Abstract A 65-year-old woman with dermatomyositis for which she had been treated for ten years with prednisone (latterly 15 mg daily) suddenly experienced severe pain in the left thoracolumbar region. Cardiovascular, pulmonary and vertebral causes of the pain were excluded. But serological tests indicated inflammatory disease and the haemoglobin concentration was low (10.4 g/dl). Left pleural effusions were repeatedly aspirated and some haemorrhagic fluid obtained (haematocrit 0.31 in blood, 0.28 in the pleural effusion). Five days after admission her cardiovascular status became unstable and she developed respiratory failure (haemoglobin 7.6 g/dl). Chest radiograph showed increased pleural effusion. Subsequent thoracotomy revealed a left coagulothorax which was removed and flushed. During this procedure severe bleeding occurred from a covered perforation of the descending aorta, 1.5 x 1.5 cm in size. Although the aortic wall was thin, there was no aneurysm but arteriosclerotic changes and an external erosion near an abscessing mediastinitis, originating from a chronic purulent pleuritis and bronchopneumonia. The severe blood loss caused circulatory failure from which the patient could not be resuscitated.


The synthesis of a novel asymmetric phthalocyanine, (4-(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenoxy)-2,10,17-tris(4-(2-carboxyethyl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninatol)zinc(II), complex 3, is reported. Complex 3 together with the previously reported complexes tetrakis[(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl phenoxy)phthalocyaninato]zinc(II) (4) and 3-(4-((3,17,23-tris(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)phenoxy)phthalocyaninatol)oxy)phenyl)propanoic acid zinc(II) (5), were linked to gold nanotriangles (AuNTs) through S–Au/Au–N self-assembly to afford the conjugates (3-AuNTs, 4-AuNTs and 5-AuNTs). The photophysicochemical behaviour of the complexes and their conjugates were studied. The asymmetric complexes 3 and 5, displayed improved triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to the symmetric complex 4, while all conjugates displayed improved triplet and singlet oxygen quantum yields compared to their respective complexes alone. The complexes and their conjugates could serve as good candidates for photodynamic therapy.


Public Choice Concepts and Applications in Law is a terrific introductory book for law students and a valuable analytic resource for professors, whether veterans or newcomers to the field. Stearns and Zywicki break down the subject into freestanding components, allowing the reader to think about courts, legislatures, voters, and agencies in ways unimagined by anyone unfamiliar with the basic tools of public choice. Cases, articles, and classic insights are brought together in a way that truly makes this a volume about the application of public choice tools to legal doctrines. There is nothing like it. --Saul Levmore, William B. Graham Professor of Law, University of Chicago


Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), hierarchical linear models (HLMs) were used to model the growth of student science achievement in three areas (biology, physical science, and environmental science) during middle and high school. Results showed significant growth in science achievement across all areas. The growth was quadratic across all areas, with rapid growth at the beginning grades of middle school but slow growth at the ending grades of high school. At the student level, socioeconomic status (SES) and age were related to the rate of growth in all areas. There were no gender differences in the rate of growth in any of the three areas. At the school level, variables associated with school context (school mean SES and school size) and variables associated with school climate (principal leadership, academic expectation, and teacher autonomy) were related to the growth in science achievement. Initial (Grade 7) status in science achievement was not associated with the rate of growth in science achievement among either students or schools in any of the three areas.


This paper explores the implications of alternative design options for the thermal performance of office buildings in Beirut and Tripoli, Lebanon. Five typical office buildings were selected for the investigation. Multiple design alternatives were considered involving various lighting, glazing and shading types, shading schedules, thermal insulation options, and ventilation scenarios. A numeric thermal simulation application was used to model the performance of these alternatives parametrically. Simulation results were expressed in terms of annual sensible and latent cooling loads, annual heating loads, and overheating (passive building operation scenario). The results show the significant degree to which design measures could reduce the energy demand of (and overheating tendencies in) office buildings in Lebanon.


Picornavirus infections have been known as a leading cause of viral myocarditis in humans. Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) belongs to the genus Cardiovirus, the family Picornaviridae and was reported to cause inflammation in the heart in one manuscript, while its pathomechanism is unclear. In viral myocarditis, viral replication in the heart and/or immune responses against virus as well as heart-antigen (autoimmunity) can contribute to the pathogenesis. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) that are important for recognizing pathogens as well as triggering innate immunity. Among TLRs, TLR4 has been demonstrated to play important roles in virus-mediated pathology: 1) TLR4 can contribute to viral entry in some viruses, 2) TLR4 may mediate tissue damage by anti-virus immune responses (immunopathology), 3) high levels of TLR4 expression were observed in the heart of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy following acute viral myocarditis, and 4) some viruses can bind to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is a TLR4 ligand. To determine the role of TLR4 in TMEV-induced myocarditis, we infected male C3H/HeJ (TLR4-deficient) and C3H/HeNtac (control TLR4+) mice with the DA strain of TMEV. We harvested the hearts and spleens on days 6 and 7 (acute phase) or days 63 and 64 (chronic phase) post-infection. Cardiac pathology was evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin staining and production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin (IL)-17A and interferon (IFN)-γ, from spleen cells was measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In both mice, mild myocarditis was observed during the acute phase of TMEV infection. During the chronic phase, both mice developed severe pathology in the heart, including basophilic degeneration and calcification. However, the incidence of myocarditis was higher in control mice than TLR4-deficient mice. IL-17A and IFN-γ production was higher in control mice than in TLR4-deficient mice (control vs. TLR4-deficient mice, acute phase: IL-17A, 196 vs. 146 pg/ml; IFN-γ, 72 vs. 39 ng/ml; chronic phase: IL-17A, 290 vs. 229 pg/ml; IFN- γ, 142 vs. 88 ng/ml). These results suggest that TLR4 may be detrimental in TMEV-induced myocarditis by increasing pro-inflammatory cytokine production.


PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND PALEOANTHROPOLOGY MEETINGAbout 1200 researchers gathered here from 21 to 26 April for back-to-back meetings of the Paleoanthropology Society and the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.


The prevalence of large scale genomic studies and technological advances in recent years is promising in the investigation of genome features in more details. The focus of this dissertation is to recruit publicly available genome data and to adopt common and novel computational methods to study the generation and evolution of two classes of small RNAs in cereals. Such a study is important since first small RNAs play a central role in several fundamental processes in cells like genome integrity, gene expression & response to stresses; and second there is a widening gap between the amount of raw and the processed and genomic data which needs to be addressed by computational biology strategies. By the aid of comparative genomics approach the sources of two different types of small RNAs were investigated. Our results provide a strong support that overlapping genes (OGs) could be a source of natural antisense transcripts-small interfering RNAs (nat-siRNA) in cereals while most nat-siRNA generation is not well conserved in them. In addition, our data demonstrate that OGs are common and mostly species specific in maize, rice and Brachypodium and there is no obvious correlation between their number and the total number of genes or genome size; however, genome size and architecture does affect the frequencies and types of overlapping genes. By comparative analysis of the orientation of OGs several birth and death mechanisms were proposed among which translocation and gene creation are the major ones. Moreover, we improved the annotation of microRNA (miRNAs) genes in cereals which produce another type of small RNAs that have crucial regulatory roles in development and stress responses. A novel methodology was developed to use a large number of the recently available RNAseq data to refine gene boundaries of miRNAs and a comparative analysis were performed on them. By defining these upstream regions and using the alignment of the orthologous ones, several miRNA specific regulatory elements were identified which are conserved in cereals and are good candidates for experimental verification. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates that use of publicly available data and computational approaches would increase our understanding of smallRNAs and their evolution. This can provide a foundation for the community to study their expression and function more precisely.


This paper analyzes the life and work of Julius Eastman (1940–1990), namely his 1980 Northwestern Concert Series and Grammy-nominated Eight Songs for A Mad King (1973) alongside anti-black state violence in the United States as sites of black sonority made legible through and against, what Christina Sharpe calls, "the wake" of chattel slavery (2016). The mouth, stifled breath, and voice, I have argued, all persist through the reiterative scene of state-sanctioned violence against black and brown people. I am interested in the historicized phenomenology of sounds produced in radically different scenes of performance and murder. That is, the history of black and brown folx in America is, in part, produced out of, "[t]he 'very dangerous evil' of slavery and the 'agonizing groans of suffering humanity' [that] had been made music" (Saidiya Hartman 1997, 17). The paper departs from the scene of black sonority processed under duress to query: what are the effects of racialized aesthetic production, as evident in the Eastman's musical groan or shriek that is eerily similar to the foreclosure of black breath, that emerge at the impasse between virtuosic sound and historicized dispossession? I offer an alternative reading of sound production by way of what Ashon T. Crawley who crafts a hermeneutics of the sound of blackness offers a consideration of black sound making "otherwise." The breath of black and brown folx that persists in spite of antiblackness must flow into putatively apolitical disciplines like Musicology in an effort to render (il)legible life sonorous otherwise.


The Community Closet and Tech Trading Post are two collections of unique and unexpected items that you may borrow the library providing access to a greater variety of shared resources.


Honey Bee Mating Optimization (HBMO) is a recent swarm-based optimization algorithm to solve highly nonlinear problems, whose based approach combines the powers of simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, and an effective local search heuristic to search for the best possible solution to the problem under investigation within a reasonable computing time. In this work, the HBMO-based design is carried out for a front-end amplifier subject to be a subunit of a radar system in conjunction with a cost effective 3-D SONNET-based Support Vector Regression Machine (SVRM) microstrip model. All the matching microstrip widths, lengths are obtained on a chosen substrate to satisfy the maximum power delivery and the required noise over the required bandwidth of a selected transistor. The proposed HBMO-based design is applied to the design of a typical ultra-wide-band low noise amplifier with NE3512S02 on a substrate of Rogers 4350 for the maximum output power and the noise figure F(f) = 1 dB within the 5-12 GHz using the T-type of microstrip matching circuits. Furthermore, the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed HBMO based design are manifested by comparing it with the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and the simple HBMO based designs.


A capillary electrophoresis (CE) method for the separation of four kinds of enantiomers of non-natural carboxylic amino acid was built while hydroxypropyl-β- cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) derivations as chiral selective material. Several different β-CD derivatives were tested for the chiral separation of non-natural carboxylic amino acid, and it was proved that HP-β-CD could show better chiral selectivity. The separation of enantiomers of amino acid was obtained by CE in a 50-μm i.d.×60 cm (effective length 45 cm) fused-silica capillary at 18 kV voltage, while 10 mM phosphate acted as running buffer and HP-β-CD served as selective material. The detective wavelength was set at 254 nm.


In recent years, the Korean Medical Association has undertaken the feat of establishing the Korean Standard Terminology of Medical Procedures with the dedicated help of 32 medical academic societies. However, because the project is being conducted by several different circles, it has yet to see a clear system of classification. This thesis, therefore, proposes the three principles of scientific properties, usefulness and ideology as the basis for classification system and has developed the Classification System of Medical Procedures in Korea upon their foundation. The methodology and organization of this thesis as follows. First, by adopting scientific classification system of Feinstein(1988), an analysis of the classification systems of the medical procedures in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, WHO was carried out to reveal the framework and the basic principles in each system. Second, the direction of classification system has been constructed by applying the normative principle of medical field in order to show the future direction of the medical field and realize its ideology. Third, a finalized framework for the classification system will be presented as based on the direction of classification system. Of the three basis principles mentioned above, the analysis on the principles of usefulness was left out of this thesis due to the difficulty of establishing specific standards of analysis. The results of the study are as follows. The overall structure of the thesis is aimed at showing the 'Prevention-Therapy-Rehabilitation' quality of comprehensive health care and consists of six chapters; I. Prevention and Health Promotion II. Evaluation and Management III. Diagnostic Procedures IV. Endoscopy V. Therapeutic Procedures VI. Rehabilitation Chapter three Diagnostic Procedures is divided into four parts : Functional Diagnosis, Visual Diagnosis, Pathological Diagnosis, Biopsy and Sampling. Chapter five Therapeutic Procedures is divided into Psychiatry, Non-Invasive Therapy, Invasive Therapy, Anaesthesia and Radiation Oncology. Of these sub-divisions, Functional Diagnosis, Biopsy and Sampling, Endoscopy and Invasive Therapy employs the anatomical system of classification. On the other hand, Visual Diagnosis, Pathological Diagnosis, Anesthesia and Diagnostic Radiology, namely those divisions in which there is little or no overlapping in services with other divisions, used the classification system of its own division. The classification system introduced in this thesis can be further supplemented through the use of the cluster analysis by incorporating the advice and assistance of other specialists.


The paper evaluates the effect of financial sector reforms on agricultural investments in Nigeria from 1970-2009 using a cointegration and vector error correction model (VECM) in a long time series analysis. The descriptive analysis shows that the mean agricultural investments of ₦88,101.83 million during financial sector reforms period was higher than ₦538.78 million of the pre-financial sector reforms period and was significantly different at 5 percent (tcal>ttab at P=0.5) while the mean growth rate of 36.36 percent for the pre-financial sector reforms period was higher than 34.25 percent of the financial sector reforms period and was not significantly different at 5 percent in the two periods. The result also reveals that financial sector reforms significantly affect agricultural investments in Nigeria both in the long and short-run. It is recommended that the Nigerian government should adopt strong macroeconomic policies, thereby encouraging investments in the agricultural sector of the country.


Excited electronic states of doubly charged molecular ions of the diatomic hydrides CH2+, NH2+, OH2+ and SH2+ are investigated by means of high-resolution translational energy spectrometry. Long-lived states of CH2+, NH2+ and SH2+ (but not OH2+) are observed. Potential energy functions are calculated using a semi-empirical molecular-orbital technique as well as a high-level ab initio method using large basis sets of at least double zeta plus polarisation quality. Translational energy spectra of singly charged hydride ions are also presented.


A range of factors contribute to whether patients feel they have good access to general practice care, including practice location, opening times, ease of arranging appointments, and speed of access. Performance by access criteria is now part of the quality-monitoring system for general practice. But patients still complain of trade-offs, for instance between speed of access and seeing the practitioner of choice. To inform its work, the Inquiry panel commissioned a research project to describe what good-quality access to GP care looks like, and how it can best be measured. This research paper provides a framework for assessing access, and looks at the implications for future general practice provision.


Vehicle detection is a fundamental step in urban traffic surveillance systems, since it provides necessary information for further processing. Conventional techniques utilize either background subtraction or foreground appearance-based detection, which involves either poor adaptation or high computation. The complexity of urban traffic scenarios lies in pose and orientation variations, slow or temporarily stopped vehicles and sudden illumination variations. In this work, a foreground-background bimodal is proposed to adapt for scene variation and complexity. Cumulative frame differencing and sigma-delta estimation are used to model foreground and background respectively. A correction feedback updates each model iteratively and recursively based on the detection mask of the other model. Variance update for sigma-delta estimation was limited to update background temporal activities, while cumulative frame differencing account for moving foreground by discarding limited background variations. Comparative experimental results for typical urban traffic sequences show that the proposed technique achieves robust and accurate detection, which improves adaptation, reduce false detection and satisfy real-time requirements.


Over the last several decades, bottomland restoration efforts have established hundreds of thousands of acres of planted hardwood stands throughout the Southeastern U.S. Much of the initial research focused on planting approaches and early growth and survival, contributing to more effective establishment methods. However, less research attention has been focused on stand development and treatment options for these planted stands as they age. Given that many afforestation stands are approaching 20 years of age or greater and undergoing crown closure, an improved knowledge of stand conditions is needed to evaluate opportunities for silvicultural treatments aimed at enhancing growth, and/or structural or compositional diversity. An increasing demand for such knowledge by landowners is becoming evident particularly by those that have participated in hardwood planting initiatives including the Conservation Reserve Program and Wetlands Reserve Programs (CRP and WRP respectively). This study investigates tree and stand development within young (10 to 20 year old) planted oak stands across a range of stand ages and site conditions in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Growth and yield and stand development were evaluated using field surveys of stand characteristics (species, diameter, density, height, and crown measurements) and destructive sampling of individual trees. Our results show that as stands reach 20 or more years of age individual trees begin to interact, crown closure occurs, and conditions approach full stocking (the "A-line") (Goelz 1995). At this point, stems have generally reached merchantable diameters for pulpwood, and self-pruning has, for a stand fully stocked, progressed to one log-length in height (17.3 feet). These results suggest that thinning treatments could be merchantable and desirable from a tree growth perspective, in addition to potentially enhancing desirable stand conditions for wildlife habitat. As such, this information can provide a basis for informing silvicultural treatments aimed at improving stand conditions. Improving our knowledge of stand development, and growth and yield, could prove critical for ensuring the continued commitment of landholders to the management of their hardwood plantings and ongoing participation in these restoration programs.


This work presents an overview of CsPbI3 thin-films deposited by co-evaporation, covering the fabrication process, crystallographic and optoelectronic properties, high temperature phase transition and degradation of the material. For the first time, these aspects are studied on sample libraries with a continuous lateral gradient in composition. For the fabrication of these films, an evaporation system was specifically designed and set up, that allows the flexible and controllable deposition of the films and the capability to conduct various in-situ characterization methods. High-throughput characterization methods are employed to investigate the CsPbI3 libraries allowing unprecedented fast screening of the properties of the material. The polymorphic transitions of the CsPbI3 system are studied in detail with in-situ methods. Models for the formation of the perovskite-CsPbI3 and its degradation to the non-perovskite polymorph films are developed as a function of temperature and atmospheric conditions.


The tapestry of the genesis of public schooling is so complex that educational scholars may have only just begun to unravel it. This article will further that unraveling by exploring the work of Mary Sheldon Barnes (1850-1898), first female professor of Stanford University. By focusing on particular research and pedagogical texts of Barnes, our aim is to understand both how she formed and was formed by the intellectual and educational milieu of her times. Furthermore, we suggest the possibility that the influence of her work may continue to linger in current educational thought and practice. We begin by explaining the benefits of hermeneutic inquiry for this type of project, move from there to an analysis of Barnes's texts, and conclude by proposing a resolution for what Monteverde (1999) has called the "conundrum" (p. 35) of Mary Sheldon Barnes. The philosophical hermeneutics of Gadamer provide the theoretical framework for the exploration of the texts in this study. Although Gallagher (1992) types Gadamer's approach as "moderate," we believe that our project may also be considered critical in that we seek greater insight into our own "pre-understanding," thereby allowing us in some way to transcend our present situation. (1) As Gadamer (1960/1997) notes, "Insight is more than the knowledge of this or that situation. It always involves an escape from something that had deceived us and held us captive" (p. 356). We must acknowledge that while this emancipation represents a place of wider understanding, the nature of understanding is that it is never complete or permanent. We can never escape the limits imposed upon us by our pre-understandings; we will never attain a vantage point from which new questions cease to arise. Regarding hermeneutic methodology, Laverty (2003) points out that there is no universal set of appropriate procedures, but there is an "obligation to understand the context under which the text or dialogue was being produced and to bring forth interpretations of meaning" (p. 21). Gadamer (1960/1997) proposes that hermeneutics is the art of conducting a conversation, the "art of the formation of concepts as the working out of common meanings" (p. 368). A useful understanding of the text itself is possible only if the text is seen in a limited field of inquiry. If we expect a response from the text, we must limit what we wish to learn from it by addressing specific questions to it. While curriculum scholars have taken up hermeneutic methodology in a variety of ways (e.g., Blumenfeld-Jones, 2004; Brooks, 2000; Reynolds, 1989), we felt the approach of Blumenfeld-Jones provided an appropriate set of questions to pose to this particular set of texts. Like Blumenfed-Jones, our intention was to examine literal curricular texts so that we "might learn who we are as historical beings living in the onflowing stream of thought that comprises our particular field of endeavor" (p. 126). In addition, we desired "an approach that reveals the historical characteristics of curriculum and their direct material presence in the curriculum text itself" (p. 127). Therefore, we decided to explore the texts of Mary Sheldon Barnes by utilizing the concepts of "ostensive, personal, [and] historical motives" (p. 128). In short, this involves a search for (1) explicitly stated reasons why the text was produced, (2) specific, individualized issues that the curricularist has within the field that moved her to conceive of new curricula, and (3) general, historical, sociocultural conditions that create a context for the text. Blumenfeld-Jones emphasizes, Of the three motives ... this last may be the most difficult to explicate, but in some ways it is the most significant. Although a curriculum may be the product of the curricularist's imagination, no curriculum emanates idiosyncratically from the person's mind or responds to an isolated tradition. The multiple contexts of the curricularist's decision making not only affect decisions but must find a material presence in the curriculum. …


OBJECTIVE
To determine, in a school-based sample of children and adolescents, aged from 7 to 17 years, of both gender, in public and private schools, the frequency of students already submitted to blood pressure measure.

METHODS
A cross-sectional study was carried out, sampling from a population pool of elementary and middle schools, randomly selected. The sample was calculated based on the expected prevalence of hypertension for the age group. Data were collected through a questionnaire. Blood pressure was measured twice and hypertension was defined as mean systolic and/or diastolic blood pressure over the 95th percentile. Independent variables studied: sex; age groups; economic status; public/private school.

RESULTS
The final sample included 1253 students. The response rate was 97%: 1215 students; 531 males; mean age 12,4 +/- 3 years (236 from 7 to 9 years; 638 from 10 to 14 years; 341 from 15 to 17 years). Prevalence of hypertension was 7.7%; 348 students (29%) were already submitted to blood pressure measures (54% once; 35% 2 to 4 times; 11% 5 or more times). High economic status, private school and adolescent group were significantly associated to previous blood pressure measure.

CONCLUSION
Despite of pediatric consensus statements and guidelines recommendations about importance of blood pressure measure at every examination after age 3 years, there is a very low frequency of this practice (29%) in children and adolescents.


One of the modes of the measurement of banks' and their branches' economic efficiency is constituted by an econometric approach based on stochastic frontier functions. In this approach, the following three basic goal functions can be considered: the cost, revenue and profit functions. This paper aims to present alternative (relative to the standard formula) concepts of the measurement of revenue and profit efficiency constituting an important assessment criterion of banks' operations. The paper also presents the results of the empirical studies of revenue and profit efficiency, as exemplified by the selected commercial bank. The theoretical part of the paper proceeds from an introduction to present the premises of an alternative efficiency assessment, then the formulas of the frontier functions of revenue and a profit. These are formulas that can exclusively be used under the conditions of imperfect competition between banks. The empirical part focuses on the application of the above models to assess the efficiency of a Polish bank's branches. The calculations returned the indicators of revenue and profit efficiency and the rankings of the studied sample of branches in three different quarters. Due to the use of an excessively simple assessment method (Corrected Least Squares Method), the efficiency indicators obtained are understated and not accurate enough to lend themselves to further analysis. On the other hand, the rankings prepared on its basis are reliable and can be used for further assessments and comparisons, which should be considered as a meaningful research benefit.


Objective: To determine the demographics, clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of nodular lymphocytic predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) patients treated at our hospital.
Study Design: Retrospective longitudinal study.
Place and Duration of Study: Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre, Lahore, Pakistan from 1996 to 2016.
Methodology: We collected clinical data of all the cases of HL diagnosed over twenty years (between 1996 and 2016) from our electronic hospital information system (HIS). A total of 3426 HL patients were identified, out of whom the pathologically confirmed diagnosis of nodular lymphocytic predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL) was identified.
Results: In this study, eighty-four patients were studied. The majority of the patients were male (80%). B symptoms were present in 35%. There were 24% patients in stage-I (n=20/84), 33% in stage-II (n=28/84), 12% in stage III (n=10/84) and 31% in stage IV (n=26/84). Hence, early-stage was seen in 57% (n=48/84) and advanced stage was 43% (n=36/84) respectively. The Median follows up time was 30 months (range: 1-60 months). Patients were treated with chemotherapy in most cases (48%), radiotherapy alone in 14% cases, and combined modality (chemotherapy and radiotherapy) was used in 38% patients. The estimated 5–year disease-free survival was 73% and overall survival was 86%. Autologous stem cell transplant was done in only one patient whose disease had transformed from NLPHL to T-rich cell B cell lymphoma.
Conclusion: This study confirmed the divergent features of NLPHL with a comparatively good long-term prognosis. Most patients achieved an excellent response to first-line therapy. There was...


Many advances have been made in the last few years concerning our understanding of the receptors and ligands composing the cannabinoid system. Likewise, the science surrounding cytokine biology has advanced enabling us to measure these proteins more precisely as well as understand and interpret the meaning of changes in their levels. Scientists wishing to study the health consequences of smoking marijuana as well as understand the possible role of endogenous cannabimimetic ligands in immune regulation have continued to study the influence of these substances on the regulation and development of the cytokine network. Research has shown that two major cannabinoid receptor subtypes exist and that subtype 1 (CB1) is expressed primarily in the brain whereas subtype 2 (CB2) is expressed primarily in the periphery. A variety of ligands for these receptors based on the cannabinoid structure have been synthesized and studied as well as low affinity compounds, noncannabinoid ligands, and endogenous ligands derived from fatty acid eicosanoids. Highly selective receptor antagonists have also been introduced and studied. Synthetic, low affinity ligands such as (+)-HU-211 and DMH-11C have been shown to cause anti-inflammatory effects possibly through inhibiting the production and action of TNF-alpha and other acute phase cytokines. In addition, suppression of TNF and other cytokines such as GM-CSF, IL-6, IFNgamma, and IL-12 has also been seen following exposure to high affinity and psychoactive ligands such as marijuana and THC. However, some of these ligands have also been shown to increase rather than decrease interleukins such as IL-1, IL-4, IL-10, and IL-6, cytokines such as TNF-alpha, and chemokines such as IL-8, MIP-1, and RANTES. The endogenous ligand, anandamide, has been shown in culture to either suppress the proliferation response to prolactin or enhance the response to cytokines such as IL-3 and IL-6. This eicosanoid has also been shown to increase the production of interleukins and other cytokines. Cannabinoid receptors have been shown to be involved in some but not all of these effects. It is clear that psychoactive and nonpsychoactive compounds have demonstrated effects in vivo and in vitro on the production and function of a variety of cytokines. Depending upon the model system, these effects are often conflicting, and the involvement of cannabinoid receptors is unclear. However, enough evidence exists to suggest that the cannabinoid system significantly impacts the functioning of the cytokine network, and this association may provide clues to the mechanisms of certain immune diseases and form the basis for new immunotherapies.


Reading Romeo and Juliet from Jacques Derrida's perspective provides us with new insight to Shakespeare's portrayal of love. As an early tragedy, Romeo and Juliet is a study of the nature of love. Many believe that the play still follows the lead of the comedies in presenting its major theme. However, drawing upon Derrida's deconstruction of the play, we have shown that love as an idea, a word, or a nomenclature, follows the same aporetic law of the proper name in that it is split, not unified, contradictory, not lucidly meaningful. We have demonstrated the multiplicity of love's identity despite the universally unifying attributes attached to it by the individual characters inside the play. In short, this reading reveals that identity in general, and the identity of love in particular, is not fixed, that they are products of textuality.


ABSTRACTMobile platforms are increasingly used to acquire air quality data at a high spatial and temporal resolution in complex urban environments. As such, mobile measurements provide a solution for short-term studies to acquire a spatially spread data set that would not be feasible if using stationary measurements. Mobile monitoring campaigns were carried out with a bicycle platform at two different urban locations, consisting of 20 and 24 repeated runs along a fixed route over a three-week period. The measurement runs were carried out on different days and at different times of the day, without systematical temporal coverage. Significant differences in UFP concentration were found within the day and between days, and also between several streets along the measurement route. These differences were related to traffic intensity and street characteristics. In contrast, PM10 concentrations differed between measurement days, but the within-day variability of PM10 was mostly non-significant. Additionally, the spatial variability was limited and the PM10 concentrations were only significantly different between busy streets, with high concentrations, and quiet background streets, with low ones. The results indicate that for most streets the number of runs was sufficient to give a good approximation of median daytime UFP concentration levels for the measurement period, and for some streets this number could even be reduced to less than 10. However, for PM10 a higher number of runs is needed, and this may be attributed to the significant background contribution to the roadside PM10 concentration, and the high variability of this. We conclude that a limited set of mobile measurements makes it possible to map locations with systematically higher or lower UFP and PM10 concentrations in urban environments.


Imported avocados, which accounted for less than 1.5 percent of total U.S. avocado supply during the 1970's and 1980's, increased their share to over 44 percent in 2002-03 and further increases are on the horizon. With inelastic demand, imports placed substantial pressure on domestic avocado prices, but demand increases due to generic advertising and promotion, higher consumer incomes and population growth helped offset increased avocado supplies and domestic prices were maintained. The new Hass Avocado Promotion and Research Order will continue to offset a portion of the price impacts of increased imports from Mexico, Chile and other suppliers.


In order to reduce the calculation effort during the simulation of the emission of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PCDD/F) during municipal solid waste incineration, minimizing the number of simulated components is mandatory. For this purpose, two new multilinear regression models capable of determining the dioxins total amount and toxicity of an atmospheric emission have been adjusted based on previously published ones. The new source of data used (almost 200 PCDD/F analyses) provides a wider range of application to the models, increasing also the diversity of the emission sources, from industrial and laboratory scale thermal processes. Only three of the 17 toxic congeners (1,2,3,6,7,8-HxCDD, 2,3,7,8-TCDF and OCDF), whose formation was found to be linearly independent, were necessary as inputs for the models. All model parameters have been statistically validated and their confidence intervals have been calculated using the Bootstrap method. The resulting coefficients of determination (R2) for the models are 0.9711 ± 0.0056 and 0.9583 ± 0.0085; its root mean square errors (RMSE) are 0.2115 and 0.2424, and its mean absolute errors (MAE) are 0.1541 and 0.1733 respectively.


Colorectal cancer represents one of the leading malignancies worldwide. Early endoscopic detection and removal of its precursor lesions, adenomas, and serrated hyperplastic polyps results in a decrease of colon cancer-related death. However, miss rates in adenoma detection up to 26% underline the need for high compliance to basic measures and further improvement in methodology and technology. Basic parameters affecting adenoma detection rates include sufficient training and awareness of the endoscopist, use of high-definition endoscopes, careful examination behind folds, cleansing the colon wall, accurate distention of the colon, and adequate withdrawal time. Advanced imaging techniques, introduced to further improve adenoma detection, have yielded mixed results. These include wide-angle colonoscopes, cap-assisted colonoscopy, and retroscopic methods which may add new obstacles to colonoscopy. Moreover, chromoendoscopy either 'virtual' or by topically applied dyes has been suggested to enhance the detection of colonic neoplasia. Yet, studies on patients with average cancer risk have failed to reproduce promising initial results. Similarly, although autofluorescence has not enhanced the diagnostic yield in screening a population at average risk, it may be useful in patients at increased cancer risk. Recently, technical feasibility of molecular imaging employing 'biomarkers' has been demonstrated, but needs further evaluation. The newest developments, employing light-scattering spectroscopy, suggest the existence of a 'field effect' of colonic carcinogenesis and may enable detection of the earliest neoplastic events and distant adenomas even when applied to normal-appearing mucosa. Upon confirmation, these technologies may result in a substantial change in patient management and risk stratification.


— Many of 2D mechanical models have been developed to simulate liquid sloshing of a partially filled tank with different shapes. However, those models didn't represent properly the complex liquid motion, especially in the case of portable tanks. Indeed, forces exerted on the liquid can be lateral, longitudinal and vertical. Then, liquid displacement and pressure forces applied to the tank walls are undervalued and may cause design flaws. In this case, 2D mechanical models are ineffective for liquid motion simulation. In previous studies, a 3D equivalent mechanical model has been developed. This dynamical model is used to simulate different liquid motion in a partially filled tank that consider any sort of excitement forces and get more accurate results in terms of displacements and pressure forces. In this study, a brief description of the new dynamical model is given, including the liquid discretization process, stiffness and damping coefficients computing method and equations of motion. Afterward, the model is applied to an elliptical cross section tank to obtain displacement and pressure forces of the liquid. Finally, the results are compared to the literature.


Aim: Thoracoscopy offers great advantages when compared with open surgery in terms of postoperative pain and pulmonary complications. Considering the benign nature of most of the mediastinal cysts, thoracoscopy is safe and feasible with minimal morbidity. The purpose of this article is to review our experience with four cases of mediastinal cysts resected successfully within a period of one year by thoracoscopy. Materials and Methods: The cases of mediastinal cysts operated by thoracoscopic excision in K.E.M. Hospital, Mumbai from November 2005 to December 2006 were reviewed. The age varied from six months to 10 years. The patients presented with respiratory distress or recurrent lower respiratory tract infection. All patients underwent Chest X-ray and CT scan thorax to delineate the location of the cyst and its relationship with adjacent vital structures. Two patients had anterior and two had posterior mediastinal cyst. The ports were placed depending on the location of the cyst on the CT scan, following the principles of triangularization. The cysts were excised mainly by blunt dissection. Results: All the patients were successfully managed by thoracoscopic surgery. None of them had intraoperative complications. Dissection in patient with history of recurrent respiratory tract infection was difficult because of adhesions. Intercostal drain was removed within 48hrs and the patients were discharged on the fourth postoperative day. Conclusions: Thoracoscopy in mediastinal cysts is a safe and effective procedure with low morbidity and a shorter hospital stay.


We reports structural, microstructural and dielectric characteristics of Sr 2+ doped PZT (50/50) ceramic. X-ray diffraction reveals that the system exhibit coexistence of two phases (Tetragonal and rhombohedral) at room temperature. Typical relaxor behavior was observed by the dielectric studies and confirmed by Vogul-Fulcher fitting. The observed relaxor was predicted as existence of nanopolar regions due to short range ordering in presence of oxygen vacancies. The evidence for oxygen vacancies was studied by conductivity and polarization studies. Moreover, at 270 °C one more phase transition is noted which was ascribed to structural phase transition. Present study has scientific significance to distinguish the performance of oxygen vacancies in ferroelectric materials. Copyright © 2015 VBRI press.


ABSTRACT Squalus rancureli Fourmanoir, 1979 and S. melanurus Fourmanoir, 1979 are deep-sea sharks described from off New Caledonia and Vanuatu. Morphological separation between them is limited to caudal fin coloration and a few morphometric characters. These two nominal species were described as new in more than one taxonomic account, thus requiring nomenclatural elucidation. Taxonomic complexity behind S. rancureli and S. melanurus has been disregarded and underestimated in previous studies, and indicated to rely on propagation of erroneous authorship and negligence of requirements from the International Code on Zoological Nomenclature for describing new taxa. Analysis of type material and topotypic specimens revealed congruency of external morphology, external measurements and meristic data, suggesting conspecificity. Squalus rancureli is herein considered a junior synonym of S. melanurus, and authorship of these nominal species is clarified. Differential diagnosis and redescription of S. melanurus and an updated diagnosis of S. bucephalus Last, Séret & Pogonoski, 2007 are also provided based on new material. Comparative examinations with other regional congeners support their validity and recognition of a third species provisionally identified as Squalus cf. montalbani. Squalus melanurus is easily distinguished from S. bucephalus Last, Séret & Pogonoski, 2007 by bearing a black caudal-fin lower lobe, snout conspicuously elongate, dermal denticles tricuspidate, and smaller number of vertebrae (vs whitish caudal-fin lower lobe, snout conspicuously short, dermal denticles unicuspidate, higher number of vertebrae).


Outgassing, the evolution of gas from the material in a vacuum, is not only a source of micro contamination in a semiconductor or the flat display panel production process, but it also a limitation factor in the ultra clean process of nano-technology. The outgassing from the materials of satellites and spacecrafts must be controlled for increased safety and function because space is also a vacuum environment. Several methods are used in outgassing measurement in general, but there is no one method suitable for obtaining all outgassing data. The most suitable method for a particular application must be chosen by the experimenter or user. Three types of outgassing measurement systems were fabricated and characterized, 'Throughput method,' 'Rate of Rise method' and 'Mass Loss Measurement method'. The outgassing rates of many kinds of materials were measured and characterized using these systems.


The idea behind flexible optical transmission is to optimize the use of fiber capacity by flexibly assigning spectrum and data rate adapted to the needs of end-to-end connection requests. Several techniques have been proposed to this end. One such technique is based on the utilization of Nyquist-shaping filters with the aim of reducing the required channel spacing in flexible single-carrier and super-channel optical transmission systems. Nonetheless, the imperfect shape of the filters used at the bandwidth-variable transceivers and wavelength-selective switches compels the necessity to allocate a certain spectral guard band between (sub-)channels. Bearing this is mind, in this paper, we focus on the evaluation of the network-level performance, in terms of the filter characteristics and the WDM frequency-grid granularity, of flexible Nyquist-WDM-based transmission. We demonstrate that a granularity of 6.25 GHz offers a good compromise between network performance and filter requirements for spectrum assignment to single-carrier and super-channel signals. However, for subchannel allocation within a super-channel, granularities as fine as 3.125 GHz are required to take advantage of filters with resolutions in the region of 1-1.2 GHz. Finer filter resolutions and frequency slot granularities provide negligible performance improvement.


A Text Worthy of Plotinus makes available for the first time information on the collaborative work that went into the completion of the first reliable edition of Plotinus' Enneads: Plotini Opera, editio maior, three volumes (Brussels, Paris, and Leiden, 1951-1973), followed by the editio minor, three volumes (Oxford, 1964-1983). Pride of place is given to the correspondence of the editors, Paul Henry S.J. and Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer, with other prominent scholars of late antiquity, amongst whom are E.R. Dodds, B.S. Page, A.H. Armstrong, and J. Igal S.J. Also included in the volume are related documents consisting in personal memoirs, course handouts and extensive biographical notices of the two editors as well as of those other scholars who contributed to fostering the revival of Plotinus in the latter half of the 20th century. Taken together, letters and documents let the reader into the problems – codicological, exegetical, and philosophical – that are involved in the interpretation of medieval manuscripts and their transcription for modern readers. Additional insights are provided into the nature of collaborative work involving scholars from different countries and traditions. A Text Worthy of Plotinus will prove a crucial archive for generations of scholars. Those interested in the philosophy of Plotinus will find it a fount of information on his style, manner of exposition, and handling of sources. The volume will also appeal to readers interested in broader trends in 20th century scholarship in the fields of Classics, History of Ideas, Theology, and Religion.


A modification of an existing model for formamide interactions in the liquid phase makes it possible to study the bulk liquid and its free surface at conditions near the triple point, i.e., 300 K and essentially zero pressure, by (MD) molecular-dynamics simulation. Density profiles and orientation profiles in the surface region show the depth and gradual loss of the molecular ordering in the transition from bulk vapor to the bulk liquid. Near edge x-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) resonance intensity spectra are computed from the orientation profiles, so that comparison should be possible with experimental depth resolved NEXAFS spectra.


Phenolic compounds of virgin olive oils and dried figs have been broadly investigated over the past 30 years. Consumption of extra virgin olive oil along with dried fig is a common practice in the Algerian diet, but no data is available regarding their combined biological activities. Recently, we used different Algerian dried fig varieties to obtain virgin olive oily macerates and assess their antioxidant and antimicrobial potential. This article states the estimation of phenolic content of various extra virgin olive oils and their oily macerates prepared from different Algerian varieties of several geographical areas using Folin-Ciocalteu. The process was followed by the evaluation of antioxidant and in vitro antimicrobial potential of the methanolic extracts of oils and macerates against specific resistant human pathogens. The results showed that, the extract of Chemlali Bejaïa virgin olive oil (CBOO) variety had notably higher total phenolics (700 ± 56mg of gallic acid/kg) in opposition to Chemlali Oran virgin olive oil (COOO)(202.96 ± 26 mg of gallic acid/kg).The extracts of macerates proved to have higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activity against tested Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in comparison with the virgin olive oil extract. Their broad extensive antimicrobial potential may be due to the synergetic effect of polyphenols of both extra virgin olive oils and dried figs. Candida albicans showed resistant to pure extra virgin olive oil extracts but didn't to the macerate extracts.


Vacuum frying may be a good alternative for the production of dehydrated fruit and vegetable slices. In this study, a relationship between water losses with frying time during vacuum frying process of potato chips has been developed. A first order kinetic model was used, in which drying rate constant is a function of the main process variables, i.e. oil temperature, sample thickness and vacuum pressure. The experimental data of Garayo and Moreira (2000) have been used to validate the model. Generally there was a good agreement between the calculated results and the experimental data. Then, the effect of initial water content and vacuum pressure has been studied.


Purpose. Based on world‐wide evaluation, the direct agglutination test (DAT) is now generally acknowledged as one of the leading diagnostics for visceral leishmaniasis (VL). To enhance more routine and mass application, but simultaneously ensure safety to both user and environment, further improvements need to be introduced. Methodology. In the current format, a two‐sixfold titre decrease was observed due to using formaldehyde as an antigen preservative in DAT. Successful formaldehyde preservative exclusion was achieved by increasing its concentration to 3 % (wt/vol) for conserving promastigote status after &bgr;‐mercaptoethanol (&bgr;‐ME) treatment and repeating exposure of the parasite to the fixative after Coomassie Brilliant Blue staining. Results. Microbial contamination was not observed in any of the antigen aliquots preserved in 0.05 % (wt/vol) sodium dichloroisocyanurate (chlorine) instead of formaldehyde for 6 months or longer. By excluding formaldehyde, restoring the normal antibody level, prior to treatment of sera with &bgr;‐ME only minimally influenced the test outcome. A comparable successful reduction in non‐specific agglutination, as with &bgr;‐ME, was achieved by incorporating urea (0.3 % wt/vol) in the improved DAT procedure (P=0.646; T=23.0). As with the current procedure, the improved equivalent (formaldehyde and &bgr;‐ME free) showed good reliability for VL detection (VL ‐ Fr=52.39, W=0.70, P<0.001; and non‐VL ‐ Fr=65.97, W=0.83, P<0.001). A much lower cut‐off (titre 1 : 400 versus 1 : 3200) for VL diagnosis can be adopted if urea is integrated in the improved procedure. Conclusions. By introducing the modifications mentioned, we think we have succeeded to a reasonable degree in increasing the DAT potential for VL control.


Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a genetically complex, clinically heterogeneous neurodevelopmental disease. Recently, our understanding of the molecular abnormalities in ASD has been expanded through transcriptomic analyses of postmortem brains. However, a crucial molecular pathway involved in synaptic development, RNA editing, has not yet been studied on a genome-wide scale. Here, we profiled the global patterns of adenosine-to-inosine (A-to-I) editing in a large cohort of post-mortem ASD brains. Strikingly, we observed a global bias of hypo-editing in ASD brains, common to different brain regions and involving many genes with known neurobiological functions. Through genome-wide protein-RNA binding analyses and detailed molecular assays, we show that the Fragile X proteins, FMRP and FXR1P, interact with ADAR proteins and modulate A-to-I editing. Furthermore, we observed convergent patterns of RNA editing alterations in ASD and Fragile X syndrome, thus establishing RNA editing as a molecular link underlying these two highly related diseases. Our findings support a role for RNA editing dysregulation in ASD and highlight novel mechanisms for RNA editing regulation.


The proliferation of processors, environments, and constraints on systems has cast compiler technology into a wider variety of settings, changing the compiler and compiler writer's role. No longer is execution speed the sole criterion for judging compiled code. Today, code might be judged on how small it is, how much power it consumes, how well it compresses, or how many page faults it generates. In this evolving environment, the task of building a successful compiler relies upon the compiler writer's ability to balance and blend algorithms, engineering insights, and careful planning. Today's compiler writer must choose a path through a design space that is filled with diverse alternatives, each with distinct costs, advantages, and complexities.

Engineering a Compiler explores this design space by presenting some of the ways these problems have been solved, and the constraints that made each of those solutions attractive. By understanding the parameters of the problem and their impact on compiler design, the authors hope to convey both the depth of the problems and the breadth of possible solutions. Their goal is to cover a broad enough selection of material to show readers that real tradeoffs exist, and that the impact of those choices can be both subtle and far-reaching.

Authors Keith Cooper and Linda Torczon convey both the art and the science of compiler construction and show best practice algorithms for the major passes of a compiler. Their text re-balances the curriculum for an introductory course in compiler construction to reflect the issues that arise in current practice.

Focuses on the back end of the compiler-reflecting the focus of research and development over the last decade.
Uses the well-developed theory from scanning and parsing to introduce concepts that play a critical role in optimization and code generation.
Introduces the student to optimization through data-flow analysis, SSA form, and a selection of scalar optimizations.
Builds on this background to teach modern methods in code generation: instruction selection, instruction scheduling, and register allocation.
Presents examples in several different programming languages in order to best illustrate the concept.
Provides end-of-chapter exercises, with on-line solutions available to instructors.

Table of Contents

Overview of Compilation; Scanning; Parsing; Context-Sensitive Analysis; Intermediate Representations; Procedure Abstraction; Code Shape; Introduction to Code Optimization; Data-Flow Analysis; Transformations; Instruction Selection; Instruction Scheduling; Register Allocation; Appendix A: ILOC; Appendix B: Data Structures; Appendix C: Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Glossary


There are many different methods and processes that can be used in monitoring and evaluation (M&E). The Rainbow Framework organises these methods and processes in terms of the tasks that are often undertaken in M&E. The range of tasks are organised into seven colour-coded clusters that aim to make it easy for you to find what you need: Manage, Define, Frame, Describe, Understand Causes, Synthesise, and Report & Support Use.


Introduces a novel computer input device capable of receiving input by processing the images of the scene viewed by a camera; i.e. there is no need for any physical contact. The user of this input device can use any part of his body to issue a computer command. The system described is a cursor-positioning input device. In addition to cursor-positioning commands it also provides a simulated keyboard to allow users to input text without using the physical keyboard. The system described has been successfully built; preliminary experience in using the system has been very encouraging.<<ETX>>


In the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, few themes have received more attention from scholars and public commentators than political polarization. However, given the recent focus on tension and conflict in contemporary American society, the present also seems an especially appropriate moment to investigate those fundamental structures that have successfully worked in the opposite direction to bind and stabilize the American polity. The goal of this paper is precisely this task, and to emphasize the centrality of one particular structure that has played such a stabilizing function: the political parties. Parties are often invoked in discussions of political polarization. However, I focus on the significant role of political parties in articulating narratives of affiliation that effectively bind disparate social groups together into cohesive political coalitions, and that encourage popular fidelity to the overarching constitutional system. In doing so, I connect recent scholarship on the role of political parties in our constitutional system with a very extensive literature in constitutional law focused on themes of fidelity and popular commitment to the Constitution.

This paper seeks to demonstrate four primary points: first, I will identify some core themes of Jacksonian Democratic and Whig party ideology — especially with respect to their views on the economy and the composition of American society. Second, I will illustrate how those themes have remained prominent facets of modern-day Democratic and Republican party ideologies since at least the early 1990s. Third, building upon this prior discussion, I will provide a more systematic mapping of Jacksonian Era concepts onto present-day party politics in Part V. I will also offer some speculation on how present-day party ideologies may evolve and intersect with some of the most contentious constitutional legal questions confronting the polity, including each party's views on certain individual rights and on the proper role of the federal judiciary. Ultimately, I hope to offer some clarity on how party narratives may evolve from the present context of the Trump presidency. Finally, I will address narratives of party affiliation from a more normative-legal perspective. Specifically, I will articulate and defend the use of a certain type of narrative of constitutional fidelity — rooted in contemporary legal theory and the work of Jack Balkin, but oriented more empathically toward party politics — that may have broad appeal in contemporary American politics: namely, a narrative of redemption.


Detailed studies of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of normal galaxies have increasingly been used to understand the physical mechanism dominating their integrated emission, mainly owing to the availability of high quality multi-wavelength data from the UV to the far-infrared (FIR). However, systems hosting dust-enshrouded nuclear starbursts and/or an accreting supermassive black hole (an active galactic nucleus or AGN) are especially challenging to study. This is due to the complex interplay between the heating by massive stars and the AGN, the absorption and emission of radiation from dust, as well as the presence of the underlying old stellar population. We used the latest release of CIGALE, a fast state-of-the-art galaxy SED-fitting model relying on energy balance, to study the influence of an AGN in a self consistent manner in estimating both the star formation rate (SFR) and stellar mass in galaxies, as well as to calculate the contribution of the AGN to the power output of the host. Using the semi-analytical galaxy formation model galform, we created a suite of mock galaxy SEDs using realistic star formation histories (SFH). We also added an AGN of Type-1, Type-2, or intermediate-type whose contribution to the bolometric luminosity can be variable. We performed an SED-fitting of these catalogues with CIGALE, assuming three different SFHs: a single-exponentially-decreasing (1τ-dec), a double-exponentially-decreasing (2τ-dec), and a delayed SFH. Constraining the overall contribution of an AGN to the total infrared luminosity (fracAGN) is very challenging for fracAGN< 20%, with uncertainties of ~5–30% for higher fractions depending on the AGN type, while FIR and sub-mm are essential. The AGN power has an impact on the estimation of M∗ in Type-1 and intermediate-type AGNs but has no effect on galaxies hosting Type-2 AGNs. We find that in the absence of AGN emission, the best estimates of M∗ are obtained using the 2τ-dec model but at the expense of realistic ages of the stellar population. The delayed SFH model provides good estimates of M∗ and SFR, with a maximum offset of 10% as well as better estimates of the age. Our analysis shows that the under-estimation of the SFR increases with fracAGN for Type-1 systems, as well as for low contributions of an intermediate AGN type, but it is quite insensitive to the emission of Type-2 AGNs up to fracAGN ~ 45%. A lack of sampling the FIR, or sub-mm domain systematically over-estimates the SFR (<20%), independent of the contribution of the AGN. Similarly, the UV emission is critical in accurately retrieving both the M∗ for Type-1 and intermediate- type AGN and the SFR of all three AGN types. We show that the presence of AGN emission introduces a scatter to the SFR-M∗ main sequence relation derived from SED-fitting, which is driven by the uncertainties on M∗. Finally, we used our mock catalogues to test the popular IR SED-fitting code DecompIR and show that fracAGN is under-estimated but that the SFR is recovered well for Type-1 and intermediate-types of AGN. The fracAGN, SFR, and LIR estimates of Type-2 AGNs are more problematic owing to a FIR emission disagreement between predicted and observed models.


Emerging high-speed network systems are capable of transporting and delivering data at rates faster than hardware and software components can economically process them. The result is data overflow in which performance information that is critical for effective network system monitoring and management may be lost, thereby leaving the system vulnerable to quality of service degradation and the service provider unable to meet customer service level agreements. Service providers seek a solution to this problem that minimizes the amount of high-speed, high-cost electronics required to comprehensively recognize such information. This paper addresses the challenge of surmounting data overflow problems in the collection of information by introducing a new procedure to transform finite state recognizers into new machines that can recognize bit-level information as it passes a monitoring point while operating slower than bit-rate for implementation in reconfigurable hardware, such as RAM and Field Programmable Gate Arrays. This is accomplished by mapping N-bit sets from the input stream into new symbols that can be processed at rate 1/N while also generating N-bit output symbols. The process is illustrated by implementation examples, and a time versus space tradeoff analysis is presented.


REVIEW OF THE MONOGRAPH «FORMATION OF STRATEGY IN ANTI-CRISIS MANAGEMENT OF OPERATIONAL ACTIVITY OF INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES», PREPARED BY SHVETS YU.O.


Multiheme cytochromes have been implicated in Geobacter sulfurreducens extracellular electron transfer (EET). These proteins are potential targets to improve EET and enhance bioremediation and electrical current production by G. sulfurreducens. However, the functional characterization of multiheme cytochromes is particularly complex due to the co-existence of several microstates in solution, connecting the fully reduced and fully oxidized states. Over the last decade, new strategies have been developed to characterize multiheme redox proteins functionally and structurally. These strategies were used to reveal the functional mechanism of G. sulfurreducens multiheme cytochromes and also to identify key residues in these proteins for EET. In previous studies, we set the foundations for enhancement of the EET abilities of G. sulfurreducens by characterizing a family of five triheme cytochromes (PpcA-E). These periplasmic cytochromes are implicated in electron transfer between the oxidative reactions of metabolism in the cytoplasm and the reduction of extracellular terminal electron acceptors at the cell's outer surface. The results obtained suggested that PpcA can couple e−/H+ transfer, a property that might contribute to the proton electrochemical gradient across the cytoplasmic membrane for metabolic energy production. The structural and functional properties of PpcA were characterized in detail and used for rational design of a family of 23 single site PpcA mutants. In this review, we summarize the functional characterization of the native and mutant proteins. Mutants that retain the mechanistic features of PpcA and adopt preferential e−/H+ transfer pathways at lower reduction potential values compared to the wild-type protein were selected for in vivo studies as the best candidates to increase the electron transfer rate of G. sulfurreducens. For the first time G. sulfurreducens strains have been manipulated by the introduction of mutant forms of essential proteins with the aim to develop and improve bioelectrochemical technologies.


Although several methods have been developed to make gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) accumulate in tea, the active ingredients and health benefits vary widely depending on the manufacturing process of tea products. In this study, the levels of bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity in tea leaves given the continuous anaerobic condition were investigated. GABA and other free amino acids such as alanine, valine, leucine, isoleucine, proline, and asparagine were increased in tea leaves after anaerobic treatment, whereas the contents of organic and fatty acids remained almost constant. Compared with untreated tea, anaerobically incubated tea possesses higher (-)epigallocatechin and (-)-epigallocatechin gallate contents, and lower IC50 values in the 1,1diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging, superoxide radical scavenging, nitric oxide scavenging and xanthine oxidase inhibition assays, which may indicate that continuous anaerobic incubation enhances antioxidant activity. These results suggest that the continuous anaerobic treatment during manufacturing process may provide high quality


There has been a dramatic increase in the utilization of wireless technologies in healthcare systems as a consequence of the wireless ubiquitous and pervasive communications revolution. Emerging information and wireless communication technologies in health and healthcare have led to the creation of e-health systems, also known as e-healthcare, which have been drawing increasing attention in the public and have gained strong support from government agencies and various organizations.E-Healthcare Systems and Wireless Communications: Current and Future Challenges explores the developments and challenges associated with the successful deployment of e-healthcare systems. The book combines research efforts in different disciplines including pervasive wireless communications, wearable computing, context-awareness, sensor data fusion, artificial intelligence, neural networks, expert systems, databases, and security. This work serves as a comprehensive reference for graduate students in bioengineering and also provides solutions for medical researchers who are faced with the challenge of designing and implementing a cost-effective pervasive and ubiquitous wireless communication system.


Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Indian women. Aim: The aim of the study was to report the sociodemographic factors, habits, personal history, gynecological and obstetric history, the clinical presentation of Indian women, and analyze those factors with the diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods: This study is based on retrospective data collection from case files of women who attended the Cancer Detection Centre during January1995-September 2016. Results: Data analysis for 1196 women showed 31.5% aged between 26 and 35 years; 90.7% were Hindus; 61.3% school-educated; 77.0% housewives/unemployed; 80.6% married and 98.2% were non-vegetarian. Physical activity, medical history and gynecologic history of menarche, menstrual type, menopause, marital age, and breast feeding history had a strong correlation with clinical diagnosis (p<0.05). About 8.4% of the total population was diagnosed with breast cancer using smear cytology, FNAC, mammography, and USG. Conclusions: Age, lack of proper education, marital status, food habit, physical activity, age of menarche, menstrual type, menopause, marital age, and breastfeeding history were highlighted as significant risk factors of breast cancer in Indian women. Smears from nipple discharges, FNAC, mammography, and USG are effective methods for breast cancer detection in low-cost setting where routine organized screening programs are not available. Relevance for patients: The study will identify important risk factors among women in the Eastern region of India. Thus, background information of patients can be used to emphasize the importance of organizing breast cancer screening while making public health policies and implementing breast cancer control programs.


We present observations of martensite variants and ferromagnetic domain structures of Ni53Mn24Ga23 ferromagnetic shape memory alloys with a pure tetragonal martensitic phase by using scanning electron acoustic microscopy (SEAM) and scanning thermal microscopy (SThM). Electron acoustic images show a polycrystalline morphology with martensite variants. Direct coincidence between crystallographic martensitic twin variants and magnetic domains is found. A domain-like structure, obtained by SThM, is firstly reported, and then confirmed by magnetic force microscopy (MFM). The experimental results will be helpful for investigating the local thermal properties of ferromagnets and understanding the relationship between martensite variants and magnetic domains.


Orofacial clefts (OFCs) are among the most prevalent craniofacial birth defects worldwide and create a significant public health burden. The majority of OFCs are non-syndromic and vary in prevalence by ethnicity. Africans have the lowest prevalence of OFCs (~ 1/2,500), Asians have the highest prevalence (~1/500), Europeans and Latin Americans lie somewhere in the middle (~1/800 and 1/900, respectively). Thus, ethnicity appears to be a major determinant of the risk of developing OFC. The Pittsburgh Orofacial Clefts Multiethnic study was designed to explore this ethnic variance, comprising a large number of families and individuals (~12,000 individuals) from multiple populations worldwide: US and Europe, Asians, mixed Native American/Caucasians, and Africans. In this current study, we analyzed 2,915 OFC cases, 6,044 unaffected individuals related to the OFC cases, and 2,685 controls with no personal or family history of OFC. Participants were grouped by their ancestry into African, Asian, European, and Central and South American subsets, and genome-wide association run on the combined sample as well as the four ancestry-based groups. We observed 22 associations to cleft lip with or without cleft palate at 18 distinct loci with p-values < 1e-06, including 10 with genome-wide significance (<5e-08), in the combined sample and within ancestry groups. Three loci - 2p12 (rs62164740, p = 6.27e-07), 10q22.2 (rs150952246, p = 3.14e-07), and 10q24.32 (rs118107597, p = 8.21e-07) are novel. Nine were in or near known OFC loci - PAX7, IRF6, FAM49A, DCAF4L2, 8q24.21, NTN1, WNT3-WNT9B, TANC2, and RHPN2. The majority of the associations were observed only in the combined sample, European, and Central and South American groups. We investigated whether the observed differences in association strength were (a) purely due to sample sizes, (b) due to systematic allele frequency difference at the population level, or (c) due to the fact certain OFC-causing variants confer different amounts of risk depending on ancestral origin, by comparing effect sizes to observed allele frequencies of the effect allele in our ancestry-based groups. While some of the associations differ due to systematic differences in allele frequencies between groups, others show variation in effect size despite similar frequencies across ancestry groups.


We present an approach for estimating occupancy grids with an emphasis on robotics applications, where collision avoidance and robustness to severe noise are of more importance than high resolution. We build upon probabilistic techniques, typically used in robotics, and techniques based on signed distance fields, typically used in computer vision, to obtain an approach that is robust and also allows probabilistic reasoning on free and occupied space. The uniqueness of our method lies in the use of separate accumulators for positive and negative evidence for the occupancy of each voxel. This enables our representation to capture the uncertainty due to potential conflicts among the measurements instead of allowing contradictory evidence to cancel each other out. We show occupancy grids computed from multi-view stereo inputs on precisely and imprecisely calibrated image sequences. The ground truth that is available with the former dataset allows quantitative evaluation of the performance of our algorithm.


Two classes of Conformal Field Theories have been proposed to describe the Hierarchical Quantum Hall Effect: the multi-component bosonic theory, characterized by the symmetry Û(1)× ̂ SU(m)1 and the W1+∞ minimal models with central charge c = m. In spite of having the same spectrum of edge excitations, they manifest differences in the degeneracy of the states and in the quantum statistics, which call for a more detailed comparison between them. Here, we describe their detailed relation for the general case, c = m and extend the methods previously published for c ≤ 3. Specifically, we obtain the reduction in the number of degrees of freedom from the multi-component Abelian theory to the minimal models by decomposing the characters of the Û(1)× ̂ SU(m)1 representations into those of the c = m W1+∞ minimal models. Furthermore, we find the Hamiltonian whose renormalization group flow interpolates between the two models, having the W1+∞ minimal models as infra-red fixed point.


nloaded or-bearing individuals have been reported to harbor increased numbers of Foxp3 regulatory T cells which prevent the development of efficient antitumor immune responses. Thus, Treg depletion has already ested as a promising therapeutic approach in various animal models and entered clinical trials. However, the nonspecific Treg targeting agents such as CD25 depleting antibodies, which in addition to CD25 Tregs also e recently activated CD25 effector T cells, potentially masked the tremendous potential of this therapeutic y. To avoid such nonspecific effects, we used transgenic DEREG (depletion of regulatory T cells) mice, express a diphtheria toxin receptor under control of the Foxp3 locus, allowing selective depletion of Foxp3 even during ongoing immune responses. We showed that Foxp3 Treg depletion induced partial regression blished ovalbumin (OVA)-expressing B16 melanoma, which was associated with an increased intratumoral ulation of activated CD8 cytotoxic T cells. The antitumor effect could be significantly enhanced when epletion was combined with vaccination against OVA. To further assess whether this therapeutic approach break self-tolerance, we crossed DEREGmice with RipOVAmice, expressing OVA as neo–self-antigen under l of the rat insulin promoter. In these mice, combined Treg depletion and vaccination also induced tumor ion without the onset of diabetes. Together, our data suggest that selective Treg targeting strategies combined accinations against tumor-associated (self) antigens have the potential to evoke efficient antitumor responses with v without inducing overt autoimmunity. These findings might have implications for future therapeutic interventions in cancer patients. Cancer Res; 70(20); 7788–99. ©2010 AACR.


Automatic building extraction is a difficult object recognition problem due to a high
complexity of the scene content and the object representation. There is a dilemma to
select appropriate building models to be reconstructed; the models have to be generic in
order to represent a variety of building shape, whereas they also have to be specific to
differentiate buildings from other objects in the scene. Therefore, a scientific challenge
of building extraction lies in constructing a framework for modelling building objects
with appropriate balance between generic and specific models. This thesis investigates a
synergy of IKONOS satellite imagery and airborne LIDAR data, which have recently
emerged as powerful remote sensing tools, and aims to develop an automatic system,
which delineates building outlines with more complex shape, but by less use of
geometric constraints.
The method described in this thesis is a two step procedure: building detection and
building description. A method of automatic building detection that can separate
individual buildings from surrounding features is presented. The process is realized in a
hierarchical strategy, where terrain, trees, and building objects are sequentially detected.
Major research efforts are made on the development of a LIDAR filtering technique,
which automatically detects terrain surfaces from a cloud of 3D laser points. The thesis
also proposes a method of building description to automatically reconstruct building
boundaries. A building object is generally represented as a mosaic of convex polygons.
The first stage is to generate polygonal cues by a recursive intersection of both datadriven
and model-driven linear features extracted from IKONOS imagery and LIDAR
data. The second stage is to collect relevant polygons comprising the building object
and to merge them for reconstructing the building outlines. The developed LIDAR filter
was tested in a range of different landforms, and showed good results to meet most of
the requirements of DTM generation and building detection. Also, the implemented
building extraction system was able to successfully reconstruct the building outlines,
and the accuracy of the building extraction is good enough for mapping purposes.


Abstract— The hydroxylation of estrone and estradiol at C2 to their respective catechol estrogens has been demonstrated by others with in vitro preparations from rat hypothalamic tissue. The subsequent methylation of these catechol estrogens by catechol‐O‐methyltransferase (COMT) in rat brain extracts has also been observed. Therefore, in specific sites in brain, 2‐hydroxylation of estrogens could play a significant role in the regulation of catecholamine metabolism. To evaluate the potential physiological significance of these interactions, we studied cultured murine neuroblastoma cells where the effect of 2‐hydroxyestradiol on COMT activity could be investigated in living cells and in cell homogenates. The addition of 2‐hydroxyestradiol to the cultures caused a specific dose‐dependent reduction in the formation of methylated products from the catecholamine, dopamine. The properties of COMT activity in the cell homogenates were examined and optimized with respect to the substrate, pH, concentrations of Mg2+, and the co‐factor, S‐adenosylmethionine. The catechol substrate. 3, 4‐dihydroxybenzoic acid, and 2‐hydroxyestradiol were both methylated by the cell homogenates. Inhibitor studies confirmed that both methylations were due to COMT. Furthermore, the catechol estrogen inhibited catechol methylation competitively at micromolar levels. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that catechol estrogens are endogenous modulators of catecholamine metabolism.


Blood flow restricted (BFR) exercise has recently been promoted in the United States as a novel method to restore skeletal muscle strength and hypertrophy in primarily athletic and healthy populations. A specialized tourniquet restricts blood flow after which brief and intermittent exercise is performed with low to moderate loads of resistance. A hypertensive blood pressure (BP) response during BFR exercise has been identified as a potential adverse effect, which may be particularly concerning for patients who are hypertensive. Because of the possibility that a substantial proportion of older adults undergoing orthopedic surgery may have hypertension as well as the possibility of a hypertensive BP response from BFR exercise, we performed a comprehensive search for studies examining the acute and chronic BP response to BFR exercise in hypertensive subjects resulting in 6 studies with which a meta-analysis and systematic review were performed. The meta-analysis results found nonsignificant, slight increases in systolic BP and diastolic BP. The results of the systematic review found that BFR exercise seems to be safe in patients with hypertension with no adverse events reported in the 86 patients who participated in the 6 reviewed studies. The cardiovascular response to BFR exercise seems to vary depending on the muscle group being exercised as well as the method of BFR, but, in general, these measures are greater during BFR exercise compared with non-BFR exercise.


An exact transient analytical solution of the temperature fields and heat fluxes for the modified transient plane source (MTPS) method is presented. The MTPS sensor is made of a thin disc with a heater/sensor and a heated guard ring on its surface, providing a one-dimensional heat flow to a semi-infinite sample in contact with its surface. The MTPS sensor measures the thermal effusivity of the sample. Two different solutions are derived, one is in the form of an infinite series with no thermal resistance, the other is in integral form and includes thermal resistance between the MTPS sensor surface and the measured sample. The theoretical model is supplemented by experimental results.


This paper evaluates the detection performance of an application of adaptive linear prediction filtering known as the adaptive line enhancer (ALE) for the signal known except for phase problem. ROC curves are derived for an L-weight ALE followed by a K-point DFT under the conditions that K ¿ L and that K and L are much less than N, the total number of data points processed. ROC curves are also obtained for detection based on an L-point DFT of the L adaptive filter weights. It is shown that both ALE implementations give detection performances roughly comparable to N/L incoherent averages of an L-point DFT, but differences between the two ALE devices are noted. ALE detection performance is shown to be relatively insensitive to the choice of adaptive filter time constant. It is also shown that ALE detection performance is relatively insensitive to the value of K for K ¿ L.


Over the past 4 decades, numerous scientific reports have examined the relationships between physical activity, physical fitness, and cardiovascular health. Expert panels, convened by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), and the American Heart Association (AHA),1–3 along with the 1996 US Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health,4 reinforced scientific evidence linking regular physical activity to various measures of cardiovascular health. The prevailing view in these reports is that more active or fit individuals tend to develop less coronary heart disease (CHD) than their sedentary counterparts. If CHD develops in active or fit individuals, it occurs at a later age and tends to be less severe.

As many as 250 000 deaths per year in the United States are attributable to a lack of regular physical activity. In addition, studies that followed large groups of individuals for many years have documented the protective effects of physical activity for a number of noncardiovascular chronic diseases, such as non–insulin-dependent diabetes, hypertension, osteoporosis, and colon cancer.4 In contrast, we see a higher rate of cardiovascular events and a higher death rate in those individuals with low levels of physical fitness.1,4 Even midlife increases in physical activity, through change in occupation or recreational activities, are associated with a decrease in mortality.5 Despite this evidence, however, the vast majority of adults in the United States remains effectively sedentary; less than one-third of Americans meets the minimal recommendations for activity as outlined by the CDC, ACSM, and AHA expert panels.

A sedentary lifestyle is one of the 5 major risk factors (along with high blood pressure, abnormal values for blood lipids, smoking, and obesity) for cardiovascular disease, as outlined by the AHA. Evidence from many scientific studies shows …


Past research has identified the importance of the relationship between teacher candidates and their associate teachers during field experiences. Through the research questions that framed the study, I sought to contribute to a growing understanding of how the associate teacher-teacher candidate relationship develops from the perspective of teacher candidates. Using an interpretive lens, I explored the associate teacher-teacher candidate relationships of 5 teacher candidates at a mid-sized university in Southern Ontario. In this instrumental multicase study, the 5 participants described 13 pairs of relationships with associate teachers who modeled varying practices. The qualitative data surrounding these case relationships were collected through a focus group and semistructured interviews. Participants' responses were analyzed using axial coding and constant comparative analysis. Participants identified feedback, guidance, support, genuine interactions, and relationship dynamics as central to successful field experiences. Participants also suggested that associate teachers might be better supported in their role if they were offered increased professional development from the faculties of education that organize the field experiences. The findings documented offer a fresh perspective of the role of the associate teacher in successful teacher education programs, particularly as experienced by the 5 participants.


Applications involving smart cards have rapidly emerged since a few years. Up to now, chips are realized in conventional bulk technology. But as the need for performance rises, alternative technologies must be investigated. In this paper we study the feasibility of realizing the blocks for a smart card chip in Silicon-On-Insulator (SOI) technology. For most of the circuit blocks, SOI realization already exists and may be adapted for this application. However, we identified two circuits never fabricated in SOI: a charge pump and the random number generator. The charge pump has been realized in SOI and tested. A random signal source has also been realized. The circuit to create random bits, based on this source, is exposed.


In Europe over the last two decades, marketization has become an important policy option in elder care. Comparative studies predominantly adopt an institutional perspective and analyze the politics and policies of marketization. This analysis takes a step back and examines the fundamental ideas underpinning the policies of marketization, using the 'What's the problem?' approach by Carol Bacchi. The central question is how the market was discursively framed as the solution to the perceived problems of three different systems of elder care, and how such processes are similar or different across the three countries. The analysis includes two extreme types of elder care systems, the Nordic public systems in Denmark and Finland, and the Southern European family-based model in Italy. Empirically, the analysis offers interesting insights into processes of constructing and legitimating markets at the level of discourse; this occurs by defining specific problem representations, underlying assumptions and silences. In all three countries, marketization is presented as a solution which builds on rather than challenges dominant ideas of care. Conceptually, in addition to its institutions, it is crucial to understand the ideas behind the marketization of elder care. Ideas emerge as a key leverage for making policies and practices of marketization acceptable and which decision makers and other influential political/societal actors use in policy and public debates. The importance of ideas is further underlined by the fact that they do not necessarily relate to the institutions of elder care systems in a linear way.


: GP130 (renamed contactin) has previously been identified by its detergent insolubility and retention with the actin-containing "membrane skeleton" isolated from chicken neurons and brain. The contactin sequence predicted a transmembrane and cytoplasmic domain for the molecule. Recently, F11 was shown to have an identical sequence except for the C terminus, and it was predicted to be linked to the plasma membrane by a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) group. Here we describe that GP130 can be released both from brain membranes and the detergent-insoluble membrane skeleton by a phosphoinositol-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) indicating that F11 and GP130/contactin are probably identical and that surprisingly the lipid anchor is partly or totally responsible for its non-ionic detergent insolubility. The "membrane skeleton" is a rich source of GPI-linked glycoproteins as judged by 1) most glycoproteins can be released by a PI-PLC and 2) most [3H]ethanolamine-labeled glycoproteins are present in, or enriched in the membrane skeleton. Thus, detergent insolubility appears to be a characteristic of GPI-anchored glycoproteins. No evidence has been obtained that GP130/F11 is released or secreted in vivo or in culture. In addition, GP130/F11 has an unusually long half-life in culture of greater than 3 days. The structure of the neuronal membrane skeleton and the potential function of GPI-anchored glycoproteins is discussed.


The current corn classification is mainly handicraft. This method is low efficiency, labor intensive, and has failed to meet the requirements of production. This system unifies PAC and machine vision, designed a corn grading system. The whole system has configuration monitored and controlled by using machine PAC visual technology and Device Net field bus technology, the system has a safe and reliable operation, classicists accurately and rapidly. This system can significantly improve the efficiency and frozen corn sorted product quality, sort and speed over40 per minute, sorting accuracy can reach more than 99 percents. Demonstrates PAC technology in sorting system unique flexibility and expansibility, better realize the controlled object of automation control, has wide application prospects.


This study was undertaken to identify and analyze factors affecting access to agricultural extension services by private farmers and agricultural cooperative members in Khartoum State from a comparative perspective. The Technology Transfer and Extension Administration of Khartoum State's Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Resources and Irrigation provides extension services to individual private farmers, and to farmer groups in cooperatives and other farming institutions. Policyoriented studies are needed to assess the level of access to extension and other agricultural development services by farmers operating under different production and land tenure arrangements, and to suggest ways for their improvement. In this study, private farmers and agricultural cooperative members are compared in terms of individualand farm-level variables and service access factors. The study is focused on analysis of differences between private farmers and agricultural cooperative members in terms of (1) age, (2) years of formal education, (3) access to extension information services, (4) access to credit, input supply and marketing services, (5) access to farm land, (6) areas under different crops, (7) volume of production of principal crops, (8) gross income from different crops, (9) level of awareness about extension information supply problems, and (10) level of satisfaction with the currently provided extension services. The representation of farmers in cooperatives involved random selection of 10 agricultural production societies from the ones operating in the rural areas of Khartoum-North locality. A stratified quota sampling procedure was employed for selection of 60 respondents to represent the selected agricultural cooperatives, and 30 farmers to represent the agricultural producers operating privately in neighboring areas. The primary data for the study were collected by means of individual interviews with respondents involving use of structured schedules (questionnaires). Secondary data were obtained from the records kept by the selected agricultural cooperatives and the State's Technology Transfer and Extension Administration. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in descriptive data analysis and the testing of the study hypotheses. Analysis involved the generation of frequency distribution tables and charts, descriptive statistics, and t-test statistics. Data analysis showed that there were significant differences between private farmers and agricultural cooperative members in terms of access to land preparation services, improved seeds and pest control services, and access to credit and marketing services. The results of t-test analysis also revealed the existence of significant differences between private farmers and agricultural cooperative members in term of access to agricultural extension services. The findings suggest that private farmers have more access to agricultural extension services, whereas farmers in the agricultural cooperatives have more access to input supply services. Differences between private farmers and cooperative members were also detected in relation perception of extension problems and attitudes toward private financing of agricultural extension services. Based on the study findings, a set of recommendations were suggested for improving access to extension and other agricultural development services by private farmers and agricultural cooperative members in Khartoum State, including: 1Establishment of effective links for strengthening technical cooperation between the State's Technology Transfer and Extension Administration and the Boards of the agricultural cooperatives. The governing boards of the agricultural cooperatives need to be encouraged to give equal attention to provision of extension services to members as an integral part of their functions, rather than focusing primarily on supply of other agricultural development services. 2Promoting the training and service delivery facilities of the State's Technology Transfer and Extension Administration 3Incorporation of capacity building of agricultural cooperative board members as integral part of the technical duties of the State's Technology Transfer and Extension Administration. 4Arranging for access to integrated agricultural development services by small farmers in Khartoum State through development of effective institutional coordination and group action by farmers.


In this paper, a phase shift parameter is introduced to the current waveform of the series of continuous inverse modes (SCIMs) to generate complex fundamental and harmonic admittances. The extended design space based on this novel theory can offer alternative solutions for realizing broadband high-efficiency PAs. To verify the method mentioned above, a 0.9–2.1GHz PA is designed and fabricated. Experimental results show the PA is able to achieve 63.3%–72.1% drain efficiency and 39.9–41.2 dBm saturated output power in the target band.