Skin rash is a common adverse effect of lamotrigine (LTG) in both add-on and monotherapy trials and is also the most common adverse event causing LTG withdrawal. From our series of 254 prospectively registered adult patients treated with LTG at a dosage of 25-100 mg/ day, the incidence of allergic and non-allergic skin reactions was 5.1% (13/254) and 1.9% (5/254), respectively. Meanwhile, the rate of allergic skin rashes causing LTG withdrawal was 3.9% (10/254). Co-medication with valproic acid (9.1%) resulted in a higher risk than co-medication with enzyme-inducing antiepileptic medications (2.8%). Moreover, another risk factor was higher initiation and relatively rapid dosage escalation. Among the 13 patients with allergic skin reaction, skin rash appeared during the initiation phase in 12 patients. All the allergic skin lesions were mild, except one presenting with Stevens-Johnson syndrome (0.4%). The patient was an 85-year-old female treated with LTG monotherapy. Three of 13 patients with allergic skin responses were maintained on LTG with concomitant use of anti-allergic medications, and their rashes gradually disappeared. Another three patients agreed on rechallenge with LTG with a smaller dose of no more than 12.5 mg/day after the disappearance of their skin rashes and there was no recurrence of allergic reaction. In conclusion, the incidence and risk factors of LTG-related skin rashes in the present study of adults with epilepsy were comparable to findings from clinical trials in Western countries.


ABSTRACT Pervasive mottling, iron-oxide nodules, and slickensides indicate that alluvial paleosols of the lower Eocene Willwood Formation in the Elk Creek area of the Bighorn Basin, Wyoming were hydromorphic. Two basic groups of hydromorphic paleosols are present: cumulative, which show evidence for concurrent deposition and pedogenesis, and simple (noncumulative), which show evidence for a single episode of deposition and pedogenesis. Lithologic packages consisting of vertically stacked simple paleosols and crevasse-splay sandstones alternate with cumulative paleosols. The simple paleosols are weakly developed, indicating rapid deposition with relatively little time for pedogenesis. Cumulative paleosols show greater pedogenic development, indicating significantly longer periods of pedogenic m dification and slower, more episodic sediment accumulation. Differences between the simple and cumulative paleosols reflect differences in the deposition of their parent materials. The packages of simple paleosols are similar to avulsion-belt deposits described from the Saskatchewan River, and suggest that avulsion was significant in floodplain construction. The upper parts of cumulative paleosols were formed on true overbank deposits, which accumulated gradually after avulsion and establishment of a new channel. The lower parts of many cumulative paleosols resulted from a prior episode of avulsion deposition and simple soil formation. Because hydromorphy is associated with texture, these different depositional processes influenced lateral variations in hydromorphy of the cumulative paleosols. Paleosols in the Elk Creek area provide a simple means of identifying avulsions. Sediment accumulation rates suggest that avulsions occurred with a regular period of about 20,000 years and may have been induced by climatic cycles.


The aim of this paper is to apply artificial chemistry (AC) to the modelling of astrochemistry. More generally, we have attempted to construct a computational model of 'a' minimal real chemistry in an object oriented (OO) approach (UML, Java). To this end we map astrochemistry into the ACs theoretical framework thanks to the developed OO model. The OO approach has permitted us to separate the actual and logical representation of chemical structure. To perform this mapping we identify and simplify features from astrochemistry to tackle the issues of, representation and canonization, reaction rules, and meta-dynamics for a suitable level of abstraction. In the search for a chemical criterium for existence relations between objects we have used chemical thermodynamics. The result is an abstract, simplified model of a red chemical dynamical reaction network which conceptually captures real chemistry in general.


In a double-blind randomized controlled study of 300 women, 150 primiparas and 150 multiparas, induction of labor by means of vaginal suppositories containing 3 mg prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was compared with the conventional method of intranasal oxytocin and with a combined method of 3 mg PGE2 vaginal suppositories alternating with intranasal oxytocin. In the PGE2 group the intensity of delivery was significantly greater than in the oxytocin group, among both primiparas and multiparas and among the patients with ripe and unripe cervix. The efficiency of the combined treatment could no be evaluated because of the high intensity of delivery during the first 24 hours. There were no maternal side effects, and no significant difference in the frequencies of failed induction and cesarean section.


Data caches are a key hardware means to bridge the gap between processor and memory speeds, but only for programs that exhibit sufficient data locality in their memory accesses. Thus, a method for evaluating cache performance is required to both determine quantitatively cache misses and to guide data cache optimizations. Existing analytical models for data cache optimizations target mainly isolated perfect loop nests. We present an analytical model that is capable of statically analyzing not only loop nest fragments, but also complete numerical programs with regular and compile-time predictable memory accesses. Central to the whole-program approach are abstract call inlining, memory access vectors, and parametric reuse analysis, which allow the reuse and interference both within and across loop nests to be quantified precisely in a unified framework. Based on the framework, the cache misses of a program are specified using mathematical formulas and the miss ratio is predicted from these formulas based on statistical sampling techniques. Our experimental results using kernels and whole programs indicate accurate cache miss estimates in a substantially shorter amount of time (typically, several orders of magnitude faster) than simulation.


Several studies have examined how the ISO 9001 Quality Management System standard predicts changes in organizational outcomes such as profits. This is the first large-scale study to explore how employee outcomes such as employment, earnings, and health and safety change when employers adopt ISO 9001. We analyzed a matched sample of nearly 1,000 companies in California. ISO 9001 adopters subsequently had far lower organizational death rates than a matched control group of non-adopters. Among surviving employers, ISO adopters had higher growth rates for sales, employment, payroll, and average annual earnings. Injury rates declined slightly for ISO 9001 adopters, although total injury costs did not. These results have implications for organizational theory, managers, and public policy.


Male black-hooded rats of original age 3 months were maintained on either a standard laboratory chow diet or a palatable diet (32 animals in each group). After two months, when clear increases in weight gain and calorie intake in the latter group were evident, eight animals from each group were killed for analysis. For one further month, eight animals from each group received low doses (1-3 mg/kg/day) of d-fenfluramine in drinking water, another eight served as untreated controls, and the remaining eight were pair-fed to the treated groups. On killing, the interscapular brown adipose tissue (BAT) mass, and also BAT mitochondrial protein and uncoupling protein contents, and BAT mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase activity and GDP-binding were measured. Gross brain chemical changes were assessed by measuring whole brain contents of serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine. The palatable diet produced clear increases in weight gain, calorie intake, total BAT mass, BAT mass with respect to body mass, total BAT mitochondrial protein and total amounts of uncoupling protein in each case; however, BAT mitochondrial protein per unit of BAT mass was not significantly increased, nor was the amount of uncoupling protein per mg of mitochondrial protein. Small, but variable, increases in brain neurotransmitter contents were observed. Drug-treated animals showed marked reductions in calorie intake and body weight compared to untreated controls but no significant decreases in body weight compared to pair-fed controls were evident. The pair-fed (i.e. 'slimming') groups displayed a decrease in BAT thermogenic parameters: d-fenfluramine partially prevented these decreases.


Abstract : Alternative structural system concepts have been developed for 40K and 95KDWT double hull tankers, with the objective of studying their producibility in existing U.S. shipyards, including labor hours and construction schedules. Structural components and elements considered included alternative material, shell plating, bulkheads, stiffeners and other structural elements for both conventional and unidirectional double hull tankers, together with shipbuilding processes such as automation and accuracy control, and standardization including design. It is concluded that increased automation, accuracy control and standardization are the areas where the greatest gains may be possible to make U.S. shipyards more productive and more competitive on a world scale.


Objective:We sought to investigate seasonal and regional variability in the epidemiology of sepsis and to identify underlying associations based on geography and seasonal viral infections. Understanding seasonal or regional variations may improve knowledge of sepsis epidemiology and pathophysiology and could affect healthcare planning and resource allocation. Design:Retrospective cohort study using the National Hospital Discharge Survey to identify cases of sepsis, severe sepsis, influenza, and viral pneumonia using ICD-9-CM codes. Incidence rates are reported as mean cases frequencies per season per 100,000 as calculated by normalization to the 2000 U.S. Census. Setting:Acute-care nonfederal U.S. hospitals. Patients:Patients hospitalized between 1979 and 2003 in acute-care nonfederal U.S. hospitals with a diagnosis of sepsis or viral respiratory infection. Interventions:None. Measurements and Main Results:The seasonal incidence rate of sepsis increased 16.5% from a low of 41.7 in the fall to a high of 48.6 cases per 100,000 in the winter (p < .05). Similarly, seasonal rates for severe sepsis statistically increased 17.7% from fall to winter at 13.0 and 15.3 cases per 100,000, respectively. The greatest change in sepsis incidence occurred with respiratory sources, increasing 40% during the winter compared with the fall (p < .05). Seasonal variations in viral respiratory infections paralleled changes in sepsis incidence but did not fully account for the changes. The greatest seasonal change in sepsis rates occurred in the Northeast (+30%). Sepsis case-fatality rates were 13% greater in the winter compared with the summer (p < .05) despite similar severity of illness. Conclusions:The incidence and mortality of sepsis and severe sepsis are seasonal and consistently highest during the winter, predominantly related to respiratory sepsis. Seasonal changes in sepsis incidence vary according to geographic region. The mechanisms underlying these differences require further investigation.


Introduction : Primary health care needs to undergo system wide change in order to deliver universal access to high quality and integrated health care whilst reducing inequities and rising healthcare costs. There is no clear or proven blueprint for achieving this change. Additionally the promise of a patient and professional partnership which is at the heart of modern healthcare improvement must be considered. The rate of change needed in New Zealand primary health care healthcare requires an understanding of how to implement quality improvement in the local context. Theory/Methods : This research viewed quality improvement programmes in two new Integrated Family Health Centres, to develop new models of care, integrated ways of working and improve efficiency. Interview data was collected, themed and analysed through the lens of Deming's System of Profound Knowledge (SOPK) exploring the applicability of Deming's model to primary care improvement. Results : Both of the centres showed good appreciation of systems thinking and high staff and consumer engagement. There was some variation between the centres in the understanding of human behaviour. Barriers to improvement were created by the lack of formal improvement processes and access to data and improvement expertise. Deming's System of Profound Knowledge was applicable to primary care improvement. Discussion : Complexity and systems thinking were embraced and there was good consumer engagement and staff participation in both sites. Patient feedback and participation were part of developing a culture change toward a more patient centred approach whilst contributing to the motivation for change. However, the balance of extrinsic and intrinsic motivational factors for change varied between the two sites and this impacted on staff engagement. The use of data for improvement was challenging for both sites which was attributed to resource and expertise constraints. This impacted on the ability to earn from the changes made. Changes were made as 'plan-do' rather than complete Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Conclusions : Improvement programmes in primary health care can benefit from a structured improvement programme and framework that facilitates: • A systems thinking approach • patient engagement, and • full staff participation The application of systems thinking in both centres provided benefits in the development of: • Patient-centred approach • One team • Integrated systems • Improved culture • Efficiency gains Providing training, expertise and the infrastructure to support improvement expertise and data management would have aided the improvement work in both centres. Lessons learned : Deming's SOPK provided a holistic lens to view the health centres improvement work. The interconnection between the four domains reflects the complex reality of the health care environment. Limitations : The main limitation in this research was the lack of previous research into the practical applications of the SOPK. This lack may be due to the open and evolving nature of Deming's SOPK and its purpose as a way of encouraging deep thinking rather than a checklist. Suggestions for future research : Enablers and barriers to improvement in primary care were highlighted and future research could investigate these in greater detail.


As an attempt to considerably reduce the equivalent contact resistivity of Schottky junctions, this letter studies the integration of rare-earth silicides, known to feature the lowest Schottky barriers (SBs) to electrons, coupled with a dopant segregation based on arsenic (As+) implantation. Both erbium (Er) and ytterbium (Yb) have been considered in the implant-before-silicide (IBS) and implant-to-silicide flavors. It is shown that the two schemes coupled with a limited thermal budget (500degC) produce an SB below the target of 0.1 eV. The implementation of IBS arsenic-segregated YbSi1.8 junctions in an n-type SB-MOSFET is demonstrated for the first time resulting in a current-drive improvement of more than one decade over the dopant-free counterpart.


Globular proteins are produced as a linear chain of aminoacids in water solution in the cell and, in the same aqueous environment, fold into their respective unique and functional native structures. In spite of this, many theoretical studies have tried to explain the folding process in vacuum, but in this paper we adopt an alternative point of view: the folding problem of heteropolymers is analyzed from the solvent perspective. The thermody- namics of the folding process is discussed for a non homogeneous system composed by the chain and solvent together; hydrophobic effects, modulated by the polar/nonpolar attributes of the residue sequence and by its corresponding steric specificities, are proposed as basic ingredients for the mechanisms of the folding process. These ideas are incorporated in both lattice and off-lattice models and treated by Monte Carlo simulations. Configurational and thermodynamical results are compared with properties of real proteins. The results suggest that the folding problem of small globular protein can be considered as a process in which the mechanism to reach the native structure and the requirements for the globule stability are uncoupled.


A review of the results of the latest molecular biological investigations on the problem of the formation of meningococcal carrier state, the colonization of human nasopharynx. The process of the adhesion of meningococci to epithelial cells by means of fimbrial and nonfimbrial adhesins, the transmission of signals between bacterial and epithelial cells, as well as the role phasic changes in the structure of meningococci in the process of adhesion are considered. The data on the penetration of meningococci into the epithelium and their fate within the cell are discussed. The biomolecular mechanisms of iron uptake by meningococci at the stage of their colonization of the nasopharyngoal mucosa are considered. The aspects of the prophylaxis of meningococcal carrier state are analyzed.


Gastrointestinal (GI) tract of 60 Irrawaddy squirrels (Callosciurus pygerythrus) were collected between September 2013 and August 2014 from four different spots of Chittagong University campus and its adjacent areas to study the ento-helminth fauna. Eight different parasite species were identified - one belonging to Cestoda and represented by Hymenolepis diminuta, and the remaining seven were to Nematoda viz., Strongyloides callosciurus, Trichuris ovis, Monodontus sp., Cyclodontostomum purvisi, Moguranema nipponicum, Ascarops talpa and Syphacia obvelata. The nematodes were found as dominant species most preferably inhabiting the small intestine. The present host is the new host record for all of these parasites and S. callosciurus, T. ovis, Monodontus sp., M. nipponicum and A. talpa are the new records for Bangladesh too. All these parasites have very wide host specificity, though most of them are restricted to various rodent hosts but H. diminuta and S. callosciurus were found to have more wider specificity, including other vertebrates too. All identified parasites might have been acquired from the environment where the host inhabits, since host specificity perspective no parasites were found to be specific to the present host. H. diminuta and Syphacia obvelata might have zoonotic role to other wild animals and human and vice versa.
Bangladesh J. Zool. 46(2): 87-103, 2018


OBJECTIVE
This study was to find out the influence of microRNA-129-5p on proliferative ability, invasiveness, and metastasis of lung tumor cells and tumor angiogenesis. Besides, the effects of microRNA-129-5p on vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) level and potential regulatory mechanisms were also what we were interested in.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Quantitative Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR) assay was performed to detect the microRNA-129-5p level in tumor tissues and paracancerous tissues of 50 patients with LCa, and the interaction between microRNA-129-5p expression and LCa pathological parameters was analyzed. The untreated cell group (NC) and the transfected microRNA-129-5p overexpression group (microRNA-129-5p mimics) were established, and then, the transfection efficiency of microRNA-129-5p was further verified by qRT-PCR. In H1299 and SPC-A1, cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), Tube-formation experiments, and transwell invasion and migration tests were performed to evaluate the influence of the microRNA on the biological function of LCa cells. Finally, the potential mechanism of action of VEGF, a downstream gene of microRNA-129-5p, was explored by bioinformatics analysis and recovery experiments.

RESULTS
QRT-PCR results showed that the level of microRNA-129-5p in cancer tissues of LCa patients was notably lower than that in normal tissues, and the difference was statistically significant. Compared with patients with highly expressed microRNA-129-5p, patients with low level had higher rates of lymph node or distant metastasis, and the overall survival rate was lower. Compared with NC group, cell proliferation, invasiveness and migration ability, and tumor angiogenesis capacity were strikingly decreased in microRNA-129-5p mimics group. Subsequently, VEGF expression was validated conspicuously enhanced in LCa cell line and tissue and was negatively correlated with microRNA-129-5p. In addition, the recovery experiment demonstrated that overexpression of VEGF could counteract the impact of microRNA-129-5p mimics on tumor angiogenesis and the invasive and migratory capacity of LCa cells, which then together led to the malignant progression of LCa.

CONCLUSIONS
The above studies demonstrated that microRNA-129-5p was strikingly correlated with LCa lymph node or distant metastasis and poor prognosis, and it can inhibit the malignant progression of this cancer. The investigation also demonstrated that microRNA-129-5p may inhibit proliferation capacity and invasiveness of LCa cells and tumor angiogenesis via regulating VEGF.


Experimental studies showed the feasibility of adding metallic catalysts and
tetralin for the upgrade and increased recovery of heavy oil during the in situ combustion
process. Further experimental studies also showed the applicability of in situ combustion
as a viable method of upgrading and improving recovery of intermediate oils.
Three successful experimental runs were performed with heavy oil from Mexico
(10.1 degrees API gravity). The first run was the control run without the addition of tetralin or
metallic catalysts; the second run used heavy oil premixed with 3 wt% tetralin and
500ppm nickel catalyst; and the third run was with heavy oil premixed with 3 wt%
tetralin and 500ppm iron catalyst. For the three runs, the cell production pressure was
kept constant at 300 psig. The combustion cell was placed in a vacuum jacket and set to
a temperature of 60 degrees C. For the only successful run with the intermediate Texas oil
(22.0 degrees API gravity), the production pressure was also kept constant at 300 psig but the
vacuum jacket temperature was set to a reservoir temperature of 40oC. During the runs
for both oils, samples of produced oils and combustion flue gases were collected at regular intervals for analysis. These analyses included determination of oil viscosity and
density, oil recovery, combustion front velocity, and apparent H/C ratio.
Experimental results for the intermediate oil run, the oil gravity increased by 6
points showing the upgrading effects of in situ combustion on intermediate oils. Also,
the high average combustion temperatures observed during the run indicated that in situ
combustion may be applicable to reservoirs of similar characteristics to the intermediate
Texas oil reservoir.
Heavy oil experimental run results indicated that the use of tetralin and metallic
catalysts increase the average combustion front temperature from 484 degrees C to 501 degrees C for the
run with nickel catalysts, and from 484 degrees C to 492 degrees C for the run with iron catalysts. These
results also show an increase in produced oil recovery from 83% to 90% of oil initially
in place for the nickel catalyst run, and 83% to 86% of oil initially in place for the iron
catalyst run.


We evaluated a structured education- and exercise-based self-management program for patients with knee or hip osteoarthritis (OA), using a registry-based study of data from 44,634 patients taken from the Swedish "Better Management of Patients with Osteoarthritis" registry. Outcome measures included a numeric rating scale (NRS), EuroQol five dimension scale (EQ-5D), Arthritis self-efficacy scale (ASES-pain and ASES-other symptoms), pain frequency, any use of OA medication, desire for surgery, fear–avoidance behavior, physical activity, and sick leave were reported at baseline, 3 and 12 month. Changes in scale variables were analyzed using general linear models for repeated measures and changes in binary variables by McNamara's test. All analyses were stratified by joint. At the 3-month follow-up, patients with knee (n = 30686) and hip (n = 13948) OA reported significant improvements in the NRS-pain, the EQ-5D index, the ASES-other symptoms, and ASES-pain scores with standardized effect size (ES) ranges for patients with knee OA of 0.25–0.57 and hip OA of 0.15–0.39. Significantly fewer patients reported pain more than once weekly, took OA medication, desired surgery, showed fear–avoidance behavior, and were physically inactive. At the 12-month follow-up, patients with knee (n = 21647) and hip (n = 8898) OA reported significant improvements in NRS-pain, EQ-5D index, and a decrease in ASES-other symptoms and ASES-pain scores with an ES for patients with knee OA of –0.04 to 0.43 and hip OA of –0.18 to 0.22. Significantly fewer patients reported daily pain, desired surgery (for hip OA), reported fear–avoidance behavior, and reported sick leave. Following these interventions, patients with knee and hip OA experienced significant reductions in symptoms and decreased willingness to undergo surgery, while using less OA medication and taking less sick leave. The results indicate that offering this program as the first-line treatment for OA patients may reduce the burden of this disease.


Art Law is is interdisciplinary, and may include intellectual property, entertainment, contract, constitutional law, torts, tax, cultural property protection, and international law. It is traditionally limited to the fine arts and visual arts.


Thirty three strained yoghurt samples were collected from local open markets in different provinces of Turkey (Afyon [AF], Aydin [AY], Burdur [B], Isparta [I] and Mugla [M]). Physicochemical and microbiological properties, as well as biogenic amine content, were examined in each of the samples. The dry matter (17.90 to 26.44%), fat (5.51 to 10.44%), ash (0.65 to 1.48%), lactic acid (1.69 to 2.05 g l -1 ), salt (0.61 to 1.68%), pH (3.52 to 3.94), protein (5.73 to 8.57%) and syneresis (1.67 to 9.22%) of samples differed as indicated. The mean of the lactobacilli counts ranged from 6.63 to 8.35 Log 10 CFU g-1, lactococci ranged from 7.16 to 8.02 Log 10 CFU g -1 , while streptococci and propionic acid bacteria ranged from 6.71 to 7.27 and 5.60 to 8.38 Log 10 CFU g -1 , respectively. All the yoghurts were contaminated with fungi and coliforms at levels above the acceptable limits, indicating insufficient process hygiene and also raising concerns of consumer safety. Tryptamine is the only biogenic amine determined in all yoghurt samples. Cadaverine, putrescine, tyramine and b-phenylethylamine were not detected in any of the samples. Key words : Strained yoghurt, physicochemical properties, biogenic amine, tryptamine.


A hybrid technique is presented that combines the finite element and boundary integral methods for simulating electromagnetic scattering from body-of-revolution (BOR) objects. This technique correctly models the boundary conditions along the axis of revolution in both the finite element and boundary integral formulations and yields highly accurate solutions. Because of the decoupled computations for the finite element and boundary integral equations, the technique is highly efficient as compared to the method of moments, especially for BORs comprising layered or inhomogeneous materials. It is applicable to a variety of complex, large-size BOR objects consisting of perfect conductors, anisotropic impedance surfaces, anisotropic resistive surfaces, and anisotropic inhomogeneous materials.


Using 2001 NYSE system order data in the decimal pricing environment, we analyze how the specialists react to the changes in market variables while making participation decisions to the posted quotes. We analyze the specialists' decision to undercut or add depth to the limit order book. We distinguish bid and ask side of the quotes. We find that the primary factors that affect the participation strategy of the specialists to the current posted quotes are the changes in the best prices and depths on the limit order book since the previous quotes. In addition, specialists participate to the posted quotes more for low-volume stocks. Unlike some previous studies, we find significant inventory effects providing some evidence that the specialists actively manage their inventories.


This analysis revisits detection and attribution of free atmosphere temperatures from radiosondes, almost a decade after previous studies. Since that time, data sets have not only become longer, but understanding of observational uncertainty has vastly improved. In addition, a coordinated set of experiments exploring the effects of human and natural forcings on past climate change has been made with a new generation of climate models. These advances allow a much more thorough analysis of the effects of modeling and observational uncertainty on attribution results than previously possible. Observational uncertainty is explored using multiple radiosonde reconstructions including those with ensembles of realizations exploring the effects of processing choices. Modeling uncertainty is explored by calculating multiple fingerprints of natural influence (from changes in solar irradiance and volcanic aerosols) and of human influence (due to greenhouse gases and due to the effects of combined anthropogenic forcings including stratospheric ozone depletion). With increased confidence over previous studies, human influences (both greenhouse gas and other anthropogenic forcings) have been detected in spatiotemporal changes in free atmosphere temperature from 1961 to 2010, irrespective of whether the full atmospheric column (30–850 hPa) is examined or purely the troposphere, with stratospheric ozone depletion dominating the cooling that has been observed in the lower stratosphere. Thus the advances of the last decade yield increased confidence that anthropogenic influences have made a substantial contribution to the evolution of free atmosphere temperatures.


This study focuses on principals' understanding and their experiences of leadership and professionalism. The aim is to find out how principals' understand and experience leadership and professionalism in their schools. Current South African education policy documents encourage visionary leadership, shared decision-making and devolution of authority.These policies focus on democracy and provide the enabling framework for the principals, School Management Team and School Governing Body. Despite these new policies and new structures, the schools are still controlled in a hierarchical top-down manner. The problem is whether these principals understand leadership, and what their view of professionalism entails. The study is qualitatively designed. In-depth interviews and reflective journals were used to collect data. The analyses of the three case studies were interpretive. In this research, the goal was to explore how principals understood and experienced leadership and what their view of professionalism in schools entails. Purposive sampling was used to select participants in the Pietermaritzburg Region of KwaZulu-Natal. The study revealed that leadership was understood as a participatory activity which involved others in decision-making. Principals act as facilitators, mentors, motivators and support structures rather than simply issuing orders and making demands. Principals linked professionalism to high personal and professional standards. The role of relationships, responsibility and professional knowledge were seen as important elements of professionalism.


OBJECTIVEThe SGN-15 monoclonal antibody-doxorubicin immunoconjugate is toxic to LewisY antigen-expressing cells and is effective against intracerebral tumors in nude rats when delivery is enhanced with osmotic disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). We tested whether doxorubicin released locally in antigen-expressing cells would affect adjacent non-antigen-expressing cells in heterogeneously expressing intracerebral tumors. METHODSNude rats with intracerebral xenografts of human small cell lung carcinoma cells with high (n = 10) or low (n = 23) LewisY antigen expression were treated with SGN-15 at a low (10 mg/kg) or high (140 mg/kg) antibody dose, administered intra-arterially with BBB disruption, and tumor volumes and antigen expression were evaluated after 6 days. RESULTSBBB disruption-enhanced delivery of SGN-15 (10 mg/kg) reduced the high-expressor tumor volume from 26.1 ± 3.7 mm3 (n = 7) in untreated control animals to 6.7 ± 4.6 mm3 (n = 3, P < 0.05). Untreated high-expressor tumors exhibited uniform prominent LewisY antigen staining (97.6 ± 0.9% positive, n = 4), whereas treated tumors demonstrated areas of nil, moderate, and prominent staining (71.0 ± 8.5% positive, n = 3, P < 0.05). In intracerebral tumors with low initial antigen expression, BBB disruption-enhanced delivery of a low dose of immunoconjugate was significantly effective, but treated tumors demonstrated low levels of antigen expression. An increase in the immunoconjugate dose did not significantly alter either efficacy or antigen expression. CONCLUSIONImmunoconjugate delivered across the BBB was effective against antigen-positive tumor cells, but there was not an effective chemical bystander effect against antigen-negative tumor cells.


The Port of Oakland (" Port ") is the 5 th largest container seaport by volume in the U.S. and the largest in Northern California. Maritime shipping activity at the Port exceeds 2 million import and export twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers annually. Containers may be full or empty, but nonetheless typically require hinterland shipment and intermodal transfer between maritime and land-based freight distribution systems. The freight trucking mode (" drayage ") handles approximately 80% of all TEU throughput at the Port, thus constituting the majority of landside Port traffic. The Port is also situated adjacent to dense urban development thereby exacting certain external impacts. Drayage impacts on regional roadway infrastructure proximate to the Port are explored, to expand knowledge of freight network conditions and relevant policies addressing the topic in the San Francisco Bay Area. Statistical regression analysis and elasticity results estimate a certain level of impact on nearby freight corridors of I-80, I-680, and I-880. Drayage traffic has continued to increase since 2000, as a function of increasing TEU throughput occurring at the Port. Policies to address stable freight flow and infrastructure maintenance are ongoing, although additional studies are also recommended to ascertain comprehensive network impacts.


Creep is an important factor that contributes to the load loss and tightness failure of bolted joints. Retightening of the joint can be expensive, time consuming and therefore is an undesirable solution. Currently most efforts are focussed on reducing load losses directly by tightening to yield, improving material creep properties or making joints less rigid. An alternative solution of current interest is the use of bolts in shape memory alloy (SMAs). However, very few experimental studies are available that demonstrate its feasibility. The objective of this study is to exploit the benefit of the shape memory and superelasticity behaviors of a SMA stud to recover the load losses due to creep and thermal exposure of a gasket in a bolted joint assembly. This paper explores several avenues to investigate and model the thermo-mechanical properties of a bolted joint with a Nickel-Titanium SMA stud. A stiffness-based analytical model which incorporates the Likhachev model of SMA is used as a representation of an experimental bolted joint assembly. Using this model the rigidity of the experimental setup is optimized to make the best use of the SMA properties of the stud. This theoretical model is validated by a Finite Element (FE) Model using a custom FE material model which also implements the SMA material model. Finally an experimental test bench with an optimized stiffness derived from analytical simulations is used, with and without gaskets to demonstrate the ability of the SMA stud to recover load losses.


The authors studied the changes in the motor sphere in 75 patients with brain ischemia before and after creation of an extra-intracranial microvascular anastomosis (EICMA). Voluntary efforts of the hand and the volume of movements at all joints and the muscular tonus were measured. The last named was studied both by means of ordinary clinical manipulations and by special devices allowing determination of the value of the spastic component, rigidity, and the contracture component. Symptoms reflecting the condition of the motor sphere, the muscular tonus included, were found to be most informative among the variety of neurological signs. Mechanographic studies in dynamics provide the possibility for appraising the efficacy of the treatment and, evidently, for prognosticating its outcome. The operation of EICMA improves the patient's condition and even restores his working capacity if it restores circulation of blood in those parts of the brain the functioning of which was temporarily disturbed due to insufficiency of the blood flow.


The commercialization of a spindle-type harvester to pick cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) planted in 38-cm rows and the development of a second-generation of glyphosate-resistant cotton cultivars that allows glyphosate applications beyond the 4-leaf stage have sparked interest in 38-cm row cotton production. However, information on 38-cm row cotton production in the lower Mississippi River Valley alluvial flood plain is limited. Field studies were conducted during 2006 and 2007 to assess cotton canopy closure and lint yield in 38-cm rows and 25-cm paired rows each with five plant populations compared to conventional 102cm rows at one plant population with and without irrigation. In non-irrigated cotton, canopy closed 1 to 4 wk earlier in 38-cm rows and 25-cm paired rows compared to 102-cm rows. Plant population at harvest ranged from 106,000 to 215,000 plants ha -1 in 38-cm rows and 99,000 to 217,000 plants ha -1 in 25-cm paired rows compared to 126,000 plants ha -1 in 102-cm rows. Under non-irrigated production, there were no differences in lint percentage, regardless of row pattern and plant population. Lint yields ranged from 1049 to 1304 kg ha -1 in 38-cm rows and 962 to 1110 kg ha -1 in 25-cm paired rows compared to 990 kg ha -1 in 102-cm rows. Overall, cotton planted in narrow rows had more open bolls than 102-cm rows. In irrigated cotton, canopy closure was similar to non-irrigated cotton. Lint percentage was similar between 25-cm paired row and 102-cm row, but higher than 38-cm row cotton. Under irrigated production, lint yields ranged from 1580 to 1864 kg ha -1 in 38-cm row and 1448 to 1519 kg ha -1 in 25-cm paired rows compared to 1413 kg ha -1 in 102-cm rows. These results demonstrated that cotton grown in 38-cm rows can close canopy early and produce lint yields higher than cotton grown in 102-cm rows at comparable plant populations, regardless of irrigation.


This survey covers the treaties, international agreements, and other international instruments mentioned in the 'Tractatenblad van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden' – Treaty Series of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (abbr.: Trb.). Its purpose is to record the legal consequences of such agreements and instruments for the Netherlands, and Netherlands State acts in respect of them, such as signature, parliamentary approval, ratification, entry into force, provisional application, extension or limitation of territorial application, termination and abrogation. Signature by the Netherlands, however, is mentioned separately only if, in the case of multilateral treaties, such signature has taken place on a date different from the official date of conclusion of the treaty.


OBJECTIVE
Reluctance to follow treatment guidelines was illustrated previously by a study in this journal that found a 5% endorsement rate for a medication-switching algorithm for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. The study presented here attempted to account for this low rate by using clinical vignettes to manipulate key factors.

METHODS
Twenty-one psychiatric residents responded to 64 vignettes. Expected progress and patient adherence to treatment were systematically manipulated within the vignettes, because they were most responsible for clinician decisions. Endorsement was analyzed using a fully crossed 4 x 2 within-subjects design.

RESULTS
When expected progress and patient adherence were factored in, mean endorsement ranged from 5% to 87%. Adding guideline variables (short-term progress assessment, current condition, and guideline step) expanded the endorsement range from 1% to 90%.

CONCLUSIONS
The low endorsement rate found previously is explained principally by the patient's expected progress. The brief report concludes by discussing ways to promote implementation when expected progress is only moderate.


Background and purpose: Measurement of DPPH free radical scavenging is a valid, accurate, and easy method with high repeatability in evaluating the in vitro antioxidant activity of plant extracts. A positive correlation is reported between antioxidant activity and antimicrobial activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlation between antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of medicinal plant extracts. Materials and methods: The extracts were prepared and DPPH was used to determine free radical-scavenging activity. Antimicrobial effects of hydro-ethanol extract on the bacteria was surveyed using diffusion method in a culture medium Mueller-Hinton agar by paper discs (6 mm) based on Bauer and Kirby instructions. Results: The ability of medicinal plant extracts in scavenging free radicals was found to be higher in the extracts of Myrtus (89.583 μg/mL) and rosemary (80.921 μg/mL). The antioxidant activity of the extracts increased by increase in concentration of the extract. Meanwhile, in low concentrations of the extract (16 and 32 μg/mL) the highest antioxidant activity of the extract was found in Myrtus and then Rosemary, but at high concentrations (64 μg/mL) it was seen in Teucrium polium extract. Rosemary extract was found to be effective against Escherichia coli and Myrtus extract was the most effective on Listeria bacteria, Salmonella typhimurium, and Staphylococcus aureus. Conclusion: The results showed that plants with high antioxidant properties have high antimicrobial activity too, such as the extract of Myrtus and rosemary that were the most effective extracts on bacteria.


The potential for veterans to end up in the criminal justice system as a result of physical and psychological problems that may be combat‐related has generated much interest, illustrated most recently by the development of specialized veterans' courts. However, little is known about how often veterans are arrested and incarcerated, the nature of their problems, or the extent to which their military service has contributed to their criminality. Using interview data from 2,102 arrestees booked in Maricopa County (AZ) during 2009, this paper examines the problems and prior experiences of arrested military veterans and compares veteran and non‐veteran arrestees along a range of measures. Results indicate that veterans comprise 6.3% of the arrestee population, and that more than 50% of veterans report suffering from at least one combat‐related problem including physical injury, post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), other mental health problems, and substance abuse. Multivariate analysis indicates that veteran arrestees differ from non‐veterans on a number of key measures, most notably more frequent arrests for violent offenses and greater use of crack cocaine and opiates. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for the potential link between military service and criminality as well as for criminal justice policy and practice.


We investigate the problem of multi-agent coordination under rationality constraints. Specifically, role allocation, task assignment, resource allocation, etc. Inspired by human behavior, we propose a framework (CA^3NONY) that enables fast convergence to efficient and fair allocations based on a simple convention of courtesy. We prove that following such convention induces a strategy which constitutes an epsilon-subgame-perfect equilibrium of the repeated allocation game with discounting. Simulation results highlight the effectiveness of CA^3NONY as compared to state-of-the-art bandit algorithms, since it achieves more than two orders of magnitude faster convergence, higher efficiency, fairness, and average payoff.


Introduction and Purpose: The aim of this study was the evaluation of the therapeutic effect of acceptance and commitment of chronic pain in the elderly women of Hamadan. Materials and Methods: The research method was a quasi-experimental research and the research design was pretest-posttest with control group. The population consisted all of women 60–90 years old with chronic pain in Hamedan. The sample of this research consisted of 30 people from the mentioned community. The sample was selected from volunteers who received the highest score in chronic pain questionnaire, and they were randomly divided into control and two experimental groups. The assessment tool is chronic pain questionnaire that includes two numeric measurement scale of pain intensity and physical disability questionnaire. The research data were analyzed through using different methods of descriptive statistics (central tendency and dispersion) and inferential statistics (non-parametric tests such as Kolmogorov–Smirnov, Mann–Whitney, Wilcoxon, and t-test). Findings: The results showed that the treatment based on acceptance and commitment resulted in positive effects on chronic pain, decreasing pain intensity, and reducing physical disability in the elderly (P < 0.05)


Judicial review of agency action under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and preemption challenges provide parallel proceedings for resolution of disputes over whether state and federal law are simpatico or at war. Douglas v. Independent Living Center of Southern California, Inc., provides an opportunity to reflect upon the coexistence of, and relationship between, these parallel tracks for adjudicating federal-state conflicts. Who is, and who should be, the ultimate arbiter of whether such federal-state conflicts exist and how to resolve them — agencies or courts?In this Essay, I used Douglas as a lens through which to explore two concepts: first, whether courts can act as "prompters," pushing federal agencies to discharge their duty to weigh in on whether a conflict between federal and state law exists in a given context; and second, whether there can exist a synergistic relationship between courts and agencies in determining whether a conflict between federal and state law exists. Specifically, I explore two questions left unresolved by the Court's Douglas decision: (1) Why permit a preemption cause of action at all in situations where there is a viable administrative action? And (2) where parallel proceedings persist, should agency determinations receive varying degrees of deference in each?


A methodology for modeling quality-speed tradeoffs in manufacturing systems is discussed. This is done by approximating the quality characteristic achieved as normally distributed with the standard deviation of the process being a convex increasing function with respect to speed. For a single-stage system, it is shown that the profit rate function is quasi-concave and there is a unique maximum. The optimum speed obtained by maximizing profit rate is shown to be greater than the optimum minimum cost speed. A numerical example is presented.<<ETX>>


The (Y,Eu)2O3 precursor prepared by microwave with ultrasonic-assisted co-precipitation is superior to the one prepared by co-precipitation of conventional approach as well as co-precipitation assisted by microwave. The effect of preparation conditions on the morphology and particle size of (Y,Eu)2O3 precursor was completely investigated in this study. The ideal conditions were optimized as 0.25M Ln3+ ions concentration, 80°C reaction temperature, 90 minutes reaction time and 0 minute ageing time. Consequently, the (Y,Eu)2O3 precursor in the needle-like shape with average size of 0.25μm in diameter was obtained. The possible mechanism was also presented.


Briquette is one of alternative energy. Raw material briquettes can be derived from agricultural waste and forestry plantations. Many factors that influence on briquette such as the type of materials, adhesives and pressure others. Adhesives used are sago starch waste that has been disposed and can no longer be consumed by humans. Raw material briquettes from waste of sawdust and sawn eucalyptus leaves. Pressure briquette of 30 PSI. Both raw material briquettes sieved with 20 mesh sieve qualify. From the results, the average calorific value of briquettes is the highest of 4896.16 calories / gram at 40% mixture of sawdust sawn 60% powder mixed with eucalyptus leaves. Percentage of ash content lowest average was 2.17%.


Deep neural networks are extremely vulnerable to malicious input data. As 3D data is increasingly used in vision tasks such as robots, autonomous driving and drones, the internal robustness of the classification models for 3D point cloud has received widespread attention. In this paper, we propose a novel method named SPGA (Shape Prior Guided Attack) to generate adversarial point cloud examples. We use shape prior information to make perturbations sparser and thus achieve imperceptible attacks. In particular, we propose a Spatially Logical Block (SLB) to apply adversarial points through sliding in the oriented bounding box. Moreover, we design an algorithm called FOFA for this type of task, which further refines the adversarial attack in the process of breaking down complicated problems into sub-problems. Compared with the methods of global perturbation, our attack method consumes significantly fewer computations, making it more efficient. Most importantly of all, SPGA can generate examples with a higher attack success rate (even in a defensive situation), less perturbation budget and stronger transferability.


— State model diagrams (SMDs) have been successfully used as the pedagogical foundation of network technology curriculum. SMDs selectively integrate relevant output from network devices by means of tables. SMDs are modular and hierarchical, thereby providing top-down decomposition by means of levelling, allowing a complex network to be partitioned or structured into independent units of an amenable size so that the entire system can be more easily understood. An overview of the entire network or increasing levels of detail may be obtained while maintaining links and interfaces between the different levels. Furthermore, SMDs allow technical detail to be introduced in an integrated and controlled manner, thereby supporting student learning at both introductory and advanced levels. In effect, as students progress they do not have to learn a new conceptual model; rather they can build upon and extend their existing knowledge. This paper evaluates the use of SMDs for teaching network technology to international students whose first language is not English. This study was further extended to include an evaluation of SMDs, as a teaching tool, by Cisco academics within the Asia/Pacific region.


Background and Objectives To determine the rate and predictors of early neurologic deterioration (END) in patients with lacunar strokes and its implications for management and outcome. Methods We enrolled consecutive patients with MRI-defined lacunar stroke who presented within 12 hours after symptom onset from a prospective stroke database (2015–2019). END was defined as any persisting increase in NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score of ≥2 points within 24 hours after admission and favorable outcome as modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score of 0 to 2 at 90 days. We assessed the association of END with clinical and imaging variables, acute treatment, and outcome using multivariable regression, calculating adjusted odds ratios (aORs). Results Sixty-one of 365 (16.7%) patients with acute lacunar stroke (median age 71.8 years, 39.5% female, median NIHSS score on admission 3) had END. Lower NIHSS score on admission (per point, aOR 0.81, p = 0.006), capsular warning syndrome (aOR 7.00, p < 0.001), ventral pontine infarct (aOR 3.49, p = 0.008), and hypoperfusion lesion on imaging (aOR 2.13, p = 0.026) were associated with END. Acute dual antiplatelet therapy was associated with reduced risk of END (aOR 0.10, p = 0.04). Patients with END had less favorable outcome at 90 days (aOR 0.13 p < 0.001), but IV thrombolysis (IVT) was associated with favorable outcome at 90 days (aOR 3.95, p = 0.002). Discussion One in 6 patients with lacunar stroke has END, and patients at high risk of END can be identified with radiologic and clinical variables. Targeted therapeutic trials for this population seem justified. Classification of Evidence This study provides Class II evidence that early neurologic deterioration in patients with acute lacunar stroke predicts poorer functional outcome at 90 days as determined by the mRS.


Flexible forming of metal sheet using plasma arc is a new technique which forms parts by thermal stress without moulds and external force. To improve the surface quality of formed parts, a magnetic-driving plasma arc (MDPA) was applied in monitoring the distribution of heat flux. A mathematical model was developed to study the variations of temperature fields and deformation fields with MDPA and merely with plasma arc, which was validated by the forming experiments. The results indicated that the swing amplitude of MDPA increased linearly when the exciting current Ie < 1.2 A, and the distribution of heat flux with MDPA was more uniform than that merely with plasma arc in the heating zone, which avoided the possible partial melting and ablation of metal sheet. Moreover, the "U-shape" occurred with MDPA, and the material accumulation with MDPA was smaller than that merely with plasma arc on the surface of metal sheet.


Pd (II) complexes were synthesized from Schiff base bis(2-hydroxynaphthalidene)-1,4-phenyldiamine and N,N'- bis(2-hydroxynaphthalidene)benzidine using metal: ligand in ( 1:2 ) mole ratio. The structures of the ligands and their metal complexes were elucidated by analytical and spectroscopic techniques viz. elemental analysis, I.R., mass, 1HNMR and TGA. These Schiff bases are bidentate ligands gave square planar complex with Pd (II).


In Description Logics (DLs) and in the ontology-based data access (OBDA) scenario, the use of actual datatypes (such as those adopted in DBMSs) has received only limited attention, although datatypes, with their predefined semantics, might have a substantial impact on the computational complexity of inference in ontology systems. In this work we aim at overcoming these limitations, and study the impact of adding datatypes to the OBDA scenario. To this aim, we introduce a language for datatypes and we define the notion of a datatype hierarchy, constituted by a set of datatypes that depend on each other. We classify hierarchies in three classes according to their distinguishing properties, and we establish a theoretical framework for datatypes in the OBDA scenario, based on three major components: a DL, a class of datatype hierarchies, and a query language. We establish the computational complexity of query answering for various significant instantiations of this framework, as ranging from FOL-rewritable to coNP in data complexity.


Background. There is consensus in research that students' motivation and emotions are important for learning and achievement processes in the educational context, as are language competencies that, related to the demands of academic language, enable participation in education. However, the interrelationships between these aspects have hardly been empirically investigated in depth.
Purpose and Methods. This systematic review addresses this research need, and aims to synthesise the existing evidence on the interrelationship between motivational/emotional and language-related variables. First, the relationship between learners' motivation and emotions, and their language competencies is considered. Second, findings on how motivation and emotion depend on language-related factors are compiled.
Results. A systematic data search conducted for this purpose yields seven studies. Five studies relate to the first concern, and confirm the effects of motivational and emotional variables on reading comprehension. Emotions, in particular, emerge as strong predictors. Two studies relate to the second concern, and report significant effects of language-related variations in text tasks on students' motivation; however, neither study considers emotions.
Implications. The findings are used to derive implications for language design in the educational context and identify important research gaps.


This article explores how, 20 years after the Beijing conference, women's rights are being discussed within processes to develop a post-2015 sustainable development agenda and the parallel international disaster risk reduction framework. It is based on analysis of documents produced to date from the various processes, and also personal experience of seeking to influence both the post-2015 development and disaster agendas. It highlights how attempts to marry the environmental and development agendas reveal a continued problematic conceptualisation of sexual and reproductive rights. It suggests that in gender terms, while the post-2015 development agenda and the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are over-ambitious to the point of being mere rhetoric, gender rhetoric is yet to enter the international disaster risk reduction discourse. This, the article argues, coupled with the continued conceptualisation of disasters as outside mainstream development, has further negative implications for the recognition and fulfilment of women's rights.


Schloss Dagstuhl is a place where computer science researchers and practitioners meet to discuss research outside the strict format of traditional conferences. Founded in 1990, it has earned an international reputation as an incubator for new ideas. Schloss Dagstuhl hosts over 50 seminars each year which are organized by leading researchers in a field. In this series, they present their results and visions.


Issue: There is an unspoken requirement that medical education researchers living in the Global South must disseminate their work using dominant frames constructed by individuals living in the Global North. As such, the published literature in our field is dominated by researchers whose work primarily benefits the Western world, casting the rest of what is published as localized and unhelpful knowledge. In this article, we use Audre Lorde's conception of the Master's house as a metaphor to narrate the experiences of two South African medical education researchers trying to disseminate their work into North American venues. In addition to narrating these stories, we describe the personal and professional consequences they experienced as a result of their efforts. Evidence: For researchers working outside of the Global North, entering the Master's formidable house is daunting, and there is no clear pathway in. These narratives illustrate how reviewers and editorial staff act as gatekeepers, continuously shaping ideas about what it means to do acceptable research, and who is allowed to disseminate it within the field. These narratives also show that those who have been rejected by these gatekeepers are often conflicted about their position within the larger field of medical education. Implications: To begin to address this issue, we have made several suggestions for the research community to consider. First, medical education research journals need to create spaces for researchers publishing from the Global South. One suggestion is for journals to create a submission type that is dedicated to researchers working outside of North America. Second, journals should also include more Global South editors and reviewers to help with knowledge translation when articles are submitted from outside North America. If our collective goal is to improve the training of physicians and the health outcomes of humanity, then we need to renovate the Master's house and begin to break down the barriers that separate us from truly building together.


Abstract Young men who have sex with men are becoming the most at-risk subgroup for HIV incidence in Hong Kong. To understand how young gay men in Hong Kong interpret and implement safer sex and condom use, focus-group discussions and individual in-depth interviews were held. The 74 participants were nearly all ethnic Chinese gay men aged between 18 and 25 years. Findings indicate that the challenge for health intervention lies in young gay men's inconsistent condom use despite their high level of HIV-related knowledge. Participants described using condoms, testing for HIV and abstaining from anal sex as measures undertaken to prevent HIV infection. However, sociocultural norms and expectations pertaining to '0' (docile, bottom) and '1' (assertive, top) roles and trust between partners complicate the consistent implementation of risk-reduction measures. Influenced by heteronormative and romantic beliefs, sexual behaviours such as condomless anal sex and internal ejaculation hold symbolic meanings – exclusivity, commitment, intimacy, possession – for young gay men in Hong Kong, which override health concerns. These findings support more empowerment-driven HIV programming for young gay men.


The present study was conducted to examine the role of universities in promoting life skills among the youth to live and work in 21st century. It was a descriptive study and adopted survey approach of the social sciences. The population of the study consisted of the students and faculty (of bachelor studies programs) of the final semester in general universities of Pakistan. Multistage sampling technique was used. Five universities were selected randomly one from each province and one from capital territory –Islamabad; one faculty was taken as cluster; and then finally ten (10) faculty members and Eighty (80) students were contacted purposive-conveniently from each of the faculty of the sampled universities. The total samples thus comprised of 50 university teachers and 400 students. The researcher after the literature review prepared two questionnaires on five-point-likert-scale: one for university teachers and one for the students. After piloting the tools were administered with the help of two data collectors who were trained for the purpose. Out of 50 and 400 questionnaires; forty four and 382 questionnaires of the university teachers and students respectively complete in all respect were received back. As the study was of descriptive nature and explored the role universities in promoting life skills among the youth/ students in Pakistan; hence, descriptive statistics i.e. percentage and mean score(s) was used to analyze the data and demonstrate the situation. On the basis of the data analysis the study concluded that universities have prime responsibility in promoting life skills among youth/ students by offering properly designed co-curricular activities. The universities are promoting life skills among the youth including IT skills, communication skills, critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity & innovation through co-curricular activities.


This new, biologically based, nonlinear regression model produces polymorphic site index and height curves as a function of prediction age and a height at any age. The curves are constrained to pass through the origin and appropriate heights at any index age. The model was parametrized on 970 stem-analyzed trees and tested on tree measurements from 147 permanent sample plots. Compared with other lodgepole pine (Pinuscontorta var. latifolia Engelm.) height models in Alberta, this model had fewer parameters, yet showed better accuracy and precision than the other models. Above all, the new model provides compatible site index and height estimates, and it can predict height without prior knowledge of site index.


Summary
Routine stool examinations, including purgation studies in most patients, for intestinal parasites were done on large numbers of furloughed missionaries and their families. In addition, about one-third of these were tested for filariasis with several procedures as well as serologic methods. Many were checked for schistosomiasis by employing sedimentation, egg-hatching and serologic procedures in addition to direct wet-mount smears and Ritchie formalin-ether concentration methods. Urine studies for bilharzia were conducted in a considerable group, and cellophanetape preparations for enterobiasis were submitted by many persons and families. Nematodes were more prevalent than flatworms, as expected. The large number of filarial infections and the several unusual helminths discovered were of special interest.
Some patients had multiple helminthic problems often associated with protozoan infections. (The figures for these combined parasitic infections were not tabulated.) Special techniques, sedimentation and egg-hatching, were introduced into the routine procedure schedule for stool specimens some time after the present studies were begun. Thus, it is conceivable that more helminthic infections would have been recorded for the earlier group had these been employed universally. The same is true for filariasis studies in regard to special procedures. W. bancrofti probably would have been found in many patients if filariasis studies had been conducted at night as well as in the daytime. Serologic tests for helminthic infections were a valuable adjunct, but required careful interpretation; the number of false negatives and false positives suggest a decided need for further research.


Termite gut flagellates are colonized by host-specific lineages of ectosymbiotic and endosymbiotic bacteria. Previous studies have shown that flagellates of the genus Trichonympha may harbour more than one type of symbiont. Using a comprehensive approach that combined cloning of SSU rRNA genes with fluorescence in situ hybridization and electron microscopy, we investigated the phylogeny and subcellular locations of the symbionts in a variety of Trichonympha species from different termites. The flagellates in Trichonympha Cluster I were the only species associated with 'Endomicrobia', which were located in the posterior part of the cell, confirming previous results. Trichonympha species of Cluster II from the termite genus Incisitermes (family Kalotermitidae) lacked 'Endomicrobia' and were associated with endosymbiotic Actinobacteria, which is highly unusual. The endosymbionts, for which we suggest the name 'Candidatus Ancillula trichonymphae', represent a novel, deep-branching lineage in the Micrococcineae that consists exclusively of clones from termite guts. They preferentially colonized the anterior part of the flagellate host and were highly abundant in all species of Trichonympha Cluster II except Trichonympha globulosa. Here, they were outnumbered by a Desulfovibrio species associated with the cytoplasmic lamellae at the anterior cell pole. Such symbionts are present in both Trichonympha clusters, but not in all species. Unlike the intracellular location reported for the Desulfovibrio symbionts of Trichonympha agilis (Cluster I), the Desulfovibrio symbionts of T. globulosa (Cluster II) were situated in deep invaginations of the plasma membrane that were clearly connected to the exterior of the host cell.


Scene graphs are a powerful structured representation of the underlying content of images, and embeddings derived from them have been shown to be useful in multiple downstream tasks. In this work, we employ a graph convolutional network to exploit structure in scene graphs and produce image embeddings useful for semantic image retrieval. Different from classification-centric supervision traditionally available for learning image representations, we address the task of learning from relative similarity labels in a ranking context. Rooted within the contrastive learning paradigm, we propose a novel loss function that operates on pairs of similar and dissimilar images and imposes relative ordering between them in embedding space. We demonstrate that this Ranking loss, coupled with an intuitive triple sampling strategy, leads to robust representations that outperform well-known contrastive losses on the retrieval task. In addition, we provide qualitative evidence of how retrieved results that utilize structured scene information capture the global context of the scene, different from visual similarity search.


Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) is a prostate cancer that keeps growing even when the testosterone level is reduced to very low levels. Enzalutamide (Xtandi®) is an orally bioavailable, organic, non-steroidal small-molecule androgen receptor (AR) signalling inhibitor. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved enzalutamide for nonmetastatic and metastatic CRPC in July 2018. To date, enzalutamide is not yet approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the assessed indication. The PROSPER trial assessed the efficacy and safety of enzalutamide versus placebo in patients with nonmetastatic CRPC and a rapidly rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level. Analyses showed that patients of the enzalutamide group had a statistically significant benefit in median metastasis-free survival (MFS) (HR 0.29, 95% CI, 0.24–0.35, p < 0.001); hence, patients who received enzalutamide had a 71% lower risk of metastasis or death than patients who received the placebo. Patients of the enzalutamide group also had a statistically significant delay regarding the median time to PSA progression (HR 0.07, 95% CI, 0.05–0.08, p < 0.001) and the median time to first use of subsequent antineoplastic therapy (HR 0.21, 95% CI, 0.17–0.26, p < 0.001). For overall survival (OS), only data from the first interim analysis is available; at that point of time, 11% of the patients of the enzalutamide group and 13% of placebo-group patients had died. The median OS was not reached in either treatment group. One third of enzalutamide-group patients had an adverse event (AE) of grade 3 or higher. Serious AEs were more frequent among patients of the enzalutamide group than in placebo-group patients (24% vs. 18%); 3% of enzalutamide patients had an AE that led to death, compared to 1% in the placebo group. The administration of enzalutamide in patients with nonmetastatic CRPC and a rapidly rising PSA prolonged MFS and delayed PSA progression and the use of subsequent antineoplastic therapy. However, the clinical benefit of enzalutamide reflected in OS prolongation and an improvement of the patients' quality of life (QoL) has not been established yet. Final analyses of the PROSPER trial and further ongoing studies may provide information about whether prolonged MFS also implies prolongation of OS. At any rate, the benefits of enzalutamide treatment need to be weighed against the risks, always considering the patients' QoL. Additionally, a direct comparison of enzalutamide and apalutamide is needed to verify the optimal treatment for this patient population.


Under the continuing action of temperature stress and load vehicle, the crack in cement stabilized aggregate base can easily reflect up into the asphalt surface layer, affecting driving condition and then affecting the fatigue life of pavement. On the basis of fracture mechanics, taking center crack loaded with uniform tensile stress as study state, methods were derived to calculate the stress intensity factor (abbreviated in the following "SIF") of the crack at the bottom of asphalt layer using weight function theory and method of Petroski and Achenbach. Through the comparison of different SIFs under different conditions, factors affecting the SIFs such as crack length, load conditions, modulus ratio between base and surface layer and different jointed conditions were studied. To facilitate comparison, taking completely smooth and completely continuous as study boundary conditions. According to calculation results, factors mentioned above all influence the SIF values of the crack at the bottom of asphalt layer greatly, among which jointed condition between base and surface layer has the most important influence. The SIF values of the completely smooth interface is several times that of the completely continuous interface. We can take measures to improve the jointed condition between the asphalt surface layer and the cement stabilized aggregate base thus can reduce reflection crack effectively.


Neuronal structure was studied during a year after the truncal subdiaphragmatic two-side vagotomy in nuclei of vagal nerves and oblongated medulla. Jacobson nuclei in the spinal cord lateral cornua and stomach and intestinal nerve plexuses. Dynamics of structural changes in nervous system different regions after vagotomy was shown. In intramural nerve ganglionic structure repairs on late post operative terms, while vagal nerve nuclei in the oblongated medulla retain significant changes, one of which is the sharp decrease of neuron number a year after vagotomy. Compensation of Jacobson nuclei similar to nucl. intermediolateralis was taken into consideration. So vagotomy is a surgical intervention into nervous system and into endocrine system associated with it.


Receiver synchronization of continuous media streams is required to deal with delay differences and variations resulting from delivery over packet networks such as the Internet. This function is commonly provided using per-stream playout buffers which introduce additional delay in order to produce a playout schedule which meets the synchronization requirements. Packets which arrive after their scheduled playout time are considered late and are discarded. In this paper, we present the Concord algorithm, which provides a delay-sensitive solution for playout buffering. It records historical information and uses it to make short-term predictions about network delay with the aim of not reacting too quickly to short-lived delay variations. This allows an application-controlled tradeoff of packet lateness against buffering delay, suitable for applications which demand low delay but can tolerate or conceal a small amount of late packets. We present a selection of results from an extensive evaluation of Concord using Internet traffic traces. We explore the use of aging techniques to improve the effectiveness of the historical information and hence, the delay predictions. The results show that Concord can produce significant reductions in buffering delay and delay variations at the expense of packet lateness values of less than 1%.


Many real-time database systems, such as military institutions and government agencies, are contained in environments that exhibit restricted access of information, where mandatory access control for security is required. Hence, in addition to timing constraints, real-time database systems have security constraints. Conventional multi-level secure database models are inadequate for time-critical applications and conventional real-time database models do not support security constraints. The objective of this work is to incorporate security constraints in real-time database systems in such a way that not only is security achieved, but achieving security does not degrade real-time performance significantly in terms of deadlines missed. We propose a new optimistic concurrency control algorithm for secure firm real-time databases. Results show that the algorithm performs fairly well in terms of security and timeliness compared to a non-secure algorithm. We argue and show that achieving more security does not necessarily mean more sacrifice in real-time performance.


Scholars usually investigate how average levels of trust in institutions vary across countries and over time. Focusing on average levels, however, ignores distributional properties that might be equally relevant for institutional legitimacy and, more broadly, democratic stability. In this study, the authors investigate how the distribution of trust in the European Parliament has changed over time and across European Union member states. Drawing on pooled cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey for the period from 2002 to 2020, the authors find that confidence in the European Parliament has not only declined over time but also polarized as citizens have increasingly moved away from the "average citizen." Furthermore, the authors find that trust has polarized, especially among the young versus the elderly and the employed versus the unemployed. These findings have implications for the legitimacy of European Union institutions.


Despite the vaquita being commonly cited as one of the most endangered marine mammals in the world, there is still disagreement over which factors put the species at greatest risk of extinction. This lack of agreement hinders management decisions needed to reduce the risk to the species. To expedite decision-making we consider four major risk factors. Habitat alteration from reduced flow of the Colorado River does not currently appear to be a risk factor because productivity remains high in vaquita habitat. Pollutant loads are low and pose low to no risk. Reduced fitness from inbreeding depression and loss of genetic variability are unlikely to pose high risk currently, though risk will increase if vaquitas remain at low abundance over long periods of time. Mortality resulting from fisheries bycatch poses high risk. Thus, short term management should not be hindered by uncertainty in estimating the risk of these factors, and primary conservation efforts should be directed to wards immediate elimination of incidental fishery mortality.


As software becomes more complex, designers are attempting to integrate design methods so they can start with a clear and accurate specification. Although designers typically commit to one method, they often find that its notation is not rich enough to express semantic concepts such as data persistence or that it lacks the guidance needed to choose design entities, such as objects or classes. Consequently, they attempt to borrow useful ideas and notations from other methods. Design method integration has many benefits, but designers lack a framework to make such efforts more systematic and cost effective. The author describes a possible framework and uses it to guide the integration of the Booch and OMT design methods.


Right-sided pulmonectomy (resection of 63-65% of the lung parenchyma) in white noninbred rats resulted in development of chronic cor pulmonale, that develops according to the stages: I--from the time of the operation up to the 10th-15th days after the operation--the stage of acute disturbances and mobilization forces of the organism; II--from the 11th-15th up to the 90th day is the stage of a relative steady compensatory hypertrophy of the cardiac right ventricle; III--after the 90th day--the stage of decompensation. The hypertrophy of the right ventricle myocardium transfers into its dilatation. Amount of cardiomyocytes and their nuclei in 1 mg of the right ventricle tissue progressively decreases, quantity of multinuclear cardiomyocytes increases, ploidy of the nuclei changes: number of tetraploid nuclei decreases, octaploid nuclei appear. Lethality among the animals is 56%.


The advent of adaptive computers built from re-programmable logic devices presents a potential solution for meeting the data processing requirements of the new era of Earth monitoring satellites to be launched by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Enterprise project. The Earth Observing System (EOS) AM-1 spacecraft, the first satellite of this new era, will produce in only six months as much data as NASA has collected to this date. As a consequence, the Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) project is building high performance and highly costly parallel processing systems to address the real-time data production requirements. Together with the high performance front-end ingest and level 0 processing microcircuits developed in-house at the Goddard Space Flight Center's (GSFC) Data Systems Technology Division (DSTD), adaptive computers present a possible alternative to traditional CPU-based systems to increase the performance while reducing the cost of satellite telemetry processing systems. The Adaptive Scientific Data Processing (ASDP) project has been investigating the use of adaptive computers in the implementation of space borne scientific data processing systems. An order of magnitude processing speed acceleration over high-end workstations has been demonstrated for both level 1 and level 3 algorithms. This paper discusses the use of adaptive computing in satellite telemetry processing systems, level 1 and beyond. Primarily, it describes the efforts and presents the results of two prototypes developed by the ASDP project. The limitations of the current state of the technology are discussed and the expected improvements to facilitate the adoption of adaptive computers are presented. Finally, future work of the ASDP project is discussed.


The extent to which firms face price-elastic demands for their products is important in the application of competition law and in judgments made as to whether they have significant market power. In the context of the airport industry, assessing price-elasticities is complicated by the fact that one major type of consumer of airport services, the air passenger, is not charged directly for use of terminals and airside infrastructure. Instead, the airport derives its revenues from charges to airlines and from the supply of non-aeronautical services. The charges to airlines then become one of many input costs that the airlines recoup from passenger fares, and this intermediation has significant implications for the demand analysis.


This three-volume collection of essays reveals the widespread existence of queer men and women in American popular culture, and showcases their important yet little-known role in shaping our society over the last 120 years. * Offers a collection of works by 39 distinguished international contributors, each an expert in his/her field * Includes 45 in-depth essays, all but three of which were written specifically for this three-volume set * An index in each volume allows for easy access by subject and by proper name


Water sources pollution by arsenic ions is a serious environmental problem all around the world. Arsenate reductase enzyme (TtArsC) from Thermus thermophilus extremophile bacterium, naturally binds arsenic ions, As(V) and As (III), in aqueous solutions. In this research, TtArsC enzyme adsorption onto hybrid polyethylene glycol-stabilized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) was studied at different pH values as an innovative nanobiosystem for metal concentration monitoring. Characterizations were performed by UV/Vis and circular dichroism spectroscopies, TEM images and in terms of surface charge changes. The molecular interaction between arsenic ions and the TtArsC-AuNPs nanobiosystem was also monitored at all pH values considered by UV/Vis spectroscopy. Tests performed revealed high sensitivities and limits of detection equal to 10 ± 3 M−12 and 7.7 ± 0.3 M−12 for As(III) and As(V), respectively.


The symmetry groups of attractors for smooth equivariant dynamical systems have been classified when the underlying group of symmetries Gamma is finite. The problems that arise when Gamma is compact but infinite are of a completely different nature. We investigate the case when the connected component of the identity Gamma 0 is Abelian and show that under fairly mild assumptions on the dynamics, it is typically the case that the symmetry of an -limit set contains the continuous symmetries Gamma 0 . Here, typicality is interpreted in both a topological and probabilistic sense (genericity and prevalence).


Introduction: Transpalatal advancement (TPA) is a procedure that is used when modern variants of uvulopharyn-gopalatoplasty are unable to provide enough anterior traction. Although successful in reduction of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) parameters, it also comes with procedure-specific risks. Formation of an oro-nasal fistula (ONF) is a complication that results in significant morbidity and a protracted treatment course. Methods: After approval from the University of Wollongong Health Research Ethics Committee, a retrospective chart review of all cases undergoing TPA performed by a single surgeon over a 10-year period from 2008 to 2018 was performed. Patients underwent pre- and postoperative level 1 or 2 polysomnography. Factors potentially contributing to palatal complications, as well as pre- and postoperative polysomnographic parameters, subjective sleep questionnaires, and body mass index (BMI) were statistically analyzed where a P value <.05 was considered a significant result. Results: A total of 59 patients were included. Overall palatal complication rate was 25.4% (15/59), with the most common being transient velo-palatal insufficiency (VPI) (8/59, 13.6%). ONF developed in 4/59 (6.8%) of patients. None of the analyzed contributing factors for palatal complications were statistically significant, except the presence of a high-arched palate and development of ONF. All analyzed sleep parameters, as well as BMI, were significantly different when comparing pre- to postoperative results. Conclusion: This study suggests that TPA has a role in current sleep surgery paradigms and can significantly improve both objective and subjective outcome measures of OSA. Surgeons contemplating TPA on patients with high-arched hard palates should do so with caution.


WSDOT is proposing riparian restoration as an alternative to the construction of large stormwater detention facilities for the State Route 167 Extension Project. WSDOT is proposing riparian restoration as an alternative to the construction of large stormwater detention facilities for the State Route 167 Extension Project. Buildings, roads, culverts, and other infrastructure will be removed and the land use will be converted back to a riparian forest. Within the 189 acres proposed for riparian restoration: approximately 30 acres of existing impervious surface will be removed; 63 acres of existing wetlands will be restored; 19 stream crossings will be removed or improved; fill materials in the floodplain will be removed; 13,000 feet of stream channel will be protected; 9,350 feet of stream channel will be created; and the area will be replanted with native vegetation. The RRP is expected to prevent property damage caused from flooding by removing buildings, roads, and infrastructure from flood prone areas. Project implementation with the RRP is predicted to reduce future flooding impacts by 48 percent compared to future conditions without the project. The RRP is expected to provide water quality treatment above and beyond any wet ponds or similar treatment facilities required under the Highway Runoff Manual by removing sediment and nutrients from surface runoff. The RRP is expected to result in considerable benefits to streams by reestablishing vegetated riparian buffers which in¬crease shade to maintain cooler water temperatures. Establishing woody vegetation increases bank stability and helps form habitat for fish and wildlife, and improves water quality. The RRP will also reduce the amount of inlet structures and drainage piping required to maintain flow control, while at the same time increasing the channel migration area. As the future large woody debris recruitment forces channel migration, the abandoned stream channels will develop into wetlands and off-channel rearing habitats for fish. The RRP includes the restoration of upland habitat within the riparian buffers, and also provides wildlife habitat and migration corridors, and will provide improved wetland buffer functions. A Net Environmental Benefits Analysis was performed to quantitatively estimate and compare the relative ecological losses and gains between the use of conventional stormwater treatment ponds and the RRP approach. Project wide, the RRP approach was found to have 57 percent greater environmental benefit than the conventional treatment approach.


A second histiocytic proliferative disorder, which resembled malignant histiocytosis of man, was identified in 13 Bernese mountain dogs. Malignant histiocytosis was clearly distinct from systemic histiocytosis, which was reported earlier in this breed. Eleven cases involved male dogs. Ten dogs occurred in the same family line as the dogs afflicted with systemic histiocytosis. Clinical or radiological evidence of pulmonary involvement was present in nine dogs. Neurological disturbances were present in five dogs. Anemia was observed in five dogs and was associated with prominent erythrophagocytosis in two instances. The clinical course was rapidly progressive. Necropsy examinations revealed that infiltrates were especially frequent in the lungs and hilar lymph nodes. Other lymph nodes, liver, spleen, and central nervous system were also frequently involved. Evidence for primary pulmonary involvement was present in seven dogs. The original diagnosis in seven cases was large cell anaplastic carcinoma of the lung by light microscopy only. The infiltrates were composed of large, pleomorphic, phagocytic mononuclear cells and multinucleated giant cells which also manifested marked cytological atypia and numerous, frequently bizarre, mitotic figures. Ultrastructural studies and the immunohistochemical demonstration of lysozyme and α 1-antitrypsin in the tumor cells in the majority of cases were consistent with a macrophage origin.


ABSTRACT In the last few years, the great impact of antimicrobial peptides on infectious disease susceptibility and natural resistance has been reported. In some cases, susceptibility to diseases is related to antimicrobial peptide polymorphisms and gene copy numbers, but for the vast majority of infectious diseases, these phenomena need to be elucidated. This review is focused on the current knowledge about susceptibility and resistance conferred by genetic variations in antimicrobial peptide expression in infectious diseases.


This is a guide on how to use the American Psychological Association citation style. It provides examples of basic formats for sources using APA Style.


While a most thorough knowledge regarding the pathology of renal infarct exists to-day, as a result of the classical studies of Virchow, Rokitansky, Cohnheim, Litten, Ribbert and others, very little has been said or written about its clinical manifestations. This undoubtedly must be attributed to the fact that renal infarct, as a clinical entity, is extremely rare, and that, while small infarcts are not infrequently found postmortem, they are very rarely manifested clinically. To quote Senator: "Symptoms referable to hemorrhagic infarction of the kidney are rarely observed unless the infarcts are unusually large or numerous, when there may be well marked symptoms, of which sudden pain in the corresponding kidney, aggravated by pressure, and the appearance of blood and hemoglobin in the urine, are somewhat characteristic." Leube makes the following statement: "Cases where hemorrhagic kidney infarcts were diagnosed antemortem are very rare. I was able to diagnose the condition in


Ontology is defined as an explicit specification of a conceptualization. The customer ontology is a specific application of ontology to customer domain, which can provide a unified view to customers for better sharing customer knowledge. In this paper, an formal ontology model is constructed using Description Logic, which is a 6-tuples including Term Set, Individual Set, Term Definition Set, Instantiation Assertion Set, Term Restriction Set, Term Comment Set. Based on the model, the issue on ontology validation is studied with the conclusion that the four kinds of term validation, including term satisfiability validation, term subsumption validation, term equivalence validation and term disjointness validation, can be reduced to the satisfiability validation, and satisfiability validation can be transformed into instantiation consistence validation, which can be decided by Tableau Algorithm. At last, the issue on the construction of customer ontology in the CRM context is discussed.


The pyrazinamidase test was used to determine susceptibility to pyrazinamide in 55 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis received at the National Laboratory of Reference and Research of Tuberculosis and Mycobacteria of the "Pedro Kourí" Institute of Tropical Medicine during the first semester of 1997. On comparing the results obtained with the method of proportions, it was attained a correlation of 83.6% of sensitivity with 16.4% of false positives. It was proved that the pyrazinamidase test should not replace the method of proportions.


The effect of waste engine oil (WEO) contamination on the geotechnical properties of cohesive soils was investigated. Three cohesive soils were collected from three locations in Sulaimani City. Geotechnical laboratory tests were carried out included consistency properties, unconfined compression strength, swelling pressure, and compressibility properties for both of intact and contaminated soil samples. Various percentages (0%, 1%, 2%, 4% and 6%) of WEO were mixed with the selected cohesive soil as a simulation of the field contamination issue. The results showed that the liquid limit (LL), plastic limit (PL), plasticity index (PI) increased as the content of WEO increased, however, experienced a decrease at 1% WEO content, thereafter an increase commenced again. The values of linear shrinkage limit, unconfined compressive strength (UCS), swelling pressure (SP) and Recompression index (Cr) decreased as the content of the WEO increased. The values of compression index (Cc) also increased at 0%, 1% and 2% WEO content, after that a little increase commenced again. WEO contaminated soil requires stabilization before using it as a construction material and/or for construction projects foundations. Keywords—Waste Engine Oil, Cohesive Soils, Sulaimani City.


This white paper outlines some of the remaining state barriers and a few federal ones and how they prevent disruptive innovations by entrepreneurs and established firms alike that potentially could bring new and more efficient business models to the market. In the case of the legal sector, the barriers we identify not only adversely affect legal innovation, but also impede innovation in other sectors of the economy. Similarly, in health care, pharmaceuticals, K-12 education, the financing of growth businesses, and many consumer services, legal obstructions hinder innovation and the provision of efficient, affordable, high-quality services and products. We conclude by surveying the main options for reducing or eliminating these impediments, proposing, in effect, ways to provide a "license to grow." Although most of the ideas we list are relevant only to state and local governments, we do not recommend, however tempting it may be, federal preemption as the means to their abolition. Apart from the political difficulty of gaining consensus on a sensible preemption approach in a time of deep partisanship with the Congress, it is not necessary for citizens to look to Washington to solve all problems. This white paper is an extension of the Startup Act in which the Kauffman Foundation outlined ways the federal government can stimulate new company formation and growth, encouraging economic growth across the economy. In a companion to this report, the Foundation also will publish a separate template for state and local "Startup Acts" - in reality, both executive and legislative measures - that would reinforce and amplify the impact of startup-friendly policies at the federal level. This particular white paper focuses primarily on removing state and local impediments to entrepreneurial growth and thus, we hope, will make an important contribution to the public policy debate in its own right. Many of the ideas outlined here also will be included in a summary fashion in the companion Kauffman report on a broader startup agenda for state and local governments. As prior Kauffman research has made clear, new firm formation and growth are critical to job creation and economic growth in general. The persistently high rates of unemployment since the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and the decline in formation rate of new employer firms in recent years make a startup agenda at all levels of government more urgent than ever. Written by the Kauffman Foundation Task Force on Entrepreneurial Growth.


Abstract Novel platinum(II) and palladium(II) chlorido complexes with tetrazole derivatives 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)tetrazole (het) and 1-[tris(hydroxymethyl)methyl]tetrazole (thm), viz. cis-[Pt(het)2Cl2], trans-[Pt(het)2Cl2], trans-[Pt(thm)2Cl2], trans-[Pd(het)2Cl2], and trans-[Pd(thm)2Cl2], were synthesized. The compounds were characterized by elemental and high-resolution electrospray ionization (HRESI) mass spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), 1H, 13C and 195Pt nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, thermal analyses, and Infrared (IR) spectroscopy. Molecular and crystal structures of trans-[PdL2Cl2] and trans-[PtL2Cl2] (L = het, thm) were established by single-crystal X-ray analysis. The complex cis-[Pt(het)2Cl2] was found to undergo cis–to–trans isomerization upon heating in acetonitrile solution and in the solid state. The synthesized complexes show rather high water solubility lying in the range of 2–10 mg/L.