The monolithically integrated all-optical single-sideband (SSB) filter based on photonic Hilbert transform and planar Bragg gratings is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. An SSB suppression of 12 dB at 6 GHz and sideband switching are achieved via thermal tuning. An X-coupler, photonic Hilbert transformer, flat top reflector, and a micro heater are incorporated in a single silicon-on-silica substrate. The device can be thermally tuned by the micro heater on top of the channel waveguide. The device is fabricated using a combination of direct UV grating writing technology and photolithography.


A "hole-with-hat" in a graph $G$ is an induced subgraph of $G$ that consists of a cycle of length at least four, together with one further vertex that has exactly two neighbours in the cycle, adjacent to each other, and the "house" is the smallest, on five vertices. It is not known whether there exists $\epsilon>0$ such that every graph $G$ containing no house has a clique or stable set of cardinality at least $|G|^\epsilon$; this is one of the three smallest open cases of the Erdős-Hajnal conjecture and has been the subject of much study.
We prove that there exists $\epsilon>0$ such that every graph $G$ with no hole-with-hat has a clique or stable set of cardinality at least $|G|^\epsilon$


Abstract In this paper a new approach for generalization of contours is described. The aim of this approach is to obtain both simplified and smoothed contours lying on a minimum number of characteristic points and inside the error bands. Characteristic points of contours are defined in relation to the skeleton lines of the terrain and determined using the deviation angles at the contour points. Error bands for contours are constructed by means of the steepest slope lines and the mean square planimetric errors at the contour points. The new approach is compared to the Li-Openshaw algorithm according to the experimental testing results.


2D perovskite nanoparticles have a great potential for using in optoelectronic devices such as Solar Cells and Light Emitting Diodes within their tuneable optic and structural properties. In this chapter, it is aimed to express "relation between chemical structures and photo-physical behaviours of perovskite nanoparticles and milestones for their electronic applications". Initially, general synthesis methods of perovskite nanoparticles have been explained. Furthermore, advantages and disadvantages of the methods have been discussed. After the synthesis, formation of 2D perovskite crystal and effects on shape factor, particle size and uniformity of perovskite have been explained in detail. Beside these, optic properties of luminescent perovskite nanoparticles have been summarized a long with spectral band tuning via size and composition changes. In addition, since their different optical properties and relatively more stable chemical structure under ambient conditions, a comprehensive compilation of opto-electronic applications of 2D perovskite nanoparticles have been prepared.


Current research work was conducted during 2016 in Swat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to evaluate the efficacy of synthetic insecticides (Furadan-3G and Thimet-5G), botanical extracts (Azadirachta indica and Parthenium hysterophorus) and Trichogramma chilonis (Tricho-cards) in comparison with control against onion budworm in onion seed crop, Allium cepa. The statistical design used for experiment 1 was Randomized Complete Block with 3 treatments having 3 replications, whereas 2 experiment was consisted of 4 treatments and 3 replications. In experiment-1, the lowest mean number of larvae of H. armigera was recorded in Furadan (0.48 plant) followed by Thimet (0.50 plant) and the highest was recorded in control plot (0.56 plant). In experiment-2 the lowest means number of larvae plant was recorded in Trico-cards (0.56) followed by A. indica (0.59) and Parthenium (0.61) whereas the highest were noted in control (0.75). The highest thousand seed weight (8.00g) was obtained from Furadan treated plot followed by Thimet (7.00g) and control (1.67g) respectively. Significantly lowest seeds plant was noted in control (618.8) which was statistically at par with Parthenium (812.7). The highest average yield was recorded in Furadan (521.00 kg/ha) followed by Thimet (512.00 kg/ha), Tricho-cards (475.33 kg/ha) and control (330.00 kg/ha). The maximum biological efficacy was reported in Furadan (36.00 %) followed by Parthenium (18.67 %). In lab research it was recorded that both Neem 5% and Parthenium 7% were safe for Trichogramma chilonis. The use of Neem and Parthenium in combination with bio control agent is recommended for the IPM program.


▼ One of the most important objectives of intervention programs for persons with haemophilia (PWH) is to improve their quality of life. Regular physical activity has been recommended as an adjunct to conventional treatment, with positive results in the prevention of joint problems and bleeding, in addition to the improvement in cardiovascular function, muscle strength, and body composition. The objective of the present review was to present the benefi ts of aerobic and resistance training programs in PWH, as well to discuss the best exercise dose-response in the diff erent levels of disease severity. We considered randomized controlled trials, study cases and literature reviews from MEDLINE and Highwire databases. After a detailed analysis of the studies involving exercise for PWH, it can be concluded that this intervention elicits some benefi ts for physical fi tness and blood coagulation mechanisms, suggesting the application of physical training as a non pharmacological treatment in association with conventional treatment. Adequate and periodized resistance training considering the disease severity, accompanied by physical education professionals could improve muscle strength, balance and proprioception. In addition, aerobic training could reduce the risks of obesity and several metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. Exercise can improve several outcomes of quality in PWH. D ow nl oa de d by : D ot . L ib In fo rm at io n. C op yr ig ht ed m at er ia l.


Lipid peroxidation in the rat striatum under stress after cortisole injection was investigated. Three days cortisole injections (25 mg/kg every day) do not affect the level of lipid peroxidation products 6 days after termination of the hormone injection. However, in these periods, cortisole injected rats had a more significant response of lipid peroxidation to stress than the control animals (decrease of intermediate products and increase of Shift bases). Thus, the hormone injection induced a long-term changes in so important a regulatory system of the organisms as the lipid peroxidation, causing sensitization of its response to stress.


Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome that presents primarily in women and is characterized by generalized pain, muscle rigidity, poor quality of sleep, fatigue, cognitive dysfunction, anxiety, episodes of depression, overall sensitivity, and deterioration in the performance of day-to-day activities. In the pathophysiology of fibromyalgia neuroendocrine factors, anomalies of the autonomous nervous system, genetic characteristics, and environmental and psychosocial factors are implicated. Alterations to the cells of the central nervous system that are present in fibromyalgia are due to the toxic effects of free radi - cals by the high concentrations of polyunsaturated fatty acids of the membranes that are easily oxidized and the low level of protective antioxidant enzymes. In FM, defects are produced in any part of the cycle in the generation of adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP) by the mitochondria, which can alter energy production by the mitochondria and cause the characteristic symptoms of FM. The degradation of the mitochondria dependent on autophagy or mitophagy is an important process for maintaining the critical integrity of the mitochondria and limiting the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Therefore, the deregulation of autophagy and mitochondrial dysfunction could repre - sent key aspects in the pathophysiology of FM. Management with antioxidants, vitamins, coenzyme Q10, and melatonin, in addition to the antidepressants and structural analogs of the gamma-aminobutyric acid, could modify the florid symptomatology that patients with FM have.


Neuropathological subtypes of hippocampal sclerosis (HS) in temporal lobe epilepsy (The 2013 International League Against Epilepsy classification) are based on the qualitative assessment of patterns of neuronal loss with NeuN. In practice, some cases appear indeterminate between type 1 (CA1 and CA4 loss) and type 2 HS (CA1 loss) and we predicted that MAP2 would enable a more stringent classification. HS subtypes, as well as the accompanying alteration of axonal networks, regenerative capacity and neurodegeneration have been previously correlated with outcome and memory deficits and may provide prognostic clinical information. We selected 92 cases: 52 type 1 HS, 15 type 2 HS, 18 indeterminate‐HS and 7 no‐HS. Quantitative analysis was carried out on NeuN and MAP2 stained sections and a labeling index (LI) calculated for six hippocampal subfields. We also evaluated hippocampal regenerative activity (MCM2, nestin, olig2, calbindin), degeneration (AT8/phosphorylated tau) and mossy‐fiber pathway re‐organization (ZnT3). Pathology measures were correlated with clinical epilepsy history, memory and naming test scores and postoperative outcomes, at 1 year following surgery. MAP2 LI in indeterminate‐HS was statistically similar to type 2 HS but this clustering was not shown with NeuN. Moderate verbal and visual memory deficits were noted in all HS types, including 54% and 69% of type 2 HS. Memory deficits correlated with several pathology factors including lower NeuN or MAP2 LI in CA4, CA1, dentate gyrus (DG) and subiculum and poor preservation of the mossy fiber pathway. Decline in memory at 1 year associated with AT8 labeling in the subiculum and DG but not HS type. We conclude that MAP2 is a helpful addition in the classification of HS in some cases. Classification of HS subtype, however, did not significantly correlate with outcome or pre‐ or postoperative memory dysfunction, which was associated with multiple pathology factors including hippocampal axonal pathways, regenerative capacity and degenerative changes.


SUMMARY: Cultures of the fungus Zygorrhynchus moelleri were grown in a glucose-acetate + ammonia + salts medium in the presence of either radioactive carbon dioxide or acetate labelled in either the methyl- or the carboxyl-positions. After growth the protein was hydrolysed and the pattern of incorporation of radiocarbon into the amino acids was determined by chromatography and radioautography; activity from carbon dioxide appeared in glutamie and aspartic acids, methionine, threonine, isoleucine, proline and arginine. With labelled acetate lysine and leucine were also radioactive. A pool of free amino acids was present in this fungus. Several amino acids were isolated from the three samples of hydrolysed protein and their specific activities were determined. Assuming that the tricarboxylic acid cycle operated in this organism, a number of predictions concerning the distribution of radiocarbon in certain amino acids which could be made were largely confirmed by the experimental findings. By partial degradation of glutamie and aspartic acids, followed by assay of the radioactivity in the products, it was possible to calculate that about 60% of the oxalacetate used for citrate synthesis was recycled C4-dicarboxylic acid; 40% was synthesized from pyruvate and carbon dioxide. Approximately 25% of the total respiratory carbon dioxide evolved could be accounted for in terms of decarboxylations occurring within the citric acid cycle.


The study of the biological characteristics of lung cancer is gaining more and more interest both because of their potential role as prognostic indicators and for therapeutic reasons. The DNA content estimated by flow cytometry in surgical samples of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has already been demonstrated to be correlated with survival in these patients. From July 1990 to February 1992 we analyzed the DNA distribution of bronchoscopic biopsies from 88 patients with lung cancer (18 small cell lung cancer, SCLC, and 68 NSCLC, two unspecified histology). Twenty-eight tumors (34.6%) had a diploid DNA distribution, while 53 were aneuploid (65.4%). A correlation was found between DNA ploidy and survival. Evaluation of the DNA content in bronchoscopic samples in a large series of patients could determine the role of this analysis prior to surgery in NSCLC and its value as a marker with respect to prognosis and response to therapy in SCLC.


Current therapies of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a highly vascularised tumour, mostly rely on anti-angiogenic treatment options. These include tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and anti-VEGF monoclonal antibodies. Although these strategies aim at restraining vascularisation to control tumour growth, the effects of such therapies are much wider, as affecting the vessel structure deeply modifies the microenvironment of the tumour mass. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of current knowledge on the global effects of anti-angiogenic treatment, mostly TKIs, on the shaping of the immune component of the RCC microenvironment. The data supporting the modification of immunity by anti-angiogenic therapies are collected to reveal the potential of angiogenesis modulation as a strategy for the adjuvant anti-cancer approach in immunotherapy.


� Abstract--Basic Production Logging can be interpreted in intermittent wells using the intelligent analysis program presents in this work, called PAINTWELL, which permits to use of same string configuration than a conventional Production Logging. This program can be performed in layered reservoir, determining the flowrate and type of the fluid for each production zone. The use of Artificial Neural Network as integrated part of this analysis program, provides a powerful tool to describe how downhole logging and advances in computer processing & interpretation data could spearhead the transformation that can take place in production logging with use of this new technique. This methodology should aid the production and reservoir engineering to solve recovery problems during the well life. The results of the production log using the PAINTWELL method is very similar to measurements using test separator in production facilities for each single perforated interval. This program was applied successfully for a typical intermittent well, which produces oil with high water cut using a gas-lift completion system.


This paper explores the symbiotic relationship between the criminal justice system and immigration law. The recent Supreme Court decision of Moncrieffe v. Holder illustrates the possible consequences of a state conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana with intent to distribute on the removal of a non-citizen, who had legally resided in the United States for over twenty years. While the possibility of minor crimes can result in non-reviewable deportation orders, children at the borders have also faced an uncertain future. Part II will discuss the reasons behind the influx of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) and the legal issues involved in their presence and pending deportation proceedings. Part III will discuss the facts, issues, and lower court decisions in the Moncrieffe case. Part IV will review the various approaches courts have applied in determining whether a state law criminal conviction results in removal without relief and how the Moncrieffe decision affects previous precedent. Part V will discuss issues and developments in deportation policies under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Obama Administration. Given President Obama's newly announced plan affecting deportation policy, this paper will conclude with a consideration of whether illegal immigrants' plight is improved at all with the latest Supreme Court decision and Executive Order.


The GAR Risk Atlas contributes to unveiling the hidden risk in national economies and their urban centres.
Building on a multi-year effort by a consortium of leading scientific institutions coordinated by UNISDR, it provides a global vision of where and how disaster risk can undermine development.
It estimates the probability of future disaster losses in the built environment for five major hazards (earthquakes, tsunamis, riverine floods, and tropical cyclones - winds and storm surge) and for every country and territory in the world and represents the results using robust risk metrics such as Average Annual Loss (AAL) and Probable Maximum Loss (PML).

The GAR Risk Atlas (special report of the GAR series) presents the fully updated results of the global risk assessment in a visually appealing and innovative manner.


Introduction: Significant mortality is associated with delays in appropriate antibiotic therapy in Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections. The impact of empiric dosing on clinical outcomes has been largely unreported. Methods: This retrospective cohort compared treatment failure in patients receiving guideline-concordant or guideline-discordant empiric therapy with cefepime, meropenem, or piperacillin/tazobactam. Patients with culture-positive P. aeruginosa between 1 July 2013 and 31 July 2019 were eligible for inclusion. Patients with cystic fibrosis, polymicrobial infection, and urinary or pulmonary colonization were excluded. The composite primary outcome was treatment failure, defined as (1) therapy modification due to resistance/perceived treatment failure, (2) increased/unchanged qSOFA, or (3) persistent fever 48 h after initiating appropriate therapy. Secondary outcomes included rate of infectious diseases consultation, all-cause inpatient mortality, mechanical ventilation requirement, and infection-related intensive care unit and hospital lengths of stay. Results: In total, 198 patients were included: 90 guideline-concordant and 108 guideline-discordant. Baseline characteristics were balanced. Treatment failure was more common in the guideline-discordant than the guideline-concordant group (62% versus 48%; p = 0.04). This remained significant when adjusting for supratherapeutic dosing (p = 0.02). Infectious diseases consultation was higher in the guideline-discordant group (46% versus 29%, p = 0.01), while intensive care unit length of stay was longer in the guideline-concordant group (4.5 versus 3 days, p = 0.03). Additional secondary outcomes were similar. Conclusion: Treatment failure was significantly higher in patients receiving guideline-discordant empiric antipseudomonal dosing. Guideline-directed dosing, disease states, and patient-specific factors should be assessed when considering empiric antipseudomonal dosing.


Anaerobic digesters are capable of producing methane-rich biogas from animal manure and also offer the advantages of controlling odors, reducing pathogens, and minimizing the environmental impact of the waste. Unfortunately, biogas is contaminated with hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a highly corrosive gas that is not compatible with many stock engine component materials. As a result, conventional engines can fail after several months of exposure to raw biogas. No small or medium piston engine-generators (<100 kWe) are currently available that can use this fuel without pretreatment to remove the H2S — a process that adds complexity, cost, consumables, and maintenance. As a result, many smaller digester installations simply flare the biogas rather than extracting any useful work from the fuel.Mainstream Engineering is developing a biogas-tolerant engine-generator (BTEG) that can use raw biogas without pretreatment to remove H2S. The development program involved a combination of approaches — materials replacement, coatings, engine control strategy changes, lubrication system changes, and additional sensors. A prototype 25 kW BTEG has been developed using a Ford DSG 2.3 L natural gas engine as the demonstration platform. In this paper, we report on performance testing of the baseline unmodified engine-generator and the BTEG. Measurements of fuel consumption, exhaust temperature, in-cylinder pressure, and exhaust gaseous emissions were made using several synthetic biogas mixtures (60–80% CH4/balance CO2) and pure methane. Because the methane fraction in biogas can change with digester conditions and weather — a method of estimating the biogas composition on the fly and adjusting the spark timing to compensate for the variability has been demonstrated. We also report on limited (100 hr) durability testing of the modified engine using fuel containing 3,000 ppmv of H2S. During this test, the oil was analyzed to track acidification of the engine oil and monitor the accumulation of sulfur or any wear metals.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


Background Early fluid resuscitation is recommended for the therapy of acute pancreatitis in order to prevent complications. However, studies have shown a higher rate of local and systemic complications in patients treated with more aggressive fluid therapy. Since chloride administration may cause systemic inflammatory response and renal failure, the detrimental effect of volume therapy might be attributed to the chloride content of the administered fluid. Methods We reviewed 493 consecutive cases of confirmed acute pancreatitis treated with a wide range of fluid amounts with different chloride concentrations. We tested whether rise of C-reactive protein within the first week (ΔCRP), local complications, and organ failure could be predicted by the amount of administered chloride. Results The recorded fluid administered within the first 24 hours was 3856 (2400-5000) mL (median [1st; 3rd quartile]). The amount of administered chloride was 508 (348-666) mmol. Chloride was related to ΔCRP with a rise of approximately 9.0 mg/L C-reactive protein per 100 mmol administered chloride. ΔCRP was predictable by the administered volume and chloride with a stronger effect for chloride. Chloride administration had no effect on local complications or organ failure. ΔCRP was, however, related to outcome parameters (p=0.0062 for organ failure, p<0.001 for local complications, necrosis, and persistent organ failure). Conclusion Chloride administration in acute pancreatitis may contribute to the systemic inflammatory response. Although inflammation and outcome were closely related, chloride administration had no measurable impact on outcome. The rise of C-reactive protein in patients with unfavourable outcome must rather be attributed to other factors than chloride.


One-shot Neural Architecture Search (NAS) has been widely used to discover architectures due to its efficiency. However, previous studies reveal that one-shot performance estimations of architectures might not be well correlated with their performances in stand-alone training because of the excessive sharing of operation parameters (i.e., large sharing extent) between architectures. Thus, recent methods construct even more over-parameterized supernets to reduce the sharing extent. But these improved methods introduce a large number of extra parameters and thus cause an undesirable trade-off between the training costs and the ranking quality. To alleviate the above issues, we propose to apply Curriculum Learning On Sharing Extent (CLOSE) to train the supernet both efficiently and effectively. Specifically, we train the supernet with a large sharing extent (an easier curriculum) at the beginning and gradually decrease the sharing extent of the supernet (a harder curriculum). To support this training strategy, we design a novel supernet (CLOSENet) that decouples the parameters from operations to realize a flexible sharing scheme and adjustable sharing extent. Extensive experiments demonstrate that CLOSE can obtain a better ranking quality across different computational budget constraints than other one-shot supernets, and is able to discover superior architectures when combined with various search strategies. Code is available at https://github.com/walkerning/aw_nas.


We present a model to estimate the mean time required for mate finding among deep-sea fish as a function of motility and the extent of bioluminescent signalling. This model differs from those of previous works in 3 important ways by including (1) sex differences in motility, (2) a maximum detection range of bioluminescent signals derived from a recently published mechanistic model based on physical principles and the physiology of vision, and (3) a novel consideration of the likelihood of individuals passing within detection range only in the interval between flashes and hence, failing to detect the signaller. We argue that the flash rates required for effective detection are low, with rates of less than 1 per minute being entirely plausible, and that predation pressure may further encourage low flash rates. Further, even at high flash frequencies, the energetic cost of bioluminescent signalling is argued to be a trivial fraction of resting metabolic rates. Using empirically derived estimates for parameter values, we estimate that a female will be detected and reached by a male within 2 to 4 h of beginning to signal. Hence, we argue that mate finding may not seriously restrict reproductive success in species that can exploit this signalling system. We further argue that where male motility allows bioluminescent signalling, this may have some advantages over chemical-based signalling. Bioluminescent signalling may, therefore, be more important to mate finding in the deep sea (relative to chemical signals) than some previous works have suggested.


Background: In response to the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the research community was asked to estimate differences in sectoral-specific risks at 1.5 °C and 2 °C increases in global mean surface air temperature (SAT) above pre-industrial temperatures. Projections of the health risks of climate change typically focus on time periods and not on the magnitude of temperature change. Objective: Summarize projections of health risks associated with temperature extremes and occupational heat stress, air quality, undernutrition, and vector-borne diseases to estimate how these risks would differ at increases in warming of 1.5 °C, 2 °C, and higher. Methods: A comprehensive search strategy included English language publications since 2008 projecting health risks of climate change identified through established databases. Of 109 relevant publications, nearly all were for future time periods (e.g. in 2030 and 2050) rather than future SAT thresholds. Time periods were therefore converted to temperature changes based on the models and scenarios used. Results: Warming of 1.5 °C is reached in about the 2030s for all multi-model means under all scenarios and warming of 2 °C is reached in about the 2050s under most scenarios. Of the 40 studies projecting risks at 1.5 and 2 °C increases of SAT, risks were higher at 2 °C for adverse health consequences associated with exposures to high ambient temperatures, ground-level ozone, and undernutrition, with regional variations. Risks for vector-borne diseases could increase or decrease with higher global mean temperatures, depending on regional climate responses and disease ecology. Conclusions: The burden of many climate-sensitive health risks are projected to be greater at an increase of 2 °C SAT above pre-industrial temperatures than at 1.5 °C. Future projection studies should report results based on changes in global and regional mean SATs and time, to facilitate quantitative analyses of health risks and to inform the level of ambition and timing of adaptation interventions.


Redirected walking (RDW) allows users to interact with a Virtual Environment (VE) much larger than the real space. However, there is a limit to how much a user can be redirected such that immersion in the VE is still preserved. While much effort has been spent on identifying this limit, so-called redirected walking thresholds, these thresholds are more a general guideline than being personalized for each user. Since individuals' differences in perception play an important role in users's experience in a redirected VE, there is potential to optimize the thresholds using these differences. In this paper, we propose an investigation on the relationship between redirected walking thresholds (RDTs) and perception traits such as visual dependency, susceptibility to visual-vestibular conflicts, and sensitivity to internal body changes, which can be measured in postural sway, rod-and-frame, vection and interoception tests. Consequentially, we will investigate the potential of using these tests as tools for the estimation of personalized RDTs.


This paper presents an analysis of the costs of protected areas (PAs) management in Ethiopia, specifically those managed by the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority. The authority is managing a network of protected area (PA) systems covering an area of about 29,950 km2. Primary and secondary data were used. A total of 3,045 rangers are required to effectively control illegal activities. The estimated number of rangers at basic level management ranges from 70 in Senkelle to 459 in Babile sanctuary with a mean (±SD) of 243.75 (± 6.52). The actual mean (±SD) patrol range covered by a single ranger is 53.2 (± 15.08), ranging from 1.22 km2 in Senkelle to 161.72 km2 per ranger in Geralle National Park. At basic level management the mean (±SD) patrol range covered by a single ranger is 8.81 (± 1.31), ranging from 0.8 km2 in Senkelle to 15.5 km2 in Halledighe.  The total annual management cost was estimated between $10.5 million to $21.5 million. The mean (±S.D) annual expenditure for basic level management is $404.45/km2 (±164.32); ranging from $2333/km2 in Senkelle to $166/km2 in Halledighe. Cost Benefits Analysis showed the mean (±SD) return of investment was $129 (±41.42) for every $1 invested.

 Key words: Budget, cost benefits analysis, management cost, protected area, rangers.


Islam: The View from the Edge, by Richard W. Bulliet. New York: Columbia University Press, 1994. 207 pages. Notes to p. 228. Index to p. 236. $16 paper. Reviewed by Douglas E. Streusand Over the past two decades, Richard W. Bulliet has produced a series of innovative and provocative monographs on the middle periods of Islamic history. Islam: The View from the Edge is thus not unexpected. Like Bulliet's first book, The Patricians of Nishapur,' and his later Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period,2 this volume rests on Bulliet's extensive and intensive research in medieval biographical dictionaries. On that foundation, Bulliet erects a new interpretive paradigm for Islamic history, relevant to the interpretation of Islam and Islamic societies from the 7th to the 21 st centuries. The book is an essay, not a detailed history. It seeks to open vistas for future study, not to present a complete and final interpretation. Islam: The View from the Edge is comparable to Hamilton A.R. Gibb's "An Interpretation of Islamic History,"3 but Bulliet challenges the incumbent interpretation which Gibb's article epitomizes. Gibb identifies the struggle of the Sunni 'ulama (scholars), whom he calls "orthodox," to maintain universalism throughout the Islamic world as the fundamental theme of medieval Islamic history. Bulliet contends that what Gibb mistakenly calls orthodox Islam is really recentered Sunnism, and that it did not develop until the 11th century. Bulliet sees its formulation and spread as the defining theme of this era of Islamic history. Bulliet's interpretation begins with a complex conception of the "edge." It has a geographic component, the frontiers of the Islamic world, and a social and cultural one, the edge of Islam. The concept stems from Bulliet's effort to understand the development of Islamic society in the cities of Khurasan in northwest Iran. The view from the center, as Bulliet calls it, places Khurasan inside the frontier of Islamic society from the lateseventh-century Arab conquest on. Most of its inhabitants, however, remained outside the edge, since they were non-Muslims for many decades after the conquest. Bulliet's inquiry begins with the internal edge: How did the population of Iran become Muslim, and how did they learn what being a Muslim meant? The available sources do not answer these questions directly. Bulliet synthesizes answers through close analysis of the information in biographical dictionaries and by using reasonable imagination to fill the gaps. Much of Bulliet's work thus rests within the realm of surmise. Such questions can be answered only by surmise; the alternative to speculation is silence. If one accepts the premise that speculation is necessary, Bulliet's appears reasonable and prudent. Bulliet asserts that the spread of Islam to Iran came, at first, from the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad, who could personally describe the Prophet's words and actions. Bulliet argues that personal knowledge of the Prophet, orally transmitted, carried greater weight than knowledge of the Quran. The direct chain of oral transmission, which is recorded as the isnad (attribution) of hadith (the sayings of the Prophet), defined an individual's ability to explain what Islam meant. On the edge, this process involved the encounter between Islam and a variety of local customs and practices. This encounter defined the Muslim way of life on the edge. It produced, according to Bulliet, both the hadith literature and the focus on the learning and teaching of hadith. It also produced highly localized, differentiated Islamic societies. Bulliet does not make extensive use of recent literature on the development of the hadith corpus, and his findings differ from those of other writers. At the center, the early centuries of Islamic history were a time of political unity and cultural uniformity. On the edge, it was an era of diversity, produced by the process of reconciliation of local customs, many connected with other religions. …


Effective enforcement of no-parking regulations is essential in urban areas. A probabilistic finite-state machine model that relates enforcement to expected levels of compliance is developed, and its simulation results are shown to agree with experimental data. The effects of deterministic and random enforcement policies are described, and a class of implementable policies that yield satisfactory results is analyzed. Finally, these results are used to determine schedules and routes for enforcement officers that increase their effectiveness.


Central venous occlusive disease secondary to chronic hemodialysis catheterization rarely progresses to encephalopathy, cerebral infarction, and/or hemorrhage. A 59-year-old male with 15 years of haemodialysis-dependent end-stage renal disease presented with acutely altered mental status, extensor rigidity with left hemiparesis and equal, but small and nonreactive pupils. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated infarction and cerebral edema. Cranial angiogram through right brachial artery injection revealed right subclavian vein opacification via a patent AV-fistula and retrograde flow to the right internal jugular vein and superior sagittal sinus secondary to occlusion of the brachiocephalic vein. All cerebral and right upper extremity venous drainage occurred via the contralateral venous outflow tract. Internal carotid artery injections revealed significant venous congestion. Despite successful angioplasty with stenting and resolution of venous flow reversal, the patient failed to recover neurologically. The devastating nature of the presented case emphasizes the need for frequent neurologic evaluation of such patients to avoid catastrophic cerebrovascular injury.


The first printed map of the Zuiderzee and the marked navigation channels in the western part of the Wadden Sea was produced by Lucas Jans-zoon Waghenaer in 1584. It differs from nautical charts of the area published later in that  it also shows the inland waterways of Holland's Noorderkwartier ('Northern Quarter'). The map provides a rare picture of the infrastructure and the distribution pattern of towns and cities in the area in the late sixteenth century. Land reclama-tion would alter the map dramatically in the centuries that followed, but waterways remained the chief means of transporting both people and goods right up to the midnineteenth century. This only changed with the advent of the railways. The exact area covered by the term Noorderkwartier is a matter of debate. In this article it is used to mean the whole area north of the North Sea Canal, including West Friesland. A study of railway station sites in the area on behalf of the Province of North Holland was completed by the 'Mapping Randstad Holland' research group in December 2011. The main components of the current railway network in the Noorderkwartier – the railway lines and most of the station sites – are already more than a century old. This outline of the topographical development of the area reveals the distribution pattern  of towns and cities onto which the network was grafted. In addition, the numerous historical studies of the area clearly show the exceptional relationship between the geographical, socioeconomic and political/administrative factors that determined the development of the Noorderkwartier. Consultation of this extensive literature has thus yielded insights of great relevance to our research into the Randstad.


We attempted to improve accuracy of particle image velocimetry (PIV) analysis using cross correlation function by introducing method to interpolate the brightness distribution of the measurement images. The motivation of introduction of the interpolation is that uncertainty included in the measurement result may be decreased by introduction of a certain interpolation method. The Fourier interpolation was introduced as the interpolation method focused on that the brightness distribution of a particle can be well approximated by the Gaussian profile, and Fourier transform of the Gaussian profile is equal to the exponential function. Specifically, the sine-function interpolation, which is a kind of the Fourier interpolation, was used, because the brightness distribution is not periodic. The effects of interpolation were investigated by a numerical simulation using quasi particle-images. Parameters in the simulation are moving distance, the particle diameter and the camera noise. This analysis showed that introduction of the interpolation can decrease uncertainty included in the PIV result.


Abstract As social media is transforming how consumers interact with brands and how brand-related content is consumed, this paper aims to investigate if and how Facebook users express their emotions towards advertisements of brand share on the site. Seven hundred and three comments about the Lloyds 250th Anniversary advertisement on Facebook were analysed as positive, negative or neutral attitude towards the advert. Facebook users found the advertisement emotionally appealing and voluntarily report their emotion of love, pride and in some cases anger. The presence of an iconic image like the black horse and the cover music was found to be emotionally appealing. The background music as well aroused positive emotions and engaging. This study introduces the possibility of analysing Facebook comments on brand content to understand consumers' emotional responses and attitudes to the brand. Managers can explore these opportunities to identify what consumers find interesting in advertisements and how best to develop their creative strategies. It also offers the opportunity to allocate resources better to engage consumers with creative advertisement. Unlike interviews or surveys, this is a pioneering study on measuring emotional responses to advertisement through users' self-report on social media.


Federal, state, and local governments issue hundreds of thousands of administrative decisions annually. Considering the number of encounters the public has with administrative appeal agencies, administrative decisions may be the largest category of legal writing and reading interaction the public has with the legal system. Many of these agencies have identified writing quality - however they define it - as a priority in their strategic plans, but the overwhelming number of hearings and decisions, coupled with regulatory guidelines for timeliness, may subordinate this goal to other management priorities. Improving the quality of administrative decisions at these agencies presents a practical legal business challenge as well as the theoretical challenges embedded in the nuances of legal writing pedagogy. Amidst the pressure of issuing a large volume of decisions, agencies must contend with improving the varying skills of writers; delivering well-reasoned, clear, and reader-friendly decisions to the public; and measuring organizational performance based upon the quality of its written products. This article proposes that a formal holistic assessment program can be an effective tool for confronting these challenges.


The present study of Ibuprofen Floating tablets were to develop optimized gastric floating drug delivery system(GFDDS) by using various polymers like HPMC K4M and Carbopol 940 to enhance the bioavailability and therapeutic efficacy of ibuprofen Various approaches have been followed to encourage gastric retention of an oral dosage form. Floating systems have low bulk density so that they can float on the gastric juice in the stomach. The present work attempts have been made to prepare Ibuprofen by Direct compression method, 4 formulations (F1 to F4) floating tablets of Ibuprofen were prepared using variable concentrations of HPMCE5M and Carbopol940,buoyancy lag time and the total floating time was studied for all the formulations, The compatibility evaluations were performed by DSC analysis. Studies imply that polymers are compatible with each other. There was no interaction found between polymer and drug. The research was undertaken with the aim to formulate and characterize the sustained release floating tablets of Ibuprofen using HPMCK4M and Carbopol 940 as polymers.


This article has presented the difficulties and challenges faced by teachers in teaching English as a foreign language in Nepal. The main objective of the article is to describe the challenges in teaching English in the countries where it is not spoken as a mother tongue. The primary data were collected from three English teachers who have been teaching English in basic level at community schools located in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality, Bhaktapur. Field observation and in-depth interviews were the major tools for data collection. From the interviews and the available literature, some challenges of teaching English as a foreign language in our context have been drawn. The result shows that the teachers encounter the challenges inside the classroom with the knowledge of teacher and students, outside of it with parents and unfavorable environment, some challenges are related to languages and others are related to the curriculum, textbooks and the policy of the government.  The findings of the study is beneficial to the teachers, researchers, school administrators, policy makers, curriculum developers and textbook writers to obtain the fruitful results in teaching English in Nepal.


We tested the clinical utility and predictive value of graded exercise testing in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease in 153 patients aged 65 years or more. Based on changes of the ST segment from baseline, the test was considered positive with 1 mm of depression lasting 0.08 seconds, negative with no changes despite 85% of predicted maximal heart rate, probably positive with 1 mm of depression at rest becoming 2 mm with exercise, probably negative with no changes at maximal heart rate (within 10 beats per minute of 85% of predicted maximal), and uninterpretable with baseline electrocardiographic changes (eg, digitalis effect, left bundle branch block, left ventricular hypertrophy, etc). A test was considered inadequate when the exercise tolerance was ≤5 METs (metabolic equivalent of the task) and/or maximal heart rate was<100 beats per minute. The 153 patients had 163 tests. Only 33 (20%) were considered inadequate or uninterpretable, and there were no complications requiring medical intervention. Of 82 patients who had coronary angiography, 52 (63%) had 50% stenosis of at least one major epicardial artery; 44 of these patients had positive results of exercise testing. Nine patients with negative exercise tests had negative angiograms. There were eight false-negative and seven false-positive results. These results revealed a sensitivity of 85%, a specificity of 56%, and a predictive value of 86% for a positive test.


During a plague outbreak in the Borborema Plateu focus (Paraiba), bacteriological and serological studies were carryed out in material from 452 patients (48 positives), 1,938 rodents and other small mammals (75 positives), 4,756 dogs (141 positives) and 2,047 cats (57 positives) obtained from 41 counties (out of which, 21 produced positive samples). Twenty Yersinia pestis strains isolated from material from 3 patients ans 17 rodents, displayed biochemical reactions, virulence factors, antibiotic susceptibility and animal experimental pathogenicity similar to those observed in strains previously isolated. According to our findings this recent plague outbreak did not exhibite different factors from those observed during prior outbreaks in other plague foci in the northeast of Brazil.


Data misuse may be performed by entities such as an organization's employees and business partners who are granted access to sensitive information and misuse their privileges. We assume that users can be either trusted or untrusted. The access of untrusted parties to data objects (e.g., client and patient records) should be monitored in an attempt to detect misuse. However, monitoring data objects is resource intensive and time-consuming and may also cause disturbance or inconvenience to the involved employees. Therefore, the monitored data objects should be carefully selected. In this article, we present two optimization problems carefully designed for selecting specific data objects for monitoring, such that the detection rate is maximized and the monitoring effort is minimized. In the first optimization problem, the goal is to select data objects for monitoring that are accessed by at most c trusted agents while ensuring access to at least k monitored objects by each untrusted agent (both c and k are integer variable). As opposed to the first optimization problem, the goal of the second optimization problem is to select monitored data objects that maximize the number of monitored data objects accessed by untrusted agents while ensuring that each trusted agent does not access more than d monitored data objects (d is an integer variable as well). Two efficient heuristic algorithms for solving these optimization problems are proposed, and experiments were conducted simulating different scenarios to evaluate the algorithms' performance. Moreover, we compared the heuristic algorithms' performance to the optimal solution and conducted sensitivity analysis on the three parameters (c, k, and d) and on the ratio between the trusted and untrusted agents.


One of the most striking institutional features of many less developed countries is that their militaries are closely involved in policy-making, potentially having a large impact on economic outcomes. This paper examines the role of the military in setting policy. For this purpose it develops one of the first models of the military, where its political involvement can take two forms: direct when the military runs the government, and indirect when it influences policy without governing directly. We focus on civilian regimes and find that war decreases the payoff to the military from both forms of involvement, but also makes staging successful coups easier. In equilibrium, an increase in the likelihood of war makes indirect involvement less likely; its impact on coups, which are aimed at establishing direct control, is non-monotonic. We show empirical evidence for this non-monotonic relationship, with coups being least likely for low and high probabilities of war.


We studied sexual orientation disparities in health outcomes among US adolescents by pooling multiple Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) data sets from 2005 and 2007 for 14 jurisdictions. Here we describe the methodology for pooling and analyzing these data sets. Sexual orientation–related items assessed sexual orientation identity, gender of sexual contacts, sexual attractions,andharassmentregarding sexual orientation. Wording of items varied across jurisdictions, so we created parallel variables and composite sexual minority variables. We used a variety of statistical approaches to address issues with the analysis of pooled data and to meet the aims of individual articles, which focused on a range of health outcomes and behaviors related to cancer, substance use, sexual health, mental health, violence, and injury. (Am J Public Health. 2014;104:211–217. doi:10. 2105/AJPH.2013.301748)


Herpes zoster ophthalmicus may rarely be complicated with ocular motor nerve palsies. The exact mechanism of the palsies is unclear. The present report describes a case of herpes zoster ophthalmicus complicated with an oculomotor nerve palsy. A 85-year-old woman who had suffered from right herpes zoster ophthalmicus developed ipsilateral oculomotor nerve involvement 12 days later. The patient was treated with acyclovir and prednisolone. We report the case with a brief review of the ophthalmoplegia associated with herpes zoster ophthalmicus.


Seven factors associated with technology company failure (or death) are described along with features that distinguish each factor. A company is commonly defined to have failed when it passes through a stage of insolvency and then an asset sale or a merger. It is well known that several critical factors can lead to a successful launch of a company – market timing, management experience, product differentiation, product quality, financing, sales execution, team compatibility, etc. High tech companies deal with additional risks at launch such as commercialization difficulties, team formation and technology lifespan. Little research has been done on identifying major factors that can lead to company failure once the company is launched and has reached the first stage of sustainability, for example, operational income is positive. While some business factors that are important at launch are also important during later stages of the company there are other forces, both internal and external, that can lead to company death. This paper proposes that there are at least seven basic factors associated with business failure that manifest themselves in technology based companies and an illustration is drawn for each type. The study herein can be useful to investors of technology and the entrepreneurs they employ in their never ending quest for profitable innovation.


HIV-1 Associated Dementia (HAD), the most severe neurological complication associated with HIV-1 infection, is commonly characterized by inflammation of the brain and neuronal degeneration, known as HIV Encephalitis (HIVE). HIVE develops in 20-30% of patients infected with HIV, which means that 9.5 million people are affected by HIVE throughout the world. While the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has decreased the incidence of severe late-stage HAD, the prevalence of its precursor HIVE is actually rising. Several HIV-1 viral proteins have been shown using in vitro models to have a role in the neurotoxic effects causing the neurodegeneration seen during HIVE. HIV-1 Viral Protein R (Vpr), a virion associated gene product which induces apoptosis in non-proliferating cells including neurons, is thought to contribute to the neuropathogenesis associated with HIVE. Previous studies have shown the presence of detectable levels of Vpr in the cerebrospinal fluid of HIV-1 infected patients. Extracellular Vpr released from HIV-1 infected macrophages has also been shown to be capable of transducing into cells not normally infected by HIV-1, causing death of these bystander cells. Additionally, Vpr has been shown in vitro to be able to induce apoptosis in human neurons. Although current research suggests that Vpr plays a significant role in neuropathogenesis, no work has been done yet in vivo to show the presence of Vpr in the brain tissue of HIVE patients. Using a panel of eight HIVE and four HIV seronegative patient brain tissue sections, I performed immunohistochemistry staining for Vpr, p24, and brain cell specific markers. Results indicate that Vpr was present in detectable amounts in both the basal ganglia and frontal cortex of all eight HIVE brain tissue samples tested. Double label immunohistochemistry was performed using antibodies specific for astrocytes macrophages and neurons. I detected the presence of Vpr in the macrophages and neurons, but not in the astrocytes, of HIVE patients. The results of this study strongly support the role of Vpr in the neuropathogenesis seen during HIVE. Further studies based on these findings could lead to the development of effective therapeutic treatments necessary to reduce, and possibly prevent, this public health epidemic.


With the continuous down scaling features sizes, the need of speed increase and power consumption reduction start to be more and more critical. The classical integration scheme of poly silicon gate on CMOS devices does not meet the requirements of the 45 nm technology node and beyond. On this matter, new materials and different integration flows are being investigated in order to improve the device performance. High-k materials associated with metals are actively investigated as new gate materials in which different integration approaches like metal gate first or metal gate last are proposed [1].


In order to increase the service life for piston rings, the (Cr ,Ti) N composite coatings have been successfully synthesized on 65Mn steel substrates by using arc ion plating technology. The influences of Ti content on the deposition velocity, phase structure , surface morphology and hardness of the composite films were investigated. The results showed that the surface roughness will reduce after addition of Ti element. And the hardness, residual stress of CrN films will increase after addition of Ti element. The preferential growth orientation of the composite film changes from CrN (111) to CrN (220). With increasing Ti content, the phase structure of CrTiN films will change from CrN type to TiN type. When the Ti atomic number was 0.62, the hardness of CrTiN composite films reaches the maximum, about 35GPa. Wear test indicate that the fiction of CrTiN films are lower and the wear volume are less than CrN films. The CrTiN composite films performs better than binary CrN films in teams of hardness and wear resistance at high temperature.


Traffic volume estimation at the city scale is an important problem useful to many transportation operations and urban applications. This paper proposes a hybrid framework that integrates both state-of-art machine learning techniques and well-established traffic flow theory to estimate citywide traffic volume. In addition to typical urban context features extracted from multiple sources, we extract a special set of features from GPS trajectories based on the implications of traffic flow theory, which provide extra information on the speed-flow relationship. Using the network-wide speed information estimated from a travel speed estimation model, a volume related high level feature is first learned using an unsupervised graphical model. A volume re-interpretation model is then introduced to map the volume related high level feature to the predicted volume using a small amount of ground truth data for training. The framework is evaluated using a GPS trajectory dataset from 33,000 Beijing taxis and volume ground truth data obtained from 4,980 video clips. The results demonstrate effectiveness and potential of the proposed framework in citywide traffic volume estimation.


Numerical simulations of earthquake rupture dynamics are now common, yet it has been difficult to test the validity of thesesimulations because there have been few field observations and no analytic solutions with which to compare the results. This paper describes the Southern California Earthquake Center/U.S. Geological Surve(SCEC/USGS) Dynamic Earthquake Rupture Code Verification Exercise, where codes that simulate spontaneous rupture dynamics in three dimensions are evaluated and the results produced by these codes are compared using Web-based tools. This is the first time that a broad and rigorous examination of numerous spontaneous rupture codes has been performed—a significant advance in this science. The automated process developed to attain this achievement provides for a future where testing of codes is easily accomplished.

Scientists who use computer simulations to understand earthquakes utilize a range of techniques. Most of these assume that earthquakes are caused by slip at depth on faults in the Earth, but hereafter the strategies vary. Among the methods used in earthquake mechanics studies are kinematic approaches and dynamic approaches.
The kinematic approach uses a computer code that prescribes the spatial and temporal evolution of slip on the causative fault (or faults). These types of simulations are very helpful, especially since they can be used in seismic data inversions to relate the ground motions recorded in the field to slip on the fault(s) at depth. However, these kinematic solutions generally provide no insight into the physics driving the fault slip or information about why the involved fault(s) slipped that much (or that little). In other words, these kinematic solutions may lack information about the physical dynamics of earthquake rupture that will be most helpful in forecasting future events.

To help address this issue, some researchers use computer codes to numerically simulate earthquakes and construct dynamic, spontaneous rupture (hereafter called "spontaneous rupture") solutions. For these types of numerical simulations, rather than prescribing the slip function at each location on the fault(s), just the friction constitutive properties and initial stress conditions are prescribed. The subsequent stresses and fault slip spontaneously evolve over time as part of the elasto-dynamic solution. Therefore, spontaneous rupture computer simulations of earthquakes allow us to include everything that we know, or think that we know, about earthquake dynamics and to test these ideas against earthquake observations.


Evolution over 2.1 billion years has equipped us with a biochemical pathway that has the power to literally reverse the primary disease etiologies that have become the leading causes of death and aging in the developed world. Activation of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) pathway arrests inflammatory signaling throughout the body, reverses damage to tissues, reverses insulin resistance, and can even dissolve beta-amyloid plaque in the brain. It has played a critical role in the evolution of the metazoans and the successful migration of humans to all corners of the Earth. For two decades, various pharmaceuticals have been designed to activate the PPAR pathway but have consistently fallen short of expectations. There is nothing wrong with these drugs. The problem has been the standard "healthy" diet creating mixed signals that render the drugs ineffective. This article explores the ongoing dance between the two primary nuclear receptors that mediate gene regulation of fatty acids. It discusses their interaction with sirtuins and telomerase, optimization of their obligate heterodimers, and why manipulation of dietary and nutritional factors, like the ketogenic diet, is the most effective means of activation. These are effective tools that we can start implementing now to slow, and in some cases reverse, the diseases of aging.


HYPOTHESIS
The mechanism by which trauma systems improve mortality is unknown. Outcomes may be influenced by experienced trauma surgeons treating more patients (surgeon effect) or improving the overall system of care (system effect). We hypothesized that mortality is lower in patients treated by a fellowship-trained senior trauma program director (experienced) vs first-year general surgery attending surgeon (novice) and that patient mortality for novice surgeons would improve after adding a new senior trauma director.

DESIGN
Retrospective cohort study.

SETTING
Academic level I trauma center.

PATIENTS
Individuals who had experienced trauma.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
We concurrently compared mortality in trauma patients treated by an experienced trauma surgeon with those admitted by novice surgeons during 5(1/2) years. We also compared mortality in patients treated by novice surgeons before vs after implementation of a more structured trauma program. The chi(2) test and multiple logistic regression analysis were used to compare the groups. Odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for death were examined.

RESULTS
Concurrent comparison of patients treated by novice surgeons vs experienced trauma surgeons demonstrated no difference in mortality (odds ratio, 1.33; 95% confidence interval, 0.82-2.15). At unadjusted univariate analysis, mortality in patients treated by novice surgeons significantly improved over time in the blunt trauma group and all emergency department survivor subgroups. Multivariate analysis demonstrated significantly improved mortality over time in patients treated by novice surgeons (odds ratio, 0.56; 95% confidence interval, 0.37-0.85).

CONCLUSIONS
In a structured trauma program, there is no mortality difference between novice surgeons and their experienced trauma director. The organized trauma program and senior surgical mentoring overpower any influence of individual surgeon inexperience.


Based on the Lord and Shulman generalized thermo-elastic theory, the dynamic thermal and elastic responses of a piezoelectric rod fixed at both ends and subjected to a moving heat source are investigated. The generalized piezoelectric-thermoelastic coupled governing equations are formulated. By means of Laplace transformation and numerical Laplace inversion the governing equations are solved. Numerical calculation for stress, displacement and temperature within the rod is carried out and displayed graphically. The effect of moving heat source speed on temperature, stress and temperature is studied. It is found from the distributions that the temperature, thermally induced displacement and stress of the rod are found to decrease at large source speed.


The recent transport electrification trend is pushing governments to limit the future use of Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs). However, the rationale for this strong limitation is frequently not sufficiently addressed or justified. The problem does not seem to lie within the engines nor with the combustion by themselves but seemingly, rather with the rise in greenhouse gases (GHG), namely CO2, rejected to the atmosphere. However, it is frequent that the distinction between fossil CO2 and renewable CO2 production is not made, or even between CO2 emissions and pollutant emissions. The present revision paper discusses and introduces different alternative fuels that can be burned in IC Engines and would eliminate, or substantially reduce the emission of fossil CO2 into the atmosphere. These may be non-carbon fuels such as hydrogen or ammonia, or biofuels such as alcohols, ethers or esters, including synthetic fuels. There are also other types of fuels that may be used, such as those based on turpentine or even glycerin which could maintain ICEs as a valuable option for transportation.


Growth in gross domestic product does not necessarily mean growth in human development; experience in global level demonstrated that income growth and human development are not always companions and in some countries, an increase in one of them was took place with a decrease in the other. On the other hand, a study has found that as government health expenditures grow the efficiency of such expenditures fall. Taking into account the above as the main concern, this paper hypothesizes and tests a positive relationship between expenditures states allocate to health and human development index. The model, human development index is considered as endogenous variable and total health expenditures are taken as descriptive variable. Estimation of the hypothesized relationship is carried out using countries combined data from 2000-2008, extracted from Iranian government's "2025 Horizon" document. Results suggest that health expenditures growth in these countries has led to increased human development index


In Delay Tolerant Networks (DTNs), nodes meet opportunistically and exchange packets only when they meet with each other. Therefore, routing is usually conducted in a store-carry-forward manner to exploit the scarce communication opportunities. As a result, different packet routing strategies, i.e., which packet to be forwarded or stored with priority, can lead to different routing performance objectives, such as minimal average delay and maximal hit rate. On the other hand, incentive systems are necessary for DTNs since nodes may be selfish and may not be cooperative on packet forwarding/storage. However, current incentive systems for DTNs mainly focus on encouraging nodes to participate in packet forwarding/storage but fail to further encourage nodes to follow a certain packet routing strategy to realize a routing performance objective. We name the former as the first aspect of cooperation and the latter as the second aspect of cooperation in DTN routing. Therefore, in this paper, we first discuss the routing strategy that can realize different performance objectives when nodes are fully cooperative, i.e., are willing to follow both aspects of cooperation. We then propose Multicent, a game theoretical incentive scheme that can encourage nodes to follow the two aspects of cooperation even when they are selfish. Basically, Multicent assigns credits for packet forwarding/storage in proportional to the priorities specified in the routing strategy. Multicent also supports adjustable Quality of Service (QoS) for packet routing between specific sources and destinations. Extensive trace-driven experimental results verify the effectiveness of Multicent.


Despite numerous economic and environmental benefits of bamboo, its greater use is still hampered by the limited natural durability of most species. Among the products aiming to improve the protection of bamboo the pyroligneous acid occupies outstanding position. In this research work, bamboo splits were cooked in pyroligneous acid, at three different dilutions (10, 20 and 30%) at five time intervals (15, 30, 60, 120 and 180 minutes), in order to protect against deterioration by powderpost beetle. During 20 weeks, bamboo strips were visually inspected and having theirs mass loss measured, as well as readings of the ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) parallel to fibers. Paired t-test indicated that UPV decreased meanwhile strips mass increased; however it should be considered the simultaneous effect of the relative humidity changes in the period.


Electromagnetic fields carry a linear and an angular momentum, the first being responsible for the existence of the radiation pressure and the second for the transfer of torque from electromagnetic radiation to matter. The angular momentum is considered to have two components, one due to the polarization state of the field, usually called spin angular momentum (SAM), and one due to the existence of topological azimuthal charges in the field phase profile, which leads to the orbital angular momentum (OAM). These two contributions to the total angular momentum of an electromagnetic field appear, however, to not be independent of each other, something which is described as spin-orbit coupling. Understanding the physics of this coupling has kept scientists busy for decades. Very recently it has been shown that electromagnetic fields necessarily carry also invariant radial charges that, as discussed in this Letter, play a key role in the angular momentum. Here we show that the total angular momentum consists in fact of three components: one component only dependent on the spin of the field, another dependent on the azimuthal charges carried by the field, and a third component dependent on the spin and the radial charges contained in the field. By properly controlling the number and coupling among these radial charges it is possible to design electromagnetic fields with a desired total angular momentum. Remarkably, we also discover fields with no orbital angular momentum and a spin angular momentum typical of spin-3/2 objects, irrespective of the fact that photons are spin-1 particles.


Fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, and graphene are nanometer-sized forms of carbon with the properties of almost ideal low-dimensional systems. These systems have been at the center of exceptionally intense scientific interest. They have been considered not only as objects of fundamental research but also as components in a wide range of possible applications. In popular science, their names are synonymous with nanotechnology.


Schizophrenia and the other psychotic disorders are some of the most impairing forms of psychopathology, frequently associated with a profound negative effect on the individual's educational, occupational, and social function. Sadly, these disorders often manifest right at time of the transition from adolescence to adulthood, just as young people should be evolving into independent young adults. The spectrum of psychotic disorders includes schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, schizophreniform disorder, brief psychotic disorder, as well as psychosis associated with substance use or medical conditions. In this module, we summarize the primary clinical features of these disorders, describe the known cognitive and neurobiological changes associated with schizophrenia, describe potential risk factors and/or causes for the development of schizophrenia, and describe currently available treatments for schizophrenia.


In the framework of nondestructive eddy-current testing, an inversion method is proposed. It relies on a metamodel-based optimization method: a fast optimization by means of a particle swarm algorithm is performed wherein the exact forward computations are replaced by an appropriate metamodel. The latter is obtained by radial basis function interpolation over a database previously generated by sequential design. Both synthetically generated and laboratory-controlled experimental data are used to illustrate its performances. Comparisons to inversions by support vector machines, now common for defect characterization, are carried out. The proposed method appears to be an useful tool for decision analysis, highlighting the likeliest results.


PURPOSE
Dentistry has undergone a shift in caries management toward prevention and improved oral hygiene and diagnosis. Caries prevention now represents one of the most important aspects of modern dental practice. The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to demonstrate the use of adenosine triphosphate- (ATP-) driven bioluminescence as an innovative tool for the rapid chairside enumeration of oral bacteria (including plague streptococci) and assessment of oral hygiene and caries risk.

METHODS
Thirty-three pediatric patients (7- to 12-year-old males and females) were examined, and plague specimens, in addition to stimulated saliva, were collected from representative teeth within each quadrant. Oral specimens (n=150 specimens) were assessed by plating on enriched and selective agars, to enumerate total bacteria and streptococci, and subjected to adenosine triphosphate- (ATP-) driven bioluminescence determinations using a luciferase-based assay system.

RESULTS
Statistical correlations, linking ATP values to numbers of total bacteria, oral streptococci and mutans streptococci, yielded highly significant r values of 0.854, 0.840, and 0.796, respectively

CONCLUSIONS
Our clinical data is consistent with the hypothesis that ATP measurements have a strong statistical association with bacterial number in plague and saliva specimens, including numbers for oral streptococci, and may be used as a potential assessment tool for oral hygiene and caries risk in children.


Mixed methods research designs are becoming a popular methodology used to investigate the unique circumstances, stressors, and needs of military families. Mixed methods military family research lacks intentionality in the design of the study, and adherence to formal design types by Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) and Green, Caracelli, and Graham (1989). This content analysis of mixed methods research of military families is an initial inquiry into the current state of this research. We analyzed the methodology of 12 (n = 12) mixed methods studies for adherence to typologies created by Creswell and Plano Clark (2011) and Greene and colleagues (1989). No articles mentioned that their research was conducted using a specific methodological design. We recommend intentionality in designing mixed methods research and in preparing mixed methods manuscripts. Intentionality is an indication of high caliber mixed methods research, ensuring the advancement of the field and legitimizing it as a third methodology.


The system of equations is dx/dt=f(x) + a12y+a13z + pt(x, y, z, t), dyjdt = aslx + a22y + a^z + p2(x, y, z, t), dzjdt = asix + aS2y + a3az + p3(x, y, z, t), where am are real constants, f(x) is a continuous non-linear function, and P((x, y, z, t) are bounded functions. These equations are important in connection with certain control systems. The object of the paper is to find sufficient conditions to be satisfied by f(x) in order that the solution of the system of equations should be uniformly bounded in the future, that is, there should exist a constant B such that the solution corresponding to given xa, y", z0, t" satisfies the inequality x\t) + y*(t) + z*(t) < B for t>t0+T, where T(x0, y0, z0) is a finite transition-time. E. J . F . PRIMROSE


Abstract Measurements of cross-shore velocity (u) at z = 3 cm and suspended sediment concentration (SSC) at z = 1–33 cm were collected from the swash zones of gently sloping (Perranporth, UK) and steep (Sennen, UK) beaches, during morphodynamic conditions ranging from highly dissipative to almost reflective and breaker heights ranging from 0.8 to 2.2 m. Nine swash-zone data collection runs were used to compare the performance of simplified versions of Bagnold-type energetics sediment transport models on the two different beaches. Models originally designed for suspended load, where the sediment transport (I) is approximately proportional to u4, showed no apparent improvement over those intended for bedload, where I ∝ u3. It is suggested that the lowest SSC sensors could be measuring high concentrations in the sheet-flow layer, where previous laboratory results suggest a u3 model is most appropriate. The overall performance of the model is better (average r2 = 76%) on the gently sloping beach than on the steep beach (average r2 = 49%). Modifications to account for processes, such as bore turbulence, may improve the model's performance, particularly on steep reflective beaches.


Introduction Liver disease from hepatitis C (HCV) is a leading indication for liver transplantation in the UK. HCV recurrence has a significant influence on graft and patient survival, but antiviral therapy has had poor tolerability and disappointing efficacy (low sustained virological response SVR rates) in the transplant setting. The use of antivirals has evolved over time, from interferon (IFN) monotherapy to combination IFN and ribavirin, and now includes the frequent use of direct acting antiviral drugs (DAAs), often as components of IFN-free regimens. We examined the outcome of 431 patients with hepatitis C who underwent liver transplantation at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, and report the outcome of treatment and its possible effect on graft and patient survival. Method Retrospective study of all patients transplanted for HCV at the Queen Elizabeth Liver Transplant Unit, Birmingham. Results 431 patients with HCV were transplanted between 1988 and 2014. 174 patients had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 81 also had alcohol-related damage as a cofactor. 91 were female (21%) and 340 male (79%), with a mean age of 52 years at transplantation (range 27–69). Patient survival rates were 88%, 68% and 48%, at 1, 5 and 10 years respectively; graft survival was 86%, 65% and 46% for the same time intervals. The commonest causes of death were HCV recurrence n = 34 (20%), sepsis n = 33 (19%), recurrent HCC n = 30 (17%), and gastrointestinal bleeding n = 10 (5%). 28 patients required regrafting. The indications were recurrent disease n = 11 (39%), primary non-function n = 8 (29%), hepatic artery thrombosis n = 8 (29%), and chronic rejection n = 1 (3%). 109 patients received 118 courses of antiviral treatment post-transplant. 20 (17%) of these were IFN monotherapy, 61 (52%) IFN and ribavirin, 12 (10%) triple therapy with IFN, ribavirin and telapravir, and the remaining 25 (21%) were DDAs. The overall SVR rate was 57%. Those patients achieving SVR had significantly better survival than those who failed treatment, and also better than those never treated (5 year patient survival 95%, 72%, 62% respectively, p < 0.001). No difference in overall survival was observed between HCV genotypes (p = 0.1). Conclusion Successful antiviral treatment is associated with superior patient survival in transplanted HCV patients. However, a minority (25%) of patients were considered suitable for treatment. Newly licensed DAAs have superior efficacy and good tolerability in the post-transplant setting. Going forward, the use of DAAs is predicted to have a major impact on graft and patient survival. Disclosure of interest None Declared.


Conservationists often have difficulty obtaining financial and social support for protected areas that do not demonstrate their benefits for society. Therefore, ecosystem services have gained importance in conservation science in the last decade, as these services provide further justification for appropriate management and conservation of natural systems. We used InVEST software and a set of GIS procedures to quantify, spatialize and evaluated the overlap between ecosystem services—carbon stock and sediment retention—and a biodiversity proxy–habitat quality. In addition, we proposed a method that serves as an initial approach of a priority areas selection process. The method considers the synergism between ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Our study region is the Iron Quadrangle, an important Brazilian mining province and a conservation priority area located in the interface of two biodiversity hotspots, the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest biomes. The resultant priority area for the maintenance of the highest values of ecosystem services and habitat quality was about 13% of the study area. Among those priority areas, 30% are already within established strictly protected areas, and 12% are in sustainable use protected areas. Following the transparent and highly replicable method we proposed in this study, conservation planners can better determine which areas fulfill multiple goals and can locate the trade-offs in the landscape. We also gave a step towards the improvement of the habitat quality model with a topography parameter. In areas of very rugged topography, we have to consider geomorfometric barriers for anthropogenic impacts and for species movement and we must think beyond the linear distances. Moreover, we used a model that considers the tree mortality caused by edge effects in the estimation of carbon stock. We found low spatial congruence among the modeled services, mostly because of the pattern of sediment retention distribution.


A number of samples of subfossil Cepaea nemoralis and hortensis from sites in southern Britain of archaeological interest, ranging in date from about 4500 b .c . to Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon, have been scored for frequency of the major banding morphs, and compared with present-day samples taken on each site or as near to it as these species could be found. In C. nemoralis there is a significant decrease of unbandeds from pre-iron Age samples to the corresponding ones for the present day, but no indication of systematic change from Iron Age samples to the present day. Spread banded also shows changes from pre-iron Age samples to present-day ones, but very little change from the early Iron Age to the present day. The smaller samples of C. hortensis available give no sign of a trend although there is much change from pre-iron Age times to the present; Iron Age samples and the corresponding present-day ones do not show the relative constancy of composition seen in C. nemoralis —as usual these two very closely related species are behaving differently. At the present day there is evidence (experimental and distributional) that the frequencies of banding morphs of C. nemoralis are affected by climate, unbandeds and mid-bandeds being favoured by better summers than those normal in Britain at present. The available evidence, from pollen analysis and other sources, of changes in the climate of southern Britain in the last 6500 years suggests that the observed differences in morph frequencies can be related to known climatic changes, in agreement with present-day evidence. One area effect (south-west M arlborough Downs) has contracted and become less intense since pre-iron Age times, as perhaps have others; in some cases a site has remained in an area effect, but the effect itself has changed. Two pairs of samples from lowland sites appear to have changed from frequencies indicating area effects in pre-iron Age times to others consistent with visual selection at the present day. Area effects seem to have been rather constant from the Iron Age to the present day.


For a safe and reliable design of components, it is needed to study the effects of multiaxial loading and particularly the non-proportional loadings on the fatigue damage. The objective of this paper is to evaluate and compare the additional hardening effects of proportional and non-proportional loading paths. Low-cycle fatigue behaviour of three structural steels: CK45 (ferritic-perlitic microstructure) normalized steel, 42CrMo4 (bainitic microstructure) quenched and tempered steel and stainless steel (austenitic microstructure) X10CrNiS 18 9 are studied under different proportional and non-proportional loading paths and different levels. A series of tests of biaxial low-cycle fatigue composed of tension/compression with static or cyclic torsion were carried out on a biaxial servo-hydraulic testing machine Instron 8088. The experiments showed that the three materials studied have very different additional hardening behaviour, under multiaxial cyclic loading paths. The local cyclic stress/strain states are influenced by the multiaxial loading paths due to interactions between the normal stress and shear stress during cyclic plastic deformation. The microstructure is an important key and has a great influence on the additional hardening. The additional hardening effect is dependent of the loading path and also the intensity of the loading.


3D sensing with portable imaging systems is becoming more and more popular in computer vision applications such as autonomous driving, virtual reality, robotics manipulation and surveillance, due to the decreasing expense and size of RGB cameras. Despite the compactness and portability of the small baseline vision systems, it is well-known that the uncertainty in range finding using multiple views and the sensor baselines are inversely related. On the other hand, besides compactness, the small baseline vision system has its unique advantages such as easier correspondence and large overlapping regions across views. The goal of this thesis is to develop computational methods and small baseline imaging systems for 3D sensing of complex scenes in real world conditions. Our design principle is to physically model the scene complexities and specifically infer the uncertainties for the images captured with small baseline setups. With this design principle, we make four contributions. In the first contribution, we propose a two-stage near-light photometric stereo method using a small (6 cm diameter) LED ring. The imaging system is compact compared to traditional photometric stereo systems. In the second contribution, we develop an algorithm to simultaneously estimate the occlusion pattern and depth for thin structures from a focal image stack, which is obtained either by varying the focus/aperture of the lens or computed from a one-shot light field image. As the third contribution, we propose a learning-based method to estimate per-pixel depth and its uncertainty continuously from a monocular video stream, with small camera baselines across adjacent frames. These depth probability volumes are accumulated over time as more incoming frames are processed sequentially, which effectively reduces depth uncertainty and improves accuracy, robustness, and temporal stability. Finally, using a pair of high resolution camera and laser projector, we develop a high spatial resolution Diffuse Optical Tomography system that can detect accurate boundaries and relative depth of heterogeneous structures up to a depth of 8mm below a highly scattering medium such as whole milk. We showcase the application of a small baseline vision system for in-vivo microscale 3D reconstruction of capillary veins and develop a system for real-time analysis of microvascular blood flow for critical care. We believe that the computational methods developed in this thesis would find more applications of compact 3D sensing under challenging conditions.


p 1538). The authors refer to the case reports of Collste et all and Farrow et al,2 but they fail to comment on the association with stenosis of the transplant artery in both these reports. We have recently had a case with striking similarities.3 The patient, a 32 year old Filipino with a primary diagnosis of renal failure due to mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis, received a renal allograft from her sister, who was of identical HLA type. The patient subsequently developed severe hypertension refractory to treatment with combinations of diuretics, beta-blockers, methyldopa, prazosin, and hydralazine. Good control was obtained with minoxidil (10 mg/day), but long term treatment with this drug was considered unacceptable because of the risk of hirsutism. Treatment with captopril on three occasions was associated with a rapid deterioration in renal function, once sufficiently severe to require haemodialysis for hyperkalaemia. It was clearly shown that this was not related to blood pressure reduction per se since minoxidil treatment produced lower pressures without detriment to renal function. Although isotope renal scans were unremarkable, a diagnosis of transplant artery stenosis was suspected clinically and was confirmed angiographically and later at surgery. Review of published work suggests that renal failure after captopril is rare, and the reports of this complication show an association with renal artery stenosis, in most cases after renal transplantation.'-6 The reninangiotensin system is important in the autoregulation of glomerular filtration rate,7 and there is evidence that it mediates the compensatory haemodynamic changes in response to renal artery stenosis. Experiments in which renal artery stenosis has been induced in conscious dogs have shown the unique potential of the renal vascular bed to respond by an increase in resistance, probably at the efferent arteriole, which can be blocked by captopril.8 It would therefore be helpful to know whether transplant artery stenosis was excluded in the present case. J C MASON P J HILTON


This paper describes how a first year accountancy module has been developed to incorporate study skills and specifically plagiarism education. While there is a growing literature in support of a focus on plagiarism education rather than detection (see Breen & Maassen, 2005 and White et al., 2008), there still seems little consensus as to what might be the most appropriate pedagogy when helping students learn about plagiarism. The approach described in this paper takes into account concerns expressed by Carroll & Appleton (2001) with regard to the timing and nature of plagiarism education. It considers the importance of learner differences, which in the plagiarism literature is generally considered in the context of international students (see Brennan & Durovic, 2005). In addition the approach concurs with Breen & Maassen (2005) and Carroll (2008) in considering the development of skills, such as time management, which may impact on the ability of students to successfully complete written coursework. Social constructivist principles, discussed in the context of plagiarism education by Carroll (2008), have also informed the approach which assumes that the students arrive at university with varied understandings of plagiarism.

The paper will principally report on the development of the module concerned over a four year period and specifically the elements of the module which have been integrated with plagiarism education. Therefore this aspect of the evidence resembles an action research approach during which the tutors reflected on the success of the module and made informed decisions to alter it.

During the past two years data has been collected by using a short questionnaire which the two most recent cohorts of students completed and a short open ended writing exercise completed by the 2009/10 cohort. Relevant data is also used from two questionnaires conducted with students in their final year of study, some of whom had studied earlier versions of the module.

This work is on-going, however, the initial findings support the continuation of the module in its current form. The evidence from student engagement with the module and feedback on the approach taken has been very positive.

The implications of the study are that educators in the disciplines may need to consider the incorporation of plagiarism education as part of mainstream learning and that in doing so a consideration of learner differences should influence the approach adopted.


1. Irradiation with three short ultraviolet (UV) wave lengths, 226, 233, and 239 mµ rapidly immobilizes Paramecium caudatum, the dosage required being smaller the shorter the wave length. 85 per cent of paramecia immobilized with wave length 226 mµ recover completely. Recovery from immobilizing doses is less the longer the wave length. 2. Irradiation continued after immobilization kills the paramecia in a manner which is markedly different for very short (226, 233, and 239 mµ) and longer (267 mµ) wave lengths. 3. An action spectrum for immobilization in P. caudatum was determined for the wave lengths 226, 233, 239, 248, and 267 mµ, and found to resemble the absorption of protein and lipide in the wave length region below 248 mµ. Addition of these data to those of Giese (1945 b) gives an action spectrum resembling the absorption by albumin-like protein. 4. Division of P. caudatum is delayed by doses of wave lengths 226, 233, and 239 mµ which cause immobilization, the longest wave length being most effective. 5. Immobilization at any of the wave lengths tested (226, 233, 239, 248, 267 mµ) is not photoreversible when UV-treated paramecia are concurrently illuminated. 6. Division delay resulting from immobilizing doses of 226, 233, and 239 mµ is photoreversible by exposure to visible light concurrently with the UV. 7. Division delay induced by exposure to wave length 267 mµ is reduced by exposure to visible light applied concurrently with UV or immediately afterwards. 8. The data suggest that the shortest UV wave length tested (226 mµ) affects the cytoplasm selectively, because it is absorbed superficially as indicated by unilateral fluorescence in UV. Consequently it immobilizes paramecia rapidly but has little effect on the division rate because little radiation reaches the nucleus. 9. The data support the view that nuclear effects of UV are readily photoreversed but cytoplasmic effects are not.


An efficient frontier model is derived within a problem of passive management. An aggregate portfolio is rebalanced annually to restore the percent weights of its strategic asset allocation; its annual total returns are assumed to be independently and lognormally distributed. Expanding on previous theoretical results, we show how a minimum-variance set based on ordinary returns turns into a minimum-variance set based on logarithmic returns. According to our theoretical results, which have a general validity, inefficient portfolios based on ordinary returns cannot turn into efficient portfolios based on logarithmic returns, whereas efficient portfolios based on ordinary returns can also turn into inefficient portfolios based on logarithmic returns. In the latter instance, there can be two different qualitative patterns, both of which are portrayed by using historical data. Moreover, the shortfall constraint approach is extended to the case of lognormal portfolio returns. Each threshold return can be turned into a threshold accumulation that has the same shortfall probability; coeteris paribus, the more distant the time horizon, the smaller the shortfall probability. As our procedure is analytically tractable, it might be operationally useful, especially to financial advisors and institutional investors.


Macrophages engulf pathogens into phagosomes for degradation through a process known as phagocytosis. Nascent phagosomes progressively mature and fuse with early and late endosomes and lysosomes to form phagolysosomes, where pathogens are degraded by hydrolytic enzymes. Phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate [PtdIns(3)P] and phosphatidylinositol 3,5-bisphosphate [PtdIns(3,5)P2] are signaling lipids that recruit a unique set of effector proteins involved in distinct stages of membrane traffic to govern the function of early and late endosomes, respectively. Phagosome maturation requires the transient expression of PtdIns(3)P on early phagosomal membranes. Subsequently, PtdIns(3)P can be converted to PtdIns(3,5)P2 by the lipid kinase PIKfyve. Thus, it remains unclear if the role of PtdIns(3)P in phagosome maturation is direct and/or indirect, through the synthesis of PtdIns(3,5)P2. The role of PtdIns(3,5)P2 in the endosomal system in macrophages also requires further investigation. My thesis employs a pharmacological approach to address the role of PIKfyve in macrophage biology. In general, PtdIns(3,5)P2 appears to principally coordinate the later stages of endosome and phagosome maturation.


Primary aldosteronism is the most common cause of secondary hypertension. The syndrome accounts for 10% of all cases of hypertension and is primarily caused by bilateral adrenal hyperplasia or aldosterone-producing adenoma. Over the last few years, the use of exome sequencing has significantly improved our understanding of this syndrome. Somatic mutations in the KCNJ5, ATP1A1, ATP2B3 or CACNA1D genes are present in more than half of all cases of aldosterone-producing adenoma (∼40%, ∼6%, ∼1% and ∼8%, respectively). Germline gain-of-function mutations in KCNJ5 are now known to cause familial hyperaldosteronism type III, and an additional form of genetic hyperaldosteronism has been reported in patients with germline mutations in CACNA1D. These genes code for channels that control ion homeostasis across the plasma membrane of zona glomerulosa cells. Moreover, all these mutations modulate the same pathway, in which elevated intracellular calcium levels lead to aldosterone hyperproduc-tion and (in some cases) adrenal cell proliferation. From a clinical standpoint, the discovery of these mutations has potential implications for patient management. The mutated channels could be targeted by drugs, in order to control hormonal and overgrowth-related manifestations. Furthermore, some of these mutations are associated with high cell turnover and may be amenable to diagnosis via the sequencing of cell-free (circulating) DNA. However, genotype-phenotype correlations in patients harboring these mutations have yet to be characterized. Despite this recent progress, much remains to be done to elucidate the yet unknown mechanisms underlying sporadic bilateral adrenal hyperplasia.


Organ shortage continues to limit the lives of patients who require liver transplantation. While extending criteria for liver organs provides a needed resource, tissue damage from prolonged ischemic injury can result in early allograft dysfunction and consequent rejection. In this issue of the JCI, Nakamura et al. used a mouse transplantation model with prolonged ex vivo cold storage to explore liver graft protection. The authors found that liver grafts with absent carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule 1 (CEACAM1) exhibited increased ischemia-reperfusion injury inflammation and decreased function in wild-type recipients. The authors went on to correlate CEACAM1 levels with postreperfusion damage in human liver transplant recipients. Notably, this study identified a potential biomarker for liver transplant donor graft quality.


This paper presents some improvement strategies of Learning Algorithm (LA) including perturbation of the historical best solutions and two hybrid strategies of LA and the Simplex Method (SM). By using 9 benchmark functions of 30-dimensional or/and 2-dimensional domains, numerical experiments are carried out to evaluate the performances of the three improved versions of LA comparing with the original LA, the Genetic Algorithm (GA), the Differential Evolution (DE) and the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Numerical experiment results show that all the three improved versions can achieve obvious performance improvement. Moreover, a patch antenna of nonintuitive planar structures is optimized by LA, which shows that LA has good heuristic search performance and can be applied in antenna optimization.