For more than two decades there has been a heated debate on the defi nition of the family in the sciences dealing with this subject. Th e key issue in this debate concerns the formulation of non-discriminatory, distinctive and operational defi nitions of modern families. In the debates, a defi nition and typology of families are shaped so that they include all important dimensions of families that are similar with forms of people's daily lives. Th ere is also a tendency to include all forms of family life in this defi nition. Finally, there are attempts to create a defi nition that is operational so as to be used in research as well as state and administrative activities. A great number of sociological defi nitions see the family as a social institution whose main functions are sexual, reproductive, educational and economic (Murdock 1949, by Milić 2001, p. 36f.; Parsons 1955, by Golubović 1974). Th erefore, the family is a multi-generational community. Th is denotation of family as something largely accepted in society and therefore normative not only provides a narrow designation of terms that should be examined but also introduces us to the fi eld of idealization and ideologization of this term. Th e main omission in such a defi nition of family is expressed by the tendency to defi ne a "normal" or "healthy" family as one whose main criterion of "normality" often is family structure. Th is jeopardizes objectivity in dealing with this subject and also ignores the psychological and interactive dimensions of the family. Should the defi nition of family include only parents (heterosexual married DER DONAURAUM


In recent years, electronic micropayments by cell phones have been possible. Some activities have been done in this field as well. Mobile near field communication (NFC) technology, which is a standard mobile method for connecting electronic devices at near distances, has grabbed a lot of attention in order to pay mobile micropayments and electronic payment services by financial institutions, payment service companies, SIM cards manufacturers and operators. The beneficiary organizations need to meet some requirements such as management preparation. This paper aims to detect different NFC technology uses and study and rank the main factors of success in implementation of this technology in organization by applying analytic hierarchy process. The humanitarian specialists and environmental and technological experts should be considered in order to use NFC technology in mobile payments. Among 81 sub-criteria, security and privacy are the most important factors for implementing NFC technology successfully.


This attractive well illustrated and clearly set out volume is in fact an extensive exposition of neuromotor capabilities in spontaneous and elicited movements and postural reactions. Such narrow emphasis is all very well if it succeeds in teaching reliably at a primary care level how to segregate those neonates or older infants who have clinically important minor neurological dysfunction from those who perform up to the expected level. There are several paths to this goal but, to the present, the French school's missionary success has been impaired by subtle elitism . 'muscle tone . remains the specialty of the French.' The first part of the book is a recapitulation of the pioneering work of the Clinique Bandelogue, a very welcome introduction for the beginner. It now brings us to the phenomenon of 'liberated motor activity' by which automations are suppressed, the impotence of the neck is excluded, and head control is achieved. The baby enters a state beyond those of Prechtl, almost mesmerised, but is able to perform definitive motor acts like an older infant-for example, in prehension. It may be the most important part of early performance. The central part of the work sees that 'cold' traditional examinations do not solicit the personal participation of the infant, and the complementary neuromotor examination is enlisted to do so. The process of debugging (sic) is explained, and the repertoire of the liberated state is clearly set out in words and pictures so that much of the techniques could be learned from the printed page. Brazelton and the Bobaths are in one's mind, if not much in the bibliography, but few can have given such emphasis to the reaction of lateral abduction of the hip. Finally, the book addresses itself very well to the question of attributing degrees of importance to the various deviant items, above all to identifying those of reliatively little importance compared with those of prognostic graivity, drawn from the author's own experience. Pitfalls of tcchnique and interpretation may be unthinkable, but there is much of practical value to be learned herein. NEIL O DOIIERTY Neurosonography of the Pre-Term Neonate. Edited by Edward G Grant. Pp 116: £46-00 hardback. Springer-Verlag, 1986.


In this article, data envelopment analysis (DEA) is employed to study the comparative performance of German and Colombian energy-intensive sectors between 1998 and 2005. The results of the DEA indicate that the great majority of energy-intensive sectors improved on this index during the sample period, demonstrating that energy input is an important variable within the production structure and a key element in technology development. At a second stage, regression analysis using panel data analysis reveals that several factors, including labor productivity, the share of electricity, investments and enterprise size can be considered determinants of differences in energy efficiency among German and Colombian energy-intensive sectors. Our results also show that different energy policies should apply, and that they should encourage the importance of energy efficiency in order to achieve a sustainable economic development and climate stabilization today and in the near future.


In an issue of theArchives, Fergusson et al 1 reported on the association between depressive disorders and nicotine dependence in a cohort of 16-year-olds in Christchurch, New Zealand. The authors state that subjects were classified as meeting DSM-III-R criteria if they smoked at least 5 cigarettes per day and reported 2 or more symptoms of nicotine dependence. They add that these criteria "broadly correspond to the criterion of mild nicotine dependence used by Breslau et al." 2 The symptoms of nicotine dependence used in this definition are described in the text as "concerned with failure to quit or reduce smoking, irritability when cigarettes were unavailable, difficulties in going a day without a cigarette, morning cough, needing a cigarette first thing in the morning, continued smoking despite medical advice, and stealing money or using savings to obtain cigarettes." 1 Although these 7 symptoms seem to be related to level


ABSTRACT Scavenging birds can provide ecosystem services to pastoralists by contributing to the breakdown of animal carcasses that can harbour and spread disease. However, these benefits have yet to be quantified in Australia. We monitored rabbit carcasses using motion-sensor cameras to identify beneficial avian scavengers across four landscape types (forest, riparian, fields with large isolated trees, and open fields) on a pastoral property in north-central Victoria. We quantified the ecosystem service of carcass breakdown by measuring the per cent weight loss of carcasses exposed to scavenging birds compared to carcasses excluded from birds. Seven of the twenty-four bird-accessible carcasses were attacked by raptors in 2014, and three in 2015. When a raptor attacked a carcass, there was a significantly higher median per cent weight loss of the carcass (16.67%, interquartile range (IQR) = 8.33–100.0) compared with sites where no bird attacks occurred (6.65%, IQR = 3.03–12.06). Our results indicate that raptors are major contributors to carcass breakdown in grazing landscapes and may potentially contribute to reducing the spread of diseases such as blowfly strike and leptospirosis. Maintaining key habitat features for these species (e.g. large isolated trees) is essential for raptor conservation and maximising the ecosystem services they provide.


An approximate expression for the beam driven current in which the trapping effects of fast ions and electrons are included is derived by means of a variational principle. The beam driven current due to arbitrary fast ions can be calculated easily from this expression in an axisymmetric magnetic field with finite aspect ratio. It is shown that in a tokamak with circular cross-section this expression gives a good approximation to the results obtained by numerically solving the Fokker-Planck equation. The beam driven current due to energy diffusion, which is neglected in the approximate expression, is also estimated


Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) play a key role in the control of persistent viral infections. Differences in the quality of this cellular immune response influence the long-term outcome of such infections, but the factors that determine which virus-derived peptide epitopes are targeted by CTLs remain poorly understood. Here, we examine the antigen-processing requirements of three human leukocyte antigen (HLA) A*0201-restricted HIV-1 CTL epitopes. Each of these three peptides appears to be generated by a distinct proteolytic pathway, despite presentation on the cell surface in association with the same HLA class I molecule. Presentation of the commonly immunodominant SLYNTVATL (HIV-1 p17 Gag; residues 77-85) epitope was unaffected by inhibition of the proteasome with lactacystin, but was dependent on the presence of the beta-subunit LMP7. These findings are consistent with emerging data on the complexity of peptide epitope generation, and suggest that differences in antigen processing might contribute to patterns of CTL recognition in vivo.


Sweden commenced military operations against Prussia in 1757, following Austria's and France's efforts to include Sweden in the anti-Prussian alliance. Swedish politicians hoped that the coalition would lead to a quick victory without having to get too involved in the fighting, but that Sweden still would be rewarded for its support. Swedish military action was thus primarily designed to show the allies that Sweden participated in the war. Despite the low intensity warfare that characterized the fighting, the war was still extremely expensive. The Swedish state used mostly internal borrowing to finance the war, which led to negative economic and political consequences such as inflation and popular discontent. By participating in the war, the Swedish state sought to strengthen its commercial situation worldwide while preserving its military position in the Baltic region.


This relatively small-scale study is the first to pose the question as to the
difference that the quality of academic leadership can make to the attainment
levels of black and ethnic minority (BME) students. With the aid of in-depth
interviews and a survey, the study has started to build a picture of the underexplored
relationship between leadership and BME outcomes. It finds that leadership
style is one of the top four factors out of 14 that BME students believe influence their
academic achievement (alongside motivation, fair treatment and fair assessment) and
highlights the significant role that inclusive leadership could play in closing gaps. It paves the
way for further research into the association between academic leadership behaviours and BME
student productivity, motivation and well-being.


Phalaenopsis mysorensis Saldanha, an orchid species endemic to South India has recently been recorded in Sri Lanka from a few isolated hill forests in the northern and eastern dry lowlands. The minute habit, small white flowers and short unbranched peduncle distinguishes P. mysorensis from its congener P. deliciosa, the only recorded Phalaenopsis in Sri Lanka. The habit and habitat of the species are described based on recent observations and collections. Key words: Orchid, Kingidium , isolated hills, Sri Lanka, India doi: 10.4038/cjsbs.v37i2.503 Cey. J. Sci. (Bio. Sci.) 37 (2): 163-166, 2008


In this qualitative research study, the purpose was to analyze the reflective journal entries of the 26 pre-service teachers attending the teacher education department of a state university. These teacher candidates were asked to write their reflections on a weekly basis during the "school experience" course in the fall semester. Twelve weekly entries and the end of the year reflection reports of these pre-service teachers (338 documents all together) were analyzed according to the contents; similar issues were coded; common themes were found; in the second phase, the findings were analyzed again in the light of reflective practice research to find out about the learning experiences of the pre-service teachers and to analyze in which stage of reflective practice their entries mostly fell into. The results revealed that pre-service teachers benefitted from keeping reflective journals and their reflections mostly fell under the "interpersonal stage" and did not have many comments reflecting the other stages which were procedural and conceptual. The results show that in order for the pre-service teachers to gain more awareness through reflective writing, they need to be trained on how to write reflections effectively and on the different stages related to the reflective practice. Keywords: School experience , reflective journals, pre-service teachers/student-teachers, foreign language teacher education, document/content analysis.


Esophagectomy remains the mainstay treatment of esophageal cancer (EC). Combined with neoadjuvant therapies, the management of EC has deleterious effects on body composition, functional capacity and psychological well-being. Preoperative patient optimisation known as prehabilitation is a novel intervention aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality associated with the trajectory of EC care. There is emerging evidence to suggest that prehabilitation is safe, feasible and efficacious. In addition, there is strong data to infer that prehabilitation has a positive effect on functional capacity through exercise. Nutritional and psychological interventions are less well evaluated. Furthermore, no convincing relationship between prehabilitation and oncological outcomes has been demonstrated. Early studies evaluating prehabilitation are promising however further large scale research is required in order to assess the clinical effectiveness.


When rats on either a stock or a vitamin B deficient diet are given the amino acid dl-serine by stomach tube, there is a fall in the cocarboxylase concentration of the kidney. This organ exhibits marked damage. There is, also, a lessened tendency for cocarboxylase to disappear from the tissue homogenate upon anaerobic incubation in vitro. In animals on the stock diet, only, there is a recovery of the normal cocarboxylase level. The probable relation of these findings to the mechanism of the production of the injurious action of serine is discussed. We would like to acknowledge the helpful criticisms of Dr. C. Artom.


This paper documents the shift of the dominant ideology in China from communism to the Party-led nationalism. Within a theoretical framework of media hegemony, this paper identifies the Party-led nationalism as a hegemonic ideology, which is constructed from the top to legitimate the ruling of the Party. This paper investigates how China's press behaves during such transition of dominant ideology in past 20 years. In late 1970s, China's press functioned as a site of top level faction warfare among Party elites with diverging ideologies and later some as an independent force participated in the ideological struggle in late 1980s. During recent commercialization, two modes of press have emerged in China: party propaganda press and commercialized press. China's commercialized press, operating in a market system with a close Party supervision, in order to survive, first has to yield to the pressure from the Party and then from the market. In this sense, the press performs dual missions: "toeing the party line and making money" (He, 2003, p.201) by commercializing the Party-led nationalism. Repackaged patriotism thus becomes a good commodity for China's commercialized press. Most press in China has been transformed from a propaganda apparatus to the current "Party publicity Inc", which is perfectly fit into the media hegemony analysis of the media role in modern society to maintain the status quo. This paper also explores how China's press profits anti-Western sentiment as a theme of nationalism in international news coverage and is highly hegemonic in promoting the anti-western theme.


The addition of barrier and storage gates between the photodiodes and transfer gates of a CCD imaging array provides improved and versatile operating characteristics compared with present silicon scanners. An experimental scanner, made with multiple-gate photoelements, has new functional capabilities which result from the on-chip structure. These include exposure control in real-time which can compensate for temporal illumination variations during the integration cycle, linearization of the output signal with respect to light intensity, and adaptive level setting to normalize the output based on the whitest portion of the image. Complete charge transfer into the shift register is achieved at reduced shift-register voltages. The use of photodiodes and the absence of polysilicon in the photosensitive region improve spectral response and overall sensitivity. A sixteen element 4-phase, 2-level polysilicon CCD imager was designed, fabricated, and used to test the improved photoelement structure.


Abstract: Attempts to understand how communities assemble following a disturbance are challenged by the difficulty of determining the relative importance of stochastic and deterministic processes. Biological legacies, which result from organisms that survive a disturbance, can favour deterministic processes in community assembly and improve predictions of successional trajectories. Recently disturbed ecosystems are often so rapidly colonized by propagules that the role of biological legacies is obscured. We studied biological legacies on a remote volcanic island in Alaska following a devastating eruption where the role of colonization from adjacent communities was minimized. The role of biological legacies in the near shore environment was not clear, because although some kelp survived, they were presumably overwhelmed by the many vagile propagules in a marine environment. The legacy concept was most applicable to terrestrial invertebrates and plants that survived in remnants of buried soil that were exposed by post-eruption erosion. If the legacy concept is extended to include ex situ survival by transient organisms, then it was also applicable to the island's thousands of seabirds, because the seabirds survived the eruption by leaving the island and have begun to return and rebuild their nests as local conditions improve. Our multi-trophic examination of biological legacies in a successional context suggests that the relative importance of biological legacies varies with the degree of destruction, the availability of colonizing propagules, the spatial and temporal scales under consideration, and species interactions. Understanding the role of biological legacies in community assembly following disturbances can help elucidate the relative importance of colonists versus survivors, the role of priority effects among the colonists, convergence versus divergence of successional trajectories, the influence of spatial heterogeneity, and the role of island biogeographical concepts.


Although the automobile has had common functions among various cultures, some unique patterns of car consumption, as secondary functions, appear in each society proportional to cultural and social backgrounds. What makes "the automobile in Iran" different is that it has been transformed into a religious object affected by society's religious structure. The present paper endeavors to find motivations and manners of this transformation to decoding religious semiology and categorize religious functions of the automobile. To achieve the deepest layer of consumers' motivations, a qualitative method in the framework of grounded theory was chosen. We collected our data by deep semi-structured interviews with car consumers in Tehran, in addition to field observations, pictures and films. These data were analyzed in an analytical-descriptive method. The study led us to the main category saying that the automobile represents religious identity. This is usually exposed by two main strategies, the inside automobile activities and manipulating of the automobile's appearance, and is revealed in three models of secondary function: resistive, confirmative, and privacy function. These functions represent a new religiosity in Iran that can be called the "automobile religiosity."


A population of Modiolus modiolus (horse mussel) inhabiting a sub-arctic environment in Logy Bay, Newfoundland, was studied for a period of two years. The main objective was to gain insight into the relationship between environmental factors (temperature and components of the seston) and the physiological response of this species. Measurements of the biochemical composition of the gonad, digestive gland and remaining tissue were made over the same period to support the physiological and environmental data. All the variables determined for the suspended particulate matter (seston), i.e. organic matter, chlorophyll a, organic carbon and nitrogen, lipid, carbohydrate and protein, and the number and volume of the particles, showed a clear seasonal pattern, with higher values during the spring and summer of each year of study. -- The highest values for energy acquisition (ingestion and absorption rates) by Modiolus modiolus coincided with the spring phytoplankton bloom occurring during April-May in Logy Bay, whereas energy expenditure (oxygen uptake and ammonia excretion rates) was greatest during the summer (July and August). The result was a clear seasonal fluctuation in the two physiological integrations, scope for growth (SFG) and net growth efficiency (K2), for which lower values were associated with a high metabolic rate, high temperature and low quality of the food supply. Conversely, higher values of SFG and K2 were associated with a low metabolic rate, low temperature and an energy-rich food supply provided by the phytoplankton bloom. -- The ash-ratio technique (Conover, 1966) was compared with other techniques for measuring absorption efficiency, and found to be a valid as well as a convenient method for use with horse mussels feeding on natural seston. -- Proximate biochemical analysis of the gonad, digestive gland and remaining tissue suggested that in Logy Bay Modiolus modiolus may compensate for the nutritive stress induced by poor food conditions for much of the year by prolonging the period over which energy reserves are accumulated, rather than by a reduction in fecundity or egg quality.


Zircon rims around ilmenite occur in a wide variety of mafic plutonic rocks (Fe–Ti oxide ores, anorthosite, and gabbro) from unmetamorphosed Proterozoic intrusions in the Grenville Province of eastern Canada (Havre-Saint-Pierre, Mattawa and Saint- Urbain anorthosites, Quebec; Twin Lakes intrusive complex, Ontario) and the western U.S. (Laramie anorthosite, Wyoming). The rims range from a few μm to 100 μm across and occur along grain boundaries between Ti-based oxide minerals (mainly ilmenite and exsolved ferrian ilmenite, but also rutile) or between silicate minerals (plagioclase and biotite) and Ti-based oxide minerals. The zircon rims contain very low concentrations of P (<447 ppm), U (0.9–1.1 ppm) and Th (15–19 ppm), which, coupled with the restriction of the rims to ilmenite grain boundaries, rules out formation from high-temperature, zircon-saturated interstitial liquid and from low-temperature hydrothermal fluids. There is no textural evidence that zircon replaced pre-existing baddeleyite that may have formed by an oxidation–exsolution mechanism from ilmenite. The textural and compositional characteristics of the zircon rims are consistent with an origin by diffusion of Zr from ilmenite to grain boundaries during slow cooling and subsequent reaction with available Si from adjacent silicate minerals (or from ilmenite itself) to form zircon. A positive correlation between whole-rock TiO2 and Zr contents in samples of Fe–Ti oxide ores from Saint-Urbain and Big Island (Havre-Saint-Pierre) (up to 500 ppm in massive ilmenite ore) confirms that Zr is compatible in ilmenite crystallized from ferrobasaltic magmas. Mass-balance constraints demonstrate that the observed quantities of zircon can be derived from Zr-bearing ilmenite crystallized from basaltic magmas with typical Zr concentrations (161–252 ppm) after fractionation of Zr-free minerals (150–247 ppm). Zircon rims are not expected to occur in ilmenite-bearing basaltic lavas and high-level intrusions owing to rapid cooling, but zircon rims may be a common feature of slowly cooled plutonic rocks that crystallize from ferrobasaltic magmas. The U–Pb dating of these rims may provide additional constraints on the thermal evolution of a given plutonic rock.


In older humans, infusions of endothelial agonists suggest endothelial dysfunction, due in part to less nitric oxide (NO)‐ and prostaglandin (PG)‐mediated vasodilatation, and a shift toward PG‐mediated vasoconstriction. Ageing can also be associated with lower exercise blood flow (exercise hyperaemia), but the vascular mechanisms mediating this remain unknown. Notably, in young adults, inhibition of NO and PGs during exercise decreases exercise hyperaemia by ∼20 and ∼12%, respectively. We tested our first hypothesis that in older humans inhibition of NO would decrease hyperaemia, but that inhibition of PGs would increase hyperaemia by blocking vasoconstrictor PGs. Fifteen older subjects (65 ± 3 years) performed dynamic forearm exercise for 20 min (20 contractions min−1). Forearm blood flow (FBF) was measured beat‐to‐beat with Doppler ultrasound, while saline or drugs were infused sequentially via brachial artery catheter in the exercising forearm. After achieving steady‐state exercise, l‐NAME (25 mg) was infused over 5 min to inhibit NO synthase. After a further 2 min of exercise (saline), ketorolac (6 mg) was infused over 5 min to inhibit PGs, followed by a futher 3 min of exercise with saline. Drug order was reversed in seven subjects. l‐NAME reduced steady‐state exercise hyperaemia by 12 ± 3% in older subjects (P < 0.01), whereas ketorolac had no net effect on blood flow (3 ± 6%, P > 0.4). The effects of l‐NAME and ketorolac were independent of drug order. By comparing these results with our previous results in young adults, we tested our second hypothesis that in older humans inhibition of NO or PGs would have less impact on exercise hyperaemia due to less vasodilatation from these signals. Our results suggest that, compared with young adults, in older humans the relative contribution of NO to exercise hyperaemia is reduced ∼45% (22 ± 4 versus 12 ± 3%), but the role of PG in mediating vasodilatation is lost in ageing human skeletal muscle. Lower exercise hyperaemia in older humans may be mediated in part by less NO‐ and PG‐mediated vasodilatation during exercise.


The CW CO2 laser weldability of various Al-Mg alloys was investigated in terms of weld strength, ductility, Vickers hardness, formability and solidification cracking tendency when both autogenous and wire feed welding were made. Tensile strength of the laser welds was lower than that of the corresponding base metals, and it was linearly proportional to the Mg content of the weld metal. Formability and ductility of Al-Mg alloy laser welds were lower than those of corresponding base alloys as well. As for the weld solidification structure, as the Mg content increased in the weld metal, more equiaxed grains developed. Hence, softening of weld metal and solidification cracking were decreased in the weld metal containing higher Mg. Solidification cracking of Al-Mg alloy laser welds showed the highest susceptibility at 1.6 to 1.9wt.% Mg, and it decreased with further increase of Mg content.


complicated medical regimens. Th is study suggests that an urban university IBD population more frequently required immune-aff ecting medications when compared to a general IBD population. It is unclear if the proposed health care reform has adequately recognized the spectrum of disease and increased work obligations of physicians caring for complicated IBD patients. It is critical that physicians advocate for reform which recognizes the needs of patients with chronic illness and physicians caring for them.


A MOKE setup was constructed and measurements have been performed in order to verify the versatility of this equipment. The quadrupole air core coils are capable of delivering a maximum magnetic (cid:28)eld of 13 mT in longitudinal, transversal as well as polar MOKE. The di(cid:27)ractometer enables re(cid:29)ective scans (Kerr e(cid:27)ect) from 20 to 90 degrees and transmissive scans (Faraday e(cid:27)ect) from 0 to 90 degrees (optical convention). The combined equipment that constitutes of these two parts enables thorough characterization of optical, magnetical and magneto-optical phenomena which will be of great bene(cid:28)t for studies of patterned nano-magnets. The setup is designed to reveal the in(cid:29)uence of optical e(cid:27)ects coupled to various structures like plasmon resonance and plasmonic band gaps into the magnetic and magneto-optical properties of patterned nanostructures.


In order to monitor the diving behavior of free-ranging cetaceans, microdataloggers, with pre-programmed release mechanisms, were attached to the dorsal fins of two female harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in Funka Bay, Hokkaido, Japan, in 1994. The two loggers were successfully recovered and a total of 141 h of diving data (depth and water temperature in 4,671 dives) was obtained. Both porpoises dived almost continuously, rarely exhibiting long-term rest at the surface. Maximum dive depths were 98.6 m and 70.8 m, respectively, with more than 70% of diving time at 20 m or less. Most shallow dives were V-shaped with no bottom time. The V-shaped dives were significantly shallower in dive depth and shorter in dive duration than U-shaped dives. Descent rate was not constant during a dive. The deeper the dive depths, the faster the mean descent and initial descent rates. This suggests that porpoises have anticipated the depth to which they will dive before initiating the dive itself.


Abstract
 The work presents the morphology of cells and trichomes of Glaucospira laxissima (G.S. West) comb. nova analyzed by light microscopy, confocal laser microscopy (CLM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cyanobacterial characteristics are confirmed for the first time. It also contains the data on the ecology of this species, found for the first time in Serbia, in a small alkaline lake in a planktic community with the species Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii (Wołoszyńska) Seenayya & Subba Raju, Anabaenopsis elenkinii V.V. Miller and Chrysosporum bergii (Ostenfeld) Zapomělová et al.


A time-frequency representation based on an optimal, signal-dependent kernel has been previously been proposed in an attempt to overcome one of the primary limitations of bilinear time-frequency distributions: that the best kernel and distribution depend on the signal to be analyzed. The optimization formulation for the signal-dependent kernel results in a linear program with a unique feature: a tree structure that summarizes a set of constraints on the kernel. The authors present a fast algorithm based on sorting to solve a special class of linear programs that includes the problem of interest. For a kernel with Q variables, the running time of the algorithm is O(Q log Q), which is several orders of magnitude less than any other known method for solving this class of linear program. This efficiency enables the computation of the signal-dependent, optimal-kernel time-frequency representation at a cost that is on the same order as a fixed-kernel distribution. An important property of the optimal kernel is that it takes on essentially only the values of 1 and 0. >


The Honghai volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit occurs in the Kalatage inlier of the Dananhu-Haerlik arc, Eastern Tianshan, in the southern Altaids. The deformed deposit, hosted in a suite of early Paleozoic basic to intermediate volcanic, volcaniclastic, and sedimentary rocks, consists of lenticular massive to semimassive, and sulfide-silicate stockwork orebodies. The orebodies are characterized by zoning of metallogenic elements and sulfide minerals outward from a central stockwork zone as follows: (Fe +/- Cu), (Fe + Cu + Zn + Au + Ag; Cu > Zn), (Fe + Zn + Cu + Au + Ag; Zn > Cu), and (Fe +/- [Cu/Zn]). A typical VMS hydrothermal alteration zone that formed around the foot of the massive orebodies is several times larger than the lenticular massive orebody. The hydrothermally altered rocks contain sericite, chlorite, and epidote zones from the core outward. Re-Os and argon dating of pyrite and sericite shows that the Honghai VMS deposit formed in the Early Silurian (436 +/- 2 Ma) and was deformed in the Early Devonian (410 +/- 4 Ma). This is the first documented early Paleozoic VMS deposit in the Eastern Tianshan.
Our multidisciplinary data indicate that the Honghai Cu-Zn deposit formed in an immature/nascent island arc, where early tholeiitic lavas evolved into transitional basic-andesitic volcanic rocks and calc-alkaline intrusions with relatively high epsilon(Nd)(t) values (+6.2-+8.4) and low (Sr-87/Sr-86)(i) ratios (0.70412-0.70541). The Sr-Nd-Pb-S isotopic and geochemical data suggest that the ore-forming melts started in mantle-derived volcanic rocks and deep subvolcanic intrusions, and some alteration was influenced by seawater. The deposit formed in a high-level subvolcanic intrusion driven by sub-seafloor CO2-rich, NaCl-CaCl2-H2O hydrothermal fluids (temperatures: 99-377 degrees C, salinities: 6%-18% NaCl equivalent) circulating in active extensional faults in a submarine caldera. Extension of the immature (nascent) intra-oceanic arc was one of the important factors that controlled the development and preservation of the VMS deposit. Future work will benefit from this improved understanding of the VMS deposits formed in immature (nascent) intra-oceanic arcs, especially in early Paleozoic island arcs in the Eastern Tianshan in the southern Altaids.


Background Dietary sodium and potassium are involved in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease. Data exploring the cardiovascular outcomes associated with these electrolytes within Australian children is sparse. Furthermore, an objective measure of sodium and potassium intake within this group is lacking. Objective The primary aim of the Salt and Other Nutrient Intakes in Children ("SONIC") study was to measure sodium and potassium intakes in a sample of primary schoolchildren located in Victoria, Australia, using 24-hour urine collections. Secondary aims were to identify the dietary sources of sodium and potassium, examine the association between these electrolytes and cardiovascular risk factors, and assess children's taste preferences and saltiness perception of manufactured foods. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in a convenience sample of schoolchildren attending primary schools in Victoria, Australia. Participants completed one 24-hour urine collection, which was analyzed for sodium, potassium, and creatinine. Completeness of collections was assessed using collection time, total volume, and urinary creatinine. One 24-hour dietary recall was completed to assess dietary intake. Other data collected included blood pressure, body weight, height, waist and hip circumference. Children were also presented with high and low sodium variants of food products and asked to discriminate salt level and choose their preferred variant. Parents provided demographic information and information on use of discretionary salt. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe sodium and potassium intakes. Linear and logistic regression models with clustered robust standard errors will be used to assess the association between electrolyte intake and health outcomes (blood pressure and body mass index/BMI z-score and waist circumference) and to assess differences in taste preference and discrimination between high and low sodium foods, and correlations between preference, sodium intake, and covariates. Results A total of 780 children across 43 schools participated. The results from this study are expected at the end of 2015. Conclusions This study will provide the first objective measure of sodium and potassium intake in Australian schoolchildren and improve our understanding of the relationship of these electrolytes to cardiovascular risk factors. Furthermore, this study will provide insight into child taste preferences and explore related factors. Given the cardiovascular implications of consuming too much sodium and too little potassium, monitoring of these nutrients during childhood is an important public health initiative.


Otodontids include some of the largest macropredatory sharks that ever lived, the most extreme case being Otodus (Megaselachus) megalodon. The reasons underlying their gigantism, distribution patterns and extinction have been classically linked with climatic factors and the evolution, radiation and migrations of cetaceans during the Paleogene. However, most of these previous proposals are based on the idea of otodontids as ectothermic sharks regardless of the ecological, energetic and body size constraints that this implies. Interestingly, a few recent studies have suggested the possible existence of endothermy in these sharks thus opening the door to a series of new interpretations. Accordingly, this work proposes that regional endothermy was present in otodontids and some closely related taxa (cretoxyrhinids), playing an important role in the evolution of gigantism and in allowing an active mode of live. The existence of regional endothermy in these groups is supported here by three different approaches including isotopic-based approximations, swimming speed inferences and the application of a novel methodology for assessing energetic budget and cost of swimming in extinct taxa. In addition, this finding has wider implications. It calls into question some previous paleotemperature estimates based partially on these taxa, suggests that the existing hypothesis about the evolution of regional endothermy in fishes requires modification, and provides key evidence for understanding the evolution of gigantism in active macropredators.


Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are increasingly present within modern vehicles, supporting the introduction of semi- and fully-automated driving situations. As a consequence, a mixed traffic situation is likely to emerge where vehicles equipped with different degrees of automated systems will interact with unequipped vehicle drivers (UVDs). Platoons of vehicles comprise a vision for future traffic and are designed to maintain small headways in order to have a beneficial effect on both energy consumption and traffic flow.

The overarching aim of this work was to investigate whether the presence of automated vehicle platoons will impact UVDs' car-following behaviour. This required understanding in which conditions behavioural adaptation of UVDs can possibly emerge. Therefore, four studies were conducted using a car simulator whereby participants drove behind a lead vehicle in the vicinity of automated platoons of vehicles exhibiting different headway characteristics. Further external factors were varied across the different simulator studies.

In summary, when drivers were motivated by instructions and not impeded by keeping track of a lead vehicle, expected changes in behaviour were noticed: reductions in mean THW, minimum THW, amount of time spent below a critical THW and the variation of lane position were observed when driving next to a platoon with short THWs. Contrarily, there was no significant effect of platoons' headway when UVDs followed a lead vehicle as a result of congested traffic.

It was interpreted that elements of the environment as well as driver's cognitive state such as workload and motivation influenced the magnitude of the effects. Other factors are still unclear such as the influence of drivers' personality and driving skills. More work is needed to understand fully the conditions that promote behavioural change. Beyond the scope presented here, further research is also needed to understand how increasing deployment of vehicles equipped with ADAS may affect driver behaviour across the wider vehicle fleet.


I n many cases, a cryptographic algorithm can be viewed as a one-way function, which is easy to compute in forward direction but hard to invert. Inverting such one-way function amounts to breaking the algorithm. Time-Memory Trade-Off (TMTO) is a twenty five years old generic technique for inverting one-way functions. The most feasible implementation of TMTO is in special purpose hardware. In this paper, we describe a systematic architecture for implementing TMTO. We break down the offline and online phases into simpler tasks and identify opportunities for pipelining and parallelism. This results in a detailed top-level architecture. Many of our design choices are based on intuition. We develop a cost model for our architecture. Analysis of the cost model shows that 128-bit keys seem safe for the present. However, key sizes less than 96 bits do not provide comfortable security assurances.


Signal recognition particle (SRP), the cytoplasmic ribonucleoprotein particle that mediates the targeting of proteins to the ER, consists of a 7S RNA and six different proteins. The 68- (SRP68) and 72- (SRP72) kD proteins of SRP are bound to the 7S RNA of SRP as a heterodimeric complex (SRP68/72). Here we describe the primary structure of SRP72 and the assembly of SRP68, SRP72 and 7S RNA into a ribonucleoprotein particle. The amino acid sequence deduced from the cDNA of SRP72 reveals a basic protein of 671 amino acids which shares no sequence similarity with any protein in the sequence data libraries. Assembly of SRP72 into a ribonucleoprotein particle required the presence of 7S RNA and SRP68. In contrast, SRP68 alone specifically bound to 7S RNA. SRP68 contacts the 7S RNA via its NH2-terminal half while COOH-terminal portions of SRP68 and SRP72 are in contact with each other in SRP. SRP68 thus serves as a link between 7S RNA and SRP72. As a large NH2- terminal domain of SRP72 is exposed on SRP it may be a site of contact to other molecules involved in the SRP cycle between the ribosome and the ER membrane.


Neuroprosthetic retinal interfaces depend upon the ability to bypass the damaged photoreceptor layer and directly activate populations of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). To date, the preferred approach to this task largely relies on electrode array implants. We are currently pursuing two alternative methods for light-based direct activation of the RGCs. The first method is based on applying caged glutamate over the retina and uncaging it locally to obtain RGC excitation. The second method is to artificially cause RGCs to express Channelrhodopsin II (ChR2), a light-gated cation channel. In addition to being non-contact, optical techniques lend themselves relatively easily to a variety of technologies for achieving patterned stimulation with high temporal and spatial resolution. Using the Texas Instruments Digital Light Processing (DLP - DMD) technology, we have developed an optical stimulation system capable of controlled, large-scale, flexible stimulation of the retinal tissue with high temporal accuracy. In preliminary studies, we are performing patterned photo-stimulation experiments using samples of caged fluorescent probes and in rat retinas that were virally transfected with ChR2.


Soil salinity limits plant growth and crop production. More than 20% of cultivated land worldwide is affected by salinity. The situation is becoming more severe due to shifts in precipitation and evaporation patterns and improper irrigation. There is an urgent need to develop salt-tolerant, economically valuable plants to minimize the loss of and to sustain agricultural production. Alfalfa is one of the most extensively cultivated forage crops. Some yellow-flowered alfalfa (Medicago sativa subsp. falcata) have exhibited morphological and physiological drought tolerance. Since soil salinity is associated with physiological drought, it is reasonable to expect that these drought tolerant falcata populations could be used for selecting potential parent materials for breeding salt-tolerant cultivars. Uniform seeds from eight alfalfa populations were selected, scarified, and inoculated with rhizobium before being seeded in pre-mixed salt-affected soil. Populations consisted of three falcata plant introductions (PIs), four predominately falcata, and one conventional-hay type as a control. Thirty-six seeds of each population were seeded in six rows per tray with four replicates. Emergence rate, survival, and growth stage were measured after 60 days. The results showed that relative emergence decreased as soil salinity levels increased. Relative emergence increased sharply then plateaued in low saline soil. In medium and high saline soils, relative emergence increased gradually and then also plateaued. PI631678 and PI502441 appeared to show characteristics in line with those of droughttolerant alfalfa under drought stress, having the most promise as potential parent materials. Most populations consisted primarily of growth stage classes one and two except for 'Persist II' and 'Wind River', which had a significant amount of advanced development at growth stage class three. Persist II and Wind River populations also had the highest relative emergence despite not being regarded as drought-tolerant populations. These unexpected results could be due to seed size rather than other genetic characteristics.


Writing is one of productive skill which frequently represents students' ability in expressing their thought toward something. Peer-feedback is considered to be important point in students' writing process. This article aims to investigate the effect of peer feedback on students' writing achievement at STKIP PGRI Jombang. Quasi-experimental is used as research design with test as the main instrument and questionnaire as the secondary instrument. The result of ANCOVA showed that there is a significant effect of peer feedback on students' writing achievement. Moreover, the result of students' response toward the used of peer feedback indicates positive result.


ABSTRACT Scherer, M.E.G. and Asmus, M.L., 2016. Ecosystem-Based Knowledge and Management as a tool for Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management: A Brazilian Initiative. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 690–694. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) brings knowledge highlighting the importance of ecosystem services (ES) as the key factors supporting the environment, social and economic integrity, as well as human wellbeing. EBM could represent the change from public policies greatly focused on normative and bureaucratic components to new policies predominantly based on the understanding of ecosystem processes and the regulation of human activities. Nevertheless, most of the coastal zone management initiatives in Brazil lack the necessary ecosystem based information to fully support EBM. They also often don't integrate the ecosystem-based information into the management system in an appropriate way. This paper proposes a roadmap model to produce the ecosystem-based information and its application for coastal policies. This involves the identification of (1) dominant ecosystems and ecosystem services; (2) benefits for human wellbeing; (3) stakeholders affected; (4) main pressure, human or natural produced; (5) main impacts, (6) managerial responses. The model was applied at Santa Catarina Island on the Southern coast of Brazil and demonstrated that a territory of around 425 Km2 holds 17 different environmental systems, 47 direct befits from the environmental services, with a great number of stakeholders who are linked directly to these benefits. In other hand Santa Catarina Island suffers from 39 different vectors of pressure, threatening the environmental systems and its services and benefits. This study also showed the great amount of interrelations among ES, stakeholders and managerial initiatives and the need for ecosystem based information and knowledge for an effective Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management in Brazil.


Neutrophil elastase (NE), a biomarker of infection and inflammation, correlates with the severity of several respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, it's detection and quantification in biological samples is confounded by a lack of reliable and robust methodologies. Standard assays using chromogenic or fluorogenic substrates are not specific when added to complex clinical samples containing multiple proteolytic and hydrolytic enzymes which have the ability to hydrolyse the substrate, thereby resulting in an over-estimation of the target protease. Furthermore, ELISA systems measure total protease levels which can be a mixture of latent, active and protease-inhibitor complexes. Therefore, we have developed a novel immunoassay (ProteaseTag™ Active NE Immunoassay) which is selective and specific for the capture of active NE in sputum and Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) in patients with COPD. The objective of this study was to clinically validate ProteaseTag™ Active NE Ultra Immunoassay for the detection of NE in sputum from COPD patients. 20 matched sputum sol samples were collected from 10 COPD patients (M = 6, F = 4; 73 ± 6 years) during stable and exacerbation phases. Samples were assayed for NE activity utilising both ProteaseTag™ Active NE Ultra Immunoassay and a fluorogenic substrate-based kinetic activity assay. Both assays detected elevated levels of NE in the majority of patients (n = 7) during an exacerbation (mean = 217.2 µg/ml ±296.6) compared to their stable phase (mean = 92.37 µg/ml ±259.8). However, statistical analysis did not show this difference to be significant (p = 0.07, ProteaseTag™ Active NE Ultra Immunoassay; p = 0.06 kinetic assay), which is highly likely to be due to the low study number. A highly significant correlation was found between the 2 assay types (p ≤ 0.0001, r = 0.996). NE as a primary efficacy endpoint in clinical trials or as a marker of inflammation within the clinic has been hampered by the lack of a robust and simple to use assay. ProteaseTag™ Active NE Immunoassay specifically measures only active NE in clinical samples, is quick and easy to use (<3 h) and has no dependency on a kinetic readout. ProteaseTag™ technology is currently being transferred to a lateral flow device for use at Point of Care.


A ~220,000-year record recovered in a 120-m-long sediment core from Bear Lake, Utah and Idaho, provides an opportunity to reconstruct climate change in the Great Basin and compare it with global climate records. Paleomagnetic data exhibit a geomagnetic feature that possibly occurred during the Laschamp excursion (ca. 40 ka). Although the feature does not exhibit excursional behavior (≥40° departure from the expected value), it might provide an additional age constraint for the sequence. Temporal changes in salinity, which are likely related to changes in freshwater input (mainly through the Bear River) or evaporation, are indicated by variations in mineral magnetic properties. These changes are represented by intervals with preserved detrital Fe-oxide minerals and with varying degrees of diagenetic alteration, including sulfi dization. On the basis of these changes, the Bear Lake sequence is divided into seven mineral magnetic zones. The differing magnetic mineralogies among these zones refl ect changes in deposition, preservation, and formation of magnetic phases related to factors such as lake level, river input, and water chemistry. The occurrence of greigite and pyrite in the lake sediments corresponds to periods of higher salinity. Pyrite is most abundant in intervals of highest salinity, suggesting that the extent of sulfi dization is limited by the availability of SO 4 2- . During MIS 2 (zone II), Bear Lake transgressed to capture the Bear River, resulting in deposition of glacially derived hematite-rich detritus from the Uinta Mountains. Millennial-scale variations in the hematite content of Bear Lake sediments during the last glacial maximum (zone II) resemble Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) oscillations and Heinrich events (within dating uncertainties), suggesting that the infl uence of millennial-scale climate oscillations


The paper presents operation rules of wireless optical link FSO (Free Space Optics) as well as implementation limits in real conditions. The limits are mainly connected with atmospheric factors. The article takes under consideration the choosing criterions of optical emission sources and ability of implementing them. The speed transfer results of proposed optical link, working in a wavelength range 800 ÷ 900 [nm], are presented. There is mentioned an implementation possibility of such solutions in dedicated systems that takes under consideration limits of attenuation in the atmosphere and others (e.g. correct orientations of optical modules between them). There are presented two diversity methods: spatial diversity and wavelength diversity, which a main goal is to improve the stability of optical link. There is discussed an issue of hybrid solution FSO/RF that significantly increases the probability of delivering data in real weather conditions.


Microbial network construction and analysis is an important tool in microbial ecology. As microbial interactions are challenging to infer experimentally, such networks are often constructed from statistically inferred associations and may not represent ecological interactions. Hence, microbial association networks contain a large number of errors and their derived properties do not necessarily reflect true community structure. Such errors can be identified with the use of appropriate null models. We have developed anuran, a toolbox for investigation of noisy networks with null models, for identification of non-random patterns in groups of association networks. This toolbox compares multiple networks to identify conserved subsets (core association networks, CANs) and other network properties that are shared across all networks. Such groups of networks can be generated from a collection of time series data or from cross-sectional sample sets. We use data from the Global Sponge Project to demonstrate that different orders of sponges have a larger CAN than expected at random.


This presentation will target two different topics in video quality assessment. First, we discuss 2D no-reference video quality model development. Further, we discuss how to find suitable quality for 3D video transmission. No-reference metrics are the only practical option for monitoring of 2D video quality in live networks. In order to decrease the development time, it might be possible to use full-reference metrics for this purpose. In this work, we have evaluated six full-reference objective metrics in three different databases. We show statistically that VQM performs the best. Further, we use these results to develop a lightweight no-reference model. We have also investigated users' experience of stereoscopic 3D video quality by performing the rating of two subjective assessment datasets, targeting in one dataset efficient transmission in the transmission error free case and error concealment in the other. Among other results, it was shown that, based on the same level of quality of experience, spatial down-sampling may lead to better bitrate efficiency while temporal down-sampling will be worse. When network impairments occur, traditional error 2D concealment methods need to be reinvestigated as they were outperformed switching to 2D presentation.


At the beginning levels of learning English, one of the difficulties students or children encounter in learning to is making correspondences between spoken and written English. In many cases, children have become acquainted with oral language and have some difficulty learning English conventions. They need hints and explanations about certain English orthographic rules and peculiarities. Students of English even those who have not so far learned to read in their mother tongue, will take advantage from learning to read from the start of connection with a foreign or second language. This conception forms the argumentation that the researcher seeks for throughout this article. The researcher begins with reviewing basic methods of teaching reading, before reporting on and expounding the results of a pilot study of learning by day care center children. The study indicated that the early preview to extensive reading (ER) promotes their progress in understanding and speech of the foreign language. The researcher suggests that text – based programs or instruction (TBI) extracted from text book with correspondent recordings should be developed as a choice both for children and some teachers.


Most applications of workflow management in business are based on well-defined repetitively executed processes. Recently, workflow management principles have been applied to the scientific and engineering communities, where activities may dynamically change as the workflows are executed and may often evolve through multiple versions. These domains present new problems including tracking the progress of parts on which those activities are executed, particularly if the production process itself is distributed across multiple sites. A major requirement of the system is that the full production history of every part must be permanently stored. This paper reports on the activities of a large-scale distributed scientific workflow management project, entitled CRISTAL (Cooperating Repositories and Information System for the Tracking of Assembly Lifecycles), in which a product data management (PDM) system is used to store and maintain versions of workflow meta-objects and in which a light-weight workflow enactment component is implemented for execution. These versions must support the permanent recording of a constantly adapting production process. The workflow enactment component is based on Petri nets, which are designed to embody all aspects of the scientific workflow management.


In this auto-ethnographic narrative, the author reflects on her experience of FeesMustFall protest action and questions Shakespeare's relevance in decolonisation in the context of higher education in South Africa. As a means of exploring the notion of decolonised education as well as the effects of an ailing transformation agenda on the black higher education student, Shakespeare's The Tempest is used as a metaphoric site. Shakespeare's Miranda is reimagined as the 'school kaffir' – a black, female performance studies student who is perceived as lacking the academic skills required to navigate the island academy. The context is the ensuing storm of curriculum responsiveness to changing knowledge economies. This study attempts to demonstrate how alienation and social inequality begin to intersect in the classroom space of performance studies. It proposes the role performance studies could play in contesting institutional violence by providing an interpretation of tensions in experiences of belonging and not belonging in a South African higher education institution.


The switched-mode dc-dc converters are some of the most widely used power electronics circuits for its high conversion efficiency and flexible output voltage. These converters used for electronic devices are designed to regulate the output voltage against the changes of the input voltage and load current. This leads to the requirement of more advanced control methods to meet the real demand. Many control methods are developed for the control of dc-dc converters. To obtain a control method that has the best performances under any conditions is always in demand. Conventionally, the dc-dc converters have been controlled by linear voltage mode and current mode control methods. These controllers offer advantages such as fixed switching frequencies and zero steady-state error and gives a better small-signal performance at the designed operating point. But under large parameter and load variation, their performance degrades. Sliding mode (SM) control techniques are well suited to dc-dc converters as they are inherently variable structure systems. These controllers are robust concerning converter parameter variations, load and line disturbances. SM controlled converters generally suffer from switching frequency variation when the input voltage and output load are varied. This complicates the design of the input and output filters. The main objective of this research work is to study different control methods implemented in dc-dc converter namely (linear controllers, hysteresis control, current programmed control, and sliding mode (SM) control). A comparison of the effects of the PWM controllers and the SM control on the dc-dc buck converter response in steady state, under line variations, load variations is performed.


OBJECTIVE: To report a rare but severe reaction of refractory anaphylactic shock with ketoconazole treatment—associated hypotensive episodes in an elderly patient. CASE SUMMARY: A 72-year-old woman received antifungal therapy for her almost completely occluded cornea infected with Candida albicans. She was initially prescribed oral ketoconazole 200 mg twice daily. She developed hypotension over the first 2 days of therapy (BP 136/82 mm Hg at baseline; 90/50 mm Hg on day 2). Severe hypotension (BP 90/49 mm Hg) unresponsive to fluid therapy or high-dose dopamine developed on day 4 of therapy. An invasive Swan—Ganz catheterization study showed a very low level of peripheral vascular resistance with high cardiac output index without clinical signs of infection. When laboratory tests showed a high level of plasma tryptase, anaphylactic redistribution shock was diagnosed. Her vital signs became more stable after treatment with hydrocortisone and epinephrine infusion. She was discharged in good condition after 24 hours of observation. DISCUSSION: As of December 2004, refractory anaphylactic shock resulting from ketoconazole use had not been reported. The events of hypotension were strongly associated with the intake of ketoconazole. The hemodynamic results obtained with Swan—Ganz catheterization were compatible with anaphylactic shock. The Naranjo probability scale showed a probable association of the adverse event with ketoconazole. CONCLUSIONS: Ketoconazole may cause severe anaphylactic shock even when taken orally. Invasive catheterization and elevated tryptase levels can provide important information in the management of anaphylactic shock.


The rapid development of Graphic Processor Units (GPU) in recent years in terms of performance and programmability has attracted the attention of those seeking to leverage alternative architectures for better performance than that which commodity CPU can provide. This paper presents a new algorithm for cutting display of computed tomography volume data on the GPU. We first introduce the programming model of the GPU and outline the implementation of techniques for oblique plane cutting display of volume data on both the CPU and GPU. We compare the approaches and present performance results for both the CPU and GPU. The results show that cutting display image generated by GPU algorithm is clear, frame rate on GPU is 2-9 times than that on CPU.


Toxoplasma gondii is one of the most common zoonotic parasites in the world. The parasite causes no or mild symptoms in immunocompetent humans. However, a high potential hazard exists for seronegative pregnant women and immunocompromised patients. The consumption of meat containing tissue cysts or oocyst-contaminated vegetables and fruits or the handling of cat feces poses a high risk of infection with T. gondii. It is known that raw minced meat, raw fresh sausages, and locally produced raw meat products are possible causes of T. gondii infection. The infectivity of T. gondii tissue cysts in meat products depends, among other factors, on the pH and the salt concentration. Therefore, the impact of these two factors on the tissue cysts was examined. For this purpose, dissected musculature and brain from experimentally infected mice (donor mice) were placed in a cell culture medium (RPMI 1640). The medium was adjusted to different pH values (pH 5, 6, and 7) with lactic acid and to different salt concentrations (2.0, 2.5, and 3.0%) with sodium chloride (NaCl) or nitrite-enriched curing salt (NCS) for the various tests. After storage at 4°C for different time periods, the materials were fed to bioassay mice. Later, the brains were examined for presence of T. gondii to assess the infectivity. The data show that T. gondii tissue cysts have a high pH tolerance. Cysts were infectious in the muscle for up to 26 days (pH 5). In contrast to their tolerance to pH, cysts were very sensitive to salt. Muscle cysts survived at an NaCl concentration of up to 2.0% only, and for no longer than 8 days. At NaCl concentrations of 2.5 and 3.0%, the cysts lost their infectivity after 1 day. When NCS instead of NaCl was used under the same conditions, T. gondii muscle cysts retained infectivity for only 4 days at 2.0%. Consequently, NCS (NaCl plus 0.5% nitrite) has a stronger effect on T. gondii cysts than does common table salt. Sausages produced with low NaCl concentration and short contact times pose a potential risk for susceptible individuals.


Chromium in the hexavalent form, Cr(VI), has long been recognized as a carcinogen and there is concern as to the effects of continuous low-level exposure to chromium both occupationally and environmentally. This review summarizes the available exposure data and known health effects and evaluates the potential risk to human health in the United Kingdom. Chromium emissions to the environment in the United Kingdom are predominantly derived from fuel combustion, waste incineration, and industrial processes. The less toxic trivalent form of chromium [Cr(III)] is dominant in most environmental compartments, and any Cr(VI), the more toxic form, that is emitted to the environment can be reduced to Cr(III). Food is a major source of exposure to chromium, and estimated daily oral intakes for infants (1 yr), children (11 yr), and adults are 33-45, 123-171, and 246-343 µg/person/d, respectively. Soil ingestion, particularly common in young children, can contribute to oral intake. Inhalation is a minor route of exposure for the general population. Average daily inhalation intakes in infants can range from 0.004 µg/d for rural infants to 0.14 µg/d for urban infants who are passively exposed to tobacco smoke, whereas adults who live in industrialized areas and smoke may take up between 2 and 12 µg/d. The most serious health effect associated with Cr(VI) is lung cancer, which has been associated with some occupational exposure scenarios, whereas Cr(III) is an essential nutrient with a broad safety range and low toxicity. The human body has effective detoxification mechanisms that can reduce ingested or inhaled Cr(VI) to Cr(III). In conclusion, there is no clear evidence to relate exposure to environmental levels of chromium with adverse health effects in either the general UK population or subgroups exposed to chromium around industrialized or contaminated sites. It can be expected that an improved understanding of the relevance of possible long-term accumulation of Cr(III) in the body may facilitate a more complete assessment, in the future, of the health risks in the general population associated with environmental exposure to chromium.


Objective: Since recent studies suggested a role of the striatum and prefrontal cortex for multiple sclerosis (MS)-related fatigue, we investigated resting-state functional connectivity alterations of striatal subdivisions and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was acquired in 77 relapsing–remitting MS patients (38 fatigued (F-MS), 39 non-fatigued (NF-MS)) and 41 matched healthy controls (HC). Fatigue severity was assessed using the fatigue severity scale. Seed-based connectivity analyses were performed using subregions of the striatum and the dlPFC as regions of interest applying non-parametric permutation testing. Results: Compared to HC and NF-MS patients, F-MS patients showed reduced caudate nucleus and ventral striatum functional connectivity with the sensorimotor cortex (SMC) and frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex regions. Fatigue severity correlated negatively with functional connectivity of the caudate nucleus and ventral striatum with the SMC and positively with functional connectivity of the dlPFC with the rostral inferior parietal gyrus and SMC. Conclusion: MS-related fatigue is associated with reduced functional connectivity between the striatum and sensorimotor as well as attention and reward networks, in which the ventral striatum might be a key integration hub. Together with increased connectivity between the dlPFC and sensory cortical areas, these connectivity alterations shed light on the mechanisms of MS-related fatigue.


BACKGROUND
With the introduction of new and advanced nursing roles, the nursing profession is undergoing dynamic change. Realizing changes will be easier to accomplish if the nursing community and other healthcare professionals welcome the process. Recently the nursing staff mix in Israel has been undergoing a transformation: encouraging registered nurses to enhance their status by acquiring academic degrees and advanced professional training, and initiating the adoption of new nursing roles.

OBJECTIVE
Our goal is to evaluate Israeli nurses' and physicians' attitudes to the introduction of new nursing roles and to expanding the scope of nursing practice.

METHODS
Two hundred and fifteen nurses and 110 physicians from three large general hospitals and 15 community clinics filled in a questionnaire.

FINDINGS
In general the majority of the nurses supported expansion of nursing practice, and such expansion did not cause significant opposition among physicians. However when the task affected patients' health, physicians were less willing to permit nurses to perform skills previously their responsibility alone. In addition, using multiple logistic regressions, support of the expansion of nursing practice was significantly higher among nurses in management or training positions, and among academically accredited nurses. Support for expanded roles was prominent among hospital physicians, graduates from Israeli schools of medicine, and less-tenured physicians.

CONCLUSIONS
We suggest that confirmation by various groups of physicians and nurses of standardized definitions of the new boundaries in the scope of nursing practice roles could successfully promote development of new roles and facilitate integration of the Israeli healthcare system into the global context of change.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Inter- and intra-professional collaboration, agreement, and understanding regarding advanced nursing practice roles and their introduction into the healthcare system might improve the relationship between healthcare professions and ultimately increase quality of care and patient satisfaction.


In order to determine whether the universities' ranking systems are treated in the context of implementation of universities' third mission there was carried out scientific research, which has allowed to analyse the concept of the third mission of universities, to discuss the articulation of activities for implementation of the third mission of universities, to set indicators for analysis and evaluation of universities' activities in the field. The analysis of the scientific researches has noted that the researchers of universities' third mission are linked with the use of the knowledge generated by universities in academic, and as well in other contexts. In this way, the input of universities is presented based on the contribution of universities to meet the needs of society. It is noted that the third mission of universities first of all is associated with the "technology transfer", and then manifestation of the third mission is related with "knowledge transfer". Universities' third mission analysis allowed identify two dimensions of the concept: entrepreneurship or based on economic input, and second is orientated toward meeting social needs. After studies of scientific investigations it was observed that the existing dimension of the universities third mission is determined both by the third mission of universities included in their activities, as well as the proposed system of indicators to evaluate universities' third mission activities. After the analysis of methodologies for universities' rankings, it was observed that in these ranking systems of universities third mission activities assessment is not provided as high-value. More attention is paid only for involvement of universities in technology transfer and innovation processes (such aspects of universities' third mission as education and social inclusion (social engagement) activities are not evaluated). Observation results of most popular universities' ranking methodologies show that activities carried out by universities in technology transfer and innovation processes are evaluated at different extent. Narrowest scope of those activities is indicated in the national rating systems methodologies, the most widely in U-Multirank universities' rating methodology. Carried out study of selected universities ranking systems' methodologies showed that in the rating methodology entrepreneurship / economic concept of the third mission of universities dimension can be seen as prevailing.


One of the most impressive human endeavors of the past two decades is the collection and categorization of human knowledge in the free and accessible format that is Wikipedia. In this work we ask what makes a term worthy of entering this edifice of knowledge, and having a page of its own in Wikipedia? To what extent is this a natural product of on-going human discourse and discussion rather than an idiosyncratic choice of Wikipedia editors? Specifically, we aim to identify such "wiki-worthy" terms in a massive news corpus, and see if this can be done with no, or minimal, dependency on actual Wikipedia entries. We suggest a five-step pipeline for doing so, providing baseline results for all five, and the relevant datasets for benchmarking them. Our work sheds new light on the domain-specific Automatic Term Extraction problem, with the problem at hand being a domain-independent variant of it.


&NA; High energy radiotherapy can produce contaminant neutrons through the photonuclear effect. Patients receiving external beam radiation therapy to the pelvis may have high‐density hip prostheses. Metallic materials such as those in hip prostheses, often have high cross‐sections for neutron interaction. In this study, Thackray (UK) prosthetic hips have been irradiated by 18 MV radiotherapy beams to evaluate the additional dose to patients from the activation products. Hips were irradiated in‐ and out‐of field at various distances from the beam isocenter to assess activation caused in‐field by photo‐activation, and neutron activation which occurs both in and out‐of‐field. NaI(Tl) scintillator detectors were used to measure the subsequent gamma‐ray emissions and their half‐lives. High sensitivity Mg, Cu, P doped LiF thermoluminescence dosimeter chips (TLD‐100H) were used to measure the subsequent dose at the surface of a prosthesis over the 12 h following an in‐field irradiation of 10,000 MU to a hip prosthesis located at the beam isocenter in a water phantom. 53Fe, 56Mn, and 52V were identified within the hip following irradiation by radiotherapy beams. The dose measured at the surface of a prosthesis following irradiation in a water phantom was 0.20 mGy over 12 h. The dose at the surface of prostheses irradiated to 200 MU was below the limit of detection (0.05 mGy) of the TLD100H. Prosthetic hips are activated by incident photons and neutrons in high energy radiotherapy, however, the dose resulting from activation is very small.


The purposes of this study were to develop a blended learning model using Edmodo as a learning tool in language learning and examine the effectiveness of the model implemented in an English course regarding oral proficiency, motivation, and attitude. To achieve these purposes, a quasi-experimental design was employed to collect data using the tests and questionnaires. The samples in this study were the second-year students enrolled in an intermediate English course. The samples were from two classes, each of which contained 42 students. One class was used for the control group; another one for the experimental group. In the control group, students were only taught in a face-to-face learning environment using the PPP model whereas the experimental group studied through the PPP model in class supported by online learning using Edmodo. The findings indicate that blended learning was more effective than traditional learning. That is, students in the experimental group not only outperformed those in the control group in oral proficiency, but they also exhibited higher learning motivation. Although students in both groups did not differ in their attitude toward the PPP model, those in the experimental group expressed a positive attitude toward Edmodo. The findings of this study have implications for English language instructors, encouraging them to see how technology can facilitate learning and help learners produce better academic performance.


Home field advantage is universally accepted across most major sports and levels of competition. However, exact causes of home field advantage have been difficult to disentangle. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique, natural experiment to isolate elements related to home field advantage since all 2020 regular season Major League Baseball games were played without fans. Results provide no statistically significant evidence of a difference in home field advantage between the 2019 and 2020 seasons, evidence that home crowd support is not a driver of home field advantage. There does appear to be a statistical advantage by the home team batting second in the inning. Travel fatigue seems to have no impact on home field advantage, and while home field advantage seems to increase throughout the 2020 season, we chalk that up to small sample noise. Despite lacking historical precedence, betting markets seemingly respond efficiently to the new home conditions. Keywords: home field advantage, market efficiency, baseball, ghost games


In this thesis we study the special Euclidean group SE(3) from two points of view, algebraic and geometric. From the algebraic point of view we introduce a dualisation procedure for SO(3;ℝ) invariants and obtain vector invariants of the adjoint action of SE(3) acting on multiple screws. In the case of three screws there are 14 basic vector invariants related by two basic syzygies. Moreover, we prove that any invariant of the same group under the same action can be expressed as a rational function evaluated on those 14 vector invariants.  From the geometric point of view, we study the Denavit-Hartenberg parameters used in robotics, and calculate formulae for link lengths and offsets in terms of vector invariants of the adjoint action of SE(3). Moreover, we obtain a geometrical duality between the offsets and the link lengths, where the geometrical dual of an offset is a link length and vice versa.


Several studies demonstrated an association between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and a higher risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Metformin is widely prescribed for T2D. Metformin has been shown to prevent various cancer developments. The association of metformin use and development of HCC among T2D with cirrhosis is investigated. This study aims to determine if metformin significantly reduces the incidence of HCC in this population. T2D with cirrhosis patients from 2006 to 2014 with age 20 to 80 years were studied as a retrospective cohort. An incidence of HCC in T2D with/without metformin exposure after cirrhosis diagnosis within 5 years was determined by Chi-square test. The exposure was defined as a drug intake at the time of cirrhosis diagnosis, continuing for at least 90 days beyond the diagnosis. The 5-year disease-free survival of HCC in each group was compared using the log-rank test and Kaplan-Meier method. The total of 1,061 T2D with cirrhosis included metformin exposure (N=719) and metformin non-exposure (N=342). The overall HCC incidence was 253 (23.85%). Among patients with metformin exposure, the HCC incidence was 125 (17.39%), compared to 128 (37.42%) in non-exposure group. The development of HCC within 5 years was significantly lower in metformin exposure than in non-exposure group (RR=0.76; 95% CI:0.69-0.83; P Conclusion: The metformin treatment might reduce the incidence of HCC in T2D with cirrhosis during 5-years and benefit HCC prognosis. Disclosure T. Tangjarusritaratorn: None. T. Kunavisarut: None. W. Tangjittipokin: None.


Introduction: Background Introduction to 3D FRP composites Manufacture of 3D Fibre Preforms: Weaving Braiding Knitting Stitching Preform Consolidation Liquid moulding techniques Resin selection Tooling Component quality. Micromechanics Models for Mechanical Properties: Fundamentals in micromechanics Unit cell models for 2D woven composites Models for 3D woven composites Unit cell models for braided and knitted composites. 3D Woven Composites: Microstructural properties of 3D woven composites In-plane mechanical properties of 3D woven composites Interlaminar fracture properties of 3D woven composites 3D woven distance fabric composites. Braided Composite Materials: In-plane mechanical properties Fracture toughness and damage performance Fatigue performance Modelling of braided composites. Knitted Composite Materials: In-plane mechanical properties Interlaminar fracture toughness Impact performance Modelling of knitted composites. Stitched Composites: The Stitching process Mechanical properties of stitched composites Interlaminar properties of stitched composites Stitched composite joints. Z-Pinned Composites Fabrication of Z-pinned composites Mechanical properties of Z-pinned composites Delamination resistance and damage tolerance of Z-pinned composites Z-Pinned sandwich composites.


The article discusses the prospects of international trade and investment agreements in the present state of emerging criticism of globalisation, with an emphasis on growing inequality and economic difficulties, and a shift towards a stronger protectionist stance in the public and political debates. Although public opinion surveys show that a significant share of European Union respondents fears the negative impact of globalisation on national identity, still a majority regards the internationalisation of markets as beneficial for economic growth. Such potential contradiction and the great variability of positions across countries create scope for opposition parties and movements to catalyse support around demands for the protection of national interests against globalisation. However, the prospects for concrete breakaways from international markets remain questionable, for the costs involved, while more symbolic defections may still be pursued. The article argues, however, that the same policies advocated by the critics of globalisation would serve the national interest better if implemented in an open economy. Moreover, changes in the policy climate are broadening the room for expansionary domestic economic and social policies and for the reform of key globalization tools, like international investments agreements, in ways which could make globalisation more inclusive and contribute to find a solution for the Dani Rodrik's trilemma of international economic integration.


Kota Cina area is one of the areas along the east coast of North Sumatra, which is closely related to trade network in Southeast Asia since at least 12th to 14th centuries CE. Previous researchers have proven that the area had once been a thriving city of commerce, port, and settlement during the period. This research is aimed at fabricating a strategy to manage Kota Cina area. The strategy is oriented toward preservation and utilization for the sake of the community. The method used is retracing its management history, which can then be used as the basis for determining the management strategy in the future. The research has generated four strategies, namely to: assign Kota Cina as a cultural heritage area, establish a management institution, include active participation of local community members in developing this area as a tourist destination, and develop thorough research.


The internationalization process literature has traditionally focused on evolutionary paths firms pass through when developing international market service capabilities. The introduction of Internet as a new channel for international market development has altered some of the basic assumptions of these traditional approaches. Although recent studies have contributed with normative and anecdotal findings concerning the influence of Internet on international marketing practices, few explore the actual stages firms go through when developing foreign market service capabilities through the Internet, as well as their sequences. This paper contributes to the Internet-enabled internationalization literature by proposing two developmental paths, representing Internet-based versus Internet-enabled firms. And it does so while refocusing the attention to the process dimension of internationalization. Seven propositions are outlined, and future research avenues are suggested.


ABSTRACT In this paper, we critically examine the polysemous term, creole, used at different times and various geographical areas to describe diverse identities, languages, peoples, ethnicities, racial heritages, and cultural artefacts. Our objective is twofold: (1) to describe the historically contested nature of the term and its connection to broader trends in defining race in the United States and (2) to suggest that a deeper understanding of racially situated terms such as creole can help to highlight the contextualized character of racial/ethnic divisions, trends, and labels. Our analysis shows that in many ways the Creole people of the United States Gulf Coast Region truly represent the "melting pot" mantra in espoused American ideology and exemplify a direct challenge to bygone racial ideologues which espoused the idea that mixing produces hybridized, impudent, weak, and sickly offspring.


By analysing the change of the anodic surface topography in Electrochemical Abrasive Lapping (ECAL), the influence of the lapping action and the electrochemical action on the anodic smoothening velocity is studied. In electrochemical finishing, the micro-peaks on the anodic surface could be smoothened quickly by electrochemical action and the surface topography presents the profile wave, but in ECAL, the profile wave after electrochemical action could be divided into micro-peaks renewedly by lapping action and the alternation of electrochemical action and lapping action makes the surface topography before electrochemical action present profile micro-peaks, which will increase the anodic smoothening velocity. The influence of machining parameters, such as abrasive grain sizes, tool's pressure, abrasive content, frictional velocity and current density etc, on the anodic smoothening velocity is discussed in detailed.


It is known that antibiotics cause allergies in some people as well as their overdoses inducing kidney and liver failure. They may also cause side effects such as glossitis, stomatitis, nausea, vomiting, pseudomembranous colitis, diarrhea, skin erythema, and dermatitis. In this study, possible antibacterial effects of electromagnetic waves were investigated to find an alternative solution to antibiotics. To investigate antibacterial effects of electromagnetic waves, E. coli and B. subtilis were considered as example organisms. As a result of performed experimental studies, it was shown that electromagnetic waves suppress the growth of microorganisms.


In the present experiment, 21 rams of uniform body weight and age (~ 1 year) were equally divided into 3 groups to find out the effect of 3 levels of energy, viz. control, low and high energy on growth, nutrient utilization, rumen biochemical profiles and semen quality. Body weight gain increased significantly compared to control and low energy. FCR improved significantly in high energy supplemented groups. Intake of DDM, DOM and TDN were significantly higher in high energy and control groups as compared to low energy group, with similar intake of CP and DCP in all groups. N-balance (g/d) was significantly higher in high energy group as compared to low energy group. Fractionation of VFA revealed a shift in propionate with narrower acetate to propionate ratio in high energy group favoring more body weight gain. Significantly higher semen volume (ml), mass activity (0–5 score) and progressive forward motility (%) were observed in optimum energy group compared to low energy group with no added benefit in high energy supplemented group. It is concluded that energy rich diets tend to increase weight gain of young rams with a shift in rumen volatile fatty acid concentration to propionate side. Nutritional strategies for feeding rams primarily reared for semen production have to be formulated critically as supplemented energy is being diverted for body weight gain rather than improving semen quality.


Scheduling policies for real-time systems exhibit threshold behavior that is related to the utilization of the task set they schedule, and in some cases this threshold is sharp. A task set is considered schedulable if it can be scheduled to meet all associated deadlines. A schedulability test for a chosen policy is a test of feasibility: given a task set, can all deadlines be met? For the rate monotonic scheduling policy, we show that periodic workload with utilization less than a threshold URM can be scheduled almost surely and that all workload with utilization greater than URM is almost surely not schedulable. We study such sharp threshold behavior in the context of processor scheduling using static task priorities, not only for periodic real-time tasks but for aperiodic real-time tasks as well. The notion of a utilization threshold provides a simple schedulability test for most real-time applications. These results improve our understanding of scheduling policies and provide an interesting characterization of the typical behavior of policies. The threshold is sharp (small deviations around the threshold cause schedulability, as a property, to appear or disappear) for most policies; this is a happy consequence that can be used to address the limitations of existing utilization-based tests for schedulability. We demonstrate the use of such an approach for balancing power consumption with the need to meet deadlines in web servers.


By using indirect tensile strength test and compression modulus test, the influences of variables, including recycled asphalt pavement (RAP) content and foamed bitumen content, on temperature susceptibility of mechanical properties of cold recycled mix with foamed bitumen (CRMFB) were studied. The results indicated that increase of RAP content had little impact on temperature susceptibility of CRMFB when small quantity of RAP (less than 70%) were contained, while enhanced temperature susceptibility of CRMFB was brought about when a large quantity of RAP (more than 70%) were contained. The mechanical properties, including strength and stiffness, manifested enhanced temperature susceptibility with the increase of foamed bitumen contents. Compared with HMA, CRMFB was obviously less susceptive to temperature.


The ubiquitous use of social platforms across the globe makes them attractive options for investigating social phenomena including migration. However, the use of social media data raises several crucial ethical issues around the areas of informed consent, anonymity and profiling of individuals, which are particularly sensitive when looking at a population such as migrants, which is often considered as 'vulnerable'. In this paper, we discuss how the opportunities and challenges related to social media research in the context of migration impact on the development of large-scale scientific projects. Building on the EU-funded research project PERCEPTIONS, we explore the concrete challenges experienced in such projects regarding profiling, informed consent, bias, data sharing and ethical approval procedures, as well as the strategies used to mitigate them. We draw from lessons learned in this project to discuss implications and recommendations to researchers, funders and university ethics review panels. This paper contributes to the growing discussion on the ethical challenges associated with big social data research projects on migration by highlighting concrete aspects stakeholders should be looking for and questioning when involved in such large-scale scientific projects where collaboration, data sharing and transformation and practicalities are of importance.


Recent years have witnessed the fast development of large-scale pre-training frameworks that can extract multi-modal representations in a unified form and achieve promising performances when transferred to downstream tasks. Nevertheless, existing approaches mainly focus on pre-training with simple image-text pairs, while neglecting the semantic connections between concepts from different modalities. In this paper, we propose a knowledge-based pre-training framework, dubbed Knowledge-CLIP, which injects semantic information into the widely used CLIP model. Through introducing knowledge-based objectives in the pre-training process and utilizing different types of knowledge graphs as training data, our model can semantically align the representations in vision and language with higher quality, and enhance the reasoning ability across scenarios and modalities. Extensive experiments on various vision-language downstream tasks demonstrate the effectiveness of Knowledge-CLIP compared with the original CLIP and competitive baselines.


Oral isotretinoin is a non-aromatic oral retinoid that is highly effective for the treatment of severe inflammatory acne vulgaris that is refractory and/or prone to scarring, and has also been used successfully to treat several other disorders in selected cases. Since its introduction into the United States marketplace in 1982, it has been well recognized that cutaneous side effects characterized by xerotic and desquamative changes are very common, and appear to be related to epidermal dyscohesion, and to some extent the sebosuppressive effects of the drug. Additionally, increased susceptibility to staphylococcal colonization has also been observed. The epidermal barrier impairments that have been associated with oral isotretinoin are reviewed in this article along with clinical implications. Strategies to mitigate the altered effects of epidermal barrier functions are reviewed including the importance of topical barrier repair therapy.


The general election of 29 October 1924 saw Winston Churchill return to Parliament as Constitutionalist MP for Epping after two years in the political wilderness. It also saw Stanley Baldwin swept back to Number 10 on a Conservative landslide. Speculation about whether Baldwin would cement Churchill's drift from the Liberal fold by offering him office surfaced during the election campaign. Churchill nevertheless thought 'it very unlikely that I shall be invited to join the Government, as owing to the size of the majority it will probably be composed only of impeccable Conservatives'. [ 1 ] Because of his anti-socialist credentials, his ability to reassure wavering Liberals through his opposition to protectionism – dropped by Baldwin after its rejection in the 1923 general election – and concern he could prove a rallying point for backbench malcontents, there was however much to commend giving Churchill a post. To his surprise, Baldwin offered Churchill the long-coveted office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, briefly held by his father before his ill-conceived resignation in 1887. Having arranged a meeting with his Labour predecessor, Philip Snowden, about outstanding business the new Chancellor set to work. Marking his political transition, a few days later Churchill resigned from the National Liberal Club.


: This report described two cases of postoperative adynamic ileus after iliac bone autografts. The etiology, treatment, and differentiation of this problem from mechanical obstruction are discussed.


In this study, we describe an fMRI version of the verbal fluency test. This is the second in a series of fMRI adaptations of classical neuropsychological tests, for which normative samples of functional activation have been collected from unimpaired control subjects and structured in a manner that makes individual patient evaluation possible in terms of familiar z-score distributions. This fMRI protocol is shown to have strong convergent validity with the FAS phonemic fluency test and to elicit activation patterns highly consistent with a large body of previous neuroimaging studies of verbal fluency. We also present a case study, in which we report concurrent data from a patient with selective deficits in verbal processing, using both conventional neuropsychological and fMRI approaches. These analyses reveal striking correspondences between the deficits present in this patient on cognitive performance tests and the equally selective patterns of deviation present in his fMRI data.


The mechanism of lasing at the Cd II atomic ion transition at 441.6 nm at near-threshold temperatures, when the contribution from the sputtering of a pure metallic cadmium film by charged products of nuclear reaction cannot be neglected, is discussed. A comparison of the theoretical and experimental data leads to a value 10.8 atoms per event for the total average yield of sputtering of cadmium by the products of nuclear reaction 3He(n, p)3T.