The effect of class size on student achievement has long been of concern to educators, parents, and scholars. In Israeli public schools today, class size is partly determined using a rule proposed by Maimonides in the 12th century. This rule induces a nonlinear and non-monotonic relationship between enroll- ment size and class size. We use this relationship to construct instrumental variables estimates of the effect of class size on the test scores of Israeli 4th and 5th graders in 1991 and 3rd graders in 1992. Because the up-and-down pattern in class size induced by Maimonides' rule matches a similar pattern in test scores, the rule provides a credible source of exogenous variation for investigation of the causal effect of class size on student achievement. Our use of Maimonides' rule can be viewed as an application of Campbell's (1969) regression-discontinuity design to the class size question. The results of this application show that reductions in class size induce a significant increase in reading and math scores for 5th graders and a smaller increase in reading scores for 4th graders. In contrast, there is little evidence of any association between class size and the test scores of 3rd graders, although this finding may result from problems with the 1992 wave of the testing program. The estimates also suggest that the gains from small classes are largest for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Besides being of metho- dological interest and providing new evidence on the class size question, these findings are of immediate policy interest in Israel where legislation to reduce the maximum class size is pending.


Femtosecond laser-pulse excitation provides an energy efficient and fast way to control magnetization at the nanoscale, providing great potential for ultrafast next-generation data manipulation and nonvolatile storage devices. Ferromagnetic van der Waals materials have garnered much attention over the past few years due to their low dimensionality, excellent magnetic properties, and large response to external stimuli. Nonetheless, their behaviour upon fs laser-pulse excitation remains largely unexplored. Here, we investigate the ultrafast magnetization dynamics of a thin flake of Fe3GeTe2 (FGT) and extract its intrinsic magnetic properties using a microscopic framework. We find that our data is well described by our modeling, with FGT undergoing a slow two-step demagnetization, and we experimentally extract the spin-relaxation timescale as a function of temperature, magnetic field and excitation fluence. Our observations indicate a large spin-flip probability in agreement with a theoretically expected large spin–orbit coupling, as well as a weak interlayer exchange coupling. The spin-flip probability is found to increase when the magnetization is pulled away from its quantization axis, opening doors to an external control over the spins in this material. Our results provide a deeper understanding of the dynamics van der Waals materials upon fs laser-pulse excitation, paving the way towards two-dimensional materials-based ultrafast spintronics.


The object of this study was to develop a concurrent automated screening system to identify patients with a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) less than 50 mL per minute who might need dose or interval adjustment of drugs that are excreted primarily renally. The design of this investigation was a concurrent study of all patients in a level II trauma 317-bed community health center. The data were extracted after daily monitoring of patient laboratory values, specifically, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, and chart review. It was concluded that, in 1991, a total of 70 pharmacy-initiated interventions were made on the basis that potentially harmful side effects might have occurred if drugs that primarily are excreted renally were administered to patients identified with a calculated GFR less than 50 mL per minute.


In the search for solid electrolytes for application in all-solid-state batteries, synthesis of nitrogen-doped, crystalline, Li3PO4-based materials by partial substitution of oxygen by nitrogen in order to create interstitial lithium ions and enhance Li-ion conductivity was investigated. Amorphous lithium phosphorus oxynitrides have been previously studied and excellent ionic conductivity and chemical stability was discovered in thin film LiPON; however, the detailed structure and the effect of nitrogen on its properties are not known due to the glassy state. In two previous studies on crystalline forms of this material, lithium vacancy formation in the structure of N-doped Li3PO4 and N-doping of LiPO3 was examined. Previously, computational studies on Li-ion conduction of Li3PO4 predicted that an interstitial defect mechanism would provide the most efficient Li-ion transport. In this work we report the first study to investigate nitrogen doping of crystalline, Li3PO4-based materials, to create interstitial Li+ ions. Samples were prepared by solid-state reaction with Li3N, as nitrogen-containing reactant, by a new modified synthesis technique. Li3+X(P,V)O4-XNX and Li2+Y(Zn,Mg)SiO4-YNY solid solutions have been successfully synthesised. N-doping of all compositions yielded a γ-type phase, except in Li3VO4 that resulted in a β phase. Structure of Li3+X(P,V)O4-XNX is similar to their undoped polymorphs, the unit cell variation is small upon adding nitrogen and the solid solution limit is X≤0.2. The unit cell variation is more significant in Li2+Y(Zn,Mg)SiO4-YNY. Compositions with low concentration of nitrogen have a γ0 structure, similar to undoped polymorphs. Nitrogen doping encourages monoclinicity by distorting the γ0 phase to lithia-γ0. Compositions with higher concentrations of nitrogen match with Li-rich compositions in Li2+2X(Zn,Mg)1-XSiO4. Electrical properties were studied by impedance spectroscopy using high-density pellets prepared by one-step, reaction-sintering synthesis. N-doping improved the conductivity significantly by about two orders of magnitude in N-doped Li3(P,V)O4 and by 4-6 orders of magnitude in N-doped Li2(Zn,Mg)SiO4. The activation energy decreased by about 0.3 eV in N-doped Li3(P,V)O4, between 0.05-0.15 eV in N-doped Li2ZnSiO4 with a low concentration of nitrogen and between 0.6-0.7 eV in N-doped Li2ZnSiO4 with a high concentration of nitrogen and N-doped Li2MgSiO4. The impedance data indicated that the level of electronic conductivity in N-doped compositions is small or negligible and the principal current carriers are lithium ions. Higher ionic conductivity and lower activation energy in N-doped samples was attributed to the high number of interstitial lithium ions created as the result of the substitution of nitrogen for oxygen. Nitrogen content was determined using combustion analysis, which confirmed nitrogen incorporation into the N-doped samples. It was revealed that a great deal of nitrogen loss had occurred. Nitrogen loss that was also reported in previous studies of crystalline LiPON, was suggested to be due to the high temperature required for the solid-state reaction, early decomposition of Li3N and/or by decomposition of N-doped products before N-analysis. Electrochemical testing was performed on Li3.4VO3.6N0.4 and showed improved electrochemical properties compared to Li3VO4, attributed to its enhanced ionic conductivity. As a result of its low working voltage (0.8-1.2V), high capacity and reasonable cycling performance it was suggested as a potential candidate for anode material.


PURPOSE
Visual function is impaired in diabetes, but molecular causes of this dysfunction are not clear. We assessed effects of diabetes on visual psychophysics in mice, and tested the effect of therapeutic approaches reported previously to inhibit vascular lesions of the retinopathy.

METHODS
We used the optokinetic test to assess contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency threshold in diabetic C57Bl/6J mice and age-matched nondiabetic controls between 2 and 10 months of diabetes. Contributions of p38 MAP kinase (MAPK), receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE), leukocytes, and aldose reductase (AR) to the defect in contrast sensitivity were investigated. Cataract, a potential contributor to reductions in vision, was scored.

RESULTS
Diabetes of 2 months' duration impaired contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency threshold in mice. The defect in contrast sensitivity persisted for at least 10 months, and cataract did not account for this impairment. Diabetic mice deficient in AR were protected significantly from development of the diabetes-induced defects in contrast sensitivity and spatial frequency threshold. In contrast, pharmacologic inhibition of p38 MAPK or RAGE, or deletion of inducible nitrous oxide synthase (iNOS) from bone marrow-derived cells did not protect the visual function in diabetes.

CONCLUSIONS
Diabetes reduces spatial frequency threshold and contrast sensitivity in mice, and the mechanism leading to development of these defects involves AR. The mechanism by which AR contributes to the diabetes-induced defect in visual function can be probed by identifying which molecular abnormalities are corrected by AR deletion, but not other therapies that do not correct the defect in visual function.


We use the concept of the elasticity of farm incomes with respect to changes in input prices to analyse the effects of a large increase in relative wages on selected measures of farm incomes. In order to estimate the elasticity of farm incomes we have to estimate elasticities and cross-elasticities of demand and supply for farm labour and capital. The estimates of elasticity of demand for operator and hired labour allow us to calculate the impact of a rise in wages on numbers of farmers and hired labour employed in agriculture.


This article investigates the structural underpinnings of gender dissimilarities in homelessness from a comparative perspective. The Gender Dissimilarity Index is introduced as a simple measure for quantifying the unevenness of the distribution of men and women across the ETHOS-light categories. Three gendered aspects of the welfare state are considered and compared for Norway, Belgium, and Poland: employment and childcare, housing, and homelessness policies. Based on available data, it appears that the most uneven distribution of genders may indicate a combination of the promotion of the male breadwinner model and relatively broad support for people who are homeless, but also the shortage of affordable housing. A more gender-balanced homeless population may be the result of a combination of housing-led approaches and degenderising policies. However, a similar distribution may be attributed to states with implicitly genderising policies coupled with 'traditional' attitudes towards gender roles and a lack of adequate responses to women's needs.


Ten yr of tunnel construction data from 1955 to 1965 are reviewed to establish particular characteristics of the past-tunneling market. These characteristics include: (1) Total footage of tunnel construction completed each year; (2) a breakdown of these tunnels according to use (water transportation, vehicle tunnels, railroad and subway tunnels and mining tunnels); and (3) a profile of the 1955-1965 tunneling according to unlined-tunnel diameter and tunnel length. This data provided a history of tunneling activity and growth rates which were used in conjunction with expert opinions and announced future tunneling expectations to develop a forecast of 3,000 miles of worldwide-tunneling activity from 1966 to 1976. To estimate the impact of tunneling machines on the total market, a detailed cost analysis is outlined for Drill and Blast versus Mechanical Boring. The economic comparison showed tunneling machines to be an effective economic alternative in a significant portion of the future tunneling. It is estimated that tunneling machines will complete 1,000 miles of the total 3,000 miles forecasted between 1966 and 1976.


Objective Many long-duration astronauts develop signs of elevated intracranial pressure and have neuro-ophthalmological findings similar to idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) patients. Some also present with nasal congestion and subjective olfactory impairment. We prospectively evaluated olfactory function in IIH patients and the effect of 6° head-down tilt, which simulates the headward fluid shifting in microgravity, as spaceflight analogues. Design Olfaction was tested for all subjects in upright and 6° head-down tilt positions using two different measures: University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test and Olfactory Threshold Sniffin' Sticks with phenylethyl alcohol. Results IIH patients (n=19) had significant impairment on both olfactory measures compared with matched controls (n=19). The olfactory threshold dilution levels were 9.07 (95% CI 1.85 to 5.81) and 3.83 (95% CI 7.04 to 11.10), p=0.001, and smell identification scores were 35.61 (95% CI 34.03 to 37.18) and 32.47 (95% CI 30.85 to 34.09), p=0.008, for control and IIH subjects, respectively. The threshold detection was mildly impaired in head-down tilt compared with upright position in the combined subjects (6.05 (95% CI 4.58 to 7.51) vs 6.85 (95% CI 5.43 to 8.27), p=0.004). Conclusions We demonstrated that IIH patients have marked impairment in olfactory threshold levels, out of proportion to smell identification impairment. There was also impairment in olfactory threshold in head-down tilt compared with upright positioning, but not for smell identification. The underlying mechanisms for olfactory threshold dysfunction in IIH patients need further exploration.


Sweet cherry is a high value crop where quality attracts a significant premium. Key quality attributes are size, firmness, colour and sugar content as well as lack of physical defects such as cracking, pitting or bruising. The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of crop load and timing of crop load regulation on 'Van' and 'Sweetheart' fruit quality. In the 2010/11 season trees on F12-1 rootstocks trained to the KGB system were thinned to 1, 2 or 4 buds spur-1 at pre-bloom, full bloom (FB), 2, 4 or 6 weeks after full bloom (WAFB). Fruit diameter was significantly lower in the 4 buds spur-1 treatment (around 26-28 mm) relative to other treatments (around 28-31 mm) in 'Van' at all thinning times with the earliest thinning treatments being the most effective. In contrast, 'Sweetheart' fruit diameter was only significantly lower in the 4 buds spur-1 treatment (26-27 mm) relative to other treatments (27.5-29 mm) at the later thinning times of 6 and 8 WAFB. Fruit soluble solids generally mirrored these trends. Flesh firmness was higher in lower crop loads in 'Van' and was consistent with time after FB. In 'Sweetheart' firmness was higher in the 1 bud spur-1 treatment only and decreased when thinning occurred 6 and 8 WAFB. Exocarp colour was unaffected by crop load or timing of thinning. Incidence of rain-induced fruit cracking was inversely proportional to crop load being around 60, 40 and 20-30% in the 1, 2 and 4 buds spur-1 treatments, respectively. Crop load targets for optimal fruit yield-quality relationships appear to be around 20 t ha-1, though this will carry a greater risk of fruit cracking than higher crop loads.


We show that categories of modules over a ring in Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT) satisfy the internal versions of the AB axioms from homological algebra. The main subtlety lies in proving AB4, which is that coproducts indexed by arbitrary sets are left-exact. To prove this, we replace a set with its strict category of (ordered) finite sub-multisets. From showing that the latter is filtered, we deduce left-exactness of the coproduct. More generally, we show that exactness of filtered colimits (AB5) implies AB4 for any abelian category in HoTT. Our approach is heavily inspired by Roswitha Harting's construction of the internal coproduct of abelian groups in an elementary topos with a natural numbers object [Har82]. To state the AB axioms we define and study filtered (and sifted) precategories in HoTT. A key result needed is that filtered colimits commute with finite limits of sets. This is a familiar classical result, but has not previously been checked in our setting. Finally, we interpret our most central results into an $\infty$-topos $\mathscr{X}$. Given a ring $R$ in $\mathscr{X}$, we show that the internal category of $R$-modules in $\mathscr{X}$ represents the presheaf which sends an object $X \in \mathscr{X}$ to the category of $(X{\times}R)$-modules over $X$. In general, our results yield a product-preserving left adjoint to base change of modules over $X$. When $X$ is $0$-truncated, this left adjoint is the internal coproduct. By an internalisation procedure, we deduce left-exactness of the internal coproduct as an ordinary functor from its internal left-exactness coming from HoTT.


(CVD) frequently co-exist. CVD may precede and act additionally and synergistically with AD in aging-related cognitive impairment and dementia (ARCID) resulting in "mixed dementia". The incidence of ARCID may be decreased by the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease. ARCID is increased by adverse psycho-social factors and the incidence may be reduced by appropriate psycho-social interventions. A number of men and women with the neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular changes of AD and CVD have normal cognition at the time of death attributable to "high cognitive reserve" or "cognitive resilience"; the underlying mechanisms merit urgent investigation. ADmodifying treatments are still in the early stages of development and the best hope for reducing agingrelated cognitive impairment and dementia in the immediate future lies in a broad approach including the promotion of physical and mental exercise and the active treatment of vascular risk factors from early and mid-life onwards, combined with better education and correction of adverse psycho-social factors.


Experiments on thermal convection in a rotating, differentially heated hemispherical shell with a radial buoyancy force were conducted in an orbiting microgravity laboratory. A variety of convective structures, or planforms, were observed, depending on the magnitude of the rotation and the nature of the imposed heating distribution. The results are compared with numerical simulations that can be conducted at the more modest heating rates, and suggest possible regimes of motion in rotating planets and stars.


Background: Antimicrobial drugs exhibit different characteristics in their correlation between antimicrobial drug concentrations and effects on microorganisms. These correlations have been studied using different approaches including in vitro analyses with constant and fluctuating concentrations and in vivo analyses involving animals and humans. Mathematical analysis includes correlation of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) indices to an outcome parameter. Further insight can be gained by mechanism-based modelling of antimicrobial drug effects. Methods and results: This review aims to provide an overview on the various approaches used to analyse antimicrobial pharmacodynamics, to discuss the limitations of these approaches, to indicate recent developments and to summarise the current knowledge on PK-PD target values as derived from human studies. Conclusion: It is expected that PK-PD analysis of antimicrobial drug effects will lead to a more efficient and possibly also less toxic antimicrobial drug therapy.


The electrical characteristics of a steady-state negative DC corona discharge in a two-phase fluid (air with suspended cigarette smoke particles) flowing along a chamber with a needle-to-plate electrode arrangement were experimentally investigated. The two-phase flow was transverse in respect to the needle-to-plate axis. The velocity of the transverse two-phase flow was limited to 0.8 m/s, typical of the electrostatic precipitators. We found that three discharge current modes of the negative corona exist in the two-phase (air + smoke particles) fluid: the Trichel pulses mode, the "Trichel pulses superimposed on DC component" mode and the DC component mode, similarly as in the corona discharge in air (a single-phase fluid). The shape of Trichel pulses in the air + suspended particles fluid is similar to that in air. However, the Trichel pulse amplitudes are higher than those in "pure" air while their repetition frequency is lower. As a net consequence of that the averaged corona discharge current in the two-phase fluid is lower than in "pure" air. It was also found that the average discharge current decreases with increasing suspended particle concentration. The calculations showed that the dependence of the average negative corona current (which is a macroscopic corona discharge parameter) on the particle concentration can be explained by the particle-concentration dependencies of the electric charge of Trichel pulse and the repetition frequency of Trichel pulses, both giving a microscopic insight into the electrical phenomena in the negative corona discharge. Our investigations showed also that the average corona discharge current in the two-phase fluid is almost unaffected by the transverse fluid flow up to a velocity of 0.8 m/s.


This paper presents preliminary findings of an outdoor thermal comfort study conducted in an urban area to evaluate the representative Predicted Mean Vote index. Thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces is often faced with the task of using large amounts of data that yields meaningful information concerning the thermal sensation. It is essential to interpret correctly meteorological and thermal comfort data. In particular, it is important to interpret data using an appropriate statistical analysis, and the analysis of thermal comfort presupposes a synthesis of information derived from a series of temporal data. It is indispensable to deal with realistic data and an actual day should be considered, but the widely used average day is not an actual day. On the contrary, the representative day is made of the actual data of the day, in the period considered, where the sum of the mean-square differences among its monitored quantities, averaged within each hour, and the same quantities for all other days at the same hour, is minimised. The goal of this research is to assess the representativeness of the thermal comfort indices provided using a representative day technique. Specifically, a new tool has been developed using a powerful and useful environment for symbolic and numerical computing and data visualization such as Wolfram MathematicaTM, aiming at linking information computed by a bio-climate model to the representative day technique. The possibility of assessing the diurnal variation of PMV thermal comfort index by introducing the Representative Day technique has been evaluated in order to gather information on the correlation between thermal comfort and meteorological parameters. A case study has been analysed in order to improve the microclimate in an outdoor space located in a typical Mediterranean area and a comparison with CFD code, namely ENVI-MET, has been reported. This technique can prove to be a very


Text-based games (TBGs) have emerged as an important testbed, requiring reinforcement learning (RL) agents to combine natural language understanding with reasoning. A key challenge for agents solving this task is to generalize across multiple games and shows good results on both seen and unseen objects. Currently, pure deep learning-based RL systems can perform well to known entities and states. They, however, perform poorly in novel situations e.g., when handling out-of-vocabulary (OOV) objects. In the perspective of generalization, recent efforts in infusing external commonsense knowledge into an RL agent show better results than pure deep-learning systems. However, the policies learned by these systems are not interpretable or easily transferable. To tackle these issues, we have designed a hybrid neurosymbolic framework for TBGs that uses symbolic reasoning along with the neural RL model. It employs inductive logic programming (ILP) to learn the symbolic rules (policies) as default theory with exceptions and is represented in the form of an answer-set-program (ASP) that allows performing nonmonotonic reasoning in the partially observable game environment. We use WordNet as an external knowledge source to lift the learned rules to their generalized versions. These rules are learned in an online manner and applied with an ASP solver to predict an action for the agent. We show that the agents that incorporate the neuro-symbolic hybrid approach with the generalized rules outperform the baseline agents.


In order to improve the fault diagnosis result of the condenser, one new approach based on the fuzzy neural network and data fusion is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the data from the various sensors can be processed through the specific membership functions. With the fault symptoms and fault types of condenser, the fuzzy neural network is constructed for the primary fault diagnosis. Some likelihood of the neural network outputs is too close to make the correct decision of fault diagnosis. The problem can be solved by the data fusion technology. This method was successfully adopted in the application of condenser fault diagnosis. Compared with the general method of FNN, this approach can enhance the accuracy in the domain of fault diagnosis, especially for reducing the uncertainty in the fault diagnosis.


The aim of the present study was to compare the efficacy of hypertonic dextrose prolotherapy (HDP) with conventional physiotherapy (CPT) in improving symptoms in females with knee osteoarthritis (OA). The present study included 60 patients with a diagnosis of knee OA. The patients were randomly assigned to the HDP (n=30) and CPT (n=30) groups. The patients in the HDP group were treated with a dextrose injection into the knee joint (25% dextrose) and around the knee (15% dextrose) in two sessions for 1 month, while those in the CPT group received a hot pack, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and therapeutic ultrasound in five sessions a week for 4 weeks. Prior to commencing the treatment, and at 1 and 3 months post-treatment, all the patients were evaluated using the visual analog scale (VAS), Western Ontario and McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), the goniometric measurement of active knee range of motion (ROM), a 50-m walking test and isokinetic knee muscle strength measurements. There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups as regards the demographic characteristics at pre-treatment (P>0.05). However, at 1 and 3 months post-treatment, the scores of all the outcome parameters were significantly improved in the HDP group compared with the CPT group (P<0.05 for all). In both groups, a significant improvement was observed in the VAS scores, WOMAC total values and ROM following the treatments, with the greatest improvement observed in the HDP group (P<0.001). The isokinetic quadriceps peak torque measurements were increased in both groups following treatment. All the scores exhibited a statistically significant improvement in the HDP group at both 1 and 3 months post-treatment. On the whole, the results of the present study demonstrate that both HDP and CPT are effective treatment modalities to relieve pain, and increase functionality and strength in patients with knee OA. However, greater improvements in pain and functionality can be achieved with prolotherapy.


This work introduces the first approach to video see-through mixed reality with full support for focus cues. By combining the flexibility to adjust the focus distance found in varifocal designs with the robustness to eye-tracking error found in multifocal designs, our novel display architecture reliably delivers focus cues over a large workspace. In particular, we introduce gaze-contingent layered displays and mixed reality focal stacks, an efficient representation of mixed reality content that lends itself to fast processing for driving layered displays in real time. We thoroughly evaluate this approach by building a complete end-to-end pipeline for capture, render, and display of focus cues in video see-through displays that uses only off-the-shelf hardware and compute components.


The immunogenicity of the haplotypes in 30 families was measured by survival of skin grafts between selected paired family members. These families were genotyped for HL-A using 57 selected cytotoxic alloantisera defining HL-A 1–12 as well as other nondefined specificities. Mixed leukocyte reactions were also studied in this series and the correlations between the mixed leukocyte reactions with skin graft survival times, individual HL-A specificities, and the number of incompatible HL-A alleles are reported. Comments concerning the interpretation and quantitation of the mixed leukocyte reactions are discussed.


From the end of the 17th centuru until 1914, Poles were being sent into exile to Siberia, first as prosoners of war, then as political prisoners of the Tsar's Russia for fighting for indepedence. After serving their sentences, few of the prosoners were allowed to go back to Poland. Wowever, most of them weredirected to free settlements where they had to take care of their own maintenance. Those who carried out scientific research brought fame to Poles by continuing it after regaitin freedom. Someof the prisoners started families and settled down enlarging Polish colonies. They also had to look for means of supporting themselves. All Poles in Siberia took actively participated in work, economy, trade, craft, services, culture, education, and arts. Poles who took up farming, crafts, and trade constituted only a small pecentage of the Polish diaspora in Siberia. The researchers managed to document some more important eonomic activity of 27 out of a few thousend Poles who were sent to exile in the years 1832-1860. The greatest number of economically and socially active Poles was among the exiles sent to Siberia after the January Uprising. It was related with the fact that about 28 thousand Polish patiots were sent to exile, although the official Russian data tells about 18,6 thousand. It can be assumed that a few thousand from among so many Poles could operate a busines. However operation of 79 people who dealt with trade, crafts, and soap and candle production was documented. They ran small hotels, restaurants, bars, canteens, hamand sausage stores, inns, bakeries, tanneries,salt-works, and shops. They worked as tailors, shoemakers, bookbinders, tinsmiths, coopersmiths, farmers and traders. A seperate group consisted of 156 exiled grouped in the years 1866-1880 in Tunka, 250 im to the south of irkutsk, who created. To avoid poverty they created an artel-a partnership and a shop that they ran on their own. They also created an agricultural company a pharmacy and a club. Some of them farmed leased lands, some were traders, and many became craftsmen. During the last 20 years of the 19th century and first 20 tears of the 20th century,apart the exexiles, a new category of Poles appeared in Siberia, primarly peasants and workers who migrated there voluntarily to earn money, make carerrs, and get lands that were granted by the Tsar to speed up colonization of Siberia. According to the first general general registry in Russia from 1897, around 30 thousand Poles inhabited Siberia, 10 thousand of whom (53%) worked on farms. the  remauning Poles were active  in all fields of economy. Until now, a more important economic career of 69 Poles was documented including 20 who owned gold mines. Summing up, it needs to be emphasized that the majority of Poles who settled down in Siberia, either voluntarily or not, undertook economic, financial and social activity if possible. 400 surnames have been examined and established so far from the period between 1832 and 1917. Thanks to their activity, those Poles obtained considerable properties and contributed to the economic and social development of Siberia.


Objectives: objectives of the study were to explore cultural practices among widows and find the opinion of widows regarding their cultural practices.
Methodology: Survey approach with descriptive survey design was used and 20 widows were interviewed with semi-structured interview schedule and opinionnaire on cultural practices of widowhood.
Result: majority of widow were Brahmin (100%), illiterate (70%), staying in extended family (65%) with the mean family income of Rs.22,507.00/month. Duration of widowhood ranged from 3 years to 40 years. Majority of them have no job/occupation and they are not supposed to take any major decision in the family matters. Majority of the widow expressed that the Brahmin culture restrict then attending the functions. They eat one meal and one breakfast per day. They should not eat with other people and should wear red, white or blue saree only. They should not wear bangle, kumkum, or Mangalsuthra and should not talk to the non-family male members face-to-face. Majority of them opined that the cultural practice regarding the widowhood is good except communication and their dressing style. They also expressed that Brahmin culture is dissolving because of modernization and some of these practices are difficult to follow as the family size is reducing.
Conclusion: Health care professionals need to consider the widowhood practices while providing care to the Brahmin widows. Widows may not be happy to interact with male healthcare professionals and having the routine hospital food. However, further studies can be done in order to find out the effect of these practices on the health of the widows


This article examines the implications of the decentralisation of public finance for the provision of rural health services. It compares two townships (the lowest level of government) to demonstrate the increasing inequalities in local government finance. Rural enterprises make a significant contribution to government revenues in the richer township, enabling it to finance a range of local social services. In the poor township, although agricultural house-holds bear a heavier tax burden, revenues barely cover the salaries of government staff and health services receive insufficient funding.


Periodic and disordered media are known to possess different transport properties, either classically or quantum-mechanically. This has been exhibited by effects such as Anderson localization in systems with disorder and the existence of photonic bandgaps in the periodic case. In this paper we analyze the transport properties of disordered waveguides with corners at very low frequencies, finding that the spectrum, conductance and wavefunctions are immune to disorder. Our waveguides are constructed by means of randomly oriented straight segments and connected by corners at right angles. Taking advantage of a trapping effect that manifests in the corner of a bent waveguide, we can show that a tight-binding approximation describes the system reasonably well for any degree of disorder. This provides a wide set of non-periodic geometries that preserve all the interesting transport properties of periodic media.


End user satisfaction of software or information system is an important research topic. However, existing research has been focused on questionnaire and indicators selection. An important issue has not been paid enough attention so far is that the traditional method is hardly suitable in web 2.0, which user using pattern and software runtime environment have changed. In this paper, we present a new approach to evaluate user satisfaction based on user behavior. We give the measure indicators and their calculate method. Based on a case study and a simulate experiment, we showed the feasibility and maneuverability of this approach.


ing. Indeed, this was the most constant symptom. Vomiting was infrequent. The stools were loose and pale but not necessarily frequent. The duration was from two to three weeks or longer. Infective hepatitis occurs at all times of the year. Like Dr. Goodall I have also noted in the case of winter vomiting disease that someone else in the house often has a head cold, and I have no doubt that a virus is the causative agent.-I am, etc.,


Objective: General adult psychiatrists are required to assess risk of violence as frequently as forensic psychiatrists. Yet most of the literature on risk assessment has originated from forensic settings, has been written by forensic psychiatrists, is applicable to forensic patients but may not apply to general psychiatric settings. Because the patient population and the nature of risk assessed may differ between the two settings, there is a need to consider the relevance of systems of assessment of risk of violence specific to the context of general adult psychiatry. Methods: We searched the literature on the way risk has been conceptualized in different disciplines using Medline database from 1993 to 2003. Keywords used were violence and risk management and risk assessment. Additional papers were identified from cross-references and personal knowledge of authors. Results: Seven hundred and nine key papers were identified. We identified three common key concepts that define risk: Uncertainty, weighing up the likelihood of different outcomes arising and, the possibility of benefits as well as harm due to risk assessment. The impact of safety culture – the collection of beliefs, norms, attitudes, roles and practices while making daily activities and management decisions – on psychiatric thinking is examined. We review the two main methods of risk assessment from forensic psychiatric literature (actuarial and clinical) with a view to examine their utility in general adult psychiatric context. Conclusions: In order to develop a system of risk assessment relevant to general adult psychiatry, we note the benefits of shifting from risk prediction to assessment, management and reduction of risk, the need to merge actuarial and clinical approaches, communication of risk and finally the need to involve patients in the process of risk assessment.


abstract The current study investigated correlates of hypersexuality in a sample of religious (n = 52) and non-religious (n = 105) men assessed for hypersexual disorder as part of the DSM-5 Field Trial. Our results indicate that religiosity was unrelated to self-reported levels of hypersexuality as measured by the Hypersexual Behavior Inventory and the Hypersexual Behavior Consequences Scale. Patients who reported being highly religious had comparable levels of problematic solo-sex behaviors (e.g., pornography use and masturbation) as non-religious patients, but significantly less relational sexual behaviors as measured by the number of life-time sex partners and sex partners in the previous 12-month period. Further, the religious hypersexual group showed significantly lower levels of alcohol and drug abuse, as well as anxiety, compared to the non-religious hypersexual patients. Interestingly, we did not observe group differences on indices of shame, life satisfaction, impulsivity, or stress proneness. Religiosity was correlated with greater levels of depression, but only among the religious group of hypersexual patients. Implications for these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research among populations of religious patients seeking help for hypersexual behavior.


The distribution, abundance and seasonal activity of vector species, such as ticks and mosquitoes, are key determinants of vector-borne disease risk, and are strongly influenced by abiotic and habitat conditions. Despite the numerous species of tick vectors in the heavily populated North American West Coast, all but Ixodes pacificus, the primary vector of the Lyme disease spirochete, is poorly characterized with regard to seasonal activity patterns and fine scale drivers of distribution and abundance, particularly in heavily populated regions of southern California. This lack of knowledge inhibits both scientific understanding and public health efforts to minimize vector exposure and risk of pathogen transmission to humans. Here we address this gap by characterizing the abiotic and habitat drivers of the distribution, abundance, and diversity of the vector tick community using fine scale temporal surveys over two seasons (2014 and 2015) across coastal and inland regions of Santa Barbara County, CA. We also characterize patterns of seasonal activity of the more common vector species to understand seasonality in risk of vector exposure, and specifically focus on human encounter risk using standardized tick drags as our method of collection. Leveraging plot-level habitat and abiotic variables in partial least squares regression analysis, we find the seven different vector species collected in this study have divergent drivers of activity and abundance. For example, I. pacificus is strongly associated with dense forest habitats and cool and moist microclimates, while Dermacentor occidentalis and Dermacentor variabilis, competent vectors of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, were found to be more tolerant of higher average temperatures and more open habitats. These results suggest that I. pacificus may be expected to experience reductions in geographic distribution and seasonal activity under projected land cover and climate change in coastal southern California, while D. occidentalis may experience more limited effects. We discuss implications for changing tick-borne disease risk associated with pathogens transmitted by Ixodes as well as Dermacentor species ticks in the western US, and contrast these predictions with eastern North America.


Abstract Coronal holes can be identified as the darkest regions in EUV or soft X-ray images with predominantly unipolar magnetic fields (LIRs) or as the regions with open magnetic fields (OMF). Our study reveals that only 12% of OMF regions are coincident with LIRs. The aim of this study is to investigate the conditions that affect the EUV intensity of OMF regions. Our results indicate that the EUV intensity and the magnetic field expansion factor of the OMF regions are weakly positively correlated when plotted in logarithmic scale, and that the bright OMF regions are likely to locate inside or next to the regions with closed field lines. We empirically determined a linear relationship between the expansion factor and the EUV intensity. The relationship is demonstrated to improve the consistency from 12% to 23%. The results have been published in Astrophysical Journal (Huang et al. 2019).


Over the past decade, there has been increased interest in crimes against people with developmental disabilities (PWDD). While national and international information has been available on homicides of people in general, little attention has been given to homicides of PWDD specifically. This paper provides a preliminary description of homicides as they affect PWDD. Through content analysis, 1128 media cases of homicides of PWDD involving 1967 deaths were examined. Seven groups implicated in these deaths were identified: acquaintances, caregivers, family members, government representatives, roommates, strangers, and those who could not be identified given the information provided. For those PWDD who could be identified by age and gender, the majority killed were male and four years of age or younger. Individuals responsible for the deaths of PWDD were predominantly male, with the exception of the Family group. The deaths of PWDD primarily resulted from neglect, burns, beatings, shootings, and asphyxia. Discussion examines media presentation of homicides, research on homicide, models of violence and aggression, and prevention.


We have investigated the crustal structure of a 400 km wide zone of thinned continental crust in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) using gravity and magnetic modeling along two deeply penetrated seismic transects. Using this approach, we identify two zones of prominent, southward-dipping reflectors associated with 7–10 km thick, dense, and highly magnetic material. Previous workers have interpreted the zones as either coarse clastic redbeds of Mesozoic age that are tilted within half-grabens or seaward-dipping reflectors of magmatic origin. Both seismic reflection lines reveal a 10 km thick and 67 km wide northern zone of high density near the Florida coastline beneath the Apalachicola rift (AR). The southern zone of high density occurs 70 km to the south in the deepwater central GOM along the northern flank of the marginal rift, a 48 km wide, southeast-trending structure of inferred Late Jurassic age that is filled by 3 km of low-density and low-magnetic susceptibility sediments including complexly deformed salt deposits. We propose that these two subparallel rifts and their associated magmatic belts formed in the following sequence: (1) AR formed during Triassic-early Jurassic (210–163 Ma) phase 1 of diffuse continental stretching and was partially infilled on its northern edge by southward-dipping volcanic flows; and (2) the similarly southward-dipping southern magmatic zone formed adjacent to the marginal rift during the early phase 2 of late Jurassic (161–153 Ma) rifting of the GOM continental extension; this southern area of SDR formation immediately preceded the formation of the adjacent oceanic crust that separated the rift-related evaporates into the northern and southern GOM. Our integrated approach combining 2D seismic, gravity, and magnetic data sets results in a more confident delineation of these deep crustal features than from seismic data alone.


Epistemic relationism in the theory of assertion is the view that an assertion's epistemic propriety depends purely on the relation between the asserter and the proposition asserted. Many accounts of assertion are relationist in this sense, including the familiar knowledge, belief, and justification accounts. A notable feature of such accounts is that they give no direct importance to the role of hearer: as far as such accounts are concerned, we need make no mention of hearers in characterising an assertion's propriety conditions. This paper develops an account which rejects relationism, by giving central importance to the role of hearer. The paper introduces the knowledge provision account, according to which an assertion that p is proper only if it is fit to give a hearer knowledge that p. The paper aims to show: (i) that we can understand this account in a way which does not leave it open to obvious counterexamples, (ii) that it does not reduce to any familiar relationist account, and (iii) that it carries certain advantages over familiar relationist accounts.


APRIL (A proliferation-inducing ligand) is a TNF family member that binds two TNF receptor family members, TACI and BCMA. It shares these receptors with the closely related TNF family member, B-cell activating factor (BAFF). Contrary to BAFF, APRIL binds heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), which regulates cross-linking of APRIL and efficient signaling. APRIL was originally identified as a growth promoter of solid tumors, and more recent evidence defines APRIL also as an important survival factor in several human B-cell malignancies, such as chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). To target APRIL therapeutically, we developed two anti-human APRIL antibodies (hAPRIL.01A and hAPRIL.03A) that block APRIL binding to BCMA and TACI. Their antagonistic properties are unique when compared with a series of commercially available monoclonal anti-human APRIL antibodies as they prevent in vitro proliferation and IgA production of APRIL-reactive B cells. In addition, they effectively impair the CLL-like phenotype of aging APRIL transgenic mice and, more importantly, block APRIL binding to human B-cell lymphomas and prevent the survival effect induced by APRIL. We therefore conclude that these antibodies have potential for further development as therapeutics to target APRIL-dependent survival in B-cell malignancies.


In the developing world, kidnapping is relatively common, and a market for kidnap insurance has arisen in response. We provide a model that allows us to analyze how kidnap insurance affects the interaction between the kidnapper and the victim's family when both are self-interested and have complete knowledge. We find that a market for kidnap insurance can be supported because it benefits a risk-averse family, as long as the introduction of insurance does not increase the risk of kidnapping too much. Families should fully insure if purchasing insurance does not increase the probability of kidnapping, and partially insure otherwise. Kidnapping insurance allows families to redeem hostages from kidnappers with a greater willingness to kill, which may reduce the number of kidnapping fatalities as long as the insurance does not increase the risk of kidnapping too much.


Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) are the most commonly used plastics in water bottles. Di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is used as a plasticizer in PET plastics, and bisphenol A (BPA) is used to produce PC. Both DEHP and BPA are known for their potential endocrine disrupting effects. The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway has important roles in cell proliferation, cell specification and cell fate determination during embryonic development. Recent reports suggest a link between the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway and apoptosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between Wnt/β-catenin signaling and apoptosis in the case of BPA and DEHP exposure in zebrafish embryos. Accordingly, in vivo cell death was assessed using acridine orange staining, and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction was used to determine the expressions of wnt3a, gsk3β and ccnd1. Proliferative cell nuclear antigen, β-catenin and Wnt3a expressions were determined immunohistochemically. Vitellogenin levels were determined using Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA). Increased vitellogenin levels, apoptosis, and wnt3a and gsk3β expressions were observed in BPA-exposed zebrafish embryos. Increased apoptosis in the BPA-exposed embryos may be due to the pro-apoptotic changes induced by Wnt3a, whereas DEHP might be suggested to have a minor effect as Wnt3a expression; vitellogenin levels and apoptosis did not increase significantly following exposure to DEHP.


This work contains investigation results of the structural and optical properties of the thin films containing metal (M = Zn, Cu and Al) and bis- or tris(8-hydroxyquinoline). The films were successfully grown by physical vapor deposition (PVD) technique in high vacuum on transparent (quartz) and semiconductor (n-type silicon) substrates kept at room temperature during the deposition process. Selected films were annealed after fabrication in ambient atmosphere for 24 hours at the temperature equal to 50 °C, 100 °C and 150 °C. Spectral properties of these films were examined using transmission, photoluminescence, SGH and THG technique. The experimental spectra were allowed to determine optical constant of the films. Structural properties were investigated by optical images and AFM measurements. The Mqn (n = 2 or 3) films exhibit high structural quality regardless of the annealing process, but the stability of the film can be improved by using an appropriate temperature during the annealing process. We find that the optical properties were strictly connected with the morphology and the annealing process can significantly change the structural properties of the films.


This study explored policies and programmes aimed at facilitating remittances inflows through formal channels and leveraging remittances for development in Lesotho. The study also looked into regulations and laws on remittances. In order to answer key questions of this study, semi‐structured questionnaires were administered to 29 institutions, including commercial banks, an asset manager, insurance companies, telecommunication companies, government ministries, parastatals, a research institution, a retailer, a savings and credit cooperative and non‐governmental organizations. The gaps revealed by this study can be summarised as: the Deferred Pay Act is the only policy driving officially recorded remittance inflows to Lesotho and which facilitated the creation of remittances‐linked savings product by the banking sector; there are restrictions on remittance outflows for immigrants working in the country, though planned to be eliminated; most of remittances transfer products offered by various institutions suit regular income earners with bank accounts, the adoption of mobile‐phone based transfers adoption is low and the mobile‐phone based transfer products cannot be used to make international transfers; there is lack of adoption of remittances‐linked financial products by financial intermediaries and relevant government ministries; the benefits packaged with the remittances‐linked savings accounts are less attractive; and most of the remittances services providers are concentrated in urban centres. These findings show there is a need to develop policies and programmes for harnessing remittances for development. This study concluded by suggesting policy options for facilitating remittances inflows through regular channels and promoting positive impact of remittances on development.


The program evaluation compared student achievement and self-report data in two types of learning environments—a traditional classroom environment and an online learning environment to examine the comparative effectiveness of online delivery, to identify characteristics of successful and unsuccessful distance learning students, and to gauge degree of satisfaction with online delivery. Undergraduate students (N=93) enrolled in four sections of Business 100, Computer Fundamentals, were assigned by section to complete a 4-weeks long spreadsheet module either in class (control) or online (experimental). The online instruction was delivered via a website and was supplemented with email and listserv discussion. Posttest findings revealed no significant differences in knowledge gain between the control (M = .75) and online (M = .77) groups, indicating that this online module was at least as effective as the traditional classroom instruction. Post hoc analysis of achievement data showed that more capable students working online scored significantly better (p<.01) than the more capable control group. Self-report measures compared to achievement indicated that frequent computer users benefited most from online delivery, while frequent computer use was not a factor in the control group's performance. Also competitiveness had a negative correlation with achievement for the online group but not for the control group. In summary, this online instruction provided an effective standardized course delivery. However low-prior knowledge students who are less frequent computer users were not served well by this online instruction.


ABSTRACT Objective: To comparatively analyze the results from ar-throscopic suturing of rotator cuff injuries between smoking and non-smoking patients. Methods: A group of 286 patients who underwent arthroscopic suturing of primary rotator cuff injuries between June 12, 2002, and May 14, 2008, was ana-lyzed. The patients included in the study were evaluated using the UCLA scale, with a minimum follow-up of 12 months and average of 56.52 months. The variables studied were age, sex, side operated, dominance, profile of cigarette use and UCLA index. Results: This study evaluated a total of 205 patients. Mean age (p = 0.289) and sex (p = 0.124) were analyzed sta-tistically between the smoking and non-smoking patients and the two groups were considered to be similar. The average UCLA score for the non-smoking patients (143) was 34 (32 to 35). The average UCLA score for the smoking patients (51) was 33 (29 to 35). There was no statistically significant dif-ference in UCLA score (p = 0.123) between the smoking and non-smoking patients. For the purposes of statistical analysis, we grouped the small and medium tears (107) and compared these with the large and extensive tears (80), between smokers and non-smokers. There was no statistically significant dif-ference using the Mann-Whitney test regarding the small and medium tears (p = 818). There was a statistically significant difference using the Mann-Whitney test regarding the large and extended tears, between the smoking and non-smoking pa-tients, such that the non-smokers showed better UCLA scores (p = 0.038). Conclusion: The results from arthroscopic sutur-ing of large and extensive rotator cuff injuries are inferior among smoking patients.


Among other remote sensing technologies, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has become firmly established in the practice of oceanographic research. Despite solid experience in this field, comprehensive knowledge and interpretation of ocean/sea and vessel wave signatures on radar images are still very challenging. Many technical parameters and scanning conditions vary for different SAR platforms, which also imposes some restrictions on the cross-analysis of their respective images. Numerical simulation of SAR images allows the analysis of many radar imaging parameters including environmental, ship, or platform related. In this paper, we present a universal simulation framework for SAR imagery of the sea surface, which includes the superposition of sea-ship waves. This paper is the first attempt to cover exhaustively all SAR imaging effects for the sea waves and ship wakes scene. The study is based on well proven concepts: the linear theory of sea surface modeling, Michell thin-ship theory for Kelvin wake modeling, and ocean SAR imaging theory. We demonstrate the role of two main factors that affect imaging of both types of waves: (i) SAR parameters and (ii) Hydrodynamic related parameters such as wind state and Froude number. The SAR parameters include frequency, signal polarization, mean incidence angle, image resolution, variation by scanning platform (airborne or spaceborne) of the range-to-velocity (R/V) ratio, and velocity bunching with associated shifting, smearing and azimuthal cutoff effects. We perform modeling for five wave frequency spectra and four ship models. We also compare spectra in two aspects: with Cox and Munk's probability density function (PDF), and with a novel proposed evaluation of ship wake detectability. The simulation results agree well with SAR imaging theory. The study gives a fuller understanding of radar imaging mechanisms for sea waves and ship wakes.


Study Design. The gait of patients with neurogenic intermittent claudication was analyzed before and after surgery using a ground reaction force plate. Objectives. To analyze the gait characteristics of patients with neurogenic intermittent claudication, to evaluate quantitatively their gait improvement after surgical treatment, and to examine the differences in gait characteristics and postoperative improvement among different types of neuropathy. Summary of Background Data. A number of reports have been published on the pathophysiology or treatment of neurogenic intermittent claudication. However, almost no detailed reports exist on the gait abnormalities associated with this condition. Methods. The subjects were 60 lumbar canal stenosis patients with intermittent claudication who underwent surgery at the authors' hospital. A ground reaction force plate was used for the analysis, and factors related to time and distance (speed, stride, interval, and pitch) were analyzed, as well as factors related to the style of walking (symmetry, reappearance, smoothness, sway, rhythm, and impact). Results. Before surgery, there were abnormalities of various factors related to the style of walking soon after the patients began to walk. Gait analysis also showed that the pattern of gait abnormality and its improvement after surgery varied depending on the type of neuropathy. Conclusions. Gait analysis permits objective and quantitative evaluation of the gait characteristics of patients with lumbar canal stenosis and is useful for evaluating responses to surgical treatment in these patients.


The first microfluidic microphysiological systems (MPS) entered the academic scene more than 15 years ago and were considered an enabling technology to human in vitro (patho)biology and, therefore, to provide alternative approaches to laboratory animals in pharmaceutical drug development and academic research. Currently, the field generates more than a thousand scientific publications per year. Despite the MPS hype in academia and by platform providers, which say this technology is about to reshape the entire in vitro culture landscape in basic and applied research, MPS approaches neither have been widely adopted by the pharmaceutical industry yet nor have they reached regulated drug authorization processes. Here, 46 leading international experts from all stakeholder groups - academia, MPS supplier industry, pharmaceutical and consumer products industries, and leading regulatory agencies - analyzed challenges and hurdles along the MPS-based assay life cycle in the second workshop of its kind in June 2019. The main findings were that the level of qualification of MPS-based assays for a given context of use and communication gaps between stakeholders are the major challenges slowing industrial adoption by end users, which in turn is causing a regulatory acceptance dilemma. This report elaborates on these findings and proposes solutions by providing recommendations and a roadmap towards regulatory acceptance of MPS-based models, which will benefit patients and further reduce laboratory animal use in drug development. Finally, the potential of MPS-based human disease models to feed back into laboratory animal replacement in basic life science research is discussed.


When Escherichia coli are grown in the presence of 5-fluorouraciL the 5fluorouracil is incorporated almost exclusively into ribonucleic acid as fluorouridylate. In this study, small but detectable amounts were incorporated into ribonucleic acid as fluorocytidylate and into deoxyribonucleic acid as fluorodeoxyuridylate and fluorodeoxycytidylate. The amount of 5-fluorouracil found in deoxyribonucleic acid as fluorodeoxyuridylate increased 50-fold when the cells were deficient in both deoxyuridine triphosphatase and uracil-deoxyribonucleic acid glycosylase activities. Therefore, the same mechanisms which excluded uracil from deoxyribonucleic acid in vivo also excluded 5-fluorouracil. Even though purified uracil-deoxyribonucleic acid glycosylase excised 5-fluorouracil from deoxyribonucleic acid at only 5% the rate with which it excised uracil, most of the 5-fluorouracil excised from deoxyribonucleic acid in vivo was apparently excised directly by uracil-deoxyribonucleic acid glycosylase rather than by repair initiated by excision of uracil.


Objective. This was a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, 12-week, multi- center study to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of fixed location injections of botulinum type A toxin (BoNT-A, Dysport) in predetermined injection sites in patients with myofascial pain syndrome of the upper back. Design. Patients with moderate-to-severe myofas- cial pain syndrome affecting cervical and/or shoul- der muscles (10 trigger points, disease duration 6-24 months) and moderate-to-severe pain intensity were randomized to BoNT-A (N = 81) or saline (N = 72). Intervention. Patients received treatment into 10 predetermined fixed injection sites in the head, neck, and shoulder (40 units of BoNT-A per site or saline, a total of 400 units of BoNT-A). Outcome Measures. The primary efficacy outcome was the proportion of patients with mild or no pain at week 5 (responders). Secondary outcomes included changes in pain intensity and the number of pain- free days per week. Results. At week 5, 49% (37/76) of BoNT-A patients and 38% (27/72) of placebo patients had responded to treatment (P = 0.1873). Duration of daily pain was reduced in the BoNT-A group compared with the placebo group from week 5, with statistically signifi- cant differences at weeks 9 and 10 (P = 0.04 for both). Treatment was well tolerated. Conclusion. Fixed-location treatment with BoNT-A of patients with upper back myofascial pain syn- drome did not lead to a significant improvement of the main target parameter in week 5 after treatment. Only in week 8 were significant differences found. Several secondary parameters, such as physicians' global assessment and patients' global assessment, significantly favored BoNT-A over placebo at weeks 8 and 12.


Using microscopic molecular theory, we determine the bending and saddle-splay constants of three-component lipid bilayers. The membrane contains cholesterol, dipalmitoyl-phosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and dioleoylphosphatidylcholine (DOPC) and the predictions of the theory have been shown to qualitatively reproduce phase diagrams of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) of the same three components. The bending and saddle-splay constants were calculated for the gel, liquid-ordered (lo) and liquid-disordered (ld) phases. By proper expansion of the free energy, the molecular theory enables us to determine the effects of the mode of membrane bending deformation on the value of the elastic constants for different phases. In particular, we refer to the ability of the molecules to arrange the composition between the two monolayers upon deformation. The bending and saddle-splay constants obtained from the free energy expansion can be expressed in terms of moments of the local lateral pressures and their derivatives, all evaluated for a symmetric planar bilayer. The effect of blocked vs. free exchange of lipids across the two monolayers on the values of the bending constant is as high as 50 k(B)Tin the ld phase to as high as 200 k(B)T in the lo phase. These results show that one must strongly consider the mode of deformation in determining the mechanical properties of lipid bilayers. We discuss how the different contributions to the lateral pressures affect the values of the elastic constants, including the effects of the cholesterol concentration and temperature on the membrane elastic constants. We also calculate the equilibrium binding concentrations of lipid tail anchors as a function of membrane curvature by explicitly determining the chemical potential difference of species across a curved bilayer. Our results are in excellent agreement with recent experimental results.


The present study examined the most prominent subject matter in CBC news articles during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The sample was collected through a google web search that read "COVID-19 AND Coronavirus AND CBC news articles AND Alberta." The 50 most recent news articles that appeared in this search and contained "COVID-19" or "Coronavirus" in relation to Alberta in the article headline were sampled. The article headlines were individually analyzed in a first-phase coding process and then re-examined for common themes. A qualitative content analysis determined that the most prominent subject matter in CBC news articles was statistics (50%) followed by general updates (22%), COVID-19 information (14%), current events (6%), and regulations (4%). An additional category titled 'other' (4%) was created for articles with subject matter that was unrelated to these themes. The analysis found that the most prominent news content in CBC news articles was related to fear inducing information which replicates the results from earlier studies on the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.


OBJECTIVE
To explore public awareness of osteoporosis and willingness to manage the problem, with reference to a variety of socio-economic factors.

DESIGN
Cross-sectional questionnaire study.

SETTING
A public hospital and a private health care clinic in Hong Kong.

PATIENTS
Two hundred and fifty postmenopausal women consisting of five equal cohorts recruited at random. The cohorts consisted of: patients with fragile fracture, their next-of-kin, patients (without fragile fractures) from a government primary health care clinic, patients from a government orthopaedic clinic, and patients from a private primary health care clinic.

RESULTS
Only 81% of those interviewed had heard of the disease. Among these, 92% believed that the government was responsible for managing osteoporosis. Most (83%) were willing to self-finance treatment; a higher percentage were willing to do so among those with relatives having osteoporotic fractures. Most (87%) of the subjects underestimated the cost. Less than 40% expected to pay more than HK$ 1,200 annually. Given the current market price, only 66% would still consider undertaking the treatment. Notably, 99% of interviewees would commence treatment provided the cost was lower.

CONCLUSION
Direct costs of managing osteoporosis deter the public from commencing treatment. If the cost of treatment could be lowered and publicised, a dramatic increase in self-financed treatment can be anticipated.


Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fistulae have been encountered by otolaryngologists often since the advent of modern endoscopic sinus surgery, otologic surgery, and skull base surgery. Treatment of CSF leaks may include bed rest, head-of-bed elevation, stool softeners, external spinal fluid drainage, and surgery. External CSF drainage is accomplished via a lumbar spinal drain. Placement of spinal drains is often performed by neurosurgeons and anesthetists. A few otolaryngologists have been trained in the placement and management of lumbar drains, but at most otolaryngology training institutions, education in lumbar drains is not provided. However, in some circumstances, it may fall to an otolaryngologist to accomplish the task. We believe that every otolaryngologist, from the generalist in private practice to the academic neuro-otologic surgeon, should understand the proper technique for the insertion and management of a lumbar drain. Otolaryngologists should be familiar with the physiologic properties of CSF, the methods used to diagnose fistulae, and the techniques used to repair leaks. External spinal drainage is an important element in the management of CSF fistulae, and it has been used in treating perilymphatic fistulae and "gushers." Much controversy surrounds its routine use. Otolaryngologists need to understand the risks, benefits, and outcomes of spinal drain use in order to decide which patients may benefit from this procedure.


Adverse reactions to foods can occur for a variety of reasons, but a food allergy is caused by a specific immune response. Challenges to determine the prevalence of food allergy include misclassification, biased participation, lack of simple diagnostic tests, rapid evolution of disease, large numbers of potential triggers, and varied clinical phenotypes. Nonetheless, it is clear that this is a common disorder, with studies suggesting a cumulative prevalence of 3% to 6%, representing a significant impact on quality of life and costs. The inclusion of mild reactions to fruits and vegetables could result in calculation of prevalence exceeding 10% in some regions. There are data from numerous studies to suggest an increase in prevalence, but methodologic concerns warrant caution. Prevalence varies by age, geographic location, and possibly race/ethnicity. Many childhood food allergies resolve. Population-based epidemiologic studies have generated numerous novel theories regarding risks, including modifiable factors such as components of the maternal and infant diet, obesity, and the timing of food introduction. Recent and ongoing studies provide insights on risk factors, prevalence, and natural course that may inform clinical trials to improve diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2011;nnn:nnn-nnn.)


The confidential enquiry into maternal deaths has highlighted 14 deaths in UK due to epilepsy (0.61 per 100,000 maternities). NICE and SIGN have set out guidelines for the management of pregnant women with epilepsy. We conducted an audit of epilepsy management during pregnancy, comparing the results with national guidance and to a previously conducted audit in the region in 2003. All pregnant women with epilepsy booked at our medical obstetric clinic were identified, case notes obtained, and data analysed as per our objectives. Thirty two cases were identified and 30 case notes were obtained. Only 23% had preconception counselling and 60% had pre-pregnancy folic acid. Of these, 77% had 5 mg. Specialist referral was made in 83% of cases. 82% were on antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). Of these, 56% were on monotherapy. 26% received enzyme inducing drugs and of these only 4 (50%) received 20 mg vitamin K at 36 weeks. None of them received double dose steroids. 53% experienced antenatal seizures and in 66%, seizure frequency was reduced or unchanged. Only 20% received anaesthetic review for reasons other than epilepsy. 50% were induced and 66% achieved a vaginal delivery. One fetus was found to have talipes at the anomaly scan. Postnatally only 32% received advice on infant care with epilepsy. We propose an antenatal proforma for care of pregnant epileptic women. We also propose a postnatal information leaflet advising women on, breast feeding, infant care, importance of AEDs in the postnatal period, contraception and prepregnancy folic acid in subsequent pregnancies.


A growing consensus has emerged in the post-crisis financial regulatory agenda that the European architecture of financial supervision and regulation is far from ideal. Rather than moving to a 'holistic', cross-sectoral regime such as the 'twin peaks' model, the post-crisis reform simply upgraded the previous supervisory colleges to EU agencies, resulting in the three sectoral bodies for banking (EBA), securities markets (ESMA), and insurance (EIOPA). The major risk of such a sectoral architecture is that separate agencies may fail to recognise any cross-sectoral problems and risks that are evolving, may fail to adequately address financial conglomerates, and may more generally encounter fundamental challenges in adopting a more holistic approach to financial regulation and supervision.

This paper examines the case for adopting a more integrated architecture in the EU. We show that lawmakers were not only unable to seize opportunities for reform – largely, due to path dependencies – but have also let those opportunities pass by when they presented themselves – such as Brexit or the ESAs review. The present political climate does not leave us to expect any significant reform anytime soon. Therefore, we strongly argue that the reform architecture of the EU should be modified incrementally, and without need for Treaty revision. Hence, a bottom-up experimentalist approach appears as a viable path towards the implementation of a twin peaks model, or, possibly as a more viable and desirable path, a hybrid model that nevertheless preserves some of its main advantages.


Throughout the Sixties numerous ordinary Americans 'challenged the integrity and virtue of basic institutions and values that had taken on the cover of American tradition.' While historians have extensively explored the anti-war activism of civilians, minimal attention has been given to the activism of anti-war soldiers. This thesis examines the activism of draft resisters, active-duty soldiers and veterans. Using the lens of the citizen-soldier ideal, it explores this activism's impact on enduring assumptions around patriotism, citizenship, race and manhood. A long-standing tenet of American national identity, this ideal asserts that the highest patriotic duty of a male citizen was his unhesitating service in the armed forces in times of national crisis.

I argue that anti-war soldiering severed the relationship between soldiering and the perceived duties of republican citizenship in American national identity. Where previous generations saw patriotic citizenship and a willingness to serve as inextricably intertwined, the activism of anti-war soldiers fostered an understanding of republican citizenship that existed independent of military service. However, American belonging has been consistently defined by whiteness, thus conceptions of citizenship are inextricably intertwined with notions of gender and race. Accordingly, this study explores the centrality of racial identity to reconsiderations of the citizen-soldier ideal. Broadly, activists argued that the primary duty of citizenship became the defence of the democratic ideals rather than an unquestioned commitment to Administrations' policies. Where white activists argued their primary duty lay in defending the Constitution, activists of colour argued that they had a duty to defend their racial communities. Applying the analytical lenses of race and gender sheds new light on the far-reaching impact of this activism and inserts it into broader narratives of the Sixties and American national identity.


Effusion and transpiration cooling can be an attractive method of air cooling for the next generation high-efficient gas turbine which has a very hot gas temperature over 1,600°C (TRIT). For higher effectiveness of air cooling for a gas turbine vane and blade, the air-cooled flow through effusion-holes and porous metal surface should not penetrate into the mainstream flow but still remain within the thermal boundary layer. The present visualization study examines flow behavior of microscale effusion and transpiration cooling on semi-cylinder. The secondary flow issued from the effusion-holes and porous metal surface is visualized by a smoke-tube method which consists of oil droplet generator, diode pumped solid state (DPSS) laser and highspeed imaging. The flow visualization of microscale effusion and transpiration cooling on semi-cylinder is characterized with various blowing ratios. It is found that the transpiration cooling consumes less coolant air than effusion cooling and has better cooling effectiveness based on the same flow rate of coolant air. Visual criteria can be provided to maintain the effusion and transpiration cooling on semi-cylinder for gas turbine cooling application.
 [This work was supported by the National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) grant funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea (Grant No. KIMM-NK219B).]


A novel hybrid continuum-discrete model to simulate tumour growth on a cellular scale is proposed. The lattice-based spatiotemporal model consists of reaction-diffusion equations that describe interactions between cancer cells and their microenvironment. The fundamental ingredients that are typically considered are the nutrient concentration, the extracellular matrix (ECM), and matrix degrading enzymes (MDEs). The in vivo processes are very complex and occur on different levels. This in turn leads to huge computational costs. The main contribution of the present work is therefore to describe the processes on the basis of simplified mathematical approaches, which, at the same time, depict realistic results to understand the biological processes. In this work, we discuss if we have to simulate the MDE or if the degraded matrix can be estimated directly with respect to the cancer cell distribution. Additionally, we compare the results for modelling tumour growth using the common and our simplified approach, thereby demonstrating the advantages of the proposed method. Therefore, we introduce variations of the positioning of the nutrient delivering blood vessels and use different initializations of the ECM. We conclude that the novel method, which does not explicitly model the matrix degrading enzymes, provides means for a straightforward and fast implementation for modelling tumour growth.


The public participation agenda is a significant element of public service reform in Europe and beyond. This article examines how citizen participation in local public services was conce ived and enacted under successive New Labor governments in the UK during the period 1997–2010. It is suggested that the emphasis on public participation was central to the ethos of New Labor. This accounts for the persistence of the participation agenda even in the face of scant empirical evidence that specific engagement and empowerment initiatives were successful. Significantly, there was no single New Labor participation narrative. There were instead several distinct strands, drawing variously from the Party's received traditions of State welfarism, corporatist central-local relations, municipal socialism, Blairite managerialism, and, lastly, mutual cooperativism. The article assesses the legacy of New Labor and public participation in the UK before drawing wider conclusions relating to international experience.


This cross sectional study was done to identify the fungal etiology of maxillary sinusitis. This study was done in the department of Otolaryngology & Head-Neck Surgery, Shahid Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh. The study period was 5 years (January 2003 to December 2007). Total 63 patients who were diagnosed clinically and radiologically as a maxillary sinusitis were enrolled in this study. All the patients were included randomly. Among 63 patients 8(12.69%) patients had laboratory proved fungal maxillary sinusitis. Collection of the laboratory specimen was done from antral wash out and biopsy for histopathology was taken by endoscopic surgery. By histopathological and fungal stain revealed noninvasive type of fungal infection in all cases. Post nasal drip (100%), Headache (100%), Nasal obstruction (65% cases) were the main presenting symptoms in case of fungal maxillary sinusitis. Anti fungal treatment along with systemic antibiotic was given in case of proven maxillary sinusitis and 100% cure rate was observed after treatment.


We are reporting a case of traumatic anterior dislocation of the left knee without any neurovascular complication. To our knowledge, such complete dislocation without involvement of popliteal artery and/or peroneal nerve has not been reported before however similar cases are reported after total knee replacement with and without neurovascular compromise. This injury was recognized and treated promptly with rehabilitation commencing early, resulting in a good functional outcome. We discuss the possible injury mechanism and management of this unusual case.


Single-electron transistors (SETs) are efficient charge sensors for reading out spin or charge qubits confined in quantum dots (QDs). To investigate their capacitive parameters, which are related to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) during qubit readout, twin silicon single QDs were fabricated using a lithographic process on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. Since the configuration and dimensions of the QDs could be determined by direct imaging, the theoretical capacitive parameters could be compared to the measured values. Good agreement was found between the calculated and measured values, which confirms the validity of the calculation method. The results indicated that decreasing the SET diameter reduces the capacitive coupling between qubits but increases the signal-to-noise ratio for both dc and radio frequency single-shot measurements. Since these results are independent of the device materials, they are useful for establishing guidelines for the design of SET charge sensors in lateral QD-SET structur...


Cytokinins are plant hormones with biological functions ranging from coordination of plant growth to the regulation of biotic and abiotic stress-related responses and senescence. The components of the plant immune system can learn from past elicitations by microbial pathogens and herbivores and adapt to new threats. It is known that plants can enter the primed state of enhanced defense induced by either natural or synthetic compounds. While the involvement of cytokinins in defense priming has been documented, no comprehensive model of their action has been provided to date. Here, we report the functional characterization of two aromatic cytokinin derivatives, 6-benzylaminopurine-9-arabinosides (BAPAs), 3-methoxy-BAPA and 3-hydroxy-BAPA, that proved to be effective in delaying senescence in detached leaves while having low interactions with the cytokinin pathway. An RNA-seq profiling study on Arabidopsis leaves treated with 3-methoxy-BAPA revealed that short and extended treatments with this compound shifted the transcriptional response markedly toward defense. Both treatments revealed the upregulation of genes involved in processes associated with plant innate immunity such as cell wall remodeling and upregulation of specific MAP kinases, most importantly MPK11, which is a MAPK module involved in stress-related signaling during the pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) response. In addition, elevated levels of JA and its metabolites, jasmonate/ethylene-driven upregulation of PLANT DEFENSIN 1.2 (PDF1.2) and other defensins, and also temporarily elevated levels of reactive oxygen species marked the plant response to 3-methoxy-BAPA treatment. Synergistic interactions were observed when plants were co-treated with 3-hydroxy-BAPA and the flagellin-derived bacterial PAMP peptide (flg22), leading to the enhanced expression of the PTI marker gene FRK1. Our data collectively show that some BAPAs can sensitively prime the PTI responses in a low micromolar range of concentrations while having no observable negative effects on the overall fitness of the plant.


Abstract Baluna, R. G., Eng, T. Y. and Thomas, C. R., Jr. Adhesion Molecules in Radiotherapy. Radiat. Res. 166, 819–831 (2006). Recent studies have documented changes in adhesion molecule expression and function after exposure to ionizing radiation. Adhesion molecules mediate cell–cell and cell–matrix interactions and are essential for a variety of physiological and pathological processes including maintenance of normal tissue integrity as well as tumor development and progression. Consequently, modulation of adhesion molecules by radiation may have a role in radiation-induced tumor control and normal tissue damage by interfering with cell signaling, radioresistance, metastasis, angiogenesis, carcinogenesis, immune response, inflammation and fibrosis. In addition, the interactions of radiation with adhesion molecules could have a major impact in developing new strategies to increase the efficacy of radiation therapy. Remarkable progress has been made in recent years to design targeted drug delivery to radiation-up-regulated adhesion molecules. Furthermore, the inhibition of adhesion, migration, invasion and angiogenesis by blocking adhesion receptors may represent a new therapeutic approach to improve tumor control and decrease radiation toxicity. This review is focused on current data concerning the mechanistic interactions of radiation with adhesion molecules and the possible clinical-pathological implications in radiotherapy.


SYNOPSIS In July 2006, the International Accounting Standards Board and the Financial Accounting Standards Board (the "Boards") added a leasing project to their agenda. In August 2010, the Boards jointly released an exposure draft proposing a "right-of-use" model for the recognition of lease-related assets and liabilities. In their deliberations, the Boards noted numerous studies focusing on lessee accounting, but very little research examining lessor-related topics. To address this gap in the literature, this paper identifies key reporting and disclosure issues associated with lessors, and suggests improvements that could be incorporated into lease accounting guidance. This study is based on an analysis of the financial statement disclosures of 57 of the 100 largest equipment lessors in the U.S. market. Disclosure quality, residual values, and the balance sheet impact of the proposal are examined, and numerous suggestions are offered to enhance the usefulness of lessor financial statement disclosures for...


A major challenge for multinational companies is to motivate employees with different individual cultural characteristics and national cultures to share knowledge. Although comparative studies across different countries have been conducted, little is known about the effects of individual cultural differences in this context. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of individual and national cultures in knowledge sharing. The individual cultural characteristics of power distance, individualism/collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance are incorporated into the model as antecedents of knowledge-sharing motivations organizational rewards, image, and reciprocal benefits. National cultural differences are examined by subjects conducted in the U.S. and China. Results show that power distance is significantly related to reciprocal benefits for the U.S. but not for China. Individualism/collectivism is related to organizational rewards and image for the U.S. but not for China, while individualism/collectivism is significantly related to reciprocal benefits for China but not for the U.S. Uncertainty avoidance is significantly related to reciprocal benefits for the U.S. but not for China. This study provides knowledge-sharing practices and managements for multinational companies attempting to motivate U.S. and Chinese employees to share knowledge.


Radio refractivity variations across geographical coordinates of Nigeria has been studied using relative humidity, air pressure and air temperature data from 2012 to 2013 obtained from archives of Nigeria Air Space Development Research Agency, Department of meteorological Service, Oshodi, Lagos and Department of Pure and Applied Physics, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, automated weather station. Using regression analysis technique on the data obtained, a model was developed which established the relation between average annual surface radio refractivity and latitude across geographical coordinates of Nigeria. The results from the model have shown that average annual radio refractivity decreases with increase in latitude across Nigeria from the Tropical wet climate via Savanna North to the Semi-arid climate. The computed values of the refractivity gradient for the period of years under study showed that both Tropical wet and Savanna North climates were super-refractive in the first 1km above the sea surface while the Semi-arid was sub-refractive except Yola which is exceedingly close to the Savanna North. Keywords : Radio refractivity, Geographical coordinate, Regression technique, Model


Abstract - Open research in the field of robotics encourages individual creativity to create creative solutions to help people with disabilities. Robots are technologies that can relieve or replace human power. The need to provide food for persons with disabilities is very important because of its limitations. Nurses are the general solution to the limitations of people with disabilities, but what happens in America is a frequent weather problem and brings nurses to help people with disabilities. So you need a tool that can replace the work of a nurse. The solution to this problem is to make robots that can replace several servants' tasks, such as taking, moving and putting food and beverage boxes from one place to another. Robotic maneuverability is an important part of the job. A multi-independent steering system is used to reduce the robot's movement space when maneuvering. Besides being able to maneuver, robots must be able to pick up and transport food and beverage boxes using a gripping system. The success rate of robots completing their assignments reached 93.75% of 112 tests. Keyword : robot, prototype, multi-independent steering, person with dissability


Customer segmentation is a process that divides a business's total customers into groups according to their diversity of purchasing behavior and characteristics. The data mining clustering technique can be used to accomplish this customer segmentation. This technique clusters the customers in such a way that the customers in one group behave similarly when compared to the customers in other groups. The customer related data are categorical in nature. However, the clustering algorithms for categorical data are few and are unable to handle uncertainty. Rough set theory (RST) is a mathematical approach that handles uncertainty and is capable of discovering knowledge from a database. This paper proposes a new clustering technique called MADO (Minimum Average Dissimilarity between Objects) for categorical data based on elements of RST. The proposed algorithm is compared with other RST based clustering algorithms, such as MMR (Min-Min Roughness), MMeR (Min Mean Roughness), SDR (Standard Deviation Roughness), SSDR (Standard deviation of Standard Deviation Roughness), and MADE (Maximal Attributes DEpendency). The results show that for the real customer data considered, the MADO algorithm achieves clusters with higher cohesion, lower coupling, and less computational complexity when compared to the above mentioned algorithms. The proposed algorithm has also been tested on a synthetic data set to prove that it is also suitable for high dimensional data.


We have undertaken a project to investigate the host galaxies and environments of a sample of quasars at z ∼ 4. In this paper, we describe deep near-infrared imaging of 34 targets using the Magellan I and Gemini North telescopes. We discuss in detail special challenges of distortion and nonlinearity that must be addressed when performing point-spread function (PSF) subtraction with data from these telescopes and their IR cameras, especially in very good seeing. We derive black hole masses from emission-line spectroscopy, and we calculate accretion rates from our Ks-band photometry, which directly samples the rest frame B for these objects. We introduce a new isophotal diameter technique for estimating host galaxy luminosities. We report the detection of four host galaxies on our deepest, sharpest images, and present upper limits for the others. We find that if host galaxies passively evolve such that they brighten by 2 mag or more in the rest-frame B band between the present and z = 4, then high-z hosts are less massive at a given black hole mass than are their low-z counterparts. We argue that the most massive hosts plateau at ≲10 L*. We estimate the importance of selection effects on this survey and the subsequent limitations of our conclusions. These results are in broad agreement with recent semianalytical models for the formation of luminous quasars and their host spheroids by mergers of gas-rich galaxies, with significant dissipation, and self-regulation of black hole growth and star formation by the burst of merger-induced quasar activity.


: Vacuum pressure profile along a disc-loaded waveguide accelerator structure is calculated by Monte Carlo modeling of molecular diffusion. For periodic geometries such as an RF accelerating structure, total pressure can be summed from individual cavity diffusion profiles. Results are compared with pressure profiles calculated using ordinary vacuum conductance concepts. Abstract Vacuum pressure profile along a disc loaded waveguide accelerator structure is calculated by Monte Carlo modeling of molecular diffusion. For periodic geometries such as an RF accelerating structure, total pressure can be summed from individual cavity diffusion profiles. Results are compared with pressure profiles calculated using ordinary vacuum conductance concepts.


Ultrasonography by an original technique, consisting in stomach examination after fasting and upon contrasting, was performed in 10 cases in addition to conventional radiological and endoscopic techniques for diagnostics of gastric leiomyomas. An anechogenous mass originating from the muscular layer of the stomach was considered an evidence of leiomyoma. Advantages of ultrasonography over other methods used for the diagnostics of gastric leiomyomas include a possibility to evaluate the whole gastric wall, its layers, and the internal structure of the formation. This provides additional possibilities for differential diagnostics, including cases of malignization.


Anatomically, the head and neck region is composed of a greater variety of structures than any other part of the body. Practically all the anatomic structures can be the site of the various pathological processes. Multiplying the anatomic structures by the various pathological processes produces an infinite number of pathological diagnoses that may be encountered in the head and neck region. The large number of pathological possibilities provides a challenge for the pathologist working in surgical pathology of the head and neck region in children. Whenever a specimen is submitted to the laboratory, it is necessary to have at one's disposal a list of differential diagnoses. Clinical information is of importance in interpreting specimens if excellence in patient management is to be achieved. Therefore, it is imperative that open communication exist between the clinician and the pathologist. Thus, a combination of knowledge of the pathological possibilities, the range of differential diagnoses, the ability to use newer technologies, such as cell marker determinations by flow cytometry and immunoperoxidase, and dialogue with clinical physicians will provide some assurance of the ultimate in patient care. Herein the authors discuss some of the more common and important neoplasms encountered in pediatric head and neck surgical pathology.


Abstract Mixed methodology holds considerable promise for the field of literacy research, yet it continues to be underrepresented in published research. The purpose of this study was to identify potential problems in conducting and publishing reports of mixed methods research in literacy. Predicated on a view of research as principled argument, we qualitatively analysed the content of 79 reviews of 22 manuscripts reporting mixed methods studies submitted over a four-and-a-half year period to a leading journal devoted to research in reading and literacy. We sought to identify the major pitfalls that might weaken authors' arguments for the claims made. Our analysis revealed eight major problems in the use or reporting of mixed methods research: qualitative component underdeveloped, either in terms of data/analysis or sampling; quantitative component underdeveloped, either in terms of data/analysis or design; lack of focus; flawed logic of inquiry; weak articulation between the qualitative and quantitative components; and methodological handwringing. We argue that the ways authors sometimes use or report mixed methods research can undermine their ability to present cogent and persuasive arguments for their knowledge claims. Based on the analysis, we provide guidance for literacy scholars who choose to conduct mixed methods research.