This study addresses how secondary school students' visual literacy can be improved by virtual modeling activity in a web-based learning environment. Visual literacy can be defined as the ability to interpret visual messages accurately and to create such visualisations (Avgerinou 2011; Heinich et al. 1982; Pettersson 1993). The ways of how students perceive and understand visual images is one of the crucial issues for the field of visual literacy (Avgerinou & Ericson, 1997). Therefore, the present study concentrates on students' skills of analysing visual information and the ability of translating information between different visual representations. According to the theoretical framework for designing multimedia proposed by Reed (2009), manipulation of objects, rather than just perception of objects, has the crucial role in learning process. This proposition is also supported by empirical studies about the effect of interactivity in computer-based learning (Evans & Gibbons, 2007). Therefore, the design of the learning environment "Cell World" (http://bio.edu.ee/models/en/) implemented in this study emphasizes the role of object manipulation in instruction. The virtual modeling environment "Cell World" enables learners to explore complex microscopic processes that take place in cells, such as molecular genetics, respiration, photosynthesis, etc. Students' main activity in the environment is to virtually construct biological processes by adding necessary molecules or changing parameters so that the process can continue. Each model consists of two types of learning objects: the objects that are manipulative by students, and the non-manipulative objects that students cannot move, but only observe how these objects take part in animation of the process. The second goal of the study is to clarify the effect of object manipulation on the learning process. The following research questions were set to the study: 1) How does the virtual modeling activity influence students' visual literacy?; 2) What is the effect of learning object manipulation on students' visual literacy?
METHODS
In order to fulfil the aims of the study, an experiment was conducted in which 190 students (aged 17-18) from 11th grades of nine Estonian secondary schools participated. The students applied the learning environment "Cell World" for 2x45 minutes. In the first lesson, students used the model of protein synthesis, and in the second one, the model of genetic code was applied. For assessing students' visual literacy skills, pre- and post-test were filled out before and after the intervention. The test consisted of picture-based questions that measured students' understanding of different representations and the ability to translate information between the different visual representations. For comparison of pre- and post test scores, the Paired samples t-test was implemented with SPSS software.
MAIN FINDINGS
Students' visual literacy skills were assessed on the basis of three different representations in the pre- and post-tests. The first representation was a screenshot of the model that was applied during the study and indicated students' understanding of the representational language of the model. According to the post-test results, students could identify better the objects that were manipulative on the models. Understanding of non-manipulative objects, on the other hand, was significantly lower. This result demonstrates that object manipulation had a positive effect on students' understanding of visual representations as manipulative objects were more effectively integrated into students' individual mental models. Students' skills of translating information between different visual representations were analysed on the basis of two representations. One of the representations was familiar to students from textbook that they had previously used for learning the topic of protein synthesis in classroom settings. The other representation, on the other hand, was unfamiliar to students. Students had to compare the different representations and translate the information between them. Comparison of pre- and post-test data with Paired samples t-test indicated that after model application, students got higher scores in translating information between different representations than before the intervention. Again, in translating tasks, students had marked more often the objects that were manipulative and missed the non-manipulative objects. Therefore, this study provides additional evidence that introducing manipulative learning objects in instructional settings can significantly improve learning outcomes.


In October 2013, the American Atheists and the Freedom From Religion Foundation both threatened to sue Montgomery, Alabama over a controversial new initiative: Operation Good Shepherd. This initiative was designed by the city to leverage the resources of local clergy to help prevent crime and comfort victims and their families at crime scenes. While Operation Good Shepherd has received significant media attention following the publication of a September 2013 article in The Atlantic magazine questioning its constitutionality, it is not unique. Dozens of police departments in the past few decades have been teaming up with local clergy to create so-called "police and clergy alliances."This Note will analyze the constitutionality of Operation Good Shepherd and similar police and clergy alliances by applying several of the Supreme Court's Establishment Clause tests to different aspects of the program. This Note will then argue that police and clergy alliances do not violate the Establishment Clause so long as volunteers respect the programs' secular purposes and refrain from proselyting or talking about religious issues without the consent of program beneficiaries.


Intussusception is a common cause of gastrointestinal emergency in the paediatric population and it is usually diagnosed through Barium enema radiography or ultrasound. The skill of using an ultrasound by a minimally trained medical officer in diagnosing this cases in the Emergency Department are very helpful and expedite the management. We present the case of a 7-month-old girl who presented to Emergency Department (ED) with the chief complaint of passing blood in stool. Clinically she was dehydrated, irritable and in compensated shock. There was generalised tenderness per abdomen but it was soft and not distended. There was no palpable mass and bowel sound normal. Immmediate fluid resuscitated commenced. Bedside abdominal ultrasound performed by ED medical officer showed a 1.8 cm x 2.5 cm mass of alternating hypo-echoic and hyper-echoic rings at the right lower quadrant, consistent with the 'target' sign of intussusception. Supine plain abdominal X-ray did not reveal any abnormality. The ultrasound finding of intussusception was later confirmed by the radiologist. She underwent immediate hydrostatic reduction and was discharged well.


Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are high-strength sustainable nanomaterials, the incorporation of which to a host polymer matrix can potentially lead to nanocomposites with superior mechanical properties. However, the mismatch in surface energy of CNCs and common structural polymers is a challenge that needs to be overcome to prevent the aggregation of CNCs and ensure the robust integration of CNCs into a polymer matrix. Herein, we report an approach involving the functionalization of CNCs with maleated-anhydride polypropylene (MAPP) through diethylenetriamine (DETA) linkers to significantly enhance the compatibility between CNCs and polypropylene. Polypropylene/modified CNC nanocomposites displayed 74% and 76% increase in elastic modulus in comparison to neat polypropylene and polypropylene/untreated CNC nanocomposites, respectively. The tensile strength was also higher for nanocomposites withmodified CNC than neat polypropylene, as well as nanocomposites with untreated CNCs. The tensile strength at 5.5% strain of polypropylene/modified CNCnanocomposites was 32% and 28% larger that of polypropylene and polypropylene/untreated CNC nanocomposites, respectively. Finally, such CNC-based nanocomposites have a lower density than many competitive systems resulting in opportunities to propagate this environmentally-responsible technology to nanocomposites used in additive manufacturing, automotive applications, construction materials and consumer products.


"Elsevier's Dictionary of Mathematics" contains 11,652 entries with more than 4,750 cross-references. Selection of the terms was based either on their significance or on their frequency of use according to authoritative encyclopedias, dictionaries and textbooks. Included are both modern developments and contemporary changes in terminology as well as recently established terms. The terminology covers all the major branches from elementary to advanced subjects: arithmetic, algebra, geometry, set theory, discrete mathematics, logic, Boolean algebra, linear algebra, matrix algebra, calculus, differential equations, vector algebra, field theory, probability theory and statistics, optimization, numerical methods, mathematical programming, modern algebra, algebraic structures, computer algebra, category theory, applied mathematics, theory of automata and formal languages, theory of games, theory of graphs, as well as some commonly used entries in computer architecture, hardware, communications, system and application software, microprogramming, etc. This work will provide readers, writers and translators with a guide of the most widely used terms and collections in the area, and will prove to be a useful tool for all professionals exploring the multilingual scientific terminology.


The strontium (Sr) isotopic compositions in the HCl-soluble and insoluble fractions of sediments impacted by penguin and seal excreta in the maritime Antarctic were analyzed. The HCl-soluble phase of the sediments impacted by penguin guano has a high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratio (average 0.7087), close to the ratio in seawater (average 0.7092), suggesting that the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the sediments are significantly impacted by penguin guano. The 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the HCl-soluble phase of the sediments impacted by seal excreta vary between 0.705066 and 0.706117, with an average of 0.705507, higher than those of the local bedrock, but lower than the ratio in modern seawater; they are interpreted to be a mixture of Sr from seal excreta (30 to 50 %) and the weathering products of the local bedrock (50 to 70 %). The Sr contributions from penguin guano and seal excreta were calculated using the 2-member isotope mixing equation, and they have a significant correlation with the historical penguin population size as estimated from other geochemical analyses and the seal hair density in the sediments, respectively. These results suggest that the 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios in the HCl-soluble fraction of sediments impacted by penguin or seal excreta can potentially be used as an indirect and new proxy for the historical population size of these sea animals in the maritime Antarctic.


The contentiousness of Senate voting on Supreme Court nominations increased dramatically from 1937 to 2010. We identify four potential sources of the increase: (1) changes in the Senate; (2) changes in the nominees; (3) changes in the political environment; and, (4) changes in senators' evaluative criteria. Using new data and improved statistical techniques, we estimate a well-performing model of senators' individual voting choices on Supreme Court nominees. Simulations allow an evaluation of the contribution of the four classes of factors to increased contentiousness. The principal source of increased contentiousness was the combination of increasingly extreme nominees and an increasingly polarized Senate. Also significant was the increased mobilization of interest groups. In sum, increased contentiousness seems largely to reflect the ideological polarization of American political elites.


Solvent evaporation from homopolymer and heteropolymer films along with the interdiffusion of solvent into these films are studied by molecular dynamics simulations. Due to the high viscosity of polymer melts, in many cases polymer films are made by first dissolving the polymer in a low viscosity solvent, spreading the solution on a substrate and subsequently evaporating the solvent. Here we study the last part of this process, namely the evaporation of solvent from a polymer film. As the solvent evaporates, the polymer density at the film/vapour interface is found to increase sharply, creating a polymer density gradient which acts as a barrier for further solvent evaporation. For both homopolymer and heteropolymer films, the rate of solvent evaporation is found to decrease exponentially as a function of time. For multiblock co-polymer films the resulting domain structure is found to be strongly affected by the relative stiffness of the two blocks. The reverse process, namely the interdiffusion of solvent into a polymer film, is also studied. For homopolymer films the weight gain by the film scales as t1/2, which is expected for Fickian diffusion. The diffusivity D(c) determined from the one-dimensional Fick's diffusion equation agrees well with that calculated from the corrected diffusion constant using the Darken equation. Far above the polymer glass transition temperature, D(c) is nearly independent of concentration. However, as the temperature decreases D(c) is found to depend strongly on the state of the polymer and is related to the shape of the solvent concentration profile. Finally, the swelling of a multiblock copolymer film in which the stiffer block is below its glass transition temperature is also studied. While the solvent swells only the softer block of the copolymer, the weight gain by the film remains Fickian.


Summary: We report the case of a 35-year-old female patient who presented with stabbing pain on inspiration and expiration, fever, and dyspnea. The patient had undergone breast augmentation with mastopexy and upper quadrant liposuction 5 days earlier. Seven days after hospitalization, a fistula ruptured in the left breast at the suture, and copious outflow of thick whitish fluid was observed. The breast implants were then removed. During surgery, a small amount of fluid was found, and bacterial culture revealed a Cutibacterium acnes infection, for which antibiotics were prescribed. Fifteen days after implant removal, the patient complained of uncomfortable tingling sensations, similar to breastfeeding. A dressing was applied, which resulted in the copious discharge of whitish, viscous fluid through the wound and nipple. The prolactin level was four times higher than the normal range. The patient was diagnosed with hyperprolactinemia and prescribed bromocriptine treatment, which restored her prolactin levels to normal within 4 days. After 4 weeks of hospitalization, the patient was discharged in good condition. This is the first case in the world to show that, in addition to infection, galactorrhea can be an extremely rare complication, which in our case was detected at a late stage at a similar clinic.


The HCPR scheme is implemented as an extension to the OPNET simulation software and is analysed in detail for its QoS performance to deliver multimedia applications over ad hoc networks. It is compared with three well-known and widely used routing protocols: Ad Hoc On Demand Distance Vector (AODV), Optimised Link State Routing (OLSR), and Geographic Routing Protocol (GRP). Several networking scenarios have been carefully configured with variations in networks sizes, applications, codecs, and routing protocols to extensively analyse the proposed scheme. The HCPR enabled ad hoc network outperforms the well-known routing schemes, in particular for relatively large networks and high QoS network loads. These results are promising because many QoS schemes do work for small networks and low network loads but are unable to sustain performance for large networks and high QoS loads. Several directions to extend this research for future work are given.


Mouse chimeras made with androgenetic (two paternal genomes) ova or embryonic stem cells frequently die at the perinatal stage and exhibit a range of defects, the most noticeable being a pronounced overgrowth of rib cartilage. Excess concentrations of IGFII, a potent mitogen, has been suggested to play a major role in these defects, as androgenetic cells possess two active paternal copies of the imprinted Igf2 gene, rather than one inactive maternal and one active paternal copy as in normal cells. Here, we show that chimeras made with androgenetic embryonic stem cells, homozygous for an Igf2 null mutation, do not develop rib cartilage hyperplasia, demonstrating the dependence of this defect on Igf2 activity produced by androgenetic cells. In contrast, in these same chimeras, many other defects, including whole body overgrowth and perinatal death, are still prevalent, indicating that the abnormal expression of one or more imprinted genes, other than Igf2, is also capable of inducing most of the defects of androgenetic chimeras. Many of these genes may reside on distal chromosome 7, as we also show that perinatal chimeras made with embryonic stem cells possessing paternal duplication of distal chromosome 7 exhibit a range of defects similar to those of androgenetic chimeras. The relevance of these findings for the human imprinting-related disorder, Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, is discussed.


Online-to-offline (O2O) platforms such as Groupon and ClassPass match excess offline capacity with online demand but are struggling for profitability in practice. We analytically study two commonly observed O2O pricing approaches, per-use pricing and subscription pricing. We examine how each approach functions and which one is better under various market conditions. The framework incorporates four salient characteristics of the O2O business (capacity constraint, two channels, intermediary, consumer heterogeneity). The novel setting allows us to generate new insights that are qualitatively different from those in the literature. Specifically, the presence of two channels enables subscription pricing to "lock in" consumer revenues through a new mechanism, and segment and serve different consumer types to two channels. Therefore, subscription pricing can be preferred in a monopoly setting and when capacity constraint is present, in contrast to the conventional finding that per-use pricing is preferred. We also demonstrate how capacity moderates pricing approach comparison and how intermediary serves as a third pricing motive in addition to consumer heterogeneity and capacity. We use the framework to illustrate why O2O platforms suffer from various concerns in practice and how consumer type uncertainty and peer effect influence the relative advantages of the two pricing approaches.


The article is devoted to the question of legal regulation of corporate rights of spouses. The issues of the legal regime of marital property as well as the essence of the legal regime of spouses' corporate rights have been discussed.
It has been justified that upon investing marital property into the authorized share capital of a corporation which one of the spouses has ownership rights in, the rights of rem become the law of obligation (vinculum iuris). The law of obligation, incurred between spouses upon investing part of the shared property into company's authorized share capital to participate in the authorized share capital, is based on the claim rights.
It is noted that since the moment the company is registered with the State Registrar of Companies, such a company becomes a participant of civil law relations. The predetermined contribution (consisting of marital property) invested into the authorized share capital of a corporation becomes the property of the mentioned legal entity and is not subject to shared property of the spouses. Therefore, marital property as joint owned property becomes sole and separate property of the corporation.
It has been proved that taking into account the indivisibility and the personalized nature of corporate rights, corporate rights cannot be subject to shared property of the spouses. This statement is supported by the fact that having the other spouse as a shareholder will lead to the increase in the number of shareholders.
It has been explained that the legal regime of spouses' corporate rights is subject to special legal regime, namely transformation of property rights. For that of the spouses who is a company shareholder, the right to property, which is being contributed to the authorized share capital of the corporation, becomes corporate right. For the other spouse, the mentioned above rights become claim rights.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to assess the utility of DWI and dynamic contrast enhancement (DCE) in MRI at 3 T with an endorectal coil in identifying local prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eighty men underwent MRI for suspected local recurrence. The reference standards were histopathologic result, decrease in prostate-specific antigen level after salvage radiation therapy, and follow-up findings. Using a 5-point scoring system, two reviewers independently interpreted T2-weighted images alone (protocol A), a combination of T2-weighted and DW images (protocol B), a combination of T2-weighted and DCE images (protocol C), and a combination of T2-weighted, DW, and DCE images (protocol D). ROC analysis was used to compare the four protocols.

RESULTS
Local recurrence was found in 57 of the 80 patients (71.3%). The ROC AUCs for protocols A, B, C, and D were 0.71, 0.72, 0.90, and 0.89 for reader 1 and 0.65, 0.62, 0.84, and 0.83 for reader 2. Protocols C and D had statistically better performance than protocols A and B for both readers (p < 0.001). For local recurrence lesions with a long-axis diameter less than 10 mm visualized with protocol C, protocol B had detection rates of 25.0-29.4% and for lesions measuring 10 mm or greater, 67.9-69.0%. The rates of detection of local recurrence with protocol C or D were 76.5-82.4% for prostate-specific antigen levels less than 0.4 ng/mL, 60-73.3% for 0.4-1.0 ng/mL, and 80-88.0% for greater than 1.0 ng/mL.

CONCLUSION
Addition of DCE to T2-weighted imaging in 3-T MRI with an endorectal coil improves the accuracy of detection of local cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy. The addition of DWI is of limited incremental value for detection, especially of small lesions.


Background Needle insertion into an implantable central venous port catheter may lead to procedural pain and anxiety in cancer patients. Objective The aim of this study was to determine the effects of inhalation aromatherapy on procedural pain and anxiety after needle insertion into an implantable central venous port catheter. Methods This study included 123 cancer patients who were scheduled to undergo chemotherapy. Patients were randomly assigned to either the lavender group (n = 41), the eucalyptus group (n = 41), or a control group (n = 41). Participants in the intervention groups inhaled 3 drops of essential oil for 3 minutes before needle insertion into an implantable venous port catheter. Patients in the control group received no intervention before needle insertion. Data were collected using the visual analog scale (VAS) and State Anxiety Inventory. Results The average VAS scores of the lavender group were significantly lower than those of the control group (P < .05). There were no significant differences in the average VAS scores between the eucalyptus group and the control group (P > .05). In addition, the average State Anxiety Inventory scores of the lavender group, the eucalyptus group, and the control group were not significantly different (P > .05). Conclusion Inhalation aromatherapy with lavender may be an effective technique to relieve pain related to needle insertion into an implantable central venous port catheter. Implications for Practice Inhalation aromatherapy with lavender oil may be useful in the management of procedural pain levels during needle procedure. However, further randomized controlled trials are needed to validate this study.


This article examines the recent development of EU regulatory policy with respect to the alternative investment industry up to and including the adoption of a major new Directive. This Directive is just one part of a much larger package of new EU measures relating to the financial markets but its emergence merits being singled out for three reasons. First, the account of how it came about and what it sets out to do touches upon two overarching concerns that are frequently expressed about laws that are made in the immediate aftermath of a crisis: opportunistic use of crisis situations to achieve unrelated goals, and crisis-induced regulatory over-reaction. Second, with the regulation of alternative investments being addressed internationally as well as in Europe, close examination of this area provides revealing glimpses of ways in which key players in the EU policy formation process have simultaneously used the financial crisis to exert influence internationally and used international developments to further an internal agenda. Finally, out of the exceptional level of controversy that surrounded the legislative process for the Directive come some important insights on relations between the EU Institutions and, in particular, on the European Parliament's increasing deftness in putting its mark on EU financial market regulation.


Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is a highly aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma, composed of a monomorphic population of medium-sized B cells with a high proliferation rate and a consistent MYC translocation. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been associated with BL with different frequencies depending on the clinical variant. Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, or human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8), infects a wide range of normal cells, having a well-established role in the pathogenesis of various neoplasms, including Kaposi sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) and MCD-associated plasmablastic lymphoma. In secondary immunodeficiencies, such as HIV-1 infection and organ transplantation, HHV-8 is considered an opportunistic pathogen linked to the development of lymphomas in patients with AIDS and HIV + patients. We studied the association of EBV and HHV-8 by immunohistochemical analysis, in situ hybridization, and polymerase chain reaction in a large number of well-characterized BLs. EBV was present in 45.0% of all BL cases with higher incidence in the pediatric group; most cases were EBV type A. We found no association of BL with HHV-8 in EBV + BL or in EBV-cases, including the HIV + BL group.


| The objective of this study was to determine the in-vitro and invivo activity of cranberry extracts against Escherichia coli O157:H7. This strain of E. coli was the most common etiologic agent of urinary tract infections isolated from patients. Filter sterilized aqueous and methanol extract of cranberry was prepared and used in the present study. The aqueous extract of cranberry produced inhibition zone ranging from (10.8 – 23.8) mm against the tested bacteria. While the methanol extract produces larger zones of inhibition (12.1 – 24.2) mm against the bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for the methanol and aqueous extract was 0.35 and 0.625 mg/ml, respectively. In vivo study involved inducing UTI in rats and then treated with (200 mg/kg B.W) aqueous and methanol extract and compared with Gentamicin treatment at a dose of (2 mg/kg B.W) subcutaneously for 14 days. Methanol extract succeeded in treated UTI caused by Escherichia coli in the infected rats and prevented infection comparing with aqueous extract and Gentamicin. Food, water intake, body weight, pH and creatinine level returned to normal values after treatment with methanol extract of Cranberry fruit (200mg/Kg. B.W) comparing with aqueous extract of Cranberry fruit and 2mg/Kg. B.W. of Gentamicin. These parameters used in this current study as indicator for curing from infection. These findings indicated that cranberry extract was effective at all levels in inhibiting E. coli O157:H7; thus it possesses antimicrobial activity and hold great promise as an antimicrobial agent.


The thermal film flow sensor has been researched. The membrane is made of multi-film with high mechanical robustness and low cross direction thermal conductivity. The temperature distribution of membrane has been simulated; the variation of temperature on membrane has been analyzed at different flow rate. By comparing the results of experiment with the results of simulation, a conforming conclusion is obtained: at low flow rate, the falling of temperature in upstream by cool effect is remarkable, the temperature in downstream increases slightly, and the temperature difference between upstream and downstream is notable. With the flow rate increasing, the temperature in upstream distance reaches saturation, and because there is a whole cool effect on the chip at high flow rate, the temperature in downstream distance begins to decrease slightly. Therefore, the flow measuring range obtained by temperature variation of distance measuring resistor is small. Two pairs of measuring resistors are placed in upstream and downstream respectively, which enhances the measuring precision and widens measuring range. Comparing with single output voltage value, the superposition value is high a lot. The peak value of single voltage signal reaches 15.7mV, whereas, the peak value of superposition voltage can reach 28.6mV. Meanwhile, measuring range has been broadened.


Abstract Samail ophiolite emplacement has become a type-example for ophiolite obduction. Despite this, problems and controversy remain with respect to the age of high-P metamorphism, the vergence of structures in deformed rocks beneath the ophiolite, the suprasubduction character of the ophiolite and the P-T conditions of the metamorphic sole. The presence of major, regional-scale NE-facing isoclinal folds and SW- and west-dipping shear zones with top-to-the-NE shear sense in Arabian margin rocks beneath the Samail Ophiolite nappe requires that the margin was not simply passively overridden during obduction of the ophiolite. The development of these folds at 72–76 Ma is at the time the ophiolite is emplaced finally onto the margin (80–70 Ma), accompanied by development of a major shear zone in Saih Hatat (the upper plate-lower plate discontinuity described by earlier workers) at c. 82–80 Ma. Structural scenarios that incorporate these folds and shear zones include lateral escape from a rising buoyant crustal slice along the former subduction interface, back-folding ('retrocharriage') associated with major oceanwards-directed underthrusting, or simple underthrusting of the margin by the oceanic realm. Previous models involving craton-directed overthrusting with domal culminations related to deep-seated footwall and lateral ramps are more applicable to the Tertiary structure and Tertiary evolution of the mountain range. Oman ophiolite obduction clearly involves ocean-vergent thrusting within the continental margin platform to slope facies sequences.


Culture techniques for normal human melanocytes have been developed over the last ten years. This in vitro model for studying pigment-producing cells can be expected to provide major advances in the knowledge of cell-to-cell anc cell-to-matrix interactions, melanocyte and melanin biology, pathophysiology of pigment disorders, and malignant melanomas. Melanocyte cultures have already shed new light on keratinocyte-melanocyte interactions within the epidermal melanin unit by showing that keratinocytes produce "melanotrophic factors" which modulate growth, melanin production, and dendricity of melanocytes. Melanocyte cultures also enable in vitro studies of melanocyte responses to ultraviolet radiations and of the biologic messengers involved in these responses. Lastly, they provide a means for investigating endocrine and paracrine mechanisms involved in the regulation of melanogenesis, including the role of melanotropins, estrogens and vitamin D. Improved knowledge of the molecular biology of melanocytes provides hope for rapid advances in the understanding of tyrosinase and posttyrosinase regulation of melanogenesis. Lastly, melanocyte cultures can be expected to find useful applications in the pathophysiologic study of pigment disorders and of pharmacologic modulation of skin pigmentation.


The tailspike protein from the bacteriophage P22 is a well characterized model system for folding and assembly of multimeric proteins. Folding intermediates from both the in vivo and in vitro pathways have been identified, and both the initial folding steps and the protrimer‐to‐trimer transition have been well studied. In contrast, there has been little experimental evidence to describe the assembly of the protrimer. Previous results indicated that the C terminus plays a critical role in the overall stability of the P22 tailspike protein. Here, we present evidence that the C terminus is also the critical assembly point for trimer assembly. Three truncations of the full‐length tailspike protein, TSPΔN, TSPΔC, and TSPΔNC, were generated and tested for their ability to form mixed trimer species. TSPΔN forms mixed trimers with full‐length P22 tailspike, but TSPΔC and TSPΔNC are incapable of forming similar mixed trimer species. In addition, mutations in the hydrophobic core of the C terminus were unable to form trimer in vivo. Finally, the hydrophobic‐binding dye ANS inhibits the formation of trimer by inhibiting progression through the folding pathway. Taken together, these results suggest that hydrophobic interactions between C‐terminal regions of P22 tailspike monomers play a critical role in the assembly of the P22 tailspike trimer.


BACKGROUND
Firefighters endure large occupational burdens and generally operate under conditions of chronic sleep deficiency and circadian disruption due to long shifts, plus interrupted sleep due to emergency calls during the night. A typical shift for firefighters is 24-h on/48-h off, and firefighters are expected to use time-off to recover from any sleep debt, while balancing social, family, and home responsibilities. This qualitative study sets out to assess family dynamics and how firefighters prioritize sleep and recovery at home based on relationship or family status, as well as a fire department's current shift schedule.

METHODS
Focus groups were conducted via convenience sampling in Portland, OR, with full-time firefighters, battalion chiefs, and their spouses. Grounded theory, using NVivo 12 Plus, was used to code transcripts to reveal reoccurring concepts and themes.

RESULTS
Major themes centered around the increase of nonemergent calls contributing to compassion fatigue. Spouses can help improve the sleep of firefighters by creating opportunities for recuperative sleep at home. However, spouses also conveyed underlying tones of "resentment" relating to their firefighter being unavailable for emotional and instrumental support. While married firefighters discussed choosing family and home obligations over reducing sleep debt to maintain relationships, single and divorced firefighters spoke of fewer conflicts impeding their ability to prioritize sleep at home.

CONCLUSIONS
These results improve our understanding of how firefighters prioritize sleep at home based on family dynamics and can inform future decision-making for fire departments in addressing concerns related to work-family conflict, sleep loss, and compassion fatigue among their members.


Central venous catheterization is a procedure frequently performed in daily clinical practice. The use of ultrasound during central venous catheter placement has significantly reduced the number of complications. However, while the outcome of the procedure has significantly improved, the number of legal disputes has increased. Despite the current legislation has repeatedly stressed the importance of adequately collecting informed consent, to date many legal cases show that this procedure is only superficially followed. The objective of the present work is to analyze the various phases of central venous catheterization, with the aim of making useful suggestions to avoid potential medical-legal problems.


Larvae of Macromia illinoiensis Walsh are often colonised by the zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha Pallas, a recent invader to North America. To determine how mussel attachment affects an individual's foraging behaviour, we quantified capture of Hexagenia limbata Hexes mayfly prey and the distance moved by newly- molted final instars before and after an individual's colonisation with zebra mussels. 2. In night trials, larvae sprawled above the sand, and caught more mayflies than individuals in daytime trials, but the estimated distance travelled did not differ. When resting under a layer of sand with only its eyes exposed during the day, an individual could capture a mayfly prey using a sit-and-wait ambush strategy. When sprawled above the sand, some larvae caught prey that rested on their legs. 3. When mussel-free, individuals captured more prey than they did when carrying zebra mussels, although mussel attachment per se did not affect the estimated distance that a larva moved. 4. During day trials, but not night ones, the increasing mussel load of colonised individuals decreased prey capture and the distance moved in an apparent step- wise function. Although the number of mussels carried did not differ, night foragers carried a heavier load. Independent of time of the day, the distance an individual travelled when mussel-free was predictive of the number of prey it caught when colonised, suggesting that the greater general activity of some individuals helped mitigate negative effects that mussel attachment had on prey capture. 5. Our results add to a growing number of negative effects of zebra mussel colonisation on sprawling and hiding dragonfly larvae. Although the impact of these costs on dragonfly populations remains to be determined, a decrease in this guild of predators whose life cycle spans aquatic and terrestrial habitats might have cascading effects across ecosystems.


Paired nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) and nasopharyngeal swab (NPS) specimens obtained from each of 32 hospitalized infants with X-ray-confirmed pneumonia (91%) or bronchiolitis were tested for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection by virus culture, the indirect immunofluorescent-antibody (IFA) technique, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA; Ortho Diagnostic Systems, Inc.), and spot hybridization with a human genomic probe to quantitate cellular DNA. RSV was isolated in cell cultures from 72% (23 of 32) of patients by using NPA specimens compared with 47% (15 of 32) by using NPS specimens. With tissue culture positivity as the reference test, the sensitivities of the ELISA on NPA and NPS specimens were found to be 69% (16 of 23) and 61% (14 of 23), respectively, with a specificity and a positive predictive value from both sites of 100%. The sensitivities of the IFA technique compared with the cell culture on NPA and NPS specimens were 61% (14 of 23) and 52% (12 of 23) with specificities of 89 and 78% and positive predictive values of 96 and 92%, respectively. Despite the recovery of significantly more cells (as shown by detection of more cellular DNA by using NPA specimens), virus was detected by the IFA technique or ELISA at similar frequencies in paired specimens. However, virus was recovered more often from NPA than NPS specimens by cell culture, and ELISA optical density readings and the number of RSV-positive fluorescing cells were greater for NPA specimens. NPA specimen collection was less traumatic for the patient, was an easier procedure for the physician to perform, and provided a superior laboratory specimen for RSV diagnosis than the NPS technique.


Background: Despite the rapid decline of the incidence and mortality over the past few decades, gastric cancer still remains to be the third leading cause of cancer death and the fifth most common cancer worldwide. Furthermore, the absolute number of gastric cancer cases is increasing globally due to the aging of the world population. With available methods to detect and treat precancerous and early stage lesions, development of a prediction model to estimate the probability of developing gastric cancer for various age intervals and risk profiles have important public health implications. Methods: Candidate predictors were selected combining expert opinion and literature search. Using a case-control study with 4,603 Korean subjects, a logistic regression model was used for estimating relative risks, separately for men and women. The discriminatory ability of the models was assessed by receiver operator characteristic area under the curve (AUC). Absolute risk parameters were then calculated combined with the relative risk estimates with baseline age-specific cancer hazard rates from Korean Cancer Registry data. The developed models were validated using an independent prospective cohort data, a Japanese population-based cohort study, which includes 40,173 subjects, by calculating the ratio of expected number (E) over observed number (O) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: The models for both men and women included low education, past medical history of diabetes mellitus, no regular use of nonsteroidal inflammatory drugs intake, smoking, no regular exercising, and consumption of high salted food, less fruit, less nonstarchy vegetables, and less nonfermented soy food. The AUC for the relative risk model was 0.73 (95% CI 0.71-0.75) for men and 0.76 (95% CI 0.74-0.79) for women. The overall E/O ratio was 1.05 (95% CI 0.98-1.12) in men, and 0.93 (95% CI 0.83-1.04) in women in the external validation population. Conclusions: To our knowledge this is the first study to estimate the absolute risk of gastric cancer in Korean population. The mathematical models developed in the present study will help predict the occurrence of gastric cancer for an individual considering combined risk factors which will help at a personalized level by enabling early detection and preventive efforts. A further development of a model incorporating biomarkers can provide strategies to select individuals at high risk, for screening for gastric cancer. This abstract is also being presented as PosterB11. Citation Format: Minkyo Song, Jae Jeong Yang, Hyuna Sung, Seong-Ho Kong, Hyuk-Joon Lee, Hyung-Ho Kim, Sang Gyun Kim, Han-Kwang Yang, Norie Sawada, Shoichiro Tsugane, Manami Inoue, Daehee Kang. Projecting individualized absolute risk of developing gastric cancer in Koreans. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference: Improving Cancer Risk Prediction for Prevention and Early Detection; Nov 16-19, 2016; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2017;26(5 Suppl):Abstract nr PR15.


The intellectual florescence of thirteenth-century France, and Paris in particular, was vibrant, yet it confronted scholastic thinkers with a range of both new and continuing problems. The most famous of the continuing problems was the how to fully reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with revealed scripture. Both had lengthy commentary traditions that complicated the attempt. Christian doctrine had the four Church Fathers as well as key medieval works, such as Peter Lombard's Sentences, while Aristotle had commentaries from both the late antique and Islamic worlds as well as Christian commentaries for those few works available in Latin in the early Middle Ages. The most famous of the Muslim Aristotelian scholars in Europe was Ibn Rushd, known in Latin as Averroës, or often simply The Commentator. A twelfth-century Andalusi Islamic jurist, physician, theologian, and philosopher, Averroës presented curious and thoughtful scholars, such as Albertus Magnus, with the difficult question of how to use and learn from the knowledge that Averroës provided while not stumbling over his religiously problematic positions. At the heart of this conflict was the changing notion of auctoritas (authority). As late as the early twelfth century, men like William of St. Thierry were writing that knowledge was acquired through the intellect while auctoritas was exclusively the means for acquiring faith. 1 However, this long-held view changed at the turn of the twelfth century, which saw the end to what is sometimes called the Age of Authority, because men noted that authority was the weakest form of proof, as Thomas Aquinas observes time and again in his famous Summa


Background Rates of violence in the USA have fluctuated widely over the past few decades. Theorists have examined period and cohort effects, but there appear to be no studies examining these effects on progression in developmental pathways towards violence. Objective To assess whether differences in progression among individuals in the Pittsburgh Youth Study are consistent with period or cohort effects. Design Multivariate logistic regression was conducted to examine differences between cohorts in the odds of progressing through the developmental pathway towards violence. Adjusted and unadjusted odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) are reported. Setting Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, from 1987 to 2000. Subjects Two cohorts of male adolescents from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. The youngest cohort (n = 503) was followed from median ages 7 to 20, and the oldest cohort (n = 506) was followed up from median ages 13 to 25. Main outcome measure The odds of progression along a developmental pathway towards violence. Results There was no statistically significant difference between the cohorts in progression from minor aggression to physical fighting (OR = 1.13, 95% CI 0.77–1.65). However, after adjustment for major risk factors, the oldest cohort was significantly more likely to progress from physical fighting to violence (OR = 2.34, 95% CI 1.39–3.92). Conclusions These results provide initial evidence that cohort effects, which would be present early in development, do not contribute significantly to later differences in reported violence and raise the possibility of whether period effects can explain these differences.


The effect of the foam covered ocean surface on the passive microwave remote sensing measurements is studied based on the electromagnetic scattering theory. In formulating an electromagnetic scattering model, we treat the foam as densely packed sticky air bubbles coated with thin seawater coating. The layer of foam covers the ocean surface that has air bubbles. We then use dense media radiative transfer (DMRT) theory with quasicrystalline approximation (QCA) for densely distributed sticky moderate size particles to calculate the brightness temperatures of the foam-covered ocean surface. Results are illustrated for 19 GHz and 37 GHz and for both vertical and horizontal polarizations as a function of foam microstructure properties and foam layer thickness. Comparisons are also made with experimental measurements.


The legal aspect of civil registration is to obtain as much legal certainty as possible about personal events. Civil registration institutions are government institutions, the state administrative agency in charge, serves to record all family events and has the right, the authority to issue provisions in the field of population and citizenship. As a result of recording and publishing the provision, it has a legal connection with one's civil status or individual law. With the enactment of Law 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage and PP 9 of 1975 as implementing regulations, the public needs for Civil Registry Institutions are increasingly important. Research on this scientific work was a type of normative legal research. Civil records had carried out the tasks carried out by the state well, namely by serving each party who will report the mixed marriages carried out by the parties as well as possible, which is a problem is the lack of public awareness of the importance of the reporting. The implementation of mixed marriages can be carried out if the parties have fulfilled all the requirements determined by the law as contained in Article 60 Paragraph (1) of Law 1 Year 1974. Whereas the Record Institution was only tasked to record the mixed marriage events. Every legal act carried out by any particular person has an impact or effect both for himself and for the other party. No exception in mixed marriages is the legal consequences that arise, both for mixed marriages and for children born from the mixed marriages.


This paper compares the performance of working fluids for absorption refrigeration systems that are used for refrigeration temperatures below 0C. Since the most common vapor absorption refrigeration systems use ammonia-water solution with ammonia as the refrigerant and water as the absorbent, research has been devoted to improvement of the performance of ammonia-water absorption refrigeration systems in recent years. In this paper the performances of the ammonia-water and possible alternative cycles as ammonia-lithium nitrate, ammonia-sodium thiocyanate, monomethylamine-water, R22-DMEU, R32-DMEU, R124-DMEU, R152a-DMEU, R125-DMEU, R134a-DMEU, trifluoroethanol (TFE)-tetraethylenglycol dimethylether (TEGDME), methanol-TEGDME and R134a-DMAC are compared in respect of the coefficient of performance (COP). Key-Words: Absorption, refrigeration, working fluids, COP


This investigation concerns human teeth and bones from the site of Natfieh, north Jordan. Nitrogen and carbon isotope analyses were used to model the paleo-economy by reconstructing Natfieh's paleodiet during a specific time period. 14C dating of human teeth and bones from the site of Natfieh, north Jordan, demonstrate that they belong to the Early Roman period and match the archaeological date from the tomb and grave goods typology. Stable isotope analyses of these humans have provided new information about the subsistence and society of individuals buried at Natfieh. Natfieh is today agriculturally productive and must have been so in antiquity with most of the foodstuffs having been produced locally. The long distance between Natfieh and the closest aquatic food source (Mediterranean Sea and Lake Tiberias) and the high cost of land transportation might be the reason for the low consumption of marine protein. The results agree with past research on the Roman diet showing that plants were the common source of food for the Romans and fish may have been restricted to elite members of the society.


Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of enzymes that are up-regulated in many diseases, including osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Here we report on a novel technique that can be used to simultaneously measure activity levels for a panel of enzymes, such as the MMPs. The technique, termed the multiple-enzyme/multiple-reagent assay system (MEMRAS), relies on the use of reagents such as substrates with varying selectivity profiles against a group of enzymes. When reaction rates are measured by following a change in fluorescence with time, for mixtures of enzymes, an equation with unknown concentrations for each activity is generated for each reagent used. Simultaneously solving the set of equations leads to a solution for the unknown concentrations. We have applied this mathematical technique to measure activity levels for mixtures of MMPs such as collagenase 3 and gelatinase A. In addition, because we were most interested in determining collagenase 3 levels as a potential biological marker for OA, we developed highly selective substrates for this enzyme by using results found in previous bacteriophage substrate-mapping experiments. Some of the best substrates tested have specific activities for collagenase 3 that are 37,000-, 17,000-, 90-, and 200-fold selective over stromelysin 1, collagenase 1, and gelatinases A and B, respectively.


Abstract Loucas, B. D, Eberle, R., Bailey, S. M. and Cornforth, M. N. Influence of Dose Rate on the Induction of Simple and Complex Chromosome Exchanges by Gamma Rays. Radiat. Res. 162, 339–349 (2004). Single-color painting of whole chromosomes, or protocols in which only a few chromosomes are distinctively painted, will always fail to detect a proportion of complex exchanges because they frequently produce pseudosimple painting patterns that are indistinguishable from those produced by bona fide simple exchanges. When 24-color multi-fluor FISH (mFISH) was employed for the purpose of distinguishing (truly) simple from pseudosimple exchanges, it was confirmed that the acute low-LET radiation dose–response relationship for simple exchanges lacked significant upward curvature. This result has been interpreted to indicate that the formation of simple exchanges requires only one chromosome locus be damaged (e.g. broken) by radiation to initiate an exchange—not two, as classical cytogenetic theory maintains. Because a one-lesion mechanism implies single-track action, it follows that the production of simple exchanges should not be influenced by changes in dose rate. To examine this prediction, we irradiated noncycling primary human fibroblasts with graded doses of 137Cs γ rays at an acute dose rate of 1.10 Gy/min and compared, using mFISH, the yield of simple exchanges to that observed after exposure to the same radiation delivered at a chronic dose rate of 0.08 cGy/min. The shape of the dose response was found to be quasi-linear for both dose rates, but, counter to providing support for a one-lesion mechanism, the yield of simple aberrations was greatly reduced by protracted exposure. Although chronic doses were delivered at rates low enough to produce damage exclusively by single-track action, this did not altogether eliminate the formation of complex aberrations, an analysis of which leads to the conclusion that a single track of low-LET radiation is capable of inducing complex exchanges requiring up to four proximate breaks for their formation. For acute exposures, the ratio of simple reciprocal translocations to simple dicentrics was near unity.


Careful examination of the oral cavity in respiratory medicine is often neglected, although it represents sometimes a clue for clinical diagnosis and it is important in completely addressing the patient. On the other hand, the dental practitioner who treats a patient with unusual oral lesions should observe correct guidance and medical advice. Oral manifestations are of polymorphic nature, being associated with a variety of pulmonary diseases and specific therapies. Respiratory obstructive diseases, systemic diseases with pulmonary involvement, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis or tuberculosis all have clinical and/ or therapeutic involvement of the oral cavity, which underlines the necessity of regular dental services and careful oral cavity exam, as well as an active collaboration between dental practitioners and pulmonologists or somnologists, for patient's ultimate benefit.


(ABSTRACT) Today, heterogeneous computing has truly reshaped the way scientists think and approach high-performance computing (HPC). Hardware accelerators such as general-purpose graphics processing units (GPUs) and Intel Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture continue to make inroads in accelerating large-scale scientific applications. These advancements, however, introduce new sets of challenges to the scientific community such as: selection of best processor for an application, effective performance optimization strategies, maintaining performance portability across architectures etc. In this thesis, we present our techniques and approach to address some of these significant issues. Firstly, we present a fully automated approach to project the relative performance of an OpenCL program over different GPUs. Performance projections can be made within a small amount of time, and the projection overhead stays relatively constant with the input data size. As a result, the technique can help runtime tools make dynamic decisions about which GPU would run faster for a given kernel. Usage cases of this technique include scheduling or migrating GPU workloads over a heterogeneous cluster with different types of GPUs. We then present our approach to accelerate a seismology modeling application that is based on the finite difference method (FDM), using MPI and CUDA over a hybrid CPU+GPU cluster. We describe the generic computational complexities involved in porting such applications to the GPUs and present our strategy of efficient performance optimization and characterization. We also show how performance modeling can be used to reason and drive the hardware-specific optimizations on the GPU. The performance evaluation of our approach delivers a maximum speedup of 23-fold with a single GPU and 33-fold with dual GPUs per node over the serial version of the application, which in turn results in a many-fold speedup when coupled with the MPI distribution of the computation across the cluster. We also study the efficacy of GPU-integrated MPI, with MPI-ACC as an example implementation, on a seismology modeling application and discuss the lessons learned. Dedication I dedicate this thesis to my mom, dad, and sister. iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my advisor Dr. Wu-chun Feng, foremost, for his invaluable guidance and support throughout my M.S. studies. His belief in his students and encouragement to think independently to develop solutions to the research problems made the overall research experience greatly rewarding. His diligent work-ethic and dynamic personality had been a wonderful source of inspiration to me. It has been a pleasure …


Mitochondria utilize the majority of oxygen (O2) consumed by aerobic organisms as the final electron acceptor for oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS), but also to generate reactive oxygen species (mtROS) that participate in cell signaling, physiological hormesis and disease pathogenesis. Simultaneous monitoring of mtROS production and oxygen consumption (JO2) from tissue mitochondrial preparations is an attractive investigative approach, but introduces dynamic changes in media O2 concentration ([O2]) that can confound experimental results and interpretation. We utilized high-resolution fluoro-respirometry to evaluate JO2 and hydrogen peroxide release (JH2O2) from isolated mitochondria (Mt), permeabilized fibers (Pf), and tissue homogenates (Hm) prepared from murine heart and skeletal muscle across a range of experimental [O2]s typically encountered during respirometry protocols (400-50 µM). Results demonstrate notable variations in JH2O2 across tissues and sample preparations during non-phosphorylating (LEAK) and OXPHOS-linked respiration states at 250 µM [O2], but a linear decline in JH2O2 of 5-15% per 50 µM decrease in chamber [O2] in all samples. JO2 was generally stable in Mt and Hm across [O2]s above 50 µM, but tended to decline below 250 µM in Pf, leading to wide variations in assayed rates of JH2O2/O2 across chamber [O2]s and sample preparations. Development of chemical background fluorescence from the H2O2 probe (Amplex Red) was also O2-sensitive, emphasizing relevant calibration considerations. These studies highlight the importance of monitoring and reporting the chamber [O2] at which JO2 and JH2O2 are recorded during fluoro-respirometry experiments, and provide a basis for selecting sample preparations for studies addressing the role mtROS in physiology and disease.


In this chapter, it will be shown that in the grammar of German, discourse as well as focus particles are part of the functional structure of the clause, and that in the unmarked case both types of particles take scope exactly where they are merged. Their scope must not be changed in the ongoing derivation. In other words, they are "frozen in place". A challenge comes from those cases in which particles form constituents with sub-sentential phrases such as my bike or in which village, i.e. phrases which do not qualify as scope domains. While co-constituency with sub-sentential phrases is a widely known property of focus particles, corresponding constellations with discourse particles are less widely known and therefore more challenging. Due to this, the focus of the chapter will be on discourse particles. In part 1, I will present what I take to be the current base-line of a syntactic-semantic representation of discourse particles (in German and hopefully beyond). Part 2 develops an account of discourse particles in wh-questions and their dependence on interrogative force. Part 3 shows how discourse particles can directly combine with wh-phrases, and how the movement of phrases that are composed in such a way and their scope properties can be integrated into the account developed in part 2. Importantly, I will show that their scope freezes in a position lower than the position seen in surface structure. This finding defines the goal of our consideration of focus particles. Part 4 integrates focus particles and shows that the analysis gets close to a unified account of focus particles and discourse particles. The perspective and advantage of a unified theory of particles is commented on in section 5. Section 6 draws some conclusions.


While shows like The X-Files and 24 have merged conspiracy theories with popular science (fictions), some video games have been pushing the narrative even further. Electronic Art's Majestic game was released in July 2001 and quickly generated media buzz with its unusual multi-modal gameplay. Mixing phone calls, faxes, instant messaging, real and "fake' websites, and email, the game provides a fascinating case of an attempt at new directions for gaming communities. Through story, mode of playing, and use of technology, Majestic highlights the uncertain status of knowledge, community and self in a digital age; at the same time, it allows examination of alternative ways of understanding games' role and purpose in the larger culture. Drawing on intricate storylines involving government conspiracies, techno-bio warfare, murder and global terror, players were asked to solve mysteries in the hopes of preventing a devastating future of domination. Because the game drew in both actual and Majestic-owned/-designed websites, it constantly pushed those playing the game right to borders where simulation collides with " factuality'. Given the wide variety of "legitimate' conspiracy theory, alien encounters and alternative science web pages, users often could not distinguish when they were leaving the game's pages and venturing into " real' World Wide Web sites. Its further use of AOL's instant messenger system, in which gamers spoke not only to bots but to other players, pushed users to evaluate constantly both the status of those they were talking to and the information being provided. Additionally, the game required players to occupy unfamiliar subject positions, ones where agency was attenuated, and which subsequently generated a multi-layered sense of unease among players. This mix of authentic and staged information in conjunction with technologically mediated roles highlights what are often seen as phenomenon endemic to the Internet itself; that is, the destabilization of categories of knowing, relating, and being.


Abstract Cosmic dust grains are the abundant, fine-grained end-member of a range of extraterrestrial materials travelling through space. These particles can impact orbiting space vehicles (e.g. satellites and the International Space Station) at velocities ranging from 10 to 72 km s−1. Impact damage resulting from such a collision could potentially disable or limit the operational use of a spacecraft. There is great commercial interest from the satellite companies and space agencies to understand the nature and proportion of impacts that are caused by cosmic dust particles to assist in risk management studies and for protective shielding optimization. The successful recovery of any surface that has been exposed to the near-Earth environment offers an excellent opportunity to search for micrometre-scaled impact features and the associated projectile residues using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray microanalysis.


In this paper, a missing image data reconstruction method based on an adaptive inverse projection via sparse representation is proposed. The proposed method utilizes sparse representation for obtaining low-dimensional subspaces that approximate target textures including missing areas. Then, by using the obtained low-dimensional subspaces, inverse projection for reconstructing missing areas can be derived to solve the problem of not being able to directly estimate missing intensities. Furthermore, in this approach, the proposed method monitors errors caused by the derived inverse projection, and the low-dimensional subspaces optimal for target textures are adaptively selected. Therefore, we can apply adaptive inverse projection via sparse representation to target missing textures, i.e., their adaptive reconstruction becomes feasible. The proposed method also introduces some schemes for color processing into the calculation of subspaces on the basis of sparse representation and attempts to avoid spurious color caused in the reconstruction results. Consequently, successful reconstruction of missing areas by the proposed method can be expected. Experimental results show impressive improvement of our reconstruction method over previously reported reconstruction methods.


Despite policy efforts to diversify exports, Kenya's export base is still largely dominated by primary products from the agricultural sector. Trade and commodity concentration has led to export earnings fluctuations which eventually leads to the problem of balance of payments, budgets deficits and does not permit future systematic economic planning. With dwindling fortunes in the agricultural sector due to vagaries of weather among others, it is imperative for policy makers to deal with the issue of diversification of the country's exports. This will help cushion the country against shocks arising from the instability in the foreign exchange markets especially for the primary products. This strategy will contribute to the development of new export markets for manufactured goods destined for the EAC. By using panel data this paper investigated factors influencing competitiveness of Kenya's manufactured exports to the EAC. The primary concern of policy makers and macroeconomic analysts is what factors promote or inhibit the flow of Kenya's manufactured exports to the EAC. The findings indicate that trade policy, captured by openness and nominal exchange has a large effect on export competitiveness, their coefficients are large. However, fixed capital formation which is a proxy for trade facilitation has a small effect on export competitiveness. Infrastructural development is not playing the rightful role in releasing export potential of the trading bloc; hence is a bottle neck on the export supply side. The national government should have a policy of infrastructural investment like construction of corridors and upgrading of railway system to increase accessibility and ease the movement of manufactured exports. Unit labour cost has a negative effect on export competiveness. EAC member countries are labour abundant and therefore productivity of labour is more important than numbers. The member countries should invest in research and development, health care, education and capital equipment to increase labour productivity that lower unit labour cost thereby increasing competitiveness of manufactured goods. Therefore, manufactured exports are important for Kenya's export matrix. It is therefore critical for the GOK and policy makers to work towards accelerating policies that will improve the volume of exports of manufactured goods to the EAC while drawing lessons frojp Asian tigers.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between the texture of worn surfaces of composite resins and the maximum wear depth. Three types of composite resins were investigated: a hybrid composite resin consisting of irregular-shaped inorganic filler particles (APX); a composite resin which contained small, irregular-shaped, inorganic filler particles and large organic composite filler particles (SRE); and another which contained spherical inorganic filler particles and large organic composite filler (SDX). Surface profile measurement and elemental analysis were carried out on the worn surfaces of these three composite resins using an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). For the composite resin which exhibited the largest maximum wear depth, its surface texture was slightly rough with fine pores and grooves. For the composite resin with lowest maximum wear depth, it had a smooth worn surface due to the large organic composite filler being abraded during the combined wear test.


Much progress has been made in understanding excess returns in the foreign exchange market through the use of survey data on traders' exchange rate forecasts. On the whole, this literature, which is reviewed in chapter 1, has found that excess returns derive from both violations of the rational expectations hypothesis (non whitenoise forecast errors) as well as a time-varying risk premium. What this literature has not done however is to determine whether any of the existing models of the risk premium can account for the time-varying risk premium found in survey data. The second and third chapters use the Cointegrated VAR model to test the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), the Consumption CAPM, and the Keynes-Imperfect Knowledge Economics (IKE) gap model, which relate the risk premium to the exchange rate's variance, covariance with consumption, and deviation from Purchasing Power Parity respectively. The strongest support is found for the Keynes-IKE gap model. The analysis of this model is then extended in chapter 4 to the I(2) CVAR framework, which is a unique empirical approach designed to account for data which undergoes persistent changes over time without the need for data transformations which cause a loss of information. The I(2) model also allows for more rigorous testing of the theory and a better examination of the dynamics between the exchange rate, expectations, prices, and interest rates. The Keynes-IKE gap model still performs quite well. Further, persistent changes are found for the real exchange rate in several instances, which is problematic for standard REH theory but fully compatible with the IKE theory.


In argumentation theory, Dung's abstract framework provides a unifying view of several alternative semantics based on the notion of extension. Recently, a new semantics has been introduced to solve the problems related to counterintuitive results produced by literature proposals. In this semantics, extensions can be decomposed and constructed along the strongly connected components of the defeat graph. This paper proves that this property holds also in the context of all semantics encompassed by Dung's framework, showing that strongly connected components may play a general role in the definition and computation of argumentation semantics.


We present results of high speed photography films which show that the scale of slope normal deformation prior to unstable fracture in the propagation saw test (PST) is on the order of 1 mm. Tests were filmed at up to 1200 frames per second and the slab was seeded with tracing particles immediately above the weak layer. Particle tracking software measured the displacement, velocity and acceleration of each particle frame by frame during the test. The pixel resolution in close-up films was as high as 0.1 mm per pixel. The films consistently show that the majority of the slope normal deformation (collapse) of the weak layer occurs after the fracture has propagated within the weak layer. The films also show that the weak layer provides some residual support to the slab following the saw cut. We discuss several implications of these findings.


Prior literature has documented a positive association between income and cognitive function at older ages; however, the extent to which this association represents causal effects is unknown. In this study, we use an exogenous change in Social Security income due to amendments to the Social Security Act in the 1970s to identify the causal impact of Social Security income on cognitive function of elderly individuals. We find that higher benefits led to significant improvements in cognitive function and that these improvements in cognition were clinically meaningful. Our results suggest that interventions even at advanced ages can slow the rate of decline in cognitive function.


: Seven patients with bowel perforations secondary to ventriculo- or lumbo- peritoneal shunts are described. Five additional patients histories were found reported in the literature making a total of 12 cases. The shunt tubing presented in the anus in seven of 12 patients. Clinical peritonitis was present initially in two patients but developed in four others. Gram negative ventriculitis was present in five of 12 patients. Suggestions for diagnosis and treatment of this complication are made based on analysis of these 12 patients.


: Since July of 1967, a computer-based system has been employed in the observation and treatment of 8500 patients following cardiac surgical procedures. Of the 12 beds in the University of Alabama Hospital Cardiac Surgical Intensive Care Unit, 10 are equipped with biomedical instrumentation interfaced with digital computer systems. These systems perform the automatic acquisition, display, storage, retrieval, and charting of measurements; computation and evaluation of acid-base balance from manually entered blood gas data; analysis of the data for the detection and treatment of impaired cardiac performance; automatic control of blood infusion and vasodilating agents by closed-loop feedback control techniques; hourly evaluation of chest tube drainage patterns to detect excessive blood loss in the early hours following operation; and computation of the infusion rate (ml/hr) of pharmacologic agents according to a specified dosage (microgram/kg/min). Automatic control of left atrial pressure by blood infusion has been applied to 8000 patients during the past 10 years. Regulation of mean arterial pressure by computer-controlled infusion of vasodilating agents has been performed in 400 patients in the last 2 years. The use of the system has contributed to the reduction of patient time spent in the unit to 24 hours or less for the majority of the patients.


Various probes are described that will amplify the sound of contact with any hard object in the body and thus signify its presence. One of the most useful forms consists of a sound transducer that clamps to the handle of any pair of forceps so that the surgeon knows when he is grasping a kidney stone or gall stone or other hard body. Also mentioned are active probes in which loading of a bilateral sound transducer, which is being driven by an external electrical circuit, causes an indication of contact as an apparent change in impedance. These forms seem especially sensitive when fitted into the end of a catheter.


High ionic conductivity ceramics have potential technological applications in chemical sensors, ceramic permeable membranes, oxygen pumps, and solid oxide fuel cells. Recently ionic conductivity values as high as those of doped zirconia solid solutions have been found in a lanthanum molybdate compound. The high ionic conductivity of this compound, La2Mo2O9, is obtained at temperatures above the structural phase transition temperature (~580 °C). In this work the La2Mo2O9 ceramic material was prepared by the polymeric precursor technique and sintered at several dwell temperatures and soaking times to study the effect of sintering conditions on phase transition. It was found that there is a strong dependence of phase transition on the sintering profile. At 950 °C the phase transition is suppressed for short soaking times, whereas it is observed to occur for longer times. Moreover, the relative magnitude of conductivity is also dependent on the sintering conditions. The main conclusion is that the phase transition in La2Mo2O9 is particle sizedependent.


Coral reefs in Eastern Samar, Philippines were badly damaged by super typhoon Haiyan, which left many reefs in a fragmented state – with many branching corals and other coral forms scattered in loose pieces. As part of the efforts to address this problem, we tested the re-attachment of 43 species of coral fragments to sturdy natural substrates in three reef sites in Eastern Samar (Can-usod and Monbon in Lawaan, and Panaloytoyon in Quinapondan). The results revealed that 88% of re-attached coral fragments survived (45% showed positive growth, and 43% survived with partial tissue mortality). Those that showed positive growth exhibited high growth rates. We also found that fragments of some coral species are more fast-growing (e.g. , Cyphastrea decadia, Echinopora pacificus, and Millepora tenella ) than others (e.g. , Porites lobata or Pectinia paeonia ). Overall, our results suggest that if Local Government Units (LGUs) invest in the re-attachment of fragmented corals (e.g. , reefs damaged by super typhoons or by various human activities such as fishing), then coral reef degradation in the Philippines would have a better chance of recovering. Keywords: Coastal management, conservation, Leyte Gulf, reef restoration, super typhoon


Abstract. The contribution of natural sources to ambient air particulate matter (PM) concentrations is often not considered; however, it may be significant for certain areas and during specific periods of the year. In the framework of the AIRUSE-LIFE+ project, state-of-the-art methods have been employed for assessing the contribution of major natural sources (African dust, sea salt and forest fires) to PM concentrations, in southern European urban areas. 24 h measurements of PM10 and PM2. 5 mass and chemical composition were performed over the course of a year in five cities: Porto, Barcelona, Milan, Florence and Athens. Net African dust and sea-salt concentrations were calculated based on the methodologies proposed by the EC (SEC 2011/208). The contribution of uncontrolled forest fires was calculated through receptor modelling. Sensitivity analysis with respect to the calculation of African dust was also performed, in order to identify major parameters affecting the estimated net dust concentrations. African dust contribution to PM concentrations was more pronounced in the eastern Mediterranean, with the mean annual relative contribution to PM10 decreasing from 21 % in Athens, to 5 % in Florence, and around 2 % in Milan, Barcelona and Porto. The respective contribution to PM2. 5 was calculated equal to 14 % in Athens and from 1.3 to 2.4 % in all other cities. High seasonal variability of contributions was observed, with dust transport events occurring at different periods in the western and eastern Mediterranean basin. Sea salt was mostly related to the coarse mode and also exhibited significant seasonal variability. Sea-salt concentrations were highest in Porto, with average relative contributions equal to 12.3 % for PM10. Contributions from uncontrolled forest fires were quantified only for Porto and were low on an annual basis (1.4 and 1.9 % to PM10 and PM2. 5, respectively); nevertheless, contributions were greatly increased during events, reaching 20 and 22 % of 24 h PM10 and PM2. 5 concentrations, respectively.


A great deal of effort has been devoted to reducing the risk of spurious scientific discoveries, from the use of sophisticated validation techniques, to deep statistical methods for controlling the false discovery rate in multiple hypothesis testing. However, there is a fundamental disconnect between the theoretical results and the practice of data analysis: the theory of statistical inference assumes a fixed collection of hypotheses to be tested, or learning algorithms to be applied, selected non-adaptively before the data are gathered, whereas in practice data is shared and reused with hypotheses and new analyses being generated on the basis of data exploration and the outcomes of previous analyses. In this work we initiate a principled study of how to guarantee the validity of statistical inference in adaptive data analysis. As an instance of this problem, we propose and investigate the question of estimating the expectations of m adaptively chosen functions on an unknown distribution given n random samples. We show that, surprisingly, there is a way to estimate an exponential in n number of expectations accurately even if the functions are chosen adaptively. This gives an exponential improvement over standard empirical estimators that are limited to a linear number of estimates. Our result follows from a general technique that counter-intuitively involves actively perturbing and coordinating the estimates, using techniques developed for privacy preservation. We give additional applications of this technique to our question.


Genomic scans for selection are a useful tool for identifying genes underlying phenotypic transitions. In this article, we describe the results of a genome scan designed to identify candidates for genes targeted by selection during the evolution of cultivated sunflower. This work involved screening 492 loci derived from ESTs on a large panel of wild, primitive (i.e., landrace), and improved sunflower (Helianthus annuus) lines. This sampling strategy allowed us to identify candidates for selectively important genes and investigate the likely timing of selection. Thirty-six genes showed evidence of selection during either domestication or improvement based on multiple criteria, and a sequence-based test of selection on a subset of these loci confirmed this result. In view of what is known about the structure of linkage disequilibrium across the sunflower genome, these genes are themselves likely to have been targeted by selection, rather than being merely linked to the actual targets. While the selection candidates showed a broad range of putative functions, they were enriched for genes involved in amino acid synthesis and protein catabolism. Given that a similar pattern has been detected in maize (Zea mays), this finding suggests that selection on amino acid composition may be a general feature of the evolution of crop plants. In terms of genomic locations, the selection candidates were significantly clustered near quantitative trait loci (QTL) that contribute to phenotypic differences between wild and cultivated sunflower, and specific instances of QTL colocalization provide some clues as to the roles that these genes may have played during sunflower evolution.


OBJECTIVETo analyze the care implemented by the nursing team to promote the safety of adult patients and prevention of skin and mucosal lesions associated with the presence of lower airways invasive devices.METHODStudy with qualitative and quantitative approach, descriptive and exploratory type, whose investigative scenarios were adult inpatient units of a hospital in the West Frontier of Rio Grande do Sul. The study subjects consisted of nurses, nursing technicians and nursing assistants.RESULTSA total of 118 professionals were interviewed. We highlight the observed specific care with endotracheal tube and tracheostomy, management and assessment of the cuff and the criteria used to secretion aspiration.CONCLUSIONThere is a superficial nursing work in the patient direct care and a differentiation in relation to the perception of nurse technicians, especially those working in the intensive care unit, who presented major property and view of the patient's clinical status.


Electrochemical processes are at the heart of a wide variety of both basic and advanced industrial activities. In many industrial electrochemical applications high flow rates are applied such that the electrochemical process is convectivetransport-dependent. In order to obtain the mass and charge transfer from the solution to the surface of the electrodes the flow field characterization is therefore essential. In view of understanding in detail such processes, this paper presents the preliminary characterization of the complex flow field that takes place in an electrochemical rotating cylinder reactor (short aspect ratio Γ = 1.7 and wide gap η = 0.16). For this purpose a combined experimental, numerical and theoretical approach is followed. The experimental characterization is performed using time-resolved Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), a non-intrusive and laserbased experimental technique. Special attention is paid to the image processing and possible optical problems. The investigation is performed for different flow conditions, from moderate (1700) to high (13600) Reynolds number. The experimental results have been compared to the velocity profiles obtained using RANS and DNS simulations. The theoretical part of this study is to provide new analytical models based on the solution of the momentum boundary layer equation and of the mass and charge transport equations. The analytical velocity profile agrees well with the experimental data.


In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks the United States increasingly sought to promote democracy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). However, although this strategy came to be largely associated with the invasion of Iraq, and the belief that a benign domino effect would spread throughout the region, there was far more nuance to the policy President Obama inherited. President George W. Bush's democracy promotion legacy is one of institutional construction within the US foreign policy bureaucracy, creating the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA), and the Broader Middle East and North Africa initiative (BMENA). Furthermore, it was President Bush who codified his democracy promotion strategy in National Security Presidential Directive 58, entitled Institutionalising the Freedom Agenda, and who signed the ADVANCE Democracy Act of 2007 into law.1 By the time that President Bush left office hundreds of millions of dollars had been spent on promoting democracy in the MENA, and the US had declared with the force of law that it would prioritise, along with other foreign policy goals, the promotion of democracy and human rights around the world.


Use the links on these pages to help guide your search or complete assignments. Contact Mrs. Gerik if you have any questions about Libguides.


Parametric resonance underpins the physics of swings, resonant surface waves, and particle traps. There is increasing interest in its potential applications in atomic force microscopy (AFM). In this paper, the dynamics of parametrically resonant microcantilevers for high sensitivity imaging and force spectroscopy applications is investigated theoretically. Detailed numerical parametric-resonance simulations are performed to understand how the microcantilever amplitude varies with tip-sample separation, the tip-sample interaction, and the scanning dynamics of a microcantilever probe. We find three key advantages of a parametrically resonant microcantilever for AFM applications: (a) the reduction in ringing effects near feature edges that occur for high-$Q$ microcantilevers; (b) an increase in the scanning speed while maintaining a low tip-sample interaction force while imaging; and (c) an enhanced sensitivity to long-range magnetic and electrostatic force gradients acting between the tip and the sample. Experimental results are presented with an aim to clearly identify the advantages and disadvantages that parametric resonance offers for scanning probe applications.


Schinzel-Giedion syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by coarse facies, midface retraction, hypertrichosis, multiple skeletal anomalies, and cardiac and renal malformations. Craniofacial abnormalities of this syndrome sometimes resemble a storage or metabolic disease. The pathogenesis of the disease remains unknown. The objective of this report was to emphasize the importance of congenital bilateral hydronephrosis for the diagnosis of Schinzel-Giedion syndrome. We describe the first Brazilian case of a newborn with typical facies, generalized hypertrichosis, cardiac and skeletal anomalies, and bilateral hydronephrosis detected during pregnancy and confirmed later by abdominal ultrasonography. Chromosomal constitution was normal. Of the 35 cases already reported in the literature, 31 presented hydronephrosis, which is considered an important clue in diagnosis. If Schinzel-Giedion syndrome were indexed as a cause of congenital hydronephrosis, its identification would be greatly facilitated, since the majority of the other findings in Schinzel-Giedion syndrome are nonspecific and common to many genetic syndromes.


AbstractPurpose: To investigate the relationship between anterior chamber angle (ACA) measurement, intraocular pressure (IOP) and refractive status of the eye in a young adult population with good ocular health.Methods: Autorefractor (AR) captured data on corneal curvature and refractive errors in group participants and enabled comparison across refractive groups, gender, and age. Refractive errors were calculated in diopters as the spherical equivalent (SE). IOP was taken by Pulsar non-contact tonometer. All patients underwent the same optometric examinations of anterior eye data on corneal curvature, anterior chamber angle and corneal thickness captured with Topcon Maestro optical coherence tomography (OCT). Slit lamp was used for Van Herick method.Results: Measurements were obtained from 118 eyes (right), of 26 males and 92 females aged 19–40 years with no ocular disease. There was no significant change Relationship between anterior chamber angle, IOP, corneal curvature and refractive status in young Caucasian adults in ocular profile across age range or by sex, apart from slightly steeper corneal profile for females (p=0.03). There was no significant correlation between IOP and ACA (p> 0.05), nor IOP and SE (p>0.05); however, when those with hyperopic SE were examined separately, there was a significant decrease in IOP with higher levels of hyperopic SE (p <0.05).Conclusion: This study reports mean values for ACA were 39,39°, which gives a value of the open anterior chamber angle in young Caucasian adults. There was no significant relation between IOP, ACA or SE in the sample of young adults. However, higher level of hyperopic SE has a significant decrease in IOP and should be further investigated due to small sample of hyperopic subjects.


Background: Activation of inflammatory cells can cause more chemicals induced-hepatotoxicity. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is a fungal toxin that induces acute hepatotoxicity in humans and animals. This study was conducted to examine the effect of co-exposure LPS and various aflatoxin B1 doses on the damage hepatic parameters in isolated perfused rat liver. Methods: Thirty-two male wistar rats (250-300g) were divided to eight groups including Control and LPS; three groups with various doses of AFB1 (0.01, 0.1 and 1 ppm) and three groups with various doses of AFB1 and Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (300 ppm). Activity of Aspartate transaminase (AST) and Alanine transaminase (ALT) were determined in perfusate. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and Glutathione (GSH) concentrations were measured in homogenate liver. Results: At two groups of AFB 1 (with LPS and without LPS) at AFB1 concentrations of 0.1 and 1 ppm, elevation of AST and ALT enzymes activity were indicated. Values of GSH in both of groups (AFB 1 with LPS and without LPS) had reduced at concentration of 1 ppm. TBARS concentrations were enhanced in AFB1 concentration of 1 ppm in both of groups (with LPS and without LPS), however in comparison between groups (with LPS and without LPS) in similar concentrations significant different did not observe (P<0.05). Conclusion: Non-injurious dose of LPS did not enhance liver susceptibility to various doses of AFB1 in perfused rat liver. This may be in part of due to extrahepatic factors, which contribute, in more liver damage.


Capturing musical performances for Virtual Reality (VR) is of growing interest to engineers, cultural organisations and the public. The application of ambisonic workflows in conjunction with binauralisation through head related transfer functions enables perception and localisation of sound sources within three dimensional space, crucially enabling height perception. While there are many excellent examples of orchestral recordings in VR, however, few make use of the height perception and favour 'on stage' horizontal positioning. This engineering brief presents a contemporary symphony orchestral performance captured with multichannel spot recordings and produced in second order ambisonics in which 51 performers were individually split and positioned across five levels of the performance space. The paper looks to critically discuss the methods employed addressing the workflow through pre-production, capture and post-production.


Sedimentological and geochronological studies along a north–south traverse across the Bangong-Nujiang suture zone (BNSZ) in Gaize, Tibet provide evidence for a Late Triassic–Jurassic accretionary wedge accreted to the south margin of Qiangtang. This wedge, preserved as the Mugagangri Group (MG), records evidence for the northward subduction of the Bangong-Nujiang Ocean (BNO) beneath Qiangtang. The MG strata comprise two coarser intervals (lower olistostromes and upper conglomerates) intercalated within sandy turbidites, which are consistent with timing and forearc stratigraphy during subduction initiation predicted by geodynamic modelling. Following the model, the northward subduction of the BNO beneath Qiangtang and subsequent arc-magmatism are inferred to have begun, respectively, at ca. 220 Ma and ca. 210 Ma, with respect to depositional ages constrained by youngest detrital-zircon ages. The initiation of arc-magmatism is also supported by provenance transition reflected by sandstone detrital modes and age patterns of detrital zircons. Previously, evidence for an incipient arc was lacking, but the timing of Late Triassic BNO subduction and related arc-magmatism is coincident with an important Late Triassic magmatic event in central Qiangtang that probably represents the 'missing' arc. Other Qiangtang events, such as exhumation of the Qiangtang metamorphic belt as a source area, and development of the Late Triassic Nadigangri deposits and bimodal volcanism, are more easily explained in the tectonic context of early northward subduction of the BNO beneath Qiangtang, beginning at about 220 Ma.


Its going to be an open arena, only fittest will survive, instead of governments, markets will determine whom to favour or not. There will be no textile quotas in the year 2005. The world has changed and it is going to change increasingly. It differs from the colonial patterns of trade and co-operation when only United Kingdom was the major player in the international trading arena. Now there are many leading trading nations in the world. In post World Trade Organisation era that is after January 1, 1995 at least on paper every country is equal partner in the global trading system. On ground there are big and small players in this equal paper partnership. United States continues to be the leading exporter and importer in the world with a share of 12.4 percent of total world exports and 18.0 percent of total world imports. The East Asian economies first tier, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan have climbed up on the Product Cycle ladder shifting from low value products to high value added exports like hi-tech electronics, the second tier of NIE's Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines have diverse exporting patterns. Excluding Malaysia, others are exporters of textiles and clothing with many other products.


Background: Since the number of air travellers, including the elderly and passengers with an underlying disease, is increasing every year, the number of inflight emergency patients is expected to increase as well. We attempted to identify the incidence and types of reported inflight medical incidents and analyse the first aid performed by cabin crew members or medical volunteers in flights by an Asian airline. We also investigated the cases of inflight deaths and aircraft diversions. Methods: We reviewed the cabin reports and medical records submitted by cabin crew members and inflight medical volunteers from 2009 to 2013. Results: We found that inflight medical incidents increased annually, with a total of 2818 cases reported. Fifteen cases of inflight deaths and 15 cases of aircraft diversions during this period were also reported. First aid was performed by the cabin crew alone in 52% of the cases and by medical volunteers in 47.8% of the cases. The most commonly reported causes for first aid performed by the cabin crew and medical volunteers were burns and syncope, respectively. Conclusion: Since burns were one of the common reasons that first aid was provided by the cabin crew, it may be necessary to include first aid treatments for burns in the annual re-qualification training programme. Furthermore, the assessment of unconsciousness and potentially critical respiratory symptoms is very important for cabin crew members because those conditions can lead to inflight deaths and aircraft diversion.