Leaders who leverage difference are able to take a fresh stance! This note explores the proposition that the "diversity is good for business" premise is a function of individuals' and organizations' inability to fully capitalize on the impact diversity can have on broad organizational functioning. In an attempt to bridge this gap, the note proposes a new diversity model that focuses on what needs to be in place in order to leverage difference, not merely tolerate, appreciate, or celebrate it.


Being a developing nation, India is undergoing several issues in its journey from being developing to developed. Out of these issues' proper management of waste and unemployment are two major hurdles in its journey of growth and prosperity. The Press Information Bureau states that the approx. 62 million tonnes waste is generated annually in India & the count of unemployed people in India is reduced to 44.85 Million from 48.26 Million if we compare the data of 2016 & 2014. But this decrease in value of unemployed people is still less to achieve the status of developed and prosperous nation. Hence the focus of the study mentioned in this paper is to convert the problem of waste management into a fruitful solution of providing employment opportunities to skilled, un-skilled and semi-skilled people which will lead to clear and hygienic atmosphere. Presently India is the sixth-largest economy of the world by nominal GDP and in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) it is the Third Largest. India is playing a vital role in the world's economy but the first question which comes in our mind after knowing this, is "What is the contribution status of India in terms of world's environmental concern? "As per the data provided by authorities such as Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, India is producing around 60-65 metric tonnes waste per year basis. But our main concern should be, that we are still not able to Re-utilize more than 20% of the total waste generated per year. Challenges are very common and basic like unsegregated waste, unsystematic waste collection, inappropriate recycling and unscientific disposal and so on. India has the capacity of generating 2.54 GW electricity by using Waste to Energy process. In coming few years India's waste management market has the potential to give the additional support to the nation's economy with the worth of 14 billion USD with the rapid annual growth rate of 7 %. Thus, we need to improve all related challenges and should focus on making our nation clean, healthy and prosperous in terms of economy and environment.


Purpose of the toolkit This toolkit has been written to assist landholders, community groups and restoration practitioners monitor the outcomes of revegetation projects for biodiversity in rainforest landscapes. By 'revegetation', we mean a range of on-ground works including the reforestation of cleared land and the enhancement or restoration of existing remnants. The toolkit protocols can also be used to track the recovery of rainforest from disturbance events, such as cyclones. The toolkit was developed from research conducted in tropical and subtropical Australia, with help from restoration practitioners and natural resource managers. Scope of the toolkit Version 1 of this toolkit includes protocols and proformas to monitor 'basic indicators' of the biodiversity outcomes of revegetation projects. These are aspects of forest structure that provide information on the development of a revegetation project and are correlated with the use of revegetated sites by rainforest wildlife. Users of the toolkit do not require specialist botanical or zoological knowledge, but need to have basic field survey skills. There are five sections to the toolkit: 1. Background information on monitoring and revegetation. 2. Information on the design of monitoring programs. 3. Proformas for recording the on-ground works done in a revegetation project. 4. Protocols and proformas for monitoring 'basic indicators' of revegetation projects. 5. Information on data management, analysis and evaluation. Data entry, analysis and evaluation A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet has been written to accompany this version of the toolkit, to help store, analyse and summarise the data collected from monitoring revegetated sites. The spreadsheet includes: 剡 page of explanatory notes; 剰ages to record data from monitoring surveys of a revegetated site (a baseline survey and up to eight follow-up surveys); 剰ages to record data from surveys of (up to five) reference sites; 剡 page which automatically summarises the data; and 剡 page which creates graphs of trends in the revegetated site over time, and compares these trends with values recorded in reference sites. Proformas for keeping records and monitoring projects. A Microsoft Word version is available of the proformas used in the Monitoring Toolkit for (i) keeping records of on-ground works, and (ii) monitoring 'basic indicators'. Updates from previous versions of the toolkit The initial version of the 'monitoring toolkit' was released in June 2006. Changes in the revised version are mostly to wording, in an attempt to make the protocols and proformas easier to follow. There have been no substantive changes to the monitoring protocols themselves. The accompanying Excel file has also been revised. For further information, contact: firstname.lastname@example.com or email@example.com


Introduction: Proper storage conditions and maintenance of viable biological material plays an important role in microbiological research, allowing for the opportunity to conduct future studies. Objective: To evaluate the viability of Streptococcus mutans strains that were previously grown and stored under different temperatures for approximately eight years. Material and method: In this study, we evaluated 393 bacterial isolates that were stored in a freezer at -80°C (G1) and 200 isolates stored in a freezer at -20°C (G2). Aliquots of each sample were plated on blood agar and mitis-salivarius bacitracin sucrose agar-solidified medium. After incubating under microaerophilic conditions in an incubator at 37°C for 72 hours, the presence, morphology and purity of bacterial growth was observed. The data were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics. Result: Microbial viability was observed in almost all samples (99.7%) in G1, whereas all isolates stored at -20°C were considered inviable. Conclusion: The viability of S. mutans is influenced by the storage temperature of the samples, and the strains remain viable when stored under ideal temperature conditions (-80°C), even when stored for a long period of time. Descriptors: Streptococcus mutans; dental cavity; microbial viability.


The assessment of teaching plays an important role within the Italian university. In 1993, the norm 537 / 93 established a national and local university evaluation system having the duty to monitor the productivity of
research and of teaching. In accordance with this norm, Italian universities created theirNV (Nucleo di Valutazione) and began to operate in the wide and complex set of assessment activities. This has contributed to
the collection of material relating to di ff erent aspects: the evaluation of university research, Students Evaluation of Teaching (SET), the analysis of student career by the universities.
The presence of a rating system has encouraged the formalization of "quality procedures" that are based on an internal and an external activity.
The former refers to the process of maintaining and improving the quality,the latter to periodic quality assessment. A meaningful assessment,internal or external, requires the collection of points of view of those who participate in an important way to the training process. So it is necessary to take into account not only the opinions of professional trainers (teachers at various levels and roles) but also students' opinions. The SET takes into
account students' opinions through an evaluation form (questionnaire): this contains a set of compulsory items for all universities and it is structured
in sections concerning several aspects of university courses (teaching,management aspects, class facilities, etc...)
The main purpose of this study is to measure the concept of quality of teaching in the opinion of students at the University of Palermo. This concept is considered a latent variable that cannot be directly observable
and measurable. In order to measure the latent variable the construct needs to be operationalized in terms of a certain number of dimensions, which are measured through a set of indirect variables or a battery of items. In the
psychometrical and psychological literature, multi-item Likert type scales are the main tools for measuring an underlying theoretical concept, which is not directly observable. So we can assess the quality of university courses obtaining an approximation of the true measure by indirect measurements provided by students' ratings.
Rating is an indicator of the level of the specific attribute that it is supposed to be measured by that item. Obviously, it is necessary to emphasize that
the result depends on subjective factors, since each student is influenced by his / her own needs and expectations, which on the other hand depend on the
di ff erent cultural backgrounds and the di ff erent socio-economic conditions.
Apart from the methodological nature of the results, we should not forget that the point of view from which the evaluation originates is the opinion
of students. So, due to the presence of heterogeneity of the opinions of students, you cannot expect to arrive at a measure of the quality of teaching based on a system of shared values.


Abstract  There is limited data available on the electrical activity of the rectum. An in vivo canine model was developed to record 240 extracellular electrograms simultaneously from the serosal surface of the rectum thereby enabling an off‐line reconstruction of the behaviour of the electrical signals. Serosal rectal electrical activity is characterized by brief bursts of action potentials (=spikes) with a frequency of 22 cycles min−1. High‐resolution mapping of these signals revealed predominant propagation of these spikes in the longitudinal direction, originating from any site and conducted for a limited time and length before stopping spontaneously, thereby describing a patch of activity. The dimension of the patches in the longitudinal direction was significantly longer than the transversal width (13.6 vs 2.4 mm; P < 0.001). Spike propagation could occur in the aboral (46% of cases), in the oral (34%) or in both directions (20%). A bolus of betanechol (i.v., 0.5 mg kg−1) increased the frequency of the spikes without affecting size, shape or orientation of the patches. As in other parts of the gastrointestinal system, individual spike propagation in the rectum is limited to small areas or patches. The contractile activity of the organ could possibly reflect this underlying pattern of electrical behaviour.


A secret sharing scheme typically requires secure communications in each of two distribution phases: (1) a dealer distributes shares to participants (share distribution phase); and later (2) the participants in some authorised subset send their share information to a combiner (secret reconstruction phase). While problems on storage required for participants, for example, the size of shares, have been well studied, problems regarding the communication complexity of the two distribution phases seem to have been mostly neglected in the literature so far. In this correspondence, we deal with several communication related problems in the secret reconstruction phase. Firstly, we show that there is a tradeoff between the communication costs and the number of participants involved in the secret reconstruction. We introduce the communication rate as the ratio of the secret size and the total number of communication bits transmitted from the participants to the combiner in the secret reconstruction phase. We derive a lower bound on the communication rate and give constructions that meet the bound. Secondly, we show that the point-to-point secure communication channels for participants to send share information to the combiner can be replaced with partial broadcast channels. We formulate partial broadcast channels as set systems and show that they are equivalent to the well-known combinatorial objects of cover-free family. Surprisingly, we find that the number of partial broadcast channels can be significantly reduced from the number of point-to-point secure channels. Precisely, in its optimal form, the number of channels can be reduced from n to O(log n), where is the number of participants in a secret sharing scheme. We also study the communication rates of partial broadcast channels for the secret reconstruction.


Static security assessment within a power system requires: (a) building a scenario of the power system network that represents the state of the network for a particular time spot and (b) running a number of static security assessment tools that could be very time consuming. Short term forecasting of power system scenarios is required to foresee potential network problems and anticipate preventive or corrective measures to be taken under credible contingencies, thus increasing the reliability of the operation of the grid. The aim of this paper is to predict the values of switched shunt devices, i.e., reactors and capacitors in a short-term time scope (24 -36 hours ahead) in order to build a power system scenario. A methodology based on decision trees is proposed and its performance is validated by forecasting the reactive output of the shunt components of the Spanish power system.


In this article, we will present two case studies of language and cultural practices that are part of or strongly related to carnival, in the Dutch peripheral province of Limburg, and more precisely in the southern Limburgian city of Heerlen, which in turn is considered peripheral vis-a-vis the provincial capital Maastricht. We will consider carnival as a political force field in which opposing language and cultural practices are involved in the production of belonging as an official, public-oriented 'formal structure' of membership, and belonging as a personal, intimate feeling of being 'at home' in a place (placebelongingness) (Antonsich 2010; Yuval-Davis 2006). In the case studies presented here, we take seriously the idea that ideology, linguistic form and the situated use of language are dialectically related (Silverstein 1985). In doing so, we wish to transcend disciplinary boundaries between anthropology and (socio)linguistics in Europe.


It has been observed that Astronauts in prolonged Zero-g space flight have issues with cardiovascular deconditioning during transition into 1-g and may experience fainting (orthostatic hypotension). High priority has been given to maintaining Astronaut health, safety, and performance during long duration missions. The purpose of this study is to simultaneously collect echocardiographic data and impedance cardiographic data from test participants in both 1-g and Lunar-g (1/6g) conditions during parabolic flight in a Zero-G aircraft. This data will be used to develop countermeasures to mitigate risks to neurobehavioral functions and to enhance the health, performance, and safety of crews during extended duration spaceflight. It is expected that from the data collected, real-time mathematical models will be created which will be capable of extrapolating relevant cardiovascular dynamics, such as stroke volume, cardiac output, cardiac index, and ventricular ejection time, from impedance cardiography measurements. The real time display of these measurements can help crew members understand what is happening to their body and, through Autogenic Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE), be able to control their cardiac output, helping their transition from Zero-g to planetary-g.


The current study investigates the relationships among ethnicity and culture and offending in an incarcerated sample of 242 young offenders in New South Wales, Australia. Findings indicated greater similarities between young offenders from Indigenous and English speaking background (ESB) than between these two groups and culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) young offenders. CALD young offenders made up 15% of the sample and were disproportionably more likely to commit a violent offence. Compared with Indigenous and ESB offenders, CALD offenders reported less social disadvantage and lower levels of substance abuse. Compared with CALD offenders, ESB and Indigenous offenders were more likely to commit a crime either under the influence of, or to obtain drugs or alcohol. Indigenous offenders began offending earlier than the other two groups and committed a larger number of offences. CALD offenders were more likely to commit the more serious offences of aggravated sexual assault and homicide than ESB or Indigenous young offenders. Compared with both ESB and CALD groups, Indigenous offenders reported more troubled family backgrounds and higher levels of conduct disorder. A number of factors amenable to policy interventions contribute to such observations, such as differential levels of substance use and social disadvantage, and issues leading to overrepresentation of particular cultural groups in the juvenile justice system. The similarities between ESB and Indigenous young offenders on most of the factors assessed in this study, based on commonalities in the kind and relative degree of social disadvantage experienced by these two groups, warrants closer attention.


The crop association in the vegetable gardens should be performed considering the effects they will produce and that some plants deliver higher yields, are tastier and are more resistant to diseases and pests, depending on the plants in their vicinity. Determining the compatibility of the vegetable plants provides a decrease of the diseases attack and a qualitative and more stable production. The association of tomatoes with aromatic herbs, medicinal plants or vegetables pertaining to botanical families indicates the beneficial influence that some species exert in decreasing the pests attack and also the influence on the harvested fruits quality. The attraction of the beneficial fauna due to the presence of flowering plants within the crop and the association with repellent plants may diminish the incidence of pest attack. The presence of aromatic plants like coriander and basil resulted in attracting pollinators and confusing tomato crop specific pests. The presence of peas in catch crop led to a better management of the existing resources in the soil and also provided a production increase of 20%. Use of a large number of vegetables species, aromatic and medicinal flowers created the circumstances of a balanced culture system in which the pests were kept below the harm threshold. This study aims to examine both the inter and intraspecific relations between tomato plants and the associated species, and how they influence the physiological processes and also the yield quality and quantity.


An experimental investigation into the behavior of gravel and mixed (sand and gravel) beaches was carried out at the 3-D Wave Basin located at Franzius-Institute (Marienwerder) of University of Hannover, at a nominal scale of 1:1. The experiment aimed to provide full scale measurements of cross-shore processes on gravel and mixed beaches, during an oblique wave attack, with uniform slope and a trench. Measurements included sediment transport, cross-shore beach profiles and wave-induced currents, for regular and random wave tests, for both types of beaches. Analysis of both cross-shore and long-shore currents shown interesting behaviour for both gravel and mixed beach, especially at the trench. There were morphological differences between the two types of beach concerning the crest and the step formation, the onshore sediment movement, and the erosion below the SWL, concluding the general difference of their mobility.


This article provides an exploratory model that assesses the factors that influence formalisation of information systems (IS) for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in sub-Saharan Africa drawing on data gathered in Botswana. The paper defines four levels of formalisation of IS for SMEs and identifies the internal and external factors that influence the process of IS formalisation. Key findings demonstrate a strong reliance on informal information practices amongst SMEs, alongside widespread unmet demand for formal information. It is also observed that successful enterprise development requires optimum use of both formal and informal IS. Evidence suggests this is achieved through developing the necessary internal capabilities and skills for information handling, including use of information and communication technology (ICT) and by forging key external market linkages – a duality of factors that constitute two key drivers for formalisation. The paper discusses the implications of the study for information systems in general and for the practice of information systems in SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa in particular.


In the investigation, the continuous extrusion forming (CONFORM) process of aluminum alloy rectangular hollow conductor has been studied by three-dimensional finite-element method based on Software DEFORM-3D. The rigid-viscoplastic constitutive equation was employed in the model. Distributions of velocity field, strain field, stress field and temperature field were obtained in the forming process. The results will give effective guidelines to optimize the processing parameters and to select, the die structure and die materials.


We have investigated the performance of the OLYP and O3LYP density functionals for predicting atomic excitation energies and ionization potentials, and bond dissociation energies, geometries, and vibrational frequencies for selected first‐row transition metal compounds, including hydrides (MH) and singly charged methylene and methyl cations. The OLYP and O3LYP functionals are similar to the well‐known BLYP and B3LYP functionals, respectively, but use a new optimized exchange functional (OPTX) developed by Handy and Cohen (Mol Phys 2001, 99, 403) in place of the standard B88 exchange. A previous study by us on organic reactions (J Chem Phys 2002, 117, 1331) indicated that both OLYP and O3LYP gave results for heats of reaction and barrier heights that were overall superior to those using the popular B3LYP functional. For transition metals, however, although OLYP is overall superior to BLYP for molecular calculations, it is inferior to B3LYP. O3LYP provides results for molecules of about the same quality as B3LYP. For atomic excitation and 4s ionization energies, unless relativistic effects are included, OLYP and O3LYP are clearly worse than both BLYP and B3LYP. There is thus no real incentive to use either OLYP or O3LYP in place of B3LYP for calculations involving first‐row transition metals. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 24: 1184–1191, 2003


Most of the thinkers that have built the backbones of the rule of law cannot be defined as "jurists" in the strict sense of the term. Or, more to the point, to apply this definition to them is extremely limiting, if not completely wrong, in consideration of the extent of their reflections and interests. John Locke, Montesquieu, Thomas Jefferson, John Stuart Mill (and many others), even though many of them not "technicians of law", forged some of the theoretical instruments that are indispensable even now to those engaged in constitutional law (from a technical point of view). Cesare Beccaria can certainly be included among these figures.
After the advent of the constitutional State, western legal systems have been keen to include the main lines of Beccaria's thought among their fundamental principles (with regard to criminal law). Nevertheless, in the reality of many constitutional States, sporadic or structural aspects remain, which demonstrate how Beccaria's lesson has not been completely learned; for this reason we must insist on its up-to-dateness, rather than simply collocating it among the noble relics of the history of thought.


With the need for electronic services to be developed and deployed more and more rapidly, it is imperative that concrete models of electronic services are developed, to facilitate systematic work of electronic service stakeholders, concrete semantics, and coherent representations across services developed within an organisation. Using the XML language to develop such a model offers a number of additional advantages, such as rich semantics, facilitation of data interchange, extensibility, high abstraction levels, and possibility for mechanical processing. In this paper, we present the design aspects of an XML model for electronic services, which has been used for building a repository of interlinked elements representing e-services. A web-based interface for the management of this repository and a tool for automatically compiling e-service descriptions into executable images have been developed alongside. The model has been evaluated by a mixture of electronic service stakeholders, and the results of this evaluation are also presented.


The potential of recovering the topology of a grid using solely publicly available market data is explored here. In contemporary whole-sale electricity markets, real-time prices are typically determined by solving the network-constrained economic dispatch problem. Under a linear DC model, locational marginal prices (LMPs) correspond to the Lagrange multipliers of the linear program involved. The interesting observation here is that the matrix of spatiotemporally varying LMPs exhibits the following property: Once premultiplied by the weighted grid Laplacian, it yields a low-rank and sparse matrix. Leveraging this rich structure, a regularized maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is developed to recover the grid Laplacian from the LMPs. The convex optimization problem formulated includes low rank-and sparsity-promoting regularizers, and it is solved using a scalable algorithm. Numerical tests on prices generated for the IEEE 14-bus benchmark provide encouraging topology recovery results.


The roles of fibrinolysis, fibrinogen, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 in the development of coronary heart disease are reviewed, and possible effects of long-term treatment with beta-blockade are discussed. Decreased fibrinolysis is associated with coronary artery disease, and coronary thrombus formation is the most frequent event precipitating myocardial infarction. Recently, it has also been shown that high levels of fibrinogen and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 are predictors for myocardial infarction. Because beta-blockers are used to treat hypertension, angina, and myocardial infarction, it is important to determine the impact of beta-blockers on fibrinolysis. Several factors influence fibrinolysis. Some forms of stress and epinephrine infusions increase fibrinolysis, probably by stimulating beta 2-adrenoceptors. Nonselective beta-blockers may adversely affect this process, whereas beta 1-selective antagonists and those with intrinsic sympathomimetic activity may not. Since prostacyclin synthesis is correlated to increased fibrinolytic activity and since beta-blockers may moderate stress-induced reductions in prostacyclin formation, beta-blockers may have the potential to exert a beneficial effect on fibrinolysis in chronic stress situations. The net effect of beta-blockade is not easily predicted and probably depends on the nature of the stress (whether it is acute or chronic), the status of the patient, and the selectivity of the beta-blocker. Nevertheless, it remains a possibility that beta-blockers may exert a positive therapeutic effect in relation to coronary thrombosis by an action on fibrinolytic mechanisms.


In order to use Synechocystis PCC 6803 as feedstock of nonpetroleum-based diesel fuel, pulsed electric field (PEF) technology was used for cell disruption prior to extraction of intracellular lipids. Severe cell disruption was evident after PEF treatment, especially with treatment intensity (TI) > 35 kWh/m(3). Temperature increase during the treatment brought about most of the destruction of autofluorescence compounds, as well as a fraction of inactivation and the destruction of the plasma and thylakoid membranes. However, the forces associated with the pulsing electric field caused significant damage to the plasma membrane, cell wall, and thylakoid membrane, and it even led to complete disruption of some cells into fragments, which resulted in biomass loss. Treatment by PEF enhanced the potential for the low-toxicity solvent isopropanol to access lipid molecules during subsequent solvent extraction, leading to lower usage of isopropanol for the same extraction efficiency. Thus, PEF shows promise for lowering the costs and environmental effects of the lipid-extraction step.


In this paper we address the use of mobile phone location data to build urban sensing applications. In the past decade, several research works have proposed the use of different types of location data from the telecommunication network to characterise people mobility in the city. Thus, several applications to infer urban dynamics where proposed. However, different papers have used different types of mobile phone location data, making it is difficult to understand whether a particular dataset provided by a telecom operator is indeed effective for a specific urban sensing application. In this paper we address this issue by comparing the quality of the insights extracted from different types of mobile phone location data, with specific reference to two urban sensing applications: people count by location, and people flow between locations. Experiments executed on a real dataset provided by a telecom operator in Belgium show the advantages of using network-driven mobile phone location data (collected regardless on whether people are using their phone) compared to the widely used Call Detail Records.


The thesis is about artistic research – what it is, or what it could be. And it is about the place that artistic research could have in academia, within the whole of academic research. It is also about the ways we speak about such issues, and about how the things we say (in this study and elsewhere) cause the practices involved to manifest themselves in specific ways, while also setting them into motion. In this sense, the thesis not only explores the phenomenon of artistic research in relation to academia, but it also engages with that relationship. This performative dimension of the thesis is interwoven with its constative and interpretive dimensions. If the thesis succeeds in its aims, it will not only advance knowledge and understanding of artistic research, but it will further the development of this emerging field.


In view of improving the understanding of the loss mechanisms existing on a compact turbine driving a cryogenic engine turbo-pump for a satellite delivering rocket, a new perspective on how the aspect ratio of turbine blades affects the secondary and profile losses is presented. This perspective, originally based on published experimental data, is further developed by a series of back-to-back highly resolved computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulations, with the aim of acquiring further insight into the dynamics of the secondary vortices, and the intermediate boundary layer flow for varying blade heights. The main outcome redefines the extreme cases and the partition of losses between secondary and profile, and establishes a new critical ultra-low aspect ratio of 0.35 as a threshold distinguishing two different behaviors. The final venue of this new perspective is the possibility to further improve existing off-design turbine loss models, like those presented by Craig–Cox and Ainley–Mathieson.


Abstract Spontaneous cerebrospinal otorrhoea is a rare complication of a cholesteatoma. The histological findings in a temporal bone from such a case are reported. The cholesteatoma had eroded deeply through the vestibule into the internal auditory meatus.


On 16th July 2019 the Department for Transport (DfT) announced a two-year long review into
roads policing and traffic enforcement to highlight best practice and identify gaps in service.
The road safety minister stated that "we have strong laws in place to ensure people are kept
safe on our roads at all times. But roads policing is a key deterrent in stopping drivers breaking
the law and risking their and other people's lives."1 The authors are largely in agreement with
this statement but, as we found through our recent research into the enforcement of driving
offences, enforcement is inconsistent and variable, both in the resources allocated to
enforcement and in the way in which the present law is interpreted and enforced. We will set
out some of the most important findings in this article. Some of the initiatives we examined
have been recognised by the DfT in its Road Safety Action Plan, published a few days after the review was announced


Background Prognostic assessment for cutaneous melanoma (CM) is based primarily on histological features. The role of 18F-flurodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) PET is limited to the detection and localization of metastases. Observations of diffuse cutaneous uptake of 18F-FDG in some patients with CM, and subsequent disease progression, warranted further investigation. Methods We identified nine patients (mean age 64 years; six men and three women) with CM and diffuse cutaneous uptake of 18F-FDG on PET scans performed between 2006 and 2011. Results A review of their medical records revealed that seven patients had rapidly progressive disease and one patient experienced slower disease progression. In the ninth patient, 18F-FDG uptake was attributable to benign lymphoedema. Disease progression manifested as local recurrences at the site of diffuse cutaneous uptake in seven patients; distant metastases were observed in eight patients. Three patients died from melanoma during follow-up at 2, 5 and 18 months following the PET. Conclusion Diffuse cutaneous uptake of 18F-FDG was an adverse prognostic marker in these patients. This pattern of uptake may be attributable to the local spread of melanoma cells within the cutaneous lymphatics, leading to inflammation. This cutaneous area may act as a reservoir of melanoma cells. If this is confirmed, the role of PET will be expanded to include the identification of a subset of patients for whom aggressive and targeted management is warranted.


The core of this study is a contextual, critical and analytical study of the life and work of Josip Stolcer Slavenski (1886-1955). It consists of a brief outline of nineteenth-century socio-political, cultural and musical trends in the former Yugoslavia which serves as a broader context for the period of Moderna (avant-garde). This movement, which attempted to embrace new ideas and developments of mainstream western Europe, emerged at the end of the nineteenth century and played a major role in Slavenski's musical development. Parucular reference to Slavenski's circumstances are examined in the biographical chapter and his periods of study in Budapest, Prague and Paris are discussed, as is the important recognition of his music at the Donaueschingen Festival in the 1920s, and how the changing political climate of Yugoslavia, from monarchy to republic, influenced Slavenski's political and national affiliations. With this contextual backdrop, which includes reference to a number of Slavenski's contemporaries - namely Kodaly, Bartok, Suk, Novak, Hindemith, composers of the Second Viennese School, and his own Croatian, Serbian and Slovenian compatriots, the dissertation focusses on particular aspects of Slavenski's work with special emphasis on his use of Balkan folk music, his autodidactic theories of 'Astroacoustics', the expressionist fabric of his music, and the socialist realism of his later works during the 1940s and 1950s.In attempting to illuminate the nature of the 'Slavenski phenomena', this work also offers certain suggestions as to what might have been the reasons for the neglect and creative aridity of his later years. Furthermore, it is hoped that the conclusions of this study may in themselves provide an impetus for further research into Slavenski's work which has received little attention in English-speaking musicology.


AbstractConstruction delays are common in construction industry and create major concerns for project performance. Construction delays are caused by many factors. The aim of this paper is to identify delay factors on construction projects and analyze these factors with the relative importance index method. For this purpose, 83 different delay factors were identified, categorized into nine major groups, and visualized by the Ishikawa (fishbone) diagram through detailed literature review and interviews with experts from the construction industry. The relative importances of these delay factors were quantified by the relative importance index method. The ranking of the factors and groups were demonstrated according to their importance level on delay. According to the case study results, the factors and groups contributing the most to delays (those needing attention) were discussed, and some recommendations were made to minimize and control delays in construction projects.


Background: Cardio-vascular disease (CVD) is one of the main cause of mortality Worldwide and India is no exception. Unlike developed countries, where both CVD prevalence and mortality has been established to affect lower socio-economic status (SES), in India there is no consensus among researchers over socio-economic patterning of CVD prevalence but the mortality rate has been reported to disproportionately affect the economically weaker sections. Aims & Objectives: This article, focuses at the issue of how lack of good healthcare facilities and non-supportive health policies are affecting CVD mortality positively among lower SES of India. Challenges of the Indian healthcare system in context of lower SES can be described in terms of the issue of availability, accessibility and affordability. Inadequate policy and public healthcare system either leads to the problem of high Out-of-Pocket Payments (OPP) or opting out of the treatment, which further increases poverty and mortality among them. Moreover, limited insurance coverage and inadequate regulatory policies for alcohol and tobacco-leading CVD risk factors among lower SES groups – do little to discourage its use among them. Conclusion: Since, lower SES people in India are already under the burden of communicable diseases, government should take immediate steps to control the mortality among them by creating a supportive environment through pro-poor health policies and healthcare facilities.


We consider the problem of network anomaly detection in large distributed systems. In this setting, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been proposed as a method for discovering anomalies by continuously tracking the projection of the data onto a residual subspace. This method was shown to work well empirically in highly aggregated networks, that is, those with a limited number of large nodes and at coarse time scales. This approach, however, has scalability limitations. To overcome these limitations, we develop a PCA-based anomaly detector in which adaptive local data filters send to a coordinator just enough data to enable accurate global detection. Our method is based on a stochastic matrix perturbation analysis that characterizes the tradeoff between the accuracy of anomaly detection and the amount of data communicated over the network.


definition of SsE (Shanin's s to within inessential details) is given, where <5 is a list of variables d\ , . . . , di (I ^ 0), and a modification of this definition is indicated which allows the choice (a or b) of assuming Markov's principle or not. Four definitions of sE are given depending on the choice a or ft and on which of Shanin's papers is being followed. THEOREM: Assuming Markov's principle, and choosing either of the two definitions of sE given in this case, sE is equivalent (intuitionistically) to rE. The proof is by way of two lemmas which are proved by induction on the number of logical symbols in E. DONALD L. KREIDKR


Predicting the timing of upcoming events enables efficient resource allocation and action preparation. Rhythmic streams, such as music, speech, and biological motion, constitute a pervasive source for temporal predictions. Widely accepted entrainment theories postulate that rhythm-based predictions are mediated by synchronizing low-frequency neural oscillations to the rhythm, as indicated by increased phase concentration (PC) of low-frequency neural activity for rhythmic compared to random streams. However, we show here that PC enhancement in scalp recordings is not specific to rhythms but is observed to the same extent in less periodic streams if they enable memory-based prediction. This is inconsistent with the predictions of a computational entrainment model of stronger PC for rhythmic streams. Anticipatory change in alpha activity and facilitation of electroencephalogram (EEG) manifestations of response selection are also comparable between rhythm- and memory-based predictions. However, rhythmic sequences uniquely result in obligatory depression of preparation-related premotor brain activity when an on-beat event is omitted, even when it is strategically beneficial to maintain preparation, leading to larger behavioral costs for violation of prediction. Thus, while our findings undermine the validity of PC as a sign of rhythmic entrainment, they constitute the first electrophysiological dissociation, to our knowledge, between mechanisms of rhythmic predictions and of memory-based predictions: the former obligatorily lead to resonance-like preparation patterns (that are in line with entrainment), while the latter allow flexible resource allocation in time regardless of periodicity in the input. Taken together, they delineate the neural mechanisms of three distinct modes of preparation: continuous vigilance, interval-timing-based prediction and rhythm-based prediction.


We live in an era of data explosion that necessitates the discovery of novel out-of-core techniques. The I/O bottleneck has to be dealt with in developing out-of-core methods. The parallel disk model (PDM) has been proposed to alleviate the I/O bottleneck. Sorting is an important problem that has ubiquitous applications. Several asymptotically optimal PDM sorting algorithms are known and now the focus has shifted to developing algorithms for problem sizes of practical interest. In this paper we present several novel algorithms for sorting on the PDM that take only a small number of passes through the data. We also present a generalization of the zero-one principle for sorting. A shuffling lemma is presented as well. These lemmas should be of independent interest for average case analysis of sorting algorithms as well as for the analysis of randomized sorting algorithms.


Atrial natriuretic factor is postulated to act through atrial stretch receptors as a volume regulatory hormone that stimulates diuresis and natriuresis in response to increased atrial pressure. To characterize the stimuli associated with the release of atrial natriuretic factor in humans, we studied 14 normal subjects, both in the supine position and after 10 minutes in an upright posture, while they were on a regular diet (Day 0) and during 3 days of supplemental sodium chloride intake (8 g/day). Radioimmunoassay of plasma atrial natriuretic factor was performed with rabbit antibody to the human hormone amino acids (102–126). Urinary sodium excretion increased from 111 ± 13 mEq/day (mean ± SEM) on Day 0 to 275 ± 15 mEq/day by the third day (Day 3) of high sodium intake. The level of atrial natriuretic factor in the supine position rose from 17 ± 4 pg/ml (Day 0) to 76 ± 13 pg/ml on Day 3 (p < 0.001) and after 10 minutes in an upright posture on Day 3, the level fell to 32 ± 10 (p < 0.005). Plasma concentrations of atrial natriuretic factor correlated positively with spot and 24-hour urinary sodium excretion and weight gain, and correlated negatively with plasma aldosterone and renin activity. We conclude that the response of atrial natriuretic factor to sodium loading and posture change in humans is appropriate for a volume regulatory hormone.


Sequestration of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNs) in a suitably chosen polymer is under investigation as a means of promoting the dissolution of the nanotubes into epoxies. The purpose of this investigation is to make it possible to utilize SWCNs as the reinforcing fibers in strong, lightweight epoxy-matrix/carbon-fiber composite materials. SWCNs are especially attractive for use as reinforcing fibers because of their stiffness and strength-to-weight ratio: Their Young s modulus has been calculated to be 1.2 TPa, their strength has been calculated to be as much as 100 times that of steel, and their mass density is only one-sixth that of steel. Bare SWCNs cannot be incorporated directly into composite materials of the types envisioned because they are not soluble in epoxies. Heretofore, SWCNS have been rendered soluble by chemically attaching various molecular chains to them, but such chemical attachments compromise their structural integrity. In the method now under investigation, carbon nanotubes are sequestered in molecules of poly(m-phenylenevinylene-co-2,5-dioctyloxy-p-phenylenevinylene) [PmPV]. The strength of the carbon nanotubes is preserved because they are not chemically bonded to the PmPV. This method exploits the tendency of PmPV molecules to wrap themselves around carbon nanotubes: the wrapping occurs partly because there exists a favorable interface between the conjugated face of a nanotube and the conjugated backbone of the polymer and partly because of the helical molecular structure of PmPV. The constituents attached to the polymer backbones (the side chains) render the PmPV-wrapped carbon nanotubes PmPV soluble in organic materials that, in turn, could be used to suspend the carbon nanotubes in epoxy precursors. At present, this method is being optimized: The side chains on the currently available form of PmPV are very nonpolar and unable to react with the epoxy resins and/or hardeners; as a consequence, SWCN/PmPV composites have been observed to precipitate out of epoxies while the epoxies were being cured. If the side chains of the PmPV molecules were functionalized to make them capable of reacting with the epoxy matrices, it might be possible to make progress toward practical applications. By bonding the side chains of the PmPV molecules to an epoxy matrix, one would form an PmPV conduit between the epoxy matrix and the carbon nanotubes sequestered in the PmPV. This conduit would transfer stresses from the epoxy matrix to the nanotubes. This proposed load-transfer mode is similar to that of the current practice in which silane groups are chemically bonded to both the epoxy matrices and the fibers (often glass fibers) in epoxymatrix/fiber composites.


We have studied n- and p-type doping-induced performance degradation of AlAs/GaAs distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) for applications in vertical cavity lasers (VCLs). Based on high-accuracy optical reflectance and triple-axis x-ray diffraction measurements on a variety of differently doped DBR structures grown by metalorganic vapor-phase epitaxy, a fitting procedure was employed to extract the doping-dependent optical loss. A striking observation is that the reflectance of these DBRs is much more sensitive to n- than p-type doping incorporation. While in the latter case the loss can be well accounted for by intervalence-band and free-carrier absorption, additional loss mechanisms must be considered for n-type DBRs. We relate the losses to doping-enhanced interdiffusion effects resulting in increased interface scattering. These findings should have important consequences for the design of VCLs, demonstrating the importance of reduced n-type doping concentrations and/or growth temperatures, or the applica...


Despite the remarkable performance of deep learning methods on various tasks, most cutting-edge models rely heavily on large-scale annotated training examples, which are often unavailable for clinical and health care tasks. The labeling costs for medical images are very high, especially in medical image segmentation, which typically requires intensive pixel/voxel-wise labeling. Therefore, the strong capability of learning and generalizing from limited supervision, including a limited amount of annotations, sparse annotations, and inaccurate annotations, is crucial for the successful application of deep learning models in medical image segmentation. However, due to its intrinsic difficulty, segmentation with limited supervision is challenging and specific model design and/or learning strategies are needed. In this paper, we provide a systematic and up-to-date review of the solutions above, with summaries and comments about the methodologies. We also highlight several problems in this field, discussed future directions observing further investigations.


As part of our research on peroxisome biogenesis, catalase was purified from cotyledons of dark-grown cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) seedlings and monospecific antibodies were raised in rabbits. Purified catalase appeared as three distinct electrophoretic forms in non-denaturing gels and as a single protein band (with a subunit Mr of 57,000) on silver-stained SDS/polyacrylamide gels. Western blots of crude extracts and isolated peroxisomes from cotton revealed one immunoreactive polypeptide with the same Mr (57,000) as the purified enzyme, indicating that catalase did not undergo any detectable change in Mr during purification. Synthesis in vitro, directed by polyadenylated RNA isolated from either maturing seeds or cotyledons of dark-grown cotton seedlings, revealed a predominant immunoreactive translation product with a subunit Mr of 57,000 and an additional minor immunoreactive product with a subunit Mr of 64000. Labelling studies in vivo revealed newly synthesized monomers of both the 64000- and 57,000-Mr proteins present in the cytosol and incorporation of both proteins into the peroxisome without proteolytic processing. Within the peroxisome, the 57,000-Mr catalase was found as an 11S tetramer; whereas the 64,000-Mr protein was found as a relatively long-lived 20S aggregate (native Mr approx. 600,000-800,000). The results strongly indicate that the 64,000-Mr protein (catalase?) is not a precursor to the 57,000-Mr catalase and that cotton catalase is translated on cytosolic ribosomes without a cleavable transit or signal sequence.


Abstract : This study was conducted to identify dominant loss and movement processes for nitroguanidine (NG), diethyleneglycol dinitrate (DEGDN), and hexachloroethane smoke products in air, soil, and water environments. The loss of NG in the aqueous environment will be dominated by photolysis, with half-lives ranging from 1.6 days in the summer to 3.9 days in the winter. Biotransformation occurred under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, with half-lives of 4 and 6 days, respectively, in the presence of extra organic nutrients. NG is projected to move readily through soils (Kp 0.1); however, anaerobic biotransformation occurs readily in soil, with an estimated half-life of 4 days. DEGDN was found to undergo photolytic transformation, with half-lives ranging from 27 to 35 days in natural and pure waters. Biotransformation also occurs in water, with half-lives of 5 to 40 days, depending on the amount of organic nutrients present. DEGDN is expected to migrate readily through soil (Kp = 2). In sediment, DEGDN was found to bind strongly by processes that are not yet understood. Biotransformation will also occur in sediment under anaerobic conditions, whereas aerobic biotransformation appears to be slow.


We present a procedure for calculating expected exoplanet imaging yields that explicitly separates the effects of instrument performance from assumptions of planet distributions. This "depth-of-search" approach allows for fast recalculation of yield values for variations in instrument parameters. We also describe a new target star selection metric with no dependence on an assumed planet population that can be used as a proxy for single-visit completeness. This approach allows for the recovery of the total mission completeness via convolution of the depth-of-search grid with an equivalent grid of assumed occurrence rates and summation over the part of the grid representing the population of interest (e.g., Earth-like planets on habitable zone orbits, etc.). In this work, we discuss the practical details of calculating the depth-of-search and present results of such calculations for one design iteration of the WFIRST coronagraphs.


Abstract
Creativity and innovation have been buzzwords of managerial discourse over the last few decades as they contribute to the long-term survival and competitiveness of firms. Given the non-linear, causally ambiguous, and intangible nature of all innovation-related phenomena, management scholars have been trying to uncover factors that contribute to creativity and innovation from multiple lenses ranging from organizational behavior at the micro-level to strategic management at the macro-level. Along with important and insightful developments in these research streams that evolved independently from one another, human resource management (HRM) research – especially from a strategic perspective – has only recently started to contribute to a better understanding of both creativity and innovation. The goal of this chapter is to review the contributions of strategic HRM research to an improved understanding of creativity at the individual-level and innovation at the firm-level. In organizing this review, the authors rely on the open innovation funnel as a metaphor to review research on both HRM practices and HRM systems that contribute to creativity and innovation. In the last section, the authors focus on more recent developments in HRM research that focus on ambidexterity – as a way for HRM to simultaneously facilitate exploration and exploitation. This chapter concludes with a discussion of future research directions.


Abstract We have extracted and purified proteins from calcium containing urinary stones with 4 M guanidine chloride and sequenced the amino acids of the proteins. The protein of apporoximately 49kDa was defined as human alpha-one antitrypsin (AT, from 23rd to 42nd amino acids of NH 2 -terminal) by amino acid sequence analysis. The ratio of the amount of AT to total proteins was 34.9% analyzed by densitometer. AT is presumably involved in stone formation as a coprecipitating substance because equilibrium dialysis revealed that AT has no affinity for calcium.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the influence of cupping on the quality of life of healthy people who referred to traditional Persian medicine clinics in Tehran.

METHODS
All participants were examined by Traditional Persian Medicine specialists and their temperaments were determined. The area between the shoulders was cleaned, and cupping was performed with a disposable cupping glass for a few minutes. The questionnaire used in this project was the Persian version of the SF-36 questionnaire which assesses people's understanding of their health status. Before cupping and then one month after cupping, all participants were called and the questionnaires were completed again. Finally, all given data was analyzed.

RESULTS
From a total of 290 questionnaires completed in the first phase of the project, 112 patients were excluded. Ultimately, the data of 178 participants was analyzed. After one month, the quality of life score of 155 participants (88%) increased, remained unchanged for 21 participants (11.7%), and decreased for 2 participants (1.1%). Asked about possible complications from cupping, 160 participants reported no side effects (89.9%).

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that cupping therapy can improve the scores of quality of life in the participants in Tehran.


Chronic morphine treatment resulting in the alteration of postsynaptic levels of AMPA receptors, thereby modulating synaptic strength, has been reported. However, the mechanism underlying such drug-induced synaptic modification has not been resolved. By monitoring the GluR1 trafficking in primary hippocampal neurons using the pHluorin-GluR1 imaging and biotinylation studies, we observed that prolonged morphine exposure significantly induced loss of synaptic and extrasynaptic GluR1 by internalization. The morphine-induced GluR1 endocytosis was independent of neural network activities or NMDA receptor activities, as neither blocking the sodium channels with tetrodotoxin nor NMDA receptors with dl-APV altered the effects of morphine. Instead, morphine-induced GluR1 endocytosis is attributed to a change in the phosphorylation state of the GluR1 at Ser845 as morphine significantly decreased the dephosphorylation of GluR1 at this site. Such changes in Ser845 phosphorylation required morphine-induced activation of calcineurin, based on the observations that a calcineurin inhibitor, FK506, completely abrogated the dephosphorylation, and morphine treatment led to an increase in calcineurin enzymatic activity, even in the presence of dl-APV. Importantly, pretreatment with FK506 and overexpression of the GluR1 mutants, S845D (phospho-mimic) or S845A (phospho-blocking) attenuated the morphine-induced GluR1 endocytosis. Therefore, the calcineurin-mediated GluR1-S845 dephosphorylation is critical for the morphine-induced changes in the postsynaptic AMPA receptor level. Together, these findings reveal a novel molecular mechanism for opioid-induced neuronal adaptation and/or synaptic impairment.


Introduction: A nonblinded parallel-group randomized controlled study investigated the efficacy and tolerability of repeated administration of a bupivacaine lozenge (25 mg) as pain management for oral mucositis pain in head and neck cancer patients as add-on to standard systemic pain management. Objective: The primary end point was the difference between the intervention group (Lozenge group) and the Control group in daily mean pain scores in the oral cavity or pharynx (whichever was higher). Method: Fifty patients from 2 hospitals in Denmark were randomized 1:1 to 7 days of treatment with bupivacaine lozenges (taken up to every 2 hours) plus standard pain treatment minus topical lidocaine (Lozenge group) or standard pain treatment including topical lidocaine (Control group). The efficacy analysis included 38 patients, as 12 patients were excluded because of changes in study design and missing data. Results: Mean pain in the oral cavity or pharynx (whichever was higher) was significantly lower 60 minutes after taking lozenges (35 mm [n = 22]) than for the Control group (51 mm [n = 16]) (difference between groups −16 mm, 95% confidence interval: −26 to −6, P = 0.0032). Pain in the oral cavity was also significantly lower in the Lozenge group (18 mm) vs the Control group (36 mm, P = 0.0002). Pharyngeal mucositis pain did not differ significantly (37 mm [Lozenge group] vs 48 mm [Control group], P = 0.0630). No serious adverse events were reported. Conclusion: These results show that the bupivacaine lozenge as an add-on to standard pain treatment had a clinically significant pain-relieving effect in patients with oral mucositis. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02252926.


This article reunites a substantial group of iron tools that were discovered during the excavation of the Roman Villa of P. Fannius Synistor in Boscoreale, Italy, in the early 20th century. The tools were subsequently sold and exported in two widely spaced shipments to the United States. They ended up in museums in Chicago (the Field Museum) and Ann Arbor (the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology), which are not far apart geographically. It seems likely that Francis Kelsey himself was instrumental in the acquisition of the artifacts now in the Kelsey Museum. The tools are important for their precise terminus ante quem, their remarkable preservation (esp. for iron artifacts), and the information they reveal about the practical side of life at a villa that is better known in the United States for the elaborately decorated frescoes on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The corpus, which offers valuable information on agriculture and woodworking at the villa, includes typical, widely seen iron tool types, as well as a few pieces that are quite unusual.


To date, men as gendered beings have largely remained absent from the international literature on armed conflict and peacebuilding. In general, the literature omits men's gendered experiences as civilians, non-combatants and peacebuilders and instead, men remain confined by stereotypes of violence, soldiering and war-making. In this thesis, I aim to break these silences by producing a qualitative analysis of discourses of men and masculinities within semi-structured interviews conducted with fourteen Palestinian peacebuilders in the West Bank. This analysis explores the impacts of the ongoing occupation and armed conflict on non-combat related Palestinian masculinities, and further, how men and masculinities are thought to interact with local peacebuilding initiatives. Through the use of feminist critical discourse analysis, this study has uncovered a number of key themes relevant to gender and peacebuilding theory and practice. Firstly, it found that the ongoing conflict has resulted in a 'thwarting' of West Bank masculinities in which men are understood as finding it increasingly difficult to live up to social expectations of their traditional roles and identities. Secondly, this study found that men and masculinities have become somewhat estranged from civil society, informal peacebuilding schemes. Based on my findings, these initiatives seem to centre around feminised narratives that emphasise women's peacebuilding capacities, while masculinities and the peacebuilding roles of men are overlooked. Nevertheless, this thesis also presents the notion that men are actively involved in the nonviolent resistance movement within the West Bank, which opens up room for a novel, alternative understanding of 'masculinised' peacebuilding in Palestine. In sum, this study articulates the need to 'take masculinities seriously' in the pursuit of more inclusive and effective peacebuilding and post-conflict development practice.


Introduction Despite the advancement and introduction of new biological therapies, thiopurines remain effective treatment options for the maintenance of remission for both ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). Once tolerated and therapeutic, thiopurines have many advantages over biologics for long-term maintenance therapy. However, it has been documented that intolerance and adverse events are common. We have previously published our 36 month follow-up data reporting that 56.5% of our patients stop thiopurines due to side effects, abnormal liver function tests (LFTs) or therapeutic failure. Low dose azathioprine and allopurinol (LDAA) co-therapy is a well proven treatment option for patients who develop side effects or hepatotoxicity with standard dose azathioprine. LDAA has been used at our institution since 2010. Aim to report the safety, tolerability and therapeutic outcome at 12 months, for LDAA in patients who have failed standard dose azathioprine. Methods We maintain a prospective IBD data-base. After starting LDAA we monitor full blood count and LFTs weekly for 8 weeks. 6-Thioguanine (6-TGN) and 6-Methyl-mercaptopurine (6 MMPN) nucleotide levels are checked at 4–6 weeks. We searched our database for patients who started LDAA and had a minimum of 12 months follow-up. We recorded the indications for therapy, metabolite levels, and blood monitoring and clinical outcomes. Results 62 patients were started on LDAA. 25 (40%) were male. Mean age was 47 (range 16 – 77). Disease type was UC, 21; CD, 35; IBD(U), 6. Reasons intolerant to standard dose azathioprine were: drug side effects (nausea and arthralgia) 24; hepatitis (ALT 2x upper limit normal) 20; Hypermethylation (TGN: MMPN ratio >11), 12. Gout 4; High TPMT 2. At 12 months 44 (70%) remained on LDAA and were in clinical remission (HBI <1 for CD), (stool frequency <4 and no bleeding for UC) with therapeutic 6TGN levels on LDAA, of these 7 (11%) required additional treatment with biologic therapy. Of the remaining 18 (29%) patients, 3 (5%) were lost to follow up and 1 (2%) chose to stop LDAA. 1 patient (UC) required a colectomy. 3 (5%) stopped LDAA to conceive. 10/62 (16%) remained intolerant and treatment was stopped. One patient developed myelosuppression WCC <3 and stopped therapy. No patients developed abnormal LFTs on LDAA. Conclusion LDAA is well tolerated and effective in patients who failed standard dose azathioprine due to drug side effects and hepatotoxicity. This therapy results in resolution of hepatotoxicity and will allow more IBD patients to achieve clinical remission. Disclosure of Interest None Declared.


Effects of forward and backward conditioned-unconditioned stimulus (CS- US) intervals on classical conditioning of the flexion reflex were examined in a cat spinal preparation. Interstimulus intervals (ISIs) ranging from +3.0 to -3.0 sec were employed in 9 experimental groups and the results compared with those of an explicitly unpaired control group. Forward conditioning produced an asymmetrical, inverted U-shaped gradient relating magnitude of conditioning to ISI for both acquisition and extinction. The optimum ISI was 1.0 sec. Backward ISIs also produced excitatory conditioning, with optimal conditioning at -0.25 sec. Unlike forward conditioning, backward conditioning produced little sign of retention during extinction trials. The results, which parallel in several ways those of ISI effects in studies of intact animals, support the hypothesis that backward and forward conditioning may be fundamentally different phenomena, under the control of different neural processes.


The purpose of present study was to investigate the antibacterial activity of three commercially available fluoride- and zinc-releasing glass ionomer cements on strains of mutans streptococci. Three glass ionomers (Fuji II Conventional, Fuji II Light Cure, and Fuji IX) were used. The antibacterial effect of glass ionomer cements were estimated by anaerobically growing mutans streptococci on a selective medium by inoculating human saliva and measuring the inhibition zones around the glass ionomer discs on the medium. Fluoride and zinc release were measured and compared with the antibacterial activity. The results, when statistically analyzed, showed a direct correlation between fluoride release and antibacterial activity, but there was no correlation between zinc release and antibacterial activity.


Abstract This paper presents the Located Making Framework to support small maker enterprises in China who employ craft making practices by helping ensure (a) they are fully utilising local support opportunities; (b) their decision-making aligns with the fundamental values driving the enterprise; (c) they align with principles of sustainability; and (d) design opportunities are identified. Using constructivist methods (observations, interviews etc.), primary data was collected in the Yellow River Valley region, coded and analysed, and values and context-relationships interpreted from results. This framework, adapted to the Chinese context, is the latest iteration of a model initially developed from our research in the USA and the UK. The Chinese findings are shown in specially developed graphic formats that are readily understandable and lend themselves to ease of use. Future work to increase the reach of the research includes development of an online interactive framework to automatically generate individual and cumulative results.


In an age of rapid acceleration toward next-generation energy storage technologies, lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries offer the desirable combination of low weight and high specific energy. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been recently studied as functionalizable platforms to improve Li-S battery performance. However, many MOF-enabled Li-S technologies are hindered by low capacity retention and poor long-term performance due to low electronic conductivity. In this work, we combine the advantages of a Zr-based MOF-808 loaded with sulfur as the active material with a graphene/ethyl cellulose additive, leading to a high-density nanocomposite electrode requiring minimal carbon. Our electrochemical results indicate that the nanocomposites deliver enhanced specific capacity over conventionally used carbon/binder mixtures, and postsynthetic modification of the MOF with lithium thiophosphate results in further improvement. Furthermore, the dense form factor of the sulfur-loaded MOF-graphene nanocomposite electrodes provides high volumetric capacity compared to other works with significantly more carbon additives. Overall, we have demonstrated a proof-of-concept paradigm where graphene nanosheets facilitate improved charge transport because of enhanced interfacial contact with the active material. This materials engineering approach can likely be extended to other MOF systems, contributing to an emerging class of two-dimensional nanomaterial-enabled Li-S batteries.


Zooplankton are the key trophic link between primary producers and fish in pelagic ecosystems. Historically, there are few zooplankton time series in Australia, with no data sets longer than two years prior to 2008. Here we compile 98 676 abundance records of more than 1000 zooplankton taxa from unpublished research cruises, student projects, published literature, and the recent Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS). This data set covers the entire coastal and shelf region of Australia and dates back to 1938. Most records are for copepods, but there are also data for other taxa such as decapods, chaetognaths, thaliaceans, appendicularians, and cladocerans. Metadata are provided for each record, including dates, coordinates, and information on mesh size and sampling methods. To facilitate analysis across the multiple data sets, we have updated the species names according to the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) and converted units to abundance per cubic meter. These data will be valuable for studies of biodiversity, biogeography, impacts of climate change, and ecosystem health. We encourage researchers holding additional Australian zooplankton data to contact us and contribute their data to the data set so we can periodically publish updates.


In 2022, the Mpox viral outbreak signaled a global public health emergency. Infectious disease management and prevention are crucial tasks for healthcare workers. In their line of work, orthopedic surgeons could come across cases of the Mpox virus. The aim of the present study was to explore orthopedic surgeons' knowledge of the Mpox virus, their conspiracy beliefs regarding emerging viral infections, and their self-confidence in managing the Mpox virus. In this cross-sectional survey, 137 orthopedic surgeons completed an online questionnaire. The participants had low knowledge of the Mpox virus, providing on average 11.5 correct answers (SD = 2.68) of a possible 21. In addition, the participants tended to express moderate conspiracy beliefs and to have low self-confidence in managing the Mpox virus. Age 30 or older, a higher knowledge level, and lower conspiracy beliefs predicted greater self-confidence in managing the Mpox virus. In addition, a negative association was found between knowledge of the Mpox virus and conspiracy beliefs. Arab and younger orthopedic surgeons expressed stronger conspiracy beliefs. Interventions should include introduction of material regarding emerging tropical infections in medical curricula and in-service training programs. In addition, special attention should be paid to younger and Arab orthopedic surgeons, as these subgroups may endorse higher conspiracy beliefs.


No differences were observed in the heat sensitivity of four strains of Agrobacterium vitis , the cause of grape crown gall. At 50°C, the calculated D values of cells that were grown to stationary growth phase in LB broth were about 2.5 (time in minutes required for population to be reduced by ninety percent). The effect of heat treatments on survival of A. vitis in dormant cuttings was also measured. A. vitis -infected dormant grape cuttings (containing 5.0 x 10 2 to 2.7 x 10 4 cfu per unit of sampled tissue) were submersed in a water bath at 50°C for 30 or 60 minutes, 30°C for two hours followed by 50°C for 90 minutes, or at 55°C for 30 minutes. Treatments significantly reduced the numbers of cuttings with detectable A. vitis ; however, none of the treatments totally eradicated the pathogen. Therefore, A. vitis cells surviving in cuttings appear to be more heat-tolerant than cells grown in vitro . Using heat treatment to reduce systemic A. vitis in cuttings may be a good strategy for managing crown gall in vineyards. The 50°C for 60 minutes treatment always resulted in improved bud germination as compared to untreated buds. The effect of treatments of 50°C for 90 minutes and 55°C for 30 minutes on bud germination was variable depending on cultivar.


In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the products of at least 15 genes are involved specifically in vesicular transport from the Golgi apparatus to the plasma membrane. Previously, we have shown that three of these genes, SEC6, SEC8 and SEC15, encode components of a multisubunit complex which localizes to the tip of the bud, the predominant site of exocytosis in S. cerevisiae. Mutations in three more of these genes, SEC3, SEC5 and SEC10, were found to disrupt the subunit integrity of the Sec6‐Sec8‐Sec15 complex, indicating that these genes may encode some of the remaining components of this complex. To examine this possibility, we cloned and sequenced the SEC5 and SEC10 genes, disrupted them, and either epitope tagged them (Sec5p) or prepared polyclonal antisera (Sec10p) to them for co‐immunoprecipitation studies. Concurrently, we biochemically purified the remaining unidentified polypeptides of the Sec6‐Sec8‐Sec15 complex for peptide microsequencing. The genes encoding these components were identified by comparison of predicted amino acid sequences with those obtained from peptide microsequencing of the purified complex components. In addition to Sec6p, Sec8p and Sec15p, the complex contains the proteins encoded by SEC3, SEC5, SEC10 and a novel gene, EXO70. Since these seven proteins function together in a complex required for exocytosis, and not other intracellular trafficking steps, we have named it the Exocyst.


Forty-one patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA) were subjected to a dexamethasone suppression test (DST) before surgery. Serum cortisol and urinary excretion of 17-hydroxycorticosteroids were suppressed by dexamethasone in 39 patients [DST(+)]. In two patients (cases A and B), they were not suppressed [DST(-)]. Clinical manifestations of the two DST(-) patients were similar to those of DST(+) patients. Hypertension, hypokalemia, high serum aldosterone levels, and suppressed PRA were found in all of the patients. The cut surfaces of the adenomas from all of the patients, including cases A and B, were golden yellow, which is typical of APA. However, atrophies of the adjacent normal tissues were evident exclusively in the two DST(-) patients. After removal of the affected adrenals, the serum cortisol level was suppressed by dexamethasone in one of the DST(-) patients (case B). These findings suggested autonomous cortisol production by APA. To evaluate whether cortisol could be produced from the adenoma tissue, the presence of several steroidogenic enzymes was studied by immunohistochemistry and mRNA analysis in the adenomas and the adjacent nonneoplastic adrenals from the 2 DST(-) and 5 DST(+) patients. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that steroidogenic enzymes were expressed in APA tumor tissues from both DST(-) and DST(+) patients. In both groups, mRNAs coding steroidogenic enzymes were present not only in the nonneoplastic but also in the tumor tissues. Quantitative analysis of the mRNA levels revealed that in the adrenals from DST(+) patients, the mRNAs were more abundant in nonneoplastic tissue than in tumor tissue. However, in those from DST(-) cases, the mRNAs were much more abundant in the tumor tissues than in the nonneoplastic tissues. These results indicate that tumor cells of the two DST(-) patients autonomously synthesized not only aldosterone but also cortisol. The diameters of the tumors from the two DST(-) patients exceeded 3 cm, while those from other DST(+) patients were smaller. In patients with large APA, adrenal insufficiency should be anticipated upon removal of the tumor.


The CQUni Connect schools outreach program works in regional and rural Queensland schools. The program's design reflects the need to build capacities for careers through tertiary education that enhance self-awareness and inform decision making. It aims to open access to stories and examples of those from similar backgrounds who have successfully navigated the journey to and through tertiary education. This approach allows space for students to contest the binary notion of rural and urban divides, and to imagine futures enhanced by social and cultural capital. Rural youth are among groups who miss out, fall behind or have less positive dispositions towards education. For rural youth, the rural-urban divide may lead to an extraverted sense of place informing identity and perception of outmigration as the only way to fulfil imagined futures. Post-secondary schooling is a crucial life stage for increased social mobility yet financial pressures and lack of educational preparedness make it difficult to access tertiary education. This project uses an action-research design to ensure practice is informed by research. It was expected that findings would show students residing in remote areas (Australian Statistical Geography Standards Categories 3 and 4) would be most influenced by the program enhancing their attitudes towards the benefits of higher education. However, it was Category 2 students who experienced the biggest shift in their belief that university was a possibility for their future postprogram. Evaluation of the data shows that gender plays a role in the perception of university as an option. Rurality factors including community norms, family expectations, perceived ability and awareness impact how young people envision their future.


Background: One of the efforts that solve complex real-world problems is to use an interdisciplinary approach. However, the contradictions among different disciplines and the absence of a theoretical model add to the difficulty of interdisciplinary activities. When interdisciplinary researchers face a complex problem, they need to integrate several different disciplines. It seems the first step in interdisciplinary activities is to have a theoretical model to understand and examine by what content and method the processes of integrating and crossing the disciplinary boundaries are done. The purpose of this study is to propose a new theoretical model for interdisciplinary development. It also show that a multilayered model can be formed based on the boundaries of scientific disciplines. Methods: In this study, the critical review strategy of Carnwell and Daly has been used to synthesize the theoretical model using online databases. The method consists of 5 stages: defining the scope of the review, identifying the sources of relevant information, reviewing the literature, writing the review, and applying the literature to the proposed study. Results: The results of this study showed for interdisciplinarity, the artificial boundaries of disciplines must be broken. Therefore, we first began to explain the disciplinary boundaries in 13 levels, then, we proposed interdisciplinary development by examining the views of the experts in this field and with the synthesis opinion of researchers of this study on each of the disciplinary boundaries of the multilayered model. Conclusion: This model can effectively support interdisciplinary programs and can bring the goals of interdisciplinary programs closer to practical reality.


: Activity of ornithine decarboxylase was studied in human leukocytes exhibiting various proliferative activity. The enzymatic activity might be estimated without obligatory destruction of the cells and fractionation of the cell lysates. In leukocytes of healthy persons the rate of ornithine decarboxylase activity depended on belonging of the cells to myeloid or lymphoid forms: the enzyme activity was higher in lymphocytes as compared with granulocytes. In blast cells of blood of patients with acute leukosis the higher activity of ornithine decarboxylase was found as compared with adult leukocytes although it did not exceed the enzymatic activity in medullar cells of healthy persons. Evaluation of the dynamic alterations in ornithine decarboxylase activity in leukocytes of the patients with leukoses might be used as a test for early determination of the actively proliferated hemopoietic cells.


Theoretical and practical principles of information literacy (IL) are generally embedded into the wider course structure of Library and Information Studies (LIS) Master's programmes. This paper discusses the findings of a qualitative thematic content analysis of library student exam answer texts, which provide a student view of whether it would be appropriate to designate a stand-alone module specifically for the delivery of these principles. The key concepts of IL are currently found embedded within the core programme. It is suggested that the introduction of a distinct module may more appropriately reflect stakeholder requirements, including LIS students' combined needs as producer-consumers of IL interventions in their study and practice. There is an increasing requirement for them to develop, deliver and evaluate good-practice interventions in the workplace. This work builds on existing discussions around IL as a discipline and the changing role of the librarian. The analysis is substantially informed by the participants' views. It suggests that while embedding IL in the library school curriculum can address the consumer-IL needs of the participants as students, a more explicit focus will support development of their professional-IL needs.


This article examines a key ambiguity in the Opium War treaties of 1842-1843, which concerned the legal status of Hong Kong's native Chinese population. Overlooked in existing studies, the question was whether the cession of Hong Kong entailed British jurisdiction over crimes involving Chinese people inter se. To British minds, the idea of territorial sovereignty pulled against the reciprocal premise of the treaties, by which China and Britain enjoyed an absolute right to discipline their own offenders. To square the circle, British officials mooted various compromises steeped in extant ideas of sovereignty and subjecthood. Subsequently, all efforts at a principled policy were abandoned following a pivotal murder in eastern Hong Kong. Seven Chinese suspects were examined at the colonial magistracy for possible surrender to China, but the hearing was construed after the fact as a full trial and acquittal, which anchored exclusive British jurisdiction on the island. Thus, Hong Kong lay at the intellectual centre of Britain's incipient Chinese Empire. The meaning of the Opium War treaties was shaped through iterative domestic discourse, in which the ideas of territorial sovereignty, extradition, and extraterritoriality were mutually constitutive, and law-making involved the retrospective rationalization of equivocal events and decisions on the ground.


As the long-term stability and toxicity of Pb are two profound concerns for the commercialization of Pb-based perovskite solar cells, we have undertaken this study to understand the performance degradation of perovskite solar cells at high temperature (60, 80, 100 and 120 °C) and under a humid (30–50% relative humidity) environment, and then tried to reuse the perovskite films from the degraded cells to recover the cell efficiency so as to avoid dumping of Pb-waste into the environment. As found in this study, the performance of MAPbI3 (MA = CH3NH3) cells using spiro-OMeTAD as the hole transport material (HTM) deteriorated mainly not due to the degradation of the perovskite but because of the modification of the interface between the perovskite and spiro-OMeTAD at high temperature. In addition, the spiro-OMeTAD layer underwent a severe morphological deformation at high temperature, showing large voids in it, which reduced the cell performance further. However, despite the complete reconversion of PbI2 to perovskite and the replacement of the degraded spiro-OMeTAD film with a fresh layer in the MAPbI3 cells, the cell performance was not recovered to the initial value because the modified perovskite/spiro-OMeTAD interface became worse after recycling. The thermal stability and performance recovery upon recycling were found to depend on the composition of the perovskite; faster degradation of MAPbI3 cells with a slight excess of MAI and better stability of cells not containing MA (FA0.85Cs0.15PbI3, FA = CH(NH2)2) indicated certain involvement of MA+ ions in the alteration of the perovskite/spiro-OMeTAD interface. Unlike the heat-treatment case, MAPbI3 cells, when exposed to a humid environment, degraded significantly to PbI2 and the reconversion of this PbI2 to perovskite followed by deposition of a fresh spiro-OMeTAD layer increased the cell performance but it did not recover to the initial value. This poor recovery in these cells was due to inefficient carrier transport that resulted in a lower photocurrent in the recycled devices.


BACKGROUND
The development of coagulopathy associated with trauma is a complex process that involves a combination of many factors. It is important to be able to model experimental trauma-related coagulopathy to explore preventative and therapeutic strategies, and numerous models of traumatic coagulopathy have been explored. This systematic review assessed the primary question "What are relevant experimental models with which to study early traumatic coagulopathy?" and secondary questions on mechanisms.

METHODS
The author group reviewed 695 abstracts that resulted in 36 articles being fully reviewed by the group. The group identified 12 key studies (grade A) addressing the primary question. A further 10 articles were thought to be relevant but less important (grade B). Eight articles were considered worthwhile publications but not as relevant to the query (grade C), and six articles were considered not relevant after detailed review (grade D).

RESULTS
This structured literature review demonstrated a lack of relevant models for human traumatic coagulopathy. We identify challenges in modeling traumatic coagulopathy and limitations to current experimental models and include a proposal for features of an "ideal" model of traumatic coagulopathy, but recognize that this involves major challenges.

CONCLUSIONS
Models of traumatic coagulopathy need to more closely resemble human physiology and real-life conditions if they are to influence clinical practice.


Over the last century, global inequality has developed and continues to develop in unexpected and disturbing patterns. In this important new book, Therborn and his colleagues connect current world inequality to different national constellations of class and power and transnational processes. Ranging from the US and post-Communist Russia to France and China, and spanning social mobility, labor markets, working-class cultures and global science, this volume is a major contribution to our understanding of contemporary world politics and development. Contributors include Louis Chauvel, Michael Hout, Arne Kalleberg, Markku Kivinen, Michele Lamont, Huang Ping, Elisa Preis, Denny Vagero and Peter Weingart.


In this work, tunable MEMS capacitors are realized using a vertically grown carbon nanotube array. The vertical CNT array forms an effective CNT membrane, which can be electrostatically actuated like the conventional metal plates used in MEMS capacitors. The CNT membrane is grown on titanium nitride metal lines, with a Al/Fe bi-layer as buffer layer and catalyst material respectively, using chemical vapor deposition process. Two different anchor configurations are investigated. A maximum capacitance of 400 fF and maximum tunability of 5.8% is extracted from the S-parameter measurements. Using the tunable MEMS vertical array capacitor a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) is demonstrated showing promise for integrating CNTs for communications applications.


Combined treatments using polyphenols and omega fatty acids provide several therapeutic benefits for a variety of age-related disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). Previously, we found a commercial product, Total Body Rhythm (TBR), consisting of tart cherry extract, a potent polyphenol, and omega fatty acids, significantly reduced memory, and neuropathological deficits in the 192 IgG-saporin mouse model of AD. The present study assessed the efficacy of TBR for treating behavioral and neuropathological deficits in the 5xFAD model of AD. Both 6- and 12-month-old 5xFAD mice and age-matched wild-type controls received TBR (60 mg/kg) or the equivalent dose of vehicle (0.5% methylcellulose) via oral administration, every other day for two months. All mice were tested in the open field (OF), novel object recognition (NOR), and the Morris water maze (MWM) tasks. In addition, neuronal morphology, neurodegeneration, Aβ plaque load, and glial activation were assessed. TBR treatment reduced memory deficits in the MWM and NOR tests and lessened anxiety levels in the OF task, mostly in the 6-month-old male mice. TBR also protected against neuron loss, reduced activation of astrocytes and microglia, primarily in 6-month-old mice, and attenuated Aβ deposition. These results suggest that the combination of tart cherry extract and omega fatty acids in TBR can reduce AD-like deficits in 5xFAD mice.


Steel-concrete combined cofferdam is a new type of cofferdam, which combines the characteristics of steel cofferdam and concrete cofferdam, and has many advantages, such as higher construction speed, lower cost, etc. In this paper, the application of Steel-concrete combined cofferdam in the foundation construction of a bridge in Nanjing was introduced. The construction experience of this cofferdam in complex environment can provide useful reference to similar engineering.


Recently it was shown that, analogous to normal hematopoietic cells, the level of CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR-4) expression on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells correlates with stromal cell derived factor-1 alpha (SDF-1)–induced chemotaxis. As we speculated that an anomalous organ distribution of AML cells could affect cell survival and thus result in an altered fraction surviving chemotherapy, we examined a possible correlation between patient prognosis and CXCR-4 expression in AML patients. We found that patients with a high CXCR-4 expression in the CD34 subset had a significantly reduced survival and a higher probability of relapse, resulting in a median relapsefree survival (RFS) of only 8.3 months. CXCR-4 expression was significantly higher in fetal liver tyrosine kinase-3 (Flt3)/ internal tandem duplication (ITD) AML than in Flt3/wild-type (wt) AML. Covariate analysis indicated that the prognostic significance of Flt3/ITDs with respect to RFS was no more apparent when analyzed in conjunction with the expression of CXCR-4 in the CD34 subset, suggesting that the poor prognosis of Flt3/ITD AML might be subordinate to the increased CXCR-4 expression. Using a granulocyte colony-stimulating factor receptor (G-CSF-R)–expressing 32D cell line, we observed that SDF-1/CXCR-4 interaction is required for the survival of myeloid differentiating cells, and it also induces a block in G-CSF–induced myeloid differentiation. These data suggest that the SDF1/CXCR-4 axis may influence therapy responsiveness and defines unfavorable prognosis in AML. (Blood. 2004;104: 550-557)


Compared with a group of age matched controls, patients with Parkinson's disease scored significantly lower in testing for ideomotor apraxia. Imitation of movement sequences was affected more severely than performance of single movements. The degree of impairment was not related to severity of motor disability, but correlated strongly with the results of tests that measured visuospatial and visuoperceptive abilities. It is suggested that defective encoding and central processing of visuospatial information impairs memory for movement which is necessary for correct imitation of movements. Enhanced vulnerability to interference between successively presented items may cause further deterioration of performance in the copying of movement sequences.


Pesticide application has become necessary to increase crop productivity and reduce losses. However, the use of these products can produce toxic effects. Farmers are individuals occupationally exposed to pesticides, thus subject to associated diseases as well as cognitive impairment. However, this relation is not well established in the literature, requiring further investigation. To assess the potential association between farmers' pesticide exposure and cognitive impairment, we followed the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, considering participants, interventions, comparators, outcomes, and study strategies.

This study included articles published between 2000 and 2021 on the Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect, and PubMed databases, retrieved by the terms "pesticides and cognition" and "pesticides and memory."

In total, ten studies fit the established criteria and were included in the sample. All had farmers occupationally exposed to pesticides in their sample and only one study dispensed with a control group. Of the neurobehavioral tests, four studies used mini-mental state examination, six neurobehavioral core test batteries (tests recognized in the area), and the remaining, other tests. We observed that 90% of articles found an association between cognitive impairment and pesticide exposure. Overall, five studies measured the activity of cholinesterases in their sample, of which three found significant differences between groups, confirming intoxication in those exposed.

Despite the limited number of trials, we found scientific evidence to support the existence of adverse effects of pesticides on farmers' cognition. We recommend that future studies research similar projects, expanding knowledge on the subject.


Serum ferritins from various sources sedimented at lower densities than tissue ferritins in sucrose gradient centrifugation systems. The sedimentation patterns of ferritins, however, were shown to be dependent on the concentration of the protein; as the concentration decreased the protein appeared to sediment at lower densities. Thus, at the low concentration levels usually used for analysis of serum ferritin, tissue ferritins also sedimented in the same lower density regions. Iron labeling experiments indicated that the sedimentation changes upon dilution were not due to release of iron or was there any indication that the protein dissociated into subunits. The anomalous sedimentation behavior of serum ferritin should therefore not be interpreted in terms of its iron content. The disclosure that serum ferritins may have full complements of iron is counter to the prevalent view that serum ferritins are low iron forms and has potential implications with regard to the sources and possible function of this protein in the circulation.


.......................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... iv TABLE OF FIGURES ........................................................................................... vi TABLE OF TABLES ........................................................................................... vii


This study focuses on the use of innovative Tablet PC technology in learning and teaching mathematics. Specifically the effects of incorporating Tablet PC technology in pre-service teachers' mathematics education were analyzed. The significant impact of technology use in mathematics education was assessed by evaluating and comparing students' final project and course grades. Grade performance of two groups of students was compared. One group was the treatment group where students extensively used Tablet PCs to work on mathematical investigations and explorations and to create lesson plans and animated games through PowerPoint presentations. The other group was the control group where students worked on identical mathematics investigations and created lesson plans without utilizing any technology. The outcome shows that the technology enhanced group achieved significantly higher scores than the control group. This outcome indicates a greater improvement in the treatment group's understanding of mathematical content versus that of the control group's.


Business transformation is a key management initiative that attempts to align people, process and technology of an enterprise more closely with its business strategy and vision. It is an essential part of the competitive business cycle. Existing consulting methods and tools do not address issues such as scalability of methodology, knowledge management, asset reuse, and governance well, to name a few. This paper presents business transformation workbench, a practitioner's tool for business transformation addressing these problems. It implements a methodical approach that was devised to analyze business transformation opportunities and make business cases for transformation initiatives and thereby provides decision-support to the consultants. It provides an intuitive way to evaluate and understand various opportunities in staff and IT consolidation and process standardization. It embodies structured analytical models, both qualitative and quantitative, to enhance the consultants' practices. BT workbench has been instantiated with data from finance management domain and applied to address a client situation as a case study. An alpha testing of the tool was conducted with about dozen practitioners. 90% of the consultants who tested the BT workbench tool felt that the tool would help them do a better job during a client engagement. The tool is currently being piloted with customer engagements in a large IT consulting organization.