SUMMARY: Perithecial initiation is strongly inhibited by visible light in less than 18-hr-old hyphae of Sordaria fimicola which are grown in the presence of 1 μm-6-thioguanine. It is known that 6-thioguanine is destroyed when exposed to light in vitro with oxygen and a sensitizing dye like methylene blue is present. The most effective wavelength region for perithecial inhibition is the blue region, indicating that possibly flavins are the photosensitizing compounds in this case. The synthesis of carotenoid and melanin pigments is also affected by blue light in this organism. Another, transient, inhibitory effect on perithecial production is found when light-grown cultures are transferred to darkness. As a consequence of the two light effects, mycelia exposed to alternating light and dark periods in growth tubes develop well-defined zones of perithecia. A simple state-input model is presented in the Appendix to demonstrate how such zonation patterns can be generated on the basis of the light effects and a few other assumptions.


Introduction Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are associated with favorable response in EGFR mutant lung cancer. Acquired resistance to reversible EGFR TKIs remains a significant barrier, and acquired EGFR T790M-mutation is the major mechanism. Second-generation irreversible EGFR TKI, afatinib, had also been approved for treating EGFR mutant lung cancer patients, but the mechanism of acquired resistance to afatinib has not been well studied. Results Forty-two patients had tissue specimens taken after acquiring resistance to afatinib. The sensitizing EGFR mutation were all consistent between pre- and post-afatinib tissues. Twenty patients (47.6%) had acquired T790M mutation. T790M rate was not different between first-generation EGFR TKI-naïve patients (50%) and first-generation EGFR TKI-treated patients (46.4%) (p = 0.827). No clinical characteristics or EGFR mutation types were associated with the development of acquired T790M. No other second-site EGFR mutations were detected. There were no small cell or squamous cell lung cancer transformation. Other genetic mutations were not identified in PIK3CA, BRAF, HER2, KRAS, NRAS, MEK1, AKT2, LKB1 and JAK2. Methods Afatinib-prescription record of our department of pharmacy from January 2007 and December 2014 was retrieved. We investigated patients with tissue specimens available after acquiring resistance to afatinib. Enrolled patients should have partial response or durable stable disease of treatment response to afatinib. Various mechanisms of acquired resistance to first-generation EGFR TKIs were evaluated. Histology and cytology were reviewed. EGFR, PIK3CA, BRAF, HER2, KRAS, NRAS, MEK1, AKT2, LKB1 and JAK2 genetic alterations were evaluated by sequencing. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square test and Kaplan-Meier method. Conclusions T790M was detected in half of the lung adenocarcinoma after acquiring resistance to afatinib. T790M is still the major acquired resistance mechanism. First-generation EGFR TKI exposure did not influence the prevalence of T790M in lung cancer acquired resistance to afatinib.


A guide to resources of interest to Mathematics, Statistics & Computing students and staff at the University of New England, Australia


Platelet factor 4 (PF-4), a platelet-derived CXC chemokine, is known to prevent human monocytes from apoptosis and to promote differentiation of these cells into HLA-DR (cid:1) macrophages. In this study, we investigated the role of PF-4 in the control of acute monocyte proinflammatory responses involved in the direct combat of microbial invaders. We show that PF-4 increases monocyte phagocytosis and provokes a strong formation of oxygen radicals but lacks a chemotactic activity in these cells. Compared with FMLP, PF-4-induced oxidative burst was later in its onset but was remarkably longer in its duration (lasting for up to 60 min). Furthermore, in PF-4-prestimulated cells, FMLP- as well as RANTES-induced burst responses became synergistically enhanced. As we could show, PF-4-mediated oxidative burst in monocytes does not involve G i proteins, elevation of intracellular free calcium concentrations, or binding to CXCR3B, a novel PF-4 receptor recently discovered on endothelial cells. Moreover, we found that PF-4 acts on macrophages in a dual manner. On the one hand, very similar to GM-CSF or M-CSF, PF-4 treatment of monocytes generates macrophages with a high capacity for unspecific phagocytosis. On the other hand, short term priming of GM-CSF-induced human macrophages with PF-4 substantially increases their capability for particle ingestion and oxidative burst. A comparable effect was also observed in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages, indicating cross-reactivity of human PF-4


The giant cell tumor of the bone is a neoplastic low grade lesion that usually appears in the epiphyseal or metaphyseal region of the long bones. The lesion is usually solitary and becomes symptomatic when a considerable proportion of the bone has been destroyed. It is thought to represent approximately 19% of the benign bone tumors and 9% of all the primary bone tumors, according to a review by Schajowicz. The treatment of the giant cell tumor is controversial and the literature is confusing. The giant cell tumor is located mainly in the hand. Its potential aggressiveness makes us consider it in the differential diagnosis of the tumor lesions affecting the hand. The proposed treatment should try to preserve function to the extent possible but, at the same time, it needs to be radical enough to prevent a possible relapse. The purpose of this research work is to describe our experience with the treatment of the giant cell tumor in three cases that presented as a lytic, expansive lesion affecting the bones of the hand. They were treated with tumor resection and a bone graft to fill the defect. All three patients had a favorable course.


The experiment of acoustic emission (AE) on concrete specimens under uniaxial cyclic loading was conducted. The Kaiser effect of acoustic emission in concrete and the Felicity effect, which manifest the memorizing ability to the maximum previous stress level of Kaiser effect, were validated by the experiment. The mechanism of Felicity effect was analyzed based on the theory of statistical damage mechanics and a tentative AE factor constitutive model of brittle material under uniaxial cyclic loading was suggested. The curve of constitutive model is in good coincidence with the curve from the experiment. The experimental results showed that the Felicity effect became clearer along with the increasing of stress level. Each loading cycle would cause new damage inside the material, and the response of material to the new loading cycle is different from the previous cycle.


Background
Mentorship is important in residency training as it is necessary for personal and professional development of the resident trainees.

Objectives
This study documents mentorship in orthopaedic residency training programme in Nigeria by assessing the awareness of orthopaedic residents on the role of a mentor, willingness to be mentored and their perceived reasons for the possible lack of mentors/ participation of senior colleagues in a mentorship programme.

Method
This was a descriptive cross sectional study of 37 orthopaedic residents attending a revision course of the Faculty of Orthopaedics, National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria. Self-administered structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Data obtained was analyzed using SPSS version 21.0.

Results
The mean age of the respondent was 34.7 ± 4.7 years. The Male: Female ratio was 19:1. The average number of years already spent in the residency programme by the respondents was 2.8 ± 0.9 years. Only 27% of residents had participated in a mentorship programme since they began residency programme but only half were still being mentored at the time of the study. Sixty-five percent reported no formal mentorship programme in their institutions. However, 73% of the respondents would want a formal mentorship programme in their institution. Ninety percent of the respondents desired to be mentored.

Conclusion
Most residents are willing to be mentored. Consultants and trainers should ensure that the trainees are mentored.


Most EU Member States have carried out substantial pension reforms over the last decades in order to enhance fiscal sustainability, while maintaining adequate pension income. The intensity of pension reforms has been particularly strong since 2000. These reforms have been implemented through a wide range of measures that have substantially modified the pension system rules and parameters. One of the most important elements of pension reforms, aside of whether countries engaged or not in a systemic change, has been the introduction of mechanisms aimed at automatically adjusting (indexing) the key pension parameters (pension age, benefits, financing resources) to demographic pressure (e.g. changes in life expectancy, increase in the dependency ratio). Indeed, since the mid-1990's, half of the EU Member States have adopted either automatic balancing mechanisms, sustainability factors and / or automatic links between retirement age and life expectancy. All these pension reforms are projected to have a substantial impact on containing future pension expenditure trends. According to the latest long-term projections in the 2015 Ageing Report, public pension expenditure is projected to be close to 11% of GDP over the long run in the EU, almost the same as in 2013. However, the fiscal impact of ageing is still projected to be substantial in many EU countries, becoming apparent already over the course of the next two decades. This is also due to the very gradual phasing in of already legislated reforms, an issue that raises questions about the intergenerational fairness of the reforms and poses some doubt on the time-consistency of their implementation. Indeed, the sustainability-enhancing pension reforms legislated in a majority of EU countries will lead to a reduction of generosity of public pension schemes for future generations of retirees. But to make sure that these reforms will not have to face political and social resistance and risk of reversal in the moment they start to be implemented in full, other "flanking" policy measures are likely to be necessary: for example, reforms that boost retirement incomes by effectively extending working lives and employability of older workers (also through flexible working arrangements that allow people to keep working beyond current formal retirement age and to step down gradually from full-time to part-time to very part-time work) and provide other means of retirement incomes (e.g. private pensions) and appropriate social-safety nets to avoid that low-wage people follow back in poverty at old age.


Respiratory failure is the leading cause of COVID-19 death and disproportionately impacts adults more than children. Here, we present a large-scale snATAC-seq dataset (90,980 nuclei) of the human lung, generated in parallel with snRNA-seq (46,500 nuclei), from healthy donors of ~30 weeks, ~3 years and ~30 years of age. Focusing on genes implicated in SARS-CoV-2 cell entry, we observed an increase in the proportion of alveolar epithelial cells expressing ACE2 and TMPRSS2 in adult compared to young lungs. Consistent with expression dynamics, 10 chromatin peaks linked to TMPRSS2 exhibited significantly increased activity with age and harbored IRF and STAT binding sites. Furthermore, we identified 14 common sequence variants in age-increasing peaks with predicted regulatory function, including several associated with respiratory traits and TMPRSS2 expression. Our findings reveal a plausible contributor to why children are more resistant to COVID-19 and provide an epigenomic basis for transferring this resistance to older populations.


An overview of recent work on Monte Carlo simulations of a granular binary mixture is presented. The results are obtained numerically solving the Enskog equation for inelastic hard-spheres by means of an extension of the wellknown direct Monte Carlo simulation (DSMC) method. The homogeneous cooling state and the stationary state reached using the Gaussian thermostat are considered. The temperature ratio, the fourth velocity moments and the velocity distribution functions are obtained for both cases. The shear viscosity characterizing the momentum transport in the thermostatted case is calculated as well. The simulation results are compared with analytical predictions showing an excellent agreement.


INTRODUCTION
Materials for modern wound-management are a very broad and heterogeneous group. One of the most important representatives is natural materials, or more precisely polysaccharides isolated from various plants and animals. With the increasing resistance of pathogens to established antimicrobial agents, there is also an attempt to discover new mechanisms of the effects of these materials. Gum karaya (GK) is a very promising representative of the natural polysaccharides group and, since it is obtained from Sterculia urens as resin, it is also possible to assume its certain antimicrobial activity.

MATERIAL AND METHODOLOGY
The antimicrobial potential of GK and chitosan (Ch) has been tested on several preselected strains to match the real epidemiological situation of the agents of infectious complications in the field of burned wounds. Tested strains included representatives of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria as well as selected yeasts. Methicillin susceptible Staphylococcus aureus CCM 4223 (ATCC 29213), methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus CCM 4750 (ATCC 43300), Klebsiella pneumoniae CCM 4985 (ATCC 700603), Candida albicans CCM 8261 (ATCC 90028), Pseudomonas aeruginosa CCM 3955 (ATCC 27853) were obtained from the Czech Collection of Microorganisms. Pseudomonas aeruginosa FF 1, Pseudomonas aeruginosa FF 2 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa FF 3 (all multi-resistant clinical strains), Staphylococcus epidermidis A 013, Staphylococcus epidermidis A 117, and Candida parapsilosis BC 11 were obtained from the Collection of Microorganisms at the St. Annes University Hospital, Brno. Antimicrobial tests were performed using the disk diffusion test methodology. Another set of antimicrobial tests was obtained by measuring the growth curves.

RESULTS
Bacteriostatic activity testing showed 1% GK concentration and both 1% and 0.5% chitosan concentration effective against all pathogens tested. The combination of GK50/Ch50 in concentrations of 1% and 0.5% had similar or better effect. Lower concentrations of the combined material are poorly effective against tested strains. Bactericidal activity testing has not produced positive results, except for Candida spp., where only a partial effect of GK50/Ch50 was observed at 1% concentration. In the growth curve test, the efficiency of both GK alone and chitosan was found to be significantly higher in gram-positive bacteria compared to gram-negative ones. In the case of this experiment, only a one-tenth concentration was used compared to the disk diffusion test concentration. This results correspond with the data from the bacteriostatic activity testing.

CONCLUSION
This is the first publication that attempts to comprehensively define the potential for GK antimicrobial activity and also the possible potentiation of this activity with the use of chitosan. Further experiments are needed to extend the antimicrobial efficiency to gram-negative bacteria.


Reliable empirical models such as those used in software effort estimation or defect prediction are inherently dependent on the data from which they are built. As demands for process and product improvement continue to grow, the quality of the data used in measurement and prediction systems warrants increasingly close scrutiny. In this paper we propose a taxonomy of data quality challenges in empirical software engineering, based on an extensive review of prior research. We consider current assessment techniques for each quality issue and proposed mechanisms to address these issues, where available. Our taxonomy classifies data quality issues into three broad areas: first, characteristics of data that mean they are not fit for modeling, second, data set characteristics that lead to concerns about the suitability of applying a given model to another data set, and third, factors that prevent or limit data accessibility and trust. We identify this latter area as of particular need in terms of further research.


The usual method of collecting bile from a cholecystectomy or choledochostomy wound is to connect the drainage tube with a bottle attached to the bed or to the patient's dressings. When attached to the bed, ambulation is not practical. The usual bottles attached to the dressing are heavy and bulky. There is no standardization of methods of connecting the tube to the bottle. If tightly fitted, there is danger of pulling the tube out of the gall bladder or common duct by movements which might detach the bottle from the dressing. To prevent accidental traction on the tube, we have adopted use of a special bottle and special connections. A plastic, translucent, curved flask 1 (Fig. 1) is used for collecting bile. The flask is inconspicuous because of its shape, which fits the patient's body, and due to its light weight is more comfortable than a glass container; both these


The main purpose of this paper is to develop a set of improved micro-metrology system, which consists of a digital image-measuring device and a microscope with a long focal length, for the study of displacement fields, strain fields in the area across the interphases, and also the effect of temperature on the micro-mechanics properties of interphases in thermoplastic composites. Meanwhile, the precision of the micro-metrology system is assessed by using an extra solution within of the framework of infinitesimal strain in particular, the choice of the size of subset in the correlation technique is discussed when the displacements are not infinitesimal. Experimental results show that, under practical service conditions of thermo-mechanical coupled loads, a significant residual thermal stress mismatch due to the difference in coefficients of thermal expansion between the fiber and the matrix is balanced out.


Verbal analogies produced during naturally occurring instructional discourse in mathematics were explored using techniques borrowed from studies of language in use (see Wortham & Rymes, 2003). Close examination of two eighth-grade instructional analogies reveals that the language practices of analogy are instrumental in shaping recipients' relational re-representation of objects being compared, in particular through markers of indexicality and poetic parallel structure. At the same time, close examination of the communicative interactions reveals that these devices may reduce the burden on recipients' reasoning to the point that they may appear successful at solving the verbal analogy, but their responses can be explained by facility in verbal interaction rather than in mathematical reasoning. These data provide thereby new insights into the "analogical paradox," the finding that analogies are commonly successful as vehicles for interactionally producing and displaying understanding of new information in everyday contexts but generally problematic when measured for their effects on reasoning in controlled laboratory settings (Dunbar, 1998). We identify a tension between interactional and cognitive success of everyday communicative analogies, meaning that those that are most likely to be interactionally successful may lead to less cognitive engagement for analogy recipients.


In the history of crime and punishment the prisons of medieval London have generally been overlooked. This may have been because none of the prison records have survived for this period, yet there is enough information in civic and royal documents, and through archaeological evidence, to allow a reassessment of London's prisons in the later middle ages. This thesis begins with an analysis of the purpose of imprisonment, which was not merely custodial and was undoubtedly punitive in the medieval period. Having established that incarceration was employed for a variety of purposes the physicality of prison buildings and the conditions in which prisoners were kept are considered. This research suggests that the periodic complaints that London's medieval prisons, particularly Newgate, were 'foul' with 'noxious air' were the result of external, rather than internal, factors. Using both civic and royal sources the management of prisons and the abuses inflicted by some keepers have been analysed. This has revealed that there were very few differences in the way civic and royal prisons were administered; however, there were distinct advantages to being either the keeper or a prisoner of the Fleet prison. Because incarceration was not the only penalty available in the enforcement of law and order, this thesis also considers the offences that constituted a misdemeanour and the various punishments employed by the authorities. Incarceration did not necessarily entail enforced inactivity and the ways a prisoner might occupy his time, including writing, working or even planning an escape, are discussed. Lastly, an investigation is made into the causes and numbers of prison deaths in the medieval period.


INTRODUCTION
Vision and eye related problems are common among computer users, and have been collectively called the Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS).

METHODS
An observational study in order to identify the risk factors leading to the CVS was done. Twenty-eight participants answered a validated questionnaire, and had their workstations examined. The questionnaire evaluated personal, environmental, ergonomic factors, and physiologic response of computer users. The distance from the eye to the computers' monitor (A), the computers' monitor height (B), and visual axis height (C) were measured. The difference between B and C was calculated and labeled as D. Angles of gaze to the computer monitor were calculated using the formula: angle=tan(-1)(D/ A). Angles were divided into two groups: participants with angles of gaze ranging from 0 degrees to 13.9 degrees were included in Group 1; and participants gazing at angles larger than 14 degrees were included in Group 2. Statistical analysis of the evaluated variables was made.

RESULTS
Computer users in both groups used more tear supplements (as part of the syndrome) than expected. This association was statistically significant (p<0.10). Participants in Group 1 reported more pain than participants in Group 2. Associations between the CVS and other personal or ergonomic variables were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS
Our findings show that most important factor leading to the syndrome is the angle of gaze at the computer monitor. Pain in computer users is diminished when gazing downwards at angles of 14 degrees or more. The CVS remains an under estimated and poorly understood issue at the workplace. The general public, health professionals, the government, and private industries need to be educated about the CVS.


THE SURGERY OF GASTRIC AND DUODENAL ULCERS. SIR,-I have read witlh considerable interest Mr. Flint's comments on Mr. Souttar's figures of gastric and duodenal ulcers, for I have on miiany occasions pointed out that my owni figures differed from those usually publishied. Ulp to the time of my last analysis, some thzree or four monitlhs ago, the figures for the cases of chroniic ulcer upon wlhom I have personallv operated privately and at the London Hospital are as follows: Unconmplicated lesser cur-ve ulecrs ... ... ... 278 l-nicomplicated duodenal ulcers. ... ... ... 278 It is curiouS that the numbers in these groups shouldl be identical, hut as to their natur-e there can be no question. The lesser curve ulcers are n-ever nearer than 1.inches to the pylorus, and(I ar e often veiry remote. In addition lo these groups it is lily custom to distin(gulish pyloric ulcers as a sel)(arate variety-a customii wi-ithl wlhiclh all surgeons will niot agree. My reason for s-o doinig is that any ulcer wlichl inivolves the stomach, eveni in a smiiall part, has a tendency-altihough it miiay be a very slight one-to become carcinomatous, whlile duodenal ulcers have not this tendency. Hence, aniy ullcer whichl eveni in part passes over the pyloric wlhite linie, or over the pyloric vein, is grouped as pyloric " and not as " duodeinal." In this group there were 162 cases. Eveni if these were grouped as duodenial it would only causee the p'roportion of duodenal anid gastric ,to be about 3 to 2, whiclh varies considerably fr-om Mr. Flinlt's proportion. Moreover, these are only the umcontplicated cases, and there aare not included hour-glass stomllachs, ulcers found on the lesser cuiirve. after gastroenterostomy l)erforined elsewhere, pelforated ulcers, etc. The figures for1 the comXpleted groups are: Duodenal ulcers ... ... ... ... ... 278 Perforated duodenial ulcers ... ... ... ... 23 Gastro-jejunal ulcers ... ... .33


The fourth target of Millennium Development Goals 2015 in Indonesia is to decrease infant mortality rate, and children under-five year old mortality rate from 34 per 1,000 LB and 44 per 1,000 births to 23 per 1,000 LB and 32 per 1,000 births respectively. The aim of this analysis is to know the trend of causes of death of infant and children under-five year old in the twelve years last period (1995-2007). This analysis used baseline health research 2007, national health survey 2001, and household health survey 1995 data. The survey design is cross-sectional. The samples of those survey using sampling frame of Socio-Economic National Survey 2007, 2001, 1995, chosen through probability proportional to size selection. The sample number of baseline health research 2007, national health survey 2001, and household health survey 1995 were 280,000 HH, 211,168 HH, and 206,240 HH. The unit analyses are household members aged 0-4 years that's dead in the one year period before the survey. Instrument was designed with verbal autopsy technique to get the signs and symptoms before death from the information of the family of the deceased. Cause of death was diagnosed based on the International Classification of Diseases -10. Cause of death resulted in the infant mortality was still the same with the pattern of the diseases in twelve years ago (year 1995) that were perinatal disorders, diarrhea, meningitis, congenital malformation. The proportion of several environmental-based communicable diseases increase in the six years of the last period (2001-2007) that were diarrhea, tuberculosis, malaria, dengue. The causes of death that threatened children under-five year old were as follows diarrhea, dengue, tuberculosis, malaria, and external causes, and the proportion increased significantly. Keywords: Cause of death, infant, children under-five year old


Assessment of antibody responses to pneumococcal colonization in early childhood may aid our understanding of protection and inform vaccine antigen selection. Serum samples were collected from mother-infant pairs during a longitudinal pneumococcal colonization study in Burmese refugees. Maternal and cord sera were collected at birth and infants were bled monthly (1–24 months of age). Nasopharyngeal swabs were taken monthly to detect colonization. Serum IgG titres to 27 pneumococcal protein antigens were measured in 2624 sera and IgG to dominant serotypes (6B, 14, 19F, 19A and 23F) were quantified in 864 infant sera. Antibodies to all protein antigens were detect ablein maternal sera. Titres to four proteins (LytB, PcpA, PhtD and PhtE) were significantly higher in mothers colonized by pneumococci at delivery. Maternally-derived antibodies to PiuA and Spr0096 were associated with delayed pneumococcal acquisition in infants in univariate,but not multivariate models. Controlling for infant age and previous homologous serotype exposure, nasopharyngeal acquisition of serotypes 19A, 23F, 14 or 19F was associated significantly with a ≥2-fold antibody response to the homologous capsule (OR 12.84, 7.52,6.52, 5.33; p <0.05). Acquisition of pneumococcal serotypes in the nasopharynx of infants was not significantly associated with a ≥2-fold rise in antibodies to any of the protein antigens studied. In conclusion, nasopharyngeal colonization in young children resulted in demonstrable serum IgG responses to pneumococcal capsules and surface/virulence proteins. However, the relationship between serum IgG and the prevention of, or response to, pneumococcal nasopharyngeal colonization remains complex. Mechanisms other than serum IgG are likely to have a role but are currently poorly understood.


Since the inception of our country many sectors were facing Union problems since decades, especially the banking sector was very much effected from the era of nationalization when majority of the big banks of Pakistan were operated in the shade of Government of Pakistan, although majority of the big banks have been privatized but the element of Union is still a major part of the local banks, especially the big five banks of the country i.e. United Bank Limited (UBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Allied Bank Limited (ABL) and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) are remain in the influence of Unions. This research has concluded that MCB and NBP have more influence of Union a part from the other three large banks. It has been also concluded from this Independent Study that Unions still influence many decisions of the management in the local banks of Pakistan (The Big Five Banks). Although the influence of Unions are not as strong as it was at the time of nationalization when most of the banks were owned by the government in majority. The core variables that were extracted which are influenced by the Unions are Appraisals, Promotions and Increments, and the other two variables (Transfer and Postings) are also influenced by unions in local banks but they are less influenced as compared to the other three. This study have also pointed that the negotiations are the best way to handle the issues related to Unions because it is pretty evident from our research that most of the members of Union in the big five banks are from non –officer grade cadre and are from clerical staff.


The level of welding residual stress is an important consideration in the ECA of a structure or component such as a pipeline girth weld. Such a consideration is further complicated by their variation under load and the complexity involved in the proper assessment of fracture mechanics parameters in a welding residual stress field. In this work, 2D axi-symmetric FEA models for simulation of welding residual stresses in pipe girth welds were first developed. The modelling method was validated using experimental measurements from a 19-pass girth weld. The modeling method was used on a 3-pass pipe girth weld to predict the residual stresses and variation under various static and fatigue loadings. The predicted relaxation in welding residual stress is compared to the solutions recommended in the defect assessment procedure BS 7910. Fully circumferential internal cracks of different sizes were introduced into the FE model of the three-pass girth weld. Two methods were used to introduce a crack. In one method the crack was introduced instantaneously and the other method introduced the crack progressively. Physically, the instantaneously introduced crack represents a crack originated from manufacturing or fabrication processes, while the progressively growing crack simulates a fatigue crack induced during service. The J-integral values for the various cracks in the welding residual stress field were assessed and compared. This analysis was conducted for a welding residual stress field as a result of a welding simulation rather than for a residual stress field due to a prescribed temperature distribution as considered by the majority of previous investigations. The validation with the 19-pass welded pipe demonstrated that the welding residual stress in a pipe girth weld can be predicted reasonably well. The relaxation and redistribution of welding residual stresses in the three-pass weld were found to be significantly affected by the magnitude of applied loads and the strain hardening models. The number of cycles in fatigue loading was shown to have little effect on relaxation of residual stresses, but the range and maximum load together governed the relaxation effect. A significant reduction in residual stresses was induced after first cycle but subsequent cycles had no marked effect. The method of introducing a crack in a FE model, progressively or instantaneously, has a significant effect on J-integral, with a lower value of J obtained for a progressively growing crack. The path-dependence of the J-integral in a welding residual stress field is discussed.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


Background Although the effects of meteorological factors on the general population health are widely documented, little is known about their influence on human pregnancy and birth. The present study aims at analyzing the influence of the atmospheric conditions on premature births. Method One hundred and eight nine cases of premature births were included in the study, with a gestational age between 24 to 37 weeks of amenorrhea. Cases with antepartum fetal death and those with uncertain gestational age have been excluded. Daily weather data were obtained using http://www.wunderground.com site. A Pearson's product-moment correlation was run to assess the relationship between weekly preterm birth incidence and the total number of premature births and the mean maximum and minimum temperature (Tmax, Tmin), maximum and minimum average humidity (Umax, Umin), maximum and minimum atmospheric pressure mean (P max, P min), average wind speed and average quantity precipitations, calculated for one calendar week. Results Approximately 7.7% of all births during the study period occurred before 37 weeks of gestation, the main reason for hospitalization being premature rupture of membranes (45%). The analysis revealed a moderate positive correlation between weekly preterm birth incidence and the average temperature (r=0.306, n=52, p=0.027) and a moderate positive correlation between weekly preterm birth incidence and temperature variation (r=0.307, n=52, p=0.007). Our study found no significant statistic correlation between the humidity variation, pressure variation, and wind speed. Conclusions The incidence of premature births can be influenced by variations of specific weather factors, especially during the weeks characterized by large fluctuations in temperature. The results obtained might inspire the construction of multicenter studies to investigate more thoroughly the adverse effects of some meteorological factors that can influence the outcomes of human pregnancy.


The population of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) wintering off eastern South America was exploited by commercial whaling almost to the point of extinction in the mid-twentieth century. Since cessation of whaling in the 1970s it is recovering, but the timing and level of recovery is uncertain. We implemented a Bayesian population dynamics model describing the population's trajectory from 1901 and projecting it to 2040 to revise a previous population status assessment that used Sampling-Importance-Resampling in a Bayesian framework. Using our alternative method for model fitting (Markov chain Monte Carlo), which is more widely accessible to ecologists, we replicate a "base case scenario" to verify the effect on model results, and introduce additional data to update the status assessment. Our approach allowed us to widen the previous informative prior on carrying capacity to better reflect scientific uncertainty around historical population levels. The updated model provided more precise estimates for population sizes over the period considered (1901–2040) and suggests that carrying capacity (K: median 22,882, mean 22,948, 95% credible interval [CI] 22,711–23,545) and minimum population size (N1958: median 305, mean 319, 95% CI 271–444) might be lower than previously estimated (K: median 24,558, mean 25,110, 95% CI 22,791–31,118; N1958: median 503, mean 850, 95% CI 159–3,943). However, posterior 95% credible intervals of parameters in the updated model overlap those of the previous study. Our approach provides an accessible framework for investigating the status of depleted animal populations for which information is available on historical mortality (e.g., catches) and intermittent estimates of population size and/or trend.


We report a computational investigation of the conformation and the dynamics of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of a set of aromatic thiols arranged in the ( radical3 x radical3)-R30 degrees packing ratio on a Au(111) surface using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. It was found that the molecular conformations were better defined for the arylthiol with two phenyl groups as compared to those with a single phenyl group and that the chemical structure of the head and tail groups had a considerable influence on the system geometry. In line with the density functional theory (DFT) calculations of small thiol molecules, we found for the SAMs that the face-centered cubic (fcc) site on the Au(111) surface was the most preferred, followed by the hexagonal close-packed (hcp) site, while the bridge position showed the characteristics of a local energy maximum. The dynamics of thiol head groups on these three Au sites was found to govern the overall dynamics of SAMs as measured by the mean square displacement. We also report that both the conformation and the dynamics on the studied time scale were driven by the SAM formation energy.


Introduction: Assessment of diaphragm function should ideally be assessed using magnetic twitch pressure or esophageal and gastric balloons. Conventional sonographic techniques as thickness and fractional thickening (FT), only provide limited insight in diaphragm function. Speckle tracking echocardiography allows reliable quantification of muscle function by tracking of grey patterns and their motion; strain as parameter of muscle deformation and strain rate as deformation velocity. Aim: To investigate whether speckle tracking can quantify loading of the diaphragm, superior to FT. Methods: 13 healthy volunteers underwent an inspiratory loading protocol with recording of transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) and diaphragm electromyography (EMGdi). Inspiratory loading of 0 to 30% of maximal inspiratory pressure was applied in random order for 5 minutes per applied load. Diaphragmatic sonography was performed using a 2-4 MHz linear phased array transducer positioned at the right-lateral thoracic wall in the anterior axillary line longitudinal to the body axis. Ultrasound recordings of the diaphragm were made at the marked location during 10 seconds. Results: Increased inspiratory loading increased Pdi and EMGdi. Sonographic markers of contractility increased with incremental loading. Pdi correlated with strain (r=0.75; p=0.000) and strain rate (r=0.77; p=0.000). Contrarily, FT was not correlated with Pdi. Conclusion: Speckle tracking of the diaphragm can detect changes in diaphragmatic loading up to 30% of maximal inspiratory pressure. It might be a valuable tool to detect changes in loading in specific patient categories, including patients with acute respiratory failure and ventilated ICU patients.


Learn how the power of teamwork fueled by a common goal enabled members of a California government agency to educate thousands of diverse clinical laboratory scientists--despite unanticipated dilemmas and limited resources.


This paper starts with the current development of urban-rural integration planning concerning resource-based towns in Northern Shaanxi. Through the analysis on characteristics of towns in Northern Shaanxi, this paper tries to apply the principle and means of urban-rural spatial coordination to effectively integrate the urban and rural space, and achieve the purpose of coordinated development of urban and rural space. It is also hoped by virtue of practical study on the integrated planning of urban and rural towns in Zhidan County, Yan'an City to provide reference for the development of emerging resource-based towns in Northern Shaanxi and its adjacent areas.


The report aims to meet two broad objectives: (a) enhance knowledge about the current state of existing social safety nets (SSNs) and assess their effectiveness in responding to new and emerging challenges to the poor and vulnerable in the region by bringing together new evidence, data, and country-specific analysis; and (b) open up and inform a debate on feasible policy options to make SSNs in the Middle East and North Africa more effective and innovative. First chapter, 'a framework for SSN reform,' describes and illustrates the reasons for the region's growing need for SSN reform and establishes the framework for renewed SSNs. It identifies key goals for SSNs (promoting social inclusion, livelihood, and resilience) and illustrates how these goals have been achieved in some parts of the region and elsewhere. Second chapter, 'key challenges that call for renewed SSNs,' analyzes the challenges facing the region's poor and vulnerable households, which SSNs could focus on as a priority. Two large groups are at higher-than-average poverty risk: children and those who live in rural or lagging areas. The chapter examines factors such as inequality of opportunities and lack of access to services that can perpetuate the lower human development outcomes among the poor in these groups. It also describes the challenge of vulnerability. Finally, it identifies particular social groups that are at a higher risk of exclusion from access to services and employment. Third chapter, 'the current state of SSNs in the Middle East and North Africa,' analyzes SSN spending and assesses different aspects of the SSN systems' performance. Fourth chapter, 'the political economy of SSN reforms in the Middle East and North Africa: what do citizens want?' presents new evidence on citizens' preferences concerning redistribution and SSN design, using newly collected data. It also discusses how political economy considerations could be taken into account in designing renewed SSNs in the region. Fifth chapter, 'the way forward: how to make safety nets in the Middle East and North Africa more effective and innovative,' proposes an agenda for reform and the path for moving forward, using global experience and the evidence presented in the preceding chapters.


The goal of shantytowns redevelopment is to improve urban appearances and inhabitant's environments and enhance urban images and inhabitant's qualities of life. So far, numerous cities in China set about to reconstructing the project of shantytowns. However, the majority of shantytowns redevelopments have focused on dismantling houses rather than systematically rebuilding the shantytowns. Aiming at this issue, we explored the relations of shantytowns redevelopment and urban regeneration and drew on quite a lot of domestic and foreign experiences and lessons of slum redevelopment, which suggested that shantytowns redevelopment is involved in not only the pure physical regeneration, but also social regeneration, associated with economic recovery, community rebuilding and cultural reconstructions. By analyzing the case of shantytowns redevelopment of Fuxin city in Liaoning Province, we found a large quantity of questions exhibited by the current shantytowns redevelopment.


Foreword. Preface. 1. Introduction. 2. Basic Contract Law. 3. Intellectual Property Primer. 4. Licensing Strategies: The Carrot and the Stick. 5. Patent Licenses. 6. Know-how and Trade Secret Licenses. 7. Trademark Licenses. 8. Copyright Licenses. 9. Royalties and Royalty Rates. 10. Policing and Enforcement of Licenses. 11. Negotiating the Deal. Appendices. A. Checklist of Patent License Terms. B. Royalty Rates by Industry. C. Confidentiality and Nondisclosure Agreement. D. Trademark License Agreement. E. Patent License Agreement (Paid-Up). F. Patent License Agreement (Running Royalty). G. Software (End User) License Agreement. H. Copyright License Agreement. I. Technology License Agreement. J. Georgia-Pacific Factors. K. Agreement to Negotiate a License. Epilogue. Further Reading. Index.


An important problem across multiple disciplines is to infer and understand meaningful latent variables. One strategy commonly used is to model the measured variables in terms of the latent variables under suitable assumptions on the connectivity from the latents to the measured (known as measurement model). Furthermore, it might be even more interesting to discover the causal relations among the latent variables (known as structural model). Recently, some methods have been proposed to estimate the structural model by assuming that the noise terms in the measured and latent variables are non-Gaussian. However, they are not suitable when some of the noise terms become Gaussian. To bridge this gap, we investigate the problem of identification of the structural model with arbitrary noise distributions. We provide necessary and sufficient condition under which the structural model is identifiable: it is identifiable iff for each pair of adjacent latent variables Lx, Ly, (1) at least one of Lx and Ly has non-Gaussian noise, or (2) at least one of them has a non-Gaussian ancestor and is not d-separated from the non-Gaussian component of this ancestor by the common causes of Lx and Ly. This identifiability result relaxes the non-Gaussianity requirements to only a (hopefully small) subset of variables, and accordingly elegantly extends the application scope of the structural model. Based on the above identifiability result, we further propose a practical algorithm to learn the structural model. We verify the correctness of the identifiability result and the effectiveness of the proposed method through empirical studies.


Abstract This paper examines the spatial distributions of industrial facilities emitting toxic substances in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan region. The analysis relies on geographic information system mapping of hazardous facilities listed in the Environmental Protection Agency's Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) to assess the spatial distribution of polluting industries in relation to the demographic composition of host neighborhoods. The research addresses four questions: (1) Are there differences between the socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods with and without polluting industrial facilities? (2) Is there a relationship between the volume of toxic chemicals released from industrial facilities and the socioeconomic characteristics of host neighborhoods? (3) Is there a relationship between the toxicity of the chemicals released from industrial facilities and the socioeconomic characteristics of those living in proximity? (4) Do alternative methods for determining the distribution of potentially affected populations produce different observed patterns of environmental inequities? The study concludes that there is a clear pattern of environmental inequity in Phoenix based on the location and volume of emissions of TRI facilities. Analysis of the toxicity of emissions found a more equal distribution of risk, reflecting the suburbanization of high-technology industries into predominantly white middle-class communities.


Aim:  To assess daily energy distribution among Australians, provide evidence on the relative importance of eating occasions to energy intake and its relationship to age, gender and body mass index.

Methods:  Dietary data collected via 24-hour recalls during the 1995 National Nutrition Survey (n = 10 851 adults) and the 2007 National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey (4837 = children) were analysed. Percentage of total energy intake was tabulated according to time, eating occasions, body mass index, age and gender.

Results:  The Australians consumed three main meals and two to three snacks, with the highest energy intake at 'dinner'. Among children, 'breakfast' accounted for 15% of the energy, 'lunch' 19%, 'dinner' 30% and 'snacks' 35%. For adults, energy from 'breakfast' was 14%, 'lunch' 21%, 'dinner' 37% and 'snacks' 28%. Younger children and older adults consumed a lower per cent energy during the later part of the day. No difference in energy distribution was observed by gender. No difference in body mass index was observed for children and inconsistent differences were seen for adults.

Conclusion:  A high proportion of energy was consumed at 'dinner', but snacks were also an important source of energy intake. A variety of energy distribution patterns appear to be moderated by age. Older children consumed significantly less at breakfast and more snacks than younger children. In contrast, older adults consumed more energy at breakfast and less as snacks compared with younger adults. The findings indicate some key messages for informing primary prevention strategies among specific age groups including the need to attain a more even distribution of energy throughout the day.


ObjectiveTo measure coexpression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9 genes by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) in benign and malignant phases of colorectal carcinogenesis. Summary Background DataMatrix metalloproteinases degrade and remodel the extracellular matrix and have been implicated in facilitating carcinoma cells to invade and metastasize. MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9 have been shown to be overexpressed in various carcinomas; however, simultaneous examination of these enzymes in human normal mucosa, adenoma, and carcinoma has not been performed to date. MethodsBetween January 1, 1998, and June 15, 2000, 40 patients underwent colectomy and harvest and snap-freezing of normal mucosa, adenoma, and carcinoma. Five patients had adenoma and carcinoma in the same specimen; 35 had either adenoma (n = 6) or carcinoma (n = 29). Taqman qRT-PCR methodology was used to measure MMP gene copy number and normalized to &bgr;-actin RNA expression. ResultsThe mean age was 62 ± 4 years, with 22 men and 18 women. One fifth of the adenomas exhibited severe dysplasia. MMP-7 gene expression was significantly increased in adenomas (43 times normal mucosa) but did not increase further in carcinomas (50 times normal mucosa). MMP-2 and MMP-9 were not different in adenomas (1.8 and 1.4 times normal mucosa, respectively) but were elevated in carcinomas (2.2 and 1.8 times normal mucosa, respectively). There was no correlation between size or dysplasia in adenomas or AJCC stage in carcinomas and MMP gene expression. ConclusionsOverexpression of MMP-7 is an early event in the adenoma-to-carcinoma pathway, and expression does not appear to increase further in carcinomas. MMP-2 and MMP-9 appear to be primarily overexpressed in carcinomas. This may be one mechanism by which adenoma cells gain the ability to invade and carcinoma cells to metastasize.


BACKGROUND
Electromyographic evaluation of diaphragmatic neuromuscular disease in patients with COPD is technically difficult and potentially high risk. Defining standard values for diaphragm thickness and thickening ratio using B-mode ultrasound may provide a simpler, safer means of evaluating these patients.

METHODS
Fifty patients with a diagnosis of COPD and FEV₁ < 70% underwent B-mode ultrasound. Three images were captured both at end expiration (Tmin) and at maximal inspiration (Tmax). The thickening ratio was calculated as (Tmax/Tmin), and each set of values was averaged. Findings were compared with a database of 150 healthy control subjects.

RESULTS
There was no significant difference in diaphragm thickness or thickening ratio between sides within groups (control subjects or patients with COPD) or between groups, with the exception of the subgroup with severe air trapping (residual volume > 200%), in which the only difference was that the thickening ratio was higher on the left (P = .0045).

CONCLUSIONS
In patients with COPD presenting for evaluation of coexisting neuromuscular respiratory weakness, the same values established for healthy control subjects serve as the baseline for comparison. This knowledge expands the role of ultrasound in evaluating neuromuscular disease in patients with COPD.


The direct impacts of climate change on crop yields and human health are individually well-studied, but the interaction between the two have received little attention. Here we analyze the consequences of global warming for agricultural workers and the crops they cultivate using a global economic model (GTAP) with explicit treatment of the physiological impacts of heat stress on humans' ability to work. Based on two metrics of heat stress and two labor functions, combined with a meta-analysis of crop yields, we provide an analysis of climate, impacts both on agricultural labor force, as well as on staple crop yields, thereby accounting for the interacting effect of climate change on both land and labor. Here we analyze the two sets of impacts on staple crops, while also expanding the labor impacts to highlight the potential importance on non-staple crops. We find, worldwide, labor and yield impacts within staple grains are equally important at +3 ∘C warming, relative to the 1986–2005 baseline. Furthermore, the widely overlooked labor impacts are dominant in two of the most vulnerable regions: sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. In those regions, heat stress with 3 ∘C global warming could reduce labor capacity in agriculture by 30%–50%, increasing food prices and requiring much higher levels of employment in the farm sector. The global welfare loss at this level of warming could reach $136 billion, with crop prices rising by 5%, relative to baseline.


Author(s): Smith, Drake John | Advisor(s): Kohn, Donald B | Abstract: Cancer immunotherapy is a rapidly developing field that has already shown to be of great clinical value as evidenced by the success of engineered T cell therapies, such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapies in treating B cell leukemia and T cell receptor (TCR) therapies in treating melanoma, and by checkpoint inhibitor therapies, such as PD-1 and CTLA-4 antibodies, in treating a variety of cancers. This dissertation seeks to add to this growing knowledge base and carve out a niche in the discipline by utilizing a unique combination of immune cell type and method of delivery; a hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) can be genetically engineered using a viral vector in order to generate invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells in vivo. Several cancer immunotherapy clinical trials have already utilized iNKT cells either by infusion after expansion ex vivo and/or activation of the cells in vivo by dendritic cells loaded with the synthetic ligand α-Galactosylceramide (α-GalCer). These trials have demonstrated that the treatments are well tolerated, and while some have shown promising anti-tumor immunity, most have yielded unsatisfactory results. This lack of clinical efficacy has been attributed to the cells' very low and highly variable number in humans (0.001-1% in peripheral blood) and their rapid depletion after stimulation. Many cancer immunotherapy treatments trend towards a phase of promising tumor regression followed by a disheartening cancer relapse. This may be due to several factors, but a major contributor specific to cancer immunotherapy is thought to be exhaustion of the therapeutic cells by the ex vivo expansion protocol. This protocol drives the therapeutic cells to expand and differentiate into terminally differentiated effector cells. While these effector cells have increased killing efficacy, it comes at the expense of a decreased life span and regeneration. This would explain the initial regression mediated by the effector cells, followed by a relapse when the cells become exhausted. This issue can be addressed by utilizing viral vectors to genetically engineer hematopoietic stem cells to continually generate new therapeutic cells in vivo. This dissertation lays the foundation for combining the genetic engineering of HSCs by viral transduction to generate iNKT cells to be used for cancer immunotherapy. Proof-of-principle experiments in mice and an expansion to the use of the humanized mouse model provided the necessary knowledge and tools for further development to be pursued. Ongoing and future studies aim to demonstrate anti-cancer efficacy in humanized mouse models in order to collect data for an application to utilize these HSC-engineered iNKT cells in a cancer immunotherapy clinical trial.


Ten years ago a significant investment was made in simulations technology for medical education. A simulations complex was developed at St. Louis University School of Medicine consisting of a Group Activity/Observation Area, Skills Area, and simulated Physicians Offices Suite complete with observation and videotaping facilities. Since its inception, medical school faculty and other health science educators have utilized this area in ever-expanding and innovative ways. This is a success story about medical educators taking risks, implementing new ideas, and realizing those ideas.


Tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) is now well-known as a powerful tool for characterizing the primary structures of peptides and proteins; however, in many cases the use of but a single dissociation method provides only a partial view of the amino acid sequences and post-translational modification patterns of polypeptides. While the application of multiple fragmentation methods can be more informative, this introduces the burden of acquiring multiple MS/MS spectra per analyte, thus reducing the effective duty cycle of such methods. In this work, initial proof-of-concept is provided for a method designed to overcome these barriers. This method relies on the complementary fragmentation information that can be provided by performing collision-induced dissociation (CID) and electron transfer dissociation (ETD) in concert, while also taking advantage of an ion mobility (IM) dimension to temporally resolve the occurrence of CID and ETD when applied to a single accumulated packet of precursor ions. In this way, the significant proportion of the precursor ion population that remains unreacted in ETD experiments is subjected to CID rather than being fruitlessly discarded. In addition, the two distinct fragmentation spectra can be extracted from their corresponding IM domains to render readily interpretable individual fragmentation spectra. This scheme was demonstrated for several polypeptides ranging from 1.3 to 8.6 kDa in molecular weight. In each case, IM-resolved CID and ETD events resulted in b/y and c/z ions, respectively, which each covered both unique and overlapping sequence information. These findings demonstrate that the combination of CID and ETD can be achieved with greater utilization of the available ion population and little or no loss of duty cycle.


With China's accession to the WTO, concerns have arisen over the possible negative welfare impacts on domestic agricultural producers. The broad concern is that China's domestic agricultural prices will be pushed down even further, leading to a greater widening of the gap between rural and urban incomes. It is widely believed that declining price ratio of agricultural to industrial products, the so-called "price scissors", is one of the major reasons for increasing rural-urban income differences over the past decades. Therefore, improving the terms of trade in favor of agricultural products is a broad policy goal in China. But is this possible with the country joining the WTO? While there is a general perception that the price scissors have negatively affected China's agriculture and that trade liberalization will worsen the situation, empirical work on price scissors in China, and the relationship to openness, is scarce. In this paper, we use data from 1978-2005 to estimate the impact of China's trade openness on the relative price of domestic agricultural to industrial products. We find that the domestic agricultural-industrial terms of trade have not exhibited a declining trend, and that trade openness in fact exerts positive impacts on the terms of trade in favor of agricultural products. This finding implies that trade openness improves the economic welfare of China's agricultural producers.


This Article advances a relatively simple thesis - unpublished opinions should be non-precedential, at least until these opinions can be readily researched by all attorneys. Unfortunately, based upon the questionable assumption that technological advances have made unpublished opinions readily available, some jurisdictions have recently given unpublished opinions full precedential value and this trend appears to be the next frontier in the crusade over unpublished opinions. In truth, although unpublished opinions are increasingly available, many unpublished opinions are not as readily available as published opinions. By affording precedential value to these difficult to research unpublished opinions, jurisdictions will possibly create ethical and legal malpractice problems for attorneys. This Article does not attempt to comprehensively report on which unpublished opinions, on both the state and federal levels, are readily available. Instead, it focuses upon the availability of Fifth Circuit unpublished opinions and shows an example of a jurisdiction which has made some of its unpublished opinions precedential, even though those opinions are difficult, and sometimes virtually impossible, to research. The Article ultimately makes two recommendations: (1) the Fifth Circuit should change its rule regarding the precedential value afforded to unpublished opinions, and (2) other jurisdictions should avoid the Fifth Circuit's mistake and only consider making unpublished opinions precedential when those opinions are readily available and can be comprehensively researched. By adopting these recommendations, courts will minimize the risk that attorneys will face ethical and legal malpractice problems for failing to use binding unpublished opinions in their client representation


What is the capacity to care and why does it matter? How is it acquired? What are its origins in the early development of self and morality? Are women better at caring than men and, if so, is this likely to change with contemporary changes in parenting and gender relations? What would constitute a good enough family, as opposed to good enough mothering? How does the capacity to care inform the ethics of care debate about relationality and autonomy and their gender? How do people care across distance and difference? These are the questions that are addressed in this book. Through them I attempt to provide the current social discourses with an adequate psychology as a resource for understanding care, in the domains of theory, policy and practice.


Testing object-oriented software is critical because object-oriented languages have been commonly used in developing modern software systems. Many efficient test input generation techniques for object-oriented software have been proposed; however, state-of-the-art algorithms yield very low code coverage (e.g., less than 50%) on large-scale software. Therefore, one important and yet challenging problem is to generate desirable input objects for receivers and arguments that can achieve high code coverage (such as branch coverage) or help reveal bugs. Desirable objects help tests exercise the new parts of the code. However, generating desirable objects has been a significant challenge for automated test input generation tools, partly because the search space for such desirable objects is huge.
To address this significant challenge, we propose a novel approach called Capture-based Automated Test Input Generation for Objected-Oriented Unit Testing (CAPTIG). The contributions of this proposed research are the following.
First, CAPTIG enhances method-sequence generation techniques. Our approach introduces a set of new algorithms for guided input and method selection that increase code coverage. In addition, CAPTIG efficently reduces the amount of generated input.
Second, CAPTIG captures objects dynamically from program execution during either system testing or real use. These captured inputs can support existing automated test input generation tools, such as a random testing tool called Randoop, to achieve higher code coverage.
Third, CAPTIG statically analyzes the observed branches that had not been covered and attempts to exercise them by mutating existing inputs, based on the weakest precondition analysis. This technique also contributes to achieve higher code coverage.
Fourth, CAPTIG can be used to reproduce software crashes, based on crash stack trace. This feature can considerably reduce cost for analyzing and removing causes of the crashes.
In addition, each CAPTIG technique can be independently applied to leverage existing testing techniques. We anticipate our approach can achieve higher code coverage with a reduced duration of time with smaller amount of test input. To evaluate this new approach, we performed experiments with well-known large-scale open-source software and discovered our approach can help achieve higher code coverage with fewer amounts of time and test inputs.


Agriculture plays most important role in the Indian economy. The agriculture sector of India has covered about 43percent of India's land area. Digital image processing is the use of computer algorithms like histogram, segmentation, edge detection, fuzzy approach, region based growing and tracking to perform analysis on digital images. In the existing system it is seen that there is a requirement for manual detection and extraction of pest in agricultural field which is not more efficient and accurate. In the proposed work, an integrated pest management using image processing algorithm using extended region based growing to identify the pest and have the counting of the pest to predict the pesticide amount to be used. This extended region grow algorithm provides best identification and counting of the pest.


A theoretical solution for the performance of a land-mobile-satellite communication system is presented. Because a closed-form solution is difficult to get and to evaluate, a method of approximation based on moment techniques is proposed to yield a numerical evaluation. The effects of traveling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) nonlinearity and fading are the main degradation factors in the mobile-satellite channel using a low-earth-orbit satellite. The numerical results for the performance are given as a function of these two factors. A two-parameter model is used for TWTA and the fading channel is modeled as Rician including phase information. Results demonstrate the accuracy of this approximation especially under fading when a satellite is located at the lower elevation angles


Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, an English poem written in the latter half of the 14th century, constitutes an important part of Tolkien's life as a scholar and translator. The complex language of the poem attracted his attention from the moment Tolkien first encountered it as the Gawain-poet used some native words that were characteristic of Old and Middle English alliterative poetry. On the other hand, more than one third of his vocabulary is not derived from Old English: approximately one tenth of a total of 2650 words has Scandinavian etymologies (although at the time they were no longer considered borrowings, but rather northern dialect words) and about a third is of French origin.In his translation of the poem, Tolkien was primarily interested in special verse words, which resulted in his use of archaic diction such as capadoce 'a short cape' or carl 'man'. However, this study focuses on the second important feature of the vocabulary of the poem: the combination of French and dialect (Scandinavian) words, which are not distributed evenly in the original text. As the author uses the stylistic contrasts between borrowed and native words; he carefully loads some of his lines with French loanwords while others are devoid of them. This paper discusses the stylistic effect thus created by the Gawain-poet and whether Tolkien managed to preserve it in his translation.


There is an increasing demand for converged solution for multi-standard radio processors to support existing and future standards. In this work, heterogeneous multi-processor platform is proposed for multi standard wireless communication system which is programmable and scalable in adapting to future standards. Channel decoding algorithms form important constituent of wireless communication system because of their computational complexity. A programmable radio processor is proposed for channel decoding with application specific instruction accelerators. Viterbi and Turbo channel decoding algorithms are analyzed for computational parallelism in the algorithms and for hardware reusability across the algorithms. Application specific instruction accelerator is designed by exploiting similar characteristics and computational parallelism across the algorithms. The analysis shows that the throughput of 54Mbps for UWB Viterbi Decoder and 12 Mbps for UMTS Turbo Decoder at 91.7MHz can be achieved using the proposed design.


The boundary slip and its mechanism were investigated using theoretical analysis and molecular dynamic simulations. We proposed a new slip boundary condition based on molecular kinetic theory, which was extended by the introduction of the critical shear stress, which determines the onset of the slip, and the energy dissipation near the liquid–solid interface at high shear stress. Our results revealed that the critical shear stress increases exponentially with the liquid–solid interactions. In particular, we discussed the energy dissipation contributed from the friction between the liquid layers near the interface. The results demonstrated that the momentum transfer among the liquid layers and the bulk liquid must be considered according to the wetting conditions of the solid surface, which can interpret the contradictory published results of slip behavior at high shear stress. The analytical expression of our slip boundary condition can be compared with the simulation results since it uses parameters consistent with that used in our molecular dynamic simulations. Furthermore, we suggested a dimensionless number to qualify the transition from Poiseuille-like to plug-like flow in the carbon nanotubes. These findings can enhance our understanding of the boundary slip.


UNLABELLED
This study describes workplace accidents recorded by the Social Security Office in Botucatu, São Paulo, from 1995 to 1999. Related work force information for the same period was obtained from the 8 largest industrial companies in the city. Data were coded and processed electronically. A total of 2,462 accidents were recorded. Of these, 87.3% were workplace accidents, 6.1% occurred while commuting, and 6.6% were occupational diseases. From 1996 to 1999 there was a reduction in workplace accidents reflecting a drop in accidents at the largest companies. Mean time-off-the-job due to accidents was greater in small companies (16.21 to 24.32 days) than in the large ones (9.83 to 12.78 days), with a statistical significance of alpha = 5% and p = 0.0001.

THE RESULTS
(a) confirm that analyses based on number of officially recorded workplace accidents are limited; (b) show the importance of improving the quality of the system for recording workplace accidents in order to include all classes of workers, not only the registered work force; and (c) show that changes in company work management strategies are important to understand local changes in accident frequency.


We define a class of Markov chains that are called recursive foreground-background quasi-birth-and-death (RFBQBD) processes, and describe approximate (nearly exact) analyses of an RFBQBD process. An RFBQBD process consists of a foreground QBD process whose transitions depend on the level of a background QBD process, where the transitions of the background QBD process may depend on the level of another background QBD process, and this dependency may be repeated recursively. We also evaluate the running time and accuracy of the analyses numerically by applying them to analyze the performance of a particular task assignment policy in a multiserver system.


1. High-speed fluorescence imaging was used to measure intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) changes in hippocampal neurons injected with the Ca(2+)-sensitive indicator fura-2 during intrasomatic and synaptic stimulation. The results of these experiments were used to construct a biophysical model of [Ca2+]i dynamics in hippocampal neurons. 2. A compartmental model of a pyramidal neuron was constructed incorporating published passive membrane properties of these cells, three types of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels characterized from adult hippocampal neurons, voltage-gated Na+ and K+ currents, and mechanisms for Ca2+ buffering and extrusion. 3. In hippocampal pyramidal neurons imaging of Na+ entry during electrical activity suggests that Na+ channels, at least in sufficient density to sustain action potentials, are localized in the soma and the proximal part of the apical dendritic tree. The model, which incorporates this distribution, demonstrates that action potentials attenuate steeply in passive distal dendritic compartments or distal dendritic compartments containing Ca2+ and K+ channels. This attenuation was affected by intracellular resistivity but not membrane resistivity. 4. Consistent with fluorescence imaging experiments, a non-uniform distribution of Ca2+ accumulation was generated by Ca2+ entry through voltage-gated Ca2+ channels opened by decrementally propagating Na+ action potentials. Consequently, the largest increases in [C2+]i were produced in the proximal dendrites. Distal voltage-gated Ca2+ currents were activated by broad, almost isopotential action potentials produced by reducing the overall density of K+ channels. 5. Simulations of subthreshold synaptic stimulation produced dendritic Ca2+ entry by the activation of voltage-gated Ca2+ channels. In the model these Ca2+ signals were localized near the site of synaptic input because of the attenuation of synaptic potentials with distance from the site of origin and the steep voltage-dependence of Ca2+ channel activation. 6. These simulations support the hypotheses generated from experimental evidence regarding the differential distribution of voltage-gated Ca2+ and Na+ channels in hippocampal neurons and the resulting voltage-gated Ca2+ accumulation from action and synaptic potentials.


A technique for accumulating airborne visible and infrared spectroradiometric data from missile plumes and re-entry objects establishes the requirements for a precision tracking front surface mirror. The processing of target radiation, reflected by the tracking mirror into an infrared tracker telescope, to derive target coordinate information, is described. The derivation of transformed target error signals to command the motion of the hydraulically driven tracking mirror is outlined. A description of the servo-electronics system, with selected circuitry, is given. The dynamic characteristics of the system, as determined from preliminary field tests, indicate that the system has a tracking rate capability of 10°/sec with an accuracy better than 60 seconds of arc. The detection sensitivity of the infrared tracker telescope is 1.6×10-10w/cm2 in the 2-to 6-α region, and is sufficient to provide 10-miile tracking ranges against a jet target in a sunlit cumulus cloud background. In a typical installation, aiming of the tracking mirror is provided by a 7×35, 10° field of view sighting telescope which is automatically slaved by the tracking mirror when acquisition and target tracking occurs, thereby providing continuous observation of the target. As an alternative to visual aiming, an automatic search program is generated by an accurate electro-mechanical programmer, which is described. Target acquisition, in an automatic mode of operation, is accomplished through the use of a simple logic circuit which provides electronic background discrimination by virtue of signal pulse width.


UNLABELLED
Abnormalities of frontal white matter (WM) have been found in some children with ADHD. The purpose of this study was to explore the changes in WM in child patients with ADHD by DTI, which detects changes in WM microstructure based on properties of diffusion. We also expect to investigate the relationship between the changes in WM and executive function in child patients with ADHD. DTI was performed on 24 patients with ADHD and 20 healthy controls. A series of neuropsychological tests and a structural interview were conducted to assess the cognitive functions and clinical data of the ADHD patients and controls. Firstly, child patients with ADHD have higher fractional anisotropy (FA) values in WM in the right frontal region. Secondly, FA in right frontal WM is positively correlated with scores in the Stroop test.

CONCLUSIONS
Increased FA of right frontal WM implies a higher degree of myelination and lower degree of neural branching in WM, contributing to the neurological deficits of ADHD.


Insects are a poor source of dietary calcium and since they are seasonally abundant, it has been suggested that calcium availability may playa significant role in controlling the timing of reproduction in insectivorous bats. To assess the possible role of dietary calcium, we have measured bone calcium concentrations in female and male long-fingered bats (Miniopterus schreibersii) through a full reproductive cycle. The results indicate that winter was not a period of calcium stress and, therefore, that seasonal changes in insect abundance and dietary calcium availability are not a satisfactory explanation for the occurrence of delayed implantation in the long-fingered bat. Bone calcium concentrations of females did not differ significantly throughout pregnancy. indicating that the insects available in winter and early summer were sufficient to meet the calcium demands of pregnancy. Lactating females had the lowest bone calcium concentrations of all specimens, supporting the suggestion that lactation is indeed a period of severe calcium stress in aerial insectivores. We conclude that parturition is probably timed so that lactation coincides with the period of maximal insect abundance and corresponding dietary calcium availability.


This study investigated the role of informal and formal learning in pre-service training and on the job among new and returning summer camp staff. Self-perceptions of skills were measured at three different points during summer camp employment. To measure self perceptions, a series of 24 knowledge/skill areas were identified by experts as important to summer camp staff performance. For each of the 24 skillareas,  seasonal summer camp staff (n=211) at six different camps rated how important they perceived each knowledge/skill area was to the camp where they were employed, how important it was to them personally, the difficulty of mastering the knowledge/skill area, and their current ability. Respondents completed a questionnaire before the start of staff training, at the end of pre-service training, and again at one month into their work with campers. Significant differences were found depending on the status of respondents as either new or returning staff and when measurements were taken. Significant interactions existed between time of measurement and status of staff. Perception of the personal importance of knowledge/skills for returning staff increased over the three measurements, while for new staff, they increased between the start of staff training and the end of staff training with no change at the one-month interval. For the other three variables (importance to camp, difficulty, current ability), returning staff had significantly higher self-perceptions of knowledge/skills, but new staff scores rose across time, converging with returning staff by the third measurement. Given that most formal learning occurs during staff training, the convergence of the self-perceptions of new and returning staff from the end of staff training to one month into working with children provides evidence for the importance and effect of informal learning. Administrators can use this information in several ways: a framework to target new versus returning staff members, and as a tool for staff training decisions. Results suggest that the efficacy of staff training can be increased by taking into account differences among new and returning staff and by recognizing that informal learning occurs. Providing opportunities for staff to reflect on informal learning has potential to add a powerful component to staff development. Future studies and formative evaluations of staff training should focus on such issues.


Abstract The purpose of this pilot study was to define what changes were experienced in the Fall 2020 semester by students in an undergraduate anatomy and physiology of speech and hearing course and highlight any differences in the experience of first-generation college students (FGCS). An online survey was administered to a single class of undergraduate students. Results indicated that students experienced a variety of challenges related to the pandemic and virtual learning. Differences in the experiences of FGCS compared to traditional students included increased hours worked and feelings of being overwhelmed and spending less time on course content each week. Future research is warranted to investigate these trends within a more representative population and identify ways that academic support can be utilized to improve student success.


Introdution: Many hospitals have made it one of their main goals to become paperless within the next couple of years. However, we are facing unique challenges in radiation medicine. Typical EMR systems are not suited as verify&record systems. In addition, most EMR systems are built with nurses and physicians in mind. However, in radiation medicine other healthcare professionals like radiation therapists, dosimetrists and physicists are also key players. As a result, a change management team at the department level needs to implement the paperless process in radiation medicine departments. I want to share the experience we gained during the process of doing so. Methods & Materials: Implementation of a paperless system requires good technical understanding and training. In addition, it requires a good understanding of workflow. The latter is also critical for the implementation of a quality management program. The paperless process was implemented in several phases. Initially, the change management team was small and consisted only of the chief therapist and physicist. Others were consulted and a dry run was started in treatment planning and with only a few patients. Workflow was closely monitored and then fine‐tuned. Training needs were identified and eventually the change management team involved all key players and the paperless process was fully implemented. Workflow for the entire department was mapped out in flowcharts. Results: Change needs to be implemented in phases, but going back to the "old" system must not be an option. Phasing in new processes will temporarily create certain disconnects and the change management team needs to address resulting problems immediately. Most departments will typically end‐up being "paperlight" initially. However, the advantages of transparent workflow and QA procedures result in self‐motivation, until the point is reached where the change management team can retire and the department owns the new processes.


The effect of linseed oil (LO) on the corrosion of carbon steel in 1 M HCl solution was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique and weight loss measurements. The inhibiting action increases with the concentration of the tested inhibitor. The highest efficiency (98.2%) is obtained at 3g/L of LO. The influence of temperature on the corrosion behavior of carbon steel in 1 M HCl, with the addition of LO was also studied. The obtained data from EIS measurements were analyzed to model the corrosion inhibition process through an appropriate equivalent circuit model; a constant phase element (CPE) has been used. Polarization measurements show also that LO acts as a good mixed inhibitor. The inhibition process is attributed to the formation of an adsorbed film of the inhibitor on the metal surface which protects the metal against corrosion. LO is adsorbed on the steel surface according to a Langmuir isotherm adsorption model. The results obtained showed that the linseed oil could serve as an effective green inhibitor of the corrosion of carbon steel in hydrochloric acid medium.


'Concise, current information … highly recommended' – Choice, the magazine of the American Library Association
 Over 2,800 entries
 The authoritative dictionary provides informative and analytical entries on the most important people, organizations, events, movements, and ideas that have shaped the world we live in. Covering the period from 1900 to the present day, this fully revised and updated new edition presents a global perspective on recent history, with a wide range of new entries from Tony Abbott, the European migration crisis, and ISIS to Narendra Modi, Hassan Rouhani, and UKIP. All existing entries have been brought up to date. Handy tables include lists of office-holders for countries and organizations and winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.
 This comprehensive reference resource will be invaluable to students of history, politics, and international relations as well as to journalists, policymakers, and general readers interested in the modern world.


The United States Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby held that for-profit businesses may claim a statutory right to an exemption from federal laws that burden their religious expression. The Court ostensibly limited the decision to its facts, but more commercial actors likely will seek religious exemptions in the years ahead. This Article offers a first look at steps government might take if this occurs. It steps beyond the vigorous debate over whether to grant an exemption, and explores alternatives that may mitigate third-party burdens imposed by such exemptions when granted. It examines in particular an "exemption-subject-to-notice" option, under which commercial actors would be required to provide notice to adversely affected third parties or would be subject to government-provided notice of their noncompliance. A notice condition on exit from generally applicable laws is not a problem-free option. Nevertheless, it is worth exploring as a third way for government to manage the inevitable liberty collisions of a pluralistic democracy, and is a superb vehicle for illuminating the relative costs of emerging regulatory patchworks.


Different surgical techniques have been developed to reconstruct the posterior maxilla without bone graft. A barrier membrane usually placed internal to the sinus, without stabilizer or bone window, pushed inside the sinus cavity as the ''roof'' of the sinus cavity to preserve the space and help bone regeneration has been used with success. In the present technical report, the heterologous cortical lamina is used for the mechanical support of sinus membranes. The membrane is placed through two lines of 2-3 mm, mesial and distal, created at the top of the antrostomy. The half heterologous membrane is positioned on these lines and pushed to the nose wall of the sinus, and the other half is folded to cover the window. In this way the bone lamina is stable. Cone Beam Computed Tomography was used to evaluate the efficacy of bone lamina to preserve the space in sinus lifting which contributes positively to wound healing and is effective in bone formation without biomaterials.


The Phaistos Disk is an ancient artifact from Crete. At each side of the disk, a series of unknown signs is written along a spiral. Professional archaeologists expect that we will only learn what it is until similar objects are found. A statistical analysis in this article shows what it is not: it is not a one‐dimensional text, since there are relations between the signs in adjacent windings of the spiral. Three patterns of such relations have been identified. A Monte Carlo simulation of one of them has been performed, using a model of the spiral form. It is concluded that the probability of this pattern being coincidental is small, well below the conventional threshold.


This is a journal article. It was published in the electronic journal, Early Modern Literary Studies and the definitive version is available at: http://extra.shu.ac.uk/emls/emlshome.html


Active mode (walking, bicycling, and their variants) users are exposed to various negative externalities from motor vehicle traffic, including injury risks, noise, and air pollutants. This directly harms the users of these modes and discourages their use, creating a self-reinforcing cycle of less active travel, more motorized travel, and more harmful effects. These impacts are widely recognized but seldom quantified. This study evaluates these impacts and their consequences by measuring the additional distances that bicyclists travel in order to avoid roads with heavy motor vehicle traffic, based on a sample of German-Austrian bicycle organization members (n = 491), and monetizes the incremental costs. The results indicate that survey respondents cycle an average 6.4% longer distances to avoid traffic impacts, including injury risks, air, and noise pollution. Using standard monetization methods, these detours are estimated to impose private costs of at least €0.24/cycle-km, plus increased external costs when travellers shift from non-motorized to motorized modes. Conventional transport planning tends to overlook these impacts, resulting in overinvestment in roadway expansions and underinvestments in other types of transport improvements, including sidewalks, crosswalks, bikelanes, paths, traffic calming, and speed reductions. These insights should have importance for transport planning and economics.


Fluorine bond lability with respect to exchange is an important chemical property of binary fluorides. This can be useful in predicting new synthetic routes for derivatives of fluorine compounds or elucidating the mechanisms of processes taking place at fluorinated surfaces. In the present study fluorine bond lability with respect to exchange of some fluoroanions namely, boron, phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, niobium and tantalum has been investigated during their interaction with [18F]-labelled hexafluorides of molybdenum, tungsten and uranium in acetonitrile. Two distinct types of exchange behaviour are identified among the fluoroanions. It is firmly established that the M-F bond (M = B,P, Nb and Ta) in BF4-, PF6-, NbF6 and TaF6- is labile with respect to exchange whereas the As-F and Sb-F bonds in AsF6- and SbF6- are inert although AsF6- is found to exchange in the presence of UF5 18F under the same conditions. The latter result is consistent with the higher fluoride ion affinity of UF6 as compared with that of MoF6 or WF6. An associative mechanism is used to account for the fluorine exchange of BF4-, PF6- NbF6-, TaF6- and AsF6- although a dissociative mechanism can not be ruled out. The difference in the fluoride bond lability among the fluoroanions under investigation is consistent with the difference in the Lewis acidity order of their parent fluorides. Evidence for the existence of the heptafluoromolybdate(VI) ion in solution has been obtained for the first time in this study by reaction between CsF and MoF5 18F in MeCN. The existence of the heptafluorotungstate(VI) ion in solution is confirmed by reaction between CsF and WF5 18F in MeCN. Both ions are assigned in the symmetry. The fluorine bond lability with respect to exchange of MoF7- and WF7- has been investigated both under homogeneous (MeCN) and heterogeneous (gas plus solid) conditions in the presence of MF5 18F (M = Mo, W or U). The WF7- ion has been used as its copper(II), thallium(I), nitrosonium and caesium salts whereas MoF7- ion has been used as its caesium salt only. All systems are found to undergo rapid and complete [18F]-fluorine exchange with MF518F (M = Mo or W) in MeCN at room temperature and below (253K). The nature of the cation does not have any effect on the exchange behaviour of the systems. However under heterogeneous conditions the same systems undergo partial exchange in the presence of MF5 18F (M = Mo, W or U). In MeCN the experimental observations are consistent with, but do not prove, a displacement mechanism for the exchange and an associative mechanism can not be ruled out. Under hetero- geneous conditions fluorine exchange is best accounted for by an associative mechanism. The partial exchange of [ 18F]-fluorine is ascribed to the anion-cation interaction. The reaction between activated caesium fluoride and MF5-18F (M = Mo, W and U) results in the formation of more than one species, MoF7- , WF7- and UF8 2- being the major ones. The formation of more than one species is ascribed to the lack of uniformity of the surface reactions. The amount of hexa- fluoroacetone used during the activation of CsF is found to have a direct effect on its reactivity and most probably its surface area. [ 18F]-Fluorine exchange is observed only when uptakes of MF6 are considerable. The exchange is shown to take place between the adsorbed species and free hexafluorides. An associative mechanism similar to that between MF7- (M = Mo or W) and MF518F (M= Mo,W or U)under heterogeneous conditions is used to account for the exchange between adsorbed species and free MF518F (M = Mo, W). The interaction of MF518F (M = Mo, W and U) with CuF2 and T1F under heterogeneous conditions results in a smaller uptake and [18F]-fluorine exchange in the case of CuF2 as compared with T1F. In neither case has it been possible to determine the nature of the adsorbed species. The difference in affinity for the hexafluorides between T1F and CuF2 is consistent with the difference in the Lewis acidity of T1+ and Cu2+. The reaction between tris(dimethylamino)sulphonium difluorotrimethylsilicate, TAS+F , and MF6 (M = Mo and W) in MeCN yields a brown viscous liquid thought to be due to either the formation of MF7- or MF5NMe2 (M = Mo and W) species. It is shown that the reaction between TAS+F- and BF3 or PF5 results in the formation of colourless crystalline TAS+BF4- or TAS+PF6- salts respectively. Complete [18F]-fluorine exchange between TAS +F- and [18F]-labelled Me3SiF is found to take place in MeCN most probably via an associative mechanism.


For both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus, the rates have been increasing in the United States and elsewhere; rates vary widely by country, and genetic factors account for less than half of new cases. These observations suggest environmental factors cause both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Occupational exposures have been associated with increased risk of diabetes. In addition, recent data suggest that toxic substances in the environment, other than infectious agents or exposures that stimulate an immune response, are associated with the occurrence of these diseases. We reviewed the epidemiologic data that addressed whether environmental contaminants might cause type 1 or type 2 diabetes. For type 1 diabetes, higher intake of nitrates, nitrites, and N-nitroso compounds, as well as higher serum levels of polychlorinated biphenyls have been associated with increased risk. Overall, however, the data were limited or inconsistent. With respect to type 2 diabetes, data on arsenic and 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin relative to risk were suggestive of a direct association but were inconclusive. The occupational data suggested that more data on exposure to N-nitroso compounds, arsenic, dioxins, talc, and straight oil machining fluids in relation to diabetes would be useful. Although environmental factors other than contaminants may account for the majority of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, the etiologic role of several contaminants and occupational exposures deserves further study.


Background: When a child is hospitalised, the whole family can be affected. Those caring for the child must consider the impact of the child's admission on all of the family members. In many hospitals, paediatric health professionals will use family centred care (FCC) during a child's admission to ensure care is planned around the whole family. This allows for the family to
be a focal point in the care delivery of the child. However, it is known that FCC is difficult to implement successfully. Barriers to FCC need investigation and may include conflict between staff's and parents' concepts of who holds primary responsibility, or ownership of the child. This paper presents the protocol for such a study.

Aims: The primary aim is to examine the concepts of ownership of the child held by parents of hospitalised children, and by health professionals who care for the children and their family; and to investigate how communication between parents and staff are coloured by these concepts.
The secondary aim is to use the data to develop vignettes which can be used to elicit in- depth responses to this sensitive question.

Methods: The sample will consist of a total of twenty participants: eight parents, and four nurses, four allied health staff and four doctors who work in a paediatric ward. This qualitative study using data collected by interviews focuses on one question, "When a child is admitted to hospital, who owns him or her?" Thematic analysis will be used to find themes from which vignettes will be developed, in preparation for a larger study to be undertaken at a later date.

Conclusion: This protocol describes the study's background, significance, aims, methods and ethical considerations.