Rapid increase in Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) incidence in developed countries, occurrence of CD in spouses and lack of complete concordance in monozygotic twins are strong arguments for the role of environmental factors in infl ammatory bowel disease (IBD). Only two environmental factors have an established role in IBD. Smoking is a risk factor for CD and a protective factor for UC; appendectomy is a protective factor for UC. Many other environmental factors for IBD have been investigated. These are infectious agents, diet, drugs, stress and socio-economic factors. They are detailed in this paper. Among them, adherent invasive E. coli, infectious gastroenteritis, oral contraceptives and antibiotics could play a role in CD. To date, three theories integrate environmental factors to pathogenesis of IBD: hygiene, infection and cold chain. Much work remains to be done to identify risk factors for IBD. As exemplifi ed by smoking, research of environmental risk factors of IBD is useful since it may lead to an improved disease course among patients and perhaps, to appropriate prevention among predisposed subjects. Further studies in this fi eld are eagerly awaited. © 2009 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.


An original view of Frank Lloyd Wright emerges from these nine essays by Edgar Kaufmann, jr., a leading authority on Wright. For more than 50 years Kaufmann has studied this famous American architect - as a member of the Taliesin Fellowship, as a participant in the building of Fallingwater (perhaps Wright's best known work it was inherited by the author), and as a writer, editor, and teacher.Collected here for the first time, Kaufmann's essays provide an in depth investigation of particular aspects of Wright's works and ideas. They are amply documented by texts and drawings, many of which have been unexamined until now.The essays begin with an unexpected view of Wright's Froebel kindergarten training, which he acknowledged as having awakened his delight in the play of color and design Kaufmann then takes up Wright's initial exposure to a great concept of architecture in Louis Sullivan's office. He examines the nature of Wright's break from the Prairie School, his attitude toward precedents in architecture, his responses to the machine and to idealistic modernism as conceived around the 1930s, the impact on Wright of the Great Depression, and Wright's evolution toward an architecture of space and of unique integral ornamentation--both crucial contributions to a humane architecture of the future.


Isolated male epispadias defect is present in 10% of cases of epispadias-exstrophy complex. Many surgical technique have been described for repair of male epispadias. The aim of surgical repair is to get cosmetically acceptable and functional penis with a ventrally located urethra opening at the tip of the glans and moreover to give the patient a urinary continence. Surgical repair of epispadias malformation remains debatable as evident by the different techniques adopted. We present two cases of our experience where we used the complete penile disassembly tecnique by Mitchell-Caione in wich we acts on the voluntary control of urination by the reapproximation of the muscular plane of pelvic diaphragm and elevator muscle around the posterior urethra reconstructed. Epispadias repairs was performed on two incontinent male epispadias patient, aged 2 to 3 years. Both cases were untreated. Complete disassembly of penil components was performed to the corporal attachments down to the horizontal branches of pubic bones. The corporal bodies and the glans were split on the sagittal plane according to Grady-Mitchell. The central portion of the urethral plate was preserved intact. An electric stimulator was used to identify and reapproximate at the midline the muscular fibers that constitute the periurethral muscular complex, as a part of the anterior perineal membrane. "Z plasties" were necessary according to initial urethral length and width: the urethra was reconstructed over a double catheters, using 5/0 polyglicolic acid interrupted sutures in a single layer. In one patient we sutured symphisis pubis opened precedently, using 1/0 polyglicolic acid. The urethra was placed ventrally in the reconstructed shaft under the two corpora as Mitchell technique. Glanduloplasty was then performed. Patients were followed up for one month (June 2012). The penis of the two patients had a satisfactory cosmetic appearance with no dorsal chordee. Morover, our patients obtained urinary continence. The limitation of our study was the low follow-up. The electric stimulator used to identify pelvic muscle components in the sagittal plane for reapproximate the posterior tabularized urethra to form the periurethral muscle complex and the "Z-plasties" that elongated the urethra significantly.This procedure seems to be satisfactory for the repair of cases of isolated male epispadias because we have good results in cosmetic appearance and in urinary continence. Our study is a preliminary report and a longer follow-up with a larger number of cases is needed to document further the success of the procedure.


Incremental in-plane bending is a flexible and laborsaving manufacturing technology for short production runs in a variety of sizes and shapes. But the technology parameters are interactive intimately and it is hard to forecast and control the bending radius accurately. Based on the features of incremental in-plane bending and the advantage of expert system dealing with problems, an expert system of incremental in-plane bending by designing knowledge base of representation of creation regulation, reasoning system based on rules and search mechanism and explaining system based on prefabricating text has been researched and developed in this paper. The system, making use of ADO technology, Access database and Visual Basic, develops knowledge base, database and reasoning system. Based on client / server model, the system realizes a seamless link between Visual Basic and Matlab by using ActiveX. The system can perform functions of bending radius forecasting and forming program evaluating and optimizing. It has a friendly interface and it is easy to operate and convenient for maintenance.


Reading is of enormous importance in our modern information-based society and an essential activity in everyday life. While most children successfully learn to read within a few years, reading acquisition is severely impaired in about 5-10% of children, resulting in a specific reading disorder called "developmental dyslexia". One of the core deficits of individuals with dyslexia is impaired automatic word recognition, which leads to slow, dysfluent reading. Neuroimaging studies in adult readers have linked this orthographic processing deficit to deficits in a specific section of the left occipitotemporal cortex (the visual word form area; VWFA) involved in visual word processing. However, the exact function of the VWFA and the larger left occipitotemporal VWF-system in healthy children, as well as its dysfunctioning in dyslexic children is still unclear. In addition, since the VWF-system and its core region (the VWFA) are part of the typical language network that encompasses several other regions crucially involved in reading, there is considerable interest in examining the connectivity between those brain areas. This Ph.D. thesis aimed to investigate both the function and functional connectivity comparing control children and children with dyslexia. In Study A we examined (i) two levels of functional specialization of visual word processing − (a) coarse specialization for print and (b) sensitivity to orthographic familiarity of letter strings − in the left occipitotemporal VWFsystem in control children, and (ii) whether these types of specialization were impaired in children with dyslexia. In Study B we investigated (i) the functional connectivity of the VWF-system and other major components of the language network in control children, and (ii) whether these connections were different in dyslexic children. We tested 18 dyslexic and 24 age-matched control children (age 9.7- 12.5 years) while they indicated if visual stimuli (real words, pseudohomophones, pseudowords and false-fonts) sounded like a real word. Five adjacent regions of interest (ROIs) in the bilateral occipitotemporal cortex were selected to cover the full anterior-posterior extent of the VWFsystem. In Study A, we used functional MRI to assess the brain activity in response to four types of visual letter strings varying in orthographic familiarity. In Study B, we used functional connectivity MRI to examine interregional cooperation within the language network, focussing on the VWFA. The results from Study A revealed that control children show a dissociation of two functional levels of specialization within the VWF-system: (1) coarse specialization for print, i.e. different processing of letter strings than of visual control stimuli and (2) sensitivity to orthographic familiarity of letter strings. Furthermore, we showed that both of these functional levels of VWF-system specialization could not be detected in children with dyslexia in the entire VWF-system. To answer the question whether this functional impairment of the VWF-system is associated with impaired cooperation of this system with other language areas, we looked at the functional connectivity of these regions. The results from Study B revealed that, in control children, the functional connections with typical language areas (left inferior parietal lobule and left inferior frontal gyrus) were specific for the VWFA and did not generalize to left occipitotemporal regions neighbouring the VWFA. In addition, we demonstrated that these functional connections between the VWFA and other major language areas are disrupted in children with dyslexia, whereas those of neighbouring areas were not affected. The results of both studies reveal an impairment of both function (of the VWF-system) and functional connectivity (of the VWFA with left inferior parietal and inferior frontal cortex) in dyslexic children. In conclusion, the findings presented in this work demonstrate that (1) word processing deficits in dyslexic children are associated with a pervasive developmental dysfunction of the entire VWF-system, and that (2) brain regions necessary for fluent, skilled reading may not work together properly during reading.


Computer-assisted learning fulfils an important need for pictorial representation of the functions of organs and systems. The various computer techniques of animation and morphing provide promising horizons for medical educational technology. Image acquisition is one of the most resource-intensive components of animation sequence development. Images can be drawn as originals or can be copied/scanned from various sources. By standardizing the initial (starting) image to the particular/basic need of the teacher and projecting the end-point image by using a vector animation package, 'films' can be created to demonstrate any form of movement. In the Anatomy Department, Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, computer-animated tutorials are being introduced to illustrate normal and abnormal functional anatomy. The heart and its valve mechanisms have been selected as a pilot study. The student response is very positive and the technique has great potential. Embryology animations showing the formation and growth of organs such as the brain and spinal cord are also being developed.


The drug Meropenem was analyzed by using UV spectrophotometer. The quantification of the drug was achieved in the wavelength range of 200-400 nm at 298nm. The developed method was applied for rapid analysis of the bulk form. The value of Relative Standard Deviation were found to be within acceptable range of less than 2%. The parameters of validation- linearity, precision, accuracy, specificity, robustness, limit of detection and limit of quantitation were calculated according to International Conference on Harmonization guidelines. The UV spectrophotometric method was performed at 298 nm. The samples were prepared in water followed by the stability studies of meropenem in aqueous solution at 4, 25 and 40 degrees C along with acidic and alkaline conditions. The results were satisfactory with good stability after 24 h at 4 degrees C. The method was validated and demonstrated to be rugged. The limit of quantitation and the limit of detection were established as 0.187 and 0.569 respectively. The developed validated UV spectrophotometric method is potentially valuable for routine laboratory analysis because of its ease, simplicity, rapidness, sensitivity, precision and accuracy.


Organic molecules have been discovered, which can be utilized as synthetically prefabricated molecular pore templates for the construction of self-assembled porous molecular materials. They have shown permanent porosity to gas molecules or selective guest binding in either crystalline or amorphous solid state. The porosity of these materials is a result of both of the intrinsic molecular voids and extrinsic voids from the inefficient packing. Moreover, the packing motifs can be directed by the functionality of molecules, giving control over the pore connectivity. Pore molecular solids are of interest for a wide range of applications in gas storage, separation, and molecular recognition. Herein, we describe a series of porous organic molecules in terms of both synthetic and computational approaches. Molecular simulations offer a unique perspective by allowing the examination of the structures on the molecular level, and also give additional insight into understanding the nature of these materials and assist in the design and tailoring for specific applications.


We present test results and characterization of a data transmission system based on a last generation FPGA and a commercial QSFP+ (Quad Small Form Pluggable +) module. QSFP+ standard defines a hot-pluggable transceiver available in copper or optical cable assemblies for an aggregated bandwidth of up to 40 Gbps. We implemented a complete testbench based on a commercial development card mounting an Altera Stratix IV FPGA with 24 serial transceivers at 8.5 Gbps, together with a custom mezzanine hosting three QSFP+ modules. We present test results and signal integrity measurements up to an aggregated bandwidth of 12 Gbps.


Parasitic plants of the genus Striga (also known as witchweeds) are root hemiparasites that cause devastating losses in crop production in sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Two of the most important species, S. hermonthica and S. asiatica, infect the staple cereal crops of SSA including maize, sorghum, millet and rice. These parasitic weeds represent the major biotic constraint to cereal crop production. They cause losses in yield of 40-100% and negatively impact the quality of life of millions of the poorest subsistence farmers. Infection of crop plants by Striga causes severe stunting of the host plant, thinning of stems and in plants such as rice, suppression of tillering. In rice the number of tillers produced is very important as grain yield is often correlated with tiller number. At present the mechanisms underlying changes in the morphology and architecture of Striga-infected plants are not fully understood and the aim of this thesis was to investigate the potential role of plant growth regulators in the suppression of tillering and the stunting rice plants infected with S. hermonthica.
In Chapter 2 a detailed analysis of the changes in growth and architecture of the susceptible rice cultivar IAC165 following infection by S. hermonthica was carried out. This revealed that Striga-infected rice plants showed severe stunting, decreased biomass, increased root to shoot ratio, thinner stems and suppression of tillering. In addition, this study revealed, for the first time that the suppression of tillering in Striga-infected rice plants to an inhibition in the formation and outgrowth of lateral buds.
In Chapter 3 the hypothesis that strigolactones are involved in the suppression of tillering in Striga-infected rice plants was investigated by analysing the effect of the parasite on the suppression of tillering in rice plants with altered concentrations of strigolactones (plant growth regulators involved in the regulation of branching in plants). Strigolactone concentration was modified by (a) the use of strigolactone mutants (d10-1, a strigolactone biosynthestic mutant and d3-1 a strigolactone signalling mutant) and (b) the application of a carotenoid biosynthetic inhibitor (fluridone) or a synthetic analogue of strigolactone (GR24). These studies revealed a partial role for strigolactones in the inhibition of tillering. In addition, there was an increase in the expression of CCD8 (encoding a strigolactone biosynthetic enzyme) in the leaf axils of S. hermonthica - infected plants, consistent with a role for strigolactones in the suppression of tillering. The effect of S. hermonthica on the biosynthesis of strigolactones in infected roots was also investigated using CCD8:GUS transgenic rice plants. These studies revealed increased expression of CCD8 in cells of the vascular bundle as S. hermonthica penetrated into the root and initiated fusion of xylem vessels with its host, suggesting a role for strigolactones during the infection process
In Chapter 4 the potential roles of multiple plant growth regulator pathways in the changes in plant morphology of rice plants infected with S. hermonthica were investigated by profiling changes in gene expression in the roots, stem and leaves of control and Striga-infected plants using Affymetrix microarrays. This is the first study to analyse whole genome expression in the whole plant simultaneously following infection by S. hermonthica. This study showed the profound impact of S. hermonthica on the regulation of auxin metabolic, signalling and transport pathways of infected plants, revealing the importance of this plant growth regulator in plant parasitism.


Objective: To monitor and analyze the adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in outpatient department of mental hospital of a tertiary care teaching institute of central India. To assess the causality between drug and adverse reaction using WHO-UMC scale. Method: A total of 209 adverse drug reactions were recorded in ICSR form obtained from CDSCO website in a period of 6 month from December 2016 to May 2017 in outpatient –department of mental hospital. Causality was assessed according to WHO-UMC causality scale. Result and Conclusion: Among 209 ADRs recorded 2 ADRs were excluded from further analysis because these were belonging to unlikely category of WHO-UMC causality scale. In this analysis 48.32% ADRs were certain, 32.05% ADRs were probable and 18.66% ADRs were possible. In this analysis 57% cases of ADRs were belonging to male while 43% cases were belonging to female .The maximum ADRs were reported in 21-30 years of age group (35.2%) followed by 31-40 years of age group (27%). The antipsychotics were responsible for maximum ADRs (71.02%), antidepressants were causing 12.07% of ADRs, antiepileptic were causing 14.5% of ADRs, ant manic drugs (lithium) were responsible for 2.4% cases of ADRs. CNS is most commonly affected system (44.92%), followed by metabolic side effects (37.68%).Olanzapine was the most common offending drug and weight gain was the commonest adverse drug reaction.


GaN and InGaN alloys were grown on c-plane sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy using NH3. This allows realizing light emitting diodes (LEDs) based on InGaN/GaN single heterostructures. The forward voltage is 3.6 V at 20 mA. The room temperature electroluminescence exhibits a strong emission at 405 nm. The I–V characteristics were studied as a function of the temperature. A tunneling process in the transport mechanism is observed as for metal-organic chemical vapor deposition grown LEDs.


Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) is a widely adopted wireless communication technology in the Internet of Things (IoT). BLE offers secure communication through a set of pairing strategies. However, these pairing strategies are obsolete in the context of IoT. The security of BLE based devices relies on physical security, but a BLE enabled IoT device may be deployed in a public environment without physical security. Attackers who can physically access a BLE-based device will be able to pair with it and may control it thereafter. Therefore, manufacturers may implement extra authentication mechanisms at the application layer to address this issue. In this paper, we design and implement a BLE Security Scan (BLESS) framework to identify those BLE apps that do not implement encryption or authentication at the application layer. Taint analysis is used to track if BLE apps use nonces and cryptographic keys, which are critical to cryptographic protocols. We scan 1073 BLE apps and find that 93% of them are not secure. To mitigate this problem, we propose and implement an application-level defense with a low-cost $0.55 crypto co-processor using public key cryptography.


OBJECTIVE
To describe an intercostal (IC) approach to the right adrenal (RA) gland in dogs.

STUDY DESIGN
Cadaveric study and case series.

ANIMALS
Dogs with right adrenal (RA) tumors (n = 11) and normal canine cadavers (6).

METHODS
Cadavers had an IC (n = 3) or paracostal (3) approach to the RA. The relative spatial position of the RA to the incision was evaluated. Medical records (June 2007-December 2012) of dogs that had an IC approach to the RA were reviewed. Perioperative data were recorded and described.

RESULTS
In cadavers, the RA was closer to the cranial aspect of the surgical incision after an IC approach compared with a paracostal approach. The IC approach for right adrenalectomy was successfully performed in 11 dogs (6 adrenocortical carcinomas, 4 pheochromocytomas, and 1 osteosarcoma) with a mean anesthesia duration of 242 minutes and mean surgical of 144 minutes. Dogs had vascular invasion into the phrenicoabdominal vein (n = 11) and caudal vena cava (6). There were no significant intra- or postoperative complications. One dog was euthanatized intraoperatively. Median survival time for all dogs was 786 days.

CONCLUSIONS
The IC approach for right adrenalectomy offers superior exposure of the RA compared with a paracostal approach.


A phase I trial was conducted of the vitamin A derivative beta-all-trans-retinoic acid (vitamin A acid; TRA), delivered via a collagen sponge and cervical cap for mild or moderate intraepithelial cervical neoplasia. On the basis of known skin and mucosal membrane toxicity, a concentration of 0.05% TRA in a cream-based vehicle was selected as the starting dose and was escalated later with the use of a modified Fibonacchi scale. The delivery device and the TRA were changed daily for 4 days, and side effects were assessed on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, and 30 by clinical and colposcopic examination. Vaginal, cervical, and systemic toxicity were evaluated in 35 patients. No dose-related systemic effects were found; mild cervical inflammation increased in many patients at higher doses. Unacceptably high vaginal toxicity was reached at a TRA concentration of 0.484%. A concentration of 0.372% TRA is recommended for use in phase II trials in mild and moderate cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.


Ad-hoc sensor networks are becoming more common, yet security of these networks is still an issue, node misbehavior due to malicious attacks can impair the overall functioning of the system. Existing approaches mainly rely on cryptography to ensure data authentication and integrity. These approaches only address part of the problem of security in sensor networks. However, cryptography is not sufficient to prevent the attacks in which some of the nodes are overtaken and compromised by a malicious user. Recently, the use of reputation systems has shown positive results as a self-policing mechanism in ad-hoc networks. This scheme can aid in decreasing vulnerabilities which are not solved by cryptography, We look at how a distributed reputation scheme can benefit the object tracking application in sensor networks. Tracking multiple objects is one of the most important applications of the sensor network. In our setup, nodes detect misbehavior locally from observations, and assign a reputation to each of their neighbors. These reputations are used to weight node readings appropriately when performing object tracking. Over time, data from malicious nodes will not be included in the track formation process. We evaluate the reputation system experimentally and demonstrate how it improves object tracking in the presence of malicious nodes


Julius Caesar and the Transformation of the Roman Republic provides an accessible introduction to Caesars life and public career. It outlines the main phases of his career with reference to prominent social and political concepts of the time. This approach helps to explain his aims, ideals, and motives as rooted in tradition, and demonstrates that Caesars rise to power owed much to broad historical processes of the late Republican period, a view that contrasts with the long-held idea that he sought to become Romes king from an early age. This is an essential undergraduate introduction to this fascinating figure, and to his role in the transformation of Rome from republic to empire.


This document provides background and guidance on how to design and implement shared, communal and public sanitation facilities, with a focus on operation and management models that support long-term service provision. The document draws on good experiences from across the globe and reflects lessons learned from design and implementation experiences – both positive and negative – in a range of countries. The document provides guidance for service providers (whether private or public-sector entities) as well as service authorities (i.e., those who regulate/oversee the service providers) and also has a section detailing shared and public sanitation from the user perspective, including consideration of special needs of some user groups, including people with disabilities, women, the elderly, etc. The document includes a number of decision trees that help designers and implementers understand key tasks to be undertaken and/or decisions to be made at different steps during the design and implementation process. In addition to the main body of the document, there are a series of annexes, which include resources to further support the design and implementation of facilities. A thorough literature review was undertaken for this work and the full list of literature reviewed is included in one of the appendixes.


Becker's theory of taste-based discrimination predicts that relative employment of the discriminated social group will improve if there is a decrease in the level of prejudice for the marginally discriminating employer. In this paper we experimentally test this prediction offered by Garry Becker in his seminal work on taste based discrimination, in the context of caste in India, with management students (potential employers in the near future) as subjects. First, we measure caste prejudice and show that awareness through a TV social program reduces implicit prejudice against the lower caste and the reduction is sustained over time. Second, we find that the treatment reduces the prejudice levels of those in the left tail of the prejudice distribution - the group which can potentially affect real outcomes as predicted by the theory. And finally, a larger share of the treatment group subjects exhibit favorable opinion about reservation in jobs for the lower caste.


The thermodynamic uncertainty relation, which establishes a universal trade-off between nonequilibrium current fluctuations and dissipation, has been found for various Markovian systems. However, this relation has not been revealed for non-Markovian systems; therefore, we investigate the thermodynamic uncertainty relation for time-delayed Langevin systems. We prove that the fluctuation of arbitrary dynamical observables is constrained by the Kullback-Leibler divergence between the distributions of the forward path and its reversed counterpart. Specifically, for observables that are antisymmetric under time reversal, the fluctuation is bounded from below by a function of a quantity that can be identified as a generalization of the total entropy production in Markovian systems. We also provide a lower bound for arbitrary observables that are odd under position reversal. The term in this bound reflects the extent to which the position symmetry has been broken in the system and can be positive even in equilibrium. Our results hold for finite observation times and a large class of time-delayed systems because detailed underlying dynamics are not required for the derivation. We numerically verify the derived uncertainty relations using two single time-delay systems and one distributed time-delay system.


OBJECTIVE
To document the geographic variations in the rates of 10 common surgical procedures in Quebec and to examine the relation between surgical rates and level of access to teaching hospitals.

DESIGN
Population-based rates standardized for age and sex were calculated from 1985-88 data from MED-ECHO (the provincial hospital discharge database) for each of the 32 community health districts (départements de santé communautaire [DSCs]) in Quebec. Variation across DSCs was analysed with the use of the ratio of the highest to the lowest rate, the coefficient of variation and the systematic component of variation. On the basis of an urbanization index designed by Statistics Canada, DSCs were classified as having a low, medium, high or very high level of access to teaching hospitals.

PATIENTS
All Quebec residents except those whose DSC of residence could not be traced (accounting for no more than 1.7% of patients for any study procedure) and aboriginal people from northern Quebec. SURGICAL PROCEDURES STUDIED: Appendectomy, cesarean section, cholecystectomy, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), hysterectomy, inguinal hernia repair, prostatectomy, tonsillectomy with or without adenoidectomy, total hip replacement and varicose vein stripping.

RESULTS
There was considerable systematic variation in the surgical rates for all 10 procedures. Cesarean section, the rates of which varied the least, still exhibited almost a twofold variation between the highest and lowest rates. The rates of tonsillectomy varied the most, by a factor of more than five. With a few exceptions there was relatively little relation between the rates of the procedures within the DSCs. The rates of appendectomy, cholecystectomy, hysterectomy and tonsillectomy tended to be lower in the DSCs containing teaching hospitals, whereas the reverse was true for CABG. For the other procedures the relation between the rates and the level of access to teaching hospitals was nonsignificant.

CONCLUSIONS
The overall consistency of the observed variations with those of previous studies invites a closer look at the practice patterns and the scientific basis of the clinical decisions associated with procedures showing high variations in rates. The lack of a systematic relation between the surgical rates and the level of access to teaching hospitals challenges the belief that remote regions are underserved with respect to the procedures studied.


Abstract. The sensitivity of the dynamics of the Mediterranean Sea to atmospheric pressure and free surface elevation formulation using NEMO (Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean) was evaluated. Four different experiments were carried out in the Mediterranean Sea using filtered or explicit free surface numerical schemes and accounting for the effect of atmospheric pressure in addition to wind and buoyancy fluxes. Model results were evaluated by coherency and power spectrum analysis with tide gauge data. We found that atmospheric pressure plays an important role for periods shorter than 100 days. The free surface formulation is important to obtain the correct ocean response for periods shorter than 30 days. At frequencies higher than 15 days−1 the Mediterranean basin's response to atmospheric pressure was not coherent and the performance of the model strongly depended on the specific area considered. A large-amplitude seasonal oscillation observed in the experiments using a filtered free surface was not evident in the corresponding explicit free surface formulation case, which was due to a phase shift between mass fluxes in the Gibraltar Strait and at the surface. The configuration with time splitting and atmospheric pressure always performed best; the differences were enhanced at very high frequencies.


The objective of the present study was to evaluate the nutritive value of dried rumen content from cattle (CRC), camel (LRC), sheep (SRC) and goat (GRC). Samples of rumen contents were collected at the Elkadaro and Ganawa abattoir in Khartoum state. The samples were sundried for 3 days. Proximate analysis, calculated metabolizable energy, minerals, cell wall components and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) were estimated. The results revealed that there were significant differences (P≤ 0.05) between CRC, LRC, SRC and GRC in all indices. Results showed that CRC contained highest crude protein (18.53%). SRC high ether extracts (4.23%), while GRC showed low ether extract (1.55%). Ash content was highest in CRC (14.23%). Nitrogen free extract was 40.11% in GRC. Calculated metabolizable energy was high in SRC. GRC contained high calcium (1.20%) and phosphorus (1.59%) level. SRC contained significantly (P≤ 0.05) high level of sodium, potassium and magnesium. LRC and GRC contain high crude fiber, while CRC contain lowest value. The IVDMD high in LRC (66.35%). The study concluded that the dried rumen content from cattle, camel, sheep and goat contained high nutritional value; it can be included in livestock feeds.


This study attempts to develop an understanding of the iterative and multi-scaled
process involved in transforming the state from below by examining the relationship
between two of the most politicised rights-based legislations in India: the Right to
Information Act (RTI) and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (NREGA). Based on one and a half years of ethnographic and interview based
research, and five years of working with the RTI campaign, I examine the reciprocal
relationship between the rights to information and work, and the multi-scaled activism
necessary to instantiate both. First, I trace different phases of the struggle for the right to
information, beginning with the creation of alternative public spheres, Jan sunwais (or
rural public hearings) that responded to demands for the right to work in rural
Rajasthan. Second, as this demand culminated in a broad-based advocacy network, I
examine the role of actors from diverse institutional arenas that succeeded in passing the
national RTI legislation. I also look at how the same national network of activists
introduced the public accountability mechanism of social audits, inspired by the Jan
sunwai, into the new right to work law or NREGA. Finally, bringing the process full
circle, I look at the ongoing efforts of the MKKS and the Suchna Evum Rozgar Adhikar
Abhiyan (The Right to Information and Work Campaign) to implement the right to
work on the ground in rural Rajasthan. In contrast to existing studies, I provide a more
comprehensive analysis of the interdependent struggle for rights to information and
work as one long iterative process to transform the state from below. I conclude with
some reflections on the different vision of "transparency" and "accountability"
emerging from rural grassroots struggles and what the RTI and NREGA experiences
teach us about the possibilities for their realisation.


HIV infection and AIDS in Thailand had been increasing among injecting drug users (IDU) from approximately 1% reported in 1987 to over 40% in late 1988. Two genetically different viruses have been shown to cause HIV infection among IDU and individuals infected sexually. HIV subtype B is responsible for 67-78% of infections in IDU patients, while HIV subtype E is responsible for 96% of infections in sexually acquired cases. It appears that 2 separate epidemics are occurring simultaneously. It has recently been noted that the HIV subtype E frequency in the IDU individuals seems to be increasing. A stable, but high, HIV prevalence rate of 40% among IDU in Bangkok was found. The incidence, however, is higher than observed in IDU individuals from Europe or North America. This is believed to be related to the high turnover rate (70%) of IDU individuals seeking the Thai government's detoxification treatment program. This study also compared 2 methods for estimating seroconversion. Method one assumed that the study subjects had an equal risk of HIV seroconverting on any day between blood testing (midpoint analysis) and produced an artificially low incidence estimate at both the beginning and end of a study interval. Method two assigned an equal probability for each day of the study interval for the patient to seroconvert. According to the author, this produced a more realistic estimate of the incidence curve. The IDU infections are important but are generally considered a minor part of the HIV infection epidemic which is occurring in Thailand. Thailand's HIV-positive population offers an opportunity for a field study of vaccines, as well as an opportunity to field test and evaluate prevention methods and strategies.


To have a fully integrated communication system in CMOS, a CMOS bandpass amplifier which combines the functions of low noise amplifier (LNA) and bandpass filter (BPF) is necessary. In a conventional bandpass amplifier, a Q-enhancement circuit is required to compensate for the resistive loss in the integrated inductor. The Q-enhancement circuit, however, being active, increases the power consumption (P/sub d/) and noise figure (NF) of the system. In the paper, a new bandpass amplifier has been proposed which can achieve the required Q without an additional Q-enhancement circuit. Comparison with other recent designs shows that the proposed amplifier has the lowest P/sub d/ and the best noise performance. Based on the CSM 0.25 /spl mu/m CMOS process, the bandpass amplifier has a gain of 25.3 dB, a Q of 30, an NF of 3.56 dB and a P/sub d/ of 35.7 mW at 1.8 GHz.


We identify overheads associated with FTP, attributed to separate TCP connections for data and control, non-persistence of the data connections, and the sequential nature of command exchanges. We argue that solutions to avoid these overheads using TCP place an undue burden on the application. Instead we propose modifying FTP to use SCTP and its multistreaming service. FTP over SCTP avoids the identified overheads in the current FTP protocol without introducing complexity at the application, while still remaining "TCP-friendly". We implemented FTP over SCTP in three ways: (1) simply replacing TCP calls with SCTP calls, thus using one SCTP association for control and one SCTP association for each data transfer, (2) using a single multistreamed SCTP association for control and all data transfers, and (3) enhancing (2) with the addition of command pipelining. Our experiments compared these 3 variations with the classic FTP over TCP. Results indicate significant improvements in throughput for multiple file transfers with all three of our variations. The largest benefit occurs for (3) FTP over a single, pipelined, multistreamed SCTP association. More generally, this paper encourages the use of SCTP's innovative services to benefit existing and future application performance and presents the case for multistreaming.


Surgical laparoscopic procedures in the retroperitoneal and supramesocolic spaces are increasingly frequent. There is a high risk of iatrogenic intraoperative injury of the retroperitoneal lymphatic structures during these procedures. A precise understanding of the anatomy of the thoracic duct (TD) and the cisterna chyli (CC) is essential for safe surgical procedures in this area. However, routine imaging procedures rarely and often incorrectly visualize the CC. The objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a retrograde injection of the TD to fill the CC with a contrast agent in 16 human cadavers. Both magnetic resonance lymphography (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) studies could be performed on the same anatomical specimen, using a contrast medium which hardened, allowing gross dissection. MRI and CT detectability were evaluated, and imaging results were compared with the anatomical dissection. The CC of 12/16 cadavers were successfully injected, and four were unsuccessful due to technical difficulties, showing the effectiveness of the method. This technique can improve understanding of the anatomy of the TD and CC and provides an original option to study the complex anatomy of these structures by correlating precise cadaveric dissections with cross‐sectional imaging.


Light is a key environmental factor limiting growth and survival of trees in the subcanopy of wet tropical forests (Davies 2001, Thomas 1996). Light availability varies both vertically and horizontally and affects tree height, crown shape and tree architecture (Bongers & Sterck 1998, Sterck & Bongers 2001, Sterck et al. 1999) in addition to growth and survival (Clark & Clark 1992, 2001). Although many studies of tree seedlings and saplings have shown that growth varies significantly with light availability in tropical wet forests (Clark et al. 1993, Iriarte & Chazdon 2005, King 1991, Kohyama 1991, Montgomery & Chazdon 2002, Oberbauer et al. 1988, 1993; Poorter & Werger 1999, Sterck et al. 1999, Welden et al. 1991), few studies have examined these relationships in size classes above 5 cm dbh (Sterck 1999). King et al. (2005) found that annual increment growth of trees in the 8–20-cm dbh size class in two Asian forests was positively dependent on an index of crown light interception, but no direct measurements of light availability were taken in this study. Due to logistical challenges, few direct measurements of light environments above tree crowns have been made in tropical forests (Sterck & Bongers 2001). To our knowledge, no measurements have been made in second-growth forests.


1 The structure and functioning of riverine ecosystems is dependent upon regional setting and the interplay of hydrologic regime and geomorphologic processes. We used a retrospective analysis to study recruitment along broad, alluvial valley segments (parks) and canyon segments of the unregulated Yampa River and the regulated Green River in the upper Colorado River basin, USA. We precisely aged 811 individuals of Populus deltoides ssp. wislizenii (native) and Tamarix ramosissima (exotic) from 182 wooded patches and determined the elevation and character of the germination surface for each. We used logistic regression to relate recruitment events (presence or absence of cohort) to five flow and two weather parameters. 2 Woody plant establishment occurred via multiple pathways at patch, reach and segment scales. Recruitment occurred through establishment on (1) vertically accreting bars in the unregulated alluvial valley, (2) high alluvial floodplain surfaces during rare large flood events, (3) vertically accreting channel margin deposits in canyon pools and eddies, (4) vertically accreting intermittent/abandoned channels, (5) low elevation gravel bars and debris fans in canyons during multi‐year droughts, and (6) bars and channels formed prior to flow regulation on the dammed river during controlled flood events. 3 The Yampa River's peak flow was rarely included in models estimating the likelihood that recruitment would occur in any year. Flow variability and the interannual pattern of flows, rather than individual large floods, control most establishment. 4 Regulation of the Green River flow since 1962 has had different effects on woody vegetation recruitment in canyons and valleys. The current regime mimics drought in a canyon setting, accelerating Tamarix invasion whereas in valleys the ongoing geomorphic adjustment of the channel, combined with reduced flow variability, has nearly eliminated Populus establishment. 5 A single year's flow or a particular pattern of flows over a sequence of years, whether natural or man‐made, produces different recruitment opportunities in alluvial and canyon reaches, in diverse landforms within a particular river reach, and for Populus and Tamarix. The design of flows to restore riparian ecosystems must consider these multiple pathways and adjust the seasonal timing, magnitude and interannual frequency of flows to match the desired outcome.


Autonomous intelligent systems outperform human workers in an expanding range of domains, typically those in which success is a function of speed, precision and repeatability. However, many cognitive tasks remain beyond the reach of automation. In this work, we propose the use of video games to crowdsource the cognitive versatility and creativity of human players to solve complex problems in industrial automation and robotics applications. To do so, we introduce a theoretical framework in which robotics problems are embedded into video game environments and gameplay from crowds of players is aggregated to inform robot actions. Such a framework could enable a future of synergistic human-machine collaboration for industrial automation, in which members of the public not only freely offer the fruits of their intelligent reasoning for productive use, but have fun whilst doing so. There is also potential for significant negative consequences surrounding safety, accountability and ethics if great care is not taken in the implementation. Further work is needed to explore these wider implications, as well as to develop the technical theory behind the framework and build prototype applications.


An alternative subtitution of pollard as an imported feed ingredient is a neccesity and one of the potential ingredients is water hyacinth ( Eichhornia crassipes ). This study was conducted to evaluate growth performance and enzyme activity in catfish ( Pangasianodon hypophthalmus ). Diet with five different levels of water hyacinth subtitute of pollard (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were fed to catfish for 60 days. Seventy (70) catfish fry with average initial body weight of 2.45±0.15 g were maintained in 100cm x 80cm x 60cm aquaria. Fish fed at satiation level three times daily at 8 am, 12 pm, and 4 pm. With dietary of 25% water hyacinth, growth performance and protease activity similar to 0% treatment. Feed intake, protein digestibility, feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio, and protease and amylase enzyme activities decreased (p<0.05) in those fed with more than 25% water hyacinth. Catfish fed 25% water hyacinth showed significantly (p<0.05) higher daily growth rate, feed efficiency and protein digestibility than those with other treatments. Based on the growth performance and enzyme activity, we can conclude that the optimum dietary level of water hyacinth subtitute pollard for fry catfish is 25%.


Quantifying Traversability of Terrain for a Mobile Robot A document presents an updated discussion on a method of autonomous navigation for a robotic vehicle navigating across rough terrain. The method at an earlier stage of development was described in "Navigating a Mobile Robot Across Terrain Using Fuzzy Logic" (NPO-21199), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 27, No. 2 (February 2003), page 5a. To recapitulate: The method involves, among other things, the use of a measure of traversability, denoted the fuzzy traversability index, which embodies the information about the slope and roughness of terrain obtained from analysis of images acquired by cameras mounted on the robot. The improvements presented in the report focus on the use of the fuzzy traversability index to generate a traversability map and a grid map for planning the safest path for the robot. Once grid traversability values have been computed, they are utilized for rejecting unsafe path segments and for computing a traversalcost function for ranking candidate paths, selected by a search algorithm, from a specified initial position to a specified final position. The output of the algorithm is a set of waypoints designating a path having a minimal-traversal cost. This work was done by Ayanna Howard, Homayoun Seraji, and Barry Werger of Caltech for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The software used in this innovation is available for commercial licensing. Please contact Karina Edmonds of the California Institute of Technology at (818) 393-2827. Refer to NPO-30744.


Calculations based on comparison of the isotopic composition of lead from iron meteorites with that of various modern terrestrial leads have placed the age of the earth at around 4550 million years. However, recent data from young volcanic rocks reveal that modern terrestrial lead can have a wide range in isotopic composition. The variations in its coinposition mean that one or more of the assumptions used in the age calculation have been violated. We modified the usual approach by comparing meteorite lead with lead from rocks 2700 million years old, from the Canadian Shield. Using this method and the same constants and assumptions utilized in the earlier calculations we calculated an age of 4750 � 50 million years for the earth. The earth may be approximately 200 million years older than previously thought; alternatively, primordial terrestrial lead may not have had the same isotopic composition as lead in iron meteorites does.


This paper addresses the governance of Strata Title developments, in the context of current metropolitan planning strategies based on increased higher density urban consolidation in Australia. Utilising theories of governance, it argues that the current focus on higher density development is vulnerable to challenges relating to regulation, representation and termination in strata developments. The governance of strata schemes is found to take the form of 'nodal' governance based on market principles, where stakeholders within a Strata Title scheme do not have equal rights to participate, and the market within which the governance structure operates is not free, but is regulated by a legislative structure that has inevitably lagged behind developments driven by the market. Principal among these is the increase in the size and complexity of strata schemes, which has put pressure on legislative arrangements originally designed for small developments with relatively few stakeholders. It is likely that these problems will escalate as an increasing proportion of the population move into strata schemes, particularly as the supply of skilled strata professionals may not be able to keep pace with demand.


Dinuclear triple-helicate complexes of the formula [Fe2L3](BF4)4·solv (solv = CH3CN, CHCl3, H2O) have been synthesised and structurally characterised. The bis-bidentate ligands, L, present either strong-field 2-pyridylimine (1) or weaker-field 2-imidazolylimine (2) and 4-imidazolylimine (3) coordination spheres about Fe(ii) centres in an octahedral geometry. Whereas 1 is pervasively diamagnetic, spin crossover (SCO) behaviour is observed in 2 and 3 and has been studied using variable-temperature structural, UV-visible spectroscopic, magnetic and photo-magnetic techniques. Variable-temperature (1.8-400 K) magnetic-susceptibility measurements reveal the T1/2 values of 2 and 3 to be strongly dependent upon the solvent and degree of solvation. Photomagnetic studies at 10 K under white-light irradiation revealed an inefficient photo-induced SCO in 2, but full switching in 3.


A review of our latest developments in the synthesis of sesquiterpenolides isolated from plants of the Umbelliferae family is presented.


This thesis is an investigation of ethnic politics, both as a concept and as an empirical phenomenon. It is based on the propositions that (a) most instances of ethnic politics are non-violent rather than violent and, (b) most scholarly work in the field is explanatory and devoted to violent ethnic conflict. Consequently, it is argued that there is a need to focus on descriptive analysis of non-violent ethnic politics.Hence, the first part of the thesis is devoted to a conceptual discussion of ethnic politics: what does it mean and refer to? The underlying objective of the conceptual investigation is to develop an analytical framework that will improve and facilitate descriptive empirical analysis. It is deemed essential that the framework include several different aspects of both the participatory and policy dimensions of politics, in order to capture accurately the overall impact on ethnicity on politics. In the second part of the study the aptness of the developed framework is tested in a comparison of the nature of, and extent to which, an ethnic cleavage influenced politics in Kenya and Zambia during the 1990s. Voters, parties and distribution policies are examined in order to assess the impact of ethnicity on politics in the two societies. Both objective manifestations, in the form of election data, official statistics etc., and subjective manifestations, i.e. perceptions and attitudes sought through interviews, are employed in the investigation. The analyses reveal a substantial difference between the two countries, with an ethnic cleavage being far more prominent in Kenya than in Zambia. The investigation, however, also shows a considerable variation in the extent to which ethnicity affects the different aspects of politics. This underscores the importance of examining different aspects of politics in order to accurately assess the overall impact of ethnicity on politics.


Protein adsorption onto metal oxide surfaces is an essential aspect of the cascade of biological reactions taking place at all interfaces between implanted materials and the biological environment. The types and amounts of adsorbed proteins mediate subsequent adhesion, proliferation and differentiation of cells. Protein adsorption to surfaces of metal oxides and their kinetics are important in the formation and growth of seashells, one of the toughest natural ceramics, in modern bio-analytical devices as well as in bone and teeth implant technology. This paper describes results obtained in a feasibility study of how to use metal-oxide particles to obtain biosensors with a high turnover. The most important features of proteins are outlined describing them as purpose-built "polymers" from amino acids with specific conformations. Some key aspects of Metaloxide (MeO) surfaces in water and the influence of electrostatic and hydrophobic interaction on protein adsorption are reported. Results concerning the interaction between different proteins and MeO surfaces in water are discussed in detail. Examples of purely electrostatic interactions of proteins with MeO surfaces as well as the influence of hydrophobic interaction are elucidated. An outlook of the implications of the new insights on natural and synthetic materials will be given concerning bio-compatibility, bio-mineralization and self assembly of materials.


At first presenting a summary of literature on or around the topic of the philosophy and design of marketing education programmes generally, this paper then moves on to consider current practice in France, noting specific strengths emerging from a distinctive educational culture. Data is presented on programme structure and coverage from a sample of 31 French HEIs alongside limited output from a small sample of informal interviews with stakeholders. The paper concludes by assessing and comparing current offerings between the UK and France and comments on how evolutionary pressures are possibly eroding the positive distinguishing features of French Marketing Education.


Abstract While planning for personal finances, researchers recommend investors adapting systematically planned investment behaviors that align investments with their financial objectives; however, they fail to provide a scale for the measurement of such behaviors. Therefore, this study develops a scale, conducts exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and provides evidence of the reliability of the scale measuring objectives-oriented investment behaviors. Examining a cross-sectional data of 448 investors collected through the new scale, the study finds that a majority of the investors' do not follow objectives-oriented behavior. The results inform that the selection of investment avenues and allocation of funds were not aligned with investors' financial objectives.


Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are multipotent progenitor cells with the ability to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondroblasts, myocytes, and adipocytes. They have potential for bone tissue engineering by the utilization of in vitro expanded cells with osteogenic capacity and their delivery to the appropriate sites via biomaterial scaffolds. The objective was to evaluate the potential of rat bone marrow MSCs to form 3D bone-like tissue by the use of mineralized poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) foam and osteoinductive medium under rotating culture conditions. PLGA foams were prepared by solvent casting and particulate leaching, then mineralized by incubating in simulated body fluid. MSCs isolated from the bone marrow of young Wistar rats were expanded and seeded on the mineralized scaffolds. The cell-polymer constructs were then cultured in a slow turning lateral vessel-type rotating bioreactor for 4 weeks under the effect of osteogenic inducers, β-glycerophosphate, ascorbic acid and dexamethasone. Mineralization was evaluated using FT-IR and increases in dry mass; morphology changes of the mineralized foams and cell adhesion was characterized by SEM; cell viability was monitored by MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide). Osteogenic differentiation was determined by using immunohistochemistry (anti-osteopontin). Results indicate the feasibility of bone tissue engineering with MSCs and mineralized PLGA scaffolds supporting cell adhesion, viability and osteogenic differentiation properties of cells in hybrid structures under appropriate bioreactor conditions.


The density, population, length, yield and sex proportion of the mollusks Anadara tuberculosa and A. similis were studied in Bahia de Golfito, Golfo Dulce, Pacific coast of Costa Rica from February 1998 to February 1999. A. tuberculosa was more abundant (0.9 units m(-2)), than A. similis (0.2 units m(-2)); the highest abundance was found at the canal mouths. The average lengths were 43.3 mm for A. tuberculosa and 42.8 mm for A. similis (both under the Costa Rican legal minimal length for exploitation: 47 mm). Maximum lengths were measured in the middle and upstream Canal Mayor, respectively: 43.0 mm and 43.4 mm. The correlation between length and fresh weight was 0.81 (Pearson). The average total weights were 26.2 g for A. tuberculosa and 19.1 g for A. similis. The condition index (a meat yield measurement) was higher in A. similis (21.2%) than in A. tuberculosa (17.2%). The maximum yield for both species lies in the 31-35 mm range. The male ratio was 43.7%. A species recovery plan is urgent because these results suggest both a decrease in density and illegal exploitation.


23Na NMR spectroscopy was used 1, to define the distribution of the shift reagent for cations, triethylenetetraminehexaacetatedysprosium(III), DyTTHA3−, in the living rat; 2, to define the characteristics of the Na resonances reporting intra‐ and extracellular Na+ in skeletal muscle in vivo; and 3, to calculate the Na+ concentrations in the intra‐ and extracellular spaces of the gastrocnemius muscle during well‐perfused and ischemic conditions. The concentration of DyTTHA3− infused intravenously into the jugular vein of the living rat reached a maximum value of 8–9 mM in the extracellular space of the muscle after ca 40 min of infusion. This allowed excellent discrimination of extra‐ and intracellular Na signals (Nao and Nai, respectively) and did not spoil the resolution of concurrent 31P NMR spectra. Infusion of shift reagent changed neither hemodynamic performance of the rat nor the high‐energy phosphate content of skeletal muscle. Shift reagent enters ca 15% (v/w) of the rat body weight; this corresponds to almost all of the "fast" or rapidly permeable extracellular space. It is excreted from the body with a pseudo‐first order rate constant of 0.0158 min−1. In resting muscle, we estimate that [Na+]i is 3–5 mM and, in muscle perfused with the sodium salt of the shift reagent, that [Na+]o in the fast exchangeable extracellular space is 166 mM. During 11 h of ischemia at 37°C, the area of the Nai+ signal area monotonically increased sixfold. Based on estimates for maximum changes in fluid shifts reported by the decrease in the area of the Nao signal area, we calculate that the lower limit for [Na+]i after 11 h of ischemia is 27 mM. The NMR‐visibility factors for the extracellular and intracellular Na+ signals are essentially the same. This study demonstrates that the shift reagent DyTTHA3− is acutely non‐toxic and that the 23Na NMR spectra obtained can be used to quantitate [Na+]o and [Na+]i in tissues in vivo. Using this technique, we found that the transmembrane sodium gradient fell from ca 35 in well‐perfused skeletal muscle to <6 during prolonged ischemia.


: Temporalis shortening by scarification is a relatively simple procedure and deserves further clinical testing, although the initial limitation of mouth opening shows some tendency to diminish. Its relative simplicity could make it the preferred procedure for unacceptable late joint snapping associated with TMJ hypermobility and for recurrent dislocation.


This paper shows a detail-free idea of multi-object large double auction design in general trading environments, where the auctioneer randomly divides agents into two groups, and agents in each group trade at the market-clearing price vector in the other group. With private values, any dominant strategy profile mimics price-taking behavior, and the auctioneer achieves approximate efficiency. With interdependent values, any twice iteratively undominated strategy profile mimics fully revealing rational expectations equilibrium, and the auctioneer approximately achieves ex post efficiency. We need only a very weak common knowledge assumption on rationality.


A mandate is "a business, or element of a business, in which the subsidiary participates and for which it has responsibilities beyond its national market" (Birkinshaw, 1996, p. 467). In the past MNCs set up subsidiaries as miniature replicas of the parent firm but with a changing global market the role of the subsidiary has developed into holding specific mandates. Much has been written about how subsidiaries gain mandates, but in this paper we focus on what causes a subsidiary to lose its mandate. By using AstraZeneca's R&D unit in Sodertalje as a case we examine the loss of mandates and to what extent technological capabilities are connected to the loss of mandates. The paper shows that explaining the loss of mandates is complex and requires consideration of several perspectives. We here provide a starting point for other researchers to continue upon.


In the experiment performed on lactating goats, insulin was infused into the jugular vein over during 2 days every day at the rate 2 mg/kg/hour during 6 hour synchronously with glucose at variable rate to maintain euglycaemia; the transport activity (T, in clearance units) was estimated using the equation: T = Q x E/ (1-E), where Q is plasma flow and E is extraction efficiency. At the end of infusion of the 1st and 2nd days, insulin level in the blood was increased by 63 and 82%, mammary plasma flow by 38 and 78%, milk secretion rate by 23.7 and 31.3 %, milk protein yield by 21.4 and 40%, transport activity of glucose by 63 %, and amino acids by 18% (all p < 0.05) compared to control, respectively. The data obtained suggest that productive effect resulted from elevated metabolic activity of secretory cells and increased mammary blood flow.


In this paper, the process of solid pellets being molten in the liquid melt in a co-rotating twin screw extruder is studied. Melting sequence of multiple pellets in the melt is calculated to find out the location where pellet is molten finally, and then a theoretical model is set up in which a cylindrical pellet is placed here. Further research is carried out to study how orientation of pellet and processing variables influence the melting time. FEM software, FLUENT is adopted to simulate the cases. It could be concluded that melting mechanisms of solid pellets are mainly convection; Pellets in the pushing zones would be molten at first and pellets in the middle channel and trailing zones at last. The orientation of pellets, temperature of melt and screw speed affect the melting time of the solid significantly.


Tax systems are generally assessed through their ability to achieve efficiency and equity goals. The question raised in this article is why and how some of these systems can get created and/or stay and place without achieving any of these goals. The approach used is in the tradition of the political economy literature, which assesses the web of interactions between the incentives of politicians to propose policies and the economic outcomes, that result, a.o. in terms of equity and efficiency. We review some of the existent theoretical analyses, to provide a better understanding of our two problems of interest dimensions concerning tax systems. First, why are inefficient systems not reformed? Second, why would governments ever implement systems that are viewed as inferior by a majority of the voters? Then, we illustrate how these theoretical mechanisms have worked in Belgium. Our analysis provides three cases studies: the tax exemptions awarded to SMEs, the tax exemptions offered to one-earner couples, and the taxation of capital income. In each of these cases, we highlight inefficiencies in the existing system –and hence could (should?) be reformed –and how the political economy factors put forth in the literature explain why actual reforms have remained insufficient. JEL codes: D70, D72, H20, H21, H24.


Contextual proximity detection (or, co-presence detection) is a promising approach to defend against relay attacks in many mobile authentication systems. We present a systematic assessment of co-presence detection in the presence of a context-manipulating attacker. First, we show that it is feasible to manipulate, consistently control and stabilize the readings of different acoustic and physical environment sensors (and even multiple sensors simultaneously) using low-cost, off-the-shelf equipment. Second, based on these capabilities, we show that an attacker who can manipulate the context gains a significant advantage in defeating context-based co-presence detection. For systems that use multiple sensors, we investigate two sensor fusion approaches based on machine learning techniques: features-fusion and decisions-fusion, and show that both are vulnerable to contextual attacks but the latter approach can be more resistant in some cases.


Primary cardiac tumors are rare entities with an autopsy frequency ranging
between 0.017% and 0.19%. The present study aimed to summerize 5 years of our clinical experience
with surgical resection of intracardiac tumors.
Materials & Methods: In this study, 3245 consecutive cases of cardiac operations performed at Seyedal-
Shohada Cardiovascular Center between November 2009 and December 2014 were retrospectively
reviewd. The data of 13 patients with open heart surgery due to cardiac tumors were selected and
analyzed. All patients underwent median sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass.
Results: The prevalence of cardiac operations for primary cardiac tumors was 0.4% among the
corresponding period cardiac operations. Of 13 operated patients, 6 were female (46.2%) and 7 male
(53.8%). The average age of the patients was 15 to 82 (mean 55.1 ± 16.2). The typical presentations
were cardioembolic stroke in 30.8% and congestive symptoms in 46.2%. It was an incidental finding in
23% of cases (3 patients). Myxoma (84.6%) was the most common diagnosis, typically affecting the left
atrium (81.8%). Malignant tumors represented 7.7% of cases. Mean tumor dimension was 5.2 cm in
largest diameter. Three patients (23%) had concommitant surgery together with tumor resection.
Papillary myxoma was found in 54.5% of patients (6 of 11 myxoma) and strongly was associated with
preoperative cardioembolic stroke (CVA). There were no early hospital deaths in the perioperative
period, and follow-up ranged from 6 to 44 months (mean23 months). Only one patient died during
follow-up after 2 years of surgery for malignant tumor. None of the myxoma patients had tumour
recurrence. At the last follow-up examination, all of patients were in functional NYHA classes I or II.
Conclusion: Surgical resection provides excellent outcome in patients with benign cardiac tumors and
surgery for cardiac myxoma is associated with low long-term mortality and morbidity. Malignant tumors
are a challenge despite good local tumor control because local recurrence and metastatic disease lead to
limited survival


Following the perspective of "sociological miniaturism," proposed by Stolte, Fine, and Cook (2001), we examine the significance of dust in social life in order to examine the reverberations of the micro-features of everyday life on social structure. Through the examination of the routine, the unexamined, and the commonplace, we hope to gain some insight on how the taken-for-granted aspects of lived experience fit into the larger social order. Dust, by virtue of its "smallness," provides a window through which we can explore social structural issues using microsociological analysis. Specifically we examine how dust and techniques for its control are linked to issues of gender, work, political economy, and nation.


The relevance of archaeological theory to contemporary craft, both through the discipline of academic investigation, and through an autobiographical voice in art practice, is the subject of this study. The sense of place, both classical and Aboriginal, is explored through letters and diaries from Greece in 1967 and from Bathurst Island in the Northern Territory in 1974. In bringing archaeological theory to bear on contemporary tapestry and textiles the principal finding is the pertinence of a faceted materiality, visuality and textuality, in exploring the cultural meaning of a work. The profound differences between the two areas of tapestry and textiles are brought out by an analysis not only of the objects themselves, but also of the documents the craft journals of the 1970s and 80s that position them within the spaces of contemporary art/craft. This study provides a critical structure that locates tapestry and textiles between the inarticulate tactile characteristics of'semiotic' fibre, and the coherent visuality of the 'symbolic' Fine Arts. Archaeology excavates the un-imagined and brings it into consciousness. The fragmentary objects of the past examined here are the classical collections of the Nicholson Museum in the University of Sydney and the Australian W a r Memorial in Canberra. This study demonstrates that the relationship of the past to the present is a matter to be continually reassessed, both through academic research and art practice. The two exhibitions documented, Archaeologies and Unwritten Country open up connections between archaeology and Aboriginality, tapestry and drawing that interrogate fixed hierarchies of past and present.


1 Uncertainty and Lyapunov Redesign Consider the system [?] ẋ = f(t, x) +G(t, x)[u+ δ(t, x, u)], (1) where x ∈ Rn is the state and u ∈ Rp is the control input. The functions f,G, and δ are defined for (x, u) ∈ D × Rp, where D ⊂ Rn contains the origin. The functions f,G and δ are piece-wise continuous and Lipschitz in x and u. We assume that f and G are known while δ is unknown and represents the combined effect of model simplification, parametric uncertainty, etc... [?]. When the uncertainty acts only along control vector fields (the columns of the matrix G) it is said to satisfy the matching condition, i.e. it matches the controls. The system (1) is in such form. Stabilizing controls can be designed for this case through the concept of Lyapunov redesign. In the nonmatching case, it is necessary to assume more restrictive assumptions about the bounds of δ and employ recursive techniques such as robust backstepping. A nominal model of the system is given by ẋ = f(t, x) +G(t, x)u, (2) and we assume that a feedback controller u = ψ(t, x) was designed so that the nominal closed-loop system ẋ = f(t, x) +G(t, x)ψ(t, x), (3) is uniformly asymptotically stable. Assume that the nominal control corresponds to a Lyapunov function V (t, x) such that α1(‖x‖) ≤ V (t, x) ≤ α2(‖x‖) (4) ∂tV + ∂xV · [f(t, x) +G(t, x)ψ(t, x)] ≤ −α3(‖x‖), (5) for all x ∈ D and where the functions αi are strictly increasing and satisfy αi(0) = 0 (such functions are said be class K functions). Assume that for u = ψ(x, t) + v, the uncertainty satisfies the bound ‖δ(t, x, ψ(t, x) + v)‖ ≤ ρ(t, x) + k0‖v‖, 0 ≤ k0 < 1 (6)


Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is an invasive variety of free – buoyant plant, its suffocate water bodies in tropical areas. In the river, Water hyacinth causes an effect on human health so, as to prevent or reduce this plant build up in the river, we have to overcome this issue in a commercial and economic means. So, we have to maintain the clean India movement and Green India dogma one step ahead to clean Rivers and make them free from Water hyacinth. This also helps to conserve the river ecosystem. And for that, we should also have an idea about the characteristics and constituents of Water hyacinth. Its capacity for growth and dissemination provokes major protection of the problems and is an emerging environmental issue Water hyacinth motivated this article. The assessment of this review study is to recycle the Waterhyacinth biomass for the production of biogas, biofertilizer, biostimulants etc., by using feasible technologies to promoting "ecofriendly organic farming practices for the betterment of our farmers. At the outset, the potential impact of this review is to shed new light on the better use of feebly studied Water hyacinth for the enhancement of agriculture production through organic farming. This gives invaluable products like biogas, biofertilizers, and uses like biostimulants, phyto-remediation and medicinal uses as discussed in this study.


ABSTRACT
The implicit aim in this kind of study, especially within developing countries, is to provide a tool that allows an economic decision maker to stand on solid ground and to reduce the problems that arise from the stochastic decisions in such countries. One of most effective tools, in this regard, is the econometric model.
Accordingly, in pursuit of achieving this aim, this study constructed a small econometric model for the Libyan economy with a view to assessing the existing and alternative economic policies, specifically fiscal and monetary policies, and then aimed to explore their transmission mechanisms and interaction. Therefore, the model is designed to capture the main characteristics of the economy whilst also exploiting the developments in economic theory and econometric analytical tools. The model consists of six blocks, namely, the aggregate demand, the aggregate supply, the balance of payments, the government, the monetary, and the price.
The model has been estimated utilizing time-series data spanning the period from 1970 to 2006. Also, the single equation of the model was estimated by using the 'Gets' technique which involves the formulation of a 'general' unrestricted model 'GUM' that is congruent with the data and the application of a 'testing down' process, eliminating variables with coefficients that are not statistically significant leading to a simpler 'specific' congruent model that encompasses rival models. This step achieves the first objective of the use of econometric models which is the structural analysis.
In addition, this study has carried out the remaining two objectives of econometric studies, namely forecasting and policy analysis. Accordingly, in order to fulfil this aim the model of the study has been solved as a whole, simultaneously using the dynamic simulation technique.
It is evident from the dynamic simulation of the model that the model's performance is, generally, quite satisfactory, whereby the model tracking behaviour clarified a good fit, and this is realized for most of the equations which performed much better than would be expected for a model of a developing country such as Libya.
The evaluation of the forecast accuracy of the model using the (MAPE), (RMSPE), and the Theil inequality coefficient (U) asserted the relatively good performance of the model.
The simulations' experiments in this study have evaluated the potential influences of the two major policy options, fiscal policy and monetary policy. As expected, with regard to the analysis of the monetary policy scenario and compared with the fiscal policy scenario, it can be concluded that monetary policy is less efficient compared to fiscal policy, according to this proposed model for the analysis of economic policy in Libya.
In addition, also, it is evident that fiscal policy should play a key role in the management of the Libyan economy and the role of monetary policy should be confined to supporting fiscal policy.


Temperature is one of the most important range-limiting factors for many seaweeds. Driven by the recent climatic changes, rapid northward shifts of species' distribution ranges can potentially modify the phylogeographic signature of Last Glacial Maximum. We explored this question in detail in the cold-tolerant kelp species Saccharina latissima, using microsatellites and double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing ( ddRAD-seq) derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to analyze the genetic diversity and structure in 11 sites spanning the entire European Atlantic latitudinal range of this species. In addition, we checked for statistical correlation between genetic marker allele frequencies and three environmental proxies (sea surface temperature, salinity, and water turbidity). Our findings revealed that genetic diversity was significantly higher for the northernmost locality (Spitsbergen) compared to the southern ones (Northern Iberia), which we discuss in light of the current state of knowledge on phylogeography of S. latissima and the potential influence of the recent climatic changes on the population structure of this species. Seven SNPs and 12 microsatellite alleles were found to be significantly associated with at least one of the three environmental variables. We speculate on the putative adaptive functions of the genes associated with the outlier markers and the importance of these markers for successful conservation and aquaculture strategies for S. latissima in this age of rapid global change.


Electronic publishing exploits numerous possibilities to present or exchange information and to communicate via most current media like the Internet. By utilizing modern Web technologies like Web Services, loosely coupled services, and peer-to-peer networks we describe the integration of an intelligent business news presentation and distribution network. Employing semantics technologies enables the coupling of multinational and multilingual business news data on a scalable international level and thus introduce a service quality that is not achieved by alternative technologies in the news distribution area so far. Architecturally, we identified the loose coupling of existing services as the most feasible way to address multinational and multilingual news presentation and distribution networks. Furthermore we semantically enrich multinational news contents by relating them using AI techniques like the Vector Space Model. Summarizing our experiences we describe the technical integration of semantics and communication technologies in order to create a modern international news network.


abstract:Spinoza's necessitarianism—the doctrine that everything that is actual is necessary—is an important matter of debate in German Idealism. I examine Schelling's discussion of Spinoza's necessitarianism in his 1809 Freedom Essay and focus in particular on an objection that Schelling raises against this view, namely, that it has "blind necessity" govern the world. While Schelling draws on Leibniz's critique of Spinoza's necessitarianism in this context, he rejects the assumption of divine choice that stands behind Leibniz's version of the charge of blind necessity. I develop an interpretation that shows both how Schelling consistently avoids necessitarianism despite denying divine choice, and how his own version of the charge of blind necessity offers objections against Spinoza's necessitarianism that focus on the issues of divine personhood and love.


This paper introduces new estimates of aggregate, sectoral, and industry productivity based on a solid framework for how industry and sectoral MFP feed into aggregate MFP. In addition, they are developed using industry data classified according to NAICS from 1987 on. Our sectoral approach confirms that the pick up in U.S. productivity in the late 1990s was not solely concentrated among producers of high-technology equipment and software, and that a surge in innovations in the retail and wholesale trade industries (the distribution sector) also contributed importantly to economic growth. More importantly, our work sheds light on the sources of the continued strong performance of U.S. productivity since 2000. We find that the major sectoral players in the late 1990s pickup were not contributors to the more recent surge in productivity. Rather, striking gains in MFP in the finance and business services sector, a resurgence in MFP growth in the industrial sector, and an end to drops elsewhere more than account for the acceleration in productivity growth in recent years.


The presence of retained foreign bodies in the maxillofacial region as a consequence of penetrating injuries from knives is poorly documented in the scientific literature. This manuscript reports the case of a 30-year-old Caucasian with a knife blade lodged in the maxillofacial skeleton. Following clinical and radiographic exams, it was determined that the object had penetrated through the left nostril and nasal septum, in the direction of the right maxillary sinus, and remained impacted without causing injury to important anatomical structures. After systemic assessment and determination of the exact location of the knife blade, the object was removed in an outpatient setting under local anaesthesia. This manuscript aims to report a rare case of a transfacial penetrating injury involving a knife blade that was removed in an outpatient setting while also discussing the proper conduct and treatment options for similar cases in the context of a brief literature review.


Concept-to-text generation typically employs a pipeline architecture, which often leads to suboptimal texts. Content selection, for example, may greedily select the most important facts, which may require, however, too many words to express, and this may be undesirable when space is limited or expensive. Selecting other facts, possibly only slightly less important, may allow the lexicalization stage to use much fewer words, or to report more facts in the same space. Decisions made during content selection and lexicalization may also lead to more or fewer sentence aggregation opportunities, affecting the length and readability of the resulting texts. Building upon on a publicly available state of the art natural language generator for Semantic Web ontologies, this article presents an Integer Linear Programming model that, unlike pipeline architectures, jointly considers choices available in content selection, lexicalization, and sentence aggregation to avoid greedy local decisions and produce more compact texts, i.e., texts that report more facts per word. Compact texts are desirable, for example, when generating advertisements to be included in Web search results, or when summarizing structured information in limited space. An extended version of the proposed model also considers a limited form of referring expression generation and avoids redundant sentences. An approximation of the two models can be used when longer texts need to be generated. Experiments with three ontologies confirm that the proposed models lead to more compact texts, compared to pipeline systems, with no deterioration or with improvements in the perceived quality of the generated texts.


This case study provides new information about alternative asset fees to many institutional investors by tapping a relatively unknown data source: state pension fund annual reports. Examining the few state pension funds annual reports that track both fixed fees and carried interest fees of private equity funds and hedge funds, we find that average alternative asset fees were 2.48% of the relevant pension fund assets for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2017. In addition, as New Jersey provides the most detailed alternative asset data, this study discusses New Jersey pension fund's private equity and hedge fund (a) returns, (b) fees, and (c) volatility, compared to verifiable and public benchmarks for the five years ended June 30, 2017. Both private equity and hedge fund portfolios underperformed the benchmarks, and the alternative asset industries' claim of higher returns and lower risks than traditional assets is not supported in this study. To the degree that other state pension funds follow the same investment policies and controls as the state of New Jersey, this study concludes that state pension funds should reduce their holdings of alternative asset substantially. TOPICS: Wealth management, retirement, pension funds, private equity Key Findings • The New Jersey pension plan's private equity fund and hedge fund portfolios (i) are reasonable proxies for both asset classes and (ii) are similar to those of other state pension funds. • PE five-year annualized returns (net of fees) were the same as the S&P 500. Hedge fund returns were significantly below the 60–40 index and equivalent to LIBOR+5%. • PE return volatility was similar to the S&P 500. HF volatility was greater than the 60-40 and LIBOR+5%. Average annual PE and HF fees were 3.29% and 3.08% respectively.


The project Aboriginal Imagination is a research project that aims to encourage Aboriginal artists to find ways to work with communication technologies to help improve Aboriginal health and education. My thesis argues that Aboriginal people must take advantage of current and future developments in new media art and multimedia technologies. The project Aboriginal Imagination provides an example of how it is possible for technology and culture to come together and be used for educational purposes to reach Indigenous audiences. The interactive DVD Aboriginal Imagination is a model of how the knowledge of Aboriginal elders, vision and skills of Indigenous new media artists may be bought together to design and produce culturally appropriate educational materials. Aboriginal people have vital knowledge and skills that must be encouraged and put to use back in their communities. The project highlights the importance of Aboriginal people taking control of their health and of the design, production and dissemination of health education materials. The focus of my thesis and multimedia DVD is the kidney function story that is designed to be meaningful to Aboriginal renal patients and their families.


THE CLASSIC appearance of ulcerative colitis in which the involvement of the rectum or rectosigmoid is succeeded by a more or less diffuse involvement of the colon is a familiar clinical problem. However, the occurrence of regional or segmental types is much less common and may present diagnostic difficulties. The least common of the segmental distributions is that in which the sigmoid alone is involved. Since the pathogenesis of this lesion is obscure and the diagnosis often difficult, it has seemed worth while to report a single case. REPORT OF A CASE J. K., a 34-year-old white man, was admitted to the Veterans Administration Hospital, Aug. 29, 1950, complaining of mild lower abdominal pain, weakness, malaise, and weight loss of six weeks' duration. There was no disturbance in bowel function and no change in the color or consistency of the stools. The patient appeared chronically ill and pale and thin,


This article that based on the communication technology of 2.4G global free frequency range adopts technical route which can stabilize and reliable work in high—intensity magnetic field and other disturb spot acquisition of signal technology. The technical route is that collecting the spot signal and making the wireless communication, then restoring the signal to logging. The modern information communication in oil log will come true through this process. This technology not only overcome many malpractice which exist in the wired communication but also allow the logging cabin far from well site, which both reduce the cost of logging and improve the work efficiency


NCI9s Division of Cancer Prevention has over 25 years entered some 800 agents into a program designed to test cancer preventive efficacy. Early in the testing pathway are 2 sequential critical steps: (1) in vitro/in vivo morphologic assays and, (2) for agents successful in step 1, cancer-preventive testing (measured in terms of tumor incidence and multiplicity reduction) in animal tumor assays. The ultimate intention is to follow successful testing in animals with entry into clinical trial testing in humans. To facilitate the optimal selection of appropriate morphologic tests for specific disease-site animal tumor models, we undertook the current project. We evaluated the success of our strategy by determining how accurately the earlier stage (morphologic) assays predict efficacy in the later-stage (animal tumor) assays. Focusing on 210 agents that were tested in both morphologic and animal tumor assays, we carried out statistical modeling of how well the 6 most commonly used morphologic assays predicted drug efficacy in animal tumor models. Using multimodel inference, three statistical models were generated to evaluate the ability of these 6 morphologic assays to predict tumor outcomes in 3 different sets of animal tumor assays: (1) all tumor types, (2) breast cancer only, and (3) colon cancer only. Using this statistical modeling approach, each morphologic assay was assigned a value reflecting how strongly it predicted outcomes in each of the 3 different sets of animal tumor assays. The goal is to use predictive models such as these to guide our future decision-making with respect to selection of preventive agents as well as morphologic and animal tumor assays. In this manner, we hope to improve the efficiency of our overall approach to chemoprevention agent development. Citation Format: Barbara K. Dunn, Vernon E. Steele, Richard M. Fagerstrom, Carol F. Topp, David Ransohoff, Leslie G. Ford, Barnett S. Kramer. Predicting efficacy of chemopreventive agents in animal tumor assays by statistical modeling. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual AACR International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research; 2014 Sep 27-Oct 1; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Can Prev Res 2015;8(10 Suppl): Abstract nr B53.


Climate is one of the main drivers of species distribution. However, as different environmental factors tend to co-vary, the effect of climate cannot be taken at face value, as it may be either inflated or obscured by other correlated factors. We used the favourability models of four species (Alytes dickhilleni, Vipera latasti, Aquila fasciata and Capra pyrenaica) inhabiting Spanish mountains as case studies to evaluate the relative contribution of climate in their forecasted favourability by using variation partitioning and weighting the effect of climate in relation to non-climatic factors. By calculating the pure effect of the climatic factor, the pure effects of non-climatic factors, the shared climatic effect and the proportion of the pure effect of the climatic factor in relation to its apparent effect (ρ), we assessed the apparent effect and the pure independent effect of climate. We then projected both types of effects when modelling the future favourability for each species and combination of AOGCM-SRES (two Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Models: CGCM2 and ECHAM4, and two Special Reports on Emission Scenarios (SRES): A2 and B2). The results show that the apparent effect of climate can be either inflated (overrated) or obscured (underrated) by other correlated factors. These differences were species-specific; the sum of favourable areas forecasted according to the pure climatic effect differed from that forecasted according to the apparent climatic effect by about 61% on average for one of the species analyzed, and by about 20% on average for each of the other species. The pure effect of future climate on species distributions can only be estimated by combining climate with other factors. Transferring the pure climatic effect and the apparent climatic effect to the future delimits the maximum and minimum favourable areas forecasted for each species in each climate change scenario.


The military plays a vital role in upholding Cameroon's authoritarian government. Since independence, in 1960, the country has been ruled by a single political party and only two presidents: Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya. Both have gone to great lengths to secure military loyalty: counterbalancing rival forces, personalizing command hierarchies, ethnically stacking both the regular military and presidential guard, and providing extensive patronage benefits to soldiers. Ahidjo and Biya have both also repeatedly used the security forces to repress threats from below and stabilize their dictatorships. Combined gendarme, army, and paramilitary units have been deployed to defeat the southern maquis rebellion of the 1960s; the mass protests for democratization in the 1990s; the fight against Boko Haram, beginning in 2014; and the Anglophone separatist movement, which exploded in 2017. Whether facing nonviolent demonstrators or armed rebels, the military has never defected or refused to obey orders. Yet, as the 1984 coup attempt demonstrated, the bounds of military loyalty are not limitless. When Ahidjo retired, the northern Muslim Fulbe members of the elite Republican Guard attempted to prevent Biya—a southern Christian Beti—from rising to power.


DESCRIPTION This is one of the first books to focus on the dynamic aspect of proteomes. The book introduces proteomics to the newcomer, reviews the theoretical aspects of proteomics and its state-of-the art technologies, along with a number of biological applications using "classical" proteomic technology. The book also presents a new concept, the Dynamome, or the expression of a comprehensive molecular set that participates in the whole dynamic process of a series of cellular events.


In this work, we propose a new solution for 3D human pose estimation in videos. Instead of directly regressing the 3D joint locations, we draw inspiration from the human skeleton anatomy and decompose the task into bone direction prediction and bone length prediction, from which the 3D joint locations can be completely derived. Our motivation is the fact that the bone lengths of a human skeleton remain consistent across time. This promotes us to develop effective techniques to utilize global information across {\it all} the frames in a video for high-accuracy bone length prediction. Moreover, for the bone direction prediction network, we propose a fully-convolutional propagating architecture with long skip connections. Essentially, it predicts the directions of different bones hierarchically without using any time-consuming memory units (e.g. LSTM). A novel joint shift loss is further introduced to bridge the training of the bone length and bone direction prediction networks. Finally, we employ an implicit attention mechanism to feed the 2D keypoint visibility scores into the model as extra guidance, which significantly mitigates the depth ambiguity in many challenging poses. Our full model outperforms the previous best results on Human3.6M and MPI-INF-3DHP datasets, where comprehensive evaluation validates the effectiveness of our model.


Automatic segmentation of high-resolution remote sensing imagery is an important problem in urban applications because the resulting segmentations can provide valuable spatial and structural information that are complementary to pixel-based spectral information in classification. We present a method that combines structural information extracted by morphological processing with spectral information summarized using principal components analysis to produce precise segmentations that are also robust to noise. The experiments show that the method is able to detect structures in the image which are more precise and more meaningful than the structures detected by another approach that does not make strong use of neighborhood and spectral information.


Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its predisposing risk factors are major lifestyle and behavioral determinants of longevity. Dietary lifestyle choices such as a heart healthy diet, regular exercise, a lean weight, moderate alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation have been shown to substantially reduce CVD and increase longevity. Recent research has shown that men and women who adhere to this lifestyle can substantially reduce their risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). The preventive benefits of maintaining a healthy lifestyle exceed those reported for using medication and procedures. Among the modifiable preventive measures, diet is of paramount importance, and recent data suggest some misconceptions and uncertainties that require reconsideration. These include commonly accepted recommendations about polyunsaturated fat intake, processed meat consumption, fish choices and preparation, transfatty acids, low carbohydrate diets, egg consumption, coffee, added sugar, soft drink beverages, glycemic load, chocolate, orange juice, nut consumption, vitamin D supplements, food portion size, and alcohol.