This thesis examines the political economy of the initial development of the Argentine iron and steel industry between circa 1920 and 1952. It analyses the reasons for the failure of those initiatives and shows that the main impetus to establish the industry was provided by the Second World War, not the Great Depression. The thesis accounts for the adverse impact of domestic factors such as the predominance of military strategic demands over business considerations, inadequate national supplies of raw materials, output bottlenecks, demand constraints and the politics of the period which frustrated policy continuity. The unfavourable effects of the international conjuncture are also assessed. These include the role of the International Steel Cartel in inhibiting the growth of domestic iron and steel production through a web of controls prior to 1939, and wartime constraints and the US embargo which limited access to essential capital goods and technology thereby frustrating positive incentives for the development of heavy industry. For most of the period, Argentina was one of the few 'open' markets for iron and steel products. The depth of the market and its ability to sustain domestic production is assessed through three case-product studies: rails, construction materials and rural implements. The research shows that demand was associated with traditional economic sectors. Organisational structures also frustrated development. The thesis proves that the history of the sector was characterised by organisational instability: a small number of ephemeral firms specialised in the production of a small number of items. Attempts to foster efficiency through large-scale integrated industrialisation involving State and private capital in a mixed corporation failed because the project was tailored to security rather than market requirements.


Correct use of a child safety seat (CSS) can reduce the risk of fatal motor vehicle crash–related injury by up to 71%; however, misuse rates for CSS are as high as 70%. We recruited 189 caregivers at 2 large suburban pediatric office practices; 94 in the intervention group and 95 in the control group. All participants completed a baseline survey and received a CSS safety brochure. Intervention participants had their CSS installation checked at enrollment by a certified child passenger safety (CPS) technician. Follow-up was conducted 4 months post enrollment. Intervention group participants had a 21.3% reduction in critical misuse at follow-up, whereas control participants critical misuse rate at follow-up was identical to the intervention group at baseline. A consult with a certified CPS technician, at the time of a routine visit to the pediatrician, resulted in a reduction in CSS misuse rates.


Low back pain is a common clinical problem that causes disability and impaired quality of life. While the reason behind low back pain was largely considered to be of musculoskeletal origin, the contribution of inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress could never be overlooked. Exercise has been proven to be an effective approach to treat low back pain. However, the mechanism of the exercise effect on the inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress is still largely unknown. In this study, we revealed that exercise intervention reduces Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR-4) pathway and enhances Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) expression in low back pain patients. We also confirmed that exercise up-regulates the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, PPAR-γ coactivator-1 and FoxOs family proteins and also increases the activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase in patients with low back pain. Furthermore, we found that exercise intervention attenuates the oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory cytokine concentrations and p53 expression in patients with low back pain. This study demonstrates that exercise intervention improves low back pain symptoms through regulation of the SIRT1 axis with repression of oxidative stress and TLR-4 inhibition.


The proposed framework supports a new and efficient non-rigid body object tracking among objects with similar patterns. Human tracking is used as an example of a non-rigid body tracking. The main objective of this framework is to track the targeted person among people with similar patterns in a series of images frames. The targeted person is identified in the initial frame by the user. This framework consists of three stages: generation of panoramic images for a wider range, detection stage, and tracking stage. In detection stage, all multiple regions of interest (ROIs) are classified and the target is detected using multiple ROIs and fuzzy neural system. In tracking stage, the targeted person is tracked using an adaptive motion frame method that checks the target's movement. This suggested framework explains how multiple ROIs are used for detecting non-rigid body object and how the target can be tracked using previous trajectory and velocity. This algorithm contributes towards the tracking of a desired target that exists among many similar non-rigid body objects.


High values of electrical conductivity are obtained at the detonation of condensed high explosives with the formula CaHbNcOd. Such values can be explained only in the framework of the contact conductivity hypothesis. In this case, the conductivity is provided by elongated highly-conductive structures which penetrate the whole space of the detonation wave. This work is devoted to the investigation of the detonation soot of high explosives with a significant carbon content in order to discover elongated structures supporting the contact conductivity hypothesis.


Background and Aim: Stewardship and delivery of health services are considered as the most important areas in the healthcare system of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1404. This study was conducted to investigate the main challenges in medical education stewardship because of its importance in the management and leadership of education from the viewpoint of education process providers. Materials and Methods: This qualitative research was conducted using thematic and framework analyses to obtain the collective view of faculty members of Medical Sciences Universities in Iran. The data were collected applying deep semi-structured interviews. To increase the acceptability of the study, four criteria of Lincoln and Gupta were used. Codes, categories and themes were extracted by expert researchers of qualitative studies who had no conflict of interests with the topic. Results: Of the 24 faculty members interviewed, 7 were females and 17 were males. They comprised 5 full professors, 8 associate professors, 9 assistant professors and 2 lecturers. The findings of the interviews were categorized in three main lines of stewardship in health system in the form of main and sub themes so that there were 2, 2 and 5 main themes in each line, respectively. Conclusion: Since many of the challenges extracted from the present interviews are considered as essential interventions for achieving the stewardship functions of health system -and, as a result, medical education -, it is important to pay more attention to these challenges and at the same time conduct more complete studies to get more practicable solutions to these problems.


Objective: To study the outbreak of chickenpox in a military training center in Northern Pakistan.Study Design: Cross sectional study.Place and Duration of Study: Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Attock from 1st Nov 2007 to 30th Jan 2008.Material and Methods: Patients with clinical suspicion of chickenpox during the outbreak were confirmed by laboratory tests including complement fixation test using commercial antigen of Virion/Serion of Germany and Immunoglobulin M for Varicella zoster virus by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay of Vircell, Spain. Moreover, direct immunofluorescence using BioRad kit was also done in patients with active lesions.Results: A total of 102 cases occurred in the present outbreak. The age of the patients ranged from 16 to 35 years with a mean of 21.16 + 4.47 years. From a total of 102 patients, 60 (58.8%) were positive for antibodies against Varicella zoster virus by complement fixation test, 30 (29.4 %) were positive by ELISA and 12 (11.7%) were positive on Immunofluorescence testing. None of the admitted cases developed any complication and their hospital stay remained uneventful.Conclusion: This outbreak of chickenpox in a military training center affected a considerable number of military recruits, led to a number of hospital admissions and had an adverse effect on training activities. There is a need to formulate a policy to offer vaccination against Varicella zoster virus to all unimmunized individuals before induction in the military to avoid unnecessary interruption in training and academic activities.


One reason for performing the ECG routinely on asymptomatic persons is to assist the physician in determining the need for hospitalization should acute cardiac symptoms later develop. To establish how often baseline ECGs are actually useful in this situation, we reviewed the records of 236 patients presenting to two emergency departments with the complaint of chest pain. Of these patients, 195 (82.7%) had clinical or ECG findings sufficiently diagnostic that the baseline ECG could not have affected the decision to hospitalize or discharge. For 11 patients (4.7%) with equivocal clinical and ECG findings, a baseline ECG (if it was available) might have been useful in avoiding an unnecessary hospitalization. There was no patient for whom a baseline ECG would have aided in avoiding an inappropriate discharge. The routine ECG has little value as a baseline for emergency comparison when patients later experience acute cardiac symptoms. Routine ECGs as baselines for future comparison should be reconsidered.


The ELT-2 GATA factor normally functions in differentiation of the C. elegans endoderm, downstream of endoderm specification. We have previously shown that, if ELT-2 is expressed sufficiently early, it is also able to specify the endoderm and to replace all other members of the core GATA-factor transcriptional cascade (END-1, END-3, ELT-7). However, such rescue requires multiple copies (and presumably overexpression) of the end-1p::elt-2 cDNA transgene; a single copy of the transgene does not rescue. We have made this observation the basis of a genetic screen to search for genetic modifiers that allow a single copy of the end-1p::elt-2 cDNA transgene to rescue the lethality of the end-1 end-3 double mutant. We performed this screen on a strain that has a single copy insertion of the transgene in an end-1 end-3 background. These animals are kept alive by virtue of an extrachromosomal array containing multiple copies of the rescuing transgene; the extrachromosomal array also contains a toxin under heat shock control to counterselect for mutagenized survivors that have been able to lose the rescuing array. A screen of ∼14,000 mutagenized haploid genomes produced 17 independent surviving strains. Whole genome sequencing was performed to identify genes that incurred independent mutations in more than one surviving strain. The C. elegans gene tasp-1 was mutated in four independent strains. tasp-1 encodes the C. elegans homolog of Taspase, a threonine-aspartic acid protease that has been found, in both mammals and insects, to cleave several proteins involved in transcription, in particular MLL1/trithorax and TFIIA. A second gene, pqn-82, was mutated in two independent strains and encodes a glutamine-asparagine rich protein. tasp-1 and pqn-82 were verified as loss-of-function modifiers of the end-1p::elt-2 transgene by RNAi and by CRISPR/Cas9-induced mutations. In both cases, gene loss leads to modest increases in the level of ELT-2 protein in the early endoderm although ELT-2 levels do not strictly correlate with rescue. We suggest that tasp-1 and pqn-82 represent a class of genes acting in the early embryo to modulate levels of critical transcription factors or to modulate the responsiveness of critical target genes. The screen's design, rescuing lethality with an extrachromosomal transgene followed by counterselection, has a background survival rate of <10−4 without mutagenesis and should be readily adapted to the general problem of identifying suppressors of C. elegans lethal mutations.


This paper describes a proposal for a standard business deduction ("SBD") for small businesses. The SBD would work like the regular standard deduction. The latter is a fixed amount that is claimed in lieu of claiming itemized deductions below the line. The SBD would be a fixed amount that is claimed above the line in lieu of deducting actual business expenses. Taxpayers claiming the SBD would report their gross business earnings, subtract the SBD, and arrive at net business income. No Schedule C would be necessary. Like the regular standard deduction, claiming the SBD would be optional for the taxpayer. If a taxpayer's actual business expenses exceeded the SBD, he could instead opt to claim those expenses.

An SBD would greatly simplify the tax system for small business owners. Taxpayers who chose to claim it could be relieved of the burden of tracking business expenses during the year and could self-prepare their tax returns without the need for expensive tax preparation assistance. Not only would the SBD reduce socially wasteful taxpayer compliance costs, but it would also reduce IRS enforcement costs. Such simplification should be attractive to policymakers on both sides of the aisle and would benefit the government and taxpayers alike.


A case-control study involving 30 unweaned beef calves was conducted to determine whether specific species of bacteria or fungi were associated with fatal abomasal ulcer formation. Special microbiological and histological techniques were used to detect Clostridium perfringens type A, Helicobacter pylori, or Campylobacter spp. It has been speculated that these bacteria are potential ulcerogenic agents of unweaned beef calves. Calves were recruited for the study at necropsy, with those dying of either a perforating or a hemorrhagic ulcer representing the cases, and calves of a similar age dying of a disease unrelated to the abomasum representing the controls. Helicobacter pylori was not visualized in or cultured from any of the abomasal tissue samples. Clostridium perfringens type A was isolated from 78.6% of the cases and 75% of the controls. These isolates were further dichotomized into "heavy" and "light" growth; no significant association was found between ulcers and the amount of growth. A light growth of Campylobacter spp. was recovered from 3 cases and 3 controls. There was no compelling evidence to suggest that Clostridium perfringens type A, Helicobacter pylori, or Campylobacter spp. were involved in ulcer formation.


Methanolic and aqueous extracts of Lobularia maritima L. (Brassicaceae) of two different locations from Algeria: Tessala (Sidi Bel Abbes) and Beni-Saf (Ain Temouchent) were examined in vitro. The phenolic compounds were determined using spectrophotometric Folin-Ciocalteu method and the antioxidant activity was analyzed referring to the ability of scavenging DPPH. Folin-Ciocalteu and chloride aluminium methods determine the total phenolic and total flavonoids measurement in the extracts of different parts of L. maritima. Finally, hydrolyzable and condensed tannin were determined by ferric trichloride and vanillin methods. Phytochemistry screening has allowed us to highlight the presence of substances with high therapeutic values such as flavonoids, tannins and coumarins. The analysis of variance indicates that there is no significant difference between total phenol, hydrolysable tannins and condensed tannins concentrations of the extracts from different parts and study areas. While there is a significant difference between the concentrations of total flavonoids of the aerial and subterranean part of the plant. Antioxidant activity was evaluated by the DPPH test and it is expressed as IC50. The IC50 values were ranged from 5.16 to 9.33 mg/ml for the methanolic extract and 14.87 to 74.17 mg/ml for the aqueous extract. Due to this issue, we can figure out that all the extracts tested exhibited scavenging activity towards the radical tested due to the presence of relatively high total phenol and flavonoids contents.


The study of sporting death is a neglected area of the history of sport. This paper, though drawing on English material, therefore has implications for American and other studies. It provides a broadly cultural analysis of the funeral processions, burials and public responses to the deaths of a small sample of top sportsmen in Victorian England in the second half of the nineteenth century, including the pugilist Tom Sayers (1826–1865), the sculler James Renforth (1842–1871), and champion jockey Fred Archer (1857–1886), all of whom competed successfully internationally. Drawing inter alia on London, provincial and foreign press material, and the symbolic language of the "rite of passage" to the grave, it explores the complex contradictions and differences between accounts and representations and the ways these helped to shape contemporary and later social attitudes to specific sports, sporting heroism, and sporting culture in Britain and abroad.


In situ measurements reveal details of the production and evolution of the lunar exosphere [Also see Report by Colaprete et al.] In H. G. Wells' 1901 science fiction classic The First Men in the Moon, two protagonists, English businessman Mr. Bedford and the eccentric physicist Dr. Cavor, knock back a special enervating concoction designed to expand their lungs, followed by the requisite fortifying brandy, before venturing onto the Moon's surface to breathe the rarefied lunar atmosphere. Even more tenuous than Wells' imagined environment, the lunar exosphere is an atmosphere so thin that atoms never collide, bounded on one side by the lunar surface and extending thousands of kilometers out into space. This low-density envelope results from a balance among the influx of material from the Sun, outgassing from the Moon's interior, delivery from meteoritic bombardment, and the loss of material to space as well as recycling in the lunar surface (see the figure). The precise formula for the formation of the lunar exosphere is unknown, but recent data from orbital spacecraft are being used to delineate the relative contributions from different processes. On page 249 of this issue, Colaprete et al. (1) report measurements of sodium and potassium (Na and K) in the lunar exosphere based on observations from the Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer (UVS) aboard NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE), which acquired continuous dayside and nightside measurements of exospheric Na and K over multiple lunar orbits.


Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is a valuable adjunct to angiography, providing new insights in the diagnosis of and therapy for coronary disease. Angiography depicts only a 2D silhouette of the lumen, whereas IVUS allows tomographic assessment of lumen area, plaque size, distribution, and composition. The safety of IVUS is well documented, and the assessment of luminal dimensions represents an important application of this modality. Comparative studies show the greatest disparities between angiography and ultrasound after mechanical interventions. In young subjects, normal intimal thickness is typically '0.15 mm. With IVUS, lipid-laden lesions appear hypoechoic, fibromuscular lesions generate low-intensity echoes, and fibrous or calcified tissues are echogenic. Calcium obscures the underlying wall (acoustic shadowing). The extent and severity of disease by angiography and ultrasound are frequently discrepant. Arterial remodeling refers to changes in vascular dimensions during the development of atherosclerosis. At diseased sites, the external elastic membrane may actually shrink in size, contributing to luminal stenosis. The interpretation of IVUS relies on simple visual inspection of acoustic reflections to determine plaque composition. However, different tissue components may look quite similar, and artifacts may adversely affect ultrasound images. IVUS commonly detects occult disease in angiographically "normal" sites. In ambiguous lesions, ultrasound permits lesion quantification, particularly for left main coronary disease. IVUS has emerged as the optimal method for the detection of transplant vasculopathy. An important potential application of ultrasound is the identification of atheromas at risk of rupture. The mechanisms of action of interventional devices have been elucidated using IVUS, and ultrasound is used by some operators to select the most suitable interventional device. IVUS-derived residual plaque burden is the most useful predictor of clinical outcome. In restenosis after balloon angioplasty, negative remodeling is a major mechanism of late lumen loss. IVUS is not routinely used for stent optimization, and there is no consensus regarding optimal procedural end points. Ultrasound has proven useful in evaluating brachytherapy. New and emerging applications for IVUS are continuing to evolve, particularly in atherosclerosis regression-progression trials. (Circulation. 2001;103:604-616.)


Herein it is described the survival rate, the quality of life and the complications of the upper urinary tract diversion in 22 pluri-treated tumoral patients (both male and female, average 65.2 years old). Cancer etiology has been: colon-rectum neoplasia (36.3%), bladder carcinoma (36.3%), prostate carcinoma (9.9%), ovary cancer (4.5%), abdominal wall desmoid tumor (4.5%), pheochromocytoma (4.5%) and gastric carcinoma (4.5%). Urinary diversions type has been: percutaneous nephrostomy (40.9%), ureteral stent (31.8%), both (13.6%) and cutaneous ureterostomy (13.6%). Urinary diversions were performed unilateral in 90.9%. The average survival has been 4.8 months. The quality of life was poor in 68.1%. The following complications were observed: urinary infection (45.4%), hematuria (36.3%), diversion catheter lose (34.8%) and obstruction (27.2%). Urinary diversion in pluri-treated cancer patients must be carefully indicated to prevent negative aspects upon psychophysic and social activity of the patients.


Rice (Oryza sativa), a major staple throughout the world and a model system for plant genomics and breeding, was the first crop genome completed almost two decades ago. However, all sequenced genomes to date contain gaps and missing sequences. Here, we report, for the first time, the assembly and analyses of two gap-free reference genome sequences of the elite O. sativa xian/indica rice varieties 'Zhenshan 97 (ZS97)' and 'Minghui 63 (MH63)' that are being used as a model system to study heterosis. Gap-free reference genomes also provide global insights into the structure and function of centromeres. All rice centromeric regions share conserved centromere-specific satellite motifs but with different copy numbers and structures. Importantly, we demonstrate that >1,500 genes are located in centromere regions, of which ~15.6% are actively transcribed. The generation and release of both the ZS97 and MH63 gap-free genomes lays a solid foundation for the comprehensive study of genome structure and function in plants and breed climate resilient varieties for the 21st century.


Abnormally large grains have been observed in Al-Mg alloy AA5182 sheet material after forming at elevated temperature, and the reduced yield strength that results in a practical problem for commercial hot-forming operations. The process by which abnormal grains are produced is investigated through controlled hot tensile testing to reproduce the microstructures of interest. Abnormal grains are shown to develop strictly during static annealing or cooling following hot defor- mation; the formation of abnormal grains is suppressed during plastic straining. Abnormal grains grow by static abnormal grain growth (SAGG), which becomes a discontinuous recrystallization pro- cess when abnormal grains meet to form a fully recrystallized microstructure. Nuclei which grow under SAGG are produced during hot deformation by the geometric dynamic recrystallization (GDRX) process. The mechanism through which a normally continuous recrystallization process, GDRX, may be interrupted by a discontinuous process, SAGG, is discussed.


We study time-periodic Taylor-Couette flow with the outer cylinder at rest and the inner one oscillating with a mean angular velocity. Varying the frequency of inner cylinder, we investigate the change of Taylor vortices at a given amplitude and a mean angular velocity. With a small frequency of modulation, we find that Taylor vortices appear and disappear periodically. With a higher frequency, Taylor vortices do not disappear, but the intensity of Taylor vortices modulates periodically. As the frequency increases, Taylor vortices modulate harmonically.


The extra-legal effects of international and domestic war crimes trials continue to puzzle researchers and practitioners. In the former Yugoslav states, the legacy of conflict and issues of transitional justice remains central in politics, society and culture. This book provides a new theoretical and methodological approach to one of these puzzles: why universal human rights norms become distorted or undermined when they reach local publics. It investigates the social and cultural contexts that transitional justice processes take place in by looking at how emotional everyday narratives can hamper the spread of norms in society. In Croatia, these narratives define how the public understands the rule of law, history and minority rights.


We relocate nearly 100,000 events that occurred during the period 1964 to 1995 and are well-constrained teleseismically by arrival-time data reported to the International Seismological Centre (ISC) and to the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC). Hypocenter determination is significantly improved by using, in addition to regional and teleseismic P and S phases, the arrival times of PKiKP, PKPdf, and the teleseismic depth phases pP, pwP, and sP in the relocation procedure. A global probability model developed for later-arriving phases is used to independently identify the depth phases. The relocations are compared to hypocenters reported in the ISC and NEIC catalogs and by other sources. Differences in our epicenters with respect to ISC and NEIC estimates are generally small and regionally systematic due to the combined effects of the observing station network and plate geometry regionally, differences in upper mantle travel times between the reference earth models used, and the use of later-arriving phases. Focal depths are improved substantially over most other independent estimates, demonstrating (for example) how regional structures such as downgoing slabs can severely bias depth estimation when only regional and teleseismic P arrivals are used to determine the hypocenter. The new data base, which is complete to about Mw 5.2 and includes all events for which moment-tensor solutions are available, has immediate application to high-resolution definition of Wadati-Benioff Zones (WBZs) worldwide, regional and global tomographic imaging, and other studies of earth structure.


With the widespread use of graphical processing units (GPUs), it is important to ensure that programmers have a clear understanding of their shared memory consistency model, i.e. what values can be read when issued concurrently with writes. Compared to CPUs, GPUs present different shared memory behavior, and we know of no published formal consistency model for them. To fill this void, we establish a formal state transition model of GPU loads, stores, and fences in the language Murphi, and check properties -- captured in litmus tests that pertain to ordering and visibility properties -- over executions using the Murphi model checker.


The knowledge of transforming growth factor (TGF)‐β receptors has greatly progressed in the recent years. TGF‐β receptors type I and II have been implicated in the modulation of cell proliferation, whereas type III (betaglycan) may act as a component presenting TGF‐β to its signaling receptors. In addition, four other proteins that bind TGF‐β1 or TGF‐β2 have been recently identified in some cell lines, three being anchored to the membrane through a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI). Despite this knowledge, the molecular mechanism of signal transduction through the TGF‐β receptors remain an enigma. TGF‐β family does not signal via any of the classical pathways. As GPI anchors of membrane proteins have been implicated in the transduction of some hormonal effects, we investigated the putative role of GPI in signaling the TGF‐β effects on the proliferation of rabbit articular chondrocytes (RAC). We previously showed that TGF‐β1 increased DNA replication rate of RAC, with a recruitment of cells in G2/M followed by a subsequent mitosis wave. Here, we find that the factor causes specific GPI hydrolysis, with correlated increase of inositolphosphate glycan (IPG). This effect was specifically inhibited by antibodies that bind TGF‐β1. Using [3H]‐inositol labeling and Triton X‐114 extraction, we demonstrate that a hydrophobic material from the membrane is cleaved by treatment of cell cultures with phosphatidylinositol specific phospholipase C (PI‐PLC) or by exposure to TGF‐β, supporting that a PI‐anchored molecule gives rise to IPG by TGF‐β‐induced hydrolysis. The biological relevance of this hydrolysis was demonstrated by the enhancing effect of purified IPG on the DNA synthesis rate, which mimicked the TGF‐β action. These results demonstrate that IPG could be an early messenger in the cellular signaling that mediates the effect of TGF‐β on RAC growth. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


ABSTRACT This mixed-methods study was designed to measure and elaborate constructs of faculty online readiness from pre- COVID-19 pandemic literature. Bringing together the validation of a scale to measure these constructs and insights from a focus group, findings suggest that the negative connotations of risk-taking and making mistakes while learning to teach online seem to have been mitigated by a combination of affective factors such as humility, empathy, and even optimism. Teacher educators explained that transitioning online in a context of a crisis contorts normal longitudinal perceptions of preparation and readiness. This new sense of temporality was connected to unexpected benefits of bringing them into partnership with their students. However, quantitative and qualitative results are interpreted to show that assessing students' equitable access to online learning and managing the demands of scholarship and university-based and academic community service duties are areas in need of attention from professional development designers and policy makers.


Globally, among mortality and morbidity indices for man, ischemic heart disease (IHD) ranks at the top of the list. In the industrialized world, IHD is the leading killer and accounts for approximately 35% of all deaths each year. This most common cause of death results from insufficient coronary blood flow. IHD is a general term used to describe a pathophysiologic state in which cardiac output is inadequate as a consequence of coronary blood flow deficits brought about when the latter cannot deliver enough O2 to meet the needs of the myocardium. This review is concerned with the etiology of IHD, special forms of IHD such as angina pectoris and variant angina, as well as sudden death ischemia heart disease. The diverse conditions that cause IHD are discussed. Important etiologic factors such as the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic obstruction as well as localized coronary vasospasm are reviewed. Implications of dietary and metabolic alterations in electrolytes are a special focus of this view. Evidence implicating Mg2+-K+ and Mg2+-Ca2+ alterations in the pathogenesis of IHD is reviewed. Special attention is devoted to the role of Mg in vascular tone, coronary blood flow and in clinical management of IHD. It is concluded that judicious use of Mg salts in IHD could be expected to reduce myocardial oxygen demand and influence the myocardial oxygen supply/demand ratio in a favorable manner.


Among the most common infections of digestive system in human beings are helminth infections. In developing countries they pose a large threat to the society. Such parasitic diseases cause severe morbidity, including lymphatic filariasis, onchoserciasis and schistosomiasis. Present study is an attempt to evaluate anthelmintic activity of different extracts of Juglans regia L leaf.
Many traditional plants and herbs are reported to have anthelmintic activity. Juglans regia L the valuable species from Juglandaceae family has a long history of traditional use as an anthelmintic. All parts of the plant are a rich source of medicinally useful components. Present study is an attempt to evaluate anthelmintic activity of different extracts of leaves of J. regia L. Different extracts of the plant material were tested against adult Indian earthworms Pheretima posthuma (Pheritimidae) as test worms. The bioassay involved determination of the time of paralysis and time of death control. Piperazine citrate (10 mg/mL) was used as standard reference drug.
The results of this study strongly support the traditional anthelmintic use of the plant material.


Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) is responsible for maintaining the road network within its boundaries. Of the 9650 km 3330 is sealed pavement. Most importantly for pavement design is the quality of the foundation/host soil (Subgrade), of which the pavement will be constructed upon. Pavement thickness is determined directly from the subgrade strength in terms of California bearing ratio (CBR). High strength subgrades (CBR>5) can significantly reduce construction/maintenance cost in comparison to a marginal subgrade (CBR<5). Chemical stabilization with lime can be used to improve the load bearing qualities of marginal subgrades. Mechanical stabilization (i.e. blending of materials) can also be used to compensate shortcomings in the host soils characteristics. This is mostly achieved by redefining the particle size distribution of the host material, providing better particle interlock. This project looks at the use of lime and recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) to improve marginal subgrades and the effect on cost.

With a set budget each financial year, council aims to construct and maintain road pavements as efficiently and in the most cost effective way, to ensure satisfactory pavement performance. Cost effective alternatives are important to achieve this goal. Lime treatment in the civil engineering discipline is not new technology; however its use with recycled concrete aggregate has not been researched. Lime treatment alone is not common practise in TRC; the results of this project will add to council knowledge and may promote more lime treatment to be used as an alternative solution.

Quantitative research methodology was utilized to explore the effect of various lime and RCA contents on two host subgrade materials. The subgrade materials were sampled from Mann Silo Road and Hinz Street, both within TRC Borders. In preparation of the paper, many hours of laboratory testing and preparation was conducted on the samples. This involved site sampling of subgrade from the two roads, initial testing/characterisation, treatment with lime and RCA, curing, final testing and results/cost analysis. Some Pavement redesigns using the mechanistic pavement design was conducted for the host roads. In addition to this a cost analysis with council unit rates was also preformed to consider the application of RCA/Lime treatment as a viable alternative.

Background literature in regards to lime treatment has been thoroughly examined, along with current industry standards and manuals. Initial testing of the host materials shows that they are in acceptable ranges for lime treatment. The addition of lime saw the Host materials CBR increase by a factor of 10. The addition of RCA saw further increases to a factor of 15. Parallel with literature, it's found that lime increases soil strength and can reduce construction costs. These outcomes were achieved by applying standard soil testing and cost analysis/estimation technique currently used by local government council.
Lime treatment of marginal subgrade is a viable alternate for construction and maintenance of roads. It can return cost savings in construction and maintenance operations. Effect of lime content on in-situ moisture content is also a valuable finding, In addition to this, the effect of RCA is also significant finding. This paper does not aim to solve any major issue but aims to express to council the viability of lime treatment. Toowoomba Regional Council must be thanked for providing me with resources, advice and assistance on the delivery of this project.


Financial innovations are now thought to hold the promise of a new commercial
revolution by offering an inexpensive and direct way to sell or buy products and services.
This revolution in the market place has set in motion a revolution in the banking sector
for the provision of a payment system that is compatible with the demands of the
electronic marketplace. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of
financial innovations on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya. The other
specific objectives of this study included: to determine the level of development in
fmancial innovations, identify any possible challenges confronting the growth of
financial innovations, establish the effects of financial innovations 'on the financial
performance of commercial banks in Kenya, examine the rate of influence of
environmental context factors on the relationship between financial innovation and
financial performance among commercial banks in Kenya and determine the influence of
organisational context factors on the relationship between the innovation and financial
performance among commercial banks. The study is considered important to various
stakeholders including major players in the financial sector, i.e CBK, Bankers
Association, commercial banks, researchers, academic etc. The study consisted of 30
(representing 70%) commercial banks of 43 in Kenya and was conducted on four top and
R&D management staff in Nairobi at their head offices and each branch of these sampled
banks. The respondents were issued with self-administered questionnaires to collect
primary data. The researcher employed the descriptive survey research design with multi
stage sampling technique for primary data and secondary data will be obtained from
researched work and articles, economic surveys CBK annual report and library. Data
collected was analysed by use of descriptive statistics, Pearson coefficient of correlation
multiple regressions; perception index using Statistical Program for Social Sciences
(SPSS).The study adopted tables and figures to report its findings. The literature review
identified what other researchers have done in the area of financial innovations and
financial performance of intermediaries. The study was conceptualized to determine the
relationship between the dependent and independent variables and the influence of the
intervening variables on the relationship between the dependent and the independent
variables. However in all, the major findings of the study were that the development and
the challenges of financial innovations had no significant relationship with the financial
performance of commercial banks but there was a significant relationship between
financial innovation and financial performance of commercial banks. It was again found
that organizational and environmental context factors bore significant influence on the
adoption of financial innovation and the financial performance of commercial banks. This
study concludes that financial innovation development should be enhanced, challenges
affecting the growth of innovations should be seriously looked at and the aforementioned
organizational and environmental context factors require to be addressed in a bid to
encourage financial institutions to improve their financial products. The study is
important because banks have been blamed for not adequately satisfying demand for
financial services. The research contributes to the debate on how to enhance access to
financial services in Kenya.


The 1990s saw the emergence of ecological sustainability as a new public land management policy along with the growth of a nascent collaborative conservation movement. The author chronicled these developments in Keeping Faith with Nature, arguing that the merger of these two concepts not only represented the next logical step in the evolution of federal conservation policy, but also squared with broader political, social, and economic trends. Since then, the Bush Administration assumed office and public land policy has shifted radically with new priorities and procedures being impressed on the responsible agencies. These new policies – best described as the 3 D's – have promoted delegalization, development, and devolution at the expense of environmental values. Although these policy changes, particularly the emphasis on energy development, have had undeniable on the ground impacts, the fundamental legal structure governing the public lands has not been altered, nor have the scientific or socioeconomic assumptions underlying the ecological management movement been challenged. Moreover, the federal courts have enjoined key Bush administration initiatives, blocking several of its efforts to rewrite federal natural resources policy. Over the long haul, the opportunity still exists to institutionalize ecological sustainability and collaborative conservation as the new resource management polestar. The Bush administration, in the end, may prove no more than a troublesome aberration on the longer journey toward a more ecologically rational public land policy.


Microwave-field responses of the surface intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ superconductors are investigated. The IJJs are fabricated using an in situ low-temperature cleavage technique, which leads to the well-characterized surface CuO2 double layers and surface junctions. For the surface junctions in the large-junction limit, usually no Shapiro steps appear when a microwave field is applied. It is found that when the junctions are in a flux-trapped state, which is produced by a pulsed current and in which the critical current is significantly suppressed, clear Shapiro steps can be observed. These results are important for the study of the microwave-field properties of vortex-carrying IJJs and may find their use in device applications.


In Securing Replacement Income with Goal-Based Retirement Investing Strategies, from the Spring 2020 issue of The Journal of Retirement, authors Lionel Martellini, Vincent Milhau (both of EDHEC-Risk Institute in Nice, France) and John Mulvey (of Princeton University) address how to provide investors with their minimum required retirement income while offering the flexibility to invest for growth (and potentially higher retirement income). Annuities and target-date funds offer either guaranteed income or flexibility, but not both at the same time. Martellini, Milhau, and Mulvey recommend a goal-based investing (GBI) strategy that consists of building blocks designed to realize different goals. The first building block is a retirement goal-hedging portfolio (GHP) consisting of bonds whose principal and interest payments can generate sufficient income for the first 20 years of retirement. After that, a deferred annuity can cover retirees' income needs for the rest of their lives. The second building block is a performance-seeking portfolio (PSP) of long-term growth investments that offer the chance for upside and higher income after retirement. Financial advisors can be of great help to clients who adopt this strategy—constructing and managing GHPs and PSPs and recommending specific deferred annuities. TOPICS: Retirement, pension funds, wealth management


The term "acquired brain injury" refers to any type of brain damage that occurs after birth. Two main types of acquired brain injury are stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI). A stroke occurs when there is a blockage or bleed in the vascular system of the brain, while a TBI results from an external force to the head. Older adults are at a higher risk of both stroke and TBI; thus, overall incidence is increasing as the proportion of older adults in the population is growing. Stroke and TBI result in immediate and long-term cognitive changes. Impairments in the domains of language, attention, memory, executive functions, perception, and social cognition have been documented following stroke and TBI. However, strokes tend to cause focal or selective cognitive disorders, while cognitive deficits following TBI are widespread and can be generalized. Individuals who have suffered a stroke or TBI may also experience psychosocial changes; for example, symptoms of depression and anxiety are common. Functional outcomes, including independence in activities, are varied and are associated with a range of factors including age, injury severity, cognitive disorders, and psychosocial factors. To achieve optimal outcomes for individuals following stroke and TBI, and to reduce the impact of the injury on everyday functioning, a multidisciplinary rehabilitation process is recommended.


Background: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynecological cancers. Cisplatin is one of the most effective anticancer drugs used in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Development of resistance to cisplatin limits its therapeutic use. Most of the anticancer drugs, including cisplatin, are believed to kill cancer cells by inducing apoptosis and a defect in apoptotic signaling can contribute to drug resistance. The tumor suppressor protein p53 plays a critical role in DNA damage-induced apoptosis. During a yeast-based drug screening, NSC109268 was identified to enhance cellular sensitivity to cisplatin. The objective of the present study is to determine if p53 is responsible for cisplatin sensitization by NSC109268. Results: NSC109268 enhanced sensitivity of ovarian cancer 2008 cells and its cisplatin resistant counterpart 2008/C13* cells which express wild-type p53. The potentiation of cisplatin sensitivity by NSC109268 was greater in 2008/C13* cells compared to 2008 cells. Cisplatin caused a concentration-dependent increase in p53 in 2008 and 2008/C13* cells, and the induction of p53 correlated with cisplatin-induced apoptosis as determined by the cleavage of PARP. NSC109268 alone had no effect on p53 but it enhanced p53 level in response to cisplatin. Knockdown of p53 by siRNA, however, did not attenuate cell death in response to cisplatin or combination of NSC109268 and cisplatin. Conclusions: These results demonstrate that NSC109268 enhances sensitivity of ovarian cancer 2008 cells to cisplatin


We study the problem of carrying voice calls over a low-Earth-orbit satellite network and present an analytical model for computing call-blocking probabilities for a single orbit of a satellite constellation. We have devised a method to solve the corresponding Markov process efficiently for orbits of up to five satellites. For orbits consisting of a larger number of satellites, we have developed an approximate decomposition algorithm to compute the call-blocking probabilities by decomposing the system into smaller subsystems and iteratively solving each subsystem in isolation using the exact Markov process. Our approach can capture blocking due to handoffs for both satellite-fixed and Earth-fixed constellations. Numerical results demonstrate that our method is accurate for a wide range of traffic patterns and for orbits with a number of satellites that is representative of commercial satellite systems.


Introduction: Clinicians use different breast cancer risk models for patients considered at average and above-average risk, based largely on their family histories and genetic factors. To explore the feasibility of a single model appropriate for all women, we used longitudinal cohort data from women whose breast cancer risks span the full spectrum to determine the covariates that differentiate the performance of two commonly used models, BCRAT, or also called GAIL model, (used for patients with average risk) and IBIS, or also called Tyrer Cuzick model, (for patients with above-average risk). Methods: We evaluated the performance of BCRAT and IBIS for ten-year absolute risk of breast cancer, using prospective data from 1,857 women over a mean follow-up length of 8.1 years, of whom 83 developed cancer. This cohort spans the continuum of breast cancer risk, with some subjects at lower than average population risk. Therefore, the wide-variation in individual risk makes it an interesting population to examine model performance across subgroups of women. For model calibration, we divided the cohort into quartiles of model-assigned risk and comparing differences between assigned and observed risks using the Hosmer-Lemeshow (HL) chi-squared statistic. For model discrimination, we computed the area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) and the case risk percentiles (CRPs). Results: The ten-year risks assigned by BCRAT and IBIS differed (range of difference 0.001 to 79.5). The mean BCRAT- and IBIS-assigned risks of 3.18% and 5.59%, respectively, were lower than the cohort's 10-year cumulative probability of developing breast cancer (6.25%; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 5.0-7.8%). Agreement between assigned and observed risks was better for IBIS (HL X42 =7.2, P-value 0.13) than BCRAT (HL X42 = 22.0, P-value < 0.001). The IBIS model also showed better discrimination (AUC = 69.5%, CI = 63.8% - 75.2%) than did the BCRAT model (AUC = 63.2%, CI = 57.6% - 68.9%). In almost all covariate-specific subgroups, BCRAT mean risks were significantly lower than the observed risks, while IBIS risks showed generally good agreement with observed risks, even in the subgroups of women considered at average risk (e.g., no family history of breast cancer, BRCA1/2 mutation negative). Conclusions: Models developed using extended family history and genetic data, such as the IBIS model, also perform well in women considered at average risk (e.g. no family history of breast cancer, BRCA1/2 mutation negative). Extending such models to include nongenetic information (e.g., breast biopsy history and race/ethnicity) may improve their performance among all women across the breast cancer risk continuum. This abstract is also presented as Poster A109. Citation Format: Anne S. Quante, Alice S. Whittemore, Mary Beth Terry. Breast cancer risk assessment: Genetic and nongenetic risk factors contributing to differential model performance. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2012 Oct 16-19; Anaheim, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Prev Res 2012;5(11 Suppl):Abstract nr PR-02.


The research is a part of a three-year research; it was the implementation stage of the complete research. It employed Educational Research and Development (R&D) design, which was modified in several features. The main objective of the research was to produce a comprehensive student worksheet which focuses on scientific project referring to the implementation of Curriculum 2013. The instruments used in the research were cognitive skill test, scientific attitude scale, observation sheet and interview. The implementation stage of the research utilized inquiry-based worksheet that was integrated with Animal Physiology subject, problem-based-learning (PBL) worksheet which was associated with Animal Ecology course, and project-based learning (PjBL) worksheet which was merged with Biotechnology subject. The research involved 60 students of Biology Education Department of Unpas from academic year 2013-2014. 30 of them were the control group and the rests were experimental group. The research shows that there is a difference in terms of students' cognitive skill of the two groups. The cognitive skill of students in control group has an average of 2,47 (fair) and that of the experimental group is 3,56 (very good). The analysis on scientific attitude scale also shows a difference in terms of students' affective skill: the control group's average on this aspect is 2,70 and experiment group's is 3,56 (very good). Assessment on students' psycho-motor skill also presents similar trend as the control group's average is 2,67 (good) and that of experiment group is 3,83 (very good). The averages differences of the observed skills are supported by the data from statistical average comparison test–with the level of significance of α = 0,05–which shows that the differences are significant. From the statistical data, it can be concluded that the model of learning which employs LKS is potential to provide students real experiences of scientific processes in the future, namely observation process that is problem-solving oriented. The ability to do the process in various projects can improve students thinking, which later leads to better attitudes.


Summary The heparin dependent platelet aggregating factor in the serum from an individual with heparin induced thrombocytopenia exhibited reactivity with only 50% of an extensive panel of normal platelet rich plasmas, and this variability was independent of the platelet rich plasma platelet Factor 4 content. Individual sera of 3 other patients with heparin induced thrombocytopenia showed considerable variation in the lag phase and rate of platelet aggregation when tested with different normal platelet rich plasma preparations. These findings suggest that in the appropriate clinical setting the documentation of heparin dependent platelet aggregating factor should employ a panel of platelet rich plasmas if the initial screen is negative.


The results of the monitoring of three VLF/LF signals collected in Petropavlovsk station (Kamchatka, Russia) and one VLF signal collected on board of the DEMETER French satellite are presented. Two periods of the seismic activity occurred in the Japan-Kamchatka area during November–December 2004 and July–September 2005 were investigated and the earthquakes with M ≥6.0 in the JapanKamchatka area, located inside one or more of the third Fresnel zones of the three radio paths were considered. The ground data were analysed using residual signal of phase dP or of amplitudedA, defined as the difference between the signal and the average of few quiet days ( ±5 days) immediately preceding or following the current day. Also the satellite data were processed by a method based on the difference between the real signal and the reference one, but in order to obtain this last signal it was necessary to construct previously a model of the signal distribution over the selected area. The method consists: (a) in averaging all the data available in the considered region over a period characterized by low level seismicity, regardless of the global disturbances, in particular, of the magnetic activity; (b) in computing a polynomial expression for the surface as a function of the longitude and the latitude. The model well describes the real data in condition of their completeness and in absence of magnetic storms or seismic forcing. In the quoted periods of seismic activity clear anomalies both in the ground and in satellite data were revealed. The influence of the geomagnetic activity cannot to be excluded, but the seismic forcing seems more probable. Correspondence to: P. F. Biagi (firstname.lastname@example.com)


In this paper, we used computational fluid dynamics simulation (ANSYS CFX) to compare the performance of surfboard fins with grooves (and a bumpy-leading edge) to conventional surfboard fins. The simulations predicted the performance of each type of fins in terms of hydrodynamic forces and their behavior for angles of attack up to 45 degrees. Our results indicated that the pressure contours around fins with grooves (and bumpy-leading edge) were lower compared to pressure contours around conventional fins. The grooved fins exhibited a 13 ± 1% reduction in drag (coupled with a much smaller reduction in lift) at the stall angle, contributing to an overall 11 ± 1% improvement in the lift-to-drag ratio compared to conventional fins. Graphical abstract


Recent studies of plane parallel flows have emphasised the importance of finite-amplitude self-sustaining processes for the existence of alternative non-trivial solutions. The idea behind these mechanisms is that the motion is composed of distinct structures that interact to self-sustain. These solutions are not unique and their totality form a skeleton about which the actual realised motion is attracted. Related features can be found in spherical Couette flow between two rotating spheres in the limit of narrow-gap width. At lowest order the onset of instability is manifested by Taylor vortices localised in the vicinity of the equator. By approximating the spheres by their tangent cylinders at the equator, a critical Taylor number based on the ensuing cylindrical Couette flow problem would appear to provide a lowest order approximation to the true critical Taylor number. At next order, the latitudinal modulation of their amplitude a satisfies the complex Ginzburg-Landau equation (CGLe) where is latitude scaled on the modulation length scale, t is time and is proportional to the excess Taylor number. The amplitude a governed by our CGLe is linearly stable for all but possesses non-decaying nonlinear solutions at finite , directly analogous to plane Couette flow. Furthermore, whereas the important balance suggests that the Taylor vortices ought to propagate as waves towards the equator with frequency proportional to latitude, the realised solutions are found to exist as pulses, each locked to a discrete frequency, of spatially modulated Taylor vortices. Collectively they form a pulse train. Thus the expected continuous spatial variation of the frequency is broken into steps (forming a staircase) on which motion is dominated by the local pulse. A wealth of solutions of our CGLe have been found and some may be stable. Nevertheless, when higher-order terms are reinstated, solutions are modulated on a yet longer length scale and must evolve. So, whereas there is an underlying pulse structure in the small but finite gap limit, motion is likely to be always weakly chaotic. Our CGLe and its solution provides a paradigm for many geophysical and astrophysical flows capturing in minimalistic form interaction of phase mixing , diffusion and nonlinearity .


Environmental hazards occurring as an undesirable consequence of economic progress, urbanization and pollution have become a worldwide concern. In the US, this is evident from the campaign against smoking which has focused attention on the lung in part because the lung as a target organ is constantly exposed to many visible environmental hazards. On the other hand, environmental hazards which are not lethal, but cause their effects in an insidious fashion, may be difficult to study and identify. Among the disciplines available to assess adverse health consequences of xenobiotics ('strange' substances in our environment), application of modern immunological methods in concert with traditional toxicologic studies have to date demonstrated significant progress in drug allergy, food allergy, environmentally induced lung diseases and autoimmunity. These successes have come from the collaboration of immunologists, allergologists, pulmonologists, pharmacologists and toxicologists. In fact, a newer discipline of immunotoxicology has emerged in order to deal with these complex issues. The National Institutes of Health, through a series of workshops and research initiatives, and in collaboration with other US government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, is attempting to foster research aimed at enhancing progress in the field of immunotoxicology. The overall aim is to encourage the use of modern immunologic approaches to the study of the alleged harmful effects of xenobiotics on the immune system. Success will permit the development of improved diagnostic tools followed by initiatives concerned with prevention. Apart from their scientific implications the results are expected to have an impact on social, legal and economic issues within society.


Top management team (TMT) play key roles in many industries and firms. Human resources is continuously developed and considered to be a competitive advantage. Traditional research on TMT has, however, paid scant attention to the human capital capabilities of TMT needed for firms. Furthermore, traditional work on TMT of firms pays limited attention to its specific traits in complex products and systems (CoPS) innovation. In the present paper, we explore the development of human capabilities of TMT observed in CoPS innovation firms. We developed a model for analysis the human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS Innovation, and suggested that a dynamic interplay between the development of human capital capabilities of TMT and the changing CoPS innovation environment, and human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS innovation could be developed through team learning. And we formulated an empirical research framework for the analysis of factors affecting the human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS innovation. Four key factors were identified and extracted by using factor analysis, and these resulting factors were related to the performance of CoPS innovation by using a multiple regression analysis method. The proposed framework identified four blocks of human capital capabilities of TMT for CoPS innovation, namely technology innovation management, risk management, organization management and relationship network management. The paper argues that TMT for CoPS innovation firms are only able to effectively harness and develop their human capital capabilities by team learning and integrating these four building blocks within the team.


The Space Surveillance System developed at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C., for the detection of earth satellites forms a fence across the southern part of the United States. Four receiving sites are alternated with three transmitting sites which illuminate satellites with radio energy as they traverse the fence. The angle of arrival of the reflected energy is measured at each receiving station by a compound radio interferometer. These signals yield a multiplicity of channels which are normally recorded on paper, read and resolved by using slide rules and/or mathematical tables. Operationally the resolution is done by a computer. With the increasing satellite population the number of fence crossings has increased considerably. Automation in the detection process is needed to facilitate identification and sorting of satellites from each other if a large backlog of data is to be avoided. The purpose of this report is to describe an electronic system which automatically combines several noisy ambiguous radio interferometer phase channels into one unambiguous quiet channel. This technique results in that given a multi-baseline radio interferometer system, normally having high angular resolution capability accompanied with the usual interferometer ambiguity problem associated with deciphering the multiple phase signal outputs it can be instrumented directly into a single unambiguous signal output which has an accuracy and resolution proportional to the longest baseline in the interferometer and whose noise content is inversely proportional to this baseline.


Aims Inflammation and organ failure have been reported to have an impact on cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A‐mediated clearance of midazolam in critically ill children. Our aim was to evaluate a previously developed population pharmacokinetic model both in critically ill children and other populations, in order to allow the model to be used to guide dosing in clinical practice. Methods The model was evaluated externally in 136 individuals, including (pre)term neonates, infants, children and adults (body weight 0.77–90 kg, C‐reactive protein level 0.1–341 mg l–1 and 0–4 failing organs) using graphical and numerical diagnostics. Results The pharmacokinetic model predicted midazolam clearance and plasma concentrations without bias in postoperative or critically ill paediatric patients and term neonates [median prediction error (MPE) <30%]. Using the model for extrapolation resulted in well‐predicted clearance values in critically ill and healthy adults (MPE <30%), while clearance in preterm neonates was over predicted (MPE >180%). Conclusion The recently published pharmacokinetic model for midazolam, quantifying the influence of maturation, inflammation and organ failure in children, yields unbiased clearance predictions and can therefore be used for dosing instructions in term neonates, children and adults with varying levels of critical illness, including healthy adults, but not for extrapolation to preterm neonates.


In this paper, the design and application of an on-chip transformer balun for RFIC has presented. Single-ended primary and differential secondary are constructed without using three individual windings for simple layout. Besides, this new topology has the same physical common visual ground point for second winding, which eliminates imbalance due to potential difference at the ground from conventional trifilar. Furthermore, this new on-chip balun is successfully applied in the integration of 5.8-GHz LNA-mixer implemented on SiGe 0.35-mum BiCMOS process then achieves 4.15-dB noise figure (NF), 34.61-dB conversion gain, and -9.5-dBm input third-order intercept-point with low power consumption of 9-mW


Objectives The number of susceptibility loci currently associated with vasculitis is lower than in other immune-mediated diseases due in part to small cohort sizes, a consequence of the low prevalence of vasculitides. This study aimed to identify new genetic risk loci for the main systemic vasculitides through a comprehensive analysis of their genetic overlap. Methods Genome-wide data from 8467 patients with any of the main forms of vasculitis and 29 795 healthy controls were meta-analysed using ASSET. Pleiotropic variants were functionally annotated and linked to their target genes. Prioritised genes were queried in DrugBank to identify potentially repositionable drugs for the treatment of vasculitis. Results Sixteen variants were independently associated with two or more vasculitides, 15 of them representing new shared risk loci. Two of these pleiotropic signals, located close to CTLA4 and CPLX1, emerged as novel genetic risk loci in vasculitis. Most of these polymorphisms appeared to affect vasculitis by regulating gene expression. In this regard, for some of these common signals, potential causal genes were prioritised based on functional annotation, including CTLA4, RNF145, IL12B, IL5, IRF1, IFNGR1, PTK2B, TRIM35, EGR2 and ETS2, each of which has key roles in inflammation. In addition, drug repositioning analysis showed that several drugs, including abatacept and ustekinumab, could be potentially repurposed in the management of the analysed vasculitides. Conclusions We identified new shared risk loci with functional impact in vasculitis and pinpointed potential causal genes, some of which could represent promising targets for the treatment of vasculitis.


The assessment of catatonic symptoms, unlike that of other schizophrenia symptoms, has not acquired accuracy and phenomenological rigour, and their distinction from extrapyramidal side-effects is not always easy. The Modified Rogers Scale can rate abnormalities in movement, volition, speech, and overall behaviour in schizophrenia. It is detailed, reliable and valid, and permits the isolation of a score for non-extrapyramidal and hence presumably catatonic phenomena.


The aim of this paper is to assess the coping and adaptation strategies that have been employed by farmers in their agricultural activities against the effects of climate change in Kitui district. It also looks at the factors that determine the coping strategies employed by the farmers. The study assessed the strategies which the farmers employed in an effort to mitigate against the negative effects of climate change on agricultural production. Kitui district is one of the semi-arid districts in Kenya where the effect of climate change has been felt in almost all sectors of the economy. The study utilized a descriptive research design in order to bring out the relationship between climatic elements, mainly rainfall and temperature and agricultural production and the coping strategies employed by the farmers to cushion their farming activities against the negative effects of climate change. Data was collected from 400 small scale farmers who owned less than five acres of land which was used for agricultural purposes. The data was collected using structured questionnaires, observation, interviews and focus group discussions. The data collected was on whether the farmers employed coping strategies, the factors that determined the strategies employed and why some farmers did not employ any strategies. The results of the study indicate that very few farmers 26% (104) employed coping strategies against climate change effects while majority of them 74% (296) did not. The results also show that the main strategies employed so as to mitigate against climate change were irrigation, digging of zia pits, planting drought resistant crops among others. The main factors that determined the coping strategy employed were availability of capital and proximity to the rivers. Key words : Coping Strategies, Climate, Agricultural Production, Kenya.


We investigate the long-term effects of the important presence of Jews in Eastern Europe before the Second World War and their disappearance during the Holocaust. The Pale of Settlement, the area which Jewish residents were confined to in the Russian Empire, is used as a source of exogenous variation in the size of the Jewish population before the Second World War. Based on election and survey data, we find that current residents of the Pale, compared to their counterparts outside the Pale, vote more for socialist anti-market parties, have lower support for the market economy and democracy, are less engaged in entrepreneurship, but exhibit higher levels of trust. At the same time, the Pale has no lasting effects on average consumption, income, and education levels. Regression discontinuity at the Pale border helps identification. We show that the effect of the Pale is related to the former presence of Jews rather than the inflow of new migrant population into the formerly-Jewish areas. We suggest a possible mechanism and present evidence consistent with it: the non-Jewish population, at the time when two groups lived together side-by-side, developed a persistent anti-market culture and bonding trust, rooted in ethnic hatred towards Jews. We show that, consistent with the mechanism, current residents of towns closer to places of pogroms exhibit higher trust and anti-market attitudes even controlling for the historical share of Jews in the population and the Pale.


Introduction. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Indonesia with incidence rate 40.3 per 100.000 women and mortality rate 16.6 per 100.000 women. On early stage, the decision for operative procedure (i.e. mastectomy) requires intraoperative frozen section to assess malignancy; which is mostly unavailable in secondary hospitals. The triple diagnostic (TD) test consists of physical examination, breast ultrasonography and fine needle aspiration biopsy is an accurate and simple preoperative diagnostic method that may solve the problem. The study aimed to find out conformance of the triple diagnostic to histopathology findings in those with breast lump where the malignancy was suspected. Method. A study of diagnostic accuracy conducted enrolling subjects with suspected malignant breast lump managed in dr Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM) and Persahabatan Hospital (RSP) in period of February 2016 to August 2017 who met the criteria: those underwent preoperative triple diagnostic, intraoperative frozen section and histopathology examination. The conformance of TD and frozen section were compared to histopathology findings. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy were the focuses of the study. Results. There were 33 subjects enrolled (prevalence of 4.3%), mean age of 49.6 years ± 10.9, were above 40 years (78.8%). Tumor size of 2–5 cm found in 63.6% subjects, and the most histopathology finding was invasive carcinoma (84.8%). Frozen section showed sensitivity of 96.8%, specificity of 100%, PPV of 100%, NPV of 66.7% and accuracy of 97.0%. TD showed sensitivity of 77.4%, specificity of 100%, PPV of 100%), NPV of 22.2% and accuracy of 78.8% (p = 0.016). Conclusion. Triple diagnostic reaches up to 78% accuracy on early stage breast cancer may be used secondary hospital in Indonesia whenever frozen section is unavailable.


: Separate determination of hydrocortisone and corticosterone in the blood of patients with the hypercorticism symptom-complex showed that elevation of the corticosteroid concentration could occur on account of similar elevation of the concentration of both hormones, or one of the hormones alone. Analogous data were observed in patients after ACTH administration. Dexamethasone administration caused a reduction of the hydrocortisone and corticosterone concentration in patients with Itsenko-Cushing's disease, but to a lesser degree than in healthy individuals. Administration of the preparation to the patients with juvenile dyspituitrism decreased the cortizol level, but corticosterone chiefly; as to the patients with the hypothalamic syndrome--only the cortizol level was reduced, the level of corticosterone remaining unchanged. Thus, the evidence obtained before and after the administration of the ACTH preparations and dexamethasone permitted to assess the adrenal cortex function more fully and to defect disturbances of the corticosteroid secretion of interest of the understanding of the clinical symptoms of the disease.


Background: Several studies suggest an increased risk of venous and arterial thromboembolism (TE) in adults with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) compared to the general population. We performed a systematic review of studies on incidence and characteristic of TE in children with IBD. Methods: We searched Medline, LILACS, EMBASE, POPLINE, CINHAL, and reference lists of identified articles, without language restrictions, in August 2010. Results: Population studies suggest that there is an increased risk of TE in children with IBD compared to controls. TE occurred in children with IBD in all age ranges, mostly (82.8%) during active disease, and more frequently in children with ulcerative colitis (odds ratio [OR] 3.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.8–7.6). At least one specific risk factor for TE was recognized in 50% of cases; two risk factors were present in 24%. Out of 92 published cases of TE in children with IBD, 54.3% occurred in cerebral site, 26% in the limbs, 13% in the abdominal vessels, and the remaining in the retina and lungs. After a first episode of TE, an early recurrence was observed in 11.4% of children, a late recurrence in 10%. A number of different therapeutic schemes were used. Overall mortality was 5.7% and was mostly associated with cerebral TE. Conclusions: Population studies are needed to clarify the risk of TE in children with IBD, the relative weight of other risk factors, the characteristics of the events, and to define guidelines of therapy and prophylaxis. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2010)


This paper discusses the concept of a smart wearable device for little children/Alzheimer's. The major advantage of this wearable over other wearable is that it can be used in any cellphone and doesn't necessarily require an expensive smartphone and not a very tech savvy individual to operate. The purpose of this device is to help parents locate their children with ease. At the moment there are many wearables in the market which help track the daily activity of children and also help find the child using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth services present on the device. But Wi-Fi and Bluetooth appear to be an unreliable medium of communication between the parent and child/Alzheimer's. Therefore, the focus of this paper is to have an SMS text enabled communication medium between the child's wearable and the parent as the environment for GSM mobile communication is almost present everywhere. The parent can send a specific keywords such as "LOCATION" "TEMPERA TURE" "UV" "SOS" "BUZZ", etc., the wearable device will reply back with a text containing the real time accurate location of the child /Alzheimer's which upon tapping will provide directions to the child's location on google maps app and will also provide the surrounding temperature, UV radiation index so that the parents can keep track if the temperature or UV radiation is not suitable for the child/Alzheimer's. The prime motivation behind this paper is that we know how important technology is in our lives but it can sometimes can't be trusted, and we always need to have a secondary measure at hand. The secondary measure used in this project is the people present in the surrounding of the child who could instantly react for the child's safety till the parents arrive or they could contact the parents and help locate them. The secondary measure implemented was using a microphone we can get a surrounding voice. Hence this paper aims at providing parents/ guardians with a sense of security for their child/Alzheimer's in today's time.


BACKGROUND
Longitudinal quality of life (QoL) was compared for patients with esophageal cancer receiving definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with conventional-dose (CD) vs. high-dose (HD) radiotherapy as used in the RTOG phase III 94-05 trial (Intergroup 0123).

METHODS
Between June 12, 1995, and July 1, 1999, 236 patients with cT1-4NxM0 esophageal cancer were randomized to CD CRT (50.4 Gy and concurrent 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin) vs. HD CRT (64.8 Gy and the same chemotherapy). QoL was assessed using the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, Head & Neck (version 2) at baseline, after CRT, at 8 months from the start of CRT, and at 1 year.

RESULTS
Of 218 eligible patients, 166 participated in pretreatment QoL assessments (82 HD, 84 CD). Patients with ≥10% weight loss and Karnofsky Performance Status 60-80 were less likely to participate (P = .02 and P = .002, respectively). Pretreatment characteristics for participating patients were similar in both arms. At CRT completion, 96 patients completed QoL (46 HD, 50 CD) assessment. Total mean QoL was significantly lower in the HD arm (P = .02) and remained lower at 8 and 12 months after the start of CRT, but these values did not reach statistical significance. Change in mean QoL from baseline to each of the three subsequent assessment time points did not differ significantly between the two treatment arms.

CONCLUSIONS
For patients treated with definitive CRT for esophageal cancer, radiation dose escalation to 64.8 Gy does not significantly improve QoL. These results provide additional evidence that radiotherapy to 50.4 Gy should remain the standard of care.


In trying to reduce unemployment in South Africa, the pursuit of higher economic growth is the single most agreed-upon policy strategy. The consensus on this 'obvious solution' may blind us to the fact that economic growth, though important, may only be half of the solution. Attempts to fine-tune and turbo-boost the formal-economy 'engine of growth' to absorb more labour are fundamentally constrained. Economic policy makers must look at other options for generating employment and self-employment for unemployed people.


Earlier, we demonstrated that agonist binding to synaptic plasma membranes involves a multi-step association process. In this study, high affinity binding kinetics of an agonist, [3H]D-Ala2-D-Leu5-enkephalin (DADLE), to delta sites on bovine hippocampal microsomal and synaptic plasma membranes (SPM) were compared. delta site selectivity of DADLE was ensured by suppressing undesirable mu site binding with 20 nM unlabeled D-Ala2-MePhe4-Glyol5-enkephalin. The kinetics of receptor binding to microsomal delta sites are generally more rapid than those of SPMs. Furthermore, the association time-dependent rate of dissociation, which is readily observed with SPMs, was not detected for microsomal binding sites. Although the apparent KD of DADLE did not differ significantly from that in SPMs, kinetic analysis indicated that little or no formation of the high affinity, slowly dissociating, complex occurred with microsomes. The absence of this complex, shown previously in SPMs to be most sensitive to guanine nucleotides, appeared to account for the attenuated effect of guanyl 5'-yl-imidodiphosphate [Gpp(NH)p] on dissociation from microsomes. Nevertheless, the presence in microsomes of inhibitory guanine nucleotide binding proteins was demonstrated by specific 32P-labeling by pertussis toxin of bands at 39 and 41 kDa, attributable to the alpha subunit of Go and Gi, respectively. The action of 100 mM Na+ to increase the off-rate is similar for both preparations. In contrast, addition of Mn2+ reduced the rates of association and dissociation for both subcellular fractions. The off-rate in the presence of Mn2+ is similar for SPMs and microsomes, displaying association time-dependent rates of dissociation for both. To determine whether Mn2+ promotes coupling in microsomes, the effect of Gpp(NH)p was examined. After a 60-min association, Gpp(NH)p did not affect microsomal kinetics but increased the off-rate from SPMs. The actions of both Na+ and Mn2+ appear to be mediated at early steps in the association process.


ABSTRACT This study examines interactions of fourth graders and their parents during informal science activities to understand the parental influence on children's science interests, attitudes, and participation. Sixteen Latino/a parent–child dyads and 16 Non-Latino/a parent–child dyads, matched on socioeconomic status (SES), participated in this qualitative study. Content analysis elucidated themes including parental intrusive support, aiming for deeper understanding, questioning by parents and children, language challenges, parent and child affect, and parent-dominated, child-dominated, or collaborative problem solving. Potential differences in cultural context and gender biases are explored and approaches to parental outreach and enrichment are discussed.


The study investigated secondary school pupils' views on the action of heat on air enclosed in an inflatable ball placed first in a hot, and then a cold environment. The study involved 86 form one and 64 form four students studying physics in four Nairobi province schools during term two in 2010. Both groups comprised boys and girls. A diagnostic test of reliability index 0.87 enabled the respondents to provide explanations for the gas behaviour. The scientific conceptions of the pupils who were just joining secondary school were compared with those of the pupils who were about to leave secondary school. The study detailed the quality of conceptions held by both the form one and form four students. Two broad categories of conceptions were detected: True Conceptions (TC) and Misconceptions (MC). Both descriptive (means, frequencies, graphs) and inferential statistics (chi-square, t-test) were used in interpreting the results. The results showed that there was no clear significant difference in the quality of alternative conceptions held by the form one and the form fours. Gender considerations showed a marked differential in favour of the boys at the two levels. The gender difference was also detectable at each of the form one and four levels. These results indicate that there is generally a low value addition to students' conceptual development by the end of secondary schooling concerning behaviour of gases under the temperature conditions indicated. In addition boys were found to outperform the girls in this content area. Specific recommendations concerning the confrontation of the many unscientific ideas held by the students were suggested.


Background: Ultrasound (US) exposed microbubble (MB) contrast agents have the capability to transiently enhance cell membrane permeability. Using this technique in cancer treatment to increase the efficiency of chemotherapy through passive, localized delivery has been an emerging area of research. Purpose: Investigation of the influence of US parameters on MB-mediated drug delivery in cancer. Methods: The 2LMP breast cancer cells were used for in vitro experiments and 2LMP tumor-bearing mice were used during in vivo experiments. Changes in membrane permeability were investigated after the influence of MB-mediated US therapy parameters (i.e. frequency, mechanical index, pulse repetition period, US duration, and MB dosing and characteristics) on cancer cells. Calcein, a non-permeable fluorescent molecule, and Taxol, chemotherapeutic, were used to evaluate membrane permeability. Tumor response was also assessed histologically. Results: Combination chemotherapy and MB-mediated US therapy with optimized parameters increased cancer cell death by 50% over chemotherapy alone. Discussion: Increased cellular uptake of chemotherapeutic was dependent upon US system parameters. Conclusion: Optimized MB-mediated US therapy has the potential to improve cancer patient response to therapy via increased localized drug uptake, which may lead to a lowering of chemotherapeutic drug dosages and systemic toxicity.


This paper introduces an approach to the specification of non-linear cost functions in regional programming models. It can be characterised as an application of positive mathematical programming (PMP) to multiple observations. The application of PMP in policy relevant agricultural supply models as a mean for calibration has significantly increased during the last ten years. However, many modellers have not reflected the arbitrary and potentially implausible response behaviour of the resulting models implied by standard applications of the approach. Paris and Howitt (1998) interpret PMP as the estimation of a non-linear cost function and generalize the specification by employing a « Maximum Entropy (ME) » procedure. However, their approach still lacks a sufficient empirical base and involves a parameterisation to enforce correct curvature of the cost function, which induces significant problems in applications. The suggested methodology is designed to exploit information contained in a cross sectional sample to specify — regionally specific — quadratic cost functions with cross effects for crop activities. It also provides a solution to the curvature problem. The approach is applied to regional programming models for 22 regions in France. An ex-post simulation across the 1992 CAP-reform shows plausible results with respect to the simulation behaviour of the resulting models. Paths for extensions and improvements of this methodology are identified.


Copper (II) Schiff base derived regularly utilized for healing of various disarray. The aspire of existing learn was to look into the consequence of Schiff base imitative on injury curative in rodents. Injure therapeutic activity of Cl-indole-nicotinic was check via stipulate the proportion of cut closing following contemporary appliance of the composite. Four collections of mammal were luxury correspondingly with CMC 2%, Intrasite gel, 20 and 40 mg/ml compound for 10 days appraise gross necropsy, histology and endogenous enzymes parameters of wound's sites. The outcome designates the emotional capability of Cl-indole-nicotinic in tissue renewal and remedial the wounded skin. Gross appearance on day 5 and day 10 affirmed that the complex extensively hasten the velocity of injure repairing. Histological studies indicated the small blood capillaries expansion and increase deposition of collagen configuration in addition to decline in provocative cells in compound extravagance cluster contrast to control set. Masson Trichrome showed well organized collagen fibers in treated wounds. Furthermore, the multipart characterized dosage needy raise action of superoxide dismutase (SOD) along with lipid peroxidation enzyme-malondialdehyde (MDA) lessening in granulation tissue homogenate. In finale, lesion curative capacity of composite may perhaps point to improve collagen evidence in granulation tissue as well as increased SOD antioxidant and reduced MDA level in wound homogenate.


We present a framework for understanding the effects of automation and other types of technological changes on labor demand, and use it for interpreting changes in US employment over the recent past. Automation enables capital to replace labor in tasks it was previously engaged in. Because of the displacement effect it generates, automation is qualitatively different from factor-augmenting technological changes; it always reduces the labor share in value added (of an industry or economy) and may also reduce employment and wages even as it raises productivity. The effects of automation are counterbalanced by the creation of new tasks in which labor has a comparative advantage, which generates a reinstatement effect raising the labor share and labor demand by expanding the set of tasks allocated to labor. We show how the role of changes in the task content of production—due to automation and new tasks—can be inferred from industrylevel data. Our empirical exercise suggests that the slower growth of employment over the last three decades is accounted for by an acceleration in the displacement effect, especially in manufacturing, a weaker reinstatement effect, and slower growth of productivity than in previous decades.


This paper proposes a wireless packet transmission scheme with adaptive processing gain (PG) and transmitter power control (TPC) techniques for circuit-switched and packet-switched modes integrated direct sequence/code division multiple access (DS/CDMA) systems. In the proposed DS/CDMA systems, as radio resource of both packet-switched and circuit-switched services is easily and dynamically controlled only by the adjustment of the received power level of both services, the proposed algorithm controls processing gain and transmitter power of the packet-switched services according to the channel load of each base station (BS). Moreover, only an open loop transmitter power control with a power margin is employed in the packet-switched mode to effectively utilize the capture effect as well as to simplify power control algorithm. Computer simulation confirms that, at the input traffic of 0.8 erl/cell, the message delay in the packet-switched mode can be decreased about 1/5 without decreasing so much the capacity of circuit switched services.


ABSTRACT Lytic infection of African green monkey kidney (CV-1) cells by simian virus 40 (SV40) is characterized by stimulation of DNA synthesis leading to bypass of mitosis and replication of cellular and viral DNA beyond a 4C DNA content. To define mechanisms underlying the absence of mitosis, the expression levels of upstream regulatory molecules of mitosis-promoting factor (MPF) were compared in parallel synchronized cultures of SV40-infected and uninfected CV-1 cells. The DNA replication/damage checkpoint kinase Chk1 was phosphorylated in both uninfected and SV40-infected cultures arrested at G1/S by mimosine, consistent with checkpoint activation. Following release of uninfected cultures from G1/S, Chk1 phosphorylation was lost even though Chk1 protein levels were retained. In contrast, G1/S-released SV40-infected cultures exhibited dephosphorylation of Chk1 in S phase, followed by an increase in Chk1 phosphorylation coinciding with entry of infected cells into >G2. Inhibitors of Chk1, UCN-01 and caffeine, induced mitosis and abnormal nuclear condensation and increased the protein kinase activity of MPF in SV40-infected CV-1 cells. These results demonstrate that SV40 lytic infection triggers components of a DNA damage checkpoint pathway. In addition, chemical inhibition of Chk1 activity suggests that Chk1 contributes to the absence of mitosis during SV40 lytic infection.


About the book:
The methods used in the detection and characterisation of exoplanets are presented through the study of transiting systems in this unique textbook for advanced undergraduates. From determining the atmospheric properties of transiting exoplanets to measuring the planetary orbit's alignment with the stellar spin, students will discover what these measurements imply for reinvigorated theories of planet formation and evolution. Worked examples and exercises with full solutions help students to assess their understanding of concepts and results. Key points and equations are highlighted to make them easily identifiable, and there are full colour illustrations throughout. Bridging the gap between introductory, non-mathematical texts and more advanced textbooks, this book is ideal for students with some background in mathematics, physics and astronomy. Accompanying resources to this textbook are available at: http://www.cambridge.org/features/astrophysics.


This paper aims to use the adaptive computed torque control (ACTC) method to eliminate the kinematic and dynamic uncertainties of master and slave robots and for the control of the system in the presence of forces originating from human and environment interaction.,In case of uncertainties in the robot parameters that are utilized in teleoperation studies and when the environment where interactions take place is not known and when there is a time delay, very serious problems take place in system performance. An adaptation rule was created to update uncertain parameters. In addition to this, disturbance observer was designed for slave robot. Lyapunov function was used to analyze the system's position tracking and stability. A visual interface was designed to ensure that the movements of the master robot provided a visual feedback to the user.,In this study, a visual interface was created, and position and velocity control was achieved utilizing teleoperation; the system's position tracking and stability were analyzed using the Lyapunov method; a simulation was applied in a real-time environment, and the performance results were analyzed.,This study consisted of both simulation and real-time studies. The teleoperation system, which was created in a laboratory environment, consisted of six-degree-of-freedom (DOF) master robots, six-DOF industrial robots and six-DOF virtual robots.


In this thesis, I offer a novel account of how best to reorient our semantic and conceptual inquiries into lexical meaning and propositional representation. I achieve this by means of a partly historical investigation into the problem of the unity of the proposition; this is the problem of distinguishing a proposition - the bearer of truth, the complex object or content of a belief or other propositional attitude, and the meaning of a true/false statement - from an "aggregate" of its constituent parts. In chapter 1, I assess Bertrand Russell"s first attempt at a solution, and give a detailed account of why his proposed analysis of a proposition and the sentence expressing it generates a viciously regressive analysis. In chapter 2, I assess Frege"s approach to the problem, and show that he offers a fundamental insight by way of his approach to analysis which draws an absolute distinction between functions and their argument, and treats concepts as functions to truth-values. Frege has, of course, influenced many contemporary philosophers of language, notably Dummett and Davidson, who have argued that Frege"s insights offer us a lens thorough which to understand the nature of predication in natural languages. I argue that these proposed revisions of Frege"s account fall short of an adequate solution to the unity problem. In chapter 3, I present and critically discuss Russell"s multiple relation theory of judgment and Wittgenstein"s approach to the unity problem as presented in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus and how these may be interpreted as offering a partial advance to the unity problem over the solutions previously considered. Then, in chapter 4, I move on to assess some recent solutions which, influenced by both Russell"s later theory and Wittgenstein"s early work, attempt to either solve or expose the question of unity as it struck Russell and Frege as a "pseudo-problem". These solutions propose a range of approaches to the "naturalisation" of the concept of meaning and the phenomenon of propositional representation. Whilst I take this naturalistic turn to be - at least in some respects - commendable, in chapter 5 I develop an alternative account, focusing how lexical meaning may be investigated independently of its contribution to full propositional (true/false) representation. I show how this reorientation might light the path towards richer accounts of meaning-relevant syntactic structure and lexical content than the rival accounts previously discussed.


This paper estimates the effect of profit shifting on corporate tax base erosion for the United States, using Bureau of Economic Analysis survey data on U.S. multinational corporations during 1983 to 2012. I find that profit shifting is likely costing the U.S. government between $77 billion and $111 billion in corporate tax revenue by 2012, and these revenue losses have increased substantially in recent years. The paper also extends this analysis to other countries, finding that corporate tax base erosion is likely a large problem in countries without low tax rates. The paper discusses suggested reforms.


Since the reform and opening up, China's small and medium-sized enterprises SMEs has developed rapidly and made a positive contribution for the national economic construction and social development. However, currently SMEs is weak in technology innovation, especially in the core technology of IP technologies have also lack of appropriate technical capabilities, coupled with the small and medium enterprises have their own limitations, China's SMEs have not yet realize or become the subject of technological innovation that many SMEs and broad market prospects missed a rare opportunity for development, and some even have to accept life and death decisions of market shocks passively. Through understanding of the technological innovation capability of SMEs, the paper research and develop countermeasures and suggestions in line with our SME technology innovation, having important theoretical guiding significance for sustainable development of China's national economy and SMEs.