variably follows on blocked drainage from any of the bodily reservoirs. The authors do not refer to these evil results, probably because sufficient time has not elapsed for them to become evident, but I can assure readers that I have seen .them on a number, of occasions, and have also noted. the sterility which followed, if it did not originate in, the procedure. Similar untoward results have followed the modern treatment by diathermy and electric cautery. Simple erosions of the os uteri in nulliparous women due to proliferation of the intracervical glandular epithelium over the squamous epithelium of the portio can be cured by one or two applications of zinc chloride 1 in 4 solution at fortnightly intervals, but the application should not be passed into the cervix for the reasons stated above. Endocervicitis of not too long standing can be cured by applications every five days of a solution of P, Argent. nit. ... ... ... ... gr. 1/16 Aqua dest.... ... ... ... ... q.s. Spirit. aetheris nitrosi ... ad I j Fiat. applic. Sig.: "Shake the bottle."


Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the readiness of tourist destinations through the perception of tourists and local people in developing sharia tourism in Indonesia. Indonesia has a much tourism area, which is visited by both domestic and foreign tourists. In the tourism area, especially visited by foreign tourists, are often equipped with facilities for entertainment that are not accorded to social norms and clash with religious norms. While Indonesia is the largest Moslem country in the world with 85 percent people are Moslem, therefore some people provoke to implement Islamic Law in tourism area.
Methodology: This study includes descriptive research using a quantitative approach that involved two groups were domestic tourists 110 respondents and 50 respondents from local people. This study, conducted in the Bira Beach area, Bulukumba Regency, South Sulawesi Indonesia. Data was analyzed to find out the point of view of the tourist and local people on Islamic law implementation in tourism area in Bira Beach.
Result: The finding of this study indicated that all domestic tourists and local people strongly support the implementation of Islamic Law in tourism area in Bira Beach.
Implications/Applications: However, if Islamic law was actually implemented in all areas in the Bira Beach area, all respondents in tourist group stated that they would not visit Bira Beach anymore, meanwhile all respondents in local people group expressed doubt, caused to the negative impact on their economic income. Based on this study, it needs an appropriate regulation for tourism in Indonesia that could be implemented for all people without contrary to religious norms.


The United States Healthcare System effects every individual in the United States. It is one of the most powerful and lucrative industries in the world today, and it is broken. The 'system' started out with good intentions, however, over time it has become distorted by greed. The legislature around the United States Healthcare System has been developed to support this. It fails to regulate costs and charges issued to patients. It fails to regulate big business, allowing pharmaceutical companies to charge what they wish for unique lifesaving drugs, a practice that would be quickly stopped in any other industry. These issues are embedded in the infrastructure and ideology that has been created. The system must be reformed, doctors need to be trained in a fashion that focuses on providing competent care, not on avoiding liability and fiscal gains. Pharmaceutical companies must be regulated, preventing them from abusing the leverage that is gained in a free market when the product is unique and lifesaving. Hospitals need to operate in a fashion that provides adequate care first, and payment second. The fact is the United States Healthcare System is broken, and due to the money and power it possesses, change will be difficult. The citizens of the United States must recognize that they are being used and must work together to develop a system that is actually focused on the care of its patients, not on emptying their pocketbooks.


This paper examines the links between religion and job satisfaction. Its concern is to compare Eastern and Western Europe. We use the 2015 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) data covering both non-religious individuals and individuals affiliated to a religious denomination. While the Western European countries generally report significantly higher levels of job satisfaction compared to their Eastern counterparts, we test the hypothesis that religion also shows differentiated effects on job satisfaction and work attitudes. Our results indicate that religion has no significant effect on job satisfaction in either of the regions. In the West, religious affiliation has an influence on a larger variety of work attitude measurements compared to those in the East. In both regions, workers who regularly attend religious services would enjoy work significantly more even if they did not need money, consider high income as less important, and consider helping other people, contact with other people, and having a job useful to society as more important.


In this paper, we introduce the concept of 'originality of a species within a set' in order to indicate the average rarity of all the features belonging to this species. Using a phylogenetic tree of 70 species of New World terrestrial Carnivora, we suggest measuring the originality by a probability distribution. This maximizes the expected number of features shared by two species randomly drawn from the set. By using this new index, we take account of branch lengths whereas current indices of originality focus on tree topology. As a supplement to Nee and May's optimizing algorithm, we find that originality must be one of the criteria used in conservation planning.


American hemodialysis patients have short lifespans, frequent hospitalizations, and aggregate Medicare inpatient expenditures of $4 billion/year. Dose of dialysis, as quantified by the parameter, Kt/V, corresponds strongly with survival and is estimated to be inadequate (Kt/V <1.2) in one fourth of patients. However, little is known about the morbidity and cost implications of inadequate dialysis. We sought to determine the independent relationship between dose of dialysis and (1) number of hospitalizations, (2) hospital days, and (3) Medicare inpatient reimbursements. We randomly selected 674 patients from all 22 hemodialysis units in northeast Ohio and examined hospitalizations, hospital days, and Medicare inpatient reimbursements for a 6-month interval following a 90-day quantification of dialysis dose. Every 0.1 decrease in Kt/V was independently associated with more hospitalizations (rate ratio, 1.11; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 1.15), increased hospital days (rate ratio, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.03 to 1.22), and higher Medicare inpatient expenditures ($940; 95% CI, $450 to $1,440) after adjustment for patient age, sex, race, cause of renal failure, number of years on dialysis, and number of comorbid conditions. We estimate that increasing dialysis doses to a Kt/V of 1.2 for all patients nationally may decrease Medicare inpatient expenditures by $150 million annually. In conclusion, inadequate dialysis dose is independently associated with increased hospitalizations, hospital days, and Medicare inpatient expenditures. Improving dialysis adequacy may both improve patient morbidity and lessen health care costs.


Introduction Coeliac disease may be associated with low bone mineral density, osteoporosis, and increased fracture risk.1 We aimed to identify patients with coeliac disease and osteoporosis as defined by bone mineral density analysis. Methods A database of patients with coeliac disease was established in Leeds in 2001. We retrospectively analysed this database to look at individuals who had undergone a bone mineral density scan. Osteoporosis was defined as a T score −2.5 SDs below mean at either hip or lumbar spine. Results A total of 202 individuals were recorded on the database with complete bone density data. Overall 24% male, 76% female, mean age at diagnosis 42 years (range 0–84 years). Initial duodenal biopsy by Marsh grade: 0 23.5%, I 7.0%, II 29.0%, III 23.0% and IV 17.5%. Compliance with a Gluten Free Diet (GFD) was recorded as poor 10.4%, good 57.2%, excellent 1.2% and unknown 31.2%. Smoking status was available for 93 individuals. 9.4% were current smokers, 33.2% had never smoked. 24.9% consumed alcohol. 24.75% were osteoporotic on bone mineral density scan. Osteoporosis was not associated with age at diagnosis (p=0.82), gender (p=0.16 for male vs female), compliance with GFD (p=0.80) or smoking status (p=0.53). Osteoporosis was associated with any level of alcohol consumption (p=0.04). Comparing Marsh grade to osteoporosis: Grade III was found in 28% and IV in 26% of those with osteoporosis. This was not statistically significant. Conclusion Nearly 25% of patients had osteoporosis. This did not correlate with age at diagnosis, gender, smoking or dietary compliance. There was an association with alcohol. Our prevalence is higher than that found by Lewis et al (n=43, hip 7%, spine 14%) and would support routine screening for osteoporosis in coeliac disease.2


This paper discusses the design trade-offs for a parallel bit-organized MOS memory. A memory capacity of 40K bits can be achieved using LSI techniques. Memory storage capacity is expandable in both word length and number of words stored. The physical dimensions of the memory should be considerably smaller than those of a comparable core design. Power consumption per bit should likewise be less than that achievable with cores. A full cycle time of 1 us or less can be achieved. Cost per bit should compare very favorably with that of a core design.


Abstract The Middle-Late Holocene infill of the coastal plain of Marathon, Greece, consists of lagoonal deposits related to the decrease of the sea level rise rate. Between a little earlier than 5800 and 3500 Cal BP, mesohaline-oligohaline lagoonal carbonate muds were uninterruptedly accumulating in the central and more seaward areas of the embayment. At the same time in the nearshore environment, oligohaline pelloidal charophytic muds were deposited during periods of a relatively increased rate of sea level rise, whereas during periods with lower rates of sea level rise, extensive marshes were forming in supratidal settings. The formation of framboidal pyrite and evaporitic minerals point to a periodic anoxic, sulfidic, and schizohaline environment. In addition, a warm, strongly seasonal climate under the influence of resurgent continental groundwater is suggested. After 3500 Cal BP, the lagoon witnessed a relatively abrupt change to palustrine mud deposition. The embayment was frequently exposed, and communication with the sea was not perennial. This period, terminated at about 2400 Cal BP, is most likely associated with a wetter and probably more temperate climate. The uppermost depositional unit is dominated mostly by fluvial sediments deposited in a wetland with no recorded communication with the sea. The sea level rise, indicated by several peat formations, is estimated to be lower than that predicted by the glacio-hydroisostatic model and the data from other Greek areas that are considered relatively stable. Hence, a tectonic uplift of the area is suggested at a rate of about 0.4–0.5 mm/y, which almost counterbalances the predicted rate of relative sea level rise of about 0.6–0.7 mm/y for the last 2000 years. This is a plausible explanation for the relative geomorphological stability, since at least Classical times, suggested by the historical documents.


Dry composting toilets are increasingly being used as practical sanitation systems in areas with inadequate sewage disposal and inefficient (or inexistent) hydraulic network. In Cote d'Ivoire, the by-products from such systems are progressively used in peri-urban agriculture as organic fertilizer, most of the times regardless of any hygienic quality assessment; constituting thereby a major health risk. The main objective of this study was to assess the inactivation rates of key microbiological parameters [i.e., total coliforms (TC), fecal coliforms (FC), fecal streptococci (FS) and Ascaris lumbricoides (AL)] during the composting process of fecal matters from dry composting toilets. Feces from dry composting toilets pits located at Abobo- Sabge, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, were collected every two weeks from February to June 2017 and their microbiological contents, along with two physico-chemical characteristics (moisture content and pH) were analyzed. Results revealed noticeable concentration decreases for all the microbiological parameters, except AL. The concentrations dropped from 7.72 to 3.93, 7.61 to 2.70, and 7.10 to 3.11 (log FCU/g) for TC, FC and FS, respectively, during the monitoring period. Regarding AL, there was an increase during the first 29 days, then a decrease in their concentrations over the last 3 months. Furthermore, the study revealed that all fecal bacteria followed a first-order kinetic with the inactivation rates being 0.31, 0.24, and 0.21 d-1 for FC, TC and FS, respectively. The amount of fecal bacteria in the composts suggests that an additional time is required for maturation before any uses of such material as fertilizer.


Conventionally hydrazones and other derivatives of carbonyls are synthesized under acidic conditions when spontaneous chiral inversion is a common problem if the carbonyl compound is chiral. A new method has been developed involving solid phase microwave-assisted conditions for the synthesis of 2,4-dinitrophenyl hydrazone(s) of chiral carbonyl compounds wherein there occurred no inversion of configuration. The method provided high yields (91–95%) in short reaction times (4–6 min). The method proposed clearly has synthetic advantages over current practices. The hydrazones were characterized by IR, 1H NMR and CHN analysis. The hydrazones represent enantiomeric pairs tagged with a strong chromophore rather than diastereomers. The enantiomeric pairs were separated by HPLC using an α1-acid glycoprotein column and the best resolution of all the analytes was achieved with a mobile phase containing 0.5% 2-propanol in 10 mM citrate phosphate buffer at pH 6.5. The chromatographic peaks clearly showed base line separation with comparable peak areas and thus the results confirmed that there was no spontaneous inversion of configuration during derivatization. The chromatograms corresponding to the products obtained by conventional procedure (from the racemic mixtures of analytes) showed peaks with unequal areas suggesting formation of enantiomers in unequal amounts (i.e., non racemic mixtures) because of spontaneous inversion of the configuration during derivatization.


Major General J. E. B. Stuart (1833--1864) was one of the Confederacy's greatest horsemen, soldiers, and heroes. As early as First Manassas (Bull Run) he was contributing significantly to the Confederate victory; he subsequently displayed his daring and brilliance in the battles of Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Brandy Station--the most significant cavalry battle of the war, and Stuart's finest moment. General Lee depended on Stuart for knowledge of the enemy, for, as he said, Stuart never brought him a piece of false information. But Stuart was mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern in May 1864. Not since the death of Stonewall Jackson had the South sustained so great a personal loss; his rollicking, infectious gaiety and hard fighting were sorely missed in the grim last days of Lee's army. By all accounts, I Rode with Jeb Stuart is the most reliable and persuasive portrait of Stuart offered by a contemporary, and it is indispensable for any thorough knowledge of the great Confederate cavalryman.


This chapter provides an understanding of various design choices for different parts of the main circuit of modular multilevel converters (MMCs). This includes power semiconductors, submodule capacitors, arm inductors, submodule design, redundant submodules, auxiliary power supplies, and start‐up procedures. The design of the main circuit of an MMC involves several steps, ranging from dimensioning of main‐circuit components to issues with auxiliary power supplies and start‐up procedures. The chapter starts with a presentation of the power semiconductors used in MMCs today, and possible future alternatives. Submodule capacitors are voluminous and costly, and as such they deserve considerable attention. It describes arm inductors and different possible submodule configurations. The chapter provides an insight into the main physical properties of power semiconductor devices without going into all details of the underlying semiconductor physics. Arm inductors for MMCs in HVDC applications are typically dry‐type air‐core reactors. The gate‐drive units of these devices, however, require a significantly higher power supply.


It is known that avascular spherical solid tumors grow monotonically, often tends to a limiting final size. This is repeatedly confirmed by various mathematical models consisting of mostly ordinary differential equations. However, cell growth is limited by nutrient and its proliferation incurs a time delay. In this paper, we formulate a nutrient limited compartmental model of avascular spherical solid tumor growth with cell proliferation time delay and study its limiting dynamics. The nutrient is assumed to enter the tumor proportional to its surface area. This model is a modification of a recent model which is built on a two-compartment model of cancer cell growth with transitions between proliferating and quiescent cells. Due to the limitation of resources, it is imperative that the population values or densities of a population model be nonnegative and bounded without any technical conditions. We confirm that our model meets this basic requirement. From an explicit expression of the tumor final size we show that the ratio of proliferating cells to the total tumor cells tends to zero as the death rate of quiescent cells tends to zero. We also study the stability of the tumor at steady states even though there is no Jacobian at the trivial steady state. The characteristic equation at the positive steady state is complicated so we made an initial effort to study some special cases in details. We find that delay may not destabilize the positive steady state in a very extreme situation. However, in a more general case, we show that sufficiently long cell proliferation delay can produce oscillatory solutions.


Objective
To evaluate the clinical effects of vitrectomy for the treatment of traumatic suppurative endophthalmitis due to ocular penetrating injury.

Methods
The clinical effects of vitrectomy for traumatic suppurative endophthalmitis of 16 eyes of 16 cases from March 2012 to June 2014 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results
The intraocular infection was controlled and the eyeballs were successfully saved in all 16 cases. The visual acuities were improved at varied degrees in 14 cases(87.50%), and the best visual acuity got up to 0.8, and that of 2 eyes had no change.

Conclusion
Vitrectomy can effectively control the traumatic suppurative endophthalmitis, can save the eyeballs and maintain the visual functions.

Key words:
Endophthalmitis, suppurative, traumatic; Ocular penetrating injury; Vitrectomy; Effect, clinical


Pathogenic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants are typically heteroplasmic, with coexistence of variant and wild type genomes. Because heteroplasmy dictates phenotype, the reduction of heteroplasmy is potentially therapeutic. We identified pathogenic variants that increased the potential for formation of non-canonical G-quadruplexes (GQ) within mtDNA. The Leigh Syndrome (LS)-associated mt.10191T>C variant has a high probability of local GQ formation that was enhanced by the variant. Structural studies of mt.10191C-containing oligonucleotides confirmed the formation of GQ, and its interaction with the small molecule GQ-binding agent berberine increased GQ stability. The GQ formed at mt.10191 impeded polymerase processivity, and inhibition was enhanced by the mt.10191C variant. We applied a cyclical treatment of two GQ binding compounds, berberine or RHPS4, to primary fibroblasts from LS patients with heteroplasmic mt.10191T>C mutation. This treatment induced alternating mtDNA depletion and repopulation and was effective in shifting heteroplasmy towards the nonpathogenic allele, leading to an increase in complex I protein levels. This study demonstrates the potential for using small-molecule GQ-binding agents to induce beneficial shifts in mitochondrial heteroplasmy.


Using a Monte Carlo quadrature, we calculate by a variational method the binding energy Eb of Wannier excitons in N-period m-CdMnTe/n-CdTe superlattices, including or not including the step discontinuity in the potential barrier at the interface, and with varying N as well as well width. The calculation is performed in the framework of the effective mass approximation for both heavy-hole and light-hole excitons. The degree of exciton localization dependence on these parameters is accurately illustrated.


Background: Intubated patients with stable vital sign, well weaning profile and spontaneous breathing test are the most important key points to be extubated. The aim of present study is to validate the influence factors of the successful extubation of patients in intensive care unit. Methods: Thirty-eight intubated patients in the intensive care unit of Show Chwan Memorial Hospital, a regional hospital, were enrolled in this retrospective study from November, 2019 to February, 2020. All of them used mechanical ventilator support for more than 3 days. The patients' characteristics, including age, body height, body weight, neck circumference and the weaning profile parameters were collected, and the length of intubation days. In addition, cuff leak test value was measured before extubation, by calculating the volume of air leakage after the endotracheal tube cuff was deflated while the ventilator was set as the volume-assist-control mode. Successful extubation was defined as no re-intubation in the following 28 days. Statistic t test and independent sample test were applied to assess the correlation between these parameters and the success rate of extubation. Results: The influence factors of better success rate for extubation include the neck circumference (P=0.005, 95% CI 34.8 to 37.2), and the cuff leak test (P=0.015,95% CI 174.7 to 340.5). In addition, we found that the patients with neck circumference more than 37.5 centimeters may have higher risk of extubation failure (Fisher exact test P Conclusions: Patients with the smaller neck circumference, the higher cuff leak volume have a better extubation success rate.


In this pair of articles, Gavin Falk and Tom Fahey (doi:10.1136/bmj.b2899) set out what to consider when using a clinical prediction rule, and Dan Mayer (doi:10.1136/bmj.b2901) shows how one such rule, the Ottawa ankle rules, is applied


The influence of physicochemical and microbiological properties on composting of agro wastes using cow dung as a booster was evaluated. The physicochemical parameters measured include pH, temperature and moisture. Titrimetric and spectrophotometric measurements of chemical nutrients as well as microbial assay using spread plating technique on several selective media were done. The results of pH, temperature and moisture content revealed lower pH (acidity) to higher pH (alkalinity) (7.5 – 9.0), slight temperature increased (24.9 – 27.3 °C), increased (20.33 – 66.00 %) and later declined in moisture content. The result of the chemical composition revealed significant increase in all nutrients except potassium with slight decrease (5.74 – 5.06 ppm). The result of the microbial analysis revealed that there were increased microbial count (0.413 X 10 – 6.78 X 10 cfu/ g) for all isolated microbial groups except total bacteria, fungi and anaerobes with numerous count. The cow dung which acts as booster improved the early maturity and nutrient contents of the composting depending on the levels of application. Statistically, there were significant differences detected among the four compost treatments throughout the composting period at p<0.05. Thus, the significant transformation of these organic materials into resourceful dark brown composts made composting a promising waste recycling process and promoter of soil quality.


This study investigates the role of public infrastructure investment on economic growth and poverty reduction in the Philippines. Using a dynamic general equilibrium-microsimulation model that explicitly models public capital as a production input, we find that the positive supply side effects of higher public investment expenditure manifest over time, through higher capital accumulation and improved productivity. Our findings reveal that higher public infrastructure investment not only positively impacts real GDP, but also reduces poverty and inequality in the short and long run. In this context, the Philippine government needs to become more proactive in finding ways to finance higher public investment expenditures. This is especially relevant with respect to international financing, given the narrow tax base in the country. Our simulation results confirm that international financing is a better alternative than tax financing when considered in terms of its ability to improve the economy's physical infrastructure in order to create job opportunities, improve productivity and complement its social protection measures.


The Purpose of this paper is to investigate the church's reaction to the emergent situation after the Black Death. The raped decrease of laborers caused a consequent rise in wages after the Balck Death. The church's leadership faced unexpected difficulties: 1) The laborers did not attend Mass in order to increase work time; 2) half of the clergy (including the beneficed and the unbeneficed clergy) died in England; as a result, there were often no priests to perform divine services, especially the rite of extreme unction; 3) unqaulified and illiterate clergy were not able to preside the church's rite and tried to negotiate their stipendiary. The church reacted to those unexpected situation by trying to solve this problem. Firstly, the church condemned laborers who did not attend Mass through their sermons and symbols. In the symbols, the meaning of the laborers was identified with the Jesus' suffering on the cross. Secondly, the church allowed for laity and women to preside the rite and had extra rites for ordaining more priests. However, the unqualified stipendiary priests were not able to fulfill their roles and asked for increased wages.


Objectives: To apply the new IV Medication Harm Index to continuous quality improvement data to assess the nature of harm averted by infusion-safety systems. Methods: The IV Medication Harm Index (score range, 3.5 to 14; higher scores indicate greater harm/risk) was applied to analyze data on averted intravenous medication errors gathered from 426 "smart pumps" (computerized infusion devices with dose-error reduction software) during a 9-month period at 2 tertiary-care hospitals. Results: Of 166 averted overdoses, 100 (60.2%) involved high-risk medications, and 105 (63.3%) were medications unlikely to be detected in the event of overdose. IV Medication Harm Index scores ranged from 3.5 to 13 (mean, 8.2; range, 3.5 to 14), and 33 (19.9%) averted overdoses scored 11 or higher. Sorted by frequency only, propofol, heparin, and dopamine accounted for more than half of all averted overdoses; however, IV Medication Harm Index analysis showed that heparin and propofol accounted for almost three-quarters of the highest-risk averted overdoses. More than three-quarters of the pumps were used with adult critical care patient types; more than half of the highest-risk averted overdoses occurred with non-intensive care unit (ICU) patient types. Results led to several practice improvements for the highest-risk-for-harm drugs. Conclusions: Findings suggest that the IV safety systems averted significant harm and that the IV Medication Harm Index provides the ability to filter large pools of data to reveal events with the greatest potential for causing harm, so these can be studied and acted on first, which is likely to have the greatest impact in improving medication safety.


Hòn Rồng massif granitoid has a high mountainous terrain, with an absolute height of 728 m, relatively equal, slightly extended in the Northwest-Southeast direction, occupying an area of about 29 km2. Petrographical composition is mainly medium - grained biotite granite (phase 2), minor is fine- grained biotite granite (phase 3), vein rocks are aplite granite and pegmatite and  a little of xenolith of granodiorite in medium - grained biotite granite. Medium-grained biotite granite: major mineral composition (%): plagioclase (oligoclase) 25–35, quartz 30, orthoclas 25, biotite 5 - 8 and few hornblend; fine-grained granite (%): plagioclase (oligoclase) 30 - 35; quartz 30 - 35; feldspar kali (orthoclase, and microclin) 30, biotite 3 - 5; accessory mineral is zircon, orthite, apatite, sphen, and very little ore minerals (about 2%); epimagmatic minerals including: chlorite, epidot, kaolinite, sericite, carbonate, sausorite-replaced association. Rocks are altered alkalization strongly (albitization and microlinization), and minor are chloritization, epidotization and sericitization. Averaged chemical compositions (%)SiO2: 69.07–72.07; total alkali(K2O+Na2O) 7.35–7.96. Ratio of K2O/Na2O 1.04, low TiO2 (0.24–0.37). Ratios of A/CNK 1.02–1.09, Rb/Sr: 0.27–1.62; Ba/Sr: 1.82–2.56, Ba/Rb: 1.58–7.13; K/Rb: 0.42–0.62; Ca/Sr: 0.21–0.47; the value of Eu anomalies is low. Granite belongs to calc-alkaline, aluminum content is from medium to high; K-Na alkaline series, I-granite type. Granitoid had been formed in plutonic - volcanic arc of subduction-zone. Compared with the granitoid formations in South Vietnam territory, Hòn Rồng massif granitoid belongs to phase 2 (main) and phase 3 (minor) of Đèo Cả complex with late Kreta age.


Advances in robotic handwriting technology create new challenges for forensic document examiners. In the past, devices such as the autopen were used to replicate signatures of government officials and corporate companies. In today's technology, companies such as Bond utilize robots to create written documents, which mimic natural patterns of handwriting. They generate customizable written samples by simulating pen movements and letter formations. Four forensic document examiners were given various reproduced questioned documents and utilized a modified ACE‐V (analysis, comparison, evaluation, verification) methodology to determine their genuineness. Examiners were able to make a distinction between the human writing samples and the skilled robotic equivalents. Several distinct features that are not seen in natural handwriting, such as even pen pressure and the superimposition of letterforms were observed in the robotic samples. Careful examination of identifying features of the Bond produced documents resulted in an opinion of nongenuineness.


The severity of withdrawal from chronic ethanol is a driving force for relapse in alcohol dependence. Thus, uncovering molecular changes that can be targeted to lessen withdrawal symptoms is key to breaking the cycle of dependence. Using the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, we tested whether one highly conserved ethanol target, the BK potassium channel, may play a major role in alcohol withdrawal. Consistent with a previous report, we found that C. elegans displays behavioral impairment during withdrawal from chronic ethanol that can be reduced by low-dose ethanol. We discovered that the degree of impairment is exacerbated in worms lacking the BK channel, SLO-1, and is alleviated by selective rescue of the BK channel in the nervous system. Conversely, behavioral impairment during withdrawal was dramatically lower in worms with BK channel function enhanced via gain-of-function mutation or overexpression. Consistent with these results, we found that chronic ethanol exposure decreased BK channel expression in a subset of neurons. In addition, we found that a distinct, conserved large-conductance potassium channel, SLO-2, showed the inverse functional relationship, influencing withdrawal behavior via a SLO-1 channel-dependent mechanism. Our findings demonstrate that withdrawal symptoms in C. elegans are mechanistically explained in part by a functional imbalance in the nervous system associated with a reduction in SLO-1 channel expression. Therefore, selective modulation of Slo family ion channel activity may represent a novel therapeutic approach to explore for normalizing behaviors during alcohol withdrawal. ARTICLE SUMMARY People addicted to alcohol maintain maladaptive drinking patterns in part to avoid the terrible symptoms of withdrawal. It is unclear whether any single molecule may be genetically modified to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. Here, we discover that for the nematode C. elegans, upregulating function of the conserved BK potassium channel SLO-1 prevents alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Conversely, downregulating SLO-1 channel function makes withdrawal worse. Moreover, we identify an inverse relation between SLO-1 and a second type of BK channel named SLO-2 in the severity of withdrawal. The BK channel thus represents an attractive molecular target to consider for alleviating alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Statement on data and reagent availability Strains are available upon request or through the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center.


5218 The majority of breast cancers express the estrogen receptor (ER) α and ligand activation results in proliferation and survival of the cell. Estrogen stimulates proliferation by upregulating cyclin D1, which forms complex with CDK4/6, leading to Rb-phosphorylation. Cyclin D1/CDK4/6 also binds and sequesters the inhibitory proteins p21WAF1/CIP1 and p27Kip1 from cyclin E/CDK2 complexes which further promotes Rb-phosphorylation and progression through the cell cycle. Given that estrogen promotes tumor growth, different therapeutic strategies that inhibit the estrogenic effects are used to treat breast cancer. The most common among them is the selective estrogen receptor modulator tamoxifen which is a very efficient therapy for many breast cancer patients. There is nevertheless a substantial fraction of hormone receptor positive breast cancer patients that do not respond to tamoxifen. The reason for tamoxifen resistance is partly unknown but alterations in ER-associated proteins as well as ER-phosphorylation have been implicated in altered tamoxifen response. Cell cycle aberrations as loss of p27 Kip1 has also been suggested to influence the effect of tamoxifen due to the inability for tamoxifen to exert its function when the cdk-inhibitor p27Kip1 is missing. In order to test this hypothesis, the expression of p27Kip1 was analyzed in 321 primary breast cancer samples arranged in a tissue microarray from premenopausal patients that had been included in a randomized trial with long clinical follow-up. Half of the patients had received two years of tamoxifen treatment after surgery whereas the other half did not get any adjuvant therapy. Low expression of p27Kip1, defined as less than 75% positive nuclei, was observed in 40% of the cancer samples and was associated with ER-negativity, low age, no lymph-node metastases, high proliferation, high grade and larger tumor size. In the untreated sub population of patients there was no link between p27 Kip1 and disease recurrence suggesting that low p27 Kip1 is not a prognostic marker. In contrast, there was a strong link between low p27 Kip1 and lack of response to tamoxifen. When comparing tamoxifen treated patients and control patients there was a significant difference in recurrence-free survival for patients having ER- and PR-positive tumors with high p27 Kip1 (p=0.0003), whereas there was no difference for patients with receptor positive but low p27Kip1 tumors (p=0.8204). This difference was further significant in a multivariate interaction analysis (p=0.024). These data strongly indicate that p27Kip1 has a key role in mediating the effects of tamoxifen and that loss of p27 Kip1 is a predictive marker for poor tamoxifen response in premenopausal breast cancer but interestingly not a prognostic marker. Different experimental models will be used to further validate the importance of p27Kip1 in tamoxifen response.


The direct random phase approximation (dRPA) is a promising way to obtain improvements upon the standard semilocal density functional results in many aspects of computational chemistry. In this paper, we address the slow convergence of the calculated dRPA correlation energy with the increase of the quality and size of the popular Gaussian-type Dunning's correlation consistent aug-cc-pVXZ split valence atomic basis set family. The cardinal number X controls the size of the basis set, and we use X = 3-6 in this study. It is known that even the very expensive X = 6 basis sets lead to large errors for the dRPA correlation energy, and thus complete basis set extrapolation is necessary. We study the basis set convergence of the dRPA correlation energies on a set of 65 hydrocarbon isomers from CH4 to C6H6. We calculate the iterative density fitted dRPA correlation energies using an efficient algorithm based on the CC-like form of the equations using the self-consistent HF orbitals. We test the popular inverse cubic, the optimized exponential, and inverse power formulas for complete basis set extrapolation. We have found that the optimized inverse power based extrapolation delivers the best energies. Further analysis showed that the optimal exponent depends on the molecular structure, and the most efficient two-point energy extrapolations that use X = 3 and 4 can be improved considerably by considering the atomic composition and hybridization states of the atoms in the molecules. Our results also show that the optimized exponents that yield accurate X = 3 and 4 extrapolated dRPA energies for atoms or small molecules might be inaccurate for larger molecules.


The composite linkage disequilibrium (LD) measure is often calculated for two‐locus genotypic data, especially when coupling and repulsion double heterozygotes cannot be distinguished. This measure was reported to have good statistical properties and was suggested for routine testing of LD, regardless of Hardy‐Weinberg equilibrium at either of two loci (Weir [1979] Biometrics 35:235–254; Schaid [2004] Genetics 166:505–512). However, the bounds for this measure have not been yet reported. These bounds are derived here as functions of one‐locus genotype or allele frequencies. They provide standardized measures of composite linkage disequilibrium, defined as the proportion of its maximum attainable value, given observed allele or genotype frequencies. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Until recently social media and social media analytics (SMA) were basically used only for communication and marketing purposes. However, thanks to advances in digital technologies and big data analytics, potential applications of SMA extend now to production processes and overall business management. As a result, SMA has become an important tool for gaining and sustaining competitive advantage across various sectors, industries and end-markets. Yet, the food industry still lags behind when it comes to the use of digital technologies and advanced data analytics. A part of the explanation lies in the limited knowledge of potential applications of SMA in food innovation and production. The aim of this paper is to provide a review of literature on possible uses of SMA in the food industry sector and to discuss both the benefits, risks, and limitations of SMA in food innovation and production. Based on the literature review, it is concluded that mining social media data for insights can create significant business value for the food industry enterprises and food service sector organizations. On the other hand, many proposals for using SMA in the food domain still await direct experimental tests. More research and insights concerning risks and limitations of SMA in the food sector would be also needed. The issue of responsible data analytics as part of Corporate Digital Responsibility and Corporate Social Responsibility of enterprises using social media data for food innovation and production also requires a greater attention.


A surface light field is a function that assigns a color to each ray originating on a surface. Surface light fields are well suited to constructing virtual images of shiny objects under complex lighting conditions. This paper presents a framework for construction, compression, interactive rendering, and rudimentary editing of surface light fields of real objects. Generalizations of vector quantization and principal component analysis are used to construct a compressed representation of an object's surface light field from photographs and range scans. A new rendering algorithm achieves interactive rendering of images from the compressed representation, incorporating view-dependent geometric level-of-detail control. The surface light field representation can also be directly edited to yield plausible surface light fields for small changes in surface geometry and reflectance properties.


Background: Keloids are disfiguring benign scars that develop due to an exaggerated response to cutaneous wound healing, growing beyond the boundaries of the cutaneous insult into normal, previously uninvolved skin. The association of keloids with other underlying health conditions has been postulated, but not well characterized. Objective: This study aims to identify whether there is any association of keloids with underlying health conditions in African-American women. Methods: This study was done via the use of the National Inpatient Sample, a subset of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. African-American women with keloids who had undergone cesarean sections were compared with a control group of African-American women with no history of keloids who had undergone cesarean sections. Results: A total of 301 African-American inpatient encounters with patients with keloids were compared with 37,144 encounters in the control group. The keloid patients had an increased association with peritoneal adhesions compared with the control group. Limitations: results are limited to one race and restricted age range; also, unable to differentiate keloids from hypetrophic scarring with ICD-10 codes. Conclusion: These findings suggest that keloids and peritoneal adhesions may have similar inflammatory processes.


Forest performs multiple functions and requires a diligent commitment to its conservation. This green cover in Peninsular Malaysia, although accounting for only a small percentage of the land area, shelters a unique range of biodiversity living within it. Nonetheless, this natural resource of Peninsular Malaysia appears to be dwindling, mostly as a result of the actions of humankind, even though this green cover is governed by sets of laws. The protected area, a status secured by the law, is apparently easily excised from the government gazette, and the status of permanent forest use is changed to non-permanent forest use, for instance agriculture, plantations, residential or industrial activities and projects. This study seeks to analyse the current forest conservation practices in different states of Peninsular Malaysia in order to determine whether the current practices conform to Environmental Law principles recognised at the international level. The Stockholm Declaration followed by the Rio Declaration have indeed widened the global perspectives on environmental conservation, and their impact can be seen in the current approach of forest conservators in Peninsular Malaysia; however, the amount of forest area, as shown in forest reports and statistics, is decreasing. The rights of participation in decision-making on land and forest resources by the public and Orang Asli communities (indigenous peoples) as important stakeholders in forests in Peninsular Malaysia are also discussed. Data and information from various libraries and institutions have been gathered and collected in the course of this research and study. In order to support and strengthen the arguments and discussion based on the aforementioned information and data, semi-structured interviews are conducted with the forest conservators, inter alia officers in charge of forest conservation in every State Forestry Department of Peninsular Malaysia, the Department of Orang Asli Development and Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth, Malaysia) as well as the World Wide Fund for Nature, Malaysia (both are
iv
environmental Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO)). Officers of Department of Environment and Department of Wildlife and National Parks also assisted in providing further related data and information. From the interviews and the information given, it was evident that forest conservators and officers in charge of Orang Asli were aware of Environmental Law principles recognised at the international level; however, this awareness is not reflected in the law and policy on forest in Peninsular Malaysia. Nonetheless, the NGOs have different views on the need to revamp the forest law and policy to ensure better forest ecosystem protection. Moreover, it was also found that the National Forest Policy 1978 (Revised 1992) only stressed sustainable forest management without acknowledging other Environmental Principles, thus indicating the priority of economic purposes over environmental needs. Meanwhile, the National Forestry Act 1984 was more concerned with the administration of forest than with its environmental aspects. Hence, a comprehensive law and policy on forest that conforms to recognised Environmental Principles of forest is considered significant and vital to ensure that this unique forest, which provides thousands of benefits, can be sustained for future generations to enjoy.


This paper reviews the development of archaeological legislation in Botswana, with specifi c interest in how integration of archaeological issues in other pieces of legislation has facilitated the growth of archaeological legislation. With its first statute, in the form of a proclamation, towards protection of archaeological resources in 1911, Botswana continued to revise its archaeological legislation until 2001. This paper argues that the review of a piece of legislation from time to time (growth through time), is indicative of advancement in the operations of any fi eld. The growth through time allows for refi ning defi nitions, broadening the scope of the discipline or profession, and embracing other emerging issues worthy of consideration. It is also in most cases a necessary endeavor in response to satisfying basic requirements of the rule of law. This includes the need for clarity, precision, and transparency among other things. This paper further purports that while this growth through time is fundamental to any legislation, it is also imperative that legislation grows through integration into other pieces of legislation. This facilitates integration of the discipline/fi eld and the profession into other legal and policy apparatus. The integration does not only provide context within which archaeological resources can be protected, but also ensures sustainability as implementation of other pieces of legislation may directly or indirectly nurture the archaeological agenda.


Objectives Chemical burn is relatively rare, frightening and potentially invalidating. Simple and effective means are necessary to become actors and not spectators before and during an accident. Methods We started by designing a movie describing a chemical burn and explaining good practical guidance for management in hospital environment. After evaluation, we decided to target all occupational and safety professionals: a workshop took place during a congress introducing the gaming and fun notion of learning together. After assessing this workshop, we decided to move forward and improve contents and interactivity by elaborating a symposium workshop with the aim of including all occupational health and safety professionals and workers. Players commented the different steps and choices regarding their management. Time was given for evaluation followed by exchanges between all. Results Over hundred professionals participated. They totally adhered to the project and were fully implicated. Confronted to real life situations, panic was observed as the most important point, patient pain and screams were heard but not cared for. The burn was not treated either immediately and unfortunately washing within the first minute was not observed. Various exchanges taking place following players' comments were rich and constructive and lessons were learnt. Conclusion Our pedagogic tool performed relatively well but needed to be improve taking into consideration players remarks, our own observations as teachers as well as our final objective. Thus, a new film was created so that the concept be accessible to all OSH professionals and workers.


paper selected from the BALCOR 2013 conference
The authors of the article deal with the quantitative analysis of results of the development of health care services. The aim of the article is to determine the key conditions for measuring the results of health system functioning and evaluation of its adequacy. The research question focuses on the method of measuring theoperational efficiency of Slovenian hospitals. The introduction defines efficiency within the concept of adequacy and its dimensions of efficiency, accessibility and quality. The empirical part of the article presents the use of the DEA method for determining the adequacy of operation of hospitals on the basis of data on Slovenian hospitals. It is apparent that the model for the evaluation of adequacy of operation of hospitals is suitable within limitations. The interpretation of results is hampered by inadequately structured data and non-transparent prices of hospital services. Therefore, the results of the research indicate the direction in which thedatabase should be developed to ensure greater comparability in a rather heterogeneous population of hospitals. Furthermore, the authors point out that new indicators, reflecting the condition of the dimensions of adequacy, should be included in the model for the purposes of the evaluation of adequacy. On the basis of the results of the research, the question of implementing suitable methods of planning and controlling the adequacy of the functioning of health care into practice arises.


The article aims to research, analyze the quality in the execution of the services of a diving school applying quality management tools. To this end, a case study was conducted in a small company in a school and dive shop located in the city. de Ilhabela, on the north coast of the state of São Paulo. Quality control tools were used and an interview was conducted with the organization's manager to obtain data and insight on the topic. For analysis were used tools such as process mapping, Pareto diagram, PDCA, 5W2H that allowed to identify the main problems of the organization. The result obtained in this problem analysis pointed to the need to improve the qualification of employees with periodic training, streamlining service and implementation of continuous improvement process on the safety of customers and employees during the provision of diving lessons services.


A heterogalactan was isolated from the hot water extract of fruit bodies of Fomitopsis pinicola by a combination of fractionation procedures including precipitation with ethanol and with Cetavlon, and chromatography on columns of DEAE-cellulose and Sephadex G-100. Despite its apparent homogeneity on gel filtration, zone electrophoresis, sedimentation equilibration, and immunodiffusion analyses, the neutral component of heterogalactan was further fractionated into unbound, weakly bound, and strongly bound forms by affinity chromatography on a column of concanavalin A-Sepharose CL 4B. The former two polysaccharides fractions eluted with 0.1 M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) were found to be a fucogalactan and a mannofucogalactan, respectively. A more tightly bound fraction (mannofucogalactan) was subsequently eluted with 0.1 M glucose in 1 M NaCl. The results of methylation, complete Smith degradation, and proton and 13C NMR spectroscopic analyses indicated that the three kinds of heterogalactans are all highly branched polysaccharides containing a framework of (1 leads to 6)-linked alpha-D-galactopyranosyl residues, the C-2 positions of which are substituted in different proportions with either single L-fucopyranosyl residues or disaccharide units of 3-O-alpha-D-mannopyranosyl-L-fucopyranose residues.


We describe a new scaffold-free three-dimensional (3D) cell culture model using cholesteryl ester based lyotropic liquid crystal (LC) substrates. Keratinocytes were deposited randomly on the LC surface where they self-assembled into 3D microtissues or keratinospheroids. The cell density required to form spheroids was optimized. We investigated cell viability using dead/live cell assays. The adhesion characteristics of cells within the microtissues were determined using histological sectioning and immunofluorescence staining. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to characterize the biochemistry of the keratinospheroids. We found that both cells and microtissues could migrate on the LC surface. The viability study indicated approximately 80% viability of cells in the microtissues up to 20 days of culture. Strong intercellular adhesion was observed in the stratification of the multi-layered microspheroids using field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and histochemical staining. The cytoskeleton and vinculins of the cells in the microtissues were expressed diffusely, but the microtissues were enriched with lipids and nucleic acids, which indicates close resemblance to the conditions in vivo. The basic 3D culture model based on LC may be used for cell and microtissue migration studies in response to cytochemical treatment.


The graph bisectioning problem has several applications in VLSI layout, such as floorplanning and module placement. A sufficient condition for optimality of a given bisection is presented. This condition leads to an algorithm that always finds an optimal bisection for a certain class of graphs. A greedy approach is then used to develop a more powerful heuristic. On small random graphs with up to 20 vertices, one of the greedy algorithms generated the optimal bisection in each case considered. For very large graphs with 300 vertices or more, the algorithm generated bisections with costs within 30% of a lower bound previously derived. An adaptive algorithm that iteratively improves upon a given initial bisection of a graph is presented. Its performance is compared with that of the well-known Kernighan-Lin method on many random graphs with large numbers of vertices. The results indicate that the new adaptive heuristic produces bisections with costs within 2% of those produced by the Kernighan-Lin method (the costs were actually lower in about 70% of the cases) with a three times faster computation speed in most cases. >


Scientists have conducted a simulation that explains the collision between two clusters of galaxies. Clusters of galaxies are the biggest objects that exist in the universe. They are collections of hundreds of thousands of galaxies pulled together by gravity. Rare, extreme examples of clusters caught in the act of colliding seem to be challenging the accepted view that dark matter is made up of heavy particles. [13]


In response to an alleged Communist coup in Indonesia on 1 October 1965, ambassadors Sir Keith Shann (Australia), Sir Andrew Gilchrist (United Kingdom), and Marshall Green (United States) initiated anti-Communist propaganda campaigns. In conjunction with the Indonesian army, these campaigns helped to underpin the rationale for widespread, army-coordinated anti-Communist repression throughout Indonesia. Through a careful re-examination of Australian archival materials regarding Indonesia between October 1965 and February 1966, this article provides a detailed, transnational chronology of propaganda efforts during the period of the massacres, highlighting the direct and indirect connections between them and the killings.


Building on the positive solution of Pillay's conjecture we present a notion of "intrinsic" reduction for elliptic curves over a real closed field K. We compare such a notion with the traditional algebro-geometric reduction and produce a classification of the group of K-points of an elliptic curve E with three "real" roots according to the way E reduces (algebro-geometrically) and the geometric complexity of the "intrinsically" reduced curve.


We present a quantitative framework for evaluating the influence of non-planar fault geometry on repeated seismic ruptures. We model quasistatic ruptures on a non-planar fault trace imbedded in a two-dimensional elastic medium under in-plane strain. Because of the presence of fault segments that are not parallel to the regional shear stress (i.e. bends), the apparent strength at a given point on the fault is not fixed, but fluctuates with normal stress. Compressional features behave as increasingly strong barriers to fracture unless the stored normal stress is released in order to unlock the fault. Since slip on the fault itself cannot get rid of the normal stress, this is achieved through the action of off-fault morphological features such as secondary faulting, folding and vertical motions, that we introduce parametrically in the form of an aseismic relaxation. The apparent strength of a fault bend will stabilize in a narrow interval of values after repeated ruptures, characterized by a non-dimensional "hardness" parameter, whereby the relaxation rate is scaled by the tectonic loading rate.

On a fault structure having several small, widely separated bends, three families of events can be identified whose frequency and magnitude depend on the hardness (relaxation) parameter and the geometry: small events that cluster in the tension zones of the bends, intermediate size ruptures involving a single interbend segment, and large ruptures that break through bends and link on or more interbend segments. Large multi-segment events are most likely to occur for low values of the hardness, i.e., fast relaxation and slow loading rate.

Regions with compressional features act as barriers that stop most ruptures; stress is stored at these sites until they themselves break and initiate motion on the smoother, long reaches of the fault.


We have developed a scheme to secure networkattached storage systems against many types of attacks. Our system uses strong cryptography to hide data from unauthorized users; someone gaining complete access to a disk cannot obtain any useful data from the system, and backups can be done without allowing the super-user access to cleartext. While insider denial-of-service attacks cannot be prevented (an insider can physically destroy the storage devices), our system detects attempts to forge data. The system was developed using a raw disk, and can be integrated into common file systems. All of this security can be achieved with little penalty to performance. Our experiments show that, using a relatively inexpensive commodity CPU attached to a disk, our system can store and retrieve data with virtually no penalty for random disk requests and only a 15–20% performance loss over raw transfer rates for sequential disk requests. With such a minor performance penalty, there is no longer any reason not to include strong encryption and authentication in network file systems.


Whiles some use the internet basically for commerce, other use for educational purposes whiles to others, it is all about entertainment. The internet can therefore be likened to a blank check, which serves different purposes as and how a person wants to define it. The user variety of the internet notwithstanding, recent studies have actually confirmed that an aspect of internet usage that seem to have caught up with over 70% of all internet users is the phenomenon of social media networking. The research paper was conducted with the aim of finding the privacy risks associated with the use of social networking sites and for the practice of social media networking. To realize this aim, five major objectives were set, based on which research questions were developed. The research questions became a guide for the researcher to collect primary and secondary data, with particular emphasis on primary data collection, where a questionnaire was prepared for 50 respondents selected from a university campus. All 50 respondents were users of social networking sites and had strong academic background in journalism and communication, putting them in a position to providing well informed answers to the questions on the respondent. The primary data collection emphasized largely on the attitude of the respondents towards privacy issues whiles using social networking sites. The primary data collection exercise was also committed to knowing the depth of knowledge on privacy issues with social media networks. Through secondary data collection also, the researcher had the opportunity of knowing what the hosts of social networking sites are doing to protect the privacy of users.


A new case of myeloma with antistreptolysin O activity is described. The myeloma protein is Kappa IgG. By precipitation of this myeloma IgG with anti-Kappa antiserum, the antistreptolysin O activity is completely inhibited. For the antibody activities of the myeloma protein described in the litterature, the antistreptolysin O activity is the most frequently found. With this 19th case the authors discuss the fundamental problems of the antibody activities of myeloma protein.


In this paper, we describe recent trends in attitudes toward immigration in North America, and we suggest how these attitudes are likely to be affected by the September 11, 2001 "Attack on America." We begin by explaining why public attitudes toward immigration are important, and describe recent trends in these attitudes in the United States and Canada. Then, we apply psychological perspectives to predicting how these attitudes are likely to change in response to the events of September 11th. In particular, we describe expected short-term changes in immigration attitudes and expected long-term trends. We conclude by suggesting that an understanding of the psychological processes underlying unfavorable attitudes may assist in counteracting these effects; we also suggest that policy makers will be faced with the difficult task of balancing the need for a sense of security for members of the national group, and maintenance of the positive features of current immigration policies. Language: en


Introduction to the third edition. About the author. Other works by Alan Weiss. Acknowledgments. Chapter 1. Establishing Goals and Expectations (Including Your Own). You will be what you decide to be, nothing less, nothing more. * Starting at square zero: financial needs. * Personal attributes: the investment from within. * Focus: we're all working part-time. * Why collaboration can kill you. * Summary. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 2. Physical Space and Environmental Needs. Act like you have a business and you'll have one. * Alternative work spaces. * The basics around you. * Beyond the basics. * Communicating at the speed of light. * Getting some help from some friends. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 3. Sorting Out the Legal, Financial, and Administrative. First, let's kill all the lawyers. * Legal requirements and organizational options. * Accounting, financial, and tax matters-exploiting opportunities. * Finding a banker and obtaining credit. * Other professional help. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 4. Marketing 101. Creating a marketing gravity for your business. * Creating a press kit. * Stationery and related image products. * Networking. * Pro bono work. * Listings, ads, and passive sources. * Summary. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 5. Advanced Marketing. * Creating a brand. * Establishing a web site. * Publishing. * Obtaining media interviews. * Speaking. * Newsletters. * Questions and Answers. Interlude: Leveraging Technology. How to get started at the speed of light. * The importance of being earnest. * The budget sampler. * Best practices in leverage. Chapter 6. Initiating the Sales Process and Acquiring Business. Building relationships. * Finding the right buyer. * What to do about gatekeepers. * Gaining conceptual agreement. * Creating a succession of "yeses". * Questions and Answers. Chapter 7. Closing the Sale. How to write proposals and cash checks. * The nature of excellent proposals. * The nine steps of great proposals. * When to follow up. * Eight rules for a command appearance. * Ten steps to follow if the buyer is non-responsive. * Horrors, what if the buyer says "NO": six steps to redemption. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 8. Establishing Fees. If you bill by the hour you cheat your client and yourself. * The fallacy and lunacy of time-based fees and per diems. * Preparing and educating the client. * Fifty-one ways to increase your fees. * Summary. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 9. Moving to the Next Level. You may be ready for dramatic growth before you know it. * Finding resources: the pros and cons of staffs. * Business planning. * Creating passive income. * Working internationally. * Investing in longer term potential. * Summary. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 10. Giving Yourself Permission to Succeed. How to continue to grow by paying back. * Maximize retirement investing. * Mentoring. * Professional growth. * Retainers. * Selective project acquisition. * Travel. * Celebrity status. * The firm's future. * Giving back. * Questions and Answers. Chapter 11. The Quick Start. How to hit the consulting ground running at full speed. * First dimension: creating infrastructure. * Second dimension: reaching out for business. * Summary. * Questions and Answers. Appendices. A. Business Plan to Attract Investment. B. Sample "To Do" Lists. C. Office Equipment Recommendations. D. Trade Associations, Professional Groups, Publicity Sources. E. Sample Biographical Sketch for a New Consultant. F. Sample Position Paper. H. Sample Magazine Inquiry Letter. I. Glossary.


This contribution, stemming from a presentation made at the Conference " Sir Hersch Lauterpacht - Lawyer of Two Cultures ", organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland and the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law of the University of Cambridge on 5-6 November 2008, addresses the current debate on the legality of the use of force in international relations. More specifically, it considers the possibility and applicability of the 'preclusion of wrongfulness' argument with respect to the use of force. It is argued that although circumstances precluding wrongfulness were never expressly invoked in the context of the use of force, such a possibility may be worth consideration.


Introduction Bowel cancer screening (BSC) is important to detect colorectal cancer (CRC) before it becomes symptomatic in order to improve overall outcomes. It was noted that a higher proportion of patients presented with advanced CRC to our Unit, compared to the national average. This study was conducted to evaluate the response rate to BCS at Hillingdon and the histological stage of cancer presentation. Method Patients with a confirmed diagnosis of CRC between 2009 and 2014 were included, the histological staging was obtained via the hospital computer system and the FOBt response was obtained from the national screening hub. A responder was defined as a patient who sent a sample back at any point, and a non-responder as any patient who failed to send back a single sample. We defined advanced colorectal cancer (CRC) as node positive (Dukes' C) and metastatic disease (Dukes' D). Results 174 patients were analysed, of which 64 (37%) were responders to BCS and 110 (63%) non-responders. Of the non-responders, 55% presented with advanced CRC while 41% presented with early CRC, (9% Dukes A, 32% Dukes B, 39% Dukes C and 13% Dukes D). Of the responders, 44% presented with advanced CRC. Conclusion More than half of non-responders to BCS presented with advanced CRC, which has a poor prognosis. Although our numbers are small the difference between the responders and non-responders is evident. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


A continuous Couette−Taylor (CT) crystallizer exploiting a Taylor vortex was developed to promote the phase transformation of guanosine 5-monophosphate (GMP). In drowning-out crystallization, amorphous GMP is initially generated and then transformed into hydrate GMP crystals via the consecutive dissolution of the amorphous GMP and nucleation and growth of hydrate GMP crystals. Because of the intensive mixing of the Taylor vortex, the dissolution of the amorphous GMP and growth of the hydrate GMP crystals were both markedly promoted, allowing the phase transformation to be completed within a mean residence time of 5 min, even with a high GMP feed concentration of 150 g/L and moderate rotation speed of 300 rpm This result was at least 5 times faster than the phase transformation in a mixed suspension, mixed product removal (MSMPR) crystallizer under the same crystallization conditions. The phase transformation efficiency of the Taylor vortex over the turbulent eddy in the MSMPR crystallizer was explained in...


The paper contains a description of basic regularities in the manifestation of symmetry of human structural organization and its ontogenetic and phylogenetic development. A concept of macrobiocrystalloid with inherent complex symmetry is proposed for the description of the human organism in its integrity. The symmetry can be characterized as two-plane radial (quadrilateral), where the planar symmetry is predominant while the layout of organs of radial symmetry is subordinated to it. Out of the two planes of symmetry (sagittal and horizontal), the sagittal plane is predominant. The symmetry of the chromosome, of the embrio at the early stages of cell cleavage as well as of some organs and systems in their phylogenetic development is described. An hypothesis is postulated that the two-plane symmetry is formed by two mechanisms: a) the impact of morphogenetic fields of the whole crystalloid organism during embriogenesis and, b) genetic mechanisms of the development of chromosomes having two-plane symmetry.


Renewal and replacement of aging underground infrastructure, which mainly includes pipelines is one of the vital issues for the North American municipalities every day. Conventional replacement of these aging pipelines utilizes open-cut trenching methods that could be expensive both in rural and urban areas. In trenchless cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) pipeline renewal method, a liquid thermoset resin-saturated material is put inside the deteriorated pipe by hydrostatic, air inversion, or pulling inside mechanically and inflating. Then, the curing of the liner material used could be done in-place using three different ways such as, hot water, steam-or UV-cured to result in a final cured product. Trenchless methods are considered much more cost-effective. However, to make a comprehensive comparison, engineers and project owners will benefit from additional data. The objective of this study is to review past studies dealing with CIPP renewal method and open-cut pipeline replacement, and to compare their construction costs for renewing the small, medium, and large diameter sanitary sewer pipelines with the help of statistical analysis. It was found that mean construction costs of CIPP renewal is 57%, 63%, and 18% less as compared to the open-cut pipeline replacement for small, medium, and large diameter sanitary sewer pipes, respectively. It can be concluded that using CIPP method, municipalities can save millions of dollars in the renewal of underground utility systems. A life cycle cost analysis to evaluate and compare the construction, environmental, and social costs between CIPP renewal method and open-cut pipeline replacement is recommended.


Current theories of curriculum development emphasise the need for clearly defined objectives. The teaching of Primary French was shown to have been largely lacking in such objectives. Yet the importance of favourable attitudes emerged in relation to both the teaching of French and to the specific goals of British Primary Education. Against such a background the study set out to evaluate the extent to which such favourable attitudes towards French were being fostered in primary schools. Two areas - County Durham and the London Borough of Havering were selected to be studied in depth and the development and the nature of the provision of Primary French in these areas were explored. A Likert-type attitude scale was constructed as part of a questionnaire administered to over 8,700 first year pupils in the two areas, immediately upon entry into their secondary schools. The aim was to assess the reactions of the children towards the learning of languages and Primary French in particular, as well as towards France and the French people. The responses of children with past experience of Primary French were compared with those of children without French, as well as the responses of boys with girls. An attempt was made to link the attitude scale scores with features of the primary school experience of the children and also with their school subject preferences. A 'cluster analysis' technique was used to identify six 'types' of reaction in Durham and five in Havering. It was found, within the limitations of the samples involved, that Primary French did not improve the children's attitudes as expressed on the questionnaire in the areas studied and that girls displayed more favourable attitudes than boys. In addition to other, associated conclusions, certain organisational proposals were put forward concerning primary-secondary liaison in French.


The Purpose: of this study is to determine the toxicity of Albizia anthelmintica leaves and stem bark extracted compounds to some insects. Methods: The phytochemical screening and physiochemical analysis for leaves and stem bark had been carried out by using Standard methods, to study the pharmacological activities of these materials.Results: the findings indicated Albizia anthelmintica leaves powder had significant (p> 0.05) against Tribolium castaneum. Organic extracts of Albizia anthelmintica leaves had toxic effect on Culex quinquefasciatus larve and were effective in reducing the fecundity of Tribolium castaneum adults. The phytochemical screening demonstrated the presence of some secondary metabolites such as alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, triterpenes, coumarin, cardia glycosides and saponins. The results indicated high nutrients like crude fibre levels 16.15% and 9.5% are found in leaves and stems-barks respectively; beside protein level 8.95%, Crude fat level 2.6%, Moisture content 2.5%, ash content 6.75% and Nitrogen free extract content 63.05%. Minerals like sodium 350 ppm, phosphous 245 ppm, calcium 215 ppm, potassium 1.65 ppm and magnesium 1.25 ppm were showed in two parts. The ethyl acetate of extract of Albizia anthelmintica leaves intermediate activity against some types of bacteria and fungi. The ethanol extract of leaves presented high activity against fungi Candida Albicans.Conclusion: Albizia anthelmintica leaves powder and ethanolic extract had high efficiency on reducing number of pest and their ability of laying eggs.


Synapse competition and elimination are widespread developmental processes, first demonstrated at neonatal neuromuscular junctions. Action potential activity was long shown to exert a powerful influence, but mechanisms and contribution relative to other factors are still not well understood. Here we show that replacement of natural motoneuronal discharge with synchronous activity suppresses elimination of polyneuronal innervation of myofibers. This requires the simultaneous chronic conduction block (tetrodotoxin) and distal electrical stimulation of motor axons during ectopic synaptogenesis in denervated adult soleus muscle. If in fact chronic stimulation is applied without central block of motor axons, the time course of synapse elimination is as fast as in control muscles undergoing natural activity. Our findings follow the prediction of Hebb's postulate and imply that asynchronous activity drives developmental synapse elimination in muscle. They further suggest that motoneurons could become transiently synchronized during development and regeneration, helping to establish the initial polyneuronal innervation.


A low intake of selenium is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. This could be reduced by supplementation with selenium and coenzyme Q10. D-dimer, a fragment of fibrin mirroring fibrinolysis, is a biomarker of thromboembolism, increased inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and is associated with cardiovascular mortality in ischemic heart disease. The objective was to examine the impact of selenium and coenzyme Q10 on the level of D-dimer, and its relationship to cardiovascular mortality. D-dimer was measured in 213 individuals at the start and after 48 months of a randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial with selenium yeast (200 µg/day) and coenzyme Q10 (200 mg/day) (n = 106) or placebo (n = 107). The follow-up time was 4.9 years. All included individuals were low in selenium (mean 67 μg/L, SD 16.8). The differences in D-dimer concentration were evaluated by the use of T-tests, repeated measures of variance and ANCOVA analyses. At the end, a significantly lower D-dimer concentration was observed in the active treatment group in comparison with those on placebo (p = 0.006). Although D-dimer values at baseline were weakly associated with high-sensitive CRP, while being more strongly associated with soluble tumour necrosis factor receptor 1 and sP-selectin, controlling for these in the analysis there was an independent effect on D-dimer. In participants with a D-dimer level above median at baseline, the supplementation resulted in significantly lower cardiovascular mortality compared to those on placebo (p = 0.014). All results were validated with a persisting significant difference between the two groups. Therefore, supplementation with selenium and coenzyme Q10 in a group of elderly low in selenium and coenzyme Q10 prevented an increase in D-dimer and reduced the risk of cardiovascular mortality in comparison with the placebo group. The obtained results also illustrate important associations between inflammation, endothelial function and cardiovascular risk.


Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effect of the Sarbanes–Oxley Act (SOX), which was signed by President George W. Bush and came into effect on July 30, 2002, on firm productivity.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use the total factor productivity (TFP) as our measure of firm productivity.

Findings

Analyzing annual firm-level data from the Compustat database for the period of 1991-2006, the authors find that firm productivity increases at a higher rate in the post-SOX period. The results indicate that, although firms incur significant costs in complying with the requirements of the SOX, they also benefit from these requirements as evidenced by the improved productivity over time post-SOX. There is also a shift in the output elasticities from capital toward labor. The SOX has a positive effect on the output elasticity of labor but a negative impact on that of capital.

Research limitations/implications

The results have the following important implications. The SOX is a value-enhancing regulation in that it not only strengthens a firm's corporate governance but also improves its productivity. However, compliance with the SOX can impose a long-term cost on firms: the decrease in the capital investment, leading to a decline in the output elasticity of capital. If this decline in the capital investment continues, it can have an adverse effect on firm productivity in the long term.

Originality/value

This paper extends the literature along the line of the actual operational effects of the SOX regulation by examining its effect on the productivity of firms.


Abstract Corporate life cycle has received considerable interest in the accounting, finance and corporate governance literature. We synthesize this literature to inform readers about the valuable insights gained from these studies, and to outline knowledge gaps and future research directions. Although papers studying the determinants of corporate life cycles are few in number, our review suggests that managerial efficiencies, flexibility, and the resource-base of the firm drive the transition through the corporate life cycle. The bulk of the reviewed papers examine the implications of firm life cycle studies, and we categorize these into three groups: (i) financial reporting and management accounting implications, (ii) financial policy implications, and (iii) corporate governance implications. Our review suggests that the corporate life cycle has considerable effects on firms' financial reporting and corporate disclosures, corporate investment, financing and dividends decisions; and on corporate governance and socially responsible behavior. In surveying the growing body of literature on the corporate life cycle, we identify critical short-comings of past studies, and offer suggestions for future studies.


Proceedings: AACR 104th Annual Meeting 2013; Apr 6-10, 2013; Washington, DC

Background: The EGFR monoclonal antibody cetuximab is approved for treating head and neck squamous cell cancer (SCCHN) in combination with radiation therapy for locally advanced disease and chemotherapy for recurrent and metastatic disease. Intrinsic or compensatory HER3 signaling and sustained PI3K/Akt activation may play a role in resistance to EGFR-targeted therapy. However, the role of HER3 in resistance to EGFR-targeted therapy in SCCHN has not been elucidated. Therefore, we first tested whether the combination of MM-121/SAR 256212 (M), a HER3 antibody being co-developed by Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi, with cetuximab (C) may be more effective than M or C alone in treatment of SCCHN. Methods: We screened for the expression of EGFR, HER3 and their activated forms in 12 SCCHN cell lines. We then evaluated the activity of C, M, and their combination (CM) both in vitro by colony formation assay and in vivo by using SCCHN xenograft models (Tu212 and SCC47). In the in vivo experiment, mice were treated by intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) of C, M or CM twice per week for 4 weeks. The experimental groups include a PBS control, C (6.25ug/dose), M at low dose (300ug/dose, LD), M at high dose (600ug/dose, HD), the combination with LD (CMLD), and the combination with HD (CMHD). In addition, we examined the effect of M and C on HER3 and its downstream pathways in SCCHN cell lines by western blot assay. Results: pHER3 was detected in 9/12 while pEGFR, EGFR and HER3 were expressed in all of 12 SCCHN cell lines. The colony formation assay showed that Tu212 cells were significantly inhibited by CM compared to the control (p <0.001), M (p<0.001) and C (p=0.009) alone. Similar results were also observed using the SCC47 cell line. Western blot analysis confirmed the down-regulation of activated HER3 and its downstream phospho-Akt and phospho-S6 ribosomal protein by CM. Our in vivo study showed significant tumor growth inhibition in both MM-121 LD (p<0.001) and MM-121HD (p<0.001) compared to the control. Moreover, the treatment with both CMLD and CMHD significantly suppressed Tu212 xenograft tumor growth compared to the PBS control (both p<0.0001), C alone (both p<0.0001), and MLD (p=0.0046 and 0.0008, respectively), but only CMHD showed significant inhibition compared to MHD (p = 0.02). There was no significant difference between CMLD and CMHD (p=0.5994). Studies using another SCCHN xenograft model (SCC47) showed a similar inhibitory effect from the treatments by C, M and CM. Conclusion: This study shows that the combination of cetuximab and MM-121 is significantly more active than MM-121 or cetuximab alone in models of head and neck cancer in which both EGFR and HER3 are activated. Further studies will be expanded to understand the underlying mechanisms of this combination. (This study was supported by Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc.)

Citation Format: Ning Jiang, Dongsheng Wang, Zhongliang Hu, Aminur M. Rahman, Hongzheng Zhang, Ruhul A. Amin, Xiaojing Wang, Zhengjia Chen, Shin M. Dong, Gabriela Garcia, Gavin MacBeath, Jun Ma, Fadlo R. Khuri, Nabil F. Saba, Georgia Z. Chen. Combined treatment with HER3 antibody MM-121/SAR 256212 and EGFR antibody cetuximab in pre-clinical models of head and neck cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr LB-79. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-LB-79


BACKGROUND
Radiation therapy for breast cancer has been implicated in the development of bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP). This inflammatory lung disorder was first noted in 1983, and there have been numerous reports of BOOP occurring in women who have had radiation therapy for breast cancer since 1995. This study was undertaken to perform a systematic review of postradiotherapy BOOP to determine the occurrence, presentation, treatment, and outcome.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A systematic literature review was conducted according to the guidelines provided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses report.

RESULTS
The literature search yielded 10 Japanese epidemiological reports with 129 women, 4 case series reports with 36 women, and 24 case reports with 34 women. Common symptoms included fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Most patients received corticosteroid therapy, and duration of treatment ranged from 6 months to 1 year, although some patients received steroids for longer than 1 year because of relapse, which occurred in approximately one half of patients. No deaths have been reported.

CONCLUSION
BOOP is a rare but significant complication from radiation therapy for breast cancer. Chest radiographic studies for women who report new respiratory symptoms during the postradiation period can be beneficial for early diagnosis and for guiding appropriate management.


Numbering over a third of California's population and thirteen percent of the U.S. population, people of Mexican ancestry represent a hugely complex group with a long history in the country. Contributors explore a broad range of issues regarding California's ethnic Mexican population, including their concentration among the working poor and as day laborers; their participation in various sectors of the educational system; social problems such as domestic violence; their contributions to the arts, especially music; media stereotyping; and political alliances and alignments. Contributors are Brenda D. Arellano, Leo R. Chavez, Yvette G. Flores, Ram\u00f3n A. Guti\u00e9rrez, A\u00edda Hurtado, Olga N\u00e1jera-Ram\u00edrez, Chon A. Noriega, Manuel Pastor Jr., Armida Ornelas, Russell W. Rumberger, Daniel Sol\u00f3rzano, Enriqueta Valdez Curiel, and Abel Valenzuela Jr.


A practical method is described for instantaneous frequency measurement by computation of the reciprocal of the time interval between two events. Use is made of inexpensive integrated circuits.


Sodium is widely distributed in food materials, more in animal sources than plants. Sodium ion concentration is very important in regulation of osmotic pressure of body fluids, preservation of normal irritability of muscles and the permeability of the cells. Most of the sodium is found in the extracellular fluid. Almost all the blood sodium is found in the plasma, there is very little in the red cells. In chronic cases the plasma concentration may be only slightly lower. A negative balance of sodium or potassium may cause renal failure. Changes in sodium concentration largely lead to severe diarrhea, vomiting, diabetes, acute pathological processes involving the brain, diuretics and hyponatraemia, lead to a salt deficiency and hence to low plasma sodium values which may be exaggerated if water losses are replaced without adequate salt therapy. Hyponatraemia results when the water content of the body is increased absolutely and relative to the sodium content so that the osmoiality of body fluid falls. The most common pathogenesis of hyponatraemia is mixed salt and water depletion. The present paper includes the study of serum sodium levels of 200 patients (according to age group and sex) with chronic renal failure (CRF) before and after the process of treatment and it has been compared with 50 normal healthy individuals comprising the control group.


The pesky rat wonders what it would be like to live with the creature comforts actual pets enjoy, like his friends Pierre the chinchilla, Oscar the Siamese cat, Nibbles the lop-eared rabbit and Andrew the Scottie dog. And he's got a plan for how to make his dream come true ...All proceeds from this special edition go to UNESCO's Programme for the Education of Children in Need, which Lauren Child is supporting with her own project, 'My Life Story'. This edition includes an eight-page section all about UNESCO and Lauren's own role in helping the children they support all over the world.


This study investigates the role of suprasegmental features with respect to the intelligibility of Korean-spoken English judged by Korean and English raters as being good or bad. It has been hypothesized that Korean raters would have different evaluations from English native raters and that the effect may vary depending on the types of suprasegmental factors. Four Korean and four English native raters, respectively, took part in the evaluation of 14 Korean subjects' English speaking. The subjects read a given paragraph. The results show that the evaluation for 'intelligibility' is different for the two groups and that the difference comes from their perception of L2 English suprasegmentals.


In a series of 179 clubfeet treated surgically with a follow-up of 3 to 14 years, the clinical significance of calcaneocuboid malalignment was assessed on the basis of a standardized anteroposterior radiograph. The revision rate was 15% and the clinical requirement for a further soft tissue release was related to the talocalcaneal and calcaneocuboid angles. Calcaneocuboid malalignment does not have an adverse effect on the good prognosis of an otherwise well-corrected foot and does not alter the surgery needed to improve a clearly uncorrected foot. When talocalcaneal correction is doubtful, calcaneocuboid malalignment should tilt the balance toward a revision and is of value when the navicular has yet to ossify. Surgical release of the calcaneocuboid joint is unnecessary, particularly the lateral dissection, provided that the medial and subtalar dissection is complete.


In this paper, one type of a security system for panel working is suggested. The industrial Ethernet is used for open-close door control of the working panel and for monitoring the working panel is correct or not. Especially to upgrade the security system, a remote approval function of panel working by using the given approval number, a remote monitoring function for checking the approved panel is currently working or not, and an alarming function for keying the unapproved number or opening the disapproved panel, are added for preventing and reducing the intentional working error. Also the worker and working time are stored in PC automatically in exel file for detecting the working error. To show the possibility of suggested security system. two-working panel system is prepared and studied.


In this paper, an HSDPA packet scheduling algorithm based on particle swarm for distributed station is studied. This algorithm can be applied for non-real time service packet scheduling. A weighted object function is proposed for the non-real time service. The channel information and time delay information are combined by the weighted methods, and an intelligent packet scheduling algorithm is proposed where particle swarm algorithm is applied to solve this problem. The computer simulations confirm that this intelligent scheduling algorithm achieves a good compromise between the fairness of users and the throughput of the system for non-real-time service, and the performance is better than the proportional fair algorithm.


This article seeks to present an overview of Mexican Film Studies related to female gender problems. The most relevant topics, methodologies, periods, characters and people were identified. It establishes the main obstacles that this research faces in Mexico as well as obvious gaps such as the lack of books, theses or papers about pioneers women filmmakers, about popular cinema, links with feminist theories, the socio-historical context function or film reception, among others.


The construction industry is one of the slowest when it comes to labor productivity. As a result, construction projects see an increase in duration and labor costs. New technologies are being introduced within the construction industry to increase labor productivity. It is becoming more and more important for the industry to adapt to these technologies. Among them are robots. The SAM100 is a brick-laying robot that can replace most of the masonry crew on a project. Utilizing this technology on masonry-heavy projects could have significant benefits. This paper will analyze the benefits and weaknesses of the SAM100 on the Jay and Susie Gogue Performing Arts Center project at Auburn University in Alabama. When analyzing its benefits, this paper will focus on the qualitative data concerning its implementation into the project. It will provide insight on the advantages and disadvantages of the robot, and some challenges met from using this piece of equipment. The purpose of this paper is to provide key information regarding the utilization of the SAM100 from a project that used this piece of equipment and make suggestions for its application in the future.


The present research aims to study the entrepreneurial characteristics that will enhance the students environmental awareness in the Environmental Management Department (henceforth: EMD) at the College of Management and Economics, University of Babylon. The sample is selected randomly from the students of EMD and the number of the sample is (45) students. One of the principle aims of the research is to diagnose the role played by the university students with their entrepreneurial characteristics to preserve the environment and protect it from pollution. The problem of the study aroused from the interest of college in giving a great importance to the entrepreneurial characteristics and its application to raise the available capabilities to achieve entrepreneurship and thus achieving its objectives and giving more efforts to apply such characteristics to develop the environmental awareness among the college students. The questionnaire is used as a tool for collecting statistical data which is analyzed by using SPSS. The research is based on a set of hypotheses to study the effect of the dimensions of the independent variable (entrepreneurial characteristics) on the dependent variable (environmental awareness). The research is also based on descriptive statistics (arithmetic mean, standard deviation). As such, the present research has reached the following conclusions:  1. There is correlation between the two variables: entrepreneurial characteristics and environmental awareness in the college (the study area). 2. The increasing interest of the faculty members in enriching their students with entrepreneurial characteristics contributed to their environmental awareness. 3. The researchers (of the present study) suggest a set of recommendations, including the need to follow-up and encourage the entrepreneurial students and adopt their ideas and proposals and give them a large area of freedom in expressing their views and ideas to produce their entrepreneurial energies to promote the environment in our society.


Blockchain technology is heralded for its ability to provide transparent and immutable audit trails for data shared among semi-trusted parties. With the addition of smart contracts, blockchains can track and verify arbitrary computations – which enables blockchain users to verify the provenance of information derived from data through the blockchain. This provenance comes at the cost of data confidentiality and user privacy, however, which is unacceptable for many sensitive applications. The need for verifiable yet confidential data sharing and computation has led some to add trusted execution environment (TEE) hardware to blockchain platforms. By moving sensitive operations (e.g., data decryption and analysis) off of the blockchain and into a TEE, they get both the confidentiality of TEEs and the transparency of blockchains without the need to completely trust any one party in the data-sharing ecosystem.In this paper, we build on our TEE-enabled blockchain data-sharing system, Amanuensis, to ensure the freshness of access-control lists shared between the blockchain and TEE, and to improve the privacy of users interacting within the system. We also detail how TEE-based remote attestation help us to achieve information provenance – specifically, how to achieve information provenance in the context of the Intel SGX trusted execution environment. Finally, we present an evaluation of our system, in which we test several real-world machine-learning applications (logistic regression, kNN, SVM) to determine the run-time overhead of information confidentiality and provenance. Each machine-learning program exhibited a slowdown between 1.1 and 2.8x when run inside of our confidential environment, and took an average of 59 milliseconds to verify the provenance of an input data set.