Acute gastric mucosal lesions in the rats were produced by intermittent electrical stimuli to a main trunk of the left gastric artery (LGA), right gastroepiploic artery (RGEA) or a posterior branch of the left gastric artery (PLGA). The image processing analysis was applied to determine the relation between distribution of the lesions and perfusion area of the supplying artery to which electrical stimuli were given. Electrical stimuli of 50 Hz, 5 msec, 100 microA was supplied to the artery for 30 sc three times with 10 sec interval. A series of these stimuli was repeated three times. The mucosal blood flow measured with the laser doppler method in each perfusion area was reduced to less than 35% of the control value during the electrical stimuli for 30 sec. After the repeated electrical stimuli to LGA, 85.8 and 95.4% of the mucosal lesions were found in the mean and maximum perfusion area of LGA, respectively. Electrical stimuli to PLGA caused 84.5% and 95.3 of the lesions in the mean and maximum area of PLGA, respectively. Stimuli to RGEA caused 53.4% and 74.1% of the lesions in the mean and maximum perfusion area of RGEA. In the antrum, electrical stimuli to LGA, PLGA or RGEA produced 0%, 5.4% or 5.0% of the mucosal lesions. It is concluded that the corpus mucosal lesions induced by regional ischemia are distributed in the ischemic area.


In experiencing migration, some actors may take political action to contrast their own loneliness and to claim the belonging both to the host country and the country of origin. For the foreigners living in Italy, approaching to the social and political struggles of the community of origin can be a way to claim the belonging to a group, or to several groups. The objective of this contribution is to analyse the transnational networks of the political mobilisation at the time of globalization, the migration flows and the increasing use of online social networks.The Moroccan movement Hirak Rif was born in the region of Rif during October 2016 to advance social, political and economic demands. This work's aim is to examine the mobilisation of the Moroccans living in Italy, in particular of those from the Riffian region. They use Facebook as a tool of struggle, to fight the loneliness that they consider the end of the Hirak's strength.In this contribution, the role of the social networks as means of separation among individuals is questioned,  supporting instead their unifying function. The social networks as political tools are essential to the existence of the Moroccan diaspora's political action. This comes clear both from the observation of the movement's action and from the interviews with the activists. Therefore, the assumption of the movement's loneliness and the methods used in order to oppose it, seem to be strategies to fight the loneliness of the activists themselves. This can be seen as a migrant's double loneliness, echoing the migrant's double absence of Sayad's analysis . The activists' actions put in place to support the Riffian movement would lead, on the one hand, to the strengthening of the links between the individuals and the group of origin; on the other hand, they would lead to the creation or to the consolidation of the group in the immigration country. The political action, made possible and easier thanks to the social networks, is used by the activists to create and legitimate both groups. In this way the double political belonging of the activists is built and strengthened.


This study investigates a potential application of the Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) as a relatively new approach for predicting solar still productivity (SSP). Five variables, relative humidity (RH), solar radiation (SR), feed flow rate (MF), and total dissolved solids of feed (TDSF) and brine (TDSB), were used as input parameters. The data were collected from an experimental solar still system used to desalinate seawater in an arid climate. The data were distributed randomly into training, testing, and validation datasets. A hybrid learning algorithm and eight different membership functions were applied to generate the ANFIS models. Several statistical criteria were used to assess the model performances. The ANFIS model with a generalized bell membership function provided the best prediction accuracy compared with models with other membership functions. The coefficient of correlation values for this model were 0.999, 0.959, and 0.832 for training, testing, and validation datasets, respectively. Sensitivity analysis (SA) was used to show the effectiveness of the considered input parameters for predicting SSP. The SA results indicated that SSP is the most influential parameter on SSP. Generally, the findings indicate the robustness of the ANFIS approach for estimating SSP.


This paper evaluates if, after ten years of implementation, the conditional cash transfer program Progresa/Oportunidades has had an effect on labor market outcomes among young beneficiaries in rural Mexico. We use a specific module for the young aged 14 to 24 in the 2007 wave of the Rural Households Evaluation Survey and apply a multi-treatment methodology for different time exposition to the program to identify effects on employment probability, wages, migration and intergenerational occupational mobility. Our results show very little evidence of program impacts on employment, wages or inter-generational occupational mobility among the cohort of beneficiaries under study. This suggests that, despite well documented effects on human capital accumulation of the beneficiaries, labor market prospects in the localities under the program remain sparse.


Neonates and young children remain susceptible to many serious infectious diseases preventable through vaccination. In general, current vaccines strategies to prevent infectious diseases are unable to induce protective levels of antibodies in the first 6 months of life. Women vaccinated during pregnancy are capable of producing immunoglobulin antibodies that are transported actively to the fetus, and maternal immunization can benefit both the mother and the child. With few exceptions, maternal immunization is not a routine, because of the concerns related to the safety of this intervention. Ethical and cultural issues make the studies on maternal immunization difficult; however, in the last decade, the development of new vaccines, which are very immunogenic and safe has reactivated the discussions on maternal immunization. In this paper we present a review of the literature about maternal immunization based on MEDLINE data (1990 to 2002). The most important conclusions are: 1) there is no evidence of risk to the fetus by immunizing pregnant women with toxoids, polysaccharide, polysaccharide conjugated and inactive viral vaccines; 2) most viral attenuated vaccines are probably safe too, but data is still insufficient to demonstrate their safety; therefore these vaccines should be avoided in pregnant women; 3) in Brazil, there is a need for a maternal immunization program against tetanus. Many new candidate vaccines for maternal immunization are available, but studies should be conducted to evaluate their safety and efficacy, as well as regional priorities based on epidemiological data.


The paper begins by sketching out a short history of telecom policy, pointing to the prejudicial consequences of centralization from a political perspective, as incumbent ISPs turn into network gatekeepers, fostering their commercial interests by exerting greater control over users' communications. Based on our fieldwork and qualitative interviews, the paper then moves on to describing WCN, presenting the main characteristics of these grassroots attempts at bringing about a "subversive rationalization" of the last-mile network infrastructure. This second section outlines the motivations underlying the deployment of WCN, together with their technical features and innovative, commons-based models of governance, which all strongly contrast with the dominant, commercial model for Internet access provision. The third and last section assesses the impact of WCN on telecom regulation and the new power dynamics it entails, with regard to both the private sector and the public sector. The paper concludes that current telecom regulation significantly overlooks the contribution of community networks to fostering political and socio-economic objectives associated with broadband policy and proposes a number of policy recommendations to overcome this gap.


Background: The detrimental effects of smoking on pedicled and free flap reconstruction are well documented. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of smoking on flap, donor-site, and other individual and multiple complications in pedicled transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap breast reconstruction. Methods: A retrospective review was carried out of 224 pedicled TRAM flaps in 200 patients over a 10-year period. Three subgroups of patients were identified: active smokers, former smokers (defined as patients who stopped smoking at least 4 weeks before reconstruction), and nonsmokers (patients with no history of smoking). Active smokers made up 15.5 percent of the study population, while former smokers and nonsmokers made up 17.5 percent and 67 percent, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in age, weight, radiation/chemotherapy history, distribution of flap pedicle types, timing of reconstruction, or percentage of delay procedures performed among the smoking subgroups. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify significant risk factors and determine their odds ratios. Results: Compared with nonsmokers, both active and former smokers had a higher incidence of multiple flap complications (p = 0.0023 and 0.0018, respectively; odds ratios, 5.1 and 4.9). Active smokers also had a statistically significant higher rate of TRAM infection compared with nonsmokers (p = 0.0243; odds ratio, 4.7). Finally, former smokers were found to have a higher rate of TRAM delayed wound healing compared with nonsmokers (p = 0.0165; odds ratio, 4.7). Conclusions: Logistic regression identified active smoking as a statistically significant risk factor for developing multiple flap complications and TRAM infection, while former smoking was a risk factor for multiple flap complications and TRAM delayed wound healing. Thus, active and former smoking should similarly be considered contraindications for pedicled TRAM flap breast reconstruction, unless the patient has stopped smoking for more than 4 weeks before surgery.


Fire is a critical component of terrestrial ecosystems and essential to understand the composition and diversity of communities in fire-prone regions. Nevertheless, fire does not act alone, and other factors such as land-use type and vegetation structure can also operate at different scales, prompting the response to fire of ectotherm communities such as reptiles. We have evaluated the influence of environmental factors on the abundance, diversity, and richness of reptile communities in Serra da Estrela Natural Park (northern Portugal), at both the landscape and micro-habitat scales. In spring 2014 and 2015, 20 transects were surveyed eight times, the vegetation structure and composition were measured, and the extent of land-use types around each transect calculated in this Mediterranean community. At the landscape scale, reptile abundance was higher in natural woodlands and more complex habitats (higher vegetation heterogeneity and plant richness), and reptile evenness was affected by vegetation heterogeneity and time since fire. By contrast, species richness was not related to any environmental factor measured in this study. Only two lizard species were common in the park, Psammodromus algirus and Podarcis guadarramae. Their relative abundances increased with contrasting habitat variables as the former is a ground-dwelling lizard specialist that prefers heterogeneous (unburnt) habitats and the second is a rock lizard that selects open (burnt) stands. At the micro-habitat scale, the probability of reptile presence, reptile abundance, and reptile richness increased with plant richness and decreased with tree cover. This study highlights the importance of several environmental factors, that operate from micro-habitat to landscape scales to understand the response of reptiles to fire.


Background: The purpose of this study was to measure volume and distribution of aortic valve calcium using multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and to define whether they predict paravalvular regurgitation (PAR) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Methods: A total of 263 patients underwent TAVR between August 2008 and September 2013. The MSCT scans were analyzed for the volume and distribution of calcium. Leaflet calcium volume and asymmetry index ((maximum leaflet calcium volume – minimum leaflet calcium volume)/sum of maximum and minimum leaflet calcium volume) were scored. Correlation between aortic valve calcium volume and asymmetry index with post-procedural PAR on discharge transthoracic echocardiography was investigated. Results: Fourty-six percent of patients had no or trivial PAR (grade less than 1), 46% had mild PAR and 8% moderate to severe. The volume of annular calcium was higher in patients with mild or moderate to severe PAR compared to patients with PAR grade less than 1 (2023.1 916.4 ml, 2270.8 1558.3 ml and 1700,9 976.9 ml respectively, p1⁄40.024). No association was found between aortic valve calcium asymmetry and PAR severity. Multivariate analysis, including aortic valve calcium volume, asymmetry index of calcium distribution, and other factors that might be associated with PAR (among others aortic annulus area and valve prosthesis type) showed aortic valve calcium volume as the only independent predictor of PAR severity (B1⁄40.00034, p1⁄40.019). Conclusions: Increasing volume of aortic valve calcium predicts the severity of PAR after TAVR. Asymmetrical distribution of calcium in the aortic valve apparatus is not correlated with the severity of PAR after TAVR.


The Power Wall has stopped the past trend of increasing processor throughput by increasing the clock frequency and the instruction level parallelism.Therefore, the current trend in computer hardware design is to expose explicit parallelism to the software level.This is most often done using multiple processing cores situated on a single processor chip.The cores usually share some resources on the chip, such as some level of cache memory (which means that they also share the interconnect, e.g. a bus, to that memory and also all higher levels of memory), and to fully exploit this type of parallel processor chip, programs running on it will have to be concurrent.Since multi-core processors are the new standard, even embedded real-time systems will (and some already do) incorporate this kind of processor and concurrent code.A real-time system is any system whose correctness is dependent both on its functional and temporal output. For some real-time systems, a failure to meet the temporal requirements can have catastrophic consequences. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that methods to analyze and derive safe estimations on the timing properties of parallel computer systems are developed.This thesis presents an analysis that derives safe (lower and upper) bounds on the execution time of a given parallel system.The interface to the analysis is a small concurrent programming language, based on communicating and synchronizing threads, that is formally (syntactically and semantically) defined in the thesis.The analysis is based on abstract execution, which is itself based on abstract interpretation techniques that have been commonly used within the field of timing analysis of single-core computer systems, to derive safe timing bounds in an efficient (although, over-approximative) way.Basically, abstract execution simulates the execution of several real executions of the analyzed program in one go.The thesis also proves the soundness of the presented analysis (i.e. that the estimated timing bounds are indeed safe) and includes some examples, each showing different features or characteristics of the analysis.


All unethical behaviors in IS are not equally significant. The severity of unethical acts depends on various factors. This paper identifies those factors and develops a classification scheme for grouping unethical acts/behaviors in information systems. The classification scheme provides a tool that can be used by management on how best to allocate and spend resources to combat unethical behaviors. The scheme could be part of a larger plan to manage information systems resource of an organization. The paper begins with a listing of unethical acts common in information systems. These acts are then grouped into four broad categories. Factors that influence severity of unethical acts are identified and a classification scheme is developed to classify unethical acts using what is known as Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS). BARS has been used in research in many fields, including business. Finally, authors discuss future research in the field. Introduction Ethics is one of the most discussed subject matters in today's world. From politics to government, business to academia, ethics has become one of the most important topics. The field of information systems (IS)/Management Information Systems (MIS) is no exception. Significant amount of research has been undertaken by IS researchers on the subject of ethics. Such research has concentrated on various aspects of ethics as it relates to information systems and/or computer science (CS). List of unethical acts/behaviors is abundant in literature - some significant and some non-significant. Conceptual and pedagogical framework for teaching ethics in the IS/CS curricula has been suggested. How to teach end-user ethics to non-IS/non-CS students (also called end users) and the issues involved in this teaching has also been explored. Ethical attitudes of MIS personnel and the differences between men and women in their perceptions of what's ethical and what's unethical have been investigated and results published in literature. All unethical acts or behaviors do not have the same degree of severity with regard to their impact on individuals or organizations. While some acts have far-reaching consequences and implications, others are relatively minor. An attempt has been made in this research to identify the factors that determine the severity of unethical behaviors in information systems. The research has been extended to develop an approach to classify such behaviors and group these into various categories based on their impact. A future study will validate these groupings of unethical acts through a survey of IS/CS students and/or professionals. Relevant Literature Several research studies have focused on the area of IS ethics (Saari 1987; Aiken 1988; Heide and Hightower; Couger 1989; Oz 1990; Paradice 1990; and Conner and Rumelt 1991 ). Research has also been conducted to minimize and/or deter unethical behaviors. Such research has been divided into direct/preventive measures and indirect/deterrent measures. Direct/preventive measures such as enhanced security, prompt and fair reporting, and tougher penalties/sanctions and indirect/deterrent measures consisting of establishing and implementing codes of conduct for IS professionals, identifying ethical issues in using computers and incorporating ethical issues in the IS curriculum have been proposed and supported (Parker 1980, 1988; Couger 1984; and Straub 1986). Trevoni (1986) and Bommer et al (1987) have developed models of ethical decision making and considered factors that influence ethical decision making. Banerjee et al (1998) concluded that individual and situational characteristics influence ethical behavior intention. Their ethical model used moral judgment, attitude toward ethical behavior, and personal normative beliefs as variables that affect an individual's intention to behave ethically/unethically. Kreie and Cronan (1998) developed and tested a model to determine why a behavior was judged as ethically acceptable or unacceptable. …


Basic point of manifold research method for rolling theory is discussed. These methods are engineering numeration, the method of slip line network, the limit analytical method, the plastic finite element method, energy method, research rolling theory with viscosity hydrokinetics, the boundary element method, the finite twig element method and the artificial neural network technic. Point out holding crux part on the whole bog of tricks. Apply range of apiece research method are analyzed and compared. The selection to embark research methods of rolling theory is to have definite referential action.


The paper introduces some effective methods to solve the problems of solid modeling with the software of AutoCAD. Make good use of views to avoid converting UCS frequently and set up proper layers aimed to the building or structure and draw solid in order to control the display of different parts of solid. According to analysis and research on 3D solid model, the authors also point out other techniques, such as the skills about Boolean Calculation and conclude that different operation sequence produces different result and sometimes don't need to input a data and also complete to cut of solid. These skills are helpful to make solid model.


The meteorological information for atmospheric environment's most basic information, contains the temperature, important items and so on, barometric pressure, wind direction, wind speed, stability, mix level altitude, the content is diverse, and the material quantity is huge. Because the meteorological condition to includes the nuclear radiation and the biochemistry pollution proliferation has the quite important influence, under the limited transmission space and the time condition, how to establish an optimization the meteorological information, take grasps the related meteorological essential factor as this research discussion key point. This research unifies the SCIPUFF nuclear pollution proliferation analogous system, the analysis different meteorological factor to of analogue result the pattern influence, grasps the meteorological essential factor. In the SCIPUFF nuclear pollution proliferation analogous system meteorology mold train application, compared to demonstrated analysis of by way of the meteorological factor to the result that the atmospheric environment meteorological factor besides the wind speed and the temperature, the atmospheric stability also for the essential factor which essential has, enables the pollution proliferation analogous system to have the best simulation effect. Simultaneously when has also confirmed the pollution proliferation, is by the low wind speed, the high stability atmospheric condition may create the best diffusion effect. In addition, the mix level altitude to pollutes the proliferation the influence function not, if the atmospheric stability is obvious, the primary cause is mixes the level altitude the performance also to conceal the atmospheric stability essential factor result.


SASweave is a collection of scripts that allow one to embed SAS code into a LATEX document, and automatically incorporate the results as well. SASweave is patterned after Sweave, which does the same thing for code written in R. In fact, a document may contain both SAS and R code. Besides the convenience of being able to easily incorporate SAS examples in a document, SASweave facilitates the concept of "literate programming": having code, documentation, and results packaged together. Among other things, this helps to ensure that the SAS output in the document is in concordance with the code.


Hertzian and explosive indentations were used to determine the damage behavior of SiC and Si3N4 ceramics. Specimens were selected with different microstructures. In order to observe the subsurface damaged zone, the bonded interface technique was adopted. It was found that the damage response depends strongly on the microstructure of ceramics. Examination of subsurface damage reveals a competition between brittle and quasiplastic damage mode: brittle fracture mode is dominant in fine grain microstructure; quasiplastic deformation occurs in coarse grain. Dynamic indentation induces subsurface yield zone which contains extensive micro-cracks. The role of microstructure on static and dynamic damage behavior are discussed in terms of the weakness of grain boundary and grain size.


HoloLens by Microsoft Corp. is the world's first untethered Mixed Reality (MR) Head Mounted Display (HMD) system, released to developers in March 2016 as a Development Kit. We review in this paper the various display requirements and subsequent optical hardware choices we made for HoloLens. Its main achievements go along performance and comfort for the user: it is the first fully untethered MR headset, with the highest angular resolution and the industry's largest eyebox. It has the first inside-out global sensor fusion system including precise head tracking and 3D mapping all controlled by a fully custom on-board GPU. Based on such achievements, HoloLens came out as the most advanced MR system today. Additional features may be implemented in next generations MR headsets, leading to the ultimate experience for the user, and securing the upcoming fabulous AR/MR market predicted by most analysts.


For more than two decades, John Milbank has criticized the work of Bernard Lonergan for being an example of neo-Kantian transcendental Thomism. For a little less than two decades, a senior Lonergan scholar, Neil Ormerod, has criticized Milbank for being a conceptualist and an anti-realist. Both of these criticisms miss the mark. Moreover, they are emblematic of a missed opportunity for dialogue between two theological projects that have a shared commitment to finding the supernatural within the movement of history and culture. By taking a close look at a passage from Milbank's Theology and Social Theory on the natural—supernatural distinction in light of Ormerod's recent publication on the same topic, this essay aims to indicate how seemingly opposed manners of speaking (which can be so terminologically allergenic to one another) can, with some exegetical effort, be shown to express quite concordant positions. Moreover, it aims to suggest some of the topics on which these positions can be developed to the mutual betterment of both projects.


Passive Design is important for the current era in the aspect of architectural and environmental friendly view of buildings. It is always considered that the principles of a good passive design suitable for your climate effectively 'locks in' thermal comfort, low heating and cooling bills, and reduced greenhouse gas emissions for the life span of buildings. The courtyard is suitable in almost all building typologies in various climatic zones due to its social, environmental and therapeutic potentials. The main objective of this study is to investigate the Central courtyard design of MANIT Energy Centre Bhopal in an aspect of indoor thermal comfort and presence of daylight. The courtyard configurations, courtyard orientation, and natural features like daylight, which is required for Courtyard design were investigated in a courtyard building in MANIT Energy center Bhopal. The methodology of this study involved the developing of a data chart which is based on temperature and illuminance available in four directions of the building, and the statistical description method was used to interpret and analyzed the data. The Results of this study shows that MANIT Energy Center Bhopal central courtyards buildings were designed based on a cautious consideration like orientation, configurations and natural features to enhance their effective daylight availability and passive cooling potentials. MANIT Energy center Bhopal building courtyard study concluded that it is inventively designed but future experimental studies to appraise their thermal performances is required, and optimum performance can be predicted. Therefore, further studies based on simulation are recommended.


Background: Chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) is a major health problem for the individual and the NHS. It is important to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with it, to identify unmet need and inform the development of interventions. Purpose: To describe the prevalence of CMP in a community based sample, overall and by location; To describe the factors associated with presence of CMP. Methods: Population questionnaire survey to 4100 patients registered with 17 Medical Research Council General Practice Research Framework practices. We collected questionnaire data on demographics, presence and location of pain, pain severity, health related quality of life, care seeking and beliefs about pain. We then did univariate and multivariate analyses to identify factors associated with CMP. Results: Survey response rate was 61% (2509/4100); mean age 52 years (range 18–101); 56% female. CMP prevalence was 47%. One month period prevalence by area was; Lower back 23%; Knee 19%%; Shoulder 16%; Hip/thigh 14% and Upper back 6%. The majority of sufferers consulted their GP (61%), but a large minority (21%) consulted no-one. Factors associated with presence of CMP were being older, leaving school aged 16 or less, not working, having poorer quality of life and experiencing psychological distress (P Conclusion: Results demonstrate the significant burden CMP presents in the community and the need to focus interventions on those individuals who may be more likely to suffer. It may be particularly important to consider the needs of those who have not consulted anyone.


This paper presents a communications and software architecture in support of Prognosis and Health Monitoring (PHM) applications for renewable ocean-based power generation. The generator/turbine platform is instrumented with various sensors (e.g. vibration, temperature) that generate periodic measurements used to assess the current system health and to project its future performance. The power generator platform is anchored miles offshore and uses a pair of wireless data links for monitoring and control. Since the link is expected to be variable and unreliable, being subject to challenging environmental conditions, the main functions of the PHM system are performed on a computing system located on the surface platform. The PHM system architecture is implemented using web services technologies following MIMOSA OSA-CBM standards. To provide sufficient Quality of Service for mission-critical traffic, the communications system employs application-level queue management with semantic-based filtering for the XML PHM messages, combined with IP packet traffic control and link quality monitoring at the network layer.


Abstract We present Phantom, a fast, parallel, modular, and low-memory smoothed particle hydrodynamics and magnetohydrodynamics code developed over the last decade for astrophysical applications in three dimensions. The code has been developed with a focus on stellar, galactic, planetary, and high energy astrophysics, and has already been used widely for studies of accretion discs and turbulence, from the birth of planets to how black holes accrete. Here we describe and test the core algorithms as well as modules for magnetohydrodynamics, self-gravity, sink particles, dust–gas mixtures, H2 chemistry, physical viscosity, external forces including numerous galactic potentials, Lense–Thirring precession, Poynting–Robertson drag, and stochastic turbulent driving. Phantom is hereby made publicly available.


We tested whether changes in Sertoli cell transcription factors and germ cell heat shock proteins (HSPs) are linked to the effects of maternal undernutrition on male offspring fertility. Rats were fed ad libitum with a standard diet (CONTROL) throughout pregnancy and lactation or with 50% of CONTROL intake throughout pregnancy (UNP) or lactation (UNL) or both periods (UNPL). After postnatal Day 21, 10 male pups per group were fed a standard diet ad libitum until postnatal Day 160 when testes were processed for histological, mRNA and immunohistochemical analyses. Compared with CONTROL: caspase-3 was increased in UNP and UNPL (P=0.001); Bax was increased in UNL (P=0.002); Bcl-2 (P<0.0001) was increased in all underfed groups; glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (P=0.002) was increased in UNP and UNL; E twenty-six transformation variant gene 5 and HSP70 were increased, and HSP90 was diminished in all underfed groups (P<0.0001). It appears that maternal undernutrition during pregnancy and lactation disrupts the balance between proliferation and apoptosis in germ cells, increasing germ cell production and perhaps exceeding the support capacity of the Sertoli cells. Moreover, fertility could be further compromised by changes in meiosis and spermiogenesis mediated by germ cell HSP90 and HSP70.


An important issue in work motivation is how, when, and why individuals revise their goals up or down over time. In the current study, the authors examine feedback, causal attributions, and self-efficacy in this process. Although self-efficacy has frequently been suggested as a key explanatory variable for goal revision, its role has yet to be directly evaluated. Additionally, although attributions have been shown to influence goal revision following failure, the extent to which attributions influence goal revision following success remains unclear. In the current study, the authors address these issues by experimentally manipulating goal progress via performance feedback and tracking the resulting changes in self-efficacy and goal revision over time. In so doing, the authors also address several interpretive ambiguities present in the existing research. Results support the hypothesized model, finding that performance feedback and attributions interactively influenced self-efficacy, which in turn influenced goal revision. These results suggest that interventions targeting attributions, and self-efficacy more directly, may have meaningful influences on goal setting and pursuit, particularly following feedback.


Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases, usually manifesting clinical aggressiveness. Although important novel insights into the pathobiology of nodal PTCL have been gained recently from molecular profiling studies and clinico-pathological analyses, the pathogenetic molecular lesions remain to be deciphered for most entities. Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) comprises CD4 + CXCL13 + neoplastic cells displaying overlapping immunophenotypical and molecular features with normal follicular helper T cells. This derivation might account for the presence of a prominent non-neoplastic component in AITL tissues and the clinical manifestations of the disease reflective of an immunological dysfunction. ALK + anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL), defined by ALK gene translo-cation with various gene partners, is composed of CD30 + ALK + cells with a cytotoxic phenotype and usually carries a good prognosis. ALK – ALCL, now considered as a distinct disease entity, is morphologically and immunophenotypically similar to ALK + ALCL, except for ALK expression, but has distinctive molecular features. PTCL, not otherwise specified (PTCL, NOS), the largest PTCL category, which is derived from activated CD4 + (or CD8 +) T cells, is markedly heterogeneous, including at the molecular level. Gene expression profiling approaches have identified novel biomarkers of potential therapeutic interest, and suggest the existence of molecularly distinct PTCL, NOS subgroups. PERIPHERAL T-CELL LYMPHOMAS


Abstract. The measuring of coastal in the certain short period of time is almost impossible, but applying the remote sensing with the satellite imagery bring mankind to track down and analyze the approximately length of the coastal changes at the Nano technology speed. An attempt has been made to study the length of shoreline changes along three provinces in the upper gulf of Thailand. The significant purpose is to investigate coastline length changes and to evaluate those different coastal changes at different times. Two specialties of chosen areas are the outstanding location at mouth of river in curve pattern and ecological important mangrove forest, as nominated and designated area listed in Ramsar convention, international wetlands treaty. In employing the remote sensing will help to investigate the shoreline erosion, stable or construction shoreline. Rapid and drastic shoreline changes have been compared and measured base on satellite image Landsat 5 TM on 1994, 2002 and 2007 at path129 row 051. There were geometrically co-registered and, in the process were resampled to 25 m. By composing RGB band, fusion, supervised classification. By apply different theories will give different results but the similarly pattern. Training sites were selected by signature editor, area of interest, evaluate by seperabilitly and contingency. Principle component analysis (PCA) was employed as a method of change detection. This is to conclude that these shoreline areas were in erosion from natural processes and manmade activities, for example, aquaculture and agriculture expansion, such as shrimp farm. These coastal line lost were not just losing the land; it's losing the soul of the cycle of marine life, economically, and environmentally. Moreover, this project, in the future, could benefit to set the recovery buffer zone for mangrove restoration also.


The recent national framework for study support raised the need to involve adults other than teachers (AOTs) in supporting out - of - school - hours learning and for study support to be coherently planned to complement and support what goes on in the classroom. This article argues that existing models of INSET have limitations in relation to these issues and reports on a school - university partnership which aims to address these through a school - based development programme. The programme is designed to support a group of teachers and AOTs in developing a coherent team approach to study support activities. The article concludes that the programme, with some modifications, provides a useful model for a school - based initiative in support of the development of a study support programme, but that schools and partner organisations will also need to consider the needs of managers with responsibility for the strategic development of study support. This strategic perspective will require explicit consideration of the purpose and target group for study support activities and the notion of a coherent and balanced programme will need to address the question of whether and how the wide range of activities included under the banner of 'study support' support school learning.


The mining industry accounts for a significant portion of the energy demand by the industrial sector. The rising demand for metals around the world, coupled with the depletion of readily accessible ore deposits, has led to mining operations moving to more remote locations with no grid supply of energy. As a result, the operations require transport of fuel over large distances, leading to a significant increase in the overall mining cost. Renewable energy is considered to be the most promising solution to the mining industry energy problem. This work investigates the possibility of operating remote mines on local generation from renewables. A survey of recent literature revealed that while a lot of research had been done on hybrid renewable energy systems design and sizing, little thought had been given to accounting for the stochastic nature of renewable resources in the sizing process. Previous works focused on the sizing of PV-wind-battery systems; other potential generation and storage technologies were largely ignored. The challenge of intermittency in the power output of renewable generation systems had also largely been ignored. This thesis extends the state of the art on hybrid systems sizing by developing models and methodologies to address these challenges. A novel hybrid energy system integrating thermal and electrical renewable generation options with multiple large scale energy storage options is considered in this thesis. Models are developed for the different components of the energy system, with dynamic models incorporated for the material and energy balances of the storage alternatives, leading to a system of nonlinear differential algebraic equations (DAEs). The temporal nature of the renewable resources is accounted for by considering multiple stochastic renewable input scenarios generated from probability distribution functions (PDFs) as inputs into the system model. A reliability measure to quantify the impact of weather-based variability, called the modified loss of power supply probability, is developed. A bi-criteria sizing methodology which allows for the stochastic nature of renewable resources to be accounted for is presented. The approach combines the time series approach to reliability evaluation with a stochastic simulation model. Two approaches for mitigating the impact of intermittency in power outputs of renewable generation technologies are also developed. The first approach is based on system redesign, while the second approach is based on the introduction of an instantaneous response storage option. Case studies were presented to demonstrate the various methodologies. The results show that climate-based variability can have a significant impact on the cost and performance of hybrid energy systems and should always be accounted for in the sizing process. Intermittency needs to be accounted for in some form at the design stage as it can have an impact on the choice of technologies. The integration of thermal and electrical power generation and storage options provide a way to reduce hybrid system costs. The methodologies developed in this thesis are applicable to any location and can easily be extended to incorporate other generation and storage alternatives. They provide the decision maker with necessary information for making preliminary sizing decisions.


In cognitive radio networks with mobile terminals, it is not enough for spectrum sensing only to determine whether primary user (PU) occupy the spectrum band. Sometimes we also want to know more priori information, such as, the number of PUs, which can help to estimate its carrier frequency, direction of arrival, and location. In this paper, a machine learning based method is proposed to estimate a large number of primary users. In the proposed method, support vector machine (SVM) is used to achieve the number of primary users while genetic algorithm (GA) is to optimize the parameters of SVM kernel. The first class feature of SVM is the ratio of the element sum and the trace of sample covariance matrix, and the second class feature is the mean of Gerschgorin radii. The simulation results show that our proposed SVM-GA algorithm has higher accuracy than SVM.


Whole-cell and single channel currents were studied in cells from frog (R. pipiens and R. catesbiana) skin epithelium, isolated by collagenase and trypsin treatment, and kept in primary cultures up to three days. Whole-cell currents did not exhibit any significant time-dependent kinetics under any ionic conditions used. With an external K gluconate Ringer solution the currents showed slight inward rectification with a reversal potential near zero and an average conductance of 5 nS at reversal. Ionic substitution of the external medium showed that most of the cell conductance was due to K and that very little, if any, Na conductance was present. This confirmed that most cells originate from inner epithelial layers and contain membranes with basolateral properties. At voltages more positive than 20 mV outward currents were larger with K in the medium than with Na or N-methyl-D-glucamine. Such behavior is indicative of a multi-ion transport mechanism. Whole-cell K current was inhibited by external Ba and quinidine. Blockade by Ba was strongly voltage dependent, while that by quinidine was not. In the presence of high external Cl, a component of outward current that was inhibited by the anion channel blocker diphenylamine-2-carboxylate (DPC) appeared in 70% of the cells. This component was strongly outwardly rectifying and reversed at a potential expected for a Cl current. At the single channel level the event most frequently observed in the cell-attached configuration was a K channel with the following characteristics: inward-rectifying I-V relation with a conductance (with 112.5 mM K in the pipette) of 44 pS at the reversal potential, one open and at least two closed states, and open probability that increased with depolarization. Quinidine blocked by binding in the open state and decreasing mean open time. Several observations suggest that this channel is responsible for most of the whole-cell current observed in high external K, and for the K conductance of the basolateral membrane of the intact epithelium. On a few occasions a Cl channel was observed that activated upon excision and brief strong depolarization. The I-V relation exhibited strong outward rectification with a single channel conductance of 48 pS at 0 mV in symmetrical 112 mM Cl solutions. Kinetic analysis showed the presence of two open and at least two closed states. Open time constants and open probability increased markedly with depolarization.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


Since its creation by the National Security Act of 1947 the office of secretary of defense has grown rapidly in power and influence, surpassing at times that of the secretary of state to become second only to the presidency in the government of the United States. The pivotal secretaries, according to Kinnard, are James Forrestal, Charles Wilson, Robert McNamara, Melvin Laird, and James Schlesinger.Kinnard analyzes the administration of each of these secretaries not only within the domestic and international contexts of his time but also within the bureaucratic world in which the secretary functions along with the president and secretary of state.


Objectives: As COVID-19 spreads around the globe, parents are being presented with new challenges to meet their children needs. We investigated parental stress and its impact on their parenting practices during COVID-19 outbreak in Lahore, Pakistan. Methods: Following ethical approval, using web-based cross-sectional survey, data were collected in April 2020–May 2020. Symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed among parents by the patient health questionnaire and generalized anxiety disorder scale. Respondents also reported on parenting practices and emotional and behavior changes noticed in their children. Results: Three hundred and fifty-five parents participated in the survey with a mean age of 35.3 years (standard deviation = 8.2) with 55% having at least one child between the ages of 1 and 5 years and 9% had children with special needs. The prevalence of depressive symptoms and anxiety was 25.6% and 21.6%, respectively. A significant proportion (77%) of parents were concerned about the outbreak fearing about family/self-being infected, losing love ones, and financial difficulties. Fifty percent of participants reported more than usual use of consequences (shouting at children, taking privileges away, and slapping child) in the past 1 month. However, the positive impact of parents spending more time with their children was also reported. Unhealthy eating and sleeping patterns (24.5%), irritability (21.1%), anxiety (16.3%), and aggression (14.6%) were the most common behavior and emotional problems noticed in children. Conclusions: Parental stress observed during COVID-19 outbreak can adversely impact the parenting practices and child's mental health. Provision of effective strategies to support parents to care for children is urgently needed.


In this paper we identify a potential Denial of Service (DoS) attack that targets the last-matching rules of the security policy of a firewall. The last-matching rules are those rules that are located at the bottom of the ruleset of a firewall's security policy, and would require the most processing time by the firewall. If these rules are discovered, an attacker can potentially launch an effective low-rate DoS attack to trigger worst-case or near worst-case processing, thereby overwhelming the firewall and bringing it to its knees. In this paper, we present a probing technique to remotely discover the last-matching rules of a firewall. We study experimentally the effectiveness of this probing technique taking into account important factors such as the firewall's motherboard architecture and load conditions at network links and hosts. In addition we examine the impact of launching a low-rate DoS attack on a firewall's performance. The performance is studied in terms of the firewall's CPU utilization and throughput, packet loss, and latency. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The main purpose of this article is to determine whether there is influence from music on the performance of someone when carrying out work. the type of music used in this study is music with the genre of Folk. The same work without music is also carried out as a control. Each subject is given the same amount of work, namely entering data numbers and letters in a report manually, which is handwritten. Each subject is given enough rest every time he finishes carrying out an experiment. All employees with a total of 100 men and women participated in this study. The statistical program is used to analyze the results of the study. From the calculation results, it appears that music with folk genre types significantly affects their performance. Heart rate per minute is lower when subjects listen to folk music while carrying out their work than without listening to music. On the other hand, oxygen consumption does not decrease significantly without music compared to listening to music. Because of this, it would be more beneficial if when doing a job, workers listen to folk music or their favorite songs.


BACKGROUND: Genetic characterization of hereditary hearing impairment has progressed considerably with the mapping of nine chromosomal loci for monosymptomatic autosomal-inherited hearing loss over the last three years. METHODS: Following thorough clinical evaluation, linkage analysis using microsatellite markers was performed in two large families from Westphalia/West Germany. RESULTS: For all the dominant (DFNA1--4) and three autosomal-recessive loci (DFNB1--3) described to date, linkage was finally excluded. CONCLUSIONS: A high degree of genetic heterogeneity must be assumed. Identification of individual genes for monosymptomatic sensorineural hearing loss by linkage analysis in large pedigrees may help in molecular differentiation of hearing.


Since the legal rules cannot be perfect, we have proposed a work called Legal Debugging for handling counterintuitive consequences caused by imperfection of the law. Legal debugging consists of two steps. Firstly, legal debugging interacts with a judge as an oracle that gives the intended interpretation of the law and collaboratively figures out a legal rule called a culprit, which determines as a root cause of counterintuitive consequences. Secondly, the legal debugging determines possible resolutions for a culprit . The way we have proposed to resolve a culprit is to use extra facts that have not been considered in the legal rules to describe the exceptional situation of the case. Nevertheless, the result of the resolution is usually considered as too specific and no generalizations of the resolution are provided. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce a rule generalization step into Legal Debugging. Specifically, we have reorganized Legal Debugging into four steps, namely a culprit detection, an exception invention, a fact-based induction, and a rule-based induction. During these four steps, a new introduced rule is specific at first then becomes more generalized. This new step allows a user to use existing legal concepts from the background knowledge for revising and generalizing legal rules.


NASA Missions and Programs create a wealth of science data and information that are essential to understanding our earth, our solar system and the universe. Advancements in information technology will allow many people within and beyond the Agency to more effectively analyze and apply these data and information to create knowledge. For example, modeling and simulation are being used more pervasively throughout NASA, for both engineering and science pursuits, than ever before. These are tools that allow high fidelity simulations of systems in environments that are difficult or impossible to create on Earth, allow removal of humans from experiments in dangerous situations, provide visualizations of datasets that are extremely large and complicated, and aid in the design of systems and missions. In many of these situations, assimilation of real data into a highly sophisticated physics model is needed. Information technology is also being used to allow better access to science data, more effective and robust tools for analyzing and manipulating data, and better methods for collaboration between scientists or other interested parties. The desired end result is to see that NASA data and science information are used to generate the maximum possible impact to the nation: to advance scientific knowledge and technological capabilities, to inspire and motivate the nation's students and teachers, and to engage and educate the public.


This qualitative study explores the intersection of university students' attitudes to alcohol use and consent to engage in sexual activity. The study was carried out by researchers at the School of Psychology, National University of Ireland, Galway, commissioned by Rape Crisis Network Ireland (RCNI), between March and December, 2013. This report describes:
• The background to the study
• The two qualitative methodologies used to collect and analyse data
• The findings that arose from student reactions to hypothetical scenarios of non-consenting sexual activity, and
• Discusses the findings in respect of the scope to support change in attitudes to alcohol use and consent.

One of the key findings in the extensive RCNI Rape and Justice in Ireland report (Hanley et al., 2009) was the high rate of co-occurrence of heavy drinking with rape, by perpetrators and / or victims. This finding led RCNI to develop a year-long campaign in 2012, titled Calling Time on Sexual Violence and Alcohol. The current study builds on this work to address the links that exist between sexual violence and alcohol use. Internationally, it is recognised that extreme intoxication is a component of how the public understand sexual coercion and rape. For instance, this link underpins a 'double standard' attitude, whereby victims are attributed more responsibility if they had been drinking while perpetrators are often perceived as less responsible (Abbey, 2008).

Studies of university student attitudes to alcohol use and non-consenting sexual encounters are not available in the Irish context, so relevant work from other countries will be cited in introducing this study. One reference point in the existing research literature is that of stereotypical rape myths (Ryan, 2011). These myths rely on attitudes and social scripts that support a network of fixed, false beliefs about sexual violence. Such rape myths are linked to the stigmatisation of victims by others. They are also associated with self-stigma, as many women who have been forced to have sex do not label the experience of rape, due to their own internalised expectations for what rape entails (Littleton et al., 2006). Thus, a victim who has been drinking may be less likely to label sexual violence as rape, in the mistaken belief that he or she shares responsibility for the assault.

It is not just through rape-specific expectations that preconceptions and stereotypes inform attitudes to non-consenting sex. Berntson et al. (2013) take a broader view on how college students use scripts and pre-existing expectations to make sense of their relationship experiences. For them, relationships and sexual activity are interpreted through interpersonal sexual scripts that are shared among peers. Berntson et al. suggest that women are more likely to view their sexual activity within a communicative, relationship-based script. They contrast this with the traditional male preference for a recreational script for 'no strings' sex. This picture reflects long-standing cultural norms, in which men and women may be pursuing different, potentially conflicting objectives through sexual activity. It should be noted that gender role differences in expectations for sexual activity may now be changing. According to U.S. research, recreational sexual scripts have gained traction among young adults as an acceptable option for both sexes. This has been seen in the emergence of the 'hook up' culture. Hooking up refers to engaging in sexual behaviours without a pre-existing romantic relationship (Downing-Matibag & Geisinger, 2009). This might include sexual intercourse, but a hook up can also include or be restricted to oral sex, sexual touching, or masturbation.

It is at this point that it becomes essential to consider the intersection between attitudes to sex and the impact that alcohol use has for sexual expression among young adults. Alcohol use has been identified as a critical issue for the well-being of young adults who take part in hook ups. In one recent survey of U.S. students, Thomson Ross et al. (2011) found that non-consenting sex was strongly associated with binge drinking and reports of harms arising from alcohol consumption.

The link between drinking and non-consenting sex is especially relevant in an Irish context, as, quite apart from the emergence of a hook up culture, alcohol use is a dominant feature of socialising among young adults. For instance, a comparative study of 21 countries established that Irish university students exhibited one of the highest rate of drinking internationally (94%) (Dantzer et al., 2006). Dantzer et al. found no gender difference in the rate of non-drinking among Irish students, whereas in most countries rates of non-drinking are substantially higher among females than males. Ireland is one of several European countries with particularly high rates of alcohol consumption, along with Denmark, England, Scotland, Wales, and the Netherlands (Dantzer et al., 2006). All of these countries have high rates of binge drinking as well, a style of drinking that involves the consumption of large amounts of alcohol within a short period. There is by now little doubt that binge drinking is associated with considerably elevated risks of exposure to alcohol-related harms. These span the physical domain (e.g., injury, blackouts), psychological harms (e.g., lower quality of life, alcohol dependence), and social harms (e.g., higher rates of public disorder convictions, lower academic performance) (Kypri et al., 2009). Following repeated exposure to harms among peer networks, negative events such as a memory blackout or interpersonal conflict may become normalised.

It may be the case that these adverse outcomes become accepted as the cost of accommodating heavy drinking as an integral part of the university experience. The degree to which alcohol-related harms such as non-consenting sex, rape, and sexual assault have been normalised is as yet unstudied in the Irish context.


Undoubtedly, pro-environmental attitude is an indispensable element of environmental sustainability and hence sustainable development. Therefore, counties should make sure that their society has positive sensitivity to environment. Otherwise, necessary measures should be taken accordingly. In this study, environmental attitude of Turkish Cypriots was researched. Research findings reveal that respondents have pro-environmental attitude although the level of environmental education and the participation in environmental groups and organizations are not sufficient. Futhermore, the results of factor analysis indicate that the most important pro-environmental elements in order of relative importance are protection of ecological balance; international fight against increasing population density; institutional restructuring against environmental problems; understanding of environmental problems and air pollution; the necessity of international organizations for fighting against environment problems; and the necessity of the civil initiative in environmental problems.


Asymmetric synthesis is most significant method to generate chiral compounds from prochiral substrates. It usually involves a chiral catalysis, which can be either metal based or organo-catalysis. Both of these systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. In recent times, organocatalysts are gathering widespread attention due to their low toxicity and inexpensive nature. Organocatalysts can replace traditional metal based Lewis acid catalysts in several useful organic transformations like the Diels-Alder reactions.Carbocations are compounds with positively charged carbon atoms and they can activate the substrate by pulling its electrons thus making it more electrophilic. Though carbocations are well-known in literature, they are not well explored in catalysis despite their tremendous potential.The aim of this project is to synthesize new chiral carbocations, derived from different chiral auxiliaries and substitution on aromatic moiety and to investigate them in asymmetric Diels- Alder reactions. We envisioned the final product to be enantio-enriched as the carbocations are chiral in nature.We have synthesized several chiral secondary and tertiary alcohols as a precursor of carbenium salts. These alcohols were mainly synthesized by addition of Grignard reagent or organolithium reagents to the carbonyl compounds. Though, we have synthesized several chiral alcohols, only three carbocations could be isolated those having methoxy group in the aromatic ring. The methoxy group was found to be crucial for the stabilization of the carbocation.All the isolated carbocations were able to catalyze the Diels-Alder reactions, however it was found that carbocation 4with BF4 as a counter ion was better reactive than others. Unfortunately, we could not get any chiral induction with the use of these catalysts. We believe that with better tuning in catalysts structure and the reaction conditions these carbocations might able to produce chiral induction in the product.


Objective. Out of hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) patients are a critically ill patient population with high mortality. Combining mild therapeutic hypothermia (MTH) with early coronary intervention may improve outcomes in this population. The aim of this study was to evaluate predictors of mortality in OHCA patients undergoing MTH with and without cardiac catheterization. Design. A retrospective cohort of OHCA patients who underwent MTH with catheterization (MTH + C) and without catheterization (MTH + NC) between 2006 and 2011 was analyzed at a single tertiary care centre. Predictors of in-hospital mortality and neurologic outcome were determined. Results. The study population included 176 patients who underwent MTH for OHCA. A total of 66 patients underwent cardiac catheterization (MTH + C) and 110 patients did not undergo cardiac catheterization (MTH + NC). Immediate bystander CPR occurred in approximately half of the total population. In the MTH + C and MTH + NC groups, the in-hospital mortality was 48% and 78%, respectively. The only independent predictor of in-hospital mortality for patients with MTH + C, after multivariate analysis, was baseline renal insufficiency (OR = 8.2, 95% CI 1.8–47.1, and p = 0.009). Conclusion. Despite early cardiac catheterization, renal insufficiency and the absence of immediate CPR are potent predictors of death and poor neurologic outcome in patients with OHCA.


Brand names and other brand elements are often displayed on one's body or clothes for the purpose of personal value expression. Despite the frequency of such brand displays in the marketplace, we know little about how consumers respond to seeing brands in this fashion. A recent view of consumer brand identification—the concept of brand engagement in self-concept (BESC)—provides a unique perspective from which to explore how consumers react when see-ing brands displayed by others. Across three experiments, we demonstrate a consistent pattern of findings indicating that consumers' reactions to others ostentatiously displaying brands as means of value expression are strongest for those with high BESC levels and with a high value focus during brand exposure. The research highlights important variations in consumers' responses to self-expressive brand stimuli associated with others; implications for branding practice and re-search are provided.


The status of ongoing research to use near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure cottonseed oil content is summarized. A data set of 36 seed samples consisting of a single replication of six entries grown at two locations for 3 yr was used to generate prediction equations for oil content of cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum L.). The equations were generated with NIRS based on seed-oil contents from continuous wave nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. The results in predicting the remaining four replications in the tests, 144 samples, demonstrate the ability to develop prediction equations capable of identifying differences in seedoil content within specified populations (r 2 = 0.89–0.92). However, these prediction equations were not as successful when tested on the National Cotton Variety Test entries (r 2 = 0.00-0.84). A universal prediction of seed-oil content will require a larger sample base to eliminate spectral variability that might interfere with calibration.


In the Bayesian modeling framework there is a close relation between regularization and the prior distribution over parameters. For prior distributions in the exponential family, we show that the optimal hyper-parameter, i.e., the optimal strength of regularization, satisfies a simple relation: The expectation of the regularization function, i.e., takes the same value in the posterior and prior distribution. We present three examples: two simulations, and application in fMRI neuroimaging.


Bone metastases are generally associated with bone destruction which occurs in response to factors secreted by metastatic cells. Some of these factors secreted by the metastatic cells activate osteoclats while others are proteases that degrade bone collagen. To determine if Neovastat (AE-941), a naturally occurring multi-functional inhibitor of angiogenesis, is able to regulate properties that are thought to have relevance to their propensity to form bone metastases in vivo, we used the human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell line which can metastasize to bone. We showed that Neovastat prevented the degradation of osteoid-like radiolabeled extracellular matrices which was induced by incubation of human SaOS-2 osteoblast-like cells with MDA-MB-231 cells. Moreover, Neovastat was demonstrated to inhibit the gelatinolytic activity of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 expressed by MDA-MB-231 cells. The potential of Neovastat to retard the spread, growth, and osteolysis of MDA-MB-231 cells was then estimated in vivo. Histomorphometric analysis of the vertebral bodies indicated that MDA-MB-231 cells inoculated in nude mice (intracardiac) successfully generate osteolytic metastases with an 83% reduction of the volume of medullary bone (p< or =0.01). However, when tumor-bearing animals were treated orally with Neovastat, there was only a 19% decrease in medullary bone thus indicating that Neovastat can prevent bone metastasis in this model. Consistent with histological results, radiographic analysis indicated that Neovastat decreased the number of osteolytic lesions by 33% (p< or =0.3). Moreover, a decrease in the tumor volume in bone was observed in Neovastat-treated animals. These results indicate that Neovastat may be useful in preventing bone metastasis in cancer patients.


This article examines and ascertains a long-run relationship of leveraged loan defaults rates and macroeconomic variables in the United States. It identifies factors in the economic environment that have a significant impact on the development of leveraged loans. The author uses a vector error correcting model to elaborate the interdependencies among industrial production, credit spreads, differences between credit and leveraged loan spreads, the stock market, and the number of defaults of the S&P Leveraged Loan Index. The time series is based on 156 months between January 1999 and December 2011. Credit spreads, differences in loan and bond spreads, and the stock market have a positive impact on default rates, whereas industrial production shows a negative sign. All factor variables are highly significant aside from the stock market.


The paper proposes the Historical Relative Performance Index in order to quantitatively extract information in the scores hit in the sets of head-to-head game in badminton tournaments. The index is treated as the weights of the directed networks built between competing athletes. The paper also proposes the way to build the fully connected network based on the empirically found network in order to have relative index between athletes that have never nor will be met in series of games. Some further directions as well as implementation to small amount of data is described for advanced analysis.


In terms of world oil consumption, China is second only to the United States and is No. 3 in petroleum imports, following the United States and Japan. Its demand has more than doubled in the past decade. China consumes approximately 7 million barrels per day (b/d), one-third the U.S. level, and it imports 3.3 million b/d, one-quarter of the U.S. level. The International Energy Agency projects China's demand in 2011 will be 9.1 million b/d with imports of about 5.3 million b/d.


This article presents a sociolinguistic investigation of a rapidly expanding innovation in the UK, glottal replacement, in a variety spoken in northeast Scotland. Quantitative analysis of the form shows a dramatic change in apparent time: from a minority variant in the older generation to a full 90 per cent use in the younger generation. Further analysis of the constraints on use provide a detailed snapshot of how this variant moves through social and linguistic space. Males use higher rates of the non-standard form in the older generations but this constraint is neutralised in the younger generations as the form increases. Styleshifting according to interlocutor also neutralises through time. While these results across the social constraints are in line with previous analyses, the linguistic constraints differ in this variety. In contrast to most other varieties, intervocalic contexts such as bottle show high rates of glottal replacement. Moreover, word-internal foot-initial contexts (e.g. sometimes) also frequently allow the non-standard variant, despite this being rare in other dialects. Although glottal replacement is largely considered to be a 'torchbearer' of geographical diffusion, this in-depth analysis suggests that different varieties may have different pathways of change in the rapid transition from [t] to [ʔ] throughout the UK.


The study of hyper-compact (HC) or ultra-compact (UC) HII regions is
fundamental to understanding the process of massive (> 8 M_sun) star formation.
We employed Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 1.4 mm Cycle 6
observations to investigate at high angular resolution (~0.050", corresponding
to 330 au) the HC HII region inside molecular core A1 of the high-mass
star-forming cluster G24.78+0.08. We used the H30alpha emission and different
molecular lines of CH3CN and 13CH3CN to study the kinematics of the ionized and
molecular gas, respectively. At the center of the HC HII region, at radii <~500
au, we observe two mutually perpendicular velocity gradients, which are
directed along the axes at PA = 39 deg and PA = 133 deg, respectively. The
velocity gradient directed along the axis at PA = 39 deg has an amplitude of 22
km/s mpc^(-1), which is much larger than the other's, 3 km/s mpc^(-1). We
interpret these velocity gradients as rotation around, and expansion along, the
axis at PA = 39 deg. We propose a scenario where the H30alpha line traces the
ionized heart of a disk-jet system that drives the formation of the massive
star (~20 M_sun) responsible for the HC HII region. Such a scenario is also
supported by the position-velocity plots of the CH3CN and 13CH3CN lines along
the axis at PA = 133 deg, which are consistent with Keplerian rotation around a
20 M_sun star. Toward the HC HII region in G24.78+0.08, the coexistence of mass
infall (at radii of ~5000 au), an outer molecular disk (from ~500
au), and an inner ionized disk (<~500 au) indicates that the massive ionizing
star is still actively accreting from its parental molecular core. To our
knowledge, this is the first example of a molecular disk around a high-mass
forming star that, while becoming internally ionized after the onset of the HII
region, continues to accrete mass onto the ionizing star.


In earlier work generalizing a 1977 theorem of Alladi, the authors proved a partition-theoretic formula to compute arithmetic densities of certain subsets of the positive integers N as limiting values of q-series as q → ζ a root of unity (instead of using the usual Dirichlet series to compute densities), replacing multiplicative structures of N by analogous structures in the integer partitions P. In recent work, Wang obtains a wide generalization of Alladi's original theorem, in which arithmetic densities of subsets of prime numbers are computed as values of Dirichlet series arising from Dirichlet convolutions. Here the authors prove that Wang's extension has a partition-theoretic analogue as well, yielding new q-series density formulas for any subset of N. To do so, we outline a theory of q-series density calculations from first principles, based on a statistic we call the "q-density" of a given subset. This theory in turn yields infinite families of further formulas for arithmetic densities.


We report a high frequency (35%) of the Beijing genotype among multidrug-resistant isolates recovered in and around Mumbai, India. Further restriction fragment-length polymorphism typing showed that these strains were closely related. We also report a high frequency of the Delhi genotype (31% of isolates). Our data indicate considerable ongoing transmission of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains of the Beijing genotype in Mumbai.


Impact and fracture toughness of a large number of medium carbon alloy steel specimens have been ascertained using standard ASTM procedures, apart from examining their chemistry, microstructure, cleanliness, tensile behaviour and fracture surfaces. The results indicate that the scatter associated with ductility, impact and fracture toughness is considerable unlike that for strength or hardness. Analyses of the role of undesirable elements on toughness properties indicate that the scatter associated with fracture resistance of the steel primarily originates from the amount of tramp elements.


The International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) shows that 45 nm and lower feature sizes are required in lithographic production before the year 2007. Both immersion lithography and EUV lithography can play major roles in realizing this goal. However, a maskless lithography system capable of producing 45 nm features is an attractive option for small-volume semiconductor fabrication, such as with ASIC manufactures. Compared with a conventional lithography system, the maskless feature of the system allows the chip designer to be free of the very expensive process of mask fabrication and to shortcut development time. In this paper, we discuss a new maskless lithography concept employing an array of solid immersion lens (SIL) nano-probes. The nano-probes are efficient near-field transducers. Each transducer is the combination a SIL, a dielectric probe tip and an antenna structure. The nano-probes are fabricated in arrays that dramatically improve throughput. By combining these technologies, it should be possible to fabricate an efficient array of near-field transducers with optical spot dimensions of around 20 nm when illuminated by a 405 nm laser diode source. This paper plans to address, for the first time, the efficient generation of an array of light spots with dimensions of λ/20 or less that couple efficiently into dielectric films, like photoresist.


Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are event-based systems based on the collaboration of several microsensor nodes. Due to the limited supply of energy at sensor nodes, energy-efficient configuration of WSN has become a major design goal to improve the lifetime of the network. Many clustering algorithms have been proposed as energy-efficient, however, the existing classical pre-event clustering solutions form clusters in the entire network unnecessarily that brings significant overheads in maintaining the network configuration. Unlike preevent clustering, energy-efficient operation of WSN requires the event-to-sink directed clustering notion, which forms clusters when and where they are needed and in the direction of data flow from event location to the sink. To the best of our knowledge, energy-efficient clustering in WSN has not been studied from this perspective before. In this paper, we propose a novel Eventto-Sink Directed Clustering (ESDC) protocol for WSN. ESDC realizes energy efficiency in sensor network configuration by employing two techniques: (1) clustering of the nodes only within the event-to-sink data flow corridor to avoid unnecessary cluster formation, (2) directional clustering to minimize the number of hops for data forwarding. The directional clustering process in ESDC also sets up the routing path of the event flows over the clusters. Performance results reveal that the ESDC protocol achieves the energy-efficiency objectives and outperforms the existing conventional pre-event clustering approaches.


My title alludes to one of the most compelling volumes of poetry published in the last quarter century, Mark Strand's The Continuous Life (1990). Strand has in common with Matthew Arnold a fundamental preoccupation with the sheer presence and persistence of poetic discourse as a sign of the continuity of human culture even in periods where vertiginous change seems dominant. But trust in this continuity does not go unshaken in either poet. In Arnold's case--and also in Strand's--it is the very experience of shaken trust that seems to generate rehabilitated confidence in the poetic enterprise. The question I want to address in this essay is elementary: does Arnold's "The Scholar-Gipsy" constitute such a reaffirmation? Certainly, the critical commentary that has developed around the "The Scholar-Gipsy" sees the poem, at worst, as a defeat of the poetic spirit, or, at best, a deferral of its claims. (1) These views seems to me to occlude much that is important in the poem and much that underscores its celebration of the continuous life of poetry. Though I do not mean to pursue any extended comparison of Arnold and Strand in the development of this essay there are some moments of focus and foregrounding in Strand's poetry that provide useful perspectives on how "The Scholar-Gipsy" envisages the life of poetry. Strand's Continuous Life includes a poem called "The History of Poetry." Strand, of course, is not dealing with the academic subject but with whatever creative action, at some point, made language a tuned instrument and kept it in tune, according to our best knowledge, ever since. But, like Arnold, Strand can imagine calamity impending in the history of poetry: Our masters are gone now and if they returned Who among us would hear them ? (11. 1-2) (2) Strand adopts a shimmering irony in his poem through his suggestion that our very performance as readers of the poem we are looking at retrieves the life of poetry even in the absence of our "masters." Strand's ultimate faith in poetry's continuous life is elaborated in one of his other brilliant books, A Blizzard of One (2001). There he recounts an evening when a "snowflake, a blizzard of one," enters his room and makes him look up "That's all / There was to it" (ll. 4-5), except "for the feeling" that this "piece of the storm," despite melting, is full of meaning. It intimates That someone years hence, sitting as you are now, might say: 'It's time. The air is ready. The sky has an opening.' (11. 10-11) (3) The same volume, in an elegy for Joseph Brodsky, imagines a place "where the unsayable, / Finally, once more is uttered" (ll. 5-6). As with Arnold, Strand seems especially moved to affirm the continuous life of poetry in moments of mourning for a deceased poet. Though the poet in question might be a contemporary, there is always some suggestion that the elegiac words are also uttered in commemoration of poets whose words reach us from the far past. In what may be the single most powerful poem in The Continuous Life, Strand imagines the very origin of poetry in "Orpheus Alone." He pictures Orpheus sitting in "sunken silence," nearly felled by grief. He at last utters, like the tricked Tithonus, both the pain of his loss and the wonder of his beloved Eurydice as he remembers "The curve of her neck, the slope of her shoulders, everything / Down to her thighs and calves, letting the words come" (ll. 1112). His words attempt to make the air clear just enough for her, the lost bride, To step through the image of herself and be seen in the light. As everyone knows, this was the first great poem. (ll. 18-20) The sense of poetic history conveyed by both Arnold and Strand suggests that the first great poem, whatever it was, echoes and re-echoes through all great poems in a continuous and imperishable utterance. No matter the unpoetic contingencies of a particular time or place. …


Seismicity in the southeastern United States is relatively poorly characterized and thus not well understood. Structures and heterogeneities from multiple stages of Appalachian orogenesis, continental rifting, and magmatism as well as rivers and reservoirs may be influencing seismic activity in the region, but previous constraints are limited. The addition of seismic stations from the U.S. Transportable Array and the Southeastern Suture of the Appalachian Margin Experiment Array in 2012–2014 provide an opportunity to characterize seismicity in the central Georgia–South Carolina region. We develop a seismic catalog of >1000 events from March 2012 to May 2014 within or near the instrument array boundaries 30.1°–35.2°N, 80.9°– 85.7°W. Many of the events detected were industrial blasts, so multiple strategies were tested to discriminate between earthquakes and blasts based on event locations, timing, and spectral amplitude of the P and S arrivals. Based on this analysis, ∼10% of the events in the catalog were classified as earthquakes. Most earthquakes southeast of the eastern Tennessee seismic zone are located in the Carolina terrane, particularly where the Carolina terrane intersects major rivers or reservoirs. One prominent region of seismicity along the Savannah River near Thurmond Lake corresponds with an ∼4.5  m rise in water levels in 2013. A temporal cluster of earthquakes in April 2013 was followed by increased levels of ambient seismicity preceding the nearby Mw 4.1 earthquake in 2014. Focal mechanisms based on first-motion polarities indicate strike-slip to oblique-thrust motion on structures trending approximately north–south or east–west, and a maximum horizontal stress orientation consistent with the regional trend of ∼N60°E, implying that seismicity may reactivate more optimally oriented structures in the Carolina terrane that are oblique to the trend of the Appalachians. Seismicity in central Georgia appears to be controlled by a complex interaction between preexisting crustal structure and hydrologic variability.


Data relating to 3313 adenovirus isolates from patients in Greater Manchester, UK between 1982 and 1996 were analysed using χ2 tests and 95% confidence intervals. Of the 3098 isolates that were typed, 18·6% were serotype 2, 14·9% serotype 3, 12·1% serotype 1 and 10·9% serotype 41. There was evidence of a seasonal occurrence of serotype 7 (March–August), serotype 2 (January–April), serotype 4 (June–August) and subgenus F (September–November). Children less than 5 years old were the most common group of patients with adenovirus infection (61·3%) compared to 24·2% for adults and only 5·6% for school children (5–15 years). Gastric symptoms were the most common amongst infants (47·6%) followed by respiratory (27·5%) and general symptoms (12·9%). In adults, the overwhelming clinical condition was conjunctivitis (88·9%). Despite the traditional association with adenoviruses, remarkably few cases of pharyngoconjunctival fever were recorded (1·7%).


The proposal of this article is discussing digital narratives written in the first person, taken in their widest sense as ego-documents. We analyzed 12 blogs and 4 personal websites that provide written stories on entrance exams for the Brazilian secondary school (which were in force in Brazil between 1931 and 1971), as well as comments related to each post. The analysis of narratives was conducted having three irreducibly interconnected axes as a basis: the first one is methodological and requires discussing the possibilities and limits of exploring blogs and websites as adequate historical sources to grasp the contemporary phenomena of memory, narrative, and temporalities. The second axis implies analyzing narratives posted on blogs and websites as phenomena that contribute to provide the history of written culture in the present time with intelligibility. The third axis of analysis imposes thinking through meanings of the past and memory in the writings of one's own. The issues raised herein deal with challenges of the meaning and interpretation of time by subjects of the present. If we take into account that narrating one's life is a transcultural need related to the sense of existence, we must not give up thinking of changes that take place in human experience and its relation to historicity after hyper-connectivity, which became possible through the web 2.0, has significantly altered the flows of time and space. Keywords: Written culture. Digital narratives. Entrance exam for the Brazilian secondary school.


A single acute dose of carbon disulfide (CS2, 5 mmol/kg ip) caused hepatic damage in rats pretreated with phenobarbital. Rats pretreated with phenobarbital and cobaltous chloride (CoCl2, 250 mumol/kg sc) were protected against CS2 induced hepatotoxicity. When single acute doses of CS2 and CoCl2 were given at the same time, however, rats developed a much more severe hepatic lesion than that seen following CS2 alone. Similar cotreatment of CoCl2 with bromobenzene, carbon tetrachloride or thioacetamide did not enhance the hepatotoxicity of these well-studied hepatotoxins. Additionally, other divalent metal salts (CuSO4 and ZnCl2) did not enhance CS2 hepatotoxicity. Hence, the interaction between CS2 and CoCl2 (that results in enhanced CS2 induced hepatic damage) appears to be relatively specific for these two agents. CS2 caused an approximate 50% decrease in hepatic cytochrome P-450 when given alone, but an approximate 85% decrease when given with CoCl2. This observation supports the hypothesis that the breakdown products of cytochrome P-450 heme are responsible for CS2 induced hepatotoxicity. In addition, single doses of CS2 or CoCl2 caused increases of 30 to 60% in hepatic glutathione (GSH), but additive responses were not obtained when the two agents were given at the same time. GSH synthetase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase activity were inconsistently changed by these treatments, and did not provide a consistent explanation for the increases in GSH. The enhanced hepatotoxicity of CS2 + CoCl2 is not due to changes in hepatic glutathione metabolism.


In this paper the relationship of total internal force between complete debonding situation and complete bonding situation, the calculation formulas of moment distribution between steel tube and filled concrete on the complete debonding condition are deduced from the complete debonding calculation model of CFST arch rib and corresponding differential equations of geometry and internal force. Based on principle of virtual work, the relationships of radial displacement between complete debonding situation and complete bonding situation are deduced, and the results were verified by finite element method. The research results for constant section single tube CFST arch rib indicate that the total internal force of any section on the situation of complete debonding is equal to that on the situation of complete bonding if the axial strain is ignored; the moments of steel tube and filled concrete are distributed according to the ratio of their bending stiffness; the stiffness of CFST rib does not decrease with pure debonding.


Soon after flowering, bunches of the Musa AAB clone 'Superplatano' (Superplantain) were trimmed to 4, 5 or 6 hands to determine the effect of pruning on fruit grade and marketable yields. Unpruned bunches of the horn-type 'Maricongo' plantain were included as control. Fruits in bunches pruned to 4 and 5 hands exceeded the mean weight of 270 g, a criterion used locally to render horn-type plantains marketable. 'Superplatano' bunches trimmed to 4 and 5 hands yielded 146,800 and 180,200 marketable fruits/ha, respectively, This represented a yield increase of about 26,000 and 59,400 fruits/ha, over the unpruned horn-type 'Maricongo' cultivar. The reduction of hands in the 'Superplatano' bunch significantly increased length, thickness and weight of fruits in the proximal and distal hands.


T role of microbes and the microbiome in various aspects of human health and disease is a subject of ongoing intense study. The complexity of microbial communities and their interactions with the host present exceptional challenges for conducting these investigations that will require multipronged strategies to resolve. As the field undergoes the much-needed transition beyond association studies to a mechanistic understanding of how microbes influence their hosts, manipulating commensal microbes and using them for diagnostics and therapeutic interventions is the logical next step. Because microbiome research studies are being published at an unprecedented rate, a reliable book that reviews the seminal work and knowledge gaps in this field is pressingly needed. In Bugs as Drugs: Therapeutic Microbes for the Prevention and Treatment of Disease, the authors address major themes in microbiome research, particularly focusing on therapeutic applications. This ≈500-page volume, edited by Robert A. Britton and Patrice D. Cani, comprises 5 main sections of varying scope and length. The introductory section reviews pathways used by commensals, particularly Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria spp., to benefit the host. The first chapter is particularly impressive, providing a thorough and well-cited overview of the various microbial metabolites and how they influence the host. The theme of section 2, the longest and most wideranging part, is the role of the microbiome in chronic diseases. Given the ambitious scope of this section, the authors selectively covered a range of diseases (from nutritional disorders to colorectal cancer and osteoporosis) for which the host–microbe interactions have been described. Although this section might seem fragmented, it succeeds in providing the reader with a sense of the breadth of diseases in which therapeutic microbes might play a role. When links between microbes or the microbiome and human ailments are tentative or controversial, the authors do a sound job describing the conflicting reports within their respective fields. Section 3 covers the vital function of the gut microbiome, namely the control of infectious diseases, with a focus on Clostridioides difficile and Enterococcus spp. infections. In this section, the authors tackle the seminal studies of fecal microbiota transplantation to control C. difficile infections and questions that need to be answered to evaluate the long-term consequences of this therapy, extending beyond C. difficile control. Section 4 provides insight on the tools and techniques used to study and manipulate the microbiome, including strategies to genetically modify microbiota to design diagnostics and therapeutic applications, innovative genetic tools to engineer probiotics, and CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technologies to modify microbes. Moreover, a chapter in this section is devoted to reviewing US regulatory considerations for developing live biotherapeutics-based drugs; however, regulatory constraints outside the United States are not covered in the book. The final section covers indirect strategies to functionally target the gut microbiome, including the use of bacteriophages as antibacterial agents and prebiotics to modulate the microbiome. Overall, this book is a commendable and timely volume of well-sourced reviews written by experts in the field well organized into broad research themes. This work will serve as a helpful resource for both scientists and clinicians interested in using microbes for therapeutic applications.


In this unique book, Peter S. Ungar tells the story of mammalian teeth from their origin through their evolution to their current diversity. Mammal Teeth traces the evolutionary history of teeth, beginning with the very first mineralized vertebrate structures half a billion years ago. Ungar describes how the simple conical tooth of early vertebrates became the molars, incisors, and other forms we see in mammals today. Evolutionary adaptations changed pointy teeth into flatter ones, with specialized shapes designed to complement the corresponding jaw. Ungar explains tooth structure and function in the context of nutritional needs. The myriad tooth shapes produced by evolution offer different solutions to the fundamental problem of how to squeeze as many nutrients as possible out of foods. The book also highlights Ungar's own path-breaking studies that show how microwear analysis can help us understand ancient diets. The final part of the book provides an in-depth examination of mammalian teeth today, surveying all orders in the class, family by family. Ungar describes some of the more bizarre teeth, such as tusks, and the mammal diversity that accompanies these morphological wonders. Mammal Teeth captures the evolution of mammals, including humans, through the prism of dental change. Synthesizing decades of research, Ungar reveals the interconnections among mammal diet, dentition, and evolution. His book is a must-read for paleontologists, mammalogists, and anthropologists.


The international market of services is growing at a faster rate. Despite the importance of the service sector in both domestic and world markets, the amount of empirical research addressing the internationalization of services remains relatively low. Nature and characteristic of services have made service marketing and study related to it difficult. If the service is set for international market, question around intangibility, quality, and the demand for simultaneous production and consumption is likely to aggravate the situation. As people across the borders are different from a cultural viewpoint, the same service element can be perceived differently making the service internationalization process further difficult. This paper deals with a case of Swedish medical service marketing process in Egypt and offers a profound insight on the complex issue of international services marketing by addressing the following research questions:The data collection was a rigorous process and mainly took place in the form of direct interviews. Eight people including the managing director and the major owner of the Swedish-Egyptian firm were interviewed. Further three local consultants were interviewed and two seminars were held in Egypt to have an idea on general business practice in the host country. The conceptual framework is based on three variables, i.e. cultural adaptation, trust and network. Selling service internationally requires that the service provider is aware of the local taste, preference and habit. To be successful in internationalization, it is usually necessary that some cultural adaptation takes place, probably from both sides. The intangible characteristic of the services requires that trust is built and maintained throughout if the internationalization process has to be successful. Network represents a critical point of investigation in understanding internationalization. Network development is very important where the uncertainty is high due to physical and cultural distance, communication gap and service characteristics themselves which make the offerings heterogeneous, perishable and difficult to readily display. This study shows that cultural adaptation has taken place in respect to timing, building trust in the local environment, handling bureaucratic issues, local traditions and offering services to the clients. Problem of intangibility, heterogeneity and quality has been solved by providing consistent services and establishing links with the medical colleges and other institutions. This research work offers several opportunities for learning. First, it is important to recognize cultural differences and local traditions to design the service concept. Second, there is a need to develop sufficient local contacts and trust to make the service offerings tangible. Finally, the adaptation needs to take place from both sides, otherwise promising factors and strength may be kept outside the final business concept offered to the clients.