This paper suggests utilizing X-ray pulsars for relative navigation between two spacecraft in deep space. Mathe- matical models describing X-ray pulsar signals are presented. The pulse delay estimation problem is formulated, and the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for estimation of the pulse delay is given. Two different pulse delay estimators are introduced, and their asymptotic performance is studied. Numerical complexity of each delay estimator, and the effect of absolute velocity errors on its performance is investigated. Using the pulsar measurements, a recursive algorithm is proposed for relative navigation between two spacecraft. The spacecraft acceleration data are provided by the inertial measurement units (IMUs). The pulse delay estimates are used as measurements, and based on models of the spacecraft and IMU dynamics, a Kalman filter is employed to obtain the 3-D relative position and velocity. Furthermore, it is shown that the relative accelerometer biases as well as the differential time between clocks can be estimated. Numerical simulations are also performed to assess the proposed navigation algorithm.


We report the findings of a qualitative study embedded in an interpretive paradigm to determine the perceptions of South African primary school teachers and principals regarding the inclusion of learners considered gifted. Eight principals and 16 classroom teachers in the Foundation Phase (Grades 1–3) in public primary schools situated in communities that were representative of the different socio-economic and language groups in the Western Cape province participated in the study. Qualitative data collection methods included in-depth individual semi-structured interviews with the eight principals and two semi-structured focus group interviews with the 16 classroom teachers. Qualitative content analysis revealed the following themes: inclusive education and the learner who is gifted; curriculum differentiation; obstacles to curriculum differentiation; and possible solutions for more effectively including the gifted learner. Despite their diversity in terms of culture, language and positioning by the previous apartheid regime, the participants acknowledged the marginalisation by default of gifted learners. Gifted learners were most often those who were not receiving appropriate education and support and data suggested that a particular drive for the inclusion of gifted learners was absent in the agenda of education authorities.


In recent years, three optimal methods, size, shape and topological optimization, have been widely applied to the automotive component design and significant success have been achieved. However, most of the optimizations are limited to deal with the individual component of the truck. Because there exists the complex coupling relations between components under the assembly environment of the truck, it is difficult to deal with the component design by using the above three optimal method and it is necessary to develop a more effective method for solving the complex optimal problem under the assembly environment of full truck. To this end, the paper introduces the modal stiffness concept and develops the modal stiffness contributions of components to full truck which can identify which components are the key ones for controlling the modal frequencies. The present method is applied to a full truck analysis. The results obtained show that the proposed method is effective and the computation process is straightforward. The results can be directly used to improve the component design of full truck as a valuable guide.


Many recruiters use the web for job placements, to help organisations quickly reach the correct audience by posting available positions on the Internet and providing a way for candidates to submit resumes electronically. Recruitment agencies find this an efficient and effective way to establish a connection between employer (client organisation) and job seeker (candidate). It is a fast, flexible, inexpensive way to find potential organisations/candidates. Content analysis is used in this study to evaluate recruitment agency web sites. The online recruitment agencies web sites are categorised into two groups: IT specialists, and the more general recruitment agencies web sites covering a wide range of industries. We evaluate and compare the New Zealand web sites of seven IT specialist recruitment agencies and eleven general ones. The fundamental elements for a fully functional electronic evaluation model based on the Hersey model (as cited in [5]) were defined. The results showed that although the sites scored well on the Information and Trust dimensions, they preformed relatively poorly in transaction capability and in providing promotional elements.


Recycling of old concrete is an efficient way of minimizing environmental hazards caused by construction and demolition waste (C&DW). The quality of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) may sometimes cause major problems in structures which need to be resolved before being used. Damage caused to concrete by hostile agents can be a reason for the rapid deterioration of materials, and which can even cause permanent failure of the structure. Factors which negatively affect the durability of concrete are corrosion of steel due to depassivation by carbonation, insufficient concrete cover (some cases too small cover of concrete helps early corrosion of reinforcement), chloride penetration, freezing and thawing, presence of salt and the action by chemicals in the mixing water. This paper describes the durability performance of 100% natural aggregate (NA) and 30% replacement of RCA with it. It was found that there are no major changes in durability properties when 30% RCA was replaced to NA.


Objective: To establish whether the ABO alleles are in confederacy with Ischemic Heart Disease (IHD) in Pakistani PopulationStudy Design: Analytic comparative studyPlace and Duration: Punjab Institute of Cardiology Lahore, from September 2015 to September 2016Methodology: About 734 IHD suspects and 500 controls were selected via non-probability purposive sampling techniques. Out of  734 suspects of IHD, 599 (81%) were diagnosed as confirmed IHD patients by interventional coronary. Control group were selected from adult healthy blood donors with no symptoms of IHD and normal ECG. All subjects were processed for ABO blood grouping, Baseline characteristics and cardio-vascular risk factors were assessed by a cardiologist. Chi-square test was used as a test of significance; p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Win Pepi software was used for statistical analysis of data.Results: Mean age of cases and control was 48±12.34 years and 47.3±2.38 years respectively. Both in cases and controls, number of males were more as compared to females. Blood group A and AB was significantly more in cases as compared to control. In control group blood group B and O was significantly more frequent as compared to cases. Among cases most common risk factrs were smoking (77.1%), ghee abuser (75%), hyperlipidemia (73.1%) and hypertension (71.1%). Majority of controls (59.2%) gave history of performing exercise (Table I). All the risk factors had a significant association with types of blood group. Conclusion: Blood groups are significantly different between cases and controls. Risk factors have significant association with blood groups.


Human decidua and decidualized endometrial cells produce prolactin (PRL). Several growth factors and cytokines have been shown to regulate decidual PRL release, but a specific PRL-releasing substance remains to be characterized. Prolactin-releasing peptide (PrRP) is a peptide isolated from the brain and distinguished by its potent and specific stimulation of PRL release by cultured pituitary cells. Here, we demonstrate that human decidua expresses immunoreactive PrRP as well as the mRNAs encoding PrRP and its receptor. First trimester deciduas were obtained from women undergoing elective termination of pregnancy. Tissue specimens were stained by immunohistochemistry using a rabbit anti-human PrRP-31 antibody, and PrRP was localized in both epithelial cells of the decidual glands and in stromal cells, with diffuse distribution and no special relation with the neighbourhood of blood vessels. In primary cultures of decidual stromal cells, PrRP and PrRP receptor gene expression were detected using RT-PCR, and the identity of the PCR products was further confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion. The effect of PrRP on decidual PRL release was also evaluated, and there was a significant increase in PRL production (135 +/- 4% of control levels, P < 0.05) after incubation of decidual stromal cells with synthetic PrRP. The expression of PrRP and PrRP receptor in human decidual cells and the ability of PrRP to induce PRL secretion by cultured decidual cells suggests that this peptide may be a novel local modulator of decidual PRL release.


Since the onset of Title IX, opportunities have dramatically increased for female athletes, largely to their benefit. However, some negative health outcomes such as disordered eating, chronic menstrual disturbances and low bone mass have been associated with high-level competition among some female athletes, particularly in sports such as gymnastics and cross-country running, where a slender physique or lean body build is important. Adolescent female athletes, in a rapid growth and development phase, may be at greatest risk. We sought to identify athletes at risk, understand the origin of possible negative outcomes and recommend behavioral modifications that promote participation in competitive sports while supporting lifetime health. This review discusses the development and impact of disordered eating and menstrual dysfunction on bone mass in young, competitive, female athletes and provides nutrition recommendations for their energy, carbohydrate, protein, vitamin and mineral intake.


According to Hegel, art in its 'supreme task' is engaged in 'bringing to our minds and expressing the Divine, the deepest interests of mankind, and the most comprehensive truths of the spirit'. Raymond Geuss, in a highly illuminating paper, has connected Hegel's conception of art's supreme task with the project of theodicy. In this paper I explore Hegel's aesthetics of comedy through this theodicy-based framework Geuss has proposed, and I consider what light this framework can shed on comedy and, reciprocally, what light comedy can shed on it. In particular, invocation of a theodicy can give the impression of art as a kind of defense of the status quo. Yet Hegel's brief, but pivotal remarks on comedy complicate this picture in an interesting way. The best comedy does reassure us about the basic rationality and goodness of the world. Yet Aristophanic comedy—the sort Hegel lauds as the best and the most truly comic—has a strongly social-critical streak that Hegel notes with great admiration. Hegel's theory of comedy says as much about him as it does about the genre. But if we are attentive to Hegel's remarks on comedy, they will offer us a point of resistance against overly Panglossian interpretations of the Hegelian supreme task of art and will help us better understand in what way active social criticism through art is compatible with that higher calling.


Slow drying stimulated the artificial development of fruiting structures by Cladonia cristatella Tuck. Fructification of the fungal partner occurred in the absence of its algal symbiont. Only newly isolated mycobionts produced the reproductive structures. Soredia and squamules were formed in response to the joint effect of slow drying and nutrient-poor conditions.


Elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide fumarate (EVG/c/FTC/TAF) and dolutegravir/abacavir/lamivudine (DTG/ABC/3TC) are currently available for HIV patients. Objectives This study evaluated modifications in the renal safety profile in a large real‐world cohort of patients who had received EVG/c/FTC/TAF or DTG/ABC/3TC. Methods A retrospective observational study of HIV-infected patients who received EVG/c/FTC/TAF or DTG/ABC/3TC between March 2015 and June 2019 at a reference hospital in north-western Spain was conducted. Epidemiological, clinical, immunovirological data and information regarding antiretroviral therapy were recorded. The statistical differences between treatments were calculated. Results A total of 457 patients were evaluated, 266 using EVG/c/FTC/TAF and 191 using DTG/ABC/3TC. Up to week 120, serum creatinine improved in both study groups among experienced patients (EVG/c/FTC/TAF 1.01±0.24 vs 0.91±0.19, p<0.001; DTG/ABC/3TC 1.08±0.24 vs 1.02±0.31, p<0.001), while in naïve patients serum creatinine remained stable compared with baseline. Statistically significant differences were found in serum creatinine when comparing both treatments at week 48 in experienced (0.94±0.21 vs 1.09±0.28, p<0.001) and naïve patients (0.89±0.16 vs 1.06±0.20, p=0.001), and among experienced patients at week 120 (0.91±0.19 vs 1.02±0.31, p=0.015) for the EVG/c/FTC/TAF and DTG/ABC/3TC groups, respectively. During the follow-up, 39 patients in EVG/c/FTC/TAF and 33 in DTG/ABC/3TC (p=0.449) discontinued treatment. The main reason for stopping treatment was adverse events, which were similar in both groups. Conclusions During the follow-up, patients experienced changes that were not clinically relevant in both treatment groups. Differences in renal events were not found.


The genetic defect of coagulation factor V, known as factor V Leiden, produces a resistance to degradation by activated protein C and increased venous thrombosis. However, the role of factor V Leiden in the formation of left atrial thrombus with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation has not been studied. We investigated whether factor V Leiden is a risk factor for left atrial thrombus in patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation. We analyzed clinical, echocardiographic, and biochemical data in 105 consecutive patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation. These patients were divided into two groups: group A (n = 37) with left atrial thrombus and group B (n = 68) without left atrial thrombus. The study also included 42 control subjects. Left atrial thrombus was investigated by using both transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography. Blood samples from the patients and controls were analyzed for the factor V Leiden mutation by DNA analysis, using the polymerase chain reaction. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of factor V Leiden between the patients and control subjects. The prevalence of factor V Leiden mutation was 8.1% (3/37) in patients with left atrial thrombus, and 8.8% (6/68) in patients without left atrial thrombus. The prevalence of factor V Leiden was 7.1% (3/42) in control subjects. The prevalance of factor V Leiden was 10% (2/20) in patients with spontaneous echo contrast and 8% (7/85) in patients without spontaneous echo contrast. Multivariate analyses showed that left ventricular ejection fraction was an independent predictor of left atrial thrombus. Factor V Leiden mutation is not a risk factor for left atrial thrombus formation and spontaneous echo contrast in patients with nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation.


Aim: To assess if the intake of levodopa in patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD) changes cerebral connectivity, as revealed by simultaneous recording of hemodynamic (functional MRI, or fMRI) and electric (electroencephalogram, EEG) signals. Particularly, we hypothesize that the strongest changes in FC will involve the motor network, which is the most impaired in PD.
Methods: Eight patients with diagnosis of PD "probable", therapy with levodopa exclusively, normal cognitive and affective status, were included. Exclusion criteria were: moderate-severe rest tremor, levodopa induced dyskinesia, evidence of gray or white matter abnormalities on structural MRI. Scalp EEG (64 channels) were acquired inside the scanner (1.5 Tesla) before and after the intake of levodopa. fMRI functional connectivity was computed from four regions of interest: right and left supplementary motor area (SMA) and right and left precentral gyrus (primary motor cortex). Weighted partial directed coherence (w-PDC) was computed in the inverse space after the removal of EEG gradient and cardioballistic artifacts.
Results and discussion: fMRI group analysis shows that the intake of levodopa increases hemodynamic functional connectivity among the SMAs / primary motor cortex and: sensory-motor network itself, attention network and default mode network. w-PDC analysis shows that EEG connectivity among regions of the motor network has the tendency to decrease after the intake the levodopa; furthermore, regions belonging to the DMN have the tendency to increase their outflow toward the rest of the brain. These findings, even if in a small sample of patients, suggest that other resting state physiological functional networks, beyond the motor one, are affected in patients with PD. The behavioral and cognitive tasks corresponding to the affected networks could benefit from the intake of levodopa.


European high-yield bonds are unique, and the dynamics of the European speculative-grade market are different from those in the United States. By looking at the influences that affect high-yield new issue pricing in this market, the author intends to clarify these differences. His study of two and a half years of recent new issues examines both company-specific and environmental factors. A significant amount of the variance in the new issue pricing can be quantified by four factors: the bond9s average normal credit rating; the prevailing secondary market yield spread of European high-yield bonds; the principal size of the offering; whether the bond is deferred-interest coupon. The remaining variance is attributable to less quantifiable factors that are more under an underwriter9s control.


Three-dimensional numerical simulations are performed to evaluate the effect of porous baffles on the efficiency of water treatment contact tanks. A second-order accurate numerical model is employed for the solutions of unsteady flow and tracer transport through the porous baffles. The flow through the porous medium is characterized while using the Darcy-Forchheimer relationship. Large Eddy Simulation (LES) model is used to simulate the instantaneous mixing of the tracer in the chambers of the contact tank. Three different porosities are considered to evaluate the effect of porosity on the hydraulic and mixing efficiencies of the contact tank. Simulated time-averaged flow field shows that porous baffles that are placed at the entrance of each chamber could successfully mitigate short-circuiting and yield plug-flow conditions through the system for low porosities. Flow in the contact tank becomes laminar as the flow velocities decrease due to viscous effects and inertial resistance in the porous zone. For this case, the tracer is transported with bulk flow through the system and leaves the contact tank with a high peak seen in the Residence Time Distribution (RTD) plot. Porous layer increases the hydraulic efficiency of the conventional design from "poor" to "good" according to the baffling factor and increases the overall efficiency from "compromising" to "good" according to the AD index. Comparison of the performance of the porous layer with the previously developed slot-baffle design shows that the slot-baffle design increases the efficiency of the tank with increasing dispersion effects, whereas the porous design increases hydraulic efficiency and reduces the dispersion effects. While the porous design reduces energy efficiency by 33% due to a drastic increase in drag in the flow through porous zone, the slot-baffle design increases the energy efficiency of the conventional design by 67%.


In daily life, we rely on other people's suggestions or by word of mouth or recommendation letters and book reviews printed in newspapers and general surveys, such as restaurant guides. However, the Internet's explosive growth has brought us information that anyone can be greatly difficult to digest. To cope with the flood of information, the personalized recommendation systems have been established to assist and complement the natural social process. These systems recommend users to select information that users may be interested in and filter out which users may not be interested. In order to alleviate the information overload problem, the author researches on the application of agent in personalized information recommendation system. The system collects user information of interest through the agent systems and queries the resources to filter and remove information that users do not need. It can provide users with intelligent and active information services.


A pyrolysis-free synthetic approach is created to prepare nitrogen-coordinated single-atom catalysts. Nitrogen-coordinated single-atom catalysts (SACs) have emerged as a frontier for electrocatalysis (such as oxygen reduction) with maximized atom utilization and highly catalytic activity. The precise design and operable synthesis of SACs are vital for practical applications but remain challenging because the commonly used high-temperature treatments always result in unpredictable structural changes and randomly created single atoms. Here, we develop a pyrolysis-free synthetic approach to prepare SACs with a high electrocatalytic activity using a fully π-conjugated iron phthalocyanine (FePc)–rich covalent organic framework (COF). Instead of randomly creating Fe-nitrogen moieties on a carbon matrix (Fe-N-C) through pyrolysis, we rivet the atomically well-designed Fe-N-C centers via intermolecular interactions between the COF network and the graphene matrix. The as-synthesized catalysts demonstrate exceptional kinetic current density in oxygen reduction catalysis (four times higher than the benchmark Pt/C) and superior power density and cycling stability in Zn-air batteries compared with Pt/C as air electrodes.


OBJECTIVES
To describe ratings of symptom occurrence, severity, and distress for 38 symptoms and to identify and compare the number and types of symptom clusters identified using these ratings. Although patients with gynecologic cancer experience multiple co-occurring symptoms, little is known about how these symptoms cluster together.

SAMPLE & SETTING
Eligible patients (N = 232) had gynecologic cancer and were receiving chemotherapy.

METHODS & VARIABLES
Symptoms were assessed using the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale. Symptom clusters were identified through exploratory factor analysis. Geomin-rotated factor loadings with absolute values of 0.3 or greater were considered meaningful. Factor solutions (i.e., symptom clusters) were assessed for simple structure and clinical relevance.

RESULTS
Lack of energy, hair loss, and "I don't look like myself" were the most common, severe, and distressing symptoms. Hormonal, respiratory, and weight change clusters were identified across all three dimensions.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING
Research that explores how symptom clusters change over time and their underlying mechanisms is warranted.


This article holds that ensuring the full sway of economic, social and cultural rights makes it possible to advance towards greater equality of opportunities, both for attaining well-being and for asserting differences in the field of identity. This development of the effective use of rights must be complemented with new forms of citizenship connected with the possibility of interaction with the media and greater participation in the knowledge-based society. Only in this way does it seem feasible to give an ethical foundation to social and development policies which have been deprived of ideological bases. In this state of affairs it is necessary to build a political culture which transcends the merely formal nature of procedures and translates political action into forms of communication between different actors. The cultural construct of democratic citizenship necessarily involves such a pact or contract, which must provide space for the voices of a broad range of social actors and must have a real capability to prescribe forms of reciprocity and recognition in such diverse areas as access to justice, to social services, to informed political debate, and to the expression of opinions in the communication media.


Abstract Since the colonial era, environmental degradation in Fouta Djalon has been systematically described and denounced as a direct consequence of agropastoral practices. An extremely pessimistic scenario involving extensive farming practices, population increase, environmental degradation, and emigration has gradually emerged, without solid grounding in reality. Although regularly forecasted, the catastrophe is still to come. Elaboration of this crisis scenario is based on received ideas. These ideas have warped the initial diagnosis, led to an erroneous perception of local economic and social dynamics and of their potential for evolution, and ultimately account for the sometimes fantastic character of representations and predicted evolution of environmental dynamics. This misperception of reality is one cause of the low global efficacy of rural development programs.


Regulation of food intake and energy homeostasis is controlled by a delicate balancing of numerous central and peripheral factors, including circulating peptide hormones. This study investigated the proteome of saliva using SELDI‐TOF‐MS in relation to satiety and body mass index (BMI) in humans. Within a longitudinal test session, 18 subjects were exposed to a lunch‐induced hunger‐satiety shift, while every 15 min collecting their whole saliva and rating their hunger and satiety. Saliva was analysed by SELDI‐TOF‐MS using IMAC arrays with a chromatographic copper surface (IMAC‐Cu). From all subjects and time points measured, peptide and protein profiles showed 190 common peaks. Their interrelationships show that 37% of the variation was accounted for in one dimension. About 30 means had a strong association (0.70<|r|<0.95) with all subjective satiety ratings across time during the test session, and seven peaks were significantly correlated to BMI. Database MS searches indicated characterisation of some relevant metabolic peptide hormones. In conclusion, SELDI‐TOF‐MS on human saliva provides a valuable and noninvasive way of profiling that enables characterisation of novel and differently expressed peptides and proteins which can be used as biomarkers of satiety and overweight.


The permanent magnet synchronous motor, which is a nonlinear dynamic system, can exhibit a variety of chaotic or limit cycle phenomenon under some choices of system parameters and external inputs, and its chaotic characteristics are more prominent. Based on the mathematical model of a permanent magnet synchronous motor, its nonlinear characteristics are analysed with respect to the bifurcation diagram, Lyapunov exponent map and the nature of its equilibrium point in this paper, and the results in well demonstrated by numerical simulations. Finally, an analog electronic circuit is designed to implement the mathematical model of a permanent magnet synchronous motor, and the experimental results of the system well agreed with the simulation results.


The aim of the present meta-analysis was to systematically assess the efficacy of the various treatments available for moderate to severe psoriasis. PubMed and Embase databases were systematically searched to select relevant studies up to February 2015. Odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used as effect estimates. In addition, the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) 50, PASI 75 and PASI 90 responses for the therapies were systematically assessed. A total of 33 randomized controlled trials were included in the present study. For the PASI 75 response rate, infliximab (5 mg) may be the most effective option for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis. Furthermore, the pooled results of the PASI 50 response rate demonstrated that infliximab (5 mg) and ustekinumab (90 mg) may be superior to other drugs for treating moderate to severe psoriasis. For the PASI 90 response rate, infliximab (5 mg), ustekinumab (90 mg) and briakinumab (weeks 0 and 4, 200 mg; week 8, 100 mg) exhibited improved results compared with other treatments. In conclusion, infliximab (5 mg) may be a superior option to treat moderate to severe psoriasis due to the relatively high PASI scores. However, despite the high PASI 90 responses, further studies are required to identify the efficacy of ustekinumab (90 mg) and briakinumab.


The characteristics of tube waves in water‐filled boreholes with and without an elastic cylindrical mandrel in the borehole are compared. With a mandrel, the tube waves are slower, more dispersive, and more sensitive to the formation shear modulus than without. Additionally, the characteristics of tube waves in a borehole in the presence of a liquid‐saturated porous mandrel were also studied. The tube waves propagating in the annulus couple with the slow waves propagating in the porous mandrel. This coupling and the viscous dissipation of the slow waves introduce attenuation and additional dispersion to the tube waves. Whether the mandrel is porous or not, there are two modes which are weakly dispersive in the quasistatic limit. Very roughly, the two modes consist of an extensional mode in the rod and a fluid‐based mode in the annulus which are coupled together.


By emphasising that businesses attract offenders or generate 'eyes on the street' discouraging potential offenders, previous studies have largely neglected the active role of local business owners. As neighbourhood business owners have both individual and professional local stakes, they may take responsibility for a place and its immediate surroundings. Using a dataset of 895 residents and 385 entrepreneurs nested within 161 residential neighbourhoods, we show that local business owners are more willing to intervene in disorderly situations than unemployed residents. The findings suggest that this is caused by them having both higher expectations about intervention by others and greater belief in their own problem-solving capabilities. We speculate that although entrepreneurs only report higher willingness than unemployed residents but not employed residents, their presence may nevertheless influence neighbourhood order because they spend much time locally and thus have many opportunities to turn their willingness into action on behalf of the neighbourhood. © 2014 Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG.


Explanations for an increase in the killing of journalists worldwide over the last quarter century include the dangers of war coverage and unsafe conditions in formally democratic countries. Analyzing 1812 killings of journalists from 1992 to 2016, we find that countries with hybrid political regimes mixing liberal and illiberal elements create by far the most dangerous context for journalists, while a particular spatial configuration within those countries, subnational authoritarianism, clarifies the logic of the killings. In short, the study finds that most journalists died in countries where formal democratic norms and practices at the national level encourage investigative reporting in local arenas where powerholders have incentives to violently suppress critical press coverage. On a theoretical level, the synthesis of spatial analysis, comparative politics and journalism studies opens a fruitful path for theorizing anti-press violence and journalist safety. In terms of policy, international action should increase costs to national governments that overlook local misbehavior in return for political support. Discourse spotlighting local journalists' contributions to human rights and democratic accountability may also be helpful.


Mukota pig populations in smallholder areas of Zimbabwe are decreasing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the production and genetic potential of the Zimbabwean indigenous pig and Large White × Mukota in commercial pig production. The trial was conducted at the University of Zimbabwe Farm, Harare, Zimbabwe. All dry sows were fed on a high fibre diet. All the fixed effects were analysed using generalised linear models procedure of SAS (2000) and genetic parameters were estimated using average information restricted maximum likelihood. Piglets were weaned at 35 days.
Sows mated to Large White boars had larger litter sizes and total litter weight than Mukota. The growth rate of the two genotypes before weaning was not different (P>0.05). Post-weaning growth showed that boars had higher body weight gains than gilts (P<0.05). Body weights were consistently higher in the crossbred than in the Mukota pigs (P<0.05). Mukota pigs showed a peak growth between 12 and 16 weeks post-weaning. Crossbred pigs had longer (P<0.05) carcasses than Mukota (507.2 ± 0.92 versus 655.5 ± 1.68 mm). The genetic correlation between the direct and maternal genetic effects on birth weight was –0.354 and –0.295.The heritabilities for litter weight at three weeks (LTHRWT), litter weight at weaning (LWWT) and mothering ability (MA) were 0.18, 0.15 and 0.05, respectively. There were no genetic relationships between MA and LTHRWT and LWWT. The heritabilities for growth rates, before and after 12 weeks, were 0.27, 0.21, respectively. There was a positive genetic correlation between weight at weaning and average daily gain from weaning to 12 weeks ( = 0.68). The backfat thickness at 50 and 75 mm were highly correlated ( = 0.88). Weight at birth was positively correlated with average daily gain from birth to weaning, whereas the relationship of BWT versus weight gain from 12 weeks to slaughter was unfavourable. Selection and crossbreeding can be used to improve smallholder pig production. The presence of the genetic correlations demonstrates the need to use multitrait analyses in evaluating genetic worthiness of pigs.


This dissertation is an intensive investigation of the rending of the heaven and Temple curtain in Mark's Gospel from a Christological point of view. The two rending events are examined for their thematic and structural functions in making up the textual and theological world of Mark's Gospel; embodied in the most critical moments of Jesus' ministry, his baptism and crucifixion, and of Mark's narrative, the beginning and end, they are seen and argued as the monumental events that epitomize Mark's apocalyptic and eschatological understanding of Jesus' life and death.

In line with the apocalyptic and eschatological nature of the Gospel, the motif of seeing, expressed especially in the verbs of seeing and eιδον in particular, plays an integral role in Mark's depiction of the characters and events throughout his narrative. So it is that in two of the most apocalyptic and eschatological episodes in Mark, Jesus' baptism and crucifixion, Mark is very careful to note that Jesus himself and the Gentile Roman centurion see the two epoch-making events, the rending of the heaven and the rending of the Temple curtain. As these two events are linked by verbs of the same root (σχιζομένους/έσχίσθη), the reference to spirit (πνeυμα/eξeπνeυσeν), the use of an identification formula referring to Jesus' divine sonship (συ eι ο υιος μου/ουτς… υιος θeου ην), the occurrence of 'seeing' (eιδeν/ιδων), the Elijah symbolism present, and other theological correlations, it is clear that the motif of 'seeing' is incorporated into them also. Mark has deliberately created various corresponding elements between these two key events in Jesus' ministry, designing these two events to be an inclusio which brackets the entire Gospel structurally, thematically, and contextually.

Through the structure of inclusio, Mark set up one pillar of a symbolic event at the beginning of his narrative and of Jesus' ministry, the rending of the heaven, announcing the apocalyptic commencement of God's eschatological reign; and the positions another pillar of an event just as symbolic, the rending of the Temple curtain, at the end of his narrative and of Jesus' ministry, enunciating the destruction of the Temple which further symbolizes the break-down of the old age and advent of the new in which distance and mediation through sacrificial rites and all they stood for are eradicated and access to God's holy presence is offered to all.


The assessment of Information Systems (IS) benefits is an important practical problem in IS investment appraisal. In this paper, after briefly reviewing the nature of IS benefits, we argue that an incremental measurement approach can help an organisation obtain quantitative estimates of expected IS impacts on business performance. Such an approach should start from quantifiable benefits directly attributable to the information system and gradually considering more intangible and indirect effects. We suggest that Business Process Simulation can be an effective technique in applying this approach and we present a methodology that incorporates incremental, iterative business process modelling and simulation into five practical steps. To illustrate this approach, we present a case of measuring the potential improvements in inventory management introduced by Electronic Data Interchange and discuss issues of feasibility and directions for further research and development.


We analyze how regulatory constraints on household leverage—in the form of loan-to-income and loan-to-value limits—a?ect residential mortgage credit and house prices as well as other asset classes not directly targeted by the limits. Supervisory loan level data suggest that mortgage credit is reallocated from low-to high-income borrowers and from urban to rural counties. This reallocation weakens the feedback loop between credit and house prices and slows down house price growth in "hot" housing markets. Consistent with constrained lenders adjusting their portfolio choice, more-a?ected banks drive this reallocation and substitute their risk-taking into holdings of securities and corporate credit.


Efficient thermal insulation has so far focused on improving building's envelope, understanding a building as a unique thermal space. Although it could be the case for some kinds of constructions, because of the more independence of each person and the concentration of people in multistory buildings, there are more partitions between different heated spaces and it makes us wonder about the relevance of thermal energy loses through these interior partitions. Aiming to answer this question, we divided our research into two
main steps: first basic calculations of different building typologies, and developing an accurate virtual model to represent this phenomenon. In our first approach we looked for some numbers of what this yet-non-studied energy flow could represent to the whole energy flux in two different building typologies by using a monitoring system named SIRENA from Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (http://www.upc.edu/sirena). How relevant are interior losses compared with losses through the building's envelope? Are those losses hight enough to be studied and improved? The answer is rotundly "yes"! We concluded that this loses represents about a 20% of, what we named, a "Uni-Thermal-Zone Building (UZB) total loses
and this value gets specially remarkable when rises to more than 70% in case of multistory and residential buildings, named as "Multi-Thermal-Zone Buildings" (MZB). Thus, according to our results, the significant percentage of heat lost through interior partitions indicate that they play a key role in a building's thermal fluxes. As a consequence, we
developed a DesignBuilder thermal model with different utilization patterns to analyze how this energy flow affects the interior comfort in a MZB, which are the south of europe most extended type of building, during one day and how the energy is lost. The results suggests
thinking about "thermal sectorization".


This chapter examines the key debates that have shaped the development of constructivism in International Relations (IR). It first considers the idea that international relations is a social construction, as it emerged from the critique of more traditional theories of IR. It then explores the distinctions among various constructivisms, with particular emphasis on the contrast between those who seek a 'better' social science, and hence better theory, versus those who argue that constructivism is an approach that rests on assumptions at odds with those of positivist method. The chapter proceeds by discussing constructivists' critique of rationalism, along with constructivism as a 'middle ground' between rationalist and poststructuralist approaches to IR. It also analyses the role of language and causality in the debate between rationalists and constructivists. Finally, it links all these insights to the War on Terror and the war on Covid-19.


Percutaneous intervention has attracted significant interest in recent years, but many of today's needles and catheters can only provide limited control of the trajectory between an entry site and soft tissue target. In order to address this fundamental shortcoming in minimally invasive surgery, we describe the first prototype of a bioinspired multipart probe that can steer along planar trajectories within a compliant medium by means of a novel "programmable bevel," where the steering angle becomes a function of the offset between interlocked probe segments. A kinematic model of the flexible probe and programmable bevel arrangement is derived. Several parameters of the kinematic model are then calibrated experimentally with a fully functional scaled-up prototype, which is 12 mm in diameter. A closed-loop control strategy with feed-forward and feedback components is then derived and implemented in vitro using an approximate linearization strategy that was first developed for car-like robots. Experimental results demonstrate satisfactory 2-D trajectory following of the prototype (0.68 mm tracking error, with 1.45 mm standard deviation) using an electromagnetic position sensor that is embedded at the tip of the probe.


Purpose: The purpose of the study is to determine how the development of business continuity plans will affect organizations' security in difficult to foresee crises. The study will be prepared on the example of the on-going pandemic caused by COVID-19. Design/Methodology/Approach: In the research process, theoretical research methods were widely used, i.e., bibliographic query, critical analysis of the subject literature and statistical data, selection, and evaluation of source and empirical materials. Analysis and synthesis, gradual abstraction, comparison, and generalization made it possible to begin the phase of inference in the context of global changes in the economy's functioning and, in particular, organizations comprising that economy. Findings: The research conducted made it possible to identify and describe the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken by organizations in the context of implementing and maintaining business continuity plans. Practical Implications: The research's contribution is to show the general interrelationships between business continuity about the security of organizations against threats arising from the declaration of a state of epidemiological emergency. Originality/Value: The uniqueness of the current situation is so important, interesting, and dynamic that it is worthwhile to pay attention to it and study it thoroughly. The paper constitutes a new contribution to research on crisis prevention, preparedness for action, response to a crisis, recovery of unavoidable consequences, and, most of all, ensuring the continued operation of organizations and improving their security.


Improving the survival rate of Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) remains an important public health issue. Indeed, current survival rates are approximately 10% and can be significantly enhanced by early Cardiopulmonary reanimation (CPR) and early defibrillation. Bystanders are most likely to perform these acts, but few resources (such as digital apps) are dedicated to them due to a lack of confidence in their abilities from them and from the professionals. In order to build trust and collaboration between the dispatchers and the bystanders, an OHCA simulation workshop was conducted involving the whole survival chain. The main idea consisted in getting the participants to interact via an application dedicated to bystanders which provided a CPR demonstration video. The aim was to analyze the effects of this video on the CPR itself and especially on the lived-experience of the participants. A further objective was to assess how the shared workshop would affect the relationship between the stakeholders.


Impulsive-aggression was investigated in a female university sample. A base rate
analysis of impulsive-aggression in male (n=220) and female (n=686) university
students at the University of Tasmania was conducted. As expected, males showed
higher levels of impulsivity and aggression than females, and females were more
empathic than males. Results from a background questionnaire indicated that some
students reported psychosocial factors consistent with characteristic impulsive-aggression.
Four groups of female students (impulsive-aggressive, n=23; aggressive,
n=24; impulsive, n=33; and control, n=119) were then selected on the basis of
impulsivity scores and aggression scores. In comparison to other women the
impulsive-aggressive group was more physically aggressive and had a greater
tendency to fight or argue. They were also more likely to report a drug problem, were
more sexually active, and were more likely to have faced charges as a result of
antisocial activity. They also reported a large number of suicide risk factors with
fewer protective social supports in place. Surprisingly, the impulsive-aggressive
group did not differ from other groups on empathy scores and had lower lie scores
than the other three groups. The profile of impulsive-aggressive women was similar to
the diagnostic criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Subsequent investigation of
psychopathic traits was conducted. Women in the impulsive-aggressive (n=11),
aggressive (n=9), impulsive (n=7), and control (n=11) groups were individually
interviewed following the semi-structured interview format from the PCL:SV (Hart,
Cox, & Hare, 1995) and subsequently rated using the P-Scan (Hare & Herve, 1999).
The impulsive-aggressive group (M=6.33, SD=3.48) scored significantly higher than
all other groups (Ms<1.70, SDs<1.90) on total P-Scan psychopathy ratings and on the
three facets of the P-Scan. Attentional bias was investigated with the above interviewees completing a modified Stroop task, a dot probe (words) task, and a dot
probe (faces) task. No significant group differences were found for reaction times to
unpleasant (aggressive) or pleasant (neutral/happy) stimuli on the Stroop task or on
either of the dot probe tasks. However, impulsive-aggressive women tended to show
an attentional bias towards impulsive-aggressive words (e.g., 'rape') on the dot probe
(words) task, whereas aggressive women showed an attentional bias away from
impulsive-aggressive words. This was evident at the longer 1500ms stimulus duration
but not at the shorter duration (100ms). In general it was shown that impulsive-aggressive
women were distinct from their aggressive (and other) peers. It was
concluded that impulsive-aggressive women have characteristics in common with
sub-clinical psychopathy, as evidenced by their P-Scan scores, antisocial behaviours,
and responses to affective stimuli. Results show support for a dimensional diagnostic
approach to this disorder. Further research of the relationship between impulsive-aggression
and sub-clinical psychopathic tendencies is warranted.


This article has attempted to alert the podiatric medical practitioner to those endocrine disorders which have pedal manifestations. With the clinical information presented here, the podiatrist is in a unique position to identify early signs of endocrine disease. By doing so, the podiatric practitioner may play a vital role as a member of the primary care team.


The "received" view in the finance literature is that hedgers are uninformed traders who use futures to fix future price movements and prevent losses from unexpected and unknown fluctuations in the purchase or sale price of a commodity. In this paper, we examine transactions executed by large traders in a relatively illiquid deliverable agricultural (grain) futures market where most transactions are executed by hedgers. We provide evidence that the price impact of large buyer‐initiated transactions is permanent, consistent with the proposition that they are executed by traders perceived to be informed. We also provide evidence that the price impact of large buyer‐initiated trades is greatest around announcements related to the underlying commodity—corroborating our conclusion that they are executed by traders perceived to be informed. This evidence is contrary to the "received" view in the literature that hedgers are uninformed, and implies that large long hedgers in agricultural futures markets are informed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Jrl Fut Mark 36:612–622, 2016


This work exploits information on U.S. patents to identify trends in university ag-biotech patenting and citation performance. It sets forth some key issues concerning patterns of university ag-biotech patenting and then provides an empirical analysis of the evolving trends. Land grant universities account for most U.S. ag-biotech patents. The data show a path-dependent innovation pattern, in which there also seems to be a culture of patenting that develops at certain universities. Evidence shows that ag-biotech patents are more cited than the average university patent. Inequalities across land grant universities are also evident in the production of ag-biotech patents, although perhaps not to a much greater degree than underlying inequalities in funding and research qualities. The paper closes by considering how the evidence offered might be used to advance the public discussion regarding trends in agricultural biotechnology research in the United States.


We define harvest-based monitoring as the long-term collection of data or samples from a subsistence harvest in order to reveal, document, and track changes in biophysical resources. Our objective is to describe five practical steps that have guided us over the past two decades during delivery of harvest-based monitoring studies in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region (ISR). Studies have usually been designed to detect (but not necessarily explain) change, to involve local harvesters, and to incorporate indigenous and science-based knowledge. The five steps are to (1) formulate a scientific research or long-term monitoring question that can reasonably be answered by analyzing data from harvests or harvested specimens, (2) design the program according to scientific and indigenous protocols, (3) determine respective partner roles for delivery of the field program, (4) conduct the field work, and (5) analyze data and communicate results. At all steps, it is important to ensure that science and indigenous knowledge partners respect and trust each other's skills, knowledge, and abilities; that regular communication is fostered; and that provisions are in place to monitor progress. The credible blending of indigenous and scientific views and skills improves the likelihood of ultimately understanding the resource, its habitats, and its inherent ecological relationships.


The nucleation of new grains during annealing in high purity single crystals of Cu-8%wt. Al alloy with initial (112)[111] orientation has been characterized by detailed transmission electron microscopy (TEM) orientation measurements. The samples were channel-die deformed and then recrystallized to form a substructure composed of a mixture of deformation twins, shear bands (SBs) and the recrystallized grains. Substantial progress in understanding the mechanism of texture transformations at the early stages of recrystallization was possible thanks to orientation mapping using TEM. Microtexture analysis of partly recrystallized samples indicates a simple 25-40o (<111> or <112>) relation, most frequently observed during the early stages of recrystallization between single nuclei and one of the two as-deformed groups of components (twins or matrix). As recrystallization proceeds, recrystallization twinning develops strongly and facilitates rapid growth of the recrystallized phase. The first and higher generations of twins systematically tend to obscure the initial crystallographic relation between the deformed state and the recrystallization nuclei.


Several observations suggest that the accumulation of metabolites within ischemic regions may contribute to the electrophysiological derangements characteristic of ischemic myocardium. We, and more recently others, have detected an increase in lysophosphoglycerides (LPGs) in ischemic tissue in vivo as well as in effluents from ischemic regions. At comparable concentrations, LPGs induce electrophysiological alterations in vitro analogous to changes seen in vivo with ischemia. Experiments with [14C]lysophosphatidylcholine indicated that incorporation comprising less than 1% of total cellular phospholipid is sufficient to induce electrophysiological derangements in isolated ventricular muscle. Reduction of pH to 6.7, analogous to the fall seen within minutes in ischemic tissue in vivo, potentiates the electrophysiological actions markedly without increasing membrane incorporation. In recent studies the activity of enzymes potentially responsible for the accumulation of LPGs during ischemia has been found to be altered by concomitants of ischemia, including increased concentrations of H+ and long-chain acyl carnitine. Thus, accumulation of LPGs and related compounds may contribute substantially to induction of electrophysiological derangements accompanying ischemia and may be amenable to therapeutic manipulation designed to alleviate malignant ventricular dysrhythmia.


The efficiency of the first-order resolution calculus is impaired when lifting it to higher-order logic. The main reason for that is the semi-decidability and infinitary nature of higher-order unification algorithms, which requires the integration of unification within the calculus and results in a nonefficient search for refutations. We present a modification of the constrained resolution calculus (Huet'72) which uses an eager unification algorithm while retaining completeness. The algorithm is complete with regard to bounded unification only, which for many cases, does not pose a problem in practice.


We analyzed the adsorption characteristics of B horizon soil of a Spodosol (Fragiorthod) as part of a series of studies to evaluate the importance of adsorption processes to nutrient cycling at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire. The results of equilibration experiments using naturally occurring concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, floride, orthophosphate, chloride, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were best described using a simple partitioning model rather than either the Langmuir or Freundlich equations. The amount of anion or DOC removed from or released to the solution by the soil was a linear function of the initial amount added to the soil-water system. This relationship, which we term the initial mass (IM) isotherm, was applicable to all solutes evaluated. We interpreted these results as a simple partitioning in which two sources contribute anion or DOC to the system: the soil and solution. The substance of interest is partitioned between soil and solution phases according to a partition coefficient. We calculated soil water distribution coefficients and estimated the reactive soil pools for each anion and DOC, using parameters of the IM isotherm. The IM approach can facilitate a direct comparison of solute-soil interactions for different solutes and soil types.


A political scientist examines the worlds of advanced medicine and the modern research university. Both elements are affected by the growth in the role of government. Central government had sharply limited powers early in this century, but by the middle third their powers were enlarged, particularly in the spheres of the economy and social welfare. The last third of the century will reveal what the governed want of the government. The scientific and technological aspects of World War II plunged the universities into the limelight as the main producers of vital knowledge and as objects of national policy. This power of knowledge expanded from national security to public health and welfare. Governmental patronage fostered basic medical research and revolution in biology. With advanced research there marched advanced training. America's leading research universities became stronger and flourished for a few decades, to be confronted suddenly by a shift in government priorities. Governmental fiscal support has dwindled while governmental regulation has increased. The medical profession passed from an early position of opposing the role of government to a position in which it paid inadequate attention to the adverse consequences of the systems that were adopted. Physicians who practice in a variety of settings have a variety of interests which account for the division within the profession. In a political setting it is advantageous and more important to have a clear view of central common interests. The speaker's advice to his colleagues in education is applicable to medicine, to act now in a manner to serve as a model for a vision of a "plausible future." The measure of success in the future depends upon the ability to preserve those values, practices, and habits of mind that account for our value to society. The primacy of scholarly judgments over political judgments is not always easy to achieve in dealings with governments.


As penetration testing frameworks have evolved and have become more complex, the problem of controlling automatically the pentesting tool has become an important question. This can be naturally addressed as an attack planning problem. Previous approaches to this problem were based on modeling the actions and assets in the PDDL language, and using off-the-shelf AI tools to generate attack plans. These approaches however are limited. In particular, the planning is classical (the actions are deterministic) and thus not able to handle the uncertainty involved in this form of attack planning. We herein contribute a planning model that does capture the uncertainty about the results of the actions, which is modeled as a probability of success of each action. We present efficient planning algorithms, specifically designed for this problem, that achieve industrial-scale runtime performance (able to solve scenarios with several hundred hosts and exploits). These algorithms take into account the probability of success of the actions and their expected cost (for example in terms of execution time, or network traffic generated). We thus show that probabilistic attack planning can be solved efficiently for the scenarios that arise when assessing the security of large networks. Two "primitives" are presented, which are used as building blocks in a framework separating the overall problem into two levels of abstraction. We also present the experimental results obtained with our implementation, and conclude with some ideas for further work.


- The practice guideline on atopic dermatitis from the Dutch College of General Practitioners has recently been revised. The main differences from the previous edition (1996) concern the lack of value of allergy tests in the absence of immediate symptoms, the use of the step-down approach when starting therapy with topical corticosteroids, the absence of topical or systemic side effects if topical corticosteroids are used in a controlled way, the restriction of topical calcineurin inhibitors to second-line treatment, and the lack of effect of non-sedative antihistamines.


The aim of this work is to discuss the use of quite different modified forms of Saha and Guldberg-Waage equations to determine the composition of C/sub x/H/sub y/O/sub z/N/sub t/ plasmas in a nonequilibrium thermal state. x, y, z, and t are the initial proportions of carbonic, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen atoms. The computation is made under condition of pressure and electron temperature in the range, respectively, 0.1-1 MPa and 5-30 10/sup 3/ K. We show the influence of each form of Saha and Guldberg-Waage equations on the evolution of major species density, such as hydrogen components (H, H/sub 2/), carbon monoxide (CO), and electrons. These species have a significant influence on the plasma's performances such as thermal and electrical conductivity through the equilibrium composition. We also give the influence of internal partition function calculation on species concentration within the plasma and discuss the choice of internal temperatures.


The vertical distribution of zooplankton in the upper 700 m of the water column was investigated across the Almeria–Oran front (Alboran Sea) during winter 1997/98 (Almofront 2 cruise). Eight sites corresponding to three hydrodynamic structures (the Atlantic jet, an anticyclonic gyre and the surrounding Mediterranean waters) were explored, by day and at night, using multiple-net sampling. Results are presented for the major species of copepods (>500 m), macroplankton and microplankton. Species inhabiting the surface layer or occupying it at night extended deeper in the gyre. On the other hand, mesopelagic species (e.g. Pleuromamma borealis, Pleuromamma abdominalis, Euphausia krohni and Cyclothone braueri) were found to live deeper, at least by day for the migrants, in the Mediterranean waters compared with the two other structures. These changes in preferential depths across the front are discussed in relation to environmental features, such as light level, abundance of food and mixed layer depth. This study also documented the vertical distribution of some overwintering copepod species (Calanus helgolandicus, Eucalanus hyalinus and Eucalanus monachus).


Background Preoperative anemia has been suggested as a contraindication to gastric bypass. Using the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement database, this study sought to determine the role of preoperative hematocrit on 30-day morbidity and mortality after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for weight loss. Methods A cohort of 31 981 patients was reviewed for factors associated with a composite primary end point including 30-day reoperation, readmission, reintervention, or mortality, including degree of anemia. Analyzed separately by gender, factors significant on bivariate analysis were included in nominal logistic multivariate analysis to assess for independent significance of the hematocrit level as a risk factor for the primary end point. Results Upon multivariate analysis, the hematocrit level was significantly associated with the 30-day end point in the male cohort (P = .05), specifically, severe anemia (hematocrit <35%) conferred an increased risk relative to a normal hematocrit (odds ratio 1.5, P = .03). There was no association of hematocrit with the 30-day end point in the female cohort. Conclusion Bariatricians should carefully consider the appropriateness of a gastric bypass over a less anemogenic procedure such as sleeve gastrectomy in patients, particularly men with preoperative anemia.


This paper describes a new optical link system which consists of a metal optical bench, a module printed circuit board, a driver/receiver integrated circuit, a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser/photo diode (VCSEL/PD) array, and an optical link block with plastic optical fibers for reducing electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise. For the optical interconnection between the light-sources and detectors, an optical wiring method whose distinctive features include the absence of EMI noise and easy assembly is proposed. The results clearly demonstrate that the use of an optical wiring method can provide robust, cost-effective assembly and easy-repair. We successfully achieved a 4.5 Gb/s data transmission rate without EMI problems.


This paper presents results from an experiment to determine brain activation differences between problem-solving and designing of mechanical engineers. The study is part of a research project whose goal is to correlate design cognition with brain behavior across design domains. The study adopted and extended the tasks described in a fMRI study of design cognition and measured brain activation using EEG. By taking the advantage of EEG's temporal resolution we focus on timerelated neural responses during problem-solving compared to design tasks. Statistical analyses indicate increased activation when designing compared to problem-solving. Results of timerelated neural responses connected to Brodmann areas cognitive functions, contribute to a better understanding of mechanical engineers' cognition in open design tasks.


The concept of precision agriculture is straightforward at the scientific level but even basic goals are blurred at the level of everyday practice in the Hungarian crop production despite the fact that several elements of the new technology have already been applied. The industrial and the service sectors offer many products and services to the farmers but crop producers do not get enough support to choose between different alternatives. Agricultural higher education must deliver this support directly to the farmers and via the released young graduates. The price of agricultural land must be higher if well-organized data underpin the production potential of the fields. Accumulated database is a form of capital. It must be owned by the farmers but in a data-driven economy its sharing will generate value for both farmers and the society as a whole.
We present a methodological approach in which simple models were applied to predict yield by using only those yield data which spatially coincide with the soil data and the remaining yield data and the models were used to test different sampling and interpolation approaches commonly applied in precision agriculture. Three strategies for composite sample collection and three interpolation methods were compared. Multiple regression models were developed to predict yields. R2 values were used to select among the applied methods.


The objective of this paper is to study the influence of residual stresses due to fabrication conditions on the thermomechanical behavior of carbon/epoxy laminate structures (cross ply). These studied laminates have undergone various cycles of thermal aging. The addition of a post-cure cycle after the end of the initial cycle makes it possible to reduce the residual stresses level. The incremental hole-drilling method is used to measure the residual strain in the laminates. These measured strains and the numerical calibration coefficients obtained by the finite element method allow to calculating the residual stress distribution in composite depth. The obtained results show that heat treatments of composite structures do not lead to an important reduction the initial residual stress due the fabrication conditions.


Introduction: Mutilation of the body after death is considered a more heinous crime than the murder itself. After a homicide, dismemberment and mutilation is done to conceal the body or to dispose it away without being noticed. Case explanation: The present case unfolds one such crime where a 70 year old retired army doctor killed his 62 year old wife and mutilated her body into multiple pieces. Autopsy revealed multiple split lacerated wounds on her occipital area, parietal area, temporal area and forehead. Several depressed fractures were found on her skull bone underlying the lacerated wounds. Brief discussion: As the body pieces were recovered after several days of her death, the internal organs were grossly decomposed. The brain matter was missing from the exposed cranial cavity. The cause of death was opined to be due to the head injuries consequent upon some hard blunt force impact. The manner of death appeared homicidal as most of the injuries were on the vertex area. The dismembered ends had some sharp cuts and some irregularities suggesting the use of axe, saw and knife as alleged.


The issue of public expenditure used to reduce our Country's imbalances and of the aims to be pursued in order to achieve such reduction, as well as of the way such aims could be accomplished, has been tackled since development policies for the Mezzogiorno started. This issue has been left over the last few years, becoming a mere phrasing, both for the failure and ineffectiveness of policies, and for the lack of attention towards the problem of the Mezzogiorno, emphasized by a serious economic crisis. The re-emerging of a strong commitment by the Country on the development of Southern Italy needs a serious transformation of the frameworks and instruments so far used; such transformation has to be aware of the new institutional set-up introduced by 2001 constitutional reform. Acknowledging more powers and financial autonomy to the Regions, it has guaranteed the unitarity of the new system through the principle of the right of all citizens to essential levels of services identical throughout the nation; such principle has been extended also to capital endowment necessary to supply these services by the legislative decree on fiscal federalism (law no. 42/2009), which in the art. 22, named «Infrastructural equalization» provides for a planning of national infrastructure policy that guarantees more resources to those areas which have more needs. The full implementation of these rules could give a new drive to those actions aimed at reducing the gap between North and South.


Time series forecasting is currently used in various areas. Energy management is also one of the most prevalent application areas. As a matter of fact, energy suppliers and managers have to face with the energy mix problem. Electricity can be produced from fossil fuels, from nuclear energy, from bio-fuels or from renewable energy resources. Concerning electricity generation system based on solar irradiation, it is very important to know precisely the amount of electricity available for the different sources and at different horizons: minutes, hours, and days. Depending on the horizon, two main classes of methods can be used to forecast the solar irradiation: statistical time series forecasting methods for short to midterm horizons and numerical weather prediction methods for medium to long-term horizons. On this paper we focus only on statistical time series forecasting methods. The aim of this study is to assess if deep learning can be suitable and competitive on the solar irradiation data time series forecasting. In this context, studies using deep learning and other machine learning methods for time series forecasting were investigated. A special Recurrent Neural Network variations Long Short-Term Memories and Gated Recurrent Unit models are introduced.


ABSTRACT:
Introduction: Pregnancy is principally a phenomenon of maternal adaptation to the increasing demands of the growing fetus. Pregnancy causes many visible and invisible changes in human body and it represents one of the best examples of selective adaptation in terms of respiratory Materials and Methods: The study consists of recording the Pulmonary Function Tests of 4 groups of female subjects including pregnant women of various phases of gestational period i.e., 12 weeks (I trimester), 24 weeks (II trimester ) , 36 weeks ( III trimester) and control group of non pregnant women. The different lung function parameters measured in this study were Expiratory Reserve Volume (ERV), Tidal Volume (TV), Vital Capacity (VC), Residual Volume (RV) & Minute Ventilation(MV), PEFR � Peak Expiratory Flow Rate, FVC � Forced Vital Capacity FEV1 � Forced Expiratory Volume in one second. Results: We observed a statistically significant decrease in Expiratory Reserve Volume, Residual Volume and a significant increase in Tidal Volume, Minute Volume & Vital Capacity remains unchanged in different trimesters of pregnancy. Conclusion: From the results of our study it can be concluded that significant changes in pulmonary physiology occur during pregnancy which are necessary to meet the increased metabolic demands of the mother and fetus.The changes in Pulmonary Functions are helpful in the prevention of gestational complications associated with inadequate maternal resiratory adaptation pulmonary Function Tests


The term premium per year of duration declines with an increase in bond maturity due to an excess demand for long-duration bonds. Rather than holding the liabilityimmunizing long-duration bond, therefore, investors can capture a higher return by leveraging short-duration bonds to get the same dollar duration as the liability. This strategy would have generated between 0.40% and 0.90% of incremental annual returns over the last 56 years, depending on the liability profile. The mismatch in asset and liability maturities also exposes the investor to volatility, with lower (negative) returns when the yield curve flattens and higher returns when the yield curve steepens. The incremental volatility from this mismatch is small for plans with equity allocations, however, and even partly offsets large equity drawdowns as Fed action causes a steepening of the yield curve. A levered short-duration strategy thus can be an important tool for underfunded plans as they seek increased returns and improved efficiency relative to plan liabilities.


Broadband mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectroscopy applications could greatly benefit from today's well-developed, highly scalable silicon photonics technology; however, this platform lacks broadband transparency because of its reliance on absorptive silicon dioxide cladding. Alternative cladding materials have been studied, but the challenge lies in decreasing losses while avoiding complex fabrication techniques. Here, in contrast to traditional assumptions, we show that silicon photonics can achieve low-loss propagation in the mid-IR from 3 to 6 μm wavelength, thus providing a highly scalable, well-developed technology in this spectral range. We engineer the waveguide cross-section and optical mode interaction with the absorptive cladding oxide to reduce loss at mid-IR wavelengths. We fabricate a microring resonator and measure an intrinsic quality (Q) factor of 106 at wavelengths from 3.5 to 3.8 μm. This is the highest Q demonstrated on an integrated mid-IR platform to date. With this high-Q silicon microresonator, we also demonstrate a low optical parametric oscillation threshold of 5.2 mW, illustrating the utility of this platform for nonlinear chip-scale applications in the mid-IR.


Based on a randomized experiment, we estimate effects from notification to medical doctors of tighter monitoring of their Medical Certificates (MCs). Both the time prescribed by the doctor certificates for sick leave (prescribed sick leave) and the impact on the length of the actual sickness absence (actual sick leave) is studied. We find no effect on the total number of prescribed sick leave days. However, we do find an increase in both prescribed and actual sick leave with a 25% work inability. We also find that the notification letter causes an increase in actual sick leave (i.e. the number of reimbursed sick days). We discuss a number of potential explanations for this rather surprising result.


Porous carbon nanospheres have received enormous attention due to their various applications. Although several elegant strategies exist for the synthesis of relatively large carbon nanospheres (>ca. 100 nm), the synthesis of carbon nanospheres with well-defined, tunable ultra-small sizes (<50 nm) has often been challenging, while such ultra-small nanospheres are much more valuable. A novel, convenient and scalable catalytic emulsion polymerization technique is demonstrated in this paper for the highly efficient synthesis of ultra-small carbon nanospheres with uniform tunable sizes in the range of 11–38 nm. In this strategy, a simple change in the emulsion polymerization recipe renders a convenient yet efficient tuning of the size of the carbon nanospheres. In particular, activated carbon nanospheres (A-CNS21 with an average size of 21 nm), obtained by carbonization in the presence of KOH as the chemical activation agent, possess a very high surface area (2360 m2 g−1) and desired hierarchical macro-/meso-/micropore structures which result from nanosphere packing/aggregation. A-CNS21 is demonstrated to exhibit superior high-rate supercapacitive performance and outstanding sorption capacities towards volatile organic compounds (VOCs), H2 and CO2, which are comparable to or even better than the best results reported to date in these applications. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first synthesis of ultra-small carbon nanospheres, with uniform tunable sizes and superior performance for these applications, by the emulsion polymerization strategy.


Lean-burn engines operate at a very lean air-to-fuel (A/F) ratio under light-load and part-load regions, in order to analyze the effect of engine speed and load on the BSFC (Break Specific Fuel Consumption) and exhaust emission of Lean-burn engine, an experimental research was conducted on a 4 cylinder lean-burn gasoline engine using different A/F ratios. The results show that the CO emission level decrease significantly, HC emission level becomes lower at the same A/F ratio, while the NOx emission increases, hence, advanced technologies are needed to carry out the NOx storage and purge operations in the lean-burn engines. Additionally, the experiment also reveals that the BSFC becomes lower as the engine speed and load increase.


Background: Mechanical ventilation (MV) is one of the most important components of modern intensive care practice. Longer MV time is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Therefore, it is important to identify the risk factors associated with longer duration of MV. The objective of this study was to determine the clinical and the laboratory risk factors for prolonged invasive MV in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).
Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the records of all patients admitted to our PICU between October 2016 and March 2018. Patients with invasive MV were included in the study.
Results: A total of 121 children with a mean age of 3.58 ± 4.84 years were enrolled in this study. The most frequent diagnosis at the time of admission to the PICU was primary respiratory disease (31.4%), followed by neurological diseases (22.3%), and sepsis (17.4%). Pressure control was the most commonly used MV method in 97 (80.2%) patients. Pressure regulated volume control was used in the other (19.8%) patients. The mean duration of mechanical ventilation was 9.17 ± 8.12 days. Risk factors for prolonged MV in the PICU included red blood cell (RBC) transfusion, hypochloremia, high gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT), and low body mass index (BMI). The logistic regression analysis showed that hypochloremia prolonged MV by 3.234 fold, neuromuscular blocker drug uses prolonged MV by 3.689 fold, and RBC transfusion prolonged MV by 8.031 fold.
Conclusion: Hypochloremia, need for RBC transfusion, and neuromuscular blocker drug use may be early predictors of prolonged MV in critically ill children.


Abstract: Hypercholesterolemia is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Accordingly, efforts to lower apolipoprotein B–containing lipoproteins in plasma are the centerpiece of strategies for cardiovascular prevention and treatment in primary and secondary management. Despite the importance of this endeavor, many patients do not achieve appropriate low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and non–high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) goals, even among those who have experienced atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The development of new LDL-C-lowering medications with alternative mechanisms of action will facilitate improved goal achievement in high-risk patients. Inclisiran is a novel small interfering RNA–based drug that is experimental in the United States and approved for clinical use in the European Union. It lowers LDL-C and other apolipoprotein B–containing lipoproteins by reducing production of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin Type 9 (PCSK9), a protein that normally contributes to LDL-receptor degradation, thereby increasing LDL-receptor density and recycling in hepatocytes. Although the lipid-lowering efficacy of inclisiran is comparable with results achieved with PCSK9-blocking monoclonal antibodies (alirocumab and evolocumab), there are several important differences between the 2 drug classes. First, inclisiran reduces levels of PCSK9 both intracellularly and extracellularly by blocking translation of and degrading PCSK9 messenger RNA. Second, the long biological half-life of inclisiran produces sustained LDL-C lowering with twice yearly dosing. Third, although PCSK9-blocking monoclonal antibodies drugs are proven to reduce atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events, clinical outcomes trials with inclisiran are still in progress. In this article, we review the clinical development of inclisiran, its mechanism of action, lipid-lowering efficacy, safety and tolerability, and potential clinical role of this promising new agent.


We report on zinc oxide (ZnO)-based devices produced by a fast, open-air atomic layer deposition (ALD) process relying upon the spatial isolation of reactive gases. At deposition rates of greater than 100 Aring per minute, ZnO-based thin-film transistors by spatial atomic layer deposition (S-ALD) show mobility above 15 cm2/Vs and excellent stability. Measurement and modeling of the gas isolation in the deposition head is discussed. Saturation curves obtained for aluminum oxide (Al2O3) growth using trimethylaluminum and water are shown to be consistent with chamber ALD systems. Finally, the ability of this new ALD process to leverage patterning by using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as a growth inhibitor for selective area deposition is discussed. Relatively thin films of PMMA (~ 40 Aring) are shown to be capable of inhibiting the growth of ZnO for at least 1200 ALD cycles.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore and theorize the process of managerial feedback in relation to change in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).Design/methodology/approachThis research embraces a qualitative methodology in the context of manufacturing SMEs. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews, and observations conducted with various managers in six SMEs operating in three countries, it is argued that managers benefit more by using daily, ongoing, feedback as a trigger of change in their organizations.FindingsThe findings suggest that there is an overall view that managers appear to be reluctant to change existing processes using formalized feedback mechanisms, which runs counter-intuitive to the literature. In contrast, informal methods of feedback work better in enhancing organizational change. Moreover, another two features of feedback enhance this process, namely, benefits oriented and confidence oriented. As such, this study contributes to existing knowledge and practice by proposing a three-fold form of feedback through which managers expand their perspectives of feedback from feeding-back to feeding-forward thereby enhancing the opportunities of triggering change.Research limitations/implicationsFeedback should merely be considered as a dynamic and socially constructed managerial practice. A practice where actors not only exchange information and share knowledge, but also act, react and interact with each other as they constantly rethinking the change process. The proposed aspect of feedback emphasizes knowledge therapeutically and in combination with the dialogical discourse (practical illustration) that increases the odds for capturing change as a natural, rather than exceptional.Practical implicationsPractitioners, as such, may wish to consider the terminology used when it comes to studying change and its implementation in a crisis context. Using deformalized managerial feedback mechanisms to tackle a formal phenomenon like "change" could help avoid employees perceiving a negative connotation, causing resistance or confusion and feeling threatened. Therefore, the authors suggest that practitioners, during development initiatives on modernizing or altering organizational processes, consider replacing the term "change" as a formal concept.Originality/valueIt is an investigation from an exploratory perspective in studying and understanding the causes, factors and modalities that trigger managerial feedback toward organizational change in manufacturing SMEs.


Advancements in global positioning system (GPS) technology now make GPS route choice data collection for travel diary studies and other transportation applications a reality. Opportunities abound for increased quantities of data, for improved quality of data, and for new data elements that were once considered too burdensome or expensive to capture. For example, automated travel diaries can electronically capture trip purpose, origin and destination location names, and driver and passenger names at the push of a button. An accompanying GPS receiver can accurately capture origin and destination locations, departure and arrival times, as well as trip lengths and travel routes. This wealth of data can be used to validate or calibrate travel demand models, for in-vehicle information systems analysis, and for modeling mobile source emissions across a given network. These data collection and processing advancements do have their costs, however. In fact, care and caution should be exercised when GPS technologies are selected and used to collect route choice data. The focus of this paper is on the accuracy issues related to route choice data collection and processing using GPS technology. Vendor specifications, observation techniques, data collection procedures, data postprocessing, and the importance of using a reliable and accurate geographic information system (GIS) database are examined in detail. Critical issues in the calculation of GPS accuracy are reviewed. Finally, recent experience in Atlanta is reported, and recommendations designed to reduce the introduction of error into automated route choice data collection are provided.


In this paper, we propose an autoencoder-based generative adversarial network (GAN) for automatic image generation, which is called "stylized adversarial autoencoder". Different from existing generative autoencoders which typically impose a prior distribution over the latent vector, the proposed approach splits the latent variable into two components: style feature and content feature, both encoded from real images. The split of the latent vector enables us adjusting the content and the style of the generated image arbitrarily by choosing different exemplary images. In addition, a multiclass classifier is adopted in the GAN network as the discriminator, which makes the generated images more realistic. We performed experiments on hand-writing digits, scene text and face datasets, in which the stylized adversarial autoencoder achieves superior results for image generation as well as remarkably improves the corresponding supervised recognition task.


This paper examines the portrayal of virginity in Akiki K. Nyabongo's, Africa Answers Back (1936), Mary Okurut's Invisible Weevil (1998) and Jane Bakaluba's Honeymoon for Three (1975). The study analyzes the place of virginity in African traditional marriage. The girls are trained by the elder mothers and aunts to remain a virgin until their wedding night. In Africa, virginity is highly valued that even if one is not a virgin, one is better off to pretend in order to avoid embarrassment. This study has used a qualitative content analysis of three Ugandan novels to unfold subjective interpretation of the text data preceded by identification of the themes and the main characters. Qualitative content analysis has guided us to investigate how important virginity is in African traditional marriage. This study found out that in African traditional marriage, virginity is one of the core values that are cherished because it brings stability and harmony into marriage. Africans believe that if a girl has been faithful before her wedding she will remain faithful even in her marriage. Premarital sex is horrible because it steals the woman's virginity and destroys the foundation of upcoming marriage.

 Key words: Virginity, premarital sex, African traditional marriage, Nyabongo, Okurut, Bakaluba, Nkwanzi, Genesis, Naiga, Chief Ati.


The λ-calculus can be represented topologically by assigning certain spaces to the types and certain continuous maps to the terms. Using a recent result from category theory, the usual calculus of λ-conversion is shown to be deductively complete with respect to such topological semantics. It is also shown to be functionally complete, in the sense that there is always a 'minimal' topological model in which every continuous function is λ-definable. These results subsume earlier ones using cartesian closed categories, as well as those employing so-called Henkin and Kripke λ-models.


Situated understandings of identity have gained prominence in the organisational studies litera-ture. Through the guiding works of Lefebvre and Ibarra this thesis explores the relationship be-tween organisational space and occupational identity through an empirical study of two schools in the UK. Narratives are collected using visual prompts to examine individuals' lived experiences in the workplace. My rich data allow me to bring to the fore and unpack how physical changes form and transform occupational sense of self. In particular, my findings indicate that space is involved in the formation of occupational identity in different ways, namely, by giving a sense of continuity to employees, assisting in the development of a sense of belonging and upholding in-group identity, providing employees with a sense of expectations and idealised performances, and sustaining hi-erarchy by establishing a daily routine that excludes and isolates groups of workers.

This study makes three main contributions. First, through Lefebvre's lens, it discusses how identity is mediated through space and discusses the politicisation of space and shows that space can be used to emphasise or interrupt power relations in the workplace. Secondly, through application of Lefebvre's work this study explains tensions created through spatial change and the implications that these have for the formation of occupational identity. Thirdly, this study takes Lefebvre's con-cern with tensions one step further by unpacking the complications posed by these for the for-mation, reflection and modification of occupational identity. To make sense of this, Ibarra's work has been introduced to argue that space is instrumental in reflecting and formulating new, some-times provisional, sometimes conflicting, occupational identities and this leads to ambivalence and ambiguity in the profession.

This study highlights the importance of not treating space simply in terms of walls and physical ap-pearance. Space has a special meaning for employees and is a tool that allows them to express their sense of professional self by desiring, imagining and planning a physical space that corre-sponds to their professional role. When space is taken away from professionals, they create their own physical boundaries that send messages to outsiders that they have control of their profes-sion. They do this in order to protect their professional autonomy, feel noticed at the workplace and to imprint parts of their personality according to their professional needs


Virtually every compiler performs transformations on the program it is compiling in an attempt to improve efficiency. Despite their importance, however, there have been few systematic attempts to categorise such transformations and measure their impact.In this paper we describe a particular group of transformations --- the "let-floating" transformations --- and give detailed measurements of their effect in an optimizing compiler for the non-strict functional language Haskell. Let-floating has not received much explicit attention in the past, but our measurements show that it is an important group of transformations (at least for lazy languages), offering a reduction of more than 30% in heap allocation and 15% in execution time.


Fe-6.5%Si alloy spray formed has the Curie temperature variation measured as a function of the parameters process. In this work the magnetic transition temperature was obtained by Differential Scanning Calorimeter although it can be also gotten by Vibration Samples Magnetometer. The process parameters controlled were gas pressure (P), tube diameter (T) and fly height (H) and the properties analyzed were coercive force, maximum permeability, power loss and Curie temperature. The chemical composition was determined using the Curie temperature. The microstructure of deposits was observed in different conditions of light microscopy, bright field, polarized light and dark field, and the grain size was measured according to ASTM 112-95. The process parameters combination P5T6H360 has produced the minimum power loss of 2.26 W/kg and maximum permeability of 9,000. The Curie temperature measured was 683°C, which indicates a Si content of 6.5wt%.


The amounts of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) found in human tissues, particularly breast milk, are rising steadily. PBDEs are flame retardants that reduce fire risks when added to electronic equipment and household products. Epidemiologic studies have yet to show conclusive evidence of PBDE toxicity in humans. However, studies in animals have shown these chemicals to produce effects such as liver damage, altered thyroid hormone levels, developmental changes, and neurotoxicity. In the present study, a Swedish team uses proteomic methods to investigate the early-stage neurotoxic effects of PBDE-99 on two parts of the developing mouse brain: the striatum and the hippocampus [EHP 114:254–259]. The findings help deconstruct the mysterious mechanisms that underlie PBDE-99 neurotoxicity.

The striatum and the hippocampus are both part of the cholinergic and monaminergic systems, which play roles in neurotransmitter functioning and other aspects of cognition. The authors sought specifically to uncover PBDE-induced cellular events leading from the neonatal brain growth spurt to permanent neurological problems in adult animals.

PBDE-99 is among the most common PBDE congeners found in environmental and human tissue samples. This pentabrominated compound impairs spontaneous behavior and habituation among adult mice exposed neonatally to moderate doses. These effects are progressive, worsening with age.

During the study, 10-day-old mice of both sexes were given a single dose of 12 milligrams PBDE-99 per kilogram body weight. After 24 hours, the mice were sacrificed, their brains dissected, and the striatum and hippocampus isolated for study. The team used 2D-DIGE to compare protein expression patterns between treatment and control groups. The analysis illuminated 40 proteins in the striatum and 56 proteins in the hippocampus whose expression was altered by PBDE-99 exposure.

From this initial grouping, nine striatal proteins and ten hippocampal proteins were selected for identification using MALDI-ToF-MS. Among the striatal proteins affected by PBDE-99 were several (including Gap-43/neuromodulin and stathmin) that participate in neurode-generation and neuroplasticity. The affected hippocampal proteins (including α-enolase, γ-enolase, Atp5b, and α-synuclein) tend to participate in metabolism and energy production. Many of these proteins are linked to protein kinase C, a signaling molecule whose role in development and function, as well as in learning and memory, has been intensively studied.

Based on these findings, the authors conclude they have identified potential protein biomarkers that reflect the immediate consequences of early-stage PBDE-99 toxicity, in addition to the processes that drive its neurological effects in older animals. The researchers suggest that protein kinase C signaling is a target of PBDE-99 toxicity in the developing mouse brain. Moreover, the authors propose that neonatal cell stress induced by PBDE-99 exposure, in addition to related neurodegenerative processes and aberrant neuroplasticity, may contribute to the latter-stage behavioral effects observed in adult mice. The responses within the striatum and hippocampus differ, however, reflecting the underlying heterogeneity between different brain parts and cell populations.


dition to a-representability if a* 3 = a for all p < a. The other conditions of Sikorski's main theorem are Chang's assumption about the existence of maximal filters preserving certain a-joins and meets (XXX 000), and two topological conditions similar to the characterization of a-representability which was given by the reviewer (XXVII 100(2)). The paper also contains a discussion of a-distributivity, weak a-distributivity, and the a-chain condition. In particular, weak a-distributivity and the a-chain condition for B are characterized in terms of properties of the Stone space of B. This paper is a summary of an expository lecture given by Professor Sikorski in 1959. It surveys the work which has been done on higher degrees of completeness and distributivity and the representation theory for Boolean algebras during the past decade or so. Nearly all of the known relations between the following properties of Boolean algebras are presented without proof: atomicity, complete distributivity, representability as a complete field of sets, representability as an a-field of sets (where a is a cardinal number), a-distributivity, weak a-distributivity, and a-quotient repre sentability. The definitions of these terms and the statements and proofs of the theorems given in this paper can be found in Sikorski's monograph Boolean algebras (Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1960).