OBJECTIVE
To investigate the natural history of and risk factors for allergic rhinitis in the first 6 years of life.

METHODS
Parents of 747 healthy children followed from birth completed a questionnaire when the child was 6 years old. Data were obtained regarding physician-diagnosed allergic rhinitis (PDAR), associated symptoms, and age at onset. Risk-factor data were taken from earlier questionnaires, and data regarding immunoglobulin E (IgE) and skin-test reactivity were obtained at age 6.

RESULTS
By the age of 6, 42% of children had PDAR. Children whose rhinitis began in the first year of life had more respiratory symptoms at age 6 and were more likely to have a diagnosis of asthma. Early introduction of foods or formula, heavy maternal cigarette smoking in the first year of life, and higher IgE, as well as parental allergic disorders, were associated with early development of rhinitis. Risk factors for PDAR that remained significant in a multivariate model included maternal history of physician-diagnosed allergy (odds ratio: 2.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.35-3.54), asthma in the child (4.06, 2.06-7.99), and IgE greater than 100 IU/mL at age 6 (1.93, 1.18-3.17). The odds for atopic as opposed to nonatopic PDAR were significantly higher only among those with high IgE and those who had dogs.

CONCLUSION
Allergic rhinitis developing in the first years of life is an early manifestation of an atopic predisposition, which may be triggered by early environmental mental exposures.


Based on previous works on geographical information (GI) modeling and information retrieval, we report on the development of a human-system interface for the AntéServeur Géographique project. The AntéServeur project is a middleware system that implements a framework for retrieving geographical data of heterogeneous nature. After a bref overview of various existing frameworks for GI retrieval and a short descrption of the principles of the bimodal interface, this paper focuses on the spatial model underlying our approach and ≪semnatic feedback≫ carried out.


Lambda expressions have been introduced in Java 8 to support functional programming and enable behavior parameterization by passing functions as parameters to methods. The majority of software clones (duplicated code) are known to have behavioral differences (i.e., Type-2 and Type-3 clones). However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no previous work to investigate the utility of Lambda expressions for parameterizing such behavioral differences in clones. In this paper, we propose a technique that examines the applicability of Lambda expressions for the refactoring of clones with behavioral differences. Moreover, we empirically investigate the applicability and characteristics of the Lambda expressions introduced to refactor a large dataset of clones. Our findings show that Lambda expressions enable the refactoring of a significant portion of clones that could not be refactored by any other means.


The present study examined whether intolerance of uncertainty (IU) was associated with the startle reflex in anticipation of unpredictable threat, and whether IU mediated the relationship between panic and sensitivity to unpredictable threat. This was tested in separate samples of 86 undergraduates with varying panic symptoms and 148 adults with current panic disorder or no lifetime history of an anxiety disorder. Participants completed the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale, which measures cognitive distress (prospective IU) and behavioral inhibition (inhibitory IU) elicited by uncertainty, and a no, predictable, and unpredictable threat-of-shock startle paradigm. In both samples prospective IU was associated with heightened startle during the unpredictable (but not predictable) condition, and in the clinical sample inhibitory IU was associated with attenuated startle during the unpredictable condition. IU mediated the relationship between panic and startle to unpredictable threat. These results support IU as a potential mechanism linking panic and sensitivity to unpredictable threat.


Introduction A few observations and measurements of Kennecott 2 Glacier were made by the writer, 3 incidental to other geological work in Alaska. The data are here presented as "scientific by-products." The field observations were necessarily disconnected, but no apology is offered for the sketchiness of this paper, for the data may possibly be of use to others. The Kennecott Glacier is situated in Alaska, on the south slope of the Wrangell Mountains. The town of Kennecott is near the foot of the glacier, some 200 miles from the coast by the route of the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad. (See figure 1.) It is reached from the railroad terminal and port of Cordova, which lies on the east side of Prince William Sound. Figure 1 .— Index Map of Part of Alaska Showing location of Wrangell Mountains and Kennecott Glacier (after U. S. Geological Survey) Topographic Setting The gathering grounds of Kennecott . . .


A class of new conserved densities of the Black-Scholes equation are constructed by using the multiplier that is derived from the result of divergence expression annihilation under the full Euler operator. The method does not depend on the symmetries of the Black-Scholes equation. These conserved densities can be expressed by solutions of the classical heat equation.


This article examines the meaning of Irish "home rule" as a constitutional experiment and its relationship with other proposals for constitutional change in the British Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The concept of Irish home rule was seen as a major constitutional experiment and the United Kingdom had little experience of devolution or federal settlements. This article will examine the model that was finally selected for this constitutional experiment which was inspired by the constitution of the Dominion of Canada. The article will also examine the relationship between Irish home rule and other constitutional experiments. These included proposals to create a federal United Kingdom, a concept known as "home rule all round" and even a federal British Empire, a concept known as "Imperial federation". The conclusion will assess the significance of these constitutional experiments in influencing the campaign for Irish home rule.


Various oxide-dispersion-strengthened copper alloys have been irradiated to 150 dpa at 415{degree}C in the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). The Al{sub 2}0{sub 3} - strengthened GlidCop{trademark} alloys, followed closely by a HfO{sub 2} - strengthened alloy, displayed the best swelling resistance, electrical conductivity, and tensile properties. The conductivity of the HfO{sub 2} - strengthened alloy reached a plateau at the higher levels of irradiation, instead of exhibiting the steady decrease in conductivity observed in the other alloys. A high initial oxygen content resulted in significantly higher swelling for a series of castable oxide-dispersion-strengthened alloys, while a Cr{sub 2}0{sub 3} - strengthened alloy showed poor resistance to radiation.


The ring-like cohesin complex mediates sister chromatid cohesion by encircling pairs of sister chromatids. Cohesin also extrudes loops along chromatids. Whether the two activities involve similar mechanisms of DNA engagement is not known. We implemented an experimental approach based on isolated nuclei carrying engineered cleavable RAD21 proteins to precisely control cohesin ring integrity so that its role in chromatin looping could be studied under defined experimental conditions. This approach allowed us to identify cohesin complexes with distinct biochemical, and possibly structural properties, that mediate different sets of chromatin loops. When RAD21 is cleaved and the cohesin ring is opened, cohesin complexes at CTCF sites are released from DNA and loops at these elements are lost. In contrast, cohesin-dependent loops within chromatin domains and that are not anchored at CTCF sites are more resistant to RAD21 cleavage. The results show that the cohesin complex mediates loops in different ways depending on genomic context and suggests that it undergoes structural changes as it dynamically extrudes and encounters CTCF sites.


Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are in the trend on today's business and financial sector as it finally put sustainability context measurable. ESG has been implemented both on voluntary and mandatory approaches to help financial decision in identifying risk. However, as many countries competing toward full ESG integration, ASEAN's financial institutions are still far from the finish line. According to Paris Agreement, countries were making deal by committing to low-carbon economy and promised Green House Gasses (GHG) emissions cut that consequently forced financial sector to contribute to the target. This paper overlooks into global and ASEAN ESG landscape that impacted ASEAN business and financial sector as whole to raise better understanding on the issue. The result concludes that the dynamics of ESG implementation is a multifaceted situation that ironically put these factors in dispute by business and financial actors. Through ESG strength and weakness, the only way for ASEAN to achieve its promise in international sustainability commitment is by completely transparent and manage their risk as oppose to identify them and report.


Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios of benthic invertebrates and their potential food sources, such as suspended particulate organic matter (POM), benthic microalgae, attached algae and seagrass, were identified in Dong-dae Bay during the winter. The carbon stable isotope ratios demonstrate that filter feeders, such as oysters (−19.5 ± 1.0‰), use benthic microalgae (−21.2 ± 0.2‰) as a major food, and polychaetes such as Glycera spp. (−14.0 ± 0.6 ‰) preferentially use meiofauna, such as nematodes (−14.0 ± 0.4‰) and copepods (−13.3 ± 1.0‰). These meiofauna may feed on mixed resources (including bacteria) with the isotope ratios between benthic microalgae (−21.2 ± 0.2‰) and seagrass (−9.3 ± 01.0‰). These findings are consistent with the trophic enrichment in the nitrogen isotope ratios (by 3–4‰) between consumers and food sources. Moreover, the results of the MixSIR model based on the observed isotope ratios suggest a large seagrass contribution to the food sources of benthic organisms such as meiofauna (~53.7–62.6%) and macrobenthos (~41.1–68%) through the food web. This model additionally suggests a relatively large contribution of benthic microalgae to the food sources of filter feeders (i.e. 26.4% for oysters).


Background and Objective: Excision repair cross complementing (ERCC) group genes play important roles in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) way, which can effectively remove bulky lesions and reduce UV-caused DNA damage by environmental chemicals. Polymorphisms in ERCCs were thought to be related to prostate cancer (PCa) risk. However, it has been unclear whether this relationship is consistent. This study aimed to obtain the overall profile regarding the associations between ERCCs polymorphisms and PCa risk. Materials and Methods: We identified relevant studies by a systematic search of PubMed, Medline, Embase, Google Scholar databases, Web of Science and Wanfang databases up to April 8, 2018. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidential intervals (95%CIs) were conducted to evaluate the associations. All the statistical analyses were conducted basing on STATA 12.0 software. Results: Finally, a total of 29 previous studies published in 17 publications were included for four polymorphisms in two DNA repair genes (ERCC2-rs1799793, ERCC2-rs238406, ERCC2-rs13181 and ERCC5-rs17655). Overall, we observed no significant connection between these four polymorphisms and PCa risk. However, after stratifying the studies by ethnicity, ERCC2-rs1799793 polymorphism was associated with an increased risk of PCa in Asian patients and the relationship was subsequently validated with the allelic model, the homozygous model and the recessive model when extracting the data of Asian patients for specific analyses (B vs. A: OR = 1.537, 95%CI: 1.240-1.906, PA< 0.001; BB vs. AA: OR = 2.089, 95%CI: 1.388-3.145, PA< 0.001 and BB vs. BA + AA: OR = 1.929, 95%CI: 1.313-2.835, PA= 0.020). Furthermore, subgroup analyses were also conducted by Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium (HWE) and source of control, negative results were identified for ERCC2-rs238406, ERCC2-rs13181 and ERCC5-rs17655 polymorphisms (PA> 0.050). Conclusion: To sum up, our work demonstrated that ERCC2-rs1799793 polymorphism is positively associated with PCa risk in Asian population. Further larger-scale studies with subjects of the same ethnicity and biological characteristics are required to verify these findings.


This paper presents a method for semi-autonomous hazard avoidance in the presence of unknown moving obstacles and unpredictable driver inputs. This method iteratively predicts the motion and anticipated intersection of the host vehicle with both static and dynamic hazards and excludes projected collision states from a traversable corridor. A model predictive controller iteratively replans a stability-optimal trajectory through the navigable region of the environment while a threat assessor and semi-autonomous control law modulate driver and controller inputs to maintain stability, preserve controllability, and ensure safe hazard avoidance. The efficacy of this approach is demonstrated through both simulated and experimental results using a semi-autonomously controlled Jaguar S-Type.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The Ramsar Convention (or the Convention on Wetlands), signed in 1971, was one of the first international conservation agreements, promoting global wise use of wetlands. It has three primary objectives: national designation and management of wetlands of international importance; general wise use of wetlands; and international cooperation. We examined lessons learnt for improving wetland conservation after Ramsar's nearly five decades of operation. The number of wetlands in the Ramsar Site Network has grown over time (2,391 Ramsar Sites, 2.5 million km2, as at 2020-06-09) but unevenly around the world, with decreasing rate of growth in recent decades. Ramsar Sites are concentrated in countries with a high Gross Domestic Product and human pressure (e.g., western Europe) but, in contrast, Ramsar Sites with the largest wetland extent are in central-west Africa and South America. We identified three key challenges for improving effectiveness of the Ramsar Site Network: increasing number of sites and wetland area, improved representation (functional, geographical and biological); and effective management and reporting. Increasing the number of sites and area in the Ramsar network could benefit from targets, implemented at national scales. Knowledge of representativeness is inadequate, requiring analyses of functional ecotypes, geographical and biological representativeness. Finally, most countries have inadequate management planning and reporting on the ecological character of their Ramsar Sites, requiring more focused attention on a vision and objectives, with regular reporting of key indicators to guide management. There are increasing opportunities to rigorously track ecological character, utilizing new tools and available indicators (e.g., remote sensing). It is critical that the world protect its wetlands, with an effective Ramsar Convention or the Convention on Wetlands at the core.


Background & Aim: Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. is a plant widely used in Iranian traditional medicine. Several reports have demonstrated antibacterial, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of Ziziphora clinopodioides. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of aqueous-ethanol extract of Ziziphora clinopodioides on rat's gastric acid secretion and its probable mechanism. Material and Method: In this interventional experimental study, 24 Wistar rats weighing 200-250g were randomly divided into two groups: test and control. Tracheostomy and gastroduodenostomy procedures were performed on each rat. Gastric content was collected for 15 minutes by washout technique. 1 ml of three dosages (0. 5, 1 and 2 mg/kg) was introduced into the stomach of each rat in the test group and the same volume of saline was used in the control group. Total titratable acid was measured by a titrator. Data were shown as mean±SEM and analyzed by unpaired t-test. P<0. 05 was considered significant. Results: The extract inhibited acid secretion significantly in basal condition, but in vagotomized condition this inhibitory effect on acid secretion disappeared and the extract showed a stimulatory effect at the dose of 2mg/kg. Also,the extract showed an inhibitory effect at the dose of 1mg/kg in vagal stimulation condition. Conclusion: The extract exerted an inhibitory effect on acid secretion in basal and vagal stimulation conditions. The inhibitory effect of the extract was exerted via gastric vagal parasympathetic nerve.


Sybil attacks are becoming increasingly widespread, and pose a significant threat to online social systems; a single adversary can inject multiple colluding identities in the system to compromise security and privacy. Recent works have leveraged the use of social network-based trust relationships to defend against Sybil attacks. However, existing defenses are based on oversimplified assumptions, which do not hold in real world social graphs. In this work, we propose SybilFrame, a defense-in-depth framework for mitigating the problem of Sybil attacks when the oversimplified assumptions are relaxed. Our framework is able to incorporate prior information about users and edges in the social graph. We validate our framework on synthetic and real world network topologies, including a large-scale Twitter dataset with 20M nodes and 265M edges, and demonstrate that our scheme performs an order of magnitude better than previous structure-based approaches.


The use of collaborative and cooperative tools has been widely accepted in distance learning environments, where they are often used. This article presents a case study developed from the use of collaborative tools with the objective of assisting the Projects Management course of the Information Systems degree, in the Federal University of Acre. This university is part of the public system education, located in the Amazon Forest area, far from the large technological centres in Brazil and with limitations with regards to infrastructure and technological resources. Despite being a Information Systems course, the diagnosis identifies the limited use of technological resources as support to the classes and activities of the course and the lack of use of technology as resource for the communication between students and professors. The methodology for the development of this research was based on the use of virtual free tools for the creation of a group where files and messages were exchanged between the participants. Projects management activities had been undertaken in a seminar form, and two projects, an individual monographic work and another work, undertaken in groups, as a business project. The results show the importance of a frequent interaction between students and professor, agility, flexibility, large use of the information technologies and communication, integration between students and cooperation in the exchange of information and materials. The experience shows the viability of the application of this methodology, through the use of freely available tools on the Internet. The paper concludes that the use of models based on the cooperation, collaborative and interactive activities allows the development of important skills that can be used in other contexts through the collective communication between professors and students.


Streptococcosis has been defined as a hemorrhagic septicemia in many fish species especially rainbow trout. This disease causes serious economic losses due to high mortality in fish and the bacteria responsible is also considered as a zoonotic pathogen. The aim of this study was identification of different causative agents of warm water streptococcosis and evaluation of the capsule gene in Lactococcus garvieae isolates collected from rainbow trout in Chaharmahal - Bakhtiari Province, Iran. A total of 430 clinically suspected fish were collected from 43 rainbow trout farms. The samples were analyzed using biochemical methods and multiplex-PCR. The results indicated that samples of 36 fish farms (83.7%) were infected with one of the studied bacteria. The infection by L. garvieae was found to be more than that by other species (30 of 36 farms, 83%). Infection by S. iniae and S. uberis was found in nine and one fish farm, respectively. Presence of virulence genes was studied in L. garvieae isolates by PCR assay. According to the results 34 of 50 isolates (68%) contained the capsule gene. The results revealed high prevalence of virulent L. garvieae in rainbow trout farms which should be considered in preventional policies such as vaccine production and also in public health.


From what might be a news desk, an office, a bedroom, a bunker under a mountain or a theatre, two people – reporters, senators, freedom fighters, or just… well… concerned citizens like you – think about what it is to speak up, speak out, blow the whistle and lift the veil.

A MACHINE THEY'RE SECRETLY BUILDING charts a course from the Top Secret secrets of WWI intelligence (via the moon, 1972's Chess World Championships, a disco in Oklahoma and the cafeteria at CERN) through to 9/11, the erosion of privacy, Edward Snowden and to the terror of a future that might already be upon us.

Proto-type have combined original text and classified intelligence documents with film from digital artist Adam York Gregory, and music and sound design by Paul J. Rogers, to vent their frustration at the insidious machine of surveillance.

A MACHINE THEY'RE SECRETLY BUILDING is about how we got to the point where our governments are spying on us and how that's changing who we are.


High-throughput TCR sequencing can accurately diagnose and discriminate CTCL cells in skin. Discriminating taste for CTCL Cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) is a potentially debilitating disease, but early stages resemble rashes of less dangerous inflammatory skin diseases. Now, Kirsch et al. report that high-throughput TCR sequencing (HTS) can be used to distinguish CTCL from benign inflammatory disease by identifying T cell clones. This diagnostic was more sensitive and specific than the current standard of care and was also able to determine therapeutic response and identify early recurrence. The authors then used HTS to gain insight into CTCL pathogenesis, reporting that the malignancy derived from mature T cells that may have a specialized niche in the skin. Early diagnosis of cutaneous T cell lymphoma (CTCL) is difficult and takes on average 6 years after presentation, in part because the clinical appearance and histopathology of CTCL can resemble that of benign inflammatory skin diseases. Detection of a malignant T cell clone is critical in making the diagnosis of CTCL, but the T cell receptor γ (TCRγ) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis in current clinical use detects clones in only a subset of patients. High-throughput TCR sequencing (HTS) detected T cell clones in 46 of 46 CTCL patients, was more sensitive and specific than TCRγ PCR, and successfully discriminated CTCL from benign inflammatory diseases. HTS also accurately assessed responses to therapy and facilitated diagnosis of disease recurrence. In patients with new skin lesions and no involvement of blood by flow cytometry, HTS demonstrated hematogenous spread of small numbers of malignant T cells. Analysis of CTCL TCRγ genes demonstrated that CTCL is a malignancy derived from mature T cells. There was a maximal T cell density in skin in benign inflammatory diseases that was exceeded in CTCL, suggesting that a niche of finite size may exist for benign T cells in skin. Last, immunostaining demonstrated that the malignant T cell clones in mycosis fungoides and leukemic CTCL localized to different anatomic compartments in the skin. In summary, HTS accurately diagnosed CTCL in all stages, discriminated CTCL from benign inflammatory skin diseases, and provided insights into the cell of origin and location of malignant CTCL cells in skin.


This book explores a large number of resonance effects that occur both in everyday life and in scientific contexts. It is a topic that provides a cross-link between many branches of science and shows how a single scientific principle can manifest itself in many, apparently disparate, ways.Resonance covers fields as diverse as civil engineering in relation to the safety of bridges, the quality of sound from musical instruments, the behaviour of electrical circuits, lasers, the orbits of solar-system bodies, the scattering of X-rays from atoms and the exploration of the structures of molecules, atoms and nuclei.The essential mathematics included should be accessible to any science undergraduate, no matter the discipline of their study. Problems and solutions are provided for every chapter to help reinforce understanding of the material.


The current research was carried out by a Trainee Educational Psychologist (TEP) between September 2013 and May 2015 in a large County in South-East England as part of a Doctorate in Child, Community and Educational Psychology. Using critical realism as a guiding epistemological position, the study sought to bring school based peer mentors and mentees voice to the forefront, by exploring their view of what works. The study aimed to offer a framework for understanding and developing peer mentoring relationships and inform safe and effective peer mentoring practice in secondary schools.

This study was conducted using grounded theory methodology as a strategy of inquiry. Data was captured from semi structured interviews which were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed, assisted by MaxQDA. Purposive sampling was used to select nine participants from two secondary schools: of which 4 were peer mentors and 5 were mentees whom had participated in their schools peer mentoring programme during the academic year 2013/14.

The BONDS model addresses the delivery of peer mentoring within the context of peer support interventions and secondary educational settings. The acronym 'BONDS' represents the data which emerged from grounded theory methodology as 5 integrated mechanisms which mediate effective peer mentoring. The model proposes that effective peer mentoring is synonymous with a nurturing experience characterised by 'boundaries' within peer mentoring, the 'openness' of the mentee to engage, the mentors abilities to build a safe and supportive relationship, the peer mentor and mentees 'dual experience' of the school system and 'staff contact' with mentors.

This study adds to the limited body of research which explores the views of peer mentors and mentees engaged in peer mentoring programmes in the UK. The implications of the findings are discussed and good practice recommendations are made to inform the work of school staff, Educational Psychology services and other professionals working to support young people through school based peer mentoring. The limitations of the study are also addressed and suggestions are made for future research.


Background

the study of behavioral and psychiatric health problems in space and time, can help to improve health services for adolescents and children by increasing understanding of causes, development, and course of psychiatric disorders.
Methods

This cross-sectional study has been carried out through cluster sampling design on 322 normal students aged 12–18 attending in public high and elementary school in Esfahan, Iran. They completed study instrument that included the 110-item The Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4) and those inquiring the students' demographic information.
Results

Findings showed that 58% students met criteria for all psychiatric symptoms except of the autism and Asperger's disorders, and 39.5% suffered from more than one comorbid categories of psychiatric disorders. The most common psychiatric disorders in boys and girls were ADHD (18.5%), ODD (15%), ADHD-C (13.5%), GAD (12.8%), ADHD: HI (11.5), and MDD (10.8%).
Conclusion

Most of students suffered from more than one co-morbid category of psychiatric disorders. It is better to develop effective strategies and interventions, train students about self-protection, and establish a psychological crisis intervention team to minimize the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.


Objective: This study aims to explore the clinical value of damage-control orthopaedics in treatment of unstable pelvic fracture complicated with multiple limb fracture of basketball players.
Methods: To further evaluate the clinical effect of damage-control orthopaedics in treatment of unstable pelvic fracture complicated with multiple limb fracture, the 1,200 patients with unstable pelvic fracture and multiple limb fracture admitted in a hospital from March 2010 to March 2016 were randomly sampled as research objects, to be divided into reference group (600 cases) and experimental group (600 cases) by lot. The reference group were treated with routine treatment, while the experimental group were treated with damage-control orthopaedics. The clinical therapeutic effect and complication rate were compared between the two groups.
Results: According to the study results, the effective rate was 95% in the experimental group and 73% in the reference group. The former had a significant advantage compared with the latter, and the experimental group had significantly less complications than the reference group. Comparison between groups meets P<0.05, statistically significant.
Conclusion: Damage-control orthopaedics for patients with unstable pelvic fracture complicated with multiple limb fracture enjoys significant clinical effect, with effective rate greatly improved and complications reduced. Thus, it is recommended to be popularized in clinical practice.


Human acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) hydrolyses sphingomyelin to ceramide and phosphocholine. Metabolic studies on COS-1 cells transfected with ASM cDNA revealed the occurrence of an enzymically inactive precursor which is differentially processed to two predominant native glycoprotein forms: a 70 kDa polypeptide corresponding to human urinary protein and a 57 kDa form. Formation of these potentially active forms was shown to be restricted to distinct compartments. Maturation of the ASM precursor to a predominant 70 kDa form occurs exclusively inside acidic organelles, whereas variable amounts of 57 kDa ASM are detectable immediately after biosynthesis. Metabolic labelling of transfected COS-1 cells with [32P]Pi further suggests that this form obviously does not carry oligomannosylphosphate residues, in contrast with the mature lysosomal ASM. In order to verify that this early form of active ASM results from co-post-translational proteolysis of the ASM precursor and not from the use of different translation-initiation sites on the ASM mRNA, appropriate 5'-mutagenized cDNA constructs were transiently expressed. These results clearly indicate that the first potential in-frame AUG is exclusively used for translation initiation in vivo and that deletion of the proposed signal sequence for endoplasmic reticulum import completely eliminates the ability of the translation product to enter the vacuolar apparatus. As there are two different subcellular sites of maturation of the ASM precursor, and intracellular targeting of the two processed forms appears to be different, the two ASM proteins may contribute to distinct physiological functions.


Dentists have traditionally been the sole gatekeepers to the delivery of primary care dental services. Direct Access, a measure that allows Dental Care Professionals to see patients without a referral from a Dentist, is a fundamental change to this long-standing principle. This thesis systematically explores the attitudes of stakeholders across the micro, meso and macro levels of dentistry towards Direct Access in two distinct health care systems, the Netherlands and the UK.Direct Access was introduced in the Netherlands in 2006 and subsequently introduced in the UK in 2013. This study uses a qualitative approach to explore the attitudes towards the introduction of Direct Access in both of these states. It presents the results of semi-structured interviews with 74 participants (individually or as part of a group) including Students, Dental Care Professionals and Dentists at the micro-level, representatives of Professional Associations, Insurers and Dental Schools at the meso-level and Policy Makers at the macro-level. The results of this study show a significant range of attitudes towards Direct Access, but reveal a degree of consensus within individual stakeholder groups towards the reform?s introduction and impact. Dental Care Professionals interpret the introduction of Direct Access as recognition of their capabilities and expect it to primarily benefit patients through access to care and expertise. Dentists were more likely to view the introduction of Direct Access in terms of competition or professional persecution, with the impacts considered from a professional or financial viewpoint. Policy Makers saw potential for Direct Access to realign dental workforces and services to contemporary care needs. Attitudes at the meso level demonstrated the greatest variety and were more influenced by the idiosyncrasies of their respective health care system. In comparing the attitudes towards Direct Access in the Netherlands and the UK there were several differences, such as in the support of the Direct Access by Principal Dentists, however many of these can be explained by differences in healthcare funding and the time difference between the two reforms. Despite these differences stakeholders in both states felt that while Direct Access had the potential to create significant impacts on a range of issues (including professional competition, patient access to care, the reduction of care costs to patients and the state, the redistribution of dental tasks and the remodelling of the dental workforce) it was unlikely to do so in either the Netherlands or the UK. Flaws in the Direct Access regulations, legal obstructions to crucial procedures and imbalances in street-level professional power were perceived to obstruct Direct Access. Rather than revolutionising dental services Direct Access has been implemented selectively in the interest of dental practices.


Friction stir processing (FSP) was applied to modify the surface of a hypereutectic Al-30wt.%Si alloy, the influence of the parameters on the size and morphology of Si particles, the microhardness of the mateials in the stir zone was investigated. All samples were preheated to research the influence of the pure heat input on Si. With the preheating temperature increasing from 100°C to 400°C, the average diameter increases gradually, but the shape factor decreases, the microhardness of the materials decreases. With the rotation rate increasing from 375rpm to 1050rpm, both the average diameter and shape factor increase, but the microhardness decreases. With the FSP passes increasing from 2 to 6, the average diameter decreases, and both the shape factor and the microhardness increases. Linear regression lines in most cases are presented to reveal the quantitative relationship between the FSP parameters and the Si particles and the microhardness. The reasons of the refinement and the spheroidization of the Si particles are carefully discussed. The microhardness variation of the materials is attributed to the size change of the Si particles with the FSP parameters.


Oligo- and azoospermia are severe forms of male infertility. However, known genetic factors account only for a small fraction of the cases. Recently, whole-exome sequencing in a large consanguineous family with inherited premature ovarian failure (POF) identified a homozygous frameshift mutation in the STAG3 gene leading to a premature stop codon. STAG3 encodes a meiosis-specific subunit of the cohesin complex, a large proteinaceous ring with DNA-entrapping ability that ensures sister chromatid cohesion and enables correct synapsis and segregation of homologous chromosomes during meiosis. The pathogenicity of the STAG3 mutations was functionally validated with a loss-of-function mouse model for STAG3 in oogenesis. However, and since none of the male members of this family was homozygous for the mutant allele, we only could hypothesized its putative involvement in male infertility. In this report, we show that male mice devoid of Stag3 display a severe meiotic phenotype that includes a meiotic arrest at zygonema-like shortening of their chromosome axial elements/lateral elements, partial loss of centromeric cohesion at early prophase and maintenance of the ability to initiate but not complete RAD51- and DMC1-mediated double-strand break repair, demonstrating that STAG3 is a crucial cohesin subunit in mammalian gametogenesis and supporting our proposal that STAG3 is a strong candidate gene for human male infertility.


Deep learning based medical image segmentation has shown great potential in becoming a key part of the clinical analysis pipeline. However, many of these models rely on the assumption that the train and test data come from the same distribution. This means that such methods cannot guarantee high quality predictions when the source and target domains are dissimilar due to different acquisition protocols, or biases in patient cohorts. Recently, unsupervised domain adaptation techniques have shown great potential in alleviating this problem by minimizing the shift between the source and target distributions, without requiring the use of labeled data in the target domain. In this work, we aim to predict tissue segmentation maps on T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data of an unseen preterm-born neonatal population, which has both different acquisition parameters and population bias when compared to our training data. We achieve this by investigating two unsupervised domain adaptation techniques with the objective of finding the best solution for our problem. We compare the two methods with a baseline fully-supervised segmentation network and report our results in terms of Dice scores obtained on our source test dataset. Moreover, we analyse tissue volumes and cortical thickness measures of the harmonized data on a subset of the population matched for gestational age at birth and postmenstrual age at scan. Finally, we demonstrate the applicability of the harmonized cortical gray matter maps with an analysis comparing term and preterm-born neonates and a proof-of-principle investigation of the association between cortical thickness and a language outcome measure.


ROTSE-IIId observations of the Be/X-ray transient system KS 1947+300 obtained between September 2004 and December 2005 make it possible to study the correlation between optical and X-ray activity. The optical outburst of 0.1 mag was accompanied by an increase of the X-ray flux in the 2004 observations. A strong correlation between the optical and X-ray light curves suggests that the neutron star directly accretes from the outflowing material of the Be star. The nearly zero time lag between X-ray and optical light curves suggests a heating of the disk of Be star by X-rays. No optical brightening and X-ray enhancement was seen in the 2005 observations. There is no indication of an orbital modulation in the optical light curve. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Det Norske Veritas is a classification society providing standards in the Maritime and Oil&Gas industries. In these industries, Information Technology (IT) usage is increasing rapidly, especially for onboard embedded automation systems, such as propulsion, navigation, steering, power management systems, life support and entertainment systems. The industry needs an increasing level of confidence to keep up with the increasing use of complex integrated software-dependent systems. The new optional process model, the Recommended Practice for Integrated Software-Dependent Systems (RP ISDS), provides practical guidance and requirements for the verification and validation disciplines, particularly in testing where the coverage is dependant of the confidence level expected by the future owner and operator of the system. In complement to traditional process models, such as CMMI and SPICE, the RP ISDS clarifies the breakdown of the system verification and validation activities to be performed by the various stakeholders, simplifying and organizing the communication expectations between the various roles & responsibilities.


Traditional computer aided design (CAD) and computer aided assembly planning (CAAP) systems are still limited because they do not consider human experience and knowledge capture to support intuitively the assembly planning. Moreover, some aspects such as quality testing, shop floor layout, human ergonomics and physical constraints are not considered during the assembly evaluation. Virtual reality (VR) systems can be used to simulate, analyze and optimize manufacturing processes including assembly. The use of (VR) and haptic systems can improve the efficiency of assembly process planning, evaluation and training.This paper describes an experiment conducted to investigate the benefits of a haptic aided virtual reality system for assembly training of real assembly tasks. Three groups of individuals with different level of training were considered in the evaluation. The first group received training by the virtual reality system including haptic feedback. The second group also received the same virtual training but without haptic feedback. The third group received no training in the virtual environment. Upon completion of the training, the assembly performance of the three different groups was evaluated by the construction of a real assembly task. The results have shown a significant improvement in the assembly performance of individuals who undertook a virtual training with force feedback, compared with those who did not take training.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Corona resulting from the metallic parts of the transmission line insulators and hardware has proven to be the potential factor in inducing the degradation of polymer insulators. Corona activity is found to increase substantially during the foul weather condition (rain, fog/mist, hoarfrost), which further promotes the ageing of polymer insulators. Present work investigates the possible corona activity under fog/moist condition and its effects on the long term performance of polymer insulators in service. The spread of corona generated plasma is observed to be different under fog condition than in normal air condition. The concentrated streamers that are originated from the corona electrode during fog condition are believed to damage the polymer shed material locally and more intensely. This was confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy and Fourier infrared spectroscopy analysis carried out on the treated polymer samples, which showed more damage on the corona treated under fog than on the samples treated under normal air condition. Further TGA and EDAX studies have shown that loss of ATH occurs on the sample due to intense corona activity.


Growth cone filopodia are actin-based mechanosensory structures that are essential for chemoreception and the generation of contractile forces necessary for directional motility. However, little is known about the influence of filopodial actin structures on substrate adhesion and filopodial contractility. Formin 2 (Fmn2) localizes along filopodial actin bundles and its depletion does not affect filopodia initiation or elongation. However, Fmn2 activity is required for filopodial tip adhesion maturation and the ability of filopodia to generate traction forces. Dysregulation of filopodia in Fmn2-depleted neurons leads to compromised growth cone motility. Additionally, in mouse fibroblasts, Fmn2 regulates ventral stress fiber assembly and affects the stability of focal adhesions. In the developing chick spinal cord, Fmn2 activity is required cell-autonomously for the outgrowth and pathfinding of spinal commissural neurons. Our results reveal an unanticipated function for Fmn2 in neural development. Fmn2 regulates structurally diverse bundled actin structures, parallel filopodial bundles in growth cones and anti-parallel stress fibers in fibroblasts, in turn modulating the stability of substrate adhesions. We propose Fmn2 as a mediator of actin bundle integrity, enabling efficient force transmission to the adhesion sites. Highlighted article: Formin 2 regulates filopodial dynamics required for efficient translocation of neuronal growth cones, while depletion of formin 2 in vivo results in aberrant axonal tracts in the spinal cord.


The way mothers reconstruct the childbirth experience during the early postpartum period may interfere in their mood and predisposition to get pregnant again. This study explored continuity and changes in the perception of childbirth experience throughout the first six postpartum months, taking into account different types of delivery. The sample consisted of 68 Portuguese pregnant women, who filled in the Childbirth Experience and Satisfaction Questionnaire 48 h after delivery and in the third and sixth postpartum months. A continuity in the mothers' overall perceptions of childbirth experience, use and usefulness of relaxation techniques, social support, health conditions and care provided, and other postpartum events was found over time. Despite that, mothers developed a more positive perception of this experience marked by fewer worries about the infant's health and well‐being as well as their own, and by a decrease in the perception of the pain felt. The type of delivery had an impact both on the mothers' perceptions of childbirth experience and on memory changes over time. Results suggest that the construction of a more positive perception of childbirth can be a relevant postpartum developmental task which can help mothers to better adjust to motherhood.


This paper describes a decision support system (DSS) based on an expert system (ES), which aids the user to select feasible projects among a strategic portfolio supplied by a dynamic simulator. The purpose of developing a DSS embedded in an ES structure, is to search for the modelling of the decision-maker rather than the decision process. Thus, the ES stores not only the expertise of the utility engineers, but some knowledge about the company goals. The dynamic simulator (DS) was developed by using the system dynamics paradigm, allowing the simulation of investment policies, taking into account the dynamic behavior of the involved variables and assuming that the decisions are taken continuously, leading to continuous actions. The proposed DSS is integrated with a strategic database (SDB), which contains information about competitors, regulatory system, special consumers and the energy wholesale market in general, forming an integrated computational system. The ES manages the integration between the DSS and the SDB, retrieving the information necessary to the simulation in progress.


We study the implications of hedging for firm financing and investment. We do so using an extensive, hand-collected dataset on corporate hedging activities. Hedging can lower the odds of negative firm realizations, reducing the expected costs of financial distress. In theory, this should ease a firm's access to credit. Using a tax-based instrumental variable approach, we find that hedgers pay lower interest spreads and are less likely to have capital expenditure restrictions in their loan agreements. These favorable financing terms, in turn, allow hedgers to invest more. Our tests characterize two exact channels (cost of borrowing and investment restrictions) through which hedging affects corporate outcomes. The analysis we present shows that hedging has a first-order effect on firm financing and investment, and provides new insights into how hedging affects corporate wealth. More broadly, our study contributes novel evidence on the real consequences of financial contracting.


Rhetorical criticism of declassified United States executive branch intelligence documents produced by the Truman and Eisenhower administrations (1945-1961) illuminates how US agents (re)imagined Islam in this crucial yet understudied era of racialized empire-building. Two case studies help unravel characteristics of this dominant discourse: The Federal Bureau of Investigation's attempt to delegitimize the Nation of Islam by characterizing its leadership and doctrine as violent, racist, and unorthodox; and the Central Intelligence Agency and State Department's simultaneous effort to validate Islam and Islamism in the Middle East by positing them as ideological forces against communism and Arab Nationalism. Interactional and interdisciplinary consideration of archived rhetorical artifacts uncovers how motives to expand US empire, quell anti-imperial and anti-racist resistance, and advance early Cold War objectives encouraged executive agents to reframe Islam. Tropic analysis reveals how the discourse of US intelligence deviated from Orientalism, a dominant discourse used to legitimize European colonialism, and originally deconstructed by Edward Said. By establishing identifications between Islam and the West, US agents rejected the discursive construction of a transcendental racial hierarchy between the Orient and the Occident. And by differentiating "good Muslims" from "bad Muslims," agents ceased exclusively invoking the image of a monolithic and unchanging Islam. Designated the lesser-evils paradigm for imagining Islam, this post-Orientalist reconceptualization of Islam permitted US executive agents to form alliances with some (lesser-evil) Muslims, like Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood, while mobilizing forces against other (greater-evil) Muslims, like Elijah Muhammad and Gamal Abdul Nasser, and ultimately against the (greatest-evil) Soviet Union. Rooted in the logics of utilitarianism and governmentality, this paradigm helped US agents manipulate geopolitical identities to sustain a notion of Euro-American (white) geopolitical superiority, even as it began abandoning appeals to scientific racism which had undergirded European colonialism. Deconstructive criticism enhances scholarly understanding of the co-constitutive relationship between rhetoric and Western imperialism in the post-colonial era of US hegemony. Attunement to the US intelligence apparatus presents an opportunity to consider how domestic and foreign policy cohere into one "intermestic" imperial agenda, which is legitimated by, and which helps legitimate, the interacting constructions of anti-black racism and Islamophobia.


The conservation of rare and endangered carnivores in human dominated landscapes is particularly challenging when predators are perceived as a threat to livestock. This study verifies whether the human perception of Ethiopian wolves as predators of livestock accurately reflects the actual damage done by this specialist predator of highland rodents. With that purpose, we quantified the contributions of prey species, including livestock, to the diet of Ethiopian wolves by analysing 118 scats. We then compared them to the reported livestock losses and attitudes in 300 households surrounding wolf habitat in the highlands of South Wollo in north Ethiopia. We found 10 prey species, totalling 222 prey occurrences in the study sample. The most common prey were diurnal rodents, with 79.2% of all prey occurrences. Only 5.4% were livestock (sheep) remains, a result similar to that obtained in other wolf populations. The proportion of households reportedly affected by Ethiopian wolf predation was relatively low (17%), and these households lost an average of 1.0 sheep per year over the previous five years. Even though the proportion of households affected by livestock predation was relatively low, 88% of the households that reported losing sheep to Ethiopian wolves had a negative perception of the species, compared with only 9% of the households unaffected. Clearly current levels of livestock predation in South Wollo lead to widespread negative attitudes among the people affected, an emerging problem that requires the attention of conservationists and wildlife authorities.


J Bone Joint Surg [Br] 2007;89-B:62-5. Received 13 June 2006; Accepted 23 August 2006 We compared the outcome of peri-operative humeral condylar fractures in patients undergoing a Coonrad-Morrey semiconstrained total elbow replacement with that of patients with rheumatoid arthritis undergoing the same procedure without fractures. In a consecutive series of 40 elbows in 33 patients, 13 elbows had a fracture in either condyle peri-operatively, and 27 elbows were intact. The fractured condyle was either fixed internally or excised. We found no statistical difference in the patients' background, such as age, length of follow-up, immobilisation period, Larsen's radiological grade, or Steinbrocker's stage and functional class. There was also no statistical difference between the groups in relation to the Mayo Elbow Performance Score, muscle strength, range of movement, or radiolucency around the implants at a mean of 4.8 years (1.1 to 8.0) followup. We conclude that fractured condyles can be successfully treated with either internal fixation or excision, and cause no harmful effect.


1. Rivers and their catchments are complex, dynamic and non-equilibrium systems. Although the general functioning of these ecosystems is familiar, the characteristics of particular sites are often poorly known and accurate prediction of future behaviour to inform management decisions is extremely difficult.

2. Simple relationships between river nutrient concentrations and the health of river ecosystems do not exist. Natural variability and practical and technical constraints reduce our ability to set nutrient targets to protect river ecosystems. Particularly challenging is the use of simple dose–response relationships as regulatory threshold targets, whereby sections of river are classified as either passing or failing to meet good ecological status.

3. Ecologically meaningful frameworks are needed that take account of the epistemic uncertainty associated with our predictions. Such frameworks should have clearly defined goals; be holistic; allow for natural variability; help to define ecologically acceptable environmental regimes; recognise that significant uncertainties mean that we will often be using indices rather than absolute measures; and use measures that explicitly include uncertainty estimates. Such approaches allow those outside the decision-making process to understand the level of environmental precaution included in the management of complex systems.


Introduction: Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery (FESS) is regarded as an invasive technique used in the surgical fraternity to restore patients' sinus ventilation as well as returning to normalcy. Objectives: The main objective of the study is to find the complications of Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery in sinusitis patients. Material and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Jinnah Hospital Lahore during 2019 to 2020. The study was carried in hospital, whereby 200 patients performed Functional Endoscopic Sinus Surgery operation. After the surgery the patients were followed postoperatively and checked for both minor and major complications, and their experiences at large. Results: The data was collected from 200 patients. The mean age of the patients was 39.25±2.45 years. The major complications presented by the patients in three months follow up were shown in table. Conclusion: All together there are few cases of complications from the manipulations performed during the post-operative visits whereby the theoretical risks are equally the same as the main surgery itself. Nearly all surgeries and postoperative care are closely similar and therefore the consent given for surgery automatically includes consent for postoperative care.


This paper is a reflection by a law school teacher and corporate lawyer about learning from the design disciplines. The paper describes how design influences the author's understanding of and approach to legal documents, his use of visual methods in doing legal work and engaging with students, and concepts and language he uses in talking about legal work and legal practice. The paper suggests that practitioners and teachers need not go all-in on "design thinking" to benefit from design. Instead, they can improve their advice and work-product, and their development support of students and new lawyers, through modest refinements in practice inspired by design mindsets and methods.


A new distributed clustering algorithm for wireless ad hoc networks has been proposed. The main motivation in the proposed algorithm is improvement of stability and scalability simulation study has been conducted in a fully mobile network to investigate the performance of this algorithm. Also the effect of mobility and connectivity on the performance parameters has been evaluated. The comparison with other algorithms shows improvement of stability and scalability of the proposed algorithm in comparison with other algorithms.


This study examines how case managers identify and respond to home care client needs through chart reviews of 169 randomly selected clients in a homecare program. Algorithms from the Minimum Data Set for Home Care to identify client needs were applied to the existing data to determine whether a potential problem existed in any of 23 broad categories of need. The authors also determine whether these problems were noted by the case manager and identify various types of responses made in the care plan. Compared to the range of problems identified with the algorithms, case managers were more likely to note functional and mental health problems than clinical health problems. Some problem categories (e.g., functional performance and brittle support) almost always received a response, whereas others (e.g., sensory performance, mental health, and some clinical problems) remained unmet even when the problem was noted. Implications for training case managers and resource development in the community are discussed.


: A lot of researches indicate that central nervous system not only exist endogenous opiate analgesic system but also possess endogenous nonopiate analgesic system. The opiate and nonopiate analgesic systems can be selectively activated by different environmental or artificial manipulations and modulated the stimulation-produced analgesia, acupuncture analgesia and stress-induced analgesia, including the foot shock-induced analgesia, tail-shock-produced analgesia, ear-shock-induced analgesia, analgesia of cold water swim, analgesia of immobilization or of restraint and analgesia of a-Deoxy-D- glucose and so on. The existence and description of these modulatory mechanisms have it's multiplicity and important clinical implications for the treatment of pain.


A general scheme for analyzing patterns in complex networks is presented. A given network is compared to a distribution of randomized networks, which are constructed such that all previously recognized features of the network is preserved. In particular we nd patterns that distinguish the Internet from previously analyzed molecular networks: Highly connected nodes are at the center of the Internet, but at the periphery of molecular regulatory/signaling networks.


The categories listed below are used to classify books, book reviews, journal articles, and dissertations indexed in JEL, JEL on CD, and EconLit. New changes to the classification system appear as soon as possible on www.econlit.org . The JEL classification system may be used freely for scholarly purposes. We suggest the following format: "JEL: A10, B10, etc."


BACKGROUND
We examined the efficacy of olanzapine for the prevention of nausea and vomiting in patients receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy.

METHODS
In a randomized, double-blind, phase 3 trial, we compared olanzapine with placebo, in combination with dexamethasone, aprepitant or fosaprepitant, and a 5-hydroxytryptamine type 3-receptor antagonist, in patients with no previous chemotherapy who were receiving cisplatin (≥70 mg per square meter of body-surface area) or cyclophosphamide-doxorubicin. The doses of the three concomitant drugs administered before and after chemotherapy were similar in the two groups. The two groups received either 10 mg of olanzapine orally or matching placebo daily on days 1 through 4. Nausea prevention was the primary end point; a complete response (no emesis and no use of rescue medication) was a secondary end point.

RESULTS
In the analysis, we included 380 patients who could be evaluated (192 assigned to olanzapine, and 188 to placebo). The proportion of patients with no chemotherapy-induced nausea was significantly greater with olanzapine than with placebo in the first 24 hours after chemotherapy (74% vs. 45%, P=0.002), the period from 25 to 120 hours after chemotherapy (42% vs. 25%, P=0.002), and the overall 120-hour period (37% vs. 22%, P=0.002). The complete-response rate was also significantly increased with olanzapine during the three periods: 86% versus 65% (P<0.001), 67% versus 52% (P=0.007), and 64% versus 41% (P<0.001), respectively. Although there were no grade 5 toxic effects, some patients receiving olanzapine had increased sedation (severe in 5%) on day 2.

CONCLUSIONS
Olanzapine, as compared with placebo, significantly improved nausea prevention, as well as the complete-response rate, among previously untreated patients who were receiving highly emetogenic chemotherapy. (Funded by the National Cancer Institute; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02116530.).


A new tetradecanuclear cobalt cluster [Co14(TC4A)3Cl3(Tz)12(H2O)6](OH)(DMF)14(CH3OH)6(H2O)4 (Abbr. Co14, H4TC4A = p-tert-Butylthiacalix[4]arene, HTz = 1H-tetrazole) was obtained by the solvothermal reaction of CoCl2·6H2O, H4TC4A and Htz in DMF. The cluster featured the quadrilateral planar CoII4 units housing tri-capped trigonal Co12 clusters with two enclosed Co nanocages linked by Tz ligands. The uniform CoO/Co9S8@CN composite derived from direct annealing of Co14 clusters was obtained and characterized by XRD, EDS, XPS, and Raman spectra. The composite on nickel foam (CoO/Co9S8@CN/NF) was used as an electrode to fabricate supercapacitors with specific capacitances of 83.7% at 2 A g−1 and 70.0% at 5 A g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 (303.3 F g−1). The composite from Co14 precursor also shows high charge–discharge reversibility with a capacity retention of 96.3% and average columbic efficiency of 98.2% after 1000 cycles at 2.0 A g−1.


Kozlov V.V. Strategic implications for experimental study of connected breathing // Psychological science and practice: State of the Art. Collected papers / Ed. Kostrigin A.A. Chicago, 2017. P. 13-19. Despite this, we hope that the practices of connected breathing (Holotropic breathing, DMD) will find their supporters. At the same time we clearly imagine that customers, who can invest energy in the process of changing states of consciousness, are still quite rare. It is easier to swallow a glass of vodka, or prick dose of heroin, or, in extreme cases, to play roulette. Nevertheless, the inner experience of the author of the book and experience of tens of thousands of processes of respiration show that this method of meeting the requirements of altered states of consciousness is much more fruitful, and gracious. The author conducted 800 training with a connected breathing with the participation of about 32000 people in many countries. Studies, conducted over the past 25 years can afford to make some important strategical conclusions for the use of induced ASC connected breath of physiological and neuropsychological studies. Sessions of connected breathing can not hurt human's health. The human body has a powerful protective mechanism that prevents the progression of hypocapnia, the inclusion of which is connected from the first minutes of breath, reaches a maximum efficiency of 10-15 minutes and is maintained at this level during the entire time. Joining the ASC is most possible in the first 10-15 minutes of a connected breathing session before the "separation" of the external respiration and blood circulation. The most productive and efficient states among the extended states of consciousness induced by a connected breathing, are those which have neuropsychological characteristics of the "REM". The analog of this condition is very familiar to everyone, it is "prosonochnoe" state. The main characteristic of this condition is "the presence in two worlds simultaneously - in the here and now, as well as emotionally experienced figurative mental spaces, which are the product of spontaneous activity of consciousness by itself. The basic presupposition of stimulation and appearance of ASC in the processes of connected breathing is the psychological factor - forming of expectations' system of the client, of deep level of relaxation and trance, but with the continued presence of consciousness to an active start producing. Breathing sessions promote to an overall energizing of personality and improve physical performance. Researches show, that resource vital potentiality can be used by personality in all kinds of activity. Processes of connected breathing have regenerative efficiency in 1,5-2 times higher than the usual sleep and can be recommended as a method of rapid resuscitation of the vital energy of human beings in time constraints and the high energy loss (hard physical, intellectual, emotional loading). An additional prerequisite for the induction of ASC in the processes of connected breathing is a partial deprivation (lack of) night's sleep and a partial food deprivation (fasting). Breathwork is one of the effective ways of correction and optimization of functional status not only the body, but also the higher functions of the CNS, especially the mechanism of memory. To research the psychological influence of connected breathing and induced an expanded state of consciousness on the individual and the group we used a multilevel systemic analysis. The studies were conducted in different regions of the former USSR and abroad. We will not describe in details the sample and research tools, as well as result in statistical methods of processing the results. The scientific validity, representativeness, reliability and validity, credibility - they were tested by the leading experts and dissertation councils of Russia. We present the findings of these studies in the compressed form. The connected breathing has mainly a positive influence on the rate of sensomotor reactions, as well as on the characteristics of voluntary attention and short-term memory. The most typical changes in the properties of voluntary attention occur after 10 minutes of entering the ESC. Immersion into the ESC has a positive influence on such integrative indicators as: activism, health, mood, and cheerfulness and efficiency. Dive into the ESC has a selective effect on various personality traits. Personal characteristics that are most sensitive to immersion in ESC: anxiety, self-value, self-confidence, inner conflict by self-incrimination, the need for achievement, internal honesty. Connected breathing trainings affect to self-identity in the aspect of improvement. Most sensitive to the effects of training are such ethical standards as: compassion, carelessness, thoughtfulness, being easily carried away, empathy. Under the influence of connected breathing training participants' representations of the ideal standard of quality people are being changed, as well as representations of themselves. Trainings in connected breathing lead to changes in the way "I", significantly different from changes in the way "I" of people who was not in the process of respiration.  Due to training, changes in the way "I" are stable in time. The most typical and persistent changes in the way "I", associated with training on integrative-psy - were the following: reduction of straight-aggressive tendencies, an increase in responsibility, generous and collaborating and conventional trends. 10.  Under the influence of training with connected breathing decreases the level of loneliness, therefore, they are applicable to correction of elevated levels of loneliness. 11.  Training has a significant impact on the dynamics of reactive and personal anxiety, namely, anxiety is reduced. 12.  ESC have the potential induction of creative resource states of personality, help better realize their creative potential, learn how to control the body and the energy potential in the better way. 13.  Studies point a potential for an active social life, increases the desire to cooperate with people, increasing the capacity for empathy, reduce aggressive tendencies, reduce the reluctance to adapt to the social environment, neuron-psychological stress, ability to effectively make a choice when it is required. 14.  Trainings promote stress tolerance of personality, they help to maintain clarity of thought even in conflict situations, restore emotional balance quickly, to become more independent from external influences, to accept people and situations for what they are, feel the joy of communicating with people. 15.  Using of connected breathing influences positively on the process of correction accentuations and neuroses, and can be used effectively in working with addicts: drug addicts, alcoholics, customers with food addiction, Gambler. 16.  ESC with using of connected breathing has a specific phenomenology: -       at the level of motor responses: spontaneous, complex coordinated movements, complex actions; -       At the level of sensory areas of specific stimulation of different modalities: kinesthetic, gustatory, olfactory, auditory, visual. A special place is occupied by the energy sensations that we can not assign as a specific modality. 17. Using of connected breathing in training contribute to the rapid integration of group, also it can be applied for the quickening of group dynamics, cohesion in the forming of teams for different purposes. 18. Dive into the RCC help to set a transfer between team members and leader, which focuses on positive polarity. 19.  Socio-psychological method of using integrative Psy is adequate to work effectively with the crisis of personality. Practices of using a connected breath showed particular efficiency in the rehabilitation of members of local wars (Afghanistan, Chechnya, Israel), the effects of emergencies. 20.  Using the connected breath is directed to the psychic apparatus person, a system of cognitive processes, body, personal constructs totally, it uses the underlying human resources and its ability to self-integration and transformation.


This chapter begins with a consideration of the labels used by investigators to describe cognitive style and proposes a categorization of these into two fundamental style dimensions: the wholist–analytic and verbal–imagery. Methods of assessing style are outlined and a simple direct method is described. Style is then examined within the context of other individual difference variables such as intelligence, gender, and personality to establish its independence of these dimensions. The bipolar nature of cognitive style, which distinguishes it from unipolar dimensions of individual difference such as intelligence, is detailed. The evidence for the physiological aspects of style is described. Next, the relation between the style dimensions and a range of behaviors relevant to education is reported and practical implications are explored. Finally, a model of style within the context of other individual difference variables is considered.


The impact of renal failure on the elimination and hydrolysis of three sources of tyrosine for parenteral nutrition, the dipeptides alanyltyrosine (Ala-Tyr), glycyltyrosine (Gly-Tyr), and N-acetyltyrosine (NAc-Tyr) was investigated in eight patients on regular hemodialysis therapy (HD) and seven healthy controls (CON). In CON, whole body clearance (Ctot) of Ala-Tyr (3,169 +/- 198 ml/min) was higher than Gly-Tyr (1,781 +/- 184, P less than 0.001), and both exceeded NAc-Tyr (284 +/- 24, P less than 0.001). In HD, Ctot of Ala-Tyr was not different from CON, but Ctot of Gly-Tyr (858 +/- 73, P less than 0.001) and NAc-Tyr (129 +/- 30, P less than 0.02) was decreased. The rise in plasma levels of constituent amino acids was higher in Ala-Tyr vs. Gly-Tyr (P less than 0.01). In HD, the pattern was similar, although the increase in Tyr was less than in CON. Plasma Tyr did not increase with NAc-Tyr in either group. Urinary loss of peptides was neglible, but 60% of NAc-Tyr infused was excreted by CON. The half-life of peptides incubated in CON and HD plasma was unchanged for Ala-Tyr (12.3 +/- 0.9 vs. 14.6 +/- 1.9 min) and prolonged for Gly-Tyr in HD (101.7 +/- 4.9 vs. 131.3 +/- 12, P less than 0.05). Thus renal failure does not impair Ala-Tyr disposal and delays Gly-Tyr utilization. These differential effects on peptide assimilation underscore the importance of peptide structure on metabolism. Both peptides, but not NAc-Tyr, may serve as a nutritional substrate in renal failure patients.


For very low relaxation time (i.e. lesser than a microsecond) viscoelastic fluid experimental determination is difficult, if not impossible. In the present work the relaxation time measurement of a weakly elastic polymer solution, too low to be measured using classical rheometry techniques, is assessed using a mixed experimental-numerical strategy. First the fluid is rheologically assessed, by measuring its shear viscosity, surface tension and density. Then the relaxation time is determined by comparing the jetting of polymer solution from a Continuous Ink-Jet (CIJ) device experimentally and numerically. The numerical approach is first validated using test case and a viscoelastic Oldroyd-B model is then used to model the experimental solution. The relaxation time is then a parameter allowing us to fit numerical simulation onto experimental results. This mixed strategy is particularly convenient for weakly elastic solution for which physical parameters can not be measured using experimental rheometry setup.


2 ABSTRACT: In this paper an area efficient method is presented to design and implement FIR filter. The proposed FIR filter has been implemented equiripple window using Transposed & Symmetric structure. The performance of two designs has been compared in terms of hardware requirements. The performance of both the designs is almost same but Symmetric structure has shown reduced hardware requirement as compared to Transposed structure. The proposed designs have been designed and simulated using Matlab 7.0.The Symmetric FIR filter has shown 55% reduction in multipliers as compared to Transposed structure for FIR filters. The Direct form transposed FIR filter produces the same output as the Direct form FIR but the cost varies in terms hardware requirements of Direct form Symmetric FIR. The difference is that it performs all the multiplications of a variable at the same time. The design time is also a key factor for low price products which is shown in implementation cost. The proposed FIR filter architecture is capable of operating for 16 bits word length filter coefficient. We show that dynamically reconfigurable filters can be efficiently implemented by using Direct form Symmetric FIR structure for equiripple FIR filter. Hence, an efficient design process aiming at high speed and great interest for minimizing total costs.


In this paper, Al2O3/TiO2 coatings via thermal spray approach using three different feedstock powders, i.e., (a) reconstituted nanosized Al2O3/TiO2 feedstock powders, (b) reconstituted nanosized Al2O3/TiO2/ZrO2/CeO2 feedstock powders and (c) conventional Al2O3/TiO2 feedstock powders are described. Effects of different powder types and various plasma spray conditions on the density, microhardness and crack resistance, especially on the abrasive wear behavior of the coatings have been evaluated. The result showed that the coatings sprayed using different feedstock powders exhibit different abrasive wear behavior with changing the plasma spray conditions. The coatings sprayed using the reconstituted nanosized Al2O3/TiO2/ZrO2/CeO2 feedstock powders showed a significantly improved wear resistance compared to the coatings sprayed using reconstituted nanosized Al2O3/TiO2 feedstock powders or conventional Al2O3/TiO2 feedstock powders. The wear mechanisms of the coatings were discussed.


Robots can move, see, and navigate in the real world outside carefully structured factories, but they cannot yet grasp and manipulate objects without human intervention. Two key barriers are the complexity of current approaches, which require complicated hardware or precise perception to function effectively, and the challenge of understanding system performance in a tractable manner given the wide range of factors that impact successful grasping. This thesis presents sensors and simple control algorithms that relax the requirements on robot hardware, and a framework to understand the capabilities and limitations of grasping systems. The sensors and algorithms build on the recent success of underactuated hands, which use passive mechanics to adapt to object shape and position rather than trying to perceive a precise model of the object and control the grasp to match it. They include piezoelectric contact sensors that expand the range of positioning offsets the hand can tolerate, joint-angle sensors for compliant flexure joints that enable full-finger contact detection and determine object shape, and tactile sensors based on MEMS barometers that enable the hand to more gently adapt to object shape. The framework poses the grasping problem as "overcoming variation." It is not tractable to list all sources of variation that might potentially affect a grasp; a small subset are dominant in each context (such as object geometry or object mass), but listing them explicitly allows the clear comparison of different systems, and allows the contributions of different subsystems to be compared and understood in the same terms. This motivates a design methodology centered around the idea of a template grasp that serves as a reference around which local variation can be understood and analyzed to determine a "basin of attraction" within which a grasp is successful; this variation budget encompasses object variation, perception variation, and robot positioning errors. Increasing the size of this variation budget then serves as a target for system design.


Geographic information systems (GIS) technology has been discussed for managing traffic accident data for years. However, its usefulness for analyzing truck accidents has not been explored extensively. Because GIS has spatial referencing and graphical display features, it would be useful to link relevant accident information to assist in information management and safety analysis. Used with other analysis technologies, GIS can help identify factors that contribute to accidents at specific locations and to identify countermeasures. The New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) has comprehensive electronic databases, including roadway networks, truck accident records, roadway geometry, and other relevant information, but use of this information remains at the level of database management. Integration of truck accident information into a GIS is a low-cost, high-benefit way to analyze factors that affect truck accidents and their associated mitigation measures. The analytical ability of a GIS-based truck accident information management system developed for NJDOT is presented.


The nanotechnology industry is predicted to be capable of rivalling the biotechnology industry and even perhaps forecasted to be at par with information communication technology (ICT) by 2014.It is said that nano technology is the next "disruptive technology", meaning that it will
influence across industries and affect our very lives, similar to previous technologies like "atomic" was for the 1950s, "micro" was for the 1980s, and ".com" was for the 1990s.Its forecasted impact is slowly blurring out the lines that separate reality with fantasy, as evidenced by various products, but this research focuses on the Nano-Biosensor products, which is being currently researched here in Malaysia in several institutions that focus on the different components that make up the Nano-
Biosensor.However, it must be pointed out here that although the research into the materials and applications of these materials is paramount to the growth of this promising industry, there must also be research into the feasibility and management of this industry, in order for it to be forecasted, monitored, and controlled, and thus aid in the betterment of mankind.Measuring the potential impact of a technology is basically a Collingridge dilemma, which is a double-bind problem where impacts of a technology cannot be easily predicted until the technology is extensively developed and adopted, and the control or change of a technology is very difficult once it has been extensively developed and adopted.In order to address these issues, a technique called technology assessment (TA) has been developed to assist in evaluating these emerging technologies. There are many categories of TA that has emerged through various research efforts and published documentation, including Parliamentary TA (PTA), Expert TA (often referred to as the classical TA concept), Participatory TA (pTA), Constructive TA (CTA), Discursive or Argumentative TA, and a specialised TA related to the health industry, called Health TA (HTA).Narrowing down to CTA, CTA initiatives would attempt to broaden the design of new technology through feedback of TA activities into the actual construction of the technology, which is contrary to other forms of TA, where CTA is not directed toward
influencing regulatory practises by assessing the impacts of technology, but rather, CTA wants to address social issues around the technology by influencing design practices.Due to the technical nature of Nano-Biosensor, CTA has been proposed as the core topic for a research endeavour for fulfilling this aim of measuring the viability of Nano-Biosensor in the broader context of the
nanotechnology development in Malaysia, since it has been identified as the enabling technology with potential industry-wide impact on other sectors not only in Malaysia, but the rest of the world.


By the mid-nineteenth century, the empiricist tradition, in conjunction
with physiological investigations into the nervous system,
had culminated in a mechanical/elementaristic account of consciousness.
Darwin's theory of evolution provided the catalyst for the explicit
conclusion that man is a conscious automaton. William James enthusiastically
accepted the new science but was unwilling to accept the automatist
conception of mind. Instead, inspired by Renouvier's doctrine
of free will, he set out to construct a naturalistic, evolutionary account
of mind wherein consciousness was efficacious both in promoting
man's survival and in making genuinely moral changes in the world.
This thesis analyzes the major structures of James' psychological and
philosophical theories and shows how, in the process of attempting to
reconcile his conflicting commitments to Darwin and Renouvier, James
transformed selected Darwinian postulates into epistemological constructs.
Developed along evolutionary lines, the efficacious, structurally
unified stream of consciousness, described in The principles of psychology,was
James' first major achievement. But having based his theory
of consciousness on a mind/matter dualism, James was faced with the
problem of how the mind knows the world, and the basic inconsistencies
between Darwinian and Renouvian theory began to assert themselves in
the form of a structure/function dichotomy. The dichotomy between the
unified structure of consciousness and the two conflicting functions
the mind fulfills is most obvious in the theory of volition, constructed
to show how the mind acts upon, and thus knows the world. James' refutation
of the theory of innervation and his conclusion that all knowledge
is mediated through afferent sensations was a major advance, providing the foundation for his evolutionary epistemology, pragmatism.
James had originally interpreted the physical world in the mathematical/
mechanical terms of Newtonian science: in pragmatism, he began to redefine
the physical world in evolutionary terms. Plagued by the problems
of the mind/matter dualism on which he had based his psychology,
he constructed an evolutionary metaphysic--radical empiricism--wherein
he abolished the ontological dualism between thoughts and things, claiming
that the thought of an object and the object itself were one piece
of pure experience taken in two different functional contexts. But if
James' attempt to equate thoughts and things proved unsuccessful, he
was nevertheless convinced that the physical world could be described
in temporal/mutable terms. Furthermore, he demonstrated that any particular
separations between mind and matter were not absolute, while
simultaneously showing that some such cuts were a necessary condition
for knowledge and action. Finally, there is evidence in his final
philosophy that he was returning to the mind/matter dualism of the
psychology, having abandoned the excesses of radical empiricism, to
come to grips with the problem of reconstructing the now temporal/mutable
universe in scientific terms.


This book is a complete beginner's guide to every aspect of setting up your dotProject installation. Lee Jordan uses her experience to present real-world examples and detailed walkthroughs that get the most from this powerful project management tool. This is a comprehensive beginner's book on dotProject and deals with the basics of implementing and configuring dotProject. It is a simple guide to setting up an internal project management solution as quickly as possible, and at zero cost. All the examples in this book are fully practical and will help you to get things done with dotProject. To make sure that you create a site that fits in with your corporate identity, the book covers customizing dotProject to personalize the look for your pages. dotProject is the most popular open-source project management system. It is maintained by committed volunteers with the goal of providing a project management environment with a sensible user interface free to everyone. dotProject is web-based, multi-user, multi-language-enabled software that enables you to create, track, and maintain any kind of project, although the examples in this book relate to a software project. Install and use the dotProject project management system Customize and extend dotProject Work with reports and Gantt charts Configure dotProject for LDAP authentication and PostNuke Customize dotProject to blend with your corporate sites This book is a fast-paced, practical guide to getting things done with dotProject. It illustrates an easy and effective method to handle projects with the help of extensive real-world examples. The book is for a person or a group of people who are looking for an efficient and flexible project management tool for managing any kind of project. They may be users with technical knowledge such as system administrators or IT professionals, or users with basic computer and internet skills who want a project management tool that they can learn easily without having to learn HTML or a programming language. No prior experience of formal project management is required.


Wastewater treatment's primary purpose is to protect surface water quality, aquatic life, beneficial and recreational uses of waterways, and primarily comply with local water emission standards. Lately, additional requirements were added for these facilities, concerning minimization of a series of sidestream environmental impacts (i.e., odours, generated waste by-products, etc.), air emissions, including CO2, methane and nitrogen greenhouse gases (GHGs), and mitigation of various other likely impacts resulting from energy and chemical use in treatment processes. This paper describes a case study in Northern Europe, where critical analysis of an industrial wastewater treatment plant's present conditions, during an evaluation of upgrade possibilities to improve regulatory compliance, led to a sustainable intervention proposal. According to the formulated proposal, process improvement, energy recovery, and overall savings and GHG emissions reduction could be simultaneously achieved with a series of relatively simple interventions.


In this work, we study the imprint of an individual primordial cosmic string within a Hubble patch on the inflationary power spectrum. A straight cosmic string induces two distinct contributions to the curvature perturbations power spectrum. The first type of correction respects the translation invariance while violating isotropy. This generates quadrupolar statistical anisotropy in cosmic microwave background maps, which is constrained by the Planck data. The second contribution breaks both homogeneity and isotropy, generating a dipolar power asymmetry in the variance of temperature fluctuations with its amplitude falling on small scales. We show that the strongest constraint on the tension of primordial cosmic strings is obtained from the quadrupolar anisotropy and argue that the mass scale of the underlying theory responsible for the formation of the string cannot be much higher than the grand unified theory scale. The predictions for the diagonal and off-diagonal components of the cosmic microwave background angular power spectrum induced by the string are presented.


In the learning of elementary Mandarin, students are usually required to attend face to face lecture in class, allocate self learning time to do revision as well as assignments, and learn beyond the classroom lessons by referring to resources from the library and Internet. To make the learning in these three situations more interesting and successful, students can utilize web-based instruction (WBI). In order to provide WBI that is tailored to students' needs, the lecturers should arm themselves with the knowledge of constructing a WBI. The first step to the design and construction of a WBI for learning Chinese characters is to develop and identify a set of clear and easy to understand instructions. Hence a survey was carried out to identify the instructions that students find easy to understand, use and follow in their use of WBI to facilitate the learning of Chinese Characters. A set of 4-point Likert scale questionnaire was developed based on 4 popular web sites that teach Chinese characters. These web sites were selected based on several criteria. The respondents were brought to computer lab and asked to browse the selected web sites to learn Chinese Characters. After the learning, respondents were required to answer the questionnaire to choose the instructions they like. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. The mean scores of the questionnaires items were analyzed. The results show that the tasks for Learning the Chinese characters in accordance to the sequence of task A to task D (task A to D were stated in the section of result and analysis) were considered useful by the students. Besides, to answer the second research question, 10 web-based instructions that have the highest mean score were identified as the respondents' preferred instructions. The instructions that were compiled, however, may only be suitable for Malay students and not for others.


The principal purpose of this study is to investigate the association between the efficiency of value added (VA) by the major components of a firm's resource base (physical capital, human capital and structural capital) and three traditional dimensions of corporate performance: profitability, productivity, and market valuation. Data are drawn from a sample of 75 publicly traded firms from South Africa from business sectors heavily reliant on intellectual capital. Empirical analysis is conducted using correlation and linear multiple regression analysis. Findings from the empirical analysis indicate that associations between the efficiency of VA by a firm's major resource bases and profitability, productivity and market valuation are generally limited and mixed. Overall, the empirical findings suggest that physical capital remains the most significant underlying resource of corporate performance in South Africa despite efforts to increase the nation's intellectual capital base.


Sir .—In the October 1989 issue of AJDC , Kronz et al 1 described a method that would, it is hoped, improve the care given by pediatric residents to their continuity patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Although pediatricians treat patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in their practices, the scope of their role in the management of this chronic illness is debatable. As noted by the authors, caring for the child with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus requires the time and commitment of many skilled professionals: physicians, educators, dietitians, psychologists, and social workers. The general pediatrician rarely has access to these personnel in his or her office and therefore the patients and their families may not see all members of the team in a coordinated fashion. Furthermore, the pediatrician rarely has the expertise in these areas to serve as these other professionals would. Additionally, few pediatricians have the time to keep up with recent


Short packed silica gel column chromatography has been performed to optimize the production of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and phosphatidylcholine (PC) from hen egg yolk with very low or no toxic solvents. The effects of silica type, sample loading amount, dimension of the glass chromatotube, and mobile phase compositions were investigated and high separation efficiency was achieved: gradient elution as 200 mL ethanol followed by 300 mL 95% ethanol to fractionate PE and PC after neutral lipids (NL) removed by 120 mL ethyl acetate, 40 mm silica gel (54 to 74 μm) bed height of the chromatotube with 22 mm inner dia (ID), and 0.25 g sample loading amount. By this procedure, 3.69 g PE and 2.88 g PC per 100 g egg yolk lipids were obtained, respectively. The refined PE and PC were identified by high-performance liquid chromatography/ultraviolet detector (HPLC-UV) with purity over 96%. The fatty acids in egg yolk revealed that PE and PC characterized higher ratios of n- 6/n- 3 (PE, 7.41; PC, 8.99). 18:2 n- 6 of PC (15.21%) predominated over PE (10.29%), whereas the level of 20:4 n- 6 of PC (8.78%) was lower than PE (15.67%).


Abstract. Assessing the risk of complex systems to natural hazards is an important and challenging problem. In today's intricate socio-technological world, characterized by strong urbanization and technological trends, the connections, interdependencies and interactions between exposed elements are crucial. These complex relations call for a paradigm shift in collective risk assessments, from a reductionist approach to a holistic one. Most commonly, the risk of a system is estimated through a reductionist approach, based on the sum of the risk of its elements individually. In contrast, a holistic approach considers the whole system as a unique entity of interconnected elements, where those connections are taken into account in order to more thoroughly assess risk. To support this paradigm shift, this paper proposes a new holistic approach to assess the risk in complex systems based on Graph Theory. The paper is organized in two parts: part I describes the proposed approach, and part II presents an application to a pilot study in Mexico City. The choice of Mexico City as the study case allows demonstrating the importance of modelling connections and interdependencies to assess risk in a complex urban environment which, in this case, is characterized by increasing risk of urban flooding due to soil subsidence and the presumable failure of the drainage system. In the application, the complexity of Mexico City is depicted by modelling certain selected typologies of elements (i.e. population, fire stations, hospitals, fuel stations, schools and crossroads) and assuming certain rules of connection between them. The relevant graph properties are computed and interpreted from a natural hazard risk perspective, and a simple hazard scenario is then integrated in the analysis. This study highlights both the potential and the relevance of the graph-based approach for natural hazard risk assessment.


Abstract. A two-wavelength ultraviolet (289–316nm) ozone Differential Absorption Lidar (DIAL) system is used to perform ozone measurements in the free troposphere in the Eastern Mediterranean (Northern Greece). The ozone DIAL profiles obtained during a Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Transport (STT) event are compared to that acquired by an electrochemical ozonesonde, in the altitude range between 2 and 10 km. The measurement accuracy of these two instruments is also discussed. The mean difference between the ozone profiles obtained by the two techniques is of the order of 1.11 ppbv (1.86%), while the corresponding standard deviation is 4.69 ppbv (8.16%). A case study of an STT event which occurred on 29 November 2000 is presented and analyzed, using ozone lidar, satellite and meteorological data, as well as air mass back-trajectory analysis. During this STT event ozone mixing ratios of 55–65 ppbv were observed between 5 and 7 km height above sea level (a.s.l.). Stratospheric air was mixed with tropospheric air masses, leading to potential vorticity (PV) losses due to diabatic processes. The ozone DIAL system can be used for following STT events and small-scale mixing phenomena in the free troposphere, and for providing sequences of vertical ozone profiles in the free troposphere. Keywords. Atmospheric composition and structure (Evolution of the atmosphere; Instruments and techniques) – Meteorology and atmospheric dynamics (Middle atmosphere dynamics; Turbulence)