A novel Gram-negative, facultatively anaerobic, non-spore-forming and rod-shaped bacterial strain (KUDC3025T) was isolated from rhizospheric soil of Artemisia japonica subsp. littoricola collected from the Dokdo Islands, Republic of Korea and bacterial strain MYb239 was isolated from compost from Kiel, Germany. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, multilocus genes (atpD, gyrB, infB and rpoB), and whole-genome sequences indicated that both strains belonged to the genus Serratia and were most closely related to Serratia rubidaea KCTC 2927T. The average nucleotide identity values based on blast and MUMmer, tetranucleotide usage pattern and genome-based digital DNA-DNA hybridization values were all below the 95.0 %/95.0 %/0.998/70 % cutoff points. The genome G+C content was 58.0 mol%. The cellular quinone content contained ubiquinone-8 and the major components in the fatty acid profile were C16 : 0, C17 : 0 cyclo and C14 : 0. The polar lipid profile included diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylethanolamine, four unknown amino lipids, two unknown phospholipids and an unknown lipid. Based on phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and genotypic data, strain KUDC3025T (DSM 106578T=CGMCC 1.18473T) and MYb239 represents a novel species, for which the name Serratia rhizosphaerae sp. nov. is proposed. Furthermore, strain KUDC3025T was able to suppress disease symptoms by priming the plant defence system components, including the salicylic acid and ethylene pathways, furthering our understanding of Serratia as potential plant growth promoting bacteria.


Carbon fiber reinforced silicon carbide matrix composites (C/SiC) are promising candidate materials for high-temperature structural applications. However, in oxidizing environments the two main constituents, that is, carbon fiber and pyrolytic carbon interphase which bears and transfers loads respectively are susceptible to deplete rapidly for oxidation. In this paper, the oxidation behavior of carbon fiber and pyrolytic carbon were investigated by simulating environmental experiments and scanning electron microscopy. The reactivity discrepancy in the carbonaceous constituents and in the different zone of carbon fiber was discerned. After oxidation, the morphology of carbon phase broken before oxidation were compared with that of those broken after oxidation. Based on the microstructural model, the contrast results of morphology were well interpreted from the reactive preference and selectivity.


Introduction Cell transplantation is becoming a viable therapy for patients with Huntington's disease (HD). Studies using rodent models of HD have identified a need for extended behavioural training to allow the recipient to 'learn to use the graft'. Thus, after intra-striatal grafting of foetal tissue, striatally-dependent behaviours need to be re-established through targeted training. Aims To determine the extent to which cell transplantation can alleviate a range of cognitive deficits in rodent models of HD, and to identify the optimal parameters for successful alleviation of deficits. To develop a functional motor assessment in HD patients, that sensitively capture improvements in motor function that manifest post-transplantation. Method Rats will be pre-trained on a cognitive operant task that relies on the medial striatum. After receiving bilateral striatal lesions, a subset will be grafted with foetal ganglionic eminence. Thereafter, rats will be re-tested on the task at either 2 or 12 weeks post-graft to determine the optimal time to commence cognitive training. In HD patients, a range of motor tasks will be assessed to identify the items most sensitive to HD pathology. From this, a unique assessment tool will be developed that can sensitively measure improvements in motor function following cell transplantation. Results Results from the rat models of HD will help us understand the extent to which intra-striatal grafts can support cognitive and motor deficits, as well as revealing the optimal parameters for efficient use of the therapeutic intervention. Studies from patients with HD will help us to monitor the impact of the cell transplantation therapy through the development of a sensitive motor assessment. Conclusion Understanding the optimal parameters for efficient grafting and being able to sensitively monitor any improvement in function, due to graft integration, is critical to our development of cell replacement therapies and will help us move this treatment to clinical application.


Article is devoted to finding out the motivational basis, reconstruction of reference connections, denotative features of an unofficial anthroponym Петръ Гоугнивыи available in the original and translated East Slavic written monuments (the Lavrenty chronicle, «Chronicle of George Amartol», «Old Slavonic Kormchaia of 14 titles» etc.). The anthroponym belongs to two people — Patriarch Peter ІІІ of Alexandria V century (Πέτρος Μογγός) and the «chronicle» Roman heresiarch ІХ century. It is assumed that Peter ІІІ got an unofficial name among the Monophysites during his lifetime. It is proved that the transition from the assessment of a person by physical disabilities to religious and ethical assessment, from the meaning 'who has a hoarse, vague voice' to the meaning 'heretic' reflected in the internal form of the unofficial proprial name Μογγός and its translation equivalent Гоугнивыи. The use of an informal anthroponym in written monuments after the thirteenth century has been traced in connection with reconstruction of denotative features of an unofficial anthroponym Петръ Гоугнивыи. A number of discussion issues were considered, including the origin of «Philosopher's Speech», time of inclusion of the legend of Петръ Гоугнивыи in the chronicle, fact of existence of Pope ІХ century by name Петръ Гоугнивыи, ethnic roots of the heresiarch, etc. It was shown that Peter Huhnyvyy introduced into the Catholic faith a heretical teaching focused on pagan and Jewish dogmas. Denotation of second component in an unofficial name Петръ Гоугнивыи includes characteristics that appeared at rethinking the original semantics of Indo-European root *gou‑(n‑) and its continuants. Semantics of dissatisfaction, mockery, disrespect developed in East Slavic derivatives. The transition to cultural semantics has already taken place in a word-forming nest with a root ‑гоу(г)‑ at a time when the legend of Peter Huhnyvyy was included in the chronicle article * 988. The ethnocultural denotative components which are included in the content of the anthroponym Петръ Гоугнивыи, in its entirety coincide with the semantic structure of the word heretic. Combination of linguistic analysis with historical and cultural analysis, taking into account historical facts and information contained in apocryphal legends and scientific versions, gives reason to believe that the «chronicle» Peter Huhnyvyy was the real historical person.


UNSTRUCTURED
 For those of us who believe deeply in a collaborative relationship between patients and doctors, the chaos created by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought an uncomfortable question to the fore: Is participatory medicine still relevant during a pandemic? Drawing liberally upon the Jewish tradition of Talmudic reasoning, I would like to offer 3 considered replies: "Yes," "no," and "it depends." Sometimes, patients may have no choice but to cede control to medical professionals, even though patients are still the experts on their own lives. Other times, the shared control of participatory medicine is both an ethical and clinical imperative. However, as the worldwide toll exacted by COVID-19 has made us grimly aware, no one is really in control. That is why, in these uncertain times, the path forward requires maintaining mutual trust between health care providers and patients, whatever the circumstances. After all, it is our bodies and our selves at stake.


Introduction: The evidence that blood levels of the soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE) predict mortality in people with cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is inconsistent. To clarify this matter, we investigated if frailty status influences this association. Methods: We analysed data of 1,016 individuals (median age, 75 years) from 3 population-based European cohorts, enrolled in the FRAILOMIC project. Participants were stratified by history of CVD and frailty status. Mortality was recorded during 8 years of follow-up. Results: In adjusted Cox regression models, baseline serum sRAGE was positively associated with an increased risk of mortality in participants with CVD (HR 1.64, 95% CI 1.09–2.49, p = 0.019) but not in non-CVD. Within the CVD group, the risk of death was markedly enhanced in the frail subgroup (CVD-F, HR 1.97, 95% CI 1.18–3.29, p = 0.009), compared to the non-frail subgroup (CVD-NF, HR 1.50, 95% CI 0.71–3.15, p = 0.287). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the median survival time of CVD-F with high sRAGE (>1,554 pg/mL) was 2.9 years shorter than that of CVD-F with low sRAGE, whereas no survival difference was seen for CVD-NF. Area under the ROC curve analysis demonstrated that for CVD-F, addition of sRAGE to the prediction model increased its prognostic value. Conclusions: Frailty status influences the relationship between sRAGE and mortality in older adults with CVD. sRAGE could be used as a prognostic marker of mortality for these individuals, particularly if they are also frail.


Background & aim: Class II subdivision malocclusion, characterized by asymmetry of occlusion has long been a challenge for dentists. The etiology basis of the Class II subdivision has not been resolved, even today. Some studies have shown that the unilateral distal positioning of the mandibular first molars was the primary etiologic factor in class II side. Few other studies, however, found that there was a tendency for skeletal asymmetry. The aim of this study was to determine the Relation of dentoalveolar and skeletal measurements with asymmetric occlusion in class II subdivision malocclusion and comparing it with normal occlusion at year of 92-93. Material & Method: In this case-control study 60 panoramic,belonged to 30 control with normal occlusion & 30 Class II subdivision patients after matching , were selected. 1st, 2nd and 3rd molar and axial angulations and 3rd molar space were assessed. Third molar space was adjusted for the magnification factor. The final data were statistically analyzed by Mann-U-Whitney test on 95% level of confidence Results: Statistical analysis indicated significant statistical differences between one of these dentoalveolar parameters (differences between axial inclination of first molar in two sides of mandible in case and control group.) Conclusion: Class II subdivision asymmetric malocclusion is due to dentoalveolar Factors.


Error Propagation Analysis (EPA) is a technique for understanding how errors affect a program's execution and result in program failures. For this purpose, EPA usually compares the traces of a fault-free (golden) run with those from a faulty run of the program. This makes existing EPA approaches brittle for multithreaded programs, which do not typically have a deterministic golden run. In this thesis, we study the use of likely invariants generated by automated approaches as alternatives for golden run based EPA in multithreaded programs. We present Invariant Propagation Analysis (IPA), an approach and a framework for automatically deriving invariants for multithreaded programs, and using the invariants for EPA. We evaluate the invariants derived by IPA in terms of their coverage for different fault types across six representative programs through fault injection experiments. We find that stable invariants can be inferred in all six programs, although their coverage of faults depends on the application and the fault type.


The Gene Ontology Normal Usage Tracking System (GONUTS) is a community-based browser and usage guide for Gene Ontology (GO) terms and a community system for general GO annotation of proteins. GONUTS uses wiki technology to allow registered users to share and edit notes on the use of each term in GO, and to contribute annotations for specific genes of interest. By providing a site for generation of third-party documentation at the granularity of individual terms, GONUTS complements the official documentation of the Gene Ontology Consortium. To provide examples for community users, GONUTS displays the complete GO annotations from seven model organisms: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Dictyostelium discoideum, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Danio rerio, Mus musculus and Arabidopsis thaliana. To support community annotation, GONUTS allows automated creation of gene pages for gene products in UniProt. GONUTS will improve the consistency of annotation efforts across genome projects, and should be useful in training new annotators and consumers in the production of GO annotations and the use of GO terms. GONUTS can be accessed at http://gowiki.tamu.edu. The source code for generating the content of GONUTS is available upon request.


According to the characteristics of installation about the penetrometer of seismic piezocone penetration tests (SCPTu) and the pile, a theoretical relationship between ultimate bearing capacity of single pile, time-effect of shaft bearing capacity of single pile, excess pore water pressure around the pile during pile driven and the data measured from SCPTu is developed based on the cavity expanded theory, the Terzaghi one-dimensional consolidation theory and effective stress theory. The result of field test in KunShan and the calculated result which used the theoretical relationship mentioned above are compared. The results indicate that the analytical solutions agree well with the in-situ tests, which show that the application of seismic piezocone penetration tests have wide range in the pile foundation.


The northern part of Baffin Island, in Nunavut, lies within the ca. 3.0–2.5 Ga Committee belt, characterized by episodic granitic plutonism and greenschist- to upper-amphibolite-facies belts of supracrustal rocks. Whereas the entire belt on Baffin Island was likely affected by ca. 2.7 Ga plutonism and associated metamorphism, there is also evidence of a high-grade event at ca. 2.55–2.5 Ga. Evolution of the Baffin orogen in south-central Baffin Island led to generation of the ca. 1.86 Ga Cumberland Batholith, ca. 1.85–1.83 Ga northwest-directed thrusting of the Foxe fold-and-thrust belt over the Dexterity granulite belt (DGB), and variable structural and metamorphic reworking of the Committee belt on northern Baffin Island. Thermobarometric data for granulite-facies rocks in the western DGB indicate ~8.7 kbar paleopressure, interpreted to have been achieved in continental crust thickened by thrust imbrication. Paleopressure decreases gradually northward from the western DGB to <4 kbar, but decreases sharply south of the Isortoq fault zone (IF), which approximates the southern boundary of the DGB. Combined thermobarometric and structural constraints suggest that the IF represents an important crustal-scale structure involved in both NW-directed thrusting and tectonic loading of the DGB, as well as subsequent extensional unroofing of the DGB. Southwest-directed thrusting in the ca. 1.825–1.81 Ga Northeast Baffin thrust belt (NBTB) is interpreted to have produced similar tectonic thickening and ~10.5 kbar pressures along most of the length of this belt on northern Baffin Island, including the eastern part of the DGB. The ~6–8 kbar Archean Bylot Batholith represents a higher structural level that may have contributed to tectonic loading of adjacent high-pressure rocks in the NBTB.


Most attempts at democratic government around the world have ended with a coup or rebellion that has returned the country to autocratic rule. These breakdowns of democracy have often happened within a decade of the elections that marked the start of democratic government, and poorer countries are especially susceptible to them. Yet, in spite of those broad patterns, some attempts at democracy in poorer countries have succeeded, and some of those successes have occurred in countries identified by current theories of democratization as unlikely candidates. Why do some democratic regimes survive in apparently inauspicious conditions while others do not? This report documents the design and results of a statistical analysis aimed at answering that question. Consistent with some prior research, our results indicate that strong legislatures make democracies in 'developing' countries more resilient. We also find that democracies are more likely to survive when they fully respect their citizens' rights of assembly and association, and when economic growth is producing real improvements in their citizens' quality of life. More surprising, we find that government censorship of the media (within a range in which a country can still be considered democratic) has little effect on the risk of democratic breakdown. Finally, our results also show that membership in the Commonwealth and the World Trade Organization (WTO) also seems to bolster prospects for the survival of democracy in non-OECD countries. At least in part, these effects appear to stem from the vigorous democracy-promoting efforts of the former and the institutional changes demanded by the latter.


BACKGROUND
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are one of the leading causes of death or long-term disability around the world. As a result of improvements in supportive care, patients are surviving more severe insults with more pronounced dependency on their families, hospitals, and long-term care facilities. The introduction of brain tissue oxygenation (PbtO2) monitoring aims to recognize episodes of reduced cerebral perfusion with and without associated increased intracranial pressure (ICP).

AIM
The aim of this review is to determine the impact of PbtO2 on the Glasgow Outcome Scale/Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOS/GOSE) in patients with moderate to severe TBI.

DESIGN
Systematic review with narrative and meta-analysis. All original research in which adult patients undergoing PbtO2 were compared with a control group of traditional ICP/cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) monitoring. Both randomized controlled trials and observational studies were included in this review.

METHODS
Databases were searched in September 2022. The primary outcome of the review was the impact of PbtO2 monitoring on GOS/GOSE, while secondary outcomes were mortality and length of stay (LOS) in the intensive care unit (ICU).

RESULTS
Seven studies with a combined number of 770 patients were included in the review. These patients were adults ≥16 years of age. Only two of the studies included found a statistically significant association between PbtO2 monitoring and improved long-term neurological outcomes in patients with TBI (p = .01, p < .01). A meta-analysis of the secondary outcomes identified an associated reduction of mortality in favour of the group treated with PbtO2 monitoring (p < .0001). Results from studies examining LOS in ICU have demonstrated an associated increase of LOS in ICU in patients treated with PbtO2-guided therapy.

CONCLUSION
From the studies included in this review, only two found a statistically significant association between PbtO2 monitoring and long-term outcomes. It is unclear whether PbtO2 goal-directed therapy has a positive impact on the long-term neurological functions and mortality of patients suffering from TBI. A multicentre randomized controlled trial may provide further evidence, but not necessarily conclusive.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE
Further research is warranted to determine the efficacy of the introduction of this new monitoring system to guide local policy change.


Wandering spleen is a clinical condition in which an absence of ligaments and a long vascular pedicle allows the spleen to move freely in the abdomen. It is a rare entity in children but the exactly incidence is unknown because most of them are asymptomatic. The most common form of presentation is acute, chronic or intermittent abdominal pain caused by spleen torsion. Ultrasonography is the elective diagnostic method, but frequently diagnosis is made after surgery. We report two cases with acute splenic torsion in children and we discuss the clinical presentation, etiology, diagnostic procedures and management. We conclude that splenopexy--if possible--is the treatment of choice in children.


Recent studies utilizing transcriptomics, metabolomics, and bottom up proteomics have identified molecular signatures of kidney allograft pathology. Although these results make significant progress toward non‐invasive differential diagnostics of dysfunction of a transplanted kidney, they provide little information on the intact, often modified, protein molecules present during progression of this pathology. Because intact proteins underpin diverse biological processes, measuring the relative abundance of their modified forms promises to advance mechanistic understanding, and might provide a new class of biomarker candidates. Here, we used top down proteomics to inventory the modified forms of whole proteins in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) taken at the time of kidney biopsy for 40 kidney allograft recipients either with healthy transplants or those suffering acute rejection. Supported by gas‐phase fragmentation of whole protein ions during tandem mass spectrometry, we identified 344 proteins mapping to 2905 distinct molecular forms (proteoforms). Using an initial implementation of a label‐free approach to quantitative top down proteomics, we obtained evidence suggesting relative abundance changes in 111 proteoforms between the two patient groups. Collectively, our work is the first to catalog intact protein molecules in PBMCs and suggests differentially abundant proteoforms for further analysis.


This study was investigate to know the effect of Leucauna leaf meal on blood tiroxine content and Coturnix-coturnix japonica performance in grower period. Sixty female qualis of 21 day-old age were classified randomly into 12 cages arranged in 3 lined floors in one parallel side so that each of floors consists of 4 cages, so all were 4 treatments. The four ration treatments were differed based on rates of 0%, 5%, 10% and 20% Leucauna leaf meal. The analyzed samples were blood tiroxine hormone content and Coturnix-coturnix japonica performance including feed consumption, body weight growth, feed conversion and mature sex age. The data were analized statistically by analysis of variance, then the ANOVA results of data were followed up by DMRT to understand the difference. The DMR test was not carried out to the data of mature sex. The blood tiroxine content in this study indicated the real difference. The average blood tiroxine content ranges were 5.78, 5.15, 2.30 and 1.68 microgram/dl. The feed consumption value of body weight growth, feed conversion, and mature sex age in 4 ratio treatments indicated the real difference. The average feed consumption percentage range was 14.20 – 19.40 gr. The body weight range was 37.00 – 93.33 g, and feed conversion range was 0.20 – 0.38. Each of mature sexes was between 41.33 and 48.66. The ration with the TDL limit on 5% showed the occurrence of the mature sex slowness. Accordingly it was concluded if the ration of quails had to use TDL then the substitution of 5% was acceptable although it was still necessary to study commercially furthermore the profit and detriment. (Key word : Coturnix-cortunix japonica, Ratio, Leucauna leaf meal, Blood)


We have previously implicated genetic variants in
 Arhgef11
 , a Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor, in kidney injury exhibited in the Dahl salt-sensitive (S) rat, a widely studied model of hypertension and chronic kidney disease. We have demonstrated that genetic knockdown (lentiviral shRNA) of
 Arhgef11
 in HEK293 cells results in reduced RhoA activity (~20%), decreased activation of Rho-ROCK pathway (40-60%), and less stress fiber formation vs. scrambled control. S rat derived primary proximal tubule cells (p-PTC) exhibit increased expression of
 Arhgef11
 , activation of Rho-ROCK, and when stimulated with the profibrotic cytokine, TGFβ1 are also more prone (vs. control) to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). These data (along with animal studies) suggest that dysregulation of Rho-ROCK in tubular cells likely play an important role in EMT and promote fibrosis; however, chronic stimulation of this pathway in other kidney cell types including vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) may also play a role. Accordingly, S rat primary cultures of VSMC isolated from kidney microvessels (k-VSMC) were studied for differences in the RhoA-ROCK, proliferation, migration, apoptosis, and response to cyclical stretch compared to control k-VSMC (minimal congenic). S rat k-VSMC demonstrated higher expression of
 Arhgef11
 and activation of Rho-ROCK pathway, similar to p-PTC studies. Cell migration was significantly enhanced (scratch assay) in k-VSMC from S rats (485.0±26.2 nm) compared to 296.2±37.6 nm in cells from control. Apoptosis, evaluated by flow cytometry, was significantly increased in k-VSMC from S rats stimulated with TGFβ1 (10ng/ml, 24hrs), but not Ang II, at both early (9.9%±0.9%) and late apoptosis (22.0%±3.5%) compared to control (7.71%±0.75% and 15.5%±1.3%, respectively). S rat derived k-VSMC also demonstrated up-regulation and activation of Rho-ROCK pathway after cyclical stretch, which models in vivo stimuli such as shear stress. In summary, increased expression of
 Arhgef11
 (RhoA-ROCK) exhibited by PTC and VSMC cell types in S rat kidney appear to promote epithelial-mesenchymal transition and enhance proliferation, migration, and apoptosis under baseline and profibrotic conditions, which likely contributes to kidney injury.


The idea for Wild Thang: post pop from the MCA emerged from my experience of viewing permanent collections in regional art galleries. Most of these collections began in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a major cash injection and after the initial flush of funds and public interest many of them languished. Consequently regional galleries in New South Wales (and Victoria and Queensland) have large bodies of work from a time period and aesthetic framework that are often considered difficult at best and unfashionable at worst. Most Directors and Curators I spoke to, looked in despair at the mass of third and fourth generation large, brightly coloured, vaguely sculptural and architectonic hard edge abstract works as well as similar numbers of pop-inspired and photo-realist figuration. Such seminal purchases and acquisitions were now regarded as the dinosaurs of those respective collections.


Onychomycosis is a fungal nail infection caused by dermatophytes, nondermatophyte molds, and yeasts. This difficult‐to‐treat chronic infection has a tendency to relapse despite treatment. This paper aims to offer a global perspective on onychomycosis management from expert physicians from around the world. Overall, the majority of experts surveyed used systemic, topical, and combination treatments approved in their countries and monitored patients based on the product insert or government recommendations. Although the basics of treating onychomycosis were similar between countries, slight differences in onychomycosis management between countries were found. These differences were mainly due to different approaches to adjunctive therapy, rating the severity of disease and use of prophylaxis treatment. A global perspective on the treatment of onychomycosis provides a framework of success for the committed clinician with appreciation of how onychomycosis is managed worldwide.


Bounded rationality influences the individuals making decisions. Rationality of decisions is limited by the complexity of the decision problem, the cognitive limitations of decision makers, and the time available to make the decision. One specific case of this situation is decision on the agricultural insurance. The success of agricultural activity is highly dependent on environmental influences in the region. These risks can destroy entire harvest or exterminate a whole herd of livestock. The Czech Republic, through the Support and Guarantee Fund for Farmers and Forestry, provides farmers and forest managers with a contribution to cover the costs of the payment of insurance against unforeseen damage for already several years by which it affects decision-making about insurance. The article discusses the rationality of decision on the agricultural insurance using decision model under risk.


The development of migratory behaviour is a continuous process which is not only determined by genes, but also moulded by individual differences based on life-history variations occurring at each ontogenetic stage. Assessing consistency and plasticity in migratory traits between long distance (LDM) and short distance migratory (SDM) populations within the same species that may express dissimilarities in the leeway of annual schedules is essential to understand the evolution and ontogeny of migratory strategies. We studied the migration strategies in autumn regarding flight speed and the use of stopovers (number and duration of stop-overs across the whole journey) at the intra-specific level, by tracking with GPS loggers the intercontinental migration of 43 adult and juvenile ospreys Pandion haliaetus from both LDM and SDM populations. LDM ospreys travelled distances five times larger than SDM ospreys, but their total migration speed was 2.4 times slower. While daily distance travelled did not differ between populations, the reduced total migration speed by LDMs was due to higher stopover use compared to SDM birds. SDM birds used more direct routes, crossing open sea at higher flight speeds, even though both populations largely benefitted from wind assistance across their journey. Across populations, adult birds travelled longer distances per day and displayed less sinuous migratory paths than juveniles, suggesting that migratory capabilities improve with age and experience of the bird. Overall, the time constraint related to total migration distance was not the main driver of the total migration speed, and other factors such as physiological needs to rest and refuel at stopover sites may play an important role. Our study underlines the importance of investigating variability in migration strategies in partially migratory species, for a better understanding of avian migratory ecology.


The localization of weak properties or bad behavior of a structure is still a very challenging task that concentrates the improvement of Non Destructive Testing (NDT) tools on more efficiency and higher structural coverage. In case of random loading or material properties, this challenge is arduous because of the limited number of measures and the quasi-infinite potential positions of local failures. The paper shows that the stationary property is useful to find the minimum quantity of NDT measurements and their position for a given quality assessment. It is shown that a two stages procedure allows us (i) to quantify the properties of the ergodic, stationary field (ii) to assess the distribution of the characteristics. The optimization is reached following a criterion based on confidence intervals of the statistics.


A number of airfoils, including 14 commonly used airfoils and 10 NACA airfoils, were tested through the negative angle-of-attack range in the NACA variable-density wind tunnel at a Reynolds Number of approximately 3,000,000. The tests were made to supply data to serve as a basis for the structural design of airplanes in the inverted flight condition. In order to make the results immediately available for this purpose they are presented herein in preliminary form, together with results of previous tests of the airfoils at positive angles of attack. An analysis of the results made to find the variation of the ratio of the maximum negative lift coefficient to the maximum positive lift coefficient led to the following conclusions: 1) For airfoils of a given thickness, the ratio -C(sub L max) / +C(sub L max) tends to decrease as the mean camber is increased. 2) For airfoils of a given mean camber, the ratio -C(sub L max) / +C(sub L max) tends to increase as the thickness increases.


Intermediaries have introduced electronic services with varying success. One of the problems an intermediary faces is deciding what kind of exchange service it should offer to its customers and suppliers. For example, should it only provide a catalogue or should it also enable customers to order products?

Developing the right exchange design is a complex undertaking because of the many design options on the one hand and the interests of multiple actors to be considered on the other. This is far more difficult than simple prescriptions like 'creating a win-win situation' suggest. We address this problem by developing design patterns for the exchanges between customers, intermediary, and suppliers related to role, linkage, transparency, and ovelty choices. For developing these design patterns, we studied four distinct electronic intermediaries and dentified exchange design choices that require trade-offs relating to the interests of customers, intermediary, and suppliers. The exchange design patterns contribute to the development of design theory for electronic intermediaries by filling a gap between basic business models and detailed business process designs.


Emotional intelligence is an individual's ability to manage emotions by controlling the negative condition into a positive force and its relationship with social adjustment. In this case, the social adjustment in question is the adjustment of students in interacting with teachers, peers, and specific situations in the school environment effectively through the development aspects of self-awareness, emotional management, and utilization of emotions, empathy, and social skills. The purpose of this study was to describe the emotional intelligence and social adjustment variable of students as well as to determine how emotional intelligence influenced social adjustment of students. This research used a quantitative approach and ex-post facto method. The number of population was 118 students consisting of all tenth-grade students of SMA Unggul Negeri 2 Boarding School of Banda Aceh. Data were collected by using a closed questionnaire method with the scale 1-5. The data were processed and analyzed by using descriptive statistics and the coefficient of determination. The results showed that the influence of emotional intelligence on the social adjustment of students was 0,656 (coefficient of determination) that is 65%. Thus, it can be stated that Ha is accepted which means that emotional intelligence has a significant influence on the social adjustment of students.


This report reviews the major approaches for assessing national and regional economic benefits, as well as the potential distributional implications of transport induced benefits. The paper assesses whether transport influences national and regional economic development, and if so, how this is role is best asserted. The primary economic assessment methods considered include: social cost benefit analysis (SCBA), input-output Analysis (I-O), and computable general equilibrium (CGE). SCBA is most effective for determining the value of project objectives and outcomes from a social welfare perspective. I-O and CGE take macroeconomic perspectives of system wide effects of transport investment including employment, GDP and taxes. The link between transport improvement and economic development depends on complementary regional infrastructure and specific contextual considerations. I-O poses a risk of over-stating results. CGE may be effective at a national level, but faces scaling issues for regional or local effects. Neither is particularly useful for assessing distributional affects of investment. The findings supports SCBA as a policy assessment methods that quantifies, in monetary terms, the value of policy consequences to society with recommendations for accommodating non-market and qualitative consideration into value propositions. (a)


Village settlements located in urban fringes at metropolitan regions are being hemmed by the urban overspill. Some undergo identity changes and dissolved into intensive planned development trends. Studies overseas have identified various physical and non-physical effects due to the urban overspill but the impacts focused are general, basically on land uses or the development of fringe areas as a whole. This research is focused specifially more on impacts experienced by suburban villages population due to the urban overspill phenomenon. This is important in developing planning parameters for village settlements in the suburb areas, particularly involving resettlement programmes, upgrading or even for the redevelopment of the area. The study method uses urban influence indices to determine impact indicators within the physical, sosioeconomic and sociocultural aspects. Sixteen suburban villages were surveyed, involving 367 households and 84 impact variables. Ranking and correlation analysis on the influences of distance from urban boundary, identified 16 significant impact indicators. Chi-square tests on the indicators found two indicators i.e a) decrease in numbers of kampung house type, and b) decrease in house ownership, occurred in all impact zones. More detail findings indicated that urban overspill gives more impacts on non-physical rather than physical aspects. The level of housing quality and physical facilities in the study area are low and these have affected the quality of life of the population. The distance of settlements from the urban boundary was found to be the main determinant of the impacts. The urban overspill afforded more positive effects on physical aspects such as good social facilities, compared to socioeconomic or sociocultural components. Urban overspill also increased social problems such as crimes, thefts, and drug addictions in certain settlements. To ensure that rural settlements near big towns are not continuously under development pressure, a more comprehensive rural development planning policy is needed. The regionalisation of rural settlements is a planning parameter toward enhancing rural quality of life through more dynamic sustainable development. Urban overspill can be controlled by creating new planning regions combining typological characteristics of the rural-urban as intermediate development areas. This region can create wider potentials for suburban development replacing the rigid urban boundary. The overall findings in this research indicated the weaknesses in urban planning with regards to integrating non-physical and physical aspects to promote better living. Focus in urban planning should be reviewed towards a more comprehensive-based development strategy in relation to a wider needs of regional planning. This may evoke towards a more holistic planning approach in the field of urban and regional planning


Abstract: Multimedia communication is considered to engulf the entire transmission taking place through internet. Most of the applications running on clients communicating through internet incorporate video or audio data transmission. Such transmission may however hinder the performance of other critical applications running on the network. For instance, the clients connecting to a database may suffer large delays if the network bandwidth is being utilized for multimedia communication. In this regards, a firewall may be used to block the non-critical and unnecessary communication. In this paper, we perform a quantitative analysis to record the impact of a firewall deployed in a network. We develop various network scenarios with voice and video data being transmitted in parallel with queries from a database client. As the database application is critical for its clients, the unnecessary communication causing the wastage of bandwidth is blocked through a firewall. We record the improvement in the performance of the database application due to the usage of firewall. We simulate all the scenarios using OPNET IT Guru v 9.1. Our results show that due to the blocking of video transmission, there is a significant improvement in performance of the database application. We also find that the use of a firewall has an overhead that depends mainly on the amount of communication taking place simultaneously and can also impact the performance of the critical application.


type="main"> There has been a recent surge in research on long-term African development. For this research agenda to be fruitful and its theories tested, it is crucial to have consistent estimates of economic change. However, there is a lack of reliable time series data for the colonial period in Sub-Saharan Africa. This article contributes new time series data for the Gold Coast and Ghana between 1890 and 2010 and in particular a new GDP time series for Ghana for the years 1891–1957. The series implies a sustained period of economic expansion from the late nineteenth century. This suggests a revision of some prevalent truths about the history of economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa, and points the way forward for expanding the database to cover the colonial period for other African economies.


The size–weight relationships, percentage water, ash-free dry weight and biochemical (protein, lipid and carbohydrate) contents of the coronate jellyfish species Periphylla periphylla have been analysed. A total of 48 medusae ranging in size from 13 to 80 mm bell diameter were collected from mesopelagic depths in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The dry mass of whole medusae ranged from 1.12 to 10.53% of wet weight (mean 5.49%), while ash-free dry weight, a proxy for organic content, varied between 25.19 and 34.89% of dry weight (mean 30.14%). Preservation in 2% glutaraldehyde resulted in shrinkage in >75% of the medusae, with preserved bell diameters 2.9% to 28.6% smaller than the original fresh bell diameters. Preservation also produced a significant adjustment to the bell diameter to wet weight relationship. With regard to biochemical content, the typical gelatinous zooplankton trend of low carbohydrate (mean 8.99 mg gDW−1), intermediate lipid (mean 20.57 mg gDW−1) and high protein (mean 63.71 mg gDW−1) was observed. Although there was a high degree of variability in biochemistry, there was no apparent trend with size.


A thorough examination of a comatose patient is essential given the spectrum of clinical diagnoses. The most immediate threat to patients is airway, breathing and circulation. All attending physician should employ a structured and focused approach in dealing with a comatose patient. It is important to recognise the urgent steps needed at the time to prevent further deterioration, followed by the final diagnosis of patient's neurologic status. Here we provide the essential practical guide to the neurological exam of a comatose patient that would assist to determine the aetiology, location and nature of the neurological lesion.


Dissipative processes in relativistic fluids are known to be important in the analyses of the hot QCD matter created in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. In this work, I consider dissipative corrections to energy and conserved charge densities, which are conventionally assumed to be vanishing but could be finite. Causal dissipative hydrodynamics is formulated in the presence of those dissipative currents. The relation between hydrodynamic stability and transport coefficients is discussed. I then study their phenomenological consequences on the observables of heavy-ion collisions in numerical simulations. It is shown that particle spectra and elliptic flow could to be visibly modified.


Most tourist experts agree that travel is a two‐way business as an international trade. While every country is anxious to increase its exports, it is in fact equally important to think about imports. The Tourist Review has published a number of interesting articles about tourist promotion and, together with other journals, has given a great deal of information on tourism as an export. This article, however, deals with Britain as a tourist market. It is written in the hope that tourist experts in other countries will from time to time report on their national travel market and so increase the fund of knowledge of the method and technique in developing world travel.


The genetic basis of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia in NZB mice has been investigated using crosses and backcrosses with the NZC strain. These mating combinations reveal two dominant or co-dominant genes governing occurrence of the disorder. One of these, Aia-2, is common to both the NZB and the NZC strains. The other gene, Aia-1, is peculiar to the NZB strain and is linked to the b (black/brown) coat colour locus on chromosome 4. The cross-over value of 37+/-4% places this gene in the neighbourhood of the minor histocompatibility locus H-18, provided it is on the same side of the b locus. Previously, we have obtained evidence that the lupus nephritis of the (NZB X NZW)F(1) mice is determined by three dominant or co-dominant genes, Lpn-1, Lpn-2 and Lpn-3. Lpn-2 appears to be tightly linked to the H-2 complex, Lpn-1 has a cross-over frequency of 33+/-3% with H-2 placing it in the neighbourhood of a hybrid histocompatibility (Hh) locus on chromosome 17, and Lpn-3 is on a separate, unknown chromosome. In this paper we present data from an out-cross study between (NZW X NZC)F(1) and NZB mice, which indicate that Lpn-3 is not linked to Igh-C and is therefore not an immunoglobulin heavy chain V gene. Whilst it remains possible that Lpn-3 is a kappa or lambda light chain V gene and that Aia-2 is a V gene, Lpn-1 and Aia-1 are clearly not H or kappa V genes, nor are they in the major histocompatibility gene complex. Their apparent association with the Hh and H-18 loci suggests that they may be genes coding for minor histocompatibility loci. Such genes could influence immune response repertoire, and hence genetic predisposition to autoimmune disease, through the clonal deletion and paratope-idiotope network reactions which we have postulated to be the mechanisms mediating the effect of the major histocompatibility antigen genes.


Confronting Ego Threats with Reappraisal versus Rumination. (May 2009) Ryan Caskey, B.A., University of Arizona Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Brandon Schmeichel Two experiments compared the effects of two cognitive responses (i.e., rumination and cognitive reappraisal) individuals may adopt when confronted with a threat to self-regard. In Study 1, participants received negative feedback about their social skills and then rated the credibility of the source of the criticism. In Study 2, participants received negative feedback and then were given the opportunity to enhance the self on an unrelated task. Compared to reappraising the negative feedback, ruminating about the feedback led to poorer evaluations of the source of negative feedback and increased self-enhancement, respectively. These findings suggest that, compared to rumination, cognitive reappraisal helps to minimize defensive responses to


Written for students of criminal justice, Comparative Criminal Justice Systems: Global and Local Perspectives examines the nature of crime and justice in varying countries and cultures in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Using a topical approach, it compares different systems of crime and justice in terms of their differences from, and similarities to, the laws and institutions of modern criminal justice, focusing on the United States as a standard of comparison. By examining different criminal justice systems in terms of their local peculiarities and understanding their change and continuity, readers will gain a well-rounded international perspective of the world's varying systems of criminal justice. Key Features: -Explores the rise of modern criminology and the criminal justice system in the nineteenth century. It is critical for students to understand the history of modern systems to fully comprehend the varying nature of today's main legal systems, focusing on the United States as a standard of comparison. -Employs a topical approach to examine the criminal justice systems in varying countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, including comparative views on law enforcement, judicial systems, corrections, due process of law, and search and seizures. -Includes discussions on comparative processes of criminalization and decriminalization on such issues as domestic violence, child abuse, homosexuality, and sexual harassment. -Discusses new global crimes and their impact on modern and traditional criminal justice systems, including human smuggling, global sex trade, global illegal drug trade, illegal trafficking of conventional military weapons, money laundering, cybercrime, and global terrorism. -Discussion questions ensure that student's grasp the core theoretical concepts.


2-(perfluorohexyl) ethyl acrylate, a fluorocarbon based monomer was graft polymerized on polyamide 6,6 fabrics with the aid of an  atmospheric pressure plasma reactor to obtain a water repellent surface. Di(ethylene glycol) diacrylate crosslinker was used to improve  the graft yield of the polymerized layer. Two sets of experiments were conducted to understand the effects of variables on aqueous  liquid repellency of fabrics. Plasma post exposure time and the presence of a crosslinker at high levels led to higher aqueous liquid  repellency values and lower surface tension values. Static water contact angles were measured for the fabrics and values as high as 158  degrees were observed. FT-IR spectra also confirmed the high fluorocarbon content on the fabric surface after acetone extraction and  after home laundering.


3.5% ABV A black ale from a blend of hops producing a chocolate aroma with a subtle orange zest aftertaste.


The yeast Candidiz parupsiosis possesses two routes of electron transfer from exogenous NAD(P)H to oxygen. Electrons are transferred either to the classical cytochrome pathway at the level of ubiquinone through an NAD(P)H dehydrogenase, or to an alternative pathway at the level of cytochrome c through another NAD(P)H dehydrogenase which is insensitive to antimycin A. Analyses of mitoplasts obtained by digitonin/osmotic shock treatment of mitochondria purified on a suctose gradient indicated that the NADH and NADPH dehydrogenases serving the alternative route were located on the mitochondrial inner membrane. The dehydmgenases could be differentiated by their pH optima and their sensitivity to amytal, butanedione and mersalyl. No transhydrogenase activity occurred between the dehydrogenases, although NADH oxidation was inhibited by NADP+ and butanedione. Studies of the effect of NADP+ on NADH oxidation showed that the NADH :ubiquinone oxiMwW had Michaelis-Menten kinetics and was inhibited by NADP+, whereas the alternative NADH dehydrogenase had allosteric properties (NADH is a negative effector and is displaced from its regulatory site by NAD+ or NADP+).


An esteemed historian offers a compelling re-thinking of the path America has taken toward its goal of universal suffrage.. Most Americans take for granted their right to vote, whether they choose to exercise it or not. But the history of suffrage in the U.S. is, in fact,the story of a struggle to achieve this right by our society's marginalized groups. In The Right to Vote, Duke historian Alexander Keyssar explores the evolution of suffrage over the course of the nation's history. Examining the many features of the history of the right to vote in the U.S.class, ethnicity, race, gender, religion, and agethe book explores the conditions under which American democracy has expanded and contracted over the years.Keyssar presents convincing evidence that the history of the right to vote has not been one of a steady history of expansion and increasing inclusion, noting that voting rights contracted substantially in the U. S. between 1850 and 1920. Keyssar also presents a controversial thesis: that the primary factor promoting the expansion of the suffrage has been war and the primary factors promoting contraction or delaying expansion have been class tension and class conflict.


The disc cell wall facing the secretory cavity in lipophilic glands of Cannabis was studied for origin and distribution of hyaline areas, secretory vesicles, fibrillar matrix and particulate material. Secretions evident as light areas in the disc cell cytoplasm pass through modified regions in the plasma membrane and appear as hyaline areas in the cell wall. Hyaline areas, surrounded with a filamentous outline, accumulate near the wall surface facing the secretory cavity where they fuse to form enlarged hyaline areas. Fibrillar matrix is related to and may originate from the dense outer layer of the plasma membrane. This matrix becomes distributed throughout the wall material and contributes in part to the composition of the surface feature of secretory vesicles. Thickening of the cell wall is associated with secretions from the disc cells that facilitates movement of hyaline areas, fibrillar matrix and other possible secretions through the wall to form secretory vesicles and intervesicular materials in the secretory cavity. The outer wall of disc cells in aggregate forms the basilar wall surface of the secretory cavity which facilitates the organization of secretory vesicles that fill the secretory cavity.


Doggerland was a landmass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British landmass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Event, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the northern North Sea, northeast coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed as, to date, no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence of a tsunami deposit in the southern North Sea at the head of a palaeo-river system that has been identified using seismic survey. The evidence, based on lithostratigraphy, geochemical signatures, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), supported by optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, suggests that these deposits were a result of the tsunami. Seismic identification of this stratum and analysis of adjacent cores showed diminished traces of the tsunami which was largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results confirm previous modelling of the impact of the tsunami within this area of the southern North Sea, and also indicate that these effects were temporary, localized, and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude that clear physical remnants of the wave in these areas are likely to be restricted to now buried, palaeo-inland basins and incised river valley systems.


We detected roads in aerial imagery based on multiresolution linear feature detection. Our method used the products of wavelet coefficients at several scales to identify and locate linear features. After detecting possible road pixels, we used a shortest-path algorithm to identify roads. The multiresolution approach effectively increased the size of the region we examined when looking for possible road pixels and reduced the effect of noise. We found that our approach leads to an effective method for detecting roads in aerial imagery.


In this paper, a design and implementation of an efficient, low power log-based 2-D convolution unit (convolver) for video processing applications is proposed. The design of the proposed convolver utilizes approximation method with error correction technique to transform data to logarithmic domain for reduced power consumption. A novel design and implementation of a modular approach for leading bit detection module that is used to compute the binary logarithm is presented. A partitioning and gating technique is also presented to reduce the switching activities based on detection of insignificant data bits. It is observed that the proposed logarithmic-domain multiplier reduces power consumption in two common image filtering operations by more than 50% compared to conventional linear-domain 2D convolvers.


The paper is text-based artwork, which is representing the initial conceptualization or contemplative phase of the media art and contemporary art performance and installation.The objective of the long term art project is to further examine the potential of engagement of the advanced technology within the context of artistic research and contemporary art practice, with the specific postulate that the potential product of the artwork is expected to be imperceptible.
The artistic research is referring to the philosophical and metaphysics idea that the alleged real reality cannot be perceived or defined via some concept. The question is, if it is so, than, is the art or the artist capable to successfully illustrate the undetectable real reality, even with the most advanced technological instruments employed.
The text-based contemporary artwork is partly referring to another segment, which can be also observed within the context of the contemporary art – text based computer adventure games. More specifically, the method implemented for establishing the artwork's concept uses some aspects similar to those used in early text-based computer games.There are several stages in which the long-term artwork will progress.
The initial form is designed in such a manner which would confirm that this segment of artwork not only does serve as a fundament for the other parts to unfold, but is also autonomous and is already completed in terms of contemporary art. This stand is applicable to all the consecutive stages – each segment is both independent and contextual.The following stages would include the interactivity between the author, art audience, but also with the devices applied for the producing the artwork, like advanced technology instruments e.g. augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR) devices, then interactive 3D technology, artificial intelligence (AI), plus the interactivity with the no-reality (reality in spiritual and philosophical contexts).


In hepatocytes isolated from fed rats, acute ethanol pretreatment (at a dose of 5.0 g/kg body wt.) did not change rates of O2 uptake. In cells from starved animals, acute ethanol pretreatment increased O2 uptake by 17-29%. The increased O2 uptake in hepatocytes from starved rats was not accompanied by increased rates of ethanol oxidation, but was accompanied by increased rates of gluconeogenesis under some conditions. The provision of ethanol (10 mM) as a substrate to cells from fed or starved rats decreased O2 uptake in the absence of other substrates or in the presence of lactate, and increased it in the presence of pyruvate or lactate and pyruvate. The results of this study show that the acute effects of ethanol on liver O2 uptake are dependent on the physiological state of the liver. Previously reported large (2-fold) increases in O2 uptake after acute ethanol pretreatment may have been an artefact owing to low control uptake rates (approximately 1.8 micromol/min per g wet wt. of cells) in the liver preparation used. The ATP contents (2.4-2.6 micromol/g wet wt. of cells) and rates of O2 uptake (2.5-5.0 micromol/min per g wet wt. of cells) of cells used in the present study were the same as values reported under conditions close to those in vivo. Therefore the increase in O2 uptake in cells from starved rats after acute ethanol pretreatment is likely to be of physiological significance.


This article is dedicated to Julia Szalai who researches the underlying reasons, consequences and mechanisms of the social exclusion of the Roma in Central and East European societies. Her work and her writings serve as a compass for those who examine problems of social exclusion, including the authors of this article. The present paper discusses position of the Roma on the Hungarian job-market, focusing on highly-qualified young Roma within the context of the business sphere. Our knowledge is informed by the first results of an initiative which creates bridges between disadvantaged social groups and the business sector through pro-active measures. The initiative mobilizes multinational companies, business trainers, NGOs promoting social inclusion, and academics. Both the initiative and our study intend to pursue a subtle understanding of the tangible and hidden obstacles that highly educated young Roma encounter when seeking employment, and of the dilemmas that multinational companies face in relating to these prospective employees.


Background. Despite the growing interest of second language acquisition (SLA) researchers in the languaging process, a few studies have been done on its dynamic attributes in various writing tasks.
Purpose. This study investigated how online written languaging (WL) might impact English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) learners' performance on form-focused writing tasks with production-based and comprehension-based output orientation in Google Docs, and how the output orientation of form-focused writing tasks could determine the WL attributes of quantity and focus.
Methods. To do so, 112 Iranian EFL university students were selected and assigned to four parallel groups. In an eight-week experiment, two groups worked on gap-filling tasks (production-based) and two groups on error-identification tasks (comprehension-based) in parallel ±WL conditions.
Results. Statistical analysis indicated a significant interaction between task output orientation and WL production. So, on both production-based and comprehension-based tasks, the +WL groups outperformed the ˗WL groups. Moreover, in the +WL condition, the task output orientation determined the quantity of WL episodes, but not their focus on grammar (G-WL) and lexis (L-WL) in production-based and comprehension-based tasks. As such, the +WL group who completed the production-based tasks produced much more WL episodes than the +WL group who completed the comprehension-based tasks. Yet, both groups equally produced more L-WL episodes than G-WL episodes.
Сonclusion. The study had several implications for language teachers to maximize learning opportunities by teaching how to language in various writing tasks on online platforms. The L2 teachers are also recommended to adopt an alternative approach to translation as a form-focused writing task.


Mastocytosis is a relatively infrequent disorder characterized by mast cell proliferation within primarily the skin, but also various organs such as the bone marrow, liver, spleen, lymph nodes and the gastrointestinal system. Several factors are known to induce symptoms in patients with mastocytosis. A 13-year-old boy with cutaneous mastocytosis and type 1 diabetes mellitus developed multiple itchy papules 2 to 3 days after he started receiving insulin (lispro) pump therapy. Punch biopsy revealed widespread mast cell infiltration on the papillary dermis. We hypothesized that the insulin pump catheter caused a physical stimulus due to local microtrauma and resulted in the formation of the lesions. We, therefore, discontinued insulin pump treatment and switched to SC insulin therapy. While previous lesions healed successfully, no new lesions occurred. To confirm our hypothesis, we repeated the procedure and observed the occurrence of similar lesions around the insulin pump catheter. Herein, we present for the first time, a patient with type 1 diabetes mellitus and cutaneous mastocytosis who developed exacerbation of lesions during insulin pump therapy.


This paper proposes a fast joint frame synchronization and frequency offset acquisition algorithm for OFDM systems. A training sequence composed by linear frequency modulation signals is superimposed on the data signal at the transmitter side. Then, by fractional Fourier transform the frame synchronization and frequency offset acquisition can be obtained from the received signal simultaneously. Even under the low signal to noise ratio conditions, this algorithm can keep the estimation accuracy with lower computational complexity. Theoretical analysis and simulation results over AWGN and multi-path channel prove this point.


The cohesive energy is the energy to divide the crystal into isolated atoms, and the direct result of cohesive energy is to create new surface. The increased surface energy should equal the cohesive energy of the crystal, which results from the surface area difference between the total atoms and the crystal. This is the basic concept of Surface-Area-Difference (SAD) model. The SAD model has been extended to account for the melting temperature of metallic nanocrystals with non-free surface (embedded in a matrix) in the present work. It is shown if the melting temperature of the matrix must be much higher than that of the bulk value of the nanocrystals, and the nanocrystals has coherent or semi-coherent interface with the matrix, the nanocrystals may be superheated. The present results are supported by the available experimental values.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies have shown the presence of serum anti-nuclear (ANA), anti-smooth muscle (SMA), anti-mitochondrial (AMA), anti-gastric parietal cell (GPCA), anti-thyroglobulin (TGA) and anti-thyroid microsomal autoantibodies (TMA) in small groups of patients with oral lichen planus (OLP).

METHODS
In this study, the serum levels of ANA, SMA, AMA, GPCA, TGA and TMA were measured in a group of 320 Chinese OLP patients and 53 healthy control subjects to assess whether Chinese OLP patients had significantly higher frequencies of serum autoantibodies than healthy control subjects and to assess which risk factors had a significant influence on the possession of a specific serum autoantibody in OLP patients.

RESULTS
We found that autoantibodies were present in 195 (60.9%) of the 320 OLP patients. The frequencies of presence of serum ANA (28.1%), GPCA (26.3%), TGA (21.3%) and TMA (24.4%) in OLP patients were significantly higher than those (5.7%, 1.9%, 1.9% and 1.9%, respectively) in healthy control subjects (all P-values were < 0.005). Forty-one (12.8%) OLP patients also had anti-hepatitis C virus antibody (HCVA) in their sera. The multivariate logistic regression found that major erosive OLP (EOLP) [odds ratio (OR) = 1.786], TGA/TMA-positivity (OR = 2.517), and HCVA-positivity (OR = 2.214) were significant risk factors to influence ANA-positivity in OLP patients. Moreover, only major EOLP (OR = 1.879) and ANA-positivity (OR = 2.581) were significant risk factors to influence TGA/TMA-positivity in OLP patients.

CONCLUSIONS
There are significantly higher frequencies of presence of ANA, GPCA, TGA and TMA in Chinese OLP patients than in healthy control subjects.


For a fixed heat flow, the surface flow velocity of a convecting layer is not strongly sensitive to the variation of viscosity as a function of depth. Thus, the inferred absence of a low viscosity asthenosphere on Venus can not account for the limited surface motions there. The surface velocity is dependent on the convective geometry. Cartesian geometry convection can produce large surface velocities if the high viscosity surface layer is broken in places by weak zones. On the other hand, a high viscosity surface layer may inhibit the development of large surface velocities in axisymmetric convection.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the possibility that variants in the acidic or basic keratin genes or in desmoglein 1 may cause the clinical manifestation of familial footpad hyperkeratosis in Irish Terriers.

ANIMALS
11 dogs belonging to 2 related affected pedigrees of Irish Terriers.

PROCEDURE
Genomic DNA was extracted from blood samples obtained from each dog. The DNA markers linked to the genes keratin 2, keratin 9, and desmoglein 1 were amplified by use of a polymerase chain reaction technique, and length of the products was determined by use of an automatic DNA analyzer.

RESULTS
All tested markers yielded information. None of the markers (genotype) cosegregated with the clinical status of the dogs (phenotype) in the 2 pedigrees.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Mutations in the genes encoding keratin 2 and 9 as well as desmoglein 1 are highly unlikely to be the primary cause of familial footpad hyperkeratosis in Irish Terriers.


Moving averages are the easiest and most popular technical indicators. But they are trend-following indicators that work best in strong trending periods; in fact, moving average trading systems tend to lose money during periods of choppy trading. Since markets and individual securities will, at some point, enter a period of sideways or choppy trading where prices move up and down without any sense of direction, you may want to turn to an indicator that is more sensitive and responsive to that kind of trading behavior. Oscillators fit this bill. Technicians use oscillators in a variety of ways—to determine overbought and oversold conditions, to determine the momentum of a security or index, as well as to identify divergences between price and the indicator. This article focuses on one indicator that combines the best of both worlds—the trend-following characteristics of moving averages, and oscillator characteristics that help indicate whether a security is overbought or oversold and that help pinpoint potential divergences. The indicator is called moving average convergence/divergence, more commonly known as MACD.


It is well established that murine T-lymphocyte activation is accompanied by major changes in cell-surface sialylation, potentially influencing interactions with sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-like lectins (siglecs). In the present study, we analyzed early activation of murine CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes at 24 h. We observed a striking and selective up-regulation in the binding of a recombinant soluble form of siglec-E, an inhibitory siglec, which is expressed on several myeloid cell types including antigen-presenting dendritic cells. In contrast, much lower levels of T cell binding were observed with other siglecs, including sialoadhesin, CD22, and siglec-F and the plant lectins Maackia amurensis leukoagglutinin and Sambucus nigra agglutinin. By mass spectrometry, the sialic acid content of 24-h-activated CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocytes exhibited an increased proportion of N-acetyl-neuraminic acid (NeuAc) to N-glycolyl-neuraminic acid (NeuGc) in N-glycans. Reduced levels of NeuGc on the surface of activated T cells were demonstrated using an antibody specific for NeuGc and the expression levels of the gene encoding NeuAc- to NeuGc-converting enzyme, CMP-NeuAc hydroxylase, were also reduced. Siglec-E bound a wide range of sialylated structures in glycan arrays, had a preference for NeuAc versus NeuGc-terminated sequences and could recognize a set of sialoglycoproteins that included CD45, in lysates from activated T-lymphocytes. Collectively, these results show that early in T cell activation, glycan remodelling involves a switch from NeuGc- to NeuAc-terminating oligosaccharides on cell surface glycoproteins. This is associated with a strong up-regulation of siglec-E ligands, which may be important in promoting cellular interactions between early activated T-lymphocytes and myeloid cells expressing this inhibitory receptor.


To prevent infection of the examinees via blood during venipuncture and to simplify the method for assessment of red cell spontaneous aggregation the authors have compared red cell aggregation in venous and capillary blood. Red cell aggregation coefficients assessed by various methods in blood samples collected from the finger and vein were virtually the same; hence, this characteristics can be investigated in a capillary blood sample.


Bechtel National, Inc. has been contracted by the Department of Energy to design a Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP) to stabilize liquid radioactive waste that is stored at the Hanford Site as part of the River Protection Project (RPP). Because of its experience with radioactive waste stabilization, the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) of the Westinghouse Savannah River Company is working with Bechtel and Washington Group International, to help design and test certain parts of the waste treatment facility. One part of the process is the separation of radioactive solids from the liquid wastes by cross-flow ultrafiltration. To test this process a cross-flow filter was used that was prototypic in porosity, length, and diameter, along with a simulated radioactive waste slurry, made to prototypically represent the chemical and physical characteristics of a Hanford waste in tank 241-AY-102/C-106. To mimic the filtration process the waste slurry undergoes several steps, including dewatering and washing. During dewatering the concentration of undissolved solids (UDS) of the simulated AY102/C106 waste is increased from 12 wt% to at least 20 wt%. Once at the higher concentration the waste must be washed to prepare for its eventual receipt in a High Level Radioactive Waste Melter to be vitrified. This paper describes the process of washing and filtering a batch of concentrated simulated waste in two cycles, which each containing 22 washing steps that used approximately 7.7 liters of a solution of 0.01 M NaOH per step. This will be the method used by the full-scale WTP to prepare the waste for vitrification. The first washing cycle started with the simulated waste that had a solids concentration of 20 wt% UDS. This cycle began with a permeate filter flux of 0.015 gpm/ft2 (3.68 cm/hr) at 19.6 wt% UDS with a density of 1.33 kg/L, consistency of 19.1 mPa·s, and yield stress of 8.5 Pa. At the end of the 22 washing steps the permeate filter flux increased to 0.023 gpm/ft2 (5.64 cm/hr) at 20.1 wt% UDS with a density of 1.17 kg/L, consistency of 12.6 mPa·s, and yield stress of 10.4 Pa. The average permeate filter flux during the 7 hours of Cycle 1 washing was 0.018 gpm/ft2 (4.41 cm/hr). During Cycle 2 the simulated waste started at a permeate filter flux of 0.025 gpm/ft2 (6.13 cm/hr). Note that the starting flux for Cycle 2 was greater than the ending flux for Cycle 1. The period between the cycles was approximately 12 hours. While no filtering occurred during that period either solids dissolution continued and/or the filter cake was dislodged somewhat with the stopping and starting of filter operation. At the end of the second set of 22 washing steps, the permeate filter flux increased to 0.032 gpm/ft2 (7.84 cm/hr) at 20.6 wt% UDS with a density of 1.16 kg/L, consistency of 9.0 mPa·s, and yield stress of 8.2 Pa. The average permeate filter flux during the 4 hours of Cycle 2 washing was 029 gpm/ft2 (7.11 cm/hr).© 2005 ASME


As the evolutionary interests of males and females are frequently divergent, a trait value that is optimal for the fitness of one sex is often not optimal for the other. A shared genome also means that the same genes may underlie the same trait in both sexes. This can give rise to a form of sexual antagonism, known as intralocus sexual conflict (IASC). Here, a tug-of-war over allelic expression can occur, preventing the sexes from reaching optimal trait values, thereby causing sex-specific reductions in fitness. For some traits, it appears that IASC can be resolved via sex-specific regulation of genes that subsequently permits sexual dimorphism; however, it seems that whole-genome resolution may be impossible, due to the genetic architecture of certain traits, and possibly due to the changing dynamics of selection. In this review, we explore the evolutionary mechanisms of, and barriers to, IASC resolution. We also address the broader consequences of this evolutionary feud, the possible interactions between intra- and interlocus sexual conflict (IRSC: a form of sexual antagonism involving different loci in each sex), and draw attention to issues that arise from using proxies as measurements of conflict. In particular, it is clear that the sex-specific fitness consequences of sexual dimorphism require characterization before making assumptions concerning how this relates to IASC. Although empirical data have shown consistent evidence of the fitness effects of IASC, it is essential that we identify the alleles mediating these effects in order to show IASC in its true sense, which is a "conflict over shared genes."


A novel technique is introduced, called stochastic evolution (SE), for solving a wide range of combinatorial optimization problems. It is shown that SE can be specifically tailored to solve the network bisection, traveling salesman, and standard cell placement problems. Experimental results for these problems show that SE can produce better quality solutions than sophisticated simulated annealing (SA)-based heuristics in a much shorter computation time. >


OBJECTIVE
To evaluate secnidazole as a single oral dose treatment for bacterial vaginosis in a phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

METHODS
In a phase 2, randomized, double-blind, dose-ranging, placebo-controlled study, women with bacterial vaginosis who met all Amsel criteria (discharge; pH 4.7 or greater; 20% or greater clue cells; positive whiff test) were randomized one to one to one at 24 U.S. centers to 1 or 2 g secnidazole compared with placebo. The primary endpoint was clinical cure (normalization of discharge, amine odor, and clue cells) 21-30 days after treatment. Secondary endpoints included microbiologic cure, defined as a Nugent score of 0-3, and therapeutic cure, defined as meeting criteria for both clinical and microbiologic cure. The modified intent to treat was used for efficacy analyses and included all randomized patients who met the enrollment criteria. Assuming a clinical cure rate of 40% in the active groups and 15% in the placebo group, a sample size of 52 patients per group provided approximately 80% power to detect a significant difference between groups (.05 level [two-sided]) using a Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test.

RESULTS
Between May and September 2014, 215 patients were enrolled. In the intent-to-treat population, the clinical cure rate was 65.3% for the 2-g group, 49.3% for the 1-g group, and 19.4% for the placebo group. The modified intent-to-treat population included 188 women (median age 33 years; 32% with four or more bacterial vaginosis episodes in the previous year; 54% black) with baseline Nugent scores 4 or greater. Clinical, microbiologic, and therapeutic cure rates were 67.7%, 40.3%, and 40.3% for 2 g secnidazole and 51.6%, 23.4%, and 21.9% for 1 g secnidazole compared with 17.7%, 6.5%, and 6.5% for placebo, respectively (P<.05 for secnidazole compared with placebo; all endpoints). Both doses were well-tolerated.

CONCLUSION
Oral granules containing 1 and 2 g secnidazole were superior to placebo in bacterial vaginosis treatment (P<.001 for both groups). These data support the development of secnidazole for bacterial vaginosis treatment.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02147899.


Chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) is a common neurosurgical pathology associated with prior traumatic brain injury (TBI) and older age that is often complicated by antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapies. cSDH often results from the liquefaction of a previous acute subdural hematoma that accompanies TBI. The incidence of cSDH will likely increase over the next 25 years, placing a burden on health care costs. As such, a simple, inexpensive treatment option is desirable. In this short communication, we describe recent data and different techniques that are available for treating cSDH.


Bacteria predate plants and animals by billions of years. Today, they are the world's smallest cells yet they represent the bulk of the world's biomass, and the main reservoir of nutrients for higher organisms. Most bacteria can move on their own, and the majority of motile bacteria are able to swim in viscous fluids using slender helical appendages called flagella. Low-Reynoldsnumber hydrodynamics is at the heart of the ability of flagella to generate propulsion at the micron scale. In fact, fluid dynamic forces impact many aspects of bacteriology, ranging from the ability of cells to reorient and search their surroundings to their interactions within mechanically and chemically-complex environments. Using hydrodynamics as an organizing framework, we review the biomechanics of bacterial motility and look ahead to future challenges.


The power of technology and its impact on the average IT employee's working life has led to new job titles and responsibilities. IT workers' increased visibility also correlates to a new social image reflected in the media. The authors completed an empirical study to examine how IT workers are portrayed, particularly on television, and the resulting perception of the profession, which future IT professionals will likely reflect.


The introduction of effective drug testing procedures in doping control reduced, but did not eliminate, their abuse by athletes. The most important analytical challenge is the recognition of the new analog compounds. In attempts to circumvent existing controlled substance laws, slightly modified chemical structures (by adding or changing substituents at various positions on the banned molecules) are used. As a result, no substance belonging to a prohibited class may be used nowadays, even if it has not been specifically listed. We present a chemometric procedure acting as an automated GC-FTIR screening test detecting the molecular structural similarity of unknown compounds with the main classes of ergogenic aids. The knowledge base defining the reference GC-FTIR spectral patterns has been built according to criteria encompassing toxicological, pharmacological and neurochemical aspects. The class identity of a compound is diagnosed within seconds, using Soft Independent Modeling of Class Analogy (SIMCA). The predictive value of the system was assessed at a testing accuracy of 95%. Compounds giving cross-reactions with traditional screening techniques produce a negative result. The specificity and the selectivity of the screening test, evaluated by testing 160 toxicologically relevant compounds, are discussed, emphasizing the chemical and physical factors affecting these parameters. The specificity of the system recommends the procedure as a highly specific, selective, fast, and user-friendly screening test, which screens for ergogenic aids found in powders, tablets or solutions with a prediction accuracy adequate for investigations in analytical toxicology and doping control.


Summary: Because pharmacokinetics is a major determinant of the magnitude and duration of pharmacologic response, understanding the kinetic properties of the new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) is essential for the correct use of these compounds in clinical practice. After oral administration, absorption is rapid and relatively efficient for the new AEDs, the most notable exception being gabapentin, whose bioavailability decreases with increasing dosage. None of the new AEDs is extensively bound to plasma proteins except for tiagabine, which is over 95% protein‐bound. The route of elimination differs to an important extent from one compound to another, and elimination half‐lives range from over 30 h for zonisamide to 5–7 h for gabapentin. For all drugs that are metabolized, half‐life is shortened and clearance is increased when patients receive concomitant enzyme‐inducing agents such as barbiturates, phenytoin, and carbamazepine. Lamotrigine metabolism is markedly inhibited by valproic acid, and felbamate may increase the serum levels of most other AEDs. Felbamate, topiramate, and oxcarbazepine may also reduce the efficacy of the contraceptive pill by stimulating its metabolism.


Health economic evaluation that encompasses decision analytic model is a beneficial approach for assisting decision maker to choose the best health intervention for patients. Decision analytic model has been increasingly applied in health economic evaluation. This mathematical approach is mostly used for conducting cost-effectiveness of healthcare interventions. Decision tree and Markov model has been widely applied in the past 20 years. Decision tree is the simplest form of decision model that drawn by the series of branches and clear pathways. Meanwhile, Markov model is one of the powerful approaches that employ stochastic process in health economic evaluation. This paper describes the applications of those two models in tobacco cessations, specifically for pharmacological interventions. First, decision tree for cost-effectiveness of smoking cessation program with pharmacist and therapies interventions compared to no program or self-aid cessation. Second, the application of Markov model estimates cost-effectiveness of veranicline, in comparison to bupropion. Markov model is constructed with morbidity and mortality states that consists of: well/no morbidities, lung cancer, COPD, stroke, myocardial infarction, and dead. This paper provides step by step of populating and constructing the model-with some modification of data. Several sections discuss the understanding of transition probabilities, costs data, cohort simulation, and the role of sensitivity analysis. Other models, despite deterministic approach, probabilistic approach are also reviewed. Both of models had both advantages and limitation that analysts should be aware of. Translating the 'real world' to mathematical model yields beneficial and insightful information for analysts. In addition, it could fulfill the need of evidence-based policy by decision maker. From simulation, the model may easy to be replicated-with appropriate context to generate evidence related health and costs.


Psychopathy rarely forms the basis of an insanity defense, due to its highly prejudicial nature. However, certain characterizations and types of evidence can somewhat reduce this stigma. Undergraduate participants (N = 270) in this mock trial experiment read vignettes describing a fictional murder case in which an insanity defense was raised. These vignettes varied by evidence type (neuroscientific or psychological) and by the defendant's diagnosis (psychopathy, a brain disease, or psychosis). Participants delivered verdicts and answered questions about sentencing and their perceptions of the defendant. The results indicate that neuroscientific evidence is superior to psychological evidence in establishing a successful insanity defense, while nonsignificant trends suggest that labeling psychopathy as a brain disease may ameliorate the stigma surrounding the disorder.


To monitor the health of the public in England, UK, the Central Health Monitoring Unit within the UK Department of Health commissioned an annual health examination survey, which became known as the Health Survey for England (HSE). The first survey was completed in 1991. The HSE covers all of England and is a nationally representative sample of those residing at private residential addresses. Each survey year consists of a new sample of private residential addresses and people. The HSE collects detailed information on mental and physical health, health-related behaviour, and objective physical and biological measures in relation to demographic and socio-economic characteristics of people aged 16 years and over at private residential addresses. There are two parts to the HSE; an interviewer visit, to conduct an interview and measure height and weight, then a nurse visit, to carry out further measurements and take biological samples. Since 1994, survey participants aged 16 years and over have been asked for consent to follow-up through linkage to mortality and cancer registration data, and from 2003, to the Hospital Episode Statistics database, thus converting annual cross-sectional survey data into a longitudinal study. Annual survey data (1994–2009) are available through the UK Data Archive.


In software development projects, the investment of quality improvements needs to be optimized in a way that does not affect the cost and schedule aspects. However, as is currently practiced in the industry, software's artifacts are considered equal in their significance and risk to the software life cycle with respect to quality improvement activities. The investment in activities concerning the detection and removal of defects is distributed evenly on the software's artifacts without taking into consideration the risk and significance factors of such artifacts. Some software's modules hold risky and significant architectural components that need to be of a high quality and a low defect density. On the other hand, other modules do not require a similar level of quality. Defects originating from modules of high criticality may contribute to a project failure more so than less significant modules. In this paper, we propose a model that helps the project managers to optimize the investment given to the QA activities of their software on the basis of the risk associated with the development process.


Multiple drug-resistant enterococci have become a significant cause of nosocomial infection (9, 11, 12). In particular, there are limited options for the treatment of enterococcal infection caused by high-level glycopeptide-resistant enterococci (9, 11). Infection or colonization by vancomycin-resistant enterococci was first reported in France (10) and the U.K. (14). Since then, vancomycin-resistant enterococci have been reported from many locations throughout Europe (9), the United States, (9), Australia (6, 8), and Argentina (4).

In Japan, vancomycin has been used clinically for the treatment of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections since late 1991. There has been no report describing the isolation of high-level vancomycin-resistant enterococci in Japan (7, 13). We report here the first clinical isolate of high-level vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in Japan.

An 81-year-old woman was hospitalized with acute pyelonephritis and bacteremia with a high fever (40°C) in the internal medicine ward in March 1996. She also had diabetes mellites, hypertension, multiple cerebral infarctions, and neurologic bladder. Escherichia coli was isolated from urine and blood samples. She was treated with cefotiam. Her fever abated 1 week after initiation of therapy. At that time, E. coli was not detected in the blood or urine samples. She received antibiotic therapy for 2 weeks. After completion of the antibiotic therapy, E. faecium was isolated from a follow-up surveillance sample of urine. E. faecium was not isolated in the next urine sample, which was obtained 5 days after the initial enterococci-positive sample. The drug resistance levels (MICs, in micrograms per milliliter) for the E. faecium isolate, named FN1, were as follows: vancomycin, 200; teicoplanin, 50; gentamicin, >1,000; ampicillin, >100; and erythromycin, 100. In addition to being phenotypically VanA (1,2,3), the FN1 plasmid DNAs hybridized with a vanA probe (5), which was a kind gift from P. Courvalin of the Pasteur Institute, Paris, France. The transferability of the vancomycin resistance of FN1 was examined between the donor strain FN1 and the recipient strain E. faecalis FA2-2 (Rifr Fusr) and between FN1 and E. faecium KTRF (Rifr Fusr) by filter-mating experiments. No vancomycin-resistant transconjugants were isolated (frequencies were less than 10−7 per donor cell) in mating experiments.

Vancomycin-resistant E. faecium was not identified in stool samples from the patient or from other patients who were hospitalized in the same room. The patient had never received vancomycin chemotherapy. Although the reservoir and mode of infection of the vancomycin-resistant E. faecium was not determined in this case, E. faecium FN1 was the first case of high-level vancomycin-resistant enterococci with a class A phenotype isolated from a human in Japan.

This work was supported by a grant for the study of drug-resistant bacteria funded by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Tokyo, Japan, in 1996 and by a grant from the Ohyama Health Foundation, Inc., Tokyo, Japan.

We thank P. Courvalin for providing the M13-vanA probe and E. Kamei for helpful advice on the manuscript.


Statistics from various sources indicate that there are roughly 75% cyber attacks occurred in the web applications, and the trend is growing. The unsafe coding of web application or the vulnerability of the application itself is yet to be patched result in a high security risk. In addition to white-box testing to examine the source code, black box testing for vulnerability scan or penetration test, one may choose to setup defense facilities at the front-end of the server - such as: application-layer intrusion prevention system, or application software and hardware firewall to enhance the defense mechanism or to gain more time to patch the vulnerability. This paper presents an optimum tuning method utilizing the application firewall widely used by the modern enterprises. We explore several attacking methods commonly used nowadays, such as the signature of cross-site scripting and SQL injection, and introduce a new method to setup the parameters of the device to strengthen the defense. To enhance the security of the back-end application servers, we use keyword filtering and re-treatment to rule out the blacklist, and to adjust the system settings so that it can effectively block the assaults or reduce the possibility of successful attacks. In addition, we also simulate attacks to web browsing and application through vulnerability scanning tools to test the security of application system and to make sure the necessary defense of the optimum tuning parameters. This concept does produce good results in our implementation of verification tests. It is worth promoting as a reference.


The study aimed to examine the dependence of the honey possum, Tarsipes rostratus on the winter-flowering plants Banksia baueri, Dryandra plumosa and D. cuneata. Sampling of honey possum populations was carried out in six paired Grids in the Fitzgerald River National Park. The capture rate and various other population parameters was measured before and after the removal of flowers of these species in the Treatment Grids and then compared with populations in the Control Grids.

Throughout the study, the flowering pattern of plants visited by honey possums was examined. Different plant species in the Proteaceae and Myrtaceae families had highly seasonal flowering patterns and there were several species in flower in each sampling month, suggesting that a continuous nectar supply was available to Tarsipes throughout the year. A peak in flowering occurred during the winter and spring months. Banksia baueri flowered most prolifically in July and the flowering intensity of D. cuneata ' increased through the winter to reach a peak in the early spring in most areas. The flowering of D. plumosa showed much less seasonal variation and flowered continuously for the duration of the study.

During the winter, the population density of Tarsipes was limited by the supply of nectar and pollen and, during the manipulation, numbers were lower than expected and did not rise to their usual winter peak. The removal of B. baueri flowers had the greatest effect whereas removal of D. plumosa had the least effect. These changes in population size occurred as a result of the movement of individuals, particularly males, out of the cut Grids to areas with a greater abundance of nectar and pollen. Movement between Grids was negligible suggesting that honey possums that moved out of the Treatment Grids only moved short distances to the nearest flowering plants.

Flower removal did not appear to influence dramatically the structure of honey possum populations. During the manipulation, the proportion of females in the Treatment populations increased as a result of the movement of males out of the area. However, the populations that remained in these Grids did not differ greatly in structure from those in the Control Grids. There was no change in the number of females with pouch young and, hence, the age structure of the populations remained the same. There was also no difference in the proportion of recaptures in each Grid. Flower removal also appeared not to have a deleterious effect upon the body condition of individuals.

Tarsipes visited flowers from a wide range of species in the Proteaceae and Myrtaceae families and their diet was highly seasonal. When the food supply was reduced in the winter, honey possums did not feed on flowers from any new species of plant. Rather, they appeared to feed more intensively on species that were already a component of their diet. This applied particularly to Calothamnus gracilis and, to a lesser extent, D. nivea, B. gardneri var. hiemlis and B. coccinea.

Finally, no significant relationship was found between the distribution of captures within each Grid and the distribution of B. baueri, D. plumosa and D. cuneata plants, suggesting that honey possums forage at random for nectar within their habitat.


This Article challenges the prevailing rhetoric of notice pleading in the federal courts. By examining the reality of pleading practice in eight diverse substantive areas (ranging from antitrust to defamation, negligence to RICO), a rich continuum of fact-based pleading requirements emerges. The scholarly literature, however, largely ignores what federal courts require under this vast umbrella of "heightened pleading." This Article uncovers narrowly-targeted forms of fact-pleading, more broad-based particularity mirroring the standard used in fraud claims, and even "hyperpleading" - mandating virtually every element of a claim be pleaded with particularity. From this micro-examination of pleading, the Article develops the first contemporary model of pleading based on actual federal practice: the pleading circle. Contrary to the notice pleading myth, current practice is not a simple binary choice: fact-based pleading for fraud; notice pleading for everything else. Rather, there is a spectrum beginning with the factless and universally rejected "conclusory allegation." Simplified notice pleading follows. The varieties of heightened pleading are next with their increasing particularity requirements. Ultimately, pleadings reach the point of prolixity and the same fate as its conclusory cousin. The Article also explores potential explanations for the disconnect between notice pleading rhetoric and reality. One overriding conclusion emerges - notice pleading as a universal standard is a myth.