What is the size of quasi-fiscal operations and their impact on the overall fiscal balance and public debt in the Czech Republic? Is the recent increase in Czech fiscal deficits fully attributable to the business cycle, or are there non-cyclical factors in place? And last but not least, what are the long-term perspectives of the fiscal system given the size and speed of the expected population ageing process? These are the issues dealt with in the paper. Our results, although being surrounded by some margin of uncertainty, are quite cautionary. The transparency of the fiscal accounts seems to be insufficient and the size of off-budget operations is not negligible. Moreover, we have been witnessing a rapid increase in the cyclically-adjusted deficits, and Czech fiscal policy exhibits mainly pro-cyclical features. Looking into the more distant future reveals that our current fiscal system is extremely vulnerable to demographic pressures, even by international comparison. We argue that the fiscal authorities should increase the overall transparency of the fiscal accounts, mitigate the pro-cyclical characteristics of fiscal policy and make the whole fiscal system more resistant to the expected demographic pressures. JEL Codes: E62, H11, H5, H6, H81.


Oxidative enzymes are often considered for use in industrial processes because of the variety of reactions they are able to catalyse. In the past, most of these oxidative en‐ zymes were obtained from fungi. However, in recent years, it has become evident that these enzymes are also produced by bacteria, including actinobacterial strains, which can therefore be considered as an underexploited resource of oxidative enzymes with potential for application in various industries. This chapter will focus on selected oxi‐ dative enzymes found in actinobacteria, their potential for application in industrial processes and how we can access and improve these enzymes to suit the required bio‐ process conditions.


This study aims to determine the influence of competence, professionalism, and auditor ethics on audit quality at Public Accounting Firm in Batam City. The population in this study is the auditor who works at Public Accounting Firm in Batam City. The primary data retrieval method used was questionnaire method which was distributed to 50 respondents. Sampling technique using saturated samples. Data analysis method used is multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that the competence variables have a significant effect on audit quality with significant value 0.000 0.05 and ethical effect but not significant with a value of 0.394 > 0.05 on Quality audit. Simultaneously competence, professionalism and auditor ethics have positive and significant influence to audit quality.


What is the strongest sense of 'place' an artist can conceive of? What makes this word more complicated, mutable and fluid than terms such as space, site, location, or even landscape? These two highly reflective questions have guided my practice-based research as I explored the recent attempts of cultural geographers to encapsulate their multi-layered and thoroughly interdisciplinary experience of place with the methodological term 'deep mapping'.

Framed by an unsettlingly powerful childhood encounter with the abandoned Riccarton Junction Station, remote in the Scottish Borders, (which I have defined as an unknowable 'experience X') my project has examined the ways in which an artist can accommodate and move beyond deep mapping. My studio practice, which involves a quest to trigger X-like experiences, centres upon the distantly remembered and imagined sense of place that is deepened by manipulating paper maps. Alongside my practical work, my thesis offers a critical assessment of other artists whose practices might function as deep maps. I also use my father's (a geologist) archival engagement with the dereliction of Riccarton Junction as a case study, in which alternative forms of representing a fully temporal experience of place are evaluated.

By combining studio experiments with the theory of deep mapping I have sought to demonstrate that the erasure of topographical knowledge, particularly cartographic data, generates a profoundly unstable strength of feeling that is closer to experience X than the socio-cultural enrichments promoted by geographic theorists. Consequently, the outcome of my research provides a platform for expanding the definition of deep mapping in order to encourage further participation by the visual arts community, whose diverse approaches have significant potential to reframe wider understandings of both the perception and interpretation of that complicated term 'place'.


Many textbooks written in emerging countries lack clear and adequate coverage of important concepts. We propose a technological solution for algorithmically identifying those sections of a book that are not well written and could benefit from better exposition. We provide a decision model based on the syntactic complexity of writing and the dispersion of key concepts. The model parameters are learned using a tune set which is algorithmically generated using a versioned authoritative web resource as a proxy. We evaluate the proposed methodology over a corpus of Indian textbooks which demonstrates its effectiveness in identifying enrichment candidates.


The success of deregulation in creating a viable private rail freight system in the ?U.S. since 1979 is relatively undisputed. Deregulation has proceeded in three ways: (i) eased rate setting restrictions; (ii) simplified merger applications and approval procedures; and (iii) relaxed route abandonment policies. In this paper we attempt to disentangle the effects of deregulation on rail costs from those directly attributable to mergers and acquisitions. We employ a translog variable cost function, based on an unbalanced panel data set of annual observations for major U.S. Class I railroads from 1974 to 1986. We find that both deregulation and mergers contributed significantly to cost savings. However, of the accumulated cost savings achieved by the six major firms involved in mergers post-deregulation, we estimate that by 1986 about 91% of the reduction in accumulated costs is due to deregulation, and about 9% is directly due to mergers and acquisitions (which in turn were facilitated by regulatory reforms). In terms of factor biases, we find that both deregulation and mergers resulted in a substantial labor-saving bias; the point estimate of the deregulation labor-saving bias is larger than that for mergers, but we were not able to estimate this bias precisely. We conclude that mergers were not a prerequisite for railroads being able to achieve substantial cost and productivity improvements in our 1974-1986 sample period. Deregulation also had an enormous direct impact; indeed, its impact appears to have been much larger.


Summer mortalities of the Pacific cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas have been described in the literature for decades. One solution to overcome this problem would be to select animals more tolerant to summer mortalities, as this trait was shown to be highly heritable (Degremont, 2003). The identification of markers associated to the resistance would allow to better understand this complex phenomenon and, eventually to establish markers assisted selection. Recently, two moderately dense genetic linkage maps have been established in the Pacific oyster based on microsatellites and AFLP markers (Hubert and Hedgecock, 2004; Li and Guo, 2004). In this context, the development and mapping of SNPs will increase the density of the linkage map and consequently the accuracy of QTL mapping. To reach this objective, crosses between resistant and sensitive mapping parents (F0) was performed in 2003 to generate F1 families. Segregating F2 families will be produced in 2006 for SNP mapping and QTL analyses. The development of SNPs is in progress. We identify SNPs by the direct sequencing of ESTs. Our first results show a high level of polymorphism (from 1 to 5 SNPs / 100 bp) and only 3% of the EST are monomorphic. Each SNP will be scored by mass spectrometry to validate each marker and to detect heterozygote loci in F1 and F2 progenies.


Welcome to the virtual home of the SHHS Library! This site provides 24/7 access to library resources, research guides, and other important information.


The mating behavior of captive Loligo bleekeri and the paternity of the resulting prog- eny were examined based on behavioral observations and genetic analyses. In this species, there are 3 mating behaviors (male-parallel, head-to-head, and extra-pair), and 2 sperm storage sites in females (seminal receptacle and the opening of the oviduct), which suggest that sperm competition occurs. All 3 mating behaviors were observed, and females mated often with different males, result- ing in multiple paternity within 3 of the 4 broods examined. In each brood, the male to mate last and frequently before the female spawned fertilized the most eggs (87 to 100%). A sneaker male that mated by extra-pair copulation sired 8.5% of the eggs in a brood. Some eggs were fertilized by sperm received before the start of the study, indicating that sperm can be stored for at least several days before a spawning. In the broods with multiple paternity, the paternity patterns differed among egg capsules. Male competition was more intense between similar-sized males than between different- sized males, but body size did not affect the copulative success in the male-parallel position. We found multiple mating and multiple paternity in L. bleekeri. Paternity rates differed depending on the complex of factors, mating position, timing, frequency and duration. Alternative reproductive be- haviors would change these factors and lead to different paternity rates.


This research aimed to know oral health practices and meanings of mothers whose children were attended in the dental pediatric clinics of the Federal University of Santa Catarina. The qualitative method, case study, was used and data were collected by semi-structured interview. The studied population consisted of seven mothers that took their children to odontologic attendance at the university. It was observed that despite previous negative odontologic experiences, economic difficulties and pregnancy have also influenced those mothers to look for and adhere to dental care. The dental visits occurred, mostly, for curative assistance. The mothers took care of their children's teeth because it was considered a maternal responsibility, to prevent dental caries and their consequences, to avoid wasting money with expensive treatment and children's bad experiences with dentists. Mothers received information on the subject from dentists, doctors, nurses, schools, mass communication media and odontology students. Despite of their desire in taking care adequately of their children's health, those mothers don't always have favorable socio-economic conditions to put the obtained instructions into practice.


This study investigated relationships between the frequent intake of fermented milk products containing Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS) and the onset of hypertension (resting systemic pressure ≥140 mmHg [systolic]/≥90 mmHg [diastolic], a doctor's diagnosis and/or antihypertensive medicine use) during a 5-year period in 352 communityliving Japanese aged 65 to 93 years (125 men and 227 women). Initially normotensive subjects were divided into two groups (n=254 and n=98) on the basis of their intake of fermented milk products (<3 or ≥3 times/week, respectively), as estimated during an interview by a certified nutritionist. The incidence of hypertension over the 5-year interval was significantly lower in those who took fermented milk products ≥3 rather than <3 times/week (6.1 vs 14.2%, P=0.037). A multivariate-adjusted proportional hazards model predicted that blood pressures were significantly more likely to remain normal over 5 years in subjects who took ≥3 fermented milk products rather than <3 times/ week (relative risk 0.398 [95% confidence interval 0.167-0.948], P=0.037). These results suggest that after adjustment for potential confounders, the risk of developing hypertension is substantially lower in elderly people who take fermented milk products containing LcS at least 3 times a week.


Much of the activity in sectors of financial services such as sales and trading or the hedge-fund industry is zero-sum in nature. Along with providing transactional and diversification services, participants in this industry also prey upon each other. High-ability traders (predators) capture surplus at the expense of less able and experienced traders (prey). We show that in a dynamic model of such an industry, multiple equilibria emerge due to participation externalities. In the model, traders are randomly matched each period. The presence of more low-ability traders protects others from predation by high-ability traders, leading to equilibrium at a high level of employment. Shocks to aggregate profits may trigger exit by those of the lowest ability, which in turn exposes those of intermediate ability to greater risk of predation and motivating their exit. This leads to a collapse in employment. Depending on parameter values, the industry may remain stuck at the low employment level. In other cases it may, once profits recover, begin rapid growth towards the high employment level until this growth is interrupted by another bad shock. Thus, our relatively simple model generates boom-bust cycles reminiscent of Wall Street employment.


A magnitude Mw 7.2 earthquake occurred on 4 April 2010 at approx- imately 50 km southwest of the city of Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico. The regional networks Red Sismica del Noroeste de Mexico (RESNOM) that the Centro de Investigacion Cientifica y de Educacion Superior de Ensenada (CICESE) operates and the Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) located the main event between the sierras El Mayor and Cucapah at the southeastern end of the Pescadores fault. Twenty-four hours after the origin time of the main event, a temporal seismic network was installed around the faults that ruptured during this event. We used body-wave arrival times recorded by the first 14 stations installed to obtain precise hypocentral locations of this important sequence of earthquakes. Most of the aftershocks located on 6 and 7 April are distributed near the traces of the Pescadores and Cucapah faults, particularly at the southern end of these faults. The spatial distribution of the epicen- ters indicates that these faults and possibly others may extend southeast of Sierra Cucapah where the faults were buried by sediments and were activated during the seismic sequence. In this area, north of the Sierra El Mayor, where no faults were previously mapped, the epicenters align in the northwest-southeast direction. Most hypocenters have depths less than 15 km, suggesting that an important portion of the seismic slip was shallow. Based on the distribution of focal depths of the aftershocks, we infer that the seismogenic zone must be between 5 and 10 km.


This thesis deals with some phenomena connected with resonance production or formation, at low energies, and/or their subsequent decay. It is subdivided into two almost independent parts: The first part (chapter II) is concerned with W/M production in π – N scattering, and a possible charge asymmetry in their decay, we explicitly calculate the asymmetry for the reaction π (^+) p → π (^+) π (^-) π (^o) Ϫ (^++) caused by interference of w production with uncorrelated 3N production. Assuming C-invariance for the W-decay, we find that interference terms with a coherent 3N background cannot explain the whole of the asymmetry experimentally observed. The second part (chapters III and IV), deals with K-N scattering. In chapter III, examining the possible Lorentz-invariant, parity-conserving couplings of the t-channel exchanges to the external particles, and afterwards reggeizing them, we are able to construct simple models for the processes KN → KD and KN → K (^o) N, which are capable of giving a satisfactory fit to the data over a wide range of energies. For completeness, a simple model for elastic KN scattering is also presented. In chapter IV we use the results of chapter III as input into a K-matrix machinery, from which we get a unitary isoscalar KN scattering model, analytically solvable, which reproduces several basic features of recent phase shift analyses, in particular a wide J (^P) exotic resonance Z (_o) (1780)


The integrity of space and time as a chronotope still needs to be researched both from the macroand microchronotope point of view. The research of spatiotemporal representations of migrants from Russian cities includes three main aspects of migration to a metropolis: experience of living in the conditions of a city with a population of 100-250 thousand people, experience of living in the conditions of a metropolis, and migrant's chronotope which synthesizes both in itself. It was established that the specifics of migrant's chronotope as a special kind of microchronotope includes perception of time; a positive attitude towards both past and future time; perceiving new living environment; the attitude towards experience of belonging to the city.


Sequential imaging cameras are designed to record objects in motion. When the speed of the objects exceeds the temporal resolution of the shutter, the image is blurred. Because objects in a scene are often moving in different directions at different speeds, the degradation of a recorded image may be characterized by a space-variant point spread function (PSF). The sequential nature of such images can be used to determine the relative motion of various parts of the image. This information can be used to estimate the space-variant PSF. A modification of the Landweber iteration is developed to utilize the space-variant PSF to produce an estimate of the original image.


Previous studies have demonstrated that the quinone group may play an important role in modulating the alkylating activity of quinone alkylating agents. Introduction of a quinone moiety markedly increased the alkylating activity and cytotoxic activity of the model quinone alkylating agents benzoquinone mustard and benzoquinone dimustard. However, the cytotoxic and DNA-damaging activity of benzoquinone mustard was considerably greater than that of benzoquinone dimustard. In this study, we have investigated the role of the quinone group as a modulator of alkylating activity in these antitumor agents, using extracellular assays to eliminate differences due to cellular drug uptake and metabolism. Evidence was obtained that the alkylating activities of both benzoquinone mustard and benzoquinone dimustard were enhanced by reduction of the quinone group. In addition, when these agents were reduced, they displayed equal alkylating activity. This finding suggests that the difference in the activity of these agents in cells is not due to intrinsic differences in alkylating activities of the activated forms of these agents. Electrochemical studies revealed that benzoquinone dimustard has a lower redox potential than benzoquinone mustard and, thus, is less easily reduced. Inactivation and spectroscopic studies suggested that a major reason for the differences in activity between benzoquinone mustard and benzoquinone dimustard may be the rapid inactivation of the dimustard before its reduction. This effect may be enhanced by the lower redox potential of benzoquinone dimustard, compared with benzoquinone mustard. These findings support the hypothesis that the quinone group can modulate the alkylating activity of quinone alkylating agents; however, the mechanisms by which this modulation occurs may vary for different antitumor agents.


CLICK HERE TO LAUNCH VIDEO Description:  Need for and application of weather and climatic data within building performance simulation programs. This video is part of the online learning course video series: Building Energy Modeling workshop BEM101. The presenters are past ASHRAE conference BEM101 workshop veteran presenters and leading experts in the energy modeling field. The target audience is the beginning and intermediate level energy modelers. BEM101 online learning videos have 7 parts: Modeling to Inform Design, Fundamentals of Energy Modeling, Energy Modeling Best Practices, ASHRARE Std 90.1 Performance Rating Method, Measurement and Verification and Life Cycle Cost Analysis. About the Presenter:  Drury Crawley , Chair of Regional Affiliate Development Committee of IBPSA is a graduate from University of Tennessee and did his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Strathclyde, Scotland. He is now Fellow and Director of Building Performance at Bentley Systems , Washington.


The following dissertation presents a series of chiral pool approaches to amine-containing natural products and photoactive lipid analogues.
The first chapter summarizes the asymmetric total synthesis of lycopalhine A – a compact and stereochemically dense Lycopodium alkaloid – using L-glutamic acid as a starting point. The route features a diastereoselective Pauson–Khand reaction and an L-proline promoted 5-endo-trig Mannich cyclization. The successful synthesis allowed the characterization of a second co-eluting alkaloid, epi-lycopalhine A, and confirmed its interconversion with lycopalhine A through a retro-aldol/aldol equilibrium. A tentative path to palhinine D involving a reductive piperidine cyclization is afterwards presented.
An azomethine ylide [3 + 2]-cycloaddition strategy towards the bioactive Orchidaceae alkaloid (+)-dendrobine is described in the second chapter. A cyclization precursor was generated in seven steps from (R)-carvone through a convergent esterification and an unconventional high-pressure Ireland–Claisen rearrangement. The resulting aldehyde was employed in a decarboxylative azomethine ylide cycloaddition following condensation with N-methylglycine to yield 5-deoxymubironine C, which differs from the natural product mubironine C by the absence of a single hydroxyl group. Thwarted attempts to incorporate this final functional group include an α-chlorination/lactonization sequence and an unplanned enal–ene reaction.
The final chapter describes the synthesis of two photoswitchable sphingoid bases (aSph-1 and -2) from L-serine, and their coupling with alkyne-bearing fatty acids to generate clickable azobenzene-containing ceramide analogues (caCer-3 and caCer-4). Together with fatty acid azobenzene (FAAzo)-based caCer-1 and caCer-2 developed by postdoctoral researcher Henry Toombs-Ruane, these molecules were evaluated as optically active substrates for sphingomyelin synthase (SMS2). CaCers were successful incorporated into supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) and could alter the ordered/disorded domain ratio upon light irradiation. CaCer-1, -2 and -3 were competent substrates for SMS2 and conversion to their sphingomyelin analogues could be controlled in a light-dependent manner in both yeast membranes and HeLa cells.


As Chinese medicine (CM) has increased in popularity globally it now becomes imperative to investigate ways in which safe, efficient, effective and evidence-based approaches might be adopted into CM practice. In the case of western or more traditional healthcare delivery practice, IS/IT is often adopted and employed to assist in this regard and thus this paper examines how IS/IT might be used to support the delivery of CM. In particular, the paper investigates how IS/IT tools and techniques might be used in supporting CM clinics daily processes and thereby bring greater value to a country's healthcare. In doing so, this paper studies the current global CM situation and provides a solid foundation for how to design and develop an enterprise wide CM clinical management system.


Innovative egovernment systems are increasingly being used to manage border controls for both people and goods. While cross–border passage of travelers and cargo are usually treated separately in research and in practice we bring these together in order to identify similarities and differences. We use the concept of "symmetry" from Actor–Network Theory as our conceptual lens. We apply two types of symmetric analyses. In the first type, we treat both technological and social aspects as equally important. In the second type we analyze border crossing for both people and goods. Our analysis illustrates that in the context of crossing borders these two types of symmetric analysis are meaningful and appropriate. Whilst ANT has been advocated as a means of studying egovernment, few studies have explicitly drawn on the symmetry for such work and our paper contributes to this corpus of research. We illustrate that a number of problems are very similar for both people and good, so practitioners and researchers can benefit from exchanging ideas and practices and by doing so can accelerate egovernment innovation. We suggest that a strict symmetry concerning people/goods does not apply, so the boundaries of these similarities and differences require careful consideration.


Information visualization, aided by ever more accessible computational resources, continues to grow in popularity and significance. The capability to generate complex imagery by computer is often necessary but not always sufficient to gain the desired insight. The success of a visual representation in a given context may be affected by many variables, not the least of which is the individual user's experience. Even if a precise relationship could be found between context and "best" visual representation, the complete articulation of a context is practically impossible. In other fields, this is known as sensitive dependence to initial conditions. A more feasible alternative is to begin with an incomplete articulation of a context and allow the user to interactively develop and refine it. Although most computer interfaces for information visualization tools are predominantly verbal, a predominantly visual interface can have significant advantages. Such an interface allows users to avoid the usual translations between visual and verbal modes and it removes users' need for a specialized visualization vocabulary. A visual interface can also shift the focus of the visualization process from the data towards the user These ideas are discussed in the context of a prototype tool, the design of which is illustrated with an example, and the evaluation of which has provided many positive results.


Objectives
To compare antibiotic optimization and outcomes of patients before implementation of the Verigene Gram-Positive Blood Culture (Verigene BC-GP) nucleic acid microarray assay to after implementation with antimicrobial stewardship (AS) interventions and after discontinuation of AS interventions.

Methods
A retrospective pre-post-post quasi-experimental study was conducted to compare the three periods. AS interventions consisted of real-time guidance to clinicians on antibiotic selection. The primary outcome was median time from Gram stain to optimal therapy. Secondary outcomes included median time to effective therapy, median duration of therapy for contaminant organisms, median length of stay after blood cultures were collected, and all-cause in-hospital mortality.

Results
Out of a total of 923 patients, 390 (125 baseline, 134 intervention, 131 post-intervention) who were not on optimal therapy at the time of Gram stain or had contaminated blood cultures were assessed. Compared with baseline, only the median time to optimal therapy for MSSA bacteraemia was reduced in both the intervention and post-intervention periods (17 versus 17 versus 50 h; P < 0.001), respectively. In an analysis adjusted for baseline differences among the groups using quantile regression models, use of the Verigene BC-GP assay in both periods significantly reduced time to optimal therapy by 14-22 h in patients who would achieve optimal therapy at ≥ 26 h without the assay. There were no differences in in-hospital mortality or hospital length of stay between study periods.

Conclusions
A real-time AS intervention implemented alongside introduction of the Verigene BC-GP assay led to improvements in antibiotic therapy for patients with bacteraemia due to Gram-positive cocci, even after the AS intervention was discontinued.


In the following pilot study, we compared conventional laryngoscope-guided tracheal intubation (tracheal intubation) and laryngoscope-guided, gum elastic bougie-guided ProSeal laryngeal mask airway insertion (guided ProSeal) for airway management by first-month anesthesia residents after brief manikin-only training. Five first-month residents with no practical experience of airway management were observed performing these techniques in 200 ASA I–II anesthetized, paralyzed adults. Each resident managed 40 patients, 20 in each group, in random order. The number of insertion attempts, effective airway time, ventilatory capability during pressure-controlled ventilation set at 15 cm H2O, airway trauma, and skill acquisition were studied. Data were collected by unblinded observers. Insertion was more frequently successful (100% versus 65%) and effective airway time was shorter (41 ± 24 s versus 89 ± 62 s) in the guided ProSeal group (both P < 0.0001). Expired tidal volume was larger (730 ± 170 mL versus 560 ± 140 mL) and end-tidal CO2 lower (33 ± 4 mm Hg versus 37 ± 5 mm Hg) in the guided ProSeal group during pressure controlled ventilation (both P < 0.0001). Blood staining was more frequent on the laryngoscope (24% versus 2%; P < 0.0001) in the tracheal intubation group. There was evidence for skill acquisition in both groups. We conclude that laryngoscope-guided, gum elastic bougie-guided insertion of the ProSeal laryngeal mask airway is superior to conventional laryngoscope-guided tracheal intubation for airway management in terms of insertion success, expired tidal volume, and airway trauma by first-month anesthesia residents after brief manikin-only training. The guided ProSeal technique has potential for cardiopulmonary resuscitation by novices when conventional intubation fails.


However, the methods presented in our paper make use of simple apparatus which any molecular biology laboratory would have at hand: we are confident that they will prove useful for those laboratories which do not have access to the equipment described by Shiach et al. We are fully aware that the automation of applied molecular biology is evolving very rapidly and agree that such automated analysers will be widely used in diagnostic laboratories in the future.


The Egyptian pyramids are iconic images of ancient Egyptian civilisation and mythology. This book traces the early development of ancient pyramids and tombs, from the Mastaba burial tombs of the first dynasty, to the Great Pyramid of the fourth. Also exploring the lesser-known pyramids of the Old and Middle Kingdoms, the author discusses the construction methods involved and reveals the elaborate decorations used to celebrate the afterlife. With photographs of original Egyptian artwork found within these monuments, "Egyptian Pyramids and Mastaba Tombs" provides insight into an ancient Egyptian world that continues to fascinate people to today.


In 76 patients suffering from the dumping syndrome following gastric resection in connection with peptic ulcer the motor function of the gallbladder and gastric stump was studied. Investigations ascertained the existence of a direct relationship between the type of the gallbladder dyskinesia and evacuation periods from the gastric stump. The authors consider the hypermotor dyskinesia of the gallbladder combined with an accelerated evacuation from the stump to be an optimal combination after excision of the stomach. On the other hand, the hypomotor dyskinesia of the gallbladder with an accelerated emptying of the gastric stump was regarded as am explicit pathology demanding persistent curative measures. Principles of pathogenetic dietotherapy have been evolved.


In order to improve the crystallization properties of the polyethylene terephthalate (PET), nano-zinc oxide (nano-ZnO)/PET and nano-ZnO/polyethylene glycol (PEG)/PET composites were successfully synthesized by in-situ polymerization method in this work. The experimental results indicated that nano particles can accelerate the crystallization of the PET which was demonstrated by increase in the intensities of the XRD peaks. PEG and PET form copolymer in composites, leading to the improvement of the flexibility of the molecule chain. Meanwhile, PEG was able to encapsulate the nano particles to make them have both good compatibility to matrix and uniform dispersion in the composites. Therefore, the crystallization rate and crystallization capability of nano-ZnO/PEG/PET composites were reasonably raised.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the degree to which physicians agree with each other and with ratings obtained with 3 existing responder indices, in rating the response to treatment of lupus nephritis.

METHODS
Lupus nephritis patient medical records from 125 pairs of visits (6 months apart) were used to create renal response scenarios. Seven nephrologists and 22 rheumatologists rated each scenario as demonstrating complete response, partial response, same, or worsening. The plurality (most frequent) rating of renal response by the physicians was compared with the calculated score from the renal component of the British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) index (original and updated [2004] version) and of the Responder Index for Lupus Erythematosus (RIFLE). The degree of agreement among the physicians was assessed by calculating intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). The degree of agreement between the plurality physician rating and ratings obtained with the established response indices was assessed using the kappa statistic.

RESULTS
The ICC among all physicians was 0.64 (0.62 for nephrologists and 0.67 for rheumatologists). The chance-adjusted measure of agreement (kappa coefficient) between the plurality physician rating and the calculated score obtained using established indexes was 0.50 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.38-0.61) for the RIFLE, 0.14 (95% CI 0.03-0.25) for the original BILAG, and 0.23 (95% CI 0.21-0.44) for the BILAG 2004.

CONCLUSION
These findings indicate that rheumatologists as a group and nephrologists as a group have equal agreement in their rating of renal response. There was moderate agreement between plurality physician ratings and ratings obtained using the renal component of the RIFLE. Ratings of response using an index based on the original BILAG did not have good agreement with the plurality physician rating.


In recent years there has been a drive to develop a fully qualified residential child care sector in Scotland. In 2003 the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) announced the baseline qualifications for residential child care staff and set down a target for attaining it. This qualifications framework was subsequently reviewed and expanded in 2004. The Scottish Institute for Residential Child Care (SIRCC), commissioned by the Scottish Executive, has previously undertaken two inquiries into the qualification levels of the residential child care workforce in Scotland. The first Qualifications Audit (Frondigoun, Maclean, Hosie & Kendrick, 2002) was undertaken before the SSSC's initial qualification framework was known and the second (Hunter, Hosie, Davidson & Kendrick, 2004) was based on it. The previous qualifications audit (Hunter et al., 2004) reported that 18% of residential child care staff were fully qualified in accordance with the SSSC's qualification criteria (SSSC, 2004). The report forecast that the number of fully qualified staff would rise to 29.1% if all qualifications being undertaken were achieved. The purpose of this current audit is to determine whether levels of qualified staff have risen and to identify qualification trends throughout the residential child care sector in Scotland.


ION-SELECTIVE OPTICAL SENSORS FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF PLANT NUTRIENT SOLUTIONS Matthew T. Bamsey Co-Advisors: University of Guelph, 2012 Dr. M.A. Dixon Dr. A. Berinstain Traditionally, the condition of hydroponic nutrient solutions used in controlled environment or greenhouse plant production is obtained by monitoring solution pH and electrical conductivity. These parameters provide greenhouse operators with an overall sense of the solution quality, but do not provide information on individual components of the fertilizer solution. Considering that plant nutrient uptake requirements vary with crop, growth phase and environment, real-time ion-selective measurements represent a significant technological advance in the management of recirculating nutrient solutions. The capacity for the monitoring and control of individual ions in the nutrient solution is the last remaining environment variable for which reliable feedback control does not exist in controlled environment plant production. This technology development study focussed on optical ion-selective sensors, termed 'optrodes', for potassium and calcium sensing within nutrient solution. Bulk optrode absorption-based sensors, tailored explicitly for nutrient ion activities within typical hydroponic solutions were theoretically modelled, fabricated and experimentally tested. Experimental data on sensor response time, measuring range, selectivity, repeatability, lifetime and influence of temperature were compiled. These ion-selective bulk optrode membranes were integrated into a custom instrument combining a light source, minispectrometer, optical fibres and other associated components. Monitoring and control software was written that collected and converted optical measurements into estimated nutrient ion activities for use in managing nutrient solution quality. Implemented spectral averaging, normalization and ratiometric computations and techniques resulted in sensors that offered the advantage of auto-calibration. The sensors met selectivity requirements in half strength Hoagland nutrient solution and provided repeatable measurements in solutions of different ion activity levels. Potassium and calcium selective membranes demonstrated lifetimes of 30 to 50 hours when constantly immersed in nutrient solution. Strategies for their operational implementation in plant growth systems based upon experimental testing are proposed as are suggestions for future study. The low mass, low volume, low cost and robust nature of these optrodes offer a promising technology for future space-based plant production systems and give them excellent terrestrial technology transfer potential.


Originally presented as a part of the John R. Coen Lecture Series at the University of Colorado School of Law on April 20, 1998, this essay takes issue with the currently fashionable argument that statutory meaning is forever fixed by a statute's text as it would have been understood when it was written. This static view of meaning, it argues, tends to defeat, not support, legislative processes, by engendering excessive friction between the legislative and judicial branches. Nor can it be defended, in a common law system, by the bromide that only a legislature is authorized to make law; while legislative authority is primary, courts are also sources of law through the operation of the common law system of precedent. Indeed, the application of the system of precedent to statutory interpretation in the United States, a natural element of our common law heritage, makes the "static meaning" position incoherent. Drawing comparisons to civilian systems and textual opinions from the Supreme Court, the essay concludes that static textualism ignores the precedential quality of judicial decision and defeats the evolution of law through interaction between legislatures and judiciaries, that are defining characteristics of our common law system.


A multi professional team use different professional skills to a specific target. The people in the team complement each other to achieve the best performance possible. Professional identity is a mix between the professional and personal identity. Social identities, like professional identity, is a product of social categorization and social comparison. The purpose of this study was to examine how increased cooperation in cross-disciplinary teams has affected the professional identity of home care staff. The method I used to gather my material were focus groups with home care staff in relation to their workplace. Five focus groups were conducted and formed the basis of the results. I used parts of and got inspired from the hermeneutic approach in the analysis of my empirical findings. The results were interpreted by the social identity theory and the concepts of identity, professional identity and the dual task. The results show that home care staff finds it difficult to describe what their role is in the profession. The team's work has affected the staff to feel stronger in their profession and occupation. They have been able to learn from the other team members and have got a deeper understanding of the other team member's profession. They also believe that the home care staff group has become more of a united group now that they know more about each other's work, work more equal and have more discussions within the group. Home care staff professional identity has been influenced, as all work within the team goes toward a common explicit goal. This has made stronger professional identity within the group and they can identify themselves more with each other. The teams work towards the common goal has also contributed to that they experience cooperation, understanding and affinity with the other team members. This has broadened their professional identity and they have become part of a new group - the team.


Splines are a popular and attractive way of smoothing noisy data. Computing splines involves minimizing a functional which is a linear combination of a fitting term and a regularization term. The former is classically computed using a (weighted) L2 norm while the latter ensures smoothness. Thus, when dealing with grid data, the optimization can be solved very efficiently using the DCT. In this work we propose to replace the L2 norm in the fitting term with an L1 norm, leading to automatic robustness to outliers. To solve the resulting minimization problem we propose an extremely simple and efficient numerical scheme based on split-Bregman iteration combined with DCT. Experimental validation shows the high-quality results obtained in short processing times.


A review on stoichiometric mixed oxides in the CaO-SrO-Bi2O3-Nb2O5-Ta2O5 system. Some of the oxides find applications as materials for electronics. Various processes for preparation of the oxides, both in the bulk form (polycrystalline powders, single crystals) and as thin-layer materials, are described. Experimental methods of determination of thermodynamic properties of the mixed oxides are treated and possibilities of obtaining missing data using empirical estimation methods or theoretical calculations are mentioned. The values of fundamental thermodynamic functions given in literature are collected. Applications of the additive Neumann-Kopp rule in estimation of temperature dependences of heat capacities and empirical entropy-volume correlations as well as in prediction of molar entropies of mixed oxides are discussed.


Image-based environment representations capture the appearance of the surroundings of a mobile robot and are useful for the detection of novelty. However, image-based novelty detection can be impaired by illumination effects. In this paper we present an approach for the image-based detection of novel objects in a scene under varying lighting conditions and in the presence of objects with specular surfaces. The computation of an illumination-invariant image-based environment representation allows for the extraction of the shading of the environment from camera images. Using statistical models infered from the luminance and the saturation component of the shading images, specularities and shadows are detected and suppressed in the process of novelty detection. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms two recently presented reference approaches for illumination-invariant change detection in images.


This paper presents a family of Rate-Harmonized Schedulers that can be used in reservation-based operating systems to naturally cluster task execution and lump processor idle durations. While traditional approaches to energy management have focused on reducing dynamic switching power through Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS), processor technology trends predict a future in which static leakage power will begin to dominate. To this end, most modern processors provide built-in support for sleep modes with low leakage power. However, substantial time is required to switch in/out of such sleep modes due to mechanical oscillator stabilization delays. Significant opportunities for energy saving are potentially missed due to idle gaps between executing tasks that are shorter than the time required to enter the sleep mode. Armed with apriori workload information, reservation-based operating systems can potentially eliminate such wasted idle durations using Rate-Harmonized Scheduling. An Energy-Saving Rate-Harmonized Scheduler guarantees that every idle duration can be used to switch into sleep mode. This paper also provides extensions to Rate-Harmonized Scheduling to support multicore processors. Empirical evaluation results are provided from an implementation in the nano-RK operating system for wireless sensor networks. Energy-Saving Rate-Harmonized Scheduling saves 16.8% energy compared to conventional Rate-Monotonic Scheduling for the task set used in Sensor Andrew project. At low utilization levels, Energy-Saving Rate-Harmonized Scheduling can save up to 39% energy on randomly generated task sets.


A new miniature high-frequency (HF) plasma source intended for bio-medical applications is studied using nitrogen/oxygen mixture at atmospheric pressure. This plasma source can be used as an element of a plasma source array for applications in dermatology and surgery. Nitric oxide and ozone which are produced in this plasma source are well-known agents for proliferation of the cells, inhalation therapy for newborn infants, disinfection of wounds and blood ozonation. Using optical emission spectroscopy, microphotography and numerical simulation, the gas temperature in the active plasma region and plasma parameters (electron density and electron distribution function) are determined for varied nitrogen/oxygen flows. The influence of the gas flows on the plasma conditions is studied. Ozone and nitric oxide concentrations in the effluent of the plasma source are measured using absorption spectroscopy and electro-chemical NO-detector at variable gas flows. Correlations between plasma parameters and concentrations of the particles in the effluent of the plasma source are discussed. By varying the gas flows, the HF plasma source can be optimized for nitric oxide or ozone production. Maximum concentrations of 2750 ppm and 400 ppm of NO and O3, correspondingly, are generated.


The development of science and technology gives effect to the development of human resources. Education has a decisive role for the development and realization of human resources according to the demands of the times. One of the basic education that should be mastered by students is a science because science can not be separated from everyday human life. Science as the proceedings applies the scientific method to solve problems and discover new concepts. In the process of inquiry or discovery are required special skills in thinking and acting. One of the capabilities that need to be developed is the ability of students to think creatively. This study was aimed at examining the effect of the the project based learning by science edutainment approach on students creativity. This study used the post-test control group design. This study used cluster random sampling to devide samples into two groups. The experimental group was implemented model of project based learning by science edutainment approach and the control group was implemented conventional method. The independent variables in this study are the type of learning method and dependent variable is the students creativity. The average of students creativity score in experimental group is 7,52 and 6,78 for control group. The t-test showed a significantly different students creativity, between the experimental and control groups. The use of project based learning by science edutainment approach significantly influenced the students creativity


Objective: The objective was to evaluate human-factors-based instructional aids on endoscope reprocessing. Background: The project stems from recent failures in reprocessing (cleaning) endoscopes, contributing to the spread of harmful bacterial and viral agents between patients. A previous study discovered three themes that represent a majority of problems: (1) lack of visibility (parts and tools were difficult to identify), (2) high memory demands, and (3) insufficient feedback. Method: In an effort to improve completion rate and reduce error, the authors designed instructional aids utilizing human factors principles that would replace existing manufacturer-provided visual aids. Then, they conducted a usability test, which compared the endoscope reprocessing performance of novices using the standard manufacturer-provided visual aids and the new instructional aids. Results: Participants in the experimental group successfully completed 87.1% of the reprocessing procedure with the use of the instructional aids, compared to 44.7% in the control group using only existing support materials. Of 60 subtasks, 27 showed significant improvement in completion rates. Conclusion: When given an instructional aid designed with human factors principles, participants were able to more successfully complete the reprocessing task. This resulted in an endoscope that was more likely to be safe for use on patients. Application: The human factors design elements utilized to create the instructional aids could be transferred to a dynamic electronic-based system to improve patient safety.


We outline a framework to study the use of mathematics in physics classrooms. The framework focuses on the relations made between Reality, Theoretical models and Mathematics. In this paper the analyses of one teacher and her 3rd year classes at secondary school are presented. The results show that phenomena in reality are often used as a short prelude to put focus on the relationship theoretical model and mathematics. Mathematics is generally used in an instrumental way to handle various formulas without further insight or discussion of the related models or their relation to reality. There is a lack of varied communication with a structural use of mathematics, i.e., mathematics used to support reasoning in relation to a theoretical model, highlighting the meaning of concepts and models in the studied classrooms.


We study the problem of recovering the phase from magnitude measurements; specifically, we wish to reconstruct a complex-valued signal x ∈ ℂn about which we have phaseless samples of the form yr = |〈ar, x〉|2, r = 1, ..., m (knowledge of the phase of these samples would yield a linear system). This paper develops a nonconvex formulation of the phase retrieval problem as well as a concrete solution algorithm. In a nutshell, this algorithm starts with a careful initialization obtained by means of a spectral method, and then refines this initial estimate by iteratively applying novel update rules, which have low computational complexity, much like in a gradient descent scheme. The main contribution is that this algorithm is shown to rigorously allow the exact retrieval of phase information from a nearly minimal number of random measurements. Indeed, the sequence of successive iterates provably converges to the solution at a geometric rate so that the proposed scheme is efficient both in terms of computational and data resources. In theory, a variation on this scheme leads to a near-linear time algorithm for a physically realizable model based on coded diffraction patterns. We illustrate the effectiveness of our methods with various experiments on image data. Underlying our analysis are insights for the analysis of nonconvex optimization schemes that may have implications for computational problems beyond phase retrieval.


Large thermal-electric power plants use an average of 1.5 cfs per Mw cooling water, with a temperature rise of about 10 F to 20 F, and flow velocities with a mean of about 7 fps; the resulting densimetric Froude numbers range from 2.5 to 12.5. A review of laboratory studies and prototype measurements, together with additional laboratory studies reported herein, indicate that this is in the range of transition from jet mixing to surface spreading regimes, with the possibility of a third regime existing for the lowest densimetric Froude numbers. Turbulence level in the jet, described by a Reynolds number, is of considerable importance in the transition region. It appears that the mixing by turbulence in the receiving water of the prototype is of equal importance to the mixing by the turbulence within the prototype jet.


INTRODUCTION: Histamine may prove to be effective in migraine prophylaxis, as an specific treatment aimed to limit excessive inflammatory responses involved in the pathophysiology of migraine. METHODS: One hundred and ten migraine patients were selected. The variables analyzed were: a) frequency; b) intensity; c) duration, and d) number of analgesic tablets. Treatment consisted of a regimen of subcutaneous histamine (10 ng/ml of Evan's solution) twice a week, with an administration volume of 1 ng (0.1 ml) of histamine, which was consecutively increased until reaching 10 ng (1 ml); during twelve month. At the end of treatment, the patients remained under observation for 8 years. A Friedman repeated measures ANOVA on ranks test was used to evaluate the statistical significance of differences between basal values and values found. RESULTS: The statistical analysis showed significant differences between basal values and values found for the 3, 6 and 12 months of treatment with histamine (p < 0.0001). The beginning of the 4th week there was a significant decrease in the magnitude of all variables studied (p < 0.0001). During the first and second year after treatment there were no headache attacks. In the third year migraine appeared again same to basal values. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides evidence of the safety and efficacy of histamine, applied subcutaneously at doses of 1 to 10 ng twice a week, bringing about a new therapeutic alternative and laying the clinical and pharmacological groundwork for the use of histaminergic H3-agonists in migraine prophylaxis.


Within recent years there has been increasing societal concern around the compulsive and excessive use of digital and Internet-enabled devices, such as the use of social media or online video gaming, and associated psychological and physical harms. However, problematic use or addictive behaviours are not yet included as diagnosable mental health issues in any major diagnostic system in Western countries and the conceptualisations of the phenomena are still inconsistent. To address this issue, the present study reviewed the current conceptualisations of digital addiction used within the research literature and identified common features of the definition of digital addiction. Definitions of the phenomenon were extracted from 47 studies, and they were analysed using a content analysis approach. The initial process assessed definitions for features of digital addiction within Internet, gaming and smartphone
addiction. Two higher-order themes were identified, which focused on the harm caused by the phenomenon and on the user's behaviours associated with the phenomenon. It was also found that key constructs are not specific to the usage domain, i.e. whether it is related to gaming, Internet or smartphone use. Several core features were found across different conceptualisations of digital addiction within the literature; however, it was also noted that some features are subjective and inconsistently applied. If a decision is to be reached on whether the phenomenon is a mental health disorder, then clearer definitions must be created.


The homology concept harbours implicit assumptions about the evolution of morphological organization. Homologues are natural units in the construction of organismal body plans. Their origin and maintenance should represent a key element of a comprehensive theory of morphological evolution. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the causation of homology and to investigate the mechanisms underlying its origination. The study of this issue cannot be limited to the molecular level, because there appears to exist no strict correspondence between genetic and morphological evolution. It is argued that the establishment of homology follows three distinct (if overlapping) steps: (a) the generation of morphological building elements; (b) the integration of new elements into a body plan; and (c) the autonomization of integrated construction units as lineage-specific homologues of phenotypic evolution. In contrast with traditional views, it is proposed that the mechanistic basis for steps (a) and (b) is largely epigenetic, i.e. a consequence of the inherent propensities of developmental system under changing conditions. Step (c) transcends the proximate mechanisms underlying the establishment of homologues and makes them independent attractors of morphological organization at the phenotypic level.


Blockchain technology has emerged as a solution to consistency problems in peer to peer networks. By now, it has matured as a solution to a range of use cases in which it can effectively provide the notion of third party trust without the need for a trusted (physical) third party, which makes it an attractive coordination mechanism for distributed systems. To promote the wide adoption of this technology, we yet lack mechanisms that make the specification and interpretation of smart contracts accessible to a broader audience. In this work, we propose a modeling approach that supports the semi-automated translation of human-readable contract representations into computational equivalents in order to enable the codification of laws into verifiable and enforceable computational structures that reside within a public blockchain. We identify smart contract components that correspond to real world institutions, and propose a mapping that we operationalize using a domain-specific language in order to support the contract modeling process. We explore this capability based on selected examples and plot out directions for future research on smart contracts.


Civil cheeses were purchased from urban vendors in the city centre of Erzurum, Turkey. The biogenic amine contents of the cheeses and their microbiological and chemical properties were determined. It was found out that biogenic amine concentrations of the samples were not exceeding the toxic doses-values. Total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae spp. were investigated as microbial analyses in the samples while several chemical analyses were executed. Statistical analyses were carried out for the determination of the relationship between the chemical properties and the biogenic amine contents of samples, and the existence of microorganisms and biogenic amines.


The increased use of sustainability standards in the international trade in cocoa challenges companies to find effective modes of service delivery to large numbers of small-scale farmers. A case study of the Sustainable Tree Crops Program targeting the small-scale cocoa producers in Cote d'Ivoire supplying international commodity markets shifts attention from mechanisms of private governance to the embedding of service delivery in the institutional dynamics of the state. It demonstrates that, despite a recent history of violent conflict and civil unrest, the introduced Farmer Field Schools programme achieved a surprising scale in terms of numbers and geographical spread. The analysis of this outcome combines political science and anthropological studies of effective and developmental elements in the state with the interest in institutional work found in organization science. The scaling of a new form of service delivery is explained by the skilful practices of institutional work by managers of a public–private partnership. They have been professionally associated with the sector for a long time and had the capacity to embed new forms of service delivery in persistent pockets of bureaucratic effectiveness in a failed state.


We used FLAMES+GIRAFFE (Medusa mode) at the VLT to obtain moderately high resolution spectra for 30 red horizontal branch (RHB) stars, 4 RR Lyrae variables, and 17 blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars in the low-concentration, moderately metal-rich globular cluster NGC6723 ([Fe/H]=-1.22+/-0.08 from our present sample). The spectra were optimized to derive O and Na abundances. In addition, we obtained abundances for other elements, including N, Fe, Mg, Ca, Ni, and Ba. We used these data to discuss the evidence of a connection between the distribution of stars along the horizontal branch (HB) and the multiple populations that are typically present in globular clusters. We found that all RHB and most (13 out of 17) BHB stars are O-rich, Na-poor, and N-poor; these stars probably belong to the first stellar generation in this cluster. Only the four warmest observed stars are (moderately) O-poor, Na-rich, and N-rich, and they probably belong to the second generation. While our sample is not fully representative of the whole HB population in NGC6723, our data suggest that in this cluster only HB stars warmer than ~9000 K, that is one fourth of the total, belong to the second generation, if at all. Since in many other clusters this fraction is about two thirds, we conclude that the fraction of first/second generation in globular clusters may be strongly variable. In addition, the wide range in colour of chemically homogeneous first-generation HB stars requires a considerable spread in mass loss (>0.10 Mo). The reason for this spread is yet to be understood. Finally, we found a high Ba abundance, with a statistically significant radial abundance gradient.


This work deals with a distinct concept to realise the junction-less tunnel field effect transistor (JL TFET) by creating the plasma of charges. The crux of this study is to reduce ambipolar conduction and to improve high-frequency figure of merits. To construct a JL TFET, initially P
 +
 silicon film is considered and then metal electrodes are used to form drain and channel region. The drain electrode is separated into two sections and the work function of section adjacent to channel is selected higher than the other section. This provides a non-uniform doping profile in the drain region creating large barrier at the drain/channel junction to prevent the ambipolar conduction. Ambipolarity is reduced to 1 × 10
 -14
 from 1 × 10
 -8
 at V
 gs
 = -1.5 V. The selection of work function and length of drain electrode adjunct to channel is crucial for optimising device performance. This optimisation provides information that work function >4.0 eV and length = 10 nm completely suppresses the ambipolarity which is around 1 × 10
 -21
 with little degradation in ON-current. The high work function for the section of drain electrode adjunct to channel provides lower gate-to-drain capacitance (~2.67 fF) and superior high-frequency responses. Furthermore, performance assessment at circuit level is done by implementing primary digital circuits as inverter and NAND logic with lookup table based Verilog-A model.


Thymic epithelial tumours are rare malignancies of the anterior superior mediastinum. Several studies have analysed the presence of c-KIT mutations in thymic carcinoma. Immunohistochemical c-KIT expression and mutations in exons 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 17, and 18 of the KIT gene and in the promoter region of the TERT gene (chr5, 1,295,228C>T/A and 1,295,250C>T) were analysed by PCR based direct sequencing using representative formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour samples of 18 thymic carcinomas. Of 18 patients, 4 test samples were excluded from the study due to inadequate DNA quality. Of 14 patients with thymic carcinomas, KIT and TERT mutation was not detected in any samples. C-KIT expression was associated with nearly a worse overall survival (median time 24.160-49.840, log-rank, p = 0.05). We showed that squamous cell carcinomas led to worse survival than other subtypes. As expected, TNM stage II was significantly correlated with better OS (p = 0.015). Thymic carcinoma is characterised by a KIT-positive and CD5-positive staining pattern. We report a worse overall survival for patients with c-kit expressing tumours. These data suggest a negative prognostic role for c-kit expression especially within the first 5 years.


We investigate country heterogeneity in cross-country growth regressions. In contrast to the previous literature that focuses on low-income countries, this study also highlights growth determinants in high-income (OECD) countries. We introduce Iterative Bayesian Model Averaging (IBMA) to address not only potential parameter heterogeneity, but also the model uncertainty inherent in growth regressions. IBMA is essential to our estimation because the simultaneous consideration of model uncertainty and parameter heterogeneity in standard growth regressions increases the number of candidate regressors beyond the processing capacity of ordinary BMA algorithms. Our analysis generates three results that strongly support different dimensions of parameter heterogeneity. First, while a large number of regressors can be identified as growth determinants in Non-OECD countries, the same regressors are irrelevant for OECD countries. Second, Non-OECD countries and the global sample feature only a handful of common growth determinants. Third, and most devastatingly, the long list of variables included in popular cross-country datasets does not contain regressors that begin to satisfactorily characterize the basic growth determinants in OECD countries. JEL Code: O40, O47, O51, O52.


Geochemical and Nd isotopic studies of two postorogenic, Late Proterozoic (1083 ±23 Ma), high-Mg tholeiitec dike swarms in central Australia indicate that the dike swarms were derived by partial melting of the continental lithospheric mantle, which was modified by subduction processes during major crust-formation events in the region. Both dike swarms (Stuart and Kulgera, which intrude the Arunta and Musgrave inliers, respectively) resemble island-arc tholeiites in terms of geochemical features. They yield whole-rock Sm-Nd ages of 1853 ±189 Ma with ϵ Nd = -4.2 ±4.2 (Stuart) and 1589 ±165 Ma with ϵ Nd = +1.7 ±3.6 (Kulgera). The two whole-rock ages and initial ϵ Nd values are remarkably similar to the oldest U-Pb zircon ages and initial ϵ Nd values obtained from the corresponding basement blocks. These isotopic data are interpreted as recording Sm-Nd fractionation events in the continental lithospheric mantle associated with major episodes of crust formation in the Early Proterozoic.


Introduction The Internet Library of Early Journals (ILEJ) owes its existence to the UK Higher Education Libraries Review, chaired by Sir Brian Follett, the report of which appeared in 1993. The "Follett Report", as it is generally called1 , discussed the implications of information technology in enhancing the work of libraries and proposed a programme of development in key areas of IT within the higher education library sector. These included electronic publishing (including digitisation), on-demand publishing, electronic reserves, resources access and document delivery. Approximately £15 million was made available over 3 years for phases 1 and 2 of the programme, and institutions were invited to bid for funding to finance projects within these areas. The ILEJ project resulted from a successful bid to the eLib programme by a consortium formed by the Universities of Oxford, Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham. The aim of the project as stated in the bid was to enhance usage of the holdings of research libraries by creating electronic copies of their contents, and to provide user access to a corpus of digitised images from three 18thand three 19th-century journals. The intention was to provide a critical mass of material, and to investigate the technologies involved in producing such an extensive archive of digitised images.


In this study, by cutting electrical steel stator laminations, one of the most important components of electrical machines by different cutting methods, the effects of these cutting methods on motor efficiency are investigated. As cutting methods, wire electrical discharge machining, punching, laser and abrasive water jet methods are used. Burr formation at the cutting edge leads to short circuits during the steel packaging and causes magnetic losses in steel packages to increase. In addition, depending on the cutting methods, electrical steel lamination insulation layer is damaged as a result of residual and thermal stress formations. These negative conditions cause iron, friction and windage, stator, rotor and additional load losses occurred in the engine to decrease. In order to minimize these cases, electrical steel stator laminations are cut with the cutting parameters determined as a result of pre-cut tests and 5.5-kW induction motors are manufactured. These manufactured motors, according to IEC 60034-2-1-1B method, are subjected to no-load performance tests in addition to six different loading ratios of 25%–50%–75%–100%–115%–125% and constant 50 Hz frequency. As a result of the test measurements, losses occurred in electrical steels cut with abrasive water jet are found to be higher than the other cutting methods. In addition, in terms of the motor performance, the best results are obtained with wire electrical discharge machining cutting method.


Social integration
has well-established health benefits among older adults in observational
studies. However, interventions designed to increase social integration have
not improved health suggesting important knowledge gaps on how social
integration influences health outcomes. This study developed a new measure of
social integration, daily social contact, capturing the interpersonal nature of
social integration and mobility of individuals, and providing a direct
assessment of individuals' real-time access to companionship and social
support. The data used is the 2006-2007 American Time Use Survey (ATUS),
which surveyed 25,191 individuals aged 15 years and older (n = 4378 aged 65
years and older). Generalized ordinal logistic regression analyses revealed
positive, but non-parallel relationships between daily social contacts and the
ordinal categories of self-rated health among older adults. This study may be
used to identify populations that experience social exclusion, such that future
research can determine more precisely how to
intervene to improve health outcomes.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is a rare cause of prosthetic joint infection. The diagnosis is challenging especially in cases of latent tuberculosis. QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT®) is an interferon-gamma relative assay (IGRA) which is highly specific and sensitive for detection of MTB infection. We report a case of 76-year-old lady diagnosed with tuberculous prosthetic joint infection following total knee replacement. Histological examination of abnormal synovial tissue taken intraoperatively reveals chronic granulomatous lesion and raised suspicion of tuberculous infection in otherwise asymptomatic patient. The tuberculin skin test, MTB acid-fast stain and tuberculosis polymerase chain reaction were negative. The diagnosis dilemma was solved with positive result of QuantiFERON TB Gold Test. The patient was treated with anti-tuberculous drug without any surgical intervention. At five months follow-up, patient was clinically well with no symptoms and signs of infection.


n this paper an efficient pulse shaping filter architecture for SSB/BPSK-DS/CDMA is proposed. The filter satisfies the specifications in IS-95. The proposed architecture is based on polyphase decomposition and look-up table method. By exploiting the linear phase property of the decomposed filter coefficients the chip area required for look-up table can be reduced by half compared with the conventional methods. By Synopsys simulations it is shown that the use of the proposed method can result in reduction in the number of gates by 40%.


Ronald W. Richardson helps us to understand how congregations function emotionally. Without being simplistic, he gives clear directions on how to improve their quality of life together and function more effectively in achieving mission goals. This book offers: A theory about human behavior that will aid understanding of how things can get out of control in the human community of the church; A practical set of leadership ideas and behaviors; Guidelines for how to behave in the midst of upsetting and conflictual circumstances; Personal steps that leaders in the church can take to become more positive forces for healing and cooperation.


An investigation was carried out to determine the effects of some factors on the production of effervescent artichoke tea tablets from dried artichoke (Cynara scolymus L.): extraction solvent composition, extraction temperature, extraction time, ratios of leaf, flower, stalk and root of dried artichoke, concentration of spray-drying solution, spray-drying temperature, spray-drying carrier, concentration of spray-drying carrier, proportion of effervescent agent, and components proportion of effervescent agent. The recommended extraction solvent was water with 10 percent of ethanol 96 percent (v/v), with an extraction temperature of 100°C, soak time of 14 hours, first extraction time of one hour, second extraction time of three hours. The dried artichoke raw material consisted of 1.0 parts leaf, 0.5 parts flower, 1.0 parts stalk and 1.5 parts root. The recommended concentration of spray-drying solution was 20 percent, spray-drying temperature of 150°C, spray-drying carrier was maltodextrin at a concentration of 10 percent. The recommended effervescent agent consisted of 1.0 parts citric acid, 1.0 parts tartaric acid and 2.44 parts sodium bicarbonate, added at 45 percent of total weight of effervescent tablet.


The crystal structure within an ice sheet evolves in response to deformation; hence ice‐crystal fabric records ice‐flow history. However, the complexity of crystal‐fabric evolution, and the lack of model results with which to compare data, limit the usefulness of fabric measurements, particularly in areas with complex ice dynamics. Here, we use an ice‐flow model to identify characteristic fabrics associated with ice‐stream onset, with the goal of aiding interpretation of fabric measurements. Using time‐dependent model simulations, we identify how crystal fabric may be used to diagnose changes in an ice stream's speed or lateral position. Consistent with previous work, we find that fabric within an ice stream is generally a vertical girdle, though horizontal shear can lead to a horizontal single maximum. Transient simulations demonstrate that effects from changes in flow may be recorded in the crystal fabric for thousands of years after an ice stream activates and more than ten thousand years after an ice stream stagnates. Both transient and steady effects on fabric are sufficiently large as to be measurable in ice cores or with polarized radar, suggesting that in certain scenarios fabric could be used to identify past flow changes. These results could be used to design radar surveys in areas where ice streams are known to deactivate, such as the Siple Coast in Antarctica, or where they may migrate laterally or widen, such as in Northeast Greenland.


The main goal of the article was to assess the level and changes of income in the urban and rural as well as farmers and other socio-economic groups households in the context of material deprivation phenomenon. The second aim was an identification of convergence process between variables describing the income situation of the surveyed groups of households. Additionally, income inequality problems in different types of household as well as multidimensionality of the deprivation concept were also mentioned. All data including average monthly disposable income and the Gini index were provided by Central Statistical Office of Poland. The convergence process was evaluated using an sigma-convergence index. The results showed that in real terms farmers and rural household income has increased, however one may not observed the sigma-convergence process between farmers and other socio-economic groups households, as well as rural and urban households. It was possible to observe a significant level of income inequality among farmers and rural households, which was furthermore increasing in the analyzed period.


In the increasingly turbulent environment, logistics strategic management has become a necessity for achieving competitive advantage. The use of benchmarking is widening as a technique for supporting logistics strategic management. Benchmarking can be described as the search for the best practices leading to a superior performance of a company. In this paper, we demonstrate how the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) can be used for supporting a generic logistics benchmarking process. First, the customers of a company are interviewed in order to define the logistic critical success factors and to determine their importance. The performance levels of the companies to be benchmarked are then evaluated with regard to each success factor. Second, the factors enabling the companies to achieve superior logistics performance are determined and prioritized with respect to each success factor. Third, the strengths, weaknesses, and problems of the company conducting the benchmarking process are analyzed and prioritized with respect to each enabler. Then the potential developmental actions for achieving superior logistics performance are defined and prioritized. In addition to supporting the three steps mentioned above, the AHP-based approach forms the basic framework for a continuous logistics benchmarking process.


With the advent of mobile communications, voice telecommunications became wireless. Future applications, however, target multimedia, messaging, and high-speed Internet access, all expressing the need for a broadband high-speed wireless access technique. Both the domestic multimedia and the wireless local area network (WLANs) business markets are addressed. Established systems deliver 2-11 Mb/s based on spectrally inefficient spread-spectrum techniques, where scalability has reached a limit. The next generation of modems requires spectrally more efficient low-power and highly integrated solutions. We describe here the design of two digital baseband orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) signal processing ASICs, implementing respectively a quaternary phase-shift keying (QPSK)-based 80-Mb/s and a 64 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM)-based 72-Mb/s digital inner transceiver. The latter partially matches the Hiperlan/2 and IEEE 802.11a standards. Joint development of signal processing algorithms and architectures along with on-chip data transfer, control, and partitioning leads to a low-power, yet flexible and scalable implementation. Both ASICs were designed in a unique object-oriented C++ design flow starting from algorithm level. The ASICs were successfully tested in a 5-GHz testbed both for file data transfer and web-cam multimedia transmission.


In this paper we present data from a cross-sectional study on cyberbullying experiences and cyberbullying perpetration in the Republic of Cyprus. Data were collected from a representative sample of the adolescent student population of the first and fourth grades of high school. Total sample was 2684 students, 48.5% of them male and 51.5% female. Research material included extended demographics, a detailed questionnaire on Internet activities, the Parental Bonding Index (PBI) and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). We compared the results on psychometry for those students who did not report being bullied or having bullied others with those who were bullied, those who bullied others and those who were both sufferers and perpetrators of cyberbullying. Those students who reported being both victims and perpetrators tended to show similar or higher dysfunction than those students who only perpetrated cyberbullying. High maternal and paternal protection in combination with low maternal and paternal care ('affectionless control' parenting style) was associated with perpetrating cyberbullying, either with or without any experience of oneself being bullied as well. Results support a hypothesis that the perpetration of cyberbullying is associated with inefficient parenting styles. They also point to the existence of significant emotional symptoms for the involved adolescents and also general conduct problems, hyperactivity, peer problems and antisocial tendencies. It is important to note that perpetrators of cyberbullying were in most cases victims themselves at some point in time.


Alternating sign matrices are known to be equinumerous with descending plane partitions, totally symmetric self-complementary plane partitions and alternating sign triangles, but no bijective proof for any of these equivalences has been found so far. In this paper we provide the first bijective proof of the operator formula for monotone triangles, which has been the main tool for several non-combinatorial proofs of such equivalences. In this proof, signed sets and sijections (signed bijections) play a fundamental role.


Context. Rotational mixing is known to significantly affect the evolution of massive stars; however, we still lack a consensus regarding the various possible modeling approaches and mixing recipes describing this process. The empirical investigation of surface abundances of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (CNO) in large samples of O- and B-type stars will be essential for providing meaningful observational constraints on the different available stellar evolution models.
Aims. Setting up and testing adequate tools to perform CNO surface abundance determinations for large samples of O-type stars, by means of the fast performance, NLTE, unified model atmosphere code FASTWIND.
Methods. We have developed a set of semi-automatic tools for measuring and analyzing the observed equivalent widths of strategic optical C, N, and O lines from different ions. Our analysis strategy is based on a χ2 minimization of weighted differences between observed and synthetic equivalent widths, the latter computed from tailored model grids. We have paid special attention to the (significant) errors introduced by typical uncertainties in stellar parameters. In this pilot study, we describe these tools, and test their performance and reliability using a set of high quality spectra of a sample of 18 presumably single Galactic O-type stars with low projected rotational velocities (v sin i≲100 km s−1), and previously determined stellar parameters. In particular, we have compared the outcome of our analysis with results from existing studies and theoretical stellar evolution models.
Results. Most of our results for carbon and nitrogen agree, within the errors, with both theoretical expectations and literature values. While many cooler dwarfs display C and N abundances close to solar, some of the early- and mid-O dwarfs – and most supergiants – show significant enrichment in N and depletion in C. Our results for oxygen in late-O dwarfs are, however, unexpectedly low, possibly indicating deficiencies in the adopted oxygen model atom. For all other objects, no systematic problems in their oxygen content have been identified. Specific stars in our sample show peculiarities in their abundances, and we suggest hypotheses regarding their origin.
Conclusions. Our method is (almost) ready to be applied to large samples of late and mid O-type stars – although the oxygen model atom needs to be improved and carefully tested first. For early O-type stars (O4 and hotter), a simultaneous UV analysis seems to be inevitable, due to the scarcity and weakness of optical C and O lines. This will necessarily imply a more complex modeling, additionally accounting for the effects of X-rays from wind-embedded shocks and wind inhomogeneities.


Braun, Rod D., Jennifer L. Lanzen, and Mark W. Dewhirst. Fourier analysis of fluctuations of oxygen tension and blood flow in R3230Ac tumors and muscle in rats. Am. J. Physiol. 277 (Heart Circ. Physiol. 46): H551–H568, 1999.— Tumor hypoxia is a major barrier to tumor radiation therapy. Typically tumor hypoxia occurs in two forms: chronic and acute. Although the existence of acute hypoxia has long been acknowledged, its temporal characteristics have never been directly measured and documented. In this study tumor PO2, blood flow (BF), and arterial blood pressure (BP) were measured simultaneously in nine Fischer 344 rats bearing R3230Ac rat mammary adenocarcinomas in the subcutis of the left hindleg. We measured PO2 at a single location for 36–125 min using recessed-tip oxygen microelectrodes. Simultaneously, we measured tumor BF at two sites within the tumor using laser-Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Similar recordings were made in the quadriceps muscle of seven non-tumorbearing rats. The PO2, tumor BF, and BP records were subjected to Fourier analysis. PO2 and BF showed lowfrequency fluctuations (,2 cycles/min) in both tumor and muscle, but the magnitude of the changes in tumor was greater. Tumor BF showed more activity at low frequencies than muscle BF, and the magnitude tended to be greater. No strong correlations were found between PO2 and BF power spectra for either tumor or muscle or between the frequency patterns of BP and tumor PO2 spectra. These results quantitatively demonstrate, for the first time, that BF and PO2 fluctuate at very low frequencies in tumors. In addition to having biological significance for tumor therapy, these fluctuations may have the potential to alter tumor cell behavior via induction of hypoxia reoxygenation injury and/or altered gene expression.


The author has a refreshingly realistic and down-to-earth attitude to the question of evaluating a child's visual performance and understands wellI the interaction of the visual and other sensory channels in a child's general development. &dquo;The thing is&dquo;, she says &dquo;to help the child achieve the best possible total development&dquo; and &dquo;Vision, even if it is low and fragmentary, is extremely important not only for communication but also as a partner for the other senses in the development process&dquo;. She analyses into clear and easily understood headings the practical uses of vision in order to answer better the question &dquo;What is the level of the child's vision in


Because interdental and subgingival sites are relatively inaccessible to mouthrinsing, they necessitate alternative methods of application of anti-plaque chemicals. These include routine oral hygiene aids, surfactants to enhance uptake and retention of antimicrobials, gels and periodontal dressings. The principal modes of application that have received attention recently, apart from the systemic route, are syringe and pulsated jet irrigation and slow release compounds. Slow release devices currently receiving attention may be classified as membrane diffusion, solution of drug in polymer and solid drug dispersed in polymer matrix. The most widespread dental instance of a slow release device appears to be the use of varnishes and resins to carry fluoride. Recent attempts at devising improved methods of antimicrobial application include the testing of materials for their biodegradability or for their potential to adhere to mucosal surfaces. It is concluded that the potential exists for antimicrobials applied directly to the site of intended action to contribute significantly to dental health, particularly when employed as components of practical oral hygiene regimes.


Over the years, SRAM-based compute-in-memory (CIM) structures have shown ways to perform deep neural network (DNN) computations in the mixed-signal domain with high energy efficiency but suffer from the tradeoff and limitations in their accuracy arising from analog nonidealities. Recently, circuit techniques were developed to support multi-bit analog computations in SRAM-based CIM macro [1], [2], which computes multiplication and accumulation by using transistor currents. However, the transistor current has nonlinear characteristics with respect to the gate voltage, significantly degrading the accuracies of DNNs. Some works address this problem by using charge-based computation [3], [4], where the multiplication results between 1b weight and multi-bit inputs are firstly stored in capacitors. Multi-bit-weight computations are then achieved by shifting and adding the multiplication result outputs either in the digital domain [3] or in the analog domain using a charge-sharing method [1]. The digital method typically requires a higher ADC precision and one ADC for every accumulation, becoming power heavy. The analog charge-sharing method requires switches to control, being exposed to charge injection noise and dissipating considerable power to turn on and off the switches. To address these issues, this work proposes an 8T1C SRAM-based CIM macro structure, which supports (1) multi-bit-weight charge-based computation without additional switches used for charge sharing; (2) a simple and fast computation where multi-bit-weight multiply-accumulate-averaging (MAV) voltage is immediately formed when the input is given, namely "one-step" computation; (3) compact 8T1C bit cell using metal-oxide-metal (MOM) capacitor which incurs only 1.5× cell area of the conventional 6T SRAM under logic rules; and (4) no additional power consumption in bit-shift for energy-efficient computing. We fabricated the proposed 4kb SRAM CIM macro in a 65nm process, whose structure is shown in Fig. 1, supporting a fully parallel computation of 1024 MAV operations with 64 4b inputs and 16 4b weights.


Optical coherence tomography (OCT) relies on ballistic back scattered photons to construct depth resolved optical slices of a specimen. However, the theory of OCT is generally math heavy and unintuitive. In this paper, we propose an approach, and show as many aspects of the OCT signal formation that can be described by using simple math and intuitive physics. The model allowing for simulating a semi-ideal OCT signal from an object with an arbitrary structure is presented.


Abstract : The research objective was to identify experimentally the differential effects of selected forms of human interactions upon the formation of intellectual agreements. The experiments in this project combined field and experimental techniques in order to study systematically the relationships that actually operate in the situations selected. Phase I entailed the identification of these relationships by means of observational and other commonly accepted techniques. Phase II involved the identification of certain physiological and personality variables. The patterns of agreement formation shown by the paired subjects chosen on the basis of these previously identified variables were visually tested (autokinetic condition) in Phase III. In Phase IV, validation criteria were developed. Since realism is such a crucial ingredient in any research endeavor which investigates human behavior, this study, employing a classical psychophysiological task situation, was designed to overcome some of the deficiencies of artificiality so characteristic of much research in this area. To this end, pairs of subjects selected for their relationships in a normal setting, were visually tested in an appropriate place. The results not only tend to support the induction that the maintenance and/or resolution of cognitive dissensus in ambiguous stimulus situations is a function of the social relationships obtaining between the persons in the situation, but that the processes by which dissensus is maintained and/or resolved are also predictable and contingent upon the specific type of relationship operative. (Author)


Marx's debt to Aristotle has been noted, but inadequately. Usually commentators focus on the parallels between discrete ethical theories of both writers. However, for Marx, ethics is not a discrete field, but is founded on a conception of social ontology. This thesis links the two by showing that, precisely because of its Aristotelian roots, Marx's political economy of bourgeois society demands an ethical view arising from alienated labour. Marx conceives of bourgeois society as an organic whole. But this entails that is social matter can only exist potentially, and not fully setting up a tension that points to the eventual supercession of its social form. In this manner, Marx's Aristotelian hylomorphism provides the link between the early and the later Marx, between the critique of alienation and the mature works of political economy.
This reading of Marx is facilitated by combining it with recent developments in philosophy. The works of Harre, Kripke and Wiggins, in particular have helped retrospectively to justify Marx's intuitive realism. Their contributions on explanation identity and sortals are applied in order to elucidate and justify his ontology. In the course of this, the problematic boundary between analytical philosophy and social theory is crossed.

Marx restates ancient beliefs about the transitory nature of existence and the eternal nature of change. In particular, there are strong parallels between Marx's account of the decline and eventual fall of capitalism, and the Aristotelian message that all sublunary entities come to be and pass away. These parallels are sufficiently striking to allow us to recognise that Marx's account of the crisis ridden and ultimately doomed perspective for capitalism, overlooked by his protagonists, is but a variant of the Aristotelian theory of passing away or phthora.


Abstract Social interactions have been invoked as potential major selective forces structuring natural microbial communities and thus may help explain the astonishing bacterial diversity of natural ecosystems. Here, we investigate the prevalence and structure of exotoxin‐mediated antagonistic interactions among free‐living soil Pseudomonas strains collected over the course of 2 years at distances of up to 1 km. Unlike some previous studies on antagonistic interactions among natural isolates, we found the prevalence of exotoxin‐mediated inhibitions to be relatively low. When present, antagonistic interactions show a weakly positive relationship with genetic relatedness and metabolic similarity. Isolates sampled from the same growing season were significantly more likely to inhibit each other than they were to inhibit isolates from different growing seasons. Exotoxin‐mediated antagonistic interactions between soil pseudomonads thus seem to be structured in time but do not appear to be a major selective force shaping free‐living soil bacterial communities of pseudomonads.