P78

 Introduction.
 NXY-059 (disodium 4-[(tert-butylimino)methyl] benzene-1,3-disulfonate N-oxide) is a nitrone with free radical trapping properties and is being developed for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke. NXY-059 possesses proven neuroprotective efficacy in rat transient models of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) (J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 1999;19:778–87), however its efficacy in permanent models of focal cerebral ischemia has not been as extensively tested. In the present study we have examined the efficacy of NXY-059 at three doses and further examined the therapeutic window of the mid-range dose.
 Methods.
 Adult male Wistar rats (300–330g) were given a unilateral permanent MCAo using an intraluminal suture technique. To assess efficacy of three doses of NXY-059, vehicle or NXY-059 (30, 50 or 70 mg/kg/h) was infused using minipumps for 24 hours. Dosing began 5 minutes after the MCAo with a bolus injection of vehicle or NXY-059 (30, 50 or 70 mg/kg). To assess the therapeutic window, treatment with 50 mg/kg (loading dose) and 50 mg/kg/h (over 24 hours) NXY-059 was commenced at 5, 30, 60, 120 and 240 minutes after MCAo. For both assessments, brains were removed 24 hours after commencing treatment and volume of damage was calculated from 5 x 2mm sections stained with triphenyl tetrazolium chloride.
 Results.
 NXY-059 (30, 50 and 70 mg/kg/h) reduced the volume of damage by 23%, 57% and 81% respectively (p<0.05). Treatment with NXY-059 (50 mg/kg/h) beginning at 5, 30, 60, 120 and 240 minutes after permanent MCAo reduced the volumes of damage by 52%, 45%, 50%, 43% and 35% respectively (p<0.05).
 Conclusions.
 In rats given a permanent MCA occlusion, NXY-059 at doses of 30–70 mg/kg/h given for 24 hours significantly (p<0.05) reduced the volume of cerebral damage, and significant protection was seen when treatment was delayed for as long as 4 hours after permanent MCAo.


Russian cities currently feel the utmost need both for improving the affordability of housing and upgrading the quality and enhancing the beautification of the urban environment, developing public spaces, expanding the diversity of forms of housing tenure for different categories of citizen. Implementation of the housing policy objectives necessitates a considerable update of urban planning policy which is currently characterized by minimum urban planning regulations and inadequate enforcement of those in place. Urban development regulation and land use system remains a source of 'administrative rent' and appears to be unable to ensure a transparent legal framework for investors and developers, which is replaced by high administrative barriers. The paper reviews the current state of housing and urban planning policies in Russia, the practice of reconciling the goals, objectives and instruments of the foregoing policies. Housing and urban planning policies both at federal and local levels are described and case studies of inconsistencies in implementation of housing and urban planning policies in Russian cities are analyzed. The paper also sets forth the proposals on how to streamline housing and urban planning policies with a view to improving the affordability of housing and upgrading the quality of urban environment


This paper presents results of a managerial information system prototype developed for modern agriculturalists in the Brazilian Cerrado´s Region. It follows a case study approach. One medium scale (422 hectares) of operation was envisioned, archetypical accounting framework was established, aiming to provide better data and information to support farm management decisions. The system has proved to be useful in examining decision making at farm level and in ex ante evaluations of changes in farm-level input use, output and profitability in response to price, policy, and/or technology changes. Data entry was done in ACCESS for user friendliness and global availability; presentational materials were prepared in ACCESS and in EXCEL.


The goal of the paper is to analyse the subset of Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Business Rules (SBVR) for a comprehensive representation of ontological knowledge defined using the Web Ontology Language OWL 2. SBVR is the OMG metamodel, which separates the representation and meaning of business concepts and business rules, and makes them understandable for business experts as well as for software systems. The SBVR can act as an interface between business participants and semantic technologies, such as OWL 2 that has developed means for describing ontological data and reasoning with them. SBVR provides the richer model for knowledge representation than OWL 2. Though there are a few proposals that have shown that it is possible to transform the significant subset of SBVR concepts into OWL 2 ontology, the suitability of SBVR to represent OWL 2 ontologies has not been studied in detail. The paper addresses the mentioned issue with regards to the transformation from SBVR into OWL 2. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.itc.43.3.6651


Measuring and controlling the electron beam optics is an important ingredient to guarantee high performance of a free-electron laser. In the FERMI linac, the CourantSnyder parameters and the transverse emittances are routinely measured by detecting the beam spot size as a function of a scanning quadrupole placed upstream (i.e. quadrupole scan method). The beam spot size is usually measured with an OTR screen that unfortunately suffers from coherent optical transition radiation (C-OTR) that introduces spurious light and corrupts the image. Moreover, the beam size at the end of the FERMI linac is focused to a few tens of microns and this makes it difficult to precisely measure it with the OTR system, which has an estimated resolution of 20 m. For this reason, a wire-scanner system has been installed at the end of the linac just in the waist of the optics channel. The wire-scanner is a SwissFEL prototype (Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen CH) installed in FERMI in order to study the hardware and beam loss monitor performances at the GeV energy scale. The beam optics measurements performed with the wire-scanner is here presented, and the obtained results are more in agreement with the theoretical expectations. A more reliable beam optics estimation at the end of the linac has allowed better matching it to the nominal lattice and transporting it up to the undulator chain, providing important benefits to the FEL performance.


Abstract The use of pervious concrete to minimize the effects caused by the impermeability of the soil as a result of increasing urbanization is an alternative that still requires further studies regarding its design and implementation. From this perspective, this paper presents a study of the characteristics of pervious concrete, including its tensile strength, compressive strength, flexural strength and the permeability coefficient, through the development of various mixtures to adjust the characteristics of the local aggregates. Eight mixtures were studied based on a reference mixture, five of which were related to the pervious concrete with the addition of finer aggregates than the reference mixture without these aggregates. Subsequently, three mixtures were studied with the inclusion of polypropylene fibers in order to analyze the effects of the addition of fibers on the properties of the pervious concrete. It is concluded that the presence of fibers changed the characteristics of the concrete, increasing its strengths while achieving a good permeability in its mixtures. An improvement in the flexural strength of the pervious concrete was observed, which is the main property to be considered for its use in pavements, without harming the permeability, which raises the possibility for its application.


Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a chronic condition with a high disease burden worldwide, and individuals with T2DM often have other morbidities. Understanding the local multimorbidity profile of patients with T2DM will inform precision medicine and public health, so that tailored interventions can be offered according to the different profiles. Methods: An analysis was conducted of electronic health records (2016–2021) in one hospital in Lima, Peru. Based on ICD-10 codes and the available measurements (e.g., body mass index), we identified all T2DM cases and quantified the frequency of the most common comorbidities (those in ≥1% of the sample). We also conducted k-means analysis that was informed by the most frequent comorbidities, to identify clusters of patients with T2DM and other chronic conditions. Results: There were 9582 individual records with T2DM (mean age 58.6 years, 61.5% women). The most frequent chronic conditions were obesity (29.4%), hypertension (18.8%), dyslipidemia (11.3%), hypothyroidism (6.4%), and arthropathy (3.6%); and 51.6% had multimorbidity: 32.8% had only one, 14.1% had two, and 4.7% had three or more extra chronic conditions in addition to T2DM. The cluster analysis revealed four unique groups: T2DM with no other chronic disease, T2DM with obesity only, T2DM with hypertension but without obesity, and T2DM with all other chronic conditions. Conclusions: More than one in two people with T2DM had multimorbidity. Obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia were the most common chronic conditions that were associated with T2DM. Four clusters of chronic morbidities were found, signaling mutually exclusive profiles of patients with T2DM according to their multimorbidity profile.


Aims We examined whether intima–media thickness of the common carotid artery, carotid bifurcation, internal carotid artery and the combined measure are predictive of future myocardial infarction and which of the measurements has the strongest predictive value. Methods and Results We used a case–cohort approach in the Rotterdam Study. Ultrasound images of the common carotid artery, carotid bifurcation and the internal carotid artery were made. We selected the first 194 myocardial infarctions in the total population (mean follow-up 4·6 years). Analyses were done using Cox regression with adjustment for age and sex. The risk ratios (RR) for myocardial infarction associated with mean maximum common carotid, bifurcation, internal carotid intima-media thickness and the combined measurements were 3·18 (95% confidence interval, 1·83–5·54), 4·11 (2·10–8·05), 5·31 (1·77– 15·9) and 6·27 (3·27–12·0), respectively, for the highest compared to the lowest quartile. The RRs for myocardial infarction per standard deviation increase of common carotid, bifurcation, internal carotid artery and combined intima-media thickness were 1·44 (1·28–1·62), 1·34 (1·17– 1·53), 1·12 (0·94–1·33) and 1·47 (1·31–1·65), respectively. The areas under the ROC curves for the three measurements and the combined measure were not significantly different. Conclusions Increased carotid intima-media thickness is a strong predictor of future myocardial infarction and all measurement sites have the same ability to predict future myocardial infarction.


The amount of water (SW) and oil (SO) separated from model emulsions and emulsion stability (ES) of these emulsions prepared from corn oil and of fluid whey, total muscle protein (TMP), whey + TMP and sarcoplasmic protein (SP) were examined. The SW value of whey + TMP emulsions was lower (26,33%) than that of TMP (31,33%), SP (39,0%) practically the same as that of whey only. However, the SO value of whey emulsions was higher (9,40%) than that of muscle protein emulsions (0,0%). It was found that there was no oil separation in whey + TMP emulsions. Whey proteins had the lowest ES (64,6 ± 0,96) among the proteins studied. Nevertheless, whey + TMP emulsions had the highest ES (73,67 < 0,58).


Vacuum packaging is very important for some micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices to perform their basic functions properly and to enhance their reliability by keeping these devices away from harmful external environment. In order to maintain high vacuum in a cavity of MEMS devices, residual gases and leaking gases must be eliminated by embedded getter materials. Micro/Nano film getters absorbing gases inside the tiny cavity of MEMS packaging were introduced in this paper. The fabrication and characterization of micro/nano getters for MEMS applications were also presented. Various kinds of patterned getter films were prepared for different MEMS applications. The activation temperature and sorption capacity of the nonevaporable getter (NEG[1]) films was investigated. The formation of micro/nano films on the inner surface of MEMS devices is totally compatible with Si-based MEMS process and illustrates the applicability of the technique in vacuum maintenance of MEMS devices.


"Wild Forests" presents a coherent review of the scientific and policy issues surrounding biological diversity in the context of contemporary public forest management. The authors examine past and current practices of forest management and provide a comprehensive overview of known and suspected threats to diversity.In addition to discussing general ecological principles, the authors evaluate specific approaches to forest management that have been proposed to ameliorate diversity losses. They present one such policy -- the Dominant Use Zoning Model incorporating an integrated network of "Diversity Maintenance Areas" -- and describe their attempts to persuade the U.S. Forest Service to adopt such a policy in Wisconsin.Drawing on experience in the field, in negotiations, and in court, the authors analyze the ways in which federal agencies are coping with the mandates of conservation biology and suggest reforms that could better address these important issues. Throughout, they argue that wild or unengineered conditions are those that are most likely to foster a return to the species richness that we once enjoyed.


Intrusion is the most severe luxation injury type, which results in both soft and hard tissue damage. In severe intrusions, the crown must be re-positioned in the arch to avoid periapical pathology and marginal bone loss. There is minimal information about the effect of treatment delay on pulpal and periodontal healing in intrusion trauma. The present paper reports on two cases of severe intrusive luxation applied late at different times treated with surgical extrusion. The first patient, an 11-year-old female, referred to Tokat GOP pediatric dentistry clinic three days after the intrusion tooth 21. The second patient, a 13-year-old male, referred to our clinic fifteen days after a traffic accident. The intruded teeth were positioned surgically and splinted. Surgical extrusion should be preferred as soon as possible to initiate root canal treatment in teeth, the crown of which is fully embedded in the alveolar bone.


: The EEG records of 15 younger females and 40 older females were analyzed in an effort to reevaluate the effects of the first night of laboratory sleep, and to determine to what extent age may be a variable in the First Night Effect. These records substantiate earlier findings that sleep latency is longer, there is more wakefulness, and the REM cycle is disrupted on the first night of laboratory sleep. In addition, there is some evidence that older subjects show a greater First Night Effect. These effects adapt out by the second night of sleep.


Psychological explanations of group genesis often require population heterogeneity in identity or other characteristics, whether deep (e.g., religion) or superficial (e.g., eye color). We used agent-based models to explore group genesis in homogeneous populations and found robust group formation with just two basic principles: reciprocity and transitivity. These emergent groups demonstrated in-group cooperation and out-group defection, even though agents lacked common identity. Group formation increased individual payoffs, and group number and size were robust to varying levels of reciprocity and transitivity. Increasing population size increased group size more than group number, and manipulating baseline trust in a population had predictable effects on group genesis. An interactive demonstration of the parameter space and source code for implementing the model are available online.


The economic conception of human behavior assumes that a person has a single set of well-defined goals, and that the person's behavior is chosen to best achieve those goals. We develop a model in which a person's behavior is the outcome of an interaction between two systems: a deliberative system that assesses options with a broad, goal-based perspective, and an affective system that encompasses emotions and motivational drives. Our model provides a framework for understanding many departures from full rationality discussed in the behavioral-economics literature, and captures the familiar feeling of being "of two minds." And by focusing on factors that moderate the relative influence of the two systems, our model also generates a variety of novel testable predictions.


In the Dubliners story ''Eveline,'' Joyce invites a comparison between his protagonist and the seventeenth-century French saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690) through a reference to a ''coloured print'' observed on Eveline Hill's wall of the redemptive ''promises'' made to followers of the liturgical devotions prescribed in the nun's visions (D 37). Against Alacoque's spiritual life of voluntary chastity and self-sacrifice (ecclesiastically sanctified by her beatification [1864] and canonization [1920]), Eveline's discomfiting self-denial for her family appears a sad waste, less virtuously chosen on her part than imposed by paternal intimidation and manipulation.1 Scholars have proposed additional influences upon the composition of this story, but there may be one, as yet overlooked, to be found in a book listed in Joyce's library, François René de Chateaubriand's novelette Atala (1801).2 Chateaubriand, the Gallic writer most influential in the nineteenthcentury romanticization of Catholicism, first gained his literary notoriety with the publication of Atala, a tragic tale of love and Christian faith among the American Indians during colonial times. The story was later included in the author's highly popular apologia for Christian faith, Génie du Christianisme (1802), which made him the most prominent French writer of his day.3 In the story, a Natchez brave, Chactas, is captured by an enemy tribe in Florida. About to be tortured, he escapes through the assistance of a princess of that tribe, Atala, who is a Christian. The two flee through the forest, get caught in a storm, and are rescued by a Christian missionary, Father Aubry. Atala and Chactas are in love, but his heathen faith and the hint of some painful ''secret'' she harbors obstruct their happiness.


Syrian agriculture faces new opportunities in a liberalized trading world. The European Union
has been one of the most important new markets for the Syrian citrus output but trading
among the neighbors has to expand in the future, specially, with the countries of (GAFTA)
region and eastern Europa.
This research identifies the export opportunities for Syrian citrus growers to the EU from the
perspective of supply chain and answers the question of how the Syrian citrus sector to
become more competitive and gain market share in the EU countries as the low cost of citrus
production in Syria nowadays is not a strong reason although it helps. It also considers that
the competition in the EU markets is the most determinant obstacle for the development of
Syrian citrus exports through applying protectionist policies.
The main findings of this research was based on a detailed study for the comparative
advantages of Syrian citrus sector in addition to a general analysis for citrus supply chain in
Syrian and European markets.


Background Social and structural influences of condom negotiation among female sex workers (FSWs) remain understudied. This study assesses environmental and individual factors associated with condom negotiation among FSWs at high risk for acquiring HIV in a large urban setting of Metro Manila, Philippines. Methods Female bar/spa workers (N = 498), aged 18 and over, underwent interview-led surveys examining their sexual health practices in the context of their risk environments. Data were collected from April 2009-January 2010 from 54 venues. Multiple logistic regressions were conducted to assess socio-behavioral factors (e.g., age, education, length of time employed as an entertainer, and alcohol/drug use) and socio-structural factors (e.g., venue-level peer/manager support, condom rule/availability, and sex trafficking) associated with condom negotiation, adjusting for individuals nested within venues. Results Of 142 FSWs who traded sex in the previous 6 months (included in the analysis), 24% did not typically negotiate condom use with venue patrons. Factors in the physical environment - trafficked/coerced into work (AOR = 12.92, 95% CI = 3.34–49.90), economic environment - sex without a condom to make more money (AOR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.01–2.30), policy environment - sex without a condom because none was available (AOR = 2.58, 95% CI = 1.49–4.48), and individual risk - substance use (AOR = 2.36, 95% CI = 1.28–4.35) were independently associated with FSWs' lack of condom negotiation with venue patrons. Conclusions Factors in the physical, economic, and policy environments, over individual (excepting substance use) and social level factors, were significantly associated with these FSWs' condom negotiations in the Philippines. Drawing upon Rhodes' risk environment framework, these results highlight the need for policies that support safer sex negotiations among sex workers in the context of their risk environments. Interventions should reduce barriers to condom negotiation for FSWs trafficked/coerced into their work, substance using, and impacted by economic conditions and policies that do not support condom availability.


Sixty-seven years ago, Feres v. United States foreclosed service members from pursuing claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) for "injuries incident to their service." The progeny of case law that has since developed, the basis for what is known as the Feres doctrine, expanded the scope of what the Feres Court originally articulated as an injury incident to service. Now, cadets and midshipmen of military-service academies who allege that the government (i.e., the administration of military-service academies) was negligent in handling their sexual assaults are precluded from bringing an FTCA claim because their injuries are classified as "incident to their service" under Feres. Cadets and midshipmen occupy an ambiguous status as both service members and students of military-service academies. Although cadets and midshipmen are considered service members under the law, they are also students of military-service academies where they will graduate with a bachelor's degree and incur an active-duty obligation to serve in the officer corps of the U.S. Armed Forces after they graduate. This Note focuses on the ambiguous status of cadets and midshipmen and argues that they are more akin to students of civilian colleges than activeduty service members. Unlike cadets and midshipmen, civilian students can raise Title IX claims against their universities for student-on-student sexual harassment or assault. By comparing how claims fare for cadets and midshipmen under Feres to the same claims by civilian students under Title IX, this Note argues that cadets and midshipmen do not have the same opportunity to achieve justice as civilian students in like circumstances. This Note additionally examines the legal and policy arguments against extending the Feres doctrine to cadets and midshipmen. Considering the evidence that suggests when superiors allow sexual harassment it may lead to higher instances of sexual harassment and assault in the military ranks,


FeNi films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering at different Ar pressures. The structure and magnetic properties of the FeNi films are affected by the Ar pressure. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements were done at a frequency of about 8.85 GHz. Both the value of resonance field and resonance line width show strong dependence on the Ar pressure: the lowest value of the resonance field and the narrowest resonance width correspond to the smallest argon pressure. Increase of the Ar pressure causes the films to have a significant perpendicular anisotropy with the easy axis pointing out of the plane. The magnetic properties and FMR were also studied for the [FeNi(170 nm)/Ti]n/FeNi(170 nm) (n = 1, 2, 5) structures prepared at the smallest Ar pressure. The FMR studies showed that the obtained multilayers are very robust: the value of the resonance field and resonance line width of the [FeNi/Ti]n/FeNi multilayers are very close to the corresponding values for the FeNi films.


Many ecologists have occupied themselves with the problem of the littoral zonation and they still disagree among themselves about the delimitation of the zones and the factors which cause the zonation. In this paper the problem has been approached in two different ways. In the first place the littoral zone sensu lato has been regarded as the border area between the sea and the land. This approach does not result in an explanation of the 'submergence' of many eulittoral organisms in the Arctic waters and the Baltic. Secondly the littoral zone sensu lato has been considered as the border zone between the sea and the fresh water, in other words as a brackish environment. This approach gives a reasonable explanation for the 'submergence' of littoral organisms in low-salinity waters. It appears that both tidal movements and wave action (wash, splash, and spray) cause salinity fluctuations and that salinity is one of the major factors acting in the littoral zonation. Most of the organisms which do not show 'submergence' in low-salinity waters are restricted to the supralittoral and the upper part of the intertidal zone, where they are beyond the influence of the daily tidal rhythm. The vital factor for these organisms is contact with the air. The third active factor, light, is of some importance in the lower part of the eulittoral. These three abiotic factors, together with biological stress (competition), effectuate the littoral zonation pattern. Both the supralittoral and the eulittoral are well-defined ecological units, characterized by their own physical features and their own species composition. In fact they have almost no common species. Strong wave action allows some eulittoral species to survive in the supralittoral; this has to be regarded merely as an interference phenomenon. The littoral border environment is in comparison with other brackish habitats extremely rich in species peculiar to it. In this environment the influence of the salt extends far above the tidal influence. In the estuarine environment, which has very few species exclusively bound to it, the reverse is the case. This could indicate that marine salt beyond the reach of the regular tidal rhythm creates conditions favourable for speciation.


The authors introduce a high-level Petri net formalism-environment/relationship (ER) nets-which can be used to specify control, function, and timing issues. In particular, they discuss how time can be modeled via ER nets by providing a suitable axiomatization. They use ER nets to define a time notation that is shown to generalize most time Petri-net-based formalisms which appeared in the literature. They discuss how ER nets can be used in a specification support environment for a time-critical system and, in particular, the kind of analysis supported. >


This guide has been designed to help students who's ready to go into the workforce. The librarian gathered important information you may need while looking for your chosen profession.


Flowering plants evolved from an unidentified gymnosperm ancestor. Comparison of the mechanisms controlling development in angiosperm flowers and gymnosperm cones may help to elucidate the mysterious origin of the flower. We combined gene expression studies with protein behaviour characterization in Welwitschia mirabilis to test whether the known regulatory links between LEAFY and its MADS-box gene targets, central to flower development, might also contribute to gymnosperm reproductive development. We found that WelLFY, one of two LEAFY-like genes in Welwitschia, could be an upstream regulator of the MADS-box genes APETALA3/PISTILLATA-like (B-genes). We demonstrated that, even though their DNA-binding domains are extremely similar, WelLFY and its paralogue WelNDLY exhibit distinct DNA-binding specificities, and that, unlike WelNDLY, WelLFY shares with its angiosperm orthologue the capacity to bind promoters of Welwitschia B-genes. Finally, we identified several cis-elements mediating these interactions in Welwitschia and obtained evidence that the link between LFY homologues and B-genes is also conserved in two other gymnosperms, Pinus and Picea. Although functional approaches to investigate cone development in gymnosperms are limited, our state-of-the-art biophysical techniques, coupled with expression studies, provide evidence that crucial links, central to the control of floral development, may already have existed before the appearance of flowers.


Simple organic acids seem to be important in many soil processes including nutrient uptake in the rhizosphere and long‐term pedogenic processes such as podzolization. The factors regulating the concentrations of these acids in soil, however, remain poorly understood. We have investigated one set of factors, namely the impact of ectomycorrhizal (Paxillus involutus) and non‐mycorrhizal Picea abies seedlings and humic acid on the concentration and dynamics of organic acids in soil solution. We did so over 10 months in laboratory columns containing soil from the E horizon of a sandy forest soil. Several organic acids were identified in the solution extracted from the root zone including oxalic, citric, malonic, succinic, acetic, formic and lactic acids at concentrations ranging from <0.1 to 2.3 µm. Both plants and ectomycorrhizas had significant effects on the concentration of organic acids in soil solution. In contrast, omitting P from the irrigation water appeared to have little effect on the concentrations. The microbial mineralization kinetics of oxalate conformed well to a single Michaelis–Menten equation. Further, the soil with the mycorrhizas had a significantly faster mineralization of oxalic acid over a wide concentration range than did the soil without ectomycorrhizas and without plants. We conclude that the oxalate flux through the soil with both trees and mycorrhizas is much faster than is evident from measurements of solution concentration at steady state. Humic acid had little effect on the concentrations of organic acids or dynamics in the soil solution. Oxalic acid concentrations in the soil solution were correlated with hyphal length, rate of microbial mineralization, soil respiration, and shoot to root weight ratio. We conclude that both mycorrhizas and plants have a large impact on organic acid cycling in forest soils.


GAGION, ANNA Le féminisme et la femme musulmane en France. Department of French and Francophone Studies, June 2019. ADIVISOR: Professor Michelle Chilcoat My French thesis investigates how some definitions of French feminism and particular French feminist movements find themselves oppressing Muslim women. France is a country that has vigorously regulated the separation of Church and State since 1902 legislation that declared "la laïcité" (secularism) obligatory for all public education. In my research I have found that the general belief in France that religion should never have any bearing on political decisions has been beneficial to most French citizens, but it also appears to oppress a number of Muslim women, as witnessed by the on-going debate surrounding the headscarf ban in French public schools initiated in 2004. This ban has actually resulted in many Muslim women deciding based on their own beliefs or being forced (by family members for example) to withdraw from public education. By focusing on one recent feminist group in particular, Fémin, that openly speaks out against Islam and excludes Muslim women from their group, I explore the questions raised when certain kinds or aspects of French feminism unconsciously exclude or openly attack Muslim women based on France's fundamental belief in "laïcité."


The performance evaluation research in academic services at Education And Training For The Fourth Level Of The Leadership Second Group intended to descript the performance status in academic services, to know which are the aspects of academic services should be upgraded, and to know how to leverage the efficiency and the effectivity in academic services performance. In this project of research adopt the qualitative descriptive with performance analysis techniqe. In the methode do applying for collecting data by: documentation study, observation and an interview, and then the angket. For processing data using the triangulasi approach. Furthermore in its data analysis using input-process-output analysis. Based on the result of those analysis getting few points of the research. Those are: Input performance status are in low-level. Process performance denothing in good performance. And the output performance in midle level. The lack of input performance, it caused by lack of commitment in providing resources for service. Especially spread over the input performance aspects such as; hardware and software factors particularly in attendants qulifications aspects, preparing the class, and in recruitment process. Finally it could be explained that facilitating in performance whatever in hardware and software must be prepared properly. The change on frame of thinking and in frame of attitude & behaviour in working, both are not always run similarly. In optimizing the result of education and training for the Alumni's competance, it should be followed by the routine guidance and built in controll. This effort continualy is quite effective in developing the employee's act and conduct.


Neurofibromatosis type I (NF1) is a disease associated with the presence of benign neurofibromas and malignant tumours of the central and peripheral nervous system, that are accompanied by characteristic changes in the skin, such as café-au-lait spots or axillary freckling. In 50% of NF1 patients, the clinical symptoms become apparent below 1st year and in 97%, before the age of 8 years. The disease is mainly caused by the presence of mutation in the NF1 gene that encodes neurofibromin - a protein involved in the regulation of several cellular signaling pathways responsible for cell proliferation and differentiation. Neurofibromin is necessary for embryonic development and involved mainly in the differentiation of neural crest derived cells, mesenchymal cells, neural cells, melanocytes and bone cells. Type I neurofibromatosis is inherited in autosomal dominant manner, nevertheless about 50% of detected mutations are de novo ones. The mutations have full penetrance, although they also have significant pleiotropic effect. Over 1485 different mutations have been identified in the NF1 gene so far, most of which lead to a synthesis of truncated, non-functional protein. It is estimated that the point mutations are responsible for approximately 90% of cases of NF1. The remaining 5-7% of NF1 cases are associated with the presence of a single exon or whole NF1 gene deletion (17q11.2 microdeletion syndrome). The article discusses the role of neurofibromin in cell signaling with the special attention to RAS/MAPK pathway regulation as well as in organism development. Also the basic methods of molecular analysis of NF1 gene are presented in the context of their application in the diagnosis and clinical differentiation of the disease.


Adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control schemes are proposed for tracking time-various trajectories in this paper. There are two main structures in the proposed control schemes: one is the sliding mode controller and the other is the adaptive fuzzy schemes. The sliding mode controller ensures the Lyapunov stability of the system, if the reference signal and all signals involved are bound. Next, the adaptive fuzzy schemes can improve chattering and delay phenomena in the sliding mode control system. Finally, simulation results confirm that the proposed adaptive fuzzy sliding mode control schemes can track time-various trajectories quickly and accurately.


The self-mixing interference in dual-polarization microchip Nd:YAG lasers is demonstrated. Under optical feedback, the orthogonal polarization components of the laser would undergo antiphase intensity modulations; at high feedback level, the polarization switching appears. We also observe that the laser self-mixing sensitivity changes periodically with the frequency difference of orthogonal polarizations. An initial theoretical model is put out and agrees well with the experiments. The results are useful for self-mixing sensitivity enhancement and offer a new way of absolute distance measurement.


This thesis explores how Muslims negotiate Islam, secularity and the modern state (Chapter 1) through examining the views of Muslim leaders in Indonesia during the colonial and postcolonial periods (Chapter 2), and, in particular, through a case study of the leadership of the Muhammadiyah – one of the two largest Islamic organisations in the country (Chapter 3). In the main body of my thesis I focus on the post-New Order period (1998–2005) when Indonesia underwent a transition from state authoritarianism to experiments with democracy. During this time of new political freedom, various Islamic movements pushed for the Islamization of the state, revisiting earlier debates with supporters of secularism following Indonesia' independence. Notably, this changing context also exposed tensions within the Muhammadiyah between more marginal revivalists and more dominant neo-modernist groupings with rather different conceptions of Islam's relationship to the state and secularity. To investigate this further I undertook fieldwork in Indonesia between 2012 and 2013, adopting qualitative research methods to consult the organisation's archives, other publicly available material and interview both revivalist and neo-modernist leaders at different levels of the Muhammadiyah: 11 central board members, 8 'ulama and 16 activists (Chapter 4). Analysing their different responses to three key post-New Order debates about the relationship between Islam, secularity and the modern state – the position of Islam in the constitution (Chapter 5); the position of shari'a in the law (Chapter 6); and regarding non-Muslim leadership (Chapter 7) – my main argument is that in contrast to the revivalists who support a shari'a-based state, Muhammadiyah neo-modernist opinion tends to endorse the idea of the 'neutrality' of the state while still supporting the public recognition (and even prioritisation) of Islamic identity. My research shows that having higher education and/or wider engagement in organizations concerned with democracy, human rights, and religious pluralism is a significant influence on the extent to which Muhammadiyah leaders develop such neo-modernist ideas. Nevertheless, I also conclude that the wider post-New Order political context of conflict between revivalists and secularists, typically saw neo-modernists, and particularly those in the Muhammadiyah central board, seek points of convergence with revivalists that would maintain the movement's overall unity.


Industrial change processes are underlying forces that determine the change of regional productivity. In developed market economies, less productive firms are more likely to exit while productive firms have more chance to enter and to survive. As a result, spatial inequality of firm dynamics will directly influence the inequality of regional productivity. This study investigates how firm dynamics would affect regional productivity using firm level data during 1998-2007 in China. We first estimate total factor productivity (TFP) for each firm based on the semi-parametric method proposed by Olley and Pakes (1996). Regional productivity is derived by weighing the firm TFP using gross industrial output. There is considerable spatial inequality of TFP paired with a trend of convergence over the time period of 1999-2007. Decomposition of TFP growth shows that firm entry, exit and survival do contribute to TFP change and their contributions vary across prefectures substantially. The between share holds the largest regional difference, as the most important factor contributing to the spatial inequality of regional TFP. The restructuring of SOEs has critically contributed to the spatial inequality of TFP by raising TFP in the traditional industrial bases and by facilitating the development of productive private and foreign sectors particularly in the coastal region. The finding indicates that resource reallocation across firms with different ownerships is the key mechanism to improve regional productivity.


World geography is an important topic for everyone. It can be used to study the past but is also crucial to understanding the events and current political conditions of the modern world. "Encyclopedia of World Geography" is an authoritative three-volume set profiling everything from the Fulda Gap to the Hudson River. Approximately 750 entries describe pioneers in geography and mapmaking; regions, boundaries, and places; and tools and terminology of geography and cartography. This accessible resource includes appendixes, such as world rankings and a complete world atlas, and almost 200 maps and photographs. Some 100 scholars and experts in the field contributed entries to the text, and a senior academic served as editor. An invaluable reference, "Encyclopedia of World Geography" is a complete and comprehensive guide to the history and practice of geography and cartography.


: Influence was studied of 48-hours deprivation of paradoxical sleep (DPS) and immobilization stress on conditioned reaction of fear and security--components of passive avoidance conditioned reflex (CRPA), with simultaneous studying of vertical, horizontal activity, grooming reactions and defecations in an illuminated chamber. The obtained results allow to conclude that DPS inhibits reproduction of memory traces of fear reaction but intensifies the process of learning and activity of memory traces of security reaction. Depending on condition of CRPA elaboration, DPS may disturb or, on the contrary, prolong preservation of passive avoidance. It has been found that the immobilization stress does not influence CRPA preservation and does not weaken the reaction of fear but increases the horizontal activity. It is suggested that the observed changes in behaviour and trace processes are connected with disturbance of sensory informational homeostasis of the nervous system at DPS.


Tensile properties of AZ91D magnesium alloy coated by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation method for various coating times were investigated. The coatings on AZ91D magnesium alloy showed porous microstructure, and became thicker with increasing the coating time. After tensile test, the coated AZ91D magnesium alloy had lower tensile strength and elongation than the uncoated one. The tensile strength and elongation decreased with increasing the coating time, while the proof stress was almost no changed. The uncoated AZ91D magnesium alloy revealed ductile fracture surface. As the coating time increased, however, the fracture surface was changed to brittle fracture morphologies.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the adequacy of International Mine Action Standards 09.20 (IMAS 09.20) and the used standards ISO 2859 in the context of demining.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors show how the actual quality level acceptable quality limit (AQL) significantly affects the average total quality cost for one lot with a single sampling plan and, consequently, the average total quality cost, and as AQL increases, the cost of rejecting a lot and the cost of sampling increase.

Findings

The sampling plans for demining are not always optimal given economical and other concerns and that other mechanisms should be considered.

Practical implications

Addressing opportunity costs for adopting wide samplings plans instead of clearing uncleared land per default, as well as balancing producer and consumer consequences seems, therefore, to be highly relevant from a socio-economical perspective.

Originality/value

The general understanding of quality management and the systems involved are limited within the mine action sector. IMAS and most national mine action standards provide only a fairly narrow description of the issue. This implies that the field is missing opportunities to achieve efficiency and effectiveness, as well as to learn from and improve upon past experiences. The authors demonstrate herein that sampling provides little additional confidence as to whether a particular area is free from explosive hazards and substantial savings can be made compared to the current practice.


Due to recent developments in concert hall design, there is an increasing interest in the analysis of sound energy decays consisting of multiple exponential decay rates. It has been considered challenging to estimate parameters associated with double-rate (slope) decay characteristics, and even more challenging when the coupled-volume systems contain more than two decay processes. To meet the need of characterizing energy decays of multiple decay processes, this work investigates coupled-volume systems using acoustic scale-models of three coupled rooms. Two Bayesian formulations are compared using the experimentally measured sound energy decay data. A fully parameterized Bayesian formulation has been found to be capable of characterization of multiple-slope decays beyond the single-slope and double-slope energy decays. Within the Bayesian framework using this fully parameterized formulation, an in-depth analysis of likelihood distributions over multiple-dimensional decay parameter space motivates the use of Bayesian information criterion, an efficient approach to solving Bayesian model selection problems that are suitable for estimating the number of exponential decays. The analysis methods are then applied to a geometric-acoustics simulation of a conceptual concert hall. Sound energy decays more complicated than single-slope and double-slope nature, such as triple-slope decays have been identified and characterized.


The article for the first time analyses the decoration parts of the Christ's tomb of the second half of the 18th century found a few years ago in Svėksna church. The Christ's tomb from the old church was transferred to the  new church, which was built in 1804 and used until the  4th decade of the 19th century. On the basis of the sources and remained fragments we can state that this was a complicated structure of the Paschal decoration designed under the European baroque scenery principles. It was composed of the paintings on boards and canvas and mis- cellaneous accessories. The  Christ's tomb paintings are characterised by a  symbolic allegoric content and artistry. The prophets of the Old Testament and characters the New Testament reflecting the Paschal Triduum liturgy were depicted in the decoration. The survived outline paintings of Adam and Eve in Paradise, Noah waiting for the Saviour, and Angels Lamenting over the Death of Jesus are the exceptional iconography images in the Lithuanian church art. The decorations of the Christ's tomb were created by the professional masters who decorated the churches in Samogitia in the second part of the 18th century. The images of suffering and dead Jesus used in the figuration of the Paschal Triduum influenced the spread of the Passion scenes. This is supported by an interesting archival fact about the shrine with a group of sculp- tures depicting the tomb of Christ in the Svėksna churchyard. The fragments of the Paschal decorations in the Svėksna church are important baroque scen- ery exhibits, which are valuable for the history of the Lithuanian church art and scenography. The investigation of the Holy Week figuration in the Svėksna church is a valuable illustration of this multidimensional cultural, religious and artistic phenomenon.


Summary The total organic carbon content (TOC) is a crucial indicator for the evaluation of shale gas reservoirs, traditionally estimated by measuring cores, cuttings or sidewall cores in laboratory with source rock evaluation instruments. Limited by the number of rock samples, the experimental results are not continuous and it is impossible to show the whole face of a source rock bed. Continuous high resolution logging information contributes to overcoming the restraints mentioned above. In this paper, the measured TOC data obtained from geochemical analysis of the core samples has a really low correlation with any single logging curve from a shale gas well in southern China. The TOC calculated from the commonly used method △logR technique has a relatively low correlation with the measured ones, especially in the interval of low TOC. Three methods of △logR technique, optimal superposition coefficient△logR technique, CARBOLOG (Carbon Organic LOG) technique are applied to calculate TOC and compared. Calculated results show that TOC from CARBOLOG technique is better related to the measured TOC with the correlation coefficient for 0.83. Based on the calculated TOC from CARBOLOG technique, analysis of TOC effects on rock properties is performed, showing the characteristics of high S-wave Impendence (SI), high poisson's ratio (ν), high Vp/Vs ratio (VpVs) with high TOC, which is consistent well with the forward modeling results using the 3D SCA_DEM rock physics model for organic-rich shale.


This collection brings together the best of C.S. Lewis's letters, many published for the first time. Arranged in chronological order, this final volume covers the years 1950 - the year 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' was published - through to Lewis's untimely death in 1963. C.S. Lewis was a most prolific letter-writer and his personal correspondence reveals much of his private life, reflections, friendships and feelings. This collection, carefully chosen and arranged by Walter Hooper, is the most extensive ever published. In this great and important collection are the letters Lewis wrote to J.R.R. Tolkien, Dorothy L. Sayers, Owen Barfield, Arthur C. Clarke, Sheldon Vanauken and Dom Bede Griffiths. To some particular friends, such as Dorothy L. Sayers, Lewis wrote over fifty letters alone. The letters deal with all of Lewis's interests: theology, literary criticism, poetry, fantasy, children's stories as well as revealing his relationships with family members and friends. The third and final volume begins with Lewis, already a household name from his BBC radio broadcasts and popular spiritual books, on the cusp of publishing his most famous and enduring book, 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', which would ensure his immortality in the literary world. It covers his relationship with Joy Davidman, subject of the film 'Shadowlands', and includes letters right up to his death on 22 November 1963, the day that John F. Kennedy was assassinated.


The article is a study based on an innovative language learning method which has been applied by EuroEd Foundation within the Glottodrama European project. The Glottodrama is a very flexible methodology which addresses any level of knowledge and educational contexts combining theatrical as well as foreign language learning techniques in order to achieve real communication situations in the classroom. The method has been carried out on a group of foreign students studying at the School of medicine in Iasi and learning Romanian as a foreign language; in their theatrical and linguistic experience the students benefited from the presence of a drama and a language teacher. Both teachers ran the course and were also involved in designing its syllabus tailored to meet the medical students' needs; all the dramatic texts suggested were based on the doctor -patient communication.
The Glottodrama method has stimulated our students (foreign students studying medicine in Iasi) to learn a foreign language (Romanian) by turning the common classroom into a theater company. The originality and the element of surprise of the method worked from the beginning enhancing students' participation in and contribution to the activities. The Glottodrama method has made students use and practice the language from the very beginning of the course
The focus on communication with its verbal and non-verbal solutions has raised students' interest and highly increased their motivation. By getting involved body and mind in their learning the language and thus overcoming common psychological barriers the students learned how to use their body and voice in order to express themselves in a correct way. Video films were used as useful tools of reflection and error correction.


We investigate the problem of wireless power transfer in mobile ad-hoc networks. In particular we investigate which traversal strategy should a Mobile Charger follow in order to efficiently recharge agents that are randomly and dynamically moving inside an area of interest. We first formally define this problem as the Charger Traversal Decision Problem and prove its computational hardness. We then define a weighting function which evaluates several network parameters in order to prioritize the nodes during the charging process. Based on this function we define three traversal strategies for the MC; a global-knowledge strategy that uses an Integer Linear Program to optimize its trajectory; a global-knowledge strategy which tessellates the network area and prioritizes the charging process over each tile; a local-knowledge strategy that uses local network information collected and ferried distributively by the moving agents. We also evaluate two naive zero-knowledge strategies; a space-filling deterministic one in which the MC systematically sweeps the network area and a randomized one in which the MC performs a blind random walk. We evaluate these strategies both in homogeneous and heterogeneous agent distributions and for various network sizes with respect to number of alive nodes over time, energy distribution among the nodes over time and charging efficiency over distance traveled. Our findings indicate that in small networks network agnostic strategies are sufficient. However, as the network scales the use of local distributed network information achieves good performance-overhead trade-offs.


The fast growing complexity of today's real time embedded systems necessitates new design methods and tools to face the problems of design, analysis, integration and validation of complex systems. the author presents a system level design method for embedded real-time systems combining the informal strengths of UML with the formal strengths of SDL. The flow is demonstrated by the design example of a telecommunications application from the wireless or access domain, showing the applicability of the flow to control and data-dominated types of systems. Finally, the author shows how the application results and other enduser needs and requirements influenced the current UML 2.0 proposal with support for real-time and embedded systems.


SiR,-The paper by Dr. Gilbert Forbes (March 22, p. 367) has drawn attention to the toxic action resulting from accidental overdosage of ferrous sulphate taken by mouth. No mention is made of the name of the preparation, but we believe we are correct in saying that it was " fersolate " tablets, of our manufacture. Experiments in progress in these laboratories indicate that for the more soluble iron compounds the toxicity is closely correlated with the iron content (calculated as ferrous iron) and strongly suggest that the action is due to the formation of ferric chloride in the stomach. The iron compounds were given, either in solution or suspension, to fasting rabbits by nmeans of a stomach tube; the doses were adjusted to body weight. According to the dose, the animals either died in a few hours or recovered completely. The post-mortem findings for those that died were completely in agreement with those of Forbes, the cause of death being haemorrhagic gastritis. The animals that recovered were quite well on the following day ; daily blood counts and urinary examination showed no abnormal findings. In some cases, but not all, the stomachs of these animals showed signs of irritation at the great curvature. The results so far obtained indicate that the fatal dose of ferrous sulphate in rabbits is higher than those reported by Forbes for guinea-pigs. We find that " fersolate " tablets compare favourably for toxicity with other iron compounds so far tested, and the presence of small amounts of copper and manganese sulphates does not increase the toxicity, which is due to ferrous sulphate. The toxic effect of the iron in Blaud's pills is less than half that of other ferrous salts; but relatively higher doses are required for haemopoietic action. The lower toxicity of Blaud's pills may be due to the sodium sulphate in this preparation having a cathartic action that hastens the excretion of the iron. Rabbits treated with high doses of Blaud's pills had a profuse diarrhoea within half an hour of dosing, It would appear, therefore, that a gastric lavage with an alkaline solution would be of value after accidental overdosage with ferrous sulphate. This would neutralize the acidity of the stomach, cause precipitation of ferrous carbonate, and prevent the formation of ferric chloride and retard the absorption of iron. The results of further experiments, now in progress, will, it is hoped, be published in detail later. Ferrous sulphate is one of many medicinal substances having undesirable effects when taken in grossly excessive quantities. We consider that Dr. Forbes's paper serves to emphasize the need to keep such preparations out of reach of young children, and to guard against overdosage.-I am, etc.,


In recent years, several plasmids harbouring genes encoding phosphoethanolamine transferases conferring colistin resistance have been described in multiple Enterobacteriaceae species. Avian Pathogenic E. coli (APEC) causes colibacillosis and is responsible for a considerable proportion of the disease burden in commercial poultry flocks, and may be linked to zoonotic infections in humans. Here, we describe the genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of a multidrug-resistant APEC ST69 isolate (APECA2), recovered in 2016 from a diseased broiler at post-mortem examination in Germany. The isolate was resistant to several antibiotics of human and veterinary importance, including colistin. The mcr-1 gene was detected on a mobile genetic element located on an IncHI2/ST4 plasmid, which was characterized using long-read Nanopore and short-read Illumina sequencing of purified plasmid. Isolate APECA2 displayed resistance to chicken serum and harbours numerous virulence genes. This study highlights the public health importance of enhanced antimicrobial resistance surveillance and strict antimicrobial stewardship in human and veterinary healthcare.


Introduction: Although vestibular rehabilitation therapy (VRT) methods are relatively popular in treating patients with body balance deficits of vestibular origin, only limited studies have been conducted into customized exercises for unilateral vestibular hypofunction (UVH). Furthermore, very little evidence is available on the outcomes of VRT in the elderly population with chronic UVH. Materials and Methods: A total of 21 patients, aged 61 to 74 years, with UVH participated in this study. The dizziness handicap inventory (DHI) was performed immediately before, and 2 and 8 weeks after treatment. Results: All patients showed a reduction in DHI scores during the study. The average decrease in DHI score was 25.98 points after 2 weeks' intervention (P<0.001) and 32.54 points at the end of the study. This improvement was observed in all DHI subscores, and was most profound in the functional aspect. The correlation between the degree of final recovery and canal paresis was not significant (P>0.05). There were no relationships between the scores and gender. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that VRT is an effective method for the management of elderly patients with UVH, and shows maximal effect on functional aspects.


The research paper is an introduction to the new change in the IT industry of managing huge amount of data being generated in the new IT revolution. There are different technologies or solutions are introduced in the IT industry to accept the new change of Big Data. Here we explained the structure of Big Data management and its structure process also its shows the features and its use and how it's benefited the IT industry. We have also discussed the business or services which are using Big Data like social Medias. There also suggestions for the betterment for future development.


Xylanase enzyme, one example of secondary metabolites generated by the endophytic microbes was an enzyme which degrades Xylan. The current research study was focused on isolation of endophytic fungi from Dipterocarpus grandiflorus Blanco that produced xylanase enzyme and evaluation of this enzyme activity. Isolation of endophytic fungi from Twigs of D. grandiflorus Blanco were performed via direct seeding inoculation technique utilizing Corn Meal Malt (CMM) medium, followed by purification of these isolates in Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) media and macroscopic observations to characterize these isolates. The presence of xylanase enzyme was determined using Dinitro Salicylic Acid (DNS) method. Over 12 days our study results yield a total of eight (8) endophytic fungi isolates with six xylanase enzyme producing isolates (Dg II,3 a2, Dg II,3 a3, Dg II,3 b1, Dg II,3 c1, Dg II,3 e1, Dg II,3 f1). Highest extracellular xylanase activity was found in Dg II, 3fl (4.036 U/mL) while the lowest one was 0.426U/mL in isolate Dg II, 3bl.


Artificial neural network (ANN), an established bio-inspired computing paradigm, has proved very effective in a variety of real-world problems and particularly useful for various emerging biomedical applications using specialized ANN hardware. Unfortunately, these ANN-based systems are increasingly vulnerable to both transient and permanent faults due to unrelenting advances in CMOS technology scaling, which sometimes can be catastrophic. The considerable resource and energy consumption and the lack of dynamic adaptability make conventional fault-tolerant techniques unsuitable for future portable medical solutions. Inspired by the self-healing and self-recovery mechanisms of human nervous system, this research seeks to address reliability issues of ANN-based hardware by proposing an Autonomously Reconfigurable Artificial Neural Network (ARANN) architectural framework. Leveraging the homogeneous structural characteristics of neural networks, ARANN is capable of adapting its structures and operations, both algorithmically and microarchitecturally, to react to unexpected neuron failures. Specifically, we propose three key techniques --- Distributed ANN, Decoupled Virtual-to-Physical Neuron Mapping, and Dual-Layer Synchronization --- to achieve cost-effective structural adaptation and ensure accurate system recovery. Moreover, an ARANN-enabled self-optimizing workflow is presented to adaptively explore a "Pareto-optimal" neural network structure for a given application, on the fly. Implemented and demonstrated on a Virtex-5 FPGA, ARANN can cover and adapt 93% chip area (neurons) with less than 1% chip overhead and O(n) reconfiguration latency. A detailed performance analysis has been completed based on various recovery scenarios.


discussed repeatedly in this Journal. The understanding and treatment of organic diseases have progressed rapidly. We have powerful drugs and we can therefore afford to discard many pharmacological substances, the use of which could be excused as long as we had nothing better to offer to our patients. Yet many teachers of pharmacology continue to teach the use of outmoded drugs, and the students have to learn them. Most students are so impressed by the progress in the treatment of diseases that they are insufficiently prepared when in general practice they are called upon to treat patients who suffer from minor ailments which one does not often see in hospital and for many of which there is no treatment. In particular does the young doctor find it difficult to wean his patients-on whom he is financially dependent-from the use of drugs which are of no value. While many illnesses have been wiped out or can be cured when they occur, the number of patients consulting doctors in general practice has not decreased. More and more we are coming to realize that the complaints of many patients can be properly understood only in terms of psychosomatic medicine, and most of these cannot be cured by the physical remedies at our disposal. Yet we are still inclined to behave as if the patients' illusion that health in all its aspects can be bought in the shape of a bottle of medicine or a tablet is correct.-I am, etc.,


The purpose of this study is to investigate apparent first‐motion polarities mismatch at teleseismic distances in the determination of focal mechanism. We implement and compare four seismic raytracing algorithms to compute ray paths and travel times in 1D and 3D velocity models. We use the raytracing algorithms to calculate the takeoff angles from the hypocenter of the 24 August 2016 Mw 6.8 Chauk earthquake (depth 90 km) in central Myanmar to the stations BFO, GRFO, KONO, and ESK in Europe using a 3D velocity model of the upper mantle below Asia. The differences in the azimuthal angles calculated in the 1D and 3D velocity models are considerable and have a maximum value of 19.6°. Using the takeoff angles for the 3D velocity model, we are able to resolve an apparent polarity mismatch where these stations move from the dilatational to the compressional quadrant. The polarities of synthetic waveforms change accordingly when we take the takeoff angles corresponding to the 3D model into account. This method has the potential to improve the focal mechanism solutions, especially for historical earthquakes where limited waveform data are available.


— A traditional cognitive map has been extended to what is known as FCM, acronym for Fuzzy Cognitive Map. FCM combines two popular soft computing techniques, namely fuzzy logic and neural network. FCM has emerged as knowledge representation and reasoning technique for modeling causal complex problems with inherent uncertainties. Indeed, past research has shown that FCM has been successfully applied in various domain such as computer science, medicine, education, and others. Application of FCM in education such as mathematic or science are very diverse, from student modeling to diagnosing student's misconception in learning and from assessing processes in teaching-learning to identifying learning-styles preference. This paper reviews the most recent application of FCM within educational context over the past five years and analyzed them based on the educational problem addressed, areas within education domain, problem-solving paradigm, and limitations. The discussion follows from the summary of the analysis and finally suggests direction for further improvement.


Because Information Systems is an applied field, IS research should contribute to practice. Most academic journals require that authors describe what their research findings imply for managers in the field. But academic journals do not require presentation of the findings or their implications in a manner that readily leads to their dissemination within the practitioner community. In this tutorial we will explore how academic research can actually improve practice— in fact, we will assume that improving practice is the ultimate objective of academic research in our field. This tutorial is intended to help academic researchers recast their work for academic journals such as Sloan Management Review, California Management Review, and MISQ Executive, and others, which target a practitioner audience. Senior editors of MISQ Executive will share with participants their favorite examples of practice-based research. They will list the characteristics that make each article both insightful and "user-friendly." We will share examples of research articles that led to changes in how managers approached their roles. The objective of the tutorial is to arm participants with examples of world class, practice-based research as well as a process for converting their research into valuable practitioner reading.


ABSTRACT McSweeney, S.L.; Hart, D.E., Todd, D.J., and Kennedy, D.M. 2016. Changes in the Frequency and Duration of Closures of the Opihi Rivermouth Following Construction of Opuha Dam. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 88–92. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. Hapua are coastal lagoons found at the mouths of braided gravel rivers that experiee a semi-permanent connection with the ocean related to fluvial discharge and marine sediment deposition. Sustained closure is driven by low river flows and is associated with a decrease in water quality, the impedance of fish passage and flooding. On many Hapua, irrigation schemes have modified natural flow regimes, yet there is little field data on how this affects the dynamics of the lagoon. In this study we examine the Opihi rivermouth (New Zealand) which has a naturally seasonal low flow regime and a hydrology extensively modified through irrigation abstraction and dam construction Analysis of the entrance morphodynamics pre and post-dam construction indicates a decrease in the frequency and duration of rivermouth closures. This is due to the more constant flow regime maintained by the dam. Despite this, seasonal patterns of closure still persist over summer which illustrates the importance of marine processes in driving entrance condition. Three scenarios of natural closure are identified: summer low flows, fluvial slug deposition, and coastal storms. Closure duration was also observed to be extended when river flows are low, onshore wave energy is high and when the outlet channel is considerably offset.


OBJECTIVE
This research examined whether national population-level cannabis frequency rates moderate the strength of the relationship between individual-level psychosocial and behavioral risk factors (poor parental communication, bullying, fighting, etc.) and different levels of adolescent cannabis use (abstinence, experimental use, and regular use).

METHOD
Data from the 2009/2010 Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children survey (N = 62,009, age = 15 years) from 31 countries were analyzed using multinomial hierarchical linear modeling.

RESULTS
Analyses showed that adolescents who reported experimental cannabis use and who lived in relatively high cannabis frequency countries were less likely than their counterparts in low cannabis frequency countries to present some of the cannabis-related psychosocial and behavioral risk factors. Conversely, regular cannabis use tended to occur among high-risk adolescents to an equal degree in high and low cannabis frequency countries.

CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that the normality of cannabis use in the youth population is important to consider when investigating the relationship between risk factors and cannabis use.


This book addresses some of the issues in visual optics with a functional analysis of ocular aberrations, especially for the purpose of vision correction. The basis is the analytical representation of ocular aberrations with a set of orthonormal polynomials, such as Zernike polynomials or the Fourier series. Although the aim of this book is the application of wavefront optics to laser vision correction, most of the theories discussed are equally applicable to other methods of vision correction, such as contact lenses and intraocular lenses.


Background: Nowadays, several studies have been performed on the factors affecting the effectiveness of virtual education. One of the characteristics of learners is their different learning styles.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between learning style and the level of satisfaction and usage of e-learning facilities in medical students.Methods: This cross-sectional and retrospective (ex post facto) study was performed among medical, public health, and operating room students of Shahrekord University of Medical Sciences in 2017. We redesigned their courses to be delivered in the blended method, so that teachers used a Learning Management System (LMS) in addition to traditional teaching. Information about learning styles was collected using Kolb's questionnaire, satisfaction level evaluated with a researcher made questionnaire and use of e-learning was examined by checking system loggings. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, Tukey's post hoc, Welch's ANOVA and X2 tests in SPSS software.Results: Students' satisfaction with e-content in diverging learning style was higher (P = 0.032), but there was no significant relationship between learning style and demographic characteristics and total average mark. Also, there was no significant difference in the amount of using e-learning facilities between different learning style groups (P = 0.256).Conclusion: It seems that using virtual learning facilities and considering the type of learning style in students can increase their satisfaction.


This paper aims to shed light on the determinants of household labor supply by conducting comparative study and by applying the collective labor supply model. On the basis of data from Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) we tested parametric restrictions imposed by two alternative (unitary and collective) household labor supply models on Georgian, French and Romanian data sets. Our comparison of household labor supply behavior and patterns reveals some similarities, but also several differences across countries. First, the study results suggest that own and partner's wages, and distribution factors are important determinants of household labor supply in all countries in this study. Second, we found some similarities in the preference structures and in the impact of personal and demographic characteristics on the household behavioral patterns across countries. Third, the study results show that the household labor supply patterns across countries differ substantially. Fourth, we found that collective model is not equally applicable for describing household labor supply in different labor market regimes. For France and Romania, the evidence supports appropriateness of the collective household labor supply model, while in Georgia household labor supply behavior cannot be adequately described by either unitary or collective model.


Brain metastases in patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) have an estimated incidence of 0.3–1.9% and are isolated in up to 50% of these patients. The risk factors and the prognostic significance of isolated central nervous system (CNS) relapse in patients with EOC who received primary treatment with platinum and paclitaxel have not been identified. We conducted a retrospective study in patients with EOC who relapsed with isolated brain metastases and report our experience. Two hundred sixty-seven patients with stages III and IV EOC, in clinical complete remission after first-line treatment with platinum and paclitaxel, were included in our analysis. After a median follow-up of 65 months, 150 patients had relapsed. Eight patients (5%) had isolated brain metastases. Patient and disease characteristics did not differ among patients who relapsed with isolated brain metastases and those with relapse outside the CNS. Median time to first disease relapse, overall survival, and survival after relapse did not differ significantly between patients with brain metastases and those with relapse outside the CNS. Two patients have died 6 and 12 months after the diagnosis of brain metastases, and 5 patients are alive 4–35 months after the diagnosis of isolated brain metastases. Three patients remain free of disease 4–18 months after treatment with radiotherapy and systemic chemotherapy for their CNS metastatic disease. Patients with isolated brain metastases have comparable survival to patients with relapse outside the CNS, and long-term remission can be achieved in some cases, provided that systemic chemotherapy is added to local treatment.


Objectives: To compare physicians' perceptions and practice of end-of-life care in the ICU in three East Asian countries cultures similarly rooted in Confucianism. Design: A structured and scenario-based survey of physicians who managed ICU patients from May 2012 to December 2012. Setting: ICUs in China, Korea, and Japan. Subjects: Specialists who are either intensivists or nonintensivist primary attending physicians in charge of patients (195 in China, 186 in Korea, 224 in Japan). Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Country was independently associated with differences in the practice of limiting multiple forms of life-sustaining treatments on multivariable generalized linear model analysis. Chinese respondents were least likely to apply do-not-resuscitate orders, even if they existed (p < 0.001). Japanese respondents were most likely to practice do not resuscitate for terminally ill patients during cardiac arrest, even when no such prior order existed (p < 0.001). Korean respondents' attitudes were in between those of Chinese and Japanese respondents as far as withdrawing total parenteral nutrition, antibiotics, dialysis, and suctioning was concerned. Chinese respondents were most uncomfortable discussing end-of-life care issues with patients, while Japanese respondents were least uncomfortable (p < 0.001). Chinese respondents were more likely to consider financial burden when deciding on limiting life-sustaining treatment (p < 0.001). Japanese respondents felt least exposed to personal legal risks when limiting life-sustaining treatment (p < 0.001), and the Korean respondents most wanted legislation to guide this issue (p < 0.001). The respondents' gender, religion, clinical experience, and primary specialty were also independently associated with the different perceptions of end-of-life care. Conclusions: Despite similarities in cultures and a common emphasis on the role of family, differences exist in physician perceptions and practices of end-of-life ICU care in China, Korea, and Japan. These findings may be due to differences in the degree of Westernization, national healthcare systems, economic status, and legal climate.


Background :  To be a good athlete, an athlete needs to possess good predominant components of physical fitness. Futsal Team of Universitas Padjadjaran has never won any competition. This study was conducted to identify the predominant component profiles of physical fitness of Futsal Team members of Universitas Padjadjaran. The predominant component profiles were classified based on the Indonesian National Sport Committee (KONI) standard. Methods : This study was carried out at the Faculty of Medicine Student Center of Universitas Padjadjaran in November 2012. Twenty two members of the Futsal Team were enrolled as subjects of the study. The study used the step test to examine aerobic endurance; the leg dynamometer to measure leg muscle strength; the squat jump test to test the leg muscle endurance; the vertical jump test to measure leg muscle power; and the sit and reach test to measure lower extremity flexibility. The data collected were analyzed using percentage. Results : Leg muscle strength was mostly in the fair category (95%). Leg muscle power was mostly in the good category (41%). Leg muscle endurance was mostly in the good category (82%). Leg flexibility was mostly in the excellent category (91%) and aerobic endurance was mostly in the good category (41%). Conclusions : Only several members of Universitas Padjadjaran Futsal Team have an excellent physical fitness profile. Most of the members fell into the fair and good category. DOI : 10.15850/amj.v2n3.524


This paper describes the design of a system for extracting keyphrases from a single document The principle of the algorithm is to cluster sentences of the documents in order to highlight parts of text that are semantically related. The clusters of sentences, that reflect the themes of the document, are then analyzed to find the main topics of the text. Finally, the most important words, or groups of words, from these topics are proposed as keyphrases.


Many approaches have been proposed in the literature to enhance the robustness of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based architectures against image distortions. Attempts to combat various types of distortions can be made by combining multiple expert networks, each trained by a certain type of distorted images, which however lead to a large model with high complexity. In this paper, we propose a CNN-based architecture with a pre-processing unit in which only undistorted data are used for training. The pre-processing unit employs discrete cosine transform (DCT) and discrete wavelets transform (DWT) to remove high-frequency components while capturing prominent high-frequency features in the undistorted data by means of random selection. We further utilize the singular value decomposition (SVD) to extract features before feeding the preprocessed data into the CNN for training. During testing, distorted images directly enter the CNN for classification without having to go through the hybrid module. Five different types of distortions are produced in the SVHN dataset and the CIFAR-10/100 datasets. Experimental results show that the proposed DCT-DWT-SVD module built upon the CNN architecture provides a classifier robust to input image distortions, outperforming the state-of-the-art approaches in terms of accuracy under different types of distortions.


Background: Patients waiting for coronary angiography are often anxious and worried, experiencing considerable emotional problems before the procedure, which can result in an increase in blood pressure (BP), heart rate, respiratory rate and the myocardial oxygen demand. Such maladaptive responses may not only increase the patients need for sedative drugs, but also could increase the length of post angiography hospitalization. Therefore, it is important to implement some supportive actions to decrease the patients' anxiety and to stabilize their vital signs before coronary angiography. Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the effects of a multimodal preparation package on vital signs of patients undergoing coronary angiography. Patients and Methods: A matched trial was conducted on 66 patients waiting for coronary angiography. Patients were assigned in intervention (n = 33) and control (n = 33) groups. A multimodal preparation package was implemented in intervention group, two hours before angiography. The data collection instrument consisted of questions on demographic characteristics and a table for recording the patients' vital signs including systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP), heart rate, respiratory rate and body temperature. Vital signs were measured three times, the day before angiography, 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after the angiography, using a thermometer and a monitoring device. Data analysis was performed using the Kolmogo-Smirnov test, t test and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: From the total number of 66 patients, the 63.3% were male and married. No significant differences were observed between the mean of SBP and DBP and also the heart rate in the intervention and control groups, on the day before angiography. However, the mean SBP and DBP and heart rate of the intervention group were significantly lower compared to the control group, both 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after angiography. The intervention did not significantly change the respiration rate and temperature in the intervention group. Conclusions: The study showed that preparation package was effective in decreasing SBP and DBP, as well as heart rate. Therefore, using multimodal comprehensive preparation packages, such as the package used in the present report, is suggested.


The drilling of the wells from surface to target location with conventional drilling fluids may impair production and ultimate recovery by failing to adequately connect the reservoir with the wellbore by damaging the producing interval. One of the most common ways of damaging a formation is the filtration loss. Non Damaging Drilling Fluid (NDDF) is a clay and barite free environmental friendly polymer mud system mostly used in pay zone sections of development wells and specifically in horizontal drilling to avoid formation damage. Starches [(C 6 H 10 O 5 ) n] are an environment-friendly drilling mud additive for water-base drilling fluids used to control the filtration loss. This paper reports the effect and optimum composition of Pre-Gelatinized Starch (PGS) as a filtration control component in the NDDF. PGS is a high-quality nonionic polysaccharide having the Chemical Formula: C 27 H 48 O 20 and Molecular Weight: 692.658020 [g/mol] which controls the filtration loss by sealing the walls of the borehole due to its long chains of monosaccharide. Some clay specifically the montmorillonite a member of the smectite group that generally also found in the payzones of Geleki Oilfield of Upper Assam Basin absorb hydrogen ions into their structure when comes in contact with fresh water and causing swelling of the clay resulting in a reduction of the pore volume and possibly plug in the pore throats. Therefore the filtration loss should be as low as possible by forming high quality low permeable mud cake of as thin as possible. In this work, an attempt has been made to study the effect of varying composition of PGS on the different mud properties of laboratory formulated NDDF and to choose its optimum composition based on the required mud parameters of the study area. Int J Appl Sci Biotechnol, Vol 3(2): 291-300 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijasbt.v3i2.12552


In recent years, three-dimensional (3D) system-in-package (SiP) has been widely recognized as a cost-effective alternative to system-on-chip (SoC). However, successful adoption of 3D SiP requires modifications to existing electronic design automation (EDA) tools to enable 3D SiP designs. In our department, our previous courses focus on SoC design flow. To meet the trend of 3D SiP, we are motivated to develop a new course to offer students the concepts and experiences for 3D SiP design automation. Our teaching materials cover the overall 3D SiP design flow from front-end to back-end within a semester (18 weeks). During the course, students need to implement four computer-aided-design (CAD) tools for 3D SiP design automation. At the end of the semester, the evaluation of the course by students is very positive. Moreover, our students used the topic of 3D SiP design automation to participate in Taiwan IC/CAD contest, which is a national contest hosted by Ministry of Education of Taiwan, and won the first prize awards in year 2009 and year 2010.


Introduction: The aim of this study was the evaluation of two different techniques on post-operative analgesia and motor recovery after hallux valgus correction in one-day surgery patients. Material and Methods: We enrolled 26 patients scheduled for hallux valgus surgery and treated with the same surgical technique (SCARF osteotomy). After subgluteal sciatic nerve block with a short acting local anaesthetic (Mepivacaine 1.5%, 15ml), each patient received an ultrasound-guided Posterior Tibialis Nerve Block (PTNB) with Levobupivacaine 0.5% (7-8ml). We measured the postoperative intensity of pain using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), the consumption of oxycodone after operative treatment and the motor recovery. VAS was detected at baseline (time 0, before the surgery) and at 3, 6, 12 and 24 hours after the operative procedure (T1, T2, T3, T4 respectively). Control group of 26 patients were treated with another post-operative analgesia technique: local infiltration (Local Infiltration Anaesthesia, LIA) with Levobupivacaine 0.5% (15ml) performed by the surgeon. Results: PTNB group showed a significant reduction of VAS score from the sixth hour after surgery compared to LIA group (p<0.028 at T2, p<0.05 at T3 and p<0.002 at T4, respectively). Instead, no significant differences were found in terms of post-operative oxycodone consumption and motor recovery after surgery. Conclusions: PTNB resulted in a valid alternative to LIA approach for post-operative pain control due to its better control of post-operative pain along the first 24 hours. In a multimodal pain management according to ERAS protocol, both PTNB and LIA should be considered as clinically effective analgesic techniques.


OBJECTIVES
A new guideline for the early respiratory management of preterm infants that included early nCPAP and INSURE was recently introduced in our NICU. This case series describes the clinical courses of a group of preterm infants managed according to this guideline, and reports the rates of successful extubation within 30 minutes of surfactant administration with and without the use of naloxone and adverse events encountered.

STUDY DESIGN
Descriptive case series of all preterm babies admitted to our unit who were candidates for INSURE procedure with premedication from August 2012 to August 2013.

RESULTS
A total of 31 infants were included with a mean birth weight of 1178 grams and a mean gestational age of 28.4 weeks. Twelve out of thirteen (92%) infants in the naloxone group were extubated within 30 minutes of surfactant administration while only 12/18 (67%) in the non-naloxone group were extubated within the same time frame. No adverse reactions were noted with naloxone usage in this context.

CONCLUSION
Naloxone can be effective in reversing the respiratory depressive effect of analgesic premedication and in turn facilitates expeditious extubation in some preterm infants intubated for INSURE procedure.


THE ASSOCIATION of clubbing of the fingers with various disease states has interested physicians for many years. Little is known about the pathogenesis of this disturbance. Mendlowitz 1 carefully analyzed all reports of the syndrome in 1942 and grouped all bilateral symmetric cases as acquired, hereditary or idiopathic. The acquired condition was associated with certain pulmonary, cardiac and gastrointestinal disorders and a rarely seen miscellaneous group of diseases. In this last classification was recorded a single case of cystopyelitis, but no other urologic aspects were discussed. The hereditary group was considered to be a separate entity, inherited as a mendelian dominant trait and therefore often affecting other members of the family. In these persons the clubbing appeared early in life, and its association with various diseases was, in Mendlowitz' opinion, simply coincidental. In the so-called idiopathic group a single case associated with urologic abnormalities was cited but not discussed. Mendlowitz


The purpose of this research was to investigate the conceptions and misconceptions of young children (ages 3 – 8) related to science concepts, skills, and phenomena. These conceptions and misconceptions were investigated within the framework of the Pennsylvania Early Learning Standards for Pre-Kindergarten and the Pennsylvania Standards for Kindergarten as developed and published by the Pennsylvania Department of Education in 2005. In addition, the National Science Education Standards also served as a foundation for our research. Findings reveal the most common conceptions related to matter, magnetism, density, and air. Extrapolations from this research can be used by pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and teacher educators to implement experiences in the classroom that assist in developing and refining young children's understandings of scientific concepts, skills, and phenomena.


Study Design. Review of efficacy of Cell Saver in a nonrandomized group of patients undergoing lumbar fusion. Objectives. Determine the necessity and cost-effectiveness of the use of Cell Saver for adult lumbar spine fusions. Summary of Background Data. Specific indications for the use of Cell Saver in adult lumbar fusion surgery have not been clearly determined. In addition to effectiveness in blood replacement, the economic benefits of the Cell Saver have not been evaluated. Methods. A total of 102 consecutive cases of posterolateral fusion with internal fixation were reviewed retrospectively. There were 56 patients in the Cell Saver group and 46 patients in the control group. Recorded hospital medical and financial data were analyzed for each patient. Results. There was a 38% recovery rate of blood using the Cell Saver. This resulted in a decreased need for postoperative transfusion in the study group (1 U to 36% of patients) relative to the control group (1 U to 50% of patients). Significant predictors for surgery time were the number of levels fused (P < 0.0001), patient's weight (P = 0.0030), and use of Cell Saver (P = 0.0472). Significant indicators of blood loss were the number of levels fused (P < 0.0001) and surgical time (P = 0.0304). The average cost for blood-related charges in the Cell Saver group was $512 versus $270 per patient in the control group. Conclusions. While the Cell Saver group did require fewer postoperative transfusions, the difference was not as much as expected. In elective fusions for degenerative conditions of the lumbar spine, blood requirements can usually be satisfied with predonation of autologous blood. With contemporary practices of predonation, the use of the Cell Saver appears to be neither necessary nor cost-effective during most elective lumbar fusions.


Manning's n values for open channel (river) flow have been studied by hydraulic engineers since the late 19th century, and a rich literature exists on the topic including large-scale laboratory experiments and actual field measurements. Both river flood models and shallow water equation tsunami inundation models incorporate the importance of varying equivalent roughness values with the large-scale roughness elements present for different land use types. However, many tsunami models (especially in Japan) use n values based on a very limited set of small-scale model laboratory experiments with inappropriate Reynolds and Weber numbers, instead of using Manning's n values from the open channel flow literature. Due to this, equivalent Manning's n values for vegetated and urban areas in these tsunami inundation models are too small, causing the mitigating effect of forests and urban regions to be underestimated. This paper presents a review of Manning's n research applied to both river flood and tsunami inundation models, and suggests values to improve the reliability of the latter.


The ordinal regression problem is an extension to the standard multiple regression problem in terms of assuming only ordinal properties for the dependent variable (rank order of preferred brands in a product class, academic ranks for students in a class, etc.) while retaining the interval scale assumption for independent (or predictor) variables. The linear programming formulation for obtaining the regression weights for ordinal regression, developed in an earlier paper, is outlined and computational improvements and alternatives which utilize the special structure of this linear program are developed and compared for their computational efficiency and storage requirements. A procedure which solves the dual of the original linear programming formulation by the dual simplex method with upper bounded variables, in addition to utilizing the special structure of the constraint matrix from the point of view of storage and computation, performs the best in terms of both computational efficiency and storage requirements. Using this special procedure, problems with 100 observations and 4 independent variables take less than 1/2 minute, on an average, on the IBM 360/67. Results also show that the linear programming solution procedure for ordinal regression is valid — the correlation coefficient between "true" and predicted values for the dependent variable was greater than .9 for most of the problems tested.


Background and aims. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible effects of obesity on the local (salivary) and systemic TNF-α and IL-6 levels in patients with chronic periodontitis (CP). Materials and methods. This study included 88 subjects assigned to four groups of 22 subjects each, as follows: group O+P+ (patients with obesity and CP), group O-P+ (patients with normal weight and CP), group O+P- (periodontally healthy patients with obesity), and the control group, group O-P- (periodontally healthy patients with normal weight). Serum and salivary samples were obtained a week before the recording of clinical periodontal parameters. Local and systemic TNF-α and IL-6 levels were determined biochemically. Results. In serum and saliva, both TNF-α and IL-6 levels were the lowest in O-P- group (P < 0.05). The highest TNF-α and IL-6 levels were observed in O+P+ group, while only IL-6 levels were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion. Obesity upregulated the salivary and serum levels of TNF-α and IL-6. In patients with periodontitis, who were also obese, the serum and saliva levels of IL-6 were significantly high. Obesity might play a destructive and provocative role in the pathogenesis of periodontitis by negatively affecting IL-6 levels.