The Relative Age Effect (RAE), whereby individuals born closer to a registration cut-off date are over-represented in certain contexts, has been documented in various organized sport and educational settings (Cobley et al., 2009). If youth are disadvantaged in these activities as a result of the RAE, the psychological impact could extend to other areas of their lives (e.g., proclivity to engage in a physically active lifestyle). The purpose of this study was to explore the pattern of participation among organized sport participants, unorganized physical activity participants, and non-participants with respect to relative age using self-report data from the first twelve cycles of the Monitoring Activities of Teenagers to Comprehend their Habits (MATCH) project. A detailed description of the study is available in Belanger et al. (2013). Generalized linear mixed models with binary logistic regression were conducted to compare the likelihood of reporting participation in organized sport (team and individual), unorganized physical activity, and non-participant behaviour across birth quartiles. In comparison to those born in the last two quartiles, those born in the first two quartiles of the year were more likely to report participation in organized sports and team sports (p < .01). There was no apparent RAE with regards to participation in individual sports or unorganized physical activity. Non-participants were significantly less likely to be born in the second quartile. The results indicate a RAE is present for team sport participation and non-participant behaviour in this cohort. Continued investigation of the factors contributing to these trends and their stability over time is warranted.Acknowledgments: The data used in this analysis were drawn from the Monitoring Activities of Teenagers to Comprehend their Habits (MATCH) project, which was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Sport Canada through the joint Sport Participation Research Initiative and by the New Brunswick Health Research Foundation. Support was also received through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship (K. Smith).


To enable extensive experimentation with peer-topeer (P2P) systems in a controlled environment, we have implemented a P2P system in a network simulation framework. In this paper, we explain the implementation process and the design issues we faced.


We have investigated prognostic factors of early colorectal carcinoma mainly based on pathological aspects. We have experienced 175 lesions of early colorectal carcinomas, in which 116 lesions were obtained by operation and 59 lesions were endoscopically resected. Histologically, well differentiated adenocarcinoma was subclassified into two types, pure type and combined type. We expressed extent of submucosal invasion by sm depth and sm width. We represented specific pathological features in the invasive margin as single cell infiltration (SCI) and mucinous component (MUC), which were indicating biological invasiveness of submucosal invasive carcinomas. As a result of this research, we concluded that minimal submucosal invasion of early colorectal carcinoma should be defined as carcinoma having sm depth less than 1 mm and sm width less than 5 mm, on the contrary, sm massive invasion as sm depth above 1 mm or sm width above 5 mm. We guessed that SCI was good parameter of lymphatic invasion because of their correlation to other adverse prognostic factors. We make a policy that subsequent intestinal resection should be performed to early colorectal carcinomas, which having SCI or MUC concomitant with the degree of submucosal invasion more than our standard despite of absence of vascular permeation.


A modelling study is performed to investigate the characteristics of both plasma flow and heat transfer of a laminar non-transferred arc argon plasma torch operated at atmospheric and reduced pressure. It is found that the calculated flow fields and temperature distributions are quite similar for both cases at a chamber pressure of 1.0 atm and 0.1 atm. A fully developed flow regime could be achieved in the arc constrictor-tube between the cathode and the anode of the plasma torch at 1.0 atm for all the flow rates covered in this study. However the flow field could not reach the fully developed regime at 0.1 atm with a higher flow rate. The arc-root is always attached to the torch anode surface near the upstream end of the anode, i.e. the abruptly expanded part of the torch channel, which is in consistence with experimental observation. The surrounding gas would be entrained from the torch exit into the torch interior due to a comparatively large inner diameter of the anode channel compared to that of the arc constrictor-tube.


Shearography is an interferometric method which measures surface displacement derivatives. Although useful for strain analysis and non-destructive testing, the conventional technique is cumbersome and not very suitable for an industrial environment. The authors present the development of an electronic/digital technique which eliminates most of the shortcomings. It enables real-time shearographic fringes to be obtained.


Abstract. Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate systems are globally distributed throughout the tropics, but have received limited research attention on active sedimentation. A detailed examination of sedimentation near La Parguera, Puerto Rico has been conducted to better understand this mixed system on the border of the Caribbean Sea, along the southwest coast of the island. This study includes an assessment of the sediment composition and texture of material accumulating on the La Parguera seabed, as well as an examination of excess 210Pb-activity profiles and accumulation rates. Variations in grain-size distribution and carbonate and loss-on-ignition (LOI) percentages are examined on the shelf. More specifically, an increase in carbonate percentage and a decrease in the LOI fraction in the seaward direction are evident. Excess 210Pb-activity profiles display steady-state and non-steady-state profiles. Steady-state profiles are most common and display a range of thicknesses in surface-mixed layers (3 - >20 cm). Non-steady-state profiles are observed in some nearshore settings, reflecting episodic deposition or human influence. Greatest sediment accumulation rates are generally found close to shore, where maximum rates approach 0.5 cm y-1. Sediment accumulation rates in more seaward reef areas are approximately 0.2 cm y-1. Mass accumulation rates calculated from the composition and accumulation rate data indicate there is a seaward decrease in terrestrial (non-carbonate and LOI-free) sediment flux to the seabed. Fluxes of terrestrial sediment in nearshore areas are typically several times higher (>0.05 vs. 0.01 g cm-2 y-1). These trends in composition and mass accumulation reflect sediment supply and dispersal from terrestrial and marine sources along with the reduced wave climate from reef sheltering. A preliminary sediment budget suggests the majority (61%) of terrestrial sediment supplied to the shelf is stored locally. Sediment accumulating on the shelf is principally carbonate (85%) and is assumed to be marinederived. Terrestrial (12%) and LOI (3%) material represent considerably smaller, but significant constituents of the sediment stored. Collectively, data suggest terrestrial sedimentation is a lesser, but increasing sedimentary component of the La Parguera mixed siliciclastic-carbonate setting.


The study of criminal organisations and illegal supply chains is relevant to understand the dynamics of illegal economy. Indeed, the definition of a behavioural and relational model of criminal organisations would permit to improve the efficiency of control policies. Furthermore, it would permit to improve the capability to measure the phenomenon when some illegal activities have to be included in the determination of the Gross Domestic Product. In this work, using the instruments of the knowledge-based approach to the firm, we develop a model to analyse and classify criminal organisations and the relationships they build up along the supply chain of illegal activities. This theoretical scheme is finally applied to the illicit drug supply-chain.


Kaitany, R., H. Melakeberhan, G. W. Bird, and G. Safir. 2000. Association of Phytophthora sojae with Heterodera glycines and nutrient stressed soybeans. Nemtropica 30:193-199. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines ), a serious pest of soybeans, has been found in 30 counties in Michigan. Phytophthora sojae , a serious and opportunistic pathogen of soybeans, has also been found in many of the fields. This study was conducted to assess the incidence of P. sojae in 12 selected soybean cultivars grown under low (fumigated) and high (non-fumigated) SCN conditions and nutrient stress. A total of 70 soil and root and stem samples (same plant) from each nematicide treatment were analyzed for SCN population densities and P. sojae. Incidence of P. sojae was highly correlated with SCN population densities in untreated plots; whereas, both organisms were low in the treated plots and poorly correlated. Leaf N and K were significantly higher in nematicide-treated plots while the reverse w


ABSTRACT In this article, I argue that the houses and memorabilia collections associated with venerated personages played an important role in campaigns to elevate popular, unofficial, saintly figures to the level of the blessed or even canonised saints. Two practices converged in these campaigns: the Catholic tradition of sacralising specific sites and endowing material remnants with special meaning, and the 'museumification' of memorial houses and collections. The focus here is on the use of material culture in the beatification campaigns for modern stigmatics (who carried the wounds of Christ). Of the hundreds of cases that were reported, only a few were beatified and canonised. The article concentrates primarily on one success story: the evolution of the German stigmatic Anne Catherine Emmerick (1774–1824) from a 'living saint' to her being officially blessed (2004) and the role that her houses and possessions played in the promotion of her cult following and image construction.


Progress in understanding the role of metals in diseases of the nervous system has been hampered to a large extent by a lack of normal metal concentration values in the human brain. Since several metals interact metabolically, concurrent metal levels are essential for clinical correlation. We are reporting a simultaneous analysis of 24 metals in 4 different areas of 9 human brains. Our data on previously studied metals are comparable to the past observations. Therefore, we suggest the values of all metals reported here should be regarded as "normal" for ages 58-78 years.


Structured mental representations underlie much of human cognitive ability. However, research has repeatedly found that people are generally quite poor at spontaneously applying structure acquired from one kind of situation to a dissimilar domain. This would seem to present a serious impediment to learning abstract structures experientially. The current study employs a novel approach designed to be more sensitive to the relational learning that is taking place. By using implicit measures of processing fluency, we demonstrate that relational commonalities—even between dissimilar domains—can indeed exert a measurable, if subtle, influence on subsequent processing. Despite having no explicit awareness of the structural commonalities, participants in our study rated a scientific passage to be better understood, better written, and more interesting when it was preceded by an (overtly dissimilar) analogous passage. This finding has important implications for the acquisition of complex knowledge structures.


: traditionally, evisceration is performed only through a complete median laparotomy, however, the rapid development of modern medical technologies, especially in the last ten years, allows for a fundamentally new level of surgical intervention. The aim of research: evaluation of the effectiveness of laparoscopic pelvic evisceration in women. Materials and methods: in the period 2011 to 2018, 19 laparoscopic eviscerations were performed in women aged 50-78 years due to locally advanced cancers of the pelvic organs. After the compulsory examinations - computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound of pelvic organs and abdominal cavity, colonoscopy, cystoscopy, excretory urography, rectal examination, oncomarkers, laboratory study (hemoglobin, residual nitrogen Blood serum), scintigraphy, positron emission tomography (PET CT), the presence of locally advanced lesions was confirmed, and the patients were sent for surgery. Results: 6 of total, 7 front and 6 rear evisceration was performed. For the purpose of urine diversion was performed a Bricker operation, for the derivation of feces was formed a primary anastomosis with a circular stapler with an additional preventive stoma, or a terminal colostomy. Perioperative results of pelvic excretion are given. Conclusion: When compared with the results of other works on open traditional pelvis exenteration, we can judge that with laparoscopic access there is significantly less blood loss, patients spend less time in intensive care, separation, and less the frequency of early postoperative complications. Such operations should be carried out by competent specialists and in specialized centers, which will reduce the number of complications, relapses, and also will allow to accumulate experience of multi-organizational interventions, for their subsequent introduction into general practice.


Abstract The importance of internationalization, as a part of an institutional higher-education strategy cannot be overstated. In this paper we provide a mechanism for organizing a Higher Education Institution's internationalization strategy, recognizing that it is globalization that is forcing higher education institutions to internationalize. We briefly discuss and evaluate existing approaches and provide a new model and taxonomy for organizing strategic responses to higher education globalization in more detail. This model offers a classification scheme suitable for a variety of higher education institutions wherever located at different stages of their development.


A literature review of related articles, either by affinity or by contrast, to a fundamental theory of time and space - time previously developed. It shows how from a primitive concept of preparticle and membership relation of set theory, and four postulates that refer to simple concepts, derived concepts of time, space-time, reference frame, particle, fields, and interaction between fields are obtained. The problem of the "direction " of time is analyzed and a paradox whose solution goes against the idea that this direction is fixed by the increase of entropy prescribed by the second law of thermodynamics is examined. In our theory this direction is unique to each reference frame, and is an intrinsic property of time. Two kinds of particles are described as derived concepts, and it is shown that one of them fullfills the Bose-Einstein statistics, and the other one fullfills the Fermi-Dirac statistics. We also consider the analysis of the wave function concepts and particle detector as concepts derived from the mentioned theory. Using these concepts, the process of locating both a macroscopic body (typical location) as well as one of a microscopic scale (quantum localization) is analyzed, and the significance of the location is examined in both cases.


This paper is concerned with the research and development of a predictive control and guidance system for a tail sitting, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The vehicle in question is the T-wing and it is a tail-sitting UAV. The T-Wing can fly in vertical and horizontal flight modes, using propeller wash over the control surfaces for control in vertical flight. These two flight conditions and the fundamentally different vehicle dynamics between them give rise to a challenging control problem. The predictive control and guidance strategy developed in this research synthesises non-linearity by creating a new linear model from a non-linear vehicle model at every time step. This methodology allows the use of efficient quadratic programming techniques to find the control solution. The continuous linearization ensures that the current linear problem is always a close approximation to the current nonlinear situation. This predictive controller has been successfully flight-tested in the vertical flight mode, running in real-time on a 400 MHz, PC-104 flight computer using xPC Target software.


We estimate the euro effect on export patterns using a panel of industry data from Ireland over the period 1993-2004. Our main innovation is to account for country and industry specific omitted trending variables bias. We find that the euro effect on Irish exports to the euro area countries relative to the rest of the trading partners of Ireland has been positive, significant and increasing since 2000. Furthermore, we find heterogeneous euro effects across industries. We find consistent significant positive euro effects for industries characterised by increasing returns to scale.


In this paper, we introduce a new estimator of entropy of a continuous random variable. We compare the proposed estimator with the existing estimators, namely, Vasicek [A test for normality based on sample entropy, J. Roy. Statist. Soc. Ser. B 38 (1976), pp. 54–59], van Es [Estimating functionals related to a density by class of statistics based on spacings, Scand. J. Statist. 19 (1992), pp. 61–72], Correa [A new estimator of entropy, Commun. Statist. Theory and Methods 24 (1995), pp. 2439–2449] and Wieczorkowski-Grzegorewski [Entropy estimators improvements and comparisons, Commun. Statist. Simulation and Computation 28 (1999), pp. 541–567]. We next introduce a new test for normality. By simulation, the powers of the proposed test under various alternatives are compared with normality tests proposed by Vasicek (1976) and Esteban et al. [Monte Carlo comparison of four normality tests using different entropy estimates, Commun. Statist.–Simulation and Computation 30(4) (2001), pp. 761–785].


Atlas is a high-energy pulsed-power facility under development to study materials properties and hydrodynamics experiments under extreme conditions. Atlas will implode heavy liner loads (m/spl sim/45 gm) with a peak current of 27-32 MA delivered in 4 /spl mu/s, and is energized by 96, 240 kV Marx generators storing a total of 23 MJ. A key design requirement for Atlas is obtaining useful data for 95% of all loads installed on the machine. Materials response calculations show current from a prefire can damage the load requiring expensive and time consuming replacement. Therefore, we have incorporated a set of fast-acting mechanical switches in the Atlas design to reduce the probability of a prefire damaging the load. These switches, referred to as the load protection switches, short the load through a very low inductance path during system charge. Once the capacitors have reached full charge, the switches open on a time scale short compared to the bank charge time, allowing current to flow to the load when the trigger pulse is applied. The time window of vulnerability for load damage is thus substantially reduced. The design of the load protection switches and test results are presented.


In oil and gas (O&G) exploration the well casing, in the form of a long steel tube, maintains the opening of the drilled well hole. Mechanical equipment is often inserted into the well for the purpose of well monitoring, pressure control and various operations. This downhole equipment may be mechanically connected to the pipe casing by the outward radial motion of anchoring teeth such that the inner wall casing is indented. The connection between the tool and the casing must support significant mechanical loads in the longitudinal (axial) direction of the casing, i.e. transverse to the direction of indentation, while minimizing the indentation depth in order to preserve the stiffness and strength of the casing. Consequently, a determination of the ultimate strength of the connection is of critical importance. Failure of this connection involves intense shear of the inner wall of the casing, akin to a machining operation. The critical load for axial slip can be determined experimentally or numerically (or by combination of both). In this study, detailed simulations are performed using the shear-extended GTN (Gurson-Tvergaard-Needleman) model. The choice of model is motivated by the need to accurately the extensive plastic deformation associated with indentation as well as shear-dominated ductile failure on a sub-millimeter scale. The an investigate an idealized two-dimensional representation of the anchoring problem, with a focus on the effect of indentation depth upon connection strength. Both the indentation of the casing inner wall by the anchoring teeth and the subsequent shear of the casing wall were simulated in detail to determine the load required to initiate and progress slip of the anchoring teeth. The results of these analyses show that the connection strength increases linearly with increasing indentation depth.


In this paper, a symbol-level selective transmission for virtual full-duplex (FD) relaying networks is proposed, which aims to mitigate error propagation effects and improve system spectral efficiency. The idea is to allow two half-duplex relays, mimicked as FD relaying, to alternatively serve as transmitter and receiver to forward the source's messages. In this case, each relay predicts the correctly decoded symbols of its received frame, based on the generalized square deviation method, and discard the erroneously decoded symbols, resulting in fewer errors being forwarded to the destination. Then, a modified maximum a posteriori receiver at the destination is provided to eliminate the inter-frame interference and identify the positions of discarded symbols from the relays. In addition, the diversity-multiplexing trade-off (DMT) for our proposed scheme is also analysed. It is found that our proposed scheme outperforms the conventional selective decode-and-forward (S-DF) relaying schemes, such as cyclic redundancy check based S-DF and threshold based S-DF, in terms of DMT. Moreover, the bit-error-rate performance are also simulated to confirm the DMT results.


This paper presents a soft start-up strategy of pulse-density-modulated series-resonant converter for induction heating application. The pulse-density modulation (PDM) technique is widely used in converters based on voltage-source series-resonant inverters (SRIs) to control the output current or power. However, during a start-up process, PDM has some disadvantages both in inrush current limiting and providing a zero-voltage switching operation of SRI transistors. In the paper, different PDM techniques are considered and basic moments of PDM using within the start-up process are analyzed. A new soft start-up strategy of PDM converter for induction heating application is proposed. The main features of the proposed strategy include an interleaved or a stepped PDM control, an initial combination of PDM at the beginning of the start-up process, and an operating algorithm during the start-up process. The proposed strategy was verified by a 2.5 kW experimental setup of the pulse-density-modulated interleaved converter with an operating frequency from 50 kHz up to 100 kHz. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed start-up strategy and show that the maximum current amplitude within start-up processes exceeds the maximum steady-state current amplitude by no more than 30%.


Acoustic modeling of raw waveform and learning feature extractors as part of the neural network classifier has been the goal of many studies in the area of automatic speech recognition (ASR). Recently, one line of research has focused on frameworks that can be pre-trained on audio-only data in an unsupervised fashion and aim at improving downstream ASR tasks. In this work, we investigate the usefulness of one of these front-end frameworks, namely wav2vec, for hybrid ASR systems. In addition to deploying a pre-trained feature extractor, we explore how to make use of an existing acoustic model (AM) trained on the same task with different features as well. Another neural front-end which is only trained together with the supervised ASR loss as well as traditional Gammatone features are applied for comparison. Moreover, it is shown that the AM can be retrofitted with i-vectors for speaker adaptation. Finally, the described features are combined in order to further advance the performance. With the final best system, we obtain a relative improvement of 4% and 6% over our previous best model on the LibriSpeech test-clean and test-other sets.


Obesity is a global health concern affecting all walks of life, with alarming prevalence in South African employees. Various companies have already implemented health promotion programs in order to improve employee health; however research focusing on the effect of a resistance training intervention in order to address obesity among employees is scare. Therefore the aim of this study was to determine the influence of resistance training (RT) on the resting metabolic rate (RMR), body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM) and compliance in a group of obese and normal-weight female employees. Seventy-seven pre-menopausal women (25 - 35 years) were recruited and divided into an obese, (BMI ≥ 30) and normal-weight group (BMI ≤ 25.0). Both groups completed a supervised progressive RT program (3 sessions of 40 -50 minutes/week), spread across 12 weeks. Assessments were performed every 4 weeks and results were analysed using the Linear Mixed Model procedure. The normal-weight group (NWG) showed practically significant increases from baseline to 12-weeks in FFM (d = 0.83), RMR (d = 0.58) and exercise compliance (d = 0.58) while the obese group (OG) showed practically significant decreases in WC (d = 0.32) and BMI (d = 0.31). Considering the intra-group % change (baseline to 12-weeks) it is clear that the NWG showed significant increases in RMR (7.0%), FFM (7.8%) and exercise compliance (15.8%) while the OG showed a significant decrease in WC (3.0%) and exercise compliance (9.3%). It seems therefore that the magnitude of change resulting from resistance training (moderate intensity) in NWG differs from that of the OG.


This paper examines the impact of government sectoral expenditure on economic growth in Malawi. Using time series data from 1980 to 2007, cointegration analysis in the context of an error correction model was employed to estimate the growth effects of government expenditures in agriculture, education, health, defence, social protection and transport and communication. The short run results showed no significant relationship between government sectoral expenditure and economic growth. The long run results showed a significant positive effect on economic growth of expenditure on agriculture and defence. The expenditures on education, health, social protection and transportation and communication were negatively related to economic growth. To boost economic growth efficient management of resources allocated to all sectors should be emphasized. Key Words: Government expenditure, economic growth, error correction model


Flexible support for crisis management can definitely be improved by making use of advanced planning capabilities. However, the complexity of the underlying domain often causes intractable efforts in modeling the domain as well as a huge search space to be explored by the system. A way to overcome these problems is to impose a structure not only according to tasks but also according to relationships between and properties of the objects involved, thereby using so-called decomposition axioms. We outline the prototype of a system that is capable of tackling planning for complex application domains. It is based on a well-founded combination of action and state abstractions. The paper presents the basic techniques and provides a formal semantic foundation of the approach. It introduces the planning system and illustrates its underlying principles by examples taken from the crisis management domain used in our ongoing project.


Open Access Full open access to this and thousands of other papers at Abstract: Renal tubulointerstitium plays an important role in the development and progression of diabetic nephropathy. The aim of this study was to assess serum cystatin C and 2 renal tubular enzymes, neutrophil gelatinase associated lipocalin (NGAL) and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (NAG), as screening markers for early renal dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). ROC curve analysis showed that urinary NAG is the most sensitive marker of microalbuminuria and early renal damage with sensitivity of 83.3%, while serum cystatin C was the most sensitive and specific marker of macroalbuminuria and damage progress with sensitivity of 70.8% and specificity of 83.3% versus 70.6% and 83.3% for uNGAL; and 64.7% and 66.7% for NAG, respectively. Our data indicate that urinary NAG is the most sensitive marker for early renal damage in diabetic patients. However, for damage progress, serum cystatin C is the most sensitive and specific marker for follow-up and monitoring renal dysfunction.


Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate associations between an individual's level of perceived control over labor market position (locked-in and not locked-in) and self-rated health and psychological well-being.Methods. A representative sample (n = 11,675) of the working population in southern Sweden responded to a questionnaire.Results. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents worked in their preferred workplace and occupation. Nineteen percent reported being in a nonpreferred workplace and nonpreferred occupation (double locked-in). Twenty-three percent reported suboptimal health compared with 31% among the double locked-in. The risk of suboptimal health was elevated in all locked-in groups also after adjustment for background variables and job strain. In the double locked-in group, the fully adjusted odds ratio for suboptimal health was 1.72 (95% confidence interval 1.49–1.99) and for suboptimal psychological well-being 2.17 (95% confidence inter val 1.84–2.56). Odds ratio for the other locked-in groups was lower but still statistically significant.Conclusions. Being at a nonpreferred work-place or occupation was associated with impaired health.


We develop a unified growth theory for the Western Hemisphere during the colonization era. We posit a unified growth model with transatlantic migration and slavery trade to reconcile development in the Thirteen Colonies/United States during AD1700-AD1860. Then we apply the model across American regions/countries, and propose the GeoPopulation-Institution hypothesis to explain divergence: whenever its geographic or political environments relatively favored the buildup of Black slaves (or non-White forced labor), through slavery institution that disincentivized the Blacks to make improvements, a region/country was likely to suffer a reversal of fortune. Geography, population and institution are inseparable in understanding American economic history.


Comparison of the amino acid sequences of human, porcine and bovine proinsulins reveals a high degree of variance within the respective connecting peptide segments. This is particularly reflected by species-specific guinea pig antisera which indicate that the proinsulin antigenic determinants are contained within the connecting peptides. In porcine proinsulin, the major antigenic determinant appears to be a hydrophobic region within the 41–54 amino acid sequence. Collectively, proinsulin and proinsulin-related intermediates may account for 3 to 6 per cent of the protein in commercial insulin preparations, which explains most of the heterogeneity observed by the sensitive polyacrylamide disc-gel electrophoresis technic. Theoretically, many of these intermediates may be formed from proinsulin by the combined actions of trypsin and carboxypeptidase B or by enzymes of similar specificity; this implies that such enzymes comprise the conversion system in the beta cells. On the basis of structure-activity studies with these unique insulin analogs, the connecting peptide probably interferes with insulininsulin antibody interactions, and a free NH2-terminal glycine on the A chain is needed for full biological activity.


By means of numerical modeling, we analyze the cycling of iron between its various physical (dissolved, colloidal, particulate) and chemical (redox state and organic complexation) forms in the upper mixed layer. With our proposed model it is possible to obtain a first quantitative assessment of how this cycling influences iron uptake by phytoplankton and its loss via particle export. The model is forced with observed dust deposition rates, mixed layer depths, and solar radiation at the site of the Bermuda Atlantic Time‐series Study (BATS). It contains an objectively optimized ecosystem model which yields results close to the observational data from BATS that has been used for the data‐assimilation procedure. It is shown that the mixed layer cycle strongly influences the cycling of iron between its various forms. This is mainly due to the light dependency of photoreductive processes, and to the seasonality of primary production. The daily photochemical cycle is driven mainly by the production of superoxide, and its amplitude depends on the concentration and speciation of dissolved copper. Model results are almost insensitive to the dominant form of dissolved iron within dust deposition, and also to the form of iron that is taken up directly during algal growth. In our model solutions, the role of the colloidal pumping mechanism depends strongly on assumptions on the colloid aggregation and photoreduction rate.


Introduction Central pontine myelinolysis (CPM) is a symmetric acquired demyelination of the basis pontis. Although hyponatremia and its acute correction have been postulated as causative factors, the etiology remains obscure. We describe an unusual case of alcoholic female who suffered CPM after an episode of binge drinking. Case Presentation A 34-year-old white female with a history of alcoholism had an alcoholic binge for a 2-week period 1 month ago. Initially, the patient had severe nausea and vomiting, limiting her food and water intake; and once she began to recover she began experiencing incoordination and truncal ataxia, which worsened progressively over a 3-week period. Later she developed slurring of speech and dysphagia, which made her ultimately seek medical attention. Patient denied any sensory loss, memory deficits, fever, chills, pain, or weight loss. Laboratory investigations reported Na 142 mmol/L, K 2.3 mmol/L, HCO3 33 mmol/L, total protein 5.1 g/dL, albumin 3.0 g/dL, normal LFTS; negative serum/urine drug screen and heavy metal screen. Lumbar puncture findings were nonspecific. CT scan of the head was unremarkable. MRI of the head demonstrated symmetric high intensity in the central portion of the pontine base, which was further confirmed with the magnetic resonance spectroscopy to be consistent with CPM. Patient was treated supportively with motor function rehabilitation. She had a favorable prognosis and her neurologic symptoms regressed completely in 6 months. Discussion This case highlights an interesting cause of CPM related to binge drinking without any acute iatrogenic correction of hyponatremia. Various pathophysiologic mechanisms can be proposed, including direct toxicity of alcohol on pons; the possibility of an undocumented rapid rise in the serum sodium (as her symptoms occurred during the late stages of binge drinking when the intake of food and water increased and ethanol intake decreased), potentially causing an osmotic injury to the endothelium, resulting in the release of myelinotoxic factors or production of vasogenic edema in the central pons. This case demonstrates that central pontine myelinosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a patient with a history of binge drinking presenting with acute neurologic symptoms. It also illustrates that although, in general, the prognosis is unfavorable, some patients may recover favorably.


Functional MR imaging (fMRI) based upon the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) effect is currently an important new tool for understanding basic brain function and specifically allowing the correlation of physiological activity with anatomical location without the use of ionizing radiation. The clinical role of fMRI is still being defined and is the subject of much research activity. In this report we present the underlying physical, technical and mathematical principals of BOLD fMRI along with descriptions of typical applications. Our purpose in this report is to provide, in addition to basic principles, an insight into the aspects of BOLD imaging, which may be used by the medical physicist to assist in the implement of fMRI procedures in either a hospital or research environment.


The impact of random user motion on intelligent paging schemes is examined and quantified. To this end, a straight-line motion pattern and two Markov chains are presented to model the random movement of mobile users (MUs) within the location area (LA). Results show that the cost of intelligent paging in the two cases of Markovian motion is more expensive than that of a simple straight-line motion. Also, two kinds of algorithms for grouping the paging areas (PAs) are considered. It is shown that grouping based on geographical location of PAs (rhombus grouping) is the most obvious one, whereas grouping based on probability of locating MUs (high-probability grouping) is more cost-effective.


Abstract For the purpose of quantitative determination of doxycycline (DC) residues in tissues, a sensitive liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was developed. The method was used to determine DC residues in chicken tissues (breast and thigh muscle, liver and kidney) after oral administration with drinking water to five-weak-old broiler chickens. The DC was administered for five consecutive days at a therapeutic dose of 10 mg/kg b.w. once a day. The tissues were collected after 6 h, 24 h, 7 d, and 8 d. The method was validated and the decision limit was established for muscle - 109.2 μg/kg, for liver - 326.1 μg/kg, and for kidney - 634.0 μg/kg. The detection limit was 2 μg/kg and the limit of quantification was 5 μg/kg. In a short period after ceasing the treatment, the detected concentrations of DC were much higher than the established maximum residue limit values. The highest residue concentrations of DC were observed in the kidney, followed by the liver and muscle. The lowest concentration of DC was determined in tight muscle.


The enzyme laccase (p-diphenol: oxygenoxidoreductase; EC 22.214.171.124) is known to degrade many phenolic aromatic compounds. Many species of white rot fungi are well–known producers of the enzyme laccase. The first phase was the isolation of eight different strains of white rot fungi and screening them for laccase activity. Then highest laccase producing white rot fungal strains was identified. This strain Pleurotus ostreatus produced high amount of laccase compared to rest of the strains. In the second phase, the culture conditions for Pleurotus ostreatus were standardized to maximize the laccase production. The further steps involved the isolation, purification, and characterization of the enzyme laccase produced by Pleurotus ostreatus and in the final phase, the project deals with the textile industrial application of dyes and sludge treatment.


Background: Despite its prevalence and contribution to morbidity, the microbiology of non-CF bronchiectasis is poorly defined. We present an in depth, cross-sectional, analysis of the bacteria present in the lower airways in this condition.

Methods: Paired induced sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage samples were obtained from 42 adult non-CF bronchiectasis patients and 16 healthy individuals. The bacterial species in these samples were detailed by 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing, with meta-analysis use to distinguish 'core' and 'satellite' populations.

Results: Over 140 bacterial species were identified, including those associated with respiratory tract and opportunistic infections. Detected species included many that would be unlikely to be reported through standard diagnostic surveillance, such as those requiring anaerobic conditions for growth. Substantial species overlap was observed for paired samples. A core group of species, detected frequently and in high abundance, was defined. Within this group, Haemophilus influenzae made the greatest contribution to non-CF bronchiectasis sample similarity, though a range of respiratory pathogens and oral cavity species were also detected. A relatively small group of rare and low abundance satellite species were identified. The comparative contribution of core and satellite groups suggests a low level of random species acquisition.

Conclusions: This study has shown a complex and defined bacterial microbiota is present in non-CF bronchiectasis that is distinct from other respiratory contexts, and provides a basis for further investigations into the potential contribution of these bacteria to disease.


Inonotus hispidus is an anti-tumour drug used in folk medicine. (4S,5S)-4-Hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxycyclohex-2-enone (HDE) is a compound isolated from Inonotus hispidus for the first time. However, the mechanisms underlying its therapeutic effects have not been elucidated. In this study, the in vitro screening, in vivo anti-tumour effects, mechanism of action, pharmacokinetics, and tissue distribution of HDE were investigated. HDE could inhibit the proliferation of HepG2 cells. Additionally, its half-maximal inhibitory concentration was 7.9 µg/mL. Increasing HDE concentrations significantly increased apoptosis rate in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, HDE was rapidly absorbed into mouse plasma, reaching a maximum concentration at 30 min. The area under the plasma HDE concentration-time curves for the studied organs were as follows: spleen > liver > lung > kidney > muscle > thymus > heart > brain. HDE also inhibited tumour growth up to 69%. The weights of organs harvested from HDE-treated mice were not significantly different from those harvested from control mice. Furthermore, HDE upregulated Fas expression and downregulated FasL expression in HepG2 cells. HDE significantly increased caspase-3 and caspase-8 activity. The anti-tumour effect of HDE might be realized by activating the Fas-mediated apoptotic pathway. We also found that HDE undergoes enterohepatic circulation or is quickly absorbed by the body, and the drug is released back into systemic circulation. In conclusion, HDE significantly inhibited H22 hepatocarcinoma cells (H22)tumour growth in mice without damaging organs; therefore, it may be suitable for treating liver cancer.


We report on the temperature dependence of the optical linear birefringence (LB) of the mixed 2d Ising magnet . The temperature dependence of the Co - Co pair contribution to the specific heat, proportional to that of the corresponding temperature derivative of the LB, is deduced for samples over the whole range of concentration 0 < x < 1. The long-range -type anomaly has been shown to vanish for , i.e. far below the percolation limit , a result which was predicted from calculations for 2d disordered Ising magnets, but never checked experimentally.


The lesser flying squid (Todaropsis eblanae) and the shortfin squid (Illex coindetii) are two abundant ommastrephids of the northeast Atlantic. Spawning ground existence was inferred from the captures of mature, mated females in summer 2016–2019 and their occurrences were compared with respective oceanographic data from international surveys to gain insight into environmental predictors of their presence throughout the North Sea. Spawning T. eblanae were found in relatively cooler and more saline waters (6–8°C, 34.2–35.1 psu) in the northern North Sea linked to the Fair Isle Current and East Shetland Atlantic Inflow, whilst spawning I. coindetii occurred across the entire North Sea (mostly at 9–10.5°C, 34.1–34.8 psu). We hypothesize that a combination of water salinity and water temperature are key factors in the spatiotemporal distribution of spawning ommastrephid squids as they define water density that is crucial for pelagic egg mass to attain neutral buoyancy.


For the first time, a larval individual of the cerambycid Acanthinodera cumingii (Hope, 1833) is reported to be living inside of an exotic bush stump. The growth of this larva had only been registered inside of 28 species of trees before (14 native and 14 exotic). This record extends its nutritional spectrum to a total of 29 woody species. The incidence of this bush on the distribution of the species is also discussed.


Shift workers suffer from a constellation of symptoms that can severely compromise their ability to perform optimally on-shift. The largest single factor contributing to shift-worker problems is sleep disturbance, and there is little question that the primary cause of such sleep disturbance is circadian disruption. Recently, a number of studies have demonstrated that timed exposure to bright light can help facilitate adaptation to simulated shift-work schedules, at least in younger subjects. The aim of the current study was to assess the effects of bright-light interventions in middle-aged individuals undergoing a simulated shift-work regimen. Results indicate that although light was effective in resetting the circadian clocks of these subjects by more than 6 hours, there was little effect on measures of on-duty alertness and performance or on off-duty sleep. These findings suggest that middle-aged subjects may be less phase-tolerant than young subjects, and they raise questions concerning the utility of bright-light interventions in some shift-work populations.


This article presents a continuous evaluation of work involving permanent education regarding childcare and the results that can be attributed to it, as carried out by family health teams managed jointly by the Community Outreach Program of the Instituto Materno Infantil Prof. Fernando Figueira, IMIP and the Municipal Departments of Health of the city Recife and the city of Olinda, State of Pernambuco, Brazil. With the support of external consultants, the group carried out systematic critical reflection, organized around the categories of performance, effects and effectiveness, with a view to enhancing the work under way. The sources of information used were the daily registers of the group and the teams and their views regarding the work. Despite the difficulty of transforming the changes brought about into routines, continuous education seems to have improved the quality of childcare. The satisfaction the teams feel corroborates this feeling that this work is both feasible and productive.


Radiologic Guide to Medical Devices and Foreign Bodies, edited by Tim B. Hunter and David G. Bragg, 624 pp, with illus, $180, ISBN 0-8016-6574-4, St Louis, Mo, Mosby, 1994. Written as a ready reference of medical miscellany, Medical Devices, Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Eponyms (MDAAE) attempts to provide a smallformat reference to the obscurities of medical language encountered in daily practice. This leads to one of the major drawbacks, that is, a bias toward radiological usage and practice. For instance, organizations such as ACR, AAWR, ABR, and AHRA are in the glossary, but not ACOG, ACS, AAOM, and others. Central venous pressure catheter placement is illustrated, but other devices, such as cardiac pacemakers and Ilizarov devices, are not. Acronyms are a linguistic nightmare, transient in meaning, narrow in usage, and the most specific form of jargon. Their seductive economy of expression leads to a code of sorts, understood only within a


The conceptual and numerical problems involved in the computation of reliable NMR chemical shifts for molecules in condensed phases are analyzed with reference to a number of case studies ranging from aromatic compounds in low‐polarity solvents to carbonyl and amidic models in aqueous solution and to large polypeptides. The results show that an integrated tool including the most recent density functionals, mixed discrete‐continuum solvent models, hybrid QM/MM approaches and, when needed, averaging from molecular dynamics simulations are becoming an invaluable complement to experimental results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This thesis is a systematic survey of the economic history of Bengal (c.400-1200 A.D.) as far as it can be re-constructed from available sources. In the introduction, we discuss the importance of the study of economic history, especially in relation to ancient Bengal, mention the works written on the subject so far, and evaluate the sources used in our study. The first chapter deals with the geographical background and the close relations between physical factors and the economy of the country. The second chapter is sub-divided into two sections. While the first deals with agriculture, the second gives a short account of the fauna of Bengal. In the third chapter we make a detailed study of the land system. It is sub-divided into nine different sections dealing with the following aspects of the land system; a) land sale, b) land-grants, c) types of land, d) land survey demarcation and boundary disputes, e) land measurement, f) land tenure, g) price of land, h) demand for land, and e) ownership of land. The fourth chapter is devoted to some of the crafts and industries practised in our period. The fifth chapter on trade and commerce contains two sections - a) internal, and b) external trade. Our sixth chapter studies the revenue system and in this connexion we analyse the different revenue terms found in the land grants and try to explain several on which there is difference of opinion among scholars. The seventh and final chapter deals with the coinage system, mainly from the economic point of view.


This handbook is designed to assist you in maximising the opportunities which a third-level education offers you. It provides guidelines on:
Achieving a balanced lifestyle
Defining and setting goals and priorities
Time management
Adopting a positive approach
Effective problem-solving
Managing stress
Relaxation
Identifying strengths


Albrecht, D.E. New species and notes on central Australian Goodenia (Goodeniaceae). Nuytsia 15(1): 1–9 (2002). Goodenia halophila Albr. sp. nov. and G. cylindrocarpa Albr. sp. nov. are described, with notes on their distribution, conservation status, habitat and relationships with other species of Goodenia Sm.. Notes are also provided on the Northern Territory populations of G. angustifolia Carolin and G. glandulosa K.Krause, and on all populations of G. anfracta J.M.Black and G. maideniana W.Fitzg. Further studies are needed to establish whether G. anfracta, which currently has conservation priority in Western Australia, should be reduced to synonymy under G. maideniana.


In Peru in the late 1950's and early 1960's widespread agrarian unrest prompted the passing and implementation of a far reaching land reform programme. (l969-70) Peasants had been disputing titles to land in the courts, forming cooperatives, taking strike action and invading lands, often making use of complex and costly bureaucratic channels to attain their ends. These recent activities have been interpreted as being characteristic of "peasant movements" but the use of this term obscures the fact that agrarian struggles have been an on-going feature of Peruvian rural life. Explanations of this kind are closely linked to "modernization" theories of economic development which tend to stress the importance of the diffusion of cultural change from the cities rather than changes in other aspects of local level social structures. Consequently, emphasis has been given to the way in which migration to mined and cities opens up new experiences to peasants, especially as they come into contact with syndicate organizations, liberal ideologies and outsiders who act as "charismatic" leaders. An examination of five case studies suggests that this kind of approach exaggerates the relationship of dependency of peasants on landowners and middlemen, and fails to explain how markedly different social situations produced similar kinds of organized activities. I examine the possibilities of developing an approach which will combine an analysis of the structures underlying observed social action with a consideration of the social constraints on decision-making amongst individuals and groups. This does not allow for the formulation of a consistent model for the interpretation of organized peasant activities, but suggests that analysis should look to the interplay of sets of relationships at the local level with developments in the structure of the wider society which at the present time have produced an environment conducive to the success of peasant strategies.


We explore the importance of magnetic-field-oriented thermal conduction in the interaction of supernova remnant (SNR) shocks with radiative gas clouds and in determining the mass and energy exchange between the clouds and the hot surrounding medium. We perform 2.5-dimensional MHD simulations of a shock impacting on an isolated gas cloud, including anisotropic thermal conduction and radiative cooling; we consider the representative case of a Mach 50 shock impacting on a cloud 10 times denser than the ambient medium. We consider different configurations of the ambient magnetic field and compare MHD models with or without thermal conduction. The efficiency of thermal conduction in the presence of a magnetic field is, in general, reduced with respect to the unmagnetized case. The reduction factor strongly depends on the initial magnetic field orientation, and it is at a minimum when the magnetic field is initially aligned with the direction of the shock propagation. Thermal conduction contributes to the suppression of hydrodynamic instabilities, reducing the mass mixing of the cloud and preserving the cloud from complete fragmentation. Depending on the magnetic field orientation, the heat conduction may determine a significant energy exchange between the cloud and the hot surrounding medium which, while remaining always at levels less than those in the unmagnetized case, leads to a progressive heating and evaporation of the cloud. This additional heating may offset the radiative cooling of some parts of the cloud, preventing the onset of thermal instabilities.


Immunities, though part of the law of the land, are to a certain extent an exemption from the general law. Certain rights and immunities such as freedom of speech belong primarily to individual members of parliament and exist because the House cannot perform its functions without unimpeded use of the services of its members. Ostensibly, the degree to which members of parliament are immune from legal inquiry may presumably accord them greater probability to abuse their mandate. In general, a court summons is the beginning of a legal case. It signals the issue that needs to be adjudicated. However, the introduction of immunity invalidates some tenets of modern democracy such as a court summons. The authors seek to examine some of the uncertainties and ambiguities that might have arisen out of the court decision in the case Republic v Mahama Ayariga with much consideration of other cases. The chapter provides a thorough picture of the systems of parliamentary immunity and recommends ways of curbing observed challenges with the practice.


A better understanding of saw-chain cutting mechanics is needed for more efficient chainsaw designs. The effects of varying key parameters such as workpiece moisture content, workpiece density, cutting velocity, and depth-of-cut, while established for other types of cutting, are largely unexplored and/or unpublished for saw chains. This study contributes to filling this gap through experimentation and analysis. Experiments were conducted using a custom-built saw-chain testing apparatus to measure relevant forces over a range of workpiece moisture contents, workpiece densities, cutting velocities, and depths-of-cut. Analysis consisted of fitting linear regression models to experimental data, identifying trends, and exploring optimum cutting conditions. Results showed that over the range of values included in the study, workpiece moisture content and density had effects that depended on the depth-of-cut. Cutting velocity had a small effect, and depth-of-cut had a large effect. All trends fit well with linear models; however, depth-of-cut required one linear fit for small-to-mid values and a second fit for mid-to-large values. Maximum efficiency was found to occur at a depth-of-cut equal to the transitional value between fits. These results provide basic relationships that can lead to the more effective and efficient use and design of chainsaws.


The use of antiseptics was reappraised because of the increasing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. A formaldehyde (noxythiolin) and a halogen (povidone-iodine) were investigated, these being the most appropriate antiseptic groups. Povidone-iodine solution significantly reduced the mortality of mice (P less than 0.01) and rats (P less than 0.01) with peritonitis. Noxythiolin (1% and 0.5%) did not. Antiseptic irrigation of the rat colon before and after anastomosis resulted in significantly fewer 'poor' anastomoses (P less than 0.05) without inhibiting healing. Noxythiolin 2.5% and 1% significantly reduced peritoneal adhesion formation in rats, but a newly formulated povidone-iodine solution with increased polyvinylpyrrolidone content was superior to noxythiolin 1% and 0.5%. Povidone-iodine neither inhibited rat abdominal wound healing nor induced bacterial resistance. In 3 subsequent controlled clinical trials a dry-powder povidone-iodine formulation halved wound infection after grid-iron appendicectomy (P less than 0.025), reduced infection in elective 'clean' surgery, and significantly reduced infection after a wide variety of 'potentially contaminated' abdominal procedures (P less than 0.01). A return to the principles of Lister is advocated.


BACKGROUND: Two functional variants (G1 and G2) in the APOL1 gene have been implicated as contributing to the high rate of chronic kidney disease in African Americans (Genovese et al., 2010; Kopp et al., 2010). We subsequently demonstrated that the APOL1 G1 and G2 variants, as well as non-coding genetic variation in the neighboring gene MYH9, were associated with proteinuria in a cohort of sickle cell disease (SCD) patients (Ashley-Koch et al., 2011). When controlling for the effect of the functional variants in APOL1, the effect of MYH9 on proteinuria remained, suggesting that both genes were independent risk factors in SCD nephropathy. A statistical interaction between the two genes predicting glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was also observed, suggesting a possible role of epistasis. In addition, we have demonstrated that myh9 and apol1 functionally interact in an in vivo zebrafish model, particularly in the context of anemic stress and more specifically that the APOL1 G2 risk allele modulates myh9 expression in the zebrafish (Anderson et al., 2015). In an effort to identify additional genes that may interact with APOL1 to influence risk for SCD nephropathy, we have performed a genome-wide evaluation of epistasis with APOL1 G1 and G2 variants. METHODS: Adults with SCD were recruited from sickle cell centers at Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Emory University, and East Carolina University. Medical history, laboratory values and DNA for genotyping were collected. GFR was estimated using the definition from the 9Modification of Diet in Renal Disease9 study (Levey et al., 1999). Genotyping was performed using the Illumina Human610-Quad BeadChip (Illumina, San Diego, CA) and missing genotypes were imputed using IMPUTE2 (Howie et al., 2009) with a global reference panel from the 1000 Genomes project. Principal component (PC) analysis was conducted using EIGENSOFT (Patterson et al., 2006) to obtain measures of population substructure. APOL1 coding variants G1 (rs73885319) and G2 (rs71785313) were genotyped using Taqman assays (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). To test for interactions between each SNP and the G1 or G2 alleles, linear regression was used to predict GFR and logistic regression for proteinuria. All models included main and interaction effects of SNPs (coded additively), as well as two genome-wide PCs to control for population stratification. False discovery rate (FDR) q-values were generated using PROC MULTTEST in SAS (SAS Systems, Cary, NC). RESULTS: A region on chromosome 6 significantly interacted with the APOL1 G2 allele to predict GFR (FDR q9s 0.9). DISCUSSION: We have identified several genome-wide significant gene-gene interactions involving the APOL1 G2 allele influencing GFR in an adult SCD cohort. Although the most significant interactions were observed with intergenic regions on chromosomes 6 and 4, both regions are characterized by histone marks in ENSEMBL, indicating that they may have important regulatory function. We also observed an interaction between a SNP in CEP164 and the APOL1 G2 allele. CEP164 is a basal body protein required for assembly of the primary cilium (Graser et al., 2007), and mutations in CEP164 have been associated with nephronophthisis-related ciliopathies (Chaki et al., 2012). Moreover, suppression of cep164 in the developing zebrafish resulted in a ciliopathy phenotype that included pronephric tubule cysts (Chaki et al., 2012). We did not replicate previous reports of epistasis with APOL1 in ESRD (Divers et al., 2014; Bostrom et al., 2012), but our work has shown that SCD nephropathy may be a unique form of kidney disease with distinct genetic drivers, due to the context of anemic stress (Anderson et al., 2015; Ashley-Koch et al., 2011). Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Suppose that there are n Senders and r Receivers. Our goal is to design a communication network such that long messages can be sent from Sender i to Receiver π(i) such that no other receiver can retrieve the message intended for Receiver π(i). The task can easily be completed using some classical interconnection network and routers in the network. Alternatively, if every Receiver is directly connected to all $n$ Senders, then the Senders can choose which channel to use for communication, without using any router. Fast optical networks are slowed down considerably if routers are inserted in their nodes. Moreover, handling queues or buffers at the routers is extremely hard in all-optical setting. An obvious routerless solution, connecting each possible Sender-Receiver pairs with direct channels seems to be infeasible in most cases. The main result of the present work is the mathematical model of two networks and corresponding network-protocols in which the Senders and the Receivers are connected with only ro(1) channels (in practice no more than 32 channels in both networks); there are no switching or routing-elements in the network, just linear combinations of the signals are computed. Such designs would be usable in fast all-optical networks. In the proof of the security of the networks we do not use any unproven cryptographical or complexity theoretical assumptions: the security is information-theoretically proved, and does not depend on cryptographical primitives.


This paper takes the position that a legal regime best promotes entrepreneurial activity if that regime offers a viable system to resolve the financial affairs of a distressed individual entrepreneur. I call this a "failure resolution system" (FRS). Consciously recognizing the need for and optimal parameters of a failure resolution system tailored to the particular needs of entrepreneurs, and crafting a FRS specifically to those ends, would play a significant positive role in encouraging and promoting entrepreneurial activity, which would benefit the society at large. The paper identifies the core features of an optimal failure resolution system in any legal system. Many of the conclusions drawn can be applied to the personal insolvency regimes of any country. My essential inquiry is: what are the most critical aspects of an optimal failure resolution system for individual entrepreneurs? I argue that the necessary features are that the FRS be: (1) forgiving; (2) human-capital-preserving; (3) not morally hazardous; (4) value-maximizing; (5) equitable; (6) accessible; (7); controllable; (8) participatory; (9) binding; (10) inexpensive; (11) non-gluttonous; (12) simple; (13) clear; and (14) speedy. The bulk of the paper analyzes the first three aspects, viz., that the FRS be forgiving to the entrepreneur, that it preserve the entrepreneur's human capital, but also that it not enhance moral hazard. I suggest ways to balance these potentially conflicting norms. The paper applies its conclusions specifically to the United States context and proposes concrete reforms. As noted, though, the principles could be applied to any country's legal system. Some reforms that are proposed here apply specifically to the U.S. federal bankruptcy law. However, the paper proposes other reforms that should be enacted more broadly as a matter of federal law, independent of the bankruptcy law. In the United States today, we are failing our entrepreneurs by not having an efficient FRS, and by failing them, we are failing society as a whole. * Mildred Van Voorhis Jones Chair in Law, University of Illinois College of Law; Of Counsel, Foley & Lardner LLP. This article has benefited from insights from my colleagues at the University of Illinois, especially Ralph Brubaker and Robert Lawless, and at Foley & Lardner LLP, especially Jill Nicholson, Rich Bernard, Victor Vilaplana, Geoffrey Goodman, and Harold Kaplan. I want to thank Kaitlin Straker, Angela Torres, and Gabriela Zamfir for their invaluable research and editorial assistance.


Non-communicable diseases (NCD) have been identified as a health emergency in the US-affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI).1 This assessment, funded by the National Institutes of Health, was conducted in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) and describes the burdens due to NCDs, with an emphasis on diabetes, and assesses the system of service capacity and current activities for service delivery, data collection and reporting as well as identifies the issues that need to be addressed. There has been a 22.7% decline in the population between 2000 and 2010. Findings of medical and health data reveal that the risk factors of lifestyle behaviors lead to overweight and obesity and subsequent NCD. The leading causes of death are heart disease, stroke and cancer. The 2009 BRFSS survey reveals that the prevalence rate for diabetes was 9.8%. Other findings show significant gaps in the system of administrative, clinical, data, and support services to address these NCDs. There is no overall health plan to address NCDs or diabetes, there is little coordination between the medical care and public health staff, and there is no functional data system to identify, register, and track patients with diabetes. Based on the findings, priority issues and problems to be addressed for the administrative system and clinical system are identified.


ABSTRACT

With the emergence of a large number of smart mobile products, it has brought great convenience to our life. However, at present, the battery power of mobile devices cannot provide longer endurance to the equipment, so portable power supply came into being. According to the structure characteristics and working principle of mobile power source, this paper proposes a mobile power supply design scheme with high power conversion efficiency and low power consumption. It gives the hardware circuit design and software process, hardware object debugging, and has very strong practical application value.


In modern semiconductor process technology, ion implantation has become the most important technique to introduce dopant atoms into semiconductor materials. The main advantage of ion implantation technique is its high controllability of process parameters, which influencing dopant distribution profile. This research was intended to characterize the product of ion implantation machine NV-3204.Ion implantation characterization successfully produced and evaluated pn-junction diode characteristics. PN-junction diode was fabricated using 100 keV energy and 5x1013 cm-3 dose of phosphorus on a silicon wafer type N<111>. For all measured area, pnjunction diode has junction depth Xj = 1 um, breakdown voltage -45V, built-in voltage 0.8V, and dopant concentration 5x1018 cm-3. Comparing the simulation, this result exhibited that output of ion implantation machine was well controlled.


Speech recognition method with progressive training platform, allowing to reach levels similar recognition of platforms that require specific training phase, and in turn offer services previously and during the training process.


As one of the cell wall-degrading enzymes, polygalacturonase involves in pathogenicity and virulence in a number of host pathogen interactions. In the polygalacturonase multigene family of Phytophthora capsici , Pcipg5 was screened from the genomic library. The Pcipg5 gene contains three putative active sites (179Asp, 200Asp, 201Asp) and one potential N-glycosylation site (252Asn). PCIPG5, four active-site mutagenesis proteins and N-glycosylation mutation were expressed in Pichia pastoris and purified by Ni-NTA Purification System. Pcipg5 functions were determined by Western blot, RT-PCR and Northern blot. Transmission electron microscopy discovery individually in treated pepper leaves was used to determine the virulence of PCIPG5. The results show that Pcipg5 can encode a pathogenesis-related protein during P. capsici infection of pepper leaves and degrade cell walls to produce necrotic lesions in treated pepper leaves. Meanwhile, the N-glycosylation mutagenesis protein decreased the activity compared with PCIPG5. It indicates that the existence N-glycosylation site in PCIPG5 plays a partial role in the activity of this enzyme. Key words : Phytophthora capsici, Pcipg5, host-pathogen interactions, N-glycosylation.


Early global deprivation of institutionalized children may result in persistent specific cognitive and behavioral deficits. In order to examine brain dysfunction underlying these deficits, we have applied positron emission tomography using 2-deoxy-2-[(18)F]fluoro-D-glucose in 10 children (6 males, 4 females, mean age 8.8 years) adopted from Romanian orphanages. Using statistical parametric mapping (SPM), the pattern of brain glucose metabolism in the orphans was compared to the patterns obtained from two control groups: (i) a group of 17 normal adults (9 males, 8 females, mean age 27.6 years) and (ii) a group of 7 children (5 males and 2 females, mean age 10.7 years) with medically refractory focal epilepsy, but normal glucose metabolism pattern in the contralateral hemisphere. Consistent with previous studies of children adopted from Romanian orphanages, neuropsychological assessment of Romanian orphans in the present study showed mild neurocognitive impairment, impulsivity, and attention and social deficits. Comparing the normalized glucose metabolic rates to those of normal adults, the Romanian orphans showed significantly decreased metabolism bilaterally in the orbital frontal gyrus, the infralimbic prefrontal cortex, the medial temporal structures (amygdala and head of hippocampus), the lateral temporal cortex, and the brain stem. These findings were confirmed using a region-of-interest approach. SPM analysis showed significantly decreased glucose metabolism in the same brain regions comparing the orphans to the nonepileptic hemisphere of the childhood epilepsy controls. Dysfunction of these brain regions may result from the stress of early global deprivation and may be involved in the long-term cognitive and behavioral deficits displayed by some Romanian orphans.


The taxonomic history and composition of the genus Bradypodion as construed by Klaver & Bohme (1986) and new morphological and molecular data relevant to the taxonomy of the group is reviewed. The combined evidence strongly supports a formal rearrangement of the group into three distinct genera. Bradypodion, type species Chamaeleo pumilus Daudin 1802, is retained for the southern African species. Two new genera are erected to accommodate additional well-diagnosed clades within central and east African species previously referred to Bradypodion. Species of the "fischeri complex" are assigned to Kinyongia gen. nova, whilst the endemic Mulanje chameleon is placed in the monotypic genus Nadzikambia gen. nova.


Abstract : The Roswell Park/Howard University Prostate Cancer Scholars Program is designed to encourage students from under-represented minority groups to enter graduate training and ultimately careers in prostate cancer research. The three-phased program combines elements of pre-internship tele-mentoring, mentored summer research experience and post-internship mentoring activities in order to: (1) inform a students decisions regarding graduate training, (2) motivate the pursuit of prostate cancer research with an emphasis in cancer health disparities and (3) support successful entry, transition and retention into graduate training. Eight Howard University students were accepted and enrolled in the program in PGY1. Four of these students were Honors sophomores and are currently progressing through the preparatory tele-mentoring phase of the program prior to their summer internship at the end of their junior year in 2016. Four of these students were accepted as non-honors juniors and comprise a cohort which completed an abbreviated 1 spring semester of tele-mentored readings preparation. Three of the four non-Honors juniors continued on to complete the second phase of the program- the 10 week summer experience at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. These three students will be attending and presenting their summers research at the Society for Basic Urologic Research (SBUR) scientific conference in November.


In order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of teaching knowledge classification matching, a method of teaching knowledge classification matching based on intelligent language recognition is proposed. The deep learning network was constructed, the language files were pre-processed, and the extracted language feature vectors were used to train the network and optimise the deep learning network. The intelligent language recognition network model is established and the k-means clustering algorithm is used to acquire the model. Classification of teaching knowledge is processed centrally and the classification system of teaching knowledge is obtained. Matching problem of teaching knowledge classification system is modelled, and the corresponding undirected graph is constructed, which is converted into the matching problem with the greatest weight, and the optimal matching scheme under the category of teaching knowledge concentration is obtained. Experimental results show that the matching results based on intelligent language recognition are more accurate and more efficient.


Author(s): Leedy, Douglas | Abstract: This handbook, by a professional musician rather than a professional classicist, presents the basic facts about Greek pronunciation, rhythm, melody, and tunings and offers musical reconstructions of selected passages of ancient Greek poetry intended for modern performers.About the author: A resident of his native Oregon, Douglas Leedy (b. 1938) is a composer, as well as a conductor specializing in early Western music; he has written extensively on tuning and intonation in musical theory and practice. He studied classical Indian singing with K. V. Narayanaswamy and Pandit Pran Nath; his Greek studies began at the University of California, Berkeley, under Elroy Bundy and Gerson Rabinowitz.About this publication: the Department of Classics is pleased to host this suggestive work by a UC Berkeley alumnus. It has not proved practical to typeset the work, but it has been judged to be a useful addition to the literature on reconstructing Greek musical performance, presenting the unique perspective of a practicing musician and musicologist and thus complementing the efforts of classical scholars. It is therefore offered here as is, scanned from the typescript and manuscript pages.


Matchett, William H. (University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, Calif.) and John A. DeMoss. Factors affecting increased production of tryptophan synthetase by a td mutant of Neurospora crassa. J. Bacteriol. 83:1294–1300. 1962.—Mutant td 201 of Neurospora crassa produces a tryptophan synthetase in significantly larger amount than the parental wild-type strain. Evidence obtained in the present investigation indicates that tryptophan synthetase formation in this mutant is subject to end product regulation by a pool of internal tryptophan. An accelerated rate of formation of enzyme was observed when the level of internal tryptophan fell below the value of 1 μmole per g dry weight of mycelium. It is concluded, therefore, that the high level of enzyme found in this strain results from release of repression. In experiments with the parental wild-type strain, no such release of repression was observed. The significance of these results for the problem concerning the nature of the mutation giving rise to mutant td 201 is discussed. Evidence indicating a marked effect of growth temperature upon metabolism of externally supplied tryptophan is presented.


Background Incidence of and mortality from colorectal cancer (CRC) can be effectively reduced by screening with the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) or colonoscopy. Individual risk to develop CRC within 15 years varies from <1% to >15% among people aged 50 to 75 years. Communicating personalized CRC risk and appropriate screening recommendations could improve the risk-benefit balance of screening test allocations and optimize the use of limited colonoscopy resources. However, significant uncertainty exists regarding the feasibility and efficacy of risk-based screening. Objective We aim to study the effect of communicating individual CRC risk and a risk-based recommendation of the FIT or colonoscopy on participants' choice of screening test. We will also assess the feasibility of a larger clinical trial designed to evaluate the impact of personalized screening on clinical outcomes. Methods We will perform a pilot randomized controlled trial among 880 residents aged 50 to 69 years eligible to participate in the organized screening program of the Vaud canton, Switzerland. Participants will be recruited by mail by the Vaud CRC screening program. Primary and secondary outcomes will be self-assessed through questionnaires. The risk score will be calculated using the open-source QCancer calculator that was validated in the United Kingdom. Participants will be stratified into 3 groups—low (<3%), moderate (3% to <6%), and high (≥6%) risk—according to their 15-year CRC risk and randomized within each risk stratum. The intervention group participants will receive a newly designed brochure with their personalized risk and screening recommendations. The control group will receive the usual brochure of the Vaud CRC screening program. Our primary outcome, measured using a self-administered questionnaire, is appropriate screening uptake 6 months after the intervention. Screening will be defined as appropriate if participants at high risk undertake colonoscopy and participants at low risk undertake the FIT. We will also measure the acceptability of the risk score and screening recommendations and the psychological factors influencing screening behavior. We will also assess the feasibility of a full-scale randomized controlled trial. Results We expect that a total sample of 880 individuals will allow us to detect a difference of 10% (α=5%) between groups. The main outcome will be analyzed using a 2-tailed chi-squared test. We expect that appropriate screening uptake will be higher in the intervention group. No difference in overall screening uptake is expected. Conclusions We will test the impact of personalized risk information and screening recommendations on participants' choice of screening test in an organized screening program. This study should advance our understanding of the feasibility of large-scale risk-based CRC screening. Our results may provide insights into the optimization of CRC screening by offering screening options with a better risk-benefit balance and optimizing the use of resources. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05357508; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05357508 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/46865


Monitoring the condition of electrical equipment insulation by means of partial discharge measurement and analysis is an effective diagnostic tool for the prediction of service failures. In this paper an accelerated aging system specialized for paper insulated lead covered (PILC) cables, with a highly sensitive and selective PD-detection/localization and tan(delta) measurement is presented. It facilitates the monitoring of the entire aging process and the later development of sophisticated diagnostic criteria based on the physical aging process.


Resin composite type vibration damping steel sheet (VDSS) is composed of two skin steel sheets and the core damping resin. To spot-weld VDSS, an electrical contact must be needed between the two skin sheets by using a shunting circuit because the core resin is an electrically insulator. In this mothod of spot welding, it is considered that time to exclusion of resin between upper and lower skin sheets affects both weld quality and working efficiency.In this study, the relationship between time to exclusion of resin and material-, welding-conditions were clarified by investigating the mechanism of resin exclusion in shunt welding. The proposed mechanism was considered as follows : In the initial stage of welding, the temperature elevated first around the electrode which has curved tip face and the core resin started to melt. As electrode-skin sheet contact area is gradually enlarged by heat generation, finally this brings about the contact between upper and lower skin sheets.In this model, time to exclusion is proportional to melting point of resin and inversely proportional to the square of shunt current. The core resin thickness and the radius of electrode face curvature affect exclusion time as a parameter of electrode-skin contact diameter.This model was well corresponded with the experimental results. From these results, it was revealed that the thin resin thickness as material conditions and the short distance between welding and shunting points as welding conditions were important to obtain good weldability.


Most health reform efforts focus on devising legal norms and procedures that will push the practice of health care professionals in the desired direction. In fact, although the law is a powerful influence on health care delivery and treatment decision-making, many health reform efforts that rely on changes in the law fail to produce the expected good effect. Experience teaches that there are many reasons a legal requirement can fail to work as expected. In health care, one occasion for slippage between good intentions and good outcomes for law reform is the transformation of legal standards through the formal and informal standards and procedures established within health care organizations.


ABSTRACT In the wake of deindustrialization and economic shifts, industrial estates in the Western world have faced strong changes in programmatic demands. While strategically situated urban brownfields have held a central position in contemporary urban design practice and discourses in the past, industrial estates, developed since the 1960s in suburban peripheries, have become central to these practices and discourses only recently. Drawing on a case study of the productive landscape of the Dutch Parkstad conurbation, this paper offers a novel research agenda for urban design in relation to industrial estates that developed under conditions of dispersal.


Christian psychologists as employees of secular organizations may experience a particular values interface of their religious commitment and their workplace setting. The idiographic emphasis of this study involved data collection from a small group of Christian U.K. clinical psychologists, using repertory grid and semi-structured interview procedures, and a mix of exploratory quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The three themes reported (an added dimension to work, disclosure to colleagues and clients, and the values congruence/clash of integration) are discussed as providing illustrations of greater evocative detail than is possible from questionnaire-driven research. The aspects of the grounded theory analysis of the data are brought together in a tentative model of identity comprising constantly shifting positions on the dimensions described by the three themes.


Many diverse sources can contribute to the successful interpretation of sensory input. One fundamental problem for perception is integrating these sources into the interpretation process. We present a hybrid methodology for perception that addresses this integration problem. The approach integrates special-purpose analogical representations used to store partially interpreted sensor data with a general-purpose sentential language employed to represent more coguitively-based information about a domain. The paper describes a formal apparatus for unifying the sentential and analogical representations as well as inference mechanisms for translating between the two subsystems. We exhibit the utility of the framework for the task of integrating contingent information into maps.


Discrete event simulation modeling is an extremely useful tool in helping decision makers in making operative, tactical and strategic decisions. The quick evaluation of possible scenarios in order to identify potential areas of improvement in a system is a pre-requisite in a globally competitive manufacturing environment. In instances were simulation technology is not used the critical evaluation of complex production lines becomes a time-consuming and tedious exercise. The work presented in this case study is the development of a simulation model of a complex manufacturing automotive production line. "SIMUL8" was the discrete event simulation modeling software used in the case study presented.  The systematic analysis was conducted on the simulation model in order to identify areas of in-efficiency related to labour utilization and production capacity. From the analysis it was established that improvements could be made to labour utilization through a re-distribution of work content as well as production capacity through the elimination of work stoppages and delays.


Detection of surface targets using over-the-horizon radar (OTHR) is extremely challenging due to ionospherically-induced Doppler spread clutter. In particular, low Doppler targets are often masked by ground clutter arriving via multipath propagation at different elevation angles, each with a different ionospheric Doppler shift. The wavefront adaptive raymode processing (WARP) approach presented here exploits the azimuthally distributed nature of the clutter return and adaptively estimates the "crinkly" spatial wavefront arriving on each raymode by using its distinct Doppler spectral characteristics. Rather than the plane-wave beamwidth of the array aperture, the raymode resolution of WARP is limited by the wavenumber-extent-spatial-aperture (WESA) product of the clutter return. Thus it is possible to spatially separate clutter raymodes using limited array apertures. Using simulated radar data, WARP is shown to provide a signal-to-clutter-plus-noise ratio (SCNR) improvement of as much as 30 dB over conventional processing for targets buried in Doppler spread clutter.


In normal, physiological circumstances there is ample room in the spinal canal to accommodate the spinal cord. Our study aimed to identify the degree of compromise of the spinal canal which could be anticipated in various atlantoaxial pathological states. We examined paired atlas and axis vertebrae using high-definition radiography and simultaneous photography in both normal and simulated pathological orientations in order to measure the resultant dimension of the spinal canal and its percentage occlusion. At the extreme of physiological axial rotation (47 degrees) the spinal canal is reduced to 61% of its cross-sectional area in neutral rotation. The spinal cord is thus safe from compromise. Atlantoaxial subluxation of up to 9 mm reduces the area of the spinal canal, in neutral rotation, to 60% with no cord compromise. Any rotation is, however, likely to cause cord compression. The mechanism of fixation in atlantoaxial rotatory subluxation could be explained by bony interlocking of the facet joint, reproducible in dry bones.


A healthy, asymptomatic man living in London, presented with seeing 'worms' in his toilet for two successive summer seasons. Repeated microscopic examination and cultures of both his faeces and urine were normal. He was empirically treated with multiple courses of antihelminthics without resolution of this problem. A sample of the worms was obtained, and positively identified as arthropod larvae under microscopic examination. These larvae do not parasitically colonise humans. It was subsequently deduced that a flying arthropod (most likely Culex pipiens mosquito) had laid eggs in standing toilet water, and the hatched larvae had been mistaken for parasitic worms. The patient was declared free of parasites and remains healthy. This case illustrates the dangers of starting empirical treatment without positive confirmation of causative organisms, which can result in unnecessary and potentially harmful treatment.


Araçá is a Brazilian native fruit belonging to the Myrtaceae family. Although some studies already prove its health benefits, it is still necessary to explore the phenolic compounds in all its parts separately. This study aimed to investigate the free, esterified, glycosylated, and insoluble phenolics in two morphotypes of araçá, red and yellow, evaluating peel, pulp, and seed separately, using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-QqQ-MS/MS). Fourteen phenolics and five anthocyanins were quantified in both morphotypes. The peels presented the highest contents, followed by the pulp and seeds. Red araçá stood out over the yellow one only in the phenolic fractions resulting from the peel, with the yellow araçá being superior in the phenolic fractions of the pulp and seed. The highest antioxidant capacities were detected for the pulp-esterified phenolics (498.3 µmol g−1) and peel-free phenolics (446.7 µmol g−1) of yellow araçá. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicated specific markers to differentiate the samples. All parts of the araçá proved to be a rich source of phenolic compounds, in different fractions, mainly in the peel. This information will be beneficial to stimulate the consumption of native fruits and their possible use in the development of new products.


Programs written in C and C++ are susceptible to memory errors, including buffer overflows and dangling pointers. These errors, whichcan lead to crashes, erroneous execution, and security vulnerabilities, are notoriously costly to repair. Tracking down their location in the source code is difficult, even when the full memory state of the program is available. Once the errors are finally found, fixing them remains challenging: even for critical security-sensitive bugs, the average time between initial reports and the issuance of a patch is nearly one month.
 We present Exterminator, a system that automatically correct sheap-based memory errors without programmer intervention. Exterminator exploits randomization to pinpoint errors with high precision. From this information, Exterminator derives runtime patches that fix these errors both in current and subsequent executions. In addition, Exterminator enables collaborative bug correction by merging patches generated by multiple users. We present analytical and empirical results that demonstrate Exterminator's effectiveness at detecting and correcting both injected and real faults.


Adaptive superscalar cores have the ability to dynamically adjust their execution resources to match the instruction-level parallelism (ILP) of different program phases. The goal of adaptivity is to maximize performance in as energy-efficient a manner as possible. This is achieved by disabling execution resources that contribute only marginally to performance for the code at hand. Researchers have proposed many adaptive features, including structures, superscalar width, and pipeline depth. The benefits of adaptivity are eroded by its circuit-level overheads. Unfortunately, circuit-level overheads cannot be effectively estimated or appreciated without a hardware design. To this end, we developed a register-transfer-level (RTL) design of a highly adaptive superscalar core, called AnyCore. AnyCore can be used to quantify logic overheads of an adaptive core with respect to fixed cores, synthesize and compare different adaptive cores, synthesize and compare an adaptive core to a multi-core comprised of multiple fixed core types, and fabricate adaptive superscalar cores. We provide examples of these use-cases.


The decomposition of formic acid is investigated on the β-Mo2C (100) catalyst surface using density functional theory. The dehydration and dehydrogenation mechanism for the decomposition is simulated, and the thermochemistry and kinetics are discussed. The potential energy landscape of the reaction shows a thermodynamically favourable cleavage of H-COOH to form CO; however, the kinetics show that the dehydrogenation mechanism is faster and CO2 is continuously formed. The effect of HCOOH adsorption on the surface is also analysed, in a temperature-programmed reaction, with the decomposition proceeding at under 350 K and desorption of CO2 observed.


Using the pressure‐induced polarized Raman spectra of carbon tetrachloride up to 22 GPa, a significant anomalous polarization (the depolarization ratio >0.75) was observed. We analyzed it by evaluating the antisymmetric anisotropy distribution of modes in Td and explored the corresponded molecular structure having been translated from Td into a lower symmetry. The P21/c and Pa3 structures of carbon tetrachloride were optimized as a function of pressure to further confirm that the molecules deviated from regular tetrahedra. The C2v and D2 were analyzed to be candidates of the lower symmetry based on group and Landau theory.


AIMS
This study examined the relationships between myocardial strain (epsilon) and strain rate (SR) data, derived from both two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking and tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), and indices of left ventricular (LV) morphology to assess size-(in)dependence of these functional parameters.

METHODS AND RESULTS
2D speckle tracking and TDI echocardiograms were performed in 79 healthy adult male volunteers (age range: 22-76 years). 2D speckle tracking allowed the determination of myocardial epsilon and peak systolic and early diastolic SR in radial, circumferential, and longitudinal planes, whereas TDI provided longitudinal epsilon only. Mean circumferential and radial epsilon and SR were calculated from data collected at six basal myocardial regions, whereas mean longitudinal epsilon and SR derived from both 2D speckle tracking and TDI were calculated from the basal septum and basal lateral walls. Standard 2D echocardiography allowed the assessment of LV morphology including LV length, LV end-diastolic volume, LV end-diastolic diameter, mean wall thickness, and LV mass. The association of myocardial epsilon and SR data with relevant LV morphology indices was determined by adoption of the general, non-linear allometric model (y= ax(b)). The b exponent +/- 95% confidence intervals were reported. The relationships between the measures of LV morphology and myocardial epsilon and SR were highly variable and generally weak. Only two relationships displayed at least a moderate effect size (r > or = 0.30): (i) 2D circumferential peak systolic SR and LV end-diastolic dimension (b = -0.92; -1.35 to 0.5, r = 0.44) and (ii) TDI longitudinal peak systolic SR and LV length (b = -1.39; -2.11 to -0.66, r = 0.41).

CONCLUSION
The empirical relationships derived in this cohort do not support the need to scale myocardial epsilon and SR derived from 2D speckle or TDI for any index of LV morphology.


Introduction: Brain damage is one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in cardiac arrest victims. The aim of the present study was to determine whether administration of magnesium during cardiopulmonary resuscitation would improve post-resuscitation cerebral injury, as indicated by cerebral ischaemia markers and neurological alertness score. Methods: Ventricular fibrillation was induced in 24 piglets, left untreated for 5 min before attempting resuscitation. Ani- mals were randomised into 2 groups to receive saline as placebo + adrenaline (Group A) or magnesium sulphate + adrena- line (Group B) during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Blood samples were collected in the post-resuscitation phase to measure NSE and S-100. Neurological alertness score was assessed 48h after the return of spontaneous circulation. Results: S-100 and NSE values increased significantly in all resuscitated animals in the observation phase. However, S- 100 and NSE values in Group B were statistically lower than those measured in Group A during the whole post- resuscitation period. Neurological outcome was better in Group B animals. Conclusion: Magnesium may exert neuroprotective effects in cerebral ischaemia, caused by experimental cardiac arrest.


This article explores the idea of political subjectivity in Hannah Arendt and Jacques Rancière, both of whom I see as thinkers of ruptural and inaugurative politics with a particularly spatial conceptualisation of politics. I start by distinguishing between three strands of thinking about the nature of political subjectification, and I situate Arendt and Rancière's conceptualisations in relation to these. After an examination of their idea of political subjectivity, I offer an interpretation of the movement of sans papiers as it relates to political subjectification. This interpretation also brings out the similarities and differences between Arendt's and Rancière's understanding of politics.