In this paper, we propose the concept of centralized dynamic spectrum leasing (C-DSL), in which multiple primary users belonging to the same primary system participate in the spectrum leasing process with secondary users (potential bidder for spectrum) under centralized control. We develop a new game-theoretic user interaction model suitable for C-DSL in a cognitive radio network. Dynamic Spectrum Leasing (DSL), proposed in allows active participation of both primary and secondary users in the spectrum sharing process. Motivated by network spectrum utilization considerations, we propose generalizations to the primary system utility function defined in and a new utility function for the secondary users. We also generalize the proposed non-cooperative C-DSL game to allow for linear multiuser detectors at the secondary base stations. We formulate the conditions on the primary system and the secondary user utility functions so that the proposed C-DSL game has desired equilibrium properties. We prove that the proposed C-DSL game has unique Nash equilibria (NE) under both matched filter (MF) and linear minimum mean-squared error (LMMSE) receivers. Equilibrium performance of the system and robustness of the proposed game theoretic adaptive implementation are investigated through simulations.


In the past, much rural development planning has relied on the concept of growth poles. With the "new rural paradigm", we find that place-specific development and bottom-up approaches have become more popular than ever. Such place-based development often envisages the use of social capital. However, insofar as social capital is a local asset that is incorporated in individuals, it can easily be destroyed but not easily rebuilt. Continued out-migration and low in-migration into rural areas can have detrimental effects on social capital, and subsequently weaken bottom-up processes in the short and medium term. This paper - based on a survey of 1412 persons in northern Scotland - suggests that intensified migratory processes destroy social capital in rural remote as well as in urban areas. The results show that not only does actual out-migration decrease the available stock of social capital but also that mere intentions to out-migrate do so as well. Insofar as social capital can be built or re-built only in the long term, policies are therefore needed that offer potential out-migrants place-specific opportunities and increase the rate of integration of in-migrants.


In every Roman Catholic Parish, even those dating back to the Spanish colonial period, there is an archive where the Canonical Books are kept. The Canonical Books are the records of baptisms, marriages, confirmations, deaths, circulars, and accounts. The Book of Marriages is an important source of information for intermarriages among kin in one town in Ilocos Norte. The celebration of mass funerals from deaths caused by epidemics is information we can get from the Book of Deaths, while the Book of Confirmations gives us some clues as to the length of the interregnum from one ordained bishop to the other and the frequency of episcopal visitatation of the parishes. The Libro de Recibo y Gastos tells us the income and expenses of a certain parish. The Libro de Ordenes Episcopales gives us a glimpse into the pastoral life of the Diocese through the directives of the bishops addressing pastoral concerns. This Canonical Books can go beyond their ordinary usage of determining baptisms, deaths, marriages, etc., and tell us what happened in the past. They could transform the historical to the historic, the dry bones of facts to an active record which may be useful to us at present and in the future.


In this article, we address the problem of delayed query processing raised by tree-based index structures in wireless broadcast environments, which increases the access time of mobile clients. We propose a novel distributed index structure and a clustering strategy for streaming XML data that enables energy and latencyefficient broadcasting of XML data. We first define the DIX node structure to implement a fully distributed index structure which contains the tag name, attributes, and text content of an element, as well as its corresponding indices. By exploiting the index information in the DIX node stream, a mobile client can access the stream with shorter latency. We also suggest a method of clustering DIX nodes in the stream, which can further enhance the performance of query processing in the mobile clients. Through extensive experiments, we demonstrate that our approach is effective for wireless broadcasting of XML data and outperforms the previous methods. DOI: 10.4018/jdm.2010112303 Journal of Database Management, 21(1), 58-79, January-March 2010 59 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. is the sum of the elapsed times when the mobile client is in the active mode, and thus serves as a criterion for measuring the energy-efficiency. Meanwhile, the access time is the time elapsed from when a query is issued by a mobile client to when the target data is completely retrieved from the stream, and thus serves as a measure of the latency-efficiency. In this article, we consider efficient streaming and access of XML data in a wireless mobile environment. With the successful development and proliferation of various related technologies, XML (eXtensible Markup Language) (W3C Recommendation-XML, 2006) has been popularly used as a standard means to facilitate the representation and sharing of structured data across different information systems not only in the wired Internet environment but also in the wireless broadcast environment (Fong & Wong, 2004). Figure 1 shows an example of an XML document (a) and its tree representation (b). This XML document will be used as a running example throughout the article. Currently, wireless broadcasting of XML data is used in emerging applications such as the Electric Program Guide (EPG) of Digital Audio/ Video Broadcasting services (DVB, 2004), and the Traffic and Travel information (TTI) over a wireless broadcast channel in T-DMB (Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) services (TPEG, 2006). Especially, data is not static but continuously updated in such applications. Thus, there should be support for a query processing algorithm that allows mobile clients to start evaluation of a given query as soon as they tune in to the broadcast channel in order to satisfy the users' information needs quickly and efficiently. Park, Kim, and Chung (2005) and Park, Choi, and Lee (2006) proposed methods to stream XML data in the wireless broadcast environment in an energy-efficient manner. However, their approaches are based on a tree-structured index inserted in the stream, and query processing in a mobile client is performed by following the location paths from the XML document root to the desired data. And the mobile client cannot seek backward in the stream unless the streamed data is buffered at the client. Therefore, if the mobile client tunes in to the broadcast channel after the XML root has been passed over, it should wait until the next broadcast cycle begins, and this waiting time results in a long access time. We refer to this as the Delayed Query Processing Problem, which is described in the following example. Example 1.Figure 2 shows a broadcast stream of the example XML document in Figure 1. The broadcast server organizes XML data in document order, i.e. the order in which the XML elements appear in the document, and broadcasts them repeatedly on the air. In a conventional approach to processing an XML path expression query over the stream, mobile Figure 1. An example of XML document and its tree representation 20 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/energy-latency-efficient-accesswireless/39116?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Library Science, Information Studies, and Education, InfoSci-Knowledge Discovery, Information Management, and Storage eJournal Collection, InfoSciSurveillance, Security, and Defense eJournal Collection, InfoSci-Select, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Business, Administration, and Management, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Computer Science, Security, and Information Technology, InfoSci-Select. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2


Mexico is carefully reviewed in this article as a possible focus for private equity investing, both to buy out existing businesses and as venture capital for start-up or early-stage businesses. This article looks at all major aspects of an investment in Mexico, such as: recent economic history; the judicial framework; enforcement of the rule of law; -corruption; existence of accounting standards; concentration of ownership; role of commercial banks; the stock exchange; and the role of business groups. A forecast of the equity market is discussed along with highlights of Mexico's financial history.


The aim of this study was to assess the influence of diurnal cortisol profile on decision making under risk in individuals with gambling disorder and a healthy control group. We examined the relationship between diurnal cortisol, assessed over the course of two days, and a battery of tasks that assessed decision making under risk, including the Columbia Card Task and the Cups Task. Thirty individuals with problem gambling and 29 healthy individuals took part in the study. Those with problem gambling showed blunted diurnal cortisol and more risk taking behavior compared to those in the healthy control group. Blunted cortisol profile was associated with more risky behavior and less sensitivity to losing money in problem gambling. These findings suggest that blunted stress physiology plays a role in specific parameters of risky decision making in problem gambling.


The classification of smartcard attacks is a part of the learning process of different ways are used by attackers to challenge the system security. It really helps to enhance the smartcard security policies. In this paper, we study some types of taxonomies but we focus our attention upon the classification tree method (CTM). For this case study, we apply CTM to classify smartcard attacks by using the CTE tool.


Background Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory rheumatic disease of the axial skeleton, characterized by systemic osteoporosis along with new local bone formation. Previous studies have shown that serum levels of TNF, IL-6 and IL-17 are increased in AS patients and may be implicated in the development of secondary osteoporosis, since these cytokines are able to induce osteoclast (OC) differentiation and, therefore, bone resorption. Objectives In this work we aimed to assess the effects of TNF-blocking therapy in the systemic inflammatory environment of AS patients with active disease as well as in OC differentiation and activity. Methods Patients with AS starting TNF-blocking therapy were recruited for this study and blood was collected at baseline and 6 months after the first treatment administration. We performed ELISAs in the serum of these patients to assess cytokine levels and bone turnover markers. We also characterized RANKL surface expression in circulating neutrophils, B and T lymphocytes and monocyte subpopulation frequency and phenotype by flow cytometry. We cultured circulating monocytes from AS patients, before and after therapy, and from healthy controls under osteoclastogenic conditions. We performed two functional assays (TRAP staining and resorption pit assay) and analyzed the expression of osteoclast specific genes. Results We found no differences (before and after treatment) in any of the circulating monocytes' subpopulations regarding frequency or cell death assessed by annexin staining. Phenotype analysis only revealed differences in the classical monocyte subpopulation where there was a significant decrease in HLA-DR surface expression after treatment. The frequency of RANKL positive B lymphocytes was reduced after treatment. No changes were observed on RANKL expression in neutrophils or T lymphocytes after treatment. Before TNF-blocking treatment AS patients have increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines when compared with healthy subjects. After TNF-blocking therapy IL-17, TGF-β and osteoprotegerin were significantly decreased. Interestingly, we observed that after TNF-blocking therapy, gene expression was favouring osteoclastogenesis and that differentiated OCs have increased resorption activity. Conclusions Our results suggest that in AS patients there might be a paradoxical effect of TNF blocking therapy that induces OC activity. Disclosure of Interest None declared


For Middle East nations, Beijing's newfound drive for regional prominence is one of the most consequential—albeit least reported—trends of recent years. It holds the power to reshape regional markets as local governments increasingly reorient their economies to take advantage of Chinese outreach and largesse. But the proliferation of Chinese political and economic influence also increasingly threatens to upend longstanding regional security arrangements and fragment solidarity in the Islamic world. The spread of China's model of technologically-empowered censorship, meanwhile, carries with it the potential to reinforce some of the worst political impulses of the region's autocrats. Expanding Outreach


AbstractBACKGROUND: It is assumed that the performance of more senior residents is superior to that of interns, but this has not been assessed objectively.
 OBJECTIVE: To determine whether adherence to national guidelines for outpatient preventive health services differs by year of residency training.
 DESIGN: Cross-sectional study.
 PARTICIPANTS: One hundred twenty Internal Medicine residents, postgraduate year (PGY)- 1 and PGY -2, attending a University Internal Medicine teaching clinic between June 2000 and May 2003.
 MEASUREMENTS: We studied 6 preventive health care services offered or received by patients by abstracting data from 1,017 patient records. We examined the differences in performance between PGY-1 and PGY-2 residents.
 RESULTS: Postgraduaute year-2 residents did not statistically outperform PGY-1 residents on any measure. The overall proportion of patients receiving appropriate preventive health services for pneumococcal vaccination, advising tobacco cessation, breast and colon cancer screening, and lipid screening was similar across levels of training. PGY-1s outperformed PGY-2s for tobacco use screening (58%, 51%, P=.03). These results were consistent after accounting for clustering of patients within provider and adjusting for patient age, gender, race and insurance, resident gender, and number of visits during the measurement year.
 CONCLUSIONS: Overall, patients cared for by PGY-2 residents did not receive more outpatient preventive health services than those cared for by PGY-1 residents. Efforts should be made to ensure quality patient care in the outpatient setting for all levels of training.


Abstract Our objective was to elucidate the clinical factors affecting functional decline and survival in Japanese amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients. We constructed a multicenter prospective ALS cohort that included 451 sporadic ALS patients in the analysis. We longitudinally utilized the revised Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R) as the functional scale, and determined the timing of introduction of a tracheostomy for positive-pressure ventilation and death. A joint modelling approach was employed to identify prognostic factors for functional decline and survival. Age at onset was a common prognostic factor for both functional decline and survival (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). Female gender (p = 0.019) and initial symptoms, including upper limb weakness (p = 0.010), lower limb weakness (p = 0.008) or bulbar symptoms (p = 0.005), were related to early functional decline, whereas neck weakness as an initial symptom (p = 0.018), non-use of riluzole (p = 0.030) and proximal dominant muscle weakness in the upper extremities (p = 0.01) were related to a shorter survival time. A decline in the ALSFRS-R score was correlated with a shortened survival time (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the factors affecting functional decline and survival in ALS were common in part but different to some extent. This difference has not been previously well recognized but is informative in clinical practice and for conducting trials.


: Readily available and bench-stable Cu(acac) 2 ( 1 ) addresses many challenges in exploratory hydrophosphination catalysis. Mechanistic investigations were performed to answer questions that remain about the reactivity of 1 , the role of light in the catalysis, and to provide direction for further study. A divergent Hammett plot indicates differing mechanisms based on electron density at the alkene substrate. A radical process was eliminated based on trapping reactions and in-situ EPR experiments. Isotopic labeling experiments, a zwitterionic trapping experiment, stoichiometric model reactions, and catalytic reactions using proxy intermediates indicate that both conjugate addition and insertion-based mechanistic pathways occur with this system, depending on the unsaturated substrate. Computational analysis indicates that the lowest energy transition is a ligand-to-metal charge transfer (LMCT) from the phosphido ligand where the LUMO has significant Cu–P antibonding character, suggesting that a weakened Cu–P bond accelerates insertion under photocatalytic conditions. This hypothesis explains the greater activity of 1 compared to copper-catalyzed hydrophosphination reports and appears to be a general phenomenon for copper(I) catalysts. These results have been leveraged to achieve heretofore unknown catalytic hydrophosphination reactivity, namely the diastereoselective hydrophosphination of a tri-substituted styrene substrate.


Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were used as a support for the deposition of highly dispersed platinum. After characterization by several physical techniques, the catalyst was studied in reactions for: hydrodechlorination of carbon tetrachloride and the hydrodechlorination of dichlorodifluoromethane. For the first reaction Pt/MWCNTs were very effective catalysts in terms of both the overall activity and the selectivity to CHCl3; both quantities appeared high and stable. For CCl2F2 hydrodechlorination the catalyst was rather moderate, although very stable, activity and product selectivities were established at a constant level in a relatively short time-on-stream. The MWCNTs-supported Pt particles do not undergo great changes during the reactions, i.e. neither substantial metal sintering occurred nor extensive surface carbonization/chloriding took place.


A method to simulate the interactions between objects of a mechanism is described. The method can simulate planar kinematic chains of any length. The same method is used with modifications to generate the geometry of one object of a kinematic pair given the required functional relationship and the geometry of the other object. The planar contour shape of each object of a kinematic pair is represented as an arrangement of very small entities called molecules. Given the motion of the driver, the motion of the other object of the pair, known as the driven, is determined by global constraints and the prevention of geometric interference among the molecules of both members. The molecular representation allows very detailed changes in the shapes of the members. This facilitates automatic optimal shape design and very generalized kinematic analysis and synthesis. A computer implementation, intended to be used in the future with higher-level intelligent processing, is described and examples are provided.


This book offers a comprehensive account of dative structures across languages –with an important, though not exclusive, focus on the Romance family. As is well-known, datives play a central role in a variety of structures, ranging from ditransitive constructions to cliticization of indirect objects and differentially marked direct objects, and including also psychological predicates, possessor or causative constructions, among many others. As interest in all these topics has increased significantly over the past three decades, this volume provides an overdue update on the state of the art. Accordingly, the chapters in this volume account for both widely discussed patterns of dative constructions as well as those that are relatively unknown.


Nitrates belong to the most potent drugs for treatment of angina pectoris. Patients with this disease always show arteriosclerotic changes in their coronary arteries. In arteriosclerotic vessels endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by the endogenous vasodilator nitric oxide (NO) is markedly reduced. This article introduces a theory, whereby NO production is not reduced in arteriosclerotic vessels (in the arteriosclerotic aorta of the rabbit it is even enhanced) but that the activity of superoxide dismutase, which normally metabolizes free oxygen-radicals (O2-) is reduced and that NO is metabolized by accumulating superoxides. It is interesting that only endogenous nitrate (NO) can be metabolized by this pathway, whereas in arteriosclerotic vessels exogenous nitro-vasodilatators remain fully effective. For the clinical use of nitrates it is of particular importance that these exhibit different potencies for epicardial coronary vessels and the myocardial microcirculation. Nitroglycerin causes extensive relaxation in isolated large coronary arteries but has only a limited effect on middle-sized vessels and almost none on arteries in the microcirculation. These differences in efficacy of nitroglycerin in the coronary micro- and macrocirculation is probably due to the inability of microvessels to transform nitroglycerin into active metabolites such as S-nitroso-L-cysteine. Comparing vascular and clinical effects of nitroglycerin (in particular dilatation of coronary vessels) and of adenosine (acting in particular on the coronary microcirculation) discloses the great importance of the aforementioned effects on epicardial coronary vessels for treatment of angina pectoris. In this context a vasodilatating effect on the coronary microcirculation might not only be disadvantageous but could even trigger angina pectoris itself.


In this paper, we design and evaluate a new substructure-aware Graph Representation Learning (GRL) approach. GRL aims to map graph structure information into low-dimensional representations. While extensive efforts have been made for modeling global and/or local structure information, GRL can be improved by substructure information. Some recent studies exploit adversarial learning to incorporate substructure awareness, but hindered by unstable convergence. This study will address the major research question: is there a better way to integrate substructure awareness into GRL? As subsets of the graph structure, interested substructures (i.e., subgraph) are unique and representative for differentiating graphs, leading to the high correlation between the representation of the graph-level structure and substructures. Since mutual information (MI) is to evaluate the mutual dependence between two variables, we develop a MI inducted substructure-aware GRL method. We decompose the GRL pipeline into two stages: (1) node-level, where we introduce to maximize MI between the original and learned representation by the intuition that the original and learned representation should be highly correlated; (2) graph-level, where we preserve substructures by maximizing MI between the graph-level structure and substructure representation. Finally, we present extensive experimental results to demonstrate the improved performances of our method with real-world data.


Neural topic models (NTMs) apply deep neural networks to topic modelling. Despite their success, NTMs generally ignore two important aspects: (1) only document-level word count information is utilized for the training, while more fine-grained sentence-level information is ignored, and (2) external semantic knowledge regarding documents, sentences and words are not exploited for the training. To address these issues, we propose a variational autoencoder (VAE) NTM model that jointly reconstructs the sentence and document word counts using combinations of bag-of-words (BoW) topical embeddings and pre-trained semantic embeddings. The pre-trained embeddings are first transformed into a common latent topical space to align their semantics with the BoW embeddings. Our model also features hierarchical KL divergence to leverage embeddings of each document to regularize those of their sentences, paying more attention to semantically relevant sentences. Both quantitative and qualitative experiments have shown the efficacy of our model in 1) lowering the reconstruction errors at both the sentence and document levels, and 2) discovering more coherent topics from real-world datasets.


PURPOSE
To gain a better understanding of the pathogenesis of ectopia lentis and myopia in Marfan syndrome, studies were performed to determine the distribution and structure of fibrillin microfibrils in the lens capsule of normal subjects and of subjects with Marfan syndrome.

METHODS
Frozen sections and/or flat mounts of lens capsules were prepared from six autopsy eyes, nine surgical capsulotomy specimens obtained at the time of cataract extraction, and five capsules from patients with Marfan syndrome obtained at intracapsular lens extraction. Avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) immunoperoxidase or immunofluorescence staining with monoclonal antifibrillin antibody was used to localize fibrillin in lens capsules. Image analysis was also performed to compare the amount of fibrillin expression in normal and Marfan syndrome capsules.

RESULTS
Based on fibrillin staining patterns, we identified three distinct zones in the equatorial and periequatorial regions of the normal lens capsule. Zone I, a 0.75-mm-wide peripheral ring of the anterior capsule, contained radial bundles of fibrillin fibers. In Zone II, a 1-mm-wide meshwork of fibrillin-rich fibers encircled the equator and served as an insertion platform for zonular fibers. Zone III was composed of radial, 0.1-mm-wide bands arranged in a periodic fashion in the most peripheral part of the posterior capsule. Fibrillin fibers were abnormal and disrupted in all three zones in patients with Marfan syndrome. The amount of fibrillin staining per unit area was significantly reduced in Marfan capsules compared with normal capsules (16-26% versus 49-56% per unit area, respectively; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS
Fibrillin was a major constituent of the peripheral and equatorial areas of the lens capsule. Zonular fibers, also rich in fibrillin, insert into the equatorial region, primarily in Zone II. Possibly, fibrillin played a role in the ability of the lens to change its configuration during accommodation. The observed qualitative and quantitative abnormalities in fibrillin expression in the lens capsule of patients with Marfan syndrome supported a causal relationship to lens abnormalities in these patients.


A conference on high temperature superconductivity in Beijing was attended by young Chinese scientists, but most foreign experts stayed away. The episode, reprinted by permission from a special report in The New York Times of 15 September 1989, underscored doubts about Chinese academic opportunities after the crushing of the democracy movement.


Accumulating lines of evidence indicate that high leptin levels are associated with adverse cardiovascular health in obese individuals. Proatherogenic effects of leptin include endothelial cell activation and vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and migration. Ursolic acid (UA) has been reported to exhibit multiple biological effects including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we investigated the effect of UA on leptin-induced biological responses in rat vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). A-10 VSMCs were treated with leptin in the presence or absence of UA. Intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was probed by 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate. The expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2, phospho-(ERK)1/2, nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65 and p50, and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2) was determined by Western blotting. Immunocytochemistry and confocal laser scanning microscopy were also used for the detection of NF-κB. The secretion of MMP2 was detected by gelatin zymography. UA exhibited antioxidant activities in vitro. In rat VSMCs, UA effectively inhibited cell growth and the activity of MMP2 induced by leptin. These suppressive effects appeared by decreasing the activation of (ERK)1/2, the nuclear expression and translocation of NF-κB, and the production of ROS. UA appeared to inhibit leptin-induced atherosclerosis, which may prevent the development of obesity-induced cardiovascular diseases.


Technical communication is widely associated with technicalwriting and illustrations in industrial and post-industrial societies. However, the limited technical complexity and the relatively unchanged and unchanging nature of most of the tools, instruments and machines that were used in 14th century pre-industrial Britain meant that learning how to use them predominantly took place without access to, or the need for, technical writing or illustrations. The spinning wheel is possibly the best-known example of this type of technical knowledge dissemination. It had been introduced into Britain during the previous century and its operation remained simple enough that knowledge of how to use it successfully passed from parent to child, or master to apprentice, through watching, imitating and doing. This does not, however, mean that there were no instructional texts on how to use any of the available tools, instruments or machines. In fact, early precursors of modern English language instruction manuals can be traced as far back as fourteenth-century Britain. This article examines one of these early English language instruction manuals for a technical instrument called an astrolabe.


As the authors note, the familywise error rate (FWER) is used rather often, whereas the per-family error rate (PFER) is not. Is this as it should be? It would seem that no universal answer is possible, as context determines which is more appropriate in any given application. In the general scenario of testing the benefit of an intervention, one might ideally want an error rate that aligns with the decision for benefit. In most cases the FWER does this pretty well, while allowing one to identify those endpoints for which benefit exists. The PFER does not seem to have any advantage over the FWER in this general testing scenario. Perhaps in some other scenarios the PFER might have some reasonable role.


DNA replication, the process of copying double-stranded DNA, and DNA recombination, the process of breaking DNA strand and joined to a different strand, are central characteristics of life. The aim of this chapter is to discuss the relationship between replication and recombination. Understanding the intimate links between these processes gives us a more holistic approach to understanding the functioning of a cell. Replication and recombination machineries cooperate to maintain biological inheritance and genomic integrity. While replication enables the formation of two identical DNA molecules from a single double-stranded DNA, recombination enables accurate repair of errors that occur on both strands of DNA as well as the formation of new combinations of genes. Recombination can occur between similar molecules of DNA (homologous recombination), or dissimilar molecules (non-homologous end joining). Homologous recombination predominantly occurs during and shortly after DNA replication (late S and G2), while nonhomologous end joining is predominant in the G1 and early S phase of the cell cycle. What is the relationship between DNA replication and recombination processes? Mutations in some genes with a role in DNA replication cause hyper-recombination phenotypes. These mutations require recombination protein Rad52 for their viability, suggesting that the replication errors caused by mutations are repaired by recombination mechanisms (Merrill & Holm, 1998). Furthermore, many recombination genes have S phase defects when deleted. Obviously, replication and recombination processes are tightly intertwined. In this chapter I will try to present the close coupling between these processes from a different point of view (Fig. 1): recombination is part of DNA replication and, vice versa, DNA synthesis is part of the recombination process; both processes are connected via checkpoints; both processes are regulated by common posttranslational modifications; both processes take advantage of double helix DNA and both have a common problem with DNA unfolding. The recombination system plays a crucial role in DNA replication ensuring that replication machines can complete their task of genome duplication. DNA replication forks stall or collapse at DNA lesions or problematic genomic regions. When a fork becomes stalled, the replisome often remains firmly associated with the fork. But, when replication forks are removed, recombination is the most important rescue mechanism. The recombination mechanism forms substrates for the assembly of a new replication fork thus allowing continued DNA replication.


The last years have been designated by the economic crisis and the effort of consolidation in many sectors of the Greek economy. The majority of economical articles are praising the role and the contribution of the Greek Shipping, and in fact they are describing it as the most robust sector with the greatest growth potential.
The present study gathers statistic information about the sector of the Greek Shipping in order to present objectively the benefits of its activity in the Greek economy.
The major direct impact of the Greek Shipping is being presented by the statistical data in Greek Balance of payments during the decade 2003-2013. This decade is crucial as it presents the financial data before and after the economic crisis. Also, the study focuses into the workforce and the employment in Greek Shipping during the last period of continuing rising Greek unemployment.
The sector of Greek Shipping is also contributing indirectly to the economic activity of Greece, since it has major impact in a big number of other industries and sectors of activity. This study, using the input-output model, presents the importance of the added value that Greek Shipping offers. Moreover, based on recent studies the study refers to the indirect employment that the activity of Greek Shipping offers to other sectors of the Greek economy.
Greek Shipping contributes to the economy also through the taxation of its capacity. In one hand the Greek taxation of shipping industry is considered favorable but on the other there is also the opinion that the Greek tax model should be known for its stability in order to be competitive into the global environment of shipping. The latest tax modifications present great interest for future research.
The last part of this paper refers to the presentation of the investments in shipping by the Greek ship-owners, trying to predict the Greek evolution of shipping sector.


Certification is the key step towards the implementation of structural health monitoring (SHM) as part of condition based maintenance programmes of aircraft fleets. That can only be accomplished by demonstration of system performance in multiple scenarios and in a statistically relevant way. This paper describes a fully computational approach for reliability assessment of an ultrasonic guided wave (GW) based SHM system for a full-scale stiffened panel of a horizontal stabilizer torsion-box entirely made of carbon fibre reinforced thermoplastic. A pseudo-stochastic nature is attributed to the damage index values calculated from the finite-element signals, allowing hit-miss data to be generated. That data is in turn employed for the computation of probability of detection curves and relative operating characteristics. The results of this research show that detailed damage diagnostics in full-scale complex composite structures can be achieved by using ultrasonic GWs under the hotspot monitoring philosophy. Moreover, it is demonstrated that properly validated models of the monitoring environment can be used for reliability analysis of GW based SHM systems for full-scale complex composite structures, thereby reducing the need for extensive and costly experimental test campaigns, which in turn can contribute to an acceleration of the establishment of a certification framework for SHM systems.


Introduction The aim of this study was to examine whether the Canadian Laboratory Initiative on Paediatric Reference Intervals (CALIPER) could be applied to Croatian children and adolescents. Materials and methods A total of 295 outpatient healthy children and adolescents of age 1 to 18 were selected using the direct a posteriori sampling method. According to current guidelines, 20 samples were tested for each of a total of 51 reference intervals for ferritin, cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, follicle stimulating hormone, lutein stimulating hormone, prolactin, progesterone, sex hormone binding globulin, thyroid stimulating hormone, total testosterone, total thyroxine and total triiodothyronine. Serum samples were analysed on the Beckman Coulter DxI600 immunoassay analyser by chemiluminescence immunoassay method. A reference interval was adopted if < 10% of the results fall outside CALIPER reference interval range. For analytes in which this criterion is not met in the first set of samples, a new set of 20 samples were collected. Results After the first set of measurements, 96% of all tested reference intervals were adopted for use. The additional sets of 20 reference subjects were tested for only two reference intervals; follicle stimulating hormone for female aged 1 to 9 years, and irrespective of the gender, sex hormone binding globulin for children aged 8 to 11 years. All results of additional samples were within the specified interval limits. Conclusions CALIPER reference intervals for ferritin and 11 hormones defined for Beckman Coulter DxI600 immunoassay analyser can be implemented into the Croatian laboratories and clinical practice.


An integration platform assembling with methanol reformer and high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was constructed in this present. The methanol micro reformer combines with catalytic reaction section and reforming section. Catalytic reaction section with Pt calalysis maintains the constant temperature envoriment for reforming process. SRM reforming results show the 74%~74.9% hydrogen and 23.5%~25.7% of carbon dioxide in the mixture product. Less than 2% of carbon monoxide was produced. Using the reforming product of low carbon monoxide concentration and the highest methanol conversion rate, a micro reformer links with fuel cell integration experiment was performed. Results show the high temperature PEMFC with 3 ~ 4W power output under methaol flow rate 15ml/hr. Due to the lower of hydrogen pressure supplying from the micro reformer, may cause the fuel cell power output become unstable.


The Health of Nations: Towards a New Political Economy is highly critical of the structurally unjust world we live in and its failure to address the global burden of disease. In clear, concise language, Gavin Mooney ably explains the reasons for global ill health and offers viable solutions. The book is sharp and crisp, highly informative and makes compelling reading from the very first page. In this slim-volume, 212-page book, Mooney deals with the global response to ill-health, criticising macroeconomic and global economic systems from the perspectives of neoliberal political economy. He also demonstrates that neoliberalism fosters individualism and inequality, which are bad for health, and shies away from solidarity and social cohesion, which are good for health. There are six parts to the book. Part I, the introduction, deals with neoliberalism and its impact on global health, and Mooney very aptly demonstrates that neoliberalism 'kills'. He starts off by asking why, in an astoundingly wealthy world, there is so much ill health and premature death, and states upfront that there must be a terrible problem with healthcare systems and societies. Mooney goes on to highlight the huge disparities between the rich and poor and the fact that poorer countries are more likely to have smaller proportions of their healthcare resources in the public sector. He also emphasises that privatisation of healthcare in poor countries is encouraged by the rich West and by global institutions like the World Bank. Part II analyses the problems underlying healthcare and health, as well as the policies that deal with them and why these are failing. Mooney places a great deal of blame on the capitalism that results from neoliberalism, which has direct economic consequences for health and also negative impacts on the social aspects. He shows how neoliberalism dominates global institutions, breeds inequality and individualism and suppresses a sense of community. Part III uses a series of case studies to illustrate these points, ranging from the country-specific to those related to organisations. In contrast, Part IV proposes a communitarian approach to the problems of global ill health. It argues that the communitarian model offers a new political economy of health by providing more egalitarian and caring societies at all three levels – local, national and global. Healthcare systems will be transformed into social institutions, where citizens will be empowered to make decisions about social determinants of health. Part V presents case studies to demonstrate the positive impact of community participation in Kerala, India; the Cuban focus on strengthening the social determinants of health; and the influence that empowered communities have had on health in Venezuela. Part VI concludes with the need for urgent reform, both within individual countries and at the level of global institutions like the World Bank.


We calculate the one-electron spectral function of the attractive (negative-U) Hubbard model. We work in the intermediate-coupling and low-density regime and obtain the self-energy in an approximate analytical form. The excitation spectrum is found to consist of three branches. The results are obtained in a framework based on the self-consistent T -matrix approximation, which is compatible with the Mermin-Wagner theorem.


ABSTRACT Objective. This study aimed to identify the co-circulation patterns of three viruses (dengue, Zika, and chikungunya) in Colombia from 2008 to 2018 by using notification reports provided to the national surveillance system. Methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted through a review of data for 2008 through 2018 from Colombia's Public Health Surveillance System (SIVIGILA). Results. In 2015, when chikungunya was first detected, it had a higher incidence (1 359.0 cases per 100 000 persons) than did the two other diseases. In 2016, when the circulation of Zika virus was first found, the incidence was 296.4 cases per 100 000 persons; that incidence declined dramatically in the next two years. Between 2015 and 2018, there was a substantial decrease in the frequency of dengue circulation, with it going from 334.1 cases per 100 000 persons in 2015 to 90.7 cases per 100 000 in 2017 and 173.1 cases per 100 000 in 2018. Conclusions. The decrease in the number of dengue cases after co-circulation of the three viruses could indicate possible cross-protection. This finding should be further analyzed.


Although subsistence agriculture is the major economic activity, parents want to have large number of children to get assistance in farming activities as well as economic support during old ages. Women's fertility and HIV infection are not independent of one another. Conditions and behaviors producing high levels of fertility are also likely to bear upon rural women's 'likelihood of acquiring HIV. We investigated the association between perceived HIV risk and child mortality by the desire to have children among married women in rural Ethiopia. A cross-sectional sample of 1,380 married women age 18-49 years was randomly selected from the rural kebeles of Bure woreda. One eligible subject was randomly selected per household for a structured interview on factors associated with desire for future pregnancy. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version17. Both bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to investigate the association between self-perceived risk for HIV infection and child mortality by the desire for a future pregnancy. Overall, 32 % of subjects expressed desire to get pregnant in future, 8.8 % perceived themselves at high risk for HIV infection and 26.7% reported the death of at least one child in past five years. In multiple logistic regression analysis, reporting at least one child's death (OR=6.92; 95% CI 4.91- 9.47) was significantly associated with a higher desire to get pregnant and high perceived risk for HIV infection (OR=2.08; 95% CI 1.35-3.19) was found to be associated with a high desire to get pregnant. Being currently married, having no education, being of low parity and having low household income were significantly associated with having the desire for more children. High perceived risk for HIV infection was not associated with lower desire for future pregnancy. Moreover women seem to have higher desire for future pregnancy to replace childhood deaths that may result from HIV infection. Further research is needed to explore utilitarian-economic, social and psychological values attributed to children by women and their partners.


Influenza virus RNA segment 7 encodes two proteins, M1 and M2, depending on the optional removal of an intron from its primary transcript. To investigate the mechanism of this regulated splicing, an influenza virus segment 7 cDNA was cloned under the control of simian 40 virus (SV40) early promoter and poly(A) signals in an SV40 recombinant virus (SVM), and expressed in COS-1 cells. Expression of both M1 and M2 proteins was detected in SVM-infected cells, suggesting (i) the appropriate splicing events to generate M2 mRNA occur in these cells and (ii) significant amounts of unspliced M1 mRNA are transported to the cytoplasm. Analysis of the relative proportion of M2 mRNA to mRNA3 indicated that the use of the alternative 5' splice sites is reversed in SVM-infected cells compared with those infected with influenza virus. In addition, a different intranuclear distribution of segment 7 transcripts was found in each type of infected cell. We speculate that these differences in splicing efficiency and splice site choice might be related to different subnuclear localizations of segment 7 transcripts synthesized by the different transcriptional machineries.


ABSTRACT

This thesis focuses on the OPEC oil crisis of 1973 and its impact on the Scandinavian countries of Sweden and Denmark. Starting from Walter Carlsnaes theory of energy vulnerability, the concepts of vulnerability and national security are tested on the selected cases and an array of policy alternatives are assessed. Posited available options like oil stockpiling, conservation, renewable energy and international coordination are evaluated as means for ameliorating the vulnerability of the nations. The theory chosen is further expounded with a consensus element to reinforce its explanatory power. The thesis utilizes a wide range of material from parliamentary records to daily newspapers in an attempt to shed some light on the interplay between economics and politics.

Sweden and Denmark evince diverging developments despite their common starting point with exceptionally high oil dependencies and can be located on different ends of the energy policy gamut. The oil crisis ushered in a new era of energy consciousness and this thesis attempts to show the origins of the energy policy agendas of the 21st century that are still being pursued in Scandinavia.


Abstract A preliminary study is conducted that considers capturing carbon dioxide from fossil-fired power plants and combining it with nuclear hydrogen in order to produce alternative liquid fuels for transportation. We estimate the quantity of carbon dioxide that would be emitted by fossil-fired power plants in the future. We then use this information to determine how much ethanol or methanol can be created if enough hydrogen is made available. Using the quantity of hydrogen required and the thermodynamics of the reactions involved, we estimate the nuclear power that would be needed to produce the liquid fuel. This amount of liquid fuel is then used to estimate the effect of such a program on conventional gasoline usage, need for foreign oil, and decrease in CO2 emissions. We then review the Mobil M process, which is a technique for producing gasoline from methanol. Although methanol and ethanol can be used in cars today, the volumetric energy density of gasoline is much greater, and the infrastructure for gasoline is in place. For this purpose, we feel that the conversion from methanol to gasoline is worth investigating.


The high-frequency conductivity/resistivity of a two-dimensional quantum plasma embedded in a random distribution of impurities is calculated with the use of a semiclassical kinetic description. The plasma is drifting at speed vD relative to the impurities and the system is under the influence of an electromagnetic radiation of wave number q and frequency ω. It is shown that the collisional damping rate exhibits some anomalous oscillatory behavior due to the electron fluctuations which disturb the system from thermodynamic equilibrium when vD ~ Fermi velocity vF. As a consequence, there exists a frequency-dependent critical velocity vc(ω), above which the system behaves like a negative resistive medium.


Despite the fact that Wikipedia is often criticized for its poor quality, it continues to be one of the most popular knowledge bases in the world. Articles in this free encyclopedia on various topics can be created and edited in about 300 different language versions independently. Our research has showed that in language sensitive topics, the quality of information can be relatively better in the relevant language versions. However, in most cases, it is difficult for the Wikipedia readers to determine the language affiliation of the described subject. Additionally, each language edition of Wikipedia can have own rules in the manual assessing of the content's quality. There are also differences in grading schemes between language versions: some use a 6–8 grade system to assess articles, and some are limited to 2–3. This makes automatic quality comparison of articles between various languages a challenging task, particularly if we take into account a large number of unassessed articles; some of the Wikipedia language editions have over 99% of articles without a quality grade. The paper presents the results of a relative quality and popularity assessment of over 28 million articles in 44 selected language versions. Comparative analysis of the quality and the popularity of articles in popular topics was also conducted. Additionally, the correlation between quality and popularity of Wikipedia articles of selected topics in various languages was investigated. The proposed method allows us to find articles with information of better quality that can be used to automatically enrich other language editions of Wikipedia.


The aim of this article is to analyse the main characteristics of the so called «cultural knowledge festivals» a recently much spread out specific Italian typology of festivals, dealing with different cultural disciplines (i.e. philosophy festivals, literary festivals, mathematics festivals and others). After a definition of the main features of this new typology of festivals, the author describes, for 2008, management models, communication models, financial sources, costs, audience etc., of 31 of these festival, comparing the outcome of this survey with the one of a first survey carried out for 2007. Whereas no evidence was found of significant negative impacts of the economic crisis on these festivals in 2008, there are signs that they have to cope, in 2009, with a strong budget reduction, which will affect primarily their communication investments and exhibition costs, and even lead to cancel some of them (this was recently the case, for instance, for the Philosophy Festival in Rome).


The IGRAs (Interferon-γ Release Assays) are commercial assays which measure T-cell-mediated response in vitro after specific stimulation, and represent the alternative to TST (Tuberculin Skin Test) in the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (ILTB) and of active tuberculosis (TB). Among these we choose the assay QuantiFERON ®-TB Gold IT (Cellestis Ltd, Carnegie,Victoria, Australia) (QFT) in which interferon-γ (IFN-γ) was measured after lymphocyte stimulation with 3 antigens of the RD1 region of M. tuberculosis: ESAT-6, CFP-10 and TB 7.7. We wanted to assess the sensitivity of the method in cases of pulmonary TB, using cultured isolates of M. tuberculosis as gold-standard. From August 2006 to July 2009 there were 54 suspected cases of pulmonary TB, confirmed by culture.The QFT was requested for 32 patients before any microbiological confirmation and therapy. Of these patients 14 aged 20-50 years, 6 aged 50-70 years and 12 were more than 70-year-old. The QFT was positive in 25 patients (INF-γ> 0.35 IU/mL) and negative in 7 patients (INF-γ <0.35 IU/mL) while 2 patients had an INF-γ value of 0.34 IU/mL. Susceptibility to pulmonary TB is very high in young subjects and decreases with increasing age. In elderly population it is frequent a TB reactivation due to a decline in T-cell-immune response.Therefore, a negative or borderline value of IFN-γ should be interpreted with care.


A method is proposed for the estimation of rate of change from incomplete longitudinal data where the number of observations made for each subject is assumed to vary depending on the level of the response variable. The proposed method involves a random slope model, in which the number of observations is modeled as a geometric distribution with its mean dependent on the individual subject's rate of change. The method adjusts for informative right censoring and provides estimates of the slopes of individual subjects as well as of the population. Under noninformative right censoring these estimators of the slopes are equivalent to Bayes estimators (Fearn, 1975, Biometrika 62, 89-100). The simulation study demonstrates that, in cases where the censoring process is informative, the proposed estimator is more efficient than either the unweighted or weighted estimator of slope. The method is illustrated by the analysis of renal transplant data.


Background: Surgical audit experiments have shown a positive, rapid and cost-effective impact on complication rates, recurrence rates, and overall survival even in the absence of interventional measures in digestive cancers. This study audit the quality of surgical procedures for digestive cancers. Methods: This is a multi-centric prospective non-comparative observational study performed in 4 surgical departments in 2 university centers. Eligible patients are adults scheduled for elective surgery for a proven or suspected digestive cancer, in a curative or palliative intent; or included no later than 72 hours after surgery in case of an emergent procedure. The Cancer should be proven or suspected in the following digestive tract: colon, appendix, anus, rectum, esophagus, stomach, esogastric junction, bile ducts, ampulla of Vater, pancreas, duodenum, small intestine and liver. Patients are excluded in case of 1) surgical intervention indicated for: a condition that is not a digestive tract cancer; 2) proven or suspected cancer of non-digestive location 3) a proven or suspected cancer of peritoneal localization. 4) surgical intervention indicated for a progressive disease or a local recurrence proven or suspected of a digestive localization cancer having already been resected (with the exception of situations of iterative liver resection for liver metastasis hepatic and recovery of the tumor bed after the discovery of vesicular cancer on cholecystectomy specimen); 5) intervention is for diagnostic purposes without any curative or palliative intention A total of 1500 patients is expected. The primary objectives of this study are to assess both 90 days of post-operative outcomes and three years oncological outcomes for patient operated for each included digestive cancer. Secondary objectives are 1) to analyze treatment decisions made within multidisciplinary team meeting/tumour board for every localization and the completion of preoperative workup staging according to local guidelines and 2) to determine the impact of reporting anonymous trimestrial feedback to surgeons on improving their surgical performance and outcomes 3) To assess quality of life in patient operated for colorectal cancer in curative intent. Discussion: This is the first multicentric North African registry assessing the quality of surgical procedures for digestive tract cancer and analyzing the impact of reporting sequential anonymous feedback to the surgeon on quality improvement. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov/NCT03681600


The proliferation of machine learning services in the last few years has raised data privacy concerns. Homomorphic encryption (HE) enables inference using encrypted data but it incurs 100x–10,000x memory and runtime overheads. Secure deep neural network (DNN) inference using HE is currently limited by computing and memory resources, with frameworks requiring hundreds of gigabytes of DRAM to evaluate small models. To overcome these limitations, in this paper we explore the feasibility of leveraging hybrid memory systems comprised of DRAM and persistent memory. In particular, we explore the recently-released Intel® Optane™ PMem technology and the Intel® HE-Transformer nGraph® to run large neural networks such as MobileNetV2 (in its largest variant) and ResNet-50 for the first time in the literature. We present an in-depth analysis of the efficiency of the executions with different hardware and software configurations. Our results conclude that DNN inference using HE incurs on friendly access patterns for this memory configuration, yielding efficient executions.


Tropospheric predictability is typically limited to about 20 days due to the chaotic nature of weather. The tropospheric variability contains planetary waves which can propagate vertically into the winter stratosphere, where they break and drive a residual meridional circulation. For cases of exceptionally strong planetary wave activity, this circulation can induce a polar stratospheric warming and a subsequent downward propagation of the circulation anomaly to the troposphere. This process provides an increased predictability for the troposphere. The predictability is associated with the zonal mean zonal wind around 60oN and the Northern Annular Mode, which tends to a negative phase after a stratospheric warming event. The negative Northern Annular Mode phase yields colder temperatures in Mid- and Northern Europe. Thus, the coupled troposphere-stratosphere system improves tropospheric predictability on monthly to seasonal time-scales. This article reviews briefly the observed phenomena, the current theoretical understanding, and the role for numerical weather prediction.


This paper explains the concept of cultural synergy and provides a contrast of societies that could be characterized as having high or low synergy, as well as organizational culture that reflects high and low synergy. Within organizations, the research insights reported here center on behaviors and practices that contribute to synergy and success among teams, particularly in terms of international projects. The concluding section describes people who are truly "professionals" in their attitude toward their career and work, and how they can mutually benefit from the practice of synergy. Real European leaders actively create a better future through synergistic efforts with fellow professionals. The knowledge work culture favors cooperation, alliances, and partnership, not excessive individualist actions and competition. This trend is evident, as well as necessary, in corporations and industries, in government and academic institutions, in non‐profit agencies and unions, in trade and professional associations of all types. In an information or knowledge society, collaboration in sharing ideas and insights is the key to survival, problem solving, and growth. But high synergy behavior must be cultivated in personnel, so we need to use research findings, such as those outlined in this paper, to facilitate teamwork and ensure professional synergy. In addition to fostering such learning in our formal education and training systems, we also should take advantage of the increasing capabilities offered to us for both personal and electronic networking. Contemporary global leaders, then, seek to be effective bridge builders between the cultural realities or worlds of both past and future. Cultivating a synergistic mind‐set accelerates this process.


The present research was carried out at the Agricultural Experimental Station of BASF S.A., located in the SP 340, highway km 144, Santo Antonio de Posse, State of Sao Paulo, on a dystrophic dark Red Latosol (Rhodic Haplustox) area, with medium texture. Four experiments were carried out to evaluate the selectivity of the herbicides dimethenamid, metribuzin and linuron, applied at different rates, in the pre-emergence condition, in the production characteristics and quality of the tubers of four cultivars of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.). In each experiment was used, a randomized block experimental design, with five replications and plots of 21 m2 (3 x 7 m). The treatments were: hand weeded, dimethenamid at rates of 0.75; 1.50 and 3.00 kg ha-1, metribuzin at 0.48 and 0.72 kg ha-1 and linuron at 1.50 and 2.00 kg ha-1. Three visual injury evaluations were done at 24.31 and 42 days after aplication (DAA). The severity of crop the injury in the different cultivars, was directly correlated with the herbicides, the rate applied and the potato cultivars. The herbicide dimethenamid at 3,00 kg ha-1 showed the highest percentage of leaf damage, although these symptoms disappeared completely at 42 DAA. None herbicidal treatment interfered negatively in yield, dry matter content of the potatoes tuber, and in the final size of the potatoes tuber.


We extend the results on minimal stabilization of Burman and Stamm[J. Sci. Comp., 33 (2007), pp. 183-208] to the case of the local discontinuous Galerkin methods on mixed form. The penalization term on the faces is relaxed to act only on a part of the polynomial spectrum. Stability in the form of a discrete inf-sup condition is proved and optimal convergence follows. Some numerical examples using high order approximation spaces illustrate the theory.


Background Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) are thought to play a key role in the pathogenesis and progress of systemic scleroderma (SSc) with patients displaying distinct shifts in count, receptor expression profile and cytokine secretion patterns. SSc-IgG with elevated anti-AT1R (angiotensin II type 1 receptor)/ETAR (endothelin-1 type A receptor) -AAb (autoantibody) titers have been correlated to disease severity and progression1. It remains poorly understood through which pathways SSc- IgG mediates its effects. Objectives In this study we sought to analyze the expression patterns of THP-1 cells (a monocytic cell line) after SSc-IgG application and their reversibility through application of numerous pharmacological inhibitors. Methods Transcription of IL-8- and CCL-18 in THP-1-cells after SSc-IgG and normal IgG stimulation was quantified by qPCR. Stimulations of THP-1 cells with total IgG of phenotypically different groups of SSc patients as well as ET-1 and AT-2 were carried out. In addition, stimulation with pharmacological inhibitors was conducted in a dose-dependent-manner. The results were quantified by IL-8- and CCL18-ELISA of the supernatants. Results Expression of IL-8 and CCL-18 is induced by SSc-IgG treatment in comparison to normal IgG which does not follow this trend. IL-8 secretion of THP-1 cells upon SSc-IgG stimulation is mediated through specific autoantibody effects and transduced through NF-κB, ERK-, and AP-1 pathways. CCL-18 secretion of THP-1 cells upon SSc-IgG stimulation is not mediated through aforementioned pathways. Conclusions A stable cell culture system able to reproduce previous PBMC data on IL-8 and CCL-18 induction upon SSc-IgG-treatment could be established and insight was gained regarding key pathways which are involved in the transduction leading to IL-8 secretion. The effects of specific surface receptor expression profiles on transduction remain to be elucidated. References Günther, J., Rademacher, J., van Laar, J.M. et al. Semin Immunopathol (2015) 37: 529. Disclosure of Interest None declared


Impact investing is an investment strategy that over the past decade has begun to receive considerable attention in regions around the world, and Central America is no exception. However, it is a region of widely varying socioeconomic, political, and financial environments spread across several relatively small economies, making impact investing, an already difficult, changing process, even more dynamic. This chapter will help contribute to an understanding of the current status of the impact investing sector in Central America, including identifying current obstacles, outlining the investment pipeline for investors and briefly profiling existing investors. Future steps for the sector will also be addressed as well as the importance of furthering the understanding of the impact created from business.


Recent studies have demonstrated that most patients with mucinous prostatic adenocarcinoma may have a better prognosis than those with conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma; however, the mechanism remains unclear. Loss of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) expression is known to occur in aggressive high-grade prostatic adenocarcinoma, but expression in mucinous prostatic adenocarcinoma has not been well characterized. In this study, we sought to analyze PTEN expression in mucinous prostatic adenocarcinoma, prostatic adenocarcinoma with mucinous features, and the adjacent conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma. Cases were obtained from the Urologic Pathology files of 3 major academic institutions. Ninety-two cases were identified. PTEN expression was positive in the mucinous component of 79/92 (86%) cases. Concordant positive expression of PTEN between mucinous prostatic adenocarcinoma, prostatic adenocarcinoma with mucinous features, and the adjacent conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma was present in 60/79 (76%) cases. The fact that 86% of cases of mucinous prostatic adenocarcinoma and prostatic adenocarcinoma with mucinous features were positive for PTEN despite relatively high Gleason scores is in keeping with the fact that these tumors may be less aggressive than conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma without associated extraluminal mucinous components. In 76% of cases, the expression profiles (PTEN positive or negative) of mucinous prostatic adenocarcinoma and prostatic adenocarcinoma with mucinous features were similar to those of the adjacent conventional prostatic adenocarcinoma, implying that they may likely be clonal from a molecular standpoint. In addition, it is highly conceivable that the subset of PTEN-negative mucinous tumors may still have a relatively good prognosis due to a different/PTEN-independent protective pathway or mechanism.


Energy use in buildings has a significant influence on the global energy demand and environmental impacts. Among all building systems, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are the most energyintensive in terms of their total energy requirements. The production and operation of HVAC systems have a significant impact on the environment. These systems are also among the largest consumers of natural resources and materials in the building sector. With an ever-increasing focus on energy and material use, the question remains, which HVAC system has a better environmental performance. This paper presents a comparison between the life cycle impacts of three different HVAC systems — Constant Air Volume (CAV), Variable Air Volume (VAV) and Active Climate Beams (ACB) — designed for a Swedish modern office building. The system boundary of the life cycle assessment is cradle-to-grave with options, over a 20-year period. The life cycle assessment (LCA) of the three systems has been performed using SimaPro software. The CML IA (baseline) method has been used for the impact assessment. The life cycle impacts have been weighted using the Dutch shadow cost method. The results show that from a life cycle perspective, the ACB and VAV systems have comparable environmental performance. The CAV system is shown to have the worst overall environmental performance. The manufacturing phase of the ACB system exhibits the highest environmental impacts among the three systems, reflecting its high use of copper. The operational phase is the main contributor to the environmental burden for all three systems.


Motorola has traditionally focused on cost, yield, performance, and logistics as primary drivers for decision-making. In the semiconductor industry, environment, health, and safety (EHS) issues have resulted in major modifications of tools and process steps, as well as the addition of environmental controls to the facility, because they are not routinely considered when making process design and manufacturing choices, nor is their impact on cost, yield, and cycle time. Certain business driving forces, such as cost, sustainability of processes/tools, time to market, market access, and market share, are leading Motorola to a cultural change in which EHS impacts must be considered during product and process design; however, design and process engineers have not been able to adequately address these impacts. Motorola's Advanced Process Research and Development Laboratory (APRDL) in the Semiconductor Product Sector (SPS) has recognized this and has established its own environmental group (separate from the site EHS compliance group) to implement a design for EHS (DFEHS) strategy. The APRDL environmental group works with several project teams to address EHS issues in process development. These teams have been investigating copper metallization, wet cleans processes and tools, and other areas to ensure that the long-term EHS implications are identified and addressed before a process is transferred or a tool set recommended to a manufacturing fab. To empower engineers to consider, on their own, the EHS impacts of their materials and processes at the earliest possible stage, the APRDL environmental group has developed a DFEHS training course. This self-instructed, web-based course targets semiconductor design and process engineers and is available through Motorola University, the corporate training institution. The group has also established a procedure for approving new materials for the development lab in which EHS criteria are included.


Abstract The three‐event stack cotton GHB614 × LLCotton25 × MON 15985 was produced by conventional crossing to combine three single cotton events, GHB614, LLCotton25 and MON 15985. The EFSA GMO Panel previously assessed the three single events and did not identify safety concerns. No new data on the single events that could lead to modification of the original conclusions on their safety were identified. Based on the molecular, agronomic, phenotypic and compositional characteristics, the combination of the single events and of the newly expressed proteins in the three‐event stack cotton did not give rise to food and feed safety or nutritional issues. Food and feed derived from cotton GHB614 × LLCotton25 × MON 15985 are expected to have the same nutritional impact as those derived from the non‐GM comparator. In the case of accidental release of viable GHB614 × LLCotton25 × MON 15985 cottonseeds into the environment, this three‐event stack cotton would not raise environmental safety concerns. The post‐market environmental monitoring plan and reporting intervals are in line with the intended uses of cotton GHB614 × LLCotton25 × MON 15985. In conclusion, the GMO Panel considers that cotton GHB614 × LLCotton25 × MON 15985, as described in this application, is as safe as the non‐GM comparator with respect to potential effects on human and animal health and the environment.


The concept of ' disorganized attachment' has been influential in child protection practice, often taken as a marker of abusive parenting and purportedly linked to a wide range of deleterious outcomes for children. However, there is considerable controversy about the origins and meanings of the classification. This paper examines the assertions and controversies within the primary science, and poses fundamental questions about the robustness, legitimacy and utility of ' disorganized attachment' as a concept in child protection assessment and decision -making. It shows that, despite a purported association between disorganized attachment and the quality of the parental care the child is provided, there is little agreement in the scientific community on the transmission mechanism and the link between disorganized attachment and later deleterious outcomes for children is weak. It concludes that whilst attachment theory itself provides a valuable contribution to child protection practice, ' disorganized attachment' should be handled with care .


BACKGROUND
Tumor board (TB) conferences facilitate multidisciplinary cancer care and are associated with overall improved outcomes. Because of shortages of the oncology workforce and limited access to TB conferences, multidisciplinary care is not available at every institution. This pilot study assessed the feasibility and acceptance of using telemedicine to implement a virtual TB (VTB) program within a regional healthcare network.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The VTB program was implemented through videoconference technology and electronic medical records between the Houston (TX) Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) (referral center) and the New Orleans (LA) VAMC (referring center). Feasibility was assessed as the proportion of completed VTB encounters, rate of technological failures/mishaps, and presentation duration. Validated surveys for confidence and satisfaction were administered to 36 TB participants to assess acceptance (1-5 point Likert scale). Secondary outcomes included preliminary data on VTB utilization and its effectiveness in providing access to quality cancer care within the region.

RESULTS
Ninety TB case presentations occurred during the study period, of which 14 (15%) were VTB cases. Although one VTB encounter had a technical mishap during presentation, all scheduled encounters were completed (100% completion rate). Case presentations took longer for VTB than for regular TB cases (p=0.0004). However, VTB was highly accepted with mean scores for satisfaction and confidence of 4.6. Utilization rate of VTB was 75%, and its effectiveness was equivalent to that observed for non-VTB cases.

CONCLUSIONS
Implementation of VTB is feasible and highly accepted by its participants. Future studies should focus on widespread implementation and validating the effectiveness of this model.


This paper presents an efficient tool path plan for machining the impeller with a 5-axis numerically controlled machine. A method of assigning key tool orientations is reported and B-spline interpolation is used to produce smooth and interference-free tool orientation. The final tool paths generated by the proposed method are verified by using the cutting simulation function. A machining experiment is performed on a Mikron machine tool. Experimental results show that the present method is feasible and can produce interference-free tool path.


Endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is known to cause liver injury primarily involving inflammatory cells such as Kupffer cells, but few in vitro culture models are applicable for investigation of inflammatory effects on drug metabolism. We have developed a 3D human microphysiological hepatocyte-Kupffer-cell coculture system and evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of glucocorticoids on liver cultures. LPS was introduced to the cultures to elicit an inflammatory response and assessed by the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL6 and TNF α . A sensitive and specific RP-UHPLC-QTOF-MS method was used to evaluate hydrocortisone disappearance and metabolism at near physiological levels. For this, the systems were dosed with 100 nM hydrocortisone and circulated for two days; hydrocortisone was depleted to approximately 30 nM, with first-order kinetics. Phase I metabolites, including tetrahydrocortisone and dihydrocortisol, accounted for 8-10 % of the loss, and 45-52 % was phase II metabolites, including glucuronides of tetrahydrocortisol and tetrahydrocortisone. Pharmacokinetic parameters, i.e., half-life (t 1/2 ), rate of elimination (k el ), clearance (CL), and area under the curve (AUC), were 23.03 h, 0.03 h -1 , 6.6x10 -5 L. h -1 and 1.03 (cid:0)(cid:2) (cid:3) (cid:0) h respectively. The ability of the bioreactor to predict the in vivo clearance of hydrocortisone was characterized and the obtained intrinsic clearance values correlated with human data. This system offers a physiologically-relevant tool for investigating hepatic function in an inflamed liver.


The firnificaton of dry polar firn has been investigated with the means of X-ray micro-computer tomography (CT). The measurements were carried out on shallow firn cores and snow pit samples during the field campaign 2005/2006 at the EPICA (European Project of Ice Coring in Antarctica) DML-drill site, Antarctica. The CT-devices have been successfully tested in the field and offered us a novel method to study the fragile three dimensional structures of deposited snow and firn. Several events of dune formation have been observed during the summer campaign. The dunes are well preserved in the deeper snow with the consequence of highly stratified firn. In this presentation we give a detailed description of stratigraphy with the focus on the evolution of pore/ice cluster sizes and intergranular bonding. We show that the number of bonds per cluster in samples near the surface is highly correlated to their respective density. Accordingly, the neck radii are anticorrelated to the density. Maxima of pore size and anisotropy are observed at 2 to 3 meter depth where the metamorphism is dominated by temperature gradients. To highlight the methodological aspect we present different size parametrisations and discuss the three dimensional CT- approach in relation to the standard two dimensional techniques.


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were performed to investigate the well-known energetic material cyclotrimethylene trinitramine (RDX) crystal, 3,3'-bis-azidomethyl-oxetane (BAMO) and the RDX/ BAMO propellant. The results show that the binding energies of RDX with BAMO on different crystalline surfaces change as follows: (010)>(100)>(001). The interactions between RDX and BAMO were analyzed by pair correlation functions g(r). The mechanical properties of the RDX/BAMO propellant, such as the elastic coefficients, modulus, Cauchy pressure, and Poissonʹs ratio, were obtained. We find that the mechanical properties are effectively improved by adding some BAMO polymer and the overall effect of BAMO on the three crystalline surfaces of RDX changes as follows: (100)>(001)>(010). The energetic performance of the RDX/BAMO propellant was also calculated and the results show that compared with the pure RDX crystal, the standard theoretical specific impulse (Isp) of the RDX/BAMO propellant decreases but it is still superior to that of the double base propellant.


Lysosomes, the major membrane-bound degradative organelles, have a multitude of functions in eukaryotic cells. Lysosomes are the terminal compartments in the endocytic pathway, though they display highly dynamic behaviors, fusing with each other and with late endosomes in the endocytic pathway, and with the plasma membrane during regulated exocytosis and for wound repair. After fusing with late endosomes, lysosomes are reformed from the resulting hybrid organelles through a process that involves budding of a nascent lysosome, extension of the nascent lysosome from the hybrid organelle, while remaining connected by a membrane bridge, and scission of the membrane bridge to release the newly formed lysosome. The newly formed lysosomes undergo cycles of homotypic fusion and fission reactions to form mature lysosomes. In this study, we used a forward genetic screen in Caenorhabditis elegans to identify six regulators of lysosome biology. We show that these proteins function in different steps of lysosome biology, regulating lysosome formation, lysosome fusion, and lysosome degradation.


Cooperation and coordination between agents are fundamental processes for increasing
aggregate and individual benefit in open Multi-Agent Systems (MAS).
The increased ubiquity, size, and complexity of open MAS in the modern world
has prompted significant research interest in the mechanisms that underlie cooperative
and coordinated behaviour. In open MAS, in which agents join and
leave freely, we can assume the following properties: (i) there are no centralised
authorities, (ii) agent authority is uniform, (iii) agents may be heterogeneously
owned and designed, and may consequently have con
icting intentions and inconsistent
capabilities, and (iv) agents are constrained in interactions by a complex
connecting network topology. Developing mechanisms to support cooperative
and coordinated behaviour that remain effective under these assumptions
remains an open research problem.
Two of the major mechanisms by which cooperative and coordinated behaviour
can be achieved are (i) trust and reputation, and (ii) norms and conventions.
Trust and reputation, which support cooperative and coordinated
behaviour through notions of reciprocity, are effective in protecting agents from
malicious or selfish individuals, but their capabilities can be affected by a lack of
information about potential partners and the impact of the underlying network structure. Regarding conventions and norms, there are still a wide variety of
open research problems, including: (i) manipulating which convention or norm
a population adopts, (ii) how to exploit knowledge of the underlying network
structure to improve mechanism efficacy, and (iii) how conventions might be
manipulated in the middle and latter stages of their lifecycle, when they have
become established and stable.
In this thesis, we address these issues and propose a number of techniques
and theoretical advancements that help ensure the robustness and efficiency
of these mechanisms in the context of open MAS, and demonstrate new techniques
for manipulating convention emergence in large, distributed populations.
Specfically, we (i) show that gossiping of reputation information can mitigate
the detrimental effects of incomplete information on trust and reputation and reduce
the impact of network structure, (ii) propose a new model of conventions
that accounts for limitations in existing theories, (iii) show how to manipulate
convention emergence using small groups of agents inserted by interested
parties, (iv) demonstrate how to learn which locations in a network have the
greatest capacity to in
uence which convention a population adopts, and (v)
show how conventions can be manipulated in the middle and latter stages of
the convention lifecycle.


We present a simple way to achieve and optimize hundreds of kW peak power pulsed output using a monolithic amplifier chain based on solid core double cladding fiber tightly packaged. A fiber pigtailed current driven diode is used to produce nanosecond pulses at 1064 nm. We present how to optimize the use of Fabry-Perot versus DFB type diode along with the proper wavelength locking using a fiber Bragg grating. The optimization of the two pre-amplifiers with respect to the pump wavelength and Yb inversions is presented. We explain how to manage ASE using core and cladding pumping and by using single pass and double pass amplifier. ASE rejection within the Yb fiber itself and with the use of bandpass filter is discussed. Maximizing the amplifier conversion efficiency with regards to the fiber parameters, glass matrix and signal wavelength is described in details. We present how to achieve high peak power at the power amplifier stage using large core/cladding diameter ratio highly doped Yb fibers pumped at 975 nm. The effect of pump bleaching on the effective Yb fiber length is analyzed carefully. We demonstrate that counter-pumping brings little advantage in very short length amplifier. Dealing with the self-pulsation limit of stimulated Brillouin scattering is presented with the adjustment of the seed pulsewidth and linewidth. Future prospects for doubling the output peak power are discussed.


Received Feb 2, 2018 Revised Jun 1, 2018 Accepted Jun 8, 2018 Infancy is a golden and critical period in the cycle of life. In this period, an infant that is not provided with exclusive breastfeeding has 14 times higher risk to death compared with an infant that is provided with exclusive breastfeeding. Malnutrition in the first year causes reduced brain cells up to 15-20% which leads to impaired growth and development of infant. Exclusive breastfeeding can fulfill the need for nutrients within the first 6 months of life. The objective of this study was to analyze the difference in growth and development of infants at the age of 6-12 months based on breastfeeding in the working area of Puskesmas Perawatan Ngkeran, Aceh Tenggara Regency. This is used comparative analytical resaerch with cross sectional design. The sample was 124 infants consisting of 62 infants with exclusive breastfeeding and 62 non exclusive breastfeeding, taken by purposive sampling. The data were collected by using questionnaires through interviews, measurement and observation. They were analyzed using chi square and logistic regression testing for confounding check. The results showed that there was a significant difference in growth and development of infants based on breastfeeding (p value=0.000) with prevalence ratio (PR)=4.167 (95%CI: 1.867-9.301), which indicated that the infant who did not get exclusive breastfeeding had 4.167 times higher risk to experience bad growth and development. Based on the examination of confounding variable found that food supplementation was the variable with the risk that influences infant's growth and development. Mothers are expected to practice exclusive breastfeeding, health practitioners are suggested to conduct more counseling of exclusive breastfeeding for pregnant mothers, to have early breastfeeding initiation, to create supporting groups of exclusive breastfeeding and to issue health policy of exclusive breastfeeding. Keyword:


Corresponding author : firstname.lastname@example.com Introduction : Cerebrovascular accidents are the third leading cause of mortality and the most important cause of morbidity in adults in the most of the world. Multiple factors such as Socioeconomic, lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors may be the cause of stroke risk differences in our community. This study was designed to evaluate the Stroke Risk Factor in persons above 55 years old without history of Stroke who referred to Health Centers in Hamadan on 2012. Material and Methods : In a Descriptive- Analytical study, 300 person above 55 years without history of stroke who referred to Health centers of Hamadan were selected (randomly),with regarded of inclusion and exclusion criteria and after explaining the research and its purposes, their permission was obtained. Their demographic data (such as age, gender), history of heart disease, hypertension and drug reception for it, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, smoking were filled in questionnaire. One EKG was performed (about the atrial fibrillation and signs of left ventricular hypertrophy).then data were analyzed and average tenth year stroke risk with use the Prof. Donald Smith software (stroke risk calculator) calculated. Results : The mean age, risk factors and systolic blood pressure in men and women were: 68.62±10006y, 2.16±1.33 and 129.05±18.71mmHg. History of diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, smoking, hypertension(HTN), drug reception for HTN, drug reception in persons with history of HTN, SBP≥140mmHg, drug reception in persons with SBP≥140mmHg,Cardiovascular disease, atrial fibrillation(AF ¬¬rhythm) and signs of left ventricular hypertrophy(LVH)in EKG have frequency: 19066%, 28%, 19%, 42023%, 34%, 29%, 59077%, 20033%, 3033%, 8033% respectively. The mean calculated stroke risk was for tenth year 10071%.This risk was 11074% in men and 9052% in women population. Conclusion : It's can be concluded that with regard to transition of socioeconomic and community especially aging and international experience of epidemiologic transition, stroke risk factors and consecutive stroke risk in Hamadan as a small sample of a developing country are rapidly increasing . Its hope that experiences obtained in developed countries applied in preventive programs and healthy planning. Key Words : Stroke, Risk factors, Software, Hamadan


Mutations in the gene coding for the catalytic subunit of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) polymerase γ (POLGI) have recently been described in patients with diverse clinical presentations, revealing a complex relationship between genotype and phenotype in patients and their families. POLGI was sequenced in patients from different European diagnostic and research centres to define the phenotypic spectrum and advance understanding of the recurrence risks. Mutations were identified in 38 cases, with the majority being sporadic compound heterozygotes. Eighty-nine DNA sequence changes were identified, including 2 predicted to alter a splice site, I predicted to cause a premature stop codon and 13 predicted to cause novel amino acid substitutions. The majority of children had a mutation in the linker region, often 1399G-A (A467T), and a mutation affecting the polymerase domain. Others had mutations throughout the gene, and 11 had 3 or more substitutions. The clinical presentation ranged from the neonatal period to late adult life, with an overlapping phenotypic spectrum from severe encephalopathy and liver failure to late-onset external ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, myopathy and isolated muscle pain or epilepsy. There was a strong gender bias in children, with evidence of an environmental interaction with sodium valproate. POLGI mutations cause an overlapping clinical spectrum of disease with both dominant and recessive modes of inheritance. 1399G-A (A467T) is common in children, but complete POLGI sequencing is required to identify multiple mutations that can have complex implications for genetic counselling.


In this study, it was demonstrated that the practice of remote working impacts the organisational resources and capabilities of Sennheiser electronic GmbH & Co. KG. These impacts influence the efficient deployment of resources and capabilities across several functions of the organisation and have shown to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. The research objectives of the study were designed to examine how remote working impacts a Sennheiser employees' ability to add value and their performance. By understanding the impact of remote work on the ability to add value and improve performance, I developed a nascent theory of how remote work impacts the emergence of distinctive capabilities or competencies which are argued to be sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The study was primarily informed by a review of the literature on remote working and the resource-based view theories in strategy. The review of the available literature allowed the development of a conceptual framework to inform my approach to primary research. I developed my research strategy with an interpretivist research perspective. My qualitative data collection method was through semi-structured interviews. I chose to hybridize my research approach, pivoting from deductive to inductive. My approach to the primary data analysis had an inductive element which complemented the use of the conceptual framework, largely RBV related concepts, and allowed for more exploratory rather than descriptive findings to emerge. The findings have shown that remote working impacted the ability of the participants to add value through additional flexibility e.g. better use of time or choice of workplace environment. This flexibility led to improved productivity and performance in cases where the behaviours or characteristics thought to be required as a remote worker were present. Traits like self-drive, discipline and entrepreneurship were recognised as characteristics congruent with good leadership and it was found that the inherent skills and capabilities derived from remote working have the potential to impact leadership competencies within the organisation. The distinctive capabilities of an organisation it is argued are a source of competitive advantage, the architecture innovation and reputation of a firm can all be sources of superior performance (Kay, 1995). The findings show that managers of remote workers recognise the deployment of remote resources as an efficient way to increase speed of response and closeness to the market. Informal relational structures such as a cooperative ethic between remote workers and management is shown to exist and there is a potential and casually ambiguous link to sustainable competitive advantage that is imperfectly imitable (Barney, 1991). The research suggests that remote work practice and the management of remote workers is influencing the fabric of Sennheiser culture and management behaviours. There is evidence of efficiencies in deployment of resources across regions and improved performance. These effects on resources and capabilities it could be argued are casually ambiguous in their link to a sustainable competitive advantage for Sennheiser. I have therefore concluded additional research is needed to establish this link.


Article abstract-This study compared the efficacy and tolerability of vigabatrin 3 g/day as add-on therapy with that of placebo in patients with focal epilepsy whose complex partial seizures were difficult to control with established antiepilepsy drug therapy. We enrolled 203 patients; 182 (90 placebo; 92 vigabatrin) received drug therapy under double-blind conditions. We increased the daily dosage to 2.5 g/day during a 4-week titration segment and maintained it at 3 g/day during the 12-week maintenance segment. By analyses we found a statistically significant lower frequency of seizures (complex seizures plus partial seizures secondarily generalized) at the end of the study for patients receiving vigabatrin than for those receiving placebo. The median monthly frequency was reduced by three seizures per 28 days in the vigabatrin group (baseline, 8.3; end of study, 5.3) versus 0.8 seizures per 28 days in the placebo group (baseline, 8.3; end of study, 7.5) (p = 0.0002). Therapeutic success (a 50% reduction from baseline in mean monthly seizure frequency) was attained in 40 of the vigabatrin patients (43%) compared with 17 of those treated with placebo (19%) (p < 0.001). Vigabatrin significantly increased the mean number of seizure-free days per 28 days (2.2 days) compared with placebo (0.5 days) (p = 0.0024). Mean trough serum vigabatrin concentration during therapy was 8.6 +/- 7.7 micro g/ml. The oral clearance of vigabatrin was determined to be 7.8 L/hr, and the elimination half-life was 8.4 hours. No clinically important changes in MRI, evoked potential, or other laboratory tests were noted during vigabatrin treatment. The results of this study indicate that 3 g/day vigabatrin is more effective than placebo as add-on therapy. Vigabatrin was well tolerated, compliance was high with twice-daily administration, and therapy did not result in clinically relevant drug interactions. NEUROLOGY 1996;46: 54-61


the correct affiliation of the tree stands to productivity class, particularly the young, between 30-40 years old stands is hindered by difficulties due to highly variable height growth dynamics which is dependent upon a multitud e of factors such as stand characteristics and site conditions. the determination of productivity class according to the average stand height in old growth managed stands was performed with certain amount of approximation causing the affiliation of the sam e stand to different productivity classes during its lifetime. hence, stands of 30 -40 years are affiliated with approximation to productivity classes due to multiple causes, all circumscribed to the accuracy of tree heights measurement. the combined influence of factors determining height growth leads to misclassifications within productivity class system. there are situations when stands, during their life cycle transit to different productivity classes, an inexplicable situation from the perspective of th e growth dynamics under long - term more or less stable site conditions. therefore, the present paper proposes indices based on the ratio between average tree height and basal area which enable the correct determination of the productivity class. the ratios were calculated for same tree age separately for the five consecrated productivity classes and regression equations were obtained for the corresponding productivity class for spruce (picea abies) and fir (abies alba). the paper aims to establish an index covering the link between growth and site conditions for several important and valuable tree species from the forestry fund. data from tree and stand biometry tables were employed for heights and basal areas ratios which were calculated in accordance to productivity classes and age. that is why there are some inconvenient to establish very rigorous the productivity classes in the old system. the approach presented in the paper can be used as a starting point for a new and reliable system permitting the detof the productivity classes.