrides); as the top candidates for novel superlattice films.


Since the discovery of deuterium,' there has been considerable interest in the preparation of a variety of compounds in which hydrogen has been replaced by this heavier isotope. Some of the research has centered around the synthesis of deuterated compounds for biological study.2 While not occupying a place of prominence in this work, the preparation of deuterated amino acids has been studied in a number of instances.36 Only the simplest of the amino acids, however, have been prepared in sufficient quantity and high isotopic purity to be broadly useful to the scientific community.7 8 The purpose of the present research is to provide the best possible syntheses of the common amino acids so that they may be obtained in quantity, high isotopic content, and at minimum cost. It is felt that these materials will then provide a new, basic tool useful for the exploration of a number of areas. The many ways in which deuterium-substituted amino acids can be used may be divided into two general categories. Deuterium can be used as a labeling agent to distinguish a molecule from its protio analogues.4' I Second, the kinetic isotope effect, which deuterium exhibits by virtue of its increased bonding strength, permits a more detailed study of specific mechanisms of amino acid reactions, e.g., transamination studies.9' 10 Although deuterium is a stable isotope and undetectable by radioactive tracer techniques, it is readily monitored by other common instrumental methods, thus making it extremely useful as a labeling agent. Through the characteristic behavior of a deuterium-substituted compound in infrared," proton magnetic resonance (pmr), 12 and mass spectroscopy, 3 it is possible to obtain a wide variety of information not readily available via simple radioactive tracers. Since amino acids are building blocks for many biological materials, studies on biosynthetic pathways might be facilitated through the use of deuterated amino acids as metabolites for living systems. The spectral properties of intermediates and products of a proposed biosynthetic route could then be compared with their protio analogues. Such an approach could result in detailed information on the role of a particular amino acid as a biosynthetic precursor.la3


Since the Stockholm Declaraton of 1972, the principles of environmental legal principles fundamentally changed the formulation of new international environmental law. The formuation of environmental legal provision was significantly influenced by a scientific approach, such as ecological and environmental concepts. The role of international environmental law is increasingly greater on the ecological approach rather than on the general principles of international law. The structure of international environmental law is also changed related to, among others, state responsibility, states rights and obligations, and the rising of the eco-rights and the animal rights that fundamentally changed the customary international law approach into new progressive development of international environmental law. Through ratification, the national environmental law has been significantly improved, and there is a growing recognition of the integrated system of national environmental law and international environmental law.


Abstract In this article we propose a simple and versatile method for limiting disclosure in continuous microdata based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Instead of perturbing the original variables, we propose to alter the principal components, as they contain the same information but are uncorrelated, which permits working on each component separately, reducing processing times. The number and weight of the perturbed components determine the level of protection and distortion of the masked data. The method provides preservation of the mean vector and the variance-covariance matrix. Furthermore, depending on the technique chosen to perturb the principal components, the proposed method can provide masked, hybrid or fully synthetic data sets. Some examples of application and comparison with other methods previously proposed in the literature (in terms of disclosure risk and data utility) are also included.


We have compared, by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis, the effects of glucocorticoids on newly synthesized proteins of cultured cardiovascular cells (rat synthetic- and contractile-state vascular smooth muscle, rat cardiac muscle and non-muscle, and bovine endothelium) and rat hepatoma (H4) cells, as a non-cardiovascular target. In each cell type, glucocorticoids consistently affected a particular set of proteins termed the glucocorticoid domain for that target tissue. Cardiovascular cells exhibited overlapping but non-identical glucocorticoid domains; these domains varied in number of proteins, proportion of induced and repressed proteins, and overlap (extent of shared protein responses) between the various cardiovascular cell types studied. On physico-chemical and co-electrophoresis data the glucocorticoid domain of cardiovascular cells also overlapped with that of hepatoma cells, but to a lesser extent. The glucocorticoid domain in cardiac muscle cells included five proteins not found in cardiac non-muscle cells. Contractile-state vascular smooth muscle cells showed some, but not all, of the proteins affected by glucocorticoids in synthetic-state cells; the only response seen in the contractile but not vascular smooth muscle cells was a protein of Mr-52K and pI-5.3, which was also induced in spontaneously contractile cardiac muscle. Further characterization of contractile and synthetic vascular smooth muscle and cardiac muscle proteins affected by glucocorticoids is necessary to ascertain their role(s) in specialized cardiovascular functions.


We present the discovery of 528.6 Hz pulsations in the new X-ray transient MAXI J1816–195. Using NICER, we observed the first recorded transient outburst from the neutron star low-mass X-ray binary MAXI J1816–195 over a period of 28 days. From a timing analysis of the 528.6 Hz pulsations, we find that the binary system is well described as a circular orbit with an orbital period of 4.8 hr and a projected semimajor axis of 0.26 lt-s for the pulsar, which constrains the mass of the donor star to 0.10–0.55 M ⊙. Additionally, we observed 15 thermonuclear X-ray bursts showing a gradual evolution in morphology over time, and a recurrence time as short as 1.4 hr. We did not detect evidence for photospheric radius expansion, placing an upper limit on the source distance of 8.6 kpc.


In this thesis I investigate the relationship between contemporary author Cormac McCarthy and his editors: Albert Erskine at Random House and Gary Fisketjon and Dan Frank at Alfred A Knopf. In investigating these relationships I attempt to give insight into the working practices of McCarthy, and by doing so examine the changing world of publishing at Random House. I also explore the implications for established critical understandings of McCarthy's work of the significant changes which were made during the re-writing and editing of McCarthy's novels. In mapping relationships between author, editor and agent I conduct a study of the changing modes and models of author-editor and author-editor-agent relationships within Random House and its subsidiary Alfred A Knopf. Taking each of McCarthy's novels in turn as a case study I construct an examination of the relationships between this tightly knit core group and the various specialist collaborators who appear at scattered but significant moments during McCarthy's literary career. It is in this web of collaboration and interdependence in concert with established understandings of the author-role and author-function that this thesis builds its understanding of McCarthy's authorship practices.

In this thesis I draw intensively upon archival material held at both the University of Texas at San Marcos, where McCarthy's own papers are held following their sale to the Witliff South Western Writers Collection, and the papers of Albert Erskine, currently held at the University of Virginia as part of their Small Special Collections Archive. Between the two archives, this body of material contains personal and professional correspondence between McCarthy and his various collaborators, as well as McCarthy's handwritten notebooks in which he made copious notes from his various source books and, most significantly, the various typewritten drafts and redrafts of all of McCarthy's novels. These drafts include handwritten notes from both McCarthy himself as he altered the typescripts during the redrafting process and those of his editors, who annotated the various drafts McCarthy sent them in order to suggest changes or ask questions about various aspects of the drafts. Through an engagement with these valuable sources of unpublished primary material I attempt in this thesis to resituate the input of McCarthy's editor and other collaborators into an understanding of McCarthy's work.


Abstract Context Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) with [Lutetium-177-DOTA0-Tyr3]octreotate (177Lu-DOTATATE) results in an increase of progression-free survival and quality of life in patients with progressive, well-differentiated neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs). Objective To study the effect of 177Lu-DOTATATE in patients with carcinoid syndrome and radiologically stable or newly diagnosed disease treated solely for the purpose of symptom reduction. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting Tertiary care hospital. Patients Twenty-two patients with a metastatic midgut NEN, elevated urinary 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid excretion, and flushing and/or diarrhea despite treatment with a somatostatin analog, without documented disease progression. Intervention PRRT with 177Lu-DOTATATE (intended cumulative dose: 29.6 GBq) with a primary aim to reduce symptoms. Results After PRRT, mean bowel movement frequency (BMF) decreased from 6.1 ± 3.4 to 4.6 ± 3.6 per day (P = 0.009). Flushes decreased from 4.3 ± 2.9 to 2.4 ± 2.7 flushes per day (P = 0.002). A decrease of BMF of more than 30% occurred in 47% of patients with baseline BMF of 4 or more (n = 17). In patients with ≥2 episodes of flushing a day (n = 15), 67% of patients had more than 50% decrease of daily flushing. A decrease in urinary 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid excretion of more than 30% was seen in 56% of patients. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer–Core Module diarrhea subscale score showed a trend toward improvement by an average of 16.7 ± 33.3 points (P = 0.11). Conclusion PRRT with 177Lu-DOTATATE effectively reduced diarrhea and flushing in patients with carcinoid syndrome and can be considered for symptomatic treatment of carcinoid syndrome insufficiently controlled with somatostatin analogs.


Succinylated human serum albumin (Suc-HSA) was synthesized by treating human serum albumin with succinic anhydride. Among similar proteins and neo(glyco)proteins tested, Suc-HSA exhibits a pronounced net negative charge, a feature that largely contributes to its efficacy against replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). To assess further the antiviral effect of Suc-HSA, the effect on HIV-1 replication was studied in the presence of whole human plasma. Pretreatment of MT2 cells with Suc-HSA was more efficacious than direct Suc-HSA treatment of HIV prior to addition to the cells. No changes in the antiviral effect of Suc-HSA were observed in tissue culture medium, 30% plasma, or whole plasma when CPDA-1 (citrate-phosphate-dextrose-adenine 1) was used as the anticoagulant. However, a dramatic decrease (greater than 99%) in the antiviral activity was observed when these experiments were performed in plasma prepared from blood using heparin as anticoagulant. The antagonistic effect by heparin was observed both in the case that heparin was added prior to or after addition of Suc-HSA to the test system. In the present study we demonstrate that heparin largely reduces Suc-HSA activity on HIV replication in the same concentration in which if affects binding of Suc-HSA to the envelope protein gp120 and in particular its V3 domain. In the same concentration range, heparin reduced binding of Suc-HSA to MT4 cells, another HTLV-I-transformed cell line. It is concluded that heparin can displace Suc-HSA from its binding sites on hybrid lymphoid cells as well as on HIV-1 particles. Therefore, we conclude that both the binding to cells and to virus contribute to the potent anti-HIV-1 effect. The fact that heparin and heparin degradation products antagonize Suc-HSA without having a significant anti-HIV-1 effect indicates that the anticoagulant acts as a relatively weak partial inhibitor.


Gamma-irradiated ex vivo bovine monocytes induce proliferation of gamma/delta T cells in the autologous mixed lymphocyte reaction (AMLR), whereas when not irradiated they prevent this response. In contrast, non-irradiated autologous monocytes have no effect on bovine alpha/beta T-cell proliferation in the allogenic MLR suggesting that the regulation is specific for gamma/delta T-cell responses. Here, we showed that the inhibition was not mediated by inducing cell death and that the ability of ex vivo monocytes to prevent proliferation of gamma/delta T cells was not generalized in that gamma/delta T cells still responded to mitogenic stimulation. Inhibition of the AMLR by non-irradiated monocytes could not be overcome by addition of interleukin-2 to the cultures or by costimulation with antibodies to WC1, a gamma/delta T-cell-specific cell-surface differentiation antigen shown elsewhere by us to be involved in activation of gamma/delta T cells. Furthermore, we showed that monocytes inhibited gamma/delta T-cell responses via a soluble product since inhibition occurred even when monocytes and gamma/delta T cells were separated by membranes of transwells or when supernatants from monocyte cultures were added to AMLR cultures. Maximal secretion of the inhibitory product by the monocytes occurred during the first 6 hr of in vitro culture at 37 degrees, rapidly decreased thereafter, and did not occur when monocytes were incubated at 4 degrees. The inhibition was not attributable to nitric oxide, reactive oxygen intermediates, prostaglandin E2 or transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) but the ability of monocyte supernatants to mediate inhibition was sensitive to heating at 65 degrees. Lipopolysaccharide and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor activation of monocytes temporarily abrogated their ability to inhibit proliferation. In contrast, heat-shocking had no effect on their ability to inhibit. We hypothesize that non-irradiated monocytes produce the inhibitory material in vivo in order to regulate gamma/delta T-cell responses to self-derived monocyte membrane components, but that when monocytes are altered by infection, transformation, irradiation, or cytokine activation, production of the inhibitor is temporarily suspended allowing stimulation of gamma/delta T cells to occur.


Background: Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) is widely used for the diagnosis of bilio-pancreatic and gastrointestinal (GI) tract diseases, for the evaluation of subepithelial lesions, and for sampling of lymph nodes and solid masses located next to the GI tract. The role of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare in growing. This review aimed to provide an overview of the current state of AI in EUS from imaging to pathological diagnosis and training. Methods: AI algorithms can assist in lesion detection and characterization in EUS by analyzing EUS images and identifying suspicious areas that may require further clinical evaluation or biopsy sampling. Deep learning techniques, such as convolutional neural networks (CNNs), have shown great potential for tumor identification and subepithelial lesion (SEL) evaluation by extracting important features from EUS images and using them to classify or segment the images. Results: AI models with new features can increase the accuracy of diagnoses, provide faster diagnoses, identify subtle differences in disease presentation that may be missed by human eyes, and provide more information and insights into disease pathology. Conclusions: The integration of AI in EUS images and biopsies has the potential to improve the diagnostic accuracy, leading to better patient outcomes and to a reduction in repeated procedures in case of non-diagnostic biopsies.


On the problem of wireless sensor network localization, few true three-dimensional (3D) methods have been developed to satisfy the practical needs. In this work we propose a range-based 3D localization algorithm that is accurate, anchor-free, scalable and physical position available. A novel combination of distance and direction measurement technique is introduced to estimate ranges between neighbors. Based on this information local coordinate systems are constructed and then converged to form a global network wide coordinate system, which finally leads to nodes' absolute positions. Simulation results have shown that our algorithm achieves good tradeoff between localization percentage and precision when node degree equals 12 or around.


The temporal relations that hold between events described by successive utterances are often left implicit or underspecified. We address the role of two phenomena with respect to the recovery of these relations: (1) the referential properties of tense, and (2) the role of temporal constraints imposed by coherence relations. We account for several facets of the identification of temporal relations through an integration of these.


We explain contributions in public goods games with the help of the reciprocity model of Dufwenberg and Kirchsteiger (2004) by applying some plausible modifications: Most importantly, we assume that subjects overestimate the kindness of their group members. In combination with the finding that subjects are typically imperfect conditional cooperators, equilibrium contributions to public goods can be derived. We test our model experimentally and find robust evidence for our modifications: In the experiment, we directly link reciprocal preferences elicited in contribution schedules to beliefs and show that behavior is indeed primarily driven by reciprocity and overoptimism. Although we find distinctly heterogeneous behavior on the subject level, our model can predict such behavior reciprocal inclinations are known. Thereby, the false consensus effect additionally fosters cooperation because it lets conditional cooperators overestimate the level of reciprocity in the subject pool.


The present paper includes a morphological, ecological and biological updating of the three gorgonian associated species of Haplosyllis (Polychaeta, Syllidae) known to date: H. chamaeleon (symbiont with Paramuricea clavata in the Mediterranean), H. anthogorgicola (symbiont with Anthogorgia bocki in the Japanese seas) and H. villogorgicola , a new species living symbiotically with Villogorgia bebrycoides which is only known from Tenerife (Canary Islands, Eastern Central Atlantic). The new species is described on the basis of ecological, morphological, morphometric and statistical analysis of relevant characteristics. Each host colony harboured about 15 pale-yellowish worms, whose cryptic colouration mimicked that of the host. They occurred either on the host branches or partly hidden inside cavities formed by the fusion of two branches. The new species is characterized by the presence of simple chaetae with clearly bidentate tips all along the body, the presence of gland pore aggregates distributed in two lateral rows and two ventral patches on each palp and the absence of ciliary tufts on the pharyngeal papillae. H. villogorgicola sp. nov. is closely related to H. chamaeleon . Thus, it is compared with two populations of this species collected in the north-west and south-west Mediterranean. Stolons of H. chamaeleon are re-described as tetracerous and a peculiar posterior end regeneration process occurring in adult worms during the stolon formation is described. H. anthogorgicola is also re-described, with particular emphasis on its appendage and chaetal arrangements. The main features of the three associations are discussed in light of the current knowledge on symbiotic polychaetes, particularly cnidarian-associated syllids. © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society , 2002, 77 , 455‐477. ADDITIONAL KEYWORDS: adaptation ‐ Annelida ‐ ecology ‐ gorgonian ‐ Polychaeta ‐ reproduction ‐ symbiosis ‐ taxonomy.


There are many students in Turkey having some problems in learning English as a second language in schools and language centres. Nowadays the term? English language learning difficulty? is very important because English language is the communication language in each field. This difficulty is not realised only now it was already present years ago but now because of the educational demands these difficulties are becoming more and more foreground (Garcia, 2000). In addition, there are very limited researches on difficulties which children face in their schools in Turkey. Therefore this research aims to present what kind of difficulties students face during teaching-learning language process in Turkey. These difficulties are analysed in terms of students, families, teachers, head teachers and consultants. Semi-structured interview technique is used and to gain the data content-analysis technique is used.


Gastrointestinal helminths infestations interfere with host metabolism, resulting in poor feed utilization, reduced growth rate and size and death, in severe cases. This study was conducted in some farms in Miango Road in Jos South Local Government Area (L.G.A.) and Yankaji in Jos North L.G.A., Plateau State, Nigeria. The main objective was to determine the prevalence of intestinal helminths in domestic chickens. One hundred and seventy seven intestinal and faecal samples obtained from local and exotic chickens were examined for helminths parasites using floatation and sedimentation techniques. Sixty seven (37.85 %) were infected with helminths parasites, which were nematodes had the highest prevalence (23.16 %) followed by cestodes (14.69 %). Ascaridia galli had the highest occurrences (19.21 %) while Heterakis gallinarum recorded the least frequency (0.56 %). Infection rates between intestinal and faecal samples and between local and exotic breeds were not significant. There was significant difference (P < 0.001) in the specific prevalence of helminths parasites. Education of poultry farmers on effective farm managements and integrated control of parasitic diseases needs to be intensified to reduce the infestations rates. Frequent sanitary inspection of abattoirs and butchers is necessary to prevent the contamination of meat with helminths eggs. Keywords: Host metabolism, poor feed utilization, gastrointestinal helminths, Gallus gallus , and domestic chickens Nigerian Journal of Parasitology , Vol. 33 [1] March 2012, pp. 85-89


The annual cycle and the large-scale low-frequency variability of surface winds over the tropical Pacific simulated by an atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) are examined. The AGCM was integrated for 10 years with the observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from 1979 to 1988 and the model outputs were compared with National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis. The AGCM successfully simulates the climatological features associated with the annual mean and annual cycle of the surface winds. The amplitudes of the simulated annual harmonics are nearly comparable with observations over the south Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ). On the interannual time scale, the AGCM realistically captures two warm events (1982-83 and 1986-87), and one cold event (1988). The first two empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) and their principal components (PCs) of simulated wind anomalies reproduce the important features, which are crucial for coupled air-sea interaction, like westerly anomalies associated with warm events, eastward propagation of westerly anomalies during 1982-83 and realistic convergence pattern in the first EOF mode over tropical eastern Pacific. Also, the simulated wind anomalies do not exhibit eastward migration during 1986-87 and the strength of anomalies is much larger during 1982-83 than 1986-87. Thus, the AGCM succeeds in reproducing the distinct characteristics of different warm events. It is found that the PCs of wind anomalies are strongly correlated to the PCs of precipitation anomalies. Also, the correlation between PCs of observed and modeled precipitation anomalies is very high (0.93 for both PC1 and PC2) at zero lag. Therefore, it appears that the AGCM's capability to represent the large-scale low-frequency variability of convective heating realistically contributes to its success in simulating the large-scale low-frequency part of surface winds. The most apparent deficiencies in the AGCM simulation include the incorrect location of westerly maximum, and less westward extension of westerly anomalies in EOF1. Also, the mean south-westerlies over Peruvian coast are weaker and not extended up to 170°W, especially during January. To get more insight into the AGCM simulated winds, the response of a steady-state linear Matsuno-Gill type model to two type of forcing (AGCM simulated precipitation anomalies, and AGCM simulated precipitation anomalies + SST anomalies) is compared with AGCM simulated winds. The linear model, forced only by the AGCM precipitation anomalies, can reproduce the AGCM simulated surface winds. The results of the linear model, when it is forced by both AGCM precipitation anomalies and SST anomalies, suggest that the deficiencies of AGCM in the western Pacific are mainly related to the insufficient treatment of surface turbulent fluxes.


The "House Divided" speech helped to win Lincoln the presidency; the Gettysburg Address made him an icon. How did Lincoln come to speak the words that would change a nation? Analyzing the ideas and rhetoric in these two crucial speeches, Carl F. Wieck argues that the radical abolitionist movement exerted a significant influence on Lincoln's thought and moral development. One of the most famous phrases in the Gettysburg address - "government of the people, by the people, for the people" - was previously associated with Unitarian minister and radical abolitionist Theodore Parker, and Wieck argues that Lincoln's debt to Parker extends far beyond the borrowing of these few words. Establishing a clear connection between Lincoln and Parker through their mutual friend and Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon, Wieck traces the similarities between Lincoln's key speeches and the philosophy, rhetoric, logic, and ideas found in writings by Parker and other abolitionists. Ever the cautious politician, Lincoln sought to hide his intellectual and personal connections to the maligned and unpopular abolitionists. The usefulness of such subterfuge became apparent when, after John Brown's attempt to incite a slave revolt, Lincoln could truthfully state that he had no direct contact with radical abolitionists. In the meantime, Lincoln not only drew from Parker's abolitionist propaganda but also was influenced by Daniel Webster, a fervent nationalist who had advocated compromise over slavery in order to preserve the Union. Combining these seemingly contradictory political traditions, Lincoln created a contested middle position that ultimately brought him to the White House. Tracing the Great Emancipator's political ideology from the antebellum era and culminating at Gettysburg, Lincoln's Quest for Equality sheds new light on the intellectual development of the president who reshaped American political culture.


A number of techniques have been developed in recent years for the analysis and design of controllers which are robust with respect to structured complex uncertainty. In particular the complex μ synthesis procedure has been successfully applied to a number of engineering problems. However the presence of real parametric uncertainty in the problem description substantially complicates matters, so that standard complex μ synthesis techniques are no longer adequate. In this paper we develop a procedure to tackle the mixed (real and complex) μ synthesis problem. This procedure involves a "D,G-K iteration" between computing the mixed μ upper bound and solving an H∞ optimal control problem, and has guaranteed convergence to a local minimum of the (nonconvex) problem. The procedure has been implemented in software, and several controller designs are compared with the corresponding complex μ synthesis designs.


Two systems of terrain corrections are used for gravity surveys in the United States. For detailed gravity surveys, the terrain corrections are made with the Hammer charts, which extend out to a radius of about 13.6 miles. The Hammer charts emphasize the effect of local terrain. In large regional surveys it is advisable to use the Hayford-Bowie charts. These charts cover the entire surface of the earth.

Recently it has been found desirable, in specific instances, to incorporate the results of local surveys into larger surveys. In order to avoid repeating the terrain correction of the local surveys it is necessary to be able to convert from one system of terrain corrections to the other.

Nine conversion zones have been completed and are presented in tables.

The essentials of this paper are found in Table II. The relationship of the two sets of zones is shown in Table I.


Acetone is one of the three main types of ketone bodies that can be found in ketoacidosis, along with acetoacetate, and beta-hydroxybutyrate. Any of these three ketone bodies can be found in the blood after the natural breakdown of fatty acids in diabetes, starvation, or alcoholic ketoacidosis. However, a patient can also develop acetone poisoning from ingestion of common household products such as nail polish removers, paint removers, isopropyl alcohol, or other detergents and cleaners. Ingestion is usually accidental in adults and children and can lead to severe damage to the liver, heart, nervous system, and kidneys. In rare cases, large amounts of ingestion can lead to life-threatening conditions or death. Our case reports a man with a history of alcoholic cirrhosis status post liver transplantation, who unintentionally ingested acetone, mistaking the contents of small bottles for vodka. The patient presented with several syncopal episodes, anion gap metabolic acidosis, transaminitis with hyperbilirubinemia, and pancreatitis.


The present invention relates to a method of making a shell mold, comprising the following steps in sequence: (i) preformed fusible model dipped in the slurry of refractory particles and colloidal liquid binder constituted, thereby forming a coating on said model layer, (ii) the deposition of the coating on the refractory particles, and (iii) drying, repeating steps (i) - (iii) as many times as required to produce a shell mold having the required number of coats, characterized in wherein during execution of the at least one step (ii) of the refractory particles and gelled pre-mixed material is formed, to thereby form at least a portion material is coated refractory particles with said gel, whereby the contact with the coating after the gel-forming material moisture is absorbed, thereby resulting in gelation of the colloidal binder, thereby shortening the time in step (iii) is required for drying.