The availability of accurate data on conditions and spatial distribution of fuels has been shown to be critical in numerous topics of fire studies. In Italy, there is a lack of studies devoted to a systematic analysis of the vegetation characteristics related to fire behaviour, thus involving the use of fuel data and fuel models developed in other countries.
In this perspective, the aim of this work is to propose an integrated approach to fuel model development and assessment based on field data collection, fuel classification, and fuel mapping. The methodology was applied to the Mediterranean maquis ecosystem. The survey of the main fuel variables allowed the analysis and the characterization of fuel complexes, classified in four main fuel types. The relative custom fuel models were developed and compared with other fuel model developed for Mediterranean shrublands, showing values similar to standard fuel models but different fire behaviour and spread. Maximum Likelihood algorithm was applied on IKONOS satellite image to map the Mediterranean maquis, evidencing that the use of remotely sensed data at high spatial and spectral resolution provided valuable maps of fuel models. Thus, the maps of fuel models derived by remotely sensed images were used at different resolution as input data in the FARSITE fire area simulator, showing that the fine resolution of fuel maps affects the simulation accuracy, improving the predictive capabilities of the simulator.


Purpose

This study aims to examine the effect of CEO's personal characteristics on earnings management (EM) practices.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use panel data for 201 non-financial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) for the period 2008-2013. The authors use random effect models to test the hypothesis of this study and extent the analysis to family versus non-family.

Findings

The study finds a positive relation between CEO's overconfidence and EM practices in Jordan. Moreover, the findings reveal that managers in family companies are more likely to engage in EM practices than non-family companies. The findings shed more light on the intricate relationship between CEO's characteristics, the decision-making process and financial reporting.

Practical implications

Results of this study could be beneficial for a number of users of financial information such as investors, auditors, regulators, lenders, as well other players in the capital market to make right decisions.

Originality/value

A literature review finds that much less studies have investigated the relationship between EM practices and personal CEO characteristics (gender and overconfidence) in developing countries such as Jordan. Furthermore, no study yet has examined the influence of CEO age on EM practices. The authors extend previous literature by providing empirical evidence about effect of some personal CEO's characteristics on EM practices.


Bismuth sodium titanate–barium titanate [(1−x)(Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3-xBaTiO3, NBT-100xBT] is one of the most well studied lead-free piezoelectric materials due in large part to the high field-induced strain attainable in compositions near the morphotropic phase boundary (x = 0.06). The BaTiO3-rich side of the phase diagram, however, has not yet been as comprehensively studied, although it might be important for piezoelectric and positive temperature coefficient ceramic applications. In this work, we present a thorough study of BaTiO3-rich NBT-100xBT by ferroelastic measurements, dielectric
permittivity,
X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy. We show that the high-temperature mechanical behavior, i.e., above the Curie temperature, TC, is influenced by local disorder, which appears also in pure BT. On the other hand, in NBT-100xBT (x < 1.0), lattice distortion, i.e., tetragonality, increases, and this impacts both the mechanical and dielectric properties. This increase in lattice distortion upon chemical substitution is counterintuitive by merely reasoning on the ionic size, and is due to the change in the A-O bond character induced by the Bi3+ electron lone pair, as indicated by Raman spectroscopy.


The potential for automated construction quality inspection, construction progress tracking and post-earthquake damage assessment drives research in interpretation of remote sensing data and compilation of semantic models of buildings in different states. However, research efforts are often hampered by a lack of full-scale datasets. This is particularly the case for earthquake damage assessment research, where acquisition of scans is restricted by scarcity of access to
post-earthquake sites. To solve this problem, we have developed a procedure for compiling digital specimens in both pre- and post-event states and for generating synthetic data equivalent to which would result from laser scanning in the field. The procedure is validated by comparing the physical and synthetic scans of a damaged beam. Interpretation of the beam damage from the synthetic data demonstrates the feasibility of using this procedure to replace physical specimens with digital models for experimentation and for other civil engineering applications.


Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) is involved in key steps of immune response. Genetic factors predispose individuals to periodontal disease. This study's aim was to explore the association between NOS3 gene polymorphisms and clinical parameters in patients with periodontal disease. Genomic DNA was obtained from the peripheral blood of 23 subjects with aggressive periodontitis (AgP), 26 with chronic periodontitis (CP), 31 with gingivitis (G) and 50 healthy controls. Probing depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL), plaque index (PI) and gingival index (GI) were recorded as clinical parameters. We genotyped NOS3 polymorphisms using the PCR and/or PCR-RFLP method. Genotype frequencies differed significantly among periodontal diseases and controls for these polymorphisms. A significant association was detected between NOS3 +894 polymorphism and PD and CAL in the CP and AgP patient groups; whereas NOS VNTR analysis detected no associations with clinical parameters in the CP and AgP groups. However, a significant association was detected between the AA genotype and both PI and GI in patients with gingivitis; and a significant association was shown between the BB genotype and PI. The present study shows that two common polymorphisms of the NOS3 gene cluster are significantly associated with the occurrence of periodontal diseases.


Because of the increasing availability of human liver samples we now have a greater ability to predict in vivo drug disposition and pharmacokinetics in man from in vitro metabolic and binding studies. Firstly, we review several successful attempts to predict in vivo metabolic clearances in experimental animals and humans from in vitro biochemical parameters such as plasma protein binding and hepatic metabolism, based on anatomically and physiologically realistic pharmacokinetic models. Despite the success of this approach, however, there are still some difficulties in predicting in vivo hepatic metabolism in man using in vitro human liver samples due to the large interindividual differences arising from polymorphism (intrinsic variability) or differences in enzyme activity (extrinsic variability) due to the conditions under which liver samples have been kept. We propose a possible method to overcome these errors resulting from inter-individual differences by applying the concept of a scaling factor. In the kinetic models used in prediction, we often make a number of assumptions, e.g. rapid equilibrium between the blood and hepatocytes, availability of only the unbound drug for uptake and elimination, and homogeneous distribution of enzymes along the path taken by the blood in the liver. However, recent evidence suggests that these assumptions are not necessarily valid. As examples involving the first and second assumptions, respectively, there is the plasma-membrane-permeability-limited metabolism of a high-clearance drug, 4-methylumbelliferone, and the albumin-mediated uptake of amphiphatic drugs. The multiple-indicator dilution method (MID) is useful for estimating the membrane permeability of drugs in liver perfusion systems where the spatial organization and cell polarity of the liver are maintained. If the aforementioned factors are taken into consideration and membrane permeabilities using human hepatocytes and/or subcellular fractions such as microsomes are measured under conditions close to those in vivo, much more reliable predictions of drug hepatic clearance in man may become possible.


IMPORTANCE
The paramedian forehead flap (PMFF) donor site scar is hard to disguise and may be a source of patient dissatisfaction.

OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the aesthetic outcome of W-plasty vs traditional straight-line (SL) closure techniques of the PMFF donor site.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
A retrospective cohort study was conducted at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center. Clinical history and operative reports were reviewed for 31 patients who underwent a PMFF procedure performed between November 1, 2011, and May 29, 2014. Blinded photographic analysis of postoperative photographs was performed.

INTERVENTIONS
The pedicled component of the PMFF was raised primarily with either a W-plasty or traditional SL design.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES
Standard photographs of the donor site, obtained at least 90 days after surgery, were reviewed and scored in a blinded fashion by 4 dermatologic surgeons using a 100-point visual analog scale (from 0 [worst possible outcome] to 100 [best possible outcome]) and a 5-point Likert scale (from very poor to excellent). Interrater reliability was assessed via Cronbach α testing.

RESULTS
All 31 forehead flaps survived during this study period; 16 PMFFs were raised with the W-plasty technique and 15 were raised with the SL technique. The W-plasty and SL groups were similar in terms of age, sex, and race/ethnicity (mean [SD] age, 68.4 [12.4] vs 61.8 [11.6] years; 13 [84%] vs 9 [60%] men; and 15 [94%] vs 13 [87%] white). Patients undergoing W-plasty closure had significantly higher mean visual analog scale scores compared with those undergoing SL closure (72.8 [18.3] vs 65.6 [18.1]; P = .03). Mean Likert scale scores for W-plasty were higher than those for SL closure, but the difference was not significant (3.77 [1.02] vs 3.43 [0.98]; P = .08). Overall interrater reliability for the visual analog scale and Likert scale scores were 0.67 and 0.58, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE
Patients undergoing PMFF donor site closure using a primary W-plasty technique demonstrated better mean scar appearance of the forehead donor site compared with SL closure. The primary W-plasty technique did not result in any PMFF losses and should be considered for appropriate patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE
3.


Sleep Research
Sleep loss is bad for memory formation; however, it affects some of us more than others. Saleti et al. combined memory tests, brain imaging, and sleep EEG recordings to study the interaction between brain structure, sleep loss, and cognitive performance. Individual differences in the anatomy of the human hippocampus explained many of the differences in learning impairment after sleep loss. These structural differences also predicted the subsequent EEG slow-wave activity during recovery sleep and the restoration of learning after sleep. The anatomical structure of the brain may thus represent a biomarker that predicts vulnerability to sleep loss and how easily an individual will recover.

J. Neurosci. 36 , 2355 (2016).


Section-Ⅲ landside curtain wall of Hefei Xinqiao International Airport terminal adopted single layer cable net curtain wall, while others adopted stick-system curtain wall structure. In this paper, the section-Ⅲ overall structure model of Hefei Xinqiao International Airport terminal was established by using the finite element method (FEM) software ANSYS. The load bearing capacity and deformability of landside curtain wall under load cases with seismic loads and wind loads were analyzed. Also the cable net curtain wall's effect on the main structure was discussed. The results showed that the displacements of curtain wall and the internal forces of cables met the requirements, and the cable net curtain wall had little effect on the main steel structure.


This paper investigates association between portfolio returns and higher-order systematic co-moments at different timescales obtained through wavelet multi-scaling- a technique that decomposes a given return series into different timescales enabling investigation at different return intervals. For some portfolios, the relative risk positions indicated by systematic co-moments at higher timescales is different from those revealed in raw returns. A strong positive (negative) linear association between beta and co-kurtosis and portfolio return in the up (down) market is observed in raw returns and at different timescales. The beta risk is priced in the up and down markets and the co-kurtosis is not. Co-skewness does not appear to be linearly associated with portfolio returns even after the up and down market split and is not priced.


P-glycoprotein is a transmembrane protein thought to function as an efflux pump to detoxify cells. It is associated with multidrug resistance in laboratory systems and has recently been found in human tumors associated with in vitro and clinical drug resistance. We used an immunohistochemical method employing two monoclonal antibodies, JSB-1 and C-219, to detect expression of P-glycoprotein in lymphoma patients. One of 42 newly diagnosed and untreated lymphoma patients (2%) and seven of 11 previously treated and drug-resistant patients (64%) had detectable levels of P-glycoprotein (P less than .001). Based on prior reports suggesting that verapamil sensitizes drug-resistant cancer cells to chemotherapy by competitive inhibition of the P-glycoprotein, we tested the efficacy of verapamil as a chemosensitizer in 18 patients with drug-refractory disease. All patients had previously failed or relapsed within 3 months of a doxorubicin-vincristine-containing drug regimen. Patients received day-1 cyclophosphamide, and 4-day continuous infusion doxorubicin and vincristine and oral dexamethasone (CVAD). CVAD was combined with 5-day continuous infusion verapamil given at maximally tolerated dose. Overall, 13 of 18 patients (72%) responded to treatment including five complete remissions (CRs; 28%). The median duration of response was 200 days and median survival was 242 days. The dose-limiting toxicity of the verapamil infusion was temporary cardiac dysfunction including hypotension, congestive heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmia. We conclude that the P-glycoprotein is uncommonly expressed in untreated lymphomas and frequently expressed in clinically drug-resistant disease, and that chemotherapy using CVAD plus maximally tolerated doses of verapamil results in a high response rate in patients carefully selected for clinical drug resistance.


Terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) is an emerging modality for medical applications. TPI uses pulses of electromagnetic radiation covering a frequency range of 0.1-3 terahertz. These frequencies are nonionizing, provide submillimeter resolution and penetrate several millimeters into tissue. We have developed a fiber coupled hand held TPI scanner for use in medical imaging. We report on preliminary studies using the system in dermatological applications. This study demonstrates the potential of TPI to image skin and encourages further studies in using the system as a surgical aid for identifying tumor margins.


Vocabulary acquisition is considered to be one of the most important aspects of foreign language learning, but also of L1 and L2 acquisition. Besides obvious differences, the three language acquisition processes show remarkable similarities, particularly regarding word learning strategies. In this framework the following questions are dealt with: (1) What is the role of word learning strategies in vocabulary instruction? (2) To what extent do pupils differ in word learning strategies? (3) How to best promote that pupils not only acquire, but actually use the acquired strategies?With respect to the first question, the goals of vocabulary instruction and the ways to reach these goals (e.g. by wide reading, using different strategies or attending direct instruction) are made explicit. The second question is illustrated with an example from qualitative research on the differences between strong and weak pupils who were required to guess the meaning of unknown words from illustra-ted texts. As to the third question, the cognitive, affective and motivational conditions for acquiring, valuing and actually using word learning strategies are being discussed.


Polarization data will soon provide the best avenue for measurements of the CMB lensing potential, although it is potentially sensitive to several instrumental effects including beam asymmetry, polarization angle uncertainties, sky coverage, as well as analysis choices such as masking. We derive "bias-hardened" lensing estimators to mitigate these effects, at the expense of somewhat larger reconstruction noise, and test them numerically on simulated data. We find that the mean-field bias from masking is significant for the EE quadratic lensing estimator, however the bias-hardened estimator combined with filtering techniques can mitigate the mean field. On the other hand, the EB estimator does not significantly suffer from the mean-field from the point source masking and survey window function. The contamination from beam asymmetry and polarization angle uncertainties, however, can generate mean-field biases for the EB estimator. These can also be mitigated using bias-hardened estimators, with at most a factor of � 3 degradation of noise level compared to the conventional approach.


Background: Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common types of arrhythmia across the world. Yet, many cases remain undiagnosed making it difficult to estimate the exact prevalence of AF. Aims: This observational study was done to understand the feasibility of a hand-held electrocardiography (ECG) device – SanketLife – in detecting AF cases. Materials and Methods: In the study, ECG data collected from the device for a period of 2 months were evaluated to detect AF cases. The device took 12-lead and single-lead ECG recordings in various health-care settings including self-monitoring done by patients at their homes and in diagnostic laboratories using the device for screening as well as hospitals using the device in their outpatient departments. The reports were saved in SanketLife Cloud and evaluated anonymously by a certified ECG expert and the findings were further confirmed by a cardiologist to evaluate AF or any other findings in the ECG. Results: SanketLife effectively captured AF cases and demonstrated the feasibility of using such a device in any care setting being clinical or home monitoring. Conclusion: The study concluded that the device can be used for regular monitoring by patients suffering from chronic AF. In health-care settings ranging from primary care to tertiary care, the device can be beneficial.


Importance Balloon cell melanoma is a rare subtype of melanoma that is underrecognized clinically and is challenging to diagnose on histologic studies. Objective To further characterize the clinical, dermoscopic, and histopathologic features of balloon cell melanomas and their correlation to gene expression. Design, Setting, and Participants Case series of 2 patients with balloon cell melanoma whose medical records were retrieved from the database of Thomas Jefferson University Dermatopathology Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Both cases had been referred to the institution's dermatopathology laboratory and provided complete data on clinical, dermoscopic, and histopathologic findings and gene-expression profiles. Main Outcomes and Measures Dermoscopic findings, histopathologic findings, and results of gene expression tests. Results In the 2 patients included, translucent hypopigmented areas on gross examination and a translucent white-gray veil and dull yellow globules on dermoscopic examination correlated with the balloon cell melanocytic region demonstrated on histologic studies with hematoxylin-eosin stain. Specifically, dull yellow globules corresponded to the balloon cell melanocytic nests. Both lesions presented with a second, morphologically distinct population of melanocytes, common in balloon cell melanocytic neoplasms. In both cases, a prominent junctional component that consisted of cells demonstrating ample clear-to-granular cytoplasm and a central nucleus were present. Cytologic atypia was minimal to lacking in both cases, and architectural disorder served as a better clue to the diagnosis. Findings of a gene expression profiling test corroborated the diagnosis in both cases. Conclusions and Relevance Balloon cell melanomas may present with characteristic clinical and dermoscopic findings, and a gene expression profiling test may provide additional useful diagnostic information in cases that are difficult to interpret.


INTRODUCTION
Increasingly, partial nephrectomy has been applied to high-risk disease without evidence that its survival benefits can be extrapolated to this entity. We aimed to compare overall survival after partial vs. radical nephrectomy in patients with high-risk renal cell carcinoma.

METHODS
Using the National Cancer Data Base, we identified patients who underwent partial or radical nephrectomy for high-risk disease between 2003 and 2006. High-risk disease was defined as the presence of adverse pathological features within the primary tumour, namely high-grade or unfavourable histology, T3 stage, or both. After matching the partial and radical nephrectomy groups based on propensity scores, 1680, 276, and 76 patients with high-grade or unfavourable histology, T3 stage, or both adverse pathologic features, respectively, were available for analysis. Five-year overall survival was compared after partial vs. radical nephrectomy for each high-risk cohort using the Kaplan-Meier and log rank tests.

RESULTS
Partial nephrectomy was associated with a statistically significant improvement in five-year overall survival compared to radical nephrectomy for small tumours (median size 3.0 cm; interquartile range 2.1-4.5 cm) with high-grade or unfavourable histology (87% vs. 81%; p<0.01) or with pT3a stage (82% vs. 71%; p<0.01). For patients concomitantly harbouring both adverse pathologic features, no difference in survival was detected (p=0.21).

CONCLUSIONS
Partial nephrectomy is associated with survival benefits in patients with adverse pathologic features, suggesting that renal preservation is not only safe, but also potentially beneficial for high-risk disease. Due to inherent selection bias associated with partial nephrectomy use, prospective validation of these findings is needed.


Abstract Dating and maintaining romantic relationships can often be difficult for bisexual people due to binegativity and related negative stereotypes. The current study utilized an experimental design to investigate attitudes toward dating and being sexual with bisexual individuals. A convenience sample of 440 participants, including 224 heterosexual women, 120 heterosexual men, and 96 gay men was recruited to complete an online survey. Participants were shown seven cisgender male and seven cisgender female dating profiles with various sexual orientations. Participants rated each profile on measures of attractiveness and masculinity/femininity. Results indicated that heterosexual women rated bisexual men as less sexually and romantically attractive, less desirable to date and have sex with, and less masculine compared to straight men. No such differences were found for heterosexual and gay men's ratings of female and male profiles, respectively. These results support previous research findings that indicate more negative attitudes toward dating bisexual men than bisexual women. The current study also provides further understanding as to how negative attitudes influence sexual and romantic attraction to bisexual individuals. Areas for future research are discussed.


INTRODUCTION
Recent studies have raised concerns that fluoroquinolone use is associated with an increased risk of aortopathy, including aortic aneurysm with and without dissection.

OBJECTIVE
We performed a meta-analysis with a comprehensive literature review to further investigate this association.

METHODS
This analysis was conducted per PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrials.gov, Embase, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched for studies that included adult patients (age >18 years) exposed to fluoroquinolones or control antibiotics (amoxicillin/any other antibiotic) for urinary tract infection or pneumonia with a primary outcome of aortic aneurysm or dissection. Heterogeneity was calculated using Q statistic I2 .

RESULTS
A total of 6 studies-comprised of 59% males-were included in our analysis, which showed an increased combined risk of development of aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection with quinolone exposure when compared with controls (relative risk [RR] = 2.11; 95% CI, 1.62 - 2.75; I2 = 83.700). Individual relative risk for aortic aneurysm (RR = 2.83; 95% CI, 2.02 - 3.95, I2  = 89.150) and aortic dissection (RR = 1.99; 95% CI, 1.23 - 3.06; I22 = 71.33) also were significantly increased.

CONCLUSION
Compared to other antibiotics, the use of fluoroquinolones was associated with a significantly higher risk of aortic aneurysm and dissection combined.


In order to increase the filling of the cylinder in the engine, a so-called charge is applied, which consists in increasing the amount of air input under increased pressure and at an unchanged temperature. This increases the density of that air and increases the mass in the engine cylinder. In most cars, the charging is carried out by an exhaust gas turbocharger or a mechanical compressor. This paper presents the issues that concern the failure of turbochargers resulting from their balance by weight reduction method. Selected aspects concerning consequences of incorrect balancing and methods of reducing unbalanced rotor mass. A key part of the work includes a proposal to balance turbochargers of automotive vehicles using the "weight-adjustment"method. In this scope, preliminary studies were presente and conclusions observed during their implementation were described.


Co-poly (hydroxy-terminated silicone divinylbenzene) coating was first prepared by sol-gel and cross-linking methods and applied to the solid-phase microextraction of phosphate and methylphosphonate from air and water. The possible mechanism is discussed. The characteristics of the new films were also investigated. Compared with commercial SPME fibers, the novel films showed better selectivity and sensitivity towards phosphate and methyphosphonate. Moreover, the coating proved to be very stable at high temperatures and in different solvents. Some important parameters, such as extraction time, extraction temperature, effect of salt and desorption time were optimized. The limits of detection for dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), trimethyl phosphate (TMP) and tributyl phosphate (TBP) were 1.11, 1.46, and 1.64 lg L in air and 0.34, 2.20, and 0.01 lg mL in water. A relative standard deviation (n 1⁄4 6) below 7% can be achieved depending on the compounds both in air and in water. Linear ranges were about 1–2 orders of magnitude. The recovery of spiked water samples was from 89.46 to 90.88%.


The present work was undertaken to study and compare the gastric ulcerogenic action of analgesic antipyretic agents in guinea pigs. Their interaction with sodium salicylate was also studied. It was observed that aspirin, both microfined and ordinary, phenylbutazone, indomethacin and sodium salicylate were highly ulcerogenic in guinea pigs, while paracetamol and ibuprofen did not exhibit this action. It was also observed that sodium salicylate did not modify the ulcerogenic action of aspirin (both ordinary and microfined), phenylbutazone, ibuprofen and paracetamol but antagonized significantly the ulcerogenic action of indomethacin.


Caesarean section rates are inexorably rising which has led to the possibility of negative impact on maternal and neonatal health. Present study was aimed to compare the factors associated with caesarean and vaginal births among pregnant women. A retrospective study was conducted in Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Punjab Institute of Medical Sciences, Jalandhar (Punjab, India) during the period of April, 2012 to June, 2012. Details of age group, parity, socioeconomic status, antenatal booking, mode of delivery, obstetric complications, gestational age at delivery, maternal and neonatal outcomes were explored. The prevalence of Caesarean Sections (65%) was higher over vaginal births (35%). It had higher number of Emergency (52.31%) over Elective (47.70%) caesarean sections. Multiparity (55.38%; p<0.05), high socioeconomic status (18.46%), 21 to 30 yrs of age group (78.46%) and booked status (44.62%) were associated with Caesarean Sections while primiparity (65.71%) and low socioeconomic status (22.86%) with vaginal births. The commonest reasons for Caesarean Sections were Fetal Distress (30.77%) and Repeat Caesarean Sections (29.23%). Caesarean sections rate is high. High number of referred patients who underwent Emergency sections was the main reason. Trial of vaginal birth after Caesarean Section in approximate cases and confirmation of suspected fetal distress through fetal blood acid base study are recommended


Cnidarians containing symbiotic microalgae often inhabit highly variable light environments where successful growth requires that, during transient (potentially stressful) periods of high light (HL), the microalgal cells invest energy in photoprotection to minimise photodamage, or allow for photodamage to occur and invest in photorepair; however, the relative contribution of photoprotection and photorepair remains uncharacterised. Here we determined the light dependence of Photosystem II (PSII) photoinhibition and photorepair in 2 phylotypes of Symbiodinium displaying different susceptibilities to thermal stress. Upon exposure to photon flux densities (PFDs) >500 μmol photons m-2 s-1 the thermally 'sensitive' Strain A1.1 displayed higher net photoinhibition, measured as a decrease in maximum PSII efficiency (Fv/Fm), than the thermally 'tolerant' Strain A1. In contrast, gross photoinhibition, assessed as the decline of Fv/F m in the presence of an inhibitor of D1 protein synthesis, was similar in the 2 strains. Therefore, photorepair was considered to be the key mechanism minimising net photoinhibition in Strain A1. Consistent with this conclusion, the 2 strains displayed similar capacities for other mechanisms of avoiding photodamage, specifically, photochemical (qP) and non-photochemical (NPQ) excitation energy quenching. Measurements on Strain A1 grown under 2 PFDs (100 and 650 μmol photons m-2 s-1) revealed that photoacclimation to HL involved the upregulation of qP, which minimised gross photoinhibition by maintaining PSII in a more oxidised state. We conclude that both interspecific (e.g. phylotype diversity) and intraspecific (e.g. photoacclimation state) factors affect the susceptibility of Symbiodinium to light stress. © Inter-Research 2010.


We examine how race, sex and poverty contribute to the likelihood of attending two- and four-year colleges in Chicago and Toronto. In each city, we use longitudinal data on high school students and their postsecondary trajectories in order to explore how race and sex may impact differentially upon their educational pathways. Our analyses are informed by an intersectionality perspective, wherein we understand that life chances are shaped by the various traits and identities that individuals possess. In Toronto, Black males are less likely than all other groups to attend four-year colleges. We also find that two-year colleges appear to fulfill a different role in Toronto than they do in Chicago; that is, serving populations who may have been tracked into non-academic course selections in high school. We contextualize our findings within the very different political, cultural, and historical contexts of Ontario and Illinois.


This paper is concerned with the problem of determining the position of a mobile vehicle during navigation. In order to achieve this objective a multisensor navigation system for self location of the robot has been developed. By tracking a few known landmarks with a vision module, the system is able to monitor continuously its position and to integrate these estimates with the measures provided by the vehicle odometers. This paper describes in detail the vision module used by the navigation system. >


Background
- Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) enable their users to interact and communicate with the environment without requiring intact muscle control. To this end, brain activity is directly measured, digitized and interpreted by the computer. Thus, BCIs may be a valuable tool to assist severely or even completely paralysed patients. Many BCIs, however, rely on neurophysiological potentials evoked by visual stimulation, which can result in usability issues among patients with impaired vision or gaze control. Because of this, several non-visual BCI paradigms have been developed. Most notably, a recent study revealed promising results from a tactile BCI for wheelchair control. In this multi-session approach, healthy participants used the BCI to navigate a simulated wheelchair through a virtual apartment, which revealed not only that the BCI could be operated highly efficiently, but also that it could be trained over five sessions. The present thesis continues the research on this paradigm in order to - confirm its previously reported high performance levels and trainability - reveal the underlying factors responsible for observed performance increases - establish its feasibility among potential impaired end-users

Methods
- To approach these goals, three studies were conducted with both healthy participants and patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Brain activity during BCI operation was recorded via electroencephalography (EEG) and interpreted using a machine learning-based linear classifier. Wheelchair navigation was executed according to the classification results and visualized on a monitor. For offline statistical analysis, neurophysiological features were extracted from EEG data. Subjective data on usability were collected from all participants. Two specialized experiments were conducted to identify factors for training.

Results and Discussion
- Healthy participants: Results revealed positive effects of training on BCI performances and their underlying neurophysiological potentials. The paradigm was confirmed to be feasible and (for a non-visual BCI) highly efficient for most participants. However, some had to be excluded from analysis of the training effects because they could not achieve meaningful BCI control. Increased somatosensory sensitivity was identified as a possible mediator for training-related performance improvements. Participants with ALS: Out of seven patients with various stages of ALS, five could operate the BCI with accuracies significantly above chance level. Another ALS patient in a state of near-complete paralysis trained with the BCI for several months. Although no effects of training were observed, he was consistently able to operate the system above chance level. Subjective data regarding workload, satisfaction and other parameters were reported.

Significance
- The tactile BCI was evaluated on the example of wheelchair control. In the future, it could help impaired patients to regain some lost mobility and self-sufficiency. Further, it has the potential to be adapted to other purposes, including communication. Once visual BCIs and other assistive technologies fail for patients with (progressive) motor impairments, vision-independent paradigms such as the tactile BCI may be among the last remaining alternatives to interact with the environment. The present thesis has strongly confirmed the general feasibility of the tactile paradigm for healthy participants and provides first clues about the underlying factors of training. More importantly, the BCI was established among potential end-users with ALS, providing essential external validity.


This paper introduces an evolutionary approach to the variability analysis of nonlinear systems. The algorithm shows some advantages with respect to classical stochastic approaches and, in particular, with respect to Monte Carlo-based methods. First, it allows a significant reduction of the underestimation error that affects any nondeterministic approach; in other words, it guarantees a considerable saving of simulation time. Moreover, the technique ensures a higher reliability in pursuing the true range of variation of the system performance of interest. The method has been applied to a practical problem of great interest: the variability analysis of a stress control tube made of a composite material used for electric stress relief in cable accessories. The cable termination has been modeled by means of a lumped nonlinear circuit. The proposed technique also provides reliable results whenever large parameter variations need to be taken into account and/or nonlinear functions of varying parameters are considered. Simulation results prove it to be of great support for the designer in cable termination dimensioning and in composite material selection.


We study how the co-movement of inflation and economic activity affects real interest rates and the likelihood of debt crises. First, we show that for advanced economies, periods with procyclical inflation are associated with lower real interest rates. Procyclical inflation implies that nominal bonds pay out more in bad times, making them a good hedge against aggregate risk. However, such procyclicality also increases sovereign default risk when the economy deteriorates, since the government needs to make larger (real) payments. In order to evaluate both effects, we develop a model of sovereign default on domestic nominal debt with exogenous inflation risk and domestic risk-averse lenders. Countercyclical inflation is a substitute with default, while procyclical inflation is a complement with it, by increasing default incentives. In good times, when default is unlikely, procyclical inflation yields lower real rates. In bad times, as default becomes more material, procyclical inflation can magnify default risk and trigger an increase in real rates.


Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concretes (UHPFRC) are characterised by high mechanical performance, extremely low permeability and tensile strain hardening. For structural applications, in composite structures they are very well adapted for reinforcement and protection of existing concrete members. Cast in-situ, they undergo under restraint development of tensile eigenstresses at early age, which can lead in some specific cases of applications to localised macrocracking of a new layer and loss of protective function. On the other hand their tensile viscoelastic potential helps mitigate these stresses. The objective of this study was to investigate the tensile viscoelastic properties of UHPFRC at early ages and long-term in creep and relaxation tests. A large experimental campaign with tensile creep and relaxation tests was performed, with load levels ranging from 30 to 90% of the tensile strength, including creep and relaxation tests during the strain hardening phase, at two different loading ages of 3 and 7 days. Three main testing setups were used: TSTM (Temperature Stress Testing Machine), creep rigs and closed-loop servo-hydraulic testing machine with additional Acoustic Emission detection. The influence of early age evolution in mechanical response and underlying mechanisms governing this response were discussed. Linear viscoelastic models were used to analyse and to highlight on the basis of the experimental results the non-linear behavior depending on solicitation level and loading sequence. The non-linear threshold for viscoelastic response was estimated for the material loaded at 3 and 7 days. The early age mechanical response at 3 days was proportional to the load level in the instantaneous part for three stress levels tested 30, 60 and 90% of the tensile strength, and showed non-linear creep from 60% on. It was observed that for a very low stress level of 13% the creep deformation was decreasing. Relaxation tests with compensation of simultaneously monitored shrinkage deformation were performed, and showed a viscoelastic potential similar to the one observed for creep for the low load level of 30%. Incremental creep and relaxation tests were successfully performed for 3 days age specimens. For higher stress levels, the viscoelastic response from creep tests was more pronounced than in relaxation tests, which was highlighted by analysis with linear viscoelastic models. The creep response at 7 days showed that the threshold for non-linear viscoelasticity is close to 9 MPa (81% of the tensile strength) load level. The Acoustic Emission non-destructive testing method was used to get insight on the physical mechanisms involved in viscoelastic deformations. A strong correlation between AE number of events and the deformation was found, also the amplitude and energy of AE events was found to be of the same order during the instantaneous and delayed deformations. UHPFRC loaded at 7 days age in incremental test showed linear behavior until very high stress level corresponding to the hardening domain. The non-linear and tertiary creep was obtained during the last loading step, for 12 and 11 MPa respectively, which occurred in the hardening domain. The Acoustic Emission monitoring confirmed very close correlation between non-linear creep and AE cumulative number of events induced by microcracking. In order to precisely detect non-linear phenomena in incremental test, analysis with linear viscoelastic models was performed. Comparison between creep and relaxation test results showed that non-linear viscoelastic phenomena were more actively involved in creep tests. The outcomes of this research, bridging the material science and structural engineering, provide useful data to foster applications in new and existing structures, making the best use of the tensile viscoelastic potential of UHPFRC.


In the UK some eighteen-year olds are avoiding the high costs of University and entering employment directly. Presumably some of these might be interested in developing skills as designers. How might Higher Education provide the development of professional skills for these people? Disruptive innovation, coined by Christensen [1] forms a first influence. He asked why companies that concentrated on developing products that met their customers' needs were not successful. This was because their current customers were not the future customers. Christensen and others such as Utterback [2] investigated other industries before investigating education [3]. Threshold concepts and liminality of Ray Land [4, 5] form a second influence. In the process towards 'becoming', understanding moves to being. Epistemology becomes ontology. A third influence is books such as How to Design Cars like a Pro [6]. Implicit in the title are the assumptions that the reader wishes to be a car designer and that they intend to imitate professionalism. Deschooling and silent design are other influential topics. Several possibilities that might develop designers outside the mainstream of design education as practised in Higher Education are suggested. Solutions are briefly posed. Part-time and virtual courses have the disadvantage of costing the same as conventional degrees. Separating the provision of qualifications from the process of developing skills is recommended. Solutions for developing design skills are divided into the pedagogical and andragogical, with the latter providing greater value for money. [1] Christensen, C., The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail 1997, Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School. [2] Utterback, J.M., Mastering the Dynamics of Innovation. 1996, Boston, Mass: Harvard Business School Press. [3] Christensen, C. and H.J. Eyring, The Innovative University. 2011, San Francisco: Jossey Bass. [4] Land, R., J. Meyer, and J. Smith, Threshold Concepts within the Disciplines. 2007, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers. [5] Tovey, M., J. Owen, and R. Land. Induction into the community of practice of automotive design. in Crossing Design Boundaries. 2005. Napier University, Edinburgh: Taylor and Francis. [6] Lewin, T. and R. Boroff, How to design cars like a pro. 2010, Minneapolis: Motor Books


We propose a new LD-fiber-coupling-method for bidirectionally-pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) using two mutually-pumped phase-conjugate mirrors (MPPCMs). MPPCM is formed by two mutually incoherent beams in photorefractive crystal (PRC) and can convert each incident beam into each phase-conjugate beam of them. Owing to mode conversion by phase-conjugate characteristics, the coupling loss due to mode mismatching between a pump beam and a fiber is improved. Therefore, precision lens and lensed fiber for mode matching are not required. Additionally, because photorefractive index gratings that compose a MPPCM are rewritable in real time, MPPCM can dynamically adapt to a variety of system error factors, such as misalignment of components, mode conversion generated by LDs or fibers with defects. In our system, the overall coupling efficiency of pump beams is mainly determined by diffraction efficiency of MPPCMs that depends on the photorefractive coupling strength and the intensity ratio of two incident beams. However, achievable diffraction efficiency in this system is restricted by optical loss between two MPPCMs. This is because the transmitted pump beams passing through the EDF are reused for forming the opposite MPPCM. To achieve a high signal amplification gain, absorption loss of pump beam powers in the EDF is unavoidable. Therefore, we analytically and experimentally evaluate the acceptable loss between two PRCs to form both MPPCMs.


Sputum samples from 25 patients with bronchiectasis were assayed enzymatically for myeloperoxidase, neutrophil elastase and cathepsin B, and immunologically for cystatin A, cystatin B, cystatin C, cystatin S and kininogen. High myeloperoxidase and neutrophil elastase levels were found in those sputum samples that were assessed visually to be purulent. These samples were also found to contain high levels of cathepsin B activity and cystatin A, but low levels of cystatin S and of the most effective cathepsin B inhibitor, cystatin C. In contrast, sputum samples that were low in myeloperoxidase and neutrophil elastase activities had low levels of cathepsin B and cystatin A, but high cystatin C and S levels. It is concluded that cathepsin B activity in sputum is positively correlated with the degree of inflammation and neutrophil recruitment. Although this may be due in part to reduced amounts of cathepsin B inhibitors, particularly cystatin C, theoretical considerations suggest that factors other than the gross level of inhibitors must be involved in the control of cathepsin B activity.


This paper analyzes how political aspirations and convictions during Taiwan's authoritarian period (from the 1940s
 to 1996) are expressed through first-person plural pronouns. Combining both corpus-assisted method and discourse historical
 analysis (DHA, Wodak et al. 1999), we compared the speeches delivered by the
 presidents – Chiang Kai-shek (CKS, 1955–1975), Chiang Ching-kuo (CCK, 1978–1988), and Lee Teng-hui (LTH, 1989–1996) – from the
 one-party domination era to the time of the direct presidential elections in 1996. Moreover, by locating lexical items in the
 co-texts and checking the collocates, we have tried to find referents of we against changing socio-political
 contexts. The meaning of we has changed from representing Chinese compatriots on the Chinese mainland and the
 revolutionary militia in CKS's speeches to an over-inclusion and more hearer-dominant (HD) we in CCK's speeches.
 A "wandering we" was found in LTH's speeches with which a well-defined national collectivity was difficult to
 identify in the late 1980s.


In this paper, the main focus is on blood glucose level control and the possible sensor and actuator faults which can be observed in a given system. To this aim, the eligibility traces algorithm (a Reinforcement Learning method) and its combination with sliding mode controllers is used to determine the injection dosage. Through this method, the optimal dosage will be determined to be injected to the patient in order to decrease the side effects of the drug. To detect the fault in the system, residual calculation techniques are utilized. To calculate the residual, it is required to predict states of the normal system at each time step, for which, the Radial Basis Function neural network is used. The proposed method is compared with another reinforcement learning method (Actor-Critic method) with its combination with the sliding mode controller. Finally, both RL-based methods are compared with a combinatory method, Neural network and sliding mode control. Simulation results have revealed that the eligibility traces algorithm and actor-critic method can control the blood glucose concentration and the desired value can be reached, in the presence of the fault. However, in addition to the reduced injected dosage, the eligibility traces algorithm can provide lower variations about the desired value. The reduced injected dosage will result in the mitigated side effects, which will have considerable advantages for diabetic patients.


Zvi Griliches' seminal analysis of hybrid corn spawned a large literature seeking to quantify and demonstrate the value of agricultural research and development (R&D) investments. The most important metric for quantifying the rate of return to R&D emerging from this literature is the internal rate of return (IRR), even though Griliches was sceptical of its usefulness as a metric in this context. An alternative metric, also reported by Griliches but not as commonly used in the subsequent returns‐to‐research literature, is the benefit–cost ratio (BCR). We assess how the implications of the returns to agricultural R&D literature may have differed if the BCR had become the standard rather than the IRR. We reveal that the IRR and BCR produce substantially different rankings of agricultural R&D projects, differences that persist even under various commodity and geographical aggregations of the BCR and IRR estimates. The median across 2,627 reported IRRs is 37.5 per cent per year. Using data gleaned from 492 research evaluation studies, we developed and deployed a methodology to impute 2,126 BCRs (median of 5.4) and modified internal rates of returns (MIRRs, median of 16.4 per cent per year) assuming a uniform 10 per cent per year discount rate and a 30 year research timeline.


Cardiac tissue dysfunction can result from high-intensity electrical shocks and is manifested as changes in transmembrane potential ( V m). Ten-millisecond shock pulses (SPs) of varying intensity and polarity were applied to frog ventricle in diastole, and V m was quantified directly under the stimulating electrode by an optical method using voltage-sensitive dye. As SP intensities were increased, the shock-induced action potential (AP) plateau and AP amplitude (APAs) decreased sigmoidally toward 75-85% of the control AP amplitude (APAc) and zero, respectively. APAswas shifted toward lower current densities for anodal compared with cathodal SPs (half-maximal values 185 and 238 mA/cm2, respectively; P = 0.02). Recovery of APAs was marginally significant 1 s after SP delivery ( P = 0.063). The peak change in V mduring SP (across all intensity levels) was -200% APAc for anodal and +125% APAc for cathodal pulses. In conclusion, we show that SP reduces APA in a sigmoidal fashion at strengths >10-20 × diastolic threshold and is more deleterious for anodal polarities.


Part 1 Origins of ancient Egypt: prehistoric Egypt the emergence of Egypt the old kingdom administration old kingdom Egypt and Nubia the great pyramid age the first intermediate period the Egyptian language and writing. Part 2 The middle kingdom: the wars of reunification the administrative state the faiyum and delta middle kingdom Egypt and the near east middle kingdom Egypt and Nubia the second intermediate period Thebes, Kush and the Hyksos kings Egyptian literature. Part 3 The new kingdon: the wars of Ahmose Wawat and Kush Egypt, Syria and Palestine I Egypt, Syria and Palestine II Punt and Gods land power and the royal palace I power and the royal palace II the Amarna letters Egyptian art. Part 4 The late new kingdom: the road to Kadesh urbanization Libyan invasions and the sea peoples the decline of the royal authority Tanis, Thebes and Libya the Palestinian campaign of Shoshenk I division of the kingdom king from the Kush the valley of the kings. Part 5 The late period: the sack of Thebes the saite monarchy Saite Egypt and the near east the Nubian legacy of the 25th dynasty Persian and Egyptian independence after Alexander women in Egypt


A priori state vector and error covariance computation for the Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) is described. The original UKF propagates multiple sigma points to compute the a priori mean state vector and the error covariance, resulting in a higher computational time compared to the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF). In the proposed method, the posterior mean state vector is propagated and then the sigma points at the current time step are calculated using the first-order Taylor Series approximation. This reduces the computation time significantly, as demonstrated using two example applications which show improvements of 90.5% and 92.6%. This method shows the estimated state vector and the error covariance are accurate to the first-order Taylor series terms. A second method using Richardson Extrapolation improves prediction accuracy to the second-order Taylor series terms. This is implemented on the two examples, improving efficiency by 85.5% and 86.8%.


Abstract: Most criticisms of the summative/experimental model of program evaluation, like those of the "technocratic" model of public policy making, assume that the deficiencies of these models can be corrected by adopting a more "pluralistic" view of the policy process (Elmore, 1976, 1978; Lindblom, 1965; Monnier, 1992; Pressman & Wildavsky, 1979). Though partially accepting the validity of this point of view, the author considers the pluralist perspective not in itself sufficient to correct the deficiencies of the summative and technocratic models. Instead, he proposes a "public policy communities" view of the policy process. This approach is illustrated by examining the emergence of a new health care policy in Quebec, the extended care needs classification system [Classification par types en milieu de soins prolongés (CTMSP)].


Vertical Electrical Impedance Measurements on Concrete Bridge Decks Using a Large-Area Electrode Jeffrey David Barton Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, BYU Master of Science In regions where chloride-based deicing salts are applied to bridge decks, corrosion of the interior steel reinforcement is a major problem. Vertical electrical impedance (VEI) is an effective measurement technique to quantitatively assess the cover protection on bridges against aggressive chemical penetration of reinforced concrete. In its current form, traditional vertical electrical impedance is time-consuming and destructive because a direct connection to the reinforcing steel is required to provide a ground reference. A new method using a large-area electrode (LAE) permits VEI measurement without a direct electrical connection to the steel reinforcement. The LAE creates a nondestructive, semi-direct, low impedance connection between the measurement electronics and the reinforcing steel. In this work, numerical simulations are performed on common electrode arrangements to demonstrate the effectiveness of the LAE when significant variations in concrete conductivity exist. Physical experiments of a large-area electrode are carried out in the laboratory and field to validate the numerical simulations and to provide additional comparisons with the traditional tapped steel reinforcement method. The results of this study are a set of important design considerations for VEI utilizing a LAE to connect to the underlying rebar. Using these design considerations, the large-area electrode method was validated using both an analytical and a finite-element model, laboratory experiments, and field experiments on two bridges in Utah. The validation results indicate the LAE can replace the direct connection to the reinforcing steel. As a result of this work, a multichannel VEI scanner which uses the LAE method was built which can provide VEI information for bridge engineers and managers to better rehabilitate deteriorating reinforced concrete.


Background. Academic writers utilize a variety of rhetorical methods to construct their knowledge claims through hedges and boosters. These two strategies may also be affected by disciplinary, cultural, or generic contexts.
Purpose. This mixed-methods contrastive research study explored how disciplinary and cultural contexts may affect the way Arab and Anglophone writers construct and modulate knowledge claims through hedges and boosters in the results and discussion sections of 90 English research articles in three disciplines: Journalism, Law, and Political Science.
Methods. Instances of hedges and boosters and their pragmatic functions in context were identified, employing Liu and Tseng's (2021) framework. This framework provides a detailed functional interpretation of the use and variation of these devices along four continuums: authorial voice, reasoning, consensus-building, and information evaluation.
Results. The results showed interesting contrasts and similarities between both groups regarding the approaches they used to define their levels of commitment and detachment in their knowledge claims. The quantitative findings revealed significant differences in hedges but non-significant differences in boosters used by both groups. The qualitative analysis revealed that hedging and boosting functions in Arab and Anglophone writers' RAs differed along the four continuums. Anglophone writers often used hedges in their writing to show humility, negotiate knowledge claims, and accommodate vagueness. These acts enabled them to sketch the realities emerging from their research. By contrast, the English-speaking Arab writers used fewer hedging strategies and demonstrated assertiveness, and assumed shared knowledge to enhance the realities constructed in their knowledge claims.
Implications. These findings can benefit ESP/EAP teachers, especially those teaching writing for publication purposes to raise postgraduate students' awareness of epistemic modality markers. A custom-made ESP/EAP course tailored to the needs of learners based on Liu and Tseng's (2021) hedging-boosting framework can be devised to develop communicative and academic strategies in English.


Actual farm records were used to evaluate variation of crop yields for corn, wheat, and soybeans grown in Michigan. The assumption of yields being normally distribute with independent and constant variance was tested for all farms, farms characterized by soil groupings, and individual farms of a selected soil group. Sufficient evidence was not found to reject the assumption that yield variation is normally distributed with independent and constant variance when all farms were grouped together. Grouping farms by soil potential showed strong support for yields being independent and normally distributed. The assumption of constant variance had strong support for wheat, but was weak for corn. Analysis of individual farms for a selected soil group, suggested that farms having data sets with significant amounts of negative kurtosis or negative outliers could be better modeled by alternative distributions. Estimates for yield variation parameters were incorporated into planning tools used for predictive analysis.


Every day, individuals can encounter events which cause them to check their wishes and impulses. They need to provide self-control in the face of these events. It is observed that psychotherapies aimed at increasing self -control are limited. Positive psychotherapy, which is a structural and analytical psychotherapeutic method, can expand our viewpoint on this subject. Structures in positive psychotherapy were examined in the context of using the balance model, coupled with the ability of self -control. The dependent variable of the research is self -control, the independent variable is positive psychotherapy structures. Of the 151 (52.6%) of the participants (52.6%) were women, 136 (47.4%) were men. The Personal Information Form, which was created by the researcher as a data collection tool, the self-control scales and Wiesbaden positive psychotherapy and family therapy inventory were used. Multiple regression analysis was performed during the analysis of the data. As a result of multiple regression analysis, primary abilities (r = .51, r2 = .26; f = 11.840; p <.01), secondary abilities (r = .52, r2 = .27; f = 9.209; p <.01) and the balance model (r = .39, R2 = .15; f = 11.964; p <.01) significantly announced the self -control. According to the results of the analysis, patience, relationship, hope, and love are among the primary abilities; the secondary abilities are honesty, achievement, conformity and fairness. From the balance model, it was revealed that success and body were a significant predictor of self -control.


In recent years sustainability has become an important issue in business in a variety of industries. Those companies that succeed to integrate a fair balance between economic interests and the concerns about environment and social equity have had to integrate a core of sustainability values that guide their behavior in the way to do business. The leaders of the organizations have to design strategies not just to add value to their products or services, but to match the new frame of ethical and moral values of the company. This new way to do business is having a deep impact in the competitiveness of organizations as a result of the savings in the supply chain and in the way they are perceived by consumers and society. The postmodern vision of the business organization has incorporated new and far-reaching modifications to the traditional view of leadership resulting in a new type called "sustainability leadership". This work uses a case study mixed method research will focus on determining and analyzing the characteristics of this new kind of leadership and its relationship with competitiveness in a very traditional and influencing hotel of Mazatlán, an important tourist destination of Mexico, which has been successful in reaching sustainability certifications for a number of years. The study will show the perception of key informants about the leadership and its degree of success regarding the business competitiveness and sustainability issues. It will also show the degree of fulfillment of sustainability according to an instrument designed for this purpose.


We present an approach for the design and implementation of embedded real-time software running on a distributed platform. The approach consists of a high-level specification layer instantiated by Giotto programs and a low-level verification and execution layer instantiated by Schedule carrying code (SCC). We explain a methodology in which several code suppliers, coordinated by a resource manager, independently generate and verify portions of the software system to be implemented on different hosts. A scheme for compiling Giotto programs by taking into account task (port) allocation to suppliers and hosts is described. After semantics of distributed SCC is presented we investigate composability properties. Since SCC executable carries its schedule as code, in order for distributed SCC to be composable we introduce a type for it, that for each supplier specifies time instants in which it is allowed to use computation or communication resources. We formally prove that if supplier SCC programs individually satisfy certain properties, namely type conformance and time safety, then the distributed SCC program correctly implements the original Giotto program specification. We demonstrate composability by showing that time to check these properties is proportional to the size of individual Giotto program portions. Although we assume static (time-triggered) computation and communication we make sure that the approach is valid also for the multi-modal Giotto


The treatment of aneurysmal bone cysts (ABCs) of the spine remains controversial in the literature. Treatment options have included radiation, curettage and bone graft, extirpation, and various combinations of these. Conspicuously missing in previously published articles and texts are guidelines for dealing with the instability and deformity that often accompany ABCs of the spine. The index case in this report highlights the potentially devastating effects of treating the tumor in isolation without addressing the concomitant deformity and instability. The status of the structural integrity of the spine must be assessed before initiating treatment. If instability or deformity or both are already present or if the amount of osseous tissue to be resected may render the spine unstable, then instrumentation and fusion should be performed at the time of surgical resection or before other forms of therapy. We present three cases of ABCs of the spine in which the tumor itself was treated with surgical extirpation and the associated deformity and instability were treated with spinal instrumentation and long fusions.


A wireless sensor network (WSN) in its simplest form can be defined as a network of sensors denoted as nodes that blankets a region and provides information about it. They can sense the environment and communicate the data gathered from the monitored field through wireless links. Processing is done at the sensor level. WSN have numerous applications ranging from indoor deployment scenarios in the home and office to outdoor deployment scenarios in natural and military settings. In some of these scenarios, lives may depend on the timelines and correctness of the sensor data obtained from dispersed sensor nodes. The analysis aims at employing WSN for one of its industrial application, i.e. "For Monitoring HVAC Systems". Significant advances in computer technology have made it possible to develop a wireless sensor network (WSN) capable of monitoring and operating a scheduling system for heating, ventilation, and air- conditioning (HVAC). The proposed system includes features such as monitoring, measurement, networking, and control. This system provides an energy efficient solution to the monitoring and controlling of a HVAC system. This design enables users to make cost-effective energy decisions with no interaction with the HVAC system.


Surface finishing of freeform surfaces is predominately a manual operation that requires a considerable amount of operator skill; automation of this process has many benefits, including consistent surface quality, preventing hazardous exposure to particulate, etc. A novel robotic surface finishing system, consisting of a robot and an end-effector that includes a force sensor, finishing tool, and proximity laser sensor, is developed in this paper to automate the surface finishing process. The laser sensor is treated as an additional link, and based on it a novel perception system is developed for real-time scanning of the surface that provides the surface profile mesh and the corresponding normal vectors which can be used directly by the robot closed-loop control system for pose tracking. A unique feature of the perception system is that the geometry of the surface profile and normal vectors are all obtained in real-time in the robot base coordinate system, thus eliminating issues such as precise registration of the work piece in the fixture and its location with respect to the robot base coordinates. An impedance-type closed-loop control algorithm is developed for pose tracking. The proposed system and control algorithm are employed to conduct surface finishing experiments on wooden surfaces. A representative sample of the results and measurement images of surface finish are provided to illustrate the capabilities of the robotic surface finishing system. A video of the system in operation is also provided.


This research proposed an approach that is intended to determine the minimal set of important factors that influence the desire of learning Korean language in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Those factors will then influence marketing of the Korean language in GCC by guiding interested people to increase their commercial abilities, improve their information about Korean drama, and prepare them to study or travel to Korea. A total of 500 responses out of 526 questionnaires were used for the analysis process. Merging the weight by SVM and the weight guided feature selection (WGFS) techniques were proposed to build a strong hybrid model of reduction for the investigated dataset. Five different classifiers were used to test the results. Empirical results have showed that the generated factors (the reduct) are very significant to test the ability/inability of learning the Korean language. SVM was shown as the best with accuracy value of 94%. This research contributed to the literature by highlighting the importance of the Korean language in the GCC and by presenting the important factors that influence learners of the Korean language: encouragements and obstacles. Moreover, current research presented the best classifier which yields to the high performance of classification.


Cross-Linked Polyethylene (XLPE) power cable is commonly used as the medium for transmitting power supply in the power system network. However, frequent exposure of XLPE cable to the high voltage causes its insulation to degrade over time leading to electricity outages. Electrical treeing is a commonly observed phenomenon associated with dielectric breakdown in solid dielectrics. Electrical treeing tends to exhibit a fractal shape with more branches at a relatively high discharge speed relative to the rate of damage. It establishes the fact that Partial Discharge (PD) activity in insulation highly depends upon certain factors like applied voltage, size of the void and dielectric constant of insulation material. The aim of the development model is to understand the effect of charges accumulation in the XLPE insulation void and voltage stabilization. Hence to accomplish the objective, composite of Elephant Herd Optimization (EHO) algorithm and Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) algorithm is utilized, which controls the stability constraints of the XLPE cable insulation. However, the efficiency of the voltage stabilizers available today is low, as a load is needed to significantly increase the breakdown strength. Furthermore, the addition of a voltage stabilizer should be kept as low as possible in order not to influence other properties of the material. The new voltage controls presented in this paper have increased the electrical tree inception field. The simulation results from MATLAB/Simulink are validated and tested. The evaluation result of proposed methodology is compared with Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) with RNN and EHO algorithm.


Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in lake water can have a harmful effect on algal growth through either direct toxicity or iron limitation induced by its complexation with iron. We assessed the effect of iron complexation with DOM on algal growth in the eutrophic Lake Kasumigaura, Japan, using 2 species of cyanobacteria, Microcystis aeruginosa and Planktothrix agardhii, by combining the algal growth potential (AGP) test and pretreatment of DOM decomposition by UV irradiation. We also determined which nutrient limited the growth of the 2 species in the lake water using the AGP test: iron limited the growth of the 2 species, as did nitrogen and phosphorus in Lake Kasumigaura. Moreover, the growth of the 2 species was inhibited by iron complexation with DOM. This is consis- tent with our results regarding iron speciation in Lake Kasumigaura by cathodic stripping voltam- metry: most (>99.9%) of the dissolved iron was present as organic species in the lake water. Further- more, data from our AGP test suggest that iron requirement or iron availability between the 2 species are different. This difference in growth characteristics between algal species would be an important determinant of the dominance of specific algal species.


Takagi–Sugeno (T–S) fuzzy models play an important role in nonlinear control because they can be used to approximate nonlinear systems. Also, for the affine T–S fuzzy models, the local linear sub-system properties can be easily related to the physics of the controlled nonlinear system. This is one advantage of the affine T–S fuzzy models relative to the homogeneous T–S fuzzy models. In the literature, however, most authors have focused on the homogeneous T–S fuzzy models and only a few have considered the affine T–S fuzzy models. Moreover, it is known that time delays exist in physical systems. To date, there has been no study to consider the time-delay effects in the analysis of affine T–S fuzzy models. Therefore the parallel distributed compensation-based H1 fuzzy control problem for the discrete timedelay affine T–S fuzzy model is now presented. An iterative linear matrix inequality algorithm is used to solve the bilinear matrix inequality problems. Finally, numerical simulation for a time-delayed nonlinear truck–trailer system is given to show an application of the present approach.


The ZED camera is binocular vision system that can be used to provide a 3D perception of the world. It can be applied in autonomous robot navigation, virtual reality, tracking, motion analysis and so on. This paper proposes a mathematical error model for depth data estimated by the ZED camera with its several resolutions of operation. For doing that, the ZED is attached to a Nvidia Jetson TK1 board providing an embedded system that is used for processing raw data acquired by ZED from a 3D checkerboard. Corners are extracted from the checkerboard using RGB data, and a 3D reconstruction is done for these points using disparity data calculated from the ZED camera, coming up with a partially ordered, and regularly distributed (in 3D space) point cloud of corners with given coordinates, which are computed by the device software. These corners also have their ideal world (3D) positions known with respect to the coordinate frame origin that is empirically set in the pattern. Both given (computed)  coordinates from the camera's data and known (ideal) coordinates of a corner can, thus, be compared for estimating the error between the given and ideal point locations of the detected corner cloud. Subsequently, using a curve fitting technique, we obtain the equations that model the RMS (Root Mean Square) error. This procedure is repeated for several resolutions of the ZED sensor, and at several distances. Results showed its best effectiveness with a maximum distance of approximately sixteen meters, in real time, which allows its use in robotic or other online applications.


Khuz and Khuzi and their books, Shusemahi and Jame-al Khuz are frequently cited in major sources of ancient Iranian and Islamic medicine. However, unfortunately these books are not available today. In this study, the four books; "Al-Qanun fi'l-Tibb" (the Canon of Medicine) by Avicenna, "Al-Hawi" by Rhazes, "al-Jami al-Mufrada al-Aghzieva al-Adwiya" by Ibn al-Baytar, and "Al-Seidene" by Al-Biruni, are thoroughly investigated for the first time and all citations related to Khuz and Khuzi were determined. Khuz and Khuzi were cited 217 times in Al-Hawi, 16 times in Al-Qanun, 44 times in alJami al-Mufrada al-Aghzieva al-Adwiya, and 17 times in Al-Seidene. Considering phrases such as "Khuz agreed that ...", "most Khuz believe that...", "It was mentioned in Jame-Al Khuz", "Al-Khuz in Shusemahi …", "in Shusemahi, Al-Khuz mentioned that ...", it seems that for the first time in the history of medicine, the scientists of Jondishapur medical school composed their viewpoints and ideas, based on a consensus of the time over them, thus rendering due credit to the scholars who had worked on the same topic prior to them. Moreover, considering the direct citations of Biruni and Ibn al-Baytar to Khuz and Khuzi without any intermediate links, it is possible that in those days some books of Khuzi were accessible in different regions, as far as Andalus.


Disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) is a syndrome that can be initiated by a myriad of medical, surgical, and obstetric disorders. Also known as consumptive coagulopathy, DIC is a common contributor to maternal morbidity and mortality and is associated with up to 25% of maternal deaths. The etiopathogenesis of DIC is complex and currently thought to be initiated by tissue factor or thromboplastin, which is released from trophoblastic or fetal tissue, or maternal decidua or endothelium. Tissue factor activates the coagulation sequence to cause fibrin clotting and its dissolution by the fibrinolysin system. The result of this process can range from mild, clinically insignificant laboratory derangements to marked coagulopathy with bleeding at sites of minimal trauma. Although clinical recognition varies by disease severity, several organizations have attempted to standardize the diagnosis through development of scoring systems. Several important--albeit not necessarily common--obstetric disorders associated with DIC include placental abruption, amniotic fluid embolism, sepsis syndrome, and acute fatty liver of pregnancy. More common disorders include severe preeclampsia, hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes, and low platelet count syndrome, and massive obstetric hemorrhage. Importantly, many of these disorders either cause or are associated with substantive obstetric hemorrhage. Treatment of DIC is centered on two principles. The first is identification and treatment of the underlying disorder. Because many women with consumptive coagulopathy also have massive hemorrhage, the second tenet of treatment is that obstetric complications such as uterine atony or lacerations must be controlled simultaneously with prompt blood and component replacement for a salutary outcome.


Exhuming, denaturalizing, historicizing, and politicizing women's violence implicitly means pointing out something fundamentally unthought that undergirds a major share of the research on violence. Such studies tend to consider only masculine forms of violence and relegate the minority participation of women to the margins without noting the gendered dimension of the categories in use. The task before us, then, is not only to qualify the minimal participation of women by showing their more active role, but also to interrogate the social order that undergirds the assignation of women to the position of "a-violence," not to be confused with the political position of nonviolence . . .


Background and Objective: Teucrium leucophyllum is endemic plant species having considerable narrow distribution in Erzincan (Turkey) Region. The aim of this study was to determine genetic diversity levels of T. leucophyllum in order to obtain data for its conservation. Method: Genomic DNA was isolated from 81 plants using CTAB method. Genetic diversity in four natural populations of T. leucophyllum was investigated by ISSR markers. A binary matrix was produced by scoring each amplified fragment as present (1) or absent (0) from each individual. The matrix was used to produce an input file and analyzed using the software programs; POPGENE 1.32 and GenAlex. Results: Twenty primers amplified a total of 434 bright and discernible bands of 220–3000 bp, of which 431 bands (PPB: 99.31%) were polymorphic in 4 populations. The genetic diversity was high at the species level; the observed number of alleles (Na) was 1.993, the effective number of alleles (Ne) was 1.404, the Nei's genetic diversity (H) was 0.263, and the Shannon's information index (I) was 0.418. A high level of gene flow (Nm: 2.208) and low-moderate genetic differentiation (Gst: 0.184) were also observed. Analysis of molecular variance showed that 11% of the total genetic diversity resided among populations, while 89% within the populations. Conclusion: Our results indicated that the conservation efforts should aim to preserve the extant populations of this endangered species in its natural habitat. Seeds could be collected from Kayacik and Bagistas populations for ex situ conservation practices.


The computation of an estimate for the unknown state of a dynamical system is a central challenge in many disciplines and applications. In general, the estimation quality is directly tied to the amount of sensor data available to the state estimation system. However, insights from virtual or missing observations may also convey exploitable information on the system's state. Such virtual measurement information may relate to constraints to which the state is subject. For instance, constraints to acceleration and turn rate of a mobile robot may apply and can be exploited. Analogously, missing observations that are attributable to obstacles can be translated into usable information, which is often referred to as negative sensor evidence. Such implicit information has to be reformulated into virtual measurement data in order to take advantage of it. As the Kalman filter and its derivatives are most widely used in state estimation applications, specific measurement and noise models for virtual observations are to be derived that can easily be integrated into the prediction-correction cycle of the Kalman filter. In this work, a set-membership representation of virtual measurement information is discussed.


ABSTRACT
 Nineteenth-century London was notorious for overcrowding, poor housing, and heavy air pollution. With a large proportion of its population living in conditions of poverty, diseases flourished as people were increasingly drawn to the industrialising centres of England in search of employment opportunities. Utilising historical documentary and skeletal evidence, this paper explores the impact of increasing urbanisation on non-adult (those aged 0–17 years) health, particularly in relation to exposure to a multitude of infectious diseases in circulation during this time. Focusing on the community of St Bride's Church, London, it highlights the greater susceptibility of infants and children to risk of severe morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases, particularly amongst the lower classes. When considered against the socio-political, cultural and economic milieu of nineteenth-century London, this reveals how the multi-faceted process of urbanisation exacerbated ill-health, increased susceptibility to deadly infectious pathogens, and ultimately further marginalised its poorest inhabitants.


The literature study on optimization of surface roughness states that there are many parameters that affect optimum surface roughness to be reached after machining. It is primarily seen that many researchers carried out their studies on various cutting parameters (viz. speed , feed , depth of cut) as their input parameters and concluded that Feed is important parameter [5][6][8][9][12][14] for optimizing surface roughness and also some researches made clear that depth of cut [2][3][8][10] affects the response of surface roughness.Researches were also carried out by studying the effect of input parameters like changing the tool inserts and also by changing nose radius of various inserts [6][13] . Experiments were also carried out by varying the quantity of lubrication [15] The optimum value of surface roughness was reached by using taguchi [1][3][5][8][9][12] method and response surface methodology [6][8][13] The research carried out on EN 19 / AISI 4140 for optimum surface roughness was studied by taking cutting parameters like speed, feed and depth of cut ,states that the depth of cut is most significant parameter [2][3][8][10] . No research states appropriate tool insert with appropriate nose radius at the optimized depth of cut for EN 19 / AISI 4140 at hardness of 35 HRC.


In 1927 there was brought together for the first time, as representing a clinical entity, a group of unusual "tumors" arising from the cervical intervertebral disks (Stookey). Scattered reports of such lesions had appeared previously, notably Adson's report of a case and a mention of one by Elsberg in his "Tumors of the Spinal Cord." The condition, however, was not generally recognized as distinct from other vertebral tumors, and no reference to it is to be found in such standard texts as those of Elsberg, Bruns, Schlesinger, Lubarsch and Ostertag and Antoni. On the basis of the histologic picture and because at the time no other explanation of the tumor-like masses seemed plausible, they were regarded as chondromatous new growths and were designated ventral extradural cervical chondromas. The extensive studies of Schmorl (1929) and Andrae (1929) on the spinal column and their elucidation of the nature and structure of the


Abstract Background and Objectives Exposure to nature and nature-based imagery has been shown to improve mood states and stave off cognitive decline in older adults. Even "micro-doses" of natural scenery can provide beneficial effects in situations where more extensive interactions with nature are not feasible. In the current study, we evaluated the use of virtual reality (VR) for delivering interactive nature-based content with the goal of prompting active engagement and improving mood states in older adults. Research Design and Methods The researchers developed a novel VR environment that combined 360-degree videos of natural areas and botanical gardens with interactive digital features that allowed users to engage with aspects of the environment. We recruited 50 older adults to try out this VR environment and measured changes in mood states and attitudes toward VR from before versus after the sessions. We controlled for variables such as age, education level, and exposure to nature in everyday life, and we looked for differences in responses to the VR among participants with cognitive impairments (CIs) versus without, and participants with physical disabilities versus without. Results The findings indicated significant improvements in "good" mood and "calm" mood dimensions after exposure to the VR, as well as improvements in attitudes toward the technology. These positive outcomes were significantly greater for participants with physical disabilities compared to those without disabilities. No differences were found in the responses of participants with CIs versus those without. Exit interviews provided a variety of helpful suggestions about ways to improve the VR equipment design and content to meet the needs of an older adult population. Discussion and Implications The study demonstrates that VR can provide a cost-effective, noninvasive, and nonpharmaceutical approach for improving the lives of older adults in both clinical and recreational settings, particularly when real-world access to nature is limited.


Background We aimed to characterise between-women and within-women weight change in adult women, and to assess the association of sociodemographic, reproductive and lifestyle characteristics with the variations. Methods This study comprised 1040 adult women from a population-based cohort of adults from Porto, Portugal, assembled in 1999–2003 and re-evaluated in 2005–2008 (median follow-up 5 years). A mixed-effects model for longitudinal analysis of body weight was fitted, with random intercepts and random slopes. Multivariate-adjusted coefficients with 95% CIs were computed for the determinants of weight at baseline and weight change between visits. Results There was an average crude increase of 0.11 kg of measured weight per calendar year (95% CI 0.05 to 0.17). In a multivariate model, despite not explaining differences in weight between women at baseline, years of fertile life were associated with individual weight change: −0.34 kg/year for women with up to 21 years of fertile life, whereas after that, weight increased progressively more with increasing fertile time (21.1–34 years: −0.34 kg+0.42 kg=0.08 kg; 34.1–41 years: −0.34 kg+0.46 kg=0.12 kg) up to 0.44 kg/year above 41 years. Height, age, education, marital status, residential neighbourhood deprivation, number of children delivered and use of oral contraceptives, influenced interindividual weight variation at baseline, but did not influence weight change from baseline to follow-up. Conclusions Cross-sectional determinants of weight and those of weight change over time are vary. Reproductive factors play important roles in explaining both differences among women as well as in individual weight change over time.


Author(s): Burow, Dana | Advisor(s): Cleary, Michael; Ardell, David | Abstract: High-throughput gene expression and functional genomics technologies have revolutionized the study of gene expression during development. Yet traditional genome-wide approaches fail to address complex patterns of gene expression, which include both synthesis and decay. Post-transcriptional regulation is essential for temporal and spatial control of protein expression. Although candidate studies have revealed important mechanisms of post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression via mRNA decay, there is a lack of global information on mRNA decay during development. TU-decay technology allows measurement of genome-wide mRNA decay in intact Drosophila embryos, across all tissues and specifically in the nervous system. Using this approach neural-specific decay kinetics were observed, including stabilization of transcripts encoding regulators of axonogenesis and destabilization of transcripts encoding ribosomal proteins and histones. These data also demonstrate mRNA stability is correlated to physiologic properties of mRNAs; mRNAs that are predicted to be translated within axon growth cones or dendrites have long half-lives while mRNAs encoding transcription factors that regulate neurogenesis have short half-lives. Searches for candidate cis-regulatory elements identified enrichment of the Pumilio recognition element (PRE) in mRNAs encoding regulators of neurogenesis. Decreased expression of the RNA-binding protein, Pumilio, stabilizes predicted neural mRNA targets and presence of a 3'UTR PRE is sufficient to trigger mRNA decay in the nervous system. Clustering of mRNAs by codon content reveals a bias in codon usage related to physiological function and neural-specific mRNA decay kinetics; ribosomal proteins and histones have higher fractions of optimal codons while transcriptional regulators and mRNAs predicted to be localized to synapses have lower fractions of optimal codons. In Drosophila whole embryos, codon optimality is correlated with mRNA decay, while in the nervous system, codon-mediated effects on mRNA decay are attenuated. This work demonstrates a dynamic post-transcriptional program including mRNA decay allows fine-tuning of gene expression during neural development.


Hegesias (3d c.BC), as hedonist, held that the sage will kill himself. For: One should pursue pleasure and avoid pain. But life is virtually certain to contain more pain than pleasure. Therefore death, which is neither pleasurable nor painful, is better than life. The flaw in the argument lies in the underlying game-theoretical model of life as a game in which play and payoff are distinct. Hegesias's conclusion, that life is not 'worth living,' is inescapable by any philosophy so based, including John Rawls's. Why shouldn't his rational persons behind the veil of ignorance opt for prenatal suicide?


Many consider the Pelton turbine a mature technology, nevertheless the advent of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) in recent decades has been a key driver in the continued design development. Impulse turbine casings play a very important role and experience dictates that the efficiency of a Pelton turbine is closely dependent on the success of keeping vagrant spray water away from the turbine runner and the water jet. Despite this overarching purpose, there is no standard design guidelines and casing styles vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, often incorporating a considerable number of shrouds and baffles to direct the flow of water into the tailrace with minimal interference with the aforementioned. The present work incorporates the Reynolds-averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) k-ɛ turbulence model and a two-phase Volume of Fluid (VOF) model, using the ANSYS® FLUENT® code to simulate the casing flow in a 2-jet horizontal axis Pelton turbine. The results of the simulation of two casing configurations are compared against flow visualisations and measurements obtained from a model established at the National Technical University of Athens. Further investigations were carried out in order to compare the absolute difference between the numerical runner efficiency and the experimental efficiency. In doing so, the various losses that occur during operation of the turbine can be appraised and a prediction of casing losses can be made. Firstly, the mechanical losses of the test rig are estimated to determine the experimental hydraulic efficiency. Following this, the numerical efficiency of the runner can then be ascertained by considering the upstream pipework losses and the aforementioned runner simulations, which are combined with previously published results of the 3D velocity profiles obtained from simulating the injectors. The results indicate that out of all of the experimental cases tested, in the best case scenario the casing losses can be approximated to be negligible and in the worst case scenario ≈3%.


Introduction Photoselective laser vaporization of the prostate (PVP) is one of the most popular techniques of treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The aim of this study was to assess the risk of thermal damage to the external urethral sphincter during PVP at distal part of prostatic urethra. Material and methods 66 men submitted to PVP with 80-W Green Light Laser were randomly assigned to receive standard PVP only (group A) or PVP in proximal part followed by transurethral resection in distal part of prostatic urethra (group B). Primary end-points of the study assessed at baseline, 24 hours and 8 weeks after the surgery were: urinary continence, urinary flow (Qmax), post void urine retention (PVR), international prostate symptom score (IPSS), quality of life (QoL). Results Per protocol analysis was eventually performed in 60 patients. Study groups did not differ in age, preoperative continence, values of Qmax, PVR, IPSS, QoL, or the rate of complete urinary retention (p >0.05). During the 8-week follow-up no patient reported urinary incontinence, while decrease in IPSS (16.3 vs. 14.9, p >0.05), QoL improvement (4.7 vs. 4.7, p >0.05), increase in Qmax (18.2 vs. 17.4, p >0.05) were similar in both study groups. Patients assigned to group B were more likely to have bleeding complications (85.2% vs. 18.2%), including patients requiring transfusion (14.8% vs. 0%). Moreover, postoperative catheterization time was shorter in group A (29.1 hrs vs. 37.2 hrs, p = 0.04). Conclusions Laser vaporization for treatment of BPH is safe and effective, with no significant effect on the risk of urinary incontinence in comparison to traditional methods.


Dihydrotestosterone (DHT), a potent androgen necessary for the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is formed from testosterone by the enzyme 5α-reductase, of which there are two types. The irreversible 5α-reductase inhibitors dutasteride, which inhibits both isozymes, and finasteride, which inhibits only one, are intended for the treatment of BPH. Models, based on clinical data, were developed for dutasteride pharmacokinetics and for the effects of 5α-reductase inhibitors on enzyme activity and thereby on circulating DHT. Further was a relationship characterised between DHT suppression and changes in prostate specific antigen (PSA), a potential marker for disease progression. Model development progressed along three axes, from healthy volunteers to patients, from single dose to long-term treatment and from pharmacokinetics via biomarker to possible surrogate endpoint. Model predictiveness was validated and methods for propagation of information between studies were examined. Dutasteride pharmacokinetics was best described by a two-compartment model with parallel linear and nonlinear elimination, with a long terminal half-life (5 weeks) at clinical doses. A physiologically based model of DHT and 5α-reductase turnover and of irreversible 5α-reductase inhibition described the data well. This model could explain differences in rates of onset and offset of effect and offers a way to determine the potency of these irreversible inhibitors. The DHT model, derived from single dose data in healthy men, was found to be valid and predictive when compared to data from a 28-day repeat dose study in BPH patients. Using data from a six-month study, PSA was related to DHT by a model describing disease progression and an effect of DHT suppression on elimination of PSA producing cells. When propagating information, the simultaneous modelling of data proved a powerful approach to compare datasets, while the use of priors could stabilise the fitting of complex models to sparse data.