Background and Introduction: Saxagliptin is a hypoglycemic drug that acts as a dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitor and is preferably used in the treatment of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM). It is safe and tolerable; however, the major disadvantage associated with it is its low bioavailability. Aim: The present research aimed to enhance the bioavailability of the drug by enteric coating with a polymer that controls the rate of drug delivery, and it was prepared as Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs). Methodology: In the current study, various SLN formulations were developed using a central composite design (CCD) module using Design Expert-11 software. A modified solvent injection technique was used to prepare Saxagliptin nanoparticles coated with Eudragit RS100. The CCD was used to determine the independent variables and their effect on dependent variables at varied levels. Evaluation studies such as particle size analysis, Zeta potential, polydispersity index (PDI), drug loading, entrapment efficiency, in-vitro drug release studies, and in vivo pharmacokinetic studies were performed for the optimized SLN formulation. The reversed-phase HPLC method was developed and validated for the estimation of the pharmacokinetic parameters of the pure drug and prepared SLNs. Results: The effect of independent variables (A1: amount of lipid, A2: amount of polymer, A3: surfactant concentration, and A4: homogenization speed) on dependent variables (R1: particle size, and R2: entrapment efficiency) was established in great detail. Observed responses of the prepared and optimized Saxagliptin SLN were close to the predicted values by the CCD. The prepared SLNs depicted particle sizes in the range of 212–442 nm. The particle size analysis results showed that an increase in the lipid concentration led to an increase in particle size. The developed bioanalytical method was noted to be very specific and robust. The method accuracy varied from 99.16% to 101.95% for intraday, and 96.08% to 103.12% for inter day operation at low (5 mcg/mL), moderate (10 mcg/mL), and higher (15 mcg/mL) drug concentrations. The observed Zeta potential values for the prepared SLNs were in the range of −41.09 ± 0.11 to 30.86 ± 0.63 mV suggesting quite good stability of the SLNs without any aggregation. Moreover, the polydispersity indices were in the range of 0.26 ± 0.051 to 0.45 ± 0.017, indicative of uniformity of sizes among the prepared SLNs. In vivo study outcomes proved that Saxagliptin oral bioavailability significantly enhanced in male Albino Wistar Rats via SLN formulation and Eudragit RS100 coating approach. Conclusions: The developed and optimized Saxagliptin SLNs revealed enhanced Saxagliptin bioavailability in comparison to the native drug. Thus, this formulation strategy can be of great importance and can be implied as a promising approach to enhance the Saxagliptin bioavailability for facilitated T2DM therapy.


The studies aimed to evaluate the pregnancy rate (PR) for timed artificial insemination (TAI) after G7G-Ovsynch, modified G7G-Ovsynch (MG7G-Ovsynch) and Ovsynch protocols and to assess the accuracy of using pregnancy-associated glycoproteins (PAGs) and plasma progesterone (P4) in pregnancy diagnosis compared with ultrasonography (US). In study 1, Holstein cows (n = 37) were bred by TAI following the G7G-Ovsynch protocol (n = 19) or MG7G-Ovsynch (n = 18). Pregnancy was evaluated by US at days 31, 59, and 87 after breeding. The PR was not different for the G7G-Ovsynch and MG7G-Ovsynch. Blood and milk samples were collected on day 3 after insemination and then weekly through day 59 post TAI in cows diagnosed as not pregnant on day 31 and through day 87 in pregnant cows. PAGs were measured using ELISA and P4 by radioimmunoassay (RIA). In the second study, Holstein cows (n = 212) were bred by TAI following G7G-Ovsynch protocol (n = 110) or standard Ovsynch (n = 102). Cows were subjected to pregnancy diagnosis on days 30, 60, and 90. A subset (n = 15 in each group) was subjected to blood and milk samples on days 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90 to measure PAGs and P4. In study 2, PR was not significantly different between synchronization protocols on days 30, 60, and 90. Pregnancy loss averaged 15% between day 30 and day 90. The use of PAGs and P4 proved equally effective in diagnosis of pregnancy. Thus, G7GOvsynch was deemed the protocol of choice in postpartum cows, and PAGs assayed in milk or plasma could be used to diagnose pregnancy. ______________________________________________________________________________________


The analysis of multileveled data with bivariate outcomes is very common in the fields of education, health economics and health service research. Modeling bivariate outcomes is very useful in HIV research where the joint evolution of HIV RNA and CD4+t lymphocytes in a cohort of HIV-1 infected patient treated with active antiretroviral treatment. The use of the MIXED model method and the Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) are the most influential recent developments in statistical practice analysis techniques used in analyzing such data. The linear mixed model takes into account all available information and accounts for both serial and cross correlation. The efficiency of the model depends on the correlation structure. Our simulations studies reveal that for smaller clusters the independent and the unstructured are highly favored while for larger clusters the independent models yields estimates with the least standard errors. Additionally, we looked at cases where the data is clustered but not longitudinal. In these cases, the compound symmetry model performed best. Furthermore, our results show that in some cases, the unstructured correlation model tend to have the smallest AICC and BIC but its estimates do not always produce estimates with the smallest standard errors. In this dissertation we formulated a rationale in choosing an explicit working correlation structures for modeling multilevel data with bivariate outcomes. We also simulated different types of data with bivariate outcomes with missingness. To guide our strategy the model selection strategies were based on optimizing AIC, CAIC, AICC BIC and standard error of estimates .Our model has particular public health importance in clinical trials where the clinician may be interested in the joint evolution HIV RNA and CD4+t lymphocytes in a cohort of HIV-1 infected patients treated with active antiretroviral drugs.


Abstract The objective of this study was to create constitutively active mutant human A 3 adenosine receptors (ARs) using single amino acid replacements, based on findings from other G protein-coupled receptors. A 3 ARs mutated in transmembrane helical domains (TMs) 1, 3, 6, and 7 were expressed in COS-7 cells and subjected to agonist radioligand binding and phospholipase C (PLC) and adenylyl cyclase (AC) assays. Three mutant receptors, A229E in TM6 and R108A and R108K in the DRY motif of TM3, were found to be constitutively active in both functional assays. The potency of the A 3 agonist Cl-IB-MECA (1-chloro- N 6 -(3-iodobenzyl)adenosine-5′- N -methyluronamide) in PLC activation was enhanced by at least an order of magnitude over wild type (EC 50 951 nM) in R108A and A229E mutant receptors. Cl-IB-MECA was much less potent (>10-fold) in C88F, Y109F, and Y282F and mutants or inactive following double mutation of the DRY motif. The degree of constitutive activation was more pronounced for the AC signaling pathway than for the PLC signaling pathway. The results indicated that specific locations within the TMs proximal to the cytosolic region were responsible for constraining the receptor in a G protein-uncoupled conformation.


Extracellular pullulanases were purified from cell-free culture supernatants of the marine thermophilic archaea Thermococcus litoralis (optimal growth temperature, 90°C) and Pyrococcus furiosus (optimal growth temperature, 98°C). The molecular mass of the T. litoralis enzyme was estimated at 119,000 Da by electrophoresis, while the P. furiosus enzyme exhibited a molecular mass of 110,000 Da under the same conditions. Both enzymes tested positive for bound sugar by the periodic acid-Schiff technique and are therefore glycoproteins. The thermoactivity and thermostability of both enzymes were enhanced in the presence of 5 mM Ca2+, and under these conditions, enzyme activity could be measured at temperatures of up to 130 to 140°C. The addition of Ca2+ also affected substrate binding, as evidenced by a decrease in Km for both enzymes when assayed in the presence of this metal. Each of these enzymes was able to hydrolyze, in addition to the α-1,6 linkages in pullulan, α-1,4 linkages in amylose and soluble starch. Neither enzyme possessed activity against maltohexaose or other smaller α-1,4-linked oligosaccharides. The enzymes from T. litoralis and P. furiosus appear to represent highly thermostable amylopullulanases, versions of which have been isolated from less-thermophilic organisms. The identification of these enzymes further defines the saccharide-metabolizing systems possessed by these two organisms.


Abstract. This paper describes the evolution of a mesoscale convective system (MCS) developed over the Alboran Sea on 7 February 2005, using surface, upper-air stations, radar and satellite observations, and also data from an operational numerical model. The system developed during the night as a small convective storm line in an environment with slight convective instability, low precipitable water and strong low-level vertical wind shear near coast. The linear MCS moved northwards reaching the Spanish coast. Then it remained trapped along the coast for more than twelve hours, following the coast more than five hundred kilometres. The MCS here described had a fundamental orographic character due to: (1) the generation of a low-level storm inflow parallel to the coast, formed by blocking of the onshore flow by coastal mountains and (2) the orientation of both the mesoscale ascent from the sea towards the coastal mountains and the midlevel rear inflow from the coastal mountains to the sea. The main motivation of this work was to obtain a better understanding of the mechanisms relevant to the formation of heavy rainfall episodes occurring at Spanish Mediterranean coast associated with this kind of stationary or slowly moving MCSs.


Fish transportation methods for fish culture operations, public aquariums, biologists, and researchers often employ methods and use equipment which the average aquarium hobbyist does not have access to. Aquarium hobbyists typically transport fish via sealed plastic bags that are inflated with oxygen and shipped by next day mail service or as cargo on commercial airlines, however, the build-up of ammonia and carbon dioxide limit the duration that fish can be kept within these sealed bags to approximately 24 to 36 hours. This study outlines a novel technique for fish transportation suitable for the aquarium hobbyist. This protocol allowed for the successful transport of three fish and one marine invertebrate for 7 days, with minimal effects on water chemistry and stress. The use of a standardized transport procedure such as the method outlined in this study may help to reduce fish stressors; thereby, reducing shortand long-term morbidity and mortality associated with the transport of fish.


Previous work provided corpus evidence for structural priming for specific syntactic constructions. The present paper extends these results by investigating priming effects involving arbitrary syntactic rules in spoken dialogue corpora. We demonstrate the existence of within- and between-speaker priming in both spontaneous conversation (the Switchboard corpus) and task-oriented dialogue (the Map Task corpus). We also find that between-speaker priming is stronger in the Map Task corpus. This supports the hypothesis that in task-oriented dialog, low-level priming is linked to higher-level alignment of situation models.


When microservices are written from scratch, APIs are usually made stateless. However, when an existing monolith application is decomposed into microservices, it may not be possible to make all the APIs stateless. Therefore, objects transferred via APIs may contain pointers. Consequently, data transfer via an API i.e., from a client address space to a server address space, reconstruction at the server, and returning to the client become non-trivial operations.Conventionally, data transfer between microservices is done using JSON, which serializes pointers to values that they point to. Once the data in JSON reaches the server, deserialization creates objects of the original types on the server. However, deserialization is unable to return the same objects passed by the client because serialization leads to loss of pointer information. We propose to apply pointer swizzling to solve this problem. Pointer swizzling modifies the definition of the class by introducing ID of the object and by replacing all pointers with IDs of the objects it refers. These IDs help to maintain correct reference in the server. After the server API operates on the objects, the server returns new objects of the same types to the client. These new objects need to be plugged back in the client address space i.e., pointers to the old objects in the client need to now point to the corresponding new objects. This plugging back is non-trivial because we do not know how the old objects map to the new objects. We propose creating memory maps at runtime to overcome this challenge.


This article explores the lights of Iraq, Iraq's variety of capitalism (VoC) and its system of public and fiscal governance. The first section examines Iraq's VoC, which I define oil-led state-captured capitalism with associated oil-led state-captured war-fare regime. In formerly ISIS-occupied territories, war developments turned the system into an Insurgent ISIS-captured capitalism with associated Insurgent ISIS-captured war-fare regime. The second section investigates electricity usage. The nighttime lights analysis is based on near real-time big data. It includes high-resolution remote-sensing and satellite imagery from the NASA Earth Observatory. I use the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor on the Suomi NPP satellite. Data on greenhouse gases are obtained through the AQUA and TERRA satellites derived from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) and Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors. I also use the AURA satellite with the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) sensor, as well as the TERRA satellite with the Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor. The third part discusses the repercussions of electricity usage for good governance, for good regulatory and for good fiscal practices, as well as for development and growth. The concluding part briefly discusses the "taxman approach" and the introduction of a new fiscal contract necessary to resolve negative incentives in oil-led war economies.


The pharmacodynamic active parts of protecting liver of Peristrope japonica (thunb.) Bremek were identified. Rat acute liver injury model was induced by D-galactosamine (D-GlaN). The active parts were identified on the whole extraction and 4 fractions. The results showed that the pharmacodynamic active parts of Peristrope japonica were the n-BuOH fraction.


An apparatus for time‐resolved measurements of the birefringence induced in a particle suspension by an acoustic wave pulse is described. Efficient acoustic coupling is obtained by operating near the transducer resonant frequency and by matching the acoustic impedances of the cell constituents. An almost‐overdamped acoustic configuration can alternatively be employed whenever a faster response is needed. Careful design of the optical setup and of the detection unit minimize diffraction and stress‐birefringence parasitic effects and yields a good responsivity at fairly low acoustic intensities. A test of the apparatus on a colloidal suspension of PTFE rodlike particles is presented and discussed.


Eleven maize varieties were evaluated for their component yields, protein and ash contents and organoleptic properties when processed into two traditional Nigerian foods, ogi and eke. Significant differences were observed among varieties for component yields and total percent recovery. Yields of ogi, bran and total solids from liquor ranged from 42 to 62, 18 to 30 and 3 to 8 percent (db) respectively. Total recovery of these three components ranged between 72 and 87 percent. Protein in maize, ogi and bran ranged from 9.89 to 12.91, from 4.21 to 8.02 and from 11.82 to 17.50 percent respectively. The ash content of ogi ranged from 0.23 to 0.88% while that of the bran ranged from 0.30 to 0.57%. Losses in protein content during ogi manufacture ranged between 18 and 64 percent. A hybrid 8705-4 (F2) and an open-pollinated variety EV 8744-SR gave the highest ogi yields followed closely by DMRL-SR-W, ACR 8363-SR, TZB-SR-SE and TZB-SR-SGY (IITA). All the varieties were rated good in organoleptic properties for eko and ogi. Differences observed among varieties for ogi yield and quality highlight the need to consider end-product suitability in maize breeding programmes.


Objective To evaluate the prevalence of prior inflammatory events in patients consulting for a first inflammatory neurological event and improve early diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Methods During the initial visit, the neurologist gave patients a self-administered questionnaire containing 72 questions regarding previous symptoms lasting >24 h. During the follow-up visit, the neurologist validated the symptoms and collected information about the current attack. Results The cohort included 178 patients (74% women, mean age (SD) 33.7 (10.1) years). The main reason for the initial visit was visual disturbance and sensory troubles in limbs. Mean (SD) global Expanded Disability Status Scale score was 1.4 (1.1), 46% of brains MRIs were positive according to Barkhof–Tintoré criteria, 41% had abnormal white blood cell count in cerebrospinal fluid and 71% had immunoglobin G oligoclonal bands. Prior symptoms suggestive of demyelination were reported by 79 patients (44%), validated by the neurologist for 70% (55 patients) and identified only by the neurologist in four patients. Sequelae were observed in 14 patients with validated prior symptoms (26%). The self-administered questionnaire showed an overall sensitivity of 93% and specificity of 80% for identifying patients with prior symptoms suggestive of demyelination. Conclusion A patient-administered questionnaire subsequently validated by the neurologist demonstrated that 33% of patients consulting for a first demyelinating event had prior symptoms suggestive of central nervous system demyelination that had gone unnoticed, and almost 70% had either sequelae of prior demyelination or McDonald criteria for dissemination in space. Such a questionnaire could be a useful tool for earlier diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.


55 patients with altogether 60 breast masses have been examined postoperatively by plain MR, MR with Gd-DTPA and mammography at our institution. All breast carcinomas and fibroadenomas did enhance significantly. Non-proliferative dysplasia, normal breast tissue and scar tissue did not enhance significantly. Borderline enhancement has been found in cases of proliferative dysplasia. The diagnostic accuracy has been improved by MR with Gd-DTPA. Advantages have been an improved visualization of tumors in dense breasts, an improved differentiation between irregular dysplasia and carcinoma and an improved differentiation between post-therapeutic changes (after radiation, surgery or silicon implants) and carcinoma. Nevertheless both technical improvements and further clinical experience is necessary.


The results from time-dependent experiments are often used to generate plots that visualize how the data evolves over time. To simplify state-of-the-art data visualization and annotation of data from such experiments, an open source tool was created with R/shiny that does not require coding skills to operate. The freely available web app accepts wide (spreadsheet) and tidy data and offers a range of options to normalize the data. The data from individual objects can be shown in three different ways: (i) lines with unique colors, (ii) small multiples and (iii) heatmap-style display. Next to this, the mean can be displayed with a 95% confidence interval for the visual comparison of different conditions. Several color blind friendly palettes are available to label the data and/or statistics. The plots can be annotated with graphical features and/or text to indicate any perturbations that were applied during the time-lapse experiments. All user-defined settings can be stored for reproducibility of the data visualization. The app is dubbed PlotTwist and is available online: https://huygens.science.uva.nl/PlotTwist


The Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and Maison de la Simulation, a joint laboratory at the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), University of Paris-Sud, and University of Versailles, organized the 14th International Conference on Numerical Modeling of Space Plasma Flows (ASTRONUM-2019) on July 1—5, 2019 in Paris, France. The Program Committee consisted of Tahar Amari (CNRS Ecole Polytechnique, France), Edouard Audit (CEA/CNRS Maison de la Simulation, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, co-chair), Amitava Bhattacharjee (Princeton University, USA), Phillip Colella (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA), Jon Linker (Predictive Science, Inc., USA), Anthony Mezzacappa (University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA), Ewald Müller (Max-Planck-Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany), Nikolai Pogorelov (University of Alabama in Huntsville/CSPAR, USA, chair), Kazunari Shibata (Kyoto University, Japan), James Stone (Princeton University, USA), and Gary P. Zank (University of Alabama in Huntsville, USA). The conference attracted 82 scientists from 17 countries representing different branches of the plasma simulation community. The distinctive feature of this conference is a combination of diverse research topics, all of which are essential for performing high-resolution, continuum mechanics and particle, simulations of physical phenomena in space physics and astrophysics. Among such topics were software packages for modeling and analyzing plasma flows; advanced numerical methods for space and astrophysical flows; large-scale fluid-based, kinetic, and hybrid simulations; turbulence and cosmic ray transport; and magnetohydrodynamics. The applications discussed included cosmology and galaxy formation, supernova explosions, physics of the Sun-heliosphere-magnetosphere environments, the interstellar medium and star formation, stellar physics, experimental plasma physics, astrophysical accretion, numerical methods for ideal and non-ideal, relativistic and nonrelativistic MHD, etc. The proceedings volume is structured so that it covers all of these topics. The structure of the ASTRONUM conference series is based on the idea that modelers working in seemingly distant fields should have an opportunity to share their scientific achievements with the broad community of computational scientists performing numerical experiments. As in previous ASTRONUM meetings, we were interested in physical systems that are coupled across a multiplicity of spatial and temporal that incorporate diverse physical processes. The contributors to this volume are both young researchers and renowned experts in space physics and astrophysics, applied mathematics, and computational physics. This volume describes the application of numerical methods and the algorithms themselves, allowing us to discuss the challenges that theory imposes on numerical schemes for solving partial differential equations describing collisional and collisionless processes in space and astrophysical plasmas. We would like to thank the participants who submitted their papers to Proceedings of ASTRONUM-2019 and especially to those who reviewed manuscripts thus ensuring the high quality of this publication. We also are grateful to Valerie Belle (CEA, Saclay), for the excellent management of the conference. The volume will be useful to graduate and postgraduate students majoring in space physics, astrophysics, numerical, engineering, and applied mathematics. It is also aimed at specialists in applied mathematics, and various fields of physics that involve flows of partially ionized plasmas at both the collisional and collisionless levels. Nikolai V. Pogorelov, Edouard Audit, and Gary P. Zank August 3, 2020


ABSTRACT Cryogenic distillation is the only technique with the capacity to handle the hydrogen isotope separation requirements of a fusion power plant. However, there are safety and cost considerations associated with the considerable tritium inventory that can accumulate in such an isotope separation system (ISS). The ISS must be able to reliably produce specified products while responding to varying input streams. To design an ISS that balances all of these considerations and operate it reliably, it is essential to have a computer model of the system. This allows for a better understanding of the system and the exploration of various parameter regions that would otherwise require very expensive experimentation. The value of such a model, however, is questionable until it is validated by comparison with actual experiments. Recently, as part of the Annex IV US/Japan collaboration, a series of tests were conducted on the ISS system at the Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) located at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This system has a fusion power plant-relevant capacity of 6 SLPM (standard liters per minute). These experiments employed light hydrogen (protium), deuterium and tritium. Conditions at five steady state conditions were measured. The measurements included concentration measurements at the column feed, top and bottom, and also at intermediate points. These measurements served as a benchmark for comparison to DYNSIM, the model that has been in use at LANL for many years.† This model was able to accurately predict the column concentration profile based on the measured pressure, temperature, reboiler heat, feed composition and flows for a set of significantly different operating conditions. These results impart confidence that the model is useful for future ISS design and for better understanding of existing system operations.


Proposed mechanisms for the decline of terrestrial and understory insectivorous birds in the tropics include a related subset that together has been termed the 'microclimate hypothesis'. One prediction from this hypothesis is that sensitivity to bright light environments discourages birds of the dimly lit rainforest interior from using edges, gaps, or disturbed forest. Using a hierarchical Bayesian framework and capture data across time and space, we tested this by first determining vulnerability based on differences in within-species capture rates between disturbed and undisturbed forest for 64 bird species at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project in central Amazonian Brazil. We found that 35 species (55%) were vulnerable to anthropogenic habitat degradation, whereas only four (6%) were more commonly captured in degraded forest. To infer visual sensitivity, we then examined two different characters: eye size (maximum pupil diameter) relative to body mass and the initiation time of dawn song, which presumably reflects a species' visual capacity under low light intensities. We predicted that species with large relative eye sizes and birds with earlier dawn songs would exhibit increased vulnerability in degraded habitats with bright light. Contrary to our predictions, however, vulnerability was positively correlated with the mean start time of dawn song. This indicates that species that wait to initiate dawn song are also more vulnerable to habitat degradation. After correcting for body size, there was no effect of eye size on vulnerability. Together, our results do not provide quantitative support for the light sensitivity mechanism of the microclimate hypothesis. More sensitive experimental tests, such as behavioral assays with controlled light environments, especially in a comparative framework, are needed to rigorously evaluate the role of light sensitivity as an aspect of the microclimate hypothesis among Neotropical birds.


Shape-controllable SnO microstructures were successfully synthesized via a facile inorganic alkali-assisted hydrothermal method. The morphologies of the prepared samples could be simply modulated from plate-like blocks to hierarchical architectures assembled using nanosheets with tuned thicknesses, including flowers, bird nests and microspheres, through varying the alkali used in the synthesis process. Based on the experimental results, the origins and detailed formation mechanisms of the plate-like and hierarchical SnO architectures were comprehensively proposed. It was found that the formation of SnO was governed by dissolution–recrystallization and an oriented attachment process; the different dissociation rates of various alkalis played an important role in the final SnO morphology. The thicknesses of the assembling nanosheets greatly decreased with an increase in the dissociation rates of the alkalis. Furthermore, it was proved experimentally that all the hierarchical SnO structures exhibited better photocatalytic activities than those of the plate-like structures in the photodegradation of MB under fluorescent and UV light irradiation. The microspheres, with decreased size and assembling nanosheets of decreased thickness, showed the highest activity for MB dye degradation owing to an increased specific surface area and the reduced recombination of photogenerated electron–hole pairs. The mechanism for the photocatalytic degradation of MB over SnO was discussed in detail.


This paper provides a formal description of the syntactic analysis of core constructions of Wolof clausal/verbal morphosyntax within the Lexical-Functional Grammar formalism. This includes the basic phrase structure, pro-drop, and control relations. The Wolof grammar is implemented in XLE and uses a cascade of finite-state transducers for morphological analysis and tokenization. This work is part of the ongoing process on building language resources and tools for Wolof, in particular a computational grammar.


The Internet has revolutionised the global market place. Internet shopping is now accessible to an increasing numbers of people. In theory, this new form of media offers convenience, speed and choice to the consumer, but the question is whether it works in practice? Business-to-consumer cross-border transactions, whether carried out electronically or otherwise, are subject to the existing framework on jurisdiction and applicable law. Jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition and enforcement of judgements are seen as matters of Private International Law. Private International Law is not a universal set of rules, but a part of each countries national legislation. Physical presence within a State is the traditional ground for jurisdiction and applicable law. The technology and nature of the Internet makes it close to impossible to recognise the location of a user. Therefore, consideration should be given to whether the existent framework for applicable law and jurisdiction should be modified, or applied differently, to ensure effective and transparent consumer protection in the context of the continued growth of electronic commerce. The main body for establishing jurisdiction in Europe is the Brussels Convention on Jurisdiction, Recognition and Enforcement of Civil and Commercial Matters and for establishing applicable law the Rome Convention on Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations. The Commission has presented a proposal to amend the Brussels Convention and one of the reasons is the consideration of the new form of commerce. One of the most important changes, in the proposal, concerns the consumer legislation. The new criterion for applying the consumer protective legislation is proposed to be that the consumers counterpart has directed his activities towards the consumers country of residence. However, as can be seen from e.g., U.S. case law, the criterion of directed activities is not easy to apply. The Commission does not clarify the difference between a passive and an interactive Web site, and it is uncertain whether you can draw any clear principles from either the proposal or U.S. case law concerning directed activities. The consumer protection was also one of the aims behind the Distance Selling Directive. The Directive contains some important rules for consumers such as the minimum clause establishing that Member States may have a higher level of consumer protection as long as they are compatible with the Directive, and the binding rule stating that a consumer may not lose the protection of the Directive by virtue of a choice of law clause stating that a non-member state's law is applicable to the contract. The impact of the Directive might be questionable since some of the most common items that consumers shop over the Internet are excluded from the application of the Directive. Worth consideration is also whether consumers are really in need of protective legislation when using the Internet. Is it reasonable to expect merchants to be familiar with the laws of every jurisdiction where a consumer may reside? Is it possible to establish certain principles that apply in certain situations or is there a possibility that the technique itself may solve any of the problems that it has created? The questions are many and the answers are few and meanwhile the Internet and electronic commerce is evolving in an enormous speed. A global dialogue is important to create a functional and predictable framework.


The New Consensus that has dominated macroeconomics since the 1980s was based on a fundamentally neoclassical structure: efficient markets that on their own converged on a natural equilibrium with a very limited role for macroeconomic (mostly monetary) policy to smooth fluctuations. The crisis shattered this consensus and saw the return of monetary and fiscal activism, at least in academic debate. The profession is reconsidering the pillars of the Consensus, from the size of the multipliers to the implementation of reform, including the links between business cycles and trends. It is still too soon to know what macroeconomics will look like tomorrow, but hopefully it will be more eclectic and open.


A vitamin K-dependent carboxylase has recently been purified from bovine liver microsomes and candidate cDNA clones have been isolated. Definitive identification of the carboxylase remains circumstantial since expression of candidate carboxylase cDNAs in mammalian cells is confounded by the presence of endogenous carboxylase activity. To overcome this problem, a recombinant strain of baculovirus (Autographa california nuclear polyhedrosis virus, AcMNPV) encoding a putative carboxylase (vbCbx/AcMNPV) was used to infect Sf9 insect cells, which we demonstrate have no endogenous carboxylase activity. Infection with vbCbx/AcMNPV conferred vitamin K-dependent carboxylase activity to Sf9 insect cells. Carboxylase activity was demonstrated to peak 2-3 days after infection with vbCbx/AcMNPV. Metabolic radiolabeling with L-[35S]methionine revealed that the 90-kDa recombinant protein is the major protein synthesized at the time of peak activity after infection. An anti-peptide antibody directed against residues 86-99 reacted with bovine liver carboxylase on Western blot analysis and immunoprecipitated recombinant carboxylase from infected Sf9 microsomal protein preparations. Since Sf9 insect cells lack endogenous vitamin K-dependent carboxylase activity, expression of carboxylase activity in Sf9 insect cells with recombinant baculovirus demonstrates that the protein encoded by this cDNA is a vitamin K-dependent gamma-glutamyl carboxylase.


Author(s): Chang, Wei Chun | Advisor(s): Conklin, Bruce R | Abstract: G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) signal through a limited number of G-protein pathways and are crucial in many biological processes. The molecular and functional diversity of GPCRs and the lack of ligands with specific signaling effects have complicated studies of their in vivo functions. To better compare the effects of activating different G-protein-signaling pathways through agonist-mediated or constitutive signaling, we developed a new series of RASSLs (receptors activated solely by synthetic ligands) activating through different G-protein-signaling pathways. These RASSLs are based on the human 5-HT4 receptor, a GPCR with a high level of constitutive Gs signaling and strong agonist-mediated G-protein activation of Gs and Gs/q pathways. The first receptor in this series, 5-HT4-D100A or Rs1 (RASSL serotonin 1), is not activated by its endogenous agonist, serotonin, but is selectively activated by the small synthetic molecules GR113808, GR125487, and RO110-0235 (antagonists and inverse agonists for the 5-HT4 receptor). All agonists potently induced Gs signaling, but only a few (e.g., Zacopride) also induced signaling via the Gq pathway. Zacopride-induced Gq signaling was enhanced by replacing the C-terminus of Rs1 with the C-terminus of the human 5-HT2C receptor. Additional point mutations (D66A and D66N) blocked constitutive Gs signaling and lowered agonist-mediated Gq signaling. Finally, replacing the third intracellular loop of Rs1 with that of human 5-HT1A conferred ligand-mediated Gi signaling. This Gi-coupled RASSL, Rs1.3, exhibited no measurable signaling to the Gs or Gq pathway. These findings show that the signaling repertoire of Rs1 can be expanded and controlled by receptor engineering and drug selection. Here, we describe a new series of RASSLs developed to modify the agonist-mediated and constitutive signaling of the human 5-HT4 receptor. Since none of the inverse agonists for the 5-HT4 receptor works in the presence of the D100A mutation, I also engineered a series of synthetic internal ribosomal entry sites and a single plasmid tetracycline-inducible (tet) system to better control GPCR expression. Combined with a tissue-specific promoter, these RASSLs can be expressed in a tissue-specific manner and at specific levels. With these additional tools, RASSLs will help us better study the effect of constitutive Gs signaling and agonist-mediated Gs, Gs/Gq, and Gi signaling in vivo.


Power consumption is expected to become the main limiting factor for scaling the current network architectures to capabilities of hundreds of terabit or even petabits. The use of optical switching fabrics (SFs) could relax the limitations to some extent but large optical buffers occupy larger area and dissipate more power than electronic ones. In this paper, we evaluate the power consumption of bufferless optical packet switches (OPSs), using the wavelength conversion to solve the output packet contentions. Sophisticated analytical models are introduced to evaluate the power consumption of synchronous and asynchronous OPSs (SOPSs and AOPSs) versus the offered traffic, the main switch parameters, and the used device characteristics. The power consumption in SOPSs and AOPSs is compared when commercial semiconductor optical amplifiers are used to implement SFs and wavelength converters (WCs). The obtained results show that the high power consumption in synchronization stage makes SOPS less effective than AOPS in terms of power consumption. For instance, when the OPSs are dimensioned with a sufficient number of WCs and offered traffic is 0.8, SOPS consumes 140% of power more than does the AOPS. Finally, though power consumption due to cooling system is not considered in the proposed model, we observe that both SOPSs and AOPSs consume much less power per gigabit per second carried than commercial routers.


The requirements in the design of aerofoils for gas turbines are not limited to only meeting the aerothermal performance. A typical scenario for a turbine is to understand the impact of aerofoil skew on capacity, reaction and bearing thrust load. A means to achieve the target capacity could be by skewing the aerofoil. This, however, changes the stage reaction which in turn impacts the bearing thrust load. In the case of a multi stage turbine, the work split between the stages impacts the ratio of pressure drops and hence the contribution of the individual aerofoil rows to the overall capacity and bearing thrust load variation. This paper deals with a generic approach to visualise the variation of capacity and bearing thrust load with aerofoil skew for a stage of interest along with the Constraints that could be potentially imposed on the stage.
 This methodology provides a useful mapping between parameters which are directly under the aerodynamicist's control (i.e. aerofoil skew) to module- and system-level behaviours (i.e. capacity, bearing thrust load). It thereby allows informed choices to be made throughout the design process which deliver the turbine aerodynamic performance targets whilst respecting wider system-level constraints. Suitable optimisation within this design space will yield a design that is fundamentally robust to small deviations in skew angle. Additionally, qualitative variation of the gas path static pressure and reaction based on aerofoil skews are explained pictorially to facilitate the understanding.


In publishing this latest volume on ocular microbiology, Drs. Locatcher-Khorazo and Seegal have produced a much needed and up-to-date reference text, useful to clinician and research scientist alike. The 20 chapters presented cover in detail both common and rare examples of ocular infection, drawing heavily and directly from the clinical and laboratory studies of the principal authors and from the experiences of the 14 contributors, all recognized authorities in this field. The first third of the book covers such areas as general historical background, laboratory characteristics of ocular floral types and the disease states in which they occur, clinical cytologic findings, and aseptic technique. The remainder of the book is devoted to the discussion of specific infectious states including bacterial, mycotic, and viral infections (both DNA and RNA) and trachoma, inclusion conjunctivitis, toxoplasmosis, leprosy, richettsiae, syphilis and allergic states, such as vernal catarrh and neuroretinitis. All chapters are well illustrated


The mollusk fauna from the Pliocene Viviparus beds of Vukomericke Gorice hills in central Croatia was investigated at four sites in the region of Kravarsko, S of Zagreb. The region represents a Pleistocene dome-anticline at the southern margin of the Sava depression. Sediments are dominated by clay, bearing some sand, gravel and lignite intercalations. The mollusks, comprising 11 gastropod and 2 bivalve species, prove the studied deposits to derive from the long-lived, highly endemic Lake Slavonia. The taxonomic revisions include the introductions of Viviparus kochanskyae n. sp. for specimens from Lake Slavonia previously identified with V. fuchsi NEUMAYR, 1872 and Prososthenia ? praeslavonica n. nom. replacing the primary homonym Hydrobia vitrella BRUSINA, 1897 non Stefanescu, 1896. Recognized as an independent phase in the geodynamic evolution of the Pannonian Basin, the new regional stage Cernikian is introduced for the succession, defined by the complete depositional sequence of the Viviparus beds. Two stratigraphic horizons detected in the studied sites are constrained by the Lower Cernikian Viviparus kochanskyae and the Upper Cernikian Viviparus hoernesi zones and stay in perfect agreement with previous regional data. Timing of the Lake Slavonia history is enabled through several zonal markers calibrated to the Geological Time Scale in the Dacian Basin. Accordingly, the Lower Cernikian transgression dates to c. 4.3 Ma, the Upper Cernikian to c. 3.1 Ma, indicating strong alteration of the lacustrine depositional settings during the Pliocene, most likely related to changes in the regional climate. Interestingly, the second transgression of Lake Slavonia is marked by the evolution of strongly sculptured viviparid shells and coincides with the Pliocene Climate Optimum.


Deep learning model (primarily convolutional networks and LSTM) for time series classification has been studied broadly by the community with the wide applications in different domains like healthcare, finance, industrial engineering and IoT. Meanwhile, Transformer Networks recently achieved frontier performance on various natural language processing and computer vision tasks. In this work, we explored a simple extension of the current Transformer Networks with gating, named Gated Transformer Networks (GTN) for the multivariate time series classification problem. With the gating that merges two towers of Transformer which model the channel-wise and step-wise correlations respectively, we show how GTN is naturally and effectively suitable for the multivariate time series classification task. We conduct comprehensive experiments on thirteen dataset with full ablation study. Our results show that GTN is able to achieve competing results with current state-of-the-art deep learning models. We also explored the attention map for the natural interpretability of GTN on time series modeling. Our preliminary results provide a strong baseline for the Transformer Networks on multivariate time series classification task and grounds the foundation for future research.


As a part of our effort to explore various aspects of ferrokinetics in infancy, the present study was designed to determine the timing of entry of an orally ingested iron isotope into circulating erythrocytes, and the effect of the level of dietary iron [0.3 mg/100 kcal (418.4 kJ) vs. 1.8 mg/100 kcal] after isotope administration on erythrocyte incorporation of the isotope. We administered the stable isotope, (58)Fe, orally to 56-d-old and 168-d-old infants. All infants were fed a low-iron formula (LF) before and until 5 h after isotope administration. Thereafter, half the infants were fed a formula high in iron (HF group) while the remaining infants continued to receive the LF (LF group) for an additional 28 d. The quantity of (58)Fe in circulating erythrocytes increased from 14 to 28 d after isotope administration was nearly constant from 28 through 84 d of age (plateau value) and decreased between 84 and 112 d. Erythrocyte incorporation of (58)Fe was greater by the 168-d-old infants than by the 56-d-old infants, presumably because of the lesser iron stores of the older infants. In the 56-d-old infants, erythrocyte incorporation of (58)Fe was greater by the LF than by the HF group, but this difference was not significant in the 168-d-old infants. Thus, at least in younger infants, the level of iron intake after administration of an iron isotope affects erythrocyte incorporation of the isotope. The fact that less isotope was present in erythrocytes 112 d than 84 d after administration indicates that the life span of erythrocytes of infants, even beyond the immediate newborn period, is less than the 120-d life span of erythrocytes in the adult.


OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the force delivered by different superlastic nickel-titanium wires during vertical displacement, in order to determine whether their stress release meets the criteria for constant and light forces that are usually accredited to these archwires. METHOD: Ten samples of 6 brands of 0.016-in archwires (Ormco, GAC, Morelli, TP, American Orthodontics e Rocky Mountain) were tested in a complete metal model using Dynalock brackets (3M Unitek™). In the canine position, there was a sliding bracket connected to a pole. This set was related to a load cell of 0.5 kg attached to a universal testing machine (Autograph AG-199kNG, Shimadzu). The crosshead speed was 0.5 mm/min and the maximum displacement was 1.0 mm. The model was submerged in temperature-controlled water. The results were analyzed by ANOVA (p < 0.05), using the software SAS System 8.02, Cry, NC, USA. RESULTS: The TP archwire had the lowest force throughout the test, although the final force was high (277.91 g). The Rocky Mountain archwire had the highest force release (455.41 g). CONCLUSION: The different brands of wires tested in this study failed in delivering low and constant forces as expected from superlastic nickel-titanium wires. The forces were extremely heavy for a vertical tooth movement.


In this paper I study the dynamic implications of household decisions that determine fertility and human capital accumulation with a theoretical model built on that of Hazan and Berdugo (2002). The links between the allocation of children's time, together with material resources towards child quality components, such as nutrition and the process of economic development are explored. I ive emphasis to investment in child quality because it has not previously been treated together with allocation of children's time in a dynamic setting. However these need to be dealt with together since they enable us explicitly to consider the possibility that human capital can be accumulated beyond the point at which child labor is effectively (rationally) eliminated, and even beyond that when fertility transition is concluded. I also show that this result can hold even in the absence of altruistic parents (in a unitary framework). Finally I show with these models that Caldwell's hypothesis about the correlation between intergenerational flows of resources and fertility regimes can be explained as being mediated by earning opportunities in educationally-intensive sectors which in turn influence parental incentives to invest in child quality.


LPG is an alternative fuel that commonly used in spark ignition engine. The research on introducing the LPG into the combustion chamber has been extended to the liquid injection rather than conventional method which is gas injection. The objective of this study specifically is to evaluate the effects of liquid LPG injection on the combustion stability as compared to the gasoline fuel. The study was conducted using 1600cc naturally aspirated engine at 2000rpm and 3000rpm at various throttle position, which were 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of its opening. The statistical analysis has been used in determining the combustion effectiveness through peak pressure analysis from 250 continuous combustion cycle. The results were compared with the gasoline fuel for each experimental condition. The results showed that liquid LPG injection has produced better combustion stability than gasoline fuel at almost all tested conditions.


ABSTRACT Fires are a common occurrence in Australian terrestrial ecosystems. A large fire occurred in January 2013 within and adjacent to the Warrumbungle National Park, near Coonabarabran in NSW, burning over 560 km2 of the park and surrounding region (the Wambelong fire). The Wambelong fire affected Dunphy Lake, the only lake in the park. In this study, we assessed the post-fire aquatic animal community of the lake in March and September 2014. At the times of sampling the lake was largely dry and had only small isolated pools. We found 53 invertebrate taxa including the larvae of the dragonfly Austrogynacantha heterogena and one vertebrate species (larvae of the frog Litoria rubella) in the pool-water samples. Artificial inundation of the lake sediment samples under laboratory conditions led to the emergence of 31 taxa, totalling 62 taxa in the lake overall. Most taxa found in the lake are opportunistic and characteristic of those in still-water bodies. Dunphy Lake seems to be highly resilient in sustai...


The Paper investigates how foreign-owned and domestic firms in Hungary set their export prices. Using a unique dataset with firm and product-level data on trade flows, we find that foreign firms charge substantially lower export prices than domestic firms. This finding is robust after controlling for relevant firm characteristics, indicating that the pricing behaviour of foreign firms is different. One explanation is that multinational firms engage in transfer pricing to minimize tax burden. We provide evidence that tax incentives explain a large portion of the price gap; the export prices of tax-paying foreign firms are 15 to 35% lower than arm's length prices.


This dissertation consists of five papers addressing variousreal estate performance issues (see full titles in italicsbelow). The dissertation is empirical in nature and the dataused in most of the empirical sections consist of figures forincome-producing property returns. Paper 1 was presented atseminar and accepted as a Licentiate Degree in Engineeringthesis. Papers 2 to 5 were all written jointly with others (thenames of the co-authors appear later in the dissertation).Paper 3 has been published in theJournal of Real Estate Research, and Papers 2, 4, and 5,are also intended for publication in academic journals.The objective of Paper 1, entitledCapital Recovery and Long-run Profitability, was to findempirical and scientific support for adopting measurements ofprofitability featuring stability, simplicity and reliability,that could easily be implemented into existing administrativeroutines, and which could also support effectivedecision-making. The model was empirically tested throughanalysing the profitability of individual properties andproperty portfolios. The portfolios studied were put togetherfeaturing variation in property location, usage and initialperformance expectations.Paper 2, entitledAn Investigation of Property Price Studies, constitutesan untraditional literature review covering articles whereprice equations in the real estate market have been estimatedusing regression techniques. This paper examines the degree towhich these studies follow good scientific practice whenreporting on the econometric issues. It also presents adescriptive overview of the prevalence of these articles in theliterature, and the significance of the various topicsaddressed by these studies. This paper was prepared in 1996 andexamines 145 articles published between 1990 and 1995 from 12highly regarded (see later) research journals on real estate,housing and urban economics.Paper 3,entitledProperty Cycles, Speculative Bubbles and the Gross IncomeMultiplier, addresses the issue of whether or not theoccurrence of significant price increases during the upturn ina property cycle can be attributed to a speculative bubble. Thefindings of this study indicate that a speculative bubble mayhave driven the Swedish income-producing real estate marketduring the 1980s. This conclusion is based on an analysis ofpanel data where the state of the property cycle has beenmirrored by the value of the Gross Income Multiplier (GIM).In Paper 4, entitledAnalysing Performance in a Constant Sample of Mixed-useProperties, property performance was analysed using annualtotal rate of return (TRR) data for a sample of 138 mixed-useincome-producing properties from 1979 to 1997. The empiricalanalysis using panel data models involve three-step analyses.In step 1, various different TRR definitions were compared andfound to provide almost identical results at the portfoliolevel. In step 2, regression analyses were used to explain thevariation in the TRR. The percentage of commercial space inparticular was found to have an important and cycle-dependentimpact. Regression has also been used for explaining theindividual deviation from the mean TRR. In step 3, maintenancecosts and investments were found to have a significanteffect.In Paper 5, entitledRent Determinant and Rent Drift in a Housing Market underRent Control, residential rent 1990− 1997, wasstudied from an investor's point of view. Estimations wereconducted using rent equations to analyse whether or not rentlevels varied between locations while other rent-affectingvariables were held constant, and found evidence suggestingthat they did. Annual increases in the effective rent chargedfor privately owned residential properties were compared withthe official increases set via official negotiation formunicipality owned residential housing to see whether excessiverent increases (indicating rent drift) could be found. Evidencewas found to support the existence of rent drift, and also thatthis rent drift is partly explainable in terms of investmentand maintenance.Keywords: Depreciation, gross income multiplier, netoperating income, property performance, real estateprofitability, profitability, residential rent, total rate ofreturn,


In order to hurdle the limitations of Monte Carlo method and Response Surface method, the advanced Monte Carlo method was shown in this paper. And the system reliability of a one-bay and three-story steel framework structure was analyzed using the improved Monte Carlo method. Results of reliability analysis showed that there were high precision and a short calculating time using the improved Monte Carlo method. Then, the model of optimal design for steel frame based on the system reliability was built in accordance with the improved Monte Carlo method. And the optimal design on the steel frame was shown using the modern optimization method--genetic algorithm. From results, it was proved that optimal design without reliability could make structure have not enough reliability, even would not reach the required level of structural safety of Chinese criterions. It may lead to hidden dangers when only to reach objection on economy but haven't considering reliability.


Ingestion of 5 g guar gum (Glucotard) led to complete obstruction of the distal oesophagus in a 63-year-old diabetic. A daily intake of 5 g guar gum t.i.d. with 250 ml of water had been tolerated without problems for half a year. Intake of a sufficient amount of water, as well as an undisturbed oesophageal function, are absolutely essential for the ingestion of guar gum. Since alcohol can influence the process of swelling and the consistency of the bolus, simultaneous intake of alcohol and guar gum should be strictly avoided.


The overall topic for this research manuscript aims to understand how to best incorporate the use of digital technology into inquiry projects with the goal to create more authentic learning experiences for students. Moreover, what types of digital technology are available in order to support and enhance student learning and understanding and how can we best prepare teachers in order for them to feel comfortable using these forms of technology in the classroom. In order to answer this complex question, I surveyed my fellow teacher candidates using Google forms in order to better understand their experiences with digital technology and inquiry based learning. I also looked to two practicing teachers in very different schools and was curious as to what their experiences have been with the success of digital technology and inquiry. This research is very valuable because the amount of digital technology that is rapidly increasing and the paradigm of education is also shifting too. Learning is becoming much more learner centered than teacher centered as a result of inquiry based learning. Therefore, pairing the these two together, I believe can provide a much more rich, engaging and authentic learning experience if done properly. However, my research did indicate inquiry based learning is still a fairly new approach and teachers and pre-service teachers are learning themselves how to implicate this practice with their own teaching philosophy and practice. I also found that digital technology can enhance can significantly student learning and growth yet it can also act as a divider among students and different schools.


Rhinoplasty entails several steps that affect the appearance and function of the nose in an interrelated way. Occasionally, an excellent result can be marred by a minor imperfection and lead to dissatisfaction of both patient and surgeon. For significant pathology, revision rhinoplasty can be performed safely if the architecture and physiology of the nose are respected. To correct the "near-miss" result, minor corrections can successfully restore the aesthetic result. This can require a different frame of reference and approach and can often be thought of in terms of soft tissue correction. Subcutaneous fibrosis, skin depressions, asymmetries, and deficits can be corrected with minor procedures and techniques not routinely associated with rhinoplasty. We detail several methods that can be used to restore simply and effectively an otherwise excellent rhinoplasty result.


BACKGROUND
This retrospective study evaluates morbidity and mortality of reoperative coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) using a posterior thoracotomy to revascularize the lateral aspect of the heart.

METHODS
From January 1995 to July 1999, reoperative CABG without CPB was performed on 67 selected patients using a left posterior thoracotomy approach. Preoperative risk factors, postoperative mortality, and major complications were derived from the New York State database.

RESULTS
All patients were operated on without CPB. A total of 1.3 grafts per patient were performed. Freedom from major complications was 95.5%. There were no postoperative cerebro-vascular accidents (CVA) or new neurological deficits. Two patients (3%) had a perioperative acute myocardial infarction. The actual mortality rate was 4.5% (3/67), the expected mortality was 5.1% and the calculated risk adjusted mortality was 2.1%.

CONCLUSIONS
Reoperative CABG without CPB to revascularize selected coronary artery targets can be safely performed using a posterior thoracotomy approach.


The mechanical properties and processing performances of conventional magnesium alloys still could not meet the need of important application fields due to some demerits, such as poor formability, low creep resistance and unsatisfactory strength at elevated temperature. Recent investigations have shown that additions of strontium to magnesium alloys are effective in improving creep resistance of the alloys at temperatures above 150°C, and some new types of magnesium alloys containing strontium have been developed. The mechanical properties and microstructure of magnesium-aluminum based alloys containing strontium are reviewed, and the considerable discrepancy among the research results is discussed. Special attentions are paid to the mechanical properties, compounds and grain refinement of Mg-Al-Sr based alloys. The Sr/Al ratio is thought to be important to control the microstructure of Mg-Al-Sr alloys. The mechanism of grain refinement caused by strontium addition in magnesium alloys remains unclear.


Abstract The paper incorporates liquid reserves, interest and dividends in the compound Poisson surplus model. When an insurer's surplus is below a certain level, it is kept as liquid reserves. As the surplus attains the level, the excess of the surplus above the level will earn interest at a constant interest rate. If the surplus continues to surpass a higher level, the excess of the surplus above this higher level will be paid out as dividends to the insurer's shareholders at a constant dividend rate or by the threshold strategy. The lower and higher levels are called the liquid reserve level and the threshold level, respectively. This paper is to discuss the interactions of the liquid reserve level, the interest rate, the threshold level, and the dividend rate in the proposed risk model by studying the expected discounted penalty function and the expected present value of dividends paid up to the time of ruin. We derive expressions for the solutions to both quantities via the approach of integro-differential equation systems. We show that the dividend-penalty identity (Gerber et al. 2006, ASTIN Bulletin) still holds for the threshold strategy with liquid reserves and interest. We illustrate these results by deriving explicit solutions to the probability of ultimate ruin under the threshold strategy when claim sizes are exponentially distributed. In the end, we also discuss the impact of the liquid reserve level, the interest rate, the threshold level, and the dividend rate on the ruin probability by numerical examples.


2012 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Alan Turing, one of the greatest minds Britain has ever produced. Between inventing the digital computer and helping to decode the German Enigma machine, to founding the science of Artificial Intelligence, the world today would have been a very different place without him and his ideas. His work on morphogenesis (the biological processes that cause organisms to grow in a particular shapes) and the now famous "Turing Test" for machine intelligence have captures the imagination of artists for decades whilst his technological developments have given them the tools to create new kinds of artworks. This project, which takes its name from Turing's own writing on the subject of mathematical reasoning, brings together a number of important artists from digital art pioneers to emerging contemporaries to investigate and celebrate Turing's enduring influence on art and contemporary culture. Through an exhibition and a series of events. This is an official Alan Turing 2012 project, organised by the Alan Turing 2012 Arts and Culture Subcommittee.


BACKGROUND
Although influenza is usually a mild self-limiting disease it can cause serious complications in high risk groups. The economic costs of influenza are large due to the burden on the health system and absenteeism from work. There is evidence that the vaccine is underused in groups targeted for vaccination.

OBJECTIVES
To estimate: a) the compliance rate with the influenza, vaccination in Israel during the winter seasons of 1998/1999 and 1999/2000, b) the role of health care personnel and the media in influencing compliance, and c) the reasons for lack of compliance in the elderly.

METHODS
Two national population-based random telephone surveys of 1,500 households were performed during October 1999 and January 2000 to survey influenza vaccination compliance prior to the winters of 1998/1999 and 1999/2000 respectively. Each survey was performed during four successive evenings. The response rate was 78.1% for the first survey and 79.1% for the second.

RESULTS
Vaccination compliance was similar in both surveys. The average rate of vaccination was 6% for the population under 65 years and 50% for the population of 65 years and above. The overall vaccination rate was around 10%. The family physician was the main authority to recommend the vaccination, followed by the community nurse. Absence of recommendation and lack of faith in the efficacy of the vaccine were the main reasons for noncompliance.

CONCLUSIONS
Compliance rates with influenza vaccine in targeted groups in Israel remain relatively low. Health care personnel should be more involved in promoting the vaccine.


The number of damages of home electric appliances due to lightning surges have recently increased. Instllation of SPDs (Surge Protective Device) in interior wireing is one of countermeasures against the damages and is also spreading after an amendment of the regulation on indoor wires in 2005. Past study showed effective mthod, the earth line of SPD is connected with that of home appliances and is grounded at one place at home.However, because the institution ways of the distribution line at each home are various, it is difficult to estimate the effect of SPD at every home, and the high-precision analysis by EMTP for interior wiring and SPD at home is required. In this study, experiments were conducted with interior wiring and varisters which constitues SPD, and this paper report the results by those experiments and EMTP analytical models.


Background—Solitary rectal ulcer syndrome (SRUS) is often resistant to medical and surgical treatment. Aim—To determine whether biofeedback retraining is a useful treatment for this condition. Patients—Thirteen consecutive patients with SRUS (three men, median age 34 years, median duration of symptoms three years) underwent treatment. Previous surgical treatment had failed in five. Methods—Patients were evaluated prospectively. Anorectal physiological studies were performed in 11 patients before treatment. A standardised questionnaire was used before and after treatment, and all but two patients were examined after treatment. Results—Median follow up was nine months (range 3–22 months). After treatment four patients were asymptomatic, and four felt improved. Symptom improvement or elimination occurred in: need to strain (7/13 patients), digitation (7/11), laxative use (5/9). Time in the toilet (median 30 v 10 minutes, beforev after treatment) and number of visits to toilet (6v 3/day) were also improved. Three patients were able to maintain employment before treatment compared with eight after treatment. The solitary ulcer did not heal completely in any of the nine patients examined after treatment, but improved in four. Previous surgery, the macroscopic appearance of the ulcer, the presence of pelvic floor paradox, and other physiological parameters did not predict outcome. Conclusion—Biofeedback retraining is a useful treatment for this condition. Long term studies are now required.


The evidence that cochlear implant listeners routinely experience stream segregation is limited and equivocal. Streaming in these listeners was explored using tone sequences matched to the center frequencies of the implant's 22 electrodes. Experiment 1 measured temporal discrimination for short (ABA triplet) and longer (12 AB cycles) sequences (tone/silence durations = 60/40 ms). Tone A stimulated electrode 11; tone B stimulated one of 14 electrodes. On each trial, one sequence remained isochronous, and tone B was delayed in the other; listeners had to identify the anisochronous interval. The delay was introduced in the second half of the longer sequences. Prior build-up of streaming should cause thresholds to rise more steeply with increasing electrode separation, but no interaction with sequence length was found. Experiment 2 required listeners to identify which of two target sequences was present when interleaved with distractors (tone/silence durations = 120/80 ms). Accuracy was high for isolated targets, but most listeners performed near chance when loudness-matched distractors were added, even when remote from the target. Only a substantial reduction in distractor level improved performance, and this effect did not interact with target-distractor separation. These results indicate that implantees often do not achieve stream segregation, even in relatively unchallenging tasks.


Although the detection of antibodies to a specific pathogen is used initially as the assay of choice, direct detection of human retroviruses is difficult. First, only a small fraction of cells are infected in the peripheral blood and lymphatic tissue may serve as a reservoir for infection. Second, infected cells may harbor only a small number of copies of the viral sequences. Third, a latent infection marked by transcriptional dormancy is often established thereby obviating the use of proteins or RNA to detect the viruses. Fourth, closely related but distinct members of the onco-and lenti-virus families may complicate specific detection of a particular virus. An additional hurdle is viral heterogeneity. HIV variants, for example, have been identified within and among individuals harboring this virus. Accordingly, sensitive and specific detection of the human retroviruses seemingly requires specific amplification of viral DNA sequences prior to detection. In this regard, an in vitro DNA amplification procedure using DNA polymerase and termed the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) initially applied to human genetic diseases has been successfully applied to human retroviruses. A PCR-based assay has demonstrated utility for detecting infection: (1) prior to the generation of detectable antibodies, (2) in individuals with ambiguous or indeterminate serological status, (3) for neonatal screening, (4) by a specific type or multiple viruses, and (5) in therapeutic trials to allow the monitoring of infected cell load and viremia. It is also unlikely that the viruses identified to date represent all of the retroviruses responsible for human disease. Lymphatic disorders, in general, and immunodeficiencies, in particular, merit closer scrutiny for a retroviral etiologic agent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


We present an analysis of the potential follow-up polarimetry microlensing observation to study the stellar atmospheres of the distant stars. First, we produce synthetic microlensing events using the Galactic model, stellar population, and interstellar dust toward the Galactic Bulge. We simulate the polarization microlensing light curves and pass them through the instrument specifications of FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS2) polarimeter at Very Large Telescope (VLT), and then analyze them. We find that the accuracy of the VLT telescope lets us constrain the atmosphere of cool RGB stars. Assuming detection of about 3000 microlensing events per year by the OGLE telescope, we expect to detect almost 20, 10, 8, and 5 of polarization microlensig events for the four different criteria of being three consecutive polarimetry data points above the baseline with 1σ, 2σ, 3σ, and 4σ, respectively in the polarimetry light curves. We generalize the covariance matrix formulation and present the combination of polarimetry and photometry information that leads us to measure the scattering optical depth of the atmosphere and the inner radius of the stellar envelope of red giant stars. These two parameters could determine the dust opacity of the atmosphere of cool RGB source stars and the radius where dust can be formed.


Deep Neural Networks(DNNs) require huge GPU memory when training on modern image/video databases. Unfortunately, the GPU memory is physically finite, which limits the image resolutions and batch sizes that could be used in training for better DNN performance. Unlike solutions that require physically upgrade GPUs, the Gradient Check-Pointing(GCP) training trades computation for more memory beyond existing GPU hardware. GCP only stores a subset of intermediate tensors, called Gradient Checkpoints (GCs), during forward. Then during backward, extra local forwards are conducted to compute the missing tensors. The total training memory cost becomes the sum of (1) the memory cost of the gradient checkpoints and (2) the maximum memory cost of local forwards. To achieve maximal memory cut-offs, one needs optimal algorithms to select GCs. Existing GCP approaches rely on either manual input of GCs or heuristics-based GC search on Linear Computation Graphs (LCGs), and cannot apply to Arbitrary Computation Graphs(ACGs). In this paper, we present theories and optimal algorithms on GC selection that, for the first time, are applicable to ACGs and achieve the maximal memory cut-offs. Extensive experiments show that our approach not only outperforms existing approaches (only applicable on LCGs), and is applicable to a vast family of LCG and ACG networks, such as Alexnet, VGG, ResNet, Densenet, Inception Net and highly complicated DNNs by Network Architecture Search. Our work enables GCP training on ACGs, and cuts off up-to 80% of training memory1 with a moderate time overhead (∼ 30%-50%). Codes are available2


Traditional photoconductive photodetectors (PDs) commonly respond to higher energy photons compared with the bandgaps of PD active materials. Different from the wide detection spectra of traditional PDs, the present reported PbS quantum dot (QD) PDs can detect the spectra-selective light source. Spectra-selective PDs (ss-PDs) of perovskite/QDs and QD/QDs were respectively implemented by integrating two functional layers. The top layer (facing the light) was utilized to filter the non-target spectra and the bottom layer was used for detection. The response spectrum wavelength and the range of ss-PDs can be conveniently tailored by tuning the QD size. The obtained selectivity factor and normalized detectivity ratio from target and non-target illumination can reach at least 10. A narrow detection range with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) ∼100 nm was applied by typical QD/QD based ss-PDs. The prototype ss-PDs were successfully applied in identifying an unknown light source. The convenient tuning and identification capabilities of the present QD based ss-PDs may provide a versatile route to obtain highly spectrum-selective PDs in order to meet the demands for special fields.


We describe a statistically based algorithm that aligns protein sequences by means of predictive inference. Using residue frequencies, this Gibbs sampling algorithm iteratively selects alignments in accordance with their conditional probabilities. The newly formed alignments in turn update an evolving residue frequency model. When equilibrium is reached the most probable alignment can be identified. If a detectable pattern is present, generally convergence is rapid. Effectively, the algorithm finds optimal local multiple alignments in linear time (seconds on current workstations). Its use is illustrated on test sets of lipocalins and prenyltranferases.<<ETX>>


Over past few decades there have been looming critiques of chiropractors possibly causing strokes due to cervical manipulation and/or adjusting. As physicians we have had profound concerns a therapeutic intervention we could render may have iatrogenic implications for a patient. Recent research has illustrated that chiropractic cervical treatment has not been implicated in causing strokes. Apparently any relationship is more coincidental since incidental movements of the neck, such as just turning to look in a car, might be sufficient to cause a stroke in a susceptible patient. But, before we can breathe a sigh of relief we now have the responsibility to be aware of a stroke in progress or possible warning signs that might pre-stage a stroke. Since many times the same signs of an impending stroke (head or neck pain) are the same signs that lead a patient to seek chiropractic care. Therefore, this makes the chiropractic clinical encounter important not just from a treatment point of view but also a history taking and diagnostic opportunity to save our patient's life.


Nonlinear propagation of focused axisymmetrically-polarized ultrashort optical pulses along the optic axis in a uniaxial crystal is investigated experimentally and theoretically. The energy transfer between an azimuthally-polarized pulse and a radially-polarized pulse is observed. To analyze the nonlinear propagation, a general paraxial equation with a third-order nonlinearity for axisymmetrically-polarized pulses in a uniaxial crystal is derived and the extended Stokes parameters (ESPs) based on cylindrical coordinates are newly-introduced. The simulation results by using this equation, providing the calculated ESPs, well explain our experimental observations: 1) the energy transfer is attributed to the four-wave-mixing effect, reflecting the overlapping between the axisymmetrically polarized modes, 2) the variations of the polarization defined from the ESPs are clarified to be affected by the self- and the cross-phase modulations, which make the effective propagation length long or short.


The image of Divine Wisdom, traditionally associated with the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, is an innovation of the fifteenth century. The icon represents the winged, royal, red-faced Sophia flanked by the Mother of God and John the Baptist. Although the image has a contemporaneous commentary, and although it exercised a profound influence on Russian cultural history, its meaning, together with the dating and localisation of the first appearance of the iconography, has remained an art-historical conundrum. By exploring the message, roots, function, and historical context of the creation of the first, most emblematic and enigmatic Russian allegorical iconography, Depicting Orthodoxy in the Russian Middle Ages deciphers the meaning of this icon. In contrast to previous interpretations, Kriza argues that the winged Sophia is the personification of the Orthodox Church. The Novgorod Wisdom icon represents the Church of Hagia Sophia, that is, Orthodoxy, as it was perceived in fifteenth-century Rus. Depicting Orthodoxy asserts that the icon, together with its commentary, was a visual-textual response to the Union of Florence between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, signed in 1439 but rejected by the Russians in 1441. This interpretation is based on detailed interdisciplinary research, drawing on philology, art history, theology, and history. Kriza's study challenges some key assumptions concerning the relevance of Church Schism of 1054, the polemics between the Greeks and the Latins about the bread of Eucharist, and the role of the Union of Florence in the history of Russian art. In particular, by studying both well- and lesser-known works of art alongside overlooked textual evidence, this volume investigates how the Christian Church and its true faith were defined and visualized in Rus and Byzantium throughout the centuries.


In 1975, the gray wolf (Canis lupus) population in Minnesota was protected by the federal Endangered Species Act (USA). At that time, there were 500-750 wolves. By 2004, the population had grown to an estimated 3,020 wolves. Over time, conflicts between wolves and livestock increased. Wolf depredation control programs have been conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (1975-1986) and by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program (1986 to present). In 1978, Minnesota's wolves were reclassified from endangered to threatened which allowed authorized federal agents to lethally remove wolves that had depredated on livestock or pets. A State funded wolf compensation program was also established in 1978. Wildlife Services' wolf damage management approach utilizes both nonlethal and lethal methods of control. Currently, wolf depredations are verified at 60-85 farms annually and 125-175 wolves are taken each year. Wolf compensation payments to livestock producers have averaged $67,111 per year during the past five years. Most livestock losses occur during spring and summer. Selective removal of depredating wolves, coupled with improvements in animal husbandry practices, has potential for reducing wolf-livestock conflicts. Minnesota's wolf population is currently considered to be fully recovered and federal delisting is expected to occur in the near future.


When crimes occur, there is third-party support for retributive justice, but is there also support for the idea that punishments should give offenders clean slates? In addition, how might support for rehabilitation compare with support for retribution, and with support for giving a clean slate? Two studies tested how crime severity affected support for the 3 sentencing objectives: retribution, rehabilitation, and giving an offender a clean slate. Further, the studies tested whether anger and compassion toward the offender mediated the relationships between crime severity and the sentencing objectives. Results show that as crime severity increased, support for retribution increased, support for rehabilitation was unaffected (in Study 2), and support for giving a clean slate decreased. In addition, the relationship between severity and retribution, and the relationship between severity and clean slate, were both mediated by anger and compassion. For rehabilitation, there was an indirect effect involving compassion but not anger.


Due to the wide interindividual variability in pharmacokinetics and therapeutic response of cancer patients towards anticancer drugs, pharmacogenomic-assisted dose optimization and/or application of therapeutic drug monitoring service could be of benefit. For some drugs like irinotecan used in solid tumors, dose optimization may be achieved if the oncologist depends on pharmacogenomic approach. On the other hand, dose adjustment of some other anticancer drugs like tamoxifen used in breast cancer can be affected more by application of therapeutic drug monitoring of its active metabolite; endoxifen.


Lever pressing during tests for resistance to extinction and cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine seeking in rats progressively increases over the first 2 months of withdrawal. In the present report, we investigated the generality of these findings in rats trained to self-administer sucrose, a non-drug reinforcer. We also examined whether the time-dependent changes in cocaine seeking correlate with the levels of the dopamine transporter (DAT) and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) proteins in the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. Rats were trained to self-administer cocaine (0.5mg/kg/i.v. infusion) or 10% sucrose (0.2ml/infusion into a liquid drop receptacle) for 10 days (6 h/day); each reward delivery was paired with a toneþlight cue. Tests for cocaine seeking were conducted following 1 or 15 reward-free days. On the test day, rats were initially tested for resistance to extinction during 6–7 60-min extinction sessions in the absence of the tone–light cue, until they reached the extinction criterion of less than 15 responses/60min. Subsequently, rats were tested for cue-induced reinstatement during a 60-min session in which each lever press led to a contingent presentation of the tone–light cue. Lever pressing during the tests for reward seeking was significantly greater on day 15 than on day 1 following withdrawal from both cocaine and sucrose self-administration training. The levels of DAT, but not TH, were greater in the prefrontal cortex of cocaine-trained rats than in sucrose-trained rats on both days 1 and 15 of withdrawal. The levels of DAT and TH in other brain areas were not altered following withdrawal from cocaine or sucrose self-administration. These data suggest that the withdrawal period can modulate reward seeking of both drug and non-drug reinforcers, and that alterations in DAT and TH levels in the brain regions examined do not mediate this effect. & 2002 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.


The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Conservation Program constructed more than 11,000 flood control dams in 47 states since 1948. Three hundred fifty-seven (357) of those dams were constructed in the State of Georgia. Fourteen (14) of these dams were constructed in Gwinnett County between 1965 and 1980. Gwinnett County's watershed flood control dams provide valuable resources such as flood protection in downstream floodplains, protect roads and bridges, increase property values, provide recreational opportunities, provide fish and wildlife habitats, improve water quality, and protect public utility infrastructure. However, development downstream of the dams has resulted in twelve (12) of the fourteen (14) NRCS dams in the County to be classified as high hazard Category I Dams. Gwinnett County recognizes that the flood control dams are a vital part of our Storm Water Management Program and have initiated a program to bring them into compliance with Georgia Safe Dams Program standards for Category I dams. Implementation of that program has helped Gwinnett County to understand that keys to making it successful are operation and maintenance procedures, understanding the problems and consequences, selecting qualified consultants, long range planning and budgeting, obtaining the support of elected officials, and working closely with the NRCS and cooperating agencies.


In rapidly growing, highly glycolytic hepatoma cells as much as 65% of the total cell hexokinase is bound to the outer mitochondrial membrane [Parry, D.M., & Pedersen, P.L. (1983) J. Biol. Chem. 258, 10904-10912]. In this paper, we describe the purification to apparent homogeneity of a mitochondrial pore-forming protein from the highly glycolytic AS-30D rat hepatoma cell line. The purified protein shows a single 35 000-dalton band in sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, an amino acid composition slightly more hydrophobic than that of the rat liver pore protein (also known as VDAC or mitochondrial porin), and a channel-forming activity of 136 channels min-1 (microgram of protein)-1. In addition to displaying the properties characteristic of VDAC (single-channel conductance, voltage dependence, and preference for anions), we observe that the AS-30D VDAC protein is one of only three mitochondrial proteins that bind [14C]dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD) at relatively low dosages (2 nmol of DCCD/mg of mitochondrial protein). Significantly, treatment of intact mitochondria isolated from either rat liver or the AS-30D hepatoma with DCCD results in an almost complete inhibition of their ability to binding hexokinase. Fifty percent inhibition of binding occurs at less than 2 nmol of DCCD/mg of mitochondrial protein. In contrast to DCCD, water-soluble carbodiimides are without effect on hexokinase binding. These results suggest that the pore-forming protein of tumor mitochondria forms at least part of the hexokinase receptor complex. In addition, they indicate that a carboxyl residue located within a hydrophobic region of the receptor complex may play a critical role in hexokinase binding.


Although early work experiences during high school represent one of the most consistent predictors of postschool employment for young adults with disabilities, little is known about how these adolescents might access these valuable transition experiences. This study examined the summer employment and community activities of 136 high school students with severe disabilities. The majority of youth was either not working (61.7%) or reported sheltered employment (11.1%). The most prominent predictors of summer employment status were holding a job during the spring semester and teacher expectations for employment. Recommendations for research and practice focus on increasing the capacity of schools, families, and communities to support the involvement of youth with severe disabilities in meaningful summer activities.


Two DNA clones encoding rabbit β-galactoside α1,2-fucosyltransferase (RFT-I and RFT-II) have been isolated from a rabbit genomic DNA library. The DNA sequences revealed open reading frames coding for 373 (RFT-I) and 354 (RFT-II) amino acids, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequences of RFT-I and RFT-II showed 56% identity with each other, and that of RFT-I showed 80% identity with that of human H blood type α1,2-fucosyltransferase. Northern blot analysis of embryo and adult rabbit tissues revealed that the RFT-I gene was expressed in adult brain, and that the RFT-II gene was expressed in salivary and lactating mammary glands. The identities of these enzymes were confirmed by constructing recombinant fucosyltransferases in which the N-terminal part including the cytoplasmic tail and signal anchor domain was replaced with the immunoglobulin signal peptide sequence. RFT-I expressed in COS-7 cells exhibited similar transferase activity to that of human H blood type α1,2-fucosyltransferase. RFT-II expressed in COS-7 cells showed higher affinity for type 1 (Galβ1,3GlcNAc) and type 3 (Galβ1,3GalNAc) acceptors than type 2 (Galβ1,4GlcNAc) ones, which suggested that RFT-II was a putative secretor-type α1,2-fucosyltransferase.


In many workplaces, temporary teams convene to coordinate complex work, despite team members having not worked together before. Most related research has found consistent performance benefits when members of temporary teams work together multiple times (team familiarity). Recent work in this area broke new conceptual ground by instead exploring the learning and performance benefits that team members gain by being exposed to many new partners (partner exposure). In contrast to that new work that examined partner exposure between team members who are peers, in this paper we extend this research by developing and testing theory about the performance effects of partner exposure for team members whose roles are differentiated by authority and skill. We use visit-level data from a hospital ED and leverage the ad hoc assignment of attendings, nurses, and residents to teams and the round-robin assignment of patients to these teams as our identification strategy. We find a negative performance effect of both nurses' and resident trainees' partner exposure to more attendings, and of attendings' and nurses' exposure to more residents. In contrast, both attendings and residents experience a positive impact on performance from working with more nurses. The respective effects of residents working with more attendings and with more nurses is attenuated on patient cases with more structured workflows. Our results suggest that interactions with team members in support roles is an important but often unrecognized part of disciplinary training and team learning.


This case study is about the new learning strategy of the Dutch Vehicle Authority, a governmental organization. The aim was to examine this strategy, which focused on blended learning, to review the implementation issues and to survey the first experiences with this new learning model in daily practice. The pedagogical model was a mix of theories and new learning concepts with the emphasis on innovation. The developments in the project were permanently monitored and evaluated to judge how the innovation was perceived by the end users, other stake holders and decision makers. This multi-level approach was considered decisive for the viability of learning innovation. The outcome was positive. End users needed less time to prepare for their tests, and more candidates passed their test the first time. The user population was pleased with the innovation at large, but had doubts about the support at medium management level. On the basis of the outcome the management decided to use the new learning strategy as the main approach for learning and training in the RDW organization.


Bone morphogenetic proteins-2 and -7 (BMP-2 and -7) are the only two members of the BMP subfamily approved to date to be used in combination with collagen type I in orthopedic surgery, although other BMPs have proven to also be highly osteoinductive. All the osteogenic BMPs signal through Smad-1/-5/-8 phosphorylation, but they have different preferences for the BMP receptors they use. Very high supraphysiological doses of BMPs have been used in the clinics for the treatment of non-union fractures and spinal fusions. Besides the high cost of these treatments, safety concerns have been recently raised. Hence there is an active field in finding alternatives to the most classical collagen + BMP-2 system. The aim of this work was to study the effect of combining two osteogenic BMPs (-2 and -6) belonging to different groups within the subfamily, and with different affinities to the existing BMP receptors. Both the growth and osteoblastic differentiation of MC3T3E1 mouse preosteoblasts and rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under these conditions were studied, as well as in vivo ectopic bone formation when the BMPs were combined with collagen type I sponges. We show that the effect of these two growth factors is additive and that their combination might be helpful to accelerate in vivo osteogenesis while reducing the amount of each individual BMP used.


Academic analytics and learning analytics have been increasingly adopted by academic institutions of higher learning for improving student performance and retention. While several studies have reported the implementation details and the successes of specific analytics initiatives, relatively fewer studies exist in literature that describe the possible constraints that can preclude an academic or learning analytics initiative from succeeding fully, meeting the criteria of success as defined by the stakeholders affected by such initiatives. Our aim in this article is to describe the constraints that precluded a successful completion of our analytics initiative and how we re-envisioned our approach and scope to achieve our primary goals while operating within the constraints and tools associated with our academic environment.


Thank you for giving me the opportunity to comment on Dr Thomas' letter. It is encouraging to receive the support of other practitioners and to hear of their experiences with subarachnoid anaesthesia for Caesarean section. My co-authors and I were interested to read of his use of warm intravenous fluids. We have encouraged for some time the use of a blood warmer in order to increase the temperature of the preload solution and believe it to be a useful refinement to the technique. The chilling factor of 1 litre of crystalloid at room temperature amounts to approximately 17 000 calories. Dr Thomas also makes useful practical points about the use of ephedrine and metoclopramide in the obstetric patient undergoing operative delivery. We do, however, have very great reservations about his regimen of plain bupivacaine for these patients. Russell' has written extensively on the subject and indicates that plain bupivacaine solutions can produce an unpredictably high block in doses of 1.5-3 ml in pregnant patients. Our experience with the hyperbaric solution matches that of Russell. Indeed we find that we obtain a few high blocks with the hyperbaric solution in doses of 2.5 ml. We are therefore alarmed at the suggestion that 4.25 ml of the plain solution should be used, especially with the patient in the sittihg position. The observation that the specific gravity of plain bupivacaine 0.5% is 1.007 is true at room temperature. However, at 37T, the specific gravity has fallen to 0.99, making the warm plain solution slightly hypobaric with respect to cerebrospinal fluid. One would expect this combination of large dose, hypobaricity and the sitting position to lead to a very high incidence of high blocks. There may be racial differences between the patients in the United States and the patients in the United Kingdom, but certainly on this side of the Atlantic we would be very worried about the use of such a combination. The use of opioids in subarachnoid injections is a difficult and controversial area. Morphine, with its relatively low lipid solubility, seems to us to be an inappropriate drug for subarachnoid and epidural use. Fentanyl is a much more appropriate agent for this route of administration and, in the United Kingdom, diamorphine is another suitable agent with high lipid solubility which we have used successfully as an adjuvant to epidural bupivacaine. It is perhaps also worth pointing out here that the opioid itch responds well to small doses of naloxone, in many cases without any loss of analgesia. Finally, we point out that the report of postspinal headache was in fact made by Dr E.A. Thornberry together with one of us (T.A.T.) and that the letter which reported the use of Whitacre needles was by us.