The Chief Directorate: National Geo-Spatial Information (NGI) is mandated, in terms of the Land Survey Act (Act 8 of 1997), to establish and maintain a national control survey system for South Africa. TrigNet, South Africa's network of Global Navigational Satellite Systems (GNSS) Base Stations, was established in 1999 and serves as an extension to this system. TrigNet's service commenced in 1999 with the provision of Global Positioning System (GPS) data, for post processing purposes, in Receiver Independent Exchange format (RINEX). In 2006 a real-time service, in Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) format, was introduced where GPS corrections were made available from a single base station. In 2007 the real-time service was extended to include real-time networked solutions for the Cape, Gauteng and Kwazulu-Natal metropolitan areas and GLONASS data was recorded and distributed for the first time. The TrigNet network currently consists of 67 base stations, which have a maximum inter-station spacing distance of 300km. The data from these base stations is streamed, via dedicated leased lines, to the NGI office in Cape Town where it is processed and made available, free of charge, to national and international users. Future plans for TrigNet are to increase the number of base stations, reduce their maximum inter-station spacing distance, provide an on-line post processing service and incorporate future GNSS systems as and when they become operational. The co-operation that exists between the NGI and national and international organisations/agencies, regarding TrigNet, is to be maintained and enhanced.


The atrial natriuretic factor is a peptide with vasodilator and natriuretic properties which is synthesized and released by atrial myocytes. In patients with chronic heart failure the ventricles contribute to the synthesis of this peptide, so that its plasma concentration rises in proportion to the heart filling pressure. The atrial natriuretic factor, therefore, seems to be a good biological marker of functional and haemodynamic severity of heart failure. However, the weight of this factor in the neuro-hormonal balance has not yet been fully evaluated, owing to the usual attenuation of its biological effects. This, and the necessity of continuous parenteral administration limits, for the moment, its therapeutic applications. Inhibitors of the enzyme involved in its metabolism are being tested, but only preliminary results are available in humans.


This paper describes how Crosspoint programs antifuses in its fine grain architecture. It compares the programming circuits used by Crosspoint to the circuits used by Actel and Quick-logic. Every antifuse in Crosspoint's FPGA can be uniquely programmed using a three dimensional addressing scheme to independently drive each electrode of the antifuse. The circuitry supports 10 V programming and 13.5 mA programming current to any target antifuse. Although the programming overhead is high, the antifuses are programmed to an average 50 /spl Omega/ resistance, thus providing for high performance operation of the FPGA.<<ETX>>


In Queensland, land is cleared at high rates to develop pastures for enhanced production and the associated monetary gains. However, pasture production declines over time in cleared pastures until a new equilibrium is reached. The present study focussed on elucidating the reasons for decline in pasture production and finding the key soil properties that are affected due to clearing. Paired sites for cleared and uncleared pastures were selected to represent 3 dominant tree communities of the semi-arid tropics in central Queensland, i.e. Eucalyptus populnea, E. melanophloia, and Acacia harpophylla. The cleared pastures were chosen to represent 3 different durations of time since clearing (5, 11–13, and 33 years) to evaluate the temporal impact of clearing on soil properties. Various soil parameters were studied: macronutrients—available N (NH4+and NO3–), total N, and available P; micronutrients—Cu, Fe, Zn, and Mn; exchangeable cations—Ca, Mg, Na, and K (also macronutrients); pHw; and electrical conductivity. Of these, pHw showed a significant response to time of clearing for all 3 tree communities. Soil pHw increased significantly at cleared sites relative to uncleared (native woodland) pastures, and the increase was highly correlated with concentrations of exchangeable Ca, Mg, and Na. The change in soil pHw and exchangeable cations was more evident at >0.30 m soil depth. The increase in soil pHw in cleared pastures decreased the availability of soil nutrients for plant growth and, hence, pasture productivity. The interactions of different soil properties down the profile as a result of changes caused by clearing are important when interpreting the effects of clearing on soil properties.


Bruce Lincoln is one of the most prominent advocates within religious studies for an uncompromisingly critical approach to the phenomenon of religion-historians of religions, he believes, should resist the preferred narratives and self-understanding of religions themselves, especially when their stories are endowed with sacred origins and authority. In "Gods and Demons, Priests and Scholars", Lincoln assembles a collection of essays that both illustrates and reveals the benefits of his methodology, making a case for a critical religious studies that starts with skepticism but is neither cynical nor crude. The book begins with Lincoln's "Theses on Method" and ends with "The (Un)discipline of Religious Studies," in which he unsparingly considers the failings of uncritical and nonhistorical approaches to the study of religions. In between, Lincoln presents new examinations of problems in ancient religions and relates these cases to larger comparative themes. While bringing to light important features of the formation of pantheons and the constructions of demons, chaos, and the dead, Lincoln demonstrates that historians of religions should take religious things-inspired scriptures, sacred centers, salvific rites, communities graced by divine favor-as the theories of interested humans that shape perception, community, and experiences. As he shows, it is for their terrestrial influence, and not their sacred origins, that religious phenomena merit consideration by the historian. Tackling many questions central to religious study, "Gods and Demons, Priests and Scholars" will be a touchstone for the history of religions in the twenty-first century.


The aim of this work was to determine whether human resistance to Schistosoma mansoni was associated with increased antibody reactivity to certain larval surface Ag. To this end, young residents of a hyperendemic area were selected for their low or high susceptibility to reinfection after parasitologic cure, and the reactivity of their sera to individual larval surface Ag was determined at different times before and after treatment. The data showed that six Ag: 202, 165, 90 to 92, 85, 72, and 37 kDa are the principal targets on the larva of IgG in the sera of resistant subjects. The comparative study, by immunoblotting and ELISA on purified Ag, of the sera from high and low susceptibility subjects indicates that IgG reactivity toward the 37-kDa Ag may be associated with resistance. This work and ongoing vaccination trials carried out in mice suggest that the 37-kDa Ag may have vaccinating potentials.


Ground water and surface water create a range of problems in lignite mining utilizing surface mining methods. In order to create a safe and economic mining environment, it is essential to carry out mining after dewatering the rock mass surrounding the lignite mines by advance dewatering techniques. This paper briefly describes the ground water regimes including pressure gradients associated with various lignite deposits together with the practical examples of some important lignite deposits in the world. An effective method of controlling ground water in multi-aquifer environment in lignite deposits is to carry out rock mass dewatering using borehole pumps. This approach will help reducing the inflow rates of ground water to the mining excavation and also increase the effective strength of the overburden strata, thus, increasing the slope stability of the mining excavations. The main theme of this paper is to present a case history analysis of Thar lignite deposit in Sindh, Pakistan which has lignite reserves of some 193 billion tonnes. The paper presents a proposed method of dewatering the Thar prospect together with an assessment of the quality of aquifer water which can be used to improve the quality of life of people inhabiting in the Thar Desert area of Sindh, Pakistan.
Water samples from three aquifers were collected from nine different locations and were analyzed in the laboratory for evaluating their physical and chemical characteristics. The test results indicated that the aquifer water can be classified as (sodium+ potassium) -chloride type water with a TDS range of 1000 to 20,000 mg/L. Consequently, this ground water is classified as brackish (saline water) requiring treatment before it can be utilised for domestic or industrial consumptions. It should be noted that this ground water does not contain heavy metals and toxic metals including arsenic, mercury and lead or cyanide. However, results indicate that groundwater from a few locations contained traces of silver (<4oppb) Owithozinc0<0.1ppm.


The brain and skull represent a complex arrangement of integrated anatomical structures composed of various cell and tissue types that maintain structural and functional association throughout development. Morphological integration, a concept developed in vertebrate morphology and evolutionary biology, describes the coordinated variation of functionally and developmentally related traits of organisms. Syndromic craniosynostosis is characterized by distinctive changes in skull morphology and perceptible, though less well studied, changes in brain structure and morphology. Using mouse models for craniosynostosis conditions, our group has precisely defined how unique craniosynostosis causing mutations in fibroblast growth factor receptors affect brain and skull morphology and dysgenesis involving coordinated tissue-specific effects of these mutations. Here we examine integration of brain and skull in two mouse models for craniosynostosis: one carrying the FGFR2c C342Y mutation associated with Pfeiffer and Crouzon syndromes and a mouse model carrying the FGFR2 S252W mutation, one of two mutations responsible for two-thirds of Apert syndrome cases. Using linear distances estimated from three-dimensional coordinates of landmarks acquired from dual modality imaging of skull (high resolution micro-computed tomography and magnetic resonance microscopy) of mice at embryonic day 17.5, we confirm variation in brain and skull morphology in Fgfr2cC342Y/+ mice, Fgfr2+/S252W mice, and their unaffected littermates. Mutation-specific variation in neural and cranial tissue notwithstanding, patterns of integration of brain and skull differed only subtly between mice carrying either the FGFR2c C342Y or the FGFR2 S252W mutation and their unaffected littermates. However, statistically significant and substantial differences in morphological integration of brain and skull were revealed between the two mutant mouse models, each maintained on a different strain. Relative to the effects of disease-associated mutations, our results reveal a stronger influence of the background genome on patterns of brain-skull integration and suggest robust genetic, developmental, and evolutionary relationships between neural and skeletal tissues of the head.


Background/purpose Interleukin-2 (IL-2) is crucial for the growth and survival of regulatory T cells (Treg), and thus for the control of autoimmunity. In previous studies we revealed the significance of an acquired IL-2 deficiency and related Treg defects in the pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) .1,2 Accordingly, we showed that low dose IL-2 therapy is capable to correct Treg defects in SLE patients.2,3 Here, we conducted a combined phase I/IIa single centre clinical trial addressing the safety, tolerability, immunological responses and clinical efficacy of a subcutaneous low-dose IL-2 therapy in patients with refractory and active SLE. Methods 10 patients with active and refractory SLE (SLEDAI ≥6) were enrolled into the trial and 2 patients were treated "off-label" in advance with the same regimen. The therapeutic regimen consisted of four treatment cycles each with daily subcutaneous injections of recombinant human IL-2 (aldesleukin) at single doses of 0.75, 1.5 or 3.0 million IU on five consecutive days. Cells from peripheral blood were analysed by flow cytometry at every study visit before and one day after each treatment cycle. The primary objective was to show an increase in the percentage of CD25hi cells among CD3+CD4+Foxp3+CD127lo Treg cells by at least 100% (2 fold) after the 4th treatment cycle compared to baseline. Safety and tolerability were evaluated descriptively. Secondary objectives included the clinical responses assessed by SLEDAI and changes in serological and other immunological parameters. Results All 12 patients showed an effective and cycle-dependent increase in the percentage of CD25hi cells among Treg (p<0.001). 10 patients showed a reduction in SLEDAI (83.3%, p<0.05) and 8 patients achieved a clinical response (66.7%) with a complete disappearance of clinical manifestations such as rash, arthritis, myositis and alopecia. Levels of complement were significantly increased after the treatment compared to baseline (p<0.05). No reduction in levels of anti-dsDNA-Abs was observed. Treatment-related adverse events were generally mild and transient. Conclusion Low-dose IL-2 therapy is capable to safely and selectively expand the Treg population and to decrease disease activity in patients with active and refractory SLE. This study provides the basis for larger and placebo-controlled clinical trials. References 1. Humrich, et al. Homeostatic imbalance of regulatory and effector T cells due to IL-2 deprivation amplifies murine lupus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107(1):204–209. 2. von Spee-Mayer, et al. Low-dose interleukin-2 selectively corrects regulatory T cell defects in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Ann Rheum Dis. 2016;75(7):1407–15. 3. Humrich, et al. Rapid induction of clinical remission by low-dose interleukin-2 in a patient with refractory SLE. Ann Rheum Dis. 2015;74(4):791–2.


Interplay between the host and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) has a pivotal role in the outcome of infection. A region (referred to as UL/b') present in the Toledo strain of HCMV and low passage clinical isolates contains 19 additional genes, which are absent in the highly passaged laboratory strain AD169. Products of the UL/b' genes may determine the manifestations of HCMV infection in vivo. However, little is known about the host factors, which interact with UL/b' proteins. This study was conducted to investigate the function of the HCMV UL136 protein. By yeast two-hybrid screening, the β1 subunit of the host Na+/K+-ATPase (ATP1B1) was identified to be a candidate protein, which interacts with the HCMV UL136 protein. The interaction was further evaluated both in vitro by pull-down assay and in vivo by immunofluorescent co-localization. The results showed that the UL136 protein can interact with ATP1B1 in vitro. Co-localization of UL136-EGFP and ATP1B1-DsRed in cell membranes suggests that ATP1B1 was a partner of the UL136 protein. It can be proposed that the HCMV UL136 protein may have important roles in processes such as cell-to-cell spread, and in maintaining cell osmotic pressure and intracellular ion homeostasis during HCMV infection.


Based on an analysis of 152 non-financial corporate families with multiple rated entities at the time of their defaults, the authors find that when one affiliate defaults all of its affiliates default about 80% of the time, while at least one affiliate avoids default 20% of the time. Firm characteristics that increase the likelihood that at least one affiliate avoids default include: investment-grade ratings within three years of default, the presence of regulated affiliates, the presence of international affiliates, the presence of utilities or media affiliates, and a large number of affiliates in the family. Among these characteristics, only the presence of investment-grade ratings and regulated affiliates were statistically significant in a multivariate regression model. Rating differentials across affiliates tend to be wider across affiliates when some affiliates avoid default. The magnitude of rating differentials within the family one year prior to default is the single most important predictor of whether or not some affiliates avoid default.


The increasing relationship between the social status and disease incidence in the population of the Voronezh district makes it necessary that the territorial funds of obligatory medical insurance be rendered the role of the subject of the interdiscipline system of health protection, and the main trends in its activity are outlined.


A low cost frequency-dependent (FD) I/Q imbalance self-compensation scheme is investigated in this paper. The direct conversion transmitters are widely used in wireless systems. However, the unwanted image-frequencies and distortions are inevitably introduced into the direct conversion system. This problem is even severer in wideband systems. Therefore, the accurate estimation and compensation of I/Q imbalance is crucial. The current compensation method is based on external instruments or internal feedback path which introduces additional impairments and is expensive. This paper proposes a low cost FD I/Q imbalance self-IQ-demodulation based compensation scheme without using external calibration instruments. First, the impairments of baseband and RF components are investigated. Further, I/Q imbalance model is developed. Then, the proposed a self-IQ-demodulation based compensation scheme is investigated. The overall FD I/Q imbalance parameters are estimated by developing a self-IQ-demodulation algorithm. To realize this self-IQ-demodulation algorithm, this paper introduces minor modifications to the current power detector circuit and specially designed training signal. Afterwards, the estimated parameters are applied to the baseband equivalent compensator. This sophisticated algorithm guarantees low computation complexity and low cost. The compensation performance is evaluated in laboratory measurement.


Abstract In this study, AISI 316L series austenitic stainless steel sheets were joined by tungsten inert gas welding method in continuous and pulsed currents. Regarding microstructural investigation and hardness values of weld metal, samples were welded to investigate the effect of current type on grain structures of weld metal. Results showed that samples welded by using pulsed current had considerable different properties compared to the samples welded by using continuous current. While the weld metals of joinings obtained by using continuous current displayed a coarse-grained and columnar structure, weld metals obtained by using pulsed current had a finer-grained structure. It was also found that hardness values of samples, which were welded with continuous and pulsed current, were quite different.


This study examined adolescents' interpersonal functioning, including the qualities of their closest friendships and romantic relationships, as predictors of dating/heterosocial anxiety. An ethnically diverse sample of 781 adolescents (57% girls; ages 15–19 years) completed measures that assessed the number and type of close friends, the presence of a romantic relationship, the qualities of their best same-sex friendship and their romantic relationship (using the Network of Relationships Inventory–Revised), and levels of dating or heterosocial anxiety (using the Dating Anxiety Scale for Adolescents). Most adolescents were romantically involved, and girls were more likely to have a romantic partner than boys. Adolescents with fewer other-sex friends and those with less positive and more negative interactions with their best friends reported high levels of dating anxiety. In addition, adolescents who reported never having a romantic relationship, who did not have a current romantic partner, and who had less positive and more negative interactions with their romantic partners reported higher levels of dating anxiety. Variations were noted for different aspects of dating anxiety. The findings indicate that multiple aspects of adolescents' social relations may be independently and uniquely related to feelings of distress in dating or heterosocial situations. Adolescents' social relationships have the potential to support or interfere with the development of successful romantic relationships.


In order to understand the stress changes of various points in sandy frozen soil, tension-compression conversion, fissure development on the surface, the rupture process, the expansion speed and scope of frozen soil duing blasting, the dynamic characteristics of thin-layered sandy frozen soil were analyzed in this paper. The blasting process of frozen soil is regarded as a dynamic pressure operation process of gas expansion chamber under thin plate. The gas pressure in blasting chamber obtained by adiabatic gas state equation is approximate close to the actual expansion pressure. At the same time, a moment of frozen soil blasting process is regarded as a model that a peripherally-fixed solid circular plate is suffered to a concentrated force in the center of circle. Through calculation and blasting funnel tests we can see that the frozen soil is suffered to much smaller force along horizontal direction than normal direction. Along with the time and expansion of blasting chamber, pressure of frozen soil is quickly reduced. And it is discovered that regardless of any stage of explosive, there appears the critical point of changes from tension to compression along the direction from explosive center to the all-around within a radius of about 0.9 m. This model can provide a theoretical guidance for the analysis of dynamic stress and the selection of blasting parameters for frozen soil blasting.


This paper deals with relay selection in cooperative networks with secrecy constraints. The proposed scheme enables an opportunistic selection of two relay nodes to increase security against eavesdroppers. The first relay operates as a conventional mode and assists a source to deliver its data to a destination via a decode-and-forward strategy. The second relay is used in order to create intentional interference at the eavesdropper nodes. The proposed selection technique jointly protects the primary destination against interference and eavesdropping and jams the reception of the eavesdropper. The new approach is analyzed for different complexity requirements based on instantaneous and average knowledge of the eavesdropper channels. In addition an investigation of an hybrid security scheme which switches between jamming and non-jamming protection is discussed in the paper. It is proven that an appropriate application of these two modes further improves security. The enhancements of the proposed selection techniques are demonstrated analytically and with simulation results.


Symmetric relations between synfolding fractures and fold geometry have been used to explain the formation of fractures in folded sedimentary rocks. Based on field observations at the Emigrant Gap, a Laramide anticline located near Casper, Wyoming, we propose that the orientation of synfolding fractures was influenced dominantly by two tectonic joint sets, J1 and J2, which developed prior to folding. Rotations appropriate for unfolding the strata reorient most fractures such that they strike sub-parallel to one or the other of the two joint sets and oblique to the fold hinge line. On the fold limbs, these prefolding joints apparently propagated along strike and infilled during folding to form a denser network of joints bedding perpendicularly with spacing ∼1/5 to 1/10 that of the same joint set in nearby unfolded outcrops of the same formation. With proximity to the hinge line of the anticline, where bending of strata and surface curvature are elevated, the style of deformation is different. Whereas most J2-parallel fractures still are joints, fractures in the J1 orientation include sheared prefolding joints and bedding-inclined shear fractures. Apparent normal offsets of bedding by these shear fractures are an order of magnitude larger than offsets observed across sheared joints on the fold limbs. The proposed model of fracture-fold relationships differs from existing conceptual models because it postulates that folding-related fracture orientations are controlled by the orientations of prefolding fractures. For the Emigrant Gap anticline, these fractures are not oriented symmetrically with respect to the fold hinge line.


Hydration mechanism and performance of tri-cementitious material, which contains clinker, limestone powder and fly ash, are studied. It is showed that when mixed materials ratio increases from 20% to 40%, the water amount for standard consistency will increase remarkably, and when dosage of limestone powder is 50% in mixed material, the water amount for standard consistency will reach minimum, i.e. 26%; but when limestone powder ratio reaches 40%, the fluidity of slurry reaches maximum, and then it drops with increasing of limestone powder ratio. It is also found that increasing of dosages of mixed materials will decrease flexural strength and compressive strength, and increasing of ratio of limestone powders can result in decreasing of compressive strength at 28 days curing time, especially when ratio of mixed material is 20%. In order to explain the rules that above-mentioned, the particles size distribution is studied, and the hydration mechanism is analyzed.


With the increase of traffic volume, the enlarging tunnel span and the decreasing of surrounding rock integrity, the level of surrounding rock will be lower. This article proposed the calculating method of relative integrity index based on the concept of relative integrity of surrounding rock and established the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation Method for rock classification by analyzing the impact of tunnel span enlargement upon rock stability. It also specified the determination factors, discussed the selection of weight indexes and proposed methods of establishing the qualitative and quantitative subordinate degrees. Based on practices of the expressways of Fuzhou, Xiamen and Zhangzhou, this article made fuzzy comprehensive evaluation of rock classification and fully analyzed the results of the evaluation. Results showed that with the enlargement of tunnel span, levels of surrounding rock would lower accordingly, and that the worse surrounding rock was, the more it would lower.


The need for the transformation of management education in order to meet the increasing demand for responsible business is becoming increasingly clear. The challenge for business schools is how to develop effective management education that equips future leaders with capabilities for sustainable development and responsible management practice. The first step must be to ensure students have appropriate knowledge of the social, environmental and economic issues faced by business and society. Whilst many business schools have made significant progress in arming students with the necessary skills required to engage in ethical and responsible business, knowledge of social and environmental issues among business and management undergraduates remains low.

This paper argues that introductory to management courses are an essential component in setting the foundations for developing future managers and leaders with the capabilities and knowledge necessary to contribute to sustainable development and responsible management practices. It draws on an ongoing research project that reviews business ethics and sustainability curricular of 200 top ranked business schools who provide undergraduate education to establish if, how, where and when responsible management and sustainable development topics are explicitly dealt with within programme curricula. The study finds that whilst many business schools have made significant progress on developing courses that expose students to responsible management issues, more than half do not explicitly identify sustainability in their introductory level curricula.


Recent progress in satellite remote-sensing techniques for precipitation estimation, along with more accurate tropical rainfall measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and precipitation radar (PR) instruments, have made it possible to monitor tropical rainfall diurnal patterns and their intensities from satellite information. One year (August 1998–July 1999) of tropical rainfall estimates from the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN) system were used to produce monthly means of rainfall diurnal cycles at hourly and 18 3 18 scales over a domain (308S–308N, 808E–108W) from the Americas across the Pacific Ocean to Australia and eastern Asia. The results demonstrate pronounced diurnal variability of tropical rainfall intensity at synoptic and regional scales. Seasonal signals of diurnal rainfall are presented over the large domain of the tropical Pacific Ocean, especially over the ITCZ and South Pacific convergence zone (SPCZ) and neighboring continents. The regional patterns of tropical rainfall diurnal cycles are specified in the Amazon, Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, Calcutta, Bay of Bengal, Malaysia, and northern Australia. Limited validations for the results include comparisons of 1) the PERSIANN-derived diurnal cycle of rainfall at Rondonia, Brazil, with that derived from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) radar data; 2) the PERSIANN diurnal cycle of rainfall over the western Pacific Ocean with that derived from the data of the optical rain gauges mounted on the TOGA-moored buoys; and 3) the monthly accumulations of rainfall samples from the orbital TMI and PR surface rainfall with the accumulations of concurrent PERSIANN estimates. These comparisons indicate that the PERSIANN-derived diurnal patterns at the selected resolutions produce estimates that are similar in magnitude and phase.


While Canadian schools are not producing enough medical doctors there is a surplus of immigrant medical doctors who are well equipped and eager to practice. Internationally trained medical doctors have increasingly experience difficulties in finding jobs that reflects their medical training and expertise. This research investigates the occupational integration of internationally trained medical doctors of African descent. Using snowball sampling and convenience sampling methods I interviewed 12 participants. Their experiences show why many internationally trained medical doctors end up in other fields after they try to practice medicine in Canada. Participants most often noted issues of lack of knowledge about the process, limited residency positions, lack of requirement consistency and lack of guidance. This study is expected to add to our understanding of internationally trained immigrant doctors' path to successful or different medical occupation and the effectiveness of policies and practices that aim to help these professionals.

Key words: internationally trained medical doctors; occupational integration; employment; African and Caribbean immigrants in Ontario.


Deep-learning metrics have recently demonstrated extremely good performance to match image patches for stereo reconstruction. However, training such metrics requires large amount of labeled stereo images, which can be difficult or costly to collect for certain applications. The main contribution of our work is a new semi-supervised method for learning deep metrics from unlabeled stereo images, given coarse information about the scenes and the optical system. Our method alternatively optimizes the metric with a standard stochastic gradient descent, and applies stereo constraints to regularize its prediction. Experiments on reference data-sets show that, for a given network architecture, training with this new method without ground-truth produces a metric with performance as good as state-of-the-art baselines trained with the said ground-truth. This work has three practical implications. Firstly, it helps to overcome limitations of training sets, in particular noisy ground truth. Secondly it allows to use much more training data during learning. Thirdly, it allows to tune deep metric for a particular stereo system, even if ground truth is not available.


We study geometric consistency relations between angles on three-dimensional (3D) circular quadrilateral lattices—lattices whose faces are planar quadrilaterals inscribable into a circle. We show that these relations generate canonical transformations of a remarkable 'ultra-local' Poisson bracket algebra defined on discrete 2D surfaces consisting of circular quadrilaterals. Quantization of this structure leads to new solutions of the tetrahedron equation (the 3D analog of the Yang–Baxter equation). These solutions generate an infinite number of non-trivial solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation and also define integrable 3D models of statistical mechanics and quantum field theory. The latter can be thought of as describing quantum fluctuations of lattice geometry. The classical geometry of the 3D circular lattices arises as a stationary configuration giving the leading contribution to the partition function in the quasi-classical limit.


: A 49-year-old patient with relapsing polychondritis, who presented in the first instance to an eye department, is described. The patient had episcleritis, papilloedema and posterior scleritis. Both auricles were red, swollen and tender under pressure. The patient responded well to systemic steroid therapy for two weeks. Relapsing polychondritis is a rare connective tissue disorder. Early diagnosis is important, as progressive disease may cause lesions of vital organs (lung, heart).


With the development of technology, the instruction of idiomatic language has been mediated with language games, applications, or movie clips. Because research has been conducted to explore the constraints and affordances of integrating technological tools into idiomatic language curriculum, a synthesis paper that seeks to review recent empirical studies in this topic is necessary. This paper thus aims to synthesize 14 research articles published within the last 10 years. The main focus is to present holistically the research contexts, participants, design and findings among these 14 articles. It was found that technology had positive impacts on student acquisition of idiomatic language. Drawing from the synthesis results, this paper also discusses some pedagogical implications for effective integration of technology into idiomatic language classrooms.


The Consequences of Falling Among Older Adults
The population of the world and subsequently number of the elders that do need medical services are growingly increased. Fall is one of the common reasons for attendance of the elders at emergency wards. The information gathered from Pubmed central and Google scholar. If an elder falls, not only does he suffers from severe pains, but also a huge economic costs are charged on his part. Thus, the trauma affecting the elders upon their fall is of great value. This study has been conducted in order to study the consequences arising from fall among the Older Adults.


This paper extends the notion of information processing capacity for non-independent input signals in the context of reservoir computing (RC). The presence of input autocorrelation makes worthwhile the treatment of forecasting and filtering problems for which we explicitly compute this generalized capacity as a function of the reservoir parameter values using a streamlined model. The reservoir model leading to these developments is used to show that, whenever that approximation is valid, this computational paradigm satisfies the so called separation and fading memory properties that are usually associated with good information processing performances. We show that several standard memory, forecasting, and filtering problems that appear in the parametric stochastic time series context can be readily formulated and tackled via RC which, as we show, significantly outperforms standard techniques in some instances.


Angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers belong to a novel class of cardiovascular agents that is characterized by excellent tolerance. The overall rate of their side effects is similar to that of placebo. Specific nonproductive cough is much less common during treatment with angiotensin II blockers compared with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. Nevertheless serious side effects very rarely occur with angiotensin II blockers and include cough, angioneurotic edema, anemia, liver damage, renal failure, aggravation of angina and migraine. The data of current literature concerning adverse effects of angiotensin II in different clinical situations are extensively reviewed. Angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockers are not considered to be safe in pregnancy, bilateral renal artery stenosis and severe renal or hepatic impairment.


Experimental animal research has been pivotal in the development of clinical liver transplantation (LTx). Results obtained in these experiments have been applied in clinic and clinical challenges have been scrutinized in animal laboratories. Porcine model is an optimal model in the field of experimental LTx research. Here, we present the various techniques of experimental LTx in the porcine model in detail. Different methods and modifications have been described. The following major steps have been discussed in detail: donor liver preparation, recipient operation including recipient hepatectomy, and reconstruction phase, including the reconstruction of suprahepatic inferior vena cava (SHIVC), portal vein (PV), infrahepatic inferior vena cava (IHIVC), hepatic artery (HA) and bile duct (BD). IHIVC and SHIVC are anastomosed end to end directly or with the use of prosthesis anastomosed side to side. The PV anastomosis is performed end to end between donor and recipient PV, Cuff method or Stump method. Arterialization has been accomplished via carrel patch or donor HA end to end with recipient HA. There are three major methods for reconstruction of BD: end to end or end to side choledochocholedochostomy or choledojejunostomy with Roux-en-Y jejunal loop. Each method has advantages and disadvantages regarding the objectives of the study; the most physiological techniques may be preferred for long-term survival studies, while the faster techniques may be selected for experimentations aiming the direct postoperative phase.


Co-doped branched ZnO nanowires were prepared by multistep vapor-phase reactions for the ultraselective and sensitive detection of p-xylene. Highly crystalline ZnO NWs were transformed into CoO NWs by thermal evaporation of CoCl2 powder at 700 °C. The Co-doped ZnO branches were grown subsequently by thermal evaporation of Zn metal powder at 500 °C using CoO NWs as catalyst. The response (resistance ratio) of the Co-doped branched ZnO NW network sensor to 5 ppm p-xylene at 400 °C was 19.55, which was significantly higher than those to 5 ppm toluene, C2H5OH, and other interference gases. The sensitive and selective detection of p-xylene, particularly distinguishing among benzene, toluene, and xylene with lower cross-responses to C2H5OH, can be attributed to the tuned catalytic activity of Co components, which induces preferential dissociation of p-xylene into more active species, as well as the increase of chemiresistive variation due to the abundant formation of Schottky barriers between the branches.


We have produced prolonged, high local concentrations of interferon in vivo by intravesical instillation of adenoviruses encoding interferon-alpha (Ad-IFNalpha) together with the gene transfer-enhancing agent Syn3. We found sustained interferon protein levels for days, both in normal mouse urothelium and in human bladder cancer cells growing as superficial bladder tumors in nude mice using an orthotopic bladder model developed by us. Tumor burden in the bladder was determined utilizing cancer cells containing the green fluorescent protein. Marked tumor regression was observed following two 1-h exposures of Ad-IFNalpha/Syn3 and little or no cytotoxicity was detected in normal cells. Similar intravesical instillation of clinically relevant concentrations of IFN protein alone or Ad-IFNalpha without Syn3 was ineffective. Surprisingly, in vitro, Ad-IFNalpha also caused caspase-dependent death of bladder cancer cell lines that were resistant to high concentrations of IFN-alpha protein, including the cell line used in vivo. These findings demonstrate that Ad-IFNalpha can overcome resistance to IFN-alpha protein both in vitro and in vivo and support evaluation of intravesical Ad-IFNalpha/Syn3 for the treatment of superficial bladder cancer.


Being able to maintain appropriate nutrition in ill patients is a fundamental part of caring for both surgical and medical patients. It is well known that malnutrition is associated with adverse clinical outcomes, particularly in wound healing. Therefore, every effort should be made to support nutritional status when a patient is acutely or chronically ill. In patients who have an accessible and functional gastrointestinal system, enteral nutrition is the preferred method of nutrition. For patients who need permanent or long-term (greater than four weeks) access to nutrition, enteral nutrition through an enterostomy tube is a good option that can be performed by endoscopy, radiologically or surgically. Endoscopic enteral access is a safe and practical procedure for patients who need nutritional support. This article review will examine the indications, contraindications, pre- and post-procedure care, and procedure techniques for endoscopic enteral access.


Grazing-incidence synchrotron topography studies of micropipes (MPs) and closed-core threading screw dislocations (TSDs) have been carried out and the results compared with ray-tracing simulations. Simulations indicate that both MPs and TSDs appear as roughly elliptically shaped white features which are canted to one side or the other of the g-vector depending on the dislocation sense and which have asymmetric perimeters of dark contrast which are greatly enhanced on the side towards which the feature is canted (again depending on the dislocation sense). For MPs, observations are generally consistent with this although the cant of the features is more obviously discerned than the asymmetry in the perimeter contrast. Sense assignment for MPs has been validated using back-reflection reticulography. For TSDs, observation are again generally consistent with the simulations although the smaller feature size and the variability in the line direction of the TSDs make the asymmetry of perimeter contrast a more obvious and reliable way to determine the dislocation sense than the sense of cant. TSD dislocation senses so obtained were validated using back-reflection images of same-sign and opposite-sign pairs.


APPLIED PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS. first edition. By John Ockendon. Sam Howison, Andrew Lacey and Alexander Movchan. Oxford University Press. 427pp. Pounds 25.00. ISBN 0 19 853243 1. SECTION:Features NO PHYSICAL FILE As one scours the league tables of mathematics departments rated subjectively as providing an "excellent" mathematics education, I wonder just how many of those institutions produce graduates who can provide the solution to anything but the simplest of first-order linear partial differential equations (PDEs)? In one such department (from which I escaped), it is entirely possible to obtain a mathematics degree without ever having seen the equations that are essential to the successful modelling of electromagnetism, elasticity, fluid dynamics, mathematical biology, quantum mechanics and stock options. To such graduates, Maxwell might just be a dead publisher and a Green function could be a social event for environmentalists. Nevertheless, these graduates' degrees have been officially "approved" by the Quality Assurance Agency. PDEs are generally perceived by undergraduates as being difficult, dry and unprofitable. In the United Kingdom, A level dilution and the "point-and-click" mentality have all contributed to this. However, hope for the future of undergraduate PDE courses may lie in the exponential increase of interest in the modelling of biological phenomena or continuous-time finance. Commercially, multimedia interest in simulation has led to at least one UK MSc course covering PDE modelling for computer games. For departments still offering serious PDE courses, Applied Partial Differential Equations provides a comprehensive and challenging text. It is amply illustrated with traditional and less familiar examples rooted in the work of the late Alan Tayler, an Oxford mathematician dedicated to dragging mathematics away from standard classroom examples and into the more complex industrial world. Able mathematics undergraduates at the more prestigious UK institutions, those at the MSc/PhD level or established researchers should all find something they can take from the text. All the usual suspects are lined up for undergraduate courses, from first-order linear techniques through second-order classification and characteristics, similarity and transform solutions and Green function representations. Numerical techniques and perturbation techniques are not covered. This is perhaps disappointing for more advanced readers, since the practising PDE user will most often have need of these. However, as they note, the expanse of these topics necessitates their exclusion. To compensate, the authors include welcome chapters on free-boundary problems and non quasi-linear equations. The book concludes with a collection of miscellaneous topics containing insightful "tricks of the trade". The novel problems that motivate the text include fibre drawing, granular flow, option pricing, sandpiles and ray scattering. Each application is explained in terms amenable to the mathematically literate newcomer and several are drawn from recent research work by the authors' groups. Some unfortunate comments do appear, for example in the discussion of geometric optics, that the "large eigenvalues of the circle have an unsurprising distribution". In reality, the locally normalised nearest-neighbour-spacing of the eigenvalues is random, even though the corresponding classical behaviour is integrable. It is also incorrectly implied that the analogous problem in a rectangular domain is ergodic. However, these do not alter the overall enjoyment of the book. There are numerous footnotes providing helpful physical explanations, including one on the possible origin of spontaneous human combustion. The end of each chapter is well furnished with interesting exercises. The very first problem invites the reader to solve a PDE model for the number of proof-reading errors and to test it against their experience of the book so far. More advanced sections are starred for the avoidance of first-time readers, or those departments not rated as "excellent" by QAA-inspired journalists. Christopher Howls is lecturer in applied mathematics, University of Southampton.


The recent proliferation of large scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) has motivated the development of statistical methods for phenotype prediction using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array data. These polygenic risk score (PRS) methods formulate the task of polygenic prediction in terms of a multiple linear regression framework, where the goal is to infer the joint effect sizes of all genetic variants on the trait. Among the subset of PRS methods that operate on GWAS summary statistics, sparse Bayesian methods have shown competitive predictive ability. However, most existing Bayesian approaches employ Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms for posterior inference, which are computationally inefficient and do not scale favorably with the number of SNPs included in the analysis. Here, we introduce Variational Inference of Polygenic Risk Scores (VIPRS), a Bayesian summary statistics-based PRS method that utilizes Variational Inference (VI) techniques to efficiently approximate the posterior distribution for the effect sizes. Our experiments with genome-wide simulations and real phenotypes from the UK Biobank (UKB) dataset demonstrated that variational approximations to the posterior are competitively accurate and highly efficient. When compared to state-of-the-art PRS methods, VIPRS consistently achieves the best or second best predictive accuracy in our analyses of 36 simulation configurations as well as 12 real phenotypes measured among the UKB participants of "White British" background. This performance advantage was higher among individuals from other ethnic groups, with an increase in R2 of up to 1.7-fold among participants of Nigerian ancestry for Low-Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Furthermore, given its computational efficiency, we applied VIPRS to a dataset of up to 10 million genetic markers, an order of magnitude greater than the standard HapMap3 subset used to train existing PRS methods. Modeling this expanded set of variants conferred significant improvements in prediction accuracy for a number of highly polygenic traits, such as standing height.


Under the provisions of the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577, September 3, 1964) and the Joint Conference Report on Senate Bill 4, 88th Congress, the U.S. Geological Survey and the U.S. Bureau of Mines have been conducting mineral surveys of wilderness and primitive areas. Areas officially designated as "wilderness," "wild," or "canoe" when the act was passed were incorporated into the National Wilderness Preservation System, and some of them are presently being studied. The act provided that areas under consideration for wilderness designation should be studied for suitability for incorporation into the Wilderness System. The mineral surveys constitute one aspect of the suitability studies. The act directs that the results of such surveys are to be made available to the public and submitted to the President and the Congress. This report discusses the results of a mineral survey of the Raywood Flat Roadless Areas (A5-187, B5-187), San Bernardino National Forest, San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, California. During the Second Roadless Area Review and Evaluation (RARE IT) by the U. S. Forest Service in January 1979, area A5-187 was classified as a recommended wilderness; area B5-187 was classified as a further planning area.


The long-term performance of bridge components can be greatly influenced by the durability parameters including freeze-thaw and chloride permeability resistance. Both freeze-thaw resistance and chloride permeability resistance were tested along with the compressive strength of 24 high performance concrete (HPC) mixtures. The effects of binary and ternary blended HPC including silica fume and fly ash were tested with respect to freeze thaw resistance and chloride permeability. The study included observations of how water to binder ratio and curing time affected the pore structure development of fly ash and silica fume concretes when tested using the Rapid Choride Permeability Test. The chloride permeability test results prove that both fly ash and silica fume are useful in reduction of chloride permeability. It is evident that fly ash is generally much slower reacting than silica fume from the tests conducted at 7, 28, and 56 days of moist curing. Results also indicate an increase in chloride penetration with increased w/b ratio dependent upon cement composition. A reduction in chloride permeability values can also be seen with increased curing time with the largest reduction between 7 and 28 days when tests were conducted at 7, 28, and 56 days. The results indicate that properly air entrained HPC is generally resistant to the effects of freezing and thawing as there was minimal degradation of the dynamic modulus of elasticity in all specimens tested.


Several specimens in the system Th-Pd-B-C with nominal compositions ThPd3B2C and ThPd3B3C (as melted and annealed ), containing superconducting phases exhibiting Tc's of 14.5 K and 21 K, have been studied with EPMA, electron diffraction, EDX element analysis and HREM. A number of phases (approximate compositions are given) have been observed: ( 1 ) ThPd2B2C, I-centred tetragonal, a = 0.375, c= 1.07 nm, which can be related to the Tc of 14.5 K; (2) ThPdo.65B4.7, P-type cubic, a = 0.42 nm, with a short-range ordered superstructure resulting in diffuse streaks in the electron-diffraction pattern; this phase is suggested to be the 21 K superconducting phase; (3) ThPd3, P-type hexagonal, a = 0.58, c = 0.98 nm; (4) ThPdsB3, I-centred orthorhombic a=0.84, b=0.90, c= 1.67 nm; (5) ThPd3B2C, with unknown structure; (6) ThB4, tetragonal a=0.72, c=0.41 nm; (7) graphitic C. Annealing of the specimen ThPd3B2C at 1050°C results in the disappearance of ThPd2B2C and the loss of the T¢ at 14.5 K but a strong increase of the 21 K superconducting fraction with a corresponding strong increase of the phases ThPdo.65B4. 7 and ThPd3. HREM indicates that ThPdo.65B4.7 adopts a modified CaB6 structure in which the cube face, 1⁄2, l 2, 0, which is vacant in CAB6, is partially occupied by Pd with the removal of some B atoms. The superstructure indicates a short-range ordering (clustering) of the Pd atoms.


This article considers a number of backplate designs for the bandwidth improvement of electrostatic ultrasonic transducers in both transmission and reception modes. Motivated by the design of pipe organs, transducers with backplates which incorporate a number of acoustically resonating conduits are modelled using a transmission line mathematical model which describes the displacement of the electrostatic membrane. The model illustrates that by increasing the number and varying the length of these conduits, the transmission voltage response and the reception force response can be improved over the traditional design by around 50% and 35%, respectively. ultrasound;


A protein with an apparent M(r) of 28,000 was isolated from outer membrane preparations of Aeromonas salmonicida A440. The protein was tested for the ability to form pores, using a planar lipid bilayer model membrane system. The protein appeared to be a monomer with a single-channel conductance in 1.0 M KCl of 1.96 nS and a cation/anion permeability ratio of 2.91 +/- 0.68. These data show that the porin channel is comparable in size to OmpC and OmpF of Escherichia coli and is relatively nonselective, having some preference for cations over anions. The porin was purified by preparative sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and a polyclonal antibody was raised. Immunoblot analysis showed that an immunologically cross-reactive protein was present in other Aeromonas strains but not in strains of Vibrio or Yersinia. The N-terminal amino acid sequence of the porin was determined and was found to show some homology to an Aeromonas hydrophila outer membrane protein. This is the second porin species of A. salmonicida to be described, and it differs from the other in subunit molecular weight, aggregation properties, peptidoglycan association, pore size, and antigenicity. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) immunized intraperitoneally with the purified porin protein were significantly protected from experimental A. salmonicida challenge. This is the first report of successful vaccination against A. salmonicida with a purified outer membrane component.


An inverted bit-line sense amplifier (BLSA) equipped with offset compensation capability for low-power DRAM applications is proposed. The sequential operation of the inverted BLSA allows us to eliminate the edge dummy array in an open bit-line structure resulting in 1.7% less total chip area despite of 10% area penalty of the proposed BLSA occupied by extra switches. For 8-Gb DRAM in 20-nm class technology, the read failure induced by Vth variability is completely removed due to the offset cancellation. The proposed BLSA maintains the gradual increase of the sensing delay when decreasing the power supply down to 0.6 V, while intrinsic read fail prevails below 0.9 V with the conventional one.


Myeloid cells play a key role in tumor progression and metastasis by providing nourishment and immune protection, as well as facilitating cancer invasion and seeding to distal sites. Although advances have been made in understanding the biology of these tumor-educated myeloid cells (TEMCs), their intrinsic plasticity challenges our further understanding of their biology. Indeed, in vitro experiments only mimic the in vivo setting, and current gene-knockout technologies do not allow the simultaneous, temporally controlled, and cell-specific silencing of multiple genes or pathways. In this article, we describe the 4PD nanoplatform, which allows the in vivo preferential transfection and in vivo tracking of TEMCs with the desired RNAs. This platform is based on the conjugation of CD124/IL-4Rα–targeting peptide with G5 PAMAM dendrimers as the loading surface and can convey therapeutic or experimental RNAs of interest. When injected i.v. in mice bearing CT26 colon carcinoma or B16 melanoma, the 4PD nanoparticles predominantly accumulate at the tumor site, transfecting intratumoral myeloid cells. The use of 4PD to deliver a combination of STAT3- and C/EBPβ-specific short hairpin RNA or miR-142-3p confirmed the importance of these genes and microRNAs in TEMC biology and indicates that silencing of both genes is necessary to increase the efficacy of immune interventions. Thus, the 4PD nanoparticle can rapidly and cost effectively modulate and assess the in vivo function of microRNAs and mRNAs in TEMCs.


Synthetic polymer nanoparticles (NPs) that display high affinity to protein targets have significant potential for medical and biotechnological applications as protein capture agents or functional replacements of antibodies ("plastic antibodies"). In this study, we modified an immunological assay (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay: ELISA) into a high-throughput screening method to select nanoparticles with high affinity to target proteins. Histone and fibrinogen were chosen as target proteins to demonstrate this concept. The selection process utilized a biotinylated NP library constructed with combinations of functional monomers. The screen identified NPs with distinctive functional group compositions that exhibited high affinity to either histone or fibrinogen. The variation of protein affinity with changes in the nature and amount of functional groups in the NP provided chemical insight into the principle determinants of protein-NP binding. The NP affinity was semiquantified using the ELISA-mimic assay by varying the NP concentrations. The screening results were found to correlate with solution-based assay results. This screening system utilizing a biotinylated NP is a general approach to optimize functional monomer compositions and can be used to rapidly search for synthetic polymers with high (or low) affinity for target biological macromolecules.


Any global enterprise, such as, Qatar National Bank, with branches in many countries is an example of an Application Service Provider (ASP) that uses multiple cloud data centers to serve their customers. Depending upon the time of the day, the number of users at different location changes and the ASPs need to rescale their operation at each data center to meet the demand at that location. ASPs are facing a great challenge to leverage the benefits provided by such multi-cloud distributed environments without service-centric Internet service Provider (ISP) infrastructure. In addition, each ASP's requirements are different and since these ASPs are large customers of ISPs, they want the network traffic handling to be tailored to their requirements. While the ASP wants to control the forwarding of its traffic on the ISP's network; the ISP does not want to relinquish control of its resources to the ASPs. In this work we present an innovative architecture, which facilitates ASPs to automate the deployment and operation of their applications over multiple clouds. We have developed Middleware Architecture for Cloud based applications using Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts. Especially we discuss how the implementation of interface between ASP and ISP control planes as well as implementation of generic packet header abstraction is achieved. Using our system, ASPs may specify the policies in the control plane and the control plane is responsible for enforcing these policies in the data plane. In OpenADN architecture, each application consists of multiple workflows, which are dynamically created and the required virtual servers and middleboxes are automatically created at the appropriate clouds. OpenADN allows both new applications that are designed specifically for it as well as legacy applications. It implements "Proxy-Switch Port" (pPort) to provide an interface between OpenADN-aware and OpenADN-unaware services. Depending on the available resources in the host, the controller launches a pPort with a pre-configured number of workflows that it can support. The pPort automatically starts a proxy server. The proxy service acts as the interface between OpenADN-aware services and OpenADN-unaware applications. We support both packet level middleboxes (such as intrusion detection systems) and message level middleboxes (such as firewalls). A cross-layer design is proposed in the current architecture that allows application-layer flow of information to be placed in the form of labels at layer 3.5 (packet level) and at layer 4.5 (message level). Layer 3.5 is called as "Application Label Switching" (APLS) layer. APLS is used by the path policy (routing/switching) component while layer 4.5 information is used to initiate and terminate application sessions. In addition to traditional applications, OpenADN can also be used for other multi-cloud applications such as Internet of Things, Virtual Worlds, Online Games, and Smart Wide Area Network services.


Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) is one of several reasons for the deterioration of surface water quality globally, even though the CECs occur in trace concentrations. This thesis produced new CEC data through a oneyear field study for substances which occur in Sweden's three largest lakes and their associated rivers. The purpose was to investigate mass flows and seasonal variations of CECs, as well as estimate the potential ecotoxicological hazard posed by the CECs' occurrence. It was found that numerous CECs occurred in all examined rivers, and that a continuous influx of CECs with suspected hazardous properties into the lakes occurred. Total mass loads of the investigated CECs were estimated from 0.51 to 5.6 kg/day in the influx to the lakes, and from 0.12 to 4.3 kg/day in the outflux from the lakes. Seasonal variations were observed in the aquatic environment for both individual and groups of CECs. This could be due to variations in consumption and environmental conditions. Some of the seasonal variations were being reported for the first time in the academic literature. Many of the CECs were suspected to have the combination of the hazardous properties of persistency, mobility, and toxicity (PMT). Of the 71 CECs detected far from any suspected input into the lakes, 20 had previously been suspected of having PMT properties. Within the remaining 51 CECs, multiple others also had suspected PMT properties. The thesis suggests that CECs with suspected PMT properties should be analysed closer with respect to these properties.


With the atomic force microscope (AFM), we preliminarily investigated the large-scale structure of actin filaments formed in low concentration protein solution (5μ/ag/ml) via self-organizationwithout the presence of any F-actin dynamic interfering factors (such as phalloidin) in vitro. It was foundthat the G-actin could be polymerized into ordered filamentous structures with different diameter fromthe slimmest filament of single F-actin to giant filament in tree-like branched aggregates. The observedpolymerized actin filaments, to which our most intense attention was attracted, was discretely distributed andshowed obvious polymorphism distinctly different from those in the presence of phalloidin or actin bindingproteins (fimbrin, gelsolin, etc.) in previous experiments. Latter structures were mainly composed of singleF-actin and/or multifilaments clearly consisting of several single F-actin. The experimental results clearlydemonstrated that non-interference with the F-actin intrinsic dynamics in self-organizing could lead to thepolymorphism of actin filamentous structures, and further analysis implied that the disturbance of normalF-actin dynamics by many factors could prevent the emergence of structural polymorphism, more often thannot, give rise to formation of specific structures instead and different interference would bring about variousparticular structures under certain conditions.


Today's processes of globalization, deregulation and development of information technologies in the banking sector of countries around the world lead to increase of bank mergers and acquisitions, thus reducing the total amount of banks in the banking system. At the same time, countries, where financial markets are still developing the banking consolidation is led by regulative authorities with strict directions and plans of reduction of banks' quantity in the banking sector. Thus, the objective of this study is to investigate the differences between banking consolidation driven by the market forces and banking consolidation initiated by regulatory authorities. The research occupies the main theoretical basis of both types of banking consolidation and today's overview of the most striking examples of banking consolidation driven by market / government around the world.


Binding and transport proteins are essential for the transport of nutrients, vitamins, hormones, pheromones, etc. to their target destinations. Lipid-binding proteins typically contain an internal cavity where the hydrophobic/amphipathic ligands bind. Transport proteins with binding clefts for water-soluble sugars have different architectures. Access to the cavity or the cleft sometimes requires conformational changes in the protein. This thesis presents the structures of three classes of bindingproteins.The cellular retinoid binding proteins sequester the amphipathic retinoids (vitamin A analogues) within the cytoplasm. The anti-carcinogenic properties of some synthetic retinoids make them interesting as potential drugs. The structures of cellular retinoic acid binding proteins were determined in complex with three different retinoids. In addition, the structure of a ligand-free mutant of cellular retinol binding protein was determined in order to study ligand entry into the cavity.The structure of α2U-globulin, an extra-cellular lipid-binding protein, was obtained in complex with a toxin, d-limonene 1,2-epoxide. The nature of the hydrophobic ligand-binding cavity is described in the context of a male rat specific nephropathy induced by this toxin.Allose binding protein from Escherichia coli belongs to the family of periplasmic binding proteins. Structures of this protein in the closed, allose-bound and the open, ligand-free form were determined to study the binding cleft and hinge bending. The protein consists of two Rossmann fold domains joined by a flexible, three-stranded hinge region. The binding cleft is formed at the domain interface in the closed form. Integral water molecules play an important structural role in the hinge.


The eddy current distribution in the shield of an air-core passively compensated pulsed alternator (compulsator) is discussed. The action of the shield reduces the inductance of the armature winding considerably, thus enabling it to deliver high-power pulse to low-impedance loads. By virtue of its function, the shield is stressed mechanically as well as thermally. An analytical solution of the 2-D diffusion and convective diffusion equations is obtained. The solution is obtained by the extraction of the poles and corresponding residues of the transformed equations. The theory was developed specifically for the shield of an air-core compulsator, which is a single-phase alternator. By using superposition, the results can also be applied to determine the transient eddy current distribution in the shield of superconducting synchronous generators. >


Synopsis. The water/water and water/gas interfaces of the developing embryo are de? scribed. During incubation three main compartments are present: the subgerminal, amniotic and allantoic fluids. The formation, composition, and regulation of these solutions are considered as examples of the water/water interfaces. Evaporative water loss across the eggshell is considered as an example of a water/gas interface. The effects of this phenomenon are considered as having been oversimplified in the past because they ignore phase changes (condensing of water vapour) and the ability of the embryo to regulate its development according to the supplies available.


In-situ geotechnical data were collected near paleoliquefaction features in the South Carolina Coastal Plain (SCCP) to assess the magnitudes and peak ground accelerations of prehistoric earthquakes. Currently used paleoseismic analysis methods were used to back-calculate the magnitudes of prehistoric earthquakes and peak ground accelerations that can cause paleoliquefaction features in the SCCP. The results from multiple methods yielded similar results and indicated that the prehistoric earthquakes in the SCCP that occurred during the past 6,000 years and caused paleoliquefaction features have magnitudes ranging from 5.3 to 7.8. The peak ground accelerations needed to cause liquefaction are also consistent among the different methods and ranged between about 0.1 and 0.3 g for M 7.5 and between about 0.1 and 0.5 g for M 6.0 earthquakes. These results were used together with those of earlier paleoseismological investigations to estimate the magnitudes and peak ground accelerations associated with prehistoric earthquake episodes. For earthquake episodes centered at Charleston, the estimated magnitudes and peak ground accelerations range from 6.8 to 7.8 and 0.16 to 0.24 g, respectively. For episodes centered near Georgetown, the estimated magnitudes and peak ground accelerations range from 5.5 to 7.0 and 0.21 to 0.42 g, respectively.


Hypocalcemic vitamin D-depleted rats received either 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin D3 [1,25(OH)2D3] or calcium p.o. in order to study the effects of plasma calcium normalization, resulting from hormone or dietary calcium administration, on the hepatic response to bromobenzene (BB). Results showed that 1,25(OH)2D3 administration induced a rise in the circulating aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and sorbitol dehydrogenase after BB administration significantly greater than in unsupplemented rats. The volumic density of necrosis was not, however, increased by 1,25(OH)2D3 whereas the proportion of acidophilic cells surrounding the necrotic area and the ratio of acidophilic to necrotic cells were significantly increased suggesting the presence of regenerating parenchyma. Oral calcium yielded an increase comparable to that of 1,25(OH)2D3 in apparent BB toxicity which was accompanied by a significant rise in both the volumic density of necrosis and of acidophilic cells but the ratio of acidophilic to necrotic cells was not increased by dietary calcium. The amount of cytochrome P-450 lost after BB administration, the covalent binding of BB metabolites to cellular proteins in vitro and the total liver glutathione content were not changed by either 1,25(OH)2D3 or calcium supplementation. Results show that hypocalcemic vitamin D-depleted rats are protected partially against BB toxicity; this protection does not seem to be due to a decrease in the hepatic metabolism of BB but seems to be related to the hypocalcemic state; on the other hand, the active regenerating process which seemed more apparent in 1,25(OH)2D3-treated than in all other animals may have contributed to offset partly the cellular damage induced by the toxin in the hormone-treated group.


Background External beam radiation therapy concurrent with chemotherapy followed by intracavitary brachytherapy is the standard of care in the treatment of locally advanced cervical cancer. Treatment success is not only measured in terms of tumor control but also in the complication rates that are kept to a minimum. Significant genitourinary and gastrointestinal complications have been noted during long term follow-up, hence there is a need to find ways to improve outcomes. This study aims to determine the optimal volume of the urinary bladder that will result to the least radiation dose to the rectum, sigmoid colon, small intestines and the bladder itself using two-dimensional (2D Point A-based) and Image guided brachytherapy (IGBT) plans.
Methods24 patients with histologic diagnosis of cervical cancer stage IB2 –IIIB were treated using a combination of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) of 45 to 50.4 Gy and high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy for four fractions. Patients were treated with different bladder volumes per fraction. The urinary bladder was instilled with 0-20cc (empty), 50-70cc, 100-120cc and 150-170cc of normal saline via Foley catheter prior to CT simulation and brachytherapy. A Point A-based and three-dimensional (3-D) plans were done using the Oncentra planning system. The dose volume histogram (DVH) of the urinary bladder, rectum, sigmoid colon and small intestines using the D2cc parameter were obtained.
ResultsUsing 3D-IGBT, a dose reduction trend was noted in the small intestines by increasing bladder volume from a mean dose of 2.18 Gy (empty bladder) to 1.17 Gy (150-170cc). However, this decrease did not lead to a statistically significant difference (p= 0.068). Varying bladder volumes did not influence the doses received by the rectum and sigmoid. Increasing bladder volume resulted to increased in radiation dose received by the bladder from a mean dose of 5.32 Gy (empty) to 5.95 Gy (150-170cc) which was not significant. For Point A based plan this increased dose to the bladder from mean dose of 6.42 Gy (empty) to 7.63 Gy (150-170cc) was observed to be statistically significant (p = 0.0495).
ConclusionA trend of better sparing of the small intestines was observed with increasing bladder volume (50-150cc) but this was not seen on the rectum and sigmoid. The dose received by the urinary bladder is directly proportional with its volume.


The sciurid retina projects to the contralateral superior colliculus, pretectal complex, ventral nucleus of the lateral geniculate body and to five distinct zones in the dorsal nucleus of the lateral


As has been previously reported an increased intensity of light-induced green fluorescence is observed for some tumor cells. The present paper deals with the cause of this phenomenon, employing for this hepatoma cells of line HTC acted upon with 2,4-DNP, amytal and malonate. It has been shown that the light-induced increase in green fluorescence in cells is due to the oxidation of NADH-dehydrogenase, a mitochondrial flavine-containing enzyme, occurring at the time of fluorescence induction. The increased intensity of green fluorescence of flavoproteins in tumor cells is associated with an infringement in oxidation of NAD-dependent substrates in these, and with the activation of the reverse electron transport in the oxidative chain. The exciding light activates NADH-dehydrogenase and accelerates the translocation of reduced equivalents from this enzyme, which results in its oxidation, and thus--in the observed effect of increased intensity of green fluorescence.


Concentration of fines by gravity methods remains one of the challenging problems to the world mineral industry. Considering the increasing losses of mineral values and the search for an economic process, it has been the major concern of the researchers and the practicing engineers to develop an efficient fine gravity separator. The development of some of the recent fine gravity separators with the application of high centrifugal forces has resulted in improvement in the separation efficiency. In the last four de¬cades extensive studies have been carried out at National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur to develop gravity based processes for low grade ores, fines and industrial wastes involving the conventional separators to the latest equipment like multi-gravity separator for their economic exploitation. In this paper an attempt has been made to briefly present a review of the gravity concentration processes with a particular reference to the recent advances in the processing of fines. The salient results obtained from the recent studies carried out on beneficiation of lean grade finely disseminated tungsten ore, iron ore slimes and chromite slimes at NML using some fine gravity separators like Bartles-Motley Vanner GEC-duplex concentrator and MGS are discussed.


Orchard trees of pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch] were subjected to combinations of cultural practices inducing differential physiological states so as to assess the potential for culture-related impact on damage to trees by key arthropod pests. Leaf N concentration, leaf water status, and crop load all affected foliar damage by black pecan aphids [BPA; Melanocallis caryaefoliae (Davis)] and pecan leaf scorch mite [PLSM; Eotetranychus hicoriae (McGregor)], as well as second-flush shoot growth. Damage to first-flush foliage in the late season by BPA generally diminished as leaf water status and leaf N concentration increased, but intensified with a reduction in crop load. Conversely, foliage damage by PLSM increased with elevated leaf water status and N concentration, but was unaffected by crop load. First- and second-order interactions for all combinations of cultural treatments conferring differential physiological states affected damage by pests and induction of second-flush shoot growth. Arthropod-induced defoliation on trees receiving highly favorable cultural practices-those producing high leaf N, high leaf water availability, and low crop load-was greater than on trees receiving minimal or lesser cultural inputs. Thus, cultural practices influencing leaf water status, N status, or crop load potentially act and interact to produce both desirable and undesirable side-effects on damage incurred by certain arthropod pests and therefore merit consideration in efforts to develop improved integrated pest management strategies.


PURPOSE
To evaluate the accuracy of thin-section computed tomography (CT) with expiratory scans in diagnosing early bronchiolitis obliterans after lung transplantation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Thin-section CT scans were reviewed by two observers blinded to the diagnoses in seven consecutive lung transplant recipients with histopathologically proved bronchiolitis obliterans (group A) and 21 with normal biopsy findings (group B). All patients had normal biopsy and stable pulmonary function test (PFT) results 2-36 weeks prior to CT. Patients with normal biopsy results were placed into subgroups based on abnormal (group B1) or stable (group B2) PFT results. Air-trapping extent on expiratory scans was scored on a 24-point scale.

RESULTS
The mean air-trapping score in group A (6.6) was not significantly different from that in group B (4.5, P =. 17). The air-trapping score was significantly higher in groups A and B1 than in group B2 (6.2 and 2.6, respectively; P =.03). The frequency of an air-trapping score of 3 or more in groups A and B1 was significantly higher than that in group B2 (P =.03). By using a score of 3 or more to indicate air trapping, the sensitivity of expiratory CT was 74%, specificity was 67%, and accuracy was 71%.

CONCLUSION
Thin-section CT, including expiratory scans, is of limited accuracy in diagnosing early bronchiolitis obliterans after lung transplantation.


In general, multielectron redox reactions are rare. Nonetheless, important examples of these processes are efficiently catalyzed by metalloenzymes such as xanthine oxidase, sulfite oxidase, nitrate reductase, and cytochrome P450. These enzymes apparently operate via an atom transfer process-the net result involves oxygen atom transfer in an overall two-electron redox reaction. 1 For most of these enzymes, there is little or no information on reaction pathways. Furthermore, it is difficult to model these enzymes because of the paucity of clearly established multielectron atom transfer processes. Development of systems that would allow studies of the rates, mechanisms, and energetics of multielectron reactions would clearly benefit our understanding of these important processes. Recently, a net three-electron transfer mediated by an unprecedented reversible nitrogen atom transfer was discovered in our laboratory. 2 As part of our continuing study of multielectron transfer, we now report that an analogous twoelectron redox process can be mediated by reversible nitrogen atom transfer. Disciplines Chemistry Comments Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Inorganic Chemistry 29 (1990): 3915, doi:10.1021/ic00345a001. Copyright 1990 American Chemical Society. This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/chem_pubs/734


This study explores female city council member political ambition to run for mayor. Women who hold mayoral office are potentially more competitive for higher elected office at the state and federal level. This study is based on a survey sent to Texas city council members in cities over 30,000. Forty-one percent of respondents said they would most likely run for mayor at some point, and we do find a gender gap in ambition (50% of men and 36% of women). However, we find that women who advocated a gendered local government political agenda exhibited higher levels of political ambition compared women who do not, and the ambition gap is reduced significantly. This finding holds up, controlling for other factors suggested by the literature that are predictors of political ambition. Two of these other factors—age and personal support—also increase city council member mayoral ambition. The findings are discussed in terms of strategies to increase female mayoral ambition.


Domestic gas burners are investigated experimentally and numerically in order to further understand the fluid dynamics processes that drive the cooking appliance performances. In particular, a numerical simulation tool has been developed in order to predict the onset of two flame instabilities which may deteriorate the performances of the burner: the flame back and flame lift. The numerical model has been firstly validated by comparing the simulated flow field with a data set of experimental measurements. A prediction criterion for the flame back instability has been formulated based on isothermal simulations without involving the combustion modelization. This analysis has been verified by a Design Of Experiments investigation performed on different burner prototype geometries. On the contrary, the formulation of a prediction criterion regarding the flame lift instability has required the use of a combustion model in the numerical code. In this analysis, the structure and aerodynamics of the flame generated by a cooking appliance has thus been characterized by experimental and numerical investigations, in which, by varying the flow inlet conditions, the flame behaviour was studied from a stable reference case toward a complete blow-out.


A novel microbend fiber-optic acoustic sensor has been studied, both analytically and experimentally. The sensor is simple mechanically, insensitive to acceleration, and achieves shape flexibility by utilizing fairly long fiber lengths for the sensing element. The acoustic sensitivity and minimum detectable pressure of the sensor were found to be significantly improved over previously reported microbend sensors. Further optimization of the sensor appears possible.


A new computer-controlled apparatus has been developed to study the behavior of interfaces between two materials under three-dimensional monotonic and cyclic loading conditions. The interface can be subjected to a normal stress, σn, and two shear stresses, τx, and τy, acting simultaneously on the interface plane. The normal stress is applied by a pneumatic actuator that is operated by a motorized regulator. Shear stresses, which are perpendicular to each other, are applied by two stepper motors. Tests can be either displacement or load controlled. The results of an experimental program that includes two series of tests to study the behavior of an interface between a dry coarse sand and a rough surface are presented. In the first series, two-dimensional monotonic and cyclic tests were carried out to verify the performance of the apparatus. The effects of surface roughness, initial relative density of sand, and the magnitude of normal stress on the shear stress-shear displacement and volume change behavior of the interface are presented. In the second series, the loading was three-dimensional and monotonic. First, the interface was sheared in one tangential direction up to a shear stress level less than the peak value. Then, the interface was sheared in a perpendicular direction, while the shear stress in the previous direction was maintained at a constant level. Shear stress and shear displacement increments experienced different paths, while the resultant shear stress-shear displacement curves remained the same irrespective of stress paths.


Moving mammoths Mammoths are a particularly charismatic example of our Pleistocene megafuana. Lister and Sher took a detailed look at mammoth fossils globally and suggest that the North American Columbian mammoth, thought to have arisen from a European species, probably evolved from a more advanced Asian species. Similar dispersal events of Asian mammoths led to later colonization events in Europe and North America. Science, this issue p. 805 Detailed morphological examination of mammoth fossils globally reveals repeated colonization events. Mammoths provide a detailed example of species origins and dispersal, but understanding has been impeded by taxonomic confusion, especially in North America. The Columbian mammoth Mammuthus columbi was thought to have evolved in North America from a more primitive Eurasian immigrant. The earliest American mammoths (1.5 million years ago), however, resemble the advanced Eurasian M. trogontherii that crossed the Bering land bridge around that time, giving rise directly to M. columbi. Woolly mammoth M. primigenius later evolved in Beringia and spread into Europe and North America, leading to a diversity of morphologies as it encountered endemic M. trogontherii and M. columbi, respectively. In North America, this included intermediates ("M. jeffersonii"), suggesting introgression of M. primigenius with M. columbi. The lineage illustrates the dynamic interplay of local adaptation, dispersal, and gene flow in the evolution of a widely distributed species complex.


This paper presents an approach to support the designer of Visual Interactive Systems (VISs) in adapting a VIS to the evolution of its users. This process is called co-evolution of users and systems. The approach is based on the identification of the patterns of interaction between the user and an interactive system and on their use for the evolution of the system to facilitate novel usages introduced by the user. The approach is focused on WIMP systems and is based on the recently introduced PCL (Pictorial Computing Laboratory) model of interaction, within which we provide a novel definition of interaction pattern. The proposal assumes that the VIS is observed by an external system called SIC (Supporting Interaction Co-evolution), which is in charge of recording the interactions between the user and the VIS and of analyzing the relevant interaction patterns. In particular, SIC exploits a UML-based statechart specification of the VIS in order to associate observed user activities with the states of the interactive process. This information provides a useful basis for a variety of pattern recognition techniques. Two techniques called usual state and recurrent sequence recognition are illustrated and the results of a first experiment are discussed.


This paper proposes a new methodology, Power Block Geometry (PBG), for the presentation of power electronics topologies that process ac voltage. PBG's strategy uses formal methods based on a geometrical representation with particular rules and defines a universe with axioms and conjectures to establish a formation law. It allows power electronics configurations observed in the technical literature to be obtained by just following PBG's proposed rules, taking a systematic approach and using the familiar concept of connection blocks. Such an approach provides the formal outline needed for a comprehensive didactic presentation .


Despite recent advances in automated machine learning, model selection is still a complex and computationally intensive process. For Gaussian processes (GPs), selecting the kernel is a crucial task, often done manually by the expert. Additionally, evaluating the model selection criteria for Gaussian processes typically scales cubically in the sample size, rendering kernel search particularly computationally expensive. We propose a novel, efficient search method through a general, structured kernel space. Previous methods solved this task via Bayesian optimization and relied on measuring the distance between GP's directly in function space to construct a kernel-kernel. We present an alternative approach by defining a kernel-kernel over the symbolic representation of the statistical hypothesis that is associated with a kernel. We empirically show that this leads to a computationally more efficient way of searching through a discrete kernel space.


Vocatives, closely related to "addressing terms", are used to create pseudointimacy between participants of speech events, not only in everyday conversation, but also in media interactions, such as talk show. This paper presents a corpus-based analysis on the forms and functions of Indonesian vocatives used by female and male hosts, each hosting one of two popular talk shows in Indonesia, i.e. So Imah Show (with the female host) and Just Alvin (with the male host). The analysis is based on 12,746-word corpus of one episode for each of the two talk shows. The results show that the female host predominantly uses a politer form to her guests, namely the [kinship terms + first name full form] pattern; meanwhile the male host prefers a solidarity form, namely the [first name full form] pattern. Concerning the functions of the vocatives, both hosts use their preferred vocative forms mostly to maintain pseudo-intimacy, compared to the summoning attention, and addressee identification. These findings indicate that male and female, given their roles as hosts in the context of media interaction, show formal variations in maintaining pseudo-intimacy, in which the female host tend to be politer than the male host. This bias is hypothesised to be influenced by different politeness strategies used by each host, considering the age of their guests.


Function point analysis helps developers and users quantify the size and complexity of software application functions in a way that is useful to software users. Are function points a perfect metric? No. Are they a useful metric? In the author's experience, yes. Function points are technologically independent, consistent, repeatable, and help normalize data, enable comparisons, and set project scope and client expectations. The author addresses these issues from the perspective of a practitioner who uses the International Function Point Users Group's Counting Practices Manual, Release 4.0 rules for counting function points. Of course, other function point standards exist, including Mark II and Albrecht's original rules.


Purpose

While a great amount of literature has focused on the relationship between communication strategies and corporate reputation, there is no systematic research on the different kinds of social media communication strategies. Based on the corporate reputation and social media literature, this paper aims to contribute to this gap in the research in two main ways. First identifying which social media communication strategy is more effective with contrasting levels of reputations; second, analyzing the differences between high- and low-reputation companies with respect to their ability to use corporate communication.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a longitudinal explorative multiple-case study and theoretical sampling. The research setting is the Italian insurance context. The focus of this analysis on one medium, Facebook, because it is the most exploited in the context of the Italian insurance sector.

Findings

Six complementary social media communication strategies were identified: egocentric, conversational, selective, openness, secretive and supportive. The results also reveal distinct ways in which high-, medium- and low-reputation companies' utilize the six complementary strategies of communications.

Research limitations/implications

The study is based on a single industry and on one single geographical market, and care should thus be taken in generalizing the findings to other contexts. Therefore emerges the opportunity to broaden this research to other similar service sector, such as banking, to assess and generalize the results obtained. In addition, a possible direction of research, especially from a methodological standpoint, should investigate companies from different countries. Such a comparative study would examine in depth whether and to what extent the institutional framework may impact on communication strategies implemented by companies. This study only analyzed one social media (Facebook); hence, we cannot draw firm conclusions about what may constitute a successful social media communication strategy.

Practical implications

From this study, managers can learn how to combine the six communication strategies to have an effective impact on the corporate reputation. They can also learn how the number of interactions and the time taken to respond to questions from customers improve the corporate reputation and provide communication that is more effective.

Originality/value

This research extends the previous literature on corporate reputation and corporate communication, showing the relationship between them in a social media context and providing different strategies of managing this combination.


In 1976, psychiatrist Aaron Beck posed this question about a new form of therapy that emphasised changing patients' dysfunctional cognitions: "Can a fledgling psychotherapy challenge the giants in the field—psychoanalysis and behavior therapy?" (p 333).1 Since that time, cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) has emerged as one of the most dominant modes of psychological treatment. In this article, I briefly discuss the factors responsible for the current popularity of CBT, review some of the criticisms that have emerged about the treatment, and describe recent innovative work that may end up changing the nature of CBT in the years to come.

Cognitive-behavioural therapy has become increasingly popular with clinicians and the general public alike over recent years. Surveys of therapists indicate that CBT is fast becoming the majority orientation of practicing psychologists.2 Partly because of its commonsense and clear principles, self-help books based on CBT approaches have also come to dominate the market.3 Even media articles frequently extol the virtues of this form of psychotherapy. A recent Washington Post article proclaimed: "For better or worse, cognitive therapy is fast becoming what people mean when they say they are 'getting therapy'" (p HE01).4

What accounts for CBT's sustained and growing popularity? The short-term, structured nature of the treatment makes it particularly amenable to empirical investigation, and it has accumulated an impressive research base. Butler and colleagues5 report that there are now over 325 clinical trials of CBT for various clinical populations, including mood disorders, anxiety disorders, marital distress, anger, childhood disorders and chronic pain. In an examination of 16 separate meta-analyses of CBT studies, they reported that the treatment produced large effect size improvements compared to control conditions for emotional disorders in adults and adolescents. Furthermore, results indicated that CBT was somewhat superior to antidepressants, and equal in efficacy …


The effect of xamoterol, a beta1 adrenoceptor partial agonist, on resting haemodynamic measurements and exercise tolerance was studied in 10 patients with dyspnoea of effort. All patients had poor left ventricular function due to myocardial infarction with ejection fractions ranging from 15% to 35% (mean 28%). The cardiac index and stroke work index both rose significantly. The mean pulmonary artery pressure fell from 20(2) mm Hg to 16(2) mm Hg and pulmonary artery wedge pressure from 14(2) mm Hg to 10(2) mm Hg within the first four hours. Exercise tolerance, measured on the treadmill, increased significantly in seven patients but was unchanged in the three who had the lowest left ventricular ejection fractions. Exercise heart rate response was attenuated by the drug in all patients. It is concluded that xamoterol may be beneficial in patients with poor left ventricular function but can be harmful in extremely poor left ventricular function where high sympathetic drive may be important.