This article deals with the rights that community law gives to the medical and allied professions to exercise their professional activities in a member state other than their state of origin. Firstly, the scope of the general economic provisions of the European Community (EC) Treaty is broadly described. Secondly, the specific rules of the EC secondary legislation concerning the harmonization of the national legislations on professional qualifications in the health care sector are reviewed. Lastly, an example is given of the application of these rules in the health care sector by the Court of Justice of the European Community. It is submitted that the exercise of these rights can contribute to transboundary cooperation within the EC in the rendering of health care services to patients in the member states. This is specially relevant in frontier areas.


A statutory insurance for persons who are unable to care for themselves and require nursing attention, has been introduced in Germany. Employers must contribute to the insurance funds, and employees are likewise compelled to pay their share. To compensate employers to some extent for these expenses they can now take recourse to expertising by the Medical Services of the statutory insurance bodies if they have any doubts about an employee's inability to work. The results of such expertising have been assessed statistically and their translation into reality has been examined. Recommendations on how to improve the expertising procedure are given in this article. Laymen's wrong ideas regarding signs for possibly unjustified claims for inability to work are corrected.


Objective: To describe the pathophysiology associated with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in children. Data Sources: Literature review, research data, and expert opinion. Study Selection: Not applicable. Data Extraction: Moderated by an experienced expert from the field, pathophysiologic processes associated with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome in children were described, discussed, and debated with a focus on identifying knowledge gaps and research priorities. Data Synthesis: Summary of presentations and discussion supported and supplemented by relevant literature. Conclusions: Experiment modeling suggests that persistent macrophage activation may be a pathophysiologic basis for multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. Children with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome have 1) reduced cytochrome P450 metabolism inversely proportional to inflammation; 2) increased circulating damage-associated molecular pattern molecules from injured tissues; 3) increased circulating pathogen-associated molecular pattern molecules from infection or endogenous microbiome; and 4) cytokine-driven epithelial, endothelial, mitochondrial, and immune cell dysfunction. Cytochrome P450s metabolize endogenous compounds and xenobiotics, many of which ameliorate inflammation, whereas damage-associated molecular pattern molecules and pathogen-associated molecular pattern molecules alone and together amplify the cytokine production leading to the inflammatory multiple organ dysfunction syndrome response. Genetic and environmental factors can impede inflammation resolution in children with a spectrum of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome pathobiology phenotypes. Thrombocytopenia-associated multiple organ dysfunction syndrome patients have extensive endothelial activation and thrombotic microangiopathy with associated oligogenic deficiencies in inhibitory complement and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with a thrombospondin type 1 motif, member 13. Sequential multiple organ dysfunction syndrome patients have soluble Fas ligand-Fas–mediated hepatic failure with associated oligogenic deficiencies in perforin and granzyme signaling. Immunoparalysis-associated multiple organ dysfunction syndrome patients have impaired ability to resolve infection and have associated environmental causes of lymphocyte apoptosis. These inflammation phenotypes can lead to macrophage activation syndrome. Resolution of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome requires elimination of the source of inflammation. Full recovery of organ functions is noted 6–18 weeks later when epithelial, endothelial, mitochondrial, and immune cell regeneration and reprogramming is completed.


Frank Sound and Pease Bay are small narrow (~4 km long and <1 km wide) shallow water (1.5-2.0 m average depth) lagoons (< 0.5 m deep) located on the exposed-windward margin of south coast of Grand Cayman. Collectively, the Rubble and Knob, Bare Sand, and Thalassia and Sand zones form 95-97% of the substrates in these lagoons. The Bare Rock Zone, Coral Knolls, and Shoreline Zone are restricted to small areas in both lagoons. Between 1985 and 1992, the area covered by Thalassia expanded by colonizing the Bare Sand Zone. During fair-weather conditions, onshore wave energy is dampened by the reef. Nevertheless, waves that cross the reef are sufficient to maintain lagoonal circulation and "normal" marine conditions. Under these conditions, there is limited sediment production (e.g., Thalassia epibionts, bioerosion, green algae), active bioturbation, and expansion of the Thalassia banks. Sediment transportation is minimal. At the height of a hurricane, waves and currents pass over the reef and produce a turbulent sediment laden currents that cross the lagoons. As the current loses energy, deposition produces a sediment wedge that grades from boulders-cobbles near reef crest, to pebbles and coarse sand ~80 m from the reef crest, to fine sand 500-600 m from the reef crest. The sediment is poorly sorted and typically has a unimodal grain size distribution. Silt and clay sized sediment is rare. Skeletal constituents indicate that most sediment originates in the fore-reef and shelf environs. As the storm wanes, water that was piled in the lagoons during the storm starts to drain out through topographically controlled mega-rip currents. These high velocity currents destroy biota, uproot Thalassia, and strip sediment to reveal bare rock substrates.


Population surveys around the world face the problem of declining cooperation and participation rates of respondents. Not only can item nonresponse and unit nonresponse impair important outcome measures for inequality research such as total household disposable income; there is also a further case of missingness confronting household panel surveys that potentially biases results. The approach commonly used in such surveys of interviewing all adult household members and aggregating their individual incomes to yield a final outcome measure for welfare analyses often suffers from partial unit non-response (PUNR), i.e., the non-response of at least one unit, or member, of an otherwise participating household. In these cases, the aggregate income of all household members lacks at least one individual's income. These processes are typically not random and require appropriate correction. Using data from more than twenty waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) we evaluate four different strategies to deal with this phenomenon: (a) Ignorance, i.e., assuming the missing individual's income to be zero. (b) Adjustment of the equivalence scale to account for differences in household size and composition. (c) Elimination of all households observed to suffer PUNR, and re-weighting of households observed to be at risk of but not affected by PUNR. (d) Longitudinal imputation of the missing income components. The aim of this paper is to show how the choice of technique affects substantive results in the inequality research. We find indications of substantial bias on income inequality and poverty as well as on income mobility. These findings are obviously even more important in crossnational comparative analyses if the data providers in the individual countries deal differently with PUNR in the underlying data.


Corporate governance studies in Zimbabwe have concentrated on existence of frameworks that control firms. This study focused on the corporate governance factors that are associated with firm performance in the Zimbabwean manufacturing sector. We investigated a sample of 88 companies which were operating at least 80% capacity from 2009 to 2012.Using Return on Assetst (ROA) as a measure of performance and the dependent variable, and 14 corporate governance proxies encompassing board structure, board composition and board procedures as the independent variables, a bivariate and multivariate regression analysis was performed. The results indicated that shareholder concentration, proportion of independent directors, board tenure and access to financial statements are positive and significant to firm performance in the bivariate analysis. On the multivariate regression analysis however, independent directors was positive but not significant. Researchers have not been able to agree on these factors and since corporate governance is largely endogenously determined it can be concluded that factors are influenced by country effects. Thus further studies focusing on similar countries need to be undertaken.


Expression of neuregulin-2 (NRG2) is intense in a few regions of the adult brain where neurogenesis persists; however, little is understood about its role in developments of newborn neurons. To study the role of NRG2 in synaptogenesis at different developmental stages, newborn granule cells in rat hippocampal slice cultures were labeled with retrovirus encoding tetracycline-inducible microRNA targeting NRG2 and treated with doxycycline (Dox) at the fourth or seventh postinfection day (dpi). The developmental increase of GABAergic postsynaptic currents (GPSCs) was suppressed by the early Dox treatment (4 dpi), but not by late treatment (7 dpi). The late Dox treatment was used to study the effect of NRG2 depletion specific to excitatory synaptogenesis. The Dox effect on EPSCs emerged 4 d after the impairment in dendritic outgrowth became evident (10 dpi). Notably, Dox treatment abolished the developmental increases of AMPA-receptor mediated EPSCs and the AMPA/NMDA ratio, indicating impaired maturation of glutamatergic synapses. In contrast to GPSCs, Dox effects on EPSCs and dendritic growth were independent of ErbB4 and rescued by concurrent overexpression of NRG2 intracellular domain. These results suggest that forward signaling of NRG2 mediates GABAergic synaptogenesis and its reverse signaling contributes to dendritic outgrowth and maturation of glutamatergic synapses. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The hippocampal dentate gyrus is one of special brain regions where neurogenesis persists throughout adulthood. Synaptogenesis is a critical step for newborn neurons to be integrated into preexisting neural network. Because neuregulin-2 (NRG2), a growth factor, is intensely expressed in these regions, we investigated whether it plays a role in synaptogenesis and dendritic growth. We found that NRG2 has dual roles in the development of newborn neurons. For GABAergic synaptogenesis, the extracellular domain of NRG2 acts as a ligand for a receptor on GABAergic neurons. In contrast, its intracellular domain was essential for dendritic outgrowth and glutamatergic synapse maturation. These results imply that NRG2 may play a critical role in network integration of newborn neurons.


Using current enterprise agreement data, this paper evaluates outcomes for paid maternity and paternity leave in Australia and considers the presence of 'equality bargaining' in Australia. We find that the incidence of paid maternity leave clauses in bargained agreements is higher than in previous years and is higher still than the incidence of paid paternity leave clauses, although neither is widespread. Further, we note the existence of a new bargaining norm for paid maternity leave of 14 weeks, distinct sectoral patterns in paid maternity and paternity leave clauses and the possible emergence of an equality bargaining agenda. On the eve of the introduction of a national leave paid parental leave scheme, the results presented in this paper provide a benchmark for future comparison and evaluation.


BACKGROUND
Renal tubular dysgenesis is a rare lethal kidney abnormality clinically manifested by olighydramnios, anuria and respiratory distress. Most of the information on this entity is provided by case reports and short series.

OBJECTIVES
To evaluate the incidence and comparative frequency of clinical manifestations in different etiologic-pathogenic variants of RTD in Israel and in summarized published data.

METHODS
Stillborn and neonatal autopsy material from nine medical centers in northern and central Israel was studied. Information concerning pregnancy, labor and postnatal status and autopsy findings of cases with histologically, histochemically and immunohistochemically confirmed RTD were obtained from corresponding reports and from published material.

RESULTS
From the 1538 autopsies of fetuses (2 20 weeks gestation) and neonates that were performed between 1976 and 2007 we identified 12 cases of RTD (0.78%). Abnormality occurred more often (1.4%) in the Upper and Western Galilee than in Israel as a whole.

CONCLUSIONS
Our study and a review of the literature showed that the autosomal recessive variant of RTD was more frequent than twin-twin transfusion-induced. Most symptoms were similar in all variants of RTD, but their frequency was different in each of them.


This paper presents the work carried out within the EU Cendari project to provide an appropriate customisation of the EAG format that would fulfil the expectations of researchers in contemporary and medieval history describing where they could find collections and documents of specific interests. After describing the general data landscape that we have to deal with in the Cendari project, we specifically address the data entry and acquisition scenario to identify how this impacts on the actual data structures to be handled. We then present how we implemented such constraints by means of a full TEI/ODD specification of EAG and point out the main changes we made, which we think could also contribute to the further evolution of the EAG setting at large. We end up providing a wider picture of what we think could be the future of archival formats (EAG, EAD, EAC) if we want them to be more coherent and more sustainable at the service of both archives and researchers.


Marketing 2 is designed for today's changing student population with an emphasis on experiential learning and the value that marketers create. The key themes of digital consumers, services, ethics, and value that are at the forefront of contemporary teaching and practice are integrated throughout and illustrated with real world examples that will spark the imagination. Marketing 2 thoroughly addresses the explosion of digital technology and new influencers, such as social media, and the impact on marketing. Supported by results-driven technology in McGraw-Hill's Connect and a focused table of contents covering all of the foundational topics in thirteen chapters, Marketing 2 is the ideal choice for any Principles of Marketing course. With Connect package, students examine how firms analyse, create, deliver, communicate, and capture value by exploring both the fundamentals in marketing and new influencers, such as social media, all in a format that allows for instructor assessment of learning outcomes, and provides students with a tight integration of topics.


Rapid blood perfusion is critical for postimplantation survival of thick, prevascularized bioartificial tissues. Yet the mechanism by which implanted vascular networks inosculate, or anastomose, with the host vasculature has been unknown, making it difficult to develop optimized strategies for facilitating perfusion. Here we show that implanted vascular networks anastomose with host vessels through a previously unidentified process of "wrapping and tapping" between the engrafted endothelial cells (ECs) and the host vasculature. At the host-implant interface, implanted ECs first wrap around nearby host vessels and then cause basement membrane and pericyte reorganization and localized displacement of the underlying host endothelium. In this way, the implanted ECs replace segments of host vessels to divert blood flow to the developing implanted vascular network. The process is facilitated by high levels of matrix metalloproteinase-14 and matrix metalloproteinase-9 expressed by the wrapping ECs. These findings open the door to new strategies for improving perfusion of tissue grafts and may have implications for other physiologic and pathologic processes involving postnatal vasculogenesis.


This contribution addresses the problem of extracting some representative data from complex datasets and connecting them in a directed forest. First we define a degree of representativeness (DoR) based on the Borda aggregation procedure. Secondly we present a method to connect pairwise data using neighborhoods and the DoR as an objective function. We then present three case studies as a proof of concept: unsupervised grouping of binary images, analysis of co-authorships in a research team and structuration of a medical patient-oriented database for a case-based reasoning use.


DMD certainly has a remarkable position amongst all hereditary muscle disorders. Noteworthy is its relatively high incidence as a "rare disease", its X-chromosomal mode of inheritance, the high frequency of new mutations, as well as its relatively rapid and fatal course. For a century the disorder was considered to be untreatable. Only 40 years ago the patients' "natural" age at death was 15 years. In those days the physicians left most of their patients untreated in large sickrooms until they died, usually from a lung infection. Only a few researchers wanted to investigate the etiology of the disease or to develop a therapy for it, because such engagements seemed to be without promise of success. Today we know that the affected gene product constitutes such a small amount of protein in the muscle cells that it was unlikely to be detected by conventional biochemical techniques.

Since the cause of DMD was unknown the physicians tried on the off-chance a great number of drugs that had been effective with other diseases (1, p. 214): none of them worked out! When in 1986 Lou Kunkel (2) isolated the so-called Duchenne gene and one year later Eric Hoffman (3) described its product, dystrophin, not only did all researchers and physicians, but also all patients and their parents believe that this would quickly open the way to a causal therapy. Today, a quarter century later, the end of this journey may be – more or less distinctly – in sight: availability of the much anticipated gene therapy. But even today we cannot predict when we will have completed this journey. The kind of gene therapy that is currently believed to have the greatest chances of success, namely "exon skipping" (4), will be applicable to about 80% of patients. But at present it is being developed and clinically tested in a phase- III trial for only those 13.0% who need the skipping of their exon 51 of the extremely large gene. For all the others, many more so-called "personal therapies" and other more conventional forms of treatment will have to be developed (regularly updated status report [5]). Obviously there are still many obstacles on this route and nobody knows when they will be removed. The parents, who see the strength of their children's muscles wane every day, are desperate. Some of them accuse the physicians of this failure; others try to find themselves sources to accelerate research into gene therapy.

But is the situation indeed so hopeless for the Duchenne families? Let us briefly look at their general situation: how has it changed in the time span since the discovery of the dystrophin gene? There are many positive factors in support of genetic counseling. At least in the developed countries the often quoted figure for the incidence of DMD of 1 in 3500 male births is not true anymore. An effective figure is not available, but there is no doubt that the incidence has decreased in conjunction with progress in prenatal diagnostics (6). At the same time the degree of awareness of the disease both in general public as well as amongst general doctors has much increased owing to, in particular, the activities of the media and the great efforts of the advocacies (Telethon), as well as the general valorization of all rare diseases (RD) by the politicians (7). Therefore the ordeals of new parents, formerly often described as "odysseys", are now considerably shortened.

But also in the field of treatment of DMD patients the said period from the 1980s till now has witnessed enormous progress that is already at the disposal of all patients. We are talking of a whole group of symptomatic therapies which, when applied together, have resulted in a doubling of the life expectancy from 15 to 30 years – and with a formidable improvement in the patients' quality of life! There are not many other diseases which can claim similar success in such a short time span. In order to bring this home to the patients, their parents and their doctors, the editors of Acta Myologica have decided to devote the main part of the current issue to the progress in symptomatic therapy of DMD.

Even some 12 years before the discovery of the DMD gene defect Dan Drachman and his co-workers (8) reported a positive effect of prednisone on the natural course of the disease. But it took several years for this finding to be accepted by other physicians, probably because therapy involving glucocorticoids is known to possibly have grave side effects on occasions. Today, after many studies have been carried out in various countries throughout the whole world, studies which have tested diverse corticosteroids, various regimes of administration and variable doses, this kind of treatment has become accepted as the only available efficacious drug therapy. We have asked the group of Janbernd Kirschner, Freiburg, Germany, to review the field for this issue. In addition, the groups of Corrado Angelini (Padova) and W. Douglas Biggar (Montreal) present their own experiences. The most important result of all these studies is that this treatment enables one to delay by several years the age at which the patients become wheelchair-bound. According to today's awareness this delay is of eminent importance because if the patients lose their ability to stand before puberty they will soon develop a rapidly progressive scoliosis, increasingly compromising their lung function. If the necessity to use a wheelchair can be delayed towards the end of puberty, the danger of developing scoliosis is largely averted.

Another set of important measures has accompanied this drug therapy using corticosteroids, all of them aimed at prolonging the period of walking and standing. These include orthopaedic appliances like light-weight orthoses and prop-up wheelchairs. More important than these appliances are the surgical operations on the patient's ankle, knee and hip joints. The earlier in life these operations are performed, the longer the Duchenne boys are able to continue walking and standing. The instrumentations, in many countries linked with the name of Yves Rideau, Poitiers, will be described in this issue by Raimund Forst and Jurgen Forst, Erlangen, two collaborating brothers who are amongst the most prominent experts in this field.

Even if the cases of scoliosis do not reach Cobb angles to the degree formerly seen in untreated boys, the functionality of the lungs nevertheless decreases with increasing age because of the progressive weakness of the respiratory muscles. Therefore assisted ventilation has been a big boon for the patients, with great strides forward since the 1980s. A reduction of size and energy requirement of respirators as well as access of air through a mask in front of the nostrils as an alternative to the established tracheostomy have been the biggest steps forward in this area. Yves Rideau, Poitiers, one of the pioneers of assisted ventilation, who has always strived at improving the respiratory conditions of DMD patients, reports his new concept of a "tracheal nostril", i.e. a new intratracheal approach to supplying air to the patients' lungs in his special contribution at the end of our series.

Together with the enormous prolongation of the lifespan of DMD patients, we have become aware of a completely new aspect of the disease, i.e. the discovery that not only the skeletal muscles, but also the cardiac muscle is affected by defective dystrophin. The problems evolving from this defect and their prophylactic as well as acute symptomatic treatment was first recognized and studied by Giovanni Nigro's team at Naples. Obviously the corresponding contribution by the two major editors of AM is a matter of course.

I am happy to say that also the Ulm Muscle Centre is represented in the cycle of contributions to this issue. The approach to drug therapy reported by Frank Lehmann- Horn and his co-workers concerns the early muscular oedema which is intracellular, has an osmotic origin and is cytotoxic. It is hoped that the specific aldosterone antagonist eplerenone can inhibit the fibrosis of both skeletal and cardiac muscle, and thus slow the dystrophic process.

Finally we present a review of a field that has also developed since the 1980s and will certainly gain impact in the years to come. This is the testing of drugs that hold promise for useful therapy on the mdx mouse, the most common animal model of DMD. The review has been written by Annamaria de Luca from Bari.

It is our pleasure that the greatest living champion of the fight for treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients, Prof. Yves Rideau, could be persuaded to recount his own experiences with the early attempts of symptomatic therapy. He, who after retiring from his chair at Poitiers is now closely associated with the muscle centre at Naples, has named his contribution "Requiem"...


Academic knowledge is the basic requirement of health professionals during their clinical practices. Traditional teaching learning methods are well explained in Ayurvedic text. Adhyayan (study), adhyapana (teaching) and tadvid sambhasha vidhi (discussion) is mentioned as teaching components of Guru Shishya Parampara (GSP). In the present study Guru (mentor) gives his knowledge to shishya (disciple) by adopting the principle of GSP. This study randomly enrolled 17 students of final B.A.M.S. with an aim to enhance the self-directed learning among students and to improve the academic performance. Pre and post study evaluation was done by MCQ test and feedback was obtained on a questionnaire. Data obtained was analyzed statically with help of paired t test. It is concluded that GSP was useful to enhance the learning with significance level p < 0.0001.


Experimental results in systems which contain both nonvolatile and volatile components, and in which the vapor phase is complex, are needed to increase our knowledge of processes considered to be of importance in ore deposition. The major difficulty in such a study is one of technique. An apparatus has been constructed which makes possible the separation and independent analysis of liquid and vapor phases. The new apparatus has been tested in a study of the system H 2 O—CO 2 —K 2 O—SiO 2 , the results of which are presented in tables and curves.


Background: Patients with cervical spondylosis are commonly suffering from neck pain and dizziness due to disturbance in cervical propriocetion. So, inhibiting the causes and improving proprioception might be a key for a positive treatment effect . Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of deep cervical flexors (DCFs) training on neck proprioception, pain, muscle strength and dizziness in patients with cervical spondylosis. Methods: Forty patients with cervical spondylosis suffering from neck pain and dizziness were chosen from Out-Patient Clinic, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University to participate in this study. They were randomly divided into two equal groups. The study group (A): received DCFs training plus traditional physical therapy (hot backs, TENS and cervical proprioceptive training). The control group (B): received traditional physical therapy only. Outcome measures included head repositioning accuracy (HRA), severity of pain, DCFs strength, severity of dizziness and dizziness handicap inventory (DHI). Measures were assessed for all patients in both groups before and after 6 weeks of treatment program (3 sessions ∕week). Results: There was a significant improvement for all of the measured variables after treatment in each group, and there was a significant difference between the two groups in favor of the study group (A) for all of the measured variables including HRA for right rotation (p=0.001), HRA for left rotation (p=0.001), severity of pain (p=0.003), DCFs strength (p=0.001), severity of dizziness (p=0.01) and DHI (p=0.001). Conclusions: The study findings indicate that DCFs training was more effective than traditional physical therapy for improving neck proprioception, pain, muscle strength and dizziness in patients with cervical spondylosis. Hence, it is recommended in the rehabilitation of patients with cervical spondylosis.


The contribution of sodium-dependent bicarbonate transport to intracellular pH (pHi) regulation in vascular smooth muscle cells is controversial, partly because the molecular identity of the transporter(s) responsible has not been identified. Here, using the pH-sensitive fluorophore 2 ,7 -bis-(2-carboxyethyl)-5-(and-6)-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF), we show that smooth muscle cells of intact mouse mesenteric, coronary, and cerebral small arteries all display a sodiumand bicarbonate-dependent pHi recovery after an NH4 -prepulse. The sodium-dependent bicarbonate flux was largely 4,4 -diisothiocyanatostilbene-2,2 -disulphonic acid (DIDS) sensitive (56% to 91%) and of a magnitude similar to the amiloride-sensitive flux. Additionally, steady-state pHi was lower (0.2 to 0.4 pH units magnitude) in all 3 vascular beds when CO2/bicarbonate was omitted. RT-PCR analyses showed that NBCn1 (slc4a7) is the only Na -dependent bicarbonate transporter of the slc4 family detectable at the mRNA level in all 3 vascular beds investigated. Whole-mount immunolabeling and immunogold electron microscopy confirmed the presence of NBCn1 protein in the sarcolemma of mouse mesenteric small arterial smooth muscle cells. Intact mouse mesenteric small arteries were electropermeated to facilitate transfection with small interfering RNA targeting NBCn1, which resulted in an approximate 43% decrease in the ratio of NBCn1 to glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase mRNA. After knock-down, we found a decreased steady-state pHi (0.21 0.08 pH units) as well as a 68 10% decrease in the net Na -dependent, amiloride-insensitive base influx after acid load. Finally, omission of CO2/bicarbonate resulted in a decreased contractile response to norepinephrine after sustained exposure to the agonist, underlining the importance of CO2/bicarbonate for vascular contractility. We conclude that NBCn1 mediates the Na -dependent bicarbonate transport important for pHi regulation in smooth muscle cells of mouse mesenteric, coronary, and cerebral small arteries. (Circ Res. 2006;98:0-0.)


The period between the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the 1950s represents a forging experience for the External Services of the BBC, as they initially defined themselves in an unfamiliar peacetime context before rapidly coming to terms with a cold war in which they again became a principal mediator between Britain and estranged or strategically important communities overseas - either behind the Iron Curtain or in regions such as the Middle East. The Cabinet decision on publicity policy in January 1948 was a pivot around which the tenor of the voice of Britain was attuned to these prevailing geopolitical considerations. Its working out in the BBC was, however, part of a continuing understanding of the purpose of broadcasting overseas that once it was set in its cold war mode, as it was in this period, defined policy and output for years to come.


Despite recent interest in how psychiatric disorders affect work outcomes, little is known about the role of personality disorders (PDs), which are poorly understood yet prevalent (15%) and impairing. We used nationally representative data for 12,457 men and 16,061 women to examine associations of PDs with any employment, full-time employment, chronic unemployment, being fired or laid off, and having trouble with a boss or co-worker. Antisocial, paranoid, and obsessive-compulsive PDs demonstrated the broadest patterns of associations with adverse outcomes. Findings suggest that PDs may have implications for the productivity of co-workers as well as that of the disordered employees themselves.


This article evaluates the contract clause's limitations on state legislation that impairs public contracts. After the adoption of the Constitution, Virginia and Maryland agreed to grant land to Congress on the condition that it would be used as the permanent seat of government of the United States. This agreement, entered into among Maryland, Virginia, and the United States, resulted in the creation of the District of Columbia. During the sectional disputes leading up to the Civil War, a small group of merchants lobbied Virginia to retrocede, or take back, the land it originally granted to Congress. Virginia, abrogating its previous promise to "forever cede and relinquish" its portion of the District for use as the permanent seat of government, enacted its Act of Retrocesion in 1846. The Permanent Seat of Government evaluates whether Virginia's Act of Retrocession violated the contract clause, which prohibits states from passing any law "impairing the Obligation of Contracts." After decades of deference to state legislatures, the Court has recently revitalized the contract clause, holding that a state's impairment of its own contractual obligations is valid only under narrow circumstances. After evaluating the constitutionality of the Retrocession in light of the Court's new contract clause jurisprudence, I conclude that Virginia's Act of Retrocession would not survive a constitutional challenge brought under the contract clause. Finally, I consider whether the Court's contract clause jurisprudence can be justified despite the harsh criticism that scholars have levied against it. I conclude that this jurisprudence is consistent with the Constitution's other limitations on legislation that singles out individuals or groups for special treatment.


Nano metal particles which interact strongly with visible light make themselves useful for molecular detection and biosensing. To facilitate the useful application for these nano particles, it is important to design and fabricate the particles at a desired frequency. In this paper, we present our experimental and computer simulation studies on the plasmon resonance of single nano Au particles and nano Au particle pairs in close proximity. The results show that the resonant wavelength peak of two particle plasmons is red-shifted in comparison to that of a single particle and the shift decays approximately exponentially with particle spacing, and drops to zero when the gap between two particles exceeds about 2.5 times the particle short axis length. It is also found that the decay function of the resonant wavelength shift is size-independent.


The objective of this work is to explore ways in which performance of battery systems can be enhanced through the use of energy-efficient battery management techniques. The phenomenon of charge recovery that takes place under pulsed discharge conditions is identified as a mechanism that can be exploited to enhance the capacity of a cell in a portable communication device. The bursty nature of many data traffic sources suggests that data transmissions in communication devices may provide natural opportunities for charge recovery. We model the data source as a stochastic process and let the cell discharge be driven by such a process. We use a model of a dual lithium ion insertion cell to identify the improvement to cell capacity that results from the stochastic discharge. The insight from this study leads us to propose discharge shaping techniques that tradeoff energy efficiency with delay in power supply.


Background Asthma and iron deficiency are common conditions. Whether iron status affects the risk of asthma is unclear. Objective To determine the relationship between iron status and asthma, lung function, and pulmonary inflammation. Methods Relationships between measures of iron status (serum ferritin, serum soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR), and sTfR/log10ferritin (sTfR-F Index)) and asthma, lung function, and pulmonary inflammation were examined in women 20-49 years in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Logistic, linear, and quadratic regression models accounting for the survey design of NHANES were used to evaluate associations between iron status and asthma-related outcomes and were adjusted for race/ethnicity, age, smoking status, income, and BMI. Results Approximately 16% reported a lifetime history of asthma, 9% reported current asthma, and 5% reported a recent asthma episode/attack (n = 2906). Increased ferritin (iron stores) was associated with decreased odds of lifetime asthma, current asthma, and asthma attacks/episodes in the range of ferritin linearly correlated with iron stores (20-300ng/ml). The highest quintile of ferritin (>76 ng/ml) was also associated with a decreased odds of asthma. Ferritin levels were not associated with FEV1. Increased values of the sTfR-F Index and sTfR, indicating lower body iron and higher tissue iron need, respectively, were associated with decreased FEV1, but neither was associated with asthma. None of the iron indices were associated with FeNO. Conclusion In US women, higher iron stores were inversely associated with asthma and lower body iron and higher tissue iron need were associated with lower lung function. Together, these findings suggest that iron status may play a role in asthma and lung function in US women.


The clinical results after surgical treatment of congenital valve disease have improved due to the use of several recently developed techniques. The replacement of tendinous cords using E-PTFE sutures has allowed the indications for the repair of mitral valve prolapse to be extended. The Ross procedure has made it possible to replace the aortic valve associated with small aortic annulus. However, replacement with a prosthetic valve remains the only option if repair is not possible or fails. Prosthetic valve replacement in the pediatric age-group remains challenging in patients with a small valve annulus. A number of techniques can be employed in such cases, including enlargement of the aortic annulus and translocation of the prosthetic valve in the left atrium, although there are limits on the size of the prosthesis. Further improvement of surgical techniques is necessary, along with the development of prosthetic valves using more nearly physiological materials.


Mangiferin functions as a perfect anti-oxidative compound in the diabetic heart, however, the exact mechanism remains to be elucidated. Here, we show the cardioprotective effect of mangiferin under high glucose-induced cardiotoxic condition mainly contributed to enhanced autophagy via suppressing mTORC1 downstream signal transduction. Primary neonatal rat cardiomyocytes were cultured to detect myocytes injury, autophagy, and related signal transduction under different doses of glucose and mangiferin treatment. High glucose (30 mM) reduced autophagic flux, and increased myocyte apoptosis and death compared with normal glucose (5.5 mM) as determined by variation of autophagy markers LC3-II, p62, parkin, GFP-LC3, or mRFP-LC3 fluorescence puncta, cell viability, cleaved caspase 3, cleaved PARP apoptosis indices, reactive oxygen species (ROS), MAO, and PI death indices. Conversely, mangiferin inhibited hyperglycemia associated oxidative stress by reducing ROS, MAO, cleaved caspase 3, and cleaved PARP generation, reestablishing cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, and enhancing autophagic flux, thereby preventing myocytes from high glucose-induced toxicity. Furthermore, cardioprotection with mangiferin was potentially related to the decreased mTOR phosphorylation and suppression of mTORC1 downstream signaling pathway. These data indicated the valuable effects of mangiferin on regulation of cardiac autophagy and pointed to the promising utilization for hyperglycemia control.


In this article, we investigate the role of local information in the decoding of the repetition and surface error correction codes for the protection of quantum states. Our key result is an improvement in resource efficiency when local information is taken into account during the decoding process: the code distance associated with a given logical error rate is reduced with a magnitude depending on the proximity of the physical error rate to the accuracy threshold of the code. We also briefly discuss an averaged approach with local information for table lookup and localized decoding schemes, an expected breakdown of these effects for large-scale systems, and the importance of this resource reduction in the near term.


Many vibration problems involve a general periodic excitation such as those of a triangular or rectangular waveform. In practice, the periodic excitation may become disordered due to uncertainties. This paper presents a stochastic model for general periodic excitations with random disturbance, which is constructed by introducing random amplitude and phase disturbances to individual terms in the Fourier series of the corresponding deterministic periodic function. Mean square convergence of the random Fourier series are discussed. Monte Carlo simulation of disordered sawtooth, triangular, and quadratic wave forms are illustrated. An application of the excitation is demonstrated by vibration analysis of a single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) hydraulic valve system subjected to a disordered periodic fluid pressure. In the present study only the phase disturbance is considered. Effects of the intensity of phase modulation on up to fourth order moment response and the convergence rate of the random Fourier series are studied by numerical results. It is found that a small random disturbance in a general periodic excitation may significantly change the response moment.


Anonychomyrma is a dolichoderine ant genus of cool-temperate Gondwanan origin with a current distribution that extends from the north of southern Australia into the Australasian tropics. Despite its abundance and ecological dominance, little is known of its species diversity and distribution throughout its range. Here, we describe the diversity and distribution of Anonychomyrma in the Australian Wet Tropics bioregion, where only two of the many putative species are described. We hypothesise that the genus in tropical Australia retains a preference for cool wet rainforests reminiscent of the Gondwanan forests that once dominated Australia, but now only exist in upland habitats of the Wet Tropics. Our study was based on extensive recent surveys across five subregions and along elevation and vertical (arboreal) gradients. We integrated genetic (CO1) data with morphology to recognise 22 species among our samples, 20 of which appeared to be undescribed. As predicted, diversity and endemism were concentrated in uplands above 900 m a.s.l. Distribution modelling of the nine commonest species identified maximum temperature of the warmest month, rainfall seasonality, and rainfall of the wettest month as correlates of distributional patterns across subregions. Our study supported the notion that Anonychomyrma radiated from a southern temperate origin into the tropical zone, with a preference for areas of montane rainforest that were stably cool and wet over the late quaternary.


"Social responsibility" now seems to have become the panacea for the ills of globalization. Still marginal only a few decades ago, it now promises to fill the regulatory void created by the dismantling of Fordism and the formation of global economic and financial markets. In this article, we explore the anticipated regulatory impact of social responsibility in order to determine whether it could play a regulatory role for globalized business.One of the most recent definitions of social responsibility actually cites the voluntary initiatives now being taken by corporations, above and beyond their legal obligations. Since many stakeholders from the business world argue that regulatory measures are excessive, unwieldy and costly, voluntary initiatives are being viewed as alternatives to regulation or as regulatory alternatives inasmuch as they are founded on self-regulation. In contrast, this paper presents voluntary measures and regulations as two sides of the same coin: voluntary measures only emerge in anticipation of regulatory measures. This interweaving of voluntary measures with regulation is diametrically opposed to the discourse on social responsibility, which tends to reinforce the image of voluntary measures as an alternative to traditional regulation. Accordingly, the current discourse on social responsibility would have us believe that somewhere between the invisible hand of the market and the all-too-visible hand of the State, corporate management can lend a helping hand in the regulation of corporate activities. Thus, the discourse on social responsibility appears to have placed the greater good of society at the heart of corporate missions, without reforming corporate structures – structures still devoted to the private interests of their shareholders. So, what is this discourse on social responsibility really targeting? It is hypothesized here that the social responsibility discourse is a corollary of the new role that business is playing in the society in an era of a globalized economy.By entering into discussions and partnering with states in their strategic maneuvers to profit from globalization, global corporations have freed themselves of the now obsolete Fordist regulatory framework. However, they have also distanced themselves from the social role defined by Fordism and the social relevance of their production in a global era. In such a context, the call for social responsibility could redefine the social role of business in way that is consistent with the new conceptualization of development, contributing to its legitimacy in a post-industrial society.Discussion on social responsibility unfailingly brings us back to social transformations. It is not only a question of knowing how to make business socially responsible, but also of examining its role in the context of a new model of development, one that is different from the Fordist model. By approaching the discussion on social responsibility from these two vantage points, a variety of modes of regulation can be foreseen in the context of globalization. Given the dynamic created between adopting voluntary measures and establishing the regulatory possibilities mentioned earlier, we argue that international initiatives on corporate social responsibility are the harbingers of a worldwide normative regulatory framework that will be characterized by an unprecedented repositioning of the regulatory axes traditionally defined by the State, the market and civil society. Socio-economic movements are bringing pressure to bear on globalized corporations. In the absence of any world governing body, these initiatives are unlikely to be institutionalized, but such pressures could lead to an international regulatory framework supported by new regulatory agencies. Supposing that business anticipates the emergence of such a framework, we can view social responsibility initiatives as proactive and strategic behaviour on the part of leading edge businesses and conclude that official codes reflect an emerging compromise between international social movements and global corporations. We believe that codes of conduct that include substantive obligations are evidence of a compromise regarding the content of corporate social responsibility. They should be viewed as premises within this new international regulatory framework, rather than as regulatory instruments. Although still in its infancy, analysis in Europe has been instructive in predicting the configuration of this emerging regulatory framework. The European Commission clearly recognizes the existence of a new axis of regulation brought forth by civil society. However, it does not want to interfere with the definition of any substantive criteria, emphasizing instead the recognition of emerging social compromises. Ostensibly prudent, this analysis is nonetheless courageous since the Commission has explicitly cited reference norms, unlike some conceptualizations of social responsibility which tend to reject or invalidate the idea of a shared, worldwide commitment to universal values or norms. The stakeholders approach to corporate social responsibility excludes any debate on the substantive content of social responsibility by concentrating on the definition of a procedural framework. This perspective on social responsibility, which widens the gap between procedural and substantive norms, is already changing the international regulatory landscape. In years to come, it is entirely possible that two regulatory systems, with quite different regulatory impact, will be at loggerheads: one will be weak on substance and mainly oriented towards procedural imperatives, the other will be based in international law. Often presented as a univocal response to the regulation of globalized business, corporate social responsibility has generated a new arsenal of tools, signalling the arrival of an emerging international regulatory system. The emerging system is infinitely complex, relying on a variety of actors, mechanisms and normative foundations. It has been the basis of fundamental debates fired by antagonistic conceptions of society and the greater good. Combined with an analysis of other international initiatives now being taken, the tone and orientation of discussions across Europe give us a glimpse of how the emergent regulatory system will be configured: private and public, national and international, mandatory and voluntary, and brought forth by institutions whose legitimacy will be crucial.


We demonstrate herein an integrated, smartphone-app-chip (SPAC) system for on-site quantitation of food toxins, as demonstrated with aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), at parts-per-billion (ppb) level in food products. The detection is based on an indirect competitive immunoassay fabricated on a transparent plastic chip with the assistance of a microfluidic channel plate. A 3D-printed optical accessory attached to a smartphone is adapted to align the assay chip and to provide uniform illumination for imaging, with which high-quality images of the assay chip are captured by the smartphone camera and directly processed using a custom-developed Android app. The performance of this smartphone-based detection system was tested using both spiked and moldy corn samples; consistent results with conventional ELISA kits were obtained. The achieved detection limit (3±1 μg/kg, equivalent to ppb) and dynamic response range (0.5−250 μg/kg) meet the requested testing standards set by authorities worldwide. We envision that the integrated SPAC system promises to be a simple and accurate method of food toxin quantitation, bringing much benefit for rapid on-site screening.


In this paper, a recently proposed analytical approximation technique, namely Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) is presented to compute eigenvalues of second and fourth order Sturm-Liouville problems. These types of equations appear in engineering applications such as vibration, elastic stability problems, which are great importance in engineering practice and real world applications. The presented technique is formulated and then applied to number of Sturm-Liouville problem cases for which solutions were obtained numerically. An easy to use feature of the method is promising for applying to such boundary value problems.


Research suggests that the severity of left spatial neglect can be modulated by changes in general alertness. Analogous effects in healthy volunteers now suggest that this may reflect an amplified form of a normal pattern. Recent neuropsychological studies also suggest that concurrent cognitive load may exacerbate rightward bias. In this study, for the first time, the authors examined the effect of both factors on spatial bias in healthy volunteers. Participants performed a task in which as many letters as possible needed to be reported from a briefly presented visual array under three conditions (alone, with a syllable-discrimination secondary task and with a pitch-discrimination secondary task). The results confirmed a significant rightward shift associated with time-on-task across all conditions--the first demonstration of such an effect within a fixation controlled, brief presentation task. While the secondary tasks influenced overall visual performance, there was no discernable effect on bias.


This research investigates detection and classification of surface defects in extruded aluminium profiles in order to replace the traditional eye inspection which is still the method widely used today. Through an extensive literature review it is evident that extruded aluminium surface is not investigated properly, while similar industrial products such as copper strips or rolled steel have attracted more interest. An experimental machine vision system is used to capture images from surfaces of extruded aluminium profiles. Extensive feature selection is investigated and appropriate statistical features from a novel technique based on Gradient-Only Co-occurrence Matrices are used to detect and classify defects. The methodology created in this research, makes use of the Sobel edge detector to obtain the gradient magnitude of the image and is followed by the extraction of statistical texture measures from the gradient, after a transformation of the gradient values. Comparisons are made between the statistical features extracted from the original image (Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix) and those extracted from the gradient magnitude using a novel approach (Gradient-Only Co-occurrence Matrix). The features extracted from the image processing are classified by feed-forward artificial neural networks. Experiments were conducted for a three class and a four class case study, with the first consisting of Good Surface, Blisters and Scratches, and the second introducing Die Lines to the classes of the first case study. The artificial neural network training is tested using different combinations of statistical features with different topologies. Features are compared individually and grouped, showing better classification accuracy for the novel technique (98.9%) compared to research standard methodology of gray-level co-occurrence matrices (55.9%).


Abstract Introduction To aid in preparation of military medic trainers for a possible new curriculum in teaching junctional tourniquet use, the investigators studied the time to control hemorrhage and blood volume lost in order to provide evidence for ease of use. Hypothesis Models of junctional tourniquet could perform differentially by blood loss, time to hemostasis, and user preference. Methods In a laboratory experiment, 30 users controlled simulated hemorrhage from a manikin (Combat Ready Clamp [CRoC] Trainer) with three iterations each of three junctional tourniquets. There were 270 tests which included hemorrhage control (yes/no), time to hemostasis, and blood volume lost. Users also subjectively ranked tourniquet performance. Models included CRoC, Junctional Emergency Treatment Tool (JETT), and SAM Junctional Tourniquet (SJT). Time to hemostasis and total blood loss were log-transformed and analyzed using a mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the users represented as random effects and the tourniquet model used as the treatment effect. Preference scores were analyzed with ANOVA, and Tukey's honest significant difference test was used for all post-hoc pairwise comparisons. Results All tourniquet uses were 100% effective for hemorrhage control. For blood loss, CRoC and SJT performed best with least blood loss and were significantly better than JETT; in pairwise comparison, CRoC-JETT (P < .0001) and SJT-JETT (P = .0085) were statistically significant in their mean difference, while CRoC-SJT (P = .35) was not. For time to hemostasis in pairwise comparison, the CRoC had a significantly shorter time compared to JETT and SJT (P < .0001, both comparisons); SJT-JETT was also significant (P = .0087). In responding to the directive, "Rank the performance of the models from best to worst," users did not prefer junctional tourniquet models differently (P > .5, all models). Conclusion The CRoC and SJT performed best in having least blood loss, CRoC performed best in having least time to hemostasis, and users did not differ in preference of model. Models of junctional tourniquet performed differentially by blood loss and time to hemostasis. KraghJFJr, LunatiMP, KharodCU, CunninghamCW, BaileyJA, StockingerZT, CapAP, ChenJ, AdenJK3d, CancioLC. Assessment of groin application of junctional tourniquets in a manikin model. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(4):358–363.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to design a model-based bilateral teleoperation method to improve the feedback force and velocity/position tracking for robotic-assisted tasks (such as palpation, etc.) under constant and/or varying time delay with environment dynamic property. Time delay existing in bilateral teleoperation easily destabilizes the system. Proper control strategies are able to make the system stable, but at the cost of compromised performance. Model-based bilateral teleoperation is designed to achieve enhanced performance of this time-delayed system, but an accurate model is required.

Design/methodology/approach

Viscoelastic model has been used to describe the robot tool-soft tissue interaction behavior. Kevin-Boltzmann (K-B) model is selected to model the soft tissue behavior due to its good accuracy, transient and linearity properties among several viscoelastic models. In this work, the K-B model is designed at the master side to generate a virtual environment of remote robotic tool-soft tissue interaction. In order to obtain improved performance, a self perturbing recursive least square (SPRLS) algorithm is developed to on-line update the necessary parameters of the environment with varying dynamics.

Findings

With fast and optimal on-line estimation of primary parameters of the K-B model, the reflected force of the model-based bilateral teleoperation at the master side is improved as well as the position/velocity tracking performance. This model-based design in the bilateral teleoperation avoids the stability issue caused by time delay in the communication channel since the exchanged information become position/velocity and estimated parameters of the used model. Even facing with big and varying time delay, the system keeps stably and enhanced tracking performance. Besides, the fast convergence of the SPRLS algorithm helps to track the time-varying dynamic of the environment, which satisfies the surgical applications as the soft tissue properties usually are not static.

Originality/value

The originality of this work lies in that an enhanced perception of bilateral teleoperation structure under constant/varying time delay that benefits robotic assisted tele-palpation (time varying environment dynamic) tasks is developed. With SPRLS algorithm to on-line estimate the main parameters of environment, the feedback perception of system can be enhanced with stable velocity/position tracking. The superior velocity/position and force tracking performance of the developed method makes it possible for future robotic-assisted tasks with long-distance communication.


The process of cryopreservation results in over-production of reactive oxygen species, which is extremely detrimental to spermatozoa. The aim of this study was to investigate whether addition of cysteine to freezing extender would facilitate the cryosurvival of rabbit spermatozoa, and if so, how cysteine protects spermatozoa from cryodamages. Freshly ejaculated semen was diluted with Tris-citrate-glucose extender supplemented with different concentrations of cysteine. The motility, intact acrosomes, membrane integrity, mitochondrial potentials, 8-hydroxyguanosine level and sperm-zona pellucida binding capacity were examined. Furthermore, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, glutathione content (GSH), and level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hydrogen peroxide of spermatozoa were analyzed. The values of motility, intact acrosomes, membrane integrity, mitochondrial potentials and sperm-zona pellucida binding capacity of the frozen-thawed spermatozoa in the treatment of cysteine were significantly higher than those of the control. Addition of cysteine to extenders improved the GPx activity and GSH content of spermatozoa, while lowered the ROS, DNA oxidative alterations and lipid peroxidation level, which makes spermatozoa avoid ROS to attack DNA, the plasma membrane and mitochondria. In conclusion, cysteine protects spermatozoa against ROS-induced damages during cryopreservation and post-thaw incubation. Addition of cysteine is recommended to facilitate the improvement of semen preservation for the rabbit breeding industry.


In deep submicron technologies, leakage power becomes a key for a low power design due to its ever increasing proportion in chip's total power consumption. Power dissipation is an important consideration in the design of CMOS VLSI circuits. High power consumption leads to reduction in battery life in case of battery powered applications and affects reliability packaging and cooling costs. We propose a technique called LCPMOS for designing CMOS gates which significantly cuts down the leakage current without increasing the dynamic power dissipation. LCPMOS, a technique to tackle the leakage problem in CMOS circuits, uses single additional leakage control transistor, driven by the output from the pull up and pull down networks,which is placed in a path from pull down network to ground which provides the additional resistance thereby reducing the leakage current in the path from supply to ground. The main advantage as compared to other techniques is that LCPMOS technique does not require any additional control and monitoring circuitry, thereby limits the area and also decreases the power dissipation in active state. Along with this, the other advantage with LCPMOS technique is that it reduces the leakage power to an extent of 91.54%,which is more efficient in aspects of area and power dissipation compared to other leakage power reduction techniques.


J Bone Joint Surg [Br] 2007;89-B:1015-18. Received 10 July 2006; Accepted after revision 15 March 2007 We studied survival to 38 years after Charnley low-friction arthroplasty of the hip. We used revision as an end-point, while adopting a policy of regular follow-up and early revision for radiological changes alone if indicated. Between November 1962 and June 2005, 22 066 primary low-friction arthroplasties (17 409 patients) had been performed at Wrightington Hospital by more than 330 surgeons. By June 2006, 1001 (4.5%) hips had been revised and 1490 patients (2662 hips, 12%) had died. At 31 years, where a minimum of 40 hips were still attending follow-up, survival with revision for infection as an endpoint was 95%, for dislocation 98%, for a fractured stem 88.6%, for a loose stem 72.5% and for a loose acetabular component 53.7%. Wear and loosening of the ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene acetabular component were the main long-term problems. We conclude that regular follow-up after hip replacement is essential and that all operative findings should be recorded at revision.


In response to papers by Langlitz on the position of the devil's advocate and Van Dinther on morality and advocacy, I try to parse ethics, morality, and moralizing in light of my two recent studies: of the rehabilitation of child sex molesters, and of the incorporation of Syrian refugees in Germany. I argue against any automatic politicizing or moralizing of our research objects, though this is not a categorical opposition. There are times when the anthropologist is thrust into a political advocacy role, and where avoidance in assuming this role would be unethical. That has indeed been the case for my work with and on refugees. However, ethical research with child sex molesters was possible only by depoliticizing and de-moralizing their location in contemporary culture. To study a subject widely assumed incorrigible and defined as evil, ethnographic research was possible only through empathetic understanding and the ability to situate the subject in a developmental frame to understand how he or she has arrived at the act of child molestation and what the possibilities for change of the self are.


The addition of small quantities of vanadium in structural steels produces a significant refinement in the final ferrite microstructure. There are two different mechanisms contributing to refinement: enhancement of grain boundary ferrite nucleation and intragranular nucleation. The contribution of each mechanism depends on the vanadium content and heat treatment of the steel. In this study the contribution of both refining mechanisms has been evaluated for two V-microalloyed steels subjected to different heat treatments. The results confirm that this refinement is based on the enhancement of ferrite nucleation through particle-stimulated nucleation mechanisms, while other aspects, as the influence of vanadium slowing down the austenite-ferrite transformation kinetics, seem to exert a minor effect.


The aim of this study was to develop a framework that would support the evaluation of new ways of diagnosing and monitoring chronic eye disease being planned and implemented by a large NHS hospital. The study involved interviews with a range of health care professionals within the Trust, observation of glaucoma outpatient clinics and related meetings, analysis of routinely collected data, and planning an economic analysis to evaluate the cost and cost-effectiveness of the new service. The information used to inform this study was collected between February 2013 and June 2014. The framework highlights three areas that should be taken into account when evaluating innovation: (1) organisational context, (2) operational impact, and (3) cost and cost effectiveness relative to existing services. In relation to organisational context, those evaluating innovation should seek to understand how different professional groups are involved in, and affected by, the implementation of change and aim to identify the underlying social and organisational factors that may inhibit or support the implementation of innovation. Evaluation should also aim to capture patients' perceptions of existing services and proposed changes to services and how changes to the delivery of services may affect interactions between patients and clinical staff. From an operational perspective, quantitative analysis should aim to provide estimates of the level of improvement required to meet the challenges presented by anticipated increases in the burden of disease and the likely impact of the suggested changes on patient access metrics. To undertake an economic analysis of the new service, researchers should consider the main cost components of the new and existing services, how to collect resource use and unit cost data for each of these cost components, and a range of potential outcome measures.


Key words: employment, efficiency, beneficiaries, beneficiary expectations, labor market flexibility, talent/brain utilization efficiency

Assessing the effectiveness of employment regulation is a difficult task, especially when it refers to the expectations of beneficiaries. Assessing the effectiveness of employment regulation within the expectations of beneficiaries can be difficult for several reasons. First, you need to understand what each beneficiary understands or expects by efficiency. There are many stakeholders involved in employment regulation, including employers, employees, government agencies, etc. Each interested party may have different expectations and goals from regulation, which makes it difficult to assess the effectiveness of regulation for all.
Data on the impact of employment regulation may be limited, especially in the short term. It may take time to see the full effect of regulation, and it may be difficult to separate the effect of regulation from other factors that can make it difficult to accurately assess effectiveness. Employment regulation can also have undesirable consequences that are difficult to predict or measure. For example, regulating the protection of workers' rights can lead to higher costs for employers, which can lead to a reduction in hiring or a decrease in employment opportunities. Assessing the effectiveness of employment regulation may be complicated by political considerations. Political leaders may have different priorities.
To address these challenges, it is necessary to consider multiple perspectives and data sources when evaluating the effectiveness of employment regulation. The clear criteria and a starting point for comparison should be established. Beneficiaries should be involved in the evaluation process to ensure that their expectations are being met. In addition, a long-term monitoring should be conducted to track the impact of the regulation over time.

https://new.vsu.am/grqer/2023/tntesagitutyun/+393-Արինե Ստեփանյան-Զբաղվածության կարգավորման արդյունավետության չափման բարդությունները.pdf


A large-area, conductive, and flexible membrane made from the stabilized aqueous solution of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is successfully fabricated using an electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method. A low-voltage operation of EPD (∼3 volts) allows a robust consolidation of RGO layers desirably aligned in the in-plane direction through the cohesive electrophoretic squeezing force near the current collector. Transferring the deposited RGO layers to arbitrary substrates or achieving as a free-standing form, two methods of "chemical etching" and "electrochemical etching" are developed to detach the RGO layers from the EPD current collector without damaging the deposited RGO. Further reducing the free-standing RGO membrane by thermal annealing up to 1000 °C, a graphite-like architecture is restored (d-spacing at 3.42 Å with C/O ratio at 16.66) and the electrical conductivity increases as high as 5.51 × 10(5) S/m. The tightly-consolidated and securely-detached RGO membrane allows the free-standing and flexible features and highly conductive characteristics, which are further developed during thermal treatment. Because of the facile scale-up nature of the EPD process and RGO solution, the developed methodology has a considerable potential to be applied to various energy storage devices, flexible conductive coatings, and other electrochemical systems.


Leishmaniasis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by protozoans of the genus Leishmania transmitted by insects known as phlebotomines, which are found in wild or urban environments. It affects domestic and wild animals and transmission to man happens by accident. The disease occurs in tropical and sub-tropical areas, mainly in Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. There are two forms that affect man: American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL) and American visceral leishmaniasis (AVL). The latter is caused by three species of Leishmania: Leishmania (Leishmania) donovani, Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum, and Leishmania (Leishmania) chagasi, which are grouped in the Leishmania (Leishmania) donovani complex. Wild reservoir hosts of L. chagasi known so far are foxes and marsupials. In domestic environment, dogs are the most important reservoir hosts and sources of infection to the vectors Lutzomyia longipalpis. Leishmaniasis is difficult to control, causing epidemic outbreaks, thus being an important public health problem. Due to lesions caused by the mucocutaneous type and the severity of those caused by the visceral type in humans, visceral leishmaniasis is one of the main public health concerns. This paper is part of the monograph presented at the end of the residency program in the field of Zoonosis and Public Health at the School of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry, Sao Paulo State University, UNESP, Botucatu, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, in 2005.


Context: Ethnomedicinally, the root of Aralia racemosa L. (Araliaceae) has long been used in various ailments in traditional system; most importantly it is used against rheumatism, whooping cough, skin diseases, pleurisy, diaphoretic, diuretic, asthma, diarrhoea, syphilis, inflammation and hay fever. The main problem experienced in standardization of herbal drugs is lack of proper identification of plant source. So there is need to establish quality control parameters by using pharmacognostic and phytochemical evaluation, which ensures the purity, safety and efficacy of medicinal plant A. racemosa. Aim: To evaluate pharmacognostic properties including macroscopic, microscopic and physicochemical parameters of the root of A. racemosa. Methods: Micro and Macroscopic characters of fresh and dried root samples were investigated. Physicochemical parameters were done by utilizing WHO recommended parameters, preliminary phytochemical and fluorescent analysis of root sample were performed for identification and standardization of root of A. racemosa. Results: The colour, shape, size, odour and surface characteristics were noted from the root and powdered root material of A. racemosa. Light electron microscope images of cross section of root and powdered root revealed that the presence of lignified sclerides, cork cells, lignified spiral vessels, medullary rays and parenchymatous cells. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of tannins, volatile oils, flavonoids, saponins, triterpenes and glycosides. Physicochemical parameters such as moisture content, ash value, extractive value and fluorescent behaviour of root powder were determined. These parameters are useful tools to differentiate the powdered drug material. Conclusion: The present study is helpful to supplement the information with regard to its standardization and identification and in carrying out further research in ayurvedic system of medicine.


ABSTRACT A petrographic study of Quaternary (Pleistocene to Recent) calcretes from coastal regions of the western Mediterranean reveals that calcified filaments are abundant and characteristic structures in these terrestrial deposits. From their sizes, shapes and arrangements, these structures are interpreted as calcified organic filaments of soil fungi, algae, actinomycetes and root hairs of vascular land plants. The morphology of calcified filaments depends on: The origin and composition of the organic filament The state of preservation of the organic filament at the beginning and during its calcification Whether the mechanisms of calcification are essentially physicochemical, biochemical or a combination of both physicochemical, and biochemical processes. With the exception of two samples, the mineralogy of the calcified filaments is low magnesian calcite. The fabric of this calcite consists of micronsized needles (with long and crystallographic c-axes oriented perpendicular to the organic substrate), rhombs, or plates. The resulting calcified product, formed by mineral encrustation, impregnation or piece-meal replacement, may be a tube or solid rod depending on whether the organic mould of the filament has been left empty or filled with a micritic cement. The recognition of calcified organic filaments in calcretes indicates the former existence of organic activity and, moreover, indicates that these deposits functioned as biological soils.


Abstract. Analysing the genesis of Quaternary sediments is important for understanding
the glaciation history and development of marine sediments in the northern
part of Western Siberia. The problem is relevant since there is no
consistent concept of the Quaternary sediment genesis in the north of
Western Siberia. The formation of sediments is associated with marine, glacial and
interglacial sedimentation conditions. The research objective is to identify
the persistent features characterising the conditions of sedimentation and
relief formation using the Nadym River basin as an example. The best method
for studying this problem is a comprehensive analysis of the lithological,
chronostratigraphic, petrographic and geomorphological studies of the
Quaternary sediment upper strata. This study provides data from the
analysis of the basic characteristics of quartz grains at the site. The
rounding and morphology of the quartz grains provide evidence of possible
glacial processing of some of the site strata. A petrographic study of
selected boulder samples was performed. Some of them, by the shape and
presence of striation, can be attributed to ice basins. The first use of a
detailed digital elevation model applied to the study area made it possible
to identify specific relief forms that could very likely be created during
glaciations. Based on the analysis, we propose to consider the vast
lake alluvial plains in the Nadym River basin as periglacial regions. This
idea lays the lithological framework for understanding the reasons for the
formation of the modern landscape structure. The materials and descriptions
provided are of interest to researchers of Quaternary sediments, topography,
vegetation and soil cover, particularly researchers engaged in revising the
history of the natural environment development in the north of Western
Siberia.


Emotional eating is an important precursor of weight gain and obesity among adolescent girls (Halberstadt et al., 2016). Researchers have defined emotional eating as individuals' eating behaviors in response to the positive or negative emotions they endure (Bongers & Jansen, 2016). In past studies, stress has been found to be an important indicator of emotional eating in adolescent girls (Corsica, Hood, Katterman, Kleinman, & Ivan, 2014). However, not all girls who experience stress will engage in emotional eating. The stress-diathesis model suggests that certain traits of vulnerability may predispose some individuals towards mental health problems (e.g., eating disorders) in response to stress (MacNeil, Esposito-Smythers, Mehlenbeck, & Weismore, 2012). One of the important traits that may moderate the effect of stress on mental health problems is attachment styles (Chow & Ruhl, 2014). Attachment styles are defined as the internalized mental representations of individuals' key attachment figures (e.g., mothers; Cooper, Shaver, & Collins, 1998). Attachment styles are measured by the dimensions of anxiety (e.g., fear of being abandoned by others) and avoidance (e.g., fear of being too close to others). Combining the stress-diathesis model and attachment theory, the current study aims to investigate whether adolescent girls' attachment security within close relationships moderates the link between experiences of stress and emotional eating. Specifically, it is hypothesized that girls who are low in attachment security engage in more emotional eating when under stress. In contrast, it is hypothesized that 1 Taylor: Attachment Styles as Moderator Between Stress and Emotional Eatin Published by DigitalCommons@EMU, 2018 122 girls who are high in attachment security engage in less emotional eating, regardless of their stress levels. To test the hypothesis, data will be drawn from archival data including 100 adolescent girls between 11 and 18 years old. Participants answered questionnaires on stress attachment security to their parents and whether they engaged in emotional eating. Moderation hypothesis will be examined with multiple regression implemented in R.


This paper presents results of an investigation into the change in the utilisation of the HF spectrum over a sunspot cycle, using experimental occupancy measurements made at Linkoping (Sweden), and at Baldock (UK). This is a companion paper to "Models of HF spectral occupancy over a sunspot cycle" (see L. V. Economou et al., ibid. (2003)).


The aim of this study was to explore the relationships between involvement in bullying behaviors and school, family, and peer factors. Health Behavior in School Age Children survey questionnaire was used. Of the students surveyed, 20% were both bully and victim, 11% were bully, and 21% were victim. Being male, poor parental support, and poor monitoring by the father were found to be risk factors for being both bully and victim. Poor academic achievement, having peers at different ages, poor quality of friendship, poor communication with parents, and not being isolated by peers were found to be risk factors for being bully. Not liking school, feeling pressured by school work, poor quality of friendship, poor monitoring by the father, close bonding with mother, and poor status of the peer group were found to be risk factors for being victim. These findings highlight the importance that bullying intervention programs should include country-specific and culture-specific influences for success.


The service providers introduce new telecom services, which are managed by different Operations Support Systems (OSSs), to retain existing and attract new customers. The working group, TeleManagement Forum (TM Forum), proposed a unified network infrastructure, Next Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS), as the standard interface between different OSSs to reduce the overhead for integration of sophisticated operating environments, and to shorten the time for launching new telecom services. For most of service providers, existing legacy OSSs are generally not compatible to the NGOSS framework. Due to the fact that those legacy systems have been working for a long time, modification or replacement of all systems incurs extra overhead for implementation and management. This paper proposes a systematic approach Middleware Architecture (MA) for migrating the existing legacy systems to the NGOSS compliant systems. We use the OSS through Java Initiative (OSS/J) Service Provisioning as an example to show how MA exercises for provision of new telecom service. Through the proposed approach, service providers can perform the migration in an incremental manner.


During the years 1995 to1999 a survey was carried out to study the occurrence of Heterodera spp. in cereals in Norway. Cereal cyst nematodes were found widespread in all the principal cereal growing areas. A formerly unidentified species of cereal cyst nematode, belonging to the" Heterodera avenae complex", is recorded for the first time, heavily parasitising winter rye in the Sandefjord region. Comparative studies, including morphology, protein variability and virulence pattern, of two Norwegian populations with known Swedish H. avenae and H. filipjevi populations confirmed the presence of Heterodera filipjevi (Madzhidov, 1981) Stelter, 1984 in Norway and constitutes a new geographical record. The pathotype tests demonstrated that the two populations were closest to the Swedish pathotype "West".


SUMMARY Objective: To assess the development of acute renal failure in patients undergoing elective surgery for benign prostate hypertrophy. Material y Method: The study was performed in patients from the Urology Service in 2 de Mayo National Hospital from September 22011 to February 2012. The AKIN definition was used for acute renal failure and data was collected from clinical records. The description used means, standard deviations, percentages, and rates. In order to find an association between the occurrences of acute renal failure categorical variables, bivariate and multivariate logistic regression tests were used. Results: One hundred and twenty three patients were assessed; their average age was 69,29 ± 8,27 years. Hypertension was reported in 23,58% and diabetes mellitus was found in 8,94%. Urinary outlet obstruction was found in 4,07%. Their average weight was 66,94 ± 14,2 Kg, hemoglobin concentration was 13,58 ± 1,7 g/dL, mean creatinine value prior to surgery was 0,93 ± 0,58 mg/dL, and their glomerular filtration rate (GFR) calculated using the MDRD formula was 99,16 ± 30,88 mL/min. GFR values below 60 mL/min prior to surgery were found in 3,25% of patients. When creatinina levels were used for diagnosis, 1,63 % of patients had a diagnosis of acute renal failure, and the figure climbed to 6,5% when urinary output was used for defining this condition. Consequently, 8,13% of all patients had acute renal failure, all of them were stage 1. No fatalities were reported in patients with acute renal failure, and there was no association between the occurrence of acute renal failure and the categorical variables assessed. Conclusions: Post surgery acute renal failure was found in 8,13% of patients undergoing elective surgery for benign prostate hypertrophy, and there was no increase of in-hospital mortality in these subjects.


In 1991, about 500 000 Americans had a stroke (400 000 had an ischemic stroke) and more than 143 000 died.' More than 3 000 000 people in the United States have survived a stroke. In 1994 the annual economic costs of stroke due to health care expenses and lost productivity are estimated to be nearly $20 billion.' In spite of these human and financial costs, stroke unfortunately has not received a great deal of attention, and its management has been marred by an element of nihilism.2 Caplan3 concludes that past failures to establish effective therapies for stroke are due to problems in clinical trial design, lack of interest in care of stroke, and lack of available technologies to evaluate patients. However, with advances in diagnosis and treatment, stroke can now be managed as the life-threatening emergency that it is. In 1993 the American Heart Association included emergent stroke care as part of its special resuscitation situations for basic and advanced life support.4 This report builds on that statement. The goal of this special report is to provide information about the current management of acute ischemic stroke. It also provides recommendations for initial care (within 24 hours of stroke) based on currently available data from clinical trials. In the future, many therapies for stroke will be linked to very early (within 6 hours) intervention. No recommendations about rehabilitation or chronic medical or surgical measures to prevent recurrent stroke are made. To prepare this report, the members of the Stroke Council used the rules of evidence for specific treatments that have been used by other panels (Table 1).5 These rules give greater credence to the results of well-designed clinical trials than to anecdotal case reports or case series. The current recommendations will eventually be altered


Contamination of groundwater with volatile organic compounds such as chlorinated benzenes is an important environmental pollution problem. Therefore monitoring these substances in groundwater is necessary for determination of water contamination. Chlorinated benzenes are found relatively in low concentrations in surface waters compared with ground waters because of their volatility. In this study Bromobenzene and chlorinated benzenes such as 1,3-Diklorobenzen, 1,4-Diklorobenzen, 1,2-Diklorobenzen, 1,2,4-Triklorobenzen, 1,2,3-Triklorobenzene in groundwater were determined by the micro extraction method (EPA method 504). The monitoring of chlorinated benzenes in well and spring water which supply the drinking water for Konya was carried out. In the study, it was determined that chlorinated benzenes was below the concentration limited by EPA and WHO


The nesting of two-dimensional irregular shapes is a common problem which is frequently encountered by a number of industries where raw material has to be, as economically as possible, cut from a given stock sheet. A frequently recurring problem as far as cutting stock is concerned, is how to obtain the best nesting of some pieces of flat patterns which occupy minimalarea convex enclosure. The area of convex enclosure is related to the convex hull of the union of patterns which can be imagined as a large rubber band surrounding the set of all polygons. Our goal is to automatically obtain the smallest area convex shape containing all the patterns. As a matter of fact, Cheng and Rao have proposed an heuristic "stringy effect" procedure for clustering which follows a descending order of area of patterns. The "stringy effect" is able to put each new piece in a position which minimises the value of the distance between the centroid of each added piece and the centroid of the already formed cluster. The procedures till now shown in literature are quite complex. They make use of sliding techniques, and are not able to effectively work with relatively multiply-connected figures. In particular, the different procedures proposed are based on the No Fit Polygon computation of non-convex polygons, which often generates holes. This work is a proposal for a more efficient method, which can be used in heuristic procedure. In this paper a new procedure for the calculation of "No Fit Polygon" (NFP) of non-convex polygons is presented. Given two non-convex polygons, the algorithm is able to calculate their NFP very quickly and without any approximation by a polygon clipping method. By iterating this procedure with every polygon of our set, and positioning them using the "stringy effect" technique, it is so possible to obtain a convex shape that contains all the patterns, having the minimal area.


Wind energy application in electric power systems continues to increase globally. The contribution of wind farms to the overall system reliability is limited by the uncertainty in power output from these highly variable energy sources. The ability of a power system to absorb available wind energy and maintain the system reliability and stability is reduced as the wind penetration in the system is increased. It therefore becomes important to coordinate the operation of wind power with fast responding conventional generating units. Hydro facilities with energy storage capability can alleviate the impact of wind power fluctuations and also contribute to system adequacy. A methodology for an energy limited hydro plant and wind farm coordination is developed using a Monte Carlo simulation technique considering the chronological variation in the wind, water and the energy demand. The IEEE four-state model is incorporated in the developed technique to recognize the intermittent operation of hydro units. The proposed approach is applied to the IEEE-RTS, and quantitative assessment of reliability benefits from effective utilization of wind and water resources are conducted through a range of studies. The effects of major system parameters on the system adequacy are also investigated.


There has been much research and various attempts to apply new IoT technology to agricultural areas. However, IoT for the agriculture should be considered differently against the same areas such as industrial logistics.This project deals with the IoT-based agricultural production system for monitoring the water conditions and developing the system by using the sensors for the production of crops by gathering its environmental information. This project designs the IoT-based monitoring system for Hydroponic Farming Ecosystem (HFE), and the methods to improve the efficiency of decision making by analyzing harvest statistics with the help of IoT devices. The HFE is made to support non-professional farmers, urban people who have limited knowledge in farming and people who are interested in doing vertical planting in very small areas in the city such as building tops, balconies of small rooms in high-rise buildings, and in small office spaces. To make the system easy to control and easy to use, we have an android application to control IoT devices in the HFE and alarm users when their farm is in an abnormalsituation. The purpose of this project is to design, install and maintain hydroponics containing different varieties of crops.


Divine Desire: Incarnational Poetics in the Harley Lyrics Luke Michael Landtroop, M.A. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Daniel Birkholz This essay develops a literary-historical and theoretical framework within which to consider the anonymous Middle English penitential lyric "An Old Man's Prayer," from British Library MS Harley 2253. Beginning with a review of the methodological problems involved in contextualizing medieval lyrics, I proceed to situate the religious lyrics in relation to the rise of affective devotion to the humanity of Christ in the later Middle Ages. By arguing for the capacity of the genre for aesthetic and conceptual complexity, I seek to establish lyrics as a form of 'vernacular theology,' a recently developed critical category in medieval studies from which lyrics have so far been excluded. "An Old Man's Prayer," examined in relation to other selected Harley lyrics, serves as the primary textual test case for a hermeneutic which reads for "Incarnational poetics," that is, the ways in which the claims of orthodox Christology shape and structure the form and thematics of medieval poetry. Emphasizing the centrality of Incarnational doctrine, I contend against the reduction of the essence of medieval Christian worldview to contemptus mundi. More specifically, I seek to demonstrate the reconciliation effected by the Incarnation between this-worldly and spiritual desire, between the material and transcendent realms, as represented in "An Old Man's Prayer" by the speaker's implicit affective identification with Christ's passion. Invoking the discourse of desire, I engage the psychoanalytic approach to literary studies, which I find ultimately insufficient for achieving a satisfactory interpretive "fusion of horizons" between medieval texts and current criticism. Thus, I turn to the contemporary theological perspective of John Milbank, whose 'Radical Orthodoxy' provides a theoretical basis for an Incarnational hermeneutic.


A novel actinobacterium, designated strain NN258T, was isolated from a cave soil sample collected from a karst cave at Khao No-Khao Kaeo, Nakhon Sawan province, Thailand. The morphological, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic characteristics were consistent with its classification in the genus Nonomuraea. Strain NN258T showed the highest 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity values to Nonomuraea candida HMC10T, Nonomuraea mesophila 6K102T, Nonomuraea rubra DSM 43768T, Nonomuraea diastatica KC712T and Nonomuraea helvata IFO 14681T. The strain formed an extensively branched substrate and aerial mycelia. The whole-cell hydrolysates contained meso-diaminopimelic acid as the diagnostic diamino acid, with glucose, madurose, mannose and ribose as the whole-cell sugars. The polar lipids were diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphotidylmethylethanolamine, phosphatidylethanolamine, hydroxy-phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, hydroxy-phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylinositol mannoside, two unidentified phospholipids, three unidentified sugar-containing phosphoaminolipids, an unidentified glycolipid and two unidentified lipids. The predominant menaquinone was MK-9(H4), with minor amounts of MK-9(H0), MK-9(H2) and MK-9(H6). Major cellular fatty acids (>10%) were iso-C16 : 0 and 10-methyl-C17 : 0. The G+C content of the genomic DNA was 71.0 mol%. The average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain NN258T and the reference strains were 79.9-80.9 % and 26.1-27.0 %, respectively. On the basis of phenotypic, genotypic and phylogenetic data, strain NN258T represents a novel species of the genus Nonomuraea, for which the name Nonomuraea antri sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NN258T (=TBRC 11478T=NBRC 114269T).


Experiments were conducted on rats--intact, adrenalectomized and dexamethasone-treated; a study was made of the dynamics of incorporation into the kidneys, liver, adrenal glands, the thyroid gland and elmination from the blood plasma of iodated corticotropine of the hypophysis (Hum-ACTHid-28, Richter). It was revealed that the character of incorporation and elimination of the exogenous labeled ACTH depended on the state of the adrenocorticotropic activity of the hypophysis of the recipient rats. The period of semielimination of the iodated corticotropin of the hypophysis from the blood plasma of intact rats constituted 11.2 minutes. The hormone was not included into the parenchyma of the adrenal cortex. The rate of excretion through the kidney and catabolism in the liver of labeled ACTH increased with elevation of the level of endogenous ACTH in the blood. The period of semiexcretion of ACTH-I131 from the blood plasma of adrenalectomized animals constuted 6.4 min. With decrease of the level of endogenous ACTH in the blood due to the block of the hypophyseal secretion with decamethasone elimination of exogenous labeled hormone from the circulation was markedly retarded T1/2 = 17 min). Under these conditions ACTH-I131 was incorporated into the tissue of the adrenal cortex for 9 min. A conclusions was drawn that the period of semielimination of the exogenous iodated ACTH could be used as a criterion for the assessment of the adrenocorticotropic activity of the hypophysis of the animals-recipients.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the energy and economic value of used nuclear fuel and depleted uranium. In the USA these materials are considered to be wastes. As such they are candidates for permanent disposal. The disposal of these materials in a manner that isolates them from human contact is a scientific, engineering, economic and political problem. Isolation can be defined requiring no potential human contact during a stated period of time due to failed containment. The period of isolation is expected to be in excess of one million years.The uranium in the used fuel and the depleted uranium left over from the enrichment process represent about 99.5 percent of the uranium that was removed from the ground by mining uranium ores. If these materials can be utilized they would not be considered to be wastes. In addition they would carry a positive economic value. The value of these materials, based on the energy that can be extracted from the uranium, exceeds $100 trillion. Based on this the conclusion is that the material is a very valuable resource and definitely is not a waste.Copyright © 2013 by ASME