BACKGROUND
Close links between children's capacities to store and manipulate information over brief periods have been found with achievements on standardised measures of vocabulary, language comprehension, reading, and mathematics.

AIM
The study aimed to investigate whether working memory abilities are also associated with attainment levels in the national curriculum assessments at 7 years of age.

SAMPLE
Eighty-three children aged 6 and 7 years attending local education authority schools participated in the study.

METHODS
Working memory skills were assessed by a test battery designed to tap individual components of Baddeley and Hitch's (1974) working memory model. Children were assigned to normal and low achievement groups on the basis of their performance on national curriculum tasks and tests in the areas of English and mathematics.

RESULTS
Children with low levels of curriculum attainment showed marked impairments on measures of central executive function and of visuo-spatial memory in particular. A single cut-off score derived from the test battery successfully identified the majority of the children failing to reach nationally expected levels of attainment.

CONCLUSIONS
Complex working memory skills are closely linked with children's academic progress within the early years of school. The assessment of working memory skills may offer a valuable method for screening children likely to be at risk of poor scholastic progress.


Post-translational modifications are modifications of peptides or proteins after they have been synthesized in the ribosomes. These post-translational modifications (PTM's) are intended to augment functional diversity of the 20 natural L-amino acids of which proteins are constructed. PTM's have important functions and most are crucial for the tasks of the modified proteins. Sulfation was recognized as a post-translational modification of proteins in 1954 and it was slowly realized that tyrosine sulfation is a widespread modification of excreted and membrane bound peptides and proteins. Sulfation is catalyzed by two membrane bound tyrosylprotein sulfotransferases (TPST) located in the trans Golgi, which use PAPS as universal sulfate donor. Although sulfation is believed to be a widespread and biologically very important PTM, it has not been studied in great detail. This is mainly because of the instability of the sulfate group, especially under acidic conditions. In this thesis a new sequence independent synthesis method for the site selective introduction of multiple sulfated tyrosine residues into bioactive peptides is described. This method is applied on the synthesis of sulfated Leu-enkephalin and a collection of site selective sulfated N-terminal fragments of the Complement factor 5b Receptor (C5aR). This N-terminal part of the C5aR forms the binding site of the Chemotaxis Inhibitory Proteins of Staphylococcus aureus (CHIPS), an immunomodulatory protein excreted by S. aureus to prevent the C5aR from being activated by its natural ligand C5a. By preventing the activation of the C5aR, CHIPS can prevent the recruitment of specific white blood cells to the site of infection. The (over)activation of the C5a-receptor has been linked to several serious inflammatory diseases and therefore CHIPS and mimics of CHIPS could form a very interesting new class of anti-inflammatory compounds. The synthesized sulfated fragments of the C5aR are used to study the binding of CHIPS to the C5a-Receptor by ITC and NMR spectroscopy. The structure of CHIPS in complex with the N-terminus of the C5aR is elucidated, which reveals crucial structural elements within CHIPS for tight binding to the C5aR. These structural elements are selected and combined to design and synthesize new classes of C5aR inhibitors. One class based on the versatile TAC-scaffold were successfully synthesized but appeared to show no detectable affinity towards the sulfated C5aR fragments. A promising class of CHIPS mimics, based on a shortened CHIPS fragment including the fragments which interact with the C5aR, showed a low micromolar affinity towards the sulfated N-terminal part of the C5aR. The designed mimic CHOPS is a promising lead structure for development of new anti-inflammatory drug candidates.


A body of literature supports that besides individual coping; communal coping also influences the outcomes of coping with stressful situations. Lifelong frequentative stress outcomes are often not completely restricted to individuals coping with their own issues in isolation. Thus, it is important to understand how individual and communal coping strategies function in dealing with a lifelong stressor (like chronic illness). A constructivist grounded theory approach was taken towards this study of strategies of coping with chronic illness. In-depth episodic interviews were conducted with eleven chronically ill people from ten families, comprising twenty-four family members. Through individual coping strategies, patients often simultaneously cope with their illness while also trying to protect the family from the reality of the situation. They ignore their own problems during the stable course of the illness, however, to deal with intensifying illness symptoms and complications, they begin to perform the role of a sick person (i.e., sick-role) and thereby obtain the benefits of improvisational family support. In contrast, familial coping strategy requires changing family reality through reconstruction of social roles, and establishment of the observant-role (which is the alternative to sick-role). The reconstruction of social roles in times of family stress serve to re-achieve the relative balance of family life while maintaining the hierarchy of power within the family—which is illustrated by the specific pattern of family support. Findings of this study suggest clues to the functioning of familial coping strategies in situations of lifelong frequentative family stress.


Bananas are a main staple food for rural households in East and Central Africa. Low productivity and susceptibility to diseases of traditional cultivars are major constraints for the production of food and income generation. In order to address these problems, banana cultivars with resistance to major diseases and higher yield potential have been disseminated in Kagera Region, Tanzania since 1997. This study investigates to what extent the introduction of the new banana cultivars has contributed to the Millennium Development Goal on the reduction of poverty and hunger. Three questions were posed with particular reference to the poorest farm households in Kagera Region (a) to what extent have poor households adopted the new banana cultivars, (b) what factors drive or hinder the adoption of new banana cultivars among this group of farm households and (c) what has been the impact on food security and income generation. Panel data from household surveys in 2003 and 2008 were analysed to assess income growth and food security using a differences-in-differences approach. Rather than comparing absolute differences between adopters and non-adopters, in this approach growth rates over time are compared, controlling for fixed household effects e.g. differences in assets, education and/or infrastructure. The results show that the new cultivars demonstrate increased productivity thereby improving food availability in adopting households. The first adopters were households with higher education levels and larger farms. Households with more livestock assets were more likely to adopt the new cultivars, which is explained by the production of fodder as a by-product of the new bananas. However, over time, the differences in adoption rates of the new cultivars for poor and wealthier households diminished. The more marginal households were also able to use and benefit from the cultivars. Especially the lack of knowledge about processing and use of the new cultivars seemed to be a factor in delaying the adoption by poor households. These results show that in order to achieve faster impacts on poverty reduction and food security, the specific information needs of poor farmers should be addressed more explicitly in the dissemination of new technologies.


The effects of dense environments on normal field galaxies are still up for debate despite much study since Abell published his catalog of nearby clusters in 1958. There are changes in color, morphology, and star formation properties when galaxies fall into groups and clusters, but the specifics of how and where these modifications occur are not fully understood. To look for answers, we focused on star-forming galaxies in A2255, an unrelaxed cluster thought to have recently experienced a merger with another cluster or large group. We used Hα, MIPS 24 μm, and WISE 22 μm to estimate total star formation rates (SFRs) and Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometry to find stellar masses (M*) for galaxies out to ∼5 r200. We compared the star-forming cluster galaxies with the field SFR–mass distribution and found no enhancement or suppression of star formation in currently star-forming galaxies of high mass (log (M*/M☉) ≳ 10). This conclusion holds out to very large distances from the cluster center. However, the core (rproj < 3 Mpc) has a much lower fraction of star-forming galaxies than anywhere else in the cluster. These results indicate that for the mass range studied here, the majority of the star formation suppression occurs in the core on relatively short timescales, without any enhancement prior to entering the central region. If any significant enhancement or quenching of star formation occurs, it will be in galaxies of lower mass (log (M*/M☉) < 10).


The author approaches some ideas about phenomenology, general lines of phenomenological research and some considerations about phenomenology and psychiatric nursing, as an attempt to allow a profounder view of these themes. He makes a reflection about this area of work, descrying possibilities for caring the human being with psychiatric suffering, based on the comprehension of this individual.


Fifty-two long-term diabetic patients without symptoms of autonomic neuropathy and 31 age-matched healthy controls were tested for autonomic neuropathy by deep breathing, Valsalva maneuver, and an orthostatic test on tilt table. The deep breathing and the orthostatic tests showed significant parasympathetic impairments in patients with signs of peripheral neuropathy. The Valsalva maneuver, which also mainly reflects parasympathetic function, was disturbed in patients with peripheral neuropathy, but only in those with a very long duration of diabetes. Parasympathetic neuropathy was closely correlated with peripheral neuropathy. However, five patients showed signs of parasympathetic neuropathy but not of peripheral neuropathy. Thus, parasympathetic neuropathy can appear before peripheral neuropathy. On the contrary, sympathetic denervation, as shown from the blood pressure reaction to tilting, only appeared in patients with peripheral neuropathy.


A 12-year-old girl with abnormal vaginal discharge was found to have uterus didelphys with unilateral imperforate vagina and ipsilateral agenesis of the kidney. This constellation of congenital malformations is often asymptomatic until puberty, when it presents as cyclic dysmenorrhea, leukorrhea, or a pelvic mass. Evaluative workup should begin with a careful medical history, pelvic and rectal examinations, and pelvic ultrasound scan. Gynecologic consultation for vaginoscopy, vaginal ultrasonography, and laparoscopy will usually be necessary. Magnetic resonance imaging is becoming the preferred modality for delineation of uterine malformation. When congenital abnormalities of the reproductive tract are encountered, a search should also be made for renal anomalies. Patients with uterus didelphys, including our patient, often are seen with pain severe enough to mimic the acute abdomen. They undergo inappropriate surgical procedures, including the removal of functional reproductive organs. They also may not receive a true diagnosis until a pregnancy becomes unexpectedly complicated. It


Child and maternal undernutrition is still prevalent in Bangladesh and poor dietary diversity is one of the major causes. While milk can contribute to nutritional requirements, currently availability in Bangladesh is 126ml/person/day, whereas recommended consumption is 250ml/person/day. This case study was conducted to identify existing milk value chains and the milk consumption behaviour of poor people. Priority was given to women and children as they are the most vulnerable in both rural and urban areas. It was observed that both formal and informal value chains coexist where milk collectors and chilling centres have a lead role. At the household level, milk purchase decisions are usually taken by men in rural areas, whereas in urban areas women take part equally in the process. Government and private sector initiatives can play a role in increasing milk production and consumption through greater investment. Behavioural change communication is also vital to build awareness of milk consumption.


We propose and experimentally demonstrate a dual-polarization (DP) transceiver imbalance monitoring scheme, which is applicable for the coherent system using square QAM signals. The scheme can separate/monitor various kinds of transceiver imbalances and has technical advantages of multi-dimension, wide monitoring range, and modulation-format-transparency. In the proposed scheme, a polarization scrambler is configured between transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx). After coherent detection, the proposed digital signal processing (DSP) modules are implemented to monitor transceiver imbalance based on the received signals. To simplify the DSP modules, the implementation sequence of DSP modules is in reverse order compared to the order in which the sequence of impairments is introduced. Firstly, Godard timing error detection (TED) and Gram–Schmidt orthogonalization procedure (GSOP) is used to monitor and compensate Rx imbalances. After compensating the Rx imbalances, Tx imbalance monitoring is implemented. Complex/real maximum likelihood independent component analysis (ML-ICA) and Godard-TED are used to monitor Tx imbalance. Finally, the amplitude ratios of the final output signal and Tx in-phase/quadrature (IQ) amplitude imbalance are fed back to mitigate the interaction of Tx imbalances on the signal power and improve monitoring accuracy. The transceiver IQ and x-polarization/y-polarization (XY) imbalances are separated for the first time by using the frequency offset (FO) naturally existing in the system and the continuous polarization rotation induced by a polarization scrambler. The separation method combined with the reverse algorithm design and amplitude ratio feedback mechanism makes the proposed scheme achieve the most multi-dimensional imbalance monitoring by far. The simulation and experimental results verify that the proposed scheme is modulation-format-transparent and can separate/monitor multi-dimensional transceiver imbalances within a wide range.


We present an amplitude analysis of the decay D-0 -> K- pi(+)pi(+)pi(-) based on a data sample of 2.93 fb(-1) acquired by the BESIII detector at the psi(3770) resonance. With a nearly background free sample of about 16000 events, we investigate the substructure of the decay and determine the relative fractions and the phases among the different intermediate processes. Our amplitude model includes the two-body decays D-0 -> (K) over bar*(0)rho(0), D-0 -> K- a(1)(+) (1260) and D-0 -> K-1(-)(1270)pi(+), the three-body decays D-0 -> K-1(-)*(0)pi(+)pi(-) and D-0 -> K- pi(+)rho(0), as well as the four-body nonresonant decay D-0 -> K- pi(+)pi(+)pi(-). The dominant intermediate process is D-0 -> K(-)a(1)(+)(1260)accounting for a fit fraction of 54.6%.


Author(s): Sheppard, Shannon Brooke MacKenzie | Advisor(s): Shapiro, Lewis P; Holcomb, Phillip J | Abstract: Auditory sentence processing is astonishingly complex and involves the rapid processing and integration of many different forms of information. While this is seemingly effortless for neurologically unimpaired listeners, it is clear from the literature that brain damage can cause the normal language system to be disrupted in specific and testable ways. One major goal of this dissertation is to describe how the system is fractionated in aphasia by focusing on the time-course of using specific information types that appear to be involved in the unimpaired language system.A series of sentence processing studies are presented exploring the impact of syntactic structure in neurologically unimpaired listeners and in listeners with Broca's aphasia (Chapter 3), the impact of thematic fit and prosody in college-age adults (Chapter 4) and individuals with aphasia along with a group of age-matched healthy controls (Chapter 5).Chapter 2 reviews research on sentence processing, and accounts of the sentence comprehension deficit in aphasia are also discussed. Chapter 3 provides evidence that similarity-based interference, which results from certain syntactic structures, contributes to the sentence comprehension deficit in aphasia. Chapter 4 examines how thematic fit/plausibility and prosody impacted syntactic structure building in college-age adults using event-related potentials (ERPs). Results revealed that the parser was able to use thematic fit/plausibility information to predict upcoming syntactic structure before the critical verb. Syntactic reanalysis was triggered at the critical verb in sentences with incongruent prosody and no plausibility cue. Chapter 5 examined how individuals with Broca's aphasia and age-matched controls use plausibility and prosodic cues. The results from the age-matched controls were nearly identical to the college-age adults (Chapter 4). However, the group of individuals with aphasia with a less severe comprehension deficit could predict upcoming syntactic structure when provided with a plausibility cue, but without a plausibility cue had difficulty integrating prosody with syntactic structure. Those with a more severe comprehension deficit had difficulty integrating prosodic and lexical-semantic cues with syntactic structure. Thus, similarity-based interference, lexical-semantic processing and prosody are all implicated in the sentence comprehension deficit seen in individuals with Broca's aphasia.


In recent years, the gene defects causing many types of hereditary palmoplantar keratoderma have been discovered. These genes encode a variety of proteins involved in the terminal differentiation of keratinocytes and the formation of the cornified cell envelope. In this article, we review the molecular defects underlying various palmoplantar keratodermas with particular attention to the role of these molecules in the terminal differentiation of palmoplantar epidermis. Of the proteins involved in keratodermas, loricrin, keratins, and desmosomal proteins provide the protein structure of the cornified cell envelope. Connexins form intercellular gap junctions, which regulate ionic calcium signals necessary for the expression of the proteins that form the cornified cell envelope. Cathepsins likely mediate enzymatic processes necessary for the formation and dissolution of the cornified cell envelope. The clinical phenotypes produced by various mutations affecting these proteins are discussed vis-à-vis data from genetic, cellular, and molecular experiments.


Mathematics stand in a privileged relationship with aesthetics: a relationship that follows two main directions. The first concerns the introduction of mathematical considerations into aesthetic discourse. For instance, it is common to mention the mathematical architecture of certain artistic productions. The second leads from aesthetics to mathematics. In this case, the question is that of the role and meaning that aesthetic considerations may assume in mathematics. It is indeed a widely held view among mathematicians, of whatever socio-historical context, not only to see their discipline as presenting a strong aesthetic dimension, but also to consider that this dimension plays a fundamental role in the process of developing and understanding mathematics. The main ambition of this paper is to show how Nelson Goodman's aesthetics can be used to justify this point of view and to propose a thesis concerning the aesthetic functioning of mathematics. This first result allows to resituate Goodman's aesthetics within a very classical tradition that will be described. Finally, the underlying ambition is to show the keys provided by Goodman's theory for the philosophy of mathematics.


We image the lithospheric and upper asthenospheric structure beneath the central and eastern parts of the northern Gulf of Aden rifted passive continental margin with 59 broadband stations to evaluate the role of transform fault zones on the evolution of magma-poor continental margins. We used teleseismic tomography to compute a relative P wave velocity model in eastern Yemen and southern Oman down to 400 km depth. Our model shows low-velocity anomalies located in the vicinities of five major fracture zones and regions of recent volcanism. These low-velocity anomalies are likely caused by localized asthenospheric upwelling and partial melting, caused by small-scale convection promoted by gradients in the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary topography near the fracture zones. In addition, low velocities underlie regions of elevated topography between major sedimentary basins. We suggest that locally buoyant mantle creates uplift and dynamic topography on the rift margin that affects the course of seasonal rivers and the sedimentation at the mouth of those rivers. Our new P wave velocity model suggests that the dynamic topography and recent volcanism in the central and eastern Gulf of Aden could be due to small-scale convection at the edge of the Arabian plate and/or in the vicinity of fracture zones.


Recent studies have proposed complexities in the velocity-depth function for the region surrounding the inner core which require additional branches in the travel time curve for PKP in the epicentral range of 125 ° to 160 °. The proposed PKP arrivals can be separated on the basis of their apparent velocities, which range from 24 km/sec to 100 km/sec. Using the Tonto Forest array in Arizona coupled with adjoining LRSM stations in the western United States, an effective linear array of 400 km in size is attained. Data from several events in the distance range from 130 ° to 160 ° recorded on this array have been velocity filtered and show some evidence of two precursors to PKP in the distance range from 135 ° to 143 ° and at least one intermediate branch between PKP1 and PI(P2 at distances greater than 143 °. The results appear to support the velocity solution for the core proposed by Adams and Randall, although more data are required before a conclusive discrimination can be made between competing velocity models.


Objectives: Recent studies have shown a higher prevalence of sleep apnea in veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is estimated that 69 to 83% of veterans have Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) while 80 to 90% are undiagnosed or untreated. Untreated OSA can lead to severe chronic medical conditions as well as impairment of neurocognitive and fear extinction processing potentially decreasing responsiveness to trauma focused therapy. Despite the widespread dissemination of knowledge regarding the negative effects of OSA, many veterans are not screened. The goal of this project is to increase the rate of identifying veterans who are high-risk for OSA. Methods: The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and Berlin Questionnaire (BQ) were administered to veterans who presented for PTSD treatment over a two-month period. High-risk veterans were referred for a sleep study and treatment if diagnosed with OSA. Veterans with a prior diagnosis of OSA were screened to identify undertreatment. Results: Increase in identifying high-risk OSA from 5.5% to 71.4%, with an overall increase in the diagnostic rate from 22.2% to 78.3%. In veterans previously diagnosed with OSA, 90.1% were undertreated. Conclusions: Implementing a comprehensive screening process significantly improved the identification of veterans who are high-risk for OSA compared to usual practice. Identification and treatment of OSA is associated with an improvement in PTSD symptoms. Due to the potential effects of untreated OSA on psychiatric and medical conditions this screening process is applicable to both mental health and primary care settings.


This study aims to develop Moodle-based LMS with customized learning content and modified user interface to facilitate pedagogical processes during covid-19 pandemic and investigate how teachers of socially disadvantaged schools perceived usability and technology acceptance. Co-design process was conducted with two activities: 1) need assessment phase using an online survey and interview session with the teachers and 2) the development phase of the LMS. The system was evaluated by 30 teachers from socially disadvantaged schools for relevance to their distance learning activities. We employed computer software usability questionnaire (CSUQ) to measure perceived usability and the technology acceptance model (TAM) with insertion of 3 original variables (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and intention to use) and 5 external variables (i.e., attitude toward the system, perceived interaction, self-efficacy, user interface design, and course design). The average CSUQ rating exceeded 5.0 of 7 point-scale, indicated that teachers agreed that the information quality, interaction quality, and user interface quality were clear and easy to understand. TAM results concluded that the LMS design was judged to be usable, interactive, and well-developed. Teachers reported an effective user interface that allows effective teaching operations and lead to the system adoption in immediate time.


We examined whether the classical framing effect observed with the Asian Disease problem could be reversed when people make decisions from experience. Ninety-five university students were randomly allocated to one of three conditions: Description, Sampling (where the participants were allowed to sample through the outcomes presented as a pack of cards) and Interactive (where the participants were invited to spread out all possible outcomes in a sample) and made three gain-framed choices and three loss-framed choices, with two filler tasks after the first three choices. The results revealed a significant interaction effect between framing and choice condition. In the Description choice condition, participants were more risk-seeking with loss-framed problems. This pattern was reversed in the Sampling choice condition where participants were more risk-seeking with gain frames. Finally, the Interactive choice condition resulted in a classic pattern of framing effect, whereby people were more risk averse in the domain of gains.


A 39-year-old woman received a seasonal influenza vaccine in November 2015 and subsequently experienced malaise, low-grade fever, and chest discomfort. A chest X-ray performed 2 weeks after vaccination showed multiple nodular shadows in both lungs and ground-glass shadows in both lower lung fields. Her bronchoalveolar lavage fluid contained an unusually high number of lymphocytes, and a drug-induced lymphocyte stimulation test for seasonal influenza vaccine was positive. Transbronchial lung biopsy revealed the presence of granulomatous inflammation. Thereafter her abnormal chest shadow spontaneously improved. Based on these findings, the patient was diagnosed with drug-induced pneumonitis due to an influenza vaccine.


The evolution of quantitative methods in finance is changing the investment management industry. With an altered focus in finance and investment theory, theoretical concepts such as market efficiency and market equilibrium have ceded ground to econometric methods that allow a more pragmatic investigation of asset predictability. Mean-variance optimization, one of the cornerstones of classic finance theory, presents some problems in practice, and recent developments in Bayesian modeling and robust optimization techniques circumvent some of its weaknesses. Beyond the classic framework, we must model the feedback mechanisms that we know to operate in financial markets, with caution as to model risk, data snooping, and overfitting biases.


In order to resolve the problems encountered in the process of forecasting the quantity of equipments demanded by aircraft's support system during the design and development phase, including the difficulty to collect the input data of the existing forecast models and their imprecise and unauthentic output results, a model of was established to forecast the number of support equipments based on support activity flow described by functional flow diagrams. Firstly, the aircraft's typical mission was analyzed and the quantity of operation and maintenance support activities happened in the duration of the mission was calculated on the basis of the typical mission's data and aircraft's reliability data. Secondly, the working hours and maximum number of the support equipments demanded by the support activities in the bottom of the functional flow diagrams was calculated and analyzed. Thirdly, an approach to sum the working hours and maximum quantity of the support equipments demanded by the support activities with logic relations in the same level of the functional flow diagrams was presented and with which the working hours and maximum number of support equipments demanded by the top-level support activity was achieved. Fourthly, the quantity of support equipments to be allocated in the support sites was calculated. At last, the proposed model was demonstrated via a practical case of aircraft, which proved that the model is corrective and effective.


Background. Twin studies have concluded that there is a substantial genetic contribution to the aetiology of eating disorders. The aim of the present study was to estimate the genetic contribution to the aetiology of self-reported eating disorders in a sample of representative twins. Method. A population cohort of 34142 young Danish twins was screened for eating disorders by a mailed questionnaire. Results. Concordance rates differed significantly across monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs for broadly defined self-reported anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Heritability estimates of 0·48, 0·52 and 0·61 respectively were estimated for narrow and broad definitions of self-reported anorexia nervosa and for self-reported bulimia nervosa. Conclusions. There is a genetic contribution to the aetiology of self-reported eating disorders in the general population. The relationship between self-reported and clinical eating disorder remains to be examined.


The main components of total energy expenditure are energy expenditure for maintenance or basal metabolic rate, the thermic effect of food or diet-induced energy expenditure (DEE), and the energy cost of physical activity or activity-induced energy expenditure (AEE). This chapter describes methods to measure energy expenditure, determinants of energy expenditure and the application of energy expenditure measurements for the evaluation of intake methods. The methods section includes techniques, methods to measure separate components of daily energy expenditure, and measuring substrate utilisation. The determinants section describes the subject characteristics involved, such as body composition, age and gender, and behavioural aspects including food intake and physical activity. Evaluation of intake methods is based on principles of energy requirement and techniques to assess energy homeostasis. In the adult population, the prevalence of overweight has increased and at the same time reported energy intake and %energy from fat have decreased.


In ultra precision machining processes, an effective monitoring system can maintain machine tools in the best condition and delay the occurrence of tool wear and improve the quality of workpiece. In this paper, a distributed system is developed for monitoring of multi-machine tool based on wireless sensor network. Firstly, the sensor in the machine tool is responsible for the information collection and data processing. Secondly, the wireless network is used to transmit the data or receive the commands from the computer of control center. Finally, the computer will monitor the overall system and generate the alarm signals or the commands when the change of environment information occurs. The experimental results have shown the effectiveness of the proposed distributed system.


This Note examines the complex mechanics of hawala networks. Part I provides information regarding their origins, scope and reasons for continued existence. Part II contrasts the U.S. approach to regulating hawala networks through the USA PATRIOT Act and Operation Green Quest, with the U.A.E.'s approach, which is resistant to some of the American-led efforts. Part II also reviews three separate Green Quest actions: 1) Al Barakaat, an expansive Somalia-based organization through which Somalia's diaspora sent cash to families abroad; 2) Hussein Alshafei, an Iraqi American, who operated a money service business to Iraq; and 3) Mohammed Albanna, a Yemeni-American, based in Lackawanna, New York, who operated a hawala service to Yemen. Part III is a critical assessment of these American-led efforts to regulate hawala networks. This Note concludes that regulating hawala operations is indeed necessary, but argues that some of the U.S. law enforcement efforts as in the Al Barakaat, Alshafei, and Albanna cases are misguided. This Note proposes that the United States actively develop region-specific hawala networks to compete with informal systems. By offering tangible alternatives to convince people to switch to institutionalized banking, the United States would be taking a more international, culturally and economically sensitive approach THE OBSTACLES TO REGULATING THE HAWALA: A CULTURAL NORM OR A TERRORIST HOTBED?*


1. Quantitative determination of the anionic polymers present in the walls of Bacillus subtilis var. niger organisms undergoing transition, in a chemostat culture, from either Mg(2+)-limitation to PO(4) (3-)-limitation or K(+)-limitation to PO(4) (3-)-limitation showed that teichuronic acid synthesis started immediately the culture became PO(4) (3-)-limited and proceeded at a rate substantially faster than the rate of biomass synthesis. 2. Simultaneously, the cell-wall teichoic acid content diminished at a rate greater than that due to dilution by newly synthesized wall material, and fragments of teichoic acid and mucopeptide accumulated in the culture extracellular fluid. 3. Equally rapid reverse changes occurred when a PO(4) (3-)-limited B. subtilis var. niger culture was returned to being Mg(2+)-limited. 4. It is concluded that in this organism both teichoic acid and teichuronic acid syntheses are expressions of a single genotype, and a mechanism for the control of synthesis of both polymers is suggested. 5. These results are discussed with reference to the constantly changing environmental conditions that obtain in a batch culture and the variation in bacterial cell-wall composition that is reported to occur throughout the growth cycle.


Introduction Over the last decade, a number of European cities including London, have witnessed high profile terrorist attacks resulting in major incidents with large numbers of casualties. Triage, the process of categorising casualties on the basis of their clinical acuity, is a key principle in the effective management of major incidents. The Modified Physiological Triage Tool (MPTT) is a recently developed primary triage tool which in comparison to existing triage tools, including the 2013 UK NARU Sieve, demonstrates the greatest sensitivity at predicting need for life-saving intervention (LSI) within both military and civilian populations. To improve the applicability and usability of the MPTT we increased the upper respiratory rate threshold to 24 breaths per minute (MPTT-24), to make it divisible by four, and included an assessment of external catastrophic haemorrhage. The aim of this study was to conduct a feasibility analysis of the proposed MPTT-24 (figure 1). Figure 1 MPTT-24 Methods A retrospective review of the Joint Theatre Trauma Registry (JTTR) and Trauma Audit Research Network (TARN) databases was performed for all adult (>18 years) patients presenting between 2006–2013 (JTTR) and 2014 (TARN). Patients were defined as priority one (P1) if they had received one or more life-saving interventions. Using first recorded hospital physiology, patients were categorised as P1 or not-P1 by existing triage tools and both MPTT and MPTT-24. Performance characteristics were evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, under and over-triage with a McNemar test to determine statistical significance. Results Basic study characteristics are shown in Table 1. Both the MPTT and MPTT-24 outperformed all existing triage methods with a statistically significant (p<0.001) absolute reduction of between 25.5%–29.5% in under-triage when compared to existing UK civilian methods (NARU Sieve). In both populations the MPTT-24 demonstrated an absolute reduction in sensitivity with an increase in specificity when compared to the MPTT. A statistically significant difference was observed between the MPTT and MPTT-24 in the way they categorised TARN and JTTR cases as P1 (p<0.001). Table 1 Study characteristics Table 2 Performance analysis Conclusion Existing UK methods of primary major incident triage, including the NARU Sieve, are not fit for purpose, with unacceptably high rates of under-triage. When compared to the MPTT, the MPTT-24 allows for a more rapid triage assessment and continues to outperform existing triage tools at predicting need for life-saving intervention. Its use should be considered in civilian and military major incidents.


Within the profession of social work, the production and use of written texts is a high-stakes activity, playing a central role in all decisions around providing services for people, and at the same time used to evaluate social workers' professional competence. Writing of all kinds pervades everyday social work practice, varying from case notes to inter-departmental emails to formal assessment reports. Despite the 'writing-intensive' nature of the profession (Lillis, Leedham & Twiner, in press), frequently, minimal attention is paid to writing in formal social work education programmes and professional training initiatives. Social work writing (often subsumed under the label of 'recording') is frequently the target of criticism in formal reviews and public media reporting of social work practice, hitting headline news when a case of extreme abuse or death occurs. Despite this, little empirical research has been carried out on these texts and, in particular, no corpus of professional UK social work writing exists. This gap is addressed by the ESRC-funded WiSP project ('Writing in professional social work practice in a changing communicative landscape', http://www.writinginsocialwork.com/) which brings corpus work together with discourse analysis in an ethnographically-framed, 3-year project. The specific focus of this presentation is on the corpus linguistic dimension of the research, and in particular what this reveals around the 'core preoccupation' of social workers' writing.

The WiSP project has worked with five local authorities in the UK, exploring both the range of written texts produced and the writing practices of social workers. The newly-created WiSP corpus comprises 1 million words within 4,600 texts from the writing of 38 social workers within three UK local authorities in 2014-2017. The texts were written from the contexts of the domains of adult generic care, adult mental health care and children's care and include the genres of assessment reports, casenotes and emails. The WiSP project also includes interview data (81 interviews with social workers and managers) and fieldnotes from 10 observation weeks.

In this presentation, we will explore findings from the whole WiSP corpus, following the widely-adopted corpus-assisted discourse studies methodology of keyness extraction followed by thematic classification of key items and further exploration of these items through collocates, concordance lines and close reading of whole texts (cf. Leedham, under review, and studies in Taylor and Marchi, 2018). The specific aim of this paper is to use corpus-assisted discourse studies to unpack the focus or core 'preoccupation' (Baker: 2010:26) of writing in social work. While we explore the corpus as a whole in this study, care is taken to note the three differing social work domains, and three main text categories. In addition to the corpus data, we draw on ethnographic insights from the additional WiSP datasets, as described above, and in particular we use detailed comments from 11 expert insiders, including social workers, social work educators and representatives from professional bodies.

Wmatrix corpus software (Rayson, 2008) was used to extract key items from the corpus using British English 2006 (BE06), a 1 million word corpus of published general written British English (Baker, 2009), as a reference corpus. The %DIFF effect size metric was used to establish keyness based on the size of the difference in the occurrence of items in two corpora (Gabrielatos, 2018). Items occurring in texts from fewer than five social workers were excluded as our focus here is on typicality rather than idiosyncracy (cf. McEnery, 2018). The resulting 226 key items were then manually categorised into thematic groups using an iterative process of analysing concordance lines and collocate lists (extracted using WordSmith Tools, Scott, 2017) combined with researcher close reading of text extracts. Thematic categories developed from the initial manual keyness analysis include 'time and numbers', 'interpersonal', 'people, roles, activities and services', 'describing and evaluating' and 'communication', with each category adding to our picture of the core 'preoccupation' of social work. In deciding on category names and assigning key items, we drew on our awareness of social worker discourse from the wider WiSP project.

Findings include confirmation of the extensive recording of communication exchanges, with differences in the ways social workers refer to their own and service users' views, and in the use of quotations to provide evidence of service user views and actions. The extensive items in the 'communication' category signal the centrality of all types of communication in social work practice with some lexis indicating spoken interaction has taken place (e.g. call back, discuss, phone call, voicemail) and other key items signalling communication in writing (e.g. chronology, email, paperwork, uploaded). Examination of extended concordance lines reveals that social workers refer to their own communication differently to that of service users. Thus social workers advised, confirmed, discussed, enquired and requested where service users or their family members stated and, in discussion with social workers, agreed. In particular advised is used where the social worker is providing information to the service user rather than for the prototypical purpose of dispensing advice. In social work writing, stated and other verbs accorded to the service user or family are sometimes followed by a quotation (direct or indirect) from a service user or family member, providing evidence to support the writer's commentary, showing the speaker's strength of feeling and also perhaps showing some distance between the writer and the words quoted:

(1) [PERSON1] stated [PERSON2] would 'kick off' and I explained …
(2) [PERSON2] has told [PERSON1] to tell social care that the children are 'full of shit' and have lied about him.
Use of quotations in social work writing appears to function as a means of providing evidence on which the social worker can base their evaluations.

A common overarching theme within social work writing which comes through clearly in the keyness analysis is that of risk: with assessing, documenting and managing risk a core task of social work. Key items directly related to risk include concerns, high_risk, safeguarding, suffer, abusive, allegation, CSE (child sexual exploitation), and deteriorated.

Within the presentation we will discuss keyness analysis as a way of uncovering a set of 'candidate professional lexis' for further consideration. For example, social work writing tends to employ a particular set of lexis such as home environment (rather than home) and advised (rather than informed or told). Understanding and reflecting on such lexis may be helpful for newly-qualified social workers, social work students and educators. Controversy exists in social work around the use of what has been termed 'jargon', with calls for the word placement to be replaced by home and so on (e.g. Surviving Safeguarding, 2018). The issue of social work terminology arose in our consultation with expert insiders where we discussed the usefulness of professional language which succinctly encapsulates a range of meaning (e.g. educational establishment rather than nursery/primary/secondary/specialist schools and colleges) versus the potential for distancing the service user from social services through use of words such as contact rather than family time. The contribution of corpus analysis is to help to make visible the language within this ongoing debate, and we recognise there is a need for further exploration of candidate items through close reading and discussion with expert insiders.

The presentation will conclude with brief reflections on aspects of methodology, considering the interplay of manual and automated (Wmatrix) thematic categorization, and the usefulness of combining keyness analysis with additional data sources as carried out here.

References
Baker, P. (2010). Sociolinguistics and Corpus Linguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Baker, P. (2009) The BE06 Corpus of British English and recent language change. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 14(3). 312-37.
Gabrielatos, C., (2018). "Keyness Analysis: nature, metrics and techniques". In C. Taylor and A. Marchi (eds.) Corpus Approaches to Discourse: A critical review. Chapter 12. Oxford: Routledge.
Leedham, M., Lillis, T. & Twiner, A. Exploring the core 'preoccupation' of social work writing: A corpus-assisted discourse study. Under review.
Lillis, T., Leedham, M. & Twiner, A. 'If it's not written down it didn't happen': Contemporary social work as a writing intensive profession. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Professional Practice (In Press).
McEnery, T. (2018). Keywords. In P. Baker & J. Egbert (Eds.), Triangulating Methodological Approaches in Corpus Linguistic Research (pp. 19-32). New York and Abingdon Routledge.
Rayson, P. (2008). From key words to key semantic domains. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics. 13:4 pp. 519-549. DOI: 10.1075/ijcl.13.4.06ray
Scott, M. (2017). WordSmith Tools v.7. Liverpool: Lexical Analysis Software.
Surviving Safeguarding. (2018). Divisive, demeaning and devoid of feeling: how social work jargon causes problems for families. https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2018/05/10/divisive-demeaning-devoid-feeling-social-work-jargon-causes-problems-families/#comment-142644
Taylor, C. & Marchi, A. (Eds.) (2018). Corpus approaches to discourse: A critical review. London and New York: Routledge.


European legislation states that after stunning regular checks should be performed to guarantee animals are unconscious between the end of the stunning process and death. When animals are killed without prior stunning these checks should be performed before the animal is released from restraint. The validity of certain indicators used to assess unconsciousness under different stunning and slaughter conditions is under debate. The aim of this study was to validate the absence of threat-, withdrawal-, corneal- and eyelid reflex as indicators to assess unconsciousness in calves subjected to different stunning and slaughter methods. Calves (201±22 kg) were randomly assigned to one of the following four treatments: (1) Captive bolt stunning followed by neck cut in an inverted position (n=25); (2) Non-stunned slaughter in an upright position (n=7); (3) Non-stunned slaughter in an inverted position (180° rotation) (n=25); (4) Non-stunned slaughter in an upright position followed by captive bolt stunning 40 s after the neck cut (n=25). Each calf was equipped with non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes before the slaughter procedure. All reflexes were verified once before the slaughter procedure. At the beginning of the procedure (T=0 s) calves were stunned (treatment 1) or neck cut in an upright position (treatment 2, 4) or inverted position (treatment 3). Calves of treatment 4 were captive bolt stunned 34±8 s after the neck cut. Reflexes were assessed every 20 s from T=15 s for all treatments until all reflex tests resulted in a negative response three times in a row and a flat line EEG was observed. In addition, reflexes were assessed 5 s after captive bolt stunning in calves of treatments 1 and 4. Visual assessment of changes in the amplitude and frequency of EEG traces was used to determine loss of consciousness. Timing of loss of consciousness was related to timing of loss of reflexes. After captive bolt stunning, absence of threat-, withdrawal-, corneal- and eyelid reflex indicated unconsciousness as determined by EEG recordings. After non-stunned slaughter, both threat- and withdrawal reflex were on average lost before calves were unconscious based on EEG recordings. The eyelid- and corneal reflex were on average lost after calves had lost consciousness based on EEG recordings and appeared to be distinctly conservative indicators of unconsciousness in non-stunned slaughtered calves since they were observed until 76±50 and 85±45 s (mean±SD), respectively, after EEG-based loss of consciousness.


Since the Financial Crisis of 2008, most reform measures and discussions have asked how the law of financial regulation could be improved to prevent or mitigate future crises. These discussions give short shrift to the role played by corporate law during the Financial Crisis of 2008 and other financial crises. One critical regulatory tool during the crisis was "regulation by deal," in which healthy financial firms ("acquirers") would hastily acquire failing firms ("targets") to mitigate the crisis. The deals were governed by corporate law, so corporate law played an outsize role in the response to the crisis. But few observers have asked how corporate law—in addition to financial regulation—should govern dealmaking in financial crises. To fill in this gap, this Article focuses on the role played by corporate law during the Financial Crisis of 2008, and asks whether corporate law should be different during a financial crisis than in ordinary times. Using an externality framework—failure of a systemically important firm can harm the entire economy, and not just the shareholders of the failed firm—this Article identifies a key problem with the current corporate law regime as applied in financial crises: the shareholder value maximization principle as applied to failing target companies. This principle, manifested in the form of shareholder voting rights on mergers and board fiduciary duties to shareholders, is inapplicable to systemically important target firms whose failure would have enormous negative externalities on the rest of the economy. This Article contends that corporate law as applied to systemically important, failing target firms during crises should change as follows: (1) replace shareholder merger voting rights with appraisal rights, and (2) alter fiduciary duties so that directors and officers of those failing target firms consider the interests of the broader economy.


ABSTRACT A study of 150 bottom sediment samples from Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, provides a basis for establishing their major depositional facies and their relationships to the environmental framework, including the immediate provenance areas. Texturally the sands in shoaling waters are due to tidal current activity, while the argillaceous silts are deposited in deeper bathymetric entrapments. By establishing the gross mineralogy of the samples it is possible to divide the deposits into types equivalent in composition to graywackes, arkoses, feldspathic sands, and quartzose sands found in the geologic column. Their genesis is explained in terms of the influence of the local environment. Data on the environmental variables, petrography, texture, X-ray mineralogy, and trace-elements are presen ed and compared with other marine bottom sediments as well as with comparable ancient lithologies. The findings are amenable to establishing environmental and sedimentary criteria for the interpretation and reconstruction of ancient stratigraphic facies. Of particular interest are the photomicrographs which can be realistically compared with those of sedimentary rocks.


Based in Levante Andalusi School, this work presented and analysed the Arabic documents conserved that alive your existence and, also, compared the variants with the other schools. In the some time, put in valour of legacy conserved and the contribution of theorists, poets, compositors and musicians in the context of your time theorists. This elements and factors leads today to new research endeavours based on the transmission by theorists and compiler from XI to XIII centuries as well allowing for inter/disciplinary connections in the context of andalusi music and your contribution to the reconstruction of musical historiography of this culture.


The onset of cervicoscopy dates back to the first endoscopic parathyroidectomy in 1996. This operation, along with its several variants, has become a valid option widespread in many important centres. Later on, endoscopic or video assisted thyroidectomy was introduced in spite of the limits imposed by the mass of the gland to remove. It is indicated for a minority of patients for this reason but both parathyroidectomy and thyroidectomy showed some important advantages with respect to conventional surgery, advantages demonstrated also in prospective studies. They are mainly represented by a better cosmetic outcome and a less distressful postoperative course. These approaches proved to be safe and feasible in any surgical background: their complication rate is the same as traditional open surgery in the neck. Very promising seems to be the videoscopic access to neck lymph nodes (central and lateral compartments) whereas other fields of application such as carotid artery surgery and spine surgery still remain object of experimental studies. As far as the lateral neck dissection is concerned the technique is going to be standardized in our centre as a variant of the well known video assisted approach adding a 5 mm trocar placed in the supraclavicular space. By consequence, cervicoscopy has to be considered an important surgical tool which can be further improved but which also has an excellent potentiality.


In this paper, the splitting tensile strength experiments of recycled sintered brick-tile concrete with different water-cement ratio, sand rate and water quantity were carried out, and the change law of splitting tensile strength with above three factors was acquired and failure patterns of the samples were analyzed. The results showed that the effects of sand rate and water quantity were not clear, while water-cement ratio was relatively significant and the splitting tensile strength was inversely proportional relationship with it. And the relation between the splitting tensile strength and the cubic compressive strength was summarized from the results.


The transcriptional plasticity of cancer cells promotes intercellular heterogeneity in response to anti-cancer drugs and facilitates the generation of subpopulation surviving cells. Characterizing single-cell transcriptional heterogeneity after drug treatments can provide mechanistic insights into drug efficacy. Here we used single-cell RNA-seq to examine transcriptomic profiles of cancer cells treated with paclitaxel, celecoxib, and the combination of the two drugs. By normalizing the expression of endogenous genes to spike-in molecules, we found that celluar mRNA abundance shows dynamic regulation after drug treatment. Using a random forest model, we identified gene signatures classifying single cells into three states: transcriptional repression, amplification, and control-like. Treatment with paclitaxel or celecoxib alone generally repressed gene transcription across single cells. Interestingly, the drug combination resulted in transcriptional amplification and hyperactivation of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation pathway linking to enhanced cell killing efficiency. Finally, we identified a regulatory module enriched with metabolism and inflammation-related genes activated in a subpopulation of paclitaxel-treated cells, the expression of which predicted paclitaxel efficacy across cancer cell lines and in vivo patient samples. Our study highlights the dynamic global transcriptional activity driving single-cell heterogeneity during drug response and emphasizes the importance of adding spike-in molecules to study gene expression regulation using single-cell RNA-seq.


Hash-based authentication is a widespread technique for protecting passwords in many modern software systems including databases. A hashing function is a one-way mathematical function that is used in various security contexts in this domain. In this paper, we revisit three popular hashing algorithms (MD5, SHA-1, and NTLM), that are considered weak or insecure. More specifically, we explore the performance of the hashing algorithms on different hardware platforms, from expensive high-end GPUs found in data centers and high-performance computing centers to relatively cheaper consumer-grade ones found in the homes of end-users. In parallel, we observe the behavior of different hardware platforms. Our results re-emphasize that despite their theoretical strength, the practical utilization of widely used hashing algorithms are highly insecure in many real-world scenarios; i.e., cracking a password of length 6 takes less than 6 seconds using a consumer-grade GPU.


One result of culture is literary work, but broadly speaking literature is the work of individuals, only the object delivered will not be separated from the culture and social life of the community. The close relationship between literature and culture can produce literary works that have a function as cultural preservation. A complex culture can be reflected in a literary work. If traced carefully, it can be known that some authors have included a tradition and culture of an area in their literary work. One type of imaginary story is a novel. A novel is a term for a long, imaginary literary work that presents characters and displays a series of events and settings in a structured manner. This study uses the novel Asmara Djibrat Ludira (Furthermore abbreviated ADL) as a data source. The theory used for structural analysis in the form of figures, characterizations, plot, background, themes, and message in ADL novels is a structural theory from Panuti Sudjiman a book called "Memahami Cerita Rekaan" (Understanding Fiction Stories), while for analyzing darma (spiritual mission) in Javanese morality context, researcher using ethical theory from Franz Magnis Suseno and descriptive - qualitative method from Teeuw and John W. Creswell. The conclusion of this study shows that moral message contained in it regarding the role of soldiers who must always hold fast to the principles of spiritual mission and the spiritual mission (darma) of the main character's knights is done by fighting the invaders and saving his lover.


Subacute Ruminal Acidosis (SARA) is a disorder in cattle which can lead to chronic inflammation in the rumen epithelium, known as rumenitis. Butyrate has been shown to attenuate some of the detrimental effects of inflammatory gastroenteral disorders but the molecular mechanisms mediated by butyrate have not been defined. The objective of this study was to define the inflammatory-related genomic changes responsible for the beneficial effects of butyrate. Experimentally, 16 fistulated dairy cows at mid-lactation were fed a SARA-inducing (45% non-fiber carbohydrate) diet beginning 2 days before the beginning of treatment and continuing throughout the experiment. Cows were then evenly divided into treatment groups where a carrier with (n = 8) or without (n = 8) supplemental butyrate (2.5% initial DM intake) was deposited into the rumen daily for 7 days. The minimum rumen pH was higher in cows with supplemental butyrate (4.96±0.09 to 5.20±0.05, p = 0.040), but mean pH, maximum pH and the duration for which rumen pH was below 5.6 was unaffected. Free plasma Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) concentration was unaffected by treatment as was the concentration of Serum Amyloid A (SAA), although the LPS Binding Protein (LBP) concentration was increased by the addition of butyrate to the rumen (6.91±0.29 to 7.93±0.29 µg mL-1, p = 0.024). Of the rumen Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA) tested, only butyrate showed a pronounced treatment effect, rising from 8.60±0.94 to 21.60±0.94 mM (p≤0.0001). Plasma Beta-Hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) concentration also increased (799.50±265.24 to 3261.63±265.24 µM, p≤0.001). Butyrate infusion did not affect milk parameters (total fat, lactose, total protein and LOS); however, when related to dry matter intake, milk production efficiency was increased (p = 0.035). Microarray and qRT-PCR analyses of rumen papillae biopsies collected on day 7 found that butyrate administration affected (p≤0.05) the expression of genes involved in Non-Specific Host Defense (NSHD), Remodeling or adaptation (RM) and Immune Response (IR). Of the 49 genes tested by qRT-PCR, 9 (LCN2, MMP1, MUC16, GPX2, CSTA, FUT1, SERPINE2, BCAM, RAC3) were upregulated, 20 (MTOR, AKIRIN2, NFKBIZ, NFKB2, ACVR2A, LAMB1, FRS2, PPARD, LBP, NEDD4L, SGK1, DEDD2, MAP3K8, PARD6B, PLIN2, ADA, HPGD, FMO5, BMP6, TCHH) were downregulated and 20 were unchanged due to butyrate administration in the proximal gastrointestinal tract. These results demonstrate the potential protective effect and molecular mechanisms involved in a novel butyrate treatment for inflammatory gastrointestinal conditions.


OBJECTIVES
This study examines organizational characteristics and market conditions likely to influence collaborative relationships between public health agencies and community medical care providers.

METHODS
Public health directors in 60 US counties were surveyed by telephone concerning their relationships with area community hospitals (n = 263) and community health centers (n = 85). Multivariate models were used to estimate the effects of organizational and market characteristics on collaboration.

RESULTS
Collaboration was reported among 55% of the hospitals and 64% of the health centers. Certain forms of collaboration were more likely in markets characterized by higher HMO penetration and lower HMO competition.

CONCLUSIONS
Targeted efforts to facilitate collaboration may be required in settings where institutional and market incentives are lacking.


Feeding a butter-rich diet to rats induced a "hypercoagulable state," since multiple large thrombi were observed in response to injection of S. typhosa endotoxin but the same stimulus was ineffective in rats fed a corn oil-rich diet or laboratory chow. In vitro hypercoagulability was noted in blood from the butter-fed rats, the recalcification plasma clotting time (PCT) being reduced by 34 to 45% in comparison with the controls. When a phospholipid suspension replaced the platelets in the plasma clotting test, the reduction was only 5 to 15%, but it was 31 and 43% when the platelets of these rats were washed and resuspended in a given standard plasma. Since lipid extract of these platelets could largely reproduce their activity, the factor involved must have been factor 3. A similar result was obtained in rabbits fed a butter or corn oil diet, or laboratory chow, indicating that, in this species also, the hypercoagulability in response to hyperlipemia was largely due to factor 3. In addition, in rats and rabbits fed butter, the platelets were more susceptible to thrombin-induced aggregation. In 27 human subjects of either sex and various ages, the state of coagulability as determined by the PCT was also mostly related to the platelet factor 3 activity, which was negatively correlated with serum cholesterol.


This paper describes the present information and communication technology (ICT) market in Japan and introduces some key policy issues currently impacting on the evolving broadband, mobile, Internet and next generation network market, and other issues likely to impact them in future. The paper argues that there is an implicit guiding principle behind several policy initiatives on these issues that might well be described as being based on the conceptual framework of 'Network Neutrality'. The paper further identifies some new policy issues, such as mobile content regulation, interconnection of the NGN and the Internet (IPv6), the introduction of Internationalised Domain Name (IDN) country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD), and depletion of IPv4 address spaces. In order to accommodate these new policy challenges located in the upper layer of the communication architecture, this paper suggests extending the scope of Network Neutrality and examining the multi-stakeholder approach exercised at the Internet Governance Forum (IGF).


Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection has been recognized as a human class I carcinogen in 1994 and linked with the development of gastric cancer in numerous studies. Gastric cancer still ranks as the second leading mortality cause among all cancers in the world and in the fourth place in Europe. High prevalence of H. pylori infection and high incidence of gastric cancer in adults are still characteristic of the Baltic States and resemble patterns in the Western and Northern European countries several decades ago. The recent decline in gastric cancer incidence and mortality as well as H. pylori prevalence in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia reflects the worldwide trends. H. pylori induced diseases, however, still remain a significant burden for health care systems in the Baltic States. The relevance of H. pylori induced gastric diseases in the Baltic States has stimulated epidemiological, clinical as well as fundamental research on H. pylori infection, premalignant gastric conditions and gastric cancer. This paper reviews original research on H. pylori infection and related diseases in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia during the period 1992–2011.

Keywords: Helicobacter pylori, atrophic gastritis, gastric cancer, Baltic States


This paper investigates the shaping of the extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) functions of parallel turbo codes, when the turbo code is used as an outer code in a serially concatenated scheme. As opposed to other work, we consider the overall EXIT function of the turbo decoder and not the EXIT chart for the component codes. Three methods for shaping are investigated: (i) individual puncturing of the systematic part and the two parity parts of the turbo codes, (ii) puncturing of the overall turbo code, and (iii) repetition of the overall turbo code. For each case, the EXIT function of the resulting turbo code is computed from the EXIT function of its component codes. Exact results are obtained for the binary erasure channel.


A sky camera network was installed at Murdoch University capturing high resolution whole sky images every ten seconds for a study, to be completed by the University of Oldenburg, investigating short term solar irradiance forecasting[1]. The study investigates the effectiveness of sky camera imaging and processing techniques used to determine forecasted cloud induced variations on photo-voltaic (PV) power systems based on images and validation data acquired at Murdoch University in Perth, Western Australia. This project demonstrates the effectiveness of two 180-degree fish-eye Vivotek network security cameras recording 1920x1920 pixel RGB images simultaneously at 10 second intervals to provide sufficient information for accurate solar irradiance and PV power output modelling. Results from the collaboration between Murdoch University and the University of Oldenburg were presented at the World Renewable Energy Congress which provide a detailed analysis of solar forecasting accuracy and the associated fuel savings in comparison to other forms of generation and PV management systems. A persistence method of forecasting was determined to properly utilize sky camera forecasting's ability to predict future cloud events and reduce the spinning reserve (SR) that is required in PV and diesel power systems. The results showed that a total of 61% of the time between 10th November and 28th December 2016 the model identified clear sky irradiance. A total of 84 cloud events occurred during this period and 76 of these were correctly identified giving a total miss rate of ~8% [2]. Based on these findings, a further study was conducted by the University of Oldenburg which determined estimated fuel savings achieved with a sky camera based forecasting control method. The findings showed up to 5.5% reduction of fuel consumption in a PV diesel power network with 60% of total capacity being installed PV[3].

The forecasting method used was outlined in a report (West et al 2014) and variations of the image processing methods required were investigated at Murdoch University to explore potential alternatives to more complicated and computationally expensive methods. Various further research is proposed and the effectiveness of alternative methods is presented. The sky camera network and data acquisition system that was developed is discussed in detail and shown to be capable of providing the information required for the forecasting and validation of cloud induced power variations in PV systems.


Postmilitary Life Satisfaction and Social Support, Educational Attainment, and Length of Service by Tara Brunson MS, Walden University, 2013 BS, Kaplan University, 2011 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Clinical Psychology Walden University May 2018 Abstract The U.S. military has downsized since the early 2000s and has plans to continue to decrease their forces. There are negative implications many veterans experience after discharge. Using the transition theory as the framework for this study, the purpose of this between-groups study was to explore the differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarilyand involuntarily-discharged U.S. service members and the associations between educational attainment, social support, and length of service. The participants were honorable discharged U.S. service members. A total of 182 participants were included in this study; 141 were voluntarily discharged and 41 were involuntarily discharged. The participants were recruited through Walden's participant pool, flyers,The U.S. military has downsized since the early 2000s and has plans to continue to decrease their forces. There are negative implications many veterans experience after discharge. Using the transition theory as the framework for this study, the purpose of this between-groups study was to explore the differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarilyand involuntarily-discharged U.S. service members and the associations between educational attainment, social support, and length of service. The participants were honorable discharged U.S. service members. A total of 182 participants were included in this study; 141 were voluntarily discharged and 41 were involuntarily discharged. The participants were recruited through Walden's participant pool, flyers, and Facebook. The Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, and a demographic questionnaire were used to identify participants' life satisfaction scores, amount of perceived social support, and personal information. Based on the results of t tests and hierarchical linear regressions, there were no differences in life satisfaction scores between voluntarily and involuntarily discharged service members. Social support and educational attainment were statistically significant predictors of life satisfaction for discharged service members. The positive social change implications of this study include increasing mental health workers' awareness of U.S. service members and the factors that affect life satisfaction after discharge. Postmilitary Life Satisfaction and Social Support, Educational Attainment, and Length of Service by Tara Brunson MS, Walden University 2013 BS, Kaplan University, 2011 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Clinical Psychology


This stereospecific "high-performance" liquid-chromatographic (HPLC) assay is suitable for pharmacokinetic studies of ibuprofen (IB). Very efficient extraction of the drug and internal standard, (+/-)-2-(4-benzoylphenyl)butyric acid, from plasma with isooctane/isopropanol (95/5, by vol) is followed by sequential reaction of the enantiomers with ethyl chloroformate and (S)-(-)-1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine. The reactions take place at ambient temperature in less than 4 min. The naphthylethylamide derivatives of IB enantiomers and internal standard are then extracted into chloroform. After the organic layer is evaporated, the reconstituted residue is chromatographed at ambient temperature on a C18 reversed-phase column with a mobile phase of acetonitrile/water/acetic acid/triethylamine (55/45/0.1/0.02 by vol) at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The IB diastereoisomers, detected at 232 nm, are free of interfering peaks and have a resolution factor of 2.2. Within the examined enantiomer concentration range of 0.1 to 20 mg/L in plasma, the peak-area ratios varied linearly with the corresponding IB concentrations. We used the assay to study the pharmacokinetics of IB enantiomers in plasma of a subject who took a single 600-mg dose of racemic drug.


This article discusses how the first-person genre, especially a Gazan wartime diary, allows both writer and reader to imagine new possibilities for understanding contemporary colonial drone warfare, which is instrumental in the strategic silencing and invisibilization of war victims. By creating this zone of invisibilization (one that I will name the "dronesphere") through obfuscating loss of life, war perpetrators aim to drown out the voices of opposition and resistance in Gaza. This is precisely why an increasing autonomy of military technologies that I call the "anthropomorphizing of drones" has triggered fierce debates over the unaccountability for war crimes committed against those on the receiving end of such autonomous weaponry. One specific case that deserves serious attention in this regard is the deafening silence surrounding Israel's use of lethal drones to assassinate people in Palestine, which has led to the strategic silencing and invisibility of Palestinian deaths and a struggle for survival through the use of top-down control via drones in the region. However, Atef Abu Saif's use of "strategic anthropomorphism" in his wartime diary The Drone Eats with Me: A Gaza Diary does not grant the drone absolute autonomy in death-dealing but imagines Drone as a fictional character. Instead, the execution of Gazans is presented as a prolonged reconnaissance performance, which not only allows Gazans to see drones as an extension of (absent) drone operators' bodies, but also to register their protest against the Israeli authorities by imagining Drone as a living entity. Therefore, using the authority of direct experience that Youval Noah Harari calls "flesh witnessing" (2008), Abu Saif's wartime diary enables the formation of Palestinian subjectivities held under the sign of erasure, thereby claiming their rights as social and political human bodies.


The two reconstituted faience figurines from the Temple Repositories at Knossos were restored by Sir Arthur Evans as epitomes of elite women of the Neopalatial period and objects of an indigenous palatial cult of the Snake Goddess. They have appeared as such in the literature for the past century. This article reassesses the accuracy of Evans's characterization by examining only the original fragments—a head, two torsos and the remnants of a flounced skirt—to determine whether the coiffures, clothing, and gestures have parallels in Cretan art. This process reveals that the figures do not have close parallels, for the most part, within the Cretan tradition. Furthermore, there are no Cretan iconographic sources for the images of the women as participants in the cult of the Snake Goddess, whether as goddesses or as priestesses. Rather, the craftsmen who created them employed motifs from the Syrian artistic tradition most likely relying on the representations of the goddess opening her skirt and the renderings of Syrian goddesses with cylindrical crowns, straight hair, and robes with thick edges. The elites who ordered the production of the figurines did so within the context of the construction of the Middle Minoan III palace at Knossos. At a time of heightened interaction with the late Middle Bronze Age monarchies of the Levant, the elites at Knossos emulated Syrian iconography as an assertion of their access to exotic knowledge and control of trade. When the Middle Minoan III palace was destroyed, the figurines were deposited in the Temple Repositories, and their iconography was buried with them. There is no trace of them in subsequent Neopalatial art.


University students are required to undergo a lot of studying in order to meet the requirements of their curriculum. To help them acquire this, Universities ensure the provision of information materials and conducive studying environment through the University library. However, literature suggests that study habits developed by some students may not encourage their use of library which could negatively affect their academic achievement. It is against this background that this study investigated the study habits and library usage among undergraduates in federal universities in South-West, Nigeria. The study adopted the survey research design. Questionnaire was used for data collection. Out of 2,086 undergraduate students from three federal universities which are University of Lagos, University of Ibadan and ObafemiAwolowo University, 643 were selected using multistage sampling technique. Datacollected were analysed using percentage count, t-test and Pearson product Moment Correlation. T-test analysis showed that significant difference existed between science and humanity students' study habits. Science students had a mean of 49.06 and standard deviation of 8.95 while humanity students had a mean of 4.38 with standard deviation of 2.37. This revealed that study habits of science students maybe better than that of students in the humanities. Results of correlation showed that study plan (r=0.367), personal habit exhibited by the students (r=0.560) and environmental factors (r=0.552) had positive significant relationship. The findings showed a positive significant relationship existed between the overall students study habits (r=0.013; p≤0.05) and their library usage. Keywords: Study habits, Library Usage, Undergraduate, Library


Mitochondria are localized to regions of the cell where ATP consumption is high and are dispersed according to changes in local energy needs. In addition to motion directed by molecular motors, mitochondrial distribution in neuronal cells appears to depend on the docking of mitochondria to microtubules and neurofilaments. We examined interactions between mitochondria and neurofilaments using fluorescence microscopy, dynamic light scattering, atomic force microscopy, and sedimentation assays. Mitochondrianeurofilament interactions depend on mitochondrial membrane potential, as revealed by staining with a membrane potential sensitive dye ( JC-1) in the presence of substrates/ADP or uncouplers (valinomycin/ carbonyl cyanide p-(trifluoromethoxy)phenylhydrazone) and are affected by the phosphorylation status of neurofilaments and neurofilament sidearms. Antibodies against the neurofilament heavy subunit disrupt binding between mitochondria and neurofilaments, and isolated neurofilament sidearms alone interact with mitochondria, suggesting that they mediate the interactions between the two structures. These data suggest that specific and regulated mitochondrial-neurofilament interactions occur in situ and may contribute to the dynamic distribution of these organelles within the cytoplasm of neurons.


This research tracked web sites posting or linking to software known as DeCSS over a 26-month period coinciding with a U.S. lawsuit that found posting and linking to the DeCSS software to be illegal. Results showed a decrease in the number of web pages posting the DeCSS software, and a decrease in the number of web pages linking to DeCSS. Seven web sites retained their DeCSS posting for the entire 26-month study period. An increasing number of sites posted nonexecutable forms of DeCSS, and results show a large percentage of web sites contained political speech. The persistence of DeCSS linking and posting was surprising given the prohibition on linking and posting within the United States and given the obsolescence of DeCSS as a DVD decrypter. We suggest that DeCSS linking and posting persists primarily as a political symbol of protest.


: In 1764 Dr. Abraham Ludlow communicated to the Society of Physicians the first anatomic and pathophysiological description of an esophageal diverticulum. That report adeptly detailed this esophageal malady and exemplified the perceptive scientific insight spawned by the hunterian investigative spirit of the mid-eighteenth century.


The max-cut problem addresses the problem of finding a cut for a graph that splits the graph into two subsets of vertices so that the number of edges between these two subsets is as large as possible. However, this problem is NP-Hard, which may be solved by suboptimal algorithms. In this brief, we propose a fast and accurate Riemannian optimization algorithm for solving the max-cut problem. To do so, we develop a gradient descent algorithm and prove its convergence. Our simulation results show that the proposed method is extremely efficient on some already-investigated graphs. Specifically, our method is on average 35 times faster than the best well-known techniques with slightly losing the performance, which is on average 0.96 of the max-cut value of the others.


An asynchronous PDM (Pulse-Density-Modulating) digital neural network system has been developed in our laboratory. It consists of one thousand neurons that are physically interconnected via one million 7-bit synapses. It can solve one thousand simultaneous nonlinear first-order differential equations in a fully parallel and continuous fashion. The performance of this system was measured by a winner-take-all network with one thousand neurons. Although the magnitude of the input and network parameters were identical for each competing neuron, one of them won in 6 milliseconds. This processing speed amounts to 360 billion connections per second. A broad range of neural networks including spatiotemporal filtering, feedforward, and feedback networks can be run by loading appropriate network parameters from a host system.


Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have enormous potential in the public and civil domains. These are particularly useful in applications, where human lives would otherwise be endangered. Multi-UAV systems can collaboratively complete missions more efficiently and economically as compared to single UAV systems. However, there are many issues to be resolved before effective use of UAVs can be made to provide stable and reliable context-specific networks. Much of the work carried out in the areas of mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), and vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) does not address the unique characteristics of the UAV networks. UAV networks may vary from slow dynamic to dynamic and have intermittent links and fluid topology. While it is believed that ad hoc mesh network would be most suitable for UAV networks yet the architecture of multi-UAV networks has been an understudied area. Software defined networking (SDN) could facilitate flexible deployment and management of new services and help reduce cost, increase security and availability in networks. Routing demands of UAV networks go beyond the needs of MANETS and VANETS. Protocols are required that would adapt to high mobility, dynamic topology, intermittent links, power constraints, and changing link quality. UAVs may fail and the network may get partitioned making delay and disruption tolerance an important design consideration. Limited life of the node and dynamicity of the network lead to the requirement of seamless handovers, where researchers are looking at the work done in the areas of MANETs and VANETs, but the jury is still out. As energy supply on UAVs is limited, protocols in various layers should contribute toward greening of the network. This paper surveys the work done toward all of these outstanding issues, relating to this new class of networks, so as to spur further research in these areas.


A homodimeric, growth-related and time-keeping hydroquinone oxidase (ENOX1) of the eukaryotic cell surface capable of oxidizing extracellular NADH exhibits properties of the ultradian driver of the biological 24 h circadian clock by exhibiting a complex 2 + 3 set of oscillations with a period length of 24 min. The oscillations require bound copper, are recapitulated by aqueous solutions of copper salts and appear to derive from 30 to 40 sec periodic variations in the ratios of ortho and para nuclear spins of the paired hydrogen atoms of the elongated octahedral structure of the ENOX2 protein bound copper II hexahydrates. Based on a heartbeat model of limit cycle oscillations, these oscillations correlate with generation of the 24 min periodicity as a form of carrier wave. A corollary of these observations is that the ortho-para oscillations must occur in a highly synchronized manner. Attendant oscillatory changes in redox potential offer an opportunity to monitor oscillations in synchronous populations of water molecules. The periodicity of the ENOX1/copper/water clock can be phased by brief 10 to 20 sec exposure to very low frequency electromagnetic fields. The synchronized populations of oscillating water molecules give rise to oscillatory electromagnetic fields that apparently are perceived by adjacent water molecules to create a collectively coherent synchronous system. Two asynchronous water samples placed adjacent to one another but separated by a thin non-metal barrier become fully synchronized in a matter of several min. A barrier of metal foil prevents the synchronization. The corollary of these observations is that contiguous water molecules function synchronously perhaps even over relatively long distances. Two samples of water from contiguous still or flowing bodies of water collected from different locations and analyzed simultaneously were synchronous in their oscillations in redox potential measured as changes in rates of NADH oxidation. Our findings suggest that water molecules communicate with each other via very low frequency electromagnetic fields. These fields appear to be generated by the


Hematopoietic stem cells from adult marrow, cord blood, or fetal liver can differentiate into myeloid and lymphoid lineages. Early steps in this differentiation process are not yet fully understood. To correlate surface antigen expression with molecular events occurring during early lymphopoietic differentiation, we examined CD3 gamma, CD3 delta, and CD3 zeta gene expression in adult human CD34+ marrow progenitors and their subsets. Purification by fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) was used to obtain 1) a CD34+ Lin-DR- population known to contain primitive, uncommitted progenitors; 2) CD34+/CD7+/CD2+ and 3) CD34+/CD7+/CD2+ cells expressing receptors associated with natural killer (NK) cell or T cell lineage commitment. We demonstrate that CD34+Lin-DR- cells do not contain CD3 gamma, CD3 delta, or CD3 zeta transcripts, consistent with the primitive uncommitted nature of progenitors in this cell population. Expression of the CD34+/CD7+/CD2- phenotype correlates with the transcription of CD3 zeta but not CD3 gamma or CD3 delta, a pattern of transcription observed in mature blood NK but not T cells. Expression of both CD7 and CD2 on CD34+ cells is associated with not only CD3 zeta gene transcription but also CD3 gamma and CD3 delta, a pattern found in T cells but not mature NK cells. We have identified unique patterns of mRNA transcription in phenotypically distinct lymphoid progenitors found in the marrow. These findings raise the possibility that although primitive NK and T cell progenitors share a common differentiation pathway, divergent NK and T lineage commitment steps may occur very early in lymphopoiesis. Our findings suggest that application of in vitro marrow and thymus culture techniques may be utilized to more fully describe commitment and differentiation of early lymphoid progenitors and define the role of the microenvironment in this process.


Jonathan Edwards achieved the greatest sustained mastery of the sermon form between January 1734 and December 1738, a time in which he also kindled his first revival. The Northampton revival spread to neighbouring towns and villages, as did Edwards's renown. And the sermons of these years exhibit not only splendid rhetoric but also figural intricacies and tonal nuances that reveal his maturity as a writer. During this period Edwards delivered probably four hundred sermons and lectures. Of the fewer than half that survive, some extend the reach of the previous dozen years of his ministry, others engage speculative theological issues, others touch on pastoral life, and still others deal with conversion and, in time, declension. Edwards also wrote a full account of the Northampton revival, A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, which was published in 1737 in London and Edinburgh and within a year was reprinted there, issued in Boston in three printings, and translated into German. In addition, near the end of the period Edwards put together Discourses on Various Important Subjects, five sermons about the Awakening and the only gathering of sermons he saw through the press.


Today, between 8% and 16% of all individuals worldwide suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD), which is becoming a growing public health issue. Creatinine and cystatin C are commonly used markers for kidney function, and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and albuminuria are used to stage CKD. However, creatinine and eGFR are rather insensitive in identifying individuals at high risk of future CKD. Several biomarkers have been proposed to play a role, yet the clinical evidence, particularly from longitudinal studies, is limited. During the recent years, several genetic markers associated with kidney function have been identified by genome-wide association studies. However, the question of whether genetic markers may aid in improving prediction on the top of the commonly used clinical risk factors remains open. Environmental factors, such as diet, have been suggested to be of importance for kidney function, but current knowledge from individuals free of CKD is limited.Therefore, this thesis aimed to investigate if 1) circulating biomarkers (studies I-III) or 2) information on genetic predisposition (study IV) may show advantages in the prediction of future kidney function deterioration after a long-term follow-up. Furthermore, we studied if 3) dietary intake at baseline associates with future kidney function (study V). The work in this thesis was conducted within the setting of the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study, a population-based cohort of middle-aged individuals from Southern Sweden.In studies I-III we observed that in participants with an eGFR > 60 mL/min/1.73m2 elevated plasma levels of pro-enkephalin (study I), soluble urokinase receptor (study II), or kidney injury molecule-1 (study III), were each associated with an ~20% increased risk of incident CKD stage 3A per increase in one SD of the respective biomarker, independently of known risk factors (OR 1.17 95 %CI=1.05-1.30; 1.25 95 %CI=1.10-1.41, and 1.21 95 %CI=1.08-1.34, respectively).In study IV, we report that adding a genetic risk score composed of 53 SNPs, previously identified by GWAS to associate with kidney function, to a risk model including clinical risk factors, may be helpful in evaluating the risk of incident CKD (OR per risk allele 1.04, 95%CI 1.01-1.07; NRI 17.7.% P=0.0007).In study V, we investigated the association between dietary intakes and occurrence of CKD in participants with a preserved kidney function at baseline. We investigated reported intakes of 15 food groups focusing on different sources of protein, and intakes of macronutrients and three beverages. We observed that lower sucrose intake as well as higher fiber and coffee intake associated with favorable long-term kidney function. In conclusion, the studies included in this PhD-thesis demonstrate that novel circulating and genetic biomarkers may be clinically useful in estimating future kidney function, and emphasize genetic susceptibility and diet as important determinants of longitudinal kidney function. (Less)


Radium-223 (223Ra) dichloride is an approved intravenous radiotherapy for patients with osseous metastases from castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). In addition to the therapeutic alpha radiation, there is additional 223Ra radiation generated which produces photons that can be imaged with conventional gamma cameras. No studies have evaluated real-time and quality imaging during intravenous 223Ra administration to verify systemic circulation and exclude 223Ra extravasation at the injection site. A retrospective review was performed for fifteen 223Ra administrations for CRPC patients which were imaged using a large field of view portable gamma camera (LFOVPGC) for the purposes of quality control and patient safety. Dynamic imaging of the chest was performed before, during, and after the 223Ra administration to verify systemic circulation, per institutional clinical protocol. Before and after 223Ra administration, a static image was obtained of the intravenous access site. Dynamic imaging of the chest confirmed systemic administration early during the 1-minute injection period for all patients. There were no cases of focal 223Ra extravasation at the site of intravenous access. These results verify that systemic 223Ra administrations can be quantified with real-time imaging using an LFOVPGC. This simple approach can confirm and quantify systemic circulation of 223Ra early during injection and exclude focal extravasation for the purposes of quality control.


Twenty X chromosomes isolated from a natural population of Drosophila melanogaster were surveyed using in situ hybridization to determine the number and cytogenetic location of three families of transposable elements: copia, 412 and 297. We found no sites of insertions in high frequency; in fact, frequencies of specific sites for all three elements were so low that each insertion could be interpreted as being unique. This suggests that rates of transposition and deletion for these elements are very high. Our data also show a higher than expected rate of the co-occurrence of different elements at the same site on the same chromosome.


The present work attempts to find the gap between agreement level and adoption level of various supply chain management (SCM) practices in paint companies who are operating in India. An empirical study was carried out with paint companies. Paired samples t- test was used to find out the difference in agreement and adoption level of various SCM practices and multiple regression analysis was used to check the relationship between dependent and independent variables. A significant difference was found between the agreement level of SCM practices and adoption level of such practices in the responses of Indian paint companies. A significant correlation was found between the operational performance of companies and SCM practices. The study was limited to Indian paint industry which needs to be generalized.


Consumer-level hedonic models are estimated to determine factors affecting retail pork and beef meat cuts. Results indicate that brand premium and discount varies across private, national, and store brands and that brand premium varies across meat cuts carrying the same brand name. Product size discounts are linear for beef and nonlinear for pork, meat items on sale are significantly discounted to nonsale items, specialty stores typically will not garner higher prices than supermarket/grocery stores, and warehouse stores typically have premium prices relative to supermarket/grocery stores.


Abstract : Laboratory evidence indicates that when strains exceed 10 to the -6 in media under low confining pressure, certain nonlinear processes begin to occur. They are manifested by a reduction in apparent Q. Since direct measurement of near field strain are rare, it has been difficult to evaluate whether or not this phenomenon is significant near to realistic seismic sources. A high frequency theory for computing stresses and strains using generalized ray theory has been developed. It can be shown using this theory that near field body wave strain pulses are closely related to near field velocity pulses. Large data bases of near field velocity records and crustal structures for modeling them are available. Transfer functions for transforming velocity pulses into estimated strain pulses can be computed by deconvolving theoretical versions of the former from the latter. In most cases they are delta-like functions. These transfers operators have been computed for a suite of velocity records from 5 Pahute Mesa Nuclear explosions ranging in yield from 155 to 1300 kt and for an Imperial Valley earthquake of M sub 0 = 0.6 times 10 to the 24 dyne-cm. For the explosion data base the strains were as high as 10 to the -3; 3 orders of magnitude higher than the level at which the laboratory data suggests that nonlinear effects become important. The earthquake data base indicated strains levels between 10 to the -6 and 10 to the -5. Because of the pressure dependence of the nonlinear phenomenon, it is probably only important in a thin layer near the surface of the earth.