In this Article, the author exposes how Congress, by failing to protect functional families in the context of immigration law, has failed to follow human rights law in a way that is meaningful to children and that honors its own highly valued principles of family preservation. Although the paramount purpose of U.S. immigration law is not, admittedly, to protect the integrity of family, Congress does explicitly aim to do so in certain circumstances. But even where Congress aims to further family unity, it fails desperately because U.S. immigration law reflects a legal construction that is grounded in the traditional conception of a nuclear family and excludes what the author calls "functional" families: formations which may not satisfy this narrow conception, but satisfy the caretaking needs of children. By exploring current statutes and recent cases in the areas of family-based immigration, cancellation of removal based on family, and the Immigration and Nationality Act's refugee provisions, the author illustrates that U.S. immigration law fails to recognize functional families and thereby ignores a child's right to family as provided for by international law. The author also engages in a comprehensive exploration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its interpretation, with an eye towards the historical evolution of the definition of family in relevant international instruments, while comprehensively exploring the extension of rights and protections to functional families under international human rights instruments in Europe and the Americas.


This thesis work focus on evaluating the metallurgical bonding between the TiB2 andiron grains in the Fe-TiB2 composite. The starting materials were commercial materialsin form of Ferro-boron and Ferro-titanium that together with pure TiB2 powder formeda material with the composition seen below:FeB + FeTi + TiB2  52.3TiB2 + 45.7Fe + 2TiDuring sintering an iron liquid phase is formed where the boron from the FeB diffuse tothe titanium in FeTi which enables the formation of TiB2. The temperature used in theliquid phase sintering was chosen just above the three phase region, Fe-TiB2-liquid inthe phase diagram, to get an adequate densification of the samples. However, thetemperature could not be too high because of the internal stress and deformation thesamples would have been exposed to.After sintering the material properties and microstructure were examined throughPalmqvist indentations, Fargo and Transverse-Rupture-Strength tests and SEM studiesincluding EBSD.Through these tests the hardness was measured to 1323 HV and the microstructureconsidered to be fine with well distributed phases. The EBSD also showed that thebrittle Fe2B phase is present close to the TiB2 grains and that the porosity givesunreliable results for the Fargo and TRS-tests. The composite was impregnated withcopper to show that it may be possible to achieve wetting of the TiB2 phase by castingand to perform new tests on the material with less porosity.


The dynamic behaviour of the ball load (specifically toe and shoulder positions) within a dry Φ4.74m by 7.4m long, 2.15MW powered, ball mill was investigated as a function of worn and new liners. The mill operating conditions and charge composition where kept constant. Three types of experimental probes were designed, manufactured and mounted strategically on the mill to determine the orientation of the load inside the mill. These included a combination of electrical conductivity, movement and photo-detector probes. Data recorded from each probe was processed, analysed and compared with each other and to Millsoft's 2D theoretical numerical simulation model. Achieving good electrical contact proved to be a very difficult task, hence conductivity did not compare well to Millsoft simulations. It was deduced that the conductivity probe design and electronics data capturing system limited accurate recording of the ball trajectory positions and tended to represent more of the load 'locked-in-state' region (or the period where maximum pressure is applied to the mill walls) instead of the extreme load toe and shoulder positions. The movement probe data compared best with Millsoft predicted load toe and shoulder results at 133 and 282 degrees, respectively. The probe design was however susceptible to forces from different directions thus decreasing its accuracy. Only two tests from only one photo detector probe (measuring ball reflection) were successfully recorded. The one test showed high variances while the other was affected by an inaccurate datum signal; the low number of effective detector data resulted in defining the detector data as unreliable. Measured experimental power was compared to three published power prediction models and Millsoft. The relative error percentages concluded that only Millsoft best predicted mill input power for both the worn and new liners, at 1871kW and 1887kW, respectively. These results have provided valuable information on probe design for dry industrial type mills and mill internal load dynamics.


Layered oxysulfide LaCu1−xSO (x = 0–0.03) was prepared to elucidate the effect of Cu off-stoichiometry on their electrical and thermal transport properties. Electrical resistivity drastically decreases down from ∼105 Ω·cm to ∼10−1 Ω·cm as a result of Cu deficiency (x = 0.01) at 300 K. Thermal conductivity of the samples at 300 K, which is dominated by lattice components, is estimated to be 2.3(3) Wm−1K−1. Stoichiometric LaCuSO has an optical band gap of 3.1 eV, while broad optical absorption at photon energies of approximately 2.1 eV was observed for Cu-deficient samples. Density functional theory calculation suggests that these broad absorption structures probably originate from the in-gap states generated by the sulfur vacancies created to compensate the charge imbalance due to Cu off-stoichiometry. These results clearly demonstrate that Cu deficiency plays a crucial role in determining the electrical transport properties of Cu-based p-type transparent semiconductors.


With advancing care of patients with cardiovascular diseases
the number of invasive cardiological operations is increasing.
Although effective methods are involved, these procedures are
also associated with certain risks for the patient. From the
aspect of vascular surgery the most frequent complications
include iatrogenic pseudoaneurysms and extensive haematomas.
The objective of the present work is to evaluate the
development of the number of pseudoaneurysms which occurred
after puncture of the femoral artery during coronarography or
PTCA, and verification of the hypothesis of the declining trend
of the ratio of pseudoaneurysms in the total number of
performed invasive cardiological diagnostic and therapeutic
operations. The author submits in his paper the retrospectively
assessed number of invasive operations performed at the 1st
Medical Cardioangiological Clinic of the St. Ann Faculty
Hospital Brno in 1996-2001. It summarizes the number of PA
dealt with during the same period by physicians of the 2nd
Surgical Clinic of the St. Ann Hospital in Brno. It analyzes
also the treated complications of cardiological operations in
2001.


Depth is usually considered the main driver of Lake Trout intraspecific diversity across lakes in North America. Given that Great Bear Lake is one of the largest and deepest freshwater systems in North America, we predicted that Lake Trout intraspecific diversity to be organized along a depth axis within this system. Thus, we investigated whether a deep-water morph of Lake Trout co-existed with four shallow-water morphs previously described in Great Bear Lake. Morphology, neutral genetic variation, isotopic niches, and life-history traits of Lake Trout across depths (0–150 m) were compared among morphs. Due to the propensity of Lake Trout with high levels of morphological diversity to occupy multiple habitat niches, a novel multivariate grouping method using a suite of composite variables was applied in addition to two other commonly used grouping methods to classify individuals. Depth alone did not explain Lake Trout diversity in Great Bear Lake; a distinct fifth deep-water morph was not found. Rather, Lake Trout diversity followed an ecological continuum, with some evidence for adaptation to local conditions in deep-water habitat. Overall, trout caught from deep-water showed low levels of genetic and phenotypic differentiation from shallow-water trout, and displayed higher lipid content (C:N ratio) and occupied a higher trophic level that suggested an potential increase of piscivory (including cannibalism) than the previously described four morphs. Why phenotypic divergence between shallow- and deep-water Lake Trout was low is unknown, especially when the potential for phenotypic variation should be high in deep and large Great Bear Lake. Given that variation in complexity of freshwater environments has dramatic consequences for divergence, variation in the complexity in Great Bear Lake (i.e., shallow being more complex than deep), may explain the observed dichotomy in the expression of intraspecific phenotypic diversity between shallow- vs. deep-water habitats. The ambiguity surrounding mechanisms driving divergence of Lake Trout in Great Bear Lake should be seen as reflective of the highly variable nature of ecological opportunity and divergent natural selection itself.


This article shows how the theremin as a new musical medium enacted a double logic throughout its century-old techno-cultural life. On the one hand, in an attempt to be a 'better' instrument, the theremin imitated or remediated traditional musical instruments and in this way affirmed the musical values these instruments materialised; simultaneously, by being a new and different medium, with unprecedented flexibility for designing sound and human–machine interaction, it eroded and challenged these same values and gradually enacted change. On the other hand, the theremin inadvertently inaugurated a practice of musical instrument circulation using electronics schematics that allowed for the instrument's reproduction, starting with the publication of schematics and tutorials in amateur electronics magazines and which can be seen as a predecessor to today's circulation of open source code. This circulation practice, which I call instrument-code transduction, emerged from and was amplified by the fame the theremin obtained using its touchless interface to imitate or remediate traditional musical instruments, and in turn, this circulation practice has kept the instrument alive throughout the decades. Thus remediation and code-instrument transduction are not just mutually dependent, but are in fact, two interdependent processes of the same media phenomenon. Drawing from early reactions to the theremin documented in the press, from new media theory, and from publications in amateur electronics, this article attempts to use episodes from the history of the theremin to understand the early and profound changes that electric technologies brought to the concept of musical instruments at large.


Goal recognisers attempt to infer an agent's intentions from a sequence of observations. Approaches that adapt classical planning techniques to goal recognition have previously been proposed but, generally, they assume the initial world state is accurately defined. In this paper, a state is inaccurate if any fluent's value is unknown or incorrect. To cope with this, a cyclic Action Graph, which models the order constraints between actions, is traversed to label each node with their distance from each hypothesis goal. These distances are used to calculate the posterior goal probabilities. Our experimental results, for 15 different domains, demonstrate that our approach is unaffected by an inaccurately defined initial state.


Enterococci are one of the important causes of nosocomial urinary tract infections. They are considered as difficult to treat pathogens, due to their intrinsic resistance to several antimicrobial agents and their tendency to acquire resistance. Hence it is essential to find their resistance pattern constantly to institute empirical therapy and as a measure of infection control in hospitals. This study was carried out in the tertiary care hospital at Melmaruvathur, Tamil Nadu to detect resistance pattern and virulence traits of various uropathogenic Enterococcus species. A total of 100 Enterococcus species were included in the study. Although E.faecalis (87%) was commonest species associated with UTI, there was lenience towards E.faecium (9%), necessitates species level identification in laboratory settings. More than half of the species were isolated as mixture of two (47%) or three bacteria (7%). E.faecalis was sensitive to Vancomycin (100%), Ofloxacin (61%), Ciprofloxacin (59%), erythromycin (46%), Amikacin (41%), tetracycline (36%) and HLGR (23%). Increased incidence of Multidrug resistance and association of mixed infections warrant culture and sensitivity for all urinary tract infections.


The coral reef ecosystems of tropical seas provide the greatest diversity of all aquatic realms in terms of sheer numbers of species as well as microhabitats. Over the last 30 years, reef fish ecologists have attempted to eludicate processes accounting for the great biodiversity among fishes found on coral reefs. Theories and models ranging from recruitment-based stochastic nonequilibria! assemblages to models based solely on habitat structure have been proposed and debated. However, it is widely accepted that both recruitment and post-settlement processes shape an assemblage of reef fish. My study examined the reef fish assemblages of three contrasting patch coral reefs at San Salvador, Bahamas, and examined the potential role of each reef's coral community in structuring its fish assemblage. The three reefs were found to differ in terms of coral cover and dominant coral species, but not coral species richness or diversity (H'). Significant differences were also found among fish assemblages, in terms of mean fish counts, species richness, diversity, and counts within families and feeding guilds. The patch reefs at Rice Bay consistently showed lower fish abundance and �so showed the lowest coral cover. A number of correlations were found linking fish variables with coral variables, especially at relatively impoverished Rice Bay, suggesting associations between reef fish abundance and coral habitat variables such as scleractinian and total coral cover. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed relationships between fish species abundances and select coral variables at Rice Bay and Lindsay Reef. However, establishing strong relationships among fish community and coral community characteristics remains elusive.


Underground depillaring of contiguous coal seams/sections is a difficult problem, which becomes even more complex if the interburden/parting between them is thin. Conventionally, the depillaring with caving of contiguous seams/sections is done in descending order. However, if the parting is thin, the influence of the top sections/seams becomes extremely important for the safety and optimal exploitation of coal. Field investigations were carried out at Nowrozabad East mine where superimposed pillars of the Johilla top section were depillared above the developed pillars of the Johilla bottom section with a 3 m thick parting between the two sections. The competency of the 3 m thick parting (which consists of alternate layers of shale, sandstone and shaly sandstone) was improved by reinforcement (underpinning). The strata control investigations did not show any considerable instability problem of the 3 m thick reinforced parting and pillars of the bottom section due to top section depillaring. On the bases of this field investigation and a laboratory study on simulated models, simultaneous extraction of both the sections, along with reinforcement of the parting, was suggested for the geomining conditions of the Johilla top and bottom sections. Adopting the suggested simultaneous depillaring process, two sub panels of johilla top and bottom sections have successfully been extracted without any strata control problem. This paper presents this case study along with the results of the strata monitoring conducted to evaluate performance of the underground structures during the field trial.


On 18 October 1989, Miami‐based Florida Power and Light Company (FPL), Florida′s largest utility, became the first company outside Japan to win the Deming Prize. Awarded annually the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (and since 1986 outside Japan), the Prize recognises outstanding achievement in quality control management. Based on interviews with company representatives and a review of company documents, an explanation is presented of the implementation of a successful quality improvement programme in a service company. Topics discussed include the basic phases of such a programme – policy deployment, quality improvement teams, and quality in daily work – and a review of such a programme′s foundation elements: customer satisfaction, the plan/do/check/act circle, "management by facts", and "respect for people". Based on a literature review of other successful and less‐successful programmes, tentative prescriptions for implementing a successful quality circle and total improvement programme are pr...


Ecologists, land managers, and policy makers continue to search for the most efective ways to manage biological invasions. An emerging lesson is that proactive management can limit negative impacts, reduce risks, and save money. This book explores how to detect and respond to alien plant incursions, summarising the most current literature, providing practical recommendations, and reviewing the conditions and processes necessary to achieve prevention, eradication, and containment. Chapter topics include assessing invasiveness and the impact of alien plants, how to improve surveillance eforts, how to make timely management decisions, and how legislation and strategic planning can support management. Each chapter includes text boxes written by international experts that discuss topical issues such as spatial predictive modelling,costing invasions,biosecurity, biofuels, and dealing with conlict species.


A coderetreat is an event where software developers gather to spend a day exploring their craft in an informal yet intellectually challenging environment. It encourages reflective practice by addressing a single programming problem from different perspectives, with multiple coding partners, freed from the daily pressures of deadlines and the need to deliver completed artifacts. This article describes an experiment in which a coderetreat was run with a group of final-year undergraduates studying software architecture. The authors gathered qualitative and quantitative data to explore the ways in which the activity contributed to the participants' reflective practice. The results suggest that coderetreats are an excellent vehicle for reflective practice in software development, providing a context within which multiple aspects of self-reflection and motivation can be developed. The Web extra at http://youtu.be/racyZfkbgnQ is an audio recording in which author David Parsons expands on the article "Coderetreats: Reflective Practice and the Game of Life," discussing how coderetreats can encourage self-reflection in software engineers.


Recent years have seen the emergence of CT image reconstruction techniques that exploit physical models of the imaging system, photon statistics, and even the patient to achieve improved 3D image quality and/or reduction of radiation dose. With numerous advantages in comparison to conventional 3D filtered backprojection, such techniques bring a variety of challenges as well, including: a demanding computational load associated with sophisticated forward models and iterative optimization methods; nonlinearity and nonstationarity in image quality characteristics; a complex dependency on multiple free parameters; and the need to understand how best to incorporate prior information (including patient-specific prior images) within the reconstruction process. The advantages, however, are even greater - for example: improved image quality; reduced dose; robustness to noise and artifacts; task-specific reconstruction protocols; suitability to novel CT imaging platforms and noncircular orbits; and incorporation of known characteristics of the imager and patient that are conventionally discarded. This symposium features experts in 3D image reconstruction, image quality assessment, and the translation of such methods to emerging clinical applications. Dr. Chen will address novel methods for the incorporation of prior information in 3D and 4D CT reconstruction techniques. Dr. Pan will show recent advances in optimization-based reconstruction that enable potential reduction of dose and sampling requirements. Dr. Stayman will describe a "task-based imaging" approach that leverages models of the imaging system and patient in combination with a specification of the imaging task to optimize both the acquisition and reconstruction process. Dr. Samei will describe the development of methods for image quality assessment in such nonlinear reconstruction techniques and the use of these methods to characterize and optimize image quality and dose in a spectrum of clinical applications.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Learn the general methodologies associated with model-based 3D image reconstruction. 2. Learn the potential advantages in image quality and dose associated with model-based image reconstruction. 3. Learn the challenges associated with computational load and image quality assessment for such reconstruction methods. 4. Learn how imaging task can be incorporated as a means to drive optimal image acquisition and reconstruction techniques. 5. Learn how model-based reconstruction methods can incorporate prior information to improve image quality, ease sampling requirements, and reduce dose.


textabstractThe term 'imperforate anus' covers a variety of congenital anorectal malformations
ranging in severity from anal stenosis to cloacal exstrophy. The clinical picture of the
anorectal malformation has been known for thousands of years, during which many
attempts have been made to find an effective treatment.
In the days of Assurbanipal, king of Assyria from 668 to 627 B.C., the library of
Ninive contained a cuneiform tablet with a text about a child born without an anus
(Scharli 1978, van Putten 1969). The ancient Greek, Roman and Arabic physicians
were familiar with the imperforate anus as well. They considered it a 'lusus naturae',
the treatment of which was beyond their abilities. Paul of Aegina, a Byzantine
physician (A.D. 625-690), performed the first recorded treatment of a child with
imperforate anus by making a blind plunge with a bistoury into the perineum as far
as the rectum and maintaining the opening by frequent dilatation. The next thousand
years this blind method remained the only treatment for the malformation. Whenever
a child survived this operation, complications such as perforations, infections,
development of fistula, and stenosis of the newly made opening often occurred.
Ever since the 18th century new ideas were suggested and new methods of
treatment introduced. An extensive study of the embryology, pathology, and
treatment of congenital malformations of anus and rectum was published in 1860 by
Bodenhamer. He described nine 'species' of malformation, mainly on the basis of
anatomical variations found in abductions. Bodenhamer described some anomalies
of the urogenital tract and warned against possible damage of the bladder or urethra
caused by surgical treatment of the anorectal malformation (Bodenhamer 1860).
Various classification systems for the congenital anorectal malformations have
been proposed. In general a distinction is made into 'high', or supralevator, and
'low', or infralevator, anorectal malformations, a distinction based on the position of
the 'blind-ending' anorectum relative to the pelvic floor. High and low malformations
are treated in different ways. Ever since Bodenhamer, numerous theories about the
pathogenesis of imperforate anus have been developed. At present the congenital
anorectal malformations are considered to be caused by impaired development of the
cloacal plate and its surrounding structures (van der Putte and Neeteson 1984).
Although in the past the literature mainly focussed on the study and the treatment
of the congenital anorectal malformation itself, in the last few decades attention has
also been paid to associated anomalies in other organ systems. Combinations of
anomalies are described as V A(C)TER(L) association (V = vascular or vertebral,
A = anorectal, C = cardiac, TE = tracheoesophageal, R = renal, and L = limb
abnormalities (Quan and Smith 1973, Kaufman 1973, Barnes and Smith 1978),
caudal regression syndrome (Duhamel 1961), caudal mesodermal pattern of
anomalies (Kallen and Winberg 197 4 ), or axial mesodermal dysplasia syndrome
(Russel et al. 1981). Of the anomalies that may present in combination with the
congenital anorectal malformation, those of the urogenital tract occur most frequently
(Moore and Lawrence 1952, Hasse 1976, Hoekstra et al. 1983).


The appearance of nonfamilial rickets in adults is most frequently due to generalized gastrointestinal malabsorption. Recent studies suggest that rickets secondary to a specific gastrointestinal malabsorption of vitamin D and of calcium is now more common in adults and especially in elderly individuals, possibly because of concomitant dietary deficiencies, inadequate exposure to sunlight, and previous gastric surgery. 1 Other conditions which commonly cause rickets are chronic renal glomerular insufficiency and renal tubular disorders such as renal tubular acidosis and the Fanconi syndrome. 2 On rare occasions, rickets may complicate hypoparathyroidism, hyperthyroidism, ureterosigmoidostomy, the prolonged ingestion of magnesiumaluminum gel antacids, and hypophosphatasia. 2,3 Primary hypophosphatemic rickets (phosphate diabetes) unrelated to the conditions enumerated above may be either familial or sporadic. 2 The familial variety is transmitted by sex-linked or autosomal inheritance and usually begins in infancy or childhood, whereas the sporadic variety may occur at any age. The biochemical characteristics of


For nearly three years with the COVID-19 pandemic, China has implemented a set of strict policies to control the flux of potential virus carriers in cross-border flights: The so-called Circuit Breaker mechanism. In this study, we review the evolution of this mechanism – a rather unique experiment in the global aviation system — from a data-driven perspective. Specifically, we perform an investigation on the extent of violations and their potential drivers. In total, 183 events are analyzed covering the period from epidemic outbreak in early 2020 to December 2021. In addition to describing the spatial extent and temporal evolution, we develop a regression model which helps us to better understand the universal patterns. By dissecting an under-investigated phenomenon, we believe that our study contributes to the rich literature on aviation and COVID-19, not only in the specific context of China, but also by assessing some of the challenges and potential of containing a global health threat using strict aviation policies.


We present a method for representing solid objects with spatially-varying oriented textures by repeatedly pasting solid texture exemplars. The underlying concept is to extend the 2D texture patch-pasting approach of lapped textures to 3D solids using a tetrahedral mesh and 3D texture patches. The system places texture patches according to the user-defined volumetric tensor fields over the mesh to represent oriented textures. We have also extended the original technique to handle nonhomogeneous textures for creating solid models whose textural patterns change gradually along the depth fields. We identify several texture types considering the amount of anisotropy and spatial variation and provide a tailored user interface for each. With our simple framework, large-scale realistic solid models can be created easily with little memory and computational cost. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach with several examples including trees, fruits, and vegetables.


Exercise is recommended for prostate cancer (PCa) patients treated with androgen deprivation therapy. The goal of the study was to assess the availability of hospital-based rehabilitation resources and national practice patterns for PCa in Belgium. A questionnaire was conducted with rehabilitation physical therapists in all Belgian hospital with urology and rehabilitation departments. Practice patterns were compared with the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines. PCa prevalence data were obtained from the Belgian Cancer Registry and attitude of physicians towards physical activity was documented. We included 98 Belgian hospitals. Only 25% of the PCa population had access to PCa-specific programmes. The occupancy rate of PCa-specific rehabilitation slots was 69%. The main perceived barriers to organise PCa-specific rehabilitation were existence of general programmes (40%) and low referrals (18%). All PCa programmes consisted of aerobic and resistance exercise and 62% included flexibility. Minimal criteria for frequency and duration per session were followed in 83%. The majority (89%) of physicians believed in the positive effects of supervised exercise programmes. The majority of PCa programmes follow the evidence-based guidelines except for flexibility exercises. The minority of PCa patients has access to specific programmes, although not all treatment slots are occupied.


Abstract Hypertension is a major independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, which are the most frequent cause of death worldwide. In addition, the risk of hypertension has been associated with racial and/or ethnic background. Hispanics are the largest and fastest-growing minority population in the United States, currently comprising about 16.3% (50.5 million) of the total population; these numbers will continue to increase into the next 10 years. The rate of uncontrolled hypertension in Hispanics significantly exceeds the rates observed among non-Hispanic blacks and whites. The reasons for these racial and ethnic differences in blood pressure control may include factors such as lack of access to health care, low socioeconomic status, language barriers, degree of acculturation, poor doctor–patient communication, and genetic factors. This article provides an up-to-date summary of epidemiological and treatment aspects of high blood pressure in the US Hispanic population. Because Mexican Americans constitute approximately 66% of US Hispanics, data sources that focus on Mexican Americans are also discussed.


Feeding everyone in sub-Saharan African countries remains a challenge because of the high population growth rate, climate change effects and declining soil fertility, particularly affecting maize and legumes availability. In Kenya, maize and legumes are important staple crops and a recipe in most household dinner tables. However, smallholder farmers are still faced with low maize and legumes security. Understanding the factors that influence a given household to produce above or below the household annual requirements, is crucial and largely ignored in the literature. Therefore, this study was carried out to understand the factors influencing maize availability equivalent among smallholder maize-legume farmers in selected counties in Kenya. Panel data were collected from 613 randomly sampled households from five counties. A maize availability equivalent was then calculated and grouped into three categories, which included those households that produced maize equivalent below the average (deficient), along average (sufficient) and those above average (surplus). An ordered logistic regression model was then fitted to estimate the effect of social capital, socioeconomic and institutional factors on maize availability equivalent. The econometric results showed that only the network density as a measure of social capital positively and significantly influenced maize availability equivalent in the household. Other factors like gender, education, age, income of the household head and average plot di stance to nearest market were significant too. Policy recommendations must address gendered production, development of farmer education, participation on social institutions, creation of greater and stronger network density, as well as informing the correct age that will improve the maize equivalent in the households.


Carbon dioxide is a principle resource for plant growth; as such, the ongoing increase in its concentration may allow breeders to begin selecting for optimal cultivars among current crop lines. Such a program may not be necessary, however, if breeders have, by empirical selection, already chosen the most responsive cultivars. To test this hypothesis, we examined the growth and vegetative characteristics of individual plants of cultivated oat (Avena sativa L.) from seven geographical locations to CO 2 concentration ([CO 2 ]) increases that corresponded roughly to the [CO 2 ] from the 1920s, the current [CO 2 ], and the [CO 2 ] projected for the middle of this century (300, 400, and 500 μmol mol −1 , respectively). In contrast to our predictions, newer lines were less responsive than older lines to rising [CO 2 ] in terms of both leaf area and tiller number. A comparison of phenotypic variability indicated that for almost all measured parameters, older lines had a greater degree of intraspecifi c variability (i.e., newer lines were more uniform). As a consequence, a number of CO 2 -sensitive lines among older cultivars were identifi ed with respect to parameters such as vegetative biomass or tiller production. Our results suggest that for oat: (i) newer lines are not intrinsically more responsive to rising CO 2 levels than older lines; and (ii) phenotypic homogenization among modern lines could hamper efforts to identify desirable characteristics associated with CO 2 responsiveness.


Technological advances in the context of digital transformation are the basis for rapid developments in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). Although AI is not a new topic in computer science (CS), recent developments are having an immense impact on everyday life and society. In consequence, everyone needs competencies to be able to adequately and competently analyze, discuss and help shape the impact, opportunities, and limits of artificial intelligence on their personal lives and our society. As a result, an increasing number of CS curricula are being extended to include the topic of AI. However, in order to integrate AI into existing CS curricula, what students can and should learn in the context of AI needs to be clarified. This has proven to be particularly difficult, considering that so far CS education research on central concepts and principles of AI lacks sufficient elaboration. Therefore, in this paper, we present a curriculum of learning objectives that addresses digital literacy and the societal perspective in particular. The learning objectives can be used to comprehensively design curricula, but also allow for analyzing current curricula and teaching materials and provide insights into the central concepts and corresponding competencies of AI.


Objective.-Recent studies have shown that calculations of the percent free/total prostate-specific antigen (PSA) improves the specificity of PSA testing. Characterizing the variability of free PSA and total PSA is necessary to evaluate the utility of an isolated free/total PSA measurement. We investigated the total variation of free and total PSA levels to determine how the percent free/total PSA was affected. Design.-Serum was obtained from nine urological patients on 5 different days over a 2-week period. Free and total PSA levels were measured on the day of collection. The total variation expressed in terms of percent coefficient of variation (%CV) was calculated, and the biological variation was derived taking analytical variation into consideration. Setting.-Patients were from Seattle (Wash) Urological Associates, and samples were processed at the Dynacare Laboratory of Pathology, Seattle, Wash. Patients.-Nine men (aged 48 to 69 years) were evaluated ; three had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, three with benign prostatic hyperplasia, one with chronic prostatitis, one with high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, and one was clinically normal. Main Outcome Measures.-Total variation for free, total, and percent free/total PSA. Results.-The average total variation was 13.9% CV, 7.5% CV, and 10.6% CV for free, total, and percent free/ total PSA, respectively. Biological variation was derived to be 13.0% CV, 5.6% CV, and 8.0% CV for free, total, and percent free/total PSA, respectively. Conclusions.-When applied, these results suggest that there are significant random changes in the numerator and denominator of the free PSA-total PSA ratio that could result in clinical misinterpretation. Clinicians must be aware that free PSA and total PSA levels will fluctuate owing to nonpathologic variation.


: An infectious disease, COVID-19, caused by a new type of coronavirus, has been discovered recently. This disease can cause respiratory distress, fever, and fatigue. It still has no drug and vaccine for treatment and prevention. Therefore, WHO recommends that people should stay at home to reduce disease transmission. Due to the quarantine, FDA stated that this could hamper drug development clinical trial protocols. Hence, an alternative sampling method that can be applied at home is needed. Currently, volumetric absorptive microsampling (VAMS) has become attention in its use in clinical and bioanalytical fields. This paper discusses the advantages and challenges that might be found in the use of VAMS as an alternative sampling tool in clinical trials and therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) during the COVID-19 pandemic. VAMS allows easy sampling, can be done at home, storage and delivery at room temperature, and the volume taken is small and minimally invasive. VAMS is also able to absorb a fixed volume that can increase the accuracy and precision of analytical methods, and reduce the hematocrit effects (HCT). The use of VAMS is expected to be implemented immediately in clinical trials and TDM during this pandemic considering the benefits it has.


Teacher effectiveness has been a rallying cry for education reform over the last decade. The push for policies that aim to increase teacher effectiveness, fire ineffective teachers and recruit or retain effective teachers unite educational stakeholders; yet, specific, operational definitions of effectiveness remain elusive and divisive. It is easy to say that teacher effectiveness is the single most important factor in student achievement, but difficult to say what it means to be effective. In this study I take up a Critical Discursive Psychology (Wetherell, 1998) approach to the text of the current Framework for Teacher Evaluation and Professional Growth in Tennessee and the talk of the Teacher Evaluation Advisory Committee (TEAC)– a 15-member committee appointed to craft a new evaluation policy with Race To The Top funds under the First To the Top Act. My findings suggest that there are polarized interpretative repertoires available for talking and making sense of effectiveness in teaching. These ways of talking about teaching create conflicts and dilemmas within conversations that are managed in patterned ways. Within the talk of the TEAC, patterns in the way dilemmas are managed within conversations include evading and dividing decisions points in ways that support a self-extending system of education reform. My findings suggest that teacher effectiveness is constantly being constructed within conversations, rather than being a single idea that can be singularly and authoritatively defined and handed down. As such I argue that teacher effectiveness policies must purposefully engage individuals at all levels of policy and practice in ongoing conversations about effectiveness in teaching and the evaluation of teaching in order to mediate the unintended consequences of tools for evaluation, and to develop a shared vision of excellence for collaborative progress.


On April 19, 1935, I successfully performed a one stage interpelviabdominal amputation for an osteochondroma of the pelvis on a man 24 years of age. At the time of writing he is still alive and active. While I had performed interscapulothoracic amputation a number of times and had disarticulated the hip several times in the past few years, I had never had the opportunity before to perform this extremely mutilating operation, and I was somewhat at a loss as to the correct procedure. I had read about the operation as reported by Keen, 1 Pringle 2 and Judin, 3 but otherwise I was in the same stage of uncertainty as the French surgeon, Leriche, 4 who recently stated that when the occasion arose to perform this major operation, he was unfamiliar with the operation, had never done it and had never seen it done. He might also have added that


ABSTRACT What are the effects of international human rights norms? This paper links the creation of two human rights treaties, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) to health indicators that signal whether well-being for women and children is improving. These two conventions are of particular interest because nearly all countries in the world are parties to both treaties, which attests to their strength as international norms. Using two new methodologies – ITSA and Joinpoint analysis, we show that both CRC and CEDAW have demonstrable and significant effects across a variety of relevant health indicators and have had effects in countries regardless of region, level of development, and regime type. Thus, our paper is one of the first to link the existence of norms with cross-national effects on the ground within countries not as rules to be enforced, but rules that have effects outside of courts or political offices that create changes for individual well-being beyond the treaties and law themselves.


Acoustic emission (AE) signals have tremendous promise for monitoring machining processes, but current understanding of AE generation is very limited. In addition, existing techniques to analyze these signals are inadequate. Presented here is a new approach to analyze AE signals based on thorough characterization of the dynamics underlying the signals. The signals were collected from extensive experimentation on five different lathes, performed under various cutting conditions, with different tool–work combinations and sampling rates. First, a battery of statistical tests was applied on the collected AE signals. Tests revealed that AE in turning is chaotic with fractal dimensions ranging between three and six. But owing to nonstationarity, chaos was not clearly revealed in the lag plots. Next, the transients were quantified, based on a compact representation scheme that was developed—called suboptimal wavelet packet representation—that captured all salient features of the AE signals. This representation s...


Multi-car elevator is an emerging technology consisting of two or more elevator cars moving independently in an elevator hoistway, which has become more appealing as building heights increase. In this paper, the design and drive methodologies for a linear motor driven multi-car elevator system with independently moving cars is introduced together with experimental results. Additionally, a safety method developed for the linear motor elevator and the conditions necessary for its proper operation are discussed. The new results introduced in this paper are in the areas of the design method of the linear motor for multi-car elevator system, and the preliminary results for the position measurement system.


At once it must be recognized that religious law by its very nature regulates and restricts the conduct of its adherents. One of the major foci of The Oxford Handbook of Judaism and Economics is therefore to describe the impact economic regulation in Jewish law has on the integration of Jews into the economic fabric of societies governed by different legal systems. Factors that impede integration, as well as those that facilitate it, are identified. More globally, a number of the papers in this volume discuss the positive contribution of Jewish business ethics to the morality of the marketplace, as well as Jewish legal perspectives on economic public policy. In the discipline of economics, advances in theory provide the grist for debate regarding the appropriate role for government. Accordingly, this volume presents papers dealing with economic theory in the Bible and Talmud, as well as comparative law studies that relate to economics. Also included are studies of the influence of religious economic law on the economic sphere of life in societies of the past. Finally, this work investigates how successfully Jews, as a people, have integrated into American economic life, and the related question of how economic forces have played a role in causing the American Jew to assimilate, shedding religious practice and commitment. Available in OSO: http://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/oso/public/content/oho_economics/9780195398625/toc.html Contributors to this volume - J. David Bleich is Herbert and Florence Tenzer Professor of Jewish Law and Ethics at the Cardozo Law School of Yeshiva University. Michael J. Broyde is professor of law at Emory University School of Law and the Academic Director of the Law and Religion Program at Emory University. Jeffrey L. Callen is the former Charles I Rosen Chair of Business Administration, the Hebrew University, a former Research Professor of Accounting, New York University, and currently the Joseph L. Rotman Chair of Accounting, University of Toronto. Barry R. Chiswick is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Program Director for Migration Studies, IZA - Institute for the Study of Labor, Bonn, Germany. Carmel U. Chiswick is Professor Emerita in the Department of Economics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Adam Chodorow teaches tax law at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, where he is also a faculty fellow of the Center for the Study of Law, Science and Technology. Yoel Domb, a graduate of Jerusalem College of Technology's Business School as well as an ordained rabbi of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, has been teaching Jewish business ethics for the last ten years at the Jerusalem College of Technology, as well as researching the subject at the Jerusalem Center of Business Ethics (BEC) and Keter - The Center for Halacha and Economics. Yaakov Elman is Professor of Jewish Studies at Yeshiva University, where he teaches courses in Bible and Talmud. Daniel Z. Feldman received ordination (Yoreh Yoreh v'Yadin Yadin) from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, an affiliate of Yeshiva University. Amal Jabareen received his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University. Amal Jabareen received his Ph.D. from Bar-Ilan University. He has been a full-time member of Ono Academic College Faculty of Law since 2004. Howard Jachter, Rabbinic Judge, Rabbinic Court of Elizabeth, New Jersey, is Professor of Bible and Jewish Law, Torah Academy of Bergen County, New Jersey. Eliakim Katz is currently professor and former chair of the economics department at Northern Illinois University. Yehuda L. Klein is an associate professor of Economics at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and the Executive Officer of the Doctoral Program in Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Ephraim Kleiman is Don Patinkin Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Ron S. Kleinman, a senior lecturer at the Ono Academic College Faculty of Law in Israel, where he teaches Jewish Law and Torts, also teaches in the law faculty of Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Aaron Levine, editor of this volume, is the Samson and Halina Bitensky Professor of Economics at Yeshiva University. His books include Free Enterprise and Jewish Law (1980); Economics and Jewish Law (1987); Economic Public Policy and Jewish Law (1993); Case Studies in Jewishewish Business Ethics (2000), and Moral Issues of the Marketplace in Jewish Law (2005). Yehoshua Liebermann is a graduate of Kol-Tora Rabbinical College in Jerusalem and holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Chicago in Business Administration. Roger Lister is currently Professor of Accounting and Finance at the University of Salford. Asher Meir is a Senior Lecturer at the Jerusalem College of Technology, and is in charge of the Jewish ethics curriculum in the MBA program at the School. Leon M. Metzger, Associate Editor of Judaism and Economics, is an adjunct professor and lecturer at Columbia, New York, and Yale Universities, where he teaches alternative investment management courses. Moses L. Pava is Professor of Accounting and Alvin Einbender Professor of Business Ethics at the Sy Syms School of Business of Yeshiva University, where he has taught for the past 20 years. Jonas Prager is an associate professor of economics in the department of economics, faculty of arts and sciences, New York University, New York City. Larry Rabinovich is a partner at the law firm of Schindel, Farman, Lipsius, Gardner & Rabinovich of New York City, and serves as Treasurer of the Jewish Law Association. Dani Rapp is Associate Dean of Undergraduate Jewish Studies and Assistant Professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University. Edward Reichman is Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Professor of Philosophy and History of Medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, where he teaches clinical medicine and Jewish medical ethics. Yosef Rivlin is Professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University. Professor Rivlin has published widely in the areas of Jewish family law; Cairo Geniza legal documents; wills and inheritance; and bills and contracts in Jewish law. Jacob Rosenberg, former Chair of the Department of Economics at Bar Ilan University and the Rector of the College of Management in Israel, received his D.Sc. in Economics from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. Fred Rosner, MD, FACP, is director of the Department of Medicine of the Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica, New York, where he serves as professor of medicine. Daniel Schiffman is a lecturer in the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Ariel University Center. Lawrence H. Schiffman is Chairman of New York University's Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies and serves as Ethel and Irvin A. Edelman Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies. Keith Sharfman is Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School and Visiting Professor of Law at St. John's University School of Law. Michael Szenberg is Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Lubin School of Business, Pace University, Co-editor-in-Chief of the economics series of handbooks by Oxford University Press, and Editor-in-Chief of The American Economist. Meir Tamari, a former Chief Economist in the Office of the Governor of the Bank of Israel and currently an international consultant, has published extensively in the areas of corporate finance, small firms, risk evaluation, and entrepreneurship. P.V. Viswanath, Professor of Finance at the Lubin School of Business, Pace University in New York, received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Ronald Warburg received rabbinic ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (an affiliate of Yeshiva University) and earned his doctorate (SJD) at the Hebrew University Faculty of Law Jonathan Weiser (J.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2001; M.A., Education, American University, 1988) is a practicing attorney working in loan markets, high yield investment trading, and related areas. Avi Weiss is a faculty member and former chairman of the department of economics at Bar Ilan University, and the former chief economist and deputy general director of the Israel Antitrust Authority.


Azoospermia can be caused by the obstruction of the excurrent ductal system of the male reproductive tract or by failure of spermatogenesis in the testes. Various advanced diagnostic tools are available to help clinicians determine the underlying etiologies. These include transrectal ultrasonogram, vasography and antisperm antibody assays. In addition, advanced genetic evaluations, such as karyotype analysis, Y chromosome microdeletion and cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator mutation screening are used commonly, not only to determine the etiology of azoospermia, but also to provide crucial information for counselling of couples who choose to use assisted reproductive techniques to have children. Recent advances in the management of obstructive azoospermia with microsurgical reconstruction, such as vasovasostomy and vasoepididymostomy, have significantly improved the postoperative outcomes. For patients with spermatogenic failure that requires assisted reproduction, the recent refinements in various surgical sperm retrieval techniques, including microsurgical testicular sperm extraction and epididymal sperm aspiration, have provided more optimal treatment outcomes.


Concern about the effect of environmental changes on male reproductive health has grown in recent years to become a major preoccupation in some developed countries. A possible decline in human sperm concentration was suggested in the early seventies following studies in the US. In 1992 a meta‐analysis of 61 articles published by Carlsen et al. concluded that the mean sperm count of healthy men had declined by 1% per year over the previous 50 years. From 1995 and onwards, some retrospective, longitudinal analyses of the sperm count of fertile or infertile men contradicted this while others did not. The demonstration of a geographical variation in sperm concentration, between and within countries or regions, appears to be less controversial. The amplitude of the difference observed cannot only be explained by methodological or confounding factors, and must to some extent be attributed to ethnic, genetic or environmental factors. As many of the published studies suffer from imprecision regarding the description of population characteristics and confounding factors, and were not designed with controlled and standardised methodology, the debate remains open. Prospective studies in well‐defined cohorts of men in various populations are required to evaluate the potential effect of external factors on male reproductive health. These studies should not be limited to the analysis of sperm concentration, as this may not be the best biomarker of testis function and human fertility.


The objective of this research was to examine the relationship between food preferences and personality of university students. The questionnaires were distributed to 198 university students in 2009. The data showed high correlation between personality and food preferences. According to the result of food preferences exams the most favorite food of university students was coffee, refreshing drinks, eggs, ice creams, bananas, porks, apples, chickens, weeds, grapes and food they dislike were sea cucumbers, livers, mung bean sprout, crown daisy, flat fishes, bean curd, green lavers, lotus roots, turban shells, egg plant etc. The correlation coefficient between food preferences and personality showed that male students had more dominance and sociability, and female students had more sociability and validity. On the other hand, a good diet group had higher responsibility and a poor diet group had higher sociability. Consequently, good food habits is essentially needed for the formation of desirable personality of students.


Organizational memories play a significant role in knowledge management, but several challenges confront their use. Artifacts of OM are many and varied. Access and use of the stored artifact are influenced by the user's understanding of these information objects as well as their context. Theories of distributed cognition and the notion of community of practice are used to develop a model of the knowledge management system. In the present work we look at a model for managing organizational memory knowledge. Topic maps are used in the model to represent user cognition of contextualized information. A visual approach to topic maps proposed in the model also allows for access and analysis of stored memory artifacts. The design and implementation of a prototype to test the feasibility of the model is briefly examined.


Rationale When designing the construction or rehabilitation of roads in unstable mountain regions subjected to floods, landslides, erosion and earthworks failures, it has become usual practice to employ a selection of the techniques described in Section 2. The need for adequate land surface evaluation in this context is obvious: (i) the information so produced is essential to many if not most design processes; and (ii) proper evaluation of topography, materials and geohazard is central to the performance of the road construction, and its maintenance in the longer term. These concepts are embodied in Fookes et al. (1985) and in Overseas Road Note 16 (Transport Research Laboratory 1997) which deals specifically with geohazards and road design in unstable mountain areas. The selection of the techniques, and the manner in which they are applied, will depend on project area conditions, the availability of the necessary data or documents, and the nature of the engineering scheme being proposed. The techniques are usually applied in a progressive manner, with the need to refine and detail ground conditions more closely as the site selection and design procedure takes place. The conclusion to this process is the usual inevitability that final design will not be established until ground conditions are fully defined during construction. In the case of road rehabilitation projects, existing cut slope exposures provide a more or less continuous record of soil and rock conditions above the road, while the stability of slopes and the observed distress to the existing road pavement provides a useful overview of stability, and the reaction of slopes and drainage channels to road works in general. These benefits obviously do not accrue in the case of new road construction. The design case studies for a proposed new road in Nepal and the rehabilitation of an existing road in the Philippines are described below to illustrate the value of land surface evaluation techniques in each case.


The purpose of this research study is to highlight the varying design elements within logos in relation to the preferences of 16 to 19 year old students.

Firstly the investigation explores visual communication of colour, type and shape theory. This allows for the production of a case study in which a sample group of 16 – 19 year olds are involved in providing data via an online questionnaire. The questionnaire, including both qualitative and quantitative methods, leads to generalisations and highlights areas for further research. The questionnaire is also supported by empirical findings from group discussions and observations.

The findings from the investigation highlight a number of patterns within preferences in digital logo design. These included; sans serif fonts being favoured over serif, the popularity of the colour blue and the effects of positive shapes within design.

This work shows the importance of preferences in design of logos and allows for educators, designers, marketing psychologist and students to refer to the study to assist in future research within logo designs.


Frozen sections of human placenta were examined for the presence of four human pregnancy proteins, pregnancy-associated plasma proteins A and C (PAPP-A and PAPP-C), human chorionic somatomammotropin (hCS), and pregnancy zone protein (PZP), by the indirect immunofluorescence technique. Monospecific rabbit antiserums to PAPP-A, PAPP-C and hCS all stained the trophoblast cytoplasm equivalently in a continuous layer, usggesting that the same trophoblast cells synthesize all three pregnancy proteins. In contrast, PZP was localized in blood vessel walls, parenchymal structures within the villous, as well as in the trophoblast cytoplasm. Its distribution in the latter was relatively inhomogeneous, tending to be more intense on the basement membrane side.


In this paper we propose to use tritiated liquid effluents from a CANDU type reactor as a tracer, to study hydrodynamics on Danube-Black Sea Channel. Tritiated water can be used to simulate the transport and dispersion of solutes in mentioned Channel, because it has the same physical characteristic as water. Measured tracer response curves produced from controlled evacuations provide an efficient method of obtaining necessary data. This paper presents the establishing of proper mixing length, and the base line of tritium concentration in studied area. These first steps were used to construct the unit-peak attenuation (UPA) curve for a sector of the Danube-Black Sea Channel.


A Single-action rapid compression machine was developed to observe soot formation and oxidation processes in a diesel spray flame. The two-color method was applied to analyze the flame temperature and KL factor from the flame image taken by a high-speed camera. Variation in the surrounding gas-oxygen concentration was achieved by adding differing quantities of pure oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and argon gases in charging air ranging from 17 to 25 vol% of oxygen concentration to examine the effect of flame temperature. The initial gas temperature has a great effect not only on the ignition delay but also on soot formation speed. Higher oxygen concentration resulted in higher flame temperature and faster soot oxidation speed in the flame. Carbon dioxides have a soot-reduction effect in spite of its lower flame temperature.


Research into the concept of attraction has indicated the existence of olfactory influences that go beyond pheromonal level. Synthetic fragrances have been found to affect not only perception of attraction, but also attribution of beauty-unrelated intrinsic characteristics. The present study aimed to examine the impact of perfume-gender congruency on ratings of attractiveness and any perfume-generated halo effect. Male faces categorized as low, medium and high attractiveness were rated by 36 heterosexual female students across six domains: attractive, reliable, outgoing, intelligent, wealthy and socially competent. Ratings were made in the presence of a female perfume (incongruent condition), male perfume (congruent condition) or a no perfume control condition, with participants randomly allocated to produce three groups of equal size. The results indicated that 1) attractiveness generated a significant halo effect; 2) the male perfume did not significantly enhance perception of attractiveness compared to the female perfume; and 3) the gender-congruent fragrance heightened attribution of "halo" characteristics. These results indicate that gender congruent perfume can impact positively on first impressions beyond attractiveness, and are discussed in terms of possible mechanisms and implications.


This paper investigates high-speed narrowband PLC MAC mechanisms attempting to satisfy utilities requirements for smart grid applications. Three protocols currently under discussion by different standardization bodies are studied: 1) ADaPtive backoff (ADP), a variation of the backoff protocol described in [1]); 2) G3 Binary Exponential Backoff (BEB) protocol ([3]); and 3) a variation of BEB denoted as Additive Decrease-Multiplicative Increase (ADMI). Aggregate and individual node throughput, long- and short-term fairness and excessive delays were analyzed under fully connected and traffic saturation conditions. In partially connected topologies, the effect of hidden node collisions and spatial reuse potential was studied.


The Longest Climb is the utterly compelling account of Dominic and his team's expedition from the Dead Sea to the peak of Everest. His team EverestMax were the first ever to make this extraordinary journey. Following an old Victorian route, Dominic cycled through Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and India on his way to Tibet and the bottom of the world's highest mountain. From trying to find a wireless connection in Damascus and setting fire to the team's support vehicle in order to thaw the engine in Iran, to deciding whether or not to share the little oxygen they had and risk their own lives in order to try to save another climber, and beating their Austrian nemesis Gerry Winkler to the top, The Longest Climb is a high-octane combination of the huge personal risk, fascinating cultural insight, and momentary farce that make up a major expedition. But The Longest Climb is not simply a memoir of an expedition. It is also the moving account of Dominic's struggle to finally accept the heartbreaking loss of his father to cancer when Dominic was just six. As he fights illness, broken equipment, lack of money and the hardest season of Everest history to make the top, Dominic also discusses what has driven him up this mountain. The answers are as affecting as they are extraordinary.


Accurate models of Overcurrent (OC) with inverse time relay characteristics play an important role for coordination of power system protection schemes. This paper proposes a new method for modelling OC relays curves. The model is based on artificial neural networks. The cascade correlation neural network is used to calculate operating times of OC relays for various Time Dial Settings (TDS) or Time Multiplier Settings (TMS). The new model is more accurate than traditional models. The model is validated by comparing the results obtained from the new method with nonlinear analytical, perceptron and backpropagation neural networks models as applied for various types of overcurrent relays.


The demonstrated swelling resistance and high heat flux capacity make tempered martensitic (TM) steels a leading candidate alloy class for application to fusion reactor first wall and blanket structures. Here, the fracture resistance and micromechanisms of two tempered martensitic steels were characterized over a range of temperatures by both mechanical testing and quantitative fractography. HT-9 and F-82H undergo a fracture mode transition from quasicleavage at low temperature to microvoid coalescence at high temperature. The transition in HT-9 is rather gradual, and the transition in F-82H is extremely abrupt. While the toughness of F-82H was higher in all cases, differences between the two steels depended on test type, strain rate and temperature. The results not only demonstrate the inherent non-uniqueness of the so called ductile-to-brittle transition temperature (DBTT), but also call into question the use of Charpy data for ranking the relative performance of various alloys. The similarities in quasi-cleavage fracture and differences in ductile fracture are manifested in the fracture surfaces and are interpreted in terms of the underlying mechanisms and microstructures.


Boundary layers on surfaces will change from laminar to turbulent flow after a critical length. Due to the differing heat transfer coefficients of laminar and turbulent flow, the point of transition can be detected by heating the surface and measuring surface temperature by thermographic imaging. Locating the transition point is crucial for the aerodynamic optimization of components. In this study, fiber reinforced polymer composites (FRPCs) were chosen as the test substrate. Experiments were conducted using the flame spray process and NiCrAlY coatings. Multilayered coatings consisting of an aluminum bond coat, a layer of alumina as electrical insulation, and a heating layer of titania were fabricated by atmospheric plasma spraying. Free-flight tests were conducted with a functionalized winglet in order to assess the ability of thermally-sprayed heating elements to detect the location of transition of the flow regime. The results showed that the thermally-sprayed elements heat surfaces uniformly, with sufficient radiation losses for thermographic imaging. It was also shown that the change in temperature at the point of transition was readily observable using thermography.


A consequence of the dilatancy/fluid-diffusion mechanism for shallow earthquakes is that considerable volumes of fluid are rapidly redistributed in the crust following seismic faulting. This is borne out by the outpourings of warm groundwater which have been observed along fault traces following some moderate (M5–M7) earthquakes. The quantities of fluid involved are such that significant hydrothermal mineralisation may result from each seismically induced fluid pulse, and the mechanism provides an explanation for the textures of hydrothermal vein deposits associated with ancient faults, which almost invariably indicate that mineralisation was episodic.


Die-bonding for a nitride light-emitting diode (LED) by sintering of micrometer size Ag particles in air at 200°C was investigated. Micrometer size Ag particles absorb oxygen remarkably well at 200°C and above, and on sintering, they form a porous layer. The activating temperature of the sintering is in good agreement with the oxygen adsorption temperature. Sintering does not progress in the absence of oxygen. A reduction of thermal resistance and an improvement of reliability are achieved by the sintered layer as a die attach to a surface-mount-type LED. This mounting method is useful in the die bonding of electronic components, and is an alternative technique to high-temperature lead soldering.


PURPOSE
Although there is currently no epidemiological data on backward disequilibrium, this disturbance of posture does not seem to be rare in frail elderly.

ACTUALITIES AND STRONG POINTS
Backward disequilibrium is characterized by the following criteria: the location of buttocks on the anterior side of the seat while the trunk rested at the back of the armchair in the sitting position; an inadequate forward of the trunk and a backward projection of the trunk outside the base of support during sit-to-stand; and a posterior projection of the center of mass outside the base of support in the standing position. Several pathological situations either somatic (degenerative, ischemic and traumatic brain lesions), psycho-somatic (psychomotor disadaptation syndrome, extended bed confining, non-use) or psychological (depression) affections can entail backward disequilibrium. Falls, loss of autonomy and the risk of the vicious circle with its causes are the main consequences of backward disequilibrium.

PROSPECTS AND PROJECTS
Although the geriatrician is familiarized with backward disequilibrium, there is no scale to quantify it. In this paper we review causes, consequences and management of backward disequilibrium, and in order to assess it, we propose a semi-quantitative scale, based on some activities of everyday living which are sitting position, sit-to-stand, back-to-sit and standing position. So, a backward disequilibrium score could be determined.


SDN makes networks programmable by bringing flexibility in their control and management. An SDN controller decides how packets should be forwarded and installs flow rules on the data-plane devices for this end. For efficient control and management, the SDN controller needs to monitor the network state continuously in order to have an accurate and up-to-date view of the underlying data-plane. The need for this high-visibility on the network brings specific types of monitoring as streaming telemetry where data is streamed continuously from network devices (wired switches, wireless energy constrained nodes, etc.) as bulk time series data. But this may generate a lot of overhead. Adaptive monitoring techniques provide ways to reduce this overhead, but generally, they require complex user parameter tuning and also they effectively handle data dissemination overhead with counterpart certain energy-consuming treatment on the source nodes. In light of this, we propose novel adaptive sampling technique based on a confidence index that considerably reduces the number of exchanged messages about 55–70 % while maintaining an accurately collected data, represented by the explained variance score that is about 0.7 and 0.8. And more, our proposition achieves these results while being a lightweight solution for source nodes.


Extracted from text ... Filmmaker explores the Japan?Brazil connection*
Alexandra Russell-Bitting
Brazilian filmmaker Tizuka Yamasaki
looks Japanese, but sounds unquestionably
Brazilian. A granddaughter of Japanese
immigrants to Brazil, she recently
gave a talk sponsored by the IDB
Cultural Center on the interconnections
between her two cultures. She illustrated
her comments with clips from two of her
films, Gaijin ? A Brazilian Odyssey and
Gaijin 2, named after the Japanese term
for foreigner or outsider.
Growing up in Brazil, Yamasaki noticed
that while there was plenty of talk
about the contributions of immigrants
from Europe and Africa, no one ever
mentioned Japan, even though ..


Background and aims: Femalenurses are among people who exposed to various stressors because of their critical job conditions. This exposure predisposes them to stress and emotional exhaustion. One of the important stressors in nurses' workplaces is injustice. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of injustice on stress and emotional exhaustion in a multilevel model. Methods: The present study is a modern descriptive correlation one. Research statistical population included the female nurses of a hospital in Esfahan City in autumn 1389 (140 nurses), among them, 100 persons were selected using convenience sampling. The data gathering instruments were job stress questionnaire with 5 items, emotional exhaustion with 9 items and three questionnaires, each with 3 items for distributive, procedural and interactional injustice. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and mediation analysis. Results: The results indicated that, there were positive significant relationship between distributive, procedural and interactional injustice with female nurses' stress and emotional exhaustion (P<0.01). The results of SEM indicated that, in two level relationships, there were direct relationships between interactional and procedural injustice with job stress and between job stresses with emotional exhaustion, but there was no direct relationship between distributive injustice and job stress. Mediation analysis also showed that job stress is a complete mediator variable in relations between procedural and interactional injustice with emotional exhaustion. Conclusion: The evidences from confirmed model of the research indicated that, procedural and interactional injustice is a serious stressor for female nurses, which to continue, results in emotional exhaustion.


A new structural configuration of a permanent-electro magnet suspension (PEMS) magnet is presented to reduce the suspension power loss of middle-low-speed maglev trains. With the non-linear magnetic force expression of a PEMS magnet, some measures to increase the lift force remarkably is put forward, including selecting suitable thickness and pole face area of permanent magnet (PM), determining the ampere-turn of electromagnet, and working with the maximum magnetic energy product of a PM. The structural optimal design of PEMS magnet is converted to one type of constrained non-linear programming problem. The carrying capability and suspension power loss of designed PEMS magnet with optimised parameters are compared with a conventional electromagnetic system. Finally, numerical simulation and experimental results show that the PEMS magnet has better carrying capability and lower suspension power loss.


Background: Noise remains a nuisance which impacts negatively on the physical, social and psychological wellbeing of man. It aggravates chronic illnesses like hypertension and other cardiopulmonary diseases. Unfortunately, increased activities from industrialization and technological transfers/drifts have tumultuously led to increased noise pollution in most of our fast growing cities today and hence the need for concerted efforts in monitoring and regulating our environmental noise. Objective: To assess the equivalent noise level (Leq) in Abuja municipality and promote a simple method for regular assessment of Leq within our environment. Method: This is a cross-sectional community based study of the environmental Leq of Abuja municipality conducted between January 2014 and January 2016. The city was divided into 12 segments including residential, business and market areas via the Abuja Geographic Information System. The major markets were captured separately on a different scale. Measurements were taken with the mobile phone softwares having validated this with Extech 407730 digital sound level meter, serial no Z310135. Leq(A) were measured at different points and hours of the day and night. The average Leq(A) were classified according to localities and compared with WHO standard safety levels. Results: LeqD ranged 71-92dB(A); 42-79dB(A) and 69-90dB(A) in business/ parks, residential and market places respectively. The Night measurements were similar 18dB(A)-56dB(A) and the day-night Leq(A)=77.2dB(A) and 90.4dB(A) for residential and business zones. Conclusion: The night noise levels are satisfactory but the day and day-night levels are above the recommended tolerable values by WHO and therefore urgently call for awareness and legislative regulations.


SUMMARY Malaria parasites have had profound effects on human populations for millennia, but other terrestrial vertebrates are impacted by malaria as well. Entire species of birds have been driven to extinction, and many others are threatened by population declines. Recent studies have shown that host-switching is quite common among malaria parasite lineages, and these switches often involve a significant shift in the environment in which the parasites find themselves, including nucleated vs non-nucleated red blood cells and red vs white blood cells. Therefore, it is important to understand how parasites adapt to these different host environments. The mitochondrial cytochrome b (cyt b) gene shows evidence of adaptive molecular evolution among malaria parasite groups, putatively because of its critical role in the electron transport chain (ETC) in cellular metabolism. Two hypotheses were addressed here: (1) mitochondrial components of the ETC (cyt b and cytochrome oxidase 1 [COI]) should show evidence of adaptive evolution (i.e. selection) and (2) selection should be evident in host switches. Overall we found a signature of constraint (e.g. purifying selection) across the four genes included here, but we also found evidence of positive selection associated with host switches in cyt b and, surprisingly, in (apicoplast) caseinolytic protease C. These results suggest that evidence of selection should be widespread across these parasite genomes.


The paper is devoted to computation of the cohomology of the complex of logarithmic differential forms with coefficients in rational functions whose poles are located on the union of several hyperplanes of a linear space over a field of characteristic zero. The main result asserts that for a vast class of hyperplane arrangements, including all free and generic arrangements, the cohomology algebra coincides with the Orlik-Solomon algebra. Over the field of complex numbers, this means that the cohomologies coincide with the cohomologies of the complement of the union of the hyperplanes. We also prove that the cohomologies do not change if poles of arbitrary multiplicity are allowed on some of the hyperplanes. In particular, this gives an analogue of the algebraic de Rham theorem for an arbitrary arrangement over an arbitrary field of zero characteristic.


The Spanish spoken in the Basque Country contains some features due to its contact with Basque, one of those being the production of non-standard gender agreement (N-SGA) (Etxebarria Arostegui, 2007, 2008; Fernández Ulloa, 1997, 2006; Urrutia Cárdenas, 2006), since, unlike in Spanish (RAE, 2016), there is no such category in Basque (Zubiri & Zubiri, 2012). This characteristic is typically attributed to elder Basque native speakers without a high level of education (Fernández Ulloa, 1997), but this affirmation is not based on empirical studies. To investigate this gap, this study triangulates data from three sources: conversations, a grammaticality test, and a metalinguistic questionnaire taking education level and participants' gender as independent variables. Twelve young adult (between 21 and 29 years) native speakers of Basque have been recruited. The results suggest that the scope of the population that produces N-SGA is broader than what scholars (Fernández Ulloa, 1997) believed: participants produced N-SGA in speech, despite their grammar knowledge being evident. Finally, these participants believe that N-SGA forms part of the variety of Spanish in the Basque Country and their own idiolect.


BACKGROUND/AIMS
Several studies have suggested that pancreatic exocrine cells are able to differentiate into endocrine cells. REG I has been shown to be crucial for induction of ductal epithelial cells to differentiate into insulin producing cells. To date, however, there has been no study which examined the expression of REG I along with other differentiation markers in patients with chronic pancreatitis.

METHODOLOGY
Six cases with chronic pancreatitis and the pancreata from the age-matched autopsy cases of unrelated diseases (n=2) were included in this study and examined by immunostaining methods using antibodies against human REG I protein, trypsin, insulin, chromogranin A, cytokeratin 19 and Ki-67.

RESULTS
In chronic pancreatitis, REG I was found in acinar and acinoductular cells and the latter were also characterized by cytokeratin 19 positivity. The acinoductular cells showed the budding of REG I-positive cells which were also trypsin- and chromogranin A-positive. MIB-1 antibody against Ki-67 was found negative in the ductal, acinoductular and islet cells reflecting low proliferation in these cells.

CONCLUSIONS
The current study revealed that acinoductular cells characterized by dual expression of REG I and cytokeratin 19 also express insulin, chromogranin A and trypsin and therefore supports the hypothesis that transdifferentiation of fully differentiated (acinar) cells may be the main source of islet neogenesis in patients with chronic pancreatitis. However, low proliferation rate in these cells limits the regeneration capacity of the pancreatic tissue in these cases. The present results of double staining of REG I with cytokeratin 19, chromogranin A and insulin in the acinoductular cells indicate that REG I may be used as a marker for these cells.


In this thesis I focused on the study of factors that determine local spatial structure of an aquatic clonal plant (Potamogeton pectinatus) at both the population and community level. Particular attention was paid to the adaptive value of propagule size under various ecological conditions, with special emphasis on the role of propagule predation by Bewick's swans (Cygnus columbianus bewickii). Within the P. pectinatus population studied in the Lauwersmeer, natural selection on asexual propagule (tuber) size took place. The three prerequisites for natural selection to take place were met: (1) tuber size had a heritable basis, (2) within population variation of this trait was present, (3) variation in the trait resulted in differential fitness. Furthermore, the selection pressures were stable (spatial variation in substrate type and predation pressure were consistent). Deep burial of large tubers can thus be regarded as an adaptive strategy to escape predation by Bewick's swans. However, maternal non-genetic effects also influenced tuber size. This effect slows down the pace of selection, allowing the persistence of polymorphic variation in tuber size, as found in the study population. The spatial structure at the community level (a pondweed-hybrid-complex) was also affected by spatial variation in swan predation. In deep water P. pectinatus escaped predation by deep burial of its relatively large tubers while the smaller hybrid tubers could not escape due to their size. In shallow water where no escape through deep burial could occur the large P. pectinatus tubers were preferred over the small hybrid tubers by swans resulting in the absence of the P. pectinatus in shallow water. This thesis has shown that even at a local scale (i.e. < 800 x 300 m) spatial variation in abundance within and among clonal plant species (i.e. population and community level) may result from evolutionary responses to contrasting ecological conditions


Abstract Market surveillance systems (MSSs) are information systems that monitor financial markets to combat market abuses. Existing MSSs focus mainly on analyzing trading activities and are often developed through a trial-and-error approach by screening data mining algorithms and features. The void of theoretical direction limits the effectiveness of MSSs and calls for the development of a design theory based on a thorough examination of the meta-requirements of MSSs. Based on the efficient market hypothesis and text understanding theory, this paper argues that market information analysis should be incorporated into MSSs and commonsense knowledge should be employed to connect related events to transactions and provide reference concepts for understanding market context and assessing transaction risk. We show the effectiveness of this proposed design theory through developing and evaluating a prototype system in the context of a real-world stock exchange market. By taking a theory-driven approach, this research shows the possibility and provides guidelines on the use of market information analysis to alleviate the market surveillance problem, which has significant implications for financial markets and the economy given the explosive growth of illegal trading activities worldwide.


Background Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM)-based enumeration of circulating tumor cells (CTC) has prognostic value in patients with solid tumors, such as advanced breast, colon, and prostate cancer. However, poor sensitivity has been reported for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To address this problem, we developed a microcavity array (MCA) system integrated with a miniaturized device for CTC isolation without relying on EpCAM expression. Here, we report the results of a clinical study on CTCs of advanced lung cancer patients in which we compared the MCA system with the CellSearch system, which employs the conventional EpCAM-based method. Methods Paired peripheral blood samples were collected from 43 metastatic lung cancer patients to enumerate CTCs using the CellSearch system according to the manufacturer's protocol and the MCA system by immunolabeling and cytomorphological analysis. The presence of CTCs was assessed blindly and independently by both systems. Results CTCs were detected in 17 of 22 NSCLC patients using the MCA system versus 7 of 22 patients using the CellSearch system. On the other hand, CTCs were detected in 20 of 21 small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients using the MCA system versus 12 of 21 patients using the CellSearch system. Significantly more CTCs in NSCLC patients were detected by the MCA system (median 13, range 0–291 cells/7.5 mL) than by the CellSearch system (median 0, range 0–37 cells/7.5 ml) demonstrating statistical superiority (p = 0.0015). Statistical significance was not reached in SCLC though the trend favoring the MCA system over the CellSearch system was observed (p = 0.2888). The MCA system also isolated CTC clusters from patients who had been identified as CTC negative using the CellSearch system. Conclusions The MCA system has a potential to isolate significantly more CTCs and CTC clusters in advanced lung cancer patients compared to the CellSearch system.


The aim of the work described in this thesis was to investigate the role and nature of nanostructured carbon materials, oxygen surface groups and promoters on platinum-based catalysts for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. The selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde to cinnamyl alcohol was chosen as a showcase. To establish structure-activity relations, it is crucial to prepare well-defined carbon nanofibers (CNF) supports and well-defined catalytic metal phases on these supports. In Chapter 2 an exploratory study on the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde is described. The influence of the reactant concentration, reaction solvent and nature of the metal and support was evaluated. Based on the results, it was decided to use 2-propanol/water as solvent, cinnamaldehyde concentration of 0.1 M and platinum as catalytic metal for further studies. In Chapter 3 the role of the nature and stability of oxygen surface groups in anchoring and stabilizing platinum particles was investigated. To that purpose CNF and platinum-containing CNF with different amounts and types of oxygen surface groups were prepared and analyzed. The decomposition temperature for acidic oxygen surface groups turned out to depend on the presence of platinum. Platinum anchoring occurs on both carboxyl and phenol type groups during catalyst synthesis. In Chapter 4 the influence of graphene orientations on platinum deposition and reduction behavior was analyzed. To that purpose, platinum was deposited on oxidized nanostructured carbon materials, i.e. CNF, carbon nanoplatelets (CNP) and carbon nanotubes (CNT). It was demonstrated that platinum deposited on CNT resulted in 20 K higher reduction temperature as compared to platinum on CNF and CNP. Application of the required higher reduction temperature resulted in complete reduction for that sample, accompanied by sintering of platinum to large agglomerates. The prepared catalysts were tested and Pt/CNP and Pt/CNF turned out to be active catalysts for the cinnamaldehyde hydrogenation, while fully reduced and sintered platinum on CNT was not very active for this reaction. In Chapter 5 particle size effects for cinnamaldehyde hydrogenation using platinum and ruthenium on CNF with similar amounts of acidic oxygen surface groups, i.e. before and after heat-treatment, were investigated. Different sized platinum and ruthenium particles were deposited on CNF and tested for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde. Before heat-treatment, the platinum catalysts with larger metal particles turned out to be more selective. After heat-treatment, which resulted in removal of oxygen surface groups, smaller metal particles resulted in a higher selectivity for the platinum and ruthenium catalysts. The reversed particle size effect is ascribed to a changing adsorption mode of the reactant. In Chapter 6, we aimed to characterize platinum-promoter interactions and to relate this to catalytic performance. Therefore, CNF-supported platinum was combined with tin as promoter via incipient wetness impregnation (IWI) and via reductive deposition precipitation (RDP). Via detailed characterization, it was demonstrated that tin became partially reduced when deposited via RDP, thereby resulting in a close contact of the two metals. Via IWI synthesis such a close interaction was not obtained. The prepared catalysts were tested for the selective hydrogenation of cinnamaldehyde and enhanced selectivities towards cinnamyl alcohol were observed when close platinum-promoter interactions were present.


Navigational features have been largely recognized as fundamental for graph database query languages. This fact has motivated several authors to propose RDF query languages with navigational capabilities. In this paper, we propose the query language nSPARQL that uses nested regular expressions to navigate RDF data. We study some of the fundamental properties of nSPARQL and nested regular expressions concerning expressiveness and complexity of evaluation. Regarding expressiveness, we show that nSPARQL is expressive enough to answer queries considering the semantics of the RDFS vocabulary by directly traversing the input graph. We also show that nesting is necessary in nSPARQL to obtain this last result, and we study the expressiveness of the combination of nested regular expressions and SPARQL operators. Regarding complexity of evaluation, we prove that given an RDF graph G and a nested regular expression E, this problem can be solved in time O(|G| · |E|).


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate whether there are neurofilament (NF)-positive nerve fibers in the eutopic endometrium of patients with myoma and endometriosis by using stromal cell culture and to verify whether progesterone has an effect on the NF-positive nerve fiber by using stromal cell culture.

STUDY DESIGN
Patients with uterine myoma (N = 11), ovarian and pelvic endometriosis (N = 10), and without myoma and endometriosis (N = 10) were included in the study. Human endometrial tissues were obtained from hysterectomy and curettage. The stromal cells were cultured and immunostaining was performed before and after treatment with progesterone by using NF.

RESULTS
Before progesterone treatment the percentage of NF-positive nerve fibers between the uterine myoma group (4.91 +/- 2.05) and the endometriosis group (2.22 +/- 0.92) was statistically significant, and there was a significantly different percentage of NF-positive nerve fibers between the uterine myoma group (4.91 +/- 2.05) and the levonorgestrel intrauterine device-inserted group (1.50 +/- 0.25). After progesterone treatment the percentage of NF-positive nerve fibers was significantly decreased in the uterine myoma (2.09 +/- 1.73) and the endometriosis (1.48 +/- 0.80) groups.

CONCLUSION
We showed that the NF-positive nerve fibers were reduced after progesterone treatment by using stromal cell culture and suggest that progesterone could have a role in the decrease of endometriosis/myoma-associated pain.


BACKGROUND
Cultivation of cauliflower is diffused in Mediterranean areas where water salinity results in the need to identify alternative irrigation sources or management strategies. Using saline water during two growth phases (from transplanting to visible appearance of inflorescence or from appearance of inflorescence to head harvest), the present study aimed to identify the growth period that is more suitable for irrigation with low quality water in relation to cauliflower production and quality.

RESULTS
Salinity affected cauliflower growth mainly when imposed in the first growth phase. The growth reduction depended mainly on ion-specific effects, although slight nutrient imbalances as a result of Na+ and Cl- antagonisms were observed. The use of non-saline water in the first or second growth period reduced both the osmotic and toxic effects of salinity. When salinity was applied during inflorescence growth, yield was reduced because of a restriction of water accumulation in the head.

CONCLUSION
The results of the present study demonstrate the possibility of producing marketable cauliflower heads under conditions of salinity by timing the application of the best quality water during the first growth phase to improve fruit quality and during the second phase to reduce the negative effects of salinity on yield. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.


Organisms of the Mycobacterium avium complex are associated with disseminated infection in patients with AIDS. The mechanisms that account for the survival of the intracellular bacteria are unknown. We document here that infection of C57BL/6 black mice with M. avium 101 triggered interleukin-10 (IL-10) production. The synthesis of IL-10 peaked after 2 weeks of infection and remained elevated throughout the period of infection. Treatment of M. avium-infected peritoneal macrophages with recombinant IL-10 suppressed the stimulatory effect of tumor necrosis factor alpha and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. To confirm the possible role of IL-10 in the infection in vivo, mice were infected with M. avium 101 and simultaneously received treatment with neutralizing anti-IL-10 antibody. After 4 weeks the animals were harvested and the numbers of viable bacteria were quantitated in the liver, spleen, and blood. The liver and spleen of animals receiving anti-IL-10 antibody had 2 to 3 log units fewer bacteria than did those of control animals. These results suggest a role for IL-10 in the pathogenesis of M. avium infection.


From 1997 to 2009, altogether 48059 pieces of literature on bioinformatics are extracted in SCI-Expended. Amongst them, 2853 pieces could be attributed to Chinese scholars. With NoteExpress, software that manages documents, the 48059 pieces of literature in the past 13 years were sorted using bibliometrical method. The main aim is to compare and assess the practices of bioinformatics research in China. This study examined the growth of the bioinformatics literature, in the world. The rank list was given according to different country. China's total publication output comprises 2853 papers during the 13 years between 1997 and 2009 which was equivalent to 5.94% of the world output during the same period, and ranked the 4th. The year production and citations of papers on bioinformatics in 5 Asian countries and Taiwan district between 1997 and 2009 was compared. This study will provide general insights of bioinformatics research in China.


To investigate the temporal changes in the results of clinical tests of the functional outcome after nerve repair, we followed up 19 patients periodically over a four year period after repair of the median or ulnar nerve at the forearm. Between the first and last follow-up four of the instruments used--Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments, manual muscle testing, Sollerman grip test, and Jamar dynamometer--indicated significant and moderate to large improvements. A moderate and significant improvement was also noted during the same period in patients' estimation of pain or discomfort. Results of the two-point discrimination test did not change significantly over time. Most changes occurred during the first postoperative year, and thereafter it was principally motor function that improved. We conclude that four of the six used tests showed useful temporal dynamics during the follow-up time. The lack of responsiveness in two-point discrimination test suggests that other or complementary test instruments should be used for assessment of tactile gnosis after nerve repair.