ABSTRACT Management of Lyme disease would benefit from a test to assess therapy outcome. Such a test could be employed to ascertain if treatment of early Lyme disease was successful and would be helpful to clinicians assessing patients with lingering posttreatment symptoms. We reported recently that levels of the antibody to C6, a Borrelia burgdorferi-derived peptide that is used as an antigen in the C6-Lyme diagnostic test, declined after successful antibiotic treatment of Lyme borreliosis patients. We assessed retrospectively the change in anti-C6 antibody titers in 131 patients with either early localized disease (erythema migrans) or disseminated disease. All of these patients were treated with antibiotics and were free of the clinical signs shown at presentation within 12 weeks after the initiation of treatment. Decreases in reciprocal geometric mean titers (rGMT) of the anti-C6 antibody were quantified for the subpopulation of 45 patients whose baseline rGMT were ≥80 and whose second serum specimens were obtained at least 6 months after the baseline specimen. Eighty percent of this patient group (36 of 45) experienced a ≥4-fold decrease in their rGMT (P < 0.0003). These results suggest that a change in the anti-C6 antibody titer may serve as an indicator of therapy outcome for patients with localized or disseminated Lyme borreliosis.


1. In the eel (Anguilla anguilla L.), the dorsal and ventral aortas and the subhepatic vein were catheterized to provide an external circulatory shunt. PO2 in the shunted blood was continuously recorded using a polarographic measuring device. 2. Spontaneous interruptions in the eel's ventilatory activity result in rapid changes in Pa,O2. The period of these Pa,O2 oscillations is sometimes less than 1 min. However, the response time of the measuring system is so great under the conditions of these experiments that only slow variations of Pa,O2, of a period greater than 5 min, are faithfully recorded. 3. In view of the impractibility of technical improvement in the recording system, a data processing method was developed to reconstitute the real physiological variations from the distorted experimental recordings. 4. Through this method of data correction, it is demonstrated that apnoeic or active ventilatory phases in the eel's breathing pattern are not triggered by constant low values of Pa,O2. Other physiological applications are suggested.


Prevail, a formal verification environment for proving the equivalence of two very-high-speed integrated circuit hardware description language (VHDL) design architectures, is described. For simple bit-level combinational descriptions, the environment calls upon a tautology checker. For parameterized repetitive structures and for more abstract sequential designs, the program translates descriptions into recursive functions according to predefined templates and generates a theorem acceptable to the Bover-Moore theorem prover. The specification, implementation, and functional representation of a sequential example are presented.<<ETX>>


Granular cell tumor (GCT) is a rare neoplasm of the breast, accounting for <0.1% of breast tumors. GCT may mimic a malignant tumor clinically and radiologically, thereby causing overtreatment in a few cases. We present a case of a 28-year-old woman who presented with a breast lump of short duration, which was highly suggestive of malignancy radiologically. Wide local excision of the lump showed histological features suggestive of GCT, which was confirmed by immunohistochemical studies.


A low-cost method of fabricating a printed circuit board (PCB) is presented. The process is favorable over conventional PCB fabrication due to fewer processing steps and lower capital investment. A laser printer is used to print a circuit layout onto ink-jet paper or specialized transfer paper (i.e., PnP-Blue from Technics, Inc.). The image is then heat transferred to a copper clad board using a standard household clothes iron. The transferred toner acts as an etch resist in a ferric chloride (FeCl/sub 3/) or other etchant bath, such as ammonium persulfate. Using this method, it is possible to fabricate PCBs with state-of-the art feature sizes as small as 4 mils using a 300 DPI laser printer. A higher resolution printer is expected to give finer resolutions. Tradeoffs between the ink-jet paper and the PnP-Blue paper is analyzed and discussed. This approach has been used for graduate-level courses including a VHDL class project to implement an ALU using a 44-pin CPLD and a microwave class project to implement a microstrip matching network for a high-gain, 875 MHz transistor. Over 200 students have successfully processed PCBs using this technique.


The paper develops, from a feminist point of view, the issues of emergence and presence of patriarchal principles, gender hierarchy and unequal distribution of power between the genders within Christianity. First of all, it poses the question as to whether patriarchal supremacy is proper to and ordained by the Christian tradition or has developed and strengthened throughout the process of the institutionalisation of Christianity. The western world, shaped under the influence of Christianity, has been recording an increased number of critical questions concerning the issue of gender hierarchy within individual Christian Churches, the Catholic Church in particular. The patriarchal character of the Church order is called into question and put under a microscope. With the help of a scientific methodology that employs the hermeneutic key of feminist theology the paper endeavours to trace the origins of patriarchal androcentrism and unequal appreciation of the two genders. The results of the discussion corroborate the hypothesis that during the process of institutionalisation the Catholic Church adopted the patriarchal denotation of the culture in which it developed, and confirm the theory that Christianity in its doctrine sets a strong imperative of gender equality, grounded both in the person of Jesus Christ and his attitude towards women as well as in the Bible.


Tendon lesions may involve the partial or total section of the common calcaneal tendon and cause postural changes of the member. This study evaluated, after 45 and 90 postoperative days (PO), the repair of the tendon of gastrocnemius muscle of rabbits with topical application of autologous platelet concentrate. Twelve adult rabbits were divided into two groups (n = 6) undergoing cardiac puncture and collection of 10 ml of blood to obtain platelet rich-plasma (PRP). Animals of both groups had a transverse tenotomy in the middle third of the lateral belly of the gastrocnemius tendon and muscle that was approximated with modified Kessler suture and nylon thread. In the animals of the treated group it was applied the average of 490.644 platelets / uL of PRP, per animal over the tendon synthesis. The treated group showed a higher amount of collagen fibers than the control one, and at 90 PO days the intensity of collagen was higher than at 45 days with more fibroblasts in the control than in treated one. The administration of plasma autogenous platelet concentrate in the repair of the gastrocnemius tendon of rabbits stimulates and organizes the repair process and causes early production of collagen fibers.


In this paper, we present a new data mining framework for discovering sequence effects. In particular, we focus on the sequences consisting of actions that are taken in chronological order, like sequences of clinical procedures or marketing actions. Each sequence is associated with a binary outcome, a success or a failure. We investigate the hypothesis that certain subsequences of actions contribute to successes, which we call effective subsequences. A generic data mining algorithm for extracting effective subsequences is proposed, which is verified both quantitatively and qualitatively. We experimented our effective subsequence mining algorithm on a real sales opportunity dataset. Based on the subsequence model, a market campaign attribution model is proposed, with application to the same sales dataset.


Truck weight enforcement helps protect infrastructure and improve traffic safety. However, requiring all trucks to stop at all weigh stations reduces productivity and increases enforcement costs. This pilot study was conducted at the Williamsville weigh station in Springfield, Ill., to quantify the delay and traffic conflicts experienced by trucks around weigh stations. The quantification is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of automatic vehicle identification/weigh in motion (AVI/WIM) systems for electronic screening of trucks at weigh stations. The main emphasis of this project is to examine potential benefits of intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies for intrastate commercial vehicle operations (CVO) applications. Reducing the number of traffic conflict incidents due to the merging and diverging movements of trucks would increase traffic safety. In the case study, without the AVI/WIM system, on the average, 30 percent of all trucks could not be weighed because the weigh station was temporarily closed to prevent a queue backup. The average delay was 4.95 min/truck and varied from 3.56 to 6.59 min/truck. The maximum delay varied from 8.69 to 137.62 min/truck. There were significant numbers of conflicts even under light-volume conditions. Models to predict the number of conflicts were developed. The number of diverge conflicts depends on car and truck volumes, and the number of merge conflicts depends on the truck volume on the ramp and the car volume in the right and middle lanes of a six-lane interstate.


The research aims were to explore the powerful experiences related to any perceived PA in a participant's lifeworld. In the analysis a more general exploration of PA and its importance in the participant's lifeworld was undertaken. 8 participants were recruited through opportunity sampling for the study. They shared a number of demographic traits; they were all Caucasian and self acclaimed working to middle class from towns and cities in the county of West Yorkshire. The participants were aged between 19 and 49, all have an affinity for sport and exercise and all participate regularly. Semi structured interviews were conducted and analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996) to explore in detail the participants viewpoint and experiences of PA. A full analysis was conducted; selected sub themes were examined and discussed in further detail. The two sub themes selected best illuminate the reported experience of physical activity for the reader. The sub themes were 'The importance of PA on participant's identity' and 'PA as escapism and social world construction'. Discussion includes identity creation, psychological resilience, early experiences and motivation. Implications for theory, research, practice and policy are discussed.


We study a multi-server model with n flexible servers and rn queues, connected through a fixed bipartite graph, where the level of flexibility is captured by the average degree, d(n), of the queues. Applications in content replication in data centers, skill-based routing in call centers, and flexible supply chains are among our main motivations. We focus on the scaling regime where the system size n tends to infinity, while the overall traffic intensity stays fixed. We show that a large capacity region (robustness) and diminishing queueing delay (performance) are jointly achievable even under very limited flexibility (d(n) l n). In particular, when d(n) gg ln n , a family of random-graph-based interconnection topologies is (with high probability) capable of stabilizing all admissible arrival rate vectors (under a bounded support assumption), while simultaneously ensuring a diminishing queueing delay, of order ln n/ d(n), as n-> ∞. Our analysis is centered around a new class of virtual-queue-based scheduling policies that rely on dynamically constructed partial matchings on the connectivity graph.


130. 9. Guillonneau B, Vallencien G. Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: the Montsouris technique. J Urol 2000; 163: 1643–9. 10. Abbou CC, Salomon L, Hoznek A, Antiphon P, Cicco A, Saint F, Alame W, Bellot J, Chopin D. Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: preliminary results. Urology 2000; 55: 630–4. 11. Abbou CC, Hoznek A, Salomon I, Olsson L, Lobontiu A, Saint F, Cicco A, Antiphon P, Chopin D. Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy with a remote controlled robot. J Urol 2001; 165: 1964–6. 12. Menon M, Tewari A, members of the Vattikuti Institute Prostatectomy Team. Robotic radical prostatectomy and the Vattikuti Urology Institute technique; an interim analysis of results and technical points. Urology 2003; 61 (suppl 4A): 15–20. 13. Tewari A, Srivastava A, Menon M, members of the Vattikuti Institute Prostatectomy Team. A prospective comparison of radical retropubic prostatectomy and robot-assisted prostatectomy: experience in one institution. BJU Int 2003; 92: 205–10. 14. Guillonneau B, El-Fettouh H. Laparoscopic radical prostatectomy: oncological evaluation after 1000 cases t Montsouris institute. J Urol 2003; 169: 1261–6. 15. Walsh P, Marschke P, Rinker D, Burnett A. Patient reported urinary continence and sexual dysfunction after anatomic radical prostatectomy. Urology 2000; 55: 58–61. 16. Kumar R, Hemal A, Menon M. Robotic renal and adrenal surgery: present and future. BJU Int 2005; 96: 244–9. 17. Costello A. Beyond Marketing: The real value of robotic radical prostatectomy, BJU Int 2005; 96: 1–6. 18. Scales C, Jones P, Eisenstein E, Perminger G, Albala D. Local cost structures and economics of robot assisted radical prostatectomy. J Urol 2005; 174: 2323–9. 19. Aherling T, Skarecky D, Lee D, Clayman R. Successful transfer of open surgical skills to a laparoscopic environment using a robotic interface: initial experience with laparoscopic radical prostatectomy. J Urol 2003; 169 (suppl): A1649. 20. Menon M, Shrivastava A, Tewari A, Sarle R, Hemal A, Peabody J, Vallancien G. Laparoscopic and robot assisted radical prostatectomy: establishment of a structured program and preliminary analysis of outcomes. J Urol 2002; 168: 945–7. 21. Shalhav A, Dabagia M, Wagner T, Koch M, Lingeman J. Training postgraduate urologists in laproscopic surgery: The current challenge. J Urol 2002; 167: 2135–7. JOURNAL FÜR UROLOGIE UND UROGYNÄKOLOGIE ANTWORTFAX Hiermit bestelle ich ein Jahresabonnement (mindestens 4 Ausgaben) zum Preis von ¤ 36,– (Stand 1.1.2008) (im Ausland zzgl. Versandspesen) Name


The experimental film _grau(Robert Seidel, 10:01 min, Germany 2004) deals with personal issues on a visually abstracted level. It establishes a system of interwoven complexity born out of memories, scientific visualization and real data to create a modernized version of a tableau vivant, dealing with surreal and abstract images that come alive. The film is part of ongoing research to create organic imagery that is inspired by nature, art and technology. The ideas and inspirations of the film are partly disclosed, as the works are sometimes perceived as 'eye candy' or some kind of screen saver: somewhat related to the classic problem of modern art when it is often claimed that abstract paintings could just as easily be created by children. It is important to recognize that no technique is in itself predestined to capture an emotional experience, rather it is the artist's vision that shapes the experience to become more than just pretty pictures.


Background Polypharmacy, common in the elderly, is an important risk factor for drug-related problems. In this context, the hospital pharmacist can contribute to supporting clinicians in promoting the safe use of medicines. Purpose To identify the need for an appropriate medicines reconciliation system in a sample of hospitalised elderly patients. Material and methods Medical records of patients ≥65 years taking ≥5 drugs admitted during a one-month period to 5 general medicine and geriatric wards were retrospectively reviewed. The following data were collected by a hospital pharmacist: number of drugs prescribed, dose omission, frequency, administration route, pharmaceutical form and potential drug-drug interactions. Results We analysed the medical records of 75 patients (36 men, 39 women, mean age 81 years). Overall, patients were admitted with 634 drugs used at home; in the first 24 h after admission and at discharge, 723 and 645 drugs were prescribed, respectively. At the recognition stage, the dosage form was omitted in 17% of prescriptions, the dose in 12%, route of administration in 20%, frequency in 26%. At discharge rates of omission decreased to 2% for dosage form, 2% for route of administration, 7% frequency. Overall, 816 potential drug-drug interactions were identified. In 13 medical records medicines were not prescribed in accordance with the hospital formulary; allergies/intolerances were not taken into account in 2 discharge letters and in 2 inpatient prescriptions, while 9 suspected adverse drug reactions were not notified. Conclusion The review of the actual process of accuracy of drug recording in the patient's medical record highlights the need for a more structured procedure. An active role for hospital pharmacists is foreseen, in order to ensure the safe use of medicines. References and/or acknowledgements No conflict of interest.


Purpose: Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and can have a detrimental effect on daily activities. To date, most cognitive treatments have had an impairment-based focus with primary outcome measures of formal neuropsychological test scores. Few, if any, studies have focused on functional improvement or patient-centered goals.Method: Three individuals with idiopathic PD participated in an 8-week pilot treatment program to train for the use of compensatory external aids to achieve personalized goals. Goal attainment scaling was the primary outcome measure, which was independently judged by multiple raters at baseline, postintervention, and 1 month posttreatment and analyzed via T-score analysis. Descriptive measures, including self-report and spouse-report rating scales of cognitive functioning, were employed.Results: All 3 participants improved in the majority of their laboratory and home goals posttreatment, as measured by goal attainment scaling, and maintained gains for the majority of goals 1 month posttreatment.Conclusions: This is the 1st known study to implement an external aids treatment program with patient-centered goals for individuals with cognitive deficits from PD. Positive outcomes were likely influenced by 3 factors: (a) a theoretically motivated focus on external aids; (b) a well-documented, systematic approach to instruction; and (c) the personalization of goals.Supplemental Material S1. Individual goals per goal attainment scaling method. Supplemental Material S2. Treatment session sample. Spencer, K. A., Paul, J., Brown, K. A., Ellerbrock, T., & Sohlberg, M. M. (2019). Cognitive rehabilitation for individuals with Parkinson's disease: Developing and piloting an external aids treatment program. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_AJSLP-19-0078


A new 1 : 1 co-crystal of sulfamethazine (API, SMT) and 3-methylsalicylic acid (coformer, 3mSA) has been synthesized and its crystal structure solved by single crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). The co-crystal has been thoroughly characterized by powder XRD, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The pure co-crystal could be synthesized by solvent drop grinding, cooling crystallization and slurry conversion co-crystallization. Ternary phase diagrams have been constructed in methanol and acetonitrile at 30 °C. The co-crystal exhibits incongruent dissolution in both solvents. The thermodynamics of co-crystal formation have been estimated from solubility data and calorimetric data, respectively, showing that formation of the SMT–3mSA co-crystal from its solid components is spontaneous and entropy-driven. The co-crystal formation is associated with a 5% increase in molecular volume. A relationship between the size of the region where the co-crystal is the most stable solid phase and the relative solubility of the co-crystal components has been uncovered. The co-crystal region becomes smaller as the solubility ratio increases.


The invention relates to novel sulfamic acid amides of General Formula (I) and their use as active ingredients in the preparation of pharmaceutical compositions. The invention also concerns related aspects including processes for the preparation of the compounds, pharmaceutical compositions containing one or more of those compounds and especially their use as endothelin receptor antagonists.


How to render the benefit of advertisement is a question difficult to be answered in the out-of-home advertising industry. With the advance of information technology this question can be answered efficiently and effectively. Moreover, with the innovation of gamification [5], a brand vendor can interact with its consumers directly. For media companies, they not only have to provide innovative applications to attract the attention of consumers but also to serve multiple advertisers simultaneously in the same time. In this paper, we introduce a "software as a service (SaaS)" architecture [1] of interactive marketing media to solve the problem of providing interaction between brand vendors and consumers simultaneously in the cloud computing environment. According to prior research [3], advertisers can benefit from their scalability and foci on core competencies with a cloud service. In the proposed system architecture, a series of interactive activities can be designed by an advertiser with high flexibility. The activities can be initialized with any traditional or digital signage when the attention of a consumer is caught. An instruction of online interaction with any smartphone can be provided in the signage. The consumer can follow the instructions to interact with the advertisers or to place orders online immediately. Since the whole system was designed as an interactive SoLoMo application, various multimedia content databases can be plugged in as data sources, including geographic, game, and video stream databases. The system was designed with three layers (presentation, domain, and data) distinctively according to Fowler [2]. We follow the seven guidelines suggested by Hevner et. al. [4] in the paradigm of design science research. These guidelines, including design as an artifact, problem relevant, design as a search process, research rigor, design evaluation, research contributions, and communication of research, provide us a rigorous process when developing a brand new information system or solving an existing problem with a new way [4]. We evaluated the proposed SaaS architecture with three scenarios and a benchmark comparison. The contribution of our work lies in that we provide a systematic framework of value co-creation among media owners, advertisers, and consumers. The advertising activity can be interesting, economic, and flexible on scale with the help of cloud computing.


Hotel is one of the companies engaged in the services, which focuses on the customer service. But in a very tight competition, many competitors are in the same field and compete to each other for the market, so that is not only needed excellent services, but a lot of factors to keep customers survive and attract new customers to come, therefore, every business player in the hotel industry is required to have a good strategy in order to continue to compete. One such strategy is to conduct an internal resource based view.
Bangka City Hotel is one of the business players in the hotel industry, especially three starred-hotels, in Bangka Belitung Island region, especially in Pangkalpinang area. To improve competitiveness, Bangka City Hotel implements internal resource based view strategy. The analysis consists of three important elements, namely: financial resource analysis, human resource analysis and organizational assets and core competency analysis.


Pedal progression of the slug Limax maximus was studied to obtain relations between wave velocity on the sole of the foot, wave frequency, the advance due to a single wave, and the velocity of vertically upward creeping. Each of the first three quantities is directly proportional to the simultaneous velocity of progression. Under comparable conditions, that is when work is done at a constant rate, the frequency of pedal waves is influenced by the temperature according to the equation of Arrhenius, with µ = 10,700 (Q 10 for 11° to 21° = 2.1). The velocity of a single wave must have very nearly the same "temperature characteristic," which is found also in another case of nerve net transmission (in Renilla).


Central and organic hemodynamics were studied in extracorporeal UV irradiation of blood (EUVRB) conducted in patients with chronic nonspecific diseases of the lungs. Within the first postexposure day the majority of the hemodynamic parameters showed marked fluctuations. EUVRB brought about a persistent reduction in pulmonary-vascular resistance in bronchial asthma and chronic obstructive bronchitis patients. The latter also achieved a decline in pulmonary hypertension. A positive trend arose after EUVRB in red cell histo- and morphograms. Relevant hemodynamic EUVRB mechanisms are discussed.


Introduction The Appalachian oil field is unquestionably the best known of any of the American fields, not only for the reason that it is the oldest, but be cause, being the first, it attracted the attention of geologists and oil men to a degree never attained by any of the fields subsequently opened. Its literature is voluminous and its published historical and scientific record, are more complete than those of any other field in the United States. The structure has been worked out over broad areas with great detail and refinement, especially in the northern and central sections of the field, by the National and State geological surveys, and probably few, if any, of what may be called the major dynamic structures have escaped recognition. Nevertheless, much still remains to be accomplished in unraveling the minor, but by no means unimportant, details of structure and in reaching a better understanding of . . .


Embryonic diapause is a key strategy to extend pregnancy until conditions are ideal for birth and postnatal survival. There is still a lot to discover about this unique phenomenon observed in more than 130 mammalian species. The present review aims at complementing existing research efforts by (1) identifying new directions for a better understanding of embryonic diapause in mammals and (2) considering this complex mechanism as a source of inspiration for other areas in cellular biology. Comparative explorations in different species of new molecular players associated with the use of emerging technologies in the study of embryos (epigenetics for instance), the uterus (immune cells, microbiota, cell-free DNA), and the whole organism (remote sensing, systems biology) will shed some new lights on embryonic diapause characterizations. Collective results of advanced studies should be integrated into the measurement of climate and environmental changes potentially influencing the physiology of females and their arrested embryos. Interestingly, lessons from nonmammalian species using similar strategies (killifish for instance) could also improve our understanding of this unique phenomenon. Furthermore, studying embryonic diapause offers a great opportunity to decipher other cellular mechanisms and develop new applications (stem cell technologies, cancer treatments, contraceptive methods, short-term storage of embryos, or early fetal loss prevention). Overall, these new ideas and directions should define some themes for a future International Symposium on Embryonic Diapause.


The rational design of noble metal-free electrocatalysts that are highly active, robustly stable, and capable of delivering large current densities (>500 mA cm−2) at low applied potentials (<300 mV), in particular for oxygen evolution reaction (OER), is critical for practical use in electro-driven water-splitting devices. Herein, we report a facile scalable and one-step electrochemical deposition approach for the development of a self-supported 3D nanoporous S-doped amorphous NiFe2O4/Ni3Fe composite electrode with outstanding OER electrocatalytic activity and robust durability in alkaline media. Benefiting from the 3D nanoporous architectures and their in situ growth on a highly conductive substrate, the novel S-doped NiFe2O4/Ni3Fe composite electrode offers an ideal platform for fast electron transport and efficient mass transport. It also provides abundant active surface area as well as accessible active sites for a catalytic reaction. Impressively, the S-doped composite electrode displays superior OER activity in 1.0 M KOH that compares favorably with the state-of-the-art RuO2 catalyst. Low overpotentials of 260 and 285 mV (iR corrected) are required to reach long-term stable current densities of 100 and 500 mA cm−2 for OER, respectively. The electrolyzer cell obtained by pairing this S-doped composite electrode as an anode with a Ni–Mo based cathode for overall water-splitting works efficiently in both 1.0 M (1.52 V for 10 mA cm−2 and 1.79 V for 100 mA cm−2) and 30 wt% KOH (1.69 V for 100 mA cm−2) solutions, with long durability for over 220 h. Such catalyst couple exhibits superior catalytic performance and holds great promise for potential application in electrochemical water splitting.


The optimization of the process conditions for fire retardant ultra-low density fiberboards (ULDFs) was investigated using response surface methodology (RSM). Three parameters, namely those of Borax-Zinc-Silicate-Aluminum (B-Zn-Si-Al), chlorinated paraffin (CP), and chloride-vinyl chloride emulsions (PVDC) were chosen as variables. The considerably high R2 value (99.98%) indicated the statistical significance of the model. The optimal process conditions for the limiting oxygen index (LOI) were determined by analyzing the response surface's three-dimensional surface plot and contour plot, and by solving the regression model equation with Design Expert software. The Box-Behnken design (BBD) was used to optimize the process conditions, which showed that the most favorable dosages of B-Zn-Si-Al, CP, and PVDC were 800 mL, 46.47 mL, and 35.64 g, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the maximum LOI was 48.4.


The interaction between light and matter is the fundamental aspect of many optoelectronic applications. The efficiency of such devices is mainly dictated by the light emitting properties of fluorophores. Unfortunately, the intensity of emission is adversely affected by surface defects, scattering and chemical instability. Therefore, enhancing the luminescence of fluorophores is necessary for better implementation of nanocomposites in biological and optical applications. There are many interesting phenomena which can be observed if the characteristics of the fluorophores and metal nanoparticles are integrated. Photoluminescence (PL) by fluorophores can be enhanced or quenched by the presence of neighboring plasmonic metal nanostructures. An unambiguous study of the mechanism behind the enhancement and the quenching of emission is necessary to obtain new insight into the interactions between light and metal-fluorophore nanocomposites. In this review the core aspect of combining plasmonic metal nanostructures with fluorophores is discussed by considering various functional roles of plasmonic metals in modifying the PL properties reported by various research groups. A few representative applications of SPR mediated luminescence are also discussed.


This paper focuses on processes of studentification, and explores the link between higher education students and contemporary provincial gentrification. The paper provides two main, interconnected, contributions to advance debates on gentrification. First, the discussion appeals for wider temporal analyses of the lifecourses of gentrifiers to trace the formation and reconfiguration of the cultural and residential predilections of gentrifiers across time and space. With this in mind, it is argued that there is a need to rethink the role of students within the constraints of third-wave gentrification, and to consider how 'student experiences' may influence the current and future residential geographies of young gentrifiers within provincial urban locations. Drawing upon recent studies of studentification, it is asserted that this profound expression of urban change is indicative of gentrification. Second, the paper advances Clark's recent call to extend the term gentrification to embrace the wider dominant hallmarks and tendencies of urban transformations. Controversially, in light of a deepening institutionalisation of gentrification, we contend that gentrification can be most effectively employed at a revised conceptual level to act as a referent of the common outcomes of a breadth of processes of change.


Using consumer survey data collected in Bulgaria in 1997, this study examined consumer preferences for peanuts in a transition economy. Perceived product attributes and household characteristics were hypothesized to influence attitude and peanut consumption behavior. The effects of perceived product attributes on overall attitude toward peanuts were examined, drawing on Fishbein's multiattribute model. Consumption behavior was analyzed using a count data model that distinguishes between participation and consumption frequency decisions. Results showed that perceived attributes with respect to taste and price consistently influenced consumers' overall attitude toward peanuts and consumption behavior. Income and location of households were statistically significant in explaining peanut consumption frequency. Whereas perceived health attributes affected attitude toward peanuts, they were not directly associated with consumption behavior. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Studies on the concentrations of certain hormones in cetaceans and their effects on cetacean biology are useful to determining physical conditions such as age, sex, and reproductive status of individuals. Hormone concentrations can be determined through blood samples, but collection of blow (exhaled respiratory vapor) has proven to be a noninvasive method of obtaining samples that can be analyzed for hormone concentrations. The existence of diurnal variation in hormone concentrations greatly affects the value of what time of day samples are collected. Previous studies have found that other mammalian species exhibit diurnal variation of testosterone and that for many species the secretion of the hormone is dependent on sleep cycles. Cetaceans are unique in that they engage in a method of sleep called unihemispheric slow wave sleep. This allows for half of their brain to sleep while the other half remains awake, therefore they are never fully asleep. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not beluga whales housed at an aquarium expressed diurnal variation in their testosterone concentrations. Blow was collected from two male belugas at three different times throughout the day. A competitive enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was used to determine the testosterone concentrations. It was found that the relationship between time of day and testosterone concentration was not significant and there was not a significant difference in concentration between the collection times that were tested. This suggests that diurnal variation of testosterone secretion is not occurring in these beluga whales during daylight hours.


The paper applies various qualitative and quantitative methods to measure the influence of information technology on the performance of operating rooms (ORs). It provides a comprehensive set of indicators to evaluate the impact of IT on the quality, efficiency and performance of ORs. This set of indicators was further enriched by conducting interviews with hospital professionals. The result is a new set of performance indicators, divided into five major categories: productivity, efficiency, quality, cost savings and employee satisfaction. This set of indicators serves as of a basis for a weighed performance model that can be applied as a useful tool for selecting new OR information systems or for improving existing applications. The research identifies time registration, integration with the medical and financial systems of the hospital and production of activity queries and reports as the most common functions of ORs systems. However, despite their potential to contribute to productivity, efficiency and quality of ORs, automatic conflict recognition, material and personnel planning are less frequently applied by hospitals. Finally, the paper highlights the links between efficient use of OR systems, larger volume of operations and helps and higher occupation rates, identifying positive effects of systems used in ORs on their performance.


Diffusion theory has been a useful and frequently applied analytical method to study the transport of light in random media. The diffusion equation requires unphysical boundary conditions. This is reflected in the fact that the diffusion solution must differ from the exact solution in a boundary region a few mean free paths thick. Exact transport theory indicates that for particle diffusion the true boundary is to be replaced by an extrapolated boundary 0.71 transport mean free paths outside of it. This is the number that has universally been used in treating light diffusion, although it is sometimes neglected because it is often a very short distance. However, because there is reflection at the boundary due to mismatch in the index of refraction, the extrapolation distance for diffusion of light is longer than that for particles, and this must be taken into account. The correction is large, even for modest indices of refraction. We show here that the appropriate boundary condition is given in terms of an extrapolation distance and tabulate this quantity as a function of relative scattering probability and index of refraction of the medium.


This specification defines extensions to the Mobile IP protocol for
allowing a mobile node with multiple interfaces to register a care-of
address for each of its network interfaces and to simultaneously
establish multiple IP tunnels with its home agent. This essentially
allows the mobile node to utilize all the available network interfaces
and build a higher aggregated logical pipe with its home agent for its
home address traffic. Furthermore, these extensions also allow the
mobile node and the home agent to negotiate IP traffic flow policies
for binding individual flows with the registered care-of addresses.


ABSTRACT Rarely, penetrating atherosclerotic ulcers can rupture into the wall of the aorta, resulting in acute aortic dissection. This article describes a woman with an incidental diagnosis of type A aortic dissection secondary to a penetrating atherosclerotic ulcer of the ascending aorta. Although surgical repair of the aortic root was recommended, the patient refused treatment and left against medical advice.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how mindfulness training impacts creativity with individuals in a workgroup and propose a methodology for future research.

Design/methodology/approach
The methodology developed drew on existing laboratory-based research and applied those designs in a real-world application. The sample participants were from a mid-sized real estate firm that included ten realtors and support staff, six in the treatment group and four in the comparison group. The study took place over 16 weeks where pre-test and post-test mindfulness and creativity assessments were administered. A five-week mindfulness training was conducted with the treatment group and following the post-tests with the comparison group.

Findings
Results indicated that the mindfulness training positively impacted creativity in the moment and over time. There was evidence that the mindfulness training positively impacted an individual's level of attention and awareness in daily activities which is likely to influence creative outcomes in organizational settings.

Research limitations/implications
This study shows that it is possible to design experimental studies in work settings and contribute to the empirical research about mindfulness despite the widely held perception about scarcity of time and lack of access to do such research. The findings also build on existing literature and address some of the gaps in current research. The most notable limitation relates to the small sample size.

Practical implications
The finding affirms that even a short but consistent practice of mindfulness in organizations can lead to a measurable increase in creativity.

Originality/value
This empirical study adds value to existing literature by expanding laboratory-based methodology to a practical application. One of the unique aspects of this research relates to the sample population. This research was conducted with an intact workgroup and translates the insights gained from laboratory research to a potential benefit for an organization by applying a version of this methodology to enhance its workgroup creativity.


The ability to determine ball direction in advance is a key constraint on goalkeeping performance when facing penalty kicks in association football. In this communication we examined whether the positioning of the goalkeeper on the goal line might reduce the uncertainty of the shooting direction of the penalty kicker. Twelve male (M=20, SD=2 y old) players (8 field players and 4 goalkeepers) performed 168 penalty kicks when facing goalkeepers who took up 21 different positions on the goal line (varied from the left post (−3.3 m) to the right post (3.3 m), manipulated in increments of 0.33 m). According to the shooting angle of the kicks, we divided the goal into 5 different areas: (1) −18° (left post) to −10.8°, (2) 10.8° to −3.6°, (3) −3.6° to 3.6°, (4) 3.6° to 10.8° and (5) 10.8° to 18° (right post). Outfield players aimed to score goals, while goalkeepers were asked to save the goal, maintaining their position until the ball was shot. Uncertainty of shooting direction was assessed by using Shannon's entropy measure for N=5 possible outcomes. Results showed that when goalkeepers were positioned at −0.66 m, uncertainty of shooting direction was higher (2.1) than when they were positioned at −0.33 m, 0 m, 0.66 m and 0.99 m (1.8). However, when goalkeepers were positioned at 0.33 m, uncertainty seemed to decrease to 1.5. These data suggest that the goalkeeper's positioning in the goal constrained the level of uncertainty in the direction of shooting in penalty kicks in association football. More precisely, it appears that, when the goalkeeper is positioned 0.33 m to the right of centre in the goal, this spatial location might increase the ability to determine ball direction in advance. Further research needs to examine the relation between the distance required for a goalkeeper to intercept the ball and the uncertainty in shooting direction.


The first in situ observations of a cometary nucleus by imaging techniques on board the VEGA and Giotto spacecraft in 1986 opened the possibility of directly studying the properties and structures of a cometary surface. This new information, combined with results from other experiments made by these spacecraft and with results from laboratory experiments and Earth-bound radar observations, gave a better basis for coming from speculation to more precise knowledge in describing properties of cometary surfaces and related activity. It is the aim of this paper to discuss the different views developed to understand properties of cometary surfaces and to propose a consistent model for understanding topological surface properties and related cometary activity. We accomplish this by extending former hypotheses and approaches and making them more precise in the light of the new and more complex data.


Mobile devices have become indispensable in our daily life and reducing the energy consumed by them has become essential. However, developing energy-efficient mobile applications is not a trivial task. To address this problem, we present EcoAndroid, an Android Studio plugin that automatically applies energy patterns to Java source code. It currently supports ten different cases of energy-related refactorings, divided over five energy patterns taken from the literature. We used EcoAndroid to analyze 100 Java mobile applications (≈ 1.5M LOC) and we found that 35 of the projects had a total of 95 energy code smells. EcoAndroid was able to automatically refactor all the code smells identified.


While the introduction of Graphic User Interfaces (GUIs) facilitated the interaction of normally sighted users with computers, these benefits are not equally extended to partially sighted individuals that suffer from limited visual acuity. The Lighthouse Inc. has indicated that approximately 8.7 million Americans who are 45 or older report a severe vision impairment that cannot be corrected by wearing eyeglasses or contact lenses. When a computer user has uncorrected visual impairments, the identification and selection of icons in a GUI may become significantly more difficult than for a normally sighted user. This paper describes the development of a platform-independent implementation of "3D Sound Icons". In addition to their graphical representation, each icon in this interface has a characteristic spatial sound (3Dsound), which is perceived by the user according to the spatial relationship between the screen cursor (listener), and the graphical icon (sound source), in the plane of the interface screen. This way, the user can supplement the visual information with spatial auditory information to identify the target icon and navigate towards it. The platform-independent implementation uses Digital Signal Processing functions that are capable of transforming an audio signal lacking spatial characteristics, into audio signals that provide the illusion of a point sound source located in a specific spatial location with respect to the listener. Platform-independence is critical in this application, because it will extend the benefits of the enhanced interface to users of a variety of operating systems (Windows, MacOS, etc.,) and types of computers (desktops, notebooks, palmtops, etc.)


C57BL/6 mice were infected with different strains of Listeria sp., and bacterial survival in spleens was assessed. Six strains (EGD, NCTC 5348, ATCC 19113, ATCC 19114, NCTC 10527, and ATCC 19116) were able to persist in spleens (persistent strains), whereas with five other strains (ATCC 19111, ATCC 19119, ATCC 33090, ATCC 33091, and ATCC 14870), only few if any bacteria were demonstrable after infection with up to 10(8) organisms (nonpersistent strains). Immunization of mice with persistent listeriae induced strong immune responses as determined in vitro (antigen-induced proliferation and interleukin production) and in vivo (protection and delayed-type hypersensitivity), whereas immunization with nonpersistent bacteria resulted in weaker responses. On the other hand, T lymphocytes from mice immunized with live organisms of the persistent strain EGD were stimulated equally well by heat-killed listeriae of all strains. Furthermore, three T-cell clones which were able to adoptively mediate antibacterial protection in vivo could be stimulated by heat-killed organisms of persistent as well as nonpersistent Listeria strains. It is concluded that both persistent and nonpersistent listeriae express antigenic epitopes which are recognized by protective T cells, although nonpersistent strains are not effective in inducing cellular immune responses due to rapid elimination in the host.


This paper addresses the role of professional communication in manufacturing organisations in Australia, Thailand and Korea. Professional communication is seen as intentional communication that has the objective of achieving strategic goals within organisational or professional contexts. Within this view, practitioners need to consider communication as a core organisational process, be able to link communication with organisational outcomes and strategies, and assess cultural influences on the ways organisations function effectively.
The research study examines three questions concerning the nature of the relationship between professional communication and other forms of organisational communication; the relationship between professional communication and organisational outcomes such as employees' job satisfaction; and the consistency of these communication relationships across cultures. Responses of 2046 employees in Australia, Thailand and Korea to the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire and a measure of job satisfaction were analysed to provide the research findings. Hofstede's cultural characteristics in the workplace was used to provide a basis for cultural comparisons between the cultural groups.
The findings suggest there is a close relationship between dimensions of professional communication and other aspects of organisational communication. This relationship extends across the cultural groups involved in the study. The study found a number of professional communication dimensions to be significant predictors of job satisfaction in the organisations studied. Personal feedback and organisational integration were found to be the most important predictors across the three cultures.
It is concluded that it is essential that professional communicators understand the holistic nature of communication in organisations, and that they can make the link between communication and strategic goals. As such, there is a need to overcome the treatment of communication as a superficial aspect of organisational life, rather it needs to be seen as a core organisational process with multi-dimensional aspects. It is clear that although professional communication can be defined as a functional concept in organisational setting, its understanding and practice cannot be separated from, and is dependent upon, other communication activities in the organisation.


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) both are the systemic autoimmune diseases. Their etiology is still unknown but it is believed that genetic, immunological and environmental factors are involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases. A total of 61 SLE patients were included in the study. This study is purely related to SLE patients. Here, anti-mutated citrullinated vimentin (MCV) (Orgentec, Mainz, Germany) is detected in SLE patients by an ELISA at a cut-off value 20 U/ml. Of these 61 SLE patients, 19 had SLE overlapping with rheumatoid arthritis, 1 had SLE with Budd-Chiari syndrome, 2 had SLE with scleroderma while 20 were the total cases of lupus nephritis. Lupus nephritis patients were further subdivided into two groups: one group included 14 SLE patients with lupus nephritis alone and the second group included 6 SLE patients overlapping with Lupus nephritis (LN) and Rheumatoid arthritis. Of the 19 SLE patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 6 were also suffering from lupus nephritis. These results suggest high specificity and sensitivity of anti-MCV for SLE patients with rheumatoid arthritis.


Three blue luminogens, Cz-3tPE, TPA-3TPP and Cz-3TPP, have been successfully synthesized, in which intramolecular conjugation has been restricted effectively by decreasing the unsaturated bonds and weakening the electron donating ability of the molecular building blocks, which is much different from previous strategies. Due to the introduction of triphenylamine and carbazole groups, these luminogens exhibited excellent hole-transporting abilities, with a maximum hole mobility of up to 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1, which was better than most commercial hole-transporting materials. Once fabricated as emitters in OLEDs, as a result of the controlled conjugation, their EL emissions were blue-shifted from pure blue (464 nm) to deep blue (436 nm), and then to blue-violet (397 nm). Excitingly, Cz-3TPP exhibited the best EL performance, with a maximum external quantum efficiency of up to 4.27% at 397 nm without a hole-transporting layer, which is among the highest reported performances for double-layer OLEDs with deep blue emission.


Patellar luxation (PL) is a common cause of lameness in small-breed dogs. The aims of the study are to investigate the outcome of surgical treatment of medial PL (MPL) using standard techniques, and a novel surgical technique in Pomeranians for treating bidirectional PL (BPL), and to study the prevalence, heritability, and molecular genetics of PL in Pomeranians, Flat-Coated Retrievers, and Kooiker dogs in order to elucidate the pathophysiology of PL. Trochlear block recession alone was performed in 46 stifle joints or in combination with tibial tuberosity transposition in 24 stifle joints. The overall recurrence rate was 10%. The outcome of surgery was considered good for grade 2 luxation with a 100% success rate. Recurrence PL was diagnosed in approximately 11% and in 36% of dogs with grade 3 and 4 MPL, respectively. An extended proximal trochleoplasty was performed in seven Pomeranians with BPL. The surgical outcome was good-to-excellent in 87.5% of the stifles and all dogs achieved functional recovery. The prevalence of PL was 77% and 24% in Pomeranians and Kooiker dogs, respectively. MPL was more common than lateral or bidirectional PL and the relative risk of PL was similar in male and female dogs both in Pomeranians and Kooiker dogs. The heritabilities of PL in the screened population were 0.44 and 0.27 in Pomeranians and Kooiker dogs, respectively. It indicated that the influence of genetic factors in Pomeranians is remarkably high in comparison to that in Kooiker dogs. Co-segregation of the PL with five DNA markers situated close to COL6A1, COL6A3, COL9A1, COL9A2, and COL9A3 indicated that these collagen genes were not involved in the pathogenesis of PL in Pomeranians. A high density SNP chip array was used to genotype DNA samples of Pomeranians and Kooiker dogs. A Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of PL in Pomeranians indicated the involvement of the region on chromosome 5 and 32. Candidate genes in these regions may be involved in the pathogenesis of PL in Pomeranians. A GWAS of PL in Kooiker dogs suggested the possible involvement of a region on chromosome 3. However, the involvement of this region could not be confirmed in a validation group. A GWAS of Flat-Coated Retrievers revealed significant association of regions on chromosome 7, 3, 31, and 36 with PL. The exons of all genes in these candidate regions were selected for DNA sequence analysis in 15 cases and 15 controls. Nine of the detected DNA sequence variations in eight genes displayed association to PL in the complete cohort of Flat-Coated Retrievers. The most strongly associated SNP was located in TNR on chromosome 7. TNR is an excellent candidate gene for PL in Flat-Coated Retrievers. Combination of phenotypes and pedigree data for the calculation of estimated breeding values, could improve the effectiveness of breeding selection to reduce prevalence of PL. Integrating the associated chromosome regions of three different breeds confirmed the complex nature of PL pathophysiology. A pathway analysis indicated that bone, cartilage, and/or fibroblast growth factors could be involved in the pathogenesis of PL in dogs.


Abstract In his 1923–4 lectures on the theology of Friedrich Schleiermacher, Karl Barth offered a strikingly negative verdict on Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification, lamenting that it was radically discontinuous with the theology of the Reformation. The core purpose of this article is to assess this verdict in detail. The introduction presents in outline Barth's criticism of Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification from these lectures. The first section of the article provides a summary of the doctrine of justification as it is found in Schleiermacher's mature work, The Christian Faith, together with a brief consideration of the related doctrines of conversion and sanctification, and an exposition of the dogmatic location and inter-relation of the three loci. In the second section, the article proceeds to investigate closely whether three of the central criticisms of Barth pertaining to Schleiermacher's doctrine of justification reflect an accurate reading and adjudication of the underlying material. The criticisms explored are: that for Schleiermacher there is no justification as a free act of God but only a justification which takes place according to the law of nature; that in the event of justification Schleiermacher considers both God and the human being to be active; and that the doctrine of Schleiermacher repeats the heresy of essential righteousness after the fashion of Andreas Osiander. The common theme underlying each charge is that Schleiermacher has departed significantly (and lamentably) from the tradition of the Reformation. The third section of the article proceeds to explore these charges carefully in light of a close reading of Schleiermacher's dogmatic work on justification and related doctrines. In the case of each of the criticisms directed at his doctrine of justification, it is argued that there are strong grounds for asserting that Barth's concerns may be rather misplaced and that – true to his word – Schleiermacher indeed remains in broad dogmatic continuity with the Reformation tradition. In the conclusion, two further theological possibilities are noted. First, it is suggested that, far from leaving the Reformation tradition behind, Schleiermacher's work on justification resonates strongly with one particular reading of Calvin's work which has much currency in contemporary theology. And second, it is suggested that, far from Schleiermacher being the one to depart from the Reformation tradition on justification, it might actually – ironically – be Barth who is more guilty of that charge in view of his own doctrine of justification in the Church Dogmatics.


Many decades of theory have demonstrated that in non-recombining systems, slightly deleterious mutations accumulate non-reversibly1, potentially driving the extinction of many asexual species. Non-recombining chromosomes in sexual organisms are thought to have degenerated in a similar fashion2, however it is not clear the extent to which these processes operate along recombining chromosomes with highly variable rates of crossing over. Using high coverage sequencing data from over 1400 individuals in The 1000 Genomes and CARTaGENE projects, we show that recombination rate modulates the genomic distribution of putatively deleterious variants across the entire human genome. We find that exons in regions of low recombination are significantly enriched for deleterious and disease variants, a signature that varies in strength across worldwide human populations with different demographic histories. As low recombining regions are enriched for highly conserved genes with essential cellular functions, and show an excess of mutations with demonstrated effect on health, this phenomenon likely affects disease susceptibility in humans.


Action of 2-amino-5-bromo-2'-chlorobenzophenone (ABPH), a metabolite of phenazepam, on currents evoked by the activation of glycine and glutamate NMDA receptors has been investigated in enzymatically isolated hippocampal rat pyramidal neurones. It is demonstrated that 3-10 microM ABPH caused an inhibitory effect on glycine receptors which was more prominent after pre-incubation with the drug. Peak amplitude of NMDA receptor-mediated currents was weakly potentiated after prolonged (4-6 min) incubation with 10 microM ABPH. Thus, the effects of the benzophenone metabolites should be taken into account when analysing the action of phenazepam and other benzodiazepine drugs.


Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) stimulates autophosphorylation of the PDGF receptor and association of the receptor with several cytoplasmic molecules, including phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (PI3 kinase). In this study we examined the association of PI3 kinase with immunoprecipitated autophosphorylated PDGF receptor in vitro. The PI3 kinase from cell lysates bound to the wild-type receptor but not to a mutant receptor that had a deletion of the kinase insert region. A protein of an apparent size of 85 kDa bound to the receptor, consistent with previous observations that a protein of this size is associated with PI3 kinase activity. In addition, 110- and 74-kDa proteins bound to the phosphorylated receptor. Dephosphorylated receptors lost the ability to bind PI3 kinase activity as well as the 85-kDa protein. A 20-amino-acid peptide composed of a sequence in the kinase insert region that included one of the autophosphorylation sites of the receptor (tyrosine 719) as well as a nearby tyrosine (Y708) blocked the binding of PI3 kinase to the receptor, but only when the peptide was phosphorylated on tyrosine residues. A scrambled version of the peptide did not block PI3 kinase binding to the receptor even when it was phosphorylated on tyrosine. These tyrosine-phosphorylated peptides did not block binding of phospholipase C-gamma or GTPase-activating protein to the receptor. In separate experiments (receptor blots), soluble radiolabeled receptor bound specifically to an 85-kDa protein present in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis-fractionated 3T3 cell lysates that were transferred to nitrocellulose paper. The binding was blocked by the same tyrosine-phosphorylated peptides that prevented binding of PI3 kinase activity to immobilized receptors. These findings show that the PDGF receptor binds directly to an 85-kDa protein and to a PI3 kinase activity through specific sequences in the kinase insert region. The association of a 110-kDa protein with the receptor also involve these sequences, suggesting that this protein may be a subunit of the PI3 kinase. Phosphotyrosine is an essential structure required for the interactions of these proteins with the PDGF receptor.


As part of our search for anti-breast cancer agents a new series of tricyclic 4-substituted-2-yl)-2- thioxo-3, 4-dihydro-1H-indeno [1, 2-d] pyrimidin-5(2H)-one 4-9 were obtained in one pot synthesis by a modification of the Biginelli Reaction. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by microanalyses, IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR and mass spectral data. All the synthesized compounds were evaluated for their in vitro anticancer activity against human breast cancer cell line (MCF7). Most of the screened compounds showed interesting cytotoxic activities compared to Doxorubicin as reference drug. Compounds 8, 5, 7 and 4 (IC50 values 10.25, 23.48, 27.51 and 28.85 μM) revealed higher cytotoxic activities than the Doxorubicin as reference drug with IC50 value (32.00 μM). Also, compound 9 is nearly as active as Doxorubicin with IC50 values (33.55 μM). Compound 6 showed moderate activity.


Annular cascades are particularly useful to study the three dimensional phenomena encountered in turbomachines. The Non-Rotating Annular Test Facility of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) consists in a radial-axial inlet nozzle and allows the investigation of steady and unsteady flows in compressor and turbine geometries. This facility has been designed to generate subsonic or supersonic flow regimes in a test section without shock interferences and residual wakes from the pre-swirl guide vanes located in the radial entry. Two separate radial flows with different inlet flow angles are firstly generated before merging to counteract the pressure gradients induced by the tunnel curvature and obtain the desired pressure distribution in the test section. Actually, while pressure and velocity measurements are satisfactory, high turbulence levels are identified experimentally over the test channel height. In order to understand the mechanisms occuring in the radial-axial nozzle and quantify their resulting effects on the test section flow pattern, a numerical investigation was performed for different stagger angles of the pre-swirl guide vanes. The distribution of conservative quantities in the (r-z) plane along the nozzle geometry highlights the combined effect of the channel curvature, the swirl angle of the flow and the viscous effects generated along the tunnel endwall. It is shown that vortical structures formed along the nozzle walls induce a significant turbulence intensity and should be taken into account in the evaluation of the experimental results.


The knowledge of tribological properties of silicon is important due to its potential application for micromechanical devices. Single crystal silicon wafers were implanted by carbon ion with an energy of 80 keV and different implantation doses of 2×1015 ions/cm2 and 2×1016 ions/cm2, respectively. The nanohardness and elastic modulus of silicon wafers before and after C+ implantation were studied on the nano-mechanical testing system. The micro sliding tests on silicon wafers before and after C+ implantation were performed on the UMT-2 Micro-tribometer to investigate the coefficient of friction and wear volume. The results demonstrate that the nanohardness and elastic modulus of silicon wafer at the implantation dose of 2×1015 ions/cm2 decrease and those of 2×1016 ions/cm2 have little change. C+ implantation improves friction-reducing effect of silicon wafers and the coefficient of friction decreases to a great extent. But when the load reaches a certain value, the coefficient of friction increases sharply and the worn trace occurs on the silicon surface. Adhesive and abrasive wear are the main mechanisms at light loads and micro fatigue is the main mechanism at heavy loads.


In the face of overwhelming attention to extremist movements and the fundamentalist Islam they often espouse, exploration of peacemaking and conflict resolution in Muslim communities is especially timely. "Crescent and Dove" looks at the relationship between contemporary Islam and peacemaking by tackling the diverse interpretations, concepts, and problems in the field of Islamic peacemaking. Although Islamic law requires followers to preserve and protect life, and peacemaking efforts arise in Muslim communities everywhere, those who advocate for Islamic principles of nonviolence and peacebuilding, as well as traditional methods of conflict resolution, face serious challenges. Writing from their perspective as Muslim scholars and peacebuilding practitioners, the contributors offer critical perspectives on what works, what opportunities exist, and what areas are fertile for effective peacebuilding efforts. Their experience and analysis demonstrate that fostering a culture of peace in Muslim communities and building effective conflict resolution practices must occur within an Islamic framework and must engage Muslim leaders. "Crescent and Dove" addresses both theory and practice by delving into the intellectual heritage of Islam to discuss historical examples of addressing conflict in Islam and exploring the practical challenges of contemporary peacemaking in Arab countries, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, and Indonesia. These groundbreaking essays offer possibilities for nonviolent interventions, peacemaking, the implementation of human rights, the reinterpretation of texts, peace education instruction, and employing successful mediation, negotiation, and conflict resolution skills in an Islamic context.


The paper presents a simulation-optimization approach using genetic algorithm to the supplier selection problem. The problem consists in selecting a portfolio of suppliers from a set of pre-selected candidates. The supplier selection is a multi-criteria problem that includes both qualitative and quantitative criteria. In order to select the best suppliers it is crucial to make a trade off between these tangible and intangible criteria, some of which may be contradictory. The proposed approach uses discrete-event simulation for performance evaluation of a supplier portfolio and a genetic algorithm for optimum portfolio identification based on performance indices estimated by the simulation. Numerical results on a real-life case study are presented.


The main subject of this thesis is twofold. On the one hand it analyses how the Qur'an presents stories, on the other hand it examines the classical Muslim commentators' response to the Qur'anic narration.

In part one we remark that the theory that the Qur'an borrowed extensively from the Bible has clouded the vision of many Western scholars. They explained the Qur'anic narratives in accordance with their preconceptions; only a few emancipated themselves from this prejudice, but some of these scholars were sensitive to the literary qualities of the Qur'anic narrative. Adopting their general approach to the Qur'anic narrative we analyse the Qur'anic narrative of the 'golden calf' episode. Here we invite the reader to step into the textual world of the Qur'an in order to appreciate its otherness. At the same time we try to show the internal coherence among the verses (and also among the surahs) to remove the assumption of the incoherence of the Qur'an which has veiled much of its literary excellence from view. In addition, this study gives us an opportunity to appreciate one of the most neglected aspects of the Qur'anic narratives, namely the relationship between the oral recitation and the written characters of the Qur'an. The written text lacks the contextual richness provided by the oral dimension for it cannot convey intonation, emphasis, and so on, but the transcription of the spoken word displays the relationship of sound and meaning within
the surahs or verses together with special emphasis upon phonological effects.

The first chapter of part two is designed to provide a general overview of the notion of isra'iliyyat, taking into account the opinions held by both Muslim and non-
Muslim authorities. We raise two important questions regarding this technical term

When did the technical term isra'iliyyat come into general use?

Who first used it critically?

To answer these questions we analyse the commentaries of eight exegetes together with some qisas works on the 'golden calf and 'heavenly table' episodes. It is clear
that, in contrast to the view held by many Muslim and non-Muslim scholars, the technical usage of this term is a late development. Another important conclusion derived from our analysis of classical exegesis is that the commentators who use this term themselves depend on isra'iliyyat in several respects. In other words, their theory,is not in agreement with their practice. Furthermore, there are commentators who do not use the term isra'iliyyat and consistently seek to distance themselves from these reports. They also try to minimise the amount of these reports in their tafsir. According to this research, Ibn Atiyya was the first to pay more attention to the implausibility of this type of report, two centuries before Ibn Kathir's critical exegesis.


This study examined the effects of caffeine, alcohol, and physical activity (PA) on the perceived frequency and severity of hot flashes in menopausal women. Female employees at a Mid-Western university were invited to participate in an on-line survey. The 26-itemized Wo- men's Health Survey (WHS) included questions regarding demographics, menopausal stage, experience of hot flashes, consumption of caffeinated beverages and alcohol, and participation in PA. One-hundred and ninety-six women completed the study. Ordinary Least Squares regressions revealed PA, caffeine, and alcohol intake were significant in predicting the severity of hot flashes (R2 = 0.068, F(6,180) = 2.195, p = 0.046), though they did not predict frequency of hot flashes (R2 = 0.043, F(6,184) = 1.39, p = 0.221). Participation in aerobic PA increased frequency of hot flashes (p = 0.031); while higher intensity of aerobic PA had an inverse relationship on both frequency and severity of hot flashes (p = 0.011, p = 0.003, respectively). Spearman correlations demonstrated a positive relationship between caffeinated soda intake and frequency (r = 0.17, p = 0.06) and severity (r = 0.19, p = 0.04) of hot flashes. Beverage consumption and PA may predict severity of hot flashes in women. Less frequent, higher intensity aerobic PA may lead to fewer, less severe hot flashes.


Collaborative design is a major industrial issue, where people from different expertise fields strongly need to cooperate. New Internet Collaboration Tools (ICT) possibilities now allow design processes to be hold over distributed teams. Our goal is to define a collaborative environment based on Internet technologies: Techniques, methods, and tools for CSCW in design. From the design experiment of an electromechanical plunger hold over Internet and involving mechanical and electrical engineers, this paper looks at their collaborative design activity. This leads us to present now communication tools, dedicated to specific tasks that are actually not supported, especially shared concept formalization among technical experts.


Abstract : Voltage fluctuation and harmonics in voltage has been most significant issue since the inception of renewable energy system into the grid network. Besides this the fluctuating pattern of load also makes worse the voltage profile. Under such a situation use of custom power device in the form of Cascaded Active Filter becomes the answer to the problem. The main objective of this work is to improvise the voltage profile through Cascaded Active Filter implementing Sinusoidal current control strategy. The strategy is a time domain control strategy based on instantaneous p-q theory. The control strategy has been elaborated here in details and has been implemented using MATLAB 2016A. The results have been given and described in details explaining efficacy of the above control strategy. Since sinusoidal current control strategy is a simple and effective control strategy it has tremendous potential for application in the Distributed Generation oriented system.


The paper seeks to highlight the challenges faced by women street vendors in Zimbabwe. The paper provides an overview of the brutal attitudes displayed toward women and young girl vendors by law enforcement agencies in Zimbabwe. Street vending is an important source of income for the poor in the developing world. Street vending activities contribute to the livelihoods of millions of people and to national wellbeing at large, especially in developing countries. Secondary sources including journals, newspapers and online news articles were used in the compilation of this study. These sources were analysed for any insights into women street vendors' socio-economic status, police treatment of street vendors and working conditions. Street vendors experience arbitrary arrests, harassment, and confiscation of their wares and the government continues to move them out of the town and cities structures despite the unavailability of alternative accommodation. is a need for the government of Zimbabwe to see economic and social rights as a priority and the government should also protect women and girls from police brutality. Without the state's protection, women and young girls who ply their trade in the street will remain in a state of harassment, beatings and arbitrary arrest by the police.


During a five week period, 19 caves were explored by a team of four cavers comprising the 1994 Mendip Caving Group MCG) expedition to Belize. Six sizable caves were identified in the Cretaceous limestone, west of the Maya Mountains, and surveyed a total length of 2.5 km. time spent in the field is broken down so as to show both the advantages and disadvantages of a small-scale expedition. Suggestions are made as to how future groups could benefit from the experiences of the expedition with regard to conducting significant research with a small team The MCG expedition is compared to other larger expeditions, with the results showing that lightweight expeditions are more easily finced and organized than larger expeditions; however, they may not be suitable if detailed scientific studies are intended.


This paper explores the effect of an individual's knowledge of biodiversity on the nature of his or her preferences for its preservation. Previous research suggests that individuals have a limited understanding of the concept of biodiversity and that some may be unwilling to trade-off changes in biodiversity against income. We hypothesize that the way in which individuals understand biodiversity is such that meaningful preferences for biodiversity preservation are more likely to be expressed for large scale non-marginal changes (i.e. a regional or greater scope geographically and at a genus or greater scope genetically). Similarly we suggest that individuals can express preferences for different management regimes or policies at a large scale but are limited by a lack of technical expertise at the species or site scale. Many of the methodological constraints relating to non-market valuation of biodiversity at the species or genetic scale, are less critical at the larger scale. Similarly, the degree of uncertainty about functional relationships at the species level are less critical when considering an individual's willingness to pay for an aggregate measure of biodiversity preservation. A discrete-choice contingent ranking valuation study is proposed to identify willingness to pay to preserve biodiversity and preferences for different management strategies. The study will address the value of endemic biodiversity in a lowland ecosystem in one region of New Zealand.


In this paper, an improved Differential Evolution (DE) that incorporates double wavelet-based operations is proposed to solve the Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) problem. The double wavelet mutations are applied in order to enhance DE in exploring the solution space more effectively for better solution quality and stability. The first stage of wavelet operation is embedded in the DE mutation operation, in which the scaling factor is governed by a wavelet function. In the second stage, a wavelet-based mutation operation is embedded in the DE crossover operation. The trial population vectors are modified by the wavelet function. A suite of benchmark test functions is employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed DE in different problems. The result shows empirically that the proposed method out-performs signifycantly the conventional methods in terms of convergence speed, solution quality and solution stability. Then the proposed method is applied to the Economic Load Dispatch with Valve-Point Loading (ELD-VPL) problem, which is a process to share the power demand among the online generators in a power system for minimum fuel cost. Two different conditions of the ELD problem have been tested in this paper. It is observed that the proposed method gives satisfactory optimal costs when compared with the other techniques in the literature.


Between the 11 and 13 October 2005 several flash floods were produced along the coast of Catalonia (NE Spain) due to a significant heavy rainfall event. Maximum rainfall achieved values up to 250 mm in 24 h. The total amount recorded during the event in some places was close to 350 mm. Barcelona city was also in the affected area where high rainfall intensities were registered, but just a few small floods occurred, thanks to the efficient urban drainage system of the city. Two forecasting methods have been applied in order to evaluate their capability of prediction regarding extreme events: the deterministic MM5 model and a probabilistic model based on the analogous method. The MM5 simulation allows analysing accurately the main meteorological features with a high spatial resolution (2 km), like the formation of some convergence lines over the region that partially explains the maximum precipitation location during the event. On the other hand, the analogous technique shows a good agreement among highest probability values and real affected areas, although a larger pluviomet-ric rainfall database would be needed to improve the results. The comparison between the observed precipitation and from both QPF (quantitative precipitation forecast) methods shows that the analogous technique tends to underestimate the rainfall values and the MM5 simulation tends to overestimate them.


The archaeological samples in question are Bog Oak that are over 3000 years old and have been excavated fro Garry Bog, Co. Antrim. These trees along with others have been used to build a tree ring chronology that can aid archaeological dating and also track climate changes. Climate changes can be tracked because the width of a tree ring depends on the growing conditions prevalent that year. It was noted in the chronology that in some years of the 11th century B.C. the growth rings were extremely small, denoting very bad growing conditions. This is attributed to the massive eruption of Mt. Hekla in Iceland. The aim of the project was to determine whether chemical data that track the change in growth rings could be gathered from these samples. The samples were divided up into different sections corresponding to separate time periods. Samples were then processed into liquid form and analysed using ICP-MS. The concentrations of several elements were determined. Initial results indicated that the concentrations of a range of elements were elevated in the years following the eruption. However further work only shows this pattern for copper. The data can be said to be inconclusive but can also be seen as a basis for further work.


Article history: Received March 25, 2012 Received in revised format 25 September 2012 Accepted 7 October 2012 Available online October 1


We study self-interested routing in stochastic networks, taking into account the discrete stochastic dynamics of such networks. We analyze a two station multiclass queueing network in which the system manager chooses the scheduling rule used, and individual customers choose routes in a self-interested manner. We show that this network can be unstable in Nash equilibrium under some scheduling rules. We also design a non-trivial scheduling rule that negates the performance degradation due to self-interested routing and achieves a Nash equilibrium with performance comparable to the first-best solution.


Performance of a newly developed freeze concentrator named Vertical Finned Crystallizer (VFC) in concentrated glucose solution was evaluated. The VFC was designed as an attempt to provide an efficient Progressive Freeze Concentration (PFC) system by providing larger heat transfer area for crystallization. Glucose solution at an initial concentration of 11°Brix was concentrated through the new PFC system. The performance of the crystallizer was analyzed in parallel with the effect of freezing time and shaking speed to the system efficiency, represented by effective partition constant (K) and solute recovery (Y). The results show that the efficiency of the system has significantly improved portrayed by the lowest K value obtained of 0.383 and the highest Y value obtained of 0.96 g glucose/g initial glucose at intermediate circulation time and shaking speed. Thus, the VFC is evidently proven to have a high potential to be integrated in a PFC process as an efficient concentration system. The results obtained offer some guidelines on how to produce an efficient PFC system through parameter setting.


The retention of stormwater on-site with the goal of mimicking pre-development hydrology is increasingly being required or encouraged for new and redevelopment projects. The recently adopted Ventura and Orange County Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) NPDES permits require retention on site of runoff from storms up to the water quality design storm via infiltration, evapotranspiration and/or harvest and use. To date, the retention of stormwater on site has primarily been accomplished via infiltration and, to a much more limited extent, evapotranspiration. In only a few cases has rainwater harvesting and non-potable use been employed on a site scale; typically when it has been included it has been part of meeting LEED requirements. The feasibility and desirability of retaining stormwater on site up to a specific design storm has not been vetted technically on a national or regional scale. For example, there has been almost no consideration of the natural water balance in technical guidance. Often infiltrated volumes must be increased over natural conditions in order to match pre-development surface runoff volumes, yet there has been little consideration for whether increasing infiltration over natural conditions may be an issue. There has also been almost no assessment of the circumstances necessary for rainwater harvesting systems to work well for stormwater management. This paper presents some of the considerations for retaining on site and proposes conceptual criteria for determining whether it is feasible and/or desirable to do so. The paper reviews and discusses the general precipitation and runoff patterns for California and the west coast; the natural water balance and changes to that balance under developed and low-impact development conditions; under what conditions infiltration is feasible and desirable with examples of evaluations; what levels of evapotranspiration can be achieved; and finally presents some examples of the use of rainwater harvesting as a means to retain stormwater on site. Example modeling scenarios of rainwater harvesting for irrigation and toilet flushing are presented from Southern California and Portland, Oregon to highlight both the stormwater management results as well as impacts on potable water demand. Implications related to reclaimed water use will also be presented.


Abstract The diagnostic system of JFT-2M has consisted of about 30 individual diagnostic instruments, which were used to study plasma production, control, equilibrium, stability, confinement, plasma heating by neutral beam injection and/or by radio-frequency (rf) (lower hybrid, ion cyclotron resonance frequency, electron cyclotron heating), and current drive by rf. In these instruments, the motional Stark effect polarimeter, charge-exchange recombination spectroscopy, heavy ion beam probe, time-of-flight neutral particle analyzer, etc., have helped in further understanding the improved mechanism of confinement such as H-mode and high-recycling-steady H-mode, and operational regimes of these modes. An infrared television camera system and a lost ion probe have played a very important role in investigating the heat load on the walls due to ripple lost particles and escaping ions from the core plasma region, respectively.


PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to compare the degree of pressure created when healthy adult volunteers sat on a hospital recliner chair in various positions and on various cushions. DESIGN: Comparative cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: Thirty-four healthy subjects were recruited from the community, an urban city in a rural area of Eastern North Carolina. METHODS: Interface pressure measurements were taken by the investigators for each subject sitting on a standard hospital recliner under each of the following conditions: no cushion, foam cushion, nonadjustable air cushion, nonadjustable air/foam cushion, and adjustable air cushion. Subject positions, upright sitting and reclined, were randomly selected. Analyses consisted of data visualizations by investigators and univariate statistics. For each surface, mean pressure, peak pressure, and Pressure Area Index (PAI) were obtained and compared. Inferences were drawn from a repeated-measures analysis-of-covariance model. RESULTS: Subject position was not associated with any of the measures for each surface after adjusting for other variables (average pressure P = .1094, maximum/peak pressure P = .1318, PAI P = .4336). Subject weight, the type of surface, and their interaction do impact the results (average pressure, maximum/peak pressure, and PAI, P < .0001). The foam cushion had the highest mean and average interface pressures and the lowest PAI. The nonadjustable air and air/foam cushions performed most similarly to each other, showing lowest mean and average interface pressures and the highest PAI. CONCLUSION: Position of a hospital recliner chair in the 2 positions studied had no association with interface pressure outcomes; therefore, other methods of pressure redistribution need to be utilized by clinicians. Based on the results of this study, clinicians may need to reevaluate the type of cushion used in the acute hospital setting, as a standard foam cushion was found to increase interface pressures when compared to other cushions and a standard hospital recliner.


A conglomerate-confined aquifer (CCA) plays an important role in affecting the safety and environmental protection during energy mining. In this study, the Forchheimer coefficients and associated seepage characteristics of the CCA were studied for different hydrogeological conditions via integrating theoretical analysis, hydromechanical experiment, and field investigation. Empirical models related to the intrinsic permeability (k) and inertial resistance (β) were developed based on theoretical and experimental solutions, governed by the parameters of particle size, initial porosity, and stress. The non-Darcy flow was obtained through experiments conducted with different ratios of the aggregate particle subjected to stress ranging from 1.43 MPa to 4.38 MPa, and a discharge model associated with k and β was proposed. The aggregate particle and filling material of the CCA presented positive and negative effects on the interconnected pores, respectively, accompanied by wedging and wall effects. Distribution state of the aggregate particle and the filling material was affected by the stress, resulting in the reduction of the hydraulic conductivity and the weakening of the wedging and wall effects in the CCA. In addition, the transportation effect and broken effect occurred for the lower and higher stress situations and contributed to the shrinkage of the interconnected pores. Finally, the models of the CCA were validated using a normalized objective function (NOF), a linear slope γ function, and field measurements.


In the last decade, VoIP telephony has gained a tremendous popularity. Skype is one of the most successful and popular VoIP services which has inspired a new generation of VoIP and multimedia users. SILK speech codec is the latest development by Skype and has been integrated into the current version of Skype and is expected to be incorporated into new and emerging mobile devices such as iphone and soft phones. One of the major challenges in every VoIP service is to find an easily accessible objective quality model to predict/measure the perceived speech quality or the degree of user satisfaction. In this paper, we present a regression-based model to quantify the speech quality of the wideband (WB) and narrowband (NB) SILK codec for VoIP applications. The developed model uses the network level parameter (i.e., packet loss) and the application level parameter (i.e., send bit rate) to predict the perceived voice quality in terms of the Mean Opinion Score (MOS). Subjective tests were also carried out to validate the model and good accuracy was achieved (97% for wideband and 91% for narrowband). The developed model can be easily implemented in soft phones or mobile devices to predict voice quality for SILK codec in VoIP applications and can also be used for real-time adaptation and control of VoIP applications to further explore the adaptive feature of the SILK codec in future mobile devices or softphones.


The EAF Dusts and pickling sludges generated in the stainless steel production contain a lot of valuable metals such as iron, nickel, chromium and manganese. Their compositions are similar to those of laterite nickel ore, and sometimes even better than that at the contents of nickel and chromium. But it is regret that these valuable resources were random piled up or landed fill disposal. In this paper, the typical EAF dusts and pickling sludges and reductant coke powder were mixed in appropriate ratio, and then smelted in a medium frequency induction furnace. In the smelting process, the lime powder and fluorite was added to fluxing, and the ferrosilicon powder was added to strengthen the reduction. The product nickel-chromium-iron can be used as the raw material for stainless steel or cast iron production. The technology has good social and economic benefits.


The south‐east margin of Tibet is highly sensitive to global environmental change pressures, in particular, high contemporary reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition rates (ca. 40 kg ha−1 yr−1), but the extent and timescale of recent ecological change is not well prescribed. Multiproxy analyses (diatoms, pigments and geochemistry) of 210Pb‐dated sediment cores from two alpine lakes in Sichuan were used to assess whether they have undergone ecological change comparable to those in Europe and North America over the last two centuries. The study lakes have contrasting catchment‐to‐lake ratios and vegetation cover: Shade Co has a relatively larger catchment and denser alpine shrub than Moon Lake. Both lakes exhibited unambiguous increasing production since the late 19th to early 20th. Principle component analysis was used to summarize the trends of diatom and pigment data after the little ice age (LIA). There was strong linear change in biological proxies at both lakes, which were not consistent with regional temperature, suggesting that climate is not the primary driver of ecological change. The multiproxy analysis indicated an indirect ecological response to Nr deposition at Shade Co mediated through catchment processes since ca. 1930, while ecological change at Moon Lake started earlier (ca. 1880) and was more directly related to Nr deposition (depleted δ15N). The only pronounced climate effect was evidenced by changes during the LIA when photoautotrophic groups shifted dramatically at Shade Co (a 4‐fold increase in lutein concentration) and planktonic diatom abundance declined at both sites because of longer ice cover. The substantial increases in aquatic production over the last ca. 100 years required a substantial nutrient subsidy and the geochemical data point to a major role for Nr deposition although dust cannot be excluded. The study also highlights the importance of lake and catchment morphology for determining the response of alpine lakes to recent global environmental forcing.


: Chalcogen bonding (ChB) is the non-covalent interaction occurring between chalcogen atoms as Lewis acid sites and atoms or groups of atoms able to behave as Lewis bases through their lone pair or p electrons. Analogously to its sister halogen bonding, the high directionality of this interaction was implemented for the precise structural organization in the solid state and in solution. Regarding catalysis, ChB is now accepted as a new mode of activation as demonstrated by the increased number of examples in the last five years. In the family of ChB catalysts, those based on tellurium rapidly appeared to overcome their lighter sulfur and selenium counterparts. In this review, we highlight the Lewis acid properties of tellurium-based derivatives in solution and summarize the start-of-the-art of their applications in catalysis.


Forage management in integrated crop-livestock system is a complex activity that increases profitability, when well performed, therefore consequently influencing future crop productivity. This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance of corn cultivation in the integrated crop-livestock system using the no-tillage system in different forage masses post-grazing. The experiment was conducted in the municipality of Mata, which is located in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, during the agricultural years of 2009/2010, 2010/2011, 2011/2012, 2012/2013 and 2013/2014, under no-till with corn in the summer and black oats plus ryegrass in the winter for grazing. The experimental design was made up of randomized blocks, using four heights of forage mass post-grazing: 0.10, 0.20, 0.30 m conventional grazing and without grazing. For the evaluation of the remaining dry mass of forage, a destructive cut was made at 5 cm from the soil at 28 days after the animals left. The evaluations of plant height, cob insertion height, number of grain rows, number of grains per cob, mass of one-thousand grains, and corn grain yield were performed.  The average values of remaining forage mass were 1.52, 2.26, 2.44, 8.56 and 1.41 Mg ha-1 for the different grazing managements, in which corn productivity were 7.74, 8.82, 7.94, 9.22 and 7.70 Mg ha-1. In absolute terms, the winter pasture management of 0.2 m high presented the best results in terms of corn grain productivity.

 Key words: Soil coverage, forage, grazing height, income components, zero tillage.


The purpose of this theoretical article is to analyse the social construction of order in two connected markets in the production flow of the global garment industry. The consumer market is identified as a status market, while the production market is defined as a `standard' market. In a `status' market, order is maintained because the identities of actors on both sides of the market are ranked according to status, which is a more entrenched social construction than the commodity traded in the market. In a market characterized by `standard', the situation is the reverse: the commodity is a more entrenched social construction than the identity rankings of actors in the market. The study ties together consumption and production of garments through several markets.