During the fall of 2006, the Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) celebrates its 20th birthday. Linkoping has a long tradition of health education; our nursing programme started already in 1895 and occupational therapy began in 1965. From the late 1960's, medical students from Uppsala spent their last seven semesters in Linkoping, mainly for clinical studies. After some years, academic and teachers from the young faculty, together with the county council, realized the enormous potential benefits of a complete undergraduate medical programme at Linkoping University. Inspired by apparent innovations from McMaster University in Canada, Maastricht in Holland, Ben Gurion in Israel and Tromso in Norway, these ideas and ideals were gradually turned into reality. In a complicated process, concerning the life or death of the medical faculty, a close co-operation between the University and the County Council of Ostergotland was extremely fruitful. A proposal regarding a complete medical programme, and study periods integrated between the other health education programmes, was forwarded to the Swedish government in December 1982 and approved in 1984. The new FHS at Linkoping University was launched in 1986, and by the end of August the first students began their studies. Already at the start, FHS included several programmes for health professionals: nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, medicine, social welfare and laboratory technology. Speech and language pathology was added in 2003 and the education curriculum for laboratory technicians was developed into a master's programme in medical biology. A number of important concepts were included in the new programmes. Problem based learning (PBL) was chosen as the fundamental basis for organising studies; using small tutorial groups with supervisors as "coaches" and real patient histories as triggers for learning. Since 2001, realistic cases/scenarios are made available on the Intranet. PBL is highly appreciated by the majority of students and teachers. This method of learning focused in contexts, according to pedagogic research, leads to a higher retention of knowledge than in traditional teacher-centered approaches toward learning. Important PBL spin-off effects are in educating students to cooperate in groups, to communicate and argue, to listen to other students' opinions, to evaluate their own efforts and to identify learning needs. Furthermore, the method implies that students' learn to independently find and evaluate scientific information, thereby realizing that the truth is somewhat "relative," since what they find may differ depending on the sources used. Perhaps the most important characteristic of PBL is that it moves the main responsibility for obtaining goals and new knowledge from the teacher to the student. Other important elements of the various curricula at the FHS are vertical and horizontal integration. In vertical integration, e.g. between clinical and basic science, different sections are interwoven with clear progressive shifts over phases and semesters. This has shown to stimulate profound rather than superficial learning, and probably stimulates better understanding. Horizontal integration focuses on the simultaneous learning of several subjects needed to understand and explain the scenarios used. In PBL, teachers are expected to cooperate over departmental borders, a process that often produces positive spin-off effects extending further to research. They take on many different roles as e.g. planners, semester coordinators, tutors, lecturers and clinical supervisors. As such, newcomers may encounter certain frustration. Continuous staff development is critical to assure pedagogical selection and excellence, and thereby the quality of the programmes. In PBL, teachers are expected to cooperate over departmental borders, a process that often produces positive spin-off effects extending further to research. They take on many different roles as e.g. planners, semester coordinators, tutors, lecturers and clinical supervisors. As such, newcomers may encounter certain frustration. Continuous staff development is critical to assure pedagogical selection and excellence, and thereby the quality of the programmes. The aim to be a medical faculty with a standing among the most progressive worldwide implies continuous evaluation and development. Our mission is to foster the very best in health care; health care extending consideration toward educating competent professionals and conducting quality research with a focus on societal needs and welfare. To fulfil this mission, we need to advance teaching models based on evidence, and continuously improve and develop our educational methods. This process requires cooperation between departments, teachers and students within the university and indeed, throughout the world. Such contacts and collaborations are as important in education as they are in research, and extend an endless source of inspiration. Communication between the different undergraduate programmes at FHS has been extremely fruitful and should further be stimulated. At the faculty level, it is important to provide teachers with credit for efforts and development toward education. To keep integration and innovation at a high level, it is very important to balance the decision power and the distribution of money between departments and programmes. The aim of this book is to provide a general overview, in glimpses, of some of the important developments in FHS education; to describe new ideas in progress or those already turned to reality and also, to extend some consideration of publications regarding our educational innovations. We hope these examples provide the essence of inspiration for future work, contributing to improved education and better health for all.


The old bridge across the Brenta River in Bassano del Grappa (Italy) is documented since 1209; the current bridge was built by Andrea Palladio in 1569 and it is described in a table of his treatise "The Four Books of Architecture". The structure was repaired many times because of river floods and damages caused by war, but the one that is admired today is essentially the same bridge designed by the famous architect. The structure is a 5 span truss bridge, made entirely with wooden framework. In recent years significant deformations of the deck have caused concerns about its stability. In 2014 the bridge was subjected to a thorough diagnostic campaign to assess its structural conditions. An accurate survey using laser scanning provided the precise measurement of subsidence and deformation of the current structure, which were recognized as very relevant. To carry out the consequent inspection, it was necessary to have direct access to the structural elements with positioning techniques by ropes. In this way excessive overload to the already damaged bridge and limitations to the passage on the roadway were avoided. This technique also provided an economic saving for the municipality. The direct inspection has allowed close observation of the wooden trusses in order to detect sections, construction details and reinforcing elements (plates, bolts, tie rods). The visual inspection of all structural elements has provided the preliminary survey of the state of degradation of the wood, and additional direct tests were performed by a mechanical drilling instrument (Resistograph). To complete the analysis micro-sampling and macroscopic analysis allowed the identification of the species of wood.


The results of a study on multiscale shape description, smoothing and representation are reported. Multiscale nonlinear smoothing filters are first developed, using morphological opening and closings. G. Matheron (1975) used openings and closings to obtain probabilistic size distributions of Euclidean-space sets (continuous binary images). These distributions are used to develop a concept of pattern spectrum (a shape-size descriptor). A pattern spectrum is introduced for continuous graytone images and arbitrary multilevel signals, as well as for discrete images, by developing a discrete-size family of patterns. Large jumps in the pattern spectrum at a certain scale indicate the existence of major (protruding or intruding) substructures of the signal at the scale. An entropy-like shape-size complexity measure is also developed based on the pattern spectrum. For shape representation, a reduced morphological skeleton transform is introduced for discrete binary and graytone images. This transform is a sequence of skeleton components (sparse images) which represent the original shape at various scales. It is shown that the partially reconstructed images from the inverse transform on subsequences of skeleton components are the openings of the image at a scale determined by the number of eliminated components; in addition, two-way correspondences are established among the degree of shape smoothing via multiscale openings or closings, the pattern spectrum zero values, and the elimination or nonexistence of skeleton components at certain scales. >


This study documents the counterstories of four academically (and mathematically) successful African American male students. Using participative inquiry, the participants were asked to read, reflect on, and respond to historical and current research literature regarding the schooling experiences of African American students. Their responses were analyzed using a somewhat eclectic theoretical framework that included poststructural theory, critical race theory, and critical theory. Collectively, the participants' counterstories revealed that each had acquired a robust mathematics identity as a component of his overall efforts toward success. How the participants acquired such "uncharacteristic" mathematics identities was to be found in part in how they understood sociocultural discourses of U.S. society and how they negotiated the specific discourses that surround male African Americans. Present throughout the counterstories of each participant was a recognition of himself as a discursive formation who could negotiate sociocultural discourses as a means to subversively repeat his constituted "raced" self.


—We Hurwitz and his colleagues for their comments strengthening our assumption that ecthyma gangrenosum may be a localized skin lesion not accompanied by bacteremia. However, we think that "necrotic cellulitis" described by Hurwitz and his colleagues is not synonymous with ecthyma gangrenosum but, rather, with a similar cutaneous manifestation of Pseudomonas septicemia, ie, gangrenous cellulitis. Thsi is a sharply demarcate cellulitis that rapidly enlarges to become a necrotic lesion1 and does not evolve through several typical stages, as does ecthyma gangrenosum. The description and figures of the skin lesion in patinet 1 of Hurwitz and his colleagues fit gangrenous or necrotic cellulitis and not ecthyma gangrenosum. Patient 2 in their article had bacteremia. Nevertheless, it appears that both necrotic cellulitis and ecthyma gangrenosum may develop in patients who do not have bacteremia.


Income inequality refers to how unevenly income is distributed in society. Income inequality has been perceived to escalate generally due to excessive gains by the top income earners. Rising income inequality across OECD countries and in the United States has become a center stage in policy debates across the world. The main objective of this study is to empirically explore the econometric linkages between income inequality, corruption and market power. This study seeks to shed light on possible causal links by utilizing international data on OECD countries and micro data for the United States at the state level to account for problems associated with data issues at the international level, such as unobservable institutional factors. This thesis uses data for 26 OECD countries (1984 to 2014) and 50 states of United States (1977 to 2014).
Causality and copula analyses are undertaken to explore the empirical nexus of income inequality, corruption and market power. For causality testing, this study implements a procedure proposed by Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) for testing Granger causality in panel datasets. In a trivariate setting, this research extends Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) method and adapts Toda and Yamamoto (1995) approach in time series datasets.
Causality analysis is employed to understand the causation between these three main issues. However, this analysis does not allow information on the total correlation of variables of interest (Chong and Gradstein, 2007). Thus, the copula approach is applied to complement causality analysis. Copula approach is a well-known tool in financial risk management and insurance applications and has proven to be a superior tool for modeling dependency structures. To our knowledge, it has rarely been used in economy applications. In this study, this study employed bivariate copula and Vine copula.
The evidence presented here consistently shows that there is a strong linkage between income inequality, corruption and market power. However, the dependence between linkages is unique and varies between countries and states in the United States. The results demonstrate the strong dependence between these three factors. Most of the time, the linkage is slightly stronger for income inequality and corruption. These advances econometric method does provide a new insight in exploring the nexus of income inequality, corruption and market power. Further, Granger causality and dependence seems to be more pervasive in US states than OECD countries, possibly due to more accurate and consistent measurement of corruption and market power, and less unobservable heterogeneity in the former dataset.
Overall, this research reveals some important results regarding the linkages of three variable of interest. The study also demonstrates that combining copula approach and causality testing can provide a comprehensive way to understand the linkages. This approach can lead to incremental insights and conclusions. The insights offered here are expected to be valuable for public policy on market distortions, income distribution and economic growth.


Text messaging has become widespread, particularly among college-aged young adults. There is concern that high rates of texting may result in musculoskeletal disorders, including tendinopathies. We examined serum biomarkers, conventional MRI findings, and MRI mean intratendinous signal-to-noise ratio (MISI) of thumb tendons to determine if high volume texters (≥ 230 texts sent/day; n = 5) would be more likely than low volume texters (≤ 25 texts sent/day; n = 5) to have early onset tendinopathy and inflammation. Three of the high volume texters had MRI findings of tendinopathy as did one low volume texter. Increased serum TNF-R1 was found in high volume texters compared to low volume texters of college age, as were non-significant increases in MISI in 2 thumb tendons. Serum TNF-R1 and TNF-α correlated with the MISI in these tendons, as did IL1-R1. These results suggest that early onset tendinopathy with concurrent inflammation may be occurring in prolific texters. Further studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm these findings.


Many analysis and machine learning tasks require the availability of marginal statistics on multidimensional datasets while providing strong privacy guarantees for the data subjects. Applications for these statistics range from finding correlations in the data to fitting sophisticated prediction models. In this paper, we provide a set of algorithms for materializing marginal statistics under the strong model of local differential privacy. We prove the first tight theoretical bounds on the accuracy of marginals compiled under each approach, perform empirical evaluation to confirm these bounds, and evaluate them for tasks such as modeling and correlation testing. Our results show that releasing information based on (local) Fourier transformations of the input is preferable to alternatives based directly on (local) marginals.


Affective science increasingly concludes that the voice is a powerful tool for emotional communication. The process of creating a finished product by means of studio recording gives listeners the opportunity to engage in experiences of the voice that are quite unlike that which would be achieved in a traditional concert hall or live performance and even more so when compared with day-to-day speech. The audio production chain, from sound capture using particular sound recording techniques, to specific effects processing affords the engineer (or the vocalist themself) unparalleled access to shape the recorded voice, and thereby enhance the affective impact of the voice for the listener. This paper expands upon previous work presented at the 139th AES Convention in New York defining affective potential and considers a number of examples where one of the points in the production chain has been exploited to increase the affective impact of the voice (either deliberately or by happenstance), suggesting that the affective sciences might find the analysis of such applications of the recorded voice a fertile ground for future investigation of perceived affective correlates and their underlying musical, or more generally, acoustic, cues.


With increasing age, diseases related to age like Alzheimer's Disease (AD), occur more frequent. AD is a multifactorial disease, characteristics are degeneration of neurons and synapses, deposits of Amyloid β (Aβ) and intracellular tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau. Disruption of neurotransmitter systems is a consequence of this. G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and the signalling pathway of cAMP play an important role in these systems. To regulate the cAMP signalling pathway there are effector proteins of cAMP, like protein kinase A (PKA) and exchange proteins activated by cAMP (Epacs) connected to anchoring proteins like A kinase anchoring proteins (AKAPs). AKAPs are found throughout the body and can regulate numerous processes. They also play a role in neuronal cells, including neurons involved in learning and memory consolidation and retrieval. In neuronal cells AKAPs can regulate cAMP signalling and glutamatergic signalling. In Alzheimer's disease these signalling pathways are disturbed and looking at AKAPs in Alzheimer's could provide an integrated view of involved processes.


Three dimensional nanostructures are of great interest in photonics and optical sensor communities. Although there are many theoretical models developed, lithographic reduction to practice is an ongoing challenge. Numerous lithographic techniques have been proposed for fabricating three dimensional structures with applications in photonics. We demonstrate a novel three-dimensional electron beam fabrication method that is precise, fast, intrinsically self-aligned and has the ability to produce large area patterns.


Twelve patients with intractable partial seizures [4 receiving carbamazepine (CBZ), 4 phenytoin (PHT), and 4 both] entered a study of the tolerability of flunarizine (FNR) at specified plasma concentrations. After an 8‐week baseline period, a single‐dose pharmacoki‐netic study was performed for each patient to calculate a loading dose and maintenance dosage necessary to achieve a target plasma FNR concentration of 30 ng/ml. The first 8 patients received the loading dose (as divided doses) during a 1‐week hospitalization and the maintenance dosage for the ensuing 8 weeks. These patients proceeded to treatment periods with target concentrations of 60 and then 120 ng/ml, using doses based on an assumed linear relation between dose and plasma concentration. The last 4 patients were studied only at the 120‐ng/ml target level. Results indicated that this procedure successfully approximated target levels of 30 and 60 ng/ ml, but observed concentrations in the last period exceeded the 120‐ng/ml target level and continued to increase with time, often necessitating a dosage reduction owing to intolerability. Calculated doses for a given target concentration varied by a factor of 12. The most frequently reported adverse experiences were sedation and increased fatigue; reports of dizziness, headache, and lethargy were also common. Based on this study, a target concentration of at least 60 but <120 ng/ml is recommended for a controlled clinical trial of the antiepileptic efficacy of FNR.


We propose the use of causality-based formal representation and automated reasoning methods to endow multiple teams of robots in a factory, with high-level cognitive capabilities, such as, optimal planning and diagnostic reasoning. We introduce algorithms for finding optimal decoupled plans and diagnosing the cause of a failure/discrepancy (e.g., robots may get broken or tasks may get reassigned to teams). We discuss how these algorithms can be embedded in an execution and monitoring framework, and show their applicability on an intelligent painting factory scenario.


New sustainable methods are needed to produce renewable energy carriers that can be stored and used for transportation, heating, or chemical production. Here we demonstrate that methane can directly be produced using a biocathode containing methanogens in electrochemical systems (abiotic anode) or microbial electrolysis cells (MECs; biotic anode) by a process called electromethanogenesis. At a set potential of less than -0.7 V (vs Ag/AgCl), carbon dioxide was reduced to methane using a two-chamber electrochemical reactor containing an abiotic anode, a biocathode, and no precious metal catalysts. At -1.0 V, the current capture efficiency was 96%. Electrochemical measurements made using linear sweep voltammetry showed that the biocathode substantially increased current densities compared to a plain carbon cathode where only small amounts of hydrogen gas could be produced. Both increased current densities and very small hydrogen production rates by a plain cathode therefore support a mechanism of methane production directly from current and not from hydrogen gas. The biocathode was dominated by a single Archaeon, Methanobacterium palustre. When a current was generated by an exoelectrogenic biofilm on the anode growing on acetate in a single-chamber MEC, methane was produced at an overall energy efficiency of 80% (electrical energy and substrate heat of combustion). These results show that electromethanogenesis can be used to convert electrical current produced from renewable energy sources (such as wind, solar, or biomass) into a biofuel (methane) as well as serving as a method for the capture of carbon dioxide.


The provision of information services in Africa has been dispersed and access to various information services has become more difficult; the principal victims of these developments have been rural people without having any individual means of becoming literate, due to them being too illiterate, too young, too old, too poor or too ill because of the economic and information poverty. The paper will provide a highlight on the value and usefulness of information as it affects rural community development and the need for it to be managed effectively. The premise of the paper is that promoting the role of information through the establishment of innovative community information centre (ICIC) will strengthen and empower the rural people to be among global players in the knowledge-based economy and also it will provide the opportunities for rural community development in general. This entails that the development of any rural community is a positive indicator for the development of a nation. Finally the paper provides a framework for which library and information services can be sustain to foster rural community development by making information as influential factor, which serves as an agent of social, educational, economic and political development.


Skin reflectance spectrophotometric studies on Indian populations have been reviewed. Age changes in skin colour have been described on the basis of available data. It has been observed that pigment is lost through adolescent years. Sex differences have been found in skin colour in Indian studies. Variation in skin tanning and seasonal changes in skin colour have been recorded. Pigmentary variation in the Indian populations have been discussed. Regional differences have been found to be the result of adaptative adjustments in response to local ecological conditions. Superimposed on their pigmentary variations are the differences induced by the caste hierarchy and reinforced by assortative mating for skin pigmentation.


A design for an efficient monochromatic electron source for Inverse Photoemission Spectroscopy (IPES) apparatus is described. The electron source consists of a BaO cathode, a focus electrostatic lens, a hemispherical deflection monochromator (HDM), and a transfer electrostatic lens. The HDM adopts a "slit-in and slit-out" structure and the degradation of first-order focusing is corrected by two electrodes between the two hemispheres, which has been investigated by both analytical methods and electron-ray tracing simulations using the SIMION program. Through the focus lens, the HDM, and the standard five-element transfer lens, an optimal energy resolution is estimated to be about 53 MeV with a beam flux of 27 μA. Pass energy (P.E.) of 10 eV and 5 eV are discussed, respectively.


By application of thermomechanical controlled rolling and accelerated cooling, the carbon steel grain refinement is limited to levels of ~ 5 μm in steels. The strain assisted or strain induced transformation could be considered for the refining process. The present work, likewise, deals with grain refinement of medium carbon steel containing 0.45 wt pct carbon having different initial microstructure modified by either thermal and/or thermomechanical treatment (TM) prior severe plastic deformation. In case of TM treated steel, structure refinement was conducted in two steps. Preliminary structure refinement has been achieved due to multistep open die forging process which provided total strain of 3. Uniform and fine recrystallized ferrite structure with grain size of the order of 2-5 μm and with nest-like pearlite colonies was obtained. The further grain refinement of steel samples having different initial structure was accomplished during warm Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) at 400°C. The steel samples of different initial structure were then subjected to six ECAP pressing passes through die channel angle of 120°. The microstructure development was analyzed in dependence of effective strain introduced (εef ~ 2.5 - 4). Employment of this processing route resulted in extensive deformation of ferrite grains where mixture of subgrains and ultrafine grain was found regardless the preliminary treatment of steel. As straining increases the dynamic polygonization and recrystallization became active to form mixture of polygonized subgrains and submicrocrystalline grains having high angle boundaries. The straining and moderate ECAP temperature caused the partial cementite lamellae fragmentation and spheroidization as straining increased. The lamellae cementite spheroidization was more extensive in TM treated steel samples. The tensile behavior was characterized by strength increase for both structural steel states; however the work hardening behavior was modified in steel where preliminary TM treatment was introduced to modified coarse ferrite-pearlite structure.


This paper addresses the challenge of efficiently and accurately predicting an electric vehicle's attainable range. Specifically, our approach accounts for a driver's generalised route preferences to provide up-to-date, personalised information based on estimates of the energy required to reach every possible destination in a map. We frame this task in the context of sequential decision making and show that energy consumption in reaching a particular destination can be formulated as policy evaluation in a Markov Decision Process. In particular, we exploit the properties of the model adopted for predicting likely energy consumption to every possible destination in a realistically sized map in real-time. The policy to be evaluated is learned and, over time, refined using Inverse Reinforcement Learning to provide for a life-long adaptive system. Our approach is evaluated using a publicly available dataset providing real trajectory data of 50 individuals spanning approximately 10,000 miles of travel. We show that by accounting for driver specific route preferences our system significantly reduces the relative error in energy prediction compared to more common, driver-agnostic heuristics such as shortest-path or shortest-time routes.


ABSTRACT Workplace coaching is increasingly used in organisations. Workplace coaching is conducted internally within an organisation for the purpose of helping employees, managers and leaders attain work-related goals. Workplace coaching methodologies have evolved over time. The first 'generation' (1990s) focused on performance management. A hallmark of the second-'generation' (2000s) approach is structured step-by-step proprietary 'Leader as Coach' performance-focused coach training programmes. Such mechanistic approaches do not meet the challenges of the contemporary organisational context where uncertainty and rapid change are the norm. This paper describes the third-'generation' approach to workplace coaching that is increasingly apparent in the workplace. This is an approach that explicitly focuses on enhancing both the performance and the well-being of individuals and organisations in ways that are sustainable and personally meaningful. A case study example of how to integrate 'Leader as Coach' programmes into an organisation is presented. This developmental approach aims to create the culture of quality conversations needed for the challenges faced by contemporary organisations.


In order to provide references for popularization and application of tobacco variety Yunyan 105, a field experiment was conducted to explore the effects of different sowing and transplanting time on agronomic traits, economic benefit and quality of Yunyan 105. Results showed that the agronomic characters, quality traits and economic benefit of the tobacco were relatively fine with sowing time February 4-14 and transplanting time April 1-10. Index scores of the physical properties of tobacco leaves were greater than 80 scores with sowing time February 14 and transplanting time April 10. The comprehensive index of conventional chemical compositions was 0.39-0.73. The harmony of conventional chemical compositions of lower leaves was the best with the comprehensive index of 0.59 when the sowing time and transplanting time were February 4 and April 1 respectively. As for the middle and upper leaves the comprehensive indexes were respectively 0.71 and 0.73 with the sowing time February 14 and transplanting time April 10. The sensory evaluation of smoking quality and economic benefit were February 14 sowing and April 10 transplanting better, its taste of the tobacco leaves was pure and mild, the irritancy and the strength was less, the aftertaste was better, and the output value reached the highest 4 271.17 yuan/667 m2. The various sowing and transplanting time had no significant influence on appearance quality of tobacco leaves. The suitable sowing and transplanting time of Yunyan 105 was February 4-14 and April 1-10 respectively in Xuanwei tobacco-growing area.


North-central Minnesota has a system of waterfowl refuges that were created over the last 6 decades to benefit ring-necked ducks (Aythya collaris). New refuges were placed to complement existing refuges and to relieve high hunting pressure in bog areas that were traditionally remote and inaccessible but were receiving increasing use. These refuges have been credited with keeping waterfowl in the area, but this has not been substantiated with data. Furthermore, the survival benefits of these refuges, if any, to locally produced ring-necked ducks have not been evaluated. We examined weekly mortality and movements onto and off of refuges with data from young ring-necked ducks captured and radio-marked before fledging. We used a multi-state model to investigate factors affecting transitions between 4 states (i.e., alive and on a refuge, alive and off a refuge, dead and off a refuge, and dead and on a refuge), and to account for variation in detection probabilities. Our most-supported model based on Akaike's Information Criterion with a small sample size correction (AICc) included movements onto and off of refuge as a function of year and hunting season, and mortality as a function of year, hunting season, and sex. The second ranked model (ΔAICc = 2.74) was similar to the top model but without the sex effect. Other models received considerably less support. Mortality was greater during hunting season than before hunting opened. Young males had greater mortality rates (mean ± SE) off the refuge than young females both before (0.050 ± 0.004 vs. 0.030 ± 0.002) and during hunting season (0.234 ± 0.019 vs. 0.137 ± 0.011). Probabilities of movement onto refuges were greater during hunting seasons than during weeks with no hunting pressure (0.073 ± 0.046 vs. 0.023 ± 0.015), although birds left refuges at a similar rate during hunting and before hunting seasons (0.424 ± 0.116 vs. 0.457 ± 0.125). Birds that used refuges were detected on the study area longer. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that ducks benefit from refuges; we found lesser mortality of birds on refuges (no birds were detected dead on a refuge), and greater mortality off refuges during hunting season. We did not evaluate whether survival benefits of refuges accrued from reduced disturbance, greater time foraging, benefits of membership in a flock, or simply safety from hunters. Future studies examining food availability and foraging behavior on and off refuges may help clarify the contributions of these variables to reducing mortality of young ring-necked ducks during hunting seasons. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.


The relative sensitivities of different cancer histologies in a single site to photodynamic therapy (PDT) are unknown and methods to predict PDT sensitivity have not been described. The in vitro response to PDT of six established human lung cancer cell lines and one normal lung fibroblast cell line was studied using the clonogenic assay. Dose-response curves were determined for cells incubated in 25 micrograms/ml of Photofrin II for 2 h, followed by exposure to 630-nm light to total energies of 0-3150 J/m2. None of the cell lines were sensitive to sensitizer alone or light alone. Differences in inherent PDT sensitivities as evaluated by survival curve parameters n, Do, and light dose to yield 1% survival were observed among the cell lines. No clear correlation was found when inherent PDT sensitivity was compared with sensitizer uptake; however, a general association was noted between PDT sensitivity and the plating efficiency of the cell line. These data illustrate that differences in inherent PDT exist for in vitro systems. Such differences may explain some of the failures seen in clinical PDT.


We have previously suggested mixed precision iterative solvers specifically tailored to the iterative solution of sparse linear equation systems as they typically arise in the finite element discretization of partial differential equations. These schemes have been evaluated for a number of hardware platforms, in particular, single-precision GPUs as accelerators to the general purpose CPU. This paper reevaluates the situation with new mixed precision solvers that run entirely on the GPU: We demonstrate that mixed precision schemes constitute a significant performance gain over native double precision. Moreover, we present a new implementation of cyclic reduction for the parallel solution of tridiagonal systems and employ this scheme as a line relaxation smoother in our GPU-based multigrid solver. With an alternating direction implicit variant of this advanced smoother, we can extend the applicability of the GPU multigrid solvers to very ill-conditioned systems arising from the discretization on anisotropic meshes, that previously had to be solved on the CPU. The resulting mixed-precision schemes are always faster than double precision alone, and outperform tuned CPU solvers consistently by almost an order of magnitude.


The preorganized, macrobicyclic azaphane (1) exhibits remarkable strong, selective fluoride binding comparable to the most effective bis(tren) cryptands despite binding anions via only three NH groups coupled with three CH hydrogen bond donors. The lower intrinsic affinity of CH donors is compensated by the high degree of preorganization exhibited by azacyclophane 1. Compound 1 is prepared via a tripod-tripod cyclization reaction between 1,3,5-tris-bromomethyl-benzene and an aliphatic tripodal hexatosylated polyamine, followed by the reduction of the resulting bicyclic tosylamine. The crystal structures of the bicyclic tosylamine 2 and four macrobicyclic polyammonium halide salts of 1 are reported. X-ray studies revealed the formation of inclusive 1:1 complexes of 1 with fluoride, chloride, bromide, and iodide. Potentiometric titrations showed very high binding constants for fluoride and chloride with a F-/Cl- selectivity of more than five logarithmic units. The final geometry of the anion cryptates is largely determined by optimization of NH and CH(...)anion interactions coupled with unfavorable anion-pi repulsion for the larger anions.


This study centers on the household saving rate in Latin America by constructing a new database from 27 household surveys in 10 countries. At the statistical level, about half of the households present negative saving. This fact, coupled with the discrepancy with national accounts data, suggests some degree of income underreporting and/or consumption overreporting. The estimations highlight the overriding positive role of income in shaping saving decisions. Many other controls prove to be significant as well. In terms of household saving promotion, our paper leaves little room for optimism.


Abstract The uncertain state of the traditional nonprofit has sparked interest in unincorporated cultural associations to maintain the vitality of the cultural sector. Despite increasing interest in and qualitative study of the role of the unincorporated groups and individuals in cultural production and participation, there are no data that allow assessment of their importance to the overall cultural sector. In this paper, SIAP takes an alternative strategy for estimating the informal arts sector. The authors use a representative sample of artists to ask what proportion of artists' professional activities takes place in the for-profit, nonprofit, and informal sectors. The analysis is based on a sample of 270 artists in the Philadelphia metropolitan area interviewed during 2004. The team found that a large share of the sample's professional activities did indeed occur in what might be called the informal cultural sector; and that the importance of this sector varied by discipline, age, and ethnicity of the artist. The informal arts sector is likely to be a major agenda item for cultural research in the years to come. If nothing else, this paper demonstrates that researchers can use quantitative methods to expand our understanding of the informal sector. It also holds out the promise that the research would contribute to a more complex and variegated portrait of informal cultural engagement and its place in the ecology of urban culture.


The functionality of tunneling field-effect transistors (TFETs) with a subthreshold slope SS better than 60 mV/dec at room temperature has recently been experimentally demonstrated [1,2]. TFETs based on graphene nanoribbon (GNR) are expected to offer larger ON-currents, lower OFF-currents, and steeper SS than Si or III–V compound semiconductors, they are one-dimensional, fully compatible with planar processing, and they have light and identical conduction and valence effective masses as well as a width-tunable narrow band [3,4]. However, it seems rather difficult to perfectly control the width of sub-10-nm GNRs and avoid line edge roughness (LER) [5]. Through quantitative simulation of realistically extended non-ideal structures and statistical sampling of different random configurations we can address the LER issue and guide experiments. Using a 3-D, atomistic, quantum mechanical simulator [6] we investigate the performance limitations of single-gate, 5.1nm-wide, p-i-n GNR TFETs with a 30nm gate. We find that source-to-drain tunneling leakage through the gate potential barrier (i) increases with LER and (ii) strongly limits the ON/OFF ratio of the devices to <1000 and SS to 25 mV/dec, even without LER.


The European abalone Haliotis tuberculata is of economical importance in Europe, and recently in France where most of the consumed abalones remained wild animals fished on the coast. Recently, the creation of hatcheries allowed the production of cultured animals, and aquaculture is in progress. To optimize selective breeding programs, different studies were performed on adults and on their progenies. First, ten adult families, assumed to be bi-parental and produced in 2007 were analyzed. As these families were developed at the beginning of the hatchery production, the parentage of the individual necessitated to be tested. The progenies parentage assignment was done by using eight microsatellite DNA loci. In fine, the heritability was estimated from the analysis of variance of seven full-sib families which include from 23 to 27 progenies. Heritability estimate was the higher for length, width and weight (0.37, 0.29 and 0.40 respectively). A high correlation was also shown between these heritable traits which can be useful during animal breeding. Shell color traits were also analyzed, using image treatment procedure. Two traits were selected according to the global color of the shell: red color and hue. The distribution of these traits evidenced a polygenic genetic control of shell color and measure of heritability evidenced a high to medium value for red color (Cr) and Hue(H) (0.33 and 0.20 respectively). No correlation was shown between growth and this parameter. In a second time, juveniles families produced in 2010 were studied from parents issued of the first selection. A correlation between size and density at juvenile stage was established but a statistical analysis demonstrated, by using density as co-variable a significant effect of family on size. In these conditions, growth is highly heritable (0.74). This study is a first step toward the use of genetic markers for selection, but also a step toward the breeding improvement of European abalone.


Recent studies to determine the probability of detection of nondestructive exami r.ati on methods by the Air Force indicate that these capabilities are severely limited. One of the factors contributing to the insufficiency of ultrasonic testing is related to a general lack of versatility and capability of commercial ultrasonic equipment. Inadequate instrument reliability, inconsistent components including transducers, and uncertain calibration standards further compromise the potential utility of this method. Batte 11 e Pacific Northwest Laboratories, ur.der the sponsorship of the ~1anufa.cturi ng Technology Division of the Air Force Materials Laboratory, is developing an advanced ultrasonic nondestructive testing system directed at resolving these defficiencies. As a result, this program will establish a modular ultrasonic system specification that will prevent near term obsolescence by permitting the addition of new technology such as ARPA developments in the form of additional or replacement modules. This paper will describe the Phase I and II tasks and objectives which are planned to establish an equipment specification, demonstrate initial prototype systems, and provide a procurement specification and technical manuals. Progress to date ~1ill be summarized.


This dissertation aimed at analyzing pulling and pushing factors in primary schools in
Iringa region, Tanzania. Specifically this study focused on: i) assessing pupil
aspirations towards school, ii) To examine the factors pushing pupils out of school iii)
To determine factors pulling pupils towards school. A case study was used. Case
study helped in obtaining an in-depth understanding of the pulling and pushing factor
in primary school. Purposive sampling technique was used to pick sample for case
study which helped to identify key informative. This study used, interview and
documentary review as data collection methods. By using thematic analysis it was
found that self-desire, future prospects and possibility to find work are main pupils'
aspirations toward school. Findings from the interview also revealed that cost sharing
policy, coordination between teachers and parents, parents guidance, good toilets,
provision of meals, students attitude to learn and well trained teachers play important
role in pulling pupils towards primary school education. Further analysis using
thematic analysis indicated that distance from school, parent negligence, poor toilets,
early marriage, lack of basic needs, child labor, death of parents, teachers attitude,
house work, and peer influence were among the factors identified to be related to
pushing pupils out from primary school. This study, recommends and concludes that
the law should be enforced and convict parents as well as head of schools who hesitate
to take legal measures against the pupils who are pushed out of school. In addition, it
is recommended that the government at both the central and local levels should
organize campaigns in order to raise public awareness about the importance of
investing in children's education.


As part of a program to determine the dynamical masses of Cepheids, we have imaged the nearest and brightest Cepheid, Polaris, with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 and Wide Field Camera 3. Observations were obtained at three epochs between 2007 and 2014. In these images, as in HST frames obtained in 2005 and 2006, which we discussed in a 2008 paper, we resolve the close companion Polaris Ab from the Cepheid Polaris Aa. Because of the small separation and large magnitude difference between Polaris Aa and Ab, we used point-spread function deconvolution techniques to carry out astrometry of the binary. Based on these new measurements, we have updated the elements for the 29.59 year orbit. Adopting the distance to the system from the recent Gaia Data Release 2, we find a dynamical mass of 3.45 ± 0.75 M⊙ for the Cepheid, although this is preliminary and will be improved by CHARA measurements covering periastron. As is the case for the recently determined dynamical mass for the Cepheid V1334 Cyg, the mass of Polaris is significantly lower than the "evolutionary mass" predicted by fitting to evolutionary tracks in the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram. We discuss several questions and implications raised by these measurements, including the pulsation mode, which instability-strip crossing the stars are in, and possible complications such as rotation, mass loss, and binary mergers. The distant third star in the system, Polaris B, appears to be older than the Cepheid, based on isochrone fitting. This may indicate that the Cepheid Polaris is relatively old and is the result of a binary merger, rather than being a young single star.


In this article we concentrate on perception of non-musical rhythm. The purpose of this study has been to find possible meanings related to simple auditory rhythms. Meanings were examined using semantic scales. 26 subjects rated nine different rhythm samples according to adjective pair scales. We also identify some preliminary design suggestions as to how rhythm can be used in sonification and discuss duration limitation when composing earcons.


Transactional Memory is currently being advocated as a promising alternative to lock-based synchronization because it simplifies multithreaded programming. In this way, future many-core CMP architectures may need to provide hardware support for transactional memory. On the other hand, power dissipation constitutes a first class consideration in multicore processor design. In this work, we characterize the performance and energy consumption of two well-known Hardware Transactional Memory systems that employ opposite policies for data versioning and conflict management. More specifically, we compare the Log TM-SE Eager-Eager system and a version of the Scalable TCC Lazy-Lazy system that enables parallel commits. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first characterization in terms of energy consumption of hardware transactional memory systems. To do that, we extended the GEMS simulator to estimate the energy consumed in the on-chip caches according to CACTI, and used the interconnection network energy model given by Orion 2. Results show that the energy consumption of the Eager-Eager system is 60% higher on average than in the Lazy-Lazy case, whereas performance differences between the two systems are 42% on average. Finally, we found that although on average Lazy-Lazy beats Eager-Eager there are considerable deviations in performance depending on the particular characteristics of each application.


Video conferences introduce a new scenario for video transmission, which focuses on keeping the fidelity of faces even in the low bandwidth network environment. In this work, we propose VSBNet, one of the frameworks to utilize face landmarks in video compression. Our method utilizes the adversarial learning to reconstruct origin frames from the landmarks. To recover more details and keep the consistency of identity, we propose the concept of visual sensitivity to separate the contour of the face from the fast-moving parts, such as eyes and mouth. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our framework with a low bit rate of around 1KB/s.


SIR,-All health workers interested in preventive medicine will applaud your leading article (25 December, p 1522). Nor would they quarrel with Minerva's remarks (1 January, p 58), and some comfort, too, can be taken from the figures of Professor Sir Richard Doll and Mr R Peto (25 December, p 1525) for the reduction in the daily average number of cigarettes smoked by doctors between 1951 and 1971. Many would also give unqualified support to the paragraph on smoking in your own article (25 December, p 1548). However, so much of the good work is eliminated by the thoughtless action of those doctors who still smoke. Time and again the ground is cut from under one's feet when patients quote these doctors' smoking habits as a counter-argument to one's attempts at health education. Unless we as a profession are prepared to give an unequivocal lead to the public and unless the government of the day gives wholehearted support to antismoking education, I fear that little impression will be made on morbidity due to the "lethal weed."


Background Respiratory involvement is a common consequence of COVID-19; changes in cardiorespiratory parameters of these patients during respiratory rehabilitation program are very important. Previous studies showed that myofascial release therapy (MFRT) could affect the respiratory muscle and adjunct fascia. Purpose The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of MFRT techniques and respiratory physiotherapy, in comparison with respiratory physiotherapy alone, on improving cardiorespiratory parameter in patients with COVID-19. Setting A hospital affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran, from February to July 2021. Participants Fifty patients with COVID-19 participated in this study. Research Design A single-blind, randomized control design. Intervention The patients with COVID-19 randomly assigned to an intervention group who received respiratory physiotherapy combined with MFRT or a control group receiving respiratory physiotherapy alone. Main Outcome Measure(s) Heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, chest expansion, and ease of breathing were assessed at baseline and after the first and third session of treatment. Dyspnea and fatigue perception and 6-minute walking were assessed at baseline and at the end of treatment. Patient's thoughts about the treatment were examined through the 4-point Likert scale. Results The ANOVAs found significant time effect for ease of breathing, dyspnea perception (F = 32.33, p < .01 and F = 11.72, p < .01, respectively). Also significant time by group interaction was found for chest expansion at xiphoid level (F = 4.02, p = .02). Conclusions The present study provided evidence that both programs could result in improving ease of breathing and dyspnea perception, although the inclusion of MFR techniques into a respiratory physiotherapy program did not result in better outcomes in cardiorespiratory function of patients with COVID-19.


ABSTRACT Recently, poly (є-caprolactone) (PCL) has gained a lot of attention, and shown great potential in biomedical applications. Among synthetic polymers, PCL is one of the easiest to process and manipulate into a large range of shapes and sizes due to its low melting temperature and its superior viscoelastic properties. In this review article the authors focus mainly on the properties of PCL-based biomaterials relevant to drug delivery and tissue engineering applications. The authors provide an insight into the recent developments and challenges of PCL-based biomaterials as a critical component of new therapeutic strategies for many diseases. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


This innovative book presents a fresh view of fifteenth-century Netherlandish art and the significance of its contributions to contemporary Italian art, notably in such areas as oil painting, landscape and portraiture. Focusing on Florence, a prime centre of renaissance culture, the book explores for the first time the profound impact of Netherlandish works on Italian painters, including Leonardo, Perugino and Ghirlandaio. Paula Nuttall discusses Italian ownership of Netherlandish paintings in the fifteenth century and the shared artistic concerns of Florentine and Netherlandish painters. She examines in depth the various means by which artistic contact occurred, the growth in demand for Netherlandish art in Florence, and the holdings of the Medici and other collectors. With particular emphasis on the period 1460-1500 when the vogue for Netherlandish painting was at its height, the author shows that the consequences of Italian exposure to Netherlandish art were far more sweeping than has been previously understood.


Because of stricter environmental regulations around the world concerning shipping and its emissions, ship owners and engine manufacturers are now forced to come up with solutions that match the new requirements. A road that some ship owners already have been chosen is to begin to run on LNG (liquefied natural gas), and several others are on the way. LNG has long been used ashore as fuel for power plants, and also for propulsion of LNG tankers that use their cargo as fuel.

The vessels that are studied in this project are ships using LNG as fuel for propulsion of the ship when the cargo is anything other than LNG.

Because of the lack of ships of this type, LNG powered ships that do not have LNG as cargo, there are very little information about what kinds of problems that may occur. Some problems with LNG can be due to varying bunker quality during operation. Quality changes during operation may occur because LNG constantly boils off to a certain extent, where certain substances in LNG (methane and nitrogen) boils off more than others. Should this continue for a long time, there will be a possibility for knocking and misfiring.
These problems can also occur when bunkering LNG of different qualities. In this case rollover is also a possibility.

The question that are desired to answer in this work is if the engine gets affected due to varying bunker quality during operation onboard ships and whether there will be any problems because of the different quality of LNG from the bunker suppliers. The method to accomplish this fell on surveys and interviews with experienced people.

The result shows that there is no direct connection between a change in the bunker quality during operation and an effect on the engine. It however demonstrated that a problem because of varying quality from the suppliers are found, but without greater scope and impact. This may be because all the ships that were investigated receive bunker from the same supplier at all times and that they sail relatively short trips.


The Black Archive is constitutive of works of literato such as JT Jabavu, Nontsizi Mgqwetho, the artist Gerard Bhengu, and musicians like Busi Mhlongo. This collective resource, which should play a crucial role in curriculating, compels us to consider two questions when rethinking Philosophy curricula: First, pedagogically, how does the epistemic access that the Black Archive affords our context facilitate justice? Second, and importantly, how does it help up in achieving justice? I, here, answer these questions in three moves. First, I consider certain key propositions; namely that decolonisation facilitates epistemic access, and that epistemic access in turn facilitates justice (historical, epistemic, and social). Second, I demonstrate how these propositions require the Black Archive (in South Africa) in order to be held as valid. I demonstrate this claim in Philosophy using Dumile Feni's African Guernica, and in Curriculum Studies, through analysing W. W. Gqoba's Ingxoxo Enkulu Ngemfundo. I conclude by prescriptively outlining uses for/of the Black Archive, guarding against misappropriations that derail justice as I treat it, safeguarding this corpus from epistemic arrogance that maintains that knowledge is valid only insofar as it is developed by white scholars.


The aim of this work was to develop a direct in situ reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (in situ RT-PCR) assay for the detection of oestrogen receptor α (ERα) mRNA on in vitro cell lines and breast tumour cell smears. ERα mRNA amplification was performed on MCF-7 (ERα positive) and MDA-MB-231 (ERα negative) cell lines as well as on 51 cytological smears of breast tumour samples from patients. The in situ amplification of mRNA in cell lines and ex vivo breast tumours was successful. However, finding an equilibrium between optimal cell morphology and PCR performance varied with each tumour, leading to difficulty in standardisation for daily practice. Nonetheless, in situ RT-PCR is a useful tool for the detection of ERα mRNA in selected cases, both in vitro and ex vivo. J Clin Pathol: Mol Pathol


In Things Fall Away , Neferti X. M. Tadiar offers a new paradigm for understanding politics and globalization. Her analysis illuminates both the power of Filipino subaltern experience to shape social and economic realities and the critical role of the nation's writers and poets in that process. Through close readings of poems, short stories, and novels brought into conversation with scholarship in anthropology, sociology, politics, and economics, Tadiar demonstrates how the devalued experiences of the Philippines' vast subaltern populations—experiences that "fall away" from the attention of mainstream and progressive accounts of the global capitalist present—help to create the material conditions of social life that feminists, urban activists, and revolutionaries seek to transform. Reading these "fallout" experiences as vital yet overlooked forms of political agency, Tadiar offers a new and provocative analysis of the unrecognized productive forces at work in global trends such as the growth of migrant domestic labor, the emergence of postcolonial "civil society," and the "democratization" of formerly authoritarian nations.

Tadiar treats the historical experiences articulated in feminist, urban protest, and revolutionary literatures of the 1960s–90s as "cultural software" for the transformation of dominant social relations. She considers feminist literature in relation to the feminization of labor in the 1970s, when between 300,000 and 500,000 prostitutes were working in the areas around U.S. military bases, and in the 1980s and 1990s, when more than five million Filipinas left the country to toil as maids, nannies, nurses, and sex workers. She reads urban protest literature in relation to authoritarian modernization and crony capitalism, and she reevaluates revolutionary literature's constructions of the heroic revolutionary subject and the messianic masses, probing these social movements' unexhausted cultural resources for radical change.


In spontaneous conversations, interactants are able to place new turns at the boundary of a foregoing turn without any noticeable gap or overlap. This suggests that interactions are made up of clearly identifiable units that are oriented to by the participants. It also shows that these interactional units have a property that is called projection (Sacks, Schegloff and Jefferson 1974, Ford and Thompson 1996, Selting 1996). Interactional units project their own possible endings. Based on their interactional and linguistic knowledge, participants know what it will take for the foregoing turn to be possibly complete. Based on a corpus study of spontaneous Dutch conversations, we propose that turns-at-talk are best analyzed as a three-tuple describing structures on three distinct linguistic levels: . Every part of a turn can in principle be described by one of eight turn states: ; ; ; ; ; ; and . Here a plus or a minus indicates the completion or incompletion of the relevant linguistic unit at that particular point. Interactional units can now be defined as structures where the boundaries of these three distinct levels coincide (). In this study we have two goals: 1. We argue that the turn-taking data in our corpus show that turns are indeed best analyzed as complex units that comprise syntactic, prosodic and pragmatic units 2. We describe the interplay of these composite structures in the production of turns-at-talk and show how syntax, prosody and pragmatics are used as interactional resources in the organization of interactions. The turn allocation component of the turn-taking model states that turn-taking occurs at the boundaries of possibly complete turns. This means that we can test our claim that turns are best described as complex structures by looking at turn-taking. The data in our corpus show that all three levels of linguistic structure are necessary to account for the turn-taking phenomena. Furthermore, a qualitative analysis of the counter examples shows that syntax, prosody and pragmatics play a distinctive role in the construction of turns-at-talk. Syntactic and prosodic structure restrict turn-taking on a local level. Pragmatic structure organizes the larger structure of an interaction, but does not restrict turn-taking per se. However, pragmatic structure does restrict the sort of turns that can be placed in a particular sequential slot. Syntactic and prosodic structures also play a role in the packaging of turns. A combination of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of same speaker continuations shows that interactants use the presence/absence of prosodic or syntactic integration as an interactional resource in the organization of turns-at-talk. Different ways to package same speaker turn continuations correlate with functional differences and different interactional meanings. Phrases that can be analyzed as syntactic and prosodic continuations of the foregoing turn are interactionally treated as dependent on the foregoing turn, whereas phrases that are prosodically or syntactically set apart are treated as turns in their own right.


The oxidation of formamidine disulfide, FDS, the dimer of thiourea, by aqueous chlorine dioxide has been studied in highly acidic and mildly acidic media. FDS is one of the possible oxidation intermediates formed in the oxidation of thiourea by oxyhalogens to urea and sulfate. The reaction is exceedingly slow, giving urea and sulfate with a stoichiometric ratio of 5 : 14 FDS to chlorine dioxide after an incubation period of up to 72 h and only in highly acidic media which discourages the disproportionation of chlorine dioxide to the oxidatively inert chlorate. Mass spectrometric data suggest that the oxidative pathway proceeds predominantly through the sulfinic acid, proceeding next to the products sulfate and urea, while by-passing the sulfonic acid. Transient formation of the unstable sulfenic acid was also not observed.


Globalization and the shift towards a knowledge-based society have increased the importance of knowledge work and in particular knowledge-intensive processes (KiPs) in highly developed countries. As a result, knowledge workers demand suitable information systems supporting their collaboration in knowledge-intensive processes. However, due to their difficult characteristics, there is still no such adequate support for KiPs. A KiP-supporting system needs to provide digital, lifecycle-based task lists to ensure sustainable support. Today, knowledge workers usually organize and manage their collaborative work in a KiP using paper-based task lists, e.g. to-do lists or checklists. Although task lists are intuitive and widely used, their current implementations tend to be ineffective and error-prone. Task lists are neither synchronized nor accessible by several knowledge workers simultaneously. In addition, no task list lifecycle support is provided and media disruptions aggravate task management. As a consequence, the efforts of knowledge workers in task management are not exploited for the optimization of future KiPs.

As part of the proCollab research project, this thesis addresses advanced concepts to support the task list lifecycle. For this purpose, existing lifecycle concepts are adapted and improved in particular. To allow an adequate comparison of task lists, an approach for a similarity analysis, on which the advanced concepts are based, is proposed first. As it is not always possible to create a suitable task list in advance, an approach for the automatic generation of a task list template from completed task list instances is presented. Furthermore, an approach for optimizing existing task list templates by incorporating the most frequent changes applied to task lists in use is explained. An additional approach for analyzing and identifying nested insert operations is proposed to extend and improve the optimization of existing task list templates. The presented concepts are together implemented in the current proCollab proof-of-concept prototype to demonstrate their feasibility and applicability. Therefore, various services and a central REST interface as well as a comprehensive test framework are implemented.


Murine AIDS (MAIDS) is caused by infection with the murine leukemia retrovirus RadLV-Rs and is character- ized by T-cell anergy and severe immunodeficiency with increased susceptibilty to several experimental opportunistic in- fections as observed in HIV infection. T cell anergy is associated with an increase of intracellular cAMP level, triggering a multistep pathway involving activation of PKA type I and resulting in inhibition of proximal TCR signaling. We have previously demonstrated that blocking PKA type I using the selective inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS, restores T-cell function in vitro in MAIDS as well as in HIV infection. In the present report, we investigated the effect of parenteral administra- tion of Rp-8-Br-cAMPS in mice with MAIDS. We show that the compound is not toxic and partially restores the ex vivo proliferative responses to anti-CD3 mAb, but that it has no effect on the lymphadenopathy and splenomegaly characteriz- ing the MAIDS syndrome.


This Article reviews our comprehensive survey of written opinions from cases in federal courts prior to January 1, 2010, involving motions for sanctions relating to the discovery of electronically stored information (ESI). We analyzed each case for various factors, including date, court, type of case, sanctioning authority, sanctioned party, sanctioned misconduct, sanction type, sanctions to counsel, if any, and the protections provided from sanctions by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 37(e). The survey identified 401 sanction cases and 230 sanction awards and showed that sanction motions and awards have increased over time, particularly in the last five years. Sanctions against counsel are rare but are also increasing. Sanction motions have been filed in all types of cases and in courts across the country. Failure to produce ESI is the most common basis for sanctions. Courts have used a variety of different rules, statutes, and powers to sanction parties for e-discovery violations, including Rule 37 and the inherent power of the court, and courts impose many different sanction types on e-discovery violators, including the severe sanctions of dismissal, default judgment, adverse jury instructions, and sizeable monetary awards. Rule 37(e) has not provided broad protection from such sanctions.


In this paper, I center Indigenous water governance at the nexus of extractive capitalist development, water contamination and dispossession, and Indigenous self-determination. I do so by focusing on colonial capitalist legacies and continuities that are unfolding on Mushkegowuk lands of what is otherwise known as the Treaty 9 territory in northern Ontario, Canada. Through a spatial analysis, I trace contemporary forms of water dispossession through mining extraction to the larger colonial-capitalist objectives of the original signing of the James Bay, or Treaty 9, agreement. I argue that the colonial capitalist dispossession of water, through the seizing of land and interconnected waterways, and through the accumulation of pollution and contamination, is inextricably linked to larger structural objectives of securing access to Mushkegowuk lands for capitalist accumulation, while simultaneously dispossessing Mushkegowuk peoples of the sources of their political and legal orders. I end by discussing how Mushkegowuk peoples are resurging against settler colonial and capitalist regimes by regenerating their water relations, and how water itself cultivates a particularly spatial form of resurgence that regenerates Indigenous kinship relations and governance practices.


Our aim was to examine the association between fatal colorectal cancer (CRC) and time to colonoscopy among individuals who underwent diagnostic colonoscopy after abnormal stool blood test (SBT) in a cohort of United States Veterans. Methods: We performed a cohort study of Veterans aged 50–75 years, with an abnormal SBT using the Veterans Health Administration's (VA) national electronic health record data during the years 1999 and 2010. Colonoscopy receipt was ascertained using current procedural terminology codes after abnormal SBT. The study outcome, CRC death, was defined through National Death Index cause-specific mortality data. We followed patients through CRC-related death, other death, or until December 31, 2015. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to generate CRC-specific mortality hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for 3-month colonoscopy intervals, with 3–6 months as the reference. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, smoking, diabetes, body mass index, and Charlson Comorbidity Index. Results: We included 222,004 patients with abnormal SBTs; the average age was 63 with a standard deviation of 7.2 years, 97% were male, 72% were Non-Hispanic White and 20% were Black. Of the 222,004 patients, 69% completed diagnostic colonoscopy within 12 months of abnormal SBT, 4% were diagnosed with CRC, and 1% died of CRC specific death. Compared to patients with a colonoscopy at 3–6 months (standard of care), CRC-related mortality risk was significantly higher for patients with colonoscopies at 0–3 months (HR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.14–1.47), 18–21 months (HR = 1.57; 95% CI, 1.19–2.06), and 21–24 months (HR = 1.46; 95% CI, 1.07–1.97). No significant increase in mortality risk was shown for 6–9 month, 9–12 month, 12–15 month, 15–18 months, and 24+ month intervals. Conclusion: Time to colonoscopy plays a significant role in CRC death after abnormal SBT. Compared to a colonoscopy performed during a 3–6-month window, a colonoscopy performed outside of the 15-month window had a higher risk for mortality. Given the impact of timely diagnostic colonoscopy on CRC mortality, development of interventions to increase timely diagnostic follow-up after abnormal SBT are essential to CRC outcome improvement.


Whilst legislation may have progressed internationally and nationally for disabled people, barriers continue to exist, of which one of the most pervasive and ingrained is attitudinal. Social attitudes are often rooted in a lack of knowledge and are perpetuated through erroneous stereotypes, and ultimately these legal and policy changes are ineffectual without a corresponding attitudinal change.

This unique bookprovides a much needed, multifaceted exploration of changing social attitudes toward disability. Adopting a tripartite approach to examining disability, the book looks at historical, cultural, and education studies, broadly conceived, in order to provide a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to the documentation and endorsement of changing social attitudes toward disability. Written by a selection of established and emerging scholars in the field, the book aims to break down some of the unhelpful boundaries between disciplines so that disability is recognised as an issue for all of us across all aspects of society, and to encourage readers to recognise disability in all its forms and within all its contexts.

This truly multidimensional approach to changing social attitudes will be important reading for students and researchers of disability from education, cultural and disability studies, and all those interested in the questions and issues surrounding attitudes toward disability.


Pulmonary involvement in HTLV-I patients has been identified by several authors in Africa, Japan and Brazil. The objective of this controlled study is to establish an association between HAM and lymphocytosis in the bronchoalveolar fluid (BAL). Thirty-five adult patients with non-traumatic and non-tumoral myelopathy filled out a detailed historical survey and underwent a neurological examination, a thoracic radiological evaluation and a CSF examination. Of the patients in this sample, 22 were diagnosed with HTLV-I associated myelopathy and 13 had myelopathies with other etiologies. Lymphocytosis in the BAL fluid was detected in 18 (82%) of the HAM patients and in 2 (15%) of non-HAM patients. We concluded that the lung represents an important organ in the pathogenesis of HAM.


The soccer goalkeeper (GK) is required to perform strenuous actions during practice sessions and actual games. One of the objectives of those professionals who work with GKs is to obtain relevant information on physical characteristics and physiological attributes of GKs, and to use it effectively when planning training programs for them. This article has three purposes: (a) to review a series of studies (n = 23) on physical characteristics, physiological attributes, and on-field performances of soccer GKs; (b) to outline a number of methodological limitations and research concerns associated with these studies; and (c) to suggest several practical recommendations for soccer coaches who work with GKs. Four main findings emerged from our review: (a) professional adult GKs usually are over 180 cm tall and have a body mass of over 77 kg; (b) studies on agility and speed produced mixed results, with some showing similar values between GKs and field players and others showing reduced performance in GKs; (c) GKs usually have higher vertical jump values when compared with players playing the various field positions; (d) GKs cover approximately 5.5 km during a game, mostly by walking and jogging. Four methodological limitations and research concerns associated with the reviewed studies were discussed, among them the lack of a longitudinal approach and the lack of on-field performance studies. Three practical recommendations are made for coaches, one of which is that coaches should adopt a careful approach when selecting testing protocols and devices for the assessment of GKs' physiological attributes.


This thesis integrated health and educational perspectives to co-design, implement, and evaluate a pedagogical intervention that supports early childhood educators to foster children's social and emotional skills using Intervention Mapping methodology. Program goals were established based on findings from a comprehensive needs assessment, including four systematic literature reviews and qualitative research. The Cheshire SEED Educational Program was co-designed with educators, paediatric psychologists, and researchers, and evaluated in kindergartens using a waitlist-controlled pilot study and feasibility evaluation. Broader public health implications, and the challenges and opportunities in translating evidence to practice in the early childhood sector were explored.


We propose a new beating machine based on a dual cam and lever mechanism to operate flapping and torsion motions of a dragonfly wing. The beating machine was designed according to the time dependent variation in flapping angle and in torsion angle of a free flight dragonfly. Our experiment results show that the variations in flapping angle and in torsion angle of a wing on beating machine agree well with those of a real free flight dragonfly wing, confirming that our beating machine is available for studying the beating performance. We then use the beating machine to study the aerodynamic force and inertia affecting on the wing by comparing the flapping angle and torsion angle under the normal and vacuum conditions.


OBJECT
The aim of this study was to test the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of a new endovascular method for the treatment of giant intracranial aneurysms. This new method consists of combining a metallic stent with a liquid polymer; the stent is first placed across the neck of the aneurysm to reconstruct a tubular arterial lumen, followed by obliteration of the fundus of the aneurysm with an ethyl vinyl alcohol polymer. During its injection, the liquid polymer is contained within the aneurysm by temporarily inflating an occlusion balloon in the parent artery.

METHODS
Eleven patients harboring a giant aneurysm were successfully treated using this procedure. All aneurysms were excluded from the circulation, with preservation of the parent artery. In nine of the 11 patients, the 6-month follow-up angiogram demonstrated no recanalization of the aneurysm. In one patient who had a giant and partially clotted internal carotid artery bifurcation aneurysm, the follow-up angiogram demonstrated minimal recanalization. The complications in this series of patients included one death and one case of transient hemiparesis caused by watershed ischemia.

CONCLUSIONS
The initial anatomical results and the clinical outcome in this small series of patients are very encouraging. The mortality and morbidity rates associated with this new endovascular treatment are superior to those associated with surgical clipping of giant aneurysms.


The French artillery officer Saint-Remy and his work on guncasting for the Ottoman army in Istanbul (1785-1787) Mustafa Kacar Until the rise of modern technology of firearms in the nineteenth century, the Ottomans either produced the necessary arms, ammunition and munitions within the Empire or imported them from Europe. Within this framework, the Ottomans employed foreign experts in war industry as well as in other fields. This paper, aims to shed light upon the employment of foreign experts by the Ottomans in order to transfer know-how in the field of guncasting at the end of the eighteenth century and to analyse the relations between Ottoman and French technicians. The tightening of Franco-Turc relations and mutual cooperation in the years 1783-1788, resulted in arrival of numerous French experts to Istanbul -- officially or secretly – with the aim of serving in the Ottoman army. One of these experts was the artillery captain Charles Alexandre Louis Rouxel de Saint-Remy (1746-1800). He arrived in Istanbul in 1785 together with ten cannon founders upon the demand of the Grand Vizier Halil Hamid Pasha and the order of the French government. In 1786 he persuaded Admiral Gazi Hasan Pasa to apply the French method of guncasting instead of traditional techniques and got the permission to build a new furnace in the Haskoy foundry. However, the furnace did not function successfully. Later on, the Sublime Porte asked him to cast 12 bronze mortars accordingly to the standards set in the French ordinance of 1769. He designed these mortars in their natural size. One mortar was cast as a model, but the chief bombardier did not find it suitable and asked St. Remy to modify its dimensions. This led to a disagreement between these two technical experts. Following the agreement set between France and Russia on January 11, 1787, Catherine II asked the French Government to call back all the French experts working in the Ottoman lands. Thus, St. Remy left Istanbul together with other French technicians. In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, as a result of fluctuations in the political balance between the Ottoman and French states, a group of French officers and engineers came to Istanbul and were employed in the army where they gave technical aid. Whether they were sent by the French government, as in the example of St. Remy or invited by the Ottoman State, the European experts introduced many innovations to the Ottoman world in the fields of military training, the casting of guns and bombs, cannonry, navigation, ship building, fortification and cartography.


The ultrastructure of the amniotic epithelial cells from normal, polyhydramnic, and oligohydramnic pregnancies were studied with the transmission electron microscope. The amniotic epithelial cell layer from normal pregnancies was 8- to 12-μ thick. In polyhydramnic pregnancies the cell layer varied widely from the normal thickness to as much as 18 to 56 μ in diabetic patients. Other ultrastructural changes observed in pregnancies complicated by polyhydramnios were abnormal microvilli, diminished intercellular canals, increased tonofilaments, and decreased rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum. In pregnancies complicated by oligohydramnios the thickness of the cell layer was 3 to 6 μ. The amniotic epithelial cells had increased tonofilaments, decreased desmosomes, collapsed and fused intercellular canals, and caused a marked decrease of the Golgi apparatus and the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum. The sparse microvilli were short, plump, and had bizarre shapes.


This paper presents a summary of a range of sensors developed at Sira Ltd which may be put to automotive use. The following sensors, as developed for various companies, are discussed: A range of low cost steering wheel position sensors which offer resolutions better than 0.5 degrees; An optical fuel flow sensor that detects light scattered by particles moving along with the fuel; A highly accurate electromechanical road tanker liquid level sensor and its' derivatives including a low cost sensor for use in car petrol tanks; A "Dim Dip" which optically detects an oncoming car or the tail lights of a preceding car and automatically dips the car's main beam; and, An optical linear displacement sensor, which uses widely available optical components. Possible applications include suspension arm extension, and wheel to road measurements. (A) For the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD 850768.


The paper describes the results of the evolutionary development of a real, neural-network driven mobile robot. The evolutionary approach to the development of neural controllers for autonomous agents has been successfully used by many researchers, but most - if not all - studies have been carried out with computer simulations. Instead, in this research the whole evolutionary process takes places entirely on a real robot without human intervention. Although the experiments described here tackle a simple task of navigation and obstacle avoidance, we show a number of emergent phenomena that are characteristic of autonomous agents. The neural controllers of the evolved best individuals display a full exploitation of non-linear and recurrent connections that make them more efficient than analogous man-designed agents. In order to fully understand and describe the robot behavior, we have also employed quantitative ethological tools [13], and showed that the adaptation dynamics conform to predictions made for animals.


An interferometric fiber-optic vibration sensing system using the phase-generated carrier (PGC) method is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The sensing section consists of a Sagnac interferometer combined with a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a length of sensing fiber is shared between the two interferometers. The PGC demodulation scheme is used to demodulate the time-varying phase shifts induced by vibrations. Spatial information can be extracted from the demodulated results. A prototype sensing system with a 628 m long sensing fiber has been tested and a spatial resolution better than 12 m is successfully achieved.


Thermo-chemical reactions of modified PAN fibers during heat-treatment process were systematically studied by DSC, FT-IR, EA, XPS, etc. Comparing with original PAN fibers, chemical reactions, structures and elemental compositions of fibers modified with potassium permanganate (KMnO4) were all changed at a certain extent. KMnO4 had reduced the activation energy of cyclization reactions, decreased the area and widened the peak of exothermic curve, decreased the velocity of cyclization reaction, increased the oxygen content about 67%, hence increased C-O-C and C=O groups and the core/shell ratio.


In this paper we investigate the problem of detecting dynamically evolving signals. We model the signal as an n dimensional vector that is either zero or has s non-zero components. At each time step t ∈ N the non-zero components change their location independently with probability p. The statistical problem is to decide whether the signal is a zero vector or in fact it has non-zero components. This decision is based on m noisy observations of individual signal components collected at times t = 1, . . . ,m. We consider two different sensing paradigms, namely adaptive and non-adaptive sensing. For non-adaptive sensing the choice of components to measure has to be decided before the data collection process started, while for adaptive sensing one can adjust the sensing process based on observations collected earlier. We characterize the difficulty of this detection problem in both sensing paradigms in terms of the aforementioned parameters, with special interest to the speed of change of the active components. In addition we provide an adaptive sensing algorithm for this problem and contrast its performance to that of non-adaptive detection algorithms.


Abstract
 Campylopus joshii Broth. ex Pichonet et Bardat is described as a new species from Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The type specimen was initially named Dicranum joshii Broth, ex Thér. and Dicranum joshii var. latifolium Thér. et Naveau but these names have never been validly published. The new species resembles the groups of Campylopus species with ventral hyalocysts and a ridged costa on the dorsal side but differs by the incomplete band of ventral stereids and single-celled dorsal lamellae.


Transgenic TgMISIIR-TAg (TAg) mice express the oncogenic virus SV40 in Mullerian epithelial cells. Female TAg mice spontaneously develop epithelial ovarian carcinoma, the most common type of ovarian cancer in women. Female TAg mice are infertile, but the reason has not been determined. We therefore investigated whether female TAg mice undergo puberty, demonstrate follicular development, maintain regular cycles, and ovulate. Ovarian cancers in women commonly develop after menopause. The occupational chemical 4-vinylcyclohexene diepoxide (VCD) accelerates follicle degeneration in the ovaries of rats and mice, causing early ovarian failure. We therefore used VCD dosing of mice to develop an animal model for menopause. The purpose of this study was to characterize reproductive parameters in female TAg mice and to investigate whether the onset of ovarian failure due VCD dosing differed between female TAg and WT C57BL/6 mice. As in WT female mice, TAg female mice underwent puberty (vaginal opening) and developed cyclicity in patterns that were similar between the groups. Vehicle-only TAg mice had fewer ovulations (numbers of corpora lutea) than WT animals. VCD exposure delayed the onset of puberty (day of first estrus) in TAg as compared with WT mice. Morphologic evaluation of ovaries revealed many more degenerating follicles in TAg mice than WT mice, and more VCD-dosed TAg mice were in ovarian failure than VCD-dosed WT mice. These results suggest that despite showing similar onset of sexual maturation, TAg mice have increased follicular degeneration and fewer ovulations than WT. These features may contribute to the inability of female TAg mice to reproduce.


I. INTRODUCTION--THE IMPORTANCE OF NATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND SPECIFIC MECHANISMS FOR ENSURING INDIVIDUALS' ACCESS TO REPARATION II. THE DEVELOPMENT OF AD HOC REPARATION MECHANISMS AS A PARTIAL REMEDY TO HARM AND LOSSES RELATED TO A SITUATION OF ARMED CONFLICT III. THE EXAMPLES OF KOSOVO AND BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA A. Mandates and Powers of the Commissions B. Successes and challenges IV. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION--THE IMPORTANCE OF NATIONAL LEGAL FRAMEWORKS AND SPECIFIC MECHANISMS FOR ENSURING INDIVIDUALS' ACCESS TO REPARATION A State's obligation to make reparations for international law violations is a recognized general principle (1) found in specific provisions of international humanitarian law instruments. (2) However, in the absence of appropriate national legal frameworks and reparation mechanisms, national courts have generally rejected individual claims for redress for violations of international humanitarian law. (3) The recognition of a State's direct liability vis-a-vis individuals for violations of international humanitarian law in national courts has both substantive and procedural obstacles. (4) When rejecting cases for substantive reasons, national courts have told claimants that the right to reparation as found in international humanitarian law was not self-executing, and therefore, only the home States of the victims were directly entitled to this right. (5) This rationale was referred to again recently in the judgment of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy); (6) the Court noted: [A]gainst the background of a century of practice in which almost every peace treaty or post-war settlement has involved either a decision not to require the payment of reparations or the use of lump sum settlements and set-offs, it is difficult to see that international law contains a rule requiring the payment of full compensation to each and every individual as a rule accepted by the international community of States as a whole as one from which no derogation is permitted. (7) This observation of the Court also recalls another rationale that has been put forward by national courts for rejecting individuals' claims grounded on alleged violations of the laws of armed conflict, namely the existence of peace agreements interpreted as precluding these claims. (8) When national courts have rejected claims on procedural grounds, they have almost consistently deemed that the rule of State immunity excluded acts committed by the armed forces of a foreign State during wartime from their jurisdiction (ratione materiae). (9) State immunity, "adopted as a general rule of customary international law solidly rooted in the practice of States[,]" (10) obliges States to "refrain from exercising jurisdiction in a proceeding before [their] courts against another State." (11) The scope and source, hence the legal regime, of this procedural rule in the international order, is still at the centre of debates among scholars and jurists. At stake is notably the applicability of (or the possibility for the forum State to waive) State immunity in case of alleged grave violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. (12) For the purpose of these introductive remarks, I will simply observe that the scope of State immunity in current international customary law, based on a tentative lowest common denominator of very heterogeneous national practices, remains broad and uncertain. International doctrine and States' practice made State immunity applicable only to acts of sovereign power (acta jure imperii), by opposition to acts of management carried out by a State acting as a private person (acta jure gestionis), but this distinction itself has proven to be problematic. (13) Moreover, developments in national laws and international instruments have questioned the relevance of this distinction as the main criterion for the application of State immunity. …


This article argues that the notion of 'victim' primarily refers to the position of the person who, in the course of a (sacred, religious, legal, etc.) procedure, is ritually sacrificed to avert the wrath of the gods or to preserve peace in the community. In early modernity the Latin victim (sacrificial animal) was also used as a reference to Jesus Christ. Christ was seen as the Lamb of God, the innocent sacrificial lamb which, after an unfair trial, was crucified and died for the sins of the world. In the eighteenth century, under influence of the Enlightenment, the victim concept has been secularized and come to refer to every casualty of bad luck, crime, or disaster. Art history, however, offers interesting examples of pictures of mythical figures such as Sisyphus and Prometheus, representing early images of secularized victimhood in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the present day, the concept of victimhood is often used to define the position of the injured party in criminal proceedings. In this frame, the injured victim, looking for legal recognition, is juxtaposed against the position of the accused who is characterized as the possible culprit. However, reflection on the history of the victim concept reveals that it primarily refers to the position of the wrongly or falsely accused or condemned in the course of legal (or pseudolegal) proceedings. A state governed by the rule of law ('rechtsstaat') can be defined as a legal form of society which does its utmost to avoid the justice system producing its own victims. In thisapproach, a victim-oriented criminal justice system is fully aware of the need to protect precisely those who are threatened by the power of the state and public opinion because they are in the dock.


In the new era with advanced technologies, fuel cell has been widely used as source of power both for portable and stationary applications. The application has become more popular nowadays as it is an eco-friendly device and has no noise due to absence of rotating components. Fuel cells are designed with high efficiency compared to conventional energy sources. However, the benefits have come with weaknesses and threats that might deter its prevalent application. This paper is, therefore, aimed at comparing the seven mainly used fuel cells. The SWOT analysis of the fuel cells are also presented separately, and the pros and cons of each cell were summarized.


For extended periods of time, sequence generation models rely on beam search algorithm to generate output sequence. However, the correctness of beam search degrades when the a model is over-confident about a suboptimal prediction. In this paper, we propose to perform minimum Bayes-risk (MBR) decoding for some extra steps at a later stage. In order to speed up MBR decoding, we compute the Bayes risks on GPU in batch mode. In our experiments, we found that MBR reranking works with a large beam size. Later-stage MBR decoding is shown to outperform simple MBR reranking in machine translation tasks.


Purpose: A technique for managing giant retinal tears without proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) is presented, and visual outcome, anatomic reattachment, and postoperative complications are discussed. Methods: A total of 25 consecutive cases of retinal detachment from giant retinal tears in eyes without PVR that had not previously undergone surgery were reviewed. A surgical technique combining pars plana vitrectomy, perfluoro-octane, and fluid-gas exchange was used. Scleral buckling was performed in 23 (92%) of 25 eyes, and pars plana lensectomy was performed in 11 (69%) of the 16 phakic eyes. A minimum follow-up period of 6 months was documented in each case. Results: Of the 25 eyes, redetachment occurred in 3 (12%) after the initial procedure, and further surgery was necessary to successfully reattach the retina. A total of 9 secondary procedures were performed in 7 (28%) of the 25 eyes. Final retinal reattachment was achieved in all 25 eyes. Final Snellen visual acuity was 20/80 or better in 18 (72%) patients and 20/200 or better in 21 (84%) patients. Conclusion: The anatomic and visual results of this method of surgical treatment of giant retinal tears without PVR compare favorably to those achieved with techniques that use a nonbuckling approach, but with reduced ocular morbidity.


Colorimetric chemosensors are now considered as one of the most effective analytical method used in the environment monitoring. Colorimetric chemosensors for pH sensing can easily detect the primary danger or change of the surrounding environment pollution and source of infection and can prevent danger in the various fields. Quinaldine and Indole based colorants having the function of colorimetric chemosensors were synthesized. Synthesized colorants were characterized by 1H NMR, GCMass, EA and UV-Vis spectroscopy. Especially UV-Vis spectroscopy revealed that the color of each colorant solution was changed in basic conditions while no changes were observed in acidic condition. And then synthesized colorants were mixed with poly-acrylonitrile for electrospinning. Electrospun fibers containing each colorant were used as pH textile sensors and they were analyzed by Spectrophotometer.


Mycoplasma pulmonis has substantial DNase activity exposed on the cell surface. At least part of this activity is attributable to an endonuclease. The activity is destroyed at 56 degrees C and inhibited by either 5 mM EDTA or 10 mM zinc chloride. It can also be eliminated by treatment of intact organisms with trypsin and is regenerated by incubation of the treated organisms in a medium that supports protein synthesis. DNase exposed at the cell surface constitutes 20% of the total DNase activity present in M. pulmonis extracts.