This review summarizes more than 25 years of experience with the use of systemic chemotherapy in the adjuvant setting in patients suffering from stage II breast cancer. The use of the CMF combination in the early 70's marks the onset of the modern era of this modality. Adjuvant chemotherapy must be given at optimal doses and schedule, usually for a period lasting about six months, beginning shortly after the resection of the primary tumor. The incorporation of the anthracyclines, adriamycin and epirubicin represent an important milestone in the developmental history of the adjuvant chemotherapy of breast cancer. The sequential administration of adriamycin followed by CMF in patients with 4 or more involved axillary lymph nodes deserves particular emphasis. Meta-analysis of multiple clinical trials including several tens of thousands of patients with stage II breast cancer indicate that adjuvant chemotherapy results in a significant increase in both recurrence-free and overall survival as compared to locoregional treatment only. This holds true with long-term follow-up of 20 years and more as illustrated by the CMF experience, showing about a 35% decrease in the relative risk of recurrence. Efforts in recent years are investigating the role of newer cytotoxic agents such as the taxanes in the adjuvant setting. Furthermore, clinical trials are now ongoing with the use of the monoclonal antibody herceptin in patients with stage II breast cancer whose tumor over-expresses the oncogene Her2neu. The administration of adjuvant chemotherapy has the potential for undesirable side effects such as an increased risk of osteoporosis and ischemic heart disease in younger patients in whom amenorrhea develops, or cardiotoxicity from anthracyclines. Most clinical trials to date have not shown an increase in the occurrence of second primary tumors among patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. Adjuvant chemotherapy has become an integral part of the treatment of stage II breast cancer.


The fuzzy integral (FI) is a nonlinear aggregation operator whose behavior is defined by the fuzzy measure (FM). As an aggregation operator, the FI is commonly used for evidence fusion where it combines sources of information based on the worth of each subset of sources. One drawback to FI-based methods, however, is the specification of the FM. Defining the FM manually quickly becomes too tedious since the number of FM terms scales as 2n, where n is the number of sources; thus, an automatic method of defining the FM is necessary. In this paper, we review a data-driven method of learning the FM via minimizing the sum-of-squared error (SSE) in the context of decision-level fusion and propose an extension allowing knowledge of the underlying FM to be encoded in the algorithm. The algorithm is applied to real-world and toy datasets and results show that the extension can improve classification accuracy. Furthermore, we introduce a visualization strategy to simultaneously show the quantitative information in the FM as well as the FI.


Background & Aims: Psychological problems are prevalent among patients with chronic headache. A large percentage of those with migraine headache are depressed and many of them suffer from anxiety disorders. The aim of this study was assessing the personality traits in migraine patients. Materials & Methods : We randomly selected one hundred patients with migraine headaches who referred to neurology clinics. In this cross-sectional research migraine headache was diagnosed by a neurologist and recorded by IHS questionnaire. To assess personality traits, we used NEO-FFI test. Patients with a major psychiatric disorder were excluded and eighty six subjects completed the study. Results: OF all participants, 67% were female, 35% were married, and 45% high school or university graduates. The mean age was 30 years. Compared to normal population, obsessive traits were more common in migraineurs. Female had low scores in openness to experiences and male had low scores in neuroticism. Conclusion: In accordance to previous studies, we found a relationship between personality traits and migraine considering psychological profile of patients that can affect the outcome and treatment of migraine.


The density-normalized effective ionization coefficient (α − η)/N (α and η are the ionization and attachment coefficients respectively), the electron drift velocity Ve and density-normalized longitudinal diffusion coefficient NDL in trifluoromethane (CHF3) and carbon tetrafluoride (CF4) were measured using a pulsed Townsend technique over a wide E/N range. From the plots of (α − η)/N, we have derived the limiting field strength, (E/N)lim, which is valid for the analysis of insulation characteristics and applications to power equipment. Comparisons of the electron swarms parameters between CHF3 and CF4 have been performed, and the global warming potential (GWP) is also taken into account.


This guide provides an overview of library and primary resources for African American History Month at the University of South Alabama Marx Library and University Archives


This paper estimates two optimization-based sticky-price New Keynesian models and assesses how well they describe U.S. output, inflation, and interest rate dynamics. We consider models in which either internal habit formation influence consumption behavior, and in which Calvo-pricing and inflation indexation generate price and inflation inertia. Subject to constraints dictated by household and firm behavior, monetary policy is set under discretion and the model's time-consistent equilibrium is employed to estimate key behavioral parameters. We find that specifications estimated on consumption data perform better than specifications estimated on output data and that models with external habit formation out-perform models with internal habit formation. Nevertheless, even the best fitting specification displays characteristics that are inconsistent with the data.


While delayed branch mechanisms were popular with the designers of RISC processors, most superscalar processors deploy dynamic branch prediction to minimise run time branch penalties. We propose a generalised branch delay mechanism that is more suited to superscalar processors. We then quantitatively compare the performance of our delayed branch mechanism with run time branch prediction, in the context of a high performance superscalar architecture that uses aggressive compile time instruction scheduling.


In the UK there is a need to provide more housing in order to meet increased demand. The problem is particularly acute in the social housing sector. There is also a drive to reduce CO2 emissions from housing, whilst addressing issues of social sustainability. Accordingly governments have sought to combine the goals of sustainable development with housing policy in order to provide not just more housing, but more sustainable housing. In a time of public sector expenditure restraint the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has been used as a means to procure social housing using private money, however sustainability within PFI housing projects has received little attention. This paper introduces a methodology for evaluating sustainability within PFI bids. Developed and tested during the procurement stage of a large PFI housing project in the North East of England, results suggest that the introduction of clear, transparent and robust evaluation criteria can enhance sustainability.


This paper focuses on understanding the effects of monitoring mechanism (i.e., board quality as well as ownership structure) on efficiency and productivity changes of private commercial banks in Bangladesh over the period from 2007 to 2016. Two non-parametric methods - data envelopment analysis and malmquist productivity index - were used to determine the efficiency and productivity of private commercial banks in Bangladesh. Based on constant returns to scale, five inputs and two outputs have been used to determine the efficiency scores and to identify any improvement in productivity over the period. It was found that private commercial banks of Bangladesh are at the efficiency level of 80.84%. The productivity of all private commercial banks does not follow any trend. Out of twenty two (22) PCBs, only nine (9) banks could manage to increase productivity. Hypothesis test (one sample t-test) are conducted to validate the results. The impact of stock market crisis period on the overall productivity and efficiency of the banks is also evident.


X-ray diffraction frombiomolecular assemblies is a powerful techniquewhich can provide structural information about complex architectures such as the locomotor systems underlyingmuscle contraction.However, in its conventional form,macromolecular diffraction averages over large ensembles. Progress in x-ray optics has now enabled to probe structures on sub-cellular scales, with the beam confined to a distinct organelle. Here, we use scanning small angle x-ray scattering (scanning SAXS) to probe the diffraction from cytoskeleton networks in cardiac tissue cells. In particular, we focus on actin-myosin composites, whichwe identify as the dominating contribution to the anisotropic diffraction patterns, by correlationwith optical fluorescencemicroscopy. To this end, we use a principal component analysis approach to quantify direction, degree of orientation, nematic order, and the secondmoment of the scattering distribution in each scan point.We compare the fiber orientation frommicrographs offluorescently labeled actinfibers to the structure orientation of the x-ray dataset and thus correlate signals of two differentmeasurements: the native electron density distribution of the local probing area versus specifically labeled constituents of the sample. Further, we develop a robust and automated fitting approach based on a power law expansion, in order to describe the local structure factor in each scan point over a broad range of themomentum transfer qr. Finally, we demonstrate how themethodology shown for freeze dried cells in the first part of the paper can be translated to alive cell recordings.


When acute (four-hour) hyponatremia with clinical signs of water intoxication was produced in normal weanling mice by the use of hypotonie glucose or deionized water, there was a two-to-fourfold increase in plasma glucose concentration. Concomitantly, concentrations of plasma insulin fell 63 to 68 per cent, whereas plasma glue agon increased to 262 per cent of control. The findings are compatible with stress-induced catecholamine release.


This article considers, initially, the mobility of doctors throughout the world from a bibliographic database collection and identifies the lack of information regarding Brazilian doctors. The aim is to analyze aspects that determine the emigration of Brazilian doctors to the United States of America. The methodology is based on bibliographic research using the keywords brain drain, medical migration, physicians migration, data migration physicians; identification of articles related to the emigration of doctors throughout the world; elaboration and validation of the questionnaire "Emigration Motives"; identification of doctors that emigrated, using the "snowball" technique; sending of the questionnaire by e-mail to the doctors that emigrated to the USA; tabulation of the forwarded answers; Skype interviews aiming at the validation and illustration of the results obtained in the questionnaire. Initially, the doctors choose to emigrate for personal motives (family, professional opportunities, and, in general, absence of language barriers); when established in the USA, they experience a new way of life that makes them stay (better work condition, quality of life, family and general opportunities); external motives become the cause for staying in the USA (insecurity, professional, political and economic scenarios). The conclusion is that an emigrational process of Brazilian doctors to the USA exists and, at first, the reason to emigrate is not well defined; salary is not mentioned as a primary reason; the presence of the family eases the stay in the country; the proficiency in the English language is fundamental and necessary to restart the professional life as a recently graduated in medicine since there isn't an university degree or medical specialty degree validation.


Reports of widespread proteorhodopsin and bacteriochlorophyll a genes suggest that light may facilitate the growth of many marine bacteria. We tested this hypothesis by conducting 3 light manipulation experiments with bacterial communities obtained off the Southern California coast. In each experiment, duplicate 20 l mesocosms were subjected to either 14:10 h light:dark or continual darkness for 5 to 10 d. Automated Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer Analysis (ARISA), a whole- community fingerprinting technique, was used to determine how light affects bacterial community structure. Light removal resulted in only minor changes in ARISA profiles (mean decrease in similar- ity between treatments: 6 ± 1% via Sorenson's index (only considers presence/absence of taxa), 15 ± 7% via Pearson's coefficient (considers relative abundance of taxa)) at the conclusion of the experi- ments. Oligotrophic communities responded nearly twice as strongly to light removal compared to mesotrophic communities. Phototrophs such as cyanobacteria exhibited consistent, sharp declines in dark treatments, indicating whatever heterotrophic abilities they possess were not sufficient to sus- tain them when faced with natural removal processes such as grazing or viral lysis. Members of the broad SAR86, SAR11, SAR116, CFB and Roseobacter phylogenetic groups exhibited minor, mixed responses to light removal, suggesting that only a few select members may rely on phototrophy to a measurable extent. Our results indicate that the majority of non-cyanobacterial bacteria in the ocean do not depend heavily on light to maintain themselves over 5 or 10 d periods in the presence of nat- ural removal processes, and hint that proteorhodopsin and bacteriochlorophyll a genes may have alternative, undetermined ecological benefits besides phototrophy.


The present study documents the finding of a survey of brokers' perception pertaining to the recently introduced commodity derivatives market in India. The survey results show the brokers' assessment about trading/marketing activities and their perception of the benefits and concerns about commodity derivatives. It also throw some light on the perception of brokers about the efficiency of Indian commodity derivatives in performing the functions of price discovery, hedging effectiveness and volatility dynamics. The survey results show that high net worth individual are contributing significantly in the trade volume of commodity derivatives. Interestingly, retail investors are also emerged as the significant contributor in total turnover of brokers. Survey results exhibit that price discovery and hedging effectiveness functions are well performed by all the commodity futures except the energy commodities futures. Energy commodities, being the most volatile commodities, are perceived as having less hedging effectiveness as compared to others. Brokers are assenting on the high to moderate impact of open interest, volume and time to maturity on the volatility of the commodity futures derivatives.


A revolutionary and empowering paradigm in treating addiction based on groundbreaking new science
For decades addiction has been viewed and treated as a social and behavioral illness, afflicting people of "weak" character and "bad" moral fiber. However, recent breakthroughs in genetic technology have enabled doctors, for the first time, to correctly diagnose the disease and prove that addiction is an inherited, neuro-chemical disease originating in brain chemistry, determined by genetics, and triggered by stress.

In their groundbreaking Addiction Breakthrough, David Kipper, MD, and Steven Whitney distill these exciting findings into a guide for the millions of adults who want to be free from the cycle of addiction, and for their loved ones who want to better understand it and to help. It draws on composite case histories to illustrate how the innovative Personal Recovery Program works by customizing treatment for a diverse group of addicts abusing a wide variety of different substances—from the first day of treatment to its successful resolution. The result is a complete guide to a world made brand-new by this enormous paradigm shift in the treatment of addiction.


Author(s): Koerper, Henry C; Ericson, Jonathon E; Fife, Donald L; Shackley, M Steven; Singer, Clay A; Minch, John A | Abstract: No other issue in Orange County archaeology has been as intense and sustained as that surrounding the question of prehistoric jasper procurement/ trade/control. The once-conventional wisdom that jasper recovered from Orange County sites was obtained in trade from desert regions to the east (McKinney 1967:27) went uncontested (e.g.. Hudson 1969:27) until Cottrell published her view that Orange County entrepreneurs procured the resource directly from the deserts (Cottrell and Del Chario 1984: 59), thereby sparking a debate that included even source provenience as a point of contention (Koerper and Fife 1985). The controversy continues, focusing on the following related hypotheses: (1) jasper found at Tomato Springs, Orange County (Fig. 1), was procured by local entrepreneurs engaged in forays into the Mojave Desert or beyond to acquire unmodified stone weighing as much as 11.67 kg. and (2) the Tomato Springs site (CAOra-244) was the primary or sole center for production and distribution of artifacts of jasper in coastal southern California (Cottrell 1985). Two critiques of Cottrell's jasper procurement/trade scenario (Koerper et al. 1987; Shackley 1987) posed numerous questions regarding lithic procurement, resource control, and tool manufacture. A recent commentary (Cottrell and Wagner 1990) neglected most of the concerns proffered by Koerper et al. (1987) and Shackley (1987) but rather focused on macroscopic and microscopic examination of Tomato Springs material to conclude that the Ora-244 jaspers are allochthonous to the Peninsular Ranges and therefore must have come from either the Mojave or Colorado desert. Here, we discuss those important issues not addressed by Cottrell and Wagner (1990). Next, petrological, petrographical, paleontological, and geochemical observations are offered to support a hypothesis of local jasper procurement. Included are data derived from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) that indicate a high degree of correlation in morphology, crystallinity, and trace element chemistry between a sample of local float jasper and a debitage specimen from Ora-244.


We conducted a study to determine if a five-item pediatric cough questionnaire (PCQ) is a valid and reliable means of measuring cough-specific quality of life in children. The five questions, which are answered by the child's parent or caregiver, cover cough frequency (Q1), sleep disturbance of the child (Q2), sleep disturbance of the parent (Q3), cough severity (Q4), and the degree of bothersomeness to the child (Q5). Each of the five items was scored on a 6-point Likert scale. The PCQ was administered three times. The first occurred when the parent telephoned to schedule an appointment for the child at a pediatric pulmonology outpatient clinic for a chief complaint of cough. The second PCQ was administered within 2 weeks of the first but before any treatment had been instituted so that test-retest reliability could be assessed. Each child was then diagnosed and treated in accordance with standard care practices. The third PCQ was administered 3 weeks after the second to determine if it would accurately reflect the parent's perception of how the child's cough had changed following treatment. Also, at the second and third encounters, parents were asked to provide their global assessment of whether their child's cough had improved, worsened, or stayed the same since the previous encounter. The parents of 120 children (70 boys and 50 girls; mean age: 6.8 yr) completed all three PCQs. Test-retest reliability was established (p < 0.001) for each of the five PCQ questions by Spearman correlation analysis (Q1: r = 0.5; Q2: r = 0.38; Q3: r = 0.42; Q4: r = 0.53; Q5: r = 0.5). Other statistical analyses confirmed the PCQ's internal consistency, discriminant validity, and convergent validity. Based on our findings, we conclude that the PCQ is a valid and reliable instrument with which to follow children with chronic cough longitudinally.


Scholarship on the commons focuses on a diverse set of problems, ranging from crashing fisheries to crowded court dockets. Because we find commons resources throughout our natural and cultural environments, understanding old lessons and learning new ones about the commons gives us leverage to a wide range of resources. Because the list of resources identified as commons resources continues to grow, the importance of gleaning lessons about the commons will also continue to grow.That being said, while the resources that make up the commons are certainly diverse, so too are the ways scholars depict it. Even when just considering the classic scholarship on the commons, the faces of the commons are so different they are nearly unrecognizable. Consider, for example, how three of the most prominent commons scholars capture the likeness of the commons: Garrett Hardin, a celebrated ecologist who gave us the concept of the tragedy of the commons, spoke of the commons as an all-out free-for-all. Elinor Ostrom, a Nobel Prize winner and a world-renowned political scientist, devoted much of her career to helping us understand how to govern the commons to avoid this tragic end. She showed us that in the commons we often find ways to keep our consumption and that of others at bay. Ostrom made famous a number of case studies that provide examples of where use of the commons is sustainable for long periods of time, even centuries. Carol Rose, a giant within legal academia, helped us see that sometimes an additional user of the commons leads to positive rather than negative ends. She explained that sometimes we face a comedy of the commons, as opposed to a tragedy. In such a case, the picture of the commons focuses not on imposed diets and a trimmed guest list but rather on the challenge of drawing additional people into a commons feast. Echoes of these characterizations of the commons are found throughout the commons literature.This Essay tries to unify these three stories that we tell and retell about the commons. To do so, it focuses on the strands that bind these stories together into a single narrative. Quite coincidentally, the overarching theme of this larger narrative very much follows the storyline of an extended tragicomedy. And, like any tragicomedy, this narrative has two dominant strands. One strand is plagued with challenges, most of which can be traced back to the internal characteristics of the commons - the nature of the resource, the traits of its users, the way the commons is governed, and the value placed on the commons resource. The second strand is one of hope - that through governance we can overcome these internal challenges and this inertia. However, hope in this context is fragile. It depends on not only guarding against the push toward tragedy but also assuring that the way we govern the commons changes to both take into account surprises and shifts in the way we value the commons. Fortunately, even though the storyline is difficult to alter, the end of each commons story is ours to write.


The dynamic response of composite explosion containment vessels has been widely reported by experimental observations. In this study, we propose an analytical method to predict the dynamic response of open-ended cylindrical composite shells subjected to internal blast loading. The cylindrical composite shell has an out fiber composite shell with an inner steel liner, in which the outer fiber composite shell is simplified as a single elastic layer by an effective modulus in the hoop direction. Considering the impact between two layers during the dynamic response, the analytical solution for response histories of two layers could be obtained. Finite element analysis on the double-layer model is also conducted by ls-dyna. The analytical solution and the simulation result agree well, which demonstrates that the current analytical method can be employed in the design of this composite structure under blast loading.


BACKGROUND
Severe hepatotoxicity in people with HIV receiving efavirenz (EFV) has been reported. We assessed the incidence and risk factors of hepatotoxicity in women of child-bearing age initiating EFV-containing regimens.

METHODS
In the PROMISE trial, ART-naïve pregnant women with HIV and CD4>350 and ALT<2.5 ULN were randomized during the antepartum (AP) and post-partum (PP) periods to ART strategies to assess HIV vertical transmission, safety, and maternal disease progression. Hepatotoxicity was defined per the DAIDS Toxicity Tables. Cox proportional hazards models were constructed with covariates including participant characteristics, ART regimens, and timing of EFV initiation.

RESULTS
Among 3576 women, 2435 (68%) initiated EFV at a median 121.1 weeks post-delivery. After EFV initiation, 2.5% (61/2435) had > grade 3, or severe, hepatotoxicity with an incidence of 2.3 (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.0-2.6) per 100 person-years (PY). Events occurred between 1-132 weeks PP. Of those with severe hepatotoxicity, 8.2% (5/61) were symptomatic, and 3.3% (2/61) of those with severe hepatotoxicity died from EFV-related hepatotoxicity, one of whom was symptomatic. The incidence of liver-related mortality was 0.07 (95% CI 0.06-0.08) per 100 PY. In multivariable analysis, older age was associated with severe hepatotoxicity (adjusted hazard ratio per 5 years 1.35 CI 1.06-1.70).

CONCLUSIONS
Severe hepatotoxicity after EFV initiation occurred in 2.5% of women and liver-related mortality occurred in 3% of those with severe hepatotoxicity. The occurrence of fatal events underscores the need for safer treatments for women of childbearing age.


Considering the singular nature of electromagnetic fields at a sharp metal edge, new FD-TD equations are derived for critical electric and magnetic nodes near such edge, which is diagonal along the Yee-cell faces in a general (not necessarily cubical) FD-TD grid. With these enhanced equations, a metal edge at an arbitrary angle to the grid can be modelled very accurately using a course grid. Analysis of several microstrip and strip lines shows that the new equations are very stable, and the computed effective dielectric constant is significantly more accurate than with previous techniques. There is no noticeable computing overhead (time or memory) of the new technique. The new equations, which differ from standard FD-TD equations only by a few additional coefficients, can be easily implemented in a standard FD-TD code.


A millimeter-wave radio test system is implemented which demonstrates 16QAM transmission over 70/80 GHz band for data rate up to 10 Gbps. Performance of the 16QAM transmitter and receiver is evaluated in a loop-back lab set-up. With the proposed 10 Gbps on single carrier system architecture, it is possible to achieve 40 Gbps over a 5 GHz bandwidth when combined with polarization and spatial multiplexing.


This thesis examines the concepts of identity and individuality via scientifically-informed philosophical analysis. It has two parts. The first part deals with metaphysical claims that turn out to be, in effect, very general empirical claims extracted from our (supposed, but rationally-accredited) knowledge of the world. I here compare two approaches: a) the Leibniz-Quine view of identity as a derivative relation, and, relatedly, of individuality as dependent on the qualities of things; and b) the view that identity is a non-analysable primitive, and, relatedly, that the individuality of things is not reducible to anything else. The former position, based on the Principle of the Identity of the Indiscernibles as a criterion of individuation, might appear prima facie more plausible. However, I argue that it runs into difficulties both at the level of a priori analysis and in terms of 'fit' with the evidence described by our best science. It is, in fact, not even as compelling from the empiricist point of view as is commonly believed. I therefore argue that the position that identity and individuality are primitive may be preferred. In the second part of the thesis - under the assumption that the proper role of metaphysics is to characterise the best solutions to issues that are left open by current science - I deal with the question regarding whether and how the ultimate constituents of reality can actually be conceived of as primitive individuals. I argue in favour of an ontology of tropes, develop the view in detail and defend it against various criticisms. The fundamental tropes that constitute the basic 'building blocks' of reality are identified with the state-independent properties of elementary particles. The way in which these constitute complex particulars is described, and certain peculiarities having to do with quantum statistics are accounted for. I conclude by suggesting possible avenues for further research.


OBJECTIVE
Bipolar disorder is a heritable disorder characterized by mood dysregulation associated with brain functional dysconnectivity. Previous research has focused on the detection of risk- and disease-associated dysconnectivity in individuals with bipolar disorder and their first-degree relatives. The present study seeks to identify adaptive brain connectivity features associated with resilience, defined here as avoidance of illness or delayed illness onset in unaffected siblings of patients with bipolar disorder.

METHOD
Graph theoretical methods were used to examine global and regional brain network topology in head-motion-corrected resting-state functional MRI data acquired from 78 patients with bipolar disorder, 64 unaffected siblings, and 41 healthy volunteers.

RESULTS
Global network properties were preserved in patients and their siblings while both groups showed reductions in the cohesiveness of the sensorimotor network. In the patient group, these sensorimotor network abnormalities were coupled with reduced integration of core default mode network regions in the ventromedial cortex and hippocampus. Conversely, integration of the default mode network was increased in the sibling group compared with both the patient group and the healthy volunteer group.

CONCLUSIONS
The authors found that trait-related vulnerability to bipolar disorder was associated with reduced resting-state cohesiveness of the sensorimotor network in patients with bipolar disorder. However, integration of the default mode network emerged as a key feature differentiating disease expression and resilience between the patients and their siblings. This is indicative of the presence of neural mechanisms that may promote resilience, or at least delay illness onset.


Abstract We analyze the dynamics of dialect loss in a cluster of villages in rural northern Russia based on a corpus of transcribed interviews, the Ustja River Basin Corpus. Eleven phonological and morphological variables are analyzed across 33 speakers born between 1922 and 1996 in a series of logistic regression models. We propose three characteristics for a comparison of the rate of loss of different variables: initial level, steepness, and turning point. We show that the dynamics of loss differs significantly across variables and discuss possible reasons for such differences, including perceptual salience, initial variation in the dialect, and convergence with regionally or socially defined varieties of Russian. In conclusion, we discuss the pros and cons of logistic regression as an approach to quantitative modeling of dialect loss. Our paper contributes to the study and documentation of Russian dialects, most of which are on the verge of extinction.


Sera from 28 patients with Lyme disease were tested for the presence of anticardiolipin antibodies (ACLA). Seven serum samples had elevated levels of IgM ACLA, and 4 had elevated levels of IgG ACLA. Higher IgM ACLA positivity tended to be associated with neurologic disease, and IgM ACLA levels correlated with the specific IgM response to the infecting spirochete (P less than 0.01). Absorption experiments indicated that ACLA and antispirochete antibodies are largely separate populations. Thus, ACLA may occur in patients with Lyme disease, particularly in those with neurologic abnormalities, and the production of these antibodies seems to be linked to the specific IgM response.


In non-native conifer plantations characterized by strong spatial and temporal variations in the availability of tree seeds in Spadeadam Forest, northern England, the home range and habitat use of red squirrels Sciurus vulgaris was very flexible. Males tended to have much larger home ranges than females and core-areas of most breeding females seemed mutually exclusive. Adult female red squirrels were found to increase their home range and core-area size in forest patches where food was less abundant. Home-range size was significantly related to home-range quality and the extent of overlap by other females. In contrast with high-quality continuous conifer forests: (1) a considerable proportion of adult males and females at Spadeadam shifted home range, (2) both sexes had much larger home ranges than reported from other habitats in Britain or Belgium. Many ranges were multinuclear, particularly from January onwards, when supplies of seeds become depleted through consumption and seed shed. Squirrels tracked the availability of conifer seeds (lodgepole pine cones throughout the study, Norway spruce cones in spring 1992 and Sitka spruce cones in autumn 1993) and intensively used several non-adjacent activity centres in temporally food-rich patches. Consequently, habitat preference changed markedly with time. The squirrels seemed to maximize nitrogen intake and to avoid the smaller seeds when possible. This resulted in an overall preference for a mixed diet of lodgepole pine and spruce seeds and avoidance of Sitka spruce seeds when Norway spruce seeds were available. These results lend support to the hypothesis of Ostfeld (1985) that when food is sparse and patchily distributed, females should develop intrasexual territoriality, concentrating their activity in food-rich patches, while males should be non-territorial and adapt their space use to the distribution of females.


NaDSet, a {\underline N}atural {\underline D}eduction based {\underline Set} theory and logic, of this paper is an extension of an earlier logic of the same name. It and some of its applications have been described in earlier papers. A proof of the consistency and completeness of NaDSet is provided elsewhere. In all these earlier papers NaDSet has been formulated as a Gentzen sequent calculus similar to the formulation LK by Gentzen of classical first order logic, although it was claimed that any natural deduction formalization of first order logic, such as Gentzen''s natural deduction formulation NK, could be simply extended to be a formalization of NaDSet. This is indeed the case for the method of semantic tableaux of Beth or for Smullyan''s version of the tableaux, but the extensions needed for other formalizations, including NK and the intuitionistic version NJ, require some care. The consistency of NaDSet is dependant upon restricting its axioms to those of the form ${\bf A} \rightarrow {\bf A}$, where {\bf A} is an atomic formula; an equivalent restriction for the natural deduction formulation is not obvious. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the needed restriction and to prove the equivalence of the resulting natural deduction logic with the Gentzen sequent calculus formulation for both the intuitionistic and the classical versions of NaDSet. Additionally the paper provides a brief sketch of the motivation for NaDSet and some of its proven and potential applications. \nThe authors gratefully acknowledges support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada.


Abstract Smithian–lower Anisian strata in Peary Land, North Greenland, were deposited at ∼45° N on the northern margin of Pangaea in offshore to upper shoreface settings. The well-constrained succession (palynology and ammonite biostratigraphy) documents a remarkable shift from lycophyte spore-dominated assemblages in the upper Smithian to gymnosperm pollen-dominated ones in the lower Spathian in concert with a marked shift of +6 ‰ in δ13Corg. Correlation with other Smithian–Spathian boundary sections that record terrestrial floral changes indicates that the recovery of gymnosperms began earlier in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern Hemisphere. The lycophyte-dominated Late Smithian Thermal Maximum is here interpreted as reflecting dry and hot climatic conditions with only brief seasonal precipitation unable to sustain large areas of gymnosperm trees, but able to revive dehydrated lycophytes. This suggests that the Late Smithian Thermal Maximum was a time of widespread aridity, which is also supported by red bed deposition in many areas globally, even as far south as Antarctica. The shift to gymnosperm-dominated vegetation during the cooling across the Smithian–Spathian boundary reflects a change to seasonally more humid climatic conditions favouring gymnosperm recovery, and could have been initiated by increased albedo over land due to the widespread aridity during the Late Smithian Thermal Maximum. The recovery of gymnosperm vegetation would have helped to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere and exacerbate global cooling.


Background: Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic mildly contagious granulomatous disease of tropical and subtropical regions caused by the rod shaped bacillus, Mycobacterium leprae. It affects the skin, peripheral nerves in the hands and feet, mucous membrane of nose, throat and eyes. When left untreated, it is capable of producing various deformities and disfigurements. Aim: To study the ocular involvement in patients with Leprosy under the parameters of age group, sex type and duration of leprosy. To study the different ocular manifestations and identify the potentially sight threatening lesions and provide early management. Methods: This was a prospective study which included 50 cases diagnosed with Hansen's disease. Detailed history and thorough clinical examination was done. Potentially sight threatening lesions were managed conservatively or surgically. Results: Out of 50 cases of Leprosy, 58% had ocular involvement and majority were in the age group 21-40years. Ocular involvement was predominantly seen in Lepromatous type with 35% having ocular lesions. The most common ocular manifestation observed was superciliary madarosis (48%). Potentially sight threatening lesions accounted for 72.4% of which lagophthalmos was common. No cases of blindness seen. Conclusion: Visual impairment is preventable in Leprosy if detected early. The risk of ocular complications increases with the duration of the disease, despite being treated with systemic anti-leprosy drugs.


Importance
Accurate prediction of adverse outcomes after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) can guide the triage of care services and shared decision-making, and novel methods hold promise for using existing data to generate additional insights.

Objective
To evaluate whether contemporary machine learning methods can facilitate risk prediction by including a larger number of variables and identifying complex relationships between predictors and outcomes.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This cohort study used the American College of Cardiology Chest Pain-MI Registry to identify all AMI hospitalizations between January 1, 2011, and December 31, 2016. Data analysis was performed from February 1, 2018, to October 22, 2020.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Three machine learning models were developed and validated to predict in-hospital mortality based on patient comorbidities, medical history, presentation characteristics, and initial laboratory values. Models were developed based on extreme gradient descent boosting (XGBoost, an interpretable model), a neural network, and a meta-classifier model. Their accuracy was compared against the current standard developed using a logistic regression model in a validation sample.

Results
A total of 755 402 patients (mean [SD] age, 65 [13] years; 495 202 [65.5%] male) were identified during the study period. In independent validation, 2 machine learning models, gradient descent boosting and meta-classifier (combination including inputs from gradient descent boosting and a neural network), marginally improved discrimination compared with logistic regression (C statistic, 0.90 for best performing machine learning model vs 0.89 for logistic regression). Nearly perfect calibration in independent validation data was found in the XGBoost (slope of predicted to observed events, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.99-1.04) and the meta-classifier model (slope of predicted-to-observed events, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.99-1.02), with more precise classification across the risk spectrum. The XGBoost model reclassified 32 393 of 121 839 individuals (27%) and the meta-classifier model reclassified 30 836 of 121 839 individuals (25%) deemed at moderate to high risk for death in logistic regression as low risk, which were more consistent with the observed event rates.

Conclusions and Relevance
In this cohort study using a large national registry, none of the tested machine learning models were associated with substantive improvement in the discrimination of in-hospital mortality after AMI, limiting their clinical utility. However, compared with logistic regression, XGBoost and meta-classifier models, but not the neural network, offered improved resolution of risk for high-risk individuals.


OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to describe preparations for extreme hot weather at Victorian public sector residential aged care services for the 2010-11 summer, and to examine the role of the Residential Aged Care Services Heatwave Ready Resource in this process.

METHOD
Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews of senior staff of Victorian public sector residential aged care services. Interviews were conducted at monthly intervals from November 2010 to March 2011, and data were analysed thematically.

RESULTS
All interviewees described pre-summer preparations for hot weather undertaken at the health services they represented. Staff awareness and experience, and having a heatwave plan, were reported to have facilitated heat preparedness, whereas challenges to preparations mainly concerned air conditioning. The Residential Aged Care Services Heatwave Ready Resource was used to inform heatwave plans, for staff and family education, and as an audit tool.

CONCLUSIONS
An extensive and well-considered approach to minimisation of harm from extreme heat by a sample of residential aged care services is described, and the Residential Aged Care Services Heatwave Ready Resource is reported to have supported the heatwave preparedness process.


The article begins with a sketch of the relation of interaction to language and to culture, and of the students of interaction to the students of language and of culture. A 10-second segment of recorded interaction at a family dinner is then examined in a fashion meant to preserve the integrity1 of what is being done interactionally while incorporating attention to the deployment of various facets of the language that is used, and its relationship to simultaneously ongoing bodily doings. An interactional practice – whining – from that episode is then juxtaposed with the same practice in several other segments of interaction in the interests of developing a more formal, transsituational account. The viability of research focused on phenomena in an analytically distinct domain of events while preserving the integrity of the occasions in which instances of the phenomenon occurred is then reviewed, using a case study of the conjoint use of phonetic analysis and conversation analysis. The article concludes with a reply to Levinson's article in this special issue of the journal, and uses the occasion to sketch the relationship between interaction and so-called 'macro' social and cultural formations such as kinship.


In the era of financial sector reforms, sustainability, viability and operational efficiency of rural financial institutions (RFIs) are the major issues that need to be taken cognizance of in ensuring effective rural credit delivery system. However, the major problems plaguing the efficiency of rural credit delivery system are the mounting overdue and Non Performing Assets (NPAs) of RFIs. In the state of Maharashtra, the credit cooperatives have not only shown slower growth in their institutional finance coupled with much slower growth in their membership but also faster growth in outstanding loans as against their loan advances during the reform period. The reason for this dismal scenario can be associated with adverse environment created by the financial sector reforms, which have reduced the entire rural credit delivery through cooperatives to a moribund state. The financial sector reforms have accorded greater flexibility to cooperatives to invest in non-target avenues like shares and debentures of corporates, units of mutual funds, bonds of public sector undertakings, etc. This has affected credit flow from these major institutions operating in rural Maharashtra as most of their loans meant for farm finance are diverted to investments. The estimates of this study also show not only wide variation in total and crop loan advances of PACS but also their outstanding loans, overdue and per member borrowing across different regions of Maharashtra. The outstanding loan of PACS based on per hectare GCA is seen to have exceeded loan advances with a comfortable margin in all the regions of the state. Although increase in outstanding loan with rise in loan advances and GCA is another issue, the most important one among all is the mounting overdue and NPAs of cooperatives that sets a path where from there is no return and, which ultimately leads to inefficiency in cooperative credit delivery. In order to rejuvenate rural credit delivery system through cooperatives, the major problems facing the system, viz., high transaction cost, poor repayment performance, mounting NPAs, distributional aspect of credit, coverage of various social groups, etc., need to be tackled with more fiscal jurisprudence reserving exemplary punishment for willful defaults, particularly large farmers. In fact, insofar as the rural credit delivery system is concerned, the focus should be on strategies that are required for tackling issues such as sustainability and viability, operational efficiency, recovery performance, small farmer coverage and balanced sectoral development.


Type 1a diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune condition characterized by islet cell destruction and progressive insulin deficiency, characteristically present with weight loss and thin habitus. With the rising incidence of obesity over the past several decades, the prevalence of obesity at onset of diabetes has increased. Furthermore, the incidences of both Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and T1D have significantly increased in recent years. Therefore, it has become increasingly difficult to distinguish between T1D and T2D at onset of disease in children with several hypotheses available to attempt to link these diagnoses with the theory that obesity itself may be playing a role in the increasing onset of diabetes in children. The distinction between T1D and T2D may not be of initial therapeutic importance, and may not even be a valid classification system. However, the differentiation is of importance to public health because it helps to characterize the co-morbidities of the rising obesity epidemic and plan for future health care delivery and the costs of these conditions and their comorbidities rise. With obesity leading to diabetes, improved public health efforts to stem the obesity epidemic may ultimately be able to decrease the long-term costs to the healthcare system resulting from increasing obesity epidemic. Diabetes associated autoantibodies are the traditional method used to differentiate T1D from T2D. However, patients with phenotypic T1D may be negative for autoantibodies at disease diagnosis with commonly used testing methods. Therefore, absence of antibodies, even in the presence of obesity, does not necessarily indicate the presence of T2D. We have used other markers of autoimmunity (diabetes associated T cell responses) and HLA typing to identify additional autoimmune findings in antibody negative, insulin-requiring diabetes. This enhances the argument that many autoimmune children may be classified with T2D due to the presence of obesity and evidence of insulin resistance and that autoantibody negative diabetes (and pediatric diabetes in general) may is heterogeneous, with our current classification system not adequate to fully characterize this condition.


"Learning to Teach, Teaching to Learn: Stories of Collaboration in Teacher Education" centres around participants in a year-long alternative teacher-education programme who, through discussions about their professional and personal lives, found themselves questioning the larger construction of teacher pedagogy. Perceiving a disconnection between their education and personal experiences, these student teachers, co-operating teachers, and university professors collaborated to imagine and live out a new story of teacher education. Their narratives, presented here, are organised into 5 thematic areas: teacher education as part of the ongoing "storying" and "restorying" of students' lives; rejection of the theory/practice dichotomy; collaboration and how it redefines teachers' roles; the new language specific to teacher education; and improvisation and what it means to live a new story. The editors, D. Jean Clandinin, Annie Davies, Pat Hogan, and Barbara Kennard, aim not to present contributors' lives as models, but to enrich and deepen the ongoing discussion concerning teacher education. This book is a valuable supplementary text in courses on teacher education, curriculum, qualitative studies, educational reform and the sociology of education. Students, practitioners and professors should find the book engrossing and revealing.


The issue of standard costs is at the centre of Calderoli Bill (A.C. n. 2105), which shall implement the article 119 of the Italian Constitution. In this respect, it should be noted that in economics several formulations of the abovementioned concept of standard cost have been proposed, all of them having very different purposes and contents. In any case, standard costs' size is not "objective", but it refers to the assessment of those entitled to do it, or of those peculiar operators at whom the subject interested in cost evaluation (stakeholder) recognize a technical expertise and a specific role in the governance of the system to which standard costs determination is related. In this article, it is noted that in the article 2, paragraph 2, letter f) of the bill (and, indeed, all over the bill) the issue of cost management has been left out. The crucial point is not only minimizing system's management costs, but also the financial sustainability of the system, for all authorities, in the medium term, that is precisely the question of cost management. In this study, there is an attempt to demonstrate that a technical analysis of these problems is possible. In this respect, an approximation exercise is suggested, which has the only function to test the possibility of one of the possible paths. Certain assumptions made by such an exercise - such as a greater efficiency (a not lower efficiency) of Southern Italy regions, as regards health - has to be considered, in any case, very carefully.


In restinga areas of Marambaia, Rio de Janeiro, we recorded nine species of lizards, grouped in four families. The morphometric analysis suggested an invasion-structured pattern, with two distinct groups of species in the community: the "ground-runners", composed of animals with robust bodies and long limbs, represented by Tropidurus torquatus (Wied, 1820), Ameiva ameiva (Linnaeus, 1758), Liolaemus lutzae Mertens, 1938 , Cnemidophorus littoralis Rocha, Araujo, Vrcibradic & Costa, 2000 and Tupinambis merianae (Dumeril & Bibron, 1839); and the "hiders", composed of small-bodied animals with short limbs, represented by Hemidactylus mabouia (Moreau de Jonnes, 1818), Gymnodactylus darwinii (Gray, 1845), Mabuya agilis (Raddi, 1823) and M. macrorhyncha Hoge, 1947. The morphological relationships within the restinga lizard community reflect the influence of the habitat physical structure: bromeliad availability and other refugia, used by the "hiders", and the distribution of open areas, used by the "ground-runners". Our results also indicate that the restingas hold "ecomorphological spaces" (vacant niches) available for occupation by additional lizard species.


This article argues that even though in Chile several successful reforms have been made, such as the Criminal Procedure reform, the Labor Procedure reform and the Family courts reform, public confidence in the justice system is still very low. It is argued that this gap should serve as an alert to legal professionals and policymakers in Chile that it is time to rethink and adjust the reform agenda. The article claims that the Chilean justice system must attend to its trustworthiness, which requires that it better incorporate and serve the fundamental principles of democracy, under Lincoln's famous conception of a democratic government as one that is "of, by, and for the people". To accomplish this task, a new set of reforms is suggested aimed at making the justice system more democratically trustworthy and, therefore, capable of recovering citizens' trust.


Effects of gamma-irradiation at doses of 1, 5, 10 kGy on electrophoretic patterns of insoluble proteins, water absorption properties and cooking quality of dry bean and chickpea samples were investigated. SDSPAGE patterns of the samples in each variety did not differ in terms of relative mobilities. The densitometric analysis results indicated that the effects of irradiation on SDS-PAGE patterns of dry bean and chickpea proteins seem to be minor. Generally, Iower irradiation doses did not significantly affect the water absorption properties of the food legumes. On the other hand, the dry and wet cooking times of the irradiated samples were found to be significantly reduced in all dry bean and chickpea samples.


Micro-channel-based evaporators are a promising option for high heat flux cooling applications. Micro-channels offer several advantages, including a smaller coolant inventory, superior heat transfer performance, compactness, lightness of weigh. Despite being attractive, the governing phenomena in micro-channels, especially during phase change, are less understood. This article reports the experimental flow boiling heat transfer results of refrigerants R134a and R245fa in a horizontal micro-channel. A series of experiments was conducted to measure the heat transfer coefficients in a circular micro-channel made of fused silica having an internal diameter of 781 μm and a uniformly heated length of 191 mm. The outer surface of the test tube was coated with a thin, electrically conductive layer of indium-tin-oxide. The surface coating with the electrically conductive layer of indium-tin-oxide made it possible to visualize the flow boiling process simultaneously with uniform heating of the test section. R134a and R245fa were used as working fluids and experiments were performed at a system pressure of 7.7 bar for R134a and at 1.8 bar for R245fa, corresponding to saturation temperature of 30°C. Mass flux was varied from 175 kg/m2s to 500 kg/m2s, and heat flux ranged from 5 kW/m2 to 60 kW/m2. A high-speed camera was used to capture the images in the case of flow boiling of R134a. The experimental results indicated that the heat transfer coefficient increased with heat flux while the mass flux proved to have a negligible effect on heat transfer coefficient.


The study of the relationhips between verbal language and musical expression, if applied to the most various historical and cultural contexts, facilitates a critical-analytical and interdisciplinary-transversal approach, capable of seriously challenging the traditional dichotomy "art"/"popular" cultures ( colto / popolare ), as well as the most recent tendency – especially in Italy – to give different meanings to analogous terms such as popolare and popular. Such a transcultural approach emphasizes not only divergences, especially in terms of compositional technique and textual transmission, but also no less relevant concordances, concerning the basic principles of music-word interaction. The vast realm of modern auteur song ( canzone d'autore ), perhaps more than any other, represents the ideal space of meeting and interchange – hardly reducible to the category of popular – between heterogeneous but not at all incompatible traditions and experiences. It is precisely in such an open interspace that the most diverse "art" and "popular" literary-musical practices have always naturally encountered one another in a dialogue that tends to knock down persistent, ideological barriers. The present essay argues this basic thesis on the ground of historical considerations and synthetic exemplifications, with reference to some of the most representative international repertoires (French chanson , Italian canzone , Brasilian cancao , British and North-American song).


Abstract: In most cases, financial variables are explained by leptokurtic distribution and often fail the assumption of normal distribution. This paper sought to explore the robustness of GARCH–type models in forecasting inflation volatility using quarterly time series data spanning 2002 to 2014. The data was sourced from the South African Reserve Bank database. SAS version 9.3 was used to generate the results. The initial analyses of data confirmed non-linearity, hereroscedasticity and non-stationarity in the series. Differencing was imposed in a log transformed series to induce stationarity. Further findings confirmed that 𝐴𝑅 (1)_𝐼𝐺𝐴𝑅𝐶𝐻 (1, 1)model suggested a high degree persistent in the conditional volatility of the series. However, the𝐴𝑅 (1)_𝐸𝐺𝐴𝑅𝐶𝐻 (2, 1)model was found to be more robust in forecasting volatility effects than the 𝐴𝑅 (1)_𝐼𝐺𝐴𝑅𝐶𝐻 (1, 1) and 𝐴𝑅 (1)_𝐺𝐽𝑅 − 𝐺𝐴𝑅𝐶𝐻 (2, 1)models. This model confirmed that inflation rates in South Africa exhibits the stylised characteristics such as volatility clustering, leptokurtosis and asymmetry effects. These findings may be very useful to the industry and scholars who wish to apply models that capture heteroscedastic and non-linear errors. The findings may also benefit policy makers and may be referred to when embarking on strategies in-line with inflation rate.


The incidence of pancreatic cancer has increased threefold over the last 40 years with the greatest rate of growth occurring in the elderly. In the past it was suggested that elderly patients tolerated pancreaticoduodenectomy less well than younger patients with higher mortality rates. This single-institution experience examines the question of whether age is a significant factor in relation to morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy. Between 1994 and 1999 outcomes of 122 patients who underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy were reviewed. There were 48 patients 70 years of age and older and 74 patients less than 70 years of age. Both groups were compared with respect to preoperative clinical prognostic determinates and perioperative factors affecting morbidity and mortality. There was no significant difference between the two groups comparing their comorbidities, use of preoperative antibiotics, intraoperative blood loss, or length of hospital stay (11.9 and 10.8 days respectively). The two groups were also similar with regard to pathologic diagnosis with pancreatic adenocarcinoma being the most frequently encountered neoplasm. There was one death in the less-than-70-year-old group and none in the older group. No significant difference in the rate of complications was appreciated. These data demonstrate that pancreaticoduodenectomy can be performed safely in patients 70 years of age and older with morbidity and mortality rates similar to those of younger individuals.


This article summarizes norm-referenced and criterion-referenced measures of narration and introduces a new criterion-referenced narrative scoring system called the Index of Narrative Complexity (INC). The INC was designed to be used as a progress-monitoring tool. A preliminary study of the use of this scoring system is reported that yielded evidence suggesting that the INC can be scored consistently, yields similar scores across five elicitation formats, is sensitive to change after intervention, and correlates highly with the Test of Narrative Language (Gillam & Pearson, 2004). These results support the use of the INC as a clinical tool for evaluating the outcomes of narrative intervention.


Although it is much easier said than done, the key to good public relations and good employee relations in the emergency department is communication and training. Registrars have a need to know a great deal of information and the more they know the more effectively they can do their jobs. But it can't stop with registrars. All personnel involved with emergency department patients must have a basic understanding of how the registration and billing process works. This takes much communication in all directions. But if this is successfully carried out, there will be benefits beyond good internal and external relations. The billing and collection process will improve as a result of better information and more informed, satisfied patients.


Herbarium records provide a broad spatial and temporal range with which to investigate plant responses to environmental change. Research on plant phenology and its sensitivity to climate has advanced with the increasing availability of digitized herbar-ium specimens, but limitations of specimen-derived data can undermine the inferences derived from such research. One issue that has received little attention is collection site uncertainty (i.e. error distance), a measure of confidence in the location from which a specimen was collected. We conducted comparative analyses of phenoclimatic models to determine whether spatial deviations of 2, 5, 15 or 25 km between recorded and simulated collection sites, as well as the error distance reported in digitized records, affect estimates of the phenological sensitivity of flowering time to annual temperature and precipitation in a widespread annual California wildflower. In this approach, we considered both spatial and interannual variation in climatic conditions. Simulated site displacements led to increasingly weak estimates of phenological sensitivity to temperature and precipitation anomalies with increasing distances. However, we found no significant effect of reported error distance magnitude on estimates of phenological sensitivity to climate normals or anomalies. These findings suggest that the spatial uncertainty of collection sites among specimens of widely collected plant species may not adversely affect estimates of phenological sensitivity to climate, even though real discrepancies and georeferencing inaccuracy can negatively impact such estimates. Collection site uncertainty merits further attention as a potential source of noise in herbarium data, especially for research on how plant traits respond to spatial and inter-annual climatic variation.


This study reports an investigation of ten-year-old children's strategy use in computational estimation (i.e., give an approximate answer like 400 to an arithmetic problem like 224 + 213). Children used four strategies: rounding with decomposition, rounding without decomposition, truncation, and compensation. Strategies appeared to differ in frequency and effectiveness. Finally, children chose strategies in an adaptive way so as to obtain fast and accurate performance. Implications of these findings for understanding children's computational estimation performance and strategies in numerical cognition in general are discussed.


The pollen morphology of 10 Allium L. taxa, 6 of which are endemic to Turkey, were investigated in detail by light and scanning electron microscopy. According to LM and SEM, the pollen grains of genera were monad, monosulcate percolate, heteropolar with bilateral symmetry, 25.30 to 53,85 µm long axis (LA) and 17.55 to 36.86 µm short axis (SA), the form was prolate (mean of LA/SA ratio 1.30 to 1.70 and in polar view boat-shaped. Three types of ornamentation were determined. Striate-rugulate-perforate type in Allium longisepalum, A. oreophilum, A. anacoleum, A. microspathum, A.shirnakiense, A. purpureoviride and A. armenum, Rugulate–perforate type in A. pervariense and A. gabardagense and Rugulate–reticulate-perforate type in A. arlgirdense. Sulcus membrane ornamentations were rugulate or psilate. The sulcus extends from the distal to proximal ends in A. anacoleum, A. arlgirdense and A. pervariense. The present study on some Turkish species of Allium showed that several morphological pollen characters may possess taxonomical value.


Delayed neurotoxic effects arise as a result of two distinct biochemical events: 1) inhibiton of neurotoxic esterase, and 2) 'aging' of inhibited enzyme. Protective agents undergo reaction 1 but cannot undergo 2. Reaction 2 may interfere with a normal physiological control mechanism.


Downs presents a rational calculus of voting that has inspired much of the later work on voting and turnout. Particularly significant was his conclusion that a rational voter should almost never bother to vote. This conclusion, especially as elaborated on by Riker and Ordeshook (1968) has shifted the attention of modern political scientists from explaining why people don't vote to explaining why they do.


In this paper we investigate the asymptotic behavior of belief propagation algorithm for low density parity check (LDPC) codes over additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel when there is an incorrect estimate of the channel noise power. We propose a computationally efficient method to compute the convergence threshold values for both regular and irregular codes and show that these values are consistent with simulation results for the codes with finite block lengths. The effect of imperfect channel estimation on EXIT charts of variable nodes and check nodes is also investigated.


We combine current measurements of the local expansion rate, H0, and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) estimates of helium abundance with the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the Planck Collaboration to discuss the observational viability of the scale invariant Harrison-Zeldovch-Peebles (HZP) spectrum. We also analyze some of its extensions, namely, HZP + YP and HZP + Neff, where YP is the primordial helium mass fraction and Neff is the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom. We perform a Bayesian analysis and show that the latter model is favored with respect to the standard cosmology for values of Neff lying in the interval 3.70 ± 0.13 (1σ), which is currently allowed by some independent analyses.


In this study, single phase aragonite PCC was synthesized by the solution process using Ca(OH)2 slurry and Na2CO3 solution as the main reactants. To begin with, the formation behavior of PCC polymorphs following changes in supersaturation was investigated, and the optimum synthetic condition of single-phase aragonite PCC was clarified after the role of NaOH in the reaction system was reviewed. In the results, it was considered that lower supersaturation was necessary to obtain a single phase aragonite; and, since the solubility of Ca(OH)2 was decreased with the addition of NaOH by a common ion effect, it is possible to perform a experiment at a lower Ca2+ concentration. In conclusion, in the case of the reaction of the 2.5M NaOH solution, single phase aragonite was obtained. Furthermore, NaOH solution was produced as a by-product in the solution process by reacting Ca(OH)2 slurry with Na2CO3. Thus, recycling of the NaOH solution was attempted in order to clear the environmental issue. It is difficult to recycle directly since the NaOH solution was diluted during the experiment. The optimum condition was investigated by control of experimental factors such as the concentration of Ca(OH)2, Na2CO3 and NaOH, and the reaction temperature, after which the NaOH solution was recycled without re-treatment. The formation characteristics of aragonite PCC, such as formation yield, particle morphology and aspect ratio, were investigated.


Necrotic pancreatitis is the most severe of all acute pancreatitis and treatment with various surgical procedures has had a high mortality. A retrospective study of 37 patients treated by necrosectomy and postoperative lavage-drainage from January 1987 to December 1990 was made. The most frequent etiologies were alcoholic (21 patients) and biliary (15 patients). Eight patients had moderate pancreatitis according to Ranson's classification when they entered the hospital (one died) and in 28 it was severe (eight died). The mean time between entrance to the hospital and surgery was 15.1 days. Twenty five were reoperated, twelve for residual abscesses and eight of these died. The mean hospitalization time was 56.7 (+/- 32.8) days and overall mortality was 24.3%, smaller than that observed in our hospital with other various procedures. It is concluded that necrosectomy and lavage-drainage is a good surgical alternative for patients with necrotic pancreatitis.


Abstract: Nocardia infection is reported to increase in numbers due to the increment of immunocompromised patients. The insidious onset of Nocardia infection and the complexity of clinical presentation in Central Nervous System (CNS) often will be a challenge to the clinicians. The traditional drug of choice for the Nocardia infection is sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim. However, as the resistance to the drug increases, other antibiotics should be considered to render alternatives. Linezolid could be the one of the options. We report a case of brain abscess of Nocardia asteroids in a 71-year-old woman of lung cancer.
Keywords: Brain abscess; Lung cancer; Nocardia infection
Clinical Presentation; A 71-year-old woman of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, left lower lobe, T3NxM1b, with lung to lung, liver, and brain metastasis had began to receive oral target therapy with Irresa and the whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) was recommended. Chest X-rayrevealed shrinkage of the tumor dramatically after Irresa. Agitation and inappropriate behavior seized her, which had been attributed to brain metastasis and complication of WBRT. However, vague opacity of both lung fields increased and antibiotics had been used, but her condition deteriorated to respiratory failure.
Endotracheal intubation and mechanical ventilation were used, and then she was transferred to respiratory intensive care unit. Magnetic resonance imaging of brain showed one brain abscess with diameter of 11 mm over the right occipital area (Figure 1). Careful neurologic examination was done, but it revealed neither defect of visual fields nor deficit of motor function. Empirical antibiotics were given for 2 weeks. Computed tomography of brain revealed the increasing abscess in diameter to 16 mm. Biological examination of the sampled fluid through the craniotomy revealed Nocardia asteroids. Intravenous (IV) sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim was given, but low grade fever persisted. Meanwhile, IV linezolid was introduced to cover Nocardia infection of the brain for 3 weeks and she became clear gradually.
Oral linezolid was used for 10 weeks. Nocardia is the soil-borne aerobic bacteria of the order actinomycetales, a gram-positive numerous non-motile filaments and partially acid-fast, mainly occurring in the lungs, brain or skin. It is an opportunistic pathogen usually through inhalation or direct cutaneous inoculation, so primary infection is pulmonary or cutaneous and brain abscess is the characteristic lesion of CNS infection through hematogenous spread [1]. The incidence of Nocardia brain abscess is only 2%. The mortality of Nocardia brain abscess is 20-55% in immunocompromised and immunocompetent patients, respectively [2].
It is difficulty and delayed in diagnosis and management because of paucity of clinical and laboratory signs of infection and insidious manifestations [3]. Nocardiosis is increasingly being diagnosed in the recent years due to increasing number of immunocompromised hosts and improvement of modality in the detection of Nocardia species in clinical laboratories. The first-line therapy of Nocardia infection is sulphonamides/trimethoprim and linezolid is an alternative drug if allergy or resistance [4].


An optimal immunohistochemical panel to distinguish poorly differentiated prostate (PCa) from urothelial (UCa) carcinoma was selected from a panel consisting of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), high-molecular-weight cytokeratin (HMWCK), clone 34betaE12, cytokeratin (CK) 7, CK20, p63, and alpha-methylacyl-coenzyme A racemase. The pilot group was composed of poorly differentiated UCa (n = 36) and PCa (n = 42). PSA and PAP stained 95% of PCa vs 0% and 11% of UCa cases, respectively. HMWCK and p63 stained 97% and 92% of UCa vs 2% and 0% of PCa cases respectively. CK7/CK20 coexpression was noted in 50% of UCa cases, whereas 86% of PCa cases were negative with both. A panel of PSA, HMWCK, and p63 was optimal for separating 95% PCa (PSA+/HMWCK and/or p63-) vs 97% UCa (PSA-/HMWCK and/or p63+). This panel was used on 26 diagnostically challenging cases and resolved 81% of cases as UCa vs PCa. The majority of PCa cases retain PSA. Negative PSA with positive HMWCK and/or p63 establishes a diagnosis of UCa.


Abstract The article presents rational principles for improving the structure of a flax heap drier. As a result of tests which were carried out, we established that the counter-flow rotary dryer SKM-1 is the most perspective for drying flax heap. For effective drying of the flax heap fine fraction the second rotating screen above the loaded layer of flax heap is suggested in the SKM-1 dryer. Consequently, the drying agent processed on the bottom screen is used for preliminary drying and removal of surface moisture of the material loaded on the top screen. For the purpose of maintaining the uniform drying of the material it is recommended to carry out loosening and hashing during the drying process with the help of the loosening device, established as the V-shaped device on the discharge unit on the way to a mill. The preliminary heating of the flax heap on the top screen essentially accelerates drying and allows the increase of the dryer performance and can minimize energy requirement for drying. The correctly selected modes of the drying process provide favorable conditions for ripening flax seed, avoid damage of drying material and improve its sowing quality.


I came to the United States in 2016—from Paris to Pittsburgh—in the aftermath of a horrific series of terrorist attacks in France that targeted everyone. As a clinician-scientist, I wanted to continue focusing my efforts on therapies to restore vision rather than constantly check the news. As a Jew, I wanted to live according to ethical principles nurtured by my identity in an open society that does not consider deviation from secularism as questionable. As a father, I wanted my children and grandchildren to grow within a humanistic perspective and at the same time to honor their dual heritage. In 2012, the very mild reaction to the killing of soldiers and Jews, especially of children in a Jewish school, in Toulouse, was saddening, and there was great uncertainty about how a society infected by anger, fear, and intolerance would evolve. Two weeks ago, the mass killing at a Pittsburgh synagogue proved what I knew but wanted to forget—that no place on Earth is "safe" from hatred. But regardless of where any one of us lives and works, we are faced with the same, immense challenge: The quest for facts, enlightenment, and care versus ignorance and hatred matters more than ever.


Laser Thomson scattering (LTS) was used for the first time to measure the non-Maxwellian electron velocity distribution function (EVDF) in an atmospheric-pressure-air pulsed positive streamer discharge. The air streamer was generated with specially designed electrode configuration which provided good spatial reproducibility. The LTS was conducted at a secondary streamer phase with a repetition rate of 2 Hz. To reduce the measurement error caused by intense rotational Raman scattering from N2 and O2, 20 000 LTS signals were accumulated. The LTS spectrum, which was a 1D-projected EVDF in the streamer, has shown a non-Maxwellian EVDF predicted by solving the Boltzmann equation. The measured EVDF exhibited good agreement with an EVDF calculated with E/N  =  150 Td. Electron density at the initial phase of the secondary streamer was obtained from the LTS spectrum as 2.7  ×  1014 cm−3.


Four new quaternary chalcogenides with the formula of Na6Zn3MIII2Q9 (MIII = Ga, In; Q = S, Se) have been successfully synthesized for the first time. They are isostructural and crystallize in the monoclinic C2/c space group. As seen from their structures, they exhibit two opposite direction layers composed of the interconnection of countless (Zn/MIII)10Q20 supertetrahedra (T3-type) clusters, and then three coordination-type NaQn units (n = 4–6) exist among the interlayers to bridge them together. Note that these T3 clusters connect with each other by vertex-sharing to form the layers in the title compounds, which can be viewed as the first discovered examples in the known quaternary chalcogenides that only exhibit the tetrahedron-sharing T3 clusters. Moreover, we have also systematically compared the structural differences of all the T3-containing quaternary chalcogenides and the result shows that the title compounds possess the shortest interlayer spacing and more tilting T3 cluster-built layers in comparison with other related compounds. The measured optical properties indicate that their optical bandgaps are in the range from 2.22 to 3.15 eV, respectively. The photoluminescence result shows that the title compounds have potential application prospects as blue and green light emitters in view of their obvious emission peaks centered at 463 and 541 nm. Electronic structures and density of states were also calculated by first-principles calculations and the results indicate that their optical bandgaps are mainly determined by the T3 clusters.


The aim of the studies reported in this thesis was to use an
all-out cycle ergometer test (the Anaerobic Work Test - AWTl as a
laboratory testl of fatigue during truly maximal dynamic exercise in the
attempt to determine il how the body copes with the challenge of maximal
exercise and iil what factors govern the ability of an individual to
perform maximal exercise. Whilst differences in musculature accounted for a major portion of
the variance in the ability to perform maximal cycle ergometer exercise,
much of the remaining variance may be attributable to differences in
training status. The differences in the ability to generate power over the
AWT observed between male and female subjects could be principally
attributed to differences in body size and musculature. Although there was
little'relationship between functional capacity and the aerobic capacity of
the individual, an enhanced ability to generate power could also be
associated with a high aerobic capacity. Maximal cycle ergometer training was found to result in marked
improvements in the ability to perform maximal exercise, whilst endurance
training neither impaired nor enhanced performance. The ability to perform
a second bout of maximal exercise was found to be dependent apon the
duration of recovery between bouts, although not influenced by alterations
in either carbohydrate-status or blood acid-base status. Attempts to
perform repeated 65 bouts of maximal exercise with either 30 or 60s
recovery resulted in pronounced fatigue-induced decrements in performance
and marked increases in blood lactate. Peak plasma adrenaline, plasma noradrenaline, blood lactate and
blood glucose concentrations following 6s of maximal exercise averaged 1.7
nmolll, 3.30 nmolll, 2.68 mmolll and 4.63 mmolll respectively whilst the
corresponding values after 30s averaged 4.31 nmolll, 12.91 nmolll, 11.93
mmolll and 5.35 nmol/l./on the basis of the changes in muscle metabolites
over the AWT, the greatest power outputs generated 6ver the initial seconds
of maximal exercise were associated with the greatest rates of ATP turnover
from non-oxidative metabolism (7.7-12.4 mmollkg dm/sl and was the p=d,uct
of maximal rates of phosphagenolysis and glycolysis. The rate of ATP \,
turnover appeared to decrease in association with a reduction in power
output as exercise preceded, primarily as a result of a reduction in the
rate of CP utilisation. ATP turnover over 30s of maximal exercise ranged
from 5.15-7.59 mmol/kg dm/s. The metabolic condition following 30s of
maximal elercise wa~ comparable to that observed following a wide variety
of exhaustive high-intensity exercise tasks: muscle ATP, CP and lactate
concentrations averaged 13.7, 28.8 and 89.3 mmol/kg dm respectively. Whilst interval training resulted in an enhanced ability to
perform single and repeated bouts of maximal exercise, the imporvements in
performance could not be attributed to a greater provision of energy from
non-oxidative metabolism. The storage and utilisation of CP and ATP, and
the accumulation of lactate, were unaltered; however, glycogen storage and
mobilisation of glucosyl units increased by 341 and 631 respectively
resulting in a greater accumulation of hexose monophosphates. A metabolic basis of muscular fatigue during maximal cycle
ergometer exercise, and the influence of training on these processes, was
then discussed. 'The accumulation of hydrogen ions within the working muscle
was proposed as a common factor that would influence both the rate at which
ATP was resynthesised and utilised.


Side pumped laser rods follow a simple and robust pump design. If Gaussian beams are used to extract energy from a side pumped laser material, it is difficult to extract the energy at the boundaries of the rod efficiently. The aim of this investigation is to find out to what end the application of core doped ceramic rods in amplifiers could solve this problem. The core doped ceramic laser rods consist of an undoped YAG cladding around a Nd:YAG core. Both materials are made of 10 mum sized grains which are joined together by a sintering process. The investigated idea is to enhance the extraction efficiency via wider beam cross sections. With these methods we were able to enhance the brightness by a factor of two using the rod with a 3 mm diameter doped core and 5 mm cladding diameter, as compared to the 5 mm diameter ordinary Nd:YAG crystal.


The purported spiral host galaxy of GRB 020819B at z = 0.41 has been seminal in establishing our view of the diversity of long-duration gamma-ray burst environments: Optical spectroscopy of this host provided evidence that gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) can form even at high metallicities, whereas millimetric observations suggested that GRBs may preferentially form in regions with minimal molecular gas. We report new observations from the Very Large Telescope (Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer and X-shooter), which demonstrate that the purported host is an unrelated foreground galaxy. The probable radio afterglow is coincident with a compact, highly star forming, dusty galaxy at z = 1.9621. The revised redshift naturally explains the apparent non-detection of CO (3–2) line emission at the afterglow site from the Atacama Large Millimetre Observatory. There is no evidence that molecular gas properties in GRB host galaxies are unusual, and limited evidence that GRBs can form readily at a super-Solar metallicity.


In recent years, many approaches and techniques have been explored for the optimization of energy usage in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). It is well recognized that a proper energy consumption model is the foundation for developing and evaluating a power management scheme in WSN. In this paper, we propose a new complete information Markov Decision Process (MDP) model to characterize sensors energy levels. We also propose and compare several centralized power control policies to select the more efficient policy that optimizes throughput and energy consumption.


To the Editor.— Shore and Shelley in theArchives(109:397, 1974) describe "contact dermatitis from stearyl alcohol and propylene glycol in fluocinonide cream" in a patient who developed intolerance to fluocinonide cream and showed positive patch tests to the propylene glycol and stearyl alcohol constituents of the fluocinonide cream. On the basis of positive patch tests to propylene glycol, and to commercial stearyl alcohol, they concluded that the patient showed irritation from propylene glycol, and had developed contact-type allergy to a contaminant in the stearyl alcohol. I would like to suggest that their data are compatible with the conclusion that both the propylene glycol and the stearyl alcohol patch tests represented irritant responses rather than that the positive stearyl alcohol tests constituted an allergic response. Distinguishing irritant tests from allergic patch tests on purely morphologic grounds is difficult and the literature is full of studies where experienced investigators have mistaken


The exp-function method is presented for finding the exact solutions of nonlinear fractional equations. New solutions are constructed in fractional complex transform to convert fractional differential equations into ordinary differential equations. The fractional derivatives are described in Jumarie's modified Riemann-Liouville sense. We apply the exp-function method to both the nonlinear time and space fractional differential equations. As a result, some new exact solutions for them are successfully established.


1. A generally applicable method is described for obtaining experimental data on the interactions between a poorly water-soluble ligand and soluble binding factors, with the use of chemically inert solid adsorbent. The equilibrium distribution of the ligand between the liquid phase containing the soluble binders and the adsorbent must be measured and knowledge of the binding isotherm of the adsorbent is required. Procedures are given for the calculation of the binding parameters. 2. The method has been applied to quantify the interactions of bilirubin with serum and liver cytosol from the rat, Sephadex G-10 serving as the competing adsorbent. Reversible adsorption keeps the concentration of the free ligand low, thereby preventing formation of colloidal bilirubin. The sensitivity of the procedure accommodates the rather high binding affinities by which bilirubin generally interacts with its specific binding proteins. 3. The binding activities of serum and liver cytosol are of comparable magnitude. Binding of bilirubin by rat serum can be described by two independent binding sites, the affinities of which differ by two orders of magnitude. Only the site with the higher affinity appears to be of physiological importance. The major bilirubin-binding sites of rat liver cytosol seem to contribute equally to the overall binding activity of this preparation, provided that GSH is present.


Artificial intelligence techniques were applied to the preliminary design of rubble mound breakwaters. Wave parameters ofAlanya region (significant wave height, period and direction) were simultaneously predicted by using feed forward and recurrent neural networks. Artificial intelligence technique of feed forward neural network was applied to the stability and reliability analyses of Mersin yacht harbor main breakwater, as a case study. In predicting wave parameters, neural networks can obtain a better performance than stochastic models and recurrent neural networks were appropriate for multi step predictions.A"design artificial neural network" which uses Van der Meer's hydraulic model test data, was developed for the preliminary design of rubble mound coastal structures and it was verified for the design applications. In the reliability-based design, more reliable results can be obtained for the optimum global solutions by using artificial intelligence, when compared to the second-order methods. Artificial intelligence techniques can handle more accurately the uncertainties inherent in the design of rubble mound breakwaters; hence the need of complex models generally used for the reliability-based design has been significantly decreased.


We performed a randomized prospective study in 40 patients with primary superficial carcinoma of the bladder who had been submitted to TUR. These patients were divided into two groups; one received intravesical adriamycin and the other oral ftorafur. We analyzed tumor size, number and grade and determined the recurrence rate (IR), recurrence rate/month (RR) recurrence rate/cystoscopy (RIC), disease-free interval, survival curves, and drug toxicity. After a mean follow-up of 19.7 months for the patient group that received adriamycin and 20.2 months for the group on oral ftorafur, the IR, RR, and RIC for the group on adriamycin were 40, 2.20 and 0.08%, respectively, and 33.3, 1.64 and 0.07% for the patient group on ftorafur (difference: NS). Drug toxicity was practically absent for the group on adriamycin whereas treatment had to be discontinued in two of the patients on ftorafur due to gastric intolerance. Furthermore, ftorafur was shown to cause a transient increase of transaminase levels in 4 patients, cutaneous changes and alterations in fingernails in 1 patient, and intense dermatitis during the last month of treatment in another patient. However, it was not necessary to discontinue treatment.


The paper deals with the potential relationship between higher education and entrepreneurial activities. Universities and other higher education institutions could be seen as boosting entrepreneurship in the region. University graduates could be more often involved in starting up a new business and the university itself could commercialize their innovations by creating academic spin-off companies. The paper aims to examine whether university graduates are better placed for establishing a successful business compared to less educated people. Based on the data for 40 EU and non-EU countries, retrieved from a Eurobarometer survey, we conducted probit and IV probit regressions. These have tested the assumed relationship between higher education and entrepreneurial activities. Our results strongly suggest that higher education can often be very beneficial for starting up a new business and this seems to be one of the factors determining the success of new business. Furthermore, those respondents who attended courses related to entrepreneurship appear to be more active in starting-up a business and this seems to be also positively correlated with the company's future success. Interestingly, university graduates from Brazil, Portugal and India in particular, tend to appreciate the role that their universities have played in acquiring the skills to enable them to run a business. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.29.2.19069


Abstract Percolomonas cosmopolitus is a common free-living flagellate of uncertain phylogenetic position that was placed within the Heterolobosea on the basis of ultrastructure studies. To test the relationship between Percolomonas and Heterolobosea, we analysed the primary structure of the actin and small-subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) genes of P. cosmopolitus as well as the predicted secondary structure of the SSU rRNA. Percolomonas shares common secondary structure patterns of the SSU rRNA with heterolobosean taxa, which, together with the results of actin gene analysis, confirms that it is closely related to Heterolobosea. Phylogenetic reconstructions based on the sequences of the SSU rRNA gene suggest Percolomonas belongs to the family Vahlkampfiidae. The first Bayesian analysis of a large taxon sampling of heterolobosean SSU rRNA genes clarifies the phylogenetic relationships within this group.


Abstract Over the past two decades there has arisen a new branch of biology--space biology. This short review is devoted to a discussion of its achievements. It considers the results of research in the area of gravitation biology, and an account is made of studies in those areas of radiobiology which have relevance to the study of the cosmos. There is a brief summary of the results of the search for the upper and lower limits of the biosphere, and information is presented regarding the measures employed to maintain planetary quarantine. A great deal of attention has been given to the search for extraterrestrial life, one of the most important of problems. The results obtained with the aid of the American Viking probes on Mars are given special attention. The review presents experimental data based both upon data obtained in experiments on biological specimens during space flights of satellites and space vehicles, and also upon the results of laboratory research.


Abstrast Background. Hazardous materials technicians may be required to wear fully encapsulated vapor-resistant (Level A) personal protective equipment (PPE) to contain and mitigate a hazardous materials emergency. It is commonly taught and practiced in hazardous material technician courses that if the wearer's self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) fails, the technician can remove the SCBA face piece and breathe the in-suit expired air while exiting the incident or awaiting rescue. Objective. To determine the composition of expired air present within an encapsulating suit during exercise. Methods. Subjects (n = 4) walked on a motor-driven treadmill (3.2 km·h–1) for 30 minutes while wearing encapsulating PPE and SCBA. Oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) levels within the PPE were monitored. Subject vital signs and end-tidal CO2 (EtCO2) were continuously monitored. After treadmill exercise, rescue air from an external source was introduced into the suit. Results. Mean oxygen levels inside the PPE fell below the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) definition of oxygen-deficient environment (< 19.5% O2) after 2 minutes of treadmill walking and were below 17% at the end of 30 minutes. Carbon dioxide levels inside the PPE exceeded 3% in all subjects by the end of the exercise protocol. Rapid return to a room-air composition of oxygen and CO2 within the suit was accomplished with introduction of positive-pressure air from an alternate external air source. Conclusion. A toxic atmosphere is rapidly created within fully encapsulating PPE during treadmill exercise of moderate intensity. Breathing the expired air within the PPE cannot be recommended during technician training. Application of an external air source to flush the suit can return the PPE atmosphere to safe limits, but requires an intentional suit breach to accomplish.


Abstract Aided language stimulation is an augmented input strategy that facilitates the expressive and receptive language skills of persons who require augmentative and alternative communication (AAC). The aim of this study was to determine and compare the acquisition of receptive vocabulary items during implementation of aided language stimulation with dosages of 40% and 70%, respectively. An adapted alternating treatment design was replicated across six participants with complex communication needs and severe intellectual disability. All participants demonstrated receptive vocabulary acquisition when aided language stimulation was provided with a dosage of 70%, and two participants demonstrated acquisition when a dosage of 40% was provided. Receptive vocabulary acquisition was maintained following a 6-day withdrawal period. The dosage of augmented input may impact receptive vocabulary acquisition for children with complex communication needs and severe intellectual disability, with higher dosages being more effective for some participants. The findings indicate that clinicians should be aware that dosage is an important consideration when providing aided language stimulation to facilitate receptive vocabulary acquisition in children with complex communication needs and severe intellectual disability.


Fault diagnosis for a gas-fired industrial furnace is described. First, an input-output bilinear model is estimated using real data. The model is shown to be much more precise than a linear model. Then, two actuator and two sensor faults are simulated on the bilinear model, and are detected using a bilinear fault detection observer. Since the sensor faults cannot be isolated from one another using the observer, the linear parity space method is extended to bilinear systems and applied to the furnace. The effectiveness of the extended parity space method in both detection and isolation of the faults in the furnace is demonstrated.