Geometric model fitting is a fundamental task in computer vision, which serves as the pre-requisite of many downstream applications. While the problem has a simple intrinsic structure where the solution can be parameterized within a few degrees of freedom, the ubiquitously existing outliers are the main challenge. In previous studies, random sampling techniques have been established as the practical choice, since optimization-based methods are usually too time-demanding. This prospective study is intended to design efficient algorithms that benefit from a general optimization-based view. In particular, two important types of loss functions are discussed, i.e., truncated and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$l_1$</tex-math><alternatives><mml:math><mml:msub><mml:mi>l</mml:mi><mml:mn>1</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math><inline-graphic xlink:href="ma-ieq1-3109784.gif"/></alternatives></inline-formula> losses, and efficient solvers have been derived for both upon specific approximations. Based on this philosophy, a class of algorithms are introduced to perform deterministic search for the inliers or geometric model. Recommendations are made based on theoretical and experimental analyses. Compared with the existing solutions, the proposed methods are both simple in computation and robust to outliers. Extensive experiments are conducted on publicly available datasets for geometric estimation, which demonstrate the superiority of our methods compared with the state-of-the-art ones. Additionally, we apply our method to the recent benchmark for wide-baseline stereo evaluation, leading to a significant improvement of performance. Our code is publicly available at <uri>https://github.com/AoxiangFan/EifficientDeterministicSearch</uri>.


The structure and ultrastructure of the sensomotor cortex in pubertal rats were studied 7, 14 and 21 days after acoustic stress. Focal peripheral chromatolysis and pigment accumulation by lysosomes were found in neurons after 14 and 21 days of exposure to noise. The number of lysosomes in which pigment was accumulated, and multivesicular bodies appeared, increased in the glial cells. The cavities of granular reticulum widened because of the accumulation by them of muddy secretion. These phenomena indicate the diffusive character of structural changes in the cortex of the large hemispheres under acoustic stress. It has been noted that young animals exposed to noise manifest changes characteristic of the process of aging.


Preparation and corrosion resistance of iron plate with micro-nano-structure were investigated. A clean iron plate was etched with a mixture of FeCl3, H2O, hydrochloric acid, H2O2 and H3PO4 to form a super hydrophilic surface which was treated with fatty acid solution to form a micro-nano-structure surface on which the water contact angle was about 147°. The super hydrophilic surface was treated with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane solution and then fatty acid solution (test plate) to turn to a super hydrophobic surface and the water contact angle was greater than 150°. This test plate coated with alkyd vamish exhibited better corrosion resistance to H2SO4 than blank iron plate.


Summary

Ohmic-assisted hydrodistillation (OAHD) is a combination of ohmic heating and distillation, and could be considered as a novel method for the extraction of essential oils. Major problems with traditional methods are long extraction time and lower purity of the extract. In this study, OAHD was applied as an economic and green technology for the extraction of essential oils from Zataria multiflora Boiss. (Shirazi thyme) aerial parts and the results were compared to those obtained from hydrodistillation (HD) as a conventional method. The results showed that OAHD method had the extraction time of 32.21 ± 2.59 min while this value was about 57.21 ± 2.33 min for hydrodistillation (HD). Scanning electron micrographs of thyme leaves showed a sudden eruption of essential oil glands and their surrounding area for OAHD samples. GC–MS analysis indicated that both methods of OAHD and HD can extract the same compounds.


In this study, a wavelet neural network (WNN) constructed of general neural network employing the wavelet function as the activation function was used in the enzymatic synthesis of betulinic acid ester using phthalic anhydride as acylating agent. The genetic algorithm (GA) was selected to optimize the weights of neural network. The input parameters of the model were reaction time, reaction temperature, amount of enzyme and substrate molar ratio while the percentage isolated yield of ester was the output. After evaluation of various WNN configurations, a topology with 4-15-1 arrangement gave the best performances. The root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R2) between the actual and predicted yields were determined as 1.8366 and 0.9758 for training set, 0.7915 and 0.9976 for testing set and 4.1991 and 0.8339 for validation set, respectively. The constructed WNN-GA model showed relatively higher importance of time and amount of enzyme than temperature andmolar ratio in the enzymatic reaction.All these results showed that theWNN-GAhas a great potential ability in predicting the isolated yields of the enzymatic reaction.


Genetic hemochromatosis, due to its frequency (about 300,000 cases in France) and to its severity, must be considered as a public health burden. Its curability--insofar as its diagnosis has been made early--and the disposal of non invasive and reliable phenotypic (transferrin saturation) and genotypic (HFE C282Y mutation) tests make its diagnosis easy. Thus, diagnosis faced with early clinical and biological symptoms must be promulgated as screening in probant families. General screening is still hampered by ethical and socio-economic obstacles, but should be evaluated in large prospective studies. Otherwise, the recently described insulin resistance-associated liver iron overload syndrome might account for epidemiological associations that have been reported between increased body iron stores and cancerous, cardio-vascular and hepatic disorders. This might extend markedly the impact of iron overload in public health and lead to broaden screening and prevention to all iron overload conditions.


A bacteriological study of microbial flora in the ear canal of divers and swimmers revealed a direct correlation between degree of exposure of ears to water and type of bacterial flora resident in the ear canal. Each diver began the dive with a Gram-positive bacterial flora. This flora was replaced by a primarily Gram-negative bacterial population shortly after immersion. Otitis externa occurred in all cases where moisture predisposed such change in microbial flora, ie, 100% of the divers, 16% of the swimmers, and no nonswimmers. No single species of bacteria was isolated from all cases of disease. However, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was most often associated with otitis externa. Changes in microflora during prolonged water exposure and effects of a therapeutically assisted return to normal are described.


Background Long recovery time, large scar, postoperative swelling and pain are possible side effects of open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) for tarsal navicular fractures. Early exercise instruction is made possible by the use of an intraoperative robot-assisted percutaneous invasive closed reduction internal fixation. The goal of the trial was to determine whether percutaneous screw internal fixation with robot assistance might be used to treat navicular fractures. Methods 27 patients with navicular fractures had surgical treatment between June 2019 and December 2021. Of those, 20 instances were treated with ORIF, while 7 cases had robot-assisted percutaneous screw internal fixation. At the final follow-up, the American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society (AOFAS) hindfoot score and the visual analogue scale (VAS) score were compared to determine outcomes and function. Results Follow-up was obtained in all 27 patients after surgery, with a mean follow-up time of 21.81 months, ranging from 15 to 29 months . In the 7 instances of robot-assisted group, percutaneous guide wire insertion and screw placement only needed one attempt and the depth and position of the implant were both satisfactory. In the ORIF group, there were two patients who sustained cutaneous nerve injuries. The AOFAS score and the VAS score of the group receiving robot-assisted navigation percutaneous screw fixation were 92.25 ± 2.22 and 0.75 ± 0.25 respectively at the last follow-up, while 82.25 ± 7.15 and 0.50 ± 0.29 were the respective values for the ORIF group. Conclusion Intraoperative robot-assisted percutaneous closed reduction internal fixation for tarsal navicular fractures can accomplish exact localization of fracture site, reduce soft tissue damage and operative time. According to current view, this method offers fewer complications, a faster recovery after surgery, and more patient satisfaction.


"Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream" is an exploration of new architectural possibilities for American cities and suburbs in the aftermath of the recent foreclosure crisis in the United States. During the summer of 2011, five interdisciplinary teams of architects, urban planners, ecologists, engineers, and landscape designers were enlisted by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and MoMA PS1 to envision new housing infrastructures that could catalyze urban transformation, particularly in the country's suburbs. Drawing on ideas proposed in "The Buell Hypothesis", a research publication by Temple Hoyne Buell Center for the Study of American Architecture at Columbia University, each team focused on a specific mega region, a metropolitan area between two major cities, to come up with inventive solutions for the future of housing and cities, to be exhibited at MoMA in Spring 2012. This publication presents each of these proposals in detail, through photographs, drawings, and renderings as well as interviews with the team leaders. With essays by Barry Bergdoll, MoMAs Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design, and Reinhold Martin, Director of the Temple Hoyne Buell Center, "Foreclosed" examines the relationship between land, infrastructures, and urban form in today's cities and suburbs, and presents a potentially different future for housing in the United States.


Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is an effective strategy for water resources management and has been widely used in many contaminated and saline aquifers. However, its recovery efficiency (RE) may be significantly affected by mass transfer limitations. A numerical model is developed to simulate ASR performance by combining the convergent and divergent dispersion models with a first‐order mass transfer model. By analyzing the concentration history at the pumping well, we obtain simple and effective relationships for investigating ASR efficiency under various mass transfer parameters, including capacity ratio and mass transfer timescale, and operational parameters, including injection durations and well‐pumping rates. On the basis of such relationships, one can conveniently determine whether a site with mass transfer limitations is appropriate or not for ASR and how many ASR cycles are required for achieving a positive RE. Results indicate that the immobile domain may function as a contaminant source or sink or both during the recovery phase and RE usually improves with well‐flow rate, the decrease of capacity ratio, and the ASR cycles. However, RE is a nonmonotonic function of the mass transfer timescale and the injection duration. A critical timescale is given for quantifying this nonmonotonic behavior. When the injection period is greater than such a critical value, increasing injection period results in a higher RE. Contrarily, when the injection period is less than the critical value, increasing the injection period may even yield a lower RE.


Abstract  Right ventricular rupture following mediastinitis is an unusual but potentially life‐threatening complication of cardiac surgery, related to the "open" debridement technique. There are few reports of complex surgical management including repair of the tear and wound closure with omentoplasty or muscle flap with ECC. We report the case of a patient with a right ventricular rupture complicating mediastinitis, which was successfully treated by direct closure of the chest wall without repairing the ventricle tearing and without ECC. We believe that it can be a quick and effective solution at first attempt, and may be a successful and definitive treatment.


he demographic changes in Western countries, with an aging population and medical and technological progresses, have meant an increased demand on treating multi-morbid patients in intensive care un ...


In this work, we present a scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) study of the LPCVD (low pressure chemical vapor deposition) growth of Si on Si(111)-(7 × 7) using silane (SiH4) decomposition. Surface reactivities have been studied at room and high temperature (700 < T < 800 K), and the major chemical mechanisms have been identified at an atomic scale on the basis of room temperature STM images of the reacted surfaces. The study provides a better understanding of nucleation and initial stages of growth. More particularly, we show that the growth kinetics and the final structure of the film are different from what is observed by molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth.


In 1998, in an attempt to undo the long-standing neglect of domestic violence, legislators placed a set of duties on the police in relation to domestic violence, and coupled these with a unique system of accountability relations and practices. This article examines the effect of these in three ways: a review, both of complaints of misconduct and of the station audits conducted in terms of the Domestic Violence Act's prescripts, and analysis of the workings of the act's accountability mechanisms over time. These show the act's system of accountability to have had some success in making domestic violence a policing priority, but only after a number of years of interaction across the domains of the political, legal, bureaucratic and social. Accountability has revealed itself to be a contingent outcome and practice that takes different forms at different times. It also remains an ambivalent undertaking in relation to domestic violence. While answers may be demanded of the police, oversight of these responses is lodged with an agency possessing limited capacity and weak institutional authority.


AIM
Rapid palatal expansion (RPE) is used for treatment of skeletal crossbites. It may be combined with a face mask if the maxilla is to be protracted. Conventional tooth-borne appliances rely on an almost complete dentition to transmit the relatively high forces to the bony structures of the maxilla and midface. In most situations, tooth-borne appliances produce adverse effects such as buccal tipping of the lateral teeth, imposing the risk of recessions and vestibular bone fenestrations. To overcome these drawbacks, an RPE appliance was developed that utilizes mini-implants anteriorly in the palate for skeletal anchorage. Because this device is also attached to the first molars, it can be denominated as a bone- and tooth-borne appliance (hybrid hyrax). The objective of this clinical pilot study was to investigate its dental and skeletal effects.

METHODS
RPE was performed in 13 patients (seven females, six males; mean age 11.2 years). In 10 patients with a skeletal Class III occlusion, a face mask was used simultaneously for maxillary protraction. Three-dimensional scans of the individual study models were digitally superimposed for the assessment of the dental effects. Skeletal effects were evaluated by lateral cephalograms taken before and after RPE and protraction.

RESULTS
The time needed to achieve the intended expansion ranged from 4 to 14 days (mean 8.7 ± 3.6 days). The mean expansion in the first premolar/first primary molar region was 6.3 ± 2.9 mm and 5.0 ± 1.5 mm in the first molar region. The Wits appraisal changed from -5.2 ± 1.3 mm to -2.5 ± 1.5 mm (mean improvement 2.7 ± 1.3 mm). The right first molar migrated 0.4 ± 0.6 mm mesially and the left one 0.3 ± 0.2 mm.

CONCLUSIONS
The hybrid hyrax is effective for RPE and can be employed especially in patients with reduced anterior dental anchorage. Since most teeth are not in the appliance, regular orthodontic treatment can start early. The combination of the hybrid hyrax with a face mask for maxillary protraction appears to be effective in minimizing mesial migration of the dentition.


The mass and heat transfer mechanisms during radio frequency/vacuum (RF/V) drying of square-edged timber were analyzed and discussed in detail. Based on the mass and heat transfer theory of porous materials, a one-dimensional mathematical model was developed from conservation equations. Compared with conventional models, it has the following advantages: (1) Each independent variable has a separate governing equation and is solved independently by converting the partial differential equation into a difference equation with the finite volume method; and (2) The calculated data from different parts of the wood specimen are displayed in the evolution curves because the specimen is divided into several units along fiber direction. Therefore, the change law of the parameters can be better described. The software Matlab, which has the advantages of fast calculation speed and high precision, was used for programming and calculations. In addition, the square-edged timber Sugi specimen was dried in a laboratory RF/V dryer, and the total average moisture content (MC) and local temperature were monitored as a function of time. By analyzing the calculated and experimental results, it can be concluded that most of the important phenomena observed during RF/V drying can be adequately described by this model.


A static analysis for reasoning about the temporal behaviors of programs in real-time distributed programming languages is proposed. The analysis is based on the action set semantics using the pure maximal parallelism model. It is shown how to specify and verify various timing properties of real-time programs. The approach provides only an approximate timing behavior, because the state information is ignored. However, many interesting properties such as parallel actions, deadlocks, livelocks, terminations, temporal errors, and failures, can be identified. Furthermore, the approach is compositional and thus makes it possible to reason about the timing properties incrementally. The method not only leads to efficient algorithms for the static analysis of CSP programs but also applies to many other languages. >


Background and importance Multiple therapeutic alternatives are used in untreated metastatic squamous non-small cell lung cancer (umSNSCLC). Paclitaxel–carboplatin–pembrolizumab combination (PC-pembrolizumab) has recently been authorised for this indication. Aim and objectives To assess the comparative efficacy among different therapeutic alternatives used in mSNSCLC through a network meta-analysis (NMA). Material and methods A search was conducted on 19 February 2020 with the following inclusion criteria: phase II/III randomised clinical trials (RCT), including drugs used in umSNSCLC, and overall survival (OS) as the efficacy endpoint. Exclusion criteria: mSNSCLC population with EGFR or ALK mutations and RCTs without a comparator common to the evaluated alternatives. Pooled hazard ratios (HR) were calculated by Bayesian methods, through the combination of direct and indirect evidence by the NMA. Fixed and random effects were evaluated. Deviance information criteria (DIC) statistics were used to compare the models. The agreement of direct and indirect estimations was assessed by node splitting models to evaluate the consistency of NMA. Delta value, maximum acceptable difference as clinical criterion of non-inferiority, was set at 0.70 (and its inverse, 1.43), used to calculate the sample size in the PC-pembrolizumab trial. Results Nine RCTs were selected. PC was the common comparator. The DIC value for the fixed effects model was more favourable. No statistically significant differences between direct and indirect evidence were found, and therefore NMA was consistent. The PC-pembrolizumab combination was considered as the reference (treatment with the greatest magnitude of effect). HR for OS were: 1.4 (95% CI 0.89 to 2.3) versus carboplatin–gemcitabine; 1.6 (1.2 to 2.1) versus PC; 1.5 (1.1 to 2.1) versus nab–PC-atezolizumab; 1.8 (1.3 to 2.5) versus PC-figitumumab; 1.4 (0.96 to 2.0) versus PC-motesanib; 1.3 (0.66 to 2.5) versus PC-necitumumab; 2.1 (0.86 to 5.0) versus PC-olaratumab; 2.9 (1.7 to 4.8) versus PC-sorafenib and 1.2 (0.82 to 1.7) versus pembrolizumab monotherapy. Carboplatin–gemcitabine, PC-motesanib, PC-necitumumab, PC-olaratumab and pembrolizumab did not present statistically significant differences compared with PC-pembrolizumab. Statistically significant benefit was observed for PC-pembrolizumab over PC, nab–PC-atezolizumab, PC-figitumumab and PC-sorafenib. According to the delta values, there could be clinically relevant differences among them. Conclusion and relevance NMA showed no significant differences in OS between PC-pembrolizumab and carboplatin–gemcitabine, PC-motesanib, PC-necitumumab, PC-olaratumab and pembrolizumab in umSNSCLC, but there could be clinically relevant differences. PC, nab–PC-atezolizumab, PC-figitumumab and PC-sorafenib were inferior to PC-pembrolizumab, with possible clinically relevant differences. References and/or acknowledgements Conflict of interest No conflict of interest


Total dissolved solids (TDS) management in water has become an increasingly important topic as competition for water supply sources and the intensity of use both increase. Regulatory failure of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) whole effluent toxicity (WET) tests is one of several potential factors in managing TDS concentrations in effluent. Consequently, WET tests have become a de facto concentration standard that sets the limit for the intensity of water use and the amount of water conservation feasibly obtained for a facility. Conflicting regulations dealing with the application of mixing zones and antidegradation policies can prevent water conservation and actually result in the unintended consequence of causing more water use. The impact of TDS on NPDES‐required WET tests, conflicting regulations dealing with the application of mixing zones that are counter‐productive to water conservation, alternative practices currently being used, and other means of rectifying this paradox are discussed.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to assess the level of knowledge and attitude of dental students about the etiology, diagnosis, and management of peri-implantitis.

METHODS
An online cross-sectional study that targeted senior undergraduate dental students at the College of Dentistry was conducted. A closed-ended survey consisting of 28 questions was designed. Three sections were created: 1) participants' characteristics; 2) Knowledge of peri-implantitis etiology, risk factors, diagnosis, and complications; 3) The use of antibiotics in peri-implantitis, diagnosis, and treatment methods. SPSS version 22 (IBM Corp.) was used for data analysis. Counts and percentages were calculated for correct answers in each section.

RESULTS
A total of 267 dental students responded to the questionnaire. The majority of the participants (81.6%) were knowledgeable about peri-implantitis being an inflammatory reaction, and a lesser percentage (77.9%) knew that bacterial plaque is an etiologic factor for peri-implant diseases. 82.0% of the participants identified smoking as a risk factor, followed by periodontitis (80.5%). Regarding implant complications, 57.3% of the participants considered implant mobility as a definitive indication for implant removal. More than half of the participants reported using crater-like bone defects surrounding implants to diagnose peri-implantitis. The most commonly used antibiotic was amoxicillin (34.1%), followed by amoxicillin combined with metronidazole (26.9%).

CONCLUSION
Most participants had a basic understanding of the etiology and risk factors of peri-implantitis. On the other hand, more courses addressing peri-implantitis diagnosis are needed.


Does political competition exacerbate economic discrimination between citizens on ethnic or partisan cleavages? Individuals often discriminate on group lines in ordinary economic activities, especially in low-income settings. Political competition, and thus mobilization of partisan and ethnic groups, waxes and wanes over the electoral cycle. This study therefore investigates discrimination over the electoral cycle in a commonplace yet consequential economic activity: market price bargaining. By conducting field experiments on taxi fare bargaining at three points in time around Ghana's 2008 election, the research reveals that drivers accept lower prices from coethnics regardless of temporal proximity to the election. However, only at election time, drivers accept lower prices from copartisans and demand higher prices from noncopartisans. In sum, political competition affects commonplace economic transactions between citizens on the partisan cleavage. This study is the first to show evidence of interpartisan discrimination in everyday behavior and expands our knowledge of electoral cycle effects.


The objective of this paper is to enrich the literature on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO)–performance relationship by introducing innovation success as an antecedent variable. By applying structural equation models, we examine a sample of 356 individuals from five organisations. The main results show that the team leader EO and firm EO are complementary and that they boost innovation success significantly, thereby having an indirect positive impact on the relationship between EO and performance. The mediating effects of innovation success imply that it is an antecedent in the EO–performance relationship at organisational levels, which adds to current theoretical discussions regarding the multilevel applicability of the EO construct. Thus, this study represents an original source for human resource departments that are shaping working groups.


Beamline front ends at the Canadian Light Source have been designed for single insertion device, double canted insertion device and bending magnet sources in the first phase of the facility construction. The commissioning results for all the three types of front ends appear satisfactory. In this report the design considerations in terms of the insertion device radiation heat load, radiation shielding, beam position diagnostics and vacuum interlocking are described. The constructed front ends and present commissioning status are illustrated.


SUMMARY The use of perioperative prophylactic antibiotics in uncontaminated head and neck surgery is still controversial. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of an institutional antibiotic prophylactic protocol in preventing surgical site infection after parotidectomy. The medical charts of 448 patients who underwent parotidectomy were reviewed. Patients were divided in two groups according the use of perioperative administration of intravenous cefazolin or post-operative week course of antibiotics. Surgical site infection was registered in 29 (6.5%) cases, 16 (5.7%) within the group before the application of the perioperative protocol and 13 (7.9%) within the antibiotic prophylaxis protocol group. The univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that predictors for surgical site infection were the amount of drain output ≥ 50 ml in the first post-operative 24 hours (OR: 4.86; 1.59-14.82 95% CI; p < 0.01) and history of a previous parotid acute infection (OR: 13.83; 5.31-36 95% CI; p < 0.01). The majority of post-surgical infections (82%) were treated with intravenous antibiotic therapy. The remnants were treated surgically. Perioperative antibiotic treatment is recommended for patients undergoing parotid gland surgery and intravenous antibiotics during the post-operative course are highly suggested in case of history of previous acute parotid infection and drain output ≥ 50 ml in first 24 hours.


Being able to parse code-switched (CS) utterances, such as Spanish+English or Hindi+English, is essential to democratize task-oriented semantic parsing systems for certain locales. In this work, we focus on Spanglish (Spanish+English) and release a dataset, CSTOP, containing 5800 CS utterances alongside their semantic parses. We examine the CS generalizability of various Cross-lingual (XL) models and exhibit the advantage of pre-trained XL language models when data for only one language is present. As such, we focus on improving the pre-trained models for the case when only English corpus alongside either zero or a few CS training instances are available. We propose two data augmentation methods for the zero-shot and the few-shot settings: fine-tune using translate-and-align and augment using a generation model followed by match-and-filter. Combining the few-shot setting with the above improvements decreases the initial 30-point accuracy gap between the zero-shot and the full-data settings by two thirds.


We present a method for training bottleneck MLPs for use in tandem ASR. Experiments on meetings data show that this approach leads to improved performance compared with training MLPs from a random initialization.


Tumors are composed not only of malignant cells, but also of various types of normal cells, including vascular cells and infiltrating immune cells, which drive tumor development and progression. The tumor vasculature is abnormal and dysfunctional due to sustained tumor angiogenesis driven by high levels of pro-angiogenic factors. Proteins differentially expressed in tumor vessels affect vascular function and the tumor microenvironment and may serve as targets for therapy. The tumor is also a site of sustained chronic inflammation. The recruitment and activation of inflammatory cells significantly influence tumor progression and regression. Targeting molecules regulating tumor angiogenesis and inflammation in the tumor microenvironment is therefore a promising strategy for the treatment of cancer. This thesis is aiming to understand and investigate the molecular regulation of these two processes in tumors.αB-crystallin is a heat shock protein previously proposed as a target for cancer therapy due to its role in increasing survival of tumor cells and enhancing tumor angiogenesis. In this thesis, we demonstrate a novel role of αB-crystallin in limiting expansion of CD11b+Gr1+ immature myeloid cells in pathological conditions, including tumor development. In addition, we show that αB-crystallin regulates leukocyte recruitment by promoting expression of adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1 and E-selectin during TNF-α-induced endothelial activation. Therefore, targeting of αB-crystallin may influence tumor inflammation by regulating immature myeloid cell expansion and leukocyte recruitment.Abnormal, dysfunctional vessels are characteristic of glioblastomas, which are aggressive malignant brain tumors. We have identified the orphan G-protein coupled receptor ELTD1 as highly expressed in glioblastoma vessel and investigated its role in tumor angiogenesis. Interestingly, deficiency of ELTD1 was associated with increased growth of orthotopic GL261 glioma and T241 fibrosarcoma, but did not affect vessel density in any model. Further investigation is warranted to evaluate whether ELTD1 serves a suitable vascular target for glioblastoma treatment.Anti-angiogenic drugs targeting VEGF signaling is widely used in the clinic for various types of cancer. However, the influences of anti-angiogenic treatment on tumor inflammation have not been thoroughly investigated. We demonstrate that VEGF inhibits TNF-α-induced endothelial activation by repressing NF-κB activation and expression of chemokines involved in T-cell recruitment. Sunitinib, a small molecule kinase inhibitor targeting VEGF/VEGFR2 signaling increased expression of chemokines CXCL10, CXCL11, and enhanced T-lymphocyte infiltration into tumors. Our study suggests that anti-angiogenic therapy may improve immunotherapy by enhancing endothelial activation and facilitating immune cell infiltration into tumors.


Abstract The sea-state bias in a satellite altimeter's range measurement is caused by the influence of ocean waves on the radar return pulse; it results in an estimate of sea level too low according to some function of the wave height. We have estimated this bias for Geosat by correlating collinear differences of altimetric sea-surface heights with collinear differences of significant wave heights (H1/3). Corrections for satellite orbit error are estimated simultaneously with the sea-state bias. Based on twenty 17-day repeat cycles of the Geosat Exact Repeat Mission, the solution for the sea-state bias is 2.6±0.2% of H1/3. The least-squares residuals, however, show a correlation with wind speed U, so we have supplemented the traditional model of the bias with a second term: α1H1/3+α2H1/3U. This second term produces a small, but statistically significant, reduction in variance of the residuals. Both systematic and random errors in H1/3 and U tend to bias the estimates of α1 and α2, which complicates compar...


In the process of constructing high-resolution restriction maps via greedy algorithms, a classical anomaly, known as fragment collapsing, introduces errors into the maps that impedes further map assembly. Fragment collapsing occurs when two different genomic fragments of approximately the same length and occurring in the digestion of two different overlapping clones are incorrectly identified as representative of a single genomic fragment. This introduces a single fragment of commensurate length into an incorrect position in the map. The present work describes techniques for detecting and correcting such anomalies.


DM affects many people in the world and is one of the biggest problems for the nation. Some treatments ranging from medical to non-medical (alternative actions) have been carried out by each individual to be able to recover from the disease. Alternative and complementary therapies are therapies that are in great demand by people throughout the world, not least in Indonesia because they are relatively cheap and safe. One alternative therapy that can be done is by the "Smart Energy" Method. Therefore, research on the use of the "Smart Energy" Method as a preventive alternative for reducing blood sugar levels in DM patients is very important. The purpose of this study was to find out and evaluate the effectiveness of using the "Smart Energy" Method as a preventive alternative for reducing blood sugar levels in DM patients. The design used in this study used a pre-experimental method with the one-group pretest-posttest design (before and after) approach. Each research subject becomes control of himself. The research was conducted at the DM Rehab Club. Taking blood samples as well as carrying out the therapy and evaluation is done on the same day. The duration of therapy is ±20-30 minutes and carried out for 30 days with 2 methods namely direct therapy (therapist and respondent are in the same place) and long distance (therapist and respondent are not in the same place) but the principle of therapy remains the same. The implementation of Reiki therapy is assisted by a certified Reiki therapist. There was a significant difference between the examination of blood sugar levels before and after Reiki therapy. The average value of blood sugar levels before therapy is 294 mg / dl while after 30 days of therapy 266,635 mg / dl is obtained. There is effective use of the "Smart Energy" Method as a preventive alternative for reducing blood sugar levels in DM patients. Keywords: DM, Smart Energy, REIKI


Abstract:This article is a case study that draws from three interrelated artifacts from research conducted in Mexico City: an interview with anti-sex trafficking activist Rosi Orozco, the visual rhetoric of iEmpathize, a transnational organization affiliated with the Orozco anti-trafficking network, and Orozco's 2011 book, Del Cielo al Infierno en un Día. I analyze these artifacts to critique how Orozco, one of the most powerful anti-sex trafficking activists in Mexico City, uses empathy as an affective tool for motivating action. In focusing on these particular artifacts, the objective is to show how empathy can circulate within neoliberal discourses of feeling that are steeped in heteronormative and racialized notions of gender and sexuality. Within sex trafficking discourse in what I refer to as post-NAFTA Mexico, empathy aids in the elision of "prostitution" with "trafficking" and creates visually identifiable "victims" that perpetuate the boom, not just in sex trafficking talk, but in the rescue industry as an economic and cultural force.


The DNA content of single nuclei in confluent cultures of aging human embryonic fibroblasts, TIG-3, was measured by means of flow cytofluorometry. In the early and late stages of their in vitro lifespan, they had considerable numbers of 4C, 8C and 16C nuclei. In the other period more than 95% of their nuclei were 2C nuclei. These results were confirmed by karyotype analysis. Presumably, the polyploid cells in young cell populations are removed due to their low growth potential and those in old cell populations are accumulated as a result of cellular aging. The saturation density of TIG-3 cells increased at the beginning of their lifespan and thereafter decreased. The rise in their saturation density seems to reflect cell selection advantageous for young diploid cells.


The current status of inclusive education for students with low vision in Lebanon is ambiguous. This is due to a scarcity of available studies on the topic. This paper aims to identify the opportunities and challenges pertaining to the proper implementation of inclusive education for this subgroup in Lebanon. Also, it aims to provide recommendations regarding the proper implementation of inclusive education, as well as overcoming the challenges identified. The paper begins with an introduction to the topic, portraying the importance of the study, and detailing its significance. A case study of one private school in Lebanon is presented, and interviews with 14 individuals with different titles are performed as per the qualitative research methodology. This will help to elucidate and clarify the opportunities and challenges of inclusive education. Interview results are presented in codified form, and are then discussed in reference to available literature to provide recommendations. These include, but are not limited to; increased governmental funding for inclusive education programs; increased teacher training in inclusive education; increased community involvement in the development of inclusive programs; and increased awareness regarding low vision and inclusive education in Lebanese communities.


Lattice-based cryptography has emerged as one of the most prominent candidates for post-quantum cryptography, projected to be secure against the imminent threat of large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. The Shortest Vector Problem (SVP) is to find the shortest non-zero vector in a given lattice. It is fundamental to lattice-based cryptography and believed to be hard even for quantum computers. We study a natural generalization of the SVP known as the $K$-Densest Sub-lattice Problem ($K$-DSP): to find the densest $K$-dimensional sub-lattice of a given lattice. We formulate $K$-DSP as finding the first excited state of a Z-basis Hamiltonian, making $K$-DSP amenable to investigation via an array of quantum algorithms, including Grover search, quantum Gibbs sampling, adiabatic, and Variational Quantum Algorithms. The complexity of the algorithms depends on the basis through which the input lattice is presented. We present a classical polynomial-time algorithm that takes an arbitrary input basis and preprocesses it into inputs suited to quantum algorithms. With preprocessing, we prove that $O(KN^2)$ qubits suffice for solving $K$-DSP for $N$ dimensional input lattices. We empirically demonstrate the performance of a Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm $K$-DSP solver for low dimensions, highlighting the influence of a good preprocessed input basis. We then discuss the hardness of $K$-DSP in relation to the SVP, to see if there is reason to build post-quantum cryptography on $K$-DSP. We devise a quantum algorithm that solves $K$-DSP with run-time exponent $(5KN\log{N})/2$. Therefore, for fixed $K$, $K$-DSP is no more than polynomially harder than the SVP.


In this work, the effects of two different diamine monomers containing phosphine oxide on the thermal, mechanical and morphological properties of copolyimides and their hybrid materials were investigated. The gas separation properties of the synthesized copolyimides were also analyzed. The two different diamine monomers containing phosphine oxide were bis(3-aminophenyl]phenylphosphine oxide (BAPPO) and bis[4-(3-aminophenoxy)phenyl)phenylphosphine oxide (m-BAPPO). In the synthesis of the copolyimides, 3,3′-diaminodiphenyl sulfone (3,3′-DDS) was also used as the diamine, as well as 2,2-bis(3,4-dicarboxyphenyl)hexafluoropropane dianhydride (6FDA). Copolyimide films were prepared by thermal imidization. Furthermore, hybrid materials containing 5 % SiO2 were synthesized by the sol–gel technique. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) confirmed the expected structures. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) demonstrated that the m-BAPPO-based copolyimides had lower glass transition temperatures (Tg) than the BAPPO-based ones. The thermal decomposition temperature of the m-BAPPO-containing copolyimide without silica was shifted to a higher value. The moduli and strength values of the BAPPO diamine-containing copolyimide and its hybrid were higher than those of the m-BAPPO-containing materials. Contact angle measurements showed their hydrophobicity. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis showed the dispersion of the silica particles in the copolyimides. These copolyimides may be used in the coating industry. The CO2 permeability and the permselectivity were the highest, among the other values found in this study, when the m-BAPPO-containing copolyimide in the absence of silica was used. The gas permeabilities obtained from this work were in the decreasing order: PCO2 > > PO2 > PN2.


The attention of drivers is a serious issue and one of the critical factors of road safety. The question is whether the electrical activity of the human brain can be correctly measured/collected and utilized to monitor and interpret the driver's attention during simulated driving. This article summarizes four experiments that have been designed, performed, and evaluated in the neuroinformatics laboratory at the University of West Bohemia. Simulated driving under various conditions in a car simulator was organized, and electrophysiology, mainly electroencephalography, data were collected from participants/drivers. The results include experience with the design of such experiments and the suitability of methods based on the collection and interpretation of electroencephalography data for driver attention detection.


Hexavalent chromium is a serious and widespread environmental pollutant. Although many bacteria have been identified that can transform highly water-soluble and toxic Cr(VI) to insoluble and relatively non-toxic Cr(III), bacterial bioremediation of Cr(VI) pollution is limited by a number of issues, in particular chromium toxicity to the remediating cells. To address this we sought to develop an immobilized enzymatic system for Cr(VI) remediation. To identify novel Cr(VI) reductase enzymes we first screened cell extracts from an Escherichia coli library of soluble oxidoreductases derived from a range of bacteria, but found that a number of these enzymes can reduce Cr(VI) indirectly, via redox intermediates present in the crude extracts. Instead, activity assays for 15 candidate enzymes purified as His6-tagged proteins identified E. coli NemA as a highly efficient Cr(VI) reductase (kcat/KM  = 1.1×105 M−1s−1 with NADH as cofactor). Fusion of nemA to the polyhydroxyalkanoate synthase gene phaC from Ralstonia eutropha enabled high-level biosynthesis of functionalized polyhydroxyalkanoate granules displaying stable and active NemA on their surface. When these granules were combined with either Bacillus subtilis glucose dehydrogenase or Candida boidinii formate dehydrogenase as a cofactor regenerating partner, high levels of chromate transformation were observed with only low initial concentrations of expensive NADH cofactor being required, the overall reaction being powered by consumption of the cheap sacrificial substrates glucose or formic acid, respectively. This system therefore offers promise as an economic solution for ex situ Cr(VI) remediation.


Background. Cytotoxic drugs (CTD) are widely used in medicine for the treatment of tumors and other diseases. According to the definition, CTD are the drugs, which are toxic for cells, that is, interrupt their replication or growth. Effects of CTD are not targeted, that's why when they get into the organism, they can harm not only target cells, but any other cells, and not only the patient, but also the other people who contact with them, especially, the healthcare workers (HCW).
Objective. To define the risks of work with CTD.
Materials and methods. Analysis of the literature data on this topic.
Results and discussion. In case of breaking the safety rules, HCW may contact CTD. They can be exposed via skin contact, inhalation of aerosols or swallowing of the particles of CTD, via needle injuries. Actions and procedures, which can be accompanied by the contact of HCW with CTD, include drug preparation and administration, handling of drug containers and waste materials, handling the biological liquids of CTD-treated patient, cleaning of the spills or items, polluted by biological liquids. Exposure to CTD can result in the abdominal pain, hair loss, vomiting, liver injury, nasal sores, contact dermatitis and allergic reactions, miscarriages and fetal malformations (in pregnant women), changes in total blood analysis, mutations appearance. It is not proven that long occupational exposure to CTD leads to cancer, despite it is known that the majority of CTD have genotoxic, cancerogenic and mutagenic effects. Tactics of risk minimization in work with CTD includes definition of risk groups (pregnant women, newbies), assessment of the potential harms of used drugs, written fixation and often reassessment of risk estimation, HCW education. The latter must include methods of CTD preparation, peculiarities of CTD usage and waste handling, correct usage of individual protective equipment (IPE) etc. CTD must be prepared exclusively by the HCW, who underwent the adequate training, and in the specialized settings (HEPA-filtered exhaust systems, negative pressure rooms, absorbing surface covers). IPE must include vinyl or nitrile gloves, waterproof long-sleeved robe or overall with elastic cuffs, goggles or face shield, respirator, shoe covers. Potentially polluted by CTD waste must be collected into the polypropylene or polyethylene bags with the appropriate labeling.
Conclusions. 1. CTD may harm not only target cells, but also the other cells, and not only patients, but all the other exposed people. 2. CTD exposure may lead to the abdominal pain, hair loss, vomiting, contact dermatitis, miscarriages and fetal malformations, etc. 3. There is a spectrum of protective measures to protect HCW from CTD exposure (IPE, equipment of specialized working places for CTD solutions' preparation, correct waste handling).


The use of the
extraordinary hydroelectric potential of the Amazon Basin originated an
increase in the offer of renewable energy in Brazil, which, in its turn, leads
to conflicts and a lack of consensus among different players owing to the
potential negative impacts related to the construction and operation of large
hydroelectric power plants in relatively well preserved areas. In this context,
environmental licensing is one of the national environmental policy's main
instruments for making decisions regarding the use of the hydroelectric potential,
especially the rivers of the Amazon Basin. Nevertheless, this significant
instrument has its limitations and requires adjustments in order to better aid
the decision making process regarding the use of water resources and land with
the goal of increasing the offer of electric energy.


This paper presents a practical strategy for utilizing the submodule (SM) redundancy of a modular multilevel converter (MMC) for its fault tolerance. This strategy provides a systematic framework for balancing the tradeoff between two conventional methods for using the active redundancy and, thus, achieves operational flexibility. One of the existing methods improves SM reliability owing to less voltage stress on the SM components by employing all of the SMs to form the ac or dc voltages (voltage-sharing mode). The other avoids transients by keeping the average SM voltage constant at the cost of slightly increased stress on the SM components (fixed-level mode), which, however, can be controlled to provide the grid-adaptive operation by reserving the energy of the SMs not in service. We, thus, develop a new redundancy management scheme by integrating these two methods and exploiting their technical benefits to meet the PQ requirements and MMC control performance. This research provides a theoretical basis and a technical guide to determining the number of SMs, which can further increase the voltage steps as per the MMC and grid conditions. This paper also connects the remaining PQ capability of the MMC at a particular operating point with the SM redundancy concept by defining a potential redundancy, especially useful when the physical redundancy is exhausted. The theoretical findings and efficacy of the proposed strategy are validated through PSCAD/EMTDC time-domain simulations followed by experiments using a nine-level single-phase MMC system.


Unknown features in untargeted
metabolomics and non-targeted analysis (NTA) are identified using fragment ions
from MS/MS spectra to predict the structures of the unknown compounds. The
precursor ion selected for fragmentation is commonly performed using data
dependent acquisition (DDA) strategies or following statistical analysis using
targeted MS/MS approaches. However, the selected precursor ions from DDA only
cover a biased subset of the peaks or features found in full scan data. In
addition, different statistical analysis can select different precursor ions
for MS/MS analysis, which make the post-hoc
validation of ions selected by new statistical methods impossible for precursor
ions selected by the original statistical method. Here we propose an automated,
exhaustive, statistical model-free workflow: paired mass distance-dependent
analysis (PMDDA), for untargeted mass spectrometry identification of unknown
compounds. By removing redundant peaks and performing pseudo-targeted MS/MS
analysis on independent peaks, we can comprehensively cover unknown compounds
found in full scan analysis using a "one peak for one compound" workflow
without a priori redundant peak information. We show that compared to DDA,
PMDDA is more comprehensive and robust against samples' matrix effects.
Further, more compounds were identified by database annotation using PMDDA
compared with CAMERA and RAMClustR. Finally, compounds with signals in both
positive and negative modes can be identified by the PMDDA workflow, to further
reduce redundancies. The whole workflow is fully reproducible as a docker image
xcmsrocker with both the original data and the data processing template.


While we realize that this was not clearly stated anywhere in the manuscript, comprehensive documentation on how to download and compile WET is available from the WET website at wet.au.dk under 'for developers'. We have highlighted this fact in the code availability section of the manuscript, and will refer to this guide in the README.txt file as well. Regarding model usability, we have revised the description of QWET (i.e. the graphical user interface for the GOTM-WET model complex) to reflect that a tool is available for model users to ease model configuration and execution (see line 66).


Calcium channel blocker therapy has proved protective in certain models of ischemic‐induced acute renal failure. This effect may be related to the prevention of calcium influx into injured cells or by the vasodilatory effects of verapamil that may result in an improvement in renal blood flow. In the current study, the effect of verapamil treatment on the development of renal insufficiency and renal tissue calcium accumulation following aminoglycoside administration was investigated. The degree of functional damage and cortical tissue calcium accumulation after six or nine days of gentamicin administration (120 mg/kg body weight/day) was not significantly different in rats whose drinking water contained verapamil (10 mg/100 cc) than corresponding values in control animals. The tissue calcium accumulation correlated with the degree of reduction of creatinine clearance and probably reflects the extent of lethal tubular cell injury.


Childhood in the hotseat: On diagnostic labeling and the trivialized practice of psychotropic prescriptions. This research intends to discuss, through the analysis of medical files, the journey made by children and adolescents through the mental health service offered by the RAPS (Psycho-social Care Network) of a city located in the south-west region of the state of São Paulo, particularly focusing on the motivations behind the prescription of methylphenidate, especially for patients diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Data shows that, despite the absence of any medical diagnosis in 20% of the medical files, every single child was prescribed psychotropic medications, except for one patient, who didn't come back for their medical appointment. The conclusion was that only a few manage to avoid the maneuvers of the medicalization logic promoted by the common interests between psychiatry and pharmaceutical industry, whose chemical traps lead to subjectivity control and restraint nowadays.


The subject of Muslim integration has been the focus of much policy development, media engagement, and everyday conversation in France. Because of the strong rhetoric about national identity—a national identity based on Republican ideals of universalism, equality, and French secularism (laïcité)—the question often becomes, "Can Muslims, as Muslims, integrate into French society and 'be' French?" In other contexts (e.g., the United States), religion may act as an aid in immigrants' integration. In Europe, and France specifically, religion is viewed as an absolute hindrance to integration. Because of this, and thanks to a specific migration history of Muslims to France, the colonial grounding for the development of French nationality and secularism, and the French assimilationist model of integration, Muslims are often viewed as, at best, not able to integrate and, at worst, not willing to integrate into French society. The socioeconomic inequality between Muslim and non-Muslim French (as represented by life in the banlieues [suburbs]), the continued labeling of second- and third-generation North African Muslim youth as "immigrants," the occurrence of terrorist attacks and radicalization on European soil, and the use of religious symbols (whether the head scarf or religious food practices) as symbols of intentional difference all add to the perception that Muslims are, and should be, the subject of integration efforts in France. While the discourse is often that Muslims have failed to integrate into French society through an acceptance and enactment of French values and policies, new research is suggesting that the "failed" integration of Muslims reveals a deeper failure of French Republican universalism, equality, and secularism.


We present an analysis of the disk brightness profiles of 218 spiral and lenticular galaxies. At least 28% of disk galaxies exhibit inner truncations in these profiles. There are no significant trends of truncation incidence with Hubble type, but the incidence among barred systems is 49%, more than 4 times that for nonbarred galaxies. However, not all barred systems have inner truncations, and not all inner-truncated systems are currently barred. Truncations represent a real dearth of disk stars in the inner regions and are not an artifact of our selection or fitting procedures nor the result of obscuration by dust. Disk surface brightness profiles in the outer regions are well represented by simple exponentials for both truncated and nontruncated disks. However, truncated and nontruncated systems have systematically different slopes and central surface brightness parameters for their disk brightness distributions. Truncation radii do not appear to correlate well with the sizes or brightnesses of the bulges. This suggests that the low angular momentum material apparently missing from the inner disk was not simply consumed in forming the bulge population. Disk parameters and the statistics of bar orientations in our sample indicate that the missing stars of the inner disk have not simply been redistributed azimuthally into bar structures. The sharpness of the brightness truncations and their locations with respect to other galactic structures suggest that resonances associated with disk kinematics, or tidal interactions with the mass of bulge stars, might be responsible for this phenomenon.


Cattle slurry represents a significant resource on grassland-based farming systems. The objective of this thesis was to investigate and devise cattle slurry application methods and strategies that can be implemented on grassland farms to improve the efficiency with which nitrogen (N) in cattle slurry is recycled. The research focused on slurry application method and timing techniques that have been shown to reduce ammonia emissions following slurry application. Further, it was investigated whether the reduction in ammonia emissions translates into an increase in the N fertiliser replacement value (NFRV) of applied slurry. The study also included an economic analysis of the costs and benefits of low-emission slurry application methods, including a sensitivity analysis of the impact of costs that are likely to vary between farms. A modelling study showed that low-emission application methods, which reduce herbage contamination and therefore permit slurry application into taller grass swards, increase the opportunity for application in spring when the slurry NFRV is relatively high due to the prevailing weather conditions that reduce ammonia volatilisation. The extent to which the opportunity for application in spring can be extended is affected by soil type, with more opportunity being afforded on more freely drained soil types. The extent to which herbage contamination is reduced by the low-emission application method was also affected by the grass height at application. Application methods that permit damage free traffic into taller swards permit greater potential to extend the opportunity for spring application. In multi-year and multi-site field experiments, the NFRV of cattle slurry applied to grassland was increased by application using trailing shoe in short grass swards compared with conventional broadcast application using splash-plate. The NFRV was also higher when slurry was applied in April compared with June. However, there was no advantage over splash-plate in using the trailing shoe application method in taller grass swards, as the damage to the sward by the machinery traffic negated the benefits of reduced ammonia volatilisation. An economic assessment showed that there was a net cost associated with adopting low-emission application methods on farms. The benefit of mineral N fertiliser savings due to ammonia emission abatement was not sufficient to offset the additional costs of adoption. The sensitivity analysis showed that the factors that had greatest impact on the costs were the assumed ammonia emission abatement potentials, the volume of slurry being applied annually with each machine, and the hourly work rate of the equipment. The capital costs of increased tractor power contributed significantly to the total capital costs of adoption of low-emission equipment. The results of this work were combined with literature data to devise updated NFRVs for slurry application to grassland in Ireland. The new advice includes differentiation of NFRVs based on application method, timing and residual N release. This represents a major step forward in advice to farmers for slurry application, and farmers have responded through improved management of application timing. The study shows that the combination of more application in spring and adopting low-emission application methods have a role to play in improving N efficiency from slurry in the future.


S OF DOCTORAL THESES ON THE INDONESIAN ECONOMY Rural Financial Institutions and Households in Indonesia after Liberalisation: An Analysis of the Rural Financial Market of Lombok Ketut Budastra (firstname.lastname@example.com) Accepted 2003, School of Natural and Rural Systems Management, University of Queensland This thesis is concerned with rural financial development in an economically less developed region of Indonesia, Lombok in the province of West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), after financial liberalisation (particularly during the period 1988–98). The study examined (a) the impact of financial liberalisation on the extent and efficiency of the rural financial system at the provincial level; (b) the performance of rural financial institutions (RFIs) at the subdistrict level; (c) household demand for and access to financial services from various sources; and (d) the factors associated with the above. The research used quantitative and qualitative data collected from primary and secondary sources, including two surveys (involving 25 RFIs and 180 Lombok households), several case studies, and published and unpublished financial and socio-economic statistics from relevant institutions at the provincial level. The data analysis included descriptive statistics, associations, mean differences and correlation. The study found the following. In many respects, financial liberalisation brought about substantial improvement in the rural financial market of the less developed economy of NTB province, of which Lombok is a part. The liberalisation of interest rates shifted the economics of the rural (micro) financial services from unprofitable businesses to economically promising ones, while the liberalisation of rural financial institution entry opened the way for the establishment of new RFIs. As a result, five types of RFIs, one upgraded and four new, were brought into the rural financial market during the liberalisation process. All these were for-profit entities. The level of financial intermediation by bank RFIs was generally improved, as their loan-to-deposit ratio (LDR) moved toward 100%. The bank interest rate was consistently higher than the inflation rate, providing a basis for cost-effective financial intermediation. Apart from financial policy, aspects of the market environment such as population, economic conditions and infrastructure also affected the performance of the RFIs. Further, the performance of individual RFIs varied by type, office network, asset size, service policy and service mechanism. The structure of household demand for financial services revealed that the formal financial system was superior to the informal one in terms of total savings amounts, number of savers and credit amounts, but inferior with respect to number of borrowers. Small borrowers and farmers remained under-served by the Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2004: 395–400 ISSN 0007-4918 print/ISSN 1472-7234 online/04/030395-6 © 2004 Indonesia Project ANU DOI: 10.1080/0007491042000231548 Carfax Publishing Taylor & Francis Group CBIEDec04 27/10/04 4:23 PM Page 395


Integration of the whole operations enabling gene expression analysis on microchips is a rather recent advance in the – rather young – world of microfluidics. Here, we summarize the gradual evolutions that led from the very first "millifluidic" integrated chip for RNA analysis to more sophisticated and sensitive devices. We show how the developments of an initially applied problematic (creating portable integrated devices for e.g. point of care analysis) are finally used for studies of fundamental importance in cell biology. Two main families of devices are found in the literature: those integrating multiple steps to carry out RNA reverse transcription and DNA amplification separately, and those that take advantage of the recent developments of biology chemicals to perform RNA analysis in a single step. The latter are generally highly sensitive, and single cell RNA analysis has been made possible in very low volume handling systems. Nevertheless, in contrast to some other microfluidics biological applications, there remains room for progress in miniaturized gene expression analysis. Further efforts are still needed to provide reliable tools for use in applied biology as well as in fundamental research.


The complex Langevin method is a general method to treat systems with complex action, such as QCD at nonzero density. The formal justification relies on the absence of certain boundary terms, both at infinity and at the unavoidable poles of the drift force. Here I focus on the boundary terms at these poles for simple models, which so far have not been discussed in detail. The main result is that those boundary terms (for the "un-evolved" observables) arise after running the Langevin process for a finite time and vanish again as the Langevin time goes to infinity. This is in contrast to the boundary terms at infinity, which can be found to occur in the long time limit (cf. the contribution by Dénes Sexty).


How processes of gentrification unfold, at what rate, and with what effects, can all differ substantially in different places. Although pre-existing theories have sought to encapsulate this diversity, the temporal and spatial limits of gentrification processes have yet to be fully explored. This paper postulates that population geographers have a role to play here. Firstly, researchers are urged to study gentrification within a broader temporal perspective, and to unravel connections between migration dynamics and population transitions over the course of the process. Secondly, it is contended that processes and effects of gentrification should be examined within wider spatial frameworks, whereby migration flows of relatively affluent households are evaluated within the context of (re)urbanisation, suburbanisation and counterurbanisation. This may pose important questions about the understandings of demographic links between gentrification and in-migrants at particular stages of their life-course. It is argued that this research agenda will require the adoption of more inclusive definitions of gentrification, embracing wider spatial and temporal criteria. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


ABSTRACT Typologies of marriage patterns in early modern Europe have been formulated by John Hajnal and Peter Laslett. However, demographic and anthropological studies have noticed that marriage patterns in the Balkan area have exhibited such great variability that it is difficult to classify them in any of the categories proposed by Laslett. This article examines the marriage patterns in Greece and some of her island populations in the time-span of the twentieth century. Although the marriage patterns examined do not conform to any pre-defined typology, it seems that up to the first half of the twentieth century the pattern of mainland Greece constituted an intermediate case between the West and the East European marriage patterns but that that on the islands was totally different. The marriage patterns on the Ionian Islands had more features in common with the West European pattern, while the marriage pattern of the Cyclades reveals certain characteristics (but not all) of the Mediterranean pattern.


Studies were conducted at Estacao Experimental de Citricultura de Bebedouro, SP to evaluate the response of glyphosate-resistant horseweed and hairy fleabane biotypes to herbicides glyphosate, bromacil + diuron, diuron e paraquat isolated and in mixture and effect of a sequential application of glyphosate. The experimental design was of complete randomized blocks with four replication and seven treatments. The herbicides were applied with costal sprayer, constant pressure with three nozzles TT110015, the equivalent spray volume was 150 L ha-1. The control was visually evaluated, trough percentile note scale. The best results were obtained to general control of weed with diuron isolated and glyphosate in mixture with bromacil + diuron while to glyphosate-resistant horseweed and hairy fleabane there was no difference between the treatments. After sequential application to Conyza sp control, the best treatment was obtained associated with diuron and bromacil+diuron.


Broadcasting is envisioned to be a vital technology that will govern the behavior and analysis of vehicular networks. Since the topology of VANETs is subject to rapid changes, an efficient utilization of the broadcasting technology can easily help in conveying the location information of the vehicles as well as for the purpose of avoiding accidents. This work, with an emphasis on the broadcasting of emergency messages in a multi-hop broadcasting scenario, studies the characteristics of broadcasting delay in a vehicular ad hoc network by means of simulations for various network scenarios. The broadcasting delay is evaluated and simulated for the following scenarios - sparse networks, freeway scenario and cluster-based networks, which compensate for the short-comings in a freeway scenario. The effect of variation in the ZOR was also observed. Finally, the cluster based model was incorporated in the freeway scenario and its resulting effect on the delay behavior was observed.


METHODS
a search of the major databases was carried out to identify randomised controlled trials of intra-arterial thrombolytic therapy in the treatment of limb ischaemia. The search was limited to English language articles, or those that provided a sufficiently detailed English summary, and to articles published after 1980. In addition, key journals were hand-searched and citations were also reviewed. Two reviewers independently performed data extraction and aggregate outcomes were obtained using a random effects meta-analysis.

RESULTS
a total of 34 articles were found, but only 10 were reports of randomised controlled trials. Meta-analysis showed no significant differences between thrombolysis and surgery in terms of major amputation (relative risk (RR) 0.893 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.576, 1.383) and mortality (RR 1.24 95% CI 0.795, 1.9). However, there was an increased risk of haemorrhage with thrombolysis (RR 2.94 95% CI 1.1, 7.9). Sub-group analysis suggests that short-duration occlusions (relative risk reduction (RRR) 72%, numbers needed to benefit (NNB)=3) and occluded grafts (RRR 58%, NNB=4) may benefit from thrombolysis. However, thrombolysis should be avoided in occlusions of greater than 14 days - particularly native vessel occlusions.

CONCLUSION
despite the theoretical advantages of thrombolysis, there is still insufficient evidence to justify its widespread use except in graft occlusions and short-duration ischaemia.


Background : Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects children worldwide. In Nigeria, there is paucity of information on the socio-demographic associates of this important childhood condition. Methods : Across-sectional study was conducted between February and August 2006 among 1473 public primary school pupils aged 6 to 12 years, selected randomly among pupils drawn from Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. The subjects were screened using Disruptive Behaviour Disorder (DBD) Rating Scale to identify children with ADHD symptoms. Identified subjects were further evaluated with questionnaires to ensure that they met the other explicit non-symptom criteria contained in the DSM-IV manual, such as functional impairments. Children who were confirmed to have ADHD were compared with randomly selected controls to determine the association, if any, between the prevalence of the condition and some sociodemographic characteristics. Results : The prevalence of ADHD was 7.6%. There was no statistically significant difference in the prevalence of ADHD amongst the different age cohorts. No significant association was found between the prevalence of ADHD and socioeconomic background, size of family, age of parents and characteristics of the child's primary caregiver. The children with ADHD had significantly lower school aggregate than that of selected control (Mean aggregate score of 51.7+16.1% versus 63.7+ 16.5%,p Conclusion : The prevalence of ADHD in this study is relatively high. Community screening under the umbrella of the School Health Programme is required. Appropriate medications, educational support and psychotherapy when incorporated in the national health system will go a long way in redirecting affected children's developmental lives.


st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The acanthothoracid placoderms are among the most phylogenetically basal and morphologically primitive gnathostomes. However, their endocranial anatomy is not well understood; only one genus, Brindabellaspis, has been described in detail. Here we present a near-complete three-dimensional skull of Romundina stellina, a small Early Devonian acanthothoracid from the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, scanned at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France, at a 7.45 µm resolution using propagation phase contrast. Despite some loss of material along an oblique crack, most of the internal structures are remarkably preserved. Each postethmoid cranial and craniospinal nerve can be followed between the well-preserved endocranial cavity and the walls of the perichondrally ossified neurocranium. The minute nerve canals that supplied the neuromast organs of the sensory line system are preserved and can in the postorbital area be traced directly to a branch of the facial nerve. Both inner ears are present. The vascular mesh of the dermal bones has been reconstructed in detail, rendering visible the dermal plate boundaries of the skull roof, and is shown to connect to larger internal veins that drain to the edge of the braincase or into the jugular vein canal. The curvature of the latter vessels parallels the outer surface of the inner ear and may demarcate the boundary between otic capsule proper and applied hyoid arch material. Overall, the braincase morphology appears less extreme (and less primitive?) than that of Brindabellaspis, in some respects more reminiscent of a primitive arthrodire such as Kujdanowiaspis. These differences may illuminate the earliest stages of placoderm cranial evolution.


The annealing behaviour of 400 keV Er ions at a fluence of 2×1015 cm−2 implanted into silicon-on-insulator (SOI) samples is investigated by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry of 2.1 MeV He2+ ions with a multiple scattering model. It is found that the damage close to the SOI surface is almost removed after being annealed in O2 and N2 atmospheres, successively, at 900°C, and that only a small number of the Er atoms segregated to the surface of the SOI sample, whereas a large number of Er atoms diffused to a deeper position because of the affinity of Er for oxygen. For the SOI sample co-implanted with Er and O ions, there is no evident outdiffusion of Er atoms to the SOI surface after being annealed in N2 atmosphere at 900°C.


The relation between Thailand and France in the 17th century reached its peak in September 1687, when the French squadron of six warships arrived in the Gulf of Siam to station troops in Bangkok. But early in 1688 King Narai, who had sought alliance with France became he had been threatened by Dutch commercial interests, became seriously ill. Many Siamese officials took part in the conspiracy of Phra Phetracha, who attempted to seize power. They accused Constance Phaulkon, a Greek favorite of King Narai, who was in close relationship with the French Jesuits.At that time, there were four French groups in Siam. Besides the troops commanded by Marshall Desfarges and the Jesuits, there resided the French missionaries of the Society of Foreign Missions and the servants of the French East India Company. There were as many French interests in Siam as the number of these French groups.Faced with the newly developed situation, the French could not agree as to what kind of measures they should take. But we can say that the French as a whole took moves with the troops being the main motivating force. French officers and soldiers were all frightened at the unexpected disorder in Siam. They decided not to consent to the new authority, Phra Phetracha. Their fight at Bangkok Fort, often called the victorious defense, was, however, a desperate one. After the fight which took less than 20 days, the French garrison asked for withdrawal from Siam. The Siamese allowed their withdrawal and generously offered food and ships for carrying the troops by an agreement made both by the Siamese and the French. But the French broke the agreement, which caused the French missionaries left in Siam to endure hardships later on.The incidents in 1688 are well known as the Revolution in Siam from many European accounts. Although the Europeans consider it as a revolution, it was not a revolution for the Siamese, for there was no change in the Siamese attitude toward the Europeans. The Siamese considered French friendship as the means of accumulating its wealth. For them, the French East India Company was the most important source in maintaining their relationship with France. During the fight at the French garrison in Bangkok, the Siamese kept friendly terms with the Company's agents and their hope to trade with the French did not cease after the revolution.The aim of the French to have relationship with Siam was not exclusively commercial but also political and religious. In contrast with this multifarious, or rather confused interests of the French, it is clear that the Siamese concentrated their interests on the commercial aspects. In the negotiations with the French, the king himself as well as his officials showed their ability as capable merchants. The process of Phetracha's accession to the throne indicates other interesting features of the 17th-century Siamese state and its kingship.


ABSTRACT The mystery of the assassination on October 15, 1969 of President Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, the second civilian Somali leader in the postcolonial period, has been misunderstood. Soon after, on the October 21, 1969, at 3 o'clock in the morning, Radio Mogadishu announced that the military seized the power and overthrew the civilian government. It was also announced the prime minister and members of his government as well as former President Aden Abdulle Osman and other politicians were arrested. The parliament was abolished, the constitution suspended, and all political and social organizations banned. Based on newly unearthed primary sources—previously classified court documents, official government bulletins, intelligence sources, and oral interviews with key witnesses—this article assesses for the first time the circumstances surrounding the assassination. Who masterminded the assassination? Why and what was the motivation behind it still remains a puzzle to Somalis and non-Somalis. The assassination was among the high-profile murders in East Africa that year: including, the assassinations of Tom Mboya, a senior minister in Kenya on July 5, 1969, and of Eduardo Chivambo Mondlane, the leader of Mozambique Liberation Front, on February 3, 1969. Most Somalis and non-Somalis assume that Abdirashid was "killed" due to an intractable clan rivalry over state power between contesting postcolonial elites. This article counters the conventional explanations of the assassination by contending that the Soviets and Siad Barre played a crucial role in Abdirashid's assassination: for the former, removing a pro-Western administration was paramount, for the latter, the aim was to seize power through the ideology of a Soviet-style socialism.


BACKGROUND
Emergence and spread of carbapenemase (bla OXA) genes in multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (MDR-AB) forming biofilm complicated treatment of the patients infected with this microorganism particularly in intensive care units (ICUs).

OBJECTIVES
The current study aimed to determine the prevalence of molecular class-D OXA carbapenemase in biofilm and non-biofilm forming strains of MDR-AB.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 65 strains of MDR-AB were isolated from the patients hospitalized in the ICU of two hospitals in Kerman, Iran. The isolates were identified by conventional microbiological tests as well as API 20NE assay. Antibiotic susceptibility was carried out by disk diffusion method; minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of carbapenems was measured by E-test. The presence of bla OXA genes among the isolates were studied by duplex-polymerase chain reaction and application of appropriate primers. Biofilm formation was detected by microtiter plate method.

RESULTS
The isolates were highly resistant to ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, piperacillin, nalidixic acid and third generation cephalosporins such as tigecycline (7%; n = 5) and colistin (13%; n = 8). Among the isolates, 77% (n = 50) exhibited high MIC (265μg/mL) for imipenem. Both the bla OXA-51 and bla OXA-23 like genes coexisted in all the isolates; while, bla OXA-24/40 like gene was only detected in 29 imipenem-resistant strains (P ≤ 0.05). The bla OXA-58 like gene was not detected among the isolated strains. Quantification of biofilm introduced 23 isolates (including bla OXA-24/40 strains) with efficient attachment to microtiter plate; while, those isolates without bla OXA-24/40, or imipenem-sensitive strains formed weak or no biofilm.

CONCLUSIONS
Coexistence of the bla OXA-51, bla OXA-23 and bla OXA-24/40 like genes, along with formation of strong biofilm, in MDR-AB strains particularly with indiscriminate use of imipenem, complicated treatment of the patients infected with these bacteria in the hospitals understudy.


Robert Grossmark expands our current understanding of the relationship between hermeneutic psychoanalysis, relational psychoanalysis, and complexity theory, illustrating this relationship in the context of presenting his work and discussion of his group psychotherapy experiences. Complexity theory continues to be increasingly elaborated in psychoanalysis and integrated into psychoanalytic theories centered on multiplicity, dissociation, and enactment. The utility, vicissitudes, and potential problems with this integration necessitate an emphasis on the distinction between thinking phenomenologically and thinking explanatorily. Recommendations are offered for a more seamless integration and application of these theories.


Low-light image enhancement exhibits an ill-posed nature, as a given image may have many enhanced versions, yet recent studies focus on building a deterministic mapping from input to an enhanced version. In contrast, we propose a lightweight one-path conditional generative adversarial network (cGAN) to learn a one-to-many relation from low-light to normal-light image space, given only sets of low- and normal-light training images without any correspondence. By formulating this ill-posed problem as a modulation code learning task, our network learns to generate a collection of enhanced images from a given input conditioned on various reference images. Therefore our inference model easily adapts to various user preferences, provided with a few favorable photos from each user. Our model achieves competitive visual and quantitative results on par with fully supervised methods on both noisy and clean datasets, while being 6 to 10 times lighter than state-of-the-art generative adversarial networks (GANs) approaches.


Carbon case hardening, through natural evolution, commercialism, and economics, has become a process for which the possible number of variables is so large that it is hardly likely that any two companies will process exactly the same. There will always be some difference in choice of materials, equipment, or technique, and there will often be differences in the quality of the product. There may even be conflict of opinion regarding what is good practice and what is bad, and what is a valid test and what is meaningless. For each component treated, there is an optimum material and process combination, but who knows what this is for any given component? Most conflicts stem from there being too great a choice of materials or process variables and from the wide range of components that are required to be case hardened. Despite all this, what the carburizing processes have in common is that they produce at the surface of the component a layer of carbon-rich material that after quenching, by whichever technique, should provide a surface that is hard. Regrettably, this is no indication that the casehardening process has been successful. Additional microstructural features may exist along with, or instead of, the aimed-for martensite, and these indeed can significantly influence the properties of the component, thereby affecting its service life. The microstructural features referred to are internal oxidation, decarburization, free carbides, retained austenite, and microcracks in the martensite. Further modifications to the martensite in particular can be effected by tempering, and the proportions of austenite and martensite can be altered by subzero treatment after quenching. Cold working by either peening or rolling can modify the surface microstructures and have significant bearing on the life of the component, as too can surface grinding. One must not overlook the value of the microstructure and properties of the core or of the influence of inherent features such as microsegregation, cleanliness, and grain size. The aforementioned structural variants are the subject of this review, and where possible, examples of their effect in terms of properties are given. Those properties mainly referred to are bending-fatigue strength, contact-fatigue resistance, hardness, and wear resistance. These properties were chosen because it is to promote one or more of these properties that the carburizing treatment is employed. A gear tooth is a good example in which each of these must be considered. Some significance has been placed on the residual stresses developed during carburizing because these are additive to the applied stresses.


The origin of cosmic ray (CR) spectral knee around ∼ 4 PeV is unknown. Composition studies around the knee can provide information on the CR sources and propagation. LHAASO-KM2A is capable of simultaneously measuring the EM and muonic components in extensive air showers. The triggered events of LHAASO-KM2A are dominated by CRs of higher energies at larger zenith angles because of the increasing atmospheric attenuation. In this work, we use the KM2A observed spectrum of muon-to-electron number ratio to constrain CR composition around the knee. The muon-to-electron number ratio spectra are compared between Monte Carlo (MC) simulation and experiment data over a wide zenith angle range. We report a MC excess at large zenith angles, which sets an upper limit on CR Fe flux at PeVs. Systematic uncertainties of interaction models and atmospheric models are briefly discussed.


To confirm the application of a newer in vitro assays to determining the nutritional value of marine crustaceans (mainly shrimps and crabs), which have been considered to be highly nutritive depending on their levels of the essential amino acids and digestibility, their C-PERs and DC-PERs were determined and studied the factors influencing their in vitro results. Four species of seawater shrimps and 2 species of seawater crabs were used in this experiment. The in vitro digestibilities showed for raw shrimps and the trypsin indigestibile substrate content (TIS) was ranged from 1.32 to 3.33 mg/g solid expressed quantitatively as mg of purified soybean trypsin inhibitor. The smaller size of shrimps revealed a greater in vitro digestibility and a lower contents of TIS. It was noted that the in vitro digestibility of raw blue crab meat was around while boiled tenner crab meat showed or above, and the leg meat had the greatest in vitro digestibility in the various parts of crab meats. The poor in vitro digestibilities for shrimp's and crab's meat, compared with that of the other seafoods as noted in previous reports, suggest that the drop in pH, due to the change in their freshness during harvesting and frozen storage, resulted in underestimating their digestibilities using four-enzyme digestion technique. The lysine contents in all samples were higher than that of ANRC casein but they contained a slightly lower sulfur-containing amino acids than those in ANRC casein. But the other EAA, such as valine, tyrosine and phenylalanine, were found to be a half as little as that in casein and played a key-factor in calculation of C-PER or DC-PER. It was observed that the value of C-PER and DC-PER for all samples ranged from 2.1 to 2.4, and the predicted digestibilities showed or above in all samples. It was a different results from the fact that the animal proteins bear a higher values and predicted digestibilities than those of C-PER values. The lack of correlation between C-PER and DC-PER values is attributable to the fact that the lower content of valine, tyrosine and phenylalanine, and drop in pH owing to the changes of freshness in marine crustacea proteins. Therefore, if a newer in vitro digestion technique-which are taken into account the pH drop before digestion, TIS content and released free amino acids and/or peptides-developed, C-PER assays can provide more advantages in assessing the protein nutritional value of marine crustacea than any other in vitro assays.


A reduced-complexity modified decoding algorithm for turbo trellis-coded modulation (TTCM) is proposed and evaluated in terms of complexity and bit error rate (BER) performance in an additive white Gaussian noise channel. The algorithm uses an optimal approximation of the Jacobian logarithm, used in the so-called Log-MAP decoding, by means of the max operation and three piecewise-linear terms. Further computational complexity savings are obtained by applying this approximation only to the two largest values within the decoding step. To improve performance, the algorithms are also investigated using a scaling factor for the extrinsic information. Computer-simulated BER performance evaluation results and complexity comparisons are reported showing the near-optimal performance as well as noticeable implementation advantages of the proposed algorithms with respect to the Log-MAP decoding.


ABSTRACT
 Effectiveness of four Cry toxins (Cry1Ac, Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, and Cry1C) on Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Guenée) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), collected from paddy fields in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China, was evaluated in the laboratory. Bioassays showed that C. medinalis had different susceptibilities against four Cry toxins. The LC50 values of Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab, Cry1Aa, and Cry1C against C. medinalis were 0.405, 1.111, 1.939, and 1.246 µg/ml, respectively. Furthermore, the mortality of C. medinalis against different Cry toxins showed different results over time and LT50 values of Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab, Cry1Aa, and Cry1C against C. medinalis were 1.5, 2.3, 1.6, and 2.2 d, respectively. Preference of the larvae to Cry toxins revealed that C. medinalis larvae had no significant feeding preference on leaves without Bacillus thuringiensis (Bacillales: Bacillaceae; [Bt]) toxin compared with those containing Bt toxin. However, different Cry toxins had different attractive abilities to C. medinalis larvae. During 8 h after infestation, C. medinalis larvae preferred the leaves with Cry1Ab (22.4–27.6%) over those with Cry1Ac or Cry1C.


This paper provides survey evidence on higher purpose for individuals and organizations and develops a theoretical model consistent with the evidence. The survey of 1,019 individuals in the U.S. sought to learn about their commitment to and perceived value from personal and organizational higher purpose. One striking finding from the survey is that when an organization has a written statement of higher purpose, its employees tend to trust their leaders to not only be socially responsible, but also to make better business decisions, i.e. corporate governance is perceived to be better by the employees. We then develop a simple theoretical model that provides an economic rationale for this finding. In the model, an investment in higher purpose credibly signals the firm owner's ability/marginal productivity and elicits higher employee effort. When put in a banking context, the model shows that optimal contracting within a bank that pursues a higher purpose leads to higher wages for employees, higher monitoring effort and a lower probability of bank failure when the bank has more equity capital, even though the bank's capital does not affect the bank's higher purpose investment. Even absent a signaling motivation for investing in higher purpose, these results are qualitatively sustained if the bank's employees care about its purpose. Additionally, in this case, banks that invest more in higher purpose pay lower wages, elicit higher employee effort and have lower failure probabilities for any given capital ratio. Banks with higher capital ratios still pay higher wages, but the effect of capital on wages becomes weaker as the bank's higher purpose investment increases. The decrease in the exposure of the deposit insurer due to higher capital goes beyond the direct impact of capital on the bank's probability of failure.


alpha-Cyano-alpha-ferrocenylethoxytrimethylsilame was prepared by the addition of trimethysilyl cyanide to acetylferrocene. 2-Hydroxy-2-ferrocenylpropylamine(FcA) was synthesized by the reduction of alpha-cyano-alpha-ferrocenylethoxytrimethylsilame with lithium aluminum hydride. A series of coordinate complexes--FcA-Ni(II), FcA-Cu(II), FcA-Zn(II), FcA-Cd(II) and FcA-Hg(II) were obtained through coordination of this ligand with MCl2 (M= Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Hg). The FTIR spectra of the complexes and ligand were obtained in the range of 4 000-400 cm(-1). Their major bands were assigned and compared. The results showed that in all complexes some bands(upsilonO-H, upsilonN-H sigmaO-H, sigmaN-H) were shifted to lower wave number, and some(upsilonC-N, upsilonO-N) were shifted to higher wave number. The aminoalcohol groups and metal ions were bound with coordinated bond.


Intelligent optical network (ION) is deemed the representation of next generation optical networks, which can realize fast establishment of connections, automatic resource discovery, traffic engineering and many other intelligent functions. Compared with traditional network management, ION management has some new characteristics due to the introduction of intelligent control plane and deserves deeper research. In this paper, we proposed an inter-domain layered ION management system scheme dealing with the multi-domain network environment. And the management information models designed for ION are presented, especially that for the control plane and three connection types. Then we discuss the key technologies, which we use to implement the ION management system, for instance DML, Java and CORBA. At last, the simulation results of the ION management system are showed.


The study was conducted to investigate the stomach content and index of food significance of Parachanna obscura, in Kiri reservoir, Shelleng, Adamawa state, Nigeria for a period of six months from May to October, 2015. A total 62 fish were collected on the landing site, caught by gill nets of various stretched mesh sizes. In which 46 (74.19 %) had contents with various degree of fullness, while 16 (25.81 %) specimens had empty stomachs. The stomach contents were analyzed using frequency of occurrence, Relative Frequency and the Point's method. The food items in the stomach covered a wide variety, ranging from various types of Algae to insect parts. The major food items in terms of frequency of occurrence were pithopora and spirogyra had 60.87 % and 55.52 % respectively, which made them the most frequent in occurrence, insect parts appeared the least, with a 10.87 % frequency of occurrence. The Relative Frequency showed that volvox had the highest with 13.07 % while insect parts had the lowest with 0.82 %. The Index Food Significance (IFS) of P. obscura shows that Filamentous Algae and Colonial Algae are the secondary diet of the species, spirogyra (IFS=1.42 %), Pithopora (IFS=1.51 %), Ulothrix (IFS=1.10 %), Volvox (IFS=1.56 %), while its incidental diet include Green Algae, Cyanobacteria and Diatom, with IFS of <0.1. This report could help in measure towards the data needed to create a food web in Kiri reservoir, and eventually a trophic model that can be used in fisheries management.