Limited-valency colloidal particles can self-assemble into polymeric structures analogous to molecules. While their structural equilibrium properties have attracted wide attention, insight into their dynamics has proven challenging. Here, we investigate the polymerization dynamics of semiflexible polymers in 2D by direct observation of assembling divalent particles, bonded by critical Casimir forces. The reversible critical Casimir force creates living polymerization conditions with tunable chain dissociation, association, and bending rigidity. We find that unlike dilute polymers that show exponential size distributions in excellent agreement with Flory theory, concentrated samples exhibit arrest of rotational and translational diffusion due to a continuous isotropic-to-nematic transition in 2D, slowing down the growth kinetics. These effects are circumvented by the addition of higher-valency particles, cross linking the polymers into networks. Our results connecting polymer flexibility, polymer interactions, and the peculiar isotropic-nematic transition in 2D offer insight into the polymerization processes of synthetic two-dimensional polymers and biopolymers at membranes and interfaces.


The purpose of this study was to analyse the effect of the different degree of tester ś experience on the criterion-related validity and the inter-session reliability of the ankle dorsiflexion range of motion measures (ROMADF) obtained from the following tests: passive non weight-bearing test (ADFPAS), weight-bearing lunge test using an inclinometer (ADFLUNINC) and a tape measure (ADFLUN-TAP), modified-weight bearing test with a moveable datum (ADFLUN-DAT) and modified weight bearing test with a box (ADFLUN-BOX). A total of 17 recreational athletes completed this study. Each participant was assessed by 2 testers with different level of experience in the clinical setting (expert and novel) of the ROMADF using 5 assessment tests in two different sessions, with a rest-interval of 72-96 hours. The results showed low validity scores for the novel tester in all the assessment tests except for the ADFLUN-INC test (standardized typical error of the estimate = 0.5 [small] and Pearson coefficient = 0.85 [moderate]; Kappa = 0.74 [good]). The expert tester showed high reliability scores for the ADFLUN-INC, ADFLUN-TAP and ADFLUN-BOX tests and acceptable scores for the ADFPAS and ADFLUN-DAT. The novel tester presented acceptable reliability scores for all the assessment tests except for the ADFPAS, which were considered as nonacceptable. Therefore, we recommend that both the expert and novel testers use the ADFLUN-INC test to: (a) identify subjects with restrained or normal ROMADF and (b) monitor the efficacy of the intervention treatments applied in case of being necessary.


The editor of The Journal of Perinatal Education describes the contents of this issue, which offer a broad range of resources, research, and inspiration for childbirth educators in their efforts to promote normal birth.


The paper begins from the axiomatic point that, despite the form it eventually took, namely that of a neo-colonial process, development was understood and fought for in Africa as [part of] an emancipatory political project central to the liberatory vision of the pan-African nationalism which emerged victorious at independence. Indeed independence was always seen, by radical nationalism in particular, as only the first step towards freedom and liberation from oppression, the second being economic development. Indeed 'economism' and 'statism' were mirror images of each other: it was believed that only the economy could liberate humanity and that only the state could drive the economy to progress. Today, the first proposition has been retained but the second has been dropped from hegemonic discourse. Yet the two are inseparable twins; it is in fact the case that just as the latter is false so is the former, for human emancipation is and can only be a political project. While development today is said to be guided by the (not so invisible) "hand of the market", the state has simultaneously 'subcontracted' many of its development management functions to external bodies such as NGOs. These are frequently simply new parastatals, vehicles for social entrepreneurship for a 'new' middle-class of development professionals. We have now a new form of state rule which forms the context for re-thinking development and politics. Central to this new form of rule is the hegemony of human rights discourse. This paper begins by reviewing the political assumptions of the nature of citizenship underlying T.H. Marshall's argument for 'social rights'; it provides a critique of human rights discourse and civil society from an emancipatory perspective, situating these within the new forms of imperialism and comments on the character of political parties and social movements in understanding political emancipation today. It argues that in Africa, if one is to think an emancipatory project, citizenship must be conceived as active citizenship, and political subjectivity must be thought, not as management or opinions but, following the work of Badiou and Lazarus, as the freedom to think new 'possibles'.


Bayesian treatments of learning in neural networks are typically based either on a local Gaussian approximation to a mode of the posterior weight distribution, or on Markov chain Monte Carlo simulations. A third approach, called ensemble learning, was introduced by Hinton and van Camp (1993). It aims to approximate the posterior distribution by minimizing the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the true posterior and a parametric approximating distribution. The original derivation of a deterministic algorithm relied on the use of a Gaussian approximating distribution with a diagonal covariance matrix and hence was unable to capture the posterior correlations between parameters. In this chapter we show how the ensemble learning approach can be extended to full-covariance Gaussian distributions while remaining computationally tractable. We also extend the framework to deal with hyperparameters, leading to a simple re-estimation procedure. One of the benefits of our approach is that it yields a strict lower bound on the marginal likelihood, in contrast to other approximate procedures.


The Colorado River Basin is a complex system of water resources, operated to meet multiple objectives and to satisfy two treaties, an interstate one into the United States and also an international treaty between Mexico and the United States. At the beginning of this century (2000-2004), an intense drought caused that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), who operates the system, began an investigation to establish rules that would let operate the system in conditions of scarcity. This study finished in December of 2007 and proposed a number of operational alternatives, which have been implemented in the "Colorado River Simulation System" (CRSS) that works at the RiverWare platform, but that just cover the United States portion of the binational Colorado River Basin. Based on this work, the National Water Commission of Mexico (CONAGUA) recognizes the importance of having a model equivalent to the CRSS, but including both the Mexican and U.S. sides. Then, Mexico would be in the possibility to evaluate water management alternatives proposed by the USBR. Additionally, the CONAGUA, the International Boundary Water Commission (CILA), and Mexican water users could perform their own analysis for the Mexican area. This paper presents the description of the general operational rules for the whole Colorado River Basin, as well as its implementation in the "Water Evaluation and Planning System" (WEAP) platform.


Abstract. Business Process Management (BPM) systems provide a broad range of facilities to enact and manage operational business processes. Ideally, these systems should provide support for the complete BPM life-cycle: (re)design, configuration, execution, control, and diagnosis by the FileNet P8 BPM Suite, which is consistently ranked as one of the leading commercial BPM systems. Taking realistic business scenarios as starting point, we completed a full pass through the BPM cycle with several tools from the FileNet P8 BPM Suite. We checked whether the expected support was provided by these tools and we also tested their interoperability. The outcome of our evaluation is that although strong support exists for the configuration, execution and control phase, process diagnosis and process redesign receive limited support. Interoperability exists between all phases, except between the diagnosis and the design phase.


At present several groups are analyzing astrophysical data in a search for the time variation of the fine-structure constant {alpha}. Here we discuss how to exclude systematic effects caused by changes in the isotope abundances during the evolution of the universe. We suggest using particular combinations of the transition frequencies of O II, Al II, Al III, Si II, and Mn II as anchors, which are insensitive to {alpha} variation and to changes in isotope abundances. These anchors can be used to determine the cosmological redshift. Then, one can use other combinations of frequencies as probes for the time variation of {alpha} and another set as probes for the isotopic abundances. In this way it is possible to eliminate one source of systematic errors in the search for {alpha} variation and get more information about evolution of the isotopes. On the level of accuracy that has already been reached in the search for {alpha} variation it is possible to see {approx}10% changes in isotope abundances of Si and Ni.


To resolve the problem of design marginalization in organizations, we introduce the concept of institution and an Aristotelian framework for human activity to identify an action-based approach for design in complex systems. When design is positioned solely as an activity of production—despite the success of human-centered products—it misses an opportunity to influence institutions, or the human-side of organizations. When repositioned as a practice of shaping action, design engages in the ordering, modifying and reordering of social structures, environments and culture. In short, a theory of institution provides a human-centered approach to systems design and organizational transformation.


It is predicted that rising temperatures, and changes in other climatic variables as a consequence of global warming, will increase the global distribution of infectious diseases. In contrast, many potential host species will experience reductions in geographical range size and abundance and changes in their distribution to higher altitudes or latitudes as a result of climate change. The potential interactions between climate change and disease dynamics is of significant importance to both natural biodiversity and human health. There is a vital need to evaluate the potential effect of climate change on host-parasite interactions. Understanding how environmental factors, especially temperature, affect parasite distribution and how these two variables directly or indirectly affect host immunity in comparative studies is one approach to fill this gap in current knowledge. The aim of this thesis was to study a model system including temperature, vector-borne diseases (VBD) and host Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes along altitudinal gradients, and predict the effects of climate change on these host-parasite interactions. The avian community of the Australian Wet Tropics (AWT) was analyzed as a model case system, in which I investigated blood parasite pressure in relation to temperature and host MHC genes along altitudinal gradients. MHC genes were used because they show extreme polymorphism within populations and this gene diversity is thought to arise via interactions of host MHC gene products and parasites. I used PCR screening of cytochrome b to investigate the prevalence and lineage diversity of four of the main genera of blood parasites (Haemoproteus spp., Plasmodium spp., Leucocytozoon spp. (Haemosporida) and Trypanosoma spp. (Kinetoplastida)) in birds of the Australian Wet Tropics. I found that parasite prevalence and lineage richness were positively and strongly associated with temperature. The phylogenetic relationships among parasite lineages were analyzed to determine the host specificity of each parasite genus. I found that Plasmodium spp. and Trypanosoma spp. displayed low specificity, whereas Haemoproteus spp. seemed to display specificity at host family level. I also amplified a 173 bp fragment of the second exon of the MHC class II β gene of fifteen species from two bird families (Acanthizidae and Meliphagidae) in order to analyze their allele diversity and reveal evidence for selection (average d(N)/d(S) ratio and number of positive selected sites; NCBS). MHC diversity and selection were positively correlated with prevalence of blood parasites. The results suggest that the stronger the parasite pressure the higher the MHC allele diversity average d(N)/d(S) ratio and NCBS. It appears that higher parasite prevalence imposed stronger selective pressure in the host immune system, therefore the higher MHC allele diversity and selection allowed them to tolerate higher parasite prevalence. These results suggest an interaction between temperature, parasite prevalence and lineage richness, and bird MHC diversity and selection on MHC genes. Higher temperatures in lowland areas promote the development of parasites. This strong parasite pressure on the host immune system promotes higher diversity and selection of MHC genes. As elevation increases both temperature and parasite prevalence decreases. The lower temperature of highland areas inhibits development of parasites, creating a low-parasite environment and hence lower MHC diversity and selection in birds. To understand the possible effects of climate change on these host-parasite interactions, I used the regression of overall parasite prevalence and temperature documented to estimate increases in prevalence of parasites with temperature rise. This relationship predicts an increase of about 10% in the prevalence of parasites, for each 1°C increment in temperature. The shifts of host distribution along the elevation gradient that would be required to hold parasite prevalence to current values were determined using parasite prevalence data from this study. For each 1°C increase in temperature, bird distributions would need to ascend 200 m in elevation. Given a 4°C temperature increase, only birds that currently live at 400 m or below would be able to offset increases in parasite prevalence by shifting their distributions upwards; for birds currently living above 400 m, some increase in parasite prevalence would be unavoidable. It was shown that upland birds have lower MHC diversity, and rapid adaptation of their immunity could be unlikely due to the long life cycles of birds. My results also predict that lineage richness will increase with temperature, and that Plasmodium spp. and Trypanosoma spp. may have greater opportunities for host-switching than other more host-specific genera like Haemoproteus spp. Increased parasite pressure are expected to have negative effects on the bird populations of the region, particularly those inhabiting the upland areas and populations unable to shift upwards. The predicted increase of parasite prevalence and lineage richness could interact with, and further exacerbate, the projected impacts of climate change on this bird community, leading to an increased risk of extinction for many bird species. In conclusion, temperature is one of the main variables driving patters of distribution of avian haematozoa in this avian community. Plasmodium spp. and Trypanosoma spp. showed low specificity and as such higher host-switching potential than Haemoproteus spp. Blood parasites are driving selection and diversity of bird MHC genes. Increasing parasite pressure was predicted with rising temperature as a consequence of climate change. Shifts upwards of bird distributions along the elevation gradient can help to reduce the impact of increment of parasite pressure in this community, but upland bird communities and populations unable to shift upwards will be susceptible to the consequences of increased parasite pressure.


Cloud storage is a massive and public accessible storage available for use on internet. Since the number of users and data access request will be massive, a good performance improvement algorithm is needed. In this work, a technique of using a smart object placement is presented. The model for cloud storage and object placement are discussed. Then, genetic algorithm is used to optimize the placement function to gain a better average access speed for any storage object. The experimental results show an obvious performance increases due to a better object placement. The result of this work can be applied to enhance performance of both private and public storage cloud.


BACKGROUND
Glaucoma is a multi-factorial optic neuropathy characterized by an acquired loss of retinal ganglion cells at levels beyond normal age-related loss and corresponding atrophy of the optic nerve. Although many treatments are available to manage glaucoma, patients may seek complementary or alternative medicine approaches such as acupuncture to supplement their regular treatment. The underlying plausibility of acupuncture is that disorders related to the flow of Chi (traditional Chinese concept of vital force or energy) can be managed by stimulating relevant points on the body surface.

OBJECTIVES
To assess the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture compared with other treatments, no treatment, or placebo in patients with glaucoma.

SEARCH METHODS
We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register (2018, Issue 11); Ovid MEDLINE; Embase.com; the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL); the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED); PubMed; Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences (LILACS); ZETOC; the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT); ClinicalTrials.gov; the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP); and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) website. We did not use any language or date restrictions in the search for trials. We last searched electronic databases on November 16, 2018, with the exception of NCCAM, which we last searched on July 14, 2010, and the metaRegister of Controlled Trials (mRCT), which we last searched on January 8, 2013. We handsearched Chinese medical journals at Peking Union Medical College Library in April 2007. We searched the Chinese Acupuncture Trials Register, the Traditional Chinese Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System (TCMLARS), the Chinese Biological Database (CBM), and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). We last searched Chinese electronic databases on November 19, 2018.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in which one arm involved acupuncture treatment.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently screened results, then extracted the data and assessed risk of bias for eligible trials.

MAIN RESULTS
We included three completed trials and one ongoing trial in the 2019 update of this review. The three completed trials, conducted in Taiwan and the United States, included participants with glaucoma or intraocular hypertension. The interventions investigated varied across trials. One trial compared auricular acupressure-a non-standard acupuncture technique-with the sham procedure in 33 patients. Another trial compared transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) with a sham procedure in 82 patients. The third trial compared 12 sessions of acupuncture on eye-points versus on non-eye-points in 22 patients. All three trials were rated at high risk of bias for at least one domain. The certainty of evidence across all outcomes was very low due to high risk of bias in at least one contributing study; substantial clinical heterogeneity and methodological heterogeneity; and imprecision of results. One trial reported change in the visual field from baseline without any between-group comparison. Because of the quantity of missing data (50%), we did not calculate a between-group comparison, as the quantitative results are difficult to interpret. All three trials reported data for estimation of reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP). However, time points of IOP measurement varied. For the trial comparing acupressure to a sham procedure, the difference in IOP reduction (measured in mm Hg) is estimated to be -3.70 (95% confidence interval [CI] -7.11 to -0.29) for the right eye and -4.90 (95% CI -8.08 to -1.72) for the left eye at four weeks, and -1.30 mm Hg (95% CI -4.78 to 2.18) for the right eye and -2.30 mm Hg (95% CI -5.73 to 1.13) for the left eye at eight weeks. For the trial comparing TENS to sham treatment, the difference reduction is estimated to be -2.81 (95% CI -3.8 to -1.84) for the right eye and -2.58 (95% CI -3.36 to -1.80) for the left eye immediately after treatment, -2.93 (95% CI -3.72 to -2.13) for the right eye and -3.56 (95% CI -4.35 to 2.78) for the left eye 30 minutes after treatment, and finally -3.61 (95% CI -4.47 to -2.75) for the right eye and -3.61 (95% -4.47 to -2.74) for the left eye. For the trial that compared acupuncture on eye-points versus non-eye-points, 11 out of 22 (50%) participants did not complete the treatment. One trial reported data for estimation of visual acuity. When acupressure is compared to sham treatment, the difference in uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA, measured in logMAR) is estimated to be -0.01 (95% CI -0.24 to 0.22) for the right eye and -0.04 (95% CI -0.27 to 0.19) for the left eye at four months, and -0.03 logMAR (95% CI -0.27 to 0.21) for the right eye and -0.16 logMAR (95% CI -0.43 to 0.11) for the left eye at eight months. The difference in best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is estimated to be 0.10 (95% CI -0.06 to 0.26) for the right eye and 0 (95% CI -0.14 to 0.14) for the left eye at four months, and -0.04 logMAR (95% CI -0.09 to 0.17) for the right eye and -0.04 logMAR (95% CI -0.18 to 0.10) for the left eye at eight months. One trial reported progression of optic disc damage or nerve fiber layer loss without any between-group comparison. Because of the quantity of missing data (50%), we did not calculate a between-group comparison, as the quantitative results are difficult to interpret. One trial reported adverse events in two patients (out of 22) who experienced needle sensitivity. However, the study did not report between-group comparisons. Because of the quantity of missing data (50%), we did not calculate a between-group comparison, as the quantitative results are difficult to interpret.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
At this time, it is impossible to draw reliable conclusions from available data to support the use of acupuncture for treatment of patients with glaucoma. Because of ethical considerations, RCTs comparing acupuncture alone with standard glaucoma treatment or placebo are unlikely to be justified in countries where the standard of care has already been established.


Compliant control is a standard method for performing fine manipulation tasks, like grasping and assembly, but it requires estimation of the state of contact between the robot arm and the objects involved. Here we present a method to learn a model of the movement from measured data. The method requires little or no prior knowledge and the resulting model explicitly estimates the state of contact. The current state of contact is viewed as the hidden state variable of a discrete HMM. The control dependent transition probabilities between states are modeled as parametrized functions of the measurement We show that their parameters can be estimated from measurements concurrently with the estimation of the parameters of the movement in each state of contact. The learning algorithm is a variant of the EM procedure. The E step is computed exactly; solving the M step exactly would require solving a set of coupled nonlinear algebraic equations in the parameters. Instead, gradient ascent is used to produce an increase in likelihood.


PURPOSE This phase I/II study evaluated tremelimumab (anticytotoxic T-lymphocyte–associated antigen-4 monoclonal antibody) and durvalumab (antiprogrammed death ligand-1 monoclonal antibody) as monotherapies and in combination for patients with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), including a novel regimen featuring a single, priming dose of tremelimumab (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02519348). PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with HCC who had progressed on, were intolerant to, or refused sorafenib were randomly assigned to receive T300 + D (tremelimumab 300 mg plus durvalumab 1,500 mg [one dose each during the first cycle] followed by durvalumab 1,500 mg once every 4 weeks), durvalumab monotherapy (1,500 mg once every 4 weeks), tremelimumab monotherapy (750 mg once every 4 weeks [seven doses] and then once every 12 weeks), or T75 + D (tremelimumab 75 mg once every 4 weeks plus durvalumab 1,500 mg once every 4 weeks [four doses] followed by durvalumab 1,500 mg once every 4 weeks). Safety was the primary end point. Secondary end points included objective response rate (ORR) by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors v1.1 and overall survival; exploratory end points included circulating lymphocyte profiles. RESULTS A total of 332 patients were enrolled (T300 + D, n = 75; durvalumab, n = 104; tremelimumab, n = 69; and T75 + D, n = 84). Tolerability was acceptable across arms, with grade ≥ 3 treatment-related adverse events occurring in 37.8%, 20.8%, 43.5%, and 24.4%, respectively. Confirmed ORRs (95% CI) were 24.0% (14.9 to 35.3), 10.6% (5.4 to 18.1), 7.2% (2.4 to 16.1), and 9.5% (4.2 to 17.9), respectively. An early expansion of CD8+ lymphocytes was associated with response across arms, with highest proliferating CD8+ lymphocyte levels occurring in the T300 + D arm. The median (95% CI) overall survival was 18.7 (10.8 to 27.3), 13.6 (8.7 to 17.6), 15.1 (11.3 to 20.5), and 11.3 (8.4 to 15.0) months in the T300 + D, durvalumab, tremelimumab, and T75 + D arms, respectively. CONCLUSION All regimens were found to be tolerable and clinically active; however, the T300 + D regimen demonstrated the most encouraging benefit-risk profile. The unique pharmacodynamic activity and association with ORR of the T300 + D regimen further support its continued evaluation in HCC.


Clinicians contemplating stem cell transplantation for the treatment of their patients are faced with an increasing number and complexity of options for the source of the stem cells and their manipulation prior to transplant. Many of these strategies focus on the traditional concept of the "hematopoietic stem cell" as a unitary and independent source of reconstitution. Evolving animal studies suggest that the stem cell concept is incompletely defined and that the stem cell compartment retains significant heterogeneity of function. These findings should be combined with the increasingly heterogeneous goals of stem cell transplantation to induce caution in proceeding forward with new technologies.


Background Over the last 80 years the association between social class and obesity has changed. In the 1930s obesity rates were low and wealthy people tended to have a higher risk of obesity than poor people. However, rising affluence and industrialisation has lead to both rising rates of obesity and an obesogenic environment in which socioeconomically disadvantaged people have the highest risk of obesity. This study investigates the magnitude of these changes by modelling trajectories of adiposity by social class and cohort using the Twenty-07 study. Methods The Twenty-07 study contains three cohorts of people (n = 4510), born in Glasgow in the 1930s, 1950s and 1970s. Two measures of adiposity, BMI and Waist to Height Ratio (WHtR), were recorded at baseline in 1987/8 when study participants were aged 15, 35 or 55, and again on 4 further occasions over 20 years. Parental social class (manual/non-manual) was collected at baseline. For each gender, we apply multilevel models to identify trajectories of adiposity by cohort and social class. Results The trajectories indicated that adiposity increased with age and rates of increase varied by cohort, social class and gender. For any given age the youngest cohort had the fastest rate of increase and the highest predicted adiposity. For example, at age 35 for non-manual men, BMI was 24.2 (95% CI 23.7, 24.8) for the 1950s cohort and 27.2 (26.8, 27.5) for the 1970s cohort. By the end of the study respondents in more recent cohorts had BMI values approximately equivalent to those of people aged 20 years older in an earlier cohort. Cohort variation was much greater than socioeconomic variation. The smallest cohort difference in BMI was 2.10 (0.94, 3.26), a comparison of the 1950 and 1930s cohorts for non-manual men at age 55. In contrast, the largest social class difference in BMI, a comparison of manual and non manual women at age 64, was only 1.18 (0.37, 1.98). Socioeconomic inequalities tended to be smaller for men than women, particularly for the 1930s cohort where there was no evidence of a socioeconomic gradient for men unlike for women. The main difference between WHtR and BMI was that increases in WHtR accelerated with age whilst increases in BMI slowed with age. Conclusion Increases in adiposity for younger cohorts across all socioeconomic groups dwarf any socioeconomic inequalities in adiposity. This highlights the damaging impact for the whole population of living in an obesogenic environment.


In this work, β-sialon ceramics were prepared from high-aluminium fly ash via carbothermal reduction-nitridation (CRN) and the physicochemical properties of the materials such as bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption and flexural strength were also discussed. The results showed that the percentage of β-sialon phase in the product decreases as the temperature increases from 1400°C and the weight of the sintered specimen experienced an increase during 1350°C~1450°C due to the nitridation reactions, and followed by a gradual decrease till 1550°C for the decomposition of β-sialon. It is indicated that the optimum sintering temperature to obtain the highest yield of β-sialon ~93% lies in 1400°C~1450°C. The SEM images revealed that the prepared β-sialon sintered at 1400°C were mainly in shape of elongated prisms, typically ~5μm in length and 0.5~1μm in width. As the temperature increased to 1500°C and above, β-sialon decomposed and the new phases of SiC and AlN were formed at 1550°C as confirmed by XRD.


In medical studies, repeated measurements of continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes are routinely collected from the same patient. Instead of modelling each outcome separately, in this study we propose to jointly model the trivariate longitudinal responses, so as to take account of the inherent association between the different outcomes and thus improve statistical inferences. This work is motivated by a large cohort study in the North West of England, involving trivariate responses from each patient: Body Mass Index, Depression (Yes/No) ascertained with cut-off score not less than 8 at the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Pain Interference generated from the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item short-form health survey with values returned on an ordinal scale 1–5. There are some well-established methods for combined continuous and binary, or even continuous and ordinal responses, but little work was done on the joint analysis of continuous, binary and ordinal responses. We propose conditional joint random-effects models, which take into account the inherent association between the continuous, binary and ordinal outcomes. Bayesian analysis methods are used to make statistical inferences. Simulation studies show that, by jointly modelling the trivariate outcomes, standard deviations of the estimates of parameters in the models are smaller and much more stable, leading to more efficient parameter estimates and reliable statistical inferences. In the real data analysis, the proposed joint analysis yields a much smaller deviance information criterion value than the separate analysis, and shows other good statistical properties too.


OBJECTIVES--To understand the prevalence of polyneuropathy and correlations among the clinical manifestations, electrophysiological findings, and degree of exposure to carbon disulphide (CS2) in workers who were exposed to variable concentrations of CS2 in a viscose rayon factory. METHODS--All the 163 workers received a detailed physical and neurological evaluation. Fixed point air samples were analysed for CS2. Nerve conduction velocity was studied in 26 workers with symptoms similar to neuropathy. RESULTS--Nine workers (53%) with overt polyneuropathy from the fibre cutting department and 19 workers (13%) with oligosymptoms similar to polyneuropathy from various jobs were noted. The fixed point air concentrations of CS2 were 150-300 ppm in the cutting areas and 15 to 100 ppm in the spinning areas. The estimated eight hour time weighted averages in the fibre cutting areas were 40-67 ppm. The occurrence of polyneuropathy was generally correlated with the degree of exposure to CS2. Nerve conduction velocities (NCVs) were significantly different in the overt polyneuropathy and subclinical polyneuropathy groups from the normal controls. The sensitive indicators for CS2 polyneuropathy were distal latency, motor NCV, and amplitude of sensory nerve action potentials in sensory NCVs. CONCLUSION--The outbreak of polyneuropathy was attributed to higher concentrations of CS2 in fibre cutting areas. Even in other jobs with relatively lower concentrations of CS2, the hazard of subclinical polyneuropathy cannot be overlooked.


The predictive modeling process is time consuming and requires clinical researchers to handle complex electronic health record (EHR) data in restricted computational environments. To address this problem, we implemented a cloud-based predictive modeling system via a hybrid setup combining a secure private server with the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic MapReduce platform. EHR data is preprocessed on a private server and the resulting de-identified event sequences are hosted on AWS. Based on user-specified modeling configurations, an on-demand web service launches a cluster of Elastic Compute 2 (EC2) instances on AWS to perform feature selection and classification algorithms in a distributed fashion. Afterwards, the secure private server aggregates results and displays them via interactive visualization. We tested the system on a pediatric asthma readmission task on a de-identified EHR dataset of 2,967 patients. We conduct a larger scale experiment on the CMS Linkable 2008-2010 Medicare Data Entrepreneurs' Synthetic Public Use File dataset of 2 million patients, which achieves over 25-fold speedup compared to sequential execution.


PVC may occur due to numerous etiologies. Manifestations may range from an asymptomatic presentation to ventricular fibrillation and death. The incidence of PVC in healthy population may range from 0.5% in those aged below 20 years old to 2.2% in those older than 50. Here we present a case of persistent arrhythmias after six months of electrocution. Patient was admitted in our hospital for graft surgery post burns.


1. The firebrat, Thermobia , is very impermeable to the outward flow of water, losing only 0.013 mg. of water/mm. Hg saturation deficit/hr./standard animal of 30 mg. between 19 and 26° C. 2. The permeability increases to a higher level at a critical temperature just below 30° C. and well below the optimal temperature for the insect as a whole. 3. The waterproofing is mobile, for it regains its lower permeability on cooling below the transition temperature and is also restored a short time after abrasion. 4. Extractions support the hypothesis that the impermeable layer is a stiff, epicuticular grease but further suggest that an imperforate lamella, perhaps a cement, lies over the grease. 5. The live firebrat can absorb water from moist air, reaching an equilibrium between absorption and transpiration at a saturation deficit of approximately 10 mm. Hg at a temperature of 21° C. 6. Although abrasion of the integument decreases the net rate of water uptake and lowers the saturation deficit at which equilibrium is possible, it may act only by increasing temporarily the rate of transpiration.


This paper deals with a design and motion planning algorithm of a caterpillar-based pipeline robot that can be used for inspection of 80-100-mm pipelines in an indoor pipeline environment. The robot system uses a differential drive to steer the robot and spring loaded four-bar mechanisms to assure that the robot expands to grip the pipe walls. Unique features of this robot are the caterpillar wheels, the analysis of the four-bar mechanism supporting the treads, a closed-form kinematic approach, and an intuitive user interface. In addition, a new motion planning approach is proposed, which uses springs to interconnect two robot modules and allows the modules to cooperatively navigate through difficult segments of the pipes. Furthermore, an analysis method of selecting optimal compliance to assure functionality and cooperation is suggested. Simulation and experimental results are used throughout the paper to highlight algorithms and approaches.


Follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) are the antigen (Ag)‐trapping accessory cells of the germinal centres (GCs), essential for the development of humoral immune responses and memory. FDCs reside in the microenvironment of secondary lymphoid tissue where Ag‐activated B cells expand, and undergo isotype switching and affinity maturation prior to becoming memory B cells. In addition to delivering Ag, FDCs also provide potent nonspecific accessory signals to the B cells, which are important for the GC reaction. In this report, we show that human tonsilar FDCs express the costimulatory molecule CD137. Surface expression of CD137 on FDCs was confirmed by immunofluorescent labelling and fluorescence‐activated cell sorter analysis. CD137 was also highly expressed by the human cell line HK, which displays many characteristics of in vivo FDCs. The interaction between B cells and FDCs is essential for the GC reactions, and our finding suggests that CD137 plays a role in FDC‐regulated B‐cell responses.


Although public displays are increasingly prevalent in public spaces, they are generally not interactive. Menu techniques can enable users to select what is interesting to them. Current touch screen techniques are unsuitable, because for many public displays, users merely pass by and rarely stop. We investigate command selection in this new context of passing-by interaction, in which users only have a few seconds to interact. We present six hands-free gestural techniques and evaluate them in a Wizard-of-Oz experiment. Based on the results of this study, we provide design recommendations for menu selection in passing-by situations.


English has been considered to be first foreign and second language in Indonesia It functions to help the development of the state and nation, to build relation with other nations, and to run foreign policy including as a language used for wider communication in international forum. There are a lot of problems found in the English learning language learning. One of kind is interference. Interference means the influence that the learner's L1 exerts over the acquisition of an L2. There are several causes of interference in language learning, which are: 1) bilingualism, 2) the similarity between the shape of L1 and L2, and 3) the ease for second language learners


2 Kennie DC. Health maintenance of the elderly. Clinics in GeriatncMedicine 1986;2:53. 3 Vetter NJ, Jones DA, Victor CR. Effect of health visitors working with elderly patients in general practice: a randomised controlled trial. BrMedJ 1984;288:369. 4 Tulloch AJ, Moore V. A randomised control trial of geriatric screening and surveillance in general practice. J R Coil Gen Pract 1979;29:733. 5 Luker KA. Health visiting and the elderly. Nursing Times 1981 Dec 16: 137. 6 Hendriksen C, Lund E, Stromgard E. Consequences of assessment and intervention among elderly people: a three year randomised control trial. BrMedJ 1984;289:1522. 7 Williams El. Characteristics of patients aged over 75 not seen during one year in general practice. BrMedJ 1984;288:119.


Previous studies investigated the effects of seed rates and seed recycling practices on the yield and yield-related variables. However, higher yield does not always guarantee cost-efficiency. This study aimed to investigate the yield effects of plot-level seed rate and the cost–benefit analysis of seed recycling practices. This study has introduced the dose–response model to the existing analytical methods used in analyzing the effect of different agrochemicals on crop yield. A multi-stage stratified sampling technique was used to select a total of 450 sample respondents. Data were gathered using a mix of data collection tools. Descriptive statistics along with the dose–response model were applied for data analysis. Farmers of the study were found to be dissimilar in terms of their seed rate application. A dose–response analysis indicated that the highest average wheat yield was associated with a seed rate of 50 kg ha−1 above what is recommended. The yield effect of seed recycling was also assessed, and a one-time seed recycling has caused a yield decline of 665 kg ha−1 compared to the non-recycled seeds. The cost reduced using recycled seed is by far lower than the economic gains associated with using unrecycled and fresh seeds. The cost–benefit analysis made clear that farmers can reduce their seed costs through seed recycling, but their yields and net income can be best improved by using unrecycled certified bread wheat seed (CBWS). Thus, farmers must be encouraged to use unrecycled seed by establishing agricultural credit schemes geared towards seed procurement and seed price subsidy as key strategies to reduce economically wasteful seed recycling practices.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of danofloxacin in goats and the concentrations required to induce bacteriostasis, bactericidal activity, and bacterial elimination.

ANIMALS
6 healthy British Saanen goats.

PROCEDURE
Danofloxacin (1.25 mg/kg of body weight) was administered i.v. and i.m. in a cross-over design with 14 days between treatments. A tissue cage was used for evaluation of drug distribution into transudate and exudate. The ex vivo antibacterial activity of danofloxacin in serum, exudate, and transudate against a caprine isolate of Mannheimia haemolytica was determined. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data were integrated to determine the ratio of the area under the concentration versus time curve to the minimum inhibitory concentration of danofloxacin (AUIC).

RESULTS
Elimination half-lives of danofloxacin in serum were 4.67 and 4.41 hours after i.v. and i.m. administration, respectively. Volume of distribution was high after administration via either route, and bioavailability was 100% after i.m. administration. Rate of penetration into exudate and transudate was slow, but elimination half-lives from both fluids were approximately twice that from serum. Drug concentrations in serum, exudate, and transudate for 9 to 12 hours after administration induced marked ex vivo antibacterial activity. For serum, AUIC24h values required for bacteriostasis, bactericidal effect, and bacterial elimination were 22.6, 29.6, and 52.4, respectively. Similar values were obtained for exudate and transudate.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Integration of danofloxacin pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic data obtained in goats may provide a new approach on which to base recommendations for therapeutic dosages.


Given a lack of evidence to accurately determine the risks and benefits of genetically modified foods (GMOs), an intense debate continues between its promoters and opponents. Some authors highlight the advantages of consuming GMOs, for example, their ability to address certain needs such as hunger. They also believe non-GMOs have not been sufficiently studied, some of which have been documented as allergenic or carcinogenic under certain conditions. On the other hand, those who question consuming GMOs believe that their effects on health have not been sufficiently studied, that they may be allergenic and could produce antibiotic resistance and probable carcinogenic effects. Nevertheless, most of these statements are based on in vitro or animal experiments, the latter generally corresponding to short time periods for which long-term effects cannot be detected (1). Given the type of evidence available, various uncertainties exist when extrapolating the results to the human population. Scientific evidence based on epidemiological studies is therefore necessary (2,3), but this requires addressing certain difficulties such as having databases that identify the properties of the product and obtaining data that indicate whether persons who have consumed GMOs have had any health problems. It is also necessary to evaluate the effects and determine how they will be evaluated and how exposure will be measured. Another difficulty is identifying comparable populations with other types of consumption (4). Lacking more evidence about these products, especially epidemiological, it is difficult to understand the emphasis on their consumption not being associated with any risks. What is clear is that "the study has begun" with large groups of populations that have already begun to consume these foods.


The paper deals with a monitoring system combining K-means classifier and one Hidden Markov Model in order to detect phytoplankton blooms and to understand their dynamics. The states of the Hidden Markov Model and codebook symbols are computed without a priori knowledge thanks to K-means algorithms. The system is tested on database signals from the Marel-Carnot station that registers water characteristics at high frequency resolution. The experiments show that, when the states are set to two, these correspond to phytoplankton productive and non-productive periods. Moreover, when states are set to five, these correspond to the dynamics of phytoplankton blooms.


The challenges of increased temperatures, drier fuels and more intense wildfires are having a detrimental effect on Alaskans, especially those who live in the wildland urban interface. This area is defined by open wildlands being directly adjacent to homeowners. Human safety and property are exposed to increasing risk from these wildfires as climate-based changes affect the state. The rising costs of suppressing wildfires necessitate exploring potential solutions to minimize the impact on the state population and budget. The purpose of this study is to analyze the feasibility of fuel treatments to reduce suppression costs and provide incentives to private homeowners to create safer property spaces. An electronic survey and choice experiment were administered to 388 Alaskan homeowners to measure willingness-to-pay for different attributes associated with wildfire risk reduction variables, including nearby fuel treatments and overall neighborhood participation. Expenditure data were collected for large Alaskan wildfires between 2007 and 2015. An econometric cost model was developed to estimate the effect of nearby fuel treatments on final wildfire suppression expenditures. In both scenarios, there was a limited effect from public land fuel treatments on homeowner preferences and total suppression costs. Homeowners had a strong preference for thinned fuel treatments but did not prefer clear-cut tracts of land, even when compared to doing nothing at all. The survey provided significant insight into the preferences of Alaskan homeowners, including altruistic behavior, free riding behavior, self-assessment of risk, and the amenity values of surrounding vegetation. The costs of large Alaskan wildfires in the data set was mainly driven by protection level and number of burn days, and not by the presence or potential utilization of fuel treatments.


In conditions of market reforming in all development directions in Smolensk region, there are changes concerning the conditions, rules and principles of branches functioning in social and economic development of the region and its government. The main focus is on the development of only two industries working for export – electricity production and mining industry. The region is located in Non-Black Earth Region and requires investment for the development of its agricultural sector. Therefore, it was decided to eliminate the sphere of agricultural sector, which in pre-perestroika period provided the domestic demand of the country population in pre-perestroika period. Agricultural sector also provided Far East and Polar regions. However, nowadays agricultural production is aimed only at meeting domestic regional demand. Even after the reforms, agricultural sector and its basic part farming continues to be a small island of real business working for domestic demand. It is a backbone component for the economy of Smolensk region, a source of labor market and force application of region rural population. It ensures its food and economic security and has a high potential for rural development. However, at present its position is in a state of crisis, which is associated with low procurement prices for perishable products, the elimination of a processing system and purchase of agricultural raw materials, seed stock, breeding farm, lack of own production of feed additives and animal feed; care of qualified personnel and specialists from the industry and deterioration of the social base (elimination of schools, settlements, hospitals and medical assistants, culture establishments). At the same time, the tasks are set to ensure food security in the context of sanctions, which leads to a noticeable revival of the industry. There are new concepts in industry regulation at the regional level, transformations in management methodology and interaction mechanism for all levels from modernization to processing of end products in accordance with the requirements of the country's development.


A 38-year-old man presented at the emergency department with abdominal pain, vomiting, generalised weakness and altered consciousness. He had been ingesting opioids for over 5 years and had several past hospital admissions for abdominal pain. His investigations showed deranged liver function tests, anaemia and basophilic stippling on the peripheral blood smear. Further investigations revealed a significant increase in the serum lead level. We started chelation with peroral penicillamine 250 mg every 6 hours for 2 days and switched to intramuscular dimercaprol 4 mg/kg every 12 hours and intravenous calcium ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid 50 mg/kg in two divided doses daily for the next 5 days. We then discharged him home; he had become clinically stable by that time. We repeated his lead level and followed him up in the clinic. In this report, we emphasise the consideration of lead toxicity in opioid abusers and bring to attention a rare way of lead chelation in resource-limited settings.


The interplay between Th-17 and Th-22 cells plays vital role in tumor immunity . Therefore, this study aimed to focus on these cells in patients with breast cancer. The results of this study showed that there were a highly significant increment in concentrations of  IL-17A(139.5±17pg/ml) compared with control group which was (41.33±11.3pg/ml) and showed results were a highly significant elevation in concentration of IL-23P19 (192.73±22.3pg/ml) while control group was (121.41±14.7pg/ml). Also The results showed a highly significant increment in concentration of  IL-22 (137.25±24.6pg/ml) compared to control group which was (77.67±13.7pg/ml) and also in TNF-α concentration was (200±23.7pg/ml) compared with control group which was (10.5±7.3pg/ml). Molecular findings recorded a significant elevation in the levels of AP-1 gene expression were Fos 18.76±7.8 in patients group and 9.05±1.12 control group, also the values of  JunD gene 15.77±9.43 and 6.18±0.112, and lastly JunB 23.223±11.34 in comparison to control group7.33±3.76.Overall findings revealed considerable inflammatory response by Th-17 and Th-22 and remarkable AP-1 gene expression.


ABSTRA CT Formulation of the goverment's law abaut the children  protection Indonesian's legislation home envisaged that more abstract nature protection or protection indirectly. In the criminal acts of the domestic violence committed by children, the judges tend to prioritize the protection of children as actors, so that the protection of victims is sometimes neglected. It can be seen from the judgment and consideration of the judge to look at the perpetrators are still categorized as a child. The court needs to provide the most appropriate sanctions in children who committed the crime. Giving or sentencing in the case of a child has an educational purpose in imposing sanctions. The criminal's law policy on children whose commit domestic violence should consider the penal's policies that include protection against the perpetrators and victims in the enforcement process is done in the criminal justice system. In addition, it should be also pay attention to non-penal's policy which includes repairing the social conditions of children in the sense of legal protection which we put in harmony between perpetrators and victims of crimes that children are not only in juridical protection, but also in non-judicial protection. Keywords: State Protection, Child For Actors, Domestic Violence (domestic violence).


The situation of British South Asian Muslims has been highlighted by the events of September 11and its aftermath. There has been a rise in Islamophobia in which Islam is described as 'inferior to the west, barbaric and irrational' (The Runnymede Trust, 1997).
Previous research has shown a significant rise in Islamophobia, towards those who are easy to identify as Muslim (Allen & Nielson, 2002). Building upon past limited literature, this report is a qualitative study which then aimed to determine how British South Asian Muslims were affected by Islamophobia, living in the post 9/11 climate in Britain.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 British South Asian Muslims aged between 18-30. Thematic analysis was then utilised to interpret the findings, in order to determine the key themes and concepts common in the data. The findings demonstrated that participants had indeed been subject to the impact of Islamophobia in various ways.
There were reports of experiencing prejudice (be it physical or verbal); and views on what it means to be a British South Asian Muslim in the 21st century, in the face of negative media portrayal, and being stigmatised with a negative label. There is also an increased awareness of religious identity.


A metal, hinged type of prosthesis has been developed for irreparably damaged joints of the finger in selected cases, as an alternative to amputation or arthrodesis.

This operation, a procedure of salvage, is performed in the hope of restoring some degree of useful function in an otherwise useless part.

Prerequisites for the procedure are: functionally restorable tendons, intact nerve supply, adequate circulation of the part, and good motivation.

Complications, consisting of sinking-in of the prosthesis and loosening of the screw, are discussed and solutions of these problems presented.

In ten patients of the twelve cases rated, a functional range of painless motion was restored and the cosmetic appearance of the hand improved.

All patients returned to full military duty and were engaged in specific occupations requiring use of the hands.

The results in this brief series have been sufficiently encouraging to warrant further attempts at this method of replacement arthroplasty.


PURPOSE
MR-Linac devices under development worldwide will require standard calibration, commissioning, and quality assurance. Solid state radiation detectors are often used for dose profiles and percent depth dose measurements. The dose response of selected solid state detectors is therefore evaluated in varying transverse and longitudinal magnetic fields for this purpose.

METHODS
The Monte Carlo code PENELOPE was used to model irradiation of a PTW 60003 diamond detector and IBA PFD diode detector in the presence of a magnetic field. The field itself was varied in strength, and oriented both transversely and longitudinally with respect to the incident photon beam. The long axis of the detectors was oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the photon beam. The dose to the active volume of each detector in air was scored, and its ratio to dose with zero magnetic field strength was determined as the "dose response" in magnetic field. Measurements at low fields for both detectors in transverse magnetic fields were taken to evaluate the accuracy of the simulations. Additional simulations were performed in a water phantom to obtain few representative points for beam profile and percent depth dose measurements.

RESULTS
Simulations show significant dose response as a function of magnetic field in transverse field geometries. This response can be near 20% at 1.5 T, and it is highly dependent on the detectors' relative orientation to the magnetic field, the energy of the photon beam, and detector composition. Measurements at low transverse magnetic fields verify the simulations for both detectors in their relative orientations to radiation beam. Longitudinal magnetic fields, in contrast, show little dose response, rising slowly with magnetic field, and reaching 0.5%-1% at 1.5 T regardless of detector orientation. Water tank and in air simulation results were the same within simulation uncertainty where lateral electronic equilibrium is present and expectedly differed at the beam edge in transverse field orientations only. Due to the difference in design, the two detectors behaved differently.

CONCLUSIONS
When transverse magnetic fields are present, great care must be taken when using diamond or diode detectors. Dose response varies with relative detector orientation, magnetic field strength, and between detectors. This response can be considerable (∼20% for both detectors). Both detectors in longitudinal fields exhibit little to no dose response as a function of magnetic field. Water tank simulations seem to suggest that the diode detector is better suited to general beam commissioning, and each detector must be investigated separately.


The Binet formula for Fibonacci numbers is treated as a q-number and a q-operator with Golden ratio bases q = φ and Q = −1/φ, and the corresponding Fibonacci or Golden calculus is developed. A quantum harmonic oscillator for this Golden calculus is derived so that its spectrum is given only by Fibonacci numbers. The ratio of successive energy levels is found to be the Golden sequence, and for asymptotic states in the limit n → ∞ it appears as the Golden ratio. We call this oscillator the Golden oscillator. Using double Golden bosons, the Golden angular momentum and its representation in terms of Fibonacci numbers and the Golden ratio are derived. Relations of Fibonacci calculus with a q-deformed fermion oscillator and entangled N-qubit states are indicated.


Rapidly developing areas of information technology are generating massive amounts of data. Human errors, sensor failures, and other unforeseen circumstances unfortunately tend to undermine the quality and consistency of these datasets by introducing outliers – data points that exhibit surprising behavior when compared to the rest of the data. Characterizing, locating, and in some cases eliminating these outliers offers interesting insight about the data under scrutiny and reinforces the confidence that one may have in conclusions drawn from otherwise noisy datasets. In this paper, we describe a new user-guided outlier detection framework, dBoost, which relies on inference and statistical modeling of heterogeneous data to flag suspicious fields in database tuples. At the heart of the system lies a tuple expansion procedure, which reconstructs rich information from semantically poor SQL data types such as strings, integers, and floating point numbers. We show that this novel approach achieves good classification performance, both in traditional numerical datasets and in highly non-numerical contexts such as mostly textual datasets. Our implementation is publicly available, under version 3 of the GNU General Public License.


This paper discusses a suitable method to manufacture contactor forgings, depending on the size of the series. A suitable semi-finished product and the method of cutting have been proposed. The design of a suitable forming machine and forging tools was carried out for the production of contactor forgings in the number of 10,000 pieces and 50,000 pieces per year. The LE 160 eccentric press was designed to cut the sprue. A comparison was made between the production of contactor forging on the pneumatic-hydraulic hammer KHZ 4 A and the production on the mechanical crank press LKM 1600. The die design was carried out for both production alternatives. The cost analysis for the production of one piece of forging showed that for a large number of pieces, it is more economical to forge using a mechanical forging press.


Here is the final volume of Norman O. Brown's trilogy on civilization and its discontents, on humanity's long struggle to master its instincts and the perils that attend that denial of human nature. Following on his famous books "Life Against Death" and "Love's Body", this collection of eleven essays brings Brown's thinking up to 1990 and the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. Brown writes that 'the prophetic tradition is an attempt to give direction to the social structure precipitated by the urban revolution; to resolve its inherent contradictions; to put an end to its injustice, inequality, anomie, the state of war ...that has been its history from start to finish'. Affiliating himself with prophets from Muhammad to Blake and Emerson, Brown offers further meditations on what's wrong with Western civilization and what we might do about it. Thus the duality in his title: crisis and the hope for change. In pieces both poetic and philosophical, Brown's attention ranges over Greek mythology, Islam, Spinoza, and Finnegan's Wake. The collection includes an autobiographical essay musing on Brown's own intellectual development. The final piece, "Dionysus in 1990," draws on Freud and the work of Georges Bataille to link the recent changes in the world's economies with mankind's primordial drive to accumulation, waste, and death.


In this paper, we proposed a metric for P2P networks based on Shannon's L-channel capacity calculation idea. The metric calculates the maximum rate of information (in bits per second) that can be transmitted over P2P network (a.k.a. combinatorial capacity) caused by protocol and overlay-level connectivity. We suggest P2P systems to be modeled as a discrete noiseless channel on which the protocol together with dynamically changing overlay-level instant connectivity topology defines a Shannon language. In experimental works, we applied the metric first to the Gnutella 0.6 protocol for which message traffic explosion is a known problem and then to its time-based clustering version. The obtained results are compared with other two known metrics' namely, number of query hits and unit query-hit response time, results and potential correlations among them are discussed


The Supreme Court has yet to clarify the consequences for governments that allow private memorial crosses to remain and proliferate along the public roadways. Government speech endorsing religion is prohibited by the Establishment Clause whereas private speech endorsing religion is protected by the Free Speech and Free Exercise Clauses. This Article examines three options available to state policymakers. First, policymakers can prohibit all roadside memorials. While memorial makers have an interesting and cognizable Free Speech argument on the lack of alternative channels for ventilating their message, the Free Speech interests are likely outweighed by traffic safety and aesthetic interests. Thus, in theory a government that decides to ban all roadside memorials likely can do so without Free Speech concerns. But in practice, enforcement of such bans is often lax. Policymakers are coming to recognize that enforcing a complete ban is neither politically expedient nor practical. Second, policymakers can continue to ignore and turn a blind eye to the activity. However, permitting religious icons and symbols to remain and proliferate on public property risks violating the Establishment Clause, since governments do not generally allow messages to remain on public property if the government objects to the message. The tacit approval of the message risks appearing to endorse the message. Third, policymakers can create a limited public forum for the bereaved to express the two-fold message of remembrance of the deceased and caution to other drivers. Such a forum may satisfy the Free Speech interests of the memorial makers, as well as forestall the Establishment Clause concerns about government endorsement of religion. In such instances, the government could allow the bereaved to select a religious symbol, akin to selecting a religious symbol in national cemeteries, and customize the message on the memorial. When the editorial control over the message rests with the bereaved, and the government includes an appropriate disclaimer, it is unlikely a reasonable observer would conclude that the presence of religious symbols and messages on public property would amount to government endorsement of religion. Moreover, allowing a wide range of religious messages and symbols would support an inference of viewpoint and religious neutrality.


The modern battlefield demands that soldiers endure rough terrain and weather while carrying all necessary items for their mission. These necessities include their food, water, ammunition and mission essentials, typically electronics. In order to give the troops the most capability while in the field, the efficiency and dependability of electronics is paramount. Key to the requirements definition for mission electronics is Size, Weight and Power - Cost, commonly known as the acronym SWAP-C. In addition to satisfying the SWAP-C requirements, all mission electronics need proven reliability since lives are at stake. Major defense systems in the past have lasted 30+ years. With this in mind, systems for tomorrow are being designed to support the defense industry's need for reliability, longevity and upgrade compatibility. This talk will focus on SWAP-C and high reliability in electronics and packaging to support the defense industry for years to come.


CONTEXT
Adult women with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, but the evidence for this is controversial in adolescents and young women with PCOS. Measurement of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particle number, measured by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is a novel technology to assess cardiovascular risk.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to evaluate lipoprotein particle number and size in young women with PCOS and its relationship with insulin resistance and hyperandrogenism.

DESIGN
This was a cross-sectional case control study.

SETTING
The study was conducted at a clinical research center.

PARTICIPANTS
Women with PCOS (n = 35) and normal controls (n = 20) participated in the study.

INTERVENTIONS
Blood samples and anthropometric measures were obtained.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
LDL particle size and number were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A secondary outcome was to investigate the correlation of LDL particle number with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, waist to hip ratio, hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance, and adiponectin.

RESULTS
Women with PCOS had higher LDL particle number when compared with healthy controls (935 ± 412 vs 735 ± 264, P = .032); LDL particle number correlated strongly with high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (r = 0.37, P = .006) and waist-to-hip (r = 0.57, P = .0003). The higher LDL particle number was driven mainly due to differences in the small LDL particle number (sLDLp), with PCOS patients having more sLDLp (348 ± 305 vs 178 ± 195, P = .015). The sLDLp correlated with the Matsuda index (r = -0.51, P = .0001), homeostasis model assessment index of insulin resistance (r = 0.41, P = .002), and adiponectin (r = -0.46, P = .0004) but not with T.

CONCLUSION
Adolescent and young women with PCOS have an atherogenic lipoprotein profile suggestive of increased cardiovascular risk that appears to be driven by the degree of visceral adiposity and insulin resistance.


"Telecommunications technology has dramatically transformed an individual's ability to access information. Internet surfers are often unaware of the ways in which their Internet services are being managed, and even fewer are familiar with the term Internet neutrality. As a growing trend, more Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Canada are intervening with the infrastructure of the Internet by utilizing traffic management practices, such as bandwidth 'throttling'1, which hinder a user's ability to quickly access certain types of content online. Internet traffic management practices (ITMP) are a means for ISPs to control their 'congested'2 networks, with the aim of optimizing or improving their network's performance, or they can often aid in increasing usable bandwidth (Lithgow, 2011). Traffic management practices ultimately allow one kind of 'packet'3 to be delayed over another; for example, ISPs often use a program called Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), which is a program that can identify forms of traffic online, meaning it can target specific applications. Since ITMPs can target specific 'packets' online, smaller interest groups, and businesses became increasingly concerned that network neutrality policy principles, such as 'common-carriage'4 was not being enforced by the CRTC. This paper will identify the main concerns of utilizing ITMP on broadband networks, and will illustrate that ITMP can and should be connected to the discussion regarding network neutrality in Canada" -- From the introduction, page 1.


Pancreatic necrosis is a highly morbid condition. It is most commonly associated with severe, acute pancreatitis, but can also be caused by trauma or chronic pancreatitis. Once diagnosed, management of pancreatic necrosis begins with supportive care, with an emphasis on early, and preferably, enteral nutrition. Intervention for necrosis, sterile or infected, is dictated by patient symptoms and response to conservative management. When possible, intervention should be delayed to allow the necrotic collection to form a capsule. First-line treatment for necrosis is with percutaneous drainage or endoscopic, transmural drainage. These strategies can be effective as monotherapy, but the need for repeated interventions, or for progression to more invasive interventions, is not uncommon. Necrosectomy may be performed using a previously established drainage tract, as in percutaneous endoscopic necrosectomy (PEN), video-assisted retroperitoneal debridement (VARD), and direct endoscopic necrosectomy (DEN). Although outcomes for these minimally-invasive techniques are better than for traditional necrosectomy, both laparoscopic and open techniques remain important for patients with extensive disease that cannot otherwise be adequately treated. This is especially true when pancreatic necrosis is complicated by disconnected pancreatic duct syndrome (DPDS), where necrosectomy remains standard of care.


The CDF experiment, which uses proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s}=1.9 TeV produced at the Fermilab Tevatron, is unique in its ability to observe all flavors of B hadrons and measure their properties. Among them, CP violation is of fundamental interest. In the B+ and B0 systems, measurements of CP violation parameters performed essentially at B factories have borne out the predictions of CKM model. Little is known, experimentally,about CP violation in the B0s system. The standard model predicts very little CP violation there, thus any nonzero measurement could be an indication of New Physics. In this thesis, I will report on the very first flavor-tagged analysis of approximately 2000 B0s -> Jpsi Phi decaysreconstructed in a 1.35 fb-1 data sample collected at CDF. This channel is sensitive not only to the width difference Delta-Gamma in the B0ssystem but also to the CP violation parameter beta_s. The final result we obtain is a confidence region in the two dimensional space of beta_sand Delta-Gamma. Assuming the standard model predictions of beta_s and Delta-Gamma, the probability is 15%, corresponding to 1.5 Gaussian standard deviations.


The genome is the blueprint for an organism. Interrogating the genome, especially locating critical cis-regulatory elements, requires deletion analysis. This is conventionally performed using synthetic constructs, making it cumbersome and non-physiological. Thus, we created Cas9-mediated Arrayed Mutagenesis of Individual Offspring (CAMIO) to achieve high-throughput analysis of native DNA. CAMIO utilizes CRISPR that is spatially restricted to generate independent deletions. Controlled by recombination, a single guide RNA is stochastically chosen from a set targeting a specific DNA region. Combining two sets increases variability, leading to either indels at 1-2 target sites or inter-target deletions. Cas9 restriction to male germ cells elicits autonomous double-strand-break repair, consequently creating offspring with diverse mutations. Thus, from a single population cross, we can obtain a deletion matrix covering a large expanse of DNA at both coarse and fine resolution. We demonstrate the ease and power of CAMIO by mapping 5'UTR sequences crucial for chinmo's post-transcriptional regulation.


This study was undertaken to investigate how a mammalian retina responds to focalized stimulation with a neurotransmitter as part of a larger research project seeking to establish the feasibility of a chemical-based approach to a retinal prosthesis. The specific goals of this thesis are: i) to focally stimulate a rat retina ex vivo with glutamate and record its response at multiple sites using a Multielectrode Array (MEA) system, and ii) to analyze the recorded signals from multiple neurons for a physiological response. For this study, retinas from dark-adapted Long Evans rats were used, and the tissue samples were prepared by carefully extracting the retina from the excised eye of the euthanized animal. The retinal tissue was placed on the MEA chip with the ganglion cell layer (GCL) contacting the electrodes while being continuously superperfused with a physiological medium. The basal level of the spontaneous activity of the neurons was recorded using the MC Rack software associated with the MEA system. The GCL was stimulated by light from a custom built LED light source placed underneath the MEA system and the response of the tissue was recorded from the 60 electrodes of the MEA chip. Following confirmation of a physiological response of the tissue to the light stimulation, 0.2 µl of glutamate was ejected on the photoreceptor side of the retina through a capillary connected to a custom syringe pump. The response of the retina to this controlled ejection was recorded from 60 different sites on the tissue. The above set of stimulation experiments were repeated for three concentrations of glutamate, viz. 2 mM,1 mM and 0.5 mM on genetically identical animals. The responses obtained from the spontaneous activity, the light-stimulated activity and the chemically-stimulated activity were analyzed using the tools available within the MC Rack software. The analyses indicate that the retina responds electrophysiologically to glutamate stimulation and the response activity level increases with an increase in the concentration of the glutamate. The findings of this study preliminarily demonstrate the feasibility of chemically stimulating the retina in a physiological manner, which could potentially lead to a chemical based — as opposed to electrical based — retinal implant for correcting the loss of vision due to photoreceptor degenerative diseases.


In this paper, a new version of very large scale integration (VLSI) layouts compaction problem is considered. Bar visibility graph (BVG) is a simple geometric model for VLSI chip design and layout problems. In all previous works, vertical bars or other chip components in the plane model gates, as well as edges, are modeled by horizontal visibilities between bars. In this study, for a given set of vertical bars, the edges can be modeled with orthogonal paths known as staircases. Therefore, we consider a new version of bar visibility graphs (BsVG). We then present an algorithm to solve the s-visibility problem of vertical segments, which can be implemented on a VLSI chip. Our algorithm determines all the pairs of segments that are s-visible from each other.


In this study, alternative flying fields suitable for paragliding which is one of nature sports within the boundaries of Sivas province, Turkey were automatically determined by Geographical Information Systems (GIS) analyses and the developed user interface program by taking into account the international technical conditions required for flying. The suitabil it y of these fields determined was checked with the flight tests performed in company with the experienced paragliding pilot, and they were proposed as nature tourism areas. With this study carried out, it was ensured that the paragliding fields, which are mainly determined by observational and experimental methods, were scientifically determined in accordance with the international technical specification criteria. Furthermore, a new method has been developed to be able to automatically determine alternative paragliding fields in any city with the help of the introduced GIS-based system and user interface program. Nowadays, people living in the city tend to get away from the city and integrate with nature as they find the opportunity to keep away from stress in terms of current living conditions and their effects. This situation is increasing the interest in nature tourism and orientation to nature sports with each passing day. One of nature sports is also paragliding.


Prof Chris Lundgren was the Editor-in-Chief of the Southern African Journal of Anaesthesia and Analgesia (SAJAA) for a remarkable 14 years from 2001-2015. Under her excellent guidance, the journal has developed and grown to the point that the Academy of Science for South Africa's (ASSAf ) review of scholarly publishing in South Africa found SAJAA to be worthy of continued accreditation with the Department of Higher Education and Training. During her editorship, applications were made to Medline and Thomson Reuters for inclusion in their databases, which were unsuccessful unfortunately. However, they generated useful feedback on both how to improve the standard of the journal and the importance thereof. The quality of the journal and the published articles has improved through subsequent implementation of these recommendations.


Cross-country regressions suggest that urbanization and FDI are important drivers of growth. However, it is not clear that primacy eventually hurts growth performance. Since it is tough to interpret cross-country growth regressions, we provide detailed evidence on the determinants of outward FDI from the US. FDI is higher in countries that are close to the US and have good institutions, well developed financial systems, a high road density, a high income per capita and substantial natural resource exports. Countries also attract more FDI if they have more medium-sized cities and primacy is not too large. We show that good institutions in neighbouring countries are important drivers of FDI. FDI is higher if neighbours suffer from primacy. However, FDI is attracted if surrounding countries have fewer cities, restrictions on international trade and low market potential (income per capita). We tentatively conclude that cities are important drivers of FDI and growth and unbundling spatial lags matters. Robustness is verified by re-estimating our regressions with fixed effects and for the sample of OECD countries.


Corneas from adult albino New Zealand rabbits were stored in either MK medium or moist chambers at 4 degrees C. for 18 to 24 hours. During that time, half the corneas from each group were agitated for 8 hours to simulate the motion that might occur during long-distance shipment. The corneas were then placed in specular microscopes and perfused for 4 hours with a modified Krebs-Ringer solution at 34 degrees C. Serial measurements of corneal thickness made during temperature reversal showed that agitation had no effect on endothelial viability of corneas stored in either solution. Electron microscopy of selected corneas confirmed this finding.


Background The general practitioner's (GP) role in advance care planning is commonly tied to their knowledge of the patient and the family, but with limited attention to the nature of this knowing or the expectations it may give rise to (2012). GPs are often involved in advance care planning with the aim of having the patient complete formal documentation (2012). This paper proposes a broader role for the GP based on findings from a PhD study exploring older people's understandings of decision making in incompetence. Aim To explore patient's understanding of the GP's role in decision making in incompetence. Methods In-depth interviews with 19 people, aged ≥65 years, recruited from five general practices analysed using Giligan's (Gilligan et al., 2006) listening guide. Results Participants distinguished between their GP and other doctors. Participants described their relationship with their GP as grounds for providing the GP with a distinct role in the event of their future incompetence. Participants expected this relationship to inform the way their GP approached advance care planning. Discussion Participants expected the GP to have a richer role reflective than they are commonly provided. Relational ethics and the concept of 'generalism' provide a theoretical basis for expanding the GP's role. Conclusion Current characterisations of the GP's role overlook much of what they can bring to the process of advance care planning.


128 Background: A recent study suggests that cardiotoxicity from adjuvant trastuzumab (T-mab) is associated with inadequate cardiac monitoring (Ng et al. SABCS 2012). Few studies have examined the impact of centre or physician (MD) case volume (vol) on the quality of care in systemic therapy, including the adequacy of cardiac monitoring during T-mab treatment.

METHODS
All breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant T-mab in Ontario between 2003-2009 were identified through a provincial drug funding program. Patient demographics, hospitalizations, cardiac risk factors, cardiac imaging, comorbidities, treatment centres and MDs were ascertained. Annual case vol was calculated as the number of patients treated per year with adjuvant T-mab by each MD and centre. Cumulative case vol was calculated as the total number of patients treated with adjuvant T-mab. Centre and MD vol were divided into terciles (T1, T2 and T3) by the year of diagnosis. Inadequate cardiac monitoring was defined as per recent guidelines and per Ng et al. Hierarchical multivariable logistic regression models were constructed to examine factors associated with inadequate cardiac monitoring.

RESULTS
Our cohort consisted of 3,777 patients, 214 MDs and 68 centres. Of the total patients, 16.5% were over age 65; 30.3%, 9.4%, and 1.2% had previous diagnoses of hypertension, diabetes, and heart failure (HF), respectively; 24.3% did not receive adequate cardiac monitoring. Inadequate cardiac monitoring was associated with lower cumulative MD vol (T1: 27.9%, T2: 23.3%, T3: 20.8%, p < 0.0001) and lower annual centre vol (T1: 32.5%, T2: 19.7%, T3: 20.7%, p < 0.0001) in univariate analyses, and remained significant after adjusting for age, comorbidities, previous HF, socioeconomic status based on income, rural residence and calendar period. After adjusting for patient clustering at the MD, centre, and regional levels, lower cumulative MD vol (p=0.012), but not annual centre vol, remained a significant predictor for inadequate cardiac monitoring.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest improved cardiac monitoring with greater MD experience, supporting the notion of centralization of systemic therapy to high vol MDs to optimize outcomes.


This DVD is a live recording of works performed during two nights at the Salz burger Festpiele (Großes Festpielhaus) in August, 2007. Packaged as a collection of excerpts from zarzuelas, the performance features Plácido Domingo (tenor), Ana María Martínez (soprano), and the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg under the baton of Jesús López-Cobos. Born in Spain to parents who made a career in zarzuela performance, Plácido Domingo moved with his family as a child to Mexico, where his parents had formed a zarzuela company. The works on this recording reflect his family's heritage and business and are understandably sentimental. The repertory on the DVD is comprised of instrumental pieces, arias, and duets excerpted from twenty-one works, most of which are truly zarzuelas (The jota from Manuel de Falla's ballet El sombrero de tres picos, ¡Soleá!¿Me llamabas, Rafaeliyo? from Manuel Pennella's opera El gato montés, and "Lippen Schweigen" from Franz Léhar's operetta Die lustige Witwe are the outsiders.) All but two of the works (those by the Cuban composer, Ernesto Lecuona and the Austro-Hungarian, Léhar) on the DVD are from Spanish composers. Despite the fact that the zarzuela as a genre has its roots in Baroque Spain, no early works are represented in this particular recording. Drawn strictly from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the earliest work on the DVD is "Al pensar en el dueño de mis amores," from Ruperto Chapí's Las hijas del Zebedeo (1889), and the most recent work is "No puede ser" from Pablo Sorozábal's La tabernera del puerto (1936). The concerts were nicely but conventionally filmed and the venue is pleasant, if a bit on the ordinary side. Domingo and Ana María Martínez sing with a subtle Castilian accent, and the orchestra performs masterfully with López-Cobos at the helm. During the pieces that feature the singers, the camera stays mainly on the Domingo and/or Martinez, alternating shots of the audience at appropriate moments. During the instrumental works there is more variety in the camera angles, with the focus zooming in on the instruments that were perceived to be or particular importance in the moment. While interesting visually, this is acoustically unnerving, because when an instrument is featured, not only does the camera linger on the instrument/section, at the same time, the audio of that particular instrument is also momentarily amplified. This has the unfortunate side effect of throwing off the ensemble balance written into the composition. Overall the DVD is an easy sell. All of the pieces selected are lushly scored, with a focus on melody, consistently dramatic, yet conservatively pleasant, harmonies, and a preponderance of dance rhythms. Ad di tionally, the works have a common thread of "exotic" flair exhibited mainly by semistereotypical "folk" sounds (chromatic melodies, dance rhythms, and the use of castanets). Even the work by Lecuona is marked by recurring inclusion of AfroCuban percussion, and the Léhar is a waltz! Watching the entire DVD in one sitting is perhaps not recommended as the works are all quite similar and saturation will come quickly. Waiting for the soloists to walk on and off the stage also becomes quite tedious when watching continuously. However, if you are looking for an excellent chapter or two of a video to introduce the zarzuela genre in a music appreciation course or some sort of event in which patrons with a love of music, but little music experience are being addressed, this video is ideal. The music is all extraordinarily approachable; there is no shortage of catchy melodies, toe-tapping dance rhythms, and several unmistakable references to the exotic (mostly) Spanish origins. The orchestra looks great, the close ups of the instrumentalists are wonderfully posed (one could even use the video to approach the subject of rotary valve trumpets!) and the close ups of the singers are at an appropriate angle so as to not be uncomfortable. Subtitles are available in German, English, French, and Spanish. This is definitely not a filmic production, but rather a televisionstyle work, and for what it is, it delivers.


White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus dacotensis Zimm.) numbers in the central Black Hills have declined since the middle 1970s. Population status has been documented by a decline in hunter success, deer reproductive success, and fawn survival. Most management agencies believe habitat deterioration is the primary cause of population decline in the Black Hills. We evaluated habitat selection for a white-tailed deer herd in the central Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming. From July 1993-July 1996, 73 adult and yearling doe and 12 adult and yearling buck white-tailed deer were radiocollared and visually monitored. Habitat Information was collected at 4,662 white-tailed deer locations and 1,087 random locations. During winter, white-tailed deer selected ponderosa pine- (Pinus ponderosa P. &C. Lawson) deciduous and burned pine cover types. Overstory-understory habitats selected included pine/grass-forb, pine/bear-berry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng.), pine/snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus L.), burned pine/grass-forb, and pine/shrub habitats. Structural stages selected included sapling-pole pine stands with > 70% canopy cover, burned pine sapling-pole and saw-timber stands with < 40% canopy cover. During summer, white-tailed deer selected pine-deciduous, aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.), aspen-coniferous, spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss), and spruce-deciduous cover types. Overstory-understory habitats selected included pine/juniper Juniperus communis L.), aspen/shrubs, spruce/juniper, and spruce/shrub habitats. Structural stages selected included pine, aspen, and spruce sapling pole stands with all levels (0-40%, 41-70%,71-100%) of canopy cover. Results supported low habitat quality as a factor involved with the decline of the deer population. We recommend that habitat management techniques, such as aspen regeneration and prescribed burns, be used to Improve the habitat base in the central Black Hills. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v55i3_deperno


Today's legal system generally demands that the interpreter function as a "faceless voice," a conduit, that is, in a "neutral" and non-intrusive way. However, research has shown that in practice this is not the case, and interpreters themselves are increasingly coming to see their role as going beyond the narrow linguistic one. This article argues that inevitably, as interpreters exert influence on the proceedings in which they perform, these proceedings have a greater or lesser impact on the interpreters. The researcher often has little if any direct access to the recipients or the providers of interpreting services, and hence court records are generally used as a source of information on attitudes toward interpreters and interpreted events. A seventeenth-century murder trial in England provides valuable insights into views on interpreting on the part of the bench, the clerk of the court, and the accused. In addition, several modern cases are discussed, indicating a gradual change in attitudes, with an increasing emphasis on competency rather than availability, and a greater acceptance of a more comprehensive role for the interpreter. Finally, this article examines a rare case of an interpreter reporting on an interpreted event at which he worked, indicating that the interpreter does not "check his humanity" at the courtroom door.


In a published randomized clinical trial, hydroxyurea (HU) improved clinical outcomes in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA). The mean treatment duration of that trial was 21 months. Here we attempt to determine whether the benefits associated with HU therapy of SCA have led also to successful patient acceptance of HU treatment in community practices, and whether successful clinical outcomes persist beyond 2 years. This is an observational retrospective chart study of the computerized medical records of 60 men and women with SCA who had HU treatment for at least 3 months and who were treated at teaching hospital subspecialty clinics in Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. Thirty had remained on therapy for at least 24 months. Admissions declined in this group by 30% (P = 0.04). Declines were seen also in transfusion requirements (−58%, P = 0.07). In 17 of these 30 patients, at least 48 months of follow‐up records were available. Fourteen of these remained on therapy the entire period, with similar and sustained reductions in admissions and transfusions. We conclude that hydroxyurea therapy of SCA applied in community settings leads to declining admissions and transfusion rates in many individuals for 4 years or more. Am. J. Hematol. 70:326–328, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


We study the dynamic service migration problem in mobile edge-clouds that host cloud-based services at the network edge. This offers the benefits of reduction in network overhead and latency but requires service migrations as user locations change over time. It is challenging to make these decisions in an optimal manner because of the uncertainty in node mobility as well as possible non-linearity of the migration and transmission costs. In this paper, we formulate a sequential decision making problem for service migration using the framework of Markov Decision Process (MDP). Our formulation captures general cost models and provides a mathematical framework to design optimal service migration policies. In order to overcome the complexity associated with computing the optimal policy, we approximate the underlying state space by the distance between the user and service locations. We show that the resulting MDP is exact for uniform one-dimensional mobility while it provides a close approximation for uniform two-dimensional mobility with a constant additive error term. We also propose a new algorithm and a numerical technique for computing the optimal solution which is significantly faster in computation than traditional methods based on value or policy iteration. We illustrate the effectiveness of our approach by simulation using real-world mobility traces of taxis in San Francisco.


In recent years, investment facilitation has taken an important place in the investment policy debate, with proposals to develop a multilateral framework to facilitate investment being debated in different fora, without achieving a consensus on whether these efforts should focus on implementing binding commitments or should be directed towards developing best practices and soft laws. This paper provides an overview on how investment facilitation is currently considered in international investment agreements (IIAs), including both bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and regional trade agreements (RTAs) with investment chapters, aimed at identifying common approaches that could serve as stepping stones for convergence across IIAs and between them and the multilateral trade system. This does not necessarily imply that similarities are the best or desired approaches, and this piece also identifies shortcomings in existing investment facilitation provisions.


At the year of 2006, The National of Health Research and Development (NJHRD) conducted medicines prices survey in order to evaluate the root problems about the access to essential medicines in Indonesia. Several underlying factors which influence this access i.e. the prices, the availabitily and the adequacy of medicines. The method of the survey followed WHO/HAl methodology which is modified to be suited with Indonesia situation. The study was cross-sectional in four regions in Indonesia: a capital region (DKI Jakarta), Western part of Indonesia (Riau), Central part of Indonesia (South Kalimantan) and eastern part of Indonesia (Papua). The collected samples are 10 generic names of medicines. Survey was conducted in public and private health care services, urban and rural areas. The results show that there were wide prices differences between branded and generic medicines. Variation of medicines prices between public, private, sectors and regions. The purchasing prices in health offices and primary health cares are slightly higher than in hospitals and pharmacies. The availability of generic and branded medicines in private sectors is almost the same. The adequacy of essential medicines is better in the eastern region than other regions. The study recommends: a. The government should increase the consumption of generic medicines and provide incentive for physicians and retailers that active for generic services. b. Increasing the efficiency of drug procurement system in public sectors. c. Improving the commitment of regional government on health sectors. d. Regulating the margin prices for retail medicines prices. Key words: access, medicines, prices, availability, adequacy


Performance data of maize varieties at different locations needs to be accurate and accessible to stimulate the improvement of the Nigerian maize seed system. This paper describes a database model to implement a simple computerized information system for maize varieties and their performance at various locations in Nigeria. Entity-Relationship modelling was used to identify relevant data and their relational structure from subsets of maize germplasm trial data with Microsoft Access™ Relational Database Management System software. The model has the capacity to provide detailed variety performance information in relation to cropping environment with specific search queries when the relevant data are properly documented. Such facility will benefit seed producers who will determine seed materials that meet specific market and production challenges of farmers' with greater precision. Plant breeders can also use the information system for breeding plans and policy makers can use it as a Decision Support System (DSS). Key Words: Database systems; entity-relationship model; performance data set; maize variety Moor J. Agric. Res. Vol.4(1) 2003: 78-84