Friendship and the Political: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Schmitt This book reappraises the idea of friendship in contemporary political thought. Understood as a way of locating and theorising the bonds between person and person, friendship is shown to be a vital analytical, descriptive, and normative idea. After revisiting the role that friendship played in the thought of Plato and Aristotle, the book explores the possibilities for theorising friendship in modern times through an examination of three seminal thinkers: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche and Schmitt. Each of these thinkers entertains the potential of friendship – but their thought is also illustrative of some of the dangers and limitations of theorising friendship in modernity. The book concludes by arguing that friendship and the political are aspects of the same concern. This suggests a plural politics based around a recognition of a shared world of order and value.


Based on our earlier theoretical investigation, p-type C:Si codoped AlN crystals were grown on SiC substrates by a sublimation method in a improved growth reactor. Hall-effect measurement shows that the AlN crystals have a high hole density of 1.4×1014 cm-3 and mobility of 52 cm2V-1s-1 in spite of the high resistivity (896 Ω•cm). In the AlN samples, Si dopants act as donors due to substituting Al atoms, and most of C dopants act as acceptors for replacing N atoms. It is also observed that the activation energy of C acceptors in C:Si codoped AlN is reduced by codoping Si donors, which agrees with the computational results.


This study investigated the influence of several factors on the redistribution of extraneous textile fibres on garments during machine washing. Cotton T-shirts were seeded with known numbers of acrylic, wool and viscose target fibres in controlled positions and laundered in top- and front-loading machines, both individually and accompanied by undergarments. The persistence of target fibres was low (generally <10%), but never zero. Between 50% and 100% of recovered fibres were redistributed away from the primary contact area. A secondary transfer of target fibres always occurred to at least one undergarment, 90% of experiments resulting in fibres transferred to the inside surface of the undergarments. This implies that whilst valuable fibre evidence may be recovered from garments after machine washing, the location of recovered fibres should not be relied upon to corroborate alleged scenarios when it is known or suspected that the garment under investigation has been laundered.


The data science technologies of artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), big data and behavioral/predictive analytics, and blockchain are poised to revolutionize government and create a new generation of GovTech start-ups. The impact from the 'smartification' of public services and the national infrastructure will be much more significant in comparison to any other sector given government's function and importance to every institution and individual. Potential GovTech systems include Chatbots and intelligent assistants for public engagement, Robo-advisors to support civil servants, real-time management of the national infrastructure using IoT and blockchain, automated compliance/regulation, public records securely stored in blockchain distributed ledgers, online judicial and dispute resolution systems, and laws/statutes encoded as blockchain smart contracts. Government is potentially the major 'client' and also 'public champion' for these new data technologies. This review paper uses our simple taxonomy of government services to provide an overview of data science automation being deployed by governments world-wide. The goal of this review paper is to encourage the Computer Science community to engage with government to develop these new systems to transform public services and support the work of civil servants.


The Aim of the Study: This study aims to determine the effect of individualized home-based exercise on the quality of life post-Intensive Care Unit (ICU) discharge. Subjects: Adult patients invasively mechanically ventilated for more than 48 h in medical ICU. Methodology: Thirty-five patients were enrolled prospectively in this study. They were interviewed to complete short form 36 (SF-36) version 2 questionnaire and were randomly allocated to control and experimental group by block randomization. The experimental group received individualized exercise information sheet and control group was asked to continue routine exercises done during their hospital stay. The experimental group also received a log book and weekly telephonic reminders. Patients were interviewed to complete the SF-36 through the telephone 4 weeks after hospital discharge. Results: Physical and mental components of the quality of life as measured by the SF-36 at the end of 4 weeks after hospital discharge showed a statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) in the experimental group. Conclusion: A well-structured individualized exercise program improves the quality of life of critically ill patients after discharge.


With more and more use of nursery facilities for small children there is growing concern about a possible increase in serious infections, from Hib meningitis to hepatitis. The second chapter, Infections in DayCare Centres, complements the epidemiological part of the first, and gives a useful summary of what we do and do not know about the risks involved and what can be done to minimise them. Two scholarly reviews-of antiviral treatment and of perinatal enteroviral infections-are followed by four articles taking a practical approach to the subjects they cover. There are reviews of the management of pulmonary infections in the immunocompromised child, of childhood tuberculosis, and of urinary tract infections. This last, while usefully practical in microbiological matters and commendably free of dogma in discussion of the management of reflux, disappointingly omits any appraisal of different imaging techniques and their different indications in practice. Finally, Sixby's chapter, Routine Immunisations and the Immunosuppressed Child, is a tour de force. Extensively referenced, to 203 sources, this is a highly readable and very useful summary of important information for all those helping to care for these children. As part of an add-on series keeping infectious diseases in the forefront of paediatricians' minds, this collection well deserves the attention of the wide audience to whom it is addressed.


acceptance in the area of spectrum estimation. This paper presents a successful attempt at testing and evaluating the performance of two of the most popular types of subspace techniques in determining the parameters of multiexponential signals with real decay constants buried in noise. In particular, MUSIC (Multiple Signal Classification) and minimum-norm techniques are examined. It is shown that these methods perform almost equally well on multiexponential signals with MUSIC displaying better defined peaks.


At present the flat plunge pool and inverted-arch plunge pool are usual plunge pool shape styles in high dam construction. we improve the plunge pool shape according to the study of special flow pattern in the plunge pool and the plunge pool scour mechanism, the high-speed submerged jet diffusion rule in plunge pool, impingement pressure variation rules with the jet flow route changment and some other hydraulic factors, combining with a series of scour experimental results. We analyze the specific situations in the transverse profile and longitudinal profile of the plunge pool respectively and then make corresponding changes. The creative longitudinal profile curve of the inverted-arch plunge pool make a double inverted-arch plunge pool, which makes the hydrodynamic elements and the structure of the plunge pool are in a harmonious state ensuring the safe operation of the plunge pool.


Since 1972, there has been an increased incidence of meningococcal disease due to the minor serologic groups, "serogroups," of Neisseria meningitidis. Few cases, however, have been reported in pediatric patients. We present 24 cases of meningococcal meningitis, ten of them (42%) due to serogroups X, Y, and Z N meningitidis. We believe these cases to be the largest group of pediatric patients with such meningitis thus far reported. The clinical disease produced by the minor serogroups was indistinguishable from that produced by the major serogroups. Our experience supports previous published reports that severe meningococcal disease does occur with the minor serogroups of N meningitidis, and this increasing incidence may be of major importance if vaccination programs are to be effective in controlling epidemic meningococcal disease.


Abstract : The downtime of a large industrial operation is often prohibitively expensive and a failure of a mission critical system could have disastrous consequences. Lacking an effective approach to mitigate the risks in system upgrades or to introduce third party supplied open system components, many industrial systems and defense systems are forced to keep outdated computing hardware and software. A paradigm shift is needed, from a focus on enabling technologies for completely new installations to one which is designed to mitigate the risk and cost of bringing new technology into functioning systems. Innovative technology is needed to support the task of technology insertion. Quickly and reliably turning unparalleled American innovations into industrial competitiveness and defense technological superiority is of strategic importance. The Simplex architecture has been developed to support safe and reliable online upgrade of hardware and software components in spite of errors in the new modules. This paper gives a brief overview of the underlying technologies.


Ribonucleic acid (RNA) polymerases are responsible for the transcription of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) into RNA. The number of protein subunits making up these enzymes has increased during evolution from 5 in Eubacteria to 12 in the common ancestor of Archaea and eukaryotes. Eukaryotes have three RNA polymerases, each transcribing a particular subset of genes. RNA polymerase I transcribes ribosomal RNA genes, RNA polymerase II transcribes messenger RNA genes and RNA polymerase III transcribes 5S and transfer RNA genes. Although RNA polymerase II is still made up of 12 subunits, the number of subunits has increased to 14 in RNA polymerase I and to 17 in RNA polymerase III. These new subunits originated from the permanent recruitment of pre-existing general transcription factors. Interestingly, the evolution of the three eukaryotic RNA polymerases has been affected not only by adaptive forces but also by the nonadaptive forces due to the concerted evolution of the genes they transcribe.

Key Concepts:

The larger numbers of protein subunits found in RNA polymerases I and III, relative to RNA polymerase II, are due to the permanent recruitment of general transcription factors.

The three universal eukaryotic RNA polymerases have specific functional differences near their respective active sites.

During evolution, the three eukaryotic RNA polymerase have been selected to better perform their specific tasks.

The rate of evolution of RNA polymerases is proportional to the amount of homogenisation (concerted evolution) experienced by the genes they transcribe.

Nonadaptive processes therefore also affect the rate of evolution of RNA polymerase genes.

Keywords:

RNA polymerase;
general transcription factors;
eukaryotic;
evolution;
concerted evolution;
functional divergence;
transcription;
gene conversion;
unequal crossingover


Interpretations of Beowulf brings together over six decades of literary scholarship. Illustrating a variety of interpretative schools, the essays not only deal with most of the major issues of Beowulf criticism, including structure, style, genre, and theme, but also offer the sort of explanations of particular passages that are invaluable to a careful reading of a poem. This up-to-date collection of significant critical approaches fills a long-standing need for a companion volume for the study of the poem. Larger patterns in the history of Beowulf criticism are also traceable in the chronological order of the collection. The contributors are Theodore M. Andersson, Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur, Jane Chance, Laurence N. de Looze, Margaret E. Goldsmith, Stanley B. Greenfield, Joseph Harris, Edward B. Irving, Jr., John Leyerle, Francis P. Magoun, Jr., M. B. McNamee, S. J., Bertha S. Phillpotts, John C. Pope, Richard N. Ringler, Geoffrey R. Russom, T. A. Shippey, and J. R. R. Tolkien.


110 years of tide gauge records compiled, referenced and made available by PSMSL are analysed. We estimate sea level change at coasts and in the ocean interior by projecting the historic measurements onto global structure functions. Typically these are derived from EOF's based on 20 years of satellite altimetry. Several approaches are tested and compared, including filling of data gaps in the PSMSL resords by neural network techniques. This way we include coherence in measured sea level change in our estimate.
Results from different methods are analysed and compared to previous studies. Error levels are estimated. Our present best estimate for the global sea level rise since 1900 is 1.65 mm per year. Regionally the trend varies significantly and can be much higher. Maxima and minima are found in the Indian Ocean.


The distribution of diatoms, radiolarians, planktonic and benthic foraminifers, and sediment components in the fraction >0.125 mm was analyzed in the core obtained from the central Sea of Okhotsk within the frameworks of the Russian-German KOMEX project. The core section characterizes the period 190–350 ka, which corresponds to marine-isotopic stages (MIS) 7 to 10. During glacial MIS 10 and MIS 8, the basin accumulated terrigenous material lacking microfossils or containing them in low abundance, which reflects, along with their composition, heavy sea-ice conditions, suppressed bioproductivity, and bottom environments aggressive toward calcium carbonate. Interglacial MIS 9 was characterized by elevated bioproductivity with accumulation of diatomaceous ooze during the climatic optimum (328 to 320 ka). The water exchange with the Pacific was maximal from 328 to 324 ka ago. Environments became moderate and close to the present-day ones at the end of the optimum exhibiting the possible existence of a dichothermal layer with substantial amounts of the surface Pacific water still flowing into the basin. Similar to interglacial MIS 5e and MIS 1, the "old" Pacific water determined near-bottom environments in the central Sea of Okhotsk during that period, although the influx of terrigenous material was higher, probably reflecting a more humid climate of the region. Slight warming marked the terminal MIS 8 (approximately 260 ka ago). The paleoceanographic situation during interglacial MIS 7 was highly variable: from warm-water to almost glacial. The main climatic optimum of MIS 7 occurred within 220–210 ka, when the subsurface stratification increased and the dichothermal layer developed. Bottom environments during the studied time interval, except for the optimum of interglacial MIS 9, resembled those characteristic of glacial periods: the actively formed "young" Okhotsk water displaced the "old" Pacific deep water.


Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major problem for thalassaemia patients, as blood transfusions before 1990 were associated with a high risk of HCV infection. Given the high prevalence of co-morbidities, thalassaemia patients are at an increased risk for dying from end-stage liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV treatment in thalassaemia patients was challenging in the interferon-alfa (IFN) era not only due to its unfavourable safety and tolerability profile but due to necessary combined use of ribavirin (RBV) and the subsequent haemolysis and increased need for blood transfusions. The introduction of the current direct acting antivirals (DAAs), which can be used in IFNfree and RBV-free regimens, has dramatically improved the management of all HCV patients including those with thalassaemia. Currently, depending on HCV genotype and availability in each country, the main available DAAs combinations are the co-formulation of sofosbuvir with ledipasvir (nucleotide analogue NS5B polymerase inhibitor/NS5A inhibitor, one tablet of 400/90 mg once daily),, the co-formulation of paritaprevir boosted by ritonavir with ombitasvir (NS3/4 protease inhibitor/ritonavir/NS5A inhibitor, two tablets of 75/50/12.5 mg once daily) perhaps with addition of dasabuvir (non-nucleos(t)ide analogue NS5B polymerase inhibitor, one tablet of 250 mg twice daily), the co-formulation of grazoprevir with elbasvir (NS3/4 protease inhibitor/NS5A inhibitor, one tablet of 100/50 mg once daily) and the co-formulation of sofosbuvir with velpatasvir (nucleotide analogue NS5B polymerase inhibitor/NS5A inhibitor, one tablet of 400/100 mg once daily). In 2017, the co-formulation of glecaprevir with pibrentasvir (NS3/4 protease inhibitor/NS5A inhibitor, three tablets of 100/40 mg once daily) and the co-formulation of sofosbuvir with velpatasvir and voxilaprevir (nucleotide analogue NS5B polymerase inhibitor/NS5A inhibitor/ NS3/4 protease inhibitor, one tablet of 400/100/100 mg once daily) were also approved and started to be used in some countries. According to all international current guidelines, thalassaemia patients do not represent a special group for the current HCV treatment and can be treated with the same indications and regimens used for patients without haemoglobinopathies. However, in countries which still prioritize the use of DAAs according to the severity of liver disease, thalassaemia patients are often excluded from such prioritization and have access to DAAs therapy regardless of their fibrosis severity. Moreover, all guidelines recommend that thalassaemia patients should be preferentially treated not only with IFN-free but RBV-free DAAs regimens too. In a proper clinical trial, only a 12-week regimen of grazoprevir/ elbasvir has been evaluated and proven to be highly efficacious and well tolerated among patients with inherited blood disorders and HCV genotype 1 or 4 infection. In addition, different DAAs regimens have been reported to be safe and effective for the treatment of HCV thalassaemia patiens in clinical practice. Given the availability of the current effective and safe DAAs and the frequent follow-up of thalassaemia patients in a few specific units, such patients could be a targeted population for "HCV micro-elimination" on the road towards the global HCV elimination in each country.


Long Valley caldera lies within a left-stepping offset in the north-northwest-striking Sierra Nevada range-front normal faults with the Hilton Creek fault to the south and Hartley Springs fault to the north. Both Uniform California Earthquake Rupture Forecast (UCERF) 2 and its update, UCERF3, depict slip on these major range-front normal faults as extending well into the caldera, with significant normal slip on overlapping, subparallel segments separated by ∼10  km. This depiction is countered by (1) geologic evidence that normal faulting within the caldera consists of a series of graben structures associated with postcaldera magmatism (intrusion and tumescence) and not systematic down-to-the-east displacements consistent with distributed range-front faulting and (2) the lack of kinematic evidence for an evolving, postcaldera relay ramp structure between overlapping strands of the two range-front normal faults. The modifications to the UCERF depiction described here reduce the predicted shaking intensity within the caldera, and they are in accord with the tectonic influence that underlapped offset range-front faults have on seismicity patterns within the caldera associated with ongoing volcanic unrest.


I. Introduction The emphasis on the concept of 'economic man' for a long period of time has led to important outcomes each of which has serious welfare implications. First, there has been a relentless glorification of the principle of pursuit of self‐interest. It is only now that all the negative spillover effects of our wealth creating and consuming activities are being acknowledged and evaluated. Since most of these costs are costs to society rather than to a particular individual, these costs do not play any role in our production or consumption decisions. As a result, quality of life has not improved as much as the recent rise in per capita real income suggests. Second, for a long time welfare has been treated as a monotonically increasing function of the amounts of goods and services consumed. There has been a total disregard for the fact that at a given point in time an individual can afford only a fraction of the total amount of goods and services available in the society. This explains at least in part why even in the most affluent societies people are no happier today than they were in the past. And third, although the idea of interdependent welfare is not new in economics as evidenced by relative income hypothesis which shows that present consumption and hence welfare is also a function of one's past consumption and consumption of others in the society, economic analysis by and large has been carried out on the assumption of independence. Feelings like envy, jealousy, and avarice are real and powerful and play an important role in the way people perceive their welfare. Just because they cannot be conveniently incorporated in simple analytical model is a poor excuse for neglecting them.


BACKGROUND
Neuropathological data are very scarce in systemic sclerosis and fail to demonstrate primary changes in the brains of such patients.

CASE DESCRIPTIONS
A 41-year-old woman with CREST syndrome developed signs of dementia after an episode of severe dehydration and died two months later of septic shock. A 63-year-old woman with CREST syndrome and a history of two unexplained transient ischemic attacks had had balance disorders since age 62. She died of severe pulmonary hypertension. In both cases, the autopsy showed extensive wall calcification of small arteries and arterioles in the brain, primarily in the basal ganglia, and also in the frontal lobes and the cerebellar area in the second case. No known cause of cerebrovascular calcification was found in either patient.

CONCLUSION
The neuropathological findings in these two patients suggest that systemic sclerosis may induce primary vascular changes in the brain, of which calcification may be a marker.


Motivation is the main force through which individuals allocate effort to generate and implement innovative ideas. However, employees are only motivated to go beyond their designated role and get involved in spontaneous and innovative activities if they have a strong identification with the organization. Organizational culture plays a critical role in motivating innovative behaviour, as it can create commitment among members of an organization in terms of believing in innovation as an organizational value and accepting innovation-related norms prevalent within the organization. The research this paper reports on addresses the motivational aspects of the relationship between culture and innovation in construction firms. Specifically, it focuses on those managerial actions through which the importance of innovation may be communicated and innovation-related behaviour may be induced and reinforced. An in-depth case study investigating the innovation activities of a Swiss contractor revealed that project constraints and regional separation may diminish the motivational effects of managerial actions in construction firms. It is concluded that a culture that motivates new solutions and innovative improvements in particular first of all prevents ideas from getting lost in daily business and within the organization. Giving immediate feedback, providing communication channels for implicit knowledge, allowing for autonomous work and task identity, initiating innovation projects and using a comprehensive reward and incentive system are appropriate managerial actions in this regard.


The current model for cancer development envisions cells under going a series of genetic mutations and/or alterations which result in their inability to respond normally to intracellular and extracellular signals that control proliferation, differentiation and death. The number of required genetic alterations varies for different types of cancer and it is likely that further changes occur during its progression to increased malignancy. Thus, cancer is not a static disease but during the development and progression of tumour, multiple changes occur in two kinds of genes: oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes. Oncogene-products can be classified as growth factors, growth factor receptors, Ras oncoproteins, cytoplasmic protein kinases, transcription factors, anti-apoptotic proteins. In particular, the ras oncogene family includes three members: N-ras, K-ras, H-ras. In non-transformed cells, Ras protein, belonging to G-protein family, transduces growth signals from external to the internal environment. In fact, when activated, Ras exchanges GDP with GTP and this allosteric change allows binding of Ras effector molecules and transduction of signalling cascades.R as activity is required for cell cycle progression. In cancer it has been observed that this oncogene is constitutively activated by mutations and induces the cell to enter into cell-cycle also in the absence of growth signals. Among the transcription factors, a gene involved in many tumours is myc. This transcription factor plays a key role in cell proliferation as its target proteins include many positive regulators of the cell-cycle. In tumour cells the protein product of this oncogene is overexpressed. The cooperationb etweenm ultiple oncogenesa nd/orl oss of tumour suppressors from different functional classes is necessary for transformation to proceed. In fact, it was observed that, although overexpression of a single oncogene does not transform wild-type mouse embryonic fibroblasts, combinations of myc and H-rasVAL12, can induce cellular transformation and the cells expressing both oncogenes displayeda markedp roliferative advantage. In thyroid, neoplastic transformation generates several different histotypes of tumours, ranging from poorly aggressive and well-differentiated, to highly malignant and undifferentiated anaplastic cancers. The aim of my thesis was to study the tumorigenesis induced by oncogenes and the oncogene cooperation in vivo during the gradual passage from a poorly aggressive to a much more aggressive tumour. To this end a mouse model expressing the two oncogenes H-rasVAL12 and c-myc (referred as ras and myc) in a tissue-specific as well as in a conditional manner was generated. For this purpose, the coding sequences of the two oncogenes were fused in a bicistronic construct and an IRES (Internal Ribosome Entry Sequence or Site) was inserted between them, to ensure the expression of the second oncogene. The construct was inserted under the control of the promoter of the ubiquitously expressed genes ROSA26 and Eeflal. In order to express these oncogenes in a tissue-specific manner, the transcription of the two oncogenesis preventedb y a STOP sequencef lanked by two LoxP sites. Such a STOP sequence can be removed by Cre recombinase protein. The transgenic mice were crossed with mice expressing Cre in a tissue-specific manner. Two strains of transgenic mice expressing Cre in thyroid cells were used: 1. transgenic mice for TgCre, in which Cre is expressed under the control of Tg promoter after the development of the thyroid; 2. Pax8Cre, in which the Cre sequence is inserted in the Pax8 locus and is expressed during the early stages of the thyroid development. In such a manner the oncogenes were expressed only in thyroid cells, but were still inactive. In particular, ras was fused to the mutated ligand binding domain of the estradiol receptor that is sensitive to tamoxifen and not to endogenous estradiol; while mycwas fused to the mutated ligand binding domain of the progesterone receptor (hPR891) that is sensitive to RU486 and not to endogenous progesterone. With thesef usedo ncogeneist is possible to activate only Ras( with tamoxifen) or only Myc (with RU486) or both (providing both tamoxifen and RU486). Moreover the activity of two oncogenes might be used to immortalize mouse cell lines in culture.


Cas12 inhibitors join the anti-CRISPR family Bacteria and their phages continually coevolve in a molecular arms race. For example, phages use anti-CRISPR proteins to inhibit the bacterial type I and II CRISPR systems (see the Perspective by Koonin and Makarova). Watters et al. and Marino et al. used bioinformatic and experimental approaches to identify inhibitors of type V CRISPR-Cas12a. Cas12a has been successfully engineered for gene editing and nucleic acid detection. Some of the anti-Cas12a proteins identified in these studies had broad-spectrum inhibitory effects on Cas12a orthologs and could block Cas12a-mediated genome editing in human cells. Science, this issue p. 236, p. 240; see also p. 156 CRISPR-Cas12a inhibitors that block gene editing in human cells are identified. Cas12a (Cpf1) is a CRISPR-associated nuclease with broad utility for synthetic genome engineering, agricultural genomics, and biomedical applications. Although bacteria harboring CRISPR-Cas9 or CRISPR-Cas3 adaptive immune systems sometimes acquire mobile genetic elements encoding anti-CRISPR proteins that inhibit Cas9, Cas3, or the DNA-binding Cascade complex, no such inhibitors have been found for CRISPR-Cas12a. Here we use a comprehensive bioinformatic and experimental screening approach to identify three different inhibitors that block or diminish CRISPR-Cas12a–mediated genome editing in human cells. We also find a widespread connection between CRISPR self-targeting and inhibitor prevalence in prokaryotic genomes, suggesting a straightforward path to the discovery of many more anti-CRISPRs from the microbial world.


Accurate stellar ages are essential for our understanding of the star formation history of the Milky Way, Galactic chemical evolution, and to constrain exoplanet formation models. Gyrochronology, an empirical relationship between stellar rotation and age, appears to be a reliable age indicator for main sequence stars over the mass range 0.6 to 1.0 M . Under the assumption that wide binaries contain two coeval stars, we selected pairs from the Kepler, K2, and TESS surveys in order to evaluate three Gyrochronology models (Barnes 2007; Angus et al. 2015; Mamajek & Hillenbrand 2008). In this first paper in a planned series, we describe a Monte Carlo approach to assess the precision and accuracy of age derived from these models. We use this technique to demonstrate that current gyrochronology models achieve ∼25 % precision in ages when σP /P = 0.1 and σB−V = 0.02. We also outline ways to improve this to ∼10 %. Corresponding author: Tomomi Otani firstname.lastname@example.com


In our previous studies, photobiomodulation  (PBM) stimulation can  induce significant brain activation in normal subjects. In an open-eye study, the PBM stimulation was able to increase the power of alpha rhythms and theta waves, as well as decrease the beta activities after PBM stimulation. However, in the closed eyes study, the alpha rhythms in the laser group were reduced. This means the PBM stimulation can induce specific brainwaves under different conditions. Thus, to investigate the effects of PBM stimulation on human's attention, forty students were recruited in this single-blind randomized trial. A PBM stimulator, with seven pcs laser diodes (LDs), frequency 10 Hz, 30 mW/each LD, and wavelength 830 nm, was used to radiate  the palm of  the subject. PBM stimulation was found to induce significant variation in beta activity in most of the regions of the brain  in  the  laser group. Compared  to  the placebo group,  the PBM stimulation has a significant change in beta activity on electroencephalography (EEG). Three types of tests, the random number test, the Stroop color-word test, and the Multiple-Dimension Attention Test (MDAT), were used to evaluate the effects of the PBM stimulation. The scores of MDAT in the laser group increased more significantly than those in the placebo group after PBM stimulation (p < 0.01). An improvement in attention was observed in this study.


Personality disorders (PDs) are common, chronic, mental health problems. The majority of treatment outcome research, which has focused specifically on Borderline PD, has provided substantial empirical support for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT; Linehan, 1993), particularly in terms of self-harm reduction. Nevertheless, DBT graduates can continue to experience poor personality functioning across PD diagnostic categories, Axis I disorders, and restricted lives. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT; Hayes, Strosahl, & Wilson, 1999), might be suitable as a follow-up intervention for DBT graduates, to address their continued difficulties: to date, however, there has been little empirical investigation of its utility in relation to PD. This thesis was therefore designed to examine theoretical underpinnings of ACT relevant to the development of an ACT intervention for DBT graduates. Study 1 tested the performance of a new self-report measure of cognitive fusion (CF), the Cognitive Fusion Questionnaire (CFQ), with a mental health sample, including individuals with PD. CF is a key ACT concept, and the CFQ proved to be a psychometrically sound measure of CF with people with mental health problems. Study 2 used cross-sectional modelling to show that CF fully mediated the relationships between two PD risk factors, negative affectivity and childhood trauma, and personality functioning in adulthood. Study 3 used the CFQ to investigate the behavioural correlates of CF. These findings strengthened the possibility that an ACT-based intervention might prove effective in improving outcomes for DBT graduates. To explore this further, Studies 4 and 5 were designed as very small-scale uncontrolled treatment development trials for this population. Study 4 suggested that ACT had a positive impact on engagement in life, but produced little improvement in psychiatric symptomology. Study 5 tested a revised protocol, which yielded more consistently positive findings, with improvements in both engagement in life and psychiatric symptoms. These findings tentatively suggest that ACT may have a role to play as a DBT follow-up intervention.


Background: Fructose providing excess calories in the form of sugar sweetened beverages (SSBs) increases markers of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Whether this effect holds for other important food sources of fructose-containing sugars is unclear. To investigate the role of food source and energy, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled trials of the effect of fructose-containing sugars by food source at different levels of energy control on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) markers. Methods and Findings: MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched through 7 January 2022 for controlled trials ≥7-days. Four trial designs were prespecified: substitution (energy-matched substitution of sugars for other macronutrients); addition (excess energy from sugars added to diets); subtraction (excess energy from sugars subtracted from diets); and ad libitum (energy from sugars freely replaced by other macronutrients). The primary outcome was intrahepatocellular lipid (IHCL). Secondary outcomes were alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST). Independent reviewers extracted data and assessed risk of bias. The certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. We included 51 trials (75 trial comparisons, n = 2059) of 10 food sources (sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs); sweetened dairy alternative; 100% fruit juice; fruit; dried fruit; mixed fruit sources; sweets and desserts; added nutritive sweetener; honey; and mixed sources (with SSBs)) in predominantly healthy mixed weight or overweight/obese younger adults. Total fructose-containing sugars increased IHCL (standardized mean difference = 1.72 [95% CI, 1.08 to 2.36], p < 0.001) in addition trials and decreased AST in subtraction trials with no effect on any outcome in substitution or ad libitum trials. There was evidence of influence by food source with SSBs increasing IHCL and ALT in addition trials and mixed sources (with SSBs) decreasing AST in subtraction trials. The certainty of evidence was high for the effect on IHCL and moderate for the effect on ALT for SSBs in addition trials, low for the effect on AST for the removal of energy from mixed sources (with SSBs) in subtraction trials, and generally low to moderate for all other comparisons. Conclusions: Energy control and food source appear to mediate the effect of fructose-containing sugars on NAFLD markers. The evidence provides a good indication that the addition of excess energy from SSBs leads to large increases in liver fat and small important increases in ALT while there is less of an indication that the removal of energy from mixed sources (with SSBs) leads to moderate reductions in AST. Varying uncertainty remains for the lack of effect of other important food sources of fructose-containing sugars at different levels of energy control.


Bats in temperate and subtropical regions typically synchronize birth of a single young with peaks in resource availability driven by local climate patterns. In tropical rain forest, insects are available throughout the year, potentially allowing departures from seasonal monoestry. However, reproductive energy budgets may be constrained by the cost of commuting to foraging grounds from distant roosts. To test these hypotheses, we simultaneously tracked female reproductive activity of 11 insectivorous bat species, insect biomass, and local weather variables for 20 months in a Malaysian rain forest. Five species roost in forest structures and hence have low commuting costs, whereas six species depend on caves, which are limited in the landscape, and are presumed to incur higher commuting costs to foraging sites. Monthly insect biomass was positively correlated with monthly rainfall, and there was a significant relationship between insect biomass and lactation in cave‐roosting but not forest‐roosting species. Cave‐roosting species were seasonally monoestrus, with parturition confined to a two‐month period, whereas in forest‐roosting species, pregnancy and lactation were recorded throughout the year. Our results suggest that the energetic costs of commuting from roosts to foraging grounds shape annual reproductive patterns in tropical rain forest insectivorous bats. Ongoing changes in forest landscapes are likely to increase these costs for cave‐roosting bats, further restricting reproductive opportunities. Climate change is projected to influence the timing of rainfall events in many tropical habitats, which may disrupt relationships between rainfall, insect biomass, and bat reproductive timing, further compromising reproductive success.


obviously a matter of fine judgement ... Why did the Cubist painters react so strongly against the idea of painting as an illusion? .. the evidence of our eyes is that Cubist paintings give us a great deal less information about objects than conventional paintings do .... But painting is a visual medium, and even if a painter thinks he knows what lies behind what we see, he has to convince us visually." Lambert is obviously taking a narrow point of view from which to judge others, deciding 'right' and 'wrong'. Starting from her premise that a painting's purpose is to transmit information about visual appearance, it is difficult to see how anyone could understand the art of this century. It is no wonder Lambert states that the precise purpose of this experiment is unclear and that it gave "to all artists the freedom, and the insecurity, of painting without rules." If by "rules" she means the conventions of a style, then every style, including Cubism, has its own conventions. If she refers to the basic principles of design, composition, color, etc., then these are as evident in modern painting as in that of the past. In either case, whatever rules exist are there to be used or not by the artist as he or she sees fit. Truly creative artists have changed the rules or created new ones to suit their purposes. Lambert's facts are not always reliable. Her statement that op art (a movement of the 1960s) "led to Kinetic Art, where the work had moveable parts which were set in motion either by air currents or machinery" is contradicted in her next paragraph about Calder who "from 1932onwards ... suspended his amoeba-like shapes so that they moved in a draught of air." There are a few factual or typographical errors in the "Notes on Artists": that Salvador Dali lived in America 1904-55 should read 1940-48. Marcel Duchamp's date of death should read 1968, not 1908, and Piet Mondrian died in 1944, not 1974. One expects more from the Cambridge University Press.


The thermodynamics of sorption of pure substances and of mixtures from the vapour or the liquid phase on sorbents of different types are discussed. The stoichiometric theory of adsorption and the osmotic theory (based on the vacancy solution model) are analysed in detail, as well as the most recent advances in the theory of volume filling of micropores. The following problems are examined: the validation of the model, and of the choice of components of the sorption solution, the methods of calculating the appropriate activity coefficients, the internal thermodynamic consistency of data on adsorption from the vapour and the liquid phase, and the prediction of equilibrium adsorption characteristics from the smallest possible amount of experimental data. Capillary phenomena are examined from the standpoint of maximising the information on the pore structure of the adsorbent. 80 references.


Latin America is one of the world's most digitally connected regions, and also its most violent. Some governments and civil societies are evolving innovative and dynamic approaches to address the challenges of violence by taking advantage of expanding connectivity. New information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being mobilized to strengthen the voice and capabilities of citizens and institutions to promote safety and security. Public and private actors are designing and applying innovative digital platforms and analytical tools to map insecurity online and off. This article reviews the emerging character and shape of digitally enhanced violence prevention in Latin America, drawing primarily on the cases of Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. It presents insights on the wider outcomes and drawbacks of these activities, and sets out some lessons learned and recommendations for future action.


During the past decade or more the American remake has increasingly characterized Hollywood's relationship with the French cinema, as films ranging from classics like A Bout de Souffle (Breathless) to contemporary comedies like Trois Hommes et un Couffin (Three Men and a Baby) and La Cage aux Folles (Birdcage) are adapted for US screens. In this comparative, interdisciplinary study Carolyn Durham shows how the remake phenomenon reveals striking differences not just in film theory but also epitomizes larger issues of competition, political and economic tensions, and social, gender, and aesthetic constructs. Durham establishes the metaphor of Euro Disney, which American investors envisioned as the quintessential transcultural entertainment but many French denounced as "a cultural Chernobyl," and then applies it to a close analysis of the films, showing how significant changes between original and remake further our understanding of national identity in both countries. France's belief in its own cultural superiority, she writes, leads to a perceived duty to "disseminate French culture worldwide in the guise of civilisation itself," an attitude that clashes with Hollywood's filmmaking hegemony and its "openness to new ideas, including the foreign." While the central concern is the meaning of cross-cultural differences, this engaging and incisive book also outlines an ongoing battle between a nation convinced of its aesthetic and cultural patrimony and an American industry driven by its own sense of global destiny.


The Supreme Court has long held that a police officer's reasonable mistake of fact may give rise to a lawful search or seizure under the Fourth Amendment. But where an officer acts upon a reasonable mistake of law, lower courts have differed on whether the corresponding search or seizure encroaches upon constitutional rights. Last Term, in Heien v. North Carolina, the Supreme Court held that a police officer's reasonable mistake of law may give rise to the reasonable suspicion needed to justify a traffic stop under the Fourth Amendment. Mindful that an open-ended "reasonableness" test might sow confusion — or worse, abuse — both the majority and concurrence sought to cabin the reasonable-mistake-of-law test with additional qualifiers. Such qualifiers allay some but not all concerns over what the Heien test means for judicial administrability and police discretion.


Acoustic velocity, measured using time of flight tools, provides a nondestructive measure of wood stiffness in standing trees. In order to assess how best to assess a stand of trees to a given level of precision, acoustic velocity was measured across three sites in New South Wales, Australia. All sites had similar climatic conditions and had had the same silviculture but different establishment dates. Analysis of variance and regression analysis were used to determine the components of variation and relationships between acoustic velocity, diameter at breast height, and age. The variation within a stand was greatest between trees, followed by that between sides within trees, between plots, and within each side of a tree. There was a significant positive relationship between acoustic velocity squared and age, but little relationship between acoustic velocity squared and diameter at breast height. An optimal sampling strategy was developed that involved sampling four plots per stand, each plot containing 12 trees, and acoustic velocity measurements being taken four times on each of the two sides of the trees being sampled. With this strategy the mean acoustic velocity squared of a stand can be estimated to within at least ±10% of the mean.


The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had, and continues to have, a stark economic impact/aftermath on all sectors of life, particularly the health and business sector. Businesses across the globe were compelled to shut down and drastically reduce operations. The impact of commercial transactions coming to a halt resulted in changes that have affected commercial transactions and consumer behaviour. Reported sharp declines in businesses across the globe are unprecedented. At challenging times like this, information technology can come to the rescue to shape world trade and the future economy. Technological mechanisms, such as blockchain smart contracts, can be implemented to avoid economic uncertainty since physical contacts in contract formation and execution are almost impossible during a pandemic. Smart contracts are automation applications that run on blockchain platforms to digitally accelerate the authentication, control, or performance of contract agreements. It is faster, cheaper, accurate and provides a secure environment in multiple fields, from financial services, healthcare, voting and energy resources. This article adopts a doctrinal approach. It highlights the role and convergence of technology, law and commercial transactions under COVID-19 and beyond. It explores the benefits of smart contracts and canvasses for legal measures to regulate/supervise blockchain technology in Nigeria effectively.
The Google Android case, digital markets, Turkish competition law, Russian competition law, Indian competition law


Focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM), where a scanning laser focused through a sapphire window measures real-time reflected chord distributions without solids dilution, is attractive for characterizing flocculation performance. An enhanced measurement principle in new FBRM instruments has implications for flocculation studies, demonstrated using hematite in synthetic Bayer liquor. Comparisons of previous (M500) and new (G400) instruments were complicated by the impact of their different physical dimensions upon flocculation hydrodynamics, but the G400 clearly measured larger chords. The original measurement principle based on a reflected intensity threshold counts large low-density aggregates as multiple chords; in contrast, the change to "edge detection" (very low threshold) is more likely to see a single chord, an advantage for studying mineral systems (aggregates often >500 µm). The G400 also captures bimodal character in unweighted chord distributions, producing distinct peaks for aggregates and fines after suboptimal flocculation; such peaks are rarely well resolved in older FBRM. © 2013 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 251–265, 2014


We are concerned with the global well-posedness of a two-phase
flow system arising in the modelling of fluid-particle
interactions. This system consists of the Vlasov-Fokker-Planck
equation for the dispersed phase (particles) coupled to the
incompressible Euler equations for a dense phase (fluid) through
the friction forcing. Global existence of classical solutions to
the Cauchy problem in the whole space is established when initial
data is a small smooth perturbation of a constant equilibrium
state, and moreover an algebraic rate of convergence of solutions
toward equilibrium is obtained under additional conditions on
initial data. The proof is based on the macro-micro decomposition
and Kawashima's hyperbolic-parabolic dissipation argument. This
result is generalized to the periodic case, when particles are in
the torus, improving the rate of convergence to exponential.


The critical roles of entrepreneurs in creating, operating, and destroying markets, as well as their importance in driving long-term economic growth are still generally either absent from principles of economics texts or relegated to later chapters. The primary difficulties in explaining entrepreneurship at the principles level are the lack of a universally accepted definition, a plausible explanation of the demand for entrepreneurship, and a diagram that summarizes the impact of entrepreneurship on market equilibrium and growth—a definition, a story, and a picture. This article discusses how the notion of the stationary state associated with Schumpeter (1911/1983), Knight (1921/1971), and Weber (1930/2002) can provide a framework for integrating the entrepreneur into the early part of principles of economics courses.


Five of the ten patients on whom splenectomy has been performed at the Babies' Hospital show a sufficient number of points in common to warrant grouping them as examples of a familial, hemolytic type of infantile anemia which is not cured by splenectomy. The postoperative reaction is a form of marrow stimulation expressed in large numbers of normoblasts in the circulating blood. Four of the five children died. The brother of one of the patients and three others with a similar blood picture, three of whom were not operated on, have been added to the group. Thus are included two brothers in whose family three other cases were said to have occurred, a brother and sister, a boy whose family history shows one similar case and four girls without a familial history. Six of the families were Italian, and one was Greek. All of the nine children were born in


In 2018 there were 847 reported incidents of firearm theft in which 2,425 firearms were stolen. This represents a 15 percent increase in incidents and a 35 percent increase in stolen firearms since 2008–09. Most thefts targeted residential premises with an average of three firearms stolen in each incident. The largest proportion of thefts occurred in regional parts of Australia, indicating a shift from major cities as the primary site of theft incidents. The majority of stolen firearms were in firearm safes at the time of the theft.


Importance
Psychiatric disorders are common among female individuals of reproductive age. While antipsychotic medication use is increasing, the safety of such medications in pregnancy is an area with large evidence gaps.

Objective
To evaluate the risk of first-trimester antipsychotic exposure with respect to congenital malformations, focusing on individual drugs and specific malformation subtypes.

Design, Setting, and Participants
This cohort study used data from nationwide health registers from the 5 Nordic countries and the US and spanned 1996 to 2018. The Nordic cohort included all pregnancies resulting in singleton live-born infants, and the US cohort consisted of publicly insured mothers linked to their live-born infants nested in the nationwide Medicaid Analytic eXtract. Data were analyzed from November 2020 to April 2022.

Exposures
One or more first-trimester dispensing of any atypical, any typical, and individual antipsychotic drugs.

Main Outcomes and Measures
Any major congenital malformation and specific malformation subtypes previously suggested to be associated with antipsychotic exposure in utero: cardiovascular malformations, oral clefts, neural tube defects, hip dysplasia, limb reduction defects, anorectal atresia/stenosis, gastroschisis, hydrocephalus, other specific brain anomalies, and esophageal disorders. Propensity score stratification was used to control for potential confounders. Pooled adjusted estimates were calculated using indirect standardization.

Results
A total of 6 455 324 unexposed mothers (mean maternal age range across countries: 24-31 years), 21 751 mothers exposed to atypical antipsychotic drugs (mean age range, 26-31 years), and 6371 mothers exposed to typical antipsychotic drugs (mean age range, 27-32 years) were included in the study cohort. Prevalence of any major malformation was 2.7% (95% CI, 2.7%-2.8%) in unexposed infants, 4.3% (95% CI, 4.1%-4.6%) in infants with atypical antipsychotic drug exposure, and 3.1% (95% CI, 2.7%-3.5%) in infants with typical antipsychotic drug exposure in utero. Among the most prevalent exposure-outcome combinations, adjusted relative risks (aRR) were generally close to the null. One exception was olanzapine exposure and oral cleft (aRR, 2.1 [95% CI, 1.1-4.3]); however, estimates varied across sensitivity analyses. Among moderately prevalent combinations, increased risks were observed for gastroschisis and other specific brain anomalies after atypical antipsychotic exposure (aRR, 1.5 [95% CI, 0.8-2.6] and 1.9 [95% CI, 1.1-3.0]) and for cardiac malformations after chlorprothixene exposure (aRR, 1.6 [95% CI, 1.0-2.7]). While the association direction was consistent across sensitivity analyses, confidence intervals were wide, prohibiting firm conclusions.

Conclusions and Relevance
In this study, considering the evidence from primary and sensitivity analyses and inevitable statistical noise for very rare exposure-outcome combinations, in utero antipsychotic exposure generally was not meaningfully associated with an increased risk of malformations. The observed increased risks of oral clefts associated with olanzapine, gastroschisis, and other specific brain anomalies with atypical antipsychotics and cardiac malformations with chlorprothixene requires confirmation as evidence continues to accumulate.


Demand for water in Australia is increasing along with growing pressure to maximise the efficiency of irrigation water use and seek additional and alternative irrigation supplies. The scarcity of water supplies coupled with the need for urban communities to dispose of large quantities of treated recycled water from sewage treatment plants has led to increasing interest from urban and rural communities in the reticulation of this water for irrigating adjacent crop-production areas. Proposals to use recycled water inevitably lead to a complex range of issues that need to be addressed, including: • costs and benefits of supplying an additional source of water to current or new cropping systems; • optimum irrigation design and management, particularly where there are multiple sources of irrigation water; • management of overflow from on-farm water storages; and • environmental implications with regard to salinity, runoff, drainage, nitrate leaching, and environmental flows. Simulation models can capture many of the key factors and processes influencing irrigated crop production systems, and can play a useful role in exploring these issues. In this paper, we have described an approach that couples agricultural production system and economic models in a way that enables analysis of the likely benefits and risks of investing in recycled water, although the analysis is equally relevant to any assessment of the value of an additional source of irrigation water, particularly saline water. The approach has been illustrated with a case study of a mixed-crop farm in the Darling Downs region of Queensland, Australia, in which the farm-scale crop production, economic, and environmental implications of investing in recycled water were considered.


Dentate gyrus is a fundamental sub-region of the hippocampus which is directly engaged in higher memory and cognitive functions. This study was performed to describe the histological and immunohistochemical changes in dentate gyrus in experimental animals during postnatal development. Forty four male albino rats were classified into four equal groups: new born group aged one day, adult group aged 3–6 months, early senile group aged 18–20 months and late senile group aged 30–31 months. Specimens of hippocampus were processed and prepared for routine hematoxylin and eosin stains and immunohistochemical expressions of calretinin, glial fibrillary acidic protein and Ki67 (Kiel 67). Morphometric data were statistically analyzed. The present results showed significant reduction in thickness of granule cell layer of late senile group. Interestingly, the mean number of immature neurons was significantly increased in early senile group, while it was significantly reduced in late senile group. The number of mature granule cells showed marked reduction in both early and late senile groups. Furthermore, the number of astrocytes and optical density of glial fibrillary acidic protein revealed significant age-dependent increase. Measurable difference in number of calretinin positive interneurons was detected between adult and senile groups. However, mean number of Ki67 immune positive nuclei expressed significant age-dependent reduction. This study concluded that interneurons play a substantial role in modulating dentate gyrus neurogenesis which occurs throughout life and steadily decreases during aging. It is recommended to focus on the different stimuli and factors that potentiate neurogenesis to prevent or treat cognitive deficiencies associated with aging.


The urban ecosystems we inhabit provide essential ecosystem services to humans, such as air pollution removal, as well as effective means to avoid costs related to urban development, such as stormwater treatment. A better understanding of the value of ecosystem services and their spatial distribution in urban areas is vital to widespread, holistic understanding of the relationship of environmental, economic, and social conditions. As such, it should be a component of education in grades 6-12, college, and continuing education. i-Tree Landscape is a free, online model developed by the USDA Forest Service in which users can select a geography (i.e. census block) to analyze ecosystem services provided by trees, explore demographics and forest composition, and prioritize tree planting and management activities. The program has the potential to act as a valuable tool for education, research, and advocacy related to urban and community forestry by providing data sets that are both easy to access and understand. However, as it is a recent addition to the i-Tree suite of tools, knowledge of its capabilities is relatively rare among urban and community forestry practitioners, and i-Tree is virtually unknown to the general public. Supported by a grant from the USDA Forest Service, this article describes an effort to assist in the dissemination of i-Tree Landscape, and the creation of educational materials outlining the functions of i-Tree Landscape and possible applications. Based on conversations with education and urban forestry experts, we have created educational materials for in-person workshops and have begun planning for modules that will be published on the i-Tree website. These materials are designed pertaining to the needs and experiences of the various intended user groups such as students in middle school, high school, and environmentally-focused college programs, community environmental organizations, and urban forestry professionals. It is our hope that effective educational materials and dissemination will help the people most likely to benefit from i-Tree Landscape's features to feel confident navigating the program and using it to serve their particular needs. 1 Abood: i-Tree Landscape: A Case Study in Best Practices for Multiple User Groups Published by Via Sapientiae, 2018


Fibril formation of amyloid peptides is linked to a number of pathological states. The prion protein (PrP) and amyloid-β (Aβ) are two remarkable examples that are correlated with prion disorders and Alzheimer's disease, respectively. Metal complexes, such as those formed by platinum and ruthenium compounds, can act as inhibitors against peptide aggregation primarily through metal coordination. This study revealed the inhibitory effect of two peroxovanadium complexes, (NH4)[VO(O2)2(bipy)]·4H2O (1) and (NH4)[VO(O2)2(phen)]·2H2O (2), on amyloid fibril formation of PrP106-126 and Aβ1-42via site-specific oxidation of methionine residues, besides direct binding of the complexes with the peptides. Complexes 1 and 2 showed higher anti-amyloidogenic activity on PrP106-126 aggregation than on Aβ1-42, though their regulation on the cytotoxicity induced by the two peptides could not be differentiated. The action efficacy may be attributed to the different molecular structures of the vanadium complex and the peptide sequence. Results reflected that methionine oxidation may be a crucial action mode in inhibiting amyloid fibril formation. This study offers a possible application value for peroxovanadium complexes against amyloid proteins.


Policy for agricultural extension services (AES) has been revitalized during the last phases of rural development policies (2007/2013), to empower human capital in agriculture. A wider package of measures aiming at improving the supply of extension at farm level is foreseen and financial resources have been allocated in all Italian regions, to strengthen the measures. The paper aims at testing whether such a high proportion of funding match high levels of utilization of services on behalf of the farms. By assimilating farmers to consumers of AES, the analysis proposes a classification of the farms on the basis of their propensity to consume services.


Objectives: To evaluate sonographic detection of fetal head rotation during the second stage of labor and to establish a correlation with station. Methods: A group of unselected women in labor underwent serial 2D ultrasound in the second stage. Before each ultrasound examination the station and rotation of the head were clinically assessed by two expert examiners. Rotation of the head was assessed with translabial ultrasound in a transverse view of the maternal pelvis by evaluating the angle between the midline of the fetal brain and the anteroposterior diameter of the pelvis. Results: Sixty women were included in the study group with a total of 168 and a median of three ultrasound and clinical examinations performed for each fetus (range, 1–6). Spontaneous vaginal delivery occurred in 43 (72%), whereas ventouse delivery or Cesarean section were performed in 11 (18%) and six (10%) cases respectively. Rotation was hardly seen on ultrasound with station 0 or + 1 (23/51, 45%), while it was usually well identified with station + 2 and more (117/117, 100%). Rotation of ≥ 45◦ was usually found with station + 2 or less in 70/75 (93%). Rotation of < 45◦ was found with station ≥ +3 or more in 45/65 cases (69%). The 11 ventouses were all applied with rotation of < 45◦ and were all easily performed. Of six Cesarean sections, rotation was undetectable or ≥ 45◦ in one and three cases respectively. Conclusions: Sonographic detection of fetal head rotation in labor is feasible by visualizing the midline of the fetal brain and comparing it with the anteroposterior diameter of the maternal pelvis. Rotation is strongly associated with fetal station and can therefore help the assessment of labor progression in the second stage, as well the choice of operative delivery.


Three kinds of atmospheres (air, highly-pure Ar and ultra highly-pure Ar gas) with different oxygen partial pressures were applied to investigate the tensile properties and creep behavior of SiC fibers such as Hi-NicalonTM and TyrannoTM-SA. These fibers were annealed and crept at elevated temperatures ranging from1273-1773 K in such environments. After annealing at 1773 K, the room temperature tensile strengths of SiC-based fibers decreased with decreasing the oxygen partial pressure and the near stoichiometric fiber TyrannoTM-SA shows excellent strength retention. At temperatures above the 1573 K, the creep resistance of SiC fibers evaluated by bending stress relaxation (BSR) method under high oxygen partial pressure was lower than that of in low oxygen partial pressure. The microstructural features on these fibers were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).


Corrosion is the major cause of structural degradation in industrial plant and structures; the consequences of not identifying its presence and status can be severe, leading to a myriad of methods for its evaluation and monitoring. Amongst these there are a large number based on acoustic methods, and this paper concentrates on three variations involving passive monitoring with the aim of summarizing their usual area of applications and limitations. Passive monitoring involves listening to the process of corrosion itself, which usually causes acoustic emission as a result of the fracture and de-bonding of expansive corrosion products, localised yielding, or micro-crack formation. This method is applied to reinforced concrete structures, storage tank floors, and process plant whilst in service.


This volume explains recent theoretical developments in the econometric modelling of relationships between different statistical series. The statistical techniques explored analyse relationships between different variables, over time, such as the relationship between variables in a macroeconomy. Examples from Professor Terasvirta's empirical work are given. Professors Granger and Terasvirta are leading exponents of techniques of dynamic, multivariate analysis. They illustrate in this volume exploratory ways of using such techniques to provide models of nonlinear relationships between variables. This is an extension of previous work on linear relationships, and on univariate models. These developments will be of use to econometricians wishing to construct and use models of nonlinear, dynamic, multivariate relationships, such as an investment function, or a production function. Particular attention is paid to the case of a single dependent variable modelled by a few explanatory variables and the lagged dependent variable in nonlinear form. The book concentrates on stochastic series, since the existence of unexpected shocks strongly suggests that economic variables are stochastic. Granger and Terasvirta also discuss the division of these nonlinear relationships into parametric and nonparametric models.


[1] The dust activity over North Africa associated with the Saharan depression event in February 2007 is investigated by mean of spaceborne observations, ground-based measurements, and mesoscale simulation with Meso-NH. The main characteristics of the cyclone as well as the meteorological conditions during this event are described using the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The dust storm and cloud cover over North Africa is thoroughly described combining for the first time Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infra-Red Imager (SEVIRI) images for the spatiotemporal evolution and Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) and CloudSat observations for the vertical distribution. The Saharan depression formed over Algeria in the lee of the Atlas Mountains on the afternoon of 20 February in response to midlatitude trough intrusion. It migrated eastward with a speed of 11 m s−1 and reached Libya on 22 February before exiting the African continent toward the Mediterranean Sea on 23 February. The horizontal scale of the cyclone at the surface varied between 800 and 1000 km during its lifetime. On the vertical the cyclone extended over 8 km, and a potential vorticity of 2 potential vorticity units (PVU) was reported at its center at 3 km in altitude. The cyclone was characterized by a surface pressure anomaly of about 9 hPa with respect to the environment, a warm front typified at the surface by an increase in surface temperature of 5°C, and a sharp cold front characterized by a drop in surface temperature of 8°C and an increase in 10 m wind speed of 15 m s−1. The cyclone provided dynamical forcing that led to strong near-surface winds and produced a major dust storm over North Africa. The dust was transported all around the cyclone leaving a clear eye at its center and was accompanied by a deep cloud band along the northwestern edge of the cyclone. On the vertical, slanted dust layers were consistently observed during the event over North Africa. Furthermore, the dust was lofted to altitudes as high as 7 km, becoming subject to long-range transport. The model was able to reasonably reproduce the structure, lifetime, and trajectory of the cyclone. Also, comparison with Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) deep blue aerosol optical depths and CALIPSO-CloudSat observations suggests that the model can be reliably used to quantify the dust emissions associated with this event. The mean daily dust loads over the area influenced by the cyclone were simulated to range between 2 and 8 Tg during the lifetime of the Sharav cyclone (i.e., 5 days). This study suggests that dust emissions linked with Saharan cyclones may contribute significantly to the total dust load over West and North Africa observed annually.


In this investigation, an attempt is made to correlate magnetic susceptibility and nuclear magnetic resonance properties in a wide variety of metallic systems. Such an approach is adopted in order to obtain greater insight into the atomic and electronic structure of these systems. The magnetic susceptibility of several pure metals in the solid and liquid phases is presented and it is shown that in the liquid at least these can be understood in terms of free interacting conduction electrons. Thus, in these metals the spin contribution to the susceptibility (related to the Knight shift) can be confidently estimated. The measured values of the Knight shifts in these pure liquid metals are then compared with those calculated from the susceptibility and the conduction electron wave function density at the nucleus, found using a pseudopotential method. It is seen that the temperature variations of the shifts are better explained than their absolute values. In view of the greater success of the prediction of fractional changes the approach is extended to the concentration dependence of the shift upon alloying. Experimental results are presented for the 113 Cd and 119 Sn resonance shifts and the magnetic susceptibility in tin-cadmium alloys (a system chosen for its simplicity). These shifts are compared with values calculated using either the pseudopotential method or the more limited partial wave analysis.
Good agreement is found and the method of correlation is extended to less simple systems. It is used with success to separate spin and orbital contributions to the shift and susceptibility in the transition metal oxide, V0 2 , but is of more limited use in heavy metal alloys and in those suspected of liquid atomic ordering or of localised magnetic moment formation.


Background Road traffic injuries were the leading cause of injury with a mortality rate of 18.1/1,00,000/year and accounted for 38% of fatal injury deaths and 39% of nonfatal injuries during Jan 2011–Dec 2011 in Tumkur. Nearly 26% of fatal and 38% of non-fatal road traffic injuries were sustained in the age group of 15–29 years. Two wheeler riders accounted for 45% of fatal and 35.5% of nonfatal injuries. Head injury is the most common cause of death among two wheeler users. Helmet is the only vaccine to prevent head injuries. Though there was a law about compulsory wearing of helmet in the state, it was never enforced in the district and helmet usage rate in a district before campaign was varied from1% to 5%. Methods 'Helmethon', was a campaign initiated and led by a Medical college with the support of other universities. Campaign targeted the public with special focus 1. To create awareness among public about helmet safety, with special focus on youth. 2. To promote helmet usage 3. To draw stakeholder's attention towards importance of helmet safety and need for enforcement. This campaign was designed with the inputs from youth, so that more youth would be part of this. Multi faceted Campaign was carried out for a period of three months. It had various components like, Helmet education,HELfie challenge in a social media, bike rally with a flash mob and wear helmet pledge at different campus and public places, an intercollegiate literary and cultural eventwith the theme 'HeLMeT' and a first ever marathon-HELMETHON, in a district for Helmet. Results Campaign was successful in bringing the stakeholders together with good community participation and Helmet law was enforced in Tumkur district in less than a fortnight following the campaign. Now helmet usage rate among riders has increased to 80%. Conclusions A well planned and committed helmet campaign shall influence stakeholders to enforce the helmet law and sensitises the community regarding helmet safety and encourages them to use it.


Soil organic C, N, P contents and their catalyzed enzyme activities play an important role in maintaining and supplying energy and nutrient in grasslands. There is no consensus on the effects of N deposition on soil organic nutrients and enzyme activities in grassland ecosystems. It remains unclear whether C addition will retard the negative effects of N deposition. We carried out an experiment in Hulun Buir grassland of Inner Mongolia to examine the effects of C and N additions on soil organic C, N, P and relative enzyme activities after three years treatments. The experiment was conducted with N treatments at five levels (0, 25, 50, 100 and 200 kg·hm-2·a-1) and with C treatments at three levels (0, 250 and 500 kg·hm-2·a-1). The results showed that higher levels of N addition significantly decreased dehydrogenase (DHA) and β-1,4-N-acetylglucosaminidase (NAG) activities by 22.3% and 12.5%, respectively. Nitrogen addition had no significant effect on soil organic N and decreased the organic C and P contents by 6.6% and 14.5%, respectively. High C addition significantly increased DHA, β-glucosidase (BG) activities and increased soil organic N and organic P by 15.1%, 12.2%, 1.9%, 2.6%, respectively. The results suggested that continuous N inputs inhibited microbial activities and caused losses of soil organic C and organic P. Carbon addition could enhance microbial activities and promote the secretion of enzymes and increase soil organic N and P. The combined C and N addition could play an important role in maintaining the balance and supply of soil C, N, and P in grassland ecosystem.


The elderly population is growing every year. Most of them are retirees. The number of elderly are significantly increasing in the near future. Therefore, it is important to see them as a large scale users of technology. However, the information system that exists is mostly general and not specific to a particular group. For the elderly, this is a constraint for those who have certain deficiencies such as having reduced visibility, movement, and deterioration of cognitive skills. It is essential to conduct a study to identify the problems faced by the elderly in using existing information system. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to discuss the construction of a usability guideline for elderly website interface. The study began by identifying the problems faced by the elderly to the usability of the current information systems that are available interviews. Usability characteristics of information systems that are suitable to the elderly are identified and a guideline for the elderly interface usability of information systems is constructed. These guideline illustrates that a friendly website interface for elderly are sites that provide usage facilities to the elderly such as simple language, large font size, navigation that is easy to use and has a combination of media such as video and audio. These guidelines are used to develop usability's website interface for elderly. The website evaluation is conducted to assess the usability features used in the design. The website is tested by target users. Feedback from the elderly is used to enhance the interface to become more usable and can serve as a reference for web developers.


While hydrological models generally rely on continuous streamflow data for calibration, previous studies have shown that a few measurements can be sufficient to constrain model parameters. Other studies have shown that continuous water level or water level class (WL‐class) data can be informative for model calibration. In this study, we combined these approaches and explored the potential value of a limited number of WL‐class observations for calibration of a bucket‐type runoff model (HBV) for four catchments in Switzerland. We generated synthetic data to represent citizen science data and examined the effects of the temporal resolution of the observations, the numbers of WL‐classes, and the magnitude of the errors in the WL‐class observations on the model validation performance. Our results indicate that on average one observation per week for a 1‐year period can significantly improve model performance compared to the situation without any streamflow data. Furthermore, the validation performance for model parameters calibrated with WL‐class observations was similar to the performance of the calibration with precise water level measurements. The number of WL‐classes did not influence the validation performance noticeably when at least four WL‐classes were used. The impact of typical errors for citizen science‐based estimates of WL‐classes on the model performance was small. These results are encouraging for citizen science projects where citizens observe water levels for otherwise ungauged streams using virtual or physical staff gauges.


At SIGGRAPH Asia 2013, the Courses program will feature a variety of instructional sessions from introductory to advanced topics in computer graphics and interactive techniques by speakers from institutions around the globe.

Practitioners, developers, researchers, artists, and students will attend Courses to broaden and deepen their knowledge of their field, and to learn the trends of new fields. Join them in Hong Kong this November!


As sexual issues are taboo, it is considered inappropriate to discuss them directly and openly, especially communication about sex between mothers and daughters. Therefore, it is necessary to learn how communication between mothers and daughter about sexual topics can be improved to increase safe sexual behaviors. The purpose of this study is to understand the communication about sex between mothers and their adolescent daughters by conducting an integrative review of qualitative studies. An integrative review of qualitative research studies from 2000 to 2017 was undertaken. Systematic literature searches were carried out on electronic databases for journal articles and doctoral dissertations with full text focusing on mother-adolescent daughter communication about sex. Data was synthesized using thematic analysis. Seven qualitative articles were included in the synthesis, and five recurring themes were identified: 1) Mothers' attitudes towards talking about sex with daughters 2) Feelings of daughters towards sexual communication with mothers 3) The first-time mother starting to talk about sex with her daughter 4) Contents of sexual communication and 5) Successfulness of communication. Results suggest future research in developing programs to provide communication about sexual matters between mothers and their daughters effectively, including consideration of different cultures and social contexts, is necessary.

Keywords :
mother-daughter communication, communication about sex, integrative review

Address Correspondence to author:
Lakkhana Chainok, RN Faculty of Nursing, Thammasat University 99 Klong1, Khlong Neung, Khlong Luang, Pathumthani 12121, Thailand. email: email@example.com

Received: March 23, 2018
Revision received: April 20, 2018
Accepted after revision: July 6, 2018
BKK Med J 2018;14(2): 121-127.

DOI: 10.31524/bkkmedj.2018.09.020


A Chinese patient with Hb H (beta4) disease was found to be a compound heterozygote for a 2.4 kb alpha(+)-thalassemia (thal) deletion and the common Southeast Asian alpha0-thal deletion. The endpoints of the 2.4 kb deletion were identified by sequence analysis of the deletion junction. The deletion removes the entire alpha1-globin gene and leaves the alpha2-globin gene intact.


Nasal infection or sinusitis is an inflammation of nasal passages caused by both viral and bacteriological pathogens. Antimicrobial resistance has universally recognized as growing problem concern about suitable therapy for nasal infection. The study was aimed at determining the prevalence and antimicrobial susceptibility against nasal infecting microorganisms. 50 clinical samples were taken from OPD of GMC Hospital, Bhopal (MP), India. Of the samples analyzed, 47 bacterial strains were isolated out of which 29 strains were of Gram positive bacteria (8 strains were of Staphylococcus aureus, 6 of Staphylococcus epidermidis, 7 of Streptococcus pneumoniae and 8 of Corynebacterium diptheriae) and 18 strains were of Gram negative bacteria (8 of Escherichia coli, 6 of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and 4 of Neisseria meningitidis). Antimicrobial susceptibility assay was performed by disc diffusion method according to the reference criteria of clinical and laboratory standard institute guidelines. In the present study antibiotic susceptibility pattern results showed maximum level of resistance in gram positive strains S. aureus 8 (100%), S. epidermidis 6 (100%) and C. diptheriae (8 (100%) against penicillin, S. aureus 8 (100%), S. epidermidis 6 (100%) and S. pneumoniae 7 (100%) were resistant to Cefuroxime, S. aureus 7 (87.5%), S. epidermidis 6 (100%), S. pneumoniae 7 (100%) and C. diptheriae (8 (100%) were resistant to erythromycin and azithromycin whereas, rest of gram positive strains showed satisfactory antibiotic susceptibility against chloramphenical, cefazolin, cephalexin, ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin and tetracyclin. Similarly for gram negative strains multi-drug resistance was observed in 8 (100%) isolates of E. coli against aztreonam, cefdinir, cefixime, cefotaxime, ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, cefuroxime, ciprofloxacin, nalidixic acid and ofloxacin, P. aeruginosa 6 (100%) were resistant to aztreonam, cefdinir, cefixime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefuroxime, nalidixic acid and ofloxacin, N. meningitidis 4 (100%) were resistant to aztreonam, cefdinir, cefixime, cefotaxime, ceftazidime, nalidixic acid and ofloxacin whereas rest of gram negative strains showed moderate susceptible against amikacin, cefuroxime and ciprofloxacin. Hence we concluded that the efficacy of cefazolin, cephalexin, chloramphenical, tetracycline, amikacin and ciprofloxacin was recorded higher than other antibiotics tested against nasal infection causing pathogens.


Introduction Uterine rupture is amongst the preventable obstetric complication that carries severe risks both to mother and baby Aim Critically analyse the notes of women with rupture uterus over a period of 11 years and to reflect and learn from the outcome. Method and Settings Retrospective analysis of case notes of women with confirmed uterine rupture over a period of 11 years from January 2000–December 2011 at Royal Maternity Hospital, Belfast. Results 17 women had confirmed uterine rupture in the study period of which 4 were preterm. All women except for one, had one or more term caesarean sections in past. The median interval between caesarean section and rupture was 3 years. Only 23% of women had induction of labour. Scar tenderness with or without suspicious CTG was the leading reason to suspect rupture. In nearly 70% of women maternal observations remained stable. Scar rupture was suspected only in 65% of women before the surgical intervention. 8 women (47%) had either scar rupture or dehiscence of varying length while remaining 53% had extensions of scar rupture. Conservative management remained the main stay of management. 35% of babies required neonatal care. The study also considered factors like uterine anomalies and surgeries, labour details including postpartum, staff involved etc. Conclusion Trial of labour in previous section with successful outcome has long term implication on maternal health, while at the same time staff providing the care should be educated and trained to suspect the scar problems at early stages and intervene appropriately.


Background:
 In the past it was thought that ~ 20-25% of ischemic strokes were cardioembolic, ~ 20% from large artery disease and ~ 20% from small vessel disease. With the aging of the population, and with increasing prevalence of therapy for hypertension and hyperlipidemia, it might be expected that stroke subtypes would be changing over time.

 Purpose and Methods:
 We studied the change over time of ischemic stroke subtypes from 2000-2012, among 2300 patients referred to the Urgent TIA Clinic at University Hospital, London, Canada. We divided the patients into 3 eras that were approximately equal in numbers: Era 1 (2000-2004), Era

 2 (2005-2007) and Era 3 (since 2008). Ischemic stroke subtypes were defined by clinical and imaging criteria into evident, probable and possible causes.

 Results:
 Mean age + SD was 63.39 + 17.47 years; 50% were women, 17.7% were diabetic, 19.6% current smokers. The proportion of patients with known atrial fibrillation increased from 4.2% in Era 1 to

 6.6% in Era 2, to 9.6% in Era 3 (p-0.001). Among patients thought to have cardioembolic stroke, atrial fibrillation accounted for 95.8% in Era 1,
 93.4% in Era 2 and 90.4% in Era 3 (p=0.001). Among patients whose stroke subtype was regarded as evident or probable (n=1699), stroke subtypes changed over time, as shown in Table 1:

 Similar trends were observed If all patients (evident, probable, possible) were included. Stroke subtypes have changed significantly since 2000 (Chi-Square 2p=0.0001), with a marked increase in cardioembolic stroke, and a decline in large artery stroke.

 Conclusion:
 In recent years, the proportion of patients with cardioembolic stroke has increased significantly. This has important implications for treatment to reduce the risk of recurrent stroke


Recent studies in deep learning-based speech separation have proven the superiority of time-domain approaches to conventional time-frequency-based methods. Unlike the time-frequency domain approaches, the time-domain separation systems often receive input sequences consisting of a huge number of time steps, which introduces challenges for modeling extremely long sequences. Conventional recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are not effective for modeling such long sequences due to optimization difficulties, while one-dimensional convolutional neural networks (1-D CNNs) cannot perform utterance-level sequence modeling when its receptive field is smaller than the sequence length. In this paper, we propose dual-path recurrent neural network (DPRNN), a simple yet effective method for organizing RNN layers in a deep structure to model extremely long sequences. DPRNN splits the long sequential input into smaller chunks and applies intra- and inter-chunk operations iteratively, where the input length can be made proportional to the square root of the original sequence length in each operation. Experiments show that by replacing 1-D CNN with DPRNN and apply sample-level modeling in the time-domain audio separation network (TasNet), a new state-of-the-art performance on WSJ0-2mix is achieved with a 20 times smaller model than the previous best system.


The nuclear architecture plays an important role in the temporal and spatial control of complex functional processes within the nucleus. Alterations in nuclear structures are characteristic of cancer cells and the mechanisms underlying these perturbations may directly contribute to tumor development and progression. In this review, we will highlight aspects of the nuclear microenvironment that are perturbed during tumorigenesis and discuss how a greater understanding of the role of nuclear structure in the control of gene expression can provide new options for cancer diagnosis and treatment. J. Cell. Biochem. 104: 1953–1963, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) arises from the clonal expansion of a CD5 (cid:2) B lymphocyte that is thought not to undergo intraclonal diversification. Using V H DJ H cDNA single strand conformation polymorphism analyses, we detected intraclonal mobility variants in 11 of 18 CLL cases. cDNA sequence analyses indicated that these variants represented unique point-mutations (1–35/patient). In nine cases, these mutations were unique to individual submembers of the CLL clone, although in two cases they occurred in a large percentage of the clonal submembers and genealogical trees could be identified. The diversification process responsible for these changes led to single nucleotide changes that favored transitions over transversions, but did not target A nucleotides and did not have the replacement/silent nucleotide change characteristics of antigen-selected B cells. Intraclonal diversification did not correlate with the original mutational load of an individual CLL case in that diversification was as frequent in CLL cells with little or no somatic mutations as in those with considerable mutations. Finally, CLL B cells that did not exhibit intraclonal diversification in vivo could be induced to mutate their V H DJ H genes in vitro after stimulation. These data indicate that a somatic mutation mech-anism remains functional in CLL cells and could play a role in the evolution of the clone. 96-well plate (200 (cid:4) l FCS-RPMI 1640 vol). To cross-link the BCR, CLL B cells were incubated for 2 h at 4 (cid:5) C with Sepharose ® -conjugated rabbit Abs to human IgM and Ig (H (cid:2) L) chain (2 (cid:4) g/ml; Irvine Scientific), and then washed with cold PBS. After 7 d of culture, CLL B cells were collected, freed of dead cells and debris by fractionation through Histopaque ® 1077 (Sigma-Aldrich), exposed again to anti-BCR Abs, washed, and reseeded over a new layer of irradiated T cells and CD40L-293 cells, in the presence of cytokines. At day 14 of culture, CLL cells were harvested for total RNA extraction.


Ultra-wide-band (UWB) signals are suitable for underlay communications, over a frequency band where, possibly, other systems are active. Such coexistence of UWB and other systems is possible if the mutual interference has a small impact on their respective performance. This paper aims to present recent results on the interference and coexistence among UWB systems and other conventional narrow-band (NB) systems. Specifically, we consider a point-to-point UWB (NB) under the interference generated by a finite number of NB (UWB) radio transmitters. We consider channels including additive white Gaussian noise and multipath fading both for the victim and the interfering links, and different receiver architectures. While our main focus is on UWB systems based on impulse radio, wide-band systems employing carrier-based direct-sequence spread-spectrum and orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing are also considered.


: The origins of psycho-analysis, like those of every other medico-psychological study, have their own particular scientific and specific social, historical and philosophical-theoretical presuppositions. Freud's philosophical genealogy is closely linked to classical german philosophy and subsequent philosophical movements. I. Kant, J.-F. Herbart, A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche, E. v. Hartmann, G. T. Fechner, E. Mach, W. Ostwald, L. Feuerbach and others did not only emphasise the significance of drives and the unconscious in human behaviour, they also described many psychological mechanisms from depth psychology, (for example repression, condensation, substitution, sublimation). Some false theoretical trends in psycho-analysis (biologism, psychologism and simplifying psycho-energetics to simplify) can be explained to some extent by the influences mentioned above.


This paper examines how UK banks channel capital inflows to the individual sectors of the domestic economy and to overseas residents. Information on the source country of foreign capital deposited with UK banks allows us to construct a novel Bartik instrument for capital inflows. Our results suggest that foreign funds boost bank lending to the domestic economy. This result is due to the positive effect of capital inflows on bank lending to non-financial firms and to other domestic financial institutions. Banks do not channel capital inflows directly to households or the public sector. Much of the foreign capital is also channelled back abroad, reflecting the role of the UK as a global financial centre.


The objective of this research is to develop soy-based polyurethane (PU) foam product reinforced with carbon nanotubes. The shortage of petroleum and the increasing concern on environmental issues have resulted in an interest in using renewable substances as building blocks for polymer applications. Multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWNT) was used in this study to reinforce the soy-based polyurethane foam. The compressive and mechanical properties of the composites were enhanced with adding carbon nanotubes. Neat polyurethane was used as a control. Soy-based polyurethane / carbon nanotubes composites with loadings of 0.5 and 1.0 wt% were fabricated. The compressive, flexural, and tensile properties of MWNTs-PU foams were improved by 24, 30 and 30 %, respectively, as compared with the neat PU foam. The greatest enhancements on compressive and flexural properties were shown at the 0.5 wt% MWNT loading, while the highest tensile stress enhancement of PU foam was shown at 1 wt% MWNT loading.


For fault-tolerant storage applications, computation complexity is the key concern in choosing XOR-based codes. We observe that there is great benefit in computing common operations first (COF). Based on the COF rule, we describe a generic problem of optimizing XOR-based codes and make a conjecture about its NP-completeness. Two effective greedy algorithms are proposed. Against long odds, we show that XOR-based Reed-Solomon codes with such optimization can in fact be as efficient and sometimes even more efficient than the best known specifically designed XOR-based codes.


The role of the gut and gut-associated lymphoid tissue in the development of type 1 diabetes has come into the research focus over the last 20 years. Accumulated evidence suggests that the gut is involved in the pathogenesis of this immune-mediated disease, and there seem to be several mechanisms by which such an effect may be mediated (1). Decreased microbial diversity in the gut, increased intestinal permeability, local inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract, and abnormal mucosal immune responses all may contribute to the appearance of β-cell autoimmunity and further progression to overt type 1 diabetes. The intestinal mucosa comprises the largest surface area in the body, and the gut-associated lymphoid tissue represents the most extensive immune organ. The gut plays accordingly a crucial role in the interaction between the host and the environment. Given that type 1 diabetes is the unfortunate consequence of the combined effects of the individual genetic setup and exogenous and host-related factors, it is not surprising that the gut might be involved in the process leading to clinical disease.

In this issue of Diabetes , Mojibian et al. (2) report that approximately half of the patients with type 1 diabetes, whom they studied, had a proliferative T-cell response to dietary wheat polypeptides and that the cytokine profile of the response was predominantly proinflammatory. A positive T-cell response to wheat polypeptides was associated with the HLA DR4-DQ8 haplotype but surprisingly not with the HLA DR3-DQ2 haplotype, which confers strong susceptibility to celiac disease. The investigators interpret their observations as reflecting a diabetes-related inflammatory state in the gut immune system associated with defective oral tolerance and a possible gut …


The paper's aim is to identify barriers and factors favourable for development of organic food market in Poland. It contains the results of the nationwide survey which was carried out among farms' owners with organic farming certificate. According to the survey's results the main barriers are relative little yield and high costs – in comparison to conventional agriculture. Other barriers are connected with limited sales possibilities: weak integration with formal distribution channels, limited possibilities of horizontal integration, as well as underdeveloped processing and distribution system. The main source of growth in the profitability of farms and thus a factor of development are agri-environmental subsidies. Their increase is demanded by most respondents.