The importance of developing and assessing student critical thinking at university can be seen through its inclusion as a graduate attribute for universities and from research highlighting the value employers, educators and students place on demonstrating critical thinking skills. Critical thinking skills are seldom explicitly assessed at universities. Commercial critical thinking assessments, which are often generic in context, are available. However, literature suggests that assessments that use a context relevant to the students more accurately reflect their critical thinking skills. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a chemistry critical thinking test (the Danczak–Overton–Thompson Chemistry Critical Thinking Test or DOT test), set in a chemistry context, and designed to be administered to undergraduate chemistry students at any level of study. Development and evaluation occurred over three versions of the DOT test through a variety of quantitative and qualitative reliability and validity testing phases. The studies suggest that the final version of the DOT test has good internal reliability, strong test–retest reliability, moderate convergent validity relative to a commercially available test and is independent of previous academic achievement and university of study. Criterion validity testing revealed that third year students performed statistically significantly better on the DOT test relative to first year students, and postgraduates and academics performed statistically significantly better than third year students. The statistical and qualitative analysis indicates that the DOT test is a suitable instrument for the chemistry education community to use to measure the development of undergraduate chemistry students' critical thinking skills.


Burahol [Stelechocarpus burahol (Blume) Hook.f. & Thomson] fruit is well known as food and used traditionally as bad deodorization. The objective of this study was to examine mouth bad deodorization activity of burahol mouthwash. Firstly, methyl mercaptan capturing activity of the burahol fruit extracts was evaluated using gas chromatography. The antibacterial activity against Porphyromonas ginggivalis, a volatile sulfide compound (VSC)-producing Gram-negative anaerobic bacterium was tested. The mouthwash mouth bad deodorization activity was performed with cross over design in healthy subjects, randomized controlled trial. Subjects were treated by the burahol mouth wash, as positive control was used commercial mouth wash containing green tea extract. The burahol fruits extract captured 97.5% methyl mercaptan. The burahol mouthwash demonstrated no antibacterial activity against P. ginggivalis. The treatment of the burahol mouthwash on the subjects reduced the volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) concentration. The burahol mouthwash mouth bad deodorization activity is not different statistically compared with that positive control (P < 0.05). This study showed that S. burahol fruits demonstrated the mouth bad odor reducing activity.


Thermal infrared imaging is fundamental to architectural heritage non-destructive diagnostics. However, thermal sensors' low spatial resolution allows capturing only very localized phenomena. At the same time, thermal images are commonly collected with independence of geometry, meaning that no measurements can be performed on them. Occasionally, these issues have been solved with various approaches integrating multi-sensor instrumentation, resulting in high costs and computational times. The presented work aims at tackling these problems by proposing a workflow for cost-effective three-dimensional thermographic modeling using a thermal camera and a consumer-grade RGB camera. The discussed approach exploits the RGB spectrum images captured with the optical sensor of the thermal camera and image-based multi-view stereo techniques to reconstruct architectural features' geometry. The thermal and optical sensors are calibrated employing custom-made low-cost targets. Subsequently, the necessary geometric transformations between undistorted thermal infrared and optical images are calculated to replace them in the photogrammetric scene and map the models with thermal texture. The method's metric accuracy is evaluated by conducting comparisons with different sensors and the efficiency by assessing how the results can assist the better interpretation of the present thermal phenomena. The conducted application demonstrates the metric and radiometric performance of the proposed approach and the straightforward implementability for thermographic surveys, as well as its usefulness for cost-effective historical building assessments.


It is a great pleasure and a privilege to have been invited to speak at this prestigious event in honor of Don Kohn. The breadth of this topic - central banking before, during, and after the crisis - matches the breadth of Don's contribution. We at the Bank for International Settlements have benefited enormously from his experience, his thoughtful analysis, and his extraordinary common sense. Don is the quintessential central banker. The topic of the conference is a challenging one. There is no question that the crisis has been a defining moment in the history of central banking. It has raised first - order economic, intellectual, and institutional challenges that, I suspect, will profoundly change central banking in the years ahead. In my remarks today, however, I will just focus on one of them: central banking in a balance sheet recession. The question is how to formulate policies that reduce the risk of protracted weakness and accelerate the return to a self - sustained recovery. My main message is simple. Unquestionably, decisive action by central banks during the crisis has played a critical role in preventing a financial meltdown and a potential deflationary spiral. But the policies that are most suited to crisis management are not necessarily the best for crisis resolution. By crisis resolution, I mean the stage after the most acute crisis phase, when balance sheet repair must be addressed head-on to ensure a self - sustained recovery. Then, unless other fundamental measures are taken, there is a serious risk of overburdening monetary policy. From this balance sheet perspective, extraordinarily easy monetary policy-through both interest rates and the forceful use of central bank balance sheets-can certainly buy time, but it can also make it easier to waste that time. It is therefore important to acknowledge the possible limitations of this policy, to study them further, and to communicate them clearly. In what follows, I shall first set the stage by exploring the special features of balance sheet recessions. I shall then turn to what monetary policy can and cannot do. I will then conclude with some reflections on the longer-term political economy and institutional challenges, with special attention to the need to preserve central banks' autonomy.


Scalar quantizers with uniform decoders and channel-optimized encoders are studied for a uniform source on [0,1] and binary symmetric channels. Two families of affine index assignments are considered: the complemented natural code (CNC), introduced here, and the natural binary code (NBC). It is shown that the NBC never induces empty cells in the quantizer encoder, whereas the CNC can. Nevertheless, we show that the asymptotic distributions of quantizer encoder cells for the NBC and the CNC are equal and are uniform over a proper subset of the source's support region. Empty cells act as a form of implicit channel coding. An effective channel code rate associated with a quantizer designed for a noisy channel is defined and computed for the codes studied. By explicitly showing that the mean-squared error (MSE) of the CNC can be strictly smaller than that of the NBC, we also demonstrate that the NBC is suboptimal for a large range of transmission rates and bit error probabilities. This contrasts with the known optimality of the NBC when either both the encoder and decoder are not channel optimized, or when only the decoder is channel optimized.


Realizing general-purpose language intelligence has been a longstanding goal for natural language processing, where standard evaluation benchmarks play a fundamental and guiding role. We argue that for general-purpose language intelligence evaluation, the benchmark itself needs to be comprehensive and systematic. To this end, we propose CUGE, a Chinese Language Understanding and Generation Evaluation benchmark with the following features: (1) Hierarchical benchmark framework, where datasets are principally selected and organized with a language capability-task-dataset hierarchy. (2) Multi-level scoring strategy, where different levels of model performance are provided based on the hierarchical framework. To facilitate CUGE, we provide a public leaderboard that can be customized to support flexible model judging criteria. Evaluation results on representative pre-trained language models indicate ample room for improvement towards general-purpose language intelligence. CUGE is publicly available at cuge.baai.ac.cn.


The frequency content of the first second of the maximum forced expiratory manoeuvre (MFEM) was measured to determine if the currently accepted frequency limit of 20 Hz for MFEM is adequate for recording peak expiratory flow (PEF). The frequency response of a Fleisch pneumotachograph (PT) was measured and used to record MFEM from 24 patients attending a lung-function laboratory and 26 normal volunteers. The first 1.024 s of the signal recorded at 1,000 Hz for that blow with maximum PEF, underwent fast Fourier transformation using a triangular window function, applied after 0.75 s to reduce flow linearly to zero. All the frequencies above a set limit were removed, followed by inverse transformation to reconstitute the blow. The limits for this frequency cut-off were progressively varied from 100 Hz down to 15 Hz, with the resulting PEF being compared with the PEF from the reconstituted blow with no frequency reduction. The average±sd age for the group was 47±18 yrs and the average PEF was 450±187 L·min−1, which, when expressed as a standardized residual, was 0.1±2.1, with a range from −4.5–3.9 indicating a good spread around normal values. Average rise time to PEF was 83±38 ms and dwell time >90% PEF was 45±25 ms. Cut-off >20 Hz reduced the mean PEF of the group by 8.5 L·min−1 (95% confidence limit 5.5–11.4 L·min−1), whereas cut-off >30 Hz reduced mean PEF by 4.4 L·min−1 (2.6–6.2). In the present study subjects, 30 Hz was on the 95th percentile of frequencies for defining the upper limit for 98% of the power spectrum for the first second of the blow. It has been shown that there are frequencies >20 Hz that contribute to peak expiratory flow enough to influence readings made using conventional hand-held peak expiratory flow meters, such as the mini-Wright. Devices used for recording flow from a maximum forced expiratory manoeuvre should therefore have an adequate frequency response of up to 30 Hz.


This article considers empirical likelihood in the context of efficient semiparametric estimators of average treatment effects. It shows that the empirical likelihood ratio converges to a nonstandard distribution, and proposes a corrected test statistic that is asymptotically chi-squared. A small Monte Carlo experiment suggests that the corrected empirical likelihood ratio statistic has competitive finite sample properties. The results of the article are applied to estimate the environmental effect of the World Trade Organisation.


This paper considers the position of national central banks within the ESCB. The funda-mental framework underlying the ESCB is that of a system of central banks in which component institutions are individually and collectively responsible for carrying out vari-ous tasks. Within this framework, we evaluate the current division of labour between the ECB and NCBs using the concept of efficiency (which subsumes cost- consciousness as well as effectiveness), along with that of subsidiarity. In contrast to most of the existing literature, the focus is not exclusively on monetary policy, but takes into account a broader array of tasks performed by central banks. Taking a long-run perspective, it is ar-gued that while some tasks are likely to be centralised, fundamental changes in the role of NCBs in the ESCB are linked to further political integration within Europe and the devel- opment of supranational institutions in other policy areas.


In this paper we introduce a statistical framework for image quality assessment based on the properties of hierarchical Receptive Fields (RFs) which are the primary mechanism for detection of visual patterns in the Human Visual System (HVS). We show how this frame work can be used to learn about different aspects of RFs such as the shape and size of RFs in the early vision and the directional preference of the RFs in the V1 cortex. The proposed framework offers a probabilistic approach to the detection of discrepancies (distortion) between a reference and a test visual stimuli (e.g. images). The proposed Probabilistic Perceptual Image Quality (PPIQ) framework offers a more realistic notion of image quality assessment, based on "comparative memory" as opposed to "differential photographic memory", which was required for explanation of many aspects of legacy image quality methods.


The Mediterranean climate and water cycle are strongly affected by fine-scale and coupled processes, which generally involve all the Earth system compartments (ocean - atmosphere - land surface). Their investigation by modelling needs the development of accurate coupled and mesoscale numerical systems. We build at IPSL the MORCE (Model Of the Regional Coupled Earth system) plateform over the Mediterranean area. It includes the regional air-sea coupled system WRF-OASIS-NEMO. The horizontal resolutions are 20km for the non-hydrostatic atmospheric model WRF and 1/12o for the eddy-resolving ocean circulation model NEMO-MED12. The Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and fluxes exchanges between the two models are managed via the OASIS coupler. Three simulations are currently available: (1)The downscaling of the ERA-interim reanalyses (1989-2008) by WRF. This simulation is also part of the Med-CORDEX project; (2)The NEMO-MED12 simulation for the same period, driven by air-sea fluxes provided by simulation (1) every 3 hours; (3)The two-way interactive coupled run (MORCE experiment). The coupling frequency chosen is 3 hours. The comparison of the uncoupled/coupled runs is done to evaluate the role of mesoscale coupled processes on the water budget. Compared to reanalyses, the coupled system better represents the mean SST, especially in summer. The coupling produces mesoscale patterns in the turbulent fluxes that slightly modify the general and thermohaline circulations. In the atmospheric model, the SST modifications between uncoupled and coupled runs induce strong retroactions on the Precipitation (P) and Evaporation (E) fields. We found a significant spatial correspondence between the SST anomalies and the P and E anomalies. The fine-scale P anomalies extend over the coastal area, but the extension seems to be limited by the surrounding orography. The wind speed is also decreased in the coupled mode over the whole domain, except over some SST anomaly hot-spots. Finally, the annual cycles of P, E and E-P over sea show weak differences. This highlights that the coupled processes major role is the redistribution of the water at mesoscale.


The essay examines the scientific representations that prevailed at the University of Puerto Rico School of Tropical Medicine (STM) under the auspices of Columbia University (1926-1949). This article on the STM's scientific endeavors is the first in a historical serial collection about the images and evolution of sciences at the institution. It reviews faculty's principal investigations (by disciplines and research problems), development of research programs, and concomitant scientific productivity and research outcomes. The essay focuses on the emerged scientific representations and the nature of sciences, and has been divided into four sections: 1) images of science, 2) the evolution of science in the first two eras (1926-40), 3) the third and last era unfolding (1941-49), and 4) special studies. This first paper focuses on the scientific images that emerged from an examination of communities' interactions, networks, and academic and foundational documents. The scientific representations have been brought about through the analyses of different sources: academic and research reports, and publications in external and local venues. The most significant findings of this representational inquiry are: the idea of an academic tropical center in the tropics had a shared colonial-metropolis image; the community of common, but unequal, scientific citizens became an integrated epistemological community; interdisciplinary cooperation was the School's research dictum; and an image of a mature science and school of tropical medicine emerged. The richness and varieties of the practices and outcomes of science at the STM are analytically viewed as research schemas, exemplars of knowledge (paradigms), and epistemological fields (epistemes).


B cell depletion therapy using rituximab has been shown to be effective in achieving remission in patients with HCV-mixed cryoglobulinemic (MC) vasculitis. Previously, we have demonstrated abnormalities in peripheral immune cells involving neutrophils, chemotaxis, and innate immune activation among patients with HCV-MC vasculitis when compared to HCV patients without vasculitis. In this study, we evaluated the effect of B cell depletion therapy on transcriptional profiles of peripheral blood mononuclear cells before and after riruximab therapy, in order to unravel the pathogenic mechanism involved in HCV-MC vasculitis induced by abnormal B cell proliferation. DNA microarray analysis was performed using RNA from PBMCs from seven patients with HCV-MC vasculitis and seven normal volunteers. DNA was hybridized to Affymetrix U133A chips. After normalization, differentially expressed gene list with treatment was generated using partitional clustering. RT-PCR, flow cytometry, and enzyme immunoassay (EIA) was used to validate DNA microarray findings. Differentially expressed genes included B cells and non-B cell genes. Validation of genes using purified cell subsets demonstrated distinct effect of B cell depletion therapy on non-B cells, such as monocytes, T cells, and NK cells. Notably, B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) levels were persistently elevated in patients who subsequently relapsed. In conclusion, pathogenesis of HCV-MC vasculitis is mediated by abnormal proliferation of B cells, driven by BLyS, leading to significant effects on non-B cells in mediating symptomatology. Future therapeutics using a combination approach of B cell depletion and proliferation may be desired to achieve long-term remission.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors influencing the adoption of the online public grievance redressal system (OPGRS) in the Indian context. This e-government initiative is based on the government's long term strategic policy that aims to reform and overhaul the Indian bureaucracy. The model developed is based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) and includes the constructs such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, self-efficacy, and behavioral intention. The empirical outcomes provided the positive significant relationships for all 11 hypotheses established using six constructs. The empirical evidence and discussion presented in the study can help the Indian government to improve upon and fully utilize the potential of OPGRS as a useful tool for transparent and corruption free country. The research also provides its limitations and future research directions, and implications for theory and practice at the end.


This paper reports on on-going exploratory research into the prevalence and patterns of social media use by trade unions in the United Kingdom. Social media platforms, like Twitter, are used by unions to organize and mobilize existing and potential members by communicating relevant content, which often engages politicians and the news media. However, there is little empirical research examining how trade unions use social media in practice. This research addresses this gap by employing digital methods to analyze trade union activity on Twitter, namely, exploring key characteristics of Twitter use by UK unions and mapping dynamic networks of associations around labour movement issues. Findings are discussed in the context of collective and connective action. The methodological implications for studying civil society organizations online are also considered.


The present paper contains a brief survey of the literature on neurofibromatosis. A case of Recklinghausen's disease with multiple neurofibromas of the acoustic nerve, which affected the hypothalamo-hypophyseal region and thus caused adiposo-genital dystrophy, is described in detail.


The principal prerequisite for being a modern professional in any field is the acceptance and conscious execution of a life long process of continual learning. In particular, in a rapidly changing technological society, the working engineer must be abreast of current developments in his or her field. While this awareness can be achieved through occasional seminars and keeping up with trade and technical journals, it is best accomplished by attending courses and/or enrolling in a degree programme offered by a local university. Although the return from such an arrangement is largely a function of the individual's effort, on the whole every participant (engineer, employer and university) benefits from it. The curriculum offered by the university must be dynamic and flexible and must be administered by a faculty with a clear understanding of current industrial needs. The 'Early Bird' programme at Santa Clara University is given as an example. With the current critical need to upgrade manufacturing technologies, the role of quality continuing education for our engineers and managers becomes increasingly important.


Mixed mesodermal tumors and carcinosarcomas of the uterus are classified as sarcomas. However, in other sites, malignant biphasic tumors may be classified as carcinomas, mesotheliomas, or sarcomas. In order to clarify their behavior and patterns of differentiation, we performed a clinicopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 22 cases aimed at analyzing the pattern of spread and histologic appearance of the metastasis, as well as the distribution of intermediate filaments in the primary tumor and the metastasis. Four monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) were used to detect epithelial lineage, three that recognize keratin (AE1/AE3, CAM5.2,MAK6) and one that recognizes epithelial membrane antigen (EMA). A Mab against vimentin was also used. Metastases involved the omentum, pelvic peritoneum, ovaries, fallopian tubes, pelvic or para-aortic lymph nodes, liver parenchyma, and tonsil. These metastases were composed of carcinoma only. Lymphatic/vascular invasion was identified in 11 cases; it consisted exclusively of carcinoma. In all 12 cases evaluated immunohistochemically, keratin and EMA were identified in the majority of the cells in the epithelial component and in a more focal distribution in the spindle cell component in 11 (92%). Vimentin was detected in the majority of spindle cells in nine cases (75%) and in a more focal distribution in the epithelial component in six cases (50%). In the spindle cell component, keratin and EMA were present in widely scattered individual spindle-shaped and rounded cells, within solid clusters of rounded cells, and in nests of cells with small lumens. The distribution of keratin, EMA, and vimentin in the metastases (carcinoma in all instances) was similar to the epithelial component in the primary tumor. Our findings indicate that the epithelial component of these tumors invades lymphatic/vascular spaces and metastasizes, whereas the spindle cell component has limited metastatic potential, if any, Since the behavior of these neoplasms is dictated by the epithelial element, we believe that mixed mesodermal tumors of the uterus should be classified as carcinomas rather than sarcomas.


Over the years, the interest in cold cases and the solving of unresolved homicides has been in the fore front for many law enforcement agencies.  There has been little to no research conducted, however, that specifies how many cases exist in this country and what factors contribute to successful resolutions.  In 2010, ScrippsNews reported that from 1980 to 2008, based on the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) clearance data, the USA had accumulated nearly 185,000 unresolved homicides.  Until now that number had neither been validated nor refuted.  This research identified, with confidence, over 230,355 unresolved homicides for the period 1980-2014.  The only other known source, the Murder Accountability Project, reflects that the figure is closer to 235,000 with thousands being added yearly.  Besides the crime data containing the number of homicides and their respective clearances, this research also identified how most police agencies regard cold cases; the design and make up of a cold case unit and what factors affect the solvability of these cold cases.  Furthermore, as part of the concern regarding unresolved homicides, the unclear status of the "unidentified dead" in the USA was also reviewed.  The process attempted to properly identify and clarify those issues while describing the procedures being utilized, all working towards a "best practices" approach.


As an alternative to the more traditional fixed-price schemes, governments can run auctions to purchase environmental services from private agents. Governments have so far chosen the discriminatory price (DP) over the uniform price (UP) format. Theoretical and experimental studies have concluded that the DP usually performs better than the UP in terms of cost-effectiveness. Using field data from two fishing vessel decommissioning auctions in Scotland, we find ambiguous results regarding relative DP and UP performances. A novel approach for estimating the underlying bidder costs shows that bid shading and cost heterogeneity can each determine relative auction performance. (JEL Q22, Q28)


There is now a solid set of results from economic sociologists concerning the spread and implementation of "shareholder value" strategies across publicly held corporations in the United States during the 1980s. Corporations were financially reorganized and used the tactics of selling off unrelated product lines, engaging in mergers with firms in similar industries, various financial ploys such as stock buybacks, and downsizing their labor forces. Using data from 62 industries for 1984-2000, this paper explores empirically the connections between shareholder value strategies such as mergers and layoffs, and related industry-level changes such as de-unionization, computer technology, and subsequent profitability. Mergers occurred in industries where economic conditions were not good in line with shareholder value arguments. Mergers subsequently led to layoffs, consistent with the shareholder value perspective that emphasizes that firms needed to deploy their resources more efficiently as they reorganized. There is also evidence that managers who engaged in mergers invested in computer technology. This technology displaced workers through layoffs and was focused on reducing unionized work forces. There is no evidence that mergers or layoffs returned industries to profitability. This suggests that shareholder value strategies were not, successful in righting the problems of American business.


Lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma are the deadliest cancers worldwide. Smoking and ionizing radiation are potent carcinogens affecting strongly both lung cancer subtypes. Several biological analyses have been performed to characterise the genetic mutations leading to adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, and different genomic spectra have been observed. Biological markers of smoking related damage could be found, leading to a deep
knowledge of cellular smoking effects. Less is known about the biological effects of radiation in human carcinogenesis. Risks have been quantified with epidemiological studies of these carcinogens. Based on the biologically substantiated assumption that the number of mutations is linearly related to the dose, in radiation epidemiology it is standard to model effects linearly. These models do however not have a biological interpretation and are disconnected from general statistical methods. Here we fill both gaps. First we apply statistical generalised additive models to examine the functional relation between risk and smoking and radiation effects. Secondly, with mechanistic multi-scale models we integrate molecular biology and epidemiology to describe the carcinogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma.
To investigate the incidence of lung adenocarcinoma and lung squamous cell carcinoma we analysed two cohorts: first the Life Span Study cohort of atomic bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and second the Eldorado cohort of Canadian Uranium miners. Exposures differed strongly between cohorts. Residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were exposed to a relative high dose of gamma radiation for a short time, while the miners were exposed to a protracted and lower
exposure to alpha and gamma radiation. Information about smoking habits is available only for the former cohort.
Three types of models were applied to analyse the effects of radiation and smoking: state-of-the-art statistical risk models of radiation protection, statistical generalized additive models and mechanistic risk models. Although there were quantitative differences in effect size and significance, each result is presented below only for a single model.
For lung adenocarcinoma the best mechanistic model was a two pathway model. Smoking and radiation effects showed markedly different patterns: both acted on the apoptosis rate of precancerous cells but on different pathways without any interaction. A linear radiation effect was found in one pathway and a linear-exponential smoking effect in the other pathway. Independently of these results we analysed genomic data of American patients. It is known that the genetic damage of people with adenocarcinoma can be grouped into three pathways: the receptor mutant (RMUT ) pathway, the transducer mutant pathway (TMUT ), and other signatures (OWT ). We could show that signatures of TMUT and the OWT pathways do differ much less from each other than both differed to the RMUT pathway. Therefore, there is also genetic evidence that adenocarcinoma fall into two main classes. The two pathways of the mechanistic model could be associated to the RMUT and RMUT+OWT pathways by their risk patterns in age and smoking.
On the other hand, for squamous cell carcinoma one pathway was sufficient to describe the incidence data. Although effects of radiation appeared to be highly significant, they could be traced back to arise only from the first five years of follow up (33 cases therein). When the first five years were excluded, no significant radiation effect could be found. Interestingly, for lung squamous cell carcinoma the mechanistic models could fit the effects of cigarette smoking in initiation and promotion. This was different for lung adenocarcinoma, where the main effect of smoking was a promotion of already existing pre-cancerous clones. For both, lung adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, no interaction between radiation and smoking could be fitted for the Life Span Study cohort.
Results from analysis of the Eldorado cohort were in line with the results presented above. For lung adenocarcinoma both, the state-of-the-art statistical risk models and the generalised additive models, could find only a significant effect of radiation exposure. For lung squamous cell carcinoma, vice versa, both models could find only a significant effect of gamma radiation exposure. Concluding, we showed that lung cancer cannot be investigated as a single endpoint but the
different subtypes have to be analysed separately. Different radiation qualities act differently to the different subtypes, indicating different biological processes. Analogously, although smoking is an important risk factor for all subtypes, its effects were different and with different magnitudes.


Natural environments such as forests and grasslands are challenging for robotic navigation because of the false perception of rigid obstacles from high grass, twigs, or bushes. In this work, we propose Wild Visual Navigation (WVN), an online self-supervised learning system for traversability estimation which uses only vision. The system is able to continuously adapt from a short human demonstration in the field. It leverages high-dimensional features from self-supervised visual transformer models, with an online scheme for supervision generation that runs in real-time on the robot. We demonstrate the advantages of our approach with experiments and ablation studies in challenging environments in forests, parks, and grasslands. Our system is able to bootstrap the traversable terrain segmentation in less than 5 min of in-field training time, enabling the robot to navigate in complex outdoor terrains - negotiating obstacles in high grass as well as a 1.4 km footpath following. While our experiments were executed with a quadruped robot, ANYmal, the approach presented can generalize to any ground robot.


The tumor suppressor p53 protein suppresses cell growth by inducing cell cycle arrest or apoptosis. Despite the fact that p53-dependent p21-mediated G1 arrest induced by DNA damage is well defined, the role of p53 in the cell cycle in response to the MAKP signaling remains to be determined. Here we show that MKP1, a member of the dual specificity protein phosphatase family capable of inactivating MAPKs, is a transcriptional target of p53. MKP1 mRNA and protein levels were increased upon p53 activation in several well defined p53-regulated cell systems. p53 bound to a consensus p53 binding site located in the second intron of the MKP1 gene and transactivated MKP1 in reporter gene assays. Inhibition of phosphatase activity impaired p53-mediated G1 arrest in arrested human glioblastoma GM cells in response to growth factor stimuli. Importantly conditional expression of MKP1 prevented arrested human cancer cells from entering into the cell cycle. Thus, these results provide a novel mechanism by which p53 controls the cell cycle in response to the MAPK signaling in the absence of DNA damage and suggest that p53 may negatively control the MAKP pathway via MKP1.


Image data require huge amounts of disk space and large bandwidths for transmission. Hence, image compression is necessary to reduce the amount of data required to represent a digital image. Therefore an efficient technique for image compression is highly pushed to demand. Although, lots of compression techniques are available, but the technique which is faster, memory efficient and simple, surely hits the user requirements. In this paper, the image compression, need of compression, its principles, how image data can be compressed, and the image compression techniques are reviewed and discussed. Also, wavelet-based image compression algorithm using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) based on B-spline factorization technique is discussed in detail. Based on the review, some general ideas to choose the best compression algorithm for an image are recommended. Finally, applications and future scopes of image compression techniques are discussed considering its development on FPGA systems.


Abstract. Intensively managed grazed grasslands in temperate climates are globally important environments for the exchange of the greenhouse gases (GHGs) carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4). We assessed the N and C budget of a mostly grazed and occasionally cut and fertilised grassland in SE Scotland by measuring or modelling all relevant imports and exports to the field as well as changes in soil C and N stocks over time. The N budget was dominated by import from inorganic and organic fertilisers (21.9 g N m−2 a−1) and losses from leaching (5.3 g N m−2 a−1), N2 emissions (2.9 g N m−2 a−1), and NOx and NH3 volatilisation (3.9 g N m−2 a−1), while N2O emission was only 0.6 g N m−2 a−1. The efficiency of N use by animal products (meat and wool) averaged 9.9 % of total N input over only-grazed years (2004–2010). On average over 9 years (2002–2010), the balance of N fluxes suggested that 6.0 ± 5.9 g N m−2 a−1 (mean ± confidence interval at p > 0.95) were stored in the soil. The largest component of the C budget was the net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE), at an average uptake rate of 218 ± 155 g C m−2 a−1 over the 9 years. This sink strength was offset by carbon export from the field mainly as grass offtake for silage (48.9 g C m−2 a−1) and leaching (16.4 g C m−2 a−1). The other export terms, CH4 emissions from the soil, manure applications and enteric fermentation, were negligible and only contributed to 0.02–4.2 % of the total C losses. Only a small fraction of C was incorporated into the body of the grazing animals. Inclusion of these C losses in the budget resulted in a C sink strength of 163 ± 140 g C m−2 a−1. By contrast, soil stock measurements taken in May 2004 and May 2011 indicated that the grassland sequestered N in the 0–60 cm soil layer at 4.51 ± 2.64 g N m−2 a−1 and lost C at a rate of 29.08 ± 38.19 g C m−2 a−1. Potential reasons for the discrepancy between these estimates are probably an underestimation of C losses, especially from leaching fluxes as well as from animal respiration. The average greenhouse gas (GHG) balance of the grassland was −366 ± 601 g CO2 eq. m−2 yr−1 and was strongly affected by CH4 and N2O emissions. The GHG sink strength of the NEE was reduced by 54 % by CH4 and N2O emissions. Estimated enteric fermentation from ruminating sheep proved to be an important CH4 source, exceeding the contribution of N2O to the GHG budget in some years.


QoS (defined as a proper set of quantitative characteristics) analysis is a necessary step for the early verification and validation of an appropriate design, and for taking design decisions about the most rewarding choice, in relation to user requirements. We describe an analytical approach for the evaluation of the QoS offered by a family of group communication protocols in a wireless environment, and use experimental data to feed our models. Specific indicators have been defined and evaluated, which capture the main characteristics of the protocols and of the environment, focusing our attention on performance and dependability attributes. The defined models account for the correlation among successive packet transmissions due to fading and user mobility. The main purpose of our analysis is to provide a fast, cost effective, and formally sound way to further analyze and understand the protocol behavior and its environment.


The dynamic buckling caused by propagation of a stress wave in single-wall carbon nanotube subjected to impact torque is investigated. The single-wall carbon nanotube is modeled by a cylindrical shell with semi-infinite length, and the dynamic buckling under impact torque is reduced to a bifurcation problem caused by the propagation of torsion stress wave. The bifurcation problem can be converted to solving a group of nonlinear algebraic equations. The numerical computation is carried out, and the effects of the different parameters on dynamic buckling are discussed. It is found that if critical buckling time of the carbon nanotube is different, the corresponding buckling model is different, too. Relation between the critical buckling stress and the critical buckling time is given. Molecular-dynamic simulations of torsional deformation of a single-wall carbon nanotube have been used to obtain the critical buckling strain, which is 0.064. In this work, the critical buckling strain obtained by the continuum model is 0.061, which is very close to the value 0.064. Single-wall carbon nanotubes have very much powerful anti-impact torque, and the critical buckling shearing stress can reach up to 132GPa.


The present wireless video monitoring system described in this paper is designed using wireless video monitoring system, to detect the presence of a person who is inside the restricted area. This type of automatic wireless video monitors is quite suitable for the isolated restricted zones, where the high security is required. On the earlier time much importance is not given for the security system. As we see today lot of terrorism has grown up across the country and need has aroused to develop different types of security systems for various applications to safe guard the zones of various types like, military zones, railway yards, borders etc., this kind of automatic video monitoring systems can be installed at borders, where the terrorists are crossing borders.Our country is spending lot of its revenue to safe guard the borders. Installing this type of security systems everywhere at critical points lot of revenue can be saved by minimizing the manpower.


A 55-Year-Old female, known case of type 1 diabetes, presented to the emergency department complaining of weakness and Abdominal Pain. The pain was constant, initiated since 10 days ago and was localized at the Right side of the Abdomen. She had no fever, vomiting or abnormal Bowel habits. Initial vital signs were as followings: Blood pressure: 110/60 mmHg, Pulse Rate: 120/min, Respiratory Rate: 18/min, Oxygen Saturation: 93% (Room Air), Oral Temperature: 37.8°C. On inspection, the patient had mild erythema on the area (from inguinal ligament up to lower costal margin) without any bulla or discharge. Crepitation was found by palpation of the skin. Other parts of the abdomen were soft without any tenderness or guarding. Supine Abdominal X-ray (Figure 1) revealed gas formation at the Right Side of the abdomen; the finding was confirmed by an emergent non-contrast abdominal Computed tomography (Figure 2). Primary Laboratory tests showed: Hemoglobin: 11.5 g/dl, white blood cell count 16.2 × 103 /ml (neutrophil 85%), mild hyponatremia (Na 127 mmol/l), hyperkalemia (K 5.5 mmol/l), serum creatinine 1.8 mg/dl and urea 50.2 mmol/l. The ultimate diagnosis was Abdominal necrotizing Fasciitis. Along with immediate resuscitation with intravenous fluid and antibiotics, patient was prepared and transferred to operating room. Unfortunately Despite prompt extensive surgical debridement, wide spectrum antibiotic therapy and 2 days of intensive care, unfortunately, the patient did not survive.
Discussion Necrotizing fasciitis is a critical diagnosis that needs aggressive debridement, and broad spectrum antibiotic therapy. In 85% of cases, at first examination, necrotizing fasciitis has misleading clinical manifestations [1]. There are cases of necrotizing fasciitis that just presented as mild cellulitis [2]. Necrotizing fasciitis has dire outcomes in 50% to 80% of patients [3]. Mortality depends on comorbid diseases and complications that would rise during the course of the disease (acute renal insufficiency, acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ failure) [4].
Conclusion Necrotizing fasciitis should always be considered as a critical diagnosis, especially in immunocompromised and diabetic patients.


E-services are diffusing rapidly in the developing economies. E-service quality plays an important role in determining the customers' satisfaction and usage behaviour. Culture, in turn, has been found to influence customers' perceptions of service quality. However, the current understanding of the influence of culture on e-service perceptions is limited. This study presents a review of prior e-service quality literature and position ease of use, responsiveness, system availability and reliability as the predictors of overall e-service quality. Furthermore, we examine Hofstede's dimensions of culture as moderators between the dimensions of dimensions of e-service quality and overall e-service quality. Our research model is empirically tested with data collected from 453 Chinese e-service customers and analyzed using PLS. The results show that all the four dimensions of culture values influence on some, but not all, dimensions of e-service quality. Finally, directions for further research are suggested.


The fast way of life necessarily has repercussions on all aspects of life, including the language, and then, indirectly, the letter. It is understandable that the authors of various texts in print media are trying to save time and space.
Therefore, a significant increase of shortening words is evident. Abbreviations and acronims are caused by shortening words or by omitting some letters. There are two types of shortening words: abbreviations, that arise by taking the first letter or the first few letters of one word, and acronyms, that are formed from multiword lexem by taking initial letters or groups of letters. The paper reexamines the descriptions and definitions of abbreviations and acronims in Croatian ortography manuals and reshearches their word formation, morphology, sintactic rules, taking under consideration their lexical status in dictionaries.
The research is based on a corpora of Croatian ortography manuals, Croatian monolingual dictionaries and electronic corpus Croatian Language Repository of Institute of Croatian language and linguistics.


The reproductive potential of white clover (Trifolium repens L.) plants is favored by moderate water deficits that reduce vegetative growth without impairing development of inflorescences, florets, and ovules. We examined the effects of this type of water deficit on reproductive characters involved in pollination, ovule fertilization, seed set, and seed filling. Two experiments were conducted under controlled conditions with four genotypes either in soil columns or vermiculite, and with various levels of water deficit that were maintained for 68 d. Treatments were classified as moderate (M) and severe (S) water deficit on the basis of the reduction of leaf relative water content (RWC) compared with the well-watered plants (C) and of previously established relationships between RWC, soil water potential and vegetative growth. Florets were hand pollinated and seed set was determined in all possible cross-pollinations between pollen and florets from plants subjected to C, M, or S treatments. Pollen viability declined as water deficit increased. Control and M plants had similar high levels of nectar production. In S plants, the proportion of florets containing nectar was reduced by 60 to 70%. Pollen from S plants induced a lower fertilization efficiency than pollen from C or M plants. Most of the reduction of seed set by severe water deficit, however, was linked to the decrease in female plant water status resulting in abortion of embryos. These results show that pollination, fertilization, seed setting, and seed filling can be limited by a severe water deficit applied during reproductive development. A moderate water deficit characterized by an avoidance of leaf dehydration and a reduction of vegetative growth did not impair fertilization efficiency and resulted in maximum seed set and thousand seed weight, compared to C and S plants.


BACKGROUND
Over the past decade, bladder cancer was associated with a significant increase. Given the importance of the impact of socioeconomic status on the distribution of cancer incidence and mortality, and the need to information on these parameters for prevention planning, the aim of this study was to evaluate data for bladder cancer and their relationship with human development index (HDI) and its components in Asia in 2012.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was conducted based on data from the world data of cancer and the World Bank (including the HDI and its components). The incidence and mortality rates were drawn for Asian countries. To analyze data, correlation tests between incidence and death rates, and HDI and its components were employed with a significance level of 0.05 using SPSS software.

RESULTS
A total incidence of 696,231 cases (68.7% in males and 31.3% in females, sex ratio of 2.19:1) and 524,465 deaths (67.0% in men and 32.9% in women, sex ratio was 2.03:1) were recorded in Asian countries in 2012. Correlation between HDI and standardized incidence rate was 0.241 overall (p=0.106), 0.236 in men (p=0.114) and -0.250 in women (p=0.094). Also between HDI and standardized mortality rate 0.025 (p=0.871) in men 0.118 (p=0.903) and in women 0.014 (p=0.927).

CONCLUSIONS
Bladder cancer incidence is higher in developed countries, but the rate is declining, and in less developed and developing countries it is growing. There was no statistically significant correlation between the standardized incidence rate of bladder cancer and the HDI and its dimensions in Asia, except for the level of education.


Over the past decade the use of adhesives for electronic interconnect has been driven by the explosive growth of flat panel liquid crystal displays (LCD). Developed and used primarily by Japanese manufacturers of consumer products, particle-loaded adhesive films fulfilled a need in LCDs that could not be met by solder reflow: low temperature, high line density (to 50 /spl mu/m pitch) electrical interconnect to indium tin oxide (ITO) traces on glass. Adhesives may also be used for flip-chip assembly. The advantages of flip-chip attach technology are the same for solder or adhesive technology: footprint reduction, low interconnect resistance, short signal line length, and elimination of single-chip packaging costs. Lower parasitics decrease rise times and decrease power requirements. To prevent differential thermal expansion induced solder fatigue, flip-chip attachment using solder reflow requires the use of an underfill adhesive applied in a separate time-consuming process. Adhesive films described in this paper inherently provide an underfill, serve as environmental protection for the chip face, as well as make a solderless electrical connection. Performance results for fine pitch chips have shown stable interconnect resistance below 10 m/spl Omega/ for bumped chip applications and approximately 100 m/spl Omega/ with unbumped chip test vehicles. The adhesive flip-chip bonding process and environmental stress results will be presented in this paper.


A heat labile plasma inhibitor of the two antibody insulin immunoassay system has been investigated by means of paper electrophoresis, ultracentrifugation, and DEAE cellulose anion exchange resin. These studies indicate that the inhibitor does not interfere with the binding of insulin to its specific antibody (first antibody reaction); but that the inhibitor interferes with the reaction of anti-guinea pig serum (rabbit source) with the insulin-anti-insulin soluble complex (second antibody reaction). When plasma samples are appropriately diluted the effect of the inhibitor is minimized.


Historically, blood glucose monitoring (BGM) device design has focused on the physiological aspects of diabetes, with less consideration for the psychological aspects of relating the measurement to one's experienced symptoms. In this pictorial, we explore how the subjective experience of blood glucose monitoring can be supported. We developed the BGM diary, a training system for existing BGM devices. The BGM diary involves a practice of guessing and measuring of blood glucose, followed by an annotation of felt symptoms to facilitate learning about experiences and symptoms. We unpack how blood glucose work could involve persons with diabetes in other ways in their care program through an elaboration on the design aspects of the BGM diary and reflections with a diabetes nurse.


Around 250 million years ago, terrestrial-bound turtles began to explore the aquatic environments, and with it, a profound, new ability first developed. Breathable skin, made possible by the loss of their hard shells. Losing the hard shell is a feature that evolved independently in three turtle lineages during the Late Cretaceous, providing greater swimming speed and maneuverability. And the loss of hard shells at different evolutionary branch points resulted in adaptive changes because of changes in respiration. They could maintain aerobic respiration for longer periods of time, and sustain deeper dives. Now, scientists Escalona et al. (2017) from the CIIMAR research institute in Porto, Portugal, and Cameron Weadick from Sussex University in Brighton, UK have traced the origin of these adaptations to different genes that are part of the mitochondrial respiratory complex in soft shelled turtles. "It's reasonable to hypothesize that turtle mitochondrial DNA-encoded proteins may have undergone adaptive evolutionary changes associated with the loss of shell scutes and the invasion of highly aquatic eco-physiological niches," said the authors. Mitochondria, which are passed along solely from mothers to offspring, are known as the powerhouses of the cell, responsible for aerobic respiration and 95% of the cell's energy currency in the form of ATP. The research team investigated patterns of evolution in the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) protein coding genes across 53 Cryptodiran turtle species (representing a total of 10 families), testing for adaptive or divergent patterns of mtDNA evolution associated with the evolution of soft-shells. The researchers identified positively selected sites that occurred in the mitochondrial-encoded proteins of the oxidative phosphorylation system by using various models and mapped these mutations onto the three-dimensional structures of the proteins, and predicted the severity of these structural changes on respiratory function. They've shown that subtle amino acid changes can have large functional effects and saw the largest changes effecting complex one, the first and the largest domain of the OXPHOS pathway. Complex I, is responsible for an estimated 40% of the proton current that drives ATP synthase. "Our data supports the notion that the adoption of highly aquatic lifestyles in soft-shelled turtles was associated with altered patterns of selection on mitochondrial function. Our analyses thus revealed that positive selection strongly affected mtDNA evolution along two (Trionychidae and Carettochelyidae) of the three lineages associated with the evolution of soft-shells, and that positive selection targeted multiple mtDNA genes in both cases," said the authors. However, they did not see this adaptation in leatherback sea turtles. Why not? "This suggests that the evolution of a soft-shell in leatherbacks may have been linked to thermoregulation, not respiration, enabling the species to regulate heat gain and loss," said the authors. Their findings highlight the valuable role of mitochondrial in the larger context of mitochondrial protein biochemistry, human diseases, and turtle ecology.


A taxonomy and framework for evaluating the quality of journals in higher education are proposed in this paper. The significance of acquiring and disseminating professional information to faculty and administrators in higher education is discussed, and it is noted that the journals in which a faculty member publishes are sometimes used as critical factors in promotion and tenure decisions. Following a review of the literature about hierarchies in higher education publishing, a model is presented which offers five constructs that affect journal quality: (1) perception, which gauges the opinions of selected peers about a journal's quality; (2) citations, which measure the number of times a work is cited in subsequent research in the area; (3) usage (publishing), a measure that shows the number of times fellow educators publish in that journal; (4) usage (readership), identifying how often the source is referred to by peers; and (5) factual information, which can be obtaine, from reference publications about journals. A mathematical model encompassing flexibility for faculty and academic departments with diverse needs is also ittroduced to help evaluate journals using the proposed constructs. The combination of the constructs and method are based on the fact that the strength of one can compensate for the limitations of the other. A figure illustrates the concept. (14 references) (SD) **************************************,***************************,**** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************


ABSTRACT Reputation systems have been an important component for improvement of online markets' efficiency by reducing uncertainty about the quality of the sellers. Most, if not all, reputation systems examined in the extant literature reflect the sellers' long-term accumulative reputation, which has several drawbacks that impede accomplishing the intended goals of the reputation systems. Taobao.com, the largest consumer-to-consumer online market in China, implemented the Gold Medal Seller (GMS) program as a concurrent reputation mechanism to enhance its existing long-term accumulative reputation system. The GMS program presents a backdrop that allows us to address several intriguing research issues not empirically examined in prior literature. By adopting multiple causal identification strategies, we find that earning a reputation badge has a positive impact on sales, and losing a reputation badge has a negative impact on sales. More importantly, the signaling value of obtaining/losing a reputation badge is asymmetric: The magnitude of the effect of losing a reputation badge is four times larger than that of earning a badge. Moreover, consecutively keeping a reputation badge or earning it multiple times is a stronger signal for seller quality and has a larger positive impact on sales, which suggests that the marginal value of reputation badges increases. Our findings offer a new and deeper understanding of the reputation system mechanism design.


OBJECTIVE
It was noticed that coxsackievirus A16 (CA16) and enterovirus 71 (EV71) were two major etiological agents of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in children. Recently there were several large outbreaks of HFMD in the Asia-Pacific region, and there was a propensity to cause severe complications or death in children under 5 years of age. The severe forms were associated with EV71 infection. Although epidemics of HFMD have been reported in the mainland of China, few reports about EV71 as the pathogen of HFMD epidemics are available. The present study was conducted to investigate the causal agent of an HFMD epidemic in children in Shanghai from April to June of 2002.

METHODS
Totally 102 specimens (including vesicle fluid, stool and throat swabs) were collected from 72 patients with HFMD. The specimens were inoculated into Vero and/or RD cells. At first all the isolates were respectively neutralized by the RIVM pools of enterovirus antiserum, the type-specific antisera to EV71 or to CA16. Secondly all untyped isolates were tested by RT-PCR assay with two specific primer pairs for VP1 genes of EV71 and CA16 respectively. The EV71 and CA16 were identified depending on the size of PCR products. Sequence analyses of VP1 genes of 9 virus strains were performed by the laboratory of China CDC.

RESULTS
Viruses were isolated from 91 specimens from 67 patients. Serotyping by neutralization failed for all the isolates. But the RT-PCR results indicated that the viruses isolated from 78 specimens from 58 patients were identified as positive for CA16 and the isolates from 13 specimens from 9 patients were identified as positive for EV71, the ratio between CA16 and EV71 was 6.4:1. The results of sequence analyses were consistent with those of PCR assay. Two EV71 strains isolated in this study belonged to a new lineage (C4) within genogroup C. One patient with EV71-associated HFMD had a complication of encephalitis with convulsion, shock, coma and dyspnea.

CONCLUSION
CA16 and EV71 were the primary causes of HFMD during the epidemic. It was the first report of EV71-associated severe encephalitis occurred in patients with HFMD in Shanghai.


As one of the most controversial modern business practices in history, direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medications is a critical topic for consumer advocates, but the current body of literature falls short of providing practical guidance for the eminent policy change. The current article reviews the existing perspectives on direct-to-consumer advertising and offers directions for answering important questions that focus on the consumer's interests. ********** Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising continues to be one of the most controversial modern business practices, and when one of the most heavily advertised drags of 2000 was forcibly recalled from the marketplace, the debate escalated toward acrimony. The result is an extensive body of literature from the medical, consumer, and corporate perspectives, but this eclectic body of research provides limited direction on how to ensure consumers' interests and leaves numerous questions unanswered. Over thirty years ago, Wilkie and Gardner (1974) noted that "policy changes are going to be made, with or without research evidence" and that researchers need to "conduct studies that are more relevant to public policy decision making" (p. 46). DTC advertising regulation is in the midst of change, and consumer advocates need to better understand the relevant issues and existing data rather than reacting to a negative image of advertising's power over consumers. TWO COMPETING PERSPECTIVES There is considerable evidence that the direct marketing of prescription medications can be both beneficial and potentially detrimental to consumers. While each side of the debate has received considerable attention, the majority of published studies focus on either the benefits or the harms to the exclusion of the other. If we apply the consumer rights advanced by President Kennedy (the fight to be informed, to choose, to safety, and to be heard) as a starting point in evaluating current policy (Brobeck 2006), we recognize that both the positive and the negative positions focus on consumer interests from different perspectives, but a true resolution must balance information and safety. Proponents of DTC advertising cite the increased availability of information as the greatest benefit (Auton 2004; Meek 2001) because it allows consumers to make educated decisions. According to supporters, DTC advertising is necessary to inform consumers about health problems, treatment options, and medical advances (Peyrot et al. 1998). Supporters also claim that DTC advertising encourages consumers to seek medical attention for conditions that would otherwise go unidentified and untreated (Rubin 1991). In short, the positive view of DTC advertising suggests that the educational value of the information provided is in the consumers' best interests and outweighs any potential negative consequences. Additional support for DTC advertising comes from a series of surveys that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioned (Aikin, Swasy, and Braman 2004). For example, nearly half of the respondents in both the 1999 and the 2002 surveys who recalled seeing DTC ads indicated that the ad motivated them to seek additional information from their doctor, pharmacist, the Internet, friends, or other sources providing evidence that DTC advertising informs consumers. Calfee (2002) argues that by motivating consumers to seek additional information, DTC advertising increases the salience of the risk of prescription medications, brings consumers' attention to nondrug health alternatives and improves compliance in individuals already taking the medication. In contrast, DTC advertising opponents feel that prescription drugs differ from other products, and, therefore, should not be advertised in a similar manner. Critics maintain that DTC advertising intrudes into the physician-patient relationship and confuses patients by representing promotional messages as educational (Wolfe 2002). …


The system size dependence of electron acceleration during large-scale magnetic island coalescence is studied via a two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulation. Using a simulation box that is larger than those used in previous studies, injection by merging line acceleration and subsequent reacceleration inside a merged island are found to be the mechanisms for producing the most energetic electrons. This finding and knowledge of the reacceleration process enable us to predict that the high energy end of the electron energy spectrum continues to expand as the merged island size increases. Both the merging line acceleration and the reacceleration within a merged island require the island coalescence process to be so dynamic as to involve fast in-flow toward the center of a merged island. Once this condition is met in an early stage of the coalescence, it is likely to stay in the subsequent phase. In other words, if the thin elongated current sheet is initially able to host the dynamic magnetic island coalescence process, it will be a site where repeated upgrades in the maximum energy of electrons occur in a systematic manner.


Bioinspired lenses that rely on changes of curvature to achieve focus are interesting candidates for miniaturized tuneable lenses as they require fewer mechanical moving parts compared to their conventional counter-parts. The lens described in this manuscript closely mimics the design and actuation principle of the vertebrate lens. It consists of a liquid lens encapsulated in a transparent polymer membrane. Application of a radial strain changes the curvature of the lens thereby changing its focal length. The unstrained lens has a focal length of 50 mm, which rises to a value of 100 mm at a maximum radial strain of 0.67%. This range compares favourably to both biological lenses and other published examples of biomimetic lenses. Finally we point out a few routes to improve the quality of the lens and expand its focal length range.


In order to provide accurate and real-time bandwidth information and enhance the QoS for bandwidth-sensitive applications in a dynamically changing wireless network, the paper proposes an efficient method for wireless bandwidth detection (WBD) using a packet probing approach on mobile nodes. The novelty and contributions of WBD are three-fold: (1) efficiency - by sending probe packets of various sizes, WBD can determine the wireless link bandwidth with light load and short time duration; (2) accuracy - using different mechanisms to filter out the random time variation, a high detection accuracy can be achieved; (3) stability - our algorithm attains stable results under different cross traffic conditions. Experimental data observed through extensive simulations shows the effectiveness and efficiency of WBD.


A bio-inspired organic semiconductor 5,5′-diphenylindigo shows excellent and well-balanced ambipolar transistor properties; its hole and electron mobilities are 0.56 and 0.95 cm2 V−1 s−1, respectively. The enhanced performance is attributed to the extended π–π overlap of the phenyl groups as well as the characteristic packing pattern that is a hybrid of the herringbone and brickwork structures. The ambipolar transistor characteristics are analyzed considering its operating regions, where a large unipolar saturated region appears due to the difference of the electron and hole threshold voltages.


The administration of medications is a multi-system process. Errors can happen in all the stages of that process. Strategies can be used and it should be published to minimize the occurrence of errors. This study had the following objectives: to identify and to analyze publications with themes about the administration of medication in nursing, hospital and pharmacy journals and to verify the identification in the bed and in the patients' forearm in impatient clinics. To reach the first objective it was realized a revision of the literature in three journals of larger national circulation of the described areas, in the period from 1987 to 1997. The identified articles were classified in 5 types: nursing staff, teaching, medications, research and technique. It was identified 19 articles on the thematic studied, being 42,1% of these related to the technical aspects of the administration of medications. To reach the second objective it was taken an investigation of one day, chosen accidentally, being verified the identification of the beds and the patients in the 360 beds of the institution. Of these, 74,7% were busy and 75,8% properly identified. It was observed that 23,8% of the patients have gotten bracelet of placed identification, in the day previous to the surgery and not in the moment of the hospitalization. The results evidenced the need to increase the publication of the studies about errors and to increase actions that minimize the occurrence of errors in the medication in impatient patients.


Abstract Transforming our world the 2030 agenda for sustainable development is working towards a world that reflects equity, with universal respect for human dignity, pledging to leave no one behind. However, transgender and gender-diverse individuals experience significant health inequities, including negative health outcomes and multiple barriers to accessing care. In this article, we first highlight the health inequities that transgender and gender-diverse people face globally. We describe important aspects of transgender and gender-diverse health care, including the design and provision of health services, epidemiological considerations, transition-related care, changes in transition-related goals, cultural considerations, and political and legal issues. We then review the existing global literature on incorporating transgender health into medical curricula. We make a case for prioritizing improved education in medical schools on the specific health needs of transgender and gender-diverse people as part of addressing global health inequities in care. Our recommendations for comprehensive education on transgender health include cultural humility and anti-oppression training; involvement of transgender and gender-diverse community members; integration of transgender and gender-diverse health into curricula; practice-focused and in situ training; staff development in medical schools; and improving access to careers in medicine for transgender and gender-diverse people.


We explore and provide an account for a recently identified judgment anomaly, i.e., an order effect that changes the strength of intentionality ascriptions for some side effects (e.g., when a chairman's pursuit of profits has the foreseen but unintended consequence of harming the environment). Experiment 1 replicated the previously unanticipated order effect anomaly controlling for general individual differences. Experiment 2 revealed that the order effect was multiply determined and influenced by factors such as beliefs (i.e., that the same actor was involved in bringing about both good and bad side effects) and philosophical training (i.e., more training was associated with smaller differences in judgment when harm followed help). Results provide more evidence that the folk's philosophically relevant intuitions are predictably fragmented and depend on the dynamic interplay between persons, process, and environments. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed.


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Present knowledge of brain mechanisms is mainly based on anatomical and physiological studies. Such studies are however insufficient to understand the information processing of the brain. The present new focus on neural network studies is the most likely candidate to fill this gap. The present paper reviews some of the history and current status of neural network studies. It signals some of the essential problems for which answers have to be found before substantial progress in the field can be made.


The purpose of the thesis was to map the hydraulic load on the Knivsta river from stormwater runoff, and build a platform for further studies of pollution loads on the rivers ecosystems. New residential areas are planned to be built in Knivsta municipality and it will have an impact on stormwater flows to Knivsta river. To examine the impact this will have, simulations were made in the area as it stands today and after expansion work. The work includes calculation of flows from the populated areas but also from the catchment area around it consisting of woodlands and fields. Because of expected climatic changes which may affect rainfall, the simulations have been performed with different return periods for rainfall data. Return periods of 1, 2, 10 and 50 years were chosen to get a result that reflects the current situation but also a possible climate change that would give rise to much greater rainfall.Simulation results showed that stormwater runoff would increase by 11 percent if new residential areas were built in the drainage area. Return times of rain had profound implications for the amount of runoff. A 50-year rainfall generated 7.6 times as much stormwater runoff for 1 hour as a 1-year rainfall and the amount of flooded water increased significantly as more and more pipes were flooded.In the simulations no consideration was taken to water already present in the system, only to water which is supplied through the storm water runoff. To get a better picture of flood risk and flows in the pipe system, additional analyses of flows and cross-sectional area of Knivsta river and flowing ditches are required. An analysis of the pipeline system in the detailed plans for the new areas should be done when these plans are available. Without these detailed plans, it is difficult to determine how the newly built areas will affect the pipes and ditches in the vicinity that the water must pass on the way to the recipient.


FOUNDATION DEPOSITS IN ANCIENT MESOPOTAMIA. By RICHARD S. ELLIS. Pp. 213, Must. 36. Yale Univ. Press, London, 1968. Price 112s. 6d. This is a scholarly study, originally undertaken for a doctoral dissertation for Chicago University on a subject that might not at first sight seem to have much relevance to Prehistory. Yet the practice of placing foundation deposits under buildings in order to ensure their efficacy by magical means is one which in Mesopotamia certainly goes back to the Early Dynastic period so far as specific artifacts are concerned; and animal sacrifice and food offerings appear to be even earlier. It is worth a thought whether the animal refuse commonly found under round barrows in Britain, for example, should not be considered in a similar light. In its own right this study by Dr Ellis is admirably thorough and factual. It gains in depth from the fact that from the Old Assyrian period foundation deposits often contained inscribed tablets. ~ _, GRAHAME CLARK.


The research aims to study the effect of quenching, tempering and laser surface treatment on the mechanical properties of C40 steel. The steel specimens were heated to a temperature of 860°C, soaked for 60 minutes and quenched in oil and then tempered at different temperatures (100,200,300,400,500,600,700) °C. Laser hardening were carried out by using Nd: YAG laser with different pulses up to 5 pulses, the applied laser energy was 500 mJ. The mechanical tests such as: impact test and microhardness, were carried out for the specimens before and after heat treatment. Microstructure evaluation was carried out using computerized optical microscope. The results showed an improvement in the internal and surface properties of the metal.


An experiment was conducted under glass-house conditions to test the effects of five neem-based nematicide products in the form of drenches on the growth of tomato and population density of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita. All the tested formulations suppressed nematode multiplication and root galling severity significantly and improved plant growth. The formulations most effective at low concentrations against the root-knot nematode were neem seed kernel extracts (NSKE) and Econeem. At the highest concentration of 1.0% all the neem formulations were equally effective. NSKE drench produced the best plant growth, closely followed by Econeem. None of the formulations was phytotoxic even at the highest concentration.


Development and reproduction of Crocidolomia pavonana (F.) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) on natural and artificial diets.  Development and reproduction of Crocidolomia pavonana on natural and artificial diets were studied in the laboratory (25.2 ± 0.9 C; 84.6% ± 6.7% RH; ca. 12 h photophase).  The natural diets tested were broccoli, cabbage, chinese cabbage, and cauliflower leaves.  The artificial diets used were agar–based general lepidopteran diets mixed with red bean or broccoli leaves, and supplemented with vitamins and microbial inhibitors.  Observation of insect development was done since the egg stage.  After the eggs hatched, larvae were kept singly in plastic cups and fed with appropriate diets.  Fifty larvae were used for each diet.  Records were kept with regard to the duration of each larval instar, pupal period, and the pupal weight.  The emerging adults were paired, and then the number of dead adults and that of eggs laid were recorded daily.  On all the natural diets tested, the larval stage of C. pavonana passed through four instars.  The egg incubation, total larval developmental, and pupal period of C. pavonana on chinese cabbage were the shortest compared to those on the other natural diets.  The pupal weight, however, was the highest on broccoli, followed by that on chinese cabbage, cabbage, and cauliflower.  The female fecundity was also the highest on broccoli (average 258 eggs/female) followed by that on chinese cabbage (212), cauliflower (162), and cabbage (102).  Broccoli diet also yielded adults with the longest lifespan although the adult lifespan on broccoli was not significantly different from that on the other natural diets, except that of males on cabbage.  C. pavonana failed to develop successfully on six kinds of artificial diets tested.  The best artificial diet (broccoli–based diet with microbial inhibitors 20% of the normal amount) only yielded two males and five females with deformed wings, but none of the emerging females produced eggs.


LODStories is an engaging application where people learn about art while constructing multimedia stories about art. LODStories mines the Linked Open Data cloud to discover interesting connections between artworks, artists, places and ideas. LODStories guides users to construct a storyboard that connects the entities in an interesting way. It then fetches text, images and videos that users can arrange to create a multimedia story, and finally constructs a narrated video that users can edit and then publish to tell their story. The process is fun, and students learn about art and its connection to the world they live in. The paper describes the architecture of the system and the algorithms to make the exploration entertaining and educational.


Introduction and objectives NICE guidance advises neuroradiology to investigate CNS signs in patients with miliary tuberculosis (TB). The aims of our study were to describe our population of patients with tuberculomas in the presence of miliary disease and identify any clues to the best radiological modality. Methods The radiology and clinical history was retrospectively reviewed for all patients treated for miliary tuberculosis at one centre between 01/01/2009 and 31/12/2013. Results 53/1650 (3.2%) of patients during this period were diagnosed with miliary (disseminated) tuberculosis. 27/53 (50.9%) underwent further neuroimaging. 10/53 (18.9%) miliary TB patients had evidence of tuberculomas on neuroimaging (M:F 6:4, age range 22:81). 2/10 had evidence of tuberculomas on both CT (2/2 with contrast) and MRI, 5/10 had a negative CT (2/5 with contrast) but an MRI result which revealed tuberculomas. 3 patients did not have a CT scan (MRI only). All 10 patients were HIV negative and had fully sensitive TB, 9/10 had neurological signs which warranted the subsequent neuroimaging. Conclusion Tuberculomas are seen in a fifth of patients with miliary tuberculosis. Based on our findings, guidelines should be adapted to suggest that both use of contrast and MRI should be utilised preferentially.


While RANSAC-based methods are robust to incorrect image correspondences (outliers), their hypothesis generators are not robust to correct image correspondences (inliers) with positional error (noise). This slows down their convergence because hypotheses drawn from a minimal set of noisy inliers can deviate significantly from the optimal model. This work addresses this problem by introducing ANSAC, a RANSAC-based estimator that accounts for noise by adaptively using more than the minimal number of correspondences required to generate a hypothesis. ANSAC estimates the inlier ratio (the fraction of correct correspondences) of several ranked subsets of candidate correspondences and generates hypotheses from them. Its hypothesis-generation mechanism prioritizes the use of subsets with high inlier ratio to generate high-quality hypotheses. ANSAC uses an early termination criterion that keeps track of the inlier ratio history and terminates when it has not changed significantly for a period of time. The experiments show that ANSAC finds good homography and fundamental matrix estimates in a few iterations, consistently outperforming state-of-the-art methods.


Acousto-electric current through a carbon nanotube (CNT) induced by a surface acoustic wave (SAW) was studied. SAW were generated by an inter-digital transducer (IDT) on a quartz substrate and delivered to a CNT to pump electrons along the direction of the SAW propagation. A distinct current plateau was observed as a function of gate voltages and SAW powers. The observed quantized current value was higher than the expected value I=ef by 20 %. A strong interaction between electrons in a 1D wire could be one of the reasons for the discrepancy.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of comprehensive control for schistosomiasis in key areas of Jiangsu Province.

METHODS
The basic data and the data of implementation of comprehensive control measures were collected from the key areas of Jiangsu Province, including 30 townships, 87 marshlands and 78 anchor points. A field survey was carried out to investigate the Oncomelania snail status by using the systematic sampling method and schistosomiasis morbidity in humans and animals in the 12 key counties (districts). The changes of snail status and morbidity of humans and animals were statistically analyzed in key counties (districts) where comprehensive control measures was implemented, and the effects of schistosomiasis control before and after the implementation of the comprehensive control were compared.

RESULTS
From 2008 to 2010, a total of 84 100 harmless latrines were constructed, 339 600 persons were examined, 2.6938 million people received health education, 112 000 protective creams and 798 000 publicity materials were allocated, 9 085 domestic animals were reared in pens, 11 800 domestic animals were examined, 130 high-risk cattle were eliminated in 30 key townships of 12 countries (districts), Jiangsu Province. A total of 19 640.78 hm2 were controlled with molluscicides, 798 warning tablets were placed, 116.07 hm2 of farmlands were ploughed up and planted, 306.80 hm2 were dug for fish culture, and 506.74 hm2 were planted with trees for snail control in 87 high-risk marshlands. A total of 118.83 million Yuan were invested into the water resources development projects, 39.82 km-long rivers were dredged, 70.04 km-long bank were concreted, 30 culvert gates were re-constructed, and 22 snail sedimentation tanks were built. In the 78 anchor points, 95 harmless public toilets were built, 3 192 stool container were allocated, 28 700 boatmen were examined, 71 600 protective creams and 53 200 publicity materials were allocated, and 46 600 persons received health education. Following the implementation of comprehensive control, the settings with infected snails, infected snail areas, infection rates of snails reduced from 75, 802.73 hm2 and 0.10% before the comprehensive control in 2007 to all 0 in 2010, with reduction rates of all 100%. The infection rates of schistosome in both humans and domestic animals appeared declining trends in 12 counties (districts) from 2005 to 2010, and the human infection rates were 0.16%, 0.04%, 0.02%, 0.02%, 0.01% and 0.01%, respectively, while being 0.11%, 0.05%, 0, 0, 0 and 0, respectively in domestic animals. During the period of comprehensive control, totally 45 transmission-controlled townships and 183 villages were newly added. In 2010, all of the 12 counties (districts) reached the criteria of schistosomiasis transmission control.

CONCLUSIONS
The comprehensive control with emphasis on the key areas where infected snails are found, is an effective measure to further facilitate schistosomiasis control and rapidly control the transmission of schistosomiasis.


Screening of human serum samples by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis in the presence of 6 M-urea revealed an individual who is heterozygous for a variant transferrin. The variant transferrin is able to bind two atoms of iron, but the iron in the C-terminal binding site is bound abnormally, as judged by its spectral properties, and is dissociated from the protein on electrophoresis in the presence of 6 M-urea. The iron-free C-terminal domain of the variant protein is less stable than normal to thermal and urea denaturation. Structural changes in the variant protein have not yet been characterized.


AIM
Chenopodium opulifolium is a specie of the Chenopodiaceae commonly used as vegetables in local diet and for treating different ailment in Uganda. This study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant, antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of the aqueous extract of C. opulifolium leaves (AECO).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The dried leaf of the plant was extracted by maceration in water. Qualitative and quantitative phytochemical analysis, antioxidants, and membrane stabilizing effects were determined in the extract. The extract was then investigated for acute toxicity, antinociceptive (writhing, hot plate and open field test), and anti-inflammatory (egg albumin-induced paw edema) effects in rodents.

RESULTS
Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, tannins, phlobatannins, flavonoids, and saponins in AECO. Total caffeic acid derivatives and total flavonoids content were 91.7 mgCAE/g sample and 94.7 mgRE/g sample, respectively. AECO demonstrated antioxidant effects in both 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl and NO assays. Significant membrane stabilizing activity was observed in both the heat and hypotonic solution-induced lysis of erythrocytes. The acute toxicity test showed that AECO (5000 mg/kg) did not cause any significant change in behavior or death in rats. AECO (100-400 mg/kg) produced a significant antinociceptive effect in both the writhing and hot plate tests, but no significant reduction in the locomotory activity in mice. Furthermore, the extract significantly (P < 0.05) reduced egg albumin-induced rat paw edema by 44.2%, 44.5%, and 51.2%, respectively, after 120 min.

CONCLUSION
The results showed that C. opulifolium extract possesses significant antioxidant, antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects, and these affirm the reasons for its folkloric use.


This study examines the impact of banking sector credit on Nigeria's real sector based on data from 1986 to 2019 using the ARDL model. The bound testing result indicates that there is a long-run relationship between the variables of interest with real gross domestic product (RGDP) as the dependent variable. The result indicates that commercial bank credit (CBC) has a positive impact on RGDP in the long and short runs, which is consistent with a priori expectations. Domestic private investment (DPI) was found to have a negative and significant relationship with RGDP in the long and short runs. The estimated equations of the specified models show a significant positive relationship between government capital expenditure (GCE) and RGDP. In the short run, a significant increase in DPI, CBC, and GCE will bring about a significant increase in RGDP. The parameter estimates of DPI, CBC and GCE are statistically significant, as indicated by the t-value. The study reveals that effective utilization and distribution of bank credit to the real sector promotes economic growth. Therefore, the study recommends that there should be improved banking sector credit which will improve the output of the real sector and, in turn, boosts the economy.


High-energy collisions in ALICE allow for the study of soft and hard QCD particle production. The correlation between transverse momentum spectra and event multiplicity is a sensitive observable providing insights into the different production mechanisms. In these proceedings we report on this observable for unidentified charged-particles, obtained using a 2d-unfolding procedure. Particle production is compared at different collision energies, as well as for pp, p--Pb and Pb--Pb collisions at the same energy. In order to understand the role of autocorrelations in small systems, it was proposed to exploit the usage of the underlying event as a multiplicity estimator to factorize the hardest and the softer components of the events. For this purpose, in these proceedings the charged particle transverse momentum distributions are also presented as a function of underlying-event activity in pp collisions.


The range of counter-terrorism tools available to states and other actors is both large and diverse. Military, legal, and political instruments are all widely used - often underpinned by competing conceptions of what 'terrorism' is - with one recent overview usefully distinguishing between coercive, proactive, persuasive, defensive and long-term counter-terrorism approaches. In this article, we seek briefly to sketch some of the ways in which a new addition to the terrorism 'family' has been or might be confronted: cyberterrorism. Although a contested concept (in part - but not only - because of the broader contestability of 'terrorism'), a growing literature is now taking shape on how best to confront this 'threat', if it is, indeed, a threat. Our article seeks to take stock of some of this literature, to point to relevant related debates within terrorism research, and to identify some of the particularities of dealing with cyberterrorism. To do this, we begin with a discussion of issues surrounding the use of domestic and international law before turning to matters of international cooperation. A second section then reflects on cyber vulnerabilities, including the issues posed by public/private partnerships in this context. A third section asks whether 'doing nothing' or even seeking to 'desecuritize' cyberterrorism might be a more profitable avenue. The article then considers the relationship between these different forms of response, before concluding by reflecting on the importance of multidisciplinarity for researchers working in this area.


A model based on steric hindrance mechanisms [1] is used to determine the pore sizes of two ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. The lysozyme rejection coefficients of those membranes are predicted through the same model after modification of the pore size and solute radius by taking into account the development of electric double layers. Two asymmetric cellulose acetate membranes M1 and M2 were prepared and characterized. Membrane M1 has an hydraulic permeability of 2.1x10-6 m/s/bar, a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 30,000 Da and an average pore radius of 2.6 nm. Membrane M2 has an hydraulic permeability of 5.9x10-6 m/s/bar, a molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 60,000 Da and an average pore radius of 5.3 nm. Aqueous solutions of lysozyme containing a NaCl concentration of 0.1M were ultrafiltrated through membranes M1 and M2. The predicted lysozyme rejections considering the development of electric double layers on the protein and membrane pore surfaces, are in good agreement with the experimental results.


Computer Number Control (CNC) milling and lathe machines are widely used in manufacturing due to their flexibility in producing parts with a wide variety of geometries. Each flexible machine has a tool magazine capable of holding a set of tools. As machining requirements for each job change, tools can be removed and different ones can be inserted so that the next job can be processed. The existing literature on the job scheduling and the tool loading can be divided into four main areas. The first area is the tool loading for a pre-specified job sequence where the objective is to determine the optimal tool loading by minimizing the number of tool switching. In addition to tool loading, the second area also focuses on sequencing the jobs too; however, the objective is the same as the first one. Rather than to minimizing the number to tool switching, the focal point of the third area has been shifted to minimizing the makespan in presence of multiple process plans. However, the main assumption is that the magazine can hold all tools needed to process all jobs and tool switching is not required. The fourth area considers the geometric and mechanical properties of the tool, assuming a tool switching may be required due to tool life. The job scheduling and the tool loading literatures do not consider multiple process plans or tool life into their problem. Therefore, the first part of this thesis provides a Dynamic Programming method to determine the optimal makespan for a pre-specified sequence of jobs, assuming tool switching may required due to multiple process plans, the capacity of the tool magazine and due to the tool life. In the second part, the assumption for fixed job sequence is relaxed and a heuristic approach is used to first sequence the jobs and then Dynamic Programming is applied to find the optimal makespan for that particular job sequence.


Determining the hydraulic radius of the undercut in the block caving method is one of the key issues in this method. The hydraulic radius is directly related to the minimum caving span. In this research work, the rock mass cavability is investigated using the UDEC and 3DEC software. Since the factors affecting the cavability are very diverse and numerous, firstly, by 2D modeling in the UDEC software and examining the trend of changes in the minimum caving span, the most important factors including the depth, dip of the joint, number of joints, angle of friction of the joint surface, and joints spacing are selected for the final study. The variation trend of each variable is investigated by keeping the other variables constant (single-factor study) among various factors. In the second step, the minimum caving span for the five main factors and values is determined in the single-factor study using the SPSS software and the multivariate regression method. Then the power function of the minimum caving span is chosen based on the selected variables with a coefficient of determination of 0.76. In continuation, a simple 3D model is built from the undercut. A linear equation is achieved between the results of the 3D and 2D modeling results in similar conditions. In a model with certain conditions, using the equation obtained from the numerical method, the calculated hydraulic radius of caving is 22.5 m, which is close to the result obtained from the Laubscher's empirical method with the same condition (24 m).


The United States video game industry has become a multi-billion dollar-a-year business, due in large part to the explosion of downloadable content (DLC). Video game DLC includes handheld gaming and additional content not found on software discs. The DLC trend is examined for its increasing exploitation of video game con-sumers through a perpetual form of commodification. This article will show that video game DLC is a cyclical form of commodification, though not simply imma-nent or intertextual. Meaning that players are not paying for a commodity that springs from a previous product, but continually coming back and paying for the same product over and over again. DLC multiplayer maps in the first-person shooter, additional music tracks in rhythm games, and MMORPG microtransac-tions are explored for the ways they exist to fill the monetary gap between game software releases, but end up simultaneously exploiting consumers and their free/immaterial labor.


In B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL), defective apoptosis causes the accumulation of mature CD5(+) B cells in lymphoid organs, bone marrow (BM), and peripheral blood (PB). These cells are the progeny of a proliferating pool that feeds the accumulating compartment. The authors sought to determine which molecular mechanisms govern the proliferating pool, how they relate to apoptosis, and what the role is of the microenvironment. To begin to resolve these problems, the expression and modulation of the family of inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) were investigated, with consideration given to the possibility that physiological stimuli, such as CD40 ligand (CD40L), available to B cells in the microenvironment, might modulate IAP expression. The in vitro data on mononuclear cells from PB or BM of 30 patients demonstrate that B-CLL cells on CD40 stimulation express Survivin and that Survivin is the only IAP whose expression is induced by CD40L. Through immunohistochemistry, in vivo Survivin expression in lymph node (LN) and BM biopsies was evaluated. In reactive LN, Survivin was detected only in highly proliferating germinal center cells. In LN from patients with B-CLL, Survivin was detected only in pseudofollicles. Pseudofollicle Survivin(+) cells were actively proliferating and, in contrast to Survivin(+) B cells found in normal GC, were Bcl-2(+). In B-CLL BM biopsies, CD5(+), Survivin(+) cells were observed in clusters interspersed with T cells. These findings establish that Survivin controls the B-CLL proliferative pool interfacing apoptosis and that its expression may be modulated by microenvironmental stimuli.