Background: Due to abundant and non-utilized resource of tea flowers (Camellia sinensis) world widely, many volatile compounds in tea flowers have been characterized. It is of interest to test the bioactivity of the natural essential oil of tea flowers.
Methods: Natural essential oil of tea flowers was prepared by using Supercritical Carbon dioxide Extraction (SFE). DPPH radical scavenging was used to evaluate the antioxidative activity of essential oil. All experiments were performed in triplicate and all data was expressed as a mean ± standard error of the mean. Comparisons among the means of various treatments were analyzed through Duncan's test. One Way Analysis Of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the differences among means of treatments and the control.
Results: The optimum extraction conditions were the pressure of 30 MPa, temperature of 50°C, static time of 10 min, and dynamic time of 90 min. Based on GC-MS analysis, 59 compounds including alkanes (45.4%), esters (10.5%), ketones (7.1%), aldehydes (3.7%), terpenes (3.7%), acids (2.1%), alcohols (1.6%), ethers (1.3%), and others (10.3%) were identified in the essential oil of tea flowers. The essential oil of tea flowers showed relatively stronger DPPH radical scavenging activity than essential oils of geranium and peppermint, although it was weaker than those of essential oil of clove, ascorbic acid, tertiary butylhydroquinone, and butylated hydroxyanisole.
Conclusions: Essential oil of tea flowers extracted by SFE contained many kinds of volatile compounds and showed considerable DPPH scavenging activity.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of the present study was to prospectively evaluate the role of early povidone iodine instillation in the management of post-renal transplant lymphorrhea.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Live-related renal transplant recipients operated between January 2002 and December 2015 were included in the study. Significant lymphorrhea was defined as >50 mL lymph from drain beyond postoperative day 5. Such patients were randomized into two groups by simple randomization using a computer-generated random list: group A (received 0.5% povidone iodine instillation) and group B (no instillation). Absolute risk reduction and numbers needed to treat were calculated to estimate the effect of povidone iodine instillation for the treatment of lymphorrhea and decrease in the incidence of lymphocoele.

RESULTS
A total of 1766 patients underwent renal transplant during this period. One hundred seventeen patients with lymphorrhea through the drain underwent randomization into group A (n=61) and group B (n=56). In group A, 58 patients had successful resolution within 2 weeks, whereas in group B, 34 patients had successful resolution within 2 weeks. Overall, 9 (14.75%) patients in group A and 29 (51.78%) patients in group B had lymphatic collections (both symptomatic and asymptomatic). Symptomatic lymphocoele was present in 1 patient in group A and 7 patients in group B on follow-up. Absolute risk reduction was 10.8%, and for every symptomatic lymphocoele prevented, 10 patients needed povidone iodine instillation.

CONCLUSION
Povidone iodine instillation after 5 days of transplantation aids in the early resolution of post-renal transplantation lymphorrhea, as well as reduces the incidence of future lymphocoele.


The involvement of patients in the decisions about their treatment or care seems an unquestionable advance. There are philosophical and ethical justifications for this. Evidence is also accruing about its benefits—namely, increased satisfaction with care and communication, increased certainty about making the best decision, reduced anxiety levels, and greater adherence to chosen management plans. Some of the practical barriers that limit the greater involvement of patients in clinical practice are also being recognised and addressed, including the wider availability of information to patients, often outside the consultation. Yet patient involvement and informed choices are still not a reality in routine health care. There still appear to be barriers that directly relate to healthcare professionals which must be addressed if patient involvement is indeed to become a wider reality. Healthcare professionals need to assimilate a number of principles and practices if they are to facilitate patient involvement. Some of these apply more to global changes in attitudes and approaches to healthcare provision ("macro" level), and are the fundamental competences which professionals acquire as the platform for their practice. Others relate to their skills in providing care to the hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of patients with whom they interact— that is, the "competences" of practice—and apply to the process within the consultation ("micro" level), the way professionals deal with individuals, their needs, concerns, desires, and expectations.


This thesis presents the underlying probabilistic model, the parameter estimation, and the inference algorithm of NET-VISA, Network Processing Vertically Integrated Seismic Analysis. NET-VISA is an Open Universe Probability Model (OUPM) for seismic events, the transmission of seismic waves through the earth, and their detection (or misdetection) at stations, as well as a model for spurious detections.
The probabilistic model allows for seamless integration of various disparate sources of information. Applied in the context of the International Monitoring System (IMS), a global sensor network developed for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), NET-VISA achieves a reduction of around 60% in the number of missed events compared to the currently deployed system. It also finds events that are missed by the human analysts who post-process the IMS output.


This paper deals with application of speech and emotion recognition using distorted speech signal. When speech signal is given as an input to any system some background noise always gets added to it which is undesirable. In order to beat this difficulty we change the signal using Principal Component Analysis and then the task of recognition is done using the Hidden Markov Models. So the developed system is capable of recognizing the speech and emotion from distorted speech signal by extracting the MFCCs. And then transformed using PCA to obtain eigen values. The eigenvalues with highest values contain important information which are retained and others are discarded as noise. Hidden Markov Models is most capable method used for speech and emotion recognition.


Introduction: Prospective memory is an important precursor of independent living for adolescents and it is dependent on other executive functions. Purpose: To this end, this study aims to investigate the role of executive functions (working memory and inhibition) in predicting the eventbased and time-based prospective memory of the adolescents. Methods: This study was conducted in the form of a correlation pattern. The study population consists of high school students in Azarshahr city in the academic year 20142015. In this study, 150 students (male=67 and female=83) with a mean age of 16.5 year were selected by multistage cluster sampling. Prospective memory testing, working memory and continuous performance testing was used in order to collect data. Then, data were analyzed by Pearson correlations and multi-variable regression. Results: The results showed that the executive functions (working memory and inhibition) with a correlation coefficient of about 0/52 could define 0/27 percentage changes of eventbased prospective memory and with a correlation coefficient 0/37 could only define 0/13 percentage changes related to time-based prospective memory. Meanwhile, only working memory and standard deviation of reaction time of visual continuous performance testing could predict event-based prospective memory positively. Furthermore, only working memory could predict time-based prospective memory. Conclusion: As a result, we can say that working memory operates as an underlying mechanism in the improvement of prospective memory.


This work presents a simple and straightforward approach to fabricating multifunctional nanocomposite particles which possess a core of a polystyrene (PS) particle, a transition layer of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs), and an outer shell of adsorbable polyaniline (PANi). In detail, the positively charged Fe3O4 NPs synthesized via the chemical co-precipitation method are directly loaded onto the negatively charged surfaces of the PS particles obtained by emulsifier-free emulsion polymerization through electrostatic self-assembly; subsequently, the coating of the resultant PS/Fe3O4 nanocomposite particles with PANi was successfully achieved by virtue of the "swelling–diffusion–interfacial-polymerization method" (SDIPM). Furthermore, the adsorption of Cu2+ by PS/Fe3O4@PANi nanocomposite particles was investigated by changing the initial pH value, adsorption time, and initial concentration of the adsorbate. The adsorption data in our work follow a pseudo-second-order kinetics model and fit the Langmuir isotherm model. The PS/Fe3O4@PANi nanocomposite particles show that the maximum adsorption capacity is up to 181.5 mg g−1 at pH 5. More importantly, these nanocomposite particles can be easily recovered using an external magnetic field owing to the presence of Fe3O4 NPs, and the regenerated nanocomposite particles can be repeatedly used for eight cycles without significant loss of their adsorption capacity.


Author(s): Galliers, Chris; Mills, Peter; Miller, Gordon; Zeller, David; Nunn, Linda; Davies, Andy; Carrion-Crespo, Carlos; Campbell, Andrew | Abstract: The International Ranger Federation (IRF) is a network of regional, national, and sub-national ranger membership-based professional-worker associations. In this paper, we discuss the significant support that ranger associations receive from rangers across the world. A global ranger association model is presented that builds on the existing structure of IRF, and the relationship between three tiers of association is detailed. For the first time, the roles and responsibilities of the three levels of ranger associations are articulated and the benefits to members presented. Ranger associations can be vehicles for the provision of legitimacy and credibility to the ranger profession, the creation and promotion of a shared global vision of the ranger profession, advocating for members' interests and those of rangers who are not yet members, supply of thought leadership on professional development, and networking, sharing knowledge, and promoting good practices among the world's rangers. In other words, ranger associations are ideally positioned to facilitate the implementation of the white papers presented in this issue if they can build the required capacity, partnerships, and resources to do so.


In this project, different calcification methods for collagen and collagen coatings were compared in terms of their applicability for 3D printing and production of collagen-coated scaffolds. For this purpose, scaffolds were printed from polycaprolactone PCL using the EnvisionTec 3D Bioplotter and then coated with collagen. Four different coating methods were then applied: hydroxyapatite (HA) powder directly in the collagen coating, incubation in 10× SBF, coating with alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and coating with poly-L-aspartic acid. The results were compared by ESEM, µCT, TEM, and EDX. HA directly in the collagen solution resulted in a pH change and thus an increase in viscosity, leading to clumping on the scaffolds. As a function of incubation time in 10× SBF as well as in ALP, HA layer thickness increased, while no coating on the collagen layer was apparently observed with poly-L-aspartic acid. Only ultrathin sections and TEM with SuperEDX detected nano crystalline HA in the collagen layer. Exclusively the incubation in poly-L-aspartic acid led to HA crystals within the collagen coating compared to all other methods where the HA layers formed in different forms only at the collagen layer.


: It was demonstrated in experiments on male Wistar rats that preliminary use of a perfusion liquid containing the synthetic tripeptide Tyr-Pro-Arg facilitates restoration of the indices of the function of isolated perfused hearts (IPH) of rats after stress caused by 30-minute total ischemia (TI) of the myocardium at 37 degrees C. Irreversible damages to the myocardium and total depression of its function were recorded in the controls in this period of TI. The optimal concentration of the preparation in the perfusion fluid providing for restoration of IPH function by 80-100% of the initial level is 3.10(-9) M. The protective effect of the preparation is preserved in preliminary (30 minutes prior to TI) intraintestinal and intragastric administration of 10 micrograms/kg. Administration of Tyr-Pro-Arg separately or together with the beta-blocking agent propranolol as well as with atropine, which blocks the vagus effect, revealed their concurrent relations at the level of the adrenergic receptors. It is concluded that the cardioprotective effect of Tyr-Pro-Arg in TI stress is determined to a great measure by its inhibiting effect on the adrenergic mechanisms of cardiac activity regulation. Experiments in which the Ca2+ concentration in the perfusion fluid was increased threefold before and after TI showed that after using Tyr-Pro-Arg the IPH function after TI was restored and stimulated sharply by the increased Ca2+ concentration, in contrast to the controls in which stimulation of cardiac activity before TI increased the ischemic damage to the myocardium.


Since the mid-1970s, Islamist groups have been important opposition forces in the Arab world and have posed a considerable challenge to regimes. However, their increased influence has not led to political power. Ibrahim A. Karawan argues that Islamist movements have been unable to form an effective and united opposition, and have therefore reached an impasse. Although regimes cannot afford to ignore their Islamist challengers, the Arab world is unlikely to witness a wave of Islamist take-overs. More than 17 years after the fall of the Shah, the Iranian revolution remains an isolated case in the Middle East. The growth of Islamism is fuelled by social, economic and political discontent. Islamist movements are not passing phenomena, but the actual political threat they pose will depend mainly on their ability to form broad coalitions, and on the willingness of regimes to introduce badly needed reforms. However, Islamist movements are divided over key issues of strategy and tactics. Regimes have exploited these divisions to contain their Islamist opponents, and have blended oppression and limited political accommodation to perpetuate their rule. Despite Islamist groups' transnational language and ideology, national and sub-national issues drive their actions. Region-wide developments - notably the 'oil revolution' of the 1970s and Arab military defeats by Israel - are important in understanding the overall political climate, but they will not be crucial in deciding the outcome of the Islamist-regime confrontation. The influence of the West on Arab Islamism is also unlikely to be decisive. Islamist activism is stronger in areas with greater exposure to Western influences. States are therefore keen not to be seen as being too close to Western powers. In addition, there is no one Western stance towards Islamist movements, nor is there a unified assessment of the causes and policy implications of their resurgence. Contentious political issues confront Western powers, such as linking economic aid to human rights. Political and militant movements operating under the banner of Islamism are diverse. Their deep differences over the best means to achieve their objectives fragment their ranks and undermine their effectiveness. Although Arab regimes face many challenges, they have shown greater political resilience than analysts have expected.


We have used a sequence-specific DNA binding protein to examine transcription elongation and termination by mammalian RNA polymerase III (polIII). The Escherichia coli lac repressor protein, bound to its cognate operator site positioned between the 3' end of the coding region and the termination site of a human tRNA gene, conditionally blocked transcription elongation by polIII in vitro in HeLa cell nuclear extracts. Arrest of elongation by polIII dramatically reduced overall levels of transcription and directed the synthesis of shortened transcripts, consistent with a block to polIII elongation at the boundary of the repressor/DNA complex. Removal of template-bound repressor with the allosteric inducer isopropylthio-beta-D-galactoside (IPTG) allowed extension of nascent transcripts and restored transcriptional activity. Moreover, a subset of transcription complexes were shown to be capable of transcribing through the repressor obstacle. lac repressor positioned just downstream of the natural termination site effected the premature termination of transcription but otherwise had no affect on the overall level of transcription. Our findings demonstrate that elongation and termination by mammalian polIII can be modulated in vitro by a heterologous sequence-specific DNA binding protein. Moreover, the ability to selectivity arrest elongation by polIII at defined positions within the tRNA gene transcription unit has permitted the identification of discrete functional properties of paused mammalian polIII ternary complexes.


In this study we show that the plasma membrane [H+]ATPase of Saccharomyces cerevisiae is phosphorylated on multiple Ser and Thr residues in vivo. Phosphorylation occurs during the movement of newly synthesized ATPase from the ER to the cell surface, as revealed by the analysis of temperature-sensitive sec mutants blocked at successive steps of the secretory pathway. Two-dimensional phosphopeptide analysis of the ATPase indicates that, although most sites are phosphorylated at or before arrival in secretory vesicles, some phosphopeptides are unique to the plasma membrane. Phosphorylation of plasma membrane- specific site(s) is associated with increased ATPase activity during growth on glucose. Upon glucose starvation, dephosphorylation occurs concomitantly with a decrease in enzymatic activity, and both are rapidly reversed (within 2 min) upon readdition of glucose. We suggest that reversible, site-specific phosphorylation serves to adjust ATPase activity in response to nutritional signals.


Genetic algorithms (GAs) have been designed as general purpose optimization methods. GAs can be uniquely characterized by their population-based search strategies and their operators: mutation, selection and crossover. In this paper, we propose a new crossover called multi-step crossover (MSX) which utilizes a neighborhood structure and a distance in the problem space. Given parents, MSX successively generates their descendents along the path connecting both of them. MSX was applied to the job-shop scheduling problem (JSSP) as a high-level crossover to work on the critical path. Preliminary experiments using JSSP benchmarks showed the promising performance of a GA with the proposed MSX.


Ovarian Cancer is a type of cancer that begins in ovaries posing a serious threat to women. As a result, it leads to abnormal cells which has the ability to spread to other regions of the body. A highly useful diagnostic and prognostic data for ovarian cancer research is provided by the microarray data. Typically, genes with tens of thousands of dimension are present in the microarray data of ovarian cancer. There is a systematic methodology required to analyze this data and so it is important to select the most important genes or features for the entire data to avoid the computational complexity. In this work, an integrated approach to feature selection is done by two consecutive steps. Initially, the features are selected by the standard gene selection techniques such as Correlation Coefficient, T-Statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test. The selected genes or features will be further optimized by four suitable stochastic optimization algorithms chosen here such as Central Force Optimization (CFO), Lightning Attachment Procedure Optimization (LAPO), Genetic Bee Colony Optimization (GBCO) and Artificial Algae Optimization (AAO). Finally, it is classified with five different classifiers to analyze the ovarian cancer classification and the best results are projected when Kruskal Wallis test with GBCO is conducted and classified with Support Vector Machine – Radial Basis Function (SVM-RBF) Kernel technique giving a high classification accuracy of 99.48%. Similar results are also obtained when Correlation Coefficient test with AAO is conducted and classified with Logistic Regression giving a high classification accuracy of 99.48%.


The overall purpose of this research was to examine the dietary and health perceptions, behaviors, knowledge, and interests of newcomer youth (ages 12–17) and caregivers. This work included three components: facilitated discussions with caregivers, facilitated discussion and semi-structured interviews with adolescents, and a survey (including BMI assessment) with adolescents. In the first phase, the focus groups with caregivers (n=38) revealed interest in receiving community based nutrition education, assistance utilizing food labels, learning to cook and taste test local/American foods, as well as diet-related chronic disease concerns. Caregivers also expressed concern regarding the lack of healthy options in restaurants and lack of fruits and vegetables in their children's diets. In the second phase, a facilitated discussion and semi-structured interviews were conducted with adolescents (n=9) which focused on changes to diet and physical activity as well as nutrition and health literacy. Themes identified via content analysis revealed consistent perceptions of reductions in physical activity upon arrival. Participants consistently described the many ways they were active prior to arriving to the U.S. and the limited current opportunities. This was in contrast to dietary changes, in which participants reported their diets to be similar to pre-arrival (however, they also listed a variety of new foods they were eating after arrival to the U.S.). Participants described health as a concept of "balance" (e.g., limiting junk, sugar, fat, and salt, and eating fruits and vegetables) and also mentioned the value of physical activity in supporting health. Female participants expressed many concerns regarding weight gain and a desire to lose weight. In the third phase, a survey and BMI data were collected from adolescents (n=67). Approximately one-third (31.5%) were overweight/obese. Nearly 46% (45.8%) reported they believe their weight to be "good" and participants with positive body satisfaction were more likely to be within the normal BMI range (p=0.010). Nearly 47% (46.8%) have tried to lose weight. Dietary acculturation scores were marginally (and positively) associated with BMI (p=0.057). Significant relationships between dietary acculturation and the value of convenience (p=0.003) and observing Americans eat foods (p=0.030) were also identified. Taste and cost were also significantly associated with BMI with those with a higher BMI more likely to value taste and less likely to be concerned with cost (p=0.010 and p=0.009, respectively). Just over 85% (85.3%) had tried four or more new foods and the largest factors influencing food choices included health (70.1%), taste (55.2%), religion (45.3%), and convenience (44.6%). Significant increases in consumption of milk, fruit juice, soda, and meat were identified between pre- and post-arrival reported intake frequencies (p=0.009, p=0.002, p=0.026, and p=0.010, respectively). Students reported they wished to be more physically active (84.8%) and have more opportunities to play more sports (84.7%). Students were more likely to associate physical activity with health in comparison to diet (83.1% vs. 41.5%), and 56.7% agreed with the statement "I am healthy."This work suggests many areas of concern for newcomer adolescents including body dissatisfaction and poor body image, limited access to physical activity, and rapid dietary changes (negative and positive), as well as many areas of interest for nutrition education with caregivers. Many areas of concern as well as of interest were identified in this newly-arrived and diverse study population that may guide future nutrition education and health promotion research and programming.


The Mojave Desert in the southwestern United States is one of the hottest and driest areas of North America. Climate change is likely to exacerbate these conditions. The region is home to many endemic plant species, including 24 federally threatened species. The impact of climate change factors on these sensitive Mojave Desert species is relatively unknown. Here we used a climate change vulnerability assessment to determine which imperiled plants may be most affected by changing climatic conditions. We evaluated the vulnerability of each species under future climate scenarios and calculated scores using metrics such as exposure, sensitivity, niche breadth, and dispersal capability. We found that most listed plant species were vulnerable to climate change, with 21% (N = 5) classified as extremely vulnerable, 25% (N = 6) classified as highly vulnerable, and 42% (N = 10) classified as moderately vulnerable. Contributing factors most frequently associated with vulnerability included various barriers to migration, high habitat specificity, and species sensitivity to changes in hydrological patterns. Many of these species are already threatened by ongoing anthropogenic stressors such as urban growth and associated developments, and these results suggest that climate change will pose additional challenges for conservation and management. Natural resource managers can use the vulnerability ranking and contributing factors identified from these analyses to inform ecological decisions related to threatened plants throughout desert regions.


The compilation of NTMs for goods and services described in this paper cover 53 countries, and it was constructed so as to focus upon members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). The compilation is organized by country, category, generic barrier, specific barrier, sector, product, source, and year. It provides information on goods and services and gives the reference source for each entry. The information contained is expected to be of potential use to researchers and policymakers.


Higher education is globalized and internationalized; and the number of international students, particularly women studying in U.S. institutions of higher education is at a record high. However, as education continues to be a pathway to success and leadership positions, the representation and progress of women into leadership positions remains a debated issue. Although in the past 30 years there are more women who are qualified to assume leadership position both in higher education and in business, women still lag behind their male counterparts. It cannot be denied that gender continues to affect the way women are perceived as leaders. Based on the findings from a study conducted at a US university, a paradigm shift from a unidirectional approach to learning to a "two-way" model of engagement is necessary to promote a collegial community of collaborative scholars. To develop global women as leaders, it is not enough to recruit, retain and graduate international students who are female —it is critical to observe, learn, and collaboratively learn from each one of them. Most curriculums are "western" centric and based on values and ideas from the United States, with minimal exposure to current global practices. The knowledge and experiences of international women are not optimized as a source of global data that contributes to the collective information of global cultures and best practices. In order to truly capitalize on the influx of international data, the authors are suggesting the 2.0-approach, "two-way" method of creating, collaborating, editing and sharing user-generated curriculum content.


Acid mine drainage seeping from an abandoned mine in the Witbank Coalfield has flowed into a nearby stream, the Blesbokspruit, which is a tributary of the Olifants River. The amount of precipitation over the mine area which sinks into the mine has been greatly increased by associated subsidence features. There is a time lag between the maximum precipitation and the maximum flow of acid mine drainage from the mine of several months. The water issuing from the mine has a low pH, high electrical conductivity and high total dissolved solids. It has severely impaired the quality of the waters of the Blesbokspruit. The heavy metals concentrations of the stream water are well above the levels set by the South African standards. In addition, there is a high concentration of heavy metals in the stream sediments and in algal mats which occur at the seepage points. Salts have been precipitated from the acidified waters, one of the chief of which is jarosite. Formation of ferrihydrite is associated with the algal mats. Four decantation ponds constructed in the headwaters of this stream have had no effect on the pollution. Indeed, the concentration of aluminium in the waters exiting from the ponds is higher. The Blesbokspruit flows through a wetland and on leaving the concentration of some heavy metals has been reduced. This presumably is attributable to the sorption capacity of the high organic content of the sediments in the wetland. Nonetheless, the quality of the water is not improved sufficiently for it to be acceptable, even with the dilution effect of the entry of water from an uncontaminated stream downstream of the wetland.


In an attempt to help keep up with the ever changing business environments, firms arecontinuously attempting to find ways to open up their organizations boundaries, enablingexternal sources to be used. Through a means of restructuring their R&D systems, firmswill face challenges when it comes to balancing their external and internal R&D activities,allowing them to profit from the amount of external knowledge that they retrieve.Throughout this paper, discussions on the influences that R&D configuration has on theperformance of firms and moderating R&D capacity will be discussed further.According to researched findings, firms that continue to rely on external R&D actionsexperience an increase in innovative performance, up to a certain point. Larger shares ofexternal R&D services will reduce a firm's performance. Finding the perfect mediumground is something that all chemical engineering firms will need to work on, in order toincrease innovative performance, but not ruin their performance in the same respects. Thispaper will provide an increased amount of understanding in regards to the open innovationparadigm, which suggests that opportunity costs open for R&D borders is a lot higher forfirms that possess high quality technologically based knowledge stock (Elsevier B.V., 2012).


In the manufacturing industry, the cutting process, especially lathes, has developed rapidly, one of which is in the rail transportation industry sector. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of cutting parameters and the nose radius of the W-style insert tool on the level of surface roughness in the turning process of S45C steel. This research uses experimental research methods. In this study, using a variation of cutting parameters and nose radius. Variations in cutting parameters using cutting speeds of 195 Rpm, 300 Rpm and 440 Rpm. Variation of the depth of cut 1 mm and 2 mm. Variation of feed speed 0.1 mm / rev, 0.2 mm / rev and 0.3 mm / rev. While the variation of the nose tool radius for inserting W-style is 0.4 mm and 0.8 mm. After turning the surface roughness test was carried out using the Surface Roughness Tester. The results of this study indicate that the increasing cutting speed and nose radius of the insert tool, decreasing feeding velocity and cutting depth results in good surface quality.

Keyword: W-series insert tool, nose radius, surface roughness.


We find that the initial dust masses in planetary debris disks are correlated with the metallicities of their central stars. We compiled a large sample of systems, including Spitzer, the Herschel DUNES and DEBRIS surveys, and WISE debris disk candidates. We also merged 33 metallicity catalogs to provide homogeneous [Fe/H] and values. We analyzed this merged sample, including 222 detected disks (74 warm and 148 cold) around a total of 187 systems (some with multiple components) and 440 disks with only upper limits (125 warm and 315 cold) around a total of 360 systems. The disk dust masses at a common early evolutionary point in time were determined using our numerical disk evolutionary code, evolving a unique model for each of the 662 disks backward to an age of 1 Myr. We find that disk-bearing stars seldom have metallicities less than and that the distribution of warm component masses lacks examples with large mass around stars of low metallicity ( ). Previous efforts to find a correlation have been largely unsuccessful; the primary improvements supporting our result are (1) basing the study on dust masses, not just infrared excess detections; (2) including upper limits on dust mass in a quantitative way; (3) accounting for the evolution of debris disk excesses as systems age; (4) accounting fully for the range of uncertainties in metallicity measurements; and (5) having a statistically large enough sample.


In this thesis, we proposed a secure hybrid ad hoc routing protocol, called Secure Zone Routing Protocol (SZRP), which aims at addressing the above limitations by combining the best properties of both proactive and reactive approaches. The proposed protocol is based on the concept zone routing protocol (ZRP). It employs an integrated approach of digital signature and both the symmetric and asymmetric key encryption techniques to achieve the security goals like message integrity, data confidentiality and end to end authentication at IP layer. The thesis details the design of the proposed protocol and analyses its robustness in the presence of multiple possible security attacks that involves impersonation, modification, fabrication and replay of packets caused either by an external advisory or an internal compromised node within the network. The security and performance evaluation of SZRP through simulation indicates that the proposed scheme successfully defeats all the identified threats and achieves a good security at the cost of acceptable overhead. Together with existing approaches for securing the physical and MAC layer within the network protocol stack, the Secure Zone Routing Protocol (SZRP) can provide a foundation for the secure operation of an ad hoc network.


Fabry disease (FD) is a genetic disease included in the group of lysosomal storage disorders, caused by X-linked deficiency of the enzyme alpha-galactosidase A. The aim of this study was to evaluate different aspects related to the quality of life (QoL) of a multicentre cohort of Italian patients with FD. An observational survey was conducted to measure health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in FD patients using the CAPI (Computer-Assisted Personal Interview) method: 106 patients (mostly women) responded to the questionnaire. Geographically, 53.7% of patients lived in northern Italy, 18.9% in central Italy and 27.4% in southern Italy or the Islands. All data were collected through a five-dimensional EuroQoL questionnaire referring to functional aspects (mobility, personal care, routine activities) and perception of physical/mental well-being (pain or discomfort, anxiety or depression). A descriptive analysis of responses was performed; FD patients were compared in terms of QoL with subjects suffering from other chronic diseases, such as Crohn's disease, chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and multiple sclerosis. Difficulty in normal daily activities was reported by 47.2% of FD patients. About one third of subjects also had mobility difficulties. Feelings of loneliness and isolation were reported by 33.3% of those being 60–69 years old. Anxiety was equally reported in both oldest and youngest patients (66.7%), while depression, relational problems, fear of other people's judgement increased along with age, reaching 66.7% in the over-70-years group. Male patients were largely troubled about the risk of physical disability, particularly those aged 60 years or over. Furthermore, FD patients had a poorer QoL than people suffering from other chronic inflammatory disorders. Our study upholds that FD patients have a poor QoL, as already known, negatively impacting psychic well-being and social activities. Our survey has also found a worse QoL in FD patients compared with other severe chronic disorders.


ABSTRACT Acinetobacter baumannii is a metabolically versatile pathogen that causes severe infections in compromised patients. However, little is known about the genes and factors involved in its basic physiology and virulence properties. Insertion mutagenesis was used to initiate the identification and characterization of some of these factors and genes in the prototype strain 19606. The utilization of the pLOFKm suicide delivery vector, which harbors a suicide mini-Tn10 derivative, proved to be unsuccessful for this purpose. The EZ::TN 〈R6Kγori/KAN-2〉 Tnp transposome system available from Epicentre was then used in conjunction with electroporation to generate isogenic insertional derivatives of A. baumannii 19606. Replica plating showed that 2% of the colonies that grew after electroporation on agar plates without antibiotics also grew in the presence of 40 μg of kanamycin per ml. DNA hybridization proved that all of the kanamycin-resistant derivatives contained the EZ::TN 〈R6Kγori/KAN-2〉 insertion element, which was mapped to different genomic locations. Replica plating on Simmons citrate agar and microtiter plate-plastic tube assays identified growth- and biofilm-defective derivatives, respectively. The location of the insertion in several of these derivatives was determined by self-ligation of NdeI- or EcoRI-digested genomic DNA and electroporation of Escherichia coli TransforMax EC100D (pir+). Sequence analysis of the recovered plasmids showed that some of the A. baumannii 19606 growth-defective derivatives contain insertions within genes encoding activities required for the generation of energy and cell wall components and for the biosynthesis of amino acids and purines. A gene encoding a protein similar to the GacS sensor kinase was interrupted in four derivatives, while another had an insertion in a gene coding for a hypothetical sensor kinase. A. baumannii 19606 derivatives with defective attachment or biofilm phenotypes had insertions within genes that appear to be part of a chaperone-usher transport system described for other bacteria. DNA hybridization experiments showed that the presence of strain 19606 genes encoding regulatory and attachment or biofilm functions is widespread among other A. baumannii clinical isolates.


Purpose: Although dose evaluation in IMRT QA may more closely depict patient dosimetry, measurements are in a surrogate phantom ‐ not in the patient's anatomy. Techniques and software systems are commercially available which use individual field dosimetry measurements as input into algorithms that estimate 3D patient dose distributions. These dose distribution data when overlaid on CT scan derived target volumes and OARs, enables direct DVH analysis vs. TPS DVH. The purpose of this work is to present a systematic benchmarking technique for such kind of software systems. Methods: A MapCheck2 diode array and 3DVH software from Sun Nuclear were used for this study. Benchmarking consists of taking IMRT beams created in actual patient treatment plans; re‐computing these on a flat phantom using in the RTPS, and exporting these calculations to 3DVH as individual patient plans. Accuracy of the output of 3DVH is tested by comparing measured planar doses over a range of depths to the same planes reconstructed by 3DVH. Results: The Gamma Index evaluation for comparing calculated 3D dose with measured 3D dose with 2% and 2mm DTA criteria returned a pass rate of > 90% for all patient cases calculated by the treatment planning system and it returned a pass rate of > 96% in 9 out of 10 cases calculated by 3DVH. Extracted computed dose planes with 3DVH software at different depths in the flat phantom passed all gamma evaluation analyses when compared to measured planes at different depths using MapCheck2. Conclusions: It was shown that the 3D dose distribution predicted by the 3DVH software is both accurate and consistent. Accuracy is shown by the agreement of the calculations with measurements at different depths. Consistency is shown by using as inputs measured planar dose at different depths and comparing the results.


For pt.1 ("Identification of Transmitting Wave Form for Deconvolution Process. A Study on High Resolution Microwave Subsurface Radar Image. 1") see ibid., p.1891-3 (2002). A time of a microwave propagation from a transmitter to a receiver via a reflective object in a soil is estimated based on a model fitness. Since the model fitness is expressed as a function of time and has a single-peaked pattern at the propagation time, the propagation time is determined from the time of the peak of the model fitness. It is proven in this paper that the model fitness can be calculated as an envelope of a cross-correlation function between a transmitting wave and a receiving wave. The propagation times are obtained at each measurement point. A point diagram plotted the peak time on x-z coordination shows clearly the position of the object. In this report, detections of three different size of steel pipes are experimentally demonstrated.


It was first proposed that an extended chain Ising (ECI) model contains the Ising chain model, single spin double-well potentials and a pure phonon heat bath of a specific energy exchange with the spins. The extension method is easy to apply to high dimensional cases. Then the single spin-flip probability (rate) of the ECI model is deduced based on the Boltzmann principle and general statistical principles of independent events and the model is simplified to an extended chain Glauber—Ising (ECGI) model. Moreover, the relaxation dynamics of the ECGI model were simulated by the Monte Carlo method and a comparison with the predictions of the special chain Glauber—Ising (SCGI) model was presented. It was found that the results of the two models are consistent with each other when the Ising chain length is large enough and temperature is relative low, which is the most valuable case of the model applications. These show that the ECI model will provide a firm physical base for the widely used single spin-flip rate proposed by Glauber and a possible route to obtain the single spin-flip rate of other form and even the multi-spin-flip rate.


One of the most heavily studied subfields of family sociology is that of racial disparities in family formation trends. While divergent black—white patterns in divorce are well documented, their underlying causal factors are not well understood. Debates on whether such differences are due to socioeconomic compositional differences, cultural differences, or some degree of each continue to surface in the literature. In this article, I use the U.S. military as an institutional counterfactual to larger society because, I argue, it isolates many of the conditions commonly cited in the literature to explain race differences in divorce trends. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY), I find that, unlike their civilian counterparts, African American military enlistees have low divorce rates, even lower, it seems, than their fellow enlisted Caucasians.


This paper evaluates the increasing focus on the development of students' competencies and skills for management, in university business schools. The debate suggests that deeper understandings, concerning the role of managers are being sacrificed at the hands of an instrumentalist/technicist agenda focusing on competencies and skills. The paper adds to the discussion by scrutinising and applying theory from the literatures of occupational practice, knowledge and learning. Data is presented from sixty four job advertisements stipulating the competencies and skills required of applicants and which illustrate the premium put upon personal practice knowledge. By taking a critical management perspective students can begin to understand the social context and power-based nature of management practice in the workplace. While universities may try to further fulfil the 'narrow', industry-led, competency focus, early indications suggest that universities may possess a good deal of freedom in designing pedagogies supportive of a critical agenda.


Internationally forestry and wood products supply chains are being transformed. This traditionally resource intensive low technology sector is moving rapidly towards precision-manufacturing, advanced technology use and innovation in ways that increase the value and sustainability of wood within the emerging bio-economy. This research-in-progress reports on a major Australian Research Council funded applied industry based program integrating different digital tools and techniques along the forestry supply chain to improve product traceability, characterisation and knowledge management to stimulate and support market innovation. The paper provides insight into contemporary forest supply chains and illustrates the breadth of research being undertaken in this program. A specific example involving the innovative use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and digital telemetry to advance the speed and accuracy of forestry resource assessments is described. Preliminary results comparing manual and automated techniques for inventory estimation appear positive. Planned next steps for this project and the program are presented.


The innate immune system is highly conserved amongst all multicellular organisms. Yet a constant battle exists between host cells and pathogens due to the rapid evolution of immune system components. Functional genomics and in silico methods can be employed to elucidate the evolutionary patterns of vertebrate immunity to pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause lethal candidiasis in the immunocompromised. Mammals such as humans and mice possess conserved C-type lectin receptors that recognize the C. albicans cell wall. However, these receptors have not been identified in fish. Here I describe how we identified potential zebrafish fungal recognition receptors in silico to elucidate the evolution of vertebrate immunity to fungi and to integrate cost-effective zebrafish into candidiasis research. Phylogenetic and synteny analyses identified three potential receptors with conserved motifs for fungal recognition. Cell lines secreting soluble versions of these potential receptors were generated, and the proteins were purified. These receptors are currently being analyzed for their microbial recognition characteristics through immunofluorescence microscopy. Determining the specificity of these proteins may enhance our understanding of how the innate immune system evolved in lower and higher vertebrates. Furthermore, understanding such dynamics is an initial step toward developing novel anti-fungal therapeutics for commercially valuable fish and uncovering the fundamental mechanisms of immunity to fungi.


This paper presents a hierarchical semantic ensemble learning method applied in the context of multimedia autoannotation. In contrast to the standard multiplecategory classification setting that assumes independent, non-overlapping and exhaustive set of categories, the proposed approach models explicitly the hierarchical relationships among target classes and estimates their relevance to a query as a trade-off between the goodness of fit to a given category description and its inherent uncertainty. The promising results of the empirical evaluation confirm the viability of the proposed approach, validated in comparison to several techniques of ensemble learning, as well as with different type of baseline classifiers.


The aim of the article is to report on research findings that could contribute to the development of decolonised academic material. Africanisation of curricula implies that education and training as well as praxis be informed by the reality of the South African context, the viewpoints of the people of South Africa and their descriptions of what is needed to build a just society. This is relevant to a variety of service professions. This article was presented from a trans-disciplinary framework, and the term 'professional carers', including the social service and theology professions, was used. The discussion explored how academia can approach the development of curricula that will inform praxis and which is relevant to the African context. The terms 'Africanisation', 'decolonisation' and 'contextualisation' were linked, whereafter a developmental approach to the development of the content and presentation of academic material was proposed. The article is concluded with recommended strategic options for the development of Africanised curricula.


The identification of nonlinear cascade models has been widely studied as they often reflect the physical structure of practical nonlinear systems. The problem when using such models is to establish their structure and then to identify their linear subsystems. Both can be based on measured Volterra kernels. By performing tests with a pair of input signals, specially designed in order to measure these kernels, enough information can be gathered to separate the linear systems. A brief introduction is given to the measurement of Volterra kernels using periodic multisine signals. A method using combined tests is then proposed to estimate the non-parametric and parametric models of the linear sub-systems. An example is given for a simulated system with a second order nonlinearity.


This paper presents a fully integrated, four-stack, single-ended, single stage power amplifier (PA) for millimeter-wave (mmWave) wireless applications that was fabricated and designed using 45 nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor silicon on insulator (CMOS SOI) technology. The frequency of operation is from 20 GHz to 30 GHz, with 13.7 dB of maximum gain. The maximum RF (radio frequency) output power (Pout), power-added efficiency (PAE) and output 1 dB compression point are 20.5 dBm, 29% and 18.8 dBm, respectively, achieved at 24 GHz. The error vector magnitude (EVM) of 12.5% was measured at an average channel power of 14.5 dBm at the center of the the 3GPP/NR (third generation partnership project/new radio) FR2 band n258—i.e., 26 GHz—using a 100 MHz 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) 3GPP/NR orthogonal frequency division modulation (OFDM) signal.


Due to low hardware costs, availability of unlicensed spectrums and support of mobility, WLANs have been widely adopted in home, enterprise, hospital, and campus environments. These networks are used for various purposes including VOIP, data services and inventory management. The QoS in WLANs may be degraded due to a number of reasons such as environment changes, hidden terminals, and asymmetric relationships between wireless nodes and/or malicious usage. These problems are exacerbated by the fact that some chipset vendors do not fully comply with the IEEE 802.11 specifications, and give unfair access opportunities to their wireless devices. This paper introduces WiserAnalyzer, a passive monitoring tool to analyze WLANs for inference of nodal relationships, detection of malicious usage or incompliance to the IEEE 802.11 specification. We also present analysis of user activities based on traces collected from the University of Houston campus WLAN.


This work develops a new algorithm based on interval hydraulic state estimation for leakage detection in urban water distribution systems using pressure sensors and smart meters. The proposed approach takes into consideration the fact that water demand and network parameter uncertainties are unstructured, and models them as intervals defined by a corresponding upper and lower bound. The state estimation process yields bounded state estimates which are used in the creation of detection thresholds. A detection logic is used to determine whether the thresholds are violated as a result of a leakage fault event. The proposed methodology is demonstrated on a leakage benchmark dataset under various scenarios.


Identifying humans with their walking sequences, known as gait recognition, is a useful biometric understanding task as it can be observed from a long distance and does not require cooperation from the subject. Two common modalities used for representing the walking sequence of a person are silhouettes and joint skeletons. Silhouette sequences, which record the boundary of the walking person in each frame, may suffer from the variant appearances from carried-on objects and clothes of the person. Framewise joint detections are noisy and introduce some jitters that are not consistent with sequential detections. In this paper, we combine the silhouettes and skeletons and refine the framewise joint predictions for gait recognition. With temporal information from the silhouette sequences, we show that the refined skeletons can improve gait recognition performance without extra annotations. We compare our methods on four public datasets, CASIA-B, OUMVLP, Gait3D and GREW, and show state-of-the-art performance.


Scavenging of human remains by dogs can make the process of identification and analysis of perimortem trauma difficult. Numerous scientific studies have been published about the damage caused to osseous remains by dogs due to postmortem consumption orlethal attacks. However, few studies deal with the issue of the analysis of clothing associated with human remains.
The purpose of this investigation was to identify patterns of damage caused by domestic dogs to commonly used, woven textiles. Forty-five cloth bags were used (20 × 30 cm each), made by hand with three different types of woven textile (15 of each textile): stretch(polyester with elastic), denim, and polyester, with a thickness of 40.84, 57.95, and 31.46 threads per cm², respectively. The canine sample consisted of 15 dogs, differing in size, age, and sex, coming from the "Fundación Chile Mestizo," in Santiago, Chile. Through analysis of variance, researchers examined the relationship between the type of textile and presence of damage, and later, they calculated the frequency of damage according to type of textile. The statistical program Minitab 19 was used to do this. According to the results, four types of patterns were identified: puncture and mastication, present in 62% and 75% of the cases, respectively; perforation; and "hole and tear" damage in 91% of the analyzed cases. Regarding the relationship between textile type and frequency of damage, researchers found that the thickness and weight of the textile are directly connected to the type of damage.


The study objective is to analyze agro-exports of organic products and environmental security (certification) in Peru. Agro-exports are the second generator of foreign currency for Peru. The descriptive, comparative-graphical method and the polynomial curve are used. In 2019 traditional agro-exports and non-traditional agro-exports contributed 11% and 89% of total agro-exports respectively, the main markets were the United States (35%) and the Netherlands (15%). Peru is the world's leading exporter of native functional products (called superfoods) quinoa and maca. Quinoa is the most demanded native agro-export product internationally. It was found that during the period 2000-2019 the main Peruvian agro-exports of non-traditional products with a vertiginous growth are fruits and vegetables. For the year 2019, fruit agro-exports in terms of FOB value in millions of US - contribute 56% to the total of non-traditional agro-exports. The increase in fresh grapes, fresh blueberries and fresh avocados is remarkable. Environmental security in terms of the area for organic production affects 51% of agro-exports. Peru promotes organic production from the producer to the final consumer and the certification of organic products in the production, transformation and marketing processes.


Soil Chemical Methods – Australasia describes over 200 laboratory and field chemical tests relevant to Australasia and beyond. The information and methodology provided across 20 chapters is comprehensive, systematic, uniquely coded, up-to-date and designed to promote chemical measurement quality. There is guidance on the choice and application of analytical methods from soil sampling through to the reporting of results. In many cases, optional analytical 'finishes' are provided, such as flow-injection analysis, electro-chemistry, multiple flame technologies, and alternatives to chemical testing offered by near-range and mid-range infrared diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.

The book supersedes and updates the soil chemical testing section of the 1992 Australian Laboratory Handbook of Soil and Water Chemical Methods of Rayment and Higginson, while retaining method codes and other strengths of that Handbook. Chapters cover soil sampling, sample preparation and moisture content; electrical conductivity and redox potential; soil pH; chloride; carbon; nitrogen; phosphorus; sulphur; gypsum; micronutrients; extractable iron, aluminium and silicon; saturation extracts; ion-exchange properties; lime requirements; total miscellaneous elements; miscellaneous extractable elements; alkaline earth carbonates and acid sulfate soils. In addition, there are informative Appendices, including information on the accuracy and precision of selected methods.

This book targets practising analysts, laboratory managers, students, academics, researchers, consultants and advisors involved in the analysis, use and management of soils for fertility assessments, land use surveys, environmental studies and for natural resource management.


Background: Preparation of nerve ends is an essential part of nerve repair surgery. Multiple instruments have been described for this purpose; however, no consensus exists regarding which is the least traumatic for tissue handling. We believe that various instruments used for nerve-end excision will lead to different surface roughness. Methods: Median and ulnar nerves from fresh frozen cadavers were dissected, and 1–2 cm lengths were excised using a No. 11 blade, a razor blade, or a pair of scissors. Using electron microscopy, 3-dimensional surface analysis of roughness (Sa) for each specimen was performed using ZeeScan optical hardware and GetPhase software (PhaseView, Buisson, France). An ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test compared roughness measures among cutting techniques. Results: Forty nerves were included. Of these, 13 (32.5%) were cut using scissors, 15 (37.5%) using a razor blade, and 12 (30%) using a No. 11 blade. An ANOVA test showed statistical differences in Sa among the cutting techniques (P = 0.002), with the lowest mean Sa noted in the scissors group (7.2 µM, 95% CI: 5.34–9.06), followed by No. 11 blade (7.29 µM, 95% CI: 5.22–9.35), and razor blade (11.03 µM, 95% CI: 9.43–12.62). Median Ra (surface profile roughness) was 4.58 (IQR: 2.62–5.46). A Kruskal-Wallis test demonstrated statistical difference in Ra among techniques (P = 0.003), with the lowest by No. 11 blade (3 µM, IQR: 1.87–4.38), followed by scissors (3.29 µM, IQR: 1.56–4.96), and razor (5.41 µM, IQR: 4.95–6.21). Conclusion: This novel technique of 3-dimensional surface analysis found razor blade use demonstrated poor roughness, whereas a No. 11 blade or nerve-specific scissors led to equivocally smooth nerve ends.


This article reexamines Germaine Krull's seminal 1928 photo book Métal, tracing the implications of the speculative analogy drawn by the project between metal and photography. Following this analogy through nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century architectural discourse, it newly situates the photographer's investigation against Sigfried Giedion's contemporaneous theorizations of iron construction and modern photography. Rather than critiquing or celebrating industry, Krull focuses on metal as it manifests the peculiar and fraught experience of living amid large-scale technical systems. In a singular way, Métal mobilizes its driving analogy to invoke—and, moreover, to theorize photographically—the infrastructures organizing Western European modernity.


Results from an investigation of the electrochemical etching of silicon in KOH:H/sub 2/O and CsOH:H/sub 2/O solutions are presented. Current versus voltage (I-V) scans were performed on both n- and p-type silicon as a function of etchant concentration (20-60% by weight KOH and 25-70% by weight CsOH) and temperature (25-80 degrees C). Voltage scans were swept from potentials cathodic of the open-circuit potential (OCP) to potentials anodic of the passivation potential. The purpose of the I-V scans was to investigate systematically how varying etchant concentration and temperature affected the passivation potential and final passivation current density of n- and p-type silicon. The results of the I-V scans are used to help investigate conditions for optimizing the performance of three-electrode electrochemical etch stop on n/sup +/-p junction samples. A model is presented to describe the effect of reverse diode leakage on etch-stop performance which uses the previously measured electrochemical etching parameters. Experimental measurements of the etch stop are used to confirm the model.<<ETX>>


This paper presents a new transformer, i.e., the custom power active transformer (CPAT) which integrates both series and shunt power conditioning through power electronics into a single transformer. This is achieved through a distinct design of the magnetic circuit and auxiliary windings of the transformer. In this paper, a single-phase CPAT is proposed as well as a preface into its extension to multiphase systems. Through its magnetic equivalent circuit model, several design considerations and control limitations are revealed in the paper. Analysis of the resulting CPAT structure shows some prospects in material saving as well as size and cost reduction when compared to the traditional multitransformer-based configuration. In this paper, the proposed single-phase CPAT is utilized in a distribution system application, where the control architecture is designed to attenuate voltage and current distortions at both the load and the grid side, respectively. Performance and effectiveness of the proposed CPAT are evaluated through simulation and experiments.


This paper analyzes the impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions in developing countries. In this study we treat population as a predictor in the model, instead of assuming a unitary elasticity of emissions with respect to population growth. We contribute to the existing literature by examining the effect of urbanization, taking into account the presence of heterogeneity in the sample of countries and testing for the stability of the estimated elasticities over time. The sample covers the period from 1975 through 2005 for different groups of countries, classified according to their income levels. Our results show that, whereas the impact of population growth on emissions is above unity and only slightly different for upper, middle, and low-income countries, additional demographic variables, namely, urbanization, demonstrate a very different impact on emissions for low and lower-middle-income countries and upper-middle income countries. For the first set of countries, the elasticity, emission-urbanization, is higher than unity, whereas in the second group, the elasticity is 0.72, which is in accordance with the higher environmental impact observed in less developed regions. However, in upper-middle income countries and highly developed countries, the elasticity, emission-urbanization, is negative. The heterogeneous impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions should therefore be taken into account in future discussions of climate change policies.


In this paper, the development of a low cost fuel cell inverter system is detailed. The approach consists of a three-terminal push-pull dc-dc converter to boost the fuel cell voltage (48V) to /spl plusmn/200 VDC. A four switch [insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)] inverter is employed to produce 120-V/240-V, 60-Hz ac outputs. High performance, easy manufacturability, lower component count, safety and cost are addressed. Protection and diagnostic features form an important part of the design. Another highlight of the proposed design is the control strategy, which allows the inverter to adapt to the requirements of the load as well as the power source (fuel cell). A unique aspect of the design is the use of the TMS320LF2407 DSP to control the inverter. Two sets of lead-acid batteries are provided on the high voltage dc bus to supply sudden load demands. Efficient and smooth control of the power drawn from the fuel cell and the high voltage battery is achieved by controlling the front end dc-dc converter in current mode. The paper details extensive experimental results of the proposed design on Department of Energy (DoE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) fuel cell.


Satellite altimetry has been one of the most important implements for physical oceanographers. The conventional altimeter is best performed over open ocean surface, yet there are many attempts to exploit the potential of altimetry in coastal zone in the last decade. To achieve a high performance for coastal altimetry is a multi-fold effort: the more sophisticated instrument concepts, the smarter onboard trackers, the more expert data editing criteria, the more specific retracking algorithms, the more advanced error correction methods, etc. In this chapter, each of the above aspects is described in detail, and some representative works in the altimetry community are reviewed. Particularly, the coastal altimetry offshore Hong Kong is addressed as a case study to demonstrate the potential of the new technology. In the conclusive session, some prospects for the coastal oceanography community are presented.


The present work investigates the role of derivation for the development of lexical system in the Russian network. Specifically, it focuses on suffixation mechanisms that form verbal neologisms motivated by nouns. It describes the productivity of the different derivational models, their behaviour and underlines the influence of new lexemes on the relation between semantics and structure of the phrase, highlighting some peculiarities of Russian language in the Internet.


Abstraction plays an essential role in the way the agents plan their behaviours, especially to reduce the computational complexity of planning in large domains. However, the effects of abstraction in the inverse process – plan recognition – are unclear. In this paper, we present a method for recognising the agent's behaviour in noisy and uncertain domains, and across multiple levels of abstraction. We use the concept of abstract Markov policies in abstract probabilistic planning as the model of the agent's behaviours and employ probabilistic inference in Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN) to infer the correct policy from a sequence of observations. When the states are fully observable, we show that for a broad and often-used class of abstract policies, the complexity of policy recognition scales well with the number of abstraction levels in the policy hierarchy. For the partially observable case, we derive an efficient hybrid inference scheme on the corresponding DBN to overcome the exponential complexity.


We investigate a parallel machine multi-item lot-sizing and scheduling problem with a secondary resource, in which demands are given for the entire planning horizon rather than for every single period. All-or-nothing assumption of the discrete lot-sizing and scheduling problem is valid so that a machine is either idle or works at full capacity in a period. The objective is to minimise the number of setups and teardowns. We prove that the problem is NP-hard and present two equivalent formulations. We show some properties of the optimal objective value, give optimality conditions and suggest a heuristic algorithm. We discuss and formulate two possible extensions related to real-life applications. Finally, we carry out computational experiments to compare the two formulations, to determine the effect of our proposed modeling improvements on solution performance, and to test the quality of our heuristic.


Background: Heart failure still becomes a health problem in Indonesia. Overlap between signs and symptoms in heart failure and also many comobidities hampered a doctor to diagnose and treat. The purpose of this research was to describe heart failure patients in Kariadi hospital Semarang from January to December 2006 to find out the differences of heart failure comorbidity on the elderly with on the adult.
Method: This was a descriptive research with secondary data from medical record. The sample were medical records of heart failure patients in Kariadi hospital from January to December 2006 with ECG, echocardiography, and laboratory examination. Data about comorbidity are collected and analized by SPSS 15.0 for Windows program. The difference of heart failure comorbidity on the two groups were compared by Chi-square and Fisher's exact test.
Result: Comorbid that more often appear on the elderly were hypertension, type2 diabetes mellitus, renal insuficiency, coronary heart disease, valvuler heart disease, anemia, bronchiectasis, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma bronkhial, pneumonia, obesity, depresion, pericardial effusion, and hyponatremia. Comorbid that more often appear on the adult were atrial fibrilation, miocard infarct, pleural effusion, hypertensif retinopathy, diabetic retinopathy, dislipidemia, hypoalbuminemia, hyperuricemia.
Conclusion: Heart failure patients in Kariadi hospital in 2006 who have comorbidity were 64 (88,9 %). The most frequent comorbidity in the elderly were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, pneumonia, hypertensif retinopaty, renal insuficiency and anemia. The most frequent comorbidity on the adult were hypertension, hypertensif retinopaty, diabetes mellitus, atrial fibrilation, and hyperuricemia.
Key word: comorbid, heart failure, elderly, adult


Longleaf pine (LLP, Pinus palustris) has been reduced to 3–5% of its original range, but may be particularly resilient to conditions associated with climate change including drought, severe storms, and increased prevalence of pests. Despite the critical role of LLP in building climate resilient ecosystems, little is known about how landscape managers in the region have considered climate change in planning efforts. We gathered 83 publicly accessible natural resource management plans from the southeastern United States that included management of LLP ecosystems between 1999 and 2016. We used document analysis to identify how plans addressed climate change threats on LLP, considered climate change in identification of LLP ecosystems, and linked climate change to planned conservation actions for LLP ecosystems. Newer plans and plans from state agencies tended to include greater consideration of climate change than older plans, federal plans, and those developed by nongovernmental organizations (NGO) or Joint Venture partnerships. Additionally, state wildlife action plans and forest action plans tended to score higher than other types of plans, such as plans from the Department of Defense, U.S. Forest Service, and NGOs. Considering climate vulnerability in planning efforts of LLP ecosystems is an opportunity because LLP represents a hopeful context for conserving vulnerable wildlife species as ecosystems adapt and evolve. Limited consideration of climate change as a criterion for identifying or evaluating LLP ecosystems by agencies may result from climate discourse focusing on ecosystems most vulnerable, versus resilient to, climate change. A stronger focus on climate change in longleaf pine community restoration may help forest managers promote sustainable forests and more hopeful conservation planning in the Southeast United States.


The present work presents a study concerned with the project of a wind turbine. This task is basically shared in two steps. The first one is the blades aerodynamic project, with the purpose of taking more advantage of the wind kinetic energy and the second one is concerned with the mechanical project of the blades, in order to support the loads over the blades during the operation period. The graphical modeling and the mechanical project of the blades are performed with the computational softwares AutoCad® and Excel. The commercial code Ansys® is employed to analyze the mechanical resistance and the reliability of the blade. To perform the prediction of the wind action efforts over the blade is used the aerodynamic analysis including forces, such as: axial, tangential, weight and centrifugal ones, and aerodynamic momentum. The blades are composed of fiberglass shell reinforced with plastic material. Vertical and horizontal reinforcements of wood and carbon fiber, respectively, are also employed.


Islam is a religion of peace. This fact is borne by both Islamic teachings and the very name of "Islam." Islam, on the other hand, permits its followers to resort to armed struggle to repel military aggression, and indeed urge them to fight oppression, brutality, and injustice. The Qur'anic term for such a struggle is jihad. Yet for many in the West, jihad is nothing less or more than a holy war, i.e. a war to enforce one's religious beliefs on others. Is Islam a religion of peace, moderation, and tolerance, or is it one that directs its followers to kill infidels, encourages forced conversion, and intimidates the followers of other faiths? This monograph addresses this question


Background: Compared to young children or older adults, the prognoses of adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with cancer, i.e., those aged from 15 to 39 years, have not improved. In this study, we focused on soft tissue sarcoma (STS) in AYA patients and aimed to determine whether there is a correlation between the AYA age group and overall poor cancer survival in STS. We further aimed to determine which histologic subtypes are more common in AYA patients and investigate the cause of poor outcomes in this group. Methods: The medical records of 5853 Japanese patients diagnosed with STS between 2006 and 2013 were accessed from the Bone and Soft Tissue Tumor registry (BSTT). We analyzed and compared the epidemiological features of AYA patients with those of other age groups. The cancer survival rates were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazards models were used to analyze the prognostic factors for cancer survival. The primary endpoint for prognosis was the occurrence of tumor-related death. Results: On multivariate analysis, age was not a prognostic factor for poor cancer survival among these patients. Compared to the same categories in other age groups, the proportions of myxoid/round cell liposarcomas, synovial sarcomas, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST), primitive neuroectodermal tumor, and rhabdomyosarcoma in AYA patients were the highest, but none of the categories were signi�cantly more prevalent in AYA patients. The cancer survival rates of AYA patients with MPNST were poorer than those of the other age groups; however, AYA age was not a prognostic factor on multivariate analysis in MPNST patients. Conclusions: Our study is the �rst to investigate STS in AYA patients using the nationwide BSTT registry. Our �ndings demonstrate that AYA age is not a prognostic factor for poor cancer survival among those with STS in Japan.


The effect of two lubrication additives on the physical and chemical properties of refined soybean oil was studied. The two additives used were a complex blend of anti-oxidant; anti-wear and pour-point depressant-AP821 and AP820- used in the production of Super v and Visco 2000 brands of lubricants respectively. The physical and chemical properties of the soybean oil and base oil samples containing varying percent by volume of each additive were analysed. Results obtained show that the flashpoint of soybean oil increased from 256.6oC to 265oC and 284oC for the AP821 and AP820 additives respectively. This was better than the increase recorded for the base oil which increased from 208oC to 215 oC and 228oC for the AP821 and AP820 additives respectively. Other results obtained for pour point reduction, specific gravity and viscosity showed a positive effect of the additives on soybean oil.


As recreational and medical cannabis use increases in the U.S., the proliferation of novel cannabis products is expected to continue. Understanding cannabis product preferences and use patterns may inform public health and policy decisions. This study investigated similarities and differences in cannabis use patterns, product preferences, and beliefs about cannabis' subjective effects and therapeutic benefits among individuals with and without a medical cannabis card (MCC). Participants with an MCC completed individual interviews (N = 25; 40% male). Participants without an MCC completed focus groups (N = 31; 6-7 participants/group; 72% male). All sessions followed a semistructured agenda. Participants were queried about their use routines, reasons for using cannabis, and perceptions and experiences of subjective cannabis effects. Thematic analysis of coded transcripts revealed that MCC participants had structured, daily cannabis use routines whereas non-MCC participants' use routines were less structured. Product information including strain and cannabinoid composition were important to MCC participants whereas non-MCC participants primarily evaluated quality based on perceptual (e.g., olfactory) cues. Regardless of MCC status, participants reported misconceptions about cannabis' therapeutic benefits and agreed that the two primary cannabis strains-Indica and Sativa-produced primarily sedative and stimulant effects, respectively. Results have clinical, public health, and policy implications surrounding cannabis recommendation guidelines and ways providers can relay accurate information to patients seeking medical cannabis. Future research assessing demographic and geographic differences in cannabis product preferences and beliefs about medical cannabis use is warranted. Further, quantitative research is needed to evaluate whether cannabis' therapeutic value differs across products. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


In order to assess relationships between perceptions of anonymity and behaviors, a context independent instrument is required for measuring the perceptions of anonymity held by individuals.  To date, no such measurement instrument exists that has been shown to be reliable and valid.  The authors employ a rigorous design methodology to develop, test, and substantiate a reliable and valid instrument for measuring perceptions of anonymity across different contexts. The PA measure presented is a five item Likert scale designed to measure perceptions of anonymity across multiple contexts. Results from two separate EFA pilot tests (n=61 and n=60), a test-retest, and a CFA final test (n=292) indicate that the PA measure has good internal consistency reliability (a=.82), test-retest reliability, factorial validity, and a single factor structure. DOI:10.2458/azu_jmmss_v5i1_hite


Nonlinear vibrations of a steelpan are experimentally studied. Modal analysis reveals the existence of numerous modes displaying internal resonances of order two and three, enabling the structure to transfer energy from low or high frequency modes. The complicated dynamics in forced vibrations is precisely measured by following the different harmonics of the responses. Energy transfers are explained in light of high order couplings , and a simple model displaying 1:2:2 internal resonance is fitted to the experiments. The measurements reveals that mode couplings are activated for very low amplitudes of order 1/25 times the thickness, and that numerous modes are rapidly excited, giving rise to complex shape frequency response functions. This ease in transferring energy and coupling modes is a key feature for explaining the peculiar tone of the steelpan.


The ARC Display represents a significant advancement towards our vision of wearable displays for multimodal augmented reality systems. The ARC Display currently provides a unique theatre for stereoscopic viewing of computer-generated objects. Moreover, users within the environment may be tracked using commercially available tracking systems. In our environment, we use custom designed probes built on the Polaris optical tracking system.


A tamarisk thrips, Liothrips reuteri (Bagnall) (Thysanoptera: Tubulifera), collected on Tamarix from Mandali (Diyala Province) is recorded from Iraq for the first time. This also represents the first record of the genus Liothrips Uzel for this country. A current checklist of the tubuliferan thrips from Iraq is provided. The new records increase the known tubuliferan thrips reported in Iraq to 12 species in 6 genera representing two subfamilies of the family Phlaeothripidae. Diagnostic morphological characters and the geographical distribution of the newly recorded thrips are given.


The p38 members of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) family mediate various cellular responses to stress conditions, inflammatory signals, and differentiation factors. They are constitutively active in chronic inflammatory diseases and some cancers. The differences between their transient effects in response to signals and the chronic effect in diseases are not known. The family is composed of four isoforms, of which p38α seems to be abnormally activated in diseases. p38α and p38β are almost identical in sequence, structure, and biochemical and pharmacological properties, and the specific unique effects of each of them, if any, have not yet been revealed. This study aimed to reveal the specific effects induced by p38α and p38β, both when transiently activated in response to stress and when chronically active. This was achieved via large-scale proteomics and phosphoproteomics analyses using stable isotope labeling of two experimental systems: one, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) deficient in each of these p38 kinases and harboring either an empty vector or vectors expressing p38αWT, p38βWT, or intrinsically active variants of these MAPKs; second, induction of transient stress by exposure of MEFs, p38α−/−, and p38β−/− MEFs to anisomycin. Significant differences in the repertoire of the proteome and phosphoproteome between cells expressing active p38α and p38β suggest distinct roles for each kinase. Interestingly, in both cases, the constitutive activation induced adaptations of the cells to the chronic activity so that known substrates of p38 were downregulated. Within the dramatic effect of p38s on the proteome and phosphoproteome, some interesting affected phosphorylation sites were those found in cancer-associated p53 and Hspb1 (HSP27) proteins and in cytoskeleton-associated proteins. Among these, was the stronger direct phosphorylation by p38α of p53-Ser309, which was validated on the Ser315 in human p53. In summary, this study sheds new light on the differences between chronic and transient p38α and p38β signaling and on the specific targets of these two kinases.


In 1979, when a remote Diné (Navajo) community in New Mexico learned that under new federal self-determination guidelines it could establish its own school, it jumped at the opportunity. But just two years after the school's founding, conditions were so bad that teachers and community, in fear of a Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) takeover, mounted a full-scale rebellion against the school's leadership. Now, some thirty-five years later, the author, who witnessed the events described, recalls in intimate and painful detail this story—a moment in Native American educational history, he suggests, not without meaning for other Indigenous communities' ongoing quest for greater educational sovereignty.


Purpose
Demand for long-term care services increases with population aging. This study aims to develop a conceptual model of elderly customers' health-care experiences to explore the antecedents, mechanisms and outcomes of social participation in long-term care service organizations.

Design/methodology/approach
Using a two-phase data collection approach, this study collects data from 238 elderly customers in a long-term care service organization. The final data are analyzed through structural equation modeling.

Findings
The results show that care management efforts (i.e. customer education, perceived organization support, role modeling, perceived other customer support and diversity of activity) influence elderly customers' psychological states (i.e. self-efficacy and sense of community), leading to increased social participation. In addition, high levels of social participation evoke positive service satisfaction and quality of life, both of which alleviate switching intention.

Originality/value
This study is one of the first conclusive service studies focused on the role of elderly customers' social participation in their long-term care experience. The findings contribute to health-care service marketing and transformative service research, and expand understanding of elderly customers' health-care experience, especially in long-term care service settings.


Mitochondrial dysfunction is a potential causal factor in Parkinson's disease. We show here that acute exposure to the mitochondrial complex I inhibitor rotenone (30 –100 nM; 30 min) causes concentration-dependent suppression of single-pulse evoked dopamine (DA) release monitored in real time with carbon-fiber microelectrodes in guinea pig striatal slices, with no effect on DA content. Suppression of DA release was prevented by the sulfonylurea glibenclamide, implicating ATP-sensitive K (KATP ) channels; however, tissue ATP was unaltered. Because KATP channels can be activated by hydrogen peroxide (H2O2 ), as well as by low ATP, we examined the involvement of rotenone-enhanced H2O2 generation. Confirming an essential role for H2O2 , the inhibition of DA release by rotenone was prevented by catalase, a peroxide-scavenging enzyme. Striatal H2O2 generation during rotenone exposure was examined in individual medium spiny neurons using fluorescence imaging with dichlorofluorescein (DCF). An increase in intracellular H2O2 levels followed a similar time course to that of DA release suppression and was accompanied by cell membrane depolarization, decreased input resistance, and increased excitability. Extracellular catalase markedly attenuated the increase in DCF fluorescence and prevented rotenone-induced effects on membrane properties; membrane changes were also largely prevented by flufenamic acid, a blocker of transient receptor potential (TRP) channels. Thus, partial mitochondrial inhibition can cause functional DA denervation via H2O2 and KATP channels, without DA or ATP depletion. Furthermore, amplified H2O2 levels and TRP channel activation in striatal spiny neurons indicate potential sources of damage in these cells. Overall, these novel factors could contribute to parkinsonian motor deficits and neuronal degeneration caused by mitochondrial dysfunction.


The benzyl styryl sulfone, ON 01910.Na, is a novel anticancer agent that inhibits mitotic progression and induces apoptosis in most cancer cell lines. We examined the effect of ON 01910.Na on DNA damage– signaling molecules upstream of Cdc25C (Chk1, Chk2, and H2AX), as well as on Ran GTPase-activating protein 1 conjugated to small ubiquitin-related modifier 1 (RanGAP1 SUMO1), a mitosis coordinator. Prostate cancer, lymphoma, and leukemic cells were incubated with the drug for 4, 16, or 24 hours. Cell lysates were resolved on SDS-PAGE and analyzed by Western blot. Camptothecin and doxorubicin treatment caused activation/phosphorylation of DNA damage-responsive molecules by 4 hours, whereas ON 01910.Na did not do so. ON 01910.Na caused hyperphosphorylation of RanGAP1 SUMO1 within 4 hours that was sustained for more than 24 hours. Mild phosphorylation of Chk2 was observed only after 24-hour exposure, indicating that DNA damage response was not an initial effect of ON 01910.Na. MOLT-3 cells, synchronized by double-thymidine block, when released into a medium containing ON 01910.Na, accumulated mitotic cell number with a peak from 10 to 14 hours and remained near plateau for 20 hours, which corresponded with the time of RanGAP phosphorylation. ON 01910.Na had minimal effects on tubulin polymerization. These findings imply that ON 01910.Na neither induces DNA damage directly nor acts as a tubulin toxin. Its biological activity appears to rely on prolonged phosphorylation/hyperphosphorylation of RanGAP1 SUMO1. M-phase arrest and the consequent induction of apoptosis that follows could possibly be attributed to it. ON 01910.Na may act as an inhibitor of a RanGAP1 SUMO1 phosphatase or a stimulant of a new kinase. RanGAP1 SUMO1 appears to be a new target pathway for cancer chemotherapy. Cancer Res; 71(14); 1–9. 2011 AACR.


Scanning tunneling microscopy and low-energy electron diffraction have been used to study the adsorption and subsequent thermal desorption of molecular sulfur from the Si(001) surface. Room-temperature adsorption of sulfur resulted in the formation of an overlayer, displaying a high density of vacancies or defects, with the underlying Si(001) surface retaining the (2×1) reconstruction. Annealing this surface to 325 °C leads to the desorption of the sulfur overlayer and the appearance of coexisting c(4×4) and (2×1) surface reconstructions. Our data suggest that the c(4×4) reconstruction is an adsorbate-induced structure in which the sulfur creates defects during the desorption process. High-resolution filled- and empty-state images of the c(4×4) surface lead us to propose a missing-dimer defect model for this reconstruction.


The CCNG2 gene that encodes the unconventional cyclin G2 was one of the few genes up-regulated on anti–human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) antibody–mediated inhibition of HER2 signaling. The purpose of this study was to explore how HER2 signaling modulates cyclin G2 expression and the effect of elevated cyclin G2 on breast cancer cell growth. Treatment of breast cancer cells that overexpress HER2 (BT474, SKBr3, and MDAMB453) with the anti-HER2 antibody trastuzumab or its precursor 4D5 markedly up-regulated cyclin G2 mRNA in vitro and in vivo, as shown by real-time PCR. Immunoblot and immunofluorescence analysis with specific antibodies against cyclin G2 showed that anti-HER2 antibody significantly increased cyclin G2 protein expression and translocated the protein to the nucleus. Trastuzumab was not able to induce cyclin G2 expression in cells weakly expressing HER2 (MCF7) or in cells that had developed resistance to trastuzumab. Enforced expression of HER2 in T47D and MDAMB435 breast cancer cells reduced cyclin G2 levels. Collectively, these data suggest that HER2-mediated signaling negatively regulates cyclin G2 expression. Inhibition of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (LY294002), c-jun NH2-terminal kinase (SP600125), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/p70 S6 kinase (p70S6K; rapamycin) increased cyclin G2 expression. In contrast, treatment with inhibitors of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (SB203580), mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal–regulated kinase kinase 1/2 (U0126), or phospholipase Cγ (U73122) did not affect cyclin G2 expression. Anti-HER2 antibody in combination with LY294002, rapamycin, or SP600125 induced greater cyclin G2 expression than either agent alone. Ectopic expression of cyclin G2 inhibited cyclin-dependent kinase 2 activity, Rb phosphorylation, cell cycle progression, and cellular proliferation without affecting p27Kip1 expression. Thus, cyclin G2 expression is modulated by HER2 signaling through multiple pathways including phosphoinositide 3-kinase, c-jun NH2-terminal kinase, and mTOR signaling. The negative effects of cyclin G2 on cell cycle and cell proliferation, which occur without altering p27Kip1 levels, may contribute to the ability of trastuzumab to inhibit breast cancer cell growth. [Mol Cancer Ther 2007;6(11):2843–57]


Author(s): Swartz, Philip | Advisor(s): Widaman, Keith F. | Abstract: Students with low reading achievement experience difficulty accessing content area instruction. English learners from Hispanic homes traditional lag behind their English speaking counterparts. Previous research has identified various teaching methods that support reading achievement in English learners with particular emphasis on early grades. The current study adds to the existing literature by examining the effects of a small-group intervention cycle on middle school aged students. A small-group intervention was developed with components identified in the research literature on effective teaching methods for English learners. This cycle employed a gradual release of responsibility for instruction from the expert teacher to the students. Areas of reading acquisition receiving particular emphasis included phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, and comprehension. Students were assigned to treatment groups randomly from a stratified sample of English language proficiency and Lexile reading achievement scores. Analyses of variance and covariance were employed to evaluate the differences in reading outcomes for the two treatment groups. The results suggest that research-based small-group intervention can have positive effects on low performing middle school students and would be a useful strategy for intervention.


MIRELA is a high-level language and a rapid prototyping framework dedicated to systems where virtual and digital objects coexist in the same environment and interact in real time.Its semantics is given in the form of networks of timed automata, which can be checked using symbolic methods. This paper shows how to detect various kinds of indefinite waitings in the components of such systems. The method is experimented using the PRISM model checker.


The area of Ounjougou consists of a series of gullies cut through Upper Pleistocene and Holocene formations on the Dogon Plateau in the Sahel at the south edge of the Sahara Desert. Here the authors have chronicled a stratified sequence of human occupation from the tenth to the second millennium BC, recording natural and anthropogenic strata containing artefacts and micro- and macro- palaeoecological remains, mostly in an excellent state of preservation. They present a first synthesis of the archaeological and environmental sequence for the Holocene period, define five main occupation phases for Ounjougou, and attempt to place them within the context of West African prehistory.


Background and Study Aims: Small-bowel surveillance with polypectomy of polyps ≥15 mm prevents complications in patients with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS). We aimed to compare magnetic resonance enteroclysis (MRE) and double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) for diagnostic yield of these polyps and for patient preference. Materials and Methods: PJS patients prospectively underwent MRE followed by proximal DBE within 20 weeks. Endoscopists were blinded to the MRE results. We compared number of polyps ≥15 mm detected by MRE and DBE. Patients' perceptions of both procedures were assessed using questionnaires. Results: Fifteen PJS patients (67% males, median age 47 y) underwent both MRE and DBE. Polyps ≥15 mm were identified by MRE and/or DBE in 12/15 (80%) patients. There was no significant difference in the detection of polyps ≥15 mm (38 by MRE vs. 50 by DBE, P=0.37). Sensitivity for these polyps was 62% (38/61) for MRE and 82% (50/61) for DBE. Patients' perceived shame and burden did not differ significantly between MRE and DBE. Patients reported significantly more pain during preparation for MRE than for DBE (moderate vs. no pain, P=0.02), although perceived pain during the procedures was comparable (both mild, P=0.89). For future small-bowel surveillance 10/13 (77%) patients preferred DBE over MRE (P=0.09). Conclusions: Our results suggest that MRE and DBE have a comparable diagnostic yield of polyps ≥15 mm. However, DBE allows for direct intervention and was preferred over MRE by most patients in this series. Larger cohorts of PJS patients are needed to fully evaluate the diagnostic yield of DBE compared with other modalities.


Intestinal transplantation (ITx) has evolved in the past few decades moving from an experimental procedure to a life-changing modality for patients suffering from intestinal failure (IF). It is particularly for those with complications as a consequence of parenteral nutrition and/or who have a high risk of dying due to their underlying disease. In addition to this, intestinal transplantation is also increasingly considered for the treatment of conventionally unresectable abdominal tumors. With advancements in immunosuppressive drugs, induction regimens, standardization of surgical techniques and improved postoperative care, survival is increasing. The ultimate goal for intestinal transplantation would be to become as good and safe as total parenteral nutrition (TPN) and as such, it could become a viable first-line option of intestinal failure.