Manufacturers are producing an extensive range of added value products which are formulated using meat replacers but which are designed to appeal to a wide range of consumers, above and beyond the "traditional vegetarian" market. This study considered the relatively recent impact of such products on the Northern Ireland market, with a particular emphasis on the quality and acceptability of Quorn based products. A small‐ scale questionnaire (n = 100) considered customer perceptions of meat replacers, whilst the acceptance of selected tofu, textured vegetable protein (TVP) and Quorn products was measured using selected sensory evaluation techniques. The study concluded that Quorn can offer similar texture and flavour attributes to those consumers who wish to avoid meat products for health and/or safety reasons. It is this customer base which needs to be targeted, but it must be noted that negative perceptions of meat replacers still exist. Therefore, further developments need to be supported by appropriate marketing strategies which will both attract and educate consumers and help to achieve a sustained level of purchasing.


Kepler mission results are rapidly contributing to fundamentally new discoveries in both the exoplanet and asteroseismology fields. The data returned from Kepler are unique in terms of the number of stars observed, precision of photometry for time series observations, and the temporal extent of high duty cycle observations. As the first mission to provide extensive time series measurements on thousands of stars over months to years at a level hitherto possible only for the Sun, the results from Kepler will vastly increase our knowledge of stellar variability for quiet solar-type stars. Here, we report on the stellar noise inferred on the timescale of a few hours of most interest for detection of exoplanets via transits. By design the data from moderately bright Kepler stars are expected to have roughly comparable levels of noise intrinsic to the stars and arising from a combination of fundamental limitations such as Poisson statistics and any instrument noise. The noise levels attained by Kepler on-orbit exceed by some 50% the target levels for solar-type, quiet stars. We provide a decomposition of observed noise for an ensemble of 12th magnitude stars arising from fundamental terms (Poisson and readout noise), added noise due to the instrument and that intrinsic to the stars. The largest factor in the modestly higher than anticipated noise follows from intrinsic stellar noise. We show that using stellar parameters from galactic stellar synthesis models, and projections to stellar rotation, activity, and hence noise levels reproduce the primary intrinsic stellar noise features.


Abstract Local transport properties of high-beta plasmas in the Large Helical Device are studied by comparing the beta dependence of the experimental results with that of the gyro-reduced Bohm-type transport coefficients. The gradual degradation of global confinement in the high-beta regime seems to be mainly caused by the increment in the local transport at the peripheral region. Effects of the resistive pressure-gradient-driven (g-mode) turbulence on the peripheral transport are also studied. The comparison of the experimental transport coefficients and the calculation results shows that the resistive g-mode can be considered as one of the causes of this degradation.


Abstract Coccinia abyssinica (Lam.) Cogn. (local name anchote) is a tuber crop that belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and it is cultivated for food and medicinal uses. It has relatively high quality of nutrient composition compared to other tuber crops, and is considered as the leading proteinous root crop with a high calcium content. Therefore, cooked anchote tubers are highly recommended for patients with broken or fractured bones. Anchote also contains alkaloids, phenols, tannins, flavonoids, and saponins. Although anchote is principally cultivated for its tubers, farmers prefer propagation by seeds as they are easy to store. Farmers select high-quality fruits for future seeds, based on the size of fruits and tubers. Since diseases and pests rarely affect the tubers, protection is not common. However, the fruit fly can damage the fruits, which predisposes them to decay. Although anchote has very high potential as a food security crop, it is neglected and underutilized and has received very limited research attention. Research published so far covers its ethnobotany, nutritional and anti-nutritional composition, traditional methods of reproduction, in vitro reproduction, somatic embryogenesis, anther breeding, and morphological and molecular genetic diversity. This article includes an analysis of previous and current research achievements, presents findings in a comprehensive way, and suggests future direction in crop improvement using biotechnological tools.


The occurrence of common disease carriers of various pathogens condition wide prevalence of combined hot spots of tick infections. The comprehensive approach to laboratory diagnostic of these infections is substantiated taking into account specter of main pathogens transmitted by ticks.


Gametic frequencies were obtained in four natural populations of D. sub-obscura by extracting wild chromosomes and subsequently analyzing them for inversions and allozymes. The genes Lap and Pept-1, both located within the same inversions of chromosome O, were found in striking nonrandom associations with them of the same kind and degree in all populations studied. On the contrary, the gene Acph, also located within the previously mentioned inversions, was found in linkage disequilibrium with them only in two populations and of opposite directions. This is also the case for the genes Est-9 and Hk, both located within chromosome E inversions. While the gene Est-9 was in strong linkage disequilibrium with the inversions, of the same kind and degree in all populations studied, Hk was found to be in linkage equilibrium. Allele frequencies for the 29 genes studied do not show geographical variation except for the genes Lap, Pept-1 and Est-9, the ones found in linkage disequilibria with the geographically varying gene arrangements. Although mechanical or historical explanations for these equilibria cannot be ruled out, these data cannot be explained satisfactorily by the "middle gene explanation," which states that loci displaying such linkage disequilibria are the ones located near the break points of inversions, while the ones displaying linkage equilibria with them are located in the middle of them. There is no evidence for consistent linkage disequilibria between pairs of loci, except for the closely linked genes of the complex locus, Est-9. This would imply, if it is not a peculiarity of the Est-9 complex, that the linkage disequilibria are found only between very closely linked loci or that, for less closely linked genes, the associations are too weak to be detected by the usual samples sizes.


This paper identifies "academic feeder judges"—the federal judges (especially from courts of appeals) for whom law professors clerked at the beginning of their careers and the judges who "produce" law professors from the ranks of their former clerks. The study is based on a summer 2019 review of publicly available biographies and c.v.'s of full-time faculty at ABA-accredited law schools, identifying more than 3000 "academic former clerks" and the judges for whom each clerked. From this, the paper identifies:

1) 101 lower federal judges with the most academic former clerks,

2) 52 federal trial judges,

3) 53 federal judges appointed since 1995,

4) top state-court judges, and

5) SCOTUS justices, current and past.

For each judge within each grouping, the study examines appointing presidents, biographical information such as former career, numbers of academic former clerks, rankings of the schools at which former clerks teach, and a projection of how many academics newer judges might produce over a 35-year judicial career. The study closes with some comments and conclusions from the data. (Spoiler alert: The leading academic feeder judge is Guido Calabresi (Second Circuit), followed closely by Stephen Reinhardt (Ninth Circuit, died in 2018), Stephen Williams (D.C. Circuit), and Dorothy Nelson (Ninth Circuit)).


Summary We report two cases of gallbladder ascaridiasis associated with acute hepatitis, its clinical evolution with conservative treatment, making diagnosis by both laboratory and ultrasonographic studies. Case 1: was a male in his early forties who experienced symptoms of acute hepatitis and cholecystitis within a time lapse of 72 h of evolution. When laboratory tests and ultrasound (US) were done, an ascaris inside gallbladder was corroborated. There were also alterations compatible with acute nonviral hepatitis. Conservative treatment was done with observations within an 8-day period that hepatic examinations were normal as well as absence of helminthus inside gallbladder. Case 2: A 10-year-old female, who expelled worms 8 months previously had 11 days evidence of acute cholecystitis and hepatitis. An ultrasound of liver and biliary tract was done, with evidence of Ascaris lumbricoides inside gallbladder, with alterations in hepatic tests. This was medically treated, achieving expulsion of the Ascaris lumbricoides from inside the gallbladder and normalization of liver function tests. Gallbladder ascaridiasis management may be conservative. Patient general condition must be evaluated, as well or medical evolution and associated pathologies that may interfere in certain ways in surgery. Follow-up of these patients must be strict, with medical evaluation and laboratory controls.


&NA; More than one half of cancer patients are likely to develop bone metastasis; thus, most orthopaedic surgeons will be presented with an adult patient with a destructive bone lesion. Proper management requires comprehensive patient evaluation, including history, physical examination, laboratory studies, and radiographic staging. Biopsy should be done in the patient with a possible malignant or metastatic tumor. The differential diagnosis of destructive bone lesions in patients aged >40 years includes metastatic bone disease, multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and, less commonly, primary bone tumors. Inaccurate diagnosis and improper treatment may adversely affect limb or life. Adherence to oncologic principles during the evaluation process aids in minimizing a negative outcome.


To accurately describe the dynamic features of inter-shaft bearings with localized defect under operation, the dynamic model of inter-shaft bearing with localized defects was established with respect to time-varying displacement excitation. Based on fault simulations on a birotor experimental rig, the developed dynamic model of inter-shaft bearing is validated to have high accuracy (over 99%) when localized defects happen on inner and outer race with co- and counter-rotation, which indicates that the model can be adopted to simulate the faults of inter-shaft bearing instead of experiment. Through investigation of the square-root (SR) amplitudes of bearing vibration with different defect sizes, radial loads, and rotational directions, we find that the SR amplitudes of bearing vibration increase with increasing defect size and radial load for both co- and counter-rotation. The amplitudes of counter-rotation are larger than those of co-rotation for inner race and outer race, and the amplitude of inner race defect are larger than that of outer race defect for the same defect size or same radial load. This work reveals the SR variation of bearing vibration with localized surface defects under different defect sizes and radial loads, and accurately describes the dynamic characteristics of inter-shaft bearing with localized defects. The efforts of this study open a door to adopt a dynamic model in the future to evaluate and monitor the health condition of inter-shaft bearings in an aeroengine or other rotating machinery.


The purpose of this review was to identify studies that have investigated the effect of carbohydrate (CHO) mouth rinse on exercise performance, and to quantify the overall mean difference of this type of manipulation across the studies. The main mechanisms involving the potential benefit of CHO mouth rinse on performance was also explored. A systematic review was conducted in the following electronic databases: PubMed, SciELO, Science Direct, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), without limit of searches. Eleven studies were classified as appropriate and their results were summarized and compared. In nine of them, CHO mouth rinse increased the performance (range from 1.50% to 11.59%) during moderate- to high-intensity exercise (~75% Wmax or 65% VO2max, ~1 h duration). A statistical analysis to quantify the individual and overall mean differences was performed in seven of the 11 eligible studies that reported power output (watts, W) as the main performance outcome. The overall mean difference was calculated using a random-effect model that accounts for true variation in effects occurring in each study, as well as random error within a single study. The overall effect of CHO mouth rinse on performance was significant (mean difference = 5.05 W, 95% CI 0.90 to 9.2 W, z = 2.39, p = 0.02) but there was a large heterogeneity between the studies (I2 = 52%). An activation of the oral receptors and consequently brain areas involved with reward (insula/operculum frontal, orbitofrontal cortex, and striatum) is suggested as a possible physiological mechanism responsible for the improved performance with CHO mouth rinse. However, this positive effect seems to be accentuated when muscle and liver glycogen stores are reduced, possibly due to a greater sensitivity of the oral receptors, and require further investigation. Differences in duration of fasting before the trial, duration of mouth rinse, type of activity, exercise protocols, and sample size may account for the large variability between the studies.


This paper is an unedited version of a reply to Burke et al's (forthcoming) response to my critique of the notions of 'institutional habitus' and 'family habitus' in the sociology of education. It begins by welcoming the work done by the threesome to distance themselves from some of the clumsier uses of the terms in previous research but then, via a revisiting of the three fatal flaws underscored in the original paper, points out that the processes and themes supposedly spotlighted by the new concepts have already been named and conceived by Bourdieu but much more clearly and coherently. Finally, I contemplate the trio's strategy of positioning themselves and their misapprehension of Bourdieu as a gallant heterodoxy compared to the crude and uncritical orthodoxy that my own efforts supposedly represent.


Background: Studies evaluating the hemostatic effects of fibrinogen administration in cardiac surgery are not conclusive. Aims: We investigated whether the use of a low-dose human fibrinogen in case of clinical bleeding after protamine administration and concomitant low FIBTEM values is effective in reducing postoperative bleeding. Secondary end-point was to investigate the consumption of allogeneic blood products. Setting and Design: This was a retrospective matched study conducted at university hospital. Materials and Methods: Among 2257 patients undergoing surgery with cardiopulmonary (CPB) bypass, 73 patients received a median dose of 1 g human fibrinogen (ROTEM-Fibri group). This group was matched with 73 patients who had not received human fibrinogen (control group) among 390 patients having undergone surgery at the moment FIBTEM analysis was unavailable. Statistical Analysis: Matching was performed for the type and the presence of redo surgery. McNemar and Wilcoxon paired tests were used to respectively compare the categorical and quantitative variables. Results: The CPB bypass time was significantly higher in the ROTEM-Fibri group (P = 0.006). This group showed significantly higher bleeding in the first 12 and 24 h postoperatively (P < 0.001) and required significantly more transfusion of blood products (P < 0.001) and surgical revision (P = 0.007) when compared with the control group. There was no significant difference in the number of thromboembolic complications. Conclusions: These results show that the administration of 1 g of fibrinogen based on low-FIBTEM values and clinical bleeding after protamine administration does not stop bleeding and the need for transfusion of allogeneic blood products.


Hymenoptera stings are a health concern. Apidae (bees), Vespidae (hornets, yellow jackets and wasps) and Formicidae (ants) are medically-important stinging insects under the order Hymenoptera. Clinical features from simple skin manifestations to severe and fatal organ injury are due to the hypersensitivity reactions and/or the toxic effects of the venom inoculated. Here we discuss on Hymenoptera stings involving apids (honey bees) and vespids (wasps, hornets and yellow jackets) and their effect on renal function and associated morphological changes in the kidney. Despite the differences in venom composition and quantity released per sting in two insect groups, both lead to similar medical consequences, such as localised normal allergic reactions, mild to severe anaphylaxis and shock and multiple organ and tissue injury leading to multiple organ failure. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the unusual complications of Hymenoptera stings and has the basis of both immune-mediated and toxic effects. Evidence has proven that supportive therapy along with the standard medication is very efficient in completely restoring the kidney function without any recurrence.


: The initiation of bone formation in the avian mandible requires that neural crest-derived cells undergo an inductive interaction with mandibular epithelium. To examine the role of the epithelial basal lamina in that interaction, mandibles were separated into their epithelial and mesenchymal components following exposure to the chelating agent, EDTA. Transmission and scanning electron microscopy was used to show that the basal lamina was retained as a continuous layer over the mesenchyme. Osteogenesis was initiated when such EDTA-isolated mesenchyme was grafted to the chorioallantoic membranes of host embryos. In contrast, mesenchyme isolated using trypsin and pancreatin failed to form bone. It is concluded that the property of mandibular epithelium which permits osteogenesis resides within the basal lamina.


OBJECTIVE
Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) Mental Health developed and trialled two clinical pathways on psychosis and depression between 2001 and 2003 with the aim of improving a range of clinical and financial parameters. There was a strong commitment from senior management, appropriate resources were allocated and there was adequate staff support. Following a 6-month trial, the pathways were reworked extensively and combined into an acute inpatient pathway. From October 2003 to 2004, we trialled the acute inpatient clinical pathway, and monitored clinical and financial parameters.

CONCLUSION
Over this 12-month period, the acute inpatient clinical pathway failed to demonstrate improvement on a range of clinical and financial parameters and its use was ceased. This trial lends support to the view that the complexity, individuality and variability of mental disorders means that clinical pathways are not beneficial in mental health settings.


We present a vulnerability-based approach for considering climate as a threat in regional conservation planning.  The protocol is based on best available understanding of the climate sensitivity of species and systems of concern, has little reliance on climate or ecological change scenarios, and can be executed rapidly.  This approach has advantages of (1) not being tied to environmental scenarios with high uncertainty and (2) generating 'no regrets' strategies for planning for climate in the context of other threats.  The approach was implemented in an ecoregional assessment of the British Columbia Central Interior.  Regional strategies to reduce climate vulnerability were applied to set conservation targets and goals in the site-selection process.  These had a wide-ranging impact on both freshwater and terrestrial conservation assessments.  Selection of high-priority areas based on climate strategies generally (1) increased the number, size, and connectivity of selected areas, (2) included and expanded on areas selected using standard protocols, (3) drew more on moderately favorable areas, and (4) showed similar outcomes for different parts of the domain, but with some selection bias to more northern areas and higher reaches of drainages.  These planning outcomes adhere to the 'no regrets' goal—enhancing the adaptive capacity of species and systems to multiple threats while taking heed of a climate threat.  The resulting plan sets the regional stage for on-the-ground climate-wise strategies by providing for larger, less fragmented, and more connected conservation sites and with restoration as a complementary strategy to reduce ecosystem vulnerability.


While the effects of NAFTA will not be known for quite sometime, an early appraisal can be made (1) using an econometric decomposition of trade patterns with and without the agreement and (2) assessing NAFTA as a learning process. Results show that the Agreement helped increase Mexican imports from the U.S. when Mexican incomes were rising and helped prevent a further fall in imports when incomes were falling. As a learning process, the most promising aspect of the Agreement is reliance on tri-national civil society as the warrant of implementation of the clauses of the agreement and of each country's labor and environmental laws. This is inducing the active participation of a thickening web of corporatist and non-governmental organizations that cut across national boundaries. Political sustainability of the Agreement requires to deal not only with the transitory poverty created by economic adjustments, but also with the deeper problem of social exclusion from the benefits of globalization.


Global climate models (GCMs) are gaining importance due to their capability to ascertain climate variables that will be useful to develop long, medium and short term water resources planning strategies. Applicability of K-Means cluster analysis is explored for grouping 36 GCMs from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 for maximum temperature (MAXT), minimum temperature (MINT) and a combination of maximum and minimum temperature (COMBT) over India. Cluster validation methods, namely, Davies–Bouldin Index (DBI) and F-statistic are used to obtain an optimal number of clusters of GCMs for India. The indicator chosen for evaluation of GCMs is probability density function based skill score. It is noticed that optimal clusters for MAXT, MINT and COMBT scenarios are 3, 2 and 2, respectively. Accordingly suitable ensembles of GCMs are suggested for India for MAXT, MINT and COMBT individually. The suggested methodology can be extended to any number of GCMs and indicators with minor modifications.


The aim of the current study was to determine the optimum concentration of bovine serum albumin for post-thawing quality of drone sperm and this is the first study to evaluate the effect of BSA supplemented TL-Hepes based extenders for drone semen cryopreservation. Sexually mature drones were used for semen collection. Pooled semen was diluted with TL-Hepes based extender supplemented with different concentrations of BSA (1 mg/mL, 3 mg/mL, and 5 mg/mL) or without BSA (control), at a final concentration of 100x106 spermatozoon/mL. Motility, plasma membrane functional integrity (HOST), and defected acrosome (PSA-FITC) were evaluated in the study. At post thaw, the highest sperm motility rates were obtained in the BSA5 group (P<0.05). Functional integrity of sperm membrane was better preserved in the BSA3 and BSA5 groups compared to the other groups. The acrosomal integrity rates were higher in BSA5 group than in control group (P<0.05). The study shows that bovine serum albumin supplemented TL-Hepes based extenders have beneficial effect on drone semen parameters at post-thaw. The results of the study demonstrated a notable advantage of using 5 mg/mL of BSA in TL-Hepes based extender.


In this special session we meet a set of projects in computer science and engineering education at a university in Saudi Arabia. They are the product of a pedagogical development course ran in collaboration with a Swedish university during the academic year 2013/2014. The projects reflect the local situation, with its possibilities and challenges, and suggest steps to take, in the local environment, to enhance education. As such it is a unique document that brings insights from computer science and engineering education into the international literature.


Abstract : SRI International is currently developing a prototype remote telepresence surgery system, for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), that will bring life- saving surgical care to wounded soldiers in the zone of combat. Remote surgery also has potentially important applications in civilian medicine. In addition, telepresence will fmd wide medical use in local surgery, in endoscopic, laparoscopic, and microsurgery applications. Key elements of the telepresence technology now being developed for ARPA, including the telepresence surgeon's workstation (TSW) and associated servo control systems, will have direct application to these areas of minimally invasive surgery. The TSW technology will also fmd use in surgical training, where it will provide an immersive visual and haptic interface for interaction with computer-based anatomical models. In this paper, we discuss our ongoing development of the MEDFAST telesurgery system, focusing on the TSW man-machine interface and its associated servo control electronics.


This paper describes our efforts in building a heritage corpus of Alpine texts. We have already digitized the yearbooks of the Swiss Alpine Club from 1864 until 1982.
This corpus poses special challenges since the yearbooks are multilingual and vary in orthography and layout. We discuss methods to improve OCR performance and experiment with combining two different OCR programs with the goal to reduce the number of OCR errors. We describe a merging procedure that uses a unigram language model trained on the uncorrected corpus itself to select the best alternative, and report on evaluation results which show that the merging procedure helps to improve OCR quality.


Successful blastocyst implantation depends upon the synchronous dialogue between age- and stage-matched embryo and adequately primed maternal endometrium. Endometrial signals present in the uterine lumen influence the growth and the viability of preimplantation stage embryo. Thus, uterine secretion of embryotoxic cytokines may affect the preimplantation stage embryo. Our previous study in the rhesus monkey has indicated that tumor necrosis factor- α (TNF- α ) is one such candidate present in the uterine lumen, which may act as an embryotoxic agent. In the present study, the effect of TNF- α on de novo protein synthesis by mouse morulae (n=100) and blastocysts (n = 1 00) in vitro was investigated by 2D-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. A total of 35 and 40 protein spots were detected in lysates of control morulae and blastocysts, respectively. Exposure of embryos to TNF-α (50 ng/ml) reduced the number of protein spots to 15 and 17 compared to that of control morulae and blastocysts. Seven spots in morula and 13 protein spots in blastocyst flourograms showed quantitative changes in their expressions with exposure to TNF-α . Morulae and blastocysts exposed to TNF-α expressed 8 and 17 protein spots, respectively, that were not seen in control embryos. It appears from the present study that exposure of preimplantation stage embryos to TNF-α affects their protein synthesis both quantitatively and qualitatively.


To maintain continuous production, adequate monitoring systems are needed on all components of equipment that are prone to failure. However, it is not economically feasible to attach a dedicated monitoring system on every piece of equipment. Therefore, the alternative is to purchase a portable system that can be moved between components. Most monitoring algorithms, however, require the sensor to be aligned in a very specific direction relative to the component. This is frequently difficult and requires a substantial amount of time. Unfortunately, if the sensor is not precisely aligned, the reliability of the scheme dramatically decreases. Thus, when the probe is removed and later reattached, unless the sensor is exactly realigned, most algorithms cannot compare the two signals to determine if anything has changed. To overcome this situation, this paper utilizes multivariate models to formulate a methodology that allows acceleration signals to be monitored independent of sensor orientation. The paper demonstrates how the accelerometer's orientation can be changed during testing without detracting from the scheme's ability to track the condition of the component, thus allowing the probe to be easily removed and reattached.


As development of stacked Nanosheet Gate All-Around (GAA) transistor continues as the candidate technology for future nodes, several key process points remain difficult to characterize effectively. With the GAA device strategy, it is critical to have an inline solution that can provide a readout of physical dimensions that have an impact on the threshold voltage (VT) and yield. Metrology challenges for obtaining these metrics arise from increasingly dense arrays coupled with both high aspect ratios, high numbers of correlated parameters, and increasingly complex 3D geometries. Large area metrology structures can be used for 3D parameters' process monitoring through techniques such as scatterometry and xray diffraction (XRD) which deliver averaged results over that area, but variation impacting specific devices cannot currently be understood without destructive cross-section. Prior work to characterize the dimensions of these GAA devices has primarily featured optical metrology, X-ray metrology, and critical-dimension scanning electron microscopy (CDSEM), but these techniques have their own challenges at the critical process points. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) had not been utilized due to the aspect ratios and small trench widths which were inaccessible to conventional techniques. However, due to recent advances in scanning and novel probe technologies, AFM is well-suited now to solve these local, three-dimensional challenges. Through this study, we demonstrate AFM characterization of a key process point in the GAA process flow for multiple structures with varying channel lengths, after epitaxial (epi) growth along the Si sidewall. The AFM scan results are compared to CDSEM images for top-down corroboration of topography and to other reference metrology for height correlation. The impact of measured variations in epi height to device performance is also reviewed.


High-quality and high-performance real-time interactive video streaming requires both keeping the highest data transmission rate and minimizing data packet loss to achieve the best possible streaming quality. TCP-friendly rate control (TFRC) is the most widely recognized mechanism for achieving relatively smooth data transmission while competing fairly with TCP flows. However, because its data transmission rate depends largely on packet loss conditions, high-quality real-time streaming suffers from a significant degradation of streaming quality due to both a reduction in the data transmission rate and data packet losses. This paper proposes the dynamic probing forward error correction (DP-FEC) mechanism that is effective for high-quality real-time streaming to maximize the streaming quality in a situation in which competing TCP flows pose packet losses to the streaming flow. DP-FEC estimates the network condition by dynamically adjusting the degree of FEC redundancy while trying to recover lost data packets. It effectively utilizes network resources and adjusts the degree of FEC redundancy to improve the playback quality at the user side while minimizing the performance impact of competing TCP flows. We describe the DP-FEC algorithm and evaluate its effectiveness using an NS-2 simulator. The results show that by effectively utilizing network resources, DP-FEC enables to retain higher streaming quality while minimizing the adverse condition on TCP performance, thus achieving TCP friendliness.


We offer a theoretical approach to federalism by defining a theoretical approach as a general account of the subject. It is general in that it applies in any political situation, at any time in history when political entities that are recognizable as nations existed. It is an account in being a systematic examination of the subject that is connected to the overall structure of analysis in one or more academic disciplines, in this case law and political science. Following this approach, we reach the conclusion that federalism must be understood as a matter of political identity. People's individual commitments in the political realm, their sense of who they are and where they belong, will determine the descriptive reality and the prescriptive necessity of federal arrangements.


Preliminary literature suggests that oral immunoglobulin therapy may be of value in severe GI infections, but the optimal antibody class, dosage, and duration of treatment still need to be defined in larger, controlled clinical trials. Most of the information currently available comes from case series and small, uncontrolled trials. Additionally, there is no clear indication on how to select the best candidates for this type of therapy, since the limited information in the literature comes from different patient populations. In all probability, the substantial cost of this approach to treatment will not be justifiable in most pediatric patients with gastroenteritis.


Weeds cause crop loss indirectly by reducing the quantity of resources available for growth. Quantifying the effects of weed interference on nitrogen (N) supply, crop growth, and N nutrition may assist in making both N and weed management decisions. Experiments were conducted to quantify the effect of N addition and weed interference on soil nitrate-N (NO 3 - N) over time and the dependence of corn growth on NO 3 -N availability, determine the corn N nutrition index (NNI) at anthesis, and evaluate if relative chlorophyll content can be utilized as a reliable predictor of NNI. Urea was applied at 0, 60, and 120 kg N/ha to establish N treatments. Season-long weedy, weed-free, and five weed interference treatments were established by delaying weed control from time of crop planting to the V3, V6, V9, V15, or R1 stages of corn development. Soil NO 3 -N ranged from 20 kg N/ha without N addition to 98 kg N/ha with 120 kg N/ha added early in the season, but crop and weed growth reduced soil NO 3 -N to 10 kg N/ha by corn anthesis. Weed presence reduced soil NO 3 -N by up to 50 % . Average available NO 3 -N explained 29 to 40 % of the variation in corn shoot mass at maturity. Weed interference reduced corn biomass and NNI by 24 to 69 % . Lack of N also reduced corn NNI by 13 to 46 % , but reduced corn biomass by only 11 to 23 % . Nondestructive measures of relative chlorophyll content predicted corn NNI with 65 to 85 % accuracy. Although weed competition for factors other than N may be the major contributor to corn biomass reduction, the chlorophyll meter was a useful diagnostic tool for assessing the overall negative effects of weeds on corn productivity. Further research could develop management practices to guide supplemental N applications in response to weed competition.


In this paper, a graphene-based THz metamaterial has been designed and characterized for use in sensing various refractive index profiles. The proposed single-band THz sensor was constructed using a graphene-metal hybridized periodic metamaterial wherein the unit cell had a footprint of 1.395λeff × 1.395λeff and resonated at 4.4754 THz. The realized peak absorption was 98.88% at 4.4754 THz. The sensitivity of the proposed metamaterial sensor was estimated using the absorption characteristics of the unit cell. The performance of the sensor was analyzed under two different categories, viz. the random dielectric loading and chemical analytes, based on the refractive index. The proposed THz sensor offered a peak sensitivity of 22.75 GHz/Refractive Index Unit (RIU) for the various sample loadings. In addition, the effect of the sample thickness on the sensor performance was analyzed and the results were presented. From the results, it can be inferred that the proposed metamaterial THz sensor that was based on a refractive index is suitable for THz sensing applications.


This article describes the sensor development efforts that are inspired by the unique acoustic source tracking capability of aquatics such as fish. The physiological basis in the natural system has been attributed to the unique directional responses of hair cell sensor in the otolith. To emulate such directional transduction behaviors, a hair sensor based on piezoelectric microfiber is attempted. The sensor employs piezoelectric fiber both as the hair shaft and as the transduction element. A pair of electrodes was deposited on the fiber surface both for sensor signal collection and for polarizing the piezoelectric materials. Both computational modeling analysis and experimental study were conducted to validate the sensor performance. The hair sensor was found to possess directional responses that change in the pattern of a cosine function of the loading direction, resembling that observed in the hair cell sensor in the biological system. Such transduction behaviors pave the technical basis to emulate the unique acoustic tracking strategy by aquatics. PACS 07.07.Df, 07.10.Pz, 77.84.Cg, 87.19.lt


Climate change has a serious impact on the availability of various resources on the earth especially water, which sustains life on this planet. Changes in the biosphere, biodiversity and natural resources are adversely affecting human health and quality of life. Throughout the 21st century, India is projected to experience warming above global level. India will also begin to experience more seasonal variation in temperature with more warming in the winters than summers. Longevity of heat waves across India has extended in recent years with warmer night temperatures and hotter days, and this trend is expected to continue. The average temperature change is predicted to be 2.33°C-4.78°C with a doubling in CO2 concentrations. These heat waves will lead to increased variability in summer monsoon precipitation, which will result in drastic effects on the agriculture sector in India. Climate models predict a gradual rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and temperature across the globe. These models, however, are not very precise in predicting future changes in local weather conditions. Local weather conditions such as rain, temperature, sunshine and wind, in combination with locally adapted plant varieties, cropping systems, and soil conditions can maximize food production as long as plant diseases can be controlled.


Many researchers, and policy makers, across Europe emphasise entrepreneurship education as the way to a future new welfare society. Why? The aim of this paper is to discuss critically entrepreneurship education, starting in contemporary European research on entrepreneurship. Earlier research defines entrepreneurship as a temporary process of innovation, only possible in capitalistic societies. In more recent research entrepreneurship is located within the entrepreneur, to a limited number of traits typical for the entrepreneurial personality despite its surroundings. Environmental or cultural factors are treated as either to promote or inhibit entrepreneurial behaviour/personality. The locus to specific traits of the individual is the logic behind the, normative and quite naive, favouring of entrepreneurship education. Entrepreneurship education, characterised by learning by doing, practice-orientation, and so on, is viewed as the way to foster the right kind of individuals; individuals with the specific traits who form a kind of inner resources that can be profitable on the global market. In this perspective, entrepreneurship education seems to be a part of the ongoing neo liberal oriented restructuring process, which is sweeping through Europe, and the writings on entrepreneurship education can be understood as a specific political/ideological activity.


The development of Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) over the past decade has witnessed continued expansion, and it is now recognised as a powerful analytical technique. In Chapter 1 the concepts of CE are introduced and the various separation modes available to CE are discussed. Combinatorial Chemistry is a technique that is rapidly re-shaping the drug discovery process. This novel and cost-effective approach is capable of synthesising vast numbers of chemical variants all at one time, followed by the screening of these molecules for their bio-activity. This growing interest in combinatorial chemistry by the pharmaceutical industry has influenced the development of new analytical techniques for the analysis of such complex molecules. In Chapter 2 a CE method was developed for the separation of NSG-peptoid combinatorial libraries. In total, six libraries were examined. The separation power and versatility of CE makes it an ideal tool for the analysis of such libraries. A particular attraction is the ease with which the selectivity can be manipulated to bring about the efficient separation of these libraries. Chapter 3 discusses a CE method for the separation and analysis of products and intermediates of L-Dopa oxidation with Diode Array Detection (DAD). L-Dopa is one of the most important pre-cursors in the melanogenesis pathway. In this study both the tyrosinase enzyme and sodium periodate were used to catalyse several key steps in this pathway. Because of the instability of several of the intermediates formed, the detection and isolation of these compounds has remained problematic. Herein the advantages offered by CE are discussed and comparisons made with spectroelectrochemical techniques. Cyclic voltammetry and chrononcoulometric methods were used for the characterisation of the final polymeric product, melanin, and its utility as a sensor/biosensor assessed.

Recent advances in biosensor development are discussed in Chapter 4, in particular, for the detection and monitoring of toxins. The suitability o f electroactive redox polymers as artificial mediators is examined and the concepts of charge propagation through such polymers. Recent trends have been to 'wire' a redox enzyme to an electrode via the use of these redox polymer chains. The development of a 'reagentless' immobilised enzyme inhibition sensor for respiratory poisons is described in Chapter 5. This system was based on the co-immobilisation of tyrosinase and a redox polymer, [Os(bpy)2 (PVT)ioCl]Cl (OsPVI), where bpy is the 2,2'-bipyridine ligand and the (PVI)io is poly-N-vinylimidazole indicating a ratio of co-ordinated redox sites to free pendant groups of 1:10. The hydrogel enzyme electrode allows 'reagentless' sampling of the enzyme activity by electrochemicaliy 'switching on' the enzymatic reduction of oxygen through electrochemical reduction of the immobilised osmium redox couple. This tyrosinase based
sensor is capable of detecting any modulator of enzyme activity. Both homogenous and heterogeneous enzyme inhibition were investigated. The respiratory poison azide, which inhibits the tyrosinase enzyme, was selected as a model inhibitor to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. It is envisaged that this system can be extended for the detection of other inhibitors of tyrosinase such as cyanide. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the conclusions reached during the course of this research and looks at possible areas for future research.


Almost all papers contain optical brightening agents (OBA) in process color printing. The colorimetric value shifts toward larger negative b* as the amount of OBA in paper increases. Paper containing OBA creates problems in printing conformance because colorimetric aim points of the printing standards, e.g., ISO 12647, have not been updated. To correct for the measurement differences due to OBA effect, this research printed the IT8.7/4 target on paper with and without OBA under the same printing conditions, measured with a spectrophotometer including UV, and corrected printed color produced by paper with without OBA with a linear correction per ISO 13655 as well as an experimental polynomial model via regression. The results showed that the polynomial method corrects the measurement difference between paper with and without OBA better than the linear correction method. Specifically, 90% of color differences between uncorrected data are 4.5∆E76; the linear method can correct the difference to 2.8∆E76; and the polynomial method can correct the difference to less than 1.6∆E76.


Propolis is the resinous substance gathered by the honeybee Apis mellifera from various plants. Its biological activities as well as its chemical composition are extremely variable depending on the geographical origin and climate. The present research was aimed to assess the ant-microbial activity of Sudanese and Chinese propolis against (Candida albicans, Spergillus niger, Escherichia coli, and Salmonella typhi). Ether extract propolis (EEP) and methanol extract propolis (MEP) in concentrations: 5%, 10%, and 20% were applied to the cultures of the micro-organisms using agardiffusion method. The diameters of clean inhibitory zones of propolis and some standard anti-biotic were measured. The results indicated that both Sudanese and Chinese propolis have imposed similar inhibitory activities (concentration dependent) on the tested micro-organisms. However, the Chinese MEP has shown significantly different inhibitory activity (P < 0.01) on Spergillus niger than Sudanese MEP.


: Three cooperative groups are currently accruing patients to randomized Phase III studies of 5-FU plus leucovorin. These studies should provide data allowing more definitive conclusions regarding the therapeutic utility of this combination. Until results of these studies are available, 5-FU plus leucovorin (CF) remains an investigational treatment, not suitable for routine use.


directed. It would be easy enough, were it needful at the preeent stage of cholera inquiry, to decry and discredit all explanations which attribute discrete manifestations to general influences, or to argue that the doctrines of personal or local susceptibilities, as accounting for limited liability, rest on a very frail basis. The analogy ofthe gelatine plate might, on the other hand, be pushed to plausible and, mutatis mutandis, probable speculations. But the purpose of this letter is not to add to the already overwhelming and confusing mass of infructuous speculation founded on statistical aggregates and imperfect studies of widespread outbreaks, rather to draw jpointed attention to the well-known and characteristic attribute of grouping which the disease uniformly displays both in its incidence and progress, and to suggest that in the exercise of imagination as an instrument of discovery this feature of grouping must not be lost sight of; nay, must be held in view as a dominant and indispensable element in the epidemiological study of the disease.-I am, etc., Upper Norwood, Dec. 10th. K. McLsOD.


This paper introduces a multi-modal authentication approach for payments using a face image and the low energy Bluetooth (BLE) signal of a user's device. Devices of registered users transmit temporally changing one-time identifiers. During a payment request, the query face image is only matched with database entries corresponding to nearby users, thereby significantly reducing the complexity of the task. For cases in which a user does not carry their device, the system includes a fallback mechanism to PIN-based two-factor authentication. A classifier on depth data input is used to reduce vulnerability to presentation attacks. We conducted a user study of different payment methods and demonstrated our system at a public event with 951 users.


A fast-sampling, Transient Electromagnetic (TEM) system was assembled for mapping probable UXO submerged in a shallow fresh-water lake near Gambell, Saint Lawrence Island, Alaska. The survey was designed to generate optimal data given the survey area, UXO characteristics, and the required depth of exploration. Since the search area was a fresh-water lake in an arctic climate, the survey was conducted in early May. The lake ice was still sufficiently thick to provide safe access, but most of the snow cover had melted, making it easy to move equipment across the search area. A continuous-sampling TEM system that records averaged data every three seconds was mounted on a sled and towed at a slow walk by the equipment operator. A real-time differential GPS unit recorded the sled's location every five seconds. Using this system, a total of 426,000 line-feet of profile with an average sample interval of 7.5 ft were surveyed over a period of 14 days. At each sample point, vertical-component transient data were recorded at 26 delay times, ranging from 7 to 570 microseconds. In this paper, we describe in detail the design of the antenna system and the survey. Area maps of the TEM response at several gates are presented. Using the maps and transient profile plots, target locations were picked. Analysis of the transient decay curves observed over the targets provides additional information about target size and conductivity.


This work represents the attempts of several major scholars to respond to the historical problems presented throughout the biblical testimony and their description of what this means for reading scripture. Walter Brueggemann, for example, has written a wonderful article on various historical problems within the book of Genesis, beginning with Von Rad's and Noth's use of source criticism and his own understanding of how historically dissimilar texts can function within scripture. This book honors the work and life of Gerald Sheppard, who broke ground in biblical studies by describing what it means to read the Bible as Jewish and Christian Scripture. It distinguishes between the original historical dimensions of the text or mere redaction levels of tradition history and what Sheppard regarded as the "Scriptural Form" of the biblical testimony. It provides new and fresh ways for describing scripture as both a human testimony and also divine revelation. The Bible as a Human Witness to Divine Revelation provides examples of how major scholars have responded to the limits of the older-modern criticisms within the framework of still applying a variety of historical criticisms and paying attention to the later formation and context of the biblical book. It also helps readers understand how to hear "the word of God" through biblical text that are filled with historical dissimilarities or even contradictions. The book shows scholarly examples that respond to crises of both the pre-modern and modern eras as unfinished projects because pre-modernity tended to ignore the human dimensions of scripture and modernity tended to limit its inquiry only to that single dimension.


Giant cell tumors (GCTs) of the skull bones are extremely rare and can be very aggressive. The tumor location and the frequent associated local infiltration did not allow adequate surgical treatment. However, with modern microsurgery techniques, a more complete removal of tumor may be possible. Nevertheless, postoperative radiation therapy appears to be the most effective tool in achieving local control of the tumor. We report a 30-year-old young male, treated initially for a GCT of the right temporal bone with surgery alone, which presented nine months later. A local recurrence necessitated surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy using high energy photons without mixing with protons. The patient achieved a good outcome and local control for more than 12 months of follow-up, with good cosmetic result and without significant toxicity. The aim of our work is to demonstrate that 3D conformal radiation therapy using only photons of high energy is a safe and effective adjuvant treatment of GCT of the temporal bone, and therefore equivalent to proton therapy. doi:10.4021/jmc15w


Introduction The importance of paraglacial processes – those which operate immediately following deglaciation–in modifying glacial landforms and sediment associations in mountainous areas has been established for some time (Ryder 1971a,b; Church and Ryder 1972). Of particular importance is the development of large alluvial fans and valley fills, often associated with the redistribution of sediment via large debris flows (Jackson et al. 1982; Claque 1986; Eyles and Kocsis 1988; Eyles et al 1988; Owen 1989). On a slightly smaller scale is the development of thick deposits of head due to the reworking of glacial sediments on steep slopes (e.g. Wright 1983; Owen 1991; Harrison 1993; Ballantyne and Harris 1994; Benn and Ballantyne 1994). In the Scottish Highlands the significance of periglacial processes and Holocene debris flows in reworking valley side sediments has frequently been described (e.g. Brazier and Ballantyne 1989; Ballantyne and Harris 1994). In contrast, paraglacial processes have received relatively little attention, yet these also had the potential to modify the land-form and sediment assemblages in many Highland valleys. Given that recent work on these assemblages has emphasised their complexity (e.g. Benn 1992; Bennett and Boulton 1993a; Bennett 1994) the effects and products of paraglacial activity perhaps deserve greater attention within Scotland. This communication records observations made in a road-side cutting, above Loch Torridon (Fig. 1), within a thick, valley-side, sediment accumulation and suggests that this is the product of both paraglacial and periglacial modification of a now indistinct lateral moraine. Geomorphology and sedimentology The section is in a road-side . . .


INTRODUCTION
Gestational trophoblastic disease represents a variety of conditions that include hydatiform mole and choriocarcinoma. The common manifestation is high levels of beta human chorionic gonadotropin. In Mexico the incidence of the disease is 2.5 per 1,000 pregnancies.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
This is a retrospective and descriptive analysis of patients with partial, complete or persistent hydatiform mole or choriocarcinoma diagnosis made from January 1988 to December 2003. We studied demographic characteristics, risk groups, treatment and response. We used descriptive statistics, multivariate analysis and Kaplan-Meier method for the survival analysis.

RESULTS
We found 71 cases, the mean age at diagnosis was of 26 years, and 60.6% had choriocarcinoma. Vaginal bleeding was the most common manifestation at diagnosis. Thirty patients had low risk disease and 25 of them received chemotherapy based in methotrexate and folinic acid, 88% had complete response. In 10% of the cases the use of salvage chemotherapy showed a complete response. Overall survival was 100% at five years. Forty-one cases belonging to intermediate and high risk group were treated with chemotherapy (etoposide and actinomycin D in 68.3%). Overall response was of 90.2%, with complete response in 58.5% and partial response in 33.3%. Overall survival was of 94% at five years. Two cases developed second malignancies secondary to etoposide.

CONCLUSION
Our results are similar to those reported in the literature. Overall survival in the low risk group was 100% and in the intermediate and high risk group of 94%. Etoposide and actynomicine D as first line chemotherapy had comparable results to those reported with EMA-CO and MAC.


. Symmetry in integer programs (IPs) can be exploited in order to reduce solving times. Usually only symmetries of the original IP are handled, but new symmetries may arise at some nodes of the branch-and-bound tree. While symmetry-handling inequalities (SHIs) can easily be used to handle original symmetries, handling sub-symmetries arising later on is more intricate. To handle sub-symmetries, it has recently been proposed to add SHIs that are activated by auxiliary variables. This, however, may increase the size of the IP substantially as all sub-symmetries need to be modeled explicitly. As an alternative, we propose a new framework for generically activating SHIs, so-called activation handlers . This framework allows for a direct implementation of routines that check for active sub-symmetries, eliminating the need for auxiliary variables. In particular, activation handlers can activate symmetry-handling techniques that are more powerful than SHIs. We show that our approach is flexible, with applications in the multiple-knapsack, unit commitment, and graph coloring problems. Numerical results show a substantial performance improvement on the existing sub-symmetry-handling methods.


The strength of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is believed to depend on the westerly wind stress blowing over the Southern Ocean, although the exact relationship between winds and circumpolar transport is yet to be determined. Here we show, based on theoretical arguments and a hierarchy of numerical modeling experiments, that the global pycnocline depth and the baroclinic ACC transport are set by an integral measure of the wind stress over the path of the ACC, taking into account its northward deflection. Our results assume that the mesoscale eddy diffusivity is independent of the mean flow; while the relationship between wind stress and ACC transport will be more complicated in an eddy‐saturated regime, our conclusion that the ACC is driven by winds over the circumpolar streamlines is likely to be robust.


This article proposes that the affective processes that shape our relationship to the world of digital consumption and communication can be illuminated further when viewed through a lens of object relations psychoanalysis. We focus on the use of the mobile phone as both an object in the world and of the psyche in order to reflect upon its uses as an evocative object that shapes the psychosocial boundaries of experience in everyday life. We argue that in contrast to the concepts of interpersonal communication that can be found in some domains of popular culture and in communication studies, object relations psychoanalysis can be usefully deployed in order to explore the unconscious attachments that develop in relation to consumer objects, allowing for the complexity of feeling and reflection that may emerge in relation to them and the potential spaces of the mind. The mobile phone's routine uses and characteristics are widely understood. At the same time, the mobile phone invites critical reflections that identify a paradoxical object of both creative and pathological use. Such reflexivity includes the mobile's relationship to the complexity of psychosocial experience within the contemporary cultural moment. Applying the ideas of psychoanalysts Donald Winnicott, Thomas Ogden and Christopher Bollas, we argue that one explanation for why the mobile phone continues to attract not only enthusiastic cultural commentary but also a degree of apprehension across academic and popular-discursive settings can be found in its capacity to both disrupt and connect as an object of attachment and as a means of unconscious escape


Fifty-eight patients, 13 girls and 45 boys, with early-onset schizophrenia (mean 5.4 years) were followed up for 9.5 years. The men age at end point was 19.7 years. Full remission or recovery was not identified in any of the patients. The partial remission was observed in 14 (24%) patients and 44 (76%) patients had chronic course without remissions. Two thirds of patients were disabled including 9 patients with severe, 25 patients with moderate and 1 patient with mild disability. Most of the patients (62%) became disabled in childhood. Fourteen patients need the constant care and control from caregivers; 24 patients were able to work in special conditions, 20 patients can live independently and support themselves; 57 patients lived with parents and 1 patient was married. It has been concluded that notwithstanding the intensive psychopharmacotherapy and rehabilitative programs, patients with early-onset schizophrenia show poor outcomes. Therefore, new social-therapeutic approaches for providing care to these patients are needed.


In his recent book The Tell-Tale Brian Vilayanur Ramachandran explores in great metaphoric detail his materialist notion that consciousness is nothing more than the brain's neurons linking and resonating together in synesthetic-metaphoric patterns determined by materialist-mechanistic evolution. In this exploration of his account of metaphor and language, taking account of the actual evidence provided by evolutionary development biology and quantum physics, we find that his naive materialist perspective of how brain functioning creates the world of meaning is nothing more than a phantom in his brain.


INTRODUCTION During a NIVA (Norwegian Institute for Water Research) environmental monitoring cruise along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast, a 16 mm long specimen of the foraminifer Pelosina arborescens Pearcey, 1914, was found in light brown, bioturbated, soft muddy sediment collected with a Gemini corer on 29 May 2008, in 350 m water depth SE of Arendal, Norway (58° 24.177′ N, 9° 01.648′ E). In an effort to pull the individual out of the sediment with forceps, it was accidentally cut into two separate parts (the 'root' and the dendritic part). The two pieces were isolated in a 180 ml, 72 mm diameter, plastic container with about 1 cm of sea water and stored in a fridge at near-ambient temperature (about 7°C). On return to the lab four days later (2 June), the two test-pieces had rejoined in their original position and were photographed using a Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera attached to a Nikon SMZ1000 binocular microscope. The mended fracture (where the two pieces had rejoined) was clearly visible (Fig. 1). The individual was kept in a fridge at 9–10°C and, two days later (4 June), it was still in one piece, even when the water in the container was carefully swirled. The plan was to cut the individual one more time (this time deliberately) to see if the process of rejoining the two pieces would be repeated. However, when manipulating the test to take a new picture, it broke at the old fracture. The test looked worn and the …


Finite element models for metal forming are used to design and optimise industrial forming processes. The limit strain in sheet metal forming can be predicted for monotonic loading or strain paths with changes. Models like these should be as accurate as possible in order to be useful, and hence take the texture, microstructure and substructure (dislocation patterns) into account. To achieve this, a hierarchical type of modelling is proposed in order to maintain the balance between calculation speed (required for engineering applications) and accuracy. In that case, FE models to be used at the engineering length scale work with an analytical constitutive model, the parameters of which are identified using results of multilevel models (meso-scale with an homogenisation procedure). The analytical model to be used at macro-scale will be discussed, as well as the identifications procedure. The later make use of meso-scale models. Finally an example will be given (formability of a sheet material).


Botulinum neurotoxins are highly effective therapeutic products. Their therapeutic success results from highly specific and potent inhibition of neurotransmitter release with a duration of action measured in months. These same properties, however, make the botulinum neurotoxins the most potent acute lethal toxins known. Their toxicity and restricted target cell activity severely limits their clinical utility. Understanding the structure-function relationship of the neurotoxins has enabled the development of recombinant proteins selectively incorporating specific aspects of their pharmacology. The resulting proteins are not neurotoxins, but a new class of biopharmaceuticals, Targeted Secretion Inhibitors (TSI), suitable for the treatment of a wide range of diseases where secretion plays a major role. TSI proteins inhibit secretion for a prolonged period following a single application, making them particularly suited to the treatment of chronic diseases. A TSI for the treatment of chronic pain is in clinical development.


In this paper, a downlink security-aware resource allocation problem with delay constraint via spectrum sensing is modeled as a mixed integer non-linear problem for non-orthogonal multiple access-based cognitive radio network. The security-aware resource allocation is subject to constraints in required delay for each secondary user, maximum number of accessed secondary users at each subchannel, total interference power threshold introduced to primary users, and total power consumption at secondary BS. The security-aware resource allocation is based on channel state information at the physical layer and queue state information at the link layer. According to the queue buffer occupancy, a probability upper bound of exceeding the maximum packet delay based on M/D/1 queuing model is analyzed in terms of a required minimum secrecy transmission rate. Then, a secondary user scheduling problem and a power allocation problem are solved, separately. Finally, the secondary user scheduling problem is solved via greedy algorithm, and a power allocation algorithm is proposed by successive convex approximation method. The simulation results demonstrate that the performance of proposed algorithms can be improved significantly.


It is a major challenge to process high-dimensional measurements for failure detection and localization in large-scale computing systems. However, it is observed that in information systems, those measurements are usually located in a low-dimensional structure that is embedded in the high-dimensional space. From this perspective, a novel approach is proposed to model the geometry of underlying data generation and detect anomalies based on that model. We consider both linear and nonlinear data generation models. Two statistics, that is, the Hotelling T2 and the squared prediction error (SPE), are used to reflect data variations within and outside the model. We track the probabilistic density of extracted statistics to monitor the system's health. After a failure has been detected, a localization process is also proposed to find the most suspicious attributes related to the failure. Experimental results on both synthetic data and a real e-commerce application demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in detecting and localizing failures in computing systems.


Lightning is a very common natural phenomenon which primarily solicits little attention. In this climate – allied innate localized activity, high electric charges are generated which cause disastrous outcomes, both physically and economically. Many lives are burnt and severe losses are suffered due to this natural disaster. But, it is often doubted that the deaths and economic losses due to lightening are under reported. Many reasons are cited as difficult in getting authentic figures, inadequacy of the government rules in the reporting areas etc. Disaster relief is also outside the sphere of such calamity. Comparison between the loss figures due to lightning with other disaster loss figures also reveals that the former ranks higher than the latter. Still, many of the lightning disasters are not properly accounted and recompensed by National Calamity and Relief Fund or any other such Relief Funds. The article is an attempt to see the depth of such an issue and major challenges faced by the victims to get the compensation from the authorities. Also, suggestions are sought to arrive at a satisfying solution to such an unnoticed problem.


Machine learning approaches to knowledge compilation seek to improve the perfonnance of problem-solvers by storing solutions to previously solved problems in an efficient, generalized fonn. The problem-solver retrieves these learned solutions in appropriate later situations to obtain results more efficiently. However, by relying on its learned knowledge to provide a solution, the problem-solver may miss an alternative solution of higher quality - one that could have been generated using the original (non-learned) problem-solving knowledge. This phenomenon is referred to as the ITUlSking effect of learning.

In this paper, we examine a sequence of possible solutions for the masking effect. Each solution refines and builds on the previous one. The fmal solution is based on cascaded filters. When learned knowledge is retrieved, these filters alert the system about the inappropriateness of this knowledge so that the system can then derive a better alternative solution. We analyze conditions under which this solution will perfonn better than the others, and present experimental data supportivt: of the analysis. This investigation is based on a simulated robot domain called Groundworld.


Scholars of industrial clusters and networks have recently called for more research on network's chance over time. This paper contributes a further step along that path. It uses micro-level data based on the execution of a pair of identical studies in the main wine cluster in Chile in 2002 and 2006. Through the collection of social network data, it explores the role of a set of mechanisms of social interaction to explain the change in the cluster knowledge network. Two particular findings are important. First, in line with other network studies, we find that well-known micro-level mechanisms of social interaction, such as homophily, reciprocity and transitivity, do influence the formation of new knowledge linkages among cluster firms. Second, however, we find that these mechanisms seem not to work when firms have weak knowledge bases, as firms with a level of knowledge bases below a minimum threshold are consistently cast out of the cluster knowledge network, in some cases even exit the cluster. A more general finding of this study is the coexistence of a significant instability at the micro-level with meso-level stability in the structural properties of the intra-cluster knowledge network, in line with the idea of retention put forward by evolutionary economists to explain the path dependent nature of economic systems. Possible reasons for this and implications for further research are discussed.


IT IS GENERALLY agreed that the operation of choice for carcinoma of the breast is radical mastectomy based on most of the concepts of Halsted and of Willy Meyer. No general agreement exists, however, on the amount of skin that should be removed in the performance of the operation. There are those who advocate removing a large amount of skin and covering the raw areas with skin grafts and those who allow enough skin to remain for a primary closure. The first group, or the "Halsted group," apparently believe that the cancer is spread by permeation and embolism into the lymphatic vessels to the skin. The second group subscribes to the conclusion of Handley, 1 who believed that the spread of cancer was through the vertical lymphatic vessels. Both groups agree that embolism, permeation and, more rarely, vascular routes are available for dissemination of the carcinoma. Since the exact route


The electronic properties of chromia scales grown between 800°C and 900°C on chromium metal and chromia-forming ferritic stainless steels were determined using room temperature PhotoElectroChemistry (PEC) experiments and the relative importance of the n- and p-character of the scales could be assessed. According to the thermodynamic previsions of defects structures, the external part of all the scales grown in oxygen exhibits band gap energy around 3.5 eV, with a marked p-type character on chromium and a possibly n-type behaviour on stainless steels. On the contrary, the internal part of the scales is always n-type, with predominant interstitial chromium defects. A major change appears when chromium or stainless steels are oxidised in water vapour-argon mixtures, where the absence of a p‑type semiconductor in the scales could be evidenced. Hydrogen defects are thought to be responsible of this particular behaviour which leads to a strong reduction of residual stresses due to increased high temperature relaxation. Moreover, the inversion of the growth direction resulting from high mobility of the OH defects makes the chromia scales grown in water vapour more adherent than when grown in oxygen.


Background: Alpha-amylase is the most important enzyme in the digestion of starch. Activators of this enzyme could be potentially used as digestive aids and its inhibitors block the absorption of starch compounds and result in the control of blood sugar levels. This study aimed at the investigation of aromatic compounds on bovine serum alpha-amylase. Methods: Effect of carvacrol, cumyl phenol, tryptamine, tryptophan, N-acetyl-L-tryptophan, Bis phenol A, 2-benzyloxy phenol, 2,6 diisopropyl phenol and 4-chloro-2-isopropyl-5-methyl phenol was investigated on bovine serum alpha-amylase with use of artificial substrate (laboratory kit). Results: Most of tested aromatic compounds showed a similar pattern. All these compounds had 5-30% inhibitory effect on the tested serum with the exception of tryptamine which showed a 20% increase in the enzyme activity. The best inhibitory effect was obtained from cumyl phenol in the range of 30%. Conclusion: This study showed that aromatic compounds with one and two cycles have moderate inhibitory effect on bovine serum alpha-amylase and tryptamine showed a slight activator effect. With regard to these results, indolic and phenolic structures may be effective on alpha-amylase, and in the next step, investigation of these compounds derivatives is suggested.


BACKGROUND
Studies have reported young ages at cancer diagnosis in HIV-infected persons and have suggested that HIV accelerates carcinogenesis. However, these comparisons did not account for differences in population age structures.

OBJECTIVE
To compare ages at diagnosis for non-AIDS-defining types of cancer that occur in both the AIDS and general populations, after adjustment for differences in age and other demographic characteristics between these populations.

DESIGN
Registry linkage study.

SETTING
15 HIV/AIDS and cancer registry databases in the United States.

PARTICIPANTS
212 055 persons with AIDS enrolled in the U.S. HIV/AIDS Cancer Match Study from 1996 to 2007.

MEASUREMENTS
Comparison of age-at-diagnosis distributions for various types of cancer in both the AIDS and general populations, after adjustment for age and other demographic characteristics.

RESULTS
The proportion of person-time contributed by older persons (age ≥65 years) was far smaller in the AIDS population (1.5%) than in the general population (12.5%). Reflecting this difference, the ages at diagnosis for most types of cancer were approximately 20 years younger among persons with AIDS. However, after adjustment for differences in the populations at risk, the median ages at diagnosis in the AIDS and general populations did not differ for most types of cancer (for example, colon, prostate, or breast cancer; all P > 0.100). In contrast, ages at diagnosis of lung (median, 50 vs. 54 years) and anal cancer (median, 42 vs. 45 years) were significantly younger in persons with AIDS than expected in the general population (P < 0.001), and the age at diagnosis of Hodgkin lymphoma was significantly older (median, 42 vs. 40 years; P < 0.001).

LIMITATIONS
Information on other cancer risk factors, including cigarette smoking, was not available. Analysis was restricted to non-Hispanic white and black persons who had AIDS, which could limit the generalizability of the findings to other racial and ethnic groups or to persons with HIV but not AIDS.

CONCLUSION
For most types of cancer, the age at diagnosis is similar in the AIDS and general populations, after adjustment for the ages of the populations at risk. Modest age differences remained for a few types of cancer, which may indicate either acceleration of carcinogenesis by HIV or earlier exposure to cancer risk factors.

PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE
National Cancer Institute.


: Macrocyclic, dimeric lactones have known pharmacological activities that make them attractive synthetic targets but are typically synthesized following an iterative approach. Herein, we report a visible light-mediated approach to macrocyclic dimers that allows access to 1-and 2-azetine-containing dimeric lactones. Notably, up to 30-membered macrocycles are formed following this strategy that results in 1-azetine dimers via four consecutive triplet energy transfers, while 2-azetines are formed in a sequence relying on two consecutive triplet energy transfers. Computational investigations provide important insights into the reaction mechanism, suggesting that intermolecular [2+2]-cycloadditions are preferred under non-standard Curtin-Hammett conditions over the corresponding intramolecular reaction. The


The polyol pathway plays an important role in the formation of diabetic complications of the eye. Due to variations in the pharmacokinetic properties of aldose reductase inhibitors and variations in the degradation of the blood-ocular barrier, it is often difficult to determine the proper intraocular levels of aldose reductase inhibitor required for inhibition of aldose reductase activity in ocular tissues. Utilizing localized magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), the present method can determine adequate inhibition of aldose reductase activity in the lens by noninvasively measuring polyol pathway activity in the eye. New Zealand White rabbits, under anesthesia, were administered an intravitreal injection of 3-fluoro-3-deoxy-D-glucose (3FDG). Localized MRS was then used to assess polyol pathway activity by determining the levels of 3-fluoro-3-deoxy-D-sorbitol (3FS) and 3-fluoro-3-deoxy-D-fructose (3FF) metabolite formation from 3FDG in the eye. MRS was able to follow the loss of 3FDG from the vitreous into the anterior segment of the eye and particularly into the lens and aqueous. The primary metabolism of 3FDG observed by MRS was the formation of 3FS in the lens that is catalyzed by aldose reductase. Production of 3FS was linear in time and decreased with the oral administration of an aldose reductase inhibitor.


We previously demonstrated, using the Piry virus model, that environmental enrichment promotes higher T-cell infiltration, fewer microglial changes, and faster central nervous system (CNS) virus clearance in adult mice. However, little is known about disease progression, behavioral changes, CNS cytokine concentration, and neuropathology in limbic encephalitis in experimental models. Using Cocal virus, we infected C57Bl6 adult mice and studied the neuroanatomical distribution of viral antigens in correlation with the microglial morphological response, measured the CNS cytokine concentration, and assessed behavioral changes. C57Bl6 adult mice were maintained in an impoverished environment (IE) or enriched environment (EE) for four months and then subjected to the open field test. Afterwards, an equal volume of normal or virus-infected brain homogenate was nasally instilled. The brains were processed to detect viral antigens and microglial morphological changes using selective immunolabeling. We demonstrated earlier significant weight loss and higher mortality in IE mice. Additionally, behavioral analysis revealed a significant influence of the environment on locomotor and exploratory activity that was associated with less neuroinvasion and a reduced microglial response. Thus, environmental enrichment was associated with a more effective immune response in a mouse model of limbic encephalitis, allowing faster viral clearance/decreased viral dissemination, reduced disease progression, and less CNS damage.


Photogrammetry, the process of creating 3D digital models from a series of 2D photographs, has the potential of making cultural heritage objects and collections more accessible. The low-cost and relatively easy-to-learn technique allows for the quick creation of highly-accurate 3D renderings of objects, from small statuettes, to entire buildings and historic sites. Several cultural heritage institutions, including the British Museum and the Smithsonian Institution are already employing photogrammetry to provide greater access to their collections. And the technique was a key topic of conversation at a conference on 2D and 3D photography held at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 2017. This article describes all aspects of the photogrammetry workflow, from image capture and editing, to working with photogrammetry software such as Agisoft Photoscan, to editing and sharing 3D models on websites such as Sketchfab. The aim of the article, given the increasing importance of 3D visualization in the cultural heritage field, is to provide visual resources professionals with the knowledge necessary to begin their own experiments in photogrammetry.


Author(s): Martinez Martinez, Jessica Aurora | Advisor(s): Ennis, Daniel B | Abstract: MRI examinations for patients with active implantable medical devices (AIMDs) pose significant safety concerns. Among them, induced currents by the radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field can result in tissue damage. While the magnetic component of the RF field (B1) is necessary for spin excitation, the electric component does not have a significant role during an MRI exam but it is mostly responsible of the induction of currents that get concentrated by the AIMD. The induced current propagates in the AIMD lead and when it reaches the end of the lead, a temperature increase is observed at the lead,iicommonly known as lead-tio heating (LTH), which can damage the surrounding tissue. A large number of factors impact the magnitude of the induced currents. Therefore, the analysis can be extremely complex, which contributes to difficulty associated with understanding how to safely examine patients with an AIMD using MRI. Consequently, and unfortunately, MRI examinations for patients with AIMDs are often denied. To reduce safety risks, device manufacturers have created MR-conditional AIMDs which under specific conditions safety risks are reduced. The conditions often include the specific absorption rate (SAR). SAR is a measure to estimate RF exposure measured by the MRI scanner which is often limited to a certain value to mitigate temperature increase. However, meeting SAR conditions can be challenging. In this dissertation, a thorough examination of the parameters that affect RF-induced AIMD heating is performed. Novel techniques for mitigating device heating are addressed including a workflow that provides guidance for modifying protocols to reduce the applied RF power with limited impact on diagnostic image quality. Additional work provides an analysis of the magnitude of the RF electric fields with the aim of reducing the induced device heating.The motivation behind this thesis is provided in Chapter 2. A review of the risks associated with MRI exams for patients with MR-conditional and non-conditional cardiac AIMDs. The current clinical practice for performing MRI examinations is provided in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 is a brief introduction to the physics behind the static magnetic and time varying electromagnetic fields used in MRI. A brief introduction to nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is also provided.Chapter 5 main goal is to find a method to allow MRI clinics to modify standard protocols while limiting the effect on image quality and scan time. To do so, a workflowiiithat modifies SAR dependent sequence parameters in a specific order was suggested and tested for head, C-spine, L-spine and T-spine vendor provided protocols. The protocols were modified to meet SAR levels as low as 0.1 W/kg which is ~95% less than SAR for conventional examinations. We believe that the proposed workflow will solve the potential examination denials of MR-conditional devices due to the lack of guidance to meet really low SAR conditions.Chapter 6 presents a simple method for reducing RF induced lead-tip heating (LTH) for patients with MRI unsafe cardiac AIMDs. LTH is known to depend on the lead-path and distance to isocenter. Herein we suggest that by simply changing patient orientation from a head-first to a feet-first orientation LTH can be mitigated. The principle behind this is steeped in the fact that the RF electric field is spatially asymmetric and temperature increase is proportional to the magnitude of the electric field. Thus, by moving to a lower E-field magnitude, LTH can be reduced. Hence, for MR-unsafe cardiac AIMDs implanted on a left side switching from a head-first to a feet-first orientation was then suggested. To do so temperature data was acquired for MR-unsafe cardiac devices following different lead paths and at nine positions within the human body. The results show that changing orientation can reduce LTH. There was no scenario in which LTH was significantly worse in a feet-first orientation.In Chapter 7 a comparison of LTH at 1.5T and 3T is provided. With 1.5T being the standard field strength used for scanning patients with cardiac AIMDs, examinations at 3T are generally contraindicated. The principal motivation is that SAR increases with the square of field strength, thus the rationale suggests that for patients with cardiac AIMDs, RF-induced device heating will increase as well. Notably, however, the interactionsivbetween the cardiac AIMD and the RF-electromagnetic field are subject to resonant length effects, hence LTH may not be worse. In addition to resonant effects, LTH depends


The new orientation of the Common Agriculture Policy encourages producers to respond to market forces. In addition, the public expect producers to contribute to a living countryside. Based on this context, the purpose of the paper is to discuss what other marketing alternatives exist for the promotion of mountain quality food products beyond labelling. This is done through the analyses of shelves and postal surveys to retailers, carried out as part of the EU project EuroMARC, which included information for Austria, France, Norway, Romania, Slovenia and UK (Scotland). The analysis concentrates on two product promotion aspects: display and store-promotion, and communication of product attributes. The results indicate that even without labelling policy there is scope to improve the promotion of mountain quality food products.


The article is dedicated to comparison of two folk lullabies – Irish Cronan na Balantra and Georgian Iavnana, reflected in wonderful fictionwritings, correspondingly, Patrick Pearse's "The Mother" and "What did Iavnana do?" by Iakob Gogebashvili. It is shown that lullabies are aninevitable part of the child's early years. But lullabies are special among folk songs and fairy tales, they are sort of magic – they carry all mother'slove, they are protection and support.  It is noteworthy that both stories were written by icon figures for Irish and Georgian nations. Otherwise, theyare very different. What unites both stories and what permitted us to make this comparison is the magic of a lullaby, the miracle of mothers' love totheir children, the eternal and universal topic for humankind.  The fact is that almost at the same period of time, two different authors from farawayfrom each other countries who never knew each other, were underlining the importance of lullabies. They taught us how to hope, to be wise andpatient, to be humans, love our children, care for and pass our culture from generation to generation.


This article is devoted to the development of an algorithm for processing underwater acoustic phase-shift keyed pseudo noise signals with Doppler effect compensation. An important criterion in the development was to reduce the computational complexity, since it is supposed to be used in autonomous underwater vehicles and systems. Within the framework of the study a review of the methods for Doppler frequency shift compensation was carried out. An algorithm was developed on the basis of one of the traditional methods for solving this problem. A mathematical modeling was conducted using a probabilistic model of a signal at the receiver input, taking into account the noise and multipath propagation characteristics. During the modeling the developed algorithm has shown good efficiency: noise immunity is less in comparison with the base method up to 2 dB. It was possible to achieve a significant reduction in computational complexity.


Background The ETATMBA (Enhancing Training And Technology for Mothers and Babies in Africa) project-trained associate clinicians (ACs/clinical officers) as advanced clinical leaders in emergency obstetric and neonatal care. This trial aimed to evaluate the impact of training on obstetric health outcomes in Malawi. Method A cluster randomised controlled trial with 14 districts of Malawi (8 intervention, 6 control) as units of randomisation. Intervention districts housed the 46 ACs who received the training programme. The primary outcome was district (health facility-based) perinatal mortality rates. Secondary outcomes included maternal mortality ratios, neonatal mortality rate, obstetric and birth variables. The study period was 2011–2013. Mortality rates/ratios were examined using an interrupted time series (ITS) to identify trends over time. Results The ITS reveals an improving trend in perinatal mortality across both groups, but better in the control group (intervention, effect −3.58, SE 2.65, CI (−9.85 to 2.69), p=0.20; control, effect −17.79, SE 6.83, CI (−33.95 to −1.64), p=0.03). Maternal mortality ratios are seen to have improved in intervention districts while worsening in the control districts (intervention, effect −38.11, SE 50.30, CI (−157.06 to 80.84), p=0.47; control, effect 11.55, SE 87.72, CI (−195.87 to 218.98), p=0.90). There was a 31% drop in neonatal mortality rate in intervention districts while in control districts, the rate rises by 2%. There are no significant differences in the other secondary outcomes. Conclusions This is one of the first randomised studies looking at the effect of structured training on health outcomes in this setting. Notwithstanding a number of limitations, this study suggests that up-skilling this cadre is possible, and could impact positively on health outcomes. Trial registration number ISRCTN63294155; Results.


In anticipation of data taking, ATLAS has undertaken a program of work to develop an explicit state representation of the experiment's complex transient event data model. This effort has provided both an opportunity to consider explicitly the structure, organization, and content of the ATLAS persistent event store before writing tens of petabytes of data (replacing simple streaming, which uses the persistent store as a core dump of transient memory), and a locus for support of event data model evolution, including significant refactoring, beyond the automatic schema evolution capabilities of underlying persistence technologies. ATLAS has encountered the need for such non-trivial schema evolution on several occasions already. This paper describes the state representation strategy (transient/persistent separation) and its implementation, including both the payoffs that ATLAS has seen (significant and sometimes surprising space and performance improvements, the extra layer notwithstanding, and extremely general schema evolution support) and the costs (additional and relatively pervasive additional infrastructure development and maintenance). The paper further discusses how these costs are mitigated, and how ATLAS is able to implement this strategy without losing the ability to take advantage of the (improving!) automatic schema evolution capabilities of underlying technology layers when appropriate. Implications of state representations for direct ROOT browsability, and current strategies for associating physics analysis views with such state representations, are also described.


Background and Purpose—Most large, randomized phase III efficacy trials of therapeutic agents in ischemic stroke have failed to find treatment benefit. We determined whether some phase III studies could have been avoided if preceded by smaller single-arm phase II studies to evaluate the futility of proceeding to phase III. Methods—To provide examples of the application of phase II methodology, we obtained primary outcome data for the active treatment group of 6 phase III ischemic stroke therapy trials. For each study, we estimated the sample size number required for a multistage single-arm study using parameters specified in the original study. We evaluated outcome data for the first number of subjects in the phase III study treatment arm ordered by enrollment dates. We compared the proportion of favorable outcomes to prespecified stopping criteria derived from a single-arm phase II futility design. If the observed proportion of favorable outcomes was less than the stopping criterion, we declared the treatment not sufficiently effective to warrant further evaluation in phase III. Results—We identified 3 trials as futile in phase II; none of 3 showed treatment efficacy in phase III. In the 3 remaining phase II trials in which we did not show futility, one showed efficacy in phase III. Conclusion—Single-arm phase II futility studies have been underused in stroke research, but provide a strategy for discarding treatments likely to be ineffective in phase III trials. (Stroke. 2005;36:2410-2414.)


ABSTRACT A novel sensitive voltammetric method for the determination of the insecticide pymetrozine was designed using a solid working electrode. A mercury meniscus modified silver solid amalgam electrode in connection with differential pulse voltammetry was found to be appropriate for the determination of the insecticide. Pymetrozine provided one well-developed reduction peak suitable for analytical purposes at approximately −800 millivolts (vs. the Ag/AgCl electrode) in an acidic medium. The voltammetric behavior of pymetrozine as a function of the pH of the supporting electrolyte and scan rate was investigated using cyclic voltammetry and direct current voltammetry, respectively. The optimum conditions for determination using differential pulse voltammetry were in a Britton-Robinson buffer at pH 3.0 with a limit of detection of 5.4 × 10−8 moles per liter and a linear dynamic range from 2 × 10−7 to 1 × 10−4 moles per liter. The relative standard deviations of repeated determinations (n = 5) at various concentrations of pymetrozine did not exceed 3%. The results obtained using a silver solid amalgam electrode were compared with those achieved on hanging mercury drop electrode. The influence of possible interfering agents was also studied. The practical application of the method was verified by analysis of pesticide preparations and fortified river water.


This beautifully illustrated book offers the first inside view of how the breakup of the Soviet bloc has affected this farthest republic and its nomadic peoples. The first Western scholars to be given permission to conduct fieldwork in Mongolia, Melvyn Goldstein and Cynthia Beall lived among a community of herders to study how they were adapting to Mongolia's transition to democracy and a market economy. Weathering temperatures below zero, living in the nomads' "ger, " drinking "suteytsai" (milk-tea), eating "bordzig" (a pastry made from wheat dough) and pieces of solid fat (a Mongolian delicacy), Goldstein and Beall studied the seasonal migrations and traditional lifestyle of the nomads. They also watched as a herders' collective under the Marxist-Leninist system made the difficult transition to a shareholding company through the government's privatization reforms. The book's magnificent photographs and accompanying text introduce us to a proud people undergoing enormous change as their country emerges from years under communism. "The Changing World of Mongolia's Nomads" promises an engaging read for anyone interested in nomads, Mongolia, East and Central Asia, and the transformation of the Soviet Union.