While the idea behind subjective equivalence scales is generally attractive, subjective scales have been plagued by problems of inconsistency. We address this problem with new European Income and Living Conditions (SILC) datasets that are much larger in size than those available to previous researchers. We estimate subjective equivalence scales for the whole Euro Zone as well as its individual constituent countries. Our subjective scales increase consistently with household size. More importantly, we find that adding the first child is more costly than adding a third adult and that the marginal cost of children declines. Comparing modified OECD scale poverty rates to our subjective poverty rates (holding the overall poverty rate constant) we find that the subjective scales 'redistribute poverty' away from larger to smaller households.


This paper presents a UWB bidirectional elliptical ring antenna excited by circular monopole with curved slot for 5.8 GHz band rejection. High Q operation of band notch is obtained in the simulation. The characteristics of the antenna have many attractive features in both technically and economically, such as bidirectional radiation pattern, wide impedance bandwidth, moderate gain, small size, low cost, and easy fabrication. The antenna is desired for application in conventional narrow and long path service area, where some frequency bands pre-occupied by the WLAN standard IEEE 802.11a.


Disability studies has continually asked us to rethink the demands on our bodies and time by reminding us that not all humans are able to move and produce in line with these ever-mounting societal expectations. Drawing on the work of disability theorists like Susan Wendell, this article addresses the unique challenges of creating an ethical pace of life for those multiply marginalized by race, gender, sexuality, and ability. The author focuses on her own occupation in the academy and in the field of digital humanities as a necessary case study to argue that, in our social justice visions of the future, we must reimagine the ethics of pace.


The Island of Minicoy (latitude 8° 7'N. and longitude 73° 19'E.) in the
Indian Ocean (Figs. 1 a and b), is famous for the tuna fishery, which forms
the most important industry of the Island. It has a total population of
about 4,000 of which 640, including boys, are professional fishermen, supplemented
by about 300 part-time fishermen at the height of the tuna fishing
season. The fishery now brings an annual income of over Rs. 500,000 to
the islanders whose other sources of income, which are far less than the above,
are only from coconut produce and remittances from sailors serving as
deck hands in ocean-going merchant vessels. The tuna which forms the
mainstay of the industry is the Oceanic Skipjack, Katsuwonus pelamis
(Linnaeus) [Euthynnus pelamis (Linnaeus)] locally known as Kaliphilamas
which occur in appreciable numbers from September to April, with
December to March forming the peak season, though the Yellowfin, Neothunnus
macropterus (Temminck and Schlegel), known as Kannali-mas are
also caught. The meat is converted into fish sticks or mas-min, a hard dry
product obtained by boiling the fiUetted meat in brine and subsequently
smoking it and drying it in the sun. The tuna bait fishery is dealt with in
this note while the fishing industry in general of Minicoy is being dealt with
elsewhere.


BACKGROUND
Mindfulness interventions with adolescents are in the early stages of development. This study sought to establish efficacy of a mindfulness-based group intervention for adolescents with mixed mental health disorders.

METHOD
One hundred and eight adolescents (ages 13-18) were recruited from community mental health clinics and randomised into two groups (control vs. treatment). All participants received treatment-as-usual (TAU) from clinic-based therapists independent of the study. Adolescents in the treatment condition received TAU plus a 5-week mindfulness-training programme (TAU+Mi); adolescents in the control group received only TAU. Assessments including parent/carer reports were conducted at baseline, postintervention and 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS
At postintervention, adolescents in the mindfulness condition experienced significant decrease in mental distress (measured with the DASS-21) compared to the control group (Cohen's d = 0.43), and these gains were enhanced at 3-month follow-up (Cohen's d = 0.78). Overall outcomes at 3 months showed significant improvement for adolescents in the mindfulness condition; in self-esteem, mindfulness, psychological inflexibility and mental health, but not resilience. Parents/carers also reported significant improvement in their adolescent's psychological functioning (using the CBCL). Mediation analyses concluded mindfulness mediated mental health outcomes.

CONCLUSIONS
Increase in mindful awareness after training leads to improvement in mental health and this is consistent with mindfulness theory. The mindfulness group programme appears to be a promising adjunctive therapeutic approach for clinic-based adolescents with mental health problems.


Endotoxin administration decreases intrinsic responsiveness of arteries to contractile agonists, both in vivo and in vitro. Endotoxin also impairs systemic and intestinal ability to increase microvascular O2 extraction in response to decreases in O2 delivery. During endotoxemia, contractile responsiveness can be increased by stereospecific inhibitors of nitric oxide (NO) synthase, suggesting that the hypotension and loss of microvascular function caused by endotoxin may result from increased nitric oxide biosynthesis. This study tested whether inhibition of NO synthesis could reverse the systemic and intestinal oxygen extraction defects seen after endotoxin challenge in the dog. Oxygen extraction and hemodynamic responses to progressive decreases in O2 delivery (stagnant hypoxia) were measured systemically and in isolated autoperfused intestine segments in anesthetized dogs. Systemic and intestinal O2 extractions at the onset of O2 supply dependency were significantly impaired in endotoxin-challenged (n = 6) compared with control (n = 7) animals. Inhibition of NO synthase activity with N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), 50 mg/kg + 100 mg/kg/h, completely inhibited endothelium-dependent vasodilation responses evaluated in vitro, and significantly but incompletely reversed the systemic hypotension in animals previously given endotoxin (n = 9). Despite this improvement, critical O2 extraction ratios remained significantly reduced. Administration of L-NAME in the absence of endotoxin (n = 8) significantly increased systemic vascular resistance and decreased cardiac output and O2 delivery, but it did not impair critical O2 extraction ratios in whole body or isolated intestine. We conclude that inhibition of NO synthesis in this model of endotoxemia can improve arterial pressure without improving those microvascular functions that may influence tissue O2 extraction efficacy.


Thirty‐one adult patients with adenocarcinoma of the lung were treated with FCC chemotherapy consisting of 5‐fluorouracil (5‐FU), cyclophosphamide, and CCNU every 4 weeks. Thirteen patients received 5‐FU orally (POF) at the dose of 400 mg/m2/day in 4 divided daily doses for 5 days, whereas 18 patients received 5‐FU at the dose of 800 mg/m2/day for 5 days as a continuous intravenous infusion (CIF). All patients received cyclophosphamide and CCNU orally at doses of 200 mg/m2/day for 4 days and 40 mg/m2/day for 2 days, respectively. The overall response was 22%. Response was greater in patients treated with FCC‐CIF (4/14 vs. 1/9; p = 0.6), in patients with limited disease (4/13 vs. 1/10; p = 0.5), and in patients with good performance status, (4/16 vs. 1/7). The overall median survival duration was 9 months. The patients who achieved tumor regression survived significantly longer than patients who had disease stabilization (median, 21 vs. 9 months; p = 0.01), and the latter survived significantly longer than patients who had progressive disease (median, 9 vs. 2.5 months; p = 0.003). There was no significant difference in survival duration in the two FCC‐treated groups. Pretreatment extent of disease and performance status did not influence the survival of patients. However, the FCC‐CIF‐treated group contained a greater number of patients with extensive disease and poor performance status. Further investigations are indicated to evaluate the efficacy of 5‐fluorouracil administered by continuous intravenous infusion in combination with cyclophosphamide and CCNU in bronchogenic carcinoma.


Immigrant-origin minorities are underrepresented in many democratic legislatures. This paper evaluates the direct effects of voter discrimination on the electoral performance of minority political candidates in Germany. Using evidence from both a survey experiment and actual election data, the paper tests two mechanisms of discrimination—negative attitudes toward minority groups and assumptions about candidate ideology—and shows that neither results in a substantial penalty for the small numbers of minority candidates who actually compete for office. Minority candidates in Germany typically run for political parties that discriminating voters would not have supported in any case.


This study classified speech impairment in 200 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) into five levels of overall severity and described the corresponding type (voice, articulation, fluency) and extent (rated on a five-point scale) of impairment for each level. From two-minute conversational speech samples, parameters of voice, fluency and articulation were assessed by two trained-raters. Voice was found to be the leading deficit, most frequently affected and impaired to a greater extent than other features in the initial stages. Articulatory and fluency deficits manifested later, articulatory impairment matching voice impairment in frequency and extent at the 'Severe' stage. At the final stage of 'Profound' impairment, articulation was the most frequently impaired feature at the lowest level of performance. This study illustrates the prominence of voice and articulatory speech motor control deficits, and draws parallels with deficits of motor set and motor set instability in skeletal controls of gait and handwriting.


The article discusses the online teaching and learning experiences of university students during the recent countrywide lockdown and higher education institutional shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Drawing on philosopher Joan Tronto's phases of care and associated moral elements, the article reports on survey data from a large cohort of students in the Post Graduate Certificate of Education programme at Stellenbosch University and seeks to analyse the students' care needs and experiences of care during this period. The aim of the article discussion is not to answer the question whether the university institution offered the students good care during the campus shutdown and remote teaching and learning, but rather to understand the experiences of the students of online teaching and learning during this time.


This paper investigates the cross market linkages of Indian commodity futures for nine commodities with futures markets outside India. These commodities range from highly tradable commodities to less tradable agricultural commodities. We analyze the cross market linkages in terms of return and volatility spillovers. The nine commodities consist of two agricultural commodities: Soybean, and Corn, three metals: Aluminum, Copper and Zinc, two precious metals: Gold and Silver, and two energy commodities: Crude oil and Natural gas. Return spillover is investigated through Johansen's cointegration test, error correction model, Granger causality test and variance decomposition techniques. We apply Bivariate GARCH model (BEKK) to investtigate volatility spillover between India and other World markets. We find that futures prices of agricultural commodities traded at National Commodity Derivatives Exchange, India (NCDEX) and Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), prices of precious metals traded at Multi Commodity Exchange, India (MCX) and NYMEX, prices of industrial metals traded at MCX and the London Metal Exchange (LME) and prices of energy commodities traded at MCX and NYMEX are cointegrated. In case of commodities, it is found that world markets have bigger (unidirectional) impact on Indian markets. In bivariate model, we found bi-directional return spillover between MCX and LME markets. However, effect of LME on MCX is stronger than the effect of MCX on LME. Results of return and volatility spillovers indicate that the Indian commodity futures markets function as a satellite market and assimilate information from the world market.


Nuclear and cytoplasmic fractions were prepared from exponentially-growing BHK-21/C13 cells; DNA polymerase was extracted from them and analysed by gel filtration and sucrose-density-gradient centrifugation. DNA polymerase I is heterogeneous comprising species covering a considerable range of molecular weights. These have been tentatively identified as four subspecies of apparent molecular weights 900000-1000000 (IA), 460000-560000 (IB), 270000-320000 (IC) and 140000-200000 (ID), as assessed by gel filtration through Sepharose 6B. DNA polymerase II has a mol.wt. of 46000 +/- 4000 as assessed by gel filtration on Sepharose 6B, and 48000 +/- 2000 as assessed by gel filtration on Sephadex G-100. Sedimentation analyses on sucrose density gradients showed that the DNA polymerase I species had sedimentation coefficients predominantly in the range 6-8 S. DNA polymerase II had predominantly a sedimentation coefficient of 3.2 S although a component with lower sedimentation coefficient was found. The lack of correlation between the molecular weights derived from gel filtration and the sedimentation coefficients is attributed to molecular asymmetry. DNA polymerase I was found to be associated predominantly with the cytoplasm although certain types of nuclear preparation contained large amounts of it. DNA polymerase II was found to be mostly if not exclusively in nuclear preparations.


In Russia solfeggio became an academic subject at the time of foundation of Saint-Petersburg and Moscow conservatories. Coming from Western Europe, in Russia solfeggio gained its own traditions of teaching. There were established three main activities – vocal and intonation exercises, hearing analysis and dictation. They were defined by the scientist of the ХХth century – professor of Moscow Conservatory I.V. Sposobin. It is a melodic dictation that became a comprehensive model for the development of prospect musicians' skills. The reason is in the combination of various tasks, such as the ability to hear, realize, memorize and record a relatively complete musical part based on a certain number of replays. Over the years of evolution in the Russian teaching school the dictation obtained logical representation, enabling to teach and perceive music, tonal and atonal. The same dictation significantly differs in the Russian tradition from its French analogue. The report describes the evolution in the three-level system of music education, comparing it to the traditions of other countries.


The microstructure evolution and mechanical properties of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al sheets subjected to accumulative roll bonding (ARB) and subsequent cryorolling was studied. Cryorolling can suppress the dynamic softening of UFG Al sheets subjected to ARB at room temperature. After the third ARB pass, the grains are slightly refined as the number of ARB passes increases. However, the grains are significantly refined further during cryorolling. The grain size of 460 nm achieved after the third ARB pass is reduced to 290 nm after two cryorolling passes with total reduction ratio 80%. Sheets subjected to ARB + cryorolling show improved mechanical properties compared to only ARB-processed sheets due to a change in the fraction of high-angle boundaries and elongated grains. The deformation mechanism for ultrafine grains at room temperature is determined by grain boundary sliding or dislocation-based recovery, while it is governed by dislocation glide at cryogenic temperature.


We conducted an empirical investigation of wearable interactive rings on the noticeability of four instantaneous notification channels (light, vibration, sound, poke) and a channel with gradually increased temperature (thermal) during five levels of physical activity (laying down, sitting, standing, walking, and running). Results showed that vibration was the most reliable and fastest channel to convey notification, followed by poke and sound which shared similar noticeability. The noticeability of these three channels was not affected by the level of physical activity. The other two channels, light and thermal, were less noticeable and were affected by the level of physical activity. Our post-experimental survey indicates that while noticeability has a significant influence on user preference, each channel has its own unique advantages that make it suitable for different notification scenarios.


We demonstrate empirically that the gains from predicting corporate earnings, or consensus hits and misses—an activity at the core of most investment methodologies—have been shrinking fast over the past 30 years. We identify the main reasons for this loss of earnings relevance and propose an improved alternative to current investment methodologies, one that focuses on the "strategic assets" of the enterprise and their contribution to maintaining the company's competitive edge. We demonstrate this investment methodology using subscription-based companies.


ABSTRACT The article analyses the impact of preference votes on the gender balance in municipal councils in Norway, and to what extent this impact varies with candidates' age, party and local context. We compare actual representation with a hypothetical closed-list outcome. The analyses show that both local political representation and the impact of preference votes are characterised by a gender-generation gap. Older women are underrepresented, while young women are represented on equal terms with young men. Young female candidates benefit from preference voting in larger municipalities, whereas the older generation of women loses out in both large and small municipalities. In conclusion, we argue that an intersectionality approach should pay more attention to variables other than ethnicity, including age and local context. Moreover, research on gender and political representation should take into account a gender-generation perspective.


N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors can mediate cell death in neurons and in non-neuronal cells that express recombinant NMDA receptors. In neurons, increases in intracellular calcium correlate with NMDA receptor-mediated death, supporting a key role for loss of cellular calcium homeostasis in excitotoxic cell death. In the present study, free intracellular calcium concentrations were examined in response to activation of recombinant NMDA receptors expressed in human embryonic kidney 293 cells. Intracellular calcium was measured in transfected cell populations by cotransfection with the calcium-sensitive, bioluminescent protein aequorin and by single cell imaging with the fluorescent calcium indicator fluo-3. Agonist application to NR1/2A or NR1/2B-transfected cells elicited robust rises in intracellular calcium. NR1/2A responses were inhibited by the noncompetitive antagonists MK-801 and dextromethorphan and were dependent on extracellular calcium but not on intracellular calcium stores. In contrast, no detectable intracellular calcium responses were observed in NR1/2C-transfected cells. These findings indicate that NMDA receptors in the absence of other neuron-specific factors can mediate increases in intracellular calcium with subunit specificity and extracellular calcium dependence.


The present study aimed to explain the role of additives in alleviation of the negative effect of heat stress on differential leucocytes count, heterophil / lymphocytic ratio with especial studies on the microbial count of duodenum, jejunum, ileum and caecum. A total of 270 day-old (Ross308) broiler chickens randomly divided into 6 groups, which were kept under elevated temperature (34-36◦C) and feed diet containing 1% Nigella Sativa (G2) or a mixture of sodium bicarbonate and potassium chloride (0.3% KCL+ 0.5% NaHCO3) (G3) or 2% coriander seed (G4) or 0.03% Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) (G5) or 250 mg of Ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) (G6) for 6 weeks. The previous parameters were recorded after slaughtering to take microbial sample and collecting blood parameters. The results explained that, there was a significant increase lymphocyte percentage in case of G2, G3, G4, G5 and G6. while, there was significant decreases in Heterophil percentage, heterophil/lymphocyte ratio (H/L), eosinophils percentage, monocytes percentage, jejunum total colony count and caecum total colony in case of (G2, G3, G4, G5), (G6, G2, G3, G4, G5), (G6, G3), (G5; G2), (G3; G2) and (G2, G4) respectively in compared with control group (P<0.05). It could be concluded that black seed and coriander seed have a positive effect on heat stress broiler diet.


Standard multi-task benchmarks are essential for developing pretraining models that can generalize to various downstream tasks. Existing benchmarks for natural language processing (NLP) usually focus only on understanding or generating short texts. However, long text modeling requires many distinct abilities in contrast to short texts, such as the modeling of long-range discourse and commonsense relations, and the coherence and controllability of generation. The lack of standardized benchmarks makes it difficult to assess these abilities of a model and fairly compare different models, especially Chinese models. Therefore, we propose a story-centric benchmark named LOT for evaluating Chinese long text modeling, which aggregates two understanding tasks and two generation tasks. We construct new datasets for these tasks based on human-written Chinese stories with hundreds of words. Furthermore, we release an encoder-decoder-based Chinese long text pretraining model named LongLM with up to 1 billion parameters. We pretrain LongLM on 120G Chinese novels with two generative tasks including text infilling and conditional continuation. Extensive experiments show that LongLM outperforms similar-sized pretraining models substantially on both the understanding and generation tasks in LOT.


This paper assesses the rise and decline of international rule of law in the case of non-state armed actors. Both signs of rise and signs of decline of international rule of law show in the case of non- state armed actors. Signs of rise include the expansion of coverage of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international criminal law, as well as international legal argumentation and rhetoric made by non-state armed groups. Some non-state armed actors express that they are governed by IHL in public statements or bilateral agreements with international actors, partly acknowledging universality of international humanitarian norms, and sometimes act as such. Signs of decline in the international rule of law also show – although some of them can be seen as business-as-usual – privileging of military advantage, instrumental use of international law (as justification and local interpretations), as well as conflicting understanding of IHL between local and global norms. The multiplicity of non-state actors also portends the decline of international rule of law, with the proliferation of many non-organized groups without legitimacy-seeking motivations.


In normal cells in which DNA has been damaged, p53 induces the expression of p21 Waf1/Cip1 ; p21, in turn, binds to cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (cdk2) and inhibits its function. Inhibition of cdk2 results in cell cycle arrest in G 0 -G 1 . Although p53 is transcriptionally active and induces p21 expression in neuroblastoma (NB) cells, the G 0 -G 1 checkpoint is attenuated. Here we report that the mechanism that mediates this defect in NB cells is the inability of p21 to bind to, or inhibit the activity of cdk2. However, when recombinant p21 protein was added to NB cell extracts in vitro , the protein inhibited the activity of cdk2. This finding suggests that endogenous p21 protein in NB cells is inactive and may be bound either to a protein complex or in a conformation that precludes its binding to cdk2. The dysfunction of p21 in NB cells represents a novel mechanism by which the G 0 -G 1 cell cycle checkpoint can be inactivated. This mechanism may be important in regulating the growth of NB and potentially other types of tumors. Cdk inhibitors currently being developed for clinical use may be useful therapy for tumors such as NB in which endogenous cdk inhibitors are defective.


A replica-biased PLL providing wider-frequency-range lower-power consumption and improved clock jitter and loop stability, is fabricated in 0.13/spl mu/m CMOS technology. A wide common-mode input range, matched-current amplifier provides a stable duty cycle at all operating conditions. In comparison of 1/spl times/ and 2/spl times/ VCO architecture, the 1/spl times/ VCO shows improved core timing.


This paper investigates whether and under which conditions democracy renders economic performance more efficient. Efficiency, measured by the ratio of (mean)/ (standard deviation) of output growth, becomes an important indicator of the relative goodness of economic performance when countries face a trade-off between development scenarios with high-mean and low-volatility of output growth. This seems to be a case when economies approach the efficient frontier. However, when countries are far away from the frontier economic efficiency may be improved by simultaneously increasing the mean and decreasing the volatility of growth. This study differs from others on the topic in three basic ways: (i) asymmetric (G)ARCH models are employed to simultaneously estimate the mean and volatility of output growth conditional on the factors of interest; (ii) variations in within-country effects of democratisation on the mean, variance and efficiency of economic growth conditional on cross-country variations of income inequality are analysed; (iii) the asymmetry of deviations from the mean is investigated. The results suggest (do not suggest) that in countries with no (with) military dictatorship history democratisation moves economies towards the efficient frontier. The positive effect of democratisation on the efficiency of economic performance seems to be systematically stronger in countries with lower (higher) income inequality in the countries with (without) consolidated civil governments.


ATTITUDES OF MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS by GARNER GLENN DEWEY (Under the direction of Roger Hill) ABSTRACT The purpose of this qualitative study was to describe the work experiences and attitudes of Mexican immigrants as they transitioned into jobs in the United States. The sample was composed of nine Mexican-born adults who had settled and worked in suburban Atlanta. Narratives for each participant were developed, and a Chicano writing style was used to preserve the meaning of interview data gathered in Spanish. The narratives were then inductively analyzed using a multi-step matrix technique to determine the emerging themes. Participants were found to value work, not for its intrinsic worth, but because it provides the means of obtaining things. The participants were focused on upward mobility, and cultural upbringing minimized their view on injustice and exploitation. Although participants enjoyed work better in Mexico, their sense of having no future in Mexico and the low wages earned there convinced them that work in the United States was better.


The objective of this paper is to compare the time specification performance between conventional controller and artificial intelligence controller in position control system of a DC motor. The scope of this research is to apply direct control technique in position control system. Two types of controller namely PID and fuzzy logic PID controller will be used to control the output response. This paper was written to reflect on the work done on the implementation of a fuzzy logic PID controller. The fuzzy controller was used to control the position of a motor which can be considered for a general basis in any project design containing logic control. Motor parameters were taken from a datasheet with respect to a real motor and a simulated model was developed using Matlab Simulink Toolbox. The fuzzy control was also designed using the Fuzzy Control Toolbox provided within Matlab, with each rule consisting of fuzzy sets conditioned to provide appropriate response times with regards to the limitations of our chosen motor. The Fuzzy Inference Engine chosen for our control was the Mamdani Minimum Inference engine. The results of the control provided response times suitable for our application.


Different thickness of CdZnTe films were deposited onto glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering from Cd0.9Zn0.1Te crystals target. Their structural characteristics were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD experiments showed that the films are polycrystalline and have a zinc-blende (cubic) structure. The crystallite size and micro-strain were calculated. It is observed that the crystallite size increases and micro-strain decreases with the film thickness. The optical measurements showed that the average transmittance of all the samples have is less than 50% in the visible range. The possible optical transition in these films is found to be allowed direct transition with energy gap increase from 1.53 to 1.75 eV. For the electrical properties, the sheet resistivity decreased from 2.582×108 to3.069×107 Ohm/sq when the thickness increased from 307 to 823 nm; while the carrier concentration seems to be less affected by the film thickness. This behaviour in electrical properties was explained by the crystallinity and the grain size evolution.


1. 45Ca2+ accumulation into inulin‐inaccessible compartments within cytoplasm from the giant axon of Myxicola infundibulum was measured as a function of free calcium, pH, and time. Accumulation reached a maximum after 1 h and remained stable for at least 3 h. 2. At 0.5, 5, and 50 microM [Ca2+], in the presence of 1 mM ATP or 5 mM succinate, steady‐state calcium uptake had a bell‐shaped dependence on pH with a maximum near pH 7. Uptake was abolished by the proton uncoupling reagent carbonyl cyanide p‐trifluoromethoxy‐phenylhydrazone (FCCP, 4 micrograms ml‐1). 3. Uptake of the membrane permeant cation, [14C]‐tetraphenylphosphonium (TPP+), also had a bell‐shaped dependence on pH with a maximum pH approximately 7, suggesting a pH dependence of the electrical potential of a membrane enclosed cytoplasmic compartment. Cyanide (2 mM) inhibited TPP+ uptake. 4. Inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate (IP3, 10 microM), reduced steady‐state calcium accumulation by 20‐22% at 0.5 microM free calcium, pH 7 (P < 0.01, n = 16) and at 5 microM free calcium, pH 8 (P < 0.0005, n = 35). No effects of IP3 were found at other pH or calcium concentrations. 5. Neither guanosine 5'‐triphosphate (GTP) nor inositol 1,3,4,5‐tetrakisphosphate (IP4) had an effect on calcium uptake (5 microM [Ca2+], pH 8). 6. At 0.5 microM free calcium; vanadate (10 microM) inhibited 20‐30%, of the 45Ca2+ accumulation, thapsigargin (33 nM) inhibited 20‐30%, and cyanide (2 mM) plus oligomycin B (2 micrograms ml‐1), or valinomycin (1 microM), inhibited 70‐80%. The fraction of uptake sensitive to thapsigargin fell as the free calcium increased; however, the sensitivity of uptake to cyanide plus oligomycin B was approximately 80% for 0.5, 5.0, and 50 microM [Ca2+]. 7. Thapsigargin had no additional inhibiting effect in the presence of cyanide plus oligomycin B. IP3 had no effect in the presence of cyanide plus oligomycin B or other mitochondrial inhibitors. 8. Results suggest the presence of both mitochondrial (70‐80%) and non‐mitochondrial (20‐30%) calcium pools in this system (at 0.5‐5.0 microM Ca2+). The apparent non‐mitochondrial uptake (sensitive to thapsigargin, or IP3) is not detectable in the presence of mitochondrial inhibitors. We interpret these results as evidence of functional communication between mitochondrial and non‐mitochondrial calcium stores.


Prints That Fly: My prints are as much about the craft of making, as they are a gentle delight in challenging the notions of what constitutes a print and where the perceived borders between the fine and applied arts, end and begin.

In the UK there are still very distinct borders between, that which is perceived as Art and that which is then deemed Craft. A denial of craft skills seems to me as an educator a sad consequence of current trends within mainstream art practise. I trained as a Fine Art Printmaker and though I now run a large research department, my true love is making. I have an abhorrence of badly made work, I use the term the craft of making deliberately, to me, the act of making work is often more satisfying than showing work. I enjoy trying to make an economical structure that has an inherent elegance and hopefully a beauty.

Paying homage to traditional kite manufacture, from Japan, Thailand, Nepal and India these works are only possible due to a marriage of late Twentieth Century technology and the unsurpassable quality of a delicate sheet of hand made paper. Within the work, the imagery is screen or inkjet printed onto handmade paper from Japan, Nepal and Thailand. Only delicate hand made sheets whose fibres run in all directions of the sheet such as the above are capable of being formed around the compound glass fibre shapes used in the frameworks. The glass fibre rods are tied and glued together using knots that are traditional, but made with a modern nylon thread.

The imagery used is often based on mathmatical proportion and Euclidian geometry. The aim is to marry the traditional techniques and techological materials where the precise imagery acts as a foil and counterpart to both. The tactile surface created by printing digital ink upon traditional paper breaks the distinctive nature of the digital image.

The talk was in two parts the first covered the work I undertake within the Centre for Fine Print Research and the cutting edge technology we use for the making of prints. This introduction gave a context for my personal practice, which formed the second part of the talk.


The use of mobile devices for language learning, under the Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL) has been found to motivate children to read digital print. However, parents need to be convinced of the benefits of this new technology-assisted learning method within a multilingual learning context. A case study was conducted to propose a MALL framework in which educators and parents created a shared meaningful learning environment to develop the children's emergent multilingual literacy skills, using mobile devices installed with interactive multilingual eBooks. This paper reports the findings, specifically on the parents' attitude and motivation towards reading multilingual eBooks with their children. A group of 25 multi-ethnic families, together with their 5-year-old children participated in this study. A mixed-method explanatory research design obtained parent's attitude and motivation from a questionnaire, interview, and feedback form. The results show a high level of parents' acceptance toward reading eBook with their children. Parents attributed their positive attitude and motivation towards MALL to the use of the multimedia, multilingual, and mobile platform. The MALL framework was also found to encourage parents and other adults to scaffold the children's multilingual skills development. However, there were also setbacks toward the use of eBook as some parents expressed a stronger preference for printed books and were concerned with health issues associated with the children's eBook use. Areas for improvements and future research are also made in this paper.


The article describes the results of the research on the formation of the bone system of the carcasses of purebred and crossbreed steers. Three groups of animals were selected for the experiment by the analog method. The first group consisted of purebred steers of Simmental breed, the second and third groups consisted of 1⁄2 blooded steers of Simmental and Charolais beef breeds, respectively. The dynamics of age changes in the skeleton were studied by determining the absolute relative weight and calculating the growth coefficient. The research showed that the absolute weight of the skeleton has increased with the development of the test steers. Thus, if the skeleton mass of newborn steers was 7.44, 7.34, and 8.30 kilos for each group, then at the age of 6 and 12 months, it had increased to 29.2, 29.8, and 30.6 in group 2, 45.8, 45.3, and 46.4 in group 3, and 53.7, 54.2, and 54.6 at the end of the experimental period at the age of 18 months.


Beginning in 2009 the second-leading cause of death for Taiwanese aged 15 to 24 has been suicide, accounting for 12.4% of deaths that year in this group and rising in the years since. The Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center (TSPC) provides a modest mental survey (MMS), also called the "feeling thermometer", for evaluating individual psychological condition. The MMS has determined suicidal tendency with at least 85% precision. It has been observed that the most effective method for getting youth to take the MMS is to include it casually in various popular activities. In collaboration with the TSPC, the research team developed a suicidal-tendency observation system on some popular social web sites such as Facebook. Taiwan's youth can simply participate in the MMS, and the results, with required personal information, are stored in the personal mental health records in the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) standard international format. The service went online at the end of 2010. The TSPC can initiate contact with members of the high-risk group immediately via the system's alerts. In addition, youth can be made self-aware through the MMS and so visit mental health physicians to obtain effective guidance.


AIM
The objective of this study was to determine the tissue distribution of beta 1 integrin chains in sound human dental pulps and to compare the findings with connective tissue compartments of other organs and to pulp tissue in teeth extracted due to periodontal disease.

METHODOLOGY
Freshly frozen pulp tissue samples from teeth extracted for orthodontic reasons were examined and compared to samples from teeth extracted due to chronic (marginal) periodontitis. beta 1 integrin chains were determined using an indirect-immunoperoxidase technique. Seven monoclonal antibodies recognizing alpha 1, alpha 2, alpha 3, alpha 4, alpha 5, alpha 6 and beta 1 chains of Very Late Activation Antigen (VLA) integrins were used for this purpose.

RESULTS
VLA-1, VLA-2, VLA-3 and VLA-5 were expressed by vascular endothelium and vascular smooth muscle in varying intensities in both groups. VLA-6 reactivity was observed in the basal surfaces of arterial, venous and capillary endothelia. Our results indicate that there was no significant difference in the expression of VLA integrins in sound pulp tissue when compared to the samples from chronic (marginal) periodontitis and the connective tissue compartments of other viscera.

CONCLUSION
The present findings suggest that human dental pulp tissue is not different from other connective tissue compartments in the body with respect to VLA integrin expression, and chronic marginal periodontitis does not affect pulp tissue to a histopathologically detectable extent.


This quantitative study aimed to examine Turkish pre-service science teachers' beliefs regarding the demarcating between science and pseudoscience. Participants completed the Science and Pseudoscience Distinction Scale. Data collected from the 123 pre-service science teachers were examined based on the dimensions of the instrument, namely science as a process of inquiry (SCI), demarcating between science and pseudoscience, and pseudoscientific beliefs (PS). This study found that these pre-service science teachers generally did not hold strong beliefs on distinguishing science and pseudoscience. Their beliefs regarding SCI were not highly favorable. Moreover, this study revealed that they had some PS. Considering the role of gender and year in the program, the results of two-way MANOVA indicated that there was no statistically significant difference on the related belief constructs for these pre-service science teachers. Thus, the present study intended to shed light on pre-service science teachers' mindsets about identifying accurate scientific information rather than pseudoscientific confusions that could aid preparing scientifically literate students. It was shown that their teacher education program did not facilitate favorable beliefs. This study highlights some potential areas for further exploration of addressing pre-service science teachers' discrimination skills of science and pseudoscience.


Static random access memory (SRAM) cells have diminishing read and write margins due to fabrication variations. These variations are a direct result of the small device sizes necessary to maintain scaling commensurate with Moore's law. Total ionizing dose (TID) primarily affects NMOS device characteristics, which are the most important to maintaining SRAM cell read stability. A test structure allowing direct measurement of SRAM cell electrical characteristics in an SRAM memory bank is presented. Experimentally measured results from this structure, fabricated on a 90 nm process, show impact of Co-60 irradiation on SRAM cell margins. This test structure is fabricated on the same die as a 1.2 Mbit SRAM, allowing comparison of the individual cell characteristics with the overall leakage impact on the large SRAM. The results indicate that by simply providing sufficient margins during SRAM cell design, functionality at high TID can be achieved without the use of radiation hardening by design (RHBD) techniques. The implications for future unhardened SRAMs operating in TID environments and on design to maintain margins are discussed.


Choice Between Reinforcers With and Without Delayed Shock: Effects of a Pre-Shock Signal Haleh Amanieh Choice research has largely emphasized situations in which individuals choose between a smaller-sooner reward and a larger-later reward. However, in many situations, choosing a certain one of the options results in conflicting consequences: an immediate reinforcer and a delayed punisher. Recent research with rats has evaluated how choice between a smaller reinforcer alone and a larger reinforcer with a delayed shock changes as a function of shock intensity and delay. Research in this area has also evaluated the effects of signals that follow the response and precede shock with conflicting results. The present experiment investigated a different signaling procedure, one that only precedes shock, in a choice procedure. Rats chose between one food pellet and two pellets with a delayed shock. Shock intensity and signal presence were manipulated across conditions. Using an adjusting delay procedure, the delay to shock was adjusted based on the rats' choices. Choice for one food pellet raised the delay to shock in subsequent trials and choice for two pellets with shock reduced the delay in subsequent trials. Adjustments continued within each condition until the rat chose both options equally (indifference) or until choice for the two pellets with shock persisted. In general, higher shock intensities devalued the two pellets to the greatest extent, resulting in longer adjusting delays before indifference was reached. The signal, however, had no consistent effect on choice. Procedural differences across experiments evaluating signaled shock are discussed as possible explanations for conflicting findings regarding the effect of the signaled shock on behavior. EFFECTS OF SIGNALED SHOCK ON CHOICE iii


Radio frequency (RF) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) based on Al1-xScxN are replacing AlN-based devices because of their higher achievable bandwidths, suitable for the fifth-generation (5G) mobile network. However, overheating of Al1-xScxN film bulk acoustic resonators (FBARs) used in RF MEMS filters limits power handling and thus the phone's ability to operate in an increasingly congested RF environment while maintaining its maximum data transmission rate. In this work, the ramifications of tailoring of the piezoelectric response and microstructure of Al1-xScxN films on the thermal transport have been studied. The thermal conductivity of Al1-xScxN films (3-8 W m-1 K-1) grown by reactive sputter deposition was found to be orders of magnitude lower than that for c-axis-textured AlN films due to alloying effects. The film thickness dependence of the thermal conductivity suggests that higher frequency FBAR structures may suffer from limited power handling due to exacerbated overheating concerns. The reduction of the abnormally oriented grain (AOG) density was found to have a modest effect on the measured thermal conductivity. However, the use of low AOG density films resulted in lower insertion loss and thus less power dissipated within the resonator, which will lead to an overall enhancement of the device thermal performance.


The penicillin-induced L phase of growth of the group B, type III streptococcal strain 76-043 was examined for biochemical properties used for the identification of group B streptococci. After numerous serial subcultures in the cell wall-defective state, this stable L phase continued to produce hemolysin, hippuricase, and CAMP factor in addition to the group- and type-specific antigens. Hemolysin production by the L-phase cells was observed on solid and in liquid media containing sheep erythrocytes. Washed whole L-phase cells hydrolyzed hippuric acid. CAMP factor was detected by the characteristic hemolysis produced on blood agar by L-phase cells or filtered culture supernatants. CAMP factor activity was quantitated by an agar well diffusion system and a macrotube assay with partially purified preparations of CAMP factor and staphylococcal beta-hemolysin. Hyperimmune cow serum neutralized the CAMP activity of the L phase and parent bacterial phase to the same degree, suggesting identity of the CAMP factors. Production of hemolysin, hippuricase, and CAMP factor confirmed the bacterial origin of this L phase. Assay for these biological markers could be used to identify L-phase organisms derived from group B streptococci.


Surgical site infection (SSI) surveillance is performed using a variety of methods with unclear performance characteristics. We used claims data to identify records for review following hysterectomy and colorectal surgery. Claims-enhanced screening identified SSIs missed by routine surveillance and could be used for targeted chart review to improve SSI detection.


Process scale-up remains a considerable challenge for environmental applications of non-thermal plasmas. Undersanding the impact of reactor hydrodynamics in the performance of the process is a key step to overcome this challenge. In this work, we apply chemical engineering concepts to analyse the impact that different non-thermal plasma reactor configurations and regimes, such as laminar or plug flow, may have on the reactor performance. We do this in the particular context of the removal of pollutants by non-thermal plasmas, for which a simplified model is available. We generalise this model to different reactor configurations and, under certain hypotheses, we show that a reactor in the laminar regime may have a behaviour significantly different from one in the plug flow regime, often assumed in the non-thermal plasma literature. On the other hand, we show that a packed-bed reactor behaves very similarly to one in the plug flow regime. Beyond those results, the reader will find in this work a quick introduction to chemical reaction engineering concepts.


PURPOSE
In patient-specific quality assurance (QA) for static beam intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), machine-learning-based dose analysis methods have been developed to identify the cause of an error as an alternative to gamma analysis. Although these new methods have revealed that the cause of the error can be identified by analyzing the dose distribution obtained from the two-dimensional detector, they have not been extended to the analysis of volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) QA. In this study, we propose a deep learning approach to detect various types of errors in patient-specific VMAT QA.

METHODS
A total of 161 beams from 104 prostate VMAT plans were analyzed. All beams were measured using a cylindrical detector (Delta4, ScandiDos, Uppsala, Sweden), and predicted dose distributions in a cylindrical phantom were calculated using a treatment planning system (TPS). In addition to the error-free plan, we simulated 12 types of errors: two types of multileaf collimator positional errors (systematic or random leaf offset of 2 mm), two types of monitor unit (MU) scaling errors (±3%), two types of gantry rotation errors (±2° in clockwise and counterclockwise direction), and six types of phantom setup errors (±1 mm in lateral, longitudinal, and vertical directions). The error-introduced predicted dose distributions were created by editing the calculated dose distributions using a TPS with in-house software. Those 13 types of dose difference maps, consisting of an error-free map and 12 error maps, were created from the measured and predicted dose distributions and were used to train the convolutional neural network (CNN) model. Our model was a multi-task model that individually detected each of the 12 types of errors. Two datasets, test sets 1 and 2, were prepared to evaluate the performance of the model. Test set 1 consisted of 13 types of dose maps used for training, while test set 2 included the dose maps with 25 types of errors in addition to the error-free dose map. The dose map, which introduced 25 types of errors, was generated by combining 2 of the 12 types of simulated errors. For comparison with the performance of our model, gamma analysis was performed for test sets 1 and 2 with the criteria set to 3%/2 mm and 2%/1 mm (dose difference/distance to agreement).

RESULTS
For test set 1, the overall accuracy of our CNN model, gamma analysis with the criteria set to 3%/2 mm and gamma analysis with the criteria set to 2%/1 mm was 0.92, 0.19, and 0.81, respectively. Similarly, for test set 2, the overall accuracy was 0.44, 0.42, and 0.95, respectively. Our model outperformed gamma analysis in the classification of dose maps containing a single type error, and the performance of our model was inferior in the classification of dose maps containing compound errors.

CONCLUSIONS
A multi-task CNN model for detecting errors in patient-specific VMAT QA using a cylindrical measuring device was constructed, and its performance was evaluated. Our results demonstrate that our model was effective in identifying the error type in the dose map for VMAT QA.


Famine persistence around the world, despite its insufficient visibility in the media, makes it urgent to restate the issue of food safety. Nowadays economical policy models and warfare constitute clearly determinant factors in hanger, much more than natural disasters and farming production decreasing, formerly invoked. It is also clear that it is impossible to explain hanger in terms of food scarcity in the world. Nevertheless, these certainties do not produce coherent acting and policies since neo-liberal logic prevents the State to interfere with market rules. Along with the issue of hanger the dependence of many Latin American countries with regard to food supply becomes stronger, so producing a real food uncertainty. In this context it would be wise to consider the problem of food safety as an ethical issue within the perspective of common good in order to react adequately and timely.


FOR some years now, it has been a common practice to die cast the squirrel cages of induction motor rotors. The die cast rotor has many advantages of simplicity, ruggedness, and durability as well as low cost. One feature of die castings is the tendency for all castings to have a perfect outside surface even though the interior may contain voids, blow holes, or porosity. This feature is an advantage when the appearance of the die cast article is of primary importance. However, in an electric rotor, it is a disadvantage as no visual inspection methods will disclose a faulty interior which may affect the electrical performance.


Recent effort to test deep learning systems has produced an intuitive and compelling test criterion called neuron coverage (NC), which resembles the notion of traditional code coverage. NC measures the proportion of neurons activated in a neural network and it is implicitly assumed that increasing NC improves the quality of a test suite. In an attempt to automatically generate a test suite that increases NC, we design a novel diversity promoting regularizer that can be plugged into existing adversarial attack algorithms. We then assess whether such attempts to increase NC could generate a test suite that (1) detects adversarial attacks successfully, (2) produces natural inputs, and (3) is unbiased to particular class predictions. Contrary to expectation, our extensive evaluation finds that increasing NC actually makes it harder to generate an effective test suite: higher neuron coverage leads to fewer defects detected, less natural inputs, and more biased prediction preferences. Our results invoke skepticism that increasing neuron coverage may not be a meaningful objective for generating tests for deep neural networks and call for a new test generation technique that considers defect detection, naturalness, and output impartiality in tandem.


In Ontological Catastrophe, Joseph Carew takes up the central question guiding Slavoj Žižek philosophy: How could something like phenomenal reality emerge out of the meaninglessness of the Real? Carefully reconstructing and expanding upon his controversial reactualization of German Idealism, Carew argues that Žižek offers us an original, but perhaps terrifying, response: experience is possible only if we presuppose a prior moment of breakdown as the ontogenetic basis of subjectivity. Drawing upon resources found in Žižek, Lacanian psychoanalysis, and post-Kantian philosophy, Carew thus develops a new critical metaphysics—a metaphysics which is a variation upon the late German Idealist theme of balancing system and freedom, realism and idealism, in a single, self-reflexive theoretical construct—that challenges our understanding of nature, culture, and the ultimate structure of reality.


In ad hoc wireless networks, one of the hottest research directions has been to increase the throughput capacity scaling with respect to the number of nodes n. Gupta and Kumar (2000) introduced a fixed random network model and showed that the throughput per source-destination pair is Theta(1/root nlogn) when the network is coordinated by a centralized entity. Grossglauser and Tse (2001) introduced a mobile random network model and showed that a source-destination pair acquires a constant throughput of Theta(1) assuming that delays incurred by mobile nodes with low mobility are tolerable.In this paper, we consider the capacity of ad hoc wireless networks with infrastructure support. Although Grossglauser-Tse mobile network model enables Theta(1) per-node throughput scaling, the mobility assumption may be too unrealistic to be accepted in some practical situations. One of the key observations we acquired is that the infrastructure support plays the same role played by the mobility in the Grossglauser-Tse model. We show that nodes can utilize the randomly located infrastructure support instead of mobility when nodes are nearly static. In this case, we show that the per-node throughput of Theta(1) is still achievable when the number of access points grows linearly with respect to the number of nodes. Furthermore., we show that there is additional per-node throughput improvement of Theta(1) when nodes are mobile.


In a globalised world sovereignty is increasingly shared between different spatial levels. Such a pooled understanding of sovereignty is contradictory to traditional ideas of nationalism which emphasis the congruity between state sovereignty and the national unit. However, the way in which national unit is conceptualised is far from uniform. This paper explores the relationship between preferences for shared sovereignty and different conceptions of national identity in the context of the Scottish National Party. Using data from a large scale SNP membership survey and Scottish Social Attitude Survey data it analyses support for secession either within or outside the EU among its party members and affiliates. The results from binary regression models show that members and affiliates that hold a more internally exclusive conception of Scottishness are more likely to favour independence outside the EU when compared to those that have an internally inclusive conception. Furthermore, exclusive external conceptions (e.g. regarding oneself as exclusively Scottish and not British), at least for SNP affiliates, makes one more likely to favour secessionism outside the EU than people who also recognise both Scottish and British identities. The findings challenge the view of autonomist parties as 'Europeanist par Excellence'.


The paper empirically analyzed the determinants of the liquidity of the commercial banks in Kenya using a multiple linear regression model. The motivation was to establish whether the determinants of liquidity are empirically robust. The focus was exclusively on a cross section of 30 commercial banks in Kenya. This was because earlier cross country studies recommended country-specific empirical investigation as an area warranting further research. Employing the linear regression model uncovered an economically meaningful relationship between bank's liquidity and its determinants. The findings from a cross sectional analyses indicate that significant factors that determine the liquidity of the commercial banks in Kenya are liquid liabilities, growth and maturity. Liquid liabilities and maturity have a positive impact on liquidity whereas growth has a negative impact. The other factors such as liquid assets and cash flows have a positive but insignificant effect on the liquidity of commercial banks. Similarly, leverage, size, profitability and loan commitments have an insignificant negative effect on banks' liquidity. The estimated model results indicate that all the variables included in the model significantly determines 80 percent of the variation in liquidity. The findings further indicate that the estimation results are free from any problems of normality and heterogeneity as shown by the normality and heterogeneity test results. The model also fits the data correctly as indicated by the post-estimation results. The implication of these findings is that the Central Bank of Kenya needs to devise legal requirements that give benchmarks of the above ratios to ensure a sustainable liquidity of the commercial banks. This will help create a stable banking and financial sector that provides a conducive environment for sustainable economic growth and development.


Construction project managers are always looking for methods for forecasting future projects and preventing of potential delays in the project. One of the most crucial requirements of construction project managers and financial planners is awareness of project cash flow and financial status. On the other hand, the unique properties of construction projects with uncertainties such as activity duration, the variability of resources, material costs and also ambiguity in the employer's payments are factors that have an effect on the correct prediction of project cash flow. Hence, the project team should examine project cash flow under uncertainty environment. There are many approaches for considering uncertainty such as fuzzy sets, interval theory, rough and grey system. But the most well-known approach is fuzzy sets which has wide applications in engineering and management. Hence in this paper, we proposed a new method for forecasting project cash flow under fuzzy environment. Finally, the proposed method was applied on an "Engineering, Procurement and Construction" (EPC) project and it is demonstrated that the proposed model has a high performance in the prediction of project cash flow.


The combination of higher quality requirements and sensitivity of high performance circuits to delay defects has led to an increasing emphasis on delay testing of VLSI circuits. As delay testing using external testers requires expensive ATE, built-in self test (BIST) is an alternative technique that can significantly reduce the test cost. It has been proven that Single Input Change (SIC) test sequences are more effective than classical Multiple Input Change (MIC) test sequences when a high robust delay fault coverage is targeted. It has also been shown that random SIC (RSIC) test sequences achieve a higher fault coverage than random MIC (RMIC) test sequences when both robust and non robust tests are under consideration; the experimental results were based on a software generation of RSIC sequences that are easily generated. Obviously, a hardware RSIC generation providing similar results can be obtained. However, this hardware generator must be carefully designed. In this paper, it is explained what are the criteria which must be satisfied for this purpose. A solution is proposed and illustrated with an example. Then,it is shown that a bad result may be obtained if one of these criteria is not satisfied.


In March 1998, the LHD project finally completed its eight year construction schedule. LHD is a superconducting (SC) heliotron type device with R = 3.9 m, ap = 0.6 m and B = 3 T, which has simple and continuous large helical coils. The major mission of LHD is to demonstrate the high potential of currentless helical-toroidal plasmas, which are free from current disruption and have an intrinsic potential for steady state operation. After intensive physics design studies in the 1980s, the necessary programmes of SC engineering R&D was carried out, and as a result, LHD fabrication technologies were successfully developed. In this process, a significant database on fusion engineering has been established. Achievements have been made in various areas, such as the technologies of SC conductor development, SC coil fabrication, liquid He and supercritical He cryogenics, development of low temperature structural materials and welding, operation and control, and power supply systems and related SC coil protection schemes. They are integrated, and nowadays comprise a major part of the LHD relevant fusion technology area. These issues correspond to the technological database necessary for the next step of future reactor designs. In addition, this database could be increased with successful commissioning tests just after the completion of the LHD machine assembly phase, which consisted of a vacuum leak test, an LHe cooldown test and a coil current excitation test. These LHD relevant engineering developments are recapitulated and highlighted. To summarize the construction of LHD as an SC device, the critical design with NbTi SC material has been successfully accomplished by these R&D activities, which enable a new regime of fusion experiments to be entered.


Real-time information about the state (location, speed, and direction) of other vehicles in the system is critical for both safety and navigation applications in future intelligent transportation systems. However, reliably obtaining this information over multiple hops in a capacity constrained, contention-prone wireless network poses a significant challenge. In this paper, we describe an algorithm VCAST that addresses this challenge by exploiting a notion of distance sensitivity in information propagation, in which information is forwarded at a rate that decreases linearly with distance from the source. By doing so, the required communication overhead per node can be significantly reduced, thereby reducing channel contention, allowing higher information supply rates, and scaling to larger network sizes. VCAST can be used to improve safety against collisions and to enable dynamic routing and navigation techniques by providing aggregate traffic information in an extended neighborhood. The performance of VCAST is validated using extensive ns-3 simulations under different network sizes and densities with an IEEE 802.11b transmission model and the advantages of VCAST in comparison to non-distance-sensitive approaches are highlighted.


Homeland security against possible terrorist attacks involves making decisions under true uncertainty. Not only are we ignorant of the form, place, and time of potential terrorist attacks, we are also largely ignorant of the likelihood of these attacks. In this paper, we conceptualize homeland security under true uncertainty as society's immunity to unacceptable losses. We illustrate and analyze the consequences of this notion of security with a simple model of allocating a fixed budget for homeland security to defending the pathways through which a terrorist may launch an attack and to mitigating the damage from an attack that evades this defense. In this problem, immunity is the range of uncertainty about the likelihood of an attack within which the actual expected loss will not exceed some critical value. We analyze the allocation of a fixed homeland security budget to defensive and mitigative efforts to maximize immunity to alternative levels of expected loss. We show that the production of homeland security involves a fundamental trade-off between immunity and acceptable loss; that is, for fixed resources that are optimally allocated to defense and mitigation, increasing immunity requires accepting higher expected losses, and reducing acceptable expected losses requires lower immunity. Greater investments in homeland security allow society to increase its immunity to a particular expected loss, reduce the expected losses to which we are immune while holding the degree of immunity constant, or some combination of increased immunity to a lower critical expected loss.


Sugarcane is one of the important food and commercial crops of Tanzania. Its production is concentrated mainly in three regions, Morogoro, Kagera and Kilimanjaro. Most of the sugar produced in the country is for home consumption and only a small proportion is exported to service foreign debts. This paper briefly reviews the agronomic, production and marketing aspects of sugarcane in Tanzania, with special emphasis on the factors associated with variation in production during the past ten years. During the 1983/84 season, the country produced slightly over 130,000 tons of processed sugar, but 1988/89 production had dropped to just about 96,000 tons. During the 1990's (1991/92-1993/94), production increased in response to the trade liberalization policy of the country. To increase and sustain the country's future sugar production, improved soil management of sugarcane fields, irrigation technology and the use of improved clones need to be introduced. The current marketing and handling structure in the sugar industry requires reform in order to increase efficiency and reduce storage overheads paid by the consumers.


Background: Childhood weight management programmes (WMP) are used within the UK to stem the rising prevalence of pediatric obesity. These WMPs often provide children and young people (CYP) and their family's with methods of stabilising and reducing the severity of the weight issue. That said, low engagement in WMPs is often encountered but the reasoning is not well known. Misaligned and unrealistic outcome expectations have been hypothesised as a reason for low engagement. This paper explores 1) the parent and CYP outcome expectations of a WMP, and 2) the qualitative level of agreement between parent and CYP expectations. Methods: 30 families were recruited from three, UK-based WMPs (10 families per programme). Qualitative research methods were used to examine both the parent and CYP outcome expectations. Participatory research methods were used with CYP and semi-structured interviews with parents. Data were collected from parents and CYP independently, and notably, were collected from participants within two weeks of starting a WMP. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. In separate analyses, the alignment between parent and CYP responses were examined. Results: Preliminary findings indicate that parents reported 24 different outcome expectations (varying from 'anger management' to 'weight management [not loss]' to 'understanding consequences of obesity'), whilst CYP reported 25 expectations (ranging from 'aesthetic improvement' to 'physical activity opportunities' to 'not wanting to attend'). Weight loss was the most cited outcome expectation amongst parents and CYP, however friendship, CYP confidence, dietary education, and the reinforcement of parent messages were also strongly cited. Of note, weight loss was not always cited as the primary outcome expectation. The qualitative level of agreement between CYP and parents shall be reported. Conclusions: Families do not always initiate a WMP for the sole purpose of weight loss and management. Practitioners would benefit from understanding what families hope to achieve during their attendance, and subsequently tailor the programme, comments and feedback to reflect this. By tailoring messages and feedback directly to the family expectations, families may see a greater benefit in WMP attendance and therefore be encouraged to persist in treatment. Attendance and weight-related outcomes are strongly correlated.


In this paper we focus on a recently documented effect of economic inequality, namely that higher income individuals tend to be less generous than poorer individuals, but only in contexts where macro-level economic inequality is high, or is perceived as high. We consider data from the Measuring Morality study, a nationally representative survey of United States residents, that contains a validated behavioural measure of generosity (the dictator game) along with the household income of respondents. We fit a small area model to this data with the aim of investigating the role of economic inequality on generosity in the US. We observe that model covariates (reported income and Gini index) are subject to measurement error and investigate the effect of introducing the measurement error in this model.


Age‐related bone loss is in large part the consequence of senescence mechanisms that impact bone cell number and function. In recent years, progress has been made in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying bone cell senescence that contributes to the alteration of skeletal integrity during aging. These mechanisms can be classified as intrinsic senescence processes, alterations in endogenous anabolic factors, and changes in local support. Intrinsic senescence mechanisms cause cellular dysfunctions that are not tissue specific and include telomere shortening, accumulation of oxidative damage, impaired DNA repair, and altered epigenetic mechanisms regulating gene transcription. Aging mechanisms that are more relevant to the bone microenvironment include alterations in the expression and signaling of local growth factors and altered intercellular communications. This review provides an integrated overview of the current concepts and interacting mechanisms underlying bone cell senescence during aging and how they could be targeted to reduce the negative impact of senescence in the aging skeleton. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.


2 Abstract: Clinical and laboratory studies in an outbreak of Maedi-visna disease in a flock of sheep and goats were conducted. The clinical findings of the disease were loss of wool, dyspnea and coughing, progressive condition loss, exercise intolerance and chronic mastitis. Nervous signs were developed later and were characterized by gait abnormalities of the hind limbs, ataxia, tremor of facial muscles and recumbency. A definitive diagnosis was made by characteristic clinical history, gross and histopathological lesions and detection of seropositive animals by ELISA.


This paper presents a set of four features to be used in the detection of seizure in the electroencephalograms (EEGs) of newborns. The features are designed with the aid of recent advances in modelling of the newborn EEG. The performance of the features is analysed with a database of 500 epochs of newborn EEG (250 background/250 seizure). The covariance of the features is also analysed to indicate the redundancy of the feature set. The results show significant differences in the features between seizure and background EEG. The covariance between the features suggests that there is little redundant information between the features.


Background: Desirable product attributes for treatment of moderate-to-severe acute pain in many medically supervised settings are rapid onset and a route of administration not requiring intravenous access. The pharmacokinetic characteristics of sublingually administered tablets containing 15 or 30 µg of sufentanil are described. Methods: Blood was sampled from healthy subjects (four studies, 122 subjects) and patients (seven studies, 944 patients). Studies in healthy subjects determined bioavailability, effect of inhibition of cytochrome P450 3A4, and the plasma concentration profile with single and hourly sublingual doses. Studies in patients evaluated effects of weight, age, sex, and organ impairment on apparent clearance. Noncompartmental and mixed-effect population methods were used. Results: Bioavailability of a single sublingual tablet was 52%, decreasing to 35% with repeat dosing. Ketoconazole (CYP3A4 inhibitor) increased maximum plasma concentration 19% and increased the area under the curve 77%. After a single 30-µg dose, plasma concentrations reached the published sufentanil analgesic threshold (24 pg/ml) within 30 min, peaked at 1 h, and then decreased below therapeutic concentrations by ~3 h. With hourly administration, plasma concentrations plateaued by the fifth dose. Time for concentrations to decrease 50% from maximal values was similar after 1 dose (2.5 ± 0.85 h) and 12 doses (2.5 ± 0.72 h). Clearance increased with weight, decreased with age, and was not affected by renal or hepatic impairment. Conclusions: The time course of a single 30-µg dose was consistent with onset of analgesia and redosing frequency observed in clinical trials. Sublingual sufentanil tablets provide the opportunity to noninvasively and rapidly treat moderate-to-severe pain in a monitored setting.


NADH-dependent reduced ferredoxin:NADP+ oxidoreductase (Nfn) is an electron-bifurcating enzyme first discovered in the strict anaerobes Clostridium kluyveri and Moorella thermoacetica. In vivo, Nfn catalyzes the endergonic reduction of NADP+ with NADH coupled to the exergonic reduction of NADP+ with reduced ferredoxin. Most Nfn homologs consist of two subunits, although in certain species Nfn homologs are fused. In contrast to other electron-bifurcating enzymes, Nfn possess a simpler structure. Therefore, Nfn becomes a perfect model to determine the mechanism of flavin-based electron bifurcation, which is a novel energy coupling mode distributed among anaerobic bacteria and archaea. The crystal structures of Nfn from Thermotoga maritima and Pyrococcus furiosus are known, and studies have shown that the FAD molecule of the NfnB (b-FAD) is the site of electron bifurcation, and other cofactors, including a [2Fe2S] cluster, two [4Fe4S] clusters, and the FAD molecule on the NfnA subunit, contribute to electron transfer. Further, the short-lived anionic flavin semiquinone (ASQ) state of b-FAD is essential for electron bifurcation. Nfn homologs are widely distributed among microbes, including bacteria, archaea, and probably eukaryotes, most of which are anaerobes despite that certain species are facultative microbes and even aerobes. Moreover, potential evidence shows that lateral gene transfer may occur in the evolution of this enzyme. Nfn homologs present four different structural patterns, including the well-characterized NfnAB and three different kinds of fused Nfn homologs whose detailed properties have not been characterized. These findings indicate that gene fusion/fission and gene rearrangement may contribute to the evolution of this enzyme. Under physiological conditions, Nfn catalyzes the reduction of NADP+ with NADH and reduced ferredoxin, which is then used in certain NADPH-dependent reactions. Deletion of nfn in several microbes causes low growth and redox unbalance and may influence the distribution of fermentation products. It's also noteworthy that different Nfn homologs perform different functions according to its circumstance. Physiological functions of Nfn indicate that it can be a potential tool in the metabolic engineering of industrial microorganisms, which can regulate the redox potential in vivo.


Context: Secondhand smoke exposure (SHSe) affects up to half of all children in the United States. Many studies have identified factors associated with in-home SHSe, but few have contrasted these factors between households with and without residential smokers. In the latter case, exposure occurs from only external sources that enter the home, such as visitors or environmental incursion. Objective: Among children with SHSe at home, to examine demographic and psychosocial differences between households with and without residential smokers. Design: Baseline analysis of an observational cohort. Setting: Baltimore City, Maryland. Participants: A total of 157 children with asthma, aged 5 to 12 years. Measures: At-home airborne nicotine, caregiver-reported depression, asthma-related quality of life, functional social support, and demographics. Univariable comparisons were performed between SHS-exposed households with and without residential smokers. Multivariable logistic regression models were fit to examine associations between measured factors and absence of residential smokers. Results: Children (78.3%) had at-home SHSe. Of these, 40.7% lived in households without residential smokers. Compared with households with residential smokers, these caregivers endorsed stronger beliefs in SHS harms and also worse functional social support and asthma-related stress, despite no differences in asthma morbidity. In adjusted models, SHS-exposed children with caregivers in the lowest tertile of functional social support (adjusted odds ratio, 3.50; 95% confidence interval, 1.12-10.99), asthma-related quality of life (2.90; 1.06-7.95), and those living alone (5.28; 1.26-22.15) had at least twice higher odds of having exclusively external SHSe than the highest tertile (P trends < .05). Conclusions: In-home SHS exposure remains alarmingly high in urban environments. However, a substantial proportion of this exposure appears to be occurring only from external sources that enter the home. Caregivers in these homes had higher desire but lower agency to avoid SHSe, driven by lack of functional support and physical isolation. Public policies targeting these factors may help remediate exposure in this especially vulnerable population.


The United States is unique in its reliance on incarceration. In 2018 the United States had the largest prison population in the world—more than 2.1 million people—and incarcerated 655 per 100,000 residents, the highest incarceration rate in the world. The U.S. public also holds more punitive attitudes in comparison to citizens of other Western, developed countries. For example, when presented with the same description about a hypothetical criminal event, Americans consistently prefer longer sentences compared to residents of other countries. Attitudes about the death penalty are also instructive. Although international support for the death penalty has declined dramatically over time, the majority of Americans are still in favor of capital punishment for certain crimes. In comparison, Great Britain abolished the death penalty in 1965, and only 45% of its citizens continue to support capital punishment. This raises an important question: Can understanding the will of the public help explain how governments respond to crime?
 The answer to this question is more complicated than expected upon first consideration. The United States generally starts from a more punitive stance than other countries, in part because it experiences more violent crime but also because Americans hold different moral and cultural views about crime and punishment. U.S. public officials, including lawmakers, judges, and prosecutors, are responsive to trends in public attitudes. When the public mood became more punitive during the 1990s, for example, U.S. states universally increased the length of prison sentences and expanded the number of behaviors punishable by incarceration. Similarly, the public mood moderated in the United States toward the end of the 2000s, and states began reducing their prison populations and supporting sentencing reform. It is also true, however, that public officials overestimate how punitive the public is while citizens underestimate how harsh the justice system is. Moreover, the public supports alternatives to tough sentences including prevention, treatment, and alternatives to incarceration, particularly for juveniles and nonviolent offenders. Thus public opinion about punishment is multifaceted and complex, necessitating the exploration of many factors to understand it.
 Looking at public attitudes about punishment over time, across culture and societies, and in a variety of ways can help explain why social responses to crime change and why some people or groups of people are more punitive than others. Two ideas are helpful in organizing motivations for punishment. First, public support for punishment may be motivated by rational, instrumental interests about how best to protect public safety. Public concern about crime is a particularly important influence on trends in the public mood, but fear of crime and victimization are inconsistently related to how individuals feel about punishment. Second, attitudes about punishment are tied to expressive desires. Attitudes are influenced by culture and moral beliefs about how to respond to harm and violations of the law. Thus attitudes about punishment are relevant in understanding how the public thinks about the problem of crime, as how people think and feel about crime influences what they think and feel should be done about it.


The method of "flooding" with mermitids, which was successfully used against mosquitoes, is unreal for biological control of black flies because of difficulties and unprofitableness of their laboratory maintenance and reproduction. A more probable way of solving the problem is the untroduction of effective forms of parasites. In perspective the cultivation of the adipose tissue of the host and biochemical overcoming of its protective reactions are necessary.


Malfunction and obstruction of gastroenterostomy exit stomas is a gravely serious complication of gastric resection. It is somewhat difficult to ascertain how often this trying complication occurs, since it is probably not reported as frequently as the gratifying results. In a discussion of the problem,* Orr and others stated that every surgeon who has done many gastric resections has had some difficulty with malfunctioning gastrojejunal stomas. In cases of apparent exit stoma obstruction reoperation and exploration have been done at various intervals following the initial gastrectomy. Edema of the stomal walls has been found in many of these cases and has been considered an important factor by many surgical clinics. Correction of the fluid, electrolyte, and protein balance has been proved of value in relieving the edema and correcting the obstruction. Actual mechanical obstruction of the stoma due to excessive cuff formation at the suture line has been encountered. Kinking


Ectopic Mer expression promotes pro-survival signaling and contributes to leukemogenesis and chemoresistance in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Consequently, Mer kinase inhibitors may promote leukemic cell death and further act as chemosensitizers increasing efficacy and reducing toxicities of current ALL regimens. We have applied a structure-based design approach to discover novel small molecule Mer kinase inhibitors. Several pyrazolopyrimidine derivatives effectively inhibit Mer kinase activity at subnanomolar concentrations. Furthermore, the lead compound shows a promising selectivity profile against a panel of 72 kinases and has excellent pharmacokinetic properties. We also describe the crystal structure of the complex between the lead compound and Mer, opening new opportunities for further optimization and new template design.


Ascorbic acid was present in some selected fruits like apple, banana, guava, kiwifruit, mango, orange and papaya. All fresh fruits were perches from a market and pulp was separate from peel. Determine ascorbic acid content in selected fruits by using iodine solution in redox titration method. This method was straight forward than the other alternative methods were used. Ascorbic acid content was highest in mango 51.19 mg/100 g and lowest in guava 10.41 mg/100 g among the different fruits tested. Application of ascorbic acid is in pharmaceutical industry, food industry, cosmetic industry and various technological processes.


ABSTRACT Coach education has been the subject of increasing investigation in recent years. While such inquiry has provided important insights into coaches' engagements with various forms of coach education provision, coach educators' perspectives have remained curiously absent from the literature base. This study provides rich insights into the ways in which four Football Association (FA) coach educators interpreted their everyday workplace relationships with various significant others (e.g., their line managers, colleagues, and coach learners). In-depth, cyclic interviews were utilised to generate the data. The transcripts were iteratively analysed using symbolic interactionist and dramaturgical theorisations of social life. The analysis highlighted how the participants' interactions and identity management were influenced by their understandings of others' expectations of acceptable workplace performance, as well as their own career related aspirations. Here, the participants demonstrated a nuanced ability to 'read' and 'write' themselves into the micropolitical and uncertain terrain of coach education work. It is hoped that this study highlights the utility of symbolic interactionist and dramaturgical theories to the critical examination of coach education work and, relatedly, how such inquiry could be used to assist in the preparation and on-going professional development of coach educators.


The effect of Al2O3 addition on sinterability of Tetragonal Zirconia Polycrystal powders including 3mol% Y2O3 (3Y-TZP) was investigated. Each 3Y-TZP powder dispersed with 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2wt.% of Al2O3 was prepared by the spray-drying method. The prepared powders were pressed into a disk type and sintered at 1350, 1400, 1450 and 1500 for 2 hours in the air. Resultant microstructures and mechanical properties of specimens were investigated by using Vickers/Micro hardness Tester, FE-SEM and XRD. Most of the specimens showed high relative density over 99% and a higher fracture toughness than pure 3Y-TZP. Al2O3 particles dispersed in 3Y-TZP microstructure depressed grain growth of 3Y-TZP by the pinning effect. Increase in fracture toughness of 3Y-TZP was explained by the crack deflection due to dispersed Al2O3 particles.


Five different implant materials and three different geometries of ankylosed single-tooth implants were investigated. The stress distributions within and around the implants were determined by finite element analysis. Results show that the optimal combination of implant material and geometry can reduce implant and alveolar stresses by a factor of three when compared to an arbitrary implant design.


BACKGROUND
Data have pointed at an impaired fracture healing with fluoroquinolones and thus potentially a decreased bone biomechanical competence.

OBJECTIVES
To study fracture risk associated with antibiotics.

METHODS
It is a case control study. There were 124,655 fracture cases and 373,962 age and gender matched controls. The main exposure was use of various groups of antibiotics. Confounder control was performed for social variables, contacts to hospitals and general practitioners, alcoholism and a number of other variables.

RESULTS
An increased risk of any fracture (OR =1.45, 95% CI: 1.42 -1.49), hip (1.46, 95% CI: 1.35- 1.58), forearm (1.67, 95% CI: 1.55 -1.80), and spine fractures (1.38, 95% CI: 1.18-1.60) was seen with the use of dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin. There was a dose response relationship for overall risk of fractures, hip, and forearm fractures but not for spine fractures with dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin. None of the other groups of antibiotics against bacteria, tuberculosis, virus, and fungi were systematically associated with any major change in the risk of fractures.

CONCLUSION
Dicloxacillin and flucloxacillin seem associated with an increased risk of fractures. The cause for this increase has to be determined but may be related to their use against infections of the bone, the increase thus rather being due to the underlying disease than the drug. Other types of antibiotics especially the fluoroquinolones were not systematically associated with an increased risk of fractures.


We evaluated the visual outcome of a cohort of children with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) and optic pathway glioma (OPG) treated according to standardized therapeutic guidelines. The study population consisted of all consecutive patients with NF1 and OPG referred to a specialized pediatric neuro-oncology program between 1994 and 2004. Treatment was instituted only in cases of progressive disease or clinical deterioration. Treatment modalities were chemotherapy (based on vincristine/carboplatin) for children younger than 5 years and radiotherapy for all others. Ten boys and 10 girls (seven with a positive family history) entered the trial (median age at diagnosis of OPG, 29 months). At a median follow-up time of 78 months, seven patients had been treated with chemotherapy only, four with radiotherapy, and four with chemotherapy plus radiotherapy. Five patients were observed only. Currently, 18 are alive and two have died. Eight patients were treated for progressive visual loss in the face of stable disease, five for tumor volume increase without visual deterioration, and two for symptomatic tumor volume increase. At referral, six children had a visual acuity (VA) of < 30% in both eyes; eight children had 100% VA bilaterally. At referral, the visual field (VF) could be assessed in three children: One had VF loss in both eyes, one had VF loss in one eye, and one had normal VF. At last follow-up, eight children had VA < 20% in both eyes; only two children had 100% VA in both eyes. Among 11 children who had some visual function, three had VF loss in one eye and three in both eyes, and five had an intact VF. Contrast and color sensitivity were abnormal in seven and six patients, respectively. Thirteen children fell into the WHO hypovision category. In summary, among the 15 children treated, one had a definitive and two a mild improvement in VA. In conclusion, the visual outcome of this selected cohort of NF1 patients with OPG is unsatisfactory. A critical reappraisal of the therapeutic strategy adopted is needed.


Background: Several sacroiliac joint (SIJ) provocative tests used to assess posterior pelvic pain involve moving and stressing the hip. It is unknown if there is a subgroup of patients with posterior pelvic pain who have underlying hip deformity that could potentially influence performance and interpretation of these tests. Objective: To describe the prevalence of radiographic hip deformity and hip osteoarthritis in a group of adults 40 years old and under who met the clinical diagnostic criteria for treatment of posterior pelvic pain with an image guided intra-articular SIJ injection. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Tertiary university orthopedic department Patients (or Participants):One hundred and forty-eight patients were evaluated (83% (123/148) female;mean age 31.3 6.2 years). All had completed a trial of comprehensive noninvasive treatment for posterior pelvic pain and had a minimum of three positive SIJ provocative tests on physical examination. Methods: Retrospective review identified patients undergoing SIJ injection for pain recommended and performed by seven physiatrists between 2011 and 2017. Hip radiographs were read by a physician with expertise in hip measurements with previously demonstrated excellent intrarater reliability. Main Outcome Measurements: Percentage of patients with hip deformity findings. Results: No patients meeting the inclusion criteria had significant radiographic hip osteoarthritis (Tonnis ≥2 indicating moderate or greater radiographic hip osteoarthritis) and 4/148 (3%) were found to have mild radiographic hip osteoarthritis. Prearthritic hip disorders were identified in 123 (83%, 95% CI: 76, 89%) patients. For those patients with prearthritic hip disorders, measurements consistent with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) were seen in 61 (41%) patients, acetabular dysplasia in 49 (33%) patients, and acetabular retroversion in 85 (57%) patients. Acetabular retroversion was identified in 43% (crossover sign) and 39% (prominent ischial spine) of patients. Conclusions: Approximately 57% of adult patients under the age of 40 years with the clinical symptom complex of SIJ pain were found to have radiographic acetabular retroversion. This is a higher percentage than the 5%-15% found in asymptomatic people in the current literature. Further study is needed to assess links between hip structure, hip motion, and links to pelvic pain including peri and intra-articular SIJ pain. Level of Evidence: III


This article is a survey and critique of recent endeavours to establish statistical foundations for a chronology for the great divergence based upon trends and levels in relative wages. Our reading of the bibliography in Chinese labour history, together with a preliminary investigation into other primary sources, suggests that the Kuznetsian paradigm for empirical economics may not be viable for the construction of analytical narratives for the Chinese and other premodern imperial economies in South and West Asia. Nevertheless, two datasets currently in print will continue to be quoted to lend support to numerically grounded speculations for levels and trends in real wages and welfare for the families of wage-dependent urban workers in China over the eighteenth century. Statistical evidence for the Ming and Qing dynasties calibrated for the purposes of comparing real wage levels for wage-dependent labour between China and western Europe can, however, be placed on a spectrum for accuracy and inferential analysis that runs from 'unfounded guess work' to 'plausible conjectures'. The unwelcome contention of this article is that the data published and potentially available for China (and probably for India and the Ottoman Empire) stand close to the unfounded guess work end of that spectrum. Meanwhile, and as a speculative conclusion, we offer a conjecture that the 'real wages' for Qing China's tiny proletariat, whose income included high proportions of wages in kind, have remained as elusive as they were when the real wage debate began a decade ago.


SIR,-While we would agree with the views of Mr V Moshakis (14 April, p 1014) concerning the inadequacies of the conventional barium meal, we disagree with his assertion that endoscopy should be the primary investigation of suspected upper gastrointestinal disease. That conclusion certainly cannot be drawn from our article "Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: its effect on patient management" (24 March, p 775), to which he refers. The population we studied was a selected one. There is no evidence that primary use of endoscopy in patients with dyspepsia would usefully increase the yield of treatable disease, and indeed the paper "Open-access endoscopy service for general practitioners" by Dr G Holdstock and others (17 February, p 457) showed no objective benefit as a result of such a policy. We wish to reiterate our statement that the result of any study of this type "must reflect the degree of selection used in referring and accepting patients for the procedure." It would be unfortunate if our conclusions were misinterpreted as justifying a policy of indiscriminate endoscopy. Radiology as practised to the high standard reached by the Japanese, and increasingly approached in this country, offers a high degree of accuracy, although it can never provide histological material. Where good radiology is available it would be at the very least premature to replace it by endoscopy as the primary investigation, even if this were practicable. There could be a case on grounds of cost and accuracy for the use of endoscopy without a preceding barium meal in some dyspeptic patients, perhaps those over the age of 45 in whom treatment changes as a result of investigation are more likely. This must remain a hypothesis until it is tested.


Rho family small GTP-binding proteins, including Rho, Rac, and Cdc42, are key determinants of cell movement and actin-dependent cytoskeletal morphogenesis. Rho GDP-dissociation inhibitor (GDI) α and Rho GDIβ (or D4/Ly-GDI), closely related regulators for Rho proteins, are both expressed in hemopoietic cell lineages. Nevertheless, the functional contributions of Rho GDIs remain poorly understood in vivo. In this study, we report that combined disruption of both the Rho GDIα and Rho GDIβ genes in mice resulted in reduction of marginal zone B cells in the spleen, retention of mature T cells in the thymic medulla, and a marked increase in eosinophil numbers. Furthermore, these mice showed lower CD3 expression and impaired CD3-mediated proliferation of T cells. While B cells showed slightly enhanced chemotactic migration in response to CXCL12, peripheral T cells showed markedly reduced chemotactic migration in response to CCL21 and CCL19 associated with decreased receptor levels of CCR7. Overall, Rho protein levels were reduced in the bone marrow, spleen, and thymus but sustained activation of the residual part of RhoA, Rac1, and Cdc42 was detected mainly in the bone marrow and spleen. Rho GDIα and Rho GDIβ thus play synergistic roles in lymphocyte migration and development by modulating activation cycle of the Rho proteins in a lymphoid organ-specific manner.