This casebook is the concise, and very modern, version of a classic civil procedure casebook. The key to its brevity is its tight, systematic survey of the subject in Part One. In 265 pages, the survey progresses from pretrial and settlement to trial, judgment, appeal, jurisdiction, and complex litigation. This coverage leaves time for in-depth treatment of a few selected problem areas regarding the system's fundamental structure in Parts Two, Three, and Four. The eleventh edition covers major new cases on personal jurisdiction, and it fully incorporates the new Federal Courts Jurisdiction and Venue Clarification Act.


Diabetes is a growing public health concern for the general population, but individuals with bipolar disorder (BPD) are at increased risk. There is a dearth of research investigating how diabetes affects outcomes for those with BPD. Using data from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey, this study investigates the relationship between diabetes and employment for individuals with BPD (N = 748). Logistic regression results indicated among individuals with BPD, the odds of being unemployed were approximately 3.5 times higher for those with diabetes compared to those without diabetes. Relevant policy considerations and implications for professionals are discussed.


Recent scandals on the abuse of personal information from social media platforms and numerous user identity data breaches raise concerns about technical, commercial, and ethical aspects of privacy and security of user data. European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is one of the largest changes in data privacy regulation and entails several key regulatory measures for both data controllers and data processors to empower and protect EU citizens' privacy. In this research work, we propose a conceptual design and high-level architecture for a Blockchain-based Personal Data and Identity Management System (BPDIMS), a human-centric and GDPR-compliant personal data and identity management system based on the blockchain technology. We describe how BPDIMS's architecture utilizes blockchain technology to provide a high-level of security, trust and transparency. We discuss how BPDIM's human-centric approach with GDPR compliance shifts the control over personal data to the end users and empowers them better.


The mechanism of action of convulsive therapy has been questioned and investigated since the first therapeutic use of induced seizures by Meduna in 1935.' Meduna believed that biological antagonism existed between the process that produces epilepsy and the process that produces schizophrenia. Thus, he thought that an induced convulsion in man would change brain chemistry in a therapeutic manner. When, in 1938, Cerletti and Bini introduced the use of electrically induced convulsions: they believed that the seizure was the fundamental therapeutic factor while the electricity was only the epileptogenic stimulus. In 1960, Ottosson and associates reported on a series of studies in which energy of electrical stimulation and cerebral seizure activity were systematically and independently manipulated experimentally to carefully delineate the specific effects of the electrical stimulation and seizure activity.' They concluded that the therapeutic and cognitive effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) arise through different mechanisms. The therapeutic effect "is due to seizure activity and not, or only slightly, to the other effects of the c~ r ren t . "~ The memory disturbance is to a great extent accounted for by the effects of the electrical stimulation other than the seizure. Over the years of extensive ECT usage, a variety of theories or explanations have been forthcoming to attempt to ascribe the therapeutic effect of ECT to other causes including the occurrence of structural brain changes and psychological theories focusing on fear, punishment, amnesia, denial, repression, and ego adaptation.' No evidence is available supporting any of these theories. However, primacy of the generalized seizure itself has been confirmed clearly and repeatedly over the last 10 years in a series of controlled clinical trials comparing ECT and sham ECT (simulated ECT in which all elements of the treatment, including general anesthesia and muscle relaxant, are given except for the electrical Contemporary clinical therapy and most research on ECT have been guided by these basic assumptions. In recent years, basic and clinical scientists have intensified research efforts to better understand the mechanism of action of ECT by delineating the specific alterations in brain biological functioning brought about by a series of electrically induced generalized seizures that serve to relieve depression in man. As a result, a wealth of information is available on the effects of ECT on brain biological function from a multitude of vantage points including the neurophysiology, neuroendocrinology, neurochemistry, and neuroreceptorology. Much of this work, which has been presented earlier in this volume, has been based on basic studies employing electroconvulsive shocks in rodents. Human clinical studies attempting to clarify the


In order to give a contribution to the genesis of the EOAEs, we have recorded echos in 24 subjects with unilateral sudden deafness (I. group); 20 ears with Menière disease (II. group); 22 ears with progressive sensorineural hearing loss (III. group) and 10 normally hearing young subjects as control group. The results have shown that the EOAEs were present in 100% (I. group), 84.6% (II. group) and 86.3% (III. group) in response to the tone-burst; while the echos were present only in the 57.1% (I. group), 38.4% (II. group) and 45.4% (III. group) in response to the click, although the audiometric threshold mean were greater than 45 dB HL for 2-4 KHz and 1 KHz in the three experimental groups except for 2-4 KHz in the subjects with Menière disease (37.5 dB HL). The properties of EOAEs (detection and saturation threshold, dynamic range and duration) depended on the degree of hearing loss. Our results seem to corroborate the hypothesis that EOAEs could be also produced by a passive intracochlear mechanism attributable to the travelling wave of the basilar membrane provoked by the perilymph. In the normal ear this passive mechanism could be superimposed by an active mechanism, linked to the contractile activity of the outer hair cells with a consequent increase in amplitude of the EOAEs for the same stimulus intensity.


ABSTRACT Major developments in information technology in the digital society are eventually realised in the way in which research is conducted, particularly in the field of digital humanities (DH). Through a brief historical survey, this paper observes that the adoption of new technologies in DH occurs with some delay from the wide-scale adoption of the same technologies in other areas of society. This delay allows for a prediction about what technologies may be adopted in the near future in DH. In particular, the rise of social media in recent years provides a potential model for future DH research, particularly as it differs greatly from previous technologies in its capacity to engage end-users in digital methods. This paper argues that the techniques by which users interact with data in social media, particularly categorisation and semantic tagging, can be applied to a broad range of humanities research methodologies using similar interfaces to those of social media platforms. It then discusses some research tools developed by the author as a way of facilitating the interaction between researchers and primary sources using digital methods. Although much more limited than social media tools, it shows a way forward for implementing social media methods in the field of humanities research.


Nodular fasciitis (NF) is a benign reactive proliferation of myofibroblasts that predominantly occurs subcutaneously. Commonly, it presents as a rapidly growing swelling in 4-8 weeks. NF mostly occurs in adults aged 20-50 years and usually has a diameter < 3‐4 cm. Giant NF with a diameter > 4 cm is rare. Owing to its rapidly growing nature, a precise clinical diagnosis is difficult; it is frequently misdiagnosed as an aggressive or malignant tumor. Herein, we present the case of a 15-year-old male who presented with a large protruding mass on the anterior chest wall. The tumor appeared clinically malignant as it was protruding and had doubled in size within a few weeks, reaching approximately 8 × 6 cm. Furthermore, the tumor separated and fell off spontaneously due to its large size. As the remaining tumor continued to grow rapidly, surgery was performed. Following wide tumor resection, no recurrence, metastases, or other complications were noted 1 year postsurgery. NF was diagnosed after pathological evaluation, including immunohistochemical analysis, molecular genetic testing, and cytogenetic testing via fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. Knowledge of the atypical clinical course and a combination of histopathological examinations are necessary to accurately diagnose NF.


"Getting stressed in traffic? Worried about your finances or loved ones? You are not alone. Stress is a daily part of life and can cause both health and emotional problems. Experts suggest that we manage our stress in order to prevent having these negative results. Here are some tips for managing stress." This 2-page radio transcript was written by Heidi Liss Radunovich and published by the UF Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, March 2012.


There have been a number of visions and policies pursued by previous Heads of Government of Nigeria from Independence to the present democratic dispensation of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan took oath of office on 29 May, 2011 amidst thunderous expectations of a new dawn, given the mountain of problems that characterized the nation. Realizing the high expectations of the citizens, the President promised Nigerians a policy package tagged the Transformation Agenda. This is a 5-year development plan 2011-2015, driven by a world class team of 28 technocrats under the Chairmanship of the President himself and the coordination of a renowned Economist in person of Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The Transformation Agenda itself is focused on three key areas which include strong, inclusive and non-inflationary growth; employment generation and poverty alleviation and value re-orientation of the citizenry. Using thirteen key sectors as the spring board, the President hopes to transform the whole economy of Nigeria. The strength of the Transformation Agenda lie in one, a well thought out policy document; two, a world class Economic Management Team to drive the process though; three a potential financial, human and political resource base; four, a growing maturity of major institutions of governance such as the National Assembly, the Judiciary, an electoral umpire and the Armed Forces; and five, the needlessness to "re-invent the wheel. as several strategic plans blue print are already in place. Nevertheless, there are a number of threats and challenges to the realization of the Transformation Agenda. These include, one, absence of good governance and accountability; two, ineffective public service; three, lack of synergy between political office holders and holders of public office; four, the incessant problem of insecurity; five, corruption; six, bankrupt leadership; and seven, a faulty development agenda that is currently driving the Transformation Agenda. In conclusion therefore, there is the need to take bold steps towards exploiting the maximum benefits of the opportunities and strengths of the Transformation Agenda, while simultaneously reducing, to the barest minimum, the threats and challenges facing it. Most importantly, some fundamental measures need to be taken in the thinking and actions of the leadership of the country. Finally, there is the need for a radical development strategy that will guarantee inclusiveness as opposed to exclusiveness in the Governance of the Transformation Agenda to be in firm place.


Objectives To describe the 3-month prevalence and correlates of self-reported physical health conditions in persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) worldwide. Study design Multinational cross-sectional survey. Subjects Community-living persons with traumatic or non-traumatic SCI aged >18 years from 21 countries representing all the 6 World Health Organization regions. Methods The study used data from 11,058 participants in the International SCI Community Survey (InSCI). The survey, based on the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for SCI, was conducted in 2017–19 simultaneously in the participating countries. The health conditions were reported on a modified version of the SCI Secondary Conditions Scale. Results Overall, 95.8% of the participants reported having experienced 1 or more health problems secondary to SCI. Having pain was the most prevalent problem (77.3%), followed by spasticity/muscle spasms (73.5%) and sexual dysfunction (71.3%), and the least prevlent was respiratory problems (28.8%). The participants reported a mean of 7.4 concurrent health conditions. Unmet healthcare needs, being a smoker, being a female, having a complete lesion, and a traumatic injury exhibited significant associations with comorbidity. Conclusion Physical health problems secondary to SCI are extremely common worldwide and demand investment in appropriate management, medical care and preventative measures. LAY ABSTRACT More than 500,000 people experience a spinal cord injury (SCI) every year. Because of the impairments of having SCI, many experience co-occurrence of additional health conditions, called comorbidity. This study describes the 3-month prevalence, and associated factors of self-reported physical health conditions secondary to SCI across 21 countries worldwide. The study uses data from 11,058 adults with SCI participating in the International SCI Community Survey in 2017–19. The results showed that physical health problems secondary to SCI are extremely common worldwide. Having pain, muscle spasms/spasticity, sexual dysfunction and bowel dysfunction were the most common, all with rates above 70%. The participants experienced a mean of 7 concurrent health conditions in addition to their SCI. Those reporting unmet healthcare needs, being a smoker, female, and having a complete lesion were most at risk for having comorbidity. These findings demand investment in appropriate management, medical care and preventative measures.


The statistics of the condensed polaritons is described in terms of the Wigner function. In the framework of the truncated Wigner method, the Wigner function obeys a Fokker-Planck equation, which is solved analytically. The second-order correlations in the stationary state are in excellent agreement with those obtained from the numerical solution of the master equation and show a qualitative and, well above threshold, also quantitative agreement with recent experiments. Furthermore, the contributions of the different noise effects that influence the polariton ground-state statistics are explicitly defined. Exploiting the equivalence between Fokker-Planck and Langevin descriptions of stochastic processes, the time-dependent correlations of the polaritons close to the stationary state are derived. An explicit expression for the polariton linewidth is obtained, whose numerical values reproduce qualitatively the experimental ones. Finally, the limit of validity of the truncated Wigner method in the present model is discussed.


Recent technological developments made available various many-core hardware platforms. For example, a SIMD-like hardware architecture became easily accessible for many users who have their computers equipped with modern NVIDIA GPU cards with CUDA technology. In this paper we redesign the maximal accepting predecessors algorithm [7] for LTL model checking in terms of matrix-vector product in order to accelerate LTL model checking on many-core GPU platforms. Our experiments demonstrate that using the NVIDIA CUDA technology results in a significant speedup of verification process.


The aim of the present study was to investigate the usefulness of abdominal diameters to indicate visceral fat, their relationship with serum lipids and their capability of detecting changes in visceral fat. Before and after weight loss, visceral and subcutaneous fat, and the sagittal and transverse diameters were assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in forty-seven obese men and forty-seven premenopausal obese women with an initial body mass index of 31·0 (SD 2·4) kg/m2. In a subsample (n 21), diameters, were also measured by anthropometry in the standing and supine positions. They were strongly correlated with the diameters derived from the MRI scans. Serum levels of total and HDL-cholesterol and triacylglycerol were measured before weight loss. In women the sagittal diameter correlated less strongly with visceral fat than anthropometrically-assessed waist circumference and waist:hip ratio (WHR). In men these associations were comparable. Changes in visceral fat with weight loss were more strongly correlated with changes in the sagittal diameter and sagittal:transverse diameter ratio (STR) than with changes in waist circumference or WHR in men. In women, changes in the anthropometric variables and the separate diameters (except STR) were not associated with visceral fat loss. In men, but not in women, both the sagittal diameter and the visceral fat area were related to serum lipids. It is concluded that the sagittal diameter and STR may have advantages over waist circumference and WHR in men, particularly in assessing changes in visceral fat, but this could not be demonstrated in women. The ability to predict visceral fat from circumferences and diameters or their ratios is, however, limited in obese men and women.


Abstract. A ~400 ka (kilo years) supra-Milankovitch cycle, recorded in the sodium, magnesium, lead, nickel and cobalt contents of a 32 mm thick ferromanganese crust from Vityaz fracture zone, central Indian ridge is reported here. To arrive at the geological ages, we used both 230Thexeccs and Co-chronometric datings. The correlation coefficient between the 230Thexeccs based dates and Co-chronometric dates for the top 0–8 mm is very high (r=0.9734, at 99.9% significance). The cobalt chronometric age for the bottom most oxide layer of this crust is computed as 3.5 Ma. Red-fit and multi-taper spectral analyses of time series data revealed the existence of the significant ~400 ka cycle, representing the changes in the hydrogeochemical conditions in the ocean due to the Earth's orbital eccentricity related summer insolation at the equator. This is the first report of such cycle from a hydrogenous ferromanganese crust from equatorial Indian ocean.


The present study aimed at measuring the levels of legacy and emerging contaminants in fillet samples from four demersal fish caught in two fishing sites from Southern Norway, in order to assess possible implications for food safety. Levels of organochlorine compounds (OCs), organophosphate pesticides (OPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybromodiphenyl ethers (PBDE), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were measured in fillet from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), European plaice (Pleuronectes platessa), lemon sole (Microstomus kitt), and European flounder (Platichthys flesus) specimens. A negligible contamination by all the investigated chemicals was noted in both the fishing sites, as very low levels of OCs, PCBs, and PFASs were noted in a limited number of individuals for each species. Considering the levels of contaminants measured in fillets of the four demersal fish species, negligible risk for human health for Norwegian consumers can be supposed.


Orophygial candidiasis (OPC) is one of the most frequent Candida infections of the oral cavity this condition is common in patients with malnutrition, having chemotherapy, administrating immunosuppressive agents, or severe disease such as HIV. Prolong local administration of Miconazole is a must to treat OPC conditions in patients, which required the prolong mucoadhesion of the dosage form to provide local delivery of drugs for an extended time period with goodmucoadhesion. Miconazole is synthetic imidazole antifungal agent, various prescription and over the counter product available like Miconazole Gel, Topical cream, Immediate release Tablet available in the market but that lack in the prolonged period of action to the localmucosa. In the present study combination ofWheyprotein concentrate (WPC), Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and Lactose were evaluated as a potential buccal adhesive tablet. The various combination of Whey protein concentrate with release controlling polymer was tested using a Miconazole as a potential antifungal agent. The mucoadhesive potential of WPC evaluated using Tensiometer by calculating the detachment force and drug release of Miconazole was performed to study the prolong release activity of Tablet. The optimized combination of WPC/HPMC/Lactose through a statistical study showed signi icant bioadhesion to the porcine mucosa and prolong drug release for 10hrs.


Prior studies of the strategic interaction between taxpayers and the tax authority have focused on reported net taxable income and on audit policies designed to discover potential misstatement of the single item. This paper extends the literature by modeling taxpayer compliance behavior and tax authority audit strategies within the context of a multidimensional report of taxable income. Specifically, the study analyzes the impact of component reporting requirements on taxpayer incentives to misstate their tax liability. It also allows the tax authority to tailor its audit policy to consider all tax return information. In particular, the model permits the tax authority to audit return components sequentially: the investigation of a second component is conditional on the results of the first component's audit. The study finds that partitioning taxable income into a multi-component report reduces overall tax evasion and increases tax authority net revenue collections relative to a single-report model of net taxable income. However, the impact on predicted evasion is not uniform across taxpayers. While some taxpayers reduce evasion, others with multiple opportunities to evade are more likely to do so when faced with multi-component reporting requirements.


INTRODUCTION
Adult type hypolactasia is the most prevalent carbohydrate malabsorption.

AIM
To assess the distribution of lactase gene C/T-13910 polymorphism and the accuracy and concordance of a genetic test and H(2) breath test in the diagnosis of adult type hypolactasia.

METHOD
496 patients with symptoms of lactose intolerance were enrolled in a retrospective study who underwent genetic test using TaqMan polymerase chain reaction and H(2) breath test.

RESULTS
The prevalence of C/T-13910 genotypes was: CC 48.1%, TC: 40.5%, and TT: 11.4%. When the genetic test was taken as reference, the sensitivity of the breath test was 84.3%, with a specificity of 95.7%, a positive predictive value of 96.7% and negative predictive value of 80.4%. Conversely, the accuracy of genetic test was: sensitivity 96.6%, specificity 80.4%, positive predictive value 84.3% and negative predictive value 95.7%. The concordance value between the two tests (kappa index) was 0.78. The results were discordant in 11.1% of the cases.

CONCLUSIONS
In symptomatic patients, the lactase non-persistence genotype CC occurred in almost half of the patients. Both the genetic and the breath tests are sufficiently accurate, with good predictive value and they can be used to set up the diagnosis. Discordant results should be carefully interpreted.


As a novel class of solvents, ionic liquids have properties that make them promising key chemicals for the future bio-based economy. However, safety performance of ionic liquids relating physico-chemical hazards is very rarely investigated as they are often perceived as a non existing issue due to the status of ionic liquids in regulatory flammability hazard ranking systems. Limitations of conventional hazard rating in the case of ionic liquids lead to misleading statements pertaining physico-chemical hazards given the wide range of chemicals under interest (~10 18), while by contrast safety is of paramount importance as a goal in green chemistry principles. Thus, it becomes important to go beyond conventional hazard rating and therefore we promote the development of a dedicated methodology from hazard identification to contextual risk assessment, as illustrated in figure 1. For that purpose, work has been focused here to qualify fire hazard profiles of ionic liquids by use of both experimentation (oxygen bomb calorimetry, pyrolysis combustion flow calorimetry and fire propagation apparatus) and predictive tools using molecular modelling. The results of our study in particular provide: mutual support of these experimental methods, advanced pertinent knowledge on the actual fire hazards of ionic liquids, valuable data on heats and products released by such chemicals in fire conditions.


In the upgrade project of the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPCII), three superconducting magnets are employed to realize the goal of two orders of magnitude higher luminosity. A cryogenic system with a total capacity of 0.5 kW at 4.5 K was built at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) to support the operations of these superconducting devices. For preparing the commissioning of the system, the refrigeration process was simulated and analyzed numerically. The numerical model was based on the latest engineering progress and focused on the normal operation mode. The pressure and temperature profiles of the cryogenic system are achieved with the simulation. The influence of the helium mass flow rates to cool superconducting magnets on the thermodynamic parameters of their normal operation is also studied and discussed in this paper.


With the development of internet, the online shopping mode has become more popular among consumers, and the online direct selling becomes more common. Besides buying products from traditional stores, consumers could get the product directly from the manufacturer online. In the dual channel setting, the competition becomes fiercer. Retailer should focus more on the price decision and take suitable pricing strategy to increase its profit. In this paper, consumer's overconfidence behavior is incorporated into perishable products' pricing decision in the partially integrated dual channel setting. Through the analysis of consumer's decision making process, this paper constructs the model for partially integrated manufacturer and retailer under the mean and precision overconfidence scenarios, conducts the optimal analysis, and analyzes the effect of consumer's overconfidence level on the optimal wholesale, retail and direct selling prices. We conclude that, no matter consumers are mean-overconfident or precision-overconfident; there are optimal wholesale price, direct sale price and retail price. Business enterprises should enhance their information collection capability and adopt some marketing measures to influence consumer's overconfidence level in order to increase the sales revenue.


The Eighth International Conference of the Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Society was held in Miami, Florida, December 8 to 11, 2010. The program included a session dedicated to the management of hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), with particular emphasis on the innovations that have led to contemporary schemes of management and the role of clinical trials in the evolution and acceptance of these strategies. An invited panel of experts reviewed the historical evolution of staged surgical reconstruction, the randomized clinical trials that have been undertaken thus far, and the extent to which these have, or have not, influenced individual and institutional approaches to management of HLHS.


By means of indirect immunofluorescence, the glomerular deposition of soy protein was studied in renal biopsy specimens from 16 children (aged 4-18 years) with IgA nephropathy. In addition, serum anti-soy protein IgA antibody was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Glomerular immunofluorescence for soy protein was not found in any of the preparations studied, both without and with citrate buffer treatment, and there was no significant difference in the concentration of serum anti-soy protein IgA antibody between the 13 patients studied and 13 age- and sex-matched controls. It is thus unlikely that soy protein plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of childhood IgA nephropathy.


In a 1983 article, Legal Negotiation: A Study of Strategies in Search of a Theory, Carrie Menkel-Meadow took stock of what was motivating a diverse range of scholars to want to reimagine negotiation theory. She described these negotiation scholars as shaped by the exigencies of their own political moments. Some were lawyers concerned about too much litigation of an unsatisfying quality. Many, however, were concerned more broadly about "the general level of hostility in the world," even haunted by the possibility that nuclear weapons could destroy all of humanity. Negotiation scholars included "[e]conomists and game theorists . . . concerned that the earth's limited resources be allocated efficiently and productively," as well as "[e]thicists . . . concerned that those resources be divided fairly." Carrie's own pioneering work would soon establish that a few of these scholars—including those who cared about ethics—approached negotiation through feminist theory.

In 1984, in a pathbreaking and widely celebrated article, Toward Another View of Legal Negotiation, Carrie introduced what she called a problem-solving model of negotiation. She included a footnote with an argument she foreshadowed in Legal Negotiation and that she would develop in subsequent years. Her position was that problem-solving negotiation should enact a feminist ethic of care. From this perspective, negotiation is not only a set of professional tools but a deeply ethical practice—a means of cultivating self and social relations differently.

In this celebration of Carrie's contributions to feminist theory, I suggest that Carrie's early work in negotiation created an opening for a radically caring and democratic practice of negotiation—one whose underlying feminist values of interdependence and connectedness implicitly and explicitly challenge capitalist logics of competition and accumulation. Speaking broadly, she told her readers that "[t]he goal, rooted in experience, [is] achieving a world without domination." Echoing the feminist turn in critical legal studies, of which she was an important part, Carrie called for a world without patriarchal domination but also without domination produced through socioeconomic relations.

Contextualizing this project, I will also suggest that negotiation theory, as it mainstreamed in legal and popular practice and notwithstanding Carrie's inspiration, has not yet embraced the radicalism she envisioned, but rather, in notable ways, has turned away from it. And yet the legacy of Carrie's visionary work as a set of possible prescriptions remains. As offering and as inspiration, Carrie's work awaits interpretations and reimaginings by people shaped by the exigencies of their own political moments. In the spirit of such reimaginings, undertaken in the present tense and as its own way of honoring her work, I read Carrie's scholarship together with the work of J.K. Gibson-Graham, the pen name of feminist Marxist economic geographers Katherine Gibson and Julie Graham, and their collaborators. By means of this reading, I endeavor to show how Carrie's work holds space today for a feminist praxis of negotiation—a praxis organized around the "ethical question of our interdependence with others and its implications" rather than the coordinates of "growth" and distribution" more familiar within the field of negotiation Carrie so vitally helped seek to change.


A study was made on cardiomyocytes of the left atrium of rats with experimental arterial hypertension due to adrenal regeneration. The nuclear DNA and the total protein in the cytoplasm were revealed using two consecutive tests: the Feulgen reaction, and Naphthol yellow S staining. The two-wavelength scanning cytophotometry was used for measuring DNA and protein contents. It has been ascertained that the polyploidy level in the nuclei of the left atrium myocytes, measured 6 and 9 weeks after nephradrenalectomy, remained the same as in the intact animals. The increase in the share of tetra- and octaploid nuclei occurred by 12 weeks. The mean nuclear volume decreased gradually throughout 9 weeks and subsequently was seen to increase, but by 12 weeks it did not yet reach the control level. The cytoplasm volume decreased by 6 weeks, then started to increase by 9 weeks to reach almost the standard level. The common protein content in the atrial myocytes decreases also by 6 weeks, but restores more rapidly than the volume, and reaches the standard level by 9 weeks, exceeding the same by 12 weeks. Thus, the prolonged hyperfunction of the atrial cardiomyocytes, associated with arterial hypertension, results in their hypertrophy which becomes apparent both in the increased polyploidy and in the augmented protein mass of the cells.


The book is quite concise, consisting of some 160 pages of very readable text, tables and diagrams. There are, however, some features which detract from a book claimed to serve as a primer, or preliminary step, for the engineering student and the practising engineer in other branches of the profession. It might have been better, for example, to delete the appendix on the treatment of vector quantities in favour of using the space to extend the sections dealing with atomic and molecular structure and energy release which, gems of miniaturisation that they are, would surely have benefited from an expanded treatment by this author. A puzzling aspect of this book and a major fault is the number of mistakes in the detailed derivation of some of the mathematical relationships (although the relationships themselves appear accurate), and in the numbering and referencing of some of the diagrams. In a text which, from the evidence of its grammar and punctuation, must have been meticulously proof read, these errors are a disappointment. The culmination of this is reserved for the last few pages of the last chapter in which one diagram shows that for launch vehicles with an all-up-weight in excess of 500 000 lb the thrust required at lift-off is significantly less than the launch weight! With defects like this the 65s. purchase price is too high. This is a pity, because in his subject and in his approach, the author has chosen well. Remove the errors, publish it in paperback form at a reduced price and I would have no hesitation in recommending it as a useful addition to the bookcase of any engineer with an interest in space flight.—G. T. HEALEY.


Abstract The effect of carbon on the solidification of ductile cast iron (DCI) was studied using linear variable differential transducers (LVDT) and microstructural analysis. Thermal expansion during the eutectic solidification was investigated by using LVDT and temperature measurements. The eutectic volume change was compared with the theoretical calculation. Furthermore, the primary austenite during solidification was evaluated by using differential thermal analysis and the samples undergo a dilatometer experimentation to assess the effect of cooling rates. It was found that the samples show no expansion in the transversal direction due to higher micro-shrinkages in the centre whereas in the longitudinal direction the samples shows expansion until solidification completed. The theoretical and measured volume changes agree with each other. The austenite fraction and micro-shrinkage pores decrease with increase in carbon content. The nodule count and distribution changes with carbon content. The thermal contraction of DCI is not influenced by carbon content variation at lower cooling rate.


Meiotic cells undergo genetic exchange between homologous chromosomes through programmed DNA double-strand break (DSB) formation, recombination and synapsis1, 2. In mice, the DNA damage-regulated phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase-like kinase (PIKK) ATM regulates all of these processes3-6. However, the meiotic functions of another major PIKK, ATR, have remained elusive, because germ line-specific depletion of this kinase is challenging. Using an efficient conditional strategy, we uncover roles for ATR in male mouse prophase I progression. Deletion of ATR causes chromosome axis fragmentation and germ cell elimination at mid pachynema. ATR is required for homologous synapsis, in a manner genetically dissociable from DSB formation. In addition, ATR regulates loading of recombinases RAD51 and DMC1 to DSBs and maintenance of recombination foci on synapsed and asynapsed chromosomes. Mid pachytene spermatocyte elimination in ATR deficient mice cannot be rescued by deletion of ATM and the third DNA damage-regulated PIKK, PRKDC, consistent with the existence of a PIKK-independent surveillance mechanism in the mammalian germ line. Our studies identify ATR as a multifunctional regulator of mouse meiosis.


Voting by the membership for Union and Section officers for the 2008–2010 term was completed on 10 January 2008. Voting was conducted electronically through an Internet Web site using commercial surveying software. Paper ballots were available upon request. The tallying and recording of the election was managed by AGU staff using Vovici software.


Several studies suggest that immune‐mediated pathways are important in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). The in vivo accumulation of leukaemic lymphocytes is facilitated by interactions of CLL cells with other cells and soluble factors that probably occur more often within the microenvironment through classical receptor–ligand interactions. These include CD40L–CD40 and chemokine–chemokine receptor interactions as well as B cell receptor (BCR) engagement by (auto)antigens. Indeed, the categorizations of CLL patients based on immunoglobulin heavy variable (IGHV) gene mutations and structure of the clone's BCR suggest that CLL patient outcome could be a reflection of ongoing BCR signalling in the context of other co‐signals.


Background. The goals of infusion therapy (IT) include the restoration of adequate tissue perfusion, maintaining the quantity and quality of the body fluid sectors, correction of homeostasis parameters. In addition, IT can be used for parenteral nutrition, reducing the risk of thrombosis and urinary tract infections.
Objective. To identify key IT parameters of a cancer patient.
Materials and methods. Analysis of the available literature on this topic.
Results and discussion. Indications for IT include hypovolemia, cellular and protein deficiency of blood, nutrition disorders, intoxication, disorders of hemostasis, hemorheological properties, fluid and electrolyte balance, acid-base status. Cancer patients often have the listed syndromes. The appropriate infusion volume should not be exceeded, as the hypervolemia is accompanied by edema, multiorgan dysfunction and worsening of the prognosis. On the other hand, dehydration is the most common fluid and electrolyte balance disorder in the elderly. It is an independent predictor of mortality and high healthcare costs. At any IT administration it is necessary to assess the volemia condition, to determine the cause of the deficiency, to choose the optimal solution and infusion rate, to set and to monitor target values. Capillary filling time, heart rate, blood pressure, jugular veins' condition, skin turgor, pulmonary and cardiac auscultation data, edema control, diuresis rate, and weight changes are used to assess volemia. Peculiarities of the elderly and debilitated patients, which should be taken into account when prescribing IT, include the loss of thirst feeling, deterioration of renal function and worsening of hormonal regulation of fluid and electrolyte balance. Anticancer therapy has a number of side effects, and some of them can be eliminated with the help of IT. The amount of fluid required should be calculated based on physiological needs (30-40 ml/kg/day), deficiency severity and pathological losses (fever, blood loss, polyuria, perspiration, drainage losses). Plasma replacement solutions can be divided into crystalloids (iso- and hypertonic saline, Ringera lactate) and colloids (albumin, solutions of gelatin, dextranes, hydroxyethyl starch). Crystalloids are recommended for short-term interventions, while long-term therapy requires colloids or balanced solutions, as the introduction of unbalanced solutions is accompanied by such risks as hyperchloremia, dilutive acidosis, acute kidney damage, and systemic vasoconstriction. In settings of the chronic inflammation, which often accompanies oncological diseases, the role of thirst as a means of controlling osmolarity changes. Hyperosmolarity may also accompany central diabetes mellitus and tumor metastases to the hypothalamus. Hyperosmolarity leads to the microcirculatory disorders, increased inflammation, cachexia development and multiple organ failure. Another feature of IT in oncology settings is the disruption of tissue energy supply due to nutritional deficiencies and changes in metabolism. Xylitol (Xylate, "Yuria-Pharm") can be used to eliminate this problem. Xylitol is a five-atom alcohol, which is directly included into the pentose phosphate cycle. The benefits of xylitol include metabolism stabilization in people with diabetes, promotion of slow but stable energy production, antiketogenic properties, improved metabolism of B vitamins, cholekinetic action, and high safety. Xylitol is not used by the tumor cells as an energy substrate. The role of xylitol (Xylate) in IT is to increase the volume of circulating plasma, to reduce the interstitial edema, to decrease the production of ketone bodies, to activate the antioxidant systems, and to increase alkaline blood reserve. It has been reported that xylitol infusion has an oncosuppressive effect due to its antioxidant effect and inhibition of glucose utilization by tumor cells.
Conclusions. 1. IT is an important component of cancer treatment; it should be based on the individual features of the patient. 2. Rational IT eliminates chronic inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and microcirculatory disorders. 3. Rational IT is based on the correct choice of solution, its timely introduction and frequent evaluation of the infusion response. 4. Xylate ("Yuria-Pharm") has a multifunctional effect in oncology: eliminates dehydration, corrects energy deficiency, and has a direct oncosuppressive effect.


All arthropods share the same basic set of Hox genes, although the expression of these genes differs among divergent groups. In the brine shrimp Artemia franciscana, their expression is limited to the head, thoracic/trunk and genital segments, but is excluded from more posterior parts of the body which consist of six post-genital segments and the telson (bearing the anus). Nothing is currently known about the genes that specify the identity of these posterior structures. We examine the expression patterns of four candidate genes, Abdominal-B, caudal/Cdx, even-skipped/Evx and spalt, the homologues of which are known to play an important role in the specification of posterior structures in other animals. Abdominal-B is expressed in the genital segments of Artemia, but not in the post-genital segments at any developmental stage. The expression of caudal, even-skipped and spalt in the larval growth-zone suggests they may play a role in the generation of body segments (perhaps comparable with the role of gap and segmentation genes in insects), but not a direct role in defining the identity of post-genital segments. The expression of caudal at later stages suggests a role in the specification of anal structures. A PCR screen designed to isolate Hox genes expressed specifically in the posterior part of the body failed to identify any new Hox genes. We conclude that the post-genital segments of Artemia are not defined by any of the genes known to play a role in the specification of posterior segments in other arthropods. We argue that these segments constitute a unique body region that bears no obvious homology to previously characterised domains of Hox gene activity.


Calcium phosphate coatings were deposited on carbon/carbon composites by induction heating method at 353K. The phase, morphology and composition of the calcium phosphate coatings were characterized through X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the adhesion strength of these coatings and the scratched morphologies were determined by the scratch test and stereomicroscope (STM). The results show that when the solution concentration is less than 0.00125 M and pH value is large than 6, the phase of as-prepared coating is hydroxyapatite with Ca/P molar ratio of 1.67 or OCP with Ca/P molar ratio of 1.33, and when the solution concentration and pH value are in the range of 0.05-0.0125M and 5-6, the as-obtained coating are blends of brushite, monetite or OCP. These coatings have a porous morphology and are very easy to be scratched off. When the solution concentration is large than 0.05 M and pH value is less than 5, the as-prepared coatings are monetite with Ca/P molar ratio of 1. Among these monetite coatings, the coating on C/C prepared in 0.2M solution have highest bonding strength with a critical load of on average 13 N.


Oil palm plantations are often damaged by pests, especially the horn beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) The damage caused  can  potentially  suffer  losses,  either  directly  or  indirectly.  This  study  aims  to  determine  the effectiveness and intensity of the horn beetle catch obtained by combining fruit traps with various colors of lights in the Immature Plants (TBM) area, the lights used are 18 watt emergency lights. This study used a non- factorial Randomized Block Design (RAK) research method with five levels of treatment, namely: P0 (white light + pineapple), P1 (yellow light + pineapple), P2 (blue light + pineapple), P3 (green light + pineapple). . light + pineapple). light + pineapple). , P4 (red light + pineapple) with four replications to obtain 20 treatment samples. The parameter observed was the number of beetles (O. rhinoceros) trapped. The results of this study showed that P1 was significantly different from treatment P2, P3 and P4 but not significantly different from treatment P0, in general, treatment P1 was the most effective treatment with the acquisition of horn beetles trapped as many as 146 tails. This is because yellow light has a color spectrum length of 560-590 nm which best corresponds to the wavelength of the color spectrum that is acceptable to insects, which is 300-650 nm. In addition, yellow light is more unified and gives a more dominant light reflection in the dark.


The hip bone is the most commonly used bone in medicolegal examination for the determination of sex of human skeletal remains. In recent studies it was observed that many of the commonly used parameters were not much reliable. The aim of the present study was to develop a parameter which is easy to apply and can determine the sex in most of the hip bones with 100% accuracy. The material of the study consisted of 210 adult hip bones from individuals of known sex(147 male and 63 female). The following four linear measurements were taken which reflected the differences in size of the pelvic cavity in the two sexes(i.e., length of the arcuate line; length of the ilial part of arcuate line, length of the sacropelvic line and height of the pelvic cavity). All these measurements showed statistically significant differences (P<0.001) between males and females. However, when "demarking points" (DPs) of these parameters were worked out, these were of little value in the identification of sex. Therefore, three indices based on the above four linear measurements were developed i.e., "height of pelvic cavity / length of arcuate line"; "height of pelvic cavity / length of ilial part of arcuate line" and "length of sacropelvic line / length of arcuate line". When DPs of these indices were worked out it was revealed that the index "height of pelvic cavity / length of arcuate line" was an excellent parameter, which identified 78% of male and 88% of female hip bones of right side and 74% of male and 77 % of female hip bones of left side.


Over the past few years a Ph.D. student has occupied the academic command centre and sketched a number of renovations in order to change the university's ongoing work to broaden the recruitment of students from homes with no study habit. The point of departure of the renovations is to direct attention to the terms and structures that people with backgrounds different than the academic norm are supposed to become a part of. Rather than focusing on how 'they' adapt to 'our' way of doing things, these investigations tries to get a closer look at what this 'Us' imply and how that reproduces excluding structures. The ambition is to shift the focus from 'the Others' to 'the Firsts' – from exclusion to inclusion and this concept (firstness as opposed to otherness) is put forward as a prism to co-think key elements in critical theories of normative subjectification: the understanding of hegemony from masculinity studies, the idea of normativity from (objectless) 'queer' (and crip) studies and the idea of unmarkedness and invisibility which is key in critical whiteness studies.The body of research on which the renovations are based is composed of 22 interviews with senior tenured academics with family backgrounds with at least one parent holding a Ph.D and three months of fieldwork from two different university institutions with a relatively high percentage of employees reporting being brought up in academic homes. The question that is scrutinized is how a subjectification framed by academic firstness is experienced and how it is lived and demonstrated within Swedish universities. In order to investigate this, haunting, joykilling and flirtatious methodologies are brought into action creating a methodology that is 'serious about the frivolous, frivolous about the serious' (Sontag 1964) and aims to find new ways to go about 'academicness'. The study's main contribution is reflections around the participant's extensive, yet unmarked efforts to position themselves as neutral and ordinary. At the center of this positioning is a longing for scientific neutrality, demonstrated in a strong belief in the justice of the meritocratic system, that blind peer reviews protect against discrimination, and that the individual subject perceives its academic accomplishments as unaffected by external factors such as gender, age, background, ethnicity etc. These efforts are read as expressions of an ideology of blindness which is based on a logic in which only that which is within someone's sight 'exists' and can be acted upon. Alternative comprehensions, views and experiences are disqualified by their invisibility to the normative position and as a consequence the idea of neutrality can be generalized which makes the academic system of neutrality auto-reproducing and self-perpetuating.


In this essay, predominant psychoanalytic perspectives on the meanings and functions of bodily adornment are interrogated from a feminist perspective. An argument for theorizing the prolonged, if not perpetual, utility of surface-sensory experience to ongoing personal development, continuing into adulthood, is posited. Through a discussion of the properties of the skin, a claim for understanding experience that takes place at the skin surface in adult intersubjective engagement is developed. A case vignette is presented that chronicles the operationalization of these hypotheses.


The interrelations between the emotional, volitional qualities and intelligence quotients of the younger teenagers are studied. During three years we carry out the experiment in diagnostics and development emotionally-volitional sphere of schoolchildren of 9−12. The correlative and factorial analysis of the received psychodiagnostic results, which was obtained before and after experiment, was used. The diagnostic and correctional-developing methods are presented. We show that the influence on emotionallyvolitional sphere has the significant effect on schoolchildren intellectual qualities.


Humans usually associate an upright orientation with objects, placing them in a way that they are most commonly seen in our surroundings. While it is an open challenge to recover the functionality of a shape from its geometry alone, this paper shows that it is often possible to infer its upright orientation by analyzing its geometry. Our key idea is to reduce the two-dimensional (spherical) orientation space to a small set of orientation candidates using functionality-related geometric properties of the object, and then determine the best orientation using an assessment function of several functional geometric attributes defined with respect to each candidate. Specifically we focus on obtaining the upright orientation for man-made objects that typically stand on some flat surface (ground, floor, table, etc.), which include the vast majority of objects in our everyday surroundings. For these types of models orientation candidates can be defined according to static equilibrium. For each candidate, we introduce a set of discriminative attributes linking shape to function. We learn an assessment function of these attributes from a training set using a combination of Random Forest classifier and Support Vector Machine classifier. Experiments demonstrate that our method generalizes well and achieves about 90% prediction accuracy for both a 10-fold cross-validation over the training set and a validation with an independent test set.


The adjunctive use of acellular dermal matrices in breast surgery is expanding. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the various applications of acellular dermal matrices in breast surgery, the benefits and complications associated with their use, and best practices to optimize outcomes using a human acellular dermal matrix (AlloDerm [LifeCell Corp., Branchburg, NJ]) as an example.


Abstract : In this thesis the results of a systematic investigation into the behavior of ultrashort optical pulses propagating in dispersive media with a Kerr nonlinearity (and intensity-dependent refractive index) are presented. The effect of the nonlinear index is to couple the spatial and temporal behaviors of the optical field together in a process known as spatiotemporal coupling. In the first chapter, a review of the previous work done in describing spatiotemporal coupling is presented as well as a discussion of its relevance to the remaining chapters. Optical wave propagation in general is described by Maxwell's equations. In the second chapter Maxwells equations are used to derive the various forms of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NSE) which describe optical wave propagation in the presence of a Kerr nonlinearity. The different forms of the NSE account for different propagation geometries and conditions. The numerical model based on the NSE which is used to derive many of the results in the remainder of the thesis is also described. In chapter three, the numerical model is employed to give a thorough description of the dynamics of the pulse behavior in the presence of spatiotemporal coupling. An explanation of enhanced beam-broadening in self-defocusing media and localized pulse compression in normally dispersive self-focusing media are presented. The remaining two chapters describe experimental conditions under which spatiotemporal coupling may become important. In chapter four, the model is used to describe a means to exploit the ultrafast Kerr nonlinearity to achieve pulse compression with spatial phase modulation. In the fifth and final chapter, the influence of spatiotemporal coupling on Z-scan measurement of the nonlinear refractive index is discussed.


Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), an ectoenzyme bound to vascular endothelial cells, is also found at tissue sites (TACE) normally composed of fibrillar collagen and fibroblasts. For example, TACE is present in the adventitia of intramural coronary arteries and matrix of heart valves, as well as the fibrous tissue that follows the chronic administration of angiotensin II (AII) or aldosterone. At these sites bradykinin (BK) receptor but not AII receptor binding has been observed, suggesting that in fibrous tissue TACE uses BK as substrate. Dermis, subcutaneous tissue, and skeletal muscle tendon likewise are sites that are rich in fibrillar collagen but are different in their cellularity. Accordingly, we tested the hypothesis that TACE is normally present at sites of fibrous tissue and that BK--not AIK--receptor binding is anatomically coincident with TACE in keeping with its role as a kininase II. TACE and receptors for BK and AII were localized by quantitative in vitro autoradiography with [125I]351A, 125I[Tyr8]BK, and 125I[Sar1, Ile8]AII, respectively. Skin morphology was examined in serial full thickness sections obtained from the dorsum of Sprague-Dawley rats. We found the following: (1) high TACE binding occurred in subcutaneous connective tissue and heart valves that was displaced by lisinopril or 351A in a dose-dependent manner; (2) BK receptor binding and low density AII receptor binding were seen at these sites, where AII receptor binding was totally displaced by a type 1 (DuP753) but not a type 2 (PD123177) receptor antagonist; (3) ACE, BK, and AII receptor binding was not evident in epidermis, dermis, skeletal muscle, or tendon.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Public open spaces in campuses are social places for students and staffs. Convenient accessibility both physical and visual is the main factor that attracts people to use these spaces. This article analyses the physical layout of public open spaces through their relationship with the surrounding. The purpose of this study is to compare the relationship between public open spaces and pedestrians in the campuses. The case study conducted in four campuses located in Thailand and Hungary. In order to get the required data, spatial analysis from Geographic Information System and observation survey was employed as qualitative techniques. The study revealed that pedestrian facilities are the most important accessibility types in public open spaces in each campus. The different lengths of pedestrian facilities are related with three factors of campuses' layout. They are the size, surrounding and design elements of the campuses and their public open spaces.


Background: Maternal depression may be a risk factor for childhood trauma (CT), with resultant offspring development of mood disorders (MD) in adult life. Objective: To verify the relationship between maternal depression (as a risk factor for childhood trauma) and mood disorders in young adults. Methods: The sample was composed of 164 young adults and their mothers. Maternal depression was identified through the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.). Mood Disorders in the young adults were confirmed with the Structured Interview for the DSM-IV (SCID), whereas the CT was evaluated using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Results: In the group of young adults with MD, individuals who had depressed mothers presented higher mean scores of CT in comparison to the ones who did not have mothers with Depression (p < 0.005). Childhood trauma was also associated with lower social classes (p < 0.005). In the group of young adults without MD, the only variable that was associated with CT was the young adult's (not) current work (p < 0.005). Discussion: Maternal depression was considered to be a risk factor for CT and MD in young adults. Thus, preventing and treating maternal psychiatric disorders may diminish the risk of offspring childhood trauma, and, consequently, avoid negative effects in the offspring's adult life. Barbosa LP, et al. / Rev Psiq Clín. 2014;41(3):72-6


Magnetic and electrical resistivity changes due to a martensitic transformation in large magnetic fields were investigated in a NiCoMnIn alloy. The transformation is interrupted at about 150K during field cooling and does not proceed with further cooling. The obtained two-phase condition is frozen at low temperatures and zero field heating releases this condition, inducing a "forward" transformation. These unusual phenomena can be explained by an abnormal behavior in the transformation entropy change and an extremely low mobility of the phase interfaces detected at low temperatures.


OBJECTIVE
Energy expenditure (EE) and measures of inflammation increase with adiposity, and this obesity-induced chronic and subclinical inflammation was extensively reported to be a cause of insulin resistance. However, whether subclinical inflammation has a role in increasing EE, which may be at the cost of developing insulin resistance, is not clear.

METHODS
We investigated the association between circulating white blood cell count (WBC) in a population of Native Americans (n=243) with measurement of EE in a respiratory chamber, and in a subset of the same population (n=34), with gene expression measures of inflammation in subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SAAT). All subjects were healthy on oral glucose tolerance test. Statistically, nonnormally distributed variables were logarithmically transformed before analyses to approximate normal distributions.

RESULTS
WBC was associated with 24-h EE adjusted for age, sex, fat-free mass, and fat mass (r=0.13, P=0.04). In SAAT, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), shown as log10-transformed TNF-alpha (r=0.36, P=0.05), and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1), shown as log10-transformed PAI-1 (lPAI-1; r=0.41, P=0.02), expressions were also positively correlated with adjusted 24-h EE. lPAI-1 was also correlated with adjusted sleep EE (r=0.34, P=0.07).

CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, circulating markers of inflammation (WBC) and markers of inflammation within adipose tissue (TNF-alpha and PAI-1) are positively associated with EE, indicating a role of chronic subclinical inflammation in the regulation of metabolic rate.


ABSTRACT According to the Department of Energy U.S.A, the amount of oil produced by conventional extraction techniques only account with 1/3 of the total oil available in discovered reserves. Thus, a major concern in oil industry is the optimization of extraction procedures, such as Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods, in order to increase recovery efficiency from the existing fields. An increase in oil production will follow the economic and world demands, while we have a shortage in the supply. Most of the studies and reviews show that the amount of oil that can be extracted with primary drive mechanisms is about 20 - 30% and by secondary recovery can reach up to 40%. However, using modern EOR techniques the recovery can reach up to 60 - 65%. The latter ones are essentially designed to recover oil commonly described as residual oil. The thesis is research and experiment based on the advancement in EOR techniques by using eclipse 100 simulator. The thesis includes a current review of the latest techniques of oil recovery with special emphasis for the new advances in EOR techniques, which leads to a better oil production. The present work consists in the simulation of EOR techniques, direct Water Injection and Water Alternating Gas (WAG) injection, aiming to establish the better recovery factor for oil production between these two techniques.


IntroductionFrom the biographies of more than ten thousand composers and over a thousand patographies, 96 sight impaired composers were found. Composers presented in this work were listed by the year of birth, with the most probable diagnosis/reason leading to sight impairment, some of the patographies (Bach J.S., Handel G. F) being elaborated deeper. [1-8]In the rest of patography we will present comparative patographies of two barock giants: Johann Sebastian Bach (Eisenach, 31. 3.1685.- Leipzig, 28. 7. 1750) and Georg Friedrich Handel (Halle, 23. 2. 1685. - London, 14. 4. 1759).Although being born in the same year, not too far from one another, they never met.Bach has spent his life inside the "circle" of some 250 km diameter, Handel travelled intensively, settling down in England; they had somewhat different approaches to life - Bach being the modest man of church (yet prone to alcohol and smoking tobacco), Handel being more passionate, apt to eating and drinking, periodically, practically, on the border of alcoholism; Bach married twice, had 23 children altogether, Handel never married, kept his personal life far from the public eye (yet being very extrovert most of his life). Both of composers got blinded at the same age.However, the "Finger of destiny" gave the connecting tissue that tried to solve their visual impairment in their later years: famous, bombastic, public broker, considered charlatan but wise operator, "chevalier and gentleman", an Englishman named John Taylor at that time famous as operator-inventor of a needle for gray dimness over eyes (cataract reclinator ?). He used to treat many eye illnesses with the device causing a lot of damage and became his nickname "Munchhausen of medicine"! and in arrogance he described his residing in Leipzig (while operating Bach in March/April 1750) as follows:"I saw all kind of various animals, like camels, dromedaries etc. But in Leipzig I operated a famous old music-master, I saved his vision, he was educated together with Handel whom I operated later".Operation on both eyes failed, most probably due to wrong diagnosis of the vision loss - some sources speculate about the reason for the vision loss was either haemorrhagic glaucoma or, centrally, brain stroke causing central blindness; situation got complicated by inflammation, Bach rested in dark room, depressed doing only some dictations; mid July he suffered from another stroke complicated with fever (pneumonia?) and died on July 28.From 1751 Handel was not able to write the music himself and had his student Smith write down new compositions, but Handel was unable to conduct as he was used before; the amount of new music was but a shadow of the previous times. He tried to improve situation in 1752, by two operations by means of needles and cuts, performed by eye doctors from the Guy Hospital and by court surgeon later, unsuccessfully. Then he came to the hands of above mentioned Taylor who operated on his eyes in 1753. Taylor reports:"...with whom I once thought to have some success, having all the circumstances in his favour, motions of the pupil, light, etc., but upon drawing the curtain, we found the bottom defective from the paralytic disorder."Another possible wrong diagnosis - speculation is that the cause of vision loss was more likely central vascular disorder with retinal degeneration or ischemic changes complicated with cataracts, diabetes and hypertension; several years later, Handel died of decrepitude. …


Not Yet Pregnant , written by a sociologist with personal experience of infertility and adoption, provides a useful perspective for physicians, nurses, and counselors. The introductory chapters review sociologic thinking about infertility in various cultures and in contemporary America. As a clinician, I found them more difficult to read and less interesting than the rest of the book, which draws on interviews with couples who have undergone treatment for infertility. The emphasis is on the emotional and interpersonal difficulties described by husbands and wives, with their different perspectives, related to infertility. Major issues include the impact on the couple's marital relationship and their interactions with friends, families, coworkers, and others in the "fertile world." These are important issues to understand for health care professionals who treat individuals and couples dealing with infertility. With respect to the couple's interactions with physicians, the author describes power imbalances and what he views as the


Two infants with acute unilateral facial palsy were examined serially as to the electrically and mechanically elicited blink reflex, photo-evoked eyelid microvibration and auditory brainstem response (ABR). The results indicated that in hemifacial palsy beside the affection of the facial nerve also central pathways in the brainstem were involved in the pathogenetic processes. In particular, a neurapraxic change of the facial nerve itself in one case played an important role in pathogenesis, while a wide spread involvement was observed in another case. The clinical recovery of a patient with a wide spread involvement was more prolonged. We suggest that serial determinations of blink reflexes and ABR are helpful in clarifying the underlying pathogenetic processes concerning the brainstem affection during facial nerve palsy.


The Miocene turbidite system exposed in the beach cliffs at San Clemente State Beach, California, has been used by industry and academia alike as a field laboratory. It has been used as an analog for petroleum reservoirs in the Los Angeles Basin and other areas. We interpret the turbidite system at San Clemente State Beach to represent the fill of a single turbidite channel that aggraded subvertically. This interpretation is based on construction of a detailed photomosaic, mapping of three-dimensional facies distributions, measurement of representative sections, and collection of new paleocurrent data; we also extended this analysis to outcrops not previously described in the literature. The channel had a minimum width of 1 km and a paleotransport direction toward the northwest. Our new paleocurrent measurements indicate an average transport direction of 321 degrees for the channel deposits, approximately perpendicular to previously published paleocurrent data. Our paleocurrent data are in agreement with the trend of the channel as defined by facies mapping. The lateral and vertical facies changes along the sea cliffs at San Clemente are a result of interfingering between axial and marginal facies within a single turbidite channel. We interpret the turbidite channel to have been cut into a low-gradient continental slope (less than 1 degrees), rather than representing a channel on a submarine fan. We propose that the Gollum channel system is a modern analog of the turbidite system at San Clemente State Beach.


Three diesel engines were fueled with BDF 20, a blend of 80% diesel fuel and 20% biodiesel fuel by volume, and run in excess of 200 h to evaluate their combustion characteristics and durability. The engines used for this study were a 4-cylinder 2476-㏄ displacement IDI diesel engine(Engine 1), a 4-cylinder 1732-㏄ displacement IDI diesel engine(Engine 2), and a single cylinder 673-㏄ displacement DI diesel engine(Engine 3). Engine dynamometer testing was performed on each engine at regularly scheduled intervals to monitor the performance and exhaust emissions, which were sampled at 1 h intervals for analysis. The peak combustion pressure with BDF 20 increased in Engines 1 and 3 over that measured when burning pure diesel fuel, but that in Engine 2 remained constant. Combustion parameters, such as the maximum combustion pressure and corresponding crank angle, did not change over the long-term dynamometer testing. The BSFC with BDF 20 in Engine 1 was less than that measured with pure diesel fuel. The amount of smoke produced with BDF 20 was less for all engines ; the greatest reduction was observed for Engine 3. The NOx emissions were lower in the IDI engines than the DI engine. The traditional trade-off between smoke and NOx emissions was maintained for BDF 20 fuel for Engines 1 and 3. There was not a big difference in the CO₂ and O₂ emissions for BDF 20, as compared to pure diesel fuel, but more CO₂ was exhausted by Engine 1 than by Engines 2 or 3 and less O₂ was exhausted by Engine 1 than by Engines 2 or 3. The engine parts remained clean, except for some carbon attached to the area surrounding the nozzle hole of the DI diesel engine.


Modern seismological methods developed to study microearthquake phenomena are being utilized in an acoustic emission (AE) experiment designed to investigate the mechanical behavior of hard crystalline rock subject to heating by high-level nuclear waste. The sensors consist of a fifteen-station, three-dimensional array (dimensions: 50 m x 20 m x 10 m) of accelerometers surrounding eleven canisters of spent nuclear fuel and six electrical heaters simulating spent-fuel canisters. The canisters are arranged in a linear array in the Climax stock at the Nevada Test Site, at a subsurface depth of 420 m. The data are digitized and analyzed in situ by an Automated Seismic Processor (ASP) developed for microearthquake studies, using a 15-channel transient waveform recorder system to convert from the high-frequency (1kHz to 10kHz) AE events. Velocity and attenuation control within the rock mass is provided by a controlled-pulse piezoelectric source located centrally within the sensor array. This paper discusses the theoretical basis for studies of the AE source characteristics, a description of the instrumentation employed and a review of results obtained over the first 18 months of operation of the facility.


In the framework of the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider project (HL-LHC), the LHC experiments will require upgrades to their detectors to cope with the new accelerator performance. The upgrade of the CMS Muon Spectrometer foresees the installation of three new muon stations based on the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) technology, referred to as GE1/1, GE2/1 and ME0 detectors. While the installation and commissioning of the GE1/1 detectors is currently underway, the GE2/1 and ME0 detectors are expected to be installed between 2023 and 2027. The CMS Muon Collaboration has developed a novel construction design of large-area, trapezoidal-shaped GE1/1 triple-GEM detectors; in particular, a new self-stretching technique has been introduced to mechanically stretch the GEM-foils without using spacer grids or glue inside the gas volume in order to avoid dead regions (several percent) or possibly outgassing contaminants which could trigger premature aging processes. As it has been observed, the PCB boards, which define the gas enclosure of the detector, get deformed under the internal gas over-pressure, introducing irregularities in the planarity of the GE1/1 detector, which could potentially affect the uniformity of the detector performance. Therefore, the collaboration has established a set of tests and quality controls in order to quantify these irregularities and mitigate their impact on detector performance. Additionally, new solutions and design upgrades have been implemented to prevent such effects in future GE2/1 and ME0 upgrade projects. We will focus in particular on the novel design solutions based on the PCB distance holders (pillars), which the collaboration adopted for realization of the latter projects, and their impact on the performance of the detector, with a summary of the ongoing R&D activities.


The paper presents a new Fast Gauss-Newton algorithm (FGNWA) for the detection of islanding condition in distributed generation systems (DGs) when they are disconnected from the main supply system or there are small load unbalances in the distribution network. During islanding conditions power system parameters like frequency, voltage magnitude, phase change, total harmonic distortion, and various sequence voltage, current, and power components do change and hence by monitoring these changes accurately, an islanding condition can be detected. A forgetting factor weighted error cost function is minimized by the well known Gauss-Newton (GN) algorithm and the resulting Hessian matrix is approximated by ignoring the off-diagonal terms to yield the new FGNW algorithm to estimate, in a recursive and decoupled manner, all the above voltage and current signal parameters accurately for realistic power systems even in the presence of significant noise. A number of test cases considering both islanding and nonislanding, for realistic, hybrid distribution networks has demonstrated the reliability and accuracy of the islanding detection scheme, when a fuzzy expert system (FES) is used in conjunction with the proposed FGNW algorithm.


The effects of dietary sialic acid in dams on the learning abilities of their pups after weaning were investigated using rats deficient in n-3 fatty acids. Nine-week-old female Wistar rats were fed an n-3 fatty acid-deficient diet for 3 wk and were mated at 12 wk of age. During pregnancy and lactation, the female rats were fed the n-3 fatty acid-deficient diet, and were given water or water containing 1% N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA) ad libitum. After weaning, the learning abilities of the pups were evaluated using a novel object recognition test. The recognition index of pups nursed by dams fed on water containing 1% NANA (NANA-intake dams) was significantly higher than that of pups nursed by dams fed only on water (NANA non-intake dams). There were no significant differences in the total sialic acid or docosahexaenoic acid contents in the cerebral cortex or hippocampus of pups nursed by dams fed on either type of water. The total dimethylacetal (DMA, from plasmalogen) level in the cerebral cortex of pups nursed by NANA-intake dams was significantly higher than that of pups nursed by NANA non-intake dams. These results suggest that dietary sialic acid in dams during pregnancy and lactation might be beneficial for the learning abilities of pups after weaning, which may be related to the plasmalogen level in the brain of pups.


IntroductionIntracavitary brachytherapy (ICB) is one of the cornerstones in the definitive management of locally advanced cervical carcinoma. Due to possible interfraction variation due to patient and tumor anatomy, placement and stability of brachytherapy applicator, the current standard of care is replanning every fraction. Some proponents suggested eliminating replanning to certain subset of patients to save waiting, sedation and manpower time especially in a resource limited setting.
Purpose:We examined if there would be a significant change in the relative dosimetry if the source positions and calculated dwell times generated during the plan of the first fraction were applied to subsequent brachytherapy insertion using the orthogonal films taken for the subsequent fractions.
Materials and methods:Retrospective review of charts and orthogonal films were done of patients treated with four fractions of ICB from 2007 to 2012. Institutional review board approval was obtained prior to commencement of the study. Eligible cases were patients with histologically confirmed non-metastatic, cervical carcinoma treated with definitive concurrent chemoradiation with at least four fractions of brachytherapy using Henschke applicators with same dose prescription to point A for all fractions. Uterine dilatation length should not differ by more than 1 cm among brachytherapy fractions. The same tandem curvature should have been employed for all four fractions. Dose on point A, point B, bladder and rectum point were collected from actual plans using ICRU defined points. Replanning to create a hypothetical plan on the first set of orthogonal plates were done and the source position and dwell time were subsequently applied to the remaining fractions using the orthogonal films of that fraction. Analysis of difference between actual plan vs hypothetical plan, and first fraction to the remaining fractions were done using Chi square test for independence, Wilcoxon-signed rank test and Friedmann test. P value <0.05 were considered significant.
Results:Twenty nine patients were included in this study with a total of 116 plans via orthogonal films. Comparison of the actual plan and hypothetical plan was done on each fraction. The result showed that the cervical, rectal and bladder dose between actual plan and hypothetical plan were not significantly different (p values > 0.05).
In the hypothetical plan, the source activity and dwell time of the first plan were applied to the orthogonal films of second, third and fourth brachytherapy application. The mean doses to point A were 648cGy, 629cGy and 642 cGy for the second, third and fourth fractions respectively. In each case, the dose was not significantly different from that obtained in the first fraction (p>0.05). The mean doses to the cervix were 1443cGy, 1405cGy and 1484 cGy for the second, third and fourth fractions respectively. In each case, the dose was not significantly different from that obtained in the first fraction (p>0.05). The mean doses to bladder were 330cGy, 346cGy and 293 cGy for the second, third and fourth fractions respectively. Comparing each fractions to plan of first fraction, again there is no significant difference dose received to the bladder point (p>0.05). The mean dose to rectum was 297cGy, 295cGy and 285 cGy for the second, third and fourth fraction respectively. Comparing each fractions to plan of first fraction, there is no significant difference dose received to the rectum point (p>0.05).
Conclusions:The result of this study showed the safety of using source position and dwell time of the first plan to subsequent fractions. The result of this study is investigational. Until further studies using volumetric planning are done, it is still recommended to perform replanning with every fraction whenever feasible.


Logic regression, as developed by Ruczinski, Kooperberg, and LeBlanc (Ruczinski, Kooperberg, and LeBlanc 2003) is a multivariable regression methodology that constructs logical relationships among Boolean predictor variables that best predicts a Boolean dependent variable. More specifically, they find a regression model of the form g(E/Y)= b0+b1L1+...+bmLm   where both the coefficients b0,b1,...,bm and the logical expressions Lj, j=1,...,m are determined. The logical expressions  are logical relationships among the predictor variables, such as "X1,X2 are true but not X5"  , or "X3,X5,X7 are true but not X1 or X2 " . In their paper, the authors investigate the use a simulated annealing algorithm. In this paper, we use the Group Method of Data Handling (GMDH) to approach the problem.


The title compounds, ethyldiphenylphosphine-dithiomonometaphosphoryl chloride, EtPh(2)P-->PS(2)Cl, C(14)H(15)ClP(2)S(2), (I), and tris-n-propylphosphine-dithiomonometaphosphoryl chloride and bromide, nPr(3)P-->PS(2)Cl, C(9)H(21)ClP(2)S(2), (II), and nPr(3)P-->PS(2)Br, C(9)H(21)BrP(2)S(2), (III), respectively, are the first phosphine-stabilized dithiomonometaphosphoryl halides to be structurally characterized. In the tris-n-propylphosphine derivatives, the central P-->P donor-acceptor bond becomes longer in the order bromo < chloro < fluoro. Substitution of the tris-n-propylphosphine group in (II) by the more bulky ethyldiphenylphosphine group also leads to a longer P-->P bond. These structural features agree with the observed 31P NMR data. In (II) and (III), the central P-P bond coincides with the crystallographic threefold axis, entailing site-occupational disorder for the S(2)Y group.


This study was aimed to explore allelopathic effects of aerial parts aqueous extract of Ampelocissus latifolia (Roxb.) Planch. (AAEAL) in terms of cytological and morphological alterations in root apical meristems. Allelopathic effects of AAEAL was studied on green gram and onion root apical meristems by analysing growth retardation and /or by scoring mitotic index, colchicine like metaphase arrest and interphase nuclear condensation. AAEAL treatment showed significant allelopathic effects in terms of growth retardation in green gram and onion apical meristem cells in a dose dependent manner. In onion root tip cells mitotic index reduced after AAEAL treatment and could induce decreased nuclear volume, increased interphase chromatin condensation and various chromosomal abnormalities in onion root tip cells. In conclusion it may be said that aerial parts of A. latifolia contain watersoluble effective allelochemicals.


In the age estimation competition organized by ChaLearn, apparent ages of images are provided. Uncertainty of each apparent age is induced because each image is labeled by multiple individuals. Such uncertainty makes this age estimation task different from common chronological age estimation tasks. In this paper, we propose a method using deep CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) with distribution-based loss functions. Using distributions as the training tasks can exploit the uncertainty induced by manual labeling to learn a better model than using ages as the target. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first attempts to use the distribution as the target of deep learning. In our method, two kinds of deep CNN models are built with different architectures. After pre-training each deep CNN model with different datasets as one corresponding stream, the competition dataset is then used to fine-tune both deep CNN models. Moreover, we fuse the results of two streams as the final predicted ages. In the final testing dataset provided by competition, the age estimation performance of our method is 0.3057, which is significantly better than the human-level performance (0.34) provided by the competition organizers.


We report the formation of robust organosilicate line patterns of ~20nm half-pitch on surfaces from the self-assembled lamellar phase of a diblock copolymer of polystyrene and poly(ethylene oxide), PS-b-PEO, and an oligomeric organosilicate precursor mixtures. We could control the orientation and alignment of microdomains of this hybrid to the same degree of the thin films of organic block copolymers. By controlling the surface energy of substrates using dense organosilicate, the perpendicular orientation of lamellae to the surface was achieved. Topographic prepatterns were generated by E-beam lithography and used for alignment of the line patterns from lamellar phase. Upon removing the organic component (i.e. PS-b-PEO) by thermal treatment, the organosilicate microdomains remain as periodic line patterns with global alignment on surfaces. This method gives well-aligned silicon-containing line patterns with sublithographic length scales on surface. The self-assembled organosilicate line patterns were successfully transferred into underlying silicon substrate using anisotropic plasma etching.


Introduction The shortage of donor organs for liver transplantation (LT) makes it essential that organs are allocated to patients with greatest need. There has been increasing interest in haemoglobin as a predictor of LT outcomes. We investigated red cell parameters as predictors of survival after LT assessment. Methods Data on patients with end-stage liver disease assessed for LT between 2008 and 2010 at University Hospitals Birmingham, UK, were reviewed retrospectively. Kaplan–Meier and Cox regression analysis identified parameters predictive of death on the waiting list. To construct an updated UKELD model including high reticulocyte count (defined as >80), cases that had not received LT at 12 months were randomly divided into two groups (2:1 ratio) to for model building and testing. Accuracy of the existing and new and models was tested by calculation of c-statistics. Results Data were collected from 393 patients. Median age was 55 years (range 17–73), 60% were male. Median UKELD was 56 (44–76). Median follow-up was 18 (0–45) months. In total 144 (37%) underwent LT. Abnormal reticulocyte count, seen in 120 patients (31%), was greatest predictor of death without LT (HR 3.1; 95% CI 1.7 to 5.6), compared to haemoglobin (HR 2.5; 95% CI 1.3 to 4.5) and MCV (HR 0.6; 95% CI 0.3 to 1.2). Abnormal reticulocyte count remained a significant predictor of death after adjustment for age, gender and diagnosis (p80; yes=1, No=0]). This model had improved predictive accuracy with a c-statistic of 0.79. Conclusion High reticulocyte count is associated with increased risk of death in patients awaiting LT. Remodelling UKELD to include high reticulocyte count improved accuracy of predicting death on the LT waiting list. Competing interests None declared.


High-speed data applications over wireless networks have been growing rapidly in recent years. With this increased use of wireless data, services in wireless networks require performance guarantee. This is, therefore, driving the need for regular innovations in wireless technologies to provide more and more capacity and higher quality of service (QoS). These higher performance requirements have motivated 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to work on LTE-Advanced. LTE-Advanced is a technology enhancement to Long Term Evaluation (LTE) that is under evaluation of the requirements of IMT-Advanced. There are a few mobility enhancements in LTE-Advanced to assure good performance at the time of handover. The generic handover procedure of LTE-Advanced builds upon the one developed for LTE and minimizes the handover interruption time. This tutorial article gives an overview of handover procedure of LTE-Advanced and analyzes handover interruption time in Time Division Duplex (TDD) and Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) modes. The analysis shows that the handover interruption time for LTE-Advanced complies with the IMT-Advanced requirement.


Hydatidosis is a parasitic infection due to the development of the larval form of Echinococcus granulosus. It is still a public health problem in endemic countries, particularly around the Mediterranean. The diagnosis is sometimes delayed. This depends on the hydatid site and the on the symptoms. But it relies essentially on the existing imaging techniques. The cardiac localization is rare. In most of the cases it is found on the left ventricle (LV). We report the case of an intramyocardial hydatidosis in a 57-year-old patient who had been suffering from an on-exertion dyspnea with chest pain for over 5 years. The patient underwent a resection of the cyst by sternotomy under extracorporeal circulation. Albendazole, an anti-parasitic medical treatment, was prescribed postoperatively. Histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of pericardial hydatid cyst. Postoperative control imaging demonstrated an intra-myocardial residual cyst.


Abstract This paper presents an evolutionary algorithm for generic multiobjective design optimization problems. The algorithm is based on nondominance of solutions in the objective and constraint space and uses effective mating strategies to improve solutions that are weak in either. Since the methodology is based on nondominance, scaling and aggregation affecting conventional penalty function methods for constraint handling does not arise. The algorithm incorporates intelligent partner selection for cooperative mating. The diversification strategy is based on niching which results in a wide spread of solutions in the parametric space. Results of the algorithm for the design examples clearly illustrate the efficiency of the algorithm in solving multidisciplinary design optimization problems.


The thesis of this paper is that despite the so-called breakthrough in the study of International Relations following the behavioral revolution of the 1960s, this field is still Anglo-saxon, particularly American-centered. The paper's emphasis then is on the widening of International Relations as a field of analysis and the bringing in of differing approaches so that this field becomes truly universal as its name indicates. To review the evolution of this field, the paper is divided into two main parts of unequal length. The short part one review s Kuhn's scheme concerning the different stages in the evolution of science. The long part two applies this scheme to the study of International Relations and characterizes it as in a state of crisis, because of its lack of a consensual paradigm to guide analysis and research. It emphasises that the division between schools is not only methodological, but especially epistemological and ideological. Consequently, the paper analyses in detail the different arguments of four schools : Realism, Behavioralism, Marxism, and Neo-Marxism and Dependencia.


The non-enzymatic reaction between reducing sugars and proteins, known as glycation, has received increased attention from nutritional and medical research. In addition, there is a large interest in obtaining glycoconjugates of pure well-characterized oligosaccharides for biological research. In this study, glycation of bovine serum albumin (BSA) by d-glucose, d-galactose and d-lactose under dry-heat at 60 degrees C for 30, 60, 120, 180 or 240 min was assessed and the glycated products studied in order to establish their biological recognition by lectins. BSA glycation was monitored using gel electrophoresis, determination of available amino groups and lectin binding assays. The BSA molecular mass increase and glycation sites were investigated by mass spectrometry and through digestion with trypsin and chymotrypsin. Depending on time and type of sugar, differences in BSA conjugation were achieved. Modified BSA revealed reduction of amino groups' availability and slower migration through SDS/PAGE. d-galactose was more reactive than d-glucose or d-lactose, leading to the coupling of 10, 3 and 1 sugar residues, respectively, after 120 minutes of reaction. BSA lysines (K) were the preferred modified amino acids; both K256 and K420 appeared the most available for conjugation. Only BSA-lactose showed biological recognition by specific lectins.


This paper presents a binaural approach to integrated active noise control and noise reduction in hearing aids and aims at demonstrating that a binaural setup indeed provides significant advantages in terms of the number of noise sources that can be compensated for and in terms of the causality margins.


This work presents a new, scalable solution to the problem of extracting citation contexts: the textual fragments surrounding citation references. These citation contexts can be used to navigate digital libraries of research papers to help users in deciding what to read. We have developed a prototype system which can retrieve, on-demand, citation contexts from the full text of over 15 million research articles in the Mendeley catalog for a given reference research paper. The evaluation results show that our citation extraction system provides additional functionality over existing tools, has two orders of magnitude faster runtime performance, while providing a 9% improvement in F-measure over the current state-of-the-art.


Conventional hatching practices do not involve provision of feed and water to broiler chickens before placement at the rearing farm. This can pose problems, especially for early hatchlings, which remain feed-restricted for a considerable period due to biological variation in hatch time. The individual requirements of modern fast-growing chickens in order to remain robust and resilient may have changed in recent decades. This thesis studied the effect of hatching time on interval to first feed intake, growth and organ development in chicks hatched on-farm. It also examined the effects of providing hatching chicks with access to feed and water in the hatcher, combined with two different probiotics, on productivity, organ development, immune traits and development of caecal microbiota. Physiological differences between chicks hatched at different times during the hatching window generally levelled out during the production period. Eating-related activities were low immediately post-hatch, and early hatchlings showed compensatory growth as they were lightest at hatch but heaviest at three days of age. Feed deprivation during hatch resulted in depressed feed intake and associated depressed growth, which in some cases was reversed during the growing phase. Supplementation with probiotics had some negative effects on productivity, especially for chicks deprived of feed and water at hatch. There were no long-term differences due to early feeding on microbiota development or immune traits measured. These results suggest that modern broiler chickens are at least partly capable of compensating for setbacks in early life, and that some early effects of feed and water deprivation are transient. However, the studies in this thesis were performed in highly sanitary conditions and at lower stocking densities than in commercial production. Further research is needed to confirm the effects of adapted hatching and post-hatch feeding strategies in conditions that resemble more closely the challenges faced by the modern broiler.


In this study, a total of twelve system-condition scenarios are considered for the management system. The scenarios correspond on different attitudes of decision makers to the study system. In detail, variations in concerns on objective function values (aggressive, conservative, or neutral), the attitude to the constraints (optimistic or pessimistic), and the preferred types of constricting ratios (consistent or varied) lead to twelve scenarios. Consequently, twelve planning models and solution methods corresponding to different scenarios have been developed. To demonstrate the applicability of the developed methods, a municipal solid waste management problem has been provided in the case study section. The inherent mechanism of the study system could be reflected through a series of considered scenarios. Thus the decision makers could understand the targeted system comprehensively and identify the scenario which best fits the practical condition. Moreover, a number of feasible schemes could be generated under each scenario which allows decision makers to further adjust the obtained solutions and indentify a desired one through incorporation of their experiences, economic situations, social and cultural conditions. In addition, the possibility of infeasible solutions has been greatly reduced with the consideration of twelve scenarios instead of one.