The bioactivity of TiO2/Ti composite membrane with different crystral phase was studied by the culture of hypothalamic neurons in vitro for the application of immunoisolation. The kind of membrane supported on porous Ti has been prepared by sol-gel technique and the crystral phase was controlled by different sintering temperature. The crystral phase of TiO2, morphology and function of hypothalamic neurons were observed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and environmental sanning electron microscope (ESEM). The results showed that neurons could attach well to the TiO2 /Ti composite membranes with rutile phase and became bipolar. The long axon and dendrite with dendrite spine were interconnected by synapses. A complicated neural net were easily observed. The secretory level of β-endorphine remained between 51.3pmol/L and 40.6pmol/L all the times. However, the neurons in membranes with anatase were transformed into an umbilicate structure without processes. The secretory function of neurons also died out in 4 days. These results indicated that the TiO2 /Ti composite membranes with rutile phase were propitious to the neuron's growth than the composite membranes with anatase phase and could be used as immunoisolation membranes.


Whitebox cryptography aims to provide security in the whitebox setting where the adversary has unlimited access to the implementation and its environment. In order to ensure security in the whitebox setting, it should prevent key extraction attacks and code-lifting attacks, in which the adversary steals the original cryptographic implementation instead of the key, and utilizes it as a big key. Although recent published ciphers such as SPACE, SPNbox, and Whiteblock successfully achieve security against the key extraction attacks, they only provide mitigation of codelifting attack by the so-called space hardness and incompressibility properties of the underlying tables as the space-hard/incompressible table might be eventually stolen by continuous leakage. The complete prevention of such attacks may need to periodically update the secret key. However, that entails high costs and might introduce an additional vulnerability into the system due to the necessity for the reencryption of all data by the updated key. In this paper, we introduce a new property, denominated longevity, for whitebox cryptography. This property enhances security against code-lifting attacks with continuous leakage by updating incompressible tables instead of the secret key. We propose a family of new whitebox-secure block ciphers Yoroi that has the longevity property in addition to the space hardness. By updating its implementation periodically, Yoroi provides constant security against code-lifting attacks without key updating. Moreover, the performance of Yoroi is competitive with existing ciphers implementations in the blackbox and whitebox context.


ABSTRACT Cripto is a developmental oncoprotein and a member of the epidermal growth factor-Cripto, FRL-1, Cryptic family of extracellular signaling molecules. In addition to having essential functions during embryogenesis, Cripto is highly expressed in tumors and promotes tumorigenesis. During development, Cripto acts as an obligate coreceptor for transforming growth factor β (TGF-β) ligands, including nodals, growth and differentiation factor 1 (GDF1), and GDF3. As an oncogene, Cripto is thought to promote tumor growth via mechanisms including activation of mitogenic signaling pathways and antagonism of activin signaling. Here, we provide evidence supporting a novel mechanism in which Cripto inhibits the tumor suppressor function of TGF-β. Cripto bound TGF-β and reduced the association of TGF-β with its type I receptor, TβRI. Consistent with its ability to block receptor assembly, Cripto suppressed TGF-β signaling in multiple cell types and diminished the cytostatic effects of TGF-β in mammary epithelial cells. Furthermore, targeted disruption of Cripto expression by use of small inhibitory RNA enhanced TGF-β signaling, indicating that endogenous Cripto plays a role in restraining TGF-β responses.


Polycera aurantiomarginata Garcia and Bobo 1984 has a stable population in the intertidal area of El Portil beach (Huelva, SW Spain). This fact allowed specimens of different sizes to be collected from March 2001 to December 2003. In this paper, the ontogenetic variations of the radula of P. aurantiomarginata are studied. The radulae of 141 specimens were examined, 138 from El Portil and 3 from La Herradura (Granada, SE Spain). Specimens of 1.5-2 mm in length lack the typical radula described for P. aurantiomarginata. They have the so called pre-radula whose teeth are different in size and shape from the typical radula of the adults. In the specimens of 3 and 4 mm the pre-radula coexists with the characteristic radula, which is the single structure present in the specimens larger than 4 mm. The following features of the radula are included in this study: radular length, number of teeth rows and length of the outer lateral teeth. According to the three measured variables, the affinities among specimens without a pre-radula were established through cluster analysis, which defined three different groups (4-10 mm, 11-22 mm and 23-48 mm). Correlations between specimen length and radula length, number of rows and mean length of outer lateral teeth were significant. Feeding strategies could be related to the different morphology of the radula established by the Cluster analysis.


The use of distributed temperature sensing (DTS) for ecological applications has increased rapidly in the last 6 years. Here we demonstrate the first use of DTS to measure soil temperatures during a fuel reduction burn – in an urban grassy Tuart–Banksia woodland remnant near Perth, Western Australia. Optical fibre with an acrylate material coating (diameter 242μm), but no other jacketing or cabling, was buried in the soil at depths between 0 and 5cm. Measurements were recorded over 316m of optical fibre using a DTS measurement unit, providing data over a 5.5-h period at 20-s intervals; resulting in 1243 temporal measurements at 60-cm spatial resolution. Soil temperatures were calibrated to an error of±6.8% at 250°C. Methods for installation, calibration and data visualisation are presented. Issues associated with assessment of DTS data in a fire ecology context are discussed.


A generally accepted method to measure black carbon (BC) or elemental carbon (EC) still does not exist. An earlier study in the Vienna area comparing practically all measurement methods in use in Europe gave comparable BC and EC concentrations under summer conditions (Hitzenberger et al., 2006a). Under summer conditions, Diesel traffic is the major source for EC or BC in Vienna. Under winter conditions, space heating (also with biomass as fuel) is another important source (Caseiro et al., 2007). The present study compares the response of thermal methods (a modified Cachier method, Cachier et al., 1989; a thermal-optical method, Schmid et al., 2001; and two thermal-optical (TOT) methods using Sunset instruments, Birch and Cary, 1996 and Schauer et al., 2003) and optical methods (a light transmission method, Hansen et al., 1984; the integrating sphere method, Hitzenberger et al., 1996; and the multiangle absorption photometer MAAP, Petzold and Schönlinner, 2004). Significant differences were found between the TOT methods on the one hand and all other methods on the other. The TOT methods yielded EC concentrations that were lower by 44 and 17% than the average of all measured concentrations (including the TOT data). The largest discrepancy was found when the contribution of brown carbon (measured with the integrating sphere method) was largest.


After diabetes, the heart has a singular reliance on fatty acid (FA) for energy production, which is achieved by increased coronary lipoprotein lipase (LPL) that breaks down circulating triglycerides. Coronary LPL originates from cardiomyocytes, and to translocate to the vascular lumen, the enzyme requires liberation from myocyte surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), an activity that needs to be sustained after chronic hyperglycemia. We investigated the mechanism by which endothelial cells (EC) and cardiomyocytes operate together to enable continuous translocation of LPL after diabetes. EC were cocultured with myocytes, exposed to high glucose, and uptake of endothelial heparanase into myocytes was determined. Upon uptake, the effect of nuclear entry of heparanase was also investigated. A streptozotocin model of diabetes was used to expand our in vitro observations. In high glucose, EC-derived latent heparanase was taken up by cardiomyocytes by a caveolae-dependent pathway using HSPGs. This latent heparanase was converted into an active form in myocyte lysosomes, entered the nucleus, and upregulated gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9. The net effect was increased shedding of HSPGs from the myocyte surface, releasing LPL for its onwards translocation to the coronary lumen. EC-derived heparanase regulates the ability of the cardiomyocyte to send LPL to the coronary lumen. This adaptation, although acutely beneficial, could be catastrophic chronically because excess FA causes lipotoxicity. Inhibiting heparanase function could offer a new strategy for managing cardiomyopathy observed after diabetes.


ABSTRACT
 Previous studies have highlighted the significant role played by what is referred to as the 'police gaze', or the set of tacit skills that police officers use in their everyday work to scan the environment, to identify sources of threats or suspects on the streets. The present study suggests that the police gaze can also be used among police officers who do not know one another and do not know whom to trust and who not to trust. This is even more so in collaborative contexts that require the sharing of sensitive information and knowledge, such as in police intelligence work. The aim of the present paper is to suggest how intelligence officers use jokes and humour to identify whom to trust and whom not to trust. Not only is humour used as a social basis for building a sense of group identity and developing better interpersonal collaboration skills, but it is also used to test which colleagues are more trustworthy than others. The paper ends with conclusions, implications, and suggestions for further studies.


Universal data compression algorithms are the algorithms by which source data can be coded without a priori knowledge of statistics of a source. This paper describes two techniques for constructing and updating normal trees-adding and discarding. Two universal data compression algorithms and their tree source models are proposed and their implementations are suggested. These algorithms are evaluated by three parameters-the normalized average code lengths, required memory spaces, and encoding complexities.


Using identification-robust methods, the authors estimate and evaluate for Canada and the United States various classes of inflation equations based on generalized structural Calvo-type models. The models allow for different forms of frictions and vary in their assumptions regarding the type of price indexation adopted by firms. Point and confidence-set parameter estimates are obtained based on the inversion of identification-robust test statistics. Focus is maintained on the structural aspect of the model with formal imposition of the restrictions that map the theoretical model into the econometric one. The results show that there is some statistical merit to using indexation-based Calvo-type models for inflation. However, some identification difficulties are also uncovered with considerable uncertainty associated with estimated parameter values. In particular, we find that implausibly-high frequency of price re-optimization values cannot be ruled out from our identification-robust confidence sets.


This study investigates the consequences of the growth in mergers amongst trade unions. It is conventional wisdom that unions which engage in mergers, pooling their resources and releasing economies of scale, become more powerful and serve their members' more efficiently. The notion that unions truly achieve a strength in numbers, through pursuing a strategy for growth based around mergers and amalgamations, will be examined in relation to union structure and collective bargaining with a view to determining the impact of mergers on trade union power.

Given that the merger activity of trade unions has not been neglected by academics, particularly during the 1980s, it is perhaps surprising that, hitherto, studies have preferred to investigate the reasons for mergers rather than the consequences. It is to be hoped therefore that This study can add something new to the studies of union merger and reinvigorate, the debate. The interest in, and prevalence of, merger activity amongst trade unions has shown no sign of abating during the 1990s.

The research conducted for this study involved three distinct methods. An extensive survey of practitioners in employee relations from employers and trade unions in the public and private sector was conducted, in conjunction with follow-up interviews in which respondents were asked to elaborate on (and to justify) their responses. The research was supplemented by two case studies involving different mergers in different sectors which aimed to control for any subjectivity residing in the findings of the initial research by allowing for the views of an independent observer to be taken into account. Moreover, case studies allowed the dynamics of the merger process to be taken into account by delivering a mechanism by which the development of the merger over time could be studied in a way that a static survey response could not.

The study concluded that on a number of counts the growth in mergers had had some impact on trade union power, both in relation to bargaining and organisation. It also concluded that the consequences of the merger stemmed from two distinct facets of the merger. There is a direct impact through the growth or stability of union members or resources and a secondary impact, whereby the merger unfroze the union's reluctance to rationalise through an organisational and structural review. In generating a focus for organisational change within the union, there was some evidence that the merger acted as a catalyst for an efficiency reviews which stemmed beyond the immediate and direct confines of the merger.

Not unsurprisingly, the study indicated that an accurate assessment of union power and power relations is very difficult. Given the number of potential determinants of union power, it is extremely difficult to isolate the effects of a single determinant. More work needs to be conducted in generating a workable model for union power that, whilst allowing for a range of interrelated determinants, can be applied in practice. It is to be hoped that in some way this study, in addition to refocusing the debate on union mergers per se, can also contribute to an investigation of the determinants of union power and how they can be measured.

The thesis is set out in five parts beginning with the academic literature relating to the study. Given that the investigation is primarily a study of trade union mergers the literature relating to merger theory is outlined. Where there are conclusions that have an impact on the thesis, particularly for example in the classification of mergers, this is reviewed in some detail. The notion of power is important in the study and consideration of the literature relating to power theory forms the next section of the thesis. Where authors have directed their studies towards a robust definition of the concept of power this is discussed in relation to trade unions and the bargaining environment. Where research on collective bargaining has been conducted to identify the major components and determinants of union power these are examined and applied. In both cases, literature going back to the 1960s from both the UK and abroad, has been included.

A brief overview of trade union mergers during the period covered by the study is included in the next section. This will describe the mergers which occurred in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, as well as placing them in the economic and political environment of the period, indicating where necessary, developments which had a notable impact on merger activity. In the next section. The results of the research are necessarily covered in some detail in the third section and they are preceded with a brief summary. The range of issues, under examination and the variety of different sectors and organisations which submitted information demanded that adequate space was allocated to investigating the different responses from within and between unions and employers operating in different sectors and industries. Lastly, in the final section of the thesis, the findings of the research are collated and evaluated. The degree to which trade union power has been affected by mergers, either directly or through legitimising a review programme, are considered in relation to a range of mergers and different industries. The question of whether the dramatic increase in trade a range of mergers over the last decade or so has benefited union members, either in terms of the services they enjoy or through the enhanced performance of their unions in collective bargaining, is considered.


Abstract. High-time resolution measurements of the electron distribution function performed in the auroral upward current region reveals a large asymmetry between the low- and high-potential sides of a double-layer. The latter side is characterized by a large enhancement of a locally trapped electron population which corresponds to a significant part (~up to 30%) of the total electron density. As compared to the background hot electron population, this trapped component has a very cold temperature in the direction parallel to the static magnetic field. Accordingly, the differential drift between the trapped and background hot electron populations generates high frequency electron acoustic waves in a direction quasi-parallel to the magnetic field. The density of the trapped electron population can be deduced from the frequency where the electron acoustic spectrum maximizes. In the auroral midcavity region, the electron acoustic waves may be modulated by an additional turbulence generated in the ion acoustic range thanks to the presence of a pre-accelerated ion beam located on the high-potential side of the double layer. Electron holes characterized by bipolar pulses in the electric field are sometimes detected in correlation with these electron acoustic wave packets.


Paediatric shock is common. Hypovolaemic and septic shock are the main forms. Early and rapid results-oriented therapy of paediatric septic shock has a favourable effect on survival. There is an international guideline for the primary management of paediatric shock during the first hour after presentation of the patient. The goal of treatment is to prevent oxygen debt and consequently organ failure. The main symptoms of paediatric shock are tachycardia and reduced consciousness. In a child in shock, the clinical picture should be recognized within 15 minutes and an attempt should be made to reverse the situation by rapid fluid infusion. If the shock persists after 15 minutes, vasoactive medication should be given and the child should be transferred to a local paediatric intensive care unit. Intubation and mechanical ventilation are then also required.


Today, petroleum-based superabsorbents are widely used, but interest in renewable alternatives is on the rise. This study presents two wood-based absorbent materials suitable for various absorption applications as an alternative to petroleum-based products. Never-dried bleached kraft pulp was treated with TEMPO-oxidation, and new carboxylate and aldehyde groups were introduced. It was found that the aldehyde groups contributed to the wet integrity of the absorbent materials, possibly by the formation of hemiacetal bonds. After oxidation, the pulp fibers were gradually disintegrated, and size analysis showed that the disintegration rate was enhanced by an increase in the charge of the oxidant. Freeze drying produced a porous foam with a large surface area that enabled a rapid absorption rate as well as a reasonably high absorption capacity even for absorption under load. Air drying formed a compact film with a slow absorption rate but with a high final capacity for absorption.


Academic education in dentistry should lead to the capability to solve complex open problems. The student entering university is only familiar with closed problems. Research into the making of a medical diagnosis has shown that novices do so differently than experts. These research results are summarised and are presumed to be transferable to dental diagnosing and treatment planning. Examples of this transfer are given. Until 1 or 2 decades ago, education in problem solving was done only by extensive teacher-student interaction in clinical and scientific work. Presently, this is no longer adequate because of reduction of curriculum time for these activities. Therefore other methods have been developed in many places. These methods include the use of a problem-solving model (heuristic). Based on models in the literature, 3 new models are presented. These are intended for novices that solve a dentally relevant open problem in basic sciences, for novices that solve a clinical dental problem, and for more expert students that solve such a problem. Diagrams and examples are given.


©  fo to m ov a A do be -S to ck .c om V  isualization and analysis of transparent living ocular tissues at microscopic scale have been a challenge during the last decades. Nowadays clinical devices only allow imaging cellular corneal structures; however, collagen fibers of the stroma (90 % of the corneal thickness) cannot be imaged. It has been recently reported a compact Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscope able to image the living human cornea and the sclera for the very first time.


The Walling Family of Nineteenth-Century Texas recounts the actions of the first four generations of the John Walling family. Through a heavily quantitative study, the study focuses on the patterns of movement, service, and seizing opportunity demonstrated by the family as they took full advantage of the benefits of frontier expansion in the Old South and particularly Texas. In doing so, it chronicles the role of a relatively unknown family in many of the most defining events of the nineteenth-century Texas experience such as the Texas Revolution, Mexican War, Civil War, Reconstruction, and the Close of the Frontier. Based on extensive research in census, tax, election, land, military, family paper, newspaper, and existing genealogical records; the study documents the contributions of family members to the settlement of more than forty counties while, at the same time, noting its less positive behaviors such as its open hostility to American Indians, and significant slave ownership. This study seeks to extend the work of other quantitative studies that looked at movement and political influence in the Old South, Texas, and specific communities to the microcosm of a single extended family. As a result, it should be of use to those wanting a greater understanding of how events in nineteenth-century Texas shaped, and were shaped by, families outside the political and social elite.


ABSTRACT Optimized on-line control (OOC) of polymerization reactors combine the optimization with the on-line operation and control. In this, re-optimized control variable trajectories, in the presence of unplanned disturbances, are obtained and implemented on-line to save the batch. Also, the available computational time for the optimization is limited as the re-optimized trajectories need to be implemented in real time on the actual system. In the present study, the OOC of such a system, i.e., bulk polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) in a batch reactor, is carried out in the occurrence of heater malfunction. To solve the underlying multi-objective problem, a multi-objective variant of differential evolution with an improved mutation strategy is developed. The developed algorithm shows faster convergence with respect to other compared algorithms for a large number of benchmark problems. Finally, this algorithm is used to find the optimal temperature trajectories and the OOC with these trajectories found to be successfully countering the effect of heater malfunction.


Developmental toxicology (teratology) studies were done on two perfluorinated compounds—perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and 2-(N-ethylperfluorooctanesulfonamido)ethyl alcohol (N-EtFOSE) in rats and rabbits. Dose selection for these oral developmental toxicity studies were based upon dose-range study results. Dose levels of 0,1,5,10, and 20 mg/kg/day were used for the rat N-EtFOSE study, and dose levels of 0, 0.1, 1.0, 2.5, and 3.75 mg/kg/day were used for both the PFOS and the N-EtFOSE rabbit studies. Although no compound-related deaths occurred in the dosed pregnant females on the developmental toxicity studies, maternal toxicity (reduced body weight gain and feed consumption) was present at higher dose levels in all three studies. At high maternally toxic doses, associated effects occurred in the conceptuses—increased abortions in PFOS and N-EtFOSE rabbits, reduced fetal weights in N-EtFOSE rats and PFOS rabbits, and increased late resorptions in N-EtFOSE rabbits. Detailed external gross, soft tissue, and skeletal fetal examinations failed to reveal any compound-related malformations in either species. Similar results, that is, only effects associated with maternal toxicity, had been found in previously conducted PFOS rat developmental toxicity studies. It was concluded that these perfluorinated compounds were not selective developmental toxicants in either rats or rabbits.


Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Lymphology has developed an innovative drug based on a complex of lithium citrate, polymethylsiloxane and aluminum oxide (LOAP). Lithium-based drugs are effective in treating bipolar disorders. However, the toxic effects of lithium cause a "narrow therapeutic window", which limits its clinical use. The creation of the drug LOAP was aimed at creating a prolonged form with a slow release of lithium to reduce toxic properties and use lithium citrate as an active pharmacological agent. At the moment, the lithium complex has no analogues. The purpose of the study was to study the parameters of acute toxicity of the LOAP. Material and methods. When studying acute toxicity, drugs were administered once intragastrically to mice and rats at doses of 12000, 10000, and 5000 mg/kg. Results. A single administration of drugs intragastrically through a probe in the maximum possible doses to mice and rats did not cause the death of animals and did not cause a locally irritating effect on the gastric mucosa. LOAP can be assigned to hazard class 4 (GOST 12.1.007-76).


Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease in which vascular damage and immune activation leads to excessive accumulation of extracellular matrix in the skin and internal organs. Although the focus has been on adaptive immunity in SSc, recent data suggest that innate immunity is critically important. The innate immune system, the first-line barrier against pathogens, modulates mechanisms which activate adaptive immunity. Dysregulation of the innate immune system and toll-like receptors (TLRs) may link immune abnormalities and fibrosis in SSc. TLR signalling pathways might induce production of Type I interferon (IFN) and other cytokines, and represent one of the mechanisms that initiate and develop autoimmunity and subsequent fibrosis. Vitamin D displays many immunomodulatory effects on both innate and adaptive immune responses. Active vitamin D will produce signals via vitamin D receptor and influences TLR stimulation, IFN response, and antimicrobial peptide production. Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with many autoimmune disorders, and can influence clinical phenotype and immune disorders in SSc patients.


A fast, sensitive, and reliable method for determination of selenium in marine biological tissues by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with slurry sampling was developed. Slurries were prepared from fresh and frozen seafood samples that were previously homogenized, dried, and ground; particle sizes <100 microm were taken for analysis. A 3% (v/v) HNO3 solution containing 0.01% (v/v) Triton X-100 was used as slurry diluent. Slurries were mixed on an automated ultrasonic slurry sampler at 20% amplitude for 30 s just before an aliquot was injected into the furnace. The method was successfully validated against the following certified reference materials: NRCC CRM DORM-2 (Dogfish muscle); NRCC CRM TORT-2 (Lobster hepatopancreas); NRCC CRM DOLT-2 (Dogfish liver); and BCR CRM 278 (Mussel tissue), and was subsequently applied to determination of Se in 10 marine biological samples. The influences of the drying procedure (oven-, microwave-, and freeze-drying), matrix modifier amount, mass of solid material in cup, and pipetting sequence are discussed. The limit of determination of Se was 0.16 microg/g and the repeatability, estimated as between-batch precision, was in the range of 4-8%. Se contents in the samples ranged from 0.6 to 2.8 microg/g. The proposed method should be useful for fast assessment of the daily dietary intake of Se.


In this paper, we are interested to the implementation of the spectrum sensing (SS) operation based on a real signal of the FM radio and using a random sampling mode. This application consists on the realization of the spectrum sensing operation based on the energy detector (ED) method combined with random sampling. The analyzed real signal is an FM radio signal captured under GNU-Radio. This application is performed in cognitive radio (CR) systems in order to analyze the occupancy of the radio frequency spectrum. The performance of this approach is evaluated in terms of its receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC curves) and in terms of the false alarm probability.


Heat treatment conditions and procedures of the transformation-heat based up-quenching (TRUQ) process particular to Nb/sub 3/Al coils are studied. It is found that pre-heating at 600/spl deg/C before TRUQ process makes the bcc phase ordered but does not cause transformation. Noticeable is that TRUQ process combined with such a pre-heating does not depress the J/sub c/ performance, compared with TRUQ process without pre-heating. Thus, pre-heating before TRUQ process can be used to help fast-heating of coils. In this work, a vacuum furnace having two heaters or a set of fluidized-bed furnaces are used for TRUQ process combined with pre-heating. Samples used are small coils where the conductor of several tens of centimeters in length is wound on a stainless-steel bobbin. It is found that both ways improve J/sub c/ characteristics, compared with the conventional transformation process. Additionally, untransformed short samples are ohmically heated as TRUQ process, controlling current or voltage of the power supply, to control the application of the ohmic-heating to provide a practical coil heat treatment.


We introduce a new version of Stein's method that reduces a large class of normal approximation problems to variance bounding exercises, thus making a connection between central limit theorems and concentration of measure. Unlike Skorokhod embeddings, the object whose variance must be bounded has an explicit formula that makes it possible to carry out the program more easily. As an application, we derive a general CLT for functions that are obtained as combinations of many local contributions, where the definition of "local" itself depends on the data. Several examples are given, including the solution to a nearest-neighbor CLT problem posed by P. Bickel.


Background: Charge and reimbursement trends for arthroscopic partial meniscectomies among orthopaedic surgeons, anesthesiologists, and hospital/surgery centers have not been formally analyzed, even though meniscectomies are the most commonly performed orthopaedic surgery. Purpose: To analyze Medicare charge and reimbursement trends for surgeons, anesthesiologists, and hospital/surgery centers for outpatient arthroscopic partial meniscectomies performed in the United States. Study Design: Economic and decision analysis; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: We analyzed trends in surgeon, anesthesiologist, and hospital charges and reimbursements for outpatient isolated arthroscopic partial meniscectomies from 2005 to 2014. Current Procedural Terminology codes were used to capture charge and reimbursement information using the nationally representative 5% Medicare sample. National and regional trends for charge, reimbursement, and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) were evaluated using linear regression analysis. Results: A total of 31,717 patients were analyzed in this study. Charges across all groups increased significantly (P < .001) during the 10-year study period, with an increase of 18.4% ($2754-$3262) for surgeons, 85.5% ($802-$1480) for anesthesiologists, and 116.8% ($2743-$5947) for hospitals. Surgeon reimbursements declined by 15.5% ($504-$426; P = .072) during this period. Anesthesiologist and hospital reimbursements increased significantly during by 36.5% ($133-$182; P < .001) and 28.9% ($1540-$1984; P < .001) during the 10-year study period, respectively. The annual incidence of partial meniscectomies per 10,000 database patients decreased significantly from 18.3 to 15.6 over the course of the study (14.8% decrease; P = .009), while the CCI did not change significantly (P = .798). Conclusion: Hospital and anesthesiologist Medicare reimbursements for outpatient arthroscopic partial meniscectomies increased significantly, while surgeon reimbursements decreased. In 2005, hospitals were reimbursed 205% more ($1540 vs $504) than surgeons, and by 2014, they were reimbursed 365% more ($1984 vs $426), indicating that the gap between hospital and surgeon reimbursement is rising. Improved understanding of charge and reimbursement trends represents an opportunity for key stakeholders to improve financial alignment across the field of orthopaedics.


This work contains a comparative study for the signal gain of thulium-doped fiber amplifier (TDFA) in the S-Band. Different doping techniques are used to obtain different concentration profiles in silica fibers. The optimal one is found to be the step like profile. TDFA is investigated in new prepared glass hosts. These hosts include: silicate, bismuth, fluoride, tellurite, chalcohalide, and heavy metal oxide. The effect ofthe different parameters on signal gain of the optical amplifiers is studied, followed by a comparison to select the best glass host. Results showed that the highest gain can provide by bismuth (Bi) glass host and broad band gain from 1450 nm to 1520 nm with a peak wavelength around 1480 nm. A maximum gain above 28.5 dB is obtained with 11 m long Bi-TDFA. These characteristics indicate that Bi-TDFA is a very promising candidate for S-band amplifiers. Indlex Ternms: Thulium, Concentration Profile, Optical Fiber Amplifiers, Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WD:M).


Graphical methods are frequently used in meta-analysis to summarize their results and to explore potential sources of heterogeneity across studies. In this paper, we illustrate a graphical method for meta-analysis of studies with dichotomous exposures and outcomes that complements other graphical and analytical approaches to meta-analysis. In prospective studies, the proportion of cases among the unexposed is plotted on the horizontal axis versus the proportion of cases among the exposed on the vertical axis. Contour lines for equal values of relative risk, odds ratio or risk difference and for the combined estimate of effect and its confidence interval are then superimposed on the graph. In case-control studies, the proportion of exposed controls is plotted on the horizontal axis versus the proportion of exposed cases on the vertical axis, although only the contour lines of equal odds ratios yield direct epidemiological interpretation. In these graphs, the distribution of the individual estimates of effect with respect to the contour lines offers a due as to the adequacy of the scale of measurement used (additive or multiplicative). This graphical method also permits direct inspection of the range of disease frequency in follow-up studies and of the range of exposure in case-control studies. Its use is illustrated with the aid of 3 examples derived from the literature.


I was surprised by the amount of discus sion directed at bilateral adrenalectomy and the passing notice given transphenoid al hypophysectomy in the article "¿ Endo crine Ablative Therapy―by Drs. Binder, Flynn, Katz and Pass. Bilateral adrenalectomy is no longer a rational or indicated procedure for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer. The immediate postsurgical morbidity far ex ceeds that of transphenoidal hypophy sectomy, the latter being approximately the same as that of a submucous resection.


The postischemic response of control, acute diabetic (48 h) and chronic diabetic (60 days) hearts was studied in isovolumically-perfused rat hearts. Isolated hearts were subjected to 20 min of total global ischemia with reperfusion at preischemic flow rates in the presence or absence of the thromboxane analogue, U-46619. A low concentration (30 nM) of U-46619 which did not produce significant hemodynamic responses prior to ischemia caused significant decreases in isovolumic left ventricular developed pressure and increases in coronary vascular resistance during reperfusion of control but not acute or chronic diabetic hearts. Simultaneously, U-46619 stimulated an additional increment of prostacyclin release during reperfusion of control but not diabetic hearts. Thus, while diabetic hearts may be resistant to certain stimuli of postischemic injury, a caveat results in that the diabetic heart may be jeopardized by a failure to counter other potentially thrombotic or vasospastic factors in vivo by an inadequate compensatory increase in prostacyclin.


Regular functions from infinite words to infinite words can be equivalently
specified by MSO-transducers, streaming $\omega$-string transducers as well as
deterministic two-way transducers with look-ahead. In their one-way
restriction, the latter transducers define the class of rational functions.
Even though regular functions are robustly characterised by several
finite-state devices, even the subclass of rational functions may contain
functions which are not computable (by a Turing machine with infinite input).
This paper proposes a decision procedure for the following synthesis problem:
given a regular function $f$ (equivalently specified by one of the
aforementioned transducer model), is $f$ computable and if it is, synthesize a
Turing machine computing it.
 For regular functions, we show that computability is equivalent to
continuity, and therefore the problem boils down to deciding continuity. We
establish a generic characterisation of continuity for functions preserving
regular languages under inverse image (such as regular functions). We exploit
this characterisation to show the decidability of continuity (and hence
computability) of rational and regular functions. For rational functions, we
show that this can be done in $\mathsf{NLogSpace}$ (it was already known to be
in $\mathsf{PTime}$ by Prieur). In a similar fashion, we also effectively
characterise uniform continuity of regular functions, and relate it to the
notion of uniform computability, which offers stronger efficiency guarantees.


This paper proposed a novel dual voltage scaling layout architecture and a design methodology of low power JPEG2000 codec exploiting dual voltage scaling. Fabricated in SMIC 0.18mum 1P6M standard CMOS technology, this codec is capable of JPEG2000 compression/decompression with a 1280times1024 pixel (YUV422 full color) at 20 frames/s employing 100MHz operation frequency. And the power consumption is 465mW @ 1.8V and 100MH. Applied with dual voltage scaling technique, the power dissipation is reduced by 28.5%


Continuous queries can run for unpredictably long periods of time. During their lifetime, these queries may need to be adapted either due to changes in application semantics (e.g., the implementation of a new alert detection policy), or due to changes in the system's behavior (e.g., adapting performance to a changing load). While in previous works query modification has been implicitly utilized to serve specific purposes (e.g., load management), to date no research has been done that defines a general-purpose, reliable, and efficiently implementable model for modifying continuous queries at run-time. In this paper, we introduce a punctuation-based framework that can formally express arbitrary lifecycle operations on the basis of input-output mappings and basic control elements such as start or stop of queries. On top of this foundation, we derive all possible query change methods, each providing different levels of correctness guarantees and performance. We further show how these models can be efficiently realized in a state-of-the-art stream processing engine; we also provide experimental results demonstrating the key performance tradeoffs of the change methods.


The ability to detect emission from a single fluorophore presents a powerful tool to probe the dynamic properties of protein molecules during their interactions with ligands. Here, different classes of experiments are reviewed and a distinction is drawn between experiments that monitor signals from a large number of proteins, one molecule at a time, from those that follow a single protein molecule over many individual cycles. The latter approach is potentially capable of resolving dynamic heterogeneity, such as that displayed by enzymes that fluctuate between high and low activity states. Other factors that need to be considered are the origin of the fluctuations in the emission signal and the extent to which this represents the properties of the protein under investigation, as opposed to the probe itself. Most fluorophores show fluctuations in their emission rates, termed flickering, blinking or intermittency, which may occur on a similar time-scale as the event under investigation.


This paper describes the RT-LAB real-time simulator implementation of the hardware-in-the-loop simulation of a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle system with several 10 kHz converters. The paper demonstrates the necessity to use special IGBT bridge models that implements interpolation techniques within fixed time step simulation scheme. The paper reports on the latest advances from Opal-RT to simulate this kind of system with a 10 mus sample time


The T cell-based immune system has evolved to recognize and destroy cells that differ from "self" on the basis of the antigens they express. Many human tumors contain large numbers of mutations, of which many hundreds can be present within expressed genes. As the resulting altered protein sequences are foreign to the immune system, immune recognition of such "neo-antigens" has been proposed as a major factor in the activity of clinically used immunotherapeutics such as anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD-1. In support of this hypothesis, using in-house developed technologies we have demonstrated that both CD4 and CD8 T cell recognition of the consequences of DNA damage is a common feature in human melanoma and can be boosted by T cell checkpoint blockade. Furthermore, to extend these data to other tumor types, we have benchmarked the foreign antigenic space in a variety of human cancers against a series of human pathogens. Collectively, these data, and data from other groups, establish "tumor foreignness" as one of the critical determinants in effective cancer immunotherapy. Clearly, the sensitivity of tumor cells to the tumor-specific T cell pool that can be present in intrinsically foreign tumors forms an additional requirement for tumor control. To address factors that control such sensitivity, we a currently determining mechanisms of immune escape upon T cell targeting of human tumors. Results from this analysis are expected to contribute to the further definition of biomarkers that predict the outcome of the interaction between human tumors and the T cell-based immune system. Citation Format: Ton Schumacher. T cell recognition and tumor resistance in human cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Second CRI-CIMT-EATI-AACR International Cancer Immunotherapy Conference: Translating Science into Survival; 2016 Sept 25-28; New York, NY. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Immunol Res 2016;4(11 Suppl):Abstract nr IA04.


This article examines the gendered effects of the intensification of public sector care work due to neoliberal reforms. It draws on an interview study of Finnish social and healthcare workers to argue that the expectations towards men and women in the reorganized field of care work are different, especially in the case of their emotional involvement in care practices. The article develops a conceptual framework based on Bourdieu's theory of practice and its feminist developments. We discuss caring as gendered, habitual and emotional work and as a lived social relationship that produces different states of autonomy and dependency for women and men. Our study finds that women in particular face contradictory expectations of being intensely involved in emotion work on the one hand and in the efficient performance of tasks on the other, which creates a clash between their habitus and the field of care work. We further suggest that the clash produces social suffering that is difficult to recognize because the practices in the field reproduce and reaffirm the differences in the emotional habitus of men and women.


Social pedagogy has become a common feature of CPD training for staff working with looked after children and adopted children. Social workers, foster carers and adoptive parents use the characteristic features of social pedagogical practice to develop meaningful relationships with a young person in care. Creative elements such as music have been noted to be useful activities in which both parties (children and support worker) can share a common interest and partake within a joint activity. This article sets out to examine the way in which a community music project working with adopted children and their adoptive parents uses social pedagogy and the impact that this may have on the participants. A case study strategy is used to examine the Loud and Clear adoption family learning project at Sage Gateshead, through which a multi-methodological approach was used, including interviews and participatory action research to gather participants' and facilitators' narratives of the impacts the sessions and approaches were having. Furthermore, participatory observations were also undertaken to see at first hand the social pedagogical approaches that the facilitators were using within sessions. Findings from the study indicated that having the opportunity to participate in a joint musical activity was key to helping children and adoptive parents develop their attachments to one another. Similarly, through facilitators providing opportunities for the group to socialise, adoptive parents were able to develop a support network that they felt would have been lacking within their lives. Both of these findings indicate the impact of adopting the common third approach to music making.


This paper investigates some of the cross-cultural challenges faced by faculty members teaching transnational higher education in a foreign country. It employs the intercultural competence process model and attempts to provide some best practices that are already implemented in an international branch campus (IBC) in Uzbekistan. Hopefully, this sharing of practices will develop intercultural competence and better prepare transnational faculty members to be more efficient and effective in motivating students in transnational education programmes. Furthermore, apart from increased motivation for students, this important professional development initiative for faculty teaching staff may lead to improvement in learning outcomes over time.


The primary purpose of the study was to investigate stakeholders' opinions concerning campus laboratory school program quality in three areas: (1) quality of teacher education, (2) research, and (3) childcare. There were 653 participants in the study: 246 parents whose children were enrolled in laboratory schools, 200 pre-service students who were taking early childhood or child development classes, and 207 faculty who were associated with campus laboratory schools. The study participants came from 122 campus children centers in the United States. These campus centers were members of either the National Coalition for Campus Children's Centers (NCCCC) or the National Organization of Laboratory Schools (NOLS). The first three research questions investigated whether parents, students, and faculty were satisfied with program quality. A one-way analysis of variance indicated a statistically significant mean difference between the three groups. The parents had a higher mean level of program quality satisfaction than students and faculty. The last three research questions investigated whether parents, students, and faculty supported the ongoing existence of campus laboratory school programs. Opinions were scaled from 1=not ever to 5=definitely. The overall mean ratings for Parents (4.54), students (4.18), and faculty (4.07) indicated that they supported the ongoing existence of campus laboratory programs. Future research should investigate cross-cultural issues related to campus laboratory school programs. It would also be important to study the effectiveness of Pell Grants that could provide funding of campus laboratory schools for a diverse group of children. A study could also be conducted that would explore differences in campus laboratory school programs and determine whether they respond differently to childcare demands.


The position and meaning of Modern French adjectives is discussed in the generative syntax framework. The classical analysis of Cinque (1995), by N-raising to some functional position, is rejected for a number of reasons, notably its inability to account for changes in position since the Old French period. After a brief discussion of some typological and diachronic facts, two 'semantic' analyses are considered, those of Bouchard (1998) and Larson (1998). Based on Larson's mapping model, the present study proposes an analysis of the position and meaning of adjectives in French in terms of movement of 'restrictive' and 'evaluative' adjectives to the pre-N position and the presence of logical operators of existence and genericity within DP. This analysis is supported by both semantic and syntactic facts: constraints on the determiner, as well as on modification, stress and coordination, defective semantic features.


Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a common blinding disease in the western world that is linked to the loss of fenestration in the choriocapillaris that sustains the retinal pigment epithelium and photoreceptors in the back of the eye. Changes in ocular and systemic zinc concentrations have been associated with AMD; therefore, we hypothesized that these changes might be directly involved in fenestrae formation. To test this hypothesis, an endothelial cell (bEND.5) model for fenestrae formation was treated with different concentrations of zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) solution for up to 20 h. Fenestrae were visualized by staining for Plasmalemmal Vesicle Associated Protein-1 (PV-1), the protein that forms the diaphragms of the fenestrated endothelium. Size and distribution were monitored by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). We found that zinc induced the redistribution of PV-1 into areas called sieve plates containing ~70-nm uniform size and typical morphology fenestrae. As AMD is associated with reduced zinc concentrations in the serum and in ocular tissues, and dietary zinc supplementation is recommended to slow disease progression, we propose here that the elevation of zinc concentration may restore choriocapillaris fenestration resulting in improved nutrient flow and clearance of waste material in the retina.


In this work, the Al-Mg alloys plasma plume that produced under vacuum (10-1 torr) by Nd:Yag Laser was studied. the plasma spectra were analyzed by comparing the atomic lines of Al and Mg lines with standard lines. The effect of laser energies on spectral lines produced by laser ablation were investigated using optical spectroscopy .several plasma characteristics like electron temperature, electron density, Debye�s length, plasma frequency and number of particles in the ��Debye�s Sphere�� were calculated in vacuum .The results show the electron temperature and electron density increase in magnesium, aluminum and magnesium :aluminum alloy targets . It was found that the lines intensities at different laser peak powers increase when the laser peak power increases then decreases when the power continues to increase.


This paper attempts to provide an economic model in the context of developing countries to address the policy strategies related to poverty reduction. With a view to deal with the shortcomings of the existing approaches as regards poverty reduction, this paper develops a model on the basis of the policy framework of the IMF and the World Bank to show how demand growth can be a crucial mechanism in determining the potential rate of growth, and then to suggest ways in which poverty—conceptualised officially in absolute terms with a subjective cut‐off point (e.g. US $1/$2 a day), and a new objective measure in terms of consumption deprivation—can be linked with the key policy variables contained in the adjustment programmes. A strategy of investment in infrastructure and in human development, and improving access to credit markets, particularly in rural areas to encourage or 'crowd in' private investment is a precondition for growth and poverty alleviation. Debt relief can only provide a temporary, not a sustainable, solution to the problem of reducing poverty.


Purpose of review Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) may complicate the course of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. The clinical presentation of CDI in this population is often atypical, and patients may experience exacerbations of their underlying inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) secondary to C. difficile. In this review, we aim to review the risk factors, diagnosis, and management of CDI in the context of IBD. Recent findings Patients with colonic involvement of their IBD are at higher risk for CDI and colonization may be more common than in the general population. Therefore, CDI is confirmed using a two-step approach to stool testing. Oral vancomycin or fidaxomicin are the preferred agents for nonfulminant disease, and oral metronidazole is no longer recommended as first-line therapy. For all patients with CDI recurrence, fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) should be considered, as this has been shown to be safe and effective. Among those who have worsening of their underlying IBD, retrospective research suggest that outcomes are improved for those who undergo escalation of immunosuppression with appropriate antimicrobial treatment of C. difficile, however prospective data are needed. Summary CDI may complicate the course of IBD, however the presentation may not be typical. Therefore, all patients with worsening gastrointestinal symptoms should be evaluated for both CDI and IBD exacerbation. Providers should consider FMT for all patients with recurrent CDI as well as escalation of immunosuppression for patients who fail to improve with appropriate antimicrobial therapy.


The effect of soot radiation modeling, pressure, and level of soot volume fraction are investigated in two ethylene-air turbulent flames: a jet flame at atmospheric pressure studied at Sandia, and a confined pressurized flame studied at DLR. Both cases have previously been computed with large-eddy simulations coupled with thermal radiation. The present study aims at determining and analyzing the thermal radiation field for different models from these numerical results.
 A Monte-Carlo solver based on the Emission Reciprocity Method is used to solve the radiative transfer equation with detailed gas and soot properties in both configurations. The participating gases properties are described by an accurate narrowband ck model. Emission, absorption, and scattering from soot particles are accounted for. Two formulations of the soot refractive index are considered: a constant value and a wavelength formulation dependency. This is combined with different models for soot radiative properties: gray, Rayleigh theory, Rayleigh-Debye-Gans theory for fractal aggregates.
 The effects of soot radiative scattering is often neglected since their contribution is expected to be small. This contribution is determined quantitatively in different scenarios, showing great sensitivity to the soot particles morphology. For the same soot volume fraction, scattering from larger aggregates is found to modify the radiative heat transfer noticeably. Such a finding outlines the need for detailed information on soot particles. Finally, the role of soot volume fraction and pressure on radiative interactions between both solid and gaseous phases is investigated.


: A high level of the spread of coronavirus (CV) infection among hamadryas baboons and macaques of different species (about 50%), both resident in the animal house and imported, has been established. The tropism of CV to the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts has been demonstrated. The course of spontaneous CV infection is accompanied by enterocolitis and/or pneumonia with periodic exacerbations, or takes the inapparent form. Cases of virus persistence have also been noted. Infected macaques exhibited an increase in the titers of antibodies to their own CV strain isolated from these animals, as well as to antigenically related human CV strain 0043. Spontaneous CV infection in monkeys may be used for solving some obscure problems of the pathogenesis and epidemiology of CV infection in humans.


ABSTRACT This paper is focused on solving the collision avoidance problem for a group of Quad-Rotors which are affected by external disturbances when they are moving in a horizontal plane by means of Repulsive Vector Fields (RVFs). The RVFs are included in an attractive potential function control strategy, that allows the Quad-Rotors to reach the desired position in a geometric pattern, together with a Continuous Sliding-Mode Control (C-SMC) strategy based on Sliding-Mode Observers (SMOs) that are used to estimate, in a finite-time, the linear and angular velocities, respectively. For this purpose, a parameter, which depends on the distance among the Quad-Rotors and their velocities, is designed in order to scale the RVFs properly. In this sense, the repulsion force will be proportional to the velocity and acceleration of the Quad-Rotor when it detects any obstacle. A RVF not properly scaled may result in a collision or a Quad-Rotor movement far away from its desired position. The combination between the C-SMC strategy, the SMOs, the attractive potential functions and the RVFs robustly solves the formation control and avoidance collision problem under the presence of disturbances. Numerical simulations illustrate the performance of the RVFs when the Quad-Rotors are in risk of collision.


Introduction : eHealth has the potential to support integrative care by increasing citizens' involvement in own health, but to succeed, one must understand the end-users, their capabilities and resources for engaging with technology. eHealth literacy describes the interaction between users and systems in a health context and was first defined in 2006 by Norman & Skinner, who developed a related questionnaire [1]. Based on a need for more comprehensive measures, a process was initiated in 2010 to identify existing, suitable instruments that could be combined to evaluate eHealth literacy by using digital and health literacy. This resulted in a suite named eHealth Literacy Assessment toolkit (eHLA) [2]. The study aims to further develop and validate eHLA as a tool for measuring eHealth literacy. Methods : In the beginning of 2015, eHLA included seven tools of which four were based on principles from existing instruments [3][6], one used a selection of items from an existing instrument [7] and two were developed from scratch. Three tools related to health literacy; Functional Health literacy [3], Health literacy Self assessment [7] and Health literacy performance. Four tools related to digital literacy; Computer familiarity [4], Computer confidence [5], Computer incentive and Computer performance [6]. The digital performance tool was removed before Step 1 in order to allow for self-administration. Step 1: Several tools were originally designed for a narrow target population (e.g. college students, veterans) and needed adaption to fit a broader target population. The adapted tools were tested in cognitive interviews [8]. Step 2: An electronic version of eHLA was distributed on social media through authors' networks. Step 3: Further adjustments were tested in cognitive interviews. Step 4: Validation in a sample of more than 300 people _(in progress, November 2015)_ Step 5: Finalized toolkit _(expected by the start of 2016)_ Results: Step 1: Eight cognitive interviews resulted in minor adjustments. Step 2: 187 respondents completed an electronic version of eHLA distributed on Facebook and LinkedIn. 124 respondents were female, and aged 18 to 69 years (mean: 29,6). 123 were university students or graduates. See table 1 for results. There were almost no incorrect answers in _Functional Health Literacy_ and _Health Literacy Performance_ tools. Table 1. Ceiling effects Cronbach's alpha Health Literacy Self-Assessment No 0.67 Health Literacy Performance Yes 0.25 Functional Health Literacy Yes 0.35 Computer Incentive Yes 0.74 Computer Familiarity No 0.89 Computer Confidence Yes 0.81 Step 3: Adjustments were needed in eHLA's health literacy tools. 14 items were added to Health literacy Self-Assessment. Health Literacy Performance was completely rewritten due to lack of incorrect answers in validation. A health-related version of Computer familiarity tool was added. New adjustments were tested in five cognitive interviews which led to minor changes. Step 4: Preliminary validation results from November 2015 include more than 300 respondents (aged 18 to 94) with various backgrounds. Data is collected from two clinical settings and by sociology students. Respondents choose between self-administration and interviews. Step 5: Final version and results will be presented at the conference. Discussion : The seven tools deal with user perspectives related to confidence, motivation and functionality. With its multifaceted structure, eHLA has the potential to become an essential tool for planning integrated care using technology. First validation did not show satisfactory results regarding reliability and validity. The results reflect a young, well-educated convenience sample which is not representative for the target population. Despite skewed data, one digital and one health tool were ready for use. Ceiling effects and lack of incorrect answers were dominant in the remaining tools, which underlines the need for gathering responses from a representative sample in second validation. Conclusion : The results from the first validation were affected by a young, well-educated, convenience sample, but preliminary results from second validation suggest that the final version of eHLA will be a comprehensive tool for measuring eHealth literacy. The finalized eHLA toolkit will be presented at the conference. References : 1- Norman and Skinner, J. Med. Internet Res., vol. 8, no. 2, 2006. 2- Furstrand and Kayser, Stud. Health Technol. Inform., vol. 216, p. 971, 2015. 3- Parker et al., J. Gen. Intern. Med., vol. 10, no. 10, p. 537, Oct. 1995. 4- Hargittai, Soc. Sci. Comput. Rev., vol. 27, no. 1, p. 130, Apr. 2008. 5- Cho et al. Telemed. J. E-Health, vol. 16, no. 5, p. 595, Jun. 2010. 6- "Online User Testing Tool | Loop11" 7- Sorensen et al., BMC Public Health, vol. 13, no. 1, p. 948, 2013. 8- Drennan, J. Adv. Nurs., vol. 42, no. 1, p. 57, Apr. 2003.


Cecropia glaziovii Sneth (Urticaceae) is a common tree from Southeast and South of Brazil, being widely used in traditional medicine to treat heart and respiratory conditions. C-glycosylflavonoids have being described as the major compounds for this genus, however, no seasonality studies of individual flavonoids was conducted for any Cecropia specie. In this work, the content of isoorientin and isovitexin in aqueous extract from the leaves of C glaziovii during a two-year period was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (hplc-dad). Seasonal alterations in the content of these two majority C-glycosylflavonoids as well its possible correlation with the pluviosity in the period of January/2008 to January/2010 were determined. Isoorientin presented higher content in November/09 (6.04 mg/g of extract) and lower content in May/08 (1.01 mg/g of extract). The higher content of isovitexin was observed in March/09 and the lower in September/08 (11.42 and 4.47 mg/g of extract, respectively). Although they have distinct behaviors, it was not observed correlation between the values of pluviosity and the production of these C-glycosylflavonoids.


IoT (Internet of things) has always been an innovative keyword to the global village and the 'talk of the town' with widespread coverage over multiple disciplines like     computer science, management trends, bioinformatics,  economics,  statistics  etc.  It  refers  to  the  scenarios  where  network  connectivity  and computing capability extends to objects, sensors and everyday items not normally considered computers, allowing these devices to generate exchange and consume data with minimal human intervention. This is an important topic in technology industry, where the technology is embodied in a wide spectrum of network products and related concepts which has an advantage of advancement in computing power, electronics miniaturization and network interconnections and to offer new capabilities. As a whole, this traditional trending technology has got a revolutionized impact rather from new market opportunities and business


Background Because of common use of adolescent simulated patients (ASPs), clarification of the risk of negative effects associated with high-stress simulations is essential. This study evaluates the safety of suicidality simulations. Method ASPs participated in a suicidality role or pediatric role. Explicit measures of their impact included the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ) and Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale-2 (RADS-2), both of which were completed pre-/poststudy. Implicit behavioral measures of impact were also collected during training, including the Implicit Association Test. Results Three of the 24 participants had clinical RADS-2 and/or SIQ scores. None of these adolescents' mental status deteriorated with SP participation. ASPs in the suicidality role showed behavioral effects consistent with a negative reaction, and two reported brief depression. Conclusions ASPs participated in a suicidality simulation without evidence of suicide contagion. However, ASPs' behavioral reactions and self-reported depression suggested a transient depressive reaction.


We study labor-income and consumption taxation in an overlapping-generations model featuring endogenous growth due to interfirm investment externalities. Consumption, saving, and labor supply display life-cycle features because mortality and labor productivity are age-dependent and because annuity markets may be imperfect. The government's method of revenue recycling critically affects the growth consequences of taxation. Purely consumptive government spending has a negative impact on growth. Redistribution of tax revenue from dissavers to savers may lead to an increase in growth due to beneficial intergenerational transfer effects.


Elementary school children are capable of reproducing sophisticated science process skills such as observing, designing experiments, collecting data, and evaluating evidence. An understanding of the nature of scientific knowledge requires more than teaching and learning the performance of these skills. It also requires an appreciation of how these actions lead to knowledge generation and shape its durable and tentative nature. Our understanding of activities that support the teaching and learning of the nature of scientific knowledge is still growing. This study compares how scientific knowledge is generated in science laboratories and in elementary school classrooms. Discourse analysis, conducted through an activity theoretical perspective, of conversations between biomedical researchers revealed that nearly every aspect of discussions among scientists concerned uncertainty—establishing what was known with confidence and what remained unresolved. Analysis of conversations between teachers and students in an urban elementary school showed that a similar pattern of identifying and resolving uncertainty was evident when students were conducting independent investigations. All participants identified new knowledge through processes of reflexivity concerned with what was observed, conducted, and interpreted in investigations. Implications for science education are discussed. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed94:308–335, 2010


In January of 2009, I traveled to India to interview women in Khuldabad, a small Muslim town in the state of Maharashtra, about religious customs and rituals. With the help of my multilingual friend and colleague from this area, Surekha Shah, I interviewed twenty-nine women using a blend of Urdu and English. These women, from different economic and social levels, invited me into their homes. Their dwellings ranged from single, earthen floor rooms to family compounds built around ancient courtyards housing several generations. The rough streets and well-worn pathways, bounded by high stone and wooden walls, give the feel of a small medieval town with goats and people and bicycles meandering through, but the autorickshaws and state buses belching blue-purple smoke anchor one in the more nuanced mix of centuries that is Khuldabad. Behind the purdah of walls and veils, women welcomed me with warmth and openness. And each time I left their homes, they graciously invited me to return.


The eclipsing binary system EPIC 201826968 was imaged using the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network with Bessel-B, Bessel-V, SDSS-r0 and SDSS-i0 filters. AstroImageJ was used to determine the optimal exposure time for the images. We coded a phase-dispersion minimization (PDM) algorithm and compared its result to PyAstronomy's PDM algorithm and both PyAstronomy's and Astropy's Lomb-Scargle algorithms. Our distance PDM algorithm gave a period of 0.3617673 days, while the PyAstronomy PDM gave 0.3617724 days. The Lomb-Scargle algorithms both gave very different periods of near 1.83 days, possibly due to Lomb-Scargle's reliance on a sinusoidal fit. Since Kepler measured a period of 0.3617589 days, and the average period from the Python-coded and PyAstronomy PDM algorithms deviated from it by less than a second, we concluded that the period of eclipsing binary system EPIC 201826968 hasnot changed since Kepler's observations.


A combination of field mapping, detailed sedimentology, carbon isotope chemostratigraphy, and new paleontological finds provides a significantly improved understanding of the depositional and tectonic history of uppermost Neoproterozoic and lower Paleozoic strata of the central Transantarctic Mountains. On the basis of these data, we suggest revision of the existing stratigraphy, including introduction of new formations, as follows. The oldest rocks appear to record late Neoproterozoic deposition across a narrow marine margin underlain by Precambrian basement. Siliciclastic deposits of the Neoproterozoic Beardmore Group—here restricted to the Cobham Formation and those rocks of the Goldie Formation that contain no detrital components younger than ca. 600 Ma—occupied an inboard zone to the west. They consist of shallow-marine deposits of an uncertain tectonic setting, although it was likely a rift to passive margin. Most rocks previously mapped as Goldie Formation are in fact Cambrian in age or younger, and we reassign them to the Starshot Formation of the Byrd Group; this change reduces the exposed area of the Goldie Formation to a *E-mail: email@example.com. small fraction of its previous extent. The basal unit of the Byrd Group—the predominantly carbonate ramp deposits of the Shackleton Limestone—rest with presumed unconformity on the restricted Goldie Formation. Paleontological data and carbon isotope stratigraphy indicate that the Lower Cambrian Shackleton Limestone ranges from lower Atdabanian through upper Botomian. This study presents the first description of a depositional contact between the Shackleton Limestone and overlying clastic units of the upper Byrd Group. This carbonate-to-clastic transition is of critical importance because it records a profound shift in the tectonic and depositional history of the region, namely from relatively passive sedimentation to active uplift and erosion associated with the Ross orogeny. The uppermost Shackleton Limestone is capped by a set of archaeocyathan bioherms with up to 40 m of relief above the seafloor. A widespread phosphatic crust on the bioherms records the onset of orogenesis and drowning of the carbonate ramp. A newly defined transitional unit, the Holyoake Formation, rests above this surface. It consists of black shale followed by mixed nodular carbonate and shale that fill in between, and just barely above, the tallest of the bioherms. This formation grades upward into trilobiteand hyolithid-bearing calcareous siltstone of the Starshot Formation and alluvial-fan deposits of the Douglas Conglomerate. Trilobite fauna from the lowermost siltstone deposits of the Starshot Formation date the onset of this transition as being late Botomian. The abrupt transition from the Shackleton Limestone to a large-scale, upwardcoarsening siliciclastic succession records deepening of the outer platform and then deposition of an eastward-prograding molassic wedge. The various formations of the upper Byrd Group show general stratigraphic and age equivalence, such that coarse-grained alluvial-fan deposits of the Douglas Conglomerate are proximal equivalents of the marginal-marine to shelf deposits of the Starshot Formation. Paleocurrents and facies distributions from these units indicate consistent west (or southwest) to east (or northeast) transport of sediment. Although the exact structural geometry is unknown, development of imbricate thrust sheets in the west likely caused depression of the inner margin and rapid drowning of the Shackleton Formation carbonate ramp. This tectonic activity also caused uplift of the inboard units and their underlying basement, unroofing, and widespread deposition of a thick, coarse clastic wedge. Continued deformation in the Early Ordoon 16 November 2009 gsabulletin.gsapubs.org Downloaded from


TCP is widely used in the communications between servers in data centers. However, TCP has scaling limit that its ability to provide fair sharing at bottleneck link is reduced as the number of competing flows increases. Such limit is common in current data center networks and causes unfairness among TCP flows on a small time scale. The unfairness would add unpredictable delay to short flows, which would affect the user experiences of soft real-time applications. In this paper, we propose a simple and cost-effective method — shrinking MTU — to improve the fairness among TCP flows. Through model analysis and extensive simulations, the fairness on a small time scale is improved and the completion time of short flows is reduced by decreasing MTU size.


Abstract:Can twenty-first-century scholars of gentrification find historical precedents for "social preservationist" ideology in the gentry-assisted black town-building movement of the late- nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries? Might the strategies employed by African-American town-builders and their wealthy white patrons/allies hold relevant lessons for current-day struggles toward social justice through historic preservation? New research into the founding era of Eatonville, Florida—a black township made famous in the Harlem Renaissance–era writings of Zora Neale Hurston and marketed today as the "Oldest Incorporated African American Municipality in America" (est. 1887)—suggests the benefits of viewing social preservationist ideology as part of the African-American community's "long-memory" DNA. Far from exclusionary or isolationist in origin, Eatonville's founding resulted from a deliberate, collaborative effort by ex-slaves and wealthy white Northern "snowbirds" to mitigate/reverse the impact of rural and suburban gentrification and create a permanent social, political, and economic space for black citizens. Through their well-publicized, ideologically explicit acts of place-making, Eatonville's founders ensured that the benefits of neighborhood development would not be reserved for wealthy white investors alone, and that the black laboring classes—as property owners and voters—would play a critical role in regional politics and democratic self-governance.


The purpose of this study was to offer a deeply contextualized explanation of factors that influence post-competitive physical activity involvement among participants who are black, women, 25-45 years old, and former Division I elite sprinters, hurdlers, or jumpers. A study using exploratory methodology undergirded by a womanist epistemology was used to accomplish this goal. Based on data from four focus groups and a total of 17 participants, three categories of factors emerged as influencing post-competitive physical activity in this select group of women. Participants described track and field familiarities, social networks, and self-presentation concerns as influencing their activity. Several themes also emerged as influencing physical activity in this group. The themes were the mis-education of the athlete, contours of adult lives, and factors of difference. Collectively, the data suggested that participants simultaneously identify with multiple cultural categories and social groups, each with overlapping sets of values and expectations. These expectations influence participant's post-competitive physical activity in multiple, diverse ways.


Demography is central to both ecology and evolution, and characterizing the feedback between ecology and evolution is critical for understanding organisms' life histories and how these might evolve through time. Here, we show how, by combining a range of theoretical approaches with the statistical analysis of individually structured databases, accurate prediction of life history decisions is possible in natural density-regulated populations undergoing large fluctuations in demographic rates from year to year. Our predictions are remarkably accurate and statistically well defined. In addition, we show that the predicted trait values are evolutionarily and convergence stable and that protected polymorphisms are possible.


Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis occurs in 30% of patients with ascites due to cirrhosis leading to high morbidity and mortality rates. The pathogenesis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is related to altered host defenses observed in end-stage liver disease, overgrowth of microorganisms, and bacterial translocation from the intestinal lumen to mesenteric lymph nodes. Clinical manifestations vary from severe to slight or absent, demanding analysis of the ascitic fluid. The diagnosis is confirmed by a number of neutrophils over 250/mm3 associated or not to bacterial growth in culture of an ascites sample. Enterobacteriae prevail and Escherichia coli has been the most frequent bacterium reported. Mortality rates decreased markedly in the last two decades due to early diagnosis and prompt antibiotic treatment. Third generation intravenous cephalosporins are effective in 70% to 95% of the cases. Recurrence of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis is common and can be prevented by the continuous use of oral norfloxacin. The development of bacterial resistance demands the search for new options in the prophylaxis of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis; probiotics are a promising new approach, but deserve further evaluation. Short-term antibiotic prophylaxis is recommended for patients with cirrhosis and ascites shortly after an acute episode of gastrointestinal bleeding.


Rules of origin are a crucial market access instrument in the rapidly proliferating network of preferential trade agreements (PTAs) around the world. In this volume, Estevadeordal and Suominen reveal the protectionist impulses behind rules of origin, examine their impacts on international trade and investment, and put forth a succinct policy roadmap for countries around the world to follow in attenuating their negative implications.


The general practitioner (GP) has a unique role in the care of people with rheumatic disorders. The main possibilities lie within early detection of the rheumatic disease and knowledge in how to diagnose and treat common co-morbidities. The GP could also be a link between specialised rheumatology care and paramedical resources in primary care. There are however great differences in how care is organised in different countries and thus how the possibilities within primary care are utilised. Lessons could be learned from how GPs work in collaboration with rheumatologists and other caregivers in different settings, with the patients' best in focus. Disclosure of Interest None Declared


A decade ago the 'Dublin Principles' shifted global thinking towards treating water as an economic good. The concern was that overly supply-driven approaches had been financially unsustainable, and therefore failed to reduce the service gap. Accompanying this conceptual shift has been a wider move towards focusing on the customer's needs and preferences and their willingness to pay, and applying marketing techniques to meet those needs in a financially sustainable manner. Although regarded as a positive move, its success is heavily dependent on how well water utilities understand their customers. This paper examines existing literature on the determinants of customer willingness to use and pay for improved water services in developing countries. The contribution of past research to our understanding of the behaviour of customers, with regard to service level choice and payment for services, is critically analysed. Basing on this analysis, we develop and discuss a generic model of a water consumer's decision-making process. The model serves two purposes. First, it consolidates past research into a coherent framework to facilitate implementation of the marketing approach. Secondly, we use the model to identify critical customer information that water utility managers need to know in order to be customer-focused.


The goal of our on-going research is to develop effective and reliable tools for modeling the environmental systems of the Gulf of Mexico. For example, our on-going research into methodologies for the prediction of water levels in the shallow waters of the bays and estuaries along the Texas gulf coast. Our modeling approaches are based on the real-time data collected by the Texas Coastal Ocean Observation Network (TCOON). TCOON is managed by the Division of Nearshore Research (DNR) in cooperation with the Department of Computing and Mathematical Sciences (CAMS) both of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. TCOON consists of approximately 50 data gathering stations located along the Texas Gulf coast from the Louisiana to Mexico borders. TCOON, started in 1988, serves as the major environmental data acquisition system for our modeling efforts. TCOON stations automatically measure and archive various measurements such as water levels, wind speed and direction, temperature, salinity, and barometric pressure. TCOON follows U.S. federal standards for the installation of its stations and has a very useful real-time, online database. Tide charts, based on harmonic analysis, are generally the method of choice for the forecast of water levels. However there are limitations to the use of tide charts. Tide charts are mostly based on astronomical forcing or the influence on water levels of the respective motions of the earth, the moon, and the sun. There are locations around the world, including the Gulf of Mexico, where other factors such meteorological forcing often dominate tidal forcing and limit significantly the application of tide charts. In such cases other models must be developed to accurately forecast water levels. Different schemes that we are using for the prediction of water levels include harmonic analysis, multivariate statistical models, and neural networks. In addition to a short description of the major data acquisition system for our research efforts, this paper summarizes our interdisciplinary, NASA-funded, modeling efforts, which have had a great deal of student involvement. Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2005, American Society for Engineering Education P ge 10840.1


Cash money can be a rational devise of saving as an insurance against external uncertainty. Liquid money, controlled by a stable and trustworthy central bank, offers an insurance against stock market crashes, bankrupts and other economic turmoils that endanger the yield of illiquid saving modes. In turbulent times, the value-carrying property of money is accentuated, and the recent dark episodes including the last financial crisis, the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have made the public in Europe respond to uncertainty by increasing their cash holdings. The paper constructs a simple life cycle framework for the analysis of rational and irrational motives to save money, answers to questions about the effects of saving liquid money on illiquid saving and education and examines the inherent cost of the use of cash as a saving mode. The main findings of the paper are the following. The insurance motive to save money increases total savings by replacing deposit saving more than one-to-one. The share of deposit savings depends positively on the expected interest rate, while the share of cash savings is the higher the less there is inflation. Deposit saving correlates positively and education negatively with the expected market interest rate thus affecting their relative proportion, but education does not affect the implicit price paid for cash insurance. Incorporating money illusion adds an internal bias to life-time optimization. Misjudgment of the inflation rate makes consumers save excessively in cash at the cost of market deposits and increases the cost of using cash as rational insurance against external uncertainty.


The regenerative medicine uses gel and porous solid matrices as scaffolds for the growth of the stem cells in 3D structures. The structural and fluid dynamic properties of the matrices have been recognized to highly affect the behaviour and functions of the cells. The procedures of production and the clinical use of the matrices need a reliable and reproducible characterization of their properties, this means that the concepts of metrology must be applied to the measurement and definition of all the relevant properties. This paper deals with the calculation of uncertainty for diffusivity measurement in solids and the role of uncertainty in designing the measurement. Diffusion of a solute in spherical solid particles dispersed in a limited liquid volume where considered as measurement method for a Ca-alginate polymer. The model sensitivity to the concentration measurements, the model parameters and the fitting procedures have been discussed.


Nucleotides are the basic units that make up nucleic acids, such as deoxyribonucleic acd (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA). Nucleotides are involved in many biological processes. They are important in nucleic acids (e.g. DNAs and RNAs) synthesis and as a source of cellular energy. They affect the immune system and are involved in physiological and morphological changes in small intestinal development. Nucleotides are not considered an essential nutrient because they can be synthesized by a de novo pathway from amino acid precursors and recycled through a salvage pathway. However, these mechanisms may not always be adequate to supply nucleotides for an organism during times of stress. Stressors which may impact nucleotide requirements include high stocking density, unsanitary conditions, disease challenges, and recovery from injuries. A series of experiments were conducted to determine the effect of the dietary nucleotides on the performance and development of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of broilers under certain stress conditions. In the first experiment, Torula yeast RNA (as a source of dietary nucleotide supplementation) and a commercial nucleotide product (Nupro ® ) were fed to broilers raised under normal conditions and environmental stressed conditions; previously used litter. Body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratios, mortality, and physical and morphological development of the gastrointestinal tract were measured. Supplementing the diet with dietary nucleotides had no effect on performance of broilers under normal conditions; however, dietary nucleotide supplementation improved performance of birds reared in previously used litter. In the second experiment, the effect of Torula yeast RNA supplementation on performance, intestinal tract development and morphology of broilers challenged with a highdose Coccivac-B ® vaccine and reared in an increased stocking density were determined. Supplementing the diets with Torula yeast RNA had improved performance of birds challenged with a high-dose Coccivac-B ® vaccine and reared in the increased stocking density conditions. In the third experiment, two dietary nucleotides (Torula yeast RNA and Nupro ® ) and a nucleotide precursor (glutamine) were fed to broilers challenged with Coccivac-B ® vaccine. Broiler performance and nutrient utilization (nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy; AMEN) were measured. Dietary nucleotide (0.25% Torula yeast RNA and 2% Nupro ® ) supplementation was effective at alleviating the negative effects of Coccidiosis vaccine challenge. The increased AMEN value of diets with supplemental levels of Torula yeast RNA and Nupro ® resulted in increased growth performance. However, the supplementation of a nucleotide precursor, glutamine, did not replace nucleotides in broilers. In the fourth experiment, Torula yeast RNA was added to semi-purified diets containg high levels of casein or crystalline amino acids mixture of broilers challenged with Coccivac-B ® vaccine. Performance and relative weight, morphology, and gross lesion score in small intestine of birds were measured. Birds fed semipurified diets containing high levels of casein or crystalline amino acids mixture had very low feed intake and slow growth rate. The 25 × dose Coccivac-B ® challenge did not affect performance and the supplementation of 0.25% Torula yeast RNA to the semi-purified diets had no an effect on the performance of birds. Thus, nucleotides do not appear to be an essential nutrient without sufficient stress conditions. Overall, nucleotides are not an essential nutrient under normal conditions. However, the dietary nucleotide supplementation may be important to maintain maximum growth and performance when birds are exposed to stress conditions. INDEX WORDS: Nucleotides, Performance, Stress conditions EVALUATION OF DIETARY NUCLEOTIDES FOR BROILERS


BACKGROUND
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) results due to decrease or absence of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored (GPI) molecules, such as CD55 and CD59, from the surface of the affected cells. PNH-phenotype has been described in various hematological disorders, mainly aplastic anemia and myelodysplastic syndromes; recently it has been reported in patients with lymphoproliferative syndromes and multiple myeloma (MM).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We evaluated the presence of CD55 negative and/or CD59 negative red blood cell (RBC) populations in newly diagnosed treatment naive-54 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and 29 MM patients by flow cytometry.

RESULTS
PNH-phenotype was not reported in any patient; however, RBC populations deficient in CD55 were detected in 16.66% (9/54) CLL and 6.89% (2/29) MM patients. Clinical presentation or the hematological parameters did not show any relationship with the presence of CD55 deficient RBC population.

CONCLUSION
Our study showed absence of PNH-phenotype in patients with CLL and MM; however, isolated CD55 deficient RBC were identified in both CLL and MM. Larger prospective studies by other centers, including simultaneous analysis of granulocytes for the presence of PNH-phenotype, are needed to corroborate these findings and to work out the mechanisms and the significance of the existence of this phenotype in these patients.


In this paper, we discuss the Neolithic transition to farming in Northern Adriatic, lactose tolerance, dairying and lipid biomarkers on pottery. While archaeological and biochemical data suggest that dairying was adopted in the Neolithic in Europe, archaeogenetic data show the absence of the allelic variant –13910*T and zero persistence in Neolithic populations in Europe. The Mala Triglavca case study shows that the Early Neolithic economy in the Caput Adriae region was mixed. It consisted of milk and processed milk, meat animal products, freshwater fish and various plants. The Vlaška group herders managed a broader spectrum of resources than exclusively ovicaprids, and were able to produce a wide range of low-lactose, storable products by fermenting milk.


The aim of this thesis is to investigate spatial and temporal aspects of agricultural change in southern Derbyshire between 1770 and 1870. During this period it is argued that the progress of dairying showed strong continuity with the developments of preceding centuries and experienced growth ahead of the reorientation towards liquid milk production in the latter nineteenth century. Contemporary and modern sources have been consulted, important among which are sale advertisements and other agricultural reportage published in the Derby Mercury newspaper. A significant outcome has been the elaboration of the prime role of dairying and the production of farmhouse cheese in the southern Derbyshire farm system with cattle and pig fattening, sheep rearing and grain production as subsidiary enterprises. Dairying was most intensively developed on heavier land: marls of the Mercian Mudstone, shales of the Westphalian and glacial till sheets but less so to the south of the Trent where soil conditions are more varied. Between 1770 and 1870 dairy production increased substantially as the proportion of land in arable declined. Contributory factors discussed include farm enlargement, higher stock rates and improved cattle breed. Of particular note was the feeding of brewers' grains from Burton. It is argued that as a consequence pastures may have been sustained above the common low level of management characteristic of the times.

The dairy system emerges as a progressive feature of clayland sector agriculture and while not generally 'revolutionary' some farmers achieved a degree of refinement to match the concept of 'High Farming'.


We present a semi-interactive system for advanced video processing and editing. The basic idea is to partially recover planar regions in object space and to exploit this minimal pseudo-3D information in order to make perspectively correct modifications. Typical operations are to increase the quality of a low-resolution video by overlaying high-resolution photos of the same approximately planar object or to add or remove objects by copying them from other video streams and distorting them perspectively according to some planar reference geometry. The necessary user interaction is entirely in 2D and easy to perform even for untrained users. The key to our video processing functionality is a very robust and mostly automatic algorithm for the perspective registration of video frames and photos, which can be used as a very effective video stabilization tool even in the presence of fast and blurred motion. Explicit 3D reconstruction is thus avoided and replaced by image and video rectification. The technique is based on state-of-the-art feature tracking and homography matching. In complicated and ambiguous scenes, user interaction as simple as 2D brush strokes can be used to support the registration. In the stabilized video, the reference plane appears frozen which simplifies segmentation and matte extraction. We demonstrate our system for a number of quite challenging application scenarios such as video enhancement, background replacement, foreground removal and perspectively correct video cut and paste.