Shrines fill the Eurasian land mass. They can be found from Turkey in the west to China in the east, from the Arctic Circle in the north to Afghanistan in the south. Between town and country, they can consist of full-scale architectural complexes, or they may compose no more than an open field, a pile of stones, a tree, or a small mausoleum. They have been at the centers and peripheries of almost every major religious tradition of the region: Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Yet in the formerly socialist world, these places of pilgrimage have something even more in common: they were often cast as the last bastions of religious observance when churches, mosques, temples, and synagogues were sent crashing to the ground in rapid succession across the twentieth century.


Revealing hydrologic variations in the past is helpful to understand the dynamic changes and evolution of a given water body. The widespread long-lived spruce forests growing in the mountainous area around Issyk Lake in Central Asia provide a good opportunity for dendrohydrologic studies about that lake. A regional tree-ring width chronology developed for Picea schrenkiana was used to reconstruct 345-year annual runoff for Issyk Lake. Based on frequency of the wettest/driest years and decades, the 20th century was identified as having the most frequent hydrologic fluctuations among the last three centuries. After applying a 21-year moving average, seven wet and six dry periods were found in the runoff reconstruction. The 10- and 2.1–5.4-year cycles of this reconstruction revealed that annual runoff variability of Issyk Lake may be influenced by solar activity and the atmosphere–ocean system. Spatial correlation proves that the runoff reconstruction contains climatic signals representative of a large area, including the western Tien Shan Mountains and Junggar Basin. A comparison between the annual runoff reconstruction and other hydroclimatic reconstructions reveals similar variations, particularly in the high-frequency domain. The annual runoff reconstruction also accurately captures some flood/drought events noted in the meteorological records and hydroclimatic reconstructions of Central Asia.


This study constitutes an update of its predecessor released last year. The silken thread, being drawn a second time, this new document should be reviewed in relation to its 2018 first edition. Releasing any successor version recommends dual explanation: what has not changed and what has changed. The former far outnumbers the latter. First among matters not changed is study objective. Institutions still must make data base acquisition decisions - and need to know what they are buying. Vendors build these systems - and need feedback enabling improvements. These considerations recommend a method for objective evaluation. The present effort aims at offering one such method.

Study method has not changed, except in one detail. This time, six legal databases are addressed: CASEMAKER, FASTCASE, LEXIS, WESTLAW, GOOGLE SCHOLAR, and BLOOMBERG LAW. The approach remains a combination of inductive and deductive logic. Induction operates from the "back forty" wherein six topics embedding similar questions are run through these systems. Deduction operates from the "front forty" wherein data, empirically derived, draws back into general overview.

Previous paper available here: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3223100.


We analyze the market entry problem faced by startups that must integrate their service or product with one or more complementary technologies. The problem is especially challenging when the complementary technologies have large but uncertain cost reduction potentials. The market for intermittent renewable power generation (e.g., wind, solar) combined with storage (e.g., battery, pumped reservoir, flywheel) provides a motivating context. Renewable generation technologies are immature; thus storage startups face high risks when making R&D investments to integrate with them.The entrepreneurship literature often suggests that startups should pursue focused strategies for various reasons, including bounded rationality and budget constraints. This literature generally overlooks startups entering markets with complementary technologies. The advice for mature firms investing in complementary technologies is often to diversify their investment across multiple complements to manage technological uncertainty. Given competing guidance, we seek to extend the entrepreneurship literature by modeling startups' entry decisions for markets in which complementary technologies exhibit strong learning effects. We find that, consistent with the extant entrepreneurship literature, startups generally achieve higher expected returns by channeling their integration investment to only one complementary technology. However, the mechanisms driving our results are very different from prior research findings and hinge primarily on nonlinear feedback effects that occur when firms concentrate integration investment in only one complementary technology. Interestingly, this focused strategy often does not yield the highest market share or the lowest likelihood of bankruptcy. We characterize the situations under which each finding holds and describe the implications of these findings for theory, practice, and policy.


Extracellular and intracellular mechanisms of collagen resorption were demonstrated electron-microscopically on white mice with involution of hepatic cirrhosis. Lysosomal enzymes (released into the extracellular space by exocytosis from hepatocytes and connective tissue cells) actively participate in the extracellular collagen lysis. Phagocytosis and intracellular collagen resorption by hepatocytes, macrophages (stellate reticuloendotheliocytes) and fibroblasts occur simultaneously with the extracellular collagen lysis also due to the activity of lysosomal collagenolytic enzymes.


In this study, a novel multi-tier framework is proposed for randomly deployed WMSNs. Low cost directional Passive Infrared Sensors (PIR sensors) are randomly deployed across a Region of Interest (RoI), which are activated according to the  Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm proposed for coverage optimization. The proposed DE and the Genetic Algorithms are applied to optimize the coverage maximization using minimum sensors. Results obtained using the two approaches are tested and compared. Only the scalar sensors that are yielded by the coverage optimization process are kept active throughout the network lifetime while the multimedia sensors are kept in silent. When an event is detected by a scalar sensor, the corresponding multimedia sensor(s), in whose effective coverage field of view (FoV) that the target falls, is then activated to capture the event (target point/scene). The analysis of the network total energy expenditure and a comparison of the proposed framework to current approaches and frameworks is made. Simulation results show that the proposed architecture achieves a remarkable network lifetime prolongation while extending the coverage area.


Abstract New high-resolution surveying techniques allow subaqueous geomorphology to be investigated in great detail. Such analyses are important as the morphologies are often indicative of past processes, including mass movements. For peri-alpine Lake Zurich, many mass-wasting events have occurred in the past millennia. While the ages of these events are known from past studies on the respective deposits in the lake basin, the surface expressions and distribution of the respective features on the slopes have not been extensively described. Here we quantitatively characterize the morphologic features on the entire lake floor. A total of 50 subaqueous landslides are morphologically identified in a high-resolution digital bathymetric model (DBM), mapped and characterized using a geographic information system (GIS). Many slides show relatively small erosion areas (<0.05 km2) and are located in shallow water (<10 m water depth). The roughness of the individual landslide-translation areas is quantified using the standard deviation of a measure called bathymetric position index (BPI) and related to the slides ages. The DBM allows the detection of traces of mass-movements dating back to c. 5000 cal years BP. Our results demonstrate that morphometric analyses on a high-resolution DBM can contribute to a better understanding of sublacustrine mass movements.


The efficacy of antimicrobial agents applied topically in the oropharynx and trachea with and without intravenous antibiotics in preventing bacterial pneumonias during prolonged (7 to 10 days) mechanical ventilation was studied in 35 baboons, 30 of which had acute lung injury induced by either oleic acid or hyperoxia. In 12 animals receiving no antibiotics, only topical application of polymyxin B (PB), or only intravenous penicillin and gentamicin (IV PCN/GM), moderate or severe pneumonia was found in 81% of lobes examined at necropsy; no lobes were sterile. Pneumonias were polymicrobial in the absence of antibiotics, due to PCN-sensitive organisms in the topical PB group, and due to gram-negative bacilli in the IV PCN/GM group. Combinations of topical PB or GM or both plus IV PCN were highly efficacious in preventing pneumonia in 23 animals as only 15% of the lobes contained moderate to severe pneumonia and 52% of lobes were sterile. In these groups, histologically evident pneumonias were associated with low concentrations of bacteria in lung tissue, principally gram-negative bacilli resistant to the topical agent being used. Resistance to PB appeared to be solely due to selection of intrinsically resistant species, whereas resistance to GM may have developed through additional mechanisms as well. Although this approach to pneumonia prevention is clearly efficacious in this animal model, clinical studies are needed to define the frequency and significance of microbial resistance in human subjects.


This study was performed to evaluate whether the presence or absence of somatostatin receptors in malignant carcinoid tumours detected by [111In-DTPA-D-Phe1]octreotide scintigraphy can be used to predict response to somatostatin analogue treatment. Thirty patients were investigated, 28 with midgut carcinoid tumours and two with foregut carcinoid tumours. Twenty-seven patients showed pathological uptake in tumour lesions at scintigraphy; of these, 22 responded to somatostatin analogue treatment using octreotide, somatuline or octastatin, while five patients failed to respond. None of the three patients displaying negative scintigraphic investigations responded to treatment with somatostatin analogues. These results show a good correlation between the somatostatin receptor status and the patients' ability to respond to somatostatin analogue treatment (p = 0.014). We conclude that somatostatin receptor scintigraphy using [111In-DTPA-D-Phe1]octreotide can be used to select patients with malignant carcinoid tumours suitable for somatostatin analogue treatment and exclude those that will not benefit from such medication.


The key obstacles to attaining the prevailing goal of viable development are environmental degradation and climate change. Copious efforts have been made in this field, but still, the policy embraced and the empirical connection among the factors of carbon dioxide emissions are not evident. The connection between the variables of the analysis is subject to a theoretical and statistical inconsistency in the research. Through this research work, the association between carbon dioxide emissions and its determinants such as economic growth, energy use, financial development and technical progress is examined in Malaysia for the period from 1985 to 2019. The auto-regressive distributed lag method is employed to estimate long-run parameters. The results indicate that during the research period TI has an inverse but negligible impact on pollution in Malaysia. The analysis further shows that higher growth of economy increases long-term environmental efficiency and is consistent with the Kuznets environmental hypothesis. Also, the findings show that financial sector development would minimize emissions of carbon dioxide, thereby enhancing environmental quality in Malaysia. The short-term findings do not validate the EKC hypothesis. The Granger causality results reveal a two-way causality ranging from the growth of the economy to carbon dioxide emissions and TI to carbon dioxide emissions.


1. Conventional (CV) rats were given a single oral dose of 1 or 2 g maltitol. Urine and faeces were collected during the following 24 h and their contents of maltitol and sorbitol were measured. 2. Very little of either substance appeared in the faeces but appreciable amounts of sorbitol found in the urine indicated that the maltitol had been hydrolysed. 3. Excretion of maltitol and sorbitol was compared in germ-free and CV rats given an oral dose of 2 g maltitol. Significantly less of both substances was recovered in the faeces of CV rats, but urinary excretion was similar in both environments. 4. Maltitol injected intravenously gave rise to only traces of sorbitol in the excreta. A dose of 250 mg was cleared almost completely from the circulation within 1 h. 5 . It is concluded that maltitol is hydrolysed by animal tissues, either in the gut lumen before absorption or in the gut wall during absorption. Maltitol and sorbitol are also degraded by gut bacteria, mostly in sites distal to the main absorptive area. The contribution to the host's nutrition would depend on the extent to which the end-products of fermentation are absorbed from the colon.


An experimental pavement approximately 200 m (650 ft) long was constructed in May of 1978 consisting of a 19-mm (0.75-in) triple surface treatment over a 460-mm (18 in) crushed-stone base. By 1985 the pavement had been subjected to about 1.4 million equivalent 80 kN (18 kip) American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) single-axle loads neglecting front axle effects. The straight segment of the pavement had a present serviceability rating of 3.0 to 3.5 in 1985. About 6.5% surface cracking had developed mostly within the last two years (1984 to 1985). The pavement is constructed on a clayey and sandy silt subgrade which is relatively dry and has a field California bearing ratio (CBR) of 10. The crushed stone base is well graded, has a maximum aggregate size of 30 mm (1.5 in), and contains less than 2.0% fines. Field tests performed on the pavement included static plate load tests, Benkelman beam, surface strain measurements, and falling weight deflectometer (FWD) tests. Using the AASHTO design method, a base course layer coefficient for the upper 305mm (12 in) was backcalculated to be 0.18, and 0.16 for the remaining stone base. The elastic modulus of the base was backfigured from the FWD test results to be 406 MN/m2 (59 ksi) using the Waterways Experiment Station (WES) approach; other methods of backcalculation gave widely varying results. The elastic moduli of the base and subgrade depend upon the test method and also the mean stress and shearing strain to which the material is subjected. Because of the difference in loading conditions, the elastic modulus of the base will be somewhat lower under a dual-wheel, 80-kN (18-kip) axle loading than under the single, 40-kN (9-kip) FWD test loading. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD 862156.


This essay discusses the role of cartography and the representation of unchartered territory in relation to geographical unknowns of the Middle Ages.

It is addressed within in three sections. The first, Here Be Dragons, will contextualise my work 'Here be Dragons' made for the Medievalist Visions exhibition at King's College London. This piece was inspired by depictions of the unknown in medieval maps and compared it to the unknowns in digital maps as they wait to load on the screen. This digital pause acts out a journey of discovery every time a map renders.

The second section, The Redcross Street Bridge, contextualises this project by looking at temporal as well as geographical unknowns. Within London's Barbican complex lie two lost streets. Red Cross Street was heavily bombed and subsequently built over as part of a major redevelopment. One plan to retrace the lost walkway, Redcross Street Bridge was drawn up by the architects but never made it to the final development. This section takes a walk through the Barbican in order to reimagine a street that once was and a street that never was.

The third section, Vernacular Cartography, discuses the role of formal and informal map-making as a way of understanding the immediate unknowns of our day-to-day landscapes. From a route marked between two dropped pins on Google maps, to a list of directions written on the backs of our hands, to the construction of a map from raw materials in the open world game Minecraft. We are all now cartographers articulating worlds we use and worlds we are trying to understand.


The philosophy of problem is a logical view, putting the problem at the core of logic, promoting the development of thinking. The philosophy of problem is a view of life, revealing not only the skills and interests of survival but also the significance and value of life. The philosophy of problem is an ethical view, regarding the development of morality and ethics as the result of questioning in its most profound sense. Philosophy of problem is a scientific view, putting the problem at the core of the philosophy of science, exploring the law of the generation and evolution of scientific knowledge from the proposition, expression, structure, presupposition, evaluation, solution and evolution of questions. The philosophy of problem is a philosophical view, regarding answer as its goal and question as its service.


Retrofit systems for Zero Energy Renovation comes energy as the most topical subject in the Belgian construction sector. Concepts and solutions for zero energy renovation are a new topic. Since 2006, Belgium has been striving to achieve the European ambitions of fulfilling the Kyoto Protocol by insulating more effectively and reducing CO emissions associated with the use of fossil fuel for operational and embodied energy in buildings. In 2011, a Belgian decree mandated the construction of nearly zero and nets zero energy buildings by 2020. Following the German PassivHaus Standard performance requirements the Belgian residential sector is aiming to achieve an energy consumption to less than 15 kWh/m/year and an onsite renewable energy production up to 60% for every newly construct household. In this, context the study will build on grounded knowledge developed and implemented by the IEA ECBCS Annex 50: Prefabricated Systems for Low Energy Renovation of Residential Buildings. The goal of this research is to screen and select a series of envelope retrofitting solutions. The focused aim is to demonstrate validated envelope prototypes and products of different zero energy, timber frame construction systems and composite components. This will include the comparison of timber retrofit systems with conventional systems. Thus inform and support the decision making of policy makers, municipalities, developers, and architects and building engineers in Belgium.


A number of studies have provided evidence of increased correlation in global financial market returns during bear markets. Others, however, have shown that some of this evidence may have been biased. We derive an alternative estimator for implied correlation based on portfolio downside risk measures that does not suffer from this bias. These unbiased quantile correlation estimates are directly applicable to portfolio optimization and to risk management techniques in general. This simple and practical approach captures the increasing correlation in extreme market conditions while providing a pragmatic approach to understanding correlation structure in multivariate return distributions. Based on data for international equity markets we find evidence of significant increased correlation in extreme returns in international equity markets. This proves the importance of providing a tail adjusted mean-variance covariance matrix.


Query answering from inconsistent databases amounts to finding "meaningful" answers to queries posed over database instances that do not satisfy integrity constraints specified over their schema. A declarative approach to this problem relies on the notion of repair, that is, a database that satisfies integrity constraints and is obtained from the original inconsistent database by "minimally" adding and/or deleting tuples. Consistent answers to a user query are those answers that are in the evaluation of the query over each repair. Motivated by the fact that computing consistent answers from inconsistent databases is in general intractable, the present paper investigates techniques that allow to localize the difficult part of the computation on a small fragment of the database at hand, called "affected" part. Based on a number of localization results, an approach to query answering from inconsistent data is presented, in which the query is evaluated over each of the repairs of the affected part only, augmented with the part that is not affected. Single query results are then suitably recombined. For some relevant settings, techniques are also discussed to factorize repairs into components that can be processed independently of one another, thereby guaranteeing exponential gain w.r.t. the basic approach, which is not based on localization. The effectiveness of the results is demonstrated for consistent query answering over expressive schemas, based on logic programming specifications as proposed in the literature.


In this paper, the anodic oxidation film was prepared in the 1~3mol/L NaAlO2 solution with and without silicon sol added. The film thickness, high temperature oxidation resistance, corrosion resistance, and SEM image, element composition in the film were investigated. The results show that there were obvious improvement in high temperature oxidation resistance and corrosion resistance of the film on titanium alloys after adding silicon sol into the NaAlO2 solution, and with the sol percentage in the solution increased, the foregoing protection abilities of the anodic oxidation film became better, while the film thickness was little affected with the sol percentage difference. The reason was discussed and the effective factor was the silicon composition and more even and compact image in the film.


Non-mobile retrotransposons mdg1het and aurora localized in Drosophila melanogaster heterochromatin were studied. A novel retrotransposon aurora comprising 324 bp LTRs was revealed as a 5 kb insertion causing 5 bp duplication of integration site in the heterochromatic Stellate gene. All the aurora copies are immobilized in D. melanogaster heterochromatin and adjoining chromosome regions 40, 41C and 80BC. Mobile aurora copies were revealed in D. simulans euchromatin by in situ hybridization technique. A comparison of 2.5 kb sequence of immobile mdg1het (including a half of ORF2 and 3'-LTR) with the correspondent sequence of transposable mdg1 copy [9] allowed to conclude that evolution of mdg1 subfamilies occurred under the selective pressure for the ability to transpose. The time period passed since the aurora and mdg1 copies integrated in heterochromatin was roughly estimated via divergence extent between the left and right LTR; for aurora copy it is 0-0.15 Myr, and for mdg1het copies it is 0-0.7 Myr.


Human immunodeficiency virus infected children and adolescents are a pediatric group with increased risk of premature cardiovascular disease. The virus itself, the antiretroviral therapy and the lifestyle establish a complex interplay of factors that promotes an accelerated atherosclerosis. This process is probably mediated by dyslipidaemia, dysregulation of glucose metabolism, lipodystrophy, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction and a prothrombotic state. The clinical approach to this population in terms of cardiovascular prevention is mainly based on efficient treatment of the infection, reduction of the modifiable risk factors and promotion of lifestyle changes.


Krystyna Wanda Jackiewicz (1920–1977) and Liliana Rydzyńska (1938–2005) were two Polish-born women poets who emigrated to Australia in the postwar period, Jackiewicz as a 'Displaced Person' arriving from India in 1947, Rydzyńska choosing to move here from France in 1969. Their poems could not be more different. Rydzyńska's apparently autobiographical poetry represents Australians as severely emotionally repressed, and her move to Australia as 'one great mistake' ('Martwa natura z Australią' [Still Life with Australia]). This perspective contrasts markedly with Jackiewicz's embrace of Australia in poems like 'Druga Miłosć' (A Second Love), about her home city of Lwów (L'viv) and her new home of Tasmania, where the speaker's affection for her adopted country is as palpable as her attachment to her lost homeland. Through a discussion of some poems by each author, in translation, I compare their perspectives as women writers belonging to different generations of migration from Poland, and explore the extent to which one can fruitfully read their work through the concept of gender.


The paper, using a direct acyclic graph (dag) model of algorithms, investigates precedence constrained multiprocessor schedules for the n /spl times/ n /spl times/ n directed mesh. This cubical mesh is fundamental, representing the standard algorithm for square matrix product, as well as many other algorithms. Its completion requires at least 3n - 2 multiprocessor steps. Time-minimal multiprocessor schedules that use as few processors as possible are called processor-time-minimal. For the cubical mesh, such a schedule requires at least [3n/sup 2//4] processors. Among such schedules, one with the minimum period (i.e., maximum throughput) is referred to as a period-processor-time-minimal schedule. The period of any processor-time-minimal schedule for the cubical mesh is at least 3n/2 steps. This lower bound is shown to be exact by by constructing, for n a multiple of 6, a period-processor-time-minimal multiprocessor schedule that can be realized on a systolic array whose topology is a toroidally-connected n/2 /spl times/ n/2 /spl times/ 3 mesh.<<ETX>>


The higher the level of corporate risk-taking is, the more inclined it is to choose the investment project with a higher risk and positive net present value. This risk selection has a significantly positive effect on corporate value and long-term economic development. However, the excessive and radical risk-taking behavior will not only threaten corporate development, but also bring hidden dangers to the capital market and macro-economy. Therefore, how to encourage corporations to take risks and prevent excessive risk-taking behaviors to avoid economic crisis is an important topic for current corporate finance and capital markets.Limited by the measurement problem, the existing research mainly focuses on the accounting quality attributes, such as accrual quality, smoothness, predictability and robustness, and rarely involves comparability. In recent years, with the innovation of accounting information comparability measurement method, China's capital market has begun to pay attention to the level of accounting information comparability. Due to the lag of comparability research, there is little attention on how the comparability of accounting information affects corporate risk-taking. Based on this, from the perspective of corporate risk-taking behavior, we attempt to study how the comparability of accounting information affects corporate risk-taking.Using Chinese A-share firms listed in Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange from 2006 to 2016, we find that the comparability of accounting information significantly decreases corporate risk-taking. Channel tests provide direct evidence that the comparability of accounting information decreases corporate risk-taking by reducing accrual earnings management, and enhancing real earnings management and pay-performance sensitivity of executives. Moreover, cross-sectional tests show that the result is more pronounced for firms with worse information environment. We further find that the comparability of accounting information has a negative effect on corporate value by lowering risk-taking.Our study may have the following contributions: First, based on the comparability of accounting information, it discusses the relationship between accounting information comparability and corporate risk-taking, and enriches the relevant literature on the influencing factors of corporate risk-taking. Second, different from the focus of the existing research, it provides new insights on the relation between accounting information comparability and a vital dimension of corporate investment decision, that is, corporate risk-taking. Third, it shows that the improvement of comparability will enhance the awareness and choice of corporations to avoid risks, which will have a negative impact on risk-taking and damage corporate value. In the operation, corporations need to objectively use the comparability of accounting information for risk assessment, so as to avoid losing investment projects with positive net present value due to excessive risk aversion.


OF THESIS EVALUATION OF FIRE-FIGHTING HELMET SURFACE TECHNOLOGY FOR HIGH RADIANT HEAT APPLICATIONS Protective helmets used by fire-fighters must be designed to minimize the amount of heat transferred to the user's head while providing durability, comfort, and affordable costs. This thesis highlights the evaluation of new helmet technology specifically tailored to high radiant heat environments to advance the state-of-the-art in head protection for this application. The research focused on the assessment of the outer shells of helmets and the properties of the surfaces. The development included the evaluation of radiation heat transfer, in a laboratory environment, to various helmet shell surface constructions. Industry standards were considered, and critiqued. Experiments were designed to isolate critical design variables for measurement and evaluation. Custom, purpose-built laboratory apparatus for testing helmets were designed, explained and utilized in the testing of specimens. Additionally, market demands for firefighting helmets were explored. Helmet durability was specifically addressed with abrasion criteria established and the reflectivity effects of the abraded surfaces evaluated. Resulting from this study, new surface technologies were identified for possible development in future helmet designs. Various surface materials, finishes, and coatings were compared and contrasted to current industry state-of-the-art equipment. The knowledge discovered further advanced modern head protection science in aim of increased safety and performance of fire-fighting personnel.


The concept of plot border effects in a fertility experiment is well known. However, the magnitude of the possible border effects is often unappreciated. Thus an experiment was designed to determine how much horizontal movement of soil across plot boundaries results from normal tillage operations. Horizontal movement of P and K was determined by soil tests at the completion of a 10-year fertility experiment during which 9 applications of differential rates of broadcast concentrated superphosphate (CSP) and potassium chloride (KCl) had been applied. Soil tests revealed that soil P was depleted to a distance of 2.7 m in the high CSP residual plots and moved into the low residual CSP plots 1.8 m. Soil K was depleted to a distance of 2.7 m in the high KCl residual plots and moved into the low KCl residual plots 2.7 m. Normal tillage operations moved soil in both directions across plot boundaries. The high CSP or KCl plots were depleted of fertility to about the same distance that the low CSP or KCl plots increased in fertility. The effective length of plots was reduced from 15 to 10 m for CSP plots and 9 m for KCl plots in the direction of the tillage operations after a period of 10 years. Dimension of long-term fertilizer plots should be adjusted according to the number of years the experiment will be continued.


Background: Alpine skiing and snowboarding are popular winter activities worldwide, enjoyed by participants of all ages and skill levels. There is some evidence that the incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and spinal cord injury (SCI) in these activities may be increasing. These injuries can cause death or severe debilitation, both physically and emotionally, and also result in enormous financial burden to society. Indeed, TBI is the leading cause of death and catastrophic injury in the skiing and snowboarding population. Furthermore, there are severe limitations to therapeutic interventions to restore neurological function after TBI and SCI, and thus the emphasis must be on prevention. Objectives: (1) To examine the worldwide epidemiology of TBI and SCI in skiing and snowboarding; (2) to describe and examine the effectiveness of prevention strategies to reduce the incidence of TBI and SCI in skiing and snowboarding. Search strategy: Searches were performed on a variety of databases to identify articles relevant to catastrophic central nervous system injury in skiing and snowboarding. The databases included PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, CDSR, ACP Journal Club, DARE, CCTR, SportDiscus, CINAHL, and Advanced Google searches. Selection criteria and data collection: After initial prescreening, articles included in the review required epidemiological data on SCI, TBI, or both. Articles had to be directly associated with the topic of skiing and/or snowboarding and published between January 1990 and December 2004. Results: 24 relevant articles, from 10 different countries, were identified. They indicate that the incidence of TBI and SCI in skiing and snowboarding is increasing. The increases coincide with the development and acceptance of acrobatic and high-speed activities on the mountains. There is evidence that helmets reduce the risk of head injury by 22–60%. Head injuries are the most common cause of death among skiers and snowboarders, and young male snowboarders are especially at risk of death from head injury. Conclusions: There should be enhanced promotion of injury prevention that includes the use of helmets and emphasizes the skier's and snowboarder's responsibility code.


This book examines 'queer style' or forms of masculinity grounded in superficiality, inauthenticity, affectation, and the display of the extravagantly clothed body in early modern English city comedies. Queer style destabilizes distinctions between able-bodied and disabled, human and nonhuman, and the past and the present—distinctions that have structured normative ways of thinking about sexuality. Glimpsing the worldmaking potential of queer style, plays by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, Thomas Middleton, and Thomas Dekker imagine alternatives to the prevailing modes of subjectivity, sociability, and eroticism in early modern London. While the characters associated with queer style are situated in a hostile generic and historical context, this book draws on recent work on disability, materiality, and queer temporality to rethink their relationship to those contexts so as to access the utopian possibilities of early modern queer style. These theoretical frameworks also help bring into relief how the attachments and pleasures of early modern sartorial extravagance can estrange us from the epistemologies of sexuality that narrow current thinking about sexuality and its relationship to authenticity, pedagogy, interiority, and privacy.


A systematic evaluation on the levels of organochlorine pesticide residues (OCP) was conducted on four selected, authentic Chinese materia medica, namely: Radix Angelicae Sinensis, Radix Notoginseng, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae and Radix Ginseng. Altogether ten representative batches of samples were analysed for each herb. Six batches were collected in the major cultivation areas of the Mainland whilst the remaining four batches were procured in the Hong Kong herbal market. All except Radix Angelicae Sinensis have been identified as containing quintozene and hexachlorocyclohexane in various levels. Hexachlorobenzene and lindane were also reported in samples of Radix Ginseng. The banned pesticide, DDT and its derivatives, was also observed in one of the Radix Notoginseng samples. The investigation will be continued for a target list of common used herbs in Hong Kong. All the results will be gathered and analysed for setting up regulatory permissible limits of OCP residues in Chinese materia medica used in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


One of the major bottlenecks in the development of organic photovoltaics is the time needed to evaluate each material system. This time ranges from weeks to months if different variables such as blend composition, thickness, annealing, and additives are to be explored. In this study, the use of lateral gradients is proposed in order to evaluate the photovoltaic potential of a material system up to 50 times faster. A platform that combines blade coating using controllable velocity profiles (thickness gradients) with multichannel dispensers (composition gradients) and controlled lateral annealing variations (nanostructure gradients) is introduced. These samples are then analyzed using photocurrent and Raman imaging in order to correlate one to one the device performance, thickness, composition, and annealing temperature. The strength of the developed technology is shown by optimizing three different systems, namely PCDTBT:PC70BM, PTB7‐Th:PC70BM, and PffBT4T‐2OD:PC70BM, obtaining efficiencies ≈5%, 8%, and 9.5%, respectively, using less than 10 mg of each polymer in the process.


The non-contact magnetometric diagnostics (NCMD) of underground pipelines (oil and gas pipelines, heat lines, water supply lines, etc.) has been developed by Energodiagnostika Co. Ltd. since 2000 based on the 25-year experience of the metal magnetic memory (MMM) method application (ISO 24497-1:2007(E)). NCMD is based on measurement along the pipeline route of the Earth's magnetic field intensity (Hearth) distortions caused by variation of the pipe metal magnetization in stress concentration zones (SCZs) and in zones of developing corrosion-fatigue damages. The paper describes the experience of complex diagnostics of underground pipelines based on NCMD, the MMM method and conventional methods of non-destructive testing. Based on NCMD results, the most strained pipeline sections are determined for their opening and additional control by the MMM method, ultrasonic testing and other NDT methods. On opened pipeline sections the MMM method is used to determine the presence of defects and the mechanical properties of the metal by hardness parameters. Inadmissible defects are removed, and the actual mechanical properties (yield strength and ultimate strength) are taken into account in check strength calculations. The inspection should provide the answer to the following question: "Where and when should a damage or an accident be expected?". If this task is solved, then the possibility of timely replacement or repair of a potentially hazardous section is provided. Application of NCMD in combination with additional inspection of pipelines (UT, eddy current, etc.) in prospect holes determined by NCMD is aimed exactly at solution of this problem. The paper also presents the Energodiagnostika Certification Body experience in training of NDT personnel in the field of technical diagnostics of underground pipelines based on the basic training in the MMM method.


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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
The pathogenesis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) has been linked with the production and activity of certain growth factors. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) is important for the growth and survival of B-CLL cells. TNF-alpha promotes the proliferation of the malignant cell clone and is believed to play a role in the progression of B-CLL. The aim of our study was to examine the level of production and intracellular expression of TNF-alpha by T- and B-cells in B-CLL in correlation with stage of disease and clinical parameters.

DESIGN AND METHODS
Using a three-color flow cytometry technique we analyzed intracellular TNF-alpha expression by B-cells (CD19+) and by T-cell subsets (CD3+/CD4+ and CD3+/CD8+) in peripheral blood (PB) and bone marrow (BM) from 40 patients with B-CLL and 24 healthy controls.

RESULTS
A higher number of TNF-a-positive B-cells were found in PB and BM in B-CLL patients than in normal controls. In BM this difference was statistically significant (p<0.007). Likewise, in PB and BM the percentage of T-cells expressing TNF-alpha was significantly higher in B-CLL patients than in normal controls (PB: p<0.00001; BM: p<0.007). CD3+/CD4+ cells from patients displayed a lower level of intracellular TNF-alpha expression than did CD3+/CD8+ cells (PB: p<0.0001; BM: p<0.04). The number of T-cells expressing TNF-alpha in B-CLL patients was higher in those with stages III-IV than in patients with early stage disease (PB: p<0.007; BM: p<0.01). Additionally, PB and BM T-cell subsets from patients in stages III-IV had a statistically significant higher level of cytoplasmic TNF-a expression than the corresponding cells from healthy controls (PB: p<0.02; BM: p<0.05). In PB the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells expressing cytoplasmic TNF-alpha positively correlated with the stage of disease, total tumor mass (TTM) score and lymphocytosis. In BM only the percentage of CD8 T-cells positively correlated with TTM score and lymphocytosis. The expression of TNF-alpha in leukemic B-cells did not correlate with any progression parameters of disease.

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS
The results obtained suggest that malignant B-cells are exposed to large numbers of T-cells able to synthesize and secrete TNF-alpha. Moreover, T-cells even though fewer than B-cells may be an important source of TNF-a in advanced stages of disease. This indicates that the TNF-alpha can be associated with progression of B-CLL and may be implicated in some side-effects associated with this disease.


A Scania 13 1 engine modified for single cylinder operations was run using nine fuels in the boiling point range of gasoline, but very different octane number, together with PRF20 and MK1-diesel. The eleven fuels were tested in a load sweep between 5 and 26 bar gross IMEP at 1250 rpm and also at idle (2.5 bar IMEP, 600 rpm). The boost level was proportional to the load while the inlet temperature was held constant at 303 K. For each fuel the load sweep was terminated if the ignitibility limit was reached. A lower load limit of 15 and 10 bar gross IMEP was found with fuels having an octane number range of 93-100 and 80-89 respectively, while fuels with an octane number below 70 were able to run through the whole load range including idle. A careful selection of boost pressure and EGR in the previously specified load range allowed achieving a gross indicated efficiency between 52 and 55% while NOx ranged between 0.1 and 0.5 g/kWh. At high load, in the worst case, the nine gasolines showed 0.5 FSN of soot while diesel showed 2.8 FSN. In the paper it is shown that chemical reasons, rather than mixing, are behind this substantial gap. With the two best fuels, the brake parameters were estimated. It was found that soot was low, and in some cases below both the EU VI and US10 regulations. NOx was always below EU VI, and in some cases was only slight above US10 regulations. At high loads the estimated brake efficiency was roughly 50% in both cases. All the results were achieved keeping the maximum pressure rise rate within acceptable levels. (Less)


Despite significant progress in understanding the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes (T2D), it remains difficult to manage. Hence, new therapeutic options targeting unique mechanisms of action are required. We have previously observed that elevated skeletal muscle succinyl CoA:3-ketoacid CoA transferase (SCOT) activity, the rate-limiting enzyme of ketone oxidation, contributes to the hyperglycemia characterizing obesity and T2D. Moreover, we identified that the typical antipsychotic agent, pimozide, is a SCOT inhibitor that can alleviate obesity-induced hyperglycemia. We have now extended those observations herein, using computer-assisted in silico modelling and in vivo pharmacology studies that highlight SCOT as a noncanonical target shared amongst the diphenylbutylpiperidine (DPBP) drug class, which includes penfluridol and fluspirilene. All 3 DPBPs tested (pimozide, penfluridol, and fluspirilene) improved glycemia in obese mice. While the canonical target of the DPBPs is the dopamine 2 receptor, studies in obese mice demonstrated that acute or chronic treatment with a structurally unrelated antipsychotic dopamine 2 receptor antagonist, lurasidone, was devoid of glucose-lowering actions. We further observed that the DPBPs improved glycemia in a SCOT-dependent manner in skeletal muscle, suggesting that this older class of antipsychotic agents may have utility in being repurposed for the treatment of T2D.


Charles Harrison here traces the history of female subjects as they began to gaze out of the picture to confront and engage their viewers. Combining conceptual history with telling investigations into the details of specific works, "Painting the Difference" deciphers the implications of sexual difference for the development of nineteenth- and twentieth-century art.In considering works by artists such as Renoir, Degas, Picasso, and Matisse, as well as Rothko, Warhol, Cindy Sherman, and others, Harrison incorporates elements of cultural criticism and social history into his arguments. Generous color illustrations permit the reader to test the author's claims against the works on which they are based.Rich with detail and compelling analysis, "Painting the Difference" offers cutting-edge interpretation by one of the most respected teachers and theorists of modern art.


Phenotypic data is of crucial importance for plant breeding in estimating a plant's biomass. Traits such as leaf area and plant height are known to be correlated with biomass. Image analysis and computer vision methods can automate data analysis for high-throughput phenotyping. Many methods have been proposed for plant phenotyping in controlled environments such as greenhouses. In this thesis, we present multiple methods to estimate traits of the plant crop sorghum from images acquired from UAV and field-based sensors. We describe machine learning techniques to extract the plots of a crop field, a method for leaf counting from low-resolution images, and a statistical model that uses prior information about the field structure to estimate the center of each plant. We also develop a new loss function to train Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) to count and locate objects of any type and use it to estimate plant centers. Our methods are evaluated with ground truth of sorghum fields and publicly available datasets and are shown to outperform the state of the art in generic object detection and domain-specific tasks. This thesis also examines the use of crowdsourcing information in video analytics. The large number of cameras deployed for public safety surveillance systems requires intelligent processing capable of automatically analyzing video in real time. We incorporate crowdsourcing in an online basis to improve a crowdflow estimation method. We present various approaches to characterize this uncertainty and to aggregate crowdsourcing results. Our techniques are evaluated using publicly available datasets.


Rural and remote areas of Australia remain the last bastion of health disadvantage in a developed nation with an enviable health score-card. During the last ten years, rural and remote health has emerged as a significant issue in the media and the political arena. This thesis examines print media, policy documents and interviews from selected informants to ascertain how they represent medical practitioners and health services in rural and remote areas of Australia, why they do so, and the consequences of such positions. In many of these representations, rural and remote medical practitioners are aligned with national and cultural mythologies, while health services are characterised as dysfunctional and at crisis point.

 Ostensibly, the representations and identity formulations are aimed at redressing the health inequities in remote rural and Australia. They define and elaborate debates and contestations about needs and claims and how they should be addressed; a process that is crucial in the development of professional identity and power (Fraser; 1989). The research involves an analysis and critical reading of the entwined discourses of culture, power, and the politics of need. Following Wodak and others (1999), these dynamics are explored by examining documents that are part of the discursive constitution of the field. In particular, the research examines how prevailing cultural concepts are used to configure the Australian rural and remote medical practitioner in ways that reflect and advance socio-cultural hegemony.

 The conceptual tools used to explore these dynamics are drawn from critical and post-structural theory, and draw upon the work of Nancy Fraser (1989; 1997) and Ruth Wodak (1999). Both theorists developed approaches that enable investigation into the effects of language use in order to understand how the cultural framing of particular work can influence power relations in a professional field. The research follows a cultural studies approach, focussing on texts as objects of research and acknowledging the importance of discourse in the development of cultural meaning (Nightingale, 1993). The methodological approach employs Critical Discourse Analysis, specifically the Discourse Historical Method (Wodak, 1999). It is used to explore the linguistic hallmarks of social and cultural processes and structures, and to identify the ways in which political control and dominance are advanced through language-based strategies. An analytical tool developed by Ruth Wodak, Rudolf de Cillia, Martin Reisigl and Karin Leibhart (1999) was adapted and used to identify nationalistic identity formulations and related linguistic manoeuvres in the texts.

 The dissertation argues that the textual linguistic manoeuvres and identity formulations produce and privilege a particular identity for rural and remote medical practitioners, and that cultural myth is used to popularise, shore up and advance the goals of rural doctors during a period of crisis and change. Important in this process is the differentiation of rural and remote medicine from other disciplines in order to define and advance its political needs and claims (Fraser, 1989). This activity has unexpected legacies for the rural and remote health sector.

 In developing a strong identity for rural doctors, discursive rules have been established by the discipline regarding roles, personal and professional characteristics, and practice style; rules which hold confounding factors for the sustainability of remote and rural medical practice and health care generally. These factors include: the professional fragmentation of the discipline of primary medical care into general practice and rural medicine; and identity formulations that do not accommodate an ageing workforce characterised by cultural diversity, decreasing engagement in full time work, and a higher proportion of women participants. Both of these factors have repercussions for the recruitment and retention of rural and remote health professionals and the maintenance of a sustainable health workforce.

 The dissertation argues that the formulated identities of rural and remote medical practitioners in the texts maintain and reproduce relationships of cultural, political and social power. They have also influenced the ways in which rural and remote health services have been developed and funded. They selectively represent and value particular roles and approaches to health care. In doing so, they misrepresent the breadth and complexities of rural and remote health issues, and reinforce a reputational economy built on differential professional and cultural respect, and political and economic advantage. This disadvantages the community, professions and interest groups of lower value and esteem, and other groups whose voices are often not heard. Thus, regardless of their altruistic motivations, the politics of identity and differentiation employed in the formulated identities in the texts are based on an approach that undermines the redistributive goals of justice and equity (Fraser 1997), and works primarily to develop and advantage the discipline of rural medicine.


This paper addresses a complex debate of national importance related to the safety of existing light water reactors and preventing, mitigating, or improving emergency preparedness for response to severe reactor accident releases of radioactivity for operating reactors. The costs and benefits of several key alternatives are assessed for the NUREG-1150 reference plants, as well as, a representative medium population density site. Annual levelized cost calculations using a 105 annual release rate were made using ICRP annuity factors for potential safety improvements resulting in cost-beneficial justifications for engineering safety improvements such as supplemental filtering and scrubbing to the present containments, and for instrumentation and monitoring to minimize a bypass scenario. Probabilistic risk financing formulas for expected continuous discounting are presented. Improvements to emergency preparedness measures such as stockpiling potassium iodide for the population would not have the additional protection benefits of reducing substantially non-inhalation pathway contributions to offsite health effects, as well as, protecting land from contamination.


Abstract To improve wildlife conservation incentives in community-based natural resource management programs, a better understanding of rural communities' willingness to engage in wildlife conservation jobs is needed. We implement a discrete choice model explaining reservation wages for nine conservation jobs using contingent behavior data from rural Botswana residents. We present a model in which the conditional indirect utility function incorporates a more general value of time than has previously been used, and this specification outperforms the standard model. Sample estimates indicate that reservation wages are modestly higher for women than for men, and that residents have higher reservation wages for jobs requiring more exertion or involving more danger.


Cell biology, stated simply, is for me the most satisfactory level from which to understand biology. This view is not universally held. Some people may prefer the perspective of genes, molecular structure, physiology, or cladistics. But when I start from the perspective of cellular function, I feel I have the best panorama of life. I appreciate the molecular underpinnings, the process of embryonic development, the diverse uses of transcription and metabolism, the anatomical changes in ontogeny and phylogeny, physiological adaptability, and homeostasis. Even evolution, perhaps the most general theory in all of biology, seems less formal and pedantic when I can appreciate what it is about cells that allows for so much selectable variation. Sometimes I think we should replace Dobzhansky's famous dictum, "Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" (Dobzhansky, 1973 ) with "Nothing in evolution makes sense except in the light of cell biology."

Marc Kirschner

Of course, part of the reason that I feel this way is that my definition of cell biology blatantly appropriates whatever is necessary from genetics, genomics, biochemistry, and other fields. Cell biology should not, in my opinion, be defined by organelles or processes, by structures or by techniques, but the understanding that all of biology is built on the dynamic and adaptive capacity of the cell and that the best place to understand the brain, the immune system, and human disease is from the cellular level. This is not an original idea. The famous evolutionary biologist Sewell Wright (Wright, 1931 ) wrote, "The older writers on evolution were often staggered by the seeming necessity of accounting for the evolution of fine details … for example, the fine structure of all the bones … . Structure is never inherited as such, but merely types of adaptive cell behavior which lead to particular types of structure under particular conditions." With an understanding of adaptive cell behaviors, evolution and all of life becomes real.

Cell biology as a field is itself adaptive. What will it morph into in the next 50 years? Certainly, many of the standard areas will continue to develop. There is no reason why important investigations should end just because new opportunities open up elsewhere. But some things that were exciting a decade ago, will inevitably be less exciting, and—if the past is any judge—scientific careers will both justifiably and unjustifiably founder on the shifting currents of competing interests. There are no infallible guides. Might there be a battle between basic and applied cell biology? I hope not; both basic and applied questions can yield important insight. But we could have a struggle between long-term and short-term thinking. That would be sad, for today we are reaping the results of discoveries made decades before. My hope for the cell biology of the next 50 years is that it will be more eclectic than ever.

I have recently found systems biology to be an exciting direction. I do not see this as a repudiation of my roots. I see it as widening the beachhead for cell biology. Perhaps it was the dynamic and stochastic features of cells and embryos that drove me, or questions of evolution, or a reawakened appreciation for more quantitative disciplines. I have been attracted by unanswered questions, exciting new techniques, and stuff I just always wanted to know. I am privileged to share with my new colleagues an appreciation of the cell. For students who may be seeking guidance from a cell biology veteran, I can do no better than urge them to avoid group thinking and remember Peter Medawar's famous quote (Medawar, 1967 ), "Scientists are people of very dissimilar temperaments doing different things in very different ways." I hope that during the next 50 years cell biology will continue to reflect that diversity.


Based on the rst-principles calculation and Mahan-Sofo's theory, we calculated the electronic structure and the thermoelectric gure of merit of Ce3Te4 under different pressures. The peak of DOS for Ce3Te4 shows the form of Dirac delta function around Fermi level. When the pressure is 1.1 GPa, the height of DOS peak is higher than those under other pressures, and the full width at half maximum is the narrowest. The thermoelectric gure of merit of Ce3Te4 under 1.1 GPa, 1.3 GPa, and 2.5 GPa pressure is the highest, which is just below 14.0. This illustrates that the appropriate pressure could change the electronic structure of Ce3Te4, and improves the thermoelectric properties of Ce3Te4. [doi:10.2320/matertrans.M2017204]


Several single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the stem cell-associated gene lin-28B have been identified in association with ovarian cancer and ovarian cancer-related risk factors. However, whether these SNPs are functional or might be potential biomarkers for ovarian cancer prognosis remains unknown. The purposes of this study were to investigate the functional relevance of the identified lin-28B SNPs, as well as the associations of genotype and phenotype with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) survival. We analyzed five SNPs and mRNA levels of lin-28B in 211 primary EOC tissues using Taqman(®) SNP genotyping assays and SYBR green-based real-time PCR, respectively. The RNA secondary structures at the region of a genome-wide association-identified intronic rs314276 were analyzed theoretically with mfold and experimentally with circular dichroism spectroscopy. We found that rs314276 was a cis-acting expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) in both additive and dominant models, while rs7759938 and rs314277 were significant or of borderline significance in dominant models only. The rs314276 variant significantly affects RNA secondary structure. No SNPs alone were associated with patient survival. However, we found that among patients initially responding to chemotherapy, those with higher lin-28B expression had higher mortality risk (hazard ratio =3.27, 95% confidence interval: 1.63-6.56) and relapse risk (hazard ratio = 2.53, 95% confidence interval: 1.41-4.54) than those with lower expression, and these associations remained in multivariate analyses. These results suggest that rs314276 alters RNA secondary structure and thereby influences gene expression, and that lin-28B is a cancer stem cell-associated marker, which may be a pharmaceutical target in the management of EOC.


This paper provides an analysis of the liquidity management of the euro. We tested the influence of five variables (the exchange rate, the price of oil, the EU deficit, the EU interest rate, and the U.S. interest rate) on the euro liquidity supply in addition to the fluctuation of the liquidity supply before and after September 11, 2001. While the literature focuses on the internal European institutional environment, this study looks at the international systemic risks and their influence on the liquidity supply. Ultimately, we come to the conclusion that the ECB's liquidity supply is affected by international factors.


Background: Symptoms associated with HIV infection are common among HIV seroconverters, but the acute retroviral syndrome (ARS) is a diagnostic challenge because of the absence of a sensitive and specific case definition. We conducted an analysis of HIV seroconverters in Projeto Praça Onze, a HIVNET HIV seroincidence study among homosexual men in Rio de Janeiro. Methods: Information from study subjects enrolled in Projeto Praça Onze who were documented HIV seroconverters were compared with nonseroconverters. At each semiannual study visit, participants were asked about HIV seroconversion symptoms and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) during the preceding 6 months. All information was collected before the laboratory evaluation. A classification tree analysis was used to identify an ARS case definition, first using clinical information and then after including risk factor data for seroconversion in our cohort. Results: As of July 1998, 674 volunteers were enrolled and 34 of these seroconverted; information was available for 33 of these. Among the seroconverters, 11 (34%) denied any symptoms, and 22 (66%) reported one or more symptoms, the most common of which were fever (25% of seroconverters versus 7% of nonseroconverters; p <.01), night sweats (9% versus 2%, respectively; p = .05), incapacitating disease (ID) for ≥3 days (27% versus 7%, respectively; p < .001), and weight loss of ≥2 kg (21% versus 9%, respectively; p = .05). STDs were more common in seroconverters (gonorrhea: 9% versus 1%, respectively; p < .01 and condyloma: 9% versus 3%, respectively; p = .08). The first case definition was ID for >3 days, fever, pharyngitis, and myalgia (seroconverters, 3 of 32, versus nonseroconverters, 2 of 640). The second case definition was was ID for >3 days, anti‐core hepatitis b‐positive, and age <21 years (seroconverters: 6 of 32 versus nonseroconverters 4 of 640). The sensitivity and specificity for the first and second case definitions were: 9.4%, 99.4%, and 18.8%, 99.8%, respectively. Conclusions: Among HIV seroconverters, symptoms consistent with ARS were common. We were unable to identify a sensitive case definition that could be used as a screening tool. Although the clinical case definition was not validated, the specificity of our case definitions was high, suggesting that subjects within this HIV risk group who fulfill the case definition should be tested for HIV.


SUMMARY
Transcription and DNA supercoiling are involved in a complex, dynamical and nonlinear coupling that results from the basal interaction between DNA and RNA Polymerase. We present the first software to simulate this coupling, applicable to a wide range of bacterial organisms. TwisTranscripT allows quantifying its contribution in global transcriptional regulation, and provides a mechanistic basis for the widely observed, evolutionarily conserved, and currently unexplained co-regulation of adjacent operons that might play an important role in genome evolution.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION
TwisTranscripT is freely available at https://github.com/sammeyer2017/TwisTranscripT. It is implemented in Python3 and supported on MacOS X, Linux and Windows.


AIM: to study the time course of changes in the gastric juice levels of nitric oxide (NO) in patients with esophagogastroduonenal diseases (EGDD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and seventy-four patients with EGDD were examined. RESULTS: In patients with chronic atrophic gastritis, the level of NO was significantly lower than the normal levels and correlated with the magnitude of mucosal atrophy. Elevated gastric juice NO levels were noted at exacerbations of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), chronic nonatrophic gastritis (CNAG), and duodenal ulcer disease (DUD). At the end of a therapy course, the gastric juice levels of NO did not achieve the control values in patients with GERD, reduced to the normal values in those with CNAG, although became lower, but remained above the normal values in DUD in a remission phase. CONCLUSION: The patients with EGDD were observed to have heterodirectional changes in the content of NO in gastric juice. In the patients with DUD, the remaining gastric juice NO levels above the normal values after ulcerative defect cicatrization are indicative of incomplete reparative processes in the gastric mucosa, i.e., delayed morphological remission. In chronic atrophic gastritis, the gastric juice levels of NO did not achieve normal values after treatment despite the onset of clinical remission which may be caused by a continuous gastric mucosal atrophic process.


This study aims to find out how the application of the window shopping learning model improves learning outcomes in class V human and animal respiratory material at MI Giwangretno for the 2021/2022 academic year and to find out the increase in learning outcomes in class V human and animal respiratory material at MI Giwangretno 2021/2022. This research is a Classroom Action Research (CAR) through qualitative methods which was carried out in class V MI Giwangretno with a total of 26 students consisting of 15 boys and 11 girls. Researchers used data analysis in the form of quantitative and qualitative data analysis. The data analysis technique used is data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of the study found that the application of the window shopping learning model to material on human and animal breathing apparatus in class V MI Giwangretno was carried out according to the scenario through the pre-cycle, cycle I, and cycle II stages and the window shopping learning model was proven to be able to improve student learning outcomes in the cognitive domain. affective, and psychomotor. This can be seen from the learning outcomes in the cognitive domain, namely the average class value which was previously 69.03 increased to 73.37 in cycle I, and in cycle II it increased to 86.26 and the percentage of completeness of learning outcomes increased from 53.85% to 69.23% in cycle I, and increased to 92.31% in cycle II. Learning outcomes in the affective domain, namely an increase in students in the good category, initially 9 students became 14 students in cycle I, and in cycle II it became 20 students, while learning outcomes in the psychomotor domain can be seen from the number of students who are able to make works that are displayed creatively and interesting and can be completed on time, namely in the first cycle there are 16 students increased to 26 students in the second cycle.


Floods and droughts are natural hazards that cause worldwide billions of dollars of damage and extensive human suffering. Managing flood and drought risks in an informed and effective way is of utmost importance to reduce damages and mitigate long-term impacts on development. The area of flood risk management, including the development of monitoring and early warning systems, has seen much progress in the past years. However, for drought risks governments often still have a reactive approach instead of a proactive risk management approach. This can be explained by the complex characteristics of droughts. For the development of drought monitoring and early warning systems several lessons can be learned from flood early warning systems. A main conclusion is that the systems need to connect with the decisions that decision makers are facing. This means that in addition to the usual monitoring of indicators for physical parameters, such as water levels, also socioeconomic indicators need to be included: a drought or a flood is mainly a disaster because people are affected.


Background and Purpose— Warfarin reduces stroke risk by approximately 60% in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Differences in awareness and treatment of AF may contribute to racial and geographic disparities in stroke mortality. The objective was to examine predictors of awareness of the diagnosis of AF and treatment with warfarin. Methods— REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) is a national, population-based, longitudinal study of 30 239 blacks and whites ≥45 years old with oversampling from blacks and the southeastern stroke belt states. Participants were enrolled January 2003 to October 2007. Data were collected using telephone interview, in-home evaluation, and self-administered questionnaires. The main variable of awareness of AF was defined by a positive answer to "Has a doctor or other health professional ever told you that you had atrial fibrillation?" and whether there was evidence of treatment on the basis of an in-home medications inventory. Results— From baseline electrocardiograms, 432 individuals (88 black and 344 white) had AF. Of these, 88% (360 of 409) had at least 1 additional CHADS2stroke risk factor and 60% (258 of 432) were aware of their AF. The odds of blacks being aware of their AF were one third that of whites (OR=0.32; 95% CI: 0.20 to 0.52). Among those aware, the odds of blacks being treated with warfarin were only one fourth as great as whites (OR=0.28; 0.13 to 0.60). Conclusion— Blacks were less likely than whites to be aware of having AF or to be treated with warfarin. Potential reasons for the racial disparity in warfarin treatment warrant further investigation.


Abstract Chlorophyll fluorescence kinetic microscopy was used to analyze photosynthetic oscillations in individual cells of leaves and in isolated leaf cell protoplasts. Four Brassicaceae species were used: Arabidopsis halleri (L.) O'Kane & Al-Shehbaz, Thlaspi fendleri (Nels.) Hitchc, Thlaspi caerulescens J.&C. Presl and Thlaspi ochroleucum Boiss et Helder. With the latter two, the measurements were extended also to isolated protoplasts. The oscillations were induced under the microscope by exposing dark-adapted samples to actinic irradiance. Detailed analysis of the induced transients revealed that they consist of several processes oscillating with different frequencies and not only one component as reported earlier. Furthermore, it was found that most of these processes are controlled inside each individual cell. This was shown by differences in oscillations in neighboring cells and protoplasts that share a uniform intercellular environment. The frequency of the dominant oscillation frequency depended neither on irradiance nor on CO2 concentration and is, therefore, not controlled by the photosynthetic rate. Characteristic differences in the frequency spectrum and damping of oscillations have been found among the plant species examined.


Staying informed, in touch, and on top of your work or personal projects--particularly those with lots of details and a number of team members--can be overwhelming. Today, many companies use web-based software to help get the work done smoothly and efficiently, and few such tools have been as popular as Basecamp, the world's #1 project management app. This simple, powerful tool for online collaboration is used by millions worldwide to stay organized and reduce the typical chaos and confusion that sprawling projects can cause. If it's time for you and your team to get organized, BASECAMP FOR BEGINNERS: MANAGING PROJECTS AND KEEPING TRACK OF DETAILS will show you how. And you'll be amazed at how quickly and easily your projects will come under control. Starting with the basics, and proceeding step-by-step, this book covers all the essentials of using Basecamp, including setting up an account, managing conversations and collaborators, handling multiple projects, time tracking, and much more... A special web appendix offers additional resources to Basecamp users, including tools for reporting, charting, and planning; mobile and desktop apps; tools for time tracking and invoicing; and sample contracts and proposals. Stay on top of your projects with BASECAMP FOR BEGINNERS: MANAGING PROJECTS AND KEEPING TRACK OF DETAILS.


: The hospital now known as the Gillis W. Long Hansen's Disease Center is the only hospital in the United States solely treating Hansen's disease (leprosy). From the time of its establishment in 1894 until 1923, the psychiatric patients presented treatment and management problems that remained unaddressed. Since 1923, however, psychiatric consultants have provided care and treatment for this segment of the Carville population. This paper presents the findings of three of these consultants for the period 1923 to 1985, and outlines similarities and differences in the diagnoses, treatments, and disposition of patients, as well as indications for future investigations.


James's epistle contains three sections on the rich and poor. In 5:1–6, James condemns rich landowners for oppressing their poor workers. By interacting with Jewish teachings on the proper use of wealth, he promotes an alternative to the wicked use of resources by the rich whom he addresses. James's vision for the use of our resources is that they be used dynamically and righteously with utmost urgency as we have entered "the latter days" and with a concern for the love of our neighbors. A variety of ways of using money in this manner are suggested. Todd Scacewater, "The Dynamic and Righteous Use of Wealth in James 5:1-6," Journal of Markets & Morality 20, no. 2 (Fall 2017): 227-242


FLAGSTAFF IS A CITY IN NORTHERN Arizona, elevation 7,000 feet, population just a tad over 60,000. It is a community of cultural diversity, beauty, and history. Nearby, Grand Canyon National Park and Oak Creek Canyon lure tourists with their spectacular landscapes-vistas of red rock, mountains, and majestic pine trees. Flagstaff is a stop on historic Route 66, once the premier highway to the west coast. Flagstaff is also the home of composer Judith Cloud, whose vocal works are enjoying increasing recognition. Her songs are expressive and beautifully crafted for the voice, and they continue to attract singers who happily program and perform them. Cloud began composing in 1974. Her affinity for setting texts to music is born of her own extensive experiences as an accomplished mezzo soprano soloist. Her first composition lessons were with Robert Ward, who advised her to keep singing-but to keep writing music, too. She has done both. Cloud is a professor of voice in the School of Music at Northern Arizona University. She is currently Coordinator of Voice at NAU, combining a full teaching schedule (studio voice and voice pedagogy), administrative duties, and her own vocal performances in recitals and concerts in local and regional venues. In between, she finds time to compose. Melodic lines in Cloud's songs are intelligently shaped for the voice and are always closely linked to the text. "As a composer of art songs I am particularly inspired by the architecture of a poem, the sounds and meaning of a word, its rhythmic power."1 Additionally, the role of the piano in her songs reflects the song texts and the shifting images within them. Cloud's passion for poetry has inspired many song sets and cycles. Her choice of texts is eclectic, and the resulting musical works are a diverse mixture of poets and styles, from Pablo Neruda to Pierre Ronsard, and from Margaret Atwood to E. E. Cummings. Contemporary Spanish and Brazilian poets also are represented in her song settings. She also has composed a variety of choral pieces; commissions from the British women's ensemble Psallite, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale attest to her growing reputation. In October 2009, Cloud won first place in the prestigious Sorel Medallion Competition with her work Anacreontics for chorus and guitar, with a performance in Zankel Hall-Carnegie. Cloud's works list contains works in a wide range of other genres, including a concerto for soprano saxophone and orchestra; the woodwind quintet Six Stories by Italian Children; a work for soprano saxophone, trumpet, and horn entitled Variations on an Old Negro Spiritual; and Three Impressions of Northern Arizona, for flute and piano. One of her most successful pieces is a cantata, Feet Of Jesus, set to poetry of Langston Hughes, which was recorded on the BIS Northern Lights label in 1997, and is widely performed each year in the United States and internationally. Cloud has written several vocal works for her faculty colleagues at NAU, soprano Deborah Raymond and tenor Ricardo Pereira. Soprano Eileen Strempel (Syracuse University) and pianist Sylvie Beaudette (Eastman School of Music) are also fans of Cloud's music; the Strempel-Beaudette duo has commissioned three cycles from the composer. Strempel describes Cloud's work as "eminently singable, displaying a rich harmonic palette with an audience-entrancing sense of vocal line that is both dramatic and beautiful."2 A PARTIAL LIST OF VOCAL WORKS BY JUDITH CLOUD:3 * Night Dreams-soprano, 2006 * - commissioned by Eileen Strempel and Sylvie Beaudette - poetry by Margaret Atwood * Quatre melodies de Ronsard-baritone or mezzo soprano, 2008 * - composed in honor of Carol Kimball - poetry by Pierre de Ronsard * Songs of Need and Desire-soprano or tenor, guitar, 2007 - poetry by Kathleen Raine, Elizabeth Bishop, Perry Brass * De Amor Oscuro-tenor or soprano, 2004 - poetry by Francisco X. …


Medical subjects in publications of Community of St. Eugene (another name - Saint-Petersburg sponsorial about the sisters of Red Cross committee) are analyzed. Motive of the beginning of publishing and its continuation right up to 1918 was realization of "medical plans" of Community. A number of belles-letters and more than 6400 designation of postcards in edition of 30 millions copies were published in the total. The sum total of this production is reckoned in famous phenomenon of Russian culture of XX c. The article is illustrated by the medical subjects from different publications of Community, among others, by the masterpieces of such famous artists as Vereschagin V. V, Repin I.E., Dobuzhinsky M.V. etc. Cultural phenomenon of publishing of Community of St. Eugene allows to open new pages on the history of Russian military medicine in XIX - beginning XX c.


Perceptions held by one culture towards another can be seen in works of art, and they may change over time depending on the context of the artwork's creation.


Abstract Background: Side effects of chemotherapy may occur at different time-points in the treatment cycle, and the exact assessment time relative to chemotherapy may affect HRQoL scores. The current study examined the variation of HRQoL during chemotherapy cycles, and whether differences in HRQoL scores varied at selected time-points between patients allocated to two different chemotherapy regimens. Material and methods: Patients with stage IIIB or IV non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were randomly assigned to receive three cycles of carboplatin plus vinorelbine (VC) or gemcitabine (GC) every 3 weeks. HRQoL was reported on the EORTC QLQ-C30 and LC13 on days 1, 4, 8, 11 and 15 of every cycle. Global health status, nausea/vomiting, fatigue and dyspnea (LC13) were defined as the HRQoL scales of primary interest. Results: Fifty-two patients were enrolled. Variation of mean scores of global health status, nausea/vomiting and fatigue showed a consistent pattern during chemotherapy. Day 4 appeared to be the time-point when chemotherapy influenced HRQoL the most. The differences in mean HRQoL scores between the two treatment arms varied at the different time-points, especially for nausea/vomiting. Conclusion: There was a clinically relevant variation of HRQoL during chemotherapy cycles, with increased symptom burden the first week following treatment. Our results suggest that timing of HRQoL assessment can influence the chances of detecting differences between the treatment regimens.


One of the most ambitious use cases of computer-assisted learning is to build a recommendation system for lifelong learning. Most recommender algorithms exploit similarities between content and users, overseeing the necessity to leverage sensible learning trajectories for the learner. Lifelong learning thus presents unique challenges, requiring scalable and transparent models that can account for learner knowledge and content novelty simultaneously, while also retaining accurate learners representations for long periods of time. We attempt to build a novel educational recommender, that relies on an integrative approach combining multiple drivers of learners engagement. Our first step towards this goal is TrueLearn, which models content novelty and background knowledge of learners and achieves promising performance while retaining a human interpretable learner model.


This article outlines the research of a multi-national team to develop a new travel aid to increase the independent mobility of blind and partially sighted people. The MoBIC travel aid (MoTA) consists of two inter-related components: the MoBIC Pre-Journey System (MoPS) assists users in exploring maps and planning journeys; and the MoBIC Outdoor System (MoODS) allows them to execute these plans by providing orientation and navigation assistance during journeys. The MoODS is a secondary aid, complementing primary aids such as the long cane or guide dog. The process by which initial prototypes of the system were developed is outlined and the elicitation of user requirements is discussed. Some results of initial evaluations conducted in the United Kingdom and the first field trials conducted in Germany are also presented.


In this study, a commercially available polypropylene (PP) copolymer with 30-wt% talc was used as a reference material. Two different PP copolymers with 30- and 20-wt% talc were also taken as alternatives. Despite the reference PP compound, the other two alternatives are still under development and never used for the production of any exterior trim part in automotive industry. These three PP compounds were injection molded with fixed mold and barrel temperatures. Then, the samples were molded at different mold and barrel temperatures to investigate the effects of processing parameters on the mechanical and thermal properties of the final product. Finally, the effect of addition of 1-, 3- and 5-wt% nanoclay on the final properties of the PP with 20-wt% talc was explored. Differential scanning calorimeter was used to analyze the crystallization behavior of the samples. Tensile, bending, and Izod and Charpy impact tests were performed on these samples. Heat deflection temperatures and Vicat softening points were also measured. The X-ray diffraction analysis was performed to see the dispersion of the nanoclay in the PP matrix.


To investigate the diagnosis and microsurgical treatment of cavernous sinus hemangioma, the clinical data, including pathology, epidemiology, medical imaging, operation procedure, and post-operational complication of 12 cavernous sinus hemangioma patients undergoing operations in Affiliated Hospital of Medical College of Qingdao University from 1999 to 2008, were analyzed. There were 2 males and 10 females. The patients were aged from 28 to 61 years. Headaches and deficits of the cranial nerves coursing through the cavernous sinus were the principal symptoms at presentation. The common clinical manifestations were visual loss, diplopia, facial numbness, and extraocular muscle palsy. The radiological features in all patients were similar with a characteristic pattern of extension and encasement of carotid artery. CT showed the lesion as hypodense to isodense with marked enhancement after contrast administration. T1-weighted MR imaging showed the lesions as hypointense with marked enhancement after contrast administration. T2-weighted MR imaging showed the lesions as hyperintense. The maximum size of the lesion was 9 to 57 mm (mean 45 mm). Basal pterional craniotomies were used for eight patients. Orbitozygomatic osteotomies were used for two patients. Pterional approach was used for two patients. The lesions were removed through incising the lateral wall of the cavernous sinus. The tumor was totally removed in five cases, subtotally removed in four cases, and partially removed in two cases. The main post-operational complications included oculomotor nerve paralysis (four cases) and trigeminal nerve lesions (three cases). No postoperative death occurred. Operation is the best choice for cavernous sinous hemangioma. It was helpful to control bleeding through intradura and incising the lateral wall of the cavernous sinus.


Pathways is now available in split editions, ideal for shorter courses. Each split edition consists of 5 units, and includes full front and back matter, as well as access codes to the complete ten unit online workbook.


Lysozyme (EC 184.108.40.206) is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of b(1-->4) glycosidic bonds between N-acetylglucosamine (NAG) and N-acetylmuramic acid (NAM), which are present in peptidoglycan heteropolymers of the prokaryotic cell wall. The purpose of this study was the cloning and expression of the bacteriophage T4 lysozyme gene (gene e) via PCR amplification in Escherichia coli using the pUC18 and pRS416 vectors. PCR amplification is carried out by using the primers having Bam HI recognition sites at their 5' ends. After digesting the vectors and PCR product with Bam HI endonuclease, two recombinant plasmids were constructed by ligation reaction and named pUC18L and pRS416L respectively. Recombinant E. coli cells harboring these plasmids expressed the gene e, that is, they secreted the active T4 lysozyme (called lysozyme E) into the culture medium. At the same time it was observed that E. coli clones producing lysozyme E were grown in L and LB medium without lysis, but burst out easily in a hypotonic environment such as distilled water or 10 mM Tris-HCl pH 8.0. It is suggested that the cell wall of E. coli may be weakened by the action of the lysozyme E, but the osmotic pressure balanced by the NaCl concentration in the medium may protect the damaged cells from lysis. These results show that any E. coli plasmid vectors bearing gene e may facilitate the isolation of plasmid or chromosomal DNA without using cell wall and cell membrane disruptive agents such as EDTA, lysozyme and SDS. For this purpose, pUC18L (E. coli) and pRS416L (E. coli - Saccharomyces cerevisiae shuttle vector) are constructed as prototype vectors.


Polyhexes, shapes made up of regular hexagons connected edge-to-edge, provide a rich source of prototiles for edge-to-edge fractal tilings. Numerous examples are given of fractal tilings with 2-fold and 3-fold rotational symmetry based on prototiles derived by dissecting polyhexes with 2-fold and 3-fold rotational symmetry, respectively. A systematic analysis is made of candidate prototiles based on lower-order polyhexes.


A 15,8-kilobase pair fragment of BALB/c mouse liver DNA, cloned in the Charon 4A lambda phage vector system, was shown to contain the mu heavy chain constant region (CHmu) gene for the mouse immunoglobulin M. In addition, this fragment of DNA contains at least two J genes, used to code for the carboxyl terminal portion of heavy chain variable regions. These genes are located in genomic DNA about eight kilobase pairs to the 5' side of the CHmu gene. The complete nucleotide sequence of a 1120-base pair stretch of DNA that includes the two J genes has been determined.


We show how Ohori and Sasano's recent lightweight fusion by fixed-point promotion provides a simple way to prove the equivalence of the two standard styles of specification of abstract machines: (1) as a transition function together with a `driver loop' implementing the iteration of this transition function; and (2) as a function directly iterating upon a configuration until reaching a final state, if ever. The equivalence hinges on the fact that the latter style of specification is a fused version of the former one. The need for such a simple proof is motivated by our recent work on syntactic correspondences between reduction semantics and abstract machines, using refocusing.


The Geniza merchants of the eleventh-century Mediterranean - sometimes called the 'Maghribi traders' - are central to controversies about the origins of long-term economic growth and the institutional bases of trade. In this book, Jessica Goldberg reconstructs the business world of the Geniza merchants, maps the shifting geographic relationships of the medieval Islamic economy and sheds new light on debates about the institutional framework for later European dominance. Commercial letters, business accounts and courtroom testimony bring to life how these medieval traders used personal gossip and legal mechanisms to manage far-flung agents, switched business strategies to manage political risks and asserted different parts of their fluid identities to gain advantage in the multicultural medieval trading world. This book paints a vivid picture of the everyday life of Jewish merchants in Islamic societies and adds new depth to debates about medieval trading institutions with unique quantitative analyses and innovative approaches.


This article uses a hand-collected sample of 733 projects from seven leading U.S.-based real estate crowdfunding platforms. The authors analyze how property, financing, and crowdfunding campaign characteristics explain the proposed returns of real estate crowdfunding campaigns based on the principles of investment risks in the real estate market. The authors find that projects with higher average investment risk tend to have higher proposed returns. The financing characteristics indicate that equity-financed projects and higher levels of leverage are positively correlated with higher proposed returns. They are also associated with the campaign characteristics of later payments to investors and higher minimum investment amounts.


The atmospheric composition of the central North Atlantic region has been sampled using the FAAM BAe146 instrumented aircraft during the Intercontinental Transport of Ozone and Precursors (ITOP) campaign, part of the wider International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT). This paper presents an overview of the ITOP campaign. Between late July and early August 2004, twelve flights comprising 72 hours of measurement were made in a region from approximately 20 to 40°W and 33 to 47°N centered on Faial Island, Azores, ranging in altitude from 50 to 9000 m. The vertical profiles of O3 and CO are consistent with previous observations made in this region during 1997 and our knowledge of the seasonal cycles within the region. A cluster analysis technique is used to partition the data set into air mass types with distinct chemical signatures. Six clusters provide a suitable balance between cluster generality and specificity. The clusters are labeled as biomass burning, low level outflow, upper level outflow, moist lower troposphere, marine and upper troposphere. During this summer, boreal forest fire emissions from Alaska and northern Canada were found to provide a major perturbation of tropospheric composition in CO, PAN, organic compounds and aerosol. Anthropogenic influenced air from the continental boundary layer of the USA was clearly observed running above the marine boundary layer right across the mid-Atlantic, retaining high pollution levels in VOCs and sulfate aerosol. Upper level outflow events were found to have far lower sulfate aerosol, resulting from washout on ascent, but much higher PAN associated with the colder temperatures. Lagrangian links with flights of other aircraft over the USA and Europe show that such signatures are maintained many days downwind of emission regions. Some other features of the data set are highlighted, including the strong perturbations to many VOCs and OVOCs in this remote region.


A new database demonstrates that between 1600 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate acts enabled individuals and families to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, and improve land previously bound by landholding and inheritance laws. This essay provides a factual foundation for research on this important topic: the law and economics of property rights during the period preceding the Industrial Revolution. Tables present time-series, cross-sectional, and panel data that should serve as a foundation for empirical analysis. Preliminary analysis indicates ways in which this new evidence may shape our understanding of British economic and social history.


This pilot study was designed to evaluate physician knowledge of the controlled substance regulations that govern the prescribing of opioids and whether concerns about regulatory scrutiny affect reported prescribing practices. Two hundred Wisconsin physicians were surveyed, and 90 (45%) of the questionnaires were evaluable. Approximately 50% of the responses to questions about controlled substance regulations were incorrect. Concern about regulatory scrutiny ranked low compared to concerns about addiction and other opioid side effects. However, 54% of the respondents indicated that, due to concern of regulatory scrutiny, they will do one of the following: reduce drug dose or quantity, reduce the number of refills, or choose a drug in a lower schedule. These results indicate that many physicians have poor knowledge of controlled substances regulations and that the perceived risk of regulatory scrutiny can alter physician prescribing practice. Implications for patient care, policy and further research are discussed.


Background Allograft tolerance of ACI (RT1a) recipients to WF (RT1u) hearts can be induced by allochimeric class I MHC molecules containing donor-type (RT1Au) immunogenic epitopes displayed on recipient-type (RT1Aa) sequences. Here, we sought the mechanisms by which allochimeric sequences may affect responding T cells through T cell receptor (TCA) repertoire restriction. Methodology/Principal Findings The soluble [α1h u]-RT1.Aa allochimeric molecule was delivered into ACI recipients of WF hearts in the presence of sub-therapeutic dose of cyclosporine (CsA). The TCR Vβ spectrotyping of the splenocytes and cardiac allografts showed that the Vβ gene families were differentially expressed within the TCR repertoire in allochimeric- or high-dose CsA-treated tolerant recipients at day +5 and +7 of post-transplantation. However, at day 30 of post-transplantation the allochimeric molecule-treated rats showed the restriction of TCR repertoire with altered dominant size peaks representing preferential clonal expansion of Vβ7, Vβ11, Vβ13, Vβ 14, and Vβ15 genes. Moreover, we found a positive correlation between the alteration of Vβ profile, restriction of TCR repertoire, and the establishment of allograft tolerance. Conclusions Our findings indicate that presentation of allochimeric MHC class I sequences that partially mimic donor and recipient epitopes may induce unique tolerant state by selecting alloresponsive Vβ genes.


Stock market is one of the most competitive financial markets and traders need to
compute the financial workloads with low latency and high throughput. In the past,
people were using the traditional store and process method to calculate the heavy
financial workloads efficiently. However to achieve low latency and high throughput,
data-centers were forced to be physically located close to the data sources,
instead of other more economically beneficial locations. This is the main reason,
the data-streaming model was developed and it can process large amount of data
more efficiently. It was shown in studies that using data streaming we can solve the
options pricing and risk assessment problems using traditional methods, for example
Japanese candlesticks, Monte-Carlo models, Binomial models, with low latency and
high throughput.
However instead of using those traditional methods, we approached the problems
using machine learning techniques. We tried to revolutionize the way people address
data processing problems in stock market by predicting the behaviour of the stocks.
In fact, if we can predict how the stock will behave in the short-term future we can
queue up our transactions earlier and be faster than everyone else. In theory, this
allows us to maximize our profit without having the need to be physically located
close to the data sources.
We examined three main models. Firstly we used a complete random model using
a monkey trader. The name monkey trader comes from B.G. Malkiel's claim, that
a blindfolded monkey throwing darts at a newspaper's financial pages could select
a portfolio that would do just as well as one carefully selected by experts. It works
by choosing random actions at random moments. Secondly we used a feed-forward
artificial neural network (ANN) model and finally a model that uses Reinforcement
Learning(RL). Each of those models was applied on real stock market data and
checked whether it could return profit.