Despite 150 years of study, the stratigraphic relationship among Pliocene beds in South Carolina has not been clearly demonstrated. The Goose Creek Limestone and the closely related Raysor Marl have been particularly perplexing. Previously reported Goose Creek faunules have been too meager for effective comparison. Discoveries at the Martin Marietta Berkeley County Quarry and the Mason Dixon pit tripled the total number of documented species from the Goose Creek Limestone and provided a basis for correlating various literature records and Charleston Museum collections. The Goose Creek Limestone is divisible biostratigraphically into informal lower and upper units. These fauna! units appear coincident with a lithic division, separated by an unconformity. The Raysor Marl unconformably overlies the lower Goose Creek Limestone, reversing the inferred stratigraphic sequence prevailing in current literature. Raysor Marl and upper Goose Creek Limestone faunules share numerous index taxa and appear to be laterally equivalent, coeval lithofacies. Both units are distinct from, and older than, the Duplin Formation at its Natural Well stratotype. The Bear Bluff Formation, at its stratotype locality, is lithically and faunally congruent with the upper Goose Creek Limestone.


This study aims to explore Mandarin-speaking children's uses of the distal demonstrative na(ge) in child-adult conversations. Three types of data were utilized: 4-year-old naturalistic data, 4-year-old and 5-year-old controlled conversations. Five discourse-pragmatic functions of the distal demonstrative were identified: the deictic use, the endophoric use, the connective use, the pause-filler function, and the unidentified use, a peculiar use found in child discourse, which further reveals children's inability to properly manage common ground in discourse. A comparison of the distribution of different functions across the data groups shows that children may have acquired the semantics and some pragmatic functions of the distal demonstrative in early years, but they may not yet fully develop the ability to establish common ground and manage coherence until they are five.


The importance of organic compounds in the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, and as cloud condensation and ice-forming nuclei, has been recognized for several decades. Organic compounds comprise a significant fraction of the suspended matter mass, leading to local (e.g. toxicity, health hazards) and global (e.g. climate change) impacts. The state of knowledge of the physical chemistry of organic aerosols has increased during the last few decades. However, due to their complex chemistry and the multifaceted processes in which they are involved, the importance of organic aerosols, particularly bioaerosols, in driving physical and chemical atmospheric processes is still very uncertain and poorly understood. Factors such as solubility, surface tension, chemical impurities, volatility, morphology, contact angle, deliquescence, wettability, and the oxidation process are pivotal in the understanding of the activation processes of cloud droplets, and their chemical structures, solubilities and even the molecular configuration of the microbial outer membrane, all impact ice and cloud nucleation processes in the atmosphere. The aim of this review paper is to assess the current state of knowledge regarding chemical and physical characterization of bioaerosols with a focus on those properties important in nucleation processes. We herein discuss the potential importance (or lack thereof) of physical and chemical properties of bioaerosols and illustrate how the knowledge of these properties can be employed to study nucleation processes using a modeling exercise. We also outline a list of major uncertainties due to a lack of understanding of the processes involved or lack of available data. We will also discuss key issues of atmospheric significance deserving future physical chemistry research in the fields of bioaerosol characterization and microphysics, as well as bioaerosol modeling. These fundamental questions are to be addressed prior to any definite conclusions on the potential significance of the role of bioaerosols on physico-chemical atmospheric processes and that of climate.


Background: Farmworkers in Liwa city, UAE, experience harsh environmental exposures, and poor living conditions which could have detrimental effects on health. Aim: This study aims to (i) assess the status of farmworkers' housing conditions (ii) evaluate the quality of air within the farmhouses; (iii) provide guidance to local farm owners and local authorities on ideal requirements to ensure safety and suggest implementation of best practices. Methodology: This study employed a cross-sectional design and randomly assessed 31 farmworkers' houses in Liwa.  A total of 67 workers from south Asia completed the satisfaction questionnaire adopted from Ndlambe Municipality Customer Satisfaction Survey (2011). Age of participants ranged between 20 and 60 with a mean value of 33.7. Housing quality was evaluated based on building structure, exposure to chemical hazards and services provided as per guidelines from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity 2007-2013 and WorkSafe New Zealand 2014. Quality of air was tested using a handheld 3016 IAQ Lighthouse particle counter. Results: The data showed that the level of education was as follows: 43% elementary or less, 37% primary- intermediate and 19% secondary or more. The air quality exceeded the WHO limits: PM 2.5 reached 202.5 μg /m 3 and the maximum PM 10 was 1914.7 μg /m 3 . The housing conditions were poor with high potential for accidents and risks. Despite the status of housing, most participants were very satisfied with their conditions. This could be either due to lack of knowledge of best practices and good standard conditions or an attempt to restrict complaints in fear of being fired. Conclusion: These findings support the need for action towards the improvement of housing conditions of farmworkers in Liwa through better planning and collaboration between the hiring agencies that recruit these workers and the municipality.


IMS as an IP connectivity and service control architecture is increasingly drawing more attention as the future architecture of the core network. At the same time, the cellular backhauled Wi-Fi has been constantly gaining ground as data rates of commercial cellular network continue to increase rapidly while the cost of data services declines at a similar pace. This paper presents a methodology using which IMS-based services can be offered to multiple user devices across a Wi-Fi network. The primary user in the case considered is a bona fide IMS user and Wi-Fi network backhauled by a cellular network. The proposed shared services method will enable sharing of IMS-based services that a UMTS/IMS user has subscribed to, by taking advantage of the authentication scheme specified in 3GPP TR 33.978 security aspects of early IMS, and the availability of cellular backhauled Wi-Fi network.


STUDY DESIGN
Case report.

BACKGROUND
Rehabilitation that includes progressive quadriceps strengthening after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) leads to superior outcomes. Though patients with TKA show marked functional improvement after outpatient physical therapy, they continue to adopt movement asymmetries characterized by reduced knee excursion on the operated limb and excessive loading on the contralateral limb. The purpose of this case report was to describe the functional and biomechanical improvements in a patient who, after TKA, participated in a novel physical therapy protocol that included retraining of symmetrical movement patterns.

CASE DESCRIPTION
A 57-year-old female with unilateral knee osteoarthritis was evaluated prior to TKA and at 3 and 10 weeks after surgery. Postoperative rehabilitation included progressive quadriceps strengthening and movement retraining that consisted of visual, verbal, and tactile feedback to promote symmetrical weight bearing during strengthening exercises and functional activities. Outcomes were compared to a historical cohort of patients with TKA.

OUTCOMES
Prior to TKA, the patient scored below average on all functional measures and walked with knee biomechanics that were abnormal and asymmetrical. After symmetry retraining, her knee motion and moments were restored to normal levels. The patient also walked with greater magnitude and more symmetrical knee excursion compared to a cohort of similar patients.

DISCUSSION
This case report describes the use of a novel rehabilitation protocol intended to improve walking biomechanics and functional outcomes after TKA. Restoration of symmetrical movement patterns could improve long-term outcomes of TKA. Further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of similar rehabilitation strategies in a wide range of patients after TKA.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Therapy, level 4.


Objectives were to: 1) induce a lytic IgG antibody (ab) response (via the so called `third vaccination method') against CD38 antigen (ag) residing on the extra-cellular domain of multiple myeloma (MM) cells in recipient rabbits, by combining the CD38 ag with donor-derived anti-CD38 ag lytic IgG ab into an immune complex (IC); and 2) determine whether abs produced would cause complement-mediated lysis (in vitro) of human MM cells containing CD38 ag. The vaccine was created in a two-step process. First, ab (rabbit anti-CD38 ag IgG ab) was raised in donor rabbits by injections of low molecular weight soluble CD38 ag in Freund's complete adjuvant (FCA) and aqueous solution. Second, transfer of pathogenic lytic IgG ab response into recipient rabbits was achieved by injections of ICs composed of CD38 ag and homologous anti-CD38 ag IgG ab. Consequently, recipient rabbits produced the same ab with the same specificity against the target ag as was present in the inoculum, namely agglutinating, precipitating and lytic (as demonstrated in vitro). In an in vitro study, in the presence of complement, donor and recipient rabbits' immune sera caused lysis of CD38 ag associated human MM cells. The most effective lytic ab response causing sera were those from donor rabbits injected with CD38 ag in FCA and those from rabbits injected with ICs, especially when they were administered in adjuvants. These results provided proof of concept that the third vaccination method has good potential as a stand-alone and efficacious method of controlling cancer.


Recent developments in wind turbine design research account for the effects of velocity fluctuation and the characteristic turbulence of the installation location site to improve performance. For the design, a low-cost natural wind generator and a laboratory-based performance evaluation of the wind turbine are useful. This paper describes a new actively controlled multi-fan wind tunnel that generates natural wind at a reduced cost. The driving section of its wind tunnel has 100 PC cooling fans that are controlled by an original embedded system. The fluctuating velocity wind is successfully generated with a mean velocity 7m/s, turbulent intensity 2% and turbulent integral scale 5 m, 10 m, 20 m, based on Karman's power spectrum density function. In particular, the wind satisfies the Kolmogorov's −5/3 multiplication rule of inertial subrange with the frequency range 0.01∼2.0 Hz. Furthermore, the performance of a wind turbine in steady and natural winds can be investigated. From the results, it is made clear that integral scale has a large effect on the wind turbine performance. The maximum power coefficient in natural wind of the integral scale 5 m and 10m is 124% larger than one of steady wind with the same mean velocity 7 m/s.


ABSTRACT Nine isolates of filamentous fungi previously tested in 11 different laboratories for their susceptibilities to amphotericin B and itraconazole in vitro were injected intravenously into mice and guinea pigs, and responses to treatment with both agents were studied. The experiments were done in a single laboratory. Mean survival times, the percentages of animals surviving 12 days after infection, and culture results for samples of deep organs obtained postmortem were used as markers of antifungal efficacy. Because of variations in organism pathogenicity, interpretable test systems in vivo could not be established for Fusarium spp. in mice or guinea pigs or forPseudallescheria boydii in mice, even with the use of immunosuppressive pretreatments. Among the infections that could be evaluated, some degree of response to the corresponding treatment in vivo was seen in animals infected with each of two Rhizopus arrhizus isolates susceptible to amphotericin B at <0.5 μg/ml and Aspergillus spp. isolates susceptible to itraconazole at <1.0 μg/ml. Conversely, no responses were apparent with infecting strains for which MICs were ≥2 μg/ml (amphotericin B) or ≥1 μg/ml (itraconazole). However, the limitations of the intravenous challenge systems studied mean that no firm conclusion relating MICs in vitro to the lowest effective doses in vivo could be drawn.


Visually evoked potential (VEP) is an electrical signal generated by the brain (Occipital Cortex) in response to a visual stimuli. These VEP are recorded non-invasively by placing the surface electrodes at the scalp, and observed as a reading on an electroencephalogram (EEG). VEP signal has been widely used for the diagnostics of vision impairments in patients. The main parameters that were considered for the diagnostics of these diseases are the amplitude and the latency values. This field of study is gaining interest from researches all over the world. In this paper, time domain based features of the VEP is studied in an effort to discriminate normal subjects from those having vision impairments. Three different classifiers, Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA) and the k Nearest Neighbor (kNN) are used for the investigation. The proposed method shows promising results in the investigation of vision impairments with accuracy ranging from 69.44% to 100%.


Objective The growing interest in early-onset dementia has attracted attention to the situation and experiences of the caregiver, most often the spouse. Several qualitative studies on caregiving spouses have underlined the importance of the feeling of loss, the change of role reported by the caregiving spouses, and the strategies used to protect the person with dementia, all of which raise the question of the relational dynamics at play in these dyads. The present study on 16 couples examines the experiences of each partner, as well as the kinds of interactions taking place within the dyad and how they have evolved since the disease began. Design An interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on dyadic semi-structured interviews. Results Seven axes emerged from the analyses, showing that control over symptoms gradually leads to deterioration of marital interactions and to the components of marital dissolution.


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the reliability and agreement of semi-quantitative scoring (SQS) and quantitative scoring (QS) systems. To compare the two types of scoring system and investigate the construct validity for both scoring systems.

METHODS
A total of 46 RA patients (median disease duration of 6.5 years) were enrolled in the study. They were investigated with colour Doppler ultrasound using the central position of the wrist. Disease activity score based on 28 joints (DAS-28) was determined for all patients using CRP. Two participants trained in the SQS system and two in the QS system evaluated the 46 anonymized images. All images were scored twice by each of the two assessors in order to assess both intra- and inter-reader reliability.

RESULTS
The reliability for the two systems were 0.964 for the QS, and 0.817 for the SQS, with a comparable inter-reader agreement for both scoring systems; 95% limits of agreement for the QS being between -7.7% and +6.7% on the colour fraction scale (0-100%), whereas SQS was between -0.8 and +0.8 on the ordinal scale from 0 to 3. There was a direct but non-linear relationship between the two modalities (Spearman's r = 0.73) and critical conceptual issues in the agreement between the scoring systems were revealed. The construct validity was poor for both systems with only a weak correlation to CRP.

CONCLUSION
High reliability and good agreement of both scoring systems were found when applied to the same patient cohort. Different scoring systems appear to be highly correlated.


In 2018, West Virginia teachers staged a statewide strike which lasted almost two weeks and included schools across all 55 countywide districts. The main reported strike issues for West Virginia teachers included cuts to their healthcare coverage by the state and relatively low salaries. Prior to the strike, West Virginia teachers ranked 48th in the nation in terms of pay. The West Virginia strike sparked a year-long wave of teacher labor protests across the country, in both predominately rural states and large urban centers. In 2019, West Virginia teachers went on strike again, bringing the movement full circle. In November, 2020, I interviewed Jay O'Neal and Sam Nelson, two teachers involved in the 2018 statewide teachers strike in West Virginia for the National Rural Education Association's Annual Conference and Research Symposium. Jay O'Neal originated the Facebook page in 2017 that served as the hub for organizing activity prior to and during the 2018 strike. O'Neal is a middle school English and social studies teacher; Nelson is a high school English teacher.


Recently, the number of liver resection has increased, which requires adequate and safe anesthesia provision in this surgery area. Сytokine plasma spectrum is the one of the most important indicators characterizing inflammatory reaction intensity during and after surgery and postoperative period flow prognosis. Immune monitoring gives a notion about operative trauma features, liver damage severity, anaesthesia adequacy. Interleukin dynamics evaluation during liver resections is a topical theoretical and practical problem. The aim of this research was to evaluate the interleukins intraoperative dynamics in liver resection patients. Anaesthesia protocols were analyzed in 51 patients, 26 (51%) of which was a Sevorane multi-component balanced anaesthesia, and 25 (49%) Propofol multi-component balanced anaesthesia. Intraoperative haemodynamics, metabolism, General and biochemical blood tests, coagulogramm, C3 and C4 complement factors dynamics, cytokines data were evaluated. The obtained data testified systemic inflammatory response with a marked pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines imbalance formation development in patients underwent organ-conserving and major liver resection. Sevorane use leads to a more pronounced anti-inflammatory cytokines synthesis in comparison with TIVA-group, the imbalance of pro and anti-inflammatory cytokines is also more pronounced in Sevorane-group.


The high tumor uptake of ultrasmall near-infrared quantum dots (QDs) attributed to the enhanced permeability and retention effect is reported. InAs/InP/ZnSe QDs coated by mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) exhibit an emission wavelength of about 800 nm (QD800-MPA) with very small hydrodynamic diameter (<10 nm). Using 22B and LS174T tumor xenograft models, in vivo and ex vivo imaging studies show that QD800-MPA is highly accumulated in the tumor area, which is very promising for tumor detection in living mice. The ex vivo elemental analysis (Indium) using inductively coupled plasma (ICP) spectrometry confirm the tumor uptake of QDs. The ICP data are consistent with the in vivo and ex vivo fluorescence imaging. Human serum albumin (HSA)-coated QD800-MPA nanoparticles (QD800-MPA-HSA) show reduced localization in mononuclear phagocytic system-related organs over QD800-MPA plausibly due to the low uptake of QD800-MPA-HSA in macrophage cells. QD800-MPA-HSA may have great potential for in vivo fluorescence imaging.


In this, the first biography of Abraham Flexner (1866-1959), distinguished scholar Thomas N. Bonner offers an engaging and insightful view of one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century American education. From his early, pathbreaking work in experimental primary schools to the founding of the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton, Abraham Flexner's influence on American education was deep, pervasive, and enduring. In Thomas N. Bonner, Flexner has at long last found the biographer that his critical role in American education deserves. The son of poor Jewish immigrants in Louisville, Kentucky, Flexner was raised in the Reconstruction South and educated at the Johns Hopkins University in the first decade of that institution's existence. Upon earning his degree in 1886, he returned to Louisville to found-four years before John Dewey's Chicago "laboratory school"-an experimental school based on progressive ideas that soon won the close attention of Harvard President Charles Eliot. After a successful nineteen-year career as a teacher and principal, he turned his attention to medical education. His 1910 survey-known today as the Flexner Report-stimulated much-needed, radical changes in the field and, with its emphasis on full-time clinical teaching, remains to this day the most widely cited document on how doctors best learn their profession. Flexner's subsequent projects-a book on medical education in Europe and a comparative study of medical education in Europe and America-remain unsurpassed in range and insight. For fifteen years a senior officer in the Rockefeller-supported General Education Board, he helped raise money-more than 6 billion in today's dollars-for education in medicine and other subjects. His devastating critique of American higher education in 1936 raised the hackles of educators-but ultimately raised important questions as well. Three years later he created and led the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, convincing Albert Einstein to accept the first appointment at the newly created institute. Brilliant, abrasive, tenderhearted, and fundamentally a decent, farseeing man, Abraham Flexner accomplished much good in the world. His story, based on new archival sources and told with verve and wit, is sure to become the definitive work on a man and his era.


In spite of evidence that more and more students are engaging in online learning experiences, details about the transition for teachers and students to a new learning environment are still unconfirmed. While new technologies are often expected to make work easier, they also involve the development of new competencies. This change may, in itself, elicit an emotional response, and, more importantly, emotion may impact the experience of online learning. Knowledge about the impact of emotion on learning broadly is available, but not about emotion and online learning. This study presents evidence of emotions present in online environments, and empirical data which suggests emotional presence may exist as a fundamental element in an online community of inquiry.


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Fitting surfaces to 3-D data is one of the basic methods for surface description for 3-D vision. Most techniques of surface fitting proposed in the literature are "least-squares"-based that rarely produce satisfactory results if a certain level of noise is present in the data or if the data points are locally sampled from a small area. We propose a new approach that minimizes the mean squared approximate orthogonal distances with linearization using the Newton iteration method. This approach usually yields a good fit and the algorithm is reliable and efficient for real applications. Results are reported for one of the real range images that we have experimented. The results demonstrate that the approximate orthogonal distance performs better than the least squares based methods.


Motor proficiency was investigated in a sample of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Combined type (ADHD-CT) without autism. Two groups of children aged between 7-14 years were recruited; children with ADHD-CT (n=16; mean age 10y, 7m [SD= 1y, 10m]) and a typically developing (n=16; mean age 10y, 6m [SD= 2y, 6m]) group. Motor proficiency was measured using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children- 2 nd Edition and ADHD symptoms were measured using the Conner's Parent Rating Scale. Children with ADHD-CT without autism did not display motor difficulties on the MABC-2. Higher levels of Inattention,but not hyperactivity or impulsivity was associated with poorer motor performance. These findings provide indirect evidence that co-morbid autism may contribute to motor problems in children with ADHD. Abstract Motor proficiency was investigated in a sample of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Combined type (ADHD-CT) without autism. Accounting for the influence of co-morbid autistic symptoms in ADHD motor studies is vital given that motor impairment has been linked to social –communication symptoms in children who have co-morbid ADHD and autistic-like symptoms. Two groups of children aged between 7-14 years were recruited; children with ADHD-CT (n=16; mean age 10y, 7m [SD= 1y, 10m]) and a typically developing (n=16; mean age 10y, 6m [SD= 2y, 6m]) group. Motor proficiency was measured using the Movement Assessment Battery for Children- 2 nd Edition, ADHD symptoms were measured using the Conner's Parent Rating Scale. Children with ADHD-CT who had been screened for co-morbid autism did not display motor difficulties on the MABC-2. Higher levels of inattention, but not hyperactivity or impulsivity were associated with poorer motor performance. These findings provide indirect evidence that the motor problems that children with ADHD experience may be related to co-occurring social responsiveness impairments.


It is a major challenge to understand the impacts of recent climate change on zooplankton communities. The impacts of global warming are manifold and multiple factors, which drive ecological changes in zooplankton communities have to be understood. Increasing sea surface temperature is likely to alter zooplankton phenology and community structure. Recent studies on the global scale showed a decline in size and productivity of zooplankton, which was related to climate change. Reorganization of zooplankton community with warming can change community interactions and energy flow through whole aquatic food webs.
The aim of this thesis was to examine the effects of temperature, phosphorus limitation and acidification on copepods and disentangle direct and indirect effects of warming on zooplankton and how the observed changes can alter the metabolic fluxes in food webs. In the first chapter, I tested the effect of three temperatures on copepod communities in a mesocosm experiment. The second chapter presents results of a monoculture experiment with the copepod species Acartia tonsa, where phosphorus concentration in food algae and temperature effects were combined. In my third experiment, a second mesocosm study, I show effects of the combined factors temperature and ocean acidification, to understand single and interactive effects on the copepod community. With respect to trophic chain length, I demonstrate in chapter 4, that total and mass-specific ecosystem primary production and respiration are differently temperature sensitive, and that bloom dynamics and non- bloom dynamics act differently on ecosystem oxygen fluxes.
In the first chapter of this thesis, I describe the results of a performed mesocosm experiment, which allowed me to identify copepod responses to temperature. Body size of adult copepods and of all Acartia sp. developmental stages was smaller at higher temperatures. Total zooplankton, nauplii and adult copepod abundance was lower at higher temperatures. Additionally, a stage shift from older, at lower temperatures, to younger developmental stages occurred at higher temperatures.
My experimental work, presented in chapter 2, focused on the identification of drivers that lead to smaller body sizes. A monoculture experiment was performed with the copepod species Acartia tonsa grown under five temperature steps (10 – 20 °C) and were fed with Rhodomonas salina, which had three different carbon-to-phosphorus ratios (phosphorus replete, limited, and pulsed). An increase in temperature significantly reduced the individual body size of the herbivore consumer, whereas phosphorus limitation had no influence. Phosphorus limitation counteracts the temperature effect by decreasing developmental rates. I concluded that phosphorus limitation and increasing temperature might accelerate growth rates because temperature has a stronger effect on Acartia tonsa than phosphorus limitation.
In chapter 3, I show that warming has a stronger impact on copepod body size, abundance, biomass, and fatty acid composition, whereas acidification did not show a significant effect on copepods. I could identify trends of acidification effects on copepods, with the result that copepods are more positively affected by the fertilizing effect on phytoplankton biomass, as a proxy for food biomass. It seems that copepods were able to partially compensate the negative temperature effects by higher food uptake. Fatty acid composition was significantly affected by warming. Total fatty acid amount did not change with temperature or acidification, but ratios of single essentially polyunsaturated fatty acids to total fatty acid content changed significantly. I concluded that acidification has the potential to dampen temperature effects on copepod body size, abundance, and biomass by a higher availability of food sources. Copepod populations might be more affected by warming than by ocean acidification alone.
My experimental work, presented in chapter 4, focused on a multi-generational mesocosm study assessing how warming affects ecosystem metabolic rates of net primary production and respiration. A decrease of phytoplankton biomass, zooplankton body size and abundance increase the temperature driven increase of metabolic rates. The results indicate that future warmer aquatic ecosystems are more affected at higher trophic levels, because of changing food web structure to lower phytoplankton biomass, zooplankton abundance with smaller sized individuals. I suggest that biomass changes have to be included into ecosystem flux analyses.
To summarize the results of my experimental studies, I developed a schematic of temperature impacts on biotic interactions in aquatic plankton communities. In this schematic temperature can directly act on copepod metabolic rates, which directly lead to smaller sized individuals and lower abundances, and consequently lower biomass of copepods. Higher metabolic rates lead to higher energy demands and increase the grazing rates on phytoplankton. The increased grazing rates indirectly affect phytoplankton communities.
My work highlights the importance of complex community studies including the interactions with different trophic levels for understanding ecological processes in aquatic ecosystems and their responses to predicted global change scenarios. Testing multiple factors and also further effects on the organism's physiological level, which might result in changes of whole food web efficiency, might achieve the elucidation of the complexity of responses.


When 3-fluoro- and 3-chloro-1,2-didehydrobenzenes are generated in the presence of 2-(trimethylsilyl)furan, two regioisomeric cycloadducts are formed in a 1:2 ratio. However, regioselectivity can be installed by fitting one bulky trimethylsilyl group into sterically crit. positions of each of the two reaction components. Thus 3-fluoro-6-trimethylsilyl-1,2-didehydrobenzene and 2-(trimethylsilyl)furan give one cycloadduct exclusively. In this way, the Diels-Alder reaction between suitably adorned arynes and similarly designed furans can open an entry to naphthalene derivs. that have unprecedented substituent patterns that qualify them as building blocks for pharmaceutical or agricultural research. The acid-catalyzed isomerization of model 1,4-epoxy-1,4-dihydronaphthalenes, the aryne/furan cycloadducts, exhibits unexpected effects on rates and regioselectivity. [on SciFinder (R)]


The paper presents research results obtained in the process of processing bi odegradable wastes, resulting from agricultural production as well as municipal waste. Aerobic fermenter EWA (stationed within the Institute for Forage Crops Globoder - Krusevac) was using for this purpose, during the one month testing. Biodegradable materia l with different ratios of components was used for filling aerobic digester. EWA fermenter is certified device that is used to stabilize and hygienic disposal of biodegradable waste, including sewage sludge and animal products produced in accordance with E uropean Union regulations. Fermenter is intended to be used for combustion in boilers for solid fuels with humidity of biomaterials below 30%.


Inclusion of people discontinuing their studies, so-called school drop-outs, represents a challenge in a modern information society, where numeracy, literacy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills are needed in order to cope with everyday life. Several technology projects have been launched to explore the opportunities that mobile technologies bring about when tackling issues of social inclusion through mobile learning. Mobile devices are cheaper than for instance a Personal Computer (PC), and their affordance, usability and accessibility are such that they can potentially complement or even replace traditional computer technology. In this paper, a theoretical framework for mobile learning and e-inclusion is developed for people outside the conventional education system. The framework draws upon the fields of constructivist pedagogy, mobile learning objects and sociology. We also present data about the situation in Finland where we will use this theoretical framework to inform the design of mobile learning solutions for school drop-outs.


Summaries Early comments on the impact of the conflict on Rwanda's food production capacity claimed that the loss of harvests and seeds was virtually total. Almost instantaneously, it was revealed that a solution existed: the 'Seeds of Hope' programme, a long‐term international solution proposed by CGIAR through which crop production and biodiversity would be quickly restored. The restoration would prove far less expensive than long‐term dependency on food aid. This article critiques the portrayal of Rwanda's agricultural devastation and offers an alternative reading. Based on research carried out on behalf of Save The Children, UK, it presents a more nuanced picture of the food and agricultural situation in the immediate aftermath of the 1994 war and genocide. This alternative reading highlights determinants of food availability overlooked in the popular portrayal of starvation and ecological calamity. Attention is paid to ecological variations within Rwanda, the differential impact caused by war and internal flight, farmer resourcefulness, and the 'longevity' of certain field crops not harvested on time. Immediately following the end of war, the international community failed to appreciate the diversity of conditions inside Rwanda's food production sector. Available seed supplies were never investigated, nor was the differential impact the war had had on and within Rwanda's prefectures understood. This lack of a proper needs assessment enabled the international aid world to 'package' Rwanda as a country whose devastated agriculture could not recover without the kind of technical, apolitical intervention the West (CGIAR) had in mind. With media assistance, CGIAR persisted with its narrative for several months despite the emergence of clear counter evidence.


ABSTRACT In this article, the thermoelastic contact problem involving a functionally graded coating and a homogenous substrate is considered. Determination of subsurface stresses is highly critical in the design of mechanical assemblages due to fatigue and fracture failures resulting from contact loading. In such contact problems, cracking generally initiates at the locations of high subsurface stresses. The present study proposes a finite element methodology for the computation of subsurface stresses in functionally graded coatings subjected to frictional contact with heat generation. The method developed is based on iterations continued until convergence is observed in the contact zone heat flux values. Presented results illustrate the influences of various geometric and material parameters upon the subsurface stresses.


This paper is part of a special section on 'psychopharmacotherapy in children'. The latter may be combined with behavioural treatments, but in children only in the field of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment studies has this combination been investigated and proved to be more effective than any single treatment alone. As to the treatment of depressive disorder, school phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder in children and adolescents, no controlled empirical studies on combined therapies exist. Nevertheless, positive results from adult studies (e.g. depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder) may be, with some modification, paralleled in children and adolescents. So far, there are no indications that the combination of medication and behavioural treatment has antagonistic effects. Thus, we would make a plea for combining psychopharmacotherapy and behaviour therapy in child and adolescent psychiatry.


RNA silencing or RNA interference (RNAi) is an essential mechanism in animals, fungi, and plants that functions in gene regulation and defense against foreign nucleic acids. In fungi, RNA silencing has been shown to function primarily in defense against invasive nucleic acids. We previously determined that mycoviruses are triggers and targets of RNA silencing in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. However, recent progresses in RNAi or dsRNA-based pest control requires more detailed characterization of the RNA silencing pathways in S. sclerotiorum to investigate the utility of dsRNA-based strategy for white mold control. This study elucidates the roles of argonaute enzymes, agl-2 and agl-4, in small RNA metabolism in S. sclerotiorum. Gene disruption mutants of agl-2 and agl-4 were compared for changes in phenotype, virulence, viral susceptibility, and small RNA profiles. The Δagl-2 mutant but not the Δagl-4 mutant had significantly slower growth and virulence prior to virus infection. Similarly, the Δagl-2 mutant but not the Δagl-4 mutant, showed greater debilitation under virus infection compared to uninfected strains. The responses were confirmed in complementation studies and revealed the antiviral role of agl-2. Gene disruption mutants of agl-2, agl-4, Dicer-like (dcl)-1, and dcl-2 did not change the stability of the most abundant endogenous small RNAs, which suggests the existence of alternative enzymes/pathways for small RNA biogenesis in S. sclerotiorum. Furthermore, in vitro synthesized dsRNA targeting agl-2 showed a significantly reduced average lesion diameter (P < 0.05) on canola leaves with agl-2 down-regulated compared to controls. This is the first report describing the effectiveness of RNA pesticides targeting S. sclerotiorum RNA silencing pathway for the control of the economically important pathogen.


Abstract Industrial processing of chicken/native is one of the many industry-based food productions. These industry players realize that to provide cheap products, quality, and fast is not enough to make improvements in the company's internal only. But also takes the role of all parties, from suppliers who provide raw materials, transportation companies that send raw materials from suppliers to the industry, as well as the distribution network delivering products into the hands of customers. Performance improvement requires the presence of Supply Chain performance measures beforehand. The results of these measurements will be used as reference for improvement of performance of the Supply Chain. The reason the use of AHP and MILP itself because of these two methods are expected to provide the best solution of existing problems, which AHP method can determine the weighting or desired supplier selection criteria from existing suppliers. While the MILP method alone is expected to maximize profits by considering the risks. The results of the application of the AHP method known value of most major sub-criteria weights that supplier B with value at a price of 0.594 sub-criteria, sub-criteria weights alternative on the quality of 0.493, the sub-criteria weights alternative delivery time of 0.387, an alternative to the sub-criteria weights accuracy number of 0493, and the weight alternative to the sub-supplier performance criteria for 0.374. While based on the application of linear programming methods of forecasting results are known supplier B has a stock of goods which are more stable than other suppliers to stock inventory in July amounted to 18.116 tails, august amounted to 18.524 tails, September amounted to 19.033 tails, October amounted to 19.542 tails, in month of november to 20.068 tails, december amounted to 20.559 tails, and in January next at 21.068 tails.


UDP-sugars, activated forms of monosaccharides, are synthesized through de novo and salvage pathways and serve as substrates for the synthesis of polysaccharides, glycolipids, and glycoproteins in higher plants. A UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase, designated PsUSP, was purified about 1,200-fold from pea (Pisum sativum L.) sprouts by conventional chromatography. The apparent molecular mass of the purified PsUSP was 67,000 Da. The enzyme catalyzed the formation of UDP-Glc, UDP-Gal, UDP-glucuronic acid, UDP-l-arabinose, and UDP-xylose from respective monosaccharide 1-phosphates in the presence of UTP as a co-substrate, indicating that the enzyme has broad substrate specificity toward monosaccharide 1-phosphates. Maximum activity of the enzyme occurred at pH 6.5–7.5, and at 45 °C in the presence of 2 mm Mg2+. The apparent Km values for Glc 1-phosphate and l-arabinose 1-phosphate were 0.34 and 0.96 mm, respectively. PsUSP cDNA was cloned by reverse transcriptase-PCR. PsUSP appears to encode a protein with a molecular mass of 66,040 Da (600 amino acids) and possesses a uridine-binding site, which has also been found in a human UDP-N-acetylhexosamine pyrophosphorylase. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that PsUSP can be categorized in a group together with homologues from Arabidopsis and rice, which is distinct from the UDP-Glc and UDP-N-acetylhexosamine pyrophosphorylase groups. Recombinant PsUSP expressed in Escherichia coli catalyzed the formation of UDP-sugars from monosaccharide 1-phosphates and UTP with efficiency similar to that of the native enzyme. These results indicate that the enzyme is a novel type of UDP-sugar pyrophosphorylase, which catalyzes the formation of various UDP-sugars at the end of salvage pathways in higher plants.


CFC NB31, CFC DMS780 and fine-grain graphite EK98 were simultaneously exposed in the SOL of TEXTOR in order to measure the retention of deuterium in the material bulk. After exposure, the samples were analysed by thermal desorption spectrometry and nuclear reaction analysis with a conventional beam as well as with a microbeam. The deuterium retention amounts (2–4)·1021 D/m2 for the incident fluence of ~2·1025 D/m2. The retention values are similar for both CFC materials and lower by ~20–40% for EK98. The retention in all three materials scales roughly with a square root of incident fluence without saturation for the range of fluences obtained. The majority of deuterium is stored in a surface layer of <8 μm. However, in NB31 deuterium is detectable as deep as 80 μm. The in-bulk retention estimated for a TEXTOR experimental campaign of ≍7500 s of plasma has a contribution of ≍10% to the total retention, which is dominated by deuterium-carbon co-deposition.


This paper presents an approach to minimize the average program execution time by optimizing the hardware/software implementation of error detection. We leverage the advantages of partial dynamic reconfiguration of FPGAs in order to speculatively place in hardware those error detection components that will provide the highest reduction of execution time. Our optimization algorithm uses frequency information from a counter-based execution profile of the program. Starting from a control flow graph representation, we build the interval structure and the control dependence graph, which we then use to guide our error detection optimization algorithm.


This study investigated the effects of fatigue on performance quality induced by a prolonged musical performance. Ten participants prepared 10 min of repertoire for their chosen wind instrument that they played three times consecutively. Prior to the performance and within short breaks between performances, researchers collected heart rate, respiratory rate, blood pressure, blood lactate concentration, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and rating of anxiety. All performances were audio recorded and later analysed for performance errors. Reliability in assessing performance errors was assessed by typical error of measure (TEM) of 15 repeat performances. Results indicate all markers of physical stress significantly increased by a moderate to large amount (4.6 to 62.2%; d = 0.50 to 1.54) once the performance began, while heart rate, respirations, and RPE continued to rise by a small to large amount (4.9 to 23.5%; d = 0.28 to 0.93) with each performance. Observed changes in performance between performances were well in excess of the TEM of 7.4%. There was a significant small (21%, d = 0.43) decrease in errors after the first performance; after the second performance, there was a significant large increase (70.4%, d = 1.14). The initial increase in physiological stress with corresponding decrease in errors after the first performance likely indicates "warming up," while the continued increase in markers of physical stress with dramatic decrement in performance quality likely indicates fatigue. Musicians may consider the relevance of physical fitness to maintaining performance quality over the duration of a performance.


In this paper I focus on the semantics and distribution of Dutch bare plurals and faded partitives. It has been claimed in the literature that both types of noun phrases are indefinite, because they can occur in existential sentences. I discuss the semantic differences between faded partitives and bare plurals. It will be argued that bare plurals are ambiguous: they can take kind-referring or non-kind-referring (indefinite) interpretations, while faded partitives always take kind-referring readings. Our analysis makes it possible to handle subject-object asymmetries in the distribution of both types of noun phrases.


Vol 2A: Basic Technologies Handbook of Crystal Growth, 2nd Edition Volume IIA (Basic Technologies) presents basic growth technologies and modern crystal cutting methods. Particularly, the methodical fundamentals and development of technology in the field of bulk crystallization on both industrial and research scales are explored. After an introductory chapter on the formation of minerals, ruling historically the basic crystal formation parameters, advanced basic technologies from melt, solution, and vapour being applied for research and production of the today most important materials, like silicon, semiconductor compounds and oxides are presented in detail. The interdisciplinary and general importance of crystal growth for human live are illustrated. Vol 2B: Growth Mechanisms and Dynamics Handbook of Crystal Growth, 2nd Edition Volume IIB (Growth Mechanisms and Dynamics) deals with characteristic mechanisms and dynamics accompanying each bulk crystal growth method discussed in Volume IIA. Before the atoms or molecules pass over from a position in the fluid medium (gas, melt or solution) to their place in the crystalline face they must be transported in the fluid over macroscopic distances by diffusion, buoyancy-driven convection, surface-tension-driven convection, and forced convection (rotation, acceleration, vibration, magnetic mixing). Further, the heat of fusion and the part carried by the species on their way to the crystal by conductive and convective transport must be dissipated in the solid phase by well-organized thermal conduction and radiation to maintain a stable propagating interface. Additionally, segregation and capillary phenomena play a decisional role for chemical composition and crystal shaping, respectively. Today, the increase of high-quality crystal yield, its size enlargement and reproducibility are imperative conditions to match the strong economy. Volume 2A * Presents the status and future of Czochralski and float zone growth of dislocation-free silicon * Examines directional solidification of silicon ingots for photovoltaics, vertical gradient freeze of GaAs, CdTe for HF electronics and IR imaging as well as antiferromagnetic compounds and super alloys for turbine blades * Focuses on growth of dielectric and conducting oxide crystals for lasers and non-linear optics * Topics on hydrothermal, flux and vapour phase growth of III-nitrides, silicon carbide and diamond are explored Volume 2B * Explores capillarity control of the crystal shape at the growth from the melt* Highlights modeling of heat and mass transport dynamics* Discusses control of convective melt processes by magnetic fields and vibration measures* Includes imperative information on the segregation phenomenon and validation of compositional homogeneity* Examines crystal defect generation mechanisms and their controllability* Illustrates proper automation modes for ensuring constant crystal growth process* Exhibits fundamentals of solution growth, gel growth of protein crystals, growth of superconductor materials and mass crystallization for food and pharmaceutical industries


NW07505 excelled for the trait of "nitrogen use efficiency for bread quality." NW07505 ranked with Lyman as the highest yielding cultivar, had a large gain in soil total N, was moderately low in soil mineral N depletion per bushel, and excelled for bread baking quality at the lowest protein content level. This distinction comes with a tradeoff: The high bread quality of NW07505 appeared to result from high Short Yield and a consequently low Flour Yield, which were consistent traits for NW07505 across years. This report should stimulate interest among farmers and bakers for the anticipated release of NW07505 on the market, while raising some concerns among millers about the low milling yield. NE06607 emerged as a star performer in this 3 year study, and must be resurrected as a potential cultivar for organic production. This is a welcome development, as NE06607 showed promise for its low DON vomitoxin content in trials in Vermont. On the other hand, NE07444, which had appeared to be a top performing line with excellent quality at low protein content, performed near the bottom of this set, next to our confirmed marginal bread quality cultivar, Overland.


The mechanisms responsible for the induction of the desquamation and death of intestinal epithelial cells in the areas of extrusion in normalcy remain unknown so far. The author's ultrastructural data and the data available in the literature suggest that HIF-1 [corrected] may regulate these processes. Its activators may be both lower oxygen concentrations in the upper portions of the intestinal villus ("physiological hypoxia") and some nonhypoxic factors, such as LPS of the enteric microflora. On the one hand, HIF-1 is involved in adaptive processes, by mobilizing specifically cellular and tissue resources, and, on the other hand, it promotes the inclusion of the mechanisms of programmed cell death at a certain stage, by provoking the synthesis of the proapoptotic mitochondrial proteins BNIP3 and BNIP3L, which is morphologically manifested as different types of apoptotic and necrotic cell death.


Introduction: Focal cerebral arteriopathy (FCA) is a frequent cause of stroke in children and an important risk factor for stroke recurrence. The factors affecting progression of FCA remain undetermined. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that the presence of lenticulostriate (LS) collaterals at presentation can serve as a prognostic marker of progressive arteriopathy in children with unilateral FCA. Methods: Children aged 1-month to 18-years with FCA, defined as unilateral steno-occlusive disease at the carotid terminus, were retrospectively identified from two centers. Presence of collaterals was based on digital subtraction angiography (DSA) at baseline. The patients' imaging (MR angiogram or DSA) dataset at baseline and last follow-up was reviewed by 2 blinded raters and their outcomes classified as improved, stable, or progressed based on location and degree of steno-occlusive disease. The presence or absence of LS collaterals at presentation and angiographic outcomes were compared using Fisher's exact test. Results: Our study included 46 children; 24 males, with median age 8.2 years (range 2-17.4 years), of which 21 had LS collaterals at presentation (46%). Median follow-up periods were 12 months and 19 months for the collateral and non-collateral groups, respectively. Angiographic improvement occurred exclusively in the non-collateral group (48%) (p=0.0001). In the collateral group, progression occurred ipsilaterally in 29%, and contralaterally in 14%. In the non-collateral group, progression was only ipsilateral, occurring in 35%. Discordant progression, defined as progression and improvement across multiple vessels, only occurred in the non-collateral group (67%) (p=0.02). No patients in the non-collateral group developed LS collaterals. Conclusion: The presence of LS collaterals in FCA was associated with ipsilateral or contralateral progression, while their absence was associated with ipsilateral progression or improvement. We conclude that LS collaterals in FCA likely signify a chronic, progressive process recognized as Moyamoya disease. In the absence of collaterals, steno-occlusion may progress in a discordant fashion or improve, indicating a varied vascular response to injury or inflammation, and the capacity to heal.


Citizens' preferences form the foundation of democratic governance. When they form their preferences, they typically do so in the presence of different types of competing arguments that reach them at different times. Surprisingly, public opinion research offers little guidance on how competition and time impact preference formation. We fill this gap by exploring the relative impact of two prominent types of competing arguments, frames and cues, over time. We find that only frames have initial direct effects, although cues exert initial indirect effects on opinion formation. Over time, the relative impact of frames and cues depends on individual differences in processing style. Our results have important implications for opinion formation, political communication, and democratic responsiveness.


A potent LH-RH antagonist (Ac-D-Trp1,2, D-Cpa2, D-Lys6, D-Ala10 LH-RH (Antag) was used to study the differential regulation of FSH and LH secretion by endogenous LH-RH in ovariectomized (OVX) and regularly cycling rats. The endogenous LH-RH was suppressed by single injections of Antag in OVX animals and by long-term treatment with Antag in normal and OVX rats. Serum and pituitary LH and FSH, as well as serum estradiol (E2) and progesterone (P) was determined by RIA during and/or after the treatment. The direct effect of the antagonistic analog on the ovarian P release was tested in vitro using the isolated luteal cell system. Single injections of the Antag in OVX animals caused prompt and marked suppression of the serum LH (-80%), while no decrease of the serum FSH. Long-term treatment with the same analog decreased the serum LH by 50% but did not modify the serum FSH. In normal rats, serum LH dropped to undetectable levels, while serum FSH did not change significantly. Long-term treatment with the antagonist also resulted in divergent alterations in the pituitary gonadotropin concentrations. In OVX animals, the pituitary LH content moderately elevated (+21%), however, the FSH did not change. In normal rats, ovarian cycles were interrupted, and no ovulation appeared during the treatment. The pituitary LH concentration increased by 46%, while the FSH decreased by 43%. Marked depression was found in the serum P (-60%) but no significant change in the serum E2 levels. Incubation of isolated luteal cells with the Antag did not influence the HCG-induced P secretion in vitro, demonstrating that the in vivo inhibitory effect of the antagonistic LH-RH analog on the P secretion asserts not directly on the ovarian LH-RH receptors, but through inhibition of the endogenous LH-RH. Our studies give evidence that the long-term treatment with LH-RH antagonist suppress the LH and P but not the FSH and E2 secretion, and provide new data suggesting the presence of a FSH-releasing factor in the CNS.


We investigate the computation of Csiszar's bounds for the joint source-channel coding (JSCC) error exponent, E_J, of a communication system consisting of a discrete memoryless source and a discrete memoryless channel. We provide equivalent expressions for these bounds and derive explicit formulas for the rates where the bounds are attained. These equivalent representations can be readily computed for arbitrary source-channel pairs via Arimoto's algorithm. When the channel's distribution satisfies a symmetry property, the bounds admit closed-form parametric expressions. We then use our results to provide a systematic comparison between the JSCC error exponent E_J and the tandem coding error exponent E_T, which applies if the source and channel are separately coded. It is shown that E_T E_T and for which E_J = 2E_T. Numerical examples indicate that E_J is close to 2E_T for many source-channel pairs. This gain translates into a power saving larger than 2 dB for a binary source transmitted over additive white Gaussian noise channels and Rayleigh fading channels with finite output quantization. Finally, we study the computation of the lossy JSCC error exponent under the Hamming distortion measure.


A series of 5,6-bis(2-ethylhexyloxy)naphtho[2,1-b:3,4-b′]dithiophene and 4,7-bis(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole alternating copolymers, PNB-Cn, with different alkyl chains, varying from 8-carbon (C8, 2-ethylhexyl) to 16-carbon (C16, hexadecyl) chains attached onto thienyl moieties were designed and synthesized. The effect of the conjugated copolymer side chain on the photovoltaic and charge mobility properties of organic solar cells (OSCs) and polymer field-effect transistors (PFETs) was investigated. It is found that the short alkyl side chains on PNB-Cn copolymers are favourable for the efficient operation of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OSCs, while the long alkyl side chains enhance the charge mobility of PFETs. As a result, the BHJ OSCs fabricated from the blend of PNB-C2,6 and PC71BM, using diiodooctane as a solvent additive, yielded a power conversion efficiency of 4.8% and the solution-processed bottom gate bottom contact type PFETs fabricated from PNB-C16 exhibited a hole mobility of 3.4 × 10−2 cm2 V−1 s−1 with an on/off current ratio of 106. Our results suggest that copolymers constructed from 5,6-bis(2-ethylhexyloxy)naphtho[2,1-b:3,4-b′]dithiophene and 4,7-bis(3-alkylthiophen-2-yl)-2,1,3-benzo[c][1,2,5]-thiadiazole are very stable, and solution-processable organic semiconductors for application in organic electronics.


The government procurement legislation – i.e. the Swedish procurement law, the EC procurement directives and the WTO's Government Procurement Agreement – applies on public procurement. Such a procurement exists when the contractor meets the conditions stated in the directives that the organ is to be considered as a contracting auhtority. The conditions are supposed to cover the bodies that objectively are thought to take other considerations than economic when purchasing services or products. The definition of contracting authorities has, however, given rise to several interpretation problems when putting the wording into practice. Since it is the contracting authorities themselves that are responsible for their compliance with the law when purchasing, an unclear definition will result in bodies getting a possibility to, to a larger extent, evade the obligation to comply with the procurement legislation. Because of this, it is of great importance that the courts create a unitary interpretation of the definition; a clear definition serves as a means of exerting pressure. The thesis is an investigation of the definition of contracting authority where the primary source of information consists of case law from the European Court of Justice. The purpose is to visualize the underlying philisophy of the regulation with a view to suggest an instrument for determining a body's status as a contracting authority. Regarding the definition of contracting authority, the thesis discuss three different levels. The first level consists of an examination of the wording according to both the directives and the Swedish law, and then the interpretation of the wording by the European Court of Justice. At the following level, it is set out to illustrate differences between the definition on a national level and an EC level, respectively. Finally, it will be established what legislation technique that seems to have been used when formulating the definition of contracting authority in the directives, and also how the result of this should influence the interpretation of the term.


During mid-May-early June 1997 observations of hydrography, phytoplankton and nitrate concentrations, and abundance and stage distribution of Calanus finmarchicus populations were made in the Labrador Sea and south of Greenland. Egg production rates were also measured for isolated C. finmarchicus females. Surface nitrate and integrated phytoplankton concentrations indicated that, in the deep water, the phytoplankton bloom had ended in the north and east, was in progress in the north central Labrador Sea and near the basin margins, and had not yet become established in an area stretching from the central Labrador Sea to the south of Greenland. C. finmarchicus egg production rates and stage distributions at stations in the 3 areas designated as early, mid- and late/post-bloom zones, suggested that development rates of the overwintered GO generation into mature adults (females and males) were probably low before the bloom, but accelerated during its development. Individual and areal rates of egg production were highest in the early bloom zone, whereas nauplii were more abundant in the bloom and late/post-bloom zones. Differences in naupliar abundance may have been related to food limitation, or predation. Following development through to the young copepodite stages (CI-III), which were most abundant in the late/post-bloom zone, morality rates were apparently lower and growth rates less dependent on high phytoplankton concentrations and perhaps more dependent on temperature. In the Labrador Sea, where the annual growth season is relatively short and C. finmarchicus produces only 1 generation per year, the timing of the spring bloom may have a significant impact on recruitment of the new year's generation. In areas where the bloom is early and intense, maturation of the overwintered adults will be rapid and egg-laying will occur when phytoplankton concentrations are high. Subsequent survival success of eggs through to later stages will also probably be relatively high and individuals from the new year's generation will have ample time to reach stages capable of overwintering. By contrast, if the bloom is late or of low intensity, adult maturation will be delayed and egg-laying may occur when phytoplankton concentrations are low. Under these conditions relatively few eggs may survive and individuals that do survive will have a shorter period in which to attain stages which can overwinter.


Different laser spectroscopy methods are applicable in ophthalmology for diseases diagnostics and biotissues state monitoring. Both groups of micro- and macrodiagnostics methods, especially laser Raman, resonance Raman, surface-enhanced Raman (SERS), Raman microprobe, fluorescence, Raman/fluorescence, infrared Fourier- transformation absorption method (FT-IR) and the method with the use of total reflection prism (ATR/FT-IR), FT-Raman , elastic and quasi-elastic light scattering spectroscopy have good possibilities in human and mammalia eye tissues diagnostics.''2 Microdiagnostics is realyzed with the help of all kinds of Raman, absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy and allows to study macromolecular structure and biochemical changes in eye tissues. These methods are very promising in analyzing of cataract mechanism formation, but not all of them can be used in early human cataract diagnostics, as far as they require comparatively high levels of laser radiation power. For example, modern means of Raman spectroscopy (computer controlled optical multichannel analyzer) in early cataract diagnostics need the crystalline lens has to be radiated by Ar laser with the power of 1 mW during is (Refs. 2,4). Macrodiagnostics of biotissues exploit such methods as elastic and quasi-elastic light scattering, interferometry, polarimetry and specle optics. These methods give information about form and dimensions of individual scattering particale of optically inhomogeneous media, distribution function of particales dimensions, optical constants, static characteristics of particles spatial location and presence of anisotropy. The investigations carried out for different eye. tissues demonstrate the possibility of use elastic light scattering techniques to diseases diagnostics and biotissues state monitoring in ophthalmology. Elastic scattering, interferometry and polarimetry methods require low levels of laser radiation power and comparatively simple installation for their realization. That's why they are very suitable for in vivo human eye diagnostics. In this paper laser light diagnostics methods and aapparatus for their realization are considered. Elastic laser light scattering, interferometry and polarimetry methods are used. The devices and techniques for the in vivo investigations of light scattering of human eye biotissues are described.


The influence of treatment on formation and activity of surface oxygen over FeZSM-5 with high iron content was studied by using a transient multipulse technique combined with temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) and steady-state kinetics. All samples after various treatments were characterised by N2 sorption, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR, and DR-UV–vis. Multipulse experiment results showed that the reductive and inert treatments increase the amount of surface oxygen species formed from N2O. However, the oxidative treatment inhibits almost half of the oxygen formation. High temperature treatment increases not only the surface oxygen amount but also steady-state decomposition of N2O. Based on TPD and CO oxidation with surface oxygen, the active oxygen species formed from N2O are desorbed at low temperature and their amounts increase with oxidative and vacuum treatments and decrease with high temperature treatment. Vacuum treatment in a batch system increases the amount of surface oxygen and prevents transformation of active oxygen species to inactive oxygen species.


In this paper an improved delay-dependent bounded real criterion and sufficient condition are derived for the design of an H-infinity state-feedback controller for linear neutral time-delay systems. On the basis of an augmented Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional, a new bounded real lemma is introduced in terms of a convex linear matrix inequality (LMI) condition that can be solved using interior point algorithms. The bounded real lemma is extended to obtain a sufficient condition for the existence of a delay-dependent H ∞ memoryless state-feedback controller. Neither any model transformation nor bounding of any of the cross terms are utilized while deriving the bounded real lemma. Moreover, the use of any free slack matrix variable approach is avoided to a certain extent in order not to increase the complexity of the synthesis problem. A cone complementarity nonlinear minimization algorithm is employed to achieve a feasible solution set for the synthesis conditions. Finally, three numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


One of the big challenges in the CDIO approach to engineering education is the first part focusing on conceiving problems to be handled and eventually solved. Traditional engineering education has been dominated by its focus on technical disciplines emphasising their individual tool box of problem solving and optimization methods. Going back to the earlier days of engineering education problems were defined through the repertoire of existing technologies and solutions taken up and handled as given cases in the education. With the growing emphasis on scientific methods leading to a continued change in engineering disciplines throughout the mid 20th century the focus changed and problems were defined in more theoretical terms. Engineering education remained dominated by its introduction of a more and more dense repertoire of methods and theoretical models. In this paper we will approach this problem from the perspective of engineering design challenges where the need for problem identification is obvious to avoid the pitfall to reproduce and piecemeal engineer already existing product or service concepts. Problem identification is not a simple desk research task as it often involves a multitude of actors having different or even not very well established ideas of what might be a good design result. We present two mutually supportive approaches to problem identification that we have developed, applied and refined. The first is providing an approach to map the arenas of development that influence the context of materials, visions and actors providing the basis for analysing problems related to a design task. The second is providing an approach to the coevolution of problem space and solution space into a matching pair, which constitutes a good starting point for synthesising design concepts. The two approaches have a solid grounding in existing theories of the socio-technical nature of engineering and the process of synthesising solution spaces in engineering design.


All-trans-retinol reacts with methyl (2,3,4-tri-O-acetyl-1-bromo-1-deoxy-beta-D-glucopyran)uronate in the presence of Ag2CO3 to give the triacetate methyl ester of retinyl beta-glucuronide. Hydrolysis of this ester with sodium methylate in methanol gives retinyl beta-D-glucuronide in about 15% yield. The water-soluble retinyl beta-D-glucuronide was characterized by u.v.-visible, n.m.r. and mass spectra, by elemental analysis and by its susceptibility to hydrolysis by bacterial beta-glucuronidase. Retinyl beta-glucuronide, when administered intraperitoneally in saline (0.9% NaCl), supports well the growth of vitamin A-deficient rats.


Regular non-medical treatment of a 6-year-old female patient with autism spectrum disorder failed due to comorbid compulsions and hallucinations. Differential diagnosis included obsessive-compulsive disorder and psychosis. The patient's young age complicated accurate diagnosis and management. In this case we opted for a diagnostic follow-up, resulting in treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor because of the patient's frequent compulsions. This reduced the symptoms significantly.


The impact of government intervention on the behavior of a country's import market is investigated by focusing on the departure this intervention induces between excess and import demand functions. A formal model of government behavior is posited where government preferences are embodied in a country's import demand function. This function is related to its corresponding excess demand function through the domestic price to border price transmission elasticity. A pooled cross section data on 72 countries is used to estimate these function for wheat and rice. The results suggest that import demand elasticities are larger than their corresponding excess demand elasticities and that price transmission elasticities are less than unity. Differences in elasticities over time, regions and levels of nominal protection are also reported.


The major point of concern relates to the retrospective power analysis and extremely low patient numbers. With only 10 patients per arm, the study power was subsequently calculated by the authors to average ≈ 26%. In our calculations, this mean power is in keeping with an effect size (theta) of 1.0. Using the generally accepted study power of 80%, 50 patients are required per arm if we are to keep the same 99% confi dence; if the effect size is indeed lower, say 0.5, then 95 patients per arm would be required. The papers ' conclusions are thus unfortunately unable to be supported by the data presented. Further concerns arise from incongruence between IPSS results as described in the body and those present in Table 2. Lastly, the Greenlight HPS laser used in the study is repeatedly described as potassium-titanyl-phosphate (KTP), the HPS uses lithium triborate and not KTP. Nevertheless, this paper presents an interesting point regarding preand postoperative urodynamic studies, and could serve as a pilot for future work.


The paper discusses the problem of integrating the equations of state observers associated with direct field orientation (DFO) of motor drives and studies the influence of the discretization method used on the accuracy of integration. In a typical implementation, discrete-time integration is done using Euler's discretization method (forward rectangular rule) - the method is simple and integration is accurate when the drive operates at low and medium speed. However, as the frequency increases, the integration becomes inaccurate because the Euler approximation starts losing more and more area from under the curve. Theoretically, the problem could be alleviated by increasing the sampling frequency; however, this cannot always be done. Another idea would be to adopt a more accurate (but more computationally intensive) integration method, for example, trapezoidal integration (Tustin method). The paper shows that, at high frequency, under ideal conditions, trapezoidal integration performs better than the Euler method. In a real implementation, however, conditions are non-ideal since the measured signals bring dc offsets and imperfections into the terms to be integrated - as a result, pure integration must be replaced with quasi-low pass filtering. Under these conditions, the paper compares the Euler, Tustin and backward rectangular methods from the point of view of integration accuracy. The implications related to direct field orientation of motor drives are studied by considering a full-order observer for the PMSM - this is discretized using the three methods considered and the results are compared. At high frequency, neither integration method gives perfect results; the Euler method yields a waveform that leads the expected one while the backward rectangular method yield a waveforms that lags it. The paper finds that, surprisingly, when quasi-low pass filtering is used, the Tustin method is not significantly more accurate than the other ones - the waveform obtained lags the expected one by an angle comparable with the lead angle of the Euler method. It is shown that the integration accuracy depends on the frequency, sampling time, filter bandwidth and on the integration method used. Accurate high frequency drive DFO control would require correction of the magnitude/phase of the estimates.


Small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) are a new type of functional small RNAs involved in the chemical modifications of rRNAs, tRNAs, and small nuclear RNAs. It is reported that they play important roles in tumorigenesis via various regulatory modes. snoRNAs can both participate in the regulation of methylation and pseudouridylation and regulate the expression pattern of their host genes. This research investigated the expression pattern of snoRNAs in eight major cancer types in TCGA via several machine learning algorithms. The expression levels of snoRNAs were first analyzed by a powerful feature selection method, Monte Carlo feature selection (MCFS). A feature list and some informative features were accessed. Then, the incremental feature selection (IFS) was applied to the feature list to extract optimal features/snoRNAs, which can make the support vector machine (SVM) yield best performance. The discriminative snoRNAs included HBII-52-14, HBII-336, SNORD123, HBII-85-29, HBII-420, U3, HBI-43, SNORD116, SNORA73B, SCARNA4, HBII-85-20, etc., on which the SVM can provide a Matthew's correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.881 for predicting these eight cancer types. On the other hand, the informative features were fed into the Johnson reducer and repeated incremental pruning to produce error reduction (RIPPER) algorithms to generate classification rules, which can clearly show different snoRNAs expression patterns in different cancer types. The analysis results indicated that extracted discriminative snoRNAs can be important for identifying cancer samples in different types and the expression pattern of snoRNAs in different cancer types can be partly uncovered by quantitative recognition rules.


Background: Notopterygium incisum K.C. Ting ex H.T. Chang, a synonym of Hansenia weberbaueriana (Fedde ex H. Wolff) Pimenov & Kljuykov, is an anti-inflammatory medicinal plant. Although abrnotopterol has been reported to be its primary active metabolite, the other metabolites and their mechanisms of action remain unclear. This study aims to investigate the potential mechanisms by which its active metabolites treat Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) through network analysis and experimental assessment. Methods: The metabolites and potential targets of Notopterygium incisum were extracted from public databases. We searched for OSAS-related genes in the Genecards, OMIM, PharmGkb, TTD, and DrugBank databases. Cytoscape 3.9.0 was used to construct the drug-target-disease network and screen for hub genes. Human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells were cultivated in normoxia and chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) medium for 24 h. Interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) were quantified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2(PTGS2) mRNA was detected using RT-qPCR, while PTGS2 and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) proteins were identified using Western blot analysis. Co-Immunoprecipitation (CoIP) and Western blotting were utilized to evaluate the ubiquitination of PTGS2 in HBE cells. Results: Pterostilbene and notopterol, isolated from Notopterygium incisum, had potential therapeutic effects on OSAS. The PTGS2 and estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) hub genes were associated with OSAS. The pathway enrichment analysis focuses on the NF-κB, apoptosis, and HIF-1A pathways. In response to CIH, pterostilbene and notopterol decreased IL-6, TNF-α, and PGE2 levels. The NF-κB pathway was activated by an increase in PTGS2 levels. Pterostilbene promoted proteasome-mediated ubiquitination of PTGS2 protein and reduced PTGS2 levels, inhibiting the NF-κB pathway. Conclusion: This study reveals the active metabolites of Notopterygium incisum and hub genes involved in treating OSAS, which provide a basis for the follow-up development and exploitation of the botanical drug.


In the late 1800s, a surge in silver production made a shift toward a monetary standard based on gold and silver rather than gold alone increasingly attractive to debtors seeking relief through higher prices. The U.S. government made a tentative step in this direction with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, an 1890 law requiring the Treasury to significantly increase its purchases of silver. Concern about the United States abandoning the gold standard, however, drove up the demand for gold, which drained the Treasury?s holdings and created strains on the financial system?s liquidity. News in April 1893 that the government was running low on gold was followed by the Panic in May and a severe depression involving widespread commercial and bank failures.


The fusion of animal cells to form heterokaryons and hybrids makes it possible to gain new insights into the control of nuclear and cytoplasmic functions (1-4). Through the use of Sendal virus one may fuse cell partners which differ widely in their capacity to synthesize DNA as well as in other more differentiated activities (5, 6). For the present experiments we have chosen the mouse peritoneal macrophage and a strain of mouse melanocyte. The macrophage does not synthesize DNA under a variety of cultural conditions and appears to be blocked in the Go period (7-9). The macrophage has other properties which make it a useful partner in cell fusion experiments. These include the cultivation of pure populations in vitro, the ability to ingest antibody-coated red cells, and the presence of a highly active adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) 1 which is dependent upon divalent cations (10-13). In addition the macrophage is able to synthesize significant amounts of lysosomal enzymes, e.g. acid phosphatase, providing another useful cytochemical marker (10). A mouse Inelanocyte cell line was chosen for fusion with macrophages since these cells proliferate vigorously in vitro, lack the specific macrophage markers, and fuse readily with mouse peritoneal macrophages. When macrophages are fused with melanocytes, the macrophage nuclei undergo striking changes, including the initiation of DNA synthesis. All


Salmonella is one of the most frequently isolated foodborne pathogens. It is a major worldwide public health concern, accounting for 93.8 million foodborne illnesses and 155,000 deaths per year. To date, over 2500 Salmonella serotypes have been identified and more than half of them belong to Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica, which accounts for the majority of Salmonella infections in humans. Salmonella infections that involve invasive serotypes are often life threatening, necessitating appropriate and effective antibiotic therapy. The emergence of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella serotypes is having a great impact on the efficacy of antibiotic treatment, and an increasing prevalence of MDR strains may lead to an increase in mortality rates of Salmonella infections. Epidemiological studies indicate that MDR Salmonella serotypes are more virulent than susceptible strains, as reflected by increased severity and more prolonged disease in patients infected by MDR strains. Preventive measures have been proposed to eliminate the spread of Salmonella infection. While the maintenance of effective food hygiene and water sanitation remain the cornerstones, additional measures such as restriction of indiscriminate use of antibiotics in food animals are important. This review provides an overview of Salmonella infection, and discusses the nomenclature, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, epidemiology and antibiotic resistance of Salmonella.


Introduction: Kerosene has been identified as the most common cause of accidental poisoning around the world with majority occurring to either lower or middle income countries. Kerosene poisoning is identified as the fourth leading cause of injury related mortality in children with highest risk for acute poisoning occurring in child under five years of age.
Objectives: To identify common factors responsible for exposure to kerosene oil poisoning, its presenting features and outcomes in children.
Methods: This was a descriptive study conducted in Department of Pediatrics and Emergency Department, Mayo Hospital / King Edward Medical University Lahore, Pakistan from March to September 2015.
Sixty children between the ages of 6 months to 10 years with history of kerosene oil ingestion/ poisoning were enrolled in the study. Information was obtained from guardians or parents.
Results: Sixty patients with history of kerosene poisoning were seen during the summer season. Age ranged from 6 months to 10 years. Most patients were from the ages 1 and 3 years and 75% were boys. Most children were from poor socioeconomic condition. The containers were soft drink bottles and plastic bottles; and kitchen and stairs were the common sites of storage. Clinical presentations were cough, vomiting and tachypnea. One child in study died after 8 hours secondary to respiratory complication.
Conclusion: Kerosene oil is a common health hazardous substance ingested accidentally by children. There is a need to create public awareness regarding kerosene oil storage and accessibility at home from the younger children.


While placebo effects are well recognized within clinical medicine, "nocebo effects" have received much less attention. Nocebo effects are problems caused by negative expectations derived from information or treatment provided during a clinical interaction. In this review, we examine how nocebo effects may arise following pediatric concussion and how they may worsen symptoms or prolong recovery. We offer several suggestions to prevent, lessen, or eliminate such effects. We provide recommendations for clinicians in the following areas: terminology selection, explicit and implicit messaging to patients, evidence-based recommendations, and awareness of potential biases during clinical interactions. Clinicians should consider the empirically grounded suggestions when approaching the care of pediatric patients with concussion.


We developed a prototype time projection chamber using gas electron multipliers (GEM-TPC) for high energy heavy ion collision experiments. To investigate its performance, we conducted a beam test with 3 kinds of gases (Ar(90%)-CH4(10%), Ar(70%)-C2H6(30%) and CF4). Detection efficiency of 99%, and spatial resolution of 79 μm in the pad-row direction and 313 μm in the drift direction were achieved. The test results show that the GEM-TPC meets the requirements for high energy heavy ion collision experiments. The configuration and performance of the GEM-TPC are described.


In order to operate in narrow space, a novel miniaturized EDM (Electro Discharge Machining) mechanism has been developed. A prototype of miniaturized EDM device based on ultrasonic motor (UM) has been developed, which has its advantage of compact size (70×40×50 mm). The differential driving electrode has been presented, and coaxial forced vibration of electrode is benefit for the evacuation of debris, so it helps to achieve stable and efficient machining. Driving principle of ultrasonic motor is analyzed, and simulation using Finite Element Method (FEM) is accomplished. The auto-frequency tracking has been carried out, in order that the motor work on resonant or quasi-resonant frequency. Finally, EDM experiment has been finished, and holes with figures of circleΦ85μm and Y-typed have been machined.


Background: Postpartum sexual abstinence until when the child is weaned from breast milk is deeply rooted in most cultures in Nigeria. Aim: The study aimed at describing the current sexual practices of postpartum women, sexual morbidity, contraceptive prevalence and predictive factors for early postpartum sexual intercourse and associated sexual problems in our setting. Subjects and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among consecutive 340 women at a child welfare clinic 14 weeks after childbirth. Questionnaires were administered between January 2012 and June 2012 to ascertain their socio-demographic and obstetric features, sexual activity, time to coital resumption, reasons for resumption and non-resumption of intercourse, sexual problems encountered and contraceptive usage. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS version 16 for windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: Sexual intercourse was resumed by 67.6% (230/340) of women with a mean time to resuming intercourse of 8.2 (2.9) weeks postpartum and a median time of 8.0 weeks. About 3.5% (8/230) did so within the puerperium. Sexual intercourse was initiated mainly (77.4% [178/230]) by their husbands and only 19.1% (44/230) of them were using modern contraceptives. About 62.6% (144/230) of women experienced sexual morbidities including vaginal dryness/insufficient lubrication, dyspareunia and vaginal discharge. Socio-demographic and obstetric features, menstrual and breastfeeding status were not predictive of early resumption of coitus. Vaginal delivery (OR: 3.6, 95% CI: 1.3-10.0, P = 0.01,) and previous episiotomy (OR: 2.4, 95% CI: 2.0-6.1, P = 0.04,) were predictive of sexual morbidity. Conclusion: Women in our setting resume sexual intercourse early after childbirth without the use of contraception and often with associated sexual morbidity. Emphasis on sexual and contraceptive education during the immediate postpartum period is therefore imperative.


This paper presents a new model for online decision making. Motivated by the health care delivery application of dynamically allocating patients to procedure rooms in outpatient procedure centers, the online stochastic extensible bin packing problem is described. The objective is to minimize the combined costs of opening procedure rooms and utilizing overtime to complete a day's procedures. The dynamic patient allocation decisions are made in an uncertain environment where the number of patients scheduled and the procedure durations are not known in advance. The resulting optimization model's tractability focuses the paper's attention on approximation methods and a special case that is amenable to decomposition-based solution methods. Theoretical performance guarantees are presented for list-based approximation methods as well as an approximation that is common in practice where procedure rooms are reserved for patient groups in advance. Numerical results based on a real outpatient procedure center demonstrate the favorable results of the list-based approximations based on their average and worst case performances. Further, the numerical experiments show that the policy of reserving procedure rooms for patient groups in advance can perform very poorly. These results are contrary to common practice and favor alternative, and still easy-to-implement, policies.


This thesis explores the role of anti-Semitism in the ideology of the 'Legion of the
Archangel Michael', the only lasting mass movement in Romanian history and the
third largest fascist organisation in Europe. The legionary movement's
revolutionary character and rejection of democratic institutions, its ideological
emphasis on a project of 'regeneration' of the nation, its ultra-nationalism, and its
populist propaganda style allow us to include it within the category of generic
fascism, as defined by Roger Griffin.
One of the commonplaces in theories of fascism argues that it was, as an ideology,
better defined by what it stood against than what it stood for. By analysing the
relationship between the legionary movement's fascist character and its anti-
Semitism, the present research seeks to link the two. Thus, this thesis argues for
the centrality of the representation of 'the Jew' in legionary ideology, seen as a
locus of displacement of the real problems facing the rapidly modernising
Romanian society and at the same time a rationalisation of its desired state. The
entire fascist project of complete transformation of the country found its equally
synthetic negative in the movement's representation of the Jewish community.
The analysis of legionary anti-Semitism and its connection with the movement's
fascist character is carried out through the lens of the 'new consensus' in theories
of fascism, as well as with the help of a methodology indebted mostly to
psychoanalytic theory and its adaptations to the understanding of social
phenomena by discourse theory. Backed up by research on previously unexplored
archival sources, the present thesis combines in an interdisciplinary approach the
study of the historical conditions and psychological factors affecting the rise of
anti-Semitism in interwar Romania, and allows an exploration of the dynamics of
fear and fantasy visible in the legionary representation of the 'Jew'.


ABSTRACT Objective The incidence of adult degenerative scoliosis (ADS) among individuals over 50 years old can be as high as 68%. Surgical interventions aimed at correcting the spinal deformity in elderly patients are accompanied by a high risk of complications. The use of lateral lumbar interbody fusion (LLIF) is associated with lower rates of complications when compared with open anterior or posterior fusions. Methods Ninety-three patients with ADS (23 men, 70 women) were operated at the Federal Neurosurgical Center. The average age was 63 (52 to 73 years). Results Back pain, measured according to the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), decreased from 5.9/6 (4;8) (format – mean/median (1;3 quartile)) to 2.6/3 (1;3) points (p <0.0001). Leg pain according to the VAS decreased from 4.6/4 (3;7) to 1.4/1 (0;2) points (p < 0.0001). Functional adaptation according to the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) improved from 47.8±17.4 to 38.5±14.5 (p < 0.0273). Pelvic tilt (PT) before the surgery was 23.9±12.2° whereas at 12 months follow-up it was 16.8±5.9° (p < 0.0001). PI-LL mismatch pre surgery was 12.1/13 (9;16)° whereas 12 months later it was 7.9/8 (6;10)° (p = 0.0002). Conclusions Restoration of local sagittal balance in ADS patients by short-segment fixation using LLIF technology leads to a statistically significant improvement in quality of life and increased functional adaptation. A lower incidence of early and late postoperative complications, less intraoperative blood loss and shorter hospital stay makes LLIF, in combination with minimally invasive transpedicular fixation, the method of choice to correct ADS in elderly patients. Level of evidence IV; Case series.


It was not until the early 1900s that the Australian beach first emerged as a western recreational space. Swimming (known as surf bathing) became a legalised practice, surf lifesaving became institutionalised and activities such as surfing were introduced; all things that make up an important part of Australian culture today. This article examines the emergence of the surf lifesaving movement in the lllawarra between 1900 and 1945. By analysing surf club records the beach space can be seen as a place that has been 'made' and socially constructed. The surf lifesaving discourse brings insights into the beach making processes and the discursive practices that socially construct the beach. It raises questions of who the surf lifesavers were as well as investigates what processes and practices were involved to become 'bronzed'; to attain the prized bronze medallion. The analysis of the surf lifesaving discourse portrays it to be prescriptive and regulating with embedded themes of masculinity, humanitarianism, discipline, eugenics and nationalism. This article is work related to my PhD research on leisure spaces of the lllawarra beaches between 1900 and 1945. It aims to examine the emergence and social construction of surf lifesaving in the lllawarra. Surf club records1 from the early 1900s to 1945 have been utilised to help shed light into how the surf lifesaving movement has been socially constructed through discourse and discursive practices. I was able to access surf club minutes, annual reports and other historical material regarding membership, carnivals, fundraising, recommendations and requests to council, revenue, and club histories. Surf reports (often called 'Surf Notes') published in the lllawarra Mercury, written by publicity officers from the various lllawarra surf clubs, were also used. This article raises questions about who the surf lifesavers were and also investigates the processes and practices involved in becoming 'bronzed', attaining the prized surf bronze medallion.


Abstract Background. Focal boosting of prostate tumours to improve outcome, requires accurate tumour delineation. For this, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) derived from diffusion-weighted MR imaging (DWI) seems a useful tool. On voxel level, the relationship between ADC and histological presence of tumour is, however, ambiguous. Therefore, in this study the relationship between ADC and histological variables was investigated on voxel level to understand the strengths and limitations of DWI for prostate tumour delineation. Material and methods. Twelve radical prostatectomy patients underwent a pre-operative 3.0T DWI exam and the ADC was calculated. From whole-mount histological sections cell density and glandular area were retrieved for every voxel. The distribution of all variables was described for tumour, peripheral zone (PZ) and central gland (CG) on regional and voxel level. Correlations between variables and differences between regions were calculated. Results. Large heterogeneity of ADC on voxel level was observed within tumours, between tumours and between patients. This heterogeneity was reflected by the distribution of cell density and glandular area. On regional level, tumour was different from PZ having higher cell density (p = 0.007), less glandular area (p = 0.017) and lower ADCs (p = 0.017). ADC was correlated with glandular area (r = 0.402) and tumour volume (r = −0.608), but not with Gleason score. ADC tended to decrease with increasing cell density (r = −0.327, p = 0.073). On voxel level, correlations between ADC and histological variables varied among patients, for cell density ranging from r = −0.439 to r = 0.261 and for glandular area from r = 0.593 to r = 0.207. Conclusions. The variation in ADC can to a certain extent be explained by the variation in cell density and glandular area. The ADC is highly heterogeneous, which reflects the heterogeneity of malignant and benign prostate tissue. This heterogeneity might however obscure small tumours or parts of tumours. Therefore, DWI has to be used in the context of multiparametric MRI.