Objectives To explore the mechanism of Yigutang mediating the P13K/AKT/GSK-3β signaling pathway to regulate the osteogenic differentiation of bone marrow stromal stem cells to treat osteoporosis (OP). Methods Sixty 12-week-old female SD rats were randomly divided into the normal group, model group, Yigutang group, and estrogen group, with 15 cases in each group. In the model group, Yigutang group, and estrogen group, the ovaries on both sides were removed to construct the model, and the bone mineral density (BMD) of the upper metaphysis of the right femur of the rats in each group was detected. The left femur of each group of rats was removed, and the load-deformation curve of the left femur of each group of rats was calculated. The number of osteoblasts was observed by H&E staining. After extracting the right femurs of rats in each group, real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression levels of genes and proteins related to the P13K/AKT/GSK-3β signaling pathway. Results The BMD of the upper metaphysis of the right femur in the Yigutang group and the estrogen group was significantly higher than that of the model group (P < 0.05), while both Yigutang and estrogen groups had no significant difference compared with the normal group (P > 0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference between the Yigutang group and the estrogen group (P > 0.05). The elastic load and maximum load of the Yigutang group and the estrogen group were significantly higher than the model group (P < 0.05), but both were lower than the normal group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the Yigutang group and the estrogen group (P > 0.05). The number of osteoblasts in the Yigutang group and the estrogen group was significantly higher than the model group (P < 0.05), but both were lower than the normal group (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the Yigutang group and the estrogen group (P > 0.05). The P13K gene expression in the right femoral bone tissue of rats in the Yigutang group and the estrogen group was significantly higher than that in the model group (P < 0.05), and the AKT gene expression did not change significantly (P > 0.05). The gene expression of GSK-3β was significantly lower than that of the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the normal group, the gene expression of P13K, AKT, and GSK-3β in the right femur bone tissue of the Yigutang group and the estrogen group did not change significantly (P > 0.05). The protein expression of P13K and P-AKt in the right femoral bone tissue of rats in the Yigutang group and the estrogen group was significantly higher than that of the model group (P < 0.05), and the protein expression of AKT did not change significantly (P > 0.05). The protein expression of GSK-3β was significantly lower than the model group (P < 0.05). Compared with the normal group, the protein expression of P13K, AKT, P-AKt, and GSK-3β in the right femoral bone tissue of the Yigutang group and the estrogen group did not change significantly (P > 0.05). Conclusions Yigutang can regulate the differentiation of bone marrow stromal stem cells into osteoblasts, which may be achieved by regulating the P13K/AKT/GSK-3β signaling pathway.


Consumption is more volatile than output in developing countries while it is less volatile than output in developed economies. This paper shows that the relatively large home sector in developing economies contributes to this difference, and the driving force for this difference is technology. Thus this paper suggests that volatile market consumption is almost inevitable at the start of industrialization, when the technology level in the market sector is just above that of the home sector.


approach using palladium-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling or copper-catalyzed Buchwald's amination as the key reaction. The functional properties, which include thermal stabilities, linear and non-linear optical properties, and fluorescence and electrochemical properties of the terfluorene derivatives are also investigated and discussed. The preliminary results show that end-capping of the terfluorene with diphenylamino groups, especially with dendrons, has been shown to offer advantages in terms of lowering the first ionization potential, enhancing thermal stability, and inducing good amorphous morphological stability of the resulting compounds.


The aim of this research is to determine the influense of self-concept and discipline in learning, either directly or indirectly on mastery of concepts of natural science. The research method used was a survey, with a sample size of 75 students, drawn by simple random sampling technique from primary school in the area of South Jakarta. Data collection used a questionnaires that have been validated and the data values from the results of the written test students. Data analisys used path analisy, with the first test of normality, linearity test and multikolinearity test. The implications of this study were obtained, namely : that there is a direct influence on the discipline of self-concept study is r12 = 0,617 and P21= 0,617, there is a direct influence on concept mastery learning discipline of natural science is r12 = 0,407 and P21= 0,306, self-concept does not directly influence mastery of concepts of natural science is r13 = 0,352 and P31= 0,163.


: Comparative estimation of clinical course and postoperative complications was done in 134 patients, operated on for diffuse and generalized peritonitis, caused by anaerobic nonclostridial microorganisms in 74 (55.2%) of them and aerobic--in 60 (44.8%). More severe course and enhanced frequency of the peritonitis complications occurrence, caused by anaerobic microorganisms, was noted. The studying of characteristic peculiarities of peritonitis permits to perform purposeful antibacterial therapy even when bacteriological identification of initiating microorganism is impossible.


Previous research has shown that non-local household investors make sub-optimal asset selection and market timing decisions. However, in real estate markets, heterogeneity in returns can exist even with identical ex ante investment (timing) choices, given that transaction prices are the outcome of a complex search-and-bargaining process. Analyzing notarial data for the Paris housing market, we find that "out-of-country" buyers indeed buy at higher prices and resell at substantially lower prices than local investors, ceteris paribus. Furthermore, our evidence suggests that this pattern is not due to higher search costs and information asymmetries, but instead stems from wealth-related differences in bargaining intensity. Finally, we estimate the causal effect of out-of-country demand shocks on property prices in Paris to be positive but small.


'Best Practice in Professional Supervision' gathers together the development history, current theories and research for supervision skills. It takes a 3608 view and leaves no stone unturned. It traces the development of supervision within health and social care professions, focusing on the supervisor's perspective and providing a comprehensive review of the models available, plus all the attributes and abilities required for successful practice. Supervision is presented as a complex activity that is valuable only when all elements are integrated. There is a clear emphasis upon a culturally sensitive reflective model based firmly upon establishing a suitable and enduring supervisory relationship. The authors chart the various stages of that relationship, but I found little guidance as to how to 'repair' or re-establish existing relationships. The chapter on communication and emotions in supervision is thought provoking especially as regard the psychodynamics of the relationship. Throughout the book there are case study vignettes that illustrate common issues faced by managers and workers, plus an extensive array of figures, diagrams and tables which are very useful. I would have liked to have seen more links to leadership and management styles, and recognition as to how different strengths and weaknesses can influence how supervisory skills are put into play. The ethos of the organisation has a considerable impact upon these practices and is explored in chapter 4 with recognition that for success a learning culture should prevail. There is some discussion of interprofessional supervision but this is not a significant part of the text. In pulling together many different perspectives, much of the text is attributable to others, with a lengthy list of references, which does at times become wearisome, leaving one searching for the authors' own views and opinions. With the ending two chapters focusing (usefully) on student and child protection supervision, a concluding chapter pulling together the different ideas would have been helpful. Written as a guide for the helping professions, the text might usefully have been presented in a more accessible format. The book needs to read as a whole and cannot be easily 'dipped' in and out of. The academic style may be offputting to some of the intended audience. As a busy manager regularly undertaking supervision, I was personally left feeling somewhat overwhelmed and a little inadequate as to see how I could begin to operate at the level envisaged in the book. I was left with the impression that the successful supervisor is indeed superhuman. For many managers working in social care and support services, with meeting targets, risk assessment, procedural and quality audit trailing, this makes the supervisory relationship heavily biased towards performance management. This has been well recognised in the industry and there is much work to be done in reclaiming the space for supervision to be a reflective developmental, critical and learning experience. 'Best Practice in Professional Supervision' provides organisations with a comprehensive platform from which to begin this process.


This paper revises the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) constructed by Watson et al. (1988) on the basis of two-dimension affect structure theory. After collecting the positive and negative affect items in the principal affect circumplex models, we deleted the non-emotion items according to the experts' evaluation, and used questionnaires to explore the typicality of those emotions. The final version of revised scale was identified after a pilot study. Then the psychometrical properties of the revised scale were tested with data collected by ways of self report, peer report, and cognitive approach. The results suggest that all the items in the revised PANAS have ideal differentiability, and hence, it is a valid and reliable measurement for affective wellbeing.


In this paper we structurally estimate a life-cycle model of consumption/savings, labor supply and retirement, using data from the Australian HILDA panel. We use the model to evaluate effects of the Australian aged pension system and tax policy on labor supply, consumption and retirement decisions. Our model accounts for human capital accumulation via learning by doing, as well as wealth accumulation and decumulation over the life cycle, uninsurable wage risk, credit constraints, a non-absorbing retirement decision, and labor market frictions. We account for the "bunching" of hours by discretizing job offers into several hours levels, allowing us to investigate labor supply on both intensive and extensive margins. Our model allows us to quantify the effects of anticipated and unanticipated tax and pension policy changes at different points of the life cycle. Our results imply that the Australian Aged Pension system as currently designed is very poorly targeted, so that means testing and other program rules could be improved.


In April 1984, a 49-year-old male underwent a partial gastrectomy for advanced gastric cancer. At that time, many metastatic foci were found, for example, in the rib, the lumbar vertebrae, the cervical vertebrae, and in the abdominal lymph nodes. Approximately one year later, he suddenly became disturbed and lost consciousness. A metastatic brain tumor was diagnosed. To destroy this tumor the patient received a course of irradiation therapy with a total dose of 45 gys directed toward head. Several months later, however, recurrence of the tumor was detected at the same intracranial region. Thus, a course of therapy, employing a combination of FT-207 and ACNU, was initiated against the recurrent tumor. Though the tumor was not eliminated, the patient manifested few of the prior symptoms. This state has continued for several months, with the patient having survived for three years after his gastrectomy. The following report will present the details of this case.


Cleft palate (CP) is one of the most common congenital malformations in children. Isolated CP occurs in approximately 1 in 2500 newborns: cleft lip with or without CP occurs in about 1 in 700 live births. Caused by failure of the embryonic palatine shelves to fuse in the midline between the sixth and tenth weeks of gestation. CP actually represents a complex of problems involving not only a defect in the palate, but dysfunction of the eustachian tubes and middle ears as well. Thus, the newborn who has a cleft may have difficulty sucking and feeding and may go on to develop hypernasal speech, a condition that leads to problems with clarity of speech.


Angiogenesis is a normal process in the body characterized by the formation of new blood vessels from existing vasculature. Abnormal angiogenesis is a denominator of many diseases. The study evaluated the effect of different concentrations of Curcuma longa Linn. tea powder on the angiogenesis of 10-day old duck embryos. 500 mg of the C. longa tea powder was used in preparing the stock solution for 100ppm (T1), 200ppm (T2), and 300ppm (T3) experimental treatments. These are administered on the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of 10-day old duck embryos. After 48 hours, the secondary collaterals on the CAM are counted and compared with the control group and with each of the experimental groups. Results reveal that C. longa Linn. tea powder suppressed angiogenesis. The study found out that 200 ppm (T2) and 300 ppm (T3), significantly yielded anti-angiogenic effect. The control group (T0) and 100ppm (T1) ; and 100ppm (T1) and 200ppm (T2) have no significant difference which can be attributed to low amount and partial solubility of the phytochemicals in water. The synergistic effect of the phytochemicals present in C.longa powder, such as curcumin, quecetin, vitamin C, and vitamin E can affect various steps in angiogenesis. These were defined to be responsible for C. longa tea powder's anti-angiogenic activity.


Rett syndrome is a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder which occurs in females and includes autism, spasticity, hypotonia, microcephaly, scoliosis, stereotyping, abnormal respiratory control and seizures. They are at an increased predisposition for QT interval prolongation and cardiac arrhythmias. An 8-year-old severely intellectually impaired girl with Rett syndrome was referred to us for anaesthesia for multiple dental abscess drainage and rehabilitation. Her frequency of convulsions had increased and she convulsed every time an attempt was made to feed her. The pain of chewing exacerbated the convulsions. The cornerstone of our management was to provide adequate pain relief, anaesthesia without muscle relaxant and opioids, and judicious use of local anaesthetics. We discuss the anaesthetic management and its advantages and limitations in this case report.


Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are tight integrations of computation, networking, and physical objects. Recent advances in pervasive and ubiquitous information processing, driven by major breakthroughs in cyber-physical technology are paving the way towards a more hospitable and sustainable future via a more efficient management of our environment: homes, work places, open areas, etc. Examples of relevant applications include: future automotive and transportation systems featuring intensive sensing and open data communication devices, robot-assisted communication and cooperation in search and rescue missions, enhanced situation awareness in public urban spaces, assistance and monitoring in everyday life for elderly or handicapped people, smart resilient and secure heterogeneous energy grids, etc.


Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic granulomatous infection which most often localises to the respiratory system. Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis is prevalent in immunocompromised individuals, of which cutaneous tuberculosis is exceedingly rare (0.5-2%). Cutaneous TB presents with varied clinical morphologies, either acquired exogenously via direct inoculation on the skin or endogenously due to systemic dissemination. Diagnosis is particularly challenging due to the multitude of differential diagnoses of skin lesions. Microbiological evidence from biopsy and histopathological findings suggestive of granulomatous inflammation are needed to make a definitive diagnosis. Herein we present a rare case of tuberculosis of the finger in a middle-aged man who presented with an ulcerating and erythematous lesion. As cutaneous TB is usually misdiagnosed at the earlier stages, dermatologists and primary care physicians should keep high suspicion for cutaneous TB in any non-healing ulcers which are otherwise unexplained.


The current version of the draft National Curriculum (1.0.1) remains a document which dis-integrates the subject through its three strands and fails to conceptualise a relationship between these strands. Drawing on curriculum history, I argue that this stands in strong contrast to a curriculum such as the 1971 NSW Syllabus for Years 7-10, which was integrated by an overarching vision that dealt with language modes, contexts, knowledges and skills. This vision was partly provided by the work of James Moffett, on whose work I draw to address the National Curriculum approach to writing in particular. I adapt Paris's notion of 'constrained'/ 'unconstrained' skills in order to argue for a renewed concern with rhetoric and style and for actively teaching towards 'surprise'.


Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the main source of staple food for human population. Salinity is the major problem for agricultural production and it affects rice production globally. Different approaches have been developed and exploited to ameliorate the harmful effects of salinity on crop production. Development of salt-tolerant cultivars is the best option which ensures sustainable crop production. Genomics approaches have the potential to accelerate breeding process for the development of salt tolerant crop cultivars. Molecular mapping techniques are the most promising component of genomics. Molecular mapping approaches have greatly helped in the identification of genomic regions involved in salinity tolerance in different crop plants, including rice. Identified genomic regions associated with salinity tolerance accelerated molecular breeding efforts to develop salt-tolerant rice cultivars. Molecular mapping techniques (both linkage and association mapping) are the main components of genomics and these helped in the identification of genomic regions associated with salt-tolerance in rice. In this chapter, a detailed description of molecular mapping techniques, and major findings made by these techniques is presented. Future prospects of these techniques are also discussed.


The purpose of this research is to single out new requisites for the public space project, that are suitable to promote
acknowledgment of the public dimension of urban space and to reveal the unexpressed potential of the marginal spaces of
contemporary city. New interpretations of urban dynamics might suggest fresh resources for the city project and stimulate a
renewal of project-work which could give back to public space its political and relational dimension.
The aim of this PhD Thesis is to explore the "publicness" of contemporary city. Several scholars argue that most
discourses about urban public sphere are focused on the inner city and on the decline of public space, but few attention has
been paid on the vitality of alternative and marginal spaces in the urban field. Starting from the recognition of the crucial
concept of public and its different meanings, this research analyses the concept of decline of public space and the
contemporary need to rethinking public space. This thesis suggests some ways of thinking contemporary public space, its
perception and transformation processes. Relationship between public sphere and public space will be discussed by means
of the main approaches provided by the scientific literature: the decline of the public sphere, the illusion of the public life, the
renaissance of the public space and the utopia of the public space project . Analysing the main discourses on the urban public
sphere it will be possible to identify weakness and strengths into the literature on this topic on which to focalize next
research activities.


Neutrophils play a crucial role in immune defense against and clearance of uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC)‐mediated urinary tract infection, the most common bacterial infection in healthy humans. CD300a is an inhibitory receptor that binds phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine, presented on the membranes of apoptotic cells. CD300a binding to phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine, also known as the "eat me" signal, mediates immune tolerance to dying cells. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that CD300a plays an important role in the neutrophil‐mediated immune response to UPEC‐induced urinary tract infection. We show that CD300a‐deficient neutrophils have impaired phagocytic abilities and despite their increased accumulation at the site of infection, they are unable to reduce bacterial burden in the bladder, which results in significant exacerbation of infection and worse host outcome. Finally, we demonstrate that UPEC's pore forming toxin α‐hemolysin induces upregulation of the CD300a ligand on infected bladder epithelial cells, signaling to neutrophils to be cleared.


Recent developments in the field of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) have led to a large scale installation of computing devices connected to each other via different networking technologies. But the scale, complexity, dynamism and heterogeneity of these devices have rendered networks, systems & applications insecure, unmanageable & brittle. Soon the number of these devices will outnumber the humans using them, which makes managing them a cumbersome task. The level of expertise needed to handle these complex systems will also raise. Hence there is a need of alternate system and application design paradigm based on strategies used by biological systems, especially Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). Based on ANS, self-managing computer systems and software tools are being realized. Various subsystems of ANS such as immune system may also motivate growth in developing self-protecting systems. This paper presents a study on autonomic computing along with its architecture, metrics, design issues and some applications.


Background and Objective: Cholelithiasis have concomitant with biliary tract stones (BTS) in about 10-15% of the affected patients. This study was carried out to compare the specificity and the sensitivity of ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT scan) with the endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreatography (ERCP) for detecting of the biliary tract stones and to evaluate the efficacy of the ERCP therapy. Methods: In this descriptive study, 135 patients suspected of BTS whom were candidate for the ERCP were gone under investigation. Ultrasonography of the gallbladder, liver, biliary tract, oral and IV contrast of abdominal CT scan and the ERCP were conducted for each patient. ERCP was considered as key critria to define BTS. The specificity and sensitivity of the ultrasonography and CT scan and the success rate of the therapeutic ERCP was estimated. Results: BTS were observed in 112 patients by ERCP method. The specificity and sensitivity of the ultrasonography was 72.3% and 73.9%, respectively. The specificity and sensitivity of the CT scan was 50.8% and 91.3%, respectively. The success rate of the therapeutic ERCP was estimated as 76.9%. Conclusion: Ultrasonography as a non-invasive, non-expensive and well sensitivity method which is recommended in patient screening of biliary tract stones in compare to ERCP and CT scan.


We investigate the linear regression relationships between common seismic magnitudes determined by the Chinese Earthquake Network Center (CENC) and compare them with related magnitude determinations for the same events at the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). Despite their generally good agreement some systematic differences are revealed. These dif- ferences are due to differences in seismograph response (shape and bandwidth), the time window for measurement of maximum P-wave amplitudes, the period and dis- tance ranges used, and, in part, also the different calibration functions applied. Chi- nese broadband body-wave magnitude mB, compared with the NEIC short-period P- wave magnitude mb, is much less prone to magnitude saturation. Thus it is more suitable to assess the size of large earthquakes from P waves. Also, following Inter- national Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI) recommendations of 1967, Chinese surface-wave magnitude MS is determined in a wider distance (1 D 180) and period range (3 sec T 30 sec) than MS(20) at NEIC (20 D 160 and 18 sec T 22 sec, respectively). Chinese MS for small and medium earthquakes at regional distances between 2 D 10 scales well with local magnitude ML. In contrast, NEIC MS(20) tends to underestimate the magnitude of regional events when the IASPEI-recommended MS calibration function by Vane yk et al. (1962) is used. These findings support some of the new standards for magnitude measurements from digital data adopted at the IASPEI meeting in 2005. They include, complementary to band-limited m b and M S (20), the determination of m B and M S (BB) measured on unfiltered broadband records.


Cost-optimal planning is a very well-studied topic within planning, and it has proven to be computationally hard both in theory and in practice. Since cost-optimal planning is an optimisation problem, it is natural to analyse it through the lens of approximation. An important reason for studying cost-optimal planning is heuristic search; heuristic functions that guide the search in planning can often be viewed as algorithms solving or approximating certain optimisation problems. Many heuristic functions (such as the ubiquitious h heuristic) are based on delete relaxation, which ignores negative effects of actions. Planning for instances where the actions have no negative effects is often referred to as monotone planning. The aim of this article is to analyse the approximability of cost-optimal monotone planning, and thus the performance of relevant heuristic functions. Our findings imply that it may be beneficial to study these kind of problems within the framework of parameterised complexity and we initiate work in this direction.


We propose a metamodel-oriented framework for modeling business analytical indicators. In the modeling we apply the CWM's behavioral metamodel and discuss the advantages of using it to plan and model business warehouses. We show how to model indicators in the conformity with such a metamodel. This approach, which is based on a standard metamodel, allows us to realize data transformations between different implementations of different data repositories. In this way, it is possible to achieve interoperability of independently designed data warehouse systems


BACKGROUND
Our improved understanding of the human genome and the genetic contributions to disease have been looming over the horizon for some decades now with great promise of improvements in prevention, prediction and treatment of diseases. Yet, as with many technological revolutions, the real gains on the ground have been much slower to emerge.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this paper is to outline some of the common genetic issues that arise in general practice clinical consultations, and the clinical scenarios in which general practitioners (GPs) may suggest genetic testing for patients or referral to one of the various specialist genetics services.

DISCUSSION
GPs will notice that more consultations now involve some discussion of genetic issues and, indeed, there is a range of genetic tests that GPs can request. These issues and tests require detailed explanation to patients and their families.


This paper is devoted to a new numerical method for fractional Riccati differential equations. The method combines the reproducing kernel method and the quasilinearization technique. Its main advantage is that it can produce good approximations in a larger interval, rather than a local vicinity of the initial position. Numerical results are compared with some existing methods to show the accuracy and effectiveness of the present method.


This paper develops a model with multiple steady states (low tax and unemployment rate versus high tax and unemployment rate) in which equilibrium selection is not conditioned on a sunspot. Instead, large enough shocks initiate unavoidable transitions from one regime to the other. The predictions of this paper are consistent with the persistent increase of European unemployment rates observed during the seventies. The explanation given is that even if the unemployment rate would decrease it can only do so gradually because of matching frictions which in turn implies that the tax burden remains high and job creation remains low making the return to low unemployment rates impossible. The paper shows that in some cases transition to the low-unemployment regime is not possible when tax rates are adjusted each period to balance the budget even though this would be possible under alternative policies with lower tax rates and (temporary) budget deficits.


It is crucial in high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy to detect the tumor precisely with less manual intervention for enhancing the therapy efficiency. Ultrasound image segmentation becomes a difficult task due to signal attenuation, speckle effect and shadows. This paper presents an unsupervised approach based on texture and boundary encoding customized for ultrasound image segmentation in HIFU therapy. The approach oversegments the ultrasound image into some small regions, which are merged by using the principle of minimum description length (MDL) afterwards. Small regions belonging to the same tumor are clustered as they preserve similar texture features. The mergence is completed by obtaining the shortest coding length from encoding textures and boundaries of these regions in the clustering process. The tumor region is finally selected from merged regions by a proposed algorithm without manual interaction. The performance of the method is tested on 50 uterine fibroid ultrasound images from HIFU guiding transducers. The segmentations are compared with manual delineations to verify its feasibility. The quantitative evaluation with HIFU images shows that the mean true positive of the approach is 93.53%, the mean false positive is 4.06%, the mean similarity is 89.92%, the mean norm Hausdorff distance is 3.62% and the mean norm maximum average distance is 0.57%. The experiments validate that the proposed method can achieve favorable segmentation without manual initialization and effectively handle the poor quality of the ultrasound guidance image in HIFU therapy, which indicates that the approach is applicable in HIFU therapy.


One of the main concerns of organizations is the improvement of production processes. To stay on the market they need to be competitive and they must permanently improve their processes. The objective of this work was to analyze, through computer simulation techniques, the production process of a small clothing company located in the city of Aparecida de Goiânia, Goias. The Arena® software was used to evaluate the mean time that the Skin bras remained in a queue at each production stage, as well as the average time spent performing the task at each stage. It is scientific, quantitative and qualitative research. According to its objectives, it presents a descriptive and explanatory character, aiming to deepen the knowledge of the reality, using the case study for data collection. Two scenarios were created for the company, for comparison purposes with the current scenario. The conclusion reached was that, currently, the production of bras in the company has a good flow; however, it is necessary be careful with the formation of extensive queues at the cutting and preparation sectors.


Two approaches are used to estimate the economic impact of domestic wild shrimp, Penaeus sp., fishing in Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. A 2002 survey of commercial shrimp fishermen in the Parish yields information on sales and
operating costs, and results are used to estimate a 1-yr sales effect in the Parish of $36.7 to $128.1 million due to shrimp fishing. In addition, 2001 shrimp ticket sales
data ($49.9 million) are input into a REMI (Regional Economic Models, Inc.) model built for the 4-parish bayou region of Louisiana. The REMI model forecasts a year 1
reduction in gross regional product (GRP) of $45.9 million in the 4-parish area if the shrimp fishing industry were to disappear in Terrebonne Parish, and an 8-yr cumulative
negative impact on GRP in the bayou region of $191.3 million. Study limitations and suggestions for future research are included.


This research shows that the legislative ratification process of the Free Trade Agreement between the United States and Chile was not discussed and voted according to party lines but personal opinions towards the north American nation and especial interests affected by particular clauses of the treaty. It also implied that the continuum in the spectrum left-right wing, position in favor or against the past Pinochet's dictatorship and the individual position towards the position of Chile in the United Nations Security Council during the pre-Iraq war crisis do not represent a significant explanatory variable, as well as previous opinions or political positions held by individual legislators during the cold war.However, relevant and significant explanatory variables are constituted by the constituencies represented by each legislator on the rural-urban axis plus position towards globalization are more relevant, especially in terms of position towards free markets. With this, this research can enlighten about the future of the Chilean-US relations and the attitudes of the political elite towards the United States.Methodologically it is build a database that includes the voting records and statements given by all members of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate at the committee and the floor. This includes the political party and every opinion expressed in the chamber and also a representative sample of statements released to the national press during the period of legislative ratification. With this, a coding following Budge and Bara methods so to make possible a factor analysis and a series of logistic regressions that can show the main factors to vote in favor or against the treaty.


Azole antifungals have frequently been linked to the presence of hepatotoxicity, but there is scarce information on cross-toxicity between these drugs or on the possibility of using some of them when this type of toxicity occurs. We report the case of a 64-year-old man with invasive aspergillosis (IA) leading to spondylodiscitis with neurological involvement. Early management included intravenous (iv) voriconazole, which had to be interrupted after 1 week due to liver damage. Therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) of voriconazole showed that the plasma concentration was within the therapeutic range. However, it was replaced by a combination therapy of oral posaconazole plus iv caspofungin. Posaconazole allowed normalization of liver enzymes. After finishing posaconazole monotherapy on an outpatient basis, the patient made a full recovery. This case report provides further evidence that oral posaconazole is safe and effective as rescue therapy after the appearance of voriconazole-induced liver toxicity.


Voltage scaling is one of the knobs that is used today to control both static and the active power for SoCs. The SoC core supply voltage is scaled adaptively based on the performance needs. But it is also required to maintain the external electrical chip interface protocol, which may run at a different voltage level. The chip interfaces need to operate reliably under adaptively scaling core voltage and fixed 10 supply voltage. Within the 10 circuits, voltage level shifters are used to communicate between two voltage domains. This paper examines the performance of a conventional voltage level shifter and describes a novel high performance level shifter that is more robust under adapting voltage scaling.


Received 21 December 2004; revised 19 March 2005; accepted 7 June 2005; published 21 January 2006. [1] Values for Mie-equivalent aerosol asymmetry parameter (g) were derived using a variety of methods from the large suite of measurements (in situ and remote from surface and aircraft) made in Oklahoma during the 2003 aerosol Intensive Operations Period (IOP). Median values derived for dry asymmetry parameter at 550 nm ranged between 0.55 and 0.63 over all instruments and for all derivation methods, with the exception of one instrument which did not measure over the full size range of optically important aerosol. Median values for the ''wet'' asymmetry parameter (i.e., asymmetry parameter at humidity conditions closer to ambient) were between 0.59 and 0.72. Values for g derived for surface and airborne in situ measurements were highly correlated, but in situ and remote sensing measurements both at the surface and aloft did not agree as well because of vertical inhomogeneity of the aerosol. Radiative forcing calculations suggest that a 10% decrease in g would result in a 19% reduction in top of atmosphere radiative forcing for the conditions observed during the IOP. Comparison of the different methods for deriving g suggests that in computing the asymmetry parameter, aerosol size is the most important parameter to measure; composition is less important except for how it influences the hygroscopic growth (i.e., size) of particles.


Most interconnect performance evaluations with copper, such as, line delays and repeater analysis are done assuming a constant resistivity. However, increase in electron surface scattering and fractional barrier cross section area results in a higher effective Cu resistivity (/spl rho//sub eff/) with dimensional shrinkage. This work models above effects, establishing reliable, future, resistivity trends for different barrier deposition technologies and thicknesses, wire temperature and copper/barrier interface quality. The resistivity trends are used to obtain realistic, future, interconnect performance metrics with Cu. These metrics are found to be a lot worse than predicted by a constant copper resistivity.


The "Advancing English Skills", textbook was compiled and introduced about a decade ago, at the Faculty of Humanities, Dhaka University, Bangladesh, to teach the foundation English courses, to freshmen students from thirteen departments, including English. Today the course is still being taught at some departments. The department of English scrapped the foundation course, but the textbook is still being used for another compulsory course. This paper presents the findings of a study conducted to determine the English language needs of students (60) and teachers (30) at the Humanities Faculty of Dhaka University. Additionally a two prong evaluation of the course and materials from the viewpoints of both students and teachers of the Humanities faculty was carried out, in order to shed light on the nature, effectiveness, and objectives of the course. Strengths and shortcomings of the present course, and areas of mismatch between the students' needs and the course, were identified. Suggestions have been made, to improve the English language courses based on these findings, and implications for pedagogy have been highlighted.


This paper presents two applications of an alternative formulation for one-layer real time structure for control and optimization. This new formulation have arisen from predictive controller QDMC (Quadratic Dynamic Matrix Control), a type of predictive control (Model Predictive Control - MPC). At each sampling time, the values of the outputs of process are fed into the optimization-control structure which supplies the new values of the manipulated variables already considering the best conditions of process. The variables of optimization are both set-point changes and control actions. The future stationary outputs and the future stationary control actions have both a different formulation of conventional one-layer structure and they are calculated from the inverse gain matrix of the process. This alternative formulation generates a convex problem, which can be solved by less sophisticated optimization algorithms. Linear and nonlinear economic objective functions were considered. The proposed approach was applied to two linear models, one SISO (single-input/single output) and the other MIMO (multiple-input/multiple-output). The results showed an excellent performance.


Global warming, increase in environmental pollution, and high cost of electrical power generation using fossil fuels are considered the most important reasons for the application of renewable energy power plants (REPPs) around the world. In recent years, a new generation of REPPs called hybrid renewable energy power plants (HREPPs) has been implemented in order to have higher efficiency and reliability than conventional REPPs such as wind power plants and photovoltaic power plants. The HREPPs include two or more renewable energy generation units such as wind turbine generation units, and PV generation units. In case of high penetration of these types of power plants, the most common tasks of synchronous generators should be supported by them. One of these tasks is the ability to reduce the low-frequency oscillation (LFO) risk through power oscillation damper such as the power system stabilizers of synchronous generators. In this paper, a novel method is proposed for LFO damping by HREPPs, which is based on the design of an optimal power oscillation damper (OPOD) implemented in the generic HREPP controller model. The structure of the proposed OPOD is a 2nd-order single-input lead-lag controller, and its performance is investigated in a modified two-area test system. The simulation results show the proper performance of the HREPP for LFO damping using the proposed OPOD in the various loading levels and different short circuit ratio values.


In the production process for wooden furniture, the raw material costs account for more than 50% of furniture costs, and the utilization rate of raw materials depends mainly on the layout scheme. Therefore, a reasonable layout is an important measure to reduce furniture costs. This paper investigates the solid wood board cutting stock problem (CSP) and establishes an optimization model, with the goal of the highest possible utilization rate for original boards. An ant colony-immune genetic algorithm (AC-IGA) is designed to solve this model. The solutions of the ant colony algorithm are used as the initial population of the immune genetic algorithm, and the optimal solution is obtained using the immune genetic algorithm after multiple iterations are transformed into the accumulation of global pheromones, which improves the search ability and ensures the solution quality. The layout process of the solid wood board is abstracted into the construction process of the solution. At the same time, in order to prevent premature convergence, several improved methods, such as a global pheromone hybrid update and adaptive crossover probability, are proposed. Comparative experiments are designed to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the AC-IGA, and the experimental results show that the AC-IGA has better solution precision and global search ability compared with the ant colony algorithm (ACA), genetic algorithm (GA), grey wolf optimizer (GWO), and polar bear optimization (PBO). The utilization rate increased by more than 2.308%, which provides effective theoretical and methodological support for furniture enterprises to improve economic benefits.


People with type 1 diabetes (T1D) have personal strategies for maintaining euglycemia while exercising which generally serves them well during training. Their strategy often yields wildly differing results during a competition. The influence of competition stress (notably, epinephrine causing prompt elevations in glucose) and high-intensity and/or long-duration efforts can yield dysglycemia. Two different studies were conducted to observe this phenomenon. In a small study of subjects with T1D completing athletic competitions, perceived stress level as reported by the individual is insufficient for determination impact upon glycemia. An elevated heart rate during the competition over what was observed at the same running pace in training was a better indicator of an increase in glycemia. To recreate an athletic stress scenario in a clinical setting, 13 subjects with T1D completed a low intensity treadmill protocol for 3 sessions: non-stress, verbally reported mental math with an audience, and stressful video games to observe the influence on glycemia and heart rate. The treadmill protocol, prior meal, and insulin doses were matched for each individual for the 3 sessions. When compared to the non-stress treadmill session, an elevated average heart rate was observed in 10 of the 13 video game sessions and an elevated average glucose was observed in 9 of the 13 video game sessions. In the mental math sessions, an average heart rate elevated heart rate was observed in 6 of the 13 sessions with 7 of 13 having a higher average glucose compared to the non-stress session. While individual response to acute stress yields a high degree of intersubject variability, the video game sessions may more closely match the competition stress experienced and physiological response to stress observed during an athletic competition. The cause of the stressor may be critical in detection of stress and predicting glycemic response for the management of T1D. Disclosure N. Hobbs: None. M. Park: None. M. Chu: None. Y. Song: None. L.T. Quinn: None. M. Sevil: None. A. Cinar: Research Support; Self; Dexcom, Inc., JDRF. Stock/Shareholder; Self; Dexcom, Inc., Eli Lilly and Company, Insulet Corporation, Medtronic, Novo Nordisk A/S, Tandem Diabetes Care. Funding JDRF (A18-0036-001); National Institutes of Health (DP3DK101075, F31DK116524)


This paper is intended to newly construct a two-dimensional multiphase flow numerical model "DOLPHIN-2D" withsolid-gas-liquid phase interaction based on a CIP method and an extended SMAC method, taking into consideration a Lagrange particle-based method for the dynamic motion analysis of multiple rigid bodies. The constitutive law of Bingham fluid is, moreover, introduced into the DOLPHIN-2D in order to compute non-Newtonian fluid dynamics. Theutility and validity of the model is verified by applying it to bore-floating body collision/dam-break problems and comparing with the laboratory experiment. The results reveal that the model can appropriately simulate not only thedynamic behaviors of complex shaped multiple bodies but also non-Newtonian fluid motion.


Due to the increasing rates of multidrug resistance (MDR) among the Enterobacteriaceae that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs), selection of antimicrobial agents for empirical therapy is becoming a major challenge. This study determines the antimicrobial resistance profiles, multidrug resistance profiles, multiple antibiotic resistance indices (MARI), factors associated with MDR UTIs and the phylogenetic groups of MDR Escherichia coli strains isolated from the urinary tract among patients attending hospitals in Bushenyi District, Uganda. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 86 bacterial uropathogens isolated from 267 study participants suspected to have UTIs were subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility tests using the Kirby Bauer Disk diffusion method. Data for the factors associated with MDR was obtained by the use of questionnaires. Phylogenetic groups of the MDR E. coli were determined using the new Clermont method for phylotyping E. coli. Descriptive and multiple logistic regression statistical tools were used to determine phylogenetic groups, and assess for statistically significant relationship between MDR UTIs and factors suspected to be associated with MDR UTIs respectively. The isolates assigned as group B2 9/12 (75.0%), B1 2/5 (40.0%) and A 2/7 (28.6%) by using the old Clermont method could not be phylotyped using the new Clermont method and were grouped as non-typeable strains of E. coli. Our study demonstrates high prevalence of the non-typeable strains of MDR E. coli, we therefore recommend the use of modern DNA sequencing-based approaches which is the gold standard for genotyping bacteria, that this current study could not afford.

 Key words: Phylogenetic analysis, bacterial urinary tract infections, factors associated with, multidrug resistance, Bushenyi District, Uganda.


BackgroundDisruption in biological clock due to genetic variations is associated with increased occurrence of cancers such as breast, ovary, prostate, gastrointestinal and hematological malignancies. Circadian rhythm genes regulate the process of ovulation in the ovaries and are highly expressed in ovarian tumors; whereas disturbance in the circadian rhythm pathway is significantly associated with causative risk factors (i.e. endometriosis, PCOS, etc.) of ovarian cancer. Nevertheless, very few studies have been conducted till date where candidate SNPs of circadian rhythm genes proved as the main prognosticators of ovarian cancer risk and intrusiveness. The main purpose of this study was to investigate some common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in circadian rhythm genes (rs475715 of BMAL1/ARNTL, rs1026071, and rs228644 of PER3, rs3792152 of REV1, and rs7302060 of TIMELESS) as causative markers of ovarian cancer risk of in the population of Jammu and Kashmir in India. ResultsOur study included a total of 600 samples (200 cases and 400 age and sex-matched controls). Analysis of the genotype data from the selected SNPs indicated most significant association of rs3792152 of REV1 (OR=1.6, with 95% CI=0.12-1.2, p=0.0003) and rs4757151 of BMAL1/ARNTL (OR=1.847, with 95% CI=1.406-2.426, p=9.15E-06) with the ovarian cancer. The functional putative analysis revealed a significant regulatory effect of both these variants on other genes. ConclusionThese results suggest that some SNPs in circadian rhythm genes, particularly BMAL1/ARNTL and REV1, might be associated with the risk of ovarian cancer in the J&K population of North India.


Objective Awake craniotomy with intraoperative brain functional mapping effectively reduces the potential risk of neurological deficits in patients with glioma invading the eloquent areas. However, glioma patients frequently present with impaired neurocognitive function. The present study aimed to investigate the neurocognitive and functional outcomes of glioma patients after awake brain mapping and assess the experience of a tertiary neurosurgical center in China over eight years. Methods This retrospective study included 80 patients who underwent awake brain mapping for gliomas invading the eloquent cortex between January 2013 and December 2021. Clinical and surgical factors, such as the extent of resection (EOR), perioperative Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS), were evaluated. We also used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) to assess the neurocognitive status changes. Results The most frequently observed location of glioma was the frontal lobe (33/80, 41.25%), whereas the tumor primarily invaded the language-related cortex (36/80, 45%). Most patients had supratotal resection (11/80, 13.75%) and total resection (45/80, 56.25%). The median PFS was 43.2 months, and the median OS was 48.9 months in our cohort. The transient (less than seven days) neurological deficit rate was 17.5%, whereas the rate of persistent deficit (lasting for three months) was 15%. At three months of follow-up, most patients (72/80, 90%) had KPS scores > 80. Meanwhile, compared to the preoperative baseline tests, the changes in MoCA scores presented significant improvements at discharge and three months follow-up tests. Conclusion Awake brain mapping is a feasible and safe method for treating glioma invading the eloquent cortex, with the benefit of minimizing neurological deficits, increasing EOR, and extending survival time. The results of MoCA test indicated that brain mapping plays a critical role in preserving neurocognitive function during tumor resection.


Dragonfly is Password Authenticated Key Exchange protocol that uses a shared session key to authenticate parties based on pre-shared secret password. It was claimed that this protocol was secure against off-line dictionary attack, but a new research has proved its vulnerability to off-line dictionary attack and proving step was applied by using "Patched Protocol" which was based on public key validation. Unfortunately, this step caused a raise in the computation cost, which made this protocol less appealing than its competitors. We proposed an alternate enhancement to keep this protocol secure without any extra computation cost that was known as "Enhanced Dragonfly". This solution based on two-pre-shared secret passwords instead of one and the rounds between parties had compressed into two rounds instead of four. We prove that the enhanced-Dragonfly protocol is secure against off-line dictionary attacks by analyzing its security properties using the Scyther tool. A simulation was developed to measure the execution time of the enhanced protocol, which was found to be much less than the execution time of patched Dragonfly. The off-line dictionary attack time is consumed for few days if the dictionary size is 10,000. According to this, the use of the enhanced Dragonfly is more efficient than the patched Dragonfly.


The ability to introduce weak regions into carbon fibres at predetermined points should allow failure to occur in a controlled manner, and potentially mitigate the storing of elastic energy leading to sudden catastrophic failure associated with current high performance polymer matrix composites. Here we introduced damage at the single carbon fibre level to unsized fibres using a nanosecond pulsed laser source. Various laser treatment parameters were employed to create predefined weak/break points as well as local shape (fibre swelling) modification at the treatment site. The shape and morphology of all individual fibres tested was assessed before and after single fibre tensile tests using SEM to correlate the mechanical properties to fibre shape modification. The laser treatment resulted in swollen fibre regions at the treatment site. In some cases swollen fibres were observed to have a neck region in the centre of the affected region, probably due to simultaneous laser ablation. The tensile mechanical properties of the treated fibres were reduced significantly in comparison to the control fibres; with reductions in strength, strain and modulus of 62%, 55% and 17%, respectively. We demonstrate that the fibre failure occurred in the laser treated region producing two fibre ends with outwardly tapered ends.


Many kinetic studies concerning homologous reaction series report the existence of an activation enthalpy-entropy linear correlation (compensation plot), its slope being the temperature at which all the members of the series have the same rate constant (isokinetic temperature). Unfortunately, it has been demonstrated by statistical methods that the experimental errors associated with the activation enthalpy and entropy are mutually interdependent. Therefore, the possibility that some of those correlations might be caused by accidental errors has been explored by numerical simulations. As a result of this study, a computer program has been developed to evaluate the probability that experimental errors might lead to a linear compensation plot parting from an initial randomly scattered set of activation parameters (p-test). Application of this program to kinetic data for 100 homologous reaction series extracted from bibliographic sources has allowed concluding that most of the reported compensation plots can hardly be explained by the accumulation of experimental errors, thus requiring the existence of a previously existing, physically meaningful correlation.


IT alignment in intra-organizational contexts has been recognized as an important factor of organizational performance. This paper takes up this stance and translates it to the network level. In order to explain the role of IT in value co-creation, a theoretical model investigating the interconnection between IT alignment in inter-organizational networks and collaboration success is being developed. Moreover, the mode of governance is identified as an important antecedent to network IT alignment. An empirical study is conducted including answers from 165 regional network organizations in Germany. The results give support for the assumption that network IT alignment, first, contribute to the value co-creation in interorganizational collaboration, and second, can be better achieved by networks with a centralized governance mode. In doing so, this study contributes to the emerging field that tries to understand the role of IT in the functioning of inter-organizational networks.


Intracranial hemorrhage is a relatively infrequent but devastating complication of pregnancy. Pregnancy-associated intracranial hemorrhage is a rare but severe complication. Mostly, the incidence of ICH occurs during the third trimester of pregnancy. In our case, an 18-year-old girl who had Glasgow coma scale score of 5/15, admitted to the hospital with no movement of left-sided upper and lower limb with right-sided facial deviation. Computed tomography (CT) brain revealed that the patient has right-sided temporoparietal bleed. The patient underwent right-sided hemicraniotomy. An obstetrical ultrasound report suggested a gestation of 12 weeks. The history of the patient highlighted an attempt of unsupervised termination of pregnancy using off-the-counter pills. In this case, we reported the rare intracerebral hemorrhage during the first trimester. Pregnancy has not been shown to be a direct cause of intracerebral bleed; hence, this case draws attention to the hazards of unsupervised termination of pregnancy.


OBJECTIVE
Pneumonia, meningitis and other serious infections are leading causes of death in developing countries. As part of a multicenter study we aimed to determine the etiology of pneumonia, meningitis and other serious infections in a cohort of Filipino infants ages 90 days or younger.

METHOD
During a 2-year period, 2053 infants age 90 days or younger presenting to 1 of 3 Manila community hospitals were screened; 873 had signs or symptoms suggestive of an infectious illness, and 608 were judged to have clinical features suggestive of severe infection and had laboratory workup including blood for culture and white blood cell count, nasopharyngeal aspirate for virology, cerebrospinal fluid culture when indicated and chest radiograph. Chest radiographs were read independently by 3 radiologists without knowledge of clinical findings.

RESULTS
Of the 873 enrolled infants, 81 died (91%). After exclusion of presumed contaminants, positive bacterial culture from blood and/or cerebrospinal fluid was obtained in 35 infants (5.8%; 95% confidence interval 4%, 8%), 9 of whom died. The organisms responsible for meningitis were Acinetobacter spp. (4), Streptococcus pneumoniae (2), Escherichia coli (2), Enterobacter spp. (1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (1), Haemophilus influenzae (1) and Staphylococcus aureus (1); those responsible for the other clinical diagnoses were Salmonella spp. (6), Enterobacter spp. (3), Streptococcus pyogenes (3), other Gram-negative organisms (8), S. pneumoniae (1) and Staphylococcus aureus (2). In 685 infants examined for viral causes of their illness, 223 viruses were isolated from 219 infants (32%; 95% confidence interval 28%, 36%). Enteroviruses were the most common potential pathogens identified (22% of infants studied), followed by respiratory syncytial virus (17%), rhinovirus (10%) and adenovirus (4%). Concomitant virus identification occurred in 10 of those with positive bacterial culture (29%; 95% confidence interval, 15%, 46%), with enterovirus being found in 7 of these cases.

CONCLUSION
Many young Filipino infants with life-threatening illness were evaluated in this study. Thirty-five had infections attributable to bacteria, with Salmonella spp. being the most common, followed by Gram-negative organisms. Pneumococcus was an unusual cause.


Despite the continuous use of synthetic insecticides during the last two decades, the tea mosquito bug Helopeltis theivora Waterhouse still exists as the most destructive pest of tea in North East India. The susceptibility levels of the female sucking bug collected from conventional (synthetic insecticide treated: Terai and Dooars plain regions) and organic (synthetic insecticide untreated: low-altitude Darjeeling region) tea plantations of the northern part of West Bengal to two synthetic insecticides, quinalphos and cypermethrin, and the activity of three principal detoxifying enzymes were assayed. Compared with the susceptible Darjeeling population, the Terai and Dooars populations showed a resistance factor at the lethal concentrations for 50% level ranging from 547- to 2680.87-fold and from 3810- to 7480-fold for quinalphos and cypermethrin, respectively. General esterases (GEs), glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) and cytochrome P450-mediated mono-oxygenases (CYPs) also showed an increased activity in the Terai and Dooars populations compared with those fromDarjeeling. Defence enzyme activity was enhanced by 15.4- and 17.6-fold for GEs, 1.8- and 1.9-fold for GSTs and 2.1- and 2.4-fold for CYPs in the synthetic insecticide-treated H. theivora populations when compared with the untreated Darjeeling populations. Electrophoretic analysis for GEs showed a higher level of expression for esterase I–VI isozymes in the Terai and Dooars populations when compared with that in the Darjeeling populations. This study reveals a reduced efficacy of quinalphos and cypermethrin against field populations of H. theivora, possibly due to enhanced activities of GEs, GSTs and CYPs. The findings may be used in developing integrated resistance management strategies that can help in the effective control of this major tea pest.


Purpose: Current quality assurance/improvement regimens are based on part of the radiation therapy chain of events, and typically ignore the goal, namely positive patient outcomes. We propose that the widespread implementation of Outcomes‐based Quality Assurance/improvement programs ('OQA,' programs, pronounced 'OK') have the capability to fundamentally improve radiation oncology practice. Our short‐term goal is: (1) to be able to routinely generate customizable reports which summarize clinical outcome rates (stratified by known risk factors), as well as (2) provide data‐mining and modeling capabilities to identify outcomes correlates for further consideration. Methods: Our institutional informatics infrastructure to support an OQA program is under development. Key components which are partially implemented include: (1) tools for routine capture of treatment planning information, (2) web‐based tools to facilitate remote treatment data reviews, (3) treatment report tools which summarize dose‐volume information about a treatment plan, (4) the database design, (5) interfaces to routinely enter patient followup data, customized to clinical service needs, (6) query interfaces, and (7) tools to explore outcomes data vs. extracted dose‐volume data. Key future challenges include processing followup dictation, interfacing with the hospital IS system, and incorporating tools which capture IGRT data. Results: Limited applications of this strategy have previously shown significant success in identifying important, previously unappreciated correlates to local control and toxicity (de Crevoisier et al., IJROBP 2005, 62:965–73; Hope et al., IJROBP 2006, 63:S231). Disadvantages include the cost of collecting the data and the potential for misreading results due to statistical fluctuations or changes in the patient cohort mix. Conclusion: Adding outcomes to the analysis of treatment quality increases the validity and sensitivity of the quality improvement process in radiation oncology. Outcomes‐based quality assurance should be developed and practiced on a more routine basis, with datasets available for comparison between institutions. Research partially sponsored by the NIH and TomoTherapy, Inc.


Social scientists frequently study complex constructs. Despite the plethora of measures for these constructs, researchers may need to create their own measure for a particular study. When a measure is created, psychometric testing is required, and the first step is to study the content validity of the measure. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how to conduct a content validity study, including how to elicit the most from a panel of experts by collecting specific data. Instructions on how to calculate a content validity index, factorial validity index, and an interrater reliability index and guide for interpreting these indices are included. Implications regarding the value of conducting a content validity study for practitioners and researchers are discussed. Key words: constructs; content validity; measure; psychometric testing ********** Researchers in the social sciences study complex constructs for which valid and reliable measures are needed. The measures should be brief, clear, and easy to administer. Measures that are too long or difficult to read may result in a lowered response rate or inaccurate responses. In addition, the measure must be appropriate for use in the targeted population. For example, measures designed for use with heterogeneous populations may not be appropriate for a specific population with certain characteristics. A plethora of measures exist with known psychometric properties, but researchers may need to develop a new measure for a particular construct because no measure exists that operationalizes the construct as the researcher conceptualized it. In these circumstances, a content validity study should be conducted. VALIDITY Traditionally, three types of validity may be demonstrated: content, criterion, and construct validity. Content Validity Content validity refers to the extent to which the items on a measure assess the same content or how well the content material was sampled in the measure. Content validity can be characterized as face validity or logical validity. Face validity indicates that the measure appears to be valid, "on its face." Logical validity indicates a more rigorous process, such as using a panel of experts to evaluate the content validity of a measure. Nunnally and Bernstein (1994) did not distinguish among different types of content validity; but presented alternative ways of assessing content validity. They suggested evaluating content validity by demonstrating internal consistency through correlating the scores from the measure with another measure of the same construct and by showing change in posttest scores over pretest scores. Criterion Validity Criterion validity is demonstrated by finding a statistically significant relationship between a measure and a criterion (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). Criterion validity is considered the "gold standard," and usually a correlation is used to assess the statistical relationship. For example, the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) has been found to predict graduate school success (as measured by the first-year grade-point average) for certain disciplines (Rubio, Rubin, & Brennan, 2003). Three types of criterion validity are postdictive, concurrent, and predictive. If the criterion has occurred, the validity is postdictive. The validity is concurrent if the criterion exists at the same time as the construct measured. The GRE example demonstrates predictive validity, because graduate school success (criterion) occurs after taking the GRE (measure). According to Nunnally and Bernstein, a correlation of .30 indicates adequate criterion validity. Construct Validity Anastasi and Urbina (1997) described construct validity as "the extent to which the test may be said to measure a theoretical construct or trait" (p. 126). Three kinds of construct validity are factorial, known groups; and convergent and discriminant (or divergent) validity. …


Freshwater red algae Hildenbrandia rivularis has been noted for the first time in central Poland near the Lodz agglomeration. Until now, this alga was recorded only in mountain and Polish Lowland areas. The wide range of habitat conditions influencing the occurrence for this protected species has been determined in the spring niche. The possible threat to habitat where H. rivularis occurs, is connected with construction and exploitation of the A2 highway.


Abstract Establishing perennial grasses from seed in postdisturbance Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemesia tridentata subsp. wyomingensis Welsh) communities is often unsuccessful, due in part to a lack of knowledge of the seedling ecology of perennial grasses. We examined the influence of planting timing on germination and seedling demography of bluebunch wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata [Pursh] A. Love) in the northern Great Basin. In 2008 (year 1) and 2009 (year 2) we planted seeds monthly, September–December, in 1-m2 plots (500 seeds per plot) using a randomized block design with five replications. Germination timing was indexed using seed bags placed adjacent to 1-m2 plots and retrieved at 2-wk intervals in fall and 1-mo intervals in spring. Seedlings were marked in March–June of the year following planting; seedlings alive in July were considered initially established. Planting in September and October had up to 80% germination prior to winter, whereas December plantings germinated mainly in spring and at reduced rates (15–35%). Seeds planted in September and October emerged approximately a month earlier than November–December plantings. The percentage of germinated seeds that emerged was highest for September–October plantings but the percentage of emergent seeds surviving to the end of the first growing season was highest for later plantings. Final seedling density was lowest for November planting in year 1 and highest for September and October planting in year 2. Our data indicate that timing of and performance at critical stages of seedling development were affected by planting month. We suggest that it may be possible to use emerging technologies (e.g., seed coatings or germplasm manipulations) to produce variable chronologies of seedling development with single plantings and allow managers to exploit multiple temporal windows of opportunity for seedling establishment.


In silico trials of treatments in a virtual physiological human (VPH) would revolutionize research in the biomedical field. Hallmarks of bone disease and treatments can already be simulated in pre-clinical models and in ex vivo data of humans using microstructural bone adaptation simulations. The increasing availability of in vivo high resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography (HR-pQCT) images provides novel opportunities to validate and ultimately utilize microstructural bone adaptation simulations to improve our understanding of bone diseases and move towards in silico VPH decision support systems for clinicians. In the present study, we investigated if microstructural bone adaptation simulations of in vivo human HR-pQCT images yielded accurate results. Since high-resolution ground truth images cannot be obtained in vivo, we applied an ex vivo approach to study resolution dependence and the effect of super-sampling on morphometric accuracy. To address simulation initialisation issues, we developed an input regularisation approach to reduce initialisation shocks observed in microstructural bone adaptation simulations and evaluated supersampling as a way to improve the accuracy of model inputs. Finally, we compared our ex vivo results to simulations run on in vivo images to investigate whether in vivo image artefacts further affect simulation outcomes.


Unmanned airspace access is a key topic to enable unmanned flights in the U.S. National Airspace System. Above the 400-foot AGL limit, unmanned operations need special care and systems to fly safely and reliably. For autonomous flights to be safe, regular parts of daily, economical operations, designs for both the greater airspace and specific avionics must be built on robust systems design principles. For unmanned systems with a predefined flight plan, it is possible to autonomously and safely fly above 400 feet AGL in manned airspace by interfacing with ADS-B out and under the control of a licensed pilot. Utah State University's AggieAir group has been flying autonomously in this manner for real remote sensing missions, and in this paper, design methodologies for aircraft/avionics systems, ground support equipment, as well as flight logistics and airspace data interfaces are described. Lastly, flight data under FAA Certificates of Authorization (COAs) above 400 feet AGL demonstrate AggieAir's safe operations in manned airspace.


This article shows the effects of secularization process on religious spaces converted into lay places. The case study focuses on the redundant religious medieval buildings of Norwich, England. Field research and documental analysis shows that the secularization of places can assume three forms: the preservation of places intact as part of the historical legacy of an age; the lenting of the old buildings to a 'friendly' new use; finally, the scraping of any historical reference and the building use as any other.


We have developed an all-polymer, micro-inkjet printed, flexural plate wave (FPW) sensor for toluene vapor detection. The sensor consists of a piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) substrate with conductive polyethylenedioxythiophene polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) interdigitated transducers (IDTs) and a polymer sensing layer coating for selective absorption of a targeted analyte. Sensor performance is investigated by exposing polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and polystyrene (PS) sensing layers to varying concentrations of toluene vapor. The resulting frequency shift, due to mass loading, expansion and softening of the sensing layers, is compared with predictions using a semi empirical model. In this work, Flory-Huggins solution theory is used to predict the mechanical response of the sensing layers to solvent vapor concentrations.


Abstract Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder that presents with abnormal, involuntary, and irregular choreoathetoid movements involving mouth, tongue, face, trunk, or extremities after prolonged use of dopamine receptor–blocking agents. Currently, there is still a lack of effective treatment for it. Here, we report a female patient with paranoid schizophrenia, who has had persistent TD for 8 years. After electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was performed, both of her psychotic symptoms and dyskinetic movements were improved. The efficacy and potential clinical variables of ECT in the treatment of TD were reviewed.


This paper presents a consumption-based asset pricing model to explain the equity premium and riskfree puzzles as well as the predictability of returns in the international equity markets. We find that because the model entails idiosyncratic consumption risk which is higher than the aggregate consumption risk, the model helps lower the investor risk aversion needed to explain the mean equity premiums. In addition, because the model also allows for habit formation that disentangles intertemporal substitution from investor risk aversion, the model can resolve the riskfree rate puzzle. Further, as the timevarying individual investor risk aversion and the re-distribution of wealth among heterogeneous investors are contributing factors to the time-varying equity premiums, the model explains larger portions of the long-horizon predictability for many countries' equity markets and the world market portfolio than the world representative-agent model. In contrast, the power utility model with or without idiosyncratic consumption risk fails to explain the level of the real riskfree rate or the predictability of returns.


In recent years there has been a resurge of interest in young people's employment problems, the focus of labour economists and sociologists during the Seventies and Eighties, also covering countries with apparently good employment situations (such as Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom). This interest is timely and Europe-wide, prompted by escalating youth unemployment, difficulties in the transition from school to the labour market and the precariousness of short-term employment alternating with unemployment. Even countries with a high level of adult employment and some of the best labour-market performances have encountered problems in recent years. The unfavourable position of young people in the labour market is evident across Europe. Figure 1 (Annex 1)2 shows the youth-to-adult unemployment ratio (15-29 versus 30-59) in the 27 member countries, where Lithuania shows the lowest, followed by Germany, and Italy the highest ratio, followed by Sweden and UK, countries with a youth-to-adult unemployment ratio of over 3. The same figure indicates an increase of this ratio between 2000 and 2005, the most striking example being Sweden, whose youth-to-adult unemployment ratio rose from 1.6 in 2000 to over 3 in 2005. Also in UK, Cyprus and Austria we find a strong deterioration of this ratio. The only, slight improvements can be found in Finland, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Poland. Evidently, that the integration of young people in the labour market is becoming increasingly difficult, subject to long entry periods in which unemployment alternates with atypical contracts (see Figure 2, Annex 1). The more or less stable level of the youth to total employment ratio from 2000 to 2005 (except for Luxembourg, rising from 4 in 2000 to almost 6 in 2005, Romania dropping from 4 in 2000 to under 3 in 2005 and Cyprus with the lowest value in 2005, around 1.5, slightly less than in 2000, see Figure 4, Annex 1) shows that temporary employment is becoming widespread among the young. The share of under 12-month contracts ranges from 28-29% in Greece and the Netherlands to 55% in Spain, 59% in Sweden and 66% in Finland (see Table 16, Annex 1). The accession of the EU 12 has had repercussions on the mean age of women at childbirth (on average the new member countries have an age two years below the mean, see Table 32, Annex 1) and on other elements such as the level of human capital, performances on the labour market, and the age of entry in the labour market. However, these gaps seem to be narrowing, revealing an alarming general picture. This chapter will explore the reasons for this insufficient labour-market integration through the statistical-econometric analysis of quantitative data, based on EUROSTAT source and qualitative data. The first section illustrates the indicators of youth labour-market integration in the 27 member states, discussing the reasons for insufficient labour- market integration. The second section estimates how indicators of human capital affect the labour-market integration of young people. The third section analyses how labour-market institutions and differences in employment protection legislation are responsible for differences in the size of youth employment. The forth section describes the contribution young people make to the labour force and economic growth and provide recommendations to improve the labour market integration of young people.


Fruits and vegetables play significant roles in human diet. There is a rise in the patients of food borne diseases resulting from street vended fruits and vegetables. This review evaluated the microbial safety profile of fruits and vegetables that were utilized by the Nigeria populace. Secondary data from previously published studies were sourced using Google Scholars and Pubmed data bases. Microbial contamination, fruits and vegetable safety, fruits poisoning were the search words used. Studies that met the context of the review topic were evaluated and summarized. Samples were evaluated for bacterial and fungal loads, as well as parasitic prevalence. Bacteria isolated from most samples included Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Shigella spp., Salmonella spp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Micrococcus spp., Lactobacillus spp., Enterobacter aerogenes, Pseudomonas spp., Proteus spp., Bacillus spp. and Streptococcus spp. Fungi isolated included Aspergillus spp., Rhizopus, Saccharomyces spp., Penicillium spp., Rhizopus spp., Fusarium spp., and Neurospora spp. Parasite found were Ascaris lumbricoides, Strongyloides stercolaris, Trichuris trichiura, hookworms, Strongyloides stercoralis, Giardia lamblia, Schistosoma spp. and Entamoeba hartmani. Improper washing of fruits and vegetables, untreated human feaces and agricultural bio-solid were major predisposing factors.Adequate education on proper hygiene, decontamination approaches towards improving the quality of fruits and vegetables vended in Nigeria were recommended by most authors. This study revealed that adequate works are still needed to implement calls for strict implementation of various highlighted recommendations.


Retrospectively 120 anaesthetic complications with potential medicolegal consequences were reviewed. Seven deaths occurred. Eighty percent of the complications were potentially avoidable. Of the complications 4.4% resulted in major morbidity and 82.3% in intermediate morbidity. Dental injuries were reported with an annual frequency of six. The use of pulse oximetry and/or capnography could possibly have prevented 18% of all complications apart from dental injuries. Ten cases were reported to the National Swedish Board of Health and Welfare; four cases resulted in disciplinary consequences. The influence of human factors on the development of complications is stressed.


We find, in the form of a continued fraction, the generating function for the number of $(132)$-avoiding permutations that have a given number of $(123)$ patterns, and show how to extend this to permutations that have exactly one $(132)$ pattern. We also find some properties of the continued fraction, which is similar to, though more general than, those that were studied by Ramanujan.


Many microorganisms swim in a highly heterogeneous environment with obstacles such as fibers or polymers. To better understand how this environment affects microorganism swimming, we study propulsion of a cylinder or filament in a fluid with a sparse, stationary network of obstructions modeled by the Brinkman equation. The mathematical analysis of swimming speeds is investigated by studying an infinite-length cylinder propagating lateral or spiral displacement waves. For fixed bending kinematics, we find that swimming speeds are enhanced due to the added resistance from the fibers. In addition, we examine the work and the torque exerted on the cylinder in relation to the resistance. The solutions for the torque, swimming speed, and work of an infinite-length cylinder in a Stokesian fluid are recovered as the resistance is reduced to zero. Finally, we compare the asymptotic solutions with numerical results for the Brinkman flow with regularized forces. The swimming speed of a finite-length filament decreases as its length decreases and planar bending induces an angular velocity that increases linearly with added resistance. The comparisons between the asymptotic analysis and computation give insight on the effect of the length of the filament, the permeability, and the thickness of the cylinder in terms of the overall performance of planar and helical swimmers.


Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are a unique subset of naturally occurring dendritic cells, which triggers the production of large amounts of type I interferons (IFNs) after viral infections through Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7 and TLR9. Recent studies have demonstrated that the activation of pDCs kills melanoma cells. However, the role of activated pDCs in breast cancer remains to be determined. In the present study, we generated mouse models of breast cancer and demonstrated that activated pDCs can directly kill breast tumor cells through TRAIL and Granzyme B. Furthermore, we established that pDCs initiate the sequential activation of NK cells and CD8+ T cells, and ultimately inhibit breast tumor growth. Understanding the role of activated pDCs in breast cancer may help to develop new strategies for manipulating the function of pDCs and induce anti-tumor immunity in breast cancer.


Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) and PGI2 stimulate adenylate cyclase activity in lungs from fetal rabbits (29 days of gestation) with EC50 values of 4.4 and 2.6 X 10(-7) M, respectively. PGE2, PGD2, PGF2 alpha, and 6-oxoPGF1 alpha are active only at much higher concentrations. The response of adenylate cyclase to PGE1 rises gradually from 16% to 60% above basal between days 21-26 of gestation. Between days 26-27 of gestation, there is a sharp increase in stimulated activity to 120% above basal (P < 0.001). This level is maintained until 3 days after birth. A further increase was observed 8 days after birth. Stimulation of adenylate cyclase by fluoride increases gradually from about 100% to nearly 400% above basal activity between 21 days of gestation and 8 days after birth. During this time there are no significant changes in basal activity. The increased response of adenylate cyclase to PGE1 between days 26-27 of gestation occurs at a time when unbound plasma cortisol and synthesis of pulmonary surfactant start to increase in the fetal rabbit. It is possible that cortisol sensitizes adenylate cyclase to prostaglandins, which could explain some of the its actions on surfactant synthesis.


Intranets are a recent development in groupware technology based on the same open format as the Internet. The literature on computer aided communication suggests that groupware can facilitate information sharing and inter-functional co-ordination within firms. Inter-functional co-ordination is a significant component of a market orientation and is associated with marketing performance. This paper reports the results of a survey of Intranet adoption by New Zealand firms, and the effect of Intranets on inter-functional co-ordination. The level of Intranet adoption is shown to be moderate (38% of responding firms) and independent of characteristics such as company resources or objectives. The presence of an Intranet is not significantly associated with the level of inter-functional co-ordination. There is, however, evidence of a learning curve, indicating that companies begin to experience co-ordination benefits from an Intranet after one year or more.


Developing partners are promoting and encouraging participation in agriculture or entrepreneurship in agriculture by the youth in Sub-Saharan Africa which is popularly known as youth agripreneurship. While participation in the production and marketing of food crops by youth has received a lot of attention on both policy and academic fronts, the low level of involvement of youth in the horticultural value-chain has received little attention. To this end, this study conducted a comparative analysis of youth and the elderly in mango production and marketing in Southern Ghana and assessed the factors that influence participation of youth in horticultural value-chain considering high-value mango markets. Using the multistage sampling technique and semi-structured questionnaire, primary data for the empirical analysis done in the study were collected from 224 mango producing households in Southern Ghana. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the binary logit model. The study found that there exists differences between the youth and the elderly in terms of socioeconomic factors including education of household head, household size, resource endowment (income); and their access to institutional and support services including certification, credit, extension services and group membership. The findings of the binary logit model indicate that household size, being a youth, mango land size, access to storage facilities, ownership of a tricycle, and the interaction terms age and access to credit and age and certification influenced participation in high-value mango markets. The implication of these findings are that development partners should pay attention to the provision of credit and the promotion of certification among youth mango farmers in Southern Ghana. Access to credit can be provided through the provision of loans and financial literacy by financial institutions to ensure access to resources by the youth. Also, certification can be promoted through the provision of extension services and regular agronomic trainings.


In this paper, a coaxial resonator with longitudinal inner-outer corrugation is introduced. Its eigen-equation and expression of ohmic losses are derived. Ohmic losses in the cavity are investigated. Results show that ohmic losses in the outer and inner conductors share a similar variation trend, while the former is larger than the later. What's more, changes of the inner and outer slot depth and width induce different variations of ohmic losses on the surface of the inner and outer conductors.


A simple and ultrasensitive microRNA (miRNA) electrochemical biosensor employing multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer and methylene blue (MB) redox indicator is reported in this work. The assay utilizes a glass carbon (GC) electrode modified with MWCNT-PAMAM, on which the oligonucleotide capture probes are immobilized. The electrochemical detection of miRNAs is completed by measuring the reduction signal change of MB before and after the probe hybridization with target miRNA (miRNA24 is used as a model case). The MWCNT-PAMAM/GC electrode shows greatly enhanced signal to MB reduction in contrast to bare GC electrode. The functionalization of MWCNT with PAMAM maintains the electrochemical property of MWCNT to MB reduction but minimizes the undesired adsorption of MB on the MWCNT surface. The effect of experimental variables on the miRNA detection is investigated and optimized. A detection limit of 0.5 fM and a linear peak current density-concentration relationship up to 100 nM are obtained following 60 min hybridization. The proposed assay is successfully used to detect miRNA24 in total RNA sample extracted from HeLa cells.


The authors review the perspective of the animal health industry on the changing regulatory climate for the registration and free circulation of veterinary vaccines. The industry supports the increased mutual acceptance of technical standards, the harmonization of these standards and the use of proper risk analysis for regulating the free movement of veterinary vaccines. The veterinary vaccine industry is relatively small, but a large number of products are manufactured and the regulation of these products is highly complex. This complexity results in divergent policies on the importation of vaccines, thus limiting the flexibility of the industry in deciding where to develop and manufacture products. The industry welcomes moves by governments to dispense with "zero risk' policies and to adopt consistent scientific risk analysis approaches, in line with the World Trade Organisation agreement on the application of sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The risks involved in the handling, development and manufacture of veterinary biological products are reviewed, and the factors to be taken into account in the assessment and in the management or control of these risks are presented. Dissection of the production process into its various phases enables identification of the critical points and application of specific risk control measures. An important aspect of the risk assessment is the evaluation of the existing testing methods. A specific programme intended to establish the equivalence or harmonization of various test methods is being proposed. In conclusion, the industry is willing to be actively involved in the harmonization process and expects an equally clear political and technical commitment from the governments of the major trading countries.


In Van Den Berg and Smith's comment that precedes this reply, I note their concession to the major conclusions of my 1982 comment. They no longer directly challenge my conclusions 1 / that there has been a general increase in the exploitation of labour by capital in the twentieth century despite fluctuations from decade to decade, nor 2 I the positive correlations between the rate of surplus value and strikes, especially between 1945 and 1966. Instead, they concentrate on minor methodological points that have little bearing on the thrust of my research. In this lies their major weakness: by narrowly focusing on a partial 'critique' of my critique of their 'critique' of my original research (Cuneo, 1978), Van Den Berg and Smith lose sight of the original research hypotheses, and end up trying to defend errors committed in their original commentary.


In post-disaster recovery, optimising psychosocial support is important for all groups of the population, yet young adults have tended to be overlooked as a demographic in their own right. Research was conducted to seek the perspectives of young adults through the narrative of their experiences in the years following the 2009 Gippsland bushfires. One emergent theme in the findings highlighted the importance of information and communication during and after events. Participants in this research sought information and support via social media and virtual communities. These sites traverse localised, place-based solutions, enabling young people to communicate over large geographical areas. The platforms aid dynamic and rapidly evolving support by sharing information, feelings and ideas. This research also highlighted the need to identify the gaps in information processes and support systems for young adults and to ensure youth-specific information is included in formal communications. Possible solutions are outlined taking into consideration the perspectives offered by the study participants.


Public transportation by
bus is an essential part of mobility. Braking and starting, e.g., approaching a
bus stop, are documented as the main reason for non-collision incidents. These
situations are evoked by the acceleration forces leading to perturbations of
the passenger's base of support. In laboratory studies perturbations are applied
to getting insight into
the postural control system and neuromuscular responses. However, bus perturbations
diverge from laboratory ones with respect to duration, maximum and shape, and
it was shown recently that these characteristics influence the postural
response. Thus, results from posturographic studies cannot be generalised and
transferred to bus perturbations. In this study, acceleration (ACC) and
deceleration (DEC) signals of real traffic situations were examined. A
mathematical approach is proposed in order to identify characteristics of these
signals and to quantify their similarity and complexity. Typical
characteristics (duration, maximum, and shape) of real-world driving manoeuvres
concerning start and stop situations could be identified. A mean duration of
13.6 s for ACC and 9.8 s for DEC signals was found which is
clearly longer than laboratory perturbations. ACC and DEC signals are more
complex than the used signals for platform displacements in the laboratory. The
proposed method enables the reconstruction of bus ACC and DEC signals. The data can be used as input for studies
on postural control with high ecological validity.


A nurse-led project for patients embarking on chemotherapy has reduced anxiety in patients at a vulnerable period. The information groups at Cheltenham General Hospital have resulted in a reduction of waiting times from 9.6 to 7-8 days and 34 appointments available a week instead of 20. The trust has also seen benefits including a weekly saving of eight hours of nurse time and better informed patients.


Study of plants with unusual phosphorus (P) physiology may assist development of more P-efficient crops. Ptilotus polystachyus grows well at high P supply, when shoot P concentrations ([P]) may exceed 40 mg P g(-1) dry matter (DM). We explored the P physiology of P. polystachyus seedlings grown in nutrient solution with 0-5 mM P. In addition, young leaves and roots of soil-grown plants were used for cryo-scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis. No P-toxicity symptoms were observed, even at 5 mM P in solution. Shoot DM was similar at 0.1 and 1.0 mM P in solution, but was ∼14% lower at 2 and 5 mM P. At 1 mM P, [P] was 36, 18, 14 and 11 mg P g(-1) DM in mature leaves, young leaves, stems and roots, respectively. Leaf potassium, calcium and magnesium concentrations increased with increasing P supply. Leaf epidermal and palisade mesophyll cells had similar [P]. The root epidermis and most cortical cells had senesced, even in young roots. We conclude that preferential accumulation of P in mature leaves, accumulation of balancing cations and uniform distribution of P across leaf cell types allow P. polystachyus to tolerate very high leaf [P].