Treatment with STS-557 (17 alpha-cyanomethyl 17 beta-hydroxy-estra-4,9(10)-dien-3-one; 10 mg kg-1 daily s.c.) for 4 weeks induced atrophy of the seminiferous tubules in adult rats with a reduction in tubule diameter and in the number of round spermatids at stage VII. Elongated spermatids were not detected. Leydig cells were atrophied from the second week of treatment with a concomitant decrease in blood levels of testosterone. The blood levels of FSH and LH were reduced from the third week of treatment. The weight of the reproductive organs was reduced after STS-557 treatment. The treatment induced sterility in 50% of rats after 2 weeks of treatment but after 4 weeks none of the treated males mated. Normal fertility and normal levels of testosterone and FSH were restored after 6 weeks and LH after 4 weeks of withdrawal of treatment. All other parameters studied recovered to pretreatment levels 6 weeks after withdrawal of treatment. STS-557 could act on the pituitary-gonadal axis (reducing gonadotrophin secretion) as well as directly affecting the Leydig cells. The consequent reduction in the blood levels of testosterone in combination with reduced gonadotrophins was presumably responsible for the suppression of spermatogenesis.


This paper presents an investigation on the safety of structural elements submitted to pure bending, produced in reinforced concrete, in steel and steel-concrete composites, and designed according to Brazilian codes NBR8681:2003, NBR6118:2007 and NBR8800:2008. The study allows a comparison of the relative safety of beams produced with these materials and designed using these codes. Comparative studies between the performances of different materials are difficult to find in the published literature. The present study shows that reliability indexes for reinforced concrete beams are satisfactory; however, results for steel beams are below limit values established in international design standards. Reliability indexes found herein for steel-concrete composite beams are intermediate to concrete and steel beams.


Child labor is a persistent phenomenon in many developing countries. In recent years, support has been growing among rich-country governments and consumer groups for the use of trade policies, such as product boycotts and the imposition of international labor standards, to reduce child labor in poor countries. In this paper, we discuss research on the long-run implications of such policies. In particular, we demonstrate that such measures may have the unintended side effect of lowering domestic support for banning child labor within developing countries, and thus may contribute to the persistence of the child-labor problem.


This book bridges the fields of finance, mathematical finance and engineering, and is suitable for engineers and computer scientists who are looking to apply engineering principles to financial markets. The book builds from the fundamentals, with the help of simple examples, clearly explaining the concepts to the level needed by an engineer, while showing their practical significance. Topics covered include an in depth examination of market microstructure and trading, a detailed explanation of High Frequency Trading and the 2010 Flash Crash, risk analysis and management, popular trading strategies and their characteristics, and High Performance DSP and Financial Computing. The book has many examples to explain financial concepts, and the presentation is enhanced with the visual representation of relevant market data. It provides relevant MATLAB codes for readers to further their study. Provides engineering perspective to financial problems In depth coverage of market microstructure Detailed explanation of High Frequency Trading and 2010 Flash Crash Explores risk analysis and management Covers high performance DSP & financial computing


Introduction: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a common disease encountered in the emergency department. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a potentially life-threatening metabolic disturbance characterized by hyperglycemia, metabolic acidosis, and ketonemia. Traditionally associated with type 1 diabetes mellitus, DKA is becoming increasingly common in type 2 diabetics.Case Report: We present an extreme case of a 66-year-old female with known type 2 diabetes mellitus who presented with altered mental status and severe metabolic ketoacidosis with a pH of 6.55 and blood glucose of 963 mg/dL. The patient rapidly decompensated in the emergency department, requiring emergent intubation and central venous access. Fluid resuscitation was applied, and the patient was started on an insulin infusion. Her blood pressure was supported with dual vasopressor therapy, and she was transferred to the medical intensive care unit. She recovered rapidly and was discharged from the hospital 5 days later with no neurologic deficits.Conclusion: This case is notable for the patient's extreme acidemia, one of the lowest recorded in the literature for a type 2 diabetic who survived and was discharged from the hospital. It highlights the importance of early, aggressive treatment of DKA in the emergency department coupled with continued critical care management in the intensive care unit


Although writers from ancient Rome knew of and commented on China, the earliest detailed image was that of the 13th-century Italian, Marco Polo. Since his time, travelers, scholars, missionaries, priests, merchants, diplomats, and journalists have all contributed to images about China. However, it is mainly since the early 20th century that information communication technology has developed to the extent of enabling a fairly comprehensive portrayal of China. The mass media have played a crucial role. The People's Republic of China started its economic reform in the late 1970s, and since then, the world has witnessed the reemergence and rise of China in the international arena. Not only has the volume of news flows from and about China significantly increased since the late 1990s, but, along with this, academic interest in knowing the representation of contemporary China by the international media has also grown both within and outside China. A large volume of the research is conducted by scholars based in China and Chinese-speaking academics in the West. Most studies examine the general nature of the media image of China in a particular national or regional context, such as the United States, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Arabic countries, Africa, and so on. But some also look at how certain events in China have been portrayed in foreign media, and some focus on a specific type of image concerning China. The growing literature discusses the international media representation of contemporary China concerning China's tourism, business, politics, society, and international relations. A general concern evident in the literature as argued by some researchers is that the international media, particularly the American media, is largely negative in reporting on China. When representing China as the "other" vis-a-vis "us," ideological differences and stereotypes play a key role. Other factors such as economy, journalism, language, and culture are also important in shaping the coverage of China by the international media. Many studies further explore the impact of such representation on the perception of China and China's international relations by people outside the country. In recent years the Chinese government has made a conscious effort to build a benign image of China abroad and to exert China's international influence in the field of communications. There is thus great significance in analyzing China's international media representation through the prism of China's soft power and public diplomacy activities. This bibliography only includes works written in English and Chinese languages.


Aviation is an important global business and a significant driver of the global economy. It is vital therefore that stringent measures are taken to counter acts of unlawful interference with civil aviation. Following a diplomatic conference, held in Beijing from 30 August to 10 September 2010 under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), representatives from more than eighty States adopted two international air law instruments for the suppression of unlawful acts relating to civil aviation. The two instruments are the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Relating to International Civil Aviation (hereinafter 'Beijing Convention' or 'Beijing Treaty') and the Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft. The Beijing Convention serves international civil aviation well by requiring parties to criminalize a number of new and emerging threats to the safety of civil aviation, including using aircraft as a weapon and organizing, directing, and financing acts of terrorism. These new treaties reflect the international community's shared effort to prevent acts of terrorism against civil aviation and to prosecute and punish those who would commit them. The treaties promote cooperation between States while emphasizing the human rights and fair treatment of terrorist suspects. The Beijing Convention also obligates States to criminalize the transport of biological, chemical, and nuclear (BCN) weapons and related material. Many provisions of the Beijing Convention, which is a newcomer to aviation security in the context of some new provisions it introduces, may need reflection, particularly in interpreting the intent of its founding fathers. This article discusses some aspects of the Beijing Treaty, which may need that reflection


A precise definition of social trust is difficult to pin down, but it has been encapsulated as an ongoing motivation or impetus for social relations that forms a basis for interaction. Social trust can entail perceived honesty, objectivity, consistency, competence, and fairness, all of which foster relationships between individuals that must be maintained by the sustained fulfillment of these standards. It has been described by several experts as a "risk judgment:" a form of cooperation that has no immediate payoff or benefit and gambles that the trusted party will act as expected. Thus in many ways, trust is a strategic game. The values that form the basis of social trust are not universal, but rather can vary among cultures, between contexts, and across time. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It is a proven fact that social trust is important. Some scholars have compared social trust across countries, hypothesizing that social trust might foster greater levels of teamwork, knowledge-sharing, civic engagement, reciprocity, and efficiency. The existence of social trust might signify internal peace and stability and therefore could be correlated with freedom, democratization, modernization, or a number of other developmental benchmarks. It has also been shown to constrain immoral behavior, since knowing that another has placed his trust in a person can make that person feel responsible for upholding that burden. Harvard University Professor of Public Policy Robert Putnam prominently used social trust in combination with indicators of civic community to create a measure of "social capital," which he used to explain the institutional performance of 20 regions of Italy over a period of 13 years. Putnam credits social trust as fostering tolerance and community, allowing societies to overcome traditional dilemmas of opportunism and collective action by "norms of reciprocity" that serve to "reconcile self-interest and solidarity." These norms, he has written, are "likely to be associated with dense networks of social exchange," and are self-strengthening and reinforcing: "ongoing social relations can generate incentives for trustworthiness" in future exchanges. A common criticism of social capital is that it naively assumes that trust developed in so-called bonding communities (for instance, an expensive country club) will carry over to dealings with other people. But J. Matthew Wilson of Southern Methodist University's political science department has argued that group attachments shape trust in generalized "others." Of course, viewing others through the lens of a given group could have both positive and negative effects depending on the nature of the group. Highly cohesive ethnic groups might enforce a mistrust of outsiders, and some scholars have shown in-group trust to be inversely related to trust of outsiders. On the other hand, Wilson cited research that shows that positive interactions within groups build individual self-esteem, an attribute that has been shown to correlate with social trust. Measuring Social Trust But can social trust really be accurately measured, and if so, how? It is easy to imagine that social trust would be a difficult thing to measure, and comparative studies have indeed been hampered by this problem. Nearly every comparative study of social trust is based on a question from the World Values Survey that asks: "Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted or that you can't be too careful in dealing with people?" Researchers have considered someone who responds "They can be trusted" to this dichotomy as a person who exhibits social trust, and someone who responds "You can't be too careful" as someone who does not. Using this question as a rubric, however, was concluded by Harvard University Professor of Comparitive Politics Pippa Norris to be highly problematic. The question offers no intermediate choice between two extremes, no context (a co-worker is more likely to be trusted than a stranger on the telephone), and it contains a double-negative that might confuse translation. …


Urban-to-rural consumption-led mobility contributes to restructuring stagnating rural areas in Europe. Against this background, this article explores international rural place-marketing efforts by Swedish municipalities towards affluent western European migrants, exemplified by campaigns in the Netherlands. The analysis is based on the concepts of rural place marketing and lifestyle migration. Research methods employed in this article are observation and a survey during migration information meetings, followed by interviews with both stakeholders and migrants. The results suggest that rural municipalities with less favourable or unfavourable geographic conditions are the most actively engaged in international place-marketing efforts. Participation in migration information meetings and the Internet are the most commonly used communication strategies. The engaged municipalities are selective in their consideration of target groups. Attracting even a few of the 'right type' of migrants (i.e. families and entrepreneurs from affluent countries) over the course of some years contributes considerably to maintaining a small municipality's population and economic viability. However, although stakeholders claim that the marketing efforts have been effective and statistics point out that the number of Dutch migrants has increased, it is hard to distinguish the effect of rural place-marketing campaigns from the myriad possibilities for migrants to gather information about potential destination areas. Therefore, regional policy makers may consider shifting their focus to actively receiving potential migrants who are in the final stage of their decision process.


The present electric power system structure has lasted for decades; it is still partially proprietary, energy-inefficient, physically and virtually (or cyber) insecure, as well as prone to power transmission congestion and consequent failures. Recent efforts in building a smart grid system have focused on addressing the problems of global warming effects, rising energy-hungry demands, and risks of peak loads. One of the major goals of the new system is to effectively regulate energy usage by utilizing the backbone of the prospectively deployed Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI), and Demand Response (DR) programs via the advanced distribution automation and dynamic pricing models. The function of the power grid is no longer a system that only supplies energy to end users, but also allows consumers to contribute their clean energy back to the grid in the future. In the meantime, communications networks in the electric power infrastructure enact critical roles. Intelligent automation proposed in smart grid projects include the Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition/Energy Management Systems (SCADA/EMS) and Phasor Management Units (PMU) in transmission networks, as well as the AMR/AMI associated with field/neighborhood area networks (FAN/NAN) and home area networks (HAN) at the distribution and end-use levels. This article provides an overview of the essentials of the progressive smart grid paradigm and integration of different communications technologies for the legacy power system. Additionally, foreseeable issues and challenges in designing communications networks for the smart grid system are also rigorously deliberated in this paper.


The repeated batch operation mode is generally considered to have the advantage of a higher productivity in comparison with other modes such as batch and continuous culture. This process is similar to fed batch process except that some culture volume is periodically removed from the vessel and replaced with fresh medium. In this study, batch cultivations of Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe) in shake flasks and in bioreactor was set up in a Edinburg minimal media (EMM2m) supplemented with glucose at 20 g/1. From these experiments the basic growth kinetics of S.pombe have been investigated. In order to determine the best operating conditions and to gain a better understanding of this organism, the effect of various culture conditions such as age and size of inoculum and the effect of initial glucose concentration on growth kinetics and on culture performance was studied. These results indicate that glucose is a limiting nutrient and can consume by the cells after 18 of the inoculation. The preliminary repeated batch cultivations in shake flasks were carried out under different harvest fractions. Variation in cell number during batches was observed using 80% as harvest fraction but cell concentration and glucose consumption in each cycle can be remain constant (steady state response) during repeated batch cultivation with 90% as harvest fraction. Therefor harvest fraction of 90% and dilution cycle time of 18 hr was selected for repeated batch cultivation in a bioreactor. Under this feeding policy, the experiments were accomplished using 9 and 20 batch cycles. Reproducible culture response was resulted by using this strategy. However In most cycle, cell number did not oscillated but in some cycles a fluctuation was observed which seems to represent chaotic cell dynamics. This study show that repeated batch cultivation can be applied as very reliable process and reproducible results can expected when other growth condition are constant. Thus applying this process is successful most of the time and high yield and productivity can be expected.


This article uses microsimulation analysis to estimate that the net cost of a roughly poverty-level Universal Basic Income (UBI) for the United Kingdom is about £67 billion per year or 3.4% of GDP. The scheme examined involves a UBI of £7,706 for adults and £3,853 for children with a marginal tax rate of 50% on net beneficiaries. The cost of this UBI scheme adds only 39% to the cost of the UK's existing transfer system and only 8.7% to the UK's total government spending. About 70% of UK families would benefit from the transition to this UBI scheme, with the average gain for each net-beneficiary family being £4,056. The figure of £67 billion is a "net cost" in two senses. First, it subtracts the amount of UBI that individuals pay themselves as they simultaneously receive a UBI and pay higher taxes to finance it. This calculation alone shows that the cost of UBI is only about one-third of the often-quotedbut-not-very-useful concept of "gross cost," which ignores the fact that it costs nothing for a person to give themselves a pound. Second, this article also adds and subtracts the costs and savings involved in integrating the UBI scheme into the UK's existing tax and benefit system. This calculation further reduces the scheme's cost to 13% of gross cost. Under this scheme, the percent of UK families with incomes below the current official poverty line would drop from 16% to 4% and poverty among children and the elderly would all but disappear. The largest increase in incomes would be felt by those most deeply in poverty so that absolute poverty would virtually disappear.


The study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a combined method of treatment that includes a course of laser phoresis of Longidaza and diadynamophoresis of collalysin 1000 collagenase units for the correction of complications after lips contour correction with hyaluronic fillers. Materials and Methods. The study included 31 women aged 25 to 32 years old with complications developed after the injection of stabilized hyaluronic acid-based filler in the lip area. The patients were divided into three groups that received a course of laser phoresis of Longidaza, diadynamophoresis of collalysin or their combination. Results. A combined course of laser phoresis of Longidaza and diadynamophoresis of collalysin exerts significant clinical effect, reduces edema and gel conturation, and stabilizes psychoemotional status. Besides, this therapeutic complex accelerates biodegradation of filler, promotes restructuring effect on lip tissue, and provides expressed effect of a decrease in the thickness of the dermis and increase in the coefficient of dermis density, which is likely to be associated with a reduction of intradermal edema that develops as a reaction to the superficially injected filler. Conclusion. A combined course of laserphoresis of Longidaza and diadynamophoresis of collalysin in the lip area in patients with such complications as superficial filler injection or injection of an excessive amount of a drug based on stabilized hyaluronic acid is a highly effective method of treatment, which is confirmed by the resolution of clinical symptoms and the improvement of patients' quality of life.


DNA remodeling during endoreplication appears to be a strong developmental characteristic in orchids. In this study, we analyzed DNA content and nuclei in 41 species of orchids to further map the genome evolution in this plant family. We demonstrate that the DNA remodeling observed in 36 out of 41 orchids studied corresponds to strict partial endoreplication. Such process is developmentally regulated in each wild species studied. Cytometry data analyses allowed us to propose a model where nuclear states 2C, 4E, 8E, etc. form a series comprising a fixed proportion, the euploid genome 2C, plus 2–32 additional copies of a complementary part of the genome. The fixed proportion ranged from 89% of the genome in Vanilla mexicana down to 19% in V. pompona, the lowest value for all 148 orchids reported. Insterspecific hybridization did not suppress this phenomenon. Interestingly, this process was not observed in mass-produced epiphytes. Nucleolar volumes grow with the number of endocopies present, coherent with high transcription activity in endoreplicated nuclei. Our analyses suggest species-specific chromatin rearrangement. Towards understanding endoreplication, V. planifolia constitutes a tractable system for isolating the genomic sequences that confer an advantage via endoreplication from those that apparently suffice at diploid level.


When using meshing creating method of FP (fiber placement) track, once the track point falls at some vertex point of mesh element, in the meantime the vertex point happens to be shared by several mesh elements, there needs a reasonable calculation method to select next mesh element which the FP track will pass through. Then it comes to the problem on linking of FP tracks. In order to solve it, in this paper, the author puts forward a new method, in which parallel projection theory is used, project need analytical mesh element and FP reference vector to a sound projective plane, on which the mesh element be selected and the FP track be calculated, then the FP track would be projected back to the placement surface. Program using this method realized a reasonable joint at the shared vertex point of meshing elements, which the FP direction has little change, and the mutation of track doesn't come forth. So, the correctness of the method, which putted forward in this paper, is proved.


The aim of this report is to describe a smoking cessation program held in an urban bus company which implemented a smoke-free environment policy. The aim of the program was to offer cognitivebehavioral counseling to workers who wished to quit smoking, facilitating the transition to a smoke-free environment and reducing healthcare costs associated with smoking for both the employee and the employer. Method: the program was conducted in three stages: assessing the number of smokers (n=90; 13% of total employees), assessing their level of nicotine dependence (n=30; 33% of smokers) and offering smoking cessation assistance consisting of education and counseling in groups (n=16; 13% smokers agreed to participate). There were four weekly meetings in the company, lasting two hours each, and a fifth meeting thirty days later as a follow-up. Results: the program was efficient, as 7 quitted smoking and 9 reduced their consumption. Conclusion: psychologists can be comitted to maintain a smoke-free environment and the effect of smoking in organizations using planned cognitive-behavioral interventions similar to the one described in this report.


At present, weeds and pest insects are two of the major constraints to the production of high quality organic vegetable crops, primarily because the range of control measures available to UK growers is extremely limited. Several studies have shown that the numbers of pest insects found on crop plants are reduced considerably when the crops are allowed to become weedy. However, if weeds are not removed by a certain stage of crop growth, they start to compete with the crop plants and yield begins to decline. Warwick HRI already has models that are used independently to predict both the onset of weed competition and the timing of pest insect attacks. However, in practice, growers have to manage weeds and pest insects at the same time and hence the decisions they make often involve compromises. Therefore, it would seem a natural progression to combine the existing models to show how reductions in crop yield, from altered weeding practices, could be offset by improvement in crop quality from reduced pest numbers. The aim of this project was to demonstrate how the existing crop protection models could be used to optimise weed and pest control in organically-grown vegetable crops. The strategy could be very useful, as the range of crop protection interventions available to organic growers is strictly limited. Vegetable brassicas were chosen as the experimental crop, because their pest and weed models have been well validated, and because Brassica crops account for approximately 20% of the total organic vegetables grown in the UK. However, the research also demonstrates how the system could be adapted for other crop/pest combinations. The first objective was to quantify the plant 'architecture' needed from weed populations to reduce pest insect infestations in cabbage crops. Three non-host weed plants were used in the study; Chenopodium album (fat hen), Stellaria media (common chickweed) and Tripleurospermum inodorum (scentless mayweed). These species were selected because they are common weeds in field vegetable crops, reduce colonisation by the cabbage root fly (Delia radicum) and have contrasting architecture (spread and height). The treatments combined weed species, planting times, plant sizes and plant densities to examine the impact on pest colonisation of cabbage. The different plant sizes and plant densities were achieved using weed plants that were raised in modules and then planted around cabbage plants. The three test insect species were Brevicoryne brassicae (cabbage aphid), Delia radicum (cabbage root fly) and Plutella xylostella. (diamond-back moth). The trial demonstrated that, for D. radicum and B. brassicae, the greatest reductions in crop colonisation were produced by a high density of large weeds. The effects on P. xylostella were less clear-cut. The second objective was to combine weed and pest insect models to quantify the interactions
between crop growth, weed growth and pest insect colonisation. The initial analysis of the data obtained in Objective 1 used a log-linear model to relate pest counts to various assessments of crop (cabbage) and weed plant size (weed fresh weight, weed dry weight, weed height, weed diameter, crop height and number of crop leaves). Whilst these regressions suggested a number of relationships, they often accounted for only a small percentage of the variance. In this second objective, further statistical analyses were done to consider relationships between the numbers of pests per plant and various crop and weed parameters. The ratio of weed biomass to crop biomass (dry weight) provided the strongest relationship with pest numbers, and is also a measurement that can be obtained easily in the field. Using this relationship, critical values were calculated for each pest : weed combination. Maintaining the weed : crop dry weight ratio above this critical value should provide protection against pest colonisation. For example, a weed : crop dry weight ratio of 32.7 was required for S. media to "control" D. radicum. The final objective was to determine the impact of different weeding strategies on 1) yield reduction through weed competition and 2) pest colonisation. A field trial was designed to test these strategies using S. media to 'control' D. radicum on cabbage in organic growing conditions. Three 'weed' strategies were devised using the crop-weed competition model in combination with the D. radicum forecasting model. They were intended to give: 1) a ratio always greater than the 'critical value' (the greatest pest protection, but also the greatest weed competition), 2) a ratio close to the 'critical value' (good pest protection, but less crop yield loss than Treatment 1 due to weed competition), and 3) a ratio always below the 'critical value' (the least pest protection, but also the least yield loss due to weed competition). Different weed : crop ratios were achieved by transplanting module-raised S. media of different ages into the cabbage plots. The strategies were timed to coincide with periods of either low or high pest incidence in the field, predicted using the D. radicum forecast, and the weeds were removed 4 weeks after transplanting, when the cabbage plants should have been sufficiently wellestablished to withstand a certain amount of root damage. Unfortunately, the growth patterns of some of the weed treatments deviated from predictions made by the crop-weed competition model, so that the 'strategies' did not achieve the precise range of weed : crop ratios that had been intended. Despite these deviations, the percentage reduction in cabbage weight at harvest, due to the presence of weeds, was not dissimilar to that predicted by the model. Damage by D. radicum was relatively low. None of the cabbage plants wilted or died, although all suffered larval feeding damage to their roots. However, where the critical ratio was achieved, weed presence had a distinct effect on root damage and the highest density of weeds reduced root damage by the greatest amount when compared with the weed-free control treatment. At harvest, cabbage fresh weight was negatively correlated with the weed : crop ratio, due to competition from the greater biomass of weeds. Thus despite practical difficulties in achieving the intended weed : crop ratios using transplanted weeds, the trial confirmed the value of a 'green background' in reducing colonisation by D. radicum. It also confirmed the negative effect of weed competition on crop yield and demonstrated the 'trade-off' between reductions in pest damage and yield. Although the weeds were removed after the first 4 weeks of cabbage growth, the high density of weeds required over this period caused a significant reduction in crop yield.
Scientific conclusions
1. The current crop-weed competition model is driven purely by radiation interception and this study has highlighted some possible model limitations, in particular, the need to take account of crop and weed growth in nutrient deficient soils and in response to moisture stress. The model also need to be able to cope with multi-species populations of natural weed flora (i.e. parameters need to be obtained for a wider range of species).
2. The crop-weed competition model provides an adequate prediction of competition based on average plant density. Modification of the model to account for the spatial proximity of the plants and their growth plasticity would enable more realistic and practical strategies to be evaluated (e.g. only having weeds within a small radius of the crop plant)
3. Pest models currently provide a robust prediction of the timing of pest infestations, but predictions of pest abundance and subsequent damage would be needed to fully evaluate the trade-off between yield loss through plant competition and the reduction in pest damage.
Practical conclusions
1. The trade-off between crop yield and pest control is clearly illustrated by the study. Yield loss (up to 30%) due to competition may be tolerable as an alternative to severe pest damage, in situations where infestation levels are high. Variety choice may have compensatory benefits, however, the impact of varietal choice on competition needs to be explored.
2. The study has shown that the strategy of allowing weed presence for a limited period whilst maintaining a weed : crop ratio (total dry weighs per unit area) above a threshold can provide some protection against pest damage. The threshold is dependent on the pest and weed species involved.
3. In practice, planting into a background of natural flora is probably the most practical way of achieving this protection. However, the weeds would need to be well established before the cabbage was transplanted to achieve the required weed : crop ratio. Further information is needed on the development of natural floras, and on the effect of different weed species compositions.
4. Weeds in close proximity to the crop do reduce pest colonisation, as seen in other studies. Hence a lower total number of weeds could potentially achieve the same protective effect, providing they are close to the crop plant. Further information is needed on the spatial characteristics of plant competition to enable more realistic and practical strategies to be evaluated.


Characterisation of the properties of the unsaturated or vadose zone enables better prediction of contaminant and interstitial water distribution and transport. This is important especially at sites where there is a perceived risk of contamination to groundwater. At such sites, suitable monitoring should be undertaken to ensure that the incidence of pollutant escape is minimised and that any pollution is tracked. This is essential if remedial procedures are to be targeted and effective. An electrode grid permanently installed beneath an HDPE plastic lined landfill in the UK is not only capable of monitoring for holes in the liner, but also enables DC resistivity monitoring of the Triassic Sandstone aquifer which underlies the landfill (Taylor et. al., 1997). Should a hole develop in the liner late on in the life of the landfill where repair would be unfeasible, two-dimensional electrical image sections of the vadose zone can be used to indicate not only the location of any escaping leachate but also its extent and direction of migration. Knowledge of the electrical and physical properties of the partially saturated sandstone beneath the landfill as well as seasonal variations in the sandstone resistivity distribution should enable better interpretation of any data collected after a leak of this kind occurs.


Abstract A new adaptive stochastic approximation method for an efficient Monte Carlo calculation of steady-state conditions in thermal reactor cores is described. The core conditions that we consider are spatial distributions of power, neutron flux, coolant density, and strongly absorbing fission products like 135Xe. These distributions relate to each other; thus, the steady-state conditions are described by a system of nonlinear equations. When a Monte Carlo method is used to evaluate the power or neutron flux, then the task turns to a nonlinear stochastic root-finding problem that is usually solved in the iterative manner by stochastic optimization methods. One of those methods is stochastic approximation where efficiency depends on a sequence of stepsize and sample size parameters. The stepsize generation is often based on the well-known Robbins-Monro algorithm; however, the efficient generation of the sample size (number of neutrons simulated at each iteration step) was not published yet. The proposed method controls both the stepsize and the sample size in an efficient way; according to the results, the method reaches the highest possible convergence rate.


The influence of pressure on the structural and vibrational properties of Ca2RuH6 has been investigated using periodic density functional theory calculations performed at the local density approximation (LDA) and generalized gradient approximation (GGA) levels. At ambient pressure, the calculated structure and vibrational frequencies are in satisfactory agreement with experimental data. The calculated P-V curves could be fitted with the Vinet equation of state, yielding B0=67.6 and B0=58.5 GPa at the LDA and GGA levels, respectively, and B=4.0 at both theoretical levels. The unit cell parameter is found to decrease faster with increasing pressure than the Ru–H bond length. The calculated pressure dependence of the vibrational frequencies agrees well with experiment for 5(T2g) but not for 9(A1g).


Abstract In several eastern Mediterranean countries orchids are collected from the wild for the production of salep, a beverage made of dried orchid tubers. The drivers of this collection and trade have changed over time. We investigated which genera and species are harvested for salep production, whether any cultivation takes place, the chain of commercialization, and the economic value of tuber collection. Fieldwork and interviews in north-western Greece included 25 collectors and street vendors, the owners of two companies, and one herbal shop. The results show that several orchid species are traded for the production of salep, and none are cultivated. Tubers collected in Greece, Albania and Turkey are sold in northern Greece for EUR 55–150 per kg on average. Recent catalysts such as the increasing demand for traditional, organic and alternative foodstuffs, and the 2009 economic downturn, have led to a revival of salep consumption, with an increasing number of salep harvesters from Greece and Albania scouring the mountains for harvestable tubers, using unsustainable harvesting practices.


In order to finish my masters Design Engineering from the study Mechanical Engineering I did an internship at Multi Tool Trac BV. I had the privilege to design a concept model for an electrical tractor. My physical workplace was at Boessenkool BV, one of the stakeholders of Multi Tool Trac BV, placed at Almelo right next to Bolletje. During the assignment I followed the expected workhours and experienced how a small- and medium-sized company is. The assignment itself was supervised by Paul van Ham which is the initiator of the Multi Tool Trac.
Multi Tool Trac BV is just started as a company (since 2014) and is focussed on building custom made electrical tractors for the agriculture. At the moment it is busy to build his first prototype to be ready for the market. The prototype contains an electric drivetrain, which is directly mounted on each wheel. It has four steering wheels and uses a fuel-engine to refill the battery which is powering the four wheel-drives. It has a variable wheel-width from 2,25 to 3,25 meter and has space to stack three agriculture-tools.
The assignment is formed together with Paul van Ham. After the prototype was presented to the public, it received many positive feedback, which causes the possibility to think about other applications. It created the idea to design a new concept model, which had to be smaller with less weight. This resulted in the topic of my research: define and design a small, light, manoeuvrable electric driven and guided agriculture vehicle which delivers enough space for hoeing-tools.
In the first part of the research it is proven that a small electric agriculture vehicle is creating most of the public support. It uses small tracks and is manoeuvrable and build to do all the repeatable work during the year. Interviews with farmers resulted in a practical perspective, where next to weight a multifunctional vehicle is preferred, like a multi-tool-tractor. Farmers measure the value of machines in working hours, to compare with the rest of the costs which are calculated in the equally. There were no other electric multi-tool-tractors found, so this could be a good application for a small agriculture vehicle.
These results formed the bases for the design of the small multi-tool-tractor. The model is designed using four focus points; the total weight has to be low, there has to be good visibility on the working tools, it has to be manoeuvrable (four guided wheels) and it has to contain four electric wheel drives. The structure of the model is based on eight modular blocks. Each of these blocks can easily be separated, designed and produced separately. This provides also advantages for maintainability; broken parts can be fixed separately, when the upper modular block is easily replaced and the broken part can be fixed in the meantime. As a result, a break down during harvest, when every minute counts, is not longer time consuming anymore.
Last but nog least, the modular design gives the farmer the possibility to create his own Multi Tool Trac, which is fully adapted to his requirements. In this way Multi Tool Trac can offer a broad range of vehicles and still build custom made products. In the end, every farmer has his own unique perspective on the work he does.
To create an impression of the model the following specifications are put in sequence.
 - Electric drivetrain with 4 x 15 kW nominal and 4 x 30 kW maximum.
 - Replacable battery package with a power capacity of 15 kWh
 - Range extender: modern 4 cilinder fuel engine of 81 kW (110 pk) with efficient high idling speed generator (95.4%)
 - 4 driven and guided wheels with a small turning diameter (5.3 m) and optimal tractive power under all circumstances.
 - Full electric guided by CANbus, prepared for master-slave and auto-steering
 - Electro boxes are directly accesable in all circumstances ((±1. 5m height)
 - 2 positions for the three-point-hitch and PTO
 - Cabine can be moved continuously variable up to 3.2 m height
 - Track-width of 1.5 m
 - Wheel base of 2.5 m
In short, a good suggestion if you are interested in working at a small- and medium-sized company.


Over the past decade, genotyping technologies have revolutionized the genomic research field by providing cost-effective genotyping of tens of thousands to millions of genetic markers at population scale. That became the driving force behind genome-wide association studies. The price of a genotyping chip with ~1 million variants is now less than $50. We now see large biobank studies with genotyping data, including the UK Biobank, the China Kadoorie biobank, and the US Million Veteran Program. Second-generation whole-genome sequencing currently costs less than $1,000; and as third-generation sequencing technologies continue to mature, is there still a bright future for genotyping? In this review, we introduce some basic technological points and outline the current status of genotyping technologies; we then discuss the challenges and opportunities for genotyping in the current state and future of precision medicine. [N A J Med Sci. 2017;10(4):176-180.   DOI: 10.7156/najms.2017.1004176]


A user often interacts with multiple applications while working on a task. User models can be developed individually at each of the individual applications, but there is no easy way to come up with a more complete user model based on the distributed activity of the user. To address this issue, this research studies the importance of combining various implicit and explicit relevance feedback indicators in a multi-application environment. It allows different applications used for different purposes by the user to contribute user activity and its context to mutually support users with unified relevance feedback. Using the data collected by the web browser, Microsoft Word and Microsoft PowerPoint, combinations of implicit relevance feedback with semi-explicit relevance feedback were analyzed and compared with explicit user ratings. Our results are two-fold: first we demonstrate the aggregation of implicit and semi-explicit user interest data across multiple everyday applications using our Interest Profile Manager (IPM) framework. Second, our experimental results show that incorporating implicit feedback with semi-explicit feedback for page-level user interest estimation resulted in a significant improvement over the content-based models.


This thesis investigates how Radio Telelis Eireann (RTE) constructs television stories about poverty. Using a combination of critical content analysis and an ethnography of the production context of television programmes, the study examines poverty stories on factual, fictional and fund-raising television. The study begins with an account of how existing social science discourse has considered the phenomenon of poverty in the Republic of Ireland. It proceeds to examine the limited amount of debate about media coverage of poverty. The case for a largely qualitative methodological approach is then outlined. The main part of the study is an analysis of how poverty stories are constructed on RTE's Six-One News, Tuesday File, Glenroe and the People in Need Telethon. Each of these four chapters consider the respective programmes in terms of their history, production context, the content of their poverty coverage, as well as a consideration of the ideology of that coverage. The study adopts Thompson's (1990) definition of ideology which is concerned with how asymmetrical relations of power and domination are established and sustained in contemporary capitalist societies. The final chapter argues that poverty coverage on RTE television is not only reductive, but also serves to render invisible, significant proportions of the population who are poor. The chapter suggests that Golding and Middleton's (1982) dichotomy of God's and the Devil's poor be recast, to take account of the central role which television coverage offers the agents of the poor. RTE television's coverage of poverty is shown to reproduce the liberalism which predominates in Irish society. The study concludes with a consideration of the theoretical and policy implications of the project's main research findings.


Essential Library resources and services for taught postgraduate students in the School of Business. Programs include MSc in SHRM, Master of HRM, Msc in BM, MSc in AAF, Master of Accountancy, and Msc in GMM.


A numerical implementation of a large number of Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) models based on two-, three-, four-equation, and Reynolds stress turbulence models (using either the turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate or the turbulent lengthscale) in an Eulerian, finite-difference shock-capturing code is described. The code uses third-order weighted essentially nonoscillatory (WENO) reconstruction of the advective fluxes, and second- or fourth-order central difference derivatives for the computation of spatial gradients. A third-order TVD Runge–Kutta time-evolution scheme is used to evolve the fields in time. Improved closures for the turbulence production terms, compressibility corrections, mixture transport coefficients, and a consistent initialization methodology for the turbulent fields are briefly summarized. The code framework allows for systematic comparisons of detailed predictions from a variety of turbulence models of increasing complexity. Applications of the code with selected K–ε based models are illustrated for each of the three instabilities. Simulations of Rayleigh–Taylor unstable flows for Atwood numbers 0.1–0.9 are shown to be consistent with previous implicit LES (ILES) results and with the expectation of increased asymmetry in the mixing layer characteristics with increasing stratification. Simulations of reshocked Richtmyer–Meshkov turbulent mixing corresponding to experiments with light-to-heavy transition in air/sulfur hexafluoride and incident shock Mach number Mas = 1.50, and heavy-to-light transition in sulfur hexafluoride/air with Mas = 1.45 are shown to be in generally good agreement with both pre- and post-reshock mixing layer widths. Finally, simulations of the seven Brown–Roshko Kelvin–Helmholtz experiments with various velocity and density ratios using nitrogen, helium, and air are shown to give mixing layer predictions in good agreement with data. The results indicate that the numerical algorithms and turbulence models are suitable for simulating these classes of inhomogeneous turbulent flows.


A methyl derivative of noroxymorphone with selective, opioid-receptor antagonistic activity. Methylnaltrexone displaces opioids from peripheral opioid receptors in the gastrointestinal tract, the bladder, and the skin, resulting in decreases in opioid-related constipation, urinary retention, and pruritis, respectively. Methylnaltrexone does not cross the blood-brain barrier and does not affect the centrally-mediated analgesic effect of opioids. Qeios · Definition, February 7, 2020


This study was focused on the ecology and behavior of the White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) at Garaet Hadj Tahar (Guerbes-Sanhadja, North East of Algeria). Sampling was carried out during two wintering seasons (2017-2018 and 2018-2019). High number of this duck was recorded in 2018/19 (350 individuals). We observed two Oxyura population, the first sedentary, and the second, hosted the Garaet during the wintering season. Diurnal time budget was dominated by the comfort activities the sleeping with a rate of 39.13%. Following by swimming (37.76%), feeding (17.59%) grooming (4.58%), courtship ritual (0.56%) and flying (0.38%). The feeding of white-headed duck is done exclusively by diving. Beside, this waterbird associated between Feeding by diving and grooming in order to minimized energy. The accessory activities such as: courtship ritual, flying were done by this duck at the end of wintering. This results confirm that Garaet Hadj Tahar is considered as wintering site for this threatened species. Biological Conservation plan (BCP) must be applied at level of this wetland in order to manage bioressources and threatened waterbirds.


Reducing road fatalities by 50% – as postulated in the European Union (EU) White Paper – requires research on road user groups and accident configurations that have not been addressed adequately so far: The Workpackage 2.1 of the EU-funded project APROSYS initiated the research on accidents involving heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) and vulnerable road users (VRUs). The project provides tools for evaluating the aggressiveness of HGV in relation to VRU and outlines the add-on solutions and improved designs for an enhanced protection of VRU. Priorities for enhanced VRU protection include the avoidance of run over at closing velocities below 20 km/h by improving the sight to the front and the side of the vehicle and the mitigation of primary and secondary impacts of VRUs at closing velocities between 15 and 40 km/h by increasing the energy absorption and changing the shape of the front end. The Graz University of Technology, the Politecnico di Torino and the Centro Ricerche FIAT studied the different approaches for an energy-absorbing front end that is lightweight, cost-efficient, retrofittable and compact – and that does not limit either the cooling or the lighting of the HGV. The study highlights the injury risk reduction by means of numerical simulations and experimental testing – including a full-scale test with a pedestrian dummy. It is shown that the risk for injuries to head and lower extremities may be reduced by up to 90% at impact velocities of up to 40 km/h. The study also shows that the concept of an energy-absorbing front end for HGVs might contribute to the aims defined in the EU White Paper at low costs.


Health-care personnel working in an ambulance may be at risk for work-related infections, especially blood-borne infections. This cross-sectional study was conducted to assess occupational risks and their preventive practices for blood-borne infections among ambulance personnel working in a provincial hospital network. One hundred sixty-one personnel who voluntarily participated were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The one-month history of risk exposures to blood-borne infections was collected. In order to cover the real situation of patient care practices among ambulance personnel during working, 30 ambulance runs were observed. Data from the questionnaire and field observation were analyzed and presented by descriptive statistics. The results indicated that 82% had a history of contact with jaundiced patients, and 95% had a history of contact with AIDS patients. Approximately, 63.4% had a history of contact with patients' blood through injuries; of these, 64.7% had needle stick injuries, and 24.5% had sharp injuries. Data for blood-borne preventive practices from interviews reported 82.6% wore disposaiole gloves when doing a blood puncture or giving intravenous fluid/blood. Only 54% broke off drug vials with a clean cloth or cotton wool to protect from an injury, in contradiction to recommended procedure. The mean score of preventive practices was 7.6±2.2; a score classified at a moderate level. However, data from field observations demonstrated only 30.3% of observed personnel (3/9) used aprons and goggles when contacting a large amount of blood, and only 11.1% (1/9) broke off drug vials with a clean cloths to protect from an injury. Continuous education and training, as well as the improvement of safety equipment are needed to better protect ambulance personnel from occupational risks.


Domestic extremists pose a serious threat to the United States, with recent research suggesting that America is experiencing an upswing in radicalization. The present research explores an important motivational mechanism through which people could become an extremist: social isolation. When socially isolated from others, people are deprived of the certainty of normative structure, the fundamental need to belong, and meaningful social connection. In order to investigate the relationship between social isolation and extremism, we ran two cross-sectional studies with a student population (Study 1; N = 269) and a sample of U.S. residents (Study 2; N = 391). Results from Study 1 suggest that extremism is highest in individuals who spend more time alone and have a smaller social network. Additionally, this relationship is mediated by loneliness. Results from Study 2 suggest that greater loneliness, need to belong, and norm deviation is associated with greater extremism. Additionally, replicating the finding of the first study, the link between social isolation (operationalized as greater time spent alone and smaller social network) and extremism is mediated by loneliness. This research has important implications for understanding motivations that drive extremism and for countering violent extremism. The results of these studies are especially pertinent because people are more isolated now than ever before.


Introduction: Contraception use is low in sub-Saharan Africa where women have a high burden of HIV. Most of these women are in their childbearing age and require access to safe and effective contraception. The objectives of this study were to determine the use and pattern of contraceptive uptake among HIV-infected clients registered for antiretroviral therapy (ART) services at an HIV outpatient clinic in South-West Nigeria; factors influencing contraceptive uptake among HIV-infected clients; and the contraceptive failure and/or discontinuation rates among the cohort of clients. Methods: A database review was conducted on a cohort of clients registered at the family planning (FP) clinic from 2009 to 2013. Data management and descriptive statistics were with IBM SPSS software version 20. Results: The number of FP clients in the 5 years is 537, constituting 7.7% of the ART population. Most were female, 531 (98.9%); with an average age of 32.3 years. Majority of them were married, i.e., 524 (97.6%) with 322 (60.0%) in serodiscordant marriages. Two hundred and fifty-six clients (45.8%) chose and used injectable contraceptives. One hundred and thirteen (21.0%) clients chose condom only. Dual method of hormonal contraception and consistent condom was accepted and used by 73 (13.6%) clients. Two hundred and seventy-four (51.0%) discontinued their chosen contraceptive method. Reasons for discontinuation include desired conception in 54 (16.6%), menstrual irregularities in 45 (13.8%), and spouse disapproval in 11 clients (2%). Clients referred out for intrauterine contraceptive device and implant were 47 (14.5%). Twenty-one (3.9%) clients reported pregnant within the first 2 months of use. Conclusion: Contraceptive use is low (7.7%) with 51% discontinuation rate. Several reasons were given for discontinuation. Contraceptive failure rate was 3.9%. There is a need to find reasons for failed contraception and provide interventions to improve contraceptive success.


Arsenic contamination of groundwater is a major health problem and has been a growing concern in the last decade in several regions of the world, especially in South and Southeast Asia, including the Red River delta, Vietnam. Regional groundwater studies have been carried out in the vicinity of Hanoi, on the banks of the Red River and its adjacent floodplains. In this study, the groundwater from a transect in the Northwestern area of Hanoi was examined. The results showed that 28.8% the wells of the B-B' transect exceed the WHO guideline value for arsenic concentration in drinking water. The arsenic concentrations varied in a wide range from point to point, with the highest concentration found at Van Phuc and the lowest one found at Cam Yen. They also varied accordingly to the depth. References Anawar H.M., Akai J., Sakugawa H., Sakugawa H., 2004. Mobilization of arsenic from subsurface sediments by effect of bicarbonate ions in groundwater. Chemosphere, 54, 753-762. Appelo C.A.J., Postma D., 2004. Geochemistry, Groundwater and Pollution, second edition. Berg M., Tran H.C., Nguyen T.C., Pham H.V., Schertenleib R., Giger W., 2001. Arsenic contamination of groundwater and drinking water in Vietnam: A human health threat. Environmental Science & Technology, 35(13), 2621-2626. Berg M., Stengel C., Pham T.K.T., Pham H.V., Sampson M.L., Leng M., Samreth S., Fredericks D., 2007. Magnitude of arsenic pollution in the Mekong and Red River Delta - Cambodia and Vietnam. Science of the Total Environment, 372, 413-425. Chowdhury U.K., Biswas B.K., Chowdhury T.R., Samanta G., Mandal B.K., Basu G.C., Chanda C.R., Lodh D., Saha K.C., Mukherjee S.K., Roy S., Kabir S., Quamruzzaman Q., Chakraborti D., 2000. Groundwater Arsenic Contamination in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India. Environmental Health Perpectives, 108(5), 393-397. Eiche E., Neumann T., Berg M., Weinman B., Van Geen A., Norra S., Berner Z., Pham T.K.T., Pham H.V., Stuben D., 2008. Geochemical processes underlying a sharp contrast in groundwater arsenic concentrations in a village on the Red River delta, Vietnam. Applied Geochemistry, 23, 3143-3154. Fendorf S., Michael H.A., Van Geen A., 2010. Spatial and temporal variations of groundwater arsenic in South and Southeast Asia. Science, 328, 1123. Doi: 10.1126/Science.1172974. General Statics Office of Vietnam, 2015. Regional statistics of Area, Population and Population density. McArthur J.M., Ravenscroft P., Safuilla S., Thirlwall M.F., 2001. Arsenic in groundwater: Testing pollution mechanisms for sedimentary aquifers in Bangladesh. Water Resources Research, 31(1), 109-117. Postma D., Larsen F., Nguyen T.M.H., Mai T.D., Pham H.V., Pham Q.N., Jessen S., 2007. Arsenic in groundwater of the Red River floodplain, Vietnam: Controlling geochemical processes and reactive transport modeling. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 71, 5054-5071. Postma D., Larsen F., Nguyen T.T., Pham T.K.T., Jakobsen R., Pham Q.N., Tran V.L., Pham H.V., Murray A.S., 2012. Groundwater arsenic concentrations in Vietnam controlled by sediment age. Nature GeoScience. Doi: 10.1038/NGEO1540. Smedley P.L., Kinniburgh D.G., 2002. A review of the source, behavior and distribution of arsenic in natural waters. Applied Geochemistry, 17, 517-568. Smedley P.L., 2006. Sources and distribution of arsenic in groundwater and aquifers. In T. Appelo (Ed.), Arsenic in Groundwater - A World Problem, 4-33. Van Geen A., Bostick B.C., Pham T.K.T., Vi M.L., Nguyen N.M., Dao M.P., Pham H.V., Radloff K., Aziz A., Mey J.L., Stahl M.O., Harvey C.H., Oates P., Weinman B., Stengel C., Frei F., Kipfer R., Berg M., 2013. Retardation of arsenic transport through a Pleistocene aquifer. Nature, 501, 204-208. Van Geen, A., Zheng Y., Versteeg R., Stute M., Horneman A., Dhar R., Steckler M., Gelman A., Small C., Ahsan H., Graziano J.H., Hussain I., Ahmed K.M., 2003. Spatial variability of arsenic in 6000 tube wells in a 25 km 2 area of Bangladesh. Water Resources Research, 39(5), 1140. Doi:10.1029/2002WR001617. World Health Organization, 2011. Guidelines for drinking-water quality, fourth edition. Winkel L.H.E., Pham T.K.T., Vi M.L., Stengel C., Amini M., Nguyen T.H., Pham H.V., Berg M., 2011. Arsenic pollution of groundwater in Vietnam exacerbated by deep aquifer exploitation for more than a century. PNAS, 108(4), 1246-1251.


A general review of psychological reactions to a disaster situation in four groups of people is presented. Adult reactions (and management thereof) vary according to the phase of the disaster, viz (i) the pre-impact phase characterized by underactivity, development of anxiety symptoms or involvement in adaptive activities; (ii) the warning phase typically manifested by overactivity; (iii) the impact phase characterized by bewilderment, confusion or hysteria; (iv) the turmoil-recoil phase manifesting in emotional expression relating to the immediate past; and (v) the emotionally wounded or post-traumatic phase featuring reconstructive activity with some elements of anger and resentment. Reactions in children are usually transitory but may be influenced by parental psychopathology, separation anxiety or previous emotional disturbances. Typical adult reactions seen in the elderly may be compounded by what has been termed a high sense of deprivation. Relief workers are exposed to psychic stress in the form of greater responsibilities and role identification and many also show delayed reactions to the death and destruction observed.


The Xunhua, Guide and Tongren intermontane basin system in the NE Tibetan Plateau, situated near the Xining basin to the N and the Linxia basin to the E, is bounded by thrust fault-controlled ranges. These include to the N, the Riyue Shan, Laji Shan and Jishi Shan ranges, and to the S the northern West Qinling Shan (NWQ). An integrated study of the structural geology, sedimentology and provenance of the Cenozoic Xunhua and Guide basins provides a detailed record of the growth of the NE Tibetan Plateau since the early Eocene. The Xining Group (ca. 52–21 Ma) is interpreted as consisting of unified foreland basin deposits which were controlled by the bounding thrust belt of the NWQ. The Xunhua, Guide and Xining subbasins were interconnected prior to later uplift and damming by the Laji Shan and Jishi Shan ranges. Their sediment source, the NWQ, is constrained by strong unidirectional paleocurrent trends towards the N, a northward fining lithology, distinct and recognizable clast types and detrital zircon ages. Collectively, formation of this mountain–basin system indicates that the Tibetan Plateau expanded into the NWQ at a time roughly coinciding with Eocene to earliest Miocene continental collision between India and Eurasia. The Guide Group (ca. 21–1.8 Ma) is inferred to have been deposited in the separate Xunhua, Guide and Tongren broken foreland basins. Each basin was filled by locally sourced alluvial fans, braided streams and deltaiclacustrine systems. Structural, paleogeographic, paleocurrent and provenance data indicate that thrust faulting in the NWQ stepped northward to the Laji Shan from ca. 21 to 16 Ma. This northward shift was accompanied by E–W shortening related to nearly N–S-striking thrust faulting in Jishi Shan after 11–13 Ma. A lower Pleistocene conglomerate (1.8–1.7 Ma) was deposited by a through-flowing river system in the overfilled and connected Guide and Xunhua basins following the termination of thrust activity. All of the basin–mountain zones developed along the Tibetan Plateau's NE margin since Indian–Tibetan continental collision may have been driven by collisioninduced basal drag of old slab remnants in the manner of N-dipping and flat-slab subduction, and their subsequent sinking into the deep mantle.


A membrane bioreactor (MBR) system based on a dead-end immersed hollow fiber membrane and filamentous fungus Aspergillus oryzae were used for treatment of baker's yeast wastewater. The fungus was adapted to the wastewater in the bioreactor for two weeks before starting the continuous process. Average organic loading rate of 4.2 kg COD/m3.d was entered the bioreactor. MBR system was able to reduce the COD and BOD5 of the wastewater from 5000 and 1400 mg/L to 488 and 70 mg/L, respectively, over a period of 45 days, while the turbidity of the wastewater reduced from 134-282 NTU to less than 2.5 NTU in the permeate stream. Critical flux and a suitable operating flux were determined as 6.7 and 5 L/m2 h, respectively. The obtained results confirm that the MBR system was able to efficiently reduce the turbidity and suspended solid of the wastewater by 99.4% and 98.3%, respectively, resulting in a clear effluent.


Serious adverse impacts on the environment and human health from the recycling and disposal of electronic waste have occurred in the past and continue to occur in China today, due to the lack of a national management strategy. With aiming to support the management strategy development, a study was carried out to plan and quantitatively evaluate the optional management frameworks for the selected five main types of large electronic home appliances in Beijing, the capital city and a typically big municipality in China. This paper outlined the main findings yielded from the series of assessment studies which started from the generation amount prediction and material flow analysis of the used electronic appliances, planning and optimization of the collection & transportation frameworks and ended at the economic evaluation of the optional recycling processes for the waste appliances. Although the revenue could be expected from the result of isolated evaluation of the recycling processes, the entire system will be economically unavailable if the used appliances are still collected from the owners at current prices. The traditional understanding of householders on the values of their used appliances should be changed in Beijing and China as a whole. Establishment of a formal collection system that could take back the used appliances at lower prices (less than 40% of the current level) is the key for the construction of a formal management framework with sustainability.


»Die Evolution der Kunstmesse«. This paper focuses on one of the key facets of the global art market, the art fair. Art fairs, which have proliferated in recent years and can be found in large numbers all over the globe, provide a crucial infrastructure for the sale and exhibition of works of art. Despite their current popularity, however, the history of the art fair, the development of its organisational form, and its importance to the market and society have largely been neglected in scholarly studies. Therefore, this paper adopts an evolutionary approach to better understand the development of the art fair, including its network-like structure, and how it became the core business structure of the contemporary art world. This paper demonstrates that art fairs inherited a great number of business practices from previous times, such as observational principles for the creation of prices, aesthetic features, and branding strategies to emphasize their outstanding and almost religious nature. Furthermore, the paper shows that the network-like structure of the art fair has contributed to its contemporary success.


Abstract Background: Analgesics, sedatives, and neuromuscular blockers are commonly used medications for mechanically ventilated air medical transport patients. Prior research in the emergency department (ED) and intensive care unit (ICU) has demonstrated that depth of sedation is associated with increased mechanical ventilation duration, delirium, increased hospital length-of-stay (LOS), and decreased survival. The objectives of this study were to evaluate current sedation practices in the prehospital setting and to determine the impact on clinical outcomes. Methods: A retrospective cohort study of mechanically ventilated patients transferred by air ambulance to a single 812-bed Midwestern academic medical center from July 2013 to May 2018 was conducted. Prehospital sedation medications and depth of sedation [Richmond Agitation-Sedation Scale score (RASS)] were measured. Primary outcome was hospital LOS. Secondary outcomes were delirium, length of mechanical ventilation, in-hospital mortality, and need for neurosurgical procedures. Univariate analyses were used to measure the association between sedatives, sedation depth, and clinical outcomes. Multivariable models adjusted for potentially confounding covariates to measure the impact of predictors on clinical outcomes. Results: Three hundred twenty-seven patients were included. Among those patients, 79.2% of patients received sedatives, with 41% of these patients achieving deep sedation (RASS = −4). Among patients receiving sedation, 58.3% received at least one dose of benzodiazepines. Moderate and deep sedation was associated with an increase in LOS of 59% (aRR: 1.59; 95% CI: 1.40–1.81) and 24% (aRR: 1.24; 95% CI: 1.10–1.40), respectively. Benzodiazepines were associated with a mean increase of 2.9 days in the hospital (95% CI, 0.7–5.1). No association existed between either specific medications or depth of sedation and the development of delirium. Conclusions: Prehospital moderate and deep sedation, as well as benzodiazepine administration, is associated with increased hospital LOS. Our findings point toward sedation being a modifiable risk factor and suggest an important need for further research of sedation practices in the prehospital setting.


With the advent of high-power pulsed lasers, laser peening has emerged as a new and very promising technique to improve the resistance properties of materials to fatigue, wear and corrosion. In this paper, the effect of laser peening on the surface performance of QT700-2 materials was investigated, the parameters of laser peening were optimized by an artificial neural network (ANN) method. A series of experiments was carried out by using a high-power, Q-Switched, pulsed neodymium-glass laser. The microstructure features were analyzed with SEM and the hardness and residual stresses at the surface and in-depth were measured. The results indicate that the depth of hardened layer was about 0.31ı1.40mm for a different shot number of 1-4 times and the compressive residual stress at the surface increases with increasing laser pulse energy, from -165MPa for the low energy 12J to -410MPa for the higher energy 20J. Laser peening can restrain nucleation of fatigue cracks and improve the fatigue life of nodular cast iron materials.


Transient apical ballooning syndrome without coronary stenosis or Tako-Tsubo syndrome was described a few years ago in a Japanese population. Although new cases and series have been gradually defining its physiopathology, there is much doubt about its etiology. We describe the case of a 74-year-old Caucasian woman, with a background of hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus and hyperthyroidism with tracheal compression, intrinsic asthma and depression syndrome. She had an acute attack of bronchospasm and chest pain. The electrocardiogram on admission showed Q-waves and ST segment elevation in precordial leads and elevated serum cardiac markers. The coronariography found no evidence of significant lesions in the vascular tree. Ventriculography showed an apical ballooning that was also found in the echocardiography. The evolution of the clinical picture with disappearance of the symptoms and normalization of the electrocardiogram and echocardiogram lead to the diagnosis of Tako-Tsubo syndrome. We believe that this new clinical entity may have a catecholamine-mediated neurogenic mechanism as the etiopathogenic substrate and that our clinical case could support this hypothesis.


Microtubules are cytoskeletal structures in the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells, and their highly dynamic properties are essential to perform a wide variety of vital functions in cells. Microtubule growth proceeds through the endwise addition of nucleotide-bound tubulin molecules. It has largely been assumed that only tubulin dimers can incorporate into microtubules, and that the chemical state of the nucleotide is crucial for the incorporation. Recent observations reveal that both tubulin dimers and oligomers can add to microtubule ends and that the chemical state of the nucleotide is not decisive for tubulin addition. Together with structural studies of tubulin, these results show tubulin assembly polymorphism, which could play a crucial role in microtubule-dependent cellular functions.


FRET (Förster Resonance Energy Transfer)-based protein voltage sensors can be useful for monitoring neuronal activity in vivo because the ratio of signals between the donor and acceptor pair reduces common sources of noise such as heart beat artifacts. We improved the performance of FRET based genetically encoded Fluorescent Protein (FP) voltage sensors by optimizing the location of donor and acceptor FPs flanking the voltage sensitive domain of the Ciona intestinalis voltage sensitive phosphatase. First, we created 39 different "Nabi1" constructs by positioning the donor FP, UKG, at 8 different locations downstream of the voltage-sensing domain and the acceptor FP, mKO, at 6 positions upstream. Several of these combinations resulted in large voltage dependent signals and relatively fast kinetics. Nabi1 probes responded with signal size up to 11% ΔF/F for a 100 mV depolarization and fast response time constants both for signal activation (~2 ms) and signal decay (~3 ms). We improved expression in neuronal cells by replacing the mKO and UKG FRET pair with Clover (donor FP) and mRuby2 (acceptor FP) to create Nabi2 probes. Nabi2 probes also had large signals and relatively fast time constants in HEK293 cells. In primary neuronal culture, a Nabi2 probe was able to differentiate individual action potentials at 45 Hz.


A systematic study of the chaotic synchronization of Bose–Einstein condensed body is performed using linear coupling method based on Lyapunov stability theory, Sylvester's criterion, and Gerschgorin disc theorem. The chaotic synchronization of Bose–Einstein condensed body in moving optical lattices is realized by linear coupling. The relationship between the synchronization time and coupling coefficient is obtained. Both the single-variable coupling and double-variable coupling are effective. The results of numerical calculation prove that the chaotic synchronization of double-variable coupling is faster than that of single-variable coupling and small coupling coefficient can achieve the chaotic synchronization. Weak noise has little influence on synchronization effect, so the linear coupling technology is suitable for the chaotic synchronization of Bose–Einstein condensate.


Coastal areas are subject to the joint risk associated with rainfall‐driven flooding and storm surge hazards. To capture this dependency and the compound nature of these hazards, bivariate modelling represents a straightforward and easy‐to‐implement approach that relies on observational records. Most existing applications focus on a single tide gauge–rain gauge/streamgauge combination, limiting the applicability of bivariate modelling to develop high‐resolution space–time design events that can be used to quantify the dynamic, that is, varying in space and time, compound flood hazard in coastal basins. Moreover, there is a need to recognize that not all extreme events always come from a single population, but can reflect a mixture of different generating mechanisms. Therefore, this paper describes an empirical approach to develop design storms with high‐resolution in space and time (i.e., ~5 km and hourly) for different joint annual exceedance probabilities. We also stratify extreme rainfall and storm surge events depending on whether they were caused by tropical cyclones (TCs) or not. We find that there are significant differences between the TC and non‐TC populations, with very different dependence structures that are missed if we treat all the events as coming from a single population. While we apply this methodology to one basin near Houston, Texas, our approach is general enough to make it applicable for any coastal basin exposed to compounding flood hazards from storm surge and rainfall‐induced flooding.


We discuss when and why custom multi-factor risk models are warranted and give source code for computing some risk factors. Pension/mutual funds do not require customization but standardization. However, using standardized risk models in quant trading with much shorter holding horizons is suboptimal: 1) longer horizon risk factors (value, growth, etc.) increase noise trades and trading costs; 2) arbitrary risk factors can neutralize alpha; 3) "standardized" industries are artificial and insufficiently granular; 4) normalization of style risk factors is lost for the trading universe; 5) diversifying risk models lowers P&L correlations, reduces turnover and market impact, and increases capacity. We discuss various aspects of custom risk model building.


This thesis develops a physics-based framework for 3D shape and nonrigid motion modeling for computer vision and computer graphics. In computer vision it addresses the problems of complex 3D shape representation, shape reconstruction, quantitative model extraction from biomedical data for analysis and visualization, shape estimation, and motion tracking. In computer graphics it demonstrates the generative power of our framework to synthesize constrained shapes, nonrigid object motions and object interactions for the purposes of computer animation.
Our framework is based on the use of a new class of dynamically deformable primitives which allow the combination of global and local deformations. It incorporates physical constraints to compose articulated models from deformable primitives and provides force-based techniques for fitting such models to sparse, noise-corrupted 2D and 3D visual data. The framework leads to shape and nonrigid motion estimators that exploit dynamically deformable models to track moving 3D objects from time-varying observations.
We develop models with global deformation parameters which represent the salient shape features of natural parts, and local deformation parameters which capture shape details. In the context of computer graphics, these models represent the physics-based marriage of the parameterized and free-form modeling paradigms. An important benefit of their global/local descriptive power in the context of computer vision is that it can potentially satisfy the often conflicting requirements of shape reconstruction and shape recognition.
The Lagrange equations of motion that govern our models, augmented by constraints, make them responsive to externally applied forces derived from input data or applied by the user. This system of differential equations is discretized using finite element methods and simulated through time using standard numerical techniques. We employ these equations to formulate a shape and nonrigid motion estimator. The estimator is a continuous extended Kalman filter that recursively transforms the discrepancy between the sensory data and the estimated model state into generalized forces. These adjust the translational, rotational, and deformational degrees of freedom such that the model evolves in a consistent fashion with the noisy data.
We demonstrate the interactive time performance of our techniques in a series of experiments in computer vision, graphics, and visualization.


Background: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is the third most endocrine disorder after diabetes and thyroid disease. The objective of this study was to observe the outcome of those patients who had positive parathyroid scan with Technetium-99m (99mTc) sestamibi scan  referred to National Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (NINMAS) to perform parathyroid scan.Patients and Methods: This longitudinal observational type of study was carried out at NINMAS, from January 2016 to December 2016. A total number of 43 hyperparathyroid patients who had positive parathyroid scan were included in this study during one year follow up period. There clinical status, biochemical profile & treatment history were evaluated Chi-quire and paired t-test were used to analyze the variables.Results: Among 43 study patients, number of male patients was 26 (60.5%) and female patients were 17 (39.5%). The mean ± SD age was 42.44 ± 12.11 years and majority was in age group 41-50 years. It was observed that 40 (93.0%) patients were symptomatic and only 3 (7.0%) were asymptomatic. Regarding symptoms, majority (81.4%) patients had bone pain followed by renal stone (58.1%). More than half (55.8%) patient had abdominal pain or cramps. Twenty nine (67.4.0%) patients undergone operation and 14 (32.6%) patients did not receive operative treatment at the one year follow up period.  Among 43 patients 29 (67.4%) were operated and all operated patients relieved their symptoms whereas patients 14 (32.6%) had not undergone operation and their symptoms persisted. There was strong statistical significant association (P<0.05) between operation and relief of symptoms. The biochemical profile of study patients showed that preoperative mean serum calcium level was 10.92±2.85 mg/dl which reduced after operation (7.53±2.75 mg/dl). The mean value of serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) level also reduced from 748±744.77 pg/ml to 171.61±168.23 pg/ml.Conclusion: Among all patients, 67.4% received operative treatment and were relieved from symptoms at one year follow up. Significant number of hyperparathyroid patients (32.6%) failed to receive operative treatment due to poor economic condition. More awareness is needed among physicians and patients about immediate operative treatment to alleviate their sufferings as well as to avoid crippling complications.Bangladesh J. Nuclear Med. 20(2): 119-123, July 2017


In this work we present the implantable and wearable measurement system developed for smart knee prostheses monitoring. The kinematic measurement system contains three anisotropic magnetoresistive sensors embedded into the polyethylene part of the prostheses. The kinematic measurement system also has two inertial measurement units to be worn by the subject on the shank and thigh. Each of this inertial measurement units consisted of a 3D accelerometer and a 3D gyroscope. The force measurement system contains implantable strain gauges that connected in two separate Wheatstone bridges and embedded in a designed capsule-like structure. These systems were validated in a robotic knee simulator against reference force and kinematics systems. The best angle estimator performed with an RMS error of 1.18°±0.25° over four different walking patterns, while the force sensors showed linear behavior in measuring the applied forces, where linear models obtained R2s larger than 0.98.


While the field of clinical psychology has traditionally relied on empirical research, particularly in the form of randomised control trials, many important questions can also be answered by a wide range of qualitative methods. These methods allow for a closer analysis of therapeutic process, the narrative and interior life of the client, the ways in which meaning is constructed by those in distress and much more. Despite increasing recognition tensions arise when advocating for and employing qualitative methods in a science faculty, tensions that can only be alleviated by what Derrida (1997) calls 'An Ethic of Hospitality.' This ethics implies a process of mutual influence between researchers, one which has the potential to both deepen the focus of traditional clinical research and enhance the rigour applied to qualitative work. Ten standards are proposed to ensure trustworthiness in qualitative research, including, including those which support researcher reflexivity and the credibility and dependability of findings. Specific examples of current studies that rely on these standards will be provided.


Metabolic theory proposes that individual growth is governed through the mass- and temperature-dependence of metabolism, and ecological stoichiometry posits that growth is maximized at consumer-specific optima of resource elemental composition. A given consumer's optimum, the threshold elemental ratio (TER), is proportional to the ratio of its maximum elemental gross growth efficiencies (GGEs). GGE is defined by the ratio of metabolism-dependent processes such that GGEs should be independent of body mass and temperature. Understanding the metabolic-dependencies of GGEs and TERs may open the path towards a theoretical framework integrating the flow of energy and chemical elements through ecosystems. However, the mass and temperature scaling of GGEs and TERs have not been broadly evaluated. Here, we use data from 95 published studies to evaluate these metabolic-dependencies for C, N and P from unicells to vertebrates. We show that maximum GGEs commonly decline as power functions of asymptotic body mass and exponential functions of temperature. The rates of change in maximum GGEs with mass and temperature are relatively slow, however, suggesting that metabolism may not causally influence maximum GGEs. We additionally derived the theoretical expectation that the TER for C:P should not vary with body mass and this was supported empirically. A strong linear relationship between carbon and nitrogen GGEs further suggests that variation in the TER for C:N should be due to variation in consumer C:N. In general we show that GGEs may scale with metabolic rate, but it is unclear if there is a causal link between metabolism and GGEs. Further integrating stoichiometry and metabolism will provide better understanding of the processes governing the flow of energy and elements from organisms to ecosystems.


The World Health Organization is encouraging countries to develop and implement policies aimed at increasing physical activity in children and adolescents. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to identify the common existing international policies established to increase physical activity in children and adolescents; and (2) to examine the extent to which these policies are supported by solid scientific evidence. Existing policies as well as intervention studies for children and adolescents in Europe, America, Asia, and Oceania that were written in English and Chinese were identified via scientific databases, reference lists of articles, and existing archives and databases via non-electronic search. The policy areas found to be the most common were: (1) Physical Education in School; (2) Physical Activity-Related Health Education; (3) Community Environmental Support; (4) School Environmental Support; (5) Active Transport/Urban Design; and (6) Mass Media/Advertising Campaigns. For these policy areas, the intervention literature was reviewed and segmented into three domains: policy research (studies examining the relationship of policies to physical activity levels in young people), effectiveness studies (multi-site physical activity interventions), and efficacy studies (single site or local physical activity interventions). Effectiveness studies provided support for policies that focus on increasing Physical Education in School, improving School Environmental Support and Active Transport/Urban Design, and launching Mass Media/Advertising Campaigns designed to increase physical activity levels in children and adolescents. The results for Physical Activity-Related Health Education and Community Environmental Support were mixed, indicating that more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of physical activity policies in those areas. [J Exerc Sci Fit • Vol 9 • No 1 • 1–14 • 2011]


The Schmidt gap for a block of spins in an infinite long-range Kitaev chain is calculated as a function of interaction range and the relative strengths of the chemical potential and hopping terms. We find that for long-ranged interactions where area law violations to the entanglement entropy occur, the Schmidt gap does not appear to close rapidly with chain length. For short-ranged interactions however, the Schmidt gap vanishes in a parameter region corresponding to an antiferromagnetic phase with gapless edge modes. These results demonstrate that the Schmidt gap can be used to distinguish quantum phases in the long-range Kitaev model.


Abstract
In this chapter it is argued that when the Austrian revival takes place in the 1970s and 1980s the image of economics as an analytical science which can be methodologically kept clean from value judgments, and the economist as a pure truth-seeker shapes modern Austrian economics at the expense of an idea of a socially involved, embedded scholar with a responsibility toward society which was characteristic of the pre-WWII Austrian school. The neglect of that part of the Austrian heritage is important not only for how we understand the role and responsibility of the social scientist but also because it alters what we consider to be relevant and valid economic knowledge. The chapter demonstrates that insight into economic processes was excluded from what was considered valid economic knowledge and how social relevance of knowledge was no longer a goal in the postwar Austrian School. The chapter identifies alternative currents in the modern Austrian school to this general trend and suggests ways forward to think about the appropriate institutions to promote relevance and the moral conduct of (Austrian) economics.


Q
 methodology has been influenced in fundamental ways by the works of
Freud, Spearman, and Fisher. Freud's pleasure/pain principle is
incorporated into the Q-sorting operation, and concern with morality can
 be traced to studies on factor W (character) in Spearman's laboratory.
The reality principle, also Freud's, joined with training in physics
which led to self reference in explaining consciousness. Self reference,
 in turn, draws its first principle from Peirce - that ideas, unlike
facts, spread in human communicability and form concourses, all of which
 can be conceptualized in terms of Fisherian designs. An example is
given in which a thousand quotations about women are structured as to
feeling (pleasure/unpleasure), morality, and reality. Self reference is
not in the structure, however, but is quantified in the Q sorting, which
 is why variance analysis, with its classical emphasis on causality and
prediction, is bypassed in favor of factor analysis, which incorporates
operationalism and is compatible with more modern scientific theories of
 relativity, quantum mechanics and uncertainty.


This unit details the materials and methods required for both active induction and adoptive transfer of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in the SJL mouse strain using intact proteins or peptides from the two major myelin proteins: proteolipid protein (PLP) and myelin basic protein (MBP). Detailed materials and methods required for the purification of both PLP and MBP are also described. Modifications of the specified protocols may be necessary for efficient induction of active or adoptive EAE in other mouse strains.


Syngeneic or parental strain T cells adoptively transferred into hybrid rats tolerant of third party alloantigens (L/DA tolerant of BN), in numbers insufficient to abolish tolerance, induce instead an active resistance to tolerance abolition with larger, usually effective dosages of donor cells. Of particular interest is the finding that immunization with T cells from one parental strain donor (e.g., DA) inhibited the tolerance-abolishing alloreactivity (anti-BN) of subsequently transferred T cells from the same (DA) and the other (L) parental strain donor. We conclude that anti-MHC receptors on T cells from different genetic backgrounds reactive to the same third party alloantigens share the same conserved immunogenic specificity- associated markers (SAM). The nonpolymorphism of anti-MHC receptors shown here in the transplantation tolerance model is a confirmation of the same conclusion drawn from earlier studies with the GVHD-resistance model, and it therefore suggests that these two models of T cell MHC interactions involve very similar mechanisms of T cell idiotypic regulation.


Abstract The trend towards building green is gaining momentum. Much of the early emphasis has been on new buildings but there is increasing awareness of the importance of 'greening' the existing building stock. A small but significant proportion of existing buildings are considered to be heritage buildings and the need to 'green' these buildings while protecting their heritage values is an additional challenge that needs to be addressed. This paper discusses the opportunities and issues related to the rehabilitation of heritage buildings in a 'green' fashion. It also explores the potential synergies between heritage preservation and sustainable development.


Irrigation has a great importance in the production of food, and it is responsible for consuming a large part of the water used by human activities. This makes the rational management of water use fundamental for sustainable food production. For this purpose, the determination of bulk density is important and needs to be obtained with the simplest, least onerous methods possible, while maintaining precision and accuracy. Therefore, the objective of this work was to evaluate the use of PVC pipes of different dimensions to determine bulk density. For comparison purposes, the volumetric ring, paraffin clod, beaker and excavation methods were also used. Deformed and undisturbed soil samples of different granulometries were collected at the depths of 0.025-0.075, 0.050-0.100, 0.075-0.125 and 0.100-0.150 m. The PVC pipes had diameters of 0.040, 0.050, 0.060 and 0.075 m and heights of 0.10, 0.15, 0.20 and 0.25 m. The bulk density results for each PVC pipe dimension were compared with those of the traditional methods by the unpaired t-test at 5% significance. For soils with a clayey or very clayey texture, the 0.040 m diameter and 0.15 m high PVC pipe presented the best results, with values closer to those of the standard method. For soils with a medium and sandy texture, the best results were found when a PVC pipe with a diameter of 0.060 m and a height of 0.15 m was used.


The minimising inhibitory concentrations of four antimicrobial agents for 64 clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae including 26 penicillinase producing strains (PPNG) as determined by E test, a recently developed method for sensitivity testing, were compared with those of agar dilution method using isosensitest (IST) agar. The medium was supplemented with either 5% lysed horse blood alone or with both lysed horse blood and 1% vitox defined supplement. The E test MICs compared closely with those obtained by agar dilution with essential agreements within +/- 1 log2 dilution being over 90% with all test antibiotics on medium that did not contain vitox, and between 71 and 93% on medium containing vitox. The Pearson's correlation coefficients ranged from 0.84 to 0.96 on either medium formulation. Excellent categorical agreement was obtained for all isolates with ceftriaxone, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline, while the E test gave a minor categorical discrepancy for two isolates with penicillin. We conclude that the E test is as reliable as conventional agar dilution method for MIC testing of N. gonorrhoeae in a routine laboratory.


Prague—Last year, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) launched a $15-million program to provide grants to elite researchers in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Hughes brought the grantees together here for a meeting in June that provided a snapshot of how science is faring in the region. Most of the 87 researchers who attended the meeting said that their HHMI grants—between $25,000 and $35,000 a year over 5 years—have provided a lifeline at a time when most sources of support are drying up.


Comparative genomics has brought a new perspective to the origin and evolution of DNA repair. Evolution of repair is connected intimately to the evolution of replication systems but shows much greater plasticity as a result of many lineage-specific gene losses and horizontal gene-transfer events.

Keywords:

DNA replication;
horizontal gene transfer;
lineage-specific gene loss;
evolutionary plasticity