Cognitive decline is an increasingly important public health problem, with more than 100 million adults worldwide projected to develop dementia by 2050. Accordingly, there has been an increased interest in preventive strategies that diminish this risk. It has been recognized that lifestyle factors including dietary patterns, may be important in the prevention of cognitive decline and dementia in later life. Several dietary components have been examined, including antioxidants, fatty acids, and B vitamins. In addition, whole dietary eating plans, including the Mediterranean diet (MeDi), and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, with and without weight loss, have become areas of increasing interest. Although prospective epidemiological studies have observed that antioxidants, fatty acids, and B vitamins are associated with better cognitive functioning, randomized clinical trials have generally failed to confirm the value of any specific dietary component in improving neurocognition. Several randomized trials have examined the impact of changing 'whole' diets on cognitive outcomes. The MeDi and DASH diets offer promising preliminary results, but data are limited and more research in this area is needed.


We revisit the averaged equation, derived in Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 240201 (2003)] from the nonlinear Schrödinger (NLS) equation with the nonlinearity management. We show that this averaged equation is valid only at the initial time interval, while a new Hamiltonian averaged NLS equation can be used at longer time intervals. Using the new averaged equation, we construct numerically matter-wave solitons in the context of the Bose-Einstein condensates under the Feshbach resonance management. We show that there is no threshold on the existence of dark solitons of large amplitudes, whereas such a threshold exists for bright solitons.


This book, the companion volume to "Person-centred Practices: A Therapeutic Approach", focuses on how conceptual models for learning disability nursing can also provide a holistic and person-centred approach to assessment and planning with the person, cares and family. These models for practice are described and illustrated through a variety of case-study examples. The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 contains a variety of models ranging from the well known and established Roper et al model to more innovative models such as The Interactive, and Ecology of Mental Health models. Part 2 reviews from an integrated perspective how health services specific to learning disability have been configured within the UK, and where the focus of learning disability practices and services are applied. Part 3 focuses on leadership, management of change and dimensions of safety planning which are vital concepts for any practitioner to consider if frameworks for practice are to be holistically applied and which, at their heart, have a person-centred focus and engagement with people who have a learning disability


The perception of one's own body is a complex mechanism that can be disturbed by conflicting sensory information and lead to illusory (mis-) perceptions. Prominent models of multisensory integration propose that sensory streams are integrated according to their reliability by approximating Bayesian inference. As such, when considering self-attribution of seen motor actions, previous works argue in favor of visual dominance over other sensations, and internal cues. In the present work, we use virtual reality and a haptic glove to investigate the influence of an active haptic feedback on one's visual and agency judgments over a performed finger action under experimentally manipulated visual and haptic feedbacks. Data overall confirm that vision dominates for agency judgment in conditions of multisensory conflict. Interestingly, we also show that participants' visual judgment over their finger action is sensitive to multisensory conflicts (vision, proprioception, motor afferent signals, and haptic perception), thus bringing an important nuance to the widely accepted view on a general visual dominance.


Community-based mental health as the primary focus of treatment has influenced more autonomous roles for mental health nurses. A limited literature suggests that this has resulted in the expansion of community mental health nursing into territory usually the exclusive domain of the medical profession. Consumers and carers are the two groups most affected by changes to service delivery; however, their views regarding the changing role of community mental health nurses have not been sought. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study involving indepth interviews with Australian consumers (n = 4) and carers (n = 6) designed to explore their views and opinions about the expanded practice roles of community mental health nurses. Four main themes were identified: accessibility and convenience; relationship with clinicians; beneficiaries of expanded nursing practice; and, are nurses up to it? The findings suggest expanded practice roles are perceived positively by consumers and carers and therefore worthy of further investigation.


In order to improve the efficiency of water aerator, based on Venturi experimental principle in hydraulics and fluid dynamic ultrasonic generator, the inlet section, throat section, and outlet section of reed whistle ultrasonic generator were designed, and the effect of the water aerator on dissolved oxygen was preliminarily studied. Results indicate that using this water aerator, the dissolved oxygen was 7.94 mg/L, exceeding the saturation value of dissolved oxygen (7.82 mg/L) at current water temperature, reaching the supersaturation. Therefore, the designed water aerator will have a bright application prospect in sewage treatment, aquaculture and aerated irrigation of plants.


The smart grid will be rich with technologies and devices that work at every level of power generation, transmission, and distribution. PQ meters, and systemwide PQ monitoring will indeed contribute to clean power reaching the consumer. Consumer participation is a distinctive feature that promises sustained maintenance of power quality. It is in this context that, fast detection algorithms for detection of short duration disturbances play a vital role in the functioning of monitoring devices. The objective of this paper is to explore a simple cost effective method for fast detection and classification of short duration voltage disturbances, including transients applicable to low voltage power supply systems. The concept of space vector representation of three phase quantities, is used and is found effective for detecting most short duration disturbance types without any time delay. The magnitude of the resultant space phasor when sampled, reveals a lot about the disturbance type. The information thus obtained, may be utilized to trigger a disturbance recorder or can even be used to trigger the operation of a power line conditioner or a dynamic voltage restorer.


This paper aims to evaluate the impact on employment growth of a tax incentive program targeting Brazilian manufacturing small businesses (SIMPLES). This evaluation is conducted for two distinct periods: for the year 1997, when the program was first implemented, and for the year 1999, when the eligibility rule was modified to allow the eligibility of a broader group of firms. The evaluation takes into account two distinct channels through which the charted effects operate. The first is the employment variation in the firms that became eligible for the incentives, and the second is the change in the survival probability experienced by the same group of firms. Moreover, each of these channels can be activated either by the tax reduction dimension of the program or by its dimension of red tape simplification. Our results identify positive effects on employment growth for the tax incentive program only in the dimension of red tape simplification and its effects on the 1997 sample.


The research presents the inter-comparison of atmospheric variables measured by 9 automatic weather stations. This set of data was compared with the measurements of other weather stations in order to standardize the values that must be adjusted when taken to different areas. The data of a set of a total of 9 GMX500, which measures conventional meteorological variables, and 10 WS100 sensors, which measures precipitation parameters. The automatic stations were set up at the Huancayo Observatory (Geophysical Institute of Peru) for a period of 5 months. The data set of GMX500 were evaluated comparing with the average of the 9 sensors and the WS100 was compared with an optical disdrometer Parsivel2. The temperature, pressure, relative humidity, wind speed, rainfall rate, and drop size distribution were evaluated. A pair of GMX500 sensors presented high data dispersion; it was found found that the errors came from a bad configuration; once this problem was solved, good agreement was archived, with low RMSE and high correlation. It was found that the WS100 sensors overestimate the precipitation with a percentage bias close to 100% and the differences increase with the greater intensity of rain. The drop size distribution retrieved by WS100 have unrealistic behavior with higher concentrations in diameters of 1 mm and 5 mm, in addition to a flattened curve.


Packet filtering plays an important role in network devices such as firewalls, routers, security gateways and intrusion detection systems. Numerous schemes have been proposed to improve packet filtering techniques. Many previous works struggled to utilize the characteristics of filtering rule-sets as optimization heuristics. However, there are rarely efforts excavating network traffic characteristics. This paper focuses on analyzing the statistical characteristics of network traffic and imposing it to optimize packet filtering algorithms. Contribution of the paper includes two aspects: first, the skewness and time correlation in real-life traffic is presented to illustrate network traffic statistics; second, an adaptive packet filtering algorithm, AHSM, is proposed based on HSM algorithm for improving average packet filtering speed. AHSM takes traffic statistics as heuristics and constructs statistical search trees for single field searching. Experimental results show that the optimized algorithm reduces 20%~50% of the single field matching overhead compared with the HSM algorithm and improves the overall performance by 35%~45%, while retaining the same memory usage.


BACKGROUND
Achalasia is an oesophageal motility disorder, of unknown cause, which results in increased lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) tone and symptoms of difficulty swallowing. Treatments are aimed at reducing the LOS tone. Current endoscopic therapeutic options include pneumatic dilation (PD) or botulinum toxin (BTX) injection.

OBJECTIVES
To undertake a systematic review comparing the efficacy and safety of two endoscopic treatments, PD and intrasphincteric BTX injection, in the treatment of oesophageal achalasia.

SEARCH METHODS
Trials were initially identified by searching MEDLINE (1966 to August 2008), EMBASE (1980 to September 2008), ISI Web of Science (1955 to September 2008), The Cochrane Library Issue 3, 2008.  Searches in all databases were conducted in October 2005 and updated in September 2008 and April 2014. The Cochrane highly sensitive search strategy for identifying randomised trials in MEDLINE, sensitivity maximising version in the Ovid format, was combined with specific search terms to identify randomised controlled trials in MEDLINE. The MEDLINE search strategy was adapted for use in the other databases that were searched.

SELECTION CRITERIA
Randomised controlled trials comparing PD to BTX injection in individuals with primary achalasia.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently performed study quality assessment and data extraction.

MAIN RESULTS
Seven studies involving 178 participants were included. Two studies were excluded from the meta-analysis of remission rates on the basis of clinical heterogeneity of the initial endoscopic protocols. There was no significant difference between PD or BTX treatment in remission within four weeks of the initial intervention; with a risk ratio of remission of 1.11 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.27). There was also no significant difference in the mean oesophageal pressures between the treatment groups; with a weighted mean difference for PD of -0.77 (95% CI -2.44 to 0.91, P = 0.37). Data on remission rates following the initial endoscopic treatment were available for three studies at six months and four studies at 12 months. At six months 46 of 57 PD participants were in remission compared to 29 of 56 in the BTX group, giving a risk ratio of 1.57 (95% CI 1.19 to 2.08, P = 0.0015); whilst at 12 months 55 of 75 PD participants were in remission compared to 27 of 72 BTX participants, with a risk ratio of 1.88 (95% CI 1.35 to 2.61, P = 0.0002). No serious adverse outcomes occurred in participants receiving BTX, whilst PD was complicated by perforation in three cases.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
The results of this meta-analysis suggest that PD is the more effective endoscopic treatment in the long term (greater than six months) for patients with achalasia.


While electron microscopy represents the gold standard for detection of synapses, a number of limitations prevent its broad applicability. A key method for detecting synapses is immunostaining for markers of pre- and post-synaptic proteins, which can infer a synapse based upon the apposition of the two markers. While immunostaining and imaging techniques have improved to allow for identification of synapses in tissue, analysis and identification of these appositions are not facile, and there has been a lack of tools to accurately identify these appositions. Here, we delineate a macro that uses open-source and freely available ImageJ or FIJI for analysis of multichannel, z-stack confocal images. With use of a high magnification with a high NA objective, we outline two methods to identify puncta in either sparsely or densely labeled images. Puncta from each channel are used to eliminate non-apposed puncta and are subsequently linked with their cognate from the other channel. These methods are applied to analysis of a presynaptic marker, bassoon, with two different postsynaptic markers, gephyrin and N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit 1 (NR1). Using gephyrin as an inhibitory, postsynaptic scaffolding protein, we identify inhibitory synapses in basolateral amygdala, central amygdala, arcuate and the ventromedial hypothalamus. Systematic variation of the settings identify the parameters most critical for this analysis. Identification of specifically overlapping puncta allows for correlation of morphometry data between each channel. Finally, we extend the analysis to only examine puncta overlapping with a cytoplasmic marker of specific cell types, a distinct advantage beyond electron microscopy. Bassoon puncta are restricted to virally transduced, pedunculopontine tegmental neuron (PPN) axons expressing yellow fluorescent protein. NR1 puncta are restricted to tyrosine hydroxylase labeled dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc). The macro identifies bassoon-NR1 overlap throughout the image, or those only restricted to the PPN-SNc connections. Thus, we have extended the available analysis tools that can be used to study synapses in situ. Our analysis code is freely available and open-source allowing for further innovation.


Introduction The optimal management of intracranial arterial stenosis is unclear in particular in patients who have failed medical management. We now report a multicenter experience of endovascular recanalization of intracranial artherosclerotic stenosis refractory to medical therapy. Methods Retrospective multicenter case series of consecutive endovascularly treated patients presenting with symptomatic (TIA or stroke) who have failed medical therapy. All of the patients were considered to be in the high-risk category with unstable symptomatic intracranial stenosis and progression or recurrence of their symptoms despite the best medical management who required endovascular intervention either with stenting and/or balloon angioplasty. Results Fifty patients presented with recurrent TIAs (n=26) or strokes (n=24) were treated in 5 stroke centers from 2011 to 2017. All patients underwent best medical management in the decision of the stroke neurologist and were enroll in this study only if they had recurrent or progression of symptoms despite their medical therapy. The majority of lesions were located in the M1 segment (15/50). There was one periprocedural vessel perforation resulting in patient death, one case of groin hematoma, one intraprocedure hemorrhage, and one periprocedural stroke. Twelve patients (24%) had restenosis on follow up imaging and 80% (33/41) of patients were symptom free at 90 day follow-up. Three patients had a stroke in the territory of the stenosis and 5 patients had recurrent TIAs. Conclusion Endovascular recanalization of unstable intracranial atherosclerotic stenosis who have failed medical therapy is feasible and safe. Disclosures P. Aguilar-Salinas: None. R. Hanel: 1; C; Microvention. 2; C; Medtronic; Stryker; Microvention. 4; C; Blockade Medical. E. Sauvageau: None. D. Lopes: 2; C; Microvention. A. Saied: None. T. Jovin: 2; C; Medtronic. 3; C; Blockade Medical; Silk Road Medical. A. Jadhav: None. L. Kaustubh: None. L. Brasiliense: None. T. Dumont: None. J. Cherian: None. P. Kan: None. A. Aghaebrahim: None.


Grief after the death of a pet has been demonstrated to parallel grief after the death of a person, yet many people report feeling a lack of support from family, friends, and even therapy providers when experiencing pet bereavement (
 Archer & Winchester, 1994
 ;
 Chur-Hansen, 2010
 ;
 Gosse & Barnes, 1994
 ;
 Sharkin & Knox, 2003
 ;
 Stewart, 1983
 ;
 Wrobel & Dye, 2003
 ). This lack of perceived social support is characteristic of "disenfranchised grief," which can result in situations where survivors do not believe they have a right to grieve (
 Doka, 2002
 ). Furthermore, there is a scarcity of literature offering therapy providers information on how to best work with this subset of grievers. The findings of recent research regarding pet bereavement, grief patterns, and grief therapy were used to design a three-tier pet-bereavement program for therapists to use with individuals after the loss of a pet. The selected intervention offered in Tier Two presents Therapy After the Loss of a Pet (TALP), a six-session intervention which integrates cognitive behavioral therapy with psychoeducation, resilience work, and coping skills in order to support an adaptive grief experience for the specific nature of grief after the loss of a pet.


Background Administration of the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor abciximab is an effective adjunctive treatment strategy during primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Although small-scale studies have suggested beneficial effects of intracoronary over intravenous administration of abciximab, this has not been investigated in a medium-scale randomized clinical trial.


As I began for the first time to teach a course in Theoretical Applications and Design of Qualitative Research in the spring of 2016, I assured the official that I would work with my students to craft a research project to address these issues. In order to do so, I first required students to develop an abstract and research proposal on the topic of faculty governance and engagement in higher education. I then asked students to interview five faculty members from different disciplines, including education, the hard sciences, art and architecture, liberal arts, and more, to discover their perceptions and opinions regarding the ways in which faculty could feel better supported and represented in their institutions. Their interviews focused on what could be done to maximize faculty job satisfaction, especially in non-financial ways. From these interviews, my students developed in-depth case studies for use by academics, professionals, and other students. I am proud to present the fruits of their labors here.


Program entities such as branches, def-use pairs, and call sequences are used in diverse software-development tasks. Reducing a set of entities to a small representative subset through subsumption saves monitoring overhead, focuses the developer's attention, and provides insights into the complexity of a program. Previous work has solved this problem for entities of the same type, and only for some types. In this paper we introduce a novel and general approach for subsumption of entities of any type based on predicate conditions. We discuss applications of this technique, and address future steps.


PURPOSE
To determine the usefulness of magnetic resonance (MR) cholangiopancreatography in the diagnosis of pancreas divisum.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
In 310 patients, MR imaging was performed with heavily T2-weighted, two-dimensional, fast-spin-echo sequences. A body coil was used for 139 patients, and a torso multicoil and high-resolution imaging parameters were used for 171 patients. In 108 patients, correlation with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) was available.

RESULTS
Two hundred sixty-eight examinations (86%) were diagnostic. Pancreas divisum was observed with MR imaging in 25 of 268 cases (9%)(interobserver agreement, 98% [kappa = .88]). Among the 171 examinations performed with a torso multicoil, 10% were nondiagnostic and the rate of detection of pancreas divisum was 12%. Pancreas divisum was depicted in six of the 108 patients who underwent ERCP, and there were no false-negative or false-positive MR imaging results in these patients.

CONCLUSION
MR cholangiopancreatography is an accurate tool in the diagnosis of pancreas divisum and could replace ERCP.


Multicentric Castleman disease is a benign lymphoproliferative disorder with heterogenous clinical symptoms and involves systemic organs in addition to lymph nodes. Elevated serum IgG4 levels and IgG4-positive plasma cell (IgG4+PC) infiltrates have been reported in lymph nodes, lung and skin in some multicentric Castleman disease cases, resembling IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) histologically. However, no report has been available regarding IgG4+PC infiltration in the kidneys of multicentric Castleman disease. Here, we report 2 cases of multicentric Castleman disease complicated by IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) histologically. However, there has been no report published on PC-rich tubulointerstitial nephritis, lymphadenopathy, with numerous IgG4+PC infiltration, and elevated serum IgG4 levels, mimicking IgG4-RD. The blood examinations revealed systemic inflammation and elevated C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels. Corticosteroid therapy was partially effective in both cases, and combination therapy of corticosteroid and tocilizumab was needed in both cases. Moreover, after triple therapy with corticosteroid, rituximab and cyclophosphamide were used in 1 case to tame the severe inflammation. The present cases suggest that if continuously elevated serum C-reactive protein levels and partial corticosteroid responsiveness are encountered, multicentric Castleman disease should be considered rather than IgG4-RD as a differential diagnosis even if serum IgG4 is elevated and IgG4+PCs infiltrate systemic organs.


Melanoma incidence is increased after organ transplantation, but there is uncertainty as to why this occurs. Diagnoses of invasive melanoma were ascertained in 8,152 kidney transplant recipients (1982-2003) by linking national Australian population-based registers, the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry, and the Australian National Cancer Statistics Clearing House. Incidence rate ratios (IRR) and standardized incidence ratios were used to compare melanoma risk during periods of transplant function and failure. Standardized incidence ratios were also computed by time since transplantation. Risk factors were examined using multivariate Poisson regression. Linkage identified 82 melanomas (134/100,000 person-years). Incidence was lower after resumption of dialysis and reduction of immune suppression than during transplant function [IRR, 0.09; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 0.01-0.66]. During first transplant function, melanoma (n = 74) relative risk peaked in the second year and declined linearly thereafter (P trend = 0.03). During first transplant function, risk was positively associated with increasing year of age (IRR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.03-1.07) and receipt of lymphocyte-depleting antibody (IRR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.05-2.84). Female sex (IRR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.35-0.94), non-Caucasian race (IRR, 0.15; 95% CI, 0.02-1.05), and increasing time since transplantation (P trend = 0.06) were inversely associated with risk. The incidence pattern and risk factor profile for melanoma after transplantation strongly suggest that the current receipt, intensity, and possibly the recency of iatrogenic immunosuppression increase melanoma risk. Melanoma risk was also associated with proxy indicators of high personal sun exposure and sensitivity. These findings show the marked influence of immunologic control over melanoma incidence. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(8):2297–303)


Ethics in medical sciences research may not always translate into ethical publications. Unfortunately due to lack of regulatory bodies, publication misconduct is now a global menace for the scientific community. Publication misconducts are not only restricted to research fraud or data manipulations alone but also seriously include plagiarism, duplicate publications especially on figures and tables, authorship disputes and conflict of interests. As global scientific research is expanding particular‐ ly in the field of health sciences hence possibilities of more rise of unethical practices from research to publications are very high, authors suggest a strong peer‐reviewing system, use latest technological support, strong publication ethics policies, active monitoring, protection of whistle blowers and more liaisons between journals and research institutions or universities possibly to prevent publication misconduct effectively. This chapter discusses how medical publications might have abused various ethical norms not only while conducting research but also during the publica‐ tion process. The review also discusses the possible preventive measures against unethical practices of research publications.


Since the 1990s, professional football has been experiencing an unprecedented economic boom worldwide, but only a few football clubs can meet the rapidly changing economic requirements. There are important questions that remain unanswered within the financing of football clubs, such as the impact of risks or the market value of capital costs. In addition to liquidity and beyond the above, the acceptance of the determinational dependence of certain capital funds on sports results and the development of a strategy suitable for the optimal target system are also important requirements. The conscious management of financing is pushed to the background even in countries with great football traditions. The study makes observations and recommends financing solutions for professional football clubs. Internal funding: income from media rights and ticket revenues, merchandising (image transfer), income from the sale of various assets and intangible assets. Cost-saving measures are very important for football clubs as the extent of internal funding is significant. External funding: external financing, issuing of securities, patronage


Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been carried out to investigate the defect's effect on the mechanical properties of copper nanowire with different crystallographic orientations, under tensile deformation. Three different crystallographic orientations have been considered. The deformation mechanism has been carefully discussed. It is found that the Young's modulus is insensitive to the defect, even when the nanowire's crystallographic orientation is different. However, due to the defect's effect, the yield strength and yield strain appear a large decrease. The defects have played a role of dislocation sources, the slips or stacking faults are first generated around the locations of the defects. The necking locations have also been affected by different defects. Due to the surface defect, the plastic deformation has received a large influence for the and orientated nanowires, and a relative small influence is seen for the nanowire.


This study examines technological and vocational school teachers' perceived e-portfolio acceptance, computer self-efficacy, and evaluation effectiveness in Taiwan. Teachers' perceived e-portfolios acceptance includes four factors, namely, staff commitment, performance expectancy, performance expectancy, and technology training. Computer self-efficacy includes four factors, namely, playfulness, ease of use, effectiveness, and usefulness. Evaluation effectiveness includes four factors, namely, classroom management, instructional design, dedicated attitude, professional development. Participants (N=318) responded to a 5-point Likert-type scale for each factor. Analysis was conducted using the structural equation modeling (SEM), and a good model fit was found for both the measurement and structural models. Findings demonstrate that technological and vocational schools teachers' e-portfolios acceptance significantly and directly influences evaluation effectiveness, and e-portfolio acceptance influences evaluation effectiveness by computer self-efficacy. The teachers' e-portfolio acceptance and computer self-efficacy fit the influence model and empirical data of evaluation effectiveness.


The purpose of this document is to describe the features of the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) Medium Term Outlook for Canadian Agriculture (previously entitled Medium Term Policy Baseline) covering the period 2008 to 2018. The outlook is an attempt to outline a plausible future of the international and domestic agri-food sectors. It serves as a benchmark for discussion and scenario analysis. The outlook makes specific assumptions and outlines their implications. Since it assumes that policies remain unchanged from existing legislation, the outlook is not a forecast of future events. The medium term assumptions used and published by the OECD/FAO in the Agricultural Outlook are by in large maintained in the AAFC's outlook but updated to reflect short term price forecasts produced and released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in November 2008. The November 2008 macroeconomic forecast published by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was also incorporated in the outlook and in particular a 32% reduction in the crude oil price in 2009. AAFC assumed that 3 years will be necessary before the crude oil price returns to the level used in the OECD/FAO medium term outlook. The world prices generated by this process combined with the macro-economic forecast for Canada published by the Conference Board in December 2008 are the key inputs used to produce the Canadian agricultural markets outlook. The key sectors covered are grains, oilseeds and products, special crops, bio-fuels, beef/cattle, pork/hogs, milk and dairy products, chicken, turkey and eggs.


The Negev, Israel's southern region, is mostly an arid desert and constitutes more than 60% of the country's territory. As in other dryland regions, population size is relatively small, comprising only 9% of Israel's total population. Planning policies in Israel for the past 60 years rarely express a bottom-up approach, but rather a centralized approach to development, derived from national ideology and the needs of a nascent state. This paper describes the place of the environment and sustainability criteria over three eras of planning the development of the Negev region. This region is one of the most challenging areas in Israel in terms of socio-economic conditions, its multi-cultural population, as well as its geographically and ecologically diverse environments. Here we illustrate a transition in relation to the planning bureaucracy to the environment: from obliviousness to rational planning to pseudo-sustainability. Thus, there is a clear tendency of the official planning institutions as well as the out-sourced governmental initiatives to increasingly pursue a more sustainable approach that seeks to integrate environmental consideration within planning processes. At the same time, however, we show the degree to which these processes are still deficient in their lack of a coherent environmental strategy and implementation by the government and its agents, and in the lack of conceptual and material resources for an integrated treatment of the Negev's social, economic and environmental problems.


Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to identify and evaluate business model disclosures in integrated reports published by Polish companies. The article attempts to determine how practitioners understand and explain the concept of a business model and whether the implementation of integrated reporting has influenced the scope and form of presenting information on the business model. The article uses the results of literature studies on the subject, the results of previous research, and observations of business practice in the area of integrated reporting. Design/methodology/approach: The quantitative and qualitative content analysis of business model disclosures in integrated reporting was performed in order to assess the current status of business model disclosures presented by Polish companies. The analysis covered 74 integrated reports prepared in the years 2016-2019. Findings: The findings proved that most elements of business model have the nature of qualitative narrations regarding strategy, various forms of capital, business activities and outputs, while less attention was paid to business model adaptability, position of the organization within the value chain, waist/by-products, and outcomes' effect on various forms of capital. Practical Implications: The results of the study complement the research gap of current literature on business model disclosures quality in Polish practice. Originality/Value: The research presented in the article contributes to the current literature on integrated reporting by using the novel dataset, identifying the level of business model disclosures in the examined integrated reports, and is aimed at presenting a critical interpretative perspective.


The results of previous studies on the relationship between leptin and blood pressure are discordant. We investigated to what extent the serum leptin level was related to blood pressure independent of the degree of insulin resistance. The subjects were 1,916 men aged 34–69 years whose mean body mass index (BMI) was 23.0 kg/m2. Blood pressure was regressed by leptin concentrations with adjustments for age, BMI, insulin resistance, triglyceride, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, physical activity, drinking habits and smoking status. Leptin was associated with diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (standardized β: 0.092, p=0.003), but not with systolic blood pressure (SBP) (standardized β: 0.035, p=0.25), although insulin resistance was positively associated with both SBP and DBP (standardized β: 0.175 for SBP, p<0.001 and 0.114 for DBP, p<0.001) among all subjects. After subjects were divided into those with normal blood pressure (SBP<130 mmHg and DBP<85 mmHg) and those with higher blood pressure, leptin was positively and significantly associated with DBP (standardized β: 0.106, p=0.012) independent of the degree of insulin resistance, but not with SBP (standardized β: 0.064, p=0.13) among subjects in the normal blood pressure range. Among the subjects with higher blood pressure, however, neither the association of leptin with SBP nor that of leptin with DBP was statistically significant. These findings suggest that leptin may maintain and increase arterial tone, resulting in the elevation of DBP only within normal blood pressure range. It is also likely that leptin is a physiological mediator—or at least a marker—of some degree of DBP elevation in obesity.


Abstract. Many studies have been carried out in order to detect and quantify the level of mental stress by means of different physiological signals. From the physiological point of view, stress promptly affects brain and cardiac function; therefore, stress can be assessed by analyzing the brain- and heart-related signals more efficiently. Signals produced by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) of the brain together with the heart rate (HR) are employed to assess the stress induced by the Montreal Imaging Stress Task. Two different versions of the HR are used in this study. The first one is the commonly used HR derived from the electrocardiogram (ECG) and is considered as the reference HR (RHR). The other is the HR computed from the fNIRS signal (EHR) by means of an effective combinational algorithm. fNIRS and ECG signals were simultaneously recorded from 10 volunteers, and EHR and RHR are derived from them, respectively. Our results showed a high degree of agreement [r  >  0.9, BAR (Bland Altman ratio) <5  %  ] between the two HR. A principal component analysis/support vector machine-based algorithm for stress classification is developed and applied to the three measurements of fNIRS, EHR, and RHR and a classification accuracy of 78.8%, 94.6%, and 62.2% were obtained for the three measurements, respectively. From these observations, it can be concluded that the EHR carries more useful information with regards to the mental stress than the RHR and fNIRS signals. Therefore, EHR can be used alone or in combination with the fNIRS signal for a more accurate and real-time stress detection and classification.


Purpose: To compare refractive and visual outcomes of two diffractive monofocal intraocular lenses (IOLs) with different tinting and spherical aberration values.
Study design: Retrospective case series.
Methods: The right eye of consecutive patients who had undergone bilateral implantation of SZ-1 (NIDEK Co. Ltd., Gamagori, Japan) or ZCB00 (Johnson and Johnson Inc. New Brunswick, NJ, USA) IOLs was evaluated. Refractive outcomes, changes in visual acuity, ocular spherical aberration, and changes in photopic and mesopic contrast sensitivity were analyzed.
Results: Thirty-three eyes received the SZ-1 IOL (SZ-1 group, while 29 eyes received the ZCB00 IOL (ZCB00 group). The mean preoperative manifest refraction spherical equivalent (MRSE) was −1.48 ± 4.74 D and −0.34 ± 1.50 in the SZ-1 group and ZCB00 group, respectively. At 3 months, the mean MRSE was −0.87 ± 1.08 D and −0.65 ± 0.76, respectively (p=0.25). At 3 months postoperatively, the mean best spectacle-corrected visual acuity was 0.14 ± 0.20 LogMAR and 0.11 ± 0.17 LogMAR, respectively (p=0.67). At the same time point, ocular spherical aberration was statistically significantly different (0.01 ± 0.23 μm vs. −0.51 ± 0.51 μm, respectively; p<0.0001).
Postoperatively, the mean photopic and scotopic contrast sensitivity did not differ between the groups (p=0.57).
Conclusion: Postoperative refractive outcomes and visual acuity following the implantation of these aspheric IOLs were similar. The different asphericity and yellow tinting of the SZ-1 IOL did not affect postoperative visual performance.


The interface between the (110) crystal face of cellulose Iβ and water was studied by molecular dynamics simulation with cellulose coordinates refined from electron diffraction data as a starting point. Potential energies, pucker parameters, torsion angles, and hydrogen bonding have been used for the characterization. Only the topmost layer in the cellulose differs in terms of structure and dynamics from the crystal bulk, but even these difference are small. At the surface approximately half of the cellulose intermolecular hydrogen bonding is lost, but this is compensated by hydrogen bonds with water molecules. Much of the difference between even and odd (200) planes disappears at the interface, except for the orientation of the glucose ring plane. Water dynamics is retarded by a factor of 2−3 close to the surface. The potential energy of water molecules in the first hydration layer is lower by 2 kJ/mol. The cellulose surface contains about five exposed hydroxyl groups per square nanometer, which accounts...


This article provides a full English translation of the Du'ā' al-saḥar or Dawn Supplication for the Islamic month of Ramaḍān. Attributed to certain Imams whom Twelver Shī`ī Muslims regard as the successors of the Prophet Muhammad, it is an Arabic invocatory devotional also known from around the 13th century CE after its opening words, as the Du'ā al-Bahā (Supplication of Splendour–Glory–Light). It is commonly ascribed to the fifth Imam Muhammad al-Bāqir (d. c. 126/743) or as transmitted through his son, the sixth Imam Ja'far al-Ṣādiq (d. c. 138/765). The former version or recension has around 22 invocations, while the sixth Imam's recension is known as the Du'ā' al-mubāhalah (The Supplication for Mutual Imprecation) and is considerably longer, consisting of over 30 supplicatory lines. This latter recension had its origin at a time when Muhammad was challenged near Medina by certain Yemenite Christians of Najrān about his messianic status as a Prophet in the light of theological and Christological issues. Both Sayyid 'Alī Muḥammad Shīrāzī, "the Bāb" (1819–1850), and Mīrzā Ḥusayn 'Alī Nūrī, "Bahā'u'llāh" (1817–1892) gave great importance to this supplication (or these two related supplications) and were much influenced by its vocabulary and rhythmic, cascading content relating the Names of God. The Bāb interpreted it on Islamic and imamological lines in his Persian Dalā'il-i saba' (The Seven Proofs). He cited it often, both in early texts and within numerous later major writings, including the Kitāb al-asmā' (The Book of Names) and the Kitāb-i panj sha'n (The Book of the Seven Modes [of Revelation]). In his Persian Bayān and other writings, he used nineteen of its invocatory divine Names to frame the structure and names of his annual calendar of nineteen months: his new, wondrous or Badī' calendar ("The New/Regenerative Calendar"). This calendar was furthermore adopted by Baha'u'llah in his Kitāb-i aqdas (The Most Holy Book). His own theophanic title, evolving from "Jināb-i Bahā'" (His eminence the Glory) to "Bahā'u'llāh" (the Glory of God) is closely related and is rooted in this and certain similar texts. Baha'u'llah referred to the Du'ā' al-saḥar as the Lawh-i baqā' (The Scriptural Tablet of Eternity) and understood its opening lines as an allusion to his person as the embodiment of the Supreme or Greatest Name of God (al-ism al-a`ẓam). Several of the Arabic and Persian writings in which the founder of the Baha'i religion interprets the Du'ā' al-saḥar are translated in this current paper. Their content demonstrates the extent to which he elevated this powerful Islamic text.


The Fabry-Perot interferometer (fpi) was investigated as a potential tool for determining stellar elemental abundances. The fpi is a tunable narrow-band filter that makes it possible to obtain hundreds of stellar spectra simultaneously without the overhead associated with other multi-object spectroscopy techniques. This thesis used simulations and previously acquired data to investigate the fpi and develop data reduction techniques. Using observations of a Caii spectral line, an algorithm was created for fitting a Voigt profile to the spectrum segments. The values for radial velocity & equivalent width were compared to the values found by the group who supplied the data and found to agree well for the radial velocity values but there was some definite scatter in the equivalent width. These differences are attributed to different placement of the continuum level in the spectra. This curve-fitting script was modified to allow the fitting of synthetic spectra to simulated data. In this way it was possible to investigate how precise the abundance determination will be using the Robert Stobie Spectrograph's fpi mode. Large simulations showed that it will be possible to determine abundances to uncertainties of ±0.1 dex. This is an excellent result and should mean that future work using the fpi will give the results desired for large-scale s-process elemental abundance determination in globular cluster stars.


Adaptation to climate change has risen up the policy agenda in recent years. One growing proposal for doing adaptation is Community-based Adaptation to Climate change (CBA), which aims to build the capacity of local people to develop under, and adapt to, a changing climate. CBA generates adaptive strategies through participatory processes, building on existing cultural norms, and also addressing local development issues that make people vulnerable to the impacts of climate change in the first place.

While still a relatively new approach to climate change adaptation, the CBA agenda has grown in size and significance over the past few years. There have been three international conferences on CBA since 2005, and projects are now in operation in vulnerable communities in both developing and also some developed countries. Yet, questions remain over: What is community-based adaptation to climate change (versus more general climatic variability?) How do we do it? Who or what adapts? How does CBA fit with larger scale adaptation policies and programs? This article looks at the progress that has been made on CBA over the past few years, and considers the challenges that remain for those engaged in CBA.


Recent high prices on the Scandinavian electric power market have led to public scrutiny of the market and have been the source of investigation of legal authorities.
 Although the Nord Pool spot market is considered to be one of the most successful electricity markets in the world, and one of few international electricity markets, the market is small in comparison to many other commodity markets, and is as such, together with the difficulty of storing electricity, less liquid and subject to more instability in prices and supply. In addition, due to limited transmission capacities between the areas that form the common markets, prices often vary between market areas. This can also give electricity generators a large market share in different areas, even though they only hold a modest market share on the total market.
 This thesis is a study of the possible uses of market power on the Nord Pool spot market and how this kind of market behavior, especially with regard to the game theory and Nash equilibria, can be detected. This is certainly not by any means an accusation against any member of the Nord Pool market, although the theoretical possibilities of some of them exercising market power, is discussed.
 My findings are that searching for Nash equilibria is not the most effective way of market power detection, due to the many uncertainties involved and the lack of information market power users as well as market power detectors will face.


The usage of natural fibres as reinforcement in composite materials is gaining the attraction of both academic and industrial sectors. However, there is lack of information and understanding on how the natural fibres influence the fracture toughness behaviour of the composites.

In this work, experimental and numerical study on fracture behaviour of bamboo fibre reinforced epoxy composites is presented. Optimum NaOH concentration for treatment of bamboo fibres was determined through single fibre tensile test results and by microscopic inspection of fibre surface through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).

The results demonstrated that 6% NaOH treated fibre showed maximum ultimate tensile strength of 234 MPa. For interfacial adhesion between fibre and the matrix, single fibre fragmentation test was carried out followed by SEM. The results showed that treating fibres with 6% NaOH helps to improve interfacial adhesion between fibre and the matrix. For experimental purpose, bamboo fibre reinforced composite was fabricated using 6% NaOH treated bamboo fibres of length 10 mm, 20 mm and 25 mm with random distribution in epoxy matrix. In order to find out mechanical properties of bamboo fibre reinforced epoxy composite, tensile test was carried out as per ASTM D-638. Highest Ultimate tensile strength of 32.05 MPa and poison's ratio of 0.35 was observed for composite having fibre length of 25 mm. This is because the greater length of fibre provides more surface contact area between fibre and matrix resulting in a stronger fibre matrix bond which ultimately increases the ultimate tensile strength of the composite.

Mode-I plane strain fracture toughness (KIC) of bamboo fibre reinforced epoxy composites was investigated based on Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) approach as per ASTM D-5045. Results of the Mode-I plane strain fracture toughness test showed that composites having 25 mm length of fibres had the largest KIC value of 2.67 MPa.m1/2, whereas composites with 10 mm fibre length showed lowest value of fracture toughness KIC of 1.61 MPa.m1/2. This result is also due to the fact that there is stronger contact between longer length of fibres with matrix and the phenomenon of fibre bridging is more dominant in case of longer fibres than the smaller ones resulting in higher KIC value for composite having 25 mm long fibres.

Failure mechanism on fractured surfaces was determined through SEM. The results revealed that fibre breakage, matrix cracking, fibre matrix debonding and fibre pull out from the matrix are the major causes of failure of composite. Overall linear elastic relationship was observed in the Force-Displacement curve during the fracture toughness test due to brittle failure of the epoxy matrix. This helps supporting the use of LEFM approach to calculate fracture toughness test under plain strain condition.

Simulation/modelling of crack propagation in compact tension specimen was carried out using FEA software ABAQUS®. Stress intensity factor results obtained through, contour integral method in ABAQUS, were consistent with the results obtained through experiments. Crack propagation was also simulated successfully.


The stories in this volume demonstrate Dostoyevsky's genius for fusing caricature, irony and the grotesque to create a powerful dark humour. "The Gambler" is a breathtaking portrayal of an intense and futile obsession. Based on Dostoyevsky's own experience of financial desperation and the compulsive desire to win money, it focuses on the characters that take their places at the gaming tables of 'Roulettenburg': the outspoken, aristocratic 'Grandmamma', the mercenary Mademoiselle Blanche, the cool, mysterious Polina and Alex, the author's self-portrait; a man gripped by exhilaration and hopelessness. "Bobok" is a blackly comic satire in which a desolate writer becomes drawn into the conversations of the dead, and "A Nasty Story" is a humorous look at the disparity between a man's exaggerated ideal of himself and the sad reality.


Incubation of umbilical cord blood (UCB) derived regulatory T-cells (Tregs) with fucosyltransferase enzyme improves their ability to home to the target tissue to prevent graft vs. host disease (GVHD). We report results of 5 patients (Double UCB Transplant, n=2; Peripheral Blood Matched Unrelated Donor Transplant, n=3) who received UCB-Tregs (Dose level = 1×106/kg), infused one day prior to the donor graft. All patients received their designated UCB-Treg dose without any infusion reaction. The ratio of conventional T-cells in donor graft was at least 10 times higher than infused UCB-Tregs (ratio range, 12-356). All patients engrafted at median of 13 days (range, 8-17 days). One patient died due to brain hemorrhage on day 45. A bi-modal increase of plasma IL-10 level occurred on day 7 and day 21 and notably, plasma IL-2 level dropped significantly in all patients at Day 7. All evaluable patients developed ≥grade II acute GVHD and at 1 year follow up, all were alive and without evidence of disease relapse. No increase in the chronic GVHD biomarkers (REG3a and Elafin) was observed at day 7. At the time of last follow up, all evaluable patients were off immune-suppression. Stage 2 of this clinical trial examining UCB-Treg at dose level= 1×107/kg is currently underway.


SIR,-If Dr. Benjamin Pasamanick (February 24, p. 558) had read my article on "' Premature' Children at Primary Schools,"' he would have seen that I was very successful in controlling for socio-economic status, and that after doing this the premature children still appeared to be handicapped in tests made at eight and eleven years of mental ability and school achievement. The trouble is that the whole problem is complicated by the fact that within each narrow band of social status the families with premature children stand out as being handicapped in many other ways. The home conditions in these families deteriorated rather than improved during the period of observation; there is a relatively high rate of unemployment among the parents; the standards of maternal care, as assessed by health visitors, are poor; and, most important of all, the parents themselves take relatively little interest in their children's progress at school. Once these factors are allowed for, the apparent handicapping of the premature children in educational tests vanishes. The point I tried to make, and that Dr. Pasamanick appears to have missed, is that a naive attempt to control on social status alone will be misleading.-I am, etc.,


Because roots are out of sight, they are too often out of mind when the effects of stress on overall tree condition are considered. A description and discussion of tree root structure and function is followed by some basic information on root physiology. The effects of various stresses, that affect the roots directly and indirectly, are considered in relation to root structure and physiology, and the consequences of altered root physiology on tree health is discussed. Because roots are "out of sight" they too often are "out of mind" when the effects of stress on tree health are evaluated. Stress from disturbances such as soil compaction, soil filling, and physical severance from trenching or scarification during construction can directly affect the roots. But there are also stresses induced by many factors that indirectly disturb the roots, seriously affecting root growth and other physiological processes. A tree represents the dynamic interaction and balance between the root and the shoot, so a change in one system must result in some change in the other. A knowledge of the structure and function of roots, their growth patterns, and other physiological processes is necessary to understand this interaction. In this paper I discuss how these direct and indirect stress factors affect roots, and how, in turn, the entire tree is affected. Root Structure and Function Roots absorb water and mineral nutrients and anchor the tree into the soil. Historically, these were considered the primary functions and, by many, the only functions. But other functions that are as important as these have since been recognized. Roots are the sites where most food reserves are stored, where synthesis of some of the growth regulators needed by the shoot takes place, and where inorganic nitrogen is converted into organic amides and amino acid compounds—the building blocks of proteins used in all parts of the tree. Woody roots. The large lateral roots that form at the root-stem base and the tap root provide the major anchorage and support for the tree, and they are also important for lateral and upward transport of water, minerals, and organic compounds to the stem. Roots can be quite large at the root-stem base but they rapidly taper to a smaller diameter a short distance from the base, becoming long and thin. From these basal roots second-order woody roots which are long and thin can develop. Long woody roots provide anchorage but also function as a lateral transport system for water and nutrients and as explorers of vast quantities of soil. Large amounts of food reserve materials (mostly starch) are also stored here. Nonwoody roots. The fine root system, which is nonwoody develops from and among the woody root system. These roots develop as lateral branches near the growing root tip of the long woody roots. The nonwoody roots branch and rebranch as many as five times and fill the soil space among the woody roots. These roots form in or grow up into the upper layers of the soil just 1. Presented at the annual conference of the International Society of Arboriculture in Louisville, Kentucky in August 1982. 174 Wargo: Root Physiology beneath the litter. They provide minimal anchorage but because of their numbers they store significant amounts of carbohydrate. Their major function is to absorb water and minerals, produce amino acids and growth regulators, and form mycorrhizae. Mycorrhizae are root fungal structures that increase root surface area for absorption and aid especially in mineral absorption in soils that have marginal mineral content. Nonwoody roots are short-lived relative to the woody roots. Since they form near the growing tips of the woody roots, the major mass of fine roots is continuously being formed farther from the root-stem base. As the age of the tree increases, the distance for transport from the major portion of the nonwoody roots increases, as does the vulnerability to disruption. Adventitious woody roots. These woody roots form at the root-stem base, sometimes from the stem but mostly from the large basal roots. Adventitious roots do produce nonwoody branches that explore previously colonized soil volumes. They sometimes develop when the stem is injured or as the tree becomes older. They also form in response to root injury, and several may form at a root tip that has been killed or severed. We know little about adventitious roots, especially about the mechanism which triggers or limits their formation. The ability to form adventitious roots in response to injury or stress may determine whether a tree survives or dies. Root Growth Root elongation. Root tips may grow year round depending on the soil temperature and moisture conditions. In temperate latitudes, however, there usually is a period of rest in the winter followed by renewed activity in the spring and another burst of activity in the fall. The exact growth pattern depends on growing conditions and species. In general, root elongation usually begins before or coincident with shoot growth, and initially depends heavily on stored reserves. Continued growth, however, seems to depend on new shoot growth. The roots apparently need growth substances that are produced in the shoots and transported to the roots. Thus, root elongation is not only vulnerable to the effects of stress that occurred in the previous growing season and influenced the storage of food reserves but also to the effects of stress during the current season. Existing root tips of long woody roots grow and penetrate new soil volumes. Nonwoody branches form behind the growing tip and these roots quickly branch and rebranch to occupy the new soil volume and absorb minerals and water. Root tips on the existing nonwoody roots also grow, exploring new soil and providing new root tips for colonization by mycorrhizal fungi. New root tips form to replace those dead or injured ones; these may branch and be colonized by mycorrhizal fungi. Radial growth.Yearly increases in root diameter occur only in the woody roots. This radial growth is greatest near the base of the tree and decreases rapidly away from the tree. This rapid decrease in radial growth results in a zone-ofrapid-taper where the roots are quite large where they attach to the tree but are narrow a short distance away. Radial growth begins much later in the roots than in the shoots. It occurs after food reserves have been stored in the existing woody root tissue. Growth may be related to carbohydrate storage and may not occur until a threshold level of food reserves has been stored in the root. In the stem, formation of new wood for water and nutrient transport is critical to the tree's survival; in the roots, elongation, branching, and maintenance—which ensures water and mineral absorption—are equally critical to tree survival. Since both maintenance of the roots during the dormant season and initial root growth depend on stored food, storage has priority over growth. In the roots, the entire woody cylinder functions in the transport of water and nutrients, so a lack of or reduction in radial growth for one or several seasons may not be critical for survival. However, when part of the cylinder is lost through wounding and compartmentalization, subsequent radial growth becomes important. How Stresses Affect Roots Stress factors can affect roots directly by killing them, or by preventing or reducing elongation and branching, radial growth, and mycorrhizae formation. Stresses also indirectly affect roots through their adverse influence on photosynthesis and Journal of Arboriculture 9(7): July 1983 175 other physiological processes in the plant. Stresses can reduce the amount of carbohydrate available for use and storage in the roots, retard the production of regulators and other substances needed for growth and other functions in the roots, or interfere in the transport of these materials to the roots. Drought can affect roots both directly and indirectly. Root tips can die from lack of water. Insufficient internal water pressure reduces root-tip elongation. Drying of soil prevents root penetration. Drought affects root growth indirectly by reducing the amount of food produced by the leaves and translocated to the roots for growth and storage. Thus, drought can reduce root growth during the current season and also at the beginning of the next season through its effect on food reserves. Defoliation by insects, foliage diseases, or chemicals indirectly influences root growth by reducing the amount of food for use and storage, and by affecting growth regulators which are manufactured in the leaves and transported to the roots. Like drought, defoliation can affect root growth and physiology both during the current growing season and in the next. Soil compaction can physically crush roots and kill them. It restricts root penetration through soil and therefore reduces elongation and branching. Compaction also suffocates roots by reducing or eliminating the available oxygen for normal respiration. Toxic compounds develop internally and roots die. Waterlogging suffocates roots by eliminating oxygen needed for normal respiration. Toxic materials develop internally and externally in the soil and kill the roots, especially the tips. Construction activities can sever roots from the tree. The extent of the separation of the nonwoody absorbing system from the transport system depends on the size of the tree and the distance from the base where the separation occurred. Even if adventitious roots form on the severed roots, the amount of transporting woody tissue is reduced significantly because all of the woody tissue present at the time the root is wounded becomes nonfunctional, and there must be new radial growth to replace the lost tissue. Roots can be suffocated when fill is placed about them. The effect is similar to that from soil compaction and waterlogging. Construction also can result in growth barriers which physically prevent roots from penetrating ne


At the outset, since no previous practical work was available, it was necessary to evolve apparatus and instruments with which investigation of fluctuating loads on journal hearings could he commenced. Since the problem is beset by many mechanical difficulties, it seemed expedient to make some simplification, and this was achieved by employing a larger diametral clearance than is commonly found in practice, and also by omitting friction measurement. The main object was to plot the pressure distribution throughout the bearing, and towards this end a balanced-pressure-piston type of instrument was devised. Transient pressures could be accurately measured whether above or beneath atmospheric pressure, and since the element was placed in the shaft and the apparatus so constructed that the shaft could be traversed axially, the whole area of the bearing could be searched. Fluctuating loads were applied to the bearing in two directions by spring and lever systems, and sensitive instruments were devised to measure the applied loads. Displacement of the bearing was measured in two directions, again with an instrument specially developed, and like the other instruments, capable of giving instantaneous readings. All these instruments contain electrical contacts and operate in a low voltage circuit with headset. Simultaneous measurements of pressure distribution, applied load, and attitude were obtained. Tests were made with a single fluctuating load and also with both loads operating to give a rotating load effect. Investigations were made with shaft stationary, shaft rotating at same speed as load, and with shaft rotating at twice speed of load. Good agreement was obtained between integrated pressure load and measured load. In the first tests, the bearing was submerged in an oil bath with no other oil supply, but tests were later made with oil supplied under pressure. It was found that, in general, the bearing does not remain full of oil, but is cavitated. A purely pulsating load produces a large low pressure region on the unloaded side of the bearing in which the pressure approaches absolute zero. A rotating load, which is similar to the normal case of a bearing under steady load, also gives a large low pressure region covering more than half the bearing surface, but in this case the pressure is only slightly beneath atmospheric pressure with the exception of a narrow region following the pressure peak in which the pressure approaches absolute zero. The oil film in a submerged bearing is gradually displaced by air which comes out of solution and is trapped in a low pressure region of the bearing, but in some cases a stable condition is reached. When oil is supplied under pressure through an oil hole, cavitation is not eliminated, but a larger quantity of oil is maintained in the bearing and the load carrying capacity thereby increased. While the load carrying capacity was found to be considerably less than that indicated by theory, it was shown that the critical case predicted by theory does exist; this occurs when the shaft rotates at twice the speed of the load, the oil film supporting no load under these conditions.


This thesis examines how secrecy and absence shape the representation of covert counter-terrorism in the public sphere. Contemporary covert practices, from missile strikes by unmanned aerial vehicles to special forces 'kill/capture' operations, have come to exemplify U.S. counter-terrorism in public debate. This is significant because these practices shift the ethical stakes of witnessing state warfare. Previous scholarship on war and news media has argued that public glimpses of state violence, alongside official declarations, can demonise or dehumanise the targets of such violence, and thus prompt witnesses to accept the state's rationalisation of these actions and the use of secrecy. News coverage of contemporary covert action, however, offers no such glimpses. Instead, coverage draws primarily upon residue: the rumours and debris left behind. By applying this concept of residue to drone strikes, the special forces raid that killed Osama bin Laden, and kidnap rescue efforts in the Sahara-Sahel, the thesis argues that it is all this speculation, rubble, and empty space, rather than the state itself, which signifies to newsreaders the possibility of state secrecy. That suspicion of secrecy then frames the absences in this residue, the conspicuous lack of certain bodies and objects. Secrecy makes those absences appear suggestive, in that the latter cannot publicly corroborate different aspects of these unseen events. This allows residue to intimate – to hint at unverifiable ideas about that which is absent, in a way which can undermine more explicit claims and justifications of what has taken place. To examine how this dynamic reframes the ethics of witnessing, the thesis develops an historical affiliation, a method of linking disparate practices of violence based on similar representational qualities, in order to examine whether witnessing is being shaped by these qualities in obscured or unspoken ways. This affiliation is made between representations of covert counter-terrorism and those of lynching in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Despite their differences, in both cases unseen violence and absent bodies are represented as significant in their being disconnected from wider society and difficult to comprehend, to understand how and why the violence takes place. This occurs in today's counterterrorism through hints and allusions from absence, which represent these covert events as physically intangible. As with lynching, violence and its casualties are implicitly represented in their absence as reflecting the public's intellectual and moral distance from the practice. This takes covert counter-terrorism beyond a binary of fostering assent or dissent towards the state. Instead of prompting newsreaders' complicity with state narratives for its actions, residue intimates doubts and unspoken possibilities about these events that curtail their rationalisation. Insodoing, however, these representations marginalise the violence inflicted upon casualties from ethical consideration. They do so while obscuring how that marginalisation occurs, as newsreaders are prompted to see themselves as distanced from these events and to focus upon that distance, rather than on how absences are being given significance in the public sphere. Using the historical affiliation with lynching, the thesis concludes that an ethical witnessing of covert counter-terrorism through its residue cannot be based on an attempt to recognise and 'recover' lived experiences of suffering from rumours and debris. Rather, ethical witnessing would involve an awareness of how distance is constructed through that residue, and how this gives unspoken meaning to absence.


This paper examines the employees' perception on performance appraisal and their work outcomes in Nepalese service sector. The aim of this paper is to aid service sectors in Nepal to evaluate their existing performance appraisal systems, by identifying the perceived satisfaction of employees towards their current performance appraisal process. It can provide and promote excellent feedback towards their employees thus enhancing employees' work performance, affective commitment, employee engagement while reducing employee turnover intentions. This paper emphasized on one independent variable employees' perception of performance appraisal and four dependent variables work performance, affective commitment, employee engagement and turnover intention. The data are collected from the questionnaire and were analyzed and interpreted through the help of different statistical tools. The result highlighted that there is significant (positive) relationship of performance appraisal with work performance, affective commitment and employee engagement and a (negative) relationship between performance appraisal and turnover intention.


: The technique was developed and some new quantitative parameters were proposed to characterize the form and the size of the orbital chamber and an external contour of an orbit. The analysis performed allowed to reveal the main vectors in the intra- and intergroup variability in the typology of a human orbit structure. The basic vectors of the variability comprised the absolute, especially deep, sizes of an orbit, and also a configuration of an external contour of an orbit. Intergroup variability of the orbital parameters has also allowed to distinguish the types of the orbital structure, characteristic for mongoloid and caucasoid anthropological variants of the modern mankind. The average value of the distance from nasion point to the line between supraorbitale points was equal to 10.0 and 8.0 mm in mongoloids and caucasoids, respectively. The orbits in mongoloid people were shown to be larger in all the absolute dimensions, including height, width and depth.


Many radiologists do not follow up the patients on whom they have performed angiography. This is only done when a radiologist is required to treat a patient with transluminal dilatation (the Dotter procedure) after a stenosis has been found in the iliac or femoropopliteal arteries. The author observed that in some cases an occlusion developed at the stenosis after angiography. The possibility of a causal connection is discussed.


Many researchers have used tag information to improve the performance of recommendation techniques in recommender systems. Examining the tags of users will help to get their interests and leads to more accuracy in the recommendations. Since user-defined tags are chosen freely and without any restrictions, problems arise in determining their exact meaning and the similarity of tags. On the other hand, using thesauruses and ontologies to find the meaning of tags is not very efficient due to their free definition by users and the use of different languages in many data sets. Therefore, this article uses the mathematical and statistical methods to determine lexical similarity and co-occurrence tags solution to assign semantic similarity. On the other hand, due to the change of users' interests over time this article have considered the time of tag assignments in co-occurrence tags for determined similarity of tags. Then the graph is created based on these similarities. For modeling the interests of the users, the communities of tags are determined by using community detection methods. So recommendations based on the communities of tags and similarity between resources are done. The performance of the proposed method has been done using two criteria of precision and recall based on evaluations with "Delicious" dataset. The evaluation results show that, the precision and recall of the proposed method have significantly improved, compared to the other


The paper deals with the problem of active fault detection and control for multiple models. It is assumed that a fault detector is given and the goal is to design an input signal generator such that detection and control aims are achieved. Since these two aim are conflicting, it is necessary to express a desired compromise between them. The paper investigates three formulations that allow for respecting both competing aims. In the first formulation both aims are combined into a single criterion. In other two formulations, one aim is reflected in the criterion and the other aim is enforced as a constraint.


On 2 October 2009, the Irish electorate, in a mandatory and legally binding referendum, approved the Treaty of Lisbon (hereinafter 'Lisbon Treaty').That vote, followed by the signing of the Lisbon Treaty by the Czech President on 3 November 2009, completed the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty and paved the way for its entry into force. The corpus of literature on the ratification of EU Treaty revisions, particularly on national referenda on European integration, is growing. According to the taxonomy offered by Taggart, scholarship on national referenda on European integration can be classified into four broad categories. The first pertains to the broader normative issue of direct democracy; the second, to single-case, national studies; the third, to the dynamics of referenda in general; and the fourth, to models of turnout and of outcomes. The focus of this contribution is somewhat different. Its focal point is the two Irish referenda and other major milestones in the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in the other EU Member States. Yet its objective is to go beyond Irish socio-political borders and to probe the broad constitutional implications and ramifications of the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty for the future of European integration.


We present an efficient dataflow modeling of Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm based on the directed graph concept but with controlled global states. More specifically, we investigate the dataflow implementation of two efficient and widely used MLP training algorithms, namely, on-line Backpropagation and Conjugate Gradient in its major versions. The proposed MLP dataflow modeling approach is applied to a medical diagnosis problem, namely, psychiatric case categorization based on evoked potential data classification. The whole system is implemented in the Labview-G programming environment and it is found that the modeling capabilities along with the results obtained from the proposed MLP dataflow implementation in G demonstrate its efficiency for medical diagnosis applications.


Transglutaminase (TG) catalyses the formation of an isopeptide bond between glutamine and lysine residues and amine incorporation into specific glutamine residues. TG is conserved in all metazoans and functions both intracellularly and extracellularly. Here we review the existing knowledge of Drosophila TG with an emphasis on its pluripotency: Drosophila TG (i) plays a key role in cuticular morphogenesis, haemolymph coagulation, and entrapment against invading pathogens, (ii) suppresses the immune deficiency pathway to enable immune tolerance against commensal bacteria through the incorporation of polyamines into the nuclear factor-κB-like transcription factor Relish as well as through the protein-protein cross-linking of Relish, (iii) forms a physical matrix in the gut through cross-linking of chitin-binding proteins and (iv) is involved in the maintenance of homeostasis in microbiota in the gut. Moreover, we review the evidence that TG-A, one of alternative splicing-derived isoforms of Drosophila TG, is secreted through an endoplasmic reticulum/Golgi-independent pathway involving exosomes and fatty acylations.


Sir Nowadays, there are several popular methods in closure of the pancreatic remnant following distal pancreatectomy, including use of mattress sutures, continuous or interrupted sutures with or without ligating the main pancreatic duct, electrocautery, ultrasonically activated scalpels, omental patches, falciform ligament, staples, and fibrin glue sealing. Different results and suggestions have been reported but with no definite conclusion. However, I have several suggestions about the method mentioned in this paper. First, a TA 55 linear stapler with a green cartridge (42 mm) was used for stapling. Previously, Kajiyama et al. reported incidence of pancreatic fistula was 40 per cent in their GIA stapler group versus 61 per cent in their TA stapler group following distal pancreatectomy1. Shorter distance between staples and narrower space between staple lines of the GIA stapler than those of the TA stapler may be the main reasons for different results. I think use of a GIA stapler with a blue cartridge (35 mm) may be more suitable for cases with ''not too fibrotic or thick'' pancreatic resection plane as mentioned. Second, the mechanism of lowering fistula formation by using a seromuscular patch of intestine has not been discussed in the literature. In many studies, pedicled omental flaps are dissected to expose the raw surface, and applied over the pancreatic remnant and fastened by sutures2,3. Omentum has the capacity for adhering to traumatized tissues, revascularization, angiogenesis, and antibacterial defence. Besides, it is able to absorb small amounts of pancreatic fluid and eliminates the problem of local pancreatic necrosis caused by sutures. Theoretically, omentum seems to be more ideal for pancreatic raw surface healing. Third, I think prophylactic jejunostomy establishment is necessary in some patients, especially those with high risk of stump leakage or acute pancreatitis after operation4,5. It can provide a way to early enteral feeding and obviate the need of nil-by-mouth to avoid pancreatic stimulation once leakage happens. Chong-Chi Chiu Department of General Surgery, Chi Mei Medical Center Liouying Campus, No.201 Taikang Village Liouying Township, T'ai-nan, Taiwan DOI: 10.1002/bjs.6844


The potential applications of carbon nanotubes are reviewed in this paper. With the development of modification and purification of carbon nanotubes, the scope of carbon nanotubes applications is expanded greatly. This paper pays attention to the modification and dispersion of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNTs). The results show that the acid treated MWNTs are highly pure and the surface of treated MWNTs is rough comparably. In addition, treated MWNTs are homogeneously dispersed without any surfactants present in organic solvents of acetone, toluene, and ethanol; the dispersive stability of carboxylic MWNTs dispersions is investigated over 2 weeks.


Although error amplification (EA) feedback has been shown to improve performance on visuomotor tasks, the challenge of EA is that it concurrently magnifies task-irrelevant information that may impair visuomotor control. The purpose of this study was to improve the force control in a static task by preclusion of high-oscillatory components in EA feedback that cannot be timely used for error correction by the visuomotor system. Along with motor unit behaviors and corticomuscular coherence, force fluctuations (Fc) were modeled with non-linear SDA to contrast the reliance of the feedback process and underlying neurophysiological mechanisms by using real feedback, EA, and low-frequency error amplification (LF-EA). During the static force task in the experiment, the EA feedback virtually potentiated the size of visual error, whereas the LF-EA did not channel high-frequency errors above 0.8 Hz into the amplification process. The results showed that task accuracy was greater with the LF-EA than with the real and EA feedback modes, and that LF-EA led to smaller and more complex Fc. LF-EA generally led to smaller SDA variables of Fc (critical time points, critical point of Fc, the short-term effective diffusion coefficient, and short-term exponent scaling) than did real feedback and EA. The use of LF-EA feedback increased the irregularity of the ISIs of MUs but decreased the RMS of the mean discharge rate, estimated with pooled MU spike trains. Beta-range EEG–EMG coherence spectra (13–35 Hz) in the LF-EA condition were the greatest among the three feedback conditions. In summary, amplification of low-frequency errors improves force control by shifting the relative significances of the feedforward and feedback processes. The functional benefit arises from the increase in the common descending drive to promote a stable state of MU discharges.


. Competition among trees is an important driver of community structure and dynamics in tropical forests. Neighboring trees may impact an individual tree ' s growth rate and probability of mortality, but large-scale geographic and environmental variation in these com- petitive effects has yet to be evaluated across the tropical forest biome. We quantified effects of competition on tree-level basal area growth and mortality for trees ≥ 10-cm diameter across 151 ~1-ha plots in mature tropical forests in Amazonia and tropical Africa by developing nonlinear models that accounted for wood density, tree size, and neighborhood crowding. Using these models, we assessed how water availability (i.e., climatic water deficit) and soil fertility influ- enced the predicted plot-level strength of competition (i.e., the extent to which growth is reduced, or mortality is increased, by competition across all individual trees). On both conti- nents, tree basal area growth decreased with wood density and increased with tree size. Growth decreased with neighborhood crowding, which suggests that competition is important. Tree mortality decreased with wood density and generally increased with tree size, but was appar-ently unaffected by neighborhood crowding. Across plots, variation in the plot-level strength of competition was most strongly related to plot basal area (i.e., the sum of the basal area of all trees in a plot), with greater reductions in growth occurring in forests with high basal area, but in Amazonia, the strength of competition also varied with plot-level wood density. In Amazonia, the strength of competition increased with water availability because of the greater basal area of wetter forests, but was only weakly related to soil fertility. In Africa, competition was weakly related to soil fertility and invariant across the shorter water availability gradient. Over- all, our results suggest that competition influences the structure and dynamics of tropical forests primarily through effects on individual tree growth rather than mortality and that the strength of competition largely depends on environment-mediated variation in basal area.


The next generation ground-based telescopes rely heavily on adaptive optics for overcoming the limitation of atmospheric turbulence. In the future adaptive optics modalities, like multi-conjugate adaptive optics (MCAO), atmospheric tomography is the major mathematical and computational challenge. In this severely ill-posed problem, a fast and stable reconstruction algorithm is needed that can take into account many real-life phenomena of telescope imaging. We introduce a novel reconstruction method for the atmospheric tomography problem and demonstrate its performance and flexibility in the context of MCAO. Our method is based on using locality properties of compactly supported wavelets, both in the spatial and frequency domains. The reconstruction in the atmospheric tomography problem is obtained by solving the Bayesian MAP estimator with a conjugate-gradient-based algorithm. An accelerated algorithm with preconditioning is also introduced. Numerical performance is demonstrated on the official end-to-end simulation tool OCTOPUS of European Southern Observatory.


This volume is the first to combine textual analysis of food media texts with interviews with media production staff, reality TV contestants, celebrity chefs, and food producers and retailers across the artisan-conventional spectrum. Intensified media interest in food has seen food politics become a dominant feature of popular media-from television and social media to cookbooks and advertising. This is often thought to be driven by consumers and by new ethics of consumption, but Media and Food Industries reveals how contemporary food politics is also being shaped by political and economic imperatives within the media and food industries. It explores the behind-the-scenes production dynamics of contemporary food media to assess the roles of-and relationships between-media and food industries in shaping new concerns and meanings with respect to food.


Low-temperature thermochronometry reveals that a narrow crustal sliver trapped within strands of the San Andreas fault zone in southern California has experienced recent, rapid exhumation. Eight apatite (U-Th)/He ages from a 1-km-relief section along Yucaipa Ridge in the San Bernardino Mountains range from 1.4 to 1.7 Ma. The minimal change in age with elevation implies exhumation of ∼5–7 mm yr−1, sustained for at least several hundred thousand years. Three titanite helium ages from the ridge are much older, ranging from 57 to 82 Ma. These show a steep gradient with elevation, representing either an exhumed, partial retention zone or slow cooling through much of the Tertiary. These data imply that a total exhumation of ∼3 to 6 km has occurred since 1.8 Ma. It is uncertain whether this exhumation terminated as early as 1 Ma or has continued up to the present at a decelerated rate. We surmise that this exhumation represents rock uplift in the absence of major surface uplift, in that it kept pace with tectonic uplift as the narrow fault block maintained steady state relief. The record of sedimentation in adjacent basins is consistent with the implied magnitude of erosion. Such rapid, large-magnitude exhumation within the strands of the San Andreas fault zone is important for models of transpressional tectonics. It is consistent with a strain partitioning model which predicts that pure shear dominated fault zones experience significant vertical strain. However, it is inconsistent with a stress-partitioning model which predicts that fault zone weakness limits pure shear deformation to the borderlands of the master strike-slip fault. In addition, a concentration of secondary contraction within the fault zone may require modification of coupling models between strong upper mantle and brittle upper crust via the weak lower crust. These models predict that transpressional deformation will either be uniformly distributed across the plate boundary or be limited to the far-field borderlands, rather than concentrated in the near field. Alternatively, the exhumation of Yucaipa Ridge may have been driven by the nearby restraining bend in the San Andreas fault at San Gorgonio Pass, in which case it represents local fault geometry rather than accommodation of far-field plate motion.


Background and Objectives: Dermatophytosis (topical fungal infection) is the 4th common
disease in the last decade, affecting 20-25% world's population. Patients of AIDS, cancer, old age senescence,
diabetes, cystic fibrosis become more vulnerable to dermatophytosis. The conventional topical
dosage proves effective as prophylactic in preliminary stage. In the advanced stage, the therapeutics
interacts with healthy tissues before reaching the pathogen site, showing undesirable effects, thus resulting
in pitiable patient compliance. The youngest carbon nano-trope "Graphene" is recently used to manipulate
bioactive agents for therapeutic purposes. Here, we explore graphene via smart engineering by
virtue of high surface area and high payload for therapeutics and developed graphene–ketoconazole
nanohybrid (Gn-keto) for potent efficacy towards dermatophytes in a controlled manner.

Methods: Polymethacrylate derivative Eudragit (ERL100 and ERS 100) microspheres embedded with
keto and Gn-keto nanohybrid were formulated and characterized through FTIR, TGA, and SEM. In vitro
drug release and antifungal activity of formulated Gn-keto microspheres were assessed for controlled
release and better efficacy against selected dermatophytes.

Results: Presence of numerous pores within the surface of ERL100 microspheres advocated enhanced
solubility and diffusion at the site of action. Controlled diffusion across the dialysis membrane was observed
with ERS100 microspheres owing to the nonporous surface and poor permeability. Antifungal
activity against T. rubrum and M. canis using microdilution method focused on a preeminent activity
(99.785 % growth inhibition) of developed nanohybrid loaded microspheres as compared to 80.876% of
keto loaded microspheres for T. rubrum. The culture of M. canis was found to be less susceptible to
formulated microspheres.

 Synergistic antifungal activity was achieved by nanohybrid Gn-Keto loaded microspheres
against selected topical fungal infections suggesting a vital role of graphene towards fungi.


This paper presents the efficiency of using artificial neural networks for solving problems of processing and interpreting geophysical data obtained by scanning magnetic introscopy. Neural networks of various architectures have been implemented to solve the problems of processing primary material, searching for well structure objects,identifying casing defects. The analysis of the capabilities of neural networks in comparison with mathematical algorithms is carried out. To test machine learning algorithms and mathematical algorithms for processing, visualizing and storing the results, a software shell was created in which all tasks are solved using a set of tools. It was found that the use of artificial neural networks can significantly speed up the process of data processing and interpretation, as well as improve the quality of the results in comparison with individual mathematical algorithms. Nevertheless, the use of mathematical algorithms in solving some problems gives consistently better results. In particular, the problematic aspects were identified at the stage of interpretation when identifying defects. This is due to the presence of conventions in the isolation of defects by the operator at the stage of preparing data for training neural networks, which is a subjective factor and requires a deeper study.


Background
Breast-conserving surgery (bcs) and radiation therapy (rt) are the standard of care for early breast cancer; studies have demonstrated that adjuvant rt confers a protective effect with respect to recurrence, although no randomized trials have shown a survival benefit.

Methods
This retrospective cohort study used Ontario data linked through ices to examine patients treated for breast cancer between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2014. The primary outcome was death or recurrence. Outcomes were compared between patients who did and did not receive rt.

Results
The total cohort size was 26,279. The hazard ratios (hrs) for various outcomes were significantly higher for patients who did not receive rt than for patients who did: recurrence or death combined [hr: 2.49; 95% confidence interval (ci): 2.25 to 2.75], recurrence (hr: 2.33; 95% ci: 1.91 to 2.84), and death (hr: 2.28; 95% ci: 2.03 to 2.56). The hr for death was 1.81 (95% ci: 1.65 to 1.99) for patients having stage ii cancer compared with those having stage i disease. The hr for death was 1.97 (95% ci: 1.74 to 2.22) for patients having high comorbidity compared with those having little comorbidity.

Conclusions
Adjuvant rt carries a protective effect with respect to recurrence and survival in patients with early-stage breast cancer. That survival benefit has not been appreciated in previous randomized trials and underscores the importance of rt as a component of breast cancer treatment.


In skeletal muscle cells, voltage-dependent potentiation of Ca2+ channel activity requires phosphorylation by cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) anchored via an A-kinase anchoring protein (AKAP15), and the most rapid sites of phosphorylation are located in the C-terminal domain. Surprisingly, the site of interaction of the complex of PKA and AKAP15 with the alpha1-subunit of Ca(V)1.1 channels lies in the distal C terminus, which is cleaved from the remainder of the channel by in vivo proteolytic processing. Here we report that the distal C terminus is noncovalently associated with the remainder of the channel via an interaction with a site in the proximal C-terminal domain when expressed as a separate protein in mammalian nonmuscle cells. Deletion mapping of the C terminus of the alpha1-subunit using the yeast two-hybrid assay revealed that a distal C-terminal peptide containing amino acids 1802-1841 specifically interacts with a region in the proximal C terminus containing amino acid residues 1556-1612. Analysis of the purified alpha1-subunit of Ca(V)1.1 channels from skeletal muscle by saturation sequencing of the intracellular peptides by tandem mass spectrometry identified the site of proteolytic processing as alanine 1664. Our results support the conclusion that a noncovalently associated complex of the alpha1-subunit truncated at A1664 with the proteolytically cleaved distal C-terminal domain, AKAP15, and PKA is the primary physiological form of Ca(V)1.1 channels in skeletal muscle cells.


To evade endangered timber species laws, unscrupulous importers sometimes attempt to pass protected Dalbergia nigra as look-alike, but unprotected, Dalbergia spruceana . Wood density and fluorescence properties are sometimes used to identify the species. Although these properties are useful and do not require special equipment, they may be less reliable than direct analysis in real time–time of flight mass spectrometry (DART–TOFMS). DART–TOFMS was used to check identities of the D. nigra and D. spruceana samples contained in the wood collection of the Forest Products Laboratory (Madison, Wisconsin). Based on DART-TOFMS, voucher-backed heartwood samples of the two species are all correctly named, but some of the unvouchered samples are not.


In earlier articles of the author two equilibrium equations of fairly general ZI method for calculation of real parameter values of stress-strain states for normal to longitudinal axes sections of flexural members at any loading stage are presented. It required in advance to have or to calculate by the method of successive approximation strain value of any one layer. The third equation for force static is presented in this article. The main purpose of the equation is calculation of neutral axes location in cases when external actions are given but strain value of any layer is not given in advance. Strain is calculated from other equations and then it enables calculation of values for all other parameters. Such calculation is especially relevant for reinforced concrete members with cracks in tension zone because at present calculation of neutral axes location is carried out either by empirical formula or in very approximate way. It can be considered that creation of ZI method is finished by the third force equilibrium equation. Applica-tion of ZI method three equation system enables solution of many theoretical and practical problems. Application for particular practical problems examples of ZI method three equations in general case are presented in this article as well. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.20.2.6942


Despite large contributions from academia, there is a significant lack of indicators against which to measure environmental injustice, particularly with regard to project development in developing countries such as Sri Lanka. Indicators and methodological approaches that have been developed and are being used in the West are mostly irrelevant since the types of environmental injustices experienced in the two regions are different. This study presents an "environmental justice matrix", a tool consisting of selected indicators that represent a variety of issues that have the potential to cause environmental injustice and that are encountered during the different phases of project development in Sri Lanka. The matrix is designed to evaluate the degree of environmental injustice that may arise during project development and should serve to keep environmental justice front and centre of every stage of the project, especially during the assessment and decision making processes. The value of this tool is illustrated by assessing two large infrastructure projects against the matrix.