The Government has made traffic laws and regulations to create a motor vehicle safety and in order to reduce the number of fatal and serious injuries that occur in motor vehicle crashes every year. However, it's not much effecting to diminish numbers of road accident causing by lack of knowledge, insights, driving experience, and often to take a risk. This study aimed to identify the effective education in safety driving to improve the driver's performance which has a risk taker characteristic. This study was conducted in a laboratory simulation of ergonomics with the respondent amounted 30 people aged 18-25 years and classified into three groups: 10 respondents are educated by using a module, 10 respondents are educated by watching a video, and 10 respondents directly practice using a simulator. Holt & Laury's Questionnaire is used to knowing Risk Attitude of respondents. This study showed that video education is the most effective education to reduce a numbers of driving perform interference for those man and woman's respondents and afterwards followed by module's education and the last intended by without education Keywords : risk taker , impaired driving performance, performance time on a task


The electrochemistry of lead and porous lead electrodes has
been examined using the techniques of linear sweep voltammetry, potential
step and alternating current impedance at static and rotating disG
electrodes. Investigations were made using sulphuric acid solutions
at ambient and low temperatures. The behaviour of porous electrodes
containing additives conventionally used to improve lead-acid battery
redox processes were studied. Complementary data has been obtained
by Scanning Electron Microscopy and galvanostatic cycling experiments.
The solution reaction at the porous electrode of typical commercial
thickness, controlled by factors affecting the diffusion layer in
a direction away from the porous fsce, was found to be insignificant
in comparison with resctions occurring within the porous matrix.
The thickness of PbS04 films developed on the electrode is potentialdependent,
with thicker films st lower potentials.
The development of PbS04 on the solid lesd electrode is controlled
by nucleation and growth processes. At low overpotentials the process
is three-dimensional but becomes two-dimensional at higher overpotentials.
The behaviour of the porous electrode can be interpreted in terms of
well-established porous electrode theory, assuming the same crystallisation
processes are observed in the qaae of solid electrodes.
On reduction at both solid and· porous lead sulphate electrodes,
the electrode process has a finite depth of penetration into the
electrode. The kinetics of the formation of metallic lead from lead
sulphate on both types of electrodes appear to be by instantaneous
nucleation and two-dimensional growth, with subsequent current
limitations owing to overlap of growing lead and PbS04 depletion.
The current limitation processes are complex; the subsequent current
decay rate varies with the porosity of the electrode.
Ambient temperature investigations of the additives used in the
commercial lead electrode demonstrated that lignosulphonate facilitated
the nucleation of lead on recharge, and effected a progressive increase
in surface area/porosity of the electrode. These effects promoted
an increased utilisation of-,tbe electrode active material on discharge.
BaS04 was found to provide nucleation centres for PbS04 formation.
The low-temperature electrochemistry of solid and porous lead has
been investigated and the effects of additives are discussed.


Recent advances in gene knockout techniques and the in vivo analysis of mutant mice, together with the advent of large-scale projects for systematic mouse mutagenesis and genome-wide phenotyping, have allowed the creation of platforms for the most complete and systematic analysis of gene function ever undertaken in a vertebrate. The development of high-throughput phenotyping pipelines for these and other large-scale projects allows investigators to search and integrate large amounts of directly comparable phenotype data from many mutants, on a genomic scale, to help develop and test new hypotheses about the origins of disease and the normal functions of genes in the organism. Histopathology has a venerable history in the understanding of the pathobiology of human and animal disease, and presents complementary advantages and challenges to in vivo phenotyping. In this review, we present evidence for the unique contribution that histopathology can make to a large-scale phenotyping effort, using examples from past and current programmes at Lexicon Pharmaceuticals and The Jackson Laboratory, and critically assess the role of histopathology analysis in high-throughput phenotyping pipelines.


[1] Hydrous fluids derived by dehydration of the downgoing slab at convergent plate boundaries are thought to provoke wet melting in the wedge above the downgoing plate. We have investigated the distribution of hydrous fluid and subsequent melt in the wedge using two-dimensional models that include solid mantle flow and associated temperature distributions along with buoyant fluid migration and melting. Solid mantle flow deflects hydrous fluid from their buoyant vertical migration through the wedge. Melting therefore does not occur directly above the region where hydrous fluids are released from the slab. A melting front develops where hydrous fluids first encounter mantle material hot enough to melt. Wet melting is influenced by solid flow through the advection of fertile mantle material into the wet melting region and the removal of depleted material. The region of maximum melting occurs where the maximum flux of water from slab mineral dehydration reaches the wet melting region. The extent of melting (F) and melt production rates increase with increasing convergence rate and grain size due to increased temperatures along the melting front and to increased fractions of water reaching the melting front, respectively. The position of isotherms above the wet solidus varies with increasing slab dip and thereby also influences F and melt production rates. Applying the understanding of wet melting from this study to geochemical studies of the Aleutians may help elucidate the processes influencing fluid migration and melt production in that region. Estimates of the timescale of fluid migration, seismic velocity variation, and attenuation are also investigated.


It was a blast! Certainly I anticipated that Photonics West 2001 in San Jose would be an exciting event. But it was better than anyone expected. For me, the first inkling that this was a different kind of SPIE conference came on Saturday night, the first day of BiOS, the Biomedical Optics conference. I had the privilege of presenting the SPIE Directors Award to Professor Abraham Katzir of Tel Aviv University. Abraham has been one of the prime movers of the biomedical optics program for SPIE. He had not been able to attend the Annual Meeting in July, so the award, which recognized his contribution to the Society and the field, was presented that night. It was given before the Saturday Night Hot Topics, a series of 10-minute reviews of current trends by leaders of biomedical optics. The first was given by Professor Britton Chance of Penn, a pioneer of biomedical optics. My own contact with things biological occurred quite a while ago when I was doing Raman spectroscopy of teeth ~hydroxyapatite! and snake venom. Since then the field has developed marvelous new techniques for diagnosis, analysis, and treatment. The interest in these topics can be gauged by the attendance at the Hot Topics session. Granted the local hockey team, the San Jose Sharks, was not playing at home, but the auditorium in the convention center certainly contained the most excitement to be found in downtown San Jose that Saturday night. The room seated about 400. Every seat was filled; latecomers were parked along the walls and stacked up in the entry alcoves. There was a sense of excitement, a ''buzz'' in that room. And it was the first of many I encountered that week. The conference sessions were well attended. That Saturday night scene was repeated numerous times during the course of Photonics West. As attendees craned their necks to get a better view of the slides projected on screens, SPIE staff scrambled to provide larger rooms when possible. It was not just the technical sessions that produced marked enthusiasm. The short courses, augmented by a fresh set of offerings in the telecommunication field, were also well attended, with a number of them filled to capacity. Another gauge of the interest in the opportunities offered in San Jose was the fact that all of the downtown hotels and practically every bed in the South Bay area between the San Francisco airport and the convention center were occupied. And then there was the show! It was the largest, most elaborate exhibition that SPIE has ever put on. If there was a ''buzz'' in the conference sessions, there was also one at the show. I didn't get to the convention center for the exhibits until Wednesday, but I had heard that the exhibition was impressive. As I walked the aisle at a deliberate pace, it was difficult to take in all of the trends in technology and contact old friends at the booths and in the aisles. There were so many exhibits that the show overflowed across the street to a second exhibition hall. To assure that attendees were aware of these other exhibits a red carpet started at the door of the convention center and was laid across the street to the second site. To further encourage attendees to visit the second hall, the poster sessions were located there. I have been to a number of exhibitions on optics and photonics, but this was one of the best I have ever attended. As I think of the size and content of the shows not that many years ago at OELASE at the LA Airport Marriott, it is amazing how far the field of optical engineering has come. The sophistication, reliability, and economy demanded by the users of optical systems has resulted in incredibly clever devices that were impossible to contemplate, let alone build, then. At the end of it all, one week after the BiOS conferences started that Saturday, 15,362 authors, conference chairs, attendees, short course students, exhibitors, and exhibit visitors came to Photonics West 2001. The 103 short courses were taken by 3500 persons. In addition, the Career Center was used by 55 companies and 329 resumes were available. And 620 exhibitors arranged over 70,924 square feet showed a wide range of products and services. All of this was arranged, tracked, and tweaked by numerous SPIE staff and contractors. Richard Hoover, the 2001 SPIE President, and all SPIE members have much to be proud of. One concern expressed by some at Photonics West was that the event would evolve into a trade show, where the Editorial


The cytokine interleukin-8 (IL-8) is an important mediator of neutrophil, lymphocyte, and basophil chemotaxis and activation. Earlier we demonstrated that beta interferon (IFN-beta) can inhibit tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-induced IL-8 gene expression at the transcriptional level, apparently by a novel mechanism. To define the cis-acting elements and trans-acting factors involved in this inhibition, DNA constructs containing portions of the 5'-flanking region of the IL-8 gene were linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene and transfected into human diploid FS-4 fibroblasts. The region spanning positions -98 to +44 was sufficient to confer both inducibility by TNF and inhibition by simultaneous treatment with IFN-beta. Inhibition of TNF- or IL-1-induced CAT activity by IFN-beta or IFN-alpha was also observed when a DNA fragment containing only the NF-IL-6 and NF-kappa B sites (positions -94 to -70) was placed upstream of the homologous or a heterologous minimal promoter. A construct containing three copies of the NF-kappa B element in front of the CAT gene also was inducible by TNF, and this stimulatory effect too was inhibited by IFN-beta, indicating that the NF-kappa B element is sufficient to confer inhibition by IFN-beta. This inhibitory effect was specific for the NF-kappa B site of the IL-8 gene since it was less marked with constructs containing three copies of the NF-kappa B site from the HLA-B7 gene. Gel shift assays with a probe containing the NF-kappa B and NF-IL-6 binding sites of the IL-8 gene (positions -101 to -63) showed that IFN-beta treatment did not block the activation of NF-kappa B proteins or their ability to bind to the NF-kappa B site. However, nuclear extracts from cells treated with TNF in the presence of IFN-beta gave rise to an additional band that appears to contain protein components from the NF-kappa B and NF-IL-6 families. NF-kappa B site-mediated suppression of IL-8 gene expression by IFN-beta represents a hitherto unknown mechanism and target of IFN action.


The vast majority of mollusks grow a hard shell for protection. Typical seashells are composed of two distinct layers, with an outer layer made of calcite, which is a hard but brittle material, and an inner layer made of a tough and ductile material called nacre. Nacre is a biocomposite material that consists of more than 95% of tablet-shaped aragonite, CaCO3, and a soft organic material as the matrix. Although the brittle ceramic aragonite constitutes a high volume fraction of nacre, its mechanical properties are found to be surprisingly higher than those of its constituents. Calcite and nacre, two materials with distinct structures and properties, are believed to be arranged in an optimal fashion to defeat attacks from predators. This paper aims at capturing the design rules of a gastropod seashell by using multiscale modeling and optimization techniques. A two-layer finite element model of the seashell was developed to include shell geometry at the macroscale, whereas nacre material properties were modeled at the microscale. A representative volume element of the microstructure of nacre was used to formulate a closed-form expression of the elastic modulus of nacre, and a multiaxial failure criterion as a function of the key dimensions of the microstructure. Using the seashell model, the maximum load that the shell can carry at its apex was obtained and different failure modes were introduced. The results from optimization suggested that the natural seashell is optimally designed for resisting penetrations. Furthermore, experiments were performed on an actual shell of abalone to validate the results obtained from simulations and gain insight into the way that the shell fails under sharp penetration. Optimization and experimental results revealed that the shell shows its best performance when two modes of failure coincide within the structure.


Summary Objectives: To survey advances in public health and epidemiology informatics over the past three years. Methods: We conducted a review of English-language research works conducted in the domain of public health informatics (PHI), and published in MEDLINE between January 2012 and December 2014, where information and communication technology (ICT) was a primary subject, or a main component of the study methodology. Selected articles were synthesized using a thematic analysis using the Essential Services of Public Health as a typology. Results: Based on themes that emerged, we organized the advances into a model where applications that support the Essential Services are, in turn, supported by a socio-technical infrastructure that relies on government policies and ethical principles. That infrastructure, in turn, depends upon education and training of the public health workforce, development that creates novel or adapts existing infrastructure, and research that evaluates the success of the infrastructure. Finally, the persistence and growth of infrastructure depends on financial sustainability. Conclusions: Public health informatics is a field that is growing in breadth, depth, and complexity. Several Essential Services have benefited from informatics, notably, "Monitor Health," "Diagnose & Investigate," and "Evaluate." Yet many Essential Services still have not yet benefited from advances such as maturing electronic health record systems, interoperability amongst health information systems, analytics for population health management, use of social media among consumers, and educational certification in clinical informatics. There is much work to be done to further advance the science of PHI as well as its impact on public health practice.


Abstract This article discusses a number of conceptual and practical issues regarding the taxation of the income coming out from the transfer of virtual currency. The individuals who earn constant money from cryptocurrencies (over 600 lei per year) have the obligation to report their income yearly and to pay the income tax and the health insurance contributions in certain situations. According to the provisions of the Tax Code, the gains from cryptocurrency transfers will fall into the category of the taxable income from other sources. For individuals, this income will be declared through the Single Taxation Statement during the year following the year of its realization. Specifically, the earnings from cryptocurrencies in 2019 will be declared in 2020. As long as an individual keeps his income from cryptocurrencies in the form of cryptocurrencies, without actually using them, he is not obliged to declare them and pay the income tax and the Social health insurance contribution for them.


Although consumers' generally have positive attitudes towards ethically conscious behaviors, their actions are not unequivocally consistent with attitudes. Consumer research to understand the adoption of ethically conscious behaviors is therefore important. This paper makes a crosscultural analysis of consumers' ethical decision making process in the context of environment consciousness (Europe, USA and China). A model of individual ethical decision making is presented and tested empirically. We suggest that the information targeted to convince the consumers to engage in ethically conscious behaviors should appeal three subdivisions of their belief structure; the information part, the concern part, and the self-belief part.


Since the 1993 discovery of a highly pathogenic hantavirus associated with the North American deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus), intensive ecological studies have led to many advances in our understanding of the natural history of New World hantaviruses as it relates to human disease. Seventeen named hantaviruses have been identified in North America. Field and laboratory studies of Sin Nombre and other hantaviruses have delineated host associations, geographical distributions, mechanisms of transmission, temporal infection dynamics of these viruses in host populations, and environmental factors that influence these dynamics. Using data from these studies, preliminary predictive models of the risk of hantavirus infection to humans have been developed. Improved models using satellite-derived data are under development. Multidisciplinary collaboration, integration of field and laboratory studies, and establishment and maintenance of long-term monitoring studies will be critical to continued advancement in the understanding of hantavirus-host ecology and disease prevention in humans.


We report on the Moessbauer spectra and magnetization properties of single-crystalline (BiFeO{sub 3}){sub x-}(BaTiO{sub 3}){sub 1-x} solid solution nanostructures in the form of nanocubes, measuring approximately 150 to 200 nm on a side, prepared by a molten salt solid-state reaction method in the compositional range wherein 0.5 {le} x {le} 1. Powder x-ray diffraction (XRD) and monochromatic synchrotron XRD studies indicate products of high purity, which undergo gradual, well-controlled structural transformations from rhombohedral to tetragonal structures with decreasing 'x.' For all solid solution products, room-temperature magnetization studies exhibit hysteretic behavior with remnant magnetization values of M{sub r} {ge} 0.32 emu/g, indicating that the latent magnetization locked within the toroidal spin structure of BiFeO{sub 3} has been released. Room-temperature Moessbauer spectra show composition-dependent characteristics with decreasing magnetic hyperfine field values and increasing absorption linewidths due to a decrease in the magnetic exchange interaction strength with decreasing x. For the lowest x=0.5 composition studied, the Moessbauer spectra show paramagnetic behavior, indicating a Neel temperature for this composition below 300 K. However, room-temperature magnetization studies with applied fields of up to 50 kOe show hysteretic behavior for all compositions, including the x=0.5 composition, presumably due to field-induced ordering. Furthermore, hysteresis loops for allmore » compositions exhibit smaller coercivities at 10 K than at 300 K, an observation that may suggest the presence of magnetoelectric coupling in these systems.« less


The history of elite housing from ancient times onwards was based on a concept of space in which man was an integral part of his natural surroundings. This conception of space derives from the symbiosis between 'architecture' and 'garden' and is inherent to the long and rich tradition of Japanese and Sino-Japanese thought fed by myths, legends and sacred beliefs, from primitive Shinto cults to the influence of Indian thought through Buddhism imported via China, not to mention the major influence of Taoist concepts of the universe from the Heian period on. These successive influences never put into question the fundamental relationship between man and nature but, on the contrary, gave it new substance, and left their mark on all forms of social expression including architecture, art, the sacred, and mythology. Japanese architecture has always reflected the fundamental relationship between man and nature, which is why the various archetypes of Japanese dwellings from ancient to pre-modern times rely on the intrinsic relationship between architecture and garden.


A 52-year-old male patient presented to our hospital with a history of secondary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) associated with an abdominal neoplasia and blepharoptosis. He had finger clubbing, hyperhidrosis, and hypertrichosis. He also had a recent history of extensive abdominal surgery with a pathology report of myelolipoma. Routine blood work was unremarkable. Upper eyelid reconstruction with blepharoplasty, upper eyelid wedge resection, and brow suspension was performed to address his eyelid concerns. By this case report, we would like to attract notice that the eyelid involvement may be a part of HOA and to emphasize the importance of systemic and pathologic evaluation in failed blepharoptosis surgery.


The approach of peptide-based anti-cancer vaccination has proven the ability to induce cancer-specific immune responses in multiple studies for various cancer entities. However, clinical responses remain so far limited to single patients and broad clinical applicability was not achieved. Therefore, further efforts are required to improve peptide vaccination in order to integrate this low side effect therapy into the clinical routine of cancer therapy. To design clinically effective peptide vaccines in the future, different issues have to be addressed and optimized comprising antigen target selection as well as choice of optimal adjuvants and vaccination schedules. Furthermore, the combination of peptide-based vaccines with other immuno- and molecular targeted therapies as well as the development of predictive biomarkers could further improve efficacy. In this review, current approaches in the development of peptide-based vaccines and critical implications for optimal vaccine design are discussed.


Nearest neighbour methods are a classical approach in nonparametric statistics. The k-nearest neighbour classifier can be traced back to the seminal work of Fix and Hodges (1951) and they also enjoy popularity in many other problems including density estimation and regression. In this thesis we study their use in three different situations, providing new theoretical results on the performance of commonly-used nearest neighbour methods and proposing new procedures that are shown to outperform these existing methods in certain settings. The first problem we discuss is that of entropy estimation. Many statistical procedures, including goodness-of-fit tests and methods for independent component analysis, rely critically on the estimation of the entropy of a distribution. In this chapter, we seek entropy estimators that are efficient and achieve the local asymptotic minimax lower bound with respect to squared error loss. To this end, we study weighted averages of the estimators originally proposed by Kozachenko and Leonenko (1987), based on the k-nearest neighbour distances of a sample. A careful choice of weights enables us to obtain an efficient estimator in arbitrary dimensions, given sufficient smoothness, while the original unweighted estimator is typically only efficient in up to three dimensions. A related topic of study is the estimation of the mutual information between two random vectors, and its application to testing for independence. We propose tests for the two different situations of the marginal distributions being known or unknown and analyse their performance. Finally, we study the classical k-nearest neighbour classifier of Fix and Hodges (1951) and provide a new asymptotic expansion for its excess risk. We also show that, in certain situations, a new modification of the classifier that allows k to vary with the location of the test point can provide improvements. This has applications to the field of semi-supervised learning, where, in addition to labelled training data, we also have access to a large sample of unlabelled data.


– Social enterprises are not purely commercial and philanthropic. They represent a hybrid form of organizations that involve taking business‐like, innovative approaches to deliver public services. Very little research has investigated the role of intellectual capital (IC) in innovation processes in social enterprises. This paper aims to address this., – This paper uses a critical analysis of current literature in relation to the IC concept within the social enterprise context., – The paper argues that the IC concept can be utilized as a strategic management framework that assists social enterprises to harness knowledge for the pursuit of innovative social and commercial activities., – The paper contributes to the literature by theoretically arguing that IC can be utilized in innovation processes in social enterprises. It also informs social entrepreneurs that the IC concept is a valid strategic management framework that assists facilitating innovation in social enterprises. An IC conceptual framework is proposed using theoretical arguments from the literature. The framework helps social entrepreneurs to visualize IC and its components in their organizations for the development of effective innovation‐based strategies in social enterprises. The increased awareness of the IC concept in social enterprises, as a result of this paper, is likely to generate further research from both non‐profit practitioners and scholars., – The paper is considered as a starting‐point and serves as a milestone in examining the role of IC in innovation processes in social enterprises.


Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) has been associated with cervical cancer for many years and certain regions of both the HSV-1 and the HSV-2 genome can induce transformation of tissue culture cells. However, no virus transforming protein has yet been identified and no region of viral DNA appears to be stably retained in transformed cells or tumours. This implies that continued expression of a virus protein is not required and has resulted in the proposal that HSV transforms cells by a "hit and run" mechanism. HSV infection can generate chromosomal breaks together with amplification and rearrangement of cellular genes. Additionally, infection of permissive cells with UV-inactivated HSV-1 and of non-permissive cells with HSV-2 leads to an increase in the mutation frequency of the cellular hypoxanthine-guanine phosphoribosyltransferase gene. HSV-1 was also found to increase the mutagenic frequency of a plasmid-based gene located on the shuttle vector pZ189. These mutagenic effects resemble changes produced by chemical carcinogens and may represent a mechanism for transformation which would not require the retention of viral sequences. The cause of mutations occurring in HSV-infected cells is unknown but could be connected with the destabilization of doxyribonucleoside triphosphate (dNTP) pools seen in infected cells as studies of both prokaryotic and eukaryoti systems have stressed the importance of dNTP concentrations in mediating base substitutions and misincorporations. The HSV enzyme ribonucleotide reductase has a potential role in the destabilization of cellular dNTP pools since, unlike it cellular counterpart, it is not allosterically regulated. This is supported by results which show that a mutant cellular enzyme, which was deficient in allosteric control, raised the cellular mutation rate in transfected cells. In order to study the effect of HSV-2 ribonucleotide reductase on mutagenesis, expression vectors were constructed which contained the large (RRl) and small (RR2) subunits of the HSV-2 ribonucleotide reductase under the control of the inducible mouse metallothionein promoter, which responds at the transcriptional level to heavy metals such as zinc and cadmium. These constructs were used in mutagenesis assays which involved monitoring the mutation frequencies of the cellular adenine phosphoribosyltransferase gene (aprt) in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells and of the plasmid-based suppressor tRNA gene (supF) in human cells. Increasing the amount of enzyme expression by zinc-induction did not increase the mutagenesis of the marker genes in either assay suggesting that virus ribonucleotide reductase expression may not be mutagenic in HSV-infected cells. Experiments using the HSV-1 mutant viruses tsl207 and tsl222, which are temperature sensitive (ts) for RRl and RR2 respectively, support this finding since these viruses were as mutagenic as wild type HSV-1 at both the permissive (P) and the non-permissive (NPT) temperatures. Although expression of the viral ribonucleotide reductase does not appear to be the cause of increased mutagenesis in infected cells, the possibility that enzyme activity is capable of producing a mutagenic effect cannot be ruled out. The mutagenesis assays described above involved only the transient expression of the viral enzyme and the lack of any mutagenic effect might be due to inefficeincies in the transfection procedure and/or insufficient expression of the viral genes. The cellular enzyme would also be present and might counteract dNTP pool imbalances brought about by viral ribonucleotide reductase expression. To address these problems, NIH3T3 and CHO cell lines were constructed using HSV-2 ribonucleotide reductase expressing plasmids that contained the G418-resistance gene (neoR). Mutations causing morphological transformation were assayed in NIH3T3 cells while in CHO cells the aprt gene was assayed. None of the G418-resistant cell lines tested were found to express RRl or RR2 and further lines will be screened for expression before repeating the experiment. The ribonucleotide reductase constructs were used to generate transgenic mice to determine the effect of enzyme expression in an animal model. The mice did not appear to be affected by the presence of a large number (50+) of viral ribonucleotide reductase sequences. Viral ribonucleotide reductase RNA was detected in these animals, however, it did not appear to be inducible and protein could not be detected. Both HSV-1 and HSV-2 increase the spontaneous mutation frequency of the plasmid based supF gene by around 6-fold which is in agreement with values obtained by others in similar studies.


The classic optical nebular diagnostics [N ii], [O ii], [O iii], [S ii], [S iii], and [Ar iii] are employed to search for evidence of non-Maxwellian electron distributions, namely κ distributions, in a sample of well-observed Galactic H ii regions. By computing new effective collision strengths for all these systems and A-values when necessary (e.g., S ii), and by comparing with previous collisional and radiative data sets, we have been able to obtain realistic estimates of the electron-temperature dispersion caused by the atomic data, which in most cases are not larger than ∼10%. If the uncertainties due to both observation and atomic data are then taken into account, it is plausible to determine for some nebulae a representative average temperature while in others there are at least two plasma excitation regions. For the latter, it is found that the diagnostic temperature differences in the high-excitation region, e.g., Te(O iii), Te(S iii), and Te(Ar iii), cannot be conciliated by invoking κ distributions. For the low-excitation region, it is possible in some, but not all, cases to arrive at a common, lower temperature for [N ii], [O ii], and [S ii] with κ ≈ 10, which would then lead to significant abundance enhancements for these ions. An analytic formula is proposed to generate accurate κ-averaged excitation rate coefficients (better than 10% for κ ⩾ 5) from temperature tabulations of the Maxwell–Boltzmann effective collision strengths.


The use of social media in scientific research is rapidly increasing, typically focusing on discrete events of interest to many people and/or spatially mapping a variable of interest. Relatively little research has been done on the utility of social media for monitoring the spatiotemporal patterns of day-to-day life, and none within the agricultural sciences. Here, I discuss the potential applications and limitations of social media data for agricultural research. As an example, I demonstrate the ability of Twitter to map state-level corn and soy planting progress in the conterminous United States. Results compare favorably to traditional survey-based crop progress monitoring, with mean absolute differences of <10% for most state-crop combinations. I also highlight the additional contextual information available from social media data including factors contributing to replanting decision-making and the evolution of farmer sentiment through time. Using analogs from other disciplines, I then discuss key opportunities and challenges for agricultural research using social media. Social media is particularly well-suited for identifying emerging agricultural issues (e.g., weather, crop pests) and guiding extension and outreach directly to affected areas. However, limited data and unknown representativeness of social media users relative to the overall agricultural population are challenges which must be addressed for social media-based agricultural research in the future.


Introduction Not only is there no comparable information on home care available from the newest EU member states, but information from the other 15 is old. Furthermore, as European countries have implemented health care reforms over the past decade, updating is needed. Description of policy practice The EURHOMAP project (Mapping professional home care in Europe) aims to describe and compare the organisation and provision of home care (health and social) services through the gathering, analysing and disseminating of information on various aspects of home care services in 32 European countries. Discussion/Conclusions Data collection will be done firstly with vignettes, descriptions of cases of elderly or disabled people in need of care living at home, and secondly with a collection table including data and selected home care items. Both instruments will be handled by experts. Comparison of the two instruments will show the diversity of home care in Europe: different roles of home care in European health care systems, variations in financing and provision, links with other sectors of health care and social services, and type of patient needs and demands to which home care is responding.


Here, we present two different brain diagnostic devices based on microwave technology and the associated two first proof-of-principle measurements that show that the systems can differentiate hemorrhagic from ischemic stroke in acute stroke patients, as well as differentiate hemorrhagic patients from healthy volunteers. The system was based on microwave scattering measurements with an antenna system worn on the head. Measurement data were analyzed with a machine-learning algorithm that is based on training using data from patients with a known condition. Computer tomography images were used as reference. The detection methodology was evaluated with the leave-one-out validation method combined with a Monte Carlo-based bootstrap step. The clinical motivation for this project is that ischemic stroke patients may receive acute thrombolytic treatment at hospitals, dramatically reducing or abolishing symptoms. A microwave system is suitable for prehospital use, and therefore has the potential to allow significantly earlier diagnosis and treatment than today.


The effects of hydrogen-enriched biogas on combustion and emissions of a dual-fuel spark-ignition engine with different hydrogen concentration ratios were studied numerically. A 1-cylinder spark ignition was used to perform a numerical simulation. To reveal the influence of the compression ratios on combustion and emissions of a gaseous engine, the crankshaft of the engine was modified to generate different compression ratios of 8.5, 9.0, 9.4, 10.0, and 10.4. The biogas contained 60 and 40% methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2), respectively, while the hydrogen fractions used to enrich biogas were 10, 20, and 30% of the mixture by volume. The ignition timing is fixed at 350 CA°. The results indicate that the in-cylinder pressure, combustion temperature, and combustion burning speed increase gradually with increasing hydrogen concentration due to the combustion characteristics of hydrogen in blends. As increasing the compression ratio, NOx emissions increase proportionally, while CO2 emissions decrease gradually. Almost no combustion process occurs as operating the compression ratio below 8.5 when using pure biogas. However, adding 20% of hydrogen fraction could improve the combustion process significantly even at a low compression ratio.


This paper investigates an appropriate choice of anchor currency for a proposed Melanesian currency union under various hypothetical currency union arrangements. Drawing from the optimal currency area (OCA) theory and related extensions, the analysis focuses on the effects of a currency union on exchange rate volatility following similar approach by Scrimgeour (2002). Counterfactual exchange rate series are constructed for alternative scenarios for Melanesia with the following major trading partners: Australia, New Zealand, USA and Japan. The main findings showed that both short-term and cyclical exchange rate volatility are generally lower in a currency union with either Australia or New Zealand. However, the results vary under varying weights and currency baskets. Choosing a single common anchor currency based solely on exchange rate volatility may not be conclusive. Hence, further research is required, for example, in considering the effects of a currency union on volatility in output, inflation or interest rates.


Background A hallmark of the latter half of the 20th century is the widespread, rapid intensification of a variety of anthropogenically-driven environmental changes—a "Great Acceleration." While there is evidence of a Great Acceleration in a variety of factors known to be linked to water quality degradation, such as conversion of land to agriculture and intensification of fertilizer use, it is not known whether there has been a similar acceleration of freshwater eutrophication. Methodology/Principal Findings Using quantitative reconstructions of diatom-inferred total phosphorus (DI-TP) as a proxy for lake trophic state, we synthesized results from 67 paleolimnological studies from across Europe and North America to evaluate whether most lakes showed a pattern of eutrophication with time and whether this trend was accelerated after 1945 CE, indicative of a Great Acceleration. We found that European lakes have experienced widespread increases in DI-TP over the 20th century and that 33% of these lakes show patterns consistent with a post-1945 CE Great Acceleration. In North America, the proportion of lakes that increased in DI-TP over time is much lower and only 9% exhibited a Great Acceleration of eutrophication. Conclusions/Significance The longer and more widespread history of anthropogenic influence in Europe, the leading cause for the relatively pervasive freshwater eutrophication, provides an important cautionary tale; our current path of intensive agriculture around the world may lead to an acceleration of eutrophication in downstream lakes that could take centuries from which to recover.


Background: Promoting a good quality of life for the oldest members of society has become a top priority as evidenced in UK policy. The 'household' model is a departure from traditional approaches to care provision since it offers person-centred support - combining health and social care - to older people in specially-designed, small, homelike environments. Having gained increasing popularity in care homes across developed countries, the impact of this model of service delivery on residents' quality of life and its contribution to positive ageing is of increasing interest. Belong is a not-for-profit, UK care organisation currently operating several villages under the household model. The villages comprise independent living apartments (bought or rented) and residential/nursing care households offering 24 hours personalised, on-site care for residents. In each village there is a range of facilities open to the public (including a Bistro, hairdressers and gym facilities) and a domiciliary community service.
Methods: In this paper we present new data generated from qualitative interviews with a sample of household residents in the 'Fourth Age' and relatives across two villages in the North West of England, UK.
Results: We examine how the household model as operated at Belong facilitates the maintenance of autonomy and independence - which underpins positive ageing and quality of life in the fourth age - among residents.
Conclusion: We show how the household model contributes to positive ageing and quality of life as defined by residents.


Postoperative ileus (POI) is a postsurgical gastrointestinal motility dysfunction caused by mechanical stress to the intestine during abdominal surgery. POI leads to nausea and vomiting reduced patient quality of life, as well as high medical costs and extended hospitalization. Intestinal inflammation caused by macrophages and neutrophils is thought to be important in the mechanism of POI. Surgery-associated tissue injury and inflammation induce the release of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from injured cells. Released ATP binds the purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) expressed on inflammatory cells, inducing the secretion of inflammatory mediators. P2X7R antagonists are thought to be important mediators of the first step in the inflammation process, and studies in chemically induced colitis models confirmed that P2X7R antagonists exhibit anti-inflammatory effects. Therefore, we hypothesized that P2X7R plays an important role in POI. POI models were generated from C57BL/6J mice. Mice were treated with P2X7R antagonist A438079 (34 mg/kg) 30 min before and 2 hr after intestinal manipulation (IM). Inflammatory cell infiltration and gastrointestinal transit were measured. A438079 ameliorated macrophage and neutrophil infiltration in the POI model. Impaired intestinal transit improved following A438079 treatment. P2X7R was expressed on both infiltrating and resident macrophages in the inflamed ileal muscle layer. The P2X7R antagonist A438079 exhibits anti-inflammatory effects via P2X7R expressed on macrophages and therefore could be a target in the treatment of POI.


Near-surface water ice, either pure or mixed with regolith, forms a widespread suite of distinctive landforms in Mars' mid-latitudes. These landforms are in many cases sufficiently similar to cryospheric features on Earth to allow analogue-based comparisons to be made. However, our understanding of glacial processes in Mars' subpolar latitudes remains far from complete, and crucial fundamental issues remain unresolved. These include basic glaciological information such as the internal physical and thermal structure of martian ice masses, whether (and how) those ice masses move, and the nature of any mass-balance regime they are subject to. Addressing these issues is complicated by the fact that any current knowledge, being based overwhelmingly on the visual interpretation of remotely sensed images, is insufficient to determine the extent to which these landforms are currently active or relict. Addressing these issues would contribute not only to our understanding of Mars' current landscape but also to our knowledge of Mars' long-term climatic variability and to our awareness of where and in what form H2O exists on Mars – information that would be of value to future space missions. The aim of this review is to bring the state of knowledge regarding mid-latitude glaciation on Mars to the attention of the wider research community. As background, we provide an overview of the geological and planetary framework within which Mars' mid-latitude ice was deposited. We then define and describe the various ice-related landforms that have been identified within Mars' mid-latitudes, and we review the processes that have been proposed to explain the origin and physical characteristics of those landforms. Finally, we present what we consider to be key avenues for further research.


The analytical design and experimental test of a single-stage transonic axial-flow compressor are described. This design is the baseline of a compressor design study in which several blade design parameters have been systematically varied to determine their independent effects on compressor performance. The baseline design consisted of ruggedizing an existing compressor design, that demonstrated outstanding aerodynamic performance, to correct some undesirable aeromechanical characteristics. The design study was performed by varying only one design parameter at a time, keeping other design variables as close as possible to the baseline design. Specific design parameters of interest were those for which very little data was available to determine their sensitivity on compressor performance. This paper describes the baseline compressor design and its experimental performance. A detailed definition and flow analysis of the baseline design test point (used as the basis for all subsequent design variations) are provided.Copyright © 1992 by ASME


Human enteric viruses in water sources cause a great public health risk. Conventional disinfection treatments are not able to completely inactive viruses. However, advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have recently been shown to effectively inactivate pathogens. One of the most promising AOPs is the Fenton process. In the framework of this work, the main objective was to characterize the fate of viruses upon inactivation by homogeneous and heterogeneous Fenton and Fenton-like processes, as well as to elucidate the mechanisms governing virus inactivation by these processes. MS2 coliphage, a commonly used surrogate for human enteric viruses, was used as the model organism. Virus inactivation by homogeneous, Cu- or Fe-catalyzed Fenton(-like) reactions, were studied at neutral pH. The effect of the metal (1-10 µM) and H2O2 (3-50 µM) concentrations, HO• production and sunlight on virus inactivation was investigated. Virus inactivation followed first-order kinetic with respect to the H2O2 concentration for both treatments. The influence of the metal concentrations was more complex. For the Cu/H2O2 system, it was found that inactivation was governed by soluble Cu. In contrast, for the Fe/H2O2 system, the colloidal Fe was involved in inactivation rather than dissolved iron. Sunlight only affected the Fe/H2O2 system. HO• production rates measured by electron spin resonance (ESR), could not account for the observed inactivation in Fe/H2O2 system. Other oxidants, such as ferryl species, must therefore play a role. Overall, our results have shown that virus inactivation by Cu- and Fe- catalyzed Fenton reaction may serve as an efficient disinfection method. Virus inactivation by the heterogeneous Fenton process was carried out via iron(hydr-)oxide particles, such as hematite (α-Fe2O3), goethite (α-FeOOH), magnetite (Fe3O4) and amorphous iron (Fe(OH)3), in batch reactors at circumneutral pH. The influence of adsorption and sunlight exposure on the survival of MS2 was investigated. Both mass-based and surface-area normalized pseudo-second order adsorption rate constants followed the same trend of α-FeOOH > α-Fe2O3 > Fe3O4 ≈ Fe(OH)3. Virus adsorption onto all particles was only partly reversible. In addition to irreversible adsorption, adsorption to three of the particles studied (α-FeOOH, Fe3O4, Fe(OH)3) caused slight virus inactivation (85%, 77%, 97%, respectively). Exposure of particle-adsorbed viruses to sunlight and H2O2 resulted in efficient inactivation, whereas inactivation was negligible for suspended viruses. The observed first-order inactivation rate constants were 1.44×10-3, 1.09×10-3, 0,58, 1.48 min-1 for α-Fe2O3, α-FeOOH, Fe3O4 and Fe(OH)3, respectively. Our results showed that in the heterogeneous Fenton system, inactivation was mainly attributed to a particle-mediated photo-Fenton-like reaction. Finally, the extent of genome and protein damage of MS2 coliphage during inactivation by the homogeneous Cu/H2O2 and Fe/H2O2 /sunlight systems were studied. The results showed that both damage to the genome and the capsid protein may contribute on virus inactivation by both treatments. The patterns of damage were different, even though the same oxidant (HO•) was present in both systems, indicating the source of the oxidant is important. For the Cu system, the extent of genome damage was similar to that of inactivation, indicating that inactivation may occur via single-hit kinetics. In contrast, for the Fe system, genome damage was very extensive in comparison to inactivation, consistent with multi-hit inactivation kinetics. For both systems, the most susceptible region of the capsid protein was peptide segment 84-106, which is located on the capsid outer surface. The other regions of the protein are not likely to be involved in inactivation. Overall, our findings suggested that both genome and protein oxidation by Cu and Fe systems may play a role in inactivation, and that the determination of molecular-level mechanisms governing inactivation can be assessed by MALDI-TOF-MS and qPCR.


Recently, the application of nanotechnology in food sector and the agriculture attract the attention compared to its biomedical application. The aims of the current study were to synthesize and characterize cobalt ferrites nanoparticles [(CoFe2O4) NPs] by combustion method employing glycine as fuels and to evaluate their antimicrobial against pathogenic bacteria and fungi and anti cancer properties against MCF-7 breast cancer cells line. The results indicated that the particles size of the synthesized (CoFe2O4) NPs was 40 nm. These (CoFe2O4) NPs showed potential antibacterial properties against Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi) and Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus) as well as the pathogenic fungi (Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus ochraceus) in a dose dependent manner with maximum concentration of 1.8 mg/ml. (CoFe2O4) NPs also showed weak antiradical but have cytotoxic effects against MCF-7 breast cancer cells line and succeeded to decrease the cell viability at a concentration of 2 mg/ml. it could be concluded that (CoFe2O4) NPs is a promise candidate as antimicrobial and anticancer agent for food sector and medical application.


In this paper, we propose a dynamic and reliability- driven real-time fault-tolerant scheduling algorithm on heterogeneous distributed systems (DYFARS). Primary-backup copy scheme is leveraged by DYFARS to tolerate both hardware and software failures. Most importantly, DYFARS employs reliability costs as its main objective to dynamically schedule independent, non-preemptive aperiodic tasks, therefore system reliability is enhanced without additional hardware costs. A salient difference between our DYFARS and existing scheduling approaches is that DYFARS considers backup copies in both active and passive forms; therefore, DYFARS is more flexible than the existing scheduling schemes in the literature. Finally, simulation experiments are carried out to compare DYFARS with existing similar algorithm, experiment results show that DYFARS is superior to existing algorithm regarding both schedulability and reliability.


This paper seeks to identify and chart the global dimensions of the political conflict and civil war in Sri Lanka. The global dimensions are visualised in terms of the ways in which the dynamic of the conflict has been embedded within two parallel and closely inter-dependent trajectories relating to the global economy and global politics. The conflict, which has taken various forms since the inception of the separatist movement in the early 1970s, spans a number of distinct historical phases that straddle important external political, economic and cultural changes, including the end of the cold war, the rise of a global liberal economic order, and the effects of the emerging global "war on terrorism" – all of which are playing an important role in the dynamics of the conflict. In the face of the extended stalemate that has characterised the internal political and military dynamics of the conflict, this paper argues that the politics of the war/peace process can be better understood by situating them within these larger historical and global transformations.


International environmental accords have become important mechanisms by which nations make promises to administer natural resources and manage the global environment. Previous studies, relying mainly on single cases or small-n data sets, have shed light on the proximate political causes of participation in these agreements. However, no study has yet systematically explained the deeper social determinants of why nations sign, ignore or resist environmental treaties. We offer a theoretically-sequenced model that exploits complementarities between rational choice institutionalism and world-systems theory. Key variables posited by realists and constructivists are also examined, using a new environmental treaty participation index based on ratifications of 22 major environmental agreements by 192 nations. Cross-sectional OLS regression and path analysis strongly supports the institutionalist claim that credibilitythe willingness and ability to honor one's international environmental commit-mentsmatters. But these measures also lend considerable support to the world-systems hypothesis that state credibility is strongly influenced by a legacy of colonial incorporation into the world economy. Narrow export baseour proxy for disadvantaged position in the world-economydirectly and indirectly (through institutions and civil society strength) explains nearly six-tenths of national propensity to sign environmental treaties. A nation's natural capital, its ecological vulnerability, and international environmental NGO memberships had no explanatory power in the path analysis. Our results indicate that new theoretical, methodological and policy approaches are needed to address structural barriers to international cooperation.


Chemokine receptors on T cells are frequently categorized as functioning either in immune system homeostasis within lymphoid organs, or in peripheral inflammation. CXCR3 is in the latter category and is reported to be expressed selectively on Th1 cells. We found that CXCR3 was expressed in vivo on newly activated tonsillar CD4+ T cells. Using CD4+ T cells from cord blood, we found that CXCR3 was induced by cellular activation in vitro independently of the cytokine milieu, although on resting cells, expression was maintained preferentially on those that had been activated in type 1 conditions. In inflamed tonsils, CXCR3+CD4+ T cells were localized around and within germinal centers. The inference that CXCR3 has a role in germinal center reactions was supported by the finding that the CXCR3 ligand CXC chemokine ligand 9 was expressed in a pattern demarcating a subset of germinal centers both in tonsil and in lymph nodes from an HIV-infected individual. We next investigated the role of CXCR3 on peripheral effector/memory CD4+ T cells by comparing its pattern of expression with that of CCR5, another Th1-cell associated chemokine receptor. Analysis of cells directly from peripheral blood and after activation in vitro suggested that CXCR3 expression preceded that of CCR5, supporting a model of sequential induction of chemokine receptors during CD4+ T cell differentiation. Taken together, our data show that CXCR3 can be expressed at all stages of CD4+ T cell activation and differentiation, bridging central function in lymphoid organs and effector function in peripheral tissues.


come aware of the mathematical basis of methods used by physiologists, medical physicists, and other specialists. Statistical methods are widely used in situations where little is known on prior grounds about the relationships between variables, but a considerable amount of unexplained variability can be subsumed under the heading " random." We should expect that as more information becomes available about any branch of medical science random variation will play a less important part, and mathematical descriptions of the non-random phenomena will become more complex and more important. These two aspects of mathematical and statistical activity are called in the United States biostatistics and biomathems tics respectively. The present book is quite firmly about biomathematics. The author sets out to explain many of the basic ideas of mathematics, avoiding detailed elaboration and any attempt at comprehensiveness, and using a large number of short illustrations from medicine and biology. These are mainly physiological in nature, and a wider choice of illustrative material would have been welcome. The earlier chapters explain very effectively some really basic ideas, such as mathematical proof, the existence of a solution, and the nature of a mathematic model. The latter is,, in fact, the central theme running through the whole book. Later chapters become rather more arbitrary in content, and therefore less satisfying. The examples provide some vivid illustrations of the way in which physiological and other phenomena can be described mathematically, but I should have welcomed one or two much more extended discussions of the use to which such description is put; without this emphasis the reader might be inclined, quite wrongly, to regard the whole exercise as primarily aesthetic. The book is reliable on the whole, but the formulae on pages 226-7 are badly mangled.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of nodes that gather metrics like temperature, pollution or pressure from events generated by external entities. Localization in WSNs is paramount, given that the collected metrics must be related to the place of occurrence. This document presents an alternative way towards localization in randomly deployed WSNs based on the composability of localization protocols. Results show a totally distributed localization procedure that achieves a higher number of located nodes than the conventional, individual execution of localization protocols while maintaining the same low levels of battery consumption.


Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), has developed various mechanisms to survive and cause disease in the human host. Incomplete understanding of the complex microbe–host interactions has hindered the identification of suitable biomarkers to expedite the development of diagnostic tools, drugs and vaccines. The field effectiveness of directly observed therapy–short course has been compromised by the intrinsic limitations of sputum microscopy and suboptimal adherence to the long duration of treatment amid the HIV‐TB syndemic and various socioeconomic constraints. While molecular tools are transforming the diagnostic processes, especially for multi‐drug‐resistant (MDR)‐TB, drug development and service provision for MDR‐TB seriously lag behind. Inappropriate management of detected MDR‐TB cases may amplify drug resistance, jeopardizing future control. Targeted screening and treatment of latent infection with M. tuberculosis with the currently available immunodiagnostic tools and treatment regimens aim more for personal protection than major epidemiological impact or elimination. The interferon‐γ release assays (IGRA) are not affected by cross‐reaction to the bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine and are increasingly used for such screening before initiation of biologics for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune disorders. BCG offers only partial and unreliable protection against pulmonary TB in adults, the crucial transmission link for this airborne infection. Systems biology and vaccinomics may speed up vaccine research. The successful development of a fully effective TB vaccine that targets both growing bacteria and non‐growing persisters may reflect a major breakthrough, as natural infection does not induce sufficient immunity to prevent reinfection.


A preliminary survey of Bleaberry Gill, the main stream draining the mining area west of Langthwaite, Arkengarthdale, N. Yorks., gave information on its aqueous metal concentrations and those of associated tributaries. From this, sites were chosen for a more detailed survey of the water chemistry and fauna. Bleaberry Gill was polluted by barium and lead, and, to a lesser extent, zinc. The fauna was similar to that, of other 'unstable' upland streams. Low abundance or absence of some groups may have been due to metal pollution, but probably involved other physical and chemical factors. Metal concentrations in Baetis sp(p). were determined for a wide range of aqueous metal concentrations. Positive linear relationships were found between the barium concentration in Baetis sp(p). and 'total' water from all sites, and from Bleaberry Gill alone. No relationship was found between the concentration of zinc and lead in Baetis sp(p). and 'total' water. It was concluded that Baetis sp(p). are unsuitable for use in monitoring aqueous zinc and lead but may be of some use in monitoring barium. Gammarus pulex was transplanted from a low barium stream 'Mossy Thorn Gill' (0.33 - Q.43mg l(^-1) Ba) to a laboratory tank with 6mg 1(^-1) aqueous barium (with no change in other stream characteristics) and to 'Moor intake Gill', a stream with high aqueous barium (28mg 1(^-1) ). G. pulex took up barium to a concentration significantly above the initial concentration after 4 hours in 28mg 1(^-1) Ba and 36 hours in 6mg 1(^-1) Ba. An equilibrium was reached after three days, the concentration being higher in animals exposed to 28mg l(^-1). The rate of uptake appeared to be related to the aqueous barium concentration. It was concluded that G. pulex may be suitable for use in the detection of high aqueous barium pollution, or lower level contamination of more than one day duration.


Bearing failure is one of the foremost causes of breakdown in rotating machinery. To date, Envelope detection is always used to identify faults occurring at the Bearing Characteristic Frequencies (BCF). However, because the impact vibration generated by a bearing fault has relatively low energy, it is often overwhelmed by background noise and difficult to identify. Combined the results of extensive experiments performed in a series of bearings with artificial damage, this research investigates the effect of many influencing factors, such as demodulation methods, sampling frequency, variable machine speed and the signals collected in different directions, on the effectiveness of demodulation and the implications for bearing fault detection. By understanding these effects, a more skillful application of the envelope detection in condition monitoring and diagnosis is achieved.


Amniocentesis N/A Attempted – suboptimal access Yes – normal chromosomes Declined Yes – normal chromosomes Declined Yes – DiGeorge syndrome Outcome baby appeared normal transferred care to FMU TOP due to severe cardiac abnormalities baby appeared normal dysmorphic features at birth – duplication of long arm chromosome 2 and long arm chromosome 10 complete AVSD, neonatal cardiac failure, transferred to tertiary unit for baby's condition TOP


Centralized RAN processing has been identified as one of the major enablers for 5G mobile network access. By moving the baseband units (BBU) to the Cloud, multiple instances can be instantiated on the fly, serving several Remote Radio Head (RRH) units. The goal is to satisfy the existing demand of particular geographical areas, whereas drastically reducing the overall CAPEX and OPEX costs of the mobile operators. In this work, we present an experimental study of real Cloud-RAN deployments, with respect to different functional splits. We use as a reference architecture the 3GPP LTE stack, and argue about the functional split applicability in contemporary networks. We evaluate Layer 2 functional splits, that can be used for the convergence of multiple heterogeneous wireless technologies in an all-in-one unit. By deploying our approach in a real testbed setup, we extract the backhaul network transfer requirements for the different splits and present our experimental findings, compared with the respective simulation results.


Purpose of reviewOver recent years the digitalization, collection and storage of vast quantities of data, in combination with advances in data science, has opened up a new era of big data. In this review, we define big data, identify examples of critical care research using big data, discuss the limitations and ethical concerns of using these large datasets and finally consider scope for future research. Recent findingsBig data refers to datasets whose size, complexity and dynamic nature are beyond the scope of traditional data collection and analysis methods. The potential benefits to critical care are significant, with faster progress in improving health and better value for money. Although not replacing clinical trials, big data can improve their design and advance the field of precision medicine. However, there are limitations to analysing big data using observational methods. In addition, there are ethical concerns regarding maintaining confidentiality of patients who contribute to these datasets. SummaryBig data have the potential to improve medical care and reduce costs, both by individualizing medicine, and bringing together multiple sources of data about individual patients. As big data become increasingly mainstream, it will be important to maintain public confidence by safeguarding data security, governance and confidentiality.


Forest is unvaluable resourses which there in have biodiversity as germplas resources, forest product such as wood and non-wood, regulator of the water system, preventing flooding and erosion. Disruption of forest resources is still continues, even it's increasing in a year to year. That damage caused by forest fires is one part of disruption are becoming more frequent. The negative impact caused by large fires is large enough to covering ecological damage, reduced biodiversity, reduced the economic value of forest and soil productivity, and also global climate change. This studyaims to determine the development of natural succession after fires at secondary forest.


Penile erection is understood to be a neurally regulated physiologic event, although the underlying mechanisms have eluded characterization for more than a century. The classical autonomic parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems are involved, but the process of erection does not appear to require cholinergic or adrenergic mechanisms. As the search for the principal mediator of penile erection has continued over time, nitric oxide (NO), a gaseous messenger molecule, has been rapidly advanced to fulfill this elusive role. In the recent past, various biochemical and functional data have accumulated to support this understanding. These have shown that NO is an important mediator of corpus cavernosal smooth muscle relaxation and have revealed its potential sources and mechanisms of action in the penis. Additional work involving animal erection models has established that NO mediates physiologic penile erection. This minireview presents these data and includes results from recent clinical trials that have preliminarily evaluated the efficacy of NO-generating or -releasing compounds for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.


This paper revisits the currency crises model of Aghion, Bacchetta and Banerjeee (2000, 2001, 2004), who show that if there exist nominal price rigidities and private sector credit constraints, and the credit multiplier depends on real interest rates, then the optimal monetary policy response to the threat of a currency crisis is restrictive. We demonstrate that this result is primarily due to the uncovered interest parity assumption. Assuming that the exchange rate is a martingale restores the case for expansionary reaction — even with foreign-currency debt in firms' balance sheets. The effect of lower interest rates on output can help restore the value of the currency due to increased money demand..


By using the finite displacements theory, this paper establishes relations of dependency between the initial and the final positions of the car batteries and the geometric and design parameters of the robot. For this, the structural kinematic scheme of the robot was used to apply gradually this theory, from the end-effector to the base of the robot. To utilize the finite displacements theory is necessary to register the two positions of the manipulated object in the same reference system. This thing can be done by using matrix relations which transforms the coordinates of the points from one system to another. These relations, along with specific relations from the finite displacements theory, lead to a matriceal algorithm suitable for computer implementation. The numerical application presented in this paper shows the final position of the car battery on the stock pallet, if the geometric parameters, the design parameters and the initial position of the battery are given.


A novel conceptualization of depression, analyzed in a developmental frame of reference, is based on three major postulates: 1) the distinction between an anaclitic type of depression, triggered by the traumatic loss of a need-satisfying object, and depression of a reflexive (narcissistic) type, caused by the loss of a recognizing/mirroring object; 2) in principle, anaclitic object loss involves reflexive implications and vice versa; 3) very early breaks of object relationships, at the first symbiotic stage of life, are pre-narcissistic by nature. These three assumptions form the basis for a systematic juxtaposition of two developmental lines--one line from first-stage symbiosis to anaclitic object relations, and the second line--from second-stage symbiosis to reflexive object relations. Even though the two lines are closely intertwined, corresponding distinct forms of depressive reactions can be discerned in each line, according to the type of the lost object relationship.


Background and objective: Coaching contributes to the understanding and application of knowledge in nursing practice. This study aims to examine the implementation of a research coach to enhance evidence-based practice integration in undergraduate nursing.Methods: Design: This study used a quasi-experimental non-equivalent post-test-only design. Settings and participants: Forty second-year undergraduate nursing students were invited to participate in the study at a public university in 2019. Methods: The evidence-based practice (EBP) questionnaire was used, and the primary outcomes were attitudes, skills, and capabilities of EBP. The undergraduate students worked with a third-year level research coach to engage in evidence-based nursing using clinical case studies. Results: The findings expressed the students' readiness to capture, select, and organize their critical thinking skills through case studies and online discussion. Students perceived that they needed versatile skills in the interpretation and application of evidence-based nursing.Conclusions: A research coach played an essential role for novice student nurses in improving decision-making skills and transition to practice in this setting. The research coach model enables critical thinking and problem-solving skills through interaction and case studies.


Examines the performance characteristics of the industrial communications network via an experimental model of a manufacturing automation system. In the study presented in this article, an experimental model of a Profibus-based manufacturing automation system was developed. The experimental model consisted of two robots, two conveyor belts, a PLC, an NC machine, and an operator station. Using the experimental model, this study evaluated the delay characteristics of a message transmitted through the fieldbus message specification (FMS) services. FMS is the application layer protocol of Profibus and Foundation Fieldbus. The message delay was measured at each sublayer of the Profibus protocol stack. In this article, after an overview of progress in industrial communication networks and a brief introduction to Profibus and the FMS, the experimental model of the Profibus-based manufacturing automation system developed in this study is presented, and the FMS service delay characteristics obtained from the experimental model are discussed.


This thesis traces the development of the main-stream of Further Education in Newport from the commencement of the Mechanics' Institute in 1841 to the opening of the Newport and Monmouthshire College of Technology in 1958. When this joint college was opened, all advanced work was transferred from the Newport College of Further Education, so that 1958 is a natural break in the history of Further Education in the town.

The only other major work on Further Education confined to Newport itself is "The Development of Technical Education in Newport, 1841-1904" by John Brace (M.Ed. Thesis, University of Wales, 1977). The present thesis examines this period in much greater depth, corrects several errors which (2) have occurred in Brace's work, and extends the study until 1938.

Thomas Evans, in his thesis, "The Mechanics' Institutes of South Wales" (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Sheffield, 1963) does consider the Mechanics' Institute in Newport, but not to the depth of this work, nor does he trace its history over the full period of its existence. He has also drawn conclusions which this work has been unable to substantiate.

The aim of this thesis is to find out how and why the development took place in the way it did, to record the highlights and investigate the failures. It also seeks to compare and contrast this development with the national picture wherever possible, and with the patterns in other towns. In some of these towns, some of the same size as Newport, or even smaller, the Mechanics' Institutes and Technical Institutes developed into universities or polytechnics. This thesis will try to show why Newport does not have such an institute.

The first chapter follows the history of the Mechanics' Institute from its start in May 1841 to 1870 when the Newport Free Library came into existence. It is the story of rises and falls in activity, following the pattern of Mechanics ' Institutes in general.

The second chapter deals with the School of Art and Science under the Free Library Committee from 187O to 1891, considering the steady advance of the educational work.

1891 saw Further Education come more directly under the control of the Town Council. The third chapter deals with the work of the Newport Technical Institute. This work was hindered by personality clashes, political differences, and lack of proper accommodation until 191O when a new building was provided at Clarence Place. The formal division of the work into Art and Technical sections and the development of the latter under Mr. J. Stewart are also considered.

Chapter four covers the period from I9IO to 1933. The rapid expansion of work in the new building until the outbreak of war, the brief principalship of Dr. R. Holland, his work and plans, and the period under Mr. G. Bennett, when circumstances caused a stagnation in the work of Further Education in the town, are all considered in this chapter.

The fifth chapter traces the beginning of the revival of the work under Mr. A. Webb, followed by the consolidation under the firm leadership of Mr. F.W.R. Harrison until 1958.

The final short chapter reviews the whole period and draws conclusions from the material presented.


We report on the F incorporation into Si during solid-phase epitaxy (SPE) at 580°C and with the presence of B and∕or As, clarifying the F incorporation mechanism into Si. A strong segregation of F at the moving amorphous–crystalline interface has been characterized, leading to a SPE rate retardation and to a significant loss of F atoms through the surface. In B- or As-doped samples, an enhanced, local F incorporation is observed, whereas in the case of B and As co-implantation (leading to compensating dopant effect), a much lower F incorporation is achieved at the dopant peak. The F enhanced incorporation with the presence of B or As is shown to be a kinetic effect related to the SPE rate modification by doping, whereas the hypothesis of a F–B or F–As chemical bonding is refused. These results shed new light on the application of F in the fabrication of ultrashallow junctions in future generation devices.


We consider precoder design for maximizing the weighted sum rate (WSR) of successive zero-forcing dirty paper coding (SZF-DPC). For this problem, the existing precoder designs often assume a sum power constraint (SPC) and rely on the singular value decomposition (SVD). The SVD-based designs are known to be optimal but require high complexity. We first propose a low-complexity optimal precoder design for SZF-DPC under SPC, using the QR decomposition. Then, we propose an efficient numerical algorithm to find the optimal precoders subject to per-antenna power constraints (PAPCs). To this end, the precoder design for PAPCs is formulated as an optimization problem with a rank constraint on the covariance matrices. A well-known approach to solve this problem is to relax the rank constraints and solve the relaxed problem. Interestingly, for SZF-DPC, we are able to prove that the rank relaxation is tight. Consequently, the optimal precoder design for PAPCs is computed by solving the relaxed problem, for which we propose a customized interior-point method that exhibits a superlinear convergence rate. Two suboptimal precoder designs are also presented and compared to the optimal ones. We also show that the proposed numerical method is applicable for finding the optimal precoders for block diagonalization scheme.


Masked image modeling (MIM) performs strongly in pretraining large vision Transformers (ViTs). However, small models that are critical for real-world applications can-not or only marginally benefit from this pre-training approach. In this paper, we explore distillation techniques to transfer the success of large MIM-based pre-trained models to smaller ones. We systematically study different options in the distillation framework, including distilling targets, losses, input, network regularization, sequential distillation, etc, revealing that: 1) Distilling token relations is more effective than CLS token- and feature-based distillation; 2) An intermediate layer of the teacher network as target perform better than that using the last layer when the depth of the student mismatches that of the teacher; 3) Weak regularization is preferred; etc. With these findings, we achieve significant fine-tuning accuracy improvements over the scratch MIM pre-training on ImageNet-1K classification, using all the ViT-Tiny, ViT-Small, and ViT-base models, with +4.2%/+2.4%/+1.4% gains, respectively. Our TinyMIM model of base size achieves 52.2 mIoU in AE20K semantic segmentation, which is +4.1 higher than the MAE baseline. Our TinyMIM model of tiny size achieves 79.6% top-1 accuracy on ImageNet-1K image classification, which sets a new record for small vision models of the same size and computation budget. This strong performance suggests an alternative way for developing small vision Transformer models, that is, by exploring better training methods rather than introducing inductive biases into architectures as in most previous works. Code is available at https://github.com/OliverRensu/TinyMIM.


Planetary surface compositions are fundamental to an understanding of both the interior activity through differentiation processes and volcanic activity and the external evolution through alteration processes and accumulations of volatiles. While the Moon has been studied since early on using ground-based instruments and returned samples, observing the surface composition of the terrestrial planets did not become practical until after the development of orbital and in situ missions with instruments tracking mineralogical and elemental variations. The poorly evolved, atmosphere-free bodies like the Moon and Mercury enable the study of the formation of the most primitive crusts, through processes such as the crystallization of a magma ocean, and their volcanic evolution. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown more diversity than initially expected, including the presence of ice in high latitude regions. Because of its heavy atmosphere, Venus remains the most difficult planetary body to study and the most poorly known in regards to its composition, triggering some interest for future missions. In contrast, Mars exploration has generated a huge amount of data in the last two decades, revealing a planet with a mineralogical diversity close to that of the Earth. While Mars crust is dominated by basaltic material, recent studies concluded for significant contributions of more felsic and alkali-rich igneous material, especially in the ancient highlands. These ancient terrains also display widespread outcrops of hydrous minerals, especially phyllosilicates, which are key in the understanding of past climate conditions and suggest a volatile-rich early evolution with implications for exobiology. Recent terrains exhibit a cryosphere with ice-rich landforms at, or close to the surface, of mid- and high latitudes, generating a strong interest for recent climatic variability and resources for future manned missions. While Mars is certainly the planetary body the most similar to Earth, the observation of specific processes such as those linked to interactions with solar wind on atmosphere-free bodies, or with a thick acidic atmosphere on Venus, improve our understanding of the differences in evolution of terrestrial bodies. Future exploration is still necessary to increase humankind's knowledge and further build a global picture of the formation and evolution of planetary surfaces.


Weight changes during pharmacological treatment are a well-known phenomenon and they have been an object of research since the 1950's. Weight gain occurs during treatment with drugs of different chemical structures and is an important problem when patients are treated with antidepressants, antipsychotics, or mood stabilizers. The clinical relevance of drug-induced weight changes is due to increased rates of morbidity and reduced treatment compliance. Regarding the underlying causes, the important role of neurotransmitter systems and in particular the blockade of serotonin and histamine receptors has been discussed since decades. Only recently, however, research has been started on the effects of psychotropic agents on major neuroendocrine systems involved in appetite and weight regulation. These studies suggest that the fat-cell derived hormone leptin might play an important role. Leptin signals to the brain the size of the adipose tissue and is probably the most important peripheral signal for the long-term regulation of weight. In addition to the neuroendocrine systems, weight gain induced by psychotropic agents might also involve immune modulators, in particular the proinflammatory cytokine tumor-necrosis-factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and soluble TNF-receptors. Some psychotropic agents influence the TNF system very rapidly, already prior to any obvious increases in weight. Hence, changes in the TNF-alpha system might be of predictive value for drug-induced weight gain. Strategies to minimize or to counteract weight gain induced by psychotropic agents include psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches. Although numerous psychotherapeutic approaches are available, they are only of limited usefulness in severely ill psychiatric patients. Fortunately, a number of promising pharmacological approaches to reduce weight have been introduced into clinical practice during the last years; however, so far there is no knowledge on pharmacodynamic and -kinetic interactions with psychotropic drugs, and there is no clinical data on the usefulness and safety of such drug combinations.


We develop principles that facilitate socially inclusive design-oriented research with marginalized groups. Building on the recognition that the research process must be informed by theoretical perspectives about social inclusion, our effort begins with an empirical investigation of a multiyear research project that designed several IT-based solutions for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We treat the efforts to design each solution as a "case," capture primary data from multiple sources, and analyze it in light of three facets of social inclusion drawn from prior work: self-determination, belongingness, and social capital. The findings are interpreted to derive five principles for a socially inclusive design-oriented research process: (1) respecting multiperspective problem ownership and integrated solution design, (2) surfacing emic contributions to guide artifact design, (3) leveraging the support network to shape artifact design and refine research conduct, (4) customizing design-evaluate cycles with inclusive practices, and (5) pursuing authenticity in research collaborations. We elaborate each principle with connections to different facets of social inclusion, guidelines suggested by our empirical investigation, and a mapping against contemporary design-oriented research approaches. The five principles suggest key directions to facilitate a socially inclusive design-oriented research process when working with marginalized groups. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for IS scholars, and pointers for using design-oriented approaches for greater social inclusion of marginalized populations.


Background: The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and myeloproliferative disorders (MPD) are rare in childhood, accounting for about 3% of childhood malignancies. It is helpful to consider these syndromes as part of a continuum with the myelodysplastic syndromes on one end and the myeloproliferative syndromes on the other, with a group of "bridging" syndromes in between.
Aim of the study: To study the epidemiological and clinical features of Myeloproliferative disorders in Children Welfare Teaching Hospital (CWTH), Medical City, Baghdad.
Patients and Methods: A retrospective study was done over 10-year period, between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2009. Fifty consecutive pediatric patients below the age of 14 years with newly diagnosed MPS treated and followed at the oncology unit of CWTH were studied. A review study was done for these patients, including all available medical records including laboratory data. The diagnosis of MPD was suggested by bone marrow aspirate and/or peripheral blood film. WHO morphological classification was carried out in most of the patients.
Results and Discussion: The analyzed group represents about 3.7% of all leukemias treated in the hospital during the study period. There were 31 patients met the criteria of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), 15 with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMM) and 4 with MDS. Male to female ratio of 1.2:1, 1.5:1 for CML & JMML respectively while in MDS all were males. Five (10%) patients refused any sort of treatment, nine patients (18%) were referred to other centers (2 for palliative treatment, 5 to receive treatment from their governorates as recommended by MOH and other two patients went abroad for Bone Marrow Transplant), 17 (34%) patients lost follow up, 15 (30%) patients died and 4 (8%) are alive in remission on treatment. Conclusion: High percentage of accelerated and blastic crisis of CML might reflect delay in diagnosis or aggressive behavior of the disease.


As with most agricultural products in world trade, trade in meat products is restricted by a variety of non-tariff barriers in different countries. In the case of New Zealand meat products there are quota restrictions in the USA, Canada, and EU markets and hygiene regulations of varying standards in most markets. The building of demand models for such products is fraught with difficulties associated with such restrictions as well as problems of specification and error distribution. Gravity models of traded goods offer a possible methodology for handling these difficulties. This paper sets out a combined cross-section and time series model of the New Zealand meat trade for the period 1994-2003 including the impact of quotas and the adoption of mandatory meat hygiene regulations to trade.


The paper presents a precise analysis of the stress‐strain behaviour due to creep in statically determinate composite steel‐concrete beam according to numerical method in comparison with EM method of Dischinger. The analysis is based on the results obtained by numerical solution with Volterra integral equations, derived for determining the redistribution of stresses in beam section between concrete plate and steel beam with respect to time "t". The creep law of concrete, according EC2 provisions is used. On the basis of the theory of the viscoelastic body of Arutyunian– Trost‐Bažant it is analyzed the migration of stresses from concrete plate to steel beam using two independent Volterra integral equations of the second kind. The duration of the course of study was adopted 100 years. Developed method will allow soon be confronted methods for calculating the composite beams according to EC4 considering rheology of concrete, based on the reduced elastic modulus of concrete.


We study Monte Carlo simulation in some recent versions of random coefficient logit models that contain large sums of expressions involving multivariate integrals. Such large sums occur in the random coefficient logit with demographic characteristics, the random coefficient logit with limited consumer information and the design of choice experiments for the panel mixed logit. We show that certain quasi-Monte Carlo methods, that is, so-called (t,m, s)-nets, provide improved performance over pseudo-Monte Carlo methods in terms of bias, standard deviation and root mean squared error.


The article deals with the legal transformations of the cultural sector starting from the administrative decentralization introduced in Italy by the Constitutional reform of the Title V, to the introduction of additional services in the public museums in the mid-1990s, to the most recent reforms made by the Minister Franceschini about the museums administrative autonomy and the introduction of the Unique Superintendency. Bringing back the thought of Paolo Leon, the article critically discusses the historical evolution of these transformations, the complexity produced by the opposition of the ministerial bureaucracy and the academy, the inability of the Regional Administrations and the Local Authorities to seize the opportunities produced by the reforms.


This paper considers the jointly optimal rate and power allocation that maximizes a utility function of average rates in OFDMA multiple access and broadcast channels. Derived under the assumption that superposition coding is allowed per subcarrier, our low-complexity (yet capacity-achieving) resource allocation scheme can yield higher achievable rates than the existing approaches based on exclusive subcarrier assignment. In addition, relying on the stochastic optimization tools, we develop a class of stochastic gradient iterations that are capable of converging to the optimal benchmarks without the knowledge of fading channel cdf a priori.


The paper aims to provide a more accurate analysis of a magnetostrictive energy harvesting device by proposing a FEM model which, assuming a realistic nonlinear characteristic of the material, is able to describe the harvesting phenomena in presence of the eddy currents induced by the Villari effect. The study is focused on the investigation of the influence of those parameters, such as pre-stress and bias, on the field dynamics and, consequently, on the eddy currents loss phenomena which cannot be disregarded if a reliable prediction of the global performances of these devices is required. The numerical results are computed by considering a compressive stress-driven vibration source and show spatial profiles of the fields, losses, and recovered powers in different operating conditions. Comparisons with the linear model are also provided.


45 Background: Intravenous tPA was approved as a treatment for acute ischemic stroke in 1996. One potential barrier to increased use of tPA has been lack of experience and training among neurologists. To date, there has been no formal assessment of neurology residents' experience with tPA during their training. Methods: A 12 item survey was sent in March 2000 to all graduating neurology residents as identified by AMA-GME files. Follow-up surveys were sent in April and May to non-responders. Survey items established residents' experience and confidence with assessment of the acute stroke patient and use of tPA. Responses were assessed using a 5 point Likert scale. Presence of a dedicated stroke team, ongoing stroke clinical trials, and post-residency career plans were also assessed. Results: Of 398 graduating residents for whom addresses were available, 287 (72%) responded. 80% of respondents had personally treated a patient with tPA; 33% had done so without direct faculty supervision. 12% had neither treated nor observed a patient being treated with tPA. 89% had cared for an acute stroke patient in the first hours after administration of tPA. 73% felt comfortable independently treating acute stroke patients with tPA. 65% of residents had formal NIHSS training. Nearly all residents felt confident in their ability to identify hemorrhage (99%) and early infarct signs (94%) on CT. Residents whose institutions had a stroke team were more likely to have provided post-tPA care (93% vs 71%, p Conclusion: One fifth of graduating neurology residents had never personally treated an acute stroke patient with tPA; one in ten had never seen tPA administered. One quarter did not feel comfortable independently treating with tPA. Experience with current treatment for acute stroke should be considered an essential part of neurology residency training. Stroke teams may be helpful in accomplishing this goal.


Objective: As glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists lower blood pressure (BP) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we examined BP control in relation to targets set by international bodies prior to randomization in the Liraglutide Effect and Action in Diabetes: Evaluation of cardiovascular outcome Results (LEADER) trial. Methods: We analyzed baseline data from LEADER (NCT01179048), an ongoing phase 3B, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled cardiovascular outcomes trial examining the cardiovascular safety of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist liraglutide in 9340 people with T2DM from 32 countries [age (all mean ± SD) 64 ± 7.2 years, BMI 32.5 ± 6.3 kg/m2, duration of diabetes 12.7 ± 8.0 years], all of whom were at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Results: A total of 81% (n = 7592) of participants had prior CVD and 90% (n = 8408) had a prior history of hypertension. Despite prescription of multiple antihypertensive agents at baseline, only 51% were treated to a target BP of less than 140/85 mmHg and only 26% to the recommended baseline BP target of less than 130/80 mmHg. In univariate analyses, those with prior CVD were prescribed more agents (P < 0.001) and had lower BP than those without (137 ± 18.8/78 ± 10.6 mmHg versus 140 ± 17.7/80 ± 9.9 mmHg; P < 0.001). In logistic regression analyses, residency in North America (64% treated to <140/85 mmHg; 38% treated to <130/80 mmHg) was the strongest predictor of BP control. Conclusion: These contemporary data confirm that BP remains insufficiently controlled in a large proportion of individuals with T2DM at high cardiovascular risk, particularly outside North America. Longitudinal data from the LEADER trial may provide further insights into BP control in relation to cardiovascular outcomes in this condition.


The aim of the study is detection of the recurrences and metastases of colorectal carcinomas using 111-In labelled antibodies B72.3 in 14 patients. With tomography, we can access better distinction of tumour in comparison to other structures and estimation of its size. Other imaging methods (CT,US) have advantage in detection of liver metastases, while immunoscintigraphy is more specific for the assessment of malignant abdominal tumours and extrahepatic metastases. The first results point out that Oncoscint CR-103 can be useful in diagnosis of recurrences and metastases of colorectal carcinoma, viability assessment after radiotherapy and in the choice of the adequate surgical treatment in dependence of the spread of the disease.