Abstract There is sufficient evidence that the periconceptional period is a key window during which poor maternal nutrition can adversely influence long-term health and disease risk into adulthood. The higher rate of obesity in women of childbearing age and bad quality of mother's diet may result in higher incidence of hyperglycemia or hyperlipidemia, associated with an impaired metabolism in the offspring. This cross-sectional study analysed dietary habits and physical activity of 190 pregnant women aged 31 ± 6 years in the second and third trimester of their pregnancy in Austria. Dietary intake data were collected by two non-consecutive 24-h-recalls using GloboDiet software, physical activity was examined with the Pregnancy Physical Activity Questionnaire. 31.6 % of investigated women were overweight or obese; a moderate higher prevalence compared to non-pregnant women (21.9–27.8 %). Mean gestational weight gain (GWG) was 3.9 (± 4.8) kg in the second and 9.6 (± 5.1) kg in the third trimester. More than half of the pregnant women exceed the GWG recommendations of the Institute of Medicine (2009). In contrary, average energy consumption was 1765 kcal/d, which is below the DACH (German, Austrian and Swiss Society for Nutrition) reference value assuming a Physical Activity Level of 1,4. However, one quarter of participants exceeded reference value of energy intake. Ratio of energy supply by macronutrient intake was 36.2 E% fat: 48.5 E% carbohydrates: 15.3 E% protein. Mean intakes of linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid were within the DACH reference values, but DHA intake (125 mg/d) did not reach the recommendation of 200 mg/d. In addition, average intake of dietary fibre (19.8 g/d) was too low. Intakes of vitamins A, E, B1, B6, and folate as well as potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, and iodine were unsatisfying. These results are in accordance with an inadequate supply with fruits, vegetables, cereals, and milk products, at the same time exceeding intake of meat(products) and sweets. Only half of the examined pregnant women have reached the recommendation of 120 minutes of physical activity of moderate to vigorous intensity per week. This study demonstrates that dietary behaviour and physical activity during pregnancy need to be improved. Adequate energy and nutrient intake is essential before conception, as well as throughout pregnancy to support maternal needs, and to fill up stores required for foetal development. Health strategies supporting women in childbearing age in adopting a healthy lifestyle are important for the health of the next generation.


An electronic system that was developed for integrated management of patients' data and radiological images is described. The system consists of two low-cost workstations and is able to digitize conventional radiological images through a high-resolution camera. Early experiences show that the system can be an effective aid for the radiologist in diagnosis and department management.<<ETX>>


ABSTRACT Ash layers in the Lower Tithonian Longing Member (Ameghino Formation) on the Antarctic Peninsula are derived from the fallout of tephra associated with explosive eruptions. These layers are preserved in a complete and continuous sedimentary record formed in a deep, anoxic marine environment, with high background sedimentation rates allowing rapid burial and preservation. Absence of bioturbation precluded the thin ash beds from mixing with enclosing sediment. The average interval between explosive eruptions in the volcanic arc of the Antarctic Peninsula during the Early Tithonian is estimated at between 700 and 1000 years, the highest frequency of explosive volcanic events ever defined in ancient marine rocks. This frequency is comparable to that of explosive eruptions in some presently active volcanic arcs. This indicates that deposition in some deep marine settings can produce records sufficiently complete to determine accurate frequencies of explosive eruptions in ancient magmatic arcs. The apparent lull in the volcanic activity in the Antarctic Peninsula during this time, inferred from dating of volcanic rocks from the arc itself, is not supported by the marine record in the adjacent basin and must be due to a bias of sampling.


Theories of extreme lifespan evolution in vertebrates commonly implicate large size and predator-free environments together with physiological characteristics like low metabolism and high protection against oxidative damages. Here, we show that the 'human fish' (olm, Proteus anguinus), a small cave salamander (weighing 15–20 g), has evolved an extreme life-history strategy with a predicted maximum lifespan of over 100 years, an adult average lifespan of 68.5 years, an age at sexual maturity of 15.6 years and lays, on average, 35 eggs every 12.5 years. Surprisingly, neither its basal metabolism nor antioxidant activities explain why this animal sits as an outlier in the amphibian size/longevity relationship. This species thus raises questions regarding ageing processes and constitutes a promising model for discovering mechanisms preventing senescence in vertebrates.


Bunodosine 391 (BDS 391), a low molecular weight compound isolated from the sea anemone Bunodosoma cangicum, increases the nociceptive threshold and inhibits inflammatory hyperalgesia. Serotonin receptors are involved in those effects. In this study, we have expanded the characterization of the antinociceptive effect of BDS 391 demonstrating that, in rats: (a) the compound inhibits (1.2–12 ng/paw) overt pain, in the formalin test, and mechanical hyperalgesia (0.6–6.0 ng/paw) detected in a model of neuropathic pain; (b) intraplantar administration of ondansetron, a selective 5-HT3 receptor antagonist, blocks the effect of BDS 391, whereas ketanserin, a 5-HT2 receptor antagonist, partially reversed this effect, indicating the involvement of peripheral 5-HT2 and 5-HT3 receptors in BDS 391 antinociception; and (c) in binding assay studies, BDS 391 was not able to displace the selective 5-HT receptor antagonists, suggesting that this compound does not directly bind to these receptors. The effect of biguanide, a selective 5-HT3 receptor agonist, was also evaluated. The agonist inhibited the formalin's nociceptive response, supporting an antinociceptive role for 5-HT3 receptors. Our study is the first one to show that a non-peptidic low molecular weight compound obtained from a sea anemone is able to induce antinociception and that activation of peripheral 5-HT3 receptors contributes to this effect.


Over the past decade the capabilities of autonomous systems have been steadily increasing. Unmanned systems are moving from systems that are predominantly remotely operated, to systems that include a basic decision making capability. This is a trend that is expected to continue with autonomous systems making decisions in increasingly complex environments, based on more abstract, higher-level missions and goals. These changes have significant implications for how these systems should be designed and engineered. Indeed, as the goals and tasks these systems are to achieve become more abstract, and the environments they operate in become more complex, are current approaches to verification and validation sufficient?

Domain Specific Modelling is a key technology for the verification of autonomous systems. Verifying these systems will ultimately involve understanding a significant number of domains. This includes goals/tasks, environments, systems functions and their associated performance. Relational Model Transformations provide a means to utilise, combine and check models for consistency across these domains. In this thesis an approach that utilises relational model transformation technologies for systems verification, Systems MDD, is presented along with the results of a series of trials conducted with an existing relational model transformation language (QVT-Relations). These trials identified a number of problems with existing model transformation languages, including poorly or loosely defined semantics, differing interpretations of specifications across different tools and the lack of a guarantee that a model transformation would generate a model that was compliant with its associated meta-model.

To address these problems, two related solvers were developed to assist with realising the Systems MDD approach. The first solver, MMCS, is concerned with partial model completion, where a partial model is defined as a model that does not fully conform with its associated meta-model. It identifies appropriate modifications to be made to a partial model in order to bring it into full compliance. The second solver, TMPT, is a relational model transformation engine that prioritises target models. It considers multiple interpretations of a relational transformation specification, chooses an interpretation that results in a compliant target model (if one exists) and, optionally, maximises some other attribute associated with the model. A series of experiments were conducted that applied this to common transformation problems in the published literature.


This thesis examined potential corollaries of individual differences in cardiovascular and/or cortisol reactions to acute psychological stress, with specific focus upon personality and behavioural characteristics. Chapter 2 reported that a negative constellation of the Big 5 personality traits, higher neuroticism and lower openness and agreeableness, was associated with blunted physiological reactivity. Chapter 3 demonstrated that, in comparison to individuals without Type D personality, Type Ds had greater physiological reactivity during social stress, but lower reactivity when exposed to largely asocial stress. Both these studies also reported dissociation between subjective and physiological stress responses. Chapter 4 reported that individuals with problematic Internet use and/or excessive alcohol consumption did not differ in physiological stress reactivity in comparison to non-dependent controls. Finally, Chapter 5 demonstrated that, compared to exaggerated cardiovascular stress responders, blunted reactors had greater levels of behavioural impulsivity. Overall, the research reported provides evidence that there is dissociation between affective and physiological stress responses, the context in which the stressful situation is experienced is important, and finally, blunted reactivity appears to be related to adverse outcomes which are stable rather than transient, suggesting that it may be a peripheral marker of dysfunction in the brain systems that support motivated behaviour.


Abstract : Wars cannot be fought without logistics. Throughout the ages, kings, conquerors, and military commanders have relied on supply chains to expand their empires and sustain their campaigns. However, the business of logistics and supply chain management is not glamorous. When compared to the shock and awe provided by kinetic effects on a battlefield, a mile-long line of fuel trucks or an airfield parking ramp full of wide-body aircraft do not make for very impressive photo opportunities. But the business of logistics and supply chain management is as vitally important, if not more so, as the business of targeting, bombardment, and scheme of maneuver. Though modern day American Joint Force Commanders have at their disposal a host of logisticians and supply chain managers to expertly manage a complex and global logistics network, it is critical that these commanders themselves be familiar with the advantages and constraints of the American global supply chain. For the U.S. Air Force, with Global Reach a part of its charter, the business of logistics is firmly rooted in its contributions to the American way of war. From humanitarian assistance, to disaster relief, to combat aerial delivery, the Air Mobility Command provides the assets and the expertise to sustain America's power projection capabilities. The global portion of the American aerial supply chain is controlled and managed by U.S. Transportation Command. However, once personnel and materials arrive in a Geographic Combatant Commander's Area of Responsibility, that theater commander becomes responsible for onward movement and distribution. Over the last eight years, one geographic command in particular has gained an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience in the business of managing aerial supply chains within a theater: U.S. Central Command.


Some consequences of childbearing are partly expected by the parents, while others clearly are difficult or impossible to foresee. In this paper, the different types of consequences, for parents or siblings, are briefly reviewed. It is then argued that if an effect of childbearing to a large extent is expected, varies between families, and is taken into account in the fertility decisions, it is very difficult to estimate the average effect. On the other hand, the existence of unexpected consequences is important from another perspective: Families' wellbeing could be higher if, hypothetically, people who make fertility decisions knew the consequences of childbearing that are currently unexpected to them. Thus, a reasonable state response to low fertility might be to support research on whether families on the whole would be better off with more children, and help disseminate research findings. It is not obvious that other types of family-level welfare disadvantages supposedly linked to low fertility can justify political interventions.


Objective: To evaluate the occurrence and prognostic relevance of seizures in adults with community-acquired bacterial meningitis. Methods: An observational cross-sectional study, in which patients with seizures are selected from a prospective nationwide cohort of 696 episodes of community-acquired bacterial meningitis, confirmed by culture of CSF in patients aged >16 years. We retrospectively collected data on EEGs. Results: Seizures occurred in 121 of 696 episodes (17%). Death occurred in 41% of patients with seizures compared to 16% of patients without seizures (p < 0.001). The median number of seizures was 2 (interquartile range [IQR] 1 to 4). The median time between admission and the first seizure was 1 day (IQR 0 to 3). Patients with in-hospital seizures were more likely to have a CSF leukocyte count below 1,000 cells/mm3 (36% vs 25%; p = 0.01), had higher median CSF protein levels (4.8 g/L [IQR 3.4 to 7.6] vs 4.1 g/L [IQR 2.1 to 6.8]), and higher median erythrocyte sedimentation rate (46 mm/hour [IQR 31 to 72] vs 36 mm/hour [IQR 18 to 69]; p = 0.02) than patients without in-hospital seizures. Focal cerebral abnormalities developed more often in patients with in-hospital seizures than in those without (41% vs 14%; p < 0.001). In a multivariate analysis, seizures were significantly more likely in patients with predisposing conditions, tachycardia, a low Glasgow Coma Scale score on admission, infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae, and focal cerebral abnormalities. Neuroimaging was performed on admission in 70% of episodes with prehospital seizures, with CT revealing a focal lesion in 32% of those episodes. Antiepileptic drugs were administered in 82% of patients with seizures and EEG was performed in 31% of episodes; a status epilepticus was recorded in five patients. Conclusions: Seizures occur frequently in adults with community-acquired bacterial meningitis. Seizures are associated with severe CNS and systemic inflammation, structural CNS lesions, pneumococcal meningitis, and predisposing conditions. The high associated mortality rate warrants a low threshold for starting anticonvulsant therapy in those with clinical suspicion of a seizure.


The growth of agro-based industry in recent years has created a strong
competition against the traditional use of oil palm fronds purely to mulch frond
avenues in oil palm plantations. Meanwhile, increased mechanization continues to
cause soil compaction in harvesting paths which act as sub-agricultural roads .
Approximately, 50% of an oil palm area is made up of harvesting paths, thus the
resulting soil compaction could have a serious impact on palm growth and yield in
the long term. Therefore, the objective of this research was to study the
decomposition of oil palm fronds placed on the harvesting path and its effect on soil
physical properties.
Harvesting paths at Universiti Putra Malaysia oil. palm plantation was
mulched with oil palm fronds at four different rates of biomass, Fl (9.2 kg plot-1),
F2 (18. 4 kg plot-1), F3 (27. 6 kg plot-1) and F4 (36.8 kg plot-1) representing
respectively 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the total frond harvested in a year.
Unmulched plots were used as control. There were 3 replicates in each treatment
and the plots were arranged in randomized complete block design (RCBD). Each
plot measures 5.5 m wide and 7.0 m long. The rate of decomposition was
determined by destructive tissue sampling of the standing biomass at 0, 3, 6 and 9
months after mulching. At the same time the changes in physical properties within
the 0-15 cm soil depth were also monitored. The soil properties analysed were soil
organic matter, aggregate stability, bulk density, penetration resistance, available
water holding capacity, soil infiltrability and saturated hydraulic conductivity.
After nine months of observation, it was found that treatment F1 produced
the highest percent of oil palm frond decomposed (73%) while the highest rate of
decomposition (8.4 kg month-1) produced by treatment F4. The percent of oil palm
frond decomposed increased with time whereas the rate of decomposition decreased.
As a result of decomposition, the organic matter of the 0-15 cm soil depth increased
by 0.32%, 0.38%, 0.39%, and 0.83% for treatments F1, F2 , F3 and F4
respectively. There was no increase in organic matter for the unmulched plot.


Deterministic interpolation and quadrature methods are often unsuitable to address Bayesian inverse problems depending on computationally expensive forward mathematical models. While interpolation may give precise posterior approximations, deterministic quadrature is usually unable to efficiently investigate an informative and thus concentrated likelihood. This leads to a large number of required expensive evaluations of the mathematical model. To overcome these challenges, we formulate and test a multilevel adaptive sparse Leja algorithm. At each level, adaptive sparse grid interpolation and quadrature are used to approximate the posterior and perform all quadrature operations, respectively. Specifically, our algorithm uses coarse discretizations of the underlying mathematical model to investigate the parameter space and to identify areas of high posterior probability. Adaptive sparse grid algorithms are then used to place points in these areas, and ignore other areas of small posterior probability. The points are weighted Leja points. As the model discretization is coarse, the construction of the sparse grid is computationally efficient. On this sparse grid, the posterior measure can be approximated accurately with few expensive, fine model discretizations. The efficiency of the algorithm can be enhanced further by exploiting more than two discretization levels. We apply the proposed multilevel adaptive sparse Leja algorithm in numerical experiments involving elliptic inverse problems in 2D and 3D space, in which we compare it with Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling and a standard multilevel approximation.


Distributed decision making in networked systems depends critically on the timely availability of critical fresh information. Performance of networked systems, from the perspective of achieving goals and objectives in a timely and efficient manner is constrained by their collaboration and communication structures and their interplay with the networked system's dynamics. In most cases achieving the system objectives requires many agent to agent communications. A reasonable measure for system robustness to communication topology change is the number of spanning trees in the graph abstraction of the communication system. We address the problem of network formation with robustness and connectivity constraints. Solutions to this problem have also applications in trust and the relationship of trust to control. We show that the general combinatorial problem can be relaxed to a convex optimization problem. We solve the special case of adding a shortcut to a given structure and provide insights for derivation of heuristics for the general case. We also analyze the small world effect in the context of abrupt increases in the number of spanning trees as a result of adding a few shortcuts to a base lattice in the Watts-Strogatz framework and thereby relate efficient topologies to small world and expander graphs.


Indoor air quality becomes of a concern recently in view of human health. This study investigates the air diffusion performance and the air change efficiency of a classroom, when outdoor air is introduced in addition to the heating/cooling operation of a ceiling-mounted heat pump. A CFD analysis has been performed to investigate the effect of the discharge angle of the air jets from the heat pump for both parallel and series types of outdoor air system. It is observed that the series type creates more uniform indoor environment compared to the parallel type in general. It can be concluded the discharge angle should not be larger than 40o for the parallel type, in order not to generate thermal stratification in the room.


as some thirty years ago turbinectomy became customary for nasal obstruction, and is not often practised to-day as a routine because as anl outcome so many cases of dry rhinitis were produced some months afterwards on account of the removal of the warming and secreting properties of the turbinates. It is just possible the same effect may be produced by universal tonsillectomy, which appears now to be the custom as against tonsillotomy, and so dry pharyngitis and eveii (it may be) laryngitis may be produced. It would be interesting and instructive if statistics as to this, from those surgeons who advocate tonsillectomiy so strongly, could be plroduced. In due course the suggested lubricating properties of the tonsils would be proved to be or not to be, and i-t would not be surprising in time to find the same objection raised as in the case of tulbinectomy.-I am, etc.,


The use of telemedicine has recently undergone rapid growth and proliferation. Although the feasibility of many applications has been tested for nearly 30 years, data concerning the costs, effects, and effectiveness of telemedicine are limited. Consequently, the development of a strategy for coverage, payment, and utilization policy has been hindered. Telemedicine continues to expand, and pressure for policy development increases in the context of Federal budget cuts and major changes in health service financing. This article reviews the literature on the effects and medical effectiveness of telemedicine. It concludes with several recommendations for research, followed by a discussion of several specific questions, the answers to which might have a bearing on policy development.


Abstract As the nineteenth century drew to a close, European planters manufacturing indigo on colonial plantations in Bengal faced a major challenge from synthetic indigo. Synthetic indigo was a symbol of the successful integration of chemistry into industrial manufacturing that had occurred in the second half of the century, and it threatened to displace the colonial commodity. It also fundamentally challenged the colonial program of "improvement" that agricultural indigo represented, and the mode of production consisting of stewardship of plants and the extraction of a commodity within the plantation system. The planters pushed back on the synthetic product by emphasizing the merits of agricultural indigo. As part of this resistance, they claimed that the plant-based dye was "natural" and superior because it was produced through agriculture, and they pointed to the grounding of their methods of production in the layout of land and farming. They argued that when setting their product's value the market should give weight to its unique attributes and the extraordinary quality that nature had bred into the dye. This study reads in this response a critique of the growing ties between manufacturing and science and technology. The planters' critique was not a straightforward critique of the vicissitudes of market, but rather a fight to retain a place for the sort of exchanges and value that plant indigo growers were accustomed to dealing in. They viewed plantation manufacturing as wholesome and organic, and defended it in the name of nature.


Abstract The initial stage, the first few seconds of liquid phase sintering has been investigated in experiments using a tungsten heavy alloy with low tungsten content. The heavy alloy has been melted in a temperature gradient for short periods, ∼9 s in an ellipsoid mirror furnace. During the liquid phase sintering at about 1470°C, a penetration followed by a remarkably rapid separation and dispersion of the tungsten grains by the molten matrix occur. The suggested explanation for this grain separation and dispersion is based on the effect of composition gradients in the liquid matrix and a theory based on interagglomerate melt swelling due to a Kirkendall effect.


This third and final part of a summary of post-Zionist critique follows the manifestations of new ways of looking at Israeli history and the "other" in film, theater, novels, music, and poetry. Cinema has the greatest potential for influencing the public and has gone further than the other media in challenging traditional views. The author concludes that the cultural products that have seriously transcended the Zionist narrative and its negative portrayal of the Arabs remain outside the Israeli canon and have limited impact, though the groundwork has been laid for what is clearly a growing trend.


Herein, we report a facile strategy of combined SERS measurements based on a split-type SERS substrate, which exhibits excellent SERS activity, detection signal reproducibility and chemical stability. The SERS substrate consists of an ordered Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocone array and Ag nanoparticles (Ag-NPs), both of which are fabricated individually. The Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocone array is obtained by ion-sputtering Ag on an Si nanocone array and then coating an ultrathin (∼2 nm) Al2O3 dielectric layer via atomic layer deposition (ALD). Ag-NPs are synthesized via the liquid phase method and then immersed in an organic solvent for liquid seal. For the SERS measurement, Ag-NPs are dispersed in a liquid containing the probe molecules and then, they self-assemble on the surface of the Al2O3@Ag@Si nanocones. Subsequently, the ultrathin Al2O3 dielectric layer separates Ag-NPs from the Ag@Si nanocones, forming massive gap-introduced hot spots. This substrate is sensitive to 1 pM Rhodamine R6G with an average enhancement factor of up to 109, exhibiting excellent SERS activity. Moreover, due to the protection of the Al2O3 dielectric layer and the organic solvent for the Ag@Si nanocones and Ag-NPs against oxidation, the split-type SERS substrate achieves an SERS signal with almost no attenuation after five months, indicating its good chemical stability.


This experimental study examines the effect on performance and emission outputs of a compression ignition engine operating on biodiesels of varying carbon chain length and the degree of unsaturation. A well-instrumented, heavy-duty, multi-cylinder, common-rail, turbo-charged diesel engine was used to ensure that the results contribute in a realistic way to the ongoing debate about the impact of biofuels. Comparative measurements are reported for engine performance as well as the emissions of NOx, particle number and size distribution, and the concentration of the reactive oxygen species (which provide a measure of the toxicity of emitted particles). It is shown that the biodiesels used in this study produce lower mean effective pressure, somewhat proportionally with their lower calorific values; however, the molecular structure has been shown to have little impact on the performance of the engine. The peak in-cylinder pressure is lower for the biodiesels that produce a smaller number of emitted particles, compared to fossil diesel, but the concentration of the reactive oxygen species is significantly higher because of oxygen in the fuels. The differences in the physicochemical properties amongst the biofuels and the fossil diesel significantly affect the engine combustion and emission characteristics. Saturated short chain length fatty acid methyl esters are found to enhance combustion efficiency, reduce NOx and particle number concentration, but results in high levels of fuel consumption.


In 2011 our research group published a pilot study—the Case of "Anna"—employing the Panel of Psychological Inquiry (PPI) Clinical Case Study Method. The present study—the Case of "Ronan"—is a second example of the PPI method in action. The Case of Ronan has a number of modifications in method compared to the Case of Anna. First, the Case of Ronan involves the evaluation of a more complex and controversial written case study of a 20-month old boy who was diagnosed with moderate to severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and who was treated in a comprehensive therapeutic daycare center program where the core approach was based upon  Greenspan's (2009) "Developmental, Individual-differences, Relationship-based" ("DIR"/ "Floortime") model. DIR/Floortime was originally developed for use by parents in their own homes, and the Case of Ronan demonstrates how a therapeutic pre-school environment can use DIR/Floortime as a model for most adult-child interactions in a pre-school therapeutic environment.  In addition to the application of the PPI model to a radically different clinical diagnosis, there were  modifications to the methodology itself including: (a) reduction in the number of judges from five to three; (b) having a key witness in the case testify remotely before the Panel; (c) the writing of a much more detailed judges' opinion on the aspects of the case that most influenced their decisions; and (d) a further development of the logic of a quasi-judicial approach to clinical case studies in psychology. By examining how the civil law's basic framework for proving causality in cases of personal injury (who did what harm to whom), the process by which knowledge claims that emerge out of clinical practice (who provided what benefit to whom) is further explicated.


ABSTRACT This paper focuses on the study of simulations for spatially variable seismic underground motions in U-shaped canyons. First, a canyon ground cross-coherence function based on commonly used coherence function models of flat terrain, is deduced and presented. To further obtain the underground cross-coherence function, a mathematical expression, including its specific deduction process for describing the relationship between coherence functions of multi-support ground and underground motions, is also given in detail and adopted. Then, the key factors (i.e. canyon underground power spectrum density and canyon underground coherence function) for simulating the spatially variable seismic underground motions are obtained by a two-step transferring method from flat-ground to underground soil. Furthermore, a program is coded for generating the spatially variable seismic underground motions. The effectiveness of the generated seismic motions is further verified. Finally, two numerical examples are taken to validate the proposed simulation approach, illustrating the specific characteristics of canyon coherence function. The analysis results show the apparent differences of the simulated seismic motions using the canyon coherence function from those using conventional coherence function models of flat terrain. The proposed approach provides some insights for anti-earthquake analysis of soil-structure interaction or underground structures in canyon topography.


Teacher voices hold weight for their colleagues. When teachers tell a story of a positive experience with technology (or other teaching tools or strategies), they are showing that it is possible. "Stories, particularly those that are concrete and readily identified with, are particularly powerful for
transferring knowledge rich in tacit dimensions" (Swap, Leonard, Shields, & Abrams, 2001, p. 105). When teachers share their stories with each other, they create a reality based on concrete possibility. This article will focus on how we use teacher stories and conversations in professional development (PD) to create positive realities for teaching and learning.


The purpose of our study was to assess the onset and quality of muscle paralysis and intubation conditions with succinylcholine (Sch) or rocuronium (Roc) during rapidsequence induction.Patients were randomly assigned to receive thiopental (5 mg/kg) and Sch (1.5 mg/kg) or thiopental (5 mg/kg) and Roc (1.2 mg/kg). The anesthesiologists performing the endotracheal intubation were blinded by standing with their back to the patient. Thirty seconds after drug administration, laryngoscopy was performed. Intubating conditions were scored, the clinical onset of apnea was noted, and a train-of-four monitor recorded data. All patients were ASA physical status I-III and scheduled for emergency procedures; both groups were demographically similar. Thirteen patients received Roc and 13 received Sch. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the number of patients receiving excellent intubating scores (P = 0.41) or in the combined number of patients receiving good and excellent scores (P = 1.0). There was no significant difference in time of onset of apnea for Sch (22 +/- 13 s) versus Roc (16 +/- 8 s). The return of the first twitch response was significantly faster with Sch (5.05 +/- 2.5 min) compared with Roc (17.3 +/- 21.7 min) (P = 0.0001). Implications: In pediatric patients scheduled for emergency surgery, thiopental 5 mg/kg and rocuronium 1.2 mg/kg provided conditions for the completion of intubation in <60 s comparable to those provided by thiopental 5 mg/kg and succinylcholine 1.5 mg/kg. We conclude that rocuronium is a reasonable substitute for succinylcholine in children for rapidsequence intubation when a rapid return to spontaneous respiration is not desired. (Anesth Analg 1998;87:1259-62)


We investigated the advantage of combining RGB images with depth data to get more robust object classifications and detections using pre-trained deep convolutional neural networks. We relied upon the raw images from publicly available datasets captured using Microsoft Kinect cameras. The raw images varied in size, and therefore required resizing to fit our network. We designed a resizing method called "bleeding edge" to avoid distorting the objects in the images. We present a novel method of interpolating the missing depth pixel values by comparing to similar RGB values. This method proved superior to the other methods tested. We showed that a simple colormap transformation of the depth image can provide close to state-of-art performance. Using our methods, we can present state-of-art performance on the Washington Object dataset and we provide some results on the Washington Scenes (V1) dataset. Specifically, for the detection, we used contours at different thresholds to find the likely object locations in the images. For the classification task we can report state-of-art results using only RGB and RGB-D images, depth data alone gave close to state-of-art results. For the detection task we found the RGB only detector to be superior to the other detectors.


yeth Australia has been a valued partner with the Medical Journal of Australia since 1995 in recognising and rewarding the best of original research published each year in the Journal. The 2009 MJA/Wyeth Award was presented at the Australian Medical Association (AMA) National Conference in Sydney on 28 May 2010. The Journal's Content Review Committee has awarded the prize for 2009 to Tanya Bubner and her colleagues from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University for their research paper, "Effectiveness of point-of-care testing for therapeutic control of chronic conditions: results from the PoCT in General Practice Trial", published in the 1 June 2009 issue of the Journal. Point-of-care testing (PoCT) provides the treating general practitioner with immediate test results and has the potential to improve monitoring of chronic conditions, therapeutic control and clinical efficiency, and to enhance clinical decision making within the time frame of the consultation. PoCT not only provides an alternative method of pathology testing, but also allows a different style of patient management compared with traditional pathology laboratory testing. Demand for PoCT in general practice is increasing; however, there is little evidence about its benefits, particularly these related to clinical outcomes. Bubner and colleagues assessed the safety, clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of and satisfaction with PoCT in general practice. In a large, multicentre, cluster randomised controlled trial, they found that PoCT was equivalent to pathology laboratory testing for a variety of pathology tests in chronic diseases. The researchers found that for the proportion of patients with results in the target range, PoCT was equivalent to pathology laboratory testing for measuring glycated haemoglobin, urine albumin, albumin– creatinine ratio, total cholesterol and triglyceride levels, but not for high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level and international normalised ratio. The research by Bubner and colleagues provides important evidence for the introduction of PoCT into general practice. The award was presented by Ms Yvonne Bowyer, Deputy Managing Director, Wyeth Australia; I thank her on behalf of the AMA and the Australasian Medical Publishing Company, the publisher of the MJA, for Wyeth's continuing commitment to promoting excellence in Australian clinical research through the prestigious MJA/Wyeth Award.


Introduction: Physical inactivity is a major risk factor for various pathological conditions in different organic systems, increasing the incidence of musculoskeletal disorders such as low-back pain, as well as the risk for cardiovascular disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 12 Pilates sessions on muscle parameters, functional capacity and cardiac autonomic modulation. Methods: 10 volunteers with chronic low-back pain (25.1±5.1 years) underwent 4 assessments before and after training: hamstrings flexibility through photogrammetry; abdominal resistance, through the one minute trunk flexion test; functional capacity through the Roland Morris questionnaire; cardiac autonomic modulation by the RMSSD index of R-R intervals. Mat Pilates training program lasted 12 sessions, each one lasting an hour. Paired student t test, with the level of significance set at 5%, was used to compare data before and after training. Results: Significant improvements (p<0.05) were found on flexibility (58.7±8.2 to 84.1±10.3 degrees on right lower limbs and 57.2±9.1 to 78.5±11.9 on left lower limbs), abdominal resistance (28.3±17.6 to 33.6±16.0 repetitions) and functional capacity (6.2±2.8 to 3.3±1 0 points). Heart rate variability showed no significant change (p = 0.09) after training (RMSSD 37.5±15.0 in pre-training evaluation and 39.0±15.0 in post-training evaluation). Conclusions: We can conclude that the proposed Pilates program was effective in improving muscle and functional parameters, but did not change cardiac autonomic modulation.


The removal of gutta-percha and sealer from endodontically treated root canals may prompt the use of organic solvents. In the present article a number of possible solvents are described and, based upon the literature, their efficacy is assessed. Some solvents, amongst which chloroform, xylene and halothane are almost equally efficient, although all leave a debris of gutta-percha and sealer in the root canals behind. Only chloroform solves AH26 and most probably AH-plus, but very slowly. Eucalyptol and turpentine oil are slow dissolvers. Orange oil and limonene are promising. The data on other solvents, if candidates at all, are scarce. The choice of a solvent is co-determined by factors such as toxicity and sensitisation, which will be described in a second publication.


In this paper we introduce a general method for estimating the quadratic covariation of one or more spot parameter processes associated with continuous time semimartingales, and present a central limit theorem that has this class of estimators as one of its applications. The class of estimators we introduce, that we call Two-Scale Quadratic Covariation (TSQC) estimators, is based on sums of increments of second differences of the observed processes, and the intervals over which the differences are computed are rolling and overlapping. This latter feature lets us take full advantage of the data, and, by sufficiency considerations, ought to outperform estimators that are based on only one partition of the observational window. Moreover, a twoscales approach is employed to deal with asymptotic bias terms in a systematic manner, thus automatically giving consistent estimators without having to work out the form of the bias term on a case-to-case basis. We highlight the versatility of our central limit theorem by applying it to a novel leverage effect estimator that does not belong to the class of TSQC-estimators. The principal empirical motivation for the present study is that the discrete times at which a continuous time semimartingale is observed might depend on features of the observable process other than its level, such as its spot-volatility process. As an application of the TSQC-estimators, we therefore show how it may be used to estimate the quadratic covariation between the spot-volatility process and the intensity process of the observation times, when both of these are taken to be semimartingales. The finite sample properties of this estimator are studied by way of a simulation experiment, and we also apply this estimator in an empirical analysis of the Apple stock. Our analysis of the Apple stock indicates a rather strong correlation between the spot volatility process of the log-prices process and the times at which this stock is traded (hence observed).


Most research on risk aversion in behavioral science with human subjects has focused on a component of risk aversion that does not adapt itself to context. More recently, studies have explored risk aversion adaptation to changing circumstances in sequential decision-making tasks. It is an open question whether one can identify evidence, at the single subject level, for such risk aversion adaptation. We conducted a behavioral experiment on human subjects, using a sequential decision making task. We developed a model-based approach for estimating the adaptation of risk-taking behavior with single-trial resolution by modeling a subject's goals and internal representation of task contingencies. Using this model-based approach, we estimated the subject-specific adaptation of risk aversion depending on the current task context. We found striking inter-subject variations in the adaptation of risk-taking behavior. We show that these differences can be explained by differences in subjects' internal representations of task contingencies and goals. We discuss that the proposed approach can be adapted to a wide range of experimental paradigms and be used to analyze behavioral measures other than risk aversion.


At the beginning of the 21st century, Su-tong and Stonecutters cable-stayed bridges were born into the world, which make the original span record of 890m up to 1088m. The increasing range of the span is so large that it is necessary to carry out a special research on structural system of the cable-stayed bridge with kilometer-scale span. Therefore, two cable-stayed bridges have been designed as the research objects, which come from the background of Su-tong cable-stayed bridge. And the main span is respectively 1308m and 1500m. In this paper, an analysis is carried out from the aspect of girder-tower relationship which comes from the concept of the structural system. In the static analysis, structural system, which is respectively floating, half floating and rigid, has been studied. And in the dynamic analysis, the girder-tower relationship has also been studied, which is respectively with no dampers, elastic links and viscous dampers. Based on the analysis results, structural system applicable for kilometer-scale cable-stayed bridges is summarized.


The theoretical aim of this article is to integrate the singulative into the theory of division proposed by Borer (2005) and other theoretical linguists (e.g., Krifka 1995, Doetjes 1996, 1997, Chierchia 1998, Cheng and Sybesma 1999). To illustrate my claim, I offer a brief case study of Ojibwe, an Algonquian language, which I argue uses gender shift (from inanimate to animate) to mark singulativization. Singulatives, as morphological markers, are primarily known from Celtic, Afro-Asiatic, and Nilo-Saharan languages, but are not a known feature of Algonquian languages. Further support for my claim that the grammar of Algonquian languages embeds a singulative system comes from Fox (Mesquakie).


In this paper we tackle the classification of cultural events from a single image with a deep learning based method. We use convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with VGG-16 architecture [17], pretrained on ImageNet or the Places205 dataset for image classification, and fine-tuned on cultural events data. CNN features are robustly extracted at 4 different layers in each image. At each layer Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) is employed for discriminative dimensionality reduction. An image is represented by the concatenated LDA-projected features from all layers or by the concatenation of CNN pooled features at each layer. The classification is then performed through the Iterative Nearest Neighbors-based Classifier (INNC) [20]. Classification scores are obtained for different image representation setups at train and test. The average of the scores is the output of our deep linear discriminative retrieval (DLDR) system. With 0.80 mean average precision (mAP) DLDR is a top entry for the ChaLearn LAP 2015 cultural event recognition challenge.


Proteomics analysis of circulating exosomes derived from cancer cells represents a promising approach to the elucidation of cell–cell communication and the discovery of putative biomarker candidates for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Nonetheless, the proteome of exosomes derived from cell lines with different metastatic capabilities still warrants further investigation. Here, we present a comprehensive quantitative proteomics investigation of exosomes isolated from immortalized mammary epithelial cells and matched tumor lines with different metastatic potentials in an attempt to discover exosome markers specific to breast cancer (BC) metastasis. A total of 2135 unique proteins were quantified with a high confidence level from 20 isolated exosome samples, including 94 of the TOP 100 exosome markers archived by ExoCarta. Moreover, 348 altered proteins were observed, among which several metastasis-specific markers, including cathepsin W (CATW), magnesium transporter MRS2 (MRS2), syntenin-2 (SDCB2), reticulon-4 (RTN), and UV excision repair protein RAD23 homolog (RAD23B), were also identified. Notably, the abundance of these metastasis-specific markers corresponds well with the overall survival of BC patients in clinical settings. Together, these data provide a valuable dataset for BC exosome proteomics investigation and prominently facilitate the elucidation of the molecular mechanisms underlying primary tumor development and progression.


We report the case of a 64-year-old woman who was admitted for cardiogenic shock caused by a permanent junctional reciprocating tachycardia. If this incessant and drug-refractory form of tachycardia is a well-known cause of tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathies in infants, its occurrence during adulthood is extremely rare. Catheter ablation is the recommended treatment of this condition.


BACKGROUND Necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTI) are rare, life-threatening, soft-tissue infections characterized by rapidly spreading inflammation and necrosis of the skin, subcutaneous fat, and fascia. While it is widely accepted that delay in surgical debridement contributes to increased mortality, there are currently no practice management guidelines regarding the optimal timing of surgical management of this condition. Although debridement within 24 hours of diagnosis is generally recommended, the time ranges from 3 hours to 36 hours in the existing literature. Therefore, the objective of this article is to provide evidence-based recommendations for the optimal timing of surgical management of NSTI. METHODS The MEDLINE database using PubMed was searched to identify English language articles published from January 1990 to September 2015 regarding adult and pediatric patients with NSTIs. A systematic review of the literature was performed, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation framework were used. A single population [P], intervention [I], comparator [C], and outcome [O] (PICO) question was applied: In patients with NSTI (P), should early (<12 hours) initial debridement (I) versus late (≥12 hours) initial debridement (C) be performed to decrease mortality (O)? RESULTS Two hundred eighty-seven articles were identified. Of these, 42 papers underwent full text review and 6 were selected for guideline construction. A total of 341 patients underwent debridement for NSTI. Of these, 143 patients were managed with early versus 198 with late operative debridement. Across all studies, there was an overall mortality rate of 14% in the early group versus 25.8% in the late group. CONCLUSION For NSTIs, we recommend early operative debridement within 12 hours of suspected diagnosis. Institutional and regional systems should be optimized to facilitate prompt surgical evaluation and debridement. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Systematic review/meta-analysis, level IV.


Strategic documents that reflect future S&T priorities are often formulated without sufficiently taking into account the social context of S&T developments. The paper discusses the capabilities of social sciences for a deeper contextual analysis when setting priorities and, consequently, for helping to make the diffusion of advanced technologies more efficient. The methodological basis of the analysis is the concept of the social construction of technology (SCOT). The list of critical technologies of the Russian Federation serves as an illustrative example of a strategic document defining S&T priorities. The authors point out developments with the highest potential for social embeddedness, which could be fully used only if coupled with an understanding of related social matters. These developments are divided into four groups (clusters): biomedicine and health, energy, environment, and transport. We identify for each cluster the social groups that would be affected by the relevant technologies, the potential for conflicts of interest and for formats of interaction. The paper proposes prospective areas of sociological research, allowing a deeper understanding of the real context in which new technologies might be developed and implemented, and thus may help optimize efforts for the diffusion of these technologies. We conclude that many prospective technologies, which by nature belong to the 'physical' world, would be more efficient if their implementation, and possibly also development, were accompanied (and in some cases preceded) by the outputs of relevant social science and humanities studies. In this sense, we propose the use of the 'social embeddedness of technology' concept. We argue that this is an important factor affecting the success of technology implementation, and sometimes, technology configuration.


We consider an ultra-wide bandwidth system using reduced-complexity RAKE receivers, which are based on either selective (called SRake) or partial (called PRake) combining of a subset of the available resolved multipath components. We investigate the influence of the spreading bandwidth on the system performance using the two considered types of RAKE receivers. We show that, for a fix number of RAKE fingers and a fix transmit power, there is an optimum bandwidth. This optimal bandwidth increases with the number of RAKE fingers, and is higher for an SRake than for a Prake. We also investigate the effects of the fading statistics (Rayleigh or Nakagami) on the optimal spreading bandwidth. We find that the optimal spreading bandwidth is approximately the same for both types of fading, but that the actual performance of an SRake can be better or worse in Rayleigh fading (compared to Nakagami), depending on the spreading bandwidth and the number of fingers.


Background: Pilates has been advocated to be of benefit for patients with low back pain (LBP). The aim of this study was to investigate the possible benefits of attending Pilates classes for patients who had completed standard physiotherapy treatment but still had some symptoms. Methods: Ethical approval was obtained. All LBP patient charts (n=181) who had completed physiotherapy treatment in the participating hospital during a 6 month period were screened for study inclusion. 29 women (16%) were recruited into the study. Subjects were randomly allocated either to attendance at a one hour Pilates mat class consisting of modified Pilates exercises for 8 weeks (n=15) or no further intervention (n=14). Outcome measures were evaluated by a blinded assessor using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for pain, Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire for disability and Sahrmann Abdominal Test for lumbopelvic control before and after the 8 week intervention period. Results: Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.0 was used to analyse data. The MannWhitley U test was used to identify any significant changes between the groups. There was a statistical (p=0.047) but not clinically significant improvement in pain in the Pilates group (9.5mm mean change on VAS) compared to the control group (-4.7mm). No significant difference in disability was noted between the groups at follow up (p=0.301). A trend towards improvement in lumbopelvic control was observed in the Pilates group. Conclusion: Despite the small sample size this study provides some evidence to support the use an 8 week Pilates class to improve pain in women with ongoing LBP who have completed conventional physiotherapy treatment.


Purpose: An inter-observer variability exists in the measurement of the renal length during ultrasonography, but dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) scintigraphy allows greater objectivity. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the discrepancy of the renal length measured using the two methods. Materials and Methods: Between January 2003 and June 2005, 249 consecutive patients underwent DMSA scintigraphy and ultrasonography. Due to the exclusion of kidneys where a photon defect was observed during DMSA scintigraphy, the number of kidney enrolled in this study was 439. The renal length measurements in any plane were longest using ultrasonography. The renal lengths were measured using DMSA scintigraphy by assessing the maximum pixel length, which was then converted to centimeters. Results: The mean renal lengths measured by DMSA scitigraphy and ultrasonography were 8.06±1.49 and 6.80±1.38cm, respectively. The mean difference in the renal length measured between the two methods was 1.26±0.84cm. The sonographic renal length was significantly shorter than that found via scintigraphy (Student's t-test, p<0.001). Conclusions: Our results were similar to those of previously reported studies, where the scintigraphic renal length exceeded that obtained sonographically. Due to the possibility of underestimating the renal length when using ultrasonography, clinicians must be cautious when following up pediatric patients using ultrasonography. (Korean J Urol 2007;48:77-81) ꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏꠏ


Energy policies are in transition worldwide based on a convergence of factors including static oil production coupled with increased demand, a desire for energy independence, and growing awareness of climate change. Making energy choices that improve human health, the environment, and economic development is possible if we understand the complex interplay between systems for energy delivery and sustainable, healthy human environments.

Reducing energy consumption should be the first step. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA 2006), the average American consumes about 7,800 kg of oil equivalent energy per year compared with Switzerland, where the average person consumes 3,700 kg. If we simply apply lessons learned in Switzerland to our energy use, we could conceivably cut consumption in half without altering the quality of life. This drop in consumption will reduce the incidence of a number of diseases affected by energy production (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Direct and indirect routes by which energy sources may affect human health. Abbreviations: CO2, carbon dioxide; NOx, nitrogen oxide; PM, particulate matter; SOx, sulfur oxide. Solid lines indicate health impacts that have been quantitated, and dashed ...

Energy alternatives lead to surprisingly complex analyses regarding efficiency. For example, some studies have found that substituting biofuels for gasoline will reduce greenhouse gases because biofuel feedstocks sequester carbon during growth. However, other analyses have found that by including land-use change in the analyses, biofuel production could result in a net doubling of greenhouse gases over the next 30 years (Fargione et al. 2008; Searchinger et al. 2008). Moreover, certain biofuels will have a significant impact on water use patterns, food crop production, and deforestation, all of which can have direct and indirect impacts on human health (Figure 1). In addition, biofuels will produce a new mix of air pollutants that have not been extensively studied and could lead to increased air pollution related mortality (Jacobson 2007).

Even seemingly clean sources of energy can have implications on human health. Wind energy will undoubtedly create noise, which increases stress, which in turn increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer. The manufacturing process for photovoltaic panels to produce solar energy results in occupational exposures to silica dust or cadium (Fthenakis et al. 2008). Increased reliance on nuclear fission carries known radiation risks during the generation of electricity and disposal of used fuel. Even hydroelectric energy affects human and environmental health, as noted in several recent articles about the Three Gorges Dam (e.g., Hwang et al. 2007).

We must combine the lessons we have learned in systems approaches in biology, ecology, engineering, and economics to develop a new systems theory, one that, when properly implemented, can begin to identify how changes in our energy policies will impact the health of our nation. To this end, we provide a simple example exemplifying the utility of comparing global health impacts across energy sources (Table 1). Table 1 shows that the use of traditional biomass accounts for greater mortality than other energy sources. Current world consumption of oil has the greatest impact on climate change, whereas predictions suggest that coal-fired power plants account for > 90% of mortality associated with electricity generation.

Table 1

A comparison of mortality attributable to energy sources using point estimates from available models.

However, we cannot draw robust conclusions from current analyses of available quantitated health impacts of energy systems because they do not incorporate important factors known to mediate health. For example, health end points related to food shortages resulting from unsustainable biofuel production have not been measured. Links between mercury found in most coal stocks and a range of health end points have not been fully addressed, and combustion products of alternative fuels, including biodiesel and ethanol, as related to health are not fully understood. Occupational exposures in the development and distribution of new fuels is another area of priority and one that calls for expanded focus. Therefore, there is a critical need for a large-scale collaborative effort between social, environmental, physical, engineering, and human health scientists to evaluate risks and benefits associated with rapidly changing energy policies.

The National Resource Council (2007) recently suggested that "an appropriate institutional structure that fosters multidisciplinary intramural and extramural research is needed" to take full advantage of the "revolutions in biology and biotechnology." Their vision focused on systems biology and laboratory investigation. Expanding this vision to address broad environmental linkages to health will result in fuller descriptions of the health implications due to the social, ecological, and economic changes linked to our changing global environment.


Acetabular fractures are result of mostly high velocity injury with an incidence of 3/100,000/year. However in elderly patent low energy trauma also result in acetabulum fracture due to osteoporosis. Most of acetabular fracture commonly combined with quadrilateral plate fractures. Till date there is no standard classification system for quadrilateral plate fracture of acetabulum is published which can be utilized for accurately studying the fracture pattern and planning for the surgical approach with management. Initially acetabulum fracture was managed conservatively with traction for at least 6 weeks which results in aggravation of secondary symptoms such as pressure sore, DVT, post traumatic arthritis, loss of muscle strength and endurance. Aim of acetabulum fracture fixation are to allow early mobilization, restoring joint congruity, pain relive and reducing the risk of post traumatic arthritis. An internet search of MEDLINE and PMC using the search term 'acetabular fracture', 'quadrilateral plate fracture' and central hip dislocation in English language was performed on 1st march 2021. Papers specific with quadrilateral plate fracture were only included in the study and we found variety of technique available for displaced quadrilateral plate fractures, such as cerclage wire-plate composite, pelvic brim long screws, various combinations of spring plates (T-shaped plate, L-shaped plate, infrapectineal plate, H-plate, and multidirectional titanium fixator. In this review article we studied different treatment modalities and techniques used over several decades for management of quadrilateral fracture with their outcome.


Over the last two decades, hollow nanoparticles have received considerable attention from researchers due to their specific properties that do not appear in other forms of nanoparticles. It has been recognised that TiO2 hollow nanoparticles have superior photocatalytic properties than solid TiO2 nanoparticles. Previous methods of producing hollow TiO2 nanoparticles typically involve multiple-steps. In this paper, we report the production of hollow and porous TiO2 nanoparticles in a single step via high-repetition rate picosecond laser ablation in deionised water. The absorption spectra of the colloidal nanoparticles were obtained by UV-VIS spectroscopy. The size distribution and morphology were characterised by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The morphology and chemical composition of the nanoparticles were characterised using a High-Angle Annular Dark-Field – Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (HAADF-STEM) and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS). In addition, the crystalline structures were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results show that a higher ratio of crystalline hollow and porous TiO2 nanoparticles (20 – 160 nm in size with majority of hollow nanoparticles at 20 nm and an average size of 37 nm) of mixed anatase, rutile and brookite phases, was produced at lower laser energy; the yield was increased from 8% to 25% by reducing the laser power from 9.12 W to 3.35 W respectively. High laser powers result in reduced energy gap in the nanoparticles produced. The work shows that laser power can be used to control the yield of hollow nanoparticles.


The emergence of transnational constitutionalism, particularly regarding the convergence of international human rights and domestic constitutions, has taken place in many national or transnational jurisdictions. This paper attempts at examining whether and to what extent this trend has occurred in Taiwan. This paper finds that not much constitutional codification of international human rights laws has been undertaken in the Constitution or subsequent constitutional revisions, and that the judicial reference to international human rights laws was very moderate: 1% in holdings or majority opinions and 3.25% in separate opinions. However, this paper discerns that a stronger trend in statutory incorporation of international human rights laws has taken place in Taiwan. By examining the roles of NGOs in their respective rights advocacies, this paper finds that NGOs and citizens have played pivotal roles in mediating transnational/constitutional norms, defined as a rather distinctive model of "bottom-up transnational constitutionalism." With their domestic/transnational natures of agency, these global-minded citizens and NGOs have built an intermediating transnational/constitutional regime where both international and domestic human rights laws meet with each other.


The emergence of e-commerce has created new financial needs that in many cases cannot be effectively fulfilled by the traditional payment systems. Recognizing this, virtually all interested parties are exploring various types of electronic payment system and issues surrounding electronic payment system and digital currency. Broadly electronic payment systems can be classified into four categories: Online Credit Card Payment System, Online Electronic Cash System, Electronic Cheque System and Smart Cards based Electronic Payment System. Each payment system has its advantages and disadvantages for the customers and merchants. These payment systems have numbers of requirements: e.g. security, acceptability, convenience, cost, anonymity, control, and traceability. Therefore, instead of focusing on the technological specifications of various electronic payment systems, the researcher have distinguished electronic payment systems based on what is being transmitted over the network; and analyze the difference of each electronic payment system by evaluating their requirements, characteristics and assess the applicability of each system.


Introduction. The prevalence of obesity is increasing worldwide. Obesity can be determined by body mass index (BMI); however waist circumference (WC) is a better measure of central obesity. This study evaluates the outcome of laparoscopic nephrectomy on patients with an abnormal WC. Methods. A WC of >88 cm for women and >102 cm for men was defined as obese. Data collected included age, gender, American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) score, renal function, anaesthetic duration, surgery duration, blood loss, complications, and duration of hospital stay. Results. 144 patients were assessed; 73 (50.7%) of the patients had abnormal WC for their gender. There was no difference between the groups for conversion to open surgery, number of ports used, blood loss, and complications. Abnormal WC was associated with a longer median anaesthetic duration, 233 min, IQR (215–265) versus 204 min, IQR (190–210), p = 0.0022, and operative duration, 178 min, IQR (160–190) versus 137 min, IQR (128–162), p < 0.0001. Patients with an abnormal WC also had a longer inpatient stay, p = 0.0436. Conclusion. Laparoscopic nephrectomy is safe in obese patients. However, obese patients should be informed that their obesity prolongs the anaesthetic duration and duration of the surgery and is associated with a prolonged recovery.


In spectrum sharing networks with relay cooperation, secondary users can get a chance to transmit their own signals by relaying primary signals without impacting the performance of the primary system. We use an amplify-and-forward (AF) protocol, firstly, proposing a new energy-efficient relay selection scheme based on the constraint of outage probabilities, which selects the optimal relay that minimizes the total transmit power of system; Secondly, we propose an optimal power allocation scheme at relay by analysing the outage probabilities for both the primary and secondary systems which gets a balance between the outage probabilities for the primary system and that for the secondary system. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme in this paper reduces the total transmit power much more than other common schemes when realizing spectrum sharing, which achieves the goal of energy-efficient green communications.


We present SecureBlox, a declarative system that unifies a distributed query processor with a security policy framework. SecureBlox decouples security concerns from system specification, allowing easy reconfiguration of a system's security properties to suit a given execution environment. Our implementation of SecureBlox is a series of extensions to LogicBlox, an emerging commercial Datalog-based platform for enterprise software systems. SecureBlox enhances LogicBlox to enable distribution and static meta-programmability, and makes novel use of existing LogicBlox features such as integrity constraints. SecureBlox allows meta-programmability via BloxGenerics - a language extension for compile-time code generation based on the security requirements and trust policies of the deployed environment. We present and evaluate detailed use-cases in which SecureBlox enables diverse applications, including an authenticated declarative routing protocol with encrypted advertisements and an authenticated and encrypted parallel hash join operation. Our results demonstrate SecureBlox's abilities to specify and implement a wide range of different security constructs for distributed systems as well as to enable tradeoffs between performance and security.


This paper reports on a pioneering case study of a legislative process open to the direct online participation of the public. The empirical context of the study is a crowdsourced off-road traffic law in Finland. On the basis of our analysis of the user content generated to date and a series of interviews with key participants, we argue that the process qualifies as a promising case of deliberation on a mass-scale. This case study will make an important contribution to the understanding of online methods for participatory and deliberative democracy. The preliminary findings indicate that there is deliberation in the crowdsourcing process, which occurs organically (to a certain degree) among the participants, despite the lack of incentives for it. Second, the findings strongly indicate that there is a strong educative element in crowdsourced lawmaking process, as the participants share information and learn from each other. The peer-learning aspect could be made even stronger through the addition of design elements in the process and on the crowdsourcing software. Author


This paper aims to study the impact of liquidity risk on the performance of banks in Kosovo, for a period of six years. The analysis is based on linear regression. Liquidity risk indicators refer to the ability of the bank to absorb the liquidity shocks, L2 the ability of the bank to cope with a high liquidity demand in the short term and L3 the ability of the bank to face liquidity risk in the presence of non-liquid assets, while return on assets ROA and return on equity ROE are the determinants of performance. The results show that there is a positive and significant relation between liquidity risk and performance of the banks and concluded that commercial banks in Kosovo could raise the level of performance by improving their ability to cope with the liquidity shocks risk, the short-term liquidity risk and the risk from the presence of large non-liquid assets.


The study was undertaken to assess the effect of yogic program on explosive leg strength of sportspersons, for the purpose 150 male sports persons with minimum State level participation were selected from Delhi state. The samples were selected from Delhi University, with age of the subjects ranged between 18 to 25 years. The mean age of the subjects was 21.78±1.12. The subjects were divided into three groups' i.e. Experimental group 1, Experimental Group 2 and Control Group. Pre test of all the groups were taken on the selected variable and the experimental group 1 and 2 were given a yogic training program for 10 weeks and the control group continued with the daily routine activity. The collected pre and post data was analyzed by computing Descriptive analysis and ANCOVA. The results shows that A significant difference is found in the post test values of Explosive Power for Experimental Group I and Control Group (-0.140*), a significant difference has been found between the Experimental group II and Control group (-0.059*) and finally a significant difference has been found in the post test values of Experimental Group II and Experimental group I (-0.082*). The results have proven that yogic practices have a significant effect on the physical factors among sports persons. Yogic practices are a better medium for the improvement of various parameters responsible for attainment of peak performance in sports.


This article presents an extensive study to select the theoretical probability distribution that represents the concentrations of major constituents from 35 wastewater treatment plants located in Brazil, as well as to verify the influence of the adopted treatment technology on the data distributions. Due to the lack of a solid basis for selecting the distributions that best fit the data, various distributions had to be tried and the choice was based on statistical tests and visual techniques, comprising a total of 3,444 tests undertaken. While comparing suitability of five distributions (normal, lognormal, gamma, exponential and rectangular) for analysis of data (influent and effluent biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, nitrogen, phosphorus, thermotolerant coliforms and flow), it was observed that the lognormal distribution was the most suitable, which is in agreement with the findings from other research studies. This conclusion requires a different position from the one currently adopted when analysing plant performance, in which symmetry of the data is generally implied, which has been shown not to be the case with the large array of data sets investigated.


: Root primordia of the water fern Azolla pinnata were examined by conventional and high voltage electron microscopy to extend previous evidence concerning the existence and behaviour of nucleating sites (NS) for microtubule arrays in the cortex of plant cells. Putative NS are visible as foci consisting of clusters of microtubules, a population of particles or vesicles and associated dense material. They are concentrated along the edges of the cells but become conspicuous only when cortical arrays are being generated, i.e. at the early post-cytokinesis phase when interphase arrays are being reinstated and when pre-prophase bands are forming. Examples of temporal regulation during the cell cycle are documented. The predictable anatomy of the Azolla root allows specified edges of cells to be examined in successive cell cycles. The NS first appear at a newly generated edge (where one of the walls that meet at the edge is derived from a new cell plate) and reappear after cytokinesis at that same edge in later cycles, irrespective of the plane of division, when it is no longer newly formed but one, two or more cell cycles old. All of the edges of a cell, whether radial, longitudinal, or tangential, have the potential to develop NS but a strong element of selectivity appears to be imposed. The possible role of the system of NS in microtubule development and overall morphogenesis in the root is discussed.


Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of double-voicedness and James Scott's theory of public and hidden transcripts, this essay investigates the colonial context of Romans 13:1–7 with particular attention to the Roman imperial cult. It is my contention that Paul attempts to persuade the audience to resist the imperial cult, whilst negotiating colonial power and authority. It is assumed that colonial discourse is, by nature, a double-voiced discourse in that the public transcript of the dominant and the hidden transcript of the suppressed coexist in a continued state of internal tension and conflict. Seen in this light, Paul as a colonised subject parodies the public transcript of the elites in his own hidden transcript. However, Paul's doubled-voiced discourse finally turns out to be subversive against the dominant culture by suggesting that ultimate honour, fear, and authority should not be due to the rulers of the Roman Empire but to God.


Abstract We present results from a combined normal incidence and wide-angle seismic survey of the Reykjanes Ridge at 61°40′N in the North Atlantic. The seismic data show that the crust is 8.4–10.0 km thick on the ridge axis. We attribute this thicker than normal oceanic crust to a high degree of melting caused by hot mantle from the Iceland plume beneath the speading centre. Layer 2A of the oceanic crust is significantly thicker at 0 Ma than in crust of age 4 Ma. Our results, combined with other seismic data from the North Atlantic, show that the crustal thickness decreases away from the plume centre to normal oceanic crustal thickness at a distance of approximately 1000 km.


The first syntheses of 4-methyl-2-t-butyl- and 2 methyl-4,6-di-t-butyl-indole are described. Rates of diazo-coupling at the 3-position of both these compounds together with those for 2-methyl- and 2-t-butyl-indole are reported for various para-substituted arenediazonium ions in mixed aqueous and some aprotic solvents at 25°. The kinetic behaviour of 2-methylindole is examined in detail and it is shown that 3-coupling may proceed through either the neutral compound or the 2-methylindolyl anion depending on the pH, with the anion being ca. 108-fold more reactive. For neutral 2-methylindole coupling, rates increase with increasing reactivity of the diazonium ion giving p 3.3 for the Hammett (ρσ+) plot, and for coupling with p-toluenediazonium ion ΔH‡= 38 kJ mol–1 and ΔS‡= 138 J K–1 mol–1. Kinetic isotope effects for coupling to [3-2H1]- and [3-3H1]-2-methylindole and 3-deuteriated 2-t-butyl-and 4-methyl-2-t-butyl-indole are not apparent in aqueous dioxan. Coupling to 2-methyl-4,6-di-t-butylindole is also shown to proceed via both the neutral substrate and its conjugate base, but these reactions show significant primary hydrogne isotope effects (KH/KDca. 7). The results are interpreted in terms of a classical A–SE2 mechanism for both neutral indoles and indolyl anions in which direct electrophilic attack by the arene diazonium ion at the 3-position is normally rate limiting. The change in the rate limiting step observed for the A–SE2 mechanism with 2-methyl-4,6-di-t-butylindole is attributed to steric hindrance acting only on proton explusion in a very reactant-like transition state and not on attack of the electrophilic diazonium ion. There is no evidence for coupling to indole nitrogen and triazene intermediates are therefore not significant in any of these reactions.


Abstract — Serious games differ from commercial games with their focus on learning and training and their use of pedagogies.  Serious games have several components that can help to make them successful – learning theories, high-quality gaming experiences, offering collaboration and competition as well as the opportunity for assessment.  Team assessment has a potentially major role to play in serious games, allowing individuals to evaluate the role they play in a team, what team they fit into best and how their teams operate as a whole.The current study set out to examine the potential of the Infiniteams Island game (TPLD) as a learning tool, using a pre-post test method.  As Reference [1] proposed, the user would potentially "over estimate" their abilities pre game, with a more accurate response to their skills post game, having a greater understanding of what was being examined and being able to see the skills in action.  Using two hundred and four psychology students from the University of the West of Scotland (UWS), each gave answers to a pre-questionnaire, played the Infiniteams Island game and completed a post-game questionnaire.This study has led the way for future research in the area of team assessment in serious games, such as this one.  Having found that team role assessments such as the Belbin Team-Role Inventory cannot be automatic assessments implemented into open-ended free choice games, this study established a basis not only for future use of team assessment, but also demonstrated the capabilities for such serious games to cause players to evaluate their team skills more accurately, but indirectly.  Future implementation of team assessment, whether it is team roles or team strengths, should be applied externally, in parallel to any game.  Keywords


In recent years, superconductivity and vortex matter in curved 3D nanoarchitectures have turned into a vibrant research avenue because of the rich physics of the emerging geometry- and topology-induced phenomena and their prospects for applications in (electro)magnetic field sensing and information technology. While this research domain is still in its infancy, numerous theoretical predictions await their experimental examination. In this Perspective, after a brief introduction to the topical area, we outline experimental techniques capable of fabrication of curved 3D nanostructures and review selected own results on the intertwined dynamics of Meissner currents, Abrikosov vortices, and slips of the phase of the superconducting order parameter therein. We share our vision regarding prospect directions and current challenges in this research domain, arguing that curved 3D nanoarchitectures open up a direction in superconductors' research and possess great potential for magnetic field sensing, bolometry, and fluxonic devices.


Frequency evaluation of the periodical signal which is affected by noise is common problem in a variety of the systems. Low frequency noise often could be very big in comparison to useful signal. Application of the infinity impulse response filters could be unacceptable in some cases because of the filters induced ripples. High order finite impulse filters are needed for sufficient suppression. Furthermore power consumption is important factor for portable battery powered devices. There is presented frequency evaluation method based on adaptive relatively wide difference window application for peaks detection and on amplitude evaluation. The method could be easy implemented in fixed point arithmetic.


The genus Aspidosperma (Apocynaceae) have been commonly used in folk medicine as potential antimalarial agents; in the treatment of leishmaniasis; uterus and ovary inflammations; as a contraceptive; in diabetes; stomach disorders; against cancer; fever and rheumatism (Oliveira et al, 2009). It commonly grows in tropical America, extracted from trees ranging 2 to 60 m in height. It is found in a variety of habitats from the dry fields of south-central Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina to the inundated river margins of the Amazon basin (Tanaka, 2006). The main constituents of the Aspidosperma genus are indole alkaloids, a class of substances with a wide range of pharmacological activities such as cholinesterase inhibitors, analgesic, anti-inflammatory, bactericidal, oestrogenic, stimulant and depressant of the central nervous system (CNS) (Zocoler et al, 2005).


Hot spot analysis is the problem of identifying statistically significant spatial clusters from an underlying data set. In this paper, we study the problem of hot spot analysis for massive trajectory data of moving objects, which has many real-life applications in different domains, especially in the analysis of vast repositories of historical traces of spatio-temporal data (cars, vessels, aircrafts). In order to identify hot spots, we propose an approach that relies on the Getis-Ord statistic, which has been used successfully in the past for point data. Since trajectory data is more than just a collection of individual points, we formulate the problem of trajectory hot spot analysis, using the Getis-Ord statistic. We propose a parallel and scalable algorithm for this problem, called THS, which provides an exact solution and can operate on vast-sized data sets. Moreover, we introduce an approximate algorithm (aTHS) that avoids exhaustive computation and trades-off accuracy for efficiency in a controlled manner. In essence, we provide a method that quantifies the maximum induced error in the approximation, in relation with the achieved computational savings. We develop our algorithms in Apache Spark and demonstrate the scalability and efficiency of our approach using a large, historical, real-life trajectory data set of vessels sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean for a period of three years.


Forests, and the vertebrate species within them, are irreplaceable sources of food and nutrition for millions of people living in areas of high biodiversity. Unfortunately, many of these forests are being cleared for agriculture, and many animals are threatened with extinction from unsustainable hunting. Forest clearing and the hunting of threatened species are untenable solutions to long‐term food insecurity and adequate nutrition, jeopardizing these species' survival, the healthy functioning of ecosystems, and the cultural identities of local people. Working with communities to develop culturally appropriate ways for people to obtain sustainable and legal sources of food from forests outside of protected areas is a key component of improving both conservation and food security. We tested the feasibility, suitability, and viability of farming an abundant and traditionally eaten forest insect, Zanna tenebrosa (locally known as sakondry), in rural communities whose food security relies heavily on the hunting of threatened vertebrates. We found that the insect is high in macro‐ and micronutrients, and can be cheaply, easily, and sustainably cultivated to sustainably diversify forest food systems without increasing habitat loss. Given the range of Z. tenebrosa, which covers a broad swath of central Africa, increasing production of this native insect may support multipronged agroecological approaches to promoting food security, adequate nutrition, and wildlife conservation.


We developed an augmented reality navigation system for MR-guided interventions. A head-mounted display provides in real-time a stereoscopic video-view of the patient, which is augmented with three-dimensional medical information to perform MR-guided needle placement procedures. Besides with the MR image information, we augment the scene with 3D graphics representing a forward extension of the needle and the needle itself. During insertion, the needle can be observed virtually at its actual location in real-time, supporting the interventional procedure in an efficient and intuitive way. In this paper we report on quantitative results of AR guided needle placement procedures on gel phantoms with embedded targets of 12mm and 6mm diameter; we furthermore evaluate our first animal experiment involving needle insertion into deep lying anatomical structures of a pig.


Deep networks are well-known to be fragile to adversarial attacks. We conduct an empirical analysis of deep representations under the state-of-the-art attack method called PGD, and find that the attack causes the internal representation to shift closer to the ``false'' class. Motivated by this observation, we propose to regularize the representation space under attack with metric learning to produce more robust classifiers. By carefully sampling examples for metric learning, our learned representation not only increases robustness, but also detects previously unseen adversarial samples. Quantitative experiments show improvement of robustness accuracy by up to 4% and detection efficiency by up to 6% according to Area Under Curve score over prior work. The code of our work is available at https://github.com/columbia/Metric_Learning_Adversarial_Robustness.


Bernina Mata was sentenced to death in Illinois in 1999 for being a lesbian-or, as the prosecutor labeled her, a "hard core lesbian." Such a declaration strains credibility. 1999? Illinois? Sentenced to death? Is this really a claim of a direct causal link? In my previous scholarship investigating lesbians and the criminal justice system, I interrogated the prosecutorial use of lesbianism in trials and sentencing and often, not surprisingly, discovered bias against lesbians (Robson, p. 1998). Nevertheless, I concluded that I could not sustain any claim of legal causation and argued that positing lesbianism (and other identities) "as the cause of prosecution and conviction is facile," and it was more important to consider statistical overrepresentation and the tropes which prosecutors use to dehumanize the lesbian defendant (ibid., p. 46-47). Analyzing the transcripts of two lesbians who were then on death row-Aileen Wuronos, who has since been executed, and Ana Cardona, who has since had her sentenced reversed-I thought that "the-lesbian-as-man-hater is never explicitly articulated but virtually floats from the transcript pages" (ibid., p. 36). Yet when I read the transcript in the case of Bernina Mata, I confronted a trial and sentencing hearing in which the-lesbian-as-manhater was no mere floatational trope. Instead, it was the prosecution's theory of guilt of first-degree murder and the prosecution's justification for the death sentence. Given the facts of the case-a stabbing relating to a sexual encounter and involving a third party-it seemed to me that the only real reason the jury could have convicted Ms. Mata of first-degree murder and sentenced her to death was the prosecutorial (mis) use of her lesbianism. I became aware of the case of Bernina Mata through a former student and now practicing attorney, Joey Mogul, of The People's Law office in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Mogul was representing Ms. Mata in a clemency hearing, as part of the individual clemency hearings ordered for every death-row inmate by then-Governor George Ryan. After reading the transcripts, I agreed to become an "expert" on the bias in Bernina Mata's trial and sentencing hearing. The next section of this piece contains the affidavit submitted on Bernina Mata's behalf. After the affidavit, section three illuminates the process of writing the affidavit and some of the issues it raised. Finally, the last section considers the outcome of the hearing and Ms. Mata's present situation. Affidavit PARDON DOCKET NO. 23679 BEFORE THE IUJNOIS PRISONER REVIEW BOARD FAEL TERM, 2002 ADVISING THE HONORABEE GEORGE RYAN IN THE MATTER OF BERNINA MATA AFFIDAVIT 1. My name is Ruthann Robson. I am a Professor of Eaw at the City University of New York School of Law and a member of the Florida Bar. My legal training and experience consists of a J.D. degree, a EE.M. degree, a clerkship with the Honorable William J. Castagna, United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, a clerkship with the Honorable Peter T. Fay, United States Court of Appeals Judge for the Eleventh Circuit, and a practice with Florida Rural Legal Services. I have been teaching at the City University of New York School of Law since 1990 in the areas of constitutional law, including equality and the first amendment, sexuality and the law, and family law. 2. The bulk of my scholarship has been in the area of lesbian legal theory. This work appears in several books I have authored including Lesbian (Out)Law and Sappho Goes to Law School (Columbia University Press, 1998), in over fifty articles in law reviews, anthologies, and encyclopedias, and has been cited in excess of three hundred instances in various law reviews and anthologies in the United States and abroad. Additionally, I have spoken about lesbian legal issues at a multitude of law schools, universities, academic conferences, and other venues in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. …


"A Rift in the Clouds" chronicles the efforts of three white southern federal judges to protect the civil rights of African Americans at the beginning of the twentieth century, when few in the American legal community were willing to do so. Jacob Treiber of Arkansas, Emory Speer of Georgia, and Thomas Goode Jones of Alabama challenged the Supreme Court's reading of the Reconstruction amendments that were passed in an attempt to make disfranchised and exploited African Americans equal citizens of the United States. These unpopular white southerners, two of whom who had served in the Confederate Army and had themselves helped to bring Reconstruction to an end in their states, asserted that the amendments not only established black equality, but authorized the government to protect blacks. Although their rulings won few immediate gains for blacks and were overturned by the Supreme Court, their legal arguments would be resurrected, and meet with greater success, over half a century later during the civil rights movement.


This paper is an integrative literature review that analyzes the scientific production of psychoactive substances use, as well as the demographic and clinical characteristics of elderly that use psychoactive substances. The systematic research was performed in Scopus, Web of Knowledge, Academic Search Premier, PubMed, and ScienceDirect databases. Considering the criteria for inclusion and exclusion, 13 studies were selected without restriction to a period The elderly are mainly characterized for being men with low levels of education and income, unemployed, single and living alone. The elderly present organic and psychological comorbidities. Alcohol is the most common drug used by people this age, followed by the abuse of medication, however, the use of illicit substances is increasing. Although evidence is limited, studies indicate lower rates of high-risk behaviors to elderly's health. Literature is consensual about the need for more studies in order to fill the knowledge gaps and to facilitate the identification of these users. Keywords: elderly; drug users; substance-related disorders; prescription drug misuse; evidence-based practice.


The countries comprising the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) are currently not very integrated into global value chains (GVCs), potentially missing out on important development opportunities. Accordingly, we explore high level options for promoting their integration. Given East Asia's spectacular success with integrating into GVCs, we first assess the probability that SACU can copy their flying geese pattern. That was initiated by Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) investing in successive East Asian countries thereby becoming the lead geese, to be joined subsequently by MNCs from other countries. We argue that the conditions for pursuing a flying geese approach are difficult to replicate in SACU. Therefore, we proffer and explore the proposition that South Africa could serve as the gateway for harnessing MNC geese flying from third countries into the SACU region, in time propelling regional development through knowledge and investment spillovers, and serving as a conduit into GVCs. However, there may be substantial obstacles to deepening this integration potential. Other African gateways are emerging as alternatives to South Africa. And some SACU governments would prefer to build regional value chains (RVCs) rather than prioritize GVC integration. We argue that RVCs are complements to GVCs. SACU countries, excluding South Africa, may not attract many world leading MNCs since their markets are small, but could attract smaller regional players from South Africa or elsewhere. Thus building RVCs in the short run could assist with integration into GVCs in the longer run. Overall, this requires harnessing South African and MNC geese to the South African gateway, in a mutually complementary strategy.


BACKGROUND
The pervasive disease of chronic pain is a common challenge for the clinical rehabilitation professional. Concurrent with physical and emotional symptoms, pain-related cognitive impairment has been reported. Although opioid analgesics are frequently prescribed, concern exists that opioids possess adverse cognitive effects of their own.

OBJECTIVES
To review the neuropsychological and neuroanatomical sequelae of chronic non-malignant pain and opioid therapy, to clarify roles and benefits of neuropsychological assessment in a chronic pain population, and to provide recommendations for clinical practice and future research.

METHODS
This non-systematic review sought to provide a comprehensive synthesis of relevant neurobiology, neuroimaging, neuropsychological, and rehabilitation research literatures. We included citations from seminal and current texts as well as relevant original and review articles from 1980-2012 in PubMed and PubMedCentral online research databases.

DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY/CONCLUSIONS
To date, evidence from opioid studies suggests only mild deficits in specific cognitive domains (e.g., memory, attention/concentration) and only under specific conditions (e.g., dose escalations). Additionally, neuroimaging and neuropsychological evidence suggests that pain itself results in cognitive sequelae. Methodological improvements in future research will allow for better delineation of the contributing effects of pain and opioids, with an overall goal of improving evidence-based clinical treatment recommendations.