PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: This study was carried out to compare the intraoperative and postoperative results of conventional surgery of the thoracic spine by thoracotomy with those of the thoracoscopic technique to determine the advantages of this new approach. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A series of twenty-nine patients operated by thoracoscopy for a spinal disorder was matched regarding the etiology of spine disease and type of surgical procedure with twenty-four patients operated by thoracotomy. This matching procedure yielded two similar groups of twenty patients. The criteria used for evaluation were the duration of the procedure, blood loss, intraoperative complications, the duration of stay in postoperative intensive care, the duration and yield of pleural drainage, the time until return to the upright position, duration of use of WHO grade-three analgesics (morphine derivatives), the postoperative complications, and the length of hospitalization. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in three parameters: the duration of the procedure (thoracotomy, 172 min; thoracoscopy, 246 min; p < 0.006), intraoperative bleeding (thoracotomy, 837 mL; thoracoscopy, 447 mL; p < 0.0009), and duration of use of WHO grade-three analgesics (thoracotomy, 4.5 days; thoracoscopy, 2.3 days; p = 0.011). There was no difference in the intra- or postoperative complication rates of the two methods. DISCUSSION: The better view provided by thoracoscopy and its preservation of the wall structures probably explain why there was less bleeding and postoperative pain with this technique. The insufficiency of the current thoracoscopic instrumentation and the learning curve account for the longer duration of these interventions. CONCLUSION: These data confirm the usefulness of thoracoscopy which is less traumatizing, less hemorrhagic, and causes no more complications than thoracotomy. The longer operative duration is currently a minor drawback, and should shorten with experience and the development of specific instrumentation.


Objectives This study aims to quantify the degree to which an underserved, Hispanic population in Los Angeles is impacted by SARS-CoV-2, and determine factors associated with paediatric seropositivity. Design Cross-sectional. Setting AltaMed, a Federally Qualified Health Center in Los Angeles. Participants A random sample of households who had received healthcare at AltaMed Medical Group was invited to participate. Households with at least one adult and one paediatric participant between 5 and 17 years of age were eligible to participate. Consented participants completed a survey on social determinants of health and were tested for antibodies using Abbott Architect SARS-CoV-2-IgG and SARS-CoV-2-IgM tests. Primary outcome measure Seropositive status. Results We analysed 390 adults (mean age in years, 38.98 (SD 12.11)) and 332 paediatric participants (11.26 (SD 3.51)) from 196 households. Estimated seropositivity was 52.11% (95% CI 49.61% to 55.19%) in paediatric participants and 63.58% (95% CI 60.39% to 65.24%) in adults. Seropositivity was 11.47% (95% CI 6.82% to 14.09%) lower in paediatric participants, but high relative to other populations. A household member with type 2 diabetes (OR 2.94 (95% CI 1.68 to 5.14)), receipt of food stamps (OR 1.66 (95% CI 1.08 to 2.56)) and lower head-of-household education (OR 1.73 (95% CI 1.06 to 2.84)) were associated with paediatric seropositivity. Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity is high in Hispanic children and adolescents in Los Angeles. Food insecure households with low head-of-household education, and at least one household member with type 2 diabetes, had the highest risk. These factors may inform paediatrician COVID-19 mitigation recommendations. Trial registration number NCT04901624.


Keeping valuable secrets requires costly protection efforts. Breaking them requires costly search efforts. In a dynamic model in which the value of the secret decreases with the number of those holding it, we examine the secret holders' protection decisions and the secret breakers' timing of entry, showing that the original secret holder's payoff can be very high, even when protection appears weak, with implications for innovators' profits from unpatented innovations. We show that the path of entry will be characterized by two waves, the first of protected entry followed by a waiting period, and a second wave of unprotected entry.


Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) are increasingly used in consumer products for their particular properties. Even though TiO2 is considered chemically stable and insoluble, studying their behavior in biological environments is of great importance to figure their potential dissolution and transformation. The interaction between TiO2-NPs with different sizes and crystallographic forms (anatase and rutile) and the strong chelating enterobactin (ent) siderophore was investigated to look at a possible dissolution. For the first time, direct evidence of anatase TiO2-NP surface dissolution or solubilization (i.e., the removal of Ti atoms located at the surface) in a biological medium by this siderophore was shown and the progressive formation of a hexacoordinated titanium–enterobactin (Ti–ent) complex observed. This complex was characterized by UV–visible and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (both supported by Density Functional Theory calculations) as well as electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). A maximum of ca. 6.3% of Ti surface atoms were found to be solubilized after 24 h of incubation, releasing Ti–ent complexes in the micromolar range that could then be taken up by bacteria in an iron-depleted medium. From a health and environmental point of view, the effects associated to the solubilization of the E171 TiO2 food additive in the presence of enterobactin and the entrance of the Ti–enterobactin complex in bacteria were questioned.


The ring-shift isomerization of sym-octahydrophenanthrene (sym-OHP) to sym-octahydroanthracene (sym-OHA) catalyzed by acidic zeolites (Mordenite (MOR) and Faujasite (FAU)) was investigated by the ONIOM(DFT:UFF) and DFT approaches. A "five-membered ring" mechanism through carbocation rearrangement via 1-2 migration was proved to be kinetically favored over a "six-membered ring" mechanism through Friedel-Crafts reactions. Computational studies based on the "five-membered ring" mechanism demonstrate that a decreasing Brønsted acid site strength from Al-H-MOR to Ga-H-MOR to B-H-MOR reduces the catalytic activity. The catalyst acid site strength would thereby impact the yield of sym-OHA. The isomerization barrier increases when using an Al-H-FAU catalyst that has a similar Brønsted acid site strength as Al-H-MOR but considerably bigger cages, indicating that apart from the desired density and strength of acid sites, optimal zeolite catalysts should have a pore size that better fits the intermediates and transition states. DFT calculations on Gibbs free energy were performed to evaluate the equilibrium ratios of sym-OHA to sym-OHP at specific reaction temperatures from 175 to 325 °C. The results indicate that reaction temperature has a moderate impact on the equilibrium yield of sym-OHA, whose formation is relatively favorable at a lower temperature under experimental conditions.


We use a policy rule framework and focus on the response of the primary surplus to accumulated public debt to test a sufficient condition for sustainability. The evidence we report suggests that sustainability was prevalent in many EU countries before Maastricht, but also that the Maastricht impulse induced the shift towards sustainability in some of them. Additionally, although a clear distinction emerges in terms of the visibility of the Maastricht stress between the euro bloc, on the one hand, and the non-euro EU countries, the US and Japan, on the other, there is no evidence of bloc differences in terms of the long term soundness of public finances. On the basis of our analysis and results, we highlight the potential policy relevance of the reaction of the primary surplus to accumulated debt in the debate on the proper balance between fiscal stabilization and discipline in EMU.


A variable spacing cesium thermionic converter of planar geometry has been tested under different conditions of emitter temperature, cesium pressure, and interelectrode spacing. It has been found that at low emitter temperatures of the order of 1,300 C to 1,400 C (degrees centigrade), high-power densities in the range of 2 to 4 watts/cm2 (watts per square centimeter) can be obtained with a molybdenum emitter. The performance under these conditions corresponds to an ignited mode where ions are introduced by a different mechanism than surface ionization.1


BACKGROUND
Activated monocytes are able to express tissue factor (TF), a potent procoagulant. The effect of injury on monocyte TF expression is not known. We have found that patients with head injury (HI) have increased antithrombin activity and decreased platelet function compared with non-head-injured trauma patients. Our objective was to determine whether injury increases TF expression by monocytes and whether this increased TF expression is attenuated in patients with HI.

METHODS
We prospectively enrolled 37 trauma patients (meeting the entry criterion of an Injury Severity Score [ISS] > or = 9) and 11 healthy control subjects. We sampled blood on arrival and then at 24, 48, and 72 hours. We performed flow cytometry with antibody markers for monocytes (CD14), platelets (CD42a), and TF. We compared results of patients with HI (Glasgow Coma Scale score < or = 9 and Abbreviated Injury Scale Head/Neck score > or = 3) with patients without HI and with controls.

RESULTS
Patients had a mean ISS of 23.9 +/- 2.3 (+/- SEM), mean age of 45 +/- 3 years, and mean length of stay of 17.9 +/- 3.2 days. Seventy-six percent were men, and 97% had blunt trauma. The overall mortality rate was 11%. Trauma patients had greater monocyte TF expression than controls for all time periods (p < 0.05). Trauma patients with HI had elevated monocyte TF expression compared with controls for the initial and 24-hour time periods, but they subsequently had more rapid return of monocyte TF expression to baseline (despite a higher ISS) than trauma patients without HI. Trauma patients both with and without HI had increased platelet-monocyte binding at each time versus controls.

CONCLUSION
Trauma induces TF expression on monocytes. Patients with HI have attenuation of this expression by 24 hours after injury. The attenuation of TF expression by monocytes in HI parallels the increase in AT and the decrease in platelet function seen after HI. The correlation of TF expression with platelet-monocyte binding suggests that platelet binding may lead to monocyte activation.


The performance of plates can be changed due to their uncertainties in applied loads, material properties, geometry and boundary conditions. In this paper, the failure probabilities of rectangular steel plates are evaluated using the displacement performance function using the first-order reliability method (FORM) – based on a novel finite-step length. The displacement limit state function of the isotropic plates for different boundary conditions is used for their reliability analysis based on the random variables such as material, plate dimensions and applied external load which have been simulated by use of Normal and Lognormal distribution functions. The finite-step length of FORM is developed based on Armijo line search that is simply computed and is improved the robustness and efficiency of FORM. The results demonstrate that by decreasing plate dimensions, the failure probabilities are decreased. The failure probabilities of plates with free boundary conditions are obtained to be more than the failure probabilities of plates with clamped boundary conditions. The minimum thicknesses of rectangular plates with simply supported conditions are found to be about (around plate)/300 to achieve a reliable performance.


Abstract. The Ediacaran tubular fossils Cloudina, Sinotubulites, and Conotubus are taxonomically revised with type materials. It is proposed that Aulophycus lucianoi Beurlen and Sommer, 1957, is not a senior synonym of Cloudina hartmannae Germs, 1972. Instead, most of its syntypes may be assigned to Sinotubulites or other taxa. Lectotypes of Sinotubulites baimatuoensis Chen et al., 1981, and Conotubus hemiannulatus Zhang and Lin in Lin et al., 1986, are designated from rediscovered syntypes. Sinotubulites baimatuoensis Chen et al., 1981, is reported from the Mooifontein Member of Nama Group at Aar Farm, Namibia. Cloudina waldei Hahn and Pflug, 1985, is assigned to Sinotubulites baimatuoensis, and thus its occurrence range is extended to Brazil. The lectotype of Conotubus hemiannulatus shows corrugations and annulations on the surface distinguishing it from Cloudina and other collared Ediacaran tubular fossils. Based on the taxonomic revision, we propose a Cloudina hartmannae Interval Zone for the terminal Ediacaran with the upper boundary defined by the first appearance datum of Protohertzina anabarica (i.e., the index fossil of the early Cambrian Anabarites trisulcatus-Protohertzina anabarica Assemblage Zone).


This book examines the behavior of individuals at risk and insurance industry decision makers involved in selling, buying and regulation. It compares their actions to those predicted by benchmark models of choice derived from classical economic theory. Where actual choices stray from predictions, the behavior is considered to be anomalous. Howard C. Kunreuther, Mark Pauly and Stacey McMorrow attempt to understand why these anomalies occur, in many cases using insights from behavioral economics. The authors then consider if and how such behavioral anomalies could be modified to improve individual and social welfare. This book describes situations in which both public policy and the insurance industry's collective posture need to change. This may require incentives, rules and institutions to help reduce both inefficient and anomalous behavior, thereby encouraging behavior that will improve individual and social welfare.


Flash-based devices are cost-competitive to traditional hard disks in both personal and industrial environments and offer the potential for large performance gains. However, as flash-based devices have a high bit-error rate and a relatively short lifetime, reliability issues remain a major problem. One possible solution is redundancy; using techniques such as mirroring, data reliability and availability can be greatly enhanced. All standard RAID approaches assume that devices do not wear out, and hence distribute work equally among them; unfortunately, for flash, this approach is not appropriate as the life of flash cell depends on the number of times it is written and cleaned. Hence, identical write patterns to mirrored flash drives introduce a failure dependency in the storage system, increasing the probability of concurrent device failure and hence data loss. We propose Warped Mirrors as a solution to this endurance problem for mirrored flash devices. By carefully inducing a slight imbalance into write traffic across devices, we intentionally increase the workload of one device in the mirror pair, and thus increase the odds that it will fail first. Thus, with our approach, device failure independence is preserved. Our simulation results show that across both synthetic and traced workloads, little performance overhead is induced.


The article is devoted to the social and demographic factors of family values transformation in Belarus. It aims to find out to what extent age, educational level, and place of residence influence the dynamics of changing family values. Based on the data of the European Value Survey in Belarus in 2000, 2008 and 2017, the tendencies of the transformation of attitudes towards family, marriage, children, and women combining family and profession roles, are analysed. It is concluded that changes in family values in the Eastern European region and Belarus are multidirectional. On the one hand, the significance of the family and marriage is growing. On the other – the necessity to combine the professional and family roles of women is getting more common. The paper evaluates how these general trends are manifested in different social groups; broken down by age, education level and place of inhabitance. The analysis allows one to conclude that there are universal trends like the importance of family as it is. However, some trends like pronatalist attitudes have specificity for different groups. The reasons for family values transformation include the position on the labour market, the perspective of professional self-realisation, and income growth. A lack of such a perspective among women with secondary education causes them to be more focused on family and children. Both urbanisation and the growth of a young generation with a high educational level can contribute to the decrease of pronatalist attitudes and an increase in the idea of women combining family and professional roles in the future.


Internet of Things for medical devices is revolutionizing healthcare industry by providing platforms for data collection via cloud gateways and analytic. In this paper, we propose a process for developing a proof of concept solution for sleep detection by observing a set of ambulatory physiological parameters in a completely non-invasive manner. Observing and detecting the state of sleep and also its quality, in an objective way, has been a challenging problem that impacts many medical fields. With the solution presented here, we propose to collect physiological signals from wearable devices, which in our case consist of a smart wristband equipped with sensors and a protocol for communication with a mobile device. With machine learning based algorithms, that we developed, we are able to detect sleep from wakefulness in up to 93% of cases. The results from our study are promising with a potential for novel insights and effective methods to manage sleep disturbances and improve sleep quality.


Unpacking and comprehending how black-box machine learning algorithms (such as deep learning models) make decisions has been a persistent challenge for researchers and end-users. Explaining time-series predictive models is useful for clinical applications with high stakes to understand the behavior of prediction models, e.g., to determine how different variables and time points influence the clinical outcome. However, existing approaches to explain such models are frequently unique to architectures and data where the features do not have a time-varying component. In this paper, we introduce WindowSHAP, a model-agnostic framework for explaining time-series classifiers using Shapley values. We intend for WindowSHAP to mitigate the computational complexity of calculating Shapley values for long time-series data as well as improve the quality of explanations. WindowSHAP is based on partitioning a sequence into time windows. Under this framework, we present three distinct algorithms of Stationary, Sliding and Dynamic WindowSHAP, each evaluated against baseline approaches, KernelSHAP and TimeSHAP, using perturbation and sequence analyses metrics. We applied our framework to clinical time-series data from both a specialized clinical domain (Traumatic Brain Injury - TBI) as well as a broad clinical domain (critical care medicine). The experimental results demonstrate that, based on the two quantitative metrics, our framework is superior at explaining clinical time-series classifiers, while also reducing the complexity of computations. We show that for time-series data with 120 time steps (hours), merging 10 adjacent time points can reduce the CPU time of WindowSHAP by 80% compared to KernelSHAP. We also show that our Dynamic WindowSHAP algorithm focuses more on the most important time steps and provides more understandable explanations. As a result, WindowSHAP not only accelerates the calculation of Shapley values for time-series data, but also delivers more understandable explanations with higher quality.


Nano gold particles interact strongly with visible light to excite the collaborative oscillation of conductive electrons within nano particles resulting in a surface plasmon resonance which makes them useful for various applications including bio-labeling. In this paper, we study the effect of particle sizes with particle plasmon resonant wavelength and the coupling between pair of elliptical metallic disks and ellipsoid particles by simulations and experiments. The red-shift resonant peak wavelength of coupled particles to that of single particle is due to particle plasmons near-field coupling. The shift decays is approximately exponentially with increasing particle spacing, and reaches zero when the gap between the two particles exceeds about 2.5 times the particle short axis length. It is also found that the exponential decay of peak shift with particle gap is size independent but shape dependent.


INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of hookah use among Florida high school students over time. Alternative tobacco products, including hookah, pose a public health threat to tobacco prevention efforts, especially among adolescents.

METHODS
Florida Youth Tobacco Survey data, representing all public high school students in the state, were analyzed to assess the prevalence of lifetime and current hookah use and were compared by demographic groups. Multiple years of data (2007-2012) were examined to assess changes over time.

RESULTS
During the past 6 years, there was an increase in lifetime hookah use among Florida high school students. While males remained at a higher rate overall, female adolescents increased at a faster rate. Hispanic and non-Hispanic White respondents reported increased trends as well. Current use trends did not change over 4 years, remaining at about 8%.

CONCLUSIONS
Hookah is a new tobacco product in the United States that appears attractive to youth, with dramatic increases among the state population. While cigarette use among youth is declining in Florida, the increasing uptake of alternative tobacco products may lessen the overall public health gains for tobacco use. There is a need for continued monitoring of hookah use among the adolescent population, for both prevention and cessation efforts as well as policy interventions to address this emerging trend.


Context. The detection and characterization of exoplanet atmospheres is currently one of the main drivers pushing the development of new observing facilities. In this context, high-resolution spectrographs are proving their potential and showing that high-resolution spectroscopy will be paramount in this field.
Aims. We aim to make use of ESPRESSO high-resolution spectra, which cover two transits of HD 209458b, to probe the broadband transmission optical spectrum of the planet.
Methods. We applied the chromatic Rossiter–McLaughin method to derive the transmission spectrum of HD 209458b. We compared the results with previous HST observations and with synthetic spectra.
Results. We recover a transmission spectrum of HD 209458b similar to the one obtained with HST data. The models suggest that the observed signal can be explained by only Na, only TiO, or both Na and TiO, even though none is fully capable of explaining our observed transmission spectrum. Extra absorbers may be needed to explain the full dataset, though modeling approximations and observational errors can also be responsible for the observed mismatch.
Conclusions. Using the chromatic Rossiter–McLaughlin technique, ESPRESSO is able to provide broadband transmission spectra of exoplanets from the ground, in conjunction with space-based facilities, opening good perspectives for similar studies of other planets.


The purpose of this study sought to examine the overall performance of Affin Bankwith Current ratio, Operating efficiency ratio and Gross domestic product on profitability performance. The data obtained from annual report Affin Bank starting from 2011 until 2015. The measurement of liquidity ratio and operating ratio used to see the overall performance ofAffin Bank in 5 years which allegedly beyond benchmark. The further depth is the asset size; this variable has a negative and no significant relationship with liquidity risk. To see the relationship of these three components to the gainfulness, this paper is using liquidity (current proportion), GDP and working productivity proportion. Data was evaluated by operating regression and correlation. The regression analysis and bicariate correlation shows only one factor of profitability is significant to return on asset which is current ratio with the highest impact to the profitability. However, the liquidity, GDP and operating efficient is not significant to profitability.


How far can law go to prevent violent acts of terrorism from happening? This Article examines the response by a number of Western democratic States to that question. These States have enacted special legal mechanisms that can be called 'anti-terrorist pre-crime measures.' Anti-terrorist pre-crime measures, or ATPCMs for short, are conditions or restrictions imposed on a person by law enforcement authorities as the outcome of a legal process set up to identify and neutralize potential sources of terrorist activity before it occurs. The issue is whether the ATCPMs regimes in existence today comply with the corresponding States' international obligations under human rights law because, by virtue of their preventative mission, these regimes operate outside, or on the fringes of, the ordinary criminal justice systems in the democratic societies that deploy them. Despite the operation of ATPCMs regimes in robust democracies like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and, potentially, the United States, they surprisingly have not been the subject of recent international scrutiny or systematic comparative study. This Article fills both gaps. On the one hand, it documents how the national legal frameworks in the aforementioned countries design and deploy anti-terrorist pre-crime measures, as well as how those measures function in practice. On the other, the Article canvasses the relevant international legal framework to identify not just which human rights are implicated by the operation of ATPCMs regimes, but also how those rights are impacted by it. The Article then applies this normative framework to the domestic counter-terrorism initiatives studied to ascertain how, and the extent to which, the respective ATPCMs regimes can be said to comply with human rights law. Significant insights can be derived from this exercise for other countries like the United States that authorize or contemplate implementing ATPCMs.


KD-photomap is a web-based visual analytics system for browsing collections of geotagged Flickr photographs in search of interesting pictures, places, and events. Spatial filtering of the data is performed through zooming, moving or searching along the map. Temporal filtering is possible through defining time windows using interactive histograms and calendar controls. Information about the number and spatiotemporal distribution of photos captured in an explored area is continuously provided using various visual cues.


This paper presents a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of the under-track loudness for a low-boom concept aircraft that has been modified to include small-scale surface deformations placed along the centerline of the aircraft's underside. The small-scale surface deformations, or bumps, were defined using a one-dimensional Gaussian function and inverse distance weighting interpolation. The near-field solution of the low-boom concept aircraft was predicted by the in-house CFD solver UNS3D. Sonic boom propagation and loudness calculations were done by the NASA codes sBOOM and LCASB. The predicted near-field solution and loudness of the baseline aircraft geometry were found to be in excellent agreement with previously published CFD predictions of the same geometry. A surrogate model, based on radial basis functions, of the PLdB loudness metric was created with respect to the height and length of the bumps to perform the sensitivity and uncertainty analysis based on the discreet CFD data. It was found that the aircraft was relatively insensitive to bumps with a height less than 2 cm, and most sensitive to bumps with heights equal to or greater than 3 cm. The location and amplitude of the region of largest sensitivity was found to vary with respect to the length of the bump. Uncertainties in the bump lengths and height were introduced into the problem formulation and propagated using Monte Carlo sampling. The impact of the uncertainty in only bump height, only bump length, and in both bump length and height on the uncertainty of the loudness was examined. It was found that, by itself, the uncertainty in the height of the bump resulted in higher uncertainties in the loudness than when only considering the uncertainty in the length of the bump. Accounting for the uncertainties in both the length and height of the bump resulted in significantly higher variation of under-track loudness, but with the main source of loudness uncertainty still being related to the uncertainty in the height of the bump.


This paper deals with adaptive sparse approximations of time-series. The work is based on a Bayesian specification of the shift-invariant sparse coding model. To learn approximations for a particular class of signals, two different learning strategies are discussed. The first method uses a gradient optimization technique commonly employed in sparse coding problems. The other method is novel in this context and is based on a sampling estimate. To approximate the gradient in the first approach we compare two Monte Carlo estimation techniques, Gibbs sampling and a novel importance sampling method. The second approach is based on a direct sample estimate and uses an extension of the Gibbs sampler used with the first approach. Both approaches allow the specification of different prior distributions and we here introduce a novel mixture prior based on a modified Rayleigh distribution. Experiments demonstrate that all Gibbs sampler based methods show comparable performance. The importance sampler was found to work nearly as well as the Gibbs sampler on smaller problems in terms of estimating the model parameters, however, the method performed substantially worse on estimating the sparse coefficients. For large problems we found that the combination of a subset selection heuristic with the Gibbs sampling approaches can outperform previous suggested methods. In addition, the methods studied here are flexible and allow the incorporation of additional prior knowledge, such as the nonnegativity of the approximation coefficients, which was found to offer additional benefits where applicable.


A quest for abnormal returns by using accounting information plays an important role of `price discovery`in the investment practice. Coincidentally, it provides valuable counter-evidence for the traditional framework and theory in the academic fields and it encourages academicians to reexamine them. However, it is a mistake to emphasize inefficiency of the market and irrationality of investors based on those observed anomalies immediately. Originally, the efficient market is the ideal type. Therefore, we cannot test it directly. The efficient market hypothesis as an ideal type implies that investors can understand accounting information accurately and response quickly and correctly and that, by investors` rational behavior, accounting information should be perfectly reflected in stock prices as soon as it is released. However, in the real world, accounting information does not always present the evident information, which investors can distinguish into good news and bad news instantaneously. Therefore, it is also a mistake to attribute all of the anomalies to the decision biases of investors though such a type of conclusion is often adopted in behavioral finance. Investors receive various accounting information in the complicated information environment. It is necessary for investors to obtain ex-ante and ex-post information for interpreting accounting information. We should investigate the market response to accounting information considering their decision process. Moreover, accounting information has the inherent attributes (or characteristics) such as conservatism. Those attributes may be obstacles for investors to understand accounting information accurately and quickly. How those attributes affect investors`decision has been the main research theme in empirical accounting research. Those studies gain more importance recently.


This article reviews usage of Russian and Chinese currencies in the economies of the five Central Asia countries (CA5) – for trade payments, intergovernmental and commercial loans and also in the official foreign exchange reserves. Information on these matters, unfortunately, is non-regular and very fragmented. However, based on the analysis of available data the author makes the following conclusions. Both the Renminbi and the Rouble are used in the CA5 economies in small scale, while the US Dollar absolutely dominates. Currently the Rouble is more popular than the Renminbi. It is especially visible in those countries, which are the members of the Eurasian Economic Union. Most likely relationship between the US Dollar, the Rouble and the Renminbi in the CA5 economies will not significantly change in the near future. However the usage of the Renminbi may substantially increase, if China removes all restrictions for trans-border capital movements. Also the usage of the Rouble may significantly increase, if Russia takes actions transforming its currency into a regional reserve currency.


BACKGROUND
Dendritic cells (DC) induce tumor or pathogen-specific T cell responses in humans. Several laboratories have developed culture systems, including maturation factors for human DC from peripheral blood monocytes. We comprehensively compared standard maturation stimulus, an autologous monocyte-conditioned medium (MCM), with heparin for their ability to promote uniformly mature DC that elicit T cell responses.

METHODS
A short (4-day) priming of plastic adherent monocytes with granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and IL-4 with or without heparin was followed by 48-hour incubation in MCM to generate fully mature and stable DC. Phenotypic and functional analyses were carried out using anti-CD14 and anti-CD83 monoclonal antibodies, and mixed lymphocyte reaction, respectively.

RESULTS
We found that fully matured DC with a large amount of cytoplasm and copious dendritic projections were visible at the end of culturing period in the presence of MCM, heparin and MCM plus heparin. Thus, DC generated with these maturation factors are non-adherent and have typical satellite morphology. Flow cytometric analysis using anti-CD14 (monocyte marker) and anti-CD83 (mature DC marker) revealed that expression of CD14 decreased in MCM plus heparin-treated DC, and the expression of CD83 was increased when heparin and MCM used as a maturation factor. Functionally, MCM and MCM plus heparin-treated DC showed stronger mixed leukocyte reaction than heparin alone.

CONCLUSION
These results support the use of the MCM with heparin as maturation factor that could result in functionally mature monocyte-derived DC in comparison to either MCM or heparin alone.


Iran's mud volcanoes are clearly visible on the coastal plains of the Oman and Caspian Seas. There are 30 Gatan Mud Volcanoes located in the southeast of Iran: 15 of which are located between Jask and Minab in Hormozgan province, nine are between Chabahar and Jask Ports, and another six are between Chabahar and the Iran-Pakistan border in Sistan and Balouchestan Province. After some studies and investigations, research was performed on some of the mud volcanoes in the western Jask city located in the west of lower Gatan village. Gatan is located in the eastern coast of Hormozgan Province between the counties of Jask and Minab and on the coastal region of Makran. Being located on the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz and due to marine currents, it has certain sedimentology circumstances. Formation of Gatan Mud Volcanoes is a result of rising muddy water along the faults and cracks in the crust to the earth's surface. Results of mineralogical studies indicate that clay and limestone samples contain fossils and abundant minerals include quartz, albite, illite, calcite and dolomite.


Summary form only giving. We study dipole-dipole (d-d) interaction mediated by the whispering gallery modes (WGM) of a dielectric microsphere (with radius a). The dipole A is assumed to be at the north pole on the surface of the microsphere, while the dipole B is at the south pole at a distance d from the surface. We consider both normal and tangential to the surface orientations of the dipoles (henceforth referred to as r-orientation and /spl theta/-orientation, respectively). The d-d interaction can be calculated using dyadic Green's functions, which can be separated out in the free space and the surface components.


To date, no international surveys estimating the burden of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the general population have been published. The Confronting COPD International Survey aimed to quantify morbidity and burden in COPD subjects in 2000. From a total of 201,921 households screened by random-digit dialling in the USA, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, 3,265 subjects with a diagnosis of COPD, chronic bronchitis or emphysema, or with symptoms of chronic bronchitis, were identified. The mean age of the subjects was 63.3 yrs and 44.2% were female. Subjects with COPD in North America and Europe appear to underestimate their morbidity, as shown by the high proportion of subjects with limitations to their basic daily life activities, frequent work loss (45.3% of COPD subjects of <65 yrs reported work loss in the past year) and frequent use of health services (13.8% of subjects required emergency care in the last year), and may be undertreated. There was a significant disparity between subjects' perception of disease severity and the degree of severity indicated by an objective breathlessness scale. Of those with the most severe breathlessness (too breathless to leave the house), 35.8% described their condition as mild or moderate, as did 60.3% of those with the next most severe degree of breathlessness (breathless after walking a few minutes on level ground). This international survey confirmed the great burden to society and high individual morbidity associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in subjects in North America and Europe.


Inflammatory processes play essential roles in the pathogenesis of tendinitis and tendinopathy. These events are accompanied by catabolic processes initiated by pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Pharmacological treatments for tendinitis are restricted to the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Recent studies in various cell models have demonstrated that curcumin targets the NF-κB signaling pathway. However, its potential for the treatment of tendinitis has not been explored. Herein, we used an in vitro model of human tenocytes to study the mechanism of curcumin action on IL-1β-mediated inflammatory signaling. Curcumin at concentrations of 5-20 μm inhibited IL-1β-induced inflammation and apoptosis in cultures of human tenocytes. The anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin included down-regulation of gene products that mediate matrix degradation (matrix metalloproteinase-1, -9, and -13), prostanoid production (cyclooxygenase-2), apoptosis (Bax and activated caspase-3), and stimulation of cell survival (Bcl-2), all known to be regulated by NF-κB. Furthermore, curcumin suppressed IL-1β-induced NF-κB activation via inhibition of phosphorylation and degradation of inhibitor of κBα, inhibition of inhibitor of κB-kinase activity, and inhibition of nuclear translocation of NF-κB. Furthermore, the effects of IL-1β were abrogated by wortmannin, suggesting a role for the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI-3K) pathway in IL-1β signaling. Curcumin suppressed IL-1β-induced PI-3K p85/Akt activation and its association with IKK. These results demonstrate, for the first time, a potential role for curcumin in treating tendon inflammation through modulation of NF-κB signaling, which involves PI-3K/Akt and the tendon-specific transcription factor scleraxis in tenocytes.


This thesis studies natural and anthropogenic determinants of grassland
biodiversity in the Swiss Alps at the levels of plant communities within a landscape
(Chapter 2), species diversity within plant communities (Chapter 2 and 3), biological
interactions between plants and herbivores and pathogens (Chapter 4), and diversity
within a species (Chapter 5-8). Within-species diversity is studied in the widespread and
agriculturally important grass species Poa alpina L.

Conclusion
With our comprehensive study across 12 villages we could demonstrate that
human land use affects biodiversity at all levels and has largely shaped present
biodiversity during the hundreds of years of agricultural activity. Additionally, we
showed that cultural traditions still affect man-made landscape diversity. Still persisting
socio-economic differences among cultural traditions are likely to be responsible for this
cultural effect.
The reduction of labor for farmers by grazing of formerly unfertilized meadows or
abandonment of pastures and meadows will reduce land use diversity, and the number of
parcels of high biological value used at low intensity will decrease. Thus, biodiversity
will decrease both between and within grassland parcels. Therefore, financial incentives
are needed to stop the ongoing changes in agriculture in order not to risk losses in
biodiversity. Financial incentives should promote high biodiversity within parcels of
land, but as not all levels of biodiversity react in the same way a high landscape diversity
at the village level is also necessary.
Unfertilized meadows are the most laborious type of grassland, and therefore they
are most likely to get abandoned, especially when they are steep and at high altitudes and
thereby not easily accessible. Due to their significance for plant species richness and
composition, financial incentives for the conservation of these unfertilized meadows are
especially important.
We showed that, in contrast to widespread reservations against grazing,
particularly low-intensity grazing has several positive aspects at all levels of biodiversity,
and from a biodiversity point of view, grazing is clearly preferable to abandonment of
grasslands.
In summary, to protect biodiversity at all levels of biological integration, a highly
diverse landscape has to be promoted. Therefore, financial incentives should aim at high
land use diversity, which is likely to be most successfully promoted at the village level.
A reduced diversity of land use types or even abandonment of whole regions will
severely reduce biodiversity. At the same time, landscape attractiveness for tourists will
be reduced and the remnants of cultural heritage in the Swiss Alps will be endangered.
The conservation of all levels of biodiversity and of their cultural, esthetical, ecological,
and economic value requires the persistence of the diverse landscapes of the Alps.


Summary Introduction: The paucity of specific standardized criteria leads to uncertainties in clinical practice regarding the management of chronic pancreatitis (CP). Objectives: This paper reports some of the systematic guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of CP recently elaborated by an Italian multicenter study group. We review recommendations on clinical and nutritional aspects of the disease, assessment of pancreatic function, treatment of exocrine pancreatic failure and secondary diabetes, treatment of pain, and prevention of painful relapses. The review also looks at the role of endoscopy in the management of pancreatic pain, pancreatic stones, duct narrowing and dilation, and complications; the appropriate use of various imaging techniques, including endoscopic ultrasound; and the indications for and techniques used in surgical management of CP.


Class actions and shareholder derivative lawsuits are both forms of representative litigation that historically had to be brought in the equity courts to be decided by a judge, rather than in the common-law courts to be decided by a jury. In 1938, the federal courts merged law and equity by passing the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which allowed both legal and equitable claims to be heard within the same civil action. After law and equity merged, the Supreme Court interpreted the Seventh Amendment's preservation of the right to jury trial as including not just actions recognized at common law, but also actions requiring resolution of legal rights. Thus, class and shareholder derivative actions brought in federal courts possess a right to jury trial for any legal claims. Like the federal courts, almost all states have now merged law and equity. However, because the Seventh Amendment does not apply to the states, the right to jury trial in class and shareholder derivative actions varies among states. While a few states appear to deny any right to jury trial in both actions based on their historically equitable nature, some states now likely permit jury trials in both actions. The remaining states appear to recognize a jury trial right in class actions, but not in derivative actions. Unfortunately, most states have not clearly decided the right to jury trial for such actions. This Article surveys the states' treatment of the right to jury trial in these two forms of representative litigation. It argues that no basis exists for state courts to treat derivative actions differently from class actions as to the right to jury trial, and advocates that states should grant the right to jury trial to both actions.


Cell bioprinting technologies aim to fabricate tissue-like constructs by delivering biomaterials layer-by-layer. Bioprinted constructs can reduce the use of animals in drug development and hold promise for addressing the shortage of organs for transplants. We recently introduced a laser-assisted drop-on-demand bioprinting technology termed Laser Induced Side Transfer (LIST). This technology can print delicate cell types, including primary neurons. This bioprinting protocol includes the following key steps: cell harvesting, bio-ink preparation, laser setup priming, printing, and post-printing analysis. This protocol includes a detailed description of the laser setup, which is a rather unusual setup for a biology lab. This should allow easy reproduction by readers with basic knowledge of optics. Although we have focused on neuron bioprinting, interested readers will be able to adapt the protocol to bioprint virtually any cell type.


When plasma tryptophan is elevated by the injection of tryptophan or insulin, or by the consumption of carbohydrates, brain tryptophan and serotonin also rise; however, when even larger elevations of plasma tryptophan are produced by the ingestion of protein-containing diets, brain tryptophan and serotonin do not change. The main determinant of brain tryptophan and serotonin concentrations does not appear to be plasma tryptophan alone, but the ratio of this amino acid to other plasma neutral amino acids (that is, tyrosine, phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine, and valine) that compete with it for uptake into the brain.


We present deep U-band, narrow V-band, and I-band images and photometry of the ultracompact blue dwarf galaxy HS 0822+3542 obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys/High Resolution Channel of the Hubble Space Telescope. This object is also extremely metal-poor [12 + log(O/H) = 7.45] and resides in a nearby void. The images resolve it into two physically separate components that were previously described as star clusters in a single galaxy. The primary component is only ~100 pc in maximum extent and consists of a starburst region surrounded by a ringlike structure of relatively redder stars. The secondary component is ~50 pc in size and lies at a projected distance of ~80 pc away from the primary, and is also actively star-forming. We estimate masses of ~107 and ~106 M☉ for the two components based on their luminosities, with an associated dynamical timescale for the system of a few megayears. This timescale and the structure of the components suggest that a collision between them triggered their starbursts. The spectral energy distributions of both components can be fitted by the combination of a recent (a few megayears old) starburst and an evolved (several gigayears old) underlying stellar population, similar to larger blue compact dwarf galaxies. This indicates that despite its metal deficiency, the object is not forming its first generation of stars. However, the small sizes and masses of the two components suggest that HS 0822+3542 represents a dwarf galaxy in the process of assembling from clumps of stars intermediate in size between globular clusters and objects previously classified as galaxies. Its relatively high ratio of neutral gas mass to stellar mass (~1) and high specific star formation rate, log(SFR/M☉) ≃ -9.2, also suggest that it is still converting much of its gas to stars.


Superhydrophilic graphite surfaces and water-dispersible graphite colloids are obtained by electrochemical exfoliation with hydrophobic graphite electrodes. Such counterintuitive characteristics are caused by partial oxidation and investigated by examining both graphite electrodes and exfoliated particles after electrolysis. The extent of surface oxidation can be explored through contact angle measurement, scanning electron microscope, electrical sheet resistance, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, zeta-potential analyzer, thermogravimetric analysis, UV-visible, and Raman spectroscopy. The degree of wettability of the graphite anode can be altered by the electrolytic current and time. The water contact angle declines generally with increasing the electrolytic current or time. After a sufficient time, the graphite anode becomes superhydrophilic and its hydrophobicity can be recovered by peeling with adhesive tape. This consequence reveals that the anodic graphite is oxidized by oxygen bubbles but the oxidation just occurs at the outer layers of the graphite sheet. Moreover, the characteristics of oxidation revealed by UV peak shift, peak ratio between D and G bands, and negative zeta-potential indicate the presence of graphite oxide on the outer shell of the exfoliated colloids. However, thermogravimetric analysis for the extent of decomposition of oxygen functional groups verifies that the amount of oxygen groups is significantly less than that of graphite oxide prepared via Hummer method. The structure of this partially oxidized graphite may consist of a graphite core covered with an oxidized shell. The properties of the exfoliated colloids are also influenced by pH of the electrolytic solution. As pH is increased, the extent of oxidation descends and the thickness of oxidized shell decreases. Those results reveal that the degree of oxidation of exfoliated nanoparticles can be manipulated simply by controlling pH.


The understanding of the formation of graphene at the atomic scale on Si-terminated 3C-SiC for obtaining high-quality graphene sheets remains elusive, although epitaxial graphene growth has been shown to be a well-known method for economical mass production of graphene/SiC heterojunctions. In this paper, the atomic behavior of carbon atoms on a Si removed 3C-SiC (111) surface for the formation of graphene buffer layer during the early stage of epitaxial graphene growth was investigated using a molecular dynamics simulation. Observation of the behavior of the remaining carbon atoms on the Si-terminated 3C-SiC (111) surface after removal of the silicon atoms revealed that graphene clusters, which were formed by sp2-bonded carbon atoms, start to appear at annealing temperatures higher than 1300 K. Our simulations indicated that the structural stability of the whole system increased as the number of sp2-bonded carbon atoms on the Si-terminated 3C-SiC (111) surface increased. It was also found that the diffusi...


Two cases of Mycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex (MAC) infections are described, and the diagnosis, clinical features, and management of MAC infections are reviewed. In case 1, a four-year-old boy was diagnosed as having both acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and disseminated MAC infection. He was treated with a combination of isoniazid, ethambutol hydrochloride, rifabutin, and clofazimine. Results of susceptibility testing showed that the MAC was susceptible to rifabutin and ethambutol with intermediate susceptibility to isoniazid. The child developed severe adverse effects that necessitated the discontinuation of rifabutin therapy. Despite therapy, blood cultures remained positive for MAC. The child died of disseminated human immunodeficiency virus and MAC infection. In case 2, a 20-month-old girl was found to have a prevertebral retropharyngeal mass caused by MAC. The child did not have evidence of immunologic deficiency. She was treated with streptomycin, ethambutol, clofazimine, and rifabutin. Streptomycin was discontinued after three months. After seven months the mass decreased in size, allowing for surgical resection. Intraoperative cultures were negative for mycobacteria. Ethambutol, rifabutin, and clofazimine were continued for a total of 12 months, at which time the child was determined to be clinically and radiologically cured. Empiric multidrug antituberculous therapy should be initiated in patients with suspected disseminated nontuberculous mycobacterial infection because final isolation, identification, and susceptibility testing may take several weeks. Clofazimine and rifabutin, in combination with isoniazid and ethambutol, may be useful in the treatment of some MAC infections. At least four drugs are given, and regimens often consist of six drugs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


Coalition stability is an important concept in coalition formation. One common assumption in many stability criteria in non-transferable utility games is that the preference of each agent is publicly known, so that a coalition is said to be stable if there is no objections by any sub-group of agents according to the publicly known preferences. However, in many applications including some software agent applications, this assumption is not realistic. Instead, intelligent agents are modeled as individuals with private belief and decisions are made according to those beliefs instead of common knowledge. Such belief based agents architectures have impacts on the coalition's stability which are not reflected in the current stability criteria. In this paper, we extend the classic stability concept of the core by proposing a new belief based stability criterion which we labeled the belief-based core, and give examples to illustrate how the new concept can be used to provide both ex-ante and ex-post analysis of coalition formation mechanism.


The Network File System (NFS) utilizes a stateless protocol between clients and servers; the major advantage of this statelessness is that NFS crash recovery is very easy. However, the protocol requires that data modification operations such as write be fully committed to stable storage before replying to the client. The cost of this is significant in terms of response latency and server CPU and I/O loading. This paper describes a write gathering technique that exploits the fact that there are often several write requests for the same file presented to the server at about the same time. With this technique the data portions of these writes are combined and a single metadata update is done that applies to them all. No replies are sent to the client until after this metadata update has been fully committed, thus the NFS crash recovery design is not violated. This technique can be used in most NFS server implementations and requires no client modifications.


s As a contribution towards search of alternative medicine against emerging resistant pathogenic strains, this study aimed at exploring the antimicrobial activity and identification of the potential bioactive compounds in the commonly used medicinal mushroom (Pycnoporus sanguineus). To achieve this target, the fractions were obtained from methanol and petroleum ether crude extracts and tested in vitro for antimicrobial activities against selected bacterial strains and fungi. The bioactive compounds were identified by GC-MS. Gram positive bacteria were more sensitive to than the gram negative ones. Similarly, methanol fractions had high activity than petroleum ether. Isolated fractions had a MIC value ranging between 12.5 μg mL-1 to >200 μg mL-1 for bacteria and 12.5-100 μg mL-1 for a fungus. Interestingly, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and the multidrug resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus, MD were also sensitive to these fractions as observed by the zones of inhibition. Several bioactive compounds were identified including aliphatic compounds, naphthalene, 2-pentanone, 4-hydroxy-4-methyland fatty acids among others. This diversity highlights this mushroom as a good candidate for prospecting for novel bioactive compounds against many emerging multi-resistant strains, particularly those of S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, the presence of high content of aliphatic hydrocarbons and naphthalene puts this mushroom species on the "myco-diesel" map and a favorable candidate for potent insecticides search, respectively.


The dynamics of phase transitions and hysteresis phenomena in materials with memory is described by a strongly nonlinear coupled system of partial differential equations which, in its generality, can be solved only numerically. Following principles of extended thermodynamics, in this paper we construct a new model for the description of this dynamics based on the Cattaneo-Vernotte law for heat conduction. Models based on the Fourier law follow from this general consideration as special cases. We develop a general procedure for the solution of the resulting systems by their reduction to differential-algebraic systems. Finally, a computational code for the numerical implementation of this procedure is explained in detail, and representative numerical examples are given.


This article reviews and summarizes methods for controlling false positives in animal carcinogenicity studies and promotes an alternative that incorporates historical control information via Bayesian methods. The Bayesian paradigm is used as a procedure generator; however, frequentist multisample, age-stratified exact trend tests are used in the ultimate analysis. Critical values for the exact tests are chosen to maximize total expected power, conditional on tumor totals, by using prior distributions. To control the risk of a false-positive finding for one or more tumor types, the sum of the individual critical levels is constrained to be less than a nominal familywise error rate, such as .05. The resulting tests give more power to tumor types with higher-than-expected tumor totals. We use historical control data from animal carcinogenicity studies obtained from a large pharmaceutical company to train and evaluate the tests. There is greatly enhanced power of the proposed method, with concurrent error rate control, because the targeting procedure gives higher power to affected sites, and the procedure tends to produce critical values that are as small as possible overall (implying higher power), subject to the overall risk level constraint. Randomly sampling from real historical animal populations, we compare operating characteristics of various methods proposed in the literature and requested by regulatory agencies. Commonly used methods can have greatly inflated false-positive rates, particularly with larger studies. In some cases, we find greater power for the proposed method, even compared to methods that do not control false positives.


As tokamak research moves to reactor conditions, the control of a stable, optimally-detached divertor plasma has become increasingly relevant. Simple predictions of such detachment control have been performed previously using the detachment location sensitivity (DLS) model (Lipschultz et al 2016 Nucl. Fusion 56 056007). In this study the DLS model is extended and combined with SOLPS-ITER simulations of isolated divertor grids to study the effects of alternate divertor magnetic field properties on detachment control. The DLS model predicts that divertors can achieve easier access to detachment through a long connection length, a high total flux expansion, and a high average magnetic field in the divertor compared with that at the x-point. SOLPS-ITER simulations suggest an even stronger impact of total flux expansion and connection length on detachment access than the DLS model predicts. In terms of detachment evolution, both simulation and modelling show a high gradient in the total magnetic field and low BpolB are able to more easily keep a detachment front at a desired poloidal location. Regions with no stable detachment front locations can arise for high magnetic field gradients directed towards the target. Significant differences have been found between impurity scan simulations and the DLS model. These differences may be attributed to sources and sinks of power and electron pressure, and should be explored further in future work.


This paper presents a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) implementation of a conscience mechanism used to improve the effectiveness of learning in the winner-takes-all (WTA) artificial neural networks (ANNs) realized at the transistor level. This mechanism makes it possible to eliminate the effect of the so-called ¿dead neurons,¿ which do not take part in the learning phase competition. These neurons usually have a detrimental effect on the network performance, increasing the quantization error. The proposed mechanism comes as part of the analog implementation of the WTA neural networks (NNs) designed for applications to ultralow power portable diagnostic devices for online analysis of ECG biomedical signals. The study presents Matlab simulations of the network's model, discusses postlayout circuit level simulations and includes results of measurement completed for the physical realization of the circuit.


In charting the history of the amnesty and amnesty-like measures in South Africa, this paper will begin in Part 2 by providing a brief overview of the apartheid system and the violations committed by the parties to the conflict that resulted. Then in Part 3 it will explore the triggers that forced the apartheid regime to move towards a negotiated transition. Part 4 will discuss the origins of the amnesty question in the transition through the struggle to define political crimes. Part 5 will consider the evolving positions of the government and the ANC towards amnesty and truth recovery in a context of high levels of violence and greater public knowledge of the crimes committed by both sides. Part 6 will explore the amnesty provisions in the postamble to the Interim Constitution 1993. Part 7 will briefly discuss the implementation of the 1990 and 1992 indemnity laws following the transfer of power. The provisions of the Interim Constitution relating to amnesty were given more detail in the subsequent Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act 1995, which created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), with its Amnesty Committee. This work of this commission will be explored in Part 8 and Part 9 will analyse the mandate and operations of the Amnesty Committee. Part 10 will evaluate how far the South African amnesty process achieved the goals outlined in the Promotion of National Unity and Reconciliation Act. Then, Part 11 will explore the relationship between the amnesty and trials, and in particular, it will discuss how the new National Prosecution Policy and the possibility of presidential pardons for political prisoners affect the legacy of the TRC. This paper will argue that South Africa provides an important case study that highlights that prosecutions and amnesty can co-exist and be complementary. Furthermore, the question of who was eligible for amnesty within South Africa raised interesting questions in relation to whether violent crimes could be defined as political, whether the crimes of the apartheid state should be treated equally to the crimes of its opponents, and the extent to which truth recovery can be incorporated in different models of amnesty, indemnity and prison releases.


A protein‐encaged superparamagnetic iron oxide has been developed and characterized by using horse spleen apoferritin as a novel bioreactive environment. The roughly spherical magnetoferritin molecules, 120 Å in diameter, are composed of a monocrystalline maghemite or magnetite core 73 Å ± 14 in diameter. Except for the additional presence of iron‐rich molecules of higher molecular weight, the appearance and molecular weight (450 kd) of magnetoferritin are identical to that of natural ferritin; the molecules are externally indistinguishable from their precursor, with a pI (isoelectric point) in the range 4.3–4.6. The measured magnetic moment of the superparamagnetic cores is 13,200 Bohr magnetons per molecule, with T1 and T2 relaxivities (r1 and r2) of 8 and 175 L‐mmol−1 (Fe)‐sec−1, respectively, at body temperature and clinical field strengths. The unusually high r2/r1 ratio of 22 is thought to arise from ideal core composition, with no evidence of crystalline paramagnetic inclusions. T2 relaxation enhancement can be well correlated to the field‐dependent molecular magnetization, as given by the Langevin magnetization function, raised to a power in the range 1.4–1.6. With its nanodimensional biomimetic protein cage as a rigid, convenient matrix for complexing a plethora of bioactive substances, magnetoferritin may provide a novel template for specific targeting of selected cellular sites.


Soil moisture is a main factor for the study of drought impacts on vegetation. Drought is a regional phenomenon and affects the food security more than any other natural disaster. Currently, the monitoring of different types of drought is based on indexes that standardize in temporal and regional level allowing, thus, comparison of water conditions in different areas. Therefore, in order to assess the impact of soil moisture during periods of drought, drought Palmer Severity Index was estimated for the entire region of the territory. For this were used meteorological data (rainfall and evapotranspiration) and soil (field capacity, permanent wilting point and water storage in the soil). The data field capacity and wilting point were obtained from the physical properties of soil; while the water storage in soil was calculated considering the water balance model. The results of the PSDI were evaluated during the years 2000 to 2015, which correspond to periods with and without occurrence of drought. In order to assess the future drought projections, considering the set of the Coupled Model Intercomparison rainfall data Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Climate projections precipitation in CMIP5 for the period 2071-2100 was extracted generating entitled forcing scenarios Representative Concentration Pathways - RCPs, and referred to as RCOP 8.5, corresponding to an approximate radiative forcing the end the twenty-first century of 8.5 Wm-2. The results showed that the PDSI is directly associated with climatological patterns of precipitation and soil moisture in any spatial and temporal scale (including future projections). Therefore, it is concluded that the PDSI is an important index to assess soil moisture different water conditions, as well as the association with economic and social information to create risk maps for subsidies to decision makers.


ABSTRACT Numerous stressful conditions activate kinases that phosphorylate the alpha subunit of translation initiation factor 2 (eIF2α), thus attenuating mRNA translation and activating a gene expression program known as the integrated stress response. It has been noted that conditions associated with eIF2α phosphorylation, notably accumulation of unfolded proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), or ER stress, are also associated with activation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and that eIF2α phosphorylation is required for NF-κB activation by ER stress. We have used a pharmacologically activable version of pancreatic ER kinase (PERK, an ER stress-responsive eIF2α kinase) to uncouple eIF2α phosphorylation from stress and found that phosphorylation of eIF2α is both necessary and sufficient to activate both NF-κB DNA binding and an NF-κB reporter gene. eIF2α phosphorylation-dependent NF-κB activation correlated with decreased levels of the inhibitor IκBα protein. Unlike canonical signaling pathways that promote IκBα phosphorylation and degradation, eIF2α phosphorylation did not increase phosphorylated IκBα levels or affect the stability of the protein. Pulse-chase labeling experiments indicate instead that repression of IκBα translation plays an important role in NF-κB activation in cells experiencing high levels of eIF2α phosphorylation. These studies suggest a direct role for eIF2α phosphorylation-dependent translational control in activating NF-κB during ER stress.


Next generation wireless cellular networks aim at supporting real-time multimedia services and to have smaller cell structures like micro/pico cells. Small-size cells increase the handoff rate drastically. As a result, it is a challenge to provide stable QoS in these networks. We introduce a novel connection-level bandwidth controller framework to provide better QoS and to utilize the limited bandwidth efficiently. Both user mobility and the adaptive nature of multimedia services are taken into consideration. The framework combines a call admission control algorithm and a bandwidth adaptation algorithm. Simulation results show the strength of our proposed framework.


The eukaryotic replisome disassembles parental chromatin at DNA replication forks, but then plays a poorly understood role in the re‐deposition of the displaced histone complexes onto nascent DNA. Here, we show that yeast DNA polymerase α contains a histone‐binding motif that is conserved in human Pol α and is specific for histones H2A and H2B. Mutation of this motif in budding yeast cells does not affect DNA synthesis, but instead abrogates gene silencing at telomeres and mating‐type loci. Similar phenotypes are produced not only by mutations that displace Pol α from the replisome, but also by mutation of the previously identified histone‐binding motif in the CMG helicase subunit Mcm2, the human orthologue of which was shown to bind to histones H3 and H4. We show that chromatin‐derived histone complexes can be bound simultaneously by Mcm2, Pol α and the histone chaperone FACT that is also a replisome component. These findings indicate that replisome assembly unites multiple histone‐binding activities, which jointly process parental histones to help preserve silent chromatin during the process of chromosome duplication.


In this paper, we investigate the three-dimensional instability of a counter-rotating vortex pair to short waves, which are of the order of the vortex core size, and less than the inter-vortex spacing. Our experiments involve detailed visualizations and velocimetry to reveal the spatial structure of the instability for a vortex pair, which is generated underwater by two rotating plates. We discover, in this work, a symmetrybreaking phase relationship between the two vortices, which we show to be consistent with a kinematic matching condition for the disturbances evolving on each vortex. In this sense, the instabilities in each vortex evolve in a coupled, or 'cooperative', manner. Further results demonstrate that this instability is a manifestation of an elliptic instability of the vortex cores, which is here identified clearly for the first time in a real open flow. We establish a relationship between elliptic instability and other theoretical instability studies involving Kelvin modes. In particular, we note that the perturbation shape near the vortex centres is unaffected by the finite size of the cores. We find that the long-term evolution of the flow involves the inception of secondary transverse vortex pairs, which develop near the leading stagnation point of the pair. The interaction of these short-wavelength structures with the long-wavelength Crow instability is studied, and we observe significant modifications in the longevity of large vortical structures.


The festival of 'Holi' is proving to be an environmental risk due to the toxic colors used during the celebrations. Unlimited and uncontrolled use of such dyes can lead to grave consequences in terms of human health and ecological balance. These colors are highly structured polymers and are very difficult to decompose biologically. This study was taken up with an initiative to determine the extent of effects that the 'Holi' colors have on water and soil, respectively. The bacteria inhabiting these contaminated water and soil samples were isolated for biochemical analyses. Their ability to degrade these dyes was determined after optimization studies. Toxic trials were conducted on certain bacterial cultures and Triticum vulgare to check their impact on the other living flora and fauna in their surrounding environment. After carefully monitoring the dye degradation capacity of these bacteria, they were used for bioremediation purposes, giving promising results. The impact assessment and damage control led to safer methods of getting rid of the 'Holi' dyes, in order to save our environment.


We propose and analyze the architecture for a large-scale high-speed multicast switch called MSXmin. The hardware complexity of MSXmin is O(N log/sup 2/ N) which compares favorably with existing architectures. Further, the internal latency of the MSXmin is O(log/sup 2/ N) bits. While it is superior to the existing architectures in terms of the hardware complexity and the internal latency, it is comparable to other multicast switches in terms of the header overhead and translation table complexity. MSXmin is output buffered and based on the group knockout principle. Moreover, MSXmin is a dual-bit-controlled tree-based switch.


Awoman in her 40s presented with a 5-year history of spreading blanchable, purple, asymptomatic macules on her bilateral lower extremities. Her medical history was notable for an undifferentiated connective tissue disorder with associated joint pain, and she was receiving chloroquine phosphate and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs. Physical examination revealed telangiectasias coalescing into purple-blue patches on bilateral dorsal feet and toes (Figure, A). The telangiectasias extended up to her knees bilaterally. She had palpable pulses bilaterally. The patient had normal arterial brachial indexes bilaterally and minimal reflux in the right common femoral vein on a venous duplex. The antinuclear antibody value was 1:320, but factor V Leiden, protein C, protein S, and partial thromboplastin time were normal. She also had negative cryoglobulins, cryofibrinogens, and cold agglutinins. A 4-mm punch biopsy was performed of a sample from her left forefoot (Figure, B and C). What is your diagnosis?


The results of a series of studies have provided noise control engineers with a method to estimate off-site construction noise levels and the cost of reducing these to acceptable levels. From these studies, methods of selecting noise control methods for construction equipment and processes have been developed and presented in matrix format. Research into the cost of equipment noise control provides data which can be used to extrapolate costs to today's dollars. To test these findings, noise control at U. S. Army base construction sites was analyzed. Noise control for one of the noisiest pieces of equipment at a construction site, a pile driver, was designed and estimates for costs were made. Noise control effectiveness and costs were evaluated at a demonstration project.


Keratins are a major constituent of the epidermal cell cytoskeleton. Apart from their contribution to cell ability to resist mechanical stress, they have been shown to regulate additional biological processes of importance such as protein synthesis, cell migration and apoptosis. Much of this knowledge has been gained through the study of rare disorders, known as keratinopathies, which are caused by mutations in genes encoding the various epidermal keratins. Recently, novel therapeutic approaches for keratin disorders have been tested successfully, thus raising new hopes for the treatment of this group of inherited skin diseases.

Key concepts

Keratins are major constituent of epithelial cell cytoskeleton and confer to the cell the ability to resist mechanical stress.

Keratins play additional nonstructural role such regulation of cell growth, protein synthesis, cell migration and apoptosis.

Keratin disorders manifest with clinical and pathological features that reflect the site of expression of the mutant keratins and the specific function of the keratin domain affected by the causative mutation.

Keratin disorders are characterized by genetic heterogeneity, namely a single clinical phenotype can result from mutations in different (but sometimes functionally related) genes (e.g. epidermolysis bullosa caused by mutations in at least five genes).

Keratin disorders are characterized by phenotypic heterogeneity, namely mutations in the very same gene can give rise to multiple distinct phenotypes (e.g. mutations in KRT1 can cause at least four distinct diseases).

Keratin mutations exert a dominant negative effect; hence current approaches are aimed at eliminating the mutant proteins from the skin. Based on this concept, a first clinical trial in humans has recently been launched to test the effect of a siRNA to treat pachyonychia congenita.

Keywords:

keratin;
epidermolysis bullosa;
ichthyosis;
nail;
skin


Background It is reported that the iron-responsive element-binding protein 2 (IREB2) gene rs2568494 polymorphism might be associated with COPD risk. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to collect all eligible studies to review the association between IREB2 gene rs2568494 polymorphism and susceptibility to COPD. Material/Methods We carried out a comprehensive document search of electronic databases of PubMed, MEDLIN, Web of Science, and included 4 eligible studies that examined the association between IREB2 rs2568494 polymorphism and COPD susceptibility. We performed a meta-analysis of these studies based on IREB2 rs2568494 genotypes. Results After meta-analysis with fixed or random effects, no significant associations were found under the heterozygote model (GG/GA; OR=0.908, 95%CI: 0.790–1.043; P=0.172), homozygote model (GG/AA; OR=0.880, 95%CI: 0.497–1.557; P=0.661), dominant model (GG/AA+GA; OR=0.941, 95%CI: 0.748–1.182; P=0.599), or allelic model (G/A; OR=0.953, 95%CI: 0.770–1.179; P=0.655). However, we found a significant correlation under the recessive model (AA/GA+GG; OR=1.384, 95%CI: 1.092–1.755; P=0.007). Conclusions The current results revealed that there was significant association between IREB2 gene rs2568494 polymorphism with susceptibility to COPD; the presence of allelic A might a genetic factor conferring susceptibility to COPD.


This study compares and contrasts the uses of 'function' in osteopathy and in a closely related area of conventional medicine, viz., orthopaedic surgery. Function is a fundamental concept in both; but a survey of the literature, and an initial analysis of the language used by practitioners in a sample of case studies, suggests that while orthopaedic surgeons focus on local failures of physiological function (Fphys), osteopaths are concerned with such failures in the global context of the whole body (Fglob). This is closely related to individual patients' expectations in relation to their overall ability to function (Fpt). The musculo-skeletal system, with which osteopaths are expert, is shown to be particularly significant for understanding Fphys, Fpt and Fglob. These uses of function are further analysed by drawing on the philosophical literature. This is shown to focus, like orthopaedic surgeons, mainly on biological function (Fbiol which includes Fphys). In consequence, it is argued, the philosophical literature has under-emphasised the significance of context in defining functional norms. Certain authors have recognised the importance of context for the functioning of people (i. e. as Fpt); in this thesis, by contrast, context is shown to be important in defining functional norms at all levels, including the physiological/biological. In respect of the relationship between osteopathy and conventional medicine, it is concluded that Fglob (as employed more by osteopaths) involves explaining the clinical significance of local dysfunction in the broad context of patients' activities, and Fphys (as employed more by orthopaedic surgeons) involves categorising local dysfunction in terms of referential standards. The concept of agency, although not examined in detail, emerges as the key to linking the role of context in the meaning of function statements to the intentions and self-perception of patients in clinical practice. Because of the special role of the musculo-skeletal system in enacting agency, osteopathy offers particular insights into the contextual nature of function statements.


Chemically synthesized FePt nanocrystals can exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism after being annealed at temperatures above 500degC. In thick films composed of FePt nanocrystals, the coercivity can be quite large. However, the coercivity of thin films has been found to decrease significantly with decreasing thickness, to the point that ferromagnetism at room temperature is lost. We studied 12 to 55 nm thick films by using magnetic force microscopy (MFM) under external applied fields. We made smooth films by spin casting 4-nm-diameter FePt nanocrystals and annealing them at 605degC-630degC. Thin FePt films showed lower coercivity than thick films. To help interpret the MFM images, we obtained complementary magnetic and structural data by superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction. We conclude that the magnetic properties of these films are strongly affected by nanocrystal aggregation that occurs during annealing


This paper performs a Structural VAR analysis on UK economy using quarterly non-interpolated data from 1981 to 2005 in the attempt to verify and quantify private consumption's response to different components of public expenditure (government consumption, social spending and wage component). Our findings suggest that any empirical support of competing theoretical models on the issue would probably benefit from a disaggregation of government expenditure, rather than focusing on the aggregate measure. In fact, while shocks to pure government consumption trigger a RBC-like reduction in private consumption, shocks to the non-systematic component of social spending generate positive reaction, in line with the "credit-constrained-agents" approach. The cumulative impact on GDP after three years of a government spending shock (close to a negative 1% of GDP) is twice as much the social spending shock, with opposite sign. Government wage shocks do not seem to have any significant effects on private consumption. Public expenditure composition, rather than level, seems to be actually playing the most crucial role when it comes to aggregate demand support via effects on private consumption.


First-principles calculations are used to investigate the interaction of self-interstitial aggregates with the 90° partial dislocation in Si. We find that I4 is bound to the line with an energy of around 3 eV. The defect causes deep levels to appear in the band gap and optical transitions between these levels may account for the luminescent bands relating to plastically deformed Si.


In the light of reports of latent membrane protein (LMP) expression by Hodgkin and Reed—Sternberg (HRS) cells, paraffin sections of tonsil (two cases), lymph nodes (eight cases; three cervical, one axillary, and four inguinal) and spleen (four cases) from 14 patients with acute infectious mononucleosis (IM) have been examined for the presence of HRS‐like cells and immunostained with an antibody to LMP. Sections of the tonsils and one lymph node were also stained with a panel of antibodies which characterize HRS cells of Hodgkin's disease. The tonsils contained abundant HRS‐like cells, mainly adjacent to the crypts, which were highlighted by strong LMP expression. The immunophenotype of these cells closely, but not completely, resembled that of HRS cells of Hodgkin's disease. The lymph nodes and spleens showed the typical changes of acute IM but only few LMP‐positive HRS‐like cells were present in the cervical lymph nodes and hardly any were present in the inguinal nodes and spleen. These findings suggest that tonsillar crypt squamous epithelium may play a role in the formation of LMP‐positive HRS‐like cells; these cells could be progenitors of Hodgkin's disease HRS cells and, if so, this might explain the restricted sites of presentation of Hodgkin's disease.


Purpose Risk factors for wound complications or 30-day mortality after major amputation in patients with peripheral arterial disease remain unclear. We investigated the outcomes of major amputation in patients with peripheral arterial disease. Methods Patients who underwent major amputation from 2008 to 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. The main outcome measures were risk factors for wound complications and 30-day mortality after major lower limb amputations. Major amputation was defined as above-knee amputation or below-knee amputation. Wound complications were defined as surgical site infection or wound dehiscence. Results In total, 106 consecutive patients underwent major amputation. The average age was 77.3 ± 11.2 years, 67.9% of patients had diabetes mellitus and 35.8% were undergoing hemodialysis. Patients who underwent primary amputation constituted 61.9% of the cohort, and the proportions of above-knee amputation and below-knee amputation were 66.9% and 33.1%, respectively. The wound complication rate was 13.3% overall, 10.3% in above-knee amputation, and 19.5% in below-knee amputation. Multivariate analysis showed that the risk factors for wound complications were female sex (hazard ratio, 4.66; 95% confidence interval, 1.40–17.3; P = 0.01) and below-knee amputation (hazard ratio, 4.36; 95% confidence interval, 1.20–17.6; P = 0.03). The 30-day mortality rate was 7.6%, pneumonia comprised the most frequent cause of 30-day mortality, followed by sepsis and cardiac death. Multivariate analysis showed that a low serum albumin concentration (hazard ratio, 3.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.12–16.3; P = 0.03) was a risk factor for 30-day mortality. Conclusions Female sex and below-knee amputation were risk factors for wound complications. A low serum albumin concentration was a risk factor for 30-day mortality after major amputation in Japanese patients with peripheral arterial disease.


The granitoids of the northern part of Adamawa Massif in northeastern Nigeria have been differentiated based on field and petrochemical data into the granodiorite and granites. Although there are slight mineralogical and geochemical differences between the granodiorite and the granites (e.g. Rb/Sr ratios lower in granodiorite than the granites), the two rock units have similar geochemical characteristics. The rocks are characterized by a wide range in SiO2, Calc-alkaline affinity, syn- to within-plate granite signatures, metaluminous to peraluminous composition and more K2O-rich and hypersthenes-poor comparable to fractionated I-type granitoids. The rocks display slightly fractionated to fractionated LREE, almost flat HREE patterns, with significant negative EU and Ba anomalies, Linear major element trends and progressive rise in SiO2, K2O, Rb and Rb/Sr ratios with depleting MgO, Fe2O3, CaO, TiO2, Sr and Ba consistent with removal of plagioclase during fractionation of basic melts to yield silicic magma. This linear trend is reflected in the normative mineralogy where orthoclase and quartz increase from granodiorite to the granites whereas other minerals behave in a reverse manner. Based on field and petrochemical features, the granodiorites and the granites of south Adamawa Massif are I-type, generated in a syn- to within-plate collision-related tectonic setting and genetically related to a common source by fractional crystallization dominated by the removal from the melt hornblende, plagioclase, biotite, K-feldspar and accessory phases such as apatie, epidote and zircon.


Sensors capable of transducing G-quadruplex DNA binding are important both in solution and for imaging and interrogation in cellulo. Ru(II)-based light switches incorporating dipyridylphenazine (dppz) ligands are effective probes for recognition and imaging of DNA and its polymorphs including G-quadruplex, although selectivity is a limitation. While the majority of Ru(II)-based light switches reported to date, stabilize the quadruplex, imaging/theranostic probes that can disrupt G4s are of potentially enormous value in study and therapy for a range of disease states. We report here, on a Ru(II) complex (Ru-PDC3) that assembles the light switch capability of a Ru(II) dipyridylphenazine complex with the well-known G4-selective ligand Phen-DC3, into a single structure. The complex shows the anticipated light switch effect and strong affinity for G4 structures. Affinity depended on the G4 topology and sequence, but across all structures bar one, it was roughly an order of magnitude greater than for duplex or single-stranded DNA. Moreover, photophysical and Raman spectral data showed clear discrimination between duplex DNA and G4-bound structures offering the prospect of discrimination in imaging as well as in solution. Crucially, unlike the constituent components of the probe, Ru-PDC3 is a powerful G4 disrupter. From circular dichroism (CD), a reduction of ellipticity of the G4 between 70 and 95% was observed depending on topology and in many cases was accompanied by an induced CD signal for the metal complex. The extent of change in ellipticity is amongst the largest reported for small-molecule ligand G4 binding. While a promising G4 probe, without modification, the complex is fully water-soluble and readily permeable to live cells.


Experimental surveys in the peak feeding season of sandeel (April-May) show that the abundance and geographical distribution of schooling lesser sandeels (Ammodytes marinus) can be acoustically measured, but the density measures are affected by the proportion of sandeel burrowed in the sand. An adequate sampling tool of individuals in the sand is needed to quantify the acoustic availability and understand the dynamic of the sandeel behavioural. The grab has high catch efficiency, but the operation is time consuming and even small stones may prevent the mouth to close properly. Therefore, a modified scallop dredge is preferred in Norwegian and Danish sandeel surveys, but little is known about the catching properties and catch efficiency of the dredge. In this study, the efficiency of the dredge was estimated by comparing it with the catch rates of a Van Veen grab. Moreover, the precision of the dredge was examined in a parallel towing experiment. Grab and dredge samples carried out at the same positions showed no difference in size distributions of sandeels in the catches, but the average catch of individuals per m was considerably higher in the grab. Assuming a 100% catch efficiency of the grab, the catch efficiency in the dredge was estimated to be 5.7% (SD = 6.3%). The low efficiency may question the sampling reliability of the dredge, but the catch rates of the parallel dredge hauls were strongly correlated (r=0.90) and suggest that the dredge provides a relatively precise measure of the density of sandeel at a location. Thus, as all lesser sandeels probably are in the seabed at night, the difference in catch rates at night and the subsequent day at a given location will presumably reflect the acoustic availability. However, the low catch efficiency calls for the development of a more efficient sampling dredge.


This article considers ways to enhance the conceptualization of Black deaf women's lived experiences through an intersectional lens. An intersectional framework places emphasis on how social constructions of blackness, gender, and deafness shape the identity and experiences of Black deaf women. To outline the need for such a theory, this article first examines social constructions of Black deaf women in the intersections of race, gender, and deafness in comparison to current research. Second, I discuss the relevancy of social theories (i.e., critical race feminism, feminist disability theory, and theoretical approaches prominent in critical deaf studies) in providing a conceptual framework for an analysis of identity in relation to race, gender, and disability. Finally, I introduce the tenants of Black Deaf feminism and discuss the ways Black Deaf feminism enhances intersectionality by centering the lived experience from the standpoint of Black deaf women.


Alternative footwear are those that are most commonly used for casual or recreational purposes, over the course of the day. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of three forms of alternative footwear (thong style flip-flops, clog style Crocs®, and Vibram Five-Fingers®) on balance with a low-intensity workload. Eighteen healthy male adults (age: 22.9 ± 2.88 years; height: 179 ± 6.0 cm; mass: 81.3 ± 8.8 kg) participated in this study. Balance performance along with electromyographic (EMG) measures was assessed with sensory organization test (SOT) and motor control test on the Neurocom Equitest, while donning alternative footwear, prior to and after a one-mile walk at a self-selected pace. Sway velocities and root-mean-square sway, SOT equilibrium scores, postural response latencies, and EMG measures from lower leg muscles were analysed using a 3 × 2 (footwear × time) repeated-measures ANOVA. Results from balance variables revealed a significant main effect difference for footwear in the eyes closed and eyes open sway-referenced vision conditions and a significant main effect difference for time in the eyes open, eyes open sway-referenced vision, and eyes open sway-referenced platform conditions. Pairwise comparisons revealed MIN demonstrating significantly greater balance performance in the pretest condition and the post-test demonstrating significantly lower balance performance. Greater balance performance from MIN could be attributed to the barefoot design suggesting an increase in somatosensory feedback from the plantar surface, particularly during absent or conflicting visual feedback. The lower balance performance seen in post-test could be attributed to the one-mile walk, suggesting that even a transient physiological workload could be sufficient to cause balance decrements in alternative footwear.


- Data mining is the analysis step of the "Knowledge Discovery in Databases", It is the process that results in the detection of new patterns in large data sets. The main aim of data mining is to pull out knowledge from an existing dataset and transform it into a flexible structure. In data mining association rule is a popular and easy method to find frequent itemsets from large datasets. In general frequent itemsets are generated from large data sets by applying association rule mining take too much computer time to compute all the frequent itemsets. By using Genetic Algorithm (GA) we can improve the results of association rule mining. Our main purpose is by Genetic Algorithm to generate high quality Association Rules, by which we can get four data qualities like accuracy, comprehensibility, interestingness and completeness. Genetic Algorithms are powerful and widely applicable stochastic search and optimization methods based on the concepts of natural selection and natural evaluation. The advantage of using genetic algorithm is to discover high level prediction rules is that they perform a global search and cope better with attribute interaction than the greedy rule induction algorithm often used in data mining. The main aim of this paper is to find all the frequent itemsets from given data sets using genetic algorithm. In this paper we are using the large dataset and our Experimental results on this dataset show the effectiveness of our approach. This paper provides the major improvement in the approaches for association rule mining using genetic algorithms.


The horse was an integral part of Renaissance culture, not only as a beast of burden but also as a sign of rank and status. For the nobility equitation was an essential skill, both socially and militarily. Horses played a pivotal role in warfare and often wore armour as elaborate and expensive as that of their riders. Drawing exclusively from the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, this catalogue features various types of European horse armour dating from 1480 to 1620. Splendid examples, many of which are unpublished or rarely seen, are examined in terms of style, construction, and decoration. Exhibition schedule: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 February 2005 to 15 January 2006.