Fan deltas are excellent recorders of fan‐building processes because of their high sedimentation rate, particularly in tectonically active settings. Although previous research focuses mainly on allogenic controls, there is clear evidence for autogenically produced storage and release of sediment by flume and numerical modelling that demands further definition of characteristics and significance of autogenically forced facies and stratigraphy. Analogue experiments were performed on fan deltas with constant extrinsic variables (discharge, sediment supply, sea‐level and basin relief) to demonstrate that fan‐delta evolution consists of prominent cyclic alternations of channellized flow and sheet flow. The channellized flow is initiated by slope‐induced scouring and subsequent headward erosion to form a channel that connected with the valley, while the removed sediment is deposited in a rapidly prograding delta lobe. The resulting decrease in channel gradient causes a reduction in flow strength, mouth‐bar formation, flow bifurcation and progressive backfilling of the channel. In the final stage of channel filling, sheet flow coexists for a while with channellized flow (semi‐confined flow), although in cycle 1 this phase of semi‐confined flow was absent. Subsequent autocyclic incisions are very similar in morphology and gradient. However, they erode deeper into the delta plain and, as a result, take more time to backfill. The duration of the semi‐confined flow increases with each subsequent cycle. During the period of sheet flow, the delta plain aggrades up to the 'critical' gradient required for the initiation of autocyclic incision. This critical gradient is dependent on the sediment transport capacity, defined by the input conditions. These autogenic cycles of erosion and aggradation confirm earlier findings that storage and release of sediment and associated slope variation play an important role in fan‐delta evolution. The erosional surfaces produced by the autocyclic incisions are well‐preserved by the backfilling process in the deposits of the fan deltas. These erosional surfaces can easily be misinterpreted as climate, sea‐level or tectonically produced bounding surfaces.


AGING AND MUSCLE FATIGABILITY IN THE UPPER EXTREMITY Andrew Kuplic Marquette University, 2017 Aging is accompanied by reductions in strength and contraction velocity, and increased fatigability of limb muscles during high-velocity dynamic contractions. These age-related changes affect functional tasks and are well described for the lower limb, with less known about the upper limb muscles. The aims of the thesis were to compare in young and old men and women: (1) maximal torque and power of the elbow flexor muscles across a range of isokinetic velocities, and (2) the neural (supraspinal) and muscular mechanisms of fatigue induced by high-velocity dynamic contractions of the elbow flexor muscles. 28 young (23.2 ± 2.6 years) men (n = 14) and women (n = 14) and 33 (72.6 ± 5.6 years) old men (n = 18) and women (n = 15) with the elbow flexor muscles performed: (1) maximal isokinetic contractions at 15 velocities to assess strength and power (0450°/s), and (2) a dynamic fatiguing task involving 80 fast, maximal-effort contractions with a load equivalent to 20% of maximal voluntary isometric torque (MVIC). Before and after the fatiguing task the following were assessed: voluntary activation using motor cortical stimulation as a measure of supraspinal fatigue, and contractile properties evoked with electrical stimulation as a measure of muscular mechanisms. The elbow flexor muscles of the old adults were weaker and less powerful than young adults across all the velocities assessed (P<0.01), although voluntary activation was similar between the age groups (P>0.05). Some young and old adults were not able attain higher contraction velocities, primarily driven by the women. Old adults were more fatigable than young adults (P<0.001, 15% difference) with now sex differences (P>0.05). Old adults exhibited a larger reduction in voluntary activation (P=0.036, 7.5% age difference) and greater increase in relaxation in the old adults (55%) than the young (36%) following the fatiguing task. The elbow flexor muscles of old men and women were weaker and less powerful than young, but this was not due to differences in voluntary activation. The greater fatigability of elbow flexor muscles in the old adults however, was due to both supraspinal mechanisms and slowing of the muscle that occurs with aging.


We introduce a new NP-complete problem asking if a "query" hypercube is (not) covered by a set of other "evidence" hypercubes. This comes down to a form of constraint reasoning asking for the satisfiability of a CNF formula where the logical atoms are inequalities over single variables, with possibly infinite variable domains. We empirically investigate the location of the phase transition regions in two random distributions of problem instances. We introduce a solution method that iteratively constructs a representation of the non-covered part of the query cube. In particular, the method is not based on backtracking. Our experiments show that the method is, in a significant range of instances, superior to the backtracking method that results from translation to SAT, and application of a state-of-the-art DP-based SAT solver.


Generational theory states that people born at a similar time frame in history would experience similar political, social and economic realities thus will develop similar worldviews. The theory looks for significant historical events and identifies the impact these have on existing social order and value systems. Sometimes these events result in the dawning of a new era, and therefore of new generational cohorts (Cardington, 2011). Presently, there are four generations that are globally defined as identifiable generational cohort groups, namely Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and Generational Z. On a macroscopic view, individuals in different generations are diverse, they nevertheless share certain thoughts, values and behaviours because of the shared birth years and events; though considering Asia (especially in Malaysia context) the identifiable generations as commonly known may be misguided as life events varies across each country, Baby Boomers from the western nations has been referred to the booming of baby births during that period (O'Bannon, 2001), whereas in Malaysia for that time period it is impossible to observe a similar boom. This conceptual study attempts to re-define the generational labelling concepts by examining census data and socio-economic realities in order to re-define these concepts in light of the demographic reality in Malaysia. The authors of the study have formulated new labels and definitions that arise from facts that demonstrate that Malaysia has unique socio-economic challenges and opportunities.


This paper presents local Nusselt numbers computed from experimental measurements of surface temperature of compressor disks in a multiple rotating cavity test rig with axial throughflow. A validated two-dimensional (2D) steady-state heat conduction analysis methodology is presented, using the actual test geometry, and 95% confidence intervals calculated using Monte Carlo simulation. Sensitivity of the solution to curve fitting types, geometric simplification, and surface instrumentation are explored. The results indicate that polynomial curves fits, while computational simple, are unsuitable especially at higher orders. It is shown that geometric simplifications, that typically simplify the algorithmic implementation, may also omit significant variation in heat flux at critical stress relieving locations. The effect of reducing measurement points in the analysis is to both overpredict heat transfer and increase the uncertainty of the results. Finally, the methodology is applied to previously published thermal data from the University of Sussex, facilitating qualitative discussion on the influence of the governing parameters. While this study does not overcome the inherent uncertainty associated with inverse solutions, it is intended to present a methodology that is readily available to the wider community for the analysis of thermal test data and suggests some guidelines at the planning and postprocessing stages. The range of experiment reported here covers: 1.13 × 105 < Rez < 5.14 × 105, 1.65 × 106 < Reθ < 3.16 × 106, 0.10 < Ro < 0.60, and 3.40 × 1011 < Gr < 1.25 × 1012.


ABSTRACT Power-struggles define many if not all aspects of cyber-politics. But how do they play out in the case of the European Union, who claims influence in European and global cyberspace? This article dissects different existing conceptualizations of cyber-power in order to understand where they come from, what they mean, and what they do. It then searches the European Union's cyber-security policy for different manifestations of that power. The aim of the article is twofold: One the one hand, it does groundwork for a more academic approach to questions of cyber-power, by presenting possible frameworks for analysis and by identifying issues and challenges for such an undertaking. On the other, it takes discussions about Europe's cyber-power a step further, by offering alternative readings of cyber-power in a specific European context, thereby stimulating a broader discussion beyond the question of how much cyber-power the EU has and focus rather on the kind of cyber-power it has.


In the present study, macroscopic mechanical behaviors of titanium-based functionally graded biomaterials (FGMs) under the influence of composite damage have been investigated using the repeated unit cell approach. Based on the proposed method, the FGMs were idealized to be composed of finite uniform layers, each of which is represented by one repeated unit cell. The titanium (Ti) matrix is modeled as an isotropic hardening elastic plastic solid following the incremental (J2) theory of plasticity. As the strength and fracture toughness of hydroxyappatite (HA) inclusion is very weak as compared with the Ti metal, the HA particles may be broken firstly when the composite is subjected to an excessive load. The brittle failure criterion has been implemented in the VUMAT subroutine using the finite element software ABAQUS. A uniaxial tension test along the y-axis of the unit cell has been simulated. The simulation results show that the load-bearing capability of Ti/HA FGMs will decrease rapidly with the increase in the volume fraction of HA. Due to the absence of the load bearing capability of HA, the mechanical behaviors of unit cell are similar to those of a porous structure and the applied load is entirely carried by the Ti matrix. The computational results indicate that this method is capable of predicting the failure process of Ti/HA FGMs.


In the present investigation folate peptide (FA-Pep) conjugated 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) loaded nanoparticles were synthesized and their tumor targeting potentiality was monitored by different in vitro and in vivo techniques. FA-Pep-1 and FA-Pep-2 were synthesized and radiolabeled with 99mTc(CO)3(H2O)3. 99mTc(CO)3-FA-Pep-1 exhibited promising tumor uptake in an in vivo model (nude mice bearing HeLa cell xenograft and Balb/c mice bearing B16F10 melanoma tumor) as compared to 99mTc(CO)3-FA-Pep-2. FA-Pep-1 was then conjugated with 5-FU-NPs (118 ± 4.3), as confirmed by the XPS study. These showed promising cytotoxic and apoptotic potential in B16F10 cell lines as compared to free 5-FU and unconjugated 5-FU-NPs. In vivo biodistribution and gamma-scintigraphy showed good accumulation of peptide conjugated NPs in the tumor region. Therapeutic efficacy studies in B16F10 tumor xenografts also exhibited substantial tumor growth inhibition. The above studies reveal that folate peptide conjugation may facilitate the tumor-targeting approach of 5-FU-NPs.


Abstract. Shock waves can strongly influence magnetic reconnection as seen by the slow shocks attached to the diffusion region in Petschek reconnection. We derive necessary conditions for such shocks in a nonuniform resistive magnetohydrodynamic plasma and discuss them with respect to the slow shocks in Petschek reconnection. Expressions for the spatial variation of the velocity and the magnetic field are derived by rearranging terms of the resistive magnetohydrodynamic equations without solving them. These expressions contain removable singularities if the flow velocity of the plasma equals a certain characteristic velocity depending on the other flow quantities. Such a singularity can be related to the strong spatial variations across a shock. In contrast to the analysis of Rankine–Hugoniot relations, the investigation of these singularities allows us to take the finite resistivity into account. Starting from considering perpendicular shocks in a simplified one-dimensional geometry to introduce the approach, shock conditions for a more general two-dimensional situation are derived. Then the latter relations are limited to an incompressible plasma to consider the subcritical slow shocks of Petschek reconnection. A gradient of the resistivity significantly modifies the characteristic velocity of wave propagation. The corresponding relations show that a gradient of the resistivity can lower the characteristic Alfven velocity to an effective Alfven velocity. This can strongly impact the conditions for shocks in a Petschek reconnection geometry.


In thinking about canal boat people, or bargees, readers in nineteenth-century Britain were encouraged to: 'picture them going silently along the waterways of our land, […] half a million souls, to whom a decent life is simply impossible'. Examining representations of these people offers an opportunity to explore not just an archive of representations about life on the 'cut', but also the local conditions under which the meanings of those images were produced. Study of this particular group reveals the functions of bitextual culture and effects of textual repetition; the relationships between campaigns for legislation, the daily and monthly media, religion, and children's literature; and the cultural/semiotic systems through which taxonomies of British society were made legible. My paper begins by situating an example of a didactic book for children, Mark Pearse's Rob Rat: A Story of Barge Life (1879) in the context of the realities of life for tens of thousands of canal boat people in Britain in the nineteenth century, drawing on registers of canal boats and other historical documents. It goes on to examine the ways in which illustrations to this tale work with, and at times against, the written text to produce a mixed picture of canal boat people, demanding both immediate reform and Christian charity. Particular attention is paid to the influence of campaigner George Smith on the text. This tale and other fictional works describing the lot of canal boat people come intriguingly late in relation to the canal age. The paper concludes by offering some suggestions for this belated interest in the 'floating population'.


Many mechanisms based on bandwidth reservation have been proposed in the literature to decrease connection blocking probability and connection dropping probability in cellular communications. The handoff events occur at a much higher rate in sectored cellular networks than in traditional cellular systems. An efficient bandwidth reservation mechanism for the neighboring cells is therefore critical in the process of handoff during the connection of multimedia calls to avoid the unwillingly forced termination and waste of limited bandwidth in the sectored cellular communications, particularly when the handoff traffic is heavy. A self-adaptive bandwidth reservation scheme which employs a neural fuzzy bandwidth-reserving estimator, is proposed, and the simulation results show that our scheme can achieve superior performance than traditional fixed bandwidth-reserving scheme in sectored cellular networks when performance metrics are measured in terms of the new call blocking probability and the forced termination probability.


Distension of peripheral veins in humans elicits a pressor and sympathoexcitatory response that is mediated through group III/IV skeletal muscle afferents. There is some evidence that autonomic reflexes mediated by these sensory fibers are blunted with increasing age, yet to date the venous distension reflex has only been studied in young adults. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that the venous distension reflex would be attenuated in middle-aged compared with young adults. Nineteen young (14 men/5 women, 25 ± 1 yr) and 13 middle-aged (9 men/4 women, 50 ± 2 yr) healthy normotensive participants underwent venous distension via saline infusion through a retrograde intravenous catheter in an antecubital vein during limb occlusion. Beat-by-beat blood pressure, muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), and model flow-derived cardiac output (Q), and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were recorded throughout the trial. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) increased during the venous distension in both young (baseline 83 ± 2, peak 94 ± 3 mmHg; P < 0.05) and middle-aged adults (baseline 88 ± 2, peak 103 ± 3 mmHg; P < 0.05). MSNA also increased in both groups [young: baseline 886 ± 143, peak 1,961 ± 242 arbitrary units (AU)/min; middle-aged: baseline 1,164 ± 225, peak 2,515 ± 404 AU/min; both P < 0.05]. TPR (P < 0.001), but not Q (P = 0.76), increased during the trial. However, the observed increases in blood pressure, MSNA, and TPR were similar between young and middle-aged adults. Additionally, no correlation was found between age and the response to venous distension (all P > 0.05). These findings suggest that peripheral venous distension elicits a pressor and sympathetic response in middle-aged adults similar to the response observed in young adults.


Objective: We describe cases of Late-onset hypereosinophilic asthma (LHEA) accompanied by systemic eosinophilic manifestations (SEM), and discuss the possibility that LHEA can manifest as a systemic eosinophilic disease. Methods: Retrospective survey of medical records identified 32 cases of LHEA. Fifteen of 32 patients with LHEA had SEM. Clinical features of those patients were reviewed. Results: The subjects included 4 men and 11 women with a mean age of 43.7 years at the onset of asthma. All patients had eosinophilic sinusitis. Eosinophilic pneumonia (EP), eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EG), association of EP and EG, and association of EP and eosinophilic otitis media were seen in 5, 5, 1, and 4, respectively. The mean duration between onset of asthma and onset of SEM was 12.0 years, ranging from 0 to 44 years. The radiologic findings of EP were faint ground glass opacities on chest CT. These SEM appeared with marked peripheral blood eosinophilia and elevation of serum IgE levels. These manifestations responded well to systemic corticosteroid therapy, but there were frequent relapse and asthma exacerbations requiring continuous low-dose systemic corticosteroid therapy. Clinical and laboratory findings of vasculitis, such as cardiac involvement, peripheral neuropathy, and serum myeloperoxidase- and proteinase 3- anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies were not evident. Conclusion: These characteristic features differ from those of known eosinophilic lung diseases, such as chronic EP, allergic bronchopulmonary mycosis, and eosinophilic granulomatous polyangitis. We would like to propose the concept of LHEA with accompanying SEM.


This report describes the first stage of a project that is comparing water governance in southern Australia, South Africa, south-west USA and Spain. The river systems examined are subject to highly variable climates and have a long history of drought management. Underlying assumptions are that the stress of drought reveals strengths and weaknesses in institutional systems that are often hidden in wetter times and that the way a given management system responds to drought is a good indication of how it will respond to climate change. This is a study of the past to prepare for the future. The report also outlines a proposed governance evaluation framework which focuses in particular on the impact of federal political systems. The capacity to manage large rivers that cross borders within federal systems is almost invariably at threat from ongoing intergovernmental and interagency conflict, low decision making transparency and accountability, high transaction costs and ad hoc deals between competing governments, and between them and powerful stakeholders. The aim of the evaluation framework – as it develops over the course of the project – will be to highlight transaction costs and governance features that work well. The river catchments investigated by this project are all in the midst of major water reform programs, albeit with different aims under different circumstances. The report makes some tentative comments about the way these reform programs are progressing.


We previously showed that otx2 regulates Xenopus cement gland formation in the ectoderm. Here, we show that otx2 is sufficient to direct anterior neural gene expression, and that its activity is required for cement gland and anterior neural determination. otx2 activity at midgastrula activates anterior and prevents expression of posterior and ventral gene expression in whole embryos and ectodermal explants. These data suggest that part of the mechanism by which otx2 promotes anterior determination involves repression of posterior and ventral fates. A dominant negative otx2-engrailed repressor fusion protein (otx2-En) ablates endogenous cement gland formation, and inhibits expression of the mid/hindbrain boundary marker engrailed-2. Ectoderm expressing otx2-En is not able to respond to signals from the mesoderm to form cement gland, and is impaired in its ability to form anterior neural tissue. These results compliment analyses in otx2 mutant mice, indicating a role for otx2 in the ectoderm during anterior neural patterning.


We describe the recent achievements of the project interactive European grid in the area of middleware development oriented to advanced application support. These enhancements concern mainly support to MPI parallel execution on the grid, interactivity and fast job allocation. Support to MPI has been achieved by using an intermediate layer called MPI-start which provides reliable support to parallel execution both, at the intra-cluster and inter-cluster level. Interactivity, visualization and the combination of both to construct the support for simulation steering has been achieved by using an enhanced version of glogin and the grid visualization protocol GVid. We show with a few examples how the combination of all these features provides a very complete working environment for application developers and end users.


Formation of local molecular structures in liquid water is believed to have marked effect on the bulk properties of water, however, resolving such structural motives in an experiment is challenging. This challenge might be handled if the relevant low-frequency structural motion of the liquid is directly driven with an intense electromagnetic pulse. Here, we resonantly excite diffusive reorientational motions in water with intense terahertz pulses and measure the resulting transient optical birefringence. The observed response is shown to arise from a particular configuration, namely the restricted trans-lational motion of water molecules whose motions are predominantly orthogonal to the dipole moment of the excited neighboring water molecules. Accordingly, we estimate the strength of the anharmonic coupling between the rotational and the restricted translational degrees of freedom of water.


This paper presents experimental and analytical studies on flexural behavior of slab-rib integrated Sandwich composite decks. The influences of layers of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) facesheets, foam densities, and the existence of webs and cross beams are discussed herein. The test results showed that the existence of vertical webs remarkably improved the debonding of the facesheets from the foam core, thus increasing the ultimate load by 59% compared with the specimens without webs. However, the existence of horizontal webs has insignificant effect on the failure mode and ultimate load. Increasing the number of layers of GFRP facesheets from 2 to 4 and 6 results in 100% and 214% increments in ultimate loads, respectively, while the specimen with lower density of foam had a higher ultimate load than the specimen with higher density of foam due to deformation compatibility between GFRP skins and foam core with low density. The analysis software Abaqus Explicit was used to simulate the flexural behavior of test specimens, and the numerical results agreed well with the test data. The verified finite element model was extended to analyze the influences of the number of GFRP layers on the top of decks and the height of vertical webs. Based on equivalent method and compatibility of shear deformation, the flexural and shear rigidities were estimated. Then, analytical solution for displacement of the slab-rib integrated Sandwich composite decks subjected to four-point load was derived out. Comparison of analytical and experimental results shows that the displacements can be precisely predicted by the present theoretical model.


New high-resolution seismic data show clear evidence for upward injection of methane gas well into the hydrate stability zone at the stable, low-methane-flux Blake Ridge crest. This movement of gaseous methane, through a thermo-dynamic regime where it should be trapped as hydrate, suggests that dynamic migrations of gas play an important role in the interaction of subseafloor methane with the ocean. In the study area, none of the seismic amplitude anomalies that provide evidence for gas migration reaches the seafloor; instead they terminate at the base of a highly reflective, unfaulted capping layer. Seismic inversions of anomalous regions show (1) increased velocities beneath the hydrate stability zone, suggesting less gas, and (2) increased velocities within the hydrate stability zone associated with observed low-amplitude chimneys and bright spots, indicating increased hydrate concentrations. These observations and analyses indicate that methane migrates upward as free gas hundreds of meters into the hydrate stability zone before forming hydrate. The observations strongly imply that given appropriate permeable pathways, free gas can escape into the ocean. Even in a low-flux environment, the hydrate stability zone is not an impermeable barrier to free-gas migration.


Objectives – To determine the year when evidence based medicine (EBM) was introduced and the extent to which medical students were exposed to EBM in undergraduate medical education and to investigate how EBM interventions were designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated in the medical curriculum.

Methods – A qualitative review of the literature on EBM interventions was conducted to synthesize results of studies published from January 1997 to December 2011. A comprehensive search was performed on PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, PsycINFO, and ERIC. Articles were selected if the studies involved some form of quantitative and qualitative research design. Articles were excluded if they studied EBM interventions in medical schools outside the United States or if they examined EBM interventions for allied health profession education or at the levels of graduate medical education and continuing medical education. Thirteen studies which met the selection criteria were identified and reviewed. Information was abstracted including study design, year and setting of EBM intervention, instructional method, instruction delivery format, outcome measured, and evaluation method.

Results – EBM was introduced to preclinical years in three studies, integrated into clinical clerkship rotations in primary care settings in eight studies, and spanned preclinical and clinical curricula in two studies. The duration of EBM interventions differed, ranging from a workshop of three student contact hours to a curriculum of 30 student contact hours. Five studies incorporated interactive and clinically integrated teaching and learning activities to support student learning. Diverse research designs, EBM interventions, and evaluation methods resulted in heterogeneity in results across the 13 studies.

Conclusions – The review reveals wide variations in duration of EBM interventions, instructional methods, delivery formats for EBM instruction, implementation of an EBM intervention, outcomes measured, and evaluation methods, all of which remain relevant issues for further research. It is important for medical educators and health sciences librarians to attend to these issues in designing and delivering a successful EBM intervention in the undergraduate medical curriculum.


'As for teaching---I quite like talking to myself in public. The thing is to look at the blackboard or anyway not at the assembled frogs. They can read what you write on the board though they can't understand what you say. If you write steadily on the board and keep up a spoken patter, never waiting for signs of intelligence or making jokes, the hour gets through all right' (SL 40). Thus wrote William Empson from Japan in a letter to John Hayward in 1932. Empson's early experience as an English teacher in the Far East helped shape the formation of his ambivalent attitudes towards the varied audiences he felt himself compelled to address as a publicly-minded intellectual who always wrote in fear of the charges of elitism and solipsism. Yet there is a sense in which Empson was not always altogether able, nor perhaps even willing, to resist the trappings of solipsistic eccentricity. Aware of his own idiosyncratic critical vision, Empson struggled with the social and theoretical implications of the ultra-refined rationalising drive that motivated his analytical concentration on 'the words on the page'. And though as a critic with distinct and highly sophisticated philosophical inclinations, he was not averse to engaging in spirited controversy with contemporary academic theorists and philosophers, still he was also keen to foster a sense of common belonging with the 'ordinary tolerably informed reader', to cultivate a sense of pastoral intimacy with a broader, non-specialised community, the 'assembled frogs' in the classroom and beyond. The resulting tension in his work between the democratic, commonsensical impulse of a publicly-minded intellectual speaking for our common 'social experience' (a key Empson phrase), translating for the greatest possible number, and the unarticulated, elitist products of an idiosyncratic critical consciousness, is the central topic of this dissertation. Empson scholar-theorists have often dealt elliptically with this sturdy resistance to theory by stressing the man's 'common sense rationalism' (Christopher Norris), the 'reasonableness' (Paul Fry) of a 'reluctant metacritic' (John HafTenden) keen to resist the professionalization of Eng. Lit. in its varied 'bother-headed theoretical' forms. Yet both Empson's homespun rationalism and his resistance to theory are shot through with tensions similar to those which structure his difficult attempt to reconcile the conflicting voices of articulate populism and elitist marginality. The recent publication of Haffenden's two-volume biography (OUP 2005-2006) and of his edition of the Selected Letters (OUP 2006), as well as the forthcoming publication of a collection of essays edited by Matthew Bevis entitled Some Versions of Empson (OUP 2007), give Empson scholars and enthusiasts an opportunity to reflect on the ambiguities of Empson's theoretical and pedagogical legacy.


nurses (N = 47), 58.0% of the physicians (N = 29) and 73.0% of the patients (N = 73). The nurses were more positive towards scales Measurement of pain (scale mean 4.19 vs. 3.66, 95% CI 0.02–1.04, p 0.05) and Encouragement (scale mean 3.80 vs. 3.06, 95% CI 0.31–1.17, p 0.001) than the physicians. The physicians were less concerned about Problems with analgesics than the nurses (scale mean 3.05 vs. 2.32, 95% CI 0.23–1.25, p 0.01). The patients agreed more with items "It is easier to suffer from pain than the side effects" [F2,133) = 17.823, p\lt;0.001], "Pain complaint might distract the doctor from my real problem" [(F 2,134) = 5.505, p\lt;0.01], "Analgesics should be given only when pain is unbearable" [F(2,134) = 9.481, p 0.001] than the nurses and the physicians. Conclusions: The ED personnel need education about measurement of pain and pain medication. Pain history affects the patients' willingness to report their pain and their attitudes towards pain medication. The patients should be encouraged to talk about their pain. Reference: 1 Stalnikowicz R, Mahamid R, Kaspi S, Brezis M. Int J Qual Health Care 2005; 17: 173–176.


Primary objective: To evaluate the impact of combined Axis I and II emotional profiles, demographic and psychosocial variables on coping responses in an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) population using the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) and the Coping Response Inventory (CRI). Research design: This was a retrospective study examining the relationship between coping styles with affective, demographic and psychosocial variables using a multi-dimensional profile analysis. Methods and procedures: Participants completed the PAI and CRI during a regular clinical visit at the ABI Program (n = 100). Profile data was divided into seven established sub-types and analysed with coping responses. Traumatic (TBI; n = 78) and non-traumatic (n = 24) brain-injured individuals comprised the sample. Main outcomes and results: Previous findings were confirmed showing that highly symptomatic patients primarily use negative coping strategies. Also, affective symptoms, gender, relationship status, perceived stress and psychosocial supports mediate the use of different negative coping responses. Interesting, anxiety-based symptoms were associated with positive responses similar to asymptomatic ABI patients. Conclusions: Coping strategies adopted by brain-injured individuals are mediated by Axis I and II symptoms as well as psychosocial support, stress, marital status and gender. As a result, this has implications for developing treatment strategies.


The host immune system responds to influenza virus infection for eradication of the virus but the immune response associated inflammation causes tissue injury and damage to the host as well. Severe influenza with morbidity and mortality is commonly believed to be the result of overwhelming immune response. In addition to antiviral agent, adjuvant therapy with immune modulating agent is a reasonable approach for severe influenza and has been reported to be effective in clinical series. As the immunity is also critical for virus eradication and recovery, we investigated to try to define the appropriate window for immune modulation in our murine animal model of influenza virus infection. Rapamycin treatment in a wide dose range did not alter the clinical course of severe influenza. In combination with antiviral agent Oseltamivir, rapamycin failed to offer additional benefit beyond treatment with Oseltamivir alone. Oseltamivir barely rescued the mice from severe influenza if the treatment was delayed until 48 hours after infection. Rapamycin did not provide salvage effect in this scenario. In fact, rapamycin suppressed influenza antigen specific CD4+ T cell response and impaired the virus eradication capacity. The virus burden in the lung increased with intense neutrophil infiltration and hyaline deposition in the alveoli. In conclusion, rapamycin cannot be relied upon as a salvage measure in severe influenza with progressive illness under treatment with Oseltamivir. T cell immunity is suppressed but other arms of immunity are recruited with undesirable effect on the disease outcome.


The Economics Research Guide is a selected list of resources for starting research in economics. These resources can help you identify a topic for your reseach.


BACKGROUND
Childhood obesity is a significant problem. Obesity may alter the pharmacokinetics (PKs) of medications. Fentanyl is commonly used for procedural sedation, but there is a paucity of bolus dose fentanyl PK data in obese children. Better understanding of fentanyl PK in obese children would facilitate dosing recommendations. We conducted a study involving children with and without obesity to assess the potential differences in bolus dose fentanyl PK between the 2 groups.

METHODS
We enrolled children 2 to 12 years of age with and without obesity, defined as >95th percentile body mass index (BMI) for age and sex, undergoing elective tonsillectomy ± adenoidectomy. After induction, subjects had 2 intravenous (IV) lines placed in 2 different extremities: 1 for medications and IV fluids and 1 for obtaining blood aliquots for fentanyl concentration analysis. After administration of 1 mcg/kg of fentanyl based on total body weight (TBW), blood sample collections for fentanyl concentration analysis were attempted at 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes. Five-minute fentanyl concentrations were compared between obese and nonobese cohorts. Population PK analysis to examine the differences between obese and nonobese children was performed and included various body size descriptors, such as TBW, BMI, and fat-free mass (FFM), to examine their influence on model parameters.

RESULTS
Half of the 30 subjects were obese. Mean fentanyl concentrations at 5 minutes were 0.53 ng/mL for the nonobese group and 0.88 ng/mL for the obese group, difference 0.35 ng/mL (95% CI, 0.08-0.61 ng/mL; P = .01). Population PK analysis showed that FFM was a significant covariate for the central volume of distribution. The potential clinical effect of an IV bolus dose of fentanyl based on TBW versus FFM in an obese child was assessed in a simulation using our model. 1 mcg/kg fentanyl dose based on TBW resulted in an approximately 60% higher peak fentanyl effect site concentration than dosing based on FFM.

CONCLUSIONS
Our data demonstrated higher peak plasma fentanyl concentrations in obese compared to nonobese subjects. Population PK analysis found that FFM was a significant covariate for the central volume of distribution. Model simulation showed dosing of fentanyl in obese children based on TBW resulted in significantly higher peak concentrations than dosing based on FFM. Based on this modeling and the known concentration-effect relationship between fentanyl and adverse effects, our results suggest that bolus dosing of fentanyl in obese children should be based on FFM rather than TBW, particularly for procedures of short duration.


The rise of social networking services in recent years presents new research challenges for matching users with interesting content. While the content-rich nature of these social networks offers many cues on "interests" of a user such as text in user-generated content, the links in the network, and user demographic information, there is a lack of successful methods for combining such heterogeneous data to model interest and relevance. This paper proposes a new method for modeling user interest from heterogeneous data sources with distinct but unknown importance. The model leverages links in the social graph by integrating the conceptual representation of a user's linked objects. The proposed method seeks a scalable relevance model of user interest, that can be discriminatively optimized for various relevance-centric problems, such as Internet advertisement selection, recommendation, and web search personalization. We apply our algorithm to the task of selecting relevant ads for users on Facebook's social network. We demonstrate that our algorithm can be scaled to work with historical data for all users, and learns interesting associations between concept classes automatically. We also show that using the learnt user model to predict the relevance of an ad is the single most important signal in our ranking system for new ads (with no historical clickthrough data), and overall leads to an improvement in the accuracy of the clickthrough rate prediction, a key problem in online advertising.


A suite of mechanisms has been proposed to account for natural variations in atmospheric CO 2 during the Holocene; all of which have achieved limited success in reproducing the timing, direction, and magnitude of change. Recent modeling studies propose that changes in the latitudinal position and strength of the Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (SWW) can greatly influence large-scale ocean circulation and degassing of the deep ocean via changes in wind-driven upwelling in the Southern Ocean. The extent to which the hypothesized SWW–Southern Ocean coupled system could account for changes in atmospheric CO 2 is uncertain, because of a lack of observations on the behavior of the SWW in the past, the paucity of appropriate records of productivity changes in the Southern Ocean, and our limited understanding of the sensitivity of the Southern Ocean biological and/or physical system to SWW forcing. Here we report a reconstruction of the behavior of the SWW during the past 14 k.y. based on terrestrial ecosystem proxies from western Patagonia, South America. The reconstructed variations in the intensity of zonal flow correspond to the timing and structure of atmospheric CO 2 changes, and are consistent with the modeled magnitude of CO 2 changes induced by varying strengths of the SWW. The close match between data and models supports the view that the SWW–Southern Ocean coupled system underpins multimillennial CO 2 variations during the current interglacial and, possibly, during glacial cycles over the past 800 k.y.


Newhouse, M. L., Berry, G., Wagner, J. C., and Turok, M. E. (1972).Brit. J. industr. Med.,29, 134-141. A study of the mortality of female asbestos workers. A cohort study of over 900 women employed at an asbestos factory making both textiles and insulation materials is described. It extends the information about asbestos-related disease at this factory which was previously available only for male workers. The cohort was defined as all the women who started employment at the factory between 1936 and 1942 and the main analysis was of mortality up to the end of 1968. This analysis was made in relation to job, length of exposure, and age at first exposure. Compared with national rates there was excess overall mortality among those who worked in jobs with low to moderate exposure partly accounted for by deaths from cancer. In the group with severe exposure, who had worked in the factory for less than two years, there was an excess of cancer of the lung and pleura. However, the most marked increased mortality was in those with severe exposure who had worked for more than two years in the factory; in this group there were excess deaths from cancer of the lung and pleura, from other cancers, and from respiratory diseases. There were no significant trends of excess mortality with age at first exposure. The smoking habits of some of the deceased women were obtained and the indications were that the proportion of smokers in the cohort was higher than the national rate. This could account for some of the excess mortality but the trend of this excess with exposure indicated the role of asbestos. Necropsy reports and/or histological material were obtained for 43% of those who had died. Three deaths registered as cancer of the pleura were identified as pleural mesothelial tumours; in all there were 11 mesotheliomas, six of pleural and five of peritoneal origin.


BACKGROUND
Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a chronic necro-inflammatory disease of the liver. Early recognition is important in order to prevent the development of cirrhosis. This review discusses recent developments in the fields of diagnosis, pathophysiology and management of AIH.

METHODS
Relevant manuscripts were identified using an electronic database, and by hand search of a personal library.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Description of new auto-antibodies, and formulation of diagnostic criteria and a scoring system by an international panel constitute important advances that may help diagnosis of the disease at an early stage. While a satisfying animal model of the disease is lacking, clinical observations have led to the formulation of a pathophysiological model. Current treatment has a failure rate of about 13%, and is unable to induce a permanent remission in most patients. New immunosuppressive agents (cyclosporine, tacrolimus and mycophenolate mofetil) appear promising, and should be evaluated in controlled trials.


I. PHOSPHORESCENCE AND THE TRUE LIFETIME OF TRIPLET
STATES IN FLUID SOLUTIONS Phosphorescence has been observed in a highly purified fluid solution of naphthalene in 3-methylpentane (3-MP). The phosphorescence lifetime of C10H8 in 3-MP at -45 °C was found to be 0.49 ± 0.07 sec, while that of C10D8 under identical conditions is 0.64 ± 0.07 sec. At this temperature 3-MP has the same viscosity (0.65 centipoise) as that of benzene at room temperature. It is believed that even these long lifetimes are dominated by impurity quenching mechanisms. Therefore it seems that the radiationless decay times of the lowest triplet states of simple aromatic hydrocarbons in liquid solutions are sensibly the same as those in the solid phase. A slight dependence of the phosphorescence lifetime on solvent viscosity was observed in the temperature region, -60° to -18°C. This has been attributed to the diffusion-controlled quenching of the triplet state by residual impurity, perhaps oxygen. Bimolecular depopulation of the triplet state was found to be of major importance over a large part of the triplet decay. The lifetime of triplet C10H8 at room temperature was also measured in highly purified benzene by means of both phosphorescence and triplet-triplet absorption. The lifetime was estimated to be at least ten times shorter than that in 3-MP. This is believed to be due not only to residual impurities in the solvent but also to small amounts of impurities produced through unavoidable irradiation by the excitation source. In agreement with this idea, lifetime shortening caused by intense flashes of light is readily observed. This latter result suggests that experiments employing flash lamp techniques are not suitable for these kinds of studies. The theory of radiationless transitions, based on Robinson's theory, is briefly outlined. A simple theoretical model which is derived from Fano's autoionization gives identical result. Il. WHY IS CONDENSED OXYGEN BLUE? The blue color of oxygen is mostly derived from double transitions. This paper presents a theoretical calculation of the intensity of the double transition (a 1Δg) (a 1Δg)←(X 3Σg-) (X 3Σg-), using a model based on a pair of oxygen molecules at a fixed separation of 3.81 A. The intensity enhancement is assumed to be derived from the mixing (a 1Δg) (a 1Δg) ~~~ (X 3Σg-) (X 3Σu-) and (a 1Δg) (1Δu) ~~~ (X 3Σg-) (X 3Σg-). Matrix elements for these interactions are calculated using a π-electron approximation for the pair system. Good molecular wavefunctions are used for all but the perturbing (B 3Σu-) state, which is approximated in terms of ground state orbitals. The largest contribution to the matrix elements arises from large intramolecular terms multiplied by intermolecular overlap integrals. The strength of interaction depends not only on the intermolecular separation of the two oxygen molecules, but also as expected on the relative orientation. Matrix elements are calculated for different orientations, and the angular dependence is fit to an analytical expression. The theory therefore not only predicts an intensity dependence on density but also one on phase at constant density. Agreement between theory and available experimental results is satisfactory considering the nature of the approximation, and indicates the essential validity of the overall approach to this interesting intensity enhancement problem.


Background Shared decision making (SDM) is recognized as a person-centered approach to improving health care quality and outcomes. Few digital interventions to improve SDM have been tested in child and adolescent mental health (CAMH) settings. One such intervention is Power Up, a mobile phone app for young people (YP), which has shown some evidence of promise that YP who received Power Up reported greater levels of SDM. However, even though parents play a critical role in CAMH care and treatment, they often feel excluded from services. Objective This protocol is for a pilot trial to determine the feasibility of a large-scale randomized trial to develop and evaluate a Web app called Power Up for Parents (PUfP) to support parents and promote involvement in CAMH decisions. Methods A 2-stage process, consisting of the development stage and pilot-testing stage of the initial PUfP prototype, will be conducted. At the development stage, a qualitative study with parents and clinicians will be conducted. The interviews will aim to capture the experience of making CAMH decisions, preferences for involvement in SDM, and determine situations within which PUfP can be useful. At the pilot-testing stage, up to 90 parents and their clinicians will be invited to participate in the testing of the prototype. Parents will be randomly allocated to receive the intervention or be part of the control group. This study design will allow us to assess the acceptability and usefulness of PUfP in addition to examining the feasibility of a prospective randomized trial. Clinicians' perceptions of the prototype and how it has influenced parents' involvement in SDM will also be examined. Results Recruitment began in January 2019 and is scheduled to last for 10 months. Interviews and baseline data collection are currently in progress. To date, 11 CAMH sites have been recruited to take part in the study. It is anticipated that data collection will be completed by October 2019. Conclusions The lack of parents' involvement in CAMH care and treatment can lead to higher rates of dropout from care and lower adherence to therapeutic interventions. There are significant benefits to be gained globally if digital SDM interventions are adopted by parents and shown to be successful in CAMH settings. Trial Registration ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN39238984; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN39238984 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID) DERR1-10.2196/14571


Floodplains include unique environments shaped over a long time horizon along rivers and smaller streams and formed by alluvial sediments. As floodplains are flat, often with highly fertile and well‐accessible land, they have become the intrinsic focus of human society—while providing a variety of goods and ecosystem services. Intensive land use of floodplains is degrading their natural values and significantly reducing their ecosystem functions and services. A significant part of these key services is related with the ability of floodplains to retain water and nutrients, which can be understood as a flood control and a water‐retention function. Although these ecosystems serve a number of other basic functions, the importance of floodplains as a place for water retention during extreme discharges caused by intense rainfall or snowmelt and the supply of water in times of drought are essential under conditions of global change. In order to increase the ability of floodplains to perform these functions, it is increasingly required to preserve the connectivity of rivers with surrounding floodplains and adapt human activities to maintain and restore river ecosystems. This article reviews the recent understanding of floodplain delineation, the most common causes of disturbance, the ecosystem functions being performed, discussing in turn the measures being considered to mitigate the frequency and magnitude of hydrologic extremes resulting from ongoing environmental changes.


We report on the unusual course of disease in three patients with gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma. Special features are the primary lymphoma manifestation, the high-grade transformation during the follow up, the long-time interval between initially curative intended therapy and relapse and the occurrence of another neoplasia in one case. This demonstrates that despite their good prognosis in general, follow-up investigations of gastrointestinal MALT lymphoma are reasonable.


For the first time substantiated was the role of the phenomenon of Yersinia pestis biofilm--extracellular matrix envelope (EME)--formation as the basis that determines the nature of plague agent interaction with flea organism. Implication of vector's proventriculus in the process of biofilm formation was demonstrated. Ultrastucture of plague microbe conglomerates in flea proventriculus and midgut was analysed and uniform mechanism of their formation was elucidated. The role of Yersinia pestis biofilm in plague agent preservation in the gut of ectoparasites and soil of rodents burrows was discussed. PCR analysis confirmed the presence of plague microbe in plague infected corpses and fleas excrements stored at +8-10 degreesC for 7 years 9 months.


OBJECTIVE
Current flow, the major determinant of defibrillation success, depends on delivered energy and transthoracic impedance. Previous experimental data suggest that transthoracic impedance is higher using "pediatric" electrode paddles compared to the larger "adult" electrode paddles. There are few data from actual shocks to support the experimental studies. The purpose of this study was to measure transthoracic impedance during actual shock delivery and to determine the optimal electrode paddle size for pediatric defibrillation and cardioversion.

METHODS
We prospectively evaluated all shocks of < or = 20 joules given to pediatric patients at the University of Iowa from 1988 to 1992. Data collected included energy selected by the operator, energy delivered by the defibrillator, peak current flow and transthoracic impedance. Data were analyzed by unpaired t test and linear regression.

RESULTS
Fifty-five shocks were delivered to 20 patients, age newborn to 8 years. Thirty-seven shocks were given with "pediatric" electrode paddles (surface area 21 cm2) and 18 with "adult" electrode paddles (surface area 83 cm2). Selected energy correlated well with delivered energy (r = .98, P < .0001). Delivered energy using "pediatric" electrodes did not differ from that delivered with "adult" electrodes (8.0 +/- 0.9 joules vs 10.5 +/- 1.2 joules P > .1). However transthoracic impedance was significantly higher with "pediatric" electrodes (78.1 +/- 4.4 ohms vs 54.6 +/- 2.7 ohms P < .0008), resulting in lower peak current flow through "pediatric" electrode paddles (6.2 +/- 0.5 amps vs 8.7 +/- 0.5 amps P < .002). There was no correlation between joules/kg and peak current flow (r = .26, P > .05).

CONCLUSION
Use of "pediatric" electrode paddles results in higher transthoracic impedance and thus lower peak current flow. In pediatric defibrillation, larger "adult" electrode paddles should be used as soon as chest size permits (approximately 10 kg). Lower transthoracic impedance results in higher current flow that facilitates cardioversion and defibrillation.


Various studies argue that non-financial information is particularly relevant for business stakeholders. To reduce the risks related to information asymmetries and "window dressing" practices and to enhance the credibility of non-financial information, the need for assurance has arisen. In recent years, scientific and professional interest in the issues related to the assurance of non-financial information has increased. Up to now, there have been very few studies on the evolution of non-financial disclosure (NFD) assurance, nor have scholars addressed the possible gaps and future research perspectives in this field. A systematic review is developed with the following aims: first, to explore the evolution of the NFD assurance literature by systematising academic studies (i.e., papers published in scientific journals) and professional contributions (i.e., papers published in non-scientific sources) from the auditing field, and second, to understand whether theory and practice have influenced each other in the field of NFD assurance, i.e., whether a bridge between theory and practice can be identified within this discourse. The main findings are the following: firstly, four stages can be identified in the evolution of the study of NFD assurance, and secondly, there is virtually no interaction between theory and practice, as practically no scientific papers are mentioned in professional papers, while academic scholars consider professional publications only as empirical data sources.


The attitudes towards children are more complex than simple positive/negative distinctions. In the present study, we sought in two studies (N = 445) to provide a tool to explore different facets of attitudes towards babies and procreation by developing and validating a questionnaire regarding attitudes towards procreation. Study 1 was conducted to develop an English language scale tapping into adults' attitudes toward having offspring. A larger number of statements were formulated that expressed an emotional value and motivational attitudes towards having babies. The sample consisted of n = 157 participants. Participants' responses were subjected to a preliminary principal components analysis with an oblique rotation. Study 1 obtained a relatively economical scale to tap into three facets of attitudes toward having children. Study 2 sought to validate a German language version of the same scale as in the previous study. A total of n = 288 participants were recruited. The 13 items of the scale were subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis. Study 2 confirmed the three-dimensional structure. The Procreation Attitude Scales (PrAttS) consists of 13 items representing three underlying dimensions: (1) unconditional positivity, (2) anticipated annoyance and (3) contingent willingness. The present investigations showed twice a gender difference in emotional attitudes, revealing that women have a stronger emotional interest in procreation and babies. The PrAttS provides an explicit method of interest for children, providing an alternative to more recently criticized implicit measures.


Face recognition has received much attention in recent years due to its many applications such as human computer interface, video surveillance and face image database management. It is a challenging technique due to under different lighting conditions, facial expressions and changes in head pose. Single class of feature is not enough to capture all the available information in face. Multi algorithm approach of face recognition improves the accuracy using feature level fusion. This paper proposes an efficient technique for identification of an individual by using Average Half Face (AHF). We propose feature fusion technique using Principal component Analysis (PCA) and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). For classification, distance classifier is used. The proposed method was tested using the cropped extended Yale B database, where the images vary in illumination and expression. High recognition performance has been obtained by fusion of PCA and Wavelet features at feature level for average half face compared to full face.


Ideological Confusion? In his influential book on criminal justice policy, Samuel Walker (1994:21) argues that crime policy in the 1990s is characterized by ideological confusion, with some liberals and conservatives crossing over on certain issues, such as drug legalization and the death penalty. One implication of this observation is that the old conservative-liberal dichotomy may not be as useful as it once was as today's intellectuals and policymakers depart from their ideological positions of a generation ago. Although this may be true, what is even more striking about the crime policy debate of the 1990s is that it has considerably narrowed in terms of the range of policy options on the table for discussion. Liberals of the 1960s often called for an examination of the root causes of crime, the rehabilitation of offenders, and for procedural safeguards in the administration of justice. Conservatives of that period, like today, emphasized punishment and crime control in their crime agenda. These poles (crime prevention venus punishment and due process versus crime control) of the traditional liberal-conservative dialogue have largely disappeared, as measures emphasizing punishment far overshadow any consideration of crime prevention. Instead, the major policy debate in the 1990s, at least in the congressional arena and in the media, centers on the punishment/crime control end of the continuum. Both conservatives and liberals attempt to outdo each other in their posturing and proposals to be increasingly punitive toward criminals. Insofar as this analysis is concerned with criminal justice policy in the Clinton era and how it departs from, or simply extends, the policies of the Reagan-Bush years, the focus will be on the congressional crime debate of 1993 and 1994, which spanned the first year and one-half of President Bill Clinton's first term in office. During that period both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House passed their own versions of a crime bill (The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act): the Senate bill passed on November 19, 1993, and the House bill on April 21, 1994. The two versions were sent to a joint committee of the Senate and the House to iron out their differences. After much partisan wrangling, a $30 billion crime bill finally passed both legislative chambers in August (Wines, 1994a: A1; Clymer, 1994). The Congressional Crime Debate of 1993-1994 The narrowing of the ideological spectrum was clearly in evidence in the congressional crime debate of 1993-1994. The crime bills of both the House and Senate expanded the federal death penalty by more than 50 additional offenses. In its first day of deliberations, the House passed 47 amendments in one vote with little debate; many of those provisions related to extending capital punishment. One of the more contentious issues related to how difficult to make the appeal process for death-row inmates, including whether statistical evidence of racial bias could be used in such appeals (Seelye, 1994a: A23; Wines, 1994b: A13). In the House, gun-control legislation to ban certain types of assault weapons was an especially divisive issue, which finally passed in a separate bill by two votes (Seelye, 1994b: A1). Moreover, the slogan that captured much of the public discourse on crime in the first months of 1994 was a baseball metaphor, "three strikes and you're out." The basic idea behind this measure was to have mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole for offenders convicted of three violent crimes. This proposal quickly gained widespread popularity with conservatives and liberals, including President Clinton, endorsing some version of the idea.(1) The major issue in this measure was which offenses to count as violent crimes toward the "three strikes" and some questioned whether "three strikes" were too many. Both the Senate and House crime bills contained provisions for mandatory life sentences for three-time violent offenders (which included drug offenders). …


Previous research on augmented reality has been mainly focused on augmentation of visual or acoustic information. However, humans can receive information not only through vision and acoustics, but also through haptics. Haptic sensation is very intuitive, and some researchers are focusing on making use of haptics in augmented reality systems. While most previous research on haptics is based on static data, such as that generated from CAD, CT, and so on, these systems have difficulty responding to a changing real environment in real time. In this paper, we propose a new concept for the augmented reality of haptics, the SmartTool. The SmartTool responds to the real environment by using real time sensor(s) and a haptic display. The sensor(s) on the SmartTool measure the real environment then send us that information through haptic sensation. Furthermore, we will describe the prototype system we have developed.


The business unit of Nedap Identification Systems
is specialized in the use and development of RFID
products which are used for the identification of
vehicles and people. The TRANSIT Standard, a long
distance – RFID reader, is the high end product of this
business unit and is appreciated among customers
for its stable performance and robust appearance.
Over the years, the appearance of the reader has
fallen behind in comparison with the other readers
of this business unit and its competitors. As the
reader undergoes technical improvements, this has
been a reason for Nedap Identification Systems to
commission for a new design of this reader.
In order to develop a reader which reflects both the
style of the business unit as the desired robust and
innovative appearance, the meaning of this style
and these values have been analyzed. With help of
sketch designs and collages, a general impression of
the opinion of the business unit has been extracted
and translated into criteria for the new design of the
reader.
By investigating the internal and external points of
improvement, guidelines for the design of the reader
have been drawn up. By comparing possible solutions
of these points, well considered choices have been
made which caused renewed specifications and
product parts.
After the technical specifications of the reader have
been recorded, concepts have been developed
with help of the design criteria. Eventually, a choice
between three concepts, based on the degree in
which they reflected the desired style, has been
made.
To determine whether the electrical components
connect with the new design of the reader, a 3D CAD
model has been developed. Based on this model, the
degree in which the new design reaches the desired
goals, has been evaluated.
Eventually, the created model will be used for the
development of the new reader which will replace
the current version.


Human beings have no language with which to speak about God and their experiences of God except that language which they also use of themselves and of their experiences of each other. The doctrine of the Trinity points to the presence and action of God in the world through Jesus Christ. The search for human analogies with the doctrine of the Trinity has occupied the minds and hearts of theologians and philosophers since earliest Christian times. Many of the attempts made to provide a paradigm by which the Holy Trinity might best be articulated in human thinking have fallen short of the ideals at which they aimed. As a result, there is a paucity of material from which the teacher of theology may draw in explicating this apparently most complicated of doctrines. While the search was confined to the field of pure theology, it seemed fruitless. Dorothy L Sayers, a writer of detective novels, engaged in that search almost by accident as she moved from detective fiction to religious drama in the second phase of her writing career. By using her own experience of creative activity, she saw a striking resemblance between the creative activity of God and that of God's creatures. That this activity possessed a threefold structure allowed Sayers to discern a human analogy with the doctrine of the Trinity which would serve where others had failed. Her thinking was set out in her book The Mind of the Maker in 1941. However, her achievement in this volume has largely been ignored. It is time for a re-appraisal of that achievement in order both to re-present it to those engaged in theological deliberations now and to investigate how it was received in its own day and why it may have been overlooked hitherto.


In this paper, we have theoretically determined the vortex core size by taking Ginzburg-Landau parameter K = 1 for superconductor V3Si, NbSe2 and LuNi2B2C. We have used Eilenberger equations in our calculation. We have shown that vortex core size r0 and coherence length ξab exhibit magnetic field dependence. The maximum value of the cut off parameter ξab measured by μSR corresponds to the GL coherence length calculated from HC2. At low fields, where the vortices are weakly interacting, the fitted value of ξab agrees with expected from HC2.


Previous reports have indicated that the C termini of the membrane-associated tyrosine kinases encoded by c-src and c-fms proto-oncogenes have a negative effect on their biological activity and that this effect is mediated by their C-terminal tyrosine residue. To determine whether this was true for the human epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor, which is also a membrane-associated tyrosine kinase proto-oncogene, we have constructed two premature termination mutants, dc19 and dc63, that delete the C-terminal 19 and 63 amino acids, respectively, from the human full-length receptor (hEGFR). The smaller deletion removes the C-terminal tyrosine residue, while the larger deletion removes the two most C-terminal tyrosines; similar deletions are found in v-erbB. As previously shown for the gene encoding the full-length EGF receptor, the two C-terminal mutants induced EGF-dependent focal transformation and anchorage-independent growth of NIH 3T3 cells. However, both dc19 and dc63 were quantitatively less efficient than the gene encoding the full-length receptor, with dc63 being less active than dc19. Although the C-terminal mutants displayed lower biological activity than the gene encoding the full-length receptor, the mutant receptors were found to be similar in several respects to the full-length receptor. These parameters included receptor localization, stability in the absence of EGF, receptor half-life in the presence of EGF, EGF binding, extent of EGF-dependent autophosphorylation in vitro, and EGF-dependent phosphorylation of an exogenous substrate in vitro. Therefore, the C-terminal 63 amino acids of the human receptor have no detectable influence on EGF-dependent early events. We conclude that in contrast


Ethnography in business is only successful if it is a cooperative, communicative endeavor. Research teams must be able to share knowledge with one another and with the client. In the absence of effective communication, time is wasted, analytic quality can suffer, and the client may lose faith in the value of the project or the value of ethnography in business. This paper will address the subject of transmissivity by defining four key needs for knowledge sharing in collaborative ethnographic research: direct experience of the research context, even distribution of knowledge, coordinated development of analysis, and management of the client experience. After synthesizing the literature on knowledge sharing to define these four key needs, the paper will describe how an internet based research tool can enable global, continuous, and controlled information exchange, meeting these needs in a new way. This type of solution can facilitate communication and enrich contextual understanding, pointing in a new direction for collaborative ethnographic tools. Particularly for dispersed teams, these tools can produce better, faster analysis and more relevant results—the most important deliverables to demonstrate the value of ethnography in business.


The design and performance of a fast 1 × 1K bit static silicon MESFET shift register is presented. The shift register is fully compatible with emitter-coupled logic (ECL) and has on-chip clock drivers. The architecture of the shift register and the designs of the functional blocks are discussed. The overall performance of the shift register is estimated from the simulated performances of the functional blocks and from system simulations with a logic simulator. The experimental 1 × 1K bit static shift register operated up to 140 MHz with a total power consumption of 0.3 W. Simulations predict up to 500-MHz operation at 1.2 W.


Hog cholera bacilli fed to mice disappear from the stomach within 24 hours, but remain and perhaps multiply in the ileum for at least several weeks. They promptly penetrate the mucosa and may be found in the spleen. Bacilli introduced subcutaneously quickly pass into the intestinal tract where they may be found for some weeks. Infected mice may harbor bacilli in the spleen for several months. Mice possess a relatively high degree of natural resistance towards hog cholera bacilli which gives way to large doses. Disease is probably the result of the invasion of the viscera from the digestive tract following feeding, but the relation between the dose fed and the numbers penetrating the mucosa is a variable one and the conditions favoring such invasion not determined. Contact with mice discharging bacilli failed to cause recognizable invasion of the digestive tract or the viscera.


Background/purpose:
 Latinos are at higher risk for stroke at a younger age due to multiple factors and stroke care is usually provided by family members in the home setting (familism). Caregiver information is procured in various ways; more often via "word of mouth" from family/friends versus healthcare providers. Culture, religion, and knowledge of stroke/resources or lack thereof, all impact the Latino caregiver. The purpose of this study was to examine perceived needs and resources of family caregivers of Latino stroke survivors.

 Method:
 Ethnography was used to examine the perspectives/practices of Latino stroke caregivers. Participants were solicited from a Stroke Support Group in Southern CA. Data were collected via a focus group interview of six family caregivers in Spanish/English after informed consents were signed. Interview data/field notes were recorded. Thematic analysis of the interviews /notes was performed.

 Results:
 The mean age of the caregivers was 35 years. The average number of daily care hours was reported as 10-12. All were new caregivers within the last 12 months. Three themes were revealed. The first theme was, "caring for family." All caregivers received some information; however few sought outside resources related to language, finances, distrust of outside caregivers, or transportation. Caregivers served as "gatekeepers" regarding the stroke survivors' health. Another theme was, "hope for survivor's recovery." Although some caregivers experienced fatigue and stress, they were optimistic for their loved one's recovery. The third theme was, "what's next?" Caregivers often did not know where to access resources beyond the MD office or clinic; expressed anxiety about outside services, and usually relied solely on family/friends for information and support.

 Conclusions:
 Stroke family caregivers need providers to look "within culture "and be sensitive to the needs of the Latino family; provide caregiver classes in Spanish/English that highlight stroke/caregiver information, identify informal support, and seek affordable community options for services, such as stroke support groups in Latino communities; all of which can enhance the caregiver's experience and promote positive stroke outcomes.


Domoic acid (DA) was identified as the toxin responsible for an outbreak of illness in Canada in 1987, caused by eating blue mussels that had accumulated DA as a result of the presence of Pseudo-nitzschia pungens. It is named amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). Since a regulatory level of 20 mg DA/kg of shellfish meat was established. The methods of determination of domoic acid are reviewed: biological assays in vivo and in vitro, biochemical and chemical assays. The AOAC mouse bioassay, which is used for PSP, cannot detect domoic acid at the regulatory level of 20 mg/kg tissue and no interlaboratory validation of this method for domoic acid has been carried out. The Quillian method, a liquid chromatography-UV detection method is approved as European Norm by CEN and recommended by Codex Alimentarius as reference method. The European Commission Regulation stipulate that the reference method shall be the HPLC method and the Community Reference Laboratory on Marine Biotoxins (CRLMB) recommends Quillian method as routine method. Others protocols such as receptor binding assay, immunoassays and thin layer chromatography can be used as alternative for routine monitoring. The liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry method allows to confirm the presence of domoic acid isomers.


Windscreens are commonly used to reduce wind noise in outdoor measurements by shielding the microphone from the incoming flow. In this paper a theoretical model for wind noise reduction of a spherical foam windscreen and experimental evidence supporting this model are presented. Results show that wind noise reduction is approximately independent of windscreen diameter for turbulence scale sizes that are much larger than the windscreen and that wind noise reduction scales well with the screen number (defined as the ratio of the windscreen diameter to the scale size of the turbulent eddies) for screen number values less than one. Calculations using average windscreen surface pressure measurements yield wind noise reductions that are of the same order of magnitude as those measured.


Despite the popular belief that chocolate adversely affects young children's behaviour, there have been no direct investigations into the behavioural response to chocolate consumption. This study investigated the effect of chocolate ingestion on the behaviour of 26 preschool children. Dried fruit was consumed in a separate condition to control for nonspecific factors, such as excitement and novelty, associated with the effects of receiving positive substances. Children were observed while they listened to a short story, immediately before and 30 minutes after they ate chocolate or fruit. The children's behaviours were videotaped and scored by two blind raters who coded their behaviours according to six objective and two subjective measures. There were no significant behavioural changes due to consumption of either chocolate or fruit on subjective and objective ratings. These findings raise questions about the popular perception that chocolate promotes poor attention and increased activity in preschool children.


The research aim was to study the effect of moisture in solid fuel on combustion in a stove and its emissions. Analysed samples were from spruce woodchips. Four samples were prepared with different moisture contents and furthermore spruce wood was used as a reference sample. Combustion device used was a stove with a fixed fire grate. Studied parameters were ambient temperature, temperature of flue gases, coefficient of excess air, and contents of oxygen and carbon monoxide in flue gases. Laboratory measurement was performed on an analyser of flue gases whose function is based on electro-chemical converters. Measured values were first converted to a referential oxygen content in flue gases. Evaluation of these values was then made by regression analyses. The course of combustion process and its quality can be seen well in functional dependence of carbon monoxide on excess air coefficient. The area of combustion was the smallest with the least moist sample (3.2%) and increases with increasing moisture. A sample with high moisture (31.1%) was already causing the fire to gradually extinguish. Because flue gas temperature is in the same range for all samples, the overall efficiency of the stove decreases sharply with fuel moisture due to specific heat of flue gases. It has been thus confirmed that fuel moisture content has a substantial influence on combustion, especially in the chosen combustion device, which has been verified by comparison with the reference fuel.


The rat pontine parabrachial nucleus is a prominent recipient of autonomic-related information from the more caudal levels of the neuraxis. The present experiments examined the responsiveness of neurons within the parabrachial nucleus to the following three specific cardiovascular stimuli: the activation of peripheral arterial baroreceptors, right atrial stretch receptors, and the administration of systemic angiotensin (ANG) II. Extracellular recordings in urethan-anesthetized animals indicate the presence of cells, mostly within the lateral parabrachial nucleus, that increase (17.5%, 28 of 160 cells) and decrease (48.1%, 77 of 160 cells) their excitability consequent to baroreceptor activation. A similar profile of alteration in cellular firing rates was observed with intravenous ANG II (increase in 15.8%, 16 of 101 cells; decrease in 28.7%, 29 of 101 cells). In contrast, fewer neurons located within the medial parabrachial and the Kölliker-Fuse nuclei were activated by these stimuli. A majority of cells (80%, n = 15) displayed a lack of response to right atrial stretch receptor activation. Of ANG II-sensitive lateral parabrachial cells, 23% (n = 43) revealed an alteration in excitability that could not be explained on the basis of a response to elevation in blood pressure. It is possible that this group of cells may be activated by the actions of systemic ANG II on neurons of the area postrema, a circumventricular structure, whose central projections are directed toward the parabrachial nucleus. These findings also support the notion of a diversity of cardiovascular inputs to topographically segregated regions within the parabrachial nucleus.


Markers of early pancreatic cancer and its precursors are needed to improve the uniformly poor prognosis of this disease. Fatty acid synthase (FAS) catalyzes the synthesis of long-chain fatty acids and is overexpressed in most human solid tumors. We therefore evaluated serum FAS as a marker of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. FAS expression patterns in primary pancreatic adenocarcinomas, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms (IPMN), and chronic pancreatitis tissues were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. Serum FAS levels were determined by ELISA in 102 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinomas, in 42 patients with IPMNs, in 27 patients with chronic pancreatitis, and in 39 healthy control subjects. FAS protein was overexpressed in the ductal epithelium of 343 of 399 primary pancreatic adenocarcinomas (86.0%) and 28 of 30 IPMNs (93.3%), and in the islet and ductal cells in 3 of 54 chronic pancreatitis tissues (5.6%), whereas normal ductal epithelium lacked FAS expression. Serum FAS levels were significantly higher in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (first quartile median, 22.0; 4.5 ng/mL), in patients with IPMNs (20.7; 9.4 ng/mL), and in patients with chronic pancreatitis (31.1; 11.9 ng/mL) than in healthy controls (0; 0 ng/mL). FAS levels declined postoperatively in 8 of 9 patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma and elevations of their preoperative serum FAS. In conclusion, serum FAS levels are elevated in patients with pancreatic cancer and IPMNs and are associated with neoplastic overexpression of FAS. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(9):2380–5)


This book examines the major phases in the history of health services in Africa and treats health as an integral aspect of the deepening crisis in Africa's underdevelopment. One important thesis is that Western delivery systems have made health care less accessible for most people. Contributors direct attention to problems engendered by food shortages, acute cases of infection, the market in fake drugs as well as the inequality of access to facilities, the violation of human rights, and the recent danger of the dumping of toxic wastes in several African countries. One major implication of this volume is that there can be no solution to the health crisis in Africa until the linkage between health and poverty is recognized. The authors consider questions that add to the contemporary discussion of the place that traditional African medicine and philosophy should take alongside modern Western medicine in Africa today.


Background: Iatrogenic etiologies are currently the leading causes of hemobilia, which is a life-threatening case.
Case presentation: We present a case of hemobilia after laparoscopic cholecystectomy in which an injury to the biliary system happened, and then the patient had the clinical descriptive triad of hemobilia "Quinke triad" which includes pain, gastrointestinal bleeding and jaundice. Gastrointestinal endoscopy led us to think of hemobilia; using angiography we discovered a pseudoaneurysm on the right hepatic artery. Our expert emobolized the aneurysm using the interventional radiology, the patient was fully recovered.
Results: Regardless of the date of surgery, thinking of hemobilia as a complication after a cholecystectomy in the complains of any patient of gastrointestinal bleeding is considered. It is essential to have an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Initial management includes an appropriate resuscitation with IV fluids. Angiographic CT might be useful to locate the source of the bleeding for early and appropriate targeted therapy.


Get ready for lift-off on a Martian adventure!

Have you ever imagined living on another planet? What about Mars? With not enough air to breathe, sunlight to keep us warm, or any available food and water, life on Mars is going to be a challenge... but it just might be possible!

Take a journey to the Red Planet in How to Survive on Mars. Discover natural wonders like ancient polar ice caps, the highest volcano in the solar system and a 45-kilometre-wide impact crater that was once a Martian lake.

Packed with stunning photographs, fun activities and quizzes, this book will show you what you need to do to survive on Mars! Join scientists, engineers, archaeologists, ethicists and science-fiction writers for a space exploration adventure.

Reading level varies from child to child, but we recommend this book for ages 8 to 12.


BACKGROUND
Pulmonary embolism is a common condition. Some patients subsequently develop chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). Many care gaps exist in the diagnosis and management of CTEPH patients including lack of awareness, incomplete diagnostic assessment, and inconsistent use of surgical and medical therapies.

METHODS
A representative interdisciplinary panel of medical experts undertook a formal clinical practice guideline development process. A total of 20 key clinical issues were defined according to the patient population, intervention, comparator, outcome (PICO) approach. The panel performed an evidence-based, systematic, literature review, assessed and graded the relevant evidence, and made 26 recommendations.

RESULTS
Asymptomatic patients postpulmonary embolism should not be screened for CTEPH. In patients with pulmonary hypertension, the possibility of CTEPH should be routinely evaluated with initial ventilation/perfusion lung scanning, not computed tomography angiography. Pulmonary endarterectomy surgery is the treatment of choice in patients with surgically accessible CTEPH, and may also be effective in CTEPH patients with disease in more 'distal' pulmonary arteries. The anatomical extent of CTEPH for surgical pulmonary endarterectomy is best assessed by contrast pulmonary angiography, although positive computed tomography angiography may be acceptable. Novel medications indicated for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension may be effective for selected CTEPH patients.

CONCLUSIONS
The present guideline requires formal dissemination to relevant target user groups, the development of tools for implementation into routine clinical practice and formal evaluation of the impact of the guideline on the quality of care of CTEPH patients. Moreover, the guideline will be updated periodically to reflect new evidence or clinical approaches.


Findings from comparative microneurography are reviewed, i.e., data obtained by exploring human nerves with tungsten electrodes or concentric needle electrodes under similar conditions. It has emerged that activity in single myelinated fibers originates near nodes of Ranvier. Other data have shown that Ranvier nodes tend to cluster in certain regions of a fascicle and belong to fibers of the same modality which innervate the same skin area. This segregation involves all four main classes of myelinated low-threshold skin afferents. Fiber populations of the same modality may act as peripheral projection modules involved in somatosensory processing of tactile stimuli to cognitive levels. The fiber bundle arrangement of the nerves may be important for conserving functional gnosis in conditions where peripheral nerve fibers are lost. This organization may also be critical as a substrate to promote reinnervation after nerve cut followed by peripheral nerve suture. It is therefore less critical for an outgrowing fiber to find its exact distal counterpart. Even if misguided outgrowth occurs into the endoneurial tube of a neighboring distal fiber of the same modality with an adjacent receptive field, function can be reestablished. A precise nerve topography might also be of significance for obtaining a functionally satisfactory recovery after avulsion injuries treated by nerve root implantation into the spinal cord. Thus, there is in man an ordered nerve fiber organization, both in the periphery and in the CNS, which may have profound functional significance both under normal conditions and in disease.


Fossil assemblages from 53 packrat middens indicate which plant species were dominant during the last 24,000 years in the eastern Grand Canyon. Past vegetational patterns show associations that cannot be attributed to simple elevational displacement of the modern zones. A model emphasizing a latitudinal shift of climatic values is proposed.


Background:The main challenge of modeling humanoid robots is establishing a compromise between the simplicity of the model and accuracy of the system. One of the realities of movement which is important about humans is moving their hands to keep balance and reduce energy consumption while they are walking. Methods: In this context, the role of elbow joint and the limitation that the joint exerts in terms of movement on the forearm and arm as self-impact joint constraint is undeniable. This paper deals with modeling and control of humanoid robot's hand as double-pendulum will consider mentioned constraint while normal walking and also in throwing darts. Results: The presence of the self-impact joint constraint contributed to about a 26% saving in power consumption of robot motors within an impact range of 0.6346 to 0.6896 during normal human walking.  Since this control has a high power, 10 to 30% of the uncertainty was added to the length and mass parameters. As was observed, this controller routed the desired curves in the least possible time. Conclusion: As mentioned earlier, consideration of this constraint in elbow joint of the humanoid robot will help in approaching the reality of system in comparison with past models previously designed. As constraint causes addition of severe nonlinear terms to dynamic system equation, the control of systems with this type of constraint faces a great deal of complexity. For adaptive-neural controller to control of the system of humanoid robot's hand will be used. Also, to display the ability of control system, the uncertainty of length and mass for this system will be considered. The existence of self-impact joint constraint will cause saving in consumption power of robot engines within the impact range.


Understanding the mechanisms of host plant resistance at molecular level is useful towards designing effective disease management programmes against infections of plant pathogens. The present study was conducted to identify host plant genes expressed in response to infection by Colletotrichum musae using a moderately-resistant cultivar of banana (Seenikesel) to anthracnose. The expression profile of a selected defense-related gene over the infection process in the banana cultivar Seenikesel was also determined. Identification of genes was done by differential hybridization of a cDNA library constructed from peel tissues of banana inoculated with C. musae. Up-regulated genes due to C. musae infection were predicted through DNA homology search. Among the identified putative defense related genes, expression profile of Germin-like protein was studied by relative RT- PCR over a period of 144 h after inoculation. The set of up-regulated gene transcripts identified in the present study were responsible for plant defense, stress response, growth, development, protein synthesis, protein folding and stabilization. Expression of Germin-like protein gene homologue was comparatively high at the late phase of inoculation (96 h after inoculation) of C. musae in banana cultivar Seenikesel.


Cellular senescence is a permanent state of cell cycle arrest that occurs in proliferating cells subjected to different stresses. Senescence is, therefore, a cellular defense mechanism that prevents the cells to acquire an unnecessary damage. The senescent state is accompanied by a failure to re-enter the cell cycle in response to mitogenic stimuli, an enhanced secretory phenotype and resistance to cell death. Senescence takes place in several tissues during different physiological and pathological processes such as tissue remodeling, injury, cancer, and aging. Although senescence is one of the causative processes of aging and it is responsible of aging-related disorders, senescent cells can also play a positive role. In embryogenesis and tissue remodeling, senescent cells are required for the proper development of the embryo and tissue repair. In cancer, senescence works as a potent barrier to prevent tumorigenesis. Therefore, the identification and characterization of key features of senescence, the induction of senescence in cancer cells, or the elimination of senescent cells by pharmacological interventions in aging tissues is gaining consideration in several fields of research. Here, we describe the known key features of senescence, the cell-autonomous, and noncell-autonomous regulators of senescence, and we attempt to discuss the functional role of this fundamental process in different contexts in light of the development of novel therapeutic targets.


Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is characterized by a high level of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) and a high prevalence of atherosclerotic coronary heart disease; however, hypercholesterolemia is usually the only clinical finding in children with heterozygous FH in their first decade of life. We report a case of FH in an 11-year-old boy who presented with multiple xanthomas at both elbows, thickened Achilles tendons, and hyperplasia of the intima-media complex of the carotid artery. Echocardiogram revealed partial calcification of the aortic and mitral valves, but no stenosis of the coronary arteries was detected on 3D-computed tomography. The activity of LDL receptors was reduced to 32% by lymphocyte assay. The family history showed vertical transmission of hypercholesterolemia from father to son, thereby suggesting dominant inheritance. After 12 months of treatment with statin and resin, his LDL-C decreased from 446 to 220 mg/dL, thickening of the Achilles tendons decreased from 1618 mm to 13 mm, and hyperplasia of the intima-media complex decreased from 1.3 mm to 0.7 mm. These findings suggest that our patient had heterozygous FH. However, based on his advanced atherosclerosis, we cannot exclude the possibility that our patient may be accompanying dyslipidemia due to causes in addition to heterozygous FH.


OBJECT
Thoracoscopic discectomy is a minimally invasive procedure simulating a thoracotomy and is an alternative to the costotransversectomy and transpedicular approaches. In recent studies authors have concluded that thoracoscopic discectomy is the preferred procedure; however, relative historical comparisons were difficult to interpret. The authors conducted a prospective nonrandomized study in which they compared data on 36 patients undergoing thoracoscopic discectomy with eight patients undergoing thoracotomy between 1995 and 1999.

METHODS
Patients affected with one- or two-level lesions underwent a thoracoscopic discectomy, and patients with three-level lesions or more underwent thoracotomy and discectomy. Data were collected on operative time, blood loss, chest tube duration, narcotic agent use, and hospital length of stay (LOS). Longer-term follow-up study of pain-related symptoms and neurological function was conducted. Patients who underwent thoracoscopic discectomy had shorter operative times, less blood loss, a shorter period of chest tube drainage dependence, less narcotic usage, and a shorter LOS. These findings were statistically significant (p < 0.05) for narcotic usage and shorter LOS. Pain related to radiculopathy was improved by means of 75%, and no patients experienced worsened pain. In patients with myelopathy there was an improvement of two Frankel grades in the thoracoscopic group and one Frankel grade in the thoracotomy discectomy group, but patients in the thoracotomy group were significantly worse preoperatively. One myelopathic patient from each group suffered a worsened outcome postoperatively, although this was not attributed to the method of surgery. The incidence of complications (minor and major) was 31% in the thoracoscopic group and greater than 100% (that is, more than one complication per patient) in the thoracotomy/discectomy group.

CONCLUSIONS
One advantage to thoracoscopic discectomy is its reduced incidence of morbidity compared with thoractomy, but its steep learning curve and unfamiliar surgical techniques make this procedure less practical for surgeons not performing it frequently. The more familiar costotransversectomy, transpedicular, and thoracotomy procedures remain viable alternatives for surgeons more experienced in these procedures.


The geological timescale before 720 Ma uses rounded absolute ages rather than specific events recorded in rocks to subdivide time. This has led increasingly to mismatches between subdivisions and the features for which they were named. Here we review the formal processes that led to the current timescale, outline rock-based concepts that could be used to subdivide pre-Cryogenian time and propose revisions. An appraisal of the Precambrian rock record confirms that purely chronostratigraphic subdivision would require only modest deviation from current chronometric boundaries, removal of which could be expedited by establishing event-based concepts and provisional, approximate ages for eon-, era- and period-level subdivisions. Our review leads to the following conclusions: (1) the current informal four-fold Archean subdivision should be simplified to a tripartite scheme, pending more detailed analysis, and (2) an improved rock-based Proterozoic Eon might comprise a Paleoproterozoic Era with three periods (early Paleoproterozoic or Skourian, Rhyacian, Orosirian), Mesoproterozoic Era with four periods (Statherian, Calymmian, Ectasian, Stenian) and a Neoproterozoic Era with four periods (pre-Tonian or Kleisian, Tonian, Cryogenian and Ediacaran). These proposals stem from a wide community and could be used to guide future development of the pre-Cryogenian timescale by international bodies.