Seven virus-specific RNA transcripts have been identified in tumours induced by bovine papillomavirus type 4 (BPV-4). The RNAs measured 4.2, 3.6, 3.0, 2.8, 1.9, 1.6 and 1.0 kilobases (kb). They were mapped on the viral genome by Northern blot hybridization to subgenomic probes, by cDNA hybridization to viral DNA fragments and by S1 analysis of unlabelled and 3' and 5' end-labelled DNA fragments. All the RNA species are transcribed from the same DNA strand, are polyadenylated and with the exception of the 1.0 kb RNA internally spliced. The 3.0, 1.9, 1.6 and 1.0 kb RNAs share the same 3' polyadenylation site at nucleotide 4009 whereas the 4.2 kb RNA and the 2.8 kb RNAs terminate near a polyadenylation site at nucleotide 7187. The 4.2 kb and the 2.8 kb RNAs are transcribed from the late open reading frames and encode the structural polypeptides; the 3.0, 1.9, 1.6 and 1.0 kb RNAs are transcribed from the early open reading frames and are the transcripts involved in viral replication and cellular transformation.


An overview of a little-known method, which was discovered by Dr. Alexander S. Samokhotskiy, for treatment of gangrenous, traumatic, and postoperative inflammation, sepsis and some other diseases, was represented. Dr. A. S. Samokhotskiy carried out numerous animal experiments and clinical trials and found that application of wet bandages and/or intravenous injection of solution containing trivalent chromium ions (Cr3+), alum, resorcinol, sodium salicylate, lactate buffer, colloidal sulphur, thioglycolic acid and glutathione with adding KCl, MgCI2, CaCl2 or NaCl solutions can heal inflammation of various etiology. Intravenous injections of particular therapeutic solution containing Na+, K+, Ca2+ or Mg2+ ions were administered in dependence on concentration of these ions in patient's blood plasma. Thousands of patients, many of them with fatal afflictions, where other methods were helpless, were healed by Dr. A. S. Samokhotskiy with the help of his method. Purpose of this publication is to inform the international medical community with the Dr. A. S. Samokhotskiy's discovery and initiate further research in this area.


Abstract- Case report: A 77-years-old female presented to us with one month history of gradually progressive, painful erythematous plaque on left periorbital region. In view of clinical and histological features, a diagnosis of Wells' syndrome was estabilished. Since the patient was an elderly female, dapsone was preferred to systemic steroids for treatment. Significant improvement was noted after one month of treatment with dapsone 100 mg once daily and the plaque completely cleared in 12 weeks duration, without leaving any residual atrophy or scarring. Dapsone was stopped and there was no recurrence seen at 3 months follow-up. Conclusion: Wells' syndrome or eosinophilic cellulitis is a very rare dermatosis and it can present with wide variety of clinical presentations and differential diagnoses. Awareness of these myriad presentations is needed for its early identification and management to save the patient from undue investigations and treatments. Also, after establishing the diagnosis, search for an underlying inflammatory or proliferative systemic disease should be performed wherever there is some associated clinical or investigation based clue.


Abstract. Stratospheric sulfate geoengineering (SSG) could
contribute to avoiding some of the adverse impacts of climate change. We
used the SOCOL-AER global aerosol–chemistry–climate model to investigate 21
different SSG scenarios, each with 1.83 Mt S yr−1 injected either in
the form of accumulation-mode H2SO4 droplets (AM H2SO4),
gas-phase SO2 or as combinations of both. For most scenarios, the
sulfur was continuously emitted at an altitude of 50 hPa (≈20 km) in the
tropics and subtropics. We assumed emissions to be zonally and latitudinally
symmetric around the Equator. The spread of emissions ranged from
3.75∘ S–3.75∘ N to 30∘ S–30∘ N. In
the SO2 emission scenarios, continuous production of tiny nucleation-mode
particles results in increased coagulation, which together with gaseous
H2SO4 condensation, produces coarse-mode particles. These large
particles are less effective for backscattering solar radiation and have a
shorter stratospheric residence time than AM H2SO4 particles. On
average, the stratospheric aerosol burden and corresponding all-sky
shortwave radiative forcing for the AM H2SO4 scenarios are about
37 % larger than for the SO2 scenarios. The simulated stratospheric
aerosol burdens show a weak dependence on the latitudinal spread of
emissions. Emitting at 30∘ N–30∘ S instead of
10∘ N–10∘ S only decreases stratospheric burdens by about 10 %.
This is because a decrease in coagulation and the resulting smaller particle
size is roughly balanced by faster removal through
stratosphere-to-troposphere transport via tropopause folds. Increasing the
injection altitude is also ineffective, although it generates a larger
stratospheric burden, because enhanced condensation and/or coagulation leads
to larger particles, which are less effective scatterers. In the case of
gaseous SO2 emissions, limiting the sulfur injections spatially and
temporally in the form of point and pulsed emissions reduces the total
global annual nucleation, leading to less coagulation and thus smaller
particles with increased stratospheric residence times. Pulse or point
emissions of AM H2SO4 have the opposite effect: they decrease
the stratospheric aerosol burden by increasing coagulation and only slightly
decrease clear-sky radiative forcing. This study shows that direct emission
of AM H2SO4 results in higher radiative forcing for the same
sulfur equivalent mass injection strength than SO2 emissions, and that
the sensitivity to different injection strategies varies for different forms
of injected sulfur.


In recent years, the focus of discussions in contemporary society has been shifting towards family and family-related themes. Family discourse has become one of the major topics in analysing questions of ethnic and cultural identity in both the humanities and social sciences. One of the ways to answer these questions is to analyse holidays that bring family members together and the place these holidays occupy in the structure of the ritual year. For these purposes, comparative research of two different states of the European Union, Lithuania and Bulgaria, was carried out. Using the results of fieldwork conducted in Vilnius from 2012 to 2016 (as part of the projects "Social Interaction and Cultural Expression in the City: Leisure, Festivals and Rituals 2012–2016" and "Contemporary Festivals in the Vilnius Family 2012– 2014") and in Sofia (as part of the project "Contemporary Festivity in Bulgaria and Lithuania: From Traditional Culture to Post-Modern Transformations 2014–2016") I tried to compare calendar holidays celebrated in the families of different cities in 2015.
 Although Vilnius and Sofia are capitals of member-states of the European Union, their different history, geographical situation, ethnic and religious compositions, size (Sofia with population of 1,211,000 in 2012, and Vilnius with 543,060 inhabitants in 2015), and many other factors should have led to different family rituals in these cities. However, a comparison of festive customs and traditions of people belonging to the dominant ethnic and confessional groups (Bulgarian Orthodox and Lithuanian Catholic) revealed many common features. I tried to reveal them by examining traditions of family celebration of Christmas Eve, Christmas, the New Year, and Easter placing emphasis on the dominant symbols of each holiday, the places where celebrations are held, the food served, and the gifts exchanged.
 In most cases, only the names of the dishes served during the festivity, the ways of cooking, and ingredients were different. Also, among the Bulgarian people, the popular beliefs associated with these holidays are still more abundant than among the Lithuanians. Among all the holidays, it is possible to single out Christmas Eve, which is equally important in the families in Sofia and Vilnius. An Orthodox Christmas Eve dinner in Sofia is as important as a Catholic Christmas Eve dinner in Vilnius. Meanwhile, the Orthodox and Old Believers of Vilnius give priority to Christmas and not Christmas Eve. The second important family festivity in both countries is Easter, and less religious respondents distinguish the New Year.
 Diachronic analysis of the ritual year shows the same situation in the attempts to preserve the traditional ritual year during the socialist era in both countries. When analysing Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Easter, and only partially the New Year, both in Bulgaria and in Lithuania, the words "tradition" and "family" are commonly referred to. As festive customs transmitted from generation to generation in both cities, it allows us to talk about the "double ritual year" of the socialist period. One year existed in the closed family space, and the other existed in public and was controlled by ideological structures. At the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century, the contrast between family and public holidays disappeared, but family holidays remain a priority.


The spectrum of plasma proteins present in human cortical bone and permanent dentine has been determined. One plasma glycoprotein, the alpha2HS-glycoprotein, was found to be present at a high concentration in both bone and dentine and was shown to be concentrated in the mineralized tissues with respect to the other plasma proteins by factors of between 30 and 100. In this respect the alpha2HS-glycoprotein is analogous to the G2B-glycoprotein and alpha-glycoprotein of bovine and rabbit b one, respectively. The binding of alpha2HS-glycoprotein and albumin to calcium phosphates generated within serum samples has been studied at different serum:precipitate ratios. In each case all the alpha2HS-glycoprotein was removed from the samples and the alpha2HS-glycoprotein was concentrated with respect to albumin by factors ranging from 370 at the highest serum:precipitate ratio to 25 at the lowest ratio. The plasma alpha2HS-glycoprotein concentrations of patients with Paget's disease of bone were shown to be substantially lower than the normal range, with significant negative correlation between the alpha2HS-glycoprotein concentration and the plasma alkaline phosphatase activity.


The frame theory has been one of powerful tools for researching into wavelets. The notion of the bivariate generalized multiresolution structure (BGMS) is presented. The concepts of Bessel sequences and orthogonal bivariate pseudoframes are introduced. Two Bessel sequences are said to be orthogonal ones if the composition of synthesis operator of one sequence with the analysis operator of the other is the zero-operator. It is characterized that when two Bessel sequences are orthogonal while the Bessel sequences possess the form of translates of a finite number of bivariate functions in . A constructive method for affine frames of based on a BGMS is established.


Objective: To determine the role of perioperative intravenous dexamethasone in reducing post adenotonsillectomy morbidity in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods: A Prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled study was conducted at Ekenywa Specialized Hospital. Fifty patients were randomised to receive three doses of intravenous dexamethasone (13 males and 12 females) or placebo (13 males and 12 females) administered eight hourly for the first 24hours after surgery (1mg/kg). Data were analysed using statistical package for social sciences version 21 and P-value<.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: Intravenous dexamethasone was found to exert significant effects in terms of reducing the severity of some observed postoperative parameters such as pain scores, post-operative nausea and vomiting (PONV), tolerance to oral fluids, discharge from hospital, postoperative hemorrhage, postoperative pain, re-admission and wound healing between the two groups of patients. In this study, dexamethasone did not significantly exert any effect on fever in the first 24 hours after surgery. Conclusions: Intravenous dexamethasone is an effective and safe method for reducing post adenotonsillectomy morbidity.


The IT Plan is generally seen as a cornerstone of the IS/IT presence in an organisation. Researchers have outlined various approaches to IT planning and many have suggested categorising such plans in terms of an evolutionary model detailing the degree of integration with organisational business plans. To determine how IT plans are developed in practice and the actual forces at play the study in this paper uses an evolutionary model to examine the development of the IT plan over a five year period in a large governmental organisation. The case study highlights some of the pain and disruption evident within the IT department of a large governmental organization as it moves through the various business stages of "corporatisation", "privatisation" and "down-sizing". The findings highlight that IT plans do not always evolve through stages of closer integration with the business plan; that the IT plan can be viewed as a political manifesto often with the intention of cementing the IT Department's place in the organisation; and that an overly rational approach to planning appears to achieve very little. A complex interplay of structural and agency factors determine the success of IT plans at any particular stage and when both conspire in opposition a likely outcome is its complete obliteration.


Techniques for captive-rearing and releasing piping plovers (Charadrius melodus) were developed using a surrogate species, killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). We compared captive- and parent-reared killdeer, and parent-reared piping plovers and determined that growth and behavior were similar. After surrogate trials determined that captive-rearing was feasible, we used the same methods to raise piping plover chicks from salvaged eggs. For captive-reared chick of both species, survival to fledging was higher than and behaviors similar to parent-reared chicks in the wild. Rearing techniques were fine-tuned, and ten piping plover fledglings were released to the wild. Based on our results, we developed recommendations for captive-rearing piping plovers using salvaged eggs to enhance productivity of small populations. Zoo Biol 16:461‐477, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.


Posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD) presenting clinically in the skin are rare and usually of B-cell phenotype. Only 7 cases of cutaneous T-cell PTLD have been previously reported, mostly mycosis fungoides type, with no known cases of "cutaneous" presentation by CD30+ (Ki-1) anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL).The case reported is a 59-year-old male who developed multiple skin nodules on the right leg, 6 years following renal transplantation. Initial biopsy showed ALCL involving the dermis with a background rich in neutrophils. The neoplastic cells were of T-cell phenotype, strongly CD30+ with typical staining, and BCL-2 positive, but P53 negative. No EBV was detected by IHC, ISH, or DNA analysis. One year later, he developed painful subcutaneous nodules with surrounding erythema, resembling deep pustules or panniculitis, which on biopsy showed preferential involvement of the subcutaneous fat and prominent component of neutrophils. Twenty-two months following diagnosis, he died of cardiac failure with terminal myocardial infarct. There was however no clinical evidence of systemic spread of the lymphoma.This report adds to the clinical and morphologic spectrum of these rare "cutaneous" lymphomas of T-cell lineage arising in the posttransplantation setting, and suggests that EBV does not play a role in their pathogenesis.


Moomin and the Little Ghost is a brand new Moomin picture book! The Moomin Family are relaxing on holiday; with the exception of Moomin. Every night he is being visited by a little ghost and Moomin is getting more and more scared by him. His friends and family don't know what to do to help him. Then one night, Moomin's beloved friend - Snorkmaiden, goes missing and Moomin bravely sets off to find her. What will happen next...? This is the fifth in a series of Moomin picture books. This delightful story is a gently affirming read, perfect for Halloween and snuggling up! Tove Jansson was born in Helsingfors, Finland, in 1914. Her mother was a caricaturist who designed 165 of Finland's stamps and her father was a sculptor. She studied painting in Finland, Sweden and France, and subsequently became a book illustrator. Her extraordinary illustrative style is seen as a design classic the world over. Originally written in Swedish, the Moomintroll books have been translated into 34 languages and adapted for television, film, radio and opera. Tove Jansson lived alone on a small island in the gulf of Finland, where most of her books were written. She died in 2001. Look out for these other Moomin picture books: Moomin and the Moonlight Adventure; Moomin and the Birthday Button; Moomin and the New Friend; and, Moomin and the Winter Snow.


Angiogenesis is essential for cardiac functional recovery after myocardial infarction (MI). HSPA12B is predominately expressed in endothelial cells and required for angiogenesis. Yes-associated protein (YAP) plays an important role in tumor angiogenesis. This study investigated the cooperative role of HSPA12B and YAP in angiogenesis after MI. Silencing of either HSPA12B or YAP impaired hypoxia-promoted endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis. Deficiency of HSPA12B suppressed YAP expression and nuclear translocation after hypoxia. Knockdown of YAP attenuated hypoxia-stimulated HSPA12B nuclear translocation and abrogated HSPA12B-promoted endothelial cell angiogenesis. Mechanistically, hypoxia induced an interaction between endothelial HSPA12B and YAP. ChIP assay showed that HSPA12B is a target gene of YAP/transcriptional enhanced associated domain 4 (TEAD4) and a coactivator in YAP-associated angiogenesis. In vivo studies using the MI model showed that endothelial cell–specific deficiency of HSPA12B (eHspa12b–/–) or YAP (eYap–/–) impaired angiogenesis and exacerbated cardiac dysfunction compared with WT mice. MI increased YAP expression and nuclear translocation in WT hearts but not eHspa12b–/– hearts. HSPA12B expression and nuclear translocation were upregulated in WT MI hearts but not eYap–/– MI myocardium. Our data demonstrate that endothelial HSPA12B is a target and coactivator for YAP/TEAD4 and cooperates with YAP to regulate endothelial angiogenesis after MI.


The world is heading towards a more sustainable outlook, and products such as cross-laminated timber (CLT) provide real options for lowering the environmental impact of future projects. Although, multi-storey CLT structures are in the early phase of development and their uses are on the rise, research related to CLT is fragmented and in need of an integrated critical analysis. This paper aims to address the effect of CLT on the high-rise construction industry in Australia in the light of worldwide developments taking place in research and practice. Using a behavioural and descriptive approach, 51 key research articles from 2010-17 are reviewed, with underlying themes in such areas as the technical analysis of CLT, material properties of CLT, sustainable advantages relating to CLT, market awareness barriers in the implementation of CLT, and aesthetic design opportunities available to designers. The findings include a strong case for CLT as a sustainable renewable material, significant savings in program time and associated overheads, low site impact, and significant weight savings, leading to a lower cost of foundations and transfer slabs. CLT is a structurally viable alternative material and further studies into user and industry attitude will positively influence the potential of CLT and other green materials in high-rise construction in Australia. The factors that hinder the growth of CLT in high-rise construction in Australia are industry resistance to change, negative user perceptions, legislative barriers, high up-front cost, and lack of local CLT supply. To overcome the obstacles to CLT use in Australia, this paper suggests the need to improve collaboration between stakeholders in the development of the building code, and training initiatives to increase awareness and development of the knowledge base of its use in construction in Europe and the United States.


The cultivation of genetically engineered crops has been expanded rapidly in worldwide in a very short span of time. Bt eggplant is a transgenic eggplant created by inserting a crystal protein gene Cry1Ac from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis . Four Bt eggplant varieties - BARI Bt Eggplant-1, BARI Bt Eggplant-2, BARI Bt Eggplant-3 and BARI Bt Eggplant-4 are started to cultivate in Bangladesh in 2014 as first genetically engineered crop in the country. In the present study, ELISA technique was adopted to quantify the Cry1Ac proteins in the fruits of newly released four Bt eggplant varieties. The expression of Cry1Ac was found among the fruits of the varieties varied from 29.53 to 33.99 µg g -1 .  Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 5(3): 356-360


This letter presents a modulation technique for themodified coupled-inductor single-stage boost inverter (CLSSBI)-based grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) system. This technique can reduce the system leakage current in a great deal and can meet the VDE0126-1-1 standard. To maintain the advantages of the impedance network, only a diode is added in the front of the original topology, to block the leakage current loop during the active vectors and open-zero vectors. On the other hand, the near-state pulse width modulation (NSPWM) technique is applied with one-leg shoot-through zero vectors in order to reduce the leakage current through the conduction path in the duration of changing from and to open-zero vectors. Simultaneously, the leakage current caused by other transitions can also be reduced due to the fact that the magnitude of common-mode voltages is reduced. Simulation re-sults of the transformerless PV system are presented in two cases: modified CL-SSBI modulated by maximum constant boost (MCB) control method and NSPWM. Experimental results for both CL-SSBI topology modulated by the MCB control method and mod-ified CL-SSBI topology modulated by NSPWM are also obtained to verify the accurateness of theoretical and simulation models.


Analyses were made on a homogeneous turbulence field with large turbulence intensity generated by a mechanical turbulence generator in a small wind tunnel. The large turbulent Reynolds numbers, ReL > 3000 and Reλ > 200, were obtained in the present experiment. These values were proven to exceed the criteria allowing the wide internal subrange to exist in the energy spectra. The turbulent Reynolds numbers decreased monotonously in the streamwise direction and attained a quasi-steady state for about X/M ≥ 50. These results suggest that it is possible to simulate the fluid dynamical phenomena of the actual large-scale turbulent flow fields in the test section of a small wind tunnel. The universal constant of Kolmogorov, α, was determined from the spectral distributions. The resultant value, α ≒ 0.64, agreed closely to those obtained in the recent results of field experiments and theoretical analyses.


All large transport aircraft are required to be equipped with a collision avoidance system that instructs pilots how to maneuver to avoid collision with other aircraft. Uncertainty in the compliance of pilots to advisories makes designing collision avoidance logic challenging. Prior work has investigated formulating the problem as a Markov decision process and solving for the optimal collision avoidance strategy using dynamic programming. The logic was optimized to a pilot response model in which the pilot responds deterministically to all alerts. Deviation from this model during flight can degrade safety. This paper extends the methodology to include probabilistic pilot response models that capture the variability in pilot behavior in order to enhance robustness.


Historically, although overall attitudes to court interpreting vary over time, certain issues are perennial : in particular, an individual's right (or otherwise) to interpretation (entitlement), deciding whether a need for interpretation exists (determination), and interpreter competence (quality). This paper strives to convey an awareness of the various difficulties that seem from case reports to have existed historically — and may indeed still be present in various judicial systems — in addressing these issues in a way which seems satisfactory to the various participants involved. It does so by quoting extensively the words of some of the judicial actors who over the decades have addressed this vital, but often woefully under-considered issue. The lamentable plight in which some language-handicapped defendants have found themselves may be guessed at from appellate courts' comments about the behaviour of lower courts.


In this paper we present three attacks on private internal networks behind a NAT and a corresponding new protection mechanism, Internal Network Policy, to mitigate a wide range of attacks that penetrate internal networks behind a NAT. In the attack scenario, a victim is tricked to visit the attacker's website, which contains a malicious script that lets the attacker access the victim's internal network in different ways, including opening a port in the NAT or sending a sophisticated request to local devices. The first attack utilizes DNS Rebinding in a particular way, while the other two demonstrate different methods of attacking the network, based on application security vulnerabilities. Following the attacks, we provide a new browser security policy, Internal Network Policy (INP), which protects against these types of vulnerabilities and attacks. This policy is implemented in the browser just like Same Origin Policy (SOP) and prevents malicious access to internal resources by external entities.


Simultaneous Treatment of Organic (Phenol) and Heavy Metal (Cr6+ or Pt4+) Wastes over TiO2, ZnO-TiO2 andCdS-TiO2 Photocatalysts. Treatment of heavy metal (Cr6+ and Pt4+) and organic (phenol) wastes has been studied usingthe relatively new method, i.e. simultaneous photocatalytic process over TiO2 photocatalysts in the batch photoreactor.Following the photocatalytic reduction of the heavy metal wastes, recovery of Cr and Pt was carried out by precipitationand leaching method, respectively. The experimental results show that in the simultaneous photocatalytic system, thereis a synergism effect between the photocatalytic reduction of heavy metal waste (Cr6+ or Pt4+) and the oxidation oforganic waste (phenol), so that increasing the conversion of each other. Dopant of ZnO with the optimum loading (0.5wt%) could slightly increase the performance of TiO2 photocatalyst in photocatalytic treatment of the wastes. WhereasCdS dopant with the optimum loading of 1 wt% could significantly enhance the performance of TiO2 photocatalyst insimultaneous Cr(VI) reduction and phenol oxidation with the highest conversion of ≥ 97 % and 93 %, respectively.Photocatalytic reduction of Pt(IV) under 0.5%ZnO-TiO2 and 1%CdS-TiO2 photocatalysts effectively occurred with ahigh conversion (> 99 %) in 2 hours irradiation of UV. The optimum precipitation condition of Cr(III) recovery wasachieved at pH = 9, with the efficiency of recovery was 91 %. Optimum temperature of leaching process in Pt recovery was 100 oC, with the efficiency of recovery was 86 %.


Interaction between human neutrophils and fibronectin bound to gelatin-Sepharose granules was studied. It was found that fibronectin following cell-induced dissociation from gelatin-Sepharose caused neutrophil aggregation which was inhibited by EDTA or pretrypsinization of the cells. Besides, polymorphonuclear lymphocytes were found to be capable to adhere to and to spread on gelatin-Sepharose granules. This process was enhanced in the presence of heparin and inhibited by neutrophil pretrypsinization. The conclusion has been drawn on simultaneous existence of fibronectin and fibronectin receptors on the surface of neutrophils. A hypothesis is advanced of the existence in the fibronectin molecule of two independent binding sites, one being responsible for cell attachment and the other for gelatin binding.


The paper investigates by numerical modeling the effects of crystallographic texture and grain shape on the shape of the yield surface of aluminum sheet material at small strains. Different representative volume elements (RVEs) of the material are considered. Plane stress state is assumed in the sheet. A rate-dependent model of crystal plasticity (CP) is used in combination with either the full-constraint (FC) Taylor model or the finite element method (FEM) to compute the volume averaged stress of the material. The effect of different crystallographic textures observed in aluminum alloys on the shape of the yield surface is firstly investigated. An analytical yield function is used to generate yield surfaces for the different crystallographic textures. The deviation between the stress states at yielding computed by FC-Taylor model and the analytical yield surface is used to evaluate the capability of the yield function to fit the anisotropic yield surfaces representing different strong crystallographic textures. Two different shapes of the grains are introduced in the RVEs of CP-FEM in order to study the effect of the grain morphology. Small effects of grain shape are found at small strain compared with the marked influence of crystallographic texture.


Purpose: All radiation therapy departments have a need for a quick and accurate verification of their treatment plans ranging from conventional, brachytherapy, to IMRT. The aim of this study is to perform an inter‐comparison of different commercially available Monitor Unit (MU) secondary/independent software. Methods: In this study, four independent MU verification software were examined (IMSure, DIAMOND, MuCheck, and Radcalc) as quality assurance tools for RTP systems. An inter‐comparison of the treatment plans of 13 patients was performed using those MU verification software. All the plans were generated using the Pinnacle v9.2 treatment planning system. The treatment techniques include VMAT, MLC‐based step‐and‐shoot IMRT and Conventional Conformal plans for different treatment sites (breast, head and neck, chest, pelvis, abdomen, and brain). The parameters that had to be adjusted after importing the treatment plans into the different software were the average SSD and effective depth. Results: The average percent differences between the MUs provided by the Pinnacle and the RadCalc, ImSure and DIAMOND software were found to be −1.7%, −1.9% and 3.4%, respectively. The variation of the percent differences among the individual patients were 2.9% (−7.2 − 2.5), 3.7% (−7.2 − 3.7) and 7.0% (−9.9 – 16.2) for RadCalc, ImSure and DIAMOND, respectively. Conclusion: Importing the files from the Pinnacle RTP system was equally easy for all the software. It was found that Radcalc was the software that required the minimum changes/interventions when inserting the average SSD and effective depth. However, the Radcalc was the slower among the examined software in computing the MUs of the different beams for the VMAT technique. Overall, the variation of the MU calculations between the examined software was found to be very similar indicating that their ability to be used as quality assurance tools of the calculations provided by the RTP systems is equivalent.


Despite the introduction of early parenteral nutrition coupled with early enteral feeding, that improved growth in preterm infants, in most cases growth may not be optimal and many infants continue to be small for gestational age at hospital discharge. The increased risk for poor growth and nutritional challenges do not end after hospital discharge of preterm infants. The main objective of preterm infants' nutrition is to reach the body composition and rate of growth of a normal fetus/infant of the same gestational age and to correct the nutritional deficit. The nutritional needs of preterm infants are higher than those of term infants, but the exact nutritional requirements are not yet fully known. Most nutritional guidelines provide recommendations for low and very low birth weight preterm newborn for early postnatal period. In clinical use there are two major strategies: multinutrient fortification of human breast milk and nutrient-enriched formulas. Several postdischarge nutritional strategies have been used, and recommendations and practices vary widely by country, by region and by neonatal unit. The optimal postdischarge enteral nutrition strategy able to provide the high requirements of rapidly growing preterm infants and to reduce the risk of potential adverse effects in adulthood is still on debate.


This article aims to explore the changing reality of domestic abuse service provision to victims of domestic abuse in the South West of England. By interviewing the professionals who work with the victims, it explores how cuts to funding is altering provisions for victims and multi-agency working and the realities of the move to tendering via the commissioning process. Results illustrate that austerity measures and government reforms have negatively affected domestic abuse service provision over recent years. Not only are there fewer services available but also changes in social policy are forcing the specialist domestic abuse charities to be replaced by large, generic organisations.


As we complete another volume of the journal, it is again time to express my gratitude to all of the individuals who have volunteered their time and expertise to serve as peer reviewers. These colleagues have reviewed papers of the past 6 months, and I hope that the list that follows is complete. We have called on some of these individuals multiple times to do reviews, and I am impressed that the reviews are thorough, thoughtful, and helpful to the authors (and the editors). Authors frequently express gratitude to the reviewers for their suggestions that have improved the clarity and accuracy of their papers, and I know that I frequently learn from the reviews. On behalf of all of the editorial staff, I thank each of the individuals on the list for helping to improve the journal.


This paper examines a stochastic process for Bose-Einstein statistics that is based on Gibrat's Law (roughly: the probability of a new occurrence of an event is proportional to the number of times it has occurred previously). From the necessary conditions for the steady state of the process are derived, under two slightly different sets of boundary conditions, the geometric distribution and the Yule distribution, respectively. The latter derivation provides a simpler method than the one earlier proposed by Hill [J. Amer. Statist. Ass. (1974) 69, 1017-1026] for obtaining the Pareto Law (a limiting case of the Yule distribution) from Bose-Einstein statistics. The stochastic process is applied to the phenomena of city sizes and growth.


The study of open channel flow and dam breaking is not a new topic in computational fluid dynamics. However it has only recently started to gain significant attention from researchers using meshless methods, i.e. numerical modelling techniques which do not rely on the use of a mesh to discretise the domain. The research presented here is an attempt to use the meshless method known as smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulate the flow of water down a channel.

Hydra, a pre-existing SPH code designed originally for astrophysical simulations, was converted to simulate water flow and then applied to the problem of dam bursting and flow over a weir. The conversion of the code to its new purpose was verified by simple code tests and then extensive validation was performed via the modelling of multiple dambreaks. The validation process can be split into three broad categories: 1) Comparison against the published data gained from other numerical methods both meshless and traditional. 2) Comparison against physical experiments performed by the author. 3) Comparison against independent experimental data found in the literature. Hydra in its newly converted form was satisfactorily applied to the majority of the tests presented to it and the same level of accuracy was achieved as with any of the other codes tested. A limit to the SPH method for performing this type of simulation was proposed based on particle number, smoothing length and initial conditions. A formula for the calculation of the number of ghost particles required to prevent spurious boundary pressures was also proposed. An analysis of various kernels used by different SPH researchers was presented and it was discovered that a relatively simple cubic spline kernel proved sufficient and that increasing complexity did not provide an increase in solution accuracy. The flow of water over a weir was presented next and results compared to published data which utilised a leading mesh based fluid simulation package. Results gained from Hydra simulations showed good downstream water level prediction but overestimation of upstream levels. A steady state solution was achieved within a similar timeframe compared to the grid based method.

It was concluded that use of the SPH method and the Hydra code in particular can provide solutions to problems involving water flow down a channel and accuracy on the dambreak tests was equal to any rival codes/methods tested. However when the complexity of the boundaries involved in the model increased there was some evidence that the CFX simulation package could be used to achieve a more accurate solution than Hydra. Suggestions for continuation of research into Hydra as a water flow modelling code are presented in addition to recommendations for improving the experimental methods used.


It is the opinion of Bull, that the streptococci recovered from poliomyelitic tissues, while having no etiological or pathological relationship to the virus of poliomyelitis, occur as secondary invaders in the disease. Smillie and Amoss indicated that the bacteria may be agonal invaders. The results of the experiments reported in this paper point to another source of the streptococci. They occur as contaminants which are introduced into the cultures during the process of grinding tissues. The source of the streptococcus may therefore be the air of the place in which the cultures are made. We have come to this conclusion because first, the tissues of which cultures yielded streptococci were derived from a number of monkeys with experimental poliomyelitis still in a vigorous state. Secondly, when the tissues were ground bacteria were noted much more frequently in their cultures than in those in which fragments of the same brains were used. Thirdly, microorganisms occurred more often in cultures made in the routine laboratory than in a special room where asepsis was carried to the extreme of a major surgical operation on man. Fourthly, streptococci were obtained from the air of the places where cultures were made. Finally, there is no correlation between the cultures of two portions of the same brain. The streptococci occurred in some cultures in pure growth and in others admixed with other ordinary species of bacteria. The latter were often found, in turn, in pure culture and what applies to streptococci, as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, applies equally to the staphylococci, diphtheroids, spore-bearing rods, and other miscellaneous, familiar microorganisms. We could not determine that there exists any etiological relation of the streptococci to poliomyelitis. The fermentation reactions of the microorganisms obtained from the air, from non-poliomyelitic and poliomyelitic monkey brains indicate that bacteria from any of these sources are markedly different. So also with the serological reactions of agglutination and precipitation. Furthermore no agglutination was observed when the serum of monkeys convalescent from experimental poliomyelitis was mixed with any of the streptococci recovered or those received directly or indirectly from Rosenow. Moreover, the intracerebral injection with cultures, irrespective of their source, induced in rabbits a purulent type of meningoencephalitis, often associated with streptococcic septicemia. This result is at marked variance with any known effects of the true filtrable virus of poliomyelitis in man and in the monkey.


A computer-oriented procedure is described to develop rating tables for side channel spillways. The procedure includes three sets of computations which have to be performed iteratively for each reservoir water surface elevation. The first set of computations determines the discharge per unit length over a submerged spillway; the second uses the singular point method to locate the control section for a given pattern of spatially varied flow in an open channel of given shape, roughness, and bed slope; and the third computes the water surface profile in the given channel for spatially varied flow. A simple illustrative example is presented to demonstrate the application of the proposed methodology.


The possibility that two forms of asymmetry underlie handedness is considered. Corballis has proposed that right-handedness developed when gesture encountered lateralized vocalization but may have been superimposed on a preexisting two-thirds dominance. Evidence is reviewed here which suggests that the baseline asymmetry is even more substantial than this, with possible implications for brain anatomy and genetic theories of handedness.


This study numerically investigated the effects of process parameter variations such as blank holder forces (800kN-1200kN), strain rates (0.0013/sec, 0.013/sec, 0.13/sec), coefficient of friction (0.05-0.15), temperature (150 °C, 260 °C) and apex angles (0º, 60º, 90º,120º) on warm hydroforming of AA 5754-O sheet blanks. Warm hydroforming process was simulated through hydraulic bulge test with circular and elliptical die openings. Dome height and sheet thinning were selected as control parameters for formability of AA 5754-O sheet blanks. Results showed that the dome height and formed blank thicknesses did not change significantly with the variation of coefficient of friction and blank holder force. Moreover, increasing forming temperature and non-isothermal conditions yielded slightly better formability. On the other hand, increase in strain rate, and elliptical type of bulge test cavity led to significant decreases in dome height and formed part thinning. Another significant finding was that the elliptical bulge test model and isothermal analyses did not reveal the effect of anisotropy for the sheet material concerned.


People the world over are feeling, or soon will feel, the effects of the strongest El Nino event since 1997-98, currently unfolding in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. New satellite observations are beginning to show scientists its impact on the distribution of rain, tropospheric ozone and wildfires around the globe.


This paper characterizes the trends in technological innovation and intellectual property in four Latin American countries (Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru). Toward this aim, we collected a database of patents granted at the national and university levels in combination with information from a variety of sources to construct a set of plausible explanatory variables. Based on panel data at the national level, we verify that the number of patents granted to universities is strongly associated with the share of resources, as a percentage of GDP, invested in science and technology. At the university level, we find that institutions with more scientific publications and larger enrolment size tend to be granted more innovation patents. To some extent, the evidence presented in this paper indicates that both the absolute and relative sizes of resources invested in scientific and technological research at the university level are subject to economies of scale: a greater amount of resources invested in technological research is associated with increasing levels of innovation and patenting activity.


When blood plasma proteins are depleted by bleeding, with return of the washed red cells (plasmapheresis) it is possible to bring dogs to a steady state of hypoproteinemia and a uniform plasma protein production on a basal low protein diet. These dogs are clinically normal with normal appetite, no anemia and normal nitrogen metabolism. These dogs become test subjects by which various factors relating to plasma protein production may be tested. The normal dog (10 to 13 kg.) has a substantial reserve store of plasma protein building material (10 to 60+ gm.) which requires 2 to 6 weeks plasmapheresis for its complete removal. After this period the dog will produce uniform amounts of plasma protein each week on a fixed basal diet. Dogs previously depleted by plasmapheresis and then permitted to return to normal during a long rest period of many weeks, may show much higher reserve stores of protein building material in subsequent periods of plasma depletion (see Table 1). Under uniform conditions of low protein diet intake when plasmapheresis is discontinued for 2 weeks the plasma protein building material is stored quantitatively in the body and can subsequently be recovered (Table 4) in the next 2 to 3 weeks of plasmapheresis. Given complete depletion of plasma protein building reserve stores the dog can produce very little (2± gm. per week) plasma protein on a protein-free diet. This may be related to the wear and tear of body protein and conservation of these split products. Abscesses produced in a depleted dog during a fast may cause some excess production of plasma protein which is probably related to products of tissue destruction conserved for protein anabolism. Gelatin alone added to the basal diet causes very little plasma protein production but when supplemented by tryptophane gives a large protein output, while tryptophane alone is inert.


Observation from an unrelated field bean experiment
indicated that certain seed orientations might reduce
emergence. Consequently, studies were initiated to determine
if orientation variations occur in planting and if
these variations influence emergence.

Orientation of bean seeds, dropped into both "V" and
flat-bottom furrows, were classified and tabulated. In
"V" furrows almost all orientations were possible; 36% assumed
the "lay-flat" orientation. In the flat-bottom furrow
85% of the beans were in the "lay-flat" position. The
influence of 11 different seed orientations on emergence
was evaluated in greenhouse studies. With crusted soils
seeds planted "hypocotyl end down" produced significantly
less emerged seedlings (1% level) and a lower emergence
rate. Orientation effects were observed to a lesser
degree in noncrusted soils.

The adverse influence of "hypocotyl end down" orientations
was attributed to seed rotation within the soil. For
controlled plantings the "lay-flat" orientation is recommended
due to both its high frequency of occurrence and
high emergence.


Adenoid basal and adenoid cystic carcinomas of the cervix are uncommon and differ from each other in their histology, treatment, and prognosis. Whereas adenoid basal carcinoma is a slow-growing, locally invasive lesion amenable to simply hysterectomy, adenoid cystic carcinoma is an aggressive tumor associated with regional lymph node involvement and late pulmonary metastases. This study, based on the evaluation of nine cases of adenoid cystic and five cases of adenoid basal carcinoma of the cervix, reviews the literature and formulates a program for the management of these rare lesions.


The aim of this document is to provide a forecasting tool that facilitates understanding economic developments in a timely manner. This is pursued through the Bridge Model approach by using it to relate a large set of monthly indicators to Chilean GDP and its main components. The outcome is a set of simple equations that characterize reasonably well total GDP and the feasible supply- and demand-side components based on a small set of relevant indicators. The selected equations generally provide better short-term forecasts than simple autoregressive models. However, if needed, the equation selection methodology is straightforward enough to update the equations easily making it an attractive tool for real-time forecasting.


Computer implementations of theoretical concepts play an ever-increasing role in the development and application of scientific ideas. As the scale of such implementations increases from relatively small models and empirical setups to overarching frameworks from which many kinds of results may be obtained, it is important to consider the methodology by which these implementations are developed. Using cognitive architectures as an example, we discuss the relation between an implementation of an architecture and its underlying theory, a relation between a computer program and its description. We argue for the use of an agile development methodology, based around a three-layer scientific test harness and continuous refactoring, as most suitable for developing scientific software. The ideas are illustrated with extended examples of implementing unified theories of human learning, taken from the chunking and template theories.


We report on fabrication and characterization of two different opal-like structures: (i) crystal exhibiting mechanochromism, i.e. change of colour when subjected to mechanical stress, composed of closely packed colloidal polystyrene particles (CPCP) embedded in a poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomeric matrix; (ii) metallo-dielectric systems (MDCS), based on the realization of inverse silica opal and following attachment of gold nanoparticles on the silica network of the inverse colloidal structure. Optical measurements, performed on the two structures, have demonstrated that: (i) when an horizontal strain is applied on the CPCP embedded in PDMS, a blue shift of the diffraction peak occurs as a function of the applied strain and (ii) MDCS have unique optical properties that combine the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) with the photonic band gap features of colloidal crystal structures. Finally, preliminary results on MDCS used as SERS substrate evidence a higher increase of the Raman signal in respect to that observed for others metallic structures.


This paper presents a comparison between measured and simulated tower loads for the Danish offshore wind farm Nysted 2. Previously, only limited full scale experimental data containing tower load measurements have been published, and in many cases the measurements include only a limited range of wind speeds. In general, tower loads in wake conditions are very challenging to predict correctly in simulations. The Nysted project offers an improved insight to this field as six wind turbines located in the Nysted II wind farm have been instrumented to measure tower top and tower bottom moments. All recorded structural data have been organized in a database, which in addition contains relevant wind turbine SCADA data as well as relevant meteorological data – e.g. wind speed and wind direction – from an offshore mast located in the immediate vicinity of the wind farm. The database contains data from a period extending over a time span of more than 3 years. Based on the recorded data basic mechanisms driving the increased loading experienced by wind turbines operating in offshore wind farm conditions have been identified, characterized and modeled. The modeling is based on the Dynamic Wake Meandering (DWM) approach in combination with the state-of-the-art aeroelastic model HAWC2, and has previously as well as in this study shown good agreement with the measurements. The conclusions from the study have several parts. In general the tower bending and yaw loads show a good agreement between measurements and simulations. However, there are situations that are still difficult to match. One is tower loads of single-wake operation near rated ambient wind speed for single wake situations for spacing's around 7-8D. A specific target of the study was to investigate whether the largest tower fatigue loads are associated with a certain downstream distance. This has been identified in both simulations and measurements, though a rather flat optimum is seen in the measurements.


OF DISSERTATION TORIC VARIETIES AND COBORDISM A long-standing problem in cobordism theory has been to nd convenient manifolds to represent cobordism classes. For example, in the late 1950's, Hirzebruch asked which complex cobordism classes can be represented by smooth connected algebraic varieties. This question is still open. Progress can be made on this and related problems by studying certain convenient connected algebraic varieties, namely smooth projective toric varieties. The primary focus of this dissertation is to determine which complex cobordism classes can be represented by smooth projective toric varieties. A complete answer is given up to dimension six, and a partial answer is described in dimension eight. In addition, the role of smooth projective toric varieties in the polynomial ring structure of complex cobordism is examined. More speci cally, smooth projective toric varieties are constructed as polynomial ring generators in most dimensions, and evidence is presented suggesting that a smooth projective toric variety can be chosen as a polynomial generator in every dimension. Finally, toric varieties with an additional ber bundle structure are used to study some manifolds in oriented cobordism. In particular, manifolds with certain ber bundle structures are shown to all be cobordant to zero in the oriented cobordism ring.


ABSTRACT In 2005 we reviewed microgravity for macromolecular crystallization, four years after the final flight of the Space Shuttle Orbiter, and five years before the first commercial flight to the International Space Station. Since then, there have been developments in access to space and advances in technology. More regular space flight is becoming a reality, new diffraction data detectors have become available that have both a faster readout and lower noise, a new generation of extremely bright X-ray sources and X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) have become available with beam collimation properties well suited geometrically to more perfect protein crystals. Neutron sources, instrumentation, and methods have also advanced greatly for yielding complete structures at room temperature and radiation damage-free. The larger volumes of protein crystals from microgravity can synergise well with these recent neutron developments. Unfortunately, progress in harnessing these new technologies to maximize the benefits seen in microgravity-grown crystals has been patchy and even disappointing. Despite detailed theoretical analysis and key empirical studies, crystallization in microgravity has not yet produced the results that demonstrate its potential. In this updated review we present some of the key lessons learned and show how processes could yet be optimized given these new developments.


We were interested to read the description of the Oxoid Signal blood culture system.' We have had the opportunity to evaluate about 400 bottles in clinical trials, and these showed some inadequacies and unfavourable features. Two trials were conducted. The first, on febrile neutropenic haematology patients, compared the Oxoid system with the Roche Septi-check bottles and our own (MRI) method.The second trial was on unselected patients, comparing the MRI bottles with the Oxoid Signal system. The MRI bottles comprise a Casteneda slope of Columbia agar with Difco bacto-tryptose broth, trisodium citrate, and Difco penase, together with a second bottle containing 80 ml Oxoid thioglycollate USP (CM 173). During our work with 100 haematology patients many false positive signals were noted at 37°C, which showed reversal after 10-15 minutes at room temperature. Although many theories for this phenomenon were postulated and tested, the reason was never ascertained. A general tendency to slower isolation and failure to grow some organisms were noticed. These occurrences prompted the second trial of blood cultures on unselected patients when 135 blood culture sets (MRI and Oxoid Signal) were returned to the laboratory. Thirteen of 135 bottles grew organisms in the MRI system that were considered to be clinically important. Seven of these organisms were not isolated at all in the Oxoid bottles (two Klebsiella spp two Candida albicans, one Pseudomonas sp, one Staphylococcus aureus, and one Acinetobacter anitratus). Of the remaining six; two gave no signal but showed visible growth in the bottle (coagulase negative staphylococci), two gave "late signals" (one and six days after growth in the MRI bottles for Escherichia coli and coagulase negative staphylococci, respectively), and two gave equal results (both Staphylococcus aureus). It is also worth noting that the latter isolates required subculturing for further laboratory tests, whereas growth on the Casteneda slope was available immediately in the MRI system. There were no instances of clinically important isolates in the Oxoid bottles which did not grow in our own. Our final concern is that of laboratory safety. The system is far from being "userfriendly" as quoted, with the handling of 70mm needles representing a particular hazard. One medical laboratory scientific officer sustained a needle stick injury during insertion of the needle, and dismantling of the autoclaved bottles is made difficult by the buckling of the plastic signal component. With all these points in mind we would conclude by saying that while Oxoid have the basis of a good idea, individual laboratories should conduct their own clinical evaluations before accepting it in preference to their own or other commercial systems.


Gaskets play important role in fuel stack assembly. It influences the assembly stress distribution or causes the risk of fuel leakage. The purpose of this paper is to study the assembly stress on the gasket and the MEA and the gasket development inside a stack of fuel cells. 2D and 3D models are established to explore the ideal behaviour of the couple MEA/gasket. A method is developed to define gasket shape parameters taking the MEA stress restrictions in consideration. Using PEMFC prototype, finite element simulations, pressure film experiments and joint integrity calculation code, an improvement on gasket section shape is performed to decrease the risk of fuel leakages. The design guideline and the analysis method proposed in this study will be helpful for the stack design to obtain high performance.


Magnetic nanoparticles are widely used in magnetic fluid, magnetic grinding materials, magnetic controllers, magnetic sensors, biomedicine fields and so on. Recently, more and more attentions were focused upon DDS (Drug Delivery System). In this study, Magnetite nanoparticles about 8nm size were synthesized by liquid phase precipitation method. Then the nanoparticles coated with surfactant were dispersed throughout kerosene and inject the solutions into biomaterials. Using strong photon beams in SPring-8 facility, we observed the distribution state and the effect of magnetic field on the behaviour of nanoparticles in biomaterials.


Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) of a two-stage Small Solid Propellant Launch Vehicle (SSPLV) by simulated annealing (SA) Method is investigated. Propulsion, weight, aerodynamic (geometry) and 3degree of freedom (3DOF) trajectory simulation disciplines are used in an appropriate combination. Suitable design variables, technological-functional constraints and minimum launch weight objective function are considered. To handle constraints augmentation of constraints to cost using penalty coefficients are used. Results are compared with gradient-base method that shows the ability of SA to escape local optimums.


In this article, a speed control of DC motor is designed and illustrated using fuzzy logic-based programmable logic controller (PLC). The DC motor is an attractive part of electrical equipment in many industrial applications requiring variable speed and load specifications due to its ease of controllability. The designed system is consisted of three main parts including programmable logic controller, pulse width modulation (PWM) bipolar drive and DC motor. In the control section, PLC is used as real time controller and fuzzy logic algorithm is designed based on nonlinear model of DC motor, and its parameters are optimized in MATLAB software. Then, it is implemented using rslogix5000 PLC and programming language ladder for speed control. Finally, with favorable results, the efficiency of the controller is successfully proved under different load conditions. The obtained results demonstrate the efficiency of the PLC intelligent controller in enhancing the accuracy and speed control of DC motor.


Background: Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is a chemical compound that is widely used in bleaching, stain removal, disinfection, deodorizing and water treatment. Sodium hypochlorite-induced chemical burns have been described and are reported as relatively rare. We report our experience with such cases to illustrate important points regarding management of these burns.

Methods: We retrospectively collected the data of NaClO-induced upper extremity chemical burn admissions at a military hospital during an eight-year period (2007 - 2015). Survey data included patient age, gender, burn area, burn depth, treatments and follow-up period.

Results: Eight patients were admitted to our emergency department with complaints of NaClO-induced chemical burns of the upper extremity of skin over an eight-year period. All of the patients were male, with a mean age of 21.25 (19 - 23) years. Four of the burns were diagnosed as second-degree deep dermal chemical burns and the other four were second-degree superficial dermal chemical burns. Two of the patients with second-degree deep dermal chemical burn underwent debridement and skin grafting. All of the patients were then followed for three to nine months.

Conclusions: We recommend the use of tap water for high-volume, long-term lavage. We are against using neutralization chemicals in order to prevent more unforeseeable catastrophic effects, because it is difficult to determine the composition of exposure from NaClO-derived household chemicals. After emergency department evaluation, patients should be hospitalized for at least the first 24 - 48 hours, according to the plastic surgeon's decision.


The purpose of this review is to define possible breeding objectives for Southern African beef cattle farmers and to review different means of expressing genetic reproductive merit. The breeding objective considered was to maximize the number of calves born or weaned for a given number of cows in a herd under prevailing environmental and management conditions. This is a complex trait that has many components. While this trait is clearly a function of the reproductive ability of each cow, it is also affected by the age structure of the herd. A number of auxiliary or index traits are used to assess this objective and their merits, shortfalls and requirements in terms of data collection are discussed. It was evident that the trait of choice was influenced by the management system. Fewer component traits can be measured and incorporated as variables in a genetic model in more extensive systems. Since South African beef cattle production systems tend to be semi-extensive or extensive, traits to consider include calving rate, calving success, calf survival, days to calving, age at first calving, calving date, calving ease and calving interval. African Journal of Animal Science, Vol 31, Issue 3, Oct - Dec: pp. 131-141


Recently, a technique known as Hybrid Analysis has demonstrated the possibility of automatic coarse grain program parallelization through an integrated combination of static and dynamic analysis techniques. The recent introduction of multi-cores for the mass market has on the one hand exacerbated the need for such a technology and, on the other hand, changed the cost/benefit ratio of parallelization. Multi-Cores have low communication costs but the degree of parallelism is relatively small (¡100 processors for the next 5 years). Therefore hybrid parallelization techniques (static/dynamic analysis) need to keep their dynamic overhead very low in order to benefit multi-core systems. The Sensitivity Analysis (SA), presented in this paper is a novel technique that can reduce the dynamic overhead of previous Hybrid Analysis technology. Instead of dynamically evaluating the aggregated memory reference sets representing the potential data dependences, SA can frequently extract light weight, sufficient conditions for which these dependence sets are empty. The cost of the run-time evaluation of these conditions, named predicates, is low enough to make parallelization profitable on multi-cores. We have implemented the SA technology in the Polaris compiler and evaluated its performance on 22 benchmark SPEC and PERFECT codes. We have obtained speedups superior to the Intel Ifort compiler in most cases because we could extract most of the available coarse grained parallelism. "Sensitivity Analysis ... ", Rus et. al. TR06-015, Parasol Lab, Texas A&M, Dec. 2006 1


Short muscle fibers (1.5 mm) were dissected from hindlimb muscles of frogs and voltage clamped with two microelectrodes to study phenomena related to depolarization-contraction coupling. Isometric myograms obtained in response to depolarizing pulses of durations between 10 and 500 ms and amplitudes up to 140 mV had the following properties. For suprathreshold pulses of fixed duration (in the range of 20-100 ms), the peak tension achieved, the time to peak tension, and contraction duration increased as the internal potential was made progressively more positive. Peak tension eventually saturates with increasing internal potentials. For pulse durations of greater than or equal to 50 ms, the rate of tension development becomes constant for increasing internal potentials when peak tensions become greater than one-third of the maximum tension possible. Both threshold and maximum steepness of the relation between internal potential and peak tension depend on pulse duration. The relation between the tension-time integral and the stimulus amplitude-duration product was examined. The utility of this relation for excitation-contraction studies is based on the observation that once a depolarizing pulse configuration has elicited maximum tension, further increases in either stimulus duration or amplitude only prolong the contractile response, while the major portion of the relaxation phase after the end of a pulse is exponential, with a time constant that is not significantly affected by either the amplitude or the duration of the pulse. Hence, the area under the tension-response curve provides a measure of the availability to troponin of the calcium released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum in response to membrane depolarization. The results from this work complement those obtained in experiments in which intramembrane charge movements related to contractile activation were studied and those in which intracellular Ca++ transients were measured.


This article first introduced the survey of mechanical fault diagnosis technology development and the data mining technology theory. Then its application situation at present and the main questions that exist are elaborated. Its development trend is analyzed. The application feasibility of using data mining technology in mechanical fault diagnosis is discussed. Next, the naissance, the development and the future development tendency of data mining technology are introduced. The four algorithms are analyzed and the framework is built too. Intelligent Diagnosis is a major development direction of the fault diagnosis. Knowledge acquisition is the bottleneck of Intelligent Diagnosis development. It comprehensive use of many kinds of advanced technology, discover valuable and hidden knowledge from the large amounts of data mining.


A patient suffering from pulmonary metastases of a seminoma of the testicle was treated by subtotal-body irradiation with single doses of 15 cGy and a total dose of 1155 cGy. A complete remission lasting more than one year was achieved. This therapy method is recommended for the treatment of the advanced seminoma (hematogenic metastases, extension beyond the diaphragm, or regional lymph node metastases with a size of more than 5 cm) because of its lower acute toxicity.


The main regulators of aldosterone secretion in adrenal gland zona glomerulosa (ZG) cells are the hormones angiotensin II (Ang II) and adrenocorticotrophin (ACTH) and small increases in the extracellular potassium (K(+)) concentration. The action of these agonists is mediated by different signalling systems - ACTH is mediated by cAMP and activation of protein kinase A while Ang II and K(+) activate two protein kinases, Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CamK) and diacylglycerol-dependent protein kinase (PKC). Ang II, besides being one of the main agonists for the secretion of aldosterone, also stimulates proliferation of ZG cells, a process mediated by mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Recent studies aimed at elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying cell proliferation have shown that calcineurin is the principal regulator of MAPKs activity. The purpose of this review is to discuss experimental evidence of possible reciprocal influences between the signalling pathways regulating proliferation and steroidogenesis in ZG cells.


Currently, dietary supplements are used with trust to promote human health. Micronutrient deficiency as a result of insufficient nutrition is a common problem threatening general health. As a common rule, improvement of nutrition quality has a principal role in preventing the side effects of the lack of micronutrients. Nevertheless, consumption of dietary supplements including vitamins and essential minerals could have beneficial effects in specific age groups of people. For example: prescription of folic acid in women during reproductive ages and pregnancy prevents neural tube defects. Vitamin D in infants and children, and calcium plus vitamin D supplementations in older people have principal role in bone health adequacy. Due to the prevalence of non-communicable diseases, especially various types of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, which may cause death and morbidity, a theory has been raised that supplements containing multivitamin and minerals can prevent these major health issues. However, there is a big debate regarding the beneficial effects of dietary supplements in preventing non-communicable diseases in people consuming high quality diet. This review has attempted to summarise the scientific evidence regarding the beneficial effects of multivitamin minerals supplementation, which may provide evidence based recommendation for general population.


Abstract. We consider Cahn-Hilliard equations with external forcing terms. Energy decreasing and mass conservation might not hold. We show that level surfaces of the solutions of such generalized Cahn-Hilliard equations tend to the solutions of a moving boundary problem under the assumption that classical solutions of the latter exist. Our strategy is to construct approximate solutions of the generalized Cahn-Hilliard equation by the Hilbert expansion method used in kinetic theory and proposed for the standard CahnHilliard equation, by Carlen, Carvalho and Orlandi, [11]. The constructed approximate solutions allow to derive rigorously the sharp interface limit of the generalized Cahn-Hilliard equations. We then estimate the difference between the true solutions and the approximate solutions by spectral analysis, as in [1].


Transgenic mouse technology has gained recognition as an important tool for examining many fundamental biological questions in vivo. Recently, transgenic mouse techniques have been applied to the study of type I (insulin-dependent) diabetes. These studies have been particularly informative in elucidating 1) mechanisms whereby immune tolerance is maintained to antigens on rare specialized cells such as the pancreatic p-cell, 2) disease susceptibility and resistance genes, and 3) potentially important immune effector mechanisms. In this article, we discuss these studies, their impact on understanding of the pathogenesis of type I diabetes, and the potential of the transgenic mouse approach for future research. Diabetes 39:879-84,1990


We describe some of the recent advances in the fluctuation microscopy technique for probing medium-range structural correlations in disordered materials. In particular we show that fluctuation microscopy is a surprisingly sensitive method for detecting trace quantities of C60 in a disordered graphite matrix. This surprising sensitivity arises because C60 does not have the same forbidden reflections as graphite. Modeling shows that the method should readily distinguish between C60, C70 and C72. This result indicates that the technique can be used to discern dilute distributions of macromolecules in an otherwise disordered matrix. We also describe preliminary interferometric fluctuation microscopy studies using cross-correlations in diffraction between coherent double probes. This is a form of holography where the diffraction patterns from two neighboring regions are allowed to overlap and interfere. Young's fringes appear wherever both regions scatter strongly. The cross-correlation can be examined as a function of probe separation to estimate a structure correlation length. At present, the method is being applied to x-ray and optical microscopies, but could also be applied to TEM. Since it isolates the essential four-body terms underpinning the fluctuation microscopy technique, this method holds much promise for studying medium-range order.


Large transportation projects such as highways are expensive, complex, and dynamic in nature. Acquiring large investment capitals for these projects is always a major challenge for every nation. To solve this problem, Vietnamese government has called for the participation of private entities in the form of publicprivate partnership (PPP). Attracting private investors is a vital and challenging step for implementing PPP transportation projects in Vietnam. This paper examines the similarities and differences of risk perceptions of the public and private sectors for the investment of PPP transportation projects in Vietnam. Questionnaire surveys are used to collect data for assessing the likelihoods of occurrence and impacts of risk factors from 123 experienced professionals from both public and private entities. We found that the two most critical risk factors (CRFs) are land acquisition and compensation, and delay in project approvals and permits. The results from an independent sample t-test indicate the different risk perceptions of the public and private sectors for eight CRFs: (1) corruption, (2) change of project scope, (3) lack of transparency in bidding, (4) inflation, (5) payment issues, (6) inadequate feasibility study, (7) inappropriate allocation of responsibility and risk, and (8) fluctuation of interest rate. These eight CRFs are categorized into three major groups: the tendering process, commercial problems, and payment issues. These results can be used for establishing appropriate public policies to promote private investments in PPP transportation projects. Meanwhile, private investors would also have a better understanding of PPP transportation project development in Vietnam.


Detecting small obstacles on the road is critical for autonomous driving. In this paper, we present a method to reliably detect such obstacles through a multi-modal framework of sparse LiDAR(VLP-16) and Monocular vision. LiDAR is employed to provide additional context in the form of confidence maps to monocular segmentation networks. We show significant performance gains when the context is fed as an additional input to monocular semantic segmentation frameworks. We further present a new semantic segmentation dataset to the community, comprising of over 3000 image frames with corresponding LiDAR observations. The images come with pixel-wise annotations of three classes off-road, road, and small obstacle. We stress that precise calibration between LiDAR and camera is crucial for this task and thus propose a novel Hausdorff distance based calibration refinement method over extrinsic parameters. As a first benchmark over this dataset, we report our results with 73 % instance detection up to a distance of 50 meters on challenging scenarios. Qualitatively by showcasing accurate segmentation of obstacles less than 15 cms at 50m depth and quantitatively through favourable comparisons vis a vis prior art, we vindicate the method's efficacy. Our project and dataset is hosted at https://small-obstacle-dataset.github.io/


OBJECTIVES
We hypothesized that older Black adults would have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) than White adults, as indicated by elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP), low ankle-arm blood pressure index (AAI), and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). But, accounting for a broad interpretation of socioeconomic status (SES) (i.e., education, family income, home ownership, and other assets) would reduce these differences.

METHODS
Data are from the Health, Aging, and Body Composition study, a longitudinal clinical research study of 3,075 well-functioning adults aged 70-79, in which 46% of women and 33% of men are Black. Logistic regression modeled racial and SES differences in CVD indicators.

RESULTS
Being Black was significantly associated with elevated SBP (men only), low AAI, and LVH, and remained significant after accounting for each SES measure. The racial association with CVD was reduced the most by income for elevated SBP in men, other assets for low AAI in women and men, and other assets for LVH in men.

DISCUSSION
Contrary to the age-as-leveler theory, being Black was strongly associated with CVD indicators, and accounting for SES did not reduce this association. Whether other SES measures, such as access to care, could explain the racial association remains to be explored.


In many studies of dynamic systems, the stochastic aspects are as important as the dynamic. It is then important to consider uncertainty in the results. Furthermore, dynamics and stochastics interact because the stochastics excite the dynamics and the dynamics change the conditions for the stochastics. Poisson Simulation is an extension of Continuous System Simulation to model and simulate dynamic and stochastic processes. The power of this idea has been described and verified. However, introducing randomness into a CSS model makes the results stochastic. Therefore, a number of simulation runs followed by a statistical analysis have to be performed. Two cases of the statistical analysis must be distinguished: I. Estimation of output quantities, which is straight-forward, and II. Estimation of parameters, which requires a more complex procedure based on bootstrap methods. This documentation presents methods to solve these problems with the help of specially designed tools for repeated simulation and subsequent statistical analysis. Part I presents the tool StocRes for estimation of output quantities and Part II the tool ParmEst for parameter estimations.


Abstract Mayo, M. S., Gajewski, B. J. and Morris, J. S. Some Statistical Issues in Microarray Gene Expression Data. Radiat. Res. 165, 745–748 (2006). In this paper we discuss some of the statistical issues that should be considered when conducting experiments involving microarray gene expression data. We discuss statistical issues related to preprocessing the data as well as the analysis of the data. Analysis of the data is discussed in three contexts: class comparison, class prediction and class discovery. We also review the methods used in two studies that are using microarray gene expression to assess the effect of exposure to radiofrequency (RF) fields on gene expression. Our intent is to provide a guide for radiation researchers when conducting studies involving microarray gene expression data.


The objective of this thesis is to present a viable extension of general relativity free from cosmological singularities. A viable cosmology, in this sense, is one that is free from ghosts, tachyons or exotic matter, while staying true to the theoretical foundations of General Relativity such as general covariance, as well as observed phenomenon such as the accelerated expansion of the universe and inflationary behaviour at later times. To this end, an infinite derivative extension of relativity is introduced, with the gravitational action derived and the non-linear field equations calculated, before being linearised around both Minkowski space and de Sitter space. The theory is then constrained so as to avoid ghosts and tachyons by appealing to the modified propagator, which is also derived. Finally, the Raychaudhuri Equation is employed in order to describe the ghost-free, defocusing behaviour around both Minkowski and de Sitter spacetimes, in the linearised regime.


Designs of asynchronous networks-on-chip are of growing interest because a complete asynchronous implementation can solve the synchronization problems of large networks. However, asynchronous circuits suffer from the lack of proper design flows because their functionality often relies on timing constraints, which are not extensively supported by common CAD synthesis tools. This paper proposes the design and implementation of an asynchronous router architecture suitable for a network-on-chip in the context of a Vision-System-on-Chip. The developed design flow for the synthesis of asynchronous bundled-data pipelines is based on common synthesis tools and, therefore, enables high compatibility with synchronous designs and a low barrier to entry.


This research was an attempt to design and enhance the Canvas Model Business of
nine blocks in one canvas within teaching factory based learning innovation at the
Fashion Department of 27 Public Vocational High School, Jakarta. The research
method used qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method, data
collection was conducted within a SWOT analysis. This research was conducted in
27 Public Vocational High School, Jakarta, with the respondents were 82 students.
The quantitative method with in the matrices of Internal Factor Evaluation (IFE)
and External Factor Evaluation (EFE). The result of this research that implementation of the Canvas Model Business: (1) Customer Relationships in strategy 1 was
valued of 0.34, was "Increasing product marketing through print and electronic
media"; (2) Key Partnership in strategy 2 was valued of 0.31, for "Offering products
and having cooperation with several textile producers in Jakarta and outside Jakarta
"; (3) Value Propositions in strategy 3 was valued of 0.31, namely "Assuring and
improving product quality and adding variant to fashion"; (4) Customer Segment
in the strategy 4 was valued of 0.29, entitled "The Development of Out-of-School
Fashion Sales"; and (5) Channel on strategy 5 which was valued of 0.27, "Utilizing
occasional fashion events to meet market demand".


The possibility of predicting brake pad wear is increasing in relevance for various reasons. A reliable wear prediction allows brake pads to be characterized more precisely in terms of emission behavior and service life. On the other hand, pads can be sized in a more purposeful way in early development stages. The dimensioning of brake pads plays a particularly important role in electric vehicles, as these are much heavier than conventional combustion vehicles due to their battery, but at the same time have the possibility of recuperation. Accordingly, the number of brake applications and the load spectrum of the brake system are also undergoing changes. Pin-on-Disc Tribotesters are especially suitable for the investigation of brake pad wear, as they represent an economical possibility for the specific investigation of mechanisms in tribological contacts. In addition, the Automated Universal Tribotester (AUT) of the Institute for Dynamics and Vibration (IDS) offers the opportunity for high-precision quasi in-situ measurements of the wear height. In order to achieve a systematic understanding of the wear behaviour of brake pads, stationary test cycles were performed at the AUT. Due to the great importance of the friction history with regard to the performance of automotive brake systems (see e.g. [1, 2]), it is essential, however, that the same load cycles as in real vehicles are metrologically investigated. For this purpose, the software of the AUT has been expanded, whereby real driving profile data from motor vehicles can be reproduced on the test bench. From the information obtained by the stationary and instationary measurements, a wear model can be derived, which enables the estimation of the service life of brake pads in electrified vehicles during the early development process.


Abstract The coalition government that resulted from the 2010 general election represents a new scenario in the British political marketplace with implications for political marketing theory and practice. The modelling of political marketing in the UK has evolved in relatively stable market conditions in which majority governments are elected; the market restructure arising from the 2010 election outcome offers an opportunity for a revised understanding of the field. Political science has established an important and dynamic body of knowledge that explains the founding and operation of coalitions. A comparative appraisal of coalition government and commercial cooperative arrangements indicates some commonalities. Western European elections are characterised by multiple actors, regional preferences, smaller parties, cooperative distribution of power, and assumed negotiability of the offer. As the British political marketplace evolves to exhibit similar characteristics, insights from these markets are used to contribute to the more multifaceted, cooperative models of political marketing management required for the UK.


Our recent observations suggested that harmonics in the field current are very promising to detect stator interturn faults in synchronous machines. So far, an increase in some of the even harmonics in the field current has been reported to detect such faults. However, no explanation has been provided for the cause of these harmonics. Moreover, the even harmonics can significantly increase with supply unbalance as well as time harmonics, which can lead to a serious confusion. Hence, in this study, an in-depth investigation was conducted to determine the origin of various harmonic components in the field current and their feasibility to detect stator faults. It was found that, owing to structural asymmetries of the field winding, some of these components clearly increased with stator interturn fault. The findings are helpful to detect faults involving few turns without ambiguity, in spite of the presence of supply unbalance and time harmonics. Both simulation and experimental results are presented in this paper. The diagnosis results have also been verified using a rotor-mounted search coil, which can also be used to detect even a one-turn stator fault very effectively.


Nearly 80 per cent of Sri Lankan population belongs to the rural sector. In most instances groundwater is utilized as the drinking water source in the form of ordinary shallow wells, deep wells and tube wells. Most of the
groundwater sources have high mineral contents such as iron and fluoride due to the hydrogeological features and
these need rectification. Considerable number of consumers belong to either the category of low income or to the less privileged group with poor educational background. In consideration with the said social factors an appropriate
village level treatment mechanism is necessary.


This paper is the first description of natural copper-rich oxide spinels. They were found in deposits of oxidizing-type fumaroles related to the Tolbachik volcano, Kamchatka, Russia. This mineralization is represented by nine species with the following maximum contents of CuO (wt.%, given in parentheses): a new mineral thermaerogenite, ideally CuAl2O4 (26.9), cuprospinel, ideally CuFe3+2O4 (28.6), gahnite (21.4), magnesioferrite (14.7), spinel (10.9), magnesiochromite (9.0), franklinite (7.9), chromite (5.9), and zincochromite (4.8). Cuprospinel, formerly known only as a phase of anthropogenic origin, turned out to be the Cu-richest natural spinel-type oxide [sample with the composition (Cu0.831Zn0.100Mg0.043Ni0.022)Σ0.996(Fe3+1.725Al0.219Mn3+0.048Ti0.008)Σ2.000O4 from Tolbachik]. Aluminum and Fe3+-dominant spinels (thermaerogenite, gahnite, spinel, cuprospinel, franklinite, and magnesioferrite) were deposited directly from hot gas as volcanic sublimates. The most probable temperature interval of their crystallization is 600–800 °C. They are associated with each other and with tenorite, hematite, orthoclase, fluorophlogopite, langbeinite, calciolangbeinite, aphthitalite, anhydrite, fluoborite, sylvite, halite, pseudobrookite, urusovite, johillerite, ericlaxmanite, tilasite, etc. Cu-bearing spinels are among the latest minerals of this assemblage: they occur in cavities and overgrow even alkaline sulfates. Cu-enriched varieties of chrome-spinels (magnesiochromite, chromite, and zincochromite) were likely formed in the course of the metasomatic replacement of a magmatic chrome-spinel in micro-xenoliths of ultrabasic rock under the influence of volcanic gases. The new mineral thermaerogenite, ideally CuAl2O4, was found in the Arsenatnaya fumarole at the Second scoria cone of the Northern Breakthrough of the Great Tolbachik Fissure Eruption. It forms octahedral crystals up to 0.02 mm typically combined in open-work clusters up to 1 mm across. Thermaerogenite is semitransparent to transparent, with a strong vitreous lustre. Its colour is brown, yellow-brown, red-brown, brown-yellow or brown-red. The mineral is brittle, with the conchoidal fracture, cleavage is none observed. D(calc.) is 4.87 g/cm3. The chemical composition of the holotype (wt.%, electron microprobe) is: CuO 25.01, ZnO 17.45, Al2O3 39.43, Cr2O3 0.27, Fe2O3 17.96, total 100.12 wt.%. The empirical formula calculated on the basis of 4 O apfu is: (Cu0.619Zn0.422)Σ1.041(Al1.523Fe3+0.443Cr0.007)Σ1.973O4. The mineral is cubic, Fd-3m, a = 8.093(9) Å, V = 530.1(10) Å3. Thermaerogenite forms a continuous isomorphous series with gahnite. The strongest lines of the powder X-ray diffraction pattern of thermaerogenite [d, Å (I, %) (hkl)] are: 2.873 (65) (220), 2.451 (100) (311), 2.033 (10) (400), 1.660 (16) (422), 1.565 (28) (511) and 1.438 (30) (440).


Undetected and undesired microstructural variations in components produced by laser powder bed fusion are a major challenge, especially for safety-critical components. In this study, an in-depth analysis of the microstructural features of 316L specimens produced by laser powder bed fusion at different levels of volumetric energy density and different levels of inter layer time is reported. The study has been conducted on specimens with an application relevant build height (>100 mm). Furthermore, the evolution of the intrinsic preheating temperature during the build-up of specimens was monitored using a thermographic in-situ monitoring set-up. By applying recently determined emissivity values of 316L powder layers, real temperatures could be quantified. Heat accumulation led to preheating temperatures of up to about 600 °C. Significant differences in the preheating temperatures were discussed with respect to the individual process parameter combinations, including the build height. A strong effect of the inter layer time on the heat accumulation was observed. A shorter inter layer time resulted in an increase of the preheating temperature by more than a factor of 2 in the upper part of the specimens compared to longer inter layer times. This, in turn, resulted in heterogeneity of the microstructure and differences in material properties within individual specimens. The resulting differences in the microstructure were analyzed using electron back scatter diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Results from chemical analysis as well as electron back scatter diffraction measurements indicated stable conditions in terms of chemical alloy composition and austenite phase content for the used set of parameter combinations. However, an increase of the average grain size by more than a factor of 2.5 could be revealed within individual specimens. Additionally, differences in feature size of the solidification cellular substructure were examined and a trend of increasing cell sizes was observed. This trend was attributed to differences in solidification rate and thermal gradients induced by differences in scanning velocity and preheating temperature. A change of the thermal history due to intrinsic preheating could be identified as the main cause of this heterogeneity. It was induced by critical combinations of the energy input and differences in heat transfer conditions by variations of the inter layer time. The microstructural variations were directly correlated to differences in hardness.


Rapid mixing to race past rearrangement Chemistry relies on encounters between reactive partners. Sometimes one of the partners changes shape during the wait, spoiling the desired outcome. Kim et al. designed a microfluidic device to keep such botched encounters from happening. The device operates at low temperatures to keep individual reactants from isomerizing. It also achieves fast flow rates to maximize encounters between reactants on a microsecond time scale. The authors showcase the device by achieving bimolecular carbon-carbon coupling before one of the reagents can undergo a Fries rearrangement that would shift a neighboring group to the coupling site. Science, this issue p. 691 Bimolecular coupling can outpace a fast unimolecular rearrangement via extremely rapid low-temperature microfluidic mixing. In chemical synthesis, rapid intramolecular rearrangements often foil attempts at site-selective bimolecular functionalization. We developed a microfluidic technique that outpaces the very rapid anionic Fries rearrangement to chemoselectively functionalize iodophenyl carbamates at the ortho position. Central to the technique is a chip microreactor of our design, which can deliver a reaction time in the submillisecond range even at cryogenic temperatures. The microreactor was applied to the synthesis of afesal, a bioactive molecule exhibiting anthelmintic activity, to demonstrate its potential for practical synthesis and production.


Purpose: The concept of dividend policy has been widely researched by scholars, however, a consensus on the factors that determine dividend policies among firms has not been yet established as findings differ depending on the industry and sector. This study aims to contribute to the stock of literature already available by observing the major factors that affect dividend decisions of banks listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
Methodology: The study employed secondary data extracted from published financial statements of the listed banks over a 10 year period. Data was also extracted from the 2015 Ghana Banking Survey Report and the 2015 Bank of Ghana annual financial report. The study was conducted on seven banks which were currently listed on the GSE. A panel data framework constructed from secondary data of the banks by using Ordinary Least Squares model to estimate the regression equation.
Findings: The findings of the study showed that Returns on Asset (ROA) which represents profitability ratio was significant and a positive predictor of dividend payment among listed banks on the GSE. Other significant determinant of dividend payments include free cash flow, the leverage level of the banks, the banks ratio of non-performing loans to total administered loans (NPL/TA), the average level of inflation and Bank of Ghana's policy rate (BPR). Number of bank branches (BBR) was found to have no significant relationship with Dividend payment by banks.
Study Contribution: The study revealed that NPL/TA and BPR has negative and strong influence on dividend payment among listed banks on the GSE. No relationship existed between BBR and DPS hence the number of branches owned by listed banks does not affect their dividend payments. Banks must therefore improve their credit risk administration to improve profitability in order to maintain sustainable payment of dividends. Bank of Ghana must also maintain lower BPR since high BPR will negatively affect payment of dividend.
Recommendations: The study recommends that, future studies should include more independent variables, more banks and as well increase the years for the time series data. Future studies can also consider and compare the determinants of dividend payments among banks in Africa.


This article gives an overview of energy and water potential of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) in Turkey. This integrated socioeconomic development project is one of the largest of its kind in the world. The GAP region is rich in water and soil resources. The Euphrates and Tigris Rivers represent over 28 % of the nation's water supply by rivers, and the economically irrigatable areas in the region make up 20 % of those for the entire country. On the other hand, the GAP region is the richest region of the country in terms of its hydroelectric potential as well as its oil and asphalt reserves. The GAP region has a 22 % share of the country's total hydroelectric potential, with plans for 22 dams and 19 hydropower plants. Once completed, 27 billion kWh of electricity will be generated. In addition to this hydropower and oil potential, the GAP region is also the richest region of Turkey as far as solar energy production is concerned. In meeting the energy requirements of the developing regions worldwi...