Ten clones and 10 hybrids each of four cocoa populations; Nanays (Na), IMCs, Trinidad introduction (Ts) and Parinaris (Pa), were screened for attractiveness and resistance/tolerance to the capsid, Sahlbergella singularis (Hagl.). Two screening methods; a laboratory 'microtest' and an insectary test were used to determine the attractiveness of the genotypes to capsids. In addition, seedlings exposed to capsids in the insectary were observed under ' semi-field' conditions to assess their tolerance and ability to outgrow capsid damage. The laboratory microtest on the clonal materials established the Parinaris (2.27 lesions/chupon) as the most preferred population followed by the Ts (2.20 lesions/ chupon), the IMCs (1.97 lesions/chupon) and the Nanays (1.55 lesions/chupons) in that order. Pa 7/808 (3.25 lesions/chupon) was the most susceptible clone. The Nanays, Na 744 (1.15 lesions/chupon), Na 225 (1.19 lesions/chupon), Na 427 (1.29 lesions/ chupon) and Na260 (1.38 lesions/chupon) were the least susceptible clones. Results from the insectary preference tests followed the same order with the Parinari clones emerging as the most preferred and the Nanays as the least preferred. Preference test on hybrids in the insectary showed that the IMC crosses (4.99 lesions/seedling) were the most preferred, followed by the Parinari crosses (4.78 lesions/seedling), the T crosses (4.71 lesions/seedling) and Nanays (4.18 lesions/ seedling) in that order. In the semi-field tests, some level of tolerance was observed in both the clonal and hybrid materials but growth measurements showed that the latter were more vigorous. The Parinari clones recorded the highest mean increase in height (25.8cm in 8 weeks) whilst the remaining three populations, IMCs (9.5cm in 8 weeks), Ts (8.7cm in 8 weeks) and Na (5.9cm in 8 weeks) showed no significant differences (P>0.05) in growth. For the hybrids, the Nanays (32.0cm in 8 weeks), Ts (28.9cm in 8 weeks) and the Parinaris (27.65cm in 8 weeks) showed no significant differences in increments in height (P>0.05) but growth in all three populations were significantly higher than in the IMC population (19.24cm in 8 weeks). T17/524 xIMC 76 (13.60cm in 8 weeks) recorded the lowest height increment among all hybrids. The Nanays (2.87cm in 8 weeks), Parinaris (2.8cm in 8 weeks) and IMCs (2.59cm in 8 weeks) showed no significant differences in girth increments (P>0.05) but increase in girth for the Nanays and Parinaris differed significantly from increases in girth of Ts (2.36cm in 8 weeks). With a few exceptions among the Parinari clones some hybrid varieties, height and girth increments in seedlings exposed to capsids were significantly much lower than increments in seedlings that were not exposed to capsids (controls). Results from all the experiments conducted in the present study indicate that some of the Nanay hybrids (Na 744 x Pa 7/808, Na 440 x Pa 7/808, Na 279 x IMC 76, Na 260 x IMC 76), some Parinari hybrids (Pa 16 xN a33, Pa 150 x IMC 76, Pa 107 x IMC 76, Pa 7/808 x T16/613, Pa 184 x T16/613), and some T hybrids (T85/ 799 x Pa 7/808, T79/501 x IMC 76, T63/971 x IMC 76, T65/238 x Na 33, T79/467 x Pa7/808) and some Parinari clones (Pa 107, Pa 118 Pa 121 and Pa 7/808) are potential materials for the development of cocoa genotypes that are resistant/tolerant to capsid attack. Other clonal and hybrid materials such as T79/501, T79/467, T85/ 799, IMC 76, IMC 68 x IMC 49, IMC 11 x IMC 22, IMC 36 x IMC 47 and IMC 49 x IMC 68 which did not differ significantly in height and girth increments from the controls should be further investigated in future experiments to confirm their potential as breeding materials for capsid control.


The number of patients suffering from obstructive arterial disease is still increasing. Stimulation of a patient's collateralization (arteriogenesis), though an auspicious therapeutic approach, is still not part of current therapy regimes. Further studies on the molecular level are needed to understand the genetic regulation in this process. The transcription factor early growth response 1 (Egr1) was shown to partic-ipate in leukocyte recruitment and cell proliferation in vitro. This work contributes to the acquisition of new insights into its mode of action in vivo.
Using a model of peripheral arteriogenesis, Egr1 was found significantly upregulated in growing col-laterals of wild-type mice (WT), both on mRNA (2.24fold) and protein level (2.3fold). Egr1 stained positive in EC and vSMCs of collaterals as well as in nerves. In LDI measurements conducted over the period of 21 days evidenced a delayed perfusion recovery after femoral artery ligation in Egr1-/- mice compared to WT mice (day7: 0.46±0.05 in Egr1-/- vs. WT (0.73±0.04), day 14: 0.65±0.02 in Egr1-/- vs. 0.88±0.04 in WT and day 21: 0.79 ±0.03 in Egr1-/- vs. 0.96±0.02 in WT). Under baseline conditions, Egr1-/- showed increased levels of monocytes (521.89±52.9 cells/µl vs. 326.56±21.6 cells/µl in WT) and granulocytes (811.79±79.96 cells/µl vs. WT 559.88±34.57 cells/µl) in the circulation but reduced levels in adductor muscles (18.14±2.73 cells/µl vs. 51.22±4.38 cells/µl in WT) as evidenced by FACS analyses. After femoral artery ligation, more macrophages were detected in the perivascular space of collateral arteries in Egr1-/- (8.10±0.99 per vessel) vs. WT (6.12±0.45 per vessel) mice. The mRNA of leukocyte recruitment mediators monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) were found upregulated in both groups. Whereas other Egr family members (Egr2-4) did not show an upregulation in WT collateral arteries, they were found significantly upregulated in Egr1-/- mice suggesting a mechanism of counter-balancing Egr1 deficiency. A closer look at cell cycle regulators revealed that cyclin E and cdc20 were found upregulated in WT as well as in Egr1-/- mice. However, cyclin D1 was hardly detectable under Egr1 deficiency conferring Egr1 an unique role for cyclin D1 transcription. vSMC phenotype switch is a critical step towards vSMC proliferation and therefore arteriogenesis. In this context, the downregu-lation of alpha smooth muscle actin (αSM-actin) and of the transcriptional repressor, splicing factor-1 (SF-1) has been shown to be critical in vitro. During arteriogenesis, SF-1 has been found downregulat-ed in collaterals of WT mice but was 1.64fold upregulated in Egr1-/-. Similar was true for αSM-actin. Whereas in WT mice αSM-actin is downregulated at 12h after ligation Egr1 deficient mice evidenced an upregulation of αSM-actin. The strong upregulation of the nonselective proliferation marker ki67 in WT mice was not detectable under Egr1 deficiency evidencing furthermore a delay in vascular cell proliferation. Conclusion: Compensation for deficiency of Egr1 function in leukocyte recruitment can be mediated by other transcription factors; however, Egr1 is indispensable for effective vascular cell cycle progression and phenotype switch in arteriogenesis.


With over 300 million B-Bbar pairs delivered by the PEP-II B-factory, and over 200 publications, the Babar experiment has studied a very broad range of B, charm, tau, and QCD topics. In fact, the physics at Babar is so wide-ranging that it threatens to overwhelm any summary. Instead, in this colloquium I will focus on just a few topics selected for their potential to find a truly unexpected result. These include CP violation in rare B decays, leptonic B decays, and lepton-flavor violating tau decays. Each measurement, the currently predicted result, and the potential for uncovering the unexpected now and into the future, will be gently, but thoroughly, described.


2-Deoxy-~-glucose (deGlc), D-glucosamine (GA) and L-sorbose (Sor) inhibited extension of Coprinus lagopus hyphae; deGlc was about four times more inhibitory than GA, while the latter was about five times more inhibitory than Sor. The inhibitory effects were not uniformly additive. There were indications that the analogues competed with one another, suggesting they shared at least one point of action. Acetate and fructose were virtually ineffective in reversing the inhibitory effect. Glucose was 10 times more effective than mannose and about IOO times more effective than fructose or acetate in reversing inhibition. The fact that the analogues inhibited most on media which either lacked normal carbon source or which contained acetate was interpreted as indicating that growth-rate inhibitions which occurred on media containing hexose sugar did not result from any significant effect on sugar transport. All three analogues caused gross morphological changes. The most characteristic aberration was a distinct swelling of the hyphal tip. This was most severe with GA which caused the tip cell to balloon into a spheroid some five to six times the diameter of the subtending hypha. The most extreme consequence of swelling occurred on media containing deGlc; after swelling to two to three times their normal diameters, tips frequently became vacuolated and often burst. Tip lysis was not observed on media containing either GA or Sor.


Fast-dissolving oral delivery systems are solid dosage forms, which disintegrate or dissolve within 1 min when placed in the mouth without drinking water or chewing. More recently, fast-dissolving films are gaining interest as an alternative to fast-dissolving tablets to definitely eliminate patient?s fear of chocking and overcome patent impediments. Fast-dissolving films are generally constituted of plasticized hydrocolloids or blends made of thereof that can be laminated by solvent casting or hot-melt extrusion. Thin film drug delivery, also referred to as orally dissolving thin film, and has emerged as an advanced alternative to the traditional tablets, capsules and liquids often associated with prescription and OTC medications. Similar in size, shape and thickness to a postage stamp, thin film strips are typically designed for oral administration, with the person placing the strip on or under the tongue or along the inside of the cheek. Thin film enables the drug to be delivered to the blood stream either intragastrically, buccally or sublingually. The sublingual and buccal delivery of a drug via thin film has the potential to improve the onset of action, lower the dosing, and enhance the efficacy and safety profile of the medicament. The 2-year-old, melt-in-your-mouth delivery system certainly has gained traction among consumers since the 2001 introduction of Pfizer's Listerine Pocket Packs. And now many OTC suppliers are banking on that consumer acceptance as they try to leverage the thin strip technology against a new generation of self-care remedies. There are currently several projects in development that will deliver prescription drugs utilizing the thin film dosage form.


November 5, 1997 This paper presents a micro-level historical and theoretical analysis of Genoa's economic and political history during the twelfth and thirteenth century by examining the factors influencing the extent to which its political system was self-enforcing and their change over time. It combines narrative and theoretical analysis to resolve questions that can not be resolved by either narrative or theory alone. Although the Genoese Commune was voluntarily established in the hope to gain from economic and political cooperation, sustaining its self-enforcing nature constrained such cooperation. Cooperation was thus determined by the magnitude of factors, such as external military threat that relaxed this constraint. It took a century before learning and the increasing cost of non-cooperation induced organizational innovation that enhanced economic growth and political order by fostering the extent to which Genoa was a self-enforcing political system irrespectively of external threat.


The majority of current security architectures for grid systems use public key infrastructure (PKI) to authenticate identities of grid members and to secure resource allocation to these members. Identity-based secret public keys have some attractive properties which seem to align well with the demands of grid computing. In this Paper, we proposed identity-based secret public keys. Our new identity-based approach allows secret public keys to be constructed in a very natural way using arbitrary random strings, eliminating the structure found in, for example, RSA or Diffie-Hellman keys. We examine identity-based secret public key protocols and give informal security analyses which show that they may well be secure against online password guessing and other attacks. More importantly, we present an identity-based secret public key version of the standard TLS protocol. Our new protocol allows passwords to be tied directly to the establishment of secure TLS channels.


Executive summary
How we eat has a major impact on our individual health status, our quality of life and our well-being. Many of the foods we eat have a major social, environmental, climate and animal welfare footprint. This expertise defines policies to promote sustainability in food consumption as policies that integrate all four target dimensions: human health, social aspects, the natural environment (including climate) and animal welfare (Figure ES-1: The four key goals of more sustainability in food consumption ("Big Four"), see article). Achieving greater sustainability in food consump-tion poses great challenges. The necessary progress can only be achieved with a comprehensive transformation of today's food system.The question of what constitutes greater sustainability in food consumption is more difficult to answer than often assumed by the public. As consumers, we are at the same time confronted with food environments that run counter to more sustainable shopping and eating habits. In view of this, the WBAE recommends that consumers should be given much more support in achieving greater sustainability in food consumption through the design of appropriate food environments. To this end, it is first of all necessary to reduce factors in today's prevailing food environments that hamper sustainability in food consumption (e.g. large portion sizes and high advertising expendi-ture on unhealthy foods). Secondly, it is important to offer food choices that are more health-promoting and have greater social, environmental and animal-welfare compatibility to make it eas-ier to identify more sustainable options, to facilitate access to information and to set price incen-tives that entice consumers to opt for the more sustainable choice.
The WBAE describes such food and eating environments as fair, because and insofar as they are (1) attuned to our human perception, decision-making possibilities and behaviour; and (2) are more health-promoting and have greater social, ecological and animal-welfare compatibility and thus contribute to sustaining the livelihoods of the world's current and future generations.Existing conditions and environments in Germany are not very conducive to sustainability, too much responsibility is shifted to the individual and many available support instruments are not used. This expertise shows that Germany is lagging behind other European countries in this area. Emphasising the importance of appropriate food environments thus implies that a national policy for promoting sustainability in food consumption should use significantly more and deeper inter-ventions, such as incentive taxes. In this expert opinion, the WBAE provides recommendations for a number of significant steps towards fair food environments. One main approach is to provide high-quality and free school and preschool meals.The WBAE recommends a comprehensive reorientation and strengthening of the food policies, integrating the following four dimensions of sustainability: health, social aspects, environment and animal welfare. This requires policy to adopt a learning approach based on long-term, verifiable objectives. The necessary mix of instruments should be systematically tested, evaluated and adapted based on evidence. This necessitates stronger networking between the ministries (espe-cially between the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry for the Environment) and between the various levels of government (ranging from the municipal level to EU level), as well as the scaling-up of personnel capacities with considerable budgetary increases for food and nutrition policy.The proposed integrated food policy, with its coordinated mix of policy instruments and greater intervention intensity than hitherto (Figure ES-2: Key policy recommendations of the expertise, see article) constitutes an important and necessary step to protect our health and environment, enhance cli-mate stewardship, mitigate food poverty, ensure compliance with minimum social standards and enhance animal welfare. Fair food environments protect and benefit all of us. Implementation of the recommended measures requires considerable additional governmental expenditure. How-ever, in relation to the current high costs of our present food consumption for society and individ-uals, and the expected high (follow-up) costs in the future, this additional expenditure represents a worthwhile investment in our society as a whole. Postponing the necessary reorientation would exacerbate both the problems to be addressed and the need for adjustment. The analysis pre-sented in this expertise shows:
                      A comprehensive transformation of the food system is meaningful, feasible and should begin without delay.


This article reports the thermomechanical sensitivity of bimaterial cantilevers over a mid-infrared (IR) spectral range (5–10 μm) that is critical both for chemical analyses via vibrational spectroscopy and for direct thermal detection in the 300–700 K range. A physics-based model of cantilever bending was developed by including heat transfer to and within the cantilever, temperature-dependent cantilever bending, and cantilever and optical system IR characteristics. Detailed measurements of the optical system IR characteristics were used as inputs to the model, including Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectral characterization of cantilever absorbance as well as characterization of the light source and monochromator. Mechanical bending sensitivity and noise were modeled and measured for six commercially available microcantilevers, which consist of either an aluminum film on a silicon cantilever or a gold film on a silicon nitride cantilever. The spectral sensitivity of each cantilever was measured by recording cantilever deflection when illuminated with IR light from a monochromator. Predictions of cantilever bending sensitivity and noise compare very well with measurements over the entire spectral range with no fitting parameters or normalization. The results are used to rank the cantilevers for their potential use in IR measurements.


Dated to the 1240s, the Florence manuscript (F: Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. 29.1) is the earliest surviving source to contain a collection of motets. The exclusively Latin-texted motets in F are widely regarded as the oldest layer(s) of pieces in this new genre. This study closely analyses three motets in F, demonstrating that they are Latin contrafacta reworkings of vernacular motets extant only in chronologically later sources. It traces the influences of secular, vernacular refrains in two supposedly liturgical clausulae in F, proposing that these clausulae are textless transcriptions of French motets, and engages with wider questions concerning scribal practices, the relationship between sine littera and cum littera notations and issues of consonance and dissonance. Reasons as to why clausulae might have been transcribed in F and the possible extent of vernacular influences in this manuscript are explored. These findings challenge established chronological narratives of motet development. The three case studies offer methodological models, demonstrating ways in which relationships between clausulae and Latin and French motets can be tested and their relative chronologies established.


A sludge composite modifier (SCM) which comprises a mixture of three cementitious components was proposed for sludge drying and stabilization. Effect of SCM components on sludge moisture content was analyzed using uniform design and the optimum composition of SCM was determined by computer-aided modeling and optimization. To compare the drying effect of SCM, quicklime, and Portland cement, the effects of material content and curing time on moisture content of sludge were also studied. The results showed that the optimum ratio of modifier component was slag/cement clinker/dihydrate gypsum = 0.64/0.292/0.068 and the moisture content of SCM-stabilized sludge decreased with the increasing material content and extending curing time. Besides, the experimental results showed that optimized SCM behaved better than quicklime and Portland cement in sludge semi-drying and XRD analysis revealed that the main hydrated product of stabilization was ettringite, which played an important role in the effective drying process. Sewage sludge stabilized using SCM could be used as an effective landfill cover.


Accurate layout estimation is crucial for planning and navigation in robotics applications, such as self-driving. In this paper, we introduce the Stereo Bird's Eye View Network (SBEVNet), a novel supervised end-to-end framework for estimation of bird's eye view layout from a pair of stereo images. Although our network reuses some of the building blocks from the state-of-the-art deep learning networks for disparity estimation, we show that explicit depth estimation is neither sufficient nor necessary. Instead, the learning of a good internal bird's eye view feature representation is effective for layout estimation. Specifically, we first generate a disparity feature volume using the features of the stereo images and then project it to the bird's eye view coordinates. This gives us coarse-grained information about the scene structure. We also apply inverse perspective mapping (IPM) to map the input images and their features to the bird's eye view. This gives us fine-grained texture information. Concatenating IPM features with the projected feature volume creates a rich bird's eye view representation which is useful for spatial reasoning. We use this representation to estimate the BEV semantic map. Additionally, we show that using the IPM features as a supervisory signal for stereo features can give an improvement in performance. We demonstrate our approach on two datasets: the KITTI (Geiger et al., 2013) dataset and a synthetically generated dataset from the CARLA (Dosovitskiy et al., 2017) simulator. For both of these datasets, we establish state-of-the-art performance compared to baseline techniques. 1


Let A be a unital simple C∗-algebra with tracial rank zero and X be a compact metric space. Suppose that h1, h2 : C(X) → A are two unital monomorphisms. We show that h1 and h2 are approximately unitarily equivalent if and only if [h1] = [h2] in KL(C(X), A) and τ ◦ h1(f) = τ ◦ h2(f) for every f ∈ C(X) and every trace τ of A. Adopting a theorem of Tomiyama, we introduce a notion of approximate conjugacy for minimal dynamical systems. Let X be a compact metric space and α, β : X → X be two minimal homeomorphisms. Using the above mentioned result, we show that two dynamical systems are approximately conjugate in that sense if and only if a K-theoretical condition is satisfied. In the case that X is the Cantor set, this notion coincides with strong orbit equivalence of Giordano, Putnam and Skau and the K-theoretical condition is equivalent to saying that the associate crossed product C∗-algebras are isomorphic. Another application of the above mentioned result is given for C∗-dynamical systems related to a problem of Kishimoto. Let A be a unital simple AH-algebra with no dimension growth and with real rank zero, and let α ∈ Aut(A). We prove that if αr fixes a large subgroup of K0(A) and has the tracial Rokhlin property then A ⋊α Z is again a unital simple AH-algebra with no dimension growth and with real rank zero.


ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that intravascular acid infusion promotes intrapulmonary nitric oxide formation by promoting inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and inhibiting endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression in rats. DesignProspective, placebo controlled, randomized laboratory study. SettingUniversity laboratory. SubjectsTwelve male Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 317 ± 30 g served as study subjects. All animals were anesthetized, paralyzed, and mechanically ventilated throughout the experiment. InterventionsThe animals were randomized to receive either 0.1 N hydrochloric acid or 0.9% saline intravenously. The infusions were initially given at a rate of 11 mL/kg/hr for 15 mins and then at a rate of 0.95 mL/kg/hr for the remainder of the experiment. Exhaled nitric oxide concentrations and hemodynamic measurements were monitored throughout the experiment. Lung tissues were harvested for Western blot analysis and immunostaining 4 hrs after starting the intravascular infusion. Measurement and Main ResultsAt the end of the experiment, we found more than a four-fold higher concentration of exhaled nitric oxide in the acid-treated animals than in the saline-treated animals (p < .001). Western blot analysis revealed that the acid infusion increased intrapulmonary iNOS concentrations (p < .001), yet it decreased intrapulmonary eNOS concentrations (p = .009). Acid-related lung injury manifested as a decrease in blood oxygen tensions (p = .045) and as an increase in lung homogenate interleukin-6 concentrations (p = .003). ConclusionsOur results reveal that hydrochloric acid infusion stimulates intrapulmonary nitric oxide formation at least in part by promoting the expression of iNOS. Our findings suggest that correcting acidosis should attenuate iNOS formation. Our data also support the idea that metabolic acidosis itself can lead to impaired intrapulmonary gas exchange and increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-6. Whether the induction of intrapulmonary nitric oxide formation mediates or simply indicates lung injury warrants further investigation.


Conceptual cost estimation during the early stage of a construction project plays important role for feasibility analysis and project planning. Traditional approaches rely heavily on experienced engineers, and may cause loss of conceptual estimation knowledge of the firm. This paper proposes a method integrates a previous developed conceptual cost estimation method (PIREM) with the ANFIS neuro-fuzzy system for mining of cost estimation data. A case study of residential building projects in Mainland China is conducted to test the proposed method. The testing results show that the proposed method does not only achieve high system accuracy, but also provide many features desirable for estimators such as explicit fuzzy decision rules and graphical sensitivity analysis presentation.


Recent studies suggest that the extraordinary success of invasive ants may be facilitated by facultative mutualisms with honeydew-producing insects. I evaluate this possibility in a review of the literature, focusing on five invasive ants that exhibit exceptionally large populations and whose impacts are considered to be most severe: Anoplolepis gracilipes (FR. SMITH, 1857), Linepithema humile (MAYR, 1868), Pheidole megacephala (FABRICIUS, 1793), Solenopsis invicta BUREN, 1972, and Wasmannia auropunctata (ROGER, 1863). For each, I consider whether they are strongly associated with honeydew-producing insects in their introduced range, whether honeydew or its constituent nutritional components can promote large population sizes, whether honeydew is utilized to a greater extent in the introduced than native range, and whether the ants promote larger populations of honeydew-producing insects, thereby further increasing honeydew availability. While each of these questions could not all be answered for all species, the evidence is consistent overall with the importance of honeydew-producing insects to invasive ants. Nevertheless, definitive studies remain to be conducted. Important questions to address include whether invasive ants are strongly associated with honeydew-producing insects throughout the broad geographic ranges they often occupy, and if the degree of association varies among locations, whether those locations also exhibit concordant differences in the size and impacts of invasive ant populations. In addition, it remains unclear whether associating with honeydew-producing insects may only be important in facilitating large populations of invasive ants, or whether those associations may also be important in determining if an introduced species actually becomes invasive. Finally, much of the work to date has focused on the characteristics of invasive ants, and little is known about the honeydew-producing insects that may promote them. What is known suggests that those most important to invasive ants may often be introduced or invasive themselves, and if so they may also exhibit important traits that facilitate their abundance at introduced locations.


Prior, Barry M., H. T. Yang, and Ronald L. Terjung. What makes vessels grow with exercise training?J Appl Physiol 97: 1119–1128, 2004; 10.1152/ japplphysiol.00035.2004.—Exercise and muscle contractions create a powerful stimulus for structural remodeling of the vasculature. An increase in flow velocity through a vessel increases shear stress, a major stimulus for enlargement of conduit vessels. This leads to an endothelial-dependent, nitric oxide-dependent enlargement of the vessel. Increased flow within muscle, in the absence of contractions, leads to an enhanced capillarity by intussusceptive angiogenesis, a process of capillary splitting by intraluminal longitudinal divide. In contrast, sprouting angiogenesis requires extensive endothelial cell proliferation, with degradation of the extracellular matrix to permit migration and tube formation. This occurs during muscle adaptations to chronic contractions and/or muscle overload. The angiogenic growth factor VEGF appears to be an important element in angiogenesis. Recent advances in research have identified hemodynamic and mechanical stimuli that upregulate angiogenic processes, demonstrated a complexity of potent growth factors and interactions with their corresponding receptors, detected an interaction of cellular signaling events, and identified important tissue reorganization processes that must be coordinated to effect vascular remodeling. It is likely that much of this information is applicable to the vascular remodeling that occurs in response to exercise and/or muscle contractions.


Thanks to advancements in communication and online social media, there has been a surge of useful online educational resources across the Internet. In addition to supplementing educational materials, these resources could be used in varying education research and potentially advance the quality of education. Nevertheless, conducting such research projects requires using big data techniques and approaches to find meaningful resources and harnessing them in an effective way. In this chapter, we present a roadmap for how to incorporate online social media in education research projects. The roadmap consists of three major components: project initialization, data collection, and data utilization. Furthermore, we present some learned lessons, tips, and tricks, as well as case studies from the Teachers in Social Media project (www.teachersinsocialmedia.com/). We believe this chapter can be used as a practical reference point for many researchers whose concern is connecting data to their education research endeavors.


Eighty percent of intersex cases are due to congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) where the genitalia and/or the secondary sex characters do not allow a gender classification. There is prenatal and postnatal androgen excess in CAH due to a defect in the genes of the enzymes responsible for steroidogenesis. The most common cause of CAH, 21-hydroxilase deficiency, is associated with the masculinization of genitalia and behavior. In 46 XX CAH cases the common practice is to re-reassign the newborn's gender as female, even in cases with severe virilization. However, there is no consensus in terms of gender reassignment for the cases that were diagnosed at a later period in their lives. In some 46 XX CAH cases, which were diagnosed after the age of 2 and reassigned as female, gender disphoria has been reported and some of these cases have chosen to lead their lives as male. In this paper gender re-reassignment in a case of 46 XX congenital adrenal hyperplasia with former feminizing genitoplasty has been discussed in terms of the reasons, such as the degree of virilization, gender of rearing, timing of the genitoplasty and androgen excess, behind maladaptation to female gender along with similar cases from the literature.


This article aims at presenting policy recommendations for Turkish decision makers with a view to address Turkey's needs to ensure effective and timely development assistance to fragile states. The analysis begins with a quick look at the controversial relation between aid, growth and poverty in order to provide a basis for understanding aid effectiveness as well as some of the ongoing debates and limitations in the development assistance field. It then gives an insight on the current state of Turkey's development assistance to fragile states and briefly explains major characteristics of Turkey's aid policies and practices in fragile state contexts. The study focuses on describing the necessity for shifting Turkey's development assistance paradigm and is concluded with recommending a new paradigm along with its operational framework in three pillars namely; Institutionalizing Peace, Building the Functional State and Risk Distribution.


Abstract A new calibration was performed for the molecular CO2 band at 2349 cm-1 in the infrared absorption spectra of rhyolitic glasses. Glasses with varying amounts of CO2 (730-3900 ppm by weight) and H2O (0.5-7.0 wt%) were synthesized in an internally heated pressure vessel at 200-800 MPa and 1100 and 1200 °C. The CO2 content of the glasses was measured by coulometric CO2-titration after thermal extraction at 1200 °C. It is shown that the entire CO2 content cannot be extracted from a rhyolitic glass at this temperature. Using the Lambert-Beer law, and taking into account the residual CO2 still present in the glasses after extraction, we have calculated a linear molar absorption coefficient of 1214 ± 78 L⋅cm-1/mol for the band at 2349 cm-1. Strictly, this value is a practical absorption coefficient because the IR band intensity is related to the total CO2 content and not to the molecular CO2 content. However, no direct evidence for other carbon species such as carbonate groups is found in the IR spectra. Hence, we suggest that the concentration of carbonate in the studied metaluminous rhyolite is negligible and the derived value is close to the real absorption coefficient for molecular CO2. The absorption coefficient does not vary noticeably with changing water content of the glasses. With the new calibration, CO2 concentrations in rhyolitic glasses are 13% higher than data based on the previous calibration of Blank (1993) for water-poor glasses.


Techniques that identify the active constraints at a solution of a nonlinear programming problem from a point near the solution can be a useful adjunct to nonlinear programming algorithms. They have the potential to improve the local convergence behavior of these algorithms and in the best case can reduce an inequality constrained problem to an equality constrained problem with the same solution. This paper describes several techniques that do not require good Lagrange multiplier estimates for the constraints to be available a priori, but depend only on function and first derivative information. Computational tests comparing the effectiveness of these techniques on a variety of test problems are described. Many tests involve degenerate cases, in which the constraint gradients are not linearly independent and/or strict complementarity does not hold.


UNLABELLED
Spinal cord injury (SCI) causes a high incidence of motor and sensory dysfunctions accompanied with neuropathic pain. No effective treatment is available. Both somatosensory evoked potential (SSEP) and neuropathic pain (NPP) are transmitted via myelinated large diameter fibers of deep sensory pathways. Here we aimed to evaluate whether SSEP can consistently and objectively assess transmission of deep sensory pathways, and to examine the effects of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell (UCMSC) transplantation on SSEP and NPP as assessed by the pain rating index (PRI) in a patient with a 2-year history of complete cervical SCI. We demonstrate that SSEP can directly reflect physiological function of myelinated large fibers in deep sensory pathway transmission (NPP is also transmitted by the same pathway). One year after UCMSC transplantation, the SSEP parameter, PRI, and clinical presentations of NPP significantly improved.

KEY WORDS
Spinal cord, neuropathic pain, somatosensory evoked potential, umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.


A 72-year-old man undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) for chronic renal failure and who had undergone right upper lobectomy for lung adenocarcinoma (pT2aN0M0) 2 years ago was admitted for recurrence of lung cancer presenting as multiple brain metastases. An epidermal growth factor receptor mutation analysis of his lung cancer revealed a deletion of 15 nucleotides (E746-A750) in exon 19. After whole-brain radiotherapy, we started daily administration of 250 mg gefitinib under the continuation of CAPD and performed a pharmacokinetic analysis. We speculated that the plasma concentration of gefitinib reached the steady state at least by day 16 after the start of gefitinib (626.6 ng/ml at trough level). On day 46, the plasma concentration was 538.4 ng/ml at trough level and the concentration in the peritoneal dialysis fluid was 34.6 ng/ml, suggesting that CAPD appeared to have little effect on the pharmacokinetics of gefitinib. During gefitinib therapy, there were no significant adverse events except for grade 2 diarrhea. Gefitinib could be safely administered to a patient undergoing CAPD.


The provision of care for the elderly by the elderly does not attract much attention in either Tanzania or Indonesia, as communities consider this care arrangement to be incompatible with normative values. Differences in care arrangements and practices are observable through ethnographic comparison; nevertheless, in both contexts most elderly caregivers develop considerable social agency in the context of problematic changes in health to their aged care recipients. In critical health moments, recourse to younger family and kin members as normative carers takes place, in Tanzania through pressure from kin, and in Indonesia through negotiation among kin. Non-kin care by old persons is encountered rarely or never in both study regions. However, different forms of care institutions managed by elderly principals are becoming increasingly important, not least as gatekeepers for new concepts of care for the elderly.


The Brueckner-Hartree-Fock formalism is applied to study spin polarized neutron matter properties. Results of the total energy per particle as a function of the spin polarization and density are presented for two modern realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions, Nijmegen II and Reid93. We find that the dependence of the energy on the spin polarization is practically parabolic in the full range of polarizations. The magnetic susceptibility of the system is computed. Our results show no indication of a ferromagnetic transition which becomes even more difficult as the density increases.


strengthening can be the policy mechanism which, brings GHS and UHC together, elevating health and mitigating risk for all. AbSTrACT Global health security and universal health coverage have been frequently considered as "two sides of the same coin". Yet, greater analysis is required as to whether and where these two ideals converge, and what important differences exist. A consequence of ignoring their individual characteristics is to distort global and local health priorities in an effort to streamline policymaking and funding activities. This paper examines the areas of convergence and divergence between global health security and universal health coverage, both conceptually and empirically. We consider analytical concepts of risk and human rights as fundamental to both goals, but also identify differences in priorities between the two ideals. We support the argument that the process of health system strengthening provides the most promising mechanism of benefiting both goals.


It is believed that groundwater discharges from the seabed of the coastal zone of Hiji, Oita prefecture. The marbled sole which lives around this submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) is called the "Shirosita Karei", and is held in high regard by the local community. From ancient times, local people have believed that this Shirosita Karei grows because of SGD. However, the eco-logical link between marbled sole and SGD has not been well established. Moreover, although it is clear that there is SGD in the area, there is almost no information about the origin and dissolved components of the SGD. In this study, we directly collected SGD and analyzed its chemical composition and water stable isotopes. Additionally, we analyzed the chemical composition and water stable isotopes of the inland cold spring water. We considered the origin of the SGD by comparing the result of the SGD analysis and the inland cold spring analysis. Since we expected that the temperature of SGD would be different than seawater, we used a thermometer for the identification of the discharge location. We inserted a stainless steel pipe in the identified location and collected SGD water. The sodium concentration from the collected SGD water was 12.1 mg/l, indicating fresh water. The isotopic composition of the SGD water resembled that of the inland cold spring water. The recharge area of the inland cold spring water is at an elevation of 200 m or more. These results suggest that the SGD water comes from an elevation of 200 m or more. It indicates that the origin of SGD is water recharged in the forest area of the mountain slope, and that the water moves under the plain and is discharged at the seabed.


The phenyl sulfide bridged metallocene complex [(C5H5)Cl2TiC5H4CH2(C6H4-p)]2S has been synthesized by treating the dilithium salts of the phenyl sulfide bridged cyclopentadienyl ligand with two equivalents of C5H5TiCl3 and characterized by 1HMNR and elemental analysis. After activation with methylaluminoxane (MAO), the complex was highly active catalysts for homogeneous ethylene polymerization in toluene. The influence of the molar ratio [MAO]/[Cat], the catalyst concentration, time and temperature have been studied systematically. The highest catalytic activity of 1 is up to 8.30×105 g PE/mol•Cat•h. Rising the polymerization temperature decreases the catalytic activity for 1. High temperature gel permeation chromatography (HT-GPC) proves the production of polyethylene with a broad molecular weight distribution (MWD), which is reached 10.11.


Customization aims to improve the performance of pure object-oriented languages by compiling multiple copies of a source method, each of them specialized for a certain revceiver type. Like other code duplication techniques, it gains performance by trading code space for better speed. Unfortunately, customization can significantly increase code space, especially for larger programs. We show that customization increases memory usage by almost a factor of three for some applications in the Self-93 system. We analyze and quantify the factors that lead to this space overhead and identify strategies to eliminate most of it. We focus on dynamically-compiled systems like Self-93 where it is impractical or undesirable to use whole-program analysis or programmer-directed profiling to guide customization decisions. Our experiments show that a combination of relatively straightforward strategies can bring the code space consumption of customization to within 34% or less of a completely non-customizing system. Thus, even in dynamically-compiled systems customization and efficient memory usage need not be mutually exclusive.


A variety of applications require a constant pressure vapor supply for processes such as purging fluid systems. A typical design would use a high pressure tank of gas (e.g. helium) along with a mechanical pressure regulator to deliver a constant pressure flow. An alternative concept for the vapor source is to use a tank containing a saturated liquid-vapor mixture. As the vapor is drawn off of the top of the tank, the temperature of the mixture is controlled to maintain the desired vapor delivery pressure. The potential advantage of this approach is that the vapor supply system can be designed to be lighter, more compact, and safer.An experiment was designed to test the practicality of this concept in a small scale system. Carbon dioxide was chosen for the saturated mixture due to its availability, safety, and desirable operating pressures near ambient temperature levels. The apparatus was designed to allow for the measurement of relevant temperatures and pressures over a range of vapor delivery flow rates. Temperature control of the supply tank was accomplished by submergence in an ice bath. The experimental results confirm that this type of system can produce a well regulated vapor supply at low flow rates, but fails to produce steady pressures at higher delivery flows due to limitations of the heat transfer process in the supply tank.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The student health services developed in our universities during the past 50 years resemble facilities elsewhere; more than first-aid posts, they teach us to respect and cherish young people who seek help and spur us to find the best ways to work with them. Encounters with students may begin with consultations about everyday problems, but well managed sore throats and sprained ankles can be door openers for more serious questions.


In northwestern Washington State, the United States Border Patrol expanded its operations inland from the international boundary with Canada in 2007. The expansion resulted in the frequent questioning and detention of community members who are Latino, non-timber forest workers, and people of color until such practices became less common by 2012. These tactics reflect a broader pattern of racial profiling through inland policing implemented across the US border with Canada. In this paper, I make the case for a critical race approach to understanding bordering practices in settings coded as 'peaceful' or without racial tensions. Towards this end, I analyze how racialized exclusions in northwestern Washington are articulated across scales, from local forest management, to federal policy. Further, I trace the relational construction of the western US borderlands with Canada and Mexico – spaces connected by a common heritage of conquest, although generally not conceptualized as such. My argument is that racial thinking is inherent to the production and maintenance of United States borders. A critical race approach is crucial at a time when practices carried out in the name of 'homeland security' threaten the wellbeing of borderland communities.


PURPOSE
The present study aimed to compare the fracture resistance and failure patterns of endodontically treated premolars with MOD preparations restored using different material combinations. The null hypothesis postulated that there was no association between the fracture resistance of endodontically treated premolars and the resin composite materials or the post-and-core system used to build up the restorations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
Eighty single-rooted maxillary premolars were used. After endodontic treatment and preparation of MOD preparations, 8 groups of 10 samples each were created, using the following material combinations: group 1 (control), flowable and microhybrid resin composites; group 2, flowable A; group 3, flowable B; group 4, microhybrid resin A; group 5, microhybrid resin B; group 6, flowable B + microhybrid resin B; group 7, flowable A + microhybrid resin A + post A; group 8, flowable B + microhybrid resin B + post B. Mechanical static fracture tests were performed loading the specimens till fracture.

RESULTS
The mean failure loads (N) were 502 (control), 470 (group 7), 445 (group 8), 441 (group 6), 405 (group 5), 364 (group 4), 317 (group 2), and 302 (group 3). Statistically significant differences were found between groups 1 vs 2, 1 vs 3, and 3 vs 7 (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
The fracture resistance of endodontically treated premolars with MOD preparations was enhanced by the use of the sandwich technique. The samples restored with posts predominantly showed restorable fractures, while teeth restored without posts mostly displayed unrestorable failures.


Algorithms based on normalizing flows are emerging as promising machine learning approaches to sampling complicated probability distributions in a way that can be made asymptotically exact. In the context of lattice field theory, proof-of-principle studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of this approach for scalar theories, gauge theories, and statistical systems. This work develops approaches that enable flow-based sampling of theories with dynamical fermions, which is necessary for the technique to be applied to lattice field theory studies of the Standard Model of particle physics and many condensed matter systems. As a practical demonstration, these methods are applied to the sampling of field configurations for a two-dimensional theory of massless staggered fermions coupled to a scalar field via a Yukawa interaction.


This paper addresses the significance of traveller information sources including mono-modal and multimodal websites for travel decisions. The research follows a decision paradigm developed earlier, involving an information acquisition process for travel choices, and identifies the abstract characteristics of new information sources that deserve further investigation (e.g. by incorporating these in models and studying their significance in model estimation). A Stated Preference experiment is developed and the utility functions are formulated by expanding the travellers' choice set to include different combinations of sources of information. In order to study the underlying choice mechanisms, the resulting variables are examined in models based on different behavioural strategies, including utility maximisation and minimising the regret associated with the foregone alternatives. This research confirmed that Random Regret Minimisation Theory can fruitfully be used and can provide important insights for behavioural studies. The study also analyses the properties of travel planning websites and establishes a link between travel choices and the content, provenance, design, presence of advertisements, and presentation of information. The results indicate that travellers give particular credence to government-owned sources and put more importance on their own previous experiences than on any other single source of information. Information from multimodal websites is more influential than that on train-only websites. This in turn is more influential than information from friends, while information from coach-only websites is the least influential. A website with less search time, specific information on users' own criteria, and real time information is regarded as most attractive by the travellers.


Habit has been investigated as an antecedent of the information systems usage in a few literatures recent years. But little effort has been found on the determinants of habit itself in the information systems research. Drawing upon the insights from goal-directed behavior, habit/automaticity perspective, and IS continuance model, this paper proposes a research model for understanding the antecedents of the individual information technology usage habit. This study suggest that individual satisfaction, perceived enjoyment and user experience positively influence the strength of usage habit, and that perceived usefulness, confirmation of expectation and perceived enjoyment positively affect satisfaction. The implications are discussed, and contributions of this study are presented.


Abstract Interruptions are thought to be significantly associated with medication administration errors. Researchers have tried to reduce medication errors by decreasing or eliminating interruptions. In this article, we argue that interventions are often (perhaps unreflectively) based on one particular model of risk reduction—that of barriers placed between the source of risk and the object-to-be-protected. Well-intentioned interventions can lead to unanticipated effects because the assumptions created by the risk model are not critically examined. In this article, we review the barrier model and the assumptions it makes about risk and risk reduction/prevention, as well as the model's incompatibility with work in healthcare. We consider how these problems lead to interruptions interventions with unintended negative consequences. Then, we examine possible alternatives, viz organizing work for high reliability, preventing safety drift, and engineering resilience into the work activity. These all approach risks in different ways, and as such, propose interruptions interventions that are vastly different from interventions based on the barrier model. The purpose of this article is to encourage a different approach for designing interruptions interventions. Such reflection may help healthcare communities innovate beyond old, ineffective, and often counterproductive interventions to handle interruptions.


Einstein equation of gravity has on one side the momentum energy density tensor and on the other, Einstein tensor which is derived from Ricci curvature tensor. A better theory of gravity will have both sides geometric. One way to achieve this goal is to develop a new measure of time that will be independent of the choice of coordinates. One natural nominee for such time is the upper limit of measurable time form an event back to the big bang singularity. This limit should exist despite the singularity, otherwise the cosmos age would be unbounded. By this, the author constructs a scalar field of time. Time, however, is measured by material clocks. What is the maximal time that can be measured by a small microscopic clock when our curve starts at near the "big bang" event and ends at an event within the nucleus of an atom? Will our tiny clock move along geodesic curves or will it move in a non geodesic curve within matter? It is almost paradoxical that a test particle in General Relativity will always move along geodesic curves but the motion of matter within the particle may not be geodesic at all. For example, the ground of the Earth does not move at geodesic velocity. Where there is no matter, we choose a curve from near "big bang" to an event such that the time measured is maximal. Without assuming force fields, the gravitational field which causes that two or more such curves intersect at events, would cause discontinuity of the gradient of the upper limit of measurable time scalar field. The discontinuity can be avoided only if we give up on measurement along geodesic curves where there is matter. In other words, our tiny test particle clock will experience force when it travels within matter or near matter.


Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with the development of autoantibodies to citrullinated self-proteins. Citrullinated synovial proteins, which are generated via the actions of the protein arginine deiminases (PADs), are known to develop in the murine collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model of inflammatory arthritis. Given these findings, we evaluated whether N- a -benzoyl-N5-(2-chloro-1-iminoethyl)- L -ornithine amide (Cl-amidine), a recently described pan-PAD inhibitor, could affect the development of arthritis and autoimmunity by treating mice in the CIA model with Cl-amidine on days 0–35. Cl-amidine treatment reduced total synovial and serum citrullination, decreased clinical disease activity by ∼ 50%, and significantly decreased IgG2a anti-mouse type II collagen Abs. Additionally, histopathology scores and total complement C3 deposition were significantly lower in Cl-amidine–treated mice compared with vehicle controls. Synovial microarray analyses demonstrated decreased IgG reactivity to several native and citrullinated epitopes compared with vehicle controls. Cl-amidine treatment had no ameliorative effect on collagen Ab-induced arthritis, suggesting its primary protective mechanism was not mediated through effector pathways. Reduced levels of citrullinated synovial proteins observed in mice treated with Cl-amidine are consistent with the notion that Cl-amidine derives its efficacy from its ability to inhibit the deiminating activity of PADs. In total, these results suggested that PADs are necessary participants in the autoimmune and subsequent inflammatory processes in CIA. Cl-amidine may represent a novel class of disease-modifying agents that modulate aberrant citrullination, and perhaps other immune processes, necessary for the development of inflammatory arthritis. The Journal of Immunology , 2011, 186: 4396–4404.


Abstract Ocular toxicity induced by anticancer chemotherapy is not uncommon, but underestimated and under-reported. Visual changes have been attributed to a number of chemotherapeutic agents in humans. Cisplatin (CP), a heavy metal compound, is used in the treatment of many types of tumours. CP is known to produce nonspecific blurred vision, papilledema, and optic neuritis for high doses as well as cumulative dose regimens. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible beneficial effects of fish oil (FO) on eye tissue oxidative status and histological alterations against CP-induced in the rats. The animals were randomly divided into the following four groups: the control, CP, FO, and CP + FO groups. CP was intraperitoneally administered at the dose of 7 mg/kg and FO was orally given at 1 softgel per day for 14 days. The eye injury was assessed by biochemical and histological examinations. The levels of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), reduced glutathione (GSH), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were evaluated in the eye tissue. TBARS levels were significantly higher, the activities of the antioxidant enzyme and GSH levels were significantly lower in the CP group than in the control group. The histopathological evaluation also confirmed the foregoing findings. On the other hand, treatment of FO ameliorated the biochemical and histological alterations caused by CP. The results showed that treatment with FO may protect against the negative ocular effects of CP.


Metasurfaces, introduced as a compact 2D alternative of metamaterials, have developed into a vast field in recent times for light manipulation at an ultra-compact scale. Metasurface applications have found a place in the literature for compact alternatives to lens, holograms, polarizers, color filters. Plasmonic metasurfaces consisting of noble metals such as gold and silver provide light confinement on an unprecedented scale. Gold and silver grown conventionally on transparent substrates are polycrystalline, and exhibit losses and limit performance of the device. Moreover, these materials have a lower damage threshold and melting point. To circumvent the lower melting point and damage thresholds, new materials, and material growing techniques need to be researched. In the first part of this work, a metasurface for color holography with an epitaxially grown silver thin film on a transparent substrate is shown. The demonstrated metasurface has been the first ever epitaxial silver metasurface that operated in the transmission mode. This plasmonic hologram has also been the thinnest metasurface hologram operating in transmission mode at the time of its reporting. The holographic image of all three basic color components of red, green, and blue has been demonstrated in the transmission mode. The control of color has been achieved by resonant sub-wavelength slits and the phase can be manipulated through altering slit orientation. This amplitude and phase control pave the way to applications of ultra-compact polychromatic plasmonic metasurfaces for advanced light manipulation. In the second part, we explore temperature rise due to the optical absorption in plasmonic structures. Titanium Nitride based metasurfaces structures are fabricated, that work in harsh environmental conditions and high temperature. A time domain thermo reflectance technique for rapid measurement of temperature is explored. Finally, a practical design prototype for thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) emitters using plasmonic metasurfaces is fabricated and characterized.


Homogenous DNA methylation clearly affects clinical outcomes. However, less is known about the effects of heterogeneous methylation. We aimed to investigate the different effects between CASK promoter methylation heterogeneity and homogeneity on colorectal cancer (CRC) patients' prognosis. The methylation status of CASK in 296 tumor tissues and 255 adjacent normal tissues were evaluated using Methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM). Digital MS-HRM (dMS-HRM) visualized heterogeneous methylation and subsequent sequencing provided exact patterns. Log-rank test and Cox regression model were adopted to assess the association between CASK methylation status and CRC prognosis with propensity score (PS) method to control confounding biases. Heterogeneous methylation was detected in both tumor (52.2%) and non-neoplastic tissue surrounding the tumor (62.4%). It occurred more frequently in lower levels of tumor invasion (P = 0.002) and male patients (P < 0.001). Compared with heterogeneous methylation, patients with CASK homogeneous methylation presented poorer overall survival (OS) (HR: 1.919, 95% CI: 1.146-3.212, P = 0.013) and disease-free survival (DFS) (HR: 1.913, 95% CI: 1.146-3.194, P = 0.013). This unfavorable effect still existed among older (≥ 50), Dukes staging C/D, and rectal cancer patients. MS-HRM and dMS-HRM when combined can assess the degree and complexity of heterogeneous methylation with a visible pattern.


ON 01210.Na (Ex-RAD), a chlorobenzylsulfone derivative was investigated for its pharmacologic and radioprotective properties when administered via oral and subcutaneous (SC) routes. The goals of the study were to assess the comparative bioavailability of ON 01210.Na when administered by oral versus SC routes and to demonstrate that the oral drug delivery of ON 01210.Na afforded survival advantage similar to SC dosing. Pharmacokinetics was studied after two doses, 24 h apart, of ON 01210.Na (500 mg/kg) administered to male C3H/Hen mice (7-9 weeks) via SC injection or oral route. The dose response (100 to 750 mg/kg) and survival advantage of ON 01210.Na administered at 24 h and 15 min prior to 7.5 or 8 Gy whole body irradiation from a ¹³⁷Cs source (dose rate 1 Gy/min) were studied in these mice. Effects on the hematopoietic system were investigated by complete blood count and granulocyte-macrophage colony forming unit assay. A significant survival advantage and hematopoietic protection were observed after prophylactic oral ON 01210.Na and results were comparable to SC administration. These findings correlated well with pharmacokinetic data. Both SC and oral ON 01210.Na showed significant survival advantage against radiation toxicity and ON 01210.Na mediated hematopoietic protection plays key role in enhanced survival of mice. Oral administration holds better clinical promise as an effective countermeasure not only for early-responders in a nuclear accident, but also for the at-risk civilian population.


: A taxonomy of the movement patterns of the 8 flexible arms of octopuses is constructed. Components consist of movements of the arm itself, the ventral suckers and their stalks, as well as the relative position of arms and the skin web between them. Within 1 arm, combinations of components result in a variety of behaviors. At the level of all arms, 1 group of behaviors is described as postures, on the basis of the spread of all arms and the web to make a 2-dimensional surface whose position differs in the 3rd dimension. Another group of arm behaviors is actions, more or less coordinated and involving several to all arms. Arm control appears to be based on radial symmetry, relative equipotentiality of all arms, relative independence of each arm, and separability of components within the arm. The types and coordination of arm behaviors are discussed with relationship to biomechanical limits, muscle structures, and neuronal programming.


The UK Government has committed itself to establishing the University for Industry (UFI), an umbrella organization which will create new markets for education and stimulate change in provision to take advantage of new learning methods.
In 1998, a partnership of organizations (universities, colleges and companies) led by The Virtual College submitted a project proposal under ADAPT-UFI to develop on-line and/or CD-based digital interactive teaching material - Multimedia Learning for Industry (MLI). The nine universities / colleges have collectively produced a bid document in which each put forward a project title with a budget of £100k. As part of the MLI project, and due to extensive internal knowledge of CAD/CAM and CNC machine tools, it was decided to develop a 3D interactive CNC training software program for technician and undergraduate level.
Although 3D CAD and CAM software is widely available for industry, this concentrates on producing part programs and machining. We are unaware of any 3D CNC software developed for college and university education that teaches the set-up of the machine parameters. This paper describes the development of a 3D interactive CAL program for training in CNC. It also briefly reviews trends and policy for Communication & Information Technology (C&IT) and CAL.


A typical 1100 MWe pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a second unit installed at the coastal site of Pakistan. In this paper, verification analysis of reactivity control worth by means of rod cluster control assemblies (RCCAs) for startup and operational conditions of this typical nuclear power plant (CNPP) has been performed. Neutronics analysis of fresh core is carried out at beginning of life (BOL) to determine the effect of grey and black control rod clusters on the core reactivity for startup and operating conditions. The combination of WIMS/D4 and CITATION computer codes equipped with JENDL-3.3 data library is used for the first time for core physics calculations of neutronic safety parameters. The differential and integral worth of control banks is derived from the computed results. The effect of control bank clusters on core radial power distribution is studied precisely. Radial power distribution in the core is evaluated for numerous configurations of control banks fully inserted and withdrawn. The accuracy of computed results is validated against the reference values of Nuclear Design Report (NDR) of 1100 MWe typical CNPP. It has been observed that WIMS-D4/CITATION shows its capability to effectively calculate the reactor physics parameters.


Used frying oil recovered from food manufacturing companies in Japan and recycled often shows lower carbonyl (COV) and peroxide values (POV) than oil simply heated at 180 degrees C for 20 h does. In this study the reasons for the low COV of oil used for deep-frying were investigated by employing model experiments and actual commercial frying. The results suggested that in actual frying, the factor most influencing the low COV was vaporization of carbonyl compounds, together with steam generated from water contained in frying foodstuffs. It was also suggested that the low levels of COV were attributable partly to inhibition by protein, amino acids exuded from frying foodstuffs, and starch, and slightly to the effects of natural antioxidants in fresh oil and frying foodstuffs, oil absorption by frying foodstuffs, and dilution of oil in use by fresh oil added between uses. On the other hand, the chemical properties of oil in a fryer and in batter coatings of deep-fried foods made with the former oil were checked. Content of polar compounds (PC) and color score were obviously worse in the oil extracted from batter coatings than in that in the fryer, but there were no differences in COV or content of triacylglycerol (TG) of the two oils.


Background: Trauma is a physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening event that negatively affects well-being. Recently, a high correlation between trauma and substance addiction has been recognized. The aim of this study is to synthesize qualitative studies to understand the effects of trauma involved in the addiction and recovery process. Methods: By searching qualitative studies about addiction and recovery, 17 Korean studies (80 subjects) were finally included in our analysis. Results: We recorded the traumas experienced, and their effects on addiction and recovery. Trauma reduced self-esteem and triggered psychological pain, while addiction was perceived as a countermeasure. As the trauma became accepted, participants acknowledged themselves, realized the value of their existence, and formed trusting relationships with others. Recovery progressed as the trauma healed. Conclusions: Our study facilitates a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the role of trauma on addiction. Words:


The occurrence of bit-error-rate floors due to coherent heterodyne crosstalk in photonic space switches is studied. This source of errors occurs when a particular switch is used to route signals of nominally the same wavelength in a WDM network, DFB lasers are run at multigigabit rates, and wavelength referencing is held to a relatively tight tolerance to facilitate wavelength demultiplexing. In this letter we compare the dependence of switch architecture and size on the rate of coherently induced bit errors. Three regions of interest are identified: (1) random uniformly distributed laser phases with binomially distributed bit statistics in interfering channels, (2) random uniformly distributed laser phases with ones in interfering channels, and (3) worst-case laser phases with ones in interfering channels. Critical crosstalk values are identified for four different switch architectures and two different switch sizes in order to avoid coherently induced errors and therefore BER floors due to this mechanism. The minimum crosstalk required to avoid coherent errors can vary from -10 dB to -42 dB depending on the switch architecture, size, and requirement for short-term BER stability.


Infection of BALB/c mice with Leishmania major results in the rapid accumulation of IL-4 transcripts within CD4+ T cells that react to the parasite Leishmania homologue of mammalian RACK1 (LACK) Ag. Because memory/effector cells secrete IL-4 more rapidly than naive cells, we sought to analyze the phenotype of these lymphocytes before infection. Indeed, a fraction of LACK-specific CD4+ T cells expressed a typical CD62 ligandlowCD44highCD45RBlow phenotype in uninfected mice. LACK-specific T cells were primed in gut-associated lymphoid tissues by cross-reactive microbial Ags as demonstrated by their reactivity with bacterial extracts and by the ability of APCs from the mesenteric LN of BALB/c mice to induce their proliferation. Also, mice in which the digestive tract has been decontaminated exhibited a reduced proportion of LACK-specific T cells expressing a memory/effector phenotype and did not exhibit the early accumulation of IL-4 transcripts induced by L. major. Thus, LACK-specific T cells represent a subset of CD4+ T cells which have acquired the ability to rapidly secrete IL-4 as the result of their priming by cross-reactive microbial Ags. Tracking the fate of these cells may provide information about the regulation of cell-mediated immune responses to gut Ags in physiological and pathological situations.


We investigate several problems in relativity and particle physics where symmetries play a central role; in all cases geometric properties of Lie groups and their quotients are related to physical effects. The first part is concerned with symmetries in gravity. We apply the theory of Lie group deformations to isometry groups of exact solutions in general relativity, relating the algebraic properties of these groups to physical properties of the spacetimes. We then make group deformation local, generalising deformed special relativity (DSR) by describing gravity as a gauge theory of the de Sitter group. We find that in our construction Minkowski space has a connection with torsion; physical effects of torsion seem to rule out the proposed framework as a viable theory. A third chapter discusses a formulation of gravity as a topological BF theory with added linear constraints that reduce the symmetries of the topological theory to those of general relativity. We discretise our constructions and compare to a similar construction by Plebanski which uses quadratic constraints. In the second part we study CP violation in the electroweak sector of the standard model and certain extensions of it. We quantify fine-tuning in the observed magnitude of CP violation by determining a natural measure on the space of CKM matrices, a double quotient of SU(3), introducing different possible choices and comparing their predictions for CP violation. While one generically faces a fine-tuning problem, in the standard model the problem is removed by a measure that incorporates the observed quark masses, which suggests a close relation between a mass hierarchy and suppression of CP violation. Going beyond the standard model by adding a left-right symmetry spoils the result, leaving us to conclude that such additional symmetries appear less natural.


The cement mortar with glass fiber (GF) can be widely used in strengthen different structure elements. In general, discrete glass fiber was used for improving the tensile strength of mortar. In article, the optimum material contents (sand, cement, water and fiber) enhancement compression strength with tensile strength was investigated. Forty-two specimens are tested after 28 days. Each specimen has of 3 cubes 15*15*15 and the average results were taken into consideration. The mortar content is cement, sand, water and discrete glass fiber. The fiber lengths (L f) are 20, 35, 50 mm. the fiber contents ( Vf ) are 1.5%, 3.0% and 4.5%. The water cement ratios (W/C) are 0.47, 0.42, and 0.37. The cement sand ratios (C/S) are 1:2, 1:3 and 1:4. The results show that, b y reducing the C/S ratio, the discrete glass fiber used is not recommended using. Moreover, from the experimental studies, the curves required for awareness the mixed material of mortar with discrete glass fiber were plotted. The theoretical equation that can be used in the initial trial mixing design is determined. This type of mortar can be successfully used for repairing or strengthen brick wall, or replaced instant of steel mish for resistance change temperature between wall layers.


Late Paleocene high-latitude (80°N) Arctic Ocean shallow-marine temperatures are estimated from molluscan δ18O time series. Sampling of individual growth increments of two specimens of the bivalve Camptochlamys alaskensis provides a high-resolution record of shell stable isotope composition. The heavy carbon isotopic values of the specimens support a late Paleocene age for the youngest marine beds of the Prince Creek Formation exposed near Ocean Point, Alaska. The oxygen isotopic composition of regional freshwater runoff is estimated from the mean δ18O value of two freshwater bivalves collected from approximately coeval fluviatile beds. Over a 30 – 34‰ range of salinity, values assumed to represent the tolerance of C. alaskensis, the mean annual shallow-marine temperature recorded by these individuals is between 11° and 22°C. These values could represent maximum estimates of the mean annual temperature because of a possible warm-month bias imposed on the average δ18O value by slowing or cessation of growth in winter months. The amplitude of the molluscan δ18O time series probably records most of the seasonality in shallow-marine temperature. The annual temperature range indicated is approximately 6°C, suggesting very moderate high-latitude marine temperature seasonality during the late Paleocene. On the basis of analogy with modern Chlamys species, C. alaskensis probably inhabited water depths of 30–50 m. The seasonal temperature range derived from δ18O is therefore likely to be damped relative to the full range of annual sea surface temperatures. High-resolution sampling of molluscan shell material across inferred growth bands represents an important proxy record of seasonality of marine and freshwater conditions applicable at any latitude. If applied to other regions and time periods, the approach used here would contribute substantially to the paleoclimate record of seasonality.


The threshold voltage (Vth) of a nanoscale transistor is severely affected by random dopant fluctuations and line-edge roughness. The analysis of these effects usually requires atomistic simulations which are too expensive in computation for statistical design. In this work, we develop an efficient SPICE simulation method and statistical variation model that accurately predict threshold variation as a function of dopant fluctuations and gate length change caused by lithography and the etching process. By understanding the physical principles of atomistic simulations, we: 1) identify the appropriate method to divide a nonuniform gate into slices in order to map those fluctuations into the device model; 2) extract the variation of Vth from the strong-inversion region instead of the leakage current, benefiting from the linearity of the saturation current with respect to Vth ; 3) propose a compact model of Vth variation that is scalable with gate size and the amount of dopant and gate length fluctuations; and 4) investigate the interaction with non-rectangular gate (NRG) and reverse narrow width effect (RNWE). The proposed SPICE simulation method is validated with atomistic simulation results. Given the post-lithography gate geometry, this approach correctly models the variation of device output current in all operating regions. Based on the new results, we further project the amount of Vth variation at advanced technology nodes, helping shed light on the challenges of future robust circuit design.


Traditionally, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure decisions are made based on technical, organisational and economic grounds. Although new developments in the area of the impact of human activities on the planet have brought environmental concerns to the attention of ICT decision makers, it is not known to what extent environmental issues are taken into account at the time of making an ICT infrastructure decision. This paper addresses this issue through a survey and interviews of ICT managers and decision makers. The findings indicate that although ICT managers demonstrate an increasing awareness of the impact on and role of ICT in eco-sustainability, environmental factors play a limited role in their actual decision making process. As such economic and technological factors are still dominant in influencing infrastructure decisions. Within the bounds of the methodological limitations, the study contributes empirical evidence to the emerging Green ICT literature which is dominated by conceptual and theoretical works. It identifies areas for future research.


Background: Insulin resistance (IR), which refers to decreased metabolic response to normal concentrations of insulin, has been associated with increasing age and is a trigger to the cascade of cardiometabolic abnormalities hence increasing cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in elderly populations with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Strategies targeting IR may be key to mitigating excess CVD morbidities in elderly patients with T2D. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between IR and CVD and also to identify cardiometabolic risk (CMR) factors as primary targets of CVD reduction in the older populations of Nigerians with T2D. Settings and Design: Lagos, Nigeria. Cross-sectional, analytical. Subjects and Methods: A total of 363 adult Nigerians with T2D aged between 40 and 100 years old were consecutively recruited for this study. T2D was defined according to the WHO criteria. Data were collected using a questionnaire and fasting blood samples were collected for analysis. Statistical Analysis Used: The data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS statistical package. Statistical significance was set at value of P < 0.05. Results: T2D patients in the age group of 60–80 years had significantly higher blood pressure than those in the younger age group, (P = 0.009). Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycated hemoglobin were the highest in the age group of 40–60 years, (P = 0.016). IR was associated with older age in the T2D (P = 0.026). IR showed a significant correlation with CMR factors. Multivariate regression showed FPG to be independently associated with IR (P = 0.003). Conclusion: IR correlated with CMR factors and was independently associated with FPG, re-emphasizing focus on short-term blood glucose control in elderly diabetic populations.


Objective: Sensory integration progresses along a normal developmental sequence. However, few studies have explored how age difference affects the way sensory integration functions in Taiwanese children as they develop. Therefore, this study aims to pinpoint the role of age in sensory integration. Method: A purposive sampling plan was employed. The study population comprised 1,000 Chinese children aged 36 to 131 months (mean = 74.48 months, standard deviation = 25.69 months). Subjects were scored on seven subsets of the Test of Sensory Integration Function (TSIF). An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to identify differences between four age groups (ages 3−4, 5−6, 7−8, and 9−10 years), in the categories of the TSIF. Results: ANOVA revealed that age is a significant factor in each of the seven tasks of sensory integration associated with various stages of development. The effect of age was significant in all four groups for the subscale of Bilateral Integration Sequences. The function of sensory integration for the children aged 5−8 years did not produce statistically significant results for the subscale of Postural Movement, Sensory Discrimination, Sensory Seeking, or Attention and Activity. For the subscale of Sensory Modulation and Emotional Behavior, the effect of age was significant in only group 1 (children aged 3−4 years) and group 2 (children aged 5−6 years). Conclusion: There was significant difference between group 1 and group 2 for seven categories. Significant differences were contributed by the differences from group 1 (3−4 years) and group 4 (9−10 years) in five subscales (Postural Movement, Bilateral Integration Sequences, Sensory Discrimination, Sensory Seeking, and Attention and Activity). There were three developmental trends in the seven categories of the TSIF.


In this paper, a robust non-rigid multimodal image registration method is proposed using the local phase coherence representation (LPCR) as well as the residual complexity (RC) similarity measure. By integrating the LPCR and RC measure, we can find and track the non-rigid transformation of each pixel under diffeomorphism between the source and target images. Experiments using multimodal images are conducted to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed method.


This study aims at developing a self-efficacy scale for individual performance. After reviewing the literature in this field, experts' opinions have been considered and a test data pool consisting of 17 items has been formed. This scale has been read by thirty four students and its comprehensibleness has been checked. The scale was organized in the form of 5 point likert scale with the expressions of "Never", "Rarely", "Not sure", "Sometimes", "Always". This test form for the measurement of individual performance has been applied to 230 music teacher candidates at the age of 18-22 and above and who have taken an instrument course for at least 1 year. In order to obtain proofs for the validity of the scale, first basic components analysis and then explanatory factor analysis have been performed. As a result of the explanatory factor analysis, 3 items have been removed from 17 items and the total number of items has become 14. As a result of the reliability analysis of the whole scale, reliability co efficiency has been found to be ,88. In conclusion, it has been detected that the self-efficacy scale is a valid and reliable instrument in measuring the self-efficacy of the music teaching students at the age of 18-22 and above in their individual performances.


The aim of this work was to study the effect of flow rate on the fuming rate/silica flux of liquid silicon in order to gain a better understanding of the silica fuming during industrial ladle refining during silicon production. The formation of silica fume is the results when the liquid silicon is exposed to air. This silica fume has been shown to be a health hazard when breathed by plant workers and increased environmental regulations call for its elimination. This work is being done as part of the FUME project (FUgitive emissions of Materials and Energy) with funding from the Norwegian Research Council and the Ferro-alloys Industrial Research Association (FFF). To examine the silica flux a series of experiments in a medium scale induction furnace were carried out. A graphite crucible with an inside diameter of 11.4 cm was charged with refined or unrefined metallurgical grade silicon. This silicon was melted and air was blown onto the surface at 3 different rates (1, 3.5, 5 LPM). The produced silica fume was collected in a filter and analyzed for particle size and compositions differences. The total mass of the fume produced was used to estimate the silica flux. The silica flux was found to vary with flow rate from 0.00156 moles/s-m2 at 1 LPM to 0.02788 moles/s-m2 at 5 LPM. With no significant difference between refined and unrefined. The particle size and composition were also found to vary with flow rate. The particle size distribution was similar to what was found in industry (75% under 0.01 µm). However, the size of the largest particles was found to decrease with increasing flow rate. Finally the amount of impurities in the fume decreased with increasing flow rate as well. Additionally, in continuation of previous work on small scale oxidation experiments with liquid silicon in a muffle furnace were done and a more in-depth analysis by EPMA was carried out. It was found that addition of calcium increases the oxidation rate, and that the addition of calcium and aluminum results in an oxide layer with multiple phases.


We report angle-resolved photoemission measurements of the dispersion of the shallow surface state around (A)overbar and the surface electron-phonon mass-enhancement parameter lambda(s) at the Be(1010) surface. The eccentricity of the elliptical Fermi line formed by the surface state is found to be epsilon=0.684. We obtain lambda(s)=0.672 +/- 0.027 along the major axis and lambda(s)= 0.642+/-0.031 along the minor axis of the Fermi line. The lambda(s) values are about three times larger than the bulk lambda(b) = 0.24.


This new book is an edited collection of papers arising from a conference on Law and Development in the 21st Century held in 2001. It is in honour of the work of Dr Peter Slinn.

It draws together the lessons and challenges faced in relation to law and development in the 21st century,with particular reference to the concerns of Commonwealth states. It addresses practical and theoretical aspects of law and economic, social and political development at national and international levels. Students, academics and practitioners in the fields of law and development, development studies and public administration will find this book of interest. 'The book taken as a whole would not only enlighten considerably those with little knowledge or experience in the area of law and development but could significantly broaden and enrich the knowledge of persons more experiences in this area.


PURPOSE
To describe our experience in the surgical management of cataracts in patients with complications of closed-globe injury using pars plana lensectomy (PPL), pars plana vitrectomy (PPV), and scleral fixation of posterior chamber intraocular lens (PCIOL).

METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed charts of all patients with closed-globe injury who underwent PPL, PPV and scleral fixation of PCIOL at our institution between January 1991 and July 1997. We identified 28 eyes; because of less than 2 weeks follow-up, 4 eyes were excluded from the current study. All eyes had lens subluxation/dislocation and visually significant cataract. Additional indications for surgery included secondary glaucoma (10 eyes), vitreous hemorrhage (3 eyes) and retinal detachment (1 eye).

RESULTS
The postoperative follow-up interval ranged from 6 to 61 months (mean 18.5 months). Preoperative visual acuity (VA) ranged from 20/60 to hand motion and was 20/100 or better in 6 eyes (25%). Postoperatively, 19 eyes (79%) improved to 20/100 or better. Five eyes had subsequent surgery for the following indications: retinal detachment (2 eyes), poorly controlled glaucoma (2 eyes), and epiretinal membrane formation (1 eye).

CONCLUSIONS
In patients undergoing PPL, PPV and scleral fixation of PCIOL for cataract after a closed-globe injury, a substantial visual improvement occurred in a majority of the involved eyes.


based on investigation and sample testing, studied on fiber property of color rabbit hair. The color rabbit hair has good spinnability. Foreground of color rabbit hair was analyzed. Being comfortable, dressing property well and environment friendly, color rabbit hair products will play an important role in market. The suggestions were put out that new fashionable super products with color rabbit hair be produced and its added value increased. Color rabbit hair fur is also a good leather material. Offal hair of color rabbit may be used to new extending products. Color rabbit hair market possess good foreground. It should be developed constantly.


Humans excel at detecting interesting patterns in images, for example those taken from satellites. This kind of anecdotal evidence can lead to the discovery of new phenomena. However, it is often difficult to gather enough data of subjective features for significant analysis. This paper presents an example of how two tools that have recently become accessible to a wide range of researchers, crowd-sourcing and deep learning, can be combined to explore satellite imagery at scale. In particular, the focus is on the organization of shallow cumulus convection in the trade wind regions. Shallow clouds play a large role in the Earth's radiation balance yet are poorly represented in climate models. For this project four subjective patterns of organization were defined: Sugar, Flower, Fish and Gravel. On cloud labeling days at two institutes, 67 scientists screened 10,000 satellite images on a crowd-sourcing platform and classified almost 50,000 mesoscale cloud clusters. This dataset is then used as a training dataset for deep learning algorithms that make it possible to automate the pattern detection and create global climatologies of the four patterns. Analysis of the geographical distribution and large-scale environmental conditions indicates that the four patterns have some overlap with established modes of organization, such as open and closed cellular convection, but also differ in important ways. The results and dataset from this project suggests promising research questions. Further, this study illustrates that crowd-sourcing and deep learning complement each other well for the exploration of image datasets.


This study traces the development of the East End's artists' agglomeration from its origins in
1968 until 1998 through a geographical history of the studio blocks in which those artists have
worked. The thesis concentrates on visual artists and the ways in which they have commandeered space in which to work. The thesis argues that the agglomeration may be conceptualised
as a complex adaptive system which has evolved in the "edge of chaos" urban environment
which arose in the East End as it made the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial district.
The core methodology draws largely on ethnographic techniques. Information was gathered
from fieldwork, which in this project comprised semi-structured tape-recorded interviews and
semi-participant observation in the form of my involvement with a project "ViA" which is developing an information service for the East End's artists.
The qualitative approach is Grounded Theory. Interview transcripts were "coded" for themes,
and these themes explored further in subsequent fieldwork, from which further coding was carried out in an iterative process. The themes which emerged were then combined with the archival research and the findings of the social network analysis, forming the foundations of a theoretical model.
The quantitative approach is social network analysis at an organisational level, which establishes that the organisational networks are weak, from which it is inferred, in combination with
the qualitative evidence, that the significant networks are informal, a sort of "grapevine".
These foundations are developed into a unified theory which draws on existing models concerning the development of such "creative milieux" and then carries these forward using concepts
more commonly found in chaos theory and complexity theory such as inherent unpredictability,
sensitive dependence on initial conditions, adaptive topographies and fitness landscapes, and
emergence. I argue in conclusion that the artists' agglomeration in the East End is an emergent
phenomenon arising from the actions and interactions of individual artists in search of studio
space. It can thus be conceptualised as a "complex adaptive system", capable of learning, growing and spontaneously developing new properties, and finding new directions which cannot be
predicted simply by looking at the system's constituent parts in isolation.


Over the last twenty years in Vietnam, the financial system in general and the banking system in particular had been transferred from a monopoly system into a diversified system which allows all participants to compete fairly and effectively. Within these past years, the banking system in Vietnam did gradually developed in number of banking institutions, size of the banking sector in the economy, amount of credits for the economy, and amount of other banking services as well. Along with the development of the banking system in number, size, asset value, deposit, credit and debit account, ATM/POS, interest rates, etc. which attracted more and more customers using the banking' services; the efficiency of the banking system also has been increasing. So far, there is still a lack of research on the efficiency of the banking sector in Vietnam over the decades. Several researches were conducted, however, due to the data limitation, these researches were just small steps at the big front gate. This paper, which focuses on evaluating the efficiency of bigger sample size of Vietnamese commercial banks in the year of 2008, tends to make a contribution to this progress. The DEA approach allows this paper to evaluate the efficiency of 22 Vietnamese commercial banks in using their inputs in 2008 (these banks were ranked top in the banking industry in Vietnam – VNR500 in 2009). After analyzing, the research comes to a conclusion that although the efficiency of these banks is averagely high, however, there is still an opportunity to improve this indicator.