The DOE Extreme-Scale Technology Acceleration Fast Forward Storage and IO Stack project is going to have significant impact on storage systems design within and beyond the HPC community. With phase 1 of the project complete, it is an excellent opportunity to evaluate many of the decisions made to feed into the phase 2 effort. With this paper we not only provide a timely summary of important aspects of the design specifications but also capture the underlying reasoning that is not available elsewhere.The initial effort to define a next generation storage system has made admirable contributions in architecture and design. Formalizing the general idea of data staging into burst buffers for the storage system will help manage the performance variability and offer additional data processing opportunities outside the main compute and storage system. Adding a transactional mechanism to manage faults and data visibility helps enable effective analytics without having to work around the IO stack semantics. While these and other contributions are valuable, similar efforts made elsewhere may offer attractive alternatives or differing semantics that could yield a more feature rich environment with little to no additional overhead. For example, the Doubly Distributed Transactions (D2T) protocol offers an alternative approach for incorporating transactional semantics into the data path. Another project, PreDatA, examined how to get the best throughput for data operators and may offer additional insights into further refinements of the Burst Buffer concept. This paper examines some of the choices made by the Fast Forward team and compares them with other options and offers observations and suggestions based on these other efforts. This will include some non-core contributions of other projects, such as some of the demonstration metadata and data storage components generated while implementing D2T, to make suggestions that may help the next generation design for how the IO stack works as a whole.


The purpose of this study was to exam the impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on CD4 cell count trends in adults with HIV. In a longitudinal retrospective study in an urban primary care HIV clinic in the southeastern United States from 2010 to 2012, patients with HIV medical charts were audited to obtain their CD4 cell count, diabetes status, weight, and demographic information. Rates of increase of CD4 T cell count (i.e. slopes) were obtained using a linear mixed-effects model. Most of the HIV–T2DM cohort (n = 262) and HIV-only cohort (n = 2399) were African American (76%) and male (77%). The CD4 T cell counts were consistently higher in the HIV–T2DM cohort (p < .0001). The mean rate of CD4 T cell count increase (mean ± SE) was 63 ± 9 cells/µl/year in HIV–T2DM African American women and 28 ± 7 cells/µl/year in HIV–T2DM African American men (p = 0.003). In the multivariable slope analysis, the CD4 T cell count increase was significantly faster for HIV–T2DM African American women than for all other patients (mean difference = 30/cells/µl/year, 95% CI: 13–47; p < 0.001). Gender, race/ethnicity, and the diagnosis of diabetes influenced the recovery of CD4 cell counts.


Modification of materials surface by ion beam technology is reviewed shortly with emphasis on the effect of ion bombardment on the microstructure of the surface. Ion-solid interactions are described in correlation with severai ion beam processes and importance of ion beam dynamic mixing (lBDM) as well as metal ion implantation is demonstrated for the future trend of surface modification of materials by ion beam irradiation. Experimental results on the modification of metals and/or ceramic materials by various ion beam processes are given for the ion energy ranging from eV to MeV.


This study determined the economical rotation of eucalyptus plantation in consortium with agricultural cultures and with pasture; analyzed the effect of the aggregation of value to forest products on the economic viability of the consortium; analyzed several sceneries for testing the effect of changes in wood proportion for sawmill and energy, prices and productivities of the products of the agro-forestry system. A cash flow was elaborated based on annual cost and revenue data of the agricultural cultures, pasture and eucalyptus plantation. To find the economical rotation and to accomplish the analyses of economical viability, Net Present Value amethod (VPL) and Equivalent Periodic Benefit were used, calculated at 10% interest rate per year. The economical rotation of the eucalyptus plantation was found to be between 6 and 9 years, depending on the site. There was a significant increase in the economical viability of the agro-forestry system, as if the forest products were added. The economical viability of the system depends more on the forest activity and on the livestock than of the agricultural annual activities. There was a larger tolerance to the variations in the prices and in the productivities of soybeans and rice.


BACKGROUND
The effectiveness of excision of osteochondromas in controlling the progression of forearm and wrist deformity remains an issue of controversy. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of tumor excision in the correction of forearm and wrist deformity due to multiple osteochondromas in children, with an interpretation of the results based on different patterns of deformity.

METHODS
Fourteen forearms in thirteen children with a follow-up of more than twenty-four months (average, fifty-three months) were included in the study. The forearms were divided into two groups on the basis of the location of the tumor and the pattern of deformity. In Group 1 (six forearms), the osteochondroma was only in the distal aspect of the ulna and caused compression of the radius. In Group 2 (eight forearms), tumors were in both the distal aspect of the ulna and the ulnar side of the distal part of the radius and were in contact with each other. Radial length, ulnar shortening, radial bowing, the radial articular angle, and carpal slip were measured as radiographic parameters. Ulnar shortening and radial bowing were expressed as a percentage of the radial length to make it possible to compare data between the individuals. Each parameter was evaluated before surgery and at the time of final follow-up.

RESULTS
In Group 1, the percentage of ulnar shortening and the percentage of radial bowing had improved at the time of final follow-up; however, in Group 2, both the radial articular angle and the percentage of radial bowing had deteriorated significantly after the tumor excision (p = 0.049 and p = 0.017, respectively), even though the percentage of ulnar shortening showed no change.

CONCLUSIONS
The effectiveness of simple excision of osteochondromas of the distal aspect of the forearm is influenced by the tumor location and is related to the pattern of the deformity. Simple tumor excision can correct the forearm deformity in patients with an isolated tumor of the distal part of the ulna. Conversely, in patients with tumors involving the distal part of the ulna and the ulnar side of the distal end of the radius, tumor excision alone is a less promising procedure for the correction of the deformity.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
Prognostic Level IV.


The paper addresses the problem of transient elastodynamics analysis of a thick-walled, fluid-filled spherical shell embedded in an elastic medium with an analytical approach. This configuration is investigated at first step for a full-space case. Different constitutive relations for the elastic medium, shell material and filling fluid can be considered, as well as different excitation sources (including S/P wave or plane/spherical incident wave at different locations). With mapmaking visualisation, the wave propagation phenomena can be described and better understood. The methodology is going to be applied to analysis of the tunnels or other shell like structures under the effect of nearby underground explosion.


Neogene through Pleistocene lava flows of the Nevados de Payachata region (lat 18°S) on the Altiplano of northern Chile fall into two discrete chemical groups defined by age and incompatible element concentrations. The Neogene suite (10.5-6.6 Ma) has trace element concentrations comparable to arc magmas erupted on thin crust in central Chile. Pleistocene lava flows (0.29-0 Ma) are enriched in incompatible elements relative to Neogene samples but have similar Sr, Nd, and Pb isotopic ratios. Incompatible element enrichment in mafic rocks reflects deep-crustal or subcrustal processes. Neogene volcanism in northern Chile immediately followed a period of intense crustal thickening. Uplift rates accelerated at ∼15 Ma, indicating that the "thin-crust"-type Neogene magmas actually traversed a thickened crust. The isotopic and trace element relations are the result of contamination of mantle-derived basalts in an upwardly growing lower-crustal interaction zone, defined to be the part of the lower crust at or above its solidus. Because the lower crust reaches postorogenic thermal equilibrium slowly, the lower-crustal interaction zone during Neogene magmatism had essentially the same thickness as it did prior to deformation. Thermal relaxation of the lower crust after thickening produced an upwardly growing column of crust near its solidus. Only 15 m.y. after crustal thickening did ascending, mantle-derived mafic magmas encounter previously unmelted, fertile crust near its solidus in the upper fringes of the interaction zone. Here the magmas were contaminated with incompatible element-enriched crustal melts, forming the parental magmas for the Pleistocene suite.


Various studies have reported elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, TNF-α, MCP-1, IL-1β) and different fatty acid (FA) patterns are associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2). In addition, an association of hypovitaminoses D with DM2 has been observed in some populations. No study has simultaneously evaluated multiple cytokines, FA profiles and vitamin D in DM2 patients in Nigeria. Neither has any study compared the FA profiles and inflammatory biomarkers in DM2 population of an African country with one outside the African continent. This study measured cytokines and FAs in DM2 patients and healthy controls from Nigeria and Mexico. The plasma phosphatidylcholine (PC) FA composition was measured by gas liquid chromatography (GLC) using appropriate FA standards. This was preceded by the preparation of FA methyl esters following thin layer chromatography (TLC) and identification of the PC band using an authentic standard. Cytokines (adiponectin, resistin, leptin, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-4, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ, TGF-β and MCP-1) were measured by a multiplex assay that utilises Luminex software technology and vitamin D by chemiluminescence microparticle immunoassay methodology. The FA profiles are reported as mean % weight ± SD and the data obtained compared between DM2 and healthy controls in both Nigeria and Mexico. The DM2 and controls of each country were compared within and between their respective groups. A recent literature report of the levels of cytokines in DM2 sufferers from Mexico and control subjects were compared with the Nigerian DM2 cytokines values. Results are reported as mean ± SD except for the cytokines which are reported as mean ± s.e.m. Only the cytokine, insulin and HOMA indices (HOMA-B and HOMA-IR) data were logarithmically transformed before statistical analyses.

Palmitic acid (C16:0) was found to be significantly higher in DM2 subjects in both populations (Nigerian DM2: 30.83 ± 3.86, controls: 29.04 ± 4.22; Mexico DM2: 30.96 ± 2.45, controls: 29.48 ± 2.20). This is in keeping with other studies, and elevated palmitate is known to increase inflammation mainly by activating TLR4 in macrophages, hence linked with the IR and DM2. Stearic acid (C18:0) was lower in DM2 subjects compared to controls in both countries (Nigerian DM2: 15.88 ± 2.21, controls: 17.57 ± 2.43; Mexico DM2: 13.76 ± 1.88, controls: 14.99 ± 1.20). This pattern has only been shown in a few studies, as others have found higher levels of stearic acid in DM2. Vaccenic acid (C18:1n-7) levels were only higher in Nigerian controls (1.26 ± 0.32) compared to the DM2 subjects (1.05 ± 0.39). Arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6) was significantly lower in DM2 subjects relative to the controls in both countries (Nigerian DM2: 9.17 ± 2.12, controls: 10.31 ± 2.12; Mexico DM2: 6.14 ± 1.52, controls: 6.73 ± 1.54). This suggests either alteration of metabolism of the parent n-6 FAs to their longer chain metabolites, or increased consumption of C20:4n-6 in the patients. The mean level of C18:2n-6 was significantly higher in Mexican DM2 subjects than in Nigerians' (Mexico: 26.17 ± 2.43; Nigeria; 18.41 ± 4.31) and the level of C20:4n-6 was higher in the Nigerian diabetics (9.17 ± 2.12) than in Mexican DM2 samples (6.14 ± 1.52). Similarly, the level of C18:3n-3 was higher in Mexican DM2 (0.34 ± 0.12) than in Nigerian diabetics (0.17 ± 0.10), but the levels of EPA (C20:5n-3) and DHA (C22:6n-3) were higher in Nigerian DM2 (EPA: 0.82 ± 0.78, DHA: 3.79 ± 1.87) than in diabetics from Mexico (EPA: 0.29 ± 0.15, DHA: 1.47 ± 0.53). Compared to the Nigerian subjects, there maybe a more disordered metabolism of parent FAs (C18:2n-6 and C18:3n-3) to longer chain PUFAs in the Mexican DM2 and healthy control populations.

Plasma IL-6 levels in Nigerian DM2 patients was significantly higher (DM2: mean 215.86 pg/ml ± 43.91) compared to controls (81.02 pg/ml ± 33.97). The level of IL-6 in a Mexican diabetic study was (18.30 pg/ml ± 11.7). The elevation of proinflammatory IL-6 in DM2 has been widely reported in various studies and it is said to impair insulin signalling by activation of NF-κβ and JNK pathways thus leading to impaired exocytosis of GLUT4 molecules. The logarithmic value of HOMA-B was lower in Nigerian DM2 (1.22 ± 0.08) than in the controls (1.44 ± 0.08) and the transformed values of HOMA-IR showed a higher value in the Nigerian DM2 subjects (0.45 ± 0.07) compared to their controls (0.09 ± 0.08). These are consistent with the glycaemic status of the group. The negative correlation between FPG and HOMA-B (r = -0.407, p = 0.002) only among the DM2 subjects is in keeping with the impact of the disease on pancreatic β-cell reserve. There were multiple weak to moderate correlations between plasma PC fatty acids, cytokines and adipokines (adiponectin, resistin, leptin, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-4, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ, TGF-β, MCP-1) both in Nigerian controls and DM2. Vitamin D showed no significant differences in mean plasma vitamin D levels between Nigerian diabetics (61.00 nmol/L ± 17.31) and controls (56.28 nmol/L ± 18.41). Results of this study therefore show some important FAs profile similarities in both the Nigerian and Mexican DM subjects and a possible role for IL-6 in DM2 disease mechanisms in both populations. In relation to the fatty acid and inflammatory biomarker findings of this study the role of diet in DM2 in both countries clearly needs further investigation.


Purpose - Both hedonics and the traditional sales comparison approach are derived from a similar paradigm with respect to how prices, hence market values, are determined. While the hedonic approach can provide reliable estimates of individual attributes' marginal contribution, it may – unlike the sales comparison approach – underestimate the prominent influence that surrounding properties exert on any given nearby housing unit and sale price. This paper seeks to develop a simple method for reconciling the two approaches within a rigorous conceptual and methodological framework. Design/methodology/approach - Peer effect models, an analytical device developed, and mainly used, by labour economists, are adapted to the hedonic price equation so as to incorporate nearby properties' influences, thereby controlling for non-observable neighbourhood effects. In addition to basic, intrinsic, building and land attributes, the ensuing model accounts for three types of effects, namely endogenous interactions effects (i.e. comparable sales influences, or peer effects), exogenous, or neighbourhood, effects and, finally, spatial autocorrelation effects. Findings - Preliminary findings suggest that integrating peer effects in the hedonic equation allows bringing out the combined impacts of endogenous, exogenous and spatially correlated effects in the house price determination process, with spatial autocorrelation of model residuals being significantly reduced, even without resorting to a spatial autoregressive procedure. Research limitations/implications - Further investigation is still needed in order to find out which submarket delineation should be used to obtain optimal model performances. Originality/value - The paper leads to the conclusion that the comparable sales approach, as used in traditional appraisal practice, is valid, although its application is typically flawed by the too small sample size generally used by appraisers. Further investigation is still needed, however, in order to find out which submarket delineation should be used to obtain optimal model performances. This raises the paramount question as to whether the peer effect variable is adequately measured and addresses the tricky issue of kernel determination in spatial statistics and related applications, such as GWR.


Protein-mediated biomineral formation and polymorph selection in the mollusk shell involves the participation of a number of different proteins. One of these proteins, AP7, has been identified as a participant in nacre (aragonite) formation in the mollusk Haliotis rufescens. However, the role(s) of this protein in aragonite formation is (are) poorly understood, due to the fact that low quantities of this protein are recoverable from the nacre matrix. To overcome this problem, we employed stepwise solid-phase tBOC synthesis to recreate the 66-AA single-chain protein AP7 and utilized this synthetic form for in vitro mineralization studies. We find that the AP7 protein promotes incomplete or interrupted crystal growth and step edge roundening in a concentration-dependent fashion. Using synthetic peptides which represent the 30-AA N-terminal (AP7N) and 36-AA C-terminal (AP7C) subdomains of AP7, we have identified that the mineral modification activity of AP7 is localized to the unstructured, conformationally labile N-terminal subdomain. Interestingly, the 36-AA C-terminal subdomain has no observable direct effect on in vitro calcium carbonate crystal growth; however, we cannot rule out the possibility that AP7C plays an indirect role in AP7 mineralization activity. Qualitative structural studies reveal that AP7, although possessing Zn(II) fingerlike -His-(X) 6 -His, -Cys-(X) 2 -Cys-, and -Cys-(X) 4 -Cys- motifs within its C-terminal region, does not possess the structural characteristics of known Zn(II) finger polypeptides, as evidenced by the presence of an ordered, α-helical conformation within the C-terminal subdomain of apo-AP7. Given its associative nature with AP24 and the multifunctional capabilities of the 30-AA N-terminal domain, it is likely that the AP7 protein possesses multifunctional capabilities with regard to nacre formation within the mollusk shell.


The central aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that A.R. Ammons, Charles Bernstein, Susan Howe, and W.S. Merwin commit to a pragmatic poetic project of working language to facilitate cultural renewal. In illuminating this shared pragmatic work in poems from the turn of the 1990s, the thesis contradicts ecocritical assertions about the inimical relationship between ecopoetry and postmodern poetries such as Language. As ecocriticism established itself as a school of literary criticism in the 1990s, its proponents were damning of the influence postmodern literary theory was exerting on American poetry. Ecocritics argued that postmodernism had dangerously devalued the referential relationship between word and world at a time of escalating environmental crises. Taking Bernstein and Howe as representatives of Language poetry, and Ammons and Merwin as representatives of ecopoetry, the thesis will contest this ecocritical argument by illustrating that these four poets share a vision of poetry as a uniquely positioned medium for rejuvenating language and, subsequently, shifting cultural attitudes in a politically progressive manner.

In order to make this argument, the thesis builds on a body of literary criticism which explores American poetry's debt to American pragmatism. Critics connecting poetry to pragmatism have argued that pragmatists such as William James, Charles Sanders Peirce, and Ralph Waldo Emerson have helped American poets establish an epistemological middle ground between foundationalism and the sceptical side of postmodernism. The poets studied in this thesis extend this tradition of pragmatic poetry by using their writing to engage in an ongoing poetic rejuvenation of language and ideology. Furthermore, the thesis shows how these poets' pragmatic approach to language and epistemology aligns them the 'progressive' side of the Culture Wars which were erupting in the early 1990s.


In order to increase wind energy utilization efficiency by the optimization of the wind farm micro sitting, a method which could calculate the wind farm velocity is proposed by consideration of multi turbines wake loss and superposition. Based on the given velocity data of a wind farm, the maximal annual energy production is set as the optimal objective and the ordinates of wind turbines would be the optimal variables, micro sittings of the wind farm turbines are optimized by genetic algorithm. Layout calculation result of the optimal method is quite similar to that of other successful search method, but higher efficiency is reached, and the micro sitting layout is agreement with the regular plum-type layout. Annual energy productions are also calculated under the condition of different wind turbine number. Results show annual energy production increases with the wind turbine number increased, but the increasing trend is lower and lower. The research could provide a reference to wind farm micro-sitting.


Abstract: Since the late 90s, biopharmaceuticals targeting tumor necrosis factor alpha have revolutionized the treatment of moderately to severely active inflammatory bowel disease. The robust efficacy witnessed in many patients stands in stark contrast with the observation of a proportion of patients who fail to respond or who lose response over time. Therapeutic drug monitoring has been proposed as a means to understand and respond to the variability in clinical response and remission. Various treatment algorithms have been proposed, but optimal use of these measurements in daily practice awaits additional prospective validation trials. This review provides an updated overview on the subject of therapeutic drug monitoring of biopharmaceuticals for the management of inflammatory bowel disease and how we could implement its concepts in a changing landscape.


The socio-sexual dysfunctions associated with amputation were studied among a group of 100 Nigerians with limb amputations. The mean age was 30 years. Road traffic accidents and war-related injuries constituted 70% of cases. Decrease in social interaction as the result of amputation was reported by 20%, 13% of the married males admitted a change in sexual life and activities after the amputation; 24% of those studies had some form of sexual problems. Nigerians with amputation experience definite social and sexual problems.


The GCD2 gene product is required in conditions of amino acid sufficiency to repress the synthesis of GCN4, a transcriptional activator of amino acid biosynthetic genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. GCD2 is also required unconditionally for cell viability. The constitutive derepression of GCN4 expression and temperature sensitivity for growth associated with GCD2 alleles, known as gcd12 mutations, are completely masked by wild-type GCN3, a positive regulator of GCN4 expression. This observation suggests that GCN3 can promote or at least partially substitute for GCD2 function in normal growth conditions, while acting as an antagonist of GCD2 in amino acid starvation conditions. We report here that the predicted amino acid sequence of GCN3 shows extensive similarity with the carboxyl-terminal portion of GCD2. Based on this finding, it seems likely that gcd12 mutations specifically affect the domain of GCD2 that is similar in sequence to GCN3. We propose that GCN3 can substitute for this domain in a gcd12 mutant grown in normal growth conditions, and that modification of GCN3 in starvation conditions causes it to interfere with, rather than substitute for GCD2 function. A gcd2 deletion and gcd2-1 are each expected to inactivate a second domain for which GCN3 cannot substitute, accounting for the inability of GCN3 to mask the phenotypes associated with these mutations.


Visually challenged individuals are one of the most concerned people in the society in terms of independence and confidence. There is a class of needy blind people who are not able to afford the technical devices designed for them.  A personalized smart device designed using deep learning technologies will be of greater help to them. A brief discussion was made with them to make the design of this device more user specific. Requirements gathered from this meeting are processed using deep learning methods and are composed into a smart glass using Raspberry pi. This glass is customized for every user such that it detects presence of known people around them and also does priority specific object detection. The compact, stand alone and economically efficient design of this product is welcomed by the needy blind people with great enthusiasm. This product will thus effectively increase their morale and ability to roam outdoors notably.


This article examines the relative performance of bills, bonds, and stocks over various holding periods. Using a resampling technique that accounts for the cross–sectional correlation between security classes, the authors find that the risk of underperformance for a strategy of investing in higher risk classes of investments is minimal over long holding periods, while the rewards are substantial.


Weather forecasting has been one of the most scientifically and technologically challenging problems around the world. Hence, we aim to predict the event before days or can say before weeks thus increasing response time with which we can prevent huge losses to the society that are caused due to uncertain climatic disasters. Therefore, we find an efficient technique for discovering patterns for nonlinear attributes and retrieve the significant measures for close prediction of climatology using spatiotemporal data for pan evaporation.


Sharpless enantioselective epoxidation of achiral primary allyl alcohols is one of the best reaction discovered during the last about three decades. During teaching programmes, it is observed that generally students lack a sound basic background on which the teaching of such an advanced topic in the class is based. Moreover, in general the students often question the utility of the topic being taught, in every day life in industry/ design of drug/ biochemical aspects etc. The authors here present the example of Sharpless epoxidation, the way, it should be taught by providing: • Background knowledge • The reaction • Some applications of the reaction


Landscape currently takes a particularly important place in many scientific disciplines, for example in geography, cultural anthropology, aesthetics, architecture, landscape architecture, landscape ecology and sociology. The reason for the great interest in landscape is that it is synonymous to everyday existence, the surroundings and the human environment. The article draws attention to the fact that contemporary landscape seems to be a key issue in understanding the historical processes occurring in the human environment. The concept of landscape is therefore a kind of "link" between geography and history. Nowadays the literature of the sources says about "the idea of landscape," which expresses the historical effort to connect the visual image and the material world. The following considerations are attempts to develop a concept which describes the memory of landscape on the basis of geography. It is an attempt at a complementary approach to the existing studies in the field of humanistic geography, cultural anthropology, sociology and the theory of aesthetics. The article presents the genesis of the concept, giving the source of its ambiguity. In geography landscape commonly means the following: – a set of spatially related physical objects (both natural and anthropogenic) constituting the content of the landscape; – a system of interrelated natural and cultural processes integrating the physical structures; – a set of stimuli affecting the various senses of the user; – a set of natural values (potentials), social, economic, physical, spiritual, historical, physiognomy, aesthetic, symbolic and others; – a system providing the actual and potential service (now called landscape services or so-called landscape functions); – text, symbol, icon, palimpsest, or even a metaphor. In the broadest sense, memory is the ability to remember, store, recall, recognize and localize something that happened in the past. In the case of transfer of this concept onto the field of landscape, it is like the identity of the countryside, the memory does not mean forms of space personalization, but it expresses a special ability to record, store and recall the information about the phenomena and processes taking place in the history and taking place in the social and geographical environment. It is also the process of collecting spatial information. Regarding the landscape, this ability depends on many factors. It may take the shortterm form (memory of history record about events, short duration story) but usually, the landscape is a storehouse of information and traces of theoretically unlimited capacity and storage. The author proposes to separate a few types of landscape memory: – material memory, which is physical storage of objects and their inter-systems (spatial structures) as a form of static, real being. "Saved" and fixed objects in the landscape are not only the relics of ancient times, monuments, but they also clearly organize the space. The material form of "landscape memory" is expressed mainly by the presence of "hibernating" spatial systems (villages, towns, urban structure, texture and copper fields, road systems, etc.) with origins in ancient times, often surrounded by sites from a later period (from another era); – axiological memory, understood as storage of value. It is based on continuity, among others, tradition, identity, familiarity relating to both, tangible and intangible qualities of landscape; – phenomenological memory, which means storing information about phenomena (events, incidents, including extreme ones in terms of natural and cultural ones); – magnificence of space is located here, which is registered in landscape biography. It is mostly short-term memory, episodic, written in the history of long duration; – ontological memory, interpreted in the context of storing information about the nature of the landscape, its properties, causality (factors and stimuli), properties. It is the story of landscape recognized as a dynamic phenomenon, in which the rights and principles of landscape creation are saved; – semantic memory, which means storage of fixed meanings (symbolic landscapes, semiotics of space, storage of genius loci, the sacrum ). Th e possibility which is given by "re-reading" the former and modern functions of landscape. The paper explains the above-mentioned forms of landscape memory on the grounds of the author's concept of cultural landscape stratigraphy. The basic types of landscapes were separated due to the relative arrangement (ascertainable in chronological order) of cultural strata present in the landscape, as a product of particular communities functioning in the history of the area.


This dissertation attempts to advance our understanding of how we as human beings perceive , judge, and evaluate our lives, particularly in the last stage of the life cycle. The primary goal was to counterbalance the predominantly quantitative approach to meaning in life with a qualitative approach by interviewing 21 older adults as they reflected on and attempted to find purpose and value in the totality of their experiences. This goal was explicit on the point of wanting older adults , those ideally positioned in the lifespan to inform us about meaning in life, to speak without the restriction associated with response options and format. Guided by the approach of phenomenology which emphasizes immediate description, the participants' responses to interview questions were summarized and, to the extent possible, reporting preserved their actual words. Participants articulated in their own voices that (1) "meaning in life" is about helping others; (2) having a sense of purpose; (3) maintaining relationshipsespecially with family; and (4) subjective well-being. They reported that life has been and continues to be meaningful, and they attributed their sense of meaning to three higher order factors: affiliation, agency and control, and self-transcendence. The second goal of this study explored the relationship between meaning in life and quality of life through self-report estimates. Participants indicated on a Likert scale of 1-10 how much meaning in and quality of life they perceive having both in the present, and retrospectively, for life as a whole. Results indicated that quality of life in the present did not diminish relative to the past, meaning in life in the past correlated with quality of life, but estimates of meaning in life in the present did not correlate with quality of life estimates or with meaning in life in the past. This supports the notion that meaning in life is experienced as distinct from quality of life. It also accords with Erikson's psychosocial theory of development which predicts that during late adulthood individuals confront the inevitability of a finite existence. From this perspective, they review the life they've lived, hoping to achieve a sense of integrity. The third goal was to compare a larger sample of older adults with a sample of college students on overall quality of life. Analysis revealed that older adults reported higher quality of life and also differed with regard to the different dimensions that contributed to quality of life. Out of 16 life areas, the following were most closely associated with overall quality of life scores for older adults: relatives, goals and values, home, helping, community and children.


Introduction: Although effectiveness of cranberry for preventing urinary tract infection (UTI) has been reported in Iranian traditional medicine and recent studies there is still controversy in this regard. Therefore, the present study was designed with a meta-analytic approach aiming to evaluate the effect of prophylaxis prescription of cranberry in prevention of UTI in children.Methods: In this study, a thorough search was performed in Medline, Embase, Web of Sciences, Scopus and CINHAL databases by the end of August 2017. Using keywords related to urinary tract infection combined with words related to cranberry, search strategy was designed. The articles were summarized and finally, the role of cranberry extract consumption in decreasing the incidence of UTI was evaluated by reporting odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Results: In the end, 10 studies were included (414 cases in control group and 380 in cranberry extract treatment group). Analyses showed that prescription of cranberry significantly reduced the odds of UTI manifestation in children compared to placebo (OR=0.31; 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.46; p


The objective of this study was to compare the anthraquinone content of cassod tree leaves, golden shower pods and noni roots that were determined in the form of free anthraquinone and anthraquinone glycoside by Soxhlet and decoction extraction method. The anthraquinone compounds were identified by the Borntrager reaction. The determination of anthraquinone UVVisible spectrophotometry at 325nm was used. The results show that the highest anthraquinone content in the golden shower pods with 70% (v/v) ethanol was 193.79mg/g dry plant. The suitable solvent for the anthraquinone glycoside extracts was 80% (v/v) ethanol for the cassod tree leaves. In the testing of birds, 1% of the extracted golden shower pods that cover the seeds for food consumption showed a lower amount than that consumed in the control group (p <0.05).


The study of the etiology of osteoarthritis (OA) is distinguished by a long-standing consideration of the disease as an inherited disorder. Until the last decade, the study of OA as a genetic disease was limited to anecdotal reports of families in which specific OA traits were clustered. The impetus to further explore the genetics of OA has come from our increasing understanding of the nature of complex genetic disease in which disease traits need not be inherited in a Mendelian manner. This review will acquaint the reader with the impressive and fast-paced progress that has been made, especially in the past decade, regarding the study of OA as a heritable disease. While this review is not meant to be an exhaustive compendium of every published study, it will familiarize the reader with some of the highlights of OA genetics, as well as illustrate the range and depth of effort needed to unravel of genetics of complex diseases, such as OA.


This paper describes and discusses the role of identity in open source software (OSS) innovations. It illustrates identities through four case studies that include the perspectives of OSS communities, OSS companies, and users. The paper concludes that the community may either have its primary function to provide an OSS aura to the OSS company, or it may have its focus on attracting developers and thereby contributing to innovativeness of the OSS community. OSS community identitie sare mainly self-reflective on its contributors, but also help to create rules of the community. Since it is the OSS company that communicates identities to external parties, the coherence and closeness between the OSS company and the community are important.


Human cystatin C variants in which the evolutionarily conserved Gly-11 residue has been replaced by residues with positively charged (Arg), negatively charged (Glu), bulky hydrophobic (Trp), or small (Ser or Ala) side-chains have been produced by site-directed mutagenesis and expression in Escherichia coli. The five variants were isolated and structurally verified. Their inhibitory properties were compared with those of wild-type recombinant cystatin C by determination of the equilibrium constants for dissociation (Ki) of their complexes with the cysteine endopeptidases papain and human cathepsin B and with the cysteine exopeptidase dipeptidyl peptidase I. The Ser-11 and Ala-11 cystatin C variants displayed Ki values for the two endopeptidases that were approx. 20-fold higher than those of wild-type cystatin C, while the corresponding values for the Trp-11. Arg-11 and Glu-11 variants were increased by a factor of about 2000. In contrast, the Ki values for the interactions of all five variants with the exopeptidase differed from that of wild-type cystatin C by a factor of less than 10. Wild-type cystatin C and the Ser-11, Ala-11 and Glu-11 variants were incubated with neutrophil elastase, which in all cases resulted in the rapid hydrolysis of a single peptide bond, between amino acid residues 10 and 11. The Ki values for the interactions with papain of these three N-terminal-decapeptide-lacking cystatin C variants were 20-50 nM, just one order of magnitude higher than the value for N-terminally truncated wild-type cystatin C, which in turn was similar to the corresponding values for the full-length Glu-11, Arg-11 and Trp-11 variants. These data indicate that the crucial feature of the conserved Gly residue in position 11 of wild-type cystatin C is that this residue, devoid of a side-chain, will allow the N-terminal segment of cystatin C to adopt a conformation suitable for interaction with the substrate-binding pockets of cysteine endopeptidases, resulting in high-affinity binding and efficient inhibition. The functional properties of the remaining part of the proteinase contact area, which is built from more C-terminal inhibitor segments, are not significantly affected even when amino acids with bulky or charged side-chains replace the Gly-11 residue of the N-terminal segment.


After a very successful start with many sources detected, the second phase of the H.E.S.S. experiment is being implemented. The objective is to build a very large telescope in the center of the array of the 4 existing ones. Operating the very large telescope in coincidence (stereoscopy) with the four H.E.S.S. I telescopes allows to reduce the energy threshold from 100 GeV to 50 GeV. In order to make optimum use of this additional very large telescope and to lower the energy threshold further, one has to consider the single telescope events of this telescope as well. The data acquisition of these events requires a second level trigger for the reduction of the data flow. The concepts for the realization and properties for a second level trigger are presented.


Within the scope of this project, tools for conducting systematic and integrated climate vulnerability and sustainability assessments have been developed. Two municipalities in the lower Göta Älv catchment were selected as study cases. Together with representatives from key municipal departments and national government agencies, the interdisciplinary research team designed and conducted a co-production process. Results obtained using the developed tools demonstrate that conducting such a systematic assessment of the current situation and potential impacts of climate change adaptation measures would contribute to synergies between adaptation strategies and other policy arenas. Our recommendation for enhancing the capacity of local vulnerability management in Sweden is to shift foci in four fields: from static analysis of climate vulnerability to a dynamic approach to social vulnerability, from a sector-wise fragmented approach to integrated management, from a focus on technical fixes and physical measures to institutional adaptation measures, and, finally, from sustainability-blind adaptation investments to long-term sustainable climate adaptation measures. The processes and mechanisms for succeeding in this requires that knowledge be produced, shared, and managed in partly new ways, allowing stakeholders both inside and outside local government administration to voice and synergise their concerns and solutions.


This paper
presents results from a case study on IAQ in a residence where the occupants
complained about health problems during a few years' time including infants
after they changed the flooring to a new parquet flooring in both the floors. During the last years the health conditions
of the children became very bad resulting into several emergency visits to the
hospital. This study presents measured values for VOC and aldehydes under
different conditions. Initial measurements showed that the values were very
high and exceeded all the recommended health Hazard limits. This resulted into
the decision that all the parquet flooring was removed. This study shows how
the values of VOC and aldehydes decreased with time and also the decrease did
not follow the general diffusion principles. Therefore, forced ventilation
conditions under elevated temperature and very high relative humidity were used
to accelerate the release rate. This study shows that elimination of volatiles
was a very slow process and it took almost 30 days to achieve acceptable
concentration levels both for the aldehydes and for the VOCs.

This case
study shows for the first time that although such flooring material meets the
standard, how they may influence the IAQ of residential houses. In case if such
contaminations occur, this study also shows that how the reduction rates of
chemicals and specially aldehydes in indoor air could be accelerated by using different
accelerated ventilation conditions. The study shows that the health hazards due
to the presence of aldehydes in indoor air are underestimated in normal IAQ
control routines. Since, aldehydes are classified as carcinogens, the study
shows that measurement of aldehyde concentrations in indoor air should always
be included in the indoor air quality control to assure a healthy indoor air
climate.


In order to improve the low thermal efficiency of Solar Energy Fission Geyser, a VV modulation control system of circulating pump based on fuzzy control has been designed. In this system, SCM P89LPC930 is the core. A digital temperature sensor of 1-wire bus LTM8871 is used to detect the real-time temperature and an inner comparator of P89LPC930 to detect the zero point. According to fuzzy control rules, a best angle is chosen. This technology is applied to drive the AC motor to get constant temperature differential. The system is effective in improving the thermal efficiency and poor circulation by avoiding frequent start-up of circulation pump. The innovation points lie in the system uses a minimum hardware circuit design and fuzzy control, with easy circuit, reliable performance characteristics, thus having a high application value.


Cells have developed robust adaptation mechanisms to survive environmental conditions that challenge the integrity of their proteome and ensure cellular viability. These are stress-signalling pathways that integrate extracellular signals with the ability to detect and efficiently respond to protein-folding perturbations within the cell. Within the context of an organism, the cell autonomous effects of these signalling mechanisms are superimposed by cell-nonautonomous stress signalling pathways that allow coordination of stress responses across tissues. These transcellular stress signalling pathways orchestrate and maintain the cellular proteome at an organismal level. This review focuses on mechanisms in both invertebrate and vertebrate organisms that activate stress responses in a cell-nonautonomous manner. We discuss emerging insights and provide specific examples on how components of the cell-nonautonomous proteostasis network are used in cancer and protein-folding diseases to drive disease progression across tissues.


This paper aims at modeling and inferring the influence among individuals from voting data (or more generally from actions that are selected by choosing one of $m$ different options). The voting data are modeled as outcomes of a discrete random process, which we refer to as the discuss-then-vote model, whose evolution is governed by the DeGroot opinion dynamics with stubborn nodes. Based on the proposed model, we formulate the maximum a posterior estimator for the opinions and influence matrix (or the transition matrix) and derive a tractable approximation that results in a convex optimization problem. In the paper, the identifiability of the network dynamics' parameters and the vote prediction procedure based on the influence matrix are discussed in depth. Our methodology is tested through numerical simulations as well as through its application to a set of the U.S. Senate roll call data. Interestingly, in spite of the relatively small data record available, the influence matrix inferred from the real data is consistent with the common intuition about the influence structure in the U.S. Senate.


This report focuses on modeling the thermal behavior of buildings and designing an optimal control algorithm for their HVAC systems. The problem of developing a good model to capture the heat storage and heat transmission properties of building thermal elements such as rooms and walls is addressed by using the lumped capacitance method. The equations governing the system dynamics are derived using the thermal circuit approach, and by defining equivalent thermal masses, thermal resistors and thermal capacitors. In the control design part, we have introduced a new hierarchical control algorithm which is composed of lower level PID controllers and a higher level LQR controller. The optimal tracking problem is solved in the higher level controller where the interconnection of all the rooms and the walls are taken into consideration. The LQR controller minimizes a quadratic cost function which has two quadratic terms. One takes into account the comfort level and the other represents the control effort, i.e. the energy consumed to operate the HVAC system. There are two tuning parameters as the weight matrices for each of these two terms by which the performance of the controller can be tuned in different operating conditions. Simulation results show how much energy can be saved using this algorithm.


Abstract:The participation of predominantly young, Balkan Muslims in the Syrian and the Iraq conflict has become a dangerous trend. Equally alarming is the fact that many youth in the region continue to separate themselves from the mainstream religious community and move to supporting conservative Islamic ideas that cater to jihadist narratives. Drawing from the authors' recent fieldwork in the Balkans, this article addresses the issues of radicalization leading to violence and suggests ways to strengthen current counter radicalization and reintegration policies, including improving the community's resistance in Kosovo and the Southern Serbian Sandjak region. The authors highlight that while "hard" power measures that focus on intelligence activities and attacking extremist ideologies are important, other counterterrorism programs that address prevention, intervention, rehabilitation, and reintegration of those already on the extremist trajectory must also be considered.


Micro-CT has become a powerful technique in non-destructive 3D imaging and morphometric analysis. First results were limited to the investigation of osteoporosis in cancellous bone. But the availability of systems with almost microscopic resolution and sufficient soft tissue contrast has opened up entirely new applications for laboratory investigation of blood vessels and soft tissues. This article gives an overview of micro-CT technology and the potential of three-dimensional imaging of the vessel wall and soft-tissue architecture imaging in different organs using different contrast perfusion and staining techniques. Micro-CT provides quantitative information on human plaque morphology equivalent to histomorphometric analysis. Based on differences in grey-scale attenuations, micro-CT also correctly identifies atherosclerotic lesions that are histologically classified as fibrous plaques, calcified lesions, fibroatheroma, and lipid rich lesions. Micro-CT is a promising method to visualize the architecture of the renal vasculature and, importantly, to separate cortex and medulla for the visualization of glomeruli and their afferent and efferent arterioles. Micro-CT can determine the vascular surface in a defined placental volume. Combining of micro-CT data and total placental volume enables an estimation of the approximate surface of the placental vasculature. The diameter of opacified vessels in the investigated samples ranged from 2 mm (chorion plate artery) to 14 micro m (smallest vessel diameter, terminal loop). Recognizing that lung parenchyma can only be visualized if the alveoli are completely expanded and the contrast of the thin alveolar walls is enhanced, we tested two preparation methods: (1) fixation of lung tissue with formalin vapour and staining with silver nitrate, and (2) intravenous injection of a barium sulfate-gelatine-thymol mixture in vivo in the anesthetized animal. We evaluated the ability of this mixture to enter the pulmonary microcirculation and the technical feasibility of micro-CT to assess lung micro-architecture.


A 62-year-old Caucasian woman, with remote history of painful skin blistering and hypertrichosis, recent history of travel to Mexico and increased alcohol consumption, presented with progressively worsening jaundice and fatigue. Physical examination was remarkable for severe generalised jaundice, scleral icterus and erythematous facial blistering and scarring. Laboratory workup revealed markedly elevated total and direct bilirubin, mildly elevated transaminases, severe iron overload and increased urine coproporphyrin. Porphyria cutanea tarda was diagnosed, and she was treated with supportive measures including hydration and alcohol cessation. Pathology of her liver demonstrated mild iron overload and severe fatty infiltration. Hospital follow-up revealed complete resolution of jaundice and fatigue and near-normalisation of liver function tests.


We examined the physical origin of the colour-magnitude relation of elliptical galaxies in clusters of galaxies in the hierarchical clustering scenario by using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation. We particularly investigate the effects of the star formation process, the supernova feedback and the UV background on the formation and evolution of elliptical galaxies.
It is suggested by observation that the colour-magnitude relation reflects the metallicity-luminosity relation of galaxies, and that for reproducing the colour-magnitude relation it is important to suppress the chemical enrichment of stars in faint galaxies. For suppressing the chemical enrichment, we propose some solutions. One is assuming a strong supernova feedback. Another is introducing the effect of the UV background radiation. These solutions degenerate, but they may be distinguished by studying other properties of galaxies, like the luminosity function, colour distribution, etc.
Moreover, we find that the supernova feedback model in the starburst which make the bulge component is important when the star formation time-scale in disc is longer than the age of the Universe. On the other hand, when the star formation time-scale is short, the resulting colour-magnitude relation does not depend on such a starburst model because most of stars are formed not by the burst but by the ordinary star formation process in disc.


We present a study of a parallel linear distribution of dipole system, which can be realized using a pair of cylindrical diametric magnets and yields several interesting properties and applications. The system serves as a trap for cylindrical diamagnetic object, produces a fascinating one-dimensional camelback potential profile at its center plane, yields a technique for measuring magnetic susceptibility of the trapped object and serves as an ideal system to implement highly sensitive Hall measurement utilizing rotating magnetic field and lock-in detection. The latter application enables extraction of low carrier mobility in several materials of high interest such as the world-record-quality, earth abundant kesterite solar cell, and helps elucidate its fundamental performance limitation.


Near the close of brown, his 2002 extended autobiographical essay, Richard Rodriguez describes the tension between being gay and being Catholic. First, he notes that to be a gay Catholic is often viewed as paradoxical, or somehow inauthentic: I am often enough asked how it is I call myself a gay Catholic. A paradox? Does the question betray a misunderstanding of both states? No, not really. What you are asking is how can I be an upstanding one and the other. When you slice an avocado, the pit has to go with one side or the other, doesn't it? Weighting one side or the other. A question about the authenticity of the soul, I suppose. Or the wishbone--some little tug-of-war; some tension. (224) Rodriguez then goes on to explain that he has come to depend on the tension that results from being gay and Catholic. This irreconcilability is itself a part of his daily experience, constitutive of what he thinks of as "brownness," a capacious term that Rodriguez uses to connote everything from sodomy and impurity to religious syncretism and racial mixing. He writes that he was born Catholic, then asks, "Is homosexuality, then, a conversion experience? No. I was born gay" (224). To be born both gay and Catholic means that Rodriguez must struggle with the contradiction of belonging to a church that rejects his sexual identity--his love for his partner is at odds with the institution that mediates his faith and love for his God. Rodriguez makes it clear in this quotation that he is an essentialist when it comes to his sexual identity and his religion. In both instances he claims to have been born that way, and the implication is that change is impossible. His essentialism and the resulting irreconcilability (gay Catholic) are not remarkable: Rodriguez uses his "brown identity" (and I borrow from his own connotation of brown as impure, contradictory) as a way of pushing against the Catholic Church. This push from within the controlling institution is a tool that subaltern identities have always used to try to change the forces that oppress them. More than twenty years ago, Chicana lesbians Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua began to push from within their ethnic Catholicism to critique the church's homophobia (in Loving in the War Years and Borderlands respectively), so Rodriguez's impulse is hardly new. What is remarkable, however, is that his essentialism is at odds with Rodriguez's claims, throughout his oeuvre, to be a champion of assimilation, conversion, and change in general. While he often celebrates the gains made by assimilation, conversion, and--by extension--brownness, he stops short at his own ability to change his religious belief. Thus, a contradiction exists between Rodriguez's philosophy and his experience of religion. Why does Rodriguez insist on the essentialism of his own religion, yet celebrate the religious conversion of his Mexican ancestors and call on others to change--swallow--new cultures and religions? Te purpose of this paper is to explore this contradiction, provide a partial answer, and suggest that as Rodriguez cannot himself convert away from his faith, he is converting--or "browning"--the Catholic Church. After establishing a critical context, I explore this contradiction in Rodriguez's work by charting his thoughts on assimilation and conversion and detailing his experience of Catholicism, following these topics as they develop through his three books and in interviews. What I view as a philosophical contradiction in Rodriguez's work is partially resolved by his unusual understanding of what it means to assimilate or to convert. I notice a significant difference between the usual meaning of being absorbed by the dominant culture and Rodriguez's conception of absorption of that culture. Finally, I demonstrate how Rodriguez uses his own position as gay Catholic to attempt to convert or "brown" the church. In other words, if Rodriguez is unwilling to convert from his essential Catholicism, he is willing and able to exert pressure on the church to change, both through his "lived religion" (David Hall and Robert Orsi) and through his rhetoric. …


We investigated the catalytic activity of ZIF-8 in fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis via super-resolution fluorescence microscopy. Acid–base activity is detected only on the outer surface and crystal defects. Oleic acid etching introduces extra porosity and allows catalytic conversion inside the crystals, but leads to overall activity loss.


Vitamin D (vitD) low status is currently considered a main environmental factor in multiple sclerosis (MS) etiology and pathogenesis. VitD and its metabolites are highly hydrophobic and circulate mostly bound to the vitamin D binding protein (DBP) and with lower affinity to albumin, while less than 1% are in a free form. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the circulating levels of either of the two vitD plasma carriers and/or their relationship are altered in MS. We measured DBP and albumin plasma levels in 28 MS patients and 24 healthy controls. MS patients were found to have higher DBP levels than healthy subjects. Concomitant interferon beta therapy did not influence DBP concentration, and the difference with the control group was significant in both females and males. No significant correlation between DBP and albumin levels was observed either in healthy controls or in patients. These observations suggest the involvement of DBP in the patho-physiology of MS.


Purpose: This study aimed to measure the effect of the critical literacy approach on pre-service language teachers' critical reading skills. The critical reading skills measured consisted of six levels: interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation. Research Methods: This study was designed as a quasi-experiment which involved 56 pre-service teachers studying at the Indonesian Language Teaching Department, Universitas Negeri Makassar, Indonesia. Research data was collected using a critical reading test. Prior to the study, a package of instructional materials was developed for the experimental group. Data was analyzed with descriptive statistics and ANCOVA test with pretest scores as the covariate. Significance level was determined at = .05. Findings: The results of the study indicated that the critical literacy approach had a significant effect on the pre-service language teachers' critical reading skills. The experimental group achieved better at critical reading skills and reached higher post-test scores on average. It indicated that the critical literacy approach had a significant effect on critical reading skills, which include interpretation, analysis, making an inference, evaluation, explanation, and self-regulation. Implications for Research and Practice: Based on the results of the research, it can be concluded that the critical literacy approach was effective in improving the students' critical reading skills. These findings suggest that the process of reading a text critically from the domination perspective can develop students' critical thinking. Future research could possibly discuss the results of a test conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the critical literacy approach based on gender variables, cognitive ability levels, and reading habit.


There is a need to develop more nuanced and playfully informed understandings of people's attitudes and behaviour toward water consumption and conservation in particular settings, particularly if we are to design initiatives designed to engage and then change behaviour. The Southeast of England, in the United Kingdom, is an example of a water stressed region where better understandings have a potentially key role to play in helping to tackle the issue of water scarcity through attempts to reduce the personal consumption of water. Therefore, this paper presents the findings of a small-scale research project that sought to playfully engage participants in an exploration of their attitudes and behaviour toward water use in a university setting. In particular, an interactive questionnaire was designed whereby participants were encouraged to give their answers by placing counters in buckets of differently coloured water. From an awareness perspective, the study found that whilst females appeared to be more aware of their water usage, participants in general appeared to be unaware of retro fit programmes design to improve water conservation. As a result of these findings, it is suggested that future education campaigns better reflect the needs of different groups, particularly in communities with highly transient populations, such as those in University towns. From an engagement perspective, the interactive nature of the data collection was noted as appearing to be successful in encouraging engagement over time. In conclusion, it is suggested that such playful approaches to data collection and awarweness raising can be a useful in not only enaging but promoting a better understanding and awareness of water usage.


A new anomaly coupling technique is introduced into a coarse-resolution dynamic climate model [the Liege Ocean Carbon Heteronomous model (LOCH)–Vegetation Continuous Description model (VECODE)–Earth System Models of Intermediate Complexity Climate deBilt (ECBILT)–Coupled Large-Scale Ice–Ocean model (CLIO)–Antarctic andGreenland Ice SheetModel (AGISM) ensemble (LOVECLIM)], improving themodel's representation of eastern equatorial Pacific surface temperature variability. The anomaly coupling amplifies the surface diabatic atmospheric forcing within a Gaussian-shaped patch applied in the tropical Pacific Ocean. It is implemented with an improved predictive cloud scheme based on empirical relationships between cloud cover and key state variables. Results are presented from a perturbed physics ensemble systematically varying the parameters controlling the anomaly coupling patch size, location, and amplitude. The model's optimal parameter combination is chosen through calibration against the observed power spectrum of monthly-mean surface temperature anomalies in the Ni~no-3 region. The calibrated model exhibits substantial improvement in equatorial Pacific interannual surface temperature variability and robustly reproduces El Ni~no–SouthernOscillation (ENSO)-like variability. The authors diagnose some of the key atmospheric and oceanic feedbacks in themodel important for simulating ENSO-like variability, such as the positive Bjerknes feedback and the negative heat flux feedback, and analyze the recharge–discharge of the equatorial Pacific ocean heat content. They findLOVECLIM robustly captures important ocean dynamics related to thermocline adjustment and equatorial Kelvin waves. The calibrated model demonstrates some improvement in simulating atmospheric feedbacks, but the coupling between ocean and atmosphere is relatively weak. Because of the tractability of LOVECLIM and its consequent utility in exploring long-term climate variability and large ensemble perturbed physics experiments, improved representation of tropical Pacific ocean–atmosphere dynamics in the model may more readily allow for the investigation of the role of tropical Pacific ocean–atmosphere dynamics in past climate changes.


Background and aims: Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) is present in pancreatic islet cells and stimulates insulin and glucagon release from normal and diabetic rats. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of noradrenaline (NA) and acetylcholine (ACh) on VIP release from pancreatic islets of normal and diabetic rats. Methods: NA- and ACh-induced VIP release from isolated pancreatic tissue fragments was measured using radioimmunoassay technique. Results: The basal VIP release from the islets of diabetic rats was significantly (p = 0.02) higher compared to normal. NA at and 10-6 M also evoked large and significant (p = 0.04) increases in VIP release from the islets of normal rat. Moreover, NA at 10-8 M, significantly (p < 0.05) stimulated VIP release from the islets of diabetic rats. ACh (10-4 M), induced up to 46.6% increase in VIP secretion from the islet cells of normal (n = 6) rats. However, a more dilute concentration of ACh (10-8 M) was sufficient for the induction of maximal VIP secretion from the isolated islets of diabetic (n = 6) rat. ACh (10-6 M) evoked 32.3% increase in VIP secretion in diabetic rat islets. Conclusion: NA and ACh stimulated VIP secretion from pancreatic islets of normal rat. NA and ACh can also induce increases in VIP secretion from the islets of diabetic rat. The increase in VIP in the islets of diabetic rats may also play a role in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications.


According to the dual systems model, adolescence is a period of imbalance between cognitive and motivational systems that results in increased tendency towards risk. In the study, we investigated the effects of rewards on risk-taking and cognitive control in 90 adolescents (13-16) and 96 adults (1835). Our results challenge the assumptions of the model as we observed that rewards lead adolescents to more conservative decisions in one of the risk tasks used in the study. We also observed that in cognitive control tasks, rewards influenced reaction latencies, but not the efficiency of control processes.


It may be that the clinical and pathological manifestations of haemolytic disease of the foetus and neWborn are initiated by the release of histamine, heparin, and possibly other as yet unidentified substances following the antigen-antibody reaction between the various Rhesus-factor group-specific substances and their several antibody globulins. The precise origin and intimate mode of release of histamine is not known with certainty even in many conditions for which there is substantial evidence that it is concerned. If the antihistamines do not prove of value in this connexion, this may possibly shed some light on the pathogenesis of haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn. Antihistamines may also have a place in the management of haemolytic transfusion reactions, and this is being investigated at this depot as and when opportunity presents. Although antihistamines produce side reactions such as drowsiness in some individuals, they are not so far as is known toxic substances and are unlikely to harm the mother or foetus. It is hoped to present the results of the investigation now in progress as soon as a sufficiently large series has been collected to make a statistically satisfactory assessment possible, but there is nothing to be lost by their use on a purely empirical basis, preferably in close collaboration with an experienced blood group serologist or the nearest regional blood transfusion officer. -I am, etc.,


Language affiliation and use are important in constructing language identity and motivating individuals towards their language maintenance and Language affiliation and use are important in constructing language identity and motivating individuals towards their language maintenance and vitality efforts. In a multilingual context, these processes are actively promoting or hampering individuals in constructing and demonstrating their linguistic identities. In Pakistan, Urdu is constitutionally recognized as the national language, a marker of national identity and also opted as a medium for integration for different ethno-linguistic communities comprising Pakistani society. English language enjoys the status of official language and pervades all domains of society and is an integral part of the education system right from elementary education owing to the attached instrumental value. English language teachers have often complained of students' perceptions, attitudes, motivational issues; as factors rendering years of English language teaching-learning ineffective. Inadequate language identities are often at the root of this complex situation arising out of linguistic affiliations. The present study attempts to capture university students'L1 (Urdu) and L2 (English) identities and studying them from attachment and preferences with heritage and second languages and their learning. Quantitative data collected from 316 undergraduate students at a public university confirm the measures required to reinforce Urdu language and construction of language identity as part of language maintenance and vitality efforts, and language identity construction as the gap in English language learning efforts owing to the observed dichotomy in their language attachment and use. The findings reveal moderate level of language identity and learners' affiliation with their national language but a contradiction in their preference for its use in everyday living. Consequently, the divergence in attachment and precedence is significant in language policy and planning and teaching-learning of languages.


in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has been evaluated for several years although the results remain controversial. Materials & methods: Various databases were systematically searched to identify studies published on the p16 INK4A survival rate of ESCC patients. The pooled risk ratios and odds ratios with their corresponding 95% CIs were used to estimate the effect sizes. Results: A total of 16 studies comprising 1314 patients were included. p16 INK4A overexpression was significantly associated with improved 5-year overall survival, disease-free survival, early tumor TNM stages, better tumor histological grade, no lymph node metastasis and more shallow tumor invasive depth (p < 0.05). Conclusion: p16 INK4A expression could be a useful biomarker to predict better prognosis for ESCC patients.


The extent of chromosomal genetic variability and the genetic structure of Haemophilus influenzae populations was analyzed. A total of 119 isolates from humans in Göteborg, Sweden, and Birmingham, Ala., and 16 strains from a type culture collection were characterized for capsular type, biotype, outer membrane protein profile, and enzyme electrophoretic type (ET). The results of this study indicate that the bacteria identified as H. influenzae are a genetically extremely variable array of organisms. For the six enzymes studied, the estimated mean genetic diversity was 0.57 (approximately 20% higher than the corresponding estimate for Escherichia coli). Two lines of evidence indicate that despite its ability to recombine by transformation, H. influenzae maintains a largely clonal population structure. Although there is considerable potential for generating different genotypes, there were only 88 distinct ETs among the 135 strains, and isolates of the same ET and biotype were recovered at frequencies greater than would be anticipated at random. This evidence for a clonal population structure holds for uncapsulated as well as capsulated strains. However, these data also suggest that the stability of H. influenzae clones (clone persistence time) may be less than that of the nontransforming species E. coli. The ET data indicate that there is somewhat less variability among H. influenzae strains that express the same capsular antigens, biotype, and outer membrane proteins than among randomly chosen isolates. Nevertheless, there is substantial genetic variation among isolates within each of these classes and combinations thereof. There is also variation in these typing characteristics among strains of the same ET. These observations and those on genetic variability and population structures have implications for the characterization of H. influenzae isolates in clinical and epidemiological studies.


There is no commercial oil shale development in the United States today despite extensive and well known deposits and periodic flurries of interest. In the current energy situation the oil shales of the Green River Formation in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming are attracting a great deal of interest as a possible secure domestic source of synthetic crude oil. High grade oil shale deposits containing a potential 600 billion bbl of shale oil occur in an 11-million-acre area of the three states. The tempo of predevelopment activity has accelerated during the last year and the prospects for a domestic shale oil industry in the foreseeable future appear good. Four private industrial groups recently have announced tentative plans for development of private oil shale lands in Colorado. The Colony Development group has operated a semi-works scale facility north of Grand Valley, Colorado, at 1,000 tons per day with room and pillar underground mining techniques and a surface retort using the TOSCO II system. Union Oil Company has done prior experimental mining and retorting on their lands which adjoin the Colony property. Superior Oil Company has announced their intention to explore the lower oil shale zones by an inclined shaft to determine the feasibility of a multi-mineral development producing nahcolite and dawsonite as well as shale oil in the northern part of the Piceance basin. Occidental Petroleum Company has successfully operated an ex erimental in-situ retorting process north of DeBeque, Colorado. A group of 16 companies has joined in a 30-month program to develop and test a new retorting system. The United States Department of Interior has been involved in research and investigation of the Green River oil shales and the technology for their development for many years. It has now initiated a prototype program of leasing for development by private End_Page 905------------------------------ industry of a small part of the approximately 80% of the oil shale resources which are Federally owned. Four years of study and planning and the completion of a six-volume Environmental Impact Statement have preceded this action. If this program is successful the production from the six Federal leases combined with production from private lands could reach an estimated 400,000 bbl per day by the early 1980s and one million bbl per day before the close of that decade. The first lease offering under the prototype program of a single 5,100-acre tract in northwestern Colorado was on January 8, 1974. Eight offers were received with a high bid of $210,305,600 submitted by a combination of Standard Oil Company of Indiana and the Gulf Oil Corporation. This appears to be the highest per acre bid ever received by the Federal government for the leasing of any mineral deposit. The total of all bonus bids received was $641,126,463.09. End_of_Article - Last_Page 906------------


In this research, we have developed the data driven computational walking model to overcome the problem with traditional kinematics based model. Our model is adaptable and can adjust the parameter morphological similar to human. The human walk is a combination of different discrete sub-phases with their continuous dynamics. Any system which exhibits the discrete switching logic and continuous dynamics can be represented using a hybrid system. In this research, the bipedal locomotion is analyzed which is important for understanding the stability and to negotiate with the external perturbations. We have also studied the other important behavior push recovery. The Push recovery is also a very important behavior acquired by human with continuous interaction with environment. The researchers are trying to develop robots that must have the capability of push recovery to safely maneuver in a dynamic environment. The push is a very commonly experienced phenomenon in cluttered environment. The human beings can recover from external push up to a certain extent using different strategies of hip, knee and ankle. The different human beings have different push recovery capabilities. For example a wrestler has a better push negotiation capability compared to normal human beings. The push negotiation capability acquired by human, therefore, is based on learning but the learning mechanism is still unknown to researchers. The research community across the world is trying to develop various humanoid models to solve this mystery. Seeing all the conventional mechanics and control based models have some inherent limitations, a learning based computational model has been developed to address effectively this issue. In this research we will discuss how we have framed this problem as hybrid system.


Abstract This paper aims to analyse the effect of trade facilitation on sectoral trade flows. We use data from the World Bank's Doing Business Database on the fees associated with completing the procedures to export or import goods in a country, on the number of documents needed and on the required time to complete all the administrative procedures to import and export. An augmented gravity equation is estimated for 13 exporters and 167 importers using a number of estimation techniques, namely OLS, PPML and the Harvey model. A common result is that trade flows increase by lowering transport costs and the number of days required to trade. The outcome supports multilateral initiatives, as that in the WTO, which encourages countries to assess their trade facilitation needs and priorities and to improve them. The measures adopted will not only benefit the country that improves trade facilitation, but also it's trading partners.


Synopsis Selby established the fact that on many rock slopes a condition of 'strength–equilibrium' exists in which slope gradients are in adjustment with the mass strength of the underlying rock. An established assessment technique, the rock mass strength (RMS) classification, can be used to quantify rock slope condition and, in combination with slope gradient, determine the status of rock slopes with respect to a statistically-defined 'strength–equilibrium envelope'. This technique has been applied to 59 glacial valley slopes in the English Lake District, an area with characteristic 'U-shaped' glacial valleys, deglaciated around 11 ka bp. Overall, two-thirds of the slopes examined plot within the limits of the strength-equilibrium envelope, whilst the remainder are 'understeepened' or 'oversteepened' with respect to their RMS. 'U-shaped' valleys possess slopes that are yet to respond measurably to post-glacial erosion or readjust significantly. Evidently, slopes in similar deglaciated environments with tectonic, climatic and relief characteristics comparable with those of the Lake District need more than 11 ka (and probably much more) to evolve into strength-equilibrium. The implication is that even if slopes plot within the strength-equilibrium envelope they are in a pseudo-equilibrium condition, indicating that the Selby strength-equilibrium theorem is inapplicable to landscapes deglaciated c. 11 ka bp.


Computational quantum chemistry can be more than just numerical experiments when methods are specifically adapted to investigate chemical concepts. One important example is the development of energy decomposition analysis (EDA) to reveal the physical driving forces behind intermolecular interactions. In EDA, typically the interaction energy from a good-quality density functional theory (DFT) calculation is decomposed into multiple additive components that unveil permanent and induced electrostatics, Pauli repulsion, dispersion, and charge-transfer contributions to noncovalent interactions. Herein, we formulate, implement, and investigate decomposing the forces associated with intermolecular interactions into the same components. The resulting force decomposition analysis (FDA) is potentially useful as a complement to the EDA to understand chemistry, while also providing far more information than an EDA for data analysis purposes such as training physics-based force fields. We apply the FDA based on absolutely localized molecular orbitals (ALMOs) to analyze interactions of water with sodium and chloride ions as well as in the water dimer. We also analyze the forces responsible for geometric changes in carbon dioxide upon adsorption onto (and activation by) gold and silver anions. We also investigate how the force components of an EDA-based force field for water clusters, namely MB-UCB, compare to those from force decomposition analysis.


Sound radiation due to unsteady interaction between an inviscid vortex (which models a turbulent eddy) and a finite length flexible boundary in a two-dimensional space is studied using potential theory and the matched asymptotic expansion technique. The Mach number of the vortex propagation is kept below 0.15. Results suggest that the monopole field created by the volumetric flow induced by the vibrating flexible boundary dominates the overall acoustic power radiation. The longitudinal dipole directly due to the transverse vortex acceleration is only important when the vortex is moving over the flexible boundary. The longitudinal dipole resulting from the boundary vibration gains slightly in importance in the strong vortex case, but the corresponding transverse dipole remains negligible for the cases considered in the present study. The two longitudinal dipoles give rise to biased radiation directivities on both sides of the flexible boundary.


Motivation plays in important role in rehabilitation after stroke. Multi-modal games can provide an engaging and interactive platform to motivate people to actively participate in the therapy. Designing games for rehabilitation requires input from both multiple stakeholders such as the medical, bioengineering and game design fields. In order to bridge this gap, we implemented and tested games specifically designed for upper limb rehabilitation and observed their effects on players. This paper presents the design process for three rehabilitation games and their effects on motivation of a single stroke patient. These results indicate that engagement and enjoyment vary for the three different games while managing to achieve repetitive number of hand and wrist gestures in the background. In our summative evaluation planned to be conducted in patients' homes, 9 different games, including the three presented here, are provided to allow for providing a better range and a wider choice. Use-logs as well as the questionnaire trialed in this study will be used to assess preference and motivation, and to explore if current feedback will be repeated by a larger number of stroke patients and a wider range of impairments and preferences. These will further inform the process of game design for rehabilitation and personal well-being.


Research investigating gaze in natural scenes has identified a number of spatial biases in where people look, but it is unclear whether these are partly due to constrained testing environments (e.g., a participant with their head restrained and looking at a landscape image framed within a computer monitor). We examined the extent to which image shape (square vs. circle), image rotation, and image content (landscapes vs. fractal images) influence eye and head movements in virtual reality (VR). Both the eyes and head were tracked while observers looked at natural scenes in a virtual environment. In line with previous work, we found a bias for saccade directions parallel to the image horizon, regardless of image shape or content. We found that, when allowed to do so, observers move both their eyes and head to explore images. Head rotation, however, was idiosyncratic; some observers rotated a lot, whereas others did not. Interestingly, the head rotated in line with the rotation of landscape but not fractal images. That head rotation and gaze direction respond differently to image content suggests that they may be under different control systems. We discuss our findings in relation to current theories on head and eye movement control and how insights from VR might inform more traditional eye-tracking studies.


New Zealand's success in raising agricultural productivity has been accompanied by higher input use, leading to adverse effects on the environment. Until recently, analysis of farm performance has tended to ignore such negative externalities. The current emphasis on environmental issues has led dairy farmers to target improvements in both environmental performance and productivity. Therefore measuring the environmental performance of farms and integrating this information into farm productivity calculations should assist informed policy decisions which promote sustainable development. However this is a challenging process since conventional environmental efficiency measures are usually based on simple input and output flows but nitrogen discharge is a complex process which depends on climate variability, pasture and cow physiology and geophysical variability. Furthermore the outdoor, pastoral nature of New Zealand farming means that it is difficult to control input and output flows, particularly of nitrogen. Therefore this paper proposes a novel approach to measure environmental and economic efficiency of farms using the Overseer nutrient budget model and a spatially micro-simulated virtual population data. Empirical analysis is based on dairy farms in the Karapiro catchment, where nitrogen discharge from dairy farming is major source of nonpoint pollution.


This study was undertaken to investigate the influence of the initial powder particle size on the microstructure development in a Cu-3wt% Ag alloy obtained by vacuum plasma spraying of a mixture of copper and silver powders. Various mixtures of powder particles were used where the copper powder particle size was kept as –80/+40 μm, while the silver powder particle size fraction was varied. Vacuum plasma spraying (VPS) in inert gas atmosphere was used to elaborate thick coatings (2 mm) with limited oxygen contamination. Significant variations in microstructure were obtained depending on the Ag powder size fraction that was used. These differences in behavior are discussed taking into account differences in the solid state precipitation mechanisms in the alloy.


In the long-term transmission system hardening, critical components in transmission infrastructure should be identified and hardened to reduce the load loss risk in the presence of scheduled and unscheduled outages. Generally, the probabilistic information of assets in power systems can be evaluated via historical statistics. On the basis of the prior probabilistic information, this study proposed a tri-level optimisation model to deal with the problem of long-term transmission system hardening, in which the risk assessment is taken into account in the objective function. Furthermore, the problem is formulated as a two-stage robust optimisation model. To address the non-linear problem in the inner model, logarithmic transformation and piecewise linearisation are utilised to exactly linearise the non-linear terms in the model. Finally, the standard column-and-constraints generation algorithm is employed to solve the proposed model with a master–sub-problem framework. The test results on a standard IEEE RTS-96 system show the effectiveness of the proposed model.


Abstract DuFort–Frankel averaging is a tactic to stabilize Richardson's unstable three-level leapfrog timestepping scheme. By including the next time level in the right-hand-side evaluation, it is implicit, but it can be rearranged to give an explicit updating formula, thus apparently giving the best of both worlds. Textbooks prove unconditional stability for the heat equation, and extensive use on a variety of advection–diffusion equations has produced many useful results. Nonetheless, for some problems the scheme can fail in an interesting and surprising way, leading to instability at very long times. An analysis for a simple problem involving a pair of evolution equations that describe the spread of a rabies epidemic gives insight into how this occurs. An even simpler modified diffusion equation suffers from the same instability. Finally, the rabies problem is revisited and a stable method is found for a restricted range of parameter values, although no prescriptive recipe is known which selects this particular choice.


Abstract Objective: To investigate histological features of deposited amyloid in the synovial tissue and its clinical significance in knee joint osteoarthritis (OA) patients. Methods: We prospectively enrolled 232 consecutive patients who underwent arthroplasty or total replacement of the knee joint for treatment of OA. Congo red staining and immunohistochemistry were performed in the synovial tissue obtained at surgery. When transthyretin (TTR)-derived amyloid was positive, we analyzed all 4 exons of the TTR gene using the direct DNA sequencing method in order to detect mutations. Results: We analyzed 322 specimens in this study. Twenty-six specimens (8.1%) obtained from 21 patients (5 men and 16 women; mean, 79.0 ± 4.6 years) showed deposition of amyloid, which was positively stained with the anti-TTR antibody. Eighteen patients showed inhomogeneous accumulations of amyloid in the loose connective tissue under the synovial epithelia sometimes with nodule formation, while in the remaining three, small vessels in the adipose tissue were involved. Medical records of these patients revealed nothing remarkable in the clinical course, laboratory data or macroscopic intraarticular findings at surgery. No mutations were detectable in the TTR gene analysis. Conclusion: Wild-type TTR-derived amyloid may affect the synovial tissue as a result of long-term mechanical stress or as a part of senile systemic amyloidosis in approximately 8% of knee joint OA patients. No obvious clinical significance was found in synovial deposition of amyloid.


Previous experiments [C. Trahiotis and R. M. Stern, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 86, 1285–1293 (1989)] have shown changes in the lateralization of a bandlimited noise centered at 500 Hz with an ITD of 1.5 ms as its bandwidth is increased. The phenomenon is thought to be due to across‐frequency integration of ITD information. The present experiment extends this phenomenon to an FM 500‐Hz tone. With no FM the 500‐Hz tone is heard on the lagging ear, but tones with appropriate rates and depths of FM are heard on the leading ear. Subjects indicated which of two FM tones (ITD=±1.5 ms) was heard more on the left. At 40 Hz FM, subjective lateralization changed at an FM depth of about 30%. At slower rates of FM, greater FM depth was needed to change subjective lateralization, so that at 5 Hz, about 45% modulation was needed. These results may be due to listeners integrating ITD information across both frequency and time. [Work supported by MRC.]


Biometric systems are developed in order to replace traditional authentication. However, protecting the stored templates is considered as one of the critical steps in designing a secure biometric system. When biometric data is compromised, unlike passwords, it can't be revoked. One methodology for biometric template protection is 'Biometric Cryptosystem'. Biometric cryptosystems benefit from both fields of cryptography and biometrics where the biometrics exclude the need to remember passwords and the cryptography provides high security levels for data. In order to, develop these systems, Fuzzy Commitment Scheme (FCS) is considered as well known approach proposed in the literature to protect the user's data and has been used in several applications. However, these biometric cryptosystems are hampered by the lack of formal security analysis to prove their security strength and effectiveness. Hence, in this paper we present several metrics to analyze the security and evaluate the weaknesses of biometric cryptosystems based on fuzzy commitment scheme.


The field of multiple sclerosis (MS) is in need of a consistent method of measuring smoking to examine its role in disease risk and severity. A pilot study was conducted to examine the association between smoking and disease risk in MS cases (n=26) and controls (n=26). Disease severity within MS patients was assessed through clinical and radiological outcomes. These measures were confirmed within a larger dataset of MS patients (n=512) that additionally contained genotyping information. There were no significant differences in disease risk or severity in the pilot study. Within the larger dataset, clinical score trended toward significance (p=0.13). Stratification based on HLA DRB1*1501 status showed that MS smokers with the HLA DRB1*1501 allele had 2.86 greater odds of having more severe clinical disease than nonsmokers with the genotype (1.41, 5.80; p=0.003). To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine smoking and MS disease severity while controlling for genotype. Milena Gianfrancesco 3


Over half a century after the discovery of chlorpromazine and haloperidol, antipsychotic drugs showed a true evolutionary revolution. The knowledge of their adverse effects is of outmost importance as it may contribute to the prevention of unwanted sequelae, to the decrease of the duration and cost of hospitalization, it may improve the quality of life of patients, minimize the problems and maximize the therapeutic gain. Aim: The aim of this review was the presentation of the hematologic side-effects of antipsychotic drugs, and most particularly their frequency and association with the different classes of these drugs, their clinical picture and their pathophysiologic mechanisms. Τρίμηνη, ηλεκτρονική έκδοση του Τμήματος Νοσηλευτικής Α', Τεχνολογικό Εκπαιδευτικό Ίδρυμα Αθήνας Σελίδα | 22 Αιματολογικές διαταραχές επαγόμενες από αντιψυχωτικά φάρμακα Material-method: This paper is a review of the literature (mainly articles from journals, PubMed, as well as books and monographs) of the period 1978-2012. Key-words used included antipsychotics, hematologic adverse effects, drug-induced adverse effects. Results: Antipsychotic-drug induced hematologic side-effects are not particularly highly prevalent, while many of them are found in case reports. For this reason they have not drawn much of attention. These hematologic dyscrasias may concern all the blood cell series as well as the coagulation mechanism. Excluded from this rule is the case of clozapine-induced agranulocytosis, which demands increased clinical vigilance. In fact, agranulocytosis was the reason why the drug was drawn away from circulation approximately 35 years ago. Conclusions: In any case the appearance of a hematologic disorder in a patient receiving antipsychotic medications should prompt careful evaluation.


: The history of military medicine has always been closely linked with that of vaccinations. Doctors of Armed Forces, doctors of collectivities, have contributed to vaccination progresses in large amounts. But evolutions are often rapid here: epidemiological modifications, improvements in the existing vaccines or creation of new vaccines, diversification of military specificities. Three recent modifications in the vaccination schedule of the Armed Forces show this necessary adaptation: Systematization of the meningococcal A + C vaccination during the incorporation, because of the modification of the disease's epidemiological profile: increase of the frequency in serogroup C with a mortality increase (9 cases of death out of 10 observed between 1991 and 1992). Cancellation of antityphoid vaccination for recruits serving in home country. Indeed the disease has become rare in France, and this is often due to imported cases (3 cases in the Armed Forces in 1992). Introduction in 1994 of vaccination against viral hepatitis A, systematic under the age of 25 years and after a serological selection above for servicemen having to serve overseas or for outside operations. These 3 examples show the necessity to have updated and adaptable vaccination schedules.


Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid is a rare type of thyroid neoplasm. The most common clinical presentation is a single palpable thyroid nodule. The neoplasm typically presents as a nonfunctioning or cold nodule on a Tc-99m sodium pertechnetate or radioiodine thyroid scan. We report a case of Hurthle cell carcinoma of the thyroid in a woman presenting with thyrotoxicosis. The Tc-99m thyroid scan was also interesting in that the nodule was a hot or hyperfunctioning area, resulting in a rare scintigraphic finding in a rare tumor. Clinicopathologic aspects and related issues are further discussed.