Maxillary sinus floor elevation is an effective method for bone augmentation in the posterior maxilla. Due to the limitations of autogenous bone grafts, bone substitutes are often used for this purpose. This study sought to compare the histologic and histomorphometric results of using NanoBone® and easy-graft™CRYSTAL for maxillary sinus floor elevation. This randomized double-blind split-mouth clinical trial was conducted on nine healthy patients requiring bilateral (n=18) sinus floor augmentation. Dental implants were placed six months after sinus floor elevation. Biopsy samples were taken at the time of implant surgery and analyzed using HistoMorphoMeter Ver.1.0 software. Histomorphometric analysis indicated that NanoBone® and easy-graft™ residues accounted for 32.71±10.39% and 26.61±9.48% of the bioptical volume, respectively. The amount of new bone formation was 25.29±7.29% and 18.69±5.63% in the NanoBone® and easy-graft™ groups, respectively. Paired samples t-test showed significant differences between the two groups in this respect (P=0.0001 ( . Well-mineralized regenerated bone with lamellar parallel-fibered structure and Haversian systems surrounded the particles in both groups. Both tested materials yielded acceptable histological outcomes six months after surgery. NanoBone® caused superior new bone formation. Although longer follow-ups and larger sample size are needed, these preliminary results encourage further research in this respect.


Congenital hypothyroidism is the most common endocrinological disorder in children. Genetic and intrauterine factors have been implicated in its aetiology. The aim of this study was to describe an unusual occurrence of congenital hypothyroidism in a set of same sex triplets and challenges associated with the diagnosis. This is a review of a set of female triplets delivered at 34 weeks gestational age and noticed to have reduced activity, hypotonia and poor suck. On testing for thyroid hormones the patients were found to be hypothyroid. However this diagnosis was delayed until the 6th week of life as a result of difficulties in running the test. The subjects of the study were placed on thyroxine supplementation and have been doing well. Congenital hypothyroidism can occur in multiple order pregnancies and clinicians should have a high index of suspicion for its occurrence. Keywords : Congenital hypothyroidism; Triplets; Diagnosis


In recent studies, rhenium(I) complexes have shown promise to be effective anticancer agents. In particular, rhenium(I) tricarbonyl complexes have demonstrated ability as photodynamic therapy (PDT) and photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT) photosensitizers when coordinated with diimine and phosphine ligands. The phosphine works to labilize the trans-carbonyl of the complex, allowing for release of carbon monoxide which permits another pathway for additional cytotoxicity. The specific complexes in question are Re(CO)3(N-N)(PR3) complexes (where N-N is a substituted phenanthroline and PR3 is a phosphine such as 3,3′,3″-phosphanetriyltris(benzenesulfonic acid) trisodium salt (TPPTS)) have the potential to act as anticancer agents with dual pathways for treatment. The synthesis, characterization, and photophysical properties will be described.


Retrieval by contents of images from pictorial databases can be effectively performed through visual icon-based systems. In these systems, the representation of pictures with 2D strings, which are derived from symbolic projections, provides an efficient and natural way to construct iconic indexes for pictures and is also an ideal representation for the visual query. With this approach, retrieval is reduced to matching two symbolic strings. However, using 2D-string representations, spatial relationships between the objects represented in the image might not be exactly specified. Ambiguities arise for the retrieval of images of 3D scenes. In order to allow the unambiguous description of object spatial relationships, in this paper, following the symbolic projections approach, images are referred to by considering spatial relationships in the 3D imaged scene. A representation language is introduced that expresses positional and directional relationships between objects in three dimensions, still preserving object spatial extensions after projections. Iconic retrieval from pictorial databases with 3D interfaces is discussed and motivated. A system for querying by example with 3D icons, which supports this language, is also presented. >


We consider a base station, which communicates to a set of portable stations using a smart antenna operating in multibeam, packet-switched, space division multiple access (SDMA) mode. We assume that the system operates using time division duplexing (TDD) and focus on the problem of access to the stations by the base station in the forward-link direction. A polling protocol is used which permits efficient access in this type of system. The operation of the protocol is unique in that it permits dynamic slot allocation and accommodates variations in channel time coherence. In the protocol, dynamic slot assignment is integrated into the forward-link beam scheduling. This allows us to explore the value of dynamic station slot assignment when constructing the SDMA/TDMA frames. The results show the improvements in capacity, which are possible in such systems and give insight into the degradation in protocol performance that occurs when channel coherence times decrease. We find that very large improvements in capacity are possible using dynamic slot allocation, especially under harsh channel conditions. We also investigate various base station queueing issues in this type of system. It is shown that care must be taken in how buffering is performed so that blocking effects do not unnecessarily degrade the forward-link capacity.


As these composites have become more popular, composite joint design has become a very important research area, as these joints are often the weakest parts of composite structures. In this paper, the strength of a composite laminated bolted joint being subjected to a clamping force was tested and predicted using the FAI (Failure Area Index) method. The strengths of composite joints subjected to clamping forces on different geometric shapes and dimensions were predicted using the FAI method, and the results were compared with experimental results. From the tests and analyses, the strength of a given composite laminated bolted joint subjected to a clamping force could be predicted within 22.5% via the FAI method.


While often hailed—or denounced—as unprecedented, the 2016 presidential campaign of Donald Trump was not ahistoric. This article positions the Trump campaign in historical traditions of right-wing populism, incendiary political language, and insulting rhetoric. Trump's mocking and insulting rhetoric in the campaign was widely described as both norm-breaking and, surprisingly, not politically harmful. This article challenges both assumptions, illustrating how Trump fits into a long tradition of insult politics, and how it remains controversial and politically dangerous. The insult politics Trump utilized throughout his campaign served a political purpose. However, there are strong indications that Trump won the White House in spite of his mocking rhetoric, not because of it. Rather, the particular political position of Trump, and his media image, explains how he could utilize insult politics to his advantage. The initial unwillingness of the other candidates to engage in insult politics, as well as the backlash against those who eventually did, further illustrates the problems inherent in the use of insulting and mocking language.


Carbon nitride films were synthesized by pulsed laser ablation of graphite target under nitrogen ambience. The third harmonic of a pulsed Nd-YAG laser of 355 nm wavelength and 7 ns pulse duration was focused onto a rotating target at an incidence angle of 45°. The laser fluence at the target surface was set at 30 J/cm2. The carbon nitride films were deposited on (100) silicon substrate kept at room temperature and placed at a distance of 40 mm from the target surface. The CNx films were grown under N2 gas in the pressure range of 5×10-3 to 4×10-1 mbar. The deposited films composition was investigated by different techniques RBS, NRA and AES. We found an N/C ratio equal to 0.4 in the pressure range cited above.


Recent studies in patients with long-term heart failure have suggested that intrinsic abnormalities in skeletal muscle can contribute to the development of early lactic acidosis and fatigue during exercise. The present study provides an analysis of substrate and enzyme content, fiber typing, and capillarization in skeletal muscle biopsy samples obtained at rest from the vastus lateralis in 11 patients with long-term heart failure (left ventricular ejection fraction, 21 +/- 8%) and nine normal subjects. Patients demonstrated a reduced peak exercise oxygen consumption (13.0 +/- 3.3 ml/kg/min) when compared with normals (30.2 +/- 8.6 ml/kg/min, p less than 0.001) and had an accelerated rise in blood lactate levels during exercise. In mixed fiber skeletal muscle, total phosphorylase and glycolytic enzyme activities were not different in the two groups, whereas mitochondrial enzymes involved in terminal oxidation were decreased in patients as compared with normal subjects as indicated by reductions in succinate dehydrogenase (51 +/- 15 vs. 81 +/- 17 microM/g protein/min, p less than 0.001) and citrate synthetase (26 +/- 7 vs. 43 +/- 20 microM/g protein/min, p less than 0.05). 3-Hydroxyacyl-CoA-dehydrogenase, an important enzyme mediating beta-oxidation of fatty acids, was also reduced in patients as compared with normals (18 +/- 7 vs. 27 +/- 10 microM/g protein/min, p less than 0.05). There was no difference in high-energy phosphagens or lactate concentration of mixed muscle in the two groups, whereas glycogen content was decreased in patients (262 +/- 29 vs. 298 +/- 35 microM glucosyl units/kg dry wt, p = 0.01). Patients demonstrated a reduced percentage of slow twitch type I fibers (36 +/- 7% vs. 52 +/- 22%, p less than 0.05) and had a higher percentage of type IIb fast twitch fibers (24 +/- 9% vs. 11 +/- 12%, p = 0.02), which were smaller than the type IIb fibers seen in normal subjects (p less than 0.05). In patients, the number of capillaries per fiber was decreased for type I and type IIa fibers (both, p less than 0.03), but the ratio of capillaries to cross-sectional fiber area was not different for the two groups. These data demonstrate major alterations in skeletal muscle histology and biochemistry in patients with long-term heart failure, including fiber atrophy, a decrease in percentage of composition of type I fibers, and an increase in type IIb fibers accompanied by a decrease in oxidative enzyme capacity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


A full-band Monte Carlo device simulator has been used to analyze the performance of sub-0.1 /spl mu/m Schottky barrier MOSFETs. In these devices, the source and drain contacts are realized with metal silicide, and the injection of carriers is controlled by gate voltage modulation of tunneling through the source barrier. A simple model treating the silicide regions as metals, coupled with an Airy function approach for tunneling through the barrier, provides injecting boundary conditions for the Monte Carlo procedure. Simulations were carried out considering a p-channel device with 270 /spl Aring/ gate length for which measurements are available. Our results show that in these structures there is not a strong interaction with the oxide interface as in conventional MOS devices and carriers are injected at fairly wide angles from the source into the bulk of the device. The Monte Carlo simulations not only give good agreement with current-voltage (I-V) curves, but also easily reproduce the subthreshold behavior since all the computational power is devoted to simulation of channel particles. The simulations also clarify why these structures exhibit a large amount of leakage in subthreshold regime, due to both thermionic and tunneling emission. Computational experiments suggest ways to modify the doping profile to reduce to some extent the leakage.


An 84-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of watery diarrhea. Due to cerebral infarction, he had started treatment with a novel oral anticoagulants (NOAC) 1 month prior to admission. The patient underwent blood tests, enhanced computed tomography, and colonoscopy, which indicated infectious or medicinal colitis. The diarrhea persisted and he developed hypokalemia, so a second colonoscopy was performed, which showed edematous mucosa. Colonic mucosal biopsies showed a thick collagen band in the subepithelial region, and collagenous colitis was diagnosed. The watery diarrhea subsequently resolved 1 week after changing the NOAC to warfarin. Reports on collagenous colitis caused by NOAC are very rare, and we consider this case valuable.


This article is ultimately concerned with exposing the postmodern theme of identity diffusion in Viramontes' selected short stories: "Growing," "The Broken Web," "The Cariboo Cafe," and "Neighbors." The main focus of this study is to shed light on the position of Mexican American women that ultimately influences their identities to be postmodern. The paper reflects Mexican American women's suffering, alienation and oppression. Such postmodern themes of fragmentation, alienation, dislocation, and disempowerment on the side of the Mexican American woman came as a result of internal social and cultural abnegations, on one side. On the other side, it is the product of the socially and culturally racist society they live in. Postmodern themes of loss, diffusion of reality, alienation, and fragmentation are examined in Viramontes' four selected stories and, particularly, in the female characters. Upon meticulously considering these female figures, one can reach a common ground that brings them all together. The significance of this research comes from unraveling oppression and its reflection on Mexican American women.


The continuity hypothesis of dreaming suggests that waking day experiences are reflected in dream imagery; research suggests that some waking day experiences have a higher probability of being reflected in dreams than others (Schredl, 2006; Schredl & Hoffmann, 2003). In order to assess the degree to which religious or spiritual beliefs are incorporated from waking life into sleep mentation, a cross-cultural study was undertaken to compare the frequency of dream imagery between two different cultural settings (the United Arab Emirates, and Canada). Results suggested that the dreams from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) sample contained significantly more religious/spiritual imagery than the Canadian sample. The UAE student dreams also had more frequent incorporations of a wider variety of imagery categories. Results suggest that religious/spiritual beliefs and practices may have a large impact on dream content.


Penicillium canescens strain F178 is a natural producer of beta-galactosidase and endo-1,4-beta-xylanase. Tanscription of genes bgaS and xylA coding for these proteins is subject to carbon catabolite repression which proceed mainly in filamentous fungi by transcriptional repressor CreA. creA gene of P. canescens was cloned. It was demonstrated that creA transcription is also subject to carbon catabolite repression. CreA protein remains intranuclear independently of nature of carbon source and glucose concentration in culture medium. In vitro experiments confirm availability of four CreA-binding sites in bgaS promoter, four sites in xylA promoter and one such site in creA promoter.


We developed an ultra-broadband super-absorbing metasurface substrate for SERS sensing. In contrast to conventional substrates working for limited excitation wavelengths, this structure can work for almost "all" available laser lines from 450-nm to 1000-nm.


The research aims to evaluate the microstructure, mechanical properties and marine corrosion resistance of P-bearing ULCB steels. P produced stronger solution strengthening effect, but had less effect on the low temperature impact toughness of ULCB steel. With increasing P content to 0.09(mass)%, the immersion corrosion rate of ULCB steel in 3.5% NaCl obviously decreased in comparison with those steels without or with lower P content. This is attributed to that the complex effect of Cu and P promoted the formation of dense amorphous oxyhydroxide in the inner scale, which inhibited further corrosion from NaCl solution. Mo in ULCB steel played an important role in avoiding pitting corrosion in Cl- environment.


Chronic constipation (CC) and idiopathic megacolon (IMC) occur frequently in cats. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of a multi-strain probiotic (SLAB51™) in constipated cats (n=7) and in patients with megacolon and constipation (n=3). Ten pet cats with a diagnosis of chronic constipation, non-responsive to medical management received orally 2×1011 bacteria daily for 90 days. For microbiota analysis, selected bacterial groups were analysed by qPCR. Histological samples in megacolons were evaluated for interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), enteric neurons, and neuronal apoptosis. Biopsies were compared at baseline (T0) and after the end of treatment (T1), and with those obtained from healthy control tissues (archived material from five healthy cats). Constipated cats displayed significantly lower ICC, and cats with idiopathic megacolon had significantly more apoptotic enteric neurons than controls. After treatment with SLAB51™, significant decreases were observed for feline chronic enteropathy activity index (FCEAI) (P=0.006), faecal consistency score, and mucosal histology scores (P<0.001). In contrast, a significant increase of ICC was observed after probiotic therapy. Lactobacillus spp. and Bacteroidetes were increased significantly after treatment (comparing constipated cats before and after treatment, and control healthy cats to constipated cats after treatment), but no other differences in microbiota were found between healthy controls and constipated cats. Treatment with SLAB51™ in cats with chronic constipation and idiopathic megacolon showed significant clinical improvement after treatment, and histological parameters suggest a potential anti-inflammatory effect of SLAB51™, associated with a reduction of mucosal infiltration, and restoration of the number of interstitial cells of Cajal.


Background Prognostic estimates are used to support decision-making in advance care planning. NICE Quality Standards (2011) advocate that 'people approaching the end of life are identified in a timely way'. Estimations are often inaccurate, with non-specialist medical professionals being accurate only 20% of the time.1 2 Prognostication scores exist to help inform estimations, but most medical professionals use a combination of personal experience, the patient's disease burden and momentum of functional decline. Aim To determine prognostic accuracy of a specialist palliative care multi-disciplinary team (MDT). Methods Prognostic estimates were recorded by a specialist palliative care MDT bi-weekly for hospice inpatients over a six month period. Patients were placed in to one of four prognostic categories: 'last six months', 'last six weeks', last two weeks', and 'last 48 hours'. Data was collected retrospectively. Results 182 prognostic estimates were recorded for 122 patients over six months. 96.8% of patients had a diagnosis of malignant disease. In the 'last six months' category, median survival was 42 days, with a prognostic accuracy of 48.6% (i.e. 48.6% of patients in this category died within six months and survived longer than six weeks). In the 'last six weeks' category, median survival was 21 days, with an accuracy of 43%. In the 'last two weeks' category, median survival was 8 days, with an accuracy of 50%. In the 'last 48 hours' category, median survival was 60 hours, with an accuracy of 52%. Conclusions The specialist palliative care MDT is more accurate at estimating prognosis than non-specialist medical professionals, with an average accuracy over all prognostic categories of 48.4%. Accuracy improves the closer the patient is to death. Overestimation of prognosis is the more common error, contrary to media reports that suggest medical professionals can underestimate prognosis and deny patients treatment towards the end of life.


Inside the human host, the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans colonizes predominantly oxygen-poor niches such as the gastrointestinal and vaginal tracts, but also oxygen-rich environments such as cutaneous epithelial cells and oral mucosa. This suppleness requires an effective mechanism to reprogram reversibly the primary metabolism in response to oxygen variation. Here, we have uncovered that Snf5, a subunit of SWI/SNF chromatin remodeling complex, is a major transcriptional regulator that links oxygen status to the metabolic capacity of C. albicans. Snf5 and other subunits of SWI/SNF complex were required to activate genes of alternative carbon utilization and other carbohydrates related process specifically under hypoxia. snf5 mutant exhibited an altered metabolome reflecting that SWI/SNF plays an essential role in maintaining metabolic homeostasis and carbon flux in C. albicans under hypoxia. Snf5 was necessary to activate the transcriptional program linked to both commensal and invasive growth. Accordingly, snf5 was unable to maintain its growth in the stomach, the cecum and the colon of mice. snf5 was also avirulent as it was unable to invade Galleria larvae or to cause damage to human enterocytes and murine macrophages. Among candidates of signaling pathways in which Snf5 might operate, phenotypic analysis revealed that mutants of Ras1-cAMP-PKA pathway, as well as mutants of Yak1 and Yck2 kinases exhibited a similar carbon flexibility phenotype as did snf5 under hypoxia. Genetic interaction analysis indicated that the adenylate cyclase Cyr1, a key component of the Ras1-cAMP pathway, but not Ras1, interacted genetically with Snf5. Our study yielded unprecedented insight into the oxygen-sensitive regulatory circuit that control metabolic flexibility, stress, commensalism and virulence in C. albicans. Author Summary A critical aspect of eukaryotic cell fitness is the ability to sense and adapt to variations in oxygen concentrations in their local environment. Hypoxia leads to a substantial remodeling of cell metabolism and energy homeostasis, and thus, organisms must develop an effective regulatory mechanism to cope with oxygen depletion. Candida albicans is an opportunistic yeast that is the most prevalent human fungal pathogens. This yeast colonizes diverse niches inside the human host with contrasting carbon sources and oxygen concentrations. While hypoxia is the predominant conditions that C. albicans encounters inside most of the niches, the impact of this condition on metabolic flexibility, a major determinant of fungal virulence, was completely neglected. Here, we uncovered that the chromatin remodelling complex SWI/SNF is master regulatory circuit that links oxygen status to a broad spectrum of carbon utilization routes. Snf5 was essential for the maintenance of C. albicans as a commensal and also for the expression of its virulence. The oxygen-sensitive regulators identified in this work provide a framework to comprehensively understand the virulence of human fungal pathogens and represent a therapeutic value to fight fungal infections.


Pure laparoscopic donor hepatectomy (PLDH) has become increasingly accepted in the current era of minimally invasive surgery. However, only skillful surgeons with enough experience in both laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) and living-donor liver transplantation (LDLT) should perform pure laparoscopic donor right hepatectomy (PLDRH). In this paper, we review the evaluation of donors and work up of PLDRH in several high-volume laparoscopic liver surgery centers in Asia. Moreover, we analyzed the frequency of anomalies of the vessels (hepatic artery, portal vein, and hepatic vein) and the bile duct in PLDRH.


Housing is a key instrument of health care. This was recognized long ago when the Victorians introduced public health measures to tackle unhealthy city slums. The links between housing and health have since been forgotten by some people, as general housing standards have improved and housing has developed as a separate area of public policy. This paper attempts to show that in the late twentieth century housing is still a fundamental factor in determining health. A number of policy issues now point to the need to rebuild the links between housing and health: evidence of persistent inequalities in health, a recognition that those with the poorest health still live in the worst housing, and the new care in the community policy which demands closer working relationships between agencies. The current political and economic climate does not encourage or foster links between services. The government's approach to health focuses on personal behaviour rather than environmental factors as determinants of health, there is a rift between entrenched professional interest groups which provides no incentive for cooperation, and there is a lack of research which demonstrates clear financial and service benefits from coordinating housing and health planning and provision. However, a renewed concern for public health is becoming more prominent (which recognizes the fundamental links between environment and health). This paper argues that housing is a key factor in individual, and hence public health, and should therefore play a more central role in this debate. The challenge now is to gain wider recognition of the essential policy and financial links between housing and health-care services. This involves clearly identifying exactly what aspects of housing are important for health and in what way, including housing issues in health and public health concerns at all levels, and suggesting priorities for policy makers. It must be demonstrated that expenditure on housing is still an effective way of achieving improvements in health. Housing is an enduring instrument of health care.


In order to provide higher driving forces for densification of Indium-Tin oxide(ITO) sputtering targets, nano-sized ITO powders with uniform size distribution were prepared by solvothermal process. In this study, sintered bodies were densified by a spark plasma sintering (SPS) process at 950 oC. The experiments conduct the SPS method in order to achieve the highest density of sputtering targets. The phase and relative density of ITO sputtering targets were identified by X-ray diffractometry_(XRD) and Archimedes method, respectively. The surface microstructure and quanitative analysis of the targets were observed by scanning scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and ITO powders particle were measured by SEM, XRD-LB methods.


In this article we will try to give an answer to the question of changes in the visibility of women in the public sphere. The fact that elite women played a more energetic role in public life firom the late Hellenistic epoch on has been established by our research on the available sources (mostly epigraphical) in some regions of the Greco-Roman East, in particular W. Asia Minor (lonia and Caria) and in Aegean islands such as Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Tenos, Syros and Paros. Nevertheless, the inscriptions, being brief summaries of the decrees which were put in the archives, fail to comment on the issue of the honorand's actual fiilfilment of the office, though sometimes they give indirect information on the lady's presence, eg in the stadium. But even if the female raagistrates were visible, did that have any effect on other women? Did the free, or at least the citizen women in the cities of the Roman East enjoy more freedom in their raovement outside the oikos? Could women move freely in the agora, the theatre or any other public place? And if they did so, what about their mingling with men and regulations about their clothes and personal behaviour? Literature is important on that subject because it provides indirect information on all the aspects of the problem, but the archaising style and subject matter of many literary works, the hallmark of the Second Sophistic, throws doubt on their relevance to the era in which our research is located. Notwithstanding those problems, the combination of literary texts and inscriptions sheds some light on the obscure subject of women's presence in the pubUc sphere.


The boundaries between public and private actors are increasingly blurred via regulatory governance arrangements and the contracting out of rights enforcement to private organizations. Regulation and governance scholars have not gained enough empirical leverage on how state actors, private organizations, and civil society groups influence the meaning of legal rules in regulatory governance arrangements that they participate in. Drawing from participant observation at consumer law conferences and interviews with stakeholders, my empirical data suggest that consumer rights and, in fact, consumer law, mean different things to different stakeholders tasked with adjudicating consumer rights. Rights afforded consumers who purchase warranties are now largely contingent on first using alternative dispute resolution structures, some created and operated by private organizations with soft state oversight and others run by stakeholders but with greater state oversight and involvement. Using new institutional sociology and regulatory governance theories, I argue that stakeholders involved in overseeing and administering these dispute resolution systems filter the meaning of consumer rights through competing business and consumer logics. Because consumer laws mean different things to stakeholders tasked with adjudicating consumer rights, two different rights regimes simultaneously exist in this field. I conclude that how rule-intermediaries administering private and state-run dispute resolution systems conceptualize what consumer laws mean in action may have implications for regulatory governance and more broadly, consumers' access to justice.


Purpose: Because of the serious threat of HIV/AIDS to students at a university in Botswana, faculty instituted two interventions to change students' HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior: (a) an HIV/AIDS course and (b) the Health and Wellness Centre. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the success of these interventions. Method: A four-group comparison design was created for this study as a method for the qualitative formative evaluation. Data collection was done using the rapid assessment method, in which team interviews of 105 students at the university were conducted. The teams used descriptive, interpretive, and explanatory codes to create themes, which were compared to findings in the literature. Results: Although students indicated significant learning and attitude changes, no major changes in sexually risky behavior were reported. Discussion: Substantive, methodological, and theoretical implications are discussed.


ABSTRACT The earliest winter scientific station established in the Antarctic was in 1883 as part of the first International Polar Year (IPY) programme. Subsequently, to the IPY of 2007–2009, scientific stations have been deployed on 139 sites (103 on the Antarctic continent, 36 on the peri-Antarctic islands), by 24 countries for a cumulative total of 2666 winters to that of 2008. This paper summarises the winter dates, locations, and national status of all stations in the region. It thus includes all winter stations of the three IPYs and those of the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958). The positions of 120 of these winter stations are south of 60°S, the boundary of the Antarctic Treaty of 1959 (although many of them predate the Treaty).


Most of the Indian people depends on the agriculture and due to that economy of our country mainly depend on the agriculture, so proper irrigation is must for efficient agriculture and accordingly we can improve the economy of our country. we can achieve this with the help of various electronic devices and by using this we can achieve proper irrigation on the field in automatic manner. For automation, we require various hardware and software tools such as various kinds of sensors for checking the status of field and GSM module for wireless communication and the microcontroller along with DTMF IC for decision purpose.


Background: Childhood abuse has been linked with increased risk of adult psychiatric disorders including major depression, substance abuse, anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and personality disorders. However, only a few from India attempted to study long-term consequences of childhood abuse. Our study aimed to understand the role of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse along with psychiatric co-morbidities in hospitalized patients. Materials and Methods: Patients admitted to psychiatric inpatient services in the age group of 14-45 years for the 1 st time were evaluated for a history of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse on the basis of retrospective chart review. Semi-structured Performa was used to evaluate the patient with a history of child abuse, and they were diagnosed according to International Classification of Diseases-10 diagnostic criteria. Result: The prevalence of child abuse in our inpatient services was 43.29%; emotional abuse (61.9%) was most commonly reported among patient followed by physical (21.43%) and sexual abuse (16.67%). We observed a significant difference in terms of length of hospital stay between abuse (10.29 ± 6.01 days) and nonabuse group (5.90 ± 2.43 days) (t = 4.902, df = 95, P < 0.0001). The boys experienced physical abuse at a younger age (7.43 ± 2.50 years) than girls (13.50 ± 0.70 years). The sexual abuse and emotional abuse were reported at a younger age in girls than boys. We found high prevalence of substance use disorders (40.47%), psychosis (19.04%), and mood disorder (28.57%) among abuse group. Conclusions: The study findings highlight the developing importance of the different forms of abuse on adult psychiatric diagnosis in India. The abused patients are at high risk of the development of psychiatric disorder than the nonabuse group. The increased length of hospitalization among abused group reflects severity and complexity of child abuse. The early detection of social factors contributing to child abuse may be helpful in the prevention of child abuse. Further research is warranted in longitudinal prospective for better understanding the impact of child abuse on psychiatric diagnosis in Indian settings.


Caprella scaura is an epifaunal amphipod crustacean that originates in the western Indian Ocean and has spread throughout the world, but very little is known about fundamental aspects of its biology. This paper is the first presentation of its life history traits in an invaded region. The study was conducted in the Mar Piccolo basin (southern Italy, Ionian Sea), over a one-year period. All biological parameters showed a strong seasonal pattern, breeding peaked twice during the year and the number of eggs in the ventral brood pouch ranged from 5 to 72. The sex ratio was generally close to 1:1. A strong correlation between total length of ovigerous females and number of eggs was observed. The mean length of both mature males and mature females was 10.63 and 7.70 mm, respectively. The results of this study showed that the population dynamics of this species was not dissimilar to that of other caprellids or marine epifaunal Crustacea. This caprellid has given rise to a stable population in the Mar Piccolo; it was present all year round in the study area but its density suggests that it is not yet a strong invader.


The ability to safely keep a secret in memory is central to the vast majority of security schemes, but storing and erasing these secrets is a difficult problem in the face of an attacker who can obtain unrestricted physical access to the underlying hardware. Depending on the memory technology, the very act of storing a 1 instead of a 0 can have physical side effects measurable even after the power has been cut. These effects can't be hidden easily, and if the secret stored on chip is of sufficient value, an attacker might go to extraordinary means to learn even a few bits of that information. The architecture has an interesting role to play here. Just as one uses architectural techniques to detect and correct errors, so too can one create efficient methods to hide critical bits from physical inspection. The authors present a first step toward this goal by focusing on a backbone of any hardware system: on-chip memory. They examine the relationship between security, area, and efficiency in these architectures and quantitatively examine the resulting systems through cryptographic analysis and microarchitectural impact. In the end, they find an efficient scheme in which, even if an adversary is able to inspect the value of a stored bit with a probabilistic error of only 5 percent, the system will be able to prevent that adversary from learning any information about the original uncoded bits with 99.9999999999 percent probability.


The intermodulation (IM) distortion of the PLL FM demodulator in the presence of FM interference is evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. Both the desired signal and the interferer are considered to be frequency modulated by Gaussian random signals. The simulation is based on solving the nonlinear integrodifferential equation of the PLL FM demodulator, considering the amplitude and distorted phase modulation of the filtered FM signals. The IM distortion of the second-order loop PLL FM demodulator with Butterworth and Bessel input bandpass filters is given for co-channel and adjacent channel FM interferers. Bessel filters of order greater than two are shown to compare favourably with Butterworth filters in front of the PLL FM demodulator in the presence of an adjacent channel FM interferer.


Chemotherapeutic failure and metastasis are the main causes of high mortality rate in lung cancer. Alteration of cellular redox status in response to endogenous stimuli or exogenous compounds has a significant impact on cell signaling and behavior. Herein we divulge for the first time that lung cancer cells exposed to α-lipoic acid (LA) resulted in a higher level of cellular superoxide anion (O2·-) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and such an increase of the specific reactive oxygen species (ROS) downregulated integrin β1 and β3, the integrins known for potentiating aggressive behavior and metastasis. The LA-treated cells exhibited significant decrease in their abilities to survive in detached condition and grow in anchorage-independent soft agar assay. Furthermore, LA sensitized the cells to cisplatin, etoposide and paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. For underlying mechanism, we found that the treatment of the cells with LA significantly decreased integrin β1 and β3, while had no effect on integrin α5 and αv. Interestingly, survival protein p-AKT and anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 were reduced in an association to such integrin modulations. Using ROS probes and selective anti-oxidants, we have shown that H2O2 and O2·- induced by LA are key players for the decrease of β1 and β3 integrins, respectively. These findings indicate a novel effect of LA as well as specific ROS, O2·- and H2O2 in integrin regulation, anoikis and chemotherapeutic sensitizations.


We studied a three-wave coupling process occurring in an active experiment of microwave power transmission (MPT) in the ionospheric plasma by performing one-dimensional electromagnetic PIC (Particle-In-Cell) simulations. In order to examine the spatial variation of the coupling process, we continuously emitted intense electromagnetic waves from an antenna located at a simulation boundary. In the three-wave coupling, a low-frequency electrostatic wave is excited as the result of a nonlinear interaction between the forward propagating pump wave and backscattered wave. In the simulations, low-frequency electrostatic bursts are discontinuously observed in space. The discontinuity of the electrostatic bursts is accounted for by the local electron heating due to the bursts and the associated modification of the wave dispersion relation. In a case where the pump wave propagates along the geomagnetic field B ext , several bursts of Langmuir waves are observed. Since the first burst consumes a part of the pump wave energy, the pump wave is weakened and cannot trigger the three-wave coupling beyond the region where the burst occurs. Since the dispersion relation of the Langmuir wave is variable, due to the local electron heating by the burst, the coupling condition eventually becomes unsatisfied and the first interaction becomes weak. Another burst of Langmuir waves is observed at a different region beyond the location of the first burst. In the case of perpendicular propagation, the upper hybrid wave, one of the mode branches of the electron cyclotron harmonic waves, is excited. Since the dispersion relation of the upper hybrid wave is less sensitive to the electron temperature, the coupling condition is not easily violated by the temperature increase. As a result, the three-wave coupling periodically takes place in time and eventually, the transmission ratio of the microwaves becomes approximately 20%, while almost no attenuation of the pump waves is observed after the first electrostatic burst in the parallel case. We also examined the dependency of the temporal growth rate for the electrostatic waves on the amplitude of the pump wave.


Crisis brings danger and opportunity. The COVID-19 pandemic will go down in history as an unprecedented crisis in the modern world, causing disruption and high death rates in nearly every country. The long-term impact of the pandemic is yet to be assessed. There are fears of a second wave and of deepening economic recession. Social inequality has increased, but there are also local and national initiatives providing help to those most in need. Scientists are responding to the desperate calls for effective vaccines and medications. Many research studies are underway and the knowledge that is gathered is shared and expanded internationally. As the lockdown is lifted and restrictions eased, we face the challenge of deciding whether to build on what we have learnt, or revert to our old
ways.


Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy has revolutionized the treatment of many different types of cancer. However, despite dramatic improvements in tumor oncologic response and patient outcomes, immune checkpoint blockade has been associated with multiple distinctive side-effects termed immune-related adverse events. These often have important clinical implications because these can vary in severity, sometimes even resulting in death. Therefore, it is important for both radiologists and clinicians to recognize and be aware of these reactions to help appropriately guide patient management. This article specifically highlights imaging manifestations of the most common cardiothoracic toxicities of these agents, including pneumonitis, sarcoid-like granulomatosis and lymphadenopathy, and myocarditis.


This paper examines the differences in the behaviors of high (HIT) and low inventory turnover (LIT) retailers in responding to demand shocks. We identify quantity and price responsiveness as two mediating mechanisms that distinguish how high and low inventory turnover retailers manage demand shocks. Using quarterly firm-level data of 183 U.S. retailers between 1985 and 2012, we find that HIT retailers are able to respond quickly by changing their purchase quantities in response to demand shocks, whereas LIT retailers primarily rely on price changes to manage demand shocks. In addition, we examine the differential implications of these mechanisms on the financial performance of HIT and LIT retailers. We find price responsiveness to be a less effective strategy, compared to quantity responsiveness, in reducing excesses and shortages of inventory. Finally, the negative financial impact of a given amount of excess and shortage of inventory is eight times more severe for LIT retailers compared to HIT retailers.


In May 2007 JPR launched Jews in Britain: A Snapshot from the 2001 Census, which was given extensive coverage in the national and international media and the Jewish press. It laid bare the complexity of the Jewish population and demolished several popular myths: 'the Jewish nuclear family, the homogenous Jewish household, the Jewish housewife, the married Jewish couple or the universally successful and prosperous citizen.'

Over 120 pages long, the report covers a wide range of subjects, including the nature of Jewish partnerships, intermarriage, living standards, social inequality, ethnicity, educational standards and many other demographic issues. 'Our understanding of the British Jewish population has been revolutionized', concluded the authors of JPR's comprehensive analysis of the data on Jews derived from answers to the first ever voluntary question on religion in the 2001 Census. 'The results have been truly fascinating and mould-breaking.' A debate has now been started which, JPR hopes, will provoke an extensive and much-needed examination into the nature of the Jewish community in Britain and its future needs.


The authors discuss the Danish legislator's taxing powers in the context of the principle of legality, particularly the non-delegation doctrine enshrined in the constitution, which prescribes that no taxes shall be imposed, altered, or repealed except by statute. While a few constitutional provisions are seen as important with respect to Danish tax law, the practical significance of these provisions may at times have been overestimated in the literature. The authors explain that section 43 of the Danish constitution is the most important constitutional rule on tax as it provides a constitutional prohibition on legislative delegation in the tax area. In the view of the authors, the courts have approached the non-delegation doctrine pragmatically, accepting important modifications regarding both the practical realities of lawmaking and the long-standing practice of delegation of certain taxing powers to the municipalities. Further, the authors reject the notion that a particular requirement for a clear statutory basis for imposing tax should follow from section 43 of the constitution. Finally, the authors touch upon the recently adopted statutory general anti-avoidance rules and argue that these new provisions should not be considered unconstitutional.


In the past, ZAP70 was considered a T cell-specific kinase, and its aberrant expression in B-CLL cells was interpreted as a sign of malignant transformation and dedifferentiation. It was only recently that ZAP70 was detected in normal human B cells. In this study, we show that TLR9-activated B cells resemble B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells with regard to CD5, CD23, CD25, and heat shock protein 90 expression. Furthermore, stimulatory CpG and GpC DNA oligonucleotides target CD27 (cid:1) IgM (cid:1) and CD27 (cid:2) IgM (cid:1) B cells (but not IgM (cid:2) B cells) and enhance ZAP70 expression predominantly in the IgM (cid:1) CD27 (cid:1) B cell subset. ZAP70 is induced via activation of TLR-7 or -9 in a MyD88-dependent manner, depends on protein kinase B (PKB)/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling and is rapamycin sensitive. Furthermore, ZAP70 expression levels correlate with induction of cyclin A2, prolonged B cell proliferation, and sustained induction of PKB. These events are not observed upon CD40 ligation. However, this deficit can be overcome by the expression of constitutively active PKB, given that CD40 ligation of PKB-transgenic B cells induces B cell proliferation and ZAP70 expression. These results highlight a major difference between CD40- and TLR-7/9-mediated B cell activation and suggest that ZAP70 expression levels in B cells give an estimate of the proliferative potential and the associated PKB availability. The Journal of Immunology, 2008, 181: 8267–8277.


Objective: We describe the systematic approach to incidental findings (IFs) used at the Mind Research Network (MRN) where all MRI scans receive neuroradiologist interpretation and participants are provided results. Methods: From 2004 to 2011, 8,545 MRI scans were acquired by 45 researchers. As mandated by MRN′s external institutional review board, all structural sequences were evaluated by a clinical neuroradiologist who generated a report that included recommendations for referral if indicated. Investigators received a copy of their participants' reports, which were also mailed to participants unless they specifically declined. To better understand the impact of the radiology review process, a financial analysis was completed in addition to a follow-up phone survey to characterize participant perceptions regarding receiving their MRI scan results. Results: The radiologist identified IFs in 34% of the 4,447 participants. Of those with IFs (n = 1,518), the radiologist recommended urgent or immediate referral for 2.5% and routine referral for 17%. For 80.5%, no referral was recommended. Estimated annual cost for this approach including support for the neuroradiologist, medical director, and ancillary staff is approximately $60,000 or $24/scan. The results of the retrospective phone survey showed that 92% of participants appreciated receiving their MRI report, and the majority stated it increased their likelihood of volunteering for future studies. Conclusions: Addressing IFs in a cost-effective and consistent manner is possible by adopting a policy that provides neuroradiology interpretation and offers participant assistance with clinical follow-up when necessary. Our experience suggests that an ethical, institution-wide approach to IFs can be implemented with minimal investigator burden.


Makerspaces have complex access control requirements and are increasingly protected through digital access control mechanisms (e.g., keycards, transponders). However, it remains unclear how space administrators craft access control policies, how existing technical infrastructures support and fall short of access needs, and how these access control policies impact end-users in a makerspace. We bridge this gap through a mixed-methods, multi-stakeholder study. Specifically, we conducted 16 semi-structured interviews with makerspace administrators across the U.S. along with a survey of 48 makerspace end-users. We found four factors influenced administrators' construction of access control policies: balancing safety versus access; logistics; prior experience; and, the politics of funding. Moreover, administrators often made situational exceptions to their policies: e.g., during demand spikes, to maintain a good relationship with their staff, and if they trusted the user(s) requesting an exception. Conversely, users expressed frustration with the static nature of access control policies, wishing for negotiability and for social nuance to be factored into access decisions. The upshot is that existing mechanisms for access control in makerspaces are often inappropriately static and socially unaware.


Thirty years ago, Lagües and Domange [1] studied surface segregation kinetics and proposed a method by which it is possible to determine the equilibrium surface segregation isotherm from one measurement, supposing that the local equilibrium hypothesis (LEH) is obeyed. This method has been using widely in the literature (e.g. [2-4]) since its born. It was used e.g. to study of dissolution of thin films into different substrates. In this case additionally it was assumed that the kinetics can be described by the classical Fick I equation (hybrid method). In this paper, using computer simulations, we investigate that under which conditions the LEH is obeyed during the dissolution of a thin film. Moreover, we show that even when the LEH is fulfilled the proposed 'hybrid' method cannot be always applied. We make also some considerations on the effect of stress fields developed by the redistribution of the solute elements during the segregation kinetics.


Plasma membrane anion exchangers constitute a multigene family that contributes to the regulation of intracellular pH and chloride concentration in many cell types. We have characterized two polypeptide isoforms of the AE3 gene that are expressed in the rat retina. Using antipeptide antibodies specific for defined NH2-terminal and COOH- terminal epitopes, we have identified a 165 kDa polypeptide whose expression is restricted to the primary glial cell type of the retina, the Muller cell, and a 125 kDa polypeptide that is expressed in horizontal neurons. Expression of the Muller cell isoform exhibits a polarized distribution and is highest in basal endfoot processes. These AE3 isoforms exhibit a distinct developmental expression pattern in postnatal rat retina. The neuronal isoform is undetectable in neonatal retina until postnatal day 10–15, correlating strongly with the onset of retinal function.


The Abstract of thesis submitted to the School of Law of The University of Manchester by Pamela Towela Sambo 7160514 for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in April 2012 is entitled ?A Conceptual Analysis of Environmental Justice Approaches: Procedural Environmental Justice in the EIA Process in South Africa and Zambia.?This study argues that the basis of all environmental justice variations is the consideration of fairness, equity and justice in the environmental processes that resolve environmental problems. A Procedural Environmental Justice Model (PEJM) has been developed for the purpose of evaluating the procedural environmental justice content of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) legislation in South Africa and Zambia. EIA as a tool for mitigating adverse environmental impacts arising from development activities aims at identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the bio-physical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken. This makes it an apt case study for evaluating how procedural environmental justice works. The PEJM developed in this thesis is important because it can be used as a mechanism for evaluating how procedural environmental justice works in practice. Apart from developing the PEJM, this research provides an in- depth evaluation of procedural environmental justice and proceeds, in a novel manner, to focus on South Africa and Zambia. The concept of environmental justice originates from the civil liberties campaigns of the 1960s and the more recent Environmental Justice Movement in the United States. It was historically concerned with widespread distributive inequalities which manifested as discrimination mainly on the basis of race and economic status in environmental matters. In more recent years, environmental justice concerns have become more profound owing to the diversity and gravity of global environmental problems such as global warming and climate change, natural resources depletion and widespread air and water pollution. The effects of these global environmental problems have been predicted to affect inhabitants of developing countries more than those of the developed ones, thereby emphasising procedural environmental justice concerns.This research shows that in the present day environmental parlance, environmental justice should be increasingly used to connote inclusiveness in addressing global, national and grassroots environmental problems. There has been a distinct tendency to move beyond the traditional description of environmental justice as being distributive, or primarily concerned with the allocation of environmental advantages and disadvantages. This is due to the realisation that distributive environmental justice aspects are inadequate in addressing historical and present day environmental challenges. This research emphasises that environmental justice incorporates procedural, corrective and social aspects of justice. The promotion of inclusive participation or procedural environmental justice transcends all conceptions of the concept. Therefore, in order to promote environmental justice, environmental legislation must focus on procedural features that incorporate effective public participation mechanisms.


I certify that the above numeric entry is my PIN, which is my signature on the 2018 electronically filed return for the organization indicated above. I confirm that I am submitting this return in accordance with the requirements of Pub. 4163, Modernized e-File (MeF) OMB No. 1545-1878 For calendar year 2018, or fiscal year beginning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , 2018, and ending . . . . . . . . . . . . , 20 . . . . . . Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service Name of exempt organization Name and title of officer


Osteosarcoma is the most common primary malignant tumor of bone. The variability of this tumor and its histologic variants in presentation, location, and biologic behavior has an influence on the prognosis and determines treatment options. Despite improvements in both survival and function due to limb salvage techniques and adjuvant chemotherapy, osteosarcoma continues to be a major challenge for the medical and surgical oncologist.


Structured thermal transfer article comprising a plurality of metal bodies and a plurality of interstitial elements disposed between and connecting the plurality of metal bodies to one another. The metal bodies comprise an inner portion comprising a first metal and an outer portion comprising an alloy comprising the first metal and a second metal. The interstitial elements comprise the alloy of the outer portion.


We exploit a novel dataset on mortgages offered by banks through Italy's main online mortgage broker, which works with banks representing over 80 per cent of mortgages granted, to gain an up-to-date assessment of loan supply conditions. Characteristics of mortgages are reported for about 85,000 borrower-contract profiles, constant over time, available at the beginning of each month starting from March 2018. We document that riskier applications, characterized by high loan-to-value ratios and long maturity, are, on average, offered by a smaller number of banks that charge higher interest rates. Online banks tend to provide better price conditions than traditional intermediaries. We use the online rates offered to nowcast bank-level official (MIR) interest rate statistics, available only several weeks later. By using both regression analysis and machine learning algorithms, we show that the rates offered have significant predictive content for fixed-rate contracts, also after controlling for time-varying demand conditions, market reference rates, and unobserved time-invariant bank characteristics. Machine learning algorithms provide further improvements over regression models in out of sample predictions.


Using an expanded econometric model, this study sought to estimate more precisely the net effect of independent variables (i.e., attending an HBCU) on three measures of labor market outcomes for African American college graduates. Findings reveal a statistically significant, albeit moderate, relationship between measures of background, human and sociocultural capital, and labor market outcomes of Black graduates. Specifically, graduating from an HBCU has a net negative impact on post-BA earnings, and mixed results were found for occupational status and job satisfaction.


Are wilderness areas more than just a recreational opportunity, tourist destination or objects of scientific curiosity? People may well be attracted to wild nature in pursuit of deeper meanings other than by these examples of visitor motivations. Representing a benchmark in Australia, if not internationally, the aim of this exploratory research was to develop a greater understanding of the spiritual values of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, and their relevance to wilderness management processes. The work has a pragmatic intent, with results intended to assist future management planning and operational decisions in Tasmania, and inform wilderness management practices in other wilderness areas and jurisdictions more generally.

The aim was achieved by a questionnaire survey sent to random samples of the general public and members of The Wilderness Society in Tasmania, and to staff of the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service involved with management of the Tasmanian wilderness. A variety of statistical analyses, including Pearson product-moment correlation, stepwise regression, and factor analysis were conducted on the data to examine and test the relationships between all of respondents' underlying general spirituality, wilderness spirituality, attitudes to solitude, and answers to various management related questions. Content analysis of the meanings of wilderness spirituality and scene analysis of wilderness photographs complemented the quantitative techniques.

The results show wilderness spirituality to be different to spirituality in general, and unequivocally demonstrate for the first time, the existence and importance of the spiritual value of the Tasmanian wilderness. The research also identifies the landscape elements contributing to a spiritual experience, describes the defining characteristics of wilderness spirituality, confirms the important role that solitude and peace and quiet plays in the wilderness experience, and suggests that conservationists are more disposed to wilderness spirituality than the general public and wilderness managers. Respondents' disposition to spirituality in general was found to be the main determinant of their wilderness spirituality.

In the absence of an established literature on the operationalisation of spiritual values of wilderness into field management frameworks and management plans, recommendations are presented for consideration by the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service to maintain and improve the spiritual values of the Tasmanian wilderness. The research will assist managers to take better account of spiritual values through the preservation of wilderness and maintaining the wilderness character that contribute to spiritual experiences. While the results and recommendations are derived from the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, they can also be used to inform wilderness management elsewhere.

Theoretical and methodological contributions include the assignment of wilderness spirituality among forms of spirituality, identification of the defining characteristics of wilderness spirituality, measurement of wilderness spirituality, and advancing the use of photo-elicitation.


BACKGROUND
Anecdotal reports suggest an increased frequency of certain cancers in patients with cystic fibrosis, the commonest genetic disorder of whites. One third of patients with cystic fibrosis now reach adulthood, when cancer is more frequent, implying that cancer rates in these patients will increase over time. We investigated the relation between cystic fibrosis and cancer in North American and European patients with cystic fibrosis. Methods. We performed a retrospective cohort study of the occurrence of cancer in 28,511 patients with cystic fibrosis from 1985 through 1992 in the United States and Canada. The number of cases observed was compared with the number expected, calculated from population-based data on the incidence of cancer. We also analyzed proportional incidence ratios to assess the association between specific cancers and cystic fibrosis in Europe.

RESULTS
Thirty-seven cancers were observed in the North American cohort during 164,764 person-years of follow-up, as compared with an expected number of 45.6, yielding a ratio of observed to expected cancers of 0.8 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.6 to 1.1). Thirteen digestive tract tumors were observed, as compared with an expected number of two, for a ratio of observed to expected cancers of 6.5 (95 percent confidence interval, 3.5 to 11.1). In Europe, 11 of 39 cancers originated in the digestive tract, yielding a positive association between digestive tract tumors and cystic fibrosis (odds ratio, 6.4; 95 percent confidence interval, 2.9 to 14.0).

CONCLUSIONS
Although the overall risk of cancer in patients with cystic fibrosis is similar to that of the general population, there is an increased risk of digestive tract cancers. Persistent or unexplained gastrointestinal symptoms in these patients should be carefully investigated.


Abstract Infrared thermography is an increasingly used technology in veterinary science and in mammal physiology. However, its employment as a quantitative method to accurately determine mammal surface temperatures requires knowledge of the emissivity of that individual's pelage. To-date, few researchers have measured emissivity of their study animal's pelage, or determined the relationship between fur metrics and emissivity. Instead, studies have relied on historic values generated from a single study on arctic fauna. Therefore, this study aimed to determine pelage emissivity for a range of mammal species and to establish the putative correlation between emissivity and fur metrics. Emissivity was measured at different sites of the body for 22 species. In addition, hair length and hair diameter were measured from hairs collected at the same sites that emissivity was measured. The mean pelage emissivity of sampled specimens was 0.86 ± 0.01, which was lower than the range (0.95–1.00) reported previously. Emissivity was neither related to taxonomy nor to hair metrics but may be related to other factors not measured in this study. Contrary to common practice, a single (0.98) or a narrow range (0.95–1.00) of emissivity values is unlikely to be appropriate for obtaining accurate surface temperature readings in quantitative IRT studies on mammals.


Although both Alcubierre and Natario Spacetimes belongs to the same family of Einstein Field Equations of General Relativity and both have many resemblances between each other ,the Energy Density distribution in the Alcubierre Warp Drive is different than the one found in the Natario Warp Drive.The Horizons will arise in both Spacetimes when approaching Superluminal(Warp) speeds however due to a different distribution of Energy Density the Natario Warp Drive behaves slightly different when compared to the Alcubierre one. The major differences between the Natario and Alcubierre Warp Drive Spacetimes occurs when we study the Infinite Doppler Blueshifts that affect the Alcubierre Spacetime but not affect the Natario one because while in Alcubierre Spacetime the Negative Energy is distributed in a toroidal region above and below the ship perpendicular to the direction of the motion while in front of the ship.the space is empty having nothing to prevent a photon to reach the Horizon because in this case the Horizon lies on empty space,in the Natario Spacetime the Energy Density is distributed in a spherical shell that covers the entire ship and a photon sent to the front will be deflected by this shell of Negative Energy before reaching the Horizon because the Horizon also lies inside this shell and not on "empty" space.This shell avoids the occurrence of Infinite Doppler Blueshifts in the Natario Warp Drive Spacetime.We examine in this work the major differences between both Natario and Alcubierre Spacetimes outlining the repulsive character of the Negative Energy Density.The creation of a Warp Bubble in Alcubierre or Natario Spacetimes is beyond the scope of Classical General Relativity and will have to wait until the arrival of a real Quantum Gravity theory that must encompass Superluminal Non-Local Quantum Entanglement Effects in order to deal with the Horizon problem added to the Geometrical features of Classical General Relativity plus it must also provide a way to generate large outputs of Negative Energy Densities.Since this theory is ahead of our scientific capabilities,we discuss in the end of this work an approach that could be performed by our science in a short period of term.to increase our knowledge about the Warp Drive as a Dynamical Spacetime. ∗firstname.lastname@example.com


The purpose of this study was to analyze the influence of father characteristics, mother characteristics, household characteristics, child labor characteristics, and community, on work time of child labor in Bengkulu City. This research uses primary data. Sampling was done by incidental method. Data are collected through interviews and questionnaires. The analytical method uses PLS-PM (Partial Least Square-Path Modeling). The results showed that the variables of father characteristics, mother characteristics, household characteristics and community had a negative and significant effect on the working hours of child labor. While the variable child labor characteristics had a positive and significant influence on working hours of child labor. If the father characteristics, the mother characteristics, the household characteristics, and the community are getting better, then the working hours for child labor will be reduced. While, if the child labor characteristics are getting better (the more it fits the criteria, namely male sex, the lower the education, and not going to school), then the work time of child labor will increase. The indicators on the father characteristic variables that most determine are father's income and father's education. Indicators on the mother characteristics that most determine are mother's income, mother's education and mother's occupational status. The most determine indicators of household characteristics are household assets, number of family members, number of children, number of working family members, and parents' income. Indicators on the most determine characteristics of child labor are the gender of child labor, the education of child labor and the status of child labor. The most determine indicators in the community are market availability and school availability.


Introduction: HIV/AIDS is one of the leading health problems worldwide. There is an
increasing rate among the ages between 13 to 49 years old. School based intervention is an
important component of community-based interventions for HIV/AIDS and is the best
stage to promote abstinence which is best maintained among those not sexually experienced.
Objectives: This study was carried out to determine attitude towards sex among secondary
school children in Selangor state. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. Four
out of nine districts in Selangor state were selected at random. Students were divided
according to gender, academic performance (good or poor) with no behavioural problems
and students with evidence of behaviour problems (at risk). Results: Out of 149 students,
the majority (56.4%) were females. The majority of students did not think sex should be
discussed in depth and do not speak to parents, teachers, religious teachers, counselors,
relatives, doctors or nurses but speak to friends regarding sex. More than half watch
pornography. A significantly higher percentage of male students in the weak and at-risk
group admit to thinking of intimacy (hugging and kissing) with the opposite gender. A
higher number of these students would try sex out of curiosity, for fun, because it was
difficult to say 'no' to and that they would like it. A significantly higher percentage will try
sex because they did not want to hurt their girlfriends' feeling by saying 'no'. While the
majority of students think intimacy will end in sex, a significantly higher percentage of
male at-risk students think just talking with the opposite gender will end in sex. The
majority of male students responded feeling attracted to the picture of a girl in sexy
clothing but a significantly higher percentage of at-risk students also felt attracted to the
picture of a girl properly attired. A significantly higher percentage of male at-risk students
say parents do not say sex before marriage is wrong and a significantly higher percentage of
male students of weak and at-risk groups say girlfriends say sex before marriage is okay. A
significantly higher percentage of weak and at-risk students speak to doctors regarding sex
and think sex should be discussed in depth. Conclusion: Weak and at-risk male students
appeared to have a more vulnerable attitude towards sex. This may predispose them to
risky sexual behaviours leading to HIV/AIDS. Poor academic performance and behaviour
problems may not be different as potential sexual risk predictors. The information obtained
will be useful in designing intervention programmes in the prevention of HIV/AIDS.


ABSTRACT: Unrelenting pressure on limited surface water supplies requires increasingly sophisticated water management approaches. Climate forecasts of seasonal precipitation and temperature are potentially useful, but the operational water management community currently underutilizes them. However, some agencies in Arizona took unprecedented advantage of forecasts for a potentially wet winter during the 1997–1998 El Niño event. This study investigates use of this information through a series of semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with key personnel from agencies responsible for emergency management and water supply; their jurisdictions ranged from urban to rural and local to regional. Interviews investigated information acquisition, interpretation, and incorporation into specific decisions and actions. While unprecedented actions were taken by some water management agencies and no agencies implemented inappropriate measures, some missed opportunities for more effective response, primarily through inaction. This study reveals a variety of technical factors and institutional characteristics affecting forecast use. Study findings emphasize the need for: (a) closer ongoing relationships between forecast producers and users, (b) increased institutional flexibility to exploit the increasing skill of seasonal climate forecasts, (c) demonstration projects of effective forecast use, and (d) a regional forum to facilitate information transfer between the hydro‐climatic research community and operational water managers.


The primary purpose of the study is to gain a clearer understanding of the phenomenon of servant leadership through the analysis of historical and contemporary empirical data. The study was prompted by recent reports of leadership practices in progressive organizations from leading economies where the traditional way of leading by command and control i.e. the authoritarian type of leadership, is giving way to a more humane and inclusive form of leadership. "Servant leadership" describes leaders who desire to serve others above their self-¬interest in an atmosphere of love, trust, humility, integrity, and exemplary conduct. First, a qualitative examination of the attributes of historical servant leaders was carried out to identify the key attributes of servant leaders. Second, an empirical study was conducted of 10 contemporary organizational leaders and 51 of their subordinates in Australia and Malaysia, in which servant leaders were identified using the criteria emerging from the historical study. Finally, the nature of servant leadership in Australia and Malaysia was compared, to contribute to the cross-¬cultural investigation of the universality of servant leadership. Case study methodology was applied and Grounded Theory used in data analysis. This study is groundbreaking in the sense that for the first time the understanding of servant leadership is drawn from its actual practice found in eminent historical servant leaders and then compared between the West (as in Australia) and the East (as in Malaysia). The background of all the leaders studied varies in terms of ethnicity, gender, age, and type of organizations led. The themes that emerge from the study of historical servant leaders and organizational servant leaders are virtuous motives, personality attributes, beliefs and values, and enhanced relationships with others. There are a total of 20-25 categories organized under these four themes. The historical and organizational models are identical in the themes and only show fractional variations in the categories. This is due to the limited data collection in the case of historical servant leaders and the difference in focus between historical (social goals) and organizational (organizational goals) servant leaders. However, both the Australian and Malaysian organizational servant leadership models are congruent. These results suggest that servant leadership occurs as a universal phenomenon and is not influenced by national culture, organizational culture, and demographic factors. Future research directions are to broaden the study to more countries in order to strengthen the proposition of universality in servant leadership, and to strengthen the proposition of servant leadership effectiveness by investigating its longer term impact on organizational achievements in comparison to other leadership types, by employing longitudinal study methods. The implications for management involve shifting from the present leadership paradigms of non-servant leadership to the acclaimed practice of servant leadership. Such implications are the reality of spirituality in the workplace, managers connecting humanely with their employees, managing and leading by serving others with humility, and managers engendering trust in workers through servant leadership.


Remains of noncalcareous algae and soft-bodied metazoans from Middle Cambrian strata of Utah (Spence, Wheeler, and Marjum formations) and British Columbia (Stephen Formation) provide further evidence for the wide geographic distribution and long stratigraphic ranges of many Burgess shale taxa. Among the algae, Marpolia spissa, here described from the Spence Shale and questionably from the Wheeler Formation, is referred to the oscillatoracean Cyanobacteria. Margaretia dorus is reported from the Spence and Wheeler formations and is interpreted as a caulerpalean Chlorophyta. M. ramosa and M. stosei from Pennsylvania and Aldanophyton antiquissimum from eastern Siberia are suppressed as junior synonyms of M. doms. Acinocricus stichus n. gen. and n. sp. from the Spence Shale bears multiple whorls of spines at regular nodes on an elongate axis and is questionably assigned to the Chlorophyta. New material of Yuknessia simplex, which is also questionably assigned to the Chlorophyta, is described from the Spence, Wheeler, and Marjum formations. Tubicolous fossils from the Stephen Formation are reassigned to Cambrorhytium n. gen. with two species, C. major and C. fragilis. C. major is also illustrated from the Marjum Formation. New occurrences of Selkirkia sp. cf. S. columbia from the Spence Shale may extend geographic and stratigraphic ranges of this tubicolous priapulid worm. Naraoia compacta is reported for the first time from the Wheeler Formation, thereby adding to the observed distribution of this unusual trilobite. The arthropod Ecnomocaris spinosa n. gen. and n. sp. from the Wheeler Formation is remarkable for its large size and prominent spines. The arthropod Utahcaris orion n. gen. and n. sp. from the Spence Shale has an elongate 'Manuscript received 8 April 1988. 2 The University of Kansas Paleontological Contributions—Paper 122 body with cephalic shield and telson of subequal size. One undetermined arthropod from the Spence Shale resembles Emeraldella and Leanchoilia. Another undetermined arthropod from the Marjum Formation resembles Actaeus and Alalcomenaeus. Although fragmentary, the first appendages of Anomalocaris nathorsti to be discovered in Utah are described from the Spence and Wheeler formations. New discoveries in Utah of isolated sclerites of Wiwaxi a sp. cf. W corrugata and compressions of the medusiform Eldonia ludungi, both of uncertain systematic position, provide the first records of these taxa from beyond the Burgess shale of British Columbia. Undetermined worms are described from the Wheeler Formation. Large coprolites in the Spence Shale are indicative of a predator or scavenger that may have been larger than any animal previously reported from Cambrian rocks. EVOLUTIONARY AND ECOLOGICAL insights provided by the Burgess shale biota from the Middle Cambrian of British Columbia (e.g., Conway Morris, 1985a, 1986; Conway Morris and Whittington, 1985; Whittington, 1985) are becoming more widely appreciated, especially as they pertain to the diversification of early metazoans. So long as the Burgess shale biota remained an isolated occurrence, however, its wider relevance to Cambrian studies was inevitably somewhat elusive. The discovery in other Cambrian localities of soft-bodied fossils that are directly comparable to those from the Burgess shale is, therefore, of particular significance in demonstrating the wide distribution of this biota. Many sites are now known from around the Laurentian craton, which during the Cambrian Period appears to have occupied an equatorial location isolated from other major cratons (Smith, Hurley, and Briden, 1981; Zonenshain, Kuzmin, and Kononov, 1985). At present this distribution is defined by occurrences as widespread as California, Utah, Idaho, British Columbia, North Greenland, and Pennsylvania (Conway Morris, 1985b; Robison, 1986; Conway Morris and others,


In the referendum campaign, both sides are painting conflicting pictures of the future if Britain stayed in or left the European Union. Since no description of the future can be backed up by evidence, campaigners are in effect asking voters to take on trust what they forecast. Such appeals assume that voters are inclined to trust politicians and the arguments that they make. However, this is not the case.


Megawatt (MW) gyrotrons, with a wide frequency range from 14 to 300 GHz, are being developed as part of a collaborative electron cyclotron heating (ECH) study for advanced fusion devices and a demonstration power plant (DEMO). (1) Detailed designs for a 14 GHz 1 MW gyrotron are being developed for fabrication. For a 14 GHz radio frequency (RF) beam with high divergence, a calculated transmission efficiency of 94% to the corrugated waveguide coupling position was obtained initially by introducing the design concept (direct RF beam coupling by built-in waveguide) to minimize the RF transmission path. Installing a double-disk sapphire window will make it possible to develop a 1 MW gyrotron with a continuous wave (CW) at 14 GHz. (2) In experimental tests of a new 28/35 GHz dual-frequency gyrotron, the cooling characteristics of an optimal-structure double-disk sapphire window were evaluated. We confirmed that operating at 0.4 MW with a CW at 28 GHz is feasible, reaching twice the output power reported in previous studies. In a 2 ms short-pulse experimental test, maximum powers of 1.65 MW at 28.04 GHz and 1.21 MW at 34.83 GHz were achieved. (3) A design study of a 77/51 GHz dual-frequency gyrotron was performed. Oscillations above 1.5 MW for 77 GHz and 1.3 MW for 51.88 GHz are expected for a beam voltage Vk  =  80 kV and beam current Ik  =  60 A. (4) In an experiment with a 300 GHz gyrotron, the influence of the wave reflected from the window was reduced by tilting the output window, and mode competition in the cavity was suppressed. An output power of 0.62 MW with a pulse width of 1 ms, which is the new record for this frequency, was obtained. (5) We also performed a trial design study of a 240 GHz gyrotron for DEMO.


Advertising is a form of communication intended to convince an audience (viewers, readers or listeners) to purchase or take some action upon products, information, or services etc. This paper investigates the relationship between independent variables which are environmental response and emotional response with attitudinal and behavioral aspect of consumer buying behavior, by tapping the responses of 200 respondents using telecommunication services from Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Lahore (cities of Pakistan). The major findings of the study demonstrate an overall normal association between the variables but in-depth analysis found that emotional response of consumer purchase behavior is the variable that results into strong association with the consumer buying behavior. It is true that people purchase those brands with which they are emotionally attached. This study reports new evidences in the field of consumer buying behavior of consumers pertaining to the local markets of these cities of Pakistan.


Studying the mechanism of action (MoA) of biocides against pathogenic microorganisms is crucial to understand their efficacy and limitations, and to develop more efficient microbicidal formulations. Combining alcohol and zinc has been reported to enhance microbicidal activity, but the reasons for such activity are unknown. This study focuses on the impact of combining ethanol and zinc salt at pH 10.5 against nonenveloped viruses. The study is focused on three different aspects: i) virucidal activity screening of
ethanol:zinc combinations against bacteriophages and human viruses; ii) impact of ethanol:zinc combinations on virus structure, particularly the viral capsid and nucleic
acid, using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM); Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and agarose gel DNA electrophoresis and iii) chemical speciation and stability of ethanol:zinc combinations over time. The combination of ethanol with zinc salt was found to be more effective against viruses than control formulations containing sole active ingredients and/or excipients only. Activity test of 40%(w/v) ethanol with 0.1% (w/v) zinc salt with excipients (RB-
002 formulation) against F116 and adenovirus type 2 (AdV2) at 60 min contact time yielded 0.68 ± 0.02 and 5.26 ± 0.10 log10 reduction, respectively. In comparison, 0.1% (w/v) zinc salt only with excipient (RB-002G formulation) showed no virucidal activity against bacteriophage F116 (0.14 ± 0.02 log10 reduction) and AdV2 (0.80 ± 0.12 log10 reduction) in suspension. Differences between activities against bacteriophage MS2 and poliovirus type 1 were similar as the ones found between F116 and AdV2. Formulation containing 40%(w/v) ethanol with 0.1% (w/v) zinc salt produced a range of structural
damage to F116 and attP AdV5 indicating possible capsid alteration. Effect of the combined formulation on viral capsid was confirmed with AFM with a possible decreased in virus capsid stiffness and significant virus capsid height reduction over 10 min contact time. F116 DNA damage was detected upon exposure to 40%(w/v) ethanol with 0.1% (w/v) zinc salt with excipients, but no damage was detected on AdV2 DNA through electrophoresis analysis. The alcohol/zinc formulation system at pH 10.5 was shown to have promising
virucidal activity against non-enveloped viruses at room temperature following an alteration of the viral capsid, and possible damage to the viral nucleic acid. This study
also showed the limitations of using bacteriophage as surrogate for mammalian viruses.


One of the disadvantages of permanent magnet (PM) transverse flux machines is high magnetic flux leakage in the stator and rotor cores. To improve the magnetic circuit of this class of machines, a generator with double coil was designed and built to research the problem. The machine topology is different from the topologies previously introduced in the literature. The main difference was in the stator and rotor configurations. The stator of the generator is divided by two parts: 1) outer and 2) inner. Two coils were placed in the inner and outer stators. The rotor with PMs was placed between the two stators. To diminish magnetic flux leakage in the stator and to decrease machine's weight, magnetic poles were placed in aluminum housings. This resulted in high-density eddy currents induced in the housings, and a significant raise of the temperature. The housing of the machine was modified. The prototype test showed that the modified version of the stator contributed to a significant decrease in temperature. Electromechanical parameters and cogging torque of the proposed generator is also studied and presented in this paper.


This study explored cross-cultural differences between Japan and Russia in terms of women's body images, proneness to eating disorders, and the effects of dichotomous thinking. Participants included 419 Japanese and 187 Russian college women who completed the Dichotomous Thinking Inventory (DTI), the 26-item version of the Eating Attitudes Test, and responses regarding nine figures representing female body shapes. The mean age of the participants was 19.8 years, with no significant age differences between the countries. The results showed that Japanese women have leaner ideal body images than Russian women, whereas there were no cross-cultural differences in the participants' real body images. DTI scores among Russian participants were higher than DTI scores among Japanese participants, which indicated that Russian women think more dichotomously than Japanese. Structural equation modeling indicated a significantly negative effect of dichotomous thinking only on real body image in Russia; the ideal body image had greater effects on eating disorder in Russia than in Japan.


Want to learn to program in Windows but dont know where to start? Look no further! This book is designed to teach you how to develop Windows applications using Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Express. To help make learning fun and interesting, you will learn how to program through the development of computer games, and you will develop a new game that reinforces a newly learned concept in each chapter. Its the easiest way to learn! By the time you have finished the book, not only will you have access to a collection of working sample scripts, you also will have laid a foundation upon which you can begin to tackle real-world challenges and new languages. Whether you are an experienced programmer looking for a jumpstart on learning Visual Basic 2008 Express, or a first-timer looking for a friendly programming language and a book that will help you to begin your programming career, you will be happy with what this book has in store for you!


Co-collection and co-registration of ultrasound images of the tongue and articulometry data requires the stabilization of the ultrasound probe relative to the head using a non-metallic system. Audio, ultrasound, and articulometry data were recorded from 11 North American English speakers reading 10 blocks of 25 sentences, speaking for 2 minutes at a time, spanning a recording time of 45 minutes. The 95% confidence interval for ultrasound probe roll relative to head motion was 1.35◦, and 2.12 mm for lateral displacement, such that ultrasound probe displacement is within acceptable rotational and translational parameters as described in the HOCUS paper [9]. The proper use of this probe holder could also allow for adequate ultrasound probe stabilization without external marker tracking for post-processing correction, making this probe holder suitable for field research.


AIM: To study activity of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) in blood serum of patients with stable effort angina. MATERIAL AND METHODS: ACE activity was measured in 11 patients (age 35-45, mean 46.5+/-1.6 years) with typical class II-III effort angina without hypertension or contractile insufficiency of the myocardium previously not treated with ACE inhibitors. Diagnosis was verified by angiography (7 patients), data of 24 hour ECG monitoring and exercise tests. Control group comprised 13 practically healthy subjects (age 36-54, mean 48.3+/-2.09 years). RESULTS: ACE activity in controls was 32.5-57 micromol/min/l (mean 46.2+/-2.0 micromol/min/l), in patients -- 48-110 micromol/min/l (mean 73.5+/-5.9 micromol/min/l), p<0.001. More than 2/3 of patients (7 of 11) had ACE activity above upper limit of norm.


A lack of driver's vigilance is the main cause of most vehicle crashes. Electroencephalography(EEG) has been reliable and efficient tool for drivers' drowsiness estimation. Even though previous studies have developed accurate and robust driver's vigilance detection algorithms, these methods are still facing challenges on following areas: (a) small sample size training, (b) anomaly signal detection, and (c) subject-independent classification. In this paper, we propose a generalized few-shot model, namely EEG-Fest, to improve aforementioned drawbacks. The EEG-Fest model can (a) classify the query sample's drowsiness with a few samples, (b) identify whether a query sample is anomaly signals or not, and (c) achieve subject independent classification. The proposed algorithm achieves state-of-the-art results on the SEED-VIG dataset and the SADT dataset. The accuracy of the drowsy class achieves 92% and 94% for 1-shot and 5-shot support samples in the SEED-VIG dataset, and 62% and 78% for 1-shot and 5-shot support samples in the SADT dataset.


An efficient cathode for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is mainly determined by the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of mixed materials. We demonstrate a new microstructure design through a nanofibrous electrode based on a unique corn-cob structure. A one-step process to produce corn-cob ceramic nanofibers of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 (LSM) and Y2O3-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ) is introduced using an electrospinning system equipped with a coaxial nozzle. From the microscope analysis, perfect corn-cob nanofibers are finely produced with a diameter of 350 nm for the core and nanoparticles (30–40 nm) stacked on the surface similar to a core–shell structure. The cathode fabricated using nanofibers with LSM outside and YSZ inside (YSZ@LSM) shows the best maximum power density of 1.15 W cm−2 at 800 °C with low polarization resistance, which is higher than that of the reverse core and shell positions (LSM@YSZ) and even the commercial LSM–YSZ. This better outcome is more prominent at elevated temperatures due to its accelerated catalytic activity. Therefore, insight into the key factors that enhance ORR activity and single cell performance is obtained in terms of not only the nanofibrous core@shell structure but also more reaction active sites from the optimum catalyst position at the designed corn-cob nanofiber based cathodes.


A new method is described for automatic control point selection and matching. First, reference and sensed images are segmented and closed-boundary regions are extracted. Each region is represented by a set of affine-invariant moment-based features. Correspondence between the regions is then established by a two-stage matching algorithm that works both in the feature space and in the image space. Centers of gravity of corresponding regions are used as control points. A practical use of the proposed method is demonstrated by registration of SPOT and Landsat TM images. It is shown that the authors' method can produce subpixel registration accuracy. >


Background and Objectives: Up to 70% of patients report moderate to severe pain after shoulder surgery, which can compromise early rehabilitation and functional recuperation. Postoperative shoulder pain control is improved with both interscalene block and intra-articular local anesthetic injection. The present study hypothesized that perioperative interscalene analgesia would offer pain control superior to perioperative intra-articular local anesthetics over the first 24 hours after surgery. Methods: Sixty patients undergoing shoulder surgery were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: group IS had interscalene block with catheter installation, while group IA received intra-articular local anesthetic, also with catheter installation. All patients received 3 local anesthetic injections: 0.25 mL/kg of 2% lidocaine with epinephrine 2.5 &mgr;g/mL immediately before and after surgery, and 0.25 mL/kg of 0.5% bupivacaine with epinephrine 2.5 &mgr;g/mL 1 hour after the end of surgery, after which the catheters were removed, and no further local anesthetics were administered. Postoperative pain at rest was evaluated in the postanesthesia care unit (PACU), 3 hours, 6 hours and 24 hours after surgery. The area under the 24 hour pain over time curve was calculated. Hydromorphone consumption in the PACU and over 24 hours was recorded. Results: Pain scores (IS: 0.4 ± 2 vs. IA: 4 ± 3, P < .0001) and opioid consumption (IS: 0.7 mg ± 1.4 vs. IA: 1.5 mg ± 1.2, P = .02) were significantly higher in the PACU for group IA. However, neither the mean pain scores over the first day after surgery (IS: 5 ± 2 vs. IA: 5 ± 3; P = .4) nor 24-hour opioid consumption (IS: 4.4 mg ± 2.8 vs. IA: 4.2 mg ± 2.6; P = .4) were significantly higher in group IA. Conclusions: PACU measurements of immediate postoperative pain and narcotic consumption favor perioperative interscalene analgesia over intra-articular analgesia. This benefit does not translate into lower overall pain for the first 24 hours after surgery.


Available techniques for testing of core-based systems-on-a-chip (SOCs) do not provide a systematic means for synthesizing low-overhead test architectures and compact test solutions. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive framework that generates low-overhead compact test solutions for SOCs. First, we develop a common ground for addressing issues such as core test requirements, core access, and testing hardware additions. For this purpose, we introduce finite-state automata (FSA) for modeling tests, transparency modes, and testing hardware behavior. In many cases, the tests repeat a basic set of test actions for different test data that can again be modeled using FSA. While earlier work can derive a single symbolic test for a module in a register-transfer level (RTL) circuit as a finite-state automaton, this work extends the methodology to the system level and additionally contributes a satisfiability-based solution to the problem of applying a sequence of tests phased in time. This problem is known to be a bottleneck in testability analysis not only at the system level, but also at the RTL. Experimental results show that the system-level average area overhead for making SOCs testable with our method is only 4.5%, while achieving an average test application time reduction of 80% over recent approaches. At the same time, it provides 100% test coverage of the precomputed test sets/sequences of the embedded cores.