After the Discover of nuclear structure and radioactivity, transmutations of elements becomes routine. Previously people thought that it is through chemical changes but it is actually physical transformation. In ancient Siddha literature, Alchemy was discussed for treatment of diseases and retaining youth. A Philosophical tradition recognized as protoscience that includes the application of Hermetic principles and practices related to mythology, religion and spirituality. Alchemy and chemistry were seen in medieval Islam Medicine, Chinese medicine and Indian traditional medicine. It was born in ancient Egypt here the word Khen was used in reference to the fertility of the flood plains around the Nile. Al-Khemia meaning the black land is now seen as a possible origin for the word for alchemy.


Summary: The endothelium can greatly influence vascular tone and structure. The main endothelium‐derived factor is nitric oxide (NO), which is not only a potent vasodilator but also inhibits platelet aggregation, smooth muscle cell proliferation, monocyte adhesion and adhesion molecule expression, thus protecting the vessel wall against the development of atherosclerosis and thrombosis. In human hypertension, endothelial dysfunction has been documented in peripheral and coronary macro‐ and microcirculation and in renal circulation. The mechanism responsible for endothelial alteration in essential hypertensive patients appears to be the activation of an alternative pathway involving cyclooxygenase, which reduces NO availability through production of oxidative stress. In the presence of impaired NO availability a hyperpolarizing factor seems to act as a compensatory pathway to sustain endothelium‐dependent relaxation. This compensatory pathway can be further depressed by the simultaneous presence of essential hypertension and hyperhomocysteinaemia, another cardiovascular risk factor causing endothelial dysfunction. Finally, reduced NO availability can increase the biological activity of endothelin‐1 because, while in healthy conditions the vasoconstrictor effect of endothelin‐1 is partially blunted by endothelial ETB‐receptor mediated NO production, in essential hypertensive patients this protective mechanism is lacking on account of impaired NO availability. This alteration in the NO pathway could be the main mechanism through which a dysfunctional endothelium could be a promoter of atherosclerosis and thrombosis and therefore lead to cardiovascular events in essential hypertensive patients.


In wavelength-division-multiplexing networks, the fault-tolerance is very important since failures may lead to a significant amount of data loss. At the same time, the waveband switching technique is very interesting since it can save switching ports in optical cross-connections. In addition, the hierarchical routing in multidomain optical networks is very challenging since the interdomain routing is based on aggregative virtual topology. However, previous works did not jointly consider the three issues. We propose two schemes, segment-based protection (SBP) and path-based protection (PBP), to provide the fault-tolerance and waveband grooming in multidomain optical networks. In SBP, for each connection we first compute an interdomain loose route based on virtual topology, and then we compute the intradomain exact path-pairs in each single domain traversed by the loose route based on physical topology. In PBP, for each connection we first compute an interdomain loose primary path and an interdomain loose backup path based on virtual topology, and then we compute the intradomain exact paths in each single domain traversed by the loose primary path and backup path based on the physical topology. To support multidomain waveband grooming, we present the layered auxiliary graph. Simulation results show that PBP performs better than SBP.


Background: Elderly patients pose a serious challenge to anaesthesia not only because of associated co-morbidities but also due to physiological changes during aging. Therefore lower doses of local anesthetics along with Intrathecal a2-adrenoceptor agonists have been shown to decrease the required doses of local anesthetics and are devoid of major side effects. Hence this study evaluates spinal anaesthesia characteristics in elderly patients. Methods: 120 Patients aged more than 60 years belonging to ASA I,II and III physical status and posted for infraumbilical surgeries were randomized into 2 groups, Group B(Bupivacaine) and Group BD (Bupivacaine + Dexmedetomidine) .Under aseptic conditions lumbar puncture was performed in sitting position at L3-4 / L4-5 interspace and 2.1 ml of study agents were administered. Group B received 10mg of 0.5% hyperbaric Bupivacaine and Group BD received 10mg of 0.5% hyperbaric Bupivacaine and 5mcg of Dexmedetomidine. In all cases monitoring of Blood pressure, ECG, Oxygen saturation and Respiratory rate was done at regular intervals intra-operatively. Sensory block and motor blocks were assessed periodically. Results: There were no clinically and statistically significant changes in heart rate and blood pressure and the mean max fall in HR, SBP, DBP and MAP. However, it was observed that there was a statistically significant (P<0.001) decrease in the time of onset of sensory block and motor block in Group BD(1.68±0.96 and 2.42±1.12) when compared to Group B(2.24±0.81 and 3.33±1.06) . Duration of analgesia and the time for first rescue analgesia was prolonged in Group BD (P<0.001). There were no side effects except for mild sedation in Group BD. Conclusion: Addition of Dexmedetomidine 5 mcg to intrathecal Bupivacaine(H) in elderly patients causes minimum hemodynamic changes, prolongs sensory and motor block.


Because common sensory characteristics of wine are frequently the result of many different compounds with varying perception thresholds, a nonlinear relationship often exists between the desired target attributes of a final blend and the individual attributes of the base wines, thus complicating the blending process. To address this complication, a blending optimization method has been developed that uses artificial neural networks to model the potentially nonlinear response of the blending based on sensory data from the base wines and a limited number of blends. This method has been developed and verified by constructing a series of 24 wines from three base wines. Each wine was profiled by descriptive analysis with a trained panel, and the sensory data was modeled with an artificial neural network. After choosing specific target attributes for the final blend, an optimization algorithm was employed to predict the optimal blend for this set of goals. Optimal blends chosen with this methodology had sensory characteristics close to the goal characteristics and to experimental blends with similar composition. Reduction of the training data to a single experienced judge and elimination of 30% of the trial blends did not change the optimal blend identified significantly (less than 2% difference in any fraction). A reduction of 50% of the trial blends led to changes of up to 11%, demonstrating that caution must be exercised in reducing the data collected for blending.


This paper applies the logistic case of the error correction mechanism to the empirical analysis of the demand for commodity exports of the developing countries. Its appropriateness for the characterization of the data-generating process of the demand for commodity exports is illustrated, and estimates are presented for Latin America's major commodity exports. The empirical results point to an important role for relative prices in the determination of the demand for primary commodity exports. Copyright 1989 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd


Usually ultrasonic testing of complex aerospace components is carried out with squirter technique. However, water coupling delivers disadvantages like pressure variations, airbubbles, lime scales, algae and corrosion of the mechanics. Therefore, a non-contact technique is preferable to avoid these disadvantages. Problems caused by the large acoustic mismatch between solids and air are solved with special transducers, a powerful excitation as well as a hardand software signa l processing. The testing is usually carried out in transmission technique with separate transducers on opposite sides of the component. The applications are mostly located in area of aerospace components such as sandwich components. After 15 years of more or less laboratory applications the air-coupled ultrasonic technique (ACU) is used for large aerospace construction parts like the EC 145 tail boom and payload fairings. Because of the complex curved components robot scanners with 10 axes are necessary for the manipulation and the alignment of the transducers. The large component sizes require travelling lengths of 20 meters and more. The new developments are focussed to eight channel systems with sender and receiver arrays. This reduces the time for scanning to 1/7 of the time for a one channel system. An ultra-low noise amplifier (ULNA) provides a 4 dB lower RMS value of noise than former types. A further area of development is the ACU with one sided. Typical advantages of this technique is the reduction of scanning system complexity and the possibility to test hard accessible build-in components.


Health systems turn everywhere, but with different speed, from organization-centered to personalized eHealth or pHealth, i.e. ubiquitous care delivery independent of time and location of the resources involved. As interoperability is an important issue in such distributed, fully integrated, intelligent and individualized environment, pHealth solutions have to comply with advanced architectural solutions based on international standards. Representing concepts and their interrelations, such architectural framework perspectives' system architecture, domains, and development process can be described by the domains' ontologies. Therefore, advanced interoperability approaches have to refer to ontology principles, finally resulting in ontology-driven approaches to semantically interoperable and sustainable health information systems. The paper investigates functional requirements, interoperability levels, architectural approaches to pHealth systems, thereby analyzing and classifying related existing or emerging standards.


SUMMARY The prevalence of virulence and cytolethal distending toxin (Cdt ) genes was investigated in isolates of Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, C. lanienae and C. lari originated from intestinal contents and gall bladders of clinically healthy cattle. In this study the presence of 10 pathogenic genes responsible for the expression of adherence, invasion, colonization and cytotoxin production was examined in 210 Campylobacter species (194 C. jejuni, 12 C.coli, 3 C. lari, one C. lanienae) isolated from cattle intestinal content and gall bladder. In addition, Campylobacter isolates were investigated for production of functional cytolethal distending toxin (cdt) using HeLa cell culture. The presence of fla A (100%), cadF (96.7%), virB11(14.8%), pldA(39%), ciaB(30), dnaJ (61%), racR (63.8%), cdtA (70.5%), cdtb (70.9%) and cdtC (71.9%) genes was detected in Campylobacter species by PCR. Only three Campylobacter strains produced cytolethal distending toxin in a HeLa cell assay. These data suggest that all 10 virulence genes are widespread among Campylobacter isolates, but that capacity of cdt production are low in HeLa cell culture. To the authors'knowledge, this is the first study which reports the presence of virulence and toxin genes in C. lanienae isolated from cattle in the world.


The assets of remote senses digital world daily generate massive volume of real-time data (mainly referred to the term "Big Data"), where insight information has a potential significance if collected and aggregated effectively. In today's era, there is a great deal added to real-time remote sensing Big Data than it seems at first, and extracting the useful information in an efficient manner leads a system toward a major computational challenges, such as to analyze, aggregate, and store, where data are remotely collected. Keeping in view the above mentioned factors, there is a need for designing a system architecture that welcomes both real-time, as well as offline data processing. Therefore, in this paper, we propose real-time Big Data analytical architecture for remote sensing satellite application. The proposed architecture comprises three main units, such as 1) remote sensing Big Data acquisition unit (RSDU); 2) data processing unit (DPU); and 3) data analysis decision unit (DADU). First, RSDU acquires data from the satellite and sends this data to the Base Station, where initial processing takes place. Second, DPU plays a vital role in architecture for efficient processing of real-time Big Data by providing filtration, load balancing, and parallel processing. Third, DADU is the upper layer unit of the proposed architecture, which is responsible for compilation, storage of the results, and generation of decision based on the results received from DPU. The proposed architecture has the capability of dividing, load balancing, and parallel processing of only useful data. Thus, it results in efficiently analyzing real-time remote sensing Big Data using earth observatory system. Furthermore, the proposed architecture has the capability of storing incoming raw data to perform offline analysis on largely stored dumps, when required. Finally, a detailed analysis of remotely sensed earth observatory Big Data for land and sea area are provided using Hadoop. In addition, various algorithms are proposed for each level of RSDU, DPU, and DADU to detect land as well as sea area to elaborate the working of an architecture.


[1] On 4 November 2003, the largest solar flare ever recorded saturated the GOES satellite X-ray detectors, making an assessment of its size difficult. However, VLF radio phase advances effectively recorded the lowering of the VLF reflection height and hence the lowest edge of the Earth's ionosphere. Previously, these phase advances were used to extrapolate the GOES 0.1–0.8 nm ("XL") fluxes from saturation at X17 to give a peak magnitude of X45 ± 5 for this great flare. Here it is shown that a similar extrapolation, but using the other GOES X-ray band, 0.05–0.4 nm ("XS"), is also consistent with a magnitude of X45. Also reported here are VLF phase measurements from two paths near dawn: "Omega Australia" to Dunedin, New Zealand (only just all sunlit) and NPM, Hawaii, to Ny Alesund, Svalbard (only partly sunlit), which also give remarkably good extrapolations of the flare flux, suggesting that VLF paths monitoring flares do not necessarily need to be in full daylight. D region electron densities are modeled as functions of X-ray flux up to the level of the great X45 flare by using flare-induced VLF amplitudes together with the VLF phase changes. During this great flare, the "Wait" reflection height, H′, was found to have been lowered to ∼53 km or ∼17 km below the normal midday value of ∼70 km. Finally, XL/XS ratios are examined during some large flares, including the great flare. Plots of such ratios against XL can give quite good estimates of the great flare's size (X45) but without use of VLF measurements.


Advances in information technology and explosion of internet technology is creating new professional users, across and within countries. These users are looking at technology to provide decision support for non-recurring tasks, to provide prototyping capabilities and to provide research support. However, organizational decision environment is also changing, creating havoc for system builders who must match changing technology to changing decision environment. This paper focuses on one such technology, namely, Decision Support System (DSS) and one such decision environment, namely, sequential decisions. It is argued that the next millennium DSS must focus on the 'D' of DSS because of the complexities of the decisions they are trying to support. These DSSs, called SDSSs, are further examined in the context of data-dialog-model-communication. Communication component is needed because of the complexity of sequential decision-making which spans across several hierarchical levels or involves several decision makers at the same level.


The computational sensing community has recently seen a surge of works on imaging beyond the direct line of sight. However, most of the reported results rely on drastically different measurement setups and algorithms, and are therefore hard to impossible to compare quantitatively. In this paper, we focus on an important class of approaches, namely those that aim to reconstruct scene properties from time-resolved optical impulse responses. We introduce a collection of reference data and quality metrics that are tailored to the most common use cases, and we define reconstruction challenges that we hope will aid the development and assessment of future methods.


Multi-parametric MRI (mp-MRI) is becoming a standard in contemporary prostate cancer screening and diagnosis, and has shown to aid physicians in cancer detection. It offers many advantages over traditional systematic biopsy, which has shown to have very high clinical false-negative rates of up to 23% at all stages of the disease. However beneficial, mp-MRI is relatively complex to interpret and suffers from inter-observer variability in lesion localization and grading. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems have been developed as a solution as they have the power to perform deterministic quantitative image analysis. We measured the accuracy of such a system validated using accurately co-registered whole-mount digitized histology. We trained a logistic linear classifier (LOGLC), support vector machine (SVC), k-nearest neighbour (KNN) and random forest classifier (RFC) in a four part ROI based experiment against: 1) cancer vs. non-cancer, 2) high-grade (Gleason score ≥4+3) vs. low-grade cancer (Gleason score <4+3), 3) high-grade vs. other tissue components and 4) high-grade vs. benign tissue by selecting the classifier with the highest AUC using 1-10 features from forward feature selection. The CAD model was able to classify malignant vs. benign tissue and detect high-grade cancer with high accuracy. Once fully validated, this work will form the basis for a tool that enhances the radiologist's ability to detect malignancies, potentially improving biopsy guidance, treatment selection, and focal therapy for prostate cancer patients, maximizing the potential for cure and increasing quality of life.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Combined echoplanar MRI diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), perfusion imaging (PI), and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) can be used to visualize acute brain ischemia and predict lesion evolution and functional outcome. The appearance of a larger lesion by PI than by DWI quantitatively defines a mismatch of potential clinical importance. Qualitative lesion variations exist in the topographic concordance of this mismatch. We examined both the topographic heterogeneity and relative frequency of mismatched patterns in acute stroke using these MRI techniques.

METHODS
Acute DWI, PI, and MRA studies of 34 prospectively recruited patients with supratentorial ischemic lesions scanned within 24 hours of stroke onset (range 2.5 to 23.3 hours, 12 patients <6 hours) were analyzed.

RESULTS
Ischemic lesions were predominantly in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory (94%), with DWI lesions most commonly affecting the insular region. Mismatched patterns with PI lesion larger than DWI lesion occurred in 21 patients (62% overall), in all 4 patients imaged within 3 hours, and in 44% of patients imaged after 18 hours. A patient with a large PI but no DWI lesion and severe clinical deficit at 2.5 hours after stroke onset recovered completely. Regional variations in DWI and PI lesion loci were found, inferring site of proximal MCA occlusion, embolic pathogenesis, and regional arterial reperfusion.

CONCLUSIONS
Analysis of the topographic concordance of PI and DWI lesions in acute stroke reveals regional PI lesions without concomitant DWI lesions, which do not necessarily progress to infarction but may suggest stroke pathogenesis and site of current arterial occlusion. Location of DWI lesions may suggest an earlier site of arterial occlusion and regions of maximal perfusion deficit.


The hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome is a primary immunodeficiency state with elevated immunoglobulin E, eosinophilia, skin, skeletal and dental defects. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of these abnormalities in children with Hyper IgE syndrome. This would enable in apprising clinicians of the importance of early recognition and management of this condition. This study was conducted at Alawi Tonsi Hospital, Makkah, Saudi-Arabia, from February 2001 to April 2004. We evaluated 30 human immunodeficiency virus-seronegative children from consanguineous -19- and non-consanguineous -11- families with hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome. All the cases were new, aged 10 years or less and reported either directly to the dermatology outpatients or from other units of the same hospital. Their detailed histories were taken. Besides anthropometric measurements, physical and dental examinations were done and laboratory tests were performed. The classical findings of hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome were put in evidence. 26 patients (86.66%) presented recurrent skin infections including bacterial, viral and fungal infections. 22 patients (73.33%) had respiratory tract infection with half of them suffering from bronchial asthma. 6 (20%) of the children had skeletal abnormalities such as scoliosis, repeated fractures and osteopenia. 16 (53.33%) children had dental abnormalities, while only 5 (16.66%) children had eye and 4 (13.33%) ear infections. Elevated serum immunoglobulin E levels were observed in 28 cases (93.33%), while hypereosinophilia was seen in 29 (96.66%) children. In conclusion, the hyperimmunoglobulin E syndrome is a multi-system immunodeficiency disorder involving cutaneous, skeletal, connective tissue, and dental abnormalities. This condition must be borne in mind when children with repeated skin and chest infections are encountered.


This study focuses on the English adversative conjunctions empl0yed by Indonesian scholars in their academic essays. The data sources for this study were twenty introduction part of the academic writing written by Indonesian EFL teachers published I TEFLIN journals in 2002 – 2011. The instrument of this study was the writer herself. The data were analyzed based on the categorization of adversative conjunction by Murcia and Freeman (1999). The study reveals that there were variety of adversative conjuncts used in the academic essays,: (1) proper, (2) contrastive, (3) correction, (4) dismissal but not all the adversative conjuncts were appropriately used which might not be realized by many writers. 85% of the writers misused the adversative conjuncts in their papers. The might be two possible causes of errors: (1) false-concept of hypothesis and (2) the interference of the L1.


Few data exist on the safety of transferring patients to standard oral therapy for chronic heart failure (CHF) after acute management with inotropic agents. This study compares hemodynamic responses and cardiac dysrhythmic effects of continuous infusion of enoximone, dobutamine, or placebo in patients with moderate to severe CHF. The authors enrolled 136 patients who were randomly assigned to either open-label dobutamine or double-blind enoximone vs placebo. After 24 hours of treatment, the study was unblinded. Patients receiving placebo completed the study. Patients receiving enoximone or dobutamine received the infusion for an additional 24 hours and were then switched to standard oral therapy for 72 hours. Compared with placebo, both enoximone and dobutamine increased cardiac index and decreased pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP). Compared with dobutamine, enoximone significantly increased cardiac index after the first 24 hours of infusion and significantly decreased PCWP throughout the infusion period. There was no difference in the incidence of arrhythmias between enoximone and dobutamine. More patients (65%) tolerated the switch to oral therapy in the enoximone group compared with dobutamine (49%; P =.12). Enoximone is effective in improving the hemodynamics in patients with moderate to severe CHF and is tolerated at least as well as dobutamine.


The motion of instantaneous and maintained releases of buoyant fluid through shallow permeable layers of large horizontal extent is described by a nonlinear advection–diffusion equation. This equation admits similarity solutions which describe the release of one fluid into a horizontal porous layer initially saturated with a second immiscible fluid of different density. Asymptotically, a finite volume of fluid spreads as t1/3. On an inclined surface, in a layer of uniform permeability, a finite volume of fluid propagates steadily alongslope under gravity, and spreads diffusively owing to the gravitational acceleration normal to the boundary, as on a horizontal boundary. However, if the permeability varies in this cross-slope direction, then, in the moving frame, the spreading of the current eventually becomes dominated by the variation in speed with depth, and the current length increases as t1/2. Shocks develop either at the leading or trailing edge of the flows depending upon whether the permeability increases or decreases away from the sloping boundary. Finally we consider the transient and steady exchange of fluids of different densities between reservoirs connected by a shallow long porous channel. Similarity solutions in a steadily migrating frame describe the initial stages of the exchange process. In the final steady state, there is a continuum of possible solutions, which may include flow in either one or both layers of fluid. The maximal exchange flow between the reservoirs involves motion in one layer only. We confirm some of our analysis with analogue laboratory experiments using a Hele-Shaw cell.


Abstract It is proved that for a certain class of integer polytopes P the polynomial h(t ) which appears as the numerator in the Ehrhart series of P, when written as a rational function of t, is equal to the h-polynomial of a simplicial polytope and hence that its co-efficients satisfy the conditions of the g-theorem. This class includes the order polytopes of graded posets, previously studied by Reiner and Welker, and the Birkhoff polytope of doubly stochastic n × n matrices. In the latter case the unimodality of the coefficients of h (t ), which follows, was conjectured by Stanley in 1983.


Background There is a paucity of data on the performance of interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) in screening HIV-infected patients for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Methods Prospective evaluation of two IGRAs [QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QuantiFERON) and T-SPOT.TB] for screening HIV-infected patients attending an inner city clinic with a high local prevalence of tuberculosis (TB). For each patient we recorded their gender, ethnicity, country of birth, BCG status and prior treatment for TB, CD4 count, plasma HIV load and receipt of antiretroviral therapy (ART). All patients had both IGRAs (results = positive, negative, or indeterminate) and a chest radiograph. Results Of 117 patients, 91 (78%) were men, 48 (41%) were white British, 29 (24.8%) black African, 21 (18%) European, 7 (6%) South American and 12 (10%) from other ethnic groups. Individuals born outside the UK had been resident in the UK for a median of 10 years (range 3–45). 91/117 (78%) had previously received BCG and 14/117 (12%) had been treated for TB a median of 9.5 years (range 3–13) previously. Of 106 (90.6%) receiving ART, 105 (99%) had an undetectable plasma HIV load) and the median CD4 count was 550 (range 30–1250). Among those not receiving ART the median (range) plasma HIV load and CD4 count was 21 000 copies/ml (590–160 000) and 520 (250–950) respectively. IGRA results are shown in the Abstract P14 table 1. Overall there was good concordance (92.3%) between the two IGRAs. Among 14 patients previously treated for TB, 10 (71.4%) had previously received BCG; 4/14 (28.6%) had a positive IGRA (3/4 both IGRAs were positive, 1/4 QuantiFERON was positive). Of those previously treated for TB with negative IGRAs (n=10) all had an undetectable HIV viral load, 9/10 had been on ART >2 years and median CD4 count was 670 (range 180–1250). Five other patients with CD4 <200 had negative IGRAs; all had previously received BCG. Mantoux testing, done in 2 of the 5, was negative.Abstract P14 Table 1 Assay QuantiFERON T-SPOT.TB Result Positive Negative Indeterminate Positive 5 1 0 Negative 6 103 1 Indeterminate 0 1 0 Conclusion Overall there was a high concordance between the two IGRAs. Four of the 12 with positive IGRA results had a past history of TB making interpretation uncertain. The low rate of indeterminate results likely reflects the high CD4 counts among this patient group.


Vitreous enamel is a glassy coating formed on a metal substrate by firing at temperatures above 800 °C. The quality of vitreous enamel coating depends on the pre-treatment of the steel substrate surface and the quality of enamel slip. The main aim of this study was to characterize the composition of the steel substrate surface after firing with double finish, to explain the effect of steel substrate surface pre-treatment (blasting, acid pickling) on forming the phase interface of the steel substrate – vitreous coating system, and on its final microhardness, fracture strength and the adhesive properties of the coating. To achieve these aims, the following experimental methods were used: Mössbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, electron analyzer, and EDAX. Based on the chemical composition of the initial enamel slip and the firing technology, the metal - enamel system interface exhibited various ratios of layers of magnetite, hematite, nonstoichiometric wüstite, and crystals of faylite. The measuring results indicate that the quality and age of enamel slip influences the brittle fracture properties of vitreous enamel coating.


The no observed effect concentration (NOEC) is currently a major summary statistic in ecotoxicity testing. Its use is heavily criticized, partly because it is a poor estimator of "safe" chemical concentrations. In this short communication, we review the limited information available on the percentage effect that corresponds with the NOEC, a value designated the ECNOEC, and calculate ECNOEC values for fish growth data. The average ECNOEC for different test protocols was found to vary widely, with values for chronic studies ranging from 10 to 34%. Individual results varied even more widely. This analysis suggests that the NOEC is neither a consistent summary statistic nor an indicator of safe concentrations of toxic chemicals.


This paper reports results of extending the iTesla Modelica Power System Library with the implementation of new Modelica models for power electronic-based FACTS (Flexible AC Transmission System) to be used in phasor time-domain simulations. To show the applicability of Modelica for modeling FACTS devices and power system simulation, a software-to-software validation is performed against the Power System Analysis Toolbox (PSAT), which is used as the reference software for validation. A quantitative and qualitative assessment of the validation results between PSAT and Modelica is given.


Human skin has various pathologies in the form of acute and chronic diseases. Some are only cosmetic diseases which are not harmful for life but they can affect mental health and disrupt daily activities. Hyperhidrosis is one of these cosmetic diseases which may be caused by diabetes, infections, or thyroid hyper activity, or can be inherited. There are some examinations for testing hyperhidrosis, e.g. gravimetric and minor starch-iodine test. There are some devices that can measure sweat but are not specifically used or even intended for use on hyperhidrosis.A non-invasive prototype instrument called Electronic Sudometer using the principle of electrical impedance measurement has been developed. The philosophy behind this prototype is to make an instrument which can detect hyperhidrosis during homeostasis as well as in pathological condition. The device injects a sinusoid electric current and detects the ensuing voltage, which is proportional to the impedance of sweat on top of the skin during hyperhidrosis. For this prototype, the electrode system is made of brass rings mounted on a handle. The signal is then processed in electronic assembly. Processed output is transferred to a Laptop with specially made connecting wire. Computer having Sound Card Oscilloscope (Lab View based software) plots the signal and shows voltage level corresponding to sudor level. The signal output can also be displayed on a SmartPhone having software called Osciprime, requiring another specially made interface.Laboratory test results in the form of a plot of output voltage vs. impedance show accuracy of the device. The impedance results can be translated to sweat level because impedance decreases with increasing sweat during hyperhidrosis. The Sudometer was also calibrated using fixed precision resistors over its working range. Laboratory tests were carried out using an artificial skin at various sweat levels and to a yeast tissue model. Hydration of the artificial skin was quantified by weighing precision cut samples on a laboratory balance. Results from two test persons (the author and a student friend) are also included in this Master Thesis. During these experiments, the laptop computer and SmartPhone, respectively, were on internal battery to eliminate electric hazard.Any clinical device must be validated for accuracy and evaluated for safety before applying it on patients – the latter has not been done with the prototype. The author is aware of potential electrical risks, and thus the whole system was disconnected from mains 230V during measurements on himself and a student friend. The device output seems to be well correlated to sweat level although electrolytes were not taken into account. Being a palmar hyperhidrosis patient himself, the author applied the Electronic Sudometer on his palms and the results look quite promising. At different environmental temperatures, the author checked elicited sweat responses. Patient safety is always a concern for clinicians regarding new devices. For this reason, the device itself has been made battery operated, and a new version will be entirely powered from a SmartPhone.


The PIAMA study evaluates whether application of mite impermeable mattress covers reduces exposure to mite allergen sufficiently to reduce the incidence of asthma and mite allergy. The study started in 1996. Baseline measurements of mite allergen levels were conducted on mattresses of newborn children and their parents, mostly in 1997. Mite allergen levels were surprisingly low in this study compared with previous studies among school children and infants. Mite allergen levels were measured again on mattresses in the PIAMA study in the years 2000/2001 when the children were 4 years old, and in a new study among 6–12 year old school children conducted in the fall of 2001. Data on winter climate were collected as well. In the winters of 1995/1996 and 1996/1997, which preceded and coincided with the PIAMA baseline measurements, temperatures had been extremely low, and precipitation had been extremely low as well. It is likely that these unusual winter weather conditions affected the baseline allergen levels in the PIAMA study so that the effect of the planned intervention (mite impermeable mattress covers) was considerably smaller than it could have been.


Fifteen species of weedy plants were collected from potato fields between July and September 2006 in Erzurum (Turkey). In total, 21 isolates of Verticillium dahliae were obtained from Cirsium arvense, Convolvulus arvensis, Chenopodium album, Polygonum lapathifolium and Sinapis arvensis. Of these, 15 were isolated from C. arvense, and one or two isolates from the other weed species. This is the first report of V. dahliae isolated from these weed species in Turkey. All isolates from weeds were assigned to vegetative compatibility groups (VCGs) using nitrate-nonutilizing (nit) mutants. Two VCGs were found and identified as VCG 2B (11 isolates) and VCG 4A (10 isolates) by using tester isolates of known VCGs. Pathogenicity of V. dahliae isolates was tested on potato by the root-dip method. Both VCG 2B and VCG 4A isolates from weeds were pathogenic to potato.


The seismic analysis of structures in the past relied on the assumed soil desirable effects as the elongation of excitation period with higher damping. Therefore, imposing earthquake loading at the foundation level fulfilling higher safety requirements was the common practice until occasional movement amplifications demanded more rigorous research. The goal of the current study is to scrutinize the effects of length to diameter and spacing to diameter ratios on the response of soil-pile group-structure systems of 2x2 and 3x3 arrangements. The mentioned parameters' increase in the kinematic interaction study resulted in higher transfer functions. Such changes lead to decrease in the real part and increase in the imaginary part of the impedance functions in the inertial interaction study.


We present a computational framework for modeling and optimizing complex assemblies using cone joints. Cone joints are integral joints that generalize traditional single-direction joints such as mortise and tenon joints to support a general cone of directions for assembly. This additional motion flexibility not just reduces the risk of deadlocking for complex joint arrangements, but also simplifies the assembly process, in particular for automatic assembly by robots. On the other hand, compared to planar contacts, cone joints restrict relative part movement for improved structural stability. Cone joints can be realized in the form of curved contacts between associated parts, which have demonstrated good mechanical properties such as reduced stress concentration. To find the best trade-off between assemblability and stability, we propose an optimization approach that first determines the optimal motion cone for each part contact and subsequently derives a geometric realization of each joint to match this motion cone. We demonstrate that our approach can optimize cone joints for assemblies with a variety of geometric forms, and highlight several application examples.


Nonimmunized guinea pigs possess rare lymphocytes which bind sufficient 2,4-dinitrophenyl-guinea pig albumin-125I (DNP-GPA) to their surface to be detected by short-term radioautography. The cells occur in the lymph nodes, spleen, peripheral blood, and bone marrow with a frequency of ∼40/100,000 lymphocytes, but are absent from the thymus. The receptors of these cells are largely specific for the haptenic group (ε-DNP-L-lysine) as shown by inhibition of DNP-GPA-125I binding with ε-DNP-L-lysine and with DNP bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA). Furthermore, these cells specifically adsorb to agarose beads to which either DNP-GPA, DNP-BSA, or DNP-keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) has been covalently linked. This hapten specific depletion of DNP-GPA-125I antigen-binding cells (ABC) correlates with a similar diminution in the capacity of adsorbed populations to transfer primary responsiveness to DNP-KLH to irradiated syngeneic recipients. Fluoresceinated anti-immunoglobulin binds to the surface of some guinea pig lymphocytes, and all DNP-GPA-125I ABC, as shown by a double-label technique. The great majority of DNP-GPA ABC and human γ-globulin ABC possess surface Ig molecules of the γ2 heavy chain class. Preincubation of cell suspensions with anti-γ2 antibody markedly diminishes the number of DNP-GPA-125I ABC which are detected, strongly suggesting that the receptors of these cells are immunoglobulin molecules, most of which possess γ2 heavy chains. The specificity characteristics of DNP-GPA-125I ABC are strikingly different from those of cells mediating a cellular immune response to DNP-GPA, indicating major differences in the specificity and nature of the receptors of these cell types.


The act of giving reflects the most basic principles of morality and has therefore constituted a classical anthropological field of inquiry. The importance of giving, receiving and reciprocating for the shaping and consolidation of social relations has long been recognized. This thesis uses these insights to explore the way in which the gift of disaster aid, which derives from outside the community, impacts upon local social and cosmological relations in a village. The main objective is to investigate how the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami and the immense wave of aid that followed it and subsequently receded, affected the local moral economy in a Sri Lankan village. Fieldwork for this thesis was carried out in a coastal community over a period of twelve months. The study asks how the 'gift' of aid was understood and valued by donors and recipients and sug-gests that it set in motion or accelerated processes of change that benefited some people and relation-ships but marginalised others, thus evoking disorder and moral uncertainty. Local life-worlds were shattered in multiple ways and the recovery process became caught in the tensions between several, sometimes competing, moral discourses concerning tradition/modernity, the individual/collective and the local/global. The thesis provides a thick description of a community before and after exposure to large scale natural disaster and shows that disaster aid not only had fundamental bearing upon social relations but also impinged on vital human and non-human relations - with the earth, sea and supernatu-ral beings - that were important for recovery and meaning making in the local context. The study finds that the catastrophe not only destroyed and altered physical habitats and livelihoods but it also disrupted the dynamic interplay of local social and cosmological relations. The tsunami exposed some of the power structures that people perceived as problematic in their so-ciety and the wave of aid sometimes fed into these or brought about new disparities. Aid thus not only helped with material recovery but also engendered frustration and fragmentation, particularly of the moral and social order; the tsunami gifts were therefore both (re)constructive and destructive. People did not experience the recovery process as simply restoring their community to its pre-disaster condition nor was it, for them, rebuilt in a way that was unquestionably better. The thesis thus shows that the assump-tion that post-disaster contexts offer a window of opportunity for risk reduction and improved re-development - 'the build-back better approach' - depends upon whose perspective is adopted. This thesis contributes to an understanding of how people in the wake of natural disaster use familiar cultural resources to transform experiences of disquiet and powerlessness and it reveals that local morality and cosmology influence how disaster and foreign aid is interpreted and managed.


NBTI, which is one of well-known aging phenomena, brings delay degradation in deep submicron VLSIs. In order to detect NBTI-induced delay faults, we need to estimate delay degradation and apply delay test for the circuit in the field. This paper discusses on estimation of NBTI-Induced delay degradation. We first analyze the effect of the delay degradation, and then give a procedure of path selection in which long paths after the delay degradation are selected for the delay test in the filed. Experimental results show that estimation of delay degradation significantly affects path selection, and accurate estimation is important for the test.


Using a CD4+ T-cell-transplanted SCID mouse model of colitis, we have analyzed TGF-beta transcription and translation in advanced disease. By in situ hybridization, the epithelium of both control and inflamed tissues transcribed TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3 mRNAs, but both were expressed significantly farther along the crypt axis in disease. Control lamina propria cells transcribed little TGF-beta1 or TGF-beta3 mRNA, but in inflamed tissues many cells expressed mRNA for both isoforms. No TGF-beta2 message was detected in either control or inflamed tissues. Immunohistochemistry for latent and active TGF-beta1 showed that all cells produced perinuclear latent TGF-beta1. The epithelial cell basal latent protein resulted in only low levels of subepithelial active protein, which co-localized with collagen IV and laminin in diseased and control tissue. Infiltrating cells expressed very low levels of active TGF-beta. By ELISA, very low levels (0-69 pg/mg) of soluble total or active TGF-beta were detected in hypotonic tissue lysates. TGF-beta1 and TGF-beta3 are produced by SCID mouse colon and transcription is increased in the colitis caused by transplantation of CD4+ T-cells, but this does not result in high levels of soluble active protein. Low levels of active TGF-beta may be a factor contributing to unresolved inflammation.


Recently, some research has been devoted to finding the explicit forms of the I·-Hermitian and I·-anti-Hermitian solutions of several kinds of quaternion matrix equations and their associated least-squares problems in the literature. Although exploiting iterative algorithms is superior than utilizing the explicit forms in application, hitherto, an iterative approach has not been offered for finding I·-(anti)-Hermitian solutions of quaternion matrix equations. The current paper deals with applying an efficient iterative manner for determining I·-Hermitian and I·-anti-Hermitian least-squares solutions corresponding to the quaternion matrix equation AXB + CY D = E. More precisely, first, this paper establishes some properties of the I·-Hermitian and I·-anti-Hermitian matrices. These properties allow for the demonstration of how the well-known conjugate gradient least- squares (CGLS) method can be developed for solving the mentioned problem over the I·-Hermitian and I·-anti-Hermitian matrices. In addition, the convergence properties of the proposed algorithm are discussed with details. In the circumstance that the coefficient matrices are ill-conditioned, it is suggested to use a preconditioner for accelerating the convergence behavior of the algorithm. Numerical experiments are reported to reveal the validity of the elaborated results and feasibility of the proposed iterative algorithm and its preconditioned version.


Fixed-bed pyrolysis experiments at different temperatures and heating rates have been conducted on a rapeseed sample to investigate the effect of particle size and sweep gas velocity on the product yields. The various characteristics of pyrolytic oil acquired under these conditions were identified. The maximum oil yield of 53% was obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 500°C, a heating rate of 7°C/min, and nitrogen flow rate of 100 cm3/min with a particle size range of 0.85-1.8 mm. The chemical characterization has shown that the oil obtained from rapeseed was quite similar to the crude oil and shale oil.


Although mainstream research on leadership, organizations and management generally continues to ignore gender relations, over recent years there has been major expansion of international research on gender relations in organizations. This article examines a key aspect of gender leadership (and indeed non-leadership), namely that on gender policy development in large transnational businesses. Three levels of analysis of gendered leaderships and non-leaderships are addressed: the national (Finnish) context, corporate structures, and chief Human Resources managers. These three levels are reviewed using secondary material; a questionnaire survey of the largest 100 Finnish companies on their gender organization and gender policy development; and interviews with chief HR managers, respectively. The interviews were conducted in seven corporations that are 'relatively active', 'moderately active' and 'largely inactive' in relation to gender equality policy. Chief HR managers' accounts are focused upon in terms of the extent of positive leadership or non-leadership on gender policy, how this interlinks with other levels, and how they make sense of relations and tensions between levels.


This paper presents a direct coupling method between finite element analysis (FEA) and magnetic equivalent circuit (MEC). The coupled problem is directly solved using an FEA commercial package. The method is applied to a flux-focusing PM machine. The choice of machine's parts to be modeled using FE method or MEC method is discussed.


The development of the wireless internet market and its structure is driven by differing industry fundamentals, and the revenue derived from content and content-related services is expected to increase significantly for all players within the wireless industry. Providing flexible and scalable accounting and billing systems will be essential for success when offering wireless services to end customers. The third-generation wireless service providers have difficulties in billing their customers due to their inability to associate customer transactions with network usage, correlate data from multiple sources and flexibly support the emerging billing models. In this paper, an accounting and billing model for two wireless services is presented. The evaluation of the service proved that the number of roles and partners in the wireless services is huge and that an architectural framework including components like accounting agents and billing mediation servers is needed for tracking customer transactions and directing the accounting and billing between the partners.


S Mucunapruriens Linn is one of the popular and important medicinal plants of India. In about 200 indigenous drug formulations it has been used as a constituent. The plant is an important cover crop (or green manure crop) in many parts of the world. The plant is commonly known as Common Cowitch, Velvet bean and Cowhage, belonging to the family of Fabaceae and is indigenous to tropical countries like of India and West Indies. In the present study, comparison between the anticancer potential of different extracts of M. Pruriens Linn. Seeds in vitro against sertoli (GC) prostate cancer and ZR-75 breast cancer cell lines was investigated. In the turm of half maximum inhibitory concentration (IC50), or cytotoxicity, cell viability count, and growth inhibition of both cell lines at different concentration of each extracts. The MEMP (IC50-14.74 μg) and PEMP (IC50-15.50 μg) was found more cytotoxic than AEMP (IC50-16.64 μg) against GC cells, but MEMP (IC50-15.06 μg) and AEMP (IC50-15.35 μg) was more cytotoxic than PEMP (IC5016.63 μg) against ZR-75 cells. The MTT assay method mainly used in study. The MEMP (15 μg concentration) exhibit significant cell inhibition against both of the cancer cell lines as compare to control after 48, 72 and 96 hrs intervals. The MEMP showed the significant decreased viable tumor cell count and improve tumor cells inhibition and percentage life span. From performed comparative study, exhibited that all extracts have anticancer potential but the MEMP showed significant anticancer potential against GC cells and ZR-75cells and that mean M.pruriens can be used in anticancer activity.


The case study of the island of Taquile in the Peruvian part of Lake Titicaca will be used to explore how textiles functions as intermediaries for social interactions and change and how they respond to demands from ethnic tourism. By using theories of material culture, specifically the analytical approach of "the biography", I aim to shed light on the process by which some textiles in Taquile have passed from being the person's "second skin" to a commodity responding to ethnic tourism. However, such a process, rather than being contradictory, expresses the capacity of Taquilean culture to adapt the local values to a monetary economy. Taquilean culture is also an agent in these encounters with tourism, impeding the complete commoditization of the textiles.


A sealing glass composition including about 30-95 wt % glass or ceramic particles, and about 1-50 wt % organic vehicle, wherein the organic vehicle comprises an acrylic resin component and a solvent, based upon 100% total weight of the sealing glass composition, wherein the composition has a viscosity of at least about 200 kcPs and no more than about 1450 kcPs, is provided. A method of applying a sealing glass composition to a substrate comprising the steps of providing a metal substrate, providing a supporting sheet having a front surface coated with a releasing agent, depositing a sealing glass composition onto the front surface of the releasable sheet, drying the sealing glass composition to form a sealing glass composition decal, removing the sealing glass composition decal from the front surface of the supporting sheet, and placing the dried sealing glass composition decal onto a metal substrate, is provided.


The diversity of aquatic resources in Thi Nai Lagoon decreased due to the lack of harmonious use and integrated long-term planning on the use of living resources. There remained a lack of mechanisms and regulations for coordination of activities in the lagoon by Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee (PPC). The aim of the study was to investgate the aquatic species and water quality in Thi Nai Lagoon, Vietnam. Data were collected at 23 different points on Thi Nai Lagoon, with three replicates at each point. There were 106 species of fish presented on the lagoon and in different sizes, including 17 mollusc species and 15 crustaceans species. In the dry season, there were 167 phytoplankton species in five divisions, 10 classes in 39 orders in 59 families including 77 genus. Zooplankton had eight chordata in 10 classes of 18 orders including 44 families, 64 genus and 102 species. Arthropoda had the largest number of species, 78 species, accounting for 76.5% of total species. In the rainy season, only 48 species of Arthropoda, Cnidaria, Annelida, Chaetognatha and Rotifer were affected and some were not encountered in the wet season, such as mollusca and chordata. While water quality variables were still good for aquaculture, within permitted limits of TCVN standard and criteria, there were still problems caused by production discharges and living activities of inhabitants around the lagoon, such as sedimentary matters.


Abstract This study examines whether household access to microfinance reduces poverty, and if so, to what extent and across which dimensions of wellbeing. The study draws on first-hand observations and empirical data gathered from interviews of 1,132 households across 11 districts in the rural areas of the province of Punjab in Pakistan. It employs a quasi-experimental research design and makes use of data collected by interviewing both borrower (treatment) and non-borrower (control) households. Sample selection biases are controlled by matching propensity scores. Findings reveal that although borrowers seem to fare better than non-borrowers across around 70 percent of the indicators, a majority of these are not statistically significant. This suggests that despite producing some degree of positive impact, microfinance institutions still have to make sustained efforts to bring about real difference to the livelihoods of the poor.


Two Excel spreadsheets released with this paper support many of the common graphical analyses of water and gas chemistry used to interpret hot spring, fumarole and well samples in geothermal exploration and development. Cross-plots and ternary diagrams are generated from measured concentrations of chemical species using formulas based on equilibrium reactions and empirical relationships. Typical applications include geothermometry, fluid and gas space and time trend characterization, and data quality assessment. The spreadsheets provide charting capability compatible with all versions of Excel from 1997 to 2007.


Izzeldin Abuelaish, often referred to as "the Gaza doctor," grew up in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He overcame poverty and many other obstacles, and was accepted to medical school in Cairo. He became an internationally recognized expert on issues of fertility and worked in an Israeli hospital. Dr. Abuelaish married and had eight children. Shortly after his wife died from leukemia, he was with seven of his eight children in their home in Gaza on January 16, 2009 when their home was hit by a mortar during Israeli shelling. Three of Dr. Abuelaish's daughters and his niece were killed instantly, and another daughter was profoundly wounded. Despite his great pain, he held to the belief that hate is not an appropriate response to war. Today Dr. Abuelaish, who has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, has started a foundation called Daughters for Life (www.daughtersforlife.com), which works to educate young women from the Middle East in an attempt to promote peace. In addition, he has written a book entitled I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor's Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity (Random House Canada, 2010), in which he recounts his life story and his philosophy. Journal editor Joanie Eppinga spoke with Dr. Abuelaish at the Gonzaga University Institute for Hate Studies' Conference on Hate Studies in Spokane, Washington, on April 7, 2011.


Abstract Studies examining the policy implications of elite polarisation usually concentrate on policy formulation and change, but neglect the impact of polarisation on the day-to-day application of policies. Applying the method of causal process tracing to the Swiss "Carlos" case, a blame game triggered by the reporting about an expensive therapy setting for a youth offender, this article exposes and explains a hitherto neglected, but highly important, mechanism between political elites engaging in blame generation and changes in policy practice. A policy's distance and visibility to mass publics, as well as the incentives and resources of elites to engage in blame generation, explain the dynamics within blame games, which, in turn, effect organisational and behavioural changes that help institutionalise a more politicised policy practice. Politicised policy practice can make an important difference to policy target populations, as well as damage output legitimacy and undermine democracy.


In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it became possible to believe in the existence of life on other planets on scientific grounds. Once the Earth was no longer the centre of the universe according to Copernicus, once Galileo had aimed his telescope at the Moon and found it a rough globe with mountains and seas, then the assumption of life on other planets became much less far-fetched, and, in general there were no actual differences between Earth and Venus, since both planets orbited the Sun, were of similar size, and possessed mountains and an atmosphere. If there is life on Earth, one may ponder why it could not also exist on Venus. In the extraterrestrial life debate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Moon, our closest celestial body, was the prime candidate for life on other worlds, although a number of scientists and scholars also speculated about life on Venus and on other planets, both within our solar system and beyond its frontiers. This chapter discusses the arguments for life on Venus and those scientific findings that were used to support them, which were based in particular on assumptions and claims that both mountains and an atmosphere had been found on Venus. The transits of Venus in the 1760s became especially important for the notion that life could thrive on Venus. Here, I detect two significant cognitive processes that were at work in the search for life on Venus, i.e., analogical reasoning and epistemic perception, while analogies and interpretations of sensory impressions based on prior knowledge played an important role in astrobiological theories.


During the heat-treating processes (heating and cooling) of metal alloys phase transitions occur that affects their crystalline structure and properties. It is, therefore, important in metallurgy to know the exact transition temperature and the impact of these processes on the structure o the alloys. The aim of this research was to determine the influence of the heating and cooling rates on the temperature of phase transitions and to study how these processes proceed. Thermal analysis was carried out using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) in the heat flow regime. Two materials were investigated: eutectic alloy aluminum-silicon AK12 and aluminum-iron-manganese bronze BA1032. The following heating and cooling rates were used; 5, 10 and 15C/min. Obtained results demonstrate that these rates strongly influence such transition parameters as: temperature, enthalpy and the heights of the peaks of the melting and crystallization.


It is often claimed that an open-ended provision for copyright limitations such as the US fair use clause would be unfit for civil law countries because of their author-centered traditions of copyright law and their traditional skepticism towards "judge made law" encouraged by open norms. However, the rising application in those countries of fundamental rights by the judiciary to solve copyright cases (mainly based on freedom of expression and information) and the balancing of interests it requires resemble in many aspects the practice of common law jurisdictions and the weighing of factors typically done in the context of a fair use analysis. As a consequence, this article argues that some sort of "fair use" is already a reality in Europe; therefore, the debate should shift from the question of the compatibility of an open-ended copyright limitation with the European legal system to the question on how to draft a "fair use" provision that would better fit the European legal tradition. In order to do so, the paper analyses in detail the judicial application of the freedom of expression's test of proportionality to IP disputes. It further demonstrates that, by providing for a developed list of fairness factors analogous to those of the US fair use, the courts have developed appropriate and functioning criteria to assess the legality of a copyright use, which, once systematized, could serve as a European open-ended copyright limitation.

Since in Europe a clause analogous in openness and flexibility to the US fair use provision is lacking, the article advocates the legislative incorporation of an open-ended clause grounded in freedom of expression in EU copyright law in order to enhance clarity, transparency and legal security, and concludes with a drafting proposal for such a provision.


The optical and near-IR emission from some classes of supernovae (SNe), including Type IIn and possibly some super-luminous SNe, is likely powered by a collision between the SN ejecta and dense circumstellar material (CSM). We argue that for a range of CSM masses and their radii, a collisionless shock can form, allowing for efficient cosmic-ray (CR) acceleration. We show that pp collisions between these newly accelerated CRs and the CSM leads to not only gamma rays but also secondary electrons and positrons that radiate synchrotron photons in the high-frequency radio bands. Our estimates imply that various facilities including the Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) may observe such SNe at Gpc distances by followup observations in months-to-years, although the detectability strongly depends on the CSM density as well as observed frequency. Detecting this signal would give us a unique probe of CR acceleration at early times, and even non-detections can put interesting limits on the possibility of CR ion acceleration. Following our previous work, we also show that GeV gamma rays can escape from the system without severe attenuation, encouraging point-source and stacking analyses with Fermi. We provide recipes for diagnosing interaction-powered SN scenario with multi-messenger (neutrino and gamma-ray) observations.


Despite steadfast interest in the use of arts therapies (ATs) with individuals who have dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT), a systematic review of the literature has not been conducted. This paper aims to critique this evidence base, including music, visual arts, drama, and dance/movement therapies between the years 1990 and 2010, and make suggestions on how it can be strengthened. The review addresses four questions: (1) What is the focus of the empirical base on using AT with persons who have DAT? (2) (How) have these studies been designed and evaluated? (3) What findings are reported? (4) What does this tell us about the potential of AT for enriching the lives of people with dementia? This analysis reveals that systematically designed, documented, and evaluated AT studies are scarce. Information on research design, operational concepts, measurement tools, and methods of evaluation/analysis are vague, if provided. Disagreement exists about the utilization of theoretical concepts and measurement/evaluation tools. The evidence base is further divided between studies focusing on the 'product' versus the 'process' of art. Shortcomings in dementia-specific research include a paucity of accounts from participants, failure to extend therapies to individuals in the early stages, a lack of application to those living at home, and often superficial attention to the meaningful aspects of doing art. Models investigating subjective well-being, or 'enrichment,' rather than objectively measured biomedical approaches privileging the management of deficits, would expand the evidence base and help ensure that those with dementia receive the services they want, since strictly allopathic methodologies will continue to fall short of adequately evaluating what are deeply idiosyncratic psychosocial issues.


Summary The chief advances in our knowledge of dengue during the past 2 years are in the demonstration that: 1) paralytogenic activity in intracerebrally inoculated monkeys of viruses submitted to prolonged passages in mice is due to the appearance of a new mutant and not to increased concentration of virus; 2) the Type 2, New Guinea "C" strain, after 18 passages in mice, has lost its virulence for man but not its immunogenic capacity; 3) early passage levels of both immunologic types of mouse-adapted virus possess sufficient "genetic stability" as regards propagation without appearance of the paralytogenic mutant, that fixed seed lots can be used for the preparation of a bivalent vaccine for human use; 4) specific hemagglutinins are associated with the 2 types of dengue virus and can be the basis of a simple in vitro serologic test for rapid diagnosis and epidemiologic survey. The chief advances in our knowledge of sandfly fever during the past 2 years stem from the demonstration that mouse pathogenic mutants can be developed by propagation in newborn mice. The immunologically distinct Sicilian and Naples strains were both adapted to mice to a point where they are equally virulent for newborn and adult mice by the intracerebral route. Tests performed with the mouse-adapted Sicilian strain in human beings revealed that it lost its virulence but not its immunogenic capacity. These mouse-adapted strains provide new tools for diagnosis, epidemiologic survey and prevention of sandfly fever.


Aim: The study is to establish basic epidemiological characteristics of patients hospitalized in the Czech Republic with a diagnosis of toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN) and Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS). Material and methods: This is a retrospective multicenter study including hospitalized patients in the Czech Republic in the period from 1st January 1994 to 31st December 2010. The basic condition for inclusion in the study is TEN (L512) or SJS (L511) as the primary diagnosis according to International Classification of Diseases 10th version (ICD–10). The two diseases have similar clinical presentations, but have different nosological codes, which were retrieved from our database. Information was obtained from a central data depository-Department of Health Information and Statistics (National Registry of hospitalized patients). Results: A total of 626 patients were hospitalized in our followed period. Of these, 163 patients were hospitalized with toxic epidermal necrolysis and 463 patients with Stevens-Johnson syndrome. The overall M:F ratio in the sample was 1:1.15. In the group of patients with TEN M:F ratio was 1:1.31 and in the SJS group M:F ratio was 1:1.11. The mean incidence in the period in patients with TEN was 0.93 cases/million inhabitants per year. In patients with SJS, the average incidence was 2.64 cases/million inhabitants per year. The average age was 39.2 years, in patients with TEN it was 40.1 years (SD±21.5) and in patients with SJS 38.4 years (SD±11.98). The average length of hospitalization was 11.3 days. In patients with TEN, the average length of hospitalization was slightly higher (11.8 days (SD±3.11)) when compared with SJS group (10.7 days (SD±6.48)). From the total of 626 patients, 54 patients died. Of these, it was 47 patients with TEN and 7 patients with SJS. Conclusion: In a retrospective study confirms that SJS and TEN are rare diseases and their incidence in the Czech Republic closer to the results of most large epidemiological studies.


BACKGROUND
Antibiotic administration to individuals with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infection remains controversial. We assessed if antibiotic administration to individuals with STEC infection is associated with development of hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS).

METHODS
The analysis included studies published up to 29 April 2015, that provided data from patients (1) with STEC infection, (2) who received antibiotics, (3) who developed HUS, and (4) for whom data reported timing of antibiotic administration in relation to HUS. Risk of bias was assessed; strength of evidence was adjudicated. HUS was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes restricted the analysis to low-risk-of-bias studies employing commonly used HUS criteria. Pooled estimates of the odds ratio (OR) were obtained using random-effects models.

RESULTS
Seventeen reports and 1896 patients met eligibility; 8 (47%) studies were retrospective, 5 (29%) were prospective cohort, 3 (18%) were case-control, and 1 was a trial. The pooled OR, including all studies, associating antibiotic administration and development of HUS was 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI], .89-1.99; I(2) = 42%). The repeat analysis including only studies with a low risk of bias and those employing an appropriate definition of HUS yielded an OR of 2.24 (95% CI, 1.45-3.46; I(2) = 0%).

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, use of antibiotics was not associated with an increased risk of developing HUS; however, after excluding studies at high risk of bias and those that did not employ an acceptable definition of HUS, there was a significant association. Consequently, the use of antibiotics in individuals with STEC infections is not recommended.


Ground coupled heat pump systems (GCHP) are a good alternative to traditional systems forheating and cooling of buildings. A large number of ground coupled heat pump systems havebeen used in residential and commercial buildings throughout the world due to the attractiveadvantages of high efficiency and environmental friendliness and a wide range of systemconfiguration is available today. One of the main aspects that affect GCHP performance is dueto the effectiveness of the heat transfer process between the heat exchanger and the surroundingground. The aim of this paper is to design and assess the energy performance of a particular horizontalground heat exchanger characterized by a plate shape. Through a software simulation itsinfluence on the ground is studied and its application to a real case study is evaluated. Finally,hints about technical and economic advantages and drawbacks of this technology are put onevidence.


This paper discusses the stabilization problem for the class of uncertain switched linear systems with norm-bounded uncertainties. A multiple Lyapunov function approach employing Metzler type of matrix inequalities is adopted to derive sufficient conditions under which the uncertain switched system is robustly asymptotically stable. A design procedure is proposed to determine simultaneously a switching rule, which depends only on the available information, and an associated state or output feedback controller that, when applied simultaneously, stabilize the closed-loop system for all admissible uncertainties. All the proposed conditions are expressed in term of bilinear matrix inequalities (BMIs) that can be solved as linear matrix inequalities (LMI) provided that certain design variables are fixed in advance. Numerical examples are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


To deploy a pre-trained deep CNN on resource-constrained mobile devices, neural network pruning is often used to cut down the model's computational cost. For example, filter-level pruning (reducing the model's width) or layer-level pruning (reducing the model's depth) can both save computations with some sacrifice of accuracy. Besides, reducing the resolution of input images can also reach the same goal. Most previous methods focus on reducing one or two of these dimensions (i.e., depth, width, and image resolution) for acceleration. However, excessive reduction of any single dimension will lead to unacceptable accuracy loss, and we have to prune these three dimensions comprehensively to yield the best result. In this paper, a simple yet effective pruning framework is proposed to comprehensively consider these three dimensions. Our framework falls into two steps: 1) Determining the optimal depth (d*), width (w*), and image resolution (r) for the model. 2) Pruning the model in terms of (d*, w*, r*). Specifically, at the first step, we formulate model acceleration as an optimization problem. It takes depth (d), width (w) and image resolution (r) as variables and the model's accuracy as the optimization objective. Although it is hard to determine the expression of the objective function, approximating it with polynomials is still feasible, during which several properties of the objective function are utilized to ease and speedup the fitting process. Then the optimal d*, w* and r* are attained by maximizing the objective function with Lagrange multiplier theorem and KKT conditions. Extensive experiments are done on several popular architectures and datasets. The results show that we have outperformd the state-of-the-art pruning methods. The code will be published soon.


Iodothyronine deiodinase in vitro activity studies in the chicken showed the presence of type I and type III iodothyronine deiodinase activity in both liver and kidney. Due to the lack of a specific antiserum the cellular localization of the deiodinase proteins could not be revealed until now. In the present study, specific antisera were used to study the renal and hepatic distribution of type I and type III iodothyronine deiodinase protein in the chicken. Immunocytochemical staining of liver tissue led to an immunopositive signal in the hepatocytes in general. Moreover, a zonal distribution could be detected for both enzymes. Maximum protein expression was shown in a thin layer of hepatocytes bordering the blood veins. Although pericentral localization of type I deiodinase protein has been previously reported in the rat, no data were given concerning type III deiodinase protein. In the present study, we report the co-localization of both enzymes in the chicken. Co-expression of the deiodinases was also found in the kidney. Expression of both proteins was associated with the tubular epithelial cells and with the transitional epithelium, and the inner longitudinal and outer circular muscle layers of the ureter. No staining could be detected in the lamina propria or in the fat tissue surrounding the ureter.


Despite the continuing US hospital merger wave, it remains unclear how mergers change, or fail to change, hospital behavior and performance. We open the "black box" of hospital practices through a mega-merger between two for-profit chains. Benchmarking the merger's effects against the acquirer's stated aims, we show they achieved some of their goals, harmonizing electronic medical records and sending managers to target hospitals. Post-acquisition managerial processes were similar across the merged chain. However, these interventions failed to drive detectable gains in performance. Our findings demonstrate the importance of organizations for merger research in health care and the economy more generally.


Abstract We examine the relationship between financial literacy and retirement planning in Russia, a country with a relatively old and rapidly ageing population, large regional disparities, and emerging financial markets. We find that only 36% of respondents in our sample understand interest compounding and only half can answer a simple question about inflation. In a country with widespread public pension provisions, we find that financial literacy is significantly and positively related to retirement planning involving private pension funds. Thus, along with encouraging the availability of private retirement plans, efforts to improve financial literacy can be pivotal to the expansion of the use of such funds.


We have shown that calmidazolium (R24571) causes a transient increase in the cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) in Dictyostelium discoideum [Schlatterer and Schaloske (1996) Biochem. J. 313, 661-667]. Here we have used R24571 to artifically increase [Ca2+]i during light-scattering oscillations and have found that, depending on the time of addition during the oscillatory cycle, R24571 suppressed cAMP synthesis and delayed the next spike for several minutes. Addition of Ca2+ to the medium, which also elevates [Ca2+]i, induced phase delays and resulted in a similar phase response curve as R24571. The magnitude of the phase delay was correlated with the point during the oscillatory cycle at which Ca2+ was added, indicating that an artificial increase in [Ca2+]i also resets the phase of the intrinsic oscillator.


Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a commonly allergenic food especially in Asia where buckwheat is more commonly consumed. Wild buckwheat (Polygonum convolvulus, recently changed to Fallopia convolvulus) is an annual weed prevalent in grain-growing areas of the United States. Wild buckwheat is not closely related to edible buckwheat although the seeds do have some physical resemblance. A large shipment of wheat into Japan was halted by the discovery of the adventitious presence of wild buckwheat seeds over possible concerns for buckwheat-allergic consumers. However, IgE-binding was not observed to an extract of wild buckwheat using sera from 3 buckwheat-allergic individuals either by radio-allergosorbent test inhibition or by immunoblotting after protein separation by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Furthermore, the extract of wild buckwheat was not detected in a buckwheat enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay developed with antisera against common buckwheat. Thus, wild buckwheat is highly unlikely to pose any risk to buckwheat-allergic individuals. The common names of plants should not be a factor in the risk assessment for possible cross-allergenicity.


In this paper, we elaborate over the well-known interpretability issue in echo-state networks (ESNs). The idea is to investigate the dynamics of reservoir neurons with timeseries analysis techniques developed in complex systems research. Notably, we analyze time series of neuron activations with recurrence plots (RPs) and recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), which permit to visualize and characterize highdimensional dynamical systems. We show that this approach is useful in a number of ways. First, the 2-D representation offered by RPs provides a visualization of the high-dimensional reservoir dynamics. Our results suggest that, if the network is stable, reservoir and input generate similar line patterns in the respective RPs. Conversely, as the ESN becomes unstable, the patterns in the RP of the reservoir change. As a second result, we show that an RQA measure, called Lmax, is highly correlated with the well-established maximal local Lyapunov exponent. This suggests that complexity measures based on RP diagonal lines distribution can quantify network stability. Finally, our analysis shows that all RQA measures fluctuate on the proximity of the so-called edge of stability, where an ESN typically achieves maximum computational capability. We leverage on this property to determine the edge of stability and show that our criterion is more accurate than two well-known counterparts, both based on the Jacobian matrix of the reservoir. Therefore, we claim that RPs and RQA-based analyses are valuable tools to design an ESN, given a specific problem.


Abstract Collaborative governance institutions consisting of government and civil society actors often emerge to solve complex policy problems. Yet decades of research on collaborative governance has found that realizing the 'collaborative advantage' is often very difficult given the multitude of actors, organizations and interests to be managed. This article deploys a participant observation approach that also harnesses data from a natural experiment in collaborative governance for homelessness policy in Vancouver, Canada, to reveal the distinct collaborative advantage produced in terms of policy, using empirical decision data and counterfactual analysis. The data reveal that nearly 50 per cent of the policy decisions made in the collaborative institution would not be made in the alternative scenario of unilateral bureaucratic control. The collaborative advantage realized in this governance institution that is premised on horizontality, deliberation and diversity is the result of a series of small interventions and the strategic deployment of rules devised by the bureaucratic metagovernor in charge of steering the governance collaboration.


Chlorophyll concentration is a key oceanic biogeochemical variable. In the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), its distribution, which is mainly obtained from satellite surface observations and scarce in situ experiments, is still poorly understood. In 2011–2012, eight profiling floats equipped with biogeochemical sensors were deployed for the first time in the GOM and generated an unprecedented dataset that significantly increased the number of chlorophyll vertical distribution measurements in the region. The analysis of these data, once calibrated, permits us to reconsider the spatial and temporal variability of the chlorophyll concentration in the water column. At a seasonal scale, results confirm the surface signal seen by satellites, presenting maximum concentrations in winter and low values in summer. It is shown that the deepening of the mixed layer is the primary factor triggering the chlorophyll surface increase in winter. In the GOM, a possible interpretation is that this surface increase corresponds to a biomass increase. However, the present dataset suggests that the basin-scale climatological surface increase in chlorophyll content results from a vertical redistribution of subsurface chlorophyll and/or photoacclimation processes, rather than a net increase of biomass. One plausible explanation for this is the decoupling between the mixed-layer depth and the deep nutrient reservoir since mixed-layer depth only reaches the nitracline in sporadic events in the observations. Float measurements also provide evidence that the depth and the magnitude of the deep chlorophyll maximum is strongly controlled by the mesoscale variability, with higher chlorophyll biomass generally observed in cyclones rather than anticyclones.


Abstract:  The introduction of nonnative plant species might generate habitat modifications that, in turn, increase the predation risk for animals, either by making prey species more conspicuous, limiting the availability of refuges, or by offering vantage points to potential predators. We compared predation pressure and escape behavior of two sympatric species (Liolaemus wiegmannii and Liolaemus multimaculatus) of Sand Lizards inhabiting forested and nonforested grasslands of the pampasic coastal sand dunes of Argentina. Predation pressure was evaluated by measuring the predation rate on plasticine replicas of lizards and the abundance of avian predators. We also recorded flight initiation distance (FID) of lizards in the different habitat types and the microhabitat used as refuge. Both lizard species prefer refuges in native plants but, when they are scarce, the nonnative Acacia longifolia is selected as alternative refuge. In forested habitats, sand-burying behavior is a complementary strategy used by L. multimaculatus to avoid predation. The FID of L. wiegmannii was greater in forested habitats than in nonforested ones. In contrast, L. multimaculatus exhibited a short FID in forested habitats, mostly because sand-burying behavior appears to reduce the risks typically associated with exposed areas. Plasticity in antipredatory behavior suggests that these lizards could recognize predators and develop a suitable antipredatory behavior. We conclude that increased predation pressure and structural alterations of the habitat in the presence of nonnative A. longifolia affect the decisions that determine how, when, and where these lizards flee.


This paper sheds new light on herding of institutional investors by using a unique database that identifies every transaction made by financial institutions in the German stock market. First, the analysis reveals that herding behavior of institutions occurs daily. Second, replication of the analysis with low-frequency and anonymous transaction data indicates that previous studies overestimate herding. Third, our results suggest that herding by large financial institutions mainly results from shared preference and investment styles. Fourth, a panel analysis shows that herding on the sell side in stocks is positively related to past returns and past volatility, whereas herding on the buy side is negatively related to these variables. Hence, large financial institutions do not demonstrate positive feedback strategies.


EU law establishes an internal market. To achieve that goal, it acts to a large extent as a regulator, setting standards. These standards are often legally binding inside of the jurisdiction of the European Union, but increasingly travel beyond the borders of the European Union on the back of the traded goods. In some areas, this leads to a "Brussels Effect," where EU standards factually harmonize legislation at transnational level, creating a "race to the top" in international standards. This generates a level playing field for transnational trade, directed by the European Union as a de facto transnational regulator. Professor Anu Bradford brought forward the argument that a de facto or de jure transnational harmonization by EU standards might be facilitated or constrained by the World Trade Organization ("WTO"). The WTO could strike down such regulations as purely domestic ones without taking into account the fact that these EU standards have factually already achieved what the WTO aspires: removing barriers to trade between its member countries by establishing equal treatment of all trading partners as the norm. We will call this phenomenon of the Brussels Effect the "Reversed Harmonization Effect." The WTO could also facilitate the Brussels Effect by providing a specific forum for negotiations, which favors the European Union as a dominant regulator, leading to a horizontalization of standards across the WTO. One may hence claim normatively that the WTO should take into account a broader view on the economic effect of these measures beyond their formal domestic jurisdiction by differing between domestic and horizontalized standards.This piece examines whether this normative claim is well-founded in the law of the WTO using the example of food trade. We will investigate whether current WTO law as applied "in action" has the potential to facilitate or constrain the Brussels Effect. Three famous trade disputes are analyzed to investigate this hypothesis. We conclude that, in the areas investigated, WTO law has very limited potential to jeopardize the Brussels Effect. From our study, we hence find no evidence that would support such a normative claim.


Multivariate techniques are increasingly popular as researchers attempt to accurately model a complex world. MANOVA is a multivariate technique used to investigate the dimensions along which groups differ, and how these dimensions may be used to predict group membership. A concern in a MANOVA analysis is to determine if a smaller subset of variables may be used in the classification functions without any loss of explanatory power when precision of parameter estimates or parsimony needs to be addressed (cf. Huberty, 1984; Huberty & Olejnik, 2006). One way to address these concerns is through the use of all possible subsets. However, not all common statistical packages easily facilitate this analysis, and the analysis can be a weekend project (Huberty & Olejnik, 2006). As such, the purpose of the current paper is to examine and demonstrate R and SPSS solutions to conduct an allpossible-subsets MANOVA, including all-possible-subsets factorial MANOVA. KEyWORdS Descriptive Discriminant Analysis, General Linear Model, Multivariate Analysis of Variance, Weekend Project


It is well-known that the so-called non-uniqueness problem appears in adaptive filters for stereo acoustic echo cancelers and one of the effective solutions is the input-sliding method that utilizes a time-varying preprocessor. In this paper, the convergence speed of the input-sliding method is examined. For adaptive algorithms based on orthogonal projection, such as the normalized LMS algorithm, the convergence speed is maximized when the learning coefficient is unity since the orthogonal projection is completed then. However, if the input signal vectors do not span the whole space but exist in a subspace which varies in time, then the learning coefficient which achieves the fastest convergence is found to be not unity but between one and two. The geometrical consideration of the tap-weight vector explains the phenomena and the theoretical results agree well with those of computer simulations.


Emotion regulation is a key challenge of early childhood. The present study examined emotion regulation behaviour longitudinally from infancy to preschool. The continuity of emotion regulation was explored within the larger ecological context of maternal childhood histories of aggression and social withdrawal and maternal use of constructive and non-constructive behaviours. Forty-five mothers with childhood histories of aggression or social withdrawal from the Concordia Longitudinal Risk Project, a prospective, longitudinal, intergenerational study, participated with their preschool children. Infants' emotion regulation behaviour was observed during interactions with their mothers when they were 5½ months of age. Emotion regulation in these same children as preschoolers was coded during an interference task using the Preschooler Self-Regulatory Scheme. Longitudinal findings demonstrated continuity in children's use of emotion regulation behaviours from infancy to preschool. Higher maternal childhood histories of risk, specifically social withdrawal, contributed to the prediction of preschoolers' increased attention-seeking behaviours. Mothers' use of non-constructive verbalizations predicted more maladaptive styles of emotion regulation in their preschoolers. The findings highlight the importance of helping children develop adaptive emotion regulation skills from a young age and have implications for the design of preventive intervention programmes to help parents foster children's emotion regulation abilities. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A simple method is developed for predicting discrete heat source temperatures on a finite convectively cooled substrate. The method is based on the principle of superposition using a single source solution for the mean or maximum contact temperature of an eccentric uniform heat source on a rectangular substrate. By means of influence coefficients, the effect of neighboring source strength and location may be assessed. It is shown that the influence coefficients represent localized thermal resistances, which must be weighted according to source strength. For a system of N heat sources, there exists N effects of source strength and position on any one heat source. This includes a self effect (source of interest) and N-1 influence effects (neighboring sources). The method is developed for isotropic, orthotropic, and compound systems. Convection in the source plane is addressed for isotropic and orthotropic systems. Expressions are developed for both mean and centroidal temperature.


The ULYSIS Labeling Kits are designed for improved binding of marker groups to DNA, RNA, and other oligonucleotides routinely used in in situ hybridization procedures. The kits feature the proprietary Universal Linkage System, a nonradioactive method that makes use of a novel platinum derivative as the linkage between nucleic acids and the nonradioactive marker of choice. The platinum compound links to single-stranded DNA, double-stranded DNA, RNA, chromosomes, or oligonucleotides. The unique, noncovalent interaction of the system allows optimal probe labeling with a variety of markers including biotin, fluorochromes, digoxigenin, chemiluminescent labels, and enzymes. Signet Laboratories.


Background Girls and women need effective, safe, and affordable menstrual products. Single-use menstrual pads and tampons are regularly provided by agencies among resource-poor populations. Reusable menstrual pads (RMPs: fabric layers sewn together by an enterprise for manufacture of menstrual products) may be an effective alternative. Methods For this review (PROSPERO CRD42020179545) we searched databases (inception to November 1, 2020) for quantitative and qualitative studies that reported on leakage, acceptability, or safety of RMPs. Findings were summarised or combined using forest plots (random-effects meta-analysis). Potential costs and environmental savings associated with RMPs were estimated. Results A total of 44 studies were eligible (~14,800 participants). Most were conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC, 78%), and 20% in refugee settings. The overall quality of studies was low. RMP uptake in cohort studies ranged from 22–100% (12 studies). One Ugandan trial among schoolgirls found leakage with RMPs was lower (44.4%, n = 72) compared to cloths (78%, n = 111, p<0.001). Self-reported skin-irritation was 23.8% after 3 months among RMP-users in a Ugandan cohort in a refugee setting (n = 267), compared to 72.8% at baseline with disposable pad use. There were no objective reports on infection. Challenges with washing and changing RMP were reported in LMIC studies, due to lack of water, privacy, soap, buckets, and sanitation/drying facilities. Among 69 brands, the average price for an RMP was $8.95 (standard deviation [sd] $5.08; LMIC $2.06, n = 10, high-income countries [HIC] $10.11), with a mean estimated lifetime of 4.3 years (sd 2.3; LMIC 2.9, n = 11; HIC 4.9 years, n = 23). In 5-year cost-estimates, in LMICs, 4–25 RMPs per period would be cheaper (170–417 US$) than 9–25 single-use pads, with waste-savings of ~600–1600 single-use pads. In HICs, 4–25 RMPs would be cheaper (33–245 US$) compared to 20 single-use tampons per period, with waste-savings of ~1300 tampons. Conclusion RMPs are used internationally and are an effective, safe, cheaper, and environmentally friendly option for menstrual product provision by programmes. Good quality studies in this field are needed.


This is a study protocol for an observational health data analysis, submitted as a preprint to facilitate transparency and open science. Watchful waiting (WW) represents a deferred treatment option for prostate cancer (PCa) patients when curative treatment seems overtreatment right from the outset. Patients are 'watched' for the development of local or systemic progression with disease-related symptoms, at which stage they are then treated palliatively according to their symptoms, in order to maintain quality of life. When choosing WW, it is important to adequately assess life expectancy of patients. Although previous studies reported the outcomes of PCa patients managed with WW, which is the impact of individual patient characteristics and comorbidities on long-term outcomes is still largely unknown. The PIONEER, which is a novel project of the Innovative Medicine Initiative's (IMI's) "Big Data for Better Outcomes" program with the mission to transform PCa care with particular focus on improving cancer-related outcomes, health system efficiency and the quality of health and social care across Europe, aims at assessing which are the long-term outcomes of PCa patients undergoing WW overall and after stratification according to disease characteristics, comorbidities and life expectancy. Of note, this topic emerged as the second one with the highest agreement score among different stakeholders after an international consensus to identify and prioritize the most important questions in the field of PCa. This study aims to describe demographics, clinical characteristics and estimate outcomes of PCa patients under delayed treatment (WW) across a network of databases in the overall population and subgroups of patients identified by individual disease characteristics, demographics and comorbidities. The study will rely on large observational data, namely population-based registries, electronic health records and insurance claims data. The study will be an observational cohort study based on routinely collected health care data which has been mapped to the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model (CDM).