'No man is an island' [John Donne]. Human and technological networks play a vital part in our lives, and their failures have often caused severe adverse consequences. In this paper we address this crucial issue by presenting a model to prevent not only network failures but also their propagation to the remaining network elements. Our model forecasts the number of packets each node is able to service without becoming overloaded, by determining the transition probabilities assigned to each link. Thus, our model ensures that nodes receive as many packets as their network resources prescribe. The model is portable to any type of topology and is based on Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs), which are numerically solved as a multivariable, coupled system, over a variety of topologies. Our numerical algorithm is based on the classic Runge--Kutta 4th order, which is adjusted to integrate graph principles.


Most algorithms for distributed averaging only guarantee asymptotic convergence. This paper introduces a distributed protocol that allows nodes to find the exact average of the initial values in a finite and minimum number of steps on interconnection topologies described by strongly connected directed graphs (digraphs). More specifically, under the assumption that each component has knowledge of the number of its outgoing links (i.e., the number of components to which it sends information), we show that the average value can be computed based on local observations over a finite time interval. The average can be obtained in a finite number of steps even when the information exchange is subject to delays. The proposed algorithm is the first in the literature that allows for distributed computation of the exact average in digraphs in finite time, with and without delays.


Vanadium oxide thin film which has a reversible semiconductor-metal phase transition has been obtained by reactive ion-beam sputtering and subsequent annealing in Ar gas. Micro-analysis shows that this thin film is homogeneous and compact, its spheric grain size is about 50nm and it is composed of VO2 and V2O5. Electrical properties testing indicate that its phase transition temperature is near 60°C, abrupt change of resistivity before and after phase transition is approximate to 3 orders of magnitude, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) is about -0.0393K-1 at 25°C and activation energy is about 0.3006eV at the range of low temperature. Using a pulse laser beam with wavelength of 1064nm and pulse width of 10ns, laser damage threshold was obtained to be 20.1mJ/cm2. Damage spot morphology of the film was also researched carefully to discover its laser damage mechanism. All results above prove that this thin film is a perfect thermo-sensitive material that can be used for uncooled infrared detector and laser protection.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a biologically safe flow cytometric susceptibility test that depends on detection and enumeration of actively growing Mycobacterium avium organisms in drug-free and antimycobacterial agent-containing medium.

METHODS
Prior to analysis by flow cytometry, all M. avium susceptibility test samples were inactivated by exposure to paraformaldehyde. The susceptibilities of 20 clinical isolates of M. avium to amikacin, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, and rifabutin were tested by the flow cytometric and BACTEC methods.

RESULTS
Agreement was 97% between the results of the two methods. The results of flow cytometric susceptibility tests were available 24 h after inoculation of drug-containing medium, while the BACTEC method required 4-8 days to complete.

CONCLUSIONS
The flow cytometric assay is safe, simple and reproducible.


For the
seventies, scientists focused their researches to find techniques to produce
high quality films. One of the ideas, for example, was to generate an ionized
cluster beam (ICB) formed by inert gas condensation (IGC) from evaporation of
material. This method generates non-agglomerated nanoparticles to be deposited
onto any substrate. However, the synthesis of spherical and well-dispersed
nanoparticles remains, today, a major technological issue. Several trials have
been performed with magnetron sputtering that has the
advantage of producing very pure atomic vapour from a wide variety of solid
materials or composites, and therefore in this configuration offers the
possibility to synthesize nanoparticles in a gaz phase with potential numerous
applications. In this paper, we describe several results of our
laboratory and we show how it is possible to synthesize non-agglomerated
nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution in the nm range. Detailed
examples of Ag, TiO2, Au, Y, C, Co and Fe are given. We illustrate
their current use in applications including catalyst to produce aligned
Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes, seeding layer to promote anatase TiO2 crystallisation for photocatalytic material, superhydrophobic material and
nanoparticle for nanomedecine.


The focus of today's automotive industry is to reduce emissions and fuel consumption of all vehicles.Concentrating on the truck industry, the last 20 years have focused largely on cutting emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen oxides. For the future, attention will be focused on fuel consumption and emissions of carbon dioxide. Waste heat recovery appears to be a very promising concept for fuel economy on long haul heavy duty Diesel trucks.After a general introduction on the concept of waste heat recovery and the Rankine cycle, this thesis work shows how to model and calibrate a cooling system circuit for a heavy duty Diesel engine equipped with a waste heat recovery system. Then an overview of the current transmission systems that are suitable to transfer energy from the waste heat recovery expander to the engine shaft is presented. For all transmission architectures, input speed range, speed ratio range, transmission efficiency as well as weight and size are detailed and compared to each other. Finally, these systems are modeled and integrated to a complete vehicle Simulink simulation platform and simulations are run on two highway driving cycles. Resulting average recovered powers and fuel consumptions are compared and the analysis finally shows that a gear train transmission has the best performance for this kind of driving cycle.


INTRODUCTION The influence of El Niño on climate is accompanied by large changes to the carbon cycle, and El Niño–induced variability in the carbon cycle has been attributed mainly to the tropical continents. However, owing to a dearth of observations in the tropics, tropical carbon fluxes are poorly quantified, and considerable debate exists over the dominant mechanisms (e.g., plant growth, respiration, fire) and regions (e.g., humid versus semiarid tropics) on the net carbon balance. RATIONALE The launch of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) shortly before the 2015–2016 El Niño, the second strongest since the 1950s, has provided an opportunity to understand how tropical land carbon fluxes respond to the warm and dry climate characteristics of El Niño conditions. The El Niño events may also provide a natural experiment to study the response of tropical land carbon fluxes to future climate changes, because anomalously warm and dry tropical environments typical of El Niño are expected to be more frequent under most emission scenarios. RESULTS The tropical regions of three continents (South America, Asia, and Africa) had heterogeneous responses to the 2015–2016 El Niño, in terms of both climate drivers and the carbon cycle. The annual mean precipitation over tropical South America and tropical Asia was lower by 3.0σ and 2.8σ, respectively, in 2015 relative to the 2011 La Niña year. Tropical Africa, on the other hand, had near equal precipitation and the same number of dry months between 2015 and 2011; however, surface temperatures were higher by 1.6σ, dominated by the positive anomaly over its eastern and southern regions. In response to the warmer and drier climate anomaly in 2015, the pantropical biosphere released 2.5 ± 0.34 gigatons more carbon into the atmosphere than in 2011, which accounts for 83.3% of the global total 3.0–gigatons of carbon (gigatons C) net biosphere flux differences and 92.6% of the atmospheric CO2 growth-rate differences between 2015 and 2011. It indicates that the tropical land biosphere flux anomaly was the driver of the highest atmospheric CO2 growth rate in 2015. The three tropical continents had an approximately even contribution to the pantropical net carbon flux anomaly in 2015, but had diverse dominant processes: gross primary production (GPP) reduced carbon uptake (0.9 ± 0.96 gigatons C) in tropical South America, fire increased carbon release (0.4 ± 0.08 gigatons C) in tropical Asia, and respiration increased carbon release (0.6 ± 1.01 gigatons C) in Africa. We found that most of the excess carbon release in 2015 was associated with either extremely low precipitation or high temperatures, or both. CONCLUSION Our results indicate that the global El Niño effect is a superposition of regionally specific effects. The heterogeneous climate forcing and carbon response over the three tropical continents to the 2015–2016 El Niño challenges previous studies that suggested that a single dominant process determines carbon cycle interannual variability, which could also be due to previous disturbance and soil and vegetation structure. The similarity between the 2015 tropical climate anomaly and the projected climate changes imply that the role of the tropical land as a buffer for fossil fuel emissions may be reduced in the future. The heterogeneous response may reflect differences in temperature and rainfall anomalies, but intrinsic differences in vegetation species, soils, and prior disturbance may contribute as well. A synergistic use of multiple satellite observations and a long time series of spatially resolved fluxes derived from sustained satellite observations will enable tests of these hypotheses, allow for a more process-based understanding, and, ultimately, aid improved carbon-climate model projections. Diverse climate driver anomalies and carbon cycle responses to the 2015–2016 El Niño over the three tropical continents. Schematic of climate anomaly patterns over the three tropical continents and the anomalies of the net carbon flux and its dominant constituent flux (i.e., GPP, respiration, and fire) relative to the 2011 La Niña during the 2015–2016 El Niño. GtC, gigatons C. The 2015–2016 El Niño led to historically high temperatures and low precipitation over the tropics, while the growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) was the largest on record. Here we quantify the response of tropical net biosphere exchange, gross primary production, biomass burning, and respiration to these climate anomalies by assimilating column CO2, solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence, and carbon monoxide observations from multiple satellites. Relative to the 2011 La Niña, the pantropical biosphere released 2.5 ± 0.34 gigatons more carbon into the atmosphere in 2015, consisting of approximately even contributions from three tropical continents but dominated by diverse carbon exchange processes. The heterogeneity of the carbon-exchange processes indicated here challenges previous studies that suggested that a single dominant process determines carbon cycle interannual variability.


It is a well known fact that roundabouts are safer for motor drivers than for cyclists. The main part of accidents occurs between motor vehicles entering or leaving the roundabout and circulating cyclists. In order to obtain more knowledge about why some entering motor drivers overlook circulating cyclists; the Danish Road Directorate has conducted a study of driver behavior at roundabouts in urban areas. Is it possible to change the interaction between vehicle drivers and cyclists in relation to roundabouts by changing the design, in a way that makes it safer for cyclists? Should roundabouts be designed with or without cycle facilities? And does visibility splays have any importance for drivers overlooking circulating cyclists? By use of a vehicle simulator together with eye tracking, a study of motor drivers? behavior towards circulating cyclists in roundabouts in urban areas with or without cycle facilities and varying visibility splays have been conducted. A total of seven different roundabout designs with varying type of cycle facilities in the approach and in the circulation area have been tested. The seven designs have all been tested with three different visibility splays: Good, Medium and Acceptable. The results from the analysis, indicates that visibility splays, design and the presence of cycle facilities all have influence on drivers interaction with circulating cyclists when approaching a roundabout. The results indicate that drivers are more attentive to circulating cyclists, when there is no cycle facility.


Benchmarking and co-design are essential for driving optimizations and innovation around ML models, ML software, and next-generation hardware. Full workload benchmarks, e.g. MLPerf, play an essential role in enabling fair comparison across different software and hardware stacks especially once systems are fully designed and deployed. However, the pace of AI innovation demands a more agile methodology to benchmark creation and usage by simulators and emulators for future system co-design. We propose Chakra, an open graph schema for standardizing workload specification capturing key operations and dependencies, also known as Execution Trace (ET). In addition, we propose a complementary set of tools/capabilities to enable collection, generation, and adoption of Chakra ETs by a wide range of simulators, emulators, and benchmarks. For instance, we use generative AI models to learn latent statistical properties across thousands of Chakra ETs and use these models to synthesize Chakra ETs. These synthetic ETs can obfuscate key proprietary information and also target future what-if scenarios. As an example, we demonstrate an end-to-end proof-of-concept that converts PyTorch ETs to Chakra ETs and uses this to drive an open-source training system simulator (ASTRA-sim). Our end-goal is to build a vibrant industry-wide ecosystem of agile benchmarks and tools to drive future AI system co-design.


Visual analytics can be seen as guided exploration of data where underlying statistical or machine learning algorithms present interesting views of high-dimensional data that users can interactively explore. This paradigm is used to investigate clusters, trends and anomalies in a wide range of data domains such as bioinformatics, network flow monitoring, social networks and more. In this thesis, we develop visual analytic tools to explore high-dimensional data based on discovering views that exhibit certain visual patterns.
We start by introducing a framework, called Visual Model Based Transformations, to reveal interesting visual patterns in multivariate data. This novel framework can be used to describe and discover anomalies based on visual characterizations of high-dimensional data so leveraging visual analytics as an integral part of the process. An instantiation of the framework is the development of a set of features to characterize the shape of two-dimensional point clouds and answer the question, how can we identify anomalous scatterplots or bivariate distributions? In the process of extending this idea to identify and formally capture high-dimensional structures through a visual platform, we developed a highly accurate classification algorithm that leverages random projections and set covers in a new way.
With the success of our classifier, we analyze how we can visually explore these random projections and the subspaces they describe to get insight into the data. We developed a visual analytic explorer to delve into the internals of our classifier. Taking this further, we investigate how we can use visual feature scores to discover interesting structure in higher dimensions. Leveraging non-axis-parallel random projections to find subspaces that maximize some score has not been explored and we show that it is an interesting alternative feature selection method when dealing with large multivariate data sets. We integrate our proposed score functions and search algorithm into a novel visual platform that facilitates exploration of targeted subspaces of high-dimensional data.
All the tools we develop allow for exploratory data analysis of high-dimensional data when we describe target patterns of interest. We describe how our methodology can be used for anomaly detection and supervised classification tasks.


Vibratory feedback can be a useful tool for rehabilitation. We examined its use in children with dystonia to understand how it affects muscle activity in a population that does not respond well to standard rehabilitation. We predicted scaled vibration (ie, vibration that was directly or inversely proportional to muscle activity) would increase use of the vibrated muscle because of task-relevant sensory information, whereas nonscaled vibration would not change muscle use. The study was conducted on 11 subjects with dystonia and 14 controls. Each subject underwent 4 different types of vibration on the more dystonic biceps muscle (or nondominant arm in controls) in a 1-dimensional, bimanual myocontrol task. Our results showed that only scaled vibratory feedback could bias muscle use without changing overall performance in children with dystonia. We believe there may be a role in rehabilitation for scaled vibratory feedback to retrain abnormal muscle patterns.


CONTEXT
Many adverse drug errors may be prevented through electronic order entry systems that provide decision support to physicians by screening prescriptions for dosing errors, drug-disease, drug-allergy and drug-drug interactions. The adherence to such decision aids is varied and the reasons for this variance not well understood.

OBJECTIVE
To assess the feasibility and performance auto-mated drug alerts within an electronic decision support system for physician prescribing.

METHODS
Drug alert data were collected from a pilot project with 30 participating general practitioners who were provided with interactive electronic prescription capabilities through a personal digital assistant (PDA).

RESULTS
66,642 electronic prescriptions resulted in a total of 1,869 drug alerts. The most common alert types were analysed, along with reasons for non-adherence to automated drug alerts.

CONCLUSIONS
Non-adherence to alert information appears to be associated with additional knowledge of the clinical situation, beyond that inherent in the decision support tool, for the specific patient context. Further work is required to understand how best to provide this type of support to physicians.


Under the Obama administration, approximately 1.2 million undocumented immigrants have been deported, (around 400,000 in 2011), placing children (who are often American citizens) at risk of unnecessary mental anguish as well as financial hardship. With republican and democratic leadership tied up in ideological debates addressing the issue of comprehensive immigration reform, many states are left in a dire position and we as a nation end up with draconian anti-immigrant legislation that places more Latino immigrant families at risk. Enforcement-only initiatives leave children and families of immigrants in our country vulnerable. Comprehensive immigration reform is necessary. This article discusses the prevalence of such policy initiatives and their implications for social work education, practice, research, and policy.


Background Dengue is the most prevalent mosquito borne infection worldwide. Vertical transmissions after maternal dengue infection to the fetus and pregnancy losses in relation to dengue illness have been reported. The relationship of dengue to miscarriage is not known. Method We aimed to establish the relationship of recent dengue infection and miscarriage. Women who presented with miscarriage (up to 22 weeks gestation) to our hospital were approached to participate in the study. For each case of miscarriage, we recruited 3 controls with viable pregnancies at a similar gestation. A brief questionnaire on recent febrile illness and prior dengue infection was answered. Blood was drawn from participants, processed and the frozen serum was stored. Stored sera were thawed and then tested in batches with dengue specific IgM capture ELISA, dengue non-structural protein 1 (NS1) antigen and dengue specific IgG ELISA tests. Controls remained in the analysis if their pregnancies continued beyond 22 weeks gestation. Tests were run on 116 case and 341 control sera. One case (a misdiagnosed viable early pregnancy) plus 45 controls (39 lost to follow up and six subsequent late miscarriages) were excluded from analysis. Findings Dengue specific IgM or dengue NS1 antigen (indicating recent dengue infection) was positive in 6/115 (5·2%) cases and 5/296 (1·7%) controls RR 3·1 (95% CI 1·0–10) P = 0·047. Maternal age, gestational age, parity and ethnicity were dissimilar between cases and controls. After adjustments for these factors, recent dengue infection remained significantly more frequently detected in cases than controls (AOR 4·2 95% CI 1·2–14 P = 0·023). Interpretation Recent dengue infections were more frequently detected in women presenting with miscarriage than in controls whose pregnancies were viable. After adjustments for confounders, the positive association remained.


Africa's recent communications 'revolution' has generated optimism that using mobile phones for health (mhealth) can help bridge healthcare gaps, particularly for rural, hard-to-reach populations. However, while scale-up of mhealth pilots remains limited, health-workers across the continent possess mobile phones. This article draws on interviews from Ghana and Malawi to ask whether/how health-workers are using their phones informally and with what consequences. Health-workers were found to use personal mobile phones for a wide range of purposes: obtaining help in emergencies; communicating with patients/colleagues; facilitating community-based care, patient monitoring and medication adherence; obtaining clinical advice/information and managing logistics. However, the costs were being borne by the health-workers themselves, particularly by those at the lower echelons, in rural communities, often on minimal stipends/salaries, who are required to 'care' even at substantial personal cost. Although there is significant potential for 'informal mhealth' to improve (rural) healthcare, there is a risk that the associated moral and political economies of care will reinforce existing socioeconomic and geographic inequalities.


Japan has often been regarded as an ethnically homogeneous society whose restrictive immigration policies reflect the deep-seated cultural peculiarities of this 'island nation'. By contrast, I shall argue that Japan's post- 1945 cultural separation from the other countries of East Asia, and its strict border controls, were to a large extent products of Cold War politics. The postwar democratization of Japan went hand in hand with the introduction of tight restrictions on cross-border mobility: restrictions which had profound consequences for the rights of ethnic minorities in Japan (particularly Koreans and Taiwanese). An exploration of the emergence and impact of this border control regime casts new light, not just on Japan's role in the Northeast Asian region, but also on key limitations of nation-state centred notions of liberal democracy.


Though utilizing information from the internet is common in language learning, it is often a spontaneous behavior and is not supported by computer programs that are specialized for language learners. In this project, we create a collaborative learning environment for Mandarin Chinese that implements the idea of learning by teaching. The students will learn and practice their language skills by collaboratively designing interactive presentations, such as introducing a place or a type of food with a computer agent, and the scenarios can be used later on by their peers for practicing. During the design process, storytelling techniques such as making an analogy, foreshadowing and flashback will be automatically suggested by the agent for making the presentation more interesting and clear.


There is an increasing concern that anthropogenic noise could have a significant impact on the marine environment, but there is still insufficient data for most invertebrates. What do they perceive? We investigated this question in oysters Magallana gigas (Crassostrea gigas) using pure tone exposures, accelerometer fixed on the oyster shell and hydrophone in the water column. Groups of 16 oysters were exposed to quantifiable waterborne sinusoidal sounds in the range of 10 Hz to 20 kHz at various acoustic energies. The experiment was conducted in running seawater using an experimental flume equipped with suspended loudspeakers. The sensitivity of the oysters was measured by recording their valve movements by high-frequency noninvasive valvometry. The tests were 3 min tone exposures including a 70 sec fade-in period. Three endpoints were analysed: the ratio of responding individuals in the group, the resulting changes of valve opening amplitude and the response latency. At high enough acoustic energy, oysters transiently closed their valves in response to frequencies in the range of 10 to <1000 Hz, with maximum sensitivity from 10 to 200 Hz. The minimum acoustic energy required to elicit a response was 0.02 m∙s-2 at 122 dBrms re 1 μPa for frequencies ranging from 10 to 80 Hz. As a partial valve closure cannot be differentiated from a nociceptive response, it is very likely that oysters detect sounds at lower acoustic energy. The mechanism involved in sound detection and the ecological consequences are discussed.


Malignant melanoma is considered as the most lethal of all skin cancers. However, it is also one of the most immunogenic, characterized by specific antigen presentation and dense lymphocytic infiltration. Many studies concerning melanoma have reported the concurrent presence of vitiligo or Melanoma Associated Hypopigmentation (MAH). This type of vitiligo can appear before or after MM diagnosis, or in tandem with treatment with immunotherapeutic drugs and has been associated with an improved prognosis and/or better response to immunotherapy treatments. This may be attributed to the fact that activated T cells against antigens found on malignant melanocytes can also recognize normal melanocytes and destroy them. On the other side, very limited data exist on whether classic vitiligo can offer protection against or is associated with a decreased incidence of MM. However, MAH represents an example of a strong link between tumor immunity and autoimmune responses. This unique characteristic may be of use as a biomarker in melanoma patients, allowing prediction of MM prognosis or response to specific treatment regimens. Up to this point only a few studies report patient data regarding classic vitiligo and MM. In this paper, the autoimmune hypothesis in the pathogenesis of vitiligo and MAH are discussed, focusing on similarities, differences and known autoantigens. In addition, the results of studies regarding MM and vitiligo or MAH are also summarized.


Good scientific writing is essential to career development and to the progress of science. A well-structured manuscript allows readers and reviewers to get excited about the subject matter, to understand and verify the paper's contributions, and to integrate these contributions into a broader context. However, many scientists struggle with producing high-quality manuscripts and typically get little training in paper writing. Focusing on how readers consume information, we present a set of 10 simple rules to help you get across the main idea of your paper. These rules are designed to make your paper more influential and the process of writing more efficient and pleasurable.


This paper considers Kant's transcendental philosophy as a special transcendental paradigm (a special type of philosophical research) differing from both the "objective" metaphysics of Antiquity and the "subjective" metaphysics of Modernity (the metaphysics of an object (transcendent metaphysics; meta-physics) experience (transcendental metaphysics) the metaphysics of the subject (immanent metaphysics; meta-psychology)). For this purpose, the author introduces such new methodological concepts as "transcendental shift" and "transcendental perspective" (see CPR, B25) and "transcendental constructivism" or "pragmatism" (see "acts of pure thinking" (CPR, B81)). This interpretation of transcendentalism is based on the cognitive-semantic reading of the Critique in the light of Kant's question formulated in a letter to M. Herz (of February 21, 1772): "What is the ground of the relation of that in us which we call "representation" to the object?" (R. Hanna) and the modern interpretation of Kant that was called the "two aspects" interpretation (H. Allison). Whereas classical metaphysics interprets knowledge as a relation between the (empirical) subject and the object, the transcendental metaphysics understands "possible experience" ( Erfahrung ) as a relation between the transcendental subject (transcendental unity of apperception) and the transcendental object. At the same time, unlike contemplative classical metaphysics, Kant's transcendentalism is an "experimental" metaphysics, whereas the "transcendental" is defined as a borderline ontological area between the immanent and the transcendent, an "instrumental" element of our cognition and consciousness (cf. E. Husserl's intentional reality and K. Popper's three worlds).


As the numbers of submissions to conferences grow quickly, the task of assessing the quality of academic papers automatically, convincingly, and with high accuracy attracts increasing attention. We argue that studying interpretable dimensions of these submissions could lead to scalable solutions. We extract a collection of writing features, and construct a suite of prediction tasks to assess the usefulness of these features in predicting citation counts and the publication of AI-related papers. Depending on the venues, the writing features can predict the conference vs. workshop appearance with F1 scores up to 60-90, sometimes even outperforming the content-based tf-idf features and RoBERTa. We show that the features describe writing style more than content. To further understand the results, we estimate the causal impact of the most indicative features. Our analysis on writing features provides a perspective to assessing and refining the writing of academic articles at scale.


Osteopontin (OPN) is a secreted phosphoprotein that is constitutively expressed in the normal kidney and is induced by various experimental and pathologic conditions. Several possible functions of OPN have been suggested, however the mechanism and significance of OPN expression are still uncertain. Since high salt concentration or salt crystal have been known to enhance OPN expression in intact kidney or cultured renal cells, in the present study we examined whether or not a low salt condition had an effect on OPN expression in the kidney. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed either a normal sodium or a sodium deficient diet for 1 week. Kidneys were processed for in situ hybridization using a digoxigenin-labeled riboprobe and for immunohistochemistry using antibodies to OPN, renin, and Na-K-ATPase. In rats fed a normal sodium diet, OPN mRNA and protein were expressed only in the descending thin limbs of Henle's loop (DTL) and in the papillary and pelvic surface epithelium (PSE). In rats fed a sodium deficient diet, there was a marked decrease in OPN immunoreactivity in the DTL, but no changes in PSE. In contrast, no changes were observed in OPN mRNA expression in the DTL by in situ hybridization, indicating that decreased OPN protein expression was a result of translational regulation. As expected, rats fed a sodium deficient diet were associated with increased immunoreactivity for Na-K-ATPase and renin compatible with activation of the renin-angiotensin system. These results suggest that dietary sodium may be involved in the regulation of OPN expression in the DTL of the rat kidney.


In this paper we report some results of a study on the range of possible structure of programming languages. The main emphasis is on the range of graphical ("topological" or flowchart) and syntactic structure. For the sake of simplicity and precision we rather severely limit the "semantic structure" of the languages--we restrict ourselves to command (instruction) languages for Turing machines. As we show, this apparently strong limitation imposes very little restriction on the graphical and syntactic structure. The bulk of the paper consists of the presentation of six Turing machine languages. These languages serve to illustrate the range of possible structure and, more important, they allow us to establish the range of a number of structural parameters. All the languages are universal in the sense that in each one we can program every computable function. However, they differ greatly in syntax, graphical structure, ease of compilation (assembly), and in the type of machine, if any, which can operate directly in the language. In brief, we present languages with finite-state, context-free and more complex syntax; languages with "conventional" graphical structure, with block structure and only one transfer per block, with only nested transfers (nested loops), with transfers only to the immediately neighboring instructions, and with only one transfer per program.


The biomass and metal concentrations of two populations ofPhragmites australiswere studied by growth in a glasshouse in three ameliorated substrata [Mai Po (MP) sediment, fly ash (FA) and lead/zinc mine tailings (TL)] under flooded and dry conditions for 90 d. Plants were raised from seeds from 'clean' (Mai Po, Hong Kong) and metal-contaminated (Plombieres, Belgium) sites. Seedling growth was best in fly ash, root dry weights being higher in flooded than dry conditions, and growth poorest in tailings, in which shoot and root dry weights were higher under dry conditions for both populations. However, in the MP substratum conditions did not significantly affect shoot and root dry weights of either population. In the fly ash and tailings, more metals were generally taken up in both roots and shoots in flooded than dry conditions, but there was little difference in the MP substratum. Metal uptake was mostly similar in both populations in seedlings grown in the same substratum, there being no clear evidence of ecotypic differentiation.


Spontaneous mutations, and those induced by nitrous acid or ultraviolet light, were studied in the haploid fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Reverse mutations conferring ability to grow on a minimal medium lacking adenine were scored in adenine auxotrophs, and in di-auxotrophs having requirements for both adenine and methionine. The apparently lower mutability of the ad-1 mutants in the ad-metdiauxotrophic strains compared with the adstrains was shown to be due to the influence of methionine in the plating medium. L-methionine added to the minimal medium at a concentration of 40pg. per ml. wil suppress the appearance of spontaneous and induced revertants of adenine-1 mutants. A similar effect has been shown for reversions of an adenine mutant at another locus, and for reversions of a leucine auxotroph. Methionine has the effect of decreasing the extent of residual divisions undergone by adenine-requiring cells when plated on a minimal medium.


The rate of total 14CO2 incorporation in the bloom-forming cyanobacterium Microcystis varied with light intensity, being minimal at 10 lux and increasing at both higher and lower intensities. The total labelling of compounds arising from phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylation (aspartate, glutamate and citrate) showed a minimum just below the light compensation point. At lower light intensities a marked increase in the percentage labelling of these compounds from 14CO2 occurred, together with a decrease in that of sugar phosphates and phosphoglycerate. The operation of the reductive pentose phosphate pathway was retarded at low light intensities; with increasing intensities the synthesis of sugars was favoured in relation to that of amino acids. This regulation of the route of CO2 fixation is discussed in relation to the survival of cyanobacteria under unfavourable environmental conditions.


Since 2011 marked the end of the twenty-year television run of the Oprah Winfrey Show, it seems fitting that an examination of Winfrey's growth and empire would place the icon's success into perspective. Kathryn Lofton's Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon gives a thorough study of Winfrey and Harpo Productions that not only offers explanations into her success and influence, but also opens the door to further inquiry by religious studies scholars. Placing Oprah within a religious context is not new; anyone who saw her play spiritual emcee during the five-hour interfaith "Prayer for America" in 2001 could situate Winfrey among the spiritual elite. But how is Winfrey's spiritual "power" developed? Where does it come from? How is it disseminated? Lofton's book examines these questions through cultural, religious, and historical lenses. According to Lofton, Winfrey is able to package spirituality as more than just an ethereal experience. Oprah's spirituality and power derives from the ability to commodify the idea of a "better you." Each Winfrey product endorsement and guest is infused with this idea. The idea is promoted seamlessly across platforms, from her television show, to her radio show, to her magazine, and through her book club. Each of these outlets offers participants opportunities to catch glimpses of themselves in a better life, through a better light: the light cast by Oprah and Harpo Productions. Lofton's prose is highly readable, making it accessible to not only those steeped in religious and cultural studies, but to a general audience as well. The book breaks down the Oprah phenomenon by first examining the relationships between consumer culture, celebrity culture, the prosperity gospel, and the discourses of spirituality. While laying that groundwork, Lofton dismisses the three typical relationships between religion and popular culture—religion appearing in popular culture, popular culture appearing in religion, and popular culture as religion. She notes that "there have [. . .] always been pigeon sellers in every temple" (9). In this time in the country's social, religious, and cultural life, Lofton notes, it is increasingly hard to weave out the secular from the religious and vice versa. The rise of Oprah (the brand) and her empire seems to at once mirror and forge this phenomenon. Indeed, it is this marriage of the commercial and the spiritual that remains the focus of the book, but its purpose is not just to show that commercialism has always been a part of religion, but "to explode the tenuous wire between secular occupation and religious ones in order to highlight the constituent nature of each" (18). It is this commercial consumption, then, that enhances and draws out our deeper religious longings. After laying this groundwork, Lofton breaks down component parts of the Winfrey machinery. While examining the ritual of "the makeover," Lofton notes that Winfrey's television show provides systematic avenues for identity formation. This identity, however, is created and interpreted by Oprah herself. The Oprah Winfrey Book Club is recast by Lofton as an extension of the "post-Reformation Protestant textual tradition" (18), with the text used for immediate and personal change, not contemplation of the texts themselves. The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, the South African school Oprah founded, is seen as a marriage of traditional missions work with the modern process of developing global markets.


Report and presentation completed by students enrolled in HSG 5464: Understanding Housing Assessment and Analysis, taught by Jessica Deegan in fall 2012.


Abstract Irrigation of cultivated plants can be a source of toxic lithium to plants. The data on the effect of lithium uptake on plants are scant, that is why a research was undertaken with the aim to determine maize ability to bioaccumulate lithium. The research was carried out under hydroponic conditions. The experimental design comprised 10 concentrations in solution differing with lithium concentrations in the aqueous solution (ranging from 0.0 to 256.0 mg Li ∙ dm-3 of the nutrient solution). The parameters based on which lithium bioretention by maize was determined were: the yield, lithium concentration in various plant parts, uptake and utilization of this element, tolerance index (TI) and translocation factor (TF), metal concentrations in the above-ground parts index (CI) and bioaccumulation factor (BAF). Depression in yielding of maize occurred only at the highest concentrations of lithium. Lithium concentration was the highest in the roots, lower in the stems and leaves, and the lowest in the inflorescences. The values of tolerance index and EC50 indicated that roots were the most resistant organs to lithium toxicity. The values of translocation factor were indicative of intensive export of lithium from the roots mostly to the stems. The higher uptake of lithium by the above-ground parts than by the roots, which primarily results from the higher yield of these parts of the plants, supports the idea of using maize for lithium phytoremediation.


De Baillou is an important figure in medicine, and as he was the first physician to describe whooping cough, he deserves to rank high among those who have contributed to the development of pediatrics. Crookshank calls him the first epidemiologist of modern times. He came of good stock, his father, Nicolas, being celebrated both as a mathematician and as an architect. He studied in the University of Paris, and received his bachelor's degree in 1568 and his doctor's degree in 1570. From that time until his death in 1616, at the age of 78, he practiced in his native city. As a teacher, de Baillou attained a reputation not only for imparting knowledge, but for his severity in examinations; this earned for him the title of "fleau des bacheliers." In 1580, he was made "doyen" by the faculty of Paris. Henry IV appointed him physician to the Dauphin, but he


Abstract This article examines some selected issues relating to terrorism and international humanitarian law (IHL): the characterization of the nature of armed conflicts in which armed groups, qualified as 'terrorist', are involved; terrorism as a war crime; and the determination of the status and treatment (including detention) of terrorist suspects apprehended in the course of an armed conflict. The analysis emphasizes the importance of legal categories and legal qualifications of factual situations for the purpose of determining the applicable law as well as the crucial importance of taking societal practice into account when evaluating the state of the law in any given area. The main focus of the article, however, is on providing a few basic insights, drawn from the law & literature movement, on international humanitarian law and terrorism. Short of any epistemological ambition, literature is used as a remainder that the law is not a set of neutral rules, elaborated and applied independently of context and historical background; that the human condition remains central; and that legal regulation cannot be oblivious to it. Finally, mention is made of interpretive techniques, developed in the field of literary studies, that may help establish social consensus on the interpretation of IHL grey areas.


Fruits can be easily infected and damaged by microbes. Cold storage is a popular approach used to extend the shelf-life of fruits. In this paper, the effect of caffeic acid on physiological parameters and shelf-life of mulberries (Morus alba L.) stored for 21 days at 4°C was evaluated. The results showed that the shelf-life was significantly improved in the mulberries treated with the different concentrations of caffeic acid solution for 5 min (P < 0.05). Certain physiological parameters, like phenolics, anthocyanins, flavonoids and Vitamin C were also significantly increased (P < 0.05) in the treated mulberries. The results showed that the rotting rate and the weight loss ratio were 47.0 and 6.6% in the 0.20 g/L caffeic acid-treated fruits after storing for 21 days at 4°C, respectively. While these two parameters were 79.0 and 9.7% in the control. The malondialdehyde (MDA) content was significantly lower (P < 0.05) in the 0.20 g/L caffeic acid-treated mulberries than that in the samples treated with 0.00, 0.10, 0.25 and 0.30 g/L caffeic acid. Moreover, the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activities in the caffeic acid treated mulberries were significantly higher than those in the control (P < 0.05). Therefore, caffeic acid, as a preservative, is favorable for elongation of the shelf-life, maintenance of the quality and inhibition of fruit decay in mulberries. This study is greatly informative to mulberry growers and commercial sellers.

 Key words: Caffeic acid, mulberry fruits, cold storage, postharvest quality.


Data regarding the socioeconomic status in Iranian kidney transplant (KT) recipients is lacking. In this cross sectional descriptive study we evaluated the socio-economic status of 100 KT recipients in Shiraz organ transplantation center. In a cross-sectional design, we randomly selected and interviewed 100 RT recipients (50 males and 50 females). Data regarding age, gender, martial status, occupation, level of education, number of children, type of insurance, monthly household income, place of residence, ownership of a personal transportation device, duration and frequency of pre-transplant dialysis, family history of CRF (Chronic renal failure), and etiology of renal disease were obtained. There were 50 (50%) patients aged between 16 and 35 years, 55 had a family history of CRF, 60 had been on dialysis for more than a year, 61 were married, 47 did not have any children, 41 had more than 3 children, and 65 were unemployed due to physical and emotional impairment as a result of their disease. The majority (73%) did not have a high school diploma, 15% were illiterate, 85% were below the poverty line, 52% were from rural areas, and 98% were covered by insurance. We conclude that patients with CKD in our study had acquired this condition possibly due to negligence and lack of basic health care in the lower socioeconomic class. In addition, KT is an available therapeutic modality to lower socio-economic level in Iran.


A characteristic feature of most Arctic regions is the many shallow ponds that dot the landscape. These surface waters are often hotspots of biodiversity and production for microorganisms, plants, and animals in this otherwise extreme terrestrial environment. However, shallow ponds are also especially susceptible to the effects of climatic changes because of their relatively low water volumes and high surface area to depth ratios. Here, we describe our findings that some high Arctic ponds, which paleolimnological data indicate have been permanent water bodies for millennia, are now completely drying during the polar summer. By comparing recent pond water specific conductance values to similar measurements made in the 1980s, we link the disappearance of the ponds to increased evaporation/precipitation ratios, probably associated with climatic warming. The final ecological threshold for these aquatic ecosystems has now been crossed: complete desiccation.


We propose to generate and reverse the spin accumulation in a quantum dot (QD) by using the temperature difference between the two ferromagnetic leads connected to the dot. The electrons are driven purely by the temperature gradient in the absence of an electric bias and a magnetic field. In the Coulomb blockade regime, we find two ways to reverse the spin accumulation. One is by adjusting the QD energy level with a fixed temperature gradient, and the other is by reversing the temperature gradient direction for a fixed value of the dot level. The spin accumulation in the QD can be enhanced by the magnitudes of both the leads' spin polarization and the asymmetry of the dot—lead coupling strengths. The present device is quite simple, and the obtained results may have practical usage in spintronics or quantum information processing.


Underground Hydrogen Storage (UHS) is a method to store a large amount of energy to manage its seasonal fluctuations. The selection of proper well materials is a critical aspect, considering the small size of the molecule of H2 and its strong diffusivity. Its impact on materials shall be deeply evaluated and investigated.
 The work described in this document analyzes the interaction of standard cement slurries used in oil and gas fields with hydrogen at standard reservoir conditions.
 The cement-hydrogen interaction tests were designed and conducted using the methodological approach typical of the materials/fluids compatibility tests; an autoclave was used as key instrumentation to simulate reservoir temperature and pressure conditions.
 The samples were left inside the autoclave in contact with hydrogen, at reservoir temperature and pressure condition (90 °C and 150 bar), for 8 weeks. In parallel to the aging in hydrogen, twin samples were aged in an inert atmosphere (nitrogen) for comparison.
 The effects of the long exposure of the cement to H2 have been analyzed by observing the changes in the chemical-physical properties of the cement itself.
 To give evidence of the goodness of the cement as a well sealant material in the UHS, compressive strength, saturation and permeability, chemistry of the cement were measured/analyzed pre- and post-hydrogen exposure.
 In addition to the tests, a theoretical analysis performed using thermodynamic modeling software was also conducted to validate test results. The thermodynamic analysis was focused on the specific interaction of the species, hydrate and not-, constituting the cement and the hydrogen, investigating the spontaneity of the redox reactions that could take place.
 Preliminary autoclave experimentation results show that hydrogen does not alter overly chemical and physical characteristics of cement samples.
 This compatibility study of Hydrogen with cement is the first important step to further de-risk any UHS activity.
 The engineered and adopted testing protocol reported in this paper proved to be effective for the purpose of the study and could be applied for the validation of specific cement slurries in the UHS contexts.


BACKGROUND
A delayed or absent swallow reflex is common in dysphagia and can have a significant impact on swallow safety. Recent clinical practice survey data have supported the fact that clinicians continue to use thermo-tactile stimulation (TTS) as a strategy to stimulate key nerve pathways and evoke a swallow reflex for patients with a delayed or absent swallow reflex.

AIMS
To conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of TTS as a compensatory and/or rehabilitative tool.

METHODS & PROCEDURES
A search performed on CINAHL, Medline and Speech Bite identified 599 articles. After removing duplicates, the titles and abstracts of 458 articles were assessed for eligibility; 426 articles were deemed to be clearly ineligible and the remaining 32 full-text articles were further screened for inclusion. Ten of these studies were included in this review.

MAIN CONTRIBUTION
The results of this review highlight the lack of available evidence in this area and give support to the view that there is only low-level evidence for use of TTS as a compensatory strategy immediately before a swallow.

CONCLUSIONS & IMPLICATIONS
There is low-level evidence to support the use of TTS. Current best practice would be to use TTS on a case-by-case basis, following detailed instrumental assessment and evaluation of its efficacy for an individual.


This thesis examines the foraging behaviour of Carcinus maenas and Cancerpagurus when
presented with bivalves of contrasting morphology: Mytilus edulis, Ostrea edulis,
Crassostrea gigas and Cerastoderma edule. Because foraging may be influenced by the
relative abundance and morphological characteristics of both predator and prey, these aspects
are also considered. Chelal size and strength of these crabs and prey shell shape largely
determined handling techniques. When offered a size range of these bivalves individually,
crabs attacked all encountered prey but rejected those that remained unbroken after several
opening attempts, thus, emphasising the passive nature of their size-selective feeding.
When offered paired combinations of mussels, oysters and cockles, larger crabs selected
species in the ranked order of their profitability. Species-related preferences exhibited by
crabs feeding on prey at or near the optimal size suggest that foraging decisions are partly
based on evaluations of overall prey shape and volume, and that shell width constitutes an
important feature which crabs recognise and associate with prey value.
Variations in crab strength relative to size accounted for most intra-specific differences in
foraging behaviour. Juvenile C maenas are limited in their choice of prey size, and are
thus less species-selective. Adult C maenas are not so constrained, and exhibit a higher
degree of species-selectivity. C. pagurus possesses powerful monomorphic chelae that
operate at higher mechanical advantage than the cbelae of C maenas, and readily crushed
larger mussels relative to their size. Differences in prey size selection between crab species
varied with the species of prey offered, suggesting that certain shell features of these bivalves
constitute effective barriers to even the powerful chelae of C pagurus. These results are
relevant in the context of aquaculture, since predatory impact on commercially reared
bivalves might be reduced by combining different prey species that offer predators
alternative or preferred sources of food.


In this paper we determine the industry 4.0 (I4.0) readiness of eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs): Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. We outline the nature of manufacturing in the region, describe three distinct time periods of industrialization since 1990, and explain the nature of I4.0. Using measures reflecting three key dimensions of I4.0-readiness, namely technological, entrepreneurial and governance competencies, we find that the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia are most I4.0-ready, and that Bulgaria, Slovakia, Romania and Poland are the least ready of the CEECs. We make a number of recommendations. All the countries in the region could do more to promote entrepreneurship; to diversify and grow manufacturing export markets through focused trade facilitation and competitive exchange rates; and to cooperate regionally on industrial policy - through for instance establishing a regional CEEC I4.0 Platform.


Legal and Sharīʿah issues abound in creating security to finance waqf property development in Malaysia, for it involves integrating the Sharīʿah concept of waqf with requirements of Malaysian land law as well as the requirements of modern finance under civil law. Banks and financial institutions will not generally finance property development without any form of security for the loan. The best type of security transaction under Malaysian land law is to create a charge on the land under the National Land Code 1965, rendering the land liable as a security which upon default of the chargor, would entitle the chargee to seek statutory remedies including sale of the land. Such may not be feasible for waqf properties due to the inalienable nature of such properties. Due to the remedy of sale of the land upon default, the same issues would arise in regard to other types of securities like a lien and a loan agreement cum assignment. There is therefore a need to diversify the available options in creating security over waqf property. What are the existing Sharīʿah restrictions on waqf property? Do these restrictions affect the creation of security over waqf lands under conventional Malaysian land law? What are the legal and Sharīʿah issues relating to creating a charge over waqf lands? What are some feasible options? Initial findings are that creating a charge on a lease of waqf land as well as resorting to a hybrid form of a traditional security transaction in Malaysia, called 'Jualjanji', may hold some answers. Through doctrinal legal research and content analysis, this chapter explores these issues and recommends feasible solutions.


Smart platforms for the integration of sensor and actor networks require collecting, analysing and evaluating data. Our research project WINNER aims to integrate systems which cover electromobility, energy consumption within residential areas, local energy production, e. g., with photovoltaic systems, and storages for local smart grids. WINNER wants to use such a platform to optimise the energy consumption. Every actor within a residential area has to be considered, and integration into a centralised data stream process is necessary. As a non-hard real-time system, the platform has to solve enterprise application integration problems, looking at complex event processing and knowledge discovery in data. This paper targets to analyse possible architectural backbone technologies. Out of a wide range of potential technologies Node-RED, Apache NiFi and Apache Camel are selected and compared. Those technologies with a diverse field of application are used to implement a comparable test setup. Furthermore, they are analysed through their characteristics of processing, execution, usability and simplicity. As measured, Node-RED, Apache Camel and Apache NiFi indicate stable and fast message processing, especially in the case of raising message throughput. Node-RED surprises with constant memory and CPU loads and seems to be an exciting option in rapid prototyping. Keywords–System Architecture; Stream Processing; Message Routing; Complex Event Processing; Renewable Energy; Smart Grid.


This paper documents the production and validation of retrieved rainfall data obtained from satellite-borne microwave radiometers by the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) Project. Using various attributes of precipitation derived from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data, the GSMaP has implemented hydrometeor profiles derived from Precipitation Radar (PR), statistical rain/no-rain classification, and scattering algorithms using polarization-corrected temperatures (PCTs) at 85.5 and 37 GHz. Combined scattering-based surface rainfalls are computed depending on rainfall intensities. PCT85 is not used for stronger rainfalls, because strong depressions of PCT85 are related to tall precipitation-top heights. Therefore, for stronger rainfalls, PCT37 is used, with PCT85 used for weaker rainfalls. With the suspiciously strong rainfalls retrieved from PCT85 deleted, the combined rainfalls correspond well to the PR rain rates over land. The GSMaP algorithm for the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is validated using the TRMM PR, ground radar [Kwajalein (KWAJ) radar and COBRA], and Radar Automated Meteorological Data Acquisition System (AMeDAS) precipitation analysis (RA). Monthly surface rainfalls retrieved from six microwave radiometers (GSMaP_MWR) are compared with the gauge-based dataset. Rain rates retrieved from the TMI (GSMaP_TMI) are in better agreement with the PR estimates over land everywhere except over tropical Africa in the boreal summer. Validation results of the KWAJ radar and COBRA show a good linear relationship for instantaneous rainfall rates, while validation around Japan using the RA shows a good relationship in the warm season. Poor results, connected to weak-precipitation cases, are found in the cold season around Japan.


Dietary proteins are believed to participate significantly in maintaining blood glucose levels, but their contribution to endogenous glucose production (EGP) remains unclear. We investigated this question using multiple stable isotopes. After overnight fasting, eight healthy volunteers received an intravenous infusion of [6,6-2H2]-glucose. Two hours later, they ingested four eggs containing 23 g of intrinsically, uniformly, and doubly [15N]-[13C]–labeled proteins. Gas exchanges, expired CO2, blood, and urine were collected over the 8 h following egg ingestion. The cumulative amount of dietary amino acids (AAs) deaminated over this 8-h period was 18.1 ± 3.5%, 17.5% of them being oxidized. The EGP remained stable for 6 h but fell thereafter, concomitantly with blood glucose levels. During the 8 h after egg ingestion, 50.4 ± 7.7 g of glucose was produced, but only 3.9 ± 0.7 g originated from dietary AA. Our results show that the total postprandial contribution of dietary AA to EGP was small in humans habituated to a diet medium-rich in proteins, even after an overnight fast and in the absence of carbohydrates from the meal. These findings question the respective roles of dietary proteins and endogenous sources in generating significant amounts of glucose in order to maintain blood glucose levels in healthy subjects.


Background There is widespread acknowledgement that care should include spirituality alongside physical, psychological and social aspects. Yet, little is known about how spiritual issues arise in conversations between healthcare professionals (HCPs), children and young people (CYP) and families and how they are managed in practice. The authors report qualitative data from a workshop with HCPs and faith leaders (FLs) which explored issues of concern to HCPs and FLs in anticipation of developing a community-based faith network across North Central London to meet these needs. Aim To understand how HCPs conceptualise spirituality and their experiences in addressing spiritual issues as they emerge in practice. Method Ethnographic participant-observation of a 1-day workshop to explore HCPs' (n=22) experiences of and attitudes towards spiritual issues and care for CYP and families; FLs (n=9) were present. Presentations and anonymised case scenarios were used to stimulate discussion. Presentations and discussions were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Four researchers recorded detailed field notes throughout the workshop. Data were analysed thematically. Results Four themes emerged from statements by HCPs: (1) Concepts of spirituality (2) Loss (3) Roles (4) Conflicts and challenges. (1) While spirituality for adults and CYP was seen to encompass a search for meaning, hope, and a sense of connectedness to self, others and the world; it was assumed as underdeveloped in CYP. (2) HCPs described CYP and families' losses of future, meaning, relationships, hope and faith. (3) HCPs approached spiritual care by 'being there' for patients and families; supporting spiritual enquiry; signposting to specialists such as community FLs where appropriate. (4) Challenges included, trying to balance the ideal of openness with managing hope in the face of a poor prognosis. Conclusion The way in which HCPs conceptualise spirituality in the context of CYP's development and multiple losses for CYP and families has implications for training including education in managing tensions between openness with CYP and respect for parents' wishes.


In this work, 3-D representation of human faces is obtained in a computer using a DLP projection device and a high resolution camera. Calibration of the system is carried out automatically using an image frame that is taken employing a calibration pattern. Depth information is obtained utilizing color patterns that have been used widely in recent times instead of a gray-scale pattern. Experimental results show that the depth information can be extracted at high accuracy.


The paper describes a novel method of rotor-position sensing of permanent-magnet machines, which requires no encoder nor any modification to conventional machines. The machine is electronically commutated, by virtue of position sensing, achieved through measuring the modulation in the inverter carrier frequency component, caused by the positional variation in motor winding impedance. A closed-loop speed control system drives the motor with precision and at maximum efficiency for a wide range of load and speed.


Rising quality assurance standards and levels of accountability in higher education have placed stress on my organization, a two-year community college located in Micronesia, a sub-region of Oceania, in the western Pacific Ocean, which has historically maintained a culture of reactivity to accreditation sanctions. As quality standards increase in rigor and accountability, the demands on employee engagement become ever greater. Today, accreditation requires every employee be engaged in cycles of sustainable continuous quality improvement, assessment of student learning, purposeful dialogue, and institutional effectiveness. US regional accreditation is vital to maintain fiscal integrity of the organization. If terminated, students lose access to Pell Grant, a US Department of Education Title IV funding initiative for low-income students in undergraduate programs of study. Pell Grant is the organization's single most important revenue source, captured from students through tuition and fees. Because revenue sources are not diversified, loss of US regional accreditation, and subsequent loss of Pell Grant, would thus negatively impact organizational stability. This study examined transformational leadership as a potential means for enhancing employee engagement, thereby increasing organizational potential for responding to evolving accreditation standards. This mixed methods study explored the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and follower work engagement within my organization, described how leaders enhanced follower engagement, and investigated to what extent and in what ways the background, training, development, and experiences of organization leaders contributed to leadership skills and their ability to enhance follower engagement. A sequential mixed methods design was employed for which first quantitative data, and then qualitative data, were collected and analyzed. Quantitative data were used on a Micronesian higher education context to test transformational leadership theory that predicts transformational leadership is positively correlated with employee engagement, using the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). Quantitative follower engagement data were collected using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES). Qualitative data from semi-structured interviews were then analyzed to further explore leadership and its ability to enhance employee engagement for followers at this Micronesian higher education institution. This study does not substantiate the importance of transformational leadership for enhancing employee engagement, but instead shows transactional contingent reward is more important in this cultural and institutional context. The college leadership does not generally meet the expectations of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire full range leadership model, yet college employees are significantly highly engaged. Additionally, analysis of the quantitative data obtained contributes to academic discussions on potential problems with the MLQ and UWES and show these constructs may not be ideal for measuring transformational leadership or engagement. Institutional recommendations for training current and future college leaders and for developing cross-sector partnerships are given. In addition, the wider implications for future research and practice are provided.


Proposed models of the function of Hsp90 are characterised by high flexibility of the dimeric
state and conformational changes regulated by both nucleotide binding and hydrolysis, and by
co-chaperone interactions. In addition to its dimeric state, Hsp90 self-associates upon particular stimuli.
The Hsp90 dimer is the building block up to the hexamer that we named "cosy nest", and the dodecamer
results from the association of two hexamers. Oligomers exhibit chaperone activity, but their
exact mechanism of action has not yet been determined. One of the best ways to elucidate how oligomers
might operate is to study their interactions with co-chaperone proteins known to regulate the
Hsp90 chaperone cycle, such as p23 and Aha1. In this review, we summarise recent results and conclude
that Hsp90 oligomers are key players in the chaperone cycle. Crucible-shaped quaternary structures
likely provide an ideal environment for client protein accommodation and folding, as is the case
for other Hsp families. Confirmation of the involvement of Hsp90 oligomers in the chaperone cycle
and a better understanding of their functionality will allow us to address some of the more enigmatic
aspects of Hsp90 activity. Utilising this knowledge, future work will highlight how Hsp90 oligomers
and co-chaperones cooperate to build the structures required to fold or refold numerous different client
proteins.


Glass rovings undergo a loss in tensile strength when aged in highly alkaline concrete. Based on the hypothesis that this loss is due to hydrolysis of the silicate network, binary polymer/pozzolan and ternary polymer/pozzolan/cement coating formulations have been developed in order to provide both corrosion protection and improved fibre-matrix adhesion. While the ternary mixtures were found to do either or, the best overall result was obtained with the binary mixture poly(vinyl acetate)/silica 20:80, showing a 1.8-fold increase in the pull-out load and a 1.6-fold increase in the residual tensile strength when compared to the as-received glass.


We study $N$-component interacting particles (hardcore bosons and fermions) loaded in topological lattice models with SU$(N)$-invariant interactions based on density matrix renormalization group method. By tuning the interplay of interspecies and intraspecies interactions, we demonstrate that a class of SU$(N)$ fractional quantum Hall states can emerge at fractional filling factors $\nu=N/(N+1)$ for bosons ($\nu=N/(2N+1)$ for fermions) in the lowest Chern band, characterized by the nontrivial fractional Hall responses and the fractional charge pumping. Moreover, we establish a topological characterization based on the $\mathbf{K}$ matrix, and discuss the close relationship to the fractional quantum Hall physics in topological flat bands with Chern number $N$.


This research investigates how variation in sociality, or the degree to which one feels belonging to a group, affects the propensity for participation in collective action. By bringing together rich models of social behavior from social psychology with decision modeling techniques from economics, these mechanisms can ultimately foster cooperation in human societies. While variation in the level of sociality surely exists across groups, little is known about whether and how it changes behavior in the context of various economic games. Specifically, we found some socialization task makes minimal group members behavior resemble that of an established group. Consistent with social identity theory, we discovered that inducing this type of minimal sociality among participants who were previously unfamiliar with each other increased social identity, and sustained cooperation rates in the newly formed groups to the point that they were comparable to those in the already established groups. Our results demonstrate that there are relatively simple ways for individuals in a group to agree about appropriate social behavior, delineate new shared norms and identities.


Are Risk Aversion and Impatience Related to Cognitive Ability? Is the way that people make risky choices, or tradeoffs over time, related to cognitive ability? This paper investigates whether there is a link between cognitive ability, risk aversion, and impatience, using a representative sample of the population and incentive compatible measures. We conduct choice experiments measuring risk aversion, and impatience over an annual time horizon, for a randomly drawn sample of roughly 1,000 German adults. Subjects also take part in two different tests of cognitive ability, which correspond to sub-modules of one of the most widely used IQ tests. Interviews are conducted in subjects' own homes. We find that lower cognitive ability is associated with greater risk aversion, and more pronounced impatience. These relationships are significant, and robust to controlling for personal characteristics, educational attainment, income, and measures of credit constraints. We perform a series of additional robustness checks, which help rule out other possible confounds. JEL Classification: C93, D01, D80, D90, J24, J62


Over the past decade, donors of foreign aid quadrupled their annual contributions to trust funds at the World Bank. This earmarking of contributions to donors'preferred recipient countries and issues has raised concerns about the alignment of trust funds with the performance-based allocations of aid by the International Development Association, the World Bank's concessional lending arm, and raises the question of the role of this new"multi-bi"aid channel. This study finds that the cross-country allocations of aggregate trust fund aid are poverty- and policy-selective. In this respect, they are much more similar to allocations from the International Development Association than from bilateral donors. The allocations of trust fund types that are more closely controlled by donor countries?recipient-executed and single-donor trust funds?are more strongly related to the strategic interests of donor countries than trust fund aid in general. Trust funds for health and education aid are poverty selective and positively correlated with the World Bank's assessment of the quality of countries'sector policies, while environmental trust funds are neither poverty selective nor correlated with the assessed quality of countries'environmental policies. Overall, the evidence indicates that multi-bi funds administered by the World Bank do not undermine the International Development Association?s allocation criteria.


We report the performance of eight density functionals (B3LYP, BPW91, OLYP, O3LYP, M06, M06-2X, PBE, and SVWN5) in two Gaussian basis sets (Wachters and Partridge-1 on iron atoms; cc-pVDZ on the rest of atoms) for the prediction of the isomer shift (IS) and the quadrupole splitting (QS) parameters of Mössbauer spectroscopy. Two sources of geometry (density functional theory-optimized and X-ray) are used. Our data set consists of 31 iron-containing compounds (35 signals), the Mössbauer spectra of which were determined at liquid helium temperature and where the X-ray geometries are known. Our results indicate that the larger and uncontracted Partridge-1 basis set produces slightly more accurate linear correlations of electronic density used for the prediction of IS and noticeably more accurate results for the QS parameter. We confirm and discuss the earlier observation of Noodleman and co-workers that different oxidation states of iron produce different IS calibration lines. The B3LYP and O3LYP functionals have the lowest errors for either IS or QS. BPW91, OLYP, PBE, and M06 have a mixed success whereas SVWN5 and M06-2X demonstrate the worst performance. Finally, our calibrations and conclusions regarding the best functional to compute the Mössbauer characteristics are applied to candidate structures for the peroxo and Q intermediates of the enzyme methane monooxygenase hydroxylase (MMOH), and compared to experimental data in the literature.


There is a pressing need for the discovery of new antimicrobials to fight antibiotic resistant
bacteria. The aim of this thesis was the discovery and characterisation of new bacteriocins
from two sources, fermented foods and human faeces, testing the hypothesis that bacteria
from the same niche will produce antimicrobials uniquely suited to act in this niche. Isolates
from culture collections and new isolates from food and faecal samples were screened
against a panel of pathogens responsible for food spoilage and human disease. Promising
candidates were selected for genome sequencing, antimicrobial characterisation and
biological study. The genome of Lactobacillus gasseri LM19 showed the presence of
antimicrobial genes encoding, among others, a new bacteriocin, gassericin M. L. gasseri
LM19 could survive and express its bacteriocin genes under colonic conditions. Its
administration modulated the effects of Clostridium perfringens on the gut microbiota
composition. Streptococcus agalactiae DPC7040 was previously shown to produce the
natural variant nisin P. MALDI-ToF analysis confirmed that nisin P is three amino acids
shorter than nisin A and that two lanthionine rings were absent in 50% of molecules. This
structure impacted on its antimicrobial activity, which was weaker than that of nisin A and
nisin H in faecal fermentations. Staphylococcus epidermidis strains isolated from faecal
samples were compared with skin isolates with respect to genomic and phenotypic traits.
It was concluded that S. epidermidis has no specific genomic features to colonise different
body sites but is likely to adapt its metabolism to the different conditions. Potential novel
antimicrobials were found in Lactobacillus amylovorus and Lactobacillus crispatus isolates,
which showed probiotic properties and interesting phenotypic differences between strains.
Together, this work further demonstrates that fermented food and gut environments are
valuable sources of new isolates, the study of which can yield new antimicrobials and give
insights into bacterial ecology and evolution.


In this thesis, we investigate the possibility of using some ideas from nonlinear dynamical systems theory in practical ASR.The work presented in this theses is centered around a speech production model called Chained Dynamical System Model (CDSM), which is motivated by the theoretical limitations of the mainstream ASR approaches. The CDSM is essentially a smoothly time varying continuous-state nonlinear dynamical system, consisting of two sub dynamical systems coupled as a chain so that one system controls the parameters of the next system. The dynamical system at the lower level represents an articulator model whose input and output are the articulator configuration vactor and the speech waveform respectively. The higher level dynamical system is a model which outputs the articulator configuration vector for a given motor command or a gestural target input. With the CDSM, the speech recognition problem can be posed as finding the motor command or geestural target sequence for a given speech waveform. This is nothing else but inverting the CDSM. We propose a solution to this inversion problem, which is based on Embedding theory. The resulting architecture, which we call Inverted CDSM (ICDSM) consists of four main components; A projection function (Fp), a prediction function (F2), a set of zero mean Gaussian probability distributions (Pr) and a set of control vectors (A). The parameters of the system are learned from a dataset using a global gradient based training scheme. A set of experiments, involving a speaker independent, 39-class, continuous phoneme recognition task on the TIMIT database, is performed to evaluate the capability of the ICDSM in practical ASR. During these experiments, a special attention is paid to its ability to cope with co-articulation effects, which is theoretically shown to be good.We start with some experiments, which deal with different initializaton and training procedures, as well as efficient ways for implementing the function Fp. The system gives the best results, about 64% accurancy, when a recurrent network performs the function of Fp. We can obtain an accurancy of about 62%, using a traditonal MLP with a lesser computational burdan. One of the weaknesses of the ICDSM in its current form is that it does not make use of any static information in the state space. To alleviate this weakness, we propose a simple hybrid of the ICDSM and a uaual HMM, where the state conditioned likelihoods are combined. This system gives improved results, about 67% accurancy for the recurrent net Fp and about 65% for the MLP.Another series of experiments is performed to study the ICDSM in the context of evironment and speaker variation modeling. The techniques considered here include enhancing built-in invariance as well as mismatch reduction through adaptation. One key property of the ICDSM, which is investigated in most of these experimets, is the possibility of transferring variation effects from one functional component to another. To compensate for speaker variations, a multiple mixture component architecture for the function F2 is proposed. Such a system realized with 3-mixture components gives about 65% recognition accurancy, which is an improvement of accuracy by about 3% over the single mixture system. A simple ' re-training on adaptation data' type scheme is tested with a sex adaptation task. This revealed that adaptaion fo the function Fp is more effective than F2 and/or A, resulting in an accuracy improvement about 2%. In an unsupervised adaptation task, where Fp is dropped out because of its high complexity, adaptation of F2 and A also gives similar omprovments. In another experiment, a normalization procedure for time scale warping is studied. This procedure is based on a transformation, which maps the actual time scale onto the reconstructed trajectory of the state vector it self, utilizing the idea that the trajectory is the same even if the rate with which it is traversed is different. However the ICDSM architecture realizing this normalization procedure gives only a slight 1% of accuracy improvement. As the ICDSM architecture realising this normalization procedure gives only a slight 1% of accuracy improvment.As the ICDSM operates directly in the waveform space, it is well suited for attempting noise robust ASR. In fact, the operation performed by the fuction Fp can be seen as a generalization of the eigen-based subspace noise removel technique. The same task of 39-class phoneme recognition as above, but with NTIMIT database is selected to evaluate the noise robustness of the ICDSM. When trained and tested on NTIMIT, the ICDSM outperforms the HMM system used as the reference. This observation remains valid in the case where the systems are trained on TIMIT, but tested on NTIMIT. Employing an adaptation scheme, similar to the one used in speaker variation case, leads to further improvements in such a situation. However, as was the case earlier, adaptation of Fp seems to be giving higher improvements than the other componets F2 and/or A. The main conclusion of the work is that even though the performances fo the ICDSM system in its current form are comparable to those of the corresponding systems in the literature, it still lags behind the best systems by a considerable margin of recognition accurancy. However there is much room for further development of the ICDSM and systems based on related ideas.


Communication systems based on the peer-to-peer (p2p) paradigm present what is likely the most important development in Internet technology in recent years. In spite of the position of p2p systems as the largest source of traffic on the Internet, their commercial success is still limited. The basic tenets of p2p systems are cooperation among peers and completely decentralised communication. However, these can result in nontransparent actions, as well as opportunistic behaviour of the individual peers. Thus, the implementation of commercial p2p applications requires basic mechanisms to record transactions in the systems, i.e. the resource and service consumption, which will be used for charging, incentives, and control. These basic functionalities can be achieved by an accounting system that ideally should be fully distributed in keeping with the p2p spirit of such a system. Furthermore, it needs to be trustworthy so that the system cannot be misused by individual peers or groups of peers for gaining an undue advantage. Therefore, linking distributed accounting with distributed trustworthiness and distributed collaboration control presents a crucial challenge for the advancement of p2p systems. This dissertation researches this challenge by demonstrating the feasibility of fully distributed, trusted accounting in p2p systems with intrinsic automatic cooperation control by presenting and evaluating the token-based accounting scheme. The token-based accounting scheme's framework introduces tokens as a combination of permission objects and receipts. Permission objects grant to peers the right to consume services and resources. When a peer consumes them, it "spends" tokens, and tokens becomes receipts which contain accounting information about the transaction. This process implements effective accounting with intrinsic cooperation control. The token-based accounting scheme's system architecture is composed of four building blocks: Token structure, transaction protocols, token aggregation, and detection of double spending. The token structure ensures the authentication and integrity of accounting information, as well as the non-repudiation of transactions. The trustworthy transaction protocol introduces a novel transaction procedure that removes the benefits of defrauding the transaction partner but does not require the use of a third trusted party. Token aggregation swaps foreign tokens for new own tokens using a truly decentralised trustworthy process. With this process, a quorum of peers establishes a novel distributed basis of trust for p2p systems. This is achieved by applying threshold cryptography in combination with proactive secret sharing and with novel mechanisms that ensure the random selection of the quorum peers. The quorum size affects the scheme's trustworthiness and is determined using a stochastic model. Efficient detection of double spending is enabled by introducing aggregation accounts that store issuing and usage information about tokens. Aggregation accounts are located at third party peers, called account holder sets. Maintenance operations performed on the account holder sets prevent loss of data and ensure consistency of aggregation accounts. Aggregation accounts are protected against attacks and fraud attempts by concealing their location using a novel overlay routing mechanism. By using simulations for several churn scenarios, the required account holder set size is determined. These simulations prove the token-based accounting scheme's efficiency and the robustness of the storage mechanisms. The token-based accounting scheme was simulated in detail by varying the relevant parameters, i.e., quorum size, account holder set size, churn, and system size. The simulation results demonstrate the viability and efficiency of the novel token-based accounting scheme. Its applicability is shown in two application scenarios.


Purpose: Voice–gender incongruence has predominantly been investigated in the past through the perspective of feminine-identifying individuals seeking feminine-sounding voices. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of self-reported voice–gender incongruence in the transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming (TNG) community and to describe health information–seeking behaviors exhibited when individuals attempt to address their voice and communication challenges.Method: An online survey was designed with questions targeting the self-reported prevalence of voice–gender incongruence, characteristics of this complaint, and health information–seeking behaviors. Valid standardized measures, including the Voice Handicap Index and the Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale, were also included.Results: Four hundred five participants were sorted into three groups based on gender identity (feminine, masculine, gender-neutral) to facilitate comparative analysis. Ninety-six percent of participants reported the experience of voice–gender incongruence in the past, and 88% reported that they currently experience voice–gender incongruence. There were no significant differences in reported voice–gender incongruence between groups. Voice Handicap Index scores were significantly higher for those who currently experience voice–gender incongruence (p < .0001) and reflected differences in how much this concern bothers participants, as rated on a Likert scale, ranging from no problem to a very big problem (p < .0001). Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale scores indicated that the masculine group perceived greater barriers to seeking help as compared to the feminine group.Discussion: We present foundational evidence for the prevalence of voice–gender incongruence within the TNG community and barriers encountered when individuals attempt to access care. Future work should investigate the specific needs of subgroups within the TNG community and whether those who desire feminine-, masculine-, and/or androgynous-sounding voices experience voice–gender incongruence and access to services differently.Supplemental Material S1. Participant survey. Kennedy, E., & Thibeault, S. L. (2020). Voice–gender incongruence and voice health information–seeking behaviors in the transgender community. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJSLP-19-00188


The concept of Smriti has been vividly explained in the classical text but not much work has been done to understand it. The paper will discuss the characteristics of memory and relate it with concept of Smriti as explained in the classical texts. The power of the mind to retain and reproduce what is learnt is called memory. Memory revolves around the concept of mind and other perspectives which is the karya (cause) to bring about the karana(karana) that is attainment of a good memory. Body and mind constantly interact with eachother. Thus an approach to understand smriti has to be done in two angles – the psychological and physical aspects. The psychological aspects like Atma, mana, buddhi and moksha. The physical aspects like the concepts on dosha, sara, prakruti, onset of diseases and in the treatment point of view. The paper attempts to explain the psychological and physical aspects of Smriti.


Background: The fee-for-service reimbursement system that dominates health care throughout the United States links payment to a billable office visit with a physician or advanced practice provider. Under Oregon's Alternative Payment and Advanced Care Model (APCM), initiated in 2013, participating community health centers (CHCs) received per-member-per-month payments for empaneled Medicaid patients in lieu of standard fee-for-service Medicaid payments. With Medicaid revenue under APCM no longer tied solely to the volume of visits, the Oregon Health Authority needed a way to document the full range of care and services that CHCs were providing to their patients, including nontraditional patient encounters taking place outside of traditional face-to-face visits with a billable provider. Toward this end, program leadership defined 18 visit and nonvisit-based care activities—"Care Services That Engage Patients" (Care STEPs)—that APCM CHCs were asked to document in the electronic health record to demonstrate continued empanelment. Objective: To describe trends in rates of traditional face-to-face office visits and Care STEPs documentation among CHCs involved in the first 3 phases of APCM implementation. Research Design: The study population included the 9 CHCs involved in the first 3 phases of APCM implementation. Using data from the electronic health record, quarterly summary rates for office visits and Care STEPs were calculated for the first 18 quarters of implementation (March 1, 2013 to June 30, 2017). Results: Among participating CHCs, the mean rate of face-to-face visits with billable providers declined from 635 ± 128 to 461 ± 109 visits/1000 patients/quarter (mean difference, −174; 95% CI, −255, −94). Care STEPs documentation increased from 831 ± 174 to 1017 ± 369 Care Steps/1000 patients/quarter, but the difference was not statistically significant. Care STEPs within the category of New Visit Types were documented most frequently. There were significant increases in documentation of Patient Care Coordination and Integration and a small, albeit significant, increase in Reducing Barriers to Health. There was a significant decline in the documentation of Care STEPs by physicians and advanced practice providers an increase in documentation by ancillary staff. Conclusions: These findings suggest that APCM is increasing CHCs' capacity to experiment with new ways of providing care beyond the traditional face-to-face office visit with a physician or advanced practice provider. However, CHCs may choose different ways to change the delivery of care and some CHCs have implemented these changes more quickly than others. Future mixed-methods research is needed to understand barriers and facilitators to changing the delivery of care after APCM implementation.


Abstract Mutually directed connections between intestine and brain are implemented by endocrine, neural and immune systems and nonspecific natural immunity. Intestine micro flora as an active participant of intestine-brain axis not only influences intestine functions but also stimulates the development of CNS in perinatal period and interacts with higher nervous centers causing depression and cognitive disorders in pathology. A special role belongs to intestine microglia. Apart from mechanic (protective) and trophic functions for intestine neurons, glia implements neurotransmitter, immunologic, barrier and motoric functions in the intestine. An interconnection between intestine barrier function and hematoencephalic barrier regulation exists. Chronic endotoxinemia as a result of intestine barrier dysfunction forms sustained inflammation state in periventricular zone of the brain with consequent destabilization of hematoencephalic barriers and spread oF inflammation to other parts of the brain resulting in neurodegradation development.


We present multiwavelength observations of the afterglow of GRB 130427A, the brightest (in total fluence) gamma-ray burst (GRB) of the past 29 yr. Optical spectroscopy from Gemini-North reveals the redshift of the GRB to be z = 0.340, indicating that its unprecedented brightness is primarily the result of its relatively close proximity to Earth; the intrinsic luminosities of both the GRB and its afterglow are not extreme in comparison to other bright GRBs. We present a large suite of multiwavelength observations spanning from 300 s to 130 days after the burst and demonstrate that the afterglow shows relatively simple, smooth evolution at all frequencies, with no significant late-time flaring or rebrightening activity. The entire data set from 1 GHz to 10 GeV can be modeled as synchrotron emission from a combination of reverse and forward shocks in good agreement with the standard afterglow model, providing strong support to the applicability of the underlying theory and clarifying the nature of the GeV emission observed to last for minutes to hours following other very bright GRBs. A tenuous, wind-stratified circumburst density profile is required by the observations, suggesting a massive-star progenitor with a low mass-loss rate, perhaps due to low metallicity. GRBs similar in nature to GRB 130427A, inhabiting low-density media and exhibiting strong reverse shocks, are probably not uncommon but may have been difficult to recognize in the past owing to their relatively faint late-time radio emission; more such events should be found in abundance by the new generation of sensitive radio and millimeter instruments.


Despite excellent results of bicondylar knee resurfacing when both the tibial and femoral components are cemented, loosening of the cemented tibial component (surface cementing) occurs in approximately 10% of the implants within a 4-year interval after the procedure. Based on our own experience, we want to report of early failed tibial components in 22 patients after a mean follow up of 51 months, necessitating a revision procedure. We analysed retrospectively 22 cases of failed tibial components in patients after a mean follow up of 51 months, necessitating a revision procedure. This raised the question of whether the cementing technique was implicated in the loosening. Every correlation between early loosening and clinically relevant covariates were investigated. All patients were evaluated for radiolucency and osteolytic lesions at the bone–cement interfaces by radiographic assessment according to Rossi et al. (a.p. view and lateral view divided into two zones). The mean radiographic cement penetration in anterior-posterior view was 1.2 mm (SD 0.8) in zone 1 and 1.6 mm (SD 0.9) in zone 2. The mean radiographic cement penetration in lateral view was 1.1 mm (SD 0.4) in zone 1 and 1.3 mm (SD 0.3) in zone 2. Osteolytic lesions were seen in all cases around the implant after a mean of 51 months. In all cases a revision procedure was done. Based on clinical presentation, haematological screening, joint aspiration (synovial fluid diagnostic, microbiological analyses) and histological evaluation of intraoperative samples an infection was excluded. The authors have a critical attitude toward a loosening rate of almost 10% as stated by the recent literature within the first 4 to 5 years and consider that a reduction of the loosening rate when using the full cementation technique /cementing the stem) will mean a greater benefit for patients than the possible advantage of a better bone stock in case of revision surgery. Apart from this aspect, the question of whether early aseptic loosening is still acceptable nowadays from the medical economic aspects also warrants discussion.