A natural product-based polymer platform, having the characteristics of being derived from renewable materials and capable of breaking down, ultimately, into natural byproducts, has been prepared through the ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of a glucose-based bicyclic carbonate monomer. ROP was carried out via chain extension of a polyphosphoester (PPE) macroinitiator in the presence of 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD) organocatalyst to afford the PPE-b-poly(D-glucose carbonate) (PDGC) block copolymer. This new copolymer represents a functional architecture that can be rapidly transformed through thiol-yne reactions along the PPE segment into a diverse variety of amphiphilic polymers, which interestingly display stimuli-sensitive phase behavior in the form of a lower critical solution temperature (LCST). Below the LCST, they undergo self-assembly to form spherical core-shell nanostructures that display a poorly defined core-shell morphology. It is expected that hydrophobic patches are exposed within the micellar corona, reminiscent of the surface complexity of proteins, making these materials of interest for triggered and reversible assembly disassembly processes.


The Bald Mountain batholith in the Elkhorn Mountains of northeastern Oregon has intrusive relations to a heterogeneous assortment of Permian sediments and a Triassic metagabbro-serpentine sequence. The batholith is a composite intrusive composed of at least eight distinct rock types which range from norite to quartz monzonite. The different units were emplaced in a mafic to felsic sequence that commenced with norite, continued with tonalite and granodiorite, then leucogranodiorites, and ended with the emplacement of leucocratic quartz monzonite. The tonalite and granodiorite are gradational facies of the major intrusion and represent about 97 per cent of the 171 square miles of exposed batholithic rocks. Field and petrographic evidence support the conclusion that each unit in the batholith crystallized from a discrete volume of magma. Direct evidence for stoping is limited, and the field facts imply emplacement by forceful intrusion. Areas of granitization are of restricted occurrence and regarded as by-products of magmatic activity. Crystal fractionation of a noritic parental magma is regarded an inadequate explanation for the intrusive sequence. After the noritic magmas had crystallized, additional magmatic pulses produced the major intrusive mass and the three small leucocratic bodies. These later intrusives are regarded as originating from distinct magmas that were not sequential differentiates of noritic magma. Each later intrusion represents a disconnected magma that crystallized individually. After emplacement of the major intrusion and before emplacement of the leucocratic units, the major intrusion differentiated in place and produced a marginal tonalite that grades into a core of granodiorite.


2-Hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA), commonly introduced to control resin properties and introduce crosslinking sites, affects radical copolymerization kinetics through hydrogen-bonding, with the extent of the influence dependent upon solvent choice. The pulsed-laser polymerization technique has been applied to systematically investigate the influence of solvent choice on composition-averaged propagation rate coefficients (kcopp) and copolymer composition for HEA copolymerized with butyl methacrylate (BMA) in xylenes, dimethyl formamide (DMF), n-butanol (BuOH), methyl isobutyl ketone (MIBK) and butyl propionate. It is found that copolymer composition (as measured by proton NMR) has a greater dependency on solvent choice than propagation kinetics. HEA is incorporated into the BMA copolymer at higher relative rates than butyl acrylate (BA) in bulk, with the introduction of DMF and BuOH both reducing HEA incorporation rates. In contrast, the other solvents increase the relative reactivity of HEA, with reactivity ratios for the highest HEA incorporating case of BMA/HEA in xylenes found to be rBMA = 0.96 ± 0.05 and rHEA = 1.35 ± 0.14. Surprisingly, kcopp could be represented by the terminal model for polymerization in xylenes, MIBK and butyl propionate, but not for the bulk system.


Nowadays multi-standard wireless baseband, Convolutional Code (CC), Turbo code and LDPC code are widely applied and need to be integrated within one FEC module. Since memory occupies half or even more area of the decoder, memory sharing techniques for area saving purpose is valuable to consider. In this work, several memory merging techniques are proposed. A non-conflict access technique for merged path metric buffer is proposed. The results show that 41% of total memory bits are saved when integrating three different decoding schemes including CC (802.11a/g/n), LDPC (802.11n and 802.16e) and Turbo (3GPP-LTE). Synthesis result with 65nm process shows that the merged memory blocks consume merely 1.06mm2 of the chip area.


Modifications of the intra-uterine environment are now recognized as an important cause of fetal stress. Leading to several responses such as loss of structure/function and pre-emptive adaptations to an adverse post-natal environment, and finally to adult diseases. It has been demonstrated that children of diabetic mothers have an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (i.e. hypertension) during adulthood.
 Blood vessels are able to reorganize their structure in response to physiological alteration of blood flow or pathological stimuli. Constrictive vascular remodeling is currently associated with the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, our objective was to study vascular remodeling in case of in utero exposure to maternal diabetes. This is in order to investigate the effect of intra-uterine environment perturbations on vascular fetal programming. We have developed an animal model of rats exposed in utero to moderated maternal hyperglycemia (DMO), which developed an hypertension around 6 months of age.
 We analyzed structure of elastic and resistance arteries (internal diameter, MCSA, intima-media thickness and remodeling parameters) in absence or presence of established hypertension in male DMO compared to controls (CMO) (at 3 and 18 months of age). Moreover, by in vivo sequential ligation of mesenteric arteries, we have studied vascular remodeling of resistance arteries in response to low (LF), normal (NF) or high flow (HF).
 In old DMO, we did not observe any vascular remodeling induced by hypertension neither in aorta nor in mesenteric arteries. This could be related to the increase of smooth muscle cell attachments that we observed. Moreover, after 1 or 3 weeks of mesenteric arteries ligation, DMO did not exhibit any constrictive remodeling in LF although expansive remodeling in HF is maintained. Interestingly, we measured an increase of eNOS activity and GP91 in LF arteries of theses animals although transglutaminase-2 protein expression was not modified.
 Our results demonstrate that in utero exposure to maternal diabetes induce modification of vascular remodeling mechanisms in adulthood. Absence of vascular response could be a pre-emptive adaptation to fetal programmed-hypertension in these animals.


Feasibility of semisolid forging of cast iron using rapid resistance heating was experimentally investigated. Gray pig iron FC250 and spheroidal graphite cast iron FCD600, whose carbon equivalents are both 4.3% in mass, were used for the experiments. Since these cast irons have a narrow semisolid temperature range, an AC power supply with an input electric energy control function was used. In this study, the resistance heating characteristics of the cast irons were firstly examined, and then their semisolid forging experiments were conducted. In the forging experiments, the conditions of the forgings such as microstructures and hardness properties were examined, and the feasibility of the semisolid forging of cast iron using resistance heating was discussed. As a result, it was found that the method presented here is highly feasible.


The inscription commemorating a donation by Polycharmos of Stobi has been known for seventy years. In spite of its palaeographic characteristics, which strongly suggest a 2nd-century CE dating, it is commonly dated to 279/280 cE, following M. Hengel's influential 1966 analysis. Hengel admitted that the inscription displayed some early characteristics but nevertheless argued for this late date on historical grounds. Historical context left no room, in Hengel's opinion, for a dating earlier than the late 3rdcentury CE. I suggest that a different interpretation of the issues addressed by Hengel is possible. Moreover, extensive excavations in Stobi (including the site of the Polycharmos inscription) in the 1970s and early 1980s, and archaeological and epigraphical work in Roman Macedonia in general, have brought to light substantial evidence which points to a 2nd-century dating for the Polycharmos inscription. In this reconsideration of the inscription's date, I survey the main palaeographic and archaeological data and argue for the dating originally supported by the first publisher, 163/4 CE. Some aspects of the form and content of the inscription are then discussed, and it is argued that they do not necessarily imply a late 3rd-century dating.


The Monte Carlo (MC) method is the most accurate method for resolving radiative heat transfer in participating media. However, it is also computationally prohibitive in large-scale simulations. To alleviate this, this study proposes a quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) method for thermal radiation in participating media with a focus on combustion-related problems. The QMC method employs low-discrepancy sequences (LDS) in place of the traditional random numbers. Three different low-discrepancy sequences – Sobol, Halton, and Niederreiter – were examined as part of this work. The developed QMC method was first validated against analytical solutions of radiative heat transfer in several one-dimensional configurations. Then it was extended to three-dimensional practical combustion configurations. The results from QMC and traditional Monte Carlo are compared against benchmark solutions for each cases. It is shown that the error of the predicted radiation field from QMC is lower than an equivalent MC simulation. The computational cost of QMC was also found lower than MC due to the avoidance of requirement of several statistical runs for traditional Monte Carlo methods alongside achieving the reduction in error. In conclusion, significant improvements in computational costs and accuracy seen in the QMC method makes it an attractive alternative to traditional Monte Carlo methods in high-fidelity simulations.


The prognosis for patients with pulmonary hypertension remains poor despite recent treatment advances, and there is a need for therapies with new modes of action. Nitric oxide (NO) is an endogenous vasodilator, the levels of which are regulated throughout the lung to ensure preferential perfusion of well-ventilated regions. Drugs that act in synergy with endogenous NO would therefore promote pulmonary vasodilation while maintaining optimal gas exchange. Riociguat is an oral stimulator of the NO receptor soluble guanylate cyclase. It synergises with NO and has demonstrated vasodilatory and antiremodelling properties in preclinical studies. Riociguat has been shown to have a favourable safety profile in healthy volunteers and in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Pharmacokinetic analyses have revealed substantial interindividual variation, suggesting that individual dose titration will be required. In a proof-of-concept study of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, riociguat improved cardiopulmonary haemodynamics from baseline. It also caused systemic vasodilation, which was well tolerated but should be monitored in future studies. Dose titration of riociguat should promote pulmonary vasodilation while maintaining control of systemic effects, and has been investigated in a phase-II study of patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension or chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Preliminary results indicate that phase-III trials are warranted.


Alpha cellulose was extracted from Bambusa rigida fibers by carrying out Soxhlet extraction and bleaching and alkali treatments with acidified sodium chlorite solution and sodium hydrate solution. Then, cellulose nanofibers were isolated from α-cellulose with the combination of (33 wt%) sulfuric acid and ultrasonic treatment. The nano-sized fibers were successfully isolated, and the average diameters were about 10 to 30 nm. FTIR showed that a majority of the hemicelluloses and lignin were removed from the raw fiber and that the chemical constituents of α-cellulose and cellulose nanofibers were similar. XRD showed that the obtained nano-fibers presented a cellulose I structure, and thus the crystallinity of cellulose nanofibers was significantly increased. TGA showed that the thermal stability of the cellulose nanofibers was significantly improved. The relative crystallinity and thermal degradation temperature of the cellulose nanofibers reached 61.21% and 315.2 °C, respectively.


In another 210 days, we will cross the threshold to a new age of the 21st century and the third millennium. This is the time for reminiscing with nostalgia, looking back to where we have been. This is the time for stocktaking, candidly and objectively assessing where we are now. This is the time, at the gateway of a new century, for looking forward with bold vision to where we hope to be in the next millennium. In this paper, the author will seek to present reasons why hospitals in developing countries should play a more active role in research, why all hospitals, from the smallest first referral hospitals to the largest, tertiary specialist hospitals, should intensify their research activities and how to expand and intensify hospital based research. The central role of hospitals in health development is clear and indisputable. Hospitals are universally appreciated but society will not continue to accept uncritically all hospital activities and the attendant costs.


Growing system sizes together with increasing performance variability are making globally synchronous operation hard to realize. Mesochronous clocking constitutes a possible solution to the problems faced. The most fundamental of problems faced when communicating between mesochronously clocked regions concerns the possibility of data corruption caused by metastability. This paper presents an integrated communication and mesochronous clocking strategy, which avoids timing related errors while maintaining a globally synchronous system perspective. The architecture is scalable as timing integrity is based purely on local observations. It is demonstrated with a 90 nm CMOS standard cell network-on-chip design which implements completely timing-safe, global communication in a modular system


Given the prevalence and significance of antisocial behavior in sport, researchers have begun to explore the role that self conscious moral emotions play in reducing such behavior. In this research, we examined whether moral identity inhibits antisocial behaviour and whether these effects are mediated by anticipated guilt. Using a cross-sectional design, Study 1 showed that moral identity was negatively related to antisocial behavior. Study 2 found that the negative association between moral identity and antisocial behavior was mediated by anticipated feelings of guilt. Using an experimental design, Study 3 showed that priming moral identity reduced antisocial behavior, and this effect was mediated by moral judgment, and in turn, anticipated guilt. The present findings suggest that athletes with a robust internalized moral self-schema are less likely to engage in antisocial behavior because of the intense feelings of guilt they are likely to experience when they engage in such behavior.


Varicose veins, phlebectasia and venous varices are more or less synonymous terms. The term varicose vein generally refers to the diseased vein as a whole; while phlebectasia more properly refers only to the dilated veins and not to the pouched and sacculated areas. The large irregular pouches are generally designated venous varices. Because of the relative frequency of the condition in the long saphenous vein and its branches, the term varicose veins has come to be associated almost exclusively with the condition as it is found in the lower extremities. While varicosis is often seen in these parts, it is by no means the only part of the body in which it occurs. The condition is seen quite as frequently, if not more so, in the spermatic cord, where it is referred to as varicocele and is due to dilatation of the veins of the spermatic cord. Likewise, the hemorrhoidal


Introduction: European Integration and National Political Systems SIMON HIX AND KLAUS H. GOETZ European integration as a (potential) force of change in domestic polities and politics is attracting growing scholarly attention. European integration comprises two interrelated processes: the delegation of policy competences and the establishment of a new set of political institutions. Most existing studies of how these processes affect domestic institutional and political orders approach the subject from an institutionalist perspective. While such an approach helps to clarify the links between pressures for change and patterns of national adaptation, European integration as a source of change cannot be considered in isolation from other (potential) sources of domestic institutional and political change. The Limited Impact of Europe on National Party Systems


Introduction NICE guidelines recommend that patients with rectal bleeding at risk of cancer should be referred for further investigation.1The choice of investigation is at the discretion of the clinician. A retrospective study of patients who underwent curative resection of proximal colorectal malignancy reported a 3% chance of missing right-sided cancers if flexible sigmoidoscopy alone is performed.2The aim of our study was to evaluate the incidence of right-sided malignancy in patients undergoing colonoscopy for rectal bleeding, to stratify this risk by age, and to compare these rates in 2 different patient populations. Method The endoscopy databases at St George's Hospital, London (SGH) and Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH) were interrogated to identify all colonoscopies performed for rectal bleeding. Data were available over 32 (SGH) and 26 (RSCH) years. Results were stratified according to age and location of pathology, and differences between the 2 populations were analysed using Z-test. Results A total of 10482 colonoscopies were performed for rectal bleeding. 849 (8.1%) identified lesions suspicious for cancer. Of all suspected cancers, 94 (11.2%) were right-sided. The overall incidence of right-sided cancer was 0.9%. Overall incidence of right-sided cancer found at endoscopy in patients investigated for rectal bleeding in both units and stratified by age:Abstract PWE-348 Table 1 AGE RCSH (%) SGH (%) P value <51 0 0.1 0.04884 51–60 0.1 0.1 0.22246 61–70 0.2 0.1 0.63836 71–80 0.3 0.3 0.47152 >80 0.4 0.2 0.11642 TOTAL 1 0.8 Sub-analysis of the SGH data revealed that 54.1% of patients with right-sided lesions would have been found to have an indication to undertake completion colonoscopy had a flexible sigmoidoscopy been undertaken in the first instance. Conclusion These data provide an estimate of the age-specific risk of right-sided CRC in patients presenting with rectal bleeding. No significant difference regarding cancer incidence between our 2 diverse patient populations could be demonstrated, suggesting that these results might be generalisable to a wider population. The overall yield of right-sided cancer across age ranges remains low. We propose that flexible sigmoidoscopy might reasonably be offered to all patients presenting with rectal bleeding, regardless of age, as a first line investigation. Adopting such a strategy will likely result in cost-savings and have beneficial waiting list implications, without engendering risk of missing significant pathology. Disclosure of interest None Declared. References BSG Clinical Commisioning Report for Rectal Bleeding [last accessed 11/2/15] Badiani S, Desai A and Chapman MAS. Is whole colonic imaging necessary for symptoms of change in bowel habit and/or rectal bleeding? Colorectal disease. 2012;14:1197–1200


Casein kinase 1δ (CK1δ) and casein kinase 1ε (CK1ε) have been proposed to be involved in DNA replication, differentiation and apoptosis, thus participating in the regulation of tumorigenesis. However, their functions in colon cancer and the underlying mechanism remain unclear. Here, we found that the expression of CK1ε and CK1δ increased significantly in cancer tissues and the upregulation of CK1ε and CK1δ were closely related to poor differentiation, advanced TNM stage and poor prognosis of colon cancer. CK1δ/ε inhibitor IC261 could induce a decrease in cell survival and proliferation, and an increase in apoptosis in colon cancer cells. Interestingly, IC261 increased the level of aerobic glycolysis in colon cancer cells. Meanwhile, IC261 caused the decrease of p53 protein level and the misregulation of glycolysis related genes (TIGAR, G6PD, GLUT1) which are closely related to the regulation of glycolysis by p53. Inhibiting p53 by siRNA or inhibitor could significantly attenuate the upregulation of aerobic glycolysis induced by IC261. Finally, inhibition of aerobic glycolysis can further increase the cytotoxicity induced by IC261. Collectively, our results revealed that IC261 could inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells and increase the level of aerobic glycolysis, which is regulated by p53-dependent manner. This result suggested that targeting CK1δ/ε and glycolysis might be a valuable strategy treatment and combination therapies for colon cancer.


Physicians who care for pregnant women must be prepared to evaluate and treat abdominal trauma during pregnancy. The evaluation and management of even minimal abdominal trauma in pregnancy is often problematic, and the use of laboratory tests, fetal monitoring, radiography and ultrasonography depends on the extent of the trauma and the viability of the fetus. Intervention ranges from reassurance to cardiopulmonary resuscitation and surgery. Common laboratory studies include a complete blood count, coagulation panel, urinalysis and blood type and screen. Ultrasonography is useful for evaluation of fetal weight and status of amniotic fluid, but tocodynamometry is more sensitive for diagnosis of placental abruption. Patients with minimal trauma and no bleeding, uterine contractions or abdominal pain can be safely discharged after four to six hours of monitoring, but patients with any of these findings should be admitted to the hospital for overnight observation with continuous fetal heart rate monitoring. Language: en


In Western Australia, about 10,000 prisoners are released into the community each year with most of these having been incarcerated following a conviction. A recidivism rate around 45% means there are large numbers of released prisoners who are reoffending and are returning to custody. Violent offenders account for about 20% of all prisoners and the harms caused by this group to the community, their families and themselves are considerable. Therefore, it is in the best interests of the government, the community and the returning prisoners themselves that their re-entry into the community is successful.

This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of the prisoner reintegration process for violent offenders and, in particular, the elements of the process which contribute effectively to the ex-offender living a non-criminal and satisfying life. Using a qualitative methodology, nine adult males who had been imprisoned for (non-sexual) violent offences and had been released into the community were interviewed regarding their experiences. Recruitment of the participants was through a number of agencies which provide resettlement or rehabilitation and counselling services. A Grounded Theory approach was employed to analyse the transcripts of the interviews, with saturation of the resultant categories being achieved.

Five central themes emerged: the need for connection, a self-awareness which includes motivation for a process of change, a need for support from external agencies which is individually orientated, an agentic capacity to set one's own directions and a desire to give back to assist others. The Good Lives Model of rehabilitation and reintegration is examined and demonstrated to be a close fit to providing a means of addressing the issues arising from the participants' experiences. The implications of this to policy and practice are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Only a few intervention studies aiming to change high-risk drinking behavior have involved university students with heredity for alcohol problems. This study evaluated the effects after 2 years on drinking patterns and coping behavior of intervention programs for students with parents with alcohol problems.

METHOD
In total, 82 university students (57 women and 25 men, average age 25 years) with at least 1 parent with alcohol problems were included in the study. The students were randomly assigned to 1 of the 3 programs: (i) alcohol intervention program, (ii) coping intervention program, or (iii) combination program. All the 3 intervention programs were manual based and individually implemented during 2 2-hour sessions, 4 weeks apart. Before the participants were randomly assigned, all were subjected to an individual baseline assessment. This assessment contained both a face-to-face interview and 6 self-completion questionnaires: the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, estimated Blood Alcohol Concentration, Short Index of Problems, the Symptom Checklist-90, Coping with Parents' Abuse Questionnaire, and The Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI). Follow-up interviews were conducted after 1 and 2 years, respectively. The results after 1 year have previously been reported.

RESULTS
All participants finished the baseline assessment, accepted and completed the intervention. Ninety-five percent of the students completed the 24-month follow-up assessment. Only the group receiving the combination program continued to improve their drinking pattern significantly (p < 0.05) from the 12-month follow-up to the 24-month follow-up. The improvements in this group were significantly better than in the other 2 groups. The group receiving only alcohol intervention remained at the level of improvement achieved at the 12-month follow-up. The improvements in coping behavior achieved at the 12-month follow-up remained at the 24-month follow-up for all the 3 groups, i.e., regardless of intervention program.

CONCLUSION
Positive effects of alcohol intervention between 1 and 2 years were found only in the combined intervention group, contrary to the 1-year results with effects of alcohol intervention with or without a combination with coping intervention.


A 4-methoxythiophenol-substituted pyronin dye 1 was exploited as reaction-type fluorescent probe for biothiols Cys/Hcy and GSH. The probe itself is nonfluorescent due to the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) process. The Cys (or Hcy)-induced substitution–rearrangement cascade reaction and GSH-induced substitution reaction with the probe lead to the corresponding aminopyronin and thiopyronin dyes with distinct photophysical properties, enabling Cys/Hcy and GSH to be detected from visible and near-infrared (NIR) emission channels, respectively, in pure PB buffer with relatively fast kinetics and obvious fluorescence turn-on response. Assisted by laser scanning confocal microscope, we also demonstrated that probe 1 could simultaneously sense Cys/Hcy and GSH in B16 cells in multicolor imaging.


Abstract: The function of membrane phospholipids (PL) in the regulation of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) transport and GABA carrier binding has been investigated in organized cultures of rat cerebral cortex. The cellular lipid composition has been changed by growing the cells in a delipidated nutrient solution or by short‐term exposure of the cells to PL emulsions. Introduction of PL into the cellular matrix was monitored by analysis of biologically active fluorescently labeled phosphatidylcholine (PC) or phosphatidylethanolamine (PE). Parinaroyl and dansyl derivatives were used. Conditions of maintenance as well as exogenously given PL affected the transport of GABA. Two transport systems were observed, one first‐order system and one cooperative system. Saturated species of PC or PE reduced first‐order GABA uptake with increase in chain length of the fatty acid residues. The effects of unsaturated PL were dependent upon the polar head. Unsaturated PC enhanced the capacity of the first‐order transport of the amino acid. In comparison to cultures grown in lipid‐free medium, introduction of diarachinoyl‐PC into the cells increased the density of the first‐order active transport sites by a factor of 8 and the affinity constant by a factor of 17. Diarachinoyl‐PE reduced both kinetic parameters. GABA uptake via the cooperative system was enhanced by the unsaturated PE, not by PC. The role of endogenous PL and their asymmetric distribution was studied by application of phospholipase A2, C, and D. Stimulation of carrier activity was induced by hydrolysis of PL on the external leaflet. Inhibition occurred upon enzymatic degradation of external and cytoplasmic PL. Lipolysis also affected GABA receptor binding, suggesting that the effects observed represent the activity of both classes of binding sites, the carrier and the receptor. However the latter accounted for a small fraction of the binding. Transport of the amino acid was temperature sensitive. The temperature curve was shifted within two discontinuities, appearing in the Arrhenius plot as a function of membrane lipids. The results suggest a partitioning of the proteins between fluid and ordered lipid domains. Displacement of the protein may govern the rate constants and/or the effective protein concentration.


Quasi-brittle fracture of fully lamellar two phase (α2+γ)TiAl is investigated both experimentally and numerically. Fracture tests are conducted at room temperature, which fail in a quasi-brittle and unstable manner but exhibit significant variations in crack initiation and propagation prior to unstable failure. Fractographic investigations are performed which elucidate the micromechanical causes of the macroscopic behaviour. The observed deformation and fracture behaviours of the specimens are simulated by a finite element model containing cohesive elements for modelling the material separation. In order to capture the scatter of the macroscopic behaviour, a stochastic approach is chosen, in which local variations of cohesive parameters are taken into account. The model can describe and explain the physical phenomena of the specific material.


Until few years ago, MR assessment of pancreatic carcinoma was thought to be feasible only with high-strength equipment, but today also low- and midfield units allow pancreatic lesion detection, thanks to parameter optimization. The authors retrospectively analyzed the MR findings of 57 patients examined with a midfield MR unit; all the patients had clinically suspected pancreatic carcinoma, which was confirmed in 54 cases. The lesions were more easily detected using T1-weighted sequences, thanks to their high intrinsic contrast, while T2-weighted sequences often confirmed the glandular changes already depicted by T1-weighted sequences. MRI correctly depicted vascular and lymph node involvement and detected liver metastases with no i.v. contrast agent injection. The only limitations of this technique are the unfeasibility of MR exams of diagnostic value in uncooperative patients (5% of cases) and the very similar MR features of parenchymal scars, due to previous acute pancreatitis, to those of pancreatic carcinoma. In conclusion, CT remains the gold standard in the study of pancreatic cancers, but midfield strength MRI, if correctly performed, can be proposed as a complementary tool to CT, especially in questionable cases and in the patients with known reactions to iodinated contrast agents.


Purpose: The purpose was to determine the within-session variability and between-session repeatability of SD-OCT Doppler measurement of retinal blood flow in young and elderly healthy subjects.
Methods: SD-OCT Doppler blood flow was non-invasively measured using the RTVue system (Optovue Inc., USA). One eye of each of 6 healthy young (mean age 25.7; SD 3.5 years) and 6 healthy elderly (mean age 63.1; SD 1.8 years) subjects was randomly selected for the study and the pupil was dilated using Mydriacyl 1%. A double circular scanning
pattern was employed. A minimum of six separate SD-OCT Doppler measurements (i.e. each separate measurement comprising an upper nasal pupil scan and a lower nasal pupil scan) were acquired at each session. Measurements were repeated on a second day. Retinal blood flow was
calculated, using data from valid scans only, by summing flow from all detectable venules. The coefficient of variation and the coefficient of repeatability were calculated for each individual.
Results: The individual COVs for retinal blood flow for young subjects ranged from 2 to 51.9% (median 28.8%) and for the elderly subjects ranged from 0.6 to 81.2% (median 9.9%). The group mean CORs for retinal blood flow for young subjects were 30.5 μl/min (median 29.5 μl/min, relative to a mean effect 39.8 μl/min) and for elderly subjects were
16.9 μl/min (median 7.2 μl/min, relative to a mean effect 34.7 μl/min).
Conclusions: The Doppler SD-OCT in general gave consistent
measurements of retinal blood flow in normal subjects, while the data was far more repeatable for the elderly group. The relatively small sample size needs to be considered when interpreting these results.


Aims

Marine soft sediments cover much of the deep ocean and are one of the largest habitats in the world, yet much of our understanding about their diversity is based on sampling in the North Atlantic. The deep-sea benthos provides a simplified environment in which to explore the processes which maintain species richness. Here we investigate the influence of energy and habitat complexity on benthic species richness along an oligotrophic continental margin within the Indian Ocean.

Location

The upper continental margin of western Australia (c. 13–35° S, 100–1000 m depth).

Methods

We examined the species richness of selected polychaetes (Annelida) and crustaceans in sediment grab samples. We used generalized linear models and hierarchical partitioning to examine the relationship and relative importance of temperature, productivity (particulate organic carbon flux, net primary productivity and depth) and habitat complexity (sediment particle size diversity and grain size) on species richness at 51 sites.

Results

In contrast to benthic studies in the North Atlantic, we found that species richness was higher on the shelf than on the slope. Species richness was positively correlated with net primary productivity; this relationship was influenced by high species richness in two areas where oceanic mixing is known to enhance primary productivity. Habitat heterogeneity and temperature were less influential.

Main conclusion

This study represents one of the first extensive quantitative studies of deep-water benthos in the Indo-West Pacific, and provides further evidence that bathymetric gradients of species richness are variable between regions, probably due to variation in local oceanography and productivity regimes. Our findings provide support for the overriding influence of productivity on species richness, even over relatively small ranges in depth and productivity. As climate change is expected to modify biogeochemical fluxes to the deep seafloor, this is likely to affect the communities of deep-sea fauna.


Based on our experience of implementing two creative projects within a legal clinic setting, we explore the concept of creativity and the theoretical and market justifications for incorporating it within law curriculums. Today's graduates are entering a highly competitive job market and law curriculums need to evolve to ensure they cultivate the skills and attributes employers want. A 21st century law graduate needs more than just a working knowledge of the law and fostering students' creativity could help develop a range of non-academic skills. However, significantly, our projects suggest that students need to be encouraged to develop their creative potential. As academics we therefore have an important role to play in facilitating creativity and in producing modern, work-ready graduates. This paper should be of interest to anyone engaged in the teaching of law but also to any academics in other disciplines who are exploring ways of unleashing their students' creative potential.


Detailed observations of larval Drosophila chemotaxis have characterised the relationship between the odour gradient and the runs, head casts and turns made by the animal. We use a computational model to test whether hypothesised sensorimotor control mechanisms are sufficient to account for larval behaviour. The model combines three mechanisms based on simple transformations of the recent history of odour intensity at the head location. The first is an increased probability of terminating runs in response to gradually decreasing concentration, the second an increased probability of terminating head casts in response to rapidly increasing concentration, and the third a biasing of run directions up concentration gradients through modulation of small head casts. We show that this model can be tuned to produce behavioural statistics comparable to those reported for the larva, and that this tuning results in similar chemotaxis performance to the larva. We demonstrate that each mechanism can enable odour approach but the combination of mechanisms is most effective, and investigate how these low-level control mechanisms relate to behavioural measures such as the preference indices used to investigate larval learning behaviour in group assays.


Controlled-oral release dosage formulations of medications have become relatively prevalent in medicine today because of their ability to reduce noncompliance and, perhaps, to increase efficacy. However, there are many patient- and drug-related factors that may present special problems in product selection. For example, interchange of controlled-release brands that may have different absorption characteristics can result in therapeutic failure and/or toxicity. Especially in light of recent events associated with Food and Drug Administration product reviews, this paper outlines concepts that will assist physicians in making informed decisions regarding generic substitution of oral controlled-release products.


Author(s): Reyes, Paolo | Advisor(s): Hemminger, John C | Abstract: Fabricated noble metal-loaded TiO2 nanoparticles situated on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite have been studied for photocatalytic enhancement and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy properties. Plasma treating the HOPG surface results in an increase of TiO2 nanoparticle population. This increases the number of noble metal nucleation sites as well as increasing the likelihood for organic molecules to chemisorb on metal surfaces for molecular detection. High resolution characterization can be made to observe changes in surface morphologies of specific nanoparticles before and after experimentation.Platinum nanoparticles deposited onto TiO2 substrates were analyzed for photocatalytic efficiency by Methylene Blue (MB) photodegradation. Various Pt morphologies on TiO2 were fabricated to determine photodegradation in relation to Pt surface area coverage. Pt morphologies ranged from individual Pt nanoparticles, partially encapsulated TiO2 particles, and completely encapsulated Pt-TiO2 (Noted as Small, Medium, and Encapsulate). Individual Pt nanoparticles (Small) on TiO2 were found to be the most efficient in photodegradation with the highest rate constant compared to low surface area coverage (k/SA).Ag-TiO2 nanoparticles were fabricated in order to observe surface enhanced raman phenomena (SERS) with adsorbed thiophenol molecules. These particles were fabricated by coating the substrate in Ag precursor salt and irradiating the surface with UV light. Raman microscopy was used to determine signal intensity of adsorbed thiophenol. Signal enhancement was quantified by an enhancement factor (EF) calculation of ~10^5 in magnitude.Bi-metallic loaded TiO2 nanoparticles were fabricated via sequential photodeposition. Initial attempts at fabricating distinct Pt and Au nanoparticles on TiO2 were made, however other methods need to be considered as Pt/Au-TiO2 were encapsulated by opposing metal material. Ag-Pt-TiO2 nanoparticles were fabricated by utilizing the Ag substrate coating method after Pt nanoparticles were photodeposited. Scanning electron microscopy reveals Ag nanoparticles forming alongside Pt nanoparticles adsorbed onto TiO2. SERS studies were performed on these particles to determine Ag antenna capabilities for enhancing nearby molecules adsorbed on Pt. Cyclohexene was used as a probe molecule that binds exclusively to Pt surfaces and dehydrogenates into benzene near room temperatures. Benzene signal was observed on Ag-Pt-TiO2 surfaces and an EF of ~10^4 was observed.


Efficient mesoscopic CH3NH3PbI2Br perovskite solar cells have been prepared based on the TiO2/Al2O3/carbon architecture. An appreciable power conversion efficiency of 11.03% was achieved under AM 1.5G illumination. This system combines the superior stability of MAPbI2Br and no requirement of a hole conductor layer.


This paper presents new survey evidence on workers' response to the 2011 payroll tax cuts. While workers intended to spend 10 to 18 percent of their tax-cut income, they reported actually spending 28 to 43 percent of the funds. This is higher than estimates from studies of recent tax cuts, and arguably a consequence of the design of the 2011 tax cuts. The shift to greater consumption than intended is largely unexplained by present-bias or unanticipated shocks, and is likely a consequence of mental accounting. We also use data from a complementary survey to understand the heterogeneous tax-cut response.


Many important decisions in daily life are made with the help of advisors, e.g., decisions about medical treatments or financial investments. Whereas in the past, advice has often been received from human experts, friends, or family, advisors based on artificial intelligence (AI) have become more and more present nowadays. Typically, the advice generated by AI is judged by a human and either deemed reliable or rejected. However, recent work has shown that AI advice is not always beneficial, as humans have shown to be unable to ignore incorrect AI advice, essentially representing an over-reliance on AI. Therefore, the aspired goal should be to enable humans not to rely on AI advice blindly but rather to distinguish its quality and act upon it to make better decisions. Specifically, that means that humans should rely on the AI in the presence of correct advice and self-rely when confronted with incorrect advice, i.e., establish appropriate reliance (AR) on AI advice on a case-by-case basis. Current research lacks a metric for AR. This prevents a rigorous evaluation of factors impacting AR and hinders further development of human-AI decision-making. Therefore, based on the literature, we derive a measurement concept of AR. We propose to view AR as a two-dimensional construct that measures the ability to discriminate advice quality and behave accordingly. In this article, we derive the measurement concept, illustrate its application and outline potential future research.


Adversarial examples reveal the blind spots of deep neural networks (DNNs) and represent a major concern for security-critical applications. The transferability of adversarial examples makes real-world attacks possible in black-box settings, where the attacker is forbidden to access the internal parameters of the model. The underlying assumption in most adversary generation methods, whether learning an instance-specific or an instance-agnostic perturbation, is the direct or indirect reliance on the original domain-specific data distribution. In this work, for the first time, we demonstrate the existence of domain-invariant adversaries, thereby showing common adversarial space among different datasets and models. To this end, we propose a framework capable of launching highly transferable attacks that crafts adversarial patterns to mislead networks trained on wholly different domains. For instance, an adversarial function learned on Paintings, Cartoons or Medical images can successfully perturb ImageNet samples to fool the classifier, with success rates as high as $\sim$99\% ($\ell_{\infty} \le 10$). The core of our proposed adversarial function is a generative network that is trained using a relativistic supervisory signal that enables domain-invariant perturbations. Our approach sets the new state-of-the-art for fooling rates, both under the white-box and black-box scenarios. Furthermore, despite being an instance-agnostic perturbation function, our attack outperforms the conventionally much stronger instance-specific attack methods.


Calcitonin-containing liposome formulations were characterized to obtain information for evaluation of their feasibility in intranasal delivery. The parameters of liposomal charge characteristics, charge inducing agent concentration, calcitonin concentration and pH of the medium on the loading efficiency and leakage behaviour, and the chemical stability of calcitonin in liposomes were investigated. Results showed that the loading efficiency of calcitonin increased with increasing the added concentration of calcitonin. The magnitude of the loading efficiency due to the liposomal charge of negative, positive and neutral characteristics was in the order of negatively charged liposome > neutral liposome > positively charge liposome. The increase of molar ratio of phosphatidylserine in liposomes showed an increase of loading efficiency; while, the increase of molar ratios of stearylamine showed a decrease of loading efficiency. The loading efficiency at pH 7.4 was greater than that at pH 4.3. The leakage of positively charged liposomes was greater than that of neutral and negatively charged liposomes. The leakage at pH 4.3 was faster than that at pH 7.4. The leakage of positively charged liposomes increased as temperature increased. The chemical stability of calcitonin in both solution and liposomes demonstrated a pseudo-first-order kinetic degradation. Less degradation was observed at pH 3.4 and 4 degrees C. The degradation rate of calcitonin in solution, or in positively charged, negatively charged, and neutral liposomes, exhibited no significant difference. The particle size of the calcitonin-containing liposomes after storage for 1 month at pH 4.3 and 4 degrees C showed little change.


There is currently an increased consumption of vegetables within the local urban community. However, contamination of these vegetables with heavy metals poses a potential health hazard. Consequently, the potential contamination problem due to the effect of levels of some heavy metals (Fe, Mg, Zn, Mn, Cu and Cr) in soils and vegetables irrigated with drainage urban grey waste water were investigated. The maximum levels of Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu and Cr in the urban grey waste waters were respectively 2.8, 2.1, 19.5, 2.3 and 143.1 times, higher than the maximum recommended concentrations of these metals: 5.0 μg/mL, 2.0 μg/mL, 0.2 μg/mL, 0.2 μg/mL and 0.1 μg/mL, respectively, for irrigation waters. The soils were found to be contaminated with these metals to levels that range between 24 to 84 percent contaminations. Although the heavy metals concentration ranking in vegetable parts vary with plant specie, the concentrations of Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu and Cr in most parts of the vegetables were above their critical concentrations of 750 - 1000 μg/g, 100 - 400 μg/g, 300 - 500 μg/g, 20 - 100 μg/g and 5 - 30 μg/g, respectively, in plants. This suggests potential toxicity of these parts of vegetables. It was however found that over 40 percent of the concentrations of Fe, Mg, Zn and Cu in Onions, Fe in Okro, Cr in Bushgreen, Cu in Roselle and Zn, Cu in Carrot leaves can be easily removed by washing the leaves with water. However, only Cu concentration in Onions and Bushgreen leaves met the acceptable permissible level in plants after washing.


Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is available for determining the Safe Bearing Capacity of soil. This equipment confirms to IS 2131-1981. During the test 65kg hammer is lifted and dropped at an height of 75cm for more than 50 times. Atleast 8 persons are required. It is very difficult to handle the equipment and also balancing the tripod is very difficult.Electric motor is used for lifting and dropping the hammer. The motor is connected to the gear box and engine. It is operated by the microcontroller. The no of blows is recorded in the digital format.In this project it can save the time, manpower, and cost of labors and also the accurate results can received. The tripod of the equipment is made up of Mild steel (Fe250),and other parts are made up of hardened steel(EN 8).In our institution the SPT equipment is available and it is manually operated. It is very difficult for the operation. In slight modification the equipment is modified to fulfill this project.


Background: Microsporidia are known to infect a wide variety of animals including mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae). In a recent study on the mosquito fauna of Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari Province, at the central western part of Iran, a few larvae of Anopheles superpictus were infected with a microsporidium-resembled microorganism. Current investigation deals with the identification of the responsible microorganism at the genus level. Methods: Fresh infected larvae were collected from the field. After determining the species identity they were dissected to extract their infective contents. Wet preparations were checked for general appearance and the size of the pathogenic microorganism. Fixed preparations were stained with Geimsa and Ryan-Blue modified Trichrome techniques to visualize further morphological characters. The obtained light microscopy data were used in the identification process. Results: The infected larvae were bulged by a whitish material filling the involved segments corresponding to a microsporidium infection. Bottle-shaped semioval spores ranged 4.33±0.19×2.67±0.12 and 4.18±0.43×2.45±0.33 micron in wet and fixed preparations, respectively. They were mostly arranged in globular structures comprised of 8 spores. These data was in favor of a species from the genus Parathelohania in the family Ambliosporidae. Conclusion: This is the first report of a microsporidium infection in An. superpictus. The causative agent is diagnosed as a member of the genus Parathelohania. Further identification down to the species level needs to determine its ultrastructural characteristics and the comparative analysis of ss rRNA sequence data. It is also necessary to understand the detail of the components of the transmission cycle.


A video of events in Syntagma Square in 2011, shows a swarm of points of green light, created by laser pointers directed at the architecture surrounding the square from within the crowd. A second still image with the word 'thieves,' constructed from an array of red dots, is again projected onto the wall of Parliament, the location of speech. The laser pointer, a device intended to trace the progress of speech, and reinforce the agency of the individual speaker in a static visual presentation, is repurposed in the context of civil disturbance to stigmatize the architects of crisis. It can equally be used to blind the agents of law and order. An implement of visibility and authority, a straight line emanating from the space of the logos, becomes implicated in the delineation and representation of the space of the public. This paper represents an attempt to explore and create continuities and discontinuities between the binding-together of individual lasers/pixels in an assemblage, the chaotic movement of the individual laser/pixel, and the concerted activity of people acting in solidarity or chaotic revolt. The paper is constructed in order to implicate the carrier signal – the page, the screen – in the network which founds and funds both order and its opposites, as itself an active agent and producer of its own collectivities.


Face recognition based on 3D surface matching is promising for overcoming some of the limitations of current 2D image-based face recognition systems. The 3D shape is generally invariant to the pose and lighting changes, but not invariant to the nonrigid facial movement such as expressions. Collecting and storing multiple templates to account for various expressions for each subject in a large database is not practical. We propose a facial surface modeling and matching scheme to match 2.5D facial scans in the presence of both nonrigid deformations and pose changes (multiview) to a stored 3D face model with neutral expression. A hierarchical geodesic-based resampling approach is applied to extract landmarks for modeling facial surface deformations. We are able to synthesize the deformation learned from a small group of subjects (control group) onto a 3D neutral model (not in the control group), resulting in a deformed template. A user-specific (3D) deformable model is built for each subject in the gallery with respect to the control group by combining the templates with synthesized deformations. By fitting this generative deformable model to a test scan, the proposed approach is able to handle expressions and pose changes simultaneously. A fully automatic and prototypic deformable model based 3D face matching system has been developed. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed deformation modeling scheme increases the 3D face matching accuracy in comparison to matching with 3D neutral models by 7 and 10 percentage points, respectively, on a subset of the FRGC v2.0 3D benchmark and the MSU multiview 3D face database with expression variations.


BACKGROUND
Diffusion is a physical process based on the random movement of water molecules known as Brownian movement. Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) is a magnetic resonance (MR) technique that provides information about the biophysical properties of tissues such cell organization and density, microstructure and microcirculation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Twenty healthy volunteers and 18 patients with renal tumor were enrolled in our study. The DWI was obtained before contrast media injection with a single-shot SE EPI Inversion Recovery (IR) sequence. The tumor cellularity of each resected lesion was evaluated.

RESULTS
The mean apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value of renal tumors was significantly lower than the mean ADC value of normal renal parenchyma. In our series, the mean ADC value of renal tumors did not significantly correlate with tumor cellularity, but correlated with histological architecture.

CONCLUSION
These preliminary results indicate the utility of DWI in the acquisition of tissue characterization data of renal masses using a minimal acquisition time (17 sec).


[1] Reactive halogen species (RHS) such as the halogen oxide radicals IO and BrO influence tropospheric oxidation processes in both polar and temperate regions. Oceanic photolabile halocarbons have been shown to be strong sources of RHS in midlatitudes. However, the global source strengths of these halocarbon precursors and the relative importance of the coastal and pelagic oceans on their concentrations are highly uncertain. Here we present atmospheric measurements of the reactive organic halogens CH3I, CH2I2, CH2ClI, CH2IBr, CHIBr2, CHBr3, CH2Br2, and CHBr2Cl made at Mace Head, Ireland, during the Particle Formation and Fate in the Coastal Environment campaign in September 1998 and at Cape Grim, Tasmania, during the Southern Ocean Atmospheric Photochemistry Experiment 2 campaign in January/February 1999. Mace Head is strongly influenced by local macroalgae, whereas Cape Grim, owing to its cliff-top location, suffers much less impact from seaweeds. The very reactive halocarbons CH2I2, CH2IBr, and CHIBr2 observed at Mace Head were below detection limits at Cape Grim, although CH2ClI was detected at both locations. Mixing ratios of CH3I, CH2ClI, CHBr3, CHBr2Cl, and CH2Br2 at Cape Grim were on average 25–50% of those at Mace Head. Concentrations of the polybromomethanes correlated well at both sites. Using these correlations, we estimate molar source strengths of CHBr2Cl and CH2Br2 to be between 3 and 6% and between 15 and 25% of the global CHBr3 flux, respectively. These values fall within ranges estimated independently from concentration and lifetime data.


gestation. Postnatal evaluation confirmed: V lumbar hemivertebrae; A imperforate anus and rectovaginal fistula; C subaortic IVC; TE esophagic atresia with tracheo esophagic fistula; R Hydronephrosis L unilateral talus. Comment: Between Nov 1998 and March 2006 in our institution, this is the first case of VACTERL syndrome presented in 43 000 deliveries. The diagnosis was suspected when an association of anomalies was found in a comprehensive ultrasound; despite that the urological condition was different from the prenatal diagnosis. This case confirms the need of a thorough evaluation of the fetal anomaly as soon as one anomaly has been found.


Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) make use of the sensible and latent capacity of the return (exhaust) air to cool and dehumidify the supply (outside) air. "Closed DAOS" is an advanced form of typical DOAS with desuperheater and evaporatively cooled condenser in the return air stream. The air entering the condenser in Closed DOAS is in the fully saturated state. In order to fully saturate the return air, it needs to be sprayed by water. Sufficient amounts of water is required for fully saturating the air and keeping the coils of the condenser wet during the process. This water is obtained internally as a result of condensation on the evaporator fins, not requiring additional water use at the buildings site. Closed packaged configuration requires to have a water balance of water obtained in evaporator to that required for saturating the air and wetting the condenser coil. This water balance can be achieved under most conditions by an optimal control of enthalpy wheel and heat wheel (run around heat exchanger) effectiveness to control the amount of water obtained in the evaporator. The optimal control of heat and enthalpy wheel effectiveness is not only important for making the necessary water balance but also to keep the latent load as low as possible. This paper discusses the Closed DAOS configuration with psychrometrics and water balance analyses.


Pyrenean chamois (Rupicapra pyrenaica) populations of the central and eastern Pyrenees have been affected by severe outbreaks associated with Border disease virus (BDV) since 2001. Eight Pyrenean chamois (7 males and 1 female) from 1 to 8 years of age with clinical signs consistent with BDV infection were studied. At necropsy, whole blood, tissue samples (skin, brain, prescapular lymph node, thyroid gland, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, small intestine, bone marrow, and testicle), urine, and nasal, oral, and rectal swabs were obtained. The fetus from a pregnant female was also studied. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the virus in all samples, and virus isolation was performed. Sera and tissue samples were positive to RT-PCR, and the virus was isolated from all chamois. The nasal, oral, and rectal swabs and urine samples were RT-PCR positive in 100%, 85.71%, 71.43%, and 100% of chamois, respectively, confirming the excretion of the virus via these 4 routes. In addition, sera were tested for BDV antibodies using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and seroneutralization techniques, with negative results. Sequence analysis of the 5′ untranslated region in 7 of the chamois confirmed that the virus is grouped into the BDV-4 genotype, the same BDV previously described in Pyrenean chamois. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study of naturally infected Pyrenean chamois, providing evidence that infected animals shed BDV through nasal, oral, fecal, and urinary excretion routes.


Applications often require functionality that is implemented in the kernel, but as not directly available to the user level. While extensible operating systems allow kernel functionality to be augmented, we believe that the emphasis on extensibility is misplaced. Applications should be able to reuse kernel code directly and the emphasis should be placed on designing a kernel with that reuse in mind. The advantage of structuring the kernel as a set of reusable, extensible tools is that applications can avoid re-implementing functionality that is already present in the kernel. This will lead to smaller applications, fewer lines of total code, and a more unified computing environment that will be easier to maintain and perform better.<<ETX>>


The effects of different soil tillage methods on rhizobial nodulation, biomass yield (root, shoot and nodule) and nitrogen content of soybean as a second crop have been investigated. The experiment was conducted as a field trial in Cukurova Region, Turkey in 2008. Six different tillage methods have been studied in this research. These methods were conventional tillage with residue (CTR), conventional tillage with burnt residue (CTBR), reduced tillage with heavy disking (RTHD), reduced tillage with rotary tiller (RTR), no- tillage with heavy disking (NTHD) and no tillage with direct seeding (NTDS). At the stage of inflorescence, nodulation was investigated in the root, shoot, and nodule samplings by determining the weights of the samples and analyzing them for nitrogen contents. The results have been statically analyzed by using MSTAT-C package programme. According to the results of the study, under the conventional methods in which deep tillage operations are applied to soil, it has been found out that nodule formation and plant nitrogen contents have been negatively affected. The differences among the applications were found to be statistically significant. In general, the best nodulation has been obtained with NTDS and RTHD plots. Moreover, the effects of other tillage methods on some parameters related with rhizobiyal N2-fixation have caused to considerable decrease on the parameters mentined above.


Sleep difficulties are widespread among international students. Internet‐based interventions are suggested as a low‐threshold treatment option but may require cultural adaptation among culturally diverse populations. The present pilot study investigated the effectiveness and acceptance of an internet‐based intervention to improve sleep difficulties in international students. A total of 81 international students of 36 nationalities were randomly assigned to the intervention (n = 41) or waitlist control group (n = 40). The intervention group received immediate access to a culturally non‐adapted unguided internet‐based sleep intervention consisting of three modules based on sleep hygiene and cognitive techniques to reduce rumination. At baseline, 4 and 12 weeks after randomisation, insomnia severity, measured by the Insomnia Severity Index, and secondary outcomes (sleep quality, depression, anxiety, perceived stress, well‐being, presenteeism, mental health literacy) were assessed. Data were analysed using linear multi‐level analyses. Additionally, satisfaction and perceived cultural appropriateness of the intervention were evaluated by international students after 4 weeks, and compared with ratings of German students, who represent the original target group. Insomnia severity improved over time in the intervention group compared to the control group, revealing a significant estimated mean difference of −5.60 (Hedges' g = 0.84, p < 0.001) after 12 weeks. Satisfaction and perceived cultural appropriateness was high and comparable to that of German students. The present study shows that a culturally non‐adapted internet‐based sleep intervention can be a low‐threshold treatment option to help meet the high demand for mental healthcare among international students. It thus indicates that cultural adaptation might not represent a precondition for providing effective internet‐based sleep interventions to this target group.


The American Service-Members Protection Act of 2002, also called the 'Hague Invasion' act was signed into law on Jan 28, 2008. It is called so because it authorizes the U.S. President to use 'all means necessary and appropriate' to ensure that any US or allied personnel being tried by the ICC are released. This paper aims to study the prospective use of this act in the future, under President Trump, especially with looming investigations into war-crimes in Afghanistan by the Prosecutor of the ICC
This paper analyzes this act in-depth, beginning with the motivation behind this unique legislation and then going through some of its important provisions. It goes into a slightly political study of US policies that lead to the creation of this act with the change in Administration from Clinton to Bush, both of whom were against the ICC.
The paper then contrasts the provisions against established principles of International Law such as Prohibition on the Use of Force and demonstrates how the act permits use of force and without complying with the usual defenses to it under International Law. It further analyses other violations of International Treaties that the act permits.
Subsequently, the paper discusses the excessive nature of this legislation by discussing the 'complementarity' requirement of the ICC which would enable the use to essentially 'get the ICC off its back' without having to resort to the extreme measures that this act provides.
The paper concludes with an analysis of an actual threat of the use of this act and how domestic legal policies can shape international politics with change in administrations and how substantial that effect can actually be.


A small-perturbation semianalytical solution is derived for solute transport in porous media with multiple spatially variable reaction processes. Specific reactions of interest include reversible sorption, reversible mass transfer, and irreversible transformation (such as radioactive decay, hydrolysis reactions with fixed pH, and biodegradation). Laplace transform is employed to eliminate the time derivatives in the linear transport equations, and the transformed equations are solved analytically. The transient solution is ultimately obtained by use of an efficient quotient-difference inversion algorithm. Results indicate that spatial variation of transformation constants for the solution phase and the sorbed phases decreases the global rate of mass loss and enhances solute transport. If the sorbed-phase transformation constant is spatially uniform but not zero, a similar effect is observed when there is spatial variation of the equilibrium sorption coefficient. The global rate of mass loss and apparent retardation are decreased when the spatial variability of the sorbed-phase transformation constant is positively correlated with the spatial variability of the equilibrium sorption coefficient and increased for a negative correlation.


In this paper, a new network efficiency measure that takes into account of traveller's perception errors as well as flows, behaviours, and costs is developed for assessing link importance in congested transportation networks. The core component of the network efficiency measure is a probabilistic route choice model embedded in a network equilibrium framework, which explicitly captures the interactions between travellers' perception errors and link cost functions to produce a stochastic user equilibrium (SUE) flow pattern. The importance measure defined as the relative network efficiency drop is developed to rank the links in the network. The network efficiency and importance measures can work for both uncongested and congested transportation networks. To show proof of concept, we use two networks to demonstrate the features and applicability of the proposed measures. In the Braess network, we examine the value of link efficiency, link importance, and link ranking in comparison with the topological measure and the user equilibrium (UE) measure. In addition, we investigate the effects capacity degradation level, demand level, and degree of perception error. In the Winnipeg network, we apply the network efficiency and importance measures to assess the bridges in the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We compare the SUE importance with the localised volume to capacity (V/C) ratio method, and investigate the bridge importance measures in the context of a flooding scenario to examine the effect of providing information to drivers. The results demonstrate that the SUE network efficiency and importance measures are useful in both theory and applications.


Despite gaining significant cultural and academic currency, penal abolitionism remains unable to radically problematize the punishment of individuals found responsible of exceptionally disturbing acts of criminalized violence. Through an empirical examination of a recent Canadian controversy over penal governance articulated to the transfer of a "monster" to a correctional healing lodge, the article makes legible our difficulties in communicating about appropriate responses to exceptional criminalized incidents which would forgo the use of afflictive sanctions as retaliatory harms. Engaging penal abolitionism empirically, theoretically and normatively, the article notably suggests that the limits of penal abolitionism can be explicated by the fact that its critique is premised on an instrumentalist conception of penalty which neglects the communicational function of punishment.


This article identifies five Atlantic features in Asian varieties of Creole Portuguese. These reflect common substrate influence from Niger-Congo languages converging with Portuguese forms. This study supports the hypothesis of Dalgado (1917: 41) that the frequent contact between speakers of the different varieties of Asian Creole Portuguese had led to a partial reciprocal diffusion of these creoles' features, setting this scenario within the larger context of the hypothesis of Clements (2000) that there existed both a general pidgin (spoken in Africa and Asia) and distinctive regional pidgins more influenced by local substrate languages. After examining the possibility that the Malayo-Portuguese feature of marking distributive plurality through noun reduplication may have spread to Indo-Portuguese, this study claims that at least five features of Portuguese-based creoles in Asia had their origin in Africa: (1) the form vai 'to go'; (2) completive kaba; (3) the coordinating conjunction ku; (4) the preposition na; (5) the negator nunca. This leads to the conclusion that what the Portuguese brought with them to Asia in the 16th century was a general Portuguese pidgin that had been developing in Africa during the second half of the 15 th century. This pidgin must have been far more variable and much less developed (i.e. less influenced by substrate languages) than the modern creoles-in all probability a pre-pidgin foreigner talk continuum.


Professional certifications sustain lifelong learning through the continuous development of competencies required in a workplace. The current paper proposes a tool to facilitate the training of professionals who want to obtain a project management certification awarded by the International Project Management Association (IPMA).
The tool makes the automatic evaluation of answers to open questions and gives feedback, thus providing the users the chance to learn from their own mistakes. The text-based answers are transformed into ontological representations, exploiting several technologies and open-source tools, such as GATE, WordNet, Text2Onto, OpenNLP, Prot?g?. Then, an ontology alignment process is implemented, to compare the newly formed ontology of a given answer to the reference ontology of a correct answer, from the certification evaluators' point of view. If some concepts regarding a specific topic are not covered in the user's answer, the program returns the concepts which the user did not sustain and it suggests some references in order to enrich his/ her knowledge in that direction. The success of the feedback is given by the built-in vocabulary, which is continuously improved by project management experts.
We consider that the tool is a valuable instrument of formative e-assessment; allowing the users the possibility of self-evaluation and learning in one's own pace. Furthermore, the majority of similar tools deal only with multiple-choice questions, but the open questions are the ones which require extensive expert assistance to provide useful feedback to wannabe certified project management professionals. Thus, our tool feels the gap in automated formative assessment, being presented in the context of innovative tools to support well-being through lifelong learning.


Land use is the element that changes very dynamic area. This is due to various human activities depend on the elements of this land. One of the most influential factor in the speed of change in land use or land use change is the increase of population in an area. Fulfillment of human needs (food, clothing and shelter) is influenced by the availability of land. This study aims to identify and analyze the rate of land conversion in conjunction with the growth of population in the peninsula Leitimur Ambon Island. The method used is descriptive with population growth comparing data (statistics) with patterns of changes in land use map data obtained from Ambon city land use remote sensing and data. The rate of population growth in the city of Ambon Leitimur Peninsula in the last 10 years (2000-2010) shows the percentage figures are quite high, 179,78 percent and with a population density of 1.145,436 inhabitants/km 2 . Land conversion that occurred in the Peninsula Leitimur of the Year 1984 - 2010 are as follows: (1) forest becomes 3.008,06 to  1.057,69 ha; (2) be mixed farms 5.533,46 to 8.671,97 ha; (3) vacant land 0,00 ha to 94.67 ha; (4) settlements be 2.768,58  to 3.129,83 ha; (5) bushes and reeds 4.113,39  to 1.372,58 ha;  and (6) other use 0.00 ha to 1.150,75 ha. From these results show that the rate of change (conversion) of land is directly proportional to the growth of population.


Abstract Measurements of Fe3+/ΣFe in geological materials have been intractable because of lack of access to appropriate facilities, the time-consuming nature of most analyses, and the lack of precision and reproducibility in most techniques. Accurate use of bulk Mössbauer spectroscopy is limited by largely unconstrained recoilless fraction (f), which is used to convert spectral peak area ratios into valid estimates of species concentrations and is unique to different mineral groups and compositions. Use of petrographic-scale synchrotron micro-XANES has been handicapped by the lack of a consistent model to relate spectral features to Fe3+/ΣFe. This paper addresses these two deficiencies, focusing specifically on a set of garnet group minerals. Variable-temperature Mössbauer spectra of the Fe2+-bearing almandine and Fe3+-bearing andradite end-members are used to characterize f in garnets, allowing Fe3+/ΣFe to be measured accurately. Mössbauer spectra of 19 garnets with varying composition were acquired and fit, producing a set of garnet-specific standards for Fe3+ analyses. High-resolution XANES data were then acquired from these and 15 additional previously studied samples to create a calibration suite representing a broad range of Fe3+ and garnet composition. Several previously proposed techniques for using simple linear regression methods to predict Fe3+/ΣFe were evaluated, along with the multivariate analysis technique of partial least-squares regression (PLS). Results show that PLS analysis of the entire XANES spectral region yields the most accurate predictions of Fe3+ in garnets with both robustness and generalizability. Together, these two techniques present reliable choices for bulk and microanalysis of garnet group minerals.


Strontium isotope stratigraphy is used to date two interglacial-marine deposits in the Antarctic Peninsula region. On King George Island, interglacial pectinid-rich sediments in the Low Head Member of the Polonez Cove Formation give a strontium isotope stratigraphy age of 29.0+0.7−0.6 to 29.8+0.8−0.7 Ma (mid-Oligocene), which, in conjunction with previous K–Ar dating of volcanic rocks, indicates a glacial episode in the Antarctic Peninsula between middle Eocene (42.0 ±1.0 Ma) and mid-Oligocene time. In addition, an inter-glacial deposit (Pecten Conglomerate) from tectonically-elevated exposures on Cockburn Island is dated as Pliocene (3.5–5.3 Ma). Published data suggest these latter sediments were deposited under shallow marine conditions, which were warmer than those of present-day Antarctica.


Even though it is acknowledged culture pervades learning and that emotions and context play a significant role in the learning process, Eurocentric instructional design models are based solely on cognitive, social and pedagogical approaches. These approaches do not contextualize the learning experience, i.e. they do not address cultural conceptuality (Cliver, 2013). Knowing a wide range of cultural influences impact on the engagement and success of adult learners, learning environments need to encourage learners to acknowledge and validate their cultural being. This identity – knowing who they are, where they come from and what factors influence their engagement – provides learners with a positive setting they feel comfortable in. These context sensitive, learner centric environments provide the fundamental confidence needed for learners to believe they can succeed in achieving their educational goals (Johnson, 2012).  Therefore, designers need to provide context sensitive learning experiences, performance tasks and assessments that build familiarity, confidence and trust (Kennedy, 2013).
This presentation will describe how Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiārangi has integrated the theories of cognitive load, social cognition, transformative learning and the processes of holistic assessment, the Ranga Framework, personal learning planning and noho delivery into a holistic cultural-self learning design platform. This integration of theory and process provides the foundation for a unique learning design approach, based on the concepts of feedforward, feedback, assessment and reflection, to be established (Clayton et al, 2019).
The presentation will demonstrate how this approach can be applied in a learning management system segmented into seven interwoven but discrete spaces,

Welcome / Mihi Whakatau: This space is focused on participants cultural self-enabling them to become familiar and comfortable with the approach to be used.
Induction / Rangatahi: During this stage opportunities are provided for learners to clarify and understand these learning outcomes and performance criteria associated with the micro-credential.
Engagement / Rangahau: During this stage learning activities are designed to build upon, rather than be independent of, learner's current knowledge and beliefs.
Mātauranga /Performance: During this stage opportunities will be provided for learners to engage in assessment tasks that confirm their capabilities.
Rangatira / Capstone: During this stage participants will, with the guidance of tutors and peers, reflect on the outcomes of their learning activities and identify the learning strategies that were successful for them.
Arotakenga: Evaluation: During this stage evidence will be collected on the impact of the micro-credential on stakeholders.

NB: Participants are encouraged to bring their own devices as they will be provided with editing access to a working demonstrator within a Learning Management System.
References

Clayton, J., Gao, Y., Elliott, R., Geng, F. & Yang, J. (2019) Micro-credentials in professional and technical vocational education and training: A cultural self-approach, Positional Paper, Awanuiārangi Press, Whakatane, New Zealand
Cliver, C., (2013), Comparison of Instructional Design Models, Course Notes - MEDT 7461, The University of West Georgia.
Johnson, T. (2012). Self-assessment: A means to enhance academic self-efficacy in year 12 mathematics, (Masters Thesis). Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://mro.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10179/3310/02_whole.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Kennedy, C. P. (2013). Indigenizing student-centred learning: A western approach in an indigenous educational institution. Journal of International Education Research, 9(1), 1. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1433387182?accountid=33567


Executive Summary
 1

 This report analyzes the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP), leveraging data from a national survey of resettlement stakeholders conducted in 2020. 2 The survey examined USRAP from the time that refugees arrive in the United States. Its design and questionnaire were informed by three community gatherings organized by Refugee Council USA in the fall and winter of 2019, extensive input from an expert advisory group, and a literature review. This study finds that USRAP serves important purposes, enjoys extensive community support, and offers a variety of effective services. Overall, the survey finds a high degree of consensus on the US resettlement program's strengths and objectives, and close alignment between its services and the needs of refugees at different stages of their settlement and integration. Because its infrastructure and community-based resettlement networks have been decimated in recent years, the main challenges of subsequent administrations, Congresses, and USRAP stakeholders will be to rebuild, revitalize, and regain broad and bipartisan support for the program. This article also recommends specific ways that USRAP's programs and services can be strengthened. Among the study's findings: 3 Most refugee respondents identified USRAP's main purpose(s) as giving refugees new opportunities, helping them to integrate, offering hope to refugees living in difficult circumstances abroad, and saving lives. High percentages of refugees reported that the program allowed them to support themselves soon after arrival (92 percent), helped them to integrate (77 percent), and has a positive economic impact on local communities (71 percent). Refugee respondents also reported that the program encourages them to work in jobs that do not match their skills and credentials (56 percent), does not provide enough integration support after three months (54 percent), does not offer sufficient financial help during their first three months (49 percent), and reunites families too slowly (47 percent). Respondents identified the following main false ideas about the program: refugees pose a security risk (84 percent), use too many benefits and drain public finances (83 percent), and take the jobs of the native-born (74 percent). Refugee respondents reported using public benefits to meet basic needs, such as medical care, food, and housing. Non-refugee survey respondents believed at high rates that former refugees (69 percent) and refugee community advocate groups (64 percent) should be afforded a voice in the resettlement process. Non-refugee respondents indicated at high rates that the program's employment requirements limit the time needed for refugees to learn English (65 percent) and limit their ability to pursue higher education (59 percent). Eighty-six percent of non-refugee respondents indicated that the Reception and Placement program is much too short (56 percent) or a little too short (30 percent). Respondents identified a wide range of persons and institutions as being very helpful to refugees in settling into their new communities: these included resettlement staff, friends, and acquaintances from refugees' country of origin, members of places of worship, community organizations led by refugees or former refugees, and family members. Refugee respondents identified finding medical care (61 percent), housing (52 percent), and a job (49 percent) as the most helpful services in their first three months in the country. Refugees reported that the biggest challenge in their first year was to find employment that matched their educational or skill levels or backgrounds. The needs of refugees and the main obstacles to their successful integration differ by gender, reflecting at least in part the greater childcare responsibilities borne by refugee women. Refugee men reported needing assistance during their first three months in finding employment (68 percent), English Language Learning (ELL) courses (59 percent), and orientation services (56 percent), while refugee women reported needing orientation services (81 percent) and assistance in securing childcare (64 percent), finding ELL courses (53 percent), and enrolling children in school (49 percent). To open-response questions, non-refugee respondents identified as obstacles to the integration of men: digital literacy, (lack of) anti–domestic violence training, the need for more training to improve their jobs, the new public benefit rule, transportation to work, low wages, the need for more mental health services, cultural role adjustment, and lack of motivation. Non-refugee respondents identified as obstacles to the integration of women: lack of childcare and affordable housing, the different cultural roles of women in the United States, lack of affordable driver's education classes, a shortage of ELL classes for those with low literacy or the illiterate, digital literacy challenges, difficulty navigating their children's education and school systems, transportation problems, poorly paying jobs, and lack of friendships with US residents. Non-refugee respondents report that refugee children also face unique obstacles to integration, including limited funding or capacity to engage refugee parents in their children's education, difficulties communicating with refugee families, and the unfamiliarity of teachers and school staff with the cultures and backgrounds of refugee children and families. LGBTQ refugees have many of the same basic needs as other refugees — education, housing, employment, transportation, psychosocial, and others — but face unique challenges in meeting these needs due to possible rejection by refugees and immigrants from their own countries and by other residents of their new communities. Since 2017, the number of resettlement agencies has fallen sharply, and large numbers of staff at the remaining agencies have been laid off. As a result, the program has suffered a loss in expertise, institutional knowledge, language diversity, and resettlement capacity. Resettlement agencies and community-based organizations (CBOs) reported at high rates that to accommodate pre-2017 numbers of refugees, they would need higher staffing levels in employment services (66 percent), general integration and adjustment services (62 percent), mental health care (44 percent) and medical case management (44 percent). Resettlement agencies indicated that they face immense operational and financial challenges, some of them longstanding (like per capita funding and secondary migration), and some related to the Trump administration's hostility to the program. Section I introduces the article and provides historic context on the US refugee program. Section II outlines the resettlement process and its constituent programs. Section III describes the CMS Refugee Resettlement Survey: 2020. Section IV sets forth the study's main findings, with subsections covering USRAP's purpose and overall strengths and weaknesses; critiques of the program; the importance of receiving communities to resettlement and integration; the effectiveness of select USRAP programs and services; integration metrics; and obstacles to integration. The article ends with a series of recommendations to rebuild and strengthen this program.


Study Design. In this article, the authors review the three broad categories of measures that have been used to objectify functional improvement after nonoperative care of painful spinal disorder patients‐physical, psychological, and socioeconomic. For each of the three categories, the major measures used are discussed, as well as research relating to the efficacy of the measures. Objectives. To point out the many differences that still exist among research studies regarding which functional outcome measures to use and when to use them. Summary of Background Data. During the past few decades, it has been made abundantly clear that painful spinal disorders, particularly when associated with work disability and/or financial benefits, result from a complex interaction of medical, psychological, and social factors. This has resulted in frequent confusion regarding what constitutes the primary roots of the disabling process. Currently, a more comprehensive biopsychosocial perspective of chronic pain and disability has emerged that has significant implications for diagnostic and treatment philosophies of practitioners. Methods. Identifying the measures frequently used to address the important biopsychosocial factors, and evaluating their relative benefits and drawbacks. Results and Conclusions. It is demonstrated that there has been an overall trend in recent years toward using more objective, quantifiable instruments, encompassing the physical, psychological, and socioeconomic parameters of outcomes research in painful spinal disorders. These changes will certainly improve the ability of researchers to tease out which factors tap more directly into such issues as physical impairment, as well as create greater uniformity of measures that will permit direct comparisons between studies.


The development of a new technology of material processing known as 3D printing in 2013 lead to posting on the Internet blueprints of the first pistol made with the use this technology. The pistol got the name Liberator. Within the first two days after the post, the blueprints of this pistol were downloaded more than a hundred thousand times. The difference of this construction from other constructions is that all the parts, except the firing pin, are printed on the 3D printer. For manufacturing this type of pistols special equipment (which has become easily available lately) is needed, as well as the knowledge and skill to operate it. At the same time, no special knowledge about the development and manufacturing of firearms is necessary. Availability of ready blueprints (the programs for printing the elements in 3D printer) without the need to do manual or machine treatment, lead to the wide spread of this type of homemade firearms. The law enforcements of many countries have already got cases of illegal trafficking of homemade firearms made with the use of 3D printing technology.

The article discusses the construction features of Liberator pistol, as well as the peculiarities of its forensic examination. Special attention is paid to the problem of reliability and durability of this type of pistols. The possibility of damage or destruction of the pistol construction during a shot was investigated. The influence of different parameters, such as the size of the pistol, the material of its elements, the caliber of the cartridge on the possible destruction of the pistol, was also discussed. The damages in the pistols, made of different polymers, were illustrated in this article by the results of investigations taken from a few foreign professional sources. The problem of establishing the fact of a shot, which had been made from pistol printed in 3D printer, before the evidence came for forensic examination, was discussed. The article deals with the problem of the influence of this shot on the possibility of determination of the constriction durability and with the question if the evidence meets the criteria of firearms. Possible defects in the examined evidences, which should be checked be the examiners before the experimental shot, were pointed out.


1024 SIGNIFICANTLY LOWER MALIGNANCY RATES IN RENAL TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS CONVERTED FROM CALCINEURIN INHIBITORS (CNIs) TO SIROLIMUS (SRL) COMPARED WITH THOSE WHO CONTINUED CNI THERAPY. Michael D Pascoe, Francesco P Schena, Ravinder Wali, Josefina Alberu, Maria del Carmen Rial, Alfredo Mota, The Sirolimus CONVERT Trial Study Group. Division of Nephrology, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa. Purpose: Immunosuppressed patients are at increased risk for malignancy. It has been previously shown that renal transplant recipients randomized to SRL at 3 months experienced significantly less malignancy than those continuing on SRL+cyclosporine. We report 18-month malignancy rates in renal allograft recipients who underwent conversion to a SRL-based, CNI-free regimen. Methods: Eligible patients received a graft 6-120 months before enrollment and had no malignancies within 5 years of randomization, other than adequately treated basal cell (BCC) or squamous cell (SCC) carcinoma. 830 patients were randomly assigned (2:1) to SRL conversion (n=555) or to continue CNI-based therapy (n=275). Primary endpoints were Nankivell GFR and the composite rate of biopsy-confirmed acute rejection, graft loss, or death at 1 year. Results: At 18 months after randomization, overall malignancy rates were significantly lower among SRL conversion patients compared with CNI continuation patients, as were rates for nonmelanoma skin carcinomas (BCC and SCC) and other malignancies, except for PTLD (table). In SRL conversion patients, noncutaneous malignancies included those of the prostate (1) and colon (1) as well as chronic myelogenous leukemia (1). The only biopsy-confirmed case of PTLD was localized to oropharyngeal mucosa and was completely excised. Malignancies other than SCC or BCC in CNI continuation patients included melanoma (3), prostate (2), and 1 each of the breast, stomach, lung (non-small cell), cervix, and brain (grade III astrocytoma). Conclusions: Patients who converted to SRL-based, CNI-free therapy had significantly fewer nonmelanoma skin carcinomas and other malignancies through 18 months after conversion.


Combating disinformation, fake news, and hate speech has become one of the main challenges for media literacy studies. Recent research reveals that affective/emotional factors and confirmation bias prevail in how users interact with media content. This paper draws on the conceptions of the affective turn (Clough, 2010), the embodied mind (Varela 1990), and the concept of radical mediation (Grusin, 2015) to demonstrate how the body and affect act in interaction with the media, producing a kind of intensification of affective interpersonal relationships, generating states of mind that circulate and influence people's reactions to facts and opinions. It highlights how non-conscious aspects affect conscious thinking. It is concluded that strategies based on rhetorical and sociolinguistic structures are insufficient to combat disinformation. It is necessary to carry out inter and transdisciplinary research that adds bodily and affective factors to the ways in which users engage with the media.


Part I considers electron transport through a molecular bridge coupled to two metal electrodes in the presence of a monochromatic ac radiation field. Coherent current flow through the wire is calculated within a nondissipative one-electron tight binding model of the quantum dynamics. Using Floquet theory, the field-driven molecular wire is mapped to an effective time- independent quantum system characterized by a tight-binding Hamiltonian with the same essential structure as the nondriven analog. Thus, the Landauer formalism and scattering Green's Function methods for computing current flow through the wire, which have been profitably applied to the molecular wire problem in the absence of driving, can also be used to analyze the corresponding field-driven system.The theory developed here is applied to an experimentally relevant system, namely a xylyl-dithiol molecule in contact at either end with gold electrodes. Net current through the wire is calculated for two - STM and molecular junction - configurations of the electrode-wire-electrode system for a range of experimental inputs, including bias and the intensity and frequency of the laser. Via absorption/emission of photons, the electron tunneling occurs through an interference of many pathways and may lead to a significantly enhanced laser-driven current at experimentally accessible laser field strengths.In Part II we apply a single particle scattering methodology to calculate diffraction efficiencies of finite Crystalline Colloidal Arrays (CCA's). We developed an extension of the well-known Kinematic theory and tested it by comparing computed light scattering efficiencies with exact results for 1D slab model. We discuss some applications of the method to finite CCA's of different shapes and sizes. In particular, the dependence of diffraction intensities on the incident angle is analyzed near the Bragg diffraction maximum for several different crystal planes. We also study the effect of the incident beam shape and cross sectional profile on the CCA diffraction. Finally, the effective penetration depth for the incident light is calculated and compared for several incident directions, and the effect of stacking faults on diffraction efficiencies is analyzed using the methodology developed herein.


Understanding why the original project of Artificial Intelligence is widely regarded as a failure and has been abandoned even by most of contemporary AI research itself may prove crucial to achieving synthetic intelligence. Here, we take a brief look at some principles that we might consider to be lessons from the past five decades of AI. The author's own AI architecture --MicroPsi --attempts to contribute to that discussion.


Images are widely used in medical engineering. Medical imaging devices are inevitable to introduce noises to medical images. It is important to eliminate noises in medical images. To denoise the images more effectively, this paper proposes an improved image denoising method based on dictionary learning. It introduced the image size and pixel distribution to define a new iteration more reasonably. When the iteration function is called, the threshold is properly compressed. The results show that the effect of dictionary updating is better, and that it improves the effect of noise reduction and greatly reduces the computing time consumed, in comparison to those of the KSVD and MOD algorithms. Therefore, it has the potential application value in medical image processing.