Theoretical research on leniency programs has so far focused attention on cartels formed within a country the purpose of the paper is to analyze the situation where a cartel is formed internationally. We consider a model with two firms operating in two countries. The antitrust authority (AA) in each country chooses either to implement a leniency program or to use traditional investigation to detect/deter cartel activity. Given the combination of antitrust policies, the two firms play market games simultaneously in both countries. Assuming that the information on the existence of a cartel in one country spills over to the other, we analyze a strategic interdependency faced by the AAs. Several policy objectives of the AA are considered. We find that if the objective is to maximize revenues from the penalty imposed on cartels, an asymmetric equilibrium exists in which one country chooses to free-ride the other's choosing a leniency program.


Understanding the nature of transit dwell time has potential benefits for both users and operators. In this article, multiple regression models are estimated to analyse the influence of different payment methods, the existence of steps at doors, the age of passengers and the possible friction between users boarding, alighting and standing, on explaining observed variation in dwell times. Using the estimated boarding and alighting average times, performance comparisons are simulated assuming a service with payment outside buses, a prepaid card validated inside buses and cash transactions. Results show the specific effect of all the variables involved in determining the bus dwell time at stops, in particular, that substantial time savings are accruable if payment methods are upgraded from slow techniques, such as cash transactions to the fastest one (fare paid outside buses) while intermediate technologies such as prepaid cards validated inside buses (with or without contact) fall in between. On the other hand, the existence of two steps at the front door makes the boarding process slower, and senior passengers are slower to board and alight than younger travellers. A friction effect was also found when passengers boarding form two queues through a single door, which increases the boarding time for one of the queues; and a crowding effect, as the presence of passengers standing inside the bus slightly slows both boarding and alighting.


Fifty-one patients with primary myelodysplastic syndrome were prospectively evaluated using a scoring system based on the presentation blood and bone marrow findings. Twenty-four patients (47%) evolved to acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. Stepwise regression model showed that the scoring system was the only significant variable for predicting transformation to acute leukemia (p = 0.0007, sensitivity 70.8%, specificity 77.8%). Seventy-six percent of patients with a score of 14 or greater developed acute leukemia compared to 19% with a score of 13 or less. Median survival of the entire group was 10 months. The most important prognostic factor for predicting survival was the scoring system (p = 0.0001). Survival correlated inversely with the score. This scoring system may be useful in the management of patients with myelodysplasia.


In recent years, increasing concerns over climate change and transportation energy consumption have sparked research into the influences of urban form and land use patterns on motorized travel, notably vehicle miles traveled (VMT). However, empirical studies provide mixed evidence of the influence of the built environment on travel. In particular, the role of density after controlling for the confounding factors (e.g., land use mix, average block size, and distance from CBD) still remains unclear. The object of this study is twofold. First, this research provides additional insights into the effects of built environment factors on the work-related VMT, considering urban form measurements at both the home location and workplace simultaneously. Second, a cross-classified multilevel model using Bayesian approach is applied to account for the spatial heterogeneity across spatial units. Using Washington DC as our study area, the home-based work tour in the AM peak hours is used as the analysis unit. Estimation results confirmed the important role that the built environment at both home and workplace plays in affecting work-related VMT. In particular, the results reveal that densities at the workplace have more important roles than that at home location. These findings confirm that urban planning and city design should be part of the solution in stabilizing global climate and energy consumption.


A three-cluster model developed for ternary fission studies has been applied for the first time to study the three-body structure of 2n and 2p halo nuclei. For the experimentally known 2n, 2p halo nuclei, all possible ternary fragmentation potential energy surface (PES) is calculated. The two-body breakup reported earlier, clearly indicated a strong minimum in the PES corresponding to 1n/1p and/or 2n/2p cluster plus core configuration. However, the present calculations of PES reveal that, the three- body breakup does not result always with 2n and/or 2p as a cluster. A 1n and/or 1p cluster along with the core is initially formed, and then the core loses one nucleon to make either a 2n plus core or 2p plus core structure. The results are substantiated with the calculations of preformation probability calculated within quantum mechanical fragmentation theory.


Allowed charged $\pi$ meson decays are characterized by simple dynamics, few available decay channels, mainly into leptons, and extremely well controlled radiative and loop corrections. In that sense, pion decays represent a veritable triumph of the standard model (SM) of elementary particles and interactions. This relative theoretical simplicity makes charged pion decays a sensitive means for testing the underlying symmetries and the universality of weak fermion couplings, as well as for studying pion structure and chiral dynamics. Even after considerable recent improvements, experimental precision is lagging far behind that of the theoretical description for pion decays. We review the current state of experimental study of the pion electronic decay $\pi^+ \to e^+\nu_e(\gamma)$, or $\pi_{e2(\gamma)}$, where the $(\gamma)$ indicates inclusion and explicit treatment of radiative decay events. We briefly review the limits on non-SM processes arising from the present level of experimental precision in $\pi_{e2(\gamma)}$ decays. Focusing on the PEN experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Switzerland, we examine the prospects for further improvement in the near term.


Importance
Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are the only medications approved for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), yet most patients taking SRIs exhibit significant symptoms. Adding exposure/response prevention (EX/RP) therapy improves symptoms, but it is unknown whether patients maintain wellness after discontinuing SRIs.

Objective
To assess whether patients with OCD who are taking SRIs and have attained wellness after EX/RP augmentation can discontinue their SRI with noninferior outcomes compared with those who continue their SRI therapy.

Design, Setting, and Participants
A 24-week, double-blind, randomized clinical trial was performed from May 3, 2013, to June 25, 2018. The trial took place at US academic medical centers. Participants included 137 adults with a principal diagnosis of OCD (≥1 year) who were taking an SRI (≥12 weeks), had at least moderate symptoms (defined as Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale [Y-BOCS] score ≥18 points), and received as many as 25 sessions of EX/RP therapy. Those who attained wellness (Y-BOCS score ≤14 points; 103 patients [75.2%]) were study eligible. Data were analyzed from June 29, 2019, to October 2, 2021.

Intervention
Participants were randomly assigned either to receive taper to placebo (taper group) or to continue their SRI (continuation group) and monitored for 24 weeks.

Main Outcome and Measures
The Y-BOCS score (range, 0-40 points) was the primary outcome; the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS; range, 0-52 points) and the Quality-of-Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (Q-LES-Q-SF; range, 0%-100%) scores were secondary outcomes. Outcomes were assessed at 8 time points by independent evaluators who were blinded to randomization. The taper regimen was hypothesized to be noninferior to continuation at 24 weeks using a 1-sided α value of .05.

Results
A total of 101 patients (mean [SD] age, 31.0 [11.2] years; 55 women [54.5%]) participated in the trial: 51 patients (50.5%) in the taper group and 50 patients (49.5%) in the continuation group. At 24 weeks, patients in the taper group had noninferior results compared with patients in the continuation group (mean [SD] Y-BOCS score: taper group, 11.47 [6.56] points; continuation group: 11.51 [5.97] points; difference, -0.04 points; 1-sided 95% CI, -∞ to 2.09 points [below the noninferiority margin of 3.0 points]; mean [SD] HDRS score: taper group, 5.69 [3.84] points; continuation group, 4.61 [3.46] points; difference, 1.08 points; 1-sided 95% CI, -∞ to 2.28 points [below the noninferiority margin of 2.5 points]; mean [SD] Q-LES-Q-SF score: taper group, 68.01% [15.28%]; continuation group, 70.01% [15.59%]; difference, 2.00%; 1-sided 95% CI, -∞ to 6.83 [below the noninferiority margin of 7.75]). However, the taper group had higher rates of clinical worsening (23 of 51 [45%] vs 12 of 50 [24%]; P = .04).

Conclusions and Relevance
Results of this randomized clinical trial show that patients with OCD who achieve wellness after EX/RP therapy could, on average, discontinue their SRI with noninferior outcomes compared with those who continued their SRI. Those who tapered the SRI had higher clinical worsening rates. Future research should evaluate if SRI half-life alters these rates.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01686087.


DURING the past decade total or partial extracorporeal circulation has been developed to the extent that it permits repair of most lesions in and around the heart. The knowledge concerning the effect of extracorporeal circulation on the function of individual organs is unfortunately quite limited. Such information is required to understand why certain complications may occur after open-heart surgery. In addition it would provide a basis for future evaluation of technically improved methods of assisted circulation. There are several studies of the effect of extracorporeal circulation on liver function. 1-3 All of them have been directed towards the function of the hepatocytes. No attempts to evaluate the function of the Kupffer cells have been made to our knowledge. In a previous study it was shown that hepatic reticuloendothelial function is impaired following cardiopulmonary bypass in rats. 4 The object of the present study was to explore the possible mechanisms responsible


A unique pathogenetic process for onion-bulb (Ob) formation is disclosed with disclosed with immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Biopsy of a swollen segment of tibial nerve from a 42 year-old white female histologically demonstrated diffuse and angiocentric lymphocytic infiltrate in both endo- and perineurium with occasional lymphofollicular formation. Extensive Ob formation of nerve fibers was most striking with or without associated lymphocytes. Axis-cylinders were intact in the majority of Ob. Immunocytochemically, Ob are composed of alternately laminated leaflets of Schwann cells (S100+) and mononuclear macrophage (HAM56+/LeuMl+/Muramidase+) processes but no perineurial (EMA+) cells. Immunohistochemical evidence of antigen presentation (HLA-DR/LN3+/Ia+) was confined to macrophages. Electron microscopy insinuates that intricate interactions between macrophages and Schwann cells exists. Putative inhibition of remyelination along with proliferation of Schwann cells most probably is secondary to the effects of macrophages secretory products. No direct participation of B or T lymphocytes was detected in Ob. Thus, modified macrophages may emit a factor for concomitantly promoting proliferation of Schwann cells and an enzyme for myelin breakdown. In addition, only a few macrophages could be detected in some Ob and could be easily overlooked or misinterpreted as "vacuolated fibroblasts", if no immunohistochemical correlation is made, as modified macrophages making the external leaflets of Ob are more vacuolated.


OBJECTIVE
Childhood obesity is increasing worldwide and is increasingly associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Our aim was to examine acylation stimulating protein (ASP) and its precursor complement C3, in normal, overweight, and obese Chinese children and adolescents, and the relationships with body size, blood parameters, pubertal development, family environment, and MetS.

METHODS
Children and adolescents (n=1603) from 6 to 18 years, boys (n=873) and girls (n=730), including normal weight (n=603), overweight (n=291) and obese (n=709) were assessed for body size parameters, pubertal development, blood lipids, glucose, insulin, ASP, and C3.

RESULTS
ASP levels were increased in overweight and obese versus normal weight (P<0.001), while C3 showed little variation. This effect of overweight/obesity remained throughout early stages when boys and girls were separated by pubertal development or age, although age and pubertal status itself had no effect. Separation based on ASP quintiles demonstrated significant associations with blood cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-Chol), glucose, insulin, and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance in boys, and LDL-Chol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and glucose in girls. A positive correlation with mother's body mass index in boys and girls (P=0.002 and P=0.014 respectively) as well as birth weight (P<0.001) was noted. MetS was strongly associated with increased ASP, the presence of a single MetS factor (especially hypertension, central obesity, or hyperglycemia) was associated with increased ASP.

CONCLUSION
Changes in the plasma adipokine ASP in early obesity are associated with blood lipid and glucose modifications, family environment, and distinct MetS risk factors.


This research analyzes the battle of frames in the controversy surrounding rolezinhos-flashmobs organized by low-income youth in Brazilian shopping malls. To analyze the framing of these events, a corpus of 4,523 online articles was compiled. These articles, published between December 7th, 2013, and February 23 rd, 2014, were investigated using Media Cloud-the system for large scale content analysis developed by the Berkman Center at Harvard and the MIT Center for Civic Media. Data from Facebook indicated which articles received more attention on the social network. A framing analysis was performed to describe the conflicting frames in the debate. The 60 most popular texts--those that attracted 55% of the social media attention in the corpus-were content analyzed. They served as an input for a hierarchical cluster analysis algorithm that grouped articles with similar frame elements. The result of the cluster analysis led to the identification of three frames: one that criminalized rolezinhos or at least tried to discourage them (arrastdo frame), another that acquitted the youth and blamed police, government, State, or society for discriminating poor citizens (apartheid frame), and a third frame that criticized both conservatives and progressives for using the controversy to push their particular agendas (middle ground frame). After finding the keywords that singled out each frame, natural language processing methods helped to describe the genesis and evolution of those frames in the overall corpus as well as the framing strategies of the main actors. Thesis Supervisor: Ethan Zuckerman Title: Director, Center for Civic Media


Heart failure (HF) is common in the neonatal and pediatric populations. Despite advances in the management of HF, this disease carries significant mortality, morbidity, and socioeconomic burden. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system is a therapeutic target in the treatment of HF. In adults, significant advances have been made in the management of HF by targeting the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system using angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers, and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists. Only angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors have been used in the pediatric population with HF. In this review, we provide an in-depth update on the pathophysiology of HF and discuss the potential future uses of newer and novel pharmacologic interventions in the management of HF in pediatric patients.


Grid computing has emerged as a new paradigm of distributed computing technology on large-scale resource sharing and coordinated problem solving. Based on a proposed Web service-based grid architecture, we have designed a service grid middleware system called CROWN which aims to promote the utilization of valuable resources and cooperation of researchers nationwide and world-wide. To address the issues of CROWN resource management, we proposed some key technologies including trustworthy remote and hot service deployment, overlay-based distributed resource organization, resource scheduling and load balance, and federation-based virtual organization management. A status of the wide-area CROWN testbed is also introduced in this paper. Three typical applications including AREM, MDP and gViz are deployed on the CROWN testbed. Experience of CROWN testbed deployment and application development shows that the middleware can support the typical scenarios such as computing-intensive applications and data-intensive applications etc.


Businesses are hit hard by HIV/AIDS, but they are also in a unique position to help fight back. The private sector interacts with most HIV infected people in a country-directly in employment relations or more indirectly through employee families, customers, or as community members. By joining forces to fight the disease, the private sector, together with government and civil society, has an opportunity to exercise corporate social responsibility, in a way that makes both business and moral sense.


The dynamics and behaviour of the Northwest European population of Bewick's Swans Cygnus columbianus bewickii has been studied over several decades, yet relatively little is known about the more numerous Eastern population of the species. Comparisons of the two populations could help explain why the Northwest European population is in decline. Here we describe for the first time the swans' use of a wintering site (Shengjin Lake) in China, comparing these findings with studies made of Bewick's Swans wintering at Slimbridge, UK. First birds arrived in late October at both sites, and swans remained at Shengjin Lake until late March, which approximates to the time that Bewick's Swans spend at wintering sites across Europe. Monthly swan counts did not correlate significantly with water level variations at Shengjin Lake (and by implication food accessibility). However, more extensive monitoring, both of water depth and food abundance, is required to understand whether fluctuating water levels affect site use by the birds. There was no significant difference between the two sites in the proportion of birds recorded feeding throughout the day, though this may reflect a high level of variance in the swans' feeding activity. A bimodal pattern in feeding activity recorded for the swans in China is similar to feeding patterns recorded for Bewick's Swans at Slimbridge. Breeding success recorded for Bewick's Swans in the Eastern population was significantly higher than for those in the Northwest European population every year from 2007 to 2010 inclusive. Further studies should investigate whether this is attributable to the carry-over effects of swans in the Eastern population feeding on aquatic vegetation in traditional wetland habitats during winter, as opposed to the farmland used by swans wintering in Europe.


In investment treaty arbitrations, the stakes are high. It is not uncommon for claims to be asserted for hundreds of millions of dollars, and for the costs to resolve such disputes to run into the millions of dollars. Despite the substantial sums involved in resolving such disputes, there exists no uniform practice on awarding costs and fees in investment treaty arbitrations. As a result, some tribunals have ordered each party to bear its own legal fees and share equally the costs of the tribunal, while others have required the losing party to bear the costs and fees of the prevailing party. Tribunals also are inconsistent in allocating costs and fees when they decide such awards are appropriate. The lack of predictability is problematic because it hinders the parties' ability to evaluate the economic cost of pursuing or defending an action and ultimately their ability to settle actions. Arbitrary awards of costs and fees also undermines the legitimacy of the dispute resolution system. This article examines the practice of awarding costs and fees investment treaty arbitrations, particularly those resolved under the auspices of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). It proposes that ICISD adopt a uniform approach on the awarding of costs and fees, by amending its rules to provide for a permissive presumption for allocating costs and fees under either the pay your own way principle or the costs follow the event approach. It argues that it is more important to adopt a uniform approach than to try to determine which is the better rule. It also proposes that, in the event that ICSID adopts the costs follow the event approach, tribunals should employ more extensive procedures for awarding costs and fees. These procedures could include separate briefings and perhaps a separate hearing on issues of costs and fees, and opinions that are transparent in their awards of costs and fees. Adopting a clearer rule on the awarding of costs and fees would bring much need predictability to the awarding of costs and fees in investment treaty arbitrations and would result in a more efficient and fair system for resolving disputes.


Different isoforms of nitric oxide (NO) synthase are critically involved in the development of pulmonary failure secondary to acute lung injury. Here we tested the hypothesis that simultaneous blockade of inducible and neuronal NO synthase effectively prevents the pulmonary lesions in an ovine model of acute respiratory distress syndrome induced by combined burn and smoke inhalation injury. Chronically instrumented sheep were allocated to a sham-injured group (n = 6), an injured and untreated group (n = 6), or an injured group treated with simultaneous infusion of selective inducible and neuronal NO synthase inhibitors (n = 5). The injury was induced by 48 breaths of cotton smoke and a third-degree burn of 40% total body surface area. All sheep were mechanically ventilated and fluid resuscitated. The injury induced severe pulmonary dysfunction as indicated by decreases in PaO2/FiO2 ratio and increases in pulmonary shunt fraction, ventilatory pressures, lung lymph flow, and lung wet/dry weight ratio. The treatment fully prevented the elevations in lymph and plasma nitrate/nitrite levels, pulmonary shunting, ventilatory pressures, lung lymph flow, and wet/dry weight ratio and significantly attenuated the decline in PaO2/FiO2 ratio. In conclusion, simultaneous blockade of inducible and neuronal NO synthase exerts beneficial pulmonary effects in an ovine model of acute respiratory distress syndrome secondary to combined burn and smoke inhalation injury. This novel treatment strategy may represent a useful therapeutic adjunct for patients with these injuries.


An all-silicone zoom lens is fabricated. A tunable metal ringer is fettered around the side edge of the lens. A nylon rope linking a motor is tied, encircling the notch in the metal ringer. While the motor is operating, the rope can shrink or release to change the focal length of the lens. A calculation method is developed to obtain the focal length and the zoom ratio. The testing is carried out in succession. The testing values are compared with the calculated ones, and they tally with each other well. Finally, the imaging performance of the all-silicone lens is demonstrated. The all-silicone lens has potential uses in cellphone cameras, notebook cameras, micro monitor lenses, etc.


BACKGROUND
Low-grade chronic inflammation has been suggested to play a substantial role in the etiology of depression; however, studies on the prospective association between the inflammatory potential of the diet and depression are limited.

OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to investigate the association between the inflammatory potential of the diet (measured using the Alternate Dietary Inflammatory Index, ADII) and incident depressive symptoms. We also tested the potential modulating effect of sex, age, BMI, and lifestyle indicators.

METHODS
The study sample consisted of 26,730 participants (aged 18-86 y) from the NutriNet-Santé study. Baseline ADII was computed using repeated 24-h dietary records collected during the first 2 y of the follow-up. Incident cases of depressive symptoms were defined by a Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale ≥17 for men and ≥23 for women at least once during follow-up. HR and 95% CI were estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models.

RESULTS
A total of 2221 incident cases of depressive symptoms were identified over a mean follow-up of 5.4 y. After accounting for a wide range of potential confounders, the highest quartile of the ADII was associated with a 15% (95% CI: 2, 31) increase in the risk of depressive symptoms compared with the lowest quartile. In the stratified analyses, associations were statistically significant only among women (HRquartile4 vs. quartile1: 1.19; 95% CI: 1.02, 1.37), middle-age adults (HRquartile4 vs. quartile1: 1.16; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.35), and participants with a BMI ≥25 (HRquartile4 vs. quartile1: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.60).

CONCLUSIONS
Overall, a proinflammatory diet was associated with a higher risk of depressive symptoms, especially among women, middle-age adults, and participants with overweight or obesity. These findings contribute to the increasing scientific evidence showing a detrimental role of the proinflammatory diet. The NutriNet-Santé study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT03335644.


The surface ultrastructure of the posterior of the Marfan's syndrome lens was studied by scanning electron microscopy. All aspects of the architecture and construction of the capsule, the zonules and their insertions, the epithelium, and the lens fibers showed a sharp deviation from normal. The capsular fibrils were abnormally large and grossly granular. The zonular fibrils, similar in size and granularity to those of the capsule, contained numerous large aggregates and showed a lack of parallel orientation. The epithelial cells displayed a coarser than normal surface granularity and a lack of regularity of form and orientation. The cortical and nuclear lens fibers displayed a relatively normal surface pattern but showed poorly defined borders and interdigitating processes.


The data stream model has recently attracted attention for its applicability to numerous types of data, including telephone records, Web documents, and clickstreams. For analysis of such data, the ability to process the data in a single pass, or a small number of passes, while using little memory, is crucial. We describe such a streaming algorithm that effectively clusters large data streams. We also provide empirical evidence of the algorithm's performance on synthetic and real data streams.


The purpose of this review is to investigate the gap in pediatric TB diagnosis and reporting, and identify interventions that have been found to be effective in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2017, one million children became infected with TB and 230,000 of these children died. With early diagnosis, child mortality resulting from TB infection can be prevented. TB manifests differently in children; thus, most conventional diagnostic tools fail. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, it is estimated that 20% of all active TB cases are in children. Since childhood TB is a major public health issue, there is a dire need for better diagnostics and reporting systems. Moreover, TB is the leading cause of death in HIV positive individuals making it important to discuss HIV status and other comorbidities affecting diagnosis and reporting of pediatric TB. BCG vaccination can also interfere with TB diagnosis and high BCG vaccination rates make accurate diagnosis difficult due to cross reactivity with some diagnostic methods. Many children in high TB endemic areas like Sub-Saharan Africa suffer from severe acute malnutrition which complicates early diagnosis in children. For the purpose of this review, HIV positive individuals and malnutrition status will be included in the analysis as well as BCG vaccination rates because all pose challenges to diagnosing childhood TB in Sub-Saharan Africa.


The RUconnected app was released this year on Android and is available from the play store at this link (you will require 14mb of data to download the app). The Apple app will be launched soon. The RUconnected app allows for browsing content for your courses and to download your content to your device, to contact other people in courses, upload images, documents, video or audio files from your mobile device and many other features on RUconnected. This document will introduce the app by describing the basic features of the application.


The purpose of this essay is to examine if theories that derive from Comparative Religion can be applied to horror films. Can theories such as Victor Turner 's liminal stages or Mary Douglas' theories on anomalies clarify, to some extent, why horror movies construct unholy scenarios where filth and the breaking of taboo is essential, or why monsters tend to dwell in, as well as being, a liminal phase or a grey area? Can these theories shed some light on why monsters tend to be twofold? We also aim to examine how gender roles are constructed and portrayed in horror films. As a means of reaching our agenda we have chosen four horror films in a span of ten years, between 1984-1994. By applying a critical discourse analysis to our empirical material we will reveal that all four films carry out a bias gender construction towards women, as well as a recurring usage of anomalies and liminal stages. The four films are A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Fly, Child's Play and Interview with the Vampire.


The objective of the evaluation is to assess the relevance, implementation and effectiveness of IDB's support for tax policy and administration during the last decade. OVE will assess IDB's contribution to tax policy and administration, with a focus on domestic taxes. To contextualize Bank's work on revenue, OVE will provide an overview of the entire fiscal portfolio, which also includes macro-fiscal, expenditure policy, and public financial management interventions. The evaluation findings will seek to identify factors that affect the success of various types of interventions in different contexts, and to provide recommendations on how the Bank can enhance its support to tax policy and administration.


This article discusses current educational reform attempts in the Arab world and their characteristics from the standpoint of international literature on effective large-scale school reform. The study followed a qualitative design using three main sources of data: regional reform plans, regional and international reports on education in the Arab world, and journal notes and observations obtained from our work as consultants on educational reform in the region. The article concludes by highlighting key lessons that Arab reformers can learn from international literature on effective school change to achieve effective school reform in the Arab world.


Alzheimer disease (AD) is a complex, progressive neurodegenerative disease. Prevalence of AD is expected to grow substantially, although predictions may shift given future treatment interventions or higher levels of engagement in lifestyle delaying factors that may reduce risk. Several mutations have been characterised and susceptibility genes implicated as playing a role in the disorder. The apolipoprotein E (APOE) e4 allele remains the best-established susceptibility gene for late-onset AD. Although a substantial proportion of the liability for AD may be accounted for by genetic factors, heterogeneity or differences in aetiology are important to consider. Environmental factors probably play a significant role, such as education, head injury and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) use, as well as obesity, diabetes, physical activity and cognitively engaging leisure activities. The extent to which susceptibility genes interact with environmental factors may provide further clues to aetiology. Lastly, a developmental longitudinal perspective on the salience of particular risk and protective factors across the life course may illuminate etiologies and potential points of intervention.

Key Concepts:

The prevalence of Alzheimer disease (AD) will continue to rise globally, quadrupling by 2050.

The aetiology of AD is multifactorial.

Early-onset Alzheimer disease (AD) is caused by rare mutations in three genes: APP, PSEN1 and PSEN2.

Late-onset AD is complex whereby the genetic contribution to the liability for AD may be as high as 79%.

The APOE ɛ4 allele increases the risk for late-onset Alzheimer disease.

Genome-wide gene association studies (GWAS) were instrumental in identifying new susceptibility genes for late-onset AD beyond the APOE and SORL1 candidates, including: ABCA7, BIN1, CD33, CD2AP, CLU, CR1, EPHA1, MS4A4E/MS4A6A and PICALM.

Risk and protective factors appear to play a role in AD risk, such as education, head injury, physical activity, cognitively engaging leisure activities and NSAIDs use.

Keywords:

Dementia;
neurodegenerative disease;
susceptibility genes;
environmental risk;
gene–environment interaction;
Alzheimer's disease (AD) aetiology


The overall purpose of this work is to evaluate the possibilities of wheat straw for fibre and energy production and address the question of whether or not it is possible to develop a cost-effective process for producing good quality pulp from wheat straw for current paper or paperboard products. In addition, in light of the green energy boom, the question of whether fibre production could give added value to energy production using wheat straw is addressed. Due to the logistics of the bulky raw material, the process should be applied on a small scale that determines the requirements for the process. The process should be simple, have low chemical consumption and be environmentally safe. The processes selected for the study were based on an initial hot water treatment. Actual defibration in the "chemical" approach was then performed using a subsequent alkaline peroxide bleaching process or in the "mechanical" approach through mechanical refining. In both approaches, energy can be produced from lower quality material such as dissolved solids or fines. In this work, one of the primary aims besides the development of the abovementioned process is to investigate the chemical storage of wheat straw which decays easily between harvesting periods and examine its effects on pulping and pulp properties. In addition, the aim of this work is to determine the market potential for non-wood pulp and evaluate non-wood pulp production. The results showed that the "chemical" approach produced fibres for printing and writing. The quality of the pulp was relatively good, but the chemical consumption at the target brightness of 75% was high, indicating that a chemical recovery would be needed unless the brightness target could be significantly reduced. The "mechanical" approach produced unbleached fibres for fluting and the energy production from fines and dissolved solids generated additional income. The results also showed that it is possible to store wheat straw chemically with formic acid-based chemicals over a year without significant changes in the chemical composition. The chemical storage can be integrated with the suggested chemical or mechanical defibration process, soda pulping process or any other process utilising non-wood fibres. In China, a clear demand for non-wood-based fibres exists due to a shortage of fibre and also because of the increasing demand for bioenergy. In Europe, the competitiveness of nonwood fibre utilisation will only be established if combined with energy production.


Introduction: Chlamydia trachomatis infection is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the world. Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) is a nucleotide sequence based approach for unambiguously characterising isolates of bacteria and other organisms via the internet, and has been used to monitor the molecular epidemiology of pathogenic bacteria and also to help understand their evolution and population biology. To enrich genetic background information on C. trachomatis in the MLST database and to deepen the current knowledge of the molecular characteristics of C. trachomatis strains circulating in China. Methods Ninty-nine C. trachomatis-infected patients and 16 follow-up patients were recruited from selected STD clinics in Jiangsu Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, from whom cervical swabs and demographic data were collected. C. trachomatis type was determined by MLST analysis. Chlamydia sequence types from different areas were compared by using Bio-Numerics 7 to generate a minimum spanning tree. Results Six out of the 16 follow-up samples tested positive for C. Trachomatis DNA. Of 105 Chlamydia-positive samples, 90 (85.71%) were available for MLST analysis, by which seven ompA genovars and 26 MLST types were determined. Significant differences in genovar distribution were not observed between C. trachomatis strains from Jiangsu and Guangxi, but noted between Chinese and Italian strains. Among the six Chlamydia-positive follow-up samples, three were identified as Chlamydia re-infections, while the other three failed to yield an MLST result. Conclusion The prevalent STs of C. trachomatis in China were different from those in Italy. Half of Chlamydia-positive follow-up samples (3/6) were identified as re-infections; hence, follow-up Chlamydial infected patients deserve more attention of clinicians.


This study describes the effects of nitric oxide in newborns with persistent pulmonary hypertension. We studied 9 infants with severe respiratory failure characterized by hypoxemia and pulmonary hypertension. All infants met ECMO criteria and the oxygenation index (OI) was greater than 25. Mean birth weight was 2698 -/+ 661 g and gestational age was 36.4 -/+ 2.6 weeks. Nitric oxide was administered in a Y circuit in the inspiratory line of the mechanical ventilator. Nitric oxide and NO2 concentrations were monitored with electrochemical analyzers (PACI and PACII-Draeger). Pulmonary hypertension was diagnosed with clinical and echocardiografic criteria, with detection of right to left shunt with color doppler. All patients showed a dramatic improvement in oxigenation after nitric oxide administration. The drug reduced the mean OI, which was 48.5 before its administration, to 17.7 after 30', 14.1 after 6 hours, and 10.5 after 12 hours. We observed in all patients a reduction in pulmonary vascular resistance, reversal of the right to left shunt without any effects on systemic arterial pressure. Metahemoglobin levels did not reach 1.5% in any patient. Only one out of the 9 patients died, after reversal of the pulmonary hypertension, from other complications of perinatal asphyxia. Our data show that nitric oxide is a promising drug in the treatment of neonatal pulmonary hypertension and that it may reduce the need of ECMO in severe respiratory failure.


Template-based analysis of multi-parametric MRI data of the spinal cord sets the foundation for multi-center studies with minimum bias, thereby helping the discovery of new biomarkers of spinal-related diseases. In this study, we introduce a spinal cord MRI template, the PAM50, which is anatomically compatible with the ICBM152 brain template and uses the same coordinate system. The fusion of the PAM50 and ICBM152 templates facilitates group studies and multi-center studies of combined brain and spinal cord MRI and also allows the use of existing atlases of the brainstem compatible with the ICBM template.


We test a mechanism whereby groups are formed endogenously, through the use of voting. Once formed, groups play a public-goods game, where there are economies of scale: in two treatments the social value of an incremental contribution to the group account increases with the size of the group, but in the second treatment, the social value is capped once a certain group size is reached. Societies of nine people are initially formed randomly into three groups of three people who play the game for three periods. Individuals then learn about the average contribution of each individual (by ID number) in one's current own group, as well as the average contribution in other groups, and can decide whether to exit the group. Remaining group members choose whether to exclude any current members from the group; the new groups and 'free agents' then choose whether to merge with other existing groups and/or other free agents. We find a great degree of success for this mechanism. The average contribution rate is quite high in both treatments, but is modestly (albeit significantly) higher in the first treatment, when there is no cap on the social value of a contribution. In the first treatment, we see large and stable groups forming, but we see considerably more instability and smaller group sizes in the second treatment. The driving force appears to be the economies of scale combined with the awareness that bad behavior will result in ostracism, but in the Athenian sense of possible redemption. This redemption is a unique feature of our environment, with about one-third of the population becoming good citizens after initially being low contributors.


Background: The idea behind using the treatment protocols for endodontic practice have been varying ever since past few years with various developments and revolutions in endodontic field. It has been observed that most dental clinicians do not act in accordance with the principles that are formulated for successful root canal treatment.

Objectives: Results of the past studies are indicative of higher failure rates for teeth treated by other than endodontists. Although, the data available regarding the general practitioner's approach to endodontic therapy worldwide is scarce. Hence the purpose of this study was to uncover the current endodontic practice among the general practitioners of Vidarbh region.

Materials and Method: A written questionnaire survey consisting of personal details of respondent as well as the techniques and materials used by them for endodontic treatment was conducted among 150 General Dental Practitioners of Vidharbha region.

Result: The study report described that some dentists are still using outdated techniques and materials which are deviated from standard endodontic quality guidelines.

Conclusion: This study will help clinicians to improve the quality of the current practice.


Year-round cultivation under light emitting diodes (LEDs) has gained interest in boreal forest regions like Fenno-Scandinavia. This concept offers forest nurseries an option to increase seedling production normally restricted by the short vegetation period and the climate conditions. In contrast to some horticultural crops which can be cultivated entirely under LEDs without sunlight, forest seedlings need to be transplanted outdoors in the nursery at a very young age before being outplanted in the field. Juvenile plants are less efficient using absorbed light and dissipating excess energy making them prone to photoinhibition at conditions that usually do not harm mature plants. The outdoor transfer can cause stress in the seedlings due to high sunlight intensity and exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation not typically present in the spectra of LED lamps. This study tested possible treatments for mitigating light shock stress in seedlings of Picea abies (L.) Karst. and Pinus sylvestris L. transplanted from indoor cultivation under LEDs to outdoor sunlight exposure. Three sowings were carried out in 2014 (May and June) and 2015 (May) cultivating the seedlings during five weeks under LED lights only. Afterwards, higher light intensity or UV radiation treatments were applied during one week in order to adapt the seedlings to natural outdoor conditions. After transplanting a transition phase was introduced using shading cloths for one or three weeks as outdoor treatments for light shock mitigation. Chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) levels and CO2 assimilation rates were measured before transplanting and followed outdoors during 5 weeks. The ChlF results revealed stress symptoms in the photoreceptors during the first days after transplanting. After five weeks outdoors the ChlF levels had recovered and the light saturation points had shifted, allowing higher CO2 assimilation rates. By the end of the vegetation period the morphological attributes showed no major differences between treatments.


Instructional designers are under increasing pressure to enhance the pedagogical quality
and technical richness of their learning content offerings, while the task of authoring for
such complex educational frameworks is expensive and time consuming. Personalisation
and reusability of learning contents are two main factors which can be used to enhance the
pedagogical impact of e-learning experiences while also optimising resources, such as the
overall cost and time of designing materials for different e-learning systems.
However, personalisation services require continuous fine tuning for the different features
that should be used, and e-learning systems need sufficient flexibility to offer these
continuously required changes.
The semantic modelling of adaptable learning components can highly influence the personalisation
of the learning experience and enables the reusability, adaptability and maintainability
of these components. Through the discrete modelling of these components, the
flexibility and extensibility of e-learning systems will be improved as learning contents
can be separated from the adaptation logic which results in the learning content being no
longer specific to any given adaptation rule, or instructional plan.
This thesis proposes an innovative semantic rule-based approach to dynamically generate
personalised learning content utilising reusable pieces of learning content. It describes an
ontology-based engine that composes, at runtime, adapted learning experiences according
to learner's interaction with the system and learner's characteristics. Additionally, enriching
ontologies with semantic rules increases the reasoning power and helps to represent
adaptation decisions. This novel approach aims to improve flexibility, extensibility and
reusability of systems, while offering a pedagogically effective and satisfactory learning
experience for learners. This thesis offers the theoretical models, design and implementation
of an adaptive e-learning system in accordance with this approach. It also describes
the evaluation of developed personalised adaptive e-learning system (Rule-PAdel) from
pedagogical and technical perspectives.


This paper describes the learning environment of the introductory courses provided as part of the Virtual Assistive Technology University (VATU) certificate in assistive technology for educators. VATU, sponsored by The Spurwink Institute and the University of Southern Maine, offered its first course in the spring of 2001. The Web-based courses in this certificate program provide special and general educators with the knowledge and skills necessary to incorporate assistive technology in their educational programs for students with disabilities. This paper provides an in-depth descriptive study of the rationale of strategies for embedding social learning in the first two VATU courses. As each of the seven courses is delivered, assessment of student learning and student and instructor feedback and reflection will guide the course developers and instructors in improving the effectiveness of social learning.


It is important to enhance and detect pulmonary nodules in computed tomography(CT) images in order to assist radiologists in the detection of lung cancer. Nodules which are included in medical image generally have multiple size and scale and have blob-like structure. Recently, 3D multiscale filter approach is proposed for lung nodules detection. However, the 3D method takes too much computing time to be applicable in computer-aided diagnostic (CAD). In this paper, we propose a three step method for lung nodule detection in CT images. Firstly, we use 2D multiscale filter to detect the candidates of lung nodules on the slice images. Secondly, distinguish nodules between non-nodules which have blob-like shape by use of geometrical constraint region growing. Finally, extract shape features of each region and use an automated rule-based classifier for reduction of false positives. The experimental results indicate that our algorithm can achieve a relatively high performance for nodule detection.


Sylvester's conjecture states that, given n distinct noncollinear points in a plane, there exists a connecting line of two of the points such that no other point is incident with the line. First a proof is given of the six-point Sylvester conjecture from a constructive axiomatization of plane incidence geometry. Next ordering principles are studied that are needed for the seven-point case. This results in a symmetrically ordered plane affine geometry. A corollary is the axiom of complete quadrangles. Finally, it is shown that the problem admits of an arithmetic translation by which Sylvester's conjcture is decidable for any n.


In this paper, I examine impoliteness-oriented discourse on Arabic Twitter as a resource for the negotiation of Islamic moral order. I do so by highlighting the responses Arabs post in reaction to a tweet which attacks Islamic cultural face. As the triggering act poses an indirect request to change an authoritative Islamic practice deemed immoral by the instigator of the tweet, sundry responses were generated to repair the damaged collective face through keeping intact or arguing against the questionable moral order. The main strategy I identify as a response to the professed face-attack is divine (im)politeness, intertextually referencing religious texts in favor of (or against) the existing (im)moral order. The rites of moral aggression also draw upon questions, provocation, personal attacks and projection of Islamic behavior onto unaddressed third parties (e.g., Christians and Hindus). The findings capture one moment of a historic shift in Islamic moral order and the role that impoliteness plays in digital Arabic contexts.


Abstract A growing literature on the impact of "fake news" accusations on legacy news outlets suggests that the use of this term is part of a much larger trend of increased and delegitimizing media criticism by political actors. However, so far, there is very little empirical evidence on how prevailing politicians' delegitimizing media criticism really is and under which conditions it occurs. To fill these gaps, we present results of a content analysis of media-related Facebook postings by Austrian and German politicians in 2017 (N = 2,921). The results suggest that media criticism, in general, is actually rare and that about half of it can be described as delegitimizing (i.e., characterized by incivility or absence of argumentation). Most often, media criticism is used by populist politicians, who accuse "the media" in general of bias and falsehoods.


In any approximation problem, we concerned with a measure of closeness of polynomial ()xp to a function ()xf. Approximations are often obtained by power series expansions in which the higher order terms are dropped.
One of the fundamental idea in the differential calculus is that a function can be "locally" approximated by its tangent line. If f be a function defined on an open interval I and let and Ic∈Nn∈. Suppose that the function has n-th derivative at all . Then, the polynomial Ix∈()()ccfTn, is called as Taylor polynomial of order n of function at the point c. If the function is infinitely differentiable on I, so the series is called Taylor Series of f at point c. Taylor Series is one of the fundamental idea in differential calculus. However, Taylor Series only can apply if and only if the function f be differentiated on its interval stated.
A differentiable function is a continuous function. But, this is not always true that a continuous function is a differentiable function. Weierstass Approximation Theorem states that every continuous function defined on an interval []ba,can be uniformly approximated as closely as the decided function. Thus, this theorem ensure that every function can be approximate by a polynomial.
Consequently, in the research, we develop a new approximation method to approximate the non differentiable function which has singularity at one point, two points and three points by using Fourier series, Lagrange Interpolation and convolution method. We will also discover the asymptotic of Lagrange Interpolation for function where λλ||)(ttf=0>λwith equidistant nodes and discover the convergence of at point t =0. Lastly, we compare the effective of Fourier series and Lagrange method in approximate the non-differentiable function.


Electronic availability of information resources has increasingly become an important part of academic libraries everyday vocation. This is a fact that puts impetus on the libraries to know more about the way in which electronic information is being dispersed and handled. This thesis aims to comparatively evaluate Uppsala university library´s own metadata system Summon with the publicly available equivalent Google scholar. The evaluation is based on Peter Jacso´s theories on database evaluation which concretely puts focus on Summon and Google scholar via the use and application of ten different criteria. The uses of precision and relevance criteria were also implemented as additional evaluation tools. The results indicate that Google scholar at the moment has to be seen as a necessary complement in retrieving electronic information due to the fact that Summon is not yet fully functioning on all levels. This is a two years master's thesis in Archive, Library and Museum studies.


This volume, which is arranged by agency and period, provides a comprehensive examination of the literature concerning the history of the world famous British Secret Services from their Elizabethan origins to the present. Special attention is paid to the roles and activities of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the Security Service (MIS) and the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). The goal of the volume thirteenth in this series on international organizations, is to provide a map of the literature about the British Secret Services, identifying sources of information--and occasionally disinformation. Davies evaluates unsound as well as sound sources of the literature about United Kingdom intelligence. The annotations will give the reader a guide to the most reliable and informative sources in the field, as well as identifying the weaker sources. Davies includes a glossary of British intelligence terms and abbreviations. There are no comparable volumes on British intelligence. A small number of books concerned with the U.S. Secret Services do deal in passing with British intelligence, but these are limited and frequently inadequate. "British Secret Services "includes popular, professional, and scholarly sources and will provide a starting point for anyone doing research on British intelligence. It will also be an essential reference tool for those interested in the history of intelligence agencies and national security in general, and in the development of the British secret services in particular. Historians, political scientists, and strategy defense professionals will find this useful in then- work.


Ordered movement of virus particles along cell filopodia before cell entry known as viral surfing is an important pathway for cell infection. To quantitatively analyze the process of viral surfing, tracking of viruses over time in fluorescent time-lapse microscopy images is required. We have developed an automatic approach for tracking single surfing virus particles. The approach combines probabilistic tracking of virus particles with a novel approach for segmentation of cell filopodia which is used to discriminate surfing virus particles. The approach was successfully applied to synthetic images as well as live cell microscopy images.


Background The VSTEP Examination Suite is a collection of evidence-based standardized assessments for persons after stroke. It was developed by an interdisciplinary team in collaboration with clinician users. It consists of 5 standardized assessments: 2 performance-based tests using the Kinect camera (Microsoft Corp) to collect kinematics (5-Time Sit-to-Stand and 4-Square Test); 2 additional performance-based tests (10-Meter Walk Test and 6-Minute Walk Test); and 1 patient-reported outcome measure, the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale. Objective This study aimed to describe the development of the VSTEP Examination Suite and its evaluation as an educational tool by physical therapy students and faculty to determine its usefulness and usability. Methods A total of 6 students from a Doctor of Physical Therapy program in the United States and 6 faculty members who teach standardized assessments in different physical therapy programs from the United States and Israel were recruited by convenience sampling to participate in the study. They interacted with the system using a talk-aloud procedure either in pairs or individually. The transcripts of the sessions were coded deductively (by 3 investigators) with a priori categories of usability and usefulness, and comments were labeled as negative or positive. The frequencies of the deductive themes of usefulness and usability were tested for differences between faculty and students using a Wilcoxon rank sum test. A second round of inductive coding was performed by 3 investigators guided by theories of technology adoption, clinical reasoning, and education. Results The faculty members' and students' positive useful comments ranged from 83% (10/12) to 100%. There were no significant differences in usefulness comments between students and faculty. Regarding usability, faculty and students had the lowest frequency of positive comments for the 10-Meter Walk Test (5/10, 50%). Students also reported a high frequency of negative comments on the 4-Square Test (9/21, 43%). Students had a statistically significantly higher number of negative usability comments compared with faculty (W=5.7; P=.02), specifically for the 5-Time Sit-to-Stand (W=5.3; P=.02). Themes emerged related to variable knowledge about the standardized tests, value as a teaching and learning tool, technology being consistent with clinical reasoning in addition to ensuring reliability, expert-to-novice clinical reasoning (students), and usability. Conclusions The VSTEP Examination Suite was found to be useful by both faculty and students. Reasons for perceived usefulness had some overlap, but there were also differences based on role and experience. Usability testing revealed opportunities for technology refinement. The development of the technology by interdisciplinary teams and testing with multiple types of users may increase adoption.


The relationship between the stroke output and parameters relating to left-ventricular contraction and relaxation was examined within the early hours after the implantation of prosthetic aortic valve. Quantitative analysis demonstrated a close correlation between left-ventricular performance and diastolic regidity. Left-ventricular diastolic regidity is shown to make a more important contribution than contractility to the formation of stroke output. For this reasons, a therapy aiming only to improve myocardial contractility in patients after prosthetic aortic valve implantation failed to effectively improve their clinical condition.


Techniques are disclosed for a mobile telephone, in conjunction with a payment transaction server, to be used directly as a payment device for a variety of financial transactions. Further, the transaction systems and methods for mobile telephone devices described herein allow a mobile telephone to participate in payment transactions in a manner that helps prevent identify theft and without relying on transferring amounts to/from one stored value account to another.


Author(s): Ali, A. Maher | Abstract: The most serious known rodent pests in agricultural irrigated land are: Rattus rattus, Arvicanthis niloticus and Acomys sp. Occasionally there are rodent outbreaks in agricultural plantations. The changing agro-ecosystem in the present and future agricultural plantations is expected to affect the status of the following potential rodent pest species: Spalax ehrenbergi aegyptiacus, Nesokia indica, Jaculus orientalis, and Gerbillus gerbillus gerbillus. Basic studies are needed to quantify damage including water loss, which is caused by rodents, forecast of rodent outbreaks, and integrated control of rodents in agricultural projects.


The present study investigates cellulose phosphate from oil palm biomass (OPEFB-CP) as a potential biomaterial. To this effect, oil palm biomass microcrystalline cellulose (OPEFB-MCC) was phosphorylated using the H3PO4/ P2O5/ Et3PO4/ hexanol method. Characterization of OPEFB-CP was performed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetry (TG), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The cytotoxicity evaluation of OPEFB-CP was conducted on mouse connective tissue fibroblast cells (L929) using MTS Assay analysis, and the proliferation rate of OPEFB-CP on L929 was assessed by the indirect extraction method, whilst mineralization assessment was carried out by immersion of the material in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) for 30 days. Disruption of the crystalline structure of OPEFB-MCC, changes in surface morphology of OPEFB-CP, the presence of new FTIR peaks on OPEFB-CP at 2380 cm-1 and 1380 cm-1, and a smaller rate of mass loss of OPEFB-CP are indications of a successful grafting of phosphate groups. OPEFB-CP showed non-cytotoxic in vitro biocompatibility after 72h exposure with an IC-50 value 45mg/mL and a proliferation rate of up to 8 days with no change in cells morphology below the IC-50 concentration. Apatite formation was observed on OPEFB-CP surfaces after 30 days in SBF with a Ca:P ratio of 1.85.


Identifying the uniqueness of FeP-based superconductors may shed new lights on the mechanism of superconductivity in iron-pnictides. Here, we report nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies on LiFeP and LiFeAs which have the same crystal structure but different pnictogen atoms. The NMR spectrum is sensitive to inhomogeneous magnetic fields in the vortex state and can provide the information on the superconducting pairing symmetry through the temperature dependence of London penetration depth λ L. We find that λ L saturates below T ∼ 0.2 T c in LiFeAs, where T c is the superconducting transition temperature, indicating nodeless superconducting gaps. Furthermore, by using a two-gaps model, we simulate the temperature dependence of λ L and obtain the superconducting gaps of LiFeAs, as Δ 1 = 1.2 k B T c and Δ2 = 2.8 k B T c, in agreement with previous result from spin-lattice relaxation. For LiFeP, in contrast, λ L does not show any saturation down to T ∼ 0.03 T c, indicating nodes in the superconducting gap function. Finally, we demonstrate that strong spin fluctuations with diffusive characteristics exist in LiFeP, as in some cuprate high temperature superconductors.


This paper examines changing relations between education and psychological knowledge about children. I discuss some of the ways in which relations between education and psychology have been approached in historical research in education, ranging from social history to genealogical approaches, influenced Michel Foucault. Rather than viewing these approaches as mutually exclusive, I suggest that they can enrich each other. I illustrate this argument by tracing how two kinds of psychology – mental measurement and child study – constructed the child as object in the practice of psychologists working at the University of Toronto in the first half of the twentieth century.


BACKGROUND
Management of cesarean section with spinal anesthesia is often accompanied with intraoperative nausea and pain. In a randomized controlled study, we explored the effect of intrathecal fentanyl on the characteristics of subarachnoid block in patients undergoing cesarean section.

METHODS
Twenty-four healthy parturients scheduled for elective Cesarean section were allocated to receive either fentanyl 0.3 ml (15 micrograms) or 0.9% saline 0.3 ml added to 0.5% hyperbaric bupivacaine 2.0 ml given intrathecally in the right decubitus position (n = 12 in each group). Level of sensory blockade was evaluated with cold test and intraoperative use of antiemetics and analgesics was recorded.

RESULTS
The maximum level of sensory blockade was significantly higher in the fentanyl group as compared with the control group (P = 0.019). Use of intraoperative antiemetics was significantly less often in the fentanyl group (P = 0.007). The required amount of intraoperative analgesics was smaller in the fentanyl group, although the difference was not significant (P = 0.11). No remarkable side effects, such as respiratory depression and hypoxia were observed. Apgar scores in the newborn were similar.

CONCLUSION
Addition of intrathecal fentanyl to hyperbaric bupivacaine in parturients undergoing cesarean section improved quality of anesthesia without producing significant side effects.


In Swedish research politics there are, at the moment, several actions taken to enhance existing and develop new research infrastructures (Axelsson and Schroeder 2007). As one example, the Swedish National Data Service (SND, http://www.snd.gu.se), an operative key actor, is currently working on coordinating existing data resources and increasing deposition of research data to the national data service and re-use of those data. SND has, as a part of this endeavour, recently conducted two survey studies, targeted at professors (N=549) and doctoral students within social sciences and humanities departments (N=1147) at Swedish universities and university colleges, in order to obtain knowledge regarding existing use and re-use of digital research data and archiving practices as well as obstacles to increased digital research data sharing. This paper focuses on the doctoral students' data and the results are compared with the results from the parallel study of the professors and from a recent survey targeted at professors in various social sciences and humanities disciplines at Finnish universities (Kuula and Borg, 2008). The results from the current study show that doctoral students in general expressed a great uncertainty about questions of amounts of reusable digital data and effective interventions to enhance accessibility to digital research data. They identify research ethics as an important barrier to sharing digital research data, while professors emphasize lack of resources for researchers to document and make their data accessible to others as the most important obstacle. Concerning interventions to enhancing re-use of digital data, the majority of the doctoral students and the professors thought it should be effective to receive more information about accessible research data in data archives or databases. Nearly 100 % in both groups reported that also more of training in research methods, digital research databases and information about accessible e-tools would be effective interventions. The most effective interventions for enhancing accessibility to digital data were reported in terms of that research grants should include funds for preparing the data for sharing and archiving and that archiving data for use by the scientific community is acknowledged as a scientific merit. Surprisingly, when it comes to the degree of urgency in sharing their own data, the professors seem to be a bit more eager to share data than the doctoral students.


The international development cooperation landscape that has been largely dominated by the OECD-DAC members since the 1960s began to change in recent years with the 'emergence' and growing prominence of a group of 'new' development partners, many of which come from the Global South. Heated debate has since been going on around the socalled 'emerging donors' but much of that is flawed by its DACorientation, an almost exclusive focus on the ODA form of cooperation, as well as a lack of empirical evidence. Against this context, with an intent to further the current research on the Southern development partners, this thesis selects China, one of the most representative among them, and aims to investigate the Chinese 'development package model' through the case of its agricultural development cooperation policy and practice in Africa. Specifically, this thesis tries to explain how China's current 'package model' of development cooperation has been shaped by its own decades-long history of aid-giving and reforms. At the same time, it attempts to explore how exactly the 'package model' has been played out on the ground, and especially how the innovative commercial elements have been incorporated and utilized in China's agricultural development cooperation with Africa. Lastly, the thesis examines results of this new 'package model' of Chinese development cooperation so far provides a systematic explanation to why the 'implementation gap' exists in this specific policy issue.
Based on a detailed historical review, the thesis argues that China's own identity and experiences over the past decades have played a significant role in shaping its current model, and thus balances, to certain extent, the oft-seen 'DAC/Northern-centric' tendency of many in observing, judging and sometimes trying to assimilate the Chinese/Southern development cooperation model(s). The thesis also gives an in-depth treatment to the 'development package' model through the case of Chinese agricultural cooperation with Africa and compares that with the emerging trend of 'development PPP' in the Northern DAC community. It thus enriches the research on Southern development partners and that on development cooperation in general which both tend to focus almost exclusively on ODA. Furthermore, the thesis fills the gap of lack of empirical evidence in the existing literature by incorporating more project-level, fieldwork based case studies on the Chinese/Southern development cooperation model(s). By doing so, the thesis also points out a series of practical problems in the implementation phase that otherwise may not be identified, and more importantly provides a systematic explanation for that 'implementation gap'.
From a theoretical perspective, in order to explain the abovementioned implementation challenges, this thesis adopts the 'Public Policy Implementation (PPI)' approach and establishes an analytical framework based on a 'dialogue' between the theoretical literature and the empirical data. It thus finds that three aspects – namely the policy per se that structures the implementation process, the policy implementer who are formally or informally mandated to carry out the policy, and the implementation environment wherein the policy is executed – have played a crucial and synergic role in accounting for the observed 'implementation gap' of Chinese agricultural cooperation policy in Africa; the 'implementer' factor, furthermore, has weighed more strongly in this regard given its potential role in remedying policy imperfections and responding to adverse environment. This 'policy-implementerenvironment' framework may also serve as a useful analytical tool for analysing China's development and foreign policy implementation in other fields in Africa and explaining the implementation results.


Purpose: To investigate survival benefits and tumor treatment response among patients who received treatment with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and TACE alone. Materials and Methods: A total of 108 HCC patients were treated with TACE between the period of 1998 and 2008. 51 (47.2%) received TACE followed by planned RFA and 57 (52.8%) received TACE alone. 57 patients received Precision TACE with Doxorubicin drug eluting beads and 51 received conventional TACE. Survival analysis was performed using Kaplan Meier Estimator with a log rank test, Fischer exact test was performed for categorical variables and the t test for continuous variables. Results: Mean MELD (Model for End Stage Liver Disease) score among the TACE-RFA and TACE-only groups were 12.87 and 12.33 respectively (p = 0.64). The number of patients in Child's Class A, B, C in the two groups were 28/15/8 and 23/23/11 (p = 0.30); in Okuda Class I, II and III in the two groups were 22/23/6 and 14/30/9 (p = 0.2). Median survival among patients who received TACE-RFA and TACE alone were 566 days and 209 days (p = 0.01). Median survival of patients treated with Precision-TACE + RFA was 566 days and that of patients treated with conventional TACE + RFA was 336 days (p = 0.510). Mean progression-free duration by RECIST criteria among the TACE + RFA group was 210 days vs. TACE only group 97 days (p = 0.04). Conclusion: Combination therapies of TACE and RFA were associated with improved overall survival than TACE alone. Patients with single tumors cm appeared to have a survival advantage with combination therapy when compared to larger tumors. TACE-RFA was associated with improved tumor response and progression-free duration than TACE alone.


Ethnography can be utilized to assess the impact of HIV/AIDS education simultaneous with the implementation of program activities. An ethnographic analysis based on field methods adapted in a Michigan program that targets migrant farmworkers highlights responses to showings of a bilingual AIDS education video; the things to which migrants attend while they are interacting with the educator and each other in HIV education presentations; the tactics they employ to direct discussion when talking about HIV/AIDS, and the manner in which they use language to "distance" themselves from the topic of HIV infection and AIDS. Migrants in Michigan experience the same risks to health as farmworkers in other states; their pay is low, their hours are long, and the time they spend in the state is seasonal (summer). They engage in risk behavior while in the state (primarily consensual/contracted sex). Some migrants through use of drugs may come closer to exposure to the HIV virus outside the state than when they are working as migrants in Michigan.


Second language acquisition is a complex process that involves, among other things, the simultaneous acquisition of a new sound system and lexicon. The study of phonological contexts in the process of SLA provides an insight into the perception and production mechanisms. The relationship of both has been attested in the latest research on the role of phonological contexts in SLA, (Schiller and Meyer, 2003; McQueen, 2005; Scott, 2005). Speech perception involves decoding the acoustic signal to recover the phonetic message (Liberman at al. 1967; Liberman and Strange 1985). In previous cross-language studies with infants (exposed to different languages) were examined to determine if acoustic parameters associated with non-native phonetic contrasts were discriminated, (aspirated syllable – p and b – for English and the uninspired phones – p and b- for Spanish). Monolingual Spanish speakers showed good discrimination of the aspirated consonants, the same did not happen with uninspired contrasts. The lack of studies focusing on the acquisition of European Portuguese as a Second Language by Chinese learners more especially in what concerns the role of minimal pairs and considering that both are typologically different languages, pressed us to identify the principal perception difficulties by Chinese learners of Portuguese as L2, since these difficulties may have an impact in terms of production and comprehension. A group of 35 Chinese students (graduation on Portuguese studies) participated on a perception test where several contexts of minimal pairs were represented. In general, results showed that the pairs [t], [d]; [p], [m], [p], [b] and [f], [v], are difficult (in initial or CVC context) to identify by the majority of the students. These difficulties are an obstacle on learning European Portuguese. It is possible to notice that students have the same discrimination problems on writing or talking. For these speakers perception, comprehension and even production are strictly related.


This study identified among others , the level of parental awareness of the violent acts, actions parents will take when their children perpetrate violence and how violent acts can be solved in school. 50 children from 10 senior secondary schools 1 to 3 were chosen randomly and asked to give the questionnaire to their parents in the survey. The results reveal that parents are aware of violent acts that occur in schools and some of the causes are poor supervision by school authorities (82%), peer influence (82.8%), exposure to violent films (85.2%) and emotional instability (79.8%). Children that will report violence to their parents are 84% while 61.4% believed that their children will report to them if they perpetrate violence in schools. Furthermore, 65% of parents would go to schools to approach any child perpetrating violence against their children while 53.8% would go and report to the teacher. In addition (26.2%) would still ask their children to go back to school to retaliate. Opportunity for sports and other recreational activities, games, debate, excursions, club activities, visitation to schools by parents, establishment of Guidance and Counselling units are some of the strategies suggested for solving violent behaviour of children in schools. Key Words: School violence, parents and violence, strategies for curbing violence


The robotic machining is one of the most versatile manufacturing technologies. Its emerging helped to reduce the machining cost of complex parts. However, its application is sometimes limited due to the low rigidity of the robot. This low stiffness leads to high level of vibrations that limit the quality and the precision of the machined parts. In the present study, the vibration response of a robotic machining system was investigated. To do so, a new method based on the variation of spindle speed was introduced for machining operation and a new process stability criterion (CS) based on acceleration energy distribution and force signal was proposed for analysis. With the proposed method the vibrations and the cutting force signals were collected and analyzed to find a reliable dynamic stability machining domain. The proposed criterion and method were validated using data obtained during high speed robotic machining of 7075-T6 blocks. It was found that the ratio of the periodic energy on the total energy (either vibrations or cutting forces) is a good indicator for defining the degree of stability of the machining process. Besides, it was observed that the spindle speed with the highest ratio stability criterion is the one that has the highest probability to generate the best surface finish. The proposed method is rapid and permits to avoid trial-error tests during robot programming.


The contents of the contract are primarily determined by what the real mutually agreed upon by the parties. By interpreting some certain statements, in this case to determine its meaning, to be clear based on what the parties committed themselves. Why is the interpretation required? In facts, on the many cases provided a valuable lesson, how many commercial disputes arise when the performance of the contract. The dispute begins when the parties have a different understanding of the statement that they use in the contract. Indeed, businesses are very familiar with the business processes that they do, but at the time of the business process are set forth in the contract language and designed by those who do not understand the legal aspects of the contract, the contract can be ascertained open possibility for disputes. The power of contract binding (the contents of the agreement) toward to the characteristic and the wide spectrum of the rights and obligations contractually, basically a contract represents the power of performance among others in order implementing the rights and obligations of the parties. As an instrument to understand the contract, the method of determining the content of the contract (e.g., through interpretation, autonomous and heteronomous factors), further can be used to assess the reciprocation of rights and obligations in a meaningful and proportional contractual relationship.


1567 Epidemiological studies have shown that an increased consumption of fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of ovarian cancer. However, the literature does not contain many reports on the use of dietary components as chemopreventive agents for ovarian cancer. Sulforaphane (SFN) is derived from the breakdown of glucoraphanin and is found in large amounts in cruciferous vegetables, particularly broccoli. We observed a strong anti-cancer effect of SFN on human ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3 by cell viability assays and determined the IC50 to be 10 μM. The loss of viability was due to induction of apoptosis where we observed a four fold increase in apoptosis at 10 μM going upto 20 fold at 100 μM. The apoptotic effect that results in the loss of viability is preceded by a significant effect on the regulator of cell cycle transition molecules specifically cdk4. The steady state level of cdk4 decreased in dose dependent manner with complete abrogation at 20 μM. In an effort to identify further upstream targets of SFN we examined the effect of SFN on signal transduction pathways that may be of significance in ovarian cancer. We observed that both total Akt protein and the active phosphorylated levels of Akt were significantly inhibited in SFN treated SKOV3 cells. We conclude that the pro-survival Akt pathway is a target of the chemopreventive SFN that may lead to cell cycle inhibition and induction of apoptosis and propose use of SFN with other chemotherapeutic agents that target phosphorylation mediated signal transduction pathways in ovarian cancer.


There is no established national standard for rib fracture management. A clinical practice guideline (CPG) for rib fractures, including monitoring of pulmonary function, early initiation of aggressive loco-regional analgesia, and early identification of deteriorating respiratory function, was implemented in 2013. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of the CPG on hospital length of stay. Hospital length of stay (LOS) was compared for adult patients admitted to the hospital with rib fracture(s) two years before and two years after CPG implementation. A separate analysis was done for the patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Over the 48-month study period, 571 patients met inclusion criteria for the study. Pre-CPG and CPG study groups were well matched with few differences. Multivariable regression did not demonstrate a difference in LOS (B = -0.838; P = 0.095) in the total study cohort. In the ICU cohort (n = 274), patients in the CPG group were older (57 vs 52 years; P = 0.023) and had more rib fractures (4 vs 3; P = 0.003). Multivariable regression identified a significant decrease in LOS for those patients admitted in the CPG period (B = -2.29; P = 0.019). Despite being significantly older with more rib fractures in the ICU cohort, patients admitted after implementation of the CPG had a significantly reduced LOS on multivariable analysis, reducing LOS by over two days. This structured intervention can limit narcotic usage, improve pulmonary function, and decrease LOS in the most injured patients with chest trauma.


The risks of buying volatile issues (generally of low-priced stock) in a rising market can be reduced without sacrificing the potential for profit by buying the junior securities of companies with debt or preferred stock outstanding. The stocks of such "leverage" investment companies have advantages over ordinary low-priced issues because the risk of the company going bankrupt is low and because the stock will rise faster than the market will. The mechanics of leverage are the same as those of a margin account except that the investment company shareholder is not wiped out by a large loss (but has a permanent call on future recovery) and the leverage is automatically reduced as the market rises. Various leverage investment company stocks are suitable for different types of investors, but before being chosen for investment, the companies must be carefully analyzed, particularly as to the proper discount or premium of the prices.


There is limited evidence of how Australian low-to-middle income (AUD $40,000–$80,000) households maintain food security. Using a sequential explanatory mixed methods methodology, this study explored and compared the food security (FS) and insecurity (FIS) experiences of these households. An initial quantitative survey categorised participants according to food security status (the 18-item United States Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Survey Module) and income level to identify and purposefully select participants to qualitatively explore food insecurity and security experiences. Of the total number of survey participants (n = 134), 42 were categorised as low-to-middle income. Of these, a subset of 16 participants (8 FIS and 8 FS) was selected, and each participant completed an in-depth interview. The interviews explored precursors, strategies to prevent or address food insecurity, and the implications of the experience. Interview data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Five themes emerged from the analysis: (i) food decision experiences, (ii) assets, (iii) triggers, (iv) activation of assets, and (v) consequences and emotion related to walking the food security tightrope. The leverage points across all themes were more volatile for FIS participants. Low-to-middle income Australians are facing the challenges of trying to maintain or improve their food security status, with similarities to those described in lower income groups, and should be included in approaches to prevent or address food insecurity.


placeandplace
A reflection…
When finishing this piece, I was left with a reminder of presence and also the thought that, what is perceived to have left, is still here.

In sound, we hear a sound for an instant and after that instant; we assume the sound is no longer. In fact it will always be present, it's just that we cannot hear it anymore.
Gaston Bacharlard in The Instant writes that 'From the standpoint of life itself, we must therefore try to understand the past by means of the present instead of endlessly striving to explain the present in terms of the past….'

In this sound piece I explored the idea of 'the instant'.

By working with Delaine and Damian James Le Bas, I had an understanding of past and present and of then and now coming together in one moment. This was both through their artwork and their teaching.

I formulated an idea of using an actual live physical soundscape, often humorous, recorded over an hour, connecting this with me playing a saxophone piece of my own composition. I wanted the presence and the place to come together in one form. When exhibiting, this sound file will be presented on wireless headphones in order for the audience to engage in a personal experience.

I used the Eye in York as 'the place', as this was where Delaine had set up the repository of knowledge. The saxophone was used as a constant presence, one that uses the breath of a human being to engage sound through a metal instrument. The collection of continued sounds recorded at the Eye, was placed beside the saxophone file. This formed the final outcome.

What I'm left with, is a deeper knowledge and wider understanding of the Roma's use of place and how this becomes a moment in that place's existence; a moment that is all the richer for the presence of these travellers, with their wisdom of the world and their extended history. Through experiencing the variety of peoples we learn more about the world and ourselves in it, reminding us of how much others give to us.

annie morrad january 2015


BMI1 belongs to the polycomb-repressive complex 1 (PRC1) family of genes that are conserved chromatin silencers. These are essential for maintaining both the normal and cancerous stem cell state. In this study, we evaluated the effect of siRNA-mediated BMI1 knockdown on tumor cell properties such as invasion, migration, and apoptosis, as well as on cell signaling pathways responsible for tumor progression in the human glioma cell line, U251. Knockdown of BMI1 induced apoptosis by activating cleavage of PARP and caspase-3. It also decreased the expression of anti-apoptotic proteins, survivin, XIAP, Bcl-xL, and Mcl1. Additionally, BMI1 knockdown significantly decreased cell invasion and cell migration ability. BMI1 knockdown also decreased the phosphorylation of Akt/FOXO1/3a signaling proteins. Our results suggest that BMI1 knockdown induces apoptosis and decreases cell invasion and cell migration. Moreover, we believe these phenomenona are associated with decreased phoshorylation of Akt signaling proteins, which contributes to cancer progression.


Efforts to design public policies for social systems tend to confront highly complex conditions which have a large number of potentially relevant factors to be considered and rapidly changing conditions where continuous adaptation delays or obscures the effect of policies. Given unresolvable uncertainty in policy outcomes, the optimal solution is difficult, if ever possible, to nail down. It is more reasonable to choose a solution that is robust to as many future scenarios that might ensue from the decision. Arriving at such a solution requires policy makers to actively explore and exploit rich information to support their decision making in a cost-efficient, yet rigorous manner. We name this new working style as evidence-driven policy design and outline the characteristics of favorable evidence. We then argue that computational modeling is a potential tool for implementing evidence-driven policy design. It helps the study and design of solutions by simulating various environments, interventions, and the processes in which certain outcomes emerge from the decisions of policy makers. It allows policy makers to observe both the intended and, equally important, unintended consequences of policy alternatives. It also facilitates communication and consensus-building among policy makers and diverse stakeholders.


This aim of this thesis is to examine ethical aspects of radiation protection from ionizing radiation. Radiation protection is the professional field that deals with the protection of humans and the environment from the harmful effects of radiation. The field is based on scientific knowledge of the health effects of radiation, but also on ethical value judgements. This thesis consists of a summary and three essays. Essay 1 gives an overview of ethical issues in radiation protection. Based on this overview four ethical problem areas are identified as central for radiation protection. The first are ethical problems related to uncertainty and the influence of value judgements, especially in scientific risk assessment. The second problem area is ethical issues regarding distributions of risks and benefits between different individuals, both in space and time. The third general problem area is related to limit-setting. A major problem here is how to set limits in an ethically justifiable way when there is no known level of exposure that is associated with a zero risk. The fourth area concerns procedural justice and social decision-making in radiation protection. Essay 2 discusses ethical problems related to the proposal that individual risks below a certain level should be excluded from the system of radiation protection, without any regard to the number of people exposed. It is concluded that there are at least three problems associated with disregarding very small risks: (1) that many small risks to an individual may add up to a large risk for that individual, (2) that many small risks to many individuals may add up to a large expected value of harm, and (3) that a small risk each to many individuals may add up to a large probability that several people are harmed. It is also argued that the proposal is hard to justify in a rights-based ethical setting. Essay 3 examines what makes one distribution of individual doses better than another. This is done by creating a mathematical framework, based on preference logic, in which such assessments of can be made precisely in terms of comparisons between alternative distributions of individual doses. Principles from radiation protection and from parallel discussions in moral philosophy and welfare economics are defined using this framework and then analysed on basis of their formal properties. The analysis shows that there can be efficiency-related problems with a strict application of individual dose constraints. It is concluded that a principle that assigns extra weight to individual doses exceeding a certain limit, in proportion to the size of the excess dose, may be preferable to the standard combination of principles in radiation protection, since it satisfies efficiency related properties better without sacrificing other desirable properties.


Postpartum endometritis (PPE) continues to be a leading cause of morbidity in the puerperium. The patient's endogenous cervicovaginal flora remains the source of the polymicrobial character of this infection. Patients in labor with ruptured membranes for more than three hours who undergo delivery by cesarean section have an increased risk of developing PPE.


This paper studies the exponential stability of impulsive delayed neural networks (IDNN). By employing the standard Lyapunov function and the modified Halanay inequalities, two new sufficient conditions guaranteeing the global exponential stability of the origin of IDNN are established. The proposed results characterize the effects of impulses, delay and the exponential convergence rate of the impulse-free DNN in an aggregated form.


Recent results in animals have suggested that repetition of hypoxaemic stimuli may result in a progressive increase in pulmonary arterial pressure (Ppa). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of recurrent obstructive apnoeas on Ppa. We have, therefore, examined the nocturnal trend of Ppa in seven obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) patients and in five snorers. Mean Ppa was measured before, at the start, at the end and after the selected apnoeas. The analysis was performed for each 1 h period for at least 7 h throughout the night on at least 10 randomly selected apnoeas per hour. In snorers, 100 randomly chosen values were measured during every hour of the night. In the morning after the nocturnal study, the Ppa responses to acute hypoxia and hypercapnia were measured. No Ppa changes throughout the 7 h were found during sleep in snorers [Ppa slope:-0.002+/-0.10 mmHg x h(-1)]. In OSAS patients a small but significant increase in Ppa throughout the night was noted, affecting the values before [Ppa slope: 0.7+/-0.16 mmHg x h(-1)], at the start of apnoea [Ppa slope: 0.530.1 mmHg x h(-1)] as well as at the end [Ppa slope: 0.44+/-0.08 mmHg x h(-1)] and in the postapnoeic period [Ppa slope: 0.55+/-0.1 mmHg x h(-1)]. When we limited the analysis to nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, a trend in progressive Ppa was also present, irrespective of changes in apnoea duration and apnoea desaturation. The Ppa rise during the night was not affected by diurnal Ppa pulmonary vascular response to hypoxia and hypercapnia or indices of sleep apnoea severity. We conclude that in obstructive sleep apnoea, pulmonary artery pressure progressively increases during the night, reflecting the cumulative effects of apnoeas and nocturnal hypoxaemia.


A method is described for the separation of the outer membrane (OM) from the cytoplasmic membrane (CM) of Pseudomonas cepacia grown in nutrient broth and in chemically defined media under different nutrient depletions. The method is particularly valuable since it is effective when applied to stationary phase cells. Enzyme activities indicated that the contamination of the OM with the CM was less than 5%. The OM protein profile of magnesium-depleted cells was much simpler than that of the iron-depleted and nutrient broth grown cells. The apparent molecular weights of the OM proteins of magnesium-depleted cells were: 40 000, 36 000, 24 500 and 14 500. Iron depletion induced the synthesis of an OM protein with apparent molecular weight of 66 000. The OM proteins with apparent molecular weights of 40 000, 36 000 and 24 500 were heat-modifiable and the 24 500 dalton protein was found also to be affected by the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. The OM consisted of 50% protein and 20% phospholipid and the rest was probably LPS while the CM consisted of 80% phospholipid and 20% protein. The major phospholipid in both membranes was phosphatidylethanolamine with a smaller amount of phosphatidylglycerol and a trace amount of phosphatidylcholine; the OM contained more phosphatidylethanolamine than the CM.


Bundy, A., A. Stevens, F. van Harmelen, A. Ireland and A. Smaill, Rippling: a heuristic for guiding inductive proofs, Artificial Intelligence 62 (1993) 185-253. We describe rippling: a tactic for the heuristic control of the key part of proofs by mathematical induction. This tactic significantly reduces the search for a proof of a wide variety of inductive theorems. We first present a basic version of rippling, followed by various extensions which are necessary to capture larger classes of inductive proofs. Finally, we present a generalised form of rippling which embodies these extensions as special cases. We prove that generalised rippling always terminates, and we discuss the implementation of the tactic and its relation with other inductive proof search heuristics.