Migrant entrepreneurship prompts a series of fascinating research questions on the nature, culture, and interconnectedness of migrant situations within host settlements. The rise of migrant entrepreneurship is the outcome of the integration of these cultural-structural elements in order to mobilize resources to fulfill the demands of entrepreneurship and to obtain competitive advantages in business. This paper describes how the symbiotic relations between migrants and their socio-cultural conditions shape the patterns of Indonesian entrepreneurship in Taiwan. In practice, Indonesian migrant entrepreneurship in Taiwan involves entrepreneurs applying local values or customs in the host society and then (re) produce them in their business activities, expecting profit from customers without losing the social cohesion of their business operations. Two interactive model apply in this practice: first accommodate the basic social and economic needs of migrant workers and develop social cohesion among them; second, entrepreneurs engage in mutual relationships in their developing social networks in Taiwan. Indonesian migrant entrepreneurships are not independent economic business operations; rather, they are strongly linked to the social and cultural conditions of migrants. Entrepreneurs often play the role of "friends" in need, acting as a third-party resource to migrants so they can find help and selfactualization, as well as acting as patrons and brokers to migrants in trouble. The data on which this paper is based was collected in Taiwan from June to December 2014 using participation observation and in-depth interviews as the basic research methods.


Chiral separations employing molecular imprint polymer (MIP) stationary phases in both open tubular liquid chromatography (OT‐LC) and capillary electrochromatography (OT‐CEC) are demonstrated. MIPs are highly crosslinked polymers containing spatial and functionality memory of template molecules which provide a higher degree of selectivity when used as stationary phases for chromatographic separations. Thin films of molecular imprinted polymers bonded to the inner walls of 25 μm ID fused‐silica capillaries were prepared using an in situ polymerization technique developed in our laboratory that allows the use of conventional fused‐silica capillaries with polyimide outer coatings. The success rate in preparing such open tubular columns was about 70%. Methacrylic acid and 2‐vinyl pyridine were chosen as functional monomers, and either ethylene dimethacrylate or trimethylol propane trimethacrylate was used as the crosslinker. Toluene was employed as the porogen. Effects of polymerization conditions on column preparation and chromatographic performance were studied. Enantiomeric separations of D‐ and L‐dansyl phenylalanines were achieved in both OT‐LC and OT‐CEC modes with good selectivity and efficiencies. Both types of separations may be performed on the same column using a single commercial instrument.


The hydrostatic collapse strength of a flexible pipe is largely dependent on the ability of its carcass and/or pressure armor to resist radial loading and, therefore, its prediction involves an adequate modeling of these layers. Hence, initially, this work proposes a set of equations to estimate equivalent mechanical properties for these layers, which allows their modeling as equivalent orthotropic cylinders. Particularly, equations to predict the equivalent ring bend stiffness are obtained by simulating several two-point static ring tests with a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model based on beam elements and using these results to form datasets that are analyzed with a symbolic regression (SR) tool. The results of these analyses are the closed-form equations that best fit the provided datasets. After that, these equations are used in conjunction with a three-dimensional shell FE model (FEM) and a previously presented analytical model to study the bisymmetric hydrostatic collapse mechanism of flexible pipes. The predictions of these models agreed well with the collapse pressures obtained with numerical models and in experimental tests thus indicating the potential use of this approach in the design of flexible pipes.


The goal of this study is to develop a thermodynamic model in order to show the effect of ambient conditions on performance of an Organic Rankine Cycle based power generation system.  This system is simply consisted of a turbine, a condenser, a boiler, pumps and a cooling tower. Each component in this system is modeled based on energy and mass balance equations.  Then, the system model is obtained with integration of component models. After that, simulation studies are iteratively carried out to determine the performance of the considered system under variation of ambient conditions such as dry bulb temperature and relative humidity. Simulation results show that that Organic Rankine Cycle performance can be sensitive to the seasonal and daily variation of the ambient conditions.


Recently a new cavitation model has been proposed in which bubble formation in aqueous media in initiated by spherical gas nuclei stabilized by surface-active membranes of varying gas permeability. In previous application of the varying permeability model, good agreement has been obtained with experimental limits in pressure reduction for gelatin, rats, and humans following steady-state exposures. We new extend this investigation to fingerling salmon and demonstrate that a satisfactory description of the decompression data of D' Aoust et al. (Undersea Biomed Res 1980; 7:199-209) is provided by the model with parameter values that are similar to those found for other physical and biological systems. This adds further evidence for the generally of the model as well as for the importance of bubble nucleation as the primary and controlling event in decompression sickness.


Author(s): Gonina, Ekaterina | Advisor(s): Keutzer, Kurt | Abstract: Developing efficient parallel implementations and fully utilizing the available resources of parallel platforms is now required for software applications to scale to new generations of processors. Yet, parallel programming remains challeng- ing to programmers due to the requisite low-level knowledge of the underlying hardware and parallel computing constructs. Developing applications that effec- tively utilize parallel hardware is restricted by poor programmer productivity, low-level implementation requirements, and limited portability of the application code. These restrictions in turn impede experimentation with various algorithmic approaches for a given application. Currently, the programming world is divided into two types of programmers: application writers who focus on designing and prototyping applications and algorithms, and efficiency programmers who focus on extracting performance for particular compute kernels. The gap between these two types of programmers is referred to as "the implementation gap".In this dissertation, we present a software environment that aims to bridge the implementation gap and enable application writers to productively utilize parallel hardware by reusing the work of efficiency programmers. Specifically, we present PyCASP, a Python-based software framework that automatically maps Python application code to a variety of parallel platforms. PyCASP is an application- domain-specific framework that uses a systematic, pattern-oriented approach to offer a single productive software development environment for application writ- ers. PyCASP targets audio content analysis applications, but our methodology is designed to be applicable to any application domain. Using PyCASP, appli- cations can be prototyped in Python code and our environment enables them to automatically scale their performance to modern parallel processors such as GPUs, multicore CPUs and compute clusters. We use the Selective Embedded JIT Specialization (SEJITS) mechanism to realize the pattern-based design of PyCASP in software. We use SEJITS to implement PyCASP's components and to enable automatic parallelization of specific audio content analysis application patterns on a variety of parallel hardware. By focusing on one application domain, we enable efficient composition of computations using three structural patterns: MapReduce, Iterator and Pipe-and-Filter.To illustrate our approach, we study a set of four example audio content anal- ysis applications that are architected and implemented using PyCASP: a speaker verification system, a speaker diarization system, a music recommendation sys- tem and a video event detection system. We describe the detailed implementa- tion of two computational components of PyCASP: a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) component and a Support Vector Machine (SVM) component and their use in implementing the example applications. We also analyze composition of computations using the three structural patterns and implement the available optimizations for composing computations in audio analysis applications.We evaluate our approach with results on productivity and performance using the two computational components and the four example applications. Our re- sults illustrate that we can prototype the full-functioning applications in Python using 10 − 60× less lines of code than equivalent implementations using low-level languages. Our PyCASP components and example applications achieve and of- ten exceed the efficiency of comparable hand-tuned low-level implementations. In addition to specialization, adding the optimizations for composing components in these applications can give up to 30% performance improvement. We show that applications written using PyCASP can be run on multiple parallel hard- ware backends with little or no application code change. PyCASP also enables applications to scale from one desktop GPU to a cluster of GPUs with little pro- grammer effort. Combining all of the specialization and composition techniques, our example applications are able to automatically achieve 50-1000× faster-than- real-time performance on both multi-core CPU and GPU platforms and 15.5× speedup on 16-node cluster of GPUs showing near-optimal scaling.


[ 1] This study develops a framework for modeling deformation of individual pores in elastoviscoplastic earth material accounting for the effects of evolving pore size and shape on material hydraulic permeability. We describe the velocity field of a fluid within deforming pores of hypotrochoidal cross-sectional areas as a function of remote stress or deformation and elastoviscoplastic material properties using finite element analysis. We find that pore permeability decreases with increasing stress and deformation. Pore cross-sectional areas are mainly reduced in size while the shape remains constant. Under stress-controlled conditions, change in permeability depends on matrix constitutive laws and loading time while there is no such dependency for controlled strain. Permeability estimates based on the hydraulic radius, Saint-Venant, and Aissen approximations were in good agreement with numerical calculations for a deforming hypotrochoidal pore. We also show that permeability of a deforming hypotrochoidal pore can be modeled using a pore with equivalent elliptical cross-sectional area ( equal initial permeability and size), providing the ellipse has the correct orientation. The study shows that fluid flow in deforming elastoviscoplastic earth material can be modeled on the pore scale knowing the evolution of pore size and shape employing rather simple relations between pore cross-sectional geometry and permeability.


We examine the role that interference plays in quantum state transfer through several types of finite spin chains, including chains with isotropic Heisenberg interaction between nearest neighbors, chains with reduced coupling constants to the spins at the end of the chain, and chains with anisotropic coupling constants. We evaluate quantitatively both the interference corresponding to the propagation of the entire chain and the interference in the effective propagation of the first and last spins only, treating the rest of the chain as a black box. We show that perfect quantum state transfer is possible without quantum interference and provide evidence that the spin chains examined realize interference-free quantum state transfer to a good approximation.


Cognitive diagnostic analyses have been advocated as methods that allow an assessment to function as a formative assessment to inform instruction. To use this approach, it is necessary to first identify the skills required for each item in the test, known as a Q-matrix. However, because the construct being tested and the underlying cognitive processes associated with it are usually not fully understood, establishing a Q-matrix, especially for an existing test, is a challenging task. This study reports the process of constructing and validating a Q-matrix for the reading comprehension section of the Michigan English Language Assessment Battery (MELAB). An initial Q-matrix was first generated based on evidence gathered from related literature, students' think-aloud protocols, and expert ratings. This initial Q-matrix was then validated empirically by applying the fusion model to a large MELAB data set. A well-supported Q-matrix was produced for potential future diagnostic applications.


A 32-channel time-resolved optical imaging instrument has been developed principally to study functional parameters of the new-born infant brain. As a prelude to studies on infants, the device and image reconstruction methodology have been evaluated on the adult human forearm. Cross-sectional images were generated using time-resolved measurements of transmitted light at two wavelengths. All data were acquired using a fully automated computer-controlled protocol. Images representing the internal scattering and absorbing properties of the arm are presented, as well as images that reveal physiological changes during a simple finger flexion exercise. The results presented in this paper represent the first simultaneous tomographic reconstruction of the internal scattering and absorbing properties of a clinical subject using purely temporal data, with additional co-registered difference images showing repeatable absorption changes at two wavelengths in response to exercise.


In the past few years, quantum computing and machine learning fostered rapid developments in their respective areas of application, introducing new perspectives on how information processing systems can be realized and programmed. The rapidly growing field of quantum machine learning aims at bringing together these two ongoing revolutions. Here, we first review a series of recent works describing the implementation of artificial neurons and feedforward neural networks on quantum processors. We then present an original realization of efficient individual quantum nodes based on variational unsampling protocols. We investigate different learning strategies involving global and local layerwise cost functions, and we assess their performances also in the presence of statistical measurement noise. While keeping full compatibility with the overall memory-efficient feedforward architecture, our constructions effectively reduce the quantum circuit depth required to determine the activation probability of single neurons upon input of the relevant data-encoding quantum states. This suggests a viable approach toward the use of quantum neural networks for pattern classification on near-term quantum hardware.


There are several differentiation methods for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into hepatocyte-like cell. Investigators reported various hepatic differentiation protocols such as modifying culturing conditions or using various growth factors/cytokines. In this literature review, we compared different MSCs extraction and isolation protocols from Wharton's jelly (WJ) and explored various MSCs differentiation methods. Various protocols have been recommended for MSCs isolated from WJ, such as enzymatic, enzymatic-explant, and explant methods. In the explant method, valuable time is wasted, but the cost and biological contaminations are reduced and the number of isolated cells is high. However, other features, such as immune phenotype and multiline-age differentiation capacity, do not differ from other methods. There are also several differentiation methods for hepatocyte-like cell including the induction of MSC by cytokines and growth factors, and the differentiation of MSC in 2- and 3-dimensional matrix (2D and 3D). Among several cytokines, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) are essential. In the early stage of the differentiation, 2D culture is useful, and in the development stage, 3D culture system with HGF and FGF cytokines are more effective in the process of differentiation. Some studies have used 3D culture system in biocompatible scaffolds, such as alginate, collagen, gelatin, and peptide-Gly-Leu-amide (PGLA). In conclusion, Wharton's jelly-Mesenchymal stem cells (WJ-MSCs) can be considered as an appropriate source for hepatocyte differentiation. Moreover, we introduced the explant method as the most effective protocol. This review attempted to highlight factors in hepatocyte differentiation, but the most effective protocol is not still unknown.


The paper presents the results of the transmission electron microscopic (TEM) investigation of the structure and phase composition of nanocrystalline copper obtained by the severe plastic deformation using the high pressure torsion (HPT) method. Special attention is paid to the triple junctions of grain boundaries. It was established that the triple junctions contained the partial disclinations and particles of the secondary phases. The dependences of such junction fractions on the deformation were measured of the formation at nanocrystalline copper. The phase analyses of the secondary phase structure were carried out, the sizes of the phase particles and their volume fractions were determined. The bending – torsion of the crystal lattice arising near the triple junctions was measured. The problem of the long – range stress field screening was considered.


Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) potentiates the inhibition of cortical neurons by gamma-aminobutyric acid. This effect is specific, since ethanol does not potentiate inhibiton by glycine, serotonin, or dopamine. These results have implications for alcoholism because (i) gamma-aminobutyric acid mediates anxiolytic mechanisms, and (ii) anxiety is implicated in the etiology of alcoholism.


This paper describes a new kind of general-purpose microprocessor: the hybrid runtime reconfigurable/parallel X4CP32. It consists of 2 programming levels, based on a hierarchic array of easily and quickly reconfigurable entities. It brings a new concept of runtime reconfiguration and programming, which is its main strength. Although it is effective in heavy arithmetic applications, it is suited for virtually any task an application can demand, presenting a solid option for a general-purpose microprocessor.


Methyl bromide (MB) is the major soil fumigant in use worldwide and is highly effective in controlling a variety of soilborne pests, especially in intensive crops. However, due to its role in the depletion of the ozone layer, international agreement has been reached calling for its reduced consumption and complete phasing out by the year 2005 in developed countries. Hence there is a need to develop means of immediately reducing its dosage and consumption and to find alternatives to replace it. One way of reducing MB dosages without reducing its effectiveness in pest control can be achieved by using plastic sheets which are less impermeable to MB, thus delaying its escape to the atmosphere. Reduced dosages can also be achieved by improving technology of application and combining MB with other methods of control. Many potential and existing nonchemical and chemical alternatives to MB are available, but none can totally replace MB under all circumstances. Since MB affects a wide spectrum of pest control, integrated pest management (IPM) approach is called for. IPM aims at integrating all available, effective and environmentally acceptable methods of management, using them only when necessary while considering the environmental, social, economic and legal requirements with every alternative. Combing methods of control has many advantages and frequently results in improved control. Knowledge regarding the alternatives that will be developed has to be disseminated and transferred, and to this end, education and extension tools need to be further developed, in order to ascertain that the new alternatives are appropriately introduced for farmer's use.


1. ADP, ATP and GDP inhibited the phosphotransferase activity, the release of cyclic nucleotides from RNA, of ribonuclease. No significant inhibition was elicited by pyrimidine 5'-nucleoside diphosphates, CDP and UDP. 2. Inhibition by ADP, AMP, adenosine, adenine, NAD and NADP was insignificant at the concentrations tested. Small inhibition was observed with high concentrations of AMP and only when soluble RNA was the substrate. 3. Inhibition by ADP was found to be ;uncompetitive'. 4. Results seem to indicate that at least for optimum inhibition the polyphosphate of the purine nucleoside is essential. They further suggest that the inhibitor acts by combining with the enzyme only when the enzyme is bound to the substrate.


Synovial fluid of patients with different inflammatory and metabolic joint diseases contains low-molecular CPIs (stefins and cystatins) and high-molecular CPIs (kininogens). An additional inhibitory fragment with a molecular mass of about 20 kDa, which is a part of the kininogen molecule, has been detected. Cathepsin B and cystatin C were determined by ELISA test in 47 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, seronegative spondylarthritis, osteoarthritis, undifferentiated arthritis and gout. A significantly higher amount of cathepsin B was found in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The elevation of cathepsin B was accompanied by an increased amount of cystatin C.


Abstract: Linear algebra allows us to start understanding basic linear systems with use of matrices and vectors. Linear algebra is the branch of mathematics concerned with the study of vectors, vector spaces (also called linear spaces), linear maps (also called linear transformations), and systems of linear equations. Vector spaces are a central theme in modern mathematics; thus, linear algebra is widely used in both abstract algebra and functional analysis. Linear algebra also has a concrete representation in analytic geometry and it is generalized in operator theory. It has extensive applications in the natural sciences and the social sciences, since nonlinear models can often be approximated by linear ones.


Socially just, intergenerational urban spaces should not only accommodate children and adolescents, but engage them as participants in the planning and design of welcoming spaces. With this goal, city agencies in Boulder, Colorado, the Boulder Valley School District, the Children, Youth and Environments Center at the University of Colorado, and a number of community organizations have been working in partnership to integrate young people's ideas and concerns into the redesign of parks and civic areas and the identification of issues for city planning. Underlying their work is a commitment to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and children's rights to active citizenship from a young age. This paper describes approaches used to engage with young people and methods of participation, and reflects on lessons learned about how to most effectively involve youth from underrepresented populations and embed diverse youth voices into the culture of city planning.


Chip Multi-Processors are quickly growing to dozens and potentially hundreds of cores, and as such the design of the interconnect for on chip resources has become an important field of study. Of the available topologies, tiled mesh networks are an appealing approach in tiled CMPs, as they are relatively simple and scale fairly well. The area has seen recent focus on optimizing network on chip routers for performance as well as power and area efficiency. One major cost of initial designs has been their power and area consumption, and recent research into bufferless routing has attempted to counter this by entirely removing the buffers in the routers, showing substantial decreases in NoC energy consumption. However, this research has shown that at high network loads, the energy benefits of bufferless schemes are vastly outweighed by performance degradation. When evaluated with pessimistic traffic patterns, the proposed router designs significantly increase network delays in last level cache traffic, and can lower the throughput of the system significantly. We evaluate these router designs as one component of the entire memory hierarchy design. They are evaluated alongside simple cache mapping mechanisms designed to reduce the need for cross-chip network traffic, as well as packet prioritization mechanisms proposed for high performance. We conclude, based on our evaluations, that with intelligent, locality-aware mapping of data to on-chip cache slices, bufferless network performance can get very close to buffered network performance. Locality-aware data mapping also significantly increases the network power advantage of bufferless routers over buffered ones.


Just two hundred years ago, on April 15th, 1755, there was published, in two large folio volumes, one of the greatest of English books, A Dictionary of the English Language, by Samuel Johnson, A.M., issued, after the manner of the time, by a group of shareholding book‐sellers, or, as we should call them, publishers, the Knaptons, the Longmans, Hitch and Hawes, Millar, and the Dodsleys. Such a single‐handed work can hardly ever have been seen. The French forty Immortals of the Academy had taken forty years over their dictionary of the French language; Johnson proposed to take three (he actually took about seven) over his, a comparison which provided him with material for a sportive equation of an Englishman to a Frenchman being as three is to forty multiplied by forty, i.e., 1,600.


Although surgery for fractured neck of femur is the highest risk among commonly performed surgery in medicine, there are very few data investigating treatment strategies to reduce the risk in this elderly and frail group of patients. Bedside echocardiography may be an useful tool to stratify surgical risk and optimize anesthesiology strategy. Echocardiography may help to assess a patient's intravascular volume status, myocardial contractility/ventricular ejection fraction and valvular heart disease in the peri-operative period. Careful patient selection based on multidisciplinary approach for pre-operative echocardiography is important to avoid unnecessary delay to surgery and at the same time to manage high risk conditions that may negatively affect the outcome of hip surgery. Larger studies are needed to establish the cost effectiveness of such approach.


Abstract Corporate social responsibility (CSR) replaces causes of the current crisis by principles of accountability, transparency, ethics, and respect for organizational stakeholders, the law, international standards, and human rights (International Organization for Standardization, 2010). Interdependence and a holistic approach link them and CSR's core contents. We examined if Slovene companies involve all seven CSR core contents of ISO 26000 (CSR to employees, customers, local community, environment, human rights, ethical behavior, and leadership). The analysis united three of them—CSR to employees, ethical behavior, and human rights—into CSR leadership to employees.


This paper reports on the effect of coolant temperature on machining of high carbon steels. The development of a cooling system to reduce the temperature of water soluble coolant to 7.9 o C from ambient temperature was employed in this work to improve the machining performance. The experiments were performed using cooled and ambient temperatures by employing Taguchi L 18 orthogonal array to design the experimental runs. The cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut were the machining parameters used; while the tool-work piece interface temperature was monitored using a digital thermometer with k-type thermocouple wire. The selected control factors are material removal rate and surface roughness. The experimental results were analyzed using Minitab 16. The main effects and percentage contributions of various parameters affecting surface roughness and material removal rate were discussed, and the optimal cutting conditions were determined. It was observed that surface finish improved by 65% with the use of the developed cooled system. The reduction in coolant temperature played a vital role in improving surface finish during machining high carbon steels.


This tutorial paper is concerned with the design of macroscopic bioreaction models on the basis a quantitative analysis of the underlying cell metabolism. The paper starts with a review of two fundamental algebraic techniques for the quantitative analysis of metabolic networks : (i) the decomposition of complex metabolic networks into elementary pathways (or elementary modes), (ii) the metabolic flux analysis which aims at computing the entire intracellular flux distribution from a limited number of flux measurements. Then it is discussed how these two fundamental techniques can be exploited to design minimal bioreaction models by using a systematic model reduction approach that automatically produces a family of equivalent minimal models which are fully compatible with the underlying metabolism and consistent with the available experimental data. The theory is illustrated with an experimental case-study on CHO cells.


Divorce is an ancient institution of marital law that was born shortly after marriage. This institution is known by ancient laws, as well as by contemporary laws. In Kosovo the issue of divorce is regulated by Family Law. This law addresses besides principle divorce issues (divorce modalities, initiative and decision-making subjects, proceedings etc.), as well as the causes of divorces. Such issues, in an identical manner are regulated also by Turkish Civil Code. Modest results of this scientific paper indicate the fact that the issue of divorce in Kosovo constitutes a complicated and a relatively wide extent phenomenon. Consequently, in Kosovo society of these past five years (2010 – 2014) were recorded 6388 divorce cases. Divorce cases have manifested a different presence degree observing this in the context of causes determining this harmful phenomenon. Divorce whenever and wherever happens it causes numerous social and psychological consequences etc. which significantly hit spouses, their children but also society in general. During the preparation of this scientific paper we used historical-legal, legal, comparative, statistical and sampling methods.


Survival and mortality of extensive hill ewes are important commercial factors and valuable indicators of welfare, but difficult to study. Body condition scoring is a tried-and-tested management and monitoring tool which has been defined as a good predictor of fitness in ewes and is easily measured under hill farm conditions. This paper presents the results of a study on ewe survival rates in hill conditions in Scotland. Ewe performance and survival rates were measured in two contrasting hill flocks over a five-year period. Statistical analysis showed that mid-pregnancy body condition score was the most reliable indicator of subsequent ewe survival, followed closely by age of the ewe and environmental and management conditions. This study confirms that there are considerable welfare issues related to hill flocks and that improved winter nutritional management is a key component to good welfare and productivity. It also reinforces the view that body condition score is a good quantitative predictor of animal welfare and that poor mid-winter score indicates high risk of mortality, both at the flock and individual ewe level.


Angiolymphoid hyperplasia with eosinophilia (ALHE) is an uncommon idiopathic proliferation of blood vessels that manifests in adults as isolated or grouped papules, plaques, or nodules in the skin of the head and neck. We describe the case of a 31‐year‐old woman with a 3‐year history of persistent ALHE, located on the tragus of her right ear, with no sign of spontaneous regression over a period of 3–6 months and refractory to intralesional corticosteroids. We report the successful use of the Nd:YAG laser for this condition, which offered excellent symptomatic and cosmetic results and suggests the consideration of this modality in the treatment of ALHE.


The new coronavirus, formed a clade within the subgenus Orthocoronavirinae, sarbecovirus subfamily. The first time these cases were published they were classified as "pneumonia of unknown etiology." The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local CDCs organized an intensive outbreak investigation program. The etiology of this illness is now attributed to a novel virus belonging to the coronavirus (CoV) family, Covid-19. The pandemic caused by a novel virus strain Covid-19, approaches 7,734,000 cases with 429,000 fatalities in 215 countries worldwide. Moreover, a solid second wave in some countries, in cases exceeding the first, ensures that from the clinical range details of the disease, new diagnostics, prevention and treatment strategies remain in the process of development. Unfortunately, for future epidemics insufficient research leading up to purported species-species viral transmission (VT) is disastrous. What we know is VT are more frequently episodic, yet always assume a systemic closed biology. However, this may be a faulty discipline assumption since the increasing episodic nature of viral transmission bears scrutiny on potential physiographicclimactic links. These in turn are open to geological-geogenic connections with regards to terrain biology and ecology. The entire biological cycle of the virus and host, together with the evolution of the epidemic, (most specifically identifying when the epidemic will reach its peak), is unknown, as are repositories of the next epidemic strains, or to such links. The entire environmental etiology of the CoV family is unsettled. Terrain-controlled genomic studies in soil geo-microbiology plus invertebrate Medical Geology for higher species-species transmissions studies are recommended. This may extend the viral genomic phylogenetic trees beyond the species-species barriers and provide diversity of potential future impacts. Geologists have not yet considered the possibility of this virus spreading by air, water, and earth. The discipline of Medical Geology can translate this enigmatic situation using its potential to understand the planet and human-animal (health) relationships. One aim of this type of study is to better understand potential 'dormant genomic' repositories of outbreaks, susceptible to such triggers and potential spread of those repositories, together with potential geogenic terrain factors like closed space and triggers. The question then: are future epidemic risks amenable to forecast from identifiable triggers? Of immediate concern, integrated research on closed spaces favorable or not to virus transmission subject to certification. We are opening diversity research in viral Medical Geology studies, as a new discipline. Currently, there appears to be an urgent need for society to be educated on how to exist in a world with the Covid-19 virus whilst simultaneously preventing the spread of the pandemic. However, it is obviously not enough to impose physical distancing among people, isolation of patients, coughing "vampire" style into your elbow or continuing the usage of hand disinfectants and hand washing. The goal of this most recent work is to present the values of VT (ie: viral transmission) as a reference for individuals (VTi) as well as for closed spaces where people will be present (VTcs). We have presented a unique mathematical model, which is unprecedented. It analyzes four key parameters in the propagation of Covid-19. The VTi in selected enclosed spaces (VTcs) was calculated according to the mathematical algorithm proposed by Prof. Dr. Luis CRUZ RODRIGUEZ. The Covid-19 pandemic led to not only the public health crisis but also combined with a global recession in the world. Here we have proposed a Certificate of prolonged safety in enclosed areas such as in buildings or with modes of transportation: Control of the viral transmission of Covid-19. Our aim of this is to better understand potential dormant repositories of outbreaks and potential spread of those repositories, together with potential geological-geogenic terrain factors in closed space and their triggers. Integrated research on closed spaces favorable or not to virus transmission subject to certification along with opening diversity research in viral Medical Geology studies, as a new discipline is anticipated.


A classical problem in analytic number theory is to study the distribution of αp modulo 1, where α is irrational and p runs over the set of primes. We consider the subsequence generated by the primes p such that p+2 is an almost-prime (the existence of infinitely many such p is another topical result in prime number theory) and prove that its distribution has a similar property.


BACKGROUND
The curcumin-C3 (cur-C3) complex obtained from Curcuma longa rhizome is a combination of three curcuminoids, namely, curcumin, dimethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin. Cur and curcuminoids have been extensively researched for their wide range of therapeutic properties against inflammatory diseases, diabetes, and cancer.

OBJECTIVE
In spite of their extensive medicinal properties, cur and curcuminoids have poor solubility and bioavailability due to their hydrophobicity. This limitation can be overcome by complexing cur-C3 with natural cyclic oligosaccharides, such as Cyclodextrin (CD).

METHODS
In this study, cur-C3 and CD (α, β) inclusion complexes (ICs) were prepared with different molar ratios and characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy.

RESULTS
The cur-C3 cyclodextrin ICs showed an increased entrapment efficiency of 97.8% and improved antioxidant activity compared to cur and can be used as an antioxidant to reduce cancer-related oxidative stress. Additionally, α-CD ICs of curcumin-C3 caused an increase in growth inhibition of Staphylococcus aureus.

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that both α- and β-CDs are suitable carriers for cur-C3 and can be used as an effective treatment for cancer-associated oxidative stress and as a preventive treatment for nosocomial infections and pneumonia.


Impulsive delayed reward discounting (DRD) is an important behavioral process in alcohol use disorders (AUDs), reflecting incapacity to delay gratification. Recent work in neuroeconomics has begun to unravel the neural mechanisms supporting DRD, but applications of neuroeconomics in relation to AUDs have been limited. This study examined the neural mechanisms of DRD preferences in AUDs, with emphasis on dissociating activation patterns based on DRD choice type and level of cognitive conflict. Heavy drinking adult men with (n = 13) and without (n = 12) a diagnosis of an AUD completed a monetary DRD task during a functional magnetic resonance imaging scan. Participant responses were coded based on choice type (impulsive versus restrained) and level of cognitive conflict (easy versus hard). AUD+ participants exhibited significantly more impulsive DRD decision‐making. Significant activation during DRD was found in several decision‐making regions, including dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), insula, posterior parietal cortex (PPC), and posterior cingulate. An axis of cognitive conflict was also observed, with hard choices associated with anterior cingulate cortex and easy choices associated with activation in supplementary motor area. AUD+ individuals exhibited significant hyperactivity in regions associated with cognitive control (DLPFC) and prospective thought (PPC) and exhibited less task‐related deactivation of areas associated with the brain's default network during DRD decisions. This study provides further clarification of the brain systems supporting DRD in general and in relation to AUDs.


Can liberals be tolerant? Should they be? Liberalism is about liberty, surely, and liberty means freedom for people to say and do – more, or less, to be sure – as they choose. Freedom of speech, in particular, might seem at the heart of liberalism. Liberalism is surely identified with ideals of political freedom and self-government, which pre-suppose freedom of speech and debate on public questions.

Yet in recent years there has clearly been a counter-trend, if not a wave, of opposition to free thought and free speech from people and institutions usually accounted liberal. Universities and colleges – supposedly citadels of free inquiry – are an epicentre of this: "islands of repression", as they began to be described some decades ago, in what was then – perhaps optimistically – thought to be, and sure to remain, an off-campus "sea of freedom". The jargon of campus intolerance is now familiar: micro-aggressions, safe spaces, trigger warnings, "no-platforming". Speakers are shouted down or physically attacked at campus forums, or disinvited before they arrive. Ideas, views, and facts that challenge or differ from now-compulsory campus opinion, "liberal" opinion, are condemned as "hate speech". As one chastened liberal writer observes, these are not "just a bunch of weird, unfortunate events that somehow keep happening over and over", nor "a series of one-off episodes. They are carrying out the ideals of a movement that regards the deligitimization of dissent as a first-order goal".

A similar spirit of intolerance, moreover, is evidently spreading in the "sea of freedom" beyond the precincts of academia, including in parts of corporate America.

Perhaps all this is merely a deviation from liberalism? Two twentieth century thinkers and historians of ideas, Isaiah Berlin and Jacob Talmon, suggest darker or at least more complicated possibilities.

Isaiah Berlin famously suggested that there are two concepts of liberty: "negative freedom" and "positive freedom". Negative liberty is freedom from coercion by other people. But positive liberty is self-government, being one's own master. These two ideas might seem very similar. Yet, as Berlin explains, "the 'positive' and 'negative' notions of freedom historically developed in divergent directions not always by logically reputable steps, until in the end, they came into direct conflict with each other."

Jacob Talmon, somewhat less widely known than Isaiah Berlin, distinguished liberal or empirical democracy on the one hand, and political messianism or totalitarian democracy on the other.

Both Berlin and Talmon, writing in the mid-20th century, were preoccupied, at least in part, with possible sources of Communist doctrine and practice: the ideology and policy of dictatorships which then dominated much of the world. Perhaps paradoxically, the disappearance of the Soviet Union may now have given a new lease on life to intolerant dogma and to conduct – on campus and off – reminiscent of Communist politics.

This article tries to show the strengths, and also some weaknesses, in Isaiah Berlin's and Jacob Talmon's ideas about positive liberty and totalitarian democracy: and particularly in Berlin's and Talmon's efforts to differentiate these potentially tyrannical liberal ideas from right-wing or reactionary authoritarianism.

Surely, liberal or empirical democracy, and the freedom and tolerance associated with negative liberty, have been the exception, not the rule, in world history. There is reason to think they may now be more fragile than they might seem to people accustomed to taking them for granted.


A disposable, magnetism-controlled, and amperometric immunosensor was fabricated for the determination of C reactive protein (CRP). Firstly, Fe3O4 (core)/Au (shell) nanoparticle (GMP)–coated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT–GMP) were prepared. Then, monoclonal antibody (anti-CRP) was immobilized on MWCNT–GMP to prepare MWCNT–GMP/anti-CRP composite magnetic probes. At last, the probes was adsorbed on the surface of N,N''-bis-(2-hydroxy-methylene)-o-phenylenediamine cobalt (CoRb) modified, screen-printed carbon electrodes through external magnetic field.The amount of CRP in the serum sample was determined by one-step immunoassay. When different concentrations of CRP were added into25μL of phosphate-buffered solution (pH7.0) containing10-4M H2O2, the percentage of DPV cathodic peak current decrease (CR%) exhibited a linear relationship with the concentration of CRP in the range of 0.3–100 μg L-1.The detection limit was 0.16 μg L-1(3б).The immunosensor was used to determine CRP in serum samples of patients with heart diseases, and the results were consistent with those of the traditional ELISA method. The proposed amperometric immunosensor was sensitive, rapid, magnetic field–controlled, and disposable; therefore, it could be used to determine even traces of CRP in the blood serums of patients with heart diseases.


OBJECTIVE
To describe patients' perceptions of minimum worthwhile and desired reductions in pain and disability upon commencing treatment for chronic low back pain.

DESIGN AND SETTING
Descriptive study nested within a community-based randomized controlled trial on prolotherapy injections and exercises.

PATIENTS
A total of 110 participants with chronic low back pain. Interventions. Prior to treatment, participants were asked what minimum percentage reductions in pain and disability would make treatment worthwhile and what percentage reductions in pain and disability they desired with treatment.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Minimum worthwhile reductions and desired reductions in pain and disability.

RESULTS
Median (inter-quartile range) minimum worthwhile reductions were 25% (20%, 50%) for pain and 35% (20%, 50%) for disability. This compared with desired reductions of 80% (60%, 100%) for pain and 80% (50%, 100%) for disability. The internal consistency between pain and disability responses was high (Spearman's coefficient of association of 0.81 and 0.87, respectively). A significant association existed between minimum worthwhile reductions and desired reductions, but no association was found between these two factors and patient age, gender, pain severity or duration, disability, anxiety, depression, response to treatment, or treatment satisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS
Inquiring directly about patients' expectations of reductions in pain and in disability is important in establishing realistic treatment goals and setting benchmarks for success. There is a wide disparity between the reductions that they regard as minimum worthwhile and reductions that they hope to achieve. However, there is a high internal consistency between reductions in pain and disability that they expect.


This paper presents a transmission expansion planning (TEP) model which coordinates investment decisions in monopolistic transmission and decentralized generator sectors. The proposed planning approach gauges transmission congestion and security constraints with respect to transmission investments while promoting investments on independent power produces (IPPs) through incentive payments. The paper includes discussions on incentive mechanisms and prioritization among qualified IPPs for several planning scenarios. Such incentives might be necessary to trigger investments on IPPs earlier than those projected by the decentralized generation system, when the power system security is threatened. The proposed planning approach would optimize the sum of transmission investments, incentive payments to IPPs, and congestion costs along the planning horizon. The case studies illustrate how the proposed planning algorithm could be utilized in order to determine incentive payments to candidate generators when necessary, and prioritize such incentives among multiple IPP candidates.


In endometrial cancer, occult high-risk subtypes (rooted in histomorphologically low-risk disease) with insensitivity to adjuvant therapies impede improvements in therapeutic efficacy. Therefore, we aimed to assess the ability of molecular high-risk (MHR) and low-risk (MLR) ECPPF (E2F1, CCNA2, POLE, PPP2R1A, FBXW7) stratification to profile recurrence in early, low-risk endometrioid endometrial cancer (EEC) and insensitivity to platinum-based chemotherapy or radiotherapy (or both) in high-risk EEC. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas endometrial cancer database, we identified 192 EEC cases with available DNA sequencing and RNA expression data. Molecular parameters were integrated with clinicopathologic risk factors and adverse surveillance events. MHR was defined as high (-H) CCNA2 or E2F1 log2 expression (≥2.75), PPP2R1A mutations (-mu), or FBXW7mu; MLR was defined as low (-L) CCNA2 and E2F1 log2 expression (<2.75). We assessed 164 cases, plus another 28 with POLEmu for favorable-outcomes comparisons. MHR and MLR had significantly different progression-free survival (PFS) rates (P < .001), independent of traditional risk factors (eg, TP53mu), except for stage IV disease. PFS of CCNA2-L/E2F1-L paralleled that of POLEmu. ECPPF status stratified responses to adjuvant therapy in stage III-IV EEC (P < .01) and profiled stage I, grade 1–2 cases with risk of recurrence (P < .001). MHR was associated with CTNNB1mu-linked treatment failures (P < .001). Expression of homologous recombination repair (HR) and cell cycle genes was significantly elevated in CCNA2-H/E2F1-H compared with CCNA2-L/E2F1-L (P<1.0E-10), suggesting that HR deficiencies may underlie the favorable PFS in MLR. HRmu were detected in 20.7%. No treatment failures were observed in high-grade or advanced EEC with HRmu (P = .02). Favorable PFS in clinically high-risk EEC was associated with HRmu and MLR ECPPF (P < .001). In summary, MLR ECPPF and HRmu were associated with therapeutic efficacy in EEC. MHR ECPPF was associated with low-risk, early-stage recurrences and insensitivity to adjuvant therapies.


The underlying principles of the free software movement have always been idealistic or even political. The open source movement on the other hand, is more pragmatic in their attempts to promote open source software (OSS). Employees belonging to these movements often advocate the use of OSS in their organization. Hence, decision making in organizations on the adoption of OSS may exhibit certain idealistic characteristics. A recent study has shown that American organizations are quite pragmatic about the adoption decision on OSS. We investigate whether similar results will be obtained in circumstances in which there is more opportunity for idealistic behavior. Therefore, we have conducted ten case studies in Belgian organizations on the organizational adoption of OSS. Our results are largely consistent with previous studies, although some differences were discovered. Idealistic behavior with respect to the adoption of OSS only seems to manifest itself in very small organizations.


Nowadays organizations realize the importance of IT investments. Until now the focus has been mainly directed at the development of information systems for gathering data. Now the collected data need to be analyzed. Business intelligence systems (BI) are becoming more popular, because they offer platforms with capabilities far beyond traditional querying and static reporting. Solutions are continuously being updated to take full advantage of hardware capabilities. Growth of technology offers "in memory" OLAP implementations to improve their analytical response times.
The goal of this thesis is to present QlikView, show its innovative data model based on associative query logic (AQL) and to build an application for finance controlling.
At the beginning classical OLAP approach and its architecture is described. Its main problems are exposed and alternative solutions with "in memory" analysis described. The main part of this thesis is dedicated to QlikView. Some of its most powerful features are introduced. Later on theory about dashboards is included as they are indispensable in every business intelligence application. QlikView server architecture provides opportunity for clients to connect and analyze data no matter what operating system they are running on. With QlikView Publisher highly integrated security can be provided, while reloaded and authorized data can be distributed to the end users. The last part of thesis defines the structure for account schedules, which are necessary for displaying the main charts in application for finance controlling. With the dashboard design the big advantage of using the set analysis feature is also demonstrated. The thesis concludes with the short forecast and improvements plan for the application and QlikView.


Mental retardation is an impairment of in-teflect in which the intelligence quotient is less than 85. It is a symptom which has more than 100 known causes. Mental retardation should be diagnosed early in life. There are many specific conditions for which therapy is available and many less specific contributing causes which may be obviated by sound medical care. Many of these are reviewed. Since 90% of retarded children will remain in the community, suggestions for management of the child and the problems of the family were in-cluded. The function of the special clinic for retarded children was briefly stated. Early separation of the child from the family was discouraged, and the principal reasons for long-term residential care were stated.


We consider a sparse random network of excitatory leaky integrate-andfire neurons with short-term synaptic depression. Furthermore to mimic the dynamics of a brain circuit in its first stages of development we introduce for each neuron correlations among in-degree and out-degree as well as among excitability and the corresponding total degree, We analyze the influence of single neuron stimulation and deletion on the collective dynamics of the network. We show the existence of a small group of neurons capable of controlling and even silencing the bursting activity of the network. These neurons form a functional clique since only their activation in a precise order and within specific time windows is capable to ignite population bursts.


This paper considers how organizational practices facilitate and inhibit the social inclusion of Muslim women in a community sport setting. A case study of social inclusion practices in an Australian community sport organization (CSO) was built through interviews, focus groups, secondary data, and documentary evidence. Drawing on the work of Bailey (2005, 2008) the analysis employed a social inclusion framework comprised of spatial, functional, relational, and power dimensions. Findings indicated that there are a range of practices which facilitate social inclusion. Paradoxically, some of the practices that contributed to social inclusion at the club for Muslim women resulted in social exclusion for non-Muslim women. Examining each practice from multiple perspectives provided by the social inclusion framework allowed a thorough analysis to be made of the significance of each practice to the social inclusion of Muslim women at the club. Implications for social inclusion research and sport management practice are discussed.


PURPOSE
To investigate the efficacy and safety of oral ondansetron in the control of cisplatin-induced delayed emesis in patients who do not require rescue antiemetic therapy for acute emesis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Five hundred thirty-eight chemotherapy-naive patients who received cisplatin chemotherapy (> or = 70 mg/m2), and who were not rescued for acute emesis, were eligible to be randomized to receive one of the three oral regimens to control delayed emesis. Group I received placebo on days 2 to 6; group II received ondansetron 8 mg twice daily on days 2 and 3 and placebo on days 4 to 6; group III received ondansetron 8 mg twice daily on days 2 to 6. All patients received intravenous ondansetron (0.15 mg/kg every 4 hours for three doses) for the control of acute emesis on day 1. The number of emetic episodes on days 2 and 3 combined (days 2/3, when incidence and severity of delayed emesis were expected to be greatest) was considered the primary measure of efficacy.

RESULTS
Patients who received odansetron had significantly fewer emetic episodes on days 2/3, 4, and 5 than those who received placebo (P < or = .002 on each day). Additionally, significantly more patients who received ondansetron had a complete plus major response (C+MR; < or = two two emetic episodes) than those who received placebo on days 2/3 (56% v 37%, P = .001), 4 (94% v 85%, P = .005), and 5 (98% v 88%, P = .006). Patients who received ondansetron had significantly less nausea on day 2/3 when day-1 nausea was used as the baseline score (P = .025). Patients who received ondansetron also had significantly less nausea on day 4 (P = .042) and the results approached significance on day 5 (P = .066).

CONCLUSION
Oral ondansetron had a significant effect in the control of cisplatin-induced delayed emesis and nausea in patients who had not required rescue antiemetics during the acute emesis period. The control of delayed nausea and vomiting was most notable in the immediate 2 days following cisplatin administration, with the clinical difference narrowing between the two treatment arms on subsequent days.


Abstract Objective: To determine whether Chinese herbal creams used for the treatment of dermatological conditions contain steroids. Design: 11 herbal creams obtained from patients attending general and paediatric dermatology outpatient clinics were analysed with high resolution gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. Setting: Departments of dermatology and clinical biochemistry. Main outcome measure: Presence of steroid. Results: Eight creams contained dexamethasone at a mean concentration of 456μg/g (range 64to 1500μg/g). All were applied to areas of sensitive skin such as face and flexures. Conclusion: Greater regulation needs to be imposed on Chinese herbalists to prevent illegal and inappropriate prescribing of potent steroids.


General physical scene understanding requires more than simply localizing and recognizing objects -- it requires knowledge that objects can have different latent properties (e.g., mass or elasticity), and that those properties affect the outcome of physical events. While there has been great progress in physical and video prediction models in recent years, benchmarks to test their performance typically do not require an understanding that objects have individual physical properties, or at best test only those properties that are directly observable (e.g., size or color). This work proposes a novel dataset and benchmark, termed Physion++, that rigorously evaluates visual physical prediction in artificial systems under circumstances where those predictions rely on accurate estimates of the latent physical properties of objects in the scene. Specifically, we test scenarios where accurate prediction relies on estimates of properties such as mass, friction, elasticity, and deformability, and where the values of those properties can only be inferred by observing how objects move and interact with other objects or fluids. We evaluate the performance of a number of state-of-the-art prediction models that span a variety of levels of learning vs. built-in knowledge, and compare that performance to a set of human predictions. We find that models that have been trained using standard regimes and datasets do not spontaneously learn to make inferences about latent properties, but also that models that encode objectness and physical states tend to make better predictions. However, there is still a huge gap between all models and human performance, and all models' predictions correlate poorly with those made by humans, suggesting that no state-of-the-art model is learning to make physical predictions in a human-like way. Project page: https://dingmyu.github.io/physion_v2/


We study the performance of alternative UCITS funds and account for potential survivorship biases in our sample in the best possible manner. Alternative UCITS funds offer similar raw returns but a lower volatility compared to offshore hedge funds. Single-index models show that alternative UCITS funds provide only marginal exposure to variations in hedge fund returns. Multifactor models indicate that the most important risk factors for both alternative UCITS funds and their matched hedge funds strategies are related to stock market risks, but alternative UCITS funds exhibit a lower exposure to these factors than hedge funds. Moreover, we find factor loadings on different risk factors, suggesting that alternative UCITS and hedge funds pursue different strategies. Finally, we assess the degree of the value added for an investor in terms of enhanced diversification benefits by implementing a spanning test and find that both groups are different asset classes with time-varying diversification properties.


Evidence of the impact of foreign equity investment flows on the global linkages of the Asian emerging equity markets is provided. Findings confirm that there is a general trend towards greater integration and this process appears to be influenced by the increasing volumes of foreign equity portfolio investment flows. The results support the widely-held view that foreign investors are return chasers and their trading behaviour is based on information drawn from recent returns available in the emerging markets. The results also confirm the price-pressure hypothesis which suggests that foreign equity investors are mainly responsible for the increases in the stock market valuations in the Asian emerging markets. In view of the findings, the Asian emerging markets may become more vulnerable to the changes in foreign investment flows and turn more volatile in future.


This is a case report of an 18-year-old man with central diabetes incipidus (DI). An MRI done three months after the onset of the DI did not disclose a responsible lesion. Four months later, a second MRI showed the location of the tumor origin at the upper pituitary stalk and median eminence. Eight months later, the tumor occupied the hypothalamic area. The tumor became large and contrast-making enough to be visible on MRI between 3 and 4 months after the onst of DI. Besides the suprasellar tumor, another mass was noted in the pineal region. The growth pattern of the latter mass corresponded well to that of the former. Although the MRI is a sensitive diagnostic tool for the detection of intracranial tumors, no adequate rationale has been given as to how the MRI might be repeated for children and adolescents who have been diagnosed as having the central DI, when their initial MRIs may have been normal. In our patient, the superconductive thin slice MRI revealed the suprasellar germinoma 4 months after the onset. The suprasellar and pineal tumors in this report originated and developed simultaneously. This may indicate a multi-center origin of the tumor. Another possibility is a very early dissemination from the onset of the tumor development.


BACKGROUND: The cost-effectiveness of screening for amblyopia is a controversial issue of international debate. The purpose of this study was to estimate the cost of amblyopia treatment to be used as a component for modelling the cost-effectiveness of prevention programmes. Cost was calculated from the perspective of the German social health insurance in the year 2002. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A standardised detailed survey was conducted in writing among 13 experienced experts in amblyopia treatment from various offices and strabismological units in Germany. Average volumes of treatment items were estimated for a maximum treatment period of nine years. Cost was calculated using administrative prices (based on the social health insurance's uniform fee schedule for physician services and reference prices for therapeutic aids) and market prices. RESULTS: The questionnaires were fully completed by 12 of the 13 experts. The mean total cost of treatment was estimated at 2.472 Euro (95 %-CI: 1.171 - 3.774) for strabismic amblyopia and 2.051 Euro (95 %-CI: 426 - 3.675) for amblyopia of refractive origin. About 70 % of the total cost was caused by the therapeutic aids (e. g. glasses, patches). The price of the patches had a marked impact on the total treatment cost. CONCLUSIONS: The results may be used for modelling the cost-effectiveness of screening programmes for the prevention of amblyopia.


Events unfold over time, i.e., they have a beginning and endpoint. Previous studies have illustrated the importance of endpoints for the perception and memory of various events (Lakusta & Landau, 2005, 2012; Papafragou, 2010; Regier & Zheng, 2009; Strickland & Keil, 2011; Zacks & Swallow, 2007). However, this work has not compared endpoints to other potentially salient points in the internal temporal profile of events (e.g., midpoints). Building on the "picky puppet task" (Waxman & Gelman, 1986), we presented 4-to-5-year-old children and adults with a puppet that liked clips of events containing brief screen blanks that disrupted either the midpoint or the endpoint of the event. Both children and adults learned the puppet's preferences better (as evidenced by their extension to novel events) when the puppet liked midpoint compared to endpoint interruptions. These findings suggest a bias for event endpoints that is present from an early age.


As an operative for Pinkerton's Detective Agency Dashiell Hammett knew about sleuthing from the inside, but his career was cut short by the ruin of his health in World War I. These three celebrated novels are therefore the products of a hard real life, not a literary education. Despite - or because of - that, Hammett had an enormous effect on mainstream writers between the wars. Like his readers, they were attracted by the combination of laconic style, sharp convincing dialogue, vivid settings and, above all, the low-life, hard-boiled characters who populate the streets of his stories. Taking detective fiction out of the drawing-room, Hammett 'gave murder back to the kind of people that commit it', as Raymond Chandler said. In so doing, he left his mark on modern fiction.


Short tandem repeat (STR) profiles from 32,671 individuals generated by the ABI Profiler Plus and Cofiler systems were screened for variant alleles not represented within manufacturer-provided allelic ladders. A total of 85 distinct variants were identified at 12 of the 13 CODIS loci, most of which involve a truncated tetranucleotide repeat unit. Twelve novel alleles, identified at D3S1358, FGA, D18S51, D5S818, D7S820 and TPOX, were confirmed by nucleotide sequence analysis and include both insertions and deletions involving the repeat units themselves as well as DNA flanking the repeat regions. Population genetic data were collected for all variants and frequencies range from 0.0003 (many single observations) to 0.0042 (D7S820 '10.3' in North American Hispanics). In total, the variant alleles identified in this study are carried by 1.6% of the estimated 1 million individuals tested annually in the U.S. for the purposes of parentage resolution. A paternity case involving a recombination event of paternal origin is presented and demonstrates how variant alleles can significantly strengthen the genetic evidence in troublesome cases. In such instances, increased costs and turnaround time associated with additional testing may be eliminated.


Introduction: Equilibrium Dialysis (ED) is a gold standard method for the estimation of fu,brain, the fraction of unbound drug in brain tissue. Assessment of a "true" fu,brain value requires optimization of several steps of ED in particular dilution of brain homogenate. Recently proposed novel method has advantages compared to ED associated with lower work burden and costs. Aim: Main purpose was to optimize ED protocol for estimation of fu,brain of diazepam, paliperidone, paroxetine, indomethacin and thioridazine by testing i) spiking with single compound or mixture of 5 compounds (cassette) approaches, ii) different dilutions of brain homogenate and iii) added ED well-volumes. Additionally, assessment of relative agreement between ED and novel assay for drug brain tissue binding was performed. Materials and Methods: Brain tissue was homogenized in phosphate saline buffer pH7.4 to 1:2, 1:4 and 1:9 (w:v) dilutions. Single compound (1µM) and cassette spiking approaches were compared. Inter-day variability was evaluated using three separate batches of brain homogenates prepared by pooling in average 4 drug-naive rat brains. fu,brain assessed using 100 µL and 125 µL well-volumes for 1:9 dilution was evaluated. Sample analysis was done with LC-MS/MS. Results: A significant difference was observed between fu,brain values from single compound and cassette spiking approaches for all compounds and for all dilutions. A significant difference was not observed well-volumes 100 µL versus 125 µL. The inter-day variability was good. The stability (37oC, 6h) was >90% except for thioridazine (61.52%). Conclusions: Obtained results indicate potential saturation of the binding components in the homogenate or DDI between compounds in the cassette independent of dilution for all compounds when cassette approach was used. Results regarding dilution effects was inconsistente. Assessment of fu,brain values was not affected by well-volumes.


An adenoviral vector with RGD-modified fibers and expressing the human tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) gene from the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) promoter (designated Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD) was constructed, and its antitumor activity was evaluated in vitro and in vivo. An in vitro study showed that treatment with Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD elicited a high rate of apoptosis in human pancreatic and colon cancer cell lines that were either susceptible or resistant to conventional adenovectors. In vivo study showed that direct administration of Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD to an orthotopic implantation tumor model established in the pancreatic tails of nu/nu mice significantly suppressed tumor growth: tumors in the animals treated with Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD were approximately eight times smaller than those in animals treated with a control vector. We also evaluated hTERT promoter activity and the effect of Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD on mesenchymal stem cells. Our results showed that transgene expression from the hTERT promoter in human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells was minimal. No adverse effect was observed in mesenchymal stem cells treated with Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD. Together, our results suggest that Ad/TRAIL-F/RGD could become a potent therapeutic agent for the management of pancreatic cancer.


The aircraft ground service is a key ring to guarantee flight safety and normal operation. In the case of the traveling time of service crew from one aircraft parking place to another to be nonignorable, the scheduling optimization problem of ground service can be described as a vehicle routing problem with time windows of multiply nonidentical vehicles. To solve the problem, we propose a genetic algorithm with a hybrid encoding scheme. The encoding scheme describes the bit of a chromosome as a positive real number. Its integer part stands for the assigned crew of a flight and its decimal part for the position in job sequence by percent. The encoding scheme integrates assignment and sequence information in one number. Thus, it can be conveniently processed by all genetic operations of crossover, mutation, selection, and reproduction. A greedy heuristic is embedded as the sequencing initialization and reinitialization tool in the genetic algorithm procedure. The genetic algorithm is used to solve a lot of examples from a practical aircraft service company. The achieved results show that the algorithm is efficient.


The coordinate systems for cutting face gears and for meshing of face gear drive with involute cylindrical pinion. The tooth surface equation of face gear with machining errors is deviated, such as change of shaft angle, change of shortest distance between face gear and cutter tool axes, helix angle of cutter tool. Tooth contact analysis applied in the paper considered with the alignment error of the driving system. The tooth contact path and the transmission error of the face gear drive were simulated through the tooth contact analysis for different alignment errors and machining errors. The simulation results indicate that all of the alignment errors and machining error don't cause transmission error except helix angle error of the cutting tool. The errors will bring the shift of the contact path on gear teeth. The shift of bearing contact can be reduced by combination of different errors of alignment or machining.


Not available – first paragraph follows:
The large black rove-beetle Ocypus olens Msller (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae) (fig. 1) is established in some gardens in California. It was first introduced accidentally into California probably about fifty years ago and has since been reported in the counties of Contra Costa, Imperial, Los Angeles, Modoc, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco and San Mateo. This active predator is now being viewed as a possible biological control agent of Helix aspersa Muller, the brown garden snail (BGS).


We study a monomer-dimer mixture defined on a honeycomb lattice as a toy model for the spin-ice system in a magnetic field. In a low-doping region of monomers, the effective description of this system is given by the dual sine-Gordon model. In intermediate- and strong-doping regions, the Potts lattice gas theory can be employed. Synthesizing these results, we construct a renormalization-group flow diagram, which includes the stable and unstable fixed points corresponding to M5 and M6 in the minimal models of the conformal field theory. We perform numerical transfer-matrix calculations to determine a global phase diagram and also to proffer evidence to check our prediction.


The Outer Scutum–Centaurus (OSC) spiral arm is the most distant molecular spiral arm in the Milky Way, but until recently little was known about this structure. Discovered by Dame and Thaddeus, the OSC lies ∼15 kpc from the Galactic Center. Due to the Galactic warp, it rises to nearly 4° above the Galactic Plane in the first Galactic quadrant, leaving it unsampled by most Galactic plane surveys. Here we observe H ii region candidates spatially coincident with the OSC using the Very Large Array to image radio continuum emission from 65 targets and the Green Bank Telescope to search for ammonia and water maser emission from 75 targets. This sample, drawn from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Catalog of Galactic H ii Regions, represents every H ii region candidate near the longitude–latitude locus of the OSC. Coupled with their characteristic mid-infrared morphologies, detection of radio continuum emission strongly suggests that a target is a bona fide H ii region. Detections of associated ammonia or water maser emission allow us to derive a kinematic distance and determine if the velocity of the region is consistent with that of the OSC. Nearly 60% of the observed sources were detected in radio continuum, and more than 20% have ammonia or water maser detections. The velocities of these sources mainly place them beyond the Solar orbit. These very distant high-mass stars have stellar spectral types as early as O4. We associate high-mass star formation at 2 new locations with the OSC, increasing the total number of detected H ii regions in the OSC to 12.


Under the background of excess capacity and energy saving in iron and steel enterprises, the hot rolling batch scheduling problem based on energy saving is a multi-objective and multi constraint optimization problem. In this paper, a hybrid multi-objective prize-collecting vehicle routing problem (Hybrid Price Collect Vehicle Routing Problem, HPCVRP) model is established to ensure minimum energy consumption, meet process rules, and maximize resource utilization. A two-phase Pareto search algorithm (2PPLS) is designed to solve this model. The improved MOEA/D with a penalty based boundary intersection distance (PBI) algorithm (MOEA/D-PBI) is introduced to decompose the HPCVRP in the first phase. In the second phase, the multi-objective ant colony system (MOACS) and Pareto local search (PLS) algorithm is used to generate approximate Pareto-optimal solutions. The final solution is then selected according to the actual demand and preference. In the simulation experiment, the 2PPLS is compared with five other algorithms, which shows the superiority of 2PPLS. Finally, the experiment was carried out on actual slab data from a steel plant in Shanghai. The results show that the model and algorithm can effectively reduce the energy consumption in the process of hot rolling batch scheduling.


As imperialism spirals out of control, and as the manifestations of its wickedness penetrate every pore of human existence everywhere, the resistance against it also has emerged from every cell of social and political organization, taking many diverse forms that defy easy encapsulation. As the forms of protest and resistance have multiplied, the problem of choosing an appropriate political strategy has become that much more difficult. Is the resistance to be mounted only globally? Are we to fight only licentious finance and the greed of marauding transnational corporations and leave everything else to be settled after that global fight is won? Or are we to fight every little tyranny everywhere-the corruption of municipal officials, the arrogance of party bosses seeking to control local democracy, and the callousness of public hospital authorities? And are we to treat as enemies every political formation that provides succor and comfort to such petty tyrants and overweening bureaucrats?* This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


Wave propagation in granular solids is found to have at least two regimes: a low-frequency ballistic signal and a high-frequency diffusive tail. The latter is attributed to granules clapping or elastic waves within the granules themselves. The low frequency front is traditionally attributed to the rigid-body motion of particles and their interactions via quasi-static contact forces. We present results obtained with experimental and numerical models indicating that the low-frequency ballistic wavefront is itself the result of surface waves in the granules. We find surface waves to be the principal mechanism of energy transmission.


In this study, a new method is developed for the fabrication of nanofibrous LaCoO3 (LCO) perovskites as cathodes (oxygen electrodes) for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The proposed method involves chemically assisted electrodeposition (CAED) of mixed metal hydroxide onto a carbon nanotube (CNT) template, followed by a low-temperature heat-treatment process. The CNT template is first fabricated on porous zirconia-based ion-conducting scaffolds (ICS) by catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) of C2H4. Perovskite-type LCO is then fabricated on the CNT template by CAED process of mixed La–Co hydroxide combined with thermal conversion of hydroxide to perovskite oxide. The method proposed here allows for the fabrication of LCO perovskites with a unique nanofibrous structure at reduced temperatures (∼900 °C), while avoiding the formation of pyrochlore phases (e.g., La2Zr2O7), which are typically observed during conventional high-temperature sintering processes of LaCoO3 with zirconia-based electrolytes. The new method also provides the precise control needed to achieve desired oxide loadings without the need for repeated deposition-annealing processes. The anode-supported SOFCs with nanofibrous LCO cathodes on zirconia and ceria scaffolds show high and stable electrochemical performance of 0.95 and 1.27 W cm−2, respectively, at 800 °C. In addition to the absence of insulating pyrochlore phases, the unique nanostructure of the LCO cathode is believed to play a beneficial role in improving the electrochemical properties by providing a large number of active reaction sites and by facilitating mass transport through the porous nanofibrous structure.


The histidine kinases belong to the family of two‐component systems, which serves in bacteria to couple environmental stimuli to adaptive responses. Most of the histidine kinases are homodimers, in which the HAMP and DHp domains assemble into an elongated helical region flanked by two CA domains. Recently, X‐ray crystallographic structures of the cytoplasmic region of the Escherichia coli histidine kinase CpxA were determined and a phosphotransferase‐defective mutant, M228V, located in HAMP, was identified. In the present study, we recorded 1 μs molecular dynamics trajectories to compare the behavior of the WT and M228V protein dimers. The M228V modification locally induces the appearance of larger voids within HAMP as well as a perturbation of the number of voids within DHp, thus destabilizing the HAMP and DHp hydrophobic packing. In addition, a disruption of the stacking interaction between F403 located in the lid of the CA domain involved in the auto‐phosphorylation and R296 located in the interacting DHp region, is more often observed in the presence of the M228V modification. Experimental modifications R296A and R296D of CpxA have been observed to reduce also the CpxA activity. These observations agree with the destabilization of the R296/F403 stacking, and could be the sign of the transmission of a conformational event taking place in HAMP to the auto‐phosphorylation site of histidine kinase. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 105: 670–682, 2016.


A family of silicon test chips for use in making diagnostic measurements during electronics assembly has been developed. These assembly test chips (ATCs) contain sensors that measure a number of variables associated with assembled IC degradation, including the degree of integrated circuit (IC) corrosion, handling damage, electrostatic discharge threat, moisture or humidity, mechanical stress, mobile ion density, bond pad cratering, and high-speed logic degradation. The chips in the ATC family are intended to give manufacturing feedback in four ways: direct feedback in evaluation of an assembly manufacturing line in an objective, nonintrusive way; before and after comparisons on an assembly production line when an individual process, material, or piece of equipment has been changed; resident lifetime monitor for system package aging and ongoing reliability projection; and thermal, mechanical, DC electrical, and high-frequency mock-up evaluation of packaging (including multichip) schemes. >


Expression of cloned alpha and beta subunit genes of Synechococcus sp. PCC7002 C-phycocyanin in Escherichia coli led to the production of large amounts of apophycocyanin. The apophycocyanin was purified to homogeneity and shown to be an alpha beta monomer. The reactivity of the apoprotein toward a number of open chain and cyclic tetrapyrroles was examined. Phycocyanobilin (PCB), phycoerythrobilin, and biliverdin all formed covalent adducts with apophycocyanin in 50 mM sodium phosphate buffer at pH 7.0. Mesobiliverdin, bilirubin, PCB dimethyl ester, protoporphyrin IX, and hemin did not react with the apoprotein. None of these tetrapyrroles reacted with 2 mM 2-mercaptoethanol, cysteine, or reduced glutathione under the same conditions. The adduct with PCB was investigated in greater detail. Its visible absorption spectrum, with a maximum at 646 nm, is more similar to that of allophycocyanin than phycocyanin. Two PCBs are bound per alpha beta monomer when the reaction is performed with excess bilin. While tryptic digestion of the adduct generates numerous bilin peptides, amino acid analysis of these chromopeptides revealed that PCB reacted specifically at alpha-Cys-84 and beta-Cys-82, two of the three cysteinyl residues that serve as the attachment sites for PCB in native phycocyanin. The major bilin peptides arising from in vitro adduct formation at each of these sites differed both in chromatographic behavior and in spectroscopic properties from the corresponding PCB peptides isolated from tryptic digests of native C-phycocyanin.


Using 3.6 μm images of 97 early-type galaxies, we develop and verify methodology to measure globular cluster populations from the S4G survey images. We find that (1) the ratio, TN, of the number of clusters, NCL, to parent galaxy stellar mass, M*, rises weakly with M* for early-type galaxies with M* > 1010 M☉ when we calculate galaxy masses using a universal stellar initial mass function (IMF) but that the dependence of TN on M* is removed entirely once we correct for the recently uncovered systematic variation of IMF with M*; and (2) for M* < 1010 M☉, there is no trend between NCL and M*, the scatter in TN is significantly larger (approaching two orders of magnitude), and there is evidence to support a previous, independent suggestion of two families of galaxies. The behavior of NCL in the lower-mass systems is more difficult to measure because these systems are inherently cluster-poor, but our results may add to previous evidence that large variations in cluster formation and destruction efficiencies are to be found among low-mass galaxies. The average fraction of stellar mass in clusters is ∼0.0014 for M* > 1010 M☉ and can be as large as ∼0.02 for less massive galaxies. These are the first results from the S4G sample of galaxies and will be enhanced by the sample of early-type galaxies now being added to S4G and complemented by the study of later-type galaxies within S4G.


The criminal justice system is constantly evolving in response to changing social, economic and political pressures. One that gathered momentum during the 1980s and 1990s was community concern about increasing crime rates, particularly property and violent crime, and the perceived link with illicit drug use and drug dependency, notably heroin. In response, Australia has experienced a proliferation of criminal justice initiatives aimed at addressing the drugs/crime nexus. Over the past seven or eight years, almost every state and territory has implemented a range of so-called drug diversion programs that operate at different points along the criminal justice continuum. These initiatives can be divided into four groups: police-based programs that offer drug education and assessment for individuals detected for minor possession offences pertaining to either cannabis and/or other illicit substances; court level, predominantly bail-based programs designed to provide assessment and short term treatment for less serious offenders whose criminal behaviour is related to their illicit drug use; intensive pre- and post-sentencing drug court programs that offer long term, intensive treatment for entrenched offenders whose drug dependency is a key contributor to their offending; and the NSW Compulsory Drug Treatment Correctional Centre, specialising in abstinence-based treatment and rehabilitation for offenders with 'long term illicit drug dependency and an associated life of crime and constant imprisonment'. At first glance the costs of these programs are substantial, with the Australian Government allocating supportive funding of $340m over 1999-2000 to 2007-08. If these initiatives are achieving their objectives, then such costs should be more than offset by the benefits accruing to the community through a reduction in illicit drug use and related offending, improved health and wellbeing for former drug dependent offenders and reduced case loads for the criminal justice system. This report attempts to provide some insight into the questions of whether these programs are in fact working and meeting their primary aims by giving an overview of key findings from national and state-based evaluations that have been undertaken of these initiatives. It summarises the outcome-based results currently available, identifies the knowledge gaps that still exist, and points to areas where further work is required to provide a more definitive insight into the value of these programs.


Background: Breast lump is one of the most common prevalent complaint of patients attending breast clinics. Objective: To determine if there is any change in the pattern of common breast, diseases presenting as breast lumps between pregnant and non-pregnant women among patients attending Al-Elwiya Breast Clinic. Methods: This is a cross – sectional study, with convent's patient sampling setting in AL-Elwiya Breast Cancer Early Detection Clinic from 1 st Feb. to 1 st May 2018, we collected data from patients with breast lumps including the age groups, pregnancy status, parity status, previous breast diseases, hormonal drugs, menstrual cycle, breast feeding. Breast lump was examined, sonography and needle biopsy, and histopathology. Results: This study involves 306 married patients, fibro adenoma was the commonest pathology in the age group 20-29 year-old (29.9%) followed by Aberration of Normal Development and Involution which was found mainly in 30-39-year-old age group (36.1%). Carcinoma found mainly in the >40-year-old age group (10.3%). Aberration of Normal Development and Involution was the main pathology in nonpregnant patients (36.1%), in pregnant patients fibro adenoma is the commonest (35.7%). Conclusion: The majority of breast lumps are benign. In pregnant women, fibro adenoma is the commonest, while in non-pregnant women, Aberration of Normal Development and Involution is the main cause of breast lumps


This doctoral thesis takes as its subject one of the oldest and at the same time most ambiguous themes of sociology, namely individualism. The type of social and institutional control that characterizes modern society rests on a general belief in autonomous and equal individuals, which makes individualism into a defining cultural discourse. The interest here lies in individualism as a cultural belief and, more specifically, in how people interpret and use its core notions, i.e. self, freedom and equality. This dissertation explores the variations in cultural manifestations of these notions, both over time and between social classes. It is furthermore explained how these variations in self-conceptions and views on autonomy and equality are connected to social changes (i.e. shifts in bio-politics and economic policy) and how they are constitutive elements in contemporary class conflict. The dissertation itself consists of three parts: one theoretical and two empirical. The first theoretical part elaborates on the importance of individualism in relation to the process of modernization and proposes a classification of different types of individualism, i.e. subjective, collective, radical and liberal individualism. The second part consists of a diachronic study of long term changes in individualism. This is done on the basis of two historical case studies. One case study involves a thematic content analysis of advice literature on how to obtain professional success from the 1930's up till today. A second case study includes a quantitative content analysis of pedagogical journals for teachers, starting from the 1880's. Both studies demonstrate that individualism remains a defining discourse throughout the 20 th century but that there does exist strong variations in the way its core notions (e.g. autonomy, self-development, equality) are conceived. The third part entails an analysis of variations in individualism in contemporary society on the basis of data from a survey conducted among a random sample of the Flemish population. The argument is that class formation is a dynamic process, which not only involves economic and cultural boundaries, but also moral ones. In the struggle over class interests, variations in individualism are employed as tools for justification and defense.


Economic restructuring in Mexico has had important consequences for the participation of workers and the nature and distribution of work. This phenomenon as a global tendency is posing many challenges to workers, though different sets of workers may experience these challenges differently. This study analyses workers' experiences and responses to the process of privatisation in two Mexican companies, with particular reference to the role and influence of the union in each of these companies. The research is based upon in-depth interviews with young and old, men and women, managers, white-collar employees and workers, together with documentary sources, to provide both empirical descriptions and theoretical analyses of these contemporary developments in employment relations and worker organisation.
One strand of the thesis is a comparative analysis of the different relationships between government, management and union policies in the two cases, the first of the TELMEX Company and its union, the STRM, and the second of the LyFC Company and its union, the SME. For the state and management these cases involve two different deregulation models in Mexico. At the same time the telecommunication and the electrical unions have also followed divergent strategies, though they share similar socioeconomic origins.
The second strand of the thesis addresses significant differences within each case in the ways in which workers have experienced privatisation and related to the union. While each union has developed a distinctive dominant or hegemonic policy orientation, they each have heterogeneous memberships. Therefore, this research has sought to show how restructuring and privatisation have influenced the experience and participation of different categories of workers in relation on training, technology and labour conditions, by considering the roles of social class, gender and age relationships.
This research uses an intersectionality analysis to address commonalities and differences of experience among employees and union members and assess the varied interactions and complex connections between diverse systems of inequality at work. It seeks to show how power asymmetries cross and overlap in both unions and companies, and result in the recomposition of distinctive social class, occupation, gender and age relations over time. On this basis it seeks to contribute to an understanding of the implications of globalisation and economic restructuring for the unions and workers in Mexico which recognises the complexities of worker experience, the heterogeneities characterising union memberships and the dilemmas faced in different union strategies.


CANCER RESEARCHLast September, cancer biologists suggested that in certain aggressive melanomas, blood-conducting channels that nourish the growing tumor are formed by the cancer cells themselves, rather than by the endothelial cells that normally make blood vessels ( Science , 3 September 1999, p. [1475][1]). If correct, the finding could have major implications for efforts to find new cancer drugs that work by inhibiting blood vessel formation. But some researchers maintain that the structures the team described could not be blood-conducting channels and have outlined their objections in a commentary in The American Journal of Pathology , where the original work was published. The team is sticking to its guns, however, so time has been set aside for both sides to thrash out their arguments at a Keystone meeting on angiogenesis in Salt Lake City in early March.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/285/5433/1475


Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in men and the second most common in women worldwide, and the incidence is increasing among younger patients. 30% of these malignancies arise in the rectum. Patients with rectal cancer have historically been managed with preoperative radiation, followed by radical surgery, and adjuvant chemotherapy, with permanent colostomies in up to 20% of patients. Beginning in the early 2000s, non-operative management (NOM) of rectal cancer emerged as a viable alternative to radical surgery in select patients. Efforts have been ongoing to optimize neoadjuvant therapy for rectal cancer, thereby increasing the number of patients potentially eligible to forgo radical surgery. Magnetic resonance guided radiotherapy (MRgRT) has recently emerged as a treatment modality capable of intensifying preoperative radiation therapy for rectal cancer patients. This technology may also predict which patients will achieve a complete response to preoperative therapy, thereby allowing for more appropriate selection of patients for NOM. The present work seeks to illustrate the potential role MRgRT could play in personalizing rectal cancer treatment thus expanding the role of NOM in rectal cancer.


ACL2 [6–8] is a powerful, industrial strength theorem proving system, which has been used on numerous verification projects. It is part of the Boyer-Moore family of provers, for which its authors received the 2005 ACM Software System Award. Termination plays a central role in ACL2's logic. It is used to demonstrate the logical consistency of function definitions and allows for the admission of an induction scheme that mirrors each function's recursive structure. In previous work we introduced calling context graphs (CCGs) and showed how they can be combined with theorem proving queries to provide a powerful method for proving termination of programs written in first order, functional programming languages [15]. In this paper we describe work we are doing to integrate CCG-based termination analysis into ACL2. We begin in the next section by providing relevant background on ACL2 and its current approach to termination analysis as well as the CCG approach to termination analysis. Section 3 then describes our work on extending ACL2 to include the CCG approach, with a focus on issues encountered. We conclude in Section 4.