New data from an emerged coastal bench and associated fossil beach on Kapapa Island (Oahu), Hawaii, preserve a detailed history of middle to late Holocene sea level. These include 29 new calibrated radiocarbon ages and elevations indicating mean sea level reached a maximum position of 2.00 ± 0.35 m ca. 3500 yr B.P. These results correlate with additional evidence from Hawaii and other Pacific islands and provide constraints on Oahu's long-term uplift rate (0.03–0.07 mm/yr), previously based solely on Pleistocene age shorelines. Our sea-level reconstruction is consistent with geophysical model predictions of Earth's geoid response to the last deglaciation and with observations of increased Antarctic ice volume during the late Holocene.


You might find this additional info useful...This article has been cited by€10 other HighWire-hosted articles: http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/282/4/E952#cited-by Updated information and services including high resolution figures, can be found at: http://ajpendo.physiology.org/content/282/4/E952.fullMetabolism can be found at: Additional material and information about American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology andhttp://www.the-aps.org/publications/ajpendoThis information is current as of June 6, 2013.


In his study of the human, non-human relationships in Mongolia, Bernard Charlier explores the role of the wolf in the ways nomadic herders relate to their natural environment and to themselves. The wolf, as the enemy of the herds and a prestigious prey, is at the core of two technical relationships, herding and hunting, endowed with particular cosmological ideas. The study of these relationships casts a new light on the ways herders perceive and relate to domestic and wild animals. It convincingly undermines any attempt to consider humans and non-humans as entities belonging a priori to autonomous spheres of existence, which would reify the nature-society boundary into a phenomenal order of things and so justify the identity of western epistemology.


Smartphones play an important role in our lives thanks to the opportunities they offer in terms of access, interaction, and communication. However, in addition to these positive aspects, smartphones have transformed into objects of dependence due to gaming, social media, and access to the Internet and are beginning to harm the quality of face-to-face communications that take place between different individuals. The current study examined the relationship between Big Five Personality Traits and phubbing. Participants were 545 university students (383(71%) female, 156(29%) male, M age = 18.84, SD = 1.18) who completed the questionnaire package of the Big Five Personality Inventory and the Phubbing Scale. A hierarchical regression analysis was used with Big Five Personality Traits to explain variance in phubbing. The results showed that neuroticism and conscientiousness were significant predictors of phubbing, which account for 7% of the total variance. In the study, it was determined that the participants consisted of individuals with high levels of income, daily access to the Internet and social media users. Results are discussed in light of the literature.


Facilitating trade flows between countries belonging to the same sub-region does not only require adequate transport infrastructure, or the availability of competitive and reliable transport services. Both will be used effectively only to the extent allowed by the legal framework governing their operations. Similarly, better regional economic integration will be served not only through harmonization of national development policies, but also, and perhaps to a greater extent, through the preparation, ratification and implementation of supranational legal instruments, going from the subregion to the continent and to the level of international conventions. Those instruments provide the necessary framework underpinning the sustainable development of trade flows, themselves harbingers of economic growth and employment generation. Sub-Saharan Africa clearly illustrates this situation, where several sub-regions are working hard from East to West to establish institutional and economic ties to help stimulate the joint progress of forty-eight countries. Actually, as a result of both whimsical politics and geography, the existence in Africa of fifteen landlocked countries has only strengthened the need to codify the rules governing the exchanges between coastal states and landlocked ones, so that the latter can benefit from a facilitated access to external markets. So, while numerous efforts are at play to push ahead with the regional integration of the continent, it appeared timely to draw an inventory of the legal instruments in force in sub-Saharan Africa, aiming at facilitating transport and trade flows between countries of the region. This document presents this inventory, together with an analysis of the main components and characteristics of all listed instruments.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the changes that occurred in the treatment of migraine over a 10-year period in a pediatric emergency department (ED) after the implementation of a protocol. The method employed was a comparative retrospective chart review of children diagnosed with migraine in an ED. The two study periods were 1996–1997, and 2006–2007. A protocol suggesting a specific approach was implemented in the ED in 1999. The primary outcome was the medications used in the ED. There were 182 visits for migraine in 2006–2007 compared with 144 visits in 1996–1997. More patients were treated in the ED in 2006–2007 compared with 1996–1997: 50 versus 30%, a difference of 20% (95% confidence interval: 9, 30). The treatments used were also different. In conclusion, a variation in the treatment of migraine was observed over a 10-year period in a pediatric ED after the implementation of a treatment protocol.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to examine validity and reliability of Webel and colleagues' HIV Self-Management Scale when used with a Korean sample.

METHODS
The original 20-item HIV Self-Management Scale was translated into Korean using translation and back-translation. Nine HIV nurse experts tested content validity. Principal component analysis (PCA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of data from 203 patients was used to test construct validity. Concurrent validity was evaluated using correlation with patients' self-rating as a "smart patient" measured using a visual analogue scale. Internal consistency was tested by Cronbach's alpha coefficients.

RESULTS
All items were rated as having satisfactory content validity. Based on PCA and consideration of conceptual meaning, a three-factor solution was selected, explaining 48.76% of the variance. CFA demonstrated the adequacy of the three-domain structure of the construct HIV self-management: daily self-management health practices, social support and HIV self-management, and chronic nature of HIV self-management. Goodness-of-fit indices showed an acceptable fit overall with the full model (χ²/df(₁₆₄)=1.66, RMSEA=0.06, SRMR=0.05, TLI=0.91, and CFI=0.92). The Korean version of the HIV Self-Management Scale (KHSMS) was significantly correlated with patients' self-rated smart patient (r=.41). The subscale Cronbach's alpha coefficients ranged from .78 to .81; alpha for the total scale was .89.

CONCLUSION
The KHSMS provides a valid and reliable measure of self-management in Korean patients with HIV. Continued psychometric testing is recommended to provide further evidence of validity with this population.


In a global effort to mitigate global warming refrigerants with a high Global Warming Potential (GWP) will be banned in certain applications. The current European legislation prohibits a refrigerant R404A, which is commonly used in retail food refrigeration systems, from placing on the European market from the 1st of January 2020. Similarly, R404A will be soon unacceptable in retrofit and new supermarket systems in the USA.
A refrigerant R449A is a potential replacement for R404A but with the GWP that is significantly lower than R404A's. In this study experimental investigations are conducted during the conversion of a supermarket refrigeration system from R404A to R449A. The performance data is presented and environmental benefits of the conversion are discussed.


A dynamic model of the spindle-cutter coupling system is established including the gyroscopic effects and shear deformation. Dynamic characteristic of the system is analyzed by utilizing the whole transfer matrix method (WTMM) based on the Riccati transformation, and strain energy distribution of the system is estimated. Dynamic characteristic of the system is optimized by univariate search technique. And optimal path in the system optimization is provided. According to the optimal path, a method of local mode elimination by decreasing stickout length of the milling cutter is proposed. The calculation results indicate that preload level of front bearing and rear bearing is the key factor of dynamic optimization after local mode elimination.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the natural history of adenomatous hyperplasia (AH) in liver cirrhosis, which is suspected of being a precancerous condition of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sixteen patients with 19 histologically proven AH nodules were followed-up over time with ultrasonographic (US) examinations performed every 3-4 months. The biopsy was repeated whenever the volume of the lesion increased, its US pattern changed, or there was a change in the alpha-fetoprotein values. Thirteen out of 19 AH (68.4%) evolved toward HCC after 8-31 months (mean 14.2 months). Malignant transformation was proved in 7/18 AH within 1 year of its initial detection, in 12/15 AH within 2 years, and in 13/14 AH within 4 years. Six AH remained unchanged in size and US pattern for 9-70 months (mean 29.5 months). Long term follow-up of AH confirms that this lesion is a precursor of HCC.


Abstract To understand the rates of turnover of soil carbon, and hence interactions between soil carbon pools and atmospheric CO2 levels, it is essential to be able to quantify and characterize soil organic matter and mineral hosts for C. Thermal analysis is uniquely suited to this task, as different C compounds decompose during a heating cycle at different temperatures. In 'air' (80% He or N2, 20% O2), relatively labile cellulosic material decomposes between 300 and 350°C and more refractory lignin and related materials decompose between 400 and 650°C. Calcite and other common soil carbonate minerals decompose at 750−900°C. Using thermal analysis connected to a quadrupole mass spectrometer and to an isotope ratio mass spectrometer, it is possible to simultaneously determine mass loss during combustion, evolved gas molecular compositions, and carbon isotope ratios for evolved CO2. As an example of the potential of the technique, the evolution of a fungally-degraded wheat straw shows initial isotopic heterogeneity consistent with its plant origins (−23.8‰ v-PDB for cellulosic material; −26.1‰ v-PDB for ligninic material), which homogenizes at heavier δ13C values (−21.0‰ v-PDB) as lignin is preferentially degraded by fungal growth. Simultaneously, it is shown that the evolution of nitrogen compounds is initially dominated by decomposition of aliphatic N within the cellulosic component, but that with increasing fungal degradation it is the ligninic component that contributes N to evolved gases, derived presumably from pyrrolic and related N groups produced during soil degradation through condensation reactions. Overall, the use of thermal analysis coupled to quadrupole and stable isotope mass spectrometry appears to have considerable potential for the characterization of discrete carbon pools that are amenable to the modelling of carbon turnover within soil systems.


The law relating to the duties of company directors, as presently framed and applied in Australia, does not provide a very reliable guide with regard to the critical question as to whose interest directors are bound to promote when they exercise any of the powers conferred on them. Under current law, actions taken by directors may be sustained by the courts if they are shown to have served the interests of the company as an economic / legal entity. In other instances, they may be upheld if it is established that they were taken for the benefit of the members of the company. At the same time, there are suggestions that in exercising their powers, directors must not be guided solely by the interests of members or the corporate entity but must also take into account the interests of other stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, consumers and the community generally. Because of this, the current state of the law creates a degree of uncertainty as to what constitutes a permissible or impermissible exercise of directors' powers. This is undesirable. The uncertainty so created renders it difficult, in some instances, to challenge suspect director conduct. There is thus need to reform the law to remove this conundrum. In undertaking this exercise, Australian policy makers could draw some helpful insights from reform initiatives implemented in the United Kingdom. Quite recently, that jurisdiction introduced reforms to its scheme of core company law, including the rules governing the duties of directors. Among other things, these reforms impose a direct obligation on directors to promote the success of the company. Very importantly, the new governing rules make it explicitly clear that in exercising their powers, directors must seek primarily to advance the interests of the members of the company. This is a very significant development. It removes any doubt as to whose interests directors' actions must be aimed at promoting. To the extent it provides very clear guidance on this crucial issue, this measure provides a very useful reform model that Australia could well benefit from.


Ritch Sorenson, Professor of Family Business at the University of St Thomas in Minneapolis, once worked at a bank founded by his grandfather. When it closed, he felt a personal loss that persists many years later. Likewise, families who own and run a business often feel a deep connection to their communities, business partners, employees and one another. This can create challenges for outsiders who are hired to help the family business weather financial and competitive pressures, now and in the future. In this discussion, Sorenson shares his insights about how non-family executives can navigate complex family dynamics, help the business thrive financially, develop strategies for the future and groom the next generation of leaders.


Variable-rate technology may provide a means of increasing fertilizer use efficiency by matching applications to specific conditions at a given field location. Effective implementation of this technology depends on accurately characterizing the spatial variability of soil parameters used to define the application rate. Kriging and inversedistance-squared are two commonly used techniques for characterizing this spatial variability and interpolating between sampled points. To assess the accuracy of these techniques, data sets obtained from grid sampling two field research sites were used in a prediction-validation comparison of ordinary kriging and inverse-distance methods using powers p = 1, 2, and 4. The accuracy of the inverse-distance methods tended to increase with the power of distance for data sets with a coefficient of variation less than about 25% (typical of soil organic matter). However, for data sets with greater variation (such as soil NO 3 - ), inverse-distance prediction methods using high distance powers (2 or 4) can give very inaccurate predictions. The accuracy of predictions from kriging was generally unaffected by the coefficient of variation, and was relatively high for all of the sampling configurations considered in this study. These tendencies were also observed using 48- and 72-m subsamples, although the use of wider sampling spacings greatly reduced the information in the maps constructed by each method. Careful thought should be given to the choice of sample spacing and interpolation method to be used before data are collected. Summary statistics, and the coefficient of variation in particular, are simple measures that can give an indication of the relative accuracy of the inverse-distance and kriging mapping approaches.


Pakistan's exports evolve broadly in line with total world imports. Accordingly, Pakistan's share in world imports was remarkably stable during the last 20 years, ranging between a minimum of 0.12 percent in 1980 and a maximum of 0.18 percent in 1992. In 1999-2000, the share was 0.15 percent. This would suggest that Pakistan's export performance was not worse than that of the world on average. Compared to regional competitors, however, the performance was unimpressive, especially when compared to China and Thailand throughout the 1980s and 1990s or compared to Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka during the 1990s. All these countries succeeded in achieving sustainable market share increases in total world imports. In light of the growing awareness about the importance of exports in the overall economy of Pakistan and in view of the unimpressive export performance of Pakistan vis-a-vis other countries in the region it would be interesting to study the export performance of Pakistan and analyse the possible reasons for this poor performance and see whether it is due to demand deficiency or is it something to do with the supply side of the issue.


Abstract Labour mobility has hitherto not been in the focus of international trade negotiations. The door to a trade-related mobility agenda was opened in 1995 with the inclusion of the so-called "mode 4" temporary mobility of natural persons as one out of four modes for trade services liberalization in the General Agreement on Trade in Services of the WTO (GATS). Whereas current GATS mode 4 commitments are quite limited, basically reflecting former trade hegemons' lowest common denominator, recent initiatives and in particular regional and bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) point at a gradual expansion of these clauses beyond the EU's or US' original intentions. As Indian diplomats and trade officials interviewed for this study put it, "GATS mode 4 is India's strongest offensive interest in trade negotiations". Correspondingly, India, supported by some other emerging economies, has increased pressure for more generous mode 4 liberalization in multilateral and bilateral trade negotiations. To the extent that these initiatives materialize, they are a salient example of the growing evolution of emerging economies from rule-takers to rule-makers in the regulation of international trade – and beyond. This evolution is particularly intriguing given that it takes place in a field that is excessively sensitive in established economies and faces significant obstacles to both the adoption of binding international commitments (GCIM 2005; Lahav and Lavenex 2012, Trachtman 2009) and liberalization more specifically. What drives emerging countries' agenda for trade related labour mobility, which strategies do these countries and, above all, Indian negotiators use in pushing this agenda, and how far do shifts in market power depend also on domestic politics and regulatory capacity for sustaining emerging powers' attempts to shape international trade rules are the guiding questions addressed in this paper.


We report on a fundamentally new radiation phenomenon in nanostructures: emission of spatially coherent and spectrally narrow-band light driven by localized injection of free electrons into a planar plasmonic metamaterial. In 'coherent' metamaterials, where interactions among the meta-molecules are strong, an electron beam can generate a synchronized, in-phase response across a large number of meta-molecules leading to threshold-free emission of spatially coherent light propagating perpendicular to the metamaterial. In a laser coherence is derived from the bosonic statistics of photons, the resonant properties of the laser cavity and the collective nature of stimulated emission in the gain medium, and a threshold level of input energy is required to maintain the gain and overcome losses. Here we show experimentally that a scalable low-divergence, threshold-free optical source can be constructed on the basis of a collectively oscillating optical nano-antenna array formed by the metamaterial wherein coherence is provided not by the feed (as in conventional microwave antenna arrays) but via the strong mutual interactions among the nano-antennas.


In this paper, we present an efficient video shots retrieval system based on local feature detection, description and matching. A face tracker is first used to obtain information on faces in different viewpoints. A visual vocabulary is built off-line using an invariant descriptor computed on tracked character face regions in all shots. The vocabulary is refined in two ways to make the retrieval system more efficient. Firstly, the visual vocabulary is minimized by only using facial features selected on face regions which are detected by an accurate face detector. Secondly, three criteria, namely Inverted-Occurrence-Frequency Weights, Average Feature Location Distance and Reliable Nearest-Neighbors, are calculated in advance to make the on-line retrieval procedure more efficient and precise. The proposed system is experimented on the movie "Groundhog Day". The results show that our technique is very effective and efficient on video shots retrieval.


Studies on the metabolic disposition of ciramadol, a new orally effective analgesic, have been conducted in the rhesus monkey and male rat. The drug is well absorbed but undergoes extensive presystemic metabolism when given by the intragastric route (1 mg/kg) to rhesus monkeys. Maximum concentrations in plasma do not exceed 4 ng/ml. The major transformation occurs by glucuronidation and leads to two metabolites, and aryl O- and an alicyclic O-glucuronide. Phase I transformations are apparently minor and include N-demethylation, formation of benzoxazinyl metabolites from the reaction of endogenous acetaldehyde and formaldehyde with N-desmethylciramadol, and oxidation of the alicyclic and aromatic rings. Mass-spectrometric analyses of the isolated glucuronides and the minor phase I metabolites have been employed for structural assignments. Excretion of the intragastric dose occurs predominantly by the renal route. When given intramuscularly (1 mg/kg), concentrations of ciramadol peak at 1150 ng/ml by 0.5 hr after medication and decline rapidly to less than 7 ng/ml by 8 hr. Approximately 10% of the dose is excreted as unchanged ciramadol after im dosing. In male rats, the drug is absorbed rapidly after single 1-mg/kg intragastric doses and is taken up notably by liver, lung, kidney and spleen. Unlike its disposition in rhesus monkeys, ciramadol is present in plasma and excreted into urine mainly in the unconjugated form. Concentrations of drug in rat plasma are higher than those in rhesus monkey plasma, suggesting a smaller first-pass effect in the rat.


Dynamic data race detection is a program analysis technique for detecting errors provoked by undesired interleavings of concurrent threads. A primary challenge when designing efficient race detection algorithms is to achieve manageable space requirements. State of the art algorithms for unstructured parallelism require Θ(n) space per monitored memory location, where $n$ is the total number of tasks. This is a serious drawback when analyzing programs with many tasks. In contrast, algorithms for programs with a series-parallel (SP) structure require only Θ(1) space. Unfortunately, it is currently poorly understood if there are classes of parallelism beyond SP that can also benefit from and be analyzed with Θ(1) space complexity. In the present work, we show that structures richer than SP graphs, namely that of two-dimensional (2D) lattices, can be analyzed in O(1) space: a) we extend Tarjan's algorithm for finding lowest common ancestors to handle 2D lattices; b) from that extension we derive a serial algorithm for race detection that can analyze arbitrary task graphs having a 2D lattice structure; c) we present a restriction to fork-join that admits precisely the 2D lattices as task graphs (e.g., it can express pipeline parallelism). Our work generalizes prior work on race detection, and aims to provide a deeper understanding of the interplay between structured parallelism and program analysis efficiency.


A (closed) dynamical system is a notion of how things can be, together with a notion of how they may change given how they are. The idea and mathematics of closed dynamical systems has proven incredibly useful in those sciences that can isolate their object of study from its environment. But many changing situations in the world cannot be meaningfully isolated from their environment -- a cell will die if it is removed from everything beyond its walls. To study systems that interact with their environment, and to design such systems in a modular way, we need a robust theory of open dynamical systems. In this extended abstract, we put forward a general definition of open dynamical system. We define two general sorts of morphisms between these systems: covariant morphisms which include trajectories, steady states, and periodic orbits; and contravariant morphisms which allow for plugging variables of some systems into parameters of other systems. We define an indexed double category of open dynamical systems indexed by their interface and use a double Grothendieck construction to construct a double category of open dynamical systems. In our main theorem, we construct covariantly representable indexed double functors from the indexed double category of dynamical systems to an indexed double category of spans. This shows that all covariantly representable structures of dynamical systems -- including trajectories, steady states, and periodic orbits -- compose according to the laws of matrix arithmetic.


While the demand on electric power is consistently increasing, public concerns and regulations for the construction of new nuclear power plants are getting restrict, and also operating nuclear power plants are gradually ageing. For this reason, the interest on lifetime extension for operating nuclear power plants by applying lifetime management system is increasing. The 40-year design life concept was originally introduced on the basis of economic and safety considerations. In other words, it was not determined by technological evaluations. Also, the transient design data which were applied for fatigue damage evaluation were overly conservative in comparison with actual transient data. Therefore, the accumulation of fatigue damage may result in a big difference between the actual data and the design data. The lifetime of nuclear power plants is mostly dependent on the fatigue life of a reactor pressure vessel, and thus, the exact evaluation of fatigue life on a reactor pressure vessel is a crucial factor in determining the extension of operating life. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a real-time fatigue monitoring system for an operating reactor pressure vessel which can be used for the lifetime extension. In order to satisfy the objectives, a web-based transient acquisition system was developed, thereby, real-time thermal-hydraulic data were reserved for 18 operating reactor pressure vessels. A series of finite element analyses was carried out to obtain the stress data due to actual transient. The fatigue life evaluation has been performed based on the stress analysis results and, finally, a web-based fatigue life evaluation system was introduced by combining analysis results and on-line monitoring system. Comparison of the stress analysis results between operating transients and design transients showed a considerable amount of benefits in terms of fatigue life. Therefore, it is anticipated that the developed web-based system can be utilized as an efficient tool for fatigue life estimation of reactor pressure vessel.


One of the main challenges for mobile ad hoc networks is to design routing protocols that cope efficiently with dynamic network topologies. In this paper, we propose a routing strategy in a multipath context and adapted to proactive protocols like OLSR. The main idea is to use the sizeable amount of information collected by every node in order to select not one but several reliable routes used simultaneously. Then, the information is not merely parcelled out between these routes, but coded using a Multiple Description method, which reduces the dependency on topology changes. Each route among the N selected ones is used to transmit a specific description. Any subset of M routes among these N routes is sufficient to rebuild the initial data information. Furthermore, thanks to path diversity, the local bitrate is reduced. This feature may be interesting in the case of multimedia information exchanges (such as video) over mobile ad hoc networks. Performance analysis of this new algorithm shows that the paths reliability is improved. In particular, load balancing for high bitrates and dense networks enables to reach interesting performances.


The study was motivated by the lots of programmes put in place and the colossal sum of money spent by government and other service providers to meet safe water requirements of the rural people, yet, not much is being achieved in that direction. The objectives of this study, therefore, were to identify the institutional framework for rural water management and the contributions of rural water end users in managing their water supply points. The study utilized both primary and secondary data sources. Using a purposive sampling technique, fifty (50) rural communities were identified and administered with structured questionnaire which were complemented with personal interviews, focus group discussion, field observations and measurements. The study findings revealed that institutional arrangements for operation and maintenance of water issues have been top-bottom management strategy as against the supply driven norm where end users determine the outcome decision on water issues. The study recommends a framework for the improvement of public participation in rural water management and measures needed to operate and maintain the available water supply points efficiently in the state in line with the determination of the present and subsequent governments' drive to reduce poverty and enhance rural development. Above all, the study indicates that public participation in rural water resources management will not be successful without empowering the communities financially and educationally in order to become willing and informed participants in sustainable community


Modern wireless and cable transmission technologies, as well as radar systems, present demanding challenges for device and system developers. Manufacturers of test and measurement equipment are driven to offer products that fully support today's needs, while anticipating the requirements of future technologies. Accuracy has always been a critical requirement in the test and measurement world, but modern technologies demand another must-have — highest data acquisition and processing speeds to allow accurate measurements of complex signal waveforms. This paper describes the different techniques RF peak power meters employ to meet these challenges.


Date Presented 04/04/19
 Half of the postmillennial participants had an apparent ability to successfully cope with demanding tasks (e.g., managing their daily schedule) in unexpected ways. However, they were equally effective in performing the performance-based assessment and in their parents' reports on their daily performance. Therapists are therefore encouraged to use a "guided discovery" of strategies during an intervention to facilitate strategy use for those who are less able to cope with their daily tasks.
 Primary Author and Speaker: Sharon Zlotnik
 Contributing Authors: Eynat Gal, Tamar Wiess


Clayton, B. E., Tanner, J. M., and Vince, F. P. (1971). Archives of Disease in Childhood, 46, 405. Diagnostic and prognostic value of short-term metabolic response to human growth hormone in short stature. Metabolic tests of the response to three days of administration of human growth hormone (HGH) have been done on 55 patients aged 6-2 to 20-3 years. 22 had 'isolated' growth hormone deficiency (or hyposomatotrophic short stature, HS), 16 CNS tumours or multiple hormone deficiencies, 6 short stature associated with low birthweight, 3 psychosocial short stature, 4 Turner's syndrome, 1 hereditary short stature, and 3 uncertain diagnosis. Height was measured at 3-monthly intervals for a full year, then HGH was given for a full year and the difference in rate, that is the acceleration during the growth hormone year, was calculated. The height measurements were all done by one measurer in 45 of the patients. In the metabolic test there were 5 baseline days followed by 3 days of a single injection of 10 IU HGH, then 2 final days. The means for urinary nitrogen excretion, blood urea, and urinary calcium excretion were calculated for the 5 baseline days and for the last 2 HGH days plus the one subsequent day. The difference between the means is given as a percentage of baseline values. The children with isolated growth hormone (GH) deficiency had a greater decrease in nitrogen excretion (33±3%) than the low birthweight cases and small children (7 ±5%), but there was overlap between individuals in the isolated deficiency group (range 12 to 66%) and the rest (range 12°% to 42%); 2 deficient children were below a dividing line of 20%, and 1 Turner's syndrome and 3 psychosocial short stature children were above it. The tumour and multiple deficiency patients had an average fall of 40±3% and showed no overlap with the low birthweight group. Blood urea and calcium excretion gave a worse separation. Within the isolated deficiency and the tumour and multiple deficiency groups there was no relation between any metabolic parameter and the amount of growth acceleration in the first year of HGH treatment. In the HS, though not in the tumour patients, there was a correlation (-0 60) between the decrease in percentage nitrogen excretion and peak GH level on stimulation and between per cent decrease in urinary nitrogen excretion and per cent decrease in blood urea (0 76). We conclude that the differential diagnostic value of the short-term metabolic test is very limited now that we have tests of GH response; and that in cases of isolated GH or multiple pituitary hormone deficiency the result of the metabolic test does not predict at all the height acceleration obtained on HGH treatment.


This paper investigates the maximal channel coding rate achievable at a given blocklength n and error probability ϵ, when the codewords are subjected to a long-term (i.e., averaged-over-all-codeword) power constraint. The second-order term in the large-n expansion of the maximal channel coding rate is characterized both for additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels and for quasi-static fading channels with perfect channel state information available at both the transmitter and the receiver. It is shown that in both the cases, the second-order term is proportional to (n-1 ln n)1/2. For the quasi-static fading case, this second-order term is achieved by truncated channel inversion, namely, by concatenating a dispersion-optimal code for an AWGN channel subject to a short-term power constraint, with a power controller that inverts the channel whenever the fading gain is above a certain threshold. Easy-to-evaluate approximations of the maximal channel coding rate are developed for both the AWGN and the quasi-static fading case.


Abstract The study was conducted in the northern Texas Rolling Plains in 1999 to define the relationship between number of cotton aphids, Aphis gossypii Glover, and resulting contamination of cotton lint by honeydew. Whole-plot treatments were three furrow irrigation management treatments: cotton grown without supplemental irrigation (dryland), irrigated cotton with last irrigation in mid August, and irrigated cotton with last irrigation in late August. Subplots within each irrigation treatment included an untreated check, a plot treated with lambda-cyhalothrin to stimulate aphid population increase, a plot treated with lambda-cyhalothrin followed by pymetrozine after aphids began to increase, and a plot treated with lambda-cyhalothrin followed by thiamethoxam after aphids began to increase. Cotton aphids were counted on leaves picked from the top and bottom half of the plant. Cotton lint was analyzed for contamination by glucose, fructose, sucrose, and melezitose secreted by cotton aphids, and percentage leaf moisture and nitrogen and leaf sucrose concentrations were determined. The manual sticky cotton thermodetector was used to determine degree of lint stickinesss. There was a significant relationship between thermodetector counts and melezitose contamination on lint, and a melezitose concentration of 90.9 μg/g of lint was associated with a thermodetector count of 10, the threshold for sticky lint problems in textile mills. An equation was developed to estimate melezitose concentration on lint as a function of average numbers of aphids per leaf and the interaction between percentage leaf moisture and nitrogen. The number of aphids per leaf associated with a melezitose concentration of 90.9 μg/g of lint ranged from 11.1 to 50.1, depending on percentage leaf moisture and nitrogen. The threshold for sticky lint problems occurred when aphid numbers ranged between 11.1 and 50.1 per leaf after bolls open.


SUMMARY We describe a method of working on publicly available data to estimate disease prevalence in small geographic areas using Helicobacter pylori as a model infection. Using data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, risk parameters for H. pylori infection were obtained by logistic regression and validated by predicting 737·5 infections in an independent cohort with 736 observed infections. The prevalence of H. pylori infection in the San Francisco Bay Area was estimated with the probabilities obtained from a predictive logistic model, using risk parameters with individual-level 1990 U.S. Census data as input. Predicted H. pylori prevalence was also compared to gastric cancer incidence obtained from the Northern California Cancer Center and showed a positive correlation with gastric cancer incidence (P<0·001, R2=0·87), and no statistically significant association with other malignancies. By exclusively using publicly available data, these methods may be applied to selected conditions with strong demographic predictors.


Abstract Nanoscale isotope and chemical images of grains of Amelia albite that were reacted with 2 m 18O-enriched solution of KCl show a correspondence between O-isotope exchange and K-Na exchange. Experiments were conducted for 4.6 d at 600 °C and 200 MPa. After 6 d, the 150 µm diameter albite grains had 5.20 µm rims in which Na was nearly completely replaced by K and in which the O was strongly enriched in 18O. The boundary between the core albite and the K-feldspar replacement is sharp and decorated with numerous pores. The distribution of Na and K, determined by electron probe microanalysis, is uniform within the core and rim and has an abrupt discontinuity at the interface. No evidence exists for K-Na interdiffusion at the resolution of electron probe. The NanoSIMS shows that the interface is also sharp in the distribution of 18O and 16O. The NanoSIMS image data and the electron probe data were coregistered; principal components analysis of the merged data set shows that 86% of the total variance in the data result from a single principal component loaded by the replacement of Na by K and 18O. The combined electron probe and NanoSIMS analyses indicate that both cation and isotope exchange occurred during solution and reprecipitation of the feldspar.


The paper introduced the concept of the computer viruses and its harm and problems due to virus infection. It introduced the different types of viruses and the evolution of viruses. We discussed the need of anti-virus software and its performance indicators. Detecting viruses and malicious software is a complex problem, for that providing antivirus software is one of the most widely used tools for detecting and stopping viruses and malicious software. We discussed the Cloud Antivirus that uses a powerful combination of virus monitoring technologies to immediately protect your computer from all malware in the cloud computing environment. Finally, the paper put forward prevention recommendations to avoid viruses and malware threats.


Studies of coordinated movement have found that, in many animal species, bolder individuals are more likely to initiate movement and shyer individuals to follow. Here, we show that in pairs of foraging stickleback fish, leadership is not merely a passive consequence of temperamental differences. Instead, the act of initiating a joint foraging trip out of cover itself brings about a change in the role that an individual plays throughout the subsequent trip, and success in recruiting a partner affects an individual's tendency to initiate the next trip. On each joint trip, whichever fish took the initiative in leading out of cover gains greater influence over its partner's behaviour, which persists even after several changes in position (i.e. termination attempts and re-joining). During any given trip, the initiator is less responsive to its partner's movements than during trips initiated by the partner. An individual's personality had an important effect on its response to failure to recruit a partner: while bold fish were unaffected by failures to initiate a joint trip, shy individuals were less likely to attempt another initiation after a failure. This difference provides a positive feedback mechanism that can partially stabilise social roles within the pair, but it is not strong enough to prevent occasional swaps, with individuals dynamically adjusting their responses to one another as they exchange roles.


Liver biopsies of four patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis, two patients with schistosomiasis and chronic active hepatitis, two patients with chronic active hepatitis and four control patients with no clinical evidence of either disease, were examined by standard light microscopic techniques, electron microscopy and immunocytochemical staining for collagen type I, III and B. Pure schistosomiasis showed the classical "clay-pipe stem fibrosis" and granulomata composed of eosinophils, macrophages and lymphocytes. In that group, the hepatocellular damage was less conspicuous than in the groups with chronic hepatitis and was usually confined to the granulomatous or fibrotic areas. Destruction of the normal architecture and infiltration by macrophages and lymphocytes with severe damage of hepatocytes was found only in the cases of chronic active hepatitis, with or without associated schistosomiasis. Increased collagen deposits were demonstrated in all three groups. Types I, III and B were found in the enlarged portal triads and fibrotic septa. The intranodular or intralobular collagen stained negatively for type I and strongly positive for types III and B.


Setting a first light shielding film (7) by at least below the channel region (1C) of the TFT driving a pixel and a set of second light-shielding film (3) above to prevent light from the vertical direction with respect to the channel region (1C) irradiation. Further, a second light shielding film (3) so as to cover the channel region (1C) and the first light shielding film (7), so that incident light is not directly irradiated to the first light shielding film (7) surface.


Dental caries is caused by a thin film of bacteria called "plaque" that coats your teeth. When you eat or drink, the plaque bacteria digest any sugar and produce acids that attack your tooth enamel. The stickiness of plaque keeps these acids in contact with the enamel for some time after you have finished eating or drinking. With repeated and prolonged exposure to these acids, your enamel eventually can wear through, resulting in caries. It is important to remove plaque regularly by brushing your teeth twice daily and cleaning between your teeth with floss or another interdental cleaner once a day. If plaque builds up, it can cause swelling and bleeding of the gingival (gum) tissue. Eventually, the hard and soft tissues that hold your teeth in place can be damaged, and you run the risk of losing teeth. You should visit your dentist regularly for a complete oral examination and a professional cleaning.


The objective of the study was to ascertain the nature of the capital structure of insurance companies in Ghana. Panel data was derived from annual reports and financial statements of 15 insurance companies registered with the National Insurance Commission from 2002 to 2011 and the analysis of variance (ANOVA) was applied to identify the differences in the nature of the capital structure among insurance companies based on their age and size. The results suggest that there is debt in the capital structure in the insurance sector of Ghana and out of these debts component, short term debt takes a higher proportion. The study also found that the proportion of equity capital is lesser than debt capital and again it established a significant difference in the proportion of equity capital practice and no difference in the debt capital practice among the different categories of insurance companies. Finally, our study allowed for yet another important comparison of capital structure between firms which are aged more than two decades and those which are aged less than two decades. Keyword: insurance companies, equity ratio, debt ratio, age, size


Stress distribution in incompressible or undrained soil is important to the engineer, but the usual finite difference and finite element methods break down for incompressible materials. A revised procedure is described in which the pore pressure is treated as another unknown. Specific application is made to linearly elastic materials; however, the technique can be used for other stress-strain relations. The paper shows the form of the procedure used for finite elements, and that used for a lumped parameter model equivalent to a finite difference method. Results for a sample problem illustrate the insensitivity of vertical stress to compressibility and show the larger effects on the other stress components. Comparison of undrained and drained analysis shows the motion of soil towards the load during consolidation.


This thesis is formed of three chapters. The first chapter examines the effect on social mobility and economic growth following the introduction of reprogenetic technology such that parents can choose to invest in the talent or ability of their unborn children. I find that if the economy is initially in a steady state such that social mobility is low, the introduction of such technology can increase social mobility and economic growth. If the economy is initially in a steady state such that social mobility is high, then the introduction of such technology will not increase (and may decrease) social mobility and will not affect economic growth. The second chapter is a review of the literature on how immigration affects wages focusing on studies of the US and UK labour markets. The third chapter analyses how the skill premium depends on the relative supply of high and low skilled workers in the economy, and the size of the economy. Using a two-sector model where one sector is more skill-intensive than the other, and returns to scale are larger in the skill-intensive sector, I find that the skill premium depends positively on the size of the economy. I consider the effect of an exogenous increase in the number of skilled workers (perhaps due to immigration) on the skill premium and find that under certain conditions the skill premium may increase. I then analyse the effect on the skill premium and the relative price of the skill intensive good in the short and long run and compare the models predictions to the data. The Economics of Reprogenetics: Growth and Social Mobility in a Brave New World Rebecca Piggott School of Economics University of Edinburgh


Circumstellar asymmetries such as central warps have recently been shown to cast shadows on outer disks. We investigate the hydrodynamical consequences of such variable illumination on the outer regions of a transition disk, and the development of spiral arms. Using 2D simulations, we follow the evolution of a gaseous disk passively heated by the central star, under the periodic forcing of shadows with an opening angle of ∼28°. With a lower pressure under the shadows, each crossing results in a variable azimuthal acceleration, which in time develops into spiral density waves. Their pitch angles evolve from Π ∼ 15°–22° at the onset, to ∼11°–14°, over ∼65 au to 150 au. Self-gravity enhances the density contrast of the spiral waves, as also reported previously for spirals launched by planets. Our control simulations with unshadowed irradiation do not develop structures, except for a different form of spiral waves seen at later times only in the gravitationally unstable control case. Scattered light predictions in the H-band show that such illumination spirals should be observable. We suggest that spiral arms in the case-study transition disk HD 142527 could be explained as a result of shadowing from the tilted inner disk.


This report is about a couple of specially chosen peatlands in eastern Uppland, Sweden. It concerns their development between the year 1922 and 2012. The historic fact originates from a large investigation of peatlands in the south of Sweden made by the Swedish Geological Survey, SGU, in the 1920's. To be able to choose peatlands an analysis in GIS were made, in which we were able to find locations good enough for our field investigation. During the field investigation we bore to find nice peat cores that later went through several analyses in a lab. The main goal with this investigation was to find out how much humans have been able to affect the peatlands and their development during the years, by for example agricultural activities. The conclusion we came to find was that agricultural activities have affected the peatlands in the form of composition.


In a review of case records of pericardial effusion in dogs, detected by means of M-mode echocardiography, echocardiographic findings were similar to those described for other species. In each of 3 cases analyzed, the abnormalities were echo-free separation of the visceral and parietal pericardium, dampening of parietal pericardial motion, exaggerated or paradoxic motion of intracardiac structures, and thickened epicardial echos. Echocardiographic changes compatible with constriction of the pericardium were found in one case.


The influence on contractile force (CF) and the propensity for ventricular fibrillation (VF) from infusing the non-ionic contrast medium iohexol during normal (75 cm H2O) and reduced perfusion pressure (35 cm H2O) were investigated in the isolated rabbit heart. Both during normal and reduced perfusion pressure iohexol (150 mg I/ml) with oxygen saturation caused a smaller reduction of CF than iohexol without oxygen. During reduced pressure iohexol with sodium addition (28 mM NaCl) caused less depression of CF than iohexol without sodium. The combination of sodium addition and oxygen saturation had the least influence on CF. Iohexol (350 mg I/ml) without sodium had a similar fibrillatory propensity during both normal and reduced pressure. Enriching iohexol with 28 mM NaCl decreased the risk of VF. The decrease was similar during both normal and reduced pressure. The risk of VF from oxygen saturation of iohexol (350 mg I/ml, without sodium) was similar during both normal and reduced pressure. It is concluded that a small addition of sodium and/or oxygen saturation of a non-ionic monomeric contrast medium have beneficial effects on the heart both during normal perfusion pressure and during ischemia.


The trend in the transport sector is moving towards eco-friendly, fast and convenient transportation, this results in higher demands on railway transports. To meet the demand and quality requirements, the Swedish railway network will have to expand. The cheapest way is to expand little by little but what impact do these small steps actually have on the capacity? This thesis examines the interactions of different improvement for the capacity on a single-track railway. Through simulations in the software tool RailSys this report studies what effect block signals, extra meeting stations and rebuilding existing two track passing loops to three track loops have on the capacity. Emphasis has been placed on how these three factors interact with each other. By a full factorial experiment in two levels the factor interactions have been identified and quantified. The factorial experiment with three factors proved to be problematic in RailSys due to the built in problem to properly manage three track-stations on single-track lines. This is shown by higher delays in the infrastructure scenarios with three-track stations than in those without. Because of this, the infrastructure scenarios with three-track stations were removed from further analysis. We now have a factorial experiment with two factors, block signals and extra meeting stations. The reference interval shows that interactions between these two factors can't be shown. However, the experiment shows that more passing stations reduce average delays for both freight and passenger trains. For block signals, it is only proved that passenger traffic takes advantage of them, this is probably due in large part to the timetable.


First trimester nausea is associated with gastric slow wave dysrhythmias (tachygastria, bradygastria). We tested the roles of meal composition and caloric content on nausea and slow wave rhythm in 14 nauseated pregnant women. Electrogastrography quantified dysrhythmic activity and signal power responses to meals. Symptomatic women reported mild to moderate nausea and exhibited increased dysrhythmias during fasting ( P < 0.05). Protein-predominant meals reduced nausea and dysrhythmic activity to greater degrees than equicaloric carbohydrate and fat meals and noncaloric meals ( P < 0.05). Meal consistency did not affect symptom responses, although liquid meals decreased dysrhythmias more than solids ( P < 0.05). Carbohydrates and fats increased electrogastrographic power to similar degrees as proteins, whereas responses to noncaloric meals were less. In conclusion, protein meals selectively reduce nausea and gastric slow wave dysrhythmias in first trimester pregnancy. Meal consistency is a limited factor in the favorable effects of protein. Electrogastrographic power changes do not explain the symptom response to protein. Thus dietary modulation of gastric myoelectric rhythm with protein supplementation may provide symptomatic benefit in nausea of pregnancy.


ABSTRACT Ever since Labov, Cohen, Robbins, and Lewis's (1968) pioneering study, it has been commonplace to set aside certain tokens in analyzing variability in the English copula as "don't count" (DC) forms. These cases are most often occurrences of the copula that exhibit categorical behavior (as with the full copula in clause-final position), as well as those that are ambiguous or indeterminate. In this article, I propose a set of copula forms that should be set aside from variable analysis as instances of DC forms to allow for systematic comparisons among studies. I review the major alternative descriptions of DC copula cases in the literature and analyze the behavior of the traditional DC categories. New data are presented to support the exclusion of particular DC cases from analyses of copula variability. Among the conclusions are that [was], [thas], and [is] should be excluded from quantitative analyses of variation in the copula because of their invariant status, and that a number of tokens commonly included (e.g., questions) should be excluded on various grounds.


Strong ground motions were recorded at Port Island, Kobe, by a borehole array during the 1995 Hyogo-ken Nanbu (Kobe) earthquake. These records indicate that, while the horizontal peak accelerations were reduced as seismic waves traveling from the bottom to the surface, motions in the vertical direction were significantly amplified at the surface, with peak value of 1.5 to 2 times larger than the horizontal components. Some studies have discussed local site effects on the horizontal motions, whereas the available study on the vertical amplification is limited. In this article, we present a possible mechanism to explain the observed vertical amplification in detail. We consider that the observed large vertical amplification is mainly associated with incomplete saturation of near-surface soils, which causes substantial amplification of P waves but does not affect the propagation of S waves. Based on the concept of homogeneous pore fluid and Biot's theory of two-phase media, we discuss the characteristics of P -wave velocity, Poisson's ratio and degree of saturation in shallow soil layers, and show evidence of incomplete saturation of near-surface soils at the array site. We analyze a simple model to theoretically investigate the effects of saturation on vertical-motion amplification. The results show that the degree of saturation may produce substantial influence on the amplification, both amplitude and frequency content. Using a solid-fluid coupled finite element procedure, we perform a simulation of the observed vertical motions at the array site by including the effects of saturation. The results demonstrate the mechanism of large amplification caused by incomplete saturation of near-surface layers. The present study indicates that vertical-component motions may significantly be affected by pore-water saturation of soils, suggesting that we may need to carefully examine the condition of saturation in the study of vertical site amplification.

Manuscript received 24 May 1999.


Since the introduction of the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act into New South Wales in 1999, construction industry payment legislation has progressively been enacted on a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction basis throughout Australia. Of the eight Australian Acts, two distinct legislative models can be discerned – what have been termed the 'East Coast' and 'West Coast' models. This article compares the two models with respect to their payment systems and adjudication schemes, procedural justice afforded, incursion upon freedom of contract, uptake rates and efficiency. From this comparison, the strengths and weaknesses of the two models are identified. Finally, a dual process of adjudication based on progress payment claim size is proposed for a harmonised model, developed from previous proposals put forward by other authors, which aims to combine the strengths of the two existing models.


We report on optical field measurements of snow settling in atmospheric turbulence at $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}}=940$ . It is found that the snowflakes exhibit hallmark features of inertial particles in turbulence. The snow motion is analysed in both Eulerian and Lagrangian frameworks by large-scale particle imaging, while sonic anemometry is used to characterize the flow field. Additionally, the snowflake size and morphology are assessed by digital in-line holography. The low volume fraction and mass loading imply a one-way interaction with the turbulent air. Acceleration probability density functions show wide exponential tails consistent with laboratory and numerical studies of homogeneous isotropic turbulence. Invoking the assumption that the particle acceleration has a stronger dependence on the Stokes number than on the specific features of the turbulence (e.g. precise Reynolds number and large-scale anisotropy), we make inferences on the snowflakes' aerodynamic response time. In particular, we observe that their acceleration distribution is consistent with that of particles of Stokes number in the range $St=0.1{-}0.4$ based on the Kolmogorov time scale. The still-air terminal velocities estimated for the resulting range of aerodynamic response times are significantly smaller than the measured snow particle fall speed. This is interpreted as a manifestation of settling enhancement by turbulence, which is observed here for the first time in a natural setting.


Time to Epileptiform Activity and EEG Background Recovery Are Independent Predictors After Cardiac Arrest Westhall E, Rose I, Rundgren M, Bro-Jeppesen J, Kjaergaard J, Hassager C, Lindehammar H, Horn J, Ullen S, Nielsen N, Friberg H, Cronberg T. Clin Neurophysiol. 2018;129:1660-1668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2018.05.016 Objective: To investigate the temporal development of electroencephalogram (EEG) and prognosis. Methods: Prospective observational substudy of the Target Temperature Management trial. Six sites performed simplified continuous EEG monitoring (cEEG) on comatose patients after cardiac arrest, blinded to treating physicians. We determined time points of recovery of a normal-voltage continuous background activity and the appearance of an epileptiform EEG, defined as abundant epileptiform discharges, periodic/rhythmic discharges, or electrographic seizure activity. Results: One hundred thirty-four patients were included, of which 65 had a good outcome. Early recovery of continuous background activity (within 24 hours) occurred in 72 patients and predicted good outcome since 55 (76%) had good outcome, increasing the odds for a good outcome 7 times compared to a late background recovery. Early appearance of an epileptiform EEG occurred in 38 patients and 34 (89%) had a poor outcome, increasing the odds for a poor outcome 6 times compared to a late debut. The time to background recovery and the time to epileptiform activity were highly associated with outcome and levels of neuron-specific enolase. Multiple regression analysis showed that both variables were independent predictors. Conclusions: Time to epileptiform activity and background recovery are independent prognostic indicators. SIGNIFICANCE: Patients with early background recovery combined with late appearance of epileptiform activity may have a good outcome.


The current study was conducted to determine the effect of different α-tocopherol (vitamin E) inclusion levels on trans(t)-18:1 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) profiles in subcutaneous and intramuscular fat of steers fed a barley-based diet. Fifty-six feedlot steers were offered a barley-based finisher diet (73% steam rolled barley, 22% barley silage and 5% supplement as-fed basis) with four levels of supplementary dl-α-tocopheryl acetate (340, 690, 1040 or 1740 IU/steer per day) for 120 days. Adding vitamin E to the diet had little effect on the overall fatty acid composition of intramuscular fat. The proportion of individual and total t,t- and cis(c),t-CLA, n-3 fatty acids, total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), mono-unsaturated fatty acids and saturated fatty acids to PUFA ratio in subcutaneous fat were not influenced (P > 0.05) by dietary vitamin E supplementation. Increasing levels of vitamin E led to linear reductions in t6-/t7-/t8-18:1 and t10-18:1 (P < 0.05), and linear increase in t11-/t10-18:1 ratio (P < 0.05) in subcutaneous fat. The content of 20:3n-6 and total n-6 in subcutaneous fat decreased (P < 0.05) linearly with increasing amounts of vitamin E. The subcutaneous fat n-6:n-3 ratio showed a quadratic (P < 0.05) response to vitamin E. In conclusion, although vitamin E supplementation has some potential to reduce t10-18:1 formation and increase t11-/t10-18:1 ratio in subcutaneous fat of cattle fed barley-based diets, the changes in the present study were limited and may not have been sufficient to impact on human health.


Introduction Used in the private or public USP Performance test, dissolution testing plays an important role in both product development and quality assurance for nonsolution oral dosage forms. The dissolution procedure itself,as described in USP General Chapter Dissolution , is sensitive and specific but requires special care in execution. Results of a recent USP collaborative study of new Lot P Prednisone Reference Standard Tablets indicate much higher reproducibility (interlaboratory variance) than repeatability (intralaboratory variance) (1,2). To improve reproducibility,the USP Biopharmaceutics Expert Committee recommends careful IQ,OQ,and PQ (mechanical calibration),as well as a Performance Verification Test (PVT); the latter two typically are performed at six-month intervals. Several variables such as shaft rotation speed,shaft and vessel alignment,basket/paddle height,and bath levelness have been cited as factors that contribute to high variability of the dissolution procedure. Missing from this list are factors relating to vessel dimension and irregularities,which are the subject of this report.


Previous studies have suggested that increased nitric oxide (NO)‐mediated products are found in the livers of subjects with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), but the mechanisms involved remain enigmatic. We took advantage of immunohistochemistry and several unique monoclonal antibodies to study inflammatory cells responsible for the generation of NO, the enzymes responsible for NO production, the expression of 3‐nitrotyrosine, and the presence of CD68+ and/or myeloperoxidase (MPO)+ cells. We examined a total of 113 liver specimens, including 64 with PBC, 19 with primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), 6 with non‐A, non‐B hepatitis, 6 with alcoholic liver disease, 4 with cryptogenic cirrhosis, 4 with biliary atresia, and 10 normal subjects. Twenty‐two percent of PBC had elevated expression of 3‐nitrotyrosine in their bile duct epithelial cells (BECs) (P = .0316). Furthermore, the BECs in PBC also demonstrated apoptotic changes. MPO‐positive inflammatory cells were also noted adjacent to the basement membrane. In contrast, the liver of normal subjects showed few apoptotic changes in the bile ducts, with no evidence of MPO staining in the portal area. Furthermore, sections from livers of subjects with stage I or stage II PBC demonstrated significantly increased inflammatory cell infiltration (P = .0064) and elevated 3‐nitrotyrosine expression in BECs (P = .0246) compared with stage III and IV. The presence of 3‐nitrotyrosine was closely associated with infiltrating CD68‐ and/or MPO‐positive cells. There was also a stage‐associated difference in the presence of bile duct infiltrating cells and 3‐nitrotyrosine in PBC with an increase dominant in early stage disease. In conclusion, NO and reactive oxygen species, collectively determined as 3‐nitrotyrosine, are associated with bile duct destruction in PBC and are particularly prevalent in early stage disease.


Abstract An increase in oyster aquaculture as a sustainable method of shellfish production is one response to overharvest and degradation of natural oyster reefs over the past century. Successful aquaculture production requires determining the environmental conditions optimal for oyster growth. In this study, the salinity, temperature, chlorophyll a concentration and the growth of Crassostrea virginica were monitored at four locations within the Mission-Aransas Estuary, Texas (USA), a shallow subtropical estuary influenced by relatively low freshwater inflow. Mean growth of the oyster shell (0.205 mm d–1 and 0.203 g d–1) and soft tissues (3.447 mg d–1) was highest when salinity was low (mean = 15.5) and chlorophyll a concentration was high (8.4 μg l–1). Oyster growth also varied temporally with periods of spawning. In low-inflow estuaries such as the Mission-Aransas Estuary, oyster farms should be sited close to river mouths so that oysters can benefit from freshwater inflows and lower salinities.


One of the present challenges of the textile production management consists in correlating the production- quality policies corroborated with the need to control and optimize the manufacturing process from the standpoint of the times of good operation and maintenance respectively. The studies undertaken until now have proved the necessity of a new approach of the causal relationship between safety in operation and production strategies, based on mathematical and neuronal modelling. The objective of our research consists in the determination of reliability/ maintainability relationship for a manufacturing process (dependent output variables), and production/resulted quality (independent input variables). In this connection, we propose a unitary software instrument applied to this optimization problem, able to refine qualitatively the results and to combine the algorithmic character of this mathematical approach with the neuronal networks learning based one. In order to reach the proposed objective, one resorted to the application of quantitative learning techniques (numerical measurement of parameters), qualitative research (proposing the working hypotheses), mathematical modelling, and research in artificial intelligence field (neuronal modelling- generation of test patterns, definition of internal network structure). The two correlation models are comprised in a unitary software application that validates experimentally the hypotheses on causality relationships between variables, and can be proposed as a decision instrument for the operational management problem concerning the Safety in Operation, to support production-quality policies. The application has been tested in the concrete case of spinning process, being in process of validation. The obtained results are used at present in teaching activity (educational software used in practical classes for the disciplines "Maintenance Management" and "Optional Research"), meaning to be extended in the practice of textile production management


The coexistence of ten species of fiddler crab was studied at Ambeua, on the island of Kaledupa, Indonesia. This remarkable level of biodiversity has been used to investigate the species-specific differences that support coexistence. Through studying their morphology, behaviour and the structure of their habitat it can be seen that they occupy distinct but overlapping niches. Each species is described and studied in detail, with notes and imaging based on morphology, phylogenetics, ecology and behaviour. Phylogenetic analysis was conducted using the cytochrome oxidase subunit I and sequences provided strong evidence to support classification. Five transects were delimited in the area of coexistence as well as four outside of this area. Shore height profiles, shading and substrate type were quantified for all transects. Mouthpart morphology was analysed to determine whether associated substrate type correlated with mouthpart morphology. Tubuca coarctata, Tubuca demani, Tubuca dussumieri, Paraleptuca crassipes, and Austruca triangularis were all active in shaded areas and on fine muddy substrates. Austruca cryptica and Austruca mjoebergi were active in unshaded/open areas on sandy substrates, whilst Gelasimus jocelynae, Gelasimus tetragonon and Austruca perplexa were found in both shaded and unshaded areas on sandy substrates. Morphological analysis showed that Tubuca coarctata, Tubuca demani, Tubuca dussumieri, Paraleptuca crassipes, Austruca triangularis, Gelasimus jocelynae and Gelasimus tetragonon all had mouthparts associated with finer sediments whilst Austruca cryptica, Austruca perplexa and Austruca mjoebergi had mouthparts associated with coarser sediments. Detailed analysis of distribution, individual home ranges and nearest neighbours revealed numerous interspecific overlaps and interactions. The close proximity of the local village increases habitat heterogeneity, with crabs recorded living underneath the stilted houses. These anthropogenic factors are directly altering the ecosystem, increasing niche availability and allowing crabs to dwell in places otherwise uninhabitable.


The method of least squares is applied to the theory of small reflections of transmission lines to develop numerical algorithms for the design of stepline and tapered line impedance transformers to match two impedances over a frequency band. The transformer characteristic impedance function is expanded by polynomials, pulse functions, approximate operators, and piecewise linear functions to construct an error function for the input reflection coefficient which, after minimization, gives the line impedance and length. The computer programs could be used to design a transformer under the specified conditions and then to optimize the design under the constraints of a problem.


How do the economic effects of immigration affect radical right support? The evidence in support of the labour market competition theory—which posits that the economic threat posed by immigration to jobs and wages leads to radical right voting—has been mixed. On the one hand, individual‐level surveys underreport economic drivers because of social desirability bias. On the other hand, contextual studies show contradictory findings due to an over‐reliance on units of analysis that are too aggregated to meaningfully capture the competitive threat posed by immigrants. This paper identifies the influence of labour market competition on radical right voting at a local level in contexts where native workers are directly affected by the arrival of immigrants who have similar or higher skillsets. Using an original longitudinal dataset of fine‐grained municipal electoral, demographic and economic data from France over the 2002–2017 period, the paper provides empirical evidence of local contextual influences of economic competition between natives and immigrants of any skillset. Under local conditions of material deprivation, measured by the local unemployment rate, the effect of labour market competition on municipalities' radical right vote share is amplified. Moreover, higher radical right support is observed in municipalities with a higher share of any one of the following groups: low‐skilled natives; medium‐skilled immigrants; or high‐skilled immigrants. This supports the hypothesis that immigrants with higher qualifications are compelled to accept lower‐skilled jobs, and are thus perceived as a competitive threat to low‐skilled natives. By reconciling radical right contextual studies and research on the political economy of immigration policies, this paper highlights the importance of a local analysis in detecting the effect of labour market competition on radical right support. This paper also explains why some local areas are more prone to radical right support than others over time.


This study examines the impact of capital structure on agency costs in 211 non-financial Chinese listed firms for the period 1999-2001. There are two main findings. (1) Firms with high debt to asset ratio have high ratio of annual sales to total assets and high ratio of return-on-equity. If a firm has a high debt to asset ratio, creditors are much more concerned about the payment of interest and repayment of principal and will have incentives to monitor the firm. Thus, a capital structure with high debt decreases agency costs. (2) Positive and significant correlation is identified between ownership concentration and the return-on-equity ratio. This is because the largest shareholders have a strong interest in firm performance and therefore a high ability to reduce agency costs. Our empirical results further illustrate that firms have inclination of refinancing through stock market and harm small shareholders' interest. (Nature and Science 2003;1(1):12-20).


The aim of this study was to elucidate the neuronal protection effect of sodium butyrate (NaB) on neuronal apoptosis in rats with cerebral infarction (CI), and the involvement of the phosphatidilinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (PI3K/Akt) and extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) pathways. MI model in rats was performed by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Three hours after reperfusion, gastric administration of 5 or 10 mg/kg NaB was performed. Neurological deficit score, infarct size and brain edema were evaluated in rats after 24 h of reperfusion. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was conducted to determine contents of oxidative stress factors. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, cell viability and apoptosis in extracted neurons were determined. Moreover, expression levels of Bcl-2, Bax, Akt and ERK1/2 were examined. NaB treatment markedly reduced infarct size and brain edema content in CI rats, and NaB treatment improved viability, decreased LDH activity and reversed contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, NaB treatment dose-dependently reduced apoptotic rate and Bax level, as well as enhanced Bcl-2 level. Protein levels of Akt and ERK1/2 were markedly upregulated in NaB-treated neurons. NaB treatment alleviates neuronal apoptosis via the PI3K/Akt and ERK1/2 pathways in CI rats, thus protecting the deterioration of CI.


: Spring barley is an important high-value crop globally. However, it is highly susceptible to soil-borne diseases in Kazakhstan and the world. Bipolaris sorokiniana (Sacc.) Shoemaker is the most important soil-borne pathogen that causes root rot and spot blotch diseases in cereal crops. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of B. sorokiniana isolated from spring barley leaves to survive in plant residuals of different crops. The fungus was isolated from spring barley leaves from the Zholbarys agro farm of Kerbylak district of Almaty, southeastern Kazakhstan, in 2021. Laboratory experiments were conducted at Kazakh National Agrarian Research University. The study was conducted on 10 th days of seedlings of cereal, legume, and oilseed crops. The obtained results showed that seedlings of spring barley, spring wheat, and oats retained the B. sorokiniana infection. Interestingly, the infection of B. sorokiniana isolated from leaves of spring barley statistically significantly increased symptoms of spot blotch on spring wheat and spring barley seedlings, while symptoms decreased on oats (P-value <0.01). The introduction of rapeseed, chickpeas, peas, and oats into the crop rotation system in southeastern Kazakhstan could limit the volume of the B. sorokiniana infection in spring wheat and spring barley. On rapeseed, peas, and chickpeas seedlings no symptoms of spot blotch were observed (P-value <0.01).


In order to domesticate the freshwater oyster Etheria elliptica , a 42-day freshwater pond rearing trial was conducted in two ponds of equal size (12 m 2 x 1.10 m deep), one of which was fertilized with poultry droppings and the other one was a control (unfertilized). Three depths (30 cm, 60 cm, 90 cm from the bottom of the pond) were tested with one repetition. For each depth, 02 sieves (40 cm diameter and 15 cm depth) were used. A total of 180 oysters with an average size of 37.56±1.95 mm and an initial average weight of 30.35±0.72 g were used with a density of 15 oysters per colander. pH, temperature, transparency, and phytoplankton density were measured daily between 7:00 am and 8:00 am in June-July 2018. Each week, the colanders were checked. Oysters were counted, measured and weighed. The physico-chemical parameters measured in the ponds were consistent with the requirements of tropical water oysters. At the end of the experiments, the survival rate (50±35.36%) was identical for all depths in both ponds. The best growth in size was recorded in the fertilized pond. The sizes increased 2.06 mm and 3.8 mm at 90 cm and 30 cm depth respectively). In contrast, the smallest increases were obtained in the control pond, 0.93 mm and 1 mm at 90 cm and 30 cm depth respectively. In the fertilized pond, the average daily gain ranged from 0.017 g/d (at 90 cm depth) to 0.027 g/d (at 30 cm) while it was between 0.005 g/d (90 cm) and 0.017 g/d (30 cm) in the control pond. As for the specific growth rate, it varied from 0.014%.d -1 (90 cm) to 0.047%.d -1 (30 cm) in the control pond while it was between 0.047%.d -1 (90 cm) and 0.078%.d -1 (30 cm) in the fertilized pond. The best zootechnical performance was recorded between 30 cm and 60 cm in both ponds. Therefore, depths between 30 cm and 60 cm seem to be suitable for rearing Etheria elliptica in ponds. Also, fertilization of the rearing ponds with poultry droppings would improve the growth of the reared oysters.


Prostate cancer is a 5th common cancer among Korean male population, but the incidence is increasing rapidly (12.1% per year). The 5-year relative survival of prostate cancer in Korea is relatively poor (80.1% for 2001-2005 incident cases) compared to other developed countries (99.4%, 2001-2007 incident cases in SEER U.S.A), probably due to later stage at diagnosis. Dietary factors are strongly related to the risk of prostate cancer. Calcium and beta-carotene has been suggested to have a positive and an inverse association with the risk of prostate cancer, respectively. However, several recent studies showed no association with dietary calcium and either no or a positive association with bet-carotene, especially among smokers. We aimed to test the association between calcium and beta-carotene intake and the risk of prostate cancer in a Korean male population. Seoul Male Cohort was established in 1993. Members were recruited from the male beneficiaries of the Korean Health Insurance Company, who were aged 40-59 and living in Seoul. A lifestyle questionnaire survey was conducted through mailing. Dietary intake was measured using a quantitative food frequency questionnaire with 88 food items. Nutrient intake was calculated and the amount was categorized into quartiles (q1-the lowest quartile, q4-the highest quartile). Cancer occurrence was identified through data linkage to the Korean Central Cancer Registry and Korean Death Records. A total of 14,533 members were followed up until December 31, 2008, and 123 incident prostate cancer cases were identified. Multivariable hazard ratios (aHR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were calculated using Cox9s regression model. There was no significant difference between prostate cancer patients and non-cancer cohort members in terms of initial age, family history, body mass index, alcohol intake, and smoking, whereas prostate cancer patients had higher education (p In conclusion, calcium intake did not increase the risk of prostate cancer, and beta-carotene intake may increase the risk of prostate cancer in a Korean male population. Citation Format: Myung-Hee Shin, Jong-Myon Bae, Moo-Song Lee, Dong-Hyun Kim, Zhong-Min Li, Yoon-Ok Ahn. Association between calcium and beta-carotene intake and risk of prostate cancer in Seoul Male Cohort Study. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr A35.


Filamentous fungi have long been recognized as prolific producers of natural products due in a considerable part to their strong track record in producing blockbuster drugs such as penicillin and lovastatin. The biosynthetic enzymes from fungi that assemble these molecules, such as polyketide synthases (PKSs) and nonribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs) are large highly complex multifunctional megasynthetases. Different from their well-studied bacterial counterparts, to date, the biosynthetic programming rules utilized by the fungal PKSs and NRPSs remain largely unknown. Despite the fact that a number of fungal PKSs and NPRSs genes have been discovered over the last three decades, few of them have been characterized and thus directly linked to the biosynthesis of specific fungal secondary metabolites. To fully understand the biosynthetic logic of PKSs and NRPSs and decipher the relationship between sequences and the structures of fungal polyketides and nonribosomal peptides, the thesis focus on three independent fungal biosynthetic systems involving PKSs, NRPS and PKS-NRPS. In the first project, the biochemistry of tandem fungal PKSs for the formation of nanomolar HSP 90 inhibitor radicicol are reconstituted in vivo and in vitro and extensively investigated with the help of tool compounds acyl thioesters. Secondly, a cryptic, NRPS-like enzyme (NRPS325) mined from Aspergillus terreus was reconstituted in vitro and was shown to synthesize thiopyrroles and thiopyrazines via unprecedented mechanisms. The remarkable substrate promiscuity of NRPS325 towards different amino acids, free thiols and β-ketoacyl substrates were explored to produce hundreds of new compounds. Lastly, the genome sequence of Aspergillus clavatus was analyzed and the 30 kb cytochalasin gene cluster was identified based on the presence of the PKS-NRPS and a putative Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenase. Deletion of the central PKS-NRPS gene, ccsA, abolished the production of cytochalasin E and K, demonstrating the direct association between the natural products and the gene cluster. Overexpression of the pathway specific regulator ccsR greatly elevated the titer of cytochalasins.


Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to compare assessment practices for highly visible social initiatives implemented by civil society organizations (CSOs) and businesses in Latin America and Spain. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a secondary analysis of field-based case studies that focused on four dimensions of assessments carried out by companies and CSOs to determine the impact of their social initiatives. The four aspects studied were: definition of the initiative's mission and goals; creation of value for stakeholders; quality of managerial practices deployed in the social initiative; and degree of alignment of mission and strategy. Ad hoc scales were developed and two raters evaluated the cases based on these dimensions. Findings - CSOs made a greater effort than businesses to assess their initiatives, as reflected in the four performance assessment scores. Research limitations/implications - The main limitations were the limited scope of information available for the analysis – a drawback when using secondary data – and the particular characteristics of the initiatives in this convenience sample. Practical implications - Businesses implementing initiatives with expected social impacts as part of their CSR efforts should not rule out the possibility of outsourcing management and assessment of those initiatives to CSOs. Originality/value - The paper sheds light on the relative strengths of CSOs compared with companies with regard to managing and assessing social initiatives. The finding is somewhat unexpected, given the culture of management effectiveness that permeates the business sector. The authors conclude that further study is required to identify the reasons for higher CSO performance and suggest some venues for such studies.


The time evolution of nuclear Bragg diffraction of 14.4 keV synchrotron radiation in a 5?FeBO, crystal was studied when the crystal was excited to magnetoelastic vibrations by a r.f. field of 2.93MH2. The vibrations did not modifu the time evolution of the diffraction. This result is due to the fact that after the excitation by the SR pulse the nuclear vibrations cause only a phase modulation of the re-emitted radiation. Energy spectra, by contrast, are extremely sensitive to vibrations. Thus the present case is an instructive example of complementarity between energy and time domain Mossbauer spectroscopy. Time domain spectroscopy, in particular, will allow to reveal phenomena, which are blured in the energy spectra by vibrations.


For DNA mounted on surfaces for microarrays, microbeads, and nanoparticles, the nature of the random attachment of oligonucleotide probes to an amorphous surface gives rise to a locally inhomogeneous probe density. These fluctuations of the probe surface density are inherent to all common surface or bead platforms, regardless of whether they exploit either an attachment of presynthesized probes or probes synthesized in situ on the surface. Here, we demonstrate for the first time the crucial role of the probe surface density fluctuations in the performance of DNA arrays. We account for the density fluctuations with a disordered two-dimensional surface model and derive the corresponding array hybridization isotherm that includes a counterion screened electrostatic repulsion between the assayed DNA and probe array. The calculated melting curves are in excellent agreement with published experimental results for arrays with both presynthesized and in situ synthesized oligonucleotide probes. The approach developed allows one to accurately predict the melting curves of DNA arrays using only the known sequence-dependent hybridization enthalpy and entropy in solution and the experimental macroscopic surface density of probes. This opens the way to high-precision theoretical design and optimization of probes and primers in widely used DNA array-based high-throughput technologies for gene expression, genotyping, next-generation sequencing, and surface polymerase extension.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the feasibility and clinical utility of Gd-BOPTA enhanced excretory magnetic resonance urography without additional administration of diuretics in correlation with conventional urography.

METHOD
15 preoperative patients with pelvic tumors were examined at 1.5 T using a breath-hold high-resolution 3D-FLASH sequence during first-pass as well as 5, 10, 15 minutes after i.v. injection of 0.05 mmol/kg BW Gd-BOPTA (MultiHance) without administration of diuretics. Post-processed coronal and multiplanar MIP reconstructions were compared to conventional excretory urography with regard to morphologic accuracy, anatomic variability, filling defects, cause and level of obstruction or compression, tumor visibility, and time-effectiveness by two independent radiologists.

RESULTS
Visualization of the urinary tract by MRU was comparable to conventional excretory urography in 14 of 15 cases. Caliceal fornices were better delineated on conventional urographies, whereas MRU was considered superior in the assessment of the inferior ureter sections, the urinary bladder and obstructive tumors, whose extents could be clearly marked out. Examination times of both techniques were comparable.

CONCLUSION
These first results show that non-diuretic Gd-BOPTA enhanced MRU is comparable to conventional excretory urography for the preoperative diagnosis of pelvic tumors. Further improvements of this technique seem possible by optimization of examination intervals and injection doses.


Coherent peripheral collisions of atomic nuclei involve electromagnetic or long range hadronic interactions at impact parameters, where both nuclei survive intact. Recently such ultra-peripheral collisions were observed at RHIC. The effect of the electromagnetic field can be interpreted as a photon-photon collision with an effective center of mass energy up to a few GeV at RHIC. At the Large Hadron Collider the effective center of mass energy will be increased by more than an order of magnitude. This opens new opportunities, ranging from the study of non-perturbative QCD to the search for new physics.


In this paper, a novel nonlinear joint dynamical model is presented, which is based on a set of coupled ordinary differential equations of motion and a Gaussian mixture model representation of pulsatile cardiovascular (CV) signals. In the proposed framework, the joint interdependences of CV signals are incorporated by assuming a unique angular frequency that controls the limit cycle of the heart rate. Moreover, the time consequence of CV signals is controlled by the same phase parameter that results in the space dimensionality reduction. These joint equations together with linear assignments to observation are further used in the Kalman filter structure for estimation and tracking. Moreover, we propose a measure of signal fidelity by monitoring the covariance matrix of the innovation signals throughout the filtering procedure. Five categories of life-threatening arrhythmias were verified by simultaneously tracking the signal fidelity and the polar representation of the CV signal estimations. We analyzed data from Physiobank multiparameter databases (MIMIC I and II). Performance evaluation results demonstrated that the sensitivity of the detection ranges over 93.50% and 100.00%. In particular, the addition of more CV signals improved the positive predictivity of the proposed method to 99.27% for the total arrhythmic types. The method was also used for false arrhythmia suppression issued by ICU monitors, with an overall false suppression rate reduced from 42.3% to 9.9%. In addition, false critical ECG arrhythmia alarm rates were found to be, on average, 42.3%, with individual rates varying between 16.7% and 86.5%. The results illustrate that the method can contribute to, and enhance the performance of clinical life-threatening arrhythmia detection.


A broadband metasurface antenna with a novel hexagonal loop-shaped unit cell structure is presented. A hexagonal loop element array is proposed as the main metasurface radiator, which is aperture-fed through a microstrip line and a coupling slot. The bandwidth can be broadened from two perspectives. On the one hand, the proposed hexagonal loop element is capable of generating broadband radiating bandwidth. On the other hand, due to the shape of the hexagonal loop structure, gaps between unit cells lead to a larger equivalent capacitance. This larger capacitance significantly pulls the fundamental resonant frequency downward, compared with conventional square structures, consequently leading to the broad bandwidth. In the design, the broadband performance is achieved by utilizing five TM modes at five resonant frequencies in the operational band from 4.65 GHz to 8.3 GHz. Apart from the fundamental TM01 mode, only TM12 modes were excited in different parts of the metasurface layer at different frequencies. This has ensured that the proposed antenna can maintain a stable radiation pattern in the desired band. The operation of the proposed antenna is analyzed in detail. The proposed hexagonal metasurface antenna with an overall size of $1.1\,\lambda _{0} \times 1.1\,\lambda _{0} \times 0.06\,\lambda _{0}$ can achieve 56.3% fractional bandwidth and a gain ranging from 7 to 11 dBi, which can be employed in satellite, radar, and wireless communication systems.


Context. Condensation of H2 in the interstellar medium (ISM) has long been seen as a possibility, either by deposition on dust grains or thanks to a phase transition combined with self-gravity. H2 condensation might explain the observed low efficiency of star formation and might help to hide baryons in spiral galaxies. Aims. Our aim is to quantify the solid fraction of H2 in the ISM due to a phase transition including self-gravity for different densities and temperatures in order to use the results in more complex simulations of the ISM as subgrid physics. Methods. We used molecular dynamics simulations of fluids at different temperatures and densities to study the formation of solids. Once the simulations reached a steady state, we calculated the solid mass fraction, energy increase, and timescales. By determining the power laws measured over several orders of magnitude, we extrapolated to lower densities the higher density fluids that can be simulated with current computers. Results. The solid fraction and energy increase of fluids in a phase transition are above 0.1 and do not follow a power law. Fluids out of a phase transition are still forming a small amount of solids due to chance encounters of molecules. The solid mass fraction and energy increase of these fluids are linearly dependent on density and can easily be extrapolated. The timescale is below one second, the condensation can be considered instantaneous. Conclusions. The presence of solid H2 grains has important dynamic implications on the ISM as they may be the building blocks for larger solid bodies when gravity is included. We provide the solid mass fraction, energy increase, and timescales for high density fluids and extrapolation laws for lower densities.


The most important aspect of British historian Raphael Samuel (1934-1996) was his entire way of being a historian. Samuel, a former youth member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, is best known as a founder of the first British New Left (1956-62), the driving force behind the first History Workshop movement (1963-79), which pioneered a distinctive 'history-from-below', and as the author of Theatres of Memory (1994), an idiosyncratic exploration of the past in contemporary culture. Despite all this, he did not advance an especially ground-breaking historical argument or historiographical theory. He set his sights elsewhere, on the democratisation of history making. To achieve this end, he created a distinctive persona as a people's historian through which he projected a radical transformation of what it meant to study history. Yet posterity was both condescending and neglectful, and until recently the full …