SIR,-A vein of rich irony suffuses the leading article by Dr John Strang and colleagues. They define those who differ from them as polar opposites and then set themselves up as arbiters even though they are the protagonists who have created the polarisation. No responsible source has advocated maintenance for all, nor indeed do drug takers want that.' Where is there evidence that those who do prescribe maintenance do not also offer detoxification, withdrawal, or a host of other alternatives? The authors' assertions about the "passionate preaching of zealots" also miss the point completely. Most drug users do not see themselves as in need of "treatment" any more than most tobacco users do (J H Willis, Royal College of Psychiatrists meeting, 1986) and the question is how to deal with this majority of drug users and their effects on society. Dr Strang and Professor Ghodse themselves inveigh against prohibition in the latest report ofthe Royal College of Psychiatrists,2 3 but if prohibition is ended, as they imply, how are drugs to he. controlled? The empirical picture of drug use demands flexible, pragmatic management. To remain empirical, rigorous evaluation is essential and in the Mersey region this has been carried out.3 Of a sample of 1019 patients, 9% receive maintenance prescriptions of injectable drugs and a further 25% receive syrup of methadone, subject to dissuasion, health care, advice, and counselling; 51% get no drugs at all. Further studies will judge the outcome of these policies. This is far from "all get maintenance." In contrast, the 55 drug users in Strang's quoted study continued breaking the law and risking their own and others' health using dangerously adulterated illicit drugs, from which only criminals profit. That some patients moderate their habits is the natural history of drug use, but even greater positive findings without the attendant risks can be achieved with maintenance-for example, of Dally's cases all but four reduced their dose and none increased their dose.4 The drug takers in the study by Gossop et al, who agreed to admission for three weeks in a psychiatric unit, were a highly selected group and unrepresentative ofdrug takers as a whole. Furthermore, they were studied an average of 11 years after they started taking drugs. This suggests they were probably nearing the end of the "addictive set"5 and may have got better in spite of treatment not because of it. Even so, seven of the 57 failed to complete the inpatient programme, and only 12 of the 57 were drug free at six months and we do not know what has happened to these 12 since. This is better than the spontaneous remission rate of 5% per year but poor considering this was a highly motivated group, ready to give


As the average age of the population has increased, the incidence of age-related bone fracture has also increased. While some of the increase of fracture incidence with age is related to loss of bone mass, a significant part of the risk is unexplained and may be caused by changes in intrinsic material properties of the hard tissue. This investigation focused on understanding how changes to the intrinsic damage properties affect bone fragility. We hypothesized that the intrinsic (μm) damage properties of bone tissue strongly and nonlinearly affect mechanical behavior at the apparent (whole tissue, cm) level. The importance of intrinsic properties on the apparent level behavior of trabecular bone tissue was investigated using voxel based finite element analysis. Trabecular bone cores from human T12 vertebrae were scanned using microcomputed tomography (μCT) and the images used to build nonlinear finite element models. Isotropic and initially homogenous material properties were used for all elements. The elastic modulus (E(i)) of individual elements was reduced with a secant damage rule relating only principal tensile tissue strain to modulus damage. Apparent level resistance to fracture as a function of changes in the intrinsic damage properties was measured using the mechanical energy to failure per unit volume (apparent toughness modulus, W(a)) and the apparent yield strength (σ(ay), calculated using the 0.2% offset). Intrinsic damage properties had a profound nonlinear effect on the apparent tissue level mechanical response. Intrinsic level failure occurs prior to apparent yield strength (σ(ay)). Apparent yield strength (σ(ay)) and toughness vary strongly (1200% and 400%, respectively) with relatively small changes in the intrinsic damage behavior. The range of apparent maximum stresses predicted by the models was consistent with those measured experimentally for these trabecular bone cores from the experimental axial compressive loading (experimental: σ(max) = 3.0-4.3 MPa; modeling: σ(max) = 2-16 MPa). This finding differs significantly from previous studies based on nondamaging intrinsic material models. Further observations were that this intrinsic damage model reproduced important experimental apparent level behaviors including softening after peak load, microdamage accumulation before apparent yield (0.2% offset), unload softening, and sensitivity of the apparent level mechanical properties to variability of the intrinsic properties.


The objective of this research was to assess the heavy metal concentration in sediments from the Capibaribe river estuary located in Recife City (Pernambuco, Brazil). Sampling was carried out in the rainy and dry seasons in six fixed stations along the river estuary during the rainy/2002 and dry/2003 seasons. Superficial sediment samples were collected between 0 – 10 cm deep, during low tide. 14 traps were also used and the settled sediment collected 24 hours later. Dissolved oxygen, pH, salinity, temperature and water transparency data were obtained in the same stations. To quantify cadmium, cobalt, copper, chromium, iron, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc metals an Atomic Emission Spectrometer with Inductive Coupled Plasma (ICP-AES) method was used. No cobalt, lead or nickel were detected, all of them below the quantifying limit. The obtained results to both sediments and sedimentary material showed concentration levels above "background" indicating a high level of contamination in the study area. The pH, salinity, temperature and water transparency parameters results are as expected to estuarine areas. The dissolved oxygen content indicated that pollution is threatening the water quality in the area studied.


The environmental impact of wind power plants over their life cycle is divided into three stages: construction period, operation period and retired period. The impact is mainly reflected in ecological destruction, noise pollution, water pollution and the effect on bird migration. In response to these environmental effects, suggesting reasonable locations, reducing plant footprint, optimizing construction programs, shielding noise, preventing pollution of terrestrial ecosystems, implementing combined optical and acoustical early warning signals, making synthesized use of power generation equipment in the post-retired period and using other specific measures, including methods involving governance and protection efforts to reduce environmental pollution, can be performed to achieve sustainable development.


Parliamentarians have an incessant need for timely, authoritative, and current information because of the enormous social responsibility bestowed on them by the electorates or society. A strong information accessibility that empowers them to fulfill this responsibility effectively is therefore very significant. Essentially and traditionally, parliamentary libraries are expected to provide legislators with most of the information they need. The study aimed at determining the information sources, service and systems used in South Africa by the parliamentarians, and also to investigate the role of the parliamentary libraries in the information provision process. A survey was conducted by use of questionnaires targeting all parliamentarians in South Africa and a response rate of 23% (167) was received. This study has revealed that parliamentary libraries are underutilized because parliamentarians use other equally competing information sources largely accessed through the internet. Further, South Africa has enormous information sources and services that legislators can access and exploit and the use of electronic sources of information is growing rapidly, almost reaching the level of use of print sources. Unexpectedly, oral sources of information are used less. Parliamentary libraries have a potential to offer a variety of services to parliamentarians, yet they are not well-utilized, perhaps because of reasons such as poor marketing and innovative information services. Wilson's model on information seeking has been extended by a new model proposing and explaining information-seeking strategies popular to parliamentarians in South Africa.


The effects of a novel phosphorothionate (RPR‐V) synthesized at Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, was studied using three sub‐chronic doses of 0.033 (low), 0.066 (medium) and 0.099 (high) mg kg−1 in male and female rats for a period of 90 days. This long term and repeated treatment of RPR‐V revealed that the membrane bound target enzymes Aspartate aminotransferase and Alanine aminotransferase increased significantly in serum and kidney, whereas these enzymes significantly decreased in liver and lung tissues when measured after 45 and 90 days of treatment. This compound also caused significant inhibition of RBC Acetylcholinesterase, target enzyme of organophosphorus compounds revealing its effect on normal synaptic transmission. Two way Anova studies disclosed that the alterations were mostly dose and time dependent, sexual dimorphism was not observed when the activities of male rats were compared with female rats. Enzyme recoveries were recorded after 28 days of post treatment, high degree positive correlation was observed with regard to these enzymes between serum versus kidney, whereas in case of serum versus liver and lung tissues high degree negative correlation was recorded. These enzyme profiles elucidates that they increased in serum but they decreased significantly in liver and lung indicating necrosis of these tissues. However, in case of kidney the level of these enzymes increased significantly with parallel to serum, which is suggestive of an increase synthesis of these enzymes, may be an adaptive mechanism due to the stress of the toxicant. These biomarker enzymes can be detected rapidly and hence may be used for the prediction and diagnosis of pesticide insults.


Objectives: To evaluate deleterious impact of novel coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID-19), on both maternal and fetal well being during pregnancy. Study Design: Hospital-Based Cross-sectional Survey. Setting: Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics, Combined Military Hospital, Chiltan Road, Quetta (Balochistan); Department of Gynecology & Obstetrics, Frontier Corps Hospital, Quetta Cantonment (Balochistan), and the Department of Otorhinolaryngology (ENT), Combined Military Hospital, Chiltan Road, Quetta (Balochistan). Period: March 2020 till July 2020. Material & Methods: Careful history, clinical and obstetrical examination radiology and real time polymerase chain reaction of nasopharyngeal swab were carried out in pregnant patients presenting for childbirth. Deliveries were conducted through spontaneous vaginal birth and caesarean section as per indication. Neonatal evaluation and nasopharyngeal swab for COVID-19 real time polymerase chain reaction in all delivered fetuses were performed. Results: 516 pregnant women underwent spontaneous vaginal delivery and caesarean sections at these hospitals during the study duration. 4.06% (n=21) were confirmed as COVID-19 infected. All of the fetuses born to these infected mothers were delivered healthy and COVID-19 negative, except for one preterm fetus born at 22nd week of gestation on account of maternal gestational hypertension. Conclusion: Trans-placental spread of COVID-19 infection to the fetus is unlikely. However, the infection places a pregnant mother at much higher risk to develop complications which may occasionally lead to adverse pregnancy outcome.


The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of two different ratios of Fe-EDDHA chelated fertilizers, (F1:4.8% and F2:6%) having the same amount of 6% soluble Fe content, on dry matter production and Fe uptake of tomato seedlings at different growth periods and Fe forms of a calcareous soil. The experiment was conducted in a factorial experimental design using Fe-EDDHA chelated fertilizers and the plant growth periods (10, 20, 30 and 40 days after seedling) with three replicates under the greenhouse conditions. The results indicated that the dry matter content, Fe uptake, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, total chlorophyll and carotenoid contents in plants generally increased over the control with increasing the growth periods. The plant dry matter contents were higher in F1 than F2 fertilization. The plant Fe uptakes in F1 treatment during the growth periods were also higher than that in F2 treatment. The carotenoid content and the chlorophyll formations in terms of both chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b were higher in F2 fertilization at the 20th day and higher in F1 fertilization at the 40th day. The DTPA-Fe and exchangeable-Fe contents in soil samples generally decreased while the organically bounded-Fe content in soil samples increased with increasing growth periods. It can be suggested that 4,8% of Fe-EDDHA fertilizer is more effective on Fe uptake when compared with 6% of Fe-EDDHA chelated Fe fertilizer. Therefore, F1 fertilizer can be used when chlorosis is seen on plants in calcareous soils. On the other hand, F2 fertilizer can be used if long-term Fe fertilization is desired. The differences in effectiveness between Fe-EDDHA chelated fertilizers having the same amount of water-soluble Fe content may be occurred due to differences in their chelating formulas.


Abstract Context Peucedanol is a major extract of Peucedanum japonicum Thunb. (Apiaceae) roots, which is a commonly used herb in paediatrics. Its interaction with cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYP450s) would lead to adverse effects or even failure of therapy. Objective The interaction between peucedanol and CYP450s was investigated. Materials and methods Peucedanol (0, 2.5, 5, 10, 25, 50, and 100 μM) was incubated with eight human liver CYP isoforms (CYP1A2, 2A6, 3A4, 2C8, 2C9, 2C19, 2D6, and 2E1), in pooled human liver microsomes (HLMs) for 30 min with specific inhibitors as positive controls and untreated HLMs as negative controls. The enzyme kinetics and time-dependent study (0, 5, 10, 15, and 30 min) were performed to obtain corresponding parameters in vitro. Results Peucedanol significantly inhibited the activity of CYP1A2, 2D6, and 3A4 in a dose-dependent manner with IC50 values of 6.03, 13.57, and 7.58 μM, respectively. Peucedanol served as a non-competitive inhibitor of CYP3A4 with a Ki value of 4.07 μM and a competitive inhibitor of CYP1A2 and 2D6 with a Ki values of 3.39 and 6.77 μM, respectively. Moreover, the inhibition of CYP3A4 was time-dependent with the Ki /Kinact value of 5.44/0.046 min/μM. Discussion and conclusions In vitro inhibitory effect of peucedanol on the activity of CYP1A2, 2A6, and 3A4 was reported in this study. As these CYPs are involved in the metabolism of various drugs, these results implied potential drug-drug interactions between peucedanol and drugs metabolized by CYP1A2, 2D6, and 3A4, which needs further in vivo validation.


OBJECT
Leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions may play a role in the development of cerebral vasospasm after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) because the extravasation of circulating leukocytes into the periadventitial space within 24 hours after the hemorrhage appears to be a critical event in this process. Ibuprofen is an antiinflammatory agent that inhibits the expression of specific cell adhesion molecules and, consequently, disrupts leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions. The authors investigated the efficacy of ibuprofen delivered locally from controlled-release polymers in the rabbit basilar artery (BA) model of cerebral vasospasm.

METHODS
Ibuprofen was incorporated into controlled-release ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVAc) constituting 45% of the resulting polymer by weight. Fifty-four New Zealand White rabbits were randomized to 10 groups: sham operation (seven animals); SAH only (seven animals); and SAH plus either empty EVAc or ibuprofen-EVAc polymer at 30 minutes or 6, 12, or 24 hours (five animals per group; 40 total). The rabbits were killed 72 hours after induction of SAH, at the time of maximal vasospasm. The efficacy of ibuprofen in preventing vasospasm was assessed by measuring lumen patency of the rabbit's BAs. The intracranial controlled release of ibuprofen resulted in a significant inhibition of vasospasm when treatment was initiated at 30 minutes (patency 92.3 +/- 5.1% compared with 52.1 +/- 5.1% in animals given empty EVAc; p < 0.001) and 6 hours (patency 69.5 +/- 3.5% compared with 47.2 +/- 1.5% in animals given empty EVAc; p < 0.03) after blood deposition compared with treatment with empty EVAc. No effect was observed when treatment was begun at either 12 or 24 hours.

CONCLUSIONS
Local intracranial delivery of ibuprofen accomplished using controlled-release polymers prevents vasospasm in the rabbit BA model of vasospasm when administered within 6 hours after blood exposure.


This paper presents two low-area designs for the advanced encryption standard on field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Both these designs are believed to be the smallest to date. The first design is an 8-bit application-specific instruction processor, which supports key expansion (currently programmed for a 128-bit key), encipher and decipher. The design utilizes less than 60% of the resources of the smallest available Xilinx Spartan II FPGA (XC2S15). The average encipher-decipher throughput is 2.1 Mbps when clocked at 70 MHz. The design has numerous applications where low area and low power are priorities. The second design, using the Xilinx PicoBlaze soft core is included to provide an embedded 8-bit microcontroller comparison baseline.


The present paper aims to assess the effect of various additives on the compressive strength of inorganic polymers (geopolymers) synthesised using low Ca electric arc ferronickel slag and alkali activating solutions. The main operating parameters include pre-curing (48 hours), temperature (40 to 80 C), heating time (24 or 48 h) and aging period (7 days). Addition of kaolinite, pozzolan, fly ash, red mud or CaO in the initial mixture has a detrimental effect on the final compressive strength. Addition of pulverised silica sand improves strength slightly, whereas addition of commercial glass results in strength values exceeding 60 MPa. XRD analysis was carried out to identify new formed phases and the degree of amorphicity, while SEM and element mapping analysis were used to identify the morphology of the final products as well as to elucidate to a certain degree the mechanisms involved in inorganic polymer synthesis.


Platelet-activating factor (PAF) is a postulated mediator of many of the early hemodynamic effects of endotoxin. The aim of the present study was to determine whether in vivo administration of PAF could produce alterations in whole-body glucose metabolism that would mimic those seen during endotoxemia. Glucose kinetics were assessed in chronically catheterized conscious rats by the constant infusion of [6-3H]- and [U-14C]glucose before and for 4 h after either a bolus injection (300 ng/kg) or a constant infusion (20 or 220 ng.min-1.kg-1) of PAF. The bolus injection of PAF produced a 30% decrease in blood pressure by 5 min that returned to control levels by 30 min. Increased plasma glucose (40%) and lactate (150%) levels after injection of PAF were also transient. In contrast, the bolus injection of PAF elevated the rate of glucose appearance (Ra; 44%) for 1.5 h. The lower PAF infusion rate decreased blood pressure 11% to 104 mmHg, whereas the higher infusion rate decreased pressure 34% to 77 mmHg. Both PAF infusion rates produced elevations in plasma glucose (28, 150%) and glucose Ra (20, 60%) throughout the 4-h infusion period in a dose-related manner. The PAF infusions also induced dose-related increases in plasma glucagon and catecholamine levels throughout the infusion period. In a separate group of experiments a complete adrenergic blockade, produced by the constant infusion of propranolol and phentolamine, completely prevented PAF-induced increases in glucose kinetics and the hyperglucagonemia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


SUMMARY: A quantitative survey has been made of conidiation mutants in Aspergillus nidulans. Conidiation mutants were 6 to 13 times more numerous than auxotrophic mutants, but growth tests showed that the mutant defect in 85% of the conidiation mutants was not confined to conidiation. The number of loci specifically involved in conidiation was estimated to be 45 to 150. Mutants were classified according to the stage of the developmental block and also into asporogenous and oligosporogenous types; 64% were oligosporogenous, but in further tests, 84% of the asporogenous mutants were found to be temperature sensitive or slightly leaky, suggesting that many of the loci involved act only as modifiers in conidiation. The largest group of mutants was blocked before conidiophore formation, while many others failed at ill-defined stages of conidiation, suggesting that failure was due to the gradual build-up of metabolic deficiencies. A class of conidial maturation mutants has also been identified.


Alternative splicing is a combinatorial mechanism by which exons are joined to produce multiple mRNA variants, thus expanding the coding potential and plasticity of eukaryotic genomes. Defects in alternative splicing regulation are associated with several human diseases, including cancer. Ewing sarcoma is an aggressive tumor of bone and soft tissue, mainly affecting adolescents and young adults. DHX9 is a key player in Ewing sarcoma malignancy, and its expression correlates with worse prognosis in patients. In this study, by screening a library of siRNAs, we have identified splicing factors that regulate the alternative inclusion of a poison exon in DHX9 mRNA, leading to its downregulation. In particular, we found that hnRNPM and SRSF3 bind in vivo to this poison exon and suppress its inclusion. Notably, DHX9 expression correlates with that of SRSF3 and hnRNPM in Ewing sarcoma patients. Furthermore, downregulation of SRSF3 or hnRNPM inhibited DHX9 expression and Ewing sarcoma cell proliferation, while sensitizing cells to chemotherapeutic treatment. Hence, our study suggests that inhibition of hnRNPM and SRSF3 expression or activity could be exploited as a therapeutic tool to enhance the efficacy of chemotherapy in Ewing sarcoma.


The biophysical machinery that permits a cell to sense substrate rigidity is poorly understood. Rigidity sensing of adherent cells likely involves traction forces applied through focal adhesions and measurement of resulting deformation. However, it is unclear if this measurement takes place underneath single focal adhesions, over local clusters of focal adhesions, or across the length of the entire cell. To address this question, we developed a composite, chip-based material containing many arrays of 6.5 μm × 6.5 μm rigid adhesive islands, with an edge-edge distance of 8 μm, grafted onto the surface of a non-adhesive polyacrylamide hydrogel. This material is thus rigid within single islands while long-range rigidity is determined by the hydrogel. On soft gels, most NIH 3T3 cells spread only across two islands in a given dimension forming small stress fibers and focal adhesions. On stiff gels, cell spreading, stress fibers, and focal adhesions were indistinguishable from those on regular culture surfaces. We conclude that rigidity sensing is dictated by material compliance across the cell length and that responses to rigidity may be inhibited at any point when large substrate strain is encountered during spreading. Our finding may serve as a guideline for the design of biomaterials for tissue engineering.


In this paper we study conditions under which a free minimal Z d-action on the Cantor set is a topological extension of the action of d rotations, either on the product T d of d 1-tori or on a single 1-torus T 1. We extend the notion of linearly recurrent systems defined for Z-actions on the Cantor set to Z d-actions and we derive in this more general setting, a necessary and sufficient condition, which involves natural combinatorial data associated with the action, allowing the existence of a rotation topological factor of one these two types.


In this review, I describe how economists have moved beyond the firm as a black box to incorporate incentives, internal organization, and firm boundaries. I then turn to the way that the theory of the firm is treated in Daniel Spulber's book The Theory of the Firm: Microeconomics with Endogenous Entrepreneurs, Firms, Markets, and Organizations . Spulber's goal is to explain why firms exist, how they are established, and what they contribute to the economy. To accomplish this, Spulber defines a firm to be a transaction institution whose objectives differ from those of its owners. For Spulber, this separation is the key difference between the firm and direct exchange between consumers. I raise questions about whether this is a useful basis for a theory of the firm. (JEL D21)


Fast surface reorientation induced by a single 4-ns low-energy laser pulse in dye-doped liquid crystals is reported. The reorientation is due to light-induced modification of the surface anisotropy, which affects the liquid crystal's director through the appearance of a preferred direction on the irradiated surface. The detected signals can be interpreted as being the result of light-induced desorption and adsorption of dye molecules.


The homologous series of 4-cyano-4'-phenyl-phenol-alkanoates (nCOOCB) was studied under the influence of terahertz (THz) frequency range. The nCOOCB series has a re-entrant nematic phase, which is suitable for electro-optical properties under the THz frequency. The birefringence and order parameter expresses the twisting of the nematic phase at the higher frequency range. The director angle has fluctuated at a higher frequency range. The refractive index has remained constant at a higher frequency. The ionisation potential, electron affinity and Homo-Lumo energy gap continuously decrease with an extension of alkyl chain length; however, the dipole moment increases. The Homo-Lumo energy bandgap is reciprocal to the dipole moment.


This article explores why, how and to what extent two non-government organizations working with asylum seekers in the Netherlands engage in the detection of jihadism. It concludes that the organizations acknowledge the importance of sharing possible signs of jihadism with relevant governmental actors, but struggle in striking a balance between serving the interests of their clients and pupils, on the one hand, and assisting in identifying possible national security threats, on the other hand. The authors recommend a systematic study on the extent to which non-government actors (are willing to) engage in identifying jihadism amongst asylum seekers.


Human identification is critical to the field of forensic science as well as in many sub-disciplines, including forensic odontology. While few widely-accepted methods of identification dominate the discipline (primarily fingerprint and dental record analysis), the study of palatal rugae patterns (rugoscopy) is an emerging tool in human identification. Some studies suggest that patterns of the palatal rugae are an individualizing characteristic among humans. While the use of rugoscopy for identification has been explored as an identifying marker in the dental and orthodontic communities, its use for forensic applications is not widely recognized. Also, while some literature is available about global populations, American studies of palatal rugae are quite limited. In this research, multiple palatal rugae patterns were examined and classified, and attempts were undertaken to individualize the patterns observed. Using 76 images of palatal rugae patterns (including 60 images of dental casts and 16 intraoral images), the rugoscopic identity was calculated for each set of patterns and affirmed the individualizing nature of palatal rugae patterns. Additionally, a new, forensically-focused classification system was proposed using shape, length, and number of rugae as parameters. This research also investigated intraoral imaging and the creation of alginate impression records to determine the most optimal method for saving palatal rugae patterns from unidentified human remains (UHR) for further analysis. It may be concluded that palatal rugae patterns can be used for postmortem forensic identification in addition to existing methods, or as a substitute when such other methods may not be viable or available to establish human identity.


Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally altered experiences of space and engendered new spatial design tactics. This article discusses DIY pandemic design tactics used by U.S. microbusinesses to reshape embodied experiences of interior retail spaces, in relation to contemporary artworks. Over the course of the pandemic, large corporations developed standardized, mass-produced designs for pandemic wayfinding and interior demarcation. In contrast, many microbusinesses used DIY pandemic design tactics having formal qualities and phenomenological implications that resemble precedents in contemporary art. Although pandemic safety protocols could be seen as a form of social control, this article depicts their visualization in graphics and barriers as acts for reshaping collective space and as endangered forms of local, non-homogenized design.


Turnitin plagiarism detection software became available to all staff at the University of Kent the beginning of the 2006/7 academic year. In response to this , UELT prepared guidelines for staff on how to use Turnitin formatively rather than as a plagiarism policing agent. In addition, extensive web resources on avoiding plagiarism were made available to staff and students. It was anticipated that the guidelines and web resources coupled with tutor support in class would facilitate student understandings of plagiarism, referencing and the development of writing skills. Turnitin was specifically trialled in two classes of students, with interviews of staff and students on their experience of Turnitin and how it influenced their academic writing. Staff concluded that Turnitin and specific in-class support significantly deterred plagiarism while students supported the use of Turnitin and felt that it helped them understand the actual process of integrating references into their own work.


Ralf Brand and Andrew Karvonen (The ecosystem of expertise: complementary knowledges for sustainable development. Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy, 3(1), pp 21–31, Spring 2007) suggest that sustainability poses challenges to the discourse of technical experts and that many existing models do not fit with traditional disciplinary boundaries. In this context, the education of engineers and scientists in sustainability literacy has to be regarded afresh. Brand and Karvonen argue for the development of 'meta-experts' who have '... a clear understanding of what specific disciplines can and cannot contribute to problems of sustainability.' Our own approach arose from a concern for developing graduates to tackle and ameliorate global issues, many of which might be deemed as problems of sustainability and all of which might be considered as 'wicked'. To that end, higher education has to be seen as inter-disciplinary, student-centred and problem-based. As part of the development of these ideas, we obtained funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering to design and run a pilot module on sustainable development for engineers and scientists. This paper looks at the curriculum design process, the development of the case studies used, the mode of assessment (including the use of modified essay questions) and the way in which the programme was received by students and facilitators. The mode of delivery was essentially that of problem-based learning and small groups, drawn from across one science and three engineering programmes, were each facilitated by a post-doctoral researcher who was specially trained for the task. The students undertook a readiness for inter-professional learning questionnaire, a learning styles questionnaire and a self-evaluation questionnaire both in the initial stages and at the end of the pilot programme and these have formed part of the evaluation. The principal means of evaluation, however, has been through a nominal group process, both for students and for facilitators. The results of these evaluations form the final part of the paper.


In the past few years, technology breakthroughs have made Augmented Reality (AR) applications more user friendly and accessible than ever. New AR technologies show great promise and potential to influence and enhance the activities related to a wide range of areas, such as education, military industry, entertainment, sports or medicine and surgical training. In complementarity with Virtual Reality, AR is now considered to be the future of human-computer interaction, by revolutionizing the way information is presented and transforming the surroundings into one broad user interface.

In particular, AR systems will soon play an important role in communication and collaboration, creating innovative collaborative environments that allow multiple users to interact simultaneously. Hybrid interfaces that combine AR technology with existing telecommunication techniques provide immense power and freedom in multi-participant settings where the physical and virtual worlds blend perfectly and form a mixed reality. Their main objectives are to improve the cooperation through augmented face-to-face interactions, to enrich the remote collaboration by virtually co-locating the participants and to augment physical spaces with new modalities of interaction between people. Using latest AR technologies, applications can provide unique collaborative experiences for all domains, supporting new means of communication and socialization and making working together very effective.

This paper aims to present a survey on collaborative augmented reality and its potential in various contexts. It thoroughly reviews existing collaborative AR systems in areas like those mentioned above, identifying their accomplishments as well as limitations, and highlighting the most recent discoveries and future trends in the field.


Hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol, and aqueous extracts of Ranunculus marginatus d'Urv. var. trachycarpus (Fisch. & Mey.) Azn. and R. sprunerianus Boiss. were tested in vitro for their antioxidant and antibacterial activities. Antioxidant activity of the extracts was determined by DPPH radical scavenging and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assays. Methanol extracts showed the highest antioxidant activity in both assays. The total phenolics in the extracts were determined colorimetrically by using the Folin-Ciocalteau reagent. The total flavonoid content of the extracts was evaluated by a spectrophotometric method. The results obtained in the antioxidant activity tests were in positive correlation with the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the extracts. An antibacterial activity analysis was carried out using paper disk diffusion and micro-well dilution techniques. All of the extracts displayed antibacterial activity against the tested bacteria in the disk diffusion method. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of all the extracts of both Ranunculus species were found to be between 128 and 256 μg/mL.


Purpose: presentation of a clinical case of an idiopathic macular hole (IMH) recurrence after its successful closure augmented with platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and the results of repeated surgical treatment.Methods. The patient underwent clinical examination and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the retina before and after surgical treatment. А 2-stage surgical treatment of the left eye with an interval of 7 days: phacoemulsification (PE) followed by microinvasive vitrectomy with Internal limiting membrane peeling (ILM) and closure with the use of PRP. The patient was discharged with improved visual acuity and closure of the macular hole (MH). After 2 weeks vision deterioration was noted by the patient in the operated eye. Clinical examination revealed macular edema (ME) and recurrence of MH. Topical steroid eye drops were used to no avail, with increase of ME and MH via OCT control. Revision of the vitreal cavity augmented with PRP was performed.Results. In follow-up a complete closure of the MH, resolution of ME and improvement in visual acuity after repeated surgery was confirmed.Conclusions. A case of recurrent MH after primary closure with PRP is described. The case suggests a possibility of clinical improvement after repeated MH closure augmented with PRP. The causes and mechanisms of the recurrence of MH are still not clear. Despite the positive results of surgery subsequent OCT retina examination is necessary.


We use GARCH(1,1), EGARCH and MIDAS regression to forecast weekly and monthly conditional variance of the OMXS30 equity index and USD/SEK exchange rate. Forecasts are compared with realized volatility and accuracy is evaluated using a Quasi-likelihood loss function and Diebold Mariano test. We estimate normal and t-distributed Value at Risk using forecasted conditional variances and evaluate these estimates using Likelihood Ratio tests for unconditional coverage and temporal independence. We show that MIDAS regression outperforms both GARCH-class models in forecast accuracy, while the difference between GARCH(1,1) and EGARCH varies between data and frequency. Findings suggest that GARCH-class models underestimate conditional variance and react slowly to shocks, producing temporally dependent Value at Risk exceptions for some data. The superiority of MIDAS regression in the variance forecasting problem has implications for option pricing and risk management in the financial sector.


Cheburashka, a toolset created in the Radio Frequency Group at CERN, has become an essential part of our hardware and software developments. Due to changing requirements, this toolset has been recently rewritten in C++ and Python. A hardware developer, using the graphical editor, defines a memory map, which is subsequently used to ensure consistency between software and hardware. The memory map file is an input for a variety of tools used by the hardware engineers, such as VHDL code generators. In addition to aiding the firmware development, our tools generate C++ wrapper libraries. The wrapper provides a simple interface on top of a Linux device driver to read and write registers by exposing memory map nodes in a hierarchical way, performing all low-level bit manipulations and checks internally. To interact with the hardware, a software that runs on a front-end computer is needed. Cheburashka allows us to generate FESA (Front-End Software Architecture) classes with parts of the operational interface already present. This paper describes the evolution of the graphical editor and the Python tools used for C++ code generation, along with a description of their main features.


Abstract This study explored experiences with functional vision changes resulting from adult-onset vision conditions. The impact of glare, light-to-dark adaptation, depth perception, night blindness, and contrast sensitivity are examined for the way participants perceive their effects on willingness to engage in independent travel. Two interviews were conducted with 13 participants. These consisted of structured and semi-structured, open-ended questions to determine the impact of functional vision changes on mobility and pedestrian travel. Qualitative, open and a priori coding was used to derive themes and categories for the most significant functional vision considerations among participants. This study revealed changes in functional vision impact participants' perceived safety and were of concern when considering independent travel. Orientation and mobility (O&M) services were denied to some participants who had surrendered driving privileges and were considered vision impaired, but not legally blind, even though issues with functional vision impacted safer travel. The impact of functional vision changes on individuals with adult-onset vision impairment was found to affect participant mobility. Agencies serving this population can provide clients with safer travel options when all functional vision changes are considered beyond acuity and field of vision loss.


Background Syphilis infections increase spread of HIV. This pilot study investigated the feasibility of conducting a large, randomised trial to determine whether prophylactic doxycycline can reduce incident syphilis among HIV+ men who have sex with men having two or more syphilis infections since HIV diagnosis. Methods Thirty subjects from the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center were randomised to doxycycline 100 mg daily (Doxy) or Contingency Management (CM). Behavioral and biomedical measurements were taken at baseline, 12, 24, 36 and 48 weeks. Binomial Random Effects Logistic Regression Models assessed changes in behavioural measurements and analysed STI contraction at follow-up visits. Fisher Exact Tests compared dropout rates. Given small sample size, an alpha level of 0.1 was chosen. Results Study retention did not differ significantly between groups: 12 and 11 subjects in the Doxy and CM groups, respectively, completed the 48 week study (Fisher Exact p-value = 1.0). On intent-to-treat basis 12 (80%), 11 (73.3%) and 11 (73.3%) subjects had detectable doxycycline levels at 12, 24, and 36 weeks, respectively. New STIs for Doxy vs. CM groups during 9 month on-drug study portion were: syphilis 2 vs. 6, Neisseria gonorrhoea 1 vs. 2, Chlamydia trachomatis 1 vs.3. CM subjects reported more condom use than Doxy subjects (p = 0.09), however CM group subjects had 3.47 greater odds (p-value = 0.037; CI: 1.09 – 11.03) for a new STI compared to Doxy group subjects. Behavioral outcomes for drug use (p = 0.91), anonymous partners (p = 0.45), and number of regular partners (p = 0.14) were not significantly different. Conclusion No safety concerns were associated with daily administration of doxycycline. High retention and drug adherence rates suggest this high risk population will participate in an effectiveness study using doxycycline to reduce syphilis incidence. Efficacy of doxycycline in decreasing incidence of STIs in this pilot study further justifies a definitive study.


The paper analyzed arc suppression coil with magnetic bias compensating system with linear system rules. The nonlinear and time-variable performances are considered during model building process. In order to optimize control effect, the paper adopted improved BP neural network PID controller with closed loop control method. Improve BP neural network with the combination of the two strategies, adding momentum method and adaptive learning rate adjustment, can not only effectively suppress the network appearing local minimum but also good to shorten learning time and improve stability of the network furthermore. The results of simulation and experiments indicate that arc suppression coil based on improved neural network with PID control method can quickly and accurately control the compensating capacitive current to an expected value and it has strong robustness. The paper also provided core controller with software and hardware designing scheme based on STM32 microcontroller.


This paper explores New Age interpretations of Joan of Arc, both as a fifteenth-century woman and as a spiritual being. The central focus is on messages believed to be from Joan (or "Jeanne"), channeled by Starla Hinman. I analyze the content and impact of these messages, and conclude that a new archetype of Joan has emerged—as a woman of the future who can positively transform the world. Additionally, I discuss five ways in which spiritual seekers perceive Joan today: as a mystic, an ascended master, a personification of the divine feminine, a torch-bearer of the Holy Grail, and the embodiment of Michaelic and Marian essences


This paper describes an interaction metric for analysis and design of decentralized control systems. The interaction metric is based on the Perron root of nonnegative matrices and is used to derive stability bounds for decentralized control systems. Based on the interaction metric decentralized pre-filter design to minimize interaction is addressed. A practical application is chosen to demonstrate the applicability of the interaction metric and pre-filter design.


Speech recognition involves generating sequences of words that match what is being said in recordings of speech. In recent years, machine learning techniques are increasingly being used in speech recognition mainly due to the widespread availability of training data and the decrease in cost related to large scale computation resources. These two factors made feasible the use of a powerful machine learning technique - deep learning - to create end-to-end speech recognition systems. This, compared to classical methods used in this field, does not require an extensive knowledge of phonetics. When listening to any kind of speech, humans use prior knowledge about the topic (politics, medicine, sports, etc.) of the speech for better understanding. In contrast, speech recognition systems do not usually use this prior knowledge. The use of contextual information to improve an automatic speech recognition system is explored in this thesis. The output of this thesis will be used by the company Vilynx to transcribe speech from videos that, among others, contain general, sport, and entertainment news. Contextual information is extracted from the video title and video description.


Luminogens exhibiting aggregation-induced-emission characteristics (AIEgens) have been designed as sensitive biosensors thanks to their "turn-on" fluorescence upon target binding. However, their AIE mechanism in biomolecules remains elusive except for the qualitative picture of restricted intramolecular motions. In this work, we employed ab initio simulations to investigate the AIE mechanism of two tetraphenylethylene derivatives recently developed for sensitive detection of human serum albumin (HSA) in biological fluids. For the first time, we quantified the ab initio free energy surfaces and kinetics of AIEgens to access the conical intersections on the excited state in the protein and aqueous solution, using a novel first-principles electronic structure method that incorporates both static and dynamic electron correlations. Our simulations accurately reproduce the experimental spectra and high-level correlated electronic structure calculations. We found that in HSA the internal conversion through the cyclization reaction is preferred over the isomerization around the central ethylenic double bond, whereas in the aqueous solution the reverse is true. Accordingly, the protein environment is able to moderately speed up certain non-radiative decay pathways, a new finding that is beyond the prediction of the existing model of restricted access to a conical intersection (RACI). As such, our findings highlight the complicated effects of the protein confinement on the competing non-radiative decay channels, which has been largely ignored so far, and extend the existing theories of AIE to biological systems. The new insights and the multiscale computational methods used in this work will aid the design of sensitive AIEgens for bioimaging and disease diagnosis.


Inteins are mobile genetic elements capable of self-splicing post-translationally. They exist in all three domains of life including in viruses and bacteriophage, where they have a sporadic distribution even among very closely related species. In this review, we address this anomalous distribution from the point of view of the evolution of the host species as well as the intrinsic features of the inteins that contribute to their genetic mobility. We also discuss the incidence of inteins in functionally important sites of their host proteins. Finally, we describe instances of conditional protein splicing. These latter observations lead us to the hypothesis that some inteins have adapted to become sensors that play regulatory roles within their host protein, to the advantage of the organism in which they reside.


A 78-year-old woman presented with involuntary movements of her abdomen, which started after a right hemispheric stroke. She had irregular, variable, hyperkinetic predominantly right-sided abdominal wall movements. MR scan of brain confirmed a recent infarct in the right occipitotemporal lobe and the right cerebellum. Diaphragmatic fluoroscopy confirmed high-frequency flutter as the cause of her abdominal movements and confirmed the diagnosis of van Leeuwenhoek's disease. Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek first described this condition in 1723 and had the condition himself. He was a Dutch businessman who is often acknowledged as the first microscopist and microbiologist. He disagreed with his physician who attributed his ailment as being of cardiac origin. Diaphragmatic flutter is a rare disorder that requires a high index of suspicion with symptoms including abnormal abdominal wall movements, dyspnoea and respiratory distress. Despite medical treatment, the patient was still highly symptomatic, so she is currently being considered for a phrenic nerve crush.


AIM
To establish a new method capillary electrophoretic immunoassay laser-induced fluorescence (CEIA-LIF), to detect IFN-gamma level in single CD8(+) T cell.

METHODS
CD8(+) T cells were isolated from peripheral blood of two patients with severe aplastic anemia(SAA) and one normal person by Ficoll-Hypaque gradient centrifugation and then were purified by immunomagnetic microbead separation. Then purified CD8(+) T cells were incubated with digitonin for 15 min followed by FITC-anti-IFN-gamma mAb for 20 min. The single cell was detected continuously by CEIA-LIF. The feasibility of the method was confirmed by inverted microscopy and laser scanning confocal fluorescence microscopy.

RESULTS
The IFN-gamma content in purified CD8(+) T cells was detected under the condition of cell-membrane integrity. The IFN-gamma level in single CD8(+) T cell from 2 SAA patients was (151.53+/-28.92)zmol and (223.72+/-45.23)zmol, respectively, and much higher that from normal control (47.47+/-17.97)zmol ( P=0.001).

CONCLUSION
It is feasible to quantitate IFN-gamma in single CD8(+) T cell by CEIA-LIF. CEIA-LIF might be useful in the clinical detection of intracellular cytokines.


In humans, the left hemisphere of the brain has a predominant role in the production and comprehension of speech and the right hemisphere in the perception of prosody and emotional content. The laterality for the production of learned song observed in a number of passerine birds is reminiscent of this hemispheric dominance. But we only have few data on perceptual aspects of laterality. The goal of our study was to determine whether song perception is also lateralized. Multiunit recordings were used to test the hemispheric dominance in song perception in six adult male starlings caught in the wild. Neuronal responses to species-specific and nonspecific sounds were recorded in the field L of each hemisphere. In all the birds, there was a slight difference of selectivity between the two hemispheres and a marked difference of activity : neuronal activity during the presentation of species-specific stimuli was systematically stronger in one hemisphere than in the other. On the contrary, this difference of activity did not or hardly existed during the presentation of nonspecific stimuli. Hence, in all the starlings, one of the two hemispheres seemed to process preferentially conspecific sounds. Although we do not know which factors determine this hemispheric dominance nor the nature of this phenomenon, the observation of functional asymmetry is real. Our results suggest that the two hemispheres of starlings perceive and process conspecific signals differently. They add to the many parallels between the avian and human systems that have become paradigmatic of vocal communication.


Partial least-squares (PLS) regression analysis was used to build calibration models for three unique spectral data sets of glucose in water. Spectra in the first data set were collected with a 2.0 mm optical pathlength. For these data, the measured root-mean-square (rms) noise of 100% lines over the 5975-5850 cm−1 spectral range was 4.5 micro-absorbance units (μAU). Spectrometer upgrades permitted a 5.2 mm optical pathlength for the second data set, and the resulting spectra had an rms noise of 5.9 μAU. Further spectrometer adjustments allowed the use of a 10.0 mm optical pathlength for the third data set, and the resulting spectral rms noise was 8.4 μAU. In each case, the instrumentation was modified individually in order to provide high radiant powers at the detector while avoiding detector saturation. Poor calibration models for the first data set indicate that a 2.0 mm optical pathlength is insufficient for adequate glucose measurements at clinically relevant concentrations. Calibration and prediction errors for the data collected at 5.2 and 10.0 mm pathlengths ranged from 0.40–0.50 and 0.35–0.40 mM, respectively. Digital Fourier filtering significantly improved model performance by reducing the required number of latent variables (factors) in the PLS models and by reducing the wavelength dependency of these models. For the best calibration model, spectra in the data set corresponding to a 10.0 mm pathlength were Fourier filtered with a Gaussian-shaped filter defined in digital frequency units (f) by a mean position of 0.0206 f and a standard deviation width of 0.0031 f. These filtered spectra were then submitted to a one-factor PLS model that is limited to the 5975-5850 cm−1 spectral range. Consideration of different spectral ranges and an analysis of spectral loading vectors indicate that the 5920 cm−1 absorption band for glucose is critical for useful analytical measurements.


As a working class, black, male, who is the son of immigrants who travelled from the Caribbean with the Windrush Generation, I often feel at odds with my psychotherapy profession, dominated as it is by middle class, white, women, who typically have a British family line flowing back generations. My sense of otherness is with me throughout my working day, in my psychotherapy practice, as I sit with a diverse range of clients within the complex context of contemporary 'multicultural' Britain. The sense of 'the other', the sense of myself as 'other' impacts on, and to some degree constitutes therapeutic relationality. Within most styles of psychotherapy difference is mainly understood in terms of the acknowledgement of the various categories, consideration of power imbalances, which we try as therapists to work with, work around, work through. But I am a transpersonal psychotherapist, and within this modality, there is very little consideration of 'difference', or otherness, except to highlight the apparent universality of us all. In this paper, we will explore ways of carving out a space within transpersonal ways of thinking to consider the relational context of therapy, and to explore the constitution of 'othering' within this transpersonal therapeutic context. This paper outlines how the use of creative techniques common to Transpersonal psychotherapy, such as visualisations, drawing, and Sand Tray work can be used in research on therapy to explore the emotional bodily and relational experience of difference, between therapist and client, and between researcher and researched


Nationalism and the Vargas Years With the country facing a major economic and political crisis, Brazil's presidential elections of 1930 were held as usual. Not surprisingly, the government's candidate, Julio Prestes, emerged as the winner. Calling the election a fraud, the members of the defeated "Liberal Alliance"(1) launched a political and military insurrection, led by their presidential candidate, Getulio Vargas. From the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, and Paraiba, the rebels marched toward Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Within twenty-one days, the government was overthrown by a military junta, and end of the "old republic" was proclaimed. Political power was handed to Getulio Vargas, who arrived triumphantly in the national capital of Rio de Janeiro on October 30, 1930. He would rule Brazil until the end of World War II. Although the so-called 1930 Revolution triumphed as a movement championing classical liberalism and true democracy, the Vargas administration was distinguished by a persistent move toward nationalism and the creation of a powerful and interventionist federal government. During the fifteen years of continuous Vargas rule, the prodevelopment ideology of devenvolvimentismo(2) flourished and gained deep roots in Brazilian society. From 1930 to 1980, regardless of who was in power, whether military or civilian, elected or imposed by force, the history of the Brazilian presidency can be read as the inexorable unfolding of the desenvolvimentista agenda. What mattered was "developing" the country virtually at any cost--pushing an accelerated transition from agriculture toward industry, from the rural areas toward the big urban centers. State intervention in the economy was viewed as necessary to overcome underdevelopment and the "dependent" nature of Brazilian economy. Market forces were discredited and seen as shackles chaining Brazil to its colonial and backward past. According to this view, laissez-faire economic policies, monetary orthodoxy, and trust in the theory of "comparative advantages" would simply maintain the country in its vulnerable state of having an economy based only on exports of primary goods, with prices dictated by the uncertainties of the international commodities market. That strategy was unquestionably a tremendous success. For fifty years in a row, Brazil's GDP woluld grow at an average annual rate of 7 percent, allowing the country to metamorphose itself from a preindustrial amalgam of isolated and backward economic islands into the world's ninth largest economy, with a thriving urban society and a powerful middle class espousing modern and democratic values. The change did not happen overnight. Vargas reached the presidency supported by a broad coalition of many different groups. The 1930 movement represented the interests of some displaced backward elites, some more enlightened elites, and even some incipient modern elites, as well as the interests of a rising urban middle class, among which some radical elements could be found. In short, every segment of society that had a reason to believe that the Sao Paulo coffee-based hegemony under the old republic was inimical to its own interests, or beliefs, supported the "revolution." Yet, none of these groups was strong enough to decide on the new path to be followed. Hence, from the start, Vargas decided to place himself above the disputes within his coalition, adopting an imperial role as mediator. He would embody the idea of an independent central state, free from the pressures of any specific social class or interest group. His magic touch was to always search for an identification (whether real or apparent) between his own will and the national will. The period of the "transitory" presidency (1930-34) was marked by disputes between the groups connected to the tenentista(3) movement and the more traditional politicians, who represented the interests of their local elites. …


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this work is to find out factors that affect the outcome of treatment of patients with craniopharyngioma treated at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

METHODS
This study was carried out retrospectively by reviewing the medical records of all patients with craniopharyngiomas treated at King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the last 10 years (January 1990 through to December 1999), and collecting clinical, radiological, surgical, and follow-up data and performing statistical analysis to find out factors that affect the outcome of such cases.

RESULTS
There were 11 females (61%), and 7 males (39%), the median age was 24 years. The main presenting symptoms were reduced vision in 66.7%, symptoms of raised intracranial pressure in 50%, endocrinal problems in 33.3%, seizures in 16.7%, and hemiparesis in 5.6%. Radiologic studies showed 72% of tumors had mixed solid and cystic components, calcification in 83%, and ventricular dilatation in 50% of cases. The tumor extended to the posterior fossa in 11%, and to both middle and posterior fossae in 11% of cases. Eighty-nine percent of patients had tumor excision through pterional craniotomy and 11% through subfrontal approach. Gross total removal was achieved in 17% and subtotal resection in 83%. Tumor recurred in 9 patients (50%), 4 of them (44%) had postoperative radiotherapy. The outcome was good in 10 patients (56%), poor in 6 patients (33%), and 2 patients died (11%). The patient age, radiological appearance of tumors and their location were significantly correlated with the outcome (p 0.02, 0.02, 0.04).

CONCLUSION
Ophthalmologists and Pediatricians should be aware of the clinical presentation and refer patients to specialized centers for treatment. Total resection of the tumor should be the goal of the Neurosurgeon as it offers the best chance of cure.


Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) is a recent imaging technique for visualizing the physiological structure of the anterior segment. The speckle noise inherited in ASOCT images degrades the visual quality and hampers the subsequent medical analysis. Previous work was devoted to removing the speckles and acquiring satisfying images. According to the clinical requirements, it might be desirable to maintain locally higher data fidelity instead of enforcing visually appealing but rather wrong image structural features. Catering to this expectation, we propose a Consistent Structural Generative Adversarial Network (CSGAN) to learn the clean style of low-speckle in repeated AS-OCT images and simultaneously preserve the tiny but vital structural knowledge among the latent feature, spatial and frequency domains. Specifically, we design a latent constraint into the generator to capture the inherent content in the feature domain and adopt the perceptual similarities to directly preserve structural detail in the spatial dimension. Besides, we introduce a focal frequency scheme that adaptively represents and distinguishes hard frequencies to compensate for the spatial loss and refine the generated image to improve image quality. Finally, the experimental results demonstrate that the CSGAN can achieve satisfactory despeckling results with preserving structural details on the AS-Casia dataset.


BACKGROUND: It is acknowledged that autologous blood is the safest for the patient to receive. However, it is generally not appreciated that transfusion reactions to autologous blood may occur, despite the fact that it is the patient's own blood. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A retrospective review of all transfusion reactions reported to a hospital transfusion service from 1991 through 1996 was performed, and all reactions to autologous blood were further investigated. RESULTS: Reported adverse reactions to autologous blood composed 2.1 percent of all transfusion reactions investigated in the hospital, involving 0.16 percent (15/9,353) of all transfused preoperatively donated autologous red cell units and 0.027 percent (5/18,506) of all intraoperatively salvaged units. Further investigation revealed that 60 percent (12/20) of these adverse reactions were felt to be clinically important and directly attributable to the autologous blood transfusion. Adverse reactions included febrile nonhemolytic (5) and allergic (4) reactions, an acute hemolytic transfusion reaction secondary to a clerical error (1 intraoperatively salvaged unit), and other nonsignificant adverse reactions (2). Eight adverse reactions were determined these reactions to be unrelated to the autologous transfusion. CONCLUSION: Despite the fact that the blood given is the patient's own blood, transfusion reactions to autologous blood do occur. As it is for allogeneic transfusion, any suspected adverse reaction to autologous blood transfusion should be investigated.


Introduction Laparoscopic fundoplication provides effective reflux control in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GERD); however a proportion of patients that undergo surgery experience troublesome symptoms. Improved results may be possible if more was known about the structural factors that effect treatment outcome. This study applied concurrent MRI and HRM technology to compare the structure and function of the GEJ in GERD patients after fundoplication to control groups of GERD patients and healthy participants (HPs). Methods Eight GERD patients were studied at least 3 months after laparoscopic fundoplication with subjectively good treatment outcome (7M, age 18–67 years). Results of pH-impedance monitoring off acid suppression before and after fundoplication were available. 12 patients with GERD on medical therapy (7M, age 20–55 years) and 12 HPs (7M, age 26–36 years) with no history of gastro-intestinal disease or surgery. Validated MRI measurements of the oesophago-gastric insertion angle (Radiology in press) and gastric volumes were performed at baseline and after ingestion of high calorie meal (McDonalds Cheeseburger, Chips, Milkshake, 735 kcal). Visual Analogue Scales (100 mm VAS) documented dyspeptic symptoms. Results GEJ pressure increased from before to after fundoplication (8.3±1.2 vs 14.2±1.7 mm Hg, p=0.03) whereas acid exposure (10.3±2.2 vs 5.4±2.1, p=0.001) and reflux episodes reduced (39±3 vs 24±2, p=0.019). The insertion angle after the meal was more obtuse after surgery than in the disease and healthy controls (61° vs 48° vs 41°, p<0.008). Moreover normal variation of insertion angle with respiration was lost. Postprandial gastric air content was higher after fundoplication compared to the disease and healthy controls in absolute terms (523 vs 146 vs 178 ml, p<0.001) and as a proportion of total gastric content (78% vs 12% vs 16%, p<0.005). There was a positive correlation between insertion angle and gastric air content (r2=0.95, p=0.050). Postprandial abdominal bloating was higher for the fundoplication group compared to the GERD and healthy groups. (VAS 55±21 vs 13±23 vs 20±10 mm, p=0.049) and there was also an association between gastric air content and the this symptom (r2=0.82, p=0.07). Conclusion Novel, quantitative MRI measurements demonstrate alterations to GEJ structure after fundoplication, specifically to the oesophago-gastric insertion angle, that are linked to gastric retention of air and the sensation of bloating, even in patients with a good subjective outcome. Modification of surgical technique to restore more normal GEJ morphology may be equally effective for reflux protection but cause less troublesome bloating.


The first Institute on Fieldwork and Language Documentation was held during the summer of 2008 on the UC Santa Barbara campus. InField was experimental in many respects; for example, it was the first time that workshops were combined with field training, that linguists and language activists were brought together for shared training, and that teams of instructors were created from people with no prior acquaintance. By all accounts, InField was a success and it is clear that plans for extending this into a regular biennial event should move forward. However, it is critical that future offerings of InField both build on the successes and learn from the mistakes of previous institutes. In this presentation, we will provide a critical assessment of InField 2008. This assessment will be based on an analysis of three sets of participant evaluations, completed at the end of individual workshops, at the end of the set of workshops, and at the end of field training. The observations in these documents will be supplemented by our own experiences as InField directors. Among the topics we will cover are the composition of the participants, the field training component and the balance with the workshops, the extensive use of team teaching, the plenary "Models" and "Steps" workshops, the non-curricular activities, the development of the website and archives, the need for different levels of instruction, and the implications of this for curriculum development. Based on our analysis, we will then make recommendations on how future InFields can be improved. We will close the discussion with a broader assessment of the impact of InField. This can be seen at various levels, from decisions made by particular graduate students, to speech communities, to the field of linguistics as a whole. The long-term impact of InField as a biennial institute will not only provide a reliable resource for linguists and language activists. It will also help in the construction of a visible network of practitioners of documentary and conservation work and serve as one organizational center for this global network. The solidification and increased visibility of the network will in turn help to reify documentary linguistics as an independent subfield within linguistics, raising its profile internationally, and emphasizing its importance to funding bodies and universities. Equally important, as the network strengthens and grows, it will become visible to an increasing number of speech communities, allowing for the transmission of training, ideas, and inspiration for new community activists.


We develop a convergence theory called epi/hypo-convergence, for bivariate functions that essentially implies the convergence of their saddle points. We study the properties of this limiting process in particular. We characterize the limit functions associated to any collection of bivariate functions and obtain a compactness theorem for the space of saddle functions. Even when restricted to the univariate case, the results generalize those known for epi-convergence. In particular, we show that the analysis of the convergence process via Yosida approximates must not be restricted to the convex case.


Introduction: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a common chronic inflammatory, psycho-mucocutaneous disease affecting about 1%–4% of the general population associated with psychoneuroendocrine and psychoimmunological comorbidities. Lichen planus although it is not an infectious disease, its cause is unknown, it is classified as an autoimmune disorder that may be precipitated or exacerbated by psychosocial stress. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was originally developed to indicate the possible presence of anxiety and depressive states in the setting of a medical outpatient clinic and was found to perform well in assessing the anxiety disorders and depression in both somatic, psychiatric and primary care patients and in the general population. Aims: The aim of this study is to evaluate the levels of psychological status and the impact of treatment on psychological status in OLP individuals and compare it with normal individuals. Materials and Methods: Forty OLP patients along with the same number of age- and gender-matched healthy controls were included in the study. HADS questionnaire was administered to all 40 OLP (start of therapy) and 40 non-OLP individuals. In the OLP Group (40 participants): 20 were given "active" intervention with Cyclosporine Oral Solution (Group A), 20 were given "placebo" intervention (Group P). HADS questionnaire was given to all the twenty participants of Group A and all twenty participants of Group P at the end of therapy. The questionnaire consisted of 14 questions; 7 questions pertaining to anxiety and 7 pertaining to depression. Results: High level of anxiety (47.5%) and depression (85%) was observed in participants with OLP as compared to non-OLP (0%). After the active intervention, 14 participants were relieved of anxiety as compared to 8. Comparison of the prevalence of depression in OLP individuals before and after getting "active" intervention revealed that on getting active intervention the depression present in all 20; 1 (10%) mild and 9 (90%) frank came down to 1 (10%), and 4 (40%) mild. Five (50%) participants were completely relieved of depression. Conclusion: Lichen planus is to some extent a psychosomatic or somatopsychic disease or both. The present study results matches with the majority of the studies, showing a positive association between anxiety and depression levels in OLP patients, suggesting counseling along with traditional treatment can be effective in reducing the size of the lesions. Oral healthcare providers should pay attention to the emotional state of their patients. Emotional factors are important as evidenced by higher frequency of psychiatric symptoms, poor quality of life, higher level of anxiety, and neuroendocrine and immune dysregulations. Counseling may help in ameliorating symptoms, improving quality of life, and enhancing recovery.


The purpose of this paper is to research the relationship between terrorism and multinational enterprises (MNEs), focusing on operational costs, marketing planning, supply chain management, and distribution activities. Terrorism is a growing threat to internationally active firms, but there has been no empirical research to address the distinctive challenges that terrorism poses for the international marketing activities of firms.,The paper opted for an exploratory investigation, following a two-phase research design. In the first phase it was based on qualitative interviews with internationally active firms. In the second phase, an online survey of a large sample of international firms based in the USA was performed. All measures were developed specifically for the study.,The paper provides empirical insights about how terrorism affects MNEs, especially those operating in emerging markets. It suggests that terrorism accounts for significant costs in the international marketing budget of MNEs, as well as in planning, and the design of supply chains and distribution channels. Findings also reveal that firms with significant resources and international experience appear to cope better with terrorism's effects.,Given the early stage of empirical research on terrorism and international marketing, this study was necessarily exploratory.,The paper includes implications and suggestions for multinational companies to increase the security of their businesses through the development of corporate preparedness.,Terrorism represents not only an organizational crisis at the level of a firm, but it affects the whole society.,This paper fulfills an identified need to study the relationship between the growing threat of terrorism and international business.


A new solution is offered for the ancient 'sorites' paradox of vagueness. The sorites paradox arises if it is assumed that if two objects are indistinguishable, then a vague predicate (e.g., large, or small) can never distinguish between them. The proposed solution to the paradox depends on a systematic ambiguity that is displayed by vague predicates as well as vague relations (e.g., the relation of indistinguishability), which arises from the influence of discourse context on their interpretation. This solution is described against the background of recent research on the role of context in natural language interpretation.


Countries with extensive gas infrastructures are increasingly turning towards gasses that are produced from renewable energy sources, such as biomass, solar and wind. While these renewable gasses such as biogas/green gas and possibly hydrogen are compatible with existing infrastructure, they exhibit different combustion and explosion behavior. Current safety practices designed for natural gas are not sufficient to ensure a similar level of safety, and must be updated to mitigate changing risks. Additionally, new actors are emerging who are involved with the production and distribution process. The current paper analyzes the extent to which the gas sector in the Netherlands is equipped to deal with a changing risk profile by elaborating on two risk analysis methods. These methods are applied to a segment of the green gas. We find that the Bowtie method that is currently used in the sector provides an understanding of the physical and technical aspects of risks related to green gas provision and is instrumental in communicating them to a general audience. It is also, however, largely static and does nog accommodate changing technical and institutional features of gas provision. The System-Theoretic Accident Model and Processes (STAMP) model, conversely, provides better tools to understand the interaction between incumbent and new actors and technology in the gas sector and provides comprehensive design recommendations for renewable gas systems to a specific audience.


T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma/T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-LBL/T ALL) is an aggressive hematological malignancy arising from malignant transformation of T-cell progenitors with poor prognosis in adult patients. Outcomes are particularly dismal in the relapsed/refractory setting, and therapeutic options are limited in this context. Genomic profiling has shown frequent aberrations in the JAK-STAT pathway, including recurrent mutations in JAK3 (15%–20% of T-ALL cases), suggesting that JAK kinase inhibition may be a promising therapeutic approach. Activating JAK3 mutations are capable of transforming cytokine-dependent progenitor cells in vitro and causing T-ALL-like disease when expressed in hematopoietic progenitors in vivo. We describe a case of relapsed T-ALL in an adult patient, with two JAK3 activating mutations identified by whole-exome sequencing (WES), leading to hypothesis-based treatment with the JAK1 and JAK3 inhibitor, tofacitinib, following failure of salvage chemotherapy reinduction. Despite the molecularly targeted rationale, tofacitinib did not induce an objective clinical response. Our report suggests that the presence of activating JAK3 mutations does not necessarily confer sensitivity to pharmacological JAK3 inhibition.


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 Mechanical stresses to the arterial wall were evaluated in the carotid artery in 117 patients with risk factors for atherosclerosis including hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus. Circumferential wall tension and shear stress were evaluated using Laplace's law and Poiseuillean's parabolic model of flow velocity distribution. Arterial strain was also evaluated as the circumferential wall stretch. Wall tension was significantly related to BMI (r=0.40, p<0.0001), systolic pressure (r=0.79, p<0.0001), triglyeride (r=0.19, p<0.05) as well as HDL cholesterol (r=-0.22, p<0.05), while shear stress showed significant relationships with age (r=-0.34, p<0.001), pulse pressure (r=-0.27, p<0.01) and HDL-cholesterol (r=0.19, p<0.05). On the other hand, arterial strain did not correlate with any risk factor. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) showed a significant positive correlation with peak wall tension (r=0.44, p<0.0001) and mean wall tension (r=0.31, p<0.001), and a significant negative correlation with peak systolic shear stress (r=0.34, p<0.001) and mean shear stress (r=-0.42, p<0.0001), while there was no significant relationship between arterial strain and IMT. Stepwise regression analysis revealed that low shear stress and high wall tension were independently associated with IMT in the total subjects with risk factors. Furthermore, it revealed that wall tension was independently associated with IMT in hypertensive patients, while shear stress was an independent determinant of IMT in normotensive subjects. These findings indicate that both wall tension and shear stress are associated with carotid atherosclerosis in subjects with risk factors for atherosclerosis. However, the degree of contribution of mechanical forces to atherosclerosis differs among risk factors.


In normal rat, anaesthetized with pentobarbital, 5-HT, injected or perfused by intravenous route, provokes different types of cardiovascular responses. These variations are due to the activation of three classes of receptors. The first ones explain the fall of the arterial blood pressure: they are located on arterioles which are dilatated. The second one are para- or perivascular nervous receptors: when stimulated, they induce vago-vagal reflexes (Bezold-Jarisch reflexes) suppressed by vagotomy. The third ones are vasoconstrictor and located on arterioles.


The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs Investigations of freezing and cold storage for the analysis of peatland dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and absorbance properties Journal Article (2015). Investigations of freezing and cold storage for the analysis of peatland dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and absorbance properties. Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online's data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. Investigations of freezing and cold storage for the analysis of peatland dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and absorbance properties Although measured rates of biological degradation of DOC are typically low under dark conditions, it is assumed that water samples must be analysed soon after collection to provide an accurate measure of DOC concentration and UV-visible absorbance. To examine the impact of storage on DOC quality and quantity, we took water samples from an ombrotrophic peatland, and stored them in the dark at 4 C for 138–1082 days. A median of 29% of DOC was lost during storage, but losses of absorbance at 254 nm were less. DOC loss followed a first-order exponential decay function, and was dependent on storage time. DOC half-life was calculated as 1253 days. Specific absorbance at 254 nm suggested that samples containing more aromatic DOC were more resistant to degradation, although time functioned as the primary control. Samples from two fens showed that loss of absorbance was greater at 400 nm rather than 254 nm, after 192 days storage, suggesting that non-aromatic DOC is preferentially degraded. These results suggest that samples can be stored for several months before losses of DOC become detectable, and that it is possible to back-calculate initial DOC concentrations in long-term stored samples based on known decay rates. Freeze/thaw experiments using samples from a range of peatlands suggested that DOC concentration was mostly unaffected by the process, but DOC increased 37% in one sample. Freezing had unpredictable and sometimes strong effects on absorbance, SUVA and E ratios, therefore freezing is not recommended as a method of preservation for these analyses. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations are routinely monitored in the waters of organic soils, particularly peatlands. This is because DOC affects the functioning of aquatic ecosystems and water treatment costs, as well as being a component of the carbon cycle. If there is to be …


Energy-recycling output pad cells for driving adiabatic chips are designed, which have been fabricated with Chartered 0.35um process and tested. The proposed energy-recycling output pad cells include mainly bonding pads, electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuits, and two stage energy-recycling buffers that are used to drive the large load capacitances on chip pads. The two stage energy-recycling buffers are realized using CPAL (Complementary Pass-transistor Adiabatic Logic) and PAL-2N (pass-transistor adiabatic logic with NMOS pull-down configuration), respectively. For comparison, a conventional output pad cell is also embedded in the test chip. The function verifications and energy loss tests for the three output pad cells are carried out. The energy consumption of the proposed two energy-recycling output pad cells has large savings over a wide range of frequencies, as compared with the conventional CMOS counterparts, since the energy on large load capacitances in the chip pads can be well recycled.


Abstract We defined neonates as small, appropriate, or large for gestational age (SGA, AGA, LGA) based on birth weight, length, and head circumference. We analyzed the effects on the somatic classification of maternal body mass index (BMI) (<18.5, 18.5–24.99, 25.0–29.99, ≥30) and smoking during pregnancy (0, 1–7, 8–14, ≥15 cigarettes daily). Data were from the German Perinatal Survey (1998–2000; 433,669 cases). The following refers to the classification by birth weight. In the normal maternal weight population SGA rates increased with cigarette consumption: 9.8%, 17.8%, 21.6%, and 25.4% for non-smokers, and smokers of 1–7, 8–14, and ≥15 cigarettes daily, respectively. In non-smoking underweight women the SGA rate was 17.4%. In underweight smokers of ≥15 cigarettes daily the SGA rate was 38.5% [odds ratio 5.77, 95% confidence interval 5.10–6.53, compared with normal weight non-smokers]. In the normal maternal weight population, LGA rates were 9.9%, 5.3%, 4.6%, and 3.5% for non-smokers, and smokers of 1–7, 8–14, and ≥15 cigarettes daily, respectively. In the obese, LGA rates were 20.9% (non-smokers) and 11.4% (≥15 cigarettes). Similar findings were obtained for the somatic classifications based on birth length and head circumference. Results for the various combinations of maternal BMI and smoking status in the three classification systems are described. Our findings may assist in individualized risk assessment for SGA and LGA births.


Can fiction contribute to history? Through a reading of A.L. Kennedy's Day, Ian McEwan's Atonement, and Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything is Illuminated, this thesis explores how three contemporary novels, written by authors who belong to the so-called post-memorial generation, provide perspectives that together form a significant contribution to the history of WWII. The thesis will look closer at scholars like Hayden White, Stephen Greenblatt and Michael Payne's thoughts on the important relationship between history and language. In the sub-chapters on the truth of fiction and narrative, the thesis makes use of H. Porter Abbott, Mieke Bal, Uri Margolin and Gerard Genette's thoughts and theories, to highlight and properly examine the literary tools used in the particular discourse of the novels in order to contribute with new perspectives on WWII. The thesis will also look closer at writings by Angus Calder and Paul Fussel to explain how war myths and post-war identities have been shaped by misrepresentation, and Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub's discussion on testimony has been included to address Holocaust's significant impact on trauma and testimony in the novels. Nicolas Abraham and Mária Török's definition of "trans-generational haunting" will also be discussed to further account for the effect the war has had, and continues to have, on the following generations.


In the beginning of 2020, the idea of a worldwide pandemic was not on most people's minds, let alone the concept of a lockdown. But as this Covid-19 year comes to a close, governments around the globe have instituted stay-at-home orders and other restrictions. In France, people have now experienced two national lockdowns. The first spring lockdown, lasting two months, was severe with schools, outdoor public spaces, and most workplaces closed. The second fall lockdown was less drastic, as schools and many businesses stayed open. Yet for both lockdowns, everyone in France needed a self-written authorization to go outside only for essential outings. Public gatherings, bars, and restaurants remained shuttered.

This policy brief analyzes how people in France navigated this past year, comparing the spring and fall lockdown experiences, with an eye toward tracking inequalities. As with previous Policy Briefs, we leverage the power of repeated surveys with the same pool of respondents who are all part of a longitudinal sample of the French population (ELIPSS).


ABSTRACT This study examined whether the often-reported metalinguistic benefits of childhood bilingualism extend to children whose experience with a second language is considerably more limited, and if so, whether this metalinguistic advantage flows on to reading acquisition. Its purpose was to provide direct evidence of a causal role for metalinguistic awareness in reading acquisition. The study focused on the developing word awareness skills of two groups of preparatory and grade 1 children: one group was strictly monolingual in English; the other, the "marginal bilingual" group, consisted of English monolingual who were participating in a second language program that provided I hour of Italian instruction each week.After only 6 months of instruction in Italian, the marginal bilingual children showed a significantly higher level word awareness than their monolingual counterparts. This advantage weakened across grade 1, as both groups approached ceiling levels of performance. Nonetheless, the initial advantage flows through to the first major step in reading acquisition, with the grade 1 marginal bilinguals showing significantly greater word recognition skill than the monolinguals, thus strengthening the argument for a causal role in reading acquisition for word awareness.


The counter electrode (CE), despite being as relevant as the photoanode in a quantum dot solar cell (QDSC), has hardly received the scientific attention it deserves. In this study, nine CEs (single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), tungsten oxide (WO3), poly(3,4ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), copper sulfide (Cu2S), candle soot, functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (FMWCNTs), reduced tungsten oxide (WO3−x), carbon fabric (C-Fabric), and C-Fabric/WO3−x) were prepared by using low-cost components and facile procedures. QDSCs were fabricated with a TiO2/CdS film which served as a common photoanode for all CEs. The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) were 2.02, 2.1, 2.79, 2.88, 2.95, 3.78, 3.66, 3.96, and 4.6%, respectively, and the incident photon to current conversion efficiency response was also found to complement the PCE response. Among all CEs employed here, C-Fabric/WO3−x outperforms all the other CEs, for the synergy between C-Fabric and WO3−x comes to the fore during cell operation. The low sheet resistance of C-Fabric and its high surface area due to the meshlike morphology enables high WO3−x loading during electrodeposition, and the good electrocatalytic activity of WO3−x, the very low overpotential, and its high electrical conductivity that facilitate electron transfer to the electrolyte are responsible for the superior PCE. WO3-based electrodes have not been used until date in QDSCs; the ease of fabrication of WO3 films and their good chemical stability and scalability also favor their application to QDSCs. Futuristic possibilities for other novel composite CEs are also discussed. We anticipate this study to be useful for a well-rounded development of high-performance QDSCs.


Background: Bacteroidaceae species are predominant in human large intestine, particularly in the colon. These microorganisms are able to develop resistance to several antimicrobial drugs. Aim: The aim was to determine the resistance profile and presence of genes encoding resistance to metals in intestinal Bacteroidaceae from children and calves. Methods: A total of 44 strains were tested. Antimicrobial resistance and presence of resistance genes were evaluated. Resistant strains were submitted to plasmid cure, and the susceptibility was tested again. Results: Most of the tested strains were resistance to metals and a strain of Bacteroides vulgatus (human origin) showed 3.0 kb and 5.0 kb plasmids and a strain of B. vulgatus (animal origin) showed a 4.0 kb plasmid in which the presence of genes czcA, czcB, and czcC was observed. Resistant strains lost the plasmids and resistance to metals was decreased. Conclusions: The presence of genes might be any association with the cadmium resistance. Further studies to characterize the resistance mechanisms or CzcCBA efflux system in Bacteroidaceae species are necessary


The Internet search engine market has seen a proliferation of entrants over the past few years. Whereas Yahoo was the early market leader, there has been entry by both lower-quality engines and higher-quality ones (such as Google). Prior work on quality differentiation requires that low-quality products have low prices in order to survive in a market with high-quality products. However, the price charged to users of search engines is typically zero. Therefore, consumers do not face a tradeoff between quality and price. Why do lower-quality products survive in such a market? We develop a vertical differentiation model that explains this phenomenon. The quality of the results provided by a search engine is inherently stochastic, and there is no charge for using an engine. Therefore, users who try out one engine may consult a lower-quality engine in the same session. This "residual demand" allows lower-quality products to survive in equilibrium. We then extend our model to incorporate horizontal differentiation as well and show that residual demand leads to higher quality and less differentiation in this market. Engines want to attract competitors' customers and therefore have a strong incentive to be "similar" to each other.


INTRODUCTION I. FOUR KINDS OF LIBERAL NEUTRALITY II. FOUR COMMITMENTS IN CATHOLIC SOCIAL THOUGHT A. The Status of Rights in Catholic Social Thought 1. Rights as Less than Absolute 2. Rights and Duties 3. The Good and the Right Reconsidered a. The Untenable Nature of Complete Neutrality b. The Common Good as the Norm of Social Life c. The Nature of the Right and the Priority of the Good 4. The Civilization of Love: The Goal of Social Life a. The Central Importance of the Family b. The Liberal "Goal" of Social Life: Pluralism and the Civilization of Tolerance B. A Realist Anthropology 1. The Human Person: Freedom and Intellect 2. Love: The Fulfillment of Human Freedom C. Neutrality and the Political Process 1. Positive Support for Democratic Government 2. Human Dignity as a Limit to Democratic Legitimacy D. Neutrality in Adjudication 1. The Problem of Enforcing Unjust Laws 2. Legal Neutrality and the Absence of Partisanship CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION Liberalism is widely regarded as "[t]he dominant strand of American political philosophy," (1) and neutrality is often identified as one of the defining features and virtues of the liberal state. (2) Not surprisingly, then, talk of neutrality deeply informs our public discourse concerning not only the nature of law and the structure of legal institutions, but also the content of particular judicial opinions, legislative acts, administrative rulings, and executive orders. Frequently, however, what is meant by "neutrality in the law" is far from clear. (3) What quality in law does "neutrality" describe? What does it mean to say that a legal institution or a particular juridical act is "neutral"? Does it refer only to the identity of the decision maker, the nature of the forum, and the procedures employed? Does it refer also to the kinds of argument that will be entertained and advanced in support of the ultimate decision? Finally, does "neutrality in the law" relate to the actual resolution of the dispute, the content of the decision itself? To put the matter more concretely, suppose that the state criminally prohibits the consumption of a certain hallucinogenic substance. Suppose further that a group of individuals ingest this drug as part of a ritual that is central to their firmly held religious beliefs. (4) Does neutrality demand that the state refrain from banning the substance? If so, does the state violate the principle of neutrality by forbidding the consumption of any particular substance? Could the state, in a neutral fashion, ban the use of the drug for some purposes but not for others? For example, would the state violate the principle of neutrality if it recognized a religious exemption from the general ban (5) or if it permitted consumption of the drug for medical purposes but not for recreational use? (6) Likewise, consider a state-created social assistance program that provides subsistence benefits to qualified individuals. (7) Would the very existence of such a program violate the principle of neutrality? That is, would the act of drawing a distinction between individuals who are "qualified" and those who are not, with the attendant provision of resources to the former and not to the latter, mean that the state is acting in a non-neutral fashion? If the state later terminates the benefits it once provided by means of a summary administrative decision, has it then violated the principle of neutrality? What if the state official assigned to determine the merits of an application for benefits knew or was somehow related to the applicant? Would neutrality then demand the use of another decision maker or the use of an entirely different method for making the determination? …


Abstract. With as many as one third of population have become social media users exchanging information, thanks to low cost smart phones availability and social messaging platforms like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram etc., TrendyInsight will play a major role on listening the public concern on local or regional issues bothering them for the government authorities to learn and prepare the remedial action. Similarly, businesses of consumer industries will be benefited from TrendyInsight for better customer services.TrendyInsight – an application software designed and developed to work in iOS platform to capture trending topics from various social networks websites based on user location and present it in graphically on map. The application utilizes the uniqueness of each social network data through Application Program Interface (API) requests based on the trend. The application eliminates the need of user login to access the public data of these social networks. The application provides other experience enhancement features like showing user's current location, updating the trending data every interval of time, searching for custom location, getting data for any custom hashtag, and settings tab to customize the type of data to be received from the social network APIs. The application was built on Swift 4 and deployment target operating system is iOS 11.