Determining the cis-acting elements controlling nuclear export of RNA is critical, because they specify which RNA will be selected for transport. We have characterized the nuclear export motif of the adenoviral VA1 RNA, a small cytoplasmic RNA transcribed by RNA polymerase III. Using a large panel of VA1 mutants in both transfected COS cells and injectedXenopus oocytes, we showed that the terminal stem of VA1 is necessary and sufficient for its export. Surprisingly, we found that the nucleotide sequence within the terminal stem is not important. Rather, the salient features of this motif are its length and its relative position within the RNA. Such stems thus define a novel and degenerate cytoplasmic localization motif that we termed the minihelix. This motif is found in a variety of polymerase III transcripts, and cross-competition analysis in Xenopus oocytes revealed that export of one such RNA, like hY1 RNA, is specifically competed by VA1 or artificial minihelix. Taken together these results show that the minihelix defines a new cis-acting export element and that this motif could be exported via a novel and specific nuclear export pathway.


ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To estimate the prevalence of hepatitis B virus and C virus infections and their genotypes and analyze the risk factors for the markers of exposure to hepatitis B virus in female sex workers in a region of intense sex trade. METHODS This is a cross-sectional study performed with four hundred and two female sex workers in Goiânia, Brazil. Data have been collected using the Respondent-Driven Sampling. The women have been interviewed and tested for markers of hepatitis B and C viruses. Positive samples have been genotyped. The data have been analyzed using the Respondent-Driven Sampling Analysis Tool, version 5.3, and Stata 11.0. RESULTS The adjusted prevalence for hepatitis B virus and C virus were 17.1% (95%CI 11.6–23.4) and 0.7% (95%CI 0.1–1.5), respectively. Only 28% (95%CI 21.1–36.4) of the participants had serological evidence of vaccination against hepatitis B virus. Being older (> 40 years), being single, having a history of blood transfusion and use of cocaine, and ignoring the symptoms of sexually transmitted infections were associated with positivity for hepatitis B virus (p < 0.05). We have detected the subgenotype A1 of hepatitis B virus (n = 3) and the subtypes of hepatitis C virus 1a (n = 3) and 1b (n = 1). CONCLUSIONS We can observe a low prevalence of infection of hepatitis B and C viruses in the studied population. However, the findings of the analysis of the risk factors show the need for more investment in prevention programs for sexual and drug-related behavior, as well as more efforts to vaccinate this population against hepatitis B. The genotypes of the hepatitis B virus and C virus identified are consistent with those circulating in Brazil.


Many important properties of clay minerals are defined by the species of charge-balancing cation. Phenomena such as clay swelling and cation exchange depend on the cation species present, and understanding how the cations bind with the mineral surface at a fundamental level is important. In the present study the binding affinities of several different charge-balancing cations with the basal surface of the smectite mineral, montmorillonite, have been calculated using molecular dynamics in conjunction with the well-tempered metadynamics algorithm. The results follow a Hofmeister series of preferred ion adsorption to the smectite basal surfaces of the form: K+ > Na+ > Ca2+ > Cs+ > Ba2+The results also revealed the energetically favorable position of the ions above the clay basal surfaces. Key features of the free-energy profiles are illustrated by Boltzmann population inversions and analyses of the water structures surrounding the ion and clay surface. The results show that weakly hydrated cations (K+ and Cs+) preferentially form inner-sphere surface complexes (ISSC) above the ditrigonal siloxane cavities of the clay, while the more strongly hydrated cations (Na+) are able to form ISSCs above the basal O atoms of the clay surface. The strongly hydrated cations (Na+, Ca2+, and Ba2+), however, preferentially form outer-sphere surface complexes. The results provide insight into the adsorption mechanisms of several ionic species on montmorillonite and are relevant to many phenomena thought to be affected by cation exchange, such as nuclear waste disposal, herbicide/pesticide-soil interactions, and enhanced oil recovery.


Until relatively recently, studies in this field emphasized the physical events surrounding the transfer of the infant from the uterus to the bassinette. Current investigators are devoting much more attention to intrauterine and early neonatal environment. This is not to say that mechanical factors should be forgotten or that they are unimportant, but that there seem to be factors as yet unknown which in modern practice may make a significantly greater contribution to the problem of brain damage than does direct obstetric trauma.Genetic, developmental and infective factors have been reviewed. The interrelated factors of prematurity, anoxia, trauma and brain hemorrhage have been discussed. The contribution which traumatic obstetrics has made to the problem of brain damage can be minimized by general application of standards of obstetric care and practice which are now well established. The modern practice of obstetrics must extend its active interest far beyond the goal of a living mother and child-the future health of both must be its concern. Obstetrics must be considered as an opportunity to practise a philosophy of preventive medical care in the broadest sense.


This paper presents the design, construction and the initial commissioning of a secondary air system, applied to a one and a half stage high pressure turbine test setup at the cold flow test facility in Graz University of Technology. The unique system can provide up to eight independent airflows to analyse engine realistic rim seals ejection or cooling injection for stator or rotor blades. This paper focuses on a specific test setup which used a total of four purge flows. These are used to purge the cavities around the high pressure turbine. While two flows enter upstream of the high pressure turbine, two enter downstream, with one flow at the inner and one at the outer wall of the flow channel, respectively. This paper primarily discusses the development and commissioning of the new facility. Initial five-hole probe measurement results are presented downstream of the high pressure turbine with and without any cooling injection. The outcomes of the first-time experiment depict the importance of the purge flow on the isentropic total to total stage efficiency.


According to the Draft Spatial Plan of Republic of Serbia (2010): spatial integration and functional connection of regional units, that are necessary for achieving ofgreater territorial cohesion within Republic, as well as for development capacities strengthening and greater competitiveness of its constituent parts, leads to the identification process of development zones. One of them is the Danube belt, wider area functionally directed to, or linked with Danube River, which also includes zone along the Sava River. Compact space, linked with west towards Hungary, Croatia, Slovakia, Austria and Germany, and east towards Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine and Moldova, is a key development axis for spatial integration of Republic of Serbia with Europe. Economy, transport, tourism, cultural cooperation and other forms ofpopidation connection along this development axis, will be supported by projects related to Corridor 7, or common development strategy based on interstate cooperation of Danube countries and regions. Except underlined, important place will have also protection projects and cooperation within process of natural resources preservation between Serbia and Croatia in the area of Upper Danube region. Unequivocally orientation of Republic of Serbia for European integrations requires different definition ofrole and importance of agriculture, food-industry and rural development, comparing to previous documents and practice. Hence the need for creation of clearly conceived frame like a document - Strategy, as adequate answer on key questions for further development of agriculture and rural areas in the zone of Upper Danube region (Sombor city and municipalities of Apatin and Bac). In possible extent, policy of this development should be adjusted to the Common Agricultural Policy of EU, whose focus is more and more on development of rural areas. By development strategy, as long-term development document, relating the contemporary scientific achievements, are determined strategic goals and priorities of sustainable agriculture and rural development in the zone of Upper Danube region. That was accomplished by fundamental perceiving of existing natural and created potentials, available human resources, previous development directions, present and predictable problems, detail analysis and estimation of environment impacts. According the above mentioned, the most favorable, realistically achievable options of future development are suggested, bringing down the focus on place and role of agriculture in sustainable development of rural areas. Strategic goals and priorities of sustainable agricultural and rural development in the zone of Upper Danube region, presented in this paper work, are mostly global and they just represent view on vision. They are actually answer on question "what we want to achieve?" considering available resources.


2 Abstract: Cognitive radio network is the promising technology of the next generation communication networks which enables the secondary users (SUs) to use the free spectrum bands which are licensed originally to the primary users (PUs) without causing interference and utilize the spectrum more efficiently. Spectrum sensing should be carried out frequently in order to transmit the data successfully through SU without causing significant interference with the PU and to achieve the maximum throughput. In this paper we propose an artificial neural network model which is known as Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) algorithm for predicting the propagation. The simulation results show that there is a significant gain in the throughput when compared with both random and HMM methods and it explains the superiority of the algorithm. Also, it is found that the L-M algorithm is faster than the other algorithms.


The feasibility of carboxymethyl chitosan intercalated montmorillonite (CMCTS-MMT) clay used as a low-costand effective adsorbent for removal of cationic dye, crystal violet from the aqueous solution has been investigated.The synthesis of CMCTS-MMT was confirmed from the analytical information based on the characterization carried out by Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction data. During the removal process, batch technique was used and the effect of initial dye concentration, pH, temperature and weight ratio variation of sample composition were evaluated. Sorption process was analysed using pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models. The data showed that the second order kinetic model was more appropriate for the absorption of thepresent dye. The equilibrium adsorption isotherms have been analyzed with the help of Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich-Peterson analytical models. It was observed that the experimental data correlated reasonably well by the Redlich-Peterson and Langmuir isotherms. The desorbed CMCTS-MMT could be reused for adsorption of cationicdye. To investigate the changes in surface morphology of CMCTS-MMT after sorption, scanning electron microscopy analysis were done before and after adsorption of the cationic dye. Finally, the results in this study confirmed thatCMCTS-MMT may be an attractive contender for removal of cationic dyes from the waste water. Defence Science Journal, Vol. 64, No. 3, May 2014, pp. 198-208, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.64.7318


The open reading frame (ORF) and the regulated synthesis of the influenza C viral NS1 protein were analyzed in view of viruses possessing different biological activities. We provide evidence for a 246-amino-acid NS1-ORF, encoded by five viral strains and variants. Prokaryotic expression of the prototype NS1-ORF resulted in a product of 27 kDa, confirming the predicted molecular weight. Using an antiserum raised against recombinant NS1 protein, nonstructural proteins of wild-type virus were detected in infected cells for a limited course of time, whereas a persistent virus variant was characterized by a long-term nonstructural gene expression. As examined by infection experiments, the intracellular distribution of nonstructural protein was nuclear and cytoplasmic, whereas in NS1 gene-transfected cells, the cytoplasmic localization occurred in a fine-grained structure, suggesting an analogy to influenza A viral NS1 protein. Concerning persistent infection, NS1 protein species differing in sizes and posttranslational modifications were observed for a persistent virus variant, as particularly illustrated by a high degree of NS1 phosphorylation. Virus reassortant analyses proved the importance of the NS-coding genomic segment: the minimal viral properties required for the establishment of persistence were transferred with this segment to a monoreassortant virus. Thus the influenza C viral NS1 protein is a 246-amino-acid nuclear-cytoplasmic phosphoprotein that can be subject to specific variations being functionally linked to a persistent virus phenotype.


This article discusses the semiotic and affective affordances of a regional museum on the west coast of Australia's only island state, Tasmania. Shorty's Private Collection is a small museum displaying items collected from around the region, with a focus on resuscitated mining materials. The owner also creates figures derived from popular culture from these items. The article uses the methodology of creative non-fiction in order to situate the museum within the marginal community that it engages with, and discusses the museum in terms of Bakhtin's theory of the grotesque and its potential to both establish and challenge dominant conceptions of the local and the limits of semiotic representation.


ABSTRACT This study provides a detailed philosophical view and evaluation of a viable design for a large liquid hydrogen tanker fuelled by liquid hydrogen. Established methods for determining tank sizing, ship stability, and ship characteristics were used to evaluate the preliminary design and performance of the liquefied hydrogen tanker named 'JAMILA', designed specifically to transport liquid hydrogen. JAMILA is designed around four large liquid hydrogen tanks with a total capacity of ∼280,000 m3 and uses the boil-off gas for propulsion for the loaded leg of the journey. The ship is 370 m long, 75 m wide, and draws 10.012 m at full load. It has a fully loaded displacement tonnage of 232,000 tonnes to carry 20,000 tonnes of hydrogen. Its propulsion system contains a combined-cycle gas turbine of approximately 50 MW. The volume of the hydrogen cargo pressurised to 0.5 MPa primarily determines the size and displacement of the ship. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Background/Objectives: Noise in a digital image, is unwanted information that degrades the quality of an image. The main aim of the proposed method is to denoise a noisy image based on least square approach using wavelet filters. Methods/ Statistical Analysis: One dimensional least square approach proposed by Selesnick is extended to two dimensional image denoising. In our proposed technique of least square problem formulation for image denoising, the matrix constructed using second order filter coefficients is replaced by wavelet filter coefficients. Findings: The method is experimented on standard digital images namely Lena, Cameraman, Barbara, Peppers and House. The images are subjected to different noise types such as Gaussian, Salt and Pepper and Speckle with varying noise level ranging from 0.01db to 0.5db. The wavelet filters used in the proposed approach of denoising are Haar, Daubechies, Symlet, Coiflet, Biorthogonal and Reverse biorthogonal. The outcome of the experiment is evaluated in terms of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR). The analysis of the experiment results reveals that performance of the proposed method of least square based image denoising by wavelet filters are comparable to denoising using existing second order sparse matrix. Applications/Improvements: Digital images are often prone to noise; hence, proceeding with further processing of such an image requires denoising. This work can be extended in future to m-band wavelet filters.


Gene duplication in evolution has long been viewed as a mechanism for functional divergence. We recently cloned two related lipo-oligo-chitin receptor genes (GmNFR1α and GmNFR1β) in Glycine max(soybean) that allowed the distinction of two nodulation factor (NF) responses during early legume nodule ontogeny, namely invasion of the root hair and concomitant cortical cell divisions. Root-controlled GmNFR1αmutants nod49 and rj1 failed to form curled root hairs, infection threads and nodules but develop subepidermal cortical cell divisions (CCD) and mycorrhizal associations. In contrast GmNFR1β mutant PI437.654 had full symbiotic abilities. However, GmNFR1α mutants formed normal nodules at reduced frequency when inoculated with high Bradyrhizobium titers. The mutation was complemented in Agrobacterium rhizogenes K599 transformed roots using both CaMV 35S and the native GmNFR1promoters. GmNFR1α may encode a high affinity NF receptor responsible for the entire nodulation cascade while GmNFR1β with lower affinity to NF suffices to induce cell divisions but not early infection events.


As habitat loss, introduced predators, and disease epidemics threaten species worldwide, translocation provides one of the most powerful tools for species conservation. However, reintroduced populations of threatened species are often founded by a small number of individuals (typically 30 in New Zealand) and generally have low success rates. The loss of genetic diversity combined with inbreeding depression in a small reintroduced population could reduce the probability of establishment and persistence. Effective management of genetic diversity is therefore central to the success of reintroduced populations in both the short- and long-term. Using population modelling and empirical data from source and reintroduced populations of skinks and tuatara, I examined factors that influence inbreeding dynamics and the long-term maintenance of genetic diversity in translocated populations. The translocation of gravid females aided in increasing the effective population size after reintroduction. Models showed that supplementation of reintroduced populations reduced the loss of heterozygosity over 10 generations in species with low reproductive output, but not for species with higher output. Harvesting from a reintroduced population for a second-order translocation accelerated the loss of heterozygosity in species with low intrinsic rates of population growth. Male reproductive skew also accelerated the loss of genetic diversity over 10 generations, but the effect was only significant when the population size was small. Further, when populations at opposite ends of a species' historic range are disproportionately vulnerable to extinction and background inbreeding is high, genetic differentiation among populations may be an artefact of an historic genetic gradient coupled with rapid genetic drift. In these situations, marked genetic differences should not preclude hybridising populations to mitigate the risks of inbreeding after reintroduction. These results improve translocation planning for many species by offering guidelines for maximising genetic diversity in founder groups and managing populations to improve the long-term maintenance of diversity. For example, founder groups should be larger than 30 for  reintroductions of species with low reproductive output, high mortality rates after release, highly polygynous mating systems, and high levels of background inbreeding. This study also provides a basis for the development of more complex models of losses of genetic diversity after translocation and how genetic drift may affect the long-term persistence of these valuable  populations.


Technology is becoming increasingly important in the effort to ensure safe food and good food quality, especially in the fresh food industry. Examples of such technology are systems for tracking and tracing food products, and the use of sensors to obtain context information about the environment. This technology is becoming more mature, and various standards are starting to emerge, but little work has been done combining these technologies or respective standards. This thesis presents an example software architecture combining an RFID tracking system with context information retrieved from sensors. The sensors can be located both on the RFID tag itself and in locations where the items are, or have been, located. Two frameworks are combined in this architecture; EPC Architecture Framework for item tracking and Sensor Web Enablement for sensor and context information. A set of scenarios describing potential uses of this technology is also presented. They are grouped by topics, with categories such as quality deterioration, temperature profiles, sensor collaboration and intelligent goods, hierarchy of goods with sensors, and proximity control. Each scenario is independent of the technical solution used, and does not require our architecture. The focus is on what can be achieved when a context-enabled tracking solution is implemented. These scenarios form the basis for the requirements specification of the architecture. The thesis shows that the integration of the two standard frameworks can be achieved with relatively small modifications, and that the technology needed to achieve what is presented in the scenarios is already available. It is, however, necessary to perform pilot implementations and testing in order to find how best to utilize the technology.


To perform dynamic cable manipulation to realize the configuration specified by a target image, we formulate dynamic cable manipulation as a stochastic forward model. Then, we propose a method to handle uncertainty by maximizing the expectation, which also considers estimation errors of the trained model. To avoid issues like multiple local minima and requirement of differentiability by gradient-based methods, we propose using a black-box optimization (BBO) to optimize joint angles to realize a goal image. Among BBO, we use the Tree-structured Parzen Estimator (TPE), a type of Bayesian optimization. By incorporating constraints into the TPE, the optimized joint angles are constrained within the range of motion. Since TPE is population-based, it is better able to detect multiple feasible configurations using the estimated inverse model. We evaluated image similarity between the target and cable images captured by executing the robot using optimal transport distance. The results show that the proposed method improves accuracy compared to conventional gradient-based approaches and methods that use deterministic models that do not consider uncertainty.


Shigella species are a major cause of gastroenteritis worldwide, and Shigella sonnei is the most common species isolated within the United States. Previous surveillance work in Pennsylvania documented increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in S. sonnei associated with reported illnesses. The present study examined a subset of these isolates by whole genome sequencing (WGS) to determine the relationship between domestic and international isolates, to identify genes that may be useful for identifying specific Global Lineages of S. sonnei and to test the accuracy of WGS for predicting AMR phenotype. A collection of 22 antimicrobial-resistant isolates from patients infected within the United States or while travelling internationally between 2009 and 2014 was chosen for WGS. Phylogenetic analysis revealed both international and domestic isolates were one of two previously defined Global Lineages of S. sonnei, designated Lineage II and Lineage III. Twelve of 17 alleles tested distinguish these two lineages. Lastly, genome analysis was used to identify AMR determinants. Genotypic analysis was concordant with phenotypic resistance for six of eight antibiotic classes. For aminoglycosides and trimethoprim, resistance genes were identified in two and three phenotypically sensitive isolates, respectively. This article contains data hosted by Microreact.


This study aimed at analyzing the extent to which publicly observable pieces of information representing stakeholders' past and current choices can be utilized for the construction of motivational profiles. Motivation is operationalized by the theory of Basic Human Values, which organizes 10 values capturing distinct aspects of human motivation into a hierarchical order. The construction of motivational profiles for individual stakeholders is motivated by the need to enhance the existing decision-maker model in the Conflicting Incentives Risk Analysis (CIRA) method. This study utilized an online questionnaire to collect responses from participants (n = 331) about a wide range of habits and personal items that are easily observable in various contexts by an analyst. The validity of the set of observables as surrogate predictors of the motivational profiles is evaluated by various methods (i.e., comparison to previous results, cross-validation of models, comparison to test-retest reliability of the psychometric instrument) and techniques (calculation of prediction interval for individual profile scores). The assessment of the uncertainties associated with predicting motivational profiles is explored in detail. Additionally, an example illustrates how the profiles can be utilized for the assessment of action desirability (i.e., prediction of behavior) based on the utility calculations established in CIRA. The results contribute to an improved understanding about the accuracy with which human stakeholder motivation can be inferred from public observables and utilized within the context of information security risk analysis.


A 57-year-old man of Turkish descent is treated for coronary artery disease. In addition to drug treatment and percutaneous revascularization, modification of lifestyle-related risk factors is indicated. His risk profile includes smoking, hypertension and inadequate physical activity. Adherence to medication is suboptimal and his wife is a smoker too. Limited health literacy and acculturation, and resource limitations impede adequate lifestyle changes. Guidance of this patient is challenging; it is not straightforward to influence the societal components of his issues from a medical office. Evidence-based lifestyle interventions are scarce, and their validation - if validated at all - was performed in populations that are not representative of the patient in question. However, physicians can contribute to achieving societal change by participating in national programs aimed at improving infrastructure, improving health literacy, development of ethnicity-specific interventions, availability of healthy food, discouragement of smoking, and creating an infrastructure that promotes physical activity in daily life


PURPOSE
While eye-tracking technology is a validated tool in the field of education it is still in its infancy in the field of Pediatric Dentistry. The primary aim of this study was to determine dental undergraduates' search patterns and visual fixations while viewing panoramic radiographs (PR) using an eye-tracker. The secondary aim was to decide on the potential opportunities to enhance teaching-learning strategies when studying these radiographs.

METHODS
Sixty-five dental undergraduates in the final year of their dental education consented to and participated in this study. A Tobii Pro Nano screen-based eye-tracking camera was mounted to the lower edge of a laptop with five different PR uploaded onto the Tobii Studio software. Regions of Interest (ROIs) were pre-determined for the five PR. The participants (17 males and 48 females) viewed all the PR images with no time restrictions and a "think-aloud" protocol was exercised.

RESULTS
The average view time for the PR was 245.58 ± 106.7 s. Participants spent significantly less time examining the surrounding structures (14.85 s) than the dentitions (primary: 97.58 s and permanent: 37.58 s). Males demonstrated a slightly higher view time (290.88 ± 97.7 s) than females (229.53 ± 106.05 s).

CONCLUSIONS
The results revealed that though the participants focused on the ROI, most of them failed to make the correct diagnosis. In addition, the search patterns of the participants unveiled no sequential viewing of PR. Hence the need to revise the teaching-learning strategies for the systematic interpretation of PR images in the dental curriculum is warranted.


This research develops a cycling typology of suburban transit passengers. The primary goal was to identify whether there are specific GO Transit customer segments who may be willing to cycle to the station. Passengers were invited to complete an online survey, which assessed cycling perceptions and current cycling behaviour. A principal component analysis and cluster analysis were used to develop a typology of respondents, which revealed four distinct types of transit riders. All-around cyclists were found to currently cycle to the station, while the remaining three types (recreational cyclists, safety-conscious, and facility-demanding) exhibited varying degrees of interest in cycling. A significant gender difference was observed in the predominantly female safety-conscious type. There was a pervasive perception across the three non-cycling groups that cycling is an impractical way to reach the station. Infrastructure improvements and a shift in perceptions will be essential to increase rates of cycling to stations.

Key words: cycling; first/last-mile; suburban transportation; mode choice


Facing each other across the bitter political divide between Catholics and Republicans in late nineteenth century France, Paul Bourget and Emile Zola might seem at first glance to have little in common. Bourget, devoutly Catholic and monarchist, was a significant influence on Right wing thought and action: Zola devoted his career to the promotion of a scientific, positivist and anti-clerical Republic. Yet as this thesis seeks to demonstrate, the opposition between Bourget and Zola - and between bourgeois Catholics and Republicans on a wider scale - could conceal not only ambiguity but also considerable consensus, particularly with reference to the question of national decadence. Focusing on a variety of literary, critical and journalistic works, the thesis illuminates Zola's political and social thought while incorporating original research on Paul Bourget, whose ideological importance has long been neglected. The shared sense of the writer's moral mission is studied as a prelude to a wider investigation of the two novelists' attitudes to political, social and racial decadence, throughout which emphasis is given to common perceptions of the nature of national degeneration. Journalistic campaigns attacking the early Third Republic give an insight into common complaints of political stagnation, and the longing for scientific government and strong leadership; fears of decadence and disorder in the social sphere often reveal a similar degree of bourgeois consensus. Concern at racial degeneration was still more widespread, and frequently crossed political and religious boundaries. Yet while Bourget and Zola shared common preoccupations, their proposed solutions were nonetheless widely divergent, and similarity of mentality could make for irreconcilable differences, especially in the religious domain. This thesis aims to demonstrate how defiance of a decadent democracy co-existed with the inescapable revolutionary legacy, thus giving a three dimensional picture of the depths of conflict and consensus within a divided society.


Objectives: Objectives of the study were to investigate effect of different targets on near point of convergence in adult emmetropes and to compare the values of break and recovery points with different targets Method: Near point of convergence was measured in 50 patients by using penlight, finger tip, accommodative target N 5 , pencil tip, RAF rule line target. Persons who had best corrected visual acuity less than 6/12, who were not co-operative or having any kind of deviation were not included in this study. Results: Break and recovery points of near point of convergence with pencil tip, finger tip and accommodative target were close to each other. Conclusion: Penlight and RAF rule gave remote values than other targets.  Penlight gave more remote values than RAF rule line.  Key words: Near point of convergence, vergence, convergence, pen light, finger tip, RAF rule, accommodative target, and pencil tip.


(x = 0.5–2.0) series; as a result, the CeO8 polyhedrons were compressed and the emission got red-shifted from green to yellow together with the broadening. The evolution of, the unit cell, the local structural geometry as well as the optical properties of Ce in these garnet creations, in response to the gradual Mg–Si substitution for Al–Al, were studied by combined techniques of structural refinement and luminescence measurements. The new composition Lu2.97Ce0.03Mg0.5Al4Si0.5O12 was comprehensively evaluated regarding its potential application in blue LED-driven solid state white lighting: the maximum emission is at 550 nm under lex = 450 nm; the internal and external quantum efficiencies can reach 85% and 49%, respectively; a 1-phosphor-converted wLED lamp fabricated using the as-prepared phosphor exhibits the luminous efficacy of 105 lm W , the correlated color temperature of 6164 K and the color rendering index (Ra) of 75.6. The new solid solution composition series is open for further optimization to enhance the competence for commercial consideration.


A theorem of Gekeler compares the number of non-isomorphic automorphic representations associated with the space of cusp forms of weight $k$ on $\Gamma_0(N)$ to a simpler function of $k$ and $N$, showing that the two are equal whenever $N$ is squarefree. We prove the converse of this theorem (with one small exception). It follows that a hypothetical fast algorithm for computing the number of such automorphic representations for even a single weight $k$ would yield a fast test for whether $N$ is squarefree. We also show how to obtain bounds on the possible square divisors of a number $N$ that has been found to not be squarefree via this test, and we show how to obtain the complete factorization of the squarefull part of $N$ from the number of such automorphic representations for two different weights. All of these computations could be performed quickly in practice, given the number(s) of automorphic representations as input.


Background: Rates of sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) remain high among young people in the United States and are even higher among college students with disabilities (SWDs). A first step in tailoring interventions aimed at reducing rates of SV/IPV for vulnerable populations is developing a nuanced understanding of how these individuals understand the concepts of consent and healthy relationships and relate them to their own experiences.

Methods: This qualitative study focused on participants, 18-24 years old, who reported a disability or health condition while in college (n=49) and used thematic analysis to examine their definitions of consent and healthy relationships within a semi-structured interview.

Results: Six themes were produced from the data: 1) Healthy relationships require both mutual care for one another through trust, respect, support, and communication, as well as care for one's self as an individual through independence, self-confidence, and finding support outside the relationship; 2) Those experiencing unhealthy treatment by a partner may normalize the behaviors due to manipulation, denial, and their love for that person; 3) Dichotomous definitions of consent lead to misunderstandings and confusion about how to apply consent to real life experiences; 4) Within the context of a relationship, active consent can be facilitated through comfort and open communication but hindered by implied or assumed expectations and difficulty balancing one's own discomfort with the possibility of their partner feeling rejected; 5) Students assume that when healthcare providers are asking about relationship health they are trying to elicit disclosure of abuse rather than facilitating a discussion of relationship health; and 6) Students are less likely to disclose abuse when they believe healthcare providers are fulfilling routine screening requirements rather than asking about their safety due to genuine concern, or, when they fear that disclosure will result in a loss of control over what happens next.

Conclusion: College SWDs have many of the same sexual and relationship understandings and experiences as other students, including some confusion about how to apply the concept of consent to their complex lived experiences and concerns about discussing abuse with healthcare providers. The public health significance of this study is in its implications for future SV/IPV prevention programming, healthcare provider interventions, and public health research related to consent and relationship health. Interventions that seek to reduce the high rates of SV/IPV in this population must address the complex nature of students' real sexual and romantic relationships and healthcare providers addressing relationship health with students should do so in a confidential, open, and non-judgmental manner. Further research on students' points of confusion around consent and relationship health is needed to inform future interventions.


Plastids are DNA-containing organelles unique to plant cells. In Arabidopsis, one-third of the genes required for embryo development encode plastid-localized proteins. To help understand the role of plastids in embryogenesis and postembryonic development, we characterized proteins of the mitochondrial transcription termination factor (mTERF) family, which in animal models, comprises DNA-binding regulators of mitochondrial transcription. Of 35 Arabidopsis mTERF proteins, 11 are plastid-localized. Genetic complementation shows that at least one plastidic mTERF, BELAYA SMERT' (BSM), is required for embryogenesis. The main postembryonic phenotypes of genetic mosaics with the bsm mutation are severe abnormalities in leaf development. Mutant bsm cells are albino, are compromised in growth, and suffer defects in global plastidic gene expression. The bsm phenotype could be phenocopied by inhibition of plastid translation with spectinomycin. Plastid translation is essential for cell viability in dicotyledonous species such as tobacco but not in monocotyledonous maize. Here, genetic interactions between BSM and the gene encoding plastid homomeric acetyl-CoA carboxylase ACC2 suggest that there is a functional redundancy in malonyl-CoA biosynthesis that permits bsm cell survival in Arabidopsis. Overall, our results indicate that biosynthesis of malonyl-CoA and plastid-derived systemic growth-promoting compounds are the processes that link plant development and plastid gene expression.


Barriers to successful transfer of contaminated land management policy from one country to another include socio-cultural, economic and environmental differences. While weak contaminated land management regimes desire effective legislation and make efforts to transfer policies from established regimes, contextual differences or characteristics between the two countries involved is a key challenge. These differing characteristics include social values, economic strength, governance structure, and technical know-how. An investigation was conducted through workshop and interviews to determine core social values that are impacted due to contaminated land by oil spills in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Workshop was undertaken for participants involving community groups (N=35), while interviews involved contaminated land management regulator (N=8), experts in contaminated land management in the Niger Delta (N=6), and operators in the oil exploration industry (N=7). Water quality, soil quality for agriculture, farming and fishing, and health/wellbeing indicated core social values that influence contaminated land management decisions while stakeholders expressed long-term concern about economic losses, clean-up, environmental degradation and public engagement. It is proposed that policymakers should consider unique conditions and country-specific characteristics in the event of policy adaptation for contaminated land management. An alternative approach to improving contaminated land management is recommended that will account for core social values and accommodate varying perceptions of stakeholders.


This study examines twenty pear film narratives (Chafe 1980), produced by native speakers of Castilian Spanish, following the 'frames/schema' model used by Tannen and Wallat (1993) in their study of a medical examination/interview. By analyzing the narratives in terms of interactive frames (originally defined by Bateson 1954) and knowledge schemas, we can see how frames and schemas interact and how participants' expectations influence framings. Using a discourse-analytical approach, I show how various linguistic elements in the discourse convey (implicitly or explicitly) the speakers' framings (i.e. the activities they are participating in when speaking) and their expectations about the study itself, films, elements in the pear film and their perceived roles when speaking. Segments of the discourse can convey simultaneous (merged) framings or sequential framings. The analysis shows that in order to fully account for the discourse produced during the Spanish narrators' retelling of the pear film, we must take into consideration the participants' underlying knowledge schemas resulting from their cultural experiences living in a rural town in Spain, the influence of and assumptions about the situation in which they find themselves and about the activity they are participating in, and the fact that the narrative discourse is co-constructed as an interactive conversational activity with interlocutors who are family members or friends of the narrators.


This chapter investigates how Christophe Boesch's colleague and codirector Michael Tomasello derived truth claims about the anthropological difference between Homo sapiens and Pan troglodytes from controlled experiments comparing the social cognition of human children with that of grown chimpanzees. Tomasello's claim that humans were the only primates capable of culture and cooperation received an enthusiastic reception by German philosophers. Yet Boesch called into question the validity of Tomasello's findings by pointing out that the social behavior of both humans and apes was too contingent on local circumstances for Leipzig kindergarten children and zoo chimpanzees rescued from a Dutch pharmaceutical company to represent all of humanity and chimpanzeehood. He accused Tomasello of not controlling for the different conditions under which Tomasello tested humans and apes. The ensuing controversy over the relationship between laboratory work and fieldwork happened at a time when new statistical methods were opening up vast new possibilities for chimpanzee ethnography, even fostering hopes that experimentation with captive animals would become superfluous because uncontrolled observations in the wild would allow the establishment of causal relations. The chapter then assesses whether Boesch's cultural primatology could inform a different philosophical anthropology than the one drawing from Tomasello's comparative psychology.


[Background:] Software effort prediction methods and models typically assume positive correlation between software product complexity and development effort. However, conflicting observations, i.e. negative correlation between product complexity and actual effort, have been witnessed from our experience with the COCOMO81 dataset. [Aim:] Given our doubt about whether the observed phenomenon is a coincidence, this study tries to investigate if an increase in product complexity can result in the abovementioned counter-intuitive trend in software development projects. [Method:] A modified association rule mining approach is applied to the transformed COCOMO81 dataset. To reduce noise of analysis, this approach uses a constant antecedent (Complexity increases while Effort decreases) to mine potential consequents with pruning. [Results:] The experiment has respectively mined four, five, and seven association rules from the general, embedded, and organic projects data. The consequents of the mined rules suggested two main aspects, namely human capability and product scale, to be particularly concerned in this study. [Conclusions:] The negative correlation between complexity and effort is not a coincidence under particular conditions. In a software project, interactions between product complexity and other factors, such as Programmer Capability and Analyst Capability, can inevitably play a "friction" role in weakening the practical influences of product complexity on actual development effort.


Time domain-based online power system dynamic security assessment (DSA) systems require a fast and reliable method to calculate the stability margin. B.C. Hydro's online DSA uses the Second Kick method which proves to be an elegant and reliable method for margin calculation. The Second Kick technique although simple in concept, in its original implementation requires the application of two artificial faults. It also requires a "snapshot" option in the simulation program to save the system conditions at a point for later retrieval. In this paper, two new Second Kick methods namely Kiana and Fast Second Kick are devised and compared to the original method in terms of implementation requirements and computational effort. The above three techniques have been tested on the large scale systems of B.C. Hydro and Hydro Quebec. The results show that all three methods predict the stability limits accurately. They also indicate that the Fast Second Kick method is twice as fast as the original method whereas the Kiana method takes three times longer than the original method. Both of the new techniques remove the requirement for a snapshot resulting in easier implementation.


In the paper the study results of silicon carbide and diamond nanosized particle synthesis during short-pulsed implantation of carbon ions and protons into the silicon target are presented. The experiments have been performed at the source of high-power pulsed ion beams "TEMP" based on the magnetically isolated diode with Br field. The beam parameters are the following: ion energy is 300 keV, pulse duration is 80 ns, beam contains ions of carbon and protons, ion current density is 30 A/cm2. The plates of monocrystal silicon were used as target. After consequent action of more than 100 pulses the formation of nanosized particles SiC and nanodiamonds were observed in the surface layer of silicon. The average sizes of coherent scattering area of SiC particles and nanodiamonds were 12-16 and 8-9 nm, correspondently.


Following the alphabetical order of the BRICS Countries, this paper offers an exemplary review of literature on the relationship between government and its people. It is tentatively found that the Brazilian Government is trying to build the people's trust in government, while the Russian Government is experiencing a lack of trust with their citizens. It is also tentatively found that both India and China seem to be adapting E-Government to improve the relationship in a limited way with its people. Finally the tentative findings in South Africa are that the African government is having a stronger positive effect on a national government level, but their local government is still greeted with dissatisfaction of its citizens. While all the BRICS countries share similar social, political, and economic transitions, they have made different adaptations based on their varying cultural and historical traditions. Based on the findings, the authors speculate that the more transparent public communication is, the more likely the BRICS countries will have a stronger foothold in globalization.


Background FOP (Fibrodysplasia Ossificans Progressiva) is a rare disease in which muscles in the body gradually replaced with bones. There is no therapeutic at this stage. Since population of FOP patients is small, home care methods are devised only individually. Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the actual situation of home care for FOP patients and to consider the possible nursing home care for FOP patients. Methods Subjects were 10 FOP patients (1 male and 9 female) and their families. We interviewed them on the daily care of their childhood and analyzed the transcripts by qualitative descriptive study. For ethical consideration, we explained to the subjects about contents of this study and got the informed consents. Results We found the categories of FOP patients of the actual situations as follows; 7 categories in infants; reduction in outdoor playing, progress by the physical damages, appearance peculiar to ossific symptoms etc.; 6 categories in schoolchildren; the decline in ADL restriction by ossification, distrust of others, acceptance of the rare disease, invention for improvement in QOL etc.; 9 categories in adolescence; the ADL decline by ossification, the deterioration of condition by ossification, care for the injury prevention, notification of the name of a disease, invention for QOL improvement, the decision to become independent, etc. Conclusions FOP children are now dependent on their family, they hope to live their own life in future. It is critical for nursing care to consider the ways keep them from injury and infection.


In chronic experiments on rabbits with non-polarizable electrodes shifts of steady potential level (SPL) are recorded from the brain surface during extinction of the orienting reaction and formation of a conditioned defensive reflex. During each of these processes they have their typical parameters and are respectively denoted by the author as: orienting (appearing in response to a new stimulus), conditioned (to a signal atimulus), unconditioned (to an electro-cutaneous stimulus) and trace SPL shifts (developing after stimuli pairing). Trace shifts are the earliest SPL shifts originating as a result of pairing. They are manifested more regularly, than conditioned ones, considerably exceed them in amplitude, may differ from them in their sign and reach maximum values in a few seconds after the pairing. It has been assumed that formation of conditioned temporal connections depends above all on the appearance of a new kind of activity, resulting from pairings and reflected in the SPL trace shifts. This activity possibly constitutes the neurodynamic and metabolic processes underlying memory consolidation.


Significant research is ongoing on several fronts in smart sensor technologies for optimizing the performance of power generating assets. The initiatives include:
 1. Real-time models with advanced computational algorithms, embedded intelligence at sensor and component level for reducing operating costs, improving efficiencies, and lowering emissions.
 2. Optical sapphire sensors for monitoring operation and performance of critical components in harsh environments, for improving accuracy of measurements in combustion monitoring, and lowering operating costs.
 3. Wireless technologies using (a) microwave acoustic sensors for real-time monitoring of equipment in high temperature/pressure environments (b) integrated gas/temperature acoustic sensors for combustion monitoring in diverse harsh environment locations to improve combustion efficiency, reduce emissions, and lower maintenance costs (c) sensors for sensing temperature, strain and soot accumulation inside coal-fired boilers for detailed condition monitoring, better understanding of combustion and heat exchange processes, improved designs, more efficient operation.
 4. Distributed optical fiber sensing system for real-time monitoring and optimization of high temperature profiles for improving efficiency and lowering emissions.
 5. Smart parts with embedded sensors for in situ monitoring of multiple parameters in existing and new facilities.
 6. Optimizing advanced 3D manufacturing processes for embedded sensors in components for harsh environments to reduce costs and improve efficiency of power generation facilities with carbon capture capabilities.
 7. New energy-harvesting materials for powering wireless sensors in harsh environments, improving reliability of wireless sensors in demanding environments, and in-situ monitoring and performance of devices and systems.
 8. Real-time, accurate and reliable monitoring of temperature at distributed locations of sensors in harsh environments for improving operations and reducing operating costs.
 9. Algorithms and methodologies for designing control systems utilizing distributed intelligence for optimal control of power generation facilities.
 10. Gas sensors for monitoring high temperatures in harsh environments for lowering operating costs and better control of operations.
 11. Optimizing placement of smart sensors in networks for cognitive behavior and self-learning.
 This paper provides an overview of the initiatives in smart sensor technologies and their applications in optimizing the performance of power generating facilities.


Four hundred and eighty five rainbow trout (76 ± 6.44 g mean weight) were acclimated to laboratory conditions and then randomly divided into four groups of tanks in triplicate. The first group (Group 1) was fed on a commercial diet (control) without Bacillus subtilis supplementation. The second, third and fourth groups (Group 2, Group 3 and Group 4, respectively) were given a diet supplemented with 1, 5 and 10 g probiotic powder (containing 8×10 7 CFU g -1 Bacillus subtilis ) per kg commercial feed. Growth performance, immune responses and glucose levels were analyzed on days 0, 22 and 44. The results showed that dietary Bacillus subtilis supplementation significantly ( p <0.05) reduced final weight in treated groups compared with that in the control group. No significant difference ( p > 0.05) was observed in weight gain rate (WGR) between the control and group 2. On the effect of dietary Bacillus subtilis on serum lysozyme, it was observed that group 3 and group 4 did not show any significant differences in serum lysozyme activity and serum total antibody on day 44. Results of alternative complement activity, showed significant increase during the experimental days ( p < 0.05). Results on glucose assay showed that group 3 had the lowest glucose level (13.71 mg/dL) which was not significantly different than that in other groups on day 44. Fish diet supplementation with 5 g probiotic powder (Group 3) is preferable for immune system responses; however, high dose of Bacillus subtilis may be helpful to improve growth performance in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum, 1792).


Providing reliable and timely communication in wireless industrial networks is crucial. Previous research has shown that relaying can aid in achieving this goal. We consider the case when relay resources are sparse such that each relay needs to aid e.g., three different sensor nodes and propose to combine relaying with Luby codes. We let the relay node construct a Luby coded packet using the three source packets as input. The destination can then use the Luby coded packet to recover an erroneous or lost source packet regardless of which source that packet belonged to. The performance evaluation shows that our proposed scheme significantly increases the number of correctly received packets before the corresponding deadlines, or alternatively that high reliability can be maintained even if fewer time slots are allocated for retransmissions, thus lowering the delay.


Foreword This issue of the International Review of the Red Cross addresses the importance of understanding armed groups and the norms by which they are bound. One way of gaining insight into armed groups and engaging with them on improving respect for the law is to examine the rules and decisions that they choose to adopt. In 2008, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published a study on increasing the respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) in non-international armed conflicts.1 The study identified codes of conduct as one of the legal tools to improve compliance of armed groups with IHL.2 While they do not guarantee respect for the law, codes of conduct provide an important glimpse into the ideological and organizational structure of an armed group, its chain of command, and the rights and obligations that the hierarchy of the armed group chooses to bestow on its members. Furthermore, codes of conduct can provide a basis upon which legal representations can be made and accountability required regarding norms of IHL.3 Several authors in this edition of the Review discuss the importance of codes of conducts for understanding and engaging with armed groups.4 The Review has thus decided to include a collection5 of codes of conduct, or relevant extracts thereof.6 All materials in this collection are publicly available.7 They originate from various geographic areas and time periods – from China in 1947 to Libya in 2011 – and provide an insight into different armed groups' views of and appreciation of humanitarian norms.8 The publication of these codes of conduct does not in any way imply endorsement by the Review of the content of these documents.


In this paper, we report about the first experimental verification of evanescent waves enhancement inside wire metamaterial. The enhancement is originated by resonant pumping of standing waves inside the wire metamaterial. An excellent agreement between the experimental data and numerical results is found. Furthermore the applicability of this concept for improvement of magnetic resonance imaging is demonstrated.


Tensile static and tension-tension fatigue behaviour has been studied in coupon specimens made from continuous fibre reinforced glass/epoxy and carbon/epoxy laminates of various lay-ups, including a series of GFRP and CFRP 0,90,0 cross-ply laminates with different 90° ply thicknesses and CFRP 0, 90, +/-45 laminates with different ply stacking sequences. A variety of techniques has been used to monitor the accumulation of damage; microscopy on the polished edge of coupons, penetrant-enhanced X-radiography for CFRP laminates and visual observations for the transparent GFRP laminates. Under static loading, mechanical properties and damage thresholds are established for the onset of events such as cracking in the 90' and 45° plies and delamination. The experimentally determined 90° ply cracking threshold strains agree with predictions based on fracture mechanics, provided residual thermal strains are taken into account. Fatigue failure data are obtained for the CFRP laminates and plotted as conventional S-logN curves. The fatigue behaviour of the CFRP laminates has also been described qualitatively using a form of fatigue life representation in terms of the predominant damage mechanisms observed during cyclic loading. A detailed study of transverse ply matrix cracking showed that the mode of crack propagation depended on the type of loading. Crack growth across the width of the ply was instantaneous under static loading and at high cyclic stresses. At low cyclic stresses, i.e. below the static cracking threshold, cracks initiated only after a number of cycles (dependent on the stress level) and then grew slowly across the width of the ply throughout the course of loading. Slow crack growth was also observed at high cyclic stresses when the density of full width cracks was high and the crack spacing was small. The crack growth rate was found to be independent of crack length and to depend on crack spacing and hence was strongly influenced by interactions between neighbouring cracks. Fatigue growth of individual cracks was modelled using an approach based on an expression for the stress intensity factor at the tip of a transverse ply crack and a Paris fatigue crack growth relationship.


Hot electron plasma moves in from Io Scientists have known that solar radiation ionizes the gases from Io's volcanoes to create a torus of plasma around Jupiter, but how that plasma moves is unclear. To investigate this, Yoshioka et al. monitored the temperature of the hot electron plasma as a function of distance from the planet with the Hisaki Earth-orbiting satellite. The fraction of hot electrons decreases only gradually with distance from Jupiter, which implies a rapid resupply of these electrons from outside Io's orbit. Science, this issue p. 1581 Near-Earth satellite measurements in the extreme ultraviolet examine a charged torus produced by volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io. Jupiter's magnetosphere is a strong particle accelerator that contains ultrarelativistic electrons in its inner part. They are thought to be accelerated by whistler-mode waves excited by anisotropic hot electrons (>10 kiloelectron volts) injected from the outer magnetosphere. However, electron transportation in the inner magnetosphere is not well understood. By analyzing the extreme ultraviolet line emission from the inner magnetosphere, we show evidence for global inward transport of flux tubes containing hot plasma. High-spectral-resolution scanning observations of the Io plasma torus in the inner magnetosphere enable us to generate radial profiles of the hot electron fraction. It gradually decreases with decreasing radial distance, despite the short collisional time scale that should thermalize them rapidly. This indicates a fast and continuous resupply of hot electrons responsible for exciting the whistler-mode waves.


The role of knowledge creation within organizations increases in importance within a knowledge economy. Unlike the industrial economy, which inspired basic economic theory, the knowledge economy collapses the time frame for economic agents to obtain relevant knowledge with which to make competitive resource allocation decisions. Further, much knowledge creation still occurs today in an inefficient and unstructured fashion within organizations. In this paper, we examine briefly the process of knowledge creation. We posit that knowledge creation yields an economic benefit to the organization and present an analytic model which examines how formal knowledge creation embedded in formal learning processes provide this benefit. Our model provides an inducement for organizations to increase their management and participation in knowledge creation processes.


Post-transplantation allograft arterial thrombosis is a well-recognized complication associated with solid organ transplantation. Much of the literature is centered on liver and kidney transplantation, which will therefore serve as the principle basis for this review, with a brief discussion on pancreas transplantation and associated arterial complications. The number of solid organ transplants has been steadily increasing over the past decade in parallel with growing demand for organs and expansion of the transplantation criteria for both donors and recipients. This increase has been accompanied by a number of innovative medical advances and surgical techniques, as well as improved imaging that has allowed for thoughtful exploration of vascular anatomic variants and the possibilities for transplant with which they are associated. It has also been accompanied by a growing field of behavioral research, as potential recipients must weigh the risk of accepting certain organs based on perceived outcomes that may differ according to the quality of the underlying organ. Improvements in imaging technology have brought greater sensitivity to detecting arterial complications in post-operative surveillance examinations and have allowed for further development of tailored endovascular and surgical interventions for transplant-associated vascular complications. This review will focus on post-transplantation solid organ allograft artery thrombosis, including discussion of risk factors, diagnostic imaging, natural history, and therapeutic options.


Although various causes are reported for sensory ganglionopathy, drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome (DIHS) has not been considered a possibility. We describe a 70-year-old woman, previously administered mexiletine hydrochloride for 4 weeks, who presented with systemic oedematous erythema and subacute progressive gait disturbance. Evaluation revealed lymphadenopathy with atypical lymphocytosis and eosinophilia, and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) reactivation. Neurological examination indicated the almost complete loss of joint positional sense in her extremities; her tendon reflex was lost and there was marked pseudoathetosis and Romberg's sign. Skin biopsy revealed spongiosis with lymphocyte infiltration. Based on these findings, we diagnosed acute sensory ganglionopathy secondary to DIHS. Although her DIHS-induced symptoms subsided after methylprednisolone treatment, partial remission of sensory ganglionopathy occurred, even after subsequent intravenous immunoglobulin therapy. This case suggests the possibility that reactivation of HHV-6 may be involved in the pathomechanism of sensory ganglionopathy.


Slag is one of the main waste materials of the iron and steel manufacturing. Every year about 20 million tons of slag are generated in the United States and 43.5 million tons in Europe. The revalorization of this by-product as heat storage material in thermal energy storage systems would have numerous advantages which include: the possibility to extend the working temperature range up to 1000 °C, the reduction of the system cost and, at the same time, the decrease of the quantity of waste in the iron and steel industry.In this paper, two different electric arc furnace slags from two companies located in the Basque Country (Spain) are studied. Their thermal stability and compatibility in direct contact with the most common heat transfer fluids used in the concentrated solar power plants are analyzed. The experiments have been designed in order to cover a wide temperature range up to the maximum operation temperature of the future generation of concentrated solar power plants (1000 °C). In particular, three different fluids have been studied: synthetic oil (Syltherm 800®) at 400 °C, molten salt (Solar Salt) at 500 °C and air at 1000 °C. In addition, a complete characterization of the studied slags and fluids used in the experiments is presented showing the behavior of these materials after 500 hour laboratory-tests.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


Background Clinical research for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C has evolved greatly with the introduction on the European pharmaceutical market of new oral direct acting antivirals (DAAs). Despite the fact that new DAA agents have fewer side effects, it is important to provide appropriate information to patients at initiation of treatment. Purpose To develop and implement a therapeutic education tool for patients with chronic hepatitis C, and to provide accurate information during the pharmaceutical consultations organised at the hospital. Material and methods The following steps were followed. Design viral hepatitis C brochure after review of: Scientific literature on chronic hepatitis C and new oral DAA agents. Recommendations on treatment of hepatitis C 2015 of several associations involved in the study of the liver (EASL and AASLD). Write new information sections for DAAs for the following drugs: siméprévir–sofosbuvir–ombitasvir+dasabuvir+paritaprevir/ritonavir–ledipasvir+sofosbuvir. Validate the therapeutic education tool by hospital pharmacists and gastroenterologists involved in the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Results The edition of the final patient information brochure (format A6) contained several sections, such as: General information Chronic hepatitis C Introduction Viral hepatitis C and virus Viral hepatitis C and treatment Viral hepatitis C and drug information Depending on the patient's medication Conclusion Implementation of this information brochure allowed the hospital pharmacist to provide well summarised information on hepatitis C virus treatment. It is a useful tool during pharmaceutical consultations with chronic hepatitis C patients. The personalised information booklet provided to the patients can also be shared at home with the family, allowing them to have more details on hepatitis C disease and on the patient's drug regimen. References and/or acknowledgements EASL (European Association for the Study of Liver): recommendations on treatment of hepatitis C2015. AASLD (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases): recommendations on treatment of hepatitis C 2015. Summary of DAAs characteristics 2015. No conflict of interest


ABSTRACT For decades, couples around the world have used Imago relationship therapy (IRT) to improve their relationships. While anecdotal success stories abound, no randomized controlled trial of IRT's impact has been accomplished until now. The authors review the results of a randomized controlled trial of distressed, treatment-seeking couples who completed 12 sessions of IRT and the impact their involvement had on their marital satisfaction. Results showed that (a) individuals in the treatment condition experienced statistically significant increases in marital satisfaction, while couples in the control group did not; (b) levels of marital satisfaction did decrease significantly from posttreatment to follow-up but remained significantly higher than at pretreatment; (c) though statistically significant, the improvements experienced by the treatment group were not clinically significant improvements; and (d) while approximately one-third of participants achieved recovery during treatment, at the dyad level, only one couple achieved recovery. Further analysis and recommendations for future research are discussed.


Martin Flack, a medical student, was the first to discover the sinoatrial (SA) node in the early 1900s. The SA (sinus) node represents a cluster of myocytes with pacemaker activity. Under normal circumstances, it generates electrical impulses that set the rhythm and rate of the heart. The mass of the sinus node is too small to create a substantial electrical signal that can be detected on the electrocardiogram (ECG). Instead, SA nodal pacemaker activity must be inferred indirectly from P waves generated by the atrial activity. Any dysfunction of the sinus node can affect the heart's rate and rhythm. Noticing and understanding the various types of sinus node dysfunction can help with management decisions.


This report describes the effect of severe maternal hyperbilirubinemia (total bilirubin value, 40 mg/100 ml, of which about 30% to 40% was unconjugated) on the fetus for three weeks prior to delivery. The newborn at delivery had a value for cord blood unconjugated bilirubin which was similar to the maternal serum value. This phenomenon may indicate maternal to fetal transfer of unconjugated bilirubin. The newborn developed hyperbilirubinemia for which exchange transfusions were required. He also manifestedEscherichia colisepticemia and expired as a result of infection. The autopsy findings revealed no evidence of bilirubin encephalopathy.


Significance Here we show that the spatial prevalence of human societies that believe in moralizing high gods can be predicted with a high level of accuracy (91%) from historical, social, and ecological data. Using high-resolution datasets, we systematically estimate the relative effects of resource abundance, ecological risk, cultural diffusion, shared ancestry, and political complexity on the global distribution of beliefs in moralizing high gods. The methods presented in this paper provide a blueprint for how to leverage the increasing wealth of ecological, linguistic, and historical data to understand the forces that have shaped the behavior of our own species. Although ecological forces are known to shape the expression of sociality across a broad range of biological taxa, their role in shaping human behavior is currently disputed. Both comparative and experimental evidence indicate that beliefs in moralizing high gods promote cooperation among humans, a behavioral attribute known to correlate with environmental harshness in nonhuman animals. Here we combine fine-grained bioclimatic data with the latest statistical tools from ecology and the social sciences to evaluate the potential effects of environmental forces, language history, and culture on the global distribution of belief in moralizing high gods (n = 583 societies). After simultaneously accounting for potential nonindependence among societies because of shared ancestry and cultural diffusion, we find that these beliefs are more prevalent among societies that inhabit poorer environments and are more prone to ecological duress. In addition, we find that these beliefs are more likely in politically complex societies that recognize rights to movable property. Overall, our multimodel inference approach predicts the global distribution of beliefs in moralizing high gods with an accuracy of 91%, and estimates the relative importance of different potential mechanisms by which this spatial pattern may have arisen. The emerging picture is neither one of pure cultural transmission nor of simple ecological determinism, but rather a complex mixture of social, cultural, and environmental influences. Our methods and findings provide a blueprint for how the increasing wealth of ecological, linguistic, and historical data can be leveraged to understand the forces that have shaped the behavior of our own species.


Background: Hypertension is more common in adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) than the general population. The aim of this study was to detect the pre-hypertensive stage in children with T1D and to evaluate its correlation with diabetic nephropathy compared to non-diabetic children. Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study in an out-patient clinic of a university hospital. A total of 62 which consists of 36 males and 26 females patients with stable T1D with a median age of 13 year and 42 age - sex-matched healthy children were entered in the study between September 2008 and February 2011. Three readings of blood pressure were recorded. Fasting blood sample was drawn for hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), creatinine and a 24 h urine aliquot was collected to measure microalbumin, creatinine and volume to estimate glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Results: From 62 children with T1DM, 25.8% were in pre-hypertensive stage, 4.8% Stage 1, and 1.6% Stage 2. In controls, 1 (2.4%) out of 42 children was in pre-hypertensive stage (P < 0.0001). Abnormal blood pressures were correlated with eGFR and the duration of disease (P < 0.05), but there were not associated with microalbominuria or HbA1C level. Conclusions: There was a higher rate of early stage of high normal blood pressure in children with T1DM compared with the healthy controls and this abnormality was only correlated with puberty stage and glomerular filtration rate.


In evolutionary biology, a character is a function @g from a set X of present-day species into a finite set of states. Suppose the species in X have evolved according to a bifurcating tree T. Biologists would like to use characters to infer this tree. Assume that @g is the result of an evolutionary process on T that has not involved reverse or parallel transitions; such characters are called homoplasy-free. In this case, @g provides direct combinatorial information about the underlying evolutionary tree T for X. We consider the question of how many homoplasy-free characters are required so that T can be correctly reconstructed. We first establish lower bounds showing that, when the number of states is bounded, the number of homoplasy-free characters required to reconstruct T grows (at least) linearly with the size of X. In contrast, our main result shows that, when the state space is sufficiently large, every bifurcating tree can be uniquely determined by just five homoplasy-free characters. We briefly describe the relevance of this result for some new types of genomic data, and for the amalgamation of evolutionary trees.


This paper presents signal processing techniques particularly suited for interferometric Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) systems onboard Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) (or other platforms carrying high grade navigation systems). The signal processing is applied to data collected in a controlled rail experiment at Elba Island, Italy, using a wideband interferometric SAS and an Inertial Navigation System (INS). We evaluate different strategies in fusing sonar micronavigation by the Displaced Phase Center Antenna (DPCA) technique with Aided INS (AINS). We obtained highest navigation accuracy using DPCA as aiding sensor into the AINS, then using raw DPCA surge and sway in combination with the AINS attitude and position. Coarse cross correlation based bathymetry and full resolution interferometry (based on the interferogram) is tested on the full swath and objects. Coarse bathymetry is more reliable than the interferogram technique. Phase wraparounds are avoided by estimating the coarse bathymetry first, then using the full resolution phase estimates as correction. Although much work remains, this technique does show a clear potential in improving object classification ability.


In this study, we compared a fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (fast-FLAIR) sequence to conventional spin-echo (CSE) in the evaluation of brain MRI lesion loads of seven patients with clinically definite multiple sclerosis. Interleaved CSE (3000/20, 5 mm contiguous axial slices) and fast-FLAIR (9000/150/2200, 5 mm contiguous axial slices) sequences were performed on a 1.0 T machine. Lesions were counted consensually by two observers and then segmented independently by two other observers using a local thresholding technique, with subsequent manual editing in the case of poorly defined lesions. Four hundred and two lesions were detected in at least one of the two sequences: 128 were seen only on fast-FLAIR, 17 only on CSE. Forty-one lesions were larger on fast-FLAIR, while no lesion was considered larger on CSE. The numbers of periventricular (P = 0.05), cortical/subcortical (P = 0.02) and discrete (P = 0.05) lesions detected using fast-FLAIR were higher than those detected using CSE. The median lesion load was 7185 mm3 on CSE and 8418 mm3 on the fast-FLAIR, the average being 18% (range = 11.6-29%) higher on the fast-FLAIR images. Lesion contrast ratio was higher for lesions on the fast-FLAIR than on the CSE sequence (P < 0.0001). The percentages of poorly defined lesions which needed manual editing after the local thresholding technique was applied and the total time needed for the measurements were lower (P < 0.001) when fast-FLAIR images were used compared with CSE. This resulted in a reduced inter-rater coefficient of variation in measuring lesion volumes. Our data indicate that fast-FLAIR sequences are more sensitive than CSE in detecting multiple sclerosis lesion burden and that fast-FLAIR is a promising technique for natural history studies and clinical trials in multiple sclerosis.


Background: Studies done in Chile and abroad report a high frequency of substance abuse among patients hospitalized in general medical services. Aim: To report the frequency of substance abuse in a sample of patients hospitalized in a public hospital of Santiago. Material and methods: A structured psychiatric interview for the Third Revised Version of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III-R) was applied to 203 males, aged 58.5 years and 203 females, aged 52,9 years, hospitalized in an internal medicine Service of a public hospital. All subjects had a low educational and income level. Results: The discharge diagnoses of studied patients were digestive diseases in 32%, circulatory diseases in 19%, cancer, diabetes mellitus and genitourinary diseases in 11% respectively and mental or behavioral diseases in 5%. Thirty eight percent of males and 6% of females qualified for alcohol dependency or abuse in some moment of their lives. The figures for benzodiazepine dependency were 1% among males and 6% among females. The figures for cannabis, cocaine or stimulant abuse were 1.5% for males and 1% for females. Other conditions of the axis 1 of DSM-IIIR were diagnosed in 47% of males and 65% of females with substance abuse. Conclusions: Substance abuse underlies medical conditions in a high proportion of patients admitted to medical services in general hospitals (Rev Med Chile 2002; 130: 651-660)


Charging of micron-size particulates, often appearing in fluorocarbon plasma etching experiments, is considered. It is shown that in inductively coupled and microwave slot-excited plasmas of C4F8 and Ar gas mixtures, the equilibrium particle charge and charge relaxation processes are controlled by a combination of microscopic electron, atomic (Ar+ and F+), and molecular ion (CF+ 3, CF+ 2, and CF+) currents. The impact of molecular ion currents on the particulate charging and charge relaxation processes is analyzed. It is revealed that in low-power (<0.5 kW) microwave slot-excited plasmas, the impact of the combined molecular ion current to the total positive microscopic current on the particle can be as high as 40%. The particulate charge relaxation rate in fluorocarbon plasmas appears to exceed 108 s-1, which is almost one order of magnitude higher than that from purely argon plasmas. This can be attributed to the impact of positive currents of fluorocarbon molecular ions, as well as to the electron density fluctuations with particle charge, associated with electron capture and release by the particulates.


Abstract This article makes an assessment of the recent international expansion of Indian companies by contrasting it to the earlier – much more modest – wave of investments abroad. It also traces the evolution of the Indian government's policy towards outwards investments and makes the claim that an important reason for the rise of investments abroad is the gradual relaxation of the Indian government's restrictions on capital outflow after the economic reforms of the 1990s. The new Indian investments abroad are characterised by being dispersed over a very large number of countries and economic sectors and – most remarkable – Indian companies are now also targeting the markets in Europe and the USA through acquisitions of local companies. At the same time, Indian companies have continued to expand their presence in other developing countries, where their activities may contribute to both economic progress and a reduction of economic dependence on relations with developed countries.


Effects of the Li-addition to the Bi-2212 phase on the formation process and the superconductive properties were studied for the samples with the nominal compositions of Bi:Sr:Ca:Cu:Li=2:1.5 :1.5:2:x(x=0 to 0.6). The samples were heated at 560-860°C for 1 to 48h in air. Monophasic Bi-2212 samples was obtained for x=0.2 to 0.6 by heating above 730°C, which was approximately 100°C lower than that of the sample with x=0.A new compound containing Li element was formed in the temperature range between 700 and 720°C, which remarkably promoted the formation of the Bi-2212 phase. The lattice parameter c of the Bi-2212 phase increase with increasing Li content. The temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility showed that Tc rose up to 90K for the sample with x=0.4 heated at 750°C for 12h.


The United States Program to use electric energy rather than chemical energy to propel materials to high velocity is now focused almost entirely on fundamental research efforts to provide an understanding of the critical research issues for selected military applications, specifically on applications of direct interest to the U.S. Army. Almost all of the applications envisioned since the inception of the program in the late 1970's still appear to be viable. But, the military interest to propel projectiles to higher and higher velocities for direct and indirect fire applications dominates the funding for research and consequently determines the current directions of the science and technology.


Context and setting It is a national priority to expand the development of clinical substance abuse (SA) research, but little is known about how to attract health care professionals to careers in this area. Why the idea was necessary The goal of the Substance Abuse Research Education and Training (SARET) curriculum is to engage novice graduate health professional students (i.e. nursing, dentistry and medicine students) in considering SA research careers through participation in a educational theorybased core curriculum of eight web-based, rich media modules and stipend-supported mentored research experiences. What was done We piloted the first 30-minute, webbased activation module entitled 'Investigators needed' to pique learners' interest in enroling in SARET. The module introduces participants to cutting-edge SA research by showcasing four filmed interviews with nationally recognised, National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded researchers. The investigators discuss their work and some of the areas involved, including: determining relapse risk factors; the role of alcoholism in HIV; using brain imaging to understand addiction in adolescents, and the challenges of human subjects SA research. In parallel, participants are introduced to the principles of sound research question design through application of the patient ⁄ population, intervention, comparison and outcome (PICO) formula. Module design features are based on principles of adult learning (i.e. self-directed learning, goaland relevance-oriented learning), multimedia theory (i.e. dual channel, limiting cognitive load, utilising interactivity), social network theory (i.e. forums for discussion) and cognitive principles (i.e. visual imagery, mnemonics and chunking). The module is built into the open-source, web-based program called Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) and delivered through the digital learning management system employed at the respective health professional school. Evaluation of results and impact In our pilot of Year 2 and 3 dentistry students, 376 of 378 students completed the module and 277 completed the online survey sent out afterwards (74% response rate). Students reported being more interested ('somewhat' and 'very interested') in SA research after viewing the module than before (57% versus 22%). Students stated that the video and cutting-edge research questions (74%), quiz questions (72%), presentation of content (70%) and PICO principles (68%) helped ('some' to 'a lot') them understand key elements of SA research. A total of 37% of the students actively discussed the module content in the online forums. Lastly, 35% of students requested more SARET programme information and 60% stated they wanted more information about the cutting-edge research questions presented (i.e. methodological design, preliminary results, outcome measures). These preliminary findings will inform the development and evaluation of the remaining seven modules of the SARET curriculum. In the coming year, the researchers will track the extent to which this module motivates enrolment in the SARET programme and compare data on those who do and do not enrol in order to identify the factors that predict participation in mentored research programmes.


Abstract Toxigenic cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue green algae, are an emerging public health issue. The toxins produced by cyanobacteria have been detected across the United States in marine, freshwater and estuarine systems and associated with adverse health outcomes. The intent of this paper is to focus on how to address risk in a recreational freshwater scenario when toxigenic cyanobacteria are present. Several challenges exist for monitoring, assessing and posting water bodies and advising the public when toxigenic cyanobacteria are present. These include addressing different recreational activities that are associated with varying levels of risk, the dynamic temporal and spatial aspects of blooms, data gaps in toxicological information and the lack of training and resources for adequate surveillance. Without uniform federal guidance, numerous states have taken public health action for cyanobacteria with different criteria. Vermont and Oregon independently developed a tiered decision-making framework to reduce risk to recreational users when toxigenic cyanobacteria are present. This framework is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative information.


A CMOS charge pump based on a transfer blocking technique and a modified precharge scheme is proposed for avoiding reversion loss and relaxing the timing restrictions imposed on input clocks. Comparison results in an 80-nm CMOS process indicate that, with no loading current, the output voltage of the proposed charge pump reaches almost 98% of the ideal boosting level with switching ripple reduced by up to 97%. They also indicate that output voltage deviations due to temperature and process variations are reduced by 24%-98% and 81%-95%, respectively.


Skeleton extraction from 3D plant point cloud data is an essential prior for myriads of phenotyping studies. Although skeleton extraction from 3D shapes have been studied extensively in the computer vision and graphics literature, handling the case of plants is still an open problem. Drawbacks of the existing approaches include the zigzag structure of the skeleton, nonuniform density of skeleton points, lack of points in the areas having complex geometry structure, and most importantly the lack of biological relevance. With the aim to improve existing skeleton structures of state-of-the-art, we propose a stochastic framework which is supported by the biological structure of the original plant (we consider plants without any leaves). Initially we estimate the branching structure of the plant by the notion of β-splines to form a curve tree defined as a finite set of curves joined in a tree topology with certain level of smoothness. In the next phase, we force the discrete points in the curve tree to move towards the original point cloud by treating each point in the curve tree as a center of Gaussian, and points in the input cloud data as observations from the Gaussians. The task is to find the correct locations of the Gaussian centroids by maximizing a likelihood. The optimization technique is iterative and is based on the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm. The E-step estimates which Gaussian the observed point cloud was sampled from, and the M-step maximizes the negative log-likelihood that the observed points were sampled from the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) with respect to the model parameters. We experiment with several real world and synthetic datasets and demonstrate the robustness of the approach over the state-of-the-art.


Horizontal collusion among employers to suppress wages has received almost no attention in the academic literature, in contrast with its more familiar cousin, product-market collusion. The similar economic analysis of labor and product markets might suggest that antitrust should regulate labor and product markets in the same way. But product markets and labor markets do not operate identically: people behave differently as employees and as consumers. Unlike consumers who can switch products relatively easily, employees face significant frictions in changing jobs. Other labor market frictions are created by the pay equity norm and downward nominal wage rigidity. These and related factors stabilize collusive arrangements and facilitate tacit coordination in labor markets. The implications for antitrust law are explored.


Islamic architecture followed the move from large tents in the countryside to huts in villages, then to buildings and long-standing monuments in cities. During this movement, architecture conveyed original features which were compatible with man's requirements, traditions and environment. It is regrettable that modern architecture has suddenly broken the link with this steady development – a break caused by the need for an easy and simple architectural style ushered into Islamic countries following the modernization of the Western city. This paper seeks to study the salient features of Islamic architecture.


Due to the low density of nanostructured materials, it is still a big challenge to realize high volumetric performance instead of high specific gravimetric capacity with many state-of-the-art electrodes for compact electrochemical energy storage. Moreover, developing high-performance flexible and binder-free electrode materials is also crucial for their future applications in diverse fields, such as portable electronics and wearable devices. In this work, we designed and synthesized a Ni3V2O8/carbon cloth (CC) hierarchical structure as a flexible anode for sodium-ion batteries. Morphology-controllable growth of different Ni3V2O8/CC hierarchical structures is achieved by optimizing the synthesis parameters (e.g. the growth temperatures). The high mass loading (4 mg cm−2), ultra-high areal specific capacity (2.6 mA h cm−2 at a current density of 500 mA g−1), no addition of binders or other additives and good flexibility facilitate their application in sodium-ion batteries.


This study tested the procedural deficit hypothesis of specific language impairment (SLI) by comparing children's performance in two motor procedural learning tasks and an implicit verbal sequence learning task. Participants were 7- to 11-year-old children with SLI (n = 48), typically developing age-matched children (n = 20) and younger typically developing children matched for receptive grammar (n = 28). In a serial reaction time task, the children with SLI performed at the same level as the grammar-matched children, but poorer than age-matched controls in learning motor sequences. When tested with a motor procedural learning task that did not involve learning sequential relationships between discrete elements (i.e. pursuit rotor), the children with SLI performed comparably with age-matched children and better than younger grammar-matched controls. In addition, poor implicit learning of word sequences in a verbal memory task (the Hebb effect) was found in the children with SLI. Together, these findings suggest that SLI might be characterized by deficits in learning sequence-specific information, rather than generally weak procedural learning.


Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in females with no cure at present. Early detection offers the best chance of survival and mammography is used to screen the asymptomatic female population above fifty years of age. Computerized analysis of mammograms can assist radiologists to detect lesions or abnormalities. However, the entire digitized mammogram must first be segmented and analyzed prior to lesion detection. This paper summarizes work done at the Australian Research Centre for Medical Engineering (ARCME) to systematically and hierarchically segment mammograms as a precursor to lesion detection. The breast is first segmented from the non-breast background by polynomial modelling and subtraction of the latter region. The nipple, which is the only anatomical landmark, is then located using a sensitive feature set to search the breast border. The pectoral muscle is then identified by an adaptive edge detection/surface fitting algorithm. Finally, a systematic methodology is proposed for lesion search.


It is about behavior through the implementation of ICT in a university library that comes up with the issue of redefining library organization culture. The program and project in a university library emerge the inspiration to overview librarian cultures as a study of microcospic within the macrocospic perspective. The resistance on ICT of university librarians is an important topic as it makes resistance significant to the meaning of ICT in library for librarians; and the implementation of ICT to the librarians build up and preserve the individuals and the members of library as a community. The objective is to explain the dynamic of librarians in a complex organization that have been abruptly urged by ICT implementation. The methodology of the research focused on 60 librarians observed and interviewed within participant-observation method. The finding is that the symbolic behavior, as a form of resistance of the staff and librarian to the implementation of ICT in university library, does not only mean to aim the domination. It means significantly as bonding of the relations between staff and librarians. The bonds strengthen the spirit of all to reach the goal of the library.


Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberance is a soft tissue tumor of low malignant potential. At times it is associated with pigment deposits which are then it is termed as Bednar tumor. Only a few Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology studies of Bednar Tumor have been reported. We share our findings of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology in a 30 year old man with Bednar tumor of scalp and multiple enlarged cervical lymph nodes. Our smears revealed scattered atypical large round to oval cells with scant cytoplasm. Some cells' cytoplasm contained abundant melanin pigment which also resulted in dirty black pigmented background. The tissue sections showed melanin in both spindle shaped cells and rounded cells. At places it seemed that heavily pigmented cells became oval and globular and necrotic. The melanin pigment was extended into the cellular processes. The overlying skin epidermis shows focal kilocytotic type change. The tissue sections showed positivity for CD 34 and protein S-100. We propose that round globular cells are derived from spindly cells after melanin synthesis and when the cytoplasm is overloaded with melanin the cells undergo necrosis. Focal kilocyototic type change in overlying epidermis deserves further investigation.