Barrier synchronization is commonly and widelyused to synchronize the execution of parallel processor coreson multi-core Network-on-Chips (NoCs). Since its globalnature may cause heavy serialization resulting in largeperformance penalty, barrier synchronization should becarefully designed to have low latency communication and tominimize overall completion time. Therefore, in the paper, wepropose a fast barrier synchronization mechanism, targetingMulti-core NoCs. The fast barrier synchronization mechanismincludes a dedicated hardware module, named Fast BarrierSynchronizer (FBS), integrated with each processor node. Itoffers a set of barrier counters and can concurrently processsynchronization requests issued by the local node and remotenodes via the on-chip network. The salient feature of our fastbarrier synchronization mechanism is that, once the barriercondition is reached, the "barrier release" acknowledgement isrouted to all processor nodes in a broadcast way in order tosave chip area by avoiding storing source node informationand to minimize completion time by avoiding serialization ofbarrier releasing. Synthesis results suggest that the FBS canrun over 1 GHz in SMIC® 130nm technology with small areaoverhead. We implemented a FBS-enhanced multi-core NoCarchitecture on our FPGA platform using the Xilinx® Virtex 5as the FPGA chip. FPGA utilization and simulation resultsshow that our fast barrier synchronization demonstrates botharea and performance advantages over the barriersynchronization counterpart with unicast barrier releasing.


We present a path-integral approach to treat a two-dimensional model of a quantum bifurcation. The model potential has two equivalent minima separated by one or two saddle points, depending on the value of a continuous parameter. Tunneling is, therefore, realized either along one trajectory or along two equivalent paths. The zero-point fluctuations smear out the sharp transition between these two regimes and lead to a certain crossover behavior. When the two saddle points are inequivalent one can also have a first order transition related to the fact that one of the two trajectories becomes unstable. We illustrate these results by numerical investigations. Even though a specific model is investigated here, the approach is quite general and has potential applicability for various systems in physics and chemistry exhibiting multistability and tunneling phenomena.


Heat stress negatively influences the global pork industry and undermines genetic, nutritional, management and pharmaceutical advances in management, feed and reproductive efficiency. Specifically, heat stress-induced economic losses result from poor sow performance, reduced and inconsistent growth, decreased carcass quality, mortality, morbidity, and processing issues caused by less rigid adipose tissue (also known as flimsy fat). When environmental conditions exceed the pig's thermal neutral zone, nutrients are diverted from product synthesis (meat, fetus, milk) to body temperature maintenance thereby compromising efficiency. Unfortunately, genetic selection for both increased litter size and leaner phenotypes decreases pigs' tolerance to heat, as enhanced fetal development and protein accretion results in increased basal heat production. Additionally, research has demonstrated that in utero heat stress negatively and permanently alters post-natal body temperature and body composition and both variables represent an underappreciated consequence of heat stress. Advances in management (i.e. cooling systems) have partially alleviated the negative impacts of heat stress, but productivity continues to decline during the warm summer months. The detrimental effects of heat stress on animal welfare and production will likely become more of an issue in regions most affected by continued predictions for climate change, with some models forecasting extreme summer conditions in key animal-producing areas of the globe. Therefore, heat stress is likely one of the primary factors limiting profitable animal protein production and will certainly continue to compromise food security (especially in emerging countries) and regionalise pork production in developed countries. Thus, there is an urgent need to have a better understanding of how heat stress reduces animal productivity. Defining the biology of how heat stress jeopardises animal performance is critical in developing approaches (genetic, managerial, nutritional and pharmaceutical) to ameliorate current production issues and improve animal wellbeing and performance.


Factors such as the spread of complex financial instruments, the broadening of available alternatives, have fostered more decisive public intervention in support of transparency between banks and their customers. The effectiveness of the public intervention measures depends on the actual information needs of consumers. The aim of this paper is to assess the extent and characteristics of the information needs, by analyzing the decision-making processes. High financial sacrifice, high perceived risks, considerable differences between the available alternatives, seem to justify an intense search for information. The precision with which information is searched for would be reduced as an effect of financial experience and knowledge, an perceived excessive complexity of the service and stringent time pressure.


Research has shown that five fundamental parameters are required to recognize any sign language gesture: hand shape, hand motion, hand location, hand orientation and facial expressions. The South African Sign Language (SASL) research group at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) has created several systems to recognize sign language gestures using single parameters. These systems are, however, limited to a vocabulary size of 20 – 23 signs, beyond which the recognition accuracy is expected to decrease. The first aim of this research is to investigate the use of two parameters – hand motion and hand shape – to recognise a larger vocabulary of SASL gestures at a high accuracy. Also, the majority of related work in the field of sign language gesture recognition using these two parameters makes use of Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to classify gestures. Hidden Markov Support Vector Machines (HM-SVMs) are a relatively new technique that make use of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) to simulate the functions of HMMs. Research indicates that HM-SVMs may perform better than HMMs in some applications. To our knowledge, they have not been applied to the field of sign language gesture recognition. This research compares the use of these two techniques in the context of SASL gesture recognition. The results indicate that, using two parameters results in a 15% increase in accuracy over the use of a single parameter. Also, it is shown that HM-SVMs are a more accurate technique than HMMs, generally performing better or at least as good as HMMs.


This study focuses on the question whether IT-assisted can improve music teaching quality. To answer this question, we design two questionnaires, for music teachers and students, respectively, and a music achievement test for students who accepted students' questionnaires. We use qualitative and quantitative methods to analyze the answers to the questionnaires and results of the music achievement test. The analysis indicates that IT-assisted music teaching can improve music teaching quality.


Monitoring the spontaneous kicking patterns of infants can give insight into their development. A computer vision based method for estimating the pose of an infant's leg from range images is presented in this paper. After some manual inputs for initialization, the range data associated with the infant is extracted. The method uses Robust Point Set Registration (RPSR) to fit an articulated model to the subject in every frame in the sequence, thus it provides the joint trajectories over time of the kicking kinematics. For validation, the method is used to track the articulation of a robotic humanoid that was programmed to kick in a fashion similar to an infant. Furthermore, the method is applied to a sequence collected from an actual infant and the resultant signal estimates are presented.


The reconstruction of three-dimensional temperature field is a difficult problem. But three-dimensional temperature measurement can be simplified by the reconstruction of the flow cross-section temperature. In this paper, a theory of reconstruction is proposed and a simulation test system is implemented by MATLAB based on emission spectra tomography (EST) and radiation temperature measurement, which also take the emission and absorption characteristics in the processing of radiative transfer under consideration. Finally, by analyzing the difference of the original temperature and reconstructed temperature we can get the accuracy of the reconstruction theory.


Abstract Pushed by technological, cultural and related political drivers, a 'new plebiscitary democracy' is emerging which challenges established electoral democracy as well as variants of deliberative democracy. The new plebiscitary democracy reinvents and radicalizes longer-existing methods (initiative, referendum, recall, primary, petition, poll) with new tools and applications (mostly digital). It comes with a comparatively thin conceptualization of democracy, invoking the bare notion of a demos whose aggregated will is to steer actors and issues in public governance in a straight majoritarian way. In addition to unravelling the reinvented logic of plebiscitary democracy in conceptual terms, this article fleshes out an empirically informed matrix of emerging formats, distinguishing between votations that are 'political-leader' and 'public-issue' oriented on the one hand, and 'inside-out' and 'outside-in' initiated on the other hand. Relatedly, it proposes an agenda for systematic research into the various guises, drivers and implications of the new plebiscitary democracy. Finally, it reflects on possible objections to the argumentation.


A method for the separation and determination of amino acids by capillary electrophoresis with laser-induced fluorescence detection has been developed. At first, the condition for the derivatization of amino acids with fluorescein isothio-cyanate (FITC) was studied; it was proved to be optimal at 50°C for 5 h. Next, the separation of 20 FITC-amino acids was attempted by using an unmodified fused silica capillary. Actually, 18 kinds of FITC-amino acids were separated with 96 mM sodium borate buffer (pH 9.5) containing either 25% acetone (separation system 1) or 10% methanol (separation system 2). The resolution of 19 FITC-amino acids was attained with 80 mM sodium borate buffer (pH 9.2) containing 45 mM a-cyclodextrin (separation system 3). Finally, we succeeded in separating 20 FITC-amino acids by combining two migration systems (2 and 3). The FITC-amino acids were detected by argon-ion laser-induced fluorescence (Ex 488 nm, Em 520 nm). The detection limits of the amino acids obtained with separation systems 1 and 2 were 0.052-1.01 finol.


Introduction We are developing a collaborative project for paediatric healthcare technology enhanced learning (TEL) within our region, through active co-operation and networking between a number of NHS organisations within Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Our goal was to ensure that the project delivered TEL educational opportunities to all healthcare professionals involved with a paediatric patient's journey from primary care, to secondary care, and back to the community, maintaining the focus on safe, effective patient-centred care. We will present our experience of the challenges we have faced in trying to develop this project and are keen to work with other networks across the UK. Methodology Following a scoping exercise we identified 5 core areas of TEL delivery which we aimed to address within our region using a variety of technologies including paediatric simulation-based education: Development of Simulation Instructor Faculty Fixed base simulation Mobile simulation across satellite sites Software-delivered e-Learning Distance-learning initiatives The initial phase of the project was to develop a central hub at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital, Brighton and then extend the collaboration into our partner organisations. Outcomes An educational grant has been received from Health Education Kent, Surrey and Sussex to develop the collaborative paediatric simulation network within our region. The development of the hub phase is in progress and we are working with collaborating organisation to produce well-defined spoke linkages to the core group of paediatric simulation faculty at the RACH. We will present an overview of our experiences in setting up this collaborative project and discuss the challenges we continue to face in promoting simulation-based education across the region. Potential Impact Collaborative TEL networks can help promote multi-professional learning amongst organisations and professionals advancing the delivery of safe, patient-centred paediatric healthcare.


The energy flux formulation of waveguide propagation is closely related to the incoherent mode sum, and its simplicity has led to development of efficient computational algorithms for reverberation and target echo strength, but it lacks the effects of convergence or modal interference. By starting with the coherent mode sum and rejecting the most rapid interference but retaining beats on a scale of a ray cycle distance it is shown that convergence can be included in a hybrid formulation requiring minimal extra computation. Three solutions are offered by evaluating the modal intensity cross terms using Taylor expansions. In the most efficient approach the double summation of the cross terms is reduced to a single numerical sum by solving the other summation analytically. The other two solutions are a local range average and a local depth average. Favorable comparisons are made between these three solutions and the wave model Orca with, and without, spatial averaging in an upward refracting duct. As a by-product, it is shown that the running range average is very close to the mode solution excluding its fringes, given a relation between averaging window size and effective number of modes which, in turn, is related to the waveguide invariant.


Objective To inform the design of a randomised controlled trial (called EcLiPSE) to improve the treatment of children with convulsive status epilepticus (CSE). EcLiPSE requires the use of a controversial deferred consent process. Design Qualitative interview and focus group study. Setting 8 UK support groups for parents of children who have chronic or acute health conditions and experience of paediatric emergency care. Participants 17 parents, of whom 11 participated in telephone interviews (10 mothers, 1 father) and 6 in a focus group (5 mothers, 1 father). 6 parents (35%) were bereaved and 7 (41%) had children who had experienced seizures, including CSE. Results Most parents had not heard of deferred consent, yet they supported its use to enable the progress of emergency care research providing a child's safety was not compromised by the research. Parents were reassured by tailored explanation, which focused their attention on aspects of EcLiPSE that addressed their priorities and concerns. These aspects included the safety of the interventions under investigation and how both EcLiPSE interventions are used in routine clinical practice. Parents made recommendations about the appropriate timing of a recruitment discussion, the need to individualise approaches to recruiting bereaved parents and the use of clear written information. Conclusions Our study provided information to help ensure that a challenging trial was patient centred in its design. We will use our findings to help EcLiPSE practitioners to: discuss potentially threatening trial safety information with parents, use open-ended questions and prompts to identify their priorities and concerns and clarify related aspects of written trial information to assist understanding and decision-making.


The nuclear family, whose structure was supposed to permit the separation of work and family, is still the model for employers' social policies toward workers. The efficiency of this model is even less evident today, as the author points out, and she argues that it is in the best interests of industry to support the needs of the changing family, whose adult members, now both mothers and fathers, make up the workforce, and their children, who will be the workforce.


Carbon nanofibers synthesis from the flame is a new method. The method needs simple laboratory equipments and normal atmosphere pressure. The experimental system is introduced. Carbon source is the carbon monoxide and the nitric acid nickel is served as catalyst. The carbon nanofibers were characterized by scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope. Carbon nanofibers with less impurity were captured successfully in the flame. The diameter of carbon nanofibers was approximate from one to two hundred nanometers, and its length was dozens of microns. The growth process and mechanism of carbon nanofiber from the flame is very complicated. The influence of catalyst can reveal the growth mechanism of carbon nanofiber. This study aims to examine the catalyst formation condition for carbon nanofibers in pyrolysis flame and to characterize the morphology. Carbon nanofibers with less impurity can be prepared when the diameter of catalyst in is between twenty and thirty nanometers. The catalyst particle size can determine the morphology of carbon nanofibers.


DSM is an American classification system that has dominated since 1980. It is disliked by many for reducing diagnostic skills to a cold list of operational criteria, yet embraced by researchers believing that it represents the first whiff of sense in an area of primitive dogma. It has almost foundered by confusing reliability with validity but the authors seem to recognise its errors and are hoping for rebirth in its 5th revision due in May 2013. The initials do not stand for Diagnosis as a Source of Money or Diagnosis for Simple Minds but the possibility of confusion is present.


A new term, spherophylon, indicates a unit of life higher than the individual level. To define this term, critical notes are given on the meaning of age in terms of life, the interrelationships among the elements of biodiversity, and an analogy of development between the multicellular body of an individual and the spherophylon. Life is compared at various levels; at the level of the cell, the individual as a multicellular organism, and the spherophylon. The biology of the spherophylon is discussed in the context of integrative biology.


This research studies the process of community development activities in the tourism sector after the tsunami in Pangandaran. The majority of people in Pangandaran are helpless in tourism development activities, as part of the activities of the community, after the tsunami that occurred in 2006. This situation encourages the United Nations World Tourism Organization in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Indonesia to implement community-based tourism development program in 2007. This research uses a qualitative approach. Method of data collection is conducted through in-depth interviews, field observations, and documentation study. Then, the collected data is used to perform triangulation process, verification, and interpretation with the elaboration of relevant theories. The results show that five aspects of the development of community-based tourism in Pangandaran through Enabling, Empowering, Protecting, Supporting, and Fostering are not optimal in the aspect of Fostering. This is due to the absence of a strong commitment to community development and intrinsic functions that should be implementing in an integrated manner, remains partial. In this research, it is found out that the empowerment and self-reliance are also determining by the controlling process to maintain the sustainability of empowerment and self-reliance of the community in the future. The result of this research is that development of community-based tourism in Pangandaran should use one more aspect, controlling to make sure the process is continuous.


Under the recent rapid development of production fragmentation across countries, there is a growing number of studies that examines the effect of international outsourcing and offshoring decisions on the domestic operations of firms. According to the Global Value Chain Index (GVCI) developed by OECD, the participation rate of Japanese firms in global value chains increased from 29.3 % in 1995 to 47.7% in 2007. RIETI-TID database shows that Japanese parts and product imports from China increased from 5.8 billion US dollars in 2000 to 25.0 billion US dollars in 2016. This paper examines the effect of increases in imported intermediate input use goods on firm outcomes, especially exports. First, we examine the effect on firm productivity, and we find a positive relationship between increases in imported intermediate input use goods and productivity level. When we separate the analysis by import source regions, a positive relationship is observed from imports from North America and Europe, but no relationship is found in the case of imports from China. These results indicate that firms benefit from the technology spillover effects from the advanced countries by importing from them. Our analysis also indicates that the increase in imports supports the improvement of resource allocation within firms. Next, we analyze the effect of the increase of imported inputs on both extensive margin and intensive margin of firm exports, controlling for the productivity of firms and establishments, finding a positive relationship in both cases. These results imply that imported inputs have a positive impact on firm exports both through productivity improvement and reduced intermediate input price. We also examine the effect of imported inputs on the number of employees, but we find no significant effect.


One of the primary functions of a cloud service provider is to allocate cloud resources to users upon request. Requests arrive in real-time and resource placement decisions must be made as and when a request arrives, without any prior knowledge of future arrivals. In addition, when a cloud service provider operates a geographically diversified cloud that consists of large number of small data centers, the resource allocation problem becomes even more complex. This is due to the fact that resource request can have additional constraints on data center location, service delay guarantee, etc. In this paper, we propose a generalized resource placement methodology that can work across different cloud architectures, resource request constraints, with real-time request arrivals and departures. The proposed algorithms are online in the sense that allocations are made without any knowledge of resource requests that arrive in the future, and the current resource allocations are made in such a manner as to permit the acceptance of as many future arrivals as possible. We derive worst case competitive ratio for the algorithms. We show through experiments and case studies the superior performance of the algorithms in practice.


Seventy-two children and adolescents with obsessive movements and tics of residual-organic etiology were treated by combined application of benzodiazepins (diazepam, phenazepam), lithium carbonate and haloperidol. The nature of obsessive syndromes and tics is considered in the light of the theory of generator mechanisms of neuropathological syndromes. The use of the studied combination due to its synergic action on the structures of the pathological system elicited a good therapeutic response while using lower doses of each drug (half to two-thirds of the conventional age-specific dosage). Reduction in drug doses in combined therapy decreases the risk of side effects and complications. The above treatment was followed by disappearance of essential and facultative symptoms in 21 patients, considerable improvement with a marked reduction of facultative symptoms in 22 cases, clear-cut improvement in combination with decreased facultative symptomatology in 14 patients, and insignificant improvement in 6 patients.


Background: Exudative retinal detachment without ocular metastasis is extremely rare.Case presentation: We report a case of sudden onset of painless vision loss in the left eye with relative afferent pupillary defect. Fundus features suggested exudative retinal detachment. Abnormal cutaneous findings and lung findings led to the suspicion of malignancy. Computed tomography of the brain and orbit showed no ocular metastasis; however, imaging of thorax, abdomen and pelvis revealed lung malignancy with distant metastasis. Immunohistochemistry profile of the skin biopsy was suggestive of metastatic adenocarcinoma.Conclusion: A high index of suspicion, thorough physical examination and prompt intervention can be lifesaving.


Objective: Assessment the quality of life concerning physical problems for patient after colorectal cancer in Mosul Governorate.
Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional design is employed through the present study of 1st June 2011 to 15th December 2011 in order to assess the quality of life concerning physical problems for patient after colorectal cancer in Mosul Governorate. A purposive (non probability) sample is selected for the study which includes (60) patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer were treated in Mosul Oncology and Nuclear Medicine hospital or the patients who visited the outpatient clinic in the same hospital for medical follow-up and further treatment. Data were gathered through the patients` interviewed. Assessment questionnaire consist of two parts contains demographic characteristic, the other part concerning of quality of life concerning physical problems after colorectal cancer. Reliability and validity of this tool is determined through application of a pilot study and panel of experts. Data were analyzed through the application of descriptive statistical (frequencies and percentages) and inferential statistical (mean of score). Content validity of the instrument was done through eliciting the opinions of a panel of (13) experts and reliability through a pilot study by using Internal consistency reliability is determined through the computation of the cronbach alpha correlation coefficient of the scale on data gathered from patients.
Results: The Overall results revealed that the quality of life related to physical problems for patients after colorectal cancer were acceptable. So, there is no significant correlation between the quality of life related to physical problems for these patients and some demographic characteristics such as gender, age, marital status and education level. The study concludes that colorectal cancer are most common in married than in unmarried, half patients age are between 40 and 60 years old, have a relatively low level of education, many are unemployed and they reside in the urban areas in Mosul.
Recommendations: The study recommended to preparation of an educational program for patients with colorectal cancer and to raise awareness and education among families of patients to provide a better life for their patients.


Histamine is a biogen amin, which is formed by decarboxylation of the histidine amino acid, under the action of the L-histidine-decarboxylase enzyme. High level of free histidine in fish meat, bacterial histidin decarboxylase activity and high temperature of storage elevate the level of histamine. Among the most important factors that can affect the level of histamine in fish meat are the type of fish and the method of its preservation. In order to determine this dependence, 1030 samples of frozen fish (tuna, mackerel, sardines and sprat) and 167 samples of canned fish (tuna, sardines and mackerel) were monitored for histamine content by ELISA method. It was determined a lower concentration of histamine in frozen fish (from 5.71 mg/kg to 18.03 mg/kg) compared to canned fish (from 15.03 mg/kg to 110.6 mg/kg). The highest histamine concentrations were found in the mackerel samples, regardless of the preservation method (110.6 mg/kg in canned mackerel and 18.03 mg/kg in frozen mackerel), which were significantly higher compared to the histamine levels found in cans of tuna and sardines (p ˂0.0001). Of the total number of samples, three samples (two samples of canned sardines and one sample of canned mackerel) were declared unsafe for human health. In most of the analyzed samples, the level of determined histamine was relatively low, which confirms adequate implementation of control protocols and efficant surveillance of products placed on the Serbian market.


Abstract Higher education is a site of contesting visions by actors in politics, science and the economy. This article investigates imaginations of the future articulated around the introduction of data science in Swiss higher education through a qualitative analysis of study programmes, policy documents, and business reports. Universities envision data sciences mainly in reference to economic and technological concepts, which contribute to the coordination of the various actors and thus unfolds specific performative effects in the present.


NGSS has called for the inclusion of engineering in K-12 classrooms. This has shifted the emphasis from a discipline-based focus to crosscutting concepts that connect many disciplines. These crosscutting concepts, such as systems and system models, promote a deeper understanding of science and engineering concepts. Traditional education programs often do not prepare teachers to build these connections between science and engineering concepts. The objective of this study was to determine if formal interactions with engineering students to facilitate afterschool science clubs would provide a means for pre-service teachers to learn how to make these connections in their instructional practices. In this study, undergraduate elementary education and biological systems engineering students worked together to plan and facilitate afterschool science clubs. The data suggests that the preservice teachers were able to develop instruction that emphasized various crosscutting concepts; began to make connections to science and engineering concepts; and discussed the importance of collaborations with scientists and engineers for their future classrooms. The results of this study show that formal interactions with engineering students better prepares pre-service teachers by improving their ability to make connections between science and engineering concepts. The collaboration supports the development of unique ways to incorporate science and engineering in their instructional practices. These results will lead to a better understanding of how to prepare pre-service teachers to integrate crosscutting science and engineering concepts into their classrooms.


Access control policies of XML documents are often specified based on user roles and data content of the documents. Content-based authorization is crucial for providing fine-grained access control to data in XML document. Since authorization rules (authorizations, for short) use path expressions of XPath for locating data in documents, authorization definition is related to structure of the document. However, the structure of XML documents tends to change by various reasons such as application extension and information exchange between organizations. Therefore, authorizations must be revised whenever they become incompatible with a new structure of the document. As far as we know, no previous work has discussed the problem of transforming content-based authorizations for XML documents by using schema mapping information. We define classes for schema and document transformations that allow transforming authorizations without access to source and target XML documents. We propose an algorithm that computes authorizations of role-based access control (RBAC) model for a target DTD instance from given RBAC authorizations of a source DTD instance and schema mapping information under the specified classes of schema and document transformations while preserving the authorization policy of the source DTD instance.


The magnesium salt of esomeprazole, the S-isomer of omeprazole, with gastric proton pump inhibitor activity. In the acidic compartment of parietal cells, esomeprazole is protonated and converted into the active achiral sulphenamide; the active sulphenamide forms one or more covalent disulfide bonds with the proton pump hydrogen-potassium adenosine triphosphatase (H+/K+ ATPase), thereby inhibiting its activity and the parietal cell secretion of H+ ions into the gastric lumen, the final step in gastric acid production. H+/K+ ATPase is an integral membrane protein of the gastric parietal cell.


We analyzed data that were collected continuously between 1950 and 1974 from a rural area of the Gambia to determine the effects of kin on child mortality. Multilevel event-history models were used to demonstrate that having a living mother, maternal grandmother, or elder sisters had a significant positive effect on the survival probabilities of children, whereas having a living father, paternal grandmother, grandfather, or elder brothers had no effect. The mother's remarriage to a new husband had a detrimental effect on child survival, but there was little difference in the mortality rates of children who were born to monogamous or polygynous fathers. The implications of these results for understanding the evolution of human life-history are discussed.


While there are substantial bodies of research dealing with both the contemporary and pre-1950 migration of Poles, there is surprisingly little work on migration of Poles during the socialist era. Depicted as completely shut off from the 'West' and immobile, Polish migration during socialism is often reduced simply to political emigration, while in contrast post-1989 moves are understood primarily in economic terms. Here we aim to bridge this gap and integrate historical migration research with contemporary findings through exploring experiences of migration in Poland from the 1940s to 2005. Using a pilot sample of oral histories as a means of integrating socialist with post-socialist experience, we also consider the place of migration in people's life experiences. Far from migration being absent under socialism, in many ways it was engrained within the system: forced resettlement, free education, strongly promoted industrialization, state work and holidays moved people between rural and urban areas and across regional and national boundaries. We show how while travel and trade restrictions under socialism undoubtedly limited movement, Poland was far from being separate from the rest of the world, and show how experiences during this period could often pave the way for migration after 1989.


The multiple scales of landscape topography produce a wide distribution of groundwater circulation cells that control the hydro-geological environments surrounding geological repositories for nuclear waste. The largest circulation cells tend to discharge water into major river reaches, large freshwater systems or the nearby Baltic Sea. We investigated numerically the release of radionuclides from repositories placed in bedrock with depths between 100 to 2000 meters in a Swedish coastal area and found that leakage from the deeper positions emerges primarily in the major aquatic systems. In effect, radionuclides from the deeper repositories are more rapidly transported towards the Sea by the stream system compared to leakage from more shallow repositories. The release from the shallower repositories is significantly retained in the initial stage of the transport in the (superficial) landscape because the discharge occurs in or near low-order streams with high retention characteristics. This retention and residence time for radioactivity in the landscape control radiological doses to biota and can, thus, be expected to constitute an essential part of an associated risk evaluation.


Perinatal maternal consumption of energy dense food increases the risk of obesity in children. This is associated with an overconsumption of palatable food that is consumed for its hedonic property. The underlying mechanism that links perinatal maternal diet and offspring preference for fat is still poorly understood. In this study, we aim at studying the influence of maternal high-fat/high-sugar diet feeding [western diet (WD)] during gestation and lactation on the reward pathways controlling feeding in the rat offspring from birth to sexual maturity. We performed a longitudinal follow-up of WD and Control offspring at three critical time periods (childhood, adolescence, and adulthood) and focus on investigating the influence of perinatal exposure to palatable diet on (i) fat preference, (ii) gene expression profile, and (iii) neuroanatomical/architectural changes of the mesolimbic dopaminergic networks. We showed that WD feeding restricted to the perinatal period has a clear long-lasting influence on the organization of homeostatic and hedonic brain circuits but not on fat preference. We demonstrated a period specific evolution of the preference for fat that we correlated with specific brain molecular signatures. In offspring from WD fed dams, we observed during childhood the existence of fat preference associated with a higher expression of key gene involved in the dopamine (DA) systems; at adolescence, a high-fat preference for both groups, progressively reduced during the 3 days test for the WD group and associated with a reduced expression of key gene involved in the DA systems for the WD group that could suggest a compensatory mechanism to protect them from further high-fat exposure; and finally at adulthood, a preference for fat that was identical to control rats but associated with profound modification in key genes involved in the γ-aminobutyric acid network, serotonin receptors, and polysialic acid–NCAM-dependent remodeling of the hypothalamus. Altogether, these data reveal that maternal WD, restricted to the perinatal period, has no sustained impact on energy homeostasis and fat preference later in life even though a strong remodeling of the hypothalamic homeostatic and reward pathway involved in eating behavior occurred. Further functional experiments would be needed to understand the relevance of these circuits remodeling.


Diversification is widely practiced by investors seeking to reduce risk. In recent years investors have been turning to foreign markets to obtain even greater scope for diversification than domestic markets offer. With the internationalization of security portfolios, however, also comes an additional risk-foreign exchange risk. ; The use of currency derivatives in internationally diversified portfolios can help mitigate foreign exchange risk. This article investigates the impact of currency hedging on these portfolios, in particular index portfolios of stocks and bonds from markets in seven industrialized countries. The author finds that the apparent risk-reducing benefits of currency hedging of equity portfolios in the early 1980s did not continue into subsequent periods. In contrast, foreign long-term bond portfolios consistently exhibited dramatically lower variability of hedged returns compared with unhedged returns. The case for (or against) currency hedging is not decisive, though, because the lower variability of hedged returns historically is associated with lower returns. The decision to hedge depends on the investor's preference for risk and return.


Abstract. The purpose of this application, under Articles 74 and 81 of the Code, is to maintain the usage of the name Gazella arabica (Lichtenstein, 1827) for a gazelle from central and southern Arabia. The lectotype designated by Neumann in 1906, consisting of a skull and skin, has been found to be composite and it is proposed that only the skin be retained as the name-bearing specimen. The holotype of Gazella arabica rueppelli Neumann, 1906, consisting also of a skull and skin, is also composite and only the skin is now retained as the name-bearing specimen, rendering the name rueppelli a junior synonym of G. gazella (Pallas, 1766).


The authors present a novel automatic transient stability classification approach, based on a two-stage hierarchical classifier obtained through the combination of two different pattern recognition structures. The first-level classifier uses low-cost computational variables evaluated at the fault occurrence moment. The classification structure used in this first level is a linear one and is obtained through the combination of a Fisher discriminant transformation and a Bayesian probabilistic approach for the independent term determination. The second-level classifier uses a new set of transient variables, directly related to kinetic and potential energies at the fault clearance moment. The classification structure in this second level is based on a weighted K nearest-neighbor rule using a Euclidian metric defined in an optimum discriminant plane, where all data have been previously projected. Results obtained in the CIGRE test system are presented, showing that this method provides an efficient tool for online transient stability assessment of electric power systems.<<ETX>>


The objective of the present commentary is to suggest that epidemiologists explore the use of anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) as a new measurement tool in fecundability studies. The authors briefly summarize the advantages and limitations of the 3 current approaches to studies of fecundability. All 3 approaches involve the collection of time-to-pregnancy or attempt-time data, and most are limited to participants who plan their pregnancies. AMH is produced by ovarian follicles during their early growth stages and is measured clinically to assess ovarian reserve (the number of remaining oocytes). Unlike time to pregnancy, serum AMH level can be assessed regardless of pregnancy-attempt status. Measurements are not significantly affected by phase of the menstrual cycle, oral contraceptive use, or early pregnancy. The authors suggest that AMH measurement can be a valuable addition to traditionally designed fecundability studies. In addition, this hormone should be investigated as an independent measure of fecundability in studies that focus on exposures hypothesized to target the ovary.


Automatic short answer scoring (ASAS) is a research subject of intelligent education, which is a hot field of natural language understanding. Many experiments have confirmed that the ASAS system is not good enough, because its performance is limited by the training data. Focusing on the problem, we propose MDA-ASAS, multiple data augmentation strategies for improving performance on automatic short answer scoring. MDA-ASAS is designed to learn language representation enhanced by data augmentation strategies, which includes back-translation, correct answer as reference answer, and swap content. We argue that external knowledge has a profound impact on the ASAS process. Meanwhile, the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model has been shown to be effective for improving many natural language processing tasks, which acquires more semantic, grammatical and other features in large amounts of unsupervised data, and actually adds external knowledge. Combining with the latest BERT model, our experimental results on the ASAS dataset show that MDA-ASAS brings a significant gain over state-of-art. We also perform extensive ablation studies and suggest parameters for practical use.


This study examined the energy expenditure (EE) of healthy adults during typical use of a manual wheelchair by attaching sensors to the subjects' upper limbs. The aim was to determine whether the measured EE values depend on the sensor attachment site and whether the addition of angular velocity information to the acceleration value was advantageous to the EE assessment. Subjects were 11 males and 10 females. Their wrists and mid-upper arms were fitted with sensors to monitor their daily physical activities. Triaxial acceleration, triaxial angular velocity, and EE were measured while performing activities with a manual wheelchair. Coefficients of determination for estimating EE at each sensor location ranged from 0.66 to 0.79 (based on gender, the calculated three axis value of acceleration and angular velocity) and from 0.65 to 0.78 (based on gender and the calculated three axis value of acceleration, without angular velocity). Furthermore, angular velocity was not selected as a significant explanatory variable for estimating EE at the wrist. The average percent error for estimating the EE of daily physical activity in healthy adults using a manual wheelchair and factoring in gender and the calculated three axis value of acceleration at each sensor location ranged from 5.2 to 7.2%. Angular velocity information added to the calculated three axis value of acceleration at the upper arms slightly improved the estimation of EE. In addition, it was found that there was no difference in the assessment at different sensor locations.


Background: H. pylori infection is associated with gastritis and marked infiltration of the gastric mucosa by inflammatory cells secreting of several cytokines that contribute to maintain and expand the local inflammation. Different clinical expressions of the infection may reflect different patterns of cytokine expression. Interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, IL-17, IL-23, and IL-18 have been reported to be involved in H. pylori-induced gastric mucosal inflammation, but the details and relation to different patterns of inflammation remain unclear. Materials and Methods: Analysis of IL-18 RNA transcripts was performed by real-time PCR. Total RNA was extracted from gastric biopsies of 56 H. pylori-infected patients, 50 H. pylori-negative patients with gastritis, by biozol reagent according to the manufacturer's instructions. CDNA was synthesized from 1 mg of total RNA using First Strand cDNA Synthesis Kit (fermentas) and 3 μL cDNA was amplified by PCR using the 2x Rotor-Gene Probe PCR Master Mix (QIAGEN) and specific primers for each cytokine and β-actin. Results: IL-18 mRNA expression was significantly increased in biopsies of H. pylori-infected patients compared to H. pylori-uninfected individuals. Conclusion: IL-18 may play an important role in the inflammatory response and promoting gastric Th1 responses to H. pylori colonization, and may ultimately influence the outcome of H. pylori-associated diseases that arise within the context of gastritis.


In this article, an outline of the key questions connected with the essential problems of energy-consumption of air-stream moulding machines has been presented. Research results and calculations of requisite parameters appraisable of energy-consumption of air-stream moulding machines have been supplemented also by the data analysis of offer of the moulding machines manufacturers. The attention on constructional and technological factors which are favourable for the diminution of energy-consuming of the moulding process has been paid.


: A previously reported bacterial bioemulsifier, here termed microbactan, was further analyzed to characterize its lipid component, molecular weight, ionic character and toxicity, along with its bioemulsifying potential for hydrophobic substrates at a range of temperatures, salinities and pH values. Analyses showed that microbactan is a high molecular weight (700 kDa), non-ionic molecule. Gas chromatography of the lipid fraction revealed the presence of palmitic, stearic, and oleic acids; thus microbactan may be considered a glycolipoprotein. Microbactan emulsified aromatic hydrocarbons and oils to various extents; the highest emulsification index was recorded against motor oil (96%). The stability of the microbactan-motor oil emulsion model reached its highest level (94%) at 50 °C, pH 10 and 3.5% NaCl content. It was not toxic to Artemia salina nauplii. Microbactan is, therefore, a non-toxic and non-ionic bioemulsifier of high molecular weight with affinity for a range of oily substrates. Comparative phylogenetic assessment of the 16S rDNA gene of Microbacterium sp. MC3B-10 with genes derived from other marine Microbacterium species suggested that this genus is well represented in coastal zones. The chemical nature and stability of the bioemulsifier suggest its potential application in bioremediation of marine environments and in cosmetics.


The close relationship at the molecular level between cellular differentiation and neoplasia has been evidenced by the discovery in adult individuals of fetospecific antigens and fetal type isozymes associated with many spontaneous and experimentally induced malignant tumors. One question in relation with this finding is whether cancerous tumors develop from the differentiation of a tissue reserve of stem cells or by a process of retrodifferentiation, i.e., the nucleocytoplasmic stepwise reversion of cells toward stationary states with simplified structure and less information content. The question is not merely academic; elucidation of the nature of the target cells from which neoplastic growth emerges has obviously physiopathological and therapeutic implications. This contribution is an analysis of the nature and the mechanism of cellular retrodifferentiation and a discussion of its possible role in regeneration and metaplasia, as well as in neoplastic development. Throughout living systems, retrodifferentiation appears as a common adaptive process for the maintenance of cell integrity against deleterious agents of varied etiology (physical, chemical,and viral). While preserving the entire information encoded on its genome, cells undergoing retrodifferentiation lose morphological and functional complexity by virtue of a process of self-deletion of cytoplasmic structures and the transition to a more juvenile pattern of gene expression. This results in a progressive uniformization of originally distinct cell phenotypes and to a decrease of responsiveness to regulatory signals operational in adult cells. Retrodifferentiation is normally counterbalanced by a process of reontogeny that tends to restore the terminal phenotypes from where the reversion started. This explains why retrodifferentiation remains invariably associated to cell regeneration and tissue repair. There is an ever growing evidence that neoplastic transformation in vivo and in vitro is frequently preceded and/or accompanied by biochemical, morphological, and behavioral transitions characteristic of a cell undergoing retrodifferentiation. Contrary to what occurs in regenerating tissues, the "unbalanced" character of tumor-associated retrodifferentiation seems to be a property linked to cancer. The question arises why a unique mechanism of cell rejuvenation is in physiological conditions (regeneration), followed by a process of reontogeny, while in neoplasia the process remains incomplete or does not occur and leads to the emergence of a population of persistently dividing cells. It is to be hoped that a careful study of retrodifferentiation in physiological and tumoral models will help to distinguish that which in neoplastic development can be relevant to an adaptive cell behavior from that which might eventually be the result of specific or constitutive alterations.


2
Ab
s
tract
This dissertation explores the ways in which narratives about decisive events coales
ce in
news media discourse, and how they function rhetorically. Specifically, this study examines
how journalists frame stories about police brutality, how those frames construct versions
of public narratives, and how those narrative versions can be used i
n
discourse
about
issues of civic concern such as support for new community policing policies or opposition
to Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. I show how journalists' choice of semantic frames
(e.g., racism, police
-
community relations, or criminal justi
ce) helps to shape readers'
understanding of the events and contributes to the formation of a
narrative icon
, a word
,
name,
or short phrase that, absent narrative detail, indexes particular versions of a broader
cultural narrative.
This research is motiva
ted by questions about the reciprocity between prior knowledge,
audience expectations, and public discourse, and how those combine to shape or reinforce
cultural values and communal identities. To explore these questions, I draw on scholarship
in narrative
theory, frame semantics, intertextual analysis, and argument. I analyze over
1,700 newspaper articles published in the
Los Angeles Times
,
Los Angeles Sentinel,
Pittsburgh Post
-
Gazette,
and
New Pittsburgh Courier
between 1991 and 2013 concerning
incidents
of police brutality, including Rodney King and Jonny Gammage, a Black man who
died following a traffic stop in Pittsburgh, PA. My findings suggest three primary functions
of narratives in news media discourse: as background information,
as examples used to
establish or illustrate a rule, or as points of comparison
.
For each of these functions, I consider how journalists' micro
-
linguistic choices frame the
events in line with the values, concerns, and fears of readers. In that way, journalists
suggest the m
ost important story elements and thus perpetuate specific ways of thinking
about incidents of police brutality. Moreover, as consistent references to specific story
elements, these frames contribute to the formation of a narrative icon, which becomes
rheto
rically available for use in public arguments. In other words, journalists can
interpolate the narrative versions indexed by the icon into unrelated stories using
discursive constructions such as "the Rodney King incident." When this happens, readers
are e
xpected to fill in the missing narrative details by drawing on their background
knowledge.
The findings of this project have important implications for the study of media discourse,
but their broader value lies in what they can tell us about how backgrou
nd knowledge
takes shape and is used as a resource in public argument. In particular, critical appraisal of
narrative icons suggests that readers are expected to access a trove of cultural knowledge
to fully understand news stories and the sociocultural implications of the events described.
In doing so, journalists and readers jointly construct and reinforce communal identities and
establish credibility.


A 7-year-old boy presented with intermittent systolic murmur and syncope. Chest roentgenogram revealed mild cardiomegaly. Electrocardiogram showed right bundle branch block and abnormal T-waves. Right ventricular angiography demonstrated a filling defect at the anterior portion of the right ventricular cavity and histological examination of biopsy specimen revealed lipoma. At operation, the tumor could not be totally resected. Histological examination of surgical specimen showed marked proliferation of mature fat cells between cardiac muscle fibers. Postoperatively he has been remained asymptomatic. Postoperative standard M-mode and two-dimensional echocardiogram demonstrated a mass from right ventricular wall, abnormal motion of the interventricular septum and small left atrial cavity. The patient has been followed by serial echocardiography.


Density peaks clustering (DPC) algorithm is a novel density-based clustering algorithm, which is simple and efficient, is not necessary to specify the number of clusters in advance, and can find any nonspherical class clusters. However, DPC relies heavily on the calculation methods of the cutoff distance threshold and local density and cannot analyze complex manifold data, especially datasets with uneven density distribution and multiple peaks in the same cluster. To solve these problems, we propose an improved density peaks clustering algorithm based on the layered k-nearest neighbors and subcluster merging (LKSM_DPC). First, we redefine the local density calculation method using the layered k-nearest neighbors. To adapt to datasets with different densities, the k-nearest neighbors are divided into multiple layers. Second, for the multiple peaks in the same cluster problem, we design a new mechanism to calculate the similarity of subclusters based on the idea of shared neighbors and Newton's law of gravitation, and a subcluster merging strategy is proposed. To prove the effectiveness of our algorithm, we compare the LKSM_DPC with K-means, DBSCAN, DPC, and DPC derivatives for 24 datasets. A large number of experiments demonstrate that our algorithm can often outperform other algorithms.


In recent decades, ecological restoration and landscape architecture have focused on reintegrating ecological processes in the urban environment to support greater habitat complexity and increase biodiversity. As these values are more broadly recognized, new approaches are being investigated to increase ecosystem services and ecological benefits in urban areas. Ecosystem engineers, such as the North American beaver (Castor canadensis), can create complex habitat and influence ecological processes in natural environments. Through dam building and wetland formation, beaver can create fish habitat, diversify vegetation in riparian zones, and aggrade sediment to increase stream productivity. As beaver populations have increased in urban areas across North America, their presence presents challenges and opportunities. Beaver can be integrated into the design of new and established urban green spaces to improve ecosystem functions. If managed properly, the conflicts that beaver sometimes create can be minimized. In this paper, we examine how landscape architects and restoration ecologists are anticipating the geomorphic and hydrological implications of beaver reintroduction in the design of wetlands and urban natural areas at regional and site levels. We present an urban beaver map and three case studies in Seattle, WA, USA, to identify various approaches, successes, and management strategies for integrating the actions of beaver into project designs. We make recommendations for how designers can capitalize on the benefits of beaver by identifying sites with increased likelihood of colonization, leveraging ecosystem engineers in design conception, designing site features to reduce constraints for the reintroduction and establishment of beaver, and anticipating and managing impacts.


Data from a discrete choice experiment aimed at eliciting the demand for recreational walking trails on farmland in the Republic of Ireland is used to explore the consequences of misspecifying the cost coefficient. To enable straightforward calculation of WTP from the distributions of the non-price coefficients, the price coefficient is typically held constant in mixed logit models. This implies that all respondents are equally price sensitive. In this paper we test the validity of this assumption. Our approach is based on a comparison and combination of discrete and continuous mixing approaches (i.e., a mixture of distributions) to uncover the unobserved heterogeneity in price sensitivities. Results from the analysis highlight that model fit and willingness to pay are sensitive to the distributional assumptions used to represent the price coefficient.


The absence of successful solutions in treatments of small-caliber vessel diseases led to the Vascular Tissue Engineering approach to develop functional nonimmunogenic tissue engineered blood vessels. In this context, the choice of cells to be seeded and the microenvironment conditioning are pivotal. Biochemical and biomechanical stimuli seem to activate physiological regulatory pathways that induce the production of molecules and proteins stimulating stem cell differentiation toward vascular lineage and reproducing natural cross-talks among vascular cells to improve the maturation of tissue engineered blood vessels. Thus, this review focuses on (1) available cell sources, and (2) biochemical and biomechanical stimuli, with the final aim to obtain the longterm stability of the endothelium and mechanical properties suitable for withstanding physiological load.


Density Functional Theory (DFT) is employed to study the various optical properties of pseudo-cubic LaNiO3. As LaNiO3 is a strongly correlated material, conventional DFT like LDA or GGA and even GW approximation fail to describe, we have examined the optical spectra of this compound using GGA(PBE)+U approach. The advantage of incorporating Hubbard U in this approach is to take the strong electronic correlation in the system into account. The optical spectra of this compound are found to be consisted of the Drude peak and some high energy peaks. While the Drude peak reflects the dominant free carrier contributions at the low energy region, the high energy peaks originate from the inter-band transitions within the system. We have also studied the remarkable changes in the optical properties in Fe doped LaNiO3 (LaNi1-xFexO3), in order to probe related properties, corresponding to their applications in solid-oxide fuel cells. Our calculations have revealed that even 25% of Fe doping is adequate to trigger a first order metal to insulator transition in LaNiO3. The optical spectra of LaNi1-xFexO3 compounds are calculated using the hybrid functional HSE and the doping-induced metal to insulator transition in LaNiO3 is attributed to the altered crystal environment and electronic configuration of the compound. Copyright © 2016 VBRI Press.


A series of drawn melt-crystallized linear polyethylenes (LPEs) with different molecular weight distributions (MWD = Mw/Mn) ranging from 2 to 25 are investigated with respect to the visible-light transparency. The results indicate that the MWD of the LPEs significantly influences the visible-light transparency of drawn melt-crystallized LPEs. At a high MWD, drawn melt-crystallized LPEs films are transparent and glass-like, this in contrast to the LPEs with a low MWD. A mechanism behind the observed results is proposed based on differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis, small-angle X-ray scattering, wide-angle X-ray scattering, and small-angle light scattering experiments. A correlation between the molecular characteristics, especially the MWD, and the visible-light transparency of the drawn melt-crystallized LPEs is proposed. (Figure presented.).


BACKGROUND
Though primary care patients commonly present with rectal bleeding, the optimal evaluation strategy remains unknown.

OBJECTIVE
To compare the cost-effectiveness of four diagnostic strategies in the evaluation of rectal bleeding.

DESIGN
Cost-effectiveness analysis using a Markov decision model.

DATA SOURCES
Systematic review of the literature, Medicare reimbursement data, Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Cancer Registry.

TARGET POPULATION
Patients over age 40 with otherwise asymptomatic rectal bleeding.

TIME HORIZON
The patient's lifetime.

PERSPECTIVE
Modified societal perspective.

INTERVENTIONS
Watchful waiting, flexible sigmoidoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy followed by air contrast barium enema (FS+ACBE), and colonoscopy.

OUTCOME MEASURES
Incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.

RESULTS OF BASE-CASE ANALYSIS
The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio for colonoscopy compared with flexible sigmoidoscopy was 5,480 dollars per quality-adjusted year of life saved (QALY). Watchful waiting and FS+ACBE were more expensive and less effective than colonoscopy.

RESULTS OF SENSITIVITY ANALYSES
The cost of colonoscopy was reduced to 1,686 dollars per QALY when age at entry was changed to 45. Watchful waiting became the least expensive strategy when community procedure charges replaced Medicare costs, when age at entry was maximized to 80, or when the prevalence of polyps was lowered to 7%, but the remaining strategies provided greater life expectancy at relatively low cost. The strategy of FS+ACBE remained more expensive and less effective in all analyses. In the remaining sensitivity analyses, the incremental cost-effectiveness of colonoscopy compared with flexible sigmoidoscopy never rose above 34,000 dollars.

CONCLUSIONS
Colonoscopy is a cost-effective method to evaluate otherwise asymptomatic rectal bleeding, with a low cost per QALY compared to other strategies.


*This paper is the result of work being undertaken as part of a collaborative research program entitled The Performance of Australian Enterprises: Innovation, Productivity and Profitability. The project is generously supported by the Australian Research Council and the following collaborative partners: Australia Tax Office, Commonwealth Office of Small Business, IBIS Business Information Pty Ltd, Industry Commission, and Victorian Department of State Development. The views expressed in this paper represent those of the author and not necessarily the views of the collaborative partners.


Surgical smoke has been proven to be harmful and carcinogenic to humans as well as increasing the risk of acquiring infectious diseases. The operating room nurses' willingness to use protective equipment against surgical smoke was low. The factors associated with personal protective behavior in the operating room against surgical smoke were sparsely explored. The purpose of this study is to determine factors associated with surgical smoke self-protection behavior of the operating room nurses. This was a descriptive correlational study using a convenience sample from a medical center in northern Taiwan. The self-designed questionnaires included personal characteristics and perceived attributes. The data were analyzed by descriptive and linear regression. Attendance at in-service education with regard to surgical smoke, the attitude to surgical smoke, and surgical smoke self-protection barriers were significant factors found in multivariate linear regression after controlling the covariates. The overall model was significant and accounted for 14.2% of variances. In summary, attending in-service education, attitude and barriers in executing self-protective behaviors were significant factors. It is important to promote operating room nurses' health through providing correct surgical smoke knowledge, self-protection strategies to improve attitudes toward surgical smoke, improving the hospital's environment by adding surgical smoke evacuation equipment, and standardizing the operating procedures.


The Silent Child: Communication without Words describes a way of understanding and communicating with children who are not speaking, but rather using their bodies and somatic symptoms to express states of mind. Jeanne Magagna has worked for 45 years trying to find ways of helping these children, varying in age and symptoms. Using infant observation methods of understanding primitive states of mind expressed through gestures of eyes, hands, body posture, she has worked in in-patient or out-patient settings with contributors: a group of psychiatrists, psychologists, family and child psychotherapists, physiotherapists, nurses, therapeutic care workers, teachers, parents' groups and work discussion seminar members in out-patient and in-patient settings. In their chapters, the professionals and a parent show how they use their observation, empathy and countertransference experiences to promote understanding in the silent child and his/her parents and siblings.

This book is particularly important for mental health professionals, teachers and parents who are encountering 'a child communicating without words'. It will assist them in being curious and nurturing rather than paralysed by the experience of having to think without the child's verbal response.


OBJECTIVES: The objective was to study the adaptogenic effect of Chlorophytum borivilianum(CB) on physical performance when exposed to accustomed activity (AA) and unaccustomed activity (UA) and the effect of CB on heart rate (HR) and blood pressure (BP) in the presence of UA and the effect on muscle strength in comparison with placebo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical study was initiated after ethics committee approval in healthy volunteers with fixed-dose regimen. Consented volunteers (n = 60) were assigned randomly into two groups of study drug (3 g/day) or placebo (3 g/day) for 2 months. They were evaluated at days 0, 30, and 60 with physical stressors (6-min walk test [6MWT] – distance, HR, and BP; 6-min exercise test [6ETC] – distance, maximum and average speed; and fixed workload test [FWT] – systolic BP, diastolic BP [DBP], and HR on cycle ergometer) and Jammar's dynamometer test for handgrip strength test on each visit. RESULTS: In 6MWT in CB group, distance on day 30 (456 ± 42.1) and day 60 (468.3 ± 0.4) was significantly increased when compared with day 30 (422.6 ± 45.7) and day 60 (419.6 ± 45.1) of the placebo group. On day 60, distance in 6ETC in CB group was 2.92 ± 0.6 which was significantly more than that of placebo group 2.4 ± 0.6. On day 60, in FWT, DBP in the CB group was 75.8 ± 4.4 which was significantly low compared to the placebo group 82.4 ± 7.4 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: CB increased physical performance when exposed to AA even after one month and in case of UA increase in performance was seen when CB was administered for two months thus validating its adaptogenic (anti-stress) potential.


Creating three-dimensional (3-D) descriptions of road boundaries from single 2-D images of segmented road is a central problem for the autonomous land vehicle (ALV) road-following task. It is shown how heuristic simplifying assumptions can be avoided by using actively scanned laser range data to determine the 3-D space location of features in a 2-D image. An epipolar-plane approach that is commonly used to restrict search spaces in stereo correspondence problems is used to combine data gathered from the ALV's video camera and an ERIM laser range scanner for accurate 3-D descriptions of roads. In addition, various heuristic inverse perspective algorithms are compared with each other and with the video/range scanner fusion approach in terms of accuracy, failure situations, and estimated computational speed. The simplest of these is the flat-earth algorithm where the assumption is made that the vehicle is at all times resting in a level attitude on an infinite flat plane; image points were projected onto this plane. A second approach, the hill-and-dale algorithm, permits the plane's elevation to vary such that image pairs of left and right road edge points define a road of constant width. The zero-bank algorithm imposes a constant-road-width constraint on heuristically extracted image pairs of road edge points and the algorithm seeks image pairs of edge points that correspond to true 'crossword' road edges on curving roads. Graphical output describing the performance of the various algorithms on real-world scenes is presented and discussed. >


This article introduces Discourse Combinatory Categorial Grammar (DCCG) and shows how it can be used to generate multisentence paraphrases, flexibly incorporating both intraand intersentential discourse connectives. DCCG employs a simple, practical approach to extending Combinatory Categorial Grammar (CCG) to encompass coverage of discourse-level phenomena, which furthermore makes it possible to generate clauses with multiple connectives and — in contrast to approaches based on Rhetorical Structure Theory — with rhetorical dependencies that do not form a tree. To do so, it borrows from Discourse Lexicalized Tree Adjoining Grammar (D-LTAG) the distinction between structural connectives and anaphoric discourse adverbials. Unlike D-LTAG, however, DCCG treats both sentential and discourse phenomena in the same grammar, rather than employing a separate discourse grammar. A key ingredient of this single-grammar approach is cue threading, a tightly constrained technique for extending the semantic scope of a discourse connective beyond the sentence. As DCCG requires no additions to the CCG formalism, it can be used to generate paraphrases of an entire dialogue turn using the OpenCCG realizer as-is, without the need to revise its architecture. In addition, from an interpretation perspective, a single grammar enables easier management of ambiguity across discourse and sentential levels using 1 LiLT Volume 4, Issue 1, September 2010. Generating with Discourse Combinatory Categorial Grammar. Copyright c © 2010, CSLI Publications. 2 / LiLT volume 4, issue 1 September 2010 standard dynamic programming techniques, whereas D-LTAG has required a potentially complex interaction of sentential and discourse grammars to manage the same ambiguity. As a proof-of-concept, the article demonstrates how OpenCCG can be used with a DCCG to generate multi-sentence paraphrases that reproduce and extend those in the SPaRKy Restaurant Corpus.


In August 1998 life in Omagh, a country town in Tyrone, was changed for ever when a bomb planted by terrorists killing 29 people as well as unborn twins. Hopes and expectations had been riding high after The Good Friday Agreement and television images conveyed the possibilities of a new era based on dialogue and co-operation. Television images just four months later conveyed a very different atmosphere. Most will remember the dazed and crying people staggering around in the dust and debris of Omagh trying to comprehend what had happened. Politicians and world leaders flew into Northern Ireland to offer condolences and made promises of justice and bringing those responsible to court. Some six years later and the victims and their families still search for justice. his moving and powerful book features 14 interviews with those who lost loved ones as they describe the people they lost, their memories of the day of the bomb, the aftermath and their thoughts and experiences six years later. The book also outlines the current situation faced by the Omagh victims and reflects how the material presented in this book might be used to advance the cause of peace and tolerance in Northern Ireland.


Within the scope of climatic change and associated sea level rise, coastal aquifers are endangered and are becoming more a focus of research to ensure the future water supply in coastal areas. For groundwater modelling a good understanding of the geological/hydrogeological situation and the aquifer behavior is necessary. In preparation of groundwater modelling and assessment of climate change impacts on coastal water resources, we setup a geological/hydrogeological model for the North Sea Island of Fohr. Data from different geophysical methods applied from the air, the surface and in boreholes contribute to the 3-D model, e.g. airborne electromagnetics (SkyTEM) for spatial mapping the resistivity of the entire island, seismic reflections for detailed cross-sections in the groundwater catchment area, and geophysical borehole logging for calibration of these measurements. An iterative and integrated evaluation of the results from the different geophysical methods contributes to reliable data as input for the 3-D model covering the whole island and not just the well fields. The complex subsurface structure of the island is revealed. The local waterworks use a freshwater body embedded in saline groundwater. Several glaciations reordered the youngest Tertiary and Quaternary sediments by glaciotectonic thrust faulting, as well as incision and refill of glacial valleys. Both subsurface structures have a strong impact on the distribution of freshwater-bearing aquifers. A digital geological 3-D model reproduces the hydrogeological structure of the island as a base for a groundwater model. In the course of the data interpretation, we deliver a basis for rock identification. We demonstrate that geophysical investigation provide petrophysical parameters and improve the understanding of the subsurface and the groundwater system. The main benefit of our work is that the successful combination of electromagnetic, seismic and borehole data reveals the complex geology of a glacially-affected island. A sound understanding of the subsurface structure and the compilation of a 3-D model is imperative and the basis for a groundwater flow model to predict climate change effects on future water resources.


I Carr-Hill R, Sheldon T. Jarman index. BMJ 1991;302:850. (6 April.) 2 Jarman B. Jarman index. BMJ 1991;302:527. (2 March.) 3 Jarman B. Social deprivation and health service funding. London: Imperial College, 1990. (Papers in science, technology, and medicine No 22.) 4 Jarman B. Underprivileged areas: validation and distribution of scores. BMJ 1984;289:1587-92. 5 Department of the Environment. Urban deprivation. London: DoE, 1983. (Information note No 2.) 6 Townsend P, Phillimore P, Beattie A. Inequalities in health in the Northern region. Newcastle: Northern Regional Health Authority and University of Bristol, 1986. 7 Carstairs V, Russell M. Deprivation: explaining differences in mortality between Scotland and England. BMJ 1989;299: 886-9. 8 Curtis SE. Use of survey data and small area statistics to assess the link between individual morbidity and neighbourhood deprivation. J Epidemniol Community Health 1990;44:62-8. 9 Chase HD, Davies PRT. Calculation of the underprivileged area score for a practice in inner London. BritishJournal ofGeneral Practice 1991;41:63-6. 10 Jarman B. General practice, the NHS review and social deprivation. BritishJournal ofGeneral Practice 1991:41:76-9. 11 Main J, Main P. Jarman index. BMJ 1991;302:850. (6 April.)


This paper develops an Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model for non-instantaneous deteriorating items with selling price- and inflation-induced demand under the effect of inflation and customer returns. The customer returns are assumed as a function of demand and price. Shortages are allowed and partially backlogged. The effects of time value of money are studied using the Discounted Cash Flow approach. The main objective is to determine the optimal selling price, the optimal length of time in which there is no inventory shortage, and the optimal replenishment cycle simultaneously such that the present value of total profit is maximized. An efficient algorithm is presented to find the optimal solution of the developed model. Finally, a numerical example is extracted to solve the presented inventory model using the proposed algorithm and the effects of the customer returns, inflation, and non-instantaneous deterioration are also discussed. The paper ends with a conclusion and outlook to future studies.


AIMS
This study aimed to ascertain mental health nurses' perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of nurse prescribing and to identify the educational needs of mental health nurse prescribers.

DESIGN
A questionnaire was designed and administered to a convenience sample in the UK of 73 mental health nurses in clinical practice, 14 working in in-patient settings and 59 in the community. Questions included both closed and open-ended items. Descriptive statistics were used for numerical data, and category analysis of the open-ended questions was undertaken by two of the researchers independently and then conjointly.

FINDINGS
The majority of respondents felt that mental health nurse prescribing would significantly improve clients' access to medication, improve compliance, prevent relapse and prove cost effective. However, many were anxious that they did not have sufficient knowledge and skills to assume responsibility for prescribing.

CONCLUSIONS
Although there would be benefits to clients and patients, further training, rigorous supervision and the co-operation of doctors will be required if mental health nurse prescribing is to yield the anticipated benefits.


Abstract. Different satellite images have different positioning accuracy. For example, stereo satellite images have higher positioning accuracy than resource survey satellite images. In addition, for a large number of non stereo satellite images, due to the inability to build a strong triangulation model, it is impossible to carry out block adjustment alone to improve the image positioning accuracy. High precision and high resolution Orthophoto Images are the basis of resource investigation and monitoring and basic geographic information updating. For example, China's third national land survey, national geographic situation monitoring and other national projects require that the survey base map must reach the accuracy of 1:10000 scale, that is, the mean square plane error of points is less than 5m. For most satellite images, a certain number of ground control points need to be deployed to achieve this accuracy. Due to the difficulty of obtaining high-precision ground control points and DEM data in difficult areas, high-precision mapping has always been an unsolved problem, such as Western China. In addition, due to the limited coverage of a single satellite image, to realize the complete coverage of an image in a large area requires the joint application of multiple satellite images. In this paper, the high-precision collaborative geometric processing model and technical method of high-resolution multi-source remote sensing satellite images are proposed. The high-precision collaborative geometric processing of more than ten kinds of high-resolution domestic satellite images is completed by integrating multi-source observation data. An automatic construction method of large-scale block adjustment model of remote sensing images from domestic satellites based on multivariate generalized control network is proposed, including key technologies such as automatic optimization of optimal tie points under different modes, automatic matching of multi-node parallelization tie points, multi-level gross error elimination and so on, which realizes the automatic and stable construction of aerial triangulation model. The test shows that the positioning accuracy of satellite images is better than the accuracy requirements of 1:10000 scale without ground control points, which solves the problem of geometric positioning of 1:10000 scale accuracy in areas where it is difficult to obtain ground control points in the field of Western China.


The present study focuses on a collaboration of a citation analysis of the JCR journals of the categories Demography and Urban Studies indexed in Social Science Citation Index from the period 2000–2016. A total of 64 journals were covered (26 for Demography and 38 for Urban Studies). We found that the percentages of multi-authored documents in both categories are very similar; moreover, the citation distribution is shown to be increasing in both but behaves slightly different in the two samples analysed. It seems to be a relation between the number of citations a document received and the number of authors. Regarding international collaboration, both categories present a similar type of network with densities of the kind of social science networks. Anglo-Saxon countries are the most prolific ones and the biggest collaborators in both networks. Urban Studies shows a relative importance to countries of emerging economies since it indexed more journals in the sample with a wider regional scope.


For many years now the debate as to the English pronunciation model to be selected for training both in academia and for schools in Poland has proved unresolvable. When pronunciation instruction is executed, anything that conspicuously departs from spelling pronunciation is accepted. It appears that teachers implicitly and largely unconsciously follow the idea of the somewhat impoverished instructional model of English as a Lingua Franca ELF put forward by Jenkins 2000. Until recently, no reasonable, well-argued-for alternative was available, whereas now the model suggested in Szpyra-Kozłowska 2015: Native English as Lingua Franca NELF fulfils the needs of both students in English departments as well as ordinary users of English. This paper reports on the preferences as to the desirable standard in pronunciation instruction among students in academia — but not among those of English language departments — as learners of English as a Foreign Language for whom language proficiency may be an important professional asset in their future careers. To investigate the above, a research survey of the quantitative-qualitative type was implemented in the form of a questionnaire. The focus is not so much on the numerical favourites as on the reasons behind a stated preference. The respondents seem to aspire to realistic but nonetheless high goals.


Abstract The purpose of this paper is to draw attention to the reflection and recreation of the physical landscape in literary texts and in their translations; to explore in what ways nature is represented and, secondly, to discuss aspects of this process in the light of the translational norms proposed by Toury. The focus is the idea that language and culture, the core of literature, are to be transferred to other linguistic and cultural mediums during translation, and constitute the ecological environment of the text. This undertaking assigns to the translator the task of selecting, adapting and recreating this material in the foreign environment. An ecocritical approach will be adopted to explore how and how far this task is materialized by studying a Turkish author Yasar Kemal's novel Ortadirek translated as The Wind from the Plain. Yasar Kemal is regarded as the most ecologically-minded author of Turkish literature and his novels portray nature as the mental landscapes of man, a force under which the constituents of the text are recreated at every linguistic and culture-bound effort of the author. Hence, the main endeavour of this study will be to bring to the surface, with an eco-critical approach, the translational preferences of the translator of Ortadirek and their significance in the recreation of Kemal's ecological vision in the translation.


RATIONALE
In order to determine the degree of cross-linking on the surface and its variations in a nanometer-scale depth of organic materials, we developed an approach based on time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS), which provides rich chemical information in the form of fragment ions. TOF-SIMS is extremely surface-sensitive and capable of depth profiling with the use of a sputter ion beam to remove controllable amounts of substance.

METHODS
Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) films spin-coated on a Si substrate were cross-linked using a recently developed, surface sensitive, hyperthermal hydrogen projectile bombardment technique. The ion intensity ratio between two ubiquitous hydrocarbon ions, C6 H- and C4 H- , detected in TOF-SIMS, denoted as ρ, was used to assess the degree of cross-linking of the PMMA films. The cross-linking depth of the PMMA films was revealed by depth profiling ρ into the polymer films using a C60+ sputter beam.

RESULTS
The control PMMA film spin-coated on a Si substrate was characterized by ρ = 32% on its surface when using a 25 keV Bi3+ primary ion beam. This parameter on the PMMA films subjected to HHIC treatment for 10, 100 and 500 s increased to 45%, 56% and 65%, respectively. The depth profiles of ρ obtained using a 10 keV C60+ ion beam resembled an exponential decay, from which the cross-linking depth was estimated to be 3, 15 and 39 nm, respectively, for the three cross-linked PMMA films.

CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that the ion intensity ratio of C6 H- to C4 H- detected in TOF-SIMS provides a unique and simple means to assess the degree of cross-linking of the surface of PMMA films cross-linked by the surface sensitive hyperthermal hydrogen projectile bombardment technique. With a C60+ sputter beam, we were able to depth profile the PMMA films and determine cross-linking depths of the cross-linked polymer films at nanometer resolutions. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We combined our generalized energy-based fragmentation (GEBF) approach and transfer learning technique to construct machine learning force fields (MLFFs) for proteins only from quantum mechanics (QM) calculations of small subsystems. Using a kernel-based model called Gaussian Approximation Potential (GAP), our protocol can automatically generate training sets with high efficiency. To facilitate the construction of training sets for various proteins, a protein's data library is created to store all data of subsystems generated from trained proteins. With this data library, for a new protein only its subsystems with new topological types are required for the construction of the corresponding training set. With two polypeptides, 4ZNN and 1XQ8 segment, as examples, we demonstrate that GEBF-MLFFs can be constructed by either kernel methods or neural network methods with full QM quality. Therefore, the present work provides an effi-cient and systematic way to build force fields for biological systems like proteins with QM accuracy.


The fungus Leptosphaeria maculans (L. maculans) is the causal agent of blackleg disease of canola/oilseed rape (Brassica napus) worldwide. We previously reported cloning of the B. napus blackleg resistance gene, LepR3, which encodes a receptor-like protein. LepR3 triggers localized cell death upon recognition of its cognate Avr protein, AvrLm1. Here, we exploited the Nicotiana benthamiana model plant to investigate the recognition mechanism of AvrLm1 by LepR3. Co-expression of the LepR3/AvrLm1 gene pair in N. benthamiana resulted in development of a hypersensitive response (HR). However, a truncated AvrLm1 lacking its indigenous signal peptide was compromised in its ability to induce LepR3-mediated HR, indicating that AvrLm1 is perceived by LepR3 extracellularly. Structure-function analysis of the AvrLm1 protein revealed that the C-terminal region of AvrLm1 was required for LepR3-mediated HR in N. benthamiana and for resistance to L. maculans in B. napus. LepR3 was shown to be physically interacting with the B. napus receptor like kinase, SOBIR1 (BnSOBIR1). Silencing of NbSOBIR1 or NbSERK3 (BAK1) compromised LepR3-AvrLm1-dependent HR in N. benthamiana, suggesting that LepR3-mediated resistance to L. maculans in B. napus requires SOBIR1 and BAK1/SERK3. Using this model system, we determined that BnSOBIR1 and SERK3/BAK1 are essential partners in the LepR3 signaling complex and were able to define the AvrLm1 effector domain.


CONTEXT
Estrogens are thought to cause pancreatitis by raising triglyceride levels but whether there are other effects on the pancreas is debatable.

OBJECTIVE
To better elucidate the relationship between estrogens and pancreatitis and pancreatic function in a pilot study.

DESIGN/SETTING/PATIENTS
Our retrospectively collected database of 224 patients who had undergone secretin stimulation testing was queried for females with available medication histories, who were then divided into two groups: those taking estrogens (E) and those not on estrogens (N). Mann Whitney U and Fisher's exact tests were used.

RESULTS
Seventy of the patients in the database were females with available medication histories. Thirty-five (50.0%) were taking estrogens. Twenty-nine (82.9%) of the E patients experienced any type of pancreatitis (i.e., acute pancreatitis, acute relapsing pancreatitis, chronic pancreatitis) while only 19 (54.3%) of the N patients did (P=0.019). During secretin stimulation testing, the peak bicarbonate levels for E and N patients were 80±18 and 90±23 mEq/L, respectively (P=0.058). When patients with any type of pancreatitis were excluded, E patients still displayed decreased peak bicarbonate levels in response to secretin (90±18 vs. 104±19 mEq/L; P=0.021). Weight, age, triglyceride levels, frequency of patients with cholecystectomy and biliary stones did not significantly differ between the two groups (E and N respectively).

CONCLUSIONS
These pilot data suggest exogenous estrogens may be related to the development of acute pancreatitis and acute relapsing pancreatitis, and probably to a lesser degree chronic pancreatitis, perhaps through a triglyceride independent mechanism. During secretin stimulation testing, peak bicarbonate production may be diminished in women on estrogens (even in those who have never had pancreatitis). Further study is necessary to better define the relationship between estrogen use, pancreatitis, and pancreatic function.


In epithelia that secrete sodium chloride, high-conductance tight junctions between cells have been proposed as the primary pathway for transepithelial sodium flux. We examined the properties of tight junctions in the perfused rectal gland of the dogfish shark during basal secretion and following adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate stimulation of sodium chloride secretion. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy revealed extensive interdigitation of adjacent cells with an associated amplification in the length of tight junctions per area of luminal surface, averaging 102 +/- 4.7 m/cm2 in outer regions of 80 +/- 6.7 in inner regions of the gland. Marked heterogeneity of junctional structure was present with junctional elements varying from single strands to three duplex elements and junctional depth varying from 15 to 60 nm. In glands perfused with lanthanum chloride, ionic lanthanum filled the intercellular space up to but not through the tight junctions. Characteristics of tight junctions were not different during basal and maximally stimulated sodium chloride secretion. These studies define tight junctions in the rectal gland as an anatomical barrier capable of restricting the passage of relatively small molecules such as urea while providing a greatly amplified junctional area for the passive diffusion of sodium and water.


Sperm of infertile men mostly contain more DNA damage than their fertile counterparts. Sperm DNA damage might have a negative effect on the fertility potential of such patients. This study measures the percentage of spermatozoa with nuclear DNA fragmentation in semen samples used for intacytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), before and after sperm processing and investigates the association between sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) and ICSI outcome (embryo grade and clinical pregnancy). Sperm DFI was measured, by TUNEL, in fresh semen samples obtained from thirty male partners of infertile couples, seeking ICSI treatment. The mean sperm DFI before and after processing was 4.5% and 8.83% respectively. Sperm DFI increased significantly after processing (P < 0.001) regardless the type of processing used (P= 0.877). The correlation between sperm DFI, before and after semen processing, and clinical pregnancy was statistically insignificant (P=0.689 and P=0.631 respectively). DFI of sperm after semen processing showed a significant negative correlation with embryo grading at day 3 (r = - 0.232, P = 0.002). In conclusion, sperm DFI increases significantly after processing and correlates negatively with embryo grade.


This paper deals with spatial analysis of texture in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. A new parametric model for local two-point statistics of the image is introduced, in order to characterize the spatially nonstationary and anisotropic behavior of the image. The texture is first modeled by a nonstationary Gaussian process resulting from the convolution of a Gaussian white noise with a field of anisotropic Gaussian kernel with spatially varying parameters. Hence, under the hypothesis of locally stationary signal, the analytic expression of the local autocovariance is derived. It is then explained how to simulate nonstationary K-distributed random fields by combining the new model with an already existing simulation method. A method for parameter estimation is then introduced. This method, based on the statistical product model, first corrects the speckle contribution to the local autocovariance and estimates the parameters of the model by analyzing the shape of the autocovariance. The algorithm is then evaluated over simulated and experimental data. Stationary simulations permit to show that, for a sufficient sample size, the estimator is unbiased. A test over a nonstationary simulation proves the ability of the algorithm to capture the spatial fluctuations of the texture. Finally, the method is applied to the experimental SAR data, and it is shown that a large amount of spatial information may be retrieved from the data.


Abstract:The Phoenician past, historians have long argued, was the preserve of Lebanese nationalists who sought to trace the genealogy of their darling state into the distant past in order to articulate a distinctive identity for Lebanon reflecting their religious particularism and socio-economic interests. By contrast to this diachronic and often teleological approach, tracking the evolution of national consciousness, this article suggests a synchronic reading of the ways late Ottoman literati used the ancient past as an instrument of political debate and social reflection. The region's public men, this article contends, found in the Phoenician past a soothing precedent for the massive migrations the Arabic-speaking Eastern Mediterranean witnessed from the 1880s onwards – movements which prompted much fraught debate and discussion. Contemporary displacements, in such a reading, were but the product of ancient predispositions. Only in the wake of the First World War was the ancient past pressed into national service.


Purpose: We have shown that the aged microenvironment increases melanoma metastasis, and decreases response to targeted therapy, and here we queried response to anti-PD1. Experimental Design: We analyzed the relationship between age, response to anti-PD1, and prior therapy in 538 patients. We used mouse models of melanoma, to analyze the intratumoral immune microenvironment in young versus aged mice and confirmed our findings in human melanoma biopsies. Results: Patients over the age of 60 responded more efficiently to anti-PD-1, and likelihood of response to anti-PD-1 increased with age, even when we controlled for prior MAPKi therapy. Placing genetically identical tumors in aged mice (52 weeks) significantly increased their response to anti-PD1 as compared with the same tumors in young mice (8 weeks). These data suggest that this increased response in aged patients occurs even in the absence of a more complex mutational landscape. Next, we found that young mice had a significantly higher population of regulatory T cells (Tregs), skewing the CD8+:Treg ratio. FOXP3 staining of human melanoma biopsies revealed similar increases in Tregs in young patients. Depletion of Tregs using anti-CD25 increased the response to anti-PD1 in young mice. Conclusions: While there are obvious limitations to our study, including our inability to conduct a meta-analysis due to a lack of available data, and our inability to control for mutational burden, there is a remarkable consistency in these data from over 500 patients across 8 different institutes worldwide. These results stress the importance of considering age as a factor for immunotherapy response. Clin Cancer Res; 24(21); 5347–56. ©2018 AACR. See related commentary by Pawelec, p. 5193