The Vietnam War was the largest American military interventions since World War II and the most controversial American war since the Civil War. The controversy has outlived the war's end and its memory has resonated in discussions of every American intervention since then.Unsurprisingly, interest in the Vietnam War has also spawned numerous books on various aspects of the conflict, but to date no book has been published focusing on the United States Senate even though the war could not have taken place without the Senate's support. Gary Stone's Elites for Peace fills this gap, giving special attention to the Senate during the Johnson presidency when the conflict escalated into a major war and became the central political issue of American political life and a major concern for people throughout the world.. In this work, Stone chronicles how the Senate tried to cope with this war, a war to which its members supported through the nearly unanimous Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, and, more concretely, by supplying the vast appropriations needed to sustain America's continuing intervention. Looking beyond the public acquiescence of most senators, Stone shows that numerous influential senators actually opposed Johnson's policies as early as 1965. By early 1966, through the televised Fulbright hearings and publicized dissension of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the Senate helped to legitimize public debate about the war and give respectability to the still small antiwar protest movement, a movement which would grow to mass proportions in years that followed. The reader of Elites for Peace will inevitably be struck by the numerous war-related issues that engaged senators that resonate in more recent American military interventions, among them the credibility of official justifications for intervention, the delineation of the goal of the intervention, the role of the United Nations and international law, the conflicting claimed prerogative of Congress and the President, and such problems as civilian casualties, the treatment of prisoners, the problem of foreign intervention into a country in a state of civil war, and the tendency of the United States actions to be determined by the wishes of its client state rather than the reverse. Among the episodes and developments covered are the Senate's response to giving American aid to the French government in the first Indochina War in 1953-54, the debate on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964 and on the escalation of the war in the following year, the televised Foreign Relations Committee hearings of 1966, the role of Vietnam as an issue in the Senate elections held later that year, the 1967 Armed Services Committee hearings on the air war, and the role of the Senate in decisions made by the president in the aftermath of the 1968 Tet offensive. Stone places the Vietnam debates in the context of the evolution of postwar foreign debates, both within and outside of the Senate, with special attention to such influential leaders of elite opinion as the columnist Walter Lippmann. Stone challenges the widely held view that the opposition of senators in the wake of the Tet offensive represented a sudden break in a bipartisan consensus that had guided American foreign policy since the onset of the Cold War. Instead, he presents evidence showingthat most mainstream Republicans were, at most, equivocal in their support to the worldwide anti-Communist crusade on behalf of the cause of the Free World from the time their support for vigorous anti-Communism was first called for by Harry Truman in 1947.As a work that is both scholarly and written in an engaging and accessible style that is free of jargon, Elites for Peace will be of great interest to all of those who are concerned with the problem of war and the course of American foreign policy, as well as historians, political scientists, students of language and communication, and scholars particularly concerned with the study of peace and war. Gary Stone is currently a senior staff attorney at Legal Services for the Elderly, an office of Legal Services of New York City."


OBJECTIVES
To evaluate acute and delayed laser effects of subdermal lipolysis and collagen deposition using an in vivo pig model and to compare histologic findings in fatty tissue after continuous wave diode (CW) vs pulsed laser treatment.

METHODS
Three CW lasers (980, 1370, and 1470 nm) and 3 pulsed lasers (1064, 1320, and 1440 nm) were used to treat 4 Göttingen minipigs. Following administration of Klein tumescent solution, a laser cannula was inserted at the top of a 10 × 2.5-cm rectangle and was passed subdermally to create separate laser "tunnels." Temperatures at the surface and at intervals of 4-mm to 20-mm depths were recorded immediately after exposure and were correlated with skin injury. Full-thickness cutaneous biopsy specimens were obtained at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after exposure and were stained with hematoxylin-eosin and trichrome stain. Qualitative and semiquantitative histopathologic evaluations were performed with attention to vascular damage, lipolysis, and collagen deposition.

RESULTS
Skin surface damage occurred at temperatures exceeding 46°C. Histologic examination at 1 day after exposure showed hemorrhage, fibrous collagen fiber coagulation, and adipocyte damage. Adipocytes surrounded by histiocytes, a marker of lipolysis, were present at 1 week and 1 month after exposure. Collagen deposition in subdermal fatty tissue and in reticular dermis of some specimens was noted at 1 week and had increased at 1 month. Tissue treated with CW laser at 1470 nm demonstrated greater hemorrhage and more histiocytes at damage sites than tissue treated with pulsed laser at 1440 nm. There was a trend toward more collagen deposition with pulsed lasers than with CW lasers, but this was not statistically significant. Histopathologic comparison between results of CW laser at 980 nm vs pulsed laser at 1064 nm showed the same trend. Hemorrhage differences may result from pulse duration variations. A theoretical calculation estimating temperature rise in vessels supported this hypothesis.

CONCLUSIONS
Pulsed lasers with higher peak powers provided better hemostatic effects than CW lasers. The degree of lipolysis depended on wavelength, laser power, and energy density. Subdermal laser irradiation can stimulate collagen deposition in subdermal tissue and reticular dermis.


This paper presents an experimental investigation of a miniature ejector using water as the working fluid. The investigated ejector cooling system can utilize the thermal energy to be removed to power the cooling system and maintain the temperature of an electronic component below ambient temperature. The effects of working conditions, nozzle exit position (NXP), and area ratio on the coefficient of performance (COP) of ejector performance were investigated. Experimental results show that the miniature ejector can function well when the temperature in the high-temperature evaporator (HTE) ranges from 55 °C to 70 °C and can achieve a COP (coefficient of performance) of 0.66. With an increase of the NXP, the COP decreases, while the critical condensing pressure first increases and then decreases. As the area ratio of the miniature ejector increases, the COP increases, and the critical condensing pressure decreases.


The Canadian writer Deborah Ellis, since 18 years old, is an anti-violence militant dedicated herself to peace and especially to works of women to achieve equal rights. This novel has emerged as a result of events that she had witnessed herself in the afghan camps established in the north-west of Pakistan. So this is a heartbreaking story of a real observation. Among the events that she witnessed, she gave place to most of the discrimination, torture and humiliation that afghan women and girls exposed to in her book. When she was in the camp, she met a girl who looked like Parvana, the hero of this novel. She has created her novel on what the elevenyear-old Parvana lived and tried to convey the pain and distress she suffered. In the novel, the heaviest burden of the family of six is on the shoulders of Parvana, eleven years old. Especially for her father, Parvana is in both financial and spiritual support roles. She had to be a crutch on the road for her father who lost a leg in a cruel battle. Kabul, the city where she lived has been the target of bombs and rockets that fall from the sky day and night. A large part of the country is under the control of the taliban. The best thing to describe the trouble of the afghan people is; the buying and selling of the artificial legs in the market place. Because of the taliban banned women to leave the house, most of the men were also able to use their artificial legs. Almost every house in Kabul, someone from the house did not either have the leg or the arm. The mines were located everywhere. When her father is imprisoned without guilt by the taliban, Parvana's burden increased even more. According to the prohibition of the taliban regime, woman could not go out without her husband or father. Parvana, at a young age, had to go to the streets of Kabul dressed as a man. Although the difficult living conditions of afghan woman, in this work, Parvana's struggle is a reflection of her courage and her search for freedom.


Pain, swelling and inflammation are expected during the recovery from total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery. The severity of these factors and how a patient copes with them may determine the ultimate outcome of a TKA. Cryotherapy and compression are frequently used modalities to mitigate these commonly experienced sequelae. However, their effect on range of motion, functional testing, and narcotic consumption has not been well-studied. A prospective, multi-center, randomised trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of a cryopneumatic device on post-operative TKA recovery. Patients were randomised to treatment with a cryopneumatic device or ice with static compression. A total of 280 patients were enrolled at 11 international sites. Both treatments were initiated within three hours post-operation and used at least four times per day for two weeks. The cryopneumatic device was titrated for cooling and pressure by the patient to their comfort level. Patients were evaluated by physical therapists blinded to the treatment arm. Range of motion (ROM), knee girth, six minute walk test (6MWT) and timed up and go test (TUG) were measured pre-operatively, two- and six-weeks post-operatively. A visual analog pain score and narcotic consumption was also measured post-operatively. At two weeks post-operatively, both the treatment and control groups had diminished ROM and function compared to pre-operatively. Both groups had increased knee girth compared to pre- operatively. There was no significant difference in ROM, 6MWT, TUG, or knee girth between the 2 groups. We did find a significantly lower amount of narcotic consumption (509 mg morphine equivalents) in the treatment group compared with the control group (680 mg morphine equivalents) at up to two weeks postop, when the cryopneumatic device was being used (p < 0.05). Between two and six weeks, there was no difference in the total amount of narcotics consumed between the two groups. At six weeks, there was a trend toward a greater distance walked in the 6MWT in the treatment group (29.4 meters versus 7.9 meters, p = 0.13). There was a significant difference in the satisfaction scores of patients with their cooling regimen, with greater satisfaction in the treatment group (p < 0.0001). There was no difference in ROM, TUG, VAS, or knee girth at six weeks. There was no difference in adverse events or compliance between the two groups. A cryopneumatic device used after TKA appeared to decrease the need for narcotic medication from hospital discharge to 2 weeks post-operatively. There was also a trend toward a greater distance walked in the 6MWT. Patient satisfaction with the cryopneumatic cooling regimen was significantly higher than with the control treatment.


Abstract The study of dental wear was first used years ago to infer the palaeoecology of fossil mammals and in particular their diet. Results depend predominantly on the scale of the analysis used. Analyses of dental macrowear, mesowear or microwear do not provide the same type of dietary information, be it about the seasonal, annual or lifetime diet. This contribution focuses on emblematic species, cave bears (Ursidae), in particular Ursus spelaeus spelaeus. Methods used by previous researchers to infer their dietary preferences and thus their palaeoecology are reviewed and compared. This review is complemented by an analysis of several specimens of cave bears from the Goyet cave in Belgium, using dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA), a methodology widely applied for reconstructing palaeodiets. Three main conclusions are drawn here: (1) DMTA is the method that provides the most precise palaeobiological inferences; (2) during the pre-dormancy period, cave bears show dietary flexibility; (3) dental wear alone might be not sufficient to provide a complete reconstruction of the cave bear palaeodiet.


The development of the i-vector framework for generating low dimensional representations of speech utterances has led to considerable improvements in speaker recognition performance. Although these gains have been achieved in periodic National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) evaluations, the problem of domain mismatch, where the system development data and the application data are collected from different sources, remains a challenging one. The impact of domain mismatch was a focus of the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) 2013 speaker recognition workshop, where a domain adaptation challenge (DAC13) corpus was created to address this problem. This paper proposes an approach to domain mismatch compensation for applications where in-domain development data is assumed to be unavailable. The method is based on a generalization of data whitening used in association with i-vector length normalization and utilizes a library of whitening transforms trained at system development time using strictly out-of-domain data. The approach is evaluated on the 2013 domain adaptation challenge task and is shown to compare favorably to in-domain conventional whitening and to nuisance attribute projection (NAP) inter-dataset variability compensation.


The Upper Cretaceous Tuscaloosa marine shale (TMS) is an oil play across central Louisiana and southwest Mississippi. The lower TMS is characterized by relatively high log resistivity (>5 ohm-m) compared to the upper part, and this elevated resistivity zone (ERZ) has become the primary target zone. This study is to investigate the cause of variation in log resistivity based on the data of petrography, mineralogy, and organic matter property and porosity. The results suggest that log resistivity is not controlled by mineralogy or porosity; rather, it is associated with oil generation during organic matter maturation. Total organic carbon (TOC) content, Rock-Eval free hydrocarbon yield (S1), and hydrogen index (HI) in the studied core increase with depth. Porosity within organic matter (OM), measured by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), is also higher within the ERZ. The correlated variations among TOC content, S1 values, OM porosity, and log resistivity suggest that the higher log resistivity resulted from in situ oil generation and that the OM pores were generated during oil generation. Thermal maturity varies little in the core; whereas the downward-increasing HI indicates an increasing abundance of oil-prone type II kerogen. Higher OM porosity appears to be related to the greater proportion of type II kerogen in the ERZ. The data set demonstrates that higher contents of TOC and oil-prone kerogen are the combined factors for higher oil generation, therefore, higher log resistivity in the ERZ. The study provides a quantitative relationship between OM porosity and oil generation.


Objectives: The objective of this study is to analyze the effect of glycemic control and factors like time since the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus on hearing. Materials and Methods: Hearing of 75 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients aged 40–55 years categorized into three groups of 25 patients based on their glycemic control (HbA1c %) and also based on time since the diagnosis was assessed using pure-tone audiometry (PTA) and distortion-product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE). Results: Of 68% of the study population showing hearing loss, 40 patients (76.92%) had sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and 11 patients showed mixed hearing loss. The highest incidence of SNHL was seen in patients with poor glycemic control (45%) (P = 0.01) and in those with longer duration of diabetes >10 years (50%). Maximum patients showed moderate-to-moderately severe degree of hearing loss, affecting higher frequencies (P < 0.05). Bilateral SNHL was observed in 24% of patients. The absence of DPOAE was seen statistically significantly more in patients with uncontrolled glycemic control (P = 0.008) and those with the duration of diabetes of 5–10 years, affecting mid-to-high frequencies (2 and 8 kHz) (P < 0.01). Our study showed nine patients with normal PTA thresholds with absent DPOAE's. Age showed a statistically significant correlation in DPOAE outcomes with respect to glycemic control only (P = 0.038). Patients on treatment with both insulin and oral hypoglycemic agents showed the highest incidence of hearing loss but with no significant correlation. Conclusion: Patients with poor and uncontrolled glycemic control are likely to have more hearing loss. Subclinical hearing loss due to cochlear dysfunction seen commonly in patients with diabetes can be detected earliest with the aid of otoacoustic emissions in conjunction with PTA.


Solar power generates proven, predictable and economical energy and new innovations have made solar PV power plants easy to deploy, integrate and maintain. Areas with large solar energy potential are among the dustiest in the world. At first glance, solar would be a natural fit in many of these environments but humidity, airborne dust, and wind of these regions often bring high soiling rates that can accumulate to reduce performance by up to 10% per month on average, where soiling can be a major loss factor that affects the energy yield for PV plants especially in humid and dusty climates. Therefore, to achieve the desired performance ratio and obtain stable generation, mitigation solutions are proposed to overcome dust issues that affect the performance of PV plants. This makes PV module cleaning a key component for long-term plant performance and sustainable profitability. In this paper, a review of the mechanisms and mitigation solutions to overcome soiling on solar installations using real-world testing and verification is investigated with emphasis on dry type cleaning methods.


The perspective of alternative development has been becoming a slogan of all the nations since there was mismatch between urban and rural development. Rural industrialization has become necessary to empower the people of rural areas. A good chunk of population of developing countries has been residing in rural areas practicing traditional skills which have no commercial value. Vocational education can make them able to recognize their possibilities as it is area and need based education. It is imperative to have connection between vocational education and rural industrialization so that people would get more benefit utilizing local/natural resources. The key of development lies in local based industries so that the promotion of such industries would help to increase national economy. Certainly there is high chance of progression of developing countries recognizing and utilizing their potentialities through vocational education. Keywords: rural industrialization, vocational education, formal education, alternative development


Solar energy is regarded as an essential source of electricity generation. It is one of the renewable energy sources that have the potential for future energy applications. The optimization algorithms, such as the Electromagnetism-like (EM) algorithm is suitable for tackling numerous optimization problems. The EM algorithm has the ability to handle nonlinear functions, and it is imagined to be extremely productive for the parameters estimation of a photovoltaic (PV) module. Different values of control parameters of the method have been tested in this paper. This is done to demonstrate the impact of every parameter on the performance of the algorithm regarding the speed of convergence and precision. In every case of parameters, the algorithm can extract the photovoltaic model parameters. The objective function for every arrangement of values has been resolved and then contrasted with others in order to select the best case.


Variables determining the number of native and alien plants on arable land in Central Europe are identified. Species richness of 698 samples of weed floras recorded in the Czech Republic in plots of a standard size of 100 m 2 in 1955-2000 was studied in relation to altitudinally based floristic region, soil type, type of cultivated crop, climatic variables, altitude, year of the record, crop cover and height, and human population density in the region. Vascular plant species were classified into native and alien, the latter divided in archaeophytes, introduced before AD 1500, and neophytes, introduced after this date. The use of minimal adequate models in the analysis of covariance allowed determination of the net effects of mutually correlated environmental variables. Models for particular species groups explained 33-48% of variation in species numbers and 27-51% in propor- tions; however, explanatory variables affected native species, archaeophytes, and neophytes differently. The number and proportion of neophytes increased in 1955-2000, whereas the number of native species and archaeophytes declined (in archaeophytes more slowly in the warm than in the moderate to cool altitudinal floristic region). In warm and dry regions and on dry soils, where most archaeophytes find optimum conditions, fewer native species are able to persist in weed communities than in colder and wetter regions. Archaeophytes respond like neophytes to some variables (climate, seasonal development of crop) and alternatively like native species to other variables (increasing agricultural intensification through time, human population density). Archaeophytes are common in old crops intro- duced with the beginning of agriculture (cereals), but are poorly represented in relatively recently introduced crops (rape, maize), where neophytes are most numerous. These patterns reflect the history of plant invasions in Central Europe. Neolithic agriculture, introduced from the Near East in the sixth millenium BC, brought archaeophytes with crops and, by creating intense and continuous propagule pressure and imposing new agricultural man- agement, facilitated their invasion. By contrast, the crops introduced during the past five centuries and their specific agrotechnical management have supported spreading of other weed species, mainly invaders from overseas.


The electrical and thermal conductivities and the Seebeck coefficient of mesoporous ZnO thin films were investigated to determine the change of their thermoelectric properties by controlling surfactant concentration in the mesoporous ZnO films, because the thermoelectric properties of mesoporous ZnO films can be influenced by the porosity of the mesoporous structures, which is primarily determined by surfactant concentration in the films. Mesoporous ZnO thin films were successfully synthesized by using sol-gel and evaporation-induced self-assembly processes. Zinc acetate dihydrate and Brij-76 were used as the starting material and pore structure-forming template, respectively. The porosity of mesoporous ZnO thin films increased from 29% to 40% with increasing surfactant molar ratio. Porosity can be easily altered by controlling themolar ratio of surfactant/precursor. The electrical and thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficients showed a close correlation with the porosity of the films, indicating that the thermoelectric properties of thin films can be changed by altering their porosity. Mesoporous ZnO thin films with the highest porosity had the best thermoelectric properties (the lowest thermal conductivity and the highest Seebeck coefficient) of the films examined.


Information technology/Information System (IT/IS) become the vital tools in today's competitive environment, hence it has become the major concern for successfully implementing IT/IS in every organisation.  In every organisation, people are the fundamental issue. They have the powerful force that can influence the success and failure of IT/IS implementation. Many literatures have discussed about the critical success factors (CSFs), but none of them highlighting the people issue.  Therefore, this research paper presents a review of recent work of CSFs in implementing IT/IS focusing on the people issue only.  Various journal articles, conference proceedings, theses and book between years 2001 to 2010 were reviewed to get relatively new findings. Findings revealed twenty (20) factors that frequently cited by researchers. These factors were then grouped into four (4) categories; skills, behaviour, management and mind-set. It is anticipated that, this research will not only create awareness but also assist organisations to understand the CSFs in implementing IT/IS, increasing the chances for successful implementation and served as a guideline for future planning.


The purpose of this paper is to specify the essence and the specifics of implementation of the pedagogic technology of forming the basics of future mathematics teachers' professionalism using the potential of multimedia in higher education. The major research method is pedagogical experiment (comprising analytical search, ascertaining, forming, and control stages) aimed at verifying the efficiency of the pedagogical technology of forming the basics of future mathematics teachers' professionalism; statistic methods have also been employed for checking efficiency and reliability of the experimental research results. The participants of the pedagogical experiment have been 290 students (150 students of the experimental group and 140 students of the control group) of the training area 44.03.01 "Pedagogical education", skills profile "Mathematics". Theoretical issues on the nature, structure, criteria, indicators and levels of formation of the basics of future mathematics teachers' professionalism have been disclosed; the notion-category apparatus of the theory of the teacher professionalism has been specified; there has been scientifically grounded and developed the pedagogical technology of forming the basics of future mathematics teachers' professionalism that corresponds to the structure of the holistic pedagogical process and includes: target orientations, conceptual bases and regulations, procedural characteristics, program-methodological support, and an appropriate combination of traditional and multimedia tools. The results of the gradual introduction of the pedagogical technology of forming the basics of future mathematics teachers' professionalism by means of multimedia technologies indicate significant positive shifts in the formation of all the components of the basics of students' professionalism, which was reflected in the positive dynamics of the criteria for all indicators and generally indicates the effectiveness of the proposed pedagogical technology. Research materials can be used to further improve the theory and practice of the professional training, in particular, in the training of future mathematics teachers in the process of qualification improvement and personnel retraining, and in the self-educational activity of teachers.


Piliostigma reticulatum (DC.) Hochst., an indigenous shrub, forms an important vegetative component of parkland cropping systems in the Sahel; however, its biophysical interactions with soil and crops are not well understood. Therefore, the objectives were to determine the impact of P. reticulatum, under varying fertilizer rates, on crop yield response and soil nutrient dynamics. The experiment had a split-plot factorial design, where the main plot was shrub (presence or absence) and the subplot was fertilizer rate (0, 0.5, 1.0, or 1.5 times the recommended N–P–K fertilizer rate) applied to a peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)–pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.] rotation. In 3 of the 4 yr, P. reticulatum improved or had no effect on crop yields when averaged across fertilizer rates. Overall, millet and peanut biomass and N and P uptake by millet increased in the presence of shrubs and with increasing fertilizer rate. Contrary to P, inorganic N in the soils changed very rapidly, reaching very low levels by the end of the growing season. The N content of soil leachates below the rooting zone was generally lower beneath than outside the shrub canopy, suggesting that the shrub conserves N that is otherwise lost through leaching. Piliostigma reticulatum increased particulate organic matter, indicating that this shrub improved soil quality. These results suggest that P. reticulatum, under nonthermal management and a higher density than typically found in farmers' fields, has ecological benefits with improved soils and reduced loss of N, which has implications throughout the Sahel.


We show that there exist Gaussian channels which are amendable. A channel is amendable if when applied twice is entanglement breaking while there exists a unitary filter such that, when interposed between the first and second action of the map, prevents the global transformation from being entanglement breaking [Phys. Rev. A 86, 052302 (2012)]. We find that, depending on the structure of the channel, the unitary filter can be a squeezing transformation or a phase shift operation. We also propose two realistic quantum optics experiments where the amendability of Gaussian channels can be verified by exploiting the fact that it is sufficient to test the entanglement breaking properties of two mode Gaussian channels on input states with finite energy (which are not maximally entangled).


As presently implemented, the neuron doctrine (ND) portrays the brain's neurons and chemical synapses as fundamental components in a computer-like switching circuit, supporting a view of brain = mind = computer. However, close examination reveals individual neurons to be far more complex than simple switches, with enormous capacity for intracellular information processing (e.g., in the internal cytoskeleton). Other poorly appreciated factors (gap junctions, apparent randomness, dendritic-dendritic processing, possible quantum computation, the living state) also suggest that the ND grossly oversimplifies neuronal functions. In the quest to understand consciousness, the presently implemented ND may throw out the baby with the bath water.


This paper presents a method of compressing and restructuring an image based on a single, major feature found in the image, for example, the outline of the skull in a scene that represents a cross-section of a human head. It is a second generation method that is not based on exploiting aspects of the human visual system, but instead the restructuring of the source file in a more compact form without loss. The image domain for the evaluation of the technique is that of medical images recorded in a raster array format by a magnetic resonance scanner. An initial contour for the spiral is based on the outline derived from the image's major feature. The rest of the contours are created from this initial contour with a radius one pixel less than the most recent contour.


Split-radix fast Fourier transform (SRFFT) is an ideal candidate for the implementation of a low-power FFT processor, because it has the lowest number of arithmetic operations among all the FFT algorithms. In the design of such processors, an efficient addressing scheme for FFT data as well as twiddle factors is required. The signal flow graph of SRFFT is the same as radix-2 FFT, and therefore, the conventional address generation schemes of FFT data could also be applied to SRFFT. However, SRFFT has irregular locations of twiddle factors and forbids the application of radix-2 address generation methods. This brief presents a shared-memory low-power SRFFT processor architecture. We show that SRFFT can be computed by using a modified radix-2 butterfly unit. The butterfly unit exploits the multiplier-gating technique to save dynamic power at the expense of using more hardware resources. In addition, two novel address generation algorithms for both the trivial and nontrivial twiddle factors are developed. Simulation results show that compared with the conventional radix-2 shared-memory implementations, the proposed design achieves over 20% lower power consumption when computing a 1024-point complex-valued transform.


OBJECTIVES Service oriented architecture (SOA) is frequently recognized as an approach to enhance the business value of IT, in particular for its potential to enable more flexible IT infrastructures and organizational interoperability. Traditionally SOA has been subjected to misconceptions, hence has yet to fulfill its potential in large scale. Change management and security has proven to be among the most significant challenges related to SOA enabling of IT infrastructures. Virtualization technology has emerged as a potential solution to these challenges. The objectives of this Master's thesis are to promote understanding of SOA, analyze how change management, security and interoperability can be improved using virtualization technology, and to identify potential advantages and disadvantages by such an integration approach. RESEARCH METHOD The objectives have been addressed through a literature study and a practical part. Knowledge regarding SOA and previous work on the convergence between SOA and virtualization were obtained through the literature study. The practical part was devoted to demonstrating how change management, security and interoperability can be improved using virtualization technology. Conceptual virtualization approaches uncovered in the literature study was compared to features of SAP Netweaver Virtual Directory Server, an identity management solution based on virtualization technology, to provide a basis for discussion. Since a real IT infrastructure suitable to the purpose could not be found, the practical part was carried out in the context of made up IT infrastructure adapted from Thomas Erl's "Service-Oriented Architecture: Concepts, Technology, and Design". RESULTS The only standardized definition of SOA is provided by OASIS: "SOA is a paradigm for organizing and utilizing distributed capabilities that may be under the control of different ownership domains". Distributed IT resources can be exposed as loosely coupled and reusable services potentially enabling business agility, organizational interoperability and other SOA advantages organizations might desire. SOA experts emphasize the importance of understanding SOA in the context of the SOA enabling organization, hence SOA enabling involves careful planning and design efforts to build a SOA platform that enables the desired advantages based on the existing IT infrastructure. Virtualization improves interoperability through basic transformation and routing capabilities through an abstraction layer. Security and change management relies on the centralized nature of the abstraction layer. The former can be improved if the abstraction layer provides security capabilities such as access control, auditing and encryption, whereas the latter ideally requires the abstraction layer to act as an service container that hosts the services and provide lifecycle operations. Virtualization technology can enable SOA advantages by supporting principles of service orientation, however might affect performance negatively.


We apply genetic algorithm combining directly with density functional method to search the potential energy surface of lithium-oxide clusters (Li2O)n up to n = 8. In (Li2O)n (n = 1–8) clusters, the planar structures are found to be global minimum up to n = 2, and the global minimum structures are all three-dimensional at n ≥ 3. At n ≥ 4, the tetrahedral unit (TU) is found in most of the stable structures. In the TU, the central Li is bonded with four O atoms in sp3 interactions, which leads to unusual charge transformation, and the probability of the central Li participating in the bonding is higher by adaptive natural density partitioning analysis, so the central Li is in particularly low positive charge. At large cluster size, distortion of structures is viewed, which breaks the symmetry and may make energy higher. The global minimum structures of (Li2O)2, (Li2O)6, and (Li2O)7 clusters are the most stable magic numbers, where the first one is planar and the later both have stable structural units of tetrahedral and C4v. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Successful development of Wave Energy Conversion
technology is made difficult by a combination of
factors, these include; the inaccessible nature of the
target ocean locations; the relatively high cost of
fullscale device testing; the stochastic nature of
ocean waves; the strong interaction between subsystem
designs; and, the apparent gulf between
required and, so far, demonstrated performance.
These difficulties taken together mean that design
optimisation in software should assume a greater
importance in wave energy than it does in other
industries at comparable maturity.
This paper presents a techno-economic optimisation
of a generic wave energy converter, namely a hinged
barge. The optimisation is techno-economic in the
sense that the optimisation algorithm manipulates
the technical parameters of the device in order to
improve the value of an economic objective
function. The economic objective function used is
the estimated net present value of a large array
deployment. The technical parameters included are
device geometry, power transmission equipment
design and control parameters. A comparison
between the techno-economic optimisation and an
optimisation using a purely technical objective
function is presented. The results show that the
techno-economic optimisation results in a superior
economic performance and significantly different
optimised designs.


Review of Colin Koopman's Pragmatism as Transition. Historicity and Hope in James, Dewey and Rorty. The review stresses and discusses the implications of what is taken as the main thesis of the book, namely that the most useful way to understand pragmatism is to read it from the point of view of meliorism.


To support schools in teaching computer science, we have started the Informatik@School project. In this project, which is meanwhile funded by "Oberfrankenstiftung", we communicate computer science content to beginners and matured students. As the number of participating students is very large in comparison to the number of advisors and big distances have to be bridged, we separated students into two groups. Students from schools located not far from our university are taught in common face-to-face lessons, while far-off students get taught the same content in online lessons. In this paper we want to present the project, its preconditions and the didactical and content based concepts. We will introduce a web based technical environment which fulfills these issues and facilitates realization of afore mentioned online courses. Finally, we present lessons learned from this project and draw conclusions especially concerning the technical platform which consists of hardware and software used.


The ability to determine static and (hydro)dynamic properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is crucial for many applications. While their static properties (e.g., solubility and wettability) are fairly well understood, their mechanical responses (e.g., deflection under shear) to ambient fluid flow are to a large extent unknown. We analyze the elastic response of single-walled CNT forests, attached to the bottom wall of a channel, to the aerodynamic loading exerted by both laminar and turbulent flows. Our analysis yields analytical expressions for velocity distributions, the drag coefficient, and bending profiles of individual CNTs. This enables us to determine flexural rigidity of CNTs in wind-tunnel experiments. The model predictions agree with laboratory experiments for a large range of channel velocities.


The decrease in cardiac sympathetic tone and heart rate after low-intensity exercise training may have hemodynamic consequences in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The effects of exercise training of low and high intensity on resting blood pressure, cardiac output, and total peripheral resistance were studied in sedentary ( n = 17), low- ( n = 17), and high-intensity exercise-trained ( n = 17) SHR. Exercise training was performed on a treadmill for 60 min, 5 times per week for 18 weeks, at 55% or 85% maximum oxygen uptake. Blood pressure was evaluated by a cannula inserted into the carotid artery, and cardiac output was evaluated by a microprobe placed around the ascending aorta. Low-intensity exercise-trained rats had a significantly lower mean blood pressure than sedentary and high-intensity exercise-trained rats (160 ± 4 vs. 175 ± 3 and 173 ± 2 mmHg, respectively). Cardiac index (20 ± 1 vs. 24 ± 1 and 24 ± 1 ml ⋅ min-1 ⋅ 100 g-1, respectively) and heart rate (332 ± 6 vs. 372 ± 14 and 345 ± 9 beats/min, respectively) were significantly lower in low-intensity exercise-trained rats than in sedentary and high-intensity exercise-trained rats. No significant difference was observed in stroke volume index and total peripheral resistance index in all groups studied. In conclusion, low-intensity, but not high-intensity, exercise training decreases heart rate and cardiac output and, consequently, attenuates hypertension in SHR.


The role of individual differences in implicit attitudes toward homosexuals and motivation to control prejudiced reactions (MCPR) in predicting private and public helping behaviour was investigated. After assessing the predictor variables, 69 male students were informed about a campaign of a local gay organization. They were provided with an opportunity to donate money and sign a petition in the presence (public setting) or absence (private setting) of the experimenter. As expected, more helping behaviour was shown in the public than in the private setting. However, while the explicit cognitive attitude accounted for helping behaviour in both settings, an implicit attitude x MCPR interaction accounted for additional variability of helping in the public setting only. Three different mediating processes are discussed as possible causes of the observed effects.


Kooi and Tamminga's correspondence analysis is a technique for designing proof systems, mostly, natural deduction and sequent systems. In this paper it is used to generate sequent calculi with invertible rules, whose only branching rule is the rule of cut. The calculi pertain to classical propositional logic and any of its fragments that may be obtained from adding a set (sets) of rules characterizing a two-argument Boolean function(s) to the negation fragment of classical propositional logic. The properties of soundness and completeness of the calculi are demonstrated. The proof of completeness is conducted by Kalmár's method.
Most of the presented sequent-calculus rules have been obtained automatically, by a rule-generating algorithm implemented in Python. Correctness of the algorithm is demonstrated. This automated approach allowed us to analyse thousands of possible rules' schemes, hundreds of rules corresponding to Boolean functions, and to nd dozens of those invertible. Interestingly, the analysis revealed that the presented proof-theoretic framework provides a syntactic characteristics of such an important semantic property as functional completeness.


Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from 18 untreated patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) were studied to characterize the cellular mechanisms contributing to impaired in vitro lymphocyte responses after stimulation by the mitogen conconavalin A (Con-A). In vitro reactivity was quantitated by the 3H-thymidine incorporation in response to an optimal dose of Con-A. All patients demonstrated impaired in vitro reactivities compared to normal controls. These in vitro impairments were partially reversible since patient's cells precultured in media alone for 3 days demonstrated enhanced Con-A responses. In greater than half of the patients, the hyporeactive PBMC suppressed the enhanced reactivities of autologous precultured PBMC when assayed in cocultures. Suppressor activity was detected mainly in those untreated patients presenting with either constitutional symptoms or diffuse histology and in general was not marked compared to the severity of impairments. Adherent monocytes were shown to participate in the suppression of autologous lymphocyte reactivity but only appeared partially responsible for the in vitro impairments. In those patients lacking detectable suppressive activity, preculturing also enhanced Con-A reactivities and was compatible with the presence of a reversible, inhibitory mechanism differing from active suppression. Many patients' hyporeactive PBMC, however, failed to demonstrate normal responses after preculturing. This failure could not be directly attributed to aberrant regulatory populations, but rather appeared to possibly represent an additional intrinsic impairment of potentially reactive populations.


Undergraduate mathematics instructors often report that students make careless errors or have not previously learned key mathematical ideas and strategies. The purpose of this study is to explore evidence of an alternative explanation that at least some of these "errors" may result from students' application of conceptions developed in the narrower contexts of their earlier learning. Analysis of formal printed lecture notes, student work and questionnaire responses is performed. Data collected from two Australia Universities' first year mathematics students are reported in this paper that explores respondents' conceptions related to symbolic mathematical expressions in different contexts by using the survey research design. The data were analysed through two lenses in order to both identify likely supportive and problematic conceptions and also distill the aspects of symbolic expressions contributing to this classification. The findings show that students' errors patterns are associated to problematic conceptions that might arise from contexts previously encountered by students. More than 50% of the recorded errors related to ssssss−1(xx) by University 1 students are linked to problematic conceptions. This study is significant because it shows that it is important to explicitly address such potentially problematic conceptions in order to help students bridge the transition between contexts and this may be done through lecture notes.


Donald Trump's aggressive policy towards Beijing and the spectre of a trade war have served as a catalyst for the resumption of dialogue between China and the EU. Within a period of less than two weeks, the Chinese prime minister held three meetings with EU leaders: within the 16+1 framework, a German-Chinese intergovernmental consultation, and a China-EU summit. Beijing's diplomatic offensive was intended to show openness to the EU's demands to liberalise access to the Chinese market, and to neutralise allegations that China has been exploiting divisions between EU member states. Beijing hopes that improving the climate of the talks, together with making some small concessions to Brussels, and especially to Berlin, will allow it to bring the EU onto its side in its conflict with the United States at relatively little cost. This puts the EU in a dilemma. On the one hand, supporting the pressure Washington is currently putting on Beijing could lead to a real opening-up of the Chinese market, and also reduce the growing imbalance in international trade whose roots lie in China. However, this risks a collapse of economic growth in China, which would mean losses for many European companies. On the other hand, if the EU cooperated with Beijing on this matter, it could strengthen the multilateral trading system based on the WTO, and also help to defend the Iran agreement and the Paris agreement on climate change. However, if Brussels openly joins the Chinese coalition against Washington, that could cause serious divisions within the EU and in trans-Atlantic relations, and also limit Beijing's determination to undertake domestic reforms.


: We present a case of a 75-year-old female with a subcutaneous back mass diagnosed as myoepithelioma of soft tissue. The diagnosis of this tumor may be challenging and familiarity with its broad morphological spectrum is important to distinguish it from a number of histologically similar soft tissue proliferations, in particular those displaying a prominent myxoid stroma. The correct diagnosis can be facilitated by the use of a panel of confirmatory immunohistochemical markers, including cytokeratins, neural, and muscular antigens, revealing the myoepithelial nature of the tumor cells.


Abstract Overabundant elk (Cervus elaphus) populations have become a significant problem in many areas of North America. This is particularly true for protected areas where high densities of elk can cause long-term ecological degradation. When lethal control is not acceptable in these environments, resource managers must often consider alternative methods for reducing the size of resident elk populations. A potential management alternative is controlling the fertility of female elk. A promising new approach to wildlife contraception involves the use of biodegradable implants containing the gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist leuprolide. During fall 2002–spring 2004, we compared pregnancy rates, reproductive behavior, daily activity patterns, and body condition of 17 free-ranging female elk treated with a leuprolide formulation with 17 untreated females, in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. After treatment, the pregnancy rate of treated elk was 0%, whereas 79% of control elk became pregnant. The effects of treatment were reversed the subsequent year with the pregnancy rate of treated females 100% compared with 91% for controls. Reproductive behaviors were similar for treated and control elk during the breeding and postbreeding seasons; treated elk did not exhibit postrut reproductive behaviors. Moreover, we found no differences in daily activity patterns of experimental groups during the breeding or postbreeding seasons. Treated elk did not show improved body condition over pregnant females. Instead, treated females catabolized proportionately more body fat during winter after treatment and at a higher rate than pregnant control elk. However, this effect was reversed the next spring with no difference in body fat between treated and control elk. We conclude from this experiment that leuprolide, administered as a controlled release formulation, offers a safe and effective method of controlling fertility in free-ranging female elk. However, practical application is limited by treatment duration and the need to treat females before the breeding season.


ABSTRACT For modern electrical rail systems, the pantograph-catenary dynamic performance is one of the most critical challenges. Too much fluctuation in contact forces leads to either accelerated wear of the contacting components or losses of contact and, consequently, arcing. In this work, inertance-integrated pantograph damping systems are investigated with the objective of reducing the contact force standard deviation. Firstly, a multibody pantograph model is developed with its accuracy compared with experimental data. The model is improved through the calibration of the pantograph head suspension parameters and the introduction of both non-ideal joint and flexibility effects. Using the calibrated model, beneficial inertance-integrated damping systems are identified for the pantograph suspension. The results show that the configuration with one inerter provides the best performance among other candidate layouts and contends a 40% reduction of the maximum standard deviation of the contact force over the whole operating speed range in the numerical modelling scenario analysed. Considering the identified configuration, time-domain analysis and modal analysis are investigated. It has been shown that the achieved improvement is due to the fact that with the beneficial inertance-integrated damping system, the first resonance frequency of the pantograph system coincides with the natural frequency of the catenary system.


A previous investigation of a modified circle-like slot antenna with dual-band-notched properties is extended. Frequency-domain characteristics have proved that the proposed antenna has very wide impedance bandwidth and shows good radiation characteristics. In this Letter, time-domain properties in terms of the antenna pulse response and power spectral density are investigated. Moreover, a study of indoor propagation channel characteristics when the proposed antenna is applied as transmitter and the receiver antenna is presented. A frequency-domain measurement setup and a sub-band divided ray tracing method are applied to measure and simulate the ultra-wideband indoor channel characteristics. The results show that the proposed antenna has also good time-domain characteristics and it is suitable for indoor and short range applications.


Molecular dynamics simulations were carried out to investigate the structure and stabilizing factors of aggregates of the nonionic form of the most common congener of monorhamnolipids, α-rhamnopyranosyl-β-hydroxydecanoyl-β-hydroxydecanoate (Rha-C10-C10), in water. Aggregates of size ranging from 5 to 810 monomers were observed in the simulation forming spherical and ellipsoidal structures, a torus-like structure, and a unilamellar vesicle. The effects of the hydrophobic chain conformation and alignment in the aggregate, role of monomer···monomer and monomer···water H-bonds, and conformations of monomers in the aggregate were studied in detail. The unilamellar vesicle is highly stable due to the presence of isolated water molecules inside the core adding to the binding energy. Dissociation of a monomer from a larger micellar aggregate is relatively easy compared to that from smaller aggregates as seen from potential of mean force calculations. This analysis also shows that monomers are held more strongly in aggregates of Rha-C10-C10 than the widely used surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate. Comparisons between the aggregation behavior of nonionic and anionic forms of Rha-C10-C10 are presented.


Business process analysis and process mining, particularly within the health care domain, remain under-utilized. Applied research that employs such techniques to routinely collected health care data enables stakeholders to empirically investigate care as it is delivered by different health providers. However, cross-organizational mining and the comparative analysis of processes present a set of unique challenges in terms of ensuring population and activity comparability, visualizing the mined models, and interpreting the results. Without addressing these issues, health providers will find it difficult to use process mining insights, and the potential benefits of evidence-based process improvement within health will remain unrealized. In this article, we present a brief introduction on the nature of health care processes, a review of process mining in health literature, and a case study conducted to explore and learn how health care data and cross-organizational comparisons with process-mining techniques may be approached. The case study applies process-mining techniques to administrative and clinical data for patients who present with chest pain symptoms at one of four public hospitals in South Australia. We demonstrate an approach that provides detailed insights into clinical (quality of patient health) and fiscal (hospital budget) pressures in the delivery of health care. We conclude by discussing the key lessons learned from our experience in conducting business process analysis and process mining based on the data from four different hospitals.


Although the access to clean sources of energy is not a sufficient condition for poverty alleviation, it constitutes absolutely a necessary condition. In this way, this article analyzes the determinants of urban household's access to LPG in Côte d'Ivoire using a multinomial logit model by accounting for poverty dimension. The study reveals that the variables like income, the relative price gas/charcoal, LPG availability, education, LPG stove ownership are the key elements of an energy transition policy. The compensation to the poor to help them switch to LPG is at least 60% of the "energy poverty line" which is 14472 fcfa.


Kabaddi is a very famous and ancient National game that originated in India. Kabaddi is a game of speed, strength, stamina and agility. Due to the combative nature of Kabaddi, there is high prevalence of injuries. The purpose of the study is to provide a comprehensive literature review on common injuries in Kabaddi and their preventive measures. A literature review was conducted utilizing the following databases of MEDLINE, Science direct, The Web of Science, PubMed, SPORT Discus and Google Scholar with using of following keywords in combinations: Kabaddi, Kabaddi competition, injuries, epidemiology, causes and prevention. A total of thirteen studies were analyzed according to common injuries and preventive measures in Kabaddi. The studies published from 2000 to the month of March 2020 were included in this review. The current evidence showed that Kabaddi is a game which is highly prone to injuries. Knee injuries were found to be very common in Kabaddi players followed by the ankle. It was found that there is a great role of mouthguards and improvement in playing technique in prevention of injury. There is a lack of epidemiological studies and prevention strategies in the Indian context in this sport. Thus injury prevention strategies are required to be implemented and put into practice for a successful sports safety framework. More epidemiological researches are needed to maximize the understanding of mechanisms of injury, risk factors for injury, optimal prevention strategies, complete and appropriate treatment and long-term effects of injury in youth sport.


Many businesses today face enormous competition on both national and international levels. Companies are increasingly looking for realizing the benefits of shared service centers. A new way of organizing back office functions is being implemented across companies worldwide. This novelty called shared services has taken over as the most discussed topic in the last fifteen years and it is likely to stay with us for some time to come. It is advisable to explore a shared service center and to find out its benefits. Research methodology was a single case study and literature analysis. The shared service center conception enables the understanding of main focused areas to be taken in the consideration before migrating main business operations. A clear view has to be given to either outsourcing operations or establishing a shared service center. Prime targets depend of corporate objectives, risk assessment, and potential return on investment (ROI). ROI was calculated based on authentic shared service center figures. Bergeron (2003) presents a different way to calculate ROI. He notes that return can be taken as a profit or income figure. And that makes sense as at the beginning of implementation a shared service center works with none or small level of profit. Research has shown the evidence about the importance of the main factors that influence the choice to establish a shared service center. And the research has not agreed with the theoretical argument that the reduction of cost is the most important driver before establishing a shared service center as there are many more not less important drivers for a shared service center creation. The main keys to success regarding the shared service center 'X' evidence, in order of importance, are increased business value, cost savings, controls and continuity, customer service, and high quality. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ss.83.1.6866


Leachates are formed as the result of water or other liquid passing through the landfilled waste. These leachates contain high amounts of inorganic and organic matter such as ammonia which must be treated before being discharged into the environment. A pretreatment is required to increase the efficiency of the ammonia removal process. This paper presents the influence of pH on the removal of ammonia in leachate sample by lime precipitation. A raw leachate sample taken from a scheduled waste landfill was treated with different amount of lime (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 g/L) to investigate the removal or release of ammonia. The removal of ammonia of raw leachate (average pH=9.43) was 26% and increases to the optimum dosage of 4 g/L with 54% removal at pH=12.39. However, addition of lime of more than 6 g/L does not show any significant effect on ammonia removal due to restabilization of colloids and re-dispersion of the colloidal particulates. An appropriate dosage of lime is an important factor that could save cost and time for the downstream secondary treatment.


BACKGROUND
Postoperative air leaks and pleural residual spaces are often encountered during partial lung resections and may adversely affect the immediate outcome prolonging the hospital stay. At present the only treatment consists of maintenance of the chest drainage under suction until resolution of the leaks.

METHODS
From January 1995 to December 1997 the authors have operated on and subsequently treated 12 patients presenting prolonged air leaks with residual pleural spaces after lobectomies for lung cancer. The patients underwent respectively: left or right lower lobectomies (n=7), left upper lobectomies (n=3), right upper lobectomies (n=2). In this study the air leak was considered prolonged if it continued and delayed the discharge after surgery beyond the postoperative day 8. The pneumoperitoneum was carried out under local anesthesia. The air was insufflated through a needle inserted just above the umbilical scar as for laparoscopic surgery access up to an amount of about 1200 cc-1300 cc.

RESULTS
We have obtained in all cases and without complications an immediate reduction in the air leaks and a complete resolution of the residual pleural spaces. Chest drainages were removed from 3 to 4 days after the procedure.

CONCLUSIONS
The good results achieved suggest that this procedure might be considered for selected cases, being a minor procedure, performed under local anesthesia and with minimum discomfort for the patient.


Urban least well-off and poor households in Bauchi Metropolis face challenge of accessing affordable, reliable and sustainable cooking and heating fuel supplies. As such, the urban least well-off and poor have leveraged their energy demands on use of wood-charcoals, which produced and utilise through mostly informal supply and demand chains that are associated to low efficiency in production methods and ineffective household utilisation factors that contribute to environmental and health dilapidation. This study sought to establish the relationship between physico-chemical characteristics of wood-charcoals commonly produced and utilised and users' perception on charcoal species preference in Bauchi Metropolis. A laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the physico-chemical characteristics of the wood-charcoals. This was done prior to the field survey on perception preference to users to collaborate their views or otherwise on the burning and fuelling characteristics of the examined wood-charcoal species. A survey was undertaken using questionnaires to assess the users' perception preference on the commonly used wood-charcoal species in terms of their solidity, ease of ignition, heat output intensity, rate of devolatilisation, burning time, ash generation and smoke. Of all the wood-charcoal species examined, Ficus platyphylla (Ganji) and Anogeissus leiocarpus (Marke) had low moisture contents (4.17, 4.60%, respectively), high calorific value (33.58, 30.09 Mj/kg, respectively) and low ash content (5.35, 6.51%, respectively) together with their glassy index evident by high aluminium, potassium, and silicon contents,  indicating that these charcoal species have high-quality combustion and fuel outputs compared to other charcoal species with least combustion and fuel characteristics. Despite these qualities, these species can't provide cleaner energy that could cut pollutant emissions, and at the same time bring huge environmental quality and health benefits, yet users perceptibly give preference to these charcoal species based on their combustion and fuelling performance impression.


Since 1989, blown pack spoilage has been recognized as a special form of spoilage in vacuum-packed raw and cooked beef. However, only limited information concerning the occurrences of bacteria causing blown pack spoilage on chilled fresh meat is available. In this study, a total of 63 beef and 33 lamb commercially available samples from different countries and without any signs of spoilage were examined for contamination with psychrophilic and psychrotolerant Clostridium spp. using different PCR systems. In total, 34.4% of the chilled fresh vacuum-packed meats were PCR positive. A higher number of lamb samples were identified as PCR positive compared with beef. A geographical relationship between positive results and the origin of the samples could not be determined. PCR system described by Brightwell and Clemens (Development and validation of a real-time PCR assay specific for Clostridium estertheticum and C. estertheticum-like psychrotolerant bacteria. Meat Sci 2012;92:697-703) gave the highest number of positive detections compared with the Broda, Boerema and Bell PCR system (PCR detection of psychrophilic Clostridium spp. causing 'blown pack' spoilage of vacuum-packed chilled meats. J Appl Microbiol 2003;94:515-22). Eight clostridia isolates from two German beef and four Welsh lamb samples were isolated overall. Three of these clostridia isolates were identified as Clostridium estertheticum whereas five clostridia isolates remain unidentified. The study shows that psychrophilic and psychrotolerant Clostridium spp. are more prevalent in retail samples than previously suspected.


This paper investigates the axial unsteady flow of a generalized Burgers' fluid with fractional constitutive equation in a circular micro-tube, in presence of a time-dependent pressure gradient and an electric field parallel to flow direction and a magnetic field perpendicular on the flow direction. The mathematical model used in this work is based on a time-nonlocal constitutive equation for shear stress with time-fractional Caputo-Fabrizio derivatives; therefore, the histories of the velocity gradient will influence the shear stress and fluid motion. Thermal transport is considered in the hypothesis that the temperature of the cylindrical surface is constant. Analytical solutions for the fractional differential momentum equation and energy equation are obtained by employing the Laplace transform with respect to the time variable t and the finite Hankel transform with respect to the radial coordinate r. It is important to note that the analytical solutions for many particular models such as, ordinary/fractional Burgers fluids, ordinary/fractional Oldryd-B fluids, ordinary/fractional Maxwell fluids and Newtonian fluids, can be obtained from the solutions for the generalized fractional Burgers' fluid by particularizing the material coefficients and fractional parameters. By using the obtained analytical solutions and the Mathcad software, we have carried out numerical calculations in order to analyze the influence of the memory parameters and magnetic parameter on the fluid velocity and temperature. Numerical results are presented in graphical illustrations. It is found that ordinary generalized Burgers' fluids flow faster than the fractional generalized Burgers' fluids.


In treating acute pain, tradition and ill informed prejudice sometimes hold sway over evidence and common sense. In this review we concentrate on simple, clinically appropriate, and evidence based treatments.

FIG 1
Factors influencing the pain reported by patients

Whenever possible we based our recommendations on systematic reviews of randomised trials. A citation database of systematic reviews of pain relief can be found at http://www.jr2.ox.ac.uk/Bandolier/painres/MApain.html. 1 We chose reviews for their relevance and quality. Poor quality reviews are significantly more likely to make positive conclusions.1 We collected over 12 000 randomised trials of analgesic interventions from 1950 onwards2; these are available on the Cochrane database. We used trials from this database when there was no relevant systematic review.

#### Summary points

Opt for safety and simplicity

Measure and record pain regularly–be proactive

Choose evidence based interventions

Trust patients and tailor treatment to their individual needs and allow them to have control

Choose appropriate drug, route, and mode of delivery

Educate staff and patients

The neurophysiology of acute pain may be complex, with sensory, affective, cognitive, and behavioural dimensions intertwined (fig 1). Although pain is influenced by all the factors in figure 1), the subjective measurement of pain has proved to be robust. At its simplest the patient reports pain, and this report is the yardstick against which doctors measure the effects of treatment. The message is "believe the patient." Doctors cannot measure pain objectively, so the management of pain in patients who cannot report pain, such as babies and those who are unconscious, may pose problems.

Effective pain management is fundamental to the quality of care. We believe that good control of pain also speeds recovery, but there is still no compelling evidence that this is so. Advantage can be shown with proxy measures such as mobility or coughing, but evidence …


Influenza is an acute viral infection that affects the respiratory system, with high transmissibility and global distribution, with a tendency to easily spread in seasonal epidemics. Influenza vaccination is one of the most effective measures for the prevention of the disease and its complications. The flu was the main cause of absenteeism in 2015, affecting the productivity of companies and the economy in Brazil. However, it is a great challenge to grant access to vaccination for this audience that is not part of the government's priority group, the people withen it can not pay for vaccine in the private network thus generating absence at work to move to the vaccination posts. The occurrence of influenza among workers increases the cost for public health. In 2015 a public-private partnership between the State Health Secretariat and the Industry Social Service in Ceara was established, aiming to lead the national campaign of vaccination against influenza in industries, facilitating the access of workers to the vaccine without increasing the absence of these professionals in office hours. With the partnership, the vaccine within the industry facilitates access of workers and contributes to the improvement in health and reduction of the absenteeism related to flu.  Key Words: vaccine, partnership, absenteeism, industrial workers


The results of skin tests read at 48 hours on several hundred adults and children in which heat-inactivated mumps virus was the antigen have been presented and discussed. They can be summarized as follows:— Of 89 persons tested before the onset of mumps, 89 per cent exhibited erythematous reactions 10 mm. or less in diameter and 95 per cent, reactions 15 mm. or less in diameter. Of 40 persons tested during the first 5 days of mumps, 95 per cent exhibited reactions 10 mm. or less and 98 per cent reactions 15 mm. or less. Of 480 exposed persons the attack rate of mumps was 46 per cent among 340 with reactions 10 mm. or less and 10 per cent among 240 with reactions greater than 10 mm. The attack rate was only 2 per cent among 161 with reactions exceeding 15 mm. The attack rates in 13 skin-tested groups which were exposed to mumps tended to be inversely proportional to the incidence of reactions exceeding 10 mm. The incidence of reactions exceeding 10 mm. was approximately twice as high among 529 adults (persons 18 years or older) as it was among 306 children (persons under 18 years). Of 179 adults giving positive histories of mumps, 82 per cent exhibited skin reactions exceeding 10 mm. In certain groups the correlation between history and positive skin test was as high as 0.9. Of 132 adults giving negative histories, 58 per cent exhibited skin reactions of this magnitude. The proportion of reactions exceeding 10 mm. in a small number of children giving positive histories was 75 per cent. The proportion of reactions less than 10 mm. was 15 per cent. Of 167 adults with positive complement fixation tests, 87 per cent exhibited skin reactions exceeding 10 mm. Of 111 adults with negative complement fixation tests, 52 per cent exhibited reactions exceeding 10 mm. Of 43 children with positive complement fixation tests, the skin test reactions exceeded 10 mm. in 70 per cent. The skin reactions exceeded 10 mm. in 29 per cent of 105 children with negative complement fixation tests. In 69 of 72 individuals in whom skin reactions exceeded 10 mm., complement-fixing antibody either appeared in the blood or increased in amount within about 2 weeks after the tests were done. Such antibody responses likewise were observed in 34 of 76 individuals in whom skin reactions were 10 mm. or less. The data summarized up to this point were obtained with virus derived from the infected parotid gland of monkeys. The results of simultaneous tests in 82 individuals employing materials prepared from infected monkey parotid gland and amniotic membrane of chick embryos infected with mumps virus indicated in general that the same individual responded in a similar manner to both antigens. In many instances, however, the membrane material produced weaker reactions. Occasionally an individual failed to react at all to one of these materials but did respond to the other.


Earthquake focal mechanisms put primary control on the distribution of ground motion, and also bear on the stress state of the crust. Most routine focal mechanism catalogues still use 1-D velocity models in inversions, which may introduce large uncertainties in regions with strong lateral velocity heterogeneities. In this study, we develop an automated waveform-based inversion approach to determine the moment tensors of small-to-medium-sized earthquakes using 3-D velocity models. We apply our approach in the Los Angeles region to produce a new moment tensor catalogue with a completeness of ML ≥ 3.5. The inversions using the Southern California Earthquake Center Community Velocity Model (3D CVM-S4.26) significantly reduces the moment tensor uncertainties, mainly owing to the accuracy of the 3-D velocity model in predicting both the phases and the amplitudes of the observed seismograms. By comparing the full moment tensor solutions obtained using 1-D and 3-D velocity models, we show that the percentages of non-double-couple components decrease dramatically with the usage of 3-D velocity model, suggesting that large fractions of non-double-couple components from 1-D inversions are artifacts caused by unmodelled 3-D velocity structures. The new catalogue also features more accurate focal depths and moment magnitudes. Our highly accurate, efficient and automatic inversion approach can be expanded in other regions, and can be easily implemented in near real-time system.


Tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia Jack) is one of the tropical forest plants in Indonesia, which is utilized as a raw material in the manufacture of various modern and traditional medicines. However, information regarding the potential and conservation of this plant in indigenous communities in Karimun, Riau Islands has not been well-documented. Therefore, researchers conducted a study in Pongkar Village and Karimun Anak, Tabing, Riau Islands concerning the potential and conservation of tongkat ali for the lives of the people in these research locations. Data were collected through an ethnobotanical approach and interviews with selected respondents, traditional healers, village heads, the representative from Karimun Forestry Conservation Office, and local people who utilize this plant in their daily lives. The results showed that the local community utilized tongkat ali (Eurycoma longifolia Jack) as medicinal ingredients to treat fever caused by malaria, to increase stamina, and to be an alternative source to increase the family's income. In addition, efforts to conduct in-situ and ex-situ conservation supported by the community, indigenous communities, and government agencies are highly needed so that its utilization can be carried out sustainably.


The theory of illuminance flow estimation by structure tensors is generalized for oblique viewing of anisotropic texture. An added benefit is that the theory predicts the behavior of unsupervised illuminant tilt estimators. The previous theory is refined with general matrix formulations and compacted by exploiting general properties of the structure tensor. Theoretical predictions based on the revised theory are presented and compared with experimental results on rendered images. The predicted curves are shown to conform well to expectations when the deviations from normal viewing and surface anisotropy are not large.


Neurobrucellosis (NB) is a rare complication seen in 2-7% of brucellosis cases. Nervous system involvement can cause many neurological and psychiatric disorders and symptoms such as encephalitis, meningoencephalitis, myelitis/myelopathy, spinal epidural abscess, pseudotumor cerebri, Parkinsonism, dementia, neuropathies, subarachnoid hemorrhage, depression, agitation, psychosis, personality disorder, euphoria, and nightmares. These varied manifestations make the diagnosis difficult. We present a case admitted for severe major depression and radiculopathy where the patient recovered rapidly with antibiotherapy.


Dear Sir, Sporadic cases have appeared in the literature linking tamoxifen to hypercalcaemia in the absence of other apparent aetiologies. We have a recent example of a case of florid hypercalcaemia associated with tamoxifen therapy. An 85-year-old lady who underwent lumpectomy of the left breast for carcinoma presented two years later with a history of progressively worsening low back pain of three months' duration associated with skin nodules. Radiological examination revealed generalised osteoporosis of the spine with a possible metastatic lesion in the L4 vertebra. Her skin nodules appeared to be secondary deposits. In view of her back pain we commenced her on morphine sulphate 10 mg bd and tamoxifen at 20 mg bd. On admission her serum chemistry revealed a urea of 16.7 mmol/1, a corrected calcium of 3.0 mmol/1 and a phosphate of 1.12 mmol/1. After five days of tamoxifen therapy she became acutely confused, polyuric, polydipsic and dehydrated with generalised weakness and constipation. Her ECG displayed tall T waves with a shortened Q-T interval. At this stage her serum chemistry revealed a urea of 16 mmol/1, creatinine level of 120 μmol/1, a corrected calcium of 4.42 mmol/1 anct phosphate of 1.56 mmol/1. In view of the high calcium she was given intravenous normal saline, frusemide and subcutaneous calcitonin, and the tamoxifen was discontinued. The therapeutic response is shown in the graph. On the fourth day after admission, her serum chemistry showed a urea of 16.8 mmol/1, creatinine level of 129 μmol/1, and corrected calcium of 3.7 mmol/1. Unfortunately, in spite of her gradually declining level of serum calcium, her condition deteriorated and she died on the eighth day after admission. When this patient was admitted, her medication consisted of na-


Mesoporous zirconias were prepared by precipitation method using rosin-based quaternary ammonium salt as a directing agent. The samples were characterized by means of XRD, FT-IR and N2-adsorption and desorption measurements. The phase of precursors was amorphous, and well crystallized tetragonal zirconias were obtained after the calcination at 450 °C. The synthesized mesoporous zirconias possessed high surface areas ranging from 183.56 to 203.87 m2g-1 and big pore diameters varying from 6.27 to 7.58 nm. The content of the rosin-based quaternary ammonium salt had significant influence on the textural properties of the mesoporous zirconias. Surface areas, pore volumes and pore diameters of the mesoporous zirconias decreased when increasing the surfactant dosage.


The Gothic has long been seen as offering a subversive challenge to the norms of realism. Locating both Gothic and mainstream Victorian fiction in a larger literary and cultural field, Peter K. Garrett argues that the oppositions usually posed between them are actually at work within both. He further shows how, by offering alternative versions of its stories, nineteenth-century Gothic fiction repeatedly reflects on narrative force, the power exerted by both writers and readers.Beginning with Poe's theory and practice of the Gothic tale as an exercise (or fantasy) of authorial power, Garrett then reads earlier eighteenth-century and Romantic Gothic fiction for comparable reflexive implications. Throughout, he stresses the ways authors doubled both characters and narrative perspectives to raise issues of power and authority in the tension between central deviant figures and social norms. Garrett then shows how the great nineteenth-century monster stories Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Dracula self-consciously link the extremity and isolation of their deviant figures with the social groups they confront. These narratives, he argues, move from a Romantic concern with individual creation and responsibility to a Victorian affirmation of social solidarity that also reveals its dependence on the binding force of exclusionary violence. The final section of the book extends its investigation of Gothic reflections on narrative force into the more realistic social and psychological fiction of Dickens, Eliot, and James.


The analytical review of study of neurophysiological basis in different kinds of learning and memory in animal and human is given. The main attention is paid to the consideration of systemic and neuronal levels of habituation and conditioned reflexes. A conception on the brain functional state as the main mechanisms of learning and distributed multicomponent engram corresponding to the integrative process peculiarities is developed.


In this demo we present IAC (Corpus Access Interface), an on-line tool developed by Barcelona Media - Innovation Center and the Pompeu Fabra University to create dynamic interfaces to search in corpora.


A nanoscale iron(II) tetrasulfophthalocyanine (nanoFeTSPc) catalyst obtained by co-ordinating with hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide and subsequently anchored onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been reported. Two types of MWCNTs, hydroxyl/carboxyl-functionalized (o-MWCNTs) and sulfonate-functionalized (s-MWCNTs) were used as the supporting platforms for the catalysts (nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT and nanoFeTSPc-s-MWCNT, only 9 wt% loading of the nanoFeTSPc). The nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT gave the best performance towards ORR in terms of high catalytic current density, more positive onset potential (Eonset = −0.02 V vs. Ag/AgCl), half-wave potential (E1/2 = −0.32 V vs. Ag/AgCl), and high catalytic rate constant (k ∼ 1.6 × 10−2 cm s−1) compared to the nanoFeTSPc-s-MWCNT counterpart or the Pt/XC-72 (80% Pt loading). The ORR performance generally follows this trend: nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT > Pt/XC-72 > nanoFeTSPc-s-MWCNT. The MWCNT-modified nanoFeTSPc complexes are much better than observed for the individual components, nanoFeTSPc, o-MWCNT and s-MWCNT. In addition, the nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT essentially followed a 4-electron pathway, while the nanoFeTSPc-s-MWCNT followed a 2-electron pathway. The excellent performance of the nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT correlates very well with the more homogenous dispersion and higher degree of attachment of the nanoFeTSPc on the surface of the o-MWCNT than on the s-MWCNTs. Unlike Pt/XC-72, the nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT exhibited excellent tolerance toward methanol contamination. The excellent ORR activity of the nanoFeTSPc-o-MWCNT at a very low catalyst loading, coupled with its excellent methanol tolerance compared to the commercial platinum, promises to serve as a viable non-noble alternative to the expensive noble metal catalysts (such as Pt and Pd) for alkaline fuel cells.


A new method to functionalize multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) with amphiphilic poly(aspartic acid) was investigated. The amphiphilic polymer (PASP-C16) was synthesized by thermal condensation and aminolysis by hexadecylamine, followed by hydrolysis of the remaining succinimide units in the polymer backbone. The functionalization of MWNTs was achieved by physical adsorption of the biopolymer onto the surfaces of MWNTs. Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectra showed that the functionalized MWNTs had a good aqueous dispersity and solubility. The interaction of PASP-C16 with MWNTs was investigated by analyzing X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, circular dichroism (CD), spectra and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). From the XRD patterns, it can be known that the aggregate of PASP-C16 due to intermolecular interaction between hexadecyl chains has been reduced when the polymer interacting with MWNTs. CD spectra indicated that the interaction of hexadecyl chains of PASP-C16 with the wall of MWNTs is the major interaction between PASP-C16 and MWNTs, and MWNTs were covered by the poly(aspatic acid) backbone. © 2010 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2011


Normal mice (+/+) and homozygous weaver mutant mice (wv/wv) at 1 year of age were used for three-dimensional computer-aided reconstructions of the nucleus accumbens (NA) and neostriatum (ST) and for quantitative estimations of the total number of medium-sized neurons in the NA and ST, and for the total number of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-containing neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra (SN). The three-dimensional reconstructions showed that the weaver NA and ST are smaller than they are in +/+. Quantitative volumetric measurements of the NA and ST showed wv/wv were smaller than +/+ by nonsignificant differences of 14% and 13%, respectively. The wv/wv group showed statistically significant depletion of neurons in all four structures. On average, NA neurons are reduced by 27%, ST neurons by 22%, VTA-TH neurons by 40%, and SN-TH neurons by 79%. In wv/wv animals, there was a high positive correlation (r = 0.836) between the numbers of SN-TH neurons and ST neurons and a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.534) between the numbers of SN-VTA neurons and NA neurons. The nuclei in TH- containing neurons in wv/wv and +/+ had the same diameters, but in all animals, the SN-TH neurons contained larger nuclei than the VTA-TH neurons. Cytoarchitectonic measurements in control and weaver NA and ST were also similar. In all animals, the NA contains more densely packed neurons with smaller nuclei than those in the ST.


This report examines the potential effects of short sea shipping (SSS) development on the Texas transportation system. The project region includes Texas, Mexico, and Central America. In the international arena, the most likely prospects are for containerized shipments using small container ships. In the domestic arena, the most likely prospects are for coastwise shipments using modified offshore service vessels or articulated tug/barges. Only three Texas ports handle containers consistently (Houston accounts for 95% of the total), and three more handle containers sporadically. Other ports could potentially offer a limited container service but will most likely require equipment and infrastructure upgrades to be competitive. The report identifies several triggers, which—if they were to occur—could abruptly change the level of SSS activities in the region. Even with a doubling of current SSS volumes, the effects on the Texas highway and rail system will most likely be insignificant, with the possible exceptions of Freeport and Brownsville.


The shared memory in a LAN-like environment (SMiLE) project at Lehrstuhl fur Rechnertechnik und Rechnerorganisation, Technical University of Munich (LRR-TUM) investigates in high-performance cluster computing using system area networks. In the context of this project, a hardware monitor is being developed to observe the system area network (SAN) traffic. This hardware monitor is, therefore, capable of delivering detailed information about the run-time communication behavior of applications running on SMiLE clusters. The central part of this monitor consists of a content-addressable counter array managing a small working set of the most recently referenced memory regions.


Forts have played a prominent role in the military system of any Kingdom in Medieval Period. So the Bahmanis did much for military architecture as they had powerful enemies on all sides. Gawilgarh and Narnala are the significant forts of Bahmani Sultanate. These forts are regarded as the greatest and most abiding monuments and superior to European forts of the same period (Circa 1350-1500). Grawilgarh and Narnala in Berar are examples of engineering skill and architecture appropriate for mountain strong holds of good taste and lavish expenditure. Combined with elegant stone carving. The carving of the forts gate at Narnala and Gawilgarh are still in good preservation. Balapur fort was a fair specimen of later Mughal architecture. The fort too was keeping in mind the town's (Balapur) military responsibilities and position. Balapur hailed as an important military station during the times of the Mughals. Complex architecture used in the fort ensured its safety, as well as eased the discharge of missiles and other ammunition from within the fort rendering it one of the most impenetrable forts in vidarbha region.


Background: Preterm birth has been linked to increased parental stress, depression, and anxiety. Although the rate of neonatal morbidity and mortality decreases with increasing gestational age, recent research has revealed that there is no threshold age for risk or parental concern. Purpose: This study examines parental concern about medical and developmental outcomes of their premature infant. Methods: Parents of 60 premature infants were surveyed in a follow-up clinic regarding their level of concern about 11 morbidities and their child's gestation-adjusted age; these were compared with the infant's inpatient chart. "Concern scores" were tallied and compared across gestational age groups and knowledge of gestation-adjusted age using Chi-square tests of independence. Findings: Many parents reported concerns about morbidities that were unsupported by their child's diagnoses. Across parents of extremely, very, and moderate-late preterm children, the mean concern scores were 13.9, 15.7, and 19.7, respectively. Overall, 62% of parents incorrectly reported the gestation-adjusted age of their child. Parents who were correct were significantly more likely to correctly anticipate abnormal developmental patterns (70%) and growth patterns (65%) than those who were incorrect (33% and 31%, respectively). Implications for Research: Future research should focus on whether NICU graduate parental stress levels are directly linked to the severity of their child's condition, and how physicians can help decrease NICU graduate parental stress. Implications for Practice: Parental anxiety regarding all gestational age neonatal intensive care unit infant outcomes can be decreased by a thorough explanation of gestation-adjusted age and a discussion of expected prematurity-related issues.


Zinc phosphate coating, as an effective and fast anticorrosion technique for the metals, have been developed rapidly in recent years. However, it is still a challenge to synthesize a low energy, environmentally friendly and efficient accelerator through a facile method. Herein, as a new accelerator, polypyrrole (PPy) functionalized graphene oxide (GO-PPy) nanocomposites were prepared by in-situ process to grow PPy film on GO surface, Incorporation of GO-PPy into phosphate baths accelerated the phosphating process of phosphate coating and promoted the nucleation and growth of phosphate crystals, achieving stronger corrosion resistance, which were confirmed by electrochemical measures and morphologies characteristic of the phosphate coating. Additionally, when the concentration of GO-PPy in the phosphate baths reached up 1.2 g/L, the phosphate coating possessed the most compact and uniform phosphate crystals and the best corrosion protection performance. Finally, the special mechanism of the phosphate process was discussed. This work introduces a new, low-energy, facile, environmentally friendly and alternative accelerator for the preparation of phosphate coatings.


Articulated echinoderm remains are described for the first time in the Ordovician of Turkey. They occur massively, forming a relatively thick "cystoid bed" within the detrital limestone succession of the Sobova Formation (latest Dapingian–earliest Darriwilian) in the western Taurus Mountains. The "cystoid bed" encompasses a monospecific echinoderm assemblage of densely packed, 3-dimensionally preserved thecae. The presence of numerous suborganised plates with diplopore respiratory structures suggests probable affinities with sphaeronitid blastozoans. Comparable sphaeronitid dense beds are well known in the early Darriwilian of Baltica, and in the mid Darriwilian of the Middle East and Asian terranes.


Background: There is growing concern that chronic hypovitaminosis D at levels below 30ng/ml may negatively contribute to several major diseases of the developed world to include diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. According to the CDC approximately 80% of African Americans > 1 years of age suffer from vitamin D insufficiency. The clinical question that will be explored in the following literature review is, whether hypovitaminosis D in the African American population contributes to increase incidents of vascular disease. Methods: An extensive literature search was conducted in the databases of MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Articles were selected that specifically studied the African American population and assessed the relationship of vitamin D and vascular disease in that group. Results: All four articles found were cross-sectional in nature and therefore ranked "low" in quality of evidence. Two studies used data from the National Center for Health Statistics and found an independent inverse correlation between vitamin D levels and peripheral artery disease. A third study of ESRD patients looked at the relationship between MMP-9, (a biomarker for vascular disease), and vitamin D levels and found an inverse correlation. There was a positive correlation found in the study by Freedman et al. in regards to vitamin D level and calcified atherosclerotic plaques (CP) in the carotid and infrarenal aorta, with no association found between vitamin D and CP in the coronary vessels. Conclusion: The findings deduced in this study, suggest that, there is not definitive data that supports as to whether hypovitaminosis D negatively affects vascular health in African-Americans. It is well understood that correlation does not imply causation. There is a need for longitudinal studies as well as random control trials.


The aim of this research was to investigate the synthesis of novel heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system configurations using model-based optimization methods (Wright et al. 2008). This paper describes the experimental results for the optimization of a two-zone HVAC system of a building located in a continental climate. The goal of the optimization was to find a feasible system design that operated with the minimum system capacity at each load condition. The optimization method used in this research is based on a Genetic Algorithm search method. The robustness of the optimization was examined through the consistency of the design solutions found from multiple runs of the algorithm (each run being subject to different initial conditions). The results indicate that given two runs of the algorithm, there was a high probability of finding a system design that has a performance comparable to existing system configurations. Given eight runs of the algorithm, it is probable that the best system found would have a performance that exceeded that of existing system configurations. However, approximately one third of all optimization runs would converge onto an infeasible system configuration, the elimination of this characteristic being the subject of future research. The optimality of the synthesized systems was judged in comparison to the performance of three benchmark systems and by comparing the system capacity to the minimum possible at a given load condition. The best of the synthesized systems had a performance that exceeded that of the conventional benchmark systems and that was comparable to that of a conceptually optimum system configuration. The system capacity was also close to the minimum possible capacity and as such was judged to be a near-optimum system configuration for the example building. It can be concluded that the optimization approach is able to synthesize near-optimum system configurations that have a performance equal to or better than existing system configurations. The algorithm, however, requires multiple runs in order to find reliable solutions, a fact that should be addressed in future research. The current algorithm, however, represents a significant step toward the design of software systems that are able to synthesize new and optimum HVAC system configurations.