BACKGROUND
The neuroanatomic basis of affective processing deficits in Huntington disease is insufficiently understood. We investigated whether Huntington disease-related deficits in emotion recognition and experience are associated with specific changes in grey matter volume.

METHOD
We assessed grey matter volume in symptomatic patients with Huntington disease and healthy controls using voxel-based morphometry, and we correlated regional grey matter volume with participants' affective ratings.

RESULTS
We enrolled 18 patients with Huntington disease and 18 healthy controls in our study. Patients with Huntington disease showed normal affective experience but impaired recognition of negative emotions (disgust, anger, sadness). The patients perceived the emotions as less intense and made more classification errors than controls. These deficits were correlated with regional atrophy in emotion-relevant areas (insula, orbitofrontal cortex) and in memory-relevant areas (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, hippocampus).

LIMITATIONS
Our study was limited by the small sample size and the resulting modest statistical power relative to the number of tests.

CONCLUSION
Our study sheds new light on the importance of a cognitive-affective brain circuit involved in the affect recognition impairment in patients with Huntington disease.


This research examines the regional effect of MNEs' foreign subsidiary localization. We hypothesize that the number of subsequent foreign subsidiaries in a country is in part determined by a firm's prior foreign subsidiary activity at the regional level. We test our hypotheses using data on 1,076 Japanese MNEs that created 3,466 foreign subsidiaries (1,837 wholly owned FDIs and 1,629 joint ventures) over the period 1996-2001. We use a multi-level Negative Binomial approach with three levels of analysis: localization decisions in a country (49 countries), in a region (six regions), and at the headquarters level. In this way, we test the regional effects controlling for country and corporate dimensions. We also run separate models to differentiate wholly owned and joint venture localization decisions. Our results strongly support the semi-globalization perspective in that the regional level effects are significant and different from the country level effects for all foreign subsidiaries, for wholly owned subsidiaries and for JVs. Japanese MNEs adopt a regional perspective that complements their decisions at the country and firm levels. They seek regional agglomeration benefits and make arbitrage decisions between countries in the same region


The ability to abstract information is a basic competency in today's knowledge society, characterized by the mass diffusion of information and the need to manage and access it effectively. Yet abstracting is not an easy task, and requires a specific learning process. This paper examines the process of abstracting information from the perspective of competencies and skills-based learning of students of information and documentation. The competencies and skills necessary in this process, which are drawn from European sources on library science and documentation, are identified by analysing in detail the various stages and processes involved in writing an abstract. The general skills required for the whole process, as well as the specific skills for each stage, are determined. Guidelines and recommendations are put forward to facilitate the learning of these skills in the context of abstracting.


The tropical cucurbitaceous genus Zehneria as traditionally circumscribed displays much morphological diversity. Recent taxonomic revisions have resulted in its redefinition through both recognition and subsequent lumping of several additional genera. This study utilized plastid and nuclear DNA sequence data to reconstruct a molecular phylogeny of Zehneria and its close relatives in order to test whether these revisions reflected the molecular evolution in this group. The results suggest that Neoachmandra is monophyletic, and that Zehneria in a restricted sense and Neoachmandra accessions form a single monophyletic clade, whereas Pilogyne in its present understanding is polyphyletic. In the light of these results Pilogyne should be merged back into Zehneria from which it was split off earlier.


Abstract : The current Norwegian Defence White paper emphasizes that the Defence is a knowledge organisation and needs to collect and analyse all relevant experiences in a systematic and methodical way. Lessons learned should be realised through amendments to current best practice, and consequences for Defence planning need to be investigated. In the Norwegian Defence there is not a Lessons Learned (LL) unit with capacity to actively collect lessons in a broad manner. This implies that the overall system is based on reports at pre-defined reporting points. These reports are staffed at the appropriate level and are stored in the FERDABALL-database as a central repository. Experiences from support to current operations, shows that the overall Lessons Learned system does not capture all relevant experiences. At the same time tactical units do have their own Lessons learned-process, but these are largely unit-internal and to some extent unit-specific. As a consequence, different units could have different best practices for the same task. When different units rotate into operations, filling the same position, this will on many occasions have a negative impact on performance. At the same time analysis of reports currently stored in the LL-database shows that reported lessons are recurring, thus indicating weak linkages from the Lessons Learned process to the overall Defence planning process.


Increasingly complex abstraction and composition constructs have been proposed for Petri nets, sometimes to the point that the quantity and diversity of net inscriptions seem to obscure the proclaimed advantages of Petri nets graphical representation. These constructs are oriented towards system synthesis but typically overlook the necessity of future model modifications due to unanticipated changes in requirements. These can imply modifications across several of the initially composed modules. We propose the use of two simple composition operations, net addition and net subtraction, that allow the introduction of the necessary modifications without being dependent on the net class or composition constructs in use. The operations can even be used concomitantly with the existent composition constructs. Three application examples are also presented which illustrate the use of the proposed operations in classic settings.


Summary

The horse frequently shows idiopathic primary lymphoedema or secondary lymphoedema following trauma or infection to its limbs. Lymphoedema develops if the balance between the amount of lymphatic fluid and capacity of lymphatic transport is disturbed. Scintigraphy appears to be the only in vivo technique to evaluate lymphatic transport capacity. The aim of this study was to develop an evaluation technique to determine the lymph flow in the hindlimb of the horse. This technique might show potential to extend the possibilities for investigating disorders of the lymphatic system in equine extremities.


BACKGROUND
Higher dietary phosphorus is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy and mortality, which are blood pressure (BP)-related outcomes. For this reason, we hypothesized that dietary phosphorus may be associated with adverse clinic and ambulatory BP patterns.

METHODS
Our study included 973 African American adults enrolled in the Jackson Heart Study (2000-2004) with 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) data at baseline. We quantified dietary phosphorus from a validated Food Frequency Questionnaire as follows: (i) absolute daily intake, (ii) ratio of phosphorus-to-protein intake, (iii) phosphorus density, and (iv) energy-adjusted phosphorus intake. Using multivariable linear regression, we determined associations between dietary phosphorus intake and systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and pulse pressure in clinic and over daytime, nighttime, and 24-hour periods from ABPM. Extent of nocturnal BP dipping was also assessed. Using logistic regression, we modeled relationships between dietary phosphorus intake and clinically relevant qualitative BP phenotypes, such as masked, sustained, or white-coat hypertension and normotension.

RESULTS
There were no statistically significant associations between phosphorus intake and SBP or pulse pressure in adjusted models. Most metrics of higher phosphorus intake were associated with lower daytime, nighttime, and clinic DBP. Higher phosphorus intake was not associated with clinic or ABPM-defined hypertension overall, but most metrics of higher phosphorus intake were associated with lower odds of sustained hypertension compared to sustained normotension, white-coat hypertension, and masked hypertension. There were no associations between dietary phosphorus and nocturnal BP dipping.

CONCLUSIONS
These data do not support a role for higher phosphorus intake and higher BP in African Americans.


CONTEXT
In 2018, the U.S. military developed the Military Acute Concussion Evaluation-2 (MACE-2) to inform acute evaluation of mTBI. However, researchers have yet to investigate false positive rates for components of the MACE-2 including the Vestibular-Ocular Motor Screen (VOMS) and modified Balance Error Scoring System (mBESS) in military personnel.

OBJECTIVE
To examine factors associated with false positives in VOMS and mBESS in U.S. Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) personnel.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional study.

SETTING
Military medical clinic.

PARTICIPANTS
416 healthy USASOC personnel completed medical history, VOMS, and mBESS evaluations.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
False positive rates for the VOMS (2+ on VOMS symptom item, ≥ 5 cm for near point of convergence [NPC] distance) and mBESS (total score >4) were determined using chi-square analyses and independent samples t-tests. Multivariable logistic regressions (LR) with adjusted odds ratios (aOR) were performed to identify risk factors for false positives on VOMS and mBESS. VOMS items false positive rates ranged from 10.6% (smooth pursuits) to 17.5% (NPC). mBESS total score false positive rate was 36.5%.

RESULTS
The multivariable LR model supported three significant predictors of VOMS false positives including age (OR= 1.07, 95% CI= 1.02-1.12, p=0.007), migraine (OR=2.49, 95% CI= 1.29-4.81, p=0.007), and motion sickness history (OR=2.46, 95% CI= 1.34-4.50, p=0.004). Results of the multivariable LR model supported only motion sickness history as a significant predictor (OR=2.34, 95% CI= 1.34-4.05, p=0.002) of mBESS false positives.

CONCLUSIONS
There were low false positive rates across VOMS items, which were associated with age, history of mTBI, migraine, and motion sickness. False positives for the mBESS total score were higher (36.5%) and were only associated with a history of motion sickness. These risk factors for false positives should be considered when administering and interpreting VOMS and mBESS components of the MACE-2 in this population.


The present study aimed to detect the levels of microRNA (miR)-33a-5p in the renal tissue, serum and urine of patients with primary IgA nephropathy (IgAN), thereby preliminarily exploring the association between the levels of miR-33a-5p and the condition of primary IgAN to provide evidence for the expression of miR-33a-5p in the serum and urine of IgAN patients as a clinical marker. Reverse-transcription quantitative PCR was performed to evaluate the level of miR-33a-5p in IgAN patients according to severity and pathological classification. The results suggested that the levels of miR-33a-5p in the serum, urine and kidney tissues of patients with IgAN were lower than those of the control tissues obtained from cancer patients (0.28±0.25 vs. 1.00±0.45, P<0.05; 0.34±0.28 vs. 1.00±0.53, P<0.05; 0.47±0.27 vs. 1.00±0.38, P<0.05, respectively). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis suggested that the serum and urine levels of miR-33a-5p may be used as a marker to differentiate renal injury in IgAN patients from healthy individuals. At the same time, according to the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and Lee classification of nephropathy, it was determined that with the progression of renal failure and the increase of the pathological grade of kidney tissue, the relative level of miR-33a-5p in kidney tissue also decreased (eGFR <50 ml/min vs. eGFR ≥50 ml/min/1.73 m2 group: 0.38±0.27 vs. 1.00±0.34, P<0.001; Lee grade ≤3 group vs. Lee grade >3: 1.00±0.48 vs. 0.38±0.45, P<0.05). This result suggested that the levels of miR-33a-5p in serum, urine and kidney tissues decreased with the severity of renal injury and the progression of renal failure in patients with IgAN. Hence, miR-33a-5p detected in the serum and urine may be used as a non-invasive biomarker to reflect the progression of renal injury and renal failure in patients with IgAN.


The sociological way of thinking is defined as a key mode of perceiving and evaluate social actions and as a regulator of a socialised actor performance. A model of development of the sociological way of thinking under an influence of Navigitel tales is built. Structural and functional description of the model is presented. Multimedia technologies are substantiated as a technological base for practical implementation of the built model. The potential of multimedia technologies at the development of the sociological way of thinking has been disclosed. Keys thesis of axiology and sociological essence of the Navigitel tales are formulated.


Color vision is one of the most important functions of visual system that has fundamental and considerable roles in visual data gathering, perceptual vision, visual information processing, correlation between different visual information and correlation with other senses. To investigate color vision, we need to understand color vision mechanism with respect to psychophysical findings. In this subject, retinal color vision mechanism and central nervous system play important function with each other, however, in different and parallel processes. For understanding this mechanism, we should focus on neuro-anatomy and neurophysiology of retinal cone cells, other retinal cells, color visual pathways, visual cortex, higher-order visual areas, and mechanisms that underlie the transformation from stimulus to perception. Most significant involved mechanism in color vision is the color opponency in visual system. Additionally, different types of neurons with its connections and other factors like contrast, luminance, brightness, boundary color and surround region color, color constancy, and etc., have many effects on color perception. In this systematic review, peer reviewed articles that published in PubMed from January 1970 to January 2015 have been searched, assessed and interpreted. Additionally, in this review, quantitative and qualitative peer reviewed evidences with regard to inclusion and exclusion criteria, have been gathered, summarized, discussed and concluded. The purpose of this study is to review the structure and function of visual system in color vision.


Sages have observed that society often honors its living conformists and its dead innovators; "but we prefer to honor living innovators," says Thomas Lengauer, professor of computational biology, director of the Max Planck Institute for Informatics (Saarbrucken, Germany), and chair of the awards committee of the International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB). The committee, composed of a group of current and past directors of ISCB along with previous award recipients, selects honorees for its two annual awards to innovative scientists. In 2007, the recipients are Temple F. Smith of Boston University (Boston, Massachusetts, United States) and Eran Segal of the Weizmann Institute of Science (Rehovot, Israel). Smith will receive the 2007 ISCB Accomplishment by a Senior Scientist Award, and Segal will receive the 2007 ISCB Overton Prize.

The awards will be presented in Vienna, Austria, at the ISCB's Fifteenth Annual International Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB), to be held in conjunction with the Sixth European Conference on Computational Biology (ECCB), July 21–25, 2007.


BACTERIAL COMMUNITY COMPOSITION AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SOILS IN CREATED AND NATURAL WETLANDS IN VIRGINIA Rita M. Peralta, MS George Mason University, 2011 Thesis Director: Changwoo Ahn Soil properties are often studied along with vegetation to examine the status of ecosystem development in created wetlands. Soil bacterial communities are essential to the biogeochemical processes in wetlands, yet are rarely examined when assessing ecosystem development in created wetlands. We used two molecular methods, amplicon length heterogeneity polymerase chain reaction (LH-PCR) and multi-tag pyrosequencing (MTPS), of 16S ribosomal DNA to characterize the bacterial communities of soils collected from two created (i.e., LC and BR) and two natural wetlands (i.e., BN and BP) during the growing and non-growing season in the Piedmont physiographic province of Virginia, USA. Soil physicochemical attributes [i.e., percent moisture, pH, soil organic matter (SOM) (%), total organic carbon (TOC) (%), total nitrogen (TN) (%), and C:N ratio were also investigated. The measures of both bacterial communities and physicochemistry of soils were tested for any association or relationship, and examined within and between these wetlands, in terms of age and hydrologic connectivity to a surrounding fluvial system. Soil moisture was significantly higher during the growing season compared to non-growing season in the wetlands, primarily due to the natural wetlands (i.e., BN and BP), and an older and hydrologically better connected created wetland (i.e., BR) holding consistently higher soil moisture over two seasons. Soil pH of the wetlands ranged between 4.2 and 5.8, typical of the acidic soils of the Piedmont. Soil organic matter content were approximately 3 to 6 % with one of the LC wetland sites (LC1) and BN being consistently higher than in the other wetland sites. TOC and TN content followed the same pattern as SOM with no major seasonal differences. Soil bacterial community patterns were more clearly distinguished with MTPS (Ribosomal Database Project level 6: genus) method compared to LH-PCR, showing the merits of the new sequencing method. Based on the MTPS results there were many significant differences found in bacterial community patterns between the wetland sites (ANOSIM R > 0.5, p < 0.05), but with no differences between created and natural wetlands. However, one natural wetland (i.e., BP) with a lower soil pH seemed to be associated with least diverse bacterial communities. Bray Curtis dissimilarities of bacterial communities from each wetland site were correlated with C:N ratio (ρ = 0.43, p < 0.01) during the nongrowing season, and with pH and SOM (ρ = 0.40, p < 0.01) during the growing season. In addition, relative abundance and distribution of major bacterial taxa varied both between the wetlands and between the seasons with certain taxa more sensitively responding than the others. The results also show phyla level correlations between certain major bacterial groups with Acidobacteria negatively correlated with Bacteroides (r = -0.70, Bootstrap adjusted p < 0.05), Firmicutes (r = -0.78, Bootstrap adjusted p < 0.05) and Actinobacteria (r = -0.48, Bootstrap adjusted p<0.05). When all plots of the wetlands studied were classified into three hydrologic connectivity (HC) settings the group with the higher HC (i.e., BR3) seemed to support higher bacterial community diversity. However, BN, the natural wetland with low HC, showed as high a bacterial community diversity measure as that of BR3. This might be attributed to the comparable soil moisture content in BR3 and BN plots, which were higher than the rest of the wetland sites/plots. Further investigation is needed on the relationship between bacterial community measures and physicochemical attributes in wetland soils, which may help us develop an useful microbial community indicator that can be used to track the functional progress of wetland soils in created wetlands.


Introduction Most large companies have adopted some form of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. A survey of IT executives in the U.S. showed that ERP was the second most important key category for investment. In many cases, the implementation of an ERP system was a long and expensive ordeal that involved extensive restructuring of businesses and reengineering of processes. While the potential benefits of ERP have been extolled frequently and much has been written about individual company experiences, only limited evidence has been produced that implementation of ERP does, on average, lead to enhanced performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first industry analysis on ERP because previous work has been limited to case studies and industry cross-sectional analyses. Several research studies have validated that IT provides productivity and profitability advantages. However, questions remain because it is not clear whether advantages from IT contribute, and to what degree they might contribute, to operational efficiency and profitability. For example, if the same IT is implemented by all firms in an industry, will industry profits from IT disappear? Due to the fact that for many years large companies developed their information systems independently, there have been limited opportunities to evaluate the implementation of similar IT infrastructure across companies. This study seeks to extend prior work by performing a longitudinal study of implementation of ERP systems in a specific industry. According to Porter, each industry is affected by new information technology in different ways and drawing general conclusions about how new IT affects firms across industries would be a mistake. The oil and gas industry was selected because ERP plays a major role in standardizing business processes in this industry. In this role, ERP helps firms link global operations and supply chains. Also, a commodity-product industry, like the oil and gas industry, helps us control for other influences that may have affected the performance of oil and gas companies during the study period. The ERP adopting firms are those that adopted SAP. This research applies a new methodological approach toward understanding ERP implementation because rather than looking at ordinary measures of firm performance, we look at strategic performance measures (SPM) that can only be utilized if one delves into data that is not found on the financial statements. This is the first study that shows the sources of profitability after an ERP implementation, and will help managers understand the strategic and managerial implications of ERP implementations. Our analysis compares performance changes of ERP adopting firms versus non-adopting firms over a fifteen-year period (1990--2005), which is the period when this industry was being transformed by increased use of technology in the oil and gas industry. Therefore, we see how the implementation of ERP affected firm performance during this period in relation to non-adopting firms.


The semaphorin gene family contains a large number of secreted type or transmembrane type proteins, and some of them function as the repulsive and attractive cues of axon guidance during development. Here we report a novel member of murine class 3 semaphorin genes, semaphorin 3G (Sema3G), mapped on chromosome 14. In adulthood, Sema3G is mainly expressed in the lung and kidney, and a little in the brain. Interestingly, in the adult rodent brain Sema3G is expressed only in the granular layer of the cerebellum, as determined by Northern blot and in situ hybridization analyses. We also found that Sema3G binds Neuropilin‐2, but not Neuropilin‐1, and induces the repulsion of sympathetic axons, but not dorsal root ganglion axons, indicating that Sema3G utilizes Neuropilin‐2 as a receptor to repel specific types of axons.


Introduction: Huge volumes of data are generated in cyberspace or from internal information of various organizations. In order to obtain a set of output data with a clear structure, divide it into significant parts and develop rules of classification, machine learning methods are used. Most inductive methods simulate intermediate and high-level abstract categories in multidimensional space which are difficult to interpret. Purpose: Developing a model of machine learning in the form of a "white box" which explains the chosen solution using conventional production rules, along with cognitive visualizers for characterizing classes of objects. Methods: Formation of a binary decision matrix containing information about a combination of the selected informative sign values which imply the specified classes. Results: A binary decision matrix is formed automatically according to the results of cluster and discriminant analyzes. The learning procedure is reduced to setting interval thresholds and matrix elements, which makes it easy to implement a semantic interpretation of a solving rule. The object is recognized by elementwise conjunction of the matrix cells to which the values of the attributes are pointing, and by selection of a single cell corresponding to the class code. To interpret a rule, a universal algorithm for processing a binary matrix has been developed, which applies user-entered attribute values. The dimension of the viewed space is specified by adjustment rings on the recognition visualizer. The azimuth of an initiated diagram cell with the greatest dimensionality indicates the belonging of an object with the set features to a target class. For the characterization of classes, visualizers have been developed, demonstrating both the distinctive properties of a class and properties that several classes share. In many cases, the object type recognition stops when the depth of the scanned features space is significantly less than with a full search. Practical relevance: The proposed methods of cognitive analysis and data visualization provide not only the classification of data, determination of the significance of features, their ranking and selection, but also the development of rules which reveal the cause-and-effect relationship between the combination of factors and the type of a made decision.


Forty patients with cerebral infarction associated with occlusion of the internal carotid artery (ICA) or the middle cerebral artery (MCA) were treated with hyperbaric oxygenation (HO). EEC analyses were performed regularly in order to assess the course of the cerebral lesion. Patients in an early post-stroke stage (III B) and patients in a chronic post-stroke stage (IV) had the changes in EEC analysis and neurological findings distributed evenly between these two groups. In 27% of the cases, the improvement was considerable, 53% had moderate improvement, and 20% showed no change of condition. The improvement mainly consisted of an increase of alpha-wave and betawave activity over the affected brain region. We were able to show this fact clearly by means of the EEG-analj sis-system applied. The results show that (a) hyperbaric oxygenation therapy (HOT) has a very favorable influence upon the course of disease, and (b) simultaneous application of HOT and EEC analysis allows for a differentiation between reversible and irreversible post-stroke changes in brain tissue.


The Portevin–Le Chatelier (PLC) effect is generally evidenced by the apparition of serrated yielding under monotonic tensile loading conditions. It appears at room temperature in some aluminium alloys, around in some steels and in many other metallic materials. This effect is associated with the propagation of bands of plastic deformation in tensile specimens and can in some cases lead to unexpected failures. The PLC effect has been widely simulated under monotonic conditions using finite elements and an appropriate mechanical model able to reproduce serrations and strain localization. The occurrence of serrations can be predicted using an analytical stability analysis. Recently, this serrated yielding has also been observed in specimens made of Cobalt-based superalloy under cyclic loading, after a large number of cycles. The mechanical model has been identified in this case to accurately reproduce this critical number of cycle where serrations appear. The associated apparition of localized bands of deformation in specimens and their influence on its failure has also been investigated using finite element simulations.


The paper discusses the main arguments and conclusions from the debate "Moral and pre-political foundations of the liberal state," which took place on 19 January 2004 in Munich between Jurgen Habermas and Joseph Ratzinger. It situates in a circle of topics present for some time in the public discourse of the West, while today returning with particular force, on the foundations of the liberal state, the question of positive law—whether it is to depend only on the will of the parliamentary majority or should derive from deeper sources—the presence of religion in public space in the era of post-Enlightenment privatization in post-saecular society, the correlation between faith and reason. They also condition the delicate issues that have emerged in recent decades: Europe and its roots, Christianity and political space, the objectives of civil law, the issues of life, family, and human embryo.


Pursuit of drilling the technical limit has been a primary driver of cost and cycle time reduction from the onset in North America shale. This is increasingly evident in today's downhole mud motors, where motors designed to drill in 6.75 in. hole are now rated for 500+hp and over 10,000 ft-lbs of torque. Every unit of power added stresses current materials to the limit and increases the risk of mechanical failure. As will be demonstrated in the following sections, the increased power delivered to the bit now exceeds the strength and reliability of the standard 3 ½ REG connection for drill bits. The integrity and longevity of the drill bit pin connections is the primary focus of this paper.
 Details are provided of the technical aspects of drill bit solutions that meet current drilling requirements and recognizes industry trends that will continue to present future challenges for bit connections. This paper also describes the collaborative partnership between an operator and bit service provider that led to success and the development of a long term plan for continuing success.


of our article, because everybody agrees that felbamate at therapeutically relevant concentrations inhibits NMDA receptors, and in that context the mechanism by which it does so is of minor significance. However, the question of the mechanism by which felbamate alters NMDA responses is interesting and raises difficult problems. On balance, we agree with Dr. Rogawski that the strong physiological evidence may outweigh the contradictory biochemical results. McCabe et al. (1) reported that felbamate competes with dichlorokynurenic acid (DCK) for the strychnineinsensitive glycine binding site of the NMDA receptor, and this conclusion was supported by others (e.g., Wallis et al. (2), White et al. ( 3 ) ) . On the other hand, a broad spectrum of physiological studies suggested that the actions of felbamate were more compatible with a channel blocking (or allosteric) effect on NMDA receptor channels than with an effect on the strychnine-incentive glycine site. Kanthasamy et al. (4), Taylor et al. (3, and Kleckner et al. (6) failed to reverse the neuroprotective effects of felbamate with glycine; Harty and Rogawski (7) found a modest preference of felbamate for the NR2B subunit of the NMDA receptor, and Subramaniam et al. (8) found no effect of 1 mmol/L felbamate on DCK binding (although they never tested the 3 mmol/L concentration used in their physiological studies). These results seem incompatible with those of McCabe et al. (1). There are several methods for refereeing such discrepancies: the modern approach (the most recent study is undoubtedly the best); the historical approach (the first publication's conclusions are sacred); the associative method (anyone at my school possesses the revealed truth). Even if the readers decide that we are guilty of some or all of the above, we think they will agree that the outcome of this debate does not significantly affect our results or our conclusions.


OBJECTIVE
To understand the role of spirituality in the self-management of cardiovascular disease and arthritis.

METHOD
Self-management practices were selected from older women enrolled in a longitudinal study (N=492) whereas 24 of the enrolled participants were selected for an in-depth interview regarding the role of spirituality in their self-management practices.

RESULTS
Significant differences were found in the level of spirituality in self-management behaviors based on ethnicity. The qualitative analyses reaffirmed the importance of spirituality in the self-management of chronic illness.

CONCLUSION
Using multiple methodologies, this study elucidated the role of spirituality in the self-management of chronic illness among older women.


Ion suppression is a known phenomenon in atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometry. These suppression effects have been shown to adversely affect the accuracy and precision of quantitative bioanalytical methods. This paper presents a simple procedure for determining the impact of differential ion suppression on bioanalytical methods that utilize atmospheric pressure ionization mass spectrometric (APIMS) detection. This procedure was applied to the assessment of two potential internal standards, and to determine selectivity issues for another analyte which was to be measured in multiple species.


The paper describes the analysis of biodiesel (BD) obtained by transesterification of sunflower oil with methanol. The system proposed is the reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) operating on a C 18 (250 x 4.6 mm) column with UV detection at 205 nm and gradient elution in both nonaqueous (NARP) and aqueous-organic (ARP) modes. The former separates the main classes of compounds from BD, while the latter allows the separation of individual components belonging to the same class. The method enables separation of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), monoacylglycerols (MG), diacylglycerols (DG) and triacylglycerols (TG). The results obtained reveal that the proposed approach is suitable for monitoring the process of biodiesel synthesis.


Tumor microenvironment is a strong determinant for the acquisition of metastatic potential of cancer cells. We have recently demonstrated that cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) elicit an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in prostate cancer (PCa) cells, leading to enhanced tumor cell aggressiveness. Here, we investigated the involvement of microRNAs (miRNA) in such malignant tumor-stroma interplay, to identify possible tools to prevent metastasis dissemination. We found that miR-205 is the most down-modulated miRNA in PCa cells upon CAF stimulation and acknowledged HIF-1 to be a direct repressor of miRNA transcription. Rescue experiments demonstrated that ectopic miR-205 over-expression in PCa cells counteracts CAF-induced EMT, thus impairing enhancement of cell invasion, acquisition of stem cell traits, tumorigenicity and metastatic dissemination. In addition, miR-205 can block tumor-driven activation of surrounding fibroblasts, by reducing pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion. Overall, these findings suggest a key role of miR-205 in the bidirectional interplay between PCa cells and fibroblasts. In addition, the evidence that miR-205 replacement in PCa cells is able not only to prevent but also to revert EMT induced by CAFs sets up the rationale for developing miRNA-based approaches for the prevention and treatment of aggressive tumors.

Citation Format: Paolo Gandellini, Elisa Giannoni, Anna Casamichele, Maria Letizia Taddei, Maurizio Callari, Riccardo Valdagni, Nadia Zaffaroni, Paola Chiarugi. MiR-205 puts the brakes on the malignant interplay between prostate cancer cells and associated fibroblasts. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Tumor Invasion and Metastasis; Jan 20-23, 2013; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(3 Suppl):Abstract nr B18.


The antioxidant properties and the foliar phenol composition of 25 Mexican varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris L. (common bean) were evaluated. Phaseolus coccineus was analysed with comparative aims. The high performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection analysis revealed 27 phenolics in the leaves of P. vulgaris (13 quercetin-3-O-glycosides, 8 kaempferol-3-O-glycosides, 2 myricetin glycosides and 4 phenolic acids) and 5 in P. coccineus (2 kaempferol-3-O-glycoside, 2 apigenin-7-O-glycoside and 1 luteolin-7-O-glycoside). All extracts showed high levels of phenols and flavonoids (0.964–5.601 mg g− 1 dry tissue, and 0.287–1.418 mg g− 1 dry tissue, respectively) and relevant antioxidant properties, suggesting that the leaves of the varieties of P. vulgaris are a significant source of natural antioxidants. The foliar phenol profiles were species-specific and, besides, the qualitative variation allowed discriminating among varieties of P. vulgaris. These profiles can represent an important varietal authenticity proof.


Kobi re-evaluates the role of Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774) in eighteenth-century art history by focusing on his art publications rather than on the collections owned or compiled. She makes a valuable contribution to the knowledge about the social-cultural dimensions of his work – entailing the cult of the 'honnete homme' and the international scientific collaborations. About the scientific dimensions of his work she sheds light in particular on the process of knowledge creation from collection to several forms of publication, and on the ideologies that motivate scholarly production. Also several detailed case studies, such as those devoted to the carved gem of Michelangelo and the Bouchardon publications are valuable. Connoisseurship is hereby defined not only as the expression of refined artistic taste, but emphatically also as the instrument of scientific scrutiny. In this respect Kobi potentially contributes to the deconstruction of the myth of Mariette. Although this will not diminish the image of Mariette as a connoisseur, yet, it does change the understanding of his connoisseurship.


Intrauterine devices (IUDs) have been widely used to prevent pregnancies with great efficacy during decades. It has been demonstrated that IUD alters the endometrial gene expression, but there is no scientific data about how copper, a metal commonly used in these devices, by itself, is able to influence the processes of endometrial receptivity and apoptosis in decidualized human endometrial stromal cells. Five endometrial samples were obtained from fertile women and processed by a standard protocol to obtain human endometrial stromal cells for in vitro studies. Stromal cells were cultured in vitro and decidualized for 8 days. At day 6, copper was added to the treatment group or camptothecin as positive control for apoptosis until day 8. Five endometrial samples were used in each group. The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of copper in apoptosis and necrosis by flow cytometry, to visualize the apoptotic microtubule network during apoptosis by immunofluorescence, and finally to determine the gene expression profile of a panel of 192 genes related to endometrial receptivity and immune system by quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RT-qPCR). Copper, compared to the decidualized group, induced changes in the gene expression by an order of magnitude in 49 genes (42 up- and 9 downregulated). This alteration in the decidualization gene signature by copper includes 19 genes involved in the endometriosis pathology and others related to other gynecological disorders such as preeclampsia and infertility. Our results indicate that copper does not increase the apoptosis level induced by the decidualization treatment. However, copper alters the gene expression of some biomarkers of endometrial receptivity and immune response.


Essential oils (EOs) are commonly used in aromatherapy and offer a number of health benefits. However, the photosensitivity of citrus EO family limits their applications. It is important to characterize the compositional changes of EOs upon possible factors affecting their stability, such as light and water content. In this study, we used gas chromatography equipped with mass spectrometry detector to investigate the constituents of commercial citrus EOs (lemon, orange) and herb EOs (clary sage, lavender). The result indicated that limonene was the most abundant compound in citrus EOs and followed by β-pinene or β-myrcene. Linalyl acetate and β-linalool were the major constituents in herb EOs. It is surprised to find that almost no change in chemical composition under sunlight exposure for 2hr. In contrast, the amount of terpene hydrocarbons decreased greatly in citrus OEs with H2O addition and under sunlight exposure, which might be converted to oxidative compounds, such as carveol, ρ-cymene and limonene oxide. However, herb EOs was much less photosensitive, which are more potential to become a stable material for daily used products application.


Aim: The aim of the work is to create new adapted varieties resistant to the complex of biotic and abiotic factors on the basis of the use of Phacelia tanacetifolia Benth. morphological and biological characteristics. Material and Method: For the first time in the conditions of Cretaceous South of the Central Russian Upland, morphological and biological features of wild P. tanacetifolia Benth. cenopopulations were studied. Morphological and biological features of P. tanacetifolia Benth. and the expansion of run wild forms were examined in route studies in various districts of Belgorod region (2002–2008). Selection analysis of the obtained material in 2009–2016 was carried out on the basis of the Botanical garden of NRU "BelSU." Method of selection is individual family selection. The standard in the experiment was the released Ryazanskaya variety. Field experiments on competitive variety testing in 2014–2016 were laid by the method of split plots. It was repeated 6 times. The area of registration plots of the 1st order (a record harvest of green mass) was 50 m². The area of registration plots of the 2nd order (taking into account the crop for green mass and seeds) was 25 m². Observations, records, and statistical processing of the obtained data were carried out according to standard methods. Result and Discussion: It is found that quite a wide variation is observed between individuals, which may indicate the possibility of getting forms with the necessary characters by breeding methods. The original forms of different sprawling bush identified in Volokonovsky area have the green coloration of the stem and blue or a light blue corolla. Variety populations of Alekseyevsky, Chernyansky, and Krasnogvardeysky have semi-closed form of a bush, anthocyanin-colored stems, and light purple or lilac-colored corolla. A wide range of variation is classified for other parameters: Plant height (Cv = of 34.8–46.7%), diameter of the bush (Cv = of 43.2–54.5%) and diameter of the stem (Cv = of 67.1–78.4%), and length of inflorescences (Cv = of 46.7–55.2%) and 1.000 seed weight (Cv = of 25.4 mm to 37.4%). By the method of individual-family selection from local wild populations, the source material that became the basis for obtaining new varieties Milica and variety population IOF 21/12 is derived. The productivity of green mass of Milica variety is 26.0% higher than the standard, seed yield - 43.1%. The productivity of variety population OSP 21/12 is higher at 49.5 and 3.6%, respectively. Thanks to the complex of valuable morphobiological features. Conclusion: New varieties of phacelia can be used as a phytoameliorant and to create a forage base of beekeeping on highly eroded lands in the Steppe and Forest-Steppe zone. The new variety Militsa and variety population OSP 21/12 have high seed productivity and are suitable for commercial seed production


Background: CTCs are suggested as potential surrogate markers for minimal residual disease, the precursor of metastatic disease. Stem cell like tumor cells have been suggested to be the active source of metastatic spread in primary tumors. Furthermore, to be able to disseminate and metastasize, CTCs must be able to perform epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In metastatic breast cancer, CTCs were shown to express these characteristics. So far, no data are available for primary breast cancer. Therefore, we studied the expression of (1) the EMT markers Twist1, Akt2, PI3K-alpha and (2) ALDH1 as one of the cancer stem cell markers in CTCs isolated from 347 patients with primary breast cancer. Data were correlated with the presence of disseminated tumor cells (DTCs) in the bone marrow (BM) and clinicopathological data of the patients. Materials and Methods: 2 x 5 ml blood were analyzed for CTCs with the AdnaTest BreastCancer (AdnaGen AG, Hannover, Germany) for the detection of EpCAM, MUC-1, HER-2, and beta-Actin transcripts. The recovered c-DNA was additionally multiplex tested for Twist1, Akt2, PI3K-alpha and separately for ALDH1. The analytical sensitivity was determined by the detection of a low number of target cells (5 IGROV cells spiked into 5 ml blood of healthy donors) using the AdnaTest BreastCancer procedure. The identification of EMT markers was considered positive if at least one marker was detected in the sample. Healthy donor samples without spiked tumor cells were used to determine the specificity of the test. The expression of CD34 was analyzed in a subset of samples to exclude potential interference of normal hematopoietic stem cells. Furthermore, two BM aspirates from each of these patients were analyzed by immunocytochemistry using the pan-cytokeratin antibody A45-B/B3. Results: 97% of 30 healthy donor samples investigated were negative for EMT and 95% for ALDH1 transcripts, respectively. The spiking experiments revealed a recovery rate of 80%. CTCs were detected in 79/347 (23%) patients. All samples were further examined for the expression of ALDH1 and EMT markers. At least one of the EMT markers was expressed in 95/322 patients (30%) and ALDH1 was present in 45/247 patients (18%), respectively. Interestingly, 27% of the ALDH1-positive and 42% of the EMT-positive patients were CTC-negative based on the cut-off level determined for CTC-positivity applying the AdnaTest BreastCancer. Twelve patients initially positive for CTCs and positive for at least one of the EMT markers or ALDH1 or both were tested for CD34 expression. However, none of the samples was positive. DTC in the BM could be analyzed in 343 patients, resulting in a positivity rate of 21% (72/343 patients). The presence of CTCs, EMT and ALDH1 expression was not correlated to any of the prognostic markers including DTC in the BM. Conclusion: Our data indicate that (1) a subset of primary breast cancer patients shows EMT and stem cell characteristics and (2) the currently used detection methods for CTCs are not efficient to identify a subtype of CTCs which underwent EMT or display a cancer stem cell phenotype. (3) The clinical relevance on prognosis and therapy response has to be further evaluated in a prospective trial. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2010;70(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-02-09.


There are disputed claims about the differences of the size of the human corpus callosum in men and women and the relationship of any such differences to gender differences in human behaviour and cognition. There is scientific dispute not only about the implications of anatomical difference, but whether such a difference actually exists. The corpus callosum is the largest commissure of the brain. It is seen as a thick, curved white band on medial surface of sagittaly bisected brain. The Corpus callosum is 10 cm long, and has 4 parts i.e. rostrum, genu, trunk and splenium. The present study was carried out on 120 individuals (78 males & 42 females) between the age group of 1-85 years of age who visited the OPD of Department of Radio-diagnosis, Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Hospital and NMC Sky Imaging Centre, LLRM Medical College, Meerut. MRI scans were studied for splenial thickness of corpus callosum in mid-sagittal plane & comparison was done in males & females by using two way ANOVA procedure. No significant sexual dimorphism in splenial thickness was found in the present study.


Sustainable management of forest resources in and around national parks continues to be a growing challenge in Gabon. Rural people living close by national parks continue to depend on those forest resources to meet their various livelihoods needs despite strict governmental restriction on access and use of forest resources, especially inside of national parks. Hence, most of these resources are mismanaged and overexploited while innovative mechanisms that would assist parks' managers in sustainably managing these protected forests are lacking. A semi-structure interview was administrated to 79 sellers that were found in the three local markets located near the Ivindo National Park (INP), in the province of Ogooué Ivindo (Gabon). This survey aimed at clarifying the trade values of most of the popular indigenous fruits and nuts species and the sellers' perceptions on resource decline for an improved management of resources inside and outside of the Ivindo National Park. From both inside and outside of the park, Coula edulis, Irvingia gabonensis and Dacryodes buettneri tend to be among the most sold wild fruits and nuts according to 82.3, 73.4 and 31.6% of the respondents respectively. I. gabonensis fetches the highest sale price in FCFA and represents the most important income provider to sellers followed by C. edulis and D. buettneri. Since social status of sellers such as marital status and ethnicity appear to be the driving factors to people's entry to this trade, therefore they need all to be considered as key variables in regulating usages of these traded wild fruits and nuts. Despite the importance of indigenous fruits and nuts as source of income, resource decline have been acknowledged by almost all the sellers. Hence, sellers should be considered as key partners in identifying species in needs of conservation. Among the drivers of resource decline include the impacts of logging companies, climate change (unpredictability of rainfall), and unsustainable harvesting practices of the valued indigenous resources. Sustainable management of these valued indigenous forest resources call for a careful implementation of an innovative mechanism that would regulate demand and assist park managers in managing forest resources in a sustainable manner. Most critically, further studies need to look at the practical approach of setting up quotas based harvesting of these valued indigenous forest resources.


W e present a physics-based deformable model framework for the incremental object shape estimation and tracking in image sequences. The model is estimated by an optimization process that relates image-based cost functions to model motion via the Lagrangian dynamics equations. Although previous approaches have investigated various combinations of cues in the context of deformable model shape and motion estimation, they generally assume a fixed, known, model parameterization, along with a single model discretization in terms of points. Our technique for object shape estimation and tracking is based on the incremental fusing of point information and new line information. Assuming that a deformable model has been initialized to fit part of a complex object (e.g., a bicycle) new line features belonging to the object but excluded from the initial model parameterization are identified during tracking. The identification is based on a set of novel model-based geometric consistency checks relating separate, independent tracking processes at the image feature and model levels, respectively. Identified features are reconstructed and integrated into the model parameterization which results in more accurate object shape estimation and subsequently they are used to increase model coverage in the image, thereby increasing tracking robustness. We derive the forward transfer under the action of the Euclidean group and Jacobian matrices for the underlying line feature mapping. New correspondi- ng image alignment and generalized forces are introduced as soft constraints and combined with the forces derived from model contours to incrementally improve its motion estimation. We demonstrate our approach on image sequences with complex object shape and motion.


Understanding the importance of salient factors associated with sustainability challenges that engineers are known to solve in influencing women's choice of engineering is particularly important in this present world where a combination of these sustainability issues, the underrepresentation of women and the need for more engineers remain a challenge to the profession. However, little is known about the degree of importance of more detailed themes within the social, environmental and economic sustainability pillars in such career decisions. Consequently, the aim of this paper is to understand the relative importance of specific sustainability-themed factors influencing women's choice of engineering, using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). An AHP structurally designed online survey was used to gather and analyze data from a sample of 414 UK and Nigeria respondents. The results showed that of all the ten sustainability-themed factors examined in this study, water quality/quantity, climate change, waste management, biodiversity, and material consumption/energy use, had a greater influence on the respondents' choice of engineering relative to other factors. The data revealed specific rather than general sustainability themes that appeal to women's choice of engineering. This could offer valuable insight from a recruitment strategy perspective to help engineering stakeholders to focus their attention and recruitment efforts on the most salient areas of influence.


This paper reports the results of a postal questionnaire survey of UK primary stakeholders, members of the Institutional Fund Managers Association, as to the definition of the expectations gap, its constituents, and the extent to which the expectations gap might be narrowed by audit regulation. The study revealed that fund managers were aware of the audit expectations gap and were particularly concerned about the scope and responsibilities of the auditor, and monitoring of auditors' work. Fund managers agreed that increased regulation offered potential to narrow the expectations gap, especially as regards monitoring and discipline of auditors. The paper concludes that establishment of the Accountancy Foundation should provide greater independence to the investigation and disciplinary processes of the existing regulatory framework, and thus go some way to narrowing the expectations gap. Concerns may remain about its perceived independence of the profession and the lack of a specific obligation to investigate auditors' work in circumstances of corporate failure.


Previous research in the development of causal schemata has relied upon verbal descriptions of behavior to convey causally relevant information. In the present study, however, a perceptual analogue of Kelley's augmentation principle was created in animated films depicting the movements of 2 objects toward a goal--1 which overcame an obstacle (inhibitory cause present) and 1 which did not (inhibitory cause absent). Both forced-choice and scalar measures indicated that kindergarten, second, and fourth graders all perceived greater motivation (internal facilitative cause) in the inhibited than noninhibited object, but that age differences emerged in the ability to explain these responses. In a second experiment, the 2 target objects were inhibited by obstacles of different sizes. For this quantitative version of the principle, age differences emerged for all measures; fourth graders and most second graders responded in accord with augmentation-principle predictions. These results were compared with the earlier findings that kindergarten and fourth-grade children did not understand this principle. The contrasting methods of stimulus presentation were discussed and implications of this technique for attribution research were noted.


Abstract The early Cambrian is a critical interval of dramatic oceanic and biochemical changes in geological history. The black shale deposits, which are rich in Mo, Ni, V, and platinum group elements (PGE), are a reflection of that interval. Among all known Cambrian black shale deposits in South China, the vanadium deposits are poorly constrained by geochronology. The newly discovered tuff layer in the Sansui Bagong vanadium deposit in Guizhou Province can provide excellent constraints on the age of vanadium deposits. In this study, we obtain a new zircon U–Pb isotopic age, which can constrain the age of the vanadium deposit. This tuff occurs in the middle part of the ore bed, and the age of the tuff layer can reflect the mineralization age of the V deposit. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) is used in this study to obtain the zircon U–Pb age of the tuff and indicates that the event of volcanic activity took place at 520.9 ± 1 Ma. This age is close to the boundary between the Cambrian Terreneuvian and Series 2. This result provides a good constraint on the age of the vanadium deposits in South China and makes the vanadium deposits to be comparable with other Mo–Ni–PGE deposits. The alteration of organic carbon isotope (δ 13Corg) values can reflect changes in the marine environment and is widely used in stratigraphic correlation. The analysis of the δ 13Corg values of the ore bed in the present study reveals a positive excursion at the bottom of the deposit and a negative excursion in the V-enriched layer. The δ 13Corg values in the Bagong section are comparable to those in the Xiaotan and Longbizui sections. The ages of the Sansui vanadium deposit constrained by the U–Pb isotopic age of the tuff and the δ 13Corg values are consistent. All of the data lead us to infer that the vanadium deposit formed at approximately 521 Ma.


Distributed Arithmetic (DA) has been successfully applied to the design of area efficient multipliers on FPGAs for DSP applications. Whilst DA is efficient in applications where coefficients are fixed, there is little option for applications with a limited range of coefficient values. This paper describes a technique for developing areaefficient multipliers for a range of DSP applications that fall into this category. This is accomplished by employing multiplexers at no extra cost to increase the functionality of existing fixed coefficient multipliers. The technique has been applied to a DCT FPGA implementation where an area decrease of up to 50% and speed increase of 33% was achieved over the conventional route.


Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks is a kind of special wireless ad hoc network, which has the characteristics of high node mobility and fast topology changes. The Vehicular Networks can provide wide variety of services, range from safety-related warning systems to improved navigation mechanisms as well as information and entertainment applications.The security of Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANET) has mostly directed the attention of today research efforts, while comprehensive solutions to protect the network from adversary and attacks still need to be improved, trying to reach a satisfactory level, for the driver and manufacturer to achieve safety of life and infotainment. The need for a robust VANET networks is strongly dependent on their security and privacy features, which will discussed in this paper. VANET facing many challenges that been addressed in this research, we also discuss a set of solutions presented for these challenges and problems; and we made critics for these solutions and proposed suitable solutions for some of these problems .


ABSTRACT: Newborn infants of diabetic mothers have serum biochemical signs of iron deficiency in cord blood directly related to elevations of cord erythropoietin and Hb concentrations. In sheep, chronic fetal hyperinsulinemia results in fetal hypoxemia, expansion of the red cell mass, and decreased iron concentrations, most likely due to increased iron utilization for Hb synthesis. To determine whether fetal insulin exposure also results in reduced tissue iron concentrations, we measured liver, skeletal muscle, small intestine, heart, and brain iron concentrations in newborn rat pups after s.c. fetal injection of insulin or diluent alone on d 19 of gestation. The fetuses of 11 pregnant rats were exteriorized, injected with 2 U neutral protamine Hagedorn insulin or diluent, replaced in utero, and delivered on d 22. To determine dose dependency, the fetuses of six pregnant rais were injected with 3 U of longer-acting protamine zinc insulin and delivered on d 21. At delivery, the insulin-treated groups had higher birth weights than the placebo-treated group, although plasma insulin concentrations were not different. The 2 U neutral protamine Hagedorn insulin-treated fetuses had significantly lower mean ± SEM liver iron concentrations than the control fetuses (910 ± 34 versus 1014 ± 43 μg/g dry tissue weight; p < 0.05), but had similar skeletal muscle iron concentrations. The 3 U protamine zinc insulin-treated fetuses had significantly lower liver and skeletal muscle iron concentrations compared to control and to 2 U neutral protamine Hagedorn insulin-treated fetuses (p < 0.05). No differences in small intestine, heart, or brain iron concentrations were seen among groups. We conclude that exposure of fetal rats to insulin during late gestation compromises liver and skeletal muscle iron content. Based upon these findings, we speculate that infants of poorly controlled diabetic mothers may be at risk for decreased tissue iron content.


We study the thermal stability of domain walls in periodically poled Rb-doped KTP crystals. Domain-wall motion is observed after annealing the crystals above 550 °C. This motion is highly anisotropic along the a- and b- crystallographic axes. Along the b-axis domain wall motion is in the order of tens of micrometers. In the a-direction, it results in either three orders of magnitude smaller domain wall displacement or in domain merging, depending on the initial domain configuration. We show that the thermal stability of the domain gratings depends on their periodicity, resulting in complete backswitching for sub-micrometer domains annealed at 730 °C.


line 27: change "measurement" to "measurements" Abstract, line 33: suggest changing "most" and "least" to "largest" and "smallest" line 33: suggest changing "most" and "least" to "largest" and "smallest" Section 1, line 49: Do we know which components (SIA, OM) drive this increase in PM2.5 burden reported by Shaddick et al. (2020)? Section 1, lines 70 – 75: The work by Tan et al. (https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/18/6847/2018/) could also be referenced here Section 2.1, line 87: consider changing "with implementation" to "used for applications" Section 2.1, lines 104 – 112: Please provide additional information on the WRF configuration options and input datasets used in these simulations (e.g. land use / land cover database, microphysics scheme, cumulus parameterization scheme, PBL scheme, radiation scheme, land-surface model, etc.). Please also discuss whether the land use / land cover information used in the WRF simulations is consistent with the information used in the EMEP MSC-W biogenic emission and deposition calculations. Section 2.1, lines 133 149: It appears that no day-of-week or hour-of-day temporal profiles were applied to either the ECLIPSEe or HTAP emissions. If this is correct, what was the rationale for not applying such profiles? Section 2.2, lines 173 – 195: please see my first main comment regarding the use observations with their native temporal resolution. Section 2.2, lines 181 – 185: What was the rationale for not including wet deposition measurements from CAPMoN (https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climatechange/services/air-pollution/monitoring-networks-data/canadian-air-precipitation.html) to strengthen the analysis in Section 3.3? Section 2.2, lines 186 – 187: Please make sure to clearly distinguish between "R" and "RT" in the supplement and their first uses in the text, tables, and figures. Section 3.1.1., line 216: consider changing "total gridded differences" to "the total number of grid cells" Section 3.1.2, lines 292 – 295: I suggest extracting and comparing the HTAP and ECLIPSEe emissions for the grid cells corresponding to these locations (maybe in addition to some surrounding grid cells) to gain further insights into the relative importance of potential localized emission differences (i.e. localized model uncertainty) vs. localized phenomena affecting the measurements. Section 3.1.2, line 328: I suggest avoiding the term "bias" since the analysis presented here does not constitute a rigorous verification of emission inventories. Section 3.2.1, lines 374 – 375: "there is no significant difference between model and measurements in most Southeast Asia countries" – This seems like an overstatement given that FAC2 is only about 0.5 for EANET NH3. Section 3.2.1, lines 394 – 397: This again seems like an overstatement and selective reading of evaluation metrics. The FAC2 values for many of the EANET pollutant measurements are quite low, and many of these FAC2 values as well as NME and NMB values are worse for EANET than NNDMN. Section 3.2.3, lines 471 – 472: What was the rationale for not including AIRBASE over Europe? If it was included, the number and type of sites might be more comparable to the NO2 and SO2 measurement sites over North America. Section 3.2.3, lines 474 – 476: It is likely the location of the sites which are often sourceoriented. SO2 emissions from the largest sector (power generation) are directly measured and included in the EPA emission inventory that was used in HTAP. Does the ECLIPSEe inventory not use this available information about measured SO2 emissions from the U.S. power sector? Section 3.2.3, lines 480 – 481: As for SO2, this is likely due to the local-scale nature of many NO2 measurement sites. Section 3.2.3, line 482: I suggest replacing "secondary" with "aerosol" since there are other secondary pollutants (e.g. HNO3) in Table 4 besides sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium. Section 3.2.4, lines 505 – 506: As noted in my first main comment, higher temporal resolution data is also available over the U.S. and Canada and should be used here as well. Section 3.2.4, Figure 11: Please add results for available North American networks (e.g. AMoN) here and in Figure S6. Section 4, lines 666 – 676: Please see my first main comment about using observational data at their native temporal resolution for the analysis presented in this manuscript. Section 4, lines 704 – 705: "unmatched temporal coverage" should not be an issue if model-observation matching is performed at the native temporal resolution of the observations as discussed in my main comment. Section 5, lines 763 – 764: Please see my second main comment about adding an analysis of observed and modeled 2010 vs. 2015 changes in concentrations to evaluate the modeling system's ability to capture such changes which are at least partly driven by changes in emissions.


The 45-nm technology, called 12S and developed for IBM POWER7®, is an extremely robust and versatile technology platform that allows for a rich set of features that include embedded dynamic random access memory (DRAM), performance and dense static RAM (SRAM), a trench-based decoupling capacitor, a comprehensive device menu, and a high-performance hierarchical back-end interconnect scheme, all built on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. Embedded DRAM was implemented for production in high-performance SOI for the first time and allowed us to leapfrog two generations of conventional SRAM densities. Immersion lithography was also employed for the first time in 45-nm IBM products. Our 45-nm design point represents a judicious leverage of silicon oxynitride dielectrics, scaled device technology, and rich features to yield chip-level performance enhancement of more than 50%, compared with our 65-nm node at comparable or less power. This paper describes the salient features of this technology node, the process architecture, the device design rationale, and the process design interactions.


We consider the variety of all soluble groups of derived length at most , . Suppose that a finitely generated group is a free product in the variety of Abelian torsion-free groups. It is proved that the test rank of is one less than the number of factors. A test set of elements is written out explicitly. Bibliography: 27 titles.


Educational programs in Medical Informatics and Telemedicine offered at the Politecnico di Milano are described. At present they refer to the (five-year) Laurea degree, the (three-year) Diploma Universitario degree, the post-Laurea (three-year) Doctoral degree, the (one-year) post-Laurea Master's degree, and a continuing education program. The general aim of the educational efforts is to enable the students to become information and communication technology experts in whom the physician believes. The success in student attendance and in after-graduation company acceptance is remarkable. Nevertheless, in Italy, the universities are now starting considerable reform of all educational engineering programs.


The showing of predatory or exclusionary conduct is a necessary element to prove an attempted monopolization claim under § 2 of the Sherman Act. Predatory hiring as a form of exclusionary conduct has not been extensively analyzed from legal or economic perspectives. Most litigated cases have followed Universal Analytics, Inc. v. MacNeal-Schwendler Corp., where the court held that unlawful predatory hiring occurs when talent is acquired not for purposes of using that talent but for purposes of denying it to a competitor. An anticompetitive act by a single firm is an act that is not profit maximizing but for the monopoly rents the act creates or maintains, but that is profit maximizing inclusive of those monopoly rents. But a monopolist likely will use and derive profits from important labor talent once acquired, even if the effect of the hiring is anticompetitive. Thus, the current legal standard for proving predatory hiring as an element of an attempted monopolization claim may prevent plaintiffs from successfully prosecuting cases in which antitrust impact and injury exist. Therefore, we argue that the current legal standard required to prove a predatory-hiring claim should be revised. We use a recently litigated matter in the ambulance industry, ICare-EMS v. Rural/Metro, as a case study to make our argument. This case study is particularly revealing because, unlike most litigated matters, internal company documents and deposition testimony from plaintiff and defendant firm witnesses were not designated confidential. Therefore, we are able to illuminate the bases for the firms' internal business decisions in great detail. These decisions reveal the companies' intentions in ways not normally observable by antitrust scholars.


A series of 2,3,4,6-tetrahydro-8,9-dimethoxybenzo[c][2,7]naphthyridin-5(1H)-ones was prepared as potential anticholinergic bronchodilators. The naphthyridine ring system was constructed by cyclization of a 3-amido-4-piperidone. Alkylation with alkylaminoethyl chlorides or reductive amination of an intermediate methyl ketone yielded the final target compounds.


This paper considers fault detection (FD) for large-scale systems with many nearly identical units operating in a shared environment. A special class of hybrid system mathematical models is introduced to describe such multi-unit systems, and a general approach for estimation and change detection is proposed. A novel FD algorithm is developed based on estimating a common Gaussian-mixture (GM) distribution for unit parameters whereby observations are mapped into a common parameter-space and clusters are then identified corresponding to different modes of operation via the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. The estimated common distribution incorporates information from all units and is utilized for FD in each individual unit. The proposed algorithm takes into account unit mode switching and parameter drift and can handle sudden, incipient, and preexisting faults. It can be applied to FD in various industrial, chemical, or manufacturing processes, sensor networks, and others. The second part of the paper is focused on the application of the new technique to practical heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. Reliable and timely FD is a significant and still open practical problem in the HVAC industry, and, as such, the first application of this approach is aimed at this industry. It addresses important details of the algorithm's implementation and presents results from an extensive performance study based on both Monte Carlo simulations and real data collected from three operational large HVAC systems. The results demonstrate the capabilities of the new technique in a more realistic setting and provide insights that can facilitate the design and implementation of practical FD for systems of similar type in other industrial applications.


Oversampled filter banks (OSFBs) have recently been considered for channel coding since their redundancy introduced into the transmitted signal permits more freedom in the design of joint transmitter and receiver. Further specifically, they can be exploited to transmit over low noise subspaces or even mitigate dispersiveness of the channel. In this paper we propose a joint precoding and equalisation design using OSFBs, which find a compromise between transmitting over the low-noise subspace of channel noise's polyphase components, and the high-gain subspace of the channel's polyphase components. Polynomial building blocks are permitted and the minimisation of the mean square error (MSE) at the receiver output is achieved. We describe the design, and highlight the communalities and differences of this approach to existing methods. Simulation results show the benefit of the proposed system design compared to existing design approaches.


The issue of too much medicine and overdiagnosis has drawn considerable attention in the high-income countries. However, in the low-income and low-middle income countries (LMIC) where the problem is equally, if not more rampant, it has not come to attention. Although the undersupply and inaccessibility of healthcare remain major problems in most of these countries, the emerging issue of overdiagnosis threatens health systems, health financing and health equity, and cannot be neglected. Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference, first organized in 2013, has become a strong international platform which brings together a wide range of stake holders working on preventing overdiagnosis - although to date, the focus has been more on the developed countries. In 2019, with the conference being held for the first time in the Asia Pacific region, we aim to bring more attention to the key drivers of overdiagnosis and possible solutions in LMICs, which may be very different from high-income countries. In this workshop, we attempt to 1. Better understand the issue of over-diagnosis in LMICs 2. Identify and describe the possible drivers and potential solutions for overdiagnosis in LMIC. 3. Explore opportunities for collaborations with developed countries and other international stakeholders working on preventing overdiagnosis In the LMICs, patients' expectations for a rapid recovery, doctor shopping, less onus with life-style modification and lack of follow-up in primary care, play a vital role in overtesting and overtreatment. Thus, the overarching cultural norms of 'more is better', 'quicker is better' in a background of lack of knowledge and awareness about the negative effects of overdiagnosis only add to the epidemic of it. Compared to high-income countries, fear of litigation plays minimal (if any) role. The doctors who practice medicine primarily as a business commonly receive undeclared industry sponsored financial and other incentives for laboratory tests and treatment. These practices are invigorated by the lack of local evidence-based guidelines (e.g. breast cancer screening, prescribing antivirals/antibiotics, cut-offs for hypertension, diabetes, ordering CT/MRI) and quality control measures for laboratory results. The medical education system in the region is based on the western/allopathic system with emphasis on secondary and tertiary care, which places too much emphasis on 'diagnosis/labelling' and treatments. Most of the medical graduates have limited skills in primary care, and lack specific skills dealing with tolerance and uncertainty. To address these complex and multifaceted drivers we propose focused awareness campaigns for health professionals as well as the public. In addition, generating point of care evidence-based guidelines and introducing shared decision making to the patient management process will be novel but important strategies for our region. Ensuring comprehensive evaluation prior to introduction of new tests will help in reducing the negative effects of overdiagnosis, associated overtreatment and overuse. These strategies may support maintaining sustainability of resource poor health systems in the region. Proposed agenda Introduction to the topic; Presentations by invited health professionals from China, India, Sri Lanka and an eastern European country – focusing on current status of this issue and strategies proposed/undertaken to address it in their countries; Small Group discussion – To discuss the drivers and solutions for overdiagnosis in LMIC; Panel discussion with the speakers, and invited experts from high income countries and international organizations – The ideas generated from the group discussions will be shared with the audience. The panel discussion will focus on these as well as explore opportunities for collaborations with developed countries and other international stakeholders working on preventing overdiagnosis; Conclusion.


Network virtualization provides a promising way to run multiple virtual networks (VNs) simultaneously on a shared infrastructure. It is critical to efficiently map VNs onto substrate resources, which is known as the VN embedding problem. Most existing studies restrict this problem in a single substrate domain, whereas the VN embedding process across multiple domains (i.e., inter-domain embedding) is more practical, because a single domain rarely controls an entire end-to-end path. Since infrastructure providers (InPs) are usually reluctant to expose their substrate information, the inter-domain embedding is more sophisticated than the intra-domain case. In this paper, we develop an efficient solution to facilitate the inter-domain embedding problem. We start with extending the current business roles by employing a broker-like role, virtual network provider (VNP), to make centralized embedding decisions. Accordingly, a reasonable information sharing scheme is proposed to provide VNP with partial substrate information meanwhile keeping InPs' confidential information. Then we formulate the embedding problem as an integer programming problem. By relaxing integer constraints, we devise an inter-domain embedding algorithm to handle online VN requests in polynomial time. Simulation results show that our solution outperforms other counterparts and achieves 80%-90% of the benchmarks in an ideal scenario where VNP has complete knowledge of all substrate information.


Pitching biomechanical research is highly focused on injury prevention with little attention to how biomechanical data can facilitate skill development. The overall purpose of this study was to explore how sensor-derived segment kinematics and timing relate to command and ball velocity during baseball pitching. We used a cross-sectional design to analyze a series of pitches thrown from 10 collegiate baseball pitchers. We collected biomechanical data from six inertial sensors, subjective command from the pitchers, and ball velocity from a radar device. Stepwise regression analyses were used to explore biomechanical variables associated with command for all pitches and ball velocity for fastballs only. We found that only peak forearm linear acceleration was significantly associated with command, whereas several segment kinematic measures were significantly associated with ball velocity. Our results suggest that different biomechanical variables are linked to specific pithing skills. Our findings suggest that end-effector (forearm) movement is more important for pitch command, whereas proximal-to-distal (pelvis, trunk, upper arm, forearm) segmental movement is important for ball velocity.


In this paper, we propose a novel boundary detection approach for three-dimensional shape modeling. Our method is based on finding surfaces of minimal weighted area in a Riemannian metric. In order to take advantage of intensity information of images, we further integrate this intensity information into the boundary detection algorithm. We apply this algorithm to identify the inner and outer boundaries of the blood vessel wall in magnetic resonance images, and assess its accuracy and reproducibility. Our algorithm is reasonably accurate (about 2% difference in comparison with the manual method) and highly reproducible.


In order to control beam loss for high intensity operation of the Fermilab Main Injector, electronics has been implemented to provide detailed loss measurements using gas-filled ionization monitors. Software to enhance routine operation and studies has been developed and losses are logged for each acceleration cycle. A systematic study of residual radiation at selected locations in the accelerator tunnel have been carried out by logging residual radiation at each of 142 bar-coded locations. We report on fits of the residual radiation measurements to half-life weighted sums of the beam loss data using a few characteristic lifetimes. The data are now available over a multi-year period including residual radiation measurements repeated multiple times during three extended facility shutdown periods. Measurement intervals of a few weeks combined with variable delays between beam off time and the residual measurement permits sensitivity to lifetimes from hours to years. The results allow planning for work in radiation areas to be based on calibrated analytic models.


A special-purpose, semi-analytical solution method for determining the stress and deformation fields in a thin laminated-composite cylindrical shell with an elliptical cutout is presented. The analysis includes the effects of cutout size, shape, and orientation; non-uniform wall thickness; oval-cross-section eccentricity; and loading conditions. The loading conditions include uniform tension, uniform torsion, and pure bending. The analysis approach is based on the principle of stationary potential energy and uses Lagrange multipliers to relax the kinematic admissibility requirements on the displacement representations through the use of idealized elastic edge restraints. Specifying appropriate stiffness values for the elastic extensional and rotational edge restraints (springs) allows the imposition of the kinematic boundary conditions in an indirect manner, which enables the use of a broader set of functions for representing the displacement fields. Selected results of parametric studies are presented for several geometric parameters that demonstrate that analysis approach is a powerful means for developing design criteria for laminated-composite shells.


To the Editor. —I continue to be taken aback by the good intentions and bad proposals of my colleagues on the difficult issue of guns and safety. 1 As a longtime shooter and hunter, I am determined that my son and his sons in turn will enjoy the same outdoor adventure that I have enjoyed. That means that I will not be inappropriately taxed and restricted for my legitimate and constitutionally guaranteed rights. Likewise, as a physician, I can no longer support my own organization, the National Rifle Association, in its position favoring a complete lack of regulation. Why must I be at odds with both groups in which I share membership? Stated otherwise, why can't our society move to a middle-of-the-road, reasonable position that will benefit all? Everyone should agree that accidental or deliberate deaths or injuries involving firearms are an outcome that we should all actively work to


A case of duodenal gangliocytic paraganglioma (DGP) in a 17‐year‐old boy is presented. In this case a lymph node in the peripancreatic region was involved by a metastatic tumor. A review of the literature on DGP indicates that this case represents the youngest patient and is the second case of DGP with metastasis. Immunohistochemical staining for neuron‐specific enolase (NSE), neurofilament (NF), pancreatic polypeptide, and somatostatin showed positive results for epithelioid and ganglion‐like cells, whereas spindle cells showed immunoreactivities for S‐100 protein, NSE, and NF. The histogenesis of DGP is discussed.


Recent decade has seen great progress in the use of stochastic models in biological process. Researchers are now realising that stochastic models have important roles to play in biological process especially in the analysis of population dynamics. This progress encourages many researchers to develop new methods and techniques to improve the stochastic model. In recent study, logistic equations have been used to model the cell growth of C.acetobutylicum while the Luedeking-Piret equation incorporating the logistic equation used to model the formation of solvent. However, it was found that the Luedeking-Piret equation is not adequate for modeling the production of acetone and butanol. In this study, stochastic power law logistic model has been considered to model the cell growth of C.acetobutylicum and the solvent production in five different yeast cultures. In order to solve the SDEs, simulated maximum likelihood estimation method and Euler-Maruyama approximation method have been used. Finally, the stochastic models and deterministic models are compared by using their root mean square errors of the growth model and solvent productions model. The stochastic models have smaller value of root mean square errors, thus showed that the stochastic power law logistic models are better models than their deterministic counterparts to describe the growth of C.acetobutylicum and solvent productions in fermentation.


Background Diet acidification, dietary calcium ( Ca ) level, and phytase supplementation are known influences on the microbial community in the digestive tract and on phosphorus ( P ) utilization of broiler chickens. Effects of dietary factors and microbiota on P utilization may be linked because microorganisms produce enzymes that release P from phytate ( InsP 6 ), the main source of P in plant feedstuffs. This study aimed to detect linkages between microbiota and InsP 6 degradation by acidifying diets (i.e., replacing Ca carbonate (CaCO 3 ) by Ca formate or adding formic acid to CaCO 3 -containing diets), varying Ca levels, and supplementing phytase in a three-factorial design. We investigated i) the microbial community and pH in the digestive tract, ii) prececal ( pc ) P and Ca digestibility, and iii) InsP 6 degradation. Results All factors under investigation influenced digesta pH and the microbiota composition. Predicted functionality and relative abundance of microorganisms indicated that diets influenced the contribution of the microbiota on InsP degradation. Values of InsP 6 degradation and relative abundance of the strains Lactobacillus johnsonii and Lactobacillus reuteri were correlated. Phytase supplementation increased pc InsP 6 disappearance, with differences between Ca levels, and influenced concentrations of lower inositol phosphate isomers in the digestive tract. Formic acid supplementation increased pc InsP 6 degradation to myo -inositol. Replacing CaCO 3 by Ca-formate and the high level of these Ca sources reduced pc InsP 6 disappearance, except when the combination of CaCO 3 +formic acid was used. Supplementing phytase to CaCO 3 +formic acid led to the highest InsP 6 disappearance (52%) in the crop and increased myo -inositol concentration in the ileum digesta. Supplementing phytase leveled the effect of high Ca content on pc InsP 6 disappearance. Conclusions The results point towards a contribution of changing microbial community on InsP 6 degradation in the crop and up to the terminal ileum. This is indicated by relationships between InsP 6 degradation and relative abundance of phosphatase-producing strains. Functional predictions supported influences of microbiota on InsP 6 degradation. The extent of such effects still remains to be clarified. InsP 6 degradation can also be influenced by pH effects caused by dietary concentration and solubility of the Ca sources.


Partial and dynamic online reconfiguration of Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) is a promising approach to design high adaptive systems with lower power consumption, higher task specific performance, and even build-in fault tolerance. Different techniques and tool flows have been successfully developed. One of them, the two-dimensional partial reconfiguration, based on the Readback-Modify-Writeback method implemented on Xilinx Virtex devices, makes them ideally suited to be used as a hardware platform in future organic computing systems, where a highly adaptive hardware is necessary. In turn, decentralisation, the key property of an organic computing system, is in contradiction with the central nature of the FPGAs configuration port. Therefore, this paper presents an approach that connects the single ICAP port to a network on chip (NoC) to provide access for all clients of the network. Through this a virtual decentralisation of the ICAP is achieved. Further true 2-dimensional partial reconfiguration is raised to a higher level of abstraction through a lightweight Readback-Modify-Writeback hardware module with different configuration and addressing modes. Results show that configuration data as well as reconfiguration times could be significantly reduced.


The Interstitial Cells of Cajal (ICC) are responsible for rhythmic electrical activity. A paralytic ileus is present in gastroschisis (GS), a malformation due to a defective closure of the abdominal wall through which part of the intestine herniates during pregnancy. In experimental GS, ICC morphological immaturity was shown in the rat foetus at‐term but it could not be demonstrated whether differentiation is accomplished post‐natally. For this purpose we morphologically investigated ICC, as well as enteric neurons and smooth muscle cells, in a case of human GS at birth and 1 month later when peristaltic activity had initiated. A 36 weeks gestation female was born by c/section with prenatal diagnosis of GS and possible volvulus of the herniated intestine. At birth, the necrotic intestine was resected and both ileostomy and colostomy were performed. The intestine continuity was restored after 4 weeks. Intestinal specimens, taken during both operations at the level of the proximal stoma, were immunostained with c‐kit, neuron‐specific‐enolase and α‐smooth‐muscle‐actin antibodies and some processed for electron microscopy. ICC were present at the myenteric plexus only. At birth, these cells were rare and ultrastructurally immature; 1 month later, when partial enteral feeding was tolerated, they formed rows or groups and many of them were ultrastructurally differentiated. Neurons and smooth muscle cells, immature at birth, had developed after 1 month. Therefore, ICC differentiation, as well as that of neurons and smooth muscle cells, is delayed at birth and this might explain the paralytic ileus in GS. One month later, differentiation quickly proceeded at all cellular levels paralleling the increasing tolerance of enteral nutrition.


Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a powerful vasoconstrictor and mitogen that contributes to blood pressure elevation and related vascular remodeling and target organ damage. ET-1 also influences salt and water homeostasis through effects on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and vasopressin, thus elevating blood pressure and increasing vascular tone. Circulating ET-1 levels are elevated in a variety of animal models of hypertension, particularly those that are salt-dependent, and in a subset of human hypertensives, i.e. African-Americans and those with renal dysfunction. ET type B receptors, which normally have vasodilator functions, mediate vasoconstriction in some hypertensives, and hypertensive African-American patients may have increased numbers of vasoconstrictor ET-B receptors in their vascular smooth muscle. Whether selective ET-A or combined ET-A/ET-B receptor antagonists are more efficacious in treating hypertension and related cardiovascular disease is controversial. ET antagonists have only modest BP lowering effects in the general population of essential hypertensives, but show promise in patients with severe, treatment resistant hypertension.


For tripartite states there is still no general tool to discriminate between separablility and different types of entanglement. Some special entanglement measures, adjusted to the usage for multipartite system were studied, and especially applied to generalized GHZ and W states. States with entangled entanglement and some of their corresponding geometrical structures are examined. Similar to the magic simplex in the two qubit case the geometrical structure of simplices plays an important role in the investigation of relations, symmetries and entanglement properties of tripartite qubit states. For GHZ symmetric states the entanglement status and border lines for regions of different types of entanglement can be found. Via local unitary transformation these informations could also be used for a simplex of states with entangled entanglement. Using basis states as building blocks and entangling them in a special way we are able to construct GHZ type state for arbitrary many particles in a very straightforward method. Finally with help of a Bloch representation we gained some interesting geometrical insights into the structure of tripartite qubit states.


this article discribe about Supervision is guidance given to all school staff so that they can improve their ability to develop better teaching and learning situations. The person who carries out supervision is called a supervisor. Supervision can be interpreted as coaching. While the target of coaching can be for school principals, teachers, administrative staff. But what becomes the target of supervision also means teacher guidance.The aim of educational supervision is to develop better teaching and learning situations through coaching and enhancing the teaching profession. The functions and objectives of educational supervision include: As the direction of education, goals as an end point, goals as a starting point to achieve other goals. In this case, the educational objectives of one another are inseparable.


Fuzzy Set Theory - And Its Applications, Third Edition is a textbook for courses in fuzzy set theory. It can also be used as an introduction to the subject. The character of a textbook is balanced with the dynamic nature of the research in the field by including many useful references to develop a deeper understanding among interested readers. The book updates the research agenda (which has witnessed profound and startling advances since its inception some 30 years ago) with chapters on possibility theory, fuzzy logic and approximate reasoning, expert systems, fuzzy control, fuzzy data analysis, decision making and fuzzy set models in operations research. All chapters have been updated. Exercises are included.


This research project aimed at developing a strategy for the implementation of ISO 9000 quality management systems in the Kenyan leT industry. The work was undertaken due to the fact that few leT organizations have taken the challenge to develop and implement quality management systems that have undergone successful certification. This has contributed to poor quality leT products and services due to lack of commitment to quality management systems which calls for strict adherence to laid down quality guidelines and commitment to continual improvement. The study surveyed 100 IC'T firms and 4 ISO registrars and sought to identify the current quality management practices, challenges and obstacles hindering ISO QMS implementation and ISO QMS gap and compliance analysis. The study also sought to identify solutions that need to be put in place in order to assist the local ICF industry in their quest for ISO QMS implementation. Questionnaires were administered to the leT firms, interviews conducted with ISO registrars and ISO certified leT firms. Literature search was also done to identify what .has already been done in this area in other countries and also in other industries. The study found out that, the Kenyan leT industry has no defined way of measuring the quality of its products and services. Among the methods identified as being used to measure quality and also as a means of getting and keeping customers include use of sales volume, company ownership, experience with the firm, referrals and recommendations among others. There is thus a great need for the Kenyan IC'T industry to adherence to internationally recognized quality management methodologies which have gained world wide acceptance and recognition. Most leT firms noted that the ISO 9000 implementation procedure is not well documented, there is lack of support literature, the implementation process is tedious and that the ISO standard is difficult to interpret. Using the research findings, an ISO implementation strategy was developed to guide the Kenyan leT industry in their attempt to pursue ISO certification.


Bassiouni's The Institutionalization of Torture exquisitely detailed the way in which American governmental institutions bypassed international law in order to allow the creation of a policy that allowed torture. Bassiouni paints a striking portrait of the abuses and violations of international law by Bush's Administration, the way these actions strike at the heart of the American tradition, and the actions that must be taken to save America's collective conscience. Prof. Karen Greenberg, Executive Director of the Center on Law and Security, NYU School of Law