The RET proto-oncogene is expressed in the developing kidney and enteric nervous system during vertebrate embryogenesis. It has two major splicing variants; RET9 and RET51. The expression pattern of the two variants appears to vary among the developing organisms. RET9 plays a major role in development of kidney and excretory system whereas the role of RET 51 seems to be of maintenance of these systems after development. The protein RET is a transmembrane receptor which expresses itself in the cell surface and initiates the signal transduction pathways for cellular differentiation and proliferation of the cell. The different expression patterns shown by RET 9 and RET51 isoforms and the work of other researchers indicating that different RET splice variants result in different phenotype when expressed independently, are demonstrations of the importance of these splice variations in RET functioning. In order to expand our understanding on the mechanism of RET splicing, the 3' end of the RET 9 isoform was isolated and a new construct was created that contained the exons and introns involved in the RET9 and RET51 splice variations. This region was placed into a mammalian expression vector in both orientations and the ability to measure changes in splicing with these constructs was measured. As a sequential step, in this study two different constructs of a specific region of RET were designed and analyzed using RTPCR and Q-PCR to demonstrate the mechanism of splicing. These constructs are planned to be further used as a model for the study of conditions that lead to splicing of Human RET proto-oncogene. While no differences were seen in initial studies, the development of the constructs and the evaluation of these constructs will provide an opportunity to study this important splicing event in more detail.


The principle objectives of the cruise were to study the physical, geochemical and biological dispersion of the neutrally-buoyant hydrothermal plume overlying the Rainbow hydrothermal field on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, near 36°15'N; to investigate the interacting processes active within the dispersing plume; to better constrain the source of active venting on the seabed; and to quantify the physical, geochemical and biological fluxes to the water column on the segment scale. A secondary objective was to better constrain the source of strong dissolved methane concentrations which had been observed previously in the FAMOUS segment further north. An additional objective, which evolved during the course of the cruise programme, was to investigate the dispersion of vent-larvae through hydrothermal plumes along a section of the MAR extending from the Rainbow area to the previously known Lucky Strike hydrothermal field at 37°17'N. Initially, a series of hydrographic CTD stations were occupied, complete with a lowered Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (L-ADCP) to provide instantaneous measurements of prevailing current directions with depth in the water column. This was coupled with a suite of deep-tow CTD tow-yo sections using the hydrothermal plume instrument BRIDGET. This preliminary data set yielded an understanding of the nature of plume dispersion which was then utilised to target further water column sampling using a combination of further CTD hydrocasts for water column samples, in situ filtration of particles for mineralogical, geochemical and microbiological investigations and RMT 1+8 Net trawls for biology. The strategy was largely successful and the neutrally buoyant plume, which was revealed to be dispersing under topographic control, was traced to a distance of greater than 50km down-stream. As the programme progressed a grid of closely spaced (0.5 nautical miles) orthogonal survey lines were occupied across the suspected site of venting, yielding a resolution of closest approach to the source of better than 200m. Finally at Rainbow, a suite of 8 current-meter moorings were deployed around the vent-site to monitor long-term (>12 month) fluxes of physical parameters including suspended particulate material away from the site of venting. In addition to sampling at Rainbow, 6 CTD stations were occupied in the southern portion of the FAMOUS segment and RMT 1+8 Net Trawls were completed in the Southern AMAR, AMAR, FAMOUS, North FAMOUS and Lucky Strike segments as well as in the non-transform discontinuity (NTD) offset immediately to the south of the Lucky Strike segment.


Post-synthetic exchange (PSE) and defect engineering have emerged as powerful techniques for tuning the properties and introducing novel functionality to metal organic frameworks (MOFs). Growing evidence suggests that each technique plays a key role in the mechanism of the other: linker coordination chemistry is pivotal to defective frameworks, while defect sites can help initiate PSE. Here, the intersection of these approaches is explored by exchanging an MOF with linkers already present within the framework. Post-synthetic annealing (PSA) modifies an MOF's properties by redistributing the framework's mixture of bound linker/modulator species. Using changes to the polymer-additive interactions in poly-1-trimethylsilyl-1-propyne nanocomposites observed through aging, we demonstrate that PSA causes one linker species to preferentially accumulate on the MOF's crystal surface. Reaction conditions are shown to affect molecular composition of the resulting annealed UiO-66 MOFs, a finding explained through esta...


OBJECTIVE
The authors sought to derive heritability estimates for anorexia nervosa and to explore the etiology of the comorbid relationship between anorexia nervosa and major depression.

METHOD
They applied bivariate structural equation modeling to a broad definition of anorexia nervosa and lifetime major depression as assessed in a population-based sample of 2,163 female twins.

RESULTS
Anorexia nervosa was estimated to have a heritability of 58% (95% confidence interval=33%-84%). The authors were unable to completely rule out a contribution of shared environment. The comorbidity between anorexia nervosa and major depression is likely due to genetic factors that influence the risk for both disorders.

CONCLUSIONS
Although the study was limited by the small number of affected twins, the results suggest that genetic factors significantly influence the risk for anorexia nervosa and substantially contribute to the observed comorbidity between anorexia nervosa and major depression.


Aim (Background): Fetal macrosomia is the delivery of a new born whose weight is 4 kg or more. In our study we aimed in the first part to describe the maternal characteristics and of macrosomic infants and in the second part to investigate the possible association between a triacylglycerol (TAG) lipolytic enzyme extracted from placental villi and macrosomia. Material and methods: BMI, age, triglyceride level, family history of macrosomia and placental triacylglycerol lipase in twenty mothers of macrosomic newborns (baby weight is equal or exceed 4 kg) were compared to 20 controls (birth weight is less than 4 kg).  Results: In higher maternal age (over than 35 years old) and weight, lipid analyses indicated an elevated maternal triglyceride level (maternal hypertriglyceridemia).These results were associated with macrosomia with a higher prevalence of male macrosomic fetuses estimated at 65%. Cases specific triacylglycerol lipase activity was higher than that of controls with an enhancement of 35%. Conclusion: Maternal age and body mass index (BMI) are associated with higher chance of fetal macrosomia. The true placental triacylglycerol lipase showed a higher specific activity in macrosomic fetal placental villi which may be related to the alteration of the control of lipases and to the maternal lipid metabolic disorder at the third trimester of pregnancy. Maternal and fetal surveillance is recommended during this high-risk pregnancy in order to prevent long term pathologies and to reduce its negative outcomes for both mother and fetus.


During extended investigation of a newborn girl with recurrent respiratory tract infection a continuous elevated blood sedimentation rate was noted together with a normal level of C reactive protein. This abnormality could be explained by analbuminaemia, causing a change in concentration of several other proteins such as transferrin. It was striking that this girl without albumin showed no signs of oedema. This lack of oedema could be explained by a decrease of oncotic pressure in the interstitium. Analbuminaemia is an autosomal recessive disorder. At follow-up the girl was still without complaints after 6 years.


Hydroxyapatite is a calcium phosphate in the apatite group. It has numerous applications due to its particular properties including the sorption of metallic ions. This makes it useful for the treatment of contaminated groundwater and for soil decontamination. The least expensive source of hydroxyapatite for synthesis is bovine bone, since this is a waste material. Vivianite is an iron phosphate which has received little study. Like hydroxyapatite, it has particular properties. This paper describes the method of obtaining these phosphates; calcium phosphate from bovine bone, and iron phosphate by synthesis. Also described are the methods of purifying the materials and characterization of these two phosphates by X-ray diffraction, infrared analysis, thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetric analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and surface area by the BET method. Physicochemical characteristics of hydroxyapatite obtained from bovine bone are described, and preliminary results are presented of an investigation into whether hydroxyapatite and iron phosphate are suitable as a permeable reactive barrier for the treatment of metallic and radionuclide contaminants.


Cognitive load researchers have used varying subjective techniques based on rating scales to quantify experienced cognitive load. Although it is generally assumed that subjects can introspect on their cognitive processes and have no difficulty in assigning numerical values to the imposed cognitive load, little is known about how visual characteristics of the rating scales influence the validity of the cognitive load measure. In this study we look at validity of four subjective rating scales (within groups) differing in visual appearance by participants rating perceived difficulty and invested mental effort in response to working on simple and complex weekday problems. We used two numerical scales (the nine-point Likert scale most often used in Cognitive load theory research and a Visual Analogue Scale ranging between 0–100%) and two pictorial scales (a scale consisting of emoticons ranging from a relaxed blue-colored face to a stressed red-colored face and an "embodied" scale picturing nine depicted weights from 1–9 kg). Results suggest that numerical scales better reflect cognitive processes underlying complex problem solving while pictorial scales Underlying simple problem solving. This study adds to the discussion on the challenges to quantify cognitive load through various measurement methods and whether subtleties in measurements could influence research findings.


The late Sri Brijesh Mishra's perceptive mind and pragmatism in the formulation of foreign and security policies earned him the title of 'Chanakya of the modern period'. During his long career as a diplomat, he held many important positions and retired from the Indian Foreign Services (IFS) as India's permanent representative in the United Nations (UN). He was specially chosen by Mrs Indira Gandhi in 1968 to go to China as Charge d'Affaires—an important assignment after the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962—with the specific directions that India's relations with China, which were 'in a box', needed to be changed. Sri Mishra had earlier been deputy secretary (China) during the Sino-Indian conflict. Mrs Gandhi's choice of Sri Mishra for this onerous task is itself a reflection of his capabilities. He discussed with his counterparts in China ways and means to improve relations between the two countries. While the relations did not improve during his tenure, he did succeed in changing the thinking at the top level in China. On 1 May 1970, Mao told him that the two important Asian countries should not quarrel and that they would be friends again.1


As policy makers seek to integrate a serious sociological and environmental issue into energy production, the typical utility is faced with not only technology upgrades, but also dealing with new systemic events that occur far beyond its franchise borders. Adding renewable energy resources into the existing bulk generation power system can be accomplished through a smarter power grid when the integration includes complex, end-to-end control strategies and consumer incentives to participate. Application of renewable resources will provide environmentally clean, and eventually, cost effective energy alternatives to the existing mix of electric generation assets. An even more interesting consideration is that integrating distributed energy resources (DER) will likely become the normal state, as siting transmission becomes more challenging. DER requires addressing facets of both the underlying analogcentric electrical power system and the nascent digital-centric information infrastructure. As smart grid develops, integration and optimization of grid control logic are areas that stand as key enablers to a rapid growth of renewable


Aim: Coexistence of DM and TB influences TB treatment outcomes. TB increases hyperglycaemia due to inflammatory response. Effect of prediabetes (PDM) on TB treatment outcomes is unknown. The aim was to assess the effect of PDM on treatment outcomes after TB treatment. Methods: This is a prospective observational cohort study (EDOTS - part of RePORT India Consortium) of 569 eligible New smear positive cases screened for DM between 2014 to 2018 in TB units in North Chennai, South India. Out of 569 subjects, 179 with a known history of DM were excluded.The remaining 390 screened TB subjects, 120 were excluded based on culture results and unwillingness to participate in the study. HbA1c was assessed at baseline and categorised into two groups (Gp): normoglycaemia (Gp1) ( Results: Prevalence of Prediabetes was 41.1%. There was no significant difference in the treatment outcomes between the groups(p=0.54). Total cure rate was 72.7% with no significant difference between the groups. There was a higher proportion of treatment failures (7.9%) amongGp1 as compared to Gp 2 (4.5%) (p = 0.33). There were 15.8 vs. 17.1% treatment defaulters. Higher proportion of deaths occurred during the course of DOTS in Gp 2 (7.2%) compared to Gp 1 (1.3%) (p = 0.06). At the end of intensive phase of DOTS treatment, about 23.8 % were observed to have positive sputum smear in Gp 2 compared to 8.6% in Gp 1 (p=0.019). The estimated relative risk to remain as sputum smear positive among prediabetes at the end of intensive phase was 3.0 (95% CI: 1.2-7.6). Conclusion: Higher prevalence of prediabetes was evident among TB patients. Among those who had prediabetes, death rate was higher during the course of the treatment and higher proportion remained sputum smear positive at the end of the intensive phase of TB treatment. Disclosure V. Viswanathan: None. A. Devarajan: None. S. Kumpatla: None. M. Dhanasekaran: None. S. Babu: None. H. Kornfeld: None. Funding Government of India (BT/MB/INDO-US/REPORT/03/2013-140)


This paper examines the effect of marginal price on students' educational investments using rich administrative data on students at Michigan public universities. Marginal price refers to the amount colleges charge for each additional credit taken in a semester. Institutions differ in how they price credits above the full‐time minimum (of 12 credits), with many institutions reducing the marginal price of such credits to zero. We find that a zero marginal price induces a modest share of students (i.e., 7 percent) to attempt up to one additional class (i.e., three credits) but also increases withdrawals and lowers course performance. The analysis generally suggests minimal impacts on credits earned and the likelihood of meeting "on‐time" benchmarks toward college completion, though estimates for these outcomes are less precise and more variable across specifications. Consistent with theory, the effect on attempted credits is largest among students who would otherwise locate at the full‐time minimum, which includes lower‐achieving and socioeconomically disadvantaged students.


Open Educational Resources can help students with course material costs and increase student retention and graduation rates. This guides explains how to find OER and evaluate how they can be used in a course.


A Bayesian dynamic method for analysis of software debugging process data is handled. It is addressed to predict states of software reliability. In the Bayesian analysis, hierarchical prior models are struc-tured with the Boltzmann machine, and empirical and expert knowledge priors are supposed. These priors play roles recognized as representations for complex sit-uations. The empirical prior based on observed data is used for the representation of uncertainty corrections. The prior of success probability for the tests is assumed based on expert knowledge of engineers. The reliability is estimated based on the posterior mean of the fail-ure states. The Bayesian inferences are derived based on the computational simulation methods, and the information criterion EIC is used to choose appropriate models.


Autocorrelation of clinical chemistry quality-control (Q/C) measurements causes one of the basic assumptions underlying the use of Levey-Jennings control charts to be violated and performance to be degraded. This is the requirement that the observations be statistically independent. We present a proposal for a new approach to statistical quality control that removes this difficulty. We propose to replace the current single control chart of raw Q/C data with two charts: (a) a common cause chart, representing a Box-Jenkins ARIMA time-series model of any underlying persisting nonrandomness in the process, and (b) a special cause chart of the residuals from the above model, which, being free of such persisting nonrandomness, fulfills the criteria for use of the standard Levey-Jennings plotting format and standard control rules. We provide a comparison of the performance of our proposed approach with that of current practice.


Survival analysis methods such as Cox regression can be used in infectious disease research to compare the timing of clinical events between treatment or exposure groups. Randomized clinical trials are the gold standard for estimating the effect of a treatment or exposure on a survival time endpoint. However, clinical trials are not always ethical or feasible. In that case, inference about the effect of interest might be attempted using data from observational studies. Unfortunately, observational studies may be riddled with confounding which can cast doubt on the validity of the results. In this tutorial, we demonstrate how inverse probability weighted Cox models can be used to account for multiple measured confounders, while concentrating inferences on the treatment or exposure effects of central interest and providing graphical summaries of these effects. This approach is illustrated using an example that estimates the effect of injection drug use on AIDS-free survival among HIV-infected women.


We evaluated retrospectively 34 patients with post-kidney transplant diabetes (PTDM) (group 1) and 68 submitted to renal transplant without PTDM (group 0) to determine the prevalence and risk factors for developing PTDM in patients followed at the Hospital Universitario Pedro Ernesto. The prevalence of PTDM was 7.4%. Group 1 patients were older at data collection (p<0.005) and at transplantation (p<0.005). Among them there was a higher frequency of cadaver donors (p= 0.023) and hypercholesterolemia (p= 0.006), and a lower frequency of arterial hypertension (p<0.0001). We observed a trend to higher frequency of positive sorology for C hepatitis (p= 0.057) and use of tacrolimus (p= 0.069) in group 1 as compared to group 0. The most important risk factors for developing PTDM (by logistic regression) were the age at renal transplant [OR= 1.099, IC 95% (1.045-1.156), p= 0.0001] and positive sorology for C hepatitis [OR= 3.338, IC 95% (1.205-9.248), p= 0.020]. We conclude that the prevalence of PTDM in our hospital was similar to that found in the literature and that the patients who developed PTDM presented a higher prevalence of traditional risk factors for PTDM, like older age and positive C virus hepatitis sorology, comparing to controls.


For high data rate applications, current suspension interconnect solutions should stay above 50 Ohm differential impedance (Zdiff ) due to footprint limitations and frequency dependent ohmic losses of the stainless steel plane at low Zdiff . This paper describes the impedance and bandwidth (BW) design space of today's interconnects and also shows why this technology is still compatible with current system front-ends up to 3 Gb/s. Furthermore, the benefits of reduced power and higher overshoot using less than 50 Ohm impedance and high bandwidth interconnects are explored with a system model. Three alternate low impedance interconnect structures are used to demonstrate these benefits, and are explored analytically and evaluated for mechanical tradeoffs.


4-Aryl-5-hepta-O-benzoyl-β-D-lactosylimino-3-thio-1,2,4-dithiazolidines [Hydrochloride] have been prepared by the interaction of N-hepta-O-benzoyl-β-D-lactosyl-S-chloro-isothiocarbamoyl chloride and ammonium aryl dithiocarbamates. These newly synthesized compounds were also screened for their antimicrobial and antifungal activities against-Escherichi coli, Proteus vulgaris, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi, Klebsiella pneumonie, Psudomonas aeruginosa, Aspergillus niger and Candida albicance. The newly synthesized compounds have been characterized by IR, 1 H NMR and mass spectral studies. The purity of these compounds was confirmed by TLC.


A challenge for molecular quantum dynamics (QD) calculations is the curse of dimensionality with respect to the nuclear degrees of freedom. A common approach that works especially well for fast reactive processes is to reduce the dimensionality of the system to a few most relevant coordinates. Identifying these can become a very difficult task, because they often are highly unintuitive. We present a machine learning approach that utilizes an autoencoder that is trained to find a low-dimensional representation of a set of molecular configurations. These configurations are generated by trajectory calculations performed on the reactive molecular systems of interest. The resulting low-dimensional representation can be used to generate a potential energy surface grid in the desired subspace. Using the G-matrix formalism to calculate the kinetic energy operator, QD calculations can be carried out on this grid. In addition to step-by-step instructions for the grid construction, we present the application to a test system.


Abstract The study of biodiversity has grown exponentially in the last thirty years in response to demands for greater understanding of the function and importance of Earth's biodiversity and finding solutions to conserve it. Here, we test the hypothesis that biodiversity science has become more interdisciplinary over time. To do so, we analyze 97,945 peer‐reviewed articles over a twenty‐two‐year time period (1990–2012) with a continuous time dynamic model, which classifies articles into concepts (i.e., topics and ideas) based on word co‐occurrences. Using the model output, we then quantify different aspects of interdisciplinarity: concept diversity, that is, the diversity of topics and ideas across subdisciplines in biodiversity science, subdiscipline diversity, that is, the diversity of subdisciplines across concepts, and network structure, which captures interactions between concepts and subdisciplines. We found that, on average, concept and subdiscipline diversity in biodiversity science were either stable or declining, patterns which were driven by the persistence of rare concepts and subdisciplines and a decline in the diversity of common concepts and subdisciplines, respectively. Moreover, our results provide evidence that conceptual homogenization, that is, decreases in temporal β concept diversity, underlies the observed trends in interdisciplinarity. Together, our results reveal that biodiversity science is undergoing a dynamic phase as a scientific discipline that is consolidating around a core set of concepts. Our results suggest that progress toward addressing the biodiversity crisis via greater interdisciplinarity during the study period may have been slowed by extrinsic factors, such as the failure to invest in research spanning across concepts and disciplines. However, recent initiatives such as the Intergovernmental Science‐Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) may attract broader support for biodiversity‐related issues and hence interdisciplinary approaches to address scientific, political, and societal challenges in the coming years.


Abstract This paper presents a new boosting algorithm called NormalBoost which is capable of classifying a multi-dimensional binary class dataset. It adaptively combines several weak classifiers to form a strong classifier. Unlike many boosting algorithms which have high computation and memory complexities, NormalBoost is capable of classification with low complexity. Since NormalBoost assumes the dataset to be continuous, it is also noise resistant because it only deals with the means and standard deviations of each dimension. Experiments conducted to evaluate its performance shows that NormalBoost performs almost the same as AdaBoost in the classification rate. However, NormalBoost performs 189 times faster than AdaBoost and employs a very little amount of memory when a dataset of 2 million samples with 50 dimensions is invoked.


Focusing on the case of two ambitious government-led ICT projects in Ethiopia, Woredanet and Schoolnet, this article offers a detailed analysis of how political and technical forces interact and negotiate in authoritarian, yet developmentally oriented regimes. The article builds on and extends the concept of "technopolitics," which emerged in the history of technology tradition to account for the ability of competing actors to envision and enact political goals through the support of technical artifacts. The findings suggest that, even in a developing country that heavily relies on international assistance (such as Ethiopia), discrepancies between interpretations of the same artifacts emerging internationally and locally may lead to processes of substantial reshaping. Rather than employing ICTs according to donors' demands of openness and democratization, the Ethiopian government has appropriated them to support its ambitious state- and nation-building process, while marginalizing alternative ICT uses promoted by other components of society, such as the private sector and Ethiopians in the diaspora.


Soil and water conservation personnel have a long tradition of collaborating and learning directly from the constituencies with whom they work. Collaborative, cooperative, and participatory arrangements between agencies, organizations, and stakeholders have been described as essential to effectively address ecosystem management goals. In the last two decades, collaborative efforts among managers and stakeholders have become more formal in character and have been defined as "adaptive comanagement" (Armitage et al. 2009). The adaptive comanagement approach allows for flexibility and responsiveness to new and emerging social and ecological issues, while paying particular attention to the diverse and dynamic interests of natural resource stakeholders (Pahl-Wostl 2006; Pahl-Wostl et al. 2007; Atwell et al. 2010). A core value of this approach is enhancing the capacity of all stakeholders (e.g., farmers, conservation organizations, and government agencies) to reflect on management outcomes and adapt to meet project goals and expectations. Fulfilling this core value necessitates a structured approach to monitoring and evaluation (Plummer and Armitage 2007; Armitage et al. 2009), which can offer insights into effectiveness of various participatory approaches and encourages experimentation and adjustments that can address an individual project as well as an organization's strategies (Chess et al. 2000; Low and Randhir 2005). Most…


The causative agent of the viral pneumonia outbreak in the world identified as SARS-CoV-2 leads to a severe respiratory illness like SARS and MERS The pathogen spreading has turned into a pandemic dissemination and increased the mortality rate Therefore, any useful information is essential for effective control of the disease Our findings show the existence of unvarying sequence with no mutation in ORF lab regions from 134 high-quality filtered genome sequences of SARS-CoV-2 downloaded from the GISAID database We have detected this sequence region by using MAUVE analysis and pair-wise alignment using Global Needleman Wunsch algorithm All these results were also confirmed with the Clustal W analysis The first 6500 bp of the consensus genome including ORFlab region is an unvarying sequence in SARS-CoV-2 genome Unvarying sequence in SARS-CoV-2 genome has been very similar to another spike protein, which belongs to feline infectious peritonitis virus strain UU4 (PDB 6JX7), depending on amino acid sequences encoded, and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine is the ligand of this protein according to the highest TM-score of predicted protein structure analysis These results have confirmed that N-acetyl-D-glucosamine could play an important effect on pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2 Also, our molecular docking analysis data supports a strong protein-ligand interaction of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine with spike receptor-binding domain bound with ACE2 (PDB 6M0J) and RNA-binding domain of nucleocapsid phosphoprotein (PDB 6WKP) from SARS-CoV-2 Therefore, binding of N-acetyl-D-glucosamine to these proteins could inhibit SARS-CoV-2's replication In the present work, we have suggested providing a repurposing compound for further in vitro and in vivo studies and new insights for ongoing clinical treatments as a new strategy to control of SARS-CoV-2 infections


Between 1987 and 1998, 3,800 tonnes of waste from various
European countries and the United States was transported
to Koko, Nigeria in a deal arranged by an Italian
trader with a Nigerian national, who received US$100 a
month for storing the wastes in a dirt lot. While eventually
arrangements were made to return the wastes, residents
near the site fell ill and persons involved in the
clean-up suffered chemical burns and other illnesses. In
response to incidents of this nature a global convention
was negotiated: the Basel Convention on the Transboundary
Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their
Disposal (the Basel Convention), which entered into
force in 1992. The Basel Convention aims to minimize the
generation and transboundary movements of hazardous
wastes. Under this Convention, exports of hazardous
wastes - including those destined for recycling such as
lead acid batteries - are only permitted if the exporting
state has received prior consent from the state of
import. In addition, exports are only permitted where
the exporting state has reason to believe that the wastes
Will be handled in an environmentally sound manner in
the state of import. Since entry into force, the Basel Convention regime has
Placed further restrictions on transboundary movements
of wastes. The first Conference of the Parties
(COP-1) agreed to ban exports of hazardous wastes for
disposal (e.g. PCBs) from industrialized to developing
countries. The second Conference of the Parties (COP-2) took a decision to ban exports - including for recycling
or recovery - from OECD to non-OECD countries.
The third Conference of the Parties (COP-3) agreed to
amend the Convention to prohibit exports from Annex
VII countries (OECD, EU and Liechtenstein) to non-Annex
VII countries. At the time of adoption of this decision,
some Parties made statements asserting that in their
view OECD to non-OECD trade could continue on the
basis of bilateral agreements under Article 11 of the Convention,
and this issue remains unresolved. While the
ban amendment has created some uncertainty in
relation to the liability protocol negotiations, there
remains scope for a liability protocol in relation to shipments
between developing countries (non-Annex VII
countries), South-North shipments (from non-Annex VII
to Annex VII countries) and in relation to North-North
shipments (between Annex VII countries) (see below). The absence of rules on liability and compensation in
the Basel Convention itself which could address the
compensation issues which arose in relation to events
such as the Koko incident described above, was a source
of criticism at the time of its adoption. The final
compromise on this issue was reflected in Article 12 of
the Convention which states that 'The Parties shall cooperate
with a view to adopting, as soon as practicable, a
protocol setting out appropriate rules and procedures
in the field of liability and compensation for damage
resulting from the transboundary movement and disposal of hazardous wastes and other wastes'. The need
for rapidly developing a protocol on this subject was
emphasized by statements made at the time of adoption
of the Convention. Resolution 3 of the Basel Conference
called for the convening of a working group to draft
elements which could be included in a future protocol
on liability and compensation. COP-1 established an ad
hoc working group of legal and technical experts
(hereafter 'Working Group') to consider and develop 'a
draft protocol on liability and compensation, possibly
including the establishment of an International Fund for
compensation for damage resulting from the transboundary
movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal'. Despite this sense of urgency, progress by the working
group has been slow. It has met roughly once a year -
6 times in total - since COP-1, and its mandate was again
renewed at the recent fourth Conference of the Parties
(COP-4) held in Kuching, Malaysia from 23 to 27 February
1998.6 As at the time of writing (July 1998) the most
recent meeting of the Working Group was in Geneva
from 24 to 26 June 1998. This article outlines the state of the negotiations to date
on the liability protocol. It demonstrates that in spite of
some progress at the fifth and sixth negotiating sessions,
a number of complex issues remain unresolved in the
negotiations.


Abstract Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 106(2): 61–74, 2006 During the last 25 years a number of European countries have developed general landscape monitoring systems. In the agricultural landscapes of Denmark the Small Biotope Monitoring Program (SBMP). which focuses on the dynamics of small biotopes and their relation to changes in agricultural technology and structural characteristics, has been developed since 1981. Erom 2007, the SBMP will continue as part of the Danish nature monitoring program, NOVANA. In Europe, during the last 10 years, several national landscape surveys have cooperated to develop a European platform for consistent landscape related habitat monitoring. This has been through the BioHab Concerted Action Framework Programme of the EU (2002–2005), and the resulting publication of a handbook for recording and monitoring habitats (Bunce et al., 2005). The focus on environmentally conditioned habitat changes at a landscape level has led to the re-introduction of Raunkiaer's plant life form concept. This approach enables the indication of changes in biodiversity based on alterations in general habitat composition and quality. Although the objectives of the SBMP and the BioHab projects have been somewhat different, the methodologies have much in common. In this paper the background and perspectives of the two approaches are discussed, and a test of the BioHab field methodology in an area previously monitored by the SBMP is presented. It was found not to be difficult to integrate the BioHab field recording methodology with the existing SBMP methods, thus permitting the SBMP to deliver an additional European perspective, with relatively little additional effort.


Thermoelectric generation technology can be used for waste heat recovery of internal combustion engines to improve energy efficiency. In this study, the performance of a thermoelectric generator for exhaust heat recovery of a diesel engine under various operation conditions are analyzed. First, a three-dimensional model of the thermoelectric generator is built by CATIA software. The thermoelectric chip of TEP1-1264-3.4 is used in this study and its characteristic data such as Seeback coefficient, thermal conductivity, and internal resistance are modeled by different maps in MATLAB. Then, a mathematical model of the thermoelectric generator is setup and a finite volume method is employed to obtain a high accuracy. The results indicate that the power output of the thermoelectric generator is increased while the thermoelectric conversion efficiency reduces as the engine load increases. On the hand, the power output of the thermoelectric generator is decreased but the thermoelectric conversion efficiency is increased as the engine load rises.


This resource guide was created to accompany a November 15, 2013 session at the American Association of School Librarians annual conference in Hartford, CT.


The concept of using ultrasound to trigger shape memory assisted healing of covalently cross-linked dynamic polymers is demonstrated. The well-designed dynamically crosslinked poly(e-caprolactone)-based polyurethane bearing Diels–Alder bonds not only possesses high mechanical strength and toughness, but also exhibits shape memory assisted crack-closure and healing upon exposure to high-intensity focused ultrasound owing to breaking and reformation of dynamic bonds. The use of focused ultrasound allows the healing process to be activated remotely and to be controlled locally by depositing the acoustic energy only in the damaged region without detriment to the undamaged parts of the material. The healable polyurethane materials have potential applications such as long-term load-bearing engineering components and anti-fatigue medical devices.


We present CameraKeyboard, a text entry technique that uses smartphone cameras to extract and digitalise text from physical sources such as business cards and identification documents. After taking a picture of the text of interest, the smartphone recognises the text through OCR technologies (specifically, Google Cloud Vision API) and organises it in the same way in which it is displayed in the original source. Next, users can select the required text - which is split into lines, and further split into words - by tapping on it. CameraKeyboard is designed to easily complement the standard keyboard when users need to digitalise text. In fact, the camera is integrated directly in the standard mobile QWERTY keyboard and can be accessed by tapping a button. CameraKeyboard is general-purpose like any other smartphone keyboard: it works with any application (e.g., Gmail, Whatsapp) and is able to extract text from any kind of source. We evaluated CameraKeyboard through a user study with 18 participants who carried out four different text entry tasks, and compared it to a standard smartphone keyboard (Google Keyboard) and a standard (physical) desktop keyboard. Results show that CameraKeyboard is the faster one in most cases.


A Paleoproterozoic sequence of metasediments and metavolcanics in Liaoning and Jilin provinces, northeast China, plays host to a large number of borate deposits that are a significant source of boron to China. The mineralogy and geochemistry of the deposits allow them to be divided into Mg-rich, Fe-poor deposits (mainly comprised of suanite and szaibelyite) and Mg-Fe-rich deposits in which the borates are mainly present as ludwigite. There are regional variations in the lithology and thickness of the greenschist-amphibolite-grade metasediments that host the borate orebodies, but they share many common features. The exclusive host to the borates is provided by Mg-rich carbonate intercalations within tourmaline-bearing leptynites, which are interpreted to be the metamorphosed equivalents of evaporites enclosed within volcanic tuffs. This unit is immediately underlain by biotite leptynites, which are also interpreted to be metamorphosed tuffs, and is further underlain by magnetite-microcline leptites that are thought to have formed by metamorphism of primary red beds. The orebodies are overlain by albite-microcline-rich leptites, which are believed to be the equivalents of tuffs and pyroclastic rocks that were altered by Na-K-rich evaporite brines.
Overall, geological, geochemical, and boron isotope studies indicate that the borates are metamorphosed nonmarine evaporites. The morphology and geology of the Mg-rich deposits suggests they formed in shallow, wide playa lakes, in which small Fe-rich deposits precipitated on the basin margins, while brines rich in boron and Mg accumulated and precipitated salts in the basin centers. The Fe-rich borate bodies tend to be larger and lack the spatial zonation of the Mg-rich deposits, suggesting that they were deposited in narrower and deeper basins. The regional geology and geochronology of northeast China indicate that tectonic evolution of the area started with subduction of oceanic crust below an Archean craton, followed by continental collision and later development of extensional basins. In modern collisional settings, subduction and crustal thickening both result in metasomatism of the upper lithosphere with boron-enriched fluids, and the associated volcanism is generally accompanied by geothermal activity that leaches the crust of this boron. In the case of the Liaoning deposits, we suggest the geothermal fluids accumulated in local basins, where they underwent evaporation in an arid climate that had already led to the formation of red beds. The overlying leptynites indicate the evaporites were subsequently buried below layers of volcanic ash and pyroclastic rocks. Later granitic intrusions led to metamorphism and dehydration of the original hydrated borate minerals, the development of skarn-type alteration in some areas of the borate deposits, and the transport of boron-rich fluids into immediate hanging walls of the orebodies. These boron-rich fluids reacted with the overlying aluminosilicate rocks to form tourmaline-rich layers and veins.


Identifying sources of larval production and subsequent dispersal paths is critical for evaluating the efficacy of marine protected areas. We assessed whether the Cowcod Conservation Area (CCA), the largest oceanic reserve in the Southern California Bight (SCB), established to conserve cowcod Sebastes levis, protects essential spawning habitat of another overfished rockfish, bocaccio S. paucispinis. To this end we investigated relationships between age-specific (recently hatched, preflexion and postflexion) larval distribution and abundance, environmental indicators (temperature, chlorophyll a), and depth between 2002 and 2004. Larval presence was consistently higher in the CCA than in surrounding areas of the SCB. Abundances of bocaccio larvae from all size classes peaked in 2004, which had relatively low sea surface temperature and high chlorophyll a. Depth and sea surface temperature or chlorophyll a were significantly related to the presence of recently hatched larvae, which were most common in cooler western CCA waters where chlorophyll a tended to be highest. In contrast, later stage larvae were not significantly related to depth, indicating that they had been advected from natal locations. Examination of current patterns and the distribution of older larvae suggested that the direction of larval transport varied among years, with mostly northwestward transport in 2002, a cyclonic recirculation feature that may have retained larvae within the CCA in 2003, and southwestward transport in 2004. These results demonstrate that spatial and temporal oceanographic heterogeneity affect larval distribution and transport in this region. We conclude that the CCA protects essential bocaccio spawning habitat and is an important source of bocaccio production in the SCB.


Visual (image and video) database systems require efficient indexing to enable fast access to the images in a database. In addition, the large memory capacity and channel bandwidth requirements for the storage and transmission of visual data necessitate the use of compression techniques. Vector quantization (VQ) is an efficient technique for low bit-rate image and video compression. In addition, the low complexity of the decoder makes VQ attractive for low power systems and applications which require fast decoding. In this paper, we present an indexing technique for compressed video using vector quantization. Here, a video sequence is first compressed using VQ. Each frame is represented by a usage map, a set of VQ labels, and a set of motion vectors. The video sequence is partitioned into shots and the various camera operations and motion within each shot are then determined by processing the VQ label maps. Each shot is indexed using a spatio-temporal index. The spatial index refers to the spatial content of the representative frame of a shot, while the temporal index represents the temporal content of the shot. The spatial index is based on the codewords used to compress the representative frame, while the temporal index is based on motion and camera operations within the shot. The proposed indexing technique is executed entirely in the compressed domain. This entails significant savings in computational and storage costs resulting in faster execution.


Abstract. Alexithymia can be defined as difficulties in describing one's emotions and is of interest within clinical and developmental psychology as a potential mediating and exacerbating factor across multiple forms of psychopathology. Measuring alexithymia via self-reports can be challenging, as those with heightened alexithymia may have difficulties in recognizing their alexithymia traits due to impaired metacognitive skills. Thus, there would be considerable benefits to the availability of a psychometrically validated parent-reported alexithymia measure that may circumvent the issue of self-reports. We, therefore, examined the psychometric properties of a new parent-reported alexithymia measure, the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children – Parent (AQC-P) in a community sample of 257 child-parent dyads. Furthermore, we examined the level of agreement between the parent-rated AQC-P and its self-rated counterpart, the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children (AQC). Confirmatory factor analysis found that an oblique three-factor structure provided the best model for both AQC-P and AQC, with this structure showing measurement invariance across child gender. All subscales had omega internal consistency values > .70, supporting their reliability. Cross-informant consistency was supported by significant correlations between AQC and AQC-P scores. Results support the use of the AQC-P as a measure of parent-reported alexithymia in children.


A study on heterosis for seed cotton yield and fibre quality traits was carried out at Agricultural Research Station, Dharwad farm during kharif 2017. The material comprised of 28 intraspecific hybrids, their parents and standard check DHH-11 which were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two replications. The analysis of variance indicated the presence of substantial variability among the experimental materials for yield and fibre quality traits. The hybrid KDHH-22 exhibited significant positive heterosis over the standard check for seed cotton yield per plant and ginning outturn. The hybrid KDHH-4 recorded high significant standard heterosis for number of sympodia per plant and uniformity ratio, as well as high mean performance for plant height and lint index. The other hybrid, KDHH-11 exhibited significant standard heterosis for seed index and fibre strength. The hybrids KDHH-9, KDHH-24, KDHH-19, KDHH-27 exhibited high significant the standard heterosis for number of monopodia per plant, number of bolls per plant, boll weight and micronaire value respectively in desirable direction. The cross KDHH-13 recorded significant heterosis over standard check for UHML and elongation. The hybrids KDHH-22, KDHH-1, KDHH-8, KDHH-7 and KDHH-6 were identified as best hybrids for seed cotton yield and fibre quality traits which can be exploited through heterosis breeding. K e y w o r d s


Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis is necessary but not a sufficient cause of tuberculosis. Various risk factors for tuberculosis development have been identified. Aim and objectives: To evaluate potential demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural and biological risk factors for tuberculosis in Croatia, a country with an intermediate burden. Methods: A total of 300 adult patients with culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis were matched for age, sex and county of residence to 300 controls randomly selected from general population. They were interviewed for variables broadly described potential risk factors. Results: In multiple logistic regression parents born in Bosnia and Herzegovina (OR= 3.90, 95%CI 2.01-7.58), the lowest level of education (OR=3.44, 95%CI 1.39-8.50), poor household equipment (OR= 4.72, 95%CI 1.51-14.76), unemployment (OR= 2.69, 95%CI 1.18-6.16), the contact with tuberculosis (OR=2.19, 95%CI 1.27-3.77), former (OR=2.27, 95%CI 1.19-4.33) and current smoking habits (OR=2.35, 95%CI 1.27-4.36), diabetes (OR=2.38, 95%CI 1.05-5.38), a malignant disease (OR=5.79, 95%CI 1.49-22.42), underweight in the previous year (OR=13.57, 95%CI 1.21-152.38) were significant. Conclusion: In our study, the identified risk groups for tuberculosis reflect the complex interaction between socioeconomic conditions, life-style and non-communicable diseases. Tuberculosis control in Croatia would benefit from the combination of broad public health activities aimed at prevention and the control of risky lifestyles and non-communicable diseases, interventions outside the health sector to combat poverty and efforts to constantly improve Croatian national tuberculosis programme.


Mafia and psychotherapy Abstract The work is built on Girolamo Lo Verso's work "The mafia in psychotherapy," a book which includes nearly two decades of studies on the psychology of Mafia and allows the reader to shed light on a little known field, both nationally and internationally, such as that relating to the therapeutic relationship with patients belonging to Mafia families, and under-stand the serious psychic consequences Mafia causes both in its members and those who get in touch with it for various reasons (citizens, victims, community ...). In addition to the presentation of the research carried out over the years, the description of numerous clinical cases which show the enormous pain and mental suffering in and out of cosa nostra appears to be particularly significant. Mafia in Psychotherapy appears to be an important tool for those involved in caring rela-tionships, since besides providing useful information for the understanding of these pa-tients' inner world, it also highlights the possible "relational traps" a therapist may encoun-ter, and this especially thanks to the presentation in the text of the results of a research on countertransference dynamics that are activated in the therapist, a specific countertransfer-ence which is different from those experienced by therapists who cope with similar psy-chopathological configurations, but not connected to Mafia. A journey through the maze of the "dark pain" inflicted by Mafia. An important contribution, the one offered by Lo Verso, not only for understanding and scientific investigation, but also to concretely contrast the phenomenon. Key word: Mafia, psychotherapy, psychopathology


With the advances in sensor technology, big data, and artificial intelligence, unobtrusive in-home health monitoring has been a research focus for decades. Following up our research on smart vehicles, within the framework of unobtrusive health monitoring in private spaces, this work attempts to provide a guide to current sensor technology for unobtrusive in-home monitoring by a literature review of the state of the art and to answer, in particular, the questions: (1) What types of sensors can be used for unobtrusive in-home health data acquisition? (2) Where should the sensors be placed? (3) What data can be monitored in a smart home? (4) How can the obtained data support the monitoring functions? We conducted a retrospective literature review and summarized the state-of-the-art research on leveraging sensor technology for unobtrusive in-home health monitoring. For structured analysis, we developed a four-category terminology (location, unobtrusive sensor, data, and monitoring functions). We acquired 912 unique articles from four relevant databases (ACM Digital Lib, IEEE Xplore, PubMed, and Scopus) and screened them for relevance, resulting in n=55 papers analyzed in a structured manner using the terminology. The results delivered 25 types of sensors (motion sensor, contact sensor, pressure sensor, electrical current sensor, etc.) that can be deployed within rooms, static facilities, or electric appliances in an ambient way. While behavioral data (e.g., presence (n=38), time spent on activities (n=18)) can be acquired effortlessly, physiological parameters (e.g., heart rate, respiratory rate) are measurable on a limited scale (n=5). Behavioral data contribute to functional monitoring. Emergency monitoring can be built up on behavioral and environmental data. Acquired physiological parameters allow reasonable monitoring of physiological functions to a limited extent. Environmental data and behavioral data also detect safety and security abnormalities. Social interaction monitoring relies mainly on direct monitoring of tools of communication (smartphone; computer). In summary, convincing proof of a clear effect of these monitoring functions on clinical outcome with a large sample size and long-term monitoring is still lacking.


Inflammation is a hallmark of brucellosis. Although Brucella abortus , one of the disease's etiologic agents, possesses cytokine-stimulatory properties, the mechanism by which this bacterium triggers a proinflammatory response is not known. We examined the mechanism whereby heat-killed B. abortus (HKBA), as well as its LPS, induces production of inflammatory cytokines in monocytes/macrophages. Polymyxin B, a specific inhibitor of LPS activity, did not inhibit the production of TNF- (cid:1) - and IL-6-induced HKBA in the human monocytic cell line THP-1. HKBA induced the production of these cytokines in peritoneal macrophages of both C3H/HeJ and C3H/HeN mice, whereas B. abortus LPS only stimulated cells from C3H/HeN mice. Anti-TLR2 Ab, but not anti-TLR4 Ab, blocked HKBA-mediated TNF- (cid:1) and IL-6 production in THP-1 cells. Because bacterial lipoproteins, a TLR2 ligand, have potent inherent stimulatory properties, we investigated the capacity of two B. abortus lipoproteins, outer membrane protein 19 (Omp19) and Omp16, to elicit a proinflammatory response. Lipidated (L)-Omp16 and L-Omp19, but not their unlipidated forms, induced the secretion of TNF- (cid:1) , IL-6, IL-10, and IL-12 in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. Preincubation of THP-1 cells with anti-TLR2 Ab blocked L-Omp19-mediated TNF- (cid:1) and IL-6 production. Together, these results entail a mechanism whereby B. abortus can stimulate cells from the innate immune system and induce cytokine-mediated inflammation in brucellosis. We submit that LPS is not the cause of inflammation in brucellosis; rather, lipoproteins of this organism trigger the production of proinflammatory cytokines, and TLR2 is involved in this process. The Journal of Immunology, 2004, 173: 4635–4642.


The American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM) is pleased to announce that more than 9,000 of the Diplomates who certified or recertified in 2004 successfully met the deadline to complete their Stage One requirements for Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians (MC-FP). By completing these requirements, these Diplomates are eligible to remain on track for the 3-year extension of their current certificate, creating a 10-year certificate. The 2004 Diplomates are the second group to complete Stage One, almost matching the number of 2003 Diplomates who successfully completed Stage One the previous year. Of the 2004 Diplomates, 80% have successfully completed Stage One requirements, compared to 81% of 2003 Diplomates who successfully completed Stage One requirements.

The first 3-year stage of the MC-FP process requires completing either 3 Part II Modules (SAMs), or 2 Part II Modules and 1 Part IV Module (PPM or approved alternate). The ABFM recently announced that all participants who begin MC-FP during 2004–2010 will have the choice of completing 2 Part II modules and 1 Part IV module or 3 Part II modules to fulfill Stage One requirements.

Stage Two and Stage Three both require the completion of 2 Part II Modules (SAMs) and 1 Part IV Module (PPM or approved alternate). The 2004 group must successfully complete Stage Two requirements by December 31, 2010, after which Diplomates will earn the 3-year extension to their 7-year certificate. These requirements may be completed anytime prior to the deadline, and the ABFM Web site will immediately indicate the 3-year extension; however, the 10-year certificate will not be mailed to the Diplomates until the end of Stage Two (December 31, 2010).

MC-FP consists of 4 elements, each designed to assess 4 important physician characteristics: professionalism (Part I), self-assessment and lifelong learning (Part II), cognitive expertise (Part III), and performance in practice (Part IV). The requirements for each of the three 3-year Stages, as explained above, fulfill Part II and Part IV of MC-FP. Professionalism (Part I) requires a currently valid, full, and unrestricted license to practice medicine in the United States or Canada. Cognitive Expertise (Part III) involves the successful completion of a cognitive examination.

After a Diplomate has entered MC-FP, all components must be completed to be eligible to sit for the examination. Failure to pass the cognitive examination by the end of the MC-FP cycle results in the loss of certification. To begin MC-FP or to keep track of MC-FP progress, Diplomates may visit the ABFM Web site at http://www.theabfm.org and login to the physician's portfolio section. The ABFM has updated its Web site to reflect the 7-year or 10-year track chosen by the Diplomate.


According to the FBI, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that claimed the lives of 2,973 innocent civilians required as much as $500,000 to stage. At the time, al Qaeda, the jihadi terrorist organization responsible for the mass killings, was operating on an annual budget between $30 and $50 million. However, despite the obvious fact that terrorists need money to support their terrorist operations and organizational infrastructure, prior to 9/11, preventing the financing of terrorism was not a priority for the United States or international community. Moreover, a comprehensive legal framework to deprive terrorists of funding had not been developed. Unfunding Terror: The Legal Response to the Financing of Global Terrorism examines the legal framework that evolved immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The principal legal components of that strategy include: (1) freezing the assets, both domestically and internationally, of terrorists, terrorist organizations, and their sympathizers; (2) implementing regulatory measures to prevent terrorists from using the financial system as a conduit to facilitate terrorist financing; (3) the development of international standards to prevent the financing of terrorism; (4) criminal enforcement actions against terrorist financiers and their front entities; and (5) private civil causes of actions against the financial aiders and abettors of terrorism. The book further analyzes whether the legal response has been effective in disrupting and depriving al Qaeda, Taliban, and affiliated terrorist organizations of funding, identifying important successes as well as failures and shortcomings. Finally, Unfunding Terror proposes several recommendations to strengthen the legal framework to deny terrorists the money needed to wage a global jihad, acquire weapons of mass destruction, and launch a terrorist attack on the scale of what occurred on September 11.


Streaming real time video over wireless networks cannot guarantee that all the frames could meet their deadlines. Wireless networks may suffer from bandwidth limitations. To reduce the streaming data over wireless networks, we propose a technique to identify, and extract the Region Of Interest (ROI), and drop the non-ROI from the frames that are between the reference frames. The Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD) will compute the consecutive video frames to identify the ROI as it considered the most motion and important region. The reconstruction mechanism to the non-ROI is performed on the mobile side by applying linear interpolation between the reference frames. We evaluate the proposed approach by using Mean Opinion Score (MOS) measurements. MOS are used to evaluate the two scenarios with equivalent encoding size, where the users observe the first scenario with a low bit rate for the original videos, while for the second scenario the users observe our proposed approach. The results show that our technique significantly reduces the amount of data, while the reconstruction mechanism provides acceptable video quality to the mobile viewers.


This paper describes a risk model for estimating the likelihood of collisions at low-exposure railway level crossings, demonstrating the effect that differences in safety integrity can have on the likelihood of a collision. The model facilitates the comparison of safety benefits between level crossings with passive controls (stop or give-way signs) and level crossings that have been hypothetically upgraded with conventional or low-cost warning devices. The scenario presented illustrates how treatment of a cross-section of level crossings with low-cost devices can provide a greater safety benefit compared with treatment with conventional warning devices for the same budget.


This is a Joint Project Development (JPD) (Fielding et al (2005) is situated at two FE Colleges in the North of England. Vocational students at FE colleges often demonstrate low levels of literacy diminished self-confidence. (Burke 2001) states a Neoliberal education agenda has caused a 'literacy crisis'. Many vocational students are resistant to literacy strategies preferring practical engagement. This study explores how literacy proficiency, increase citizenship, community and mental health well-being might be improved via pedagogical interventions in critical thinking (CT). In particular this research takes the position that introducing participants to philosophical debate may deflect issues (Beck 2013) that polarize society. For example, the rise in fake news, far-Right extremists and the demonisation of immigration. By discussing these concerns, in Critical Thinking interventions including Lipman;s (2003) Community of Enquiry and a Debate Club, the study identifies how students develop skills in CT and citizenship by listening to each others' stories, sharing ideas. The small-scale study explores the extent to which CT interventions which begin in oracy can impact on the development of literacy. The research population consists of 34 volunteers meeting over five weeks. Emerging findings suggest that CT interventions can help students, lecturers, technicians and support staff find voice as they find connection. Tentative findings show that CT interventions increased engagement and enjoyment of literacy. Emerging findings also indicate that the Debate Club creates a safe space, a non-judgemental arena for points of view; it develops a social conscience, concept of self-restraint, the development of a moral compass, and an internalised citizenship. Early findings also point to how participation in these interventions encourages a culture in which students are decent, kind, caring, considerate, creative, towards each other, aware of individual contributions and of contributions to the community as a whole.


To the Editor .—Astudillo et al 1 recently reported that pneumoperitoneum is a valuable adjunct as a preparatory technique prior to repair of ventral hernias. However, the use of air for this procedure should be regarded with unease. Reports of air embolism from the introduction of air into the peritoneum, either diagnostically or surreptitiously, has the potential for a fatal outcome. Carbon dioxide has been used for more recent diagnostic procedures, such as laparoscopy, and embolic accidents with this gas are not likely to cause injury. Perhaps, with the increasing use of induced pneumoperitoneum as an adjunct to repair of ventral hernias, the danger of using air as the inflating gas should stimulate the singular use of a rapidly absorbed and excreted gas such as carbon dioxide.


Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are a vital component for automotive applications which require an accurate and reliable absolute localization solution robust against multiple failure modes. Although GNSS has become common in many of our devices, standalone GNSS does not achieve the accuracy or safety requirements for automotive system manufactures. To resolve this problem GNSS correction service providers have begun broadcasting correction and integrity information to augment the performance of standalone GNSS.

As the number of OEM GNSS equipment manufactures and correction service providers continues to grow, the reliance on proprietary, closed communication protocols limits end-user's flexibility. For this reason, the Safe Position Augmentation for Real-time Navigation (SPARTN) format has been developed by a consortium of GNSS service providers and OEM GNSS equipment manufactures to establish an open, state-of-the art communication standard for GNSS corrections. Released in January 2020, the SPARTN format provides an industry recognized standard that supports wide and global area broadcasts through a combination of low bandwidth, accuracy, availability, reliability, and integrity for safety of life applications. The format has been design with the ISO 26262 and IEC 61508 safety standards in mind and has already been implemented by multiple users for safety critical applications.

The SPARTN format offers flexibility for service providers to tailor their solution to the end-user specifications. Currently, support for all major GNSS including GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou and QZSS are provided along with the capability to support the large selection of signal and track types. Additionally, the format has support for proprietary messages which may allow service providers even more flexibility to differentiate their service against their competitors by providing supplementary information.

The format inherently supports encryption and authentication concepts to protect confidentiality and ensure the origin of the correction data. Currently users of the format can take advantage of state-of-the-art security algorithms which consider a 15+ year horizon, can operate in both resource constrained environment as well as integrate with hardware security modules, and are scalable to an unlimited number of users.

From a GNSS integrity view point, the format incorporates many of the concepts recommended for state-of-the art receiver autonomous integrity monitoring (RAIM) algorithms including system design parameters such as probability of failures, GNSS network design parameters for threat modelling at the end-user along with the traditional line-of-sight and atmosphere quality indicators.

The presentation will provid an update on the current status of the format, provide a road map for future feature support, demonstrate performance in automotive environments and discuss opportunities for service providers and position engine clients to benefit from the open format.


OBJECTIVE To describe use of medication simultaneously with antihypertensive drugs that can cause inadequate pharmacological control of hypertension (HTA). DESIGN A descriptive observational retrospective study. SETTING Four urban health care center, Valencia. PARTICIPANTS 389 patients with hypertension and chronic treatment card opened (TLT). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Were collected from de TLT and from the health history (HS) the number and type of drugs used against the hypertension and drugs with hypertensive effects, and number of potential interactions, type and duration of simultaneous treatment. 32.39% of the study subjects used drugs with potential hypertensive effects. The mean of interactions found were 1.75; 145 drugs were responsible of the 220 potential interactions found, 66.89% were non-steroids anti-inflammatory drugs (AINEs) and 23.45% antacids; 6.43% of the patients used another drug that increases by itself blood pressure; 96% of them were glucocorticoids. Jointly administration of drugs with potential antihypertensive effect occurs in 63.18% among drugs chronically prescribed. In a 28.45% the concurrent treatment was kept longer than 9 months. CONCLUSIONS The third part of the hypertensive patients with pharmacological treatment, during a year-long period, used any moment, some drug with potential hypertensive effect. The third part of them this simultaneous treatment was kept for more than 9 months. It is necessary to take into account the use of other drugs simultaneously with antihypertensive drugs.


The techniques used in the localization of antigens in histologic tissues are reviewed. The principles and conditions for successful antibody-antigen binding are presented. The importance of fixation is stressed. The advantages and disadvantages of monoclonal antibodies over polyclonal antisera are described. Applications of immunocytochemical techniques in diagnostic surgical pathology and cytology are discussed.


A facile, template-free and easily scalable approach has been developed for the preparation of Co3O4 nanorings, which can be divided into two stages: (1) formation of CoOOH nanorings and (2) high-temperature calcination of CoOOH nanorings in air. The key step for the synthesis of Co3O4 nanorings is the formation of CoOOH nanorings, prepared by the oxidation of β-Co(OH)2 nanoplates with H2O2 under strong basic conditions. The plausible growth mechanism governing the formation of CoOOH nanorings was correlated with Ostwald ripening. It was found that the dosage of H2O2 played a vital role in the formation of CoOOH nanorings. To a large extent, other experimental variables including the H2O2 concentration, Co2+ concentration, the molar ratio of Co2+ to OH− and the reaction temperature did not affect the preparation of the CoOOH nanorings. Furthermore, the as-prepared Co3O4 nanorings exhibited superior activity in comparison with Co3O4 nanoplates and commercial Co3O4 towards the catalytic decomposition of H2O2. The apparent rate constant of the as-prepared Co3O4 nanorings was 0.38 min−1, which is 2.2 times the value of Co3O4 nanoplates.


Modeling Operational Requirements This paper describes the development of parametric models for estimating operational reliability and maintainability (R&M) characteristics for reusable vehicle concepts, based on vehicle size and technology support level. A R&M analysis tool (RMAT) and response surface methods are utilized to build parametric approximation models for rapidly estimating operational R&M characteristics such as mission completion reliability. These models that approximate RMAT, can then be utilized for fast analysis of operational requirements, for lifecycle cost estimating and for multidisciplinary sign optimization.


Existing solutions for analysis and optimization of manufacturing processes, such as online analysis processing or statistical calculations, have shortcomings that limit continuous process improvements. In particular, they lack means of storing and integrating the results of analysis. This makes the valuable information that can be used for process optimizations used only once and then disposed. The goal of the Advanced Manufacturing Analytics (AdMA) research project is to design an integrated platform for data-driven analysis and optimization of manufacturing processes using analytical techniques, especially data mining, in order to carry out continuous improvement of production. The achievement of this goal is based on the integration of the data related to the manufacturing processes, especially from Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), with the other operating data, e.g. from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This work is based on AdMA platform described in [1] and Deep Business Process Optimization platform described in [2]. It is focused on the conceptual development of the Process Insight Repository, which is a part of the AdMA platform. The Process Insight Repository is aimed at storing the manufacturing process related data and the insights associated with it. Being part of the AdMA platform, the Process Insight Repository is oriented on storing the insights retrieved by application of data mining techniques to the data of manufacturing processes, so that the newly extracted knowledge can be stored along with the process data itself. Chapter 2 describes the conceptual schema of the Process Insight Repository. The conceptual schema defines what data must be stored in the Process Insight Repository and how different parts of this data are interconnected. Chapter 3 provides a review of technologies that can be used for the implementation of the Process Insight Repository. This includes technologies for storing manufacturing process data, free form knowledge and data mining related data. Chapter 4 describes the details of the prototype implementation of the Process Insight Repository. The result of this work is the created conceptual schema of the Process Insight Repository and a prototype implementation as a proof of concept.


Abstract The events which affected the Iranian sector of the Southern Tethyan margin of the Arabian continent during the Cretaceous differed from those that took place in Oman, although they were clearly related to them. Extensional faulting, parallel to the shelf margin, commenced locally in the Cenomanian and culminated later in the Cretaceous with the expulsion of mantle material to the surface. This engulfed the shelf edge before gliding southwestwards over a complementary intra-shelf basin. These events took place progressively later towards the north-west, and are interpreted as an unsuccessful attempt to develop a spreading axis along the continental margin. They were followed by a return to shelf sedimentation at the southern edge of Tethys, which closed finally in the early Miocene. It is suggested that the Oman and Iranian sectors of the Arabian margin were offset some 300 km by a north-south transform fault, and that the differences between the two regions were therefore due to attempted spreading in different tectonic environments in the late Cretaceous.


Research on human brain development and neurological diseases is limited by the lack of advanced experimental in vitro models that truly recapitulate the complexity of the human brain. Furthermore, animal models of human neurodegenerative diseases have failed dramatically, and the success rate of clinical trials based on these models has been disappointing. Here, we describe a novel and robust human brain organoid system that is highly specific to the midbrain derived from regionally patterned neuroepithelial stem cells. These human midbrain organoids contain spatially organized groups of dopaminergic neurons, which make them an attractive model to study Parkinson's disease. Midbrain organoids are characterized in detail for neuronal, astroglial and oligodendrocyte differentiation. Furthermore, we show the presence of synaptic connections and electrophysiological activity. The complexity of this model is further highlighted by the myelination of neurites. The present midbrain organoid system has the potential to be used for advanced in vitro disease modeling and therapy development.


The city of Amsterdam set the ambitious target of having local zero emission transport in 2025. To achieve this challenging goal, the network of public charging stations needs to be developed. This expansion will increase the load on the local electrical network. To avoid overload and instability in the electrical distribution network, smart charging needs to be implemented. During a period of 8 months, from January to Augustus 2018, the Flexpower 1 pilot is one of the 6 pilots of the SEEV4-City project, supported by the North Sea Region Interreg programme. From the 2100 public charging stations present at this time across the city of Amsterdam, 102 were selected for a split-run testing. 50 of the charging stations were used as reference with a constant available charging current of 25 A. The other 52 were deployed with a time dependent current limitation. During the peak hours, in the morning, from 7:00 to 8:00 and in the evening from 17:00 to 20:00, the current available for the charging stations is limited to prevent overload. Outside these hours, the current is set to 35 A, a higher value than the reference stations.


A preliminary field investigation was carried out in a 10 km reach of Cumbarjua Canal, Goa, India, where the sediment is in the fine size range, and the flow is primarily tide-induced. Results based on observations made during February, 1980, suggest that in fair weather, under typically moderate tides, the suspended sediment concentrations are low, and the shearing rates in the flow are low to moderate. Aggregation of the flocculated kaolinitic sediment occurs, but the aggregates have low settling velocities of the order of 10(to the power -4) m/sec. The rate of sediment transport is generally low as well. There appears to be a net transport of sediment from Zuari River towards the Tonca-Surlafonda region where consolidated shoals have formed. Wind-induced waves play a significant role in contributing to the suspended sediment load


INTRODUCTION
We describe the current management of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) over 12 months in Greece.

METHODS
This was a prospective observational study in ACS patients undergoing PCI from September 2008 to April 2009, capturing practices over 12 months at 22 sites that enrolled 558 eligible patients.

RESULTS
A total of 351 patients suffered from unstable angina or non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (UA/ NSTEMI), while 207 patients suffered from ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). For the UA/NSTEMI group, the median age was 64 years (interquartile range: 55-73), while for the STEMI group the median age was 56 years (interquartile range: 49-66). Stents were placed in 96.4% of patients: bare-metal stents alone were placed in 19% of patients, drug-eluting stents alone in 77.5% of patients, and both types of stent in 3.5% of patients. 74% of UA/NSTEMI patients and 87% of STEMI patients received the first antiplatelet loading dose within 1 day of the episode. 76% of UA/NSTEMI patients underwent PCI within 3 days following the initial ACS symptoms, while 67% of STEMI patients underwent PCI within 1 day of the ACS symptoms. Follow-up data were available for 540 (96.8%) patients. The percentages of patients on antiplatelet therapy and on other medications at the time of hospital discharge and at 12 months post-PCI were as follows: aspirin 98%, 97%; clopidogrel 99%, 96%; statins 81%, 79%; beta-blockers 73%, 72%; calcium blockers 11%, 11%; angiotensin II receptor blockers/angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors 64%, 62%; proton-pump inhibitors 39%, 35%.

CONCLUSIONS
In ACS patients treated with PCI in Greece, dual antiplatelet treatment is maintained in a very high percentage through 1 year post-procedure, and drug-eluting stent use is also high.


Embedded software design for real time reactive systems has become the bottleneck in their market introduction into complex products such as automobiles, airplanes, and industrial control plant. In particular, functional correctness and reactive performance are increasingly difficult to verify. The advent of model-based design methodologies has alleviated some of the verification-related problems by making the code-generation process flow automatically from the model description. Given the relative infancy of this approach, several companies rely upon design flows based on different tools connected together by file transfer. This way of integrating tools defeats the very purpose of the methodology, introducing a high potential of errors in the transformation from one format to another and preventing formal analysis of the properties of the design. We propose to adopt a formal transformation across different tools and we give an example of this approach by linking two tools that are widely used in the automotive domain, Simulink and ASCET. We believe that this approach can be applied to any embedded software design flow to leverage the power of all the tools in the flow.


In the previous chapters, disaster education was discussed based on the aspect of the place where disaster education was conducted – in school, in the household, and in the community. Generally, school disaster education is regarded as formal disaster education, while household and community disaster education as informal disaster education. School-based stand-alone courses are perhaps the easiest programs to implement on a large scale and within a short time frame (Petal, 2009). However, to achieve community-based disaster management, stakeholder involvement is important. If students learn with the community, the learning may be regarded as informal or semi-formal education. When the community, including students, learn about disaster management, local contexts are important to be considered. Anticipated hazards, stakeholders, availability of human and physical resources, extent of threatened or affected area, culture, history, and other various factors can be taken into account. In addition, when the community and students learn together, there are at least two actors. This means that disaster education programs should focus on both community members and students as the target learners. Therefore, such education programs cannot be discussed from the aspect of place of education like school, community, or household. Shaw and Takeuchi (2008) emphasized the importance of the participatory approach. Thus, it is necessary to consider how education programs should be conducted. As described before, it is necessary to consider various factors and situations in order to provide disaster education programs that meet local contexts. In this regard, a standardized disaster education program is not appropriate. Therefore, people/organizations who/that organize disaster education programs should need to play important roles so that the disaster education program becomes effective. In other words, the organizers need to consider how they provide disaster education as well as what they provide.


Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a deadly cancer for which no diagnostic or prevention plan currently exists since this cancer is asymptomatic in its early development. The very specific and complex tumor microenvironment of PC is responsible for the unsuccessful delivery of therapeutics molecules to tumor cells. For high throughput testing of new molecules, there is a crucial need for more accurate preclinical model. For the first time, we integrated in a microfluidic system 5 major features of PC microenvironment: i) type-I collagen (CI), ii) hyaluronic acid (HA), iii) pancreatic stellate cells (SC), iv) interstitial fluid flow and v) nutrient and oxygen gradients. We showed long 3D culture (30 days). Furthermore, we implemented, thanks to the perfusion capability, the actual FOLFIRINOX protocol to assess the IC50 and we showed that dynamic conditions induce increased chemoresistance compared to 3D static.


Aim. To evaluate endometrial histological morphology in patients with androgen excess disorders regarding the menstrual pattern.
Material and methods: The material was 231 patients aged 18-35 years (average 23,46 ± 4,38) who were hospitalized in the Gynecologic Endocrinology Department of the Warsaw Medical University due to androgen excess disorders from 2003 to 2005. The patients were divided into 4 groups depending on menstrual pattern, eumenorrhoea (n=66), polymenorrhoea (n=32), oligomenorrhoea (n=93) and secondary amenorrhoea (n=40). The control group was 40 healthy women with normal menstrual patterns and no symptoms of hyperandrogenism. The following data was analyzed in every patient: age, menarche age, body mass index and endometrium histological findings obtained with the Pipelle probe aspiration. Statistic analysis was performed and the values of p<0,05 were assumed to be significant.
Results: Out of 231(100%) patients with androgen excess disorders in 75 (32,47%) secretory endometrium was observed. 30 patients (12,99%) had mixed type endometrium and 117 (50,66%) had proliferative. Aspiration biopsy revealed polypoid endometrium in 6 women (2,59%) and endometrial hyperplasia without cellular atypia in 3 patients (1,29%). In patient with oligomenorrhoea and secondary amenorrhoea proliferative endometrium was observed significantly more often (p<0,001 and p<0,001). Secretory endometrium respectively more seldom in the very study groups (p<0,001 and p<0,001). In patient with normal menstrual cycles secretory endometrium was significantly less frequently detected (p<0,01).
Conclusion: Patients with the androgen excess disorders significantly more frequently present the prolonged proliferative endometrium phase.The performed studies confirm the thesis that with the intensification of the menstrual pattern disorders more often the pathology of the endometrium maturation in women with androgen excess is observed.


$30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ and $90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ Shockley partial dislocations lying in ${111}$ and basal planes of cubic and hexagonal silicon carbide, respectively, are investigated theoretically. Density-functional-based tight-binding total-energy calculations are used to determine the core structure and energetics of the dislocations. In a second step their electronic structure is investigated using a pseudopotential method with a Gaussian basis set. Finally, the thermal activation barriers to glide motion of $30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ and $90\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ Shockley partials are calculated in terms of a process involving the formation and migration of kinks along the dislocation line. The mechanism for enhanced dislocation movement observed under current injection conditions in bipolar silicon carbide devices is discussed.


Using a database of sixty-two different technologies, we study the issue of forecasting technological progress. We do so using the following methodology: pretending to be at a given time in the past, we forecast technology prices for years up to present day. Since our forecasts are in the past, we refer to it as hindcasting and analyze the predictions relative to what happened historically. We use hindcasting to evaluate a variety of different hypotheses for technological improvement. Our results indicate that forecasts using production are better than those using time. This conclusion is robust when analyzing randomly chosen subsets of our technology database. We then turn to investigating the interdependence of revenue and technological progress. We derive analytically an upper bound to the rate of technology improvement given the condition of increasing revenue and show empirically that all technologies fall within our derived bound. Our results suggest the observed advantage of using production models for forecasting is due in part to the direct relationship between production and revenue.


The widespread species Escherichia coli includes a broad variety of different types, ranging from highly pathogenic strains to avirulent isolates. Few microorganisms are as versatile as E. coli. Pathogenic strains remain a leading cause of severe and persistent infant diarrhea in developing countries. They may be limited to colonization of a mucosal surface or can disseminate throughout the body and have been implicated in urinary tract infection, sepsis/meningitis and gastrointestinal infection. The human gastrointestinal tract is susceptible to diarrheagenic E. coli infections. Escherichia coli have effectively managed to subvert the host cytoskeleton for their own purposes causing substantial diarrheal disease, a major public health problem worldwide. This review deals with the different strategies regarding E. coli as a pathogen and the virulence traits of its pathotypes highlighting the species as a commensal, opportunistic and specialized pathogen.


We propose a new, fast, and accurate numerical technique for analyzing single-mode optical fibers with arbitrary (transverse) refractive index profile. The method is based upon a Pade (rational) approximation of the spectral domain Green's function of the fiber, obtained by solving a hierarchy of static problems. The sought eigenfrequency and modal field are accordingly estimated by computing, respectively, the dominant pole and the related residual of the rational approximant. Numerical simulations and comparison with known analytical results indicate that the proposed method is highly accurate, reliable, and computationally affordable.


We prove a joint universality theorem for a collection of periodic Hurwitz zeta-functions with algebraically independent parameters over the field of rational numbers.


Fisheries observer data were used to model the distribution of seabird encounters in order to identify potential areas for fisheries closures. Data from the Australian Eastern Tuna and Billfish Fishery (ETBF) in the Tasman Sea were used, and the focal species was the flesh-footed shearwater Puffinus carneipes Gould, 1844 (the species most commonly killed in this fishery). Encounters between flesh-footed shearwaters and longline fishing vessels varied with season, distance from Lord Howe Island, and a number of environmental and oceanographic variables. Encounters were most common south-west of Lord Howe Island, in waters associated with the Tasman Front and the East Australian Current. The resulting model was used to predict overlaps between fisheries and flesh-footed shearwaters during 3 years (1997-98, 2003-04 and 2006-07). During 2003-04, high rates of interaction were predicted in areas with high fishing effort and high observed mortality rates of shearwaters. In 2006-07 most fishing was well to the north of areas with predictions of high interaction rates, and seabird bycatch was low. The shift in fishing locations coincided, and was likely driven by, a change in the fish species targeted by the majority of the fishery. This indicates that the most likely reason for falling bycatch rates in this fishery were movements of the fishing effort away from the birds, rather than changes in fishing technique. These results emphasise the potential of area closures as a method of bycatch mitigation for species that are proving intractable to standard bycatch reduction methods. Our results demonstrate that data collected from fisheries vessels can be used to identify characteristic areas of interactions.


Vigilantism is a practice that is encountered relatively infrequently in the affluent states of the Global North. However, in many other regions that are inadequately serviced by state security, vigilantism is perceived by many locals as offering the only meaningful response to crime and social deviance. The Zandspruit Informal Settlement, located on the northern outskirts of Johannesburg, is one such area. Amidst an appallingly high rate of violent crime, the residents of this densely populated shantytown regularly witness and indeed participate in vigilante attacks. Despite its persistence, local attitudes towards vigilantism are complex and range from outright opposition and horror to grim acceptance and sanguinary enthusiasm. By analysing semi-structured interview data taken from 43 residents and workers in the Zandspruit area, this thesis seeks to explore and articulate the various local perspectives of this normalised but highly destructive social phenomena.


The advent of monoclonal antibodies offers abundant potential benefits to diagnosis and therapy of many conditions. However, with widespread use come greater concerns regarding possible side effects and complications. Antibodies, including monoclonals, react with antigens which may be represented on tissues other than those to which they were raised. Although histochemical surveys of tissues may be performed, these may not necessarily be predictive of in vivo cross-reactivities. This consideration mandates carefully performed preclinical toxicological studies prior to use in humans. For murine monoclonal antibodies, the type most commonly available, issues related to potential immunogenicity are of paramount concern. Very little substantive information has accrued regarding the prevalence of these antibodies in the general population, the mechanism by which these antibodies are elicited, or the predictive value of assays for their detection. This knowledge is crucial for the development of strategies for blunting or controlling the human anti-mouse antibody response. Contaminants in manufactured monoclonals also pose inherent danger to recipients. Among those commonly encountered are microbes, DNA, and manufacturing reagents (e.g., sera, column components, and tissue culture additives). Strict adherence to proper manufacturing technique usually will minimize these concerns. However, in the absence of well-defined cause/effect relationships between toxicity (theoretical or real) and agent, complacency that a given product is safe is ill-advised. The Food and Drug Administration has disseminated a compilation of concerns and suggestions for addressing them in the document "Points to consider in the manufacture and testing of monoclonal antibody products for human use." The precepts outlined in that document and a close working relationship between manufacturers of monoclonal products and scientifically astute regulators together represent an effective approach to minimizing the risks of monoclonal therapy in diverse patient populations.


Hyperthermia is a type of cancer treatment in which cancer cells are exposed to high temperatures (up to 44–45°C). Research has shown that high temperatures can damage and kill cancer cells, by a localized and concentrated heating source. By killing cancer cells and damaging proteins and structures within cells, hyperthermia may shrink tumors, with minimal injury to normal tissues. Penne's bio-heat equation is used to model a heat diffusion process inside a tumor, modeled as a spherical domain with magnetic nanoparticles distributed within the diseased tissue. These magnetic particles are considered as point heat sources. Heat is generated as the result of magnetic relaxation mechanisms (Brownian and Neel relaxation) by the application of alternating magnetic fields. The Bio-Heat equation is solved using Monte Carlo techniques. Monte Carlo simulations are based on departing random walkers from the point where temperature is going to be determined. The probability in each step of the random walk is given by the coefficients of the nodal temperatures after a Finite Difference Discretization of the Penne's bio-heat diffusion equation. The main advantage of Monte Carlo simulations versus classical numerical methods lies in the possibility of solving the temperature in a specific point without solving for all the points within the domain. This feature and the fact that each random walk is independent from each other results in an easy parallelization of the computer code. Parametric studies of the temperature profiles are carried out to study the effect of different parameters like the heat generation rate, perfusion rate and diameter of the point source on the maximum temperature and on the temperature profile.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


The small intestine is the third in frequency intraperitoneal organ which is injured after blunt trauma of the abdomen. In most of the cases, this type of injuries is accompanied by other injuries, which make it more difficult to diagnose. Failure of diagnosis and delay in treating these injuries significantly increase the morbidity and mortality of these patients. Abdominal visceral injuries after flipping the handlebar of the bike are common in children. Such injuries can cause injury to both solid and hollow abdominal viscera. Unlike children, adults' abdominal visceral injuries after flipping the bike's handlebar are extremely rare. A 25-year-old man was admitted to our department due to progressively abdominal pain after an accident with the handlebar of his bike. The subsequent CT scan after per os administration of contrast medium revealed the presence of free intraperitoneal contrast. It is a rare case of jejunal perforation after flipping the handlebar of the bicycle which was treated by partial removal of the injured part of jejunum and end-to-end anastomosis. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time we describe such an injury with this mechanism to an adult.