CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE
Low-birth-weight (LBW) girls who enter puberty earlier (around 8-9 yr) tend to have earlier menarche, earlier growth arrest, and a shorter adult stature. At present, there is no therapy for most of these girls. In LBW girls with early puberty, hyperinsulinemic insulin resistance could underpin their rapid transit through puberty and their loss of adult stature. We explored the effects of insulin sensitization with metformin during puberty.

SETTING, DESIGN, AND PATIENTS
In an open-labeled, prospective study, 22 LBW girls (birth weight < -1.5 sd score for gestational age) with early-normal puberty (stage 2 breast development at age 8-9 yr) were randomized to remain untreated (n = 12) or to receive metformin (850 mg/d; n = 10) for 36 months (mean age at start, 9.0 yr). All girls remained untreated between 36 and 42 months.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Pubertal growth, body composition by absorptiometry, uterine-ovarian size by ultrasound, fasting insulin, glucose, lipids, leptin, IGF-I, and IGF-binding protein-1 were assessed.

RESULTS
Metformin treatment resulted in a longer duration from stage 2 breast development to menarche (P < 0.01; median difference, +1.0 yr), taller near-adult height (P < 0.01), and leaner body composition (P < 0.001). Metformin was also associated with lower insulin resistance and leptin and IGF-I levels and higher SHBG and IGF-binding protein-1 levels and with a more favorable lipid profile. Bone mineral density and uterine-ovarian growth were unaffected.

CONCLUSION
Metformin treatment for 36 months in LBW girls with early-normal puberty normalized their pubertal progression to menarche and increased height gains up to adult stature. These data support the concept that insulin is a major codeterminant of the pubertal tempo and pubertal height gain in girls.


As we learn more about the endocannabinoid system (ECS), our understanding and grasp of the system's ubiquitous presence is expanding. In light of this, there is also a growing body of evidence for the therapeutic potential of ECS modulation in a range of clinical situations. Strategies include for example manipulation of the Cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptor, mostly in terms of CNS processes, and activation of the Cannabinoid 2 (CB2) receptor as anti-inflammatory target.


This study examined development of the stir zone and plastic flow of the material during friction stir spot joining of aluminium alloys. The development of the stir zone was discussed through the observation of macro sections of the joints produced at various process times. The friction stir spot joining trial with insert of Au foil to lap surface and the dissimilar lap friction stir spot joining showed that the movement of the lap surface was attributed to the downward plastic flow from the upper plate to the lower plate around the probe. Additionally, it was clarified that the direction of the plastic flow was roughly the same as the direction of the tool rotation. The dissimilar butt friction stir spot joining suggested that the plastic flow occurred not only within the stir zone but also in a larger area below the tool shoulder. The present study revealed that the threads on the probe surface were important for producing the plastic flow of thickness direction during friction stir spot joining.


beta-cell type-specific expression of the upstream glucokinase promoter was studied by transfection of fusion genes and analysis of DNA-protein interactions. A construct containing 1,000 bp of 5'-flanking DNA was efficiently expressed in HIT M2.2.2 cells, a beta-cell-derived line that makes both insulin and glucokinase, but not in NIH 3T3 cells, a heterologous cell line. In a series of 5' deletion mutations between bases -1000 and -100 (relative to a base previously designated +1), efficient expression in HIT cells was maintained until -280 bp, after which transcription decreased in a stepwise manner. The sequences between -180 and -1 bp contributing to transcriptional activity in HIT cells were identified by studying 28 block transversion mutants that spanned this region in 10-bp steps. Two mutations reduced transcription 10-fold or more, while six reduced transcription between 3- and 10-fold. Three mutationally sensitive regions of this promoter were found to bind to a factor that was expressed preferentially in pancreatic islet beta cells. The binding sites, designated upstream promoter elements (UPEs), shared a consensus sequence of CAT(T/C)A(C/G). Methylation of adenine and guanine residues within this sequence prevented binding of the beta-cell factor, as did mutations at positions 2, 3, and 5. Analysis of nuclear extracts from different cell lines identified UPE-binding activity in HIT M2.2.2 and beta-TC-3 cells but not in AtT-20, NIH 3T3, or HeLa cells; the possibility of a greatly reduced amount in alpha-TC-6 cells could not be excluded. UV laser cross-linking experiments supported the beta-cell type expression of this factor and showed it to be approximately 50 kDa in size. Gel mobility shift competition experiments showed that this beta-cell factor is the same that binds to similar elements, termed CT boxes, in the insulin promoter. Thus, a role for these elements (UPEs or CT boxes), and the beta-cell factor that binds to them, in determining the expression of genes in the beta cells of pancreatic islets is suggested.


The main goals of this research were to 1) refine manufacturing processes in order to develop novel soft, highly compliant and efficient electroactive materials for 2) subsequent characterization and integration into a prototype autonomous aquatic vehicle as a visible demonstration platform. Therefore several manufacturing processes to develop active polymeric composites were investigated and refined to create robust and efficient artificial muscle fin actuators. In this effort, several polymer materials, geometric shapes and thickness of the fin were investigated. An experimental static bench-test setup was then instrumented to characterize forward thrust force and evaluate efficient input driving signals to the actuator fin. All characterization data were obtained using a laptop PC-platform LabVIEW data acquisition system. A radio-controlled vehicle utilizing the optimized fin propulsors and all the onboard hardware to generate power and control signals was then designed and tested for optimum forward cruising speed and simple steering maneuver. The results showed that the proposed electroactive fin could be a viable candidate for application in low powered autonomous aquatic swimming vehicles.


Cancer. Edited by Ronald W. Raven, O.B.E. (Mil.), T.D., F.R.C.S. (Vol. I-pp. 539+19+x; Vol. 2-pp. 641+24+ix; Vol. 3-pp. 483+18+viii: illustrated. 85s. each volume.) London: Butterworth and Co. (Publishers), Ltd. 1957-8. The publication of this systematic work on cancer was expected with interest, and the first three volumes which have now appeared are certainly satisfying. The production is all that one could wish; the volumes are of a handy si7e, the illustrations numerous and apposite. the contributors acknowledged experts, the articles well documentcd, and the editing careful and efficient. Though all three volumes are of general interest, they will each have their special appeal to ditlerent sections of the profession. The first volume will be of great interest to the research worker and biochemist. After a brief chapter on the historical aspects of cancer (by Dr. Bett) there come two articles by the late Sir Ernest Kennaway dealing with the carcinogenic properties of cholesterol and the incubation period of cancer; the latter is a hitherto rather neglected subject. Then follow a chapter on the general question of carcinogenesis and two informative articles on the biochemistry of cell division and its relation to cancer; this section will be invaluable to the research worker, but the uninitiated (such as the reviewer) will have to make their own glossary of initials -for example, D.A.B., A.A.F., D.N.A., 5H.T., and the like. The volume ends with excellent accounts of the relation of viruses, hormones, radiation, and environmental factors to the causation of cancer. A chapter on the genetic control of cancer is also included. The second volume will greatly please the clinician and the morbid anatomist, for it describes with a wealth of illustration the local features of cancer in the different parts of the body. It is a volume to be viewed rather than reviewed. Volume 3 opens with a thought-stimulating chapter on the immunological aspects of cancer by Professor H. N. Green, who brings evidence to show that "antigenic loss is the raison d'etre of the cancer cell." The value of comparative pathology is then stressed in a chapter by J. R. M. Innes, who writes on the malignant diseases of domestic animals. The interesting statistical survey by Percy Stocks affords little comfort to those who are fond of cigarettesmoking. There is a section of more than 100 pages on the geography of cancer; both the epidemiologist and the general reader will want to study this. Occupational cancer is nowadays attracting increasing attention, and the hundred pages devoted to this subject are noteworthy; the possible relationship between occupational exposure and leukaemia is well discussed by Ethel Browning. There is a short section on that debatable subject-cancer education. One notes that in the U.S.A. special instruction is given to nurses on the subject of cancer and that a " Cancer Source Book for Nurses" has been distributed gratis to 131,000 nurses and nursing instructors. Volume 3 ends with a short section on some simple methods of value in the diagnosis of cancer; the useful caution is given that when " cytology is used as the only diagnostic aid, false negative reports are very much more serious." These three excellent volumes whet our appetite for those still to come. ZACHARY COPE.


Background Trigeminal‐mediated headshaking results from a low threshold for firing of the trigeminal nerve. A seasonal component has been implicated in onset of clinical signs, which occur during the spring and summer months. Geldings are overrepresented in the affected population and hormonal differences as compared to a healthy control population of geldings might contribute to headshaking. Objective/Hypothesis To assess concentrations of luteinizing hormone (LH) over an 8‐hour period in gelded healthy controls and horses affected with headshaking. Our hypothesis was that geldings with seasonal headshaking would have higher concentrations of LH over an 8‐hour period compared to control horses during the summer when affected horses manifested headshaking. Animals Twelve geldings (6 controls and 6 affected). Methods Prospective controlled trial. Blood samples were drawn every 15 minutes over an 8‐hour time period during summer from all horses to measure circulating LH concentrations by using a radioimmunoassay for equine LH. All affected horses were actively affected by headshaking at the time of sample collection. Results No statistically significant differences in LH concentrations were found throughout the study period in headshakers as compared to control horses. Time had no significant effect, but a slight decrease in LH concentrations was observed for all horses. The main limitation of the study was the low number of horses. Conclusions and Clinical Importance Horses affected with headshaking did not have significant differences in circulating LH during the late summer as compared to control horses.


This paper presents a generalized Bayesian framework for relevance feedback in content-based image retrieval. The proposed feedback technique is based on the Bayesian learning method and incorporates a time-varying user model into the formulation. We define the user model with two terms: a target query and a user conception. The target query is aimed to learn the common features from relevant images so as to specify the user's ideal query. The user conception is aimed to learn a parameter set to determine the time-varying matching criterion. Therefore, at each feedback step, the learning process updates not only the target distribution, but also the target query and the matching criterion. In addition, another objective of this paper is to conduct the relevance feedback on images represented in region level. We formulate the matching criterion using a weighting scheme and proposed a region clustering technique to determine the region correspondence between relevant images. With the proposed region clustering technique, we derive a representation in region level to characterize the target query. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed method combined with time-varying user model indeed achieves satisfactory results and our proposed region-based techniques further improve the retrieval accuracy.


The objective of the present study was to investigate the levels of aspiration of children and discrepancy between their levels of aspiration and performance on two somewhat different tasks when the children were grouped by: (a) middle-and lower-classes; (b) white and Negro races; (c) males and females; and (d) three grade levels. The operational measurement of level of aspiration was accomplished by using a physical task, a ring-toss game, and an intellectual task, spelling. In the investigation, children were asked to state how many of ten rings they would like to throw onto a peg and how many of ten words they would like to spell correctly. The response given by each child for each task was recorded as his level of aspiration. Following responses for both task questions, the child was asked to perform on the two tasks. The difference between the level of aspiration set by the child and his performance score provided a discrepancy score for each child. Subjects were children enrolled in the second, fourth and sixth grades in ten elementary schools in Greensboro, North Carolina. Schools were randomly selected after they had been stratified as predominantly white and Negro in enrollment. Each child was classified according to his sex, race and grade level from cumulative folders and teachers' records and class position was determined by the head of the household's occupation. A total of 2,741 children were classified into combination categories and ten children were randomly selected from each category. Two hundred and forty children comprised the sample. The analysis of variance, fixed treatments model with multiple classification of subjects, was the statistical test employed for analyzing the data. The F value for all main factors and interactions was computed. The .05 level of significance was the criterion for making the decision about rejection or retention of the null hypothesis. The hypothesis that middle-and lower-class children would differ in levels of aspiration was not supported by the findings on either the
physical or intellectual tasks except when the variable of sex was combined with the class variable on the physical task. Significant differences were found, however, in performance and discrepancy scores on the intellectual task. Middle-class children performed higher than lower-class children and lower-class children had higher discrepancy mean scores than middle-class children. The hypothesis that white and Negro children would differ in levels of aspiration was not supported by the findings on either task. Significant differences were found between the races, however, in performance and discrepancy scores. White children performed significantly higher than Negro children on the intellectual task. White children had higher discrepancy scores than Negro children on the physical task, whereas on the intellectual task, the Negro children had higher mean discrepancy scores. It was inferred that boys and girls would differ in their levels of aspiration according to the type of task. On the physical task, the boys were found to aspire and to perform significantly higher than girls, whereas for the intellectual task the same finding was not true. On the intellectual task the girls performed higher than the boys. The mean discrepancy score for boys on the intellectual task was more than twice as high as the mean discrepancy score for the girls. It was hypothesized that differences in levels of aspiration would be found between children in different grade levels. This hypothesis was supported on the physical task but not on the intellectual one. As grade level increased, level of aspiration progressively increased for the physical task. Significant differences were found in performance and discrepancy scores on the intellectual task. Second graders performed lowest and sixth graders performed the highest. The hypothesis that discrepancy scores would decrease with increased age (or grade level) of children was supported for the intellectual task but not for the physical task.


Abstract : A probabilistic model is developed to predict the reliability of an embankment constructed on soft saturated clay. The model is based on a circular arc method of analysis, supplemented with a measure of the uncertainity in the resisting and overturning moments. The uncertainty in the overturning moment was considered negligible in ths thesis. The uncertainty in the resisting moment was considered due to the uncertainties of bias, random testing error, and inherent soil variability. Two case studies were analyzed in this thesis by both the conventional method of analysis and the probability model. The results indicate that the uncertainties in bias correction factors are the dominant sources for both field vane testing and unconfined compression testing. The basic probability model is then extended to include the effect of embankment length on the computed failure probability. Two approaches are taken. The first is a direct extension of the basic model, considering the actual embankment length as a multiple of the minimum embankment length required to satisfy the assumption of plane strain. The second approach is a three dimensional probability model developed from a first passage failure criterion. (Author)


OBJECTIVE To determine the association between laboratory-derived measures of glycemic control (HbA1c) and the presence of renal complications (measured by proteinuria and estimated glomerular filtration rate [eGFR]) with the 5-year costs of caring for people with diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS We estimated the cumulative 5-year cost of caring for people with diabetes using a province-wide cohort of adults with diabetes as of 1 May 2004. Costs included physician visits, hospitalizations, ambulatory care (emergency room visits, day surgery, and day medicine), and drug costs for people >65 years of age. Using linked laboratory and administrative clinical and costing data, we determined the association between baseline glycemic control (HbA1c), proteinuria, and kidney function (eGFR) and 5-year costs, controlling for age, socioeconomic status, duration of diabetes, and comorbid illness. RESULTS We identified 138,662 adults with diabetes. The mean 5-year cost of diabetes in the overall cohort was $26,978 per patient, excluding drug costs. The mean 5-year cost for the subset of people >65 years of age, including drug costs, was $44,511 (Canadian dollars). Cost increased with worsening kidney function, presence of proteinuria, and suboptimal glycemic control (HbA1c >7.9%). Increasing age, Aboriginal status, socioeconomic status, duration of diabetes, and comorbid illness were also associated with increasing cost. CONCLUSIONS The cost of caring for people with diabetes is substantial and is associated with suboptimal glycemic control, abnormal kidney function, and proteinuria. Future studies should assess if improvements in the management of diabetes, assessed with laboratory-derived measurements, result in cost reductions.


Eta Carinae with its peculiar surrounding has been a mystery for decades despite numerous surveys carried out. In this paper we focus on a H26α emission line in order to find out if the results will shed some light on the subject.

In order to have a clearer picture of Eta Carinae the earlier work published on the studies of the object has been summarized in the introduction. Before going deeper into the studies some theories are explained that are essential to understand the analysis done in the second part of the paper. The theories include local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) conditions applied to the medium in order to determine the line-to-continuum intensity ratio which yields an estimate of electron temperature of the emitting region. This value is necessary for the subsequent model calculations. The departures from LTE are also relevant to understand and have been discussed in separate section.

For the analysis we have assumed the emission to originate from ionized wind and therefore a simplified spherically symmetric wind model with uniform mass loss rate has been described as well as applied. It is clear that the actual structure of the wind may strongly deviate from the model though. The spectral energy distribution (SED) of Eta Carinae discussed in the section describes the origin of the continuum emission. Since the analyzed line profile is showing broadening effect in the wings another section is dedicated to a possible broadening theory - Stark effect. Some rather interesting results from earlier studies on some recombination lines towards Eta Carinae claiming a maser emission have been discussed in a separate section.

In the final section we give the description of data and its analysis with MATLAB. First we notice that the He/H ratio is out of the ordinary. When concentrating on H26α line we try to see the similarities/discrepancies between the observed line profile and the profile we obtain by using the simple wind model. The terminal velocity of the wind has been estimated in different ways resulting in differences in line profiles expected from the simple model of wind in LTE. All of those however are surprisingly low for such a massive star. To account for the line wing broadening the impact broadening effect is applied to the modeled profile which for one specific modified case gives a rather good fit. Since there has been an abrupt change over a short period of time observed in the line intensities lately we have also tried to estimate the timescale for the recombination.


Background: Opinions are frequently expressed in the medical literature whether patients should be addressed by their first or last names, but few supportive data are available. Our objective was to determine the preferences of a sample of ambulatory patients to guide physicians and other professionals in addressing their patients appropriately. Methods: Three hundred seventy-five patients in a variety of ambulatory settings were asked how they wished to be addressed by physicians in various contexts. Results: When meeting a physician for the first time, 45 percent of the respondents wanted to be called by their first names, 29 percent preferred last names, and 26 percent found either approach acceptable. When being addressed by a physician with whom they were already well acquainted, 78 percent favored given names, and only 6 percent chose surnames. Preferences varied little with age of the patient or with age or sex of the physician. Conclusions: These data indicate that one cannot predict reliably how a new patient will prefer to be addressed but that the great majority of established patients will want to be called by their first names.


We study the problem of constructing coded modulation schemes over multidimensional signal sets in Nakagami-m block-fading channels. In particular, we consider the optimal diversity reliability exponent of the error probability when the multidimensional constellation is obtained as the rotation of classical complex-plane signal constellations. We show that multidimensional rotations of full dimension achieve the optimal diversity reliability exponent, also achieved by Gaussian constellations. Multidimensional rotations of full dimension induce a large decoding complexity, and in some cases it might be beneficial to use multiple rotations of smaller dimension. We also study the diversity reliability exponent in this case, which yields the optimal rate-diversity-complexity tradeoff in block-fading channels with discrete inputs.


Reconnaissance mapping and stratigraphic work in the La Popa basin of Nuevo Leon, northern Mexico, has revealed two large structural features with cores of gypsum and anhydrite at the surface. These features are interpreted to be the surface expression of evaporite diapirs. They are exposed in folded sedimentary rocks belonging to the Potrerillos Formation of the Difunta Group of Maastrichtian age (Late Cretaceous). Sandstone units within the Potrerillos Formation pinch out toward the piercement features. Carbonate lentils composed of rudistid reefs and associated carbonate clastics flank the features and pinch out away from the features into marine shale members of the Potrerillos Formation. Most carbonate lentils occur in the immediate vicinity of the evaporite features and are interpreted to be genetically related to the diapirs. Syndiapiric sedimentary-facies patterns can be documented over 4,000 vertical feet (1,200 m) of section within the Potrerillos Formation. The large vertical extent of facies peculiarities near the piercement features indicates that the features were active for an extended period corresponding to at least two regressive-transgressive cycles during Maastrichtian time. A radial drainage pattern away from the northern feature indicates that the features are probably active today. A limestone inclusion from within one of the features has been dated as Kimmeridgian in age (Zuloaga or Smackover equivalent) and suggests that the evaporites are probably derived from the Jurassic Minas Viejas Formation. It is not known at present whether salt underlies the surface crust of gypsum and anhydrite. At the time that the first syndiapiric sediments of the Potrerillos Formation were deposited, the Minas Viejas Formation was buried at an estimated depth of 17,000 ft (5,200 m). The thick pre-Laramide cover, the pre-Laramide age of at least some of the syndiapiric sedimentary features, and the location of stocks away from major anticlines indicate that the emplacement of the diapirs is not related to Laramide compression. Geostatic loading is considered to be the most important mechanism for emplacement of the domes.


Background Whether autism spectrum maps onto a spectrum of brain abnormalities and whether Asperger's syndrome (ASP) is distinct from high-functioning autism (HFA) are debated. White-matter maldevelopment is associated with autism and disconnectivity theories of autism are compelling. However, it is unknown whether children with ASP and HFA have distinct white-matter abnormalities. Method Voxel-based morphometry mapped white-matter volumes across the whole brain in 91 children. Thirty-six had autism spectrum disorder. A history of delay in phrase speech defined half with HFA; those without delay formed the ASP group. The rest were typically developing children, balanced for age, IQ, gender, maternal language and ethnicity. White-matter volumes in HFA and ASP were compared and each contrasted with controls. Results White-matter volumes around the basal ganglia were higher in the HFA group than ASP and higher in both autism groups than controls. Compared with controls, children with HFA had less frontal and corpus callosal white matter in the left hemisphere; those with ASP had less frontal and corpus callosal white matter in the right hemisphere with more white matter in the left parietal lobe. Conclusions HFA involved mainly left hemisphere white-matter systems; ASP affected predominantly right hemisphere white-matter systems. The impact of HFA on basal ganglia white matter was greater than ASP. This implies that aetiological factors and management options for autism spectrum disorders may be distinct. History of language acquisition is a potentially valuable marker to refine our search for causes and treatments in autism spectrum.


Objectives Non-communicable diseases, which can refer to chronic diseases that are not caused by infectious agents and can endure for a long time, are currently regarded as a critical public health problem in China. This study aimed to estimate the prevalences of self-reported physician-diagnosed chronic diseases among urban and rural populations aged 15 years and older in Shaanxi Province, China, during 2003−2013 and explore how these changes differ by subpopulation. Methods Three independent cross-sectional surveys were implemented in 2003, 2008 and 2013 in Shaanxi Province. A multistage stratified cluster random sampling method was used in each wave to collect representative samples. In total, 10,568 residents in 2003, 15,453 in 2008 and 48,808 in 2013 were included in this analysis. Information on self-reported physician-diagnosed chronic diseases was collected using face-to-face interviews in each survey. Multilevel Poisson regression with robust error variance was employed to calculate the adjusted prevalence ratios to estimate the relative change in chronic conditions in 2008 and 2013, compared to that in 2003. Results In 2013, 23.9%/22.1% of urban/rural residents, respectively, reported having at least one chronic condition, which represents an increase from 17.0%/15.1%, respectively, in 2008 and 12.8%/10.9%, respectively, in 2003. Adjusted for socio-demographic characteristics, the prevalence of chronic diseases was significantly higher in 2013 than that in 2003. Among the chronic diseases studied, the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes has increased dramatically over a decade. The increase in chronic diseases occurred mainly among the middle-aged and elderly. Conclusions Chronic diseases are highly prevalent and continuously increasing in the adult population in Shaanxi Province from 2003 to 2013. Given its large aging population, China may face a greater chronic disease burden. A national chronic disease surveillance system and screening program should be established to acquire comprehensive information regarding the distribution and trends of chronic diseases.


Recently a number of scientists have proposed substantial changes to the practice of climate modeling, though they disagree over what those changes should be. We provide an overview and critical examination of three leading proposals: the unified approach, the hierarchy approach and the pluralist approach. The unified approach calls for an accelerated development of high-resolution models within a seamless prediction framework. The hierarchy approach calls for more attention to the development and systematic study of hierarchies of related models, with the aim of advancing understanding. The pluralist approach calls for greater diversity in modeling efforts, including, on some of its variants, more attention to empirical modeling. After identifying some of the scientific and institutional challenges faced by these proposals, we consider their expected gains and costs, relative to a business-as-usual modeling scenario. We find the proposals to be complementary, having valuable synergies. But since resource limitations make it unlikely that all three will be pursued, we offer some reflections on more limited changes in climate modeling that seem well within reach and that can be expected to yield substantial benefits.


Shifting flowering phenology with rising temperatures is occurring worldwide, but the rarity of co-occurring long-term observational and temperature records has hindered the evaluation of phenological responsiveness in many species and across large spatial scales. We used herbarium specimens combined with historic temperature data to examine the impact of climate change on flowering trends in 141 species collected across 116,000 km2 in north-central North America. On average, date of maximum flowering advanced 2.4 days °C−1, although species-specific responses varied from − 13.5 to + 7.3 days °C−1. Plant functional types exhibited distinct patterns of phenological responsiveness with significant differences between native and introduced species, among flowering seasons, and between wind- and biotically pollinated species. This study is the first to assess large-scale patterns of phenological responsiveness with broad species representation and is an important step towards understanding current and future impacts of climate change on species performance and biodiversity.


Analysis of large networks is of interest to many disciplines. Full network data are often hard to collect, storage and analyze. In particular, in many social science surveys, ego nomination techniques have been used to collect the egocentric networks of the randomly sampled survey respondents. In this paper, we propose a sample-GLMLE method that fits exponential random graph models (ERGM) to such sampled egocentric networks. It is an extension of a previous graph-limit based maximum likelihood estimation (GLMLE) method for full network that uses graphon to bridge the estimation of ERGM using observed network data. In this paper, we provide solutions to computational issues that are unique to sampled network data and evaluate the proposed method using simulations. We also apply sample-GLMLE to the public-use set of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) study.


This paper investigates the geographical distribution and concentration of firms' innovation persistence and innovation type (product and process) based on three waves of the Portuguese Community Innovation Survey data covering the period 1998–2006. The main findings are: 1) both innovation persistence and innovation type are asymmetrically distributed across Portuguese regions, 2) the degree of correlation between geographical location and innovative output varies with the innovation type, and 3) the correlation between geographical unit and innovation increases when the spatial unit of analysis is narrower. The results suggest that the firms' choices of geographical location have a long-lasting effect, engendering no equal probabilities of being persistently innovative.


The presence of genes encoding organellar proteins in different cellular compartments necessitates a tight coordination of expression by the different genomes of the eukaryotic cell. This coordination of gene expression is achieved by organelle-to-nucleus or retrograde communication. Stress-induced perturbations of the tetrapyrrole pathway trigger large changes in nuclear gene expression in plants. Recently, we identified HSP90 proteins as ligands of the putative plastid signal Mg-ProtoIX. In order to investigate whether the interaction between HSP90 and Mg-ProtoIX is biologically relevant, we produced transgenic lines with reduced levels of cytosolic HSP90 in wild-type and gun5 backgrounds. Our work reveals that HSP90 proteins respond to the tetrapyrrole-mediated plastid signal to control expression of photosynthesis-associated nuclear genes (PhANG) during the response to oxidative stress. We also show that the hy5 mutant is insensitive to tetrapyrrole accumulation and that Mg-ProtoIX, cytosolic HSP90, and HY5 are all part of the same signaling pathway. These findings suggest that a regulatory complex controlling gene expression that includes HSP90 proteins and a transcription factor that is modified by tetrapyrroles in response to changes in the environment is evolutionarily conserved between yeast and plants.


A genetic algorithm (GA) is a robust problem-solving method based on natural selection. Hardware's speed advantage and its ability to parallelize offer great rewards to genetic algorithms. Speedups of 1-3 orders of magnitude have been observed when frequently used software routines were implemented in hardware by way of reprogrammable field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Reprogrammability is essential in a general-purpose GA engine because certain GA modules require changeability (e.g. the function to be optimized by the GA). Thus a hardware-based GA is both feasible and desirable. A fully functional hardware-based genetic algorithm (the HGA) is presented here as a proof-of-concept system. It was designed using VHDL to allow for easy scalability. It is designed to act as a coprocessor with the CPU of a PC. The user programs the FPGAs which implement the function to be optimized. Other GA parameters may also be specified by the user. Simulation results and performance analyses of the HGA are presented. A prototype HGA is described and compared to a similar GA implemented in software. In the simple tests, the prototype took about 6% as many clock cycles to run as the software-based GA. Further suggested improvements could realistically make the HGA 2-3 orders of magnitude faster than the software-based GA.


Erwinia chrysanthemi DNA fragment digested by restriction endonuclease EcoRI and carrying the gene EC16 determining the synthesis of pectatelyase with Rf 0.20 and mol. mass 40kD has been cloned in plasmid pUC 9 plasmid in Escherichia coli HB101 cells. Three genes for pectatelyases of Erwinia chrysanthemi ENA49 have been cloned in vector phage lambda 47.1 in Escherichia coli cells. Two genes determining the synthesis of pectatelyases with Rf 0.06 and 0.19 and mol. masses 40 kD and 39 kD have been cloned as a part of an 7 kb Eco RI-fragment, that suggested their close location on the chromosome of Erwinia chrysanthemi ENA49. All of the cloned pectatelyase genes are expressed constitutively with pectatelyases accumulating in periplasm and being unable to secret into the cultural medium.


This thesis undertakes to examine critically the notions of transcendence in certain recent theologies and philosophies and to compare and contrast them with Biblical teaching concerning the transcendence of God. Seven recent theologies and philosophies are chosen, and they are presented in four sections. In section one, two ontological theologies are studied-those of E.L. Mascall and Paul Tillich; in section two, two existentialist philosophies are treated-those of Karl Jaspers and Jean-Paul Sartre; and in section three, two experiential theologies are investigated-those of Rudolf Otto and Martin Buber, To each of these theologians or philosophers we address three questions: (1) How does his approach to theology or philosophy arrive at, or fail to arrive at, the conception of a transcendent God? (2) How does his theological or philosophical position allow or prohibit his knowing and speaking about a transcendent God? (3) What does his notion of transcendence seek to express and safeguard in the conception of God? In section four an investigation is made of Karl Heim's presentation of the doctrine of God's transcendence. In this treatment two questions are especially considered; (l) How can one meaningfully and honestly conceive of a transcendent God? (2) How can one express the notion of a God who is, at the same time, transcendent and omnipresent? In section five a study is made of the Logos doctrine of the Fourth Gospel. Here, two approaches are employed. First, the Logos doctrine is treated as aChristological element of the thesis, i.e, an attempt is made to determine what under(TM) standing of God's transcendence is to be found in the Logos Ghristology of the Fourth Evangelist, In the second place, the Logos doctrine is treated as an expression, from the position of faith, not only of the relation between God and the Incarnate Logos, but also between God and the world. This means that the work of this section is directed towards finding out what the Logos Ghristology means as well as towards the statement of its implications for the doctrine of God's transcendence, and this meaning and significance is then used as a standard by which to judge the expressions of transcendence in the theologies and philosophies which are previously studied. In section six an attempt is made to arrive at a clear understanding of what the doctrine of the transcendence of God seeks to safeguard and express. To this end a consideration is made of what each theology and philosophy studied seeks to safeguard and express, and the success or failure of each is judged by the standard established in section five. The method by which these conclusions are reached is a discussion of key questions which arise in the course of the investigation, and, broadly speaking, these questions may be grouped into the three more embracing questions which were addressed to each theologian or philosopher, (1) How does one arrive at the reality or conviction of a transcendent God? (2) How can a transcendent God be present to men, and how can one know and speak of a transcendent God? (3) What does the idea of transcendence seek to express and safeguard in the nature of God? This thesis investigates the doctrine of God in terms of ontology and in terms of God's presence and activity in the world, and arrives at the conclusion that any adequate treatment of God's transcendence must acknowledge the importance of both aspects. It concludes that expressions such as 'Being-itself' and 'Transcendence' are legitimate and necessary in presenting God as qualitatively transcendent of all beings, while at the same time it concludes that a balanced doctrine of God's transcendence must allow for the reality of God's out-going and self-giving action, which the Christian sees supremely executed and revealed in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.


Object individuation is the process by which organisms establish the number of distinct objects present in an event. The ability of individuating objects was investigated in two/three-day-old chicks (Gallus gallus). A first series of experiments (Exp. 1 - Exp. 6) assessed the role of the property information provided by colour, shape, size or individually distinctive features, as well as spatiotemporal information in object individuation. A second series (Exp. 7 - Exp. 10) aimed at investigating the ability to use property/kind information using imprinting objects and food items (i.e. mealworms) as stimuli of different category. Newborn chicks were exposed (i.e., imprinted) to sets of objects which were different or identical for property and property/kind information, and the chicks' spontaneous tendency to approach the larger group of imprinting objects and food items was exploited. Each chick underwent a free choice test in which two groups of events were shown: a group comprised two different stimuli (i.e. for property or for kind); the second group was composed by a single stimulus presented twice. Every stimulus in each group of events was sequentially presented and concealed in the same spatial location and the number of events taking place at each location was equalized (Sequential Presentation test). Chicks spontaneously approached the two different objects rather than the single object seen twice. A possible preference for the more varied set of stimuli was excluded by testing chicks in a simultaneous presentation of two different objects Vs. two identical objects (Simultaneous Presentation test). Moreover, use of spatiotemporal information was assessed through simultaneous presentation of three identical objects Vs. two different objects. When increasing the number of presentations of the single stimulus (up to 3 times) and comparing it with two different stimuli presented once each, chicks correctly individuated the larger group of imprinting objects only if objects were all different from one another (i.e. distinctive features had been put on each object). Any role of experience was excluded by presenting chicks with stimuli of a completely novel colour with respect to the original colour of the imprinting stimuli. Results show that chicks are able to use the property information provided by colour, shape, size or individually distinctive features, spatiotemporal information and property/kind information provided by social and food categories for object individuation. The fact that object individuation is precociously available in the young of a vertebrate species suggests it may depend on inborn biological predispositions rather than on experiential or language-related processes.


Using 11 years of experimental crop yields by cropping systems and fertilizer level, a MOTAD frontier was developed. This analysis allowed yield, cost, and stability interactions arising from crop sequences to be implicitly included. Target-MOTAD, Safety-First, and undominated stochastic efficient systems were also compared.


Abstract The effect of lithium (Li) on the development of pegmatitic textures was evaluated experimentally at H2O-saturated and H2O-undersaturated conditions at 500 MPa pressure and temperatures ranging from 400 to 800 °C. The addition of ~3700 ppm Li to a starting material of common granitic composition (Lake County obsidian) reduces the crystallization and melting temperatures by approximately 50-70 and 200 °C, respectively, and promotes the formation of quartz-feldspar graphic and granophyric intergrowths. The presence of Li in the hydrous granitic system lowers significantly the degree of undercooling needed for the development of graphic and granophyric intergrowths to 85-110 °C in comparison with the Li-free systems where approximately 200 °C of undercooling is necessary. The feldspar crystals developed in Li-bearing samples can incorporate from 150 to 250 ppm Li, assume skeletal and spherulitic morphologies, and exhibit one order of magnitude faster growth rates than crystals in Li-free samples. The results of this study attest to the effectiveness of Li as a fluxing agent and highlight the crucial role it plays in the development of pegmatitic textures, leading to important implications for the conditions of formation of Li-bearing granitic pegmatites.


In Italy, most of the traditional sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa Mill.) orchards are still non-irrigated since they are located in mountain-hill areas with climate conditions that used to be optimal to sustain the vegetative and reproductive growth of this nut tree species. Nowadays, the increase of summer temperatures and the decrease of rainfall (due to climate change) are affecting negatively chestnut physiological performances. The aim of this experiment was to study sweet chestnut burr growth in two seasons, one warm/dry and one mild/rainy (2017 and 2018, respectively). The study was carried out in a traditional rainfed chestnut orchard. The seasonal burr growth was measured weekly from 30 days after full bloom (DAFB) to the beginning of burr valves opening. Air temperature and daily precipitation were measured at a nearby weather station. The results of this study highlighted that chestnut burr growth seems to be affected by seasonal weather conditions. Indeed, in 2017, the high summer temperatures and the moderate rainfall in summer (227 mm) and winter-spring (385 mm) appeared to affect negatively burr absolute growth rate (AGR; 0.31 mm day-1 ) and consequently final burr size (46.2 mm). The mild and rainy weather conditions that occurred in 2018 (663 and 340 mm of winter-spring and summer precipitation, respectively) positively influenced burr AGR (0.54 mm day-1 ) and therefore its final size (60.8 mm). These preliminary results suggest that the introduction of irrigation as a common management practice for chestnut orchards may promote their resilience to climate change with a positive effect on their productivity and fruit quality.


Reliability optimization determines the optimal locations of reclosers, fuses, normally-closed switches, and tie lines in a distribution system. In quantifying the benefits that can be derived from customer restoration though tie lines, previous methodologies used predefined rules and did not maximize the service restoration that can be achieved. In this paper, we optimized distribution system reliability by dividing the reliability optimization problem into two parts: a main problem to determine the optimal locations of the devices and a sub-problem to maximize the service restoration through tie lines when evaluating a candidate solution to the main problem. In maximizing service restoration, we considered the voltage and loading constraints of the distribution system. We used Genetic Algorithm for both the main and sub-problems. To evaluate the performance of the methodology, we included optimization results for two simple radial distribution systems with voltage and loading constraints. Evaluation results allow extensions of the study in future work.


The orientation of the horizontal components of borehole seismometers is unknown upon installation but is crucial information for any multicomponent seismic analysis. Here, we use ambient seismic noise (ASN) to estimate the orientation of a network of 12 seismic stations monitoring the Auckland volcanic field (AVF) in New Zealand. Eight of these stations are installed at varying depths in boreholes, whereas the remaining instruments are three short-period and one broadband surface seismic stations. Despite the variations in the station hardware and configuration, the ellipsoidal wave particle motion of Rayleigh waves extracted from ambient noise correlations between stations proves robust. When the maximum correlation between the estimates of the radial–vertical component and the (90° phase shifted) vertical–vertical component of the Rayleigh-wave signal exceeds 0.3, orientation estimates of the network stations have an average standard deviation of 11°. This value compares well to the 13° standard deviation in estimates of the horizontal orientation of the seismometers, based on the polarization of P waves from up to 40 earthquakes in eight years of regional earthquakes. This proves that the ambient noise surface-wave method for station-orientation estimation can be especially useful for borehole stations in regions of low seismicity or as an independent estimate to complement estimates from the P-wave recording of earthquakes. Electronic Supplement: Table detailing the earthquakes that generated the P waves used for polarization analysis.


This paper reports on a feasibility study of using infrared (IR) laser ablation for silicon handler debonding for the first time. Various lasers were evaluated for the transmission through a Si handler and several release layers were studied for on low-power laser ablation. Debonding of silicon handler has been successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, a test vehicle based on through-silicon-via (TSV) wafers was used to evaluate the impact of IR laser ablation on the devices. Promising electrical testing results are obtained and fast debonding at wafer level has been demonstrated.


When a number of speakers are simultaneously active, for example in meetings or noisy public places, the sources of interest need to be separated from interfering speakers and from each other in order to be robustly recognized. Independent component analysis (ICA) has proven a valuable tool for this purpose. However, ICA outputs can still contain strong residual components of the interfering speakers whenever noise or reverberation are high. In such cases, nonlinear postprocessing can be applied to the ICA outputs, for the purpose of reducing remaining interferences. In order improve robustness to the artefacts and loss of information caused by this process, recognition can be greatly enhanced by considering the processed speech feature vector as a random variable with time-varying uncertainty, rather than as deterministic. The aim of this paper is to show the potential to improve recognition of multiple overlapping speech signals through nonlinear postprocessing together with uncertainty-based decoding techniques.


Single-crystal transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) and TMD-based heterojunctions have recently attracted significant research and industrial interest owing to their intriguing optical and electrical properties. However, the lack of a simple, low-cost, environmentally friendly, synthetic method and a poor understanding of the growth mechanism post a huge challenge to implementing TMDs in practical applications. In this work, we developed a novel approach for direct formation of high-quality, monolayer and few-layer MoS2 single crystal domains via a single-step rapid thermal processing of a sandwiched reactor with sulfur and molybdenum (Mo) film in a confined reaction space. An all-solid-phase growth mechanism was proposed and experimentally/theoretically evidenced by analyzing the surface potential and morphology mapping. Compared with the conventional chemical vapor deposition approaches, our method involves no complicated gas-phase reactant transfer or reactions and requires very small amount of solid precursors [e.g., Mo (∼3 μg)], no carrier gas, no pretreatment of the precursor, no complex equipment design, thereby facilitating a simple, low-cost, and environmentally friendly growth. Moreover, we examined the symmetry, defects, and stacking phase in as-grown MoS2 samples using simultaneous second-harmonic-/sum-frequency-generation (SHG/SFG) imaging. For the first time, we observed that the SFG (peak intensity/position) polarization can be used as a sensitive probe to identify the orientation of TMDs' crystallographic axes. Furthermore, we fabricated ferroelectric programmable Schottky junction devices via local domain patterning using the as-grown, single-crystal monolayer MoS2, revealing their great potential in logic and optoelectronic applications. Our strategy thus provides a simple, low-cost, and scalable path toward a wide variety of TMD single crystal growth and novel functional device design.


Road safety is a major concern worldwide and requires appropriate management. This study focuses on the effectiveness of combining road safety countermeasures to reduce car occupants' fatalities in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMIC) using the star rating system in the international Road Assessment Programme (iRAP). Such countermeasures may be used individually or as a combination of multiple countermeasures. Yet it may be difficult for practising road safety engineers to make decisions about which combinations of countermeasures are the most effective to use when addressing road safety issues, especially with the availability of many treatments. Likely, errors in this decision-making will lead to inefficient use of limited road safety funding.
This study seeks to develop an innovative method whereby road infrastructure attributes may be combined and ranked in a new way, through processes of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD). The computer environment Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) facilitated the above and enabled the extraction of knowledge in terms of decision trees and associated rules.
In addition, traditional statistical models were used to combine road infrastructure attributes in iRAP. Two statistical regression models were developed in this study, the Poisson and Negative Binomial. For the Poisson model, the results showed that overdispersion did exist as the overdispersion factor for the fatality rates data is higher than (1.0). Therefore, the Poisson model was omitted. For the Negative Binomial, the results showed that the independent variables have significant effect on the fatality numbers, as their confidence level is higher than 95%. Therefore, the Negative Binomial was shown to be an appropriate statistical regression approach to correlate road traffic and geometric attributes to fatalities numbers for the database used in this study.
The knowledge discovery and data mining techniques were found to be an enhanced alternative to the statistical models, which finds the effectiveness of road safety multiple treatments by correlating the current road attributes associated with head-on and run-off crashes without the need for historical crash data. The data mining models developed in this study were verified by comparing the mined countermeasures combinations with the real ones from the iRAP model.
Using an iRAP database from India, the most effective combinations of countermeasures for each crash type and for each road safety level (star rating) were identified. For example, it was found that the most effective countermeasures combination for road sections with head-on and run-off crashes on single lane carriageways with traversable median types and gradient ≥0% to <7.5%, requires that the differential speed limits should not be presented, medium skid resistance, medium lane width (≥2.75m to <3.25m), straight or gentle curvature (radius greater than 900m), adequate quality of curve (advance warning signs of bend and roadside indicators to indicate the curvature), short roadside distance (1 to <5m), narrow paved shoulder (≥0m to <1.0m), and adequate delineation.
The above findings could lead practising road safety engineers to combine and rank road safety treatments more satisfactorily, and could also encourage countries to invest more in road safety to save more realistic estimated fatalities in the future, especially in LMICs.


Ground water levels measured in the vicinity of pumping wells are kriged using a regional‐linear and point‐logarithmic drift, the latter derived from the approximation to the Theis equation for drawdown in response to a pumping well. Kriging is widely used throughout the hydrogeologic discipline, most commonly as the preferred method for constructing gridded hydrogeologic datasets suitable for contouring. Residuals arising from using the most common (linear) drift to krige water levels in the vicinity of extraction wells often indicate large local departures from the linear drift, which correlate with areas of drawdown. The combined regional‐linear and point‐logarithmic drift accounts for these drawdowns using a logarithmic approximation for the curvature of the poten‐tiometric surface. The drift model approximates the principal physical processes that govern ground water flow and ultimately govern the autocorrelation of ground water elevation data. This approach produces maps of contoured water levels that more realistically represent physical conditions and allow for improved interpretation of measured water‐level data by including features and information known to be present. Additional benefits include an improved estimate of the regional (background) hydraulic gradient and generation of an approximately flow‐conserved grid suitable for two‐dimensional particle tracking.


In Reply: We appreciate Montes et al.'s interest in our article. In their 2015 ANESTHESIOLOGY article, the authors analyzed data from 2,929 patients who were candidates for inguinal hernia repair (men), hysterectomy (women), or thoracotomy (men) under general, regional, or local anesthesia with sedation. Four hundred and two patients (all male) underwent thoracotomy. 1 Approximately 4.4 months after surgery, 37.6% of the thoracotomy patients had chronic postsurgical pain. We think the size of the study—nearly 3,000 patients enrolled— is quite remarkable. To summarize the conclusions from Montes et al., they created a multivariate model that included all three types of surgeries where the outcome of interest was the presence of chronic postsurgical pain at 4 months after surgery. According to their model, the following variables were associated with chronic postsurgical pain at 4 months after surgery: (1) surgical procedure, (2) patient age, (3) physical health (Short Form Health Survey-12), (4) mental health (Short Form Health Survey-12), (5) preoperative pain in the surgical field, and (6) preoperative pain in another area. In our study, we enrolled only thoracic surgery patients (both thoracotomy and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery) without any restriction on sex. In addition, following the recommendation of the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials group,2 we excluded those patients with preexisting chronic pain problems in the chest area. Preoperative pain in the surgical area and other areas may be different for thoracotomy versus hernia and hysterectomy patients. Thoracotomy patients generally do not have preoperative pain in the chest. In our study, preoperative pain at rest was univariately associated with the presence of pain at 6 months after thoracic surgery. However, in the presence of acute pain in the multivariate model, this effect was not significant. We measured preoperative physical function and preoperative mental health with multiple assessments.3 It is likely that those patients with preoperative pain related to their surgical procedure have other psychosocial risk factors before and after surgery, thus limiting comparable studies. There may be unknown risk factors associated with chronic pain for hernia and hysterectomy patients that are not present in thoracic surgery patients, both male and female. In summary, our study and the study of Montes et al. are quite different and we cannot make direct comparisons between the factors in their final multivariate model versus our model. Differences between Althaus et al. and our study are even greater, since only two patients had thoracic surgery in their study. We recognized our limitations as noted by Montes et al. We also noted consistencies with other similar studies.4,5 When determining risk factors of postsurgical chronic pain from multiple surgeries, mixing different types of surgeries has a number of limitations, including sex, preoperative symptoms, chronic pain in other areas, and psychosocial risk factors. We agree with Montes et al.'s conclusion that larger, comprehensive, prospective observational studies are needed to confirm and to understand the mechanisms leading to chronic pain after thoracic surgery.


: The rise in the level of environmental radiation resulting from man's activities has been relatively small in relation to naturally occurring background [corrected] radiation. (One exception to this is microwave radiations.) There are no quantitative data on the effects of low levels of radiation on man, and the possible health consequences remain unclear. The risks of hazardous amounts from x-rays can be minimized by careful use.


By using light- and scanning electron microscopy, the dimorphism of sporangia in Albuginales is demonstrated in 220 specimens of Albugo, Pustula and Wilsoniana, parasitic on plants belonging to 13 families. The presence of two kinds of sporangia is due to the sporangiogenesis and considered to be present in all representatives of the Albuginales. Primary and secondary sporangia are the term recommended to be used for these dissemination organs.


The t-tubular system plays a central role in the synchronisation of calcium signalling and excitation-contraction coupling in most striated muscle cells. Light microscopy has been used for imaging t-tubules for well over 100 years and together with electron microscopy (EM), has revealed the three-dimensional complexities of the t-system topology within cardiomyocytes and skeletal muscle fibres from a range of species. The emerging super-resolution single molecule localisation microscopy (SMLM) techniques are offering a near 10-fold improvement over the resolution of conventional fluorescence light microscopy methods, with the ability to spectrally resolve nanometre scale distributions of multiple molecular targets. In conjunction with the next generation of electron microscopy, SMLM has allowed the visualisation and quantification of intricate t-tubule morphologies within large areas of muscle cells at an unprecedented level of detail. In this paper, we review recent advancements in the t-tubule structural biology with the utility of various microscopy techniques. We outline the technical considerations in adapting SMLM to study t-tubules and its potential to further our understanding of the molecular processes that underlie the sub-micron scale structural alterations observed in a range of muscle pathologies.


In the lead-up to the Brexit referendum politicians and journalists invoked the concept of utopia to disparage positions diametrically opposed. On the one hand, the adjective 'utopian' was deployed to describe appeals to the possibility of a rediscovered national self-determination and 'control'. On the other, it was utilized to characterise the conception of a European federation that might subsume or trump the autonomy of separate nation states. I argue here that the deployment of the adjective on both sides of the debate is not a mere accident of language. Rather, it betrays a deeper correspondence between the idea of Europe and the conception of utopia – not just any utopia, but, specifically, that of Thomas More. In More's text we can read a prolepsis of the profound tensions that underlie the U.K.'s relation to Europe today: Utopia anticipates both a retreat into an illusory, isolationist conviction of the possibility of national integrity, and, at the same time, the dream of a Europe not (yet) achieved, whose most ambitious and thus far unrealised objectives – peace, collaboration, respect for human dignity and succour for the dispossessed – flicker into being in the utopian imaginary of a text written over half a millennia before our own fragile and highly contested historical moment.


Provided is an optical waveguide manufacturing method by which a thickness of a clad layer in the periphery of a core portion is fixed. The method for manufacturing the optical waveguide is characterized by forming a first laminated film through the following methods: forming a first thermosetting resin layer on a first base material film by forming a first thermosetting resin layer for clad formation and forming a clad layer by hardening the first thermosetting resin layer, and forming a second thermosetting resin layer, which is for core formation and exhibits a refractive index higher thanthat of the clad layer after hardened, and forming the core portion by selectively hardening the second thermosetting setting layer. A second laminated film is formed on a second base material film by forming a third thermosetting resin layer for clad formation and forming the clad layer by hardening the third thermosetting resin layer. In the optical waveguide manufacturing method, the first laminated film whereupon the core portion is formed and the second laminated film are bonded together by having a fourth thermosetting resin layer in between for clad formation, then the clad layer is formed by hardening the thermosetting resin layer sandwiched between the first laminated film and the second laminated film.


Objects can be recognized on the basis of their color alone by color indexing, a technique developed by Swain-Ballard (1991) which involves matching color-space histograms. Color indexing fails, however, when the incident illumination varies either spatially or spectrally. Although this limitation might be overcome by preprocessing with a color constancy algorithm, we instead propose histogramming color ratios. Since the ratios of color RGB triples from neighboring locations are relatively insensitive to changes in the incident illumination, this circumvents the need for color constancy preprocessing. Results of tests with the new color-constant-color-indexing algorithm on synthetic and real images show that it works very well even when the illumination varies spatially in its intensity and color. >


SYNOPSIS. In temperate insects the evolution of growth strategies and the optimal age and size at maturity will depend strongly on seasonal variation in temperature and other resources. However, compared to photoperiod, temperature itself is a relatively poor predictor of seasonal change and timing decisions in insects are often most strongly influenced by the photoperiod. Here I review the evolution of seasonal growth strategies in the butterfly tribe Pararginii (Satyrinae: Nymphalidae) and relate it to life history theory. The results indicate that individual larvae may adjust their growth trajectories in relation to information on time horizons obtained from the photoperiod. The growth strategies can be characterized by a set of statedependent decision rules that specify how an individual should respond to its internal state and external circumstances. These decision rules may also influence how individual growth change with a rise in temperature, showing that the standard expectation of increased growth rates with increasing temperatures may not always be true. With less time available individual larvae increase growth rates and thereby achieve shorter development times, most often without any effects on final sizes. One reason for the apparent optimization of growth rate seems to be that growing fast may incur costs that larvae developing under lower time limitations chose to avoid. The patterns of growth found in these and many other studies are difficult to reconcile with common assumptions of what typically determines optimal body size in insects. In particular it seems as if there should be some costs of a large body size that, so far, have been poorly documented.


Visual word recognition results from a dynamic interplay between multiple nodes in a distributed cortical and sub-cortical network. To fully understand how it is achieved, we need to identify not only the necessary and sufficient compliment of nodes that comprise this network, but also how information flows through the nodes over time. Of particular interest are those parts of the network which support phonological access during visual word recognition.
Recent MEG studies of reading have highlighted early (~100 ms after target onset) neural activity in the Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (LIFG) (Cornelissen et al., 2009), activity which can be modulated by phonological priming (Wheat et al., 2010). Whilst this is consistent with rapid phonological access driven by activity in higher order visual areas, the alternative possibility of modulation driven by top-down control processes cannot be excluded. We therefore explored directed connectivity between visual areas and the LIFG during reading. If LIFG activity reflects early access to phonology, we hypothesized that there should be early directed coupling from visual areas to LIFG.
We used Partial Directed Coherence (PDC), a frequency domain measure of Granger Causality, to measure effective connectivity between MEG time-series. Not only is PDC able to identify direction of information flow, it can distinguish between direct and indirect connectivity (Baccala, 2001). Furthermore, estimation of time varying PDC has been shown to reliably identify rapidly changing connectivity relationships between brain signals (Astolfi, 2011).
Participants carried out a silent single word reading task in MEG. Beamformer source-space analysis was used to identify six local maxima (nodes) for each participant and individual time-series were reconstructed for each one. Using a resampling method, PDC time-frequency distributions for each node pair were estimated. In order to identify reading-specific connectivity, average active phase PDC for each time-frequency bin was compared to time-averaged passive phase PDC for each frequency bin . Statistical significance was estimated using a permutation approach, with a t-statistic distribution calculated for each time-frequency bin. From this distribution, a threshold t-value was defined and a corresponding thresholded PDC time-frequency plot produced.
Results confirm a significant early connectivity peak from the Left Middle Occipital Gyrus to the LIFG with no significant reciprocal connectivity. This result supports the hypothesis that visual areas directly drive early LIFG activation, consistent with early bottom-up access to phonological information in reading.


1. In the Maldives, coral mining for the construction industry has resulted in widespread degradation of shallow reef-flat areas. Due to the loss of these coastal resources and the associated problems of coastal erosion, there is an urgent need to find practical methods for rehabilitating mined reefs.

2. The slow rates of natural recovery of mined reefs has prompted interest in the potential of artificial reef structures to rehabilitate these degraded habitats. An experimental artificial reef programme was initiated in 1990 to discover whether it is feasible to use a bio-engineering approach to kick-start natural reef recovery.

3. The main goals of the project were to restore the capacity of degraded reefs for sea defence and their ability to harbour fish species. Accordingly, 360 t of concrete structures of varying levels of topographic complexity, stabilising effect and cost were deployed on a heavily mined study site close to the capital island, Male.

4. Within 1 year of deployment, the artificial reef structures had similar or greater species richness and densities of reef fish than did control pristine reef flats. However, the community structure of the fish populations on the artificial reef structures was significantly different to that on unmined reef flats.

5. Preliminary results of a monitoring programme indicated that substantial coral recruitment had occurred on the larger reef structures which were each supporting ca. 500 colonies, some of which were approaching 25 cm in diameter after 3.5 years. An evaluation of the effectiveness of the various artificial reef structures is discussed in relation to their design features and costs and in line with timescales for the recovery processes. Copyright Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a common condition, up to 50% of women will have some degree of prolapse and many are asymptomatic. The pessaries are intended to decrease the symptoms of prolapse and are valid options for patients with stress incontinence. Generally pessaries are safe to use. There are two types of pessaries, support type and space occupying type. Ring pessary is very commonly used, as it is easy to insert and remove. Pessaries can make a significant difference in the quality of life of the patients and even can differ surgical management. As the aging population is increasing in developed and developing countries, pessaries can be of considerable help in managing the pelvic organ prolapse.


This paper presents an overview of 30 years' experience with cathodic protection of steel in concrete in The Netherlands. Principles and practical aspects of CP and its design and installation are presented. Three phases have passed from the late 1980s until present: pioneering, development and maturity. In the first period CP was mainly applied to precast elements corroding due to mixedin chlorides. The parties involved worked together to draw up a Technical Guideline. In the second period, application to bridges came up, including post-tensioned structures, which was then innovative. Furthermore, galvanic anode systems were introduced. In the third period, CP became a fully accepted method of securing durability and safety. Renewed collaboration led to a database that allowed analysis of various aspects of CP system working life, including shortcomings in early systems. Major successes and lessons learned will be presented. Technical and non-technical developments are highlighted and some recent innovative CP components and systems are discussed. © 2018 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences.


Two samples of 10 mm diameter and 10 mm height CdWO4 and ZnWO4 scintillators were studied at room and liquid nitrogen temperatures. At room temperature the crystals were coupled to a Photonis XP3212 photomultiplier. During experiments at low temperatures a Large Area Avalanche Photodiode was used as a photodetector. Measurements of light output, non-proportionality of the light yield and intrinsic resolution as a function of gamma-ray energies were performed at both temperatures. The non-proportionality for the two crystals reveals temperature dependence, showing a more proportional behavior at liquid nitrogen temperature. Intrinsic energy resolution values for both crystals also show temperature dependence.


A multidisciplinary research team has conducted a field‐scale bacterial transport study within an uncontaminated sandy Pleistocene aquifer near Oyster, Virginia. The overall goal of the project was to evaluate the importance of heterogeneities in controlling the field‐scale transport of bacteria that are injected into the ground for remediation purposes. Geochemical, hydrological, geological, and geophysical data were collected to characterize the site prior to conducting chemical and bacterial injection experiments. In this paper we focus on results of a hydrogeological characterization effort using geophysical data collected across a range of spatial scales. The geophysical data employed include surface ground‐penetrating radar, radar cross‐hole tomography, seismic cross‐hole tomography, cone penetrometer, and borehole electromagnetic flowmeter. These data were used to interpret the subregional and local stratigraphy, to provide high‐resolution hydraulic conductivity estimates, and to provide information about the log conductivity spatial correlation function. The information from geophysical data was used to guide and assist the field operations and to constrain the numerical bacterial transport model. Although more field work of this nature is necessary to validate the usefulness and cost‐effectiveness of including geophysical data in the characterization effort, qualitative and quantitative comparisons between tomographically obtained flow and transport parameter estimates with hydraulic well bore and bromide breakthrough measurements suggest that geophysical data can provide valuable, high‐resolution information. This information, traditionally only partially obtainable by performing extensive and intrusive well bore sampling, may help to reduce the ambiguity associated with hydrogeological heterogeneity that is often encountered when interpreting field‐scale bacterial transport data.


The majority of search-based HTN planning systems can be divided into those searching a space of partial plans (a plan space) and those performing progression search, i.e., that build the solution in a forward manner. So far, all HTN planners that guide the search by using heuristic functions are based on plan space search. Those systems represent the set of search nodes more effectively by maintaining a partial ordering between tasks, but they have only limited information about the current state during search. In this article, we propose the use of progression search as basis for heuristic HTN planning systems. Such systems can calculate their heuristics incorporating the current state, because it is tracked during search. Our contribution is the following: We introduce two novel progression algorithms that avoid unnecessary branching when the problem at hand is partially ordered and show that both are sound and complete. We show that defining systematicity is problematic for search in HTN planning, propose a definition, and show that it is fulfilled by one of our algorithms. Then, we introduce a method to apply arbitrary classical planning heuristics to guide the search in HTN planning. It relaxes the HTN planning model to a classical model that is only used for calculating heuristics. It is updated during search and used to create heuristic values that are used to guide the HTN search. We show that it can be used to create HTN heuristics with interesting theoretical properties like safety, goal-awareness, and admissibility. Our empirical evaluation shows that the resulting system outperforms the state of the art in search-based HTN planning.


Abstract Objecttves: To determine the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) colonization in an outpatient population and to identify risk factors for MRSA colonization. Design: Surveillance cultures were performed during outpatient visits to identify S. aureus colonization. A case-control study was performed to identify risk factors for MRSA colonization. Setting: Primary care internal medicine clinic. PATTENTS: Adults presenting for non-acute primary care (N = 494). Results: S. aureus was isolated from 122 (24.7%) of the patients for whom cultures were performed. Methicillin-susceptible S. aureus was isolated from 107 (21.7%) of the patients, whereas MRSA was isolated from 15 (3.0%) of the patients. All MRSA isolates were resistant to multiple non-beta-lactam antimicrobial agents. In multivariate analyses, MRSA colonization was independently associated with admission to a nursing home (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 103; 95% confidence interval [CI95], 7 to 999) or hospital in the previous year, although the association with hospital admission was observed only among those without chronic illness (adjusted OR 7.1; CI95, 1.3 to 38.1). In addition, MRSA colonization was associated with the presence of at least one underlying chronic illness, although this association was observed only among those who had not been hospitalized in the previous year (adjusted OR, 5.1; CI95, 1.2 to 21.9). Conclusions: We found a low prevalence of MRSA colonization in an adult outpatient population. MRSA carriers most likely acquired the organism through contact with healthcare facilities rather than in the community. These data show that care must be taken when attributing MRSA colonization to the community if detected in outpatients or during the first 24 to 48 hours of hospitalization.


The Stuff of Life is an accessible, well-researched guide to how environmental improvements – to food, housing and the workplace – made Britain a safer and healthier place in the early twentieth-century, as local government came of age. Its main subjects have not been much recognised by conventional histories – sanitary inspectors employed by local authorities. These public officials seized contaminated food, inspected workshops and factories, stopped contagious disease from spreading and improved slum housing. The illustrated book has a chronology and extensive range of sources, with chapters on the public health traditions, housing, planning, poverty, the workhouse, mental health and other topics. It is designed for students of public and environmental health and anyone who has an interest in social history. The authors are journalists, academics and practitioners in environmental health. They use rare archives and contemporary sources to give us a vivid and original social rather than 'top down' history.


Urban logistics infrastructure (ULI) is an important area of urban competition capability. The intension of logistics infrastructure capability (LIC) is analyzed in this paper. Compared with the extensive research on LIC in developed world, empirical work is still rare in developing world. In this paper the theory of LIC is firstly overviewed. Then a new evaluation index system for LIC evaluation is set up which contains factors that reflect the economic development level, transportation accessibility, turnover volume of freight traffic and conveyance availability. Secondly, an empirical study is carried out by using hierarchy cluster analysis method to classify LIC into 3 clusters for 25 major cities in the Yangtze River Delta Region in China. Thirdly, according to the characteristics of the 3 clusters, suggestions are proposed for improving their LIC. Finally, after comparing different LIC of 25 major cities in the Yangtze River Delta Region in China, this paper focuses on that different logistics infrastructure including hub, central distribution center & cross docking center, regional distribution center or distribution center should be build reasonably in order to meet the customer's requirement in the 3 different cluster regions.


Ankle pain can be disabling for the geriatric patient. Unlike symptoms in younger individuals, symptoms in the elderly are often insidious in onset and result from chronic disease processes. Acute injuries, when they occur, are often managed differently than in younger patients. Accurate diagnosis is essential for appropriate treatment. An anatomic approach to diagnosis is presented along with guidelines for appropriate conservative and surgical treatment.


A fully planar antenna design incorporating a high impedance surface (HIS) is presented. The HIS is composed by a periodic array of subwavelength dogbone-shaped conductors printed on top of a thin dielectric substrate and backed by a metallic ground plane. First, the characteristics of a dipole over PEC or PMC layers, a dielectric slab, and the HIS are compared and studied in detail, highlighting the advantages provided by the use of the HIS. Then, the design of a low profile folded dipole antenna working at 5.5 GHz on top of the HIS is described. The surface provides close to 6% antenna impedance bandwidth and increased gain up to 7 dBi, while shielding the lower half space from radiation. The antenna structure comprises three metal layers without any vias between them, and its overall thickness is 0.059λ0. The dipole is fed by a balanced twin lead line through a balun transformer integrated in the same antenna layer. A prototype has been built and measurements confirming simulation results are provided.


The ultra-fine grained (UFG) materials have been widely investigated due to their mechanical properties such as super high strength and super high plasticity. The finite element simulation schemes are planned for the deformation mechanism of ECAP pressing. It will greatly affect the extrusion process when processing parameter changed such as die geometrical parameters and friction condition. It is considerable to determinate the range of die channel angle and die corner angle during ECAP process, and a moderate die corner angle is usually chosen. The friction condition of the ECAP should be lubricated as good as possible in the pressing on the basis of optimal die geometrical conditions. The ECAP process is a non-uniform shear deformation process in the cross-section of the workpiece for first-pass pressing. There have low angle grain boundaries along the cross-section of the grain microstructures. For the multi-pass pressing, although the pressing pass numbers are same, the processing routes were of important significance on the grain sizes and grain distribution and grain boundaries (GBs) orientations of workpieces. The formation mechanism of nanostructure was given for the ECAP through studying the deformation behavior and dislocation's evolution. The dislocation is one of the main defects in the processed materials, but the form of the dislocations and its density are difference for different processing route. The processed workpiece with high surface quality, refined grain microstructure and optimization grain boundaries were obtained with optimal processing parameters and routes.


Crisis mappers secure satellite imagery, photos, video, event data, incident data, and other documentary evidence to create an operational picture of a disaster in order to facilitate improved humanitarian response and assistance in a crisis.
 The era of human-powered crisis mapping between 2009 and 2014 was a bootstrapped effort very much a function of the peculiar state of technological development at the time—available but not yet formalized, streamlined, and automated. Humans filled the gap until machine assistance could catch up. These efforts, often mundane (e.g., cut and paste over and over for hours), were more reflective of the state of technology at the time than anything else.
 Another precondition that enabled the field to grow is the often taken-for-granted public good provided by the GPS satellites maintained by the U.S. Air Force. Without this service, the project at the time would not have emerged where and when it did.
 The future will be shaped as a result of improvements in automated forms of data collection; improved machine learning techniques to help filter, identify, visualize, and analyze the data; and the proliferation of low-cost drones and other forms of sensors, to name a few.


Purpose: To analyze the cohort of clinical patients seen during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown at Emory Eye Center in comparison with prior weeks. Method: We conducted a retrospective chart review from three outpatient clinical sites over a period of eighteen weeks, which covered pre-COVID-19 dates as well as the dates of when our clinics were closed near the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We utilized data from providers assigned to daily triage coverage for in-person exams. Primary diagnosis and visit type data were extracted to look for trends and commonalities among urgent or time-sensitive patients. Results: For the nine weeks prior to clinic closure, there were 11,700 primary visit codes. During the nine-week closure, there were 1,624 in-person visit codes. We were able to observe some trends for descriptive purposes. Diagnoses of patients seen in person with higher frequency during the closure included vitreous disorders (i.e., posterior vitreous detachment), corneal ulcer, optic nerve disorders, idiopathic intracranial hypertension and post-operative care. We also looked at our telehealth visit numbers. However, there were very few telehealth visits (n=25), which rendered the telehealth analysis statistically insignificant. Conclusion: Through an analysis of the pool of non-COVID patients who were seen during the shutdown in our clinics via in-person urgent or time-sensitive exams, we were able to observe a breakdown of visit type and diagnosis. A comparison of those patients with the distribution seen in person during the previous nine weeks was reviewed. Although our numbers for data analysis during closure were too small to devise an evidence-based algorithm, there were still several lessons we learned from this first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic such as: 1) how to predict which patients may be more time-sensitive or urgent from a pre-determined list of diagnoses; and 2) how to immediately establish an ophthalmologist/optometrist (MD/OD) daily triage coverage schedule. We found it difficult to successfully incorporate a significant number of telehealth visits because most eye conditions, which were already deemed urgent by our call center, were in general considered conditions that required further evaluation by a provider. We hope that these take-away lessons will further improve ophthalmic care for any future pandemic or widespread closure.


Two cases that illustrate the risks attendant on the therapeutic use of natural medications by laypersons are reported. In the first case, the application of a mustard plaster triggered toxic dermatitis. In the second case, a session in a solarium after the external application of bergamot oil resulted in a phototoxic reaction.


In 2003, the Brazilian government launched the Bolsa Familia Program (BFP) to combat severe poverty and inequality. Much literature has explored the effects of the Program on human capital and related indicators (literacy rates, child labor participation, etc). Demographic literature focuses on whether the Program affects fertility, but this literature does not address household fertility decisions of the participants. The purpose of my research is to assess the determinants of fertility among the BFP population. This study uses cross-sectional data from IGBE's 2011 National Household Sample Survey. Via the use of a multiple linear regression methodology it can be predicted that several variables significantly influence the fertility of BFP beneficiaries. Identification of significant variables that influence fertility decisions allows policymakers to focus resources to specific individuals and alter their fertility rates. Should policymakers seek to influence fertility rates (quantity), then, according to the Beckerian model, they also gain the ability to change quality (human capital).


Nanosecond single-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (cid:1) LIBS (cid:2) has been used to discriminate between two different genera of Gram-negative bacteria and between several strains of the Escherichia coli bacterium based on the relative concentration of trace inorganic elements in the bacteria. Of particular importance in all such studies to date has been the role of divalent cations, specifically Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , which are present in the membranes of Gram-negative bacteria and act to aggregate the highly polar lipopolysaccharide molecules. We have demonstrated that the source of emission from Ca and Mg atoms observed in LIBS plasmas from bacteria is at least partially located at the outer membrane by intentionally altering membrane biochemistry and correlating these changes with the observed changes in the LIBS spectra. The definitive assignment of some fraction of the LIBS emission to the outer membrane composition establishes a potential serological, or surface-antigen, basis for the laser-based identification. E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were cultured in three nutrient media: trypticase soy agar as a control, a MacConkey agar with a 0.01% concentration of bile salts including sodium deoxycholate, and a trypticase soy agar with a 0.4% deoxycholate concentration. The higher concentration of deoxycholate is known to disrupt bacterial outer membrane integrity and was expected to induce changes in the observed LIBS spectra. Altered LIBS emission was observed for bacteria cultured in this 0.4% medium and laser ablated in an all-argon environment. These spectra evidenced a reduced calcium emission and in the case of one species, a reduced magnesium emission. Culturing on the lower (cid:1) 0.01% (cid:2) concentration of bile salts altered the LIBS spectra for both the P. aeruginosa and two strains of E. coli in a highly reproducible way, although not nearly as significantly as culturing in the higher concentration of deoxycholate did. This was possibly due to the accumulation of divalent cations around the bacteria by the formation of an extracellular polysaccharide capsule. Lastly, a discriminant function analysis demonstrated that in spite of alterations in the LIBS spectrum induced by growth in the three different media, the analysis could correctly identify all samples better than 90% of the time. This encouraging result illustrates the potential utility of LIBS as a rapid bacteriological identification technology. © 2009 American Institute of Physics . (cid:3) DOI: 10.1063/1.3116141 (cid:4)


Introduction: Organophosphate (OP) is hydrolyzed by paraoxonase (PON1), an antioxidant enzyme that prevent atherosclerosis by inhibiting oxidative modification of low density lipoprotein (LDL). Low PON1 activities have been observed among individuals chronically exposed to OP while their decreased activities were reported in individuals with atherosclerosis related disease. However, a connection between chronic OP exposure, PON1 and the development of atherosclerosis has not yet been reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of chronic OP exposure on the development of atherosclerosis in rat model. Materials & Methods: Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 3 groups; Group 1 did not receive any injection, both Group 2 and Group 3 received subcutaneous injection of vehicle and injection of 18.0 mg/kg of chlorpyrifos (CPF) respectively every other day for 180 days. Blood were analyzed for paraoxonase enzyme activities and ox-LDL. Aorta were harvested and stained for light and electron microscopic examination. Results: The paraoxonase activities, oxidized LDL and PON1: ox-LDL ratio were found to be significantly lower in OP exposed rats. The OP exposed rats also showed positive early atherosclerosis changes microscopically with VCAM-1 expression. The electron microscopic (EM) showed evidence of vascular damage with disruptions of the intimal layer of aorta, irregularly oriented and morphologically changed endothelial cells and numerous endothelial gaps with areas of deendothelialization. Discussion: This study highlighted that chronic OP exposure leads to the development of atherosclerosis which is confirmed microscopically and further affirmed by positive VCAM-1 expression. The basis for the above observation could be explain by low PON1 activities and low PON1:ox-LDL ratio. In conclusion, chronic intermittent low dose of OP chlorpyrifos induced the development of early atherosclerosis which could be explained by inability of the PON1 to hydrolyze oxidized-LDL.
Keywords: paraoxonase, atherosclerosis, chlorpyrifos, organophsphate, oxidized-low density lipoprotein


Stability analysis of interconnected systems with finite as well as arbitrary interconnection delays is considered in this study. For the purpose, subsystems interconnected with finite delays are grouped to form larger subsystems with intraconnection delays. However, these larger subsystems are interconnected with arbitrary delays among themselves. By considering a suitable Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional, a stability criterion is derived in the linear matrix inequality (LMI) framework to study simultaneous delay-independent (for the interconnection delays) and delay-dependent (for the intraconnection delays) stability of the reformed interconnected system. This proposed criterion is useful when one attempts to estimate the tolerable bounds of the intraconnection delays. Finally, a numerical example is considered to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed criterion.


ABSTRACT The aim of this research was to delineate how families with children aged 0–13 manage their well-being, which mainly depends on the balance between two main components, which are child-rearing and work. For the purpose of this study, family well-being is regarded, according to Archer's morphogenetic theory, as the well-balanced order of family members' ultimate concerns which gives rise to a sustainable modus vivendi for the whole family. To explain how a family establishes its own modus vivendi as a specific set of practices, Donati's relational approach is used, based on the assumption that a relational reflexivity is what steers a family agency and its interaction with structural conditioning. Depending on different cultural and structural factors (financial resources, family form, geographical area of residence), families can be expected to adopt specific ways of life and derive their overall life satisfaction from different elements. The present article is aimed at verifying this hypothesis through a secondary analysis of data from the ISTAT Multipurpose Survey on Households: Aspects of Daily Life – 2012, including a sample of 3,745 families with children aged 0–13. Results show that the ways of life (modi vivendi) of families with children aged 0–13 vary significantly. Furthermore, satisfaction with work and with family relationships plays a key role in predicting overall life satisfaction, thus overshadowing the importance of the financial situation.