Psychiatrists described a temporal fragmentation at a clinical level in patients with schizophrenia. In our work, we wanted to objectify such an alteration. We measured the temporal window in 18 patients versus 18 controls. The temporal window is defined as the interval needed to discriminate the onsets of two asynchronous stimuli. We found that patients with schizophrenia have an enlarged time window. Patients thus show temporal explicit judgments impairments. These results are independent of a decision bias and are similar when targets are located across hemifields or within the same hemifield. Furthermore, we focused on patients and healthy volunteers' responses at very short asynchronies. At short asynchronies, subjects are not able to report the asynchrony between stimuli and give the same rate of simultaneous responses as for perfect synchrony. Despite this, our results suggest an implicit processing of the asynchrony. It is as if the two stimuli are processed relative to one another in healthy volunteers, whereas patients would process each stimulus in turn: patients would process the first stimulus as isolated without taking into account the second one. We proposed that this result indicates a fragmentation in time in patients with schizophrenia. We showed that this fragmentation persists in the absence of spatial fragmentation. This fragmentation in patients might be related to a difficulty in anticipating events in time. In conclusion, we showed a dissociation between implicit and explicit disorders related to the coding of temporal events in patients with schizophrenia. These disorders might involve elementary anticipation deficits.


Economic integration in the world is not always an explicit and intentional process. For some regions we are able to observe unintentional coordination of economic policies that results from following similar institutional and legal solutions. One of such cases can be recognized in the nominal sector of the national economy. As a consequence, a group of countries may be forming a de-facto currency union. It could alternatively compose an OCA without any need for forced nominal convergence. This paper focuses on monetary policy stance and its developments in the period from 1981 to 2013 of a very special group of resource-based economies. The GCC countries share many similarities in the underlying exchange rate regime solutions. They are in the same time following some explicit economic integration initiatives. It happens, however, that due to the financial turmoil after 2008, many of the integration processes have been reversed, or stopped. An empirical research tries to answer a question of the extent to which the integration process in nominal sector has been developing. For this purpose the monetary policy stance correlation is measured. Observing its developments, with a cointegration analysis in a standard (non-structural) VAR model, delivers interesting insights into an issue of the GCC as an OCA. With statistical data provided by the World Bank (WDI Database) it is possible to observe significant convergence in monetary policy stance among all but one of the GCC countries. This study draws attention to a broader picture of a region that has potential of benefiting from a common market. However, not all GCC countries seem to be suited for economic integration in nominal sector. It is Bahrain that shows significant divergence for the whole period covered. There may be many country-specific factors, but persistence of asymmetry in monetary policy in this particular case allows for skeptical thoughts. If the GCC initiatives are continued, the economic integration will be more challenging in the new situation. As the observed convergence in monetary policy stance has been present from late 1970s one could suggest that it could have been a non-intentional process, but a result of similar exchange rate regimes. However, the latter divergence has been a result of conscious changes in the economic policies that affect the nominal sector. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.eis.0.9.12807


Chronic hypertension is associated with resistance artery remodelling and mechanical alterations. However, the contribution of elastin has not been thoroughly studied. Our objective was to evaluate the role of elastin in vascular remodelling of mesenteric resistance arteries (MRA) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). MRA segments from Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY) and SHR were pressurised under passive conditions at a range of physiological pressures with pressure myography. Confocal microscopy was used to determine differences in the quantity and organisation of elastin in intact pressure‐fixed arteries. To assess the contribution of elastin to MRA structure and mechanics, myograph‐mounted vessels were studied before and after elastase incubation. When compared with WKY, MRA from SHR showed: (1) a smaller lumen, (2) decreased distensibility at low pressures, (3) a leftward shift of the stress‐strain relationship, (4) redistribution of elastin within the internal elastic lamina (IEL) leading to smaller fenestrae but no change in fenestrae number or elastin amount. Elastase incubation (1) fragmented the structure of IEL in a concentration‐dependent fashion, (2) abolished all the structural and mechanical differences between strains, and (3) decreased distensibility at low pressures. The study shows the overriding role of elastin in determining vascular dimensions and mechanical properties in a resistance artery. In addition, it informs hypertensive remodelling. MRA remodelling and increased stiffness are accompanied by elastin restructuring within the IEL and elastin degradation reverses structural and mechanical alterations of SHR MRA. Differences in elastin organisation are, therefore, a central element in small artery remodelling in hypertension.


Literature on intergovernmental partnerships suggests the importance of several factors including organizational resources, capacity, and problem severity in understanding the adoption of these partnerships. This research improves our understanding about the adoption of intergovernmental partnerships by examining tribal and nontribal governments that adopted voluntary agreements to improve the administration of justice. Using data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, this research examines how socioeconomic conditions, problem severity, and law enforcement authority influence the adoption of partnership agreements between tribal and nontribal law enforcement. The results suggest that tribes that adopt partnerships have better socioeconomic conditions; nontribal actors have lower levels of authority and higher occurrences of violent crime. The presence of Indian gaming also increases the likelihood of adopting cooperative agreements. The results of this study provide an important insight into understanding intergovernmental cooperation in general and what drives cooperation between native and surrounding non-native communities in particular.


Due to the high prevalence and economic impact of neosporosis, the development of safe and effective vaccines and therapies against this parasite has been a priority in the field and is crucial to limit horizontal and vertical transmission in natural hosts. Limited data is available regarding factors that regulate the immune response against this parasite and such knowledge is essential in order to understand Neospora caninum induced pathogenesis. Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) govern diverse cellular processes, including growth, differentiation, apoptosis, and immune-mediated responses. In that sense, our goal was to understand the role of MAPKs during the infection by N. caninum. We found that p38 phosphorylation was quickly triggered in macrophages stimulated by live tachyzoites and antigen extracts, while its chemical inhibition resulted in upregulation of IL-12p40 production and augmented B7/MHC expression. In vivo blockade of p38 resulted in an amplified production of cytokines, which preceded a reduction in latent parasite burden and enhanced survival against the infection. Additionally, the experiments indicate that the p38 activation is induced by a mechanism that depends on GPCR, PI3K and AKT signaling pathways, and that the phenomena here observed is distinct that those induced by Toxoplasma gondii's GRA24 protein. Altogether, these results showed that N. caninum manipulates p38 phosphorylation in its favor, in order to downregulate the host's innate immune responses. Additionally, those results infer that active interference in this signaling pathway may be useful for the development of a new therapeutic strategy against neosporosis.


Geonoma atrovirens and G. supracostata (sect. Taenianthera) (Arecaceae) from the western Amazon are described and illustrated. Both species are described on material hitherto included in the widespread G. macrostachys s.l., a species complex of understory palms represented in most parts of the Amazon region. Geonoma atrovirens resembles entire-leafed forms of Geonoma macrostachys var. macrostachys but differs form that taxon in having extremely narrow, bluish green leaves, and a different structure of its staminate flowers. Geonoma supracostata differs from all forms of G. macrostachys in the combination of an usually well developed aerial stem and moderately dissected leaves with the veins sharply raised alternately on the adaxial and the abaxial side of the lamina. A key to the species of Geonoma sect. Taenianthera in the western Amazon is provided.


Casino gaming is a common form of entertainment in many countries, and the casino gaming industry worldwide is expanding at a rapid pace (Lee et al., 2006). Macau is one of the main locations of the gaming industry in East/Southeast Asia, and is a key part of the economy in Macau. The gaming industry accounted for 83 percent of tax revenue in 2010 (Macau FSB 2011), and also accounted for 14 about percent of Macau's total employment (Macau DSEC 2008). However, while the industry is thriving, it is a very competitive environment, and individual casinos need to understand their well to attract customers.We specifically examined the importance of various service elements among casino goers visiting Macau from Hong Kong and mainland China. This sort of information is critical in making decisions about details of the marketing mix for various segments (e.g., Wind & Bell 2007). Rϋck & Mende (2008) recommend more extensive use of segmentation analysis in the tourism industry. In this spirit, here we examine importance by home of the visitor (HK, China), marital status, and age, although this is only the preliminary step toward more detailed segmentation analysis.Respondents were asked about what attributes were important in their decision to visit one casino over another. The twenty attributes were mostly taken from Shoemaker and Zemke (2005), with slight adaptation and a few additional questions to reflect Macao's unique situation. For example, one question asks about the transportation link between Macau's ferry port or the border gate to different casinos. Questions used a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (highly unimportant) to 5 (highly important). The questionnaire was designed in Chinese, and tested in a small pilot of eight casino players to check the relevance and clarity of the questions. On average, respondents took 10 minutes to complete the questionnaire and reported no problems understanding it, so that no changes were required. The main survey was administered in July 2010 in face-to-face interviews with Chinese gamblers through convenience sampling outside ten large casinos. Twenty University of Macau students who were fluent in both Cantonese and Mandarin conducted the interviews. The researchers provided training and on-site demonstration of conducting the interview, and supervised the fieldwork. A total of 371 completed questionnaires were collected, 168 Hong Kong Chinese, and 203 mainland Chinese. (There were also 29 Taiwanese, but this sub-sample was too small for meaningful analysis as a separate segment, and the data on Taiwanese casino goers is not used here.)Factor analysis of these importance ratings yielded six factors accounting for about 58 percent of variance. These six factors are noted in Table 1, in which the 20 questions are organized by the factors on which they loaded. On an overall basis, then, the importance scores are not highly useful in distinguishing what customers want or do not care about much. Every question has a mean indicating some degree of importance significantly above the mid-point of the scale. However, MANOVA shows that the three variables describing characteristics of casino visitors ('where from', age, marital status, and their two-way interactions) do differ strongly on some of the dimensions. In particular, f5 employee interaction shows up as being strongly influenced by all three of the characteristics (although by marital status only in interactions with 'where from' and age).We focus on employee interaction here, since it is one of the most clear examples of distinct differences among our respondents. Employee interaction is much more important to visitors from mainland China than from Hong Kong, and to the oldest visitors. This importance does not differ much by marital status among mainland Chinese, but among Hong Kong visitors, married visitors think it is significantly more important than do single visitors. Among mainland Chinese, the importance of employee interactions generally rises with age, although the youngest age category (18-27) also rates it more highly than some of the older categories. On the other hand, the overall trend, although erratic, is toward less importance as age increases among Hong Kong visitors.


Background Expression of the T-cell-associated chemokine receptor CCR8 and its ligand CCL1 have been demonstrated to be elevated in patients with asthma. CCR8 deficiency or inhibition in models of allergic airway disease in mice resulted in conflicting data. Objective To investigate the effects of a selective small molecule CCR8 inhibitor (ML604086) in a primate model of asthma. Methods ML604086 and vehicle were administered by intravenous infusion to 12 cynomolgus monkeys during airway challenge with Ascaris suum. Samples were collected throughout the study to measure pharmacokinetics (PK) and systemic CCR8 inhibition, as well as inflammation, T helper 2 (Th2) cytokines and mucus in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL). Airway resistance and compliance were measured before and after allergen challenge, and in response to increasing concentrations of methacholine. Results ML604086 inhibited CCL1 binding to CCR8 on circulating T-cells>98% throughout the duration of the study. However, CCR8 inhibition had no significant effect on allergen-induced BAL eosinophilia and the induction of the Th2 cytokines IL-4, IL-5, IL-13 and mucus levels in BAL. Changes in airway resistance and compliance induced by allergen provocation and increasing concentrations of methacholine were also not affected by ML604086. Conclusions These results clearly demonstrate a dispensable role for CCR8 in ameliorating allergic airway disease in atopic primates, and suggest that strategies other than CCR8 antagonism should be considered for the treatment of asthma.


ABSTRACT The burden of overweight and obesity in children and adolescents has increased, especially in developing countries, posing a significant health challenge. Data on factors influencing overweight among adolescents is scarce in Bhutan. The present study examined the factors associated with overweight among school-going adolescents in Bhutan. This study analysed the nationally representative data from the Bhutan Global School-based Student Health Survey (BGSHS) conducted in 2016. The factors associated with overweight were identified by conducting multiple logistic regression analysis using a backward elimination approach. The complex survey design of the BGSHS was accounted for in the analysis. This study found that the prevalence of overweight was 11.35%. The findings showed that females, adolescents who were day students, and sedentary had higher odds of being overweight, whereas those aged >15 years and received education on healthy eating had reduced odds in the full sample. Female adolescents who were sedentary had increased odds of overweight. In the males' only sample, being a day student and living in urban areas was associated with increased odds of overweight, whereas those boys who received education on healthy eating and smoked cigarettes had reduced odds. Being >15 years of age was a common factor associated with reduced odds of overweight. Based on findings, policies aimed to reduce sedentariness and promote a healthy diet and behaviour can help reduce the risk of being overweight. Interventions targeting females, young adolescents, day students, and adolescents living in urban areas may be cost-effective.


This present paper aims to provide some new perspectives on how firms' price promotional decisions may depend on different levels of brand loyalty and switcher population. We present a duopoly model with a segment of price-sensitive switchers and a segment of customers who are loyal to one of the two brands but have limited brand loyalty. Our unique equilibrium splits into three types, depending upon configurations of brand strength and switcher population. The type of equilibrium for high brand loyalty corresponds to the one in Narasimhan. The remaining two types for intermediate and low brand loyalty demonstrate strikingly different properties. First, the strong brand has a higher price range and a higher regular price. Second, the strong brand has a higher (lower) average promotional depth than the weak brand when the switcher population is small (large). Third, both brands promote equally frequently when brand loyalty is relatively low.


A visible-light activated photocatalyst N-doped TiO2 nanocrystalline was synthesized via sonochemical method at low temperature. The N-doped anatase TiO2 nanoparticles were prapared by sonication of the solution of tetrabutyl titanium and ammonium in water and ethanol at 70 °C for 150 min. The crystalline forms and crystallite sizes of the as-prepared sample is characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and UV-Visible absorption spectrum.The product structure was dependent upon the reaction temperature and reaction time. The photocatalytic activity of the as-prepared photocatalyst was evaluated via the photodegradation of a basic dye methyl violet. The results show that the N-doped TiO2 nanocrystalline prepared by sonication has an excellent photocatalytic activity under UV light and simulated sunlight.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how family ties in new venture teams (NVTs) influence the intended future growth of a nascent entrepreneur's business. The authors posit that R&D-oriented entrepreneurs in NVTs with family ties have higher growth intentions relative to those who are less oriented toward R&D.

Design/methodology/approach
The hypotheses were tested using data from the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics II (PSED II). One distinctive feature of the PSED is that it is based on a random sample of 1,214 nascent entrepreneurs in the process of starting new ventures in the USA, which overcomes the recall biases associated with surveying entrepreneurs already in business and potential survivorship biases.

Findings
The results show that growth intentions in NVTs with family ties is greater when the nascent entrepreneur shows an R&D behavior, even though the presence of family members in the team is negatively related to the intentions of nascent entrepreneurs with regard to new venture growth. This effect is attributed to entrepreneurs' long-term vision and a more favorable attitude toward change.

Research limitations/implications
Data on startup teams in the PSED II come from one team member (the respondent). Therefore, differences in perceptions regarding growth intentions cannot be determined. Moreover, the sample consisted exclusively of nascent entrepreneurs in the USA.

Practical implications
Knowledge about the determinants of growth intentions during the venture creation phase becomes relevant if we want to influence and support the growth of newly founded firms. Nascent entrepreneurs need to understand the trade-off between emotional and financial concerns.

Social implications
Nascent entrepreneurs more oriented toward R&D become more risk tolerant, and may accept certain losses to their emotional endowment in favor of pure financial goals, being more able to access the additional external resources (tangible and intangible) needed for growth.

Originality/value
The research expands previous evidence on the family involvement-performance debate in large firms by focusing on new ventures with family ties, with distinctive characteristics that may affect growth intentions. The authors also shed new light on the interplay between family business and entrepreneurship. In particular, the research helps gain an understanding of how NVTs with family ties deal with the opposition between the benefits from venture growth and the tendency to preserve team member's emotional attachment.


Actuarial reserving techniques have evolved from the application of algorithms, like the chain-ladder method, to stochastic models of claims development, and, more recently, have been enhanced by the application of machine learning techniques. Despite this proliferation of theory and techniques, there is relatively little guidance on which reserving techniques should be applied and when. In this paper, we revisit traditional reserving techniques within the framework of supervised learning to select optimal reserving models. We show that the use of optimal techniques can lead to more accurate reserves and investigate the circumstances under which different scoring metrics should be used.


Entity linking systems link noun-phrase mentions in text to their corresponding Wikipedia articles. However, NLP applications would gain from the ability to detect and type all entities mentioned in text, including the long tail of entities not prominent enough to have their own Wikipedia articles. In this paper we show that once the Wikipedia entities mentioned in a corpus of textual assertions are linked, this can further enable the detection and fine-grained typing of the unlinkable entities. Our proposed method for detecting unlinkable entities achieves 24% greater accuracy than a Named Entity Recognition baseline, and our method for fine-grained typing is able to propagate over 1,000 types from linked Wikipedia entities to unlinkable entities. Detection and typing of unlinkable entities can increase yield for NLP applications such as typed question answering.


The opportunistic pathogen Clostridium difficile is the most common cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, with severity of disease ranging from mild diarrhoea to fulminant pseudomembranous colitis and death. It poses a major burden on healthcare providers, costing millions of pounds each year due to ward closures, isolation measures and prolonged illness. The current antibiotic therapy for C. difficile infection is effective, but high rates of relapse lead to ongoing misery for patients and spiralling costs for healthcare providers. Novel therapeutics for C. difficile are therefore desperately sought, and the antibiotic-induced nature of the disease has led to interest in development of non-antibiotic therapies. Sortase enzymes are responsible for covalent anchoring of specific proteins to the peptidoglycan of the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria. Following the discovery that the Sortase A enzyme of Staphylococcus aureus is essential for pathogenesis, sortase inhibitors are under investigation as novel therapeutics. Being ubiquitous in gram-positive bacteria, it is likely that other gram-positive pathogens require sortase enzymes for their pathogenesis and may be targets for development of sortase inhibitors. This work describes a characterisation of the sortase enzyme of C. difficile. To provide evidence for a role of the sortase in the cell wall biogenesis, a C. difficile sortase knockout strain was constructed by intron mutagenesis. Characterisation of this mutant led to the discovery that the putative adhesin CD0386 is anchored to the peptidoglycan of C. difficile by the sortase SrtB. To provide structural insight into the catalytic mechanism of the C. difficile sortase, an active site mutant was crystallised and its structure solved to 2.55A by X-ray diffraction. The wall-linked protein CD0386 was also crystallised and subject to successful test diffraction. Analyses of SrtB reaction products by chromatography and mass spectroscopy indicate that the enzyme cleaves an SPKTG peptide motif and catalyses a transpeptidation reaction with a component of the C. difficile peptidoglycan.


This thesis describes the design and realization of control software and drivers for a mechatronic setup. The mechatronic setup has two degrees of freedom, and a separate controller controls each joint. The software design and implementation is done according to Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP) concepts on a real-time Linux (RTLinux) platform.
Real-time Linux is a hard real-time version of the standard Linux. It has the facilities the timing requirements needed to provide real-time behaviour. All the functionality of the normal Linux is available for development.
Communicating Threads for C++ (CTCPP) (Hilderink, 2001) is an object oriented software package developed at Control Engineering. This package provides a clear way of concurrent programming based on the theory of Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP). With CSP a concurrent system can be described by concurrently running processes that communicate with each other via channels.
The C++ code for the two controllers is generated with the 20-sim program.
A set of device drivers has been developed for the used fast professional data acquisition board. This has been done in the C++ programming language. Test utilities for testing the drivers have been created. FIFO communication and data logging have been implemented. A console line print routine to print to screen from a real-time process has also been created.
Some performance aspects of RTLinux and CSP have been analysed by means of two test programs. The interrupt latency of RTLinux and the channel communication time of CSP under RTLinux have been measured. The CSP package has a maximum channel communication time of 5.06 ?s. The interrupt latency of RTLinux is at most 8 ?s.
The setup dependent parts have been implemented. The two controllers needed to drive the setup have been generated with 20-sim. A design for a controller with CSP has been given. This controller will use interrupt clocked IO to minimize the hardware delays. The performance of the controller was measured. The X-axis has a maximum error of 4 % and the Y-axis has a maximum error of 6.6 %. The steady state errors are 0.38 % and 0.12 % respectively.
RTLinux and the CSP package were tested and they are good programs to be used for real-time programming. The code generation of 20-sim, the device drivers and the support functions are working well.


Solubility is defined as the upper limit of solute that can be dissolved in a given amount of solvent at equilibrium. In such an equilibrium, Le Chatelier's principle can be used to explain most of the main factors that affect solubility. Le Châtelier's principle dictates that the effect of a stress upon a system in chemical equilibrium can be predicted in that the system tends to shift in such a way as to alleviate that stress.


Empirical works have shown that risks in a supply chain can affect the efficiency of the flows of products, services and information in it, causing misalignment between activities, inefficiencies in operations and low firm performance. In this sense, we note that the inter organizational information sharing has been pointed out in several studies (e.g., LEE et al, 2012; GIUNIPERO and ELTANTAWY , 2004; BLACKHURST et al, 2011) as an element capable of mitigating several risks involved in the productive activities of a supply chain. This thesis fits into this perspective, more specifically, seeks to analyze the relationship between sharing information with suppliers and customers and the mitigation of risks in supply chains (i.e. disruptions, poor delivery performance, failure orders, poor demand forescast, and others). Moreover, it is expected to understand if this fact (risk mitigation) contribute to improving business performance. Thus, we performed an empirical study consists of three stages, namely: i) literature review, ii) conducting a test of hypotheses with data processing by means of the technique of Structural Equation Modeling, and iii) interviews for in-depth understanding of the hypotheses were confirmed. Overall, the results indicate that, for the studied sector, a share of effective and efficient information between the company and its key suppliers focus promotes the mitigation of supply disruptions and inefficiencies in distribution operations or fulfilling delivery times along the chain, even without an appropriate sharing of information on demand (by the closest ties of the final consumer) or occurring inconsistencies with regard to its prediction. Moreover, with respect to performance improvement from the risk mitigation, the results are conclusive and allow to state that the expected effect was confirmed, i.e., so smaller are the risks involving the activities of supply, production and distribution of a focal with its suppliers and customers, best will their performance results (operational , market and financial). As contribution of the study, besides to filling the gaps identified in the literature highlights the production of knowledge to data from the Brazilian situation, since this research focuses on a recent topic (risks mitigation in supply chains) in an industry specific, of agri-companies


Deep learning applications are drastically progressing in seismic processing and interpretation tasks. However, the majority of approaches subsample data volumes and restrict model sizes to minimise computational requirements. Subsampling the data risks losing vital spatio-temporal information which could aid training whilst restricting model sizes can impact model performance, or in some extreme cases, renders more complicated tasks such as segmentation impossible. This paper illustrates how to tackle the two main issues of training of large neural networks: memory limitations and impracticably large training times. Typically, training data is preloaded into memory prior to training, a particular challenge for seismic applications where data is typically four times larger than that used for standard image processing tasks (float32 vs. uint8). Using a microseismic use case, we illustrate how over 750 GB of data can be used to train a model by using a data generator approach which only stores in memory the data required for that training batch. Furthermore, efficient training over large models is illustrated through the training of a 7-layer UNet with input data dimensions of 4096×4096 (approximately 7.8 M parameters). Through a batch-splitting distributed training approach, training times are reduced by a factor of four. The combination of data generators and distributed training removes any necessity of data 1 subsampling or restriction of neural network sizes, offering the opportunity of utilisation of larger networks, higher-resolution input data or moving from 2D to 3D problem spaces.


Thirteen constitutionally tall girls marked by certain retardation of sexual development, confirmed by clinical, instrumental and laboratory studies were examined. The girls' age ranged within 11 to 15 years. The examinations were performed before and during phenytoin treatment. The data obtained indicate that during phenytoin treatment, increment of the body length decreased to 1-3 cm over one year; skeletal maturation was found to be accelerated by 2-5 years. In 8 patients, menstruations occurred by themselves and in 5, the menstrual cycle returned to normal. The rise of the content of follicle-stimulating and somatotropic hormones as well as of estradiol together with a tendency towards cortisol content lowering were recorded. Based on the studies performed it may be ascertained that the use of phenytoin inhibits the growth rate, accelerates the closing of the zones of bone growth, promotes normalization of menstrual function, and expedites menarche.


Objective: The treatment of symptomatic carotid-cavernous fistulas [CCF] has been historically treated in the developed world through the endovascular route. We report our first case of using a covered stent in a patient with spontaneous CCF. Method: Single patient with spontaneous indirect high flow CCF treated with a covered stent. We present retrospective analysis of technical success, initial and 6-month follow-up angiography and clinical outcome. Result: The stent was successfully navigated and deployed covering the CCF orifice. Immediate post stent deployment angiography showed marked reduction in flow and complete occlusion at 6-months. Clinically, patient showed near-complete recovery at 6 months. Conclusion: With proper neuroendovascular training and experience, use of a covered stent is cost effective and feasible for the treatment of CCFs in under developed countries.


Livestock's contribution to climate change is now an established fact and closeness of livestock to human beings in urban areas portends many health and environmental implications. The study ascertained farmer's perception of health and environmental hazards posed by livestock keeping in Enugu Urban, Nigeria and its implication for climate change mitigation. Seventy five heads of households were freely characterized and data were obtained through interview. Data were analyzed using percentage and mean. Majority of the farmers kept improved chicken under intensive system. All the respondents were aware of health and
environmental implications of livestock keeping in urban areas, though only few (4.0%) indicated being aware that livestock could cause climate change. Other environmental issues identified by them included: destruction of crops (89.3%) filth in urban areas (89.3%); noise making (88.0%). The health issues included spreading of diseases (50.7%); causing of accidents (46.7%); bad smell (86.7%). The control measures as perceived by the respondents included proper disposal of waste
(M=1.79), seeking veterinary services (M=1.85), cleaning shed regularly (M=1.80) and provision of extension services (M=1.85). It was recommended that urban agriculture should be integrated into urban health and environmental policies. Extension services should also raise awareness among urban livestock keepers of the impact of livestock on climate change and offer them useful advice on appropriate mitigation
measures.


Armed groups have long posed an existential threat to the state. Whether we call them non-state actors, armed political action groups (APAGs) or simply armed groups, these entities operate outside the sovereign state's monopoly on coercive force to achieve political goals in opposition to the state. Until fairly recently, armed groups lacked any true international capacity. The armed groups most relevant to the state were ones operating within its borders - be they those using psychological pressure to achieve a political goal (terrorists), furthering a criminal enterprise (organized crime), attempting to change the regime (insurgents) or simply resisting the will of the state through tribal or ethnic affiliation (militias). The goals of these groups, however, were usually domestically situated. We did not need the events of 9/11 to demonstrate that armed political action groups had an international agenda. The inherent international dimension to the drug trade connected local organized crime into international syndicates. Transnational links between terrorist groups began to become more apparent since the days of the ideologically motivated terrorists of the 1970s. Common ethnic lines of militias in different states have emerged and rare is the case that an insurgency does not have international support from either a state or a group outside the state. Armed groups are a de facto international actor.


Primary lobule, acinus and secondary lobule are the three basic elements of lung tissue. In order to visualize these structures slices of fixed lungs are documented radiologically by plain films, angio-, and bronchograms. Characteristic pathologic alterations of these elements are edema and inflammation. Both lesions present with atypical radiological pattern. In pneumonia it is shown, that differentiation of air conducting structures of the bronchial tree and structures which are involved in gas exchange appears most valuable for interpretation of confluent densities. According to our experience based upon examination of 143 lung specimens separation into lobules is pathophysiological more important than the organisation into the next smaller unit--the acini: patterns of acinar radiodensities are extremely rare and might sometimes be imitated by peribronchial infiltrations.


There are so many potential plant pests that all cannot be subjected to a full scale risk assessment. There is therefore a need for a faster and lighter risk assessment procedure. FinnPRIO prioritisation model estimates the risk of exotic plant pests for Finland. It follows the basic structure of risk assessment, i.e. it separately estimates the probabilities of entry, establishment and spread, and the likely impacts. The model also has a management section. The total score is calculated using the most likely figures, but also simulated using a PERT distribution, providing a scale of potential risk for each species.


Introduction Endoscopic probe-based confocal endomicroscopy (pCLE) provides 500 μm diameter en-face, cellular resolution, 'optical biopsies' of the gastrointestinal mucosal surface. Many burgeoning classification criteria incorporate crypt morphology analysis: hyperplastic colonic polyps display 'star-shaped' crypt openings; ulcerative colitis features enlarged crypt openings with increased intercryptal separation.1 We hypothesised that pCLE probe tip contact force and bowel distension may affect crypt morphology independently. Methods For the ex-vivo force study, still pCLE images were acquired of 3 × 3 cm pieces of porcine colon applied with topical 0.02% acriflavine. A rig vertically suspended the bowel against a compressible surface. A 2.5 mm diameter pCLE probe, clamped to a force-sensitive linear servo mechanism was driven perpendicularly into fresh tissue regions until a contact force of 0.005, 0.05, 0.1, or 0.5 N was achieved. 20 images were analysed for each force. For the in vivo bowel distension study, in an anaesthetised 70 kg pig using intravenous fluorescein 10%, 20 representative stills were analysed from each of 2-min endoscopic pCLE video loops with gentle probe contact against sigmoid (A) collapsed, (B) inflated to 4 cm diameter and (C) hyperinflated to 6 cm diameter using a proximal bowel clamp. Results In the ex vivo study, as the probe contact force increased, the crypts appeared to be squeezed out of the field of view, and the mean visible crypt number per image decreased: 16.8 (±3.1) at 0.005N, 9.5 (±1.4) at 0.05N, 8.3 (±1.4) at 0.1N and 5.7 (±1.4) at 0.5N. Furthermore, the mean crypt diameter increased according to contact force: 46 μm (±11) at 0.005N, 61 μm (±18) at 0.05N, 74 μm (±16) at 0.1N and 89 μm (±27) at 0.5N. In the sigmoidoscopy study, for collapsed, inflated and hyperinflated sigmoid colon respectively, the mean number of visible crypts decreased: 23.7 (±3.1), 14.0 ((±2.1) and 8.1(±0.7). Similarly, the mean crypt diameter increased: 65.4 μm (±2.2), 85 μm (±2.1) and 95.6 μm (±2.8). Conclusion Both increasing pCLE probe tip contact force and bowel distension reduce the number of visible crypts per field of view, and increase the mean crypt diameter. This may have important implications for standardising image acquisition protocol during endoscopic pCLE to ensure morphological alterations to crypts can be exclusively attributed to tissue differences.


In this paper we present two types of mathematical model which describe the invasion of host tissue by tumour cells. In the models, we focus on three key variables implicated in the invasion process, namely, tumour cells, host tissue (extracellular matrix) and matrix-degradative enzymes associated with the tumour cells. The first model focusses on the macro-scale structure (cell population level) and considers the tumour as a single mass. The mathematical model consists of a system of partial differential equations describing the production and/or activation of degradative enzymes by the tumour cells, the degradation of the matrix and the migratory response of the tumour cells. Numerical simulations are presented in one and two space dimensions and compared qualitatively with experimental and clinical observations. The second type of model focusses on the micro-scale (individual cell) level and uses a discrete technique developed in previous models of angiogenesis. This technique enables one to model migration and invasion at the level of individual cells and hence it is possible to examine the implications of metastatic spread. Finally, the results of the models are compared with actual clinical observations and the implications of the model for improved surgical treatment of patients are considered.


The course of Trichinella (T.) spiralis infection includes intestinal and muscle phases. The aims of this work were to evaluate IL-23 and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) by immunohistochemistry in the muscles of T. spiralis infected mice in a time-course study and to correlate their level with the serum levels of IL-23, IFN-γ, IL-4 and IL-10 cytokines. The mice were divided into an un-infected control group (UC) (10 mice) and 5 infected mouse groups (each 10 mice/group. Each mouse was infected with 200 T. spiralis larvae) and sacrificed on days 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 post-infection (dpi). IL-23 showed weak expression (+1) on the 21st dpi, then it became moderately expressed (+2) on the 28th dpi and on day 35 pi, the immunoreactivity was strong (+3). COX-2 expressed weakly on 14 dpi, while the other mouse groups (21, 28 and 35) showed strong (+3) expression. IL-23 serum concentrations increased gradually in a significant pattern, in comparison to that of UC mice, from the 21st dpi to the end of the experiment. IFN-γ increased gradually and was significantly higher than those of UC mice from the 7th dpi, reached its maximum level on the 21st dpi, after which it decreased non-significantly. IL-4 up-regulated significantly in all infected groups in comparison to UC mice achieving its highest level on the 21st dpi and decreased after that. IL-10 increased significantly on the 7th dpi, but dropped at the 14th dpi, then reached its peak on the 21st dpi, and decreased again on the 28th and 35th dpi. In conclusion, T. spiralis infection caused increased expression of IL-23 and COX-2 in the muscle of infected mice, the effect being strongest on the 35th day. Also, the infection induced a mixed Th1/Th2 profile with a predominance of Th2 at the early muscle phase, after which the immune repose became mainly Th2.


Abstract Changes in outbuilding directions and shifts in sediment provenance are key factors for understanding the development of the Cenozoic succession in the central and northern North Sea. By establishing a seismic stratigraphic framework for the Cenozoic succession, and through utilization of velocity data and analyses of sediment compositions, these factors are investigated. Sequence geometries and reflection terminations are identified and related to basin-floor geometry and variations in erosional base level. Mineralogical and geochemical analyses of sediment samples from selected wells are compared with their seismic sequences. Paleogene clastic wedges rich in smectite were built from the East Shetland Platform and probably drained a source area west and northwest of the present North Sea. Outbuilding from southern Norway took place during Late Paleocene-Early Eocene and in Oligocene to mid-Miocene time. In mid-Miocene time outbuilding from the west stopped and subsequently sediments with a high content of feldspar, detrital chlorite and carbonate were deposited from easterly directions in the central and northern North Sea. The seismic velocity of the Cenozoic sediments increases down to a mid-Miocene unconformity, but the velocities of Oligocene and Eocene sediments below are lower and nearly unaffected by burial depth, resulting in a marked velocity inversion. Two tectonic subsidence events, late Eocene-early Oligocene and late Miocene-early Pliocene, have been identified subsequent to general eustatic sea-level lows. These subsidence events cannot be explained by thermal subsidence, and they may have crucial implications for the understanding of hydrocarbon generation, migration and trapping in the Tertiary and deeper stratigraphic levels.


The optimal placement of the illumination for three-image photometric stereo acquisition of smooth and rough surface textures with respect to camera noise is derived and verified experimentally. The sensitivities of the scaled surface normal elements are derived and used to provide expressions for the noise variances. An overall figure of merit is developed by considering the image-based rendering (i.e. relighting) of Lambertian surfaces. This metric is optimised numerically with respect to the illumination angles. An orthogonal configuration was found to be optimal. With regard to constant slant, the optimal separation between the tilt angles of successive illumination vectors was found to be 120°. The optimal slant angle was found to be 90° for smooth surface textures and 55° for rough surface textures.


Over the years, Human Occupancy Measurement has had and continues to have a faire share of attention by both the research and industry communities. This long-term interest has been supported by the recent technological advances, such as the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT), which offers a cheap alternative for gathering and processing various environmental streams of data closer to the edge, as well as machine learning techniques capable of crunching considerable amounts of raw data in real-time to produce useful and meaningful information. This paper explores and discusses the performance of a selection of machine learning algorithms applied on non-intrusive environmental sensor data (temperature and humidity) in order to infer human occupancy in closed office spaces.
 This work serves as a framework to help both researchers and practitioners get a clearer idea on the efficiency and performance of each algorithm in terms of accuracy, precision, as well as other metrics. It also provides a walkthrough of time series data handling and preparation in the context of office occupancy detection. The results are also compared to a solution relying on classic data analysis methods requiring expert knowledge of the problem.


The study argues that a complete "paradigm shift" in the grocery shop business sector is necessary. This will result in interventions which improve the quality of strategic marketing decisions and consequently profitability of the grocery shops. Due to the lack of a model available on how marketing strategy affects the profitability of grocery shops, a comprehensive literature search was done and norms of marketing strategies were developed and subsequently used to benchmark the practices of grocery shops in Mdantsane, East London. The grocery shop owners or managers were asked their manipulation of the marketing mix variables in their effort to attain profitability. A total of 36 grocery shops were examined within the context of the research framework.


Abstract. Faot MM, Zubaidah S, Kuswantoro H. 2019. Genetic correlation and path analysis of agronomical traits of soybean (Glycine max) lines infected by CpMMV. Biodiversitas 20: 1496-1503. CpMMV is a virus that can decrease soybean production. The virus vector is an insect where the control is carried out using a chemical insecticide that is less environmentally friendly. Developing a superior variety of soybean that is resistant to CpMMV is one of the solutions to solve such a problem. This research aimed to study the relationship of agronomical traits to the yield of soybean line infected by CpMMV. Ten lines and two varieties of soybean with four replications was used in this study in a randomized complete block design. Bemisia tabaci was used in CpMMV infestation as the vector of the disease. Rearing Bemisia tabaci was done forty days before sowing the main experiment, and it placed surrounding the main experiment plots. The observation variables were disease severity, days to flowering and maturity, plant height, length, width and ratio of the leaf, number of branches and reproductive nodes, number of filled and unfilled pods, number of seeds, 100 seeds weight, and seed yield per plant. The data was analyzed for genotypic and phenotypic correlation, and the path analysis for direct and indirect effects of disease severity, and agronomical characters. The results showed that CpMMV infestation caused disease severity by about 20-28.5%. A significant positive phenotypic correlation to the seed yield per plant was shown by the number of reproductive nodes and the 100 seeds weight. Meanwhile, a significant positive genotypic correlation to the seed yield per plant was shown by the days to maturity and the number of branches. The number of reproductive nodes, the 100 seeds weight, and the number of seeds per plant showed a high direct effect to the seed yield per plant. The high positive indirect effect was also shown by the number of filled pods, days to flowering, plant height, leaf length, leaf width, the number of reproductive nodes, and the number of branches through the number of seeds per plant was also. Therefore, the selection criteria for high yielding CpMMV-resistant soybean lines can be based on the number of reproductive nodes and 100 seeds weight.


The metabolic and endocrine response to surgery has been investigated in detail for many years. The current view is that the response is detrimental to the patient and that the prevention or reduction of the changes may be beneficial in aiding recovery from surgery. Three main methods are available at present for modifying the response. First, the use of afferent neuronal blockage, by epidural or spinal analgesia, to inhibit the transmission of impulses from the site of trauma. Secondly, the intravenous administration of large doses of potent opiate analgesics to block hypothalamic-pituitary function. Thirdly, the hormonal status of the patient may be changed, either by the use of agents to inhibit the secretion or action of the catabolic hormones, or by the infusion of anabolic hormones such as insulin.


Between January 1981 and December 1986 3829 low birthweight (<2500 g) infants and 1980 other high risk infants were cared for at home after they were discharged from hospital by a specialist neonatal nursing service. Of the infants who were referred to this service, 720 (12%) weighed under 2000 g and 1919 (33%) under 2250 g at the time of discharge home. The infants were visited by the community neonatal sisters on an average of 11 occasions, but the number of visits varied from six to over 100 depending on the needs of the child and parents. There was close liaison with other community and hospital staff. Two hundred and thirty (4%) referred infants were readmitted to hospital while under the care of the specialist nursing service. In 1985 the cost of the service was £127 000, or £123 for each infant referred. Providing this specialist support at home allowed much earlier discharge of low birthweight infants from hospital. When compared with the cost of providing continuing inpatient neonatal care earlier discharge was estimated to have saved roughly £250 000 in 1985. Low birthweight infants have an increased risk of serious illness or death that extends beyond the neonatal period. Many are born to young and socially disadvantaged parents who can benefit from expert guidance and support at home. A community neonatal nursing service has advantages for high risk infants and their parents, is cost effective, and allows more efficient use of limited hospital resources.


Osseointegration (OI) is the direct anchorage of a metal implant into bone, allowing for the connection of an external prosthesis to the skeleton. Osseointegration was first discovered in the 1960s based on the microscopic analysis of titanium implant placed into host bone. New bone was observed to attach directly to the metal surface. Following clinical investigations into dentistry applications, OI was adapted to treat extremity amputations. These bone anchored implants, which penetrate the skin and soft tissues, eliminate many of the challenges of conventional prosthetic sockets, such as poor fit and suspension, skin breakdown, and pain. Osseointegrated implants show promise to improve prosthesis use, pain, and function for amputees. The successful process of transcutaneous metal integration into host bone requires three synergistic systems: the host bone, the metal implant, and the skin‐implant interface. All three systems must be optimized for successful incorporation and longevity of the implant. Osseointegration begins during surgical implantation of the metal components through a complex interplay of cellular mechanisms. While implants can vary in design—including the original screw, press fit implants, and compressive osseointegration—they face common challenges to successful integration and maintenance of fixation within the host bone. Overcoming these challenges requires the understanding of the complex interactions between each element of OI. This review outlines (a) the basic components of OI, (b) the science behind both the bone‐implant and the skin‐implant interfaces, (c) the current challenges of OI, and (d) future opportunities within the field.


The aim of this study was the reconstruction of SARS-CoV-2 evolutionary dynamics in time and space in Italy and Europe between February and June 2020. The cluster analysis showed that pure Italian clusters were observed mainly after the lockdown and distancing measures were adopted. Lineage B and B.1 spread between late January and early February 2020, from China to Veneto and Lombardy, respectively. Lineage B.1.1 most probably evolved within Italy and spread from central to south Italian regions, and to European countries. The lineage B.1.1.1 entered Italy only in the second half of March and remained localized in Piedmont until June 2020. In conclusion, the reconstructed ancestral scenario suggests a central role of China and Italy in the widespread diffusion of the D614G variant in Europe in the early phase of the pandemic and more dispersed exchanges involving several European countries from the second half of March 2020.


Central to a number of emerging Smart Cities are online platforms for data sharing and reuse: Data Hubs and Data Catalogues. These systems support the use of data by developers through enabling data discoverability and access. As such, the effectiveness of a Data Catalogue can be seen as the way in which it supports 'data exploitability': the ability to assess whether the provided data is appropriate to the given task. Beyond technical compatibility, this also regards validating the policies attached to data. Here, we present a methodology to enable Smart City Data Hubs to better address exploitability by considering the way policies propagate across the data flows applied in the system.


Steady-state bistable lasing and hysteretic mode hops of two adjacent longitudinal modes are measured in a homogeneously broadened cw laser system: a cw rotational Raman laser in H2. As the pump laser's frequency is cyclically tuned, the mode hops between two adjacent longitudinal Stokes modes show hysteresis. Theoretical modeling of the hysteresis effect indicates that the gain of the subthreshold Stokes mode is suppressed by a Raman-assisted multiwave mixing process. The theoretical calculation agrees well with the experimental measurement.


We propose new wavelet-based procedure to estimate the memory parameter of an unobserved process from an observed process affected by noise in order to improve the performance of the estimator by taking into account the dependency of the wavelet coefficients of long memory processes. In our procedure, using the AR (1) approximation for the wavelet transformed long memory processes which is introduced by Craigmile, Guttorp and Percival (2005), we apply the ARMA (1, 1) approximation to the wavelet coefficients of the observed process at each level. We also compare this procedure to the usual wavelet-based procedure by numerical simulations.


The fish assemblages of groups of large natural coral patch reefs in the tropical western Atlantic and Pacific oceans were censused visually during the summers of 1976 and 1978. Thirty-one reefs were in the northeastern Caribbean Sea (25 at St. Croix and 6 at Anegada) and 15 reefs were located at the southern end of Enewetak Atoll, Marshall Islands. The degree of similarity among the faunas in each group of reefs (using a similarity index based on the log of individual abundances) was correlated with environmental parameters of the reefs in both regions (complexity of surface topog- raphy, reef height, reef area, and position with respect to the main reef, currents and grassbeds). The mean degree of similarity among all the fish faunas in each area was the same at the two major sites (0.61 at Enewetak and 0.62 at St. Croix) as was the similarity among the faunas of the most uniform subset of reefs in each area (0.68 at Enewetak and 0.73 at St.. Croix). These comparable levels of similarity suggest similar levels of predictability in the composition of reef fish faunas in the two areas, in contrast to previous studies on very small natural and artificial structures, which suggested a low level of predictability among Pacific reefs (Sale 1978). The discrepancy between our results and those of previous workers in the Pacific is partly a result of differences in the sizes of the reefs studied, being several orders of magnitude larger in the present case. Reef fish diversity was greater at Enewetak (mean number of species per reef = 93; H' = 5.38) than at St. Croix (mean number of species per reef = 64; H' = 4.58) but equitability values were the same in both areas (0.82 and 0.81, respectively). At both sites fish species diversity was positively correlated with reef surface com- plexity, projected reef surface area and reef height, but the correlation was higher at St. Croix for all parameters. This was probably attributable to the greater structural similarity of reefs at Enewetak. At Enewetak there was also a correlation between H' and proximity to the main barrier reef. Major differences in the trophic composition of these fish faunas based on available published dietary in- formation indicate that differences between the two sites are accounted for primarily in the proportions of diurnal planktivores and nocturnal general invertebrate feeders. These differences were probably the result of major environmental differences between the two sites: a high oceanic influence at Enewetak, resulting in abundant zooplankton, and the presence of dense grassbed (harboring abun- dant invertebrates; Randall 1963) surrounding the reefs at St. Croix.


Why do some interest group systems provide group members with more elaborate voice opportunities than other systems? We argue that evaluating membership voice is important for understanding the representative potential of interest group systems. An adequate understanding of "voice" forms the basis of "context"-embedded assessments of benchmarks such as interest group bias, interest group representational distortion, and interest group-driven policy overload. We examine two competing hypotheses on the differences in internal voice in Eastern and Western Europe. Primarily, case-specific arguments lead us to expect a weaker internal voice in post-communist Eastern Europe compared to Western Europe. Conversely, some theoretical approaches, such as population ecological organisational theory, lead us to expect a relatively weak membership voice in the organisationally saturated Western European systems. We assess these two hypotheses on the basis of an international survey of interest group leaders and observe, in line with the population ecological hypothesis, that members of Western European interest groups, compared to those in post-communist countries, are perceived as having less influential voices in internal decisions on policy positions. We conclude, neither optimistically nor pessimistically, that there is a meaningful representative potential of interest group systems supporting democratic societies, also, or even especially, in the post-communist countries studied.


This paper is a brief review of the axial transmission measurements methodology. Theoretical background and description of the methodology is presented. Simulations made to verify some of the statements found in the scientific literature about the subject matter are described. Simulation performed were meant to be a basis for specifying parameters of the experimental set up to be used in the future. Three dimensional finite difference code was used to simulate wave propagation in human radius. Two models have been prepared to compare the results. One was an idealized geometry of the diaphysis of human radius and second was a reconstructed anatomical geometry from scans acquired with Computed Tomography (CT). Conclusions about the wave propagation character and feasibility of low frequency measurements in medical diagnostics are discussed.


Currently, strain gauges are normally used to monitor the shortening or compression of pile during static pile load test. For concrete spun pile, the technique used either by incorporating high temperature-resistant strain gauges into the heat-cured production process of the spun piles or by installing an instrumented steel pipe into the hollow core of the spun piles followed by cement grout infilling. The former is extremely unpopular due to high cost of these gauges and the uncertainty over their ability to survive the pile production and driving processes. The shortcoming of the other technique is the infilling of cement grout substantially alters the structural properties of the piles, thus rendering their load-response behaviour significantly different from that of the actual working piles. This paper highlights the application of a method, recently developed by the authors, which uses retrieval sensors instead of strain gauges which have to be sacrificed in every test. The method also has the ability to monitor loads and displacements at various levels along the pile shaft and toe of instrumented piles. Results of field tests show high quality, reliable and consistent data, clearly far exceeding the capability of both conventional methods of using strain gauges.


Abstract Background. To improve neurointensive care (NIC) and outcome for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients it is crucial to define and monitor indexes of the quality of patient care. With this purpose we established the web-based Uppsala TBI register in 2008. In this study we will describe and analyze the data collected during the first three years of this project. Methods. Data from the medical charts were organized in three columns containing: 1) Admission data; 2) Data from the NIC period including neurosurgery, type of monitoring, treatment, complications, neurological condition at discharge, and the amount of secondary insults; 3) Outcome six months after injury. Indexes of the quality of care implemented include: 1) Index of improvement; 2) Index of change; 3) The percentages of 'Talk and die' and 'Talk and deteriorate' patients. Results. Altogether 314 patients were included 2008–2010: 66 women and 248 men aged 0–86 years. Automatic reports showed that the proportion of patients improving during NIC varied between 80% and 60%. The percentage of deteriorated patients was less than 10%. The percentage of Talk and die/Talk and deteriorate cases was <1%. The mean Glasgow Coma Score (Motor) improved from 5.04 to 5.68 during the NIC unit stay. The occurrences of secondary insults were less than 5% of good monitoring time for intracranial pressure (ICP) >25 mmHg, cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) <50 mmHg, and systolic blood pressure <100 mmHg. Favorable outcome was achieved by 64% of adults. Conclusion. The Uppsala TBI register enables the routine monitoring of NIC quality indexes.


The geodynamic drivers responsible for the extension mechanisms presently seen in the Aegean Sea and the Hellenic Arc have been promoting scientific debate for decades. Back- arc crustal extension driven by rollback of the underthrusting African slab controls the slow north-south extension active since several tens of million years in the Aegean Sea. Younger fast east-west extension along steep faults trending N-S in the Hellenic Arc seem unrelated to subduction processes; normal faults are not strictly perpendicular to the subduction interface along strike, but instead open radially away from its southernmost tip. We strive to unravel the geodynamic drivers behind the apparently disagreeing extension modes in post- Messinian times by producing tectonic integrations at the scale of the Aegean. We produce integrations at two "zoom levels" (regional, 103-104 km; and tectonic, >105 km) that respect the particularities and complexity of the information of studies at the local-scale (<103 km). First, we included available tectono-morphological, stratigraphic, and structural data onland. We revised and refined these data along the Hellenic Arc with fieldwork observations, as well as with the detailed analysis of satellite imagery and 0.5m-resolution DEMs at key sites. At these key locations, where active extensional tectonics is irrefutable, we mapped Plio- Pleistocene marine basins presently exposed onshore, active faults and marine terraces with unprecedented detail, and produced chi maps to characterize drainage geometry. On a second (still ongoing) step, we aim at integrating bathymetric data, wells and other offshore inputs, such as seismic reflection data, for onshore-offshore correlations and re-mapping of active faults as well as producing paleogeographic reconstructions. In a later step, we will attempt 4D reconstructions at tectonic scale to be used as input for numerical models, hopefully providing a better understanding of the dynamically changing state of stress and derived strain in the Aegean, northeast Mediterranean area and elsewhere.


Question
How closely do plant communities track climate? Research suggests that plant species converge toward similar environmental tolerances relative to the environments that they experience. Whether these patterns apply to severe environments or scale up to plant community-level patterns of relative climatic tolerances is poorly understood. Using estimates of species' climatic tolerances acquired from occurrence records, we determined the contributions of individual species' climatic niche breadths and environmental filtering to the relationships between community-average climatic tolerances and the local climates experienced by those communities.

Location
Southwestern United States drylands.

Methods
Interspecific variation in niche breadth was assessed as a function of species' climatic optima (median climatic niche value). The relationships between climatic optima and tolerances were used as null expectations for the relationship between abundance-weighted mean climatic tolerances of communities and the local climate of that community. Deviations from this null expectation indicate that species with greater or lesser climatic tolerances are favoured relative to co-occurring species. The intensity of environmental filtering was estimated by comparing the range of climatic tolerances within each community to a null distribution generated from a random assembly algorithm.

Results
The temperature niches of species were consistently symmetrical and of similar breadths, regardless of their temperature optima. In contrast, precipitation niches were skewed toward wetter conditions, and niche breadth increased with increasing precipitation optima. At the community level, relationships with climate were much stronger for temperature than for precipitation. Furthermore, cold and heat were stronger assembly filters than drought or precipitation, with the intensity of environmental filtering increasing at both ends of climatic gradients. Community-average climatic tolerances did deviate significantly from null expectations, indicating that species with higher or lower relative climatic tolerances were favoured under certain conditions.

Conclusions
Despite strong water limitation of plant performance in dryland ecosystems, communities tracked variation in temperature much more closely, intimating strong responses to anticipated temperature increases. Furthermore, abundance distributions were biased toward species with higher or lower relative climatic tolerances under different climatic conditions, but predictably so, indicating the need for assembly models that include processes other than simple environmental filtering.


Command-oriented functional programs are currently structured in an ad hoc way that makes the development of multiple user-interfaces difficult and error prone, and makes it difficult to abstractly understand a program's command-oriented behavior. To rectify this, we propose a software architecture for such programs that we call functional model-view-controller (MVC), by a rough analogy with object-oriented MVC. In functional MVC, a program is structured as a model (domain-specific aspects), view (abstract user) and controller (command loops). In contrast to object-oriented MVC, a controller is active, consisting of a number of recursive functions. It calls its view to get user input and to display results to the user; it calls its model to do domain-specific work. To increase adaptability, a controller should be parameterized by its model and view, using a function or an ML-style functor. With this approach, one can write terminal and graphical views; one can also write views that do abstract scripting. One can understand and reason about a program's command-oriented aspects at a high-level of abstraction by focusing on the controller. Of particular note is the way we are able to allow computations of the model to be monitored and aborted by view. We illustrate our approach with a case study of a complete program, written in Standard ML, and using Concurrent ML and the eXene X window system toolkit.


Problem statement: The role of ICT and cyberspace and their existence have become prevalent popular phenomena to the extent that they are perceived to have the potential for transforming the world and launch it into a Digital era. The advent and advancement of ICT and cyberspace has also facilitated the globalization process and is used as an integrative tool, making the presence of the 'global village' evident. However, we as the end user of ICT has never thought about the advent of ICT and its history, its existence and the construction process of ICT. Approach: The Cyberspace and ICT was seen as dominated by the West as evidenced by factual documentations researched by the researcher. This situation has created gaps and imbalance of knowledge and skills between the West and the East. Results: Therefore, this paper examined the origins of both the terms cyberspace and ICT. By using qualitative approach, this study focused on the basic concept of cyberspace and the development of ICT, the military ascendancy and the western invention of cyberspace and ICT. The ICT application and experiences in the Malaysian administration establishments and academic institutions are contextual examples of the strategic applications of ICT. This study found three major factors that is used as a guide for the analysis of cyberspace and ICT. Paradoxically, sixty percent of the Malaysian experiences were based on their own strategies of development which did not indicate western dominance in these spheres. Implications from this study on the whole showed that the cyberspace and ICT were the products of westernization process towards the east. Conclusion/Recommendations: The findings of this research has great significance for future studies and towards the mapping of the pragmatic strategic needs of any one country, the possible modification of knowledge content and innovations of applications (software and hardware) that will implicate a lesser dominance of westernization.


Extinct lineages of Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of the plague, have been identified in several individuals from Central Europe and Asia between 5,000 and 3,500 years before present (BP). One of these, the 'LNBA lineage' (Late Neolithic and Bronze Age), has been suggested to have spread into Central Europe with human groups expanding from the Eurasian steppes. Here, we show that LNBA plague was spread to Europe's northwestern periphery by sequencing Yersinia pestis genomes from two individuals dating to ~4,000 cal BP from an unusual mass burial context in Somerset, England, UK. This represents the earliest evidence of plague in Britain documented to date. These British Yersinia pestis genomes belong to a sublineage previously observed in two Bronze Age individuals from Central Europe that had lost the putative virulence factor yapC. This sublineage is later found in Central Asia ~3,600 BP. While the severity of disease is currently unclear, the wide geographic distribution within a few centuries suggests substantial transmissibility.


At the time, 1929, 1939, 1945 and 1968 all seemed important turning points in the track of our civilisation. By contrast, as anyone alive at the time will attest, 1955 seemed like an unexceptional year in the United States at least. Right in the middle of the 'middle-of-the-road' years of the Eisenhower presidency, 1955 hardly seemed like the year for a major aesthetic revolution. Yet it was in the brief span between 1954 and 1956 that the rock aesthetic displaced the jazz-based aesthetic in American popular music. Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Patty Page, Perry Como, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett, Kay Starr, Les Paul, Eddie Fisher, Jo Stafford, Frankie Lane, Johnnie Ray and Doris Day gave way on the popular music charts to Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, The Platters, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, Carl Perkins and the growing legion of rockers.


An anaerobic attached-growth bioreactor was set up to treat wastewater rich in sulfate and organic carbon. It was the pretreatment of mixotrophic desulfurization-denitrification process. With pH decreasing from 8 to 7, the sulfate removal rate and oxidation reduction potential increased, while sulfide generating rate and effluent pH decreased. When pH value was maintained at 7.5, the removal rates of sulfate and organic carbon reached 91.5% and 90.5%, respectively. Meantime, the generating rate of sulfide reached 47.8%, which was beneficial to the subsequent treatment and to the thorough removal of sulfurous compounds. The results showed that the suitable influent pH in sulfate reduction stage for the pretreatment of desulfurization-denitrification process was 7.5.


In the treatment of head and neck cancer by radiotherapy the major salivary glands are often inevitably included in the treatment volume. The impairment of salivary gland function that can result is an important cause of late morbidity following treatm ent. Clinical experience has suggested that impaired salivary gland function after radiotherapy is less following treatm ent using the CHART regime as compared with conventionally fractionated treatment. The salivary gland function of 73 patients treated by radiotherapy (CHART or conventionally fractionated treatment) for head and neck tumours has been studied. 26 were tested nine months to nine years after treatment and 47 were studied serially before, during and for up to 2 years after treatment. In 41 patients serum amylase was monitored before and during radiotherapy. Pronounced falls in salivary flow and pH are seen once radiotherapy has commenced when significant amounts of salivary tissue are included in the treatment volume. Marked rises in the serum amylase accompany these very early changes. The parotid glands show the greatest sensitivity to radiotherapy compared to the other salivary glands. The early changes are as marked for patients receiving either CHART or conventionally fractionated treatment but a greater recovery of function after CHART results in the improved function seen in patients nine months or more following treatment with CHART. The reduction in the late impairment of salivary gland function following radiotherapy with CHART is the result of the low dose per fraction employed combined with the reduced total dose. Patient comfort is greater and quality of life improved. Salivary gland function has proved measurable and is a valuable system for the study of human radiobiology. The evidence from this study gives support for the concept of reduced late change resulting from a reduction in dose per fraction, an area of importance to the development of improved radiotherapy treatment schedules.


A B S T R A C T A payments for ecosystem services (PES) system came about in South Africa with the establishment of the government-funded Working for Water (WfW) programme that clears mountain catchments and riparian zones of invasive alien plants to restore natural fire regimes, the productive potential of land, biodiversity, and hydrological functioning. The success of the programme is largely attributed to it being mainly funded as a poverty-relief initiative, although water users also contribute through their water fees. Nevertheless, as the hydrological benefits have become apparent, water utilities and municipalities have begun to contract WfW to restore catchments that affect their water supplies. This emerging PES system differs from others in that the service providers are previously unemployed individuals that tender for contracts to restore public or private lands, rather than the landowners themselves. The model has since expanded into other types of ecosystem restoration and these have the potential to merge into a general programme of ecosystem service provision within a broader public works programme. There is a strong case for concentrating on the most valuable services provided by ecosystems, such as water supply, carbon sequestration, and fire protection, and using these as 'umbrella services' to achieve a range of conservation goals. The future prospects for expansion of PES for hydrological services are further strengthened by the legal requirement that Catchment Management Agencies be established. These authorities will have an incentive to purchase hydrological services through organisations such as WfW so as to be able to supply more water to their users.


he main aim of this study is to identify patterns of translation between American English and Mexican Spanish of metaphors in the specialist language of economics, more specifically in the LSP of annual reports, using a bidirectional American English ⇔ Mexican Spanish parallel electronic corpus compiled specifically for the purpose. The chosen framework is Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) since it brings a new perspective: the study of metaphor in translation is no longer simply a matter of finding linguistic correspondences between two different languages, but of finding correspondences between two conceptual systems corresponding to two different cultures.

Annual reports are one of the most frequent means of communication between companies and between companies and their shareholders, investors and financial authorities leading to a growing demand for their translation. Nevertheless, little or no attention has been paid to the study of annual reports from a translation perspective.

Starting from the identification of linguistic metaphors and their underlying conceptual metaphors in the chosen source texts (US English; MX Spanish), the study sets out to explore how the linguistic metaphors identified are translated in the target texts (MX Spanish; US English) and whether the translations of the linguistic metaphors from the source texts (ST) are also instantiations of same conceptual metaphor as in the STs. Other possibilities include instantiations of a different conceptual metaphor, or the neutralisation of the metaphor. The method used to process the Bidirectional US English⇔ MX Spanish Parallel Corpus (BESPC) is based on the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) proposed by the Pragglejaz Group (2007), which has been extended for the purposes of this study to accommodate semi- automatic procedures for the
identification of linguistic metaphors in running text and to infer
conceptualmetaphors.

The study reveals three patterns of metaphor translation, one anticipated and two new patterns. With regard to the conceptual analysis, no cultural differences are identified in the transfer of
conceptual metaphors. The analysis also demonstrates that the extended MIP can be used to identify metonymy-motivated conceptual metaphors despite the fact that the procedure was not designed for that purpose.

The first and foremost contribution of this study is that two new patterns of translation of metaphors have been identified. Another important contribution is that the extended MIP allows the semi-automatic identification of linguistic metaphors in a large data resource as well as the inference of the underlying conceptual metaphors in a systematic way. A ready-to-use bidirectional parallel specialised corpus of US English and MX Spanish is also a valuable output of this work for studying other issues in Translation Studies.


My main purpose is to analyze the rewriting process that links two plays by Lope de Vega, El domine Lucas and El maestro de danzar, written in his youth for the autor de comedias Melchor de Villalba. I will focus on how Lope reuses, rejects, expands and redistributes the materials from El domine Lucas in the composition process of El maestro de danzar. I will also try to explain the possible reasons that led Lope to make some of the most remarkable changes, such as the profession of the main character. It seems that Lope's deep knowledge of the art of dance played an important role in this decision, for it allowed him to create numerous plays on words and amusing scenes that are featured throughout the play. It can also be assumed that Lope saw in the physical approach between teacher and student – barely present in El domine Lucas – a good opportunity to give the audience some erotic scenes, which were very appreciated at the time.


We report here on hydrophobic ionic liquids (ILs) which enhance the productivity of paclitaxel and the related taxanes of 10-deacetyl baccatin III, baccatin III and cepharomannine with in situ extraction from an aqueous medium in the suspension cell culture of Taxus cuspidata in the IL-medium two phase culture system. Two aliphatic ILs of N-methyl-n-propylpiperidinium bis(trifluoromethane-sulfonyl)imide (PP13-TFSI) and N-methyl-n-butylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (P14-TFSI) were used. It was found that the two ILs had no cytotoxicity and enhanced productivity of paclitaxel and the related taxanes in the cell culture. In particular, the more hydrophobic P14-TFSI, which enhanced the productivity of paclitaxel and the total taxanes by a factor of more than 2 compared to PP13-TFSI, could be an effective extractant.


In this study, we have determined power output reached at maximal oxygen uptake during incremental cycling exercise (P(I, max)) performed at low and at high pedaling rates in nineteen untrained men with various myosin heavy chain composition (MyHC) in the vastus lateralis muscle. On separate days, subjects performed two incremental exercise tests until exhaustion at 60 rev min(-1) and at 120 rev min(-1). In the studied group of subjects P(I, max) reached during cycling at 60 rev min(-1) was significantly higher (p=0.0001) than that at 120 rev min(-1) (287+/-29 vs. 215+/-42 W, respectively for 60 and 120 rev min(-1)). For further comparisons, two groups of subjects (n=6, each) were selected according to MyHC composition in the vastus lateralis muscle: group H with higher MyHC II content (56.8+/-2.79 %) and group L with lower MyHC II content in this muscle (28.6+/-5.8 %). P(I, max) reached during cycling performed at 60 rev min(-1) in group H was significantly lower than in group L (p=0.03). However, during cycling at 120 rev min(-1), there was no significant difference in P(I, max) reached by both groups of subjects (p=0.38). Moreover, oxygen uptake (VO(2)), blood hydrogen ion [H(+)], plasma lactate [La(-)] and ammonia [NH(3)] concentrations determined at the four highest power outputs completed during the incremental cycling performed at 60 as well as 120 rev min(-1), in the group H were significantly higher than in group L. We have concluded that during an incremental exercise performed at low pedaling rates the subjects with lower content of MyHC II in the vastus lateralis muscle possess greater power generating capabilities than the subjects with higher content of MyHC II. Surprisingly, at high pedaling rate, power generating capabilities in the subjects with higher MyHC II content in the vastus lateralis muscle did not differ from those found in the subjects with lower content of MyHC II in this muscle, despite higher blood [H(+)], [La(-)] and [NH(3)] concentrations. This indicates that at high pedaling rates the subjects with higher percentage of MyHC II in the vastus lateralis muscle perform relatively better than the subjects with lower percentage of MyHC II in this muscle.


Increasing landscape complexity can enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services in agroecosystems. However, policies based on conversion of arable land into semi-natural habitats to increase landscape complexity and ecosystem services can be difficult to implement. Although it appears to be a promising management option, nothing is known about the effect of increasing landscape diversity through crop rotations on the delivery of ecosystem services. In this study, we examined how landscape complexity and crop rotation intensity in the landscape at different spatial scales affect the flow and the stability of natural pest control services in barley fields using manipulative cage experiments. Exclusion experiments revealed that natural enemies can have a strong impact on aphid population growth and that the delivery of pest control services is strongly dependent on the landscape context. We found that the overall level of pest control increased with landscape complexity and that this effect was independent of crop rotation intensity. In addition, the within-field stability in pest control services increased with crop rotation intensity in the landscape, although stability in parasitism rates decreased. Multiple spatial scales analyses showed that the mean level of natural pest control was best predicted by landscape complexity at the 0 center dot 5-km and the 1-km spatial scales. The stability in overall pest control decreased with proportion of ley at the 2 center dot 5-km and the 3-km spatial scales. Synthesis and applications. Our study disentangled, for the first time, the relative effects of landscape complexity and crop rotation intensity on the delivery of an ecosystem service. We show that combined management of semi-natural habitat and crop rotation can stabilize and enhance natural pest control in agricultural landscapes. Our findings have important implications in terms of management options to maintain and enhance ecosystem services in agroecosystems. They suggest that conservation of heterogeneous landscapes, characterized by a higher proportion of semi-natural habitats such as pastures and relatively small fields, is essential for maintaining and enhancing effective biological control in agroecosystems.


The main concern in fluid-structure interaction problems is the computation of fluid forces that act on a rigid or deformable structure. However, the majority of numerical test consists in employing two different codes to separately solve pressure of the fluid and structural displacements. In this paper, a monolithic with an ALE formulation approach is used to implicitly calculate the pressure of an incompressible fluid applied to the structure. The velocity-pressure formulation is decoupled by the projection method proposed by Gresho.Copyright © 2006 by ASME


: Earthworms influence soil ecosystem functions such as decomposition and regulation of nutrient cycles by burrowing, feeding, or secreting their cutaneous excreta. Earthworms can also modulate soil biodiversity and their interactions. Recent research has revealed that earthworm feeding activity or excretions can alter the performance of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) and entomopathogenic fungi (EPFs), known biological control agents. Still, the impact of earthworm cadavers on the growth and reproduction of other biological control agents such as nematophagous fungus (NFs) and EPFs has been poorly explored. We suggest that earthworm body tissue could be used as a food supply by certain fungal species. We hypothesize that fungi with a high adaptive capacity as pathobionts such as NF will use earthworm cadavers to a certain extent, while the growth and reproduction of fungi with limited or specific nutrition needs, such as EPFs, will be restricted. In this study, we evaluated two NF species: a nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys musiformis Drechsler (Orbiliales: Orbiliaceae) and a nematode egg or cyst parasite Purpureocillium lilacinum (Thom) (Hypocreales: Ophiocordycipitaceae), and one EPF species: Beauveria bassiana (Balsamo). We exposed each fungus to two different Aporrectodea molleri extract media at six concentrations in agar medium (n = 3 per treatment) and liquid medium (n = 5): (i) earthworms devoid of intestinal contents (EDG) (C1...C6), and (ii) fresh earthworms (FE) (C1...C6). The use of FE and EDG was designed to discriminate the effect of earthworms' intestinal content on fungal growth. These treatments were also compared to alternative conventional media potato dextrose agar (PDA) and brain heart infusion (BHI) as the positive controls. We evaluated the vegetative growth capacity daily for 18 days, registering the reproduction at the end of the experiment. We observed that EPF B. bassiana did not grow in FE and EDG solid medium but showed germination in their liquid media. However, both NF species could grow and reproduce in both media but following a species-specific pattern. In all cases, FE and EDG reduced fungal growth compared to PDA and BHI. Our results suggest that the use of earthworm as a resource in natural conditions might depend on the expected specialization, with EPF B. bassiana with the lowest use, NF A. musiformis moderately, and P. lilacinum widely used. The study illustrates the complexity of the soil organisms' interactions and highlights the necessity to advance the understanding of the contribution of all the beneficial soil organisms in a comprehensive manner.


Drug susceptibility of 195 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates was tested with the indirect method of absolute concentrations on the Löwenstein-Jensen medium. 151 and 44 M. tuberculosis strains were isolated from patients with respiratory tract tuberculosis and tuberculosis of extrapulmonary localization respectivily. The resistance of the isolates to the main and reserve antituberculosis drugs amounted to 79.5%, including 62.1% of the isolates with multiple drug resistance. Levofloxacin was used in a concentration of 10 mcg/ml. The resistance to levofloxacin was detected only in 4 isolates from the patients with respiratory tract tuberculosis (2.05%), whereas the resistance to ofloxacin amounted to 11.8%.


Evaulation of the severity of jaundice in the neonate may be determined by measuring the reserve binding capacity of serum proteins for free bilirubin. Determination of protein-bound bilirubin has been labor intensive, necessitating multiple runs on gel-permeation chromatography columns or, more recently, enzyme assays or fluorescence quenching analysis. We present a method for quantitation of free bilirubin and of bilirubin-binding capacity of serum by liquid chromatography. A gel-permeation column binds free bilirubin while allowing passage and quantitation of protein-bound bilirubin. Subsequent injection of a desorbing agent releases the adsorbed bilirubin from the column, permitting quantitation of free bilirubin. Bound and free serum bilirubin may be determined directly in less than 15 min using 10 microL of serum. The binding of bilirubin to neonatal serum is seen to be quite different from the binding to adult serum. Ion-exchange chromatography of adult and neonatal serum samples shows that their protein profiles are radically different. This difference probably accounts for the binding characteristics.


The growth, morphology, and chemical composition ofHydrilla verticillata, Myriophyllum spicatum, Potamogeton perfoliatus, andVallisneria americana were compared among different salinity and light conditions. Plants were grown in microcosms (1.2 m5) under ambient photoperiod adjusted to 50% and 8% of solar radiation. The culture solution in five pairs of tanks was gradually adjusted to salinities of 0, 2, 4, 6, and 12‰. With the exception ofH. verticillata, the aquatic macrophytes examined may be considered eurysaline species that are able to adapt to salinities one-third the strength of sea water. With increasing salinity, the inflorescence production decreased inM. spicatum andP. perfoliatus, yet asexual reproduction in the latter species by underground buds remained constant. Stem elongation increased in response to shading inM. spicatum, while shadedP. perfoliatus had higher concentrations of chlorophylla. In association with high epiphytic mass, chlorophylla concentrations in all species were greatest at 12‰. The concentration of sodium increased in all four species of aquatic macrophytes examined here, indicating that these macrophytes did not possess mechanisms to exclude this ion. The nitrogen content (Y) of the aquatic macrophytes tested increased significantly with higher sodium concentration (X), suggesting that nitrogen may be utilized in osmoregulation (Y = X × 0.288 + 6.10, r2 = 0.71). The tolerance ofV. americana andP. perfoliatus to salinity was greater in our study compared to other investigations. This may be associated with experimental methodology, whereby macrophytes were subjected to more gradual rather than abrupt changes in salinity. The two macrophytes best adapted to estuarine conditions in this study by exhibiting growth up to 12‰, includingM. spicatum andV. americana, also exhibited a greater degree of response in morphology, tissue chemistry (including chlorophyll content and total nitrogen), and reproductive output in response to varying salinity and light conditions.


Polygenic effects have more than one cause. They testify to the fact that several causal contributors are sometimes simultaneously involved in causation. The importance of polygenic causation was noticed early on by Mill (1893). It has since been shown to be a problem for causal-law approaches to causation and accounts of causation cast in terms of capacities. However, polygenic causation needs to be examined more thoroughly in the emerging literature on causal mechanisms. In this paper I examine whether an influential theory of mechanisms proposed by Peter Machamer, Lindley Darden and Carl Craver can accommodate polygenic effects and other forms of causal interaction. This theory is problematic, I will argue, because it ascribes a central role to activities. In it, activities are needed not only to constitute mechanisms but also to perform the causal role of mechanisms. Any such mechanism-as-activity will be incompatible with causal situations where either no or merely another kind of activity occurs. But, as I will try to illustrate in this paper, both kinds of situation may be frequent. If I am right, the view that Machamer and colleagues suggest leads to an impoverished conception of mechanism.


In the western world, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for both sexes. These diseases show substantial differences between the sexes with respect to epidemiology, biology and clinical aspects. In recent years, more attention has been directed towards sex differences in pharmacological effects. Although both sexes are included in most pharmacological trials, the proportion of women is often too low to enable sex-specific analyses.


The aim of this project was to determine the effects of boron on growth and boron distribution in the aerial part of wheat cultivars. For this purpose, soil samples collected from Kenan Evren training and research farm at the Faculty of Agriculture was used. The soil was clay loam in texture, containing 12% lime, with a pH of 7.91 and 1.52 mg kg -1 plant available boron. In greenhouse conditions, four Triticum aestivum cultivars (Bolal-2973, Bezostaya, Kirac, Gerek-79) and two Triticum durumcultivars (Cakmak-79, Kiziltan-91) were grown with boron at levels of 0,1 and 10 mg kg -1 levels as boric acid (H 3 BO 3 ) to the experimental soils. Wheat cultivars responded to the application of boron in a different manner. Triticum durum cultivars were affected to a much greater extent than Triticum aestivum cultivars. Boron applications caused increases in the dry weight of Bolal-2973 and Gerek-79 cultivars while decreasing the dry weight of Cakmak-79 and Kiziltan-91 cultivars. In soils both with and without added boron, the highest boron concentrations were determined at the leaf-tips of all cultivars, followed by old leaves. When boron was not added to the soils, boron concentrations determined at the aerial part, whole plant, whole leaves and leaves without tips were found not to be significant differences. When boron added to the soils, boron concentrations determined at the aerial part-whole plant, whole leaves and leaves without tips were found to be different from each other.