: Vascular steal syndromes result from many causes. Most often, however, they are due to arteriosclerotic occlusive disease and involve the innominate and the subclavian vessels. We have seen a number of patients with the steal syndrome and, in review, a number of unusual iatrogenic-induced steal syndromes. These included subclavian steal from the vertebral and circle of Willis, colonic and small bowel steal with subsequent ischemia, hand and arm steal syndrome in AV access for dialysis. Multiple symptomatology including dizziness, headache, bloody diarrhea, paraplegia, pain and coma were all present. The diagnosis requires realization of the possibility and angiography where necessary. Intensive therapy and possible further surgical intervention can lead to survival and good function. However, a significant percentage of patients may end up with paraplegia or death. Thus, recognition and intervention (where appropriate) are important to minimize the severity of the problem.


We have started a simulation study of background plasma in the GAMMA 10 west end-cell using a fluid-code in order to understand divertor simulation experiments. In this fluid-code, the configuration of magnetic field lines in the west end-cell of GAMMA 10 is adopted with a mesh structure and basic physical processes such as reflection coefficient and recombination are considered. An initial computation result reveals that in the case of the plasma density range: ne ~ 1019 m-3, ion and electron temperature could not be reduced significantly to the suitable temperature for achieving the detachment. The effect of heat transfer coefficient on the target plasma is also discussed.


The co-extrusion of multi-layer films has been studied with the focus on its process stability. As in the single-layer film casting process, the productivity of the industrially important multi-layer film casting and the quality of thus produced films have often been hampered by various instabilities occurring in the process including draw resonance, a supercritical Hopfbifurcation instability, frequently encountered when the draw ratio is raised beyond a certain critical value. In this study, this draw resonance instability along with the neck-in of the film width has been investigated for a three-layer film casting using a varying width non-isothermal 1-D model of the system with Phan-Thien and Tanner (PTT) constitutive equation known for its robustness in portraying extensional deformation processes. The effects of various process conditions, e.g., the aspect ratio, the thickness ratio of the individual film layers, and cooling of the process, on the stability have been examined through the nonlinear stability analysis.


The treatment of life-threatening post-partum haemorrhage (PPH) still remains challenging, and hysterectomy may be required to control the bleeding. We present 12 cases of severe PPH treated with recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa). We briefly describe the causes of the haemorrhage and the medical and surgical interventions before rVIIa administration. In 11 women there was a partial or good response to rFVIIa administration, while in one there was no response. In the four women undergoing a subsequent selective arterial embolization, the bleeding was significantly reduced although not completely stopped. From our experience with these 12 cases, and from previously reported cases, the use of rFVIIa may be of benefit in life-threatening PPH. However, treatment with rFVIIa, in addition to standard surgical and medical interventions, may not be definitive in every patient and a selective arterial embolization may be needed.


The challenges of revenue generation by banks are evident if one considers the accusations labelled against the banks of aggressive lending (Archaya & Naqvi, 2012), which basically centers on the pursuit of profits with minimum regard to risk management. If not read or if read in passing, loan terms can be used to destroy the reputation of banks when accusations of predatory loans surface. It is argued here that even if under-stood at the time of signing the acceptance of the loan, there is no guarantee that the terms are still top of mind of borrowers, especially those who borrow for a long term. Banks can use their advisory skills to periodically take borrowers through loan terms, confirm understanding, detect any wanton behaviors (WB) from borrowers' financial activities that go against financial astuteness and may jeopardize repayment capabilities and offer advice on practices that are not counter to repayment capabilities. Banks can mitigate the challenges in interest income generation, particularly from a default point of view by periodically engaging borrowers to specifically advice on behavioral issues that manifest themselves in financial levers. Since borrowers stand to gain im-measurable value out of these engagements, banks can justifiably levy borrower advisory service fees (BASF) and wanton hazard fee (WHF). The authors show, through the application of the BASF and WHF, the potential income banks can generate. Using the BASF and WHF as sources of non-interest income, the potential benefit taking into account the credit loss as a function of BASF accruing to the bank is established.


In this paper, considering generator's long-term optimization behavior, the generator bidding problem is studied using optimal control theory. In particular, the system demand is treated as a periodic function, and the competition process is then modeled as a dynamic, nonlinear and feedback system with periodic parameters, where the publicly known market clearing price (MCP) is the system output and the feedback signal, and supplier's outputs are the state variables. A software package MSIER3 for numerically solving the general optimal control problem is used for simulation. The performance of the optimal control is investigated, and a sensitivity analysis of system parameters is done through simulation.


"Licence to Thrill" follows Bond from the 1962 'Dr No', through all the subsequent Bond films, exploring them within the culture and politics of the times, as well as within film culture itself. When James Chapman's rip-roaring journey through the annals of celluloid Bond first appeared in 2000, the London "Evening Standard" said, 'Chapman demonstrates that there is more to the 007 franchise than just girls, guns and globe trotting', and Stephen O'Brien, writing in "SFX" magazine called the book 'thoughtful, intelligent, ludicrous and a bit snobby. Bit like Bond, really.' "Licence to Thrill" went on to establish itself as one of the best books on Bond, and one that has made readers think in new ways about 007. For this new edition, Chapman has now brought the story right up to the present, with a revised Introduction, a new Chapter One and, most importantly, full coverage of Brosnan as Bond in "The World is Not Enough" and "Die Another Day", as well as, of course, a brand new chapter on "Casino Royale" and Daniel Craig's new-look Bond.


Existing studies on information technology outsourcing relationships have typically examined partnership factors that influence IT outsourcing effectiveness. This research extends such studies and draws upon relational exchange theory to investigate how relational elements in service level agreements (SLAs) may impact outsourcing relationships. The results show that the effects of a well-structured SLA in managing IT outsourcing relationship are significant. This paper also provides insight into the development of relational governance through a contractual mechanism over the entire course of an outsourcing engagement. Suggestions for appropriate SLA elements are also developed.


The algebraic structure of the neutrino mass Hamiltonian is presented for two neutrino flavors considering both Dirac and Majorana mass terms. It is shown that the algebra is Sp(8) and also discussed how the algebraic structure generalizes for the case of more than two neutrino flavors.


Frequency and phase of neural activity play important roles in the behaving brain. The emerging understanding of these roles has been informed by the design of analog devices that have been important to neuroscience, among them the neuroanalog computer developed by O. Schmitt in the 1930's. In the 1950's, J. von Neumann, in a search for high performance computing using microwaves, invented a logic machine based on similar devices, that can perform logic functions including binary arithmetic. Described here is a novel embodiment of his machine using nano-magnetics. The embodiment is based on properties of ferromagnetic thin films that are governed by a nonlinear Schrodinger equation for magnetization in a film. Electrical currents through point contacts on a film create spin torque nano oscillators (STNO) that define the oscillator elements of the system. These oscillators may communicate through directed graphs of electrical connections or by radiation in the form of spin waves. It is shown here how to construct a logic machine using STNO, that this machine can perform several computations simultaneously using multiplexing of inputs, that this system can evaluate iterated logic functions, and that spin waves can communicate frequency, phase and binary information. Neural tissue and the Schmitt, von Neumann and STNO devices share a common bifurcation structure, although these systems operate on vastly different space and time scales. This suggests that neural circuits may be capable of computational functionality described here.


Optimal Trading Strategies Under Arbitrage Johannes Karl Dominik Ruf This thesis analyzes models of financial markets that incorporate the possibility of arbitrage opportunities. The first part demonstrates how explicit formulas for optimal trading strategies in terms of minimal required initial capital can be derived in order to replicate a given terminal wealth in a continuous-time Markovian context. Towards this end, only the existence of a square-integrable market price of risk (rather than the existence of an equivalent local martingale measure) is assumed. A new measure under which the dynamics of the stock price processes simplify is constructed. It is shown that delta hedging does not depend on the "no free lunch with vanishing risk" assumption. However, in the presence of arbitrage opportunities, finding an optimal strategy is directly linked to the non-uniqueness of the partial differential equation corresponding to the Black-Scholes equation. In order to apply these analytic tools, sufficient conditions are derived for the necessary differentiability of expectations indexed over the initial market configuration. The phenomenon of "bubbles," which has been a popular topic in the recent academic literature, appears as a special case of the setting in the first part of this thesis. Several examples at the end of the first part illustrate the techniques contained therein. In the second part, a more general point of view is taken. The stock price processes, which again allow for the possibility of arbitrage, are no longer assumed to be Markovian, but rather only Ito processes. We then prove the Second Fundamental Theorem of Asset Pricing for these markets: A market is complete, meaning that any bounded contingent claim is replicable, if and only if the stochastic discount factor is unique. Conditions under which a contingent claim can be perfectly replicated in an incomplete market are established. Then, precise conditions under which relative arbitrage and strong relative arbitrage with respect to a given trading strategy exist are explicated. In addition, it is shown that if the market is quasi-complete, meaning that any bounded contingent claim measurable with respect to the stock price filtration is replicable, relative arbitrage implies strong relative arbitrage. It is further demonstrated that markets are quasi-complete, subject to the condition that the drift and diffusion coefficients are measurable with respect to the stock price filtration.


ABSTRACT A better understanding of the dynamics of different particulate organic matter (OM) pools in the coastal carbon budget is a key issue for quantifying the role of the coastal ocean in the global carbon cycle. To elucidate the benthic component of this carbon cycle at the land-sea interface, we investigated the carbon isotope signatures (δ13C and ∆14C) in the sediment pore waters dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in addition to the sediment OM to constrain the origin of the OM mineralized in sediments. The study site is located at the outlet of the Rhône River (Mediterranean Sea), which was chosen because this river is one of the most nuclearized rivers in Europe and nuclear 14C can serve as a tracer to follow the fate of the OM discharged by the river to the coastal sea. The ∆14C results found in the pore waters DIC show a general offset between buried and mineralized OM following a preferential mineralization model of young and fresh particles. For example, we found that the sediment OM has values with a mean ∆14C=–33‰ at sampling stations near the river mouth whereas enriched ∆14C values around +523‰ and +667‰ respectively were found for the pore waters DIC. This indicates complete mineralization of a riverine fraction of OM enriched in 14C in the river conduit during in-stream photosynthesis. In shelf sediments, the ∆14C of pore waters DIC is slightly enriched (+57‰) with sediment OM reaching –570‰. A mixing model shows that particles mineralized near the river mouth are certainly of riverine phytoplanktonic origin whereas OM mineralized on the shelf is of marine origin. This work highlights the fact that pore waters provide additional information compared to sediments alone and it seems essential to work on both pools to study the carbon budget in river prodelta.


The telecommunication domain contains many performance-demanding applications. These applications must also be flexible in order to meet new and changing requirements in a fast and cost-effective way. We have studied one such application-the Ericsson Billing Gateway. In order to reduce the cost for introducing new functionality, we broke up the application into distributable components. At the same time, we tried to keep the same or better performance characteristics. A prototype was implemented and compared to the existing application. The evaluations showed that the new architecture was not only easier to change; it also increased the throughput and scalability.


This paper investigates the relationship between food security and commercialisation using data from a household survey in National Smallholder Farmer Association of Malawi (NASFAM) operated areas. NASFAM promotes commercialisation of agriculture by introducing the principle of farming as a business among its members who are largely smallholder subsistent farmers. The study finds that households with human capital in terms of adult equivalents benefit from availability of family labour and therefore likely to participate in NASFAM commercialisation initiatives. We also find a positive relationship between participation and value of durable assets, suggesting that wealth is an important determinant in the decision to participate in commercialisation initiatives. Household food security also increases the probability of participation, suggesting that in environments of unstable food markets farmers that are not food secure may be constrained in their attempt to commercialize their farming systems. Furthermore, we find that the degree of commercialisation is negatively associated with age and household size but positively associated with food security, access to fertilizers, NASFAM business orientation and market access benefits.


We examined the efficacy of a pediatric emergency visit-based screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) condition compared to a control condition (Healthy Habits Control, HHC) to help parental smokers quit smoking. We enrolled 750 parental smokers who presented to the pediatric emergency setting with their child into a two-group randomized controlled clinical trial. SBIRT participants received brief cessation coaching, quitting resources, and up to 12-weeks of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). HHC participants received healthy lifestyle coaching and resources. The primary outcome was point-prevalence tobacco abstinence at six weeks (T1) and six months (T2). The mean (SD) age of parents was 31.8 (7.7) years, and 86.8% were female, 52.7% were Black, and 64.6% had an income of ≤$15,000. Overall abstinence rates were not statistically significant with 4.2% in both groups at T1 and 12.9% and 8.3% in the SBIRT and HHC groups, respectively, at T2. There were statistically significant differences in SBIRT versus HHC participants on the median (IQR) reduction of daily cigarettes smoked at T1 from baseline (−2 [−5, 0] versus 0 [−4, 0], p = 0.0008),at T2 from baseline (−4 [−9, −1] vs. −2 [−5, 0], p = 0.0006), and on the mean (SD) number of quit attempts at T2 from baseline (1.25 (6.5) vs. 0.02 (4.71), p = 0.02). Self-reported quitting rates were higher in SBIRT parents who received NRT (83.3% vs. 50.9%, p = 0.04). The novel use of the pediatric emergency visit to conduct cessation interventions helped parents quit smoking. The near equivalent abstinence rates in both the SBIRT and HHC groups may be due to underlying parental concern about their child's health. Cessation interventions in this setting may result in adult and pediatric public health benefits.


For thirty years, a new form of intellectual property has grown up quietly beneath the surface of societal observation. It is a set of government-granted rights that have the quintessential characteristic of intellectual property and other forms of property — that is, the right to exclude others from the territory. The impact of this form of IP on the US health care system, in particular, is enormous. In 2014, more than 40% of all new drugs approved by the FDA came through just one of these portals, with the companies collecting regulatory property rights along the way. Some forms of this regulatory property are quasi-patent. Other forms are quasi-trade secret. Finally, some forms of this regulatory property are more like pure personal property, in that these benefits can be sold or traded on the open market. Sprawling and incremental, the system has grown by accretion as various groups have succeeded in making good arguments that they, too, should have a benefit. When accidental property combines with a system that is largely hidden from view, the danger is great. Treating regulatory property in its rightful place among the pantheon of intellectual property rights allows appropriate analysis of the interactions among these powerful forces. It isn't just a matter of labelling these phenomena as forms of property. It is a matter of understanding and making sense out of them as a coherent whole, as well as making sense of how they interact with other types of rights to exclude, such as patent and trade secret.


Aim: To find the effects of aerated drinks on the pH levels in the oral cavity. Objective: The objective of the present study is to find the effects of pH levels after consuming aerated soft drinks. Background: Maintaining a good pH balance in the mouth allows a healthy balance of good and bad bacteria.Certain foods such as sugary beverages, snacks and some grains increase the acidity in the mouth.The pH of mouth can change dramatically with the types of food we eat.The saliva can help neutralise the acid, but eating acidic foods can increase the acidity of the saliva.


The present research was conducted to study the correlation between language competency, speech disability and personality characteristics that affect personal and social adjustment. It was hypothesized that less language competency will be found in the speech disabled group and they were likely to score high on clinical scales of MMPI as compared to the normal group. For this purpose in the first phase, a pilot study was conducted in which Urdu version of Test of Language Competence (TLC) and Minnesota Multiple Personality Inventory (MMPI) Urdu translation were administered to speech disabled and normal group. In the second phase, both the groups (N = 24, age range 18 - 28 years, males, education: O level grade to Masters Level) were given Urdu version of TLC and MMPI. Results showed that speech disabled group performed significantly poor on TLC as compared to normal group. On MMPI significantly high scores were found among stutterers on the clinical scales of Social Introversion (Si) and Depression (D). MMPI and TLC scores were found to be negatively correlated within the speech disabled group, as well as normal.


Author(s): Saunders, Jared J. | Advisor(s): Swanson, H. Lee | Abstract: Traditional approaches to intelligence and cognitive assessment have been criticized because they assess an individual's prior knowledge rather than their aptitude to learn. Dynamic assessment has been proposed to address this limitation by integrating forms of learning into the assessment process. Dynamic assessment has been applied to many different arenas including intelligence, speech and language, and areas of achievement, and has generally been found to predict additional variance in the criterion measure beyond that which is predicted by the static measures. However, the variables that potentially moderate this additional variance have not been clearly explored. The purpose of this study is to evaluate at least three moderating variables (age, modality, type of dynamic measure) that may interact with the contribution of dynamic assessment of working memory performance in the predictions of reading and math performance. Three research questions are proposed which ask (1) does dynamic assessment of working memory contribute unique variance in predictions of reading and math performance above that of the static assessment, (2) does age moderate the effectiveness of dynamic assessment of a domain general construct of working memory in predictions of achievement measures, and (3) does performance on visual and verbal measures of working memory interact with age when predicting reading and math performance. Results of the study find support that dynamic assessment contributes unique variance in predictions of reading and math achievement. However, these results were qualified since age x dynamic interactions emerged when analyzing working memory as both a domain general and domain specific construct. The majority of these interactions were limited to predictions of math achievement. Implications of these findings and limitations of the study are discussed.


Educational psychology is a multifaceted and contested domain of knowledges and practices that resists simple definition. Its forms and foci have varied across time and place, and strands of knowledge and practice that have travelled under this disciplinary descriptor have been shaped by, and contributed to, shifting understandings of the problems and promises of education. Concepts of individual differences and forms of mental measurement are readily associated with the emergence of educational psychology. Yet, its history is broad in scope, including concerns with child development, adjustment, learning, and behavior. This chapter focuses on two major strands of historical studies of educational psychology: key figures and disciplinary developments; and critical analyses of its knowledges, practices, and impact. A concise overview of the history of educational psychology from the late nineteenth to the late twentieth century is provided. The chapter considers major strands of thought, contexts of emergence, and sites of development, as documented by historians. This includes exploration of foundational influences and examination of the role that various waves of psychological thought have played in shaping policy and in forming understandings about best practice in education, from compulsory schooling spaces to more informal educational sites such as child guidance clinics and preschools. Alongside this mapping of the historiography, central debates about the scope, promise, dangers, and effects of psychology as a foundational knowledge for education are outlined. Here, consideration is given to discussions in the past as well as more recent interpretations and critical angles.


In this paper, the author illustrates some of the key challenges for knowledge visualization in corporate communication. Based on a case study from Edward Tufte and an evolutionary account of Mihai Nadin, the author argues that interactivity is an essential issue with regard to organizational communication or knowledge media design in general. Finally, he presents an example that comes from a recent DaimlerChrysler research project. This project used an interactive visualization to support the communication between several different management levels and professional backgrounds.


It is well known that investors can structure derivatives portfolios to replicate a position in an underlying asset and synthetically create an index fund. While an individual investor can achieve perfect replication on a before-tax basis, taxes make derivatives inferior to direct investment in the index, because synthetically generated dividends and capital gains do not benefit from the preferential tax treatment accorded direct investment in the index. Derivative strategies also have lower after-tax expected returns and Sharpe ratios and are less volatile than the index. Option strategies benefit from a tax inequity favoring low exercise prices but are still inferior to direct investment in the index. Thus, synthetic indexing may be effective on a before-tax or non-taxable basis, but it fails for taxable individual investors because today's tax code disadvantages derivatives replicating strategies.


Seven species of Pseudopolydora are described and illustrated from the Arabian Gulf, Kuwait: P. achaeta Radashevsky & Hsieh, 2000, P. antennata (Claparède, 1868), P. arabica Radashevsky & Al-Kandari, 2020, P. auha sp. nov., P. kuwaiti sp. nov., P. melanopalpa sp. nov., and P. multispinosa sp. nov. The morphology of the developed planktonic larvae is described for P. antennata and P. kuwaiti sp. nov. Adults of all species live in tubes in soft sediments, while adults of P. kuwaiti sp. nov. also bore in shells of gastropods and dead corals encrusted by coralline algae. Pseudopolydora antennata and P. arabica form dense settlements up to 50 000 individuals per 1 m2, while other species are comparatively rare. The phylogenetic relationships between the examined species and other Pseudopolydora (18 species in total) were assessed in an analysis of sequence data of four gene fragments: mitochondrial 16S rDNA, nuclear 18S rDNA and 28S rDNA, and Histone 3 (2473 bp in total). Three species complexes are distinguished involving P. antennata, P. diopatra Hsieh, 1992 and P. paucibranchiata (Okuda, 1937). Sets of adult morphological features shared by species of each complex and an identification key to Pseudopolydora species from the Arabian Gulf are provided.


Interlayer cooling utilizing pumped two-phase flow of a chip-to-chip interconnect-compatible dielectric fluid is an enabling technology for future high power 3D (three-dimensional) chip stacks. Development of this approach requires high fidelity and computationally manageable conjugate thermal models. In this paper, a conjugate heat transfer model developed for simulating two-phase flow boiling through chip embedded micron-scale channels is described. This model uses a novel hybrid approach where governing equations for flow-field and convection in the single-phase flow regions (e.g. inlet plenum) as well as that for heat conduction in solids is solved in detail (i.e., full-physics) while in the two-phase flow regions (e.g. micro-channels), a reduced-physics approach is used. Extensive model validation using data from several experiments was performed to quantify the accuracy of this model under different operating conditions.


Peritoneal carcinomatosis is viewed by many experts as a terminal illness with an unfavourable course and prognosis. Existing therapies are controversial and exhibit ambiguous efficacy. We review the current state of the art in therapy for peritoneal metastases of various origin and its historical background. Cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy compound the treatment of choice as achieving the highest survival rates. Palliative surgery and systemic chemotherapy are an alternative that proved even more aggressive and ineffective in comparative survival evaluations. Manifold studies and expert opinions exist on the efficacy and expedience of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy in treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis. Today, however, their routine use in everyday practice is hotly debated. Despite an evident progress in managing peritoneal metastases, a series of questions remain unsolved. Contentious research data, late diagnosis, low treatment efficacy in severe peritoneal dissemination, a limited applicability of cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy, all highlight the importance of inventing and developing novel methods for early high-accuracy diagnosis and careful selection of the treatment strategy. Fundamental knowledge of malignant metastasis underlies the choice of patient management and the innovative toolkit for prevention and treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis.


This paper proposes a method for estimate the percentage annual failure rate of wind turbine electrical components due to the exposure to lightning flashes. It is well known that modern wind turbines are exposed to lightning strikes due to their locations and tall structures (in excess of 100 m high). However, the methodology for estimating the failure rate of the electrical components is not well established. The proposed method uses the attractive radii models to determine the lightning incidence on wind turbines. This method was compared with the technique proposed by the IEC 61400-24:2010, which is based on the collection area concept. The proposed method predicts lower failure rates than IEC 61400-24:2010 procedure. The proposed method considers the wind turbines effective height, the keraunic level of their locations, the dependence of lightning current amplitude and the influence of both upward and downward lightning flashes. The results show that the effective height of the wind turbines and keraunic level of their location influence the failure rates significantly.


The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Oral History Collection holds more than 12,500 interviews comprising almost 24,000 hours of testimony with Holocaust survivors and victims of Nazi persecution as well as witnesses, collaborators, perpetrators, liberators, rescuers, and members of prosecution. Approximately 25% of the interviews were produced by the USHMM. In addition to its self-produced testimonies, the USHMM serves as a repository for more than 9,700 interviews conducted by 130 institutions, organizations, and groups, as well as 441 individual testimonies conducted by friends or family members of survivors. Contributing organizations have entrusted the USHMM to preserve these interviews for future generations and to make them accessible. Every year, the USHMM takes in several hundred testimonies from outside sources. Unique to the Museum's collection are the 1,450 interviews with non-Jewish witnesses, collaborators, and perpetrators recorded by the Museum since 1996. This collection offers an additional dimension to traditional Holocaust survivor testimony and is an invaluable primary resource for Holocaust education and combating Holocaust denial and antisemitism today.


For applications in automotive, aviation and renewable energy industries temperature and power requirements have been significantly increased for electronic components. In particular, capacitors have been identified as the most critical materials considering the fulfillment of these requirements. Ceramics are the most promising materials for high temperature capacitors but no ceramic has been able to meet the necessary electrical properties so far. In this work, Na1/2Bi1/2TiO3 (NBT) solid solutions are investigated to optimize the respective electrical properties. A reduction of bismuth vacancy and oxygen vacancy concentration by increasing the initial Bi content leads to a significant decrease in dielectric loss. Additionally, energy efficiencies of up to 97% can be achieved for the composition Na1/2Bi1/2O3–BaTiO3–CaZrO3 (NBT–BT–CZ) and the temperature range of stable high permittivity together with low dielectric loss (tan δ ≤ 0.02) extends from −67 °C to 362 °C. Hence, optimization of the defect chemistry of NBT-materials results in highly stable electrical properties over a large temperature and electric field range, which leads to the fulfillment of industrial requirements.


Recently, in developed countries, a variety of self-centering structural systems have been developed using precast concrete bends and Accelerated Bridge Construction (ABC) method to reduce construction time, increase safety, reduce seismic damage, reduce repair and reconstruction costs, and increase seismic resiliency. In this system, bridge bents are constructed by precast elements tied together with post-tensioned tendons such that under the effect of lateral seismic forces, they are able to rock and self-center back to their original configuration. The use of this system greatly reduces the residual displacements and the seismic damage. Also, due to the use of prefabricated elements, the construction speed of the bridge is significantly increased. This paper compares the seismic performance of one type of the self-centering structural system with the conventional structural system for three typical highway bridges constructed in Iran. An analytical model for simulating nonlinear behavior due to the rocking motion in the self-centering system is first developed and verified by comparing the analytical response with the experimental results. Then, the concrete bends of the three typical bridges in Iran are modeled and analyzed once as a conventional system and once as a selfcentering system, and the seismic performance of these two systems is compared with each other. The results of this study indicate that despite modest increase in maximum lateral drifts, the residual drifts are substantially reduced when the conventional system is replaced by the self-centering system.


Small isolated patches of native forest surrounded by extensive pastoral grasslands, characteristic of many New Zealand rural landscapes, represent an important reservoir of lowland biodiversity. Improved management of them is a major focus of biodiversity conservation initiatives in New Zealand. We quantified the long-term impacts of grazing on indigenous forest remnants in hill country at Whatawhata, western Waikato, North Island. Structure and composition were compared between forest fragments grazed for >50 years and nearby ungrazed continuous forest. Grazed fragments had shorter and less shady canopies, sparser understoreys, tree populations with larger mean diameters, and ground layers with lower cover of litter and higher cover of vegetation and bare soil than continuous forest. Fragments also had lower indigenous-plant species richness, especially in sapling and seedling populations, and almost no palatable indigenous shrubs, terrestrial orchids, and ferns that require high humidity (e.g. Hymenophyllum spp.), but contained many indigenous and adventive herbaceous species. A transition appears to be occurring in grazed fragments from tall, long-lived trees like Beilschmiedia tawa and Dysoxylum spectabile to short and shorter-lived trees like Kunzea ericoides, Melicytus ramiflorus, and Dicksonia squarrosa. Because grazing inhibits most regeneration processes, unfenced remnants of conifer–broadleaved forest are unlikely to be maintained in grazed pasture in the long term. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Attachment theory provides a framework for categorising behaviours in close relationships by individuals during times of stress. Attachment behaviours are commonly thought to be determined in early childhood experiences and assumed to hold through to adulthood. Further, these behaviours become particularly salient across life events, such as the transition to parenthood. Attachment styles range from security-based, in which individuals seek to alleviate distress by seeking and receiving proximity to an attachment figure, to insecurity-based styles in which attachment figures are viewed as insufficiently available. These styles have been identified primarily through the use of quantitative methods. However, this risks reducing the intricacy of relational behaviours to discrete and exclusive styles. The use of qualitative methods offers one way to preserve the complexity of relational experiences but there are a limited amount of studies which use this approach. The use of pluralistic qualitative methods allows for more holistic insight by viewing the complexities of attachment from multi-dimensional perspectives and is the methodological focus of this study.
The research presents a longitudinal single case study which explores the attachment behaviours of a couple during their transition to second-time parenthood. It uses multiple methods of data collection, including individual semi-structured interviews to gather accounts of experience, diaries to gather accounts of everyday practices and behaviours, and joint unstructured interviews to gather collaborative accounts of the couple relationship. Narrative analysis is used to understand how identities are formed and reformed over the longitudinal period, and gives insight to how the participants make sense of their feelings and emotions. A psycho-social reading of the data enables understanding of some of the internal and external conflicts that the participants negotiate during this period. The plurality of epistemological and ontological paradigms brought by the different methods highlights the complex variation and intricate manners in which the couple's emotion regulation strategies affect the dynamics of their relationship.
Key findings of the research illustrate that individuals engage with a variety of attachment behaviours at any given point suggesting that attachment is not a fixed feature; attachment history becomes more salient after the transition to second-time parenthood; insecure attachment behaviours (mainly avoidant ones) tend to be more marked; relationship satisfaction decreases following the birth of the second child; and the parenting relationship becomes the couple relationship after the birth of the second child. The research shows how pluralistic methods challenge traditional views of attachment as fixed and brings new insight to relational experiences by considering them as fluid and dynamic processes, informed by context, subjective meaning-making and external events across the transition to second-time parenthood.


BACKGROUND
 The social media site Twitter has 145 million daily active users worldwide and has become a popular forum for users to communicate their health care concerns and experiences as patients. In the fall of 2018, a hashtag titled #DoctorsAreDickheads emerged, with almost 40,000 posts calling attention to health care experiences.

 OBJECTIVE
 This study aims to identify common health care conditions and conceptual themes represented within the phenomenon of this viral Twitter hashtag.

 METHODS
 We analyzed a random sample of 5.67% (500/8818) available tweets for qualitative analysis between October 15 and December 31, 2018, when the hashtag was the most active. Team coders reviewed the same 20.0% (100/500) tweets and the remainder individually. We abstracted the user's health care role and clinical conditions from the tweet and user profile, and used phenomenological content analysis to identify prevalent conceptual themes through sequential open coding, memoing, and discussion of concepts until an agreement was reached.

 RESULTS
 Our final sample comprised 491 tweets and unique Twitter users. Of this sample, 50.5% (248/491) were from patients or patient advocates, 9.6% (47/491) from health care professionals, 4.3% (21/491) from caregivers, 3.7% (18/491) from academics or researchers, 1.0% (5/491) from journalists or media, and 31.6% (155/491) from non–health care individuals or other. The most commonly mentioned clinical conditions were chronic pain, mental health, and musculoskeletal conditions (mainly Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). We identified 3 major themes: disbelief in patients' experience and knowledge that contributes to medical errors and harm, the power inequity between patients and providers, and metacommentary on the meaning and impact of the #DoctorsAreDickheads hashtag.

 CONCLUSIONS
 People publicly disclose personal and often troubling health care experiences on Twitter. This adds new accountability for the patient-provider interaction, highlights how harmful communication affects diagnostic safety, and shapes the public's viewpoint of how clinicians behave. Hashtags such as this offer valuable opportunities to learn from patient experiences. Recommendations include developing best practices for providers to improve communication, supporting patients through challenging diagnoses, and promoting patient engagement.


Microfinance, the provision of financial services to the poor, has emerged as one of the promising pathways out of poverty. But how can the people living far from the pathway access microfinance? This case study addresses this question by looking at how an innovative microfinance bank in Africa, Opportunity International Bank of Malawi (OIBM) is exploring alternative delivery approaches and tailored products that appeal to the rural population who have been excluded by the high cost access to the mainstream financial sector. It is experimenting with mobile banking services using armoured trucks equipped with smart card technology, value chain interventions, weather-indexed insurance and savings accounts. Initial evidence indicates that these have the potential to reduce risk, cost and improve access to financial services for those whom microfinance has found difficult to reach. However, the analysis suggests there are inherent challenges that need to be addressed if these successes are to continue.


Current calculations to evaluate the profitability of the various energy generating units ignore intermittency as well as complementary technologies, such as battery storage and smart meters. Therefore, we propose a new assessment of the cost of solar energy that takes into account smart grids. In doing this, we use data from a low energy dwelling in South Wales UK as well as data from a high-rise apartment in Hong Kong, calibrate our model in this regard, and calculate a levelized cost of electricity consumption (LCOCE). Our proposed cost measure can be of use when determining the feasibility of smart systems, and accordingly, assist policymakers when deciding on the financial support for home renewable energy systems.


Abstract : The Constraint Optimization Problem (COP) is a commonly used mathematical formalism that can express many real-world situations. When the COP contains discrete variables, however, the number of combinations of variable assignments to consider is exponential in the number of variables. For example, adding just 20 binary variables to a COP multiplies the number of combinations to consider by over one million. This means that even if standard hardware and software efficiency techniques can provide orders of magnitude in increased speed, they can become quickly overwhelmed as problems become larger. A variety of techniques have been developed to address the complexity of COPs. Unfortunately, the COP is nondeterministic polynomial time hard (NP-hard) in general, meaning that for any algorithm there exists a problem instance for which the runtime is exponential in the size of the problem input. This report reviews the literature on COPs.


The objective of this chapter is to summarize the current standards of pain management in minor sports-related musculoskeletal injuries. This chapter also addresses the topical form of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug as an effective pain management option in an outpatient setting. Design: Quantitive systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Methods: The data was obtained through literature review of articles published in the last 10 years. In addition, FDA information on non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications was also reviewed. The patient population studied in the articles included children and adults. Conclusion: Current standards of managing pain resulting from sports injuries involve a number of analgesic drugs including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The topical form of this class of drugs is an effective method for pain management of minor musculoskeletal sports-related injuries.


Diphtheria toxin is a single-chain protein toxin that invades human cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis. In acidic endosomes, its translocation domain inserts into endosomal membranes and facilitates the transport of the catalytic domain (DTA) from endosomal lumen into the host cell cytosol. Here, DTA ADP-ribosylates elongation factor 2 inhibits protein synthesis and leads to cell death. The compound 4-bromobenzaldehyde N-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)semicarbazone (EGA) has been previously shown to protect cells from various bacterial protein toxins which deliver their enzymatic subunits from acidic endosomes to the cytosol, including Bacillus anthracis lethal toxin and the binary clostridial actin ADP-ribosylating toxins C2, iota and Clostridium difficile binary toxin (CDT). Here, we demonstrate that EGA also protects human cells from diphtheria toxin by inhibiting the pH-dependent translocation of DTA across cell membranes. The results suggest that EGA might serve for treatment and/or prevention of the severe disease diphtheria.


Optical interconnects and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) present promising options for replacing the existing Cu-based global/semiglobal (optics and CNT) and local (CNT) wires. We quantify the performance of these novel interconnects and compare it with Cu/low-kappa wires for future high-performance integrated circuits. We find that for a local wire, a CNT bundle exhibits a smaller latency than Cu for a given geometry. In addition, by leveraging the superior electromigration properties of CNT and optimizing its geometry, the latency advantage can be further amplified. For semiglobal and global wires, we compare both optical and CNT options with Cu in terms of latency, energy efficiency/power dissipation, and bandwidth density. The above trends are studied with technology node. In addition, for a future technology node, we compare the relationship between bandwidth density, power density, and latency, thus alluding to the latency and power penalty to achieve a given bandwidth density. Optical wires have the lowest latency and the highest possible bandwidth density using wavelength division multiplexing, whereas a CNT bundle has a lower latency than Cu. The power density comparison is highly switching activity (SA) dependent, with high SA favoring optics. At low SA, optics is only power efficient compared to CNT for a bandwidth density beyond a critical value. Finally, we also quantify the impact of improvement in optical and CNT technology on the above comparisons. A small monolithically integrated detector and modulator capacitance for optical interconnects (~10 fF) yields a superior power density and latency even at relatively lower SA (~20%) but at high bandwidth density. At lower bandwidth density and SA lower than 20%, an improvement in mean free path and packing density of CNT can render it most energy efficient.


Bone mineral development has been described to proceed through an amorphous precursor prior to apatite crystallization. However, further analytical approaches are necessary to identify specific markers of amorphous mineral components in bone. Here, we establish an original Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy approach to allow the specific identification of the amorphous and/or crystalline nature of bone mineral. Using a series of standards, our results demonstrate that obtaining the second derivative of the FTIR spectra could reveal a peak specifically corresponding to amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) at ∼992 cm-1. The intensity of this peak was strongly correlated to ACP content in standard mixtures. The analysis of a variety of bones showed that a clear ACP peak could be identified as a specific marker of the existence of an amorphous mineral component in developing bones. In contrast, the ACP peak was not detected in the mature bones. Moreover, subjecting developing bones to ex vivo crystallization conditions led to a clear reduction of the ACP peak, further substantiating the conversion of amorphous mineral precursor into mature apatite crystals. Analysis of mineralization in osteogenic cell cultures corroborated our observations, showing the presence of ACP as a major transient component in early mineralization, but not in the mature matrix. Additionally, FTIR imaging revealed that ACP was present in areas of matrix development, distributed around the edges of mineralizing nodules. Using an original analytical approach, this work provides strong evidence to support that bone mineral development is initiated by an amorphous precursor prior to apatite crystallization.


The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of GB virus C (GBV-C) infection in pediatric patients receiving multiple blood transfusions in Turkey where HBV and HCV infections are common. Sera of a total of 148 children, of whom 85 had cancer and 63 hemoglobinopathies, were tested for GBV-C RNA and HCV RNA by RT-PCR and for antibodies to HBV and HCV. Demographic and clinical information as well as laboratory results were recorded for the patients (81 boys, 67 girls, aged 1-19 years). HBsAg positivity was found in 23 (15.5%) patients, HBV DNA positivity in 12 (8.1%), HCV RNA positivity in 9 (6.7%), and GBV-C RNA positivity in 4 (2.7%). There was no significant difference in the GBV-C RNA positivity between patients with cancer (3.2%) and patients with hemoglobinopathies (2.4%) (p > 0.05). GBV-C RNA was found in 4 (3.1%) out of 127 patients who had received transfusions, but it was not found in any of 21 patients who had not received transfusions. However, there was no relationship between GBV-C RNA positivity and the number of transfusions. Two of the patients with GBV-C RNA had high levels of ALT (ALT > 40 IU). In these two patients, neither HBV DNA nor HCV RNA were detected by PCR, and serological tests were also negative for these agents. We concluded that pediatric patients who had multiple transfusions in Turkey are at risk of being infected with GBV-C, in addition to HBV and HCV. Investigation of GBV-C RNA in patients with high ALT levels in the absence of other viral markers may be useful.


The authors have achieved their purpose of providing a useful guide for the treatment of burns. Their experience permitted them to select from the vast literature those references which effectively supplement the clinical experience of the surgical research unit of the Brooke Army Medical Center, which provided the main source material for this book. More than one thousand burn patients were seen at the Brooke Army Medical Center during the seven-year interval 1949 to 1956. All the important aspects of the clinical problems which the burn patient presents are amply dealt with. A succinct and practical description of the pathologic physiology essential to an understanding of these clinical problems is included. The metabolic response to the burn injury is briefly and clearly presented. Fluid replacement, the initial and late care of the burn wound, infection, nutrition, hormone therapy, and technique are discussed; useful information, such as methods for preparation of


PURPOSE
We investigated dose and pharmacokinetics of erlotinib in patients with hepatic dysfunction or renal dysfunction.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients were assigned to one of three cohorts: cohort 1, AST > or = 3x upper limit of normal; cohort 2, direct bilirubin of 1 to 7 mg/dL; and cohort 3, creatinine of 1.6 to 5.0 mg/dL. Cohort 1a was amended for albumin less than 2.5 g/dL. Erlotinib was administered orally daily to groups of at least three assessable patients in escalating doses of 50, 75, 100, and 150 mg, starting with 50 mg in hepatic dysfunction patients and 75 mg in renal dysfunction patients.

RESULTS
Between December 2001 and May 2005, 55 patients were accrued. The distribution of assessable patients was: two of three in cohort 1, three of three in cohort 1a, 16 of 30 in cohort 2, and 18 of 18 in cohort 3. Dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) consisted of elevation of both total and direct bilirubin 1.5x baseline in three patients (cohort 1: one of five patients at 50 mg; cohort 2: two of six patients at 100 mg). In cohort 2, one of seven patients had DLT at 75 mg. No DLT was encountered in cohort 3 with 12 patients at 150 mg. Apparent oral clearance (mean +/- standard deviation) was cohort dependent as follows: 1.9 +/- 0.2 L/h in cohort 1; 3.7 +/- 4.7 L/h in cohort 1a; 2.4 +/- 1.1 L/h in cohort 2; and 4.5 +/- 2.7 L/h in cohort 3 (Kruskal-Wallis, P < .017).

CONCLUSION
Patients with renal dysfunction tolerate 150 mg of erlotinib daily and seem to have an erlotinib clearance similar to patients without organ dysfunction. Patients with hepatic dysfunction should be treated at a reduced dose (ie, 75 mg daily) consistent with their reduced clearance.


Recurrent neural networks solving the task of short-term traffic forecasting are presented in this report. They turned out to be very well suited to this task, they even outperformed the best results obtained with conventional statistical methods. The outcome of a comparative study shows that multiple combinations of feedback can greatly enhance the network performance. Best results were obtained with the newly developed Multi-recurrent Network combining output, hidden, and input layer memories having self-recurrent feedback loops of different strengths. The outcome of this research will be used for installing an actual tool at a highway check point. The investigated methods provide short-term memories of different length which are not only needed for the given application, but which are of importance for numerous other real world tasks.


The purpose of this project was to empirically develop a method of using electromyography to identify how humans coordinate their muscles during certain sequences of movement and the effect of an injured anterior cruciate ligament to muscle coordination. In this study, more simple movements of the lower extremities are examined and relatively accurate hypothesizes can be made solely based on anatomical theory. However, a general method for electromyographic studies would open up the possibility of exploring muscle coordination in more complex movements. This would facilitate further research in scientific fields such as biomechanics and neurophysiology.Surface electromyography was used to acquire data of muscle activation from the primary muscle groups of the lower extremities, while body movements were recorded using video cameras. The neural signals sampled were rectified for systematic interference by the removal of electrical background noise and by centering the signal baseline. To address the problem of the neural signal pattern being random, a smoothing algorithm called "RMS EMG" that reflects the mean power of the signal was applied. Additionally, a high-pass filter was applied to filter out filter out frequencies outside the range of neural signals in muscles.In order to correlate the body movement sequences with the electromyographic data, the video recordings were compared with activity-time plots of the electromyographic data. By localizing and interpreting local peaks and change of gradients, the motions where structured into distinct phases and the muscle coordination was evaluated. Through investigation of both bilateral and unilateral movements the effects on an injured anterior cruciate ligament were studied.Results showed predominant muscle activation in the knee extensors during squatting and similar motions. Even though the motions included significant hip extension, the hamstrings displayed a nearly constant level of muscle activation throughout the movement. Activation of the muscles occurred simultaneously, but the motion appeared to be primarily executed by the knee extensors. During gait, muscle activation in the gastrocnemius was observed to be significantly higher than in any other muscle prior to the hind foot leaving ground.Injury to the anterior cruciate ligament appeared to cause an increase of muscle activation in the lateral side of the knee extensors compared to the medial side.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical examination of the current law and the proposed changes made by the Law Commission, after consultation, in relation to non‐fraudulent pre‐contractual duties in insurance law.Design/methodology/approach – The research is addressed using case law, statutes, current academic and law commission publications in the UK and Australia.Findings – First, the paper finds that the current state of the law is unfair in relation to consumers and small businesses and much reform is needed to rebalance the nature of insurance contracts to reflect modern day practice.Research limitations/implications – This work does not address detailed issues in relation to fraudulent misrepresentations.Practical implications – The law will be brought into line with current practice by the Financial Ombudsman Service.Originality/value – This paper will be of interest to legal practitioners and academics and those in the insurance industry.


Sentul chicken is a specific chicken from Ciamis region, West Java, Indonesia, and it is a dual purpose type. To improve performance can be added with spirulina meal as a feed supplement.  Spirulina is classified as blue-green algae or blue-green bacteria and can be as the  source of protein.  Spirulina is a source of carotenoids with the high content of beta-carotene and xanthopyl, so it can be used in rations to increase egg production. The purpose of this study was to obtain an effective level of use n of spirulina in the Sentul chicken ration of the layer phase. The study used 50 female chickens aged 7 months, which was kept in cages until 2 months and each cage contains 2 chickens. The method used was a completely randomized design with 5 treatments namely R0 (ration without spirulina ), R1 (ration with 1% spirulina addition), R 2 (addition of 1.5% ), R3 (addition of 2%) and R4 (addition of 2, 5%) with five replications. Furthermore, treatment differences were tested using Duncan Multiple Range test. The measured variables were feed consumption, egg weight, hen day production, feed conversion, thick of shell and egg yolk color. The results showed the addition of spirulina of 1.5 - 2% in the ration increased hen day production and egg quality but with the addition of 2.5%, feed consumption, hen day production, and feed conversion decreased. It can be concluded that spirulina can be used as feed supplement until 2% to gave the best on production and eggs quality of Sentul chicken.


Urate is the final oxidation product of purine metabolism in humans. We have recently reported that the paracellular route is the major urate transport pathway across the blood-placental barrier. In this study, the mechanism of urate paracellular transport was investigated in several epithelial cell lines including Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) type I, Lilly Laboratories cell-porcine kidney 1 (LLC-PK1) and Caco-2 cells. Very little urate passed through MDCK and LLC-PK1 cell layers. In contrast, one of the Caco-2 cell lines was found to be urate-permeable. This urate paracellular movement across Caco-2 cell layer was not inhibited by the urate transporter inhibitor benzbromarone but was partially inhibited by 4,4'-diisothiocyanato-2,2'-stilbenedisulfonic acid (DIDS), which inhibits chloride transport. Detection and quantification of claudin proteins that are important for paracellular transport of ions were performed by LC/MS. Claudins 1, 3, 4, 6, 7 and 12 were detected in urate-permeable cell lines, BeWo cells and Caco-2 cells. We compared claudin expression patterns in urate-permeable and urate-non-permeable Caco-2 cells by LC/MS and found that claudin 12 had a higher expression level in urate-permeable Caco-2 cells. Overexpression of these claudins in MDCK cells did not increase urate paracellular transport. Although there were differences in claudin expression pattern between urate-permeable and non-permeable cells, increased expression of single claudin alone did not explain paracellular permeability of urate.


The reflection of linearly polarized light from an N-layer system of nanometer-size insulating films is investigated. The approximate formulas for reflection coefficients of s- or p-polarized light are derived and their accuracy is estimated. It is shown that expressions obtained for differential reflection characteristics are of immediate interest to the solution of the inverse problem for nanoscopic layered structures. A few novel options are developed for determining the parameters of nanometer-size insulating layers by differential reflectance measurements, particularly at the Brewster angle. For determining the parameters of multilayer systems an appropriate method is found by combining differential reflectance with ellipsometry.


Background In rheumatoid arthritis (RA), regulatory T cells (Tregs) are defective in their suppressive capacities and fail to control chronic inflammation. TNF-α is involved in inhibition of Treg differentiation and activation, likely via activation of TNF type 1 receptor (TNFR1).1 Conversely, activation of TNFR2 on Tregs is critical for their phenotypic and functional stability in the inflammatory environment.2 Moreover, it has been shown that therapeutic TNF blockade with the anti-TNF monoclonal antibody adalimumab restores the potency of Treg cell suppression in RA by binding to membrane TNF- α on monocytes and promoting Treg cell expansion through enhanced TNFR2 signaling.3 In the present study we aimed to establish the role of TNFR2 on Tregs in control of inflammation at multiple levels, by: 1) studying the action of TNF on Treg function in the presence and absence of TNFR2 in vitro, 2) testing the severity of a model of skin inflammation in TNFR2KO mice, 3) evaluating the evolution of TNFR2-expressing Treg from RA patients during anti-TNF treatment. Materials and methods Mice deficient in the TNFR2 gene (TNFR2 KO) and TNFR2 lox/lox mice to conditionally delete TNFR2 specifically in Tregs were used. CD4+CD25+Treg cells were purified by magnetic sorting. Cell phenotype was evaluated by flow cytometry. ATP concentrations were determined by luminometry. Skin inflammation was induced by applying an imiquimod-containing ointment, to the skin. Peripheral blood Treg where characterised before and after 3 months of anti–TNF treatment in 10 RA patients. Results In vitro, TNF-α enhanced Foxp3 maintenance through TNFR2 signalling in cultured Tregs. In vivo, TNFR2-negative Treg cells, from both TNFR2KO and TNFR2 lox/lox mice, had lower spontaneous suppressive capacities (lower ATP hydrolysis, inhibition of effector T cells proliferation and IFN-γ production). Compared to wt mice, TNFR2KO mice had enhanced skin-inflammation and decreased Treg frequency in lymph nodes. In RA patients, TNF blockade induced an increase in the frequency of TNFR2-expressing Tregs at 3 months of treatment vs. the baseline Conclusions TNFR2 signalling on Tregs may play a major role in controlling inflammation and can be activated both by TNF-α and anti-TNF treatment. Further studies to dissect TNFR2 dependent pathways on Tregs are warranted. References Nie H, Zheng Y, Li R, et al. Phosphorylation of FOXP3 controls regulatory T cell function and is inhibited by TNF-α in rheumatoid arthritis. Nat Med2013;19:322-8. Chen X, Wu X, Zhou Q, et al. TNFR2 is critical for the stabilisation of the CD4+Foxp3+ regulatory T cell phenotype in the inflammatory environment. J Immunol. 2013;190:1076-84. Nguyen DX, Ehrenstein MR. Anti-TNF drives regulatory T cell expansion by paradoxically promoting membrane TNF-TNF-RII binding in rheumatoid arthritis. J Exp Med2016;213:1241-53.


Three experiments were conducted to determine the digestible lysine requirement of female turkey poults during the starter period. Birds were fed a standard corn-soybean meal diet until the onset of each trial and were then randomly assigned to treatments that were fed for 2 wk. Dietary treatments included titrated levels of digestible lysine (1.18 to 1.72%) added to a basal corn-soybean meal diet with an intact crude protein content of either 21% (Experiment 1) or 18.4% (Experiments 2 and 3). All diets contained 3,100 to 3,200 kcal MEn/kg. True digestible lysine contents of the basal diets were 1.42% (Experiment 1) and 1.18% (Experiments 2 and 3), based on digestibility assays of corn and soybean meal with cecectomized turkeys. A positive control diet (28% CP, 3,175 kcal MEn/kg) was also included in the treatments for comparison. Other amino acids were maintained at levels in relation to lysine based on previous research and the Illinois Ideal Chick Protein. Broken-line analysis suggests that the digestible lysine requirement is 1.32% for optimum body weight gain and 1.34% for optimal feed:gain at the energy levels used in these studies.


Journal policies continuously evolve to enable knowledge sharing and support reproducible science. However, that change happens within a certain framework. Eight modular standards with three levels of increasing stringency make Transparency and Openness Promotion (TOP) guidelines which can be used to evaluate to what extent and with which stringency journals promote open science. Guidelines define standards for data citation, transparency of data, material, code and design and analysis, replication, plan and study pre-registration, and two effective interventions: "Registered reports" and "Open science badges", and levels of adoption summed up across standards define journal's TOP Factor. In this paper, we analysed the status of adoption of TOP guidelines across two thousand journals reported in the TOP Factor metrics. We show that the majority of the journals' policies align with at least one of the TOP's standards, most likely "Data citation" (70%) followed by "Data transparency" (19%). Two-thirds of adoptions of TOP standard are of the stringency Level 1 (less stringent), whereas only 9% is of the stringency Level 3. Adoption of TOP standards differs across science disciplines and multidisciplinary journals (N = 1505) and journals from social sciences (N = 1077) show the greatest number of adoptions. Improvement of the measures that journals take to implement open science practices could be done: (1) discipline-specific, (2) journals that have not yet adopted TOP guidelines could do so, (3) the stringency of adoptions could be increased.


Background: Recurrent optic neuritis (rON) associated with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG)-specific antibodies has been initially reported to show a better clinical outcome than aquaporin-4 (AQP4)-seropositive ON in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). Here, we characterize clinical and neuroimaging findings in severe cases of MOG antibody–positive and AQP4 antibody–negative bilateral rON. Methods: Three male adults with rON (ages 18, 44, and 63 years) were evaluated with optical coherence tomography (OCT), MRI, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and serological studies. Results: All patients experienced >7 relapses of ON with severe reduction of visual acuity and partial response to steroid treatment. Optic nerves were affected bilaterally, although unilateral relapses were more frequent than simultaneous bilateral recurrences. Patients were MOG-seropositive but repeatedly tested negative for AQP4 antibodies. OCT showed severe thinning of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer. On MRI, contrast-enhancing lesions extended over more than half the length of the optic nerve. CSF analyses during ON episodes were normal. Severe visual deficits accumulated over time in 2 of 3 patients, despite immunosuppressive therapy. Conclusions: MOG-seropositive and AQP4-seronegative rON may be associated with an aggressive disease course and poor functional and structural outcomes. In contrast to previous reports, the severity and pattern of retinal and optic nerve damage closely resembled phenotypes commonly observed in AQP4-seropositive rON without fulfilling current diagnostic criteria for NMOSD.


Abstract Considerable transformation of the burial method at the turn of the 19th and the 20th centuries is apparent from the existing results of research in the developments of burial and funeral architecture, when after centuries controlled by the church – due to social and political changes – gradual secularisation of the society and subsequent desacralisation of funeral rituals started appearing. This phenomenon, as well as other aspects (e.g. Josephine reforms in 1782) brought about a change in the approach to newly established cemeteries but also the necessity to define areas for new burial methods and constructing new building types of funeral architecture. The position of necropolis is also changing as the society understands it, and its inclusion not only in the organism of towns but also in everyday life of town and municipality citizens. Thus, not only new but mainly original cemeteries are searching for their new position in the society. Studio papers try to react to this situation written by students of the master degree of the specialisation Architecture and civil engineering at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the VŠB - Technical University in Ostrava, led by prof. Ing. arch. Petr Hrůša, doc. Ing. Martina Peřinková, Ph.D. and Ing. arch. Klára Frolíková Palánová, Ph.D. Students try to view necropolis in an innovative way and give them a new dimension to succeed and become adequate public or semi-public space of cities and municipalities. The contribution represents starting points of possible solutions on case studies, such as transformation of a cemetery in Ostrava on the Hulváky Hill, the design of establishing a new cemetery in open space near the municipality of Velichovky, including the design of a funeral hall, situating a new urn grove in the place of a former cemetery – the current park – a part of which is the design of a new crematorium in Nový Jičín and extension of possibilities for placement of ashes and designs supporting the development of funeral tourism in the Olšany Cemeteries in Prague.


It is often assumed that for middle class and academically able children, schooling is a straightforward process that leads to academic success, higher education and entry into middle class occupations. However this fascinating book shows these relationships to be complex and often uncertain.

Based on the biographies of 350 young men and women who might have been considered 'destined for success' at the start of their secondary schooling, the book maps out the educational pathways they took. It analyses their subsequent achievements and entry into employment and compares them with their parents, with one another, and with their generation. Identifying patterns in the data, it also explores examples of extraordinary success and failure, and various forms of interrupted and disrupted careers.

As well as documenting a compelling human story, the findings have important implications for current policy debates about academic selection, access to elite universities, and the limits of meritocracy.


All social scientists learn the celebrated theories and frameworks of their predecessors, using them to inform their own research and observations. But before there can be theory, there must be theorizing. Theorizing in Social Science introduces the reader to the next generation of theory construction and suggests useful ways for creating social theory. What makes certain types of theories creative, and how does one go about theorizing in a creative way? The contributors to this landmark collection-top social scientists in the fields of sociology, economics, and management-draw on personal experiences and new findings to provide a range of answers to these questions. Some turn to cognitive psychology and neuroscience's impact on our understanding of human thought, others encourage greater dialogue between and across the arts and sciences, while still others focus on the processes by which observation leads to conceptualization. Taken together, however, the chapters collectively and actively encourage a shift in the place of theory in social science today. Appealing to students and scientists across disciplines, this collection will inspire innovative approaches to producing, teaching, and learning theory.


The identification of semantic relations between terms within texts is a fundamental task in Natural Language Processing which can support applications requiring a lightweight semantic interpretation model. Currently, semantic relation classification concentrates on relations which are evaluated over open-domain data. This work provides a critique on the set of abstract relations used for semantic relation classification with regard to their ability to express relationships between terms which are found in a domain-specific corpora. Based on this analysis, this work proposes an alternative semantic relation model based on reusing and extending the set of abstract relations present in the DOLCE ontology. The resulting set of relations is well grounded, allows to capture a wide range of relations and could thus be used as a foundation for automatic classification of semantic relations.


Plot-scale hydrologic field studies were initiated at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center to a) investigate the spatial and temporal variability of surface and subsurface hydrologic processes, particularly as affected by vegetation, and b) develop experimental techniques and associated instrumentation methodology to study hydrologic processes at increasingly large spatial scales. About 150 instruments, most of which are remotely operated, have been installed at the field site to monitor ground atmospheric conditions, precipitation, interception, soil-water status, and energy flux. This paper describes the nature of the field experiment, instrumentation and sampling rationale, and presents preliminary findings.


In A Berlin Chronicle Walter Benjamin describes his autobiography as a space to be walked (indeed, it is a labyrinth, with entrances he calls primal acquaintances). The contributors to The Lost Diagrams respond to the invitation to accompany Benjamin in reproducing the web of connections of his diagram, which, once lost (he was inconsolable), was never fully redrawn. They translate his words into maps, trees, lists, and constellations. Their diagrams, after Benjamin, are fragments, scribbles, indexes, bed covers, and body parts. Subjectivities sharpen and blur, merge and redefine, scatter and recollect. Benjamin writes: 'Whatever cross connections are finally established between these systems also depends on the inter-twinements of our path through life'.

Edited by Helen Clarke & Sharon Kivland. Essays by Helen Clarke, Sam Dolbear & Christian A. Wollin. Published by MA Bibliotheque.


Objective: Identification and ethnobotanical survey was made on the utilization of medicinal plant the tribal community of Vathalmalai Hills in Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu, India. The objective of the study was to identify and documented the medicinal plants traditionally used by tribal people.Methods: The study was conducted from October 2016 to October 2017. The data were collected from local tribal community, they were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires, and their traditional ethnomedicinal knowledge was recorded. As, we had collecting the information through local tribal peoples, they we are know the plant local names as well as which plants and parts are mostly used in various disease and disorders problems.Results: A total of 82 plant species and belonging to 40 families were identified. They are most frequently used plant parts leaf and most of the medicine prepared in the form powder and paste. The important disease cure for cold, diarrhea, chicken pox, smallpox, cough, headache, and stomach ache.Conclusion: The ethnomedicinal survey of medicinal plants recommended by traditional healers for the treatment of various disease and disorders new areas of research on the antihypertensive effect of medicinal plants. In the case of safety and effectiveness, they can be refined and processed to produce natural drugs.


"Glass wool" and "rock wool" had been used as sound absorbing materials over several decades because they have excellent sound absorbing properties as well as being very productive and economical. Unfortunately, they were found to be toxic because of flying glass whiskers. To replace glass wool and rock wool as the sound absorbing panels, the recycled glass powders with zeolite and Na2SiO were foamed, adding foaming agents such as NaOH and CaCO3 at different foaming temperatures and time in an electrical furnace. Recycled glass powders from crushed passenger car window were heated up to 720°C in an electrical furnace for an optimal foaming condition. The compressive strength of the foamed glasses was measured using a dynamic materials tester. On the basis of microstructure observation of the foamed glasses, the excellent sound absorbing materials was tried to be fabricated by measuring the sound absorbing coefficient of the foamed glass materials by adding various amounts of NaOH and water.


Consider receivers that do not exploit any knowledge of the channel distribution in non-coherent block-fading multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels. The main contribution of this letter is to derive a semi-analytical semi-numerical lower bound to the achieveble rate of such receivers. The bound is of operational meaning since practical receivers can achieve the lower bound. Several numerical examples with Gaussian block fading channels, which illuminate that the lack of channel distribution at the receiver imposes a significant penalty if the coherence time (counted in symbol times) is not much larger than the number of transmit antennas, are provided.


Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN)s have become a prominent method of AI implementation in medical classification tasks. Grading Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) has been at the forefront of the development of AI for ophthalmology. However, major obstacles remain in the generalization of these CNN's onto real-world DR screening programs. We believe these difficulties are due to use of 1) small training datasets (<5,000 images), 2) private and 'curated' repositories, 3) offline CNN implementation methods, while 4) relying on accuracy measured as area under the curve (AUC) as the sole measure of CNN performance. To address these issues, the public EyePACS Kaggle Diabetic Retinopathy dataset was uploaded onto Microsoft Azure™ cloud platform. Two CNNs were trained as a "Quality Assurance", and a "Classifier". The "Classifier" CNN performance was then tested both on 'un-curated' as well as the 'curated' test set created by the "Quality Assessment" CNN. Finally, the sensitivity of the "Classifier" CNNs was boosted post-training using two post-training techniques. Our "Classifier" CNN proved to be robust, as its performance was similar on 'curated' and 'uncurated' sets. The implementation of 'cascading thresholds' and 'max margin' techniques led to significant improvements in the "Classifier" CNN's sensitivity, while also enhancing the specificity of other grades.


This dissertation seeks to explain suspects' decision-making processes within the context of a custodial interrogation by presenting a new model of confessions referred to as the interrogation decision-making model. The model proposes that suspects' decisionmaking process can be analyzed at two different levels—a micro-level process and a macrolevel process. Drawing on expected utility theory (Edwards, 1962; Shoemaker, 1982; Von Neumann & Morgenstern, 1944), the micro-level process of the model introduces a mathematical framework to explain the psychological mechanisms underlying suspects' single interrogation decision at a certain point in time. The macro-level process of the model describes the dynamic nature of suspects' multiple interrogation decisions throughout an interrogation. These two processes jointly explain suspects' decisions to deny or confess guilt during a custodial interrogation. This dissertation also describes two experimental studies that tested key predictions generated by the model. Experiment 1 (N = 205) tested the prediction that suspects decide whether to deny or confess guilt on the basis of a proximal outcome's perceived desirability, or in terms of the model, its perceived utility. Experiment 2 (N = 158) tested the prediction that suspects decide whether to deny or confess guilt on the basis of a distal outcome's perceived utility. The results of the experiments were mixed. Whereas the utility of a proximal outcome did not significantly influence participants' admissions and denials of prior misconduct, the utility of a distal outcome did. These findings provide partial support for the model by showing that a critical factor affecting suspects' decision-making is the perceived utility of distal outcomes.


Chronic tinnitus is a phantom auditory perception of meaningless sound. It is a highly prevalent symptom with potential severe morbidity. In this thesis diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of tinnitus are assessed, based on the notion that tinnitus most probably arises from hyperactivity in the central nervous system, in most cases as a result from damage to the peripheral hearing organ. The majority of the studies in this thesis are performed in (a proportion of) the 321 tinnitus patients who were seen at the Tinnitus Care Group of the University Medical Center Utrecht between 2007 and 2012. Patients were evaluated through a structured diagnostic protocol by a multidisciplinary team. Three months after visiting the Tinnitus Care Group, they were generally satisfied with the care they had received and the burden of their tinnitus was slightly, but significantly lower. It seems that a larger significant effect can be obtained by the group counseling offered by the Tinnitus Care Group. In a retrospective cohort study performed in these patients it was shown that a higher percentage of tinnitus awareness during the day, presence of self-reported depression and/or anxiety, a higher educational level, presence of additional somatic complaints, a louder tinnitus (subjectively experienced), and a more variable tinnitus in loudness and/or pitch (subjectively experienced) were all related to tinnitus severity. Awareness during the day turned out to be the most important factor. In a second retrospective cohort study performed in these patients it was shown that a routine MRI scan is of little or no value in tinnitus patients with persistent complaints, both in bilateral as well as in unilateral tinnitus patients. Incidental findings are common on these MRI scans. A vascular loop of the Anterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery was often encountered on the MRI scan, but rarely related to the tinnitus. It should thus be considered an incidental finding unless on clinical signs a possible audiovestibular nerve compression syndrome was suspected beforehand on clinical grounds and the MRI scan was made specifically to confirm or exclude this syndrome. Through a Cochrane review it was shown that there is no evidence from studies performed so far that the anticonvulsants gabapentin, carbamazepine, lamotrigine or flunarizine have a large positive effect in the treatment of tinnitus, but a small effect (of doubtful clinical significance) has been demonstrated. A double-blind randomized controlled trial on the effect of low-frequency repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) on tinnitus was performed in fifty chronic tinnitus patients who were seen at this Tinnitus Care Group. It was shown that bilateral low-frequency rTMS of the auditory cortex was not effective in treating tinnitus. Lastly a review was performed on Health-Related Quality of Life instruments that are currently used to measure treatment outcomes in tinnitus trials. It was shown that none of the six questionnaires that are used (the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory, the Tinnitus Questionnaire, the Tinnitus Reaction Questionnaire, the Tinnitus Severity Index, the Tinnitus Handicap Questionnaire, and the Tinnitus Severity Questionnaire) is validated to measure the effectiveness of intervention therapies.


Dynamic exchange of water has been shown to effectively trigger thermally responsive shape memory effect (SME) in shape memory polymer (SMP) at room temperature. However, the working mechanism of cross-relaxation effects which are generated simultaneously from two stimulus fields of water and temperature, has not been understood. In this study, a 'cross-relaxation effects' model was formulated for describing water-induced relaxation, thermomechanical behavior and strain recovery of amorphous SMPs. Based on Maxwell's principle, the 'cross-relaxation effects' model was firstly proposed to quantitatively separate the effect of dynamic exchange of water on the thermochemical SME in SMP. Then the water-induced relaxation and strain recovery have been simulated and predicted using this model. Finally, experimental data were used to verify the proposed model, and the numerical results were found to fit well with the experimental ones. This 'cross-relaxation effects' model is expected to provide an effective tool for precise design and control of water-induced SME and shape memory behaviors by means of the dynamic exchange of water.


Increasingly, preservice teachers are required to demonstrate their ability to effectively cater for the needs of a diverse range of learners, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Higher Education Institutions (HEI) delivering teacher education programmes are responsible for promoting the development of inclusive practices. This multi-method study assessed the effectiveness of a special school experience offered to preservice teachers at one HEI in England, UK to develop their self-efficacy for teaching in inclusive environments, including their knowledge, understanding and practices surrounding inclusion. A total population sample of forty-eight preservice teachers completed self-efficacy questionnaires at three timepoints during their training; and 13 took part in qualitative semi-structured interviews toward the end of the study. ANOVA findings from the questionnaire data showed the experience had a significant positive impact on preservice teacher self-efficacy, improving knowledge, understanding and confidence to teach inclusively. A thematic analysis of the qualitative findings revealed the experience challenged preservice teacher expectations about learners with SEND, developing understanding about learner needs and effective differentiation. This paper concludes with recommendations for effective inclusion training for preservice teachers.


. The (cid:97) 6 (cid:98) 4 integrin promotes carcinoma invasion by its activation of a phosphoinositide 3-OH (PI3-K) signaling pathway (Shaw, L.M., I. Rabinovitz, H.H.-F. Wang, A. Toker, and A.M. Mercurio. Cell . 91: 949—960). We demonstrate here using MDA-MB-435 breast carcinoma cells that (cid:97) 6 (cid:98) 4 stimulates chemotactic migration, a key component of invasion, but that it has no influence on haptotaxis. Stimulation of chemotaxis by (cid:97) 6 (cid:98) 4 expression was observed in response to either lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) or fibroblast conditioned medium. Moreover, the LPA-dependent formation of lamellae in these cells is dependent upon (cid:97) 6 (cid:98) 4 expression. Both lamellae formation and chemotactic migration are inhibited or (cid:210)gated(cid:211) by cAMP and our results reveal that a critical function of (cid:97) 6 (cid:98) 4 is to suppress the intracellular cAMP concentration by increasing the activity of a rolipram-sensitive, cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase (PDE). This PDE activity is essential for lamellae formation, chemotactic migration and invasion based on data obtained with PDE inhibitors. Although PI3-K and cAMP-specific PDE activities are both required to promote lamellae formation and chemotactic migration, our data indicate that they are components of distinct signaling pathways. The essence of our findings is that (cid:97) 6 (cid:98) 4 stimulates the chemotactic migration of carcinoma cells through its ability to influence key signaling events that underlie this critical component of carcinoma invasion.


Abstract In order to understand the chemical relationship between a traditional hexa-herbal Chinese medicine formula and botanical drugs it is derived from, an analytical platform comprising liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole mass spectrometry and data mining was developed to separate and identify key chemical components. The hexa-herbal formula comprises the rootstock of Scutellaria baicalensis, Rheum tanguticum, Sophora flavescens, the root bark of Dictamnus dasycarpus, the bark of Phellodendron chinense, and the fruit of Kochia scoparia. Seventy-three compounds including alkaloids, anthraquinone derivatives, coumarins, coumarins derivatives, flavonoids, flavone glycosides, naphthalene derivatives, phenylbutanone glucopyranoside, phenolic acids, pterocarpans, stilbenes, stilbenes derivatives, and tannins were putatively identified based on mass measurement and characteristic fragment ions. Among the botanical drugs of the hexa-herbal Chinese medicine formula, the rootstock of R. tanguticum and S. flavescens, bark of P. chinense, and rootstock of S. baicalensis contributed to the majority of the extracted metabolites of the formula decoction. The developed method appeared to be a versatile tool for monitoring chemical constituents in extracts of a traditional Chinese medicine formula in a relatively comprehensive and systematic manner, and helped to understand the importance of the individual botanical drugs within a formulation.


This paper reflects on the process of viewing and constructing meaning about a book cover illustration which appears on a collection of Stolen Generation stories edited by Carmel Bird. The grainy black and white photograph, portraying six young girls of part Aboriginal descent, originally appeared under the heading "Homes are sought for these children" in a Darwin newspaper during the 1930s. It is an iconic representation of the betrayal of innocence, signifying the human suffering caused by the inherent racism of the then Australian government's Aboriginal assimilation policies. It is also an ironic image, communicating the incongruence between the meaning of social justice at the beginning of the twentieth century and at its end. Guided by Michel Foucault's oft-repeated caution that, "not everything is bad, but everything is dangerous" (Foucault 1991: 343), my intention is to share a subjective reflexion, and thereby raise some issues about the way we interact with, and invest truth in visual objects, such as photographs and the discourses which embed them in historical, social, political and cultural contexts.


Modulation properties of terahertz waves going through a light excited high resistivity silicon wafer are analyzed and measured. Free carrier lifetime of the silicon wafer affects the modulation depth and speed of the terahertz wave. The lifetime is reduced to less than 1 μs by thermal processing for high speed modulation. Experimental results show that the response time and modulation depth of the proposed modulating structure are close to 1 μs and 51%, respectively.


The Large Scale Retail Store Law has been a feature of the Japanese distribution system in one form or another for almost 40 years. It has been viewed by critics as a form of non-tariff barrier and an impediment to imports. Others view the Large Scale Retail Store Law as just another part of a distribution system that fits in, and has served Japanese society well. Reforms planned for the distribution system are likely to benefit Japanese agriculture just as much as foreign suppliers to the Japanese market. ©2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


A research on low flows may seem controversial for a "wet" country protected by dykes and barriers. However, low flows in dry summers such as in 1976, 1985 and 2003 indicate that it may happen also in the Rhine basin. Improved medium-range and seasonal low fow forecasts are important as there is an increasing interest to account for low flow forecasts in decision support systems, e.g. how to operate river navigation and power plants during low flow periods to maximize the gain. In this thesis, dominant low flow mechanisms in the Rhine basin are identified. These mechanisms are used to select two appropriate conceptual models for 10 day and 90 day ahead low flow forecasts. Moreover, the identified temporal scales of the dominant low flow mechanisms are used to develop two data-driven seasonal models. The effects of major uncertainty sources on low flow forecasts are assessed using Monte Carlo techniques. Parameter uncertainty is found to have the largest effect on 10 day low flow forecasts, whereas ensemble seasonal precipitation forecasts has the largest effect on 90 day low fow forecasts. Climate change impacts on the seasonality of low flows are assessed using the outputs of an ensemble of climate models to run a hydrological model. By 2063-2098, significant changes are expected in the seasonality of low flows in the Rhine basin.


The function of the thymus gland is still, perhaps, little understood. Of late years, however, more or less general attention has been given it by clinical as well as experimental observers and a certain amount of circumstantial evidence is being recorded against it. At times the gland has assumed a medicolegal importance in instances of sudden death. For years it has been known that in many cases of thyroid disease the thymus becomes greatly enlarged. In marantic children it frequently is found in a marked atrophic state. In certain instances there is a failure in involution and an active gland persists, yet no one can fully explain whether its persistence in adult life or its enlargement when associated with goiter is one of Nature's safeguards in preserving the equilibrium of the body or whether there is primary disease in the thymus. No one knows what the true relation of the


Coming from a mixed ethnic identity is difficult, particularly if the two identities of which you are mixed look physically very different. Through personal narratives, the author makes visible how one's appearance can determine how other people interpret one's identity. She examines challenges that arise when the messages one receives about one's identity are contradictory and relates these contradictory messages to the concept of social dominance. The author makes it apparent that place and community establish one's feelings about oneself. She concludes that an individual of mixed race cannot extract one ethnicity from the other; the individual will always be both.


The demanding for enantiomerically pure (enantiopure) compounds, especially for
pharmaceutical field has been attracting great attention during last decades. Direct
enantioseparation by chiral stationary phases (CSPs) using high performance liquid
chromatography (HPLC) remains as the most important technique for enantioseparation.
The development of novel stable and powerful CSPs is therefore important. The first
part of this study involved a facile and reliable preparation of CSPs. Thus, β-
cyclodextrin was functionalized with ionic liquids (ILs) namely 1-benzylimidazole (1-
BzlIm) and 1-decyl-2-methylimidazole (C10MIm) with tosylate as anion produced β-
CD-BIMOTs and β-CD-DIMOTs respectively. β-CD-BIMOTs and β-CD-DIMOTs
were attached to the modified silica to obtain the CSPs. The performances of the
synthesized CSPs were determined by examining the capability of enantioseparation of
selected analytes: flavonoids (flavanone, hesperetin, naringenin and eriodictyol), β-
blockers (atenolol, metoprolol, pindolol and propranolol) and Non-steroidal antiinflammatory
drug (NSAIDs) (ibuprofen, fenoprofen, ketoprofen and indoprofen). The
performance of β-CD-BIMOTs and β-CD-DIMOTs stationary phases was also
compared with native β-CD stationary phase. The results indicated that β-CD-BIMOTs
stationary phase afforded more favorable enantioseparations than β-CD-DIMOTs and
native β-CD based stationary phases. Therefore, the optimization for enantioseparation
of selected analytes (flavonoids, β-blockers and NSAIDs) and evaluation of interactions
was further investigated on β-CD-BIMOTs stationary phase. The selected flavonoids,
flavanone and hesperetin obtained high resolution factor in reverse phase mode.
Meanwhile naringenin and eriodictyol attained partial enantioseparation in polar organic
mode. In order to understand the mechanism of separation, the interaction of selected
flavonoids and β-CD-BIMOTs was studied using spectroscopic methods which are 1H
NMR, NOESY and UV/Vis spectrophotometry. The result for enantioseparation of
selected β-blockers, propranolol and metoprolol showed good enantioresolution
compared to atenolol and pindolol. The results suggested that the lipophilic property
and the structure of propranolol and metoprolol that enable the formation of inclusion
complex contribute to better enantioseparation. This observation was proven by 1H
NMR and NOESY of β-CD-BIMOTs/β-blockers. The effect of the types and variation
of mobile phase composition on enantioseparation of NSAIDs was also studied on β-
CD-BIMOTs CSP. From the result of enantioseparation, ibuprofen and indoprofen
achieved the better resolution than ketoprofen and fenoprofen due to their favorable
orientation to fit into the β-CD-BIMOTs cavity. This orientation was depending on the
structure of NSAIDs.