This Article analyzes the implications of the following reality for the first-best-allocative-efficiency of the Hand formula for negligence - viz., the fact that, in addition to affecting the mean of the distribution of possible accident-or-pollution losses (i.e., the weighted-average-expected loss), accident-or-pollution-loss avoidance-moves will usually affect the dispersion or variance of that distribution and hence the sum of the accident-or-pollution-loss-related risk costs that potential injurers and potential victims bear. The Article begins by pointing out that the standard Hand formula for negligence does not take account of this reality and that this omission will result in (1) its deeming non-negligent the rejection of some (risk/risk-cost)-reducing avoidance-moves whose private cost to the potential injurer was lower than the total weighted-average private benefits their execution should have been expected to confer on the relevant loss' potential victims and (2) its deeming negligent the rejection of some (risk/risk-cost)-increasing avoidance-moves whose private costs were higher than the net weighted-average private benefits they should have been expected to confer on the relevant loss' potential victims. The Article then reports that the standard academic analysis of the first-best-allocative-efficiency of the Hand formula (of its allocative efficiency on otherwise-Pareto-perfect assumptions) has failed to note this problem and that - when asked to comment on this problem - scholars in the field have unanimously responded by claiming that it could be fixed straightforwardly by adding a change in risk cost term to the right-hand side of the standard Hand inequality. Next, the Article argues that this response is both underspecified and overly optimistic. It shows that this response is underspecified in two respects: (1) it does not specify whether the change in risk cost term is a change in potential-victim risk cost term, a change in potential-injurer risk cost term, or (the correct variant) a change in the sum of potential-victim and potential-injurer risk costs term, and (2) it does not recognize that, when the potential injurer and the potential victims are not equally risk-averse and/or do not have portfolios of other risks that have the same impact on the contribution of the relevant accident-or-pollution-loss risk to the total risk they face, the impact of the avoidance-move in question on the sum of their risk costs will almost always depend on whether the injurer or the victim will be liable for any loss that eventuates (more specifically, on their weighted-average-expected prediction of how any actual loss will be allocated between them). The Article demonstrates that the response of the Law & Economics scholars with whom I have discussed this issue is also overly optimistic in two respects. Although in many categories of cases, it will be possible to create a first-best-allocatively-efficient Hand-type formula for negligence straightforwardly by adding (subtracting) a decrease (an increase) in the sum of potential-injurer and potential-victim risk costs term to (from) the right-hand side of the standard Hand inequality in which the change in risk costs in question is measured on a placement-of-liability assumption that matches the liability-assignment that the use of the revised Hand formula in question will generate, in other categories of cases no such straightforward alteration in the Hand formula will induce the potential injurer to make allocatively-efficient avoidance-decisions in an otherwise-Pareto-perfect world. Thus, as the Article shows, in one category of cases, the alteration in the Hand formula that will induce the potential injurer to make a first-best-allocatively-efficient avoidance-decision will be paradoxical rather than straightforward - viz., will involve the inclusion of a victim-liable change in total risk costs term to the right-hand side of the standard Hand inequality that yields the conclusion that the injurer will be liable for (negligent in) rejecting the avoidance-move in question and secures allocative efficiency not by inducing the potential injurer to avoid but by rendering allocatively efficient his continuing rejection of the avoidance-move in question. Moreover, as the Article shows, in another category of cases, it will not be possible to induce the relevant potential injurer to make a first-best-allocatively-efficient avoidance-move decision by adding or subtracting a change in risk costs term of any type to or from the right-hand side of the standard Hand inequality. The Article concludes by arguing that (1) at least in our type of liberal, rights-based society, the internally correct answer to any common-law legal-rights question is the answer that secures the liberal corrective-justice rights of the parties to the dispute; (2) in cases in which the alteration in the Hand formula that would induce the potential injurer to make an allocatively-efficient avoidance-decision is paradoxical, that alteration could not be justified in corrective-justice terms and would therefore be morally impermissible for a court to make and apply retrospectively; (3) unless specifically authorized to do so by a constitutional provision or by a plebiscite on the issue, it would also be morally and constitutionally impermissible for a legislature to authorize courts to promulgate non-corrective-justice-based, allocatively efficient tort doctrines for prospective use only; and (4) rights-considerations aside, there are important reasons to doubt the desirability of legislatures' authorizing bodies that also engage in adjudication to legislate in this way. Some of these conclusions are important for straightforward, practical reasons. For example, I do think that parties to tort suits should be able to convince judges to declare that the negligence of a defendant's rejection of any avoidance-move depends not only on the private cost of that move and the amount by which it would reduce weighted-average-expected actual, private accident-or-pollution losses but also on the impact that the move would have on the sum of the potential injurer's and potential victims' tort-related risk costs. Relatedly, I do think that in those (admittedly-few) cases in which the rejected avoidance-move's tendency to reduce the risk costs in question critically affected its negligence (properly defined) - i.e., made the rejection of the avoidance-move in question negligent when it would not otherwise have been so, the plaintiff should be able to convince the trier-of-fact to declare negligent the rejection of an avoidance-move whose rejection would be deemed non-negligent by the traditional Hand formula. Similarly, I do think that in those (admittedly fewer) cases in which the rejected avoidance-move's tendency to increase the risk costs in question critically affected its negligence (properly defined) - i.e., made the rejection of the avoidance-move in question non-negligent when it otherwise would have been negligent, the defendant should be able to convince the trier-of-fact to declare non-negligent the rejection of an avoidance-move whose rejection would be deemed negligent by the traditional Hand formula. I also think that defendants should be able to use this Article's discussion of the implications of the corrective-justice orientation of the common law for the permissibility of common-law judges' promulgating allocatively efficient doctrines that cannot be said to instantiate our society's corrective-justice commitments to convince courts not to engage in such legislation. However, I want to close by suggesting that this Article's most important contribution may be to academics and the policy audience in general. By pointing out various deficiencies in the Law & Economics analysis of the Hand formula that virtually all Law & Economics analyses of all issues share - viz., (1) a failure to analyze competently the allocative efficiency of common-law doctrines or statutory provisions (usually, though not in this instance, a failure to execute second-best or third-best allocative-efficiency analyses), (2) a failure to analyze competently the prescriptive-moral relevance of allocative-efficiency conclusions, and relatedly (3) a failure to analyze competently the relevance of allocative-efficiency conclusions for judicial and legislative decision-making. This Article may help academics improve their work and make the policy audience more critical readers of and better assessors of the reliability and relevance of the conclusions generated by standard Law & Economics analyses.


Next-generation communication systems are expected to be highly integrated heterogeneous networking environments. Supporting multimedia services with different quality-of-service (QoS) requirements over such highly heterogeneous environments is a very challenging task, and a unified call admission control (CAC) optimization mechanism is needed to allow resources to be efficiently utilized. In this paper, we propose an optimal CAC mechanism, i.e., the guard-channel-based incremental and dynamic optimization (GUIDO), which is a threshold-based CAC scheme that is designed based on the Markov decision process (MDP) and sensitivity analysis (SA) techniques. The MDP is used to derive the optimal CAC policy for predetermined goals, whereas the use of SA can greatly reduce the effort of unnecessary recomputation of the CAC policy when the traffic condition varies. Through the use of system capacity estimation and QoS mapping techniques, GUIDO allows the CAC operation to be performed in a general framework, even with various underlying communication systems and different access/core networks. GUIDO can be implemented dynamically (online optimization) and statically (lookup table). Homogeneous and heterogeneous systems with multiple service priority classes are studied in this paper. We have considered comprehensive objective functions, and each characterizes a different interest of the service provider. The performance is evaluated via an event-driven simulator, and the results are compared with those of the complete sharing scheme and conventional guard channel schemes under constant call-arrival rates as well as time-varying call-arrival-rate traffic scenarios.


The modular multilevel converter (MMC) is one of the most potential converter topologies for high-power/voltage systems, specifically for high-voltage direct current (HVDC). One of the main technical challenges of an MMC is to eliminate/minimize the circulating currents of converter arms while the capacitor voltages are maintained balanced. This paper proposes a model predictive control (MPC) strategy that takes the advantage of a cost function minimization technique to eliminate the circulating currents and carry out the voltage balancing task of an MMC-based back-to-back HVDC system. A discrete-time mathematical model of the system is derived and a predictive model corresponding to the discrete-time model is developed. The predictive model is used to select the best switching states of each MMC unit based on evaluation and minimization a defined cost function associated with the control objectives of MMC units and the overall HVDC system. The proposed predictive control strategy: 1) enables control of real and reactive power of the HVDC system; 2) achieves capacitor voltage balancing of the MMC units; and 3) mitigates the circulating currents of the MMC units. Performance of the proposed MPC-based strategy for a five-level back-to-back MMC-HVDC is evaluated based on time-domain simulation studies in the PSCAD/EMTDC software environment. The reported study results demonstrate a satisfactory response of the MMC-HVDC station operating based on the proposed MPC strategy, under various conditions.


The E39 Coastal Highway Route Project is being developed to reduce the travel time between Trondheim and Kristiansand in Norway and several ferry connections are planned to be replaced by floating bridges or submerged floating tunnels. In this study, a curved floating bridge design for crossing the Bjørnafjorden from COWI is considered. The design of the bridge is a 5 km long curved structure, supported by 19 floating pontoons and a tower with suspension cables close to one end of the bridge. Since it is a curved bridge design, no mooring system is considered. The long and slender bridge will be exposed to severe environmental conditions of waves, swell and wind in the fjord. The complex resonant responses with different natural periods and eigenmodes excited by the environmental loads and the resulting large bridge girder structural responses are the main concerns for design. Damping plays an important role in reducing the resonant responses in such conditions. In this paper, various damping effects (including potential and viscous damping of the pontoons, structural damping of the bridge girder, aerodynamic damping of the bridge) on the global dynamic responses of the complete structure are investigated numerically using a coupled numerical model. The 100-year environmental conditions are considered and numerical simulations using SIMA are performed. The viscous damping is modelled by using the KKKK number dependent drag coefficient and applied to the time-domain simulations. It is found that the viscous effect on the given pontoon design is not significant in the vertical motion due to small heave responses. Instead, the structural damping of the bridge girder and the potential damping of the pontoons are more important. On the other hand, the viscous effect is noticeable in the horizontal motion responses and reduces the cross-sectional loads on the bridge girder. Moreover, the bridge girder weak axis bending moment about the local y-axis is a governing design parameter, which is mainly induced by the static effect due to the difference between the distributed buoyancy of the pontoons and the distributed weight of the bridge girder. As a result, prior to improving damping effects on the dynamic responses of the bridge, it is necessary to increase the number of pontoons to reduce the weak axis bending moment.


Deterioration of bridge decks in the United States is an important issue due to its major impact on bridge maintenance costs nationwide. In this paper, results of survival (reliability) analyses performed on bridge data for all fifty states and Puerto Rico are presented. Data were obtained from the 2011 National Bridge Inventory (NBI) database. The end of service life is defined as a recorded NBI bridge deck rating of 5. Only non-reconstructed bridges and conventional bridge types and decks were considered. The NBI-derived parameters included in the analyses were age, average daily traffic (ADT), deck surface area, and deck rating. Each state's data were analyzed separately to assess and compare relative performance among the states. Deck reliability at an age of fifty years ranges from less than 20% to over 90% . The geographic regions with the highest overall 50-year reliability are generally in the northeastern and northern United States.


Over the past five years caravan manufacturers have dramatically changed their approach to the design, construction and manufacture of their products. What was a very traditional cottage industry has now become a hi-tech and extremely competitive sector driven by lean manufacturing processes. This investment into new technologies has led to the development of a product that now offers improved build quality, enhanced structural rigidity, reduced water ingress and improved thermal insulation. The majority of investment over this period has been into the body shell of the caravan and despite the advances in the development of the sides and roof panels, the caravan floor, chassis and suspension are still constructed using materials and components that have altered little in the last thirty years. It is believed that the current chassis and suspension system is inadequate in terms of isolation from road imperfections, structural performance, weight, weather proofing and cost. It was the intention of this project to investigate how this substructure could be redesigned to match the performance characteristics of the rest of the caravan. This thesis outlines the investigation and product development process and proposes a new design for a lightweight caravan chassis and suspension system that provides improved chassis isolation from the road in a package that is 150kg lighter, of comparable stiffness and manufacturing cost.


The family of the Ranunculaceae, although a large one (ca. 1200 species) occurring almost throughout the world, is generally regarded as a very natural one. The only genera with a recently more or less disputed position are Circaeaster, Glaucidium, Hydrastis, Kingdonia, and Paeonia. The others may at present all be considered to be 'true' Ranunculaceae. Various botanists have studied the delimitation of these genera, their affinity and phylogenetic links. Their ideas are often widely divergent. There is no need to go into the subject here, but some opinions on the place in the system of Caltha may be reviewed.


In the frame of a collaboration project within Swiss Competence Centre for Energy Research in the Future Swiss Electrical Infrastructure section, a Multi Terminal DC pilot has been implemented for studying the interaction between an HVDC and a high voltage AC grid. For the interaction with the medium voltage AC grid, a Modular Multilevel Converter is being designed for its features in low harmonic content, scalability, and flexibility. The energy buffering of the converter will allow the converter to sustain either AC or DC grids. The operation of the converter is described in details and simulated.


Background and purpose: Physiological, cognitive, and behavioral factors are considered as the underlying causes of insomnia. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the roles of some cognitive and emotional factors in predicting insomnia disorder. Materials and methods: To conduct this cross-sectional study, two groups were randomly selected. The first group comprised of 100 patients suffering from insomnia attending Sleep Disorders Center in Kermanshah Farabi Hospital, Iran 2015. The second group consisted of 100 office workers in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences who were normal sleepers. For data collection six questionnaires were utilized, including sleep quality scale, difficulties in emotion regulation scale, metacognitive beliefs, repetitive negative thinking, experiential avoidance questionnaire, and dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep scale. Results: This study showed significant differences between the two groups in all predictor variables (sleep quality, difficulties in emotion regulation, meta-cognitive beliefs, repetitive negative thinking, experiential avoidance, and dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep) (P<0.01) and that all these variables could predict insomnia. The results also indicated that dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep carried the highest weight for predicting insomnia (0.71) followed by repetitive negative thinking (0.38), while meta-cognitive beliefs had the lowest weight (-0.05). Finally, stepwise discriminant analysis confirmed the roles of two independent variables for entering into the discriminant equation. Conclusion: The present study confirmed the roles of cognitive and emotional variables in the occurrence of insomnia so, they should be considered in treating insomnia.


The outbreak of COVID-19 has become a severe global acute respiratory pandemic around the world within a few months with an increasing number of infections and deaths Covid-19 is a highly contagious and fatal disease Almost everyone in this population are prone, and the incubation is 1-14 days The clinical symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, dry cough and fatigue It is the responsibility of the dental practitioner to fully understand the characteristics feature of COVID-19 and strictly implement the protective measures to reduce and control the risk of infection in dental procedures


Shiveluch is one of the largest and most active andesitic volcanoes of the Kuril-Kamchatka arc. It commonly alternates between Vulcanian explosive eruptions and periods of dome growth and subsequent dome collapse–driven block-and-ash flows. The volcano was in an extended period of heightened activity for most of the period 2004–2010. We examined this activity in detail using thermal infrared (TIR) remote sensing as part of the urgent request protocol (URP) program of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument and confirmed the results with ground-based photography and airborne TIR camera data. High-spatial-resolution TIR images were collected during both daytime and nighttime satellite overpasses prior to and following the large explosive event/eruption of 27 February 2005 and the dome growth that followed. During a field campaign in August 2005, a helicopter overflight designed to acquire visible and TIR data of the active dome was performed. This was a nadir-looking, low-altitude overflight and the first ever of Shiveluch volcano involving non-Russian scientists. The image data revealed an active crease structure in the center of the dome with a distinctly different, crescent-shaped, high-temperature (>380 °C) zone roughly perpendicular to the crease. In order to provide a time context and estimate extrusion rates, the airborne data were compared to the spaceborne ASTER data and long-distance ground-based photography of the dome acquired by our Russian colleagues. The presence of a crease structure and the complex thermal pattern on the surface were both unexpected discoveries that reveal the way in which exogenous dome growth was occurring at the time. This highly active period at Shiveluch provides a unique example to better understand silicic lava dome growth using TIR data. The results also demonstrate a straightforward approach for fusing ground, air, and spaceborne image data, which could be applied to other active domes around the world.


To increase the accessibility of monkeypox testing, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) began shipping monkeypox tests in late June to 5 commercial laboratory companies: Aegis Science, Labcorp, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics, and Sonic Healthcare. Even though more than 8000 tests had been available weekly through more than 67 public health laboratories, a cumbersome process made it difficult for clinicians to order tests. The commercial labs are expected to clear up the logjam. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests testing all patients who present with rashes that resemble monkeypox or who are at risk of developing the disease and exhibit a new rash. Since June 21, 142 monkeypox cases have been reported in 24 states and the District of Columbia, according to HHS. "All Americans should be concerned about monkeypox cases," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, JD, said in a statement. "By dramatically expanding the number of testing locations throughout the country, we are making it possible for anyone who needs to be tested to do so."


chial and bronchiolar musculature, and whereas the usual bronchodilators act through various neurogenic mechanisms, ether is one of the few drugs to act directly on and relax these muscles. Ether can be administered safely intravenously as a 5% "mixture" in normal saline, and it would seem that this little-known treatment is worthy of a controlled clinical assessment. I have seen it produce completely relaxed respiration in a matter of minutes in a patient in severe status asthmaticus in whom the usual drugs had failed to produce any worthwhile response. The second point. The advice to give 0-5 g of aminophylline intravenously before the ambulance arrives should be tempered with the word "slowly," for this can be a lethal drug in this dosage if administered rapidly, especially in the presence of hypoxia.-I am, etc., L. 0. MOUNTFORD


OBJECTIVE
Surgical technique for loop electrosurgical excision procedure (LEEP) and cold knife cone (CKC) emphasizes a uniform specimen, but sequelae of specimen fragmentation are not established. We evaluated outcomes between fragmented and unfragmented excisional biopsy specimens.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Loop electrosurgical excision procedure and CKCs from January 2010 to October 2013 were reviewed. Intraepithelial lesion grade, fragmentation, margin, and Endocervical curettage status were analyzed. Adenocarcinoma in situ and cancer were excluded. Repeat procedures during the study period were included in follow-up. Loop electrosurgical excision procedures with top hat with no separate fragments were analyzed independently versus those with fragmented LEEP and/or top hat. Indeterminate margin was defined as inconclusive or unevaluable margin, or intraepithelial lesion in unidentifiable margin or fragment. Outcomes involved residual or recurrent disease and repeat procedures for intraepithelial lesion. χ was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS
Fragmented specimens were more likely to have any positive margin (p = .01), multiple positive margins (p < .001), and indeterminate margin (p < .001) than unfragmented specimens. There was no significant difference in rates of positive, insufficient, or high-grade Endocervical curettage (p = .74, 0.54, 0.92). Patients with fragmented specimens were more likely to have high-grade lesion recurrence in the following 3 years (p = .04) versus patients with index unfragmented specimens, though not compared with those with unfragmented LEEP + top-hat cases. Overall rates of repeat LEEP/CKC or hysterectomy for dysplasia were not different (p = .56).

CONCLUSIONS
Fragmentation of LEEP and CKC specimens is associated with higher rates of positive margins, recurrent high-grade intraepithelial lesions, and indeterminate margins. These may cause diagnostic uncertainty, require closer follow-up, and increase cost with more visits and studies.


The present study was designed to know the effect of Royal Jelly at dose (400mg/ kg BW) to adult male rats receiving cadmium chloride at dose 0.5 ppm (0.5mg/1L) in drinking water given orally for 60 days on the reproductive system physiology. In this study 40 adult male rats 12 week old with average weight 200-300 grams were used and divided into four groups which are control group, cadmium receiving group, royal jelly receiving group and finally cadmium + royal jelly receiving group. The results showed that administration of cadmium chloride caused a significant decrease in the sperms count, the percentage of live sperms, decreased in the testis tissue level of ascorbic acid, number of pups / parturition in addition to that cadmium chloride caused a significant increase in the percentage of abnormal sperms, the days from mixing experiment males with normal females until parturition and decrease in pregnancy percentage compared with control group. Using of RJ alone caused reduce in the abnormal sperms but did not affect significantly on sperms count, the percentage of live sperms, ascorbic acid concentration compared with control group. Treatment of rats with RJ whose receiving cadmium chloride caused significant increase in the sperms count, the percentage of live sperms and the testis tissue concentration of ascorbic acid, associated with significant decreased in the abnormal sperms and testosterone hormone, luteinizing hormone and number of pups / parturition and pregnancy percentage was return normal values to compared with cadmium group. We concluded from this study that RJ has a protective role against cadmium induced changes in the physiological functions of male reproductive system in rats .


When it came to matters of criminal process, the Charter was not greeted with enthusiasm. There was a sense that to use constitutional principles to change past practices would constitute an inaccurate admission that pre-Charter trials had been unfair. When a satellite view is taken it appears even after 25 years that this kind of conservatism has prevailed. With rare exception, Charter challenges to rules of proof and procedure have failed. Yet to judge the impact of the Charter on criminal procedure using only this lens and measure fails to reveal the transformative influence the Charter has had. Those failed Charter challenges showed that many if not most procedural rules are capable, as black-letter commands, of causing injustice in exceptional cases — of welcoming the admission of prejudicial or unreliable information, of excluding critical defence evidence, or of otherwise creating imbalance or unfairness. And so, under the imposing influence of the Charter the Supreme Court furnished trial judges with discretion to refrain from applying rules of procedure and proof where they could produce effects that would offend constitutional values. This call for flexibility and context ultimately spilled out of the exclusionary discretion, helping to loosen the very design of key rules of admissibility, including the hearsay rule, the opinion evidence rule, the character evidence rule and even the law of privilege. Without question, it was under the influence of the Charter that the current age of discretion was born, an era in which procedural rules do less to dictate outcomes than to mark out flexible principles that permit context-specific determinations to be made. Even leaving aside the transformative effect of section 24(2) remedial exclusion and the burgeoning law of self-incrimination, it is therefore wrong to believe that the Charter has had little impact on criminal procedure. When you get close enough to the ground, Charter tracks can be seen wherever you look; the Charter has veritably changed the landscape of criminal process.


: The adhesive properties of clonogenic haemopoietic progenitor cells have been assessed by allowing them to bind to cultured marrow-derived stromal layers, stromal cell lines or bare plastic surfaces. We have compared the adhesive characteristics of murine marrow repopulating cells, spleen colony-forming cells (CFU-S) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC) and of human blast colony-forming cells (Bl-CFC). The data indicate, first, that murine marrow repopulating cells bind to plastic and to stromal layers. Second, the CFU-S compartment contains three sub-populations: (a) CFU-S that bind to plastic and to stroma; (b) CFU-S that bind to stroma but not to plastic; (c) CFU-S that do not bind to stroma or plastic. Third, that more mature GM-CFC are not adhesive in these tests; and fourth, that recognitive events between stem cells and marrow stroma can operate across species barriers. Adhesion to both marrow-derived stroma and plastic appears to be a characteristic of haemopoietic stem cells that is lost or modulated as cells differentiate.


: One hundred consecutive patients admitted to the hospital with the prospective diagnosis of appendicitis were evaluated retrospectively to determine the effect of the use of modern diagnostic techniques upon the accuracy of preoperative diagnosis. Appendectomy was performed on 48 patients. In three of these patients, the diagnostic process was assisted by the use of radiologic or ultrasound techniques. Of the 52 patients who did not undergo appendectomy, 13 patients clearly avoided surgery or were steered towards an other appropriate operative procedure due to findings on ultrasound or barium enema. Ultrasound was particularly useful in differentiating the etiology of right lower quadrant pain in the childbearing aged female. This study demonstrates that the traditionally expected 15% normal appendix rate can be narrowed (6.25% in this group of patients) without increasing morbidity, with the use of sophisticated diagnostic techniques in the evaluation of selected patients who present diagnostic dilemmas.


Introduction Oral steroids induce remission in about 90% of children with idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (INS), which is characterised by severe proteinuria and hypoalbuminaemia. Some children become steroid-dependent (SD) and require addition of calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) to maintain remission. Since these oral agents are toxic, alternative interventions are needed for long-term treatment. The anti-CD20 antibody rituximab has shown promising steroid-sparing properties in clinical trials, but benefits are less convincing in complicated forms of SD-INS. Ofatumumab, a new anti-CD20 antibody with stronger affinity to CD20, may be superior to rituximab in maintaining oral steroid-free and CNI-free disease remission in children with SD-INS. Methods and analysis This open-label, two-parallel-arm, controlled, phase II randomised clinical trial will enrol children with SD-INS maintained in remission with oral steroids and CNI. Children will be randomised to either ofatumumab or rituximab infusion. After infusion of either antibody, steroids will be maintained for 30 days and then tapered off by 0.3 mg/kg/week until complete withdrawal. 1 week after complete steroid withdrawal, CNI will be decreased by 50% and withdrawn within 2 additional weeks. We will enrol 140 children to detect as significant at the 2-sided p value of 0.01 with a power of >0.8, a reduction in the risk of 1-year relapse (primary end point) of at least 0.3 (ie, from 0.65 to 0.35; (risk ratio 0.54)) in the ofatumumab arm when compared with the rituximab arm. We will compare the amount of steroids required to maintain complete disease remission at 6 and 24 months, relapse-free period, relapse rate per year as secondary end points. Circulating cell populations will be studied as biomarkers or predictors of the anti-CD20 response. Ethics and dissemination The trial received ethics approval from the local ethics board. We will publish study results and present them at international scientific meetings. Trial registration numbers NCT02394119; 2015-000624-28; Pre-results.


Intranodal palisaded myofibroblastoma (IPM) is a rare lymph node lesion that has been recognised as an entity since 1989, initially having been known by different names, including 'solitary spindle cell tumour with myoid differentiation of the lymph node'1 and 'intranodal hemorrhagic spindle cell tumour with amianthoid fibres'.2 More than 50 cases have now been described, the majority of which have involved inguinal lymph nodes. The tumour is slightly more common in men and occurs over a wide age range (19–71 years).3 We report another case and discuss the nature, nomenclature and differential diagnosis of this entity.

A 74-year-old man presented with a 2-year history of a lump in the right groin, which had recently increased in size. On examination it was found to be firm, mobile and non-pulsatile. There was no surrounding inguinal lymphadenopathy. An ultrasound scan revealed a focal solid area (2×2 cm) of mixed echogenicity with some vascularity. Possible differential diagnoses were thought to be fat necrosis, calcifying epithelioma or epidermal cyst. The mass was excised and macroscopically it was a smooth grey nodule, 30 mm in maximum dimension, with a solid fibrous cut surface that appeared slightly gelatinous. Microscopy showed a tumour arising …


This dissertation as a whole aims to provide means to better understand hot-Jupiter planets through observing, performing thermochemical calculations, and modeling their atmospheres. We used Spitzer multi-wavelength secondary-eclipse observations and targets with high signal-to-noise ratios, as their deep eclipses allow us to detect signatures of spectral features and assess planetary atmospheric structure and composition with greater certainty. Chapter 1 gives a short introduction. Chapter 2 presents the Spitzer secondary-eclipse analysis and atmospheric characterization of WASP-14b. WASP-14b is a highly irradiated, transiting hot Jupiter. By applying a Bayesian approach in the atmospheric analysis, we found an absence of thermal inversion contrary to theoretical predictions. Chapter 3 describes the infrared observations of WASP-43b Spitzer secondary eclipses, data analysis, and atmospheric characterization. WASP-43b is one of the closest-orbiting hot Jupiters, orbiting one of the coolest stars with a hot Jupiter. The atmospheric analysis ruled out a strong thermal inversion in its dayside atmosphere. Chapter 4 presents an open-source Thermochemical Equilibrium Abundances (TEA) code and its application to several hot Jupiters. TEA calculates the abundances of gaseous species using the Gibbs free-energy minimization method within an iterative Lagrangian optimization scheme. The code is written in Python and available to the community via this http URL Chapter 5 presents my contributions to an open-source Bayesian Atmospheric Radiative Transfer (BART) code, and its application to WASP-43b. BART characterizes planetary atmospheres based on the observed spectroscopic information. It initializes a planetary atmospheric model, performs radiative-transfer calculations to produce models of planetary spectra, and using a statistical module compares models with observations.


Over the last few years, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has emerged as one of the most significant causes of chronic liver disease worldwide, with an estimated prevalence ranging from 2.2 to 3.0%. In Italy, approximately 2% of subjects are infected with HCV. Considering that acute HCV infection is usually asymptomatic, early diagnosis is rare. Those people who develop chronic infection, even though undiagnosed, may suffer serious liver damage, making chronic HCV infection a major health problem. New initiatives are needed to identify a submerged portion of patients with chronic viral hepatitis and to propose controls and antiviral treatments to avoid the progression to liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Since January 2011, the Infectious Diseases Department of San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milan has been carrying out a prevention program called "EASY test project", using a new oral test, the OraQuick® HCV rapid antibody test (OraSure technologies, Inc.). The main objective of the project is to evaluate the acceptability of an alternative, free and anonymous HCV test offer, available in different settings (Points of Care, STDs Prevention clinics and General Practitioner clinics). From January 2011 to April 2014, 29,600 subjects were approached to inform them about HCV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases; 4,507 (15.2% of the contacted subjects) of them, total eligible volunteers, performed HCV tests on saliva and completed the interview in the alternative POCTs. Twenty-seven subjects (0.6% of the total) turned HCV oral test reactive (27/4.507) during the evaluation period; all of them were confirmed by conventional test. All 27 patients were asymptomatic and without a history of HCV-re- lated symptoms. The results from this analysis suggest that the promotion of alternative HCV test screening has not yet been fully developed as a strategy to increase levels of HCV testing among people at risk for HCV infection. Increasing awareness of these alternative tests among individuals at risk and providers may be an appropriate strategy to increase the number of people who know their serological status. The recent introduction of rapid oral HCV antibody test could completely change the HCV diagnosis approach by facilitating the possibility of testing millions of people worldwide (in particular in the developing countries).


The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence and causation of work-related asthmatic symptoms in a population exposed to grain, flour and other ingredient dusts. Where workers complained of asthmatic symptoms which were the result of dust exposure, follow-up aimed to identify whether the symptoms were the result of sensitisation or of non-specific irritation. A questionnaire was presented to 3,450 workers who had exposure to dust during the course of flour milling (528), bread baking (1,756), cake baking (209) and other activities in food preparation (957). Those with positive responses were followed-up by taking a formal history, examination, skin prick testing and serial peak flow measurement. The overall prevalence of work-related asthmatic symptoms was 4.4% (153 out of 3,450). In the group who were followed-up (128 out of 153), non-specific respiratory irritation was thought to be the cause in 90 (2.6%), whilst sensitisation was responsible for symptoms in 12 (0.3%). Of the 12 cases due to sensitisation, the agents responsible were: fungal amylase (10 cases, all associated with bread baking), flour (one case, associated with flour packing), and grain (one case, associated with flour milling). Non-specific irritation is considerably more common than sensitisation as the cause of work-related asthmatic symptoms in flour milling, baking and other flour-based industries. The prevalence of sensitisation to flour is very low (less than 1 in 1,000) in all these industries. The principal sensitiser encountered in modern plant bakeries appears to be fungal amylase. The most important source of exposure to fungal amylase is probably the debagging, sieving, weighing and mixing of bread improvers.


African-Americans as a group went from owning almost no land in the United States after the Civil War to peaking at 15 million acres by 1920. In that year, 14% of all US farmers were black. Of these 926,000 black farmers, all but 10,000 were in the South. By 1997, fewer than 20,000, or 1% of all farmers, were black, and they owned only about two million acres. The loss of landownership and farming operations has contributed to the poverty of many rural communities in the South. This paper consists of a review of 74 journal articles, reports, chapters, and books on African-Americans and farming, comprising most of the scholarly literature on the issue published since 1971. One of the commonalities in the literature is the sense of hopelessness in stemming the tide of black land loss. On the other hand, another commonality is the view that the black farmer and rural landowner must be sustained, even brought back. Among the studies are those claiming that landowners make up the backbone of civic and political life in rural black communities. Other advantages of landownership include increased personal pride, higher educational achievement of children, and an overall better sense of wellbeing. Most of the works offer similar perspectives of the decline of blacks in farming, and suggested solutions also are often repeated in these works. But there are differences in the works, and together they cover a wide range of issues that differentiate black farmers by sub-region, state, farm size, tenure, crops raised, and social and economic situation.


Farmers have increasingly been procuring external equity financing through either written or verbal business arrangements. Passage of the Agricultural Risk Protection Act in 2000 has resulted in widespread adoption of crop insurance among farmers. Crop insurance changes farmers' production decisions, so that investors providing external equity may want to adjust the equity financing contract to account for these changes. This paper uses a principal-agent model to determine optimal risk sharing and incentives under crop insurance and external equity financing. Results show that with the introduction of crop insurance, the investor's optimal equity financing contract requires that the farmer bears more risk in order to have the incentive to work hard.


We present an algorithm capable of identifying a wide variety of human-induced change on the surface of the planet by analyzing matches between local features in time-sequenced remote sensing imagery. We evaluate feature sets, match protocols, and the statistical modeling of feature matches. With application of KAZE features, k-nearest-neighbor descriptor matching, and geometric proximity and bi-directional match consistency checks, average match rates increase more than two-fold over the previous standard. In testing our platform, we developed a small, labeled benchmark dataset expressing large-scale residential, industrial, and civic construction, along with null instances, in California between the years 2010 and 2012. On the benchmark set, our algorithm makes precise, accurate change proposals on two-thirds of scenes. Further, the detection threshold can be tuned so that all or almost all proposed detections are true positives.


ABSTRACT. The computation of determinants intervenes in many scientific applications, as for example in the localization of eigenvalues of a given matrix A in a domain of the complex plane. When a procedure based on the application of the residual theorem is used, the integration process leads to the evaluation of the principal argument of the complex logarithm of the function g(z) = det((z + h)I − A)/det(zI − A), and a large number of determinants is computed to insure that the same branch of the complex logarithm is followed during the integration. In this paper, we present some efficient methods for computing the determinant of a large sparse and block structured matrix. Tests conducted using randomly generated matrices show the efficiency and robustness of our methods.


Background Electronic patient records were successfully implemented at all sites of St Ann's Hospice in September 2016. A scoping exercise selected EMIS Web, and an implementation group was formed in December 2015. Method The implementation group consisted of 16 individuals including a project lead, multi-disciplinary healthcare professionals and administrative staff. The project lead was accountable to a board; compromising service managers and executive directors. Implementation group meetings occurred fortnightly in the planning stages, then weekly at the configuration stages until the "go live" date. A medical representative participated in greater than 98% of all meetings. Results The project was summarised into three phases leading to clinical use as described here. As doctors within the group we draw on our reflections of the process. Planning - This was regularly revised to provide realistic timeframes whilst incorporating the views of participants. The importance of clinical leadership became clear at the infancy to support the project lead, who had a non-clinical background. Collaboration between professionals was essential to create a working list of documents requiring transition to an electronic format. Software configuration - We learnt that sound knowledge of software is essential when designing a system, to identify its limitations and identify its potential. Having a clinical leader present with software expertise is crucial to guide non-clinicians through the process of translating documents to an electronic format. Experience of coding is important, given the complexities of data extraction. Staff training - This created challenges, but the completion of standardised learning objectives was well received alongside role-specific objectives. These are currently utilised for staff induction across all professional groups. Conclusion The process highlighted strong collaborative working practices and recognised the importance of clinical leadership. We identified areas for development, resulting in improved training programmes. A robust and innovative platform has been created for developing future electronic patient records.


Abstract Housing is a social determinant of health, and previous research has linked housing with health for the general population. Less research has explored this relationship for people with refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds in resettlement countries. This article reports on findings from the photovoice component of a larger study exploring housing and health for refugees and asylum seekers in South Australia. Participants were 11 refugees and asylum seekers who participated in a photovoice exercise, taking photographs of their housing and neighbourhood and then discussing these in an interview, with verbal data analyzed thematically. Participants identified several elements of housing that affected health, specifically the following: gardens, physical condition, space, layout and privacy and, in relation to neighbourhood, safety, green spaces and proximity to services. Cutting across these themes were affordability, security of tenure and agency which in turn affected ontological security. The article concludes that consideration of ways to promote ontological security in housing should be a critical component of resettlement policies.


The chlorophyll content is one of the parameters to predict the maturity level of banana fruit. Nevertheless, the measurement of the chlorophyll is commonly destructive and performed manually through the biological test. In this paper, a banana maturity prediction system was introduced using Visible-Near Infrared (V-NIR) imaging based on the chlorophyll characteristic to estimate the maturity and the chlorophyll content non-destructively. The hardware of the measurement system consists of a set of sliders including controllable motor, Teflon table, halogen light source and a hyperspectral camera that connected directly to PC through Camera Link. The hypercube processing algorithms consist of reflectance image profile computation, spatial segmentation, spectral feature extraction, feature reduction, regression, and classification algorithm. The reflectance of the current image of the banana surface was corrected by the intensity value of the white and dark image. The spectral feature sets were computed using a principal component analysis on the full wavelength range of the camera spectra. The chlorophyll content was estimated using principal component regression. Thus, the maturity stage of banana was classified using support vector machine into three classes i.e. immature, mature and very mature based on the chlorophyll profile characteristic. The proposed system was evaluated using 45 Ambon bananas (Musa acuminata colla) samples which consist of 15 samples for each maturity stage. The correlation coefficient is 0.89 and RMSE value is 5.98 × 10−4 %. The maturity classification error using five folding of cross-validation is 2.1%. The results show that the proposed system can predict the banana maturity stage perfectly and suitable in an industrial sorting system for banana fruit quality.


Human pose estimation is an important topic in computer vision with many applications including gesture and activity recognition. However, pose estimation from image is challenging due to appearance variations, occlusions, clutter background, and complex activities. To alleviate these problems, we develop a robust pose estimation method based on the recent deep conv-deconv modules with two improvements: (1) multi -scale supervision of body keypoints, and (2) a global regression to improve structural consistency of keypoints. We refine keypoint detection heatmaps using layer-wise multi-scale supervision to better capture local contexts. Pose inference via keypoint association is optimized globally using a regression network at the end. Our method can effectively disambiguate keypoint matches in close proximity including the mismatch of left-right body parts, and better infer occluded parts. Experimental results show that our method achieves competitive performance among state-of-the-art methods on the MPII and FLIC datasets.


Early modernity tended to appeal to the trope of the book of nature as a way of securing knowledge—including knowledge about God—against the exigencies of history and culture, but as theorists such as Timothy Morton, Bruno Latour, and others have argued, today this assumed dualism of nature and culture is both ecologically and critically suspect. What might it mean to read the book of nature in a time of ecological precarity, what many have called the Anthropocene? I will argue that premodern theological traditions of the book of nature, such as one finds in the twelfth century Hugh of Saint Victor, have something extremely important to add to a postmodern 'terrestrial' hermeneutics of nature, precisely because the premodern book of nature already performs the construal of nature as culture (and of culture as nature) so often recommended today by critics such as Latour, Haraway, and others. On such an account, nature is neither a fantasy object to be ignored or fled, nor a stable text to be tamed, rationalized, and epistemically leveraged, but rather the changing concept and experience of nature is a symbol illuminated in a book we half receive, and half create, a symbol open to both critique and contemplation, which gives rise to thought, action, and the sort of novel moral intuitions we need now more than ever.


Internet of Things (IoT), commonly referred to a physical object connected to network, refers to a paradigm in information technology integrating the advances in terms of sensing, computation and communication to improve the service in daily life. This physical object consists of sensors and actuators that are capable of changing the data to offer the improvement of service quality in daily life. When a data exchange occurs, the exchanged data become sensitive; making them vulnerable to any security attacks, one of which, for example, is Sybil attack. This paper aimed to propose a method of trustworthiness management based upon the authentication and trust value. Once performing the test on three scenarios, the system was found to be capable of detecting the Sybil attack rapidly and accurately. The average of time to detect the Sybil attacks was 9.3287 seconds and the average of time required to detect the intruder object in the system was 18.1029 seconds. The accuracy resulted in each scenario was found 100% indicating that the detection by the system to Sybil attack was 100% accurate.


The relationship between lithology and slope morphology is investigated at eight sites on granitic, andesitic, and sedimentary hillslopes in the Tucson Mountains, Arizona. Several methods are used in the study. Topographic profiles are constructed. Skewness indices, slope length, and mean slope angles of the different slope profiles are computed and compared with each other. Debris size analysis has permitted for some profiles, the determination of hillfront/piedmont junctions. The nature and structural characteristics of the bedrock are the ones that determine the hillslope morphology in this semi-arid region. There are, as a matter of fact, variations in profiles on the same bedrock nature but differently exposed. More precise morphologic studies have been also done in comparing the different lithologic pairs. They have permitted to show some similarities in shapes. The granitic-andesitic slopes and andesiic-sedimentary slopes are the best comparisons which show the relationship between lithology and slope morphology. The granitic-sedimentary slope relationship is shown in the hillfront concavities, mountain front and piedmont mean slope angles.


In the Philosophical Investigations, Wittgenstein famously criticizes Frege's conception of assertion. "Frege's opinion that every assertion contains an assumption", says Wittgenstein, rests on the possibility of parsing every assertoric sentence into two components: one expressing the assumption that is put forward for assertion, the other expressing that it is asserted. But this possibility does not entail that the "assertion consists of two acts, entertaining and asserting" – any more than the possibility of rendering assertions as pairs of questions and affirmative answers entails that they consist of questions. Frege scholars protest that such criticism is inappropriate, not only because Frege doesn't speak about assumptions, but also – and crucially – because Wittgenstein fails to address the logical nature of assertion as reflected in Frege's use of the judgment stroke. They seem to read Wittgenstein's argument in the light of a remark in the Tractatus saying that the judgment stroke is "logically meaningless" because it simply indicates that the author holds the propositions marked with this sign to be true. In this paper, I argue that Wittgenstein's criticism of Frege is not that the latter's conception of judgment and assertion contains a corrupting psychological element. Rather, the criticism is that for Frege judgment and assertion are composed of two separate acts, i.e. an act of referring to a truth value and an act of determining which of the two it is. Through a detailed examination of the 'black-spot analogy' in the Tractatus, I want to show that Wittgenstein presents a serious objection to Frege's conception of judgment and assertion.


The potential of physical methods for in situ studies of the phase stability and physicochemical evolution of heavy oils is analyzed. The basic principles of in situ application of the methods are outlined; the scope and limitations of each approach are discussed. Particular attention is paid to the visualization of the asphaltene aggregation process using attenuated total reflection Fourier transform IR spectroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging, as well as small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering, electron spin resonance and electron and optical microscopy. These methods provide complementary information on the properties and behaviour of oil disperse systems on various spatial and temporal scales ranging from the rotational mobility of asphaltene molecules and the dynamics of their local environment with a characteristic time of ∼ 10−10 s and evolution of the size characteristics and shape of asphaltene aggregates to visualization of asphaltene aggregation and formation of precipitates in crude oils and their blends with spatial resolution from a few to thousands of micrometres with a characteristic time from seconds to hundreds of hours. The approaches described can be efficiently applied in a wide range of temperatures and pressures, as well as in the presence of chemicals that affect the stability of heavy oils. The bibliography includes 241 references.


The principles of well-known indices of sustainability—the Ecological Footprint (EF) and the Environmental Sustainability Index (ESI)—have been compared to discuss the essence of attitude, substantial differences and transferability into urban planning. An overview indicates that ideologically the EF is a more appropriate tool for ecological tasks due to its clear background of natural limits and the ability of "leakage" tracing. Furthermore the European Common Initiative is discussed as it proposes feasible indices monitoring actions towards local sustainability that could be considered in urban planning. Taking two Lithuanian cities as an example, integration of part of one index (regarding municipal solid wastes) into the ecological section of urban planning is presented. It has been estimated that in 10 years an average Lithuanian should generate an amount of municipal solid waste whose ecological impact will be equal to 19,900 kg of CO2-eq in 20 years time. Lastly considering urban planning scope and the EF practice, two opportunities are discussed: (1) tree planting and (2) waste incineration.


The validity of considering the LSE/sub 20/-mode propagation threshold as the limiting factor in selecting rectangular-wave-guide ferrite-phase-shifter dimensions is examined theoretically and experimentally using a dielectric model. Depending on the effective dielectric constant of the loading material, it is shown that the LSE/sub 20/-mode cutoff may, in many cases, be exceeded without introducing spurious mode resonances. In addition, the effect of magnetization on the y-independent modal cutoffs is investigated. It is concluded that the dielectric model represents a worst case condition as far as higher order mode propagation is concerned.


The sign appears explicable on the basis of the suggestion made by Lewis about the mode of production of the skin lesions. Antidromic impulses passing down the sensory fibres from the affectedganglia are said to release in the skin substances of a histamine-like nature which, by their action on the skin vessels, ultimately cause the eruption. Presumably in the pre-eruptive stage these impulses render the skin hypersensitive to stroking by an effect on the skin vessels not yet sufficient to result in the herpetic rash, the " triple response " itself being known to depend on a similar process of liberation of histamine or histamine-like substances in the skin stimulated.-I am, etc.,


Malaysia is a known source and consumer of bear bile products in Asia, and sun bears are persistently poached to meet the demand for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Surveys of TCM outlets in the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak were conducted in 2018 and 2019 as part of continuing efforts to monitor the availability of bear bile products in the country. Despite being illegal, the trade in bears and their parts persists, although with fewer TCM outlets offering such products in comparison to numbers reported in previous studies. In 2012, 42% of TCM outlets in Sabah and 35.4% in Sarawak were found to contain bear bile products. This has since dropped to 35% in Sabah and 19.3% in Sarawak in 2018−2019. Gall bladders were the main type of commodity for sale in both states, and were reportedly sourced predominantly by indigenous people. It was evident that most retailers surveyed were aware that the trade in bears and their parts was strictly prohibited, and some traders claim to have stopped selling illegal bear products for this reason. However, some traders who continue to trade in these illegal commodities have become more discreet. These factors contribute to the reduction in TCM outlets observed selling bear bile products. This reduction may also be due to diminishing sun bear populations, as some traders have claimed to have stopped selling bear bile products because of the rarity of or difficulty in procuring genuine bear gall bladders. The threat of illegal trade, combined with loss and degradation of suitable habitat and food resources as well as conflict with humans, puts sun bears at considerable risk. Efforts to mitigate these threats are urgently needed. Reduction of demand for bear parts is essential, as is stronger legal protection, enhanced enforcement and increased community involvement in bear conservation actions to ensure the long-term survival of viable bear populations in Asia.


Background: There has been a widespread debate about the overall impact of globalization on population, not just economically, but also in terms of health status. Moreover, the current health crisis is going to force governments to review the structure of the public budget to most effectively alleviate the negative economic and health effects on the population. Objective: The aim of this paper is to analyze the relative importance of globalization and the public budget composition—specifically the participation of public expenditure on healthcare, social services and environment in gross domestic product (GDP)—on life expectancy at birth in European countries during the period 1995–2017. Methods: The Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) methodology was applied to analyze the socioeconomic determinants of life expectancy at birth. Results: Our findings show that globalization has no relative importance as an explanatory variable of life expectancy in European countries, while government expenditure on social protection is the most relevant followed by public expenditure on health, gross national income per capita, education level of the population and public expenditure on environmental protection. Conclusion: European strategies intended to impact on health outcome should spend more attention to the composition of public budget.


While researchers have analysed the organisational competences that are required for successful Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives, individual BPM competences have not yet been studied in detail. In this study, latent semantic analysis is used to examine a collection of 1507 BPM-related job advertisements in order to develop a typology of BPM professionals. This empirical analysis reveals distinct ideal types and profiles of BPM professionals on several levels of abstraction. A closer look at these ideal types and profiles confirms that BPM is a boundary-spanning field that requires interdisciplinary sets of competence that range from technical competences to business and systems competences. Based on the study's findings, it is posited that individual and organisational alignment with the identified ideal types and profiles is likely to result in high employability and organisational BPM success.


Despite continual fluctuations in walking surface properties, humans and animals smoothly transition between terrains in their natural surroundings. Walking transitions have the potential to influence dynamic balance in both the anterior–posterior and medial–lateral directions, thereby increasing fall risk and decreasing mobility. The goal of the current manuscript is to provide a review of the literature that pertains to the topic of surface slope transitions between level and hill surfaces, as well as report the recent findings of two experiments that focus on the neuromuscular strategies of surface slope transitions. Our results indicate that in anticipation of a change in surface slope, neuromuscular patterns during level walking prior to a hill are significantly different from the patterns during level walking without the future change in surface. Typically, the changes in muscle activity were due to co-contraction of opposing muscle groups and these changes correspond to modifications in head pitch. In addition, further experiments revealed that the neck proprioceptors may be an initial source of feedback for upcoming surface slope transitions. Together, these results illustrate that in order to safely traverse varying surfaces, transitions strides are functionally distinct from either level walking or hill walking independently.


Abstract Although a plethora of players has already been revealed to be engaged in the haemostatic system, a fundamental consideration of the molecular nature of information coding can give further explorations of the mechanisms of blood clotting, platelet functionality and vascular trafficking direction. By any measures, looking at ranges of occurrence and of potential for structural versatility, at strategic positioning to influence protein and cell sociology as well as at dynamics of processing and restructuring for phenotypic variability, using sugars as an alphabet of life for generating the glycan part of glycoconjugates is a success story. The handiwork by the complex system for glycan biosynthesis renders biochemical messages of exceptionally high coding capacity available. They are read and translated into cellular effects by receptors termed lectins. The different levels of regulation on both sides, that is, glycan and lectin, establish an intriguingly fine-tuned capacity for functional pairing. The emerging insights into the highly branched routes of glycosylation, into lectin structures up to complete characterization in solution and the shape of lectin networks, first obtained for the three selectins, now extended to considering many other C-type lectins, galectins and siglecs, as well as into intra- and inter-family cross-talk and cooperations are sure to push boundaries in our understanding of the molecular basis of haemostasis.


A significant proportion of the population of the world is made up of users of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Jenkins (2000) published the Lingua Franca Core (LFC), a syllabus for ELF pronunciation, including the claim that the fortis/lenis distinction must be preserved on English stop consonants for successful ELF intelligibility. The present study evaluates the relationship between Voice Onset Time (VOT) and how the sounds are perceived by ELF listeners. 101 tokens produced during ELF interaction which contained the stops /b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /g/, or /k/ were played for 9 Swedish listeners, who could indicate that they heard either the word or its minimal-pair counterpart, e.g. bees or peas. The relationship between VOT and perceived stop was analyzed, with the expectation that longer VOTs would be associated with fortis consonants and shorter VOTs would be associated with lenis consonants. Results followed the predicted pattern for /d/ and /g/ but not for /t/ and /k/. In addition, the pattern observed for /p/ and /b/ is the reverse of the pattern found for the other consonants. These results suggest that further research into the LFC's claim about the fortis/lenis distinction and other LFC claims are warranted.


Abstract. The Superconducting Submillimeter-Wave Limb-Emission Sounder (SMILES) on board the International Space Station observed ozone in the stratosphere with high precision from October 2009 to April 2010. Although SMILES measurements only cover latitudes from 38° S to 65° N, the combination of data assimilation methods and an isentropic advection model allows us to quantify the ozone depletion in the 2009/2010 Arctic polar winter by making use of the instability of the polar vortex in the northern hemisphere. Ozone data from both SMILES and Odin/SMR (Sub-Millimetre Radiometer) for the winter were assimilated into the Dynamical Isentropic Assimilation Model for OdiN Data (DIAMOND). DIAMOND is an off-line wind-driven transport model on isentropic surfaces. Wind data from the operational analyses of the European Centre for Medium- Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) were used to drive the model. In this study, particular attention is paid to the cross isentropic transport of the tracer in order to accurately assess the ozone loss. The assimilated SMILES ozone fields agree well with the limitation of noise induced variability within the SMR fields despite the limited latitude coverage of the SMILES observations. Ozone depletion has been derived by comparing the ozone field acquired by sequential assimilation with a passively transported ozone field initialized on 1 December 2009. Significant ozone loss was found in different periods and altitudes from using both SMILES and SMR data: The initial depletion occurred at the end of January below 550 K with an accumulated loss of 0.6–1.0 ppmv (approximately 20%) by 1 April. The ensuing loss started from the end of February between 575 K and 650 K. Our estimation shows that 0.8–1.3 ppmv (20–25 %) of O3 has been removed at the 600 K isentropic level by 1 April in volume mixing ratio (VMR).


Background Immunologically cold tumors with an 'immune desert' phenotype lack tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and are typically impervious to systemic immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Intratumoral treatment of tumors with immunomodulatory agents can promote local tumor inflammation leading to improved T cell responses in injected tumors. Addition of systemic ICB increases response frequency and immune-mediated clearance of injected and distal non-injected lesions, and this promising approach is being widely investigated clinically. In this work, we evaluate and characterize the local and systemic antitumor immunotherapeutic activity of VAX014, a novel non-viral targeted oncolytic agent based on recombinant bacterial minicells, following intratumoral administration and in combination with systemic ICB. Methods The immunotherapeutic activity of VAX014 following weekly intratumoral administration was investigated in multiple preclinical tumor models with B16F10 murine melanoma serving as the primary model for evaluation of immune desert tumors. Mice bearing a single intradermal tumor were used to evaluate tumor response and overall survival (OS), assess changes in immune cell populations, and explore global changes to immunotranscriptomes of injected tumors. Mice bearing bilateral intradermal tumors were then used to evaluate non-injected tumors for changes in TIL populations and phenotypes, compare immunotranscriptomes across treatment groups, and assess distal non-injected tumor response in the context of monotherapy or in combination with ICB. Results VAX014 demonstrated strong immune-mediated tumor clearance of injected tumors coinciding with significantly elevated CD8+ TILs and upregulation of multiple immune pathways essential for antitumor immune responses. Modest activity against distal non-injected immune desert tumors was observed despite elevated levels of systemic antitumor lymphocytes. Combination with systemic CTLA-4 blockade improved survival and elevated TILs but did not improve clearance rates of non-injected tumors. Immunotranscriptomes of non-injected tumors from this treatment combination group exhibited upregulation of multiple immune pathways but also identified upregulation of PD-1. Further addition of systemic PD-1 blockade led to rapid clearance of non-injected tumors, enhanced OS, and provided durable protective immunological memory. Conclusions Intratumoral administration of VAX014 stimulates local immune activation and robust systemic antitumor lymphocytic responses. Combination with systemic ICB deepens systemic antitumor responses to mediate clearance of injected and distal non-injected tumors.


Based on human eye visual characteristics of brightness and texture, a new region segmentation method and quantitative formulas in transform domain were put forward. By dynamic quantization, the transparency of carrier images and the anti-attack capability of watermarking images were improved. And a new kind of adjustment operator was brought up, which adjusted the pixel value after inverse discrete wavelet transform.


Objective: Elevated serum uric acid concentration has been associated with high blood pressure (BP) and hypertension. A putative underlying mechanism is the accumulation of reactive oxygen species when uric acid is generated by an increased enzyme activity of xanthine oxidase (XO). The aims of the present study were to investigate the associations between plasma uric acid concentration, purine metabolite ratios, as proxies for increased XO activity, and SBP and DBP in school-age children. Methods: Cross-sectional analyses were performed in 246 children (46% boys; mean age 7.1 years) from the Dutch KOALA Birth Cohort Study. Purine metabolites were determined with ultra-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. During a home visit, a nurse collected a blood sample and measured BP three times; in addition, parents measured their child's BP on three consecutive days, in the morning and evening. Generalized estimating equations were used for analyses while controlling for variables such as sex, age, BMI, physical activity, and dietary intake. Results: In multivariable analysis, uric acid (per SD of 38 &mgr;mol/l) was associated with DBP z-scores [s&bgr; 0.07; confidence interval (CI), 0.01–1.14], but not with SBP z-scores. Higher ratios of uric acid/xanthine (per SD of 138) (s&bgr; 0.09; CI, 0.01–0.17) and xanthine/hypoxanthine (per SD of 321) (s&bgr; 0.08; CI, 0.02–0.17) were associated with higher DBP z-scores, but not with SBP z-scores. Conclusion: In school-age children, uric acid and the ratios of uric acid/xanthine and xanthine/hypoxanthine were significantly associated with DBP z-scores. Suggesting that, both uric acid concentration and increased XO activity are associated with BP.


This study generates a substantive theory of how engineering students approach engineering mathematics learning in a polytechnic in Singapore. This thesis adopts a symbolic interactionist perspective and engages grounded theory methodology in its investigation. The main source of data comes from a series of in-depth face to face interviews with a group of 21 engineering students in the case Polytechnic. This is supplemented by data gathered from the students' reflection journals and informal interviews with their teachers. The first major outcome of this study is the generation of the theory of Selective Intentionality in engineering mathematics learning that describes how engineering students approach mathematics learning through a series of socio-psychological processes. The core category in this study is the category of intending that is surrounded by the other four categories of gathering, analysing, actualising and regulating. Another major outcome that arises from this study is the development of a typology of students with regards to how they experience and manage mathematics learning in their engineering courses in the case Polytechnic. The typology is based on the predominant distinctions among the participants according to their responses in the analysing, intending, actualising and regulating processes in the theory of Selective Intentionality. Accordingly, the students may be broadly classified into five types of learners: idealistic learners, competitive learners, pragmatic learners, fatalistic learners and dissonant learners. In short, this study provides a fresh perspective on how engineering students approach mathematics learning that is very important in their courses. At the same time, it has implications for the development of theory, practice and future research. ENGINEERING MATHEMATICS LEARNING IN A SINGAPORE POLYTECHNIC: A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH


Objectives: The present work was carried out to check the capability of novel actinobacterium, Nonomuraea longicatena (VSM-16) for bioactive metabolite production and optimization of its process parameters by statistical and mathematical modeling. Methods: Response Surface Methodology (RSM) regression evaluation was done to fit the experimental data of each response with the aid of second order polynomial. Unstructured kinetic models had been developed for growth, substrate utilization and bioactive metabolite production (in terms of responses). Model based kinetic parameters were estimated and the profiles of bioactive metabolite production, substrate utilization and growth had been drawn. Results: The results have shown accurate interaction among process variables at optimized values of incubation time at 8-9 days, pH at 8-9, temperature at 30-31°C, concentrations of Mannitol at 2-2.2% and Biopeptone at 1.5-1.7% and the data have been effectively fitted into second-order polynomial models. Under these conditions, the responses (zones of inhibition) of various organisms Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus mutans, Xanthomonas campestris, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans have been also matched with experimental and predicted consequences. Conclusion: The zones of inhibition (responses) for the organisms had been also determined to be best fitted with experiment and model values. Key words: Bioactive metabolites, Mathematical modeling, Nonomuraea longicatena, Optimization, Regression Analysis, Response Surface Methodology.


Medicine looks for reasonable criteria solving the problem of fair allocation of resources, assessing risks or discontinuing treatment. Further a reasonable measure is required for treating or accepting life in a reduced stage. The term "quality of life" seems to be like that. But it is generated by social politics and its problem, i.e. what people need for living, and does not ask whether a special treatment is useful for a patient. Thus the term should be used as follows: 1) only from patient's perspective, 2) as an undefinable term related to an "anthropologia negativa", and 3) reconstructing patient's preferences.


Urban land use suitability evaluation is the basic work of urban land use planning and management. The evaluation method is a core in urban land use suitability evaluation. Traditional urban land use suitability evaluation methods are GIS-based methods which often can not get satisfactory results for the complex nonlinear urban land use system. Artificial neural network is a frontier theory of complex non-linearity scientific and artificial intelligence science. It is a new method to evaluate urban land use suitability. This paper took the land use suitability evaluation of Hefei city as an example, building a back propagation neural network with 8 neurous of input layer, 5 neurons of hide layer and 3 neurons of output layer. The analysis shows: the high suitability area is 682.27 km2 in Hefei city, being about 8.73% of the total study area; the middle suitability area is 5965.76 km2, or about 76.33% of the total area and the low suitability area is 1167.35 km2, or about 14.94% of the total area. The results reflect the actual situation in Hefei city. The study shows that the back propagation neural network model can overcome the shortcomings of traditional evaluation methods. It means that artificial neural network is suitable for urban land use suitability evaluation. This reflects that artificial neural network has great academic value and application prospect in urban land use suitability evaluation. It also reflects that this study can provide a new idea and method for urban land use suitability evaluation.


Dragon fruits are a valued source of bioactive compounds with high potential to become a functional food. The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the chemopreventive potential and chemical composition of fruits harvested in Thailand and Israel. The amount of different compounds in water and methanol extracts and antioxidant activity was investigated. Moreover, cytotoxic activity against cancer and normal cells of skin, prostate, and gastrointestinal origin was performed, accompanied by anti-inflammatory assay based on NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophage model. Additionally, the quenching properties of polyphenols from fruits were determined by the interaction of the main drug carrier in blood human serum (HSA). The chemometric analysis was used to reveal the relationships between the determined parameters. Dragon fruits harvested in Israel revealed higher antioxidant properties and total content of polyphenols and betacyanins when compared to those from Thailand. The examined fruits of both origins showed significant cytotoxic activity toward colon and prostate cancer cells, with no toxic effect on normal cells, but also no anti-inflammatory effect. Moreover, a high binding ability to HSA was observed for water extracts of dragon fruits. All these predestine dragon fruits are the candidates for the attractive and chemopreventive elements of daily diet.


This study traces the rise of online moral disclosures (OMDs), social networking site postings in which individuals attest to personal pain, seeking to transform the harsh realities that transformed them. We demonstrate that their authors are attempting to undermine prevailing practices related to privacy, through OMD production and publication, especially the standard concealment of private information regarding wrongdoing, a practice that OMD authors perceive as exacerbating their own suffering and that of sufferers like them. The study shows that by authoring and disseminating OMDs, authors displace the symbolic boundaries that have been central to informational norms in modern society, including distances between private places and public arenas and among social groups. We observe OMD through the analytical lens of structuration theory, a powerful tool for generation of novel insights into the role human agents now play in constituting privacy-related practices.


Gastronomic tourism is defined as strategically effective activities that takes place among rising tourism trends contributing critically to the development and image of local people and the place where the activities are carried out, playing an important role in promoting the region and countries with broad effect of activity and creating high-level awareness. Gastronomic activities in rural tourism on gastronomic tourism seems to focus on importance of sustainable improvement and marketing. Local foods offer significant contributions to tourist satisfaction. In this context, the purpose of the study is to promote flavors of the local cuisine that are unknown or sinking into oblivion and contribute to the region's gastronomic tourism by drawing attention to Giresun's local culinary culture. Within the scope of study; the culinary culture of the region is examined, detailed information about the local foods is presented by face to face interview with two well on in life people living in the region.


The present cross over study assessed the percentage of dehydration and effectiveness of 120% rehydration (R) with sports drink (SD) and plain water (PW) on whole body rehydration (R), plasma volume (PV) restoration after exercise-induced dehydration. Ten healthy male subjects (age range, 19–27 years) were exercised at 65% of VO2max at an environmental temperature of 32.06±0.02°C on which relative humidity of 67.32±0.17% for 90-min until 3.08±0.04% (1.83±0.10 kg) of their body weight loss. After which, the subjects move to the thermo neutral environment (21.2±0.3°C) and seated for 30 min prior to begin the 2-h R period. During R, subjects drank either SD or PW representing 120% of the fluid lost divided in three boluses representation 50% (915±54 ml), 40%(732±37 ml) and 30% (556±35 ml) at 0, 30, 60 min, respectively. In the entire trials subjects were somewhat hypo hydrated (range 0.32–0.52 kg below initial body weight) after completing the 2-h R period. The percent body weight loss that was regained (used as index of percent rehydration) during SD and PW was 68±2% and 58±2%, respectively, with significantly (p<0.05) better R with SD compared with PW. The rehydration index for SD was significantly lower than PW (p<0.01). PV was restored similarly to euhydration levels after 2-h of R with SD but was significantly lower (p<0.05) with PW trials. Cumulative urine output was significantly higher for PW when compare to SD (p<0.05). Serum Cl, Na and K were significantly higher with SD (p<0.05) and urine osmolality of PW trial were significantly lower (p<0.05) than SD at the end of 2-h R period. Plasma glucose concentration were significantly higher when SD was ingested compared to PW (p<0.01). In conclusion, ingesting the volume of 120% of losses still under hypohydrated because of urine production and SD was better than PW for rehydration after exercise-induced dehydration.


Dress forms part of the taken-for-granted routines that constitute everyday life, but can be dys-rupted in the context of disability – in this case, dementia. Drawing on qualitative research, this chapter situates dress practice as part of how people with dementia and family carers manage the disruption caused by dementia, focussing on the renegotiation of ideas of 'normality' and ordinariness. Maintaining 'ordinariness' in this context, however, becomes more than just the achievement of continuity, representing efforts to 'pass' and manage the public presentation of self in ways that can normalise dementia, and demonstrate how family carers are 'coping' and caring adequately.


This issue of Clinical Toxicology includes a Position Statement regarding the use of pressure immobilization for the pre-hospital treatment of North American Crotalinae envenomation. This Commentary discusses the background behind the creation of the Position Statement and explores the issues involved in applying science to real world public health recommendations and practice.


cAMP-induced Ca2+ fluxes in Dictyostelium discoideum largely depend on phospholipase A2 activity generating non-esterified fatty acids [Schaloske and Malchow (1997) Biochem. J. 327, 233-238]. In the present study the effect of fatty acids on Ca2+ homoeostasis in D. discoideum was investigated. Cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was analysed by digital imaging of single fura2-dextran-loaded cells. Arachidonic acid and linoleic acid induced a transient increase in [Ca2+]i. The concentration of arachidonic acid determined the percentage of responding cells, with the mean height of the increase being dose-independent. In nominally Ca2+-free medium or in the presence of bis-(o-aminophenoxy)ethane-N, N,N',N'-tetra-acetic acid (BAPTA), no [Ca2+]i transient was detectable. In spite of this, we found that (1) arachidonic acid induced Ca2+ release from permeabilized cells and from vesicular fractions at concentrations that elicited Ca2+ influx in intact cells and (2) Ca2+ entry was inhibited by inhibitors of Ca2+-transport ATPases and V-type H+-ATPase, indicating that intracellular Ca2+ release precedes Ca2+ entry. Inhibition studies and mutant analysis point to the acidosomal Ca2+ stores as a target of fatty acids. Although fatty acids can substitute fully for cAMP with respect to Ca2+ influx in wild-type cells, experiments with a mutant strain revealed that cAMP also sensitizes the Ca2+-entry mechanism: cAMP-induced Ca2+ influx was normal in a phospholipase C knockout mutant but influx was fairly insensitive to arachidonic acid in this strain. This defect could be overcome by higher doses of arachidonic acid which cause sufficient Ca2+ to be released from the stores to trigger extracellular Ca2+ entry.


INTRODUCTION On August 10, 2006, London police successfully stopped a group of terrorists plotting to use liquid explosives to bomb nine planes flying from the United Kingdom to the United States.1 The plotters had hoped to set off these explosives mid-flight, killing an estimated 2,700 passengers.2 Several weeks after the arrests, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post in which he claimed that these terrorist plots failed "precisely because of timely, actionable intelligence, properly shared and acted upon before the terrorists could carry out their plans."3 He noted that one investigative resource essential to continued success in this area was passenger name record (PNR) data, information, gathered by airlines and travel agencies, which include such valuable clues as "travel itineraries and payment details."4 Chertoff then lamented that despite agreements with European partners, the United States remained "handcuffed in our ability to use all available resources to identify threats and stop terrorists."5 Chertoff s comments were well-timed since only two months earlier the European Court of Justice (ECJ) had struck down the 2004 agreement between the European Union and the United States regarding the processing and transfer of passenger name record data (2004 PNR Agreement) .6 While Chertoff sought a new agreement that would free the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from bothersome data privacy protections, his E.U. counterparts confronted very different concerns regarding the new accord. These concerns were due in part to the increasing outcry among European citizens over the United States' perceived mishandling of personal data. Such concerns about privacy, however, paled in comparison to the more fundamental questions of structural authority that arose out of the ECJ's decision to invalidate the agreement. Signed in 1992, the Treaty on European Union (TEU) established the legal framework of the European Union as it exists today.7 This framework grants the European Union authority to act in three distinct areas of competence, or "pillars."8 Each pillar delineates a set of policy areas over which the European Union has authority, and each creates a unique set of procedures for governmental action. The First Pillar grants the European Union authority to regulate commercial and economic affairs.9 The Second Pillar enables member states to cooperate in the area of foreign and security policy.10 The Third Pillar authorizes "common action among the Member States in the fields of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters."11 As the institution charged with approving international agreements between the European Union and third countries, the Council of Europe claimed that the First Pillar - the pillar governing commercial and economic matters - granted them the authority to conclude the 2004 PNR Agreement.12 The Council's rival institution within the E.U. governmental structure, the European Parliament, felt that the agreement was inadequate, both procedurally and substantively, and, in response, brought an action in the ECJ challenging the 2004 PNR Agreement on four grounds, including that the Council lacked the authority under the First Pillar to make the agreement, and that the agreement infringed on fundamental rights of privacy.13 On May 30, 2006, the ECJ announced its decision to invalidate the 2004 PNR Agreement.14 Surprisingly, its opinion ignored the issue of privacy rights altogether, and instead focused on the more fundamental issue of the European Union's authority to enter into such an agreement in the first place. In its opinion, the ECJ held that the European Union's power to regulate commercial affairs did not enable it to make such agreements.15 Essentially, the ECJ said that if E. U. officials wanted to enter into a valid PNR agreement with the United States, they would have to find another source of authority. …


Varicocele is the most common cause of primary male infertility and is associated with oxidative stress. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of anthocyanin on a rat model of varicocele. Twenty-four male rats were divided into four experimental groups: a normal control group, a varicocele-induced control group and two varicocele-induced groups treated with either 40 or 80mgkg(-1), p.o., anthocyanin for 4 weeks. Varicocele was induced by the partial obstruction of the left renal vein. After 8 weeks, the testes and epididymides from rats in all groups were removed, weighed and subjected to histological examination and semen analysis. Apoptosis in the testes was determined by terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-digoxigenin nick end-labelling (TUNEL) and oxidative stress was assessed by measuring 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) levels. Although no significant differences in sperm counts were observed among the groups, anthocyanin treatment of the varicocele-induced groups resulted in significantly increased testes weight, sperm motility and spermatogenic cell density (P<0.05). Anthocyanin treatment also significantly decreased apoptotic body count and 8-OHdG concentrations (P<0.05). We suggest that the antioxidant effect of anthocyanin prevented the damage caused by varicocele-induced reactive oxygen species.


Abstract It is difficult to quantify the mechanism(s) responsible for competition-induced yield loss using traditional experimental techniques. A technique using yield and 13C discrimination (Δ) for wheat, a C3 plant, has been developed to separate total yield loss (TYL) into yield loss due to N (YLNS) and water (YLWS) stresses. The objective of this research was to determine whether the Δ approach could be used in corn, a C4 plant, to separate TYL into YLNS and yield loss due to a combination of water and light stresses (YLWLS). The field study had a factorial design using five corn densities and five N rates and was conducted in western Nebraska in 1999 and 2000. Relationships for YLNS and YLWLS with TYL were derived from only a portion of the yield and Δ data collected in 1999 and validated based on the remaining data collected in 1999 and 2000. In 1999, 20 to 40% of TYL was due to YLWLS, whereas in 2000, a dry year, YLWLS accounted for 60 to 80% of the TYL. Results from using the Δ-based approach were consistent with analysis of variance results. For example, calculated YLWLS values were related to measured YLWLS by the equation: calculated YLWLS = 19 + 0.91 (measured YLWLS) (r2 = 0.95; P < 0.01). The Δ approach, based on a plant's physiological response to the environment, can be used to separate and quantify competition-induced YLNS and YLWLS in corn. Nomenclature: Corn, Zea mays L.; wheat, Triticum aestivum L.


The Uniform Trustee Act provides for the enforcement of certain non-charitable purpose trusts. This paper draws on that concept but extends it by recommending an expansion of the range of potential enforcement methods for all types of express trusts whether they are for non-charitable purposes, charitable purposes or for persons. In particular, it recommends that, for all types of express trusts, settlors be allowed to indicate possible enforcers. It also recommends that courts be allowed, unless the settlor indicates otherwise, to grant standing to persons to enforce express trusts whether for persons, non-charitable purposes or charitable purposes. It further recommends allowing for Crown enforcement of all types of express trusts (not just charitable purpose trusts) in statutorily specified situations and it recommends extending the availability of cyprès and administrative scheme orders to statutorily-identified non-charitable purpose trusts. The paper also argues that with Crown enforcement of all types of express trusts in statutorily specified situations, it is no longer necessary to retain several of the distinct features of charitable purpose trusts, such as exclusivity, public benefit and the invalidity of political purpose trusts.


The comparison between the texts of the Roman jurists (which we know in a fragmentary way thanks to Justinian's Digesta) and the records of specific cases helps us to better understand some aspects of the formation of Roman law. In these pages, I discuss two tabulae ceratae found at Londinium and edited by Tomlin in 2016. Concerning TLond. 55 – already studied by Camodeca and Nasti in 2017 – a better comparison is offered between its formula of stipulatio, which appears in the text (curari... dari), and the one included in two passages by the Roman jurist Labeo (D. 18.104.22.168; D. 188.8.131.52). With regards to TLond. 57, I provide here a first tentative interpretation. The document seems to be related to the trial and to the procedural representation.


WPI had been a leader in project based learning since the 1970s. This guide for PBL educators provides introductory materials on PBL, resources to help develop PBL, and WPI author publications on the PBL experience at WPI.