We express the rational homotopy type of the mapping spaces $\mathrm{Map}^h(\mathsf D_m,\mathsf D_n^{\mathbb Q})$ of the little discs operads in terms of graph complexes. Using known facts about the graph homology this allows us to compute the rational homotopy groups in low degrees, and construct infinite series of non-trivial homotopy classes in higher degrees. Furthermore we show that for $n-m>2$, the spaces $\mathrm{Map}^h(\mathsf D_m,\mathsf D_n^{\mathbb Q})$ and $\mathrm{Map}^h(\mathsf D_m,\mathsf D_n)$ are simply connected and rationally equivalent. As application we determine the rational homotopy type of the deloopings of spaces of long embeddings. Some of the results hold also for mapping spaces $\mathrm{Map}_{\leq k}^h(\mathsf D_m,\mathsf D_n^{\mathbb Q})$, $\mathrm{Map}_{\leq k}^h(\mathsf D_m,\mathsf D_n)$, $n-m\geq 2$, of the truncated little discs operads, which allows one to determine rationally the delooping of the Goodwillie-Weiss tower for the spaces of long embeddings.


main focus of this study is to investigate the impact of Pakistan's international political relations on FDI inflows. To this end, an extensive theoretical and empirical analysis has been carried out over the period 1972-2009. We find that U.S. policies produce no significant influence on long-term capital inflows to Pakistan in the long-run. However, in the short-run U.S. diplomatic policies produces negative influence on inward FDI to Pakistan. This implies that deterioration of U.S.-Pak diplomatic relations exert significant negative impact on capital inflows to Pakistan in the short-run. The results also reveal that domestic investment; financial development, infrastructure and natural resource endowments exert significant positive impact on FDI in the long- as well as-short-run. Trade openness influences FDI inflows negatively in long-run, but produces no significant impact on FDI in short-run. Political risk related factors (i.e. political rights, civil liberties and political repression) produce no significant impact on FDI inflows to Pakistan in the long-run. However, only civil liberties positively correlated with FDI in short-run. Therefore, policies aimed at strengthening resource based, such as encouraging domestic investment activities, continuity of liberalization policies, improvements of local infrastructure promote FDI inflows to Pakistan. More importantly, Pakistan may establish its political ties with major international power, particularly with the United Sates on the basis of mutual interests and dignity and those relations should be consistent, sustainable and predictable.


More than 90% of all tuberculosis cases occur in developing countries. Incidence rates estimated by WHO vary from 23 per 100,000 in industrialized countries to 191 per 100,000 in Africa and 237 per 100,000 in South East Asia. the downward trend observed in most industrialized counties in the 1970's and 1980's caused a neglect that nearly made tuberculosis a forgotten disease among the medical profession and policy makers. Ths neglect has led to a catastrophe in certain large cities in the United States. The resurgence of tuberculosis can not be attributed to the HIV/AIDS epidemic alone but also to the dismantling of health care structures responsible for tuberculosis control in certain countries.


Suppurative thrombophlebitis of the internal jugular vein, or Lemierre syndrome, was described for the first time in 1900. The most common initial event is an infection of the oropharynx associated with thrombosis of the internal jugular vein. While it is a rare entity, Lemierre syndrome remains a disease that causes considerable morbidity and mortality, due to its progression and to delays in diagnosis.


: Among the morphological features of an oncocytic mucoepidermoid carcinoma of the parotid salivary gland in a 78-year-old man, the oncocytes had granular eosinophilic cytoplasm that was characterized ultrastructurally by large numbers of mitochondria that displayed minimal abnormalities. Complex cell-to-cell relationship, well-developed junctival complexes, and microvillous-like surface projections suggestive of ductal differentiation were present; epidermoid features in the form of dense focal aggregates of cytoplasmic fibrils were also seen.


The design of a 2.45-GHz near-field RF identification (RFID) system with passive on-chip antenna (OCA) tags is very challenging as the efficiency of RF power conversion is very low. It poses multidisciplinary research challenges such as ultra-low-power circuits design, semiconductor process technology, and integrated antenna design. This paper describes the designs of such an RFID system, the reader, and OCAs, as well as the passive tag integrated circuits in detail. The passive tag chip with 128-bit nonvolatile memory has been realized using CMOS 0.13- technology. The OCA is fabricated on top of the chip using post-processing technology. The complete RFID tag with an integrated OCA is smaller than 0.5- with a thickness of 0.1 mm. With the reader generating an output power of 0.5 W, the RFID system is able to perform with RF read/write functions at a distance of .


Several tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family members activate both the classical and the alter- native NF- (cid:1) B pathways. However, how a single receptor engages these two distinct pathways is still poorly understood. Using lymphotoxin (cid:2) receptor (LT (cid:2) R) as a prototype, we showed that activation of the alternative, but not the classical, NF- (cid:1) B pathway relied on internalization of the receptor. Further molecular analyses revealed a specific cytosolic region of LT (cid:2) R essential for its internalization, TRAF3 recruitment, and p100 processing. Interestingly, we found that dynamin-dependent, internalization (cid:1) internalization mesenteric stromal of alternative NF- (cid:1) B on LT (cid:2) R cellular trafficking as a for specific biological functions of NF- (cid:1) immunoprecipitation experiment (1st IP) by incubation with either control beads or Flag-M2 beads. The immunoprecipitates were then used for detecting Flag-NIK and K48-linked polyubiquitinated NIK. Quantification of signals was per- formed with the Image J software. Oligomerization of LT (cid:2) R and GST pulldown. For studying the ability of LT (cid:3) R to form trimers, we performed transient transfections of HEK 293T cells with a combination of HA-, Flag-, and Myc-tagged LT (cid:3) R expression vectors. A first immunoprecipitation was performed using Flag-M2 agarose beads. The immunoprecipitated material was then selectively released overnight by compe- tition with an excess of 3 (cid:8) Flag peptide (Sigma). The supernatants were subjected to a second immunoprecipitation with either an anti-HA or an anti-Myc antibody for 2 h at 4°C. The immunoprecipitated materials were analyzed by immunoblotting with an anti-Myc or an anti-HA antibody, respectively. To an- alyze aggregation of ectopic LT (cid:3) R, HEK 293T cells were collected 40 h posttransfection, washed twice with phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), and then in- cubated for 30 min at room temperature in PBS containing 1 mM dithiobis[succinimidyl propionate] (DSP; Pierce/Thermo Fisher Scientific). After cross-linking, the cells were washed once in PBS and incubated for 15 min in 20 mM Tris-HCl (pH 7.4)–PBS to stop the reaction. The cells were scraped in SDS buffer, and protein extracts were analyzed by immunoblotting for LT (cid:3) R expression. pGEX-4T1-wt LT (cid:3) R or mutant expression vectors were transformed into Escherichia coli BL21. Bacterial cultures were grown to an A 600 of 0.6 and were induced with 0.5 mM isopropyl- (cid:3)


Shipping has been a historic business in which safety has been a concern for hundreds of years. The MARPOL conventions were established in the 1970s in response to growing public concern about the destructive repercussions of marine pollution due to multiple oil tanker accidents. Hazard identification and risk analysis (HIRA) begins with the process design and continues through the discharge and decommissioning of the containers. Furthermore, the issue continues, and the active pollution generating phase will not be completed until the crash, and missing containers at sea are no longer a threat. This can be recovered by reducing shipping's negative effects on the maritime environment using a hazard identification and risk assessment approach. The X-Press Pearl incident in Sri Lanka will be discussed in this study, how the country recovers, and the method of hazard identification and risk assessment should be implemented.


When researching any topic, there are certain resources and skills that are indispensable. In order to give you some tools to get you started, I have used my research on Catherine of Aragon as an example.


Technologies developed in the field of nanoparticles have replaced the use of chemical to eco-friendly green nanoparticle. The nanoparticle sysnthesis can be attained by top-down and bottom-up methods. The source of nano-paerticle synthesis can be acheived by green plant wastes and microorganisms. This becomes a major solution for the defects of conventional nanoparticles developed by chemical synthesis and it can be substuituted for agriculture field for different application like fertilzer, pesticides, etc. It is important to mention that nanoparticles have considerably increased the production in agriculture. The physiological and biological improvements in plants by the application of nanoparticles based on metals or carbon can be enhanced by advanced techniques of testing and implementation. Metal, metal oxide, composite and polymeric nanoparticles are applied to plants through various modes to increase the crop yield and protect from pathogenic attack for not to risk the crop life-span. Recently usage of nano zeolite in the field of agriculture potentially improves its yield. This review gives a brief introduction about the nanoparticles and its various synthesis methods applied in various fields of agriculture to increase production capacities. Also, it elaborate the application and challenges that carried in application in agricultural field.


Disturbed African tropical forests and woodlands have the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation. Therefore, there is a need to understand how carbon stocks of disturbed and recovering tropical forests are determined by environmental conditions and human use. In this case study, we explore how gradients in environmental conditions and human use determine aboveground biomass (AGB) in 1958 national forest inventory (NFI) plots located in forests and woodlands in mainland Tanzania. Plots were divided into recovering forests (areas recovering from deforestation for <25years) and established forests (areas consistently defined as forests for ⩾25 years). This division, as well as the detection of year of forest establishment, was obtained through the use of dense satellite time series of forest cover probability. In decreasing order of importance, AGB in recovering forests unexpectedly decreased with water availability, increased with surrounding tree cover and time since establishment, and decreased with elevation, distance to roads, and soil phosphorus content. AGB in established forests unexpectedly decreased with water availability, increased with surrounding tree cover, and soil nitrogen content, and decreased with elevation. AGB in recovering forests increased by 0.4 Mg ha−1yr−1 during the first 20 years following establishment. Our results can serve as the basis of carbon sink estimates in African recovering tropical forests and woodlands, and aid in forest landscape restoration planning.


Photodynamic therapy for bladder cancer is an intriguing modality with theoretical potential for successful treatment of visible tumor and areas of carcinoma in situ and dysplasia throughout the bladder mucosa. There remain many unanswered determinations about photodynamic therapy, including the most effective photosensitizer, the dose of laser that should be used, and the optimum timing for laser therapy following the injection of photosensitizer. Nonetheless, clinical studies thus far have shown photodynamic therapy to have efficacy in eradicating superficial noninvasive tumors. Treatment of diffuse carcinoma in situ at present appears the most impressive. Prospective studies designed to examine photodynamic therapy in a standardized protocol in comparison with other conventional methods for treatment and prophylaxis of noninvasive bladder cancer are most needed and are currently in progress. In the future, development of alternate photosensitizers or methods of direct intravesical uptake of DHE, perhaps limiting cutaneous phototoxicity, are expected.


This paper is about an entrepreneurial fraternity and its role in reworking and reframing entrepreneurial excess. We achieve this through considering the historical presentation of the entrepreneur as an isolated individual, a maverick, can be mediated through the adoption of historical modes of organisation that have been appropriated to provide conformity, legitimacy and a sense of belonging. To achieve the purpose of our paper we examine the website of the Memphis based society of entrepreneurs (www.societyofentrepreneurs.com). Through examination of stories on the website, we show how the conservativeness of the stories presented may play a key role in creating a entrepreneurial identity that counters the rebellious and recklessness of the young turks. We suggest that while these modes of organisation may initially seek to curb entrepreneurial excess, in time, they have the potential to be abused, and thus, in themselves, become a form of excess.


Objectives:To compare in a prospective, randomized trial the long-term results of laparoscopic Heller myotomy plus Dor fundoplication versus laparoscopic Heller myotomy plus floppy-Nissen for achalasia. Summary Background Data:Anterior fundoplication is usually performed after Heller myotomy to control GER; however, the incidence of postoperative GER ranges between 10% and 30%. Total fundoplication may aid in reducing GER rates. Methods:From December 1993 to September 2002, 153 patients with achalasia underwent Heller laparoscopic myotomy plus antireflux fundoplication. Of these, 9 were excluded from the study. The remaining 144 patients were randomly assigned to 2 treatment groups: Heller laparoscopic myotomy plus anterior fundoplication (Dor procedure) or Heller laparoscopic myotomy plus total fundoplication (floppy-Nissen procedure). The primary end point was incidence of clinical and instrumental GER after a minimum of 60 months follow-up. The secondary end point was recurrence of dysphagia. Follow-up clinical assessments were performed at 1, 3, 12, and 60 months using a modified DeMeester Symptom Scoring System (MDSS). Esophageal manometry and 24-hour pH monitoring were performed at 3, 12, and 60 months postoperative. Results:Of the 144 patients originally included in the study, 138 were available for long-term analysis: 71 (51%) underwent antireflux fundoplication plus a Dor procedure (H + D group) and 67 (49%) antireflux fundoplication plus a Nissen procedure (H + N group). No mortality was observed. The mean follow-up period was 125 months. No statistically significant differences in clinical (5.6% vs. 0%) or instrumental GER (2.8% vs. 0%) were found between the 2 groups; however, a statistically significant difference in dysphagia rates was noted (2.8% vs. 15%; P < 0.001). Conclusions:Although both techniques achieved long-term GER control, the recurrence rate of dysphagia was significantly higher among the patients who underwent Nissen fundoplication. This evidence supports the use of Dor fundoplication as the preferred method to re-establish GER control in patients undergoing laparoscopic Heller myotomy.


This paper presents results on low-temperature (< 500degC) multichannel poly-Si thin-film transistors (TFTs) prepared by KrF excimer laser annealing with a channel width that is comparable to or smaller than the poly-Si grain size. The cross- sectional scanning electron microscope is used to measure the effective channel width, and TCAD software is used to simulate the electron density distribution in the channel region. It is found that the TFTs with ten 40-nm-wide multichannels have superior electrical characteristics, including a higher on/off current ratio (> 107), lower leakage current (8.8 times 10-14 A), less grain boundary defects density, and a better subthreshold swing (0.45 V/dec).


We present a novel robotic grasp controller that allows a sensorized parallel jaw gripper to gently pick up and set down unknown objects once a grasp location has been selected. Our approach is inspired by the control scheme that humans employ for such actions, which is known to centrally depend on tactile sensation rather than vision or proprioception. Our controller processes measurements from the gripper's fingertip pressure arrays and hand-mounted accelerometer in real time to generate robotic tactile signals that are designed to mimic human SA-I, FA-I, and FA-II channels. These signals are combined into tactile event cues that drive the transitions between six discrete states in the grasp controller: Close, Load, Lift and Hold, Replace, Unload, and Open. The controller selects an appropriate initial grasping force, detects when an object is slipping from the grasp, increases the grasp force as needed, and judges when to release an object to set it down. We demonstrate the promise of our approach through implementation on the PR2 robotic platform, including grasp testing on a large number of real-world objects.


— For the first time, the Late Sagwon Flora is described from the upper beds of the Prince Creek Formation (Upper Paleocene) at the Sagavanirktok River (northern Alaska Peninsula). The flora is dominated by the angiosperm Tiliaephyllum brooksense Moiseeva et Herman sp. nov. and conifer Metasequoia occidentalis (Newb.) Chaney. The Late Sagwon Flora is most similar to the Danian or Danian-Selandian flora from the middle part of the Upper Tsagayan Subformation (Amur Region) and lower part of the Wuyun Formation (Heilongjiang Province, China). This similarity allows us to hypothesize that the genus Tiliaephyllum , which dominated in the Late Tsagayan Flora, migrated via the Bering Land Bridge from southern paleolatitudes of the Far East to high latitudes of the Arctic Pacific, due to the progressively warming climate of the Paleocene. Additional new angiosperm species are described from the Late Sagwon Flora: Archeampelos mullii Moiseeva et Herman sp. nov., Tiliaephyllum brooksense Moiseeva et Herman sp. nov., and Dicotylophyllum sagwonicum Moiseeva et Herman sp. nov. words:


Abstract Social media influencers (SMI) are gaining interest and many are studying their influence on the online audience, little is known about the role played by them in offline teams. One such attempt to study the effect of influencers in co-design team is presented in this paper, where individuals who are confident in their abilities drive the team process. Thus, self-efficacy is considered for determining influencer behaviour. Results expose the relationship between self-efficacy and influencer status on the design process, besides briefly highlighting the effects on above-average teams.


In this study environmental work in the Swedish hotel chain "Scandic" is investigated. Earlier studies point out sustainability and different environmental certificate programs as essential for the housing sector to contribute to sustainable tourism. The purpose and willingness to fulfill such a mission has been investigated by interviewing central actors in the hotel chain. The result shows that there is a desire to be part of environmental certificate programs mainly for the reason to be part of the system and not for the benefit of nature. Sustainable development is understood as being environmentally friendly. Different solutions to adapt and being more environmentally friendly is discussed. The results are connected with the perspectives of sustainable tourism and possible improvements in the housing sector are discussed. Svanen, who is a well-known eco-label in Sweden, is being discussed further on in this study. The eco-label represents a big part of the hotel chains environmental work and is therefore an important part to investigate further. Keywords; Scandic Sustainable tourism, Sustainable development, environmental adaption, Svanen.


Abstract Thymolipoma is a rare benign anterior mediastinal tumour of thymic origin containing both thymic and mature adipose tissues. In most cases it has a silent course and can grow to large sizes before presenting with respiratory symptoms. We report a case of a giant thymolipoma in a 4-year-old girl treated at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, South Africa.


In all the researches in wireless sensor networks, cameras are increasingly utilized for their surveillance capabilities. In this paper, we elaborately discuss about the problem of Full-View Barrier Coverage with Rotatable Camera Sensors (FBR), including weakly and strongly connected versions. FBR is proven to be NP-hard in this paper by reducing Group Steiner Tree problem to it. Our goal is to reduce sensor number when guaranteeing the surveillance capabilities at the same time. Correspondingly, we introduce a novel weighed graph structure called Full-View Barrier Graph. We transform weak version problem into a pseudo one-dimension one and propose W-GraProj algorithm with the help of dynamic programming; in strong version problem, we introduce two centralized algorithms (S-Dijkstra, S-Thorup), respectively aiming to save sensor num-ber and to reduce time complexity. Moreover, we rigorously analyze the correctness and time complexity for each algorithm. In addition, the mass number of experiments are conducted to validate the efficiency of all algorithms, which prove that our structures and algorithms can construct a full-view barrier with fewer camera sensors compared with previous researches.


Weakend by hunger, thirst and ill-treatment, author Charles McCormac, then a World War Two prisoner-of-war in Japanese-occupied Singapore, knew that if he did not escape he would die. With sixteen others he broke out of Pasir Panjang camp and began an epic two-thousand-mile escape from the island of Singapore, through the jungles of Indonesia to Australia. With no compass and no map, and only the goodwill of villagers and their own wits to rely on, the British and Australian POWs' escape took a staggering five months and only two out of the original seventeen men survived. You'll Die in Singapore is Charles McCormac's compelling true account of one of the most horrifying and amazing escapes in World War Two. It is a story of courage, endurance and compassion, and makes for a very gripping read.


Background: To investigate whether the extent of emphysema, visually confirmed by high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in patients with COPD were associated with different indices of lung functions.

Methods: Eighty-two patients with COPD underwent HRCT scanning, visual assessment of HRCT scan was used in the calculation of extent of emphysematous destruction. The patients were clinically stable at the time of the evaluation. All subjects were smokers or past smokers who had smoked>10 pack-years.

Results: The mean visual emphysema score in all patients was 2.21±1.11. While the mean emphysema score in patients with COPD GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) stage 3 was 2.88 ±1.03, it was 1.54 ±1.16 in COPD GOLD stage 2 (p<0.001). There was a significant correlation between the emphysema score and the numbers of pack/years smoked (R=0.58, p<0.001). The visual emphysema score was inversely correlated with the FEV1(r = -0.56, p<0.0001), FVC ( r= -0.38, p=0.001), FEV1/FVC ( r=-0.43, p<0.001),PEF(r=-0.44, p<0,001) and with carbon monoxide diffusion capacity (DLCO)( r = -0.50, p<0.001). In our study population, patients had a limited expression of the disease as represented by low scores in Saint George Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and there was no correlation between emphysema score and SGRQ.

Conclusions: HRCT visual scores correlated with functional indices of airflow obstruction and impaired lung diffusing capacity in patients with stable COPD of varying severity, the presence of pulmonary emphysema is best represented by the FEV1 and DLCO .


Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) have been increasingly demonstrated to play critical roles in cancer progression. However, the biological functions and underlying mechanism of circRNA SEC24 homolog A, COPII coat complex component (circSEC24A) in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (CSCC) have not been well elucidated yet. Methods The expression levels of circSEC24A, microRNA-1193 (miR-1193) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 9 (MAP3K9) were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) or Western blot. 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and colony formation assay were used to assess cell proliferation ability. Flow cytometry and transwell assay were utilized to detect cell apoptosis and migration and invasion. Glycolytic metabolism was examined via the measurement of lactate production, glucose consumption, extracellular acidification rate (ECAR), hexokinase 2 (HK2) and Lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) expression. The interaction between miR-1193 and circSEC24A or MAP3K9 was predicted by starBase v2.0 and verified by dual-luciferase reporter, RNA Immunoprecipitation (RIP) and pull-down assay assays. The mice xenograft model was established to investigate the roles of circSEC24A in vivo. Results CircSEC24A and MAP3K9 were upregulated and miR-1193 was downregulated in CSCC tissues and cells. CircSEC24A knockdown inhibited the progression of CSCC cells by inhibiting cell proliferation, migration, invasion, and glycolysis and inducing apoptosis. Moreover, miR-1193 was a direct target of circSEC24A and its downregulation reversed the inhibitory effect of circSEC24A knockdown on the progression of CSCC cells. Furthermore, MAP3K9 was a downstream target of miR-1193 and its upregulation attenuated the anti-cancer role of miR-1193 in CSCC cells. Additionally, circSEC24A acted as a molecular sponge of miR-1193 to regulate MAP3K9 expression. Furthermore, interference of circSEC24A repressed tumor growth via upregulating miR-1193 and downregulating MAP3K9. Conclusion CircSEC24A interference suppressed the progression of CSCC by regulating miR-1193/MAP3K9 axis, which might be a promising strategy for CSCC treatment.


Abstract. The PC (polar cap) index characterizing the solar wind energy input into the magnetosphere is calculated with use of parameters α, β, and φ, determining the relationship between the interplanetary electric field (EKL) and the value of magnetic activity δF in the polar caps. These parameters were noted as valid for large and small EKL values, and as a result the suggestion was made (Troshichev et al., 2006) that the parameters should remain invariant irrespective of solar activity. To verify this suggestion, the independent sets of calibration parameters α, β, and φ were derived separately for the solar maximum (1998–2001) and solar minimum (1997, 2007–2009) epochs, with a proper choice of a quiet daily variation (QDC) as a level of reference for the polar cap magnetic activity value. The results presented in this paper demonstrate that parameters α, β, and φ, derived under conditions of solar maximum and solar minimum, are indeed in general conformity and provide consistent (within 10 % uncertainty) estimations of the PC index. It means that relationship between the geoeffective solar wind variations and the polar cap magnetic activity responding to these variations remains invariant irrespective of solar activity. The conclusion is made that parameters α, β, and φ derived in AARI#3 version for complete cycle of solar activity (1995–2005) can be regarded as forever valid.


PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of hearing instruments set to Desired Sensation Level version 5 (DSL v5) hearing instrument prescription algorithm targets and equipped with directional microphones and digital noise reduction (DNR) on children's sentence recognition in noise performance and loudness perception in a classroom environment.

METHOD
Ten children (ages 8-17 years) with stable, congenital sensorineural hearing losses participated in the study. Participants were fitted bilaterally with behind-the-ear hearing instruments set to DSL v5 prescriptive targets. Sentence recognition in noise was evaluated using the Bamford-Kowal-Bench Speech in Noise Test (Niquette et al., 2003). Loudness perception was evaluated using a modified version of the Contour Test of Loudness Perception (Cox, Alexander, Taylor, & Gray, 1997).

RESULTS
Children's sentence recognition in noise performance was significantly better when using directional microphones alone or in combination with DNR than when using omnidirectional microphones alone or in combination with DNR. Children's loudness ratings for sounds above 72 dB SPL were lowest when fitted with the DSL v5 Noise prescription combined with directional microphones. DNR use showed no effect on loudness ratings.

CONCLUSION
Use of the DSL v5 Noise prescription with a directional microphone improved sentence recognition in noise performance and reduced loudness perception ratings for loud sounds relative to a typical clinical reference fitting with the DSL v5 Quiet prescription with no digital signal processing features enabled. Potential clinical strategies are discussed.


A new method is developed for a fast identification of the stability situation of industrial processes. The proposed method includes two factor ratios of the control constants for the upper and lower control limits to process these constants. An indication ratio is then defined as the ratio of the maximum data range value to the difference between the maximum and average values for individual data points. It is shown that if the indication ratio comes into values between the corresponding control factor ratios, the process will be under control, and otherwise, if the indication ratio decreases to smaller than the lower control factor ratio or gets more than the upper control factor ratio, the process will be expected to be out-of-control. Validation of the method was successfully resulted using two series of quality control datasets obtained from Zarand Iron Ore Complex (Zarand, Iran) and Miduk Copper Complex (Shahr Babak, Iran). The results obtained show that the process responses predicted by the proposed method are in agreement with those indicated by the conventional chart-based method. The developed method eliminates the need for drawing the process control charts used to assess the process control level. The superiority of the proposed method over the chart-based method becomes apparent especially when a large number of control charts are necessary to be drawn and interpreted for engineering decision-making purposes.


In order to design on-chip interconnect structures in a flexible way, a computer-aided design approach is advocated in three dimensions, describing high-frequency effects such as current redistribution due to the skin effect or eddy currents and the occurrence of slow-wave modes. The electromagnetic environment is described by a scalar electric potential and a magnetic vector potential. These potentials are not uniquely defined and in order to obtain a consistent discretization scheme, a gauge transformation field is introduced. The displacement current is taken into account to describe current redistribution and a small-signal analysis solution scheme is proposed based upon existing techniques for fields in semiconductors.


Safety is an essential element for realizing the ''hydrogen economy'' ? safe operation in all of its aspects from hydrogen production through storage, distribution and use; from research, development and demonstration to commercialization. As such, safety is given paramount importance in all facets of the research, development and demonstration of the U.S Department of Energy's (DOE) Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Infrastructure Technologies (HFCIT) Program Office. The diversity of the DOE project portfolio is self-evident. Projects are performed by large companies, small businesses, DOE national laboratories, academic institutions and numerous partnerships involving the same. Projects range from research exploring advances in novel hydrogen storage materials to demonstrations of hydrogen refueling stations and vehicles. Recognizing the nature of its program and the importance of safety planning, DOE has undertaken a number of initiatives to encourage and shape safety awareness. The DOE Hydrogen Safety Review Panel was formed to bring a broad cross-section of expertise from the industrial, government and academic sectors to help ensure the success of the program as a whole. The Panel provides guidance on safety-related issues and needs, reviews individual DOE-supported projects and their safety plans and explores ways to bring learnings to broadly benefit the DOE program. Thismore » paper explores the approaches used for providing safety planning guidance to contractors in the context of their own (and varied) policies, procedures and practices. The essential elements that should be included in safety plans are described as well as the process for reviewing project safety plans. Discussion of safety planning during the conduct of safety review site visits is also shared. Safety planning-related learnings gathered from project safety reviews and the Panel's experience in reviewing safety plans are discussed.« less


In the past decade, caverniculous bat populations have plummeted due to White-nose syndrome (WNS). Tri-colored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) populations have declined drastically in areas where WNS has been found, leading to the decision to protect tri-colored bats under the federal Endangered Species Act in the United States. At this time, there has not been a thorough review of the literature, nor a concise summary of the tri-colored bat's life history, diet, threats, or habitat preferences. This absence creates more work for policy makers, federal "Take" permit applicants, and conservationists to find, access, and review critical details of tri-colored bats. A major point of confusion stems from the multiple common names and genera tri-colored bats have been classified under since it was first described a century and a half ago. To address the lack of concise summary, we scoured the scientific literature and compiled nearly a century of data to provide a robust review of the ecology, life history, winter and summer habitats, as well as created maps and figures showing counties where studies have occurred, white-nose syndrome is present, and where bats have been documented. Additionally, this paper highlights data gaps and suggests future research topics that may better inform conservation and management decisions for tri-colored bats.


Our purpose was to study the effect of dexamethasone (DEX) on choroidal(ChBF) and retinal blood flow (RBF) during normoxia and hyperoxia. Eighteen spontaneously breathing newborn piglets were examined. ChBF and RBF were measured using radiolabeled microspheres while the piglets were in normoxia before (RA1) and 45 min after either saline or DEX (2 mg/kg) infusion(RA2), and after 90 min of hyperoxia (O2) (Pao2 40-60 kPa). Vitreous prostanoids (prostaglandins F1α and E2 and thromboxane B2) and leukotrienes (leukotriene B4) measurements were obtained during normoxia after either placebo or DEX infusion in an additional 22 piglets. Vitreous prostanoids were also studied after 90 min of hyperoxia. We found that RBF increased significantly after DEX infusion(p < 0.02). There was no change in RBF from RA1 to RA2, before and after saline infusion. RBF decreased significantly during hyperoxia in both groups (p < 0.03). ChBF did not change significantly between RA1 and RA2 in any of the groups. ChBF decreased significantly during hyperoxia in both groups (p < 0.03). Vitreous prostanoids and leukotrienes were reduced significantly after DEX infusion (p < 0.05). Prostanoids were similar in the two groups during hyperoxia. We concluded that DEX increases RBF significantly, but not ChBF. RBF and ChBF decreased in both groups during hyperoxia. Therefore, the metabolites of arachidonic acid do not seem to be involved as mediators of hyperoxic vasoconstriction.


A new solid-state form of cyclosporine produced by spray-drying exhibited characteristics consistent with a liquid crystal. No sharp diffraction peaks were observed by powder X-ray diffraction; however, analysis by both small-angle X-ray diffraction (SAXR) and microscopic under polarized light (PLM) confirmed the existence of two-dimensional ordered liquid crystal. Hot stage microscopy revealed a solid-to-liquid transition, in the range of 118 to 125 degrees C. Moreover, the solid-to-liquid transition showed frequency dependence by dielectric analysis (DEA), and was coincidental with a stepwise heat capacity change measured by differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The two-dimensional order was maintained above the solid-to-liquid transition temperature indicated by low-angle diffraction by SAXR and birefringence by PLM. However, birefringence was lost at temperatures above 170 degrees C, indicating the conversion of the liquid crystal into an isotropic liquid. In situ annealing experiments, by DSC, revealed the presence of an endotherm, unexplained by either a phase transition or solvent loss, and it is believed to be the result of a structural rearrangement that has no impact on the macroscopic properties of the material. Spray-dried cyclosporine at room temperature is therefore a frozen thermotropic liquid crystal due to the presence of two-dimensional order and the lack of substantial residual solvent. This is, to our knowledge, the first report of the existence of a thermotropic liquid crystal of a naturally occurring peptide.


Strong laser-field-induced autoionisation in the presence of both photoionising and radiative decay of the autoionising state (AS) is investigated, focusing on the laser intensity dependence of the photoemission and photoelectron spectra. In contrast to previous predictions, power broadening and increasing reduction of the doublet peak heights with field strength are found in the photoemission spectrum. Similar effects leading to considerable suppression and even complete disappearance of the lowest-order peaks in the photoelectron spectrum, together with peak switching, are also demonstrated, which are closely related to above-threshold ionisation. In addition, it is suggested that the total number of energetic photoelectrons may serve as an alternative to measuring the atomic parameters of the AS. All these effects are attributed to the presence of the strong `probe': laser-induced decay of the AS.


Well-integrated water management can notably re- quire estimating low flows at any point of a river. Depending on the management practice, it can be needed for various re- turn periods. This is seldom addressed in the literature. This paper shows the development of a full analysis chain includ- ing quality analysis of gauging stations, low-flow frequency analysis, and building of a global model to assess low-flow indices on the basis of catchment physical parameters. The most common distributions that fit low-flow data in Wallonia were two-parameter lognormal and gamma. The recession coefficient and percolation were the most explana- tory variables, regardless of the return period. The determi- nation coefficients of the models ranged from 0.51 to 0.67 for calibration and from 0.61 to 0.80 for validation. The regres- sion coefficients were found to be linked to the return period. This was used to design a complete equation that gives the low-flow index based on physical parameters and the desired return period (in a 5 to 50 yr range). The interest of regionalisation and the development of re- gional models are also discussed. Four homogeneous regions are identified, but to date the global model remains more ro- bust due to the limited number of 20-yr-long gauging sta- tions. This should be reconsidered in the future when enough data will be available.


Data collected from long-haul trucking fleets were analysed to examine the timing of drowsiness events while driving. Drowsiness event data were collected over a two-month period from 49 trucks. Events were recorded by a commercially available camera-based system mounted on the dashboard that measures head and eyelid metrics to assess drowsiness. By the 90th minute of driving, 75% of drivers who commenced their trip between 6pm-12pm had experienced a fatigue event. Future work will incorporate measures to account for the total trip duration to more fully assess the impact of time of day and trip start time on event rates.


Index insurance has been promoted as a cost-effective risk management alternative for agricultural producers in developing countries. In this paper, we ask whether spatially separated weather variables commonly used in index insurance design, such as rainfall at different weather stations within a defined geographical area, are more highly correlated at the tails. As a case study, we assess the degree of tail dependence exhibited by Iowa June county-level rainfalls using copulas. We search among various candidate bivariate copulas and, using goodness-of-fit for copulas, attempt to identify the copula structures that best explain the nature of dependence among rainfalls in adjacent counties. Our results provide strong evidence that lower tail dependence exists in most of adjacent county-level rainfalls in Iowa. The results also suggest that patterns of tail dependence differ across counties.


Abstract 4227 Transplantation of Cord Blood Stem Cells depends primarily on the number and potency of stem cells harvested, processed and cryopreserved. Previous studies have not compared the anti-coagulant used in collection systems with respect to their impact on the cord blood unit cell count and composition. We compared cord blood units collected in Citric Phosphate with Dextrose Buffer (CPD) or Heparin by measuring the pre-processed total nucleated cell count (TNC), post-processed TNC, % CD34 and total number of CD34+ cell numbers from units harvested randomly in remote hospitals in the US. Between August 2005 and May 2009, cord blood units harvested in collection bags containing lyophilized (dry) Heparin (N=65) and cord blood units harvested in FDA approved Sentinel collection bags containing 35 ml of CPD (N>6300) were processed using standard processing methods which included either RBC depletion or volume reduction based on initial collected volume. We observed significantly greater pre-processed TNC count (9.59 +/- 5.98 × 108 Vs 7.36 +/- 4.96 × 108, p=0.003), post-processing TNC count (7.72 +/- 4.61 × 108 Vs 5.80 +/- 3.63 × 108, p=0.001), % CD34+ (0.46 +/- 0.28 Vs 0.37 +/- 0.23, p=0.024) and number of CD34+ cells (2.72 +/- 2.73 × 106 Vs 1.72 +/- 1.44 × 106, p=0.003) in the CPD units. Interestingly, viability by dye exclusion was 7% higher (p=0.0001) in the post-processed Heparin units despite more pre-TNC (by 24%), post-TNCs (by 29%), and more %CD34+ (by 22%) and CD34+ cells (by 54%) in the CPD units. Post-processed CD34+ measurements relied upon gating to select live cells (by 7AAD exclusion) and reflect a decrease in viable CD34+ cells in Heparin units. Together, these results indicate that units collected using CPD contain significantly more TNCs prior to and after processing than units collected using Heparin. Furthermore, both the % CD34+ and total number of CD34+ cells were significantly lower in the Heparin containing units. Both TNC and CD34+ values are primary indicators of graft potency in clinical studies. Cord blood units collected in the pubic cord blood system and the vast majority of cord blood units used in clinical transplantation have been collected in CPD. CPD is both an anti-coagulant and a preservative as it contains Dextrose which provides a substrate for glycolysis and preserves the metabolism in cells. Heparin, which does not contain Dextrose to preserve cell metabolism, is rarely used as an anti-coagulant for blood collection, as it can only be useful for blood that is to be transfused within 12 hours of collection because it is broken down over longer periods of time. Also, the use of dry Heparin may adversely affect the osmolarity of the cord blood unit, thereby compromising cellularity. However, further studies are recommended to elucidate the mechanism by which dry Heparin may adversely affect the TNC and CD34 content of cord blood units. Disclosures: Kraus:PerkinElmer/Viacord: Employment. Foster:PerkinElmer/Viacord: Employment. Bridges:PerkinElmer/Viacord: Employment. Walters:PerkinElmer/Viacord: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees.


Ambiguity has a clear role in facilitating closure in negotiations to regulate natural resources. However, there are no empirical studies that examine whether such constructive ambiguity can in fact become destructive. The aim of the present study is thus to determine when ambiguity becomes destructive during the management phase of environmental regimes. The implementation of the Israeli-Jordanian water agreement is used as a case study. It was found that when political and hydrological conditions are unstable, the parties see the process of clarifying the ambiguities in a water agreement as broader than simply a question of bilateral relations over resource allocation. As a result, the cost of clarifying ambiguity at the implementation phase dramatically increases. The anatomy of resolving ambiguous agreements teaches us that there are early signs that indicate when ambiguity becomes destructive. Tracing these signals is crucial, since the cost of ambiguity is not linear. Rather, when a disagreement around ambiguity passes a threshold, it can escalate into a conflict in a very short time.


In this paper, we analyse the structure of third-party logistics cost. We specially analyzes influence factor of transportation cost which account for 1/3 to 2/3 of the third-party logistics from the view of system dynamics. We establish the system dynamics model of transportation cost, and further more, we give the Vensim equations and explanation for it.


This study was aimed to understand how gendered networks and coalitions affect the ability of groups to access and control natural resources and to access appropriate markets and capture value for their agricultural products. The study was conducted in the village of Bambaro, Nanggung subdistrict, Bogor West Java,from July to November 2008. A qualitative methodology was applied including focus group discussion, mapping and in depth interview. The study showed that men produce and sell main agricultural products such as rice, corn or cassava, while women may produce and sen minor vegetables. Most agricultural products are used for consumption and the surplus are sold around the village or to the middlemen. Commercial production by women farmers started with jasmine flower and later with guava. In the village of Bambaro, the access to market is open to everyone, but dominated by men .. Only a small number of women in Bambaro use the access to market their products. AU nodes in the marketing network of vegetables and fruit/guava are dominated by men. The middlemen provide information on demand and price of products. Men and women obtain the sa~e price when they use the same network. Men get higher price only when they go directly to the big market. Most women do not negotiate for price only on the term of payment . Although men dominated the market for vegetables and fruits, the allocation of expenditures from the sale of vegetables and fruits are similar to that of women. The source of power of men is from the long established network between men and the middlemen. In addition to institutionalized farmer groups and access to capital. The source of power of women is mainly from family networking and supports. Women who are actively participated in marketing gain support from their husband in production and marketing of vegetables and are more confidence in negotiating obstacles in marketing Katuk by selling directly to consumers/retail and obtained higher price than from middlemen. INTRODUCTION Background The Village of Hambaro, in the subdistric of Nanggung, is located in the western part of the West Java Province. Nanggung is considered as one of the less developed subdistrict in the Bogor Regency with the highest number of poor households. The main productive activity in Nanggung is agriCUlture, mainly rice, although most households income comes from non-agricultural activities. A vegetable agroforestry (VAF) system was introduced to the Nanggung Sub District through a project supported by SANREM. This system is believed to


May be appropriate for secondary, but perhaps not for primary prevention

T he prevention of cardiovascular disease with drug therapy is well known. Randomised controlled trials and meta-analyses of trials of lipid and blood pressure lowering and antiplatelet therapy have established their efficacy in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. Wald and Law have proposed that these three treatments, along with folic acid, be combined into a "polypill."1 They propose a combined strategy for primary and secondary prevention—targeting all people with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (secondary prevention) but more controversially, targeting all adults aged over 55 (primary prevention) as well. The underlying assumption concerning the efficacy of this strategy is that the six individual ingredients of the polypill (thiazide diuretic, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor, β blocker, statin, aspirin, and folic acid) when combined together have synergistic treatment effects—calculated by multiplying the relative risk reductions on each class of treatment. Their polypill strategy has generated worldwide interest, with some critics questioning this underlying multiplicative assumption as being too optimistic.

For these reasons, the …


A cotton-like ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposite was grown by the carbothermal evaporation of a mixture of ZnO and SnO2 powders at 1100°C by the vapour-liquid-solid process, in which the Sn particles produced by the reduction of SnO2 act as the catalyst. Field-emission scanning electron microscope images suggest that the composites are made of microfibre-nanowire junction arrays. The structure is formed due to the fast growth of the ZnO microfibre and the subsequent epitaxial radial growth of the ZnO nanowires with Sn particles at the tips. The photovoltaic performance of the ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposite sensitized with a D35-cpdt dye was investigated. A dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with a ZnO/SnO2 nanocomposite photoanode based on a cobalt electrolyte achieved a solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency of ~0.34% with a short circuit current (JSC) of 0.66 mA/cm2, an open circuit voltage (VOC) of 870 mV, and a fill factor (FF) of 59. The results show the potential of this one dimensional structure in cobalt electrolyte-based DSSCs; the further optimization which is needed to achieve higher efficiencies is also discussed.


This paper attempts an analysis of the body of texts offered within the boundaries of the design and emotion movement, in order to explicate the logic of marketing and advertising underlying its most prominent statements. In this manner, it is aimed to answer the question of novelty of the movement, as well as to evaluate whether the movement is capable of satisfying its declared aspirations; namely, providing the user with richer, more engaging and, therefore, prolonged experiences with products. This is realized by, firstly, facilitating a reading of the classification of emotions offered by the movement, more specifically the categories offered by Desmet and Hekkert (2007), and comparing the way they function to the semiological structure of advertising as formulated by Williamson (2004), and the system of consumption as elaborated by Baudrillard (1981, 1970). It is thus revealed how the concept of emotion is utilized to naturalize the intricacies of the consumer society. Then, attention is directed to the arguments within the movement which advocate the inclusion of the so-called emotional needs into usability studies. In this manner, the significance of the concept of need in the system of consumption as a mediator between subject and object is discussed and the novelty of the movement is sought within this novel way in which it attempts to connect the subject (of consumption) and the object (of consumption) through emotional needs.


OBJECTIVES
The prevalence of voice disorders has not been explored in the context of recent trends in voice use, including voice assistant technology and increased use of teleconferencing for remote work. The objective of this research is (1) to determine the prevalence of voice disorders in the adult population of the United States, and (2) to understand the association of voice disorders with demographic and voice use factors, including vocal demands, and use of teleconferencing and voice assistant technology.

METHODS
A survey pertaining to voice disorders and voice use was developed and administered to a representative sample of US population. Demographics and information related to risk factors for voice disturbance, including high vocal demands, teleconferencing, and voice-assistant use were also analyzed.

RESULTS
A total of 1522 responses were included. Of these, 20.6% reported having had a voice disorder at some point in their life. This rate was higher in employed respondents, singers, and teachers (all p < 0.0001) and was notably higher in those who used teleconferencing technology and voice assistant technology (both p < 0.0001). Approximately 60% of this subset reported seeking medical care for their voice, 12.6% reported a current voice disorder, and 9.5% reported a voice problem that had recurred multiple times.

CONCLUSIONS
Approximately 1 in 5 Americans surveyed has had a voice disorder. Risk factors for voice disorders include use of teleconferencing technology, voice assistant use, and occupational factors.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
III Laryngoscope, 2023.


All naturally occurring polyelectrolytes are found in an aqueous environment and this feature directed most of the chemical research in this field towards an understanding of polyelectrolyte behaviour in aqueous solution. The very rapid and steady progress in the field of synthetic electrolyte applications in industry has naturally stimulated further interest in the problems of synthesis and thermal stability of this type of polymer. A brief definition of polyelectrolytes, their classification, and a discussion of tacticity and cation binding in these materials is presented in Chapter 1. The introductory chapter also reviews briefly the relationships between the chemical structure and thermal stability of vinyl polymers. Chapter 2 summarises the apparatus and experimental techniques employed in the present study. The first part deals with the thermal analysis techniques and the second section describes the techniques used to identify the degradation products both qualitatively and quantitatively. Monomer preparation, polymerization, and characterization of monomers and polymers is considered in detail in Chapter 3. A brief account of thermal stability of monomers is also included in this chapter. The thermal degradation of alkali metal salts of polymethacrylic acid is discussed in detail in Chapter 4. The decomposition of these homopolymers is shown to involve depolymerization accompanied by the formation of metal carbonate and cyclic ketones. A mechanism of thermal degradation of the salts of polymethacrylic acid is postulated based on the results obtained. Chapter 5 details the thermal decomposition of divalent metal salts of polymethacrylic acid, which provides further support for the mechanism proposed in Chapter 4. In Chapter 6 studies of the thermal degradation of zinc polymethacrylate are reported. The nature of the volatile products and structural changes which can occur during decomposition suggest a similar pattern of degradation to other salts. The maximum rate of volatilization of zinc polymethacrylate is shown to occur at lower temperature than those of other divalent metal salts. The thermal behaviour of ammonium polymethacrylate is examined in Chapter 7. Thermal decomposition is shown to result in a cyclization reaction between adjacent monomer units before fragmentation to volatile products. Comparisons are made between ammonium polymethacrylate, polymethacrylamide and polymethacrylic acid degradation, hence thermal decomposition of the latter homopolymers is also considered in Chapter 7.


Transport of objects is a major application in robotics nowadays. While ground robots can carry heavy payloads for long distances, they are limited in rugged terrains. Aerial robots can deliver objects in arbitrary terrains; however they tend to be limited in payload. It has been previously shown that, for heavy payloads, it can be beneficial to carry them using multiple flying robots. In this paper, we propose a novel collaborative transport scheme, in which two quadrotors transport a cable-suspended payload at accelerations that exceed the capabilities of previous collaborative approaches, which make quasi-static assumptions. Furthermore, this is achieved completely without explicit communication between the collaborating robots, making our system robust to communication failures and making consensus on a common reference frame unnecessary. Instead, they only rely on visual and inertial cues obtained from on-board sensors. We implement and validate the proposed method on a real system.


Microblogging data is growing at a rapid pace. This poses new challenges to the data management systems, such as graph databases, that are typically suitable for analyzing such data. In this paper, we share our experience on executing a wide variety of micro-blogging queries on two popular graph databases: Neo4j and Sparksee. Our queries are designed to be relevant to popular applications of micro-blogging data. The queries are executed on a large real graph data set comprising of nearly 50 million nodes and 326 million edges.


Background Moyamoya disease is a progressive neurovascular pathology defined by the stenosis of the distal internal carotid artery associated with the development of vascular collaterals. The etiology and the exact anatomy of vascular collaterals is not really studied. The aim of this study is to describe the anatomy of vascular collaterals developed between the ophthalmic artery and the anterior cerebral artery in a population of Moyamoya disease. Methods All patients treated for a Moyamoya disease from 2004 to 2016 in four neurosurgical centers and with an available cerebral digital subtraction angiography were included. Sixty-three cases were evaluated and only 38 of them presented the inclusion criteria. Two patients presented a unilateral cervical internal carotid occlusion that rendered the analysis of ophthalmic artery collaterals impossible. This study is consequently based on the analysis of 74 cerebral hemispheres. Results Thirty-eight patients (F/M: 2.8/1, mean age: 40) presented the inclusion criteria. The Suzuki's stage was 0 in 9 patients (unilateral moyamoya syndrome, 12.2%), I in 10 (13.5%), II in 10 (13.5%), III in 14 (18.9%), IV in 15 (20.3%), V in 5 (6.8%) and VI in 11 (14.9%). The most frequently encountered anastomosis between the ophthalmic artery and a cerebral artery was a branch of the anterior ethmoidal artery (31.1%, 23 hemispheres). In case of proximal stenosis of the anterior cerebral artery, a collateral from the posterior ethmoidal artery could be visible (16 hemispheres, 21.6%). One case (1.4%) of anastomosis between the lacrimal artery and the middle meningeal artery which permitted the vascularization of a middle cerebral artery territory was also noted. Conclusion Collaterals from the ophthalmic artery are frequent in the Moyamoya disease. Their development depends on the need of perfusion of ACA territories knowing that three another systems of compensation could be present (callosal circle, lepto-meningeal anastomosis and duro-pial anastomosis). Abbreviations ACA: Anterior Cerebral Artery; DSA: Digital Substraction Angiography; ICA: Internal Carotid Artery; MCA: Middle Cerebral Artery; mRS: modified Rankin Score; OA: Ophthalmic Artery; PCA: Posterior Cerebral Artery; STA: Superficial Temporal Artery. Disclosure of funding or financial support/industry affiliations We have no conflict of interest. Disclosures T. Robert: None. G. Ciccio: None. P. Sylvestre: None. A. Weil: None. S. Smajda: None. C. Chaalala: None. R. Blanc: None. M. Reinert: None. M. Piotin: None. M. Bojanowski: None.


The results of research into the effect of forest age on macrofungal trophic groups are reported for various types of Mediterranean forest ecosystems in Tuscany (Italy). The research was conducted in two periods: mycocoenological surveys were performed in the study areas since the '70es by some of the authors of this paper, and after 10-20 years were repeated in the same plots. Statistical analysis demonstrate that the number and especially the percentage of symbiont taxa are negatively correlated with forest age, while the number and the percentage of lignicolous saprotrophic taxa are positively correlated with this parameter. A significant negative correlation was also found between forest age and percentage, but not number, of humicolous saprotrophs.


This paper presents the beginnings of an automatic statistician, focusing on regression problems. Our system explores an open-ended space of statistical models to discover a good explanation of a data set, and then produces a detailed report with figures and natural-language text. Our approach treats unknown regression functions nonparametrically using Gaussian processes, which has two important consequences. First, Gaussian processes can model functions in terms of high-level properties (e.g. smoothness, trends, periodicity, changepoints). Taken together with the compositional structure of our language of models this allows us to automatically describe functions in simple terms. Second, the use of flexible nonparametric models and a rich language for composing them in an open-ended manner also results in state-of-the-art extrapolation performance evaluated over 13 real time series data sets from various domains.


This paper presents the integration of ubiquitous computing systems into classroom settings, in order to provide basic support for classrooms and field activities. We have developed web application components using Java technology and configured a classroom with wireless network access and a web camera for our purposes. In this classroom, the students interact among each other and with the professor through an Internet-enabled personal digital assistant (PDA), using the different modules described in this paper. We include our evaluations about the performance and usability of the system in a computer science related course of the University of Tokushima, other practical uses including outdoor learning activities, and future research and development work.


Women have been grossly marginalized in organs of decision-making and governance structures. This study presents statistics and analyses qualitative data to explain the patterns. It explores the nature and extent of women's political participation in Kenya and considers the role of education in increasing participation. The main objective is to determine the status of women within key political parties in Kenya. It is emerging that equality of access to and attainment of educational qualifications is necessary for more women to become agents of change. Increase of women presence in the key decision-making organs has not resulted into key influence within the party hierarchy and has not been seen to impact on party affairs and activities as this is still under the tight grip of men. It concludes that more gender equality in terms of participation in education has not resulted in more gender equality in the areas of political economy.


Development of a powerful localization system has suggested number of works. Localization is always done in a two phases process: prediction and estimation. Prediction (which integrates the odometric data) is quite similar whatever the method is. But, the estimation could be done in very different ways. Thus, we saw the emerging of several technics using probabilistic, interval analysis and Markovian methods. Depending on the chosen method, the localization can be performed in complex, dynamic or badly mapped environments. So as to compare and test some localization methods (which where never been used in real environment), we decided to design a generic mobile platform. This platform had to deal with several specificities like to be controlled by a distant operator, to give an estimation of the localization on an environment map and to provide a visual return to the user.


The study examined the diffusion of container method of packaging for the period 1968 – 2005 in Nigeria with a view to adopting the method in the Nigerian Transport System. This was done by collecting a comprehensive data set of import and export container traffic from seven selected ports in Nigeria. These are Apapa Bulkship terminal; AP Molers terminal, Ro-Ro terminal, Tin Can Island, Delta Port, Rivers Ports and Calabar Port. The collected data were used to determine the trend of import and export container traffic in the seven ports. The logistic S-curve model was then used to determine the pattern of adoption of the container packaging method in the studied ports. The curve fits were used to establish the relationship between the observed trend and the logistic trend of container traffic. The results showed that the take-off stage for import and export container traffic fell between 1968 – 1975 the diffusion stage between 1976 – 1993 while the saturation stage fell between 1993 – 2005. The logistic S-curves using the least square method of estimation showed that AP Molers terminal in Lagos and Calabar Ports had the strongest diffusion of container packaging in Nigeria.


Libraries may lose control of the support, operation, and direction of their institutions because of the popularization of information and accompanying political wrangling. To a large extent, it will be their activism that will determine their viability going forward. If they fail to deal with this situation they may lose control of their destinies. Will we continue to expand and prosper? Case studies.


The great majority of breast cancer cases are not associated with a mutated gene of high penetrance such as BRCA1, BRCA2 and TP53. Genes of low penetrance, frequently mutated in the general population, might play an important role in breast cancer development. The ATM gene, which encodes the ATM protein, mutated in the disorder ataxia telangiectasia (AT) could be such a susceptibility gene. Indeed, 1% of the general population is estimated to be AT heterozygote and females have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The ATM protein is involved in the signalling pathway of DNA double-strand breaks. Studies on its expression in normal breast tissues have shown that ATM is expressed in the epithelial cells of breast ducts, but not in the myoepithelial cells. In sclerosing adenosis, a benign lesion of the breast, the ATM protein is expressed in both cell types whereas its expression is absent or reduced in tumour epithelial cells in about 30-50% of invasive carcinomas. Moreover, the study of the p53 status in some of these tumours has revealed that the ATM/p53 signalling pathway is frequently altered either by a very low ATM expression or by the presence of a mutated p53. It remains to be determined whether alterations in the expression of other proteins also involved in this DNA damage signalling cascade are specifically associated with breast cancer development and/or a radiosensitive phenotype seen in some breast cancer patients after radiotherapy.


Despite the participation of African American women in all aspects of home-front activity during World War II, advertisements, recruitment posters, and newsreels portrayed largely white women as army nurses, defense plant workers, concerned mothers, and steadfast wives. This sea of white faces left for posterity images such as Rosie the Riveter, obscuring the contributions that African American women made to the war effort. In "Bitter Fruit, " Maureen Honey corrects this distorted picture of women's roles in World War II by collecting photos, essays, fiction, and poetry by and about black women from the four leading African American periodicals of the war period: "Negro Digest, The Crisis, Opportunity, " and "Negro Story."Mostly appearing for the first time since their original publication, the materials in "Bitter Fruit" feature black women operating technical machinery, working in army uniforms, entertaining audiences, and pursuing a college education. The articles praise the women's accomplishments as pioneers working toward racial equality; the fiction and poetry depict female characters in roles other than domestic servants and give voice to the bitterness arising from discrimination that many women felt. With these various images, Honey masterfully presents the roots of the postwar civil rights movement and the leading roles black women played in it.Containing works from eighty writers, this anthology includes forty African American women authors, most of whose work has not been published since the war. Of particular note are poems and short stories anthologized for the first time, including Ann Petry's first story, Octavia Wynbush's last work of fiction, and three poems by Harlem Renaissance writer Georgia Douglas Johnson. Uniting these various writers was their desire to write in the midst of a worldwide military conflict with dramatic potential for ending segregation and opening doors for women at home.Traditional anthologies of African American literature jump from the Harlem Renaissance to the 1960s with little or no reference to the decades between those periods. "Bitter Fruit" not only illuminates the literature of these decades but also presents an image of black women as community activists that undercuts gender stereotypes of the era. As Honey concludes in her introduction, "African American women found an empowered voice during the war, one that anticipates the fruit of their wartime effort to break silence, to challenge limits, and to change forever the terms of their lives."


With the increase of the wireless market, there is a trend to equip a hand held wireless device with all the features of a desktop. The wireless devices are becoming more and more integrated into our everyday lives. As these devices become less of a technology toy, and more of a necessity, we will find that our dependence on the correct operation and non-interference of the device rises to the level that errors or defects will not be tolerated readily.This means that the devices we will use in the future will not malfunction at all, which is not practical in engineering, or that the wireless devices developed will have to be extensively and rigorously tested. These tests have to follow a standard based approach. The ISO/ICE 18000 - Part 7 standard defines the air interface for radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices operating in the 433.92MHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band used in item management applications. The test procedures are divided into two parts. Testing the interrogator (reader) and testing the tag (both active and passive).This thesis document explains the development of generalized test procedures to test a wireless RFID device, and for conformance to the ISO/ICE 18000 - Part 7 standard as a particular example. A brief description on how to configure and use the test procedures is also included. The test procedures were developed using Labview software, which is a versatile graphical programming language that can be used for programming hardware devices. The test procedures were developed so that they can be easily updated if the standard itself changes and also they can be modified to develop new test procedures for different standards.


OBJECTIVE
Health outcome assessments have become an expectation of regulatory and accreditation agencies. We examined whether a clinically credible risk adjustment methodology for the outcome of change in health status can be developed for performance assessment of integrated service networks.

STUDY DESIGN
Longitudinal study.

SETTING
Outpatient.

STUDY PARTICIPANTS
Thirty-one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three patients from 22 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) integrated service networks were followed for 18 months.

MAIN MEASURE
The physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component scales from the Veterans Rand 36-items Health Survey (VR-36) and mortality. The outcomes were decline in PCS (decline in PCS scores greater than -6.5 points or death) and MCS (decline in MCS scores greater than -7.9 points).

RESULTS
Four thousand three hundred and twenty-eight (13.6%) patients showed a decline in PCS scores greater than -6.5 points, 4322 (13.5%) had a decline in MCS scores by more than -7.9 points, and 1737 died (5.5%). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to adjust for case-mix. The models performed reasonably well in cross-validated tests of discrimination (c-statistics = 0.72 and 0.68 for decline in PCS and MCS, respectively) and calibration. The resulting risk-adjusted rates of decline in PCS and MCS and ranks of the networks differed considerably from unadjusted ratings.

CONCLUSION
It is feasible to develop clinically credible risk adjustment models for the outcomes of decline in PCS and MCS. Without adequate controls for case-mix, we could not determine whether poor patient outcomes reflect poor performance, sicker patients, or other factors. This methodology can help to measure and report the performance of health care systems.


Many combat veterans are injured in motor vehicle crashes shortly after returning to civilian life, yet little evidence exists on effective driving interventions. In this single-subject design study, we compared clinical test results and driving errors in a returning combat veteran before and after an occupational therapy driving intervention. A certified driving rehabilitation specialist administered baseline clinical and simulated driving assessments; conducted three intervention sessions that discussed driving errors, retrained visual search skills, and invited commentary on driving; and administered a postintervention evaluation in conditions resembling those at baseline. Clinical test results were similar pre- and postintervention. Baseline versus postintervention driving errors were as follows: lane maintenance, 23 versus 7; vehicle positioning, 5 versus 1; signaling, 2 versus 0; speed regulation, 1 versus 1; visual scanning, 1 versus 0; and gap acceptance, 1 versus 0. Although the intervention appeared efficacious for this participant, threats to validity must be recognized and controlled for in a follow-up study.


Aging, exposure to oxidants, infectious pathogens, inflammogens, ultraviolet radiation and other environmental and genetic factors can result in the development of various skin disorders. Despite immense progress being made in dermatological treatments, many skin-associated problems still remain difficult to treat and various therapies have limitations. Progress in silica-based nanomaterials research provides an opportunity to overcome these drawbacks and improve therapies and is a promising tool for inclusion in clinical practice to treat skin diseases. This review focuses on the use of various types of silica nanoparticles with therapeutic applications in various skin disorders. These nanosystems improve treatment efficacy by maintaining or enhancing the effect of several drugs and are useful tools for nanomedicine, pharmaceutical sciences and future clinical applications.


Massively parallel computing is applied extensively in various scientific and engineering domains. With the growing interest in many-core architectures and due to the lack of explicit support for inter-block synchronization specifically in GPUs, synchronization becomes necessary to minimize inter-block communication time. In this paper, we have proposed two new inter-block synchronization techniques: 1) Relaxed Synchronization, and 2) Block-Query Synchronization. These schemes are used in implementing numerical iterative solvers where computation/communication overlapping is one used optimization to enhance application performance. We have evaluated and analyzed the performance of the proposed synchronization techniques using Jacobi Iterative Solver in comparison to the state of the art inter-block lock-free synchronization techniques. We have achieved about 1-8% performance improvement in terms of execution time over lock-free synchronization depending on the problem size and the number of thread blocks. We have also evaluated the proposed algorithm on GPU and MIC architectures and obtained about 8-26% performance improvement over the barrier synchronization available in OpenMP programming environment depending on the problem size and number of cores used.


In this paper, we investigate the switching process in triangular symmetric and planar symmetric three-core nonlinear fiber coupler (TNLDC) and we have numerically shown, via the coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations (NLSEs), that logic gates AND, OR and NXOR can be constructed from a triangular TNLDC while the planar TNLDC produced logical gates AND, NAND, OR, and XOR. We consider two basic models. The first, one triangular symmetrical structure with three cores in an equilateral-triangle arrangement and using a control signal (CS) applied to the first core and the second model present a transverse symmetrical structure with three cores in a parallel equidistant arrangement (or planar symmetrical structure), however the position of the control signal (CS) is applied to the input of the first fiber (core 1). Looking at the transmission characteristics of the device, through the direct and cross channel, we did a study of the extinction ratio (Xratio) of these devices. In comparing the performance of both switches operating as logic gates we will use the figure-of-merit of the logic gates [FOMELG(dB)] defined as a function of the extinction ratio of the gate outputs.


An emerging interest in constructing ultra low energy buildings, with low impact materials and maximizing the potential of using renewable energy reflects the potential in building industry to significantly contribute towards reducing environmental impacts. Life cycle assessments of the different green building prototypes provide a means to estimate the impacts of such buildings as well as provide suggestive improvements. The Active house in Stjordal, Norway is one such prototype of a green building. This is a single family residence which is built with a concept of solar architecture in ultra low-energy buildings. It is challenging to harness solar energy at high latitudes. The Active house uses the fundamental construction details for a Passive house as mentioned in Norwegian regulatory standard, with specific changes in increasing the glazed surface to promote passive solar heat gain as well as increase daylighting , but also making it vulnerable to heat loss. The house is based on timber framework. Apart from electricity the house uses solar collectors which are connected to the hot water storage and hydronic floor heating. Space heating is also compensated by use of wood stoves. In the LCA results suggest that, based on the construction the Active house requires ten percent more energy than an equivalent Passive house which uses only electricity and wood. However, due to the effectivity of the solar collectors, it compensates for the need of the extra energy and in a lifetime of 60 years, it performs 15 % better , contributing to lesser environmental impacts than an equivalent Passive house. It is understood that extra embodied energy does not affect the environmental performance of a building if it results in better environmental performance (1). However, it is important to create demonstrable value of the building for the end user. Lifecycle assessment results from simulated operational use carries considerable error with respect to how the building actually performs. The results in this study have also been estimated with an approximate error factor derived from previous studies (2). There is a necessity to make every stakeholder of the building participative in the functioning of the building, inclusive of the end user, and maintaining the well-being. The case has also been scored in the basic categories of a sustainibility certification, with the results available from the lifecycle assessment and energy simulation.


WEAVE is a new wide-field spectroscopy facility proposed for the prime focus of the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope (WHT), placed in La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain. To allow for the compensation of the effects of temperature-induced and gravity-induced image degradation, the WEAVE prime focus assembly will be translated along the telescope optical axis. The assembly comprises the prime focus corrector with integrated ADC, a central mount for the corrector, an instrument rotator and a twin-focal-plane fibre positioner. Translation is accomplished through the use of a set of purpose-built actuators; collectively referred to as the Focus Translation System (FTS), formed by four independently-controlled Focus Translation Units (FTUs), eight vanes connecting the FTUs to a central can, and a central can hosting WEAVE Instrument. Each FTU is capable of providing a maximum stroke of ±4mm with sufficient, combined force to move the five-tonne assembly with a positional accuracy of ±20μm at a resolution of 5μm. The coordinated movement of the four FTUs allows ±3mm WEAVE focus adjustment in the optical axis and ±0.015° tilt correction in one axis. The control of the FTS is accomplished through a PLC-based subsystem that receives positional demands from the higher-level Instrument Control System. SENER has been responsible for designing, manufacturing and testing the FTS and the equipment required to manipulate and store the FTS together with the instrument. This manuscript describes the final design of the FTS along with the analyses and simulations that were performed, discusses the manufacturing procedures and the results of early verification prior to integration with the telescope. The plans for mounting the whole system on the telescope are also discussed.


Despite the popularity of flexible manufacturing systems, managers suffer from inadequate frameworks to help incorporate flexibility into their strategic planning. Through a study of thirty-one plants in the printed circuit board industry, the authors progress toward such a framework, define types of flexibility, and examine the relationships among them. Their findings have implications for technology, production management, human resource management, supplier relationships, and product development.


This study examines small wine producers in champagne (vignerons), specifically by attempting to categorise them based on the structure of their business and their attitudes to business management, in particular marketing. The research used qualitative techniques to obtain in-depth data over a range of sub-regions in Champagne. The findings suggest four categories of vigneron and one sub-category, based on an analysis which examines market orientation and a dichotomous internal/external approach to the business. Most vignerons have a focus which is oriented towards their vines, their land or their family, with a few being more fixed towards profits, or on total business management. The findings are relevant for wine businesses and their advisors, helping them to understand how to improve the management and focus of their enterprise.


How firms build new capabilities to adapt to changing environments is at the core of strategic management. However, research has addressed this question only recently. In this paper, I propose a model that describes how firms develop a capability to create and develop ventures through corporate venture capital, alliances, and acquisitions. The model is based on two longitudinal case studies of large corporations operating in the information and communication technology sector in Europe. At the core of this model are learning processes that enable the firm to build up an external corporate venturing capability, by utilizing learning strategies both within and outside venturing relationships. To build this new capability, firms engage in acquisitive learning. Critical to deepening the capability acquired is adaptation of all knowledge to the firm specific context through experiential learning mechanisms. I also discuss the important role that initial conditions and knowledge management practices play in determining the direction and effectiveness of specific learning processes that lead to an external corporate venturing capability.


Abstract α-Naphthylisothiocyanate (ANIT) is a cholangiolitic hepatotoxicant that causes periportal hepatic injury in the rat that is neutrophil- and platelet-dependent. Since macrophages have recently been implicated as participants in some chemically induced hepatotoxicities, we evaluated the role of these cells in ANIT-induced hepatic injury. Rats were treated with gadolinium chloride (GdCl 3 ), an agent which decreases hepatic macrophage numbers and activity, zymosan, an agent which increases hepatic macrophage numbers, or vitamin A, which increases hepatic macrophage activity. GdCl 3 did not ameliorate ANIT-induced hepatotoxicity, as demonstrated by a lack of attenuation of any of the markers of hepatic insult evaluated. In contrast, pretreatment with either zymosan or vitamin A decreased ANIT hepatotoxicity. Zymosan administration reduced blood neutrophil numbers and influx of neutrophils into the peritoneum after intraperitoneal glycogen administration but did not affect hepatic neutrophil accumulation in ANIT-treated rats. To determine if macrophages were important in the protection by vitamin A, rats were cotreated with GdCl 3 and vitamin A. GdCl 3 did not alter the protection from ANIT hepatotoxicity afforded by vitamin A. Vitamin A treatment decreased ANIT and glutathione concentrations in bile at 1 and 4 hr after ANIT administration but had a minimal effect on plasma ANIT concentration. In summary, pretreatment of rats with zymosan or vitamin A but not GdCl 3 attenuated ANIT-induced liver injury. The protection afforded by zymosan may derive from its effects on neutrophils or platelets. The protection by vitamin A appears to result from its effect on the transport of ANIT into bile. The results suggest that hepatic macrophages are not required for the manifestation of ANIT hepatotoxicity.


A great interest is being taken in the measurement of concrete permeability because of increased concerns about the durability of concrete when exposed to aggressive environments. However, the variation of the concrete permeability with time has not been systematically studied. Air permeability results recorded for 20 years in six 0.2 m 3 concrete slabs are presented. These results have a qualitative value as boundary effects are unknown. The great difference in flow between the specimens with the same mix design, casting and curing procedure, which have been kept in the same testing room sheltered from rain, is noticeable. The air permeability coefficient increases with time, reaching an almost stable value after 20 years. The pore evaporated water creates a path for air flow through the concrete and this is supposed to be the main cause of the increase in permeability. The method presented in this paper gives reliable information about the quality of the concrete studied in terms of air permeability and hence, durability.


As revolution in the Arab world became clear, questions were raised whether political Islam had or would hae any role in the revolutions. The popular press seemed to minimize or deny the role of Islam in the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions. The attempt to minimize the role of Islam in these revolutions does little to help us understand the course of Islamic political thought over the last 150 years in the Arab world, its relationship to the democratic demands of the Arab peoples, and the prospects for a reconciliation between modern Islamic political thought and certain forms of democratic secularism. The central hypothesis of this essay is that neither the Tunisian nor the Egyptian Revolutions can be properly understood without the contributions of Islamic modernism to modern political thought in the Arab world.


From the very beginning of the Space Age, a fundamental issue has been whether space exploration should be conducted by manned missions or by unmanned missions. In a so-called unmanned mission, only inanimate systems are transported into space. In a manned mission, human beings are on board the spacecraft. A third option may now be available: an unmanned mission providing virtually the same subjective and objective effect as a manned mission, but with the much lower cost of an unmanned mission. The ongoing revolution in digital processing technology may now make it possible to develop the means for a human to be effectively there, without going there, over interplanetary distances. Unlike conventional robotic rover missions, this third option would be, both subjectively and objectively, virtually equivalent to a manned mission. The new (third) option for manned equivalent space exploration is based upon semi-autonomous control technology. Investment in this technology is likely to pay off with critically important industrial applications on Earth in the coming decades, no matter what may happen in space. Manned equivalent space exploration by this new approach will be much less expensive. and much more likely to prosper and to produce knowledge and commercial opportunities in space.<<ETX>>


Ecology and ethics: socially responsible developers can create positive socioeconomic and ecological impact in communities where economic development stems from sustainable tourism. Economy: tourism promotes globalization and rapid change, which creates challenges for communities, especially those in emerging nations. In communities that experience unequal access to education, healthcare, and unequal distribution of wealth; the cycle of poverty is perpetuated. Education: universities have a responsibility to prepare citizen scholars to live and work in a globalized world through educational experiences that foster social responsibility and civic engagement in addition to content expertise and critical thinking. This paper outlines the strategies and successes of corporate and university collaboration in an eco-friendly oceanfront resort, second home enclave, airport, and biodiversity research center in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. In this arena, socially responsible tourism has enhanced community infrastructure and economy, while preserving cultural heritage and ecology. This study demonstrates how socially responsible tourism can increase access to technology, transportation, education and social services. It also addresses the role that universities can have in providing resources for training, education, research and development to foster community participation in socially responsible tourism. Additionally, it models the active university role in ecological stewardship for the development and operation of environmentally friendly tourism venues.


We report discovery of a low-amplitude optical oscillation at a period of 87.65 min of the suspected cataclysmic variable NSV 2872. During a month of our observations the oscillation was strictly periodic while the amplitude appeared highly variable. Recently Liu & Hu (2000) revealed that the spectrum of this star is not typical of cataclysmic variables, and it is simply an early-K type star. In this connexion the observed oscillation seems rather puzzling. The period and amplitude of the oscillation are typical of the δ Sct variables, but both the spectrum and the colour of this star indicate that NSV 2872 is outside the instability strip. Our observations of NSV 2872 reveal sure signs of the flickering which is a hallmark of the cataclysmic variables though the activity of the flickering in this star seems rather low. Also the highly variable amplitude of the observed oscillation is typical of the intermediate polar subclass of cataclysmic variables. If NSV 2872 is considered as a cataclysmic variable, it is unlikely that the 87.65-min oscillation can be related to the orbital period of the system since cataclysmic variables with K type secondaries of normal chemical compositions can not have such short orbital periods. Hence, NSV 2872 is probably a new intermediate polar.


Oral cancer (OC) is a major cause of global morbidity and mortality. Squamous cell carcinoma accounts for more than 90% of oral malignancies and occurs most frequently in middle-aged to elderly patients who smoke and drink heavily. The overall outlook for patients diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) remains poor, largely due to late clinical presentation. Early lesions are frequently undetected due to the lack of accompanying symptoms. Early recognition, diagnosis and treatment of OSCC significantly enhance patient survival and minimise the need for extensive surgery. it is thus essential that the oral health care worker (OHW) be familiar with the variable clinical manifestations of both potentially malignant disorders (PMD) as well as invasive malignancy. OC screening, particularly in high-risk patients should be an integral component of routine intra-oral clinical examination. The aim of this article is to highlight the varied clinical appearance of OC and to emphasise the importance of early recognition and diagnosis.


The occurrence of algae was investigated in surface water of the Arno river and in a drinking-water treatment utility serving the city of Florence. Throughout the 12 months monitoring period, raw water and treated water samples were collected and analysed for the number and species of microalgae and cyanobacteria; settled and filtered water samples were only examined for counts of organisms. Chlorophyll concentrations, temperature, pH, turbidity, flow rate and other indicators of surface water pollution were measured in raw water samples. Microalgae, mainly diatoms (46.1%, with a predominance of the genus Melosira ) and green algae (35.1%: non flagellate 30.7%, green flagellate 4.4%) were constantly found in river water samples. Cyanobacteria were rarely detected except in summer, mainly of genera Oscillatoria and Anabaena . In treated water only depigmented and inactive algal cells, mainly of green algae, were detected for which the treatment procedure was found to be less effective. The average algal removal by drinking-water treatment resulted in 97.4% for all samples and in 98.3% when significant algal concentrations were present in raw water. The combination of chlorine dioxide and coagulants resulted in a removal of 90.1%.


Using panel data from Denmark from 2001 to 2013, the authors find that serial entrepreneurs—those who open more than one business—have higher sales and greater productivity than do novice entrepreneurs—those who open only one business. Specifically, serial entrepreneurs' firms have 98% higher sales than the novices' firms, and serial entrepreneurs utilize more initial capital and labor, and thus are 49% more productive. Further, certain subsets of serial entrepreneurs perform especially well; those who hold a portfolio of overlapping firms or who open as limited liability corporations (LLCs) are top performers. The authors' findings suggest that 41% of LLC entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs, thus deepening the need to understand these types of entrepreneurs. Finally, female entrepreneurs are shown to realize sizable gains from serial entrepreneurship: The firms of both female and male serial entrepreneurs are twice as large as the firms of novice entrepreneurs of their respective gender.


The separation of concerns is a fundamental principle in software engineering. Crosscutting concerns are concerns that do not align with hierarchical and block decomposition supported by mainstream programming languages. In the past, crosscutting concerns have been studied mainly in the context of object orientation. Feature orientation is a novel programming paradigm that supports the implementation of crosscutting concerns in a system with a hierarchical block structure. We explore the problem of crosscutting concerns in functional programming and propose two solutions based on feature orientation. Two case studies support our claims.


Background: Vitamin D plays pleiotropic roles in the body and hence, changes in its metabolism and distribution during starvation could play an important role in the adaptive response to famine. We aimed to identify the responses of some vitamin D metabolites to 8 d of fasting and exercise. Methods: A repeated-measures design was implemented, in which 14 male volunteers fasted for 8 d and performed an exercise test before and after fasting. Serum samples were collected on day 1 after night fasting and after 8 d of complete food restriction, before and 1 h and 3 h after exercise. Results: After 8 d of fasting, compared with baseline values, serum 24,25(OH)2D3 and 3-epi-25(OH)D3 levels significantly increased; those of 25(OH)D3 and 1,25(OH)2D3 were unaffected; and those of 25(OH)D2 decreased. Exercise on the first day of fasting induced an increase in serum 3-epi-25(OH)D3 levels, while exercise performed after 8 d of fasting induced an increase in 25(OH)D3, 24,25(OH)2D3, 25(OH)D2, and 3-epi-25(OH)D3 levels. Conclusion: Increases in 24,25(OH)2D3 and 3-epi-25(OH)D3 levels imply that fasting stimulates vitamin D metabolism. The effects of exercise on serum vitamin D metabolites, which are most pronounced after fasting and in subjects with serum 25(OH)D3 above 25 ng/mL, support the notion that fasting and exercise augment vitamin D metabolism.