ABSTRACT A vaccine against enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is needed to prevent diarrheal illness among children in developing countries and at-risk travelers. Two live attenuated ETEC strains, PTL002 and PTL003, which express the ETEC colonization factor CFA/II, were evaluated for safety and immunogenicity. In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 19 subjects ingested one dose, and 21 subjects ingested two doses (days 0 and 10) of PTL-002 or PTL-003 at 2 × 109 CFU/dose. Anti-CFA/II mucosal immune responses were determined from the number of antibody-secreting cells (ASC) in blood measured by enzyme-linked immunospot assay, the antibody in lymphocyte supernatants (ALS) measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and fecal immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels determined by ELISA. Time-resolved fluorescence (TRF) ELISA was more sensitive than standard colorimetric ELISA for measuring serum antibody responses to CFA/II and its components, CS1 and CS3. Both constructs were well tolerated. Mild diarrhea occurred after 2 of 31 doses (6%) of PTL-003. PTL-003 produced more sustained intestinal colonization than PTL-002 and better IgA response rates: 90% versus 55% (P = 0.01) for anti-CFA/II IgA-ASCs, 55% versus 30% (P = 0.11) for serum anti-CS1 IgA by TRF, and 65% versus 25% (P = 0.03) for serum anti-CS3 IgA by TRF. Serum IgG response rates to CS1 or CS3 were 55% in PTL-003 recipients and 15% in PTL-002 recipients (P = 0.02). Two doses of either strain were not significantly more immunogenic than one. Based on its superior immunogenicity, which was comparable to that of a virulent ETEC strain and other ETEC vaccine candidates, PTL-003 will be developed further as a component of a live, oral attenuated ETEC vaccine.


The cytochromes P450 are a versatile range of mono-oxygenase enzymes that catalyze a variety of different chemical reactions, of which the key reactions include aliphatic hydroxylation and C=C double bond epoxidation. To establish the fundamental factors that govern substrate epoxidation by these enzymes we have done a systematic density functional theory study on substrate epoxidation by the active species of P450 enzymes, namely the iron(IV)-oxo porphyrin cation radical oxidant or Compound I. We show here, for the first time, that the rate constant of substrate epoxidation, and hence the activation energy, correlates with the ionization potential of the substrate as well as with intrinsic electronic properties of the active oxidant such as the polarizability volume. To explain these findings we present an electron-transfer model for the reaction mechanism that explains the factors that determine the barrier heights and developed a valence bond (VB) curve crossing mechanism to rationalize the observed trends. In addition, we have found a correlation for substrate epoxidation reactions catalyzed by a range of heme and nonheme iron(IV)-oxo oxidants with the strength of the O-H bond in the iron-hydroxo complex, i.e. BDE(OH), which is supported by the VB model. Finally, the fundamental factors that determine the regioselectivity change between substrate hydroxylation and epoxidation are discussed. It is shown that the regioselectivity of aliphatic hydroxylation versus double bond epoxidation is not influenced by the choice of the oxidant but is purely substrate dependent.


Abstract The temporal‐focus hypothesis claims that whether people conceptualize the past or the future as in front of them depends on their cultural attitudes toward time; such conceptualizations can be independent from the space–time metaphors expressed through language. In this paper, we study how Chinese people conceptualize time on the sagittal axis to find out the respective influences of language and culture on mental space–time mappings. An examination of Mandarin speakers' co‐speech gestures shows that some Chinese spontaneously perform past‐in‐front/future‐at‐back (besides future‐in‐front/past‐at‐back) gestures, especially when gestures are accompanying past‐in‐front/future‐at‐back space–time metaphors (Exp. 1). Using a temporal performance task, the study confirms that Chinese can conceptualize the future as behind and the past as in front of them, and that such space–time mappings are affected by the different expressions of Mandarin space–time metaphors (Exp. 2). Additionally, a survey on cultural attitudes toward time shows that Chinese tend to focus slightly more on the future than on the past (Exp. 3). Within the Chinese sample, we did not find evidence for the effect of participants' cultural temporal attitudes on space–time mappings, but a cross‐cultural comparison of space–time mappings between Chinese, Moroccans, and Spaniards provides strong support for the temporal‐focus hypothesis. Furthermore, the results of Exp. 2 are replicated even after controlling for factors such as cultural temporal attitudes and age (Exp. 3), which implies that linguistic sagittal temporal metaphors can indeed influence Mandarin speakers' space–time mappings. The findings not only contribute to a better understanding of Chinese people's sagittal temporal orientation, but also have additional implications for theories on the mental space–time mappings and the relationship between language and thought.


The main purpose of this study is to examine the legal status of the requirement of democratic elections in international law. The starting point of this legal analysis is article 38 (1) of the International Court of Justice, which provides the list of classical sources for the process of law making within the international legal system. In this article, international conventions, international custom and general principles of law are listed as the primary sources of making rules of international law, while writings of learned publicists are listed as the subsidiary sources. My thesis is that if the analysis undertaken in this study reveals that the requirement of democratic elections is recognised by any of the primary sources, then it is part of the binding body of international law. However, from methodological point of view other sources beyond those listed in Article 38(1) e.g. resolutions of international organisations have been included in the analysis of international law making in this study. In order to determine the legal status of the requirement of democratic elections, an analysis is undertaken on global as well as regional human rights treaties within the international human rights system, if any, which recognise the requirement of democratic elections. Other sources e.g. the writings of learned publicists, judicial decisions, declaratory pronouncements at both the universal and regional levels as well as State constitutions are also analysed with a view to expose whether they embody the requirements of democratic elections. Finally, an extensive study of contemporary state practices, which might confirm if there is a trend of international law developing in pro-democratic directions, is also undertaken. Such a trend lends support to the requirement of democratic elections being part of customary international law. The examples of such practices analysed include the international community efforts in the monitoring and supervision of elections and recognition of states and governments. The author reaches a legally appropriate conclusion concerning the legal status of the requirement of democratic elections in international law based upon the results of the above analysis.


Abstract Novel oral anticoagulants, direct thrombin inhibitors, and factor Xa inhibitors are being introduced into clinical practice. In contrast to vitamin K antagonists, such as warfarin, these novel agents, because of their relatively wide therapeutic range and predictable pharmacokinetics, have been evaluated in clinical trials and approved for clinical use without the need for routine coagulation monitoring. On occasion, it will be important to assess the anticoagulant status of patients treated with these agents. As a result of their targeted mechanisms of action, they affect standard coagulation assays differently than vitamin K antagonists and heparins, and such assay results may not provide clinically useful information. Thus, less commonly used coagulation assays (eg, chromogenic anti-factor Xa activity assays, diluted thrombin time, and ecarin-based clotting tests) may be introduced into clinical practice. These assays are currently limited by the absence of validated therapeutic targets and lack of standardization across laboratories, vendors, and medication classes. This article provides an overview of the coagulation assays and their potential role in determining the anticoagulant status of patients treated with the emerging anticoagulants.


Purpose. To determine recovery time needed for the corneal epithelium to return to a normal proliferation rate following 24-hour rigid gas-permeable (RGP) lens wear. Methods. An RGP lens (Dk/t = 10) was fitted at 9:00 am on one randomly chosen eye of each rabbit (N = 16) and removed 24 hours later while the other eye served as a control. Following contact lens removal, the rabbits were injected at four different time intervals (1,2, 4, and 7 days) with 5-bromo-deoxyuridine (BrdU) at 9:00 am to label dividing corneal epithelial cells. All animals were sacrificed 24 hours after BrdU injection, and corneas were stained for BrdU. A series of continuously adjacent digital images of the whole-mount epithelium was collected from superior limbus to central cornea, and all BrdU-labeled epithelial cell pairs on each digitized image were counted. Results. On day 1 following lens removal, the number of BrdU-labeled corneal epithelium cells was reduced by 50% centrally (C) and 36% peripherally (P) (P < 0.001) compared with control eyes. At day 2, there was no statistically significant difference between control and experimental corneas (P = 0.675). At day 4, a marked significant increase in BrdU-labeled cells was noted, averaging 83% (C) and 96% (P) (P < 0.001). At day 7, BrdU-labeling returned to control values, although it was still slightly elevated (14% [C] and 5% [P], P = 0.045). Conclusions. The corneal epithelium in the rabbit required at least 1 full week to recover to its stable baseline proliferation rate following only 24 hours of RGP lens wear. Interestingly, hyperproliferation was noted within the limbal, peripheral, and mid-peripheral corneal epithelium 4 days after lens removal.


A cost/performance analysis of a video server with hierarchical storage is presented. Three different storage elements are considered for the video files, namely, RAM (Main memory or Expanded Storage), DASD (Direct Access Storage Device) and Tape Library. Each storage element has different cost, storage and bandwidth characteristics. Video files are assumed to have a certain demand and a duration distribution which are defined by the customer profile. A high level model is developed to size the storage requirements and to allocate the video files to different storage elements.<<ETX>>


Background 28 Psychopathy is a personality disorder characterised by two underlying factors. Factor 29 1 (affective and interpersonal deficits) captures affective deficits, whilst Factor 2 (antisocial 30 and impulsive/disorganised behaviours) captures life course persistent antisocial 31 behaviours. Impaired processing of threat has been proposed as an aetiologically salient 32 factor in the development of psychopathy, but the relationship of this impairment to the 33 factorial structure of the disorder in adult male offenders is unclear.


Summary Objectives: Few studies have measured the long-term effects of computerised provider order entry systems on pathology test turnaround time. Further, a recent study has raised the possibility that such systems, which require significant work practice change, may be associated with an increase in mortality rates. Our study answered two questions in relation to system introduction in a major Australian teaching hospital: i) are improvements in turnaround times achieved in the first 12 months after system introduction sustained 24 months post-implementation; and ii) do mortality rates change following the introduction of an order entry system? Methods: Turnaround time and mortality rates 5 months before and 12 and 24 months after implementation of a computerised order entry system were measured. Turnaround time was defined as the time from receipt of a specimen and order in a laboratory to availability of a result. Results: Improvements in turnaround time achieved in the first 12 months were sustained with a further significant 12.6% reduction at 24 months post-implementation, with no change in average number of tests per patient. The mortality rate significantly increased in the year following system introduction but returned to the pre-system rate in the second year of system use. Review of the excess deaths demonstrated these were most likely attributable to a coincidental influenza outbreak and not to system introduction. Conclusions: The computerised provider order entry system produced sustained and continuing improvements in laboratory efficiency over a two-year period. Associations between increased mortality rates and system introduction should be investigated carefully to ascertain any likely association.


The growth and development of learning analytics has placed a range of new capacities into the hands of educational institutions. At the same time, this increased capacity has raised a range of ethical issues. A common approach to address these issues is to develop an ethical code of conduct for practitioners. Such codes of conduct are drawn from similar codes in other disciplines. Some authors assert that there are fundamental tenets common to all such codes. This paper consists of an analysis of ethical codes from other disciplines. It argues that while there is some overlap, there is no set of principles common to all disciplines. The ethics of learning analytics will therefore need to be developed on criteria specific to education. We conclude with some ideas about how this ethic will be determined and what it may look like.


The growing collaborative consumption movement has evolved significantly in the age of Web 2.0. While much of the research has focused on its economic aspects, there are also practices that have gone largely unnoticed. This article illustrates the range of these practices by proposing a typology that accounts for the various currencies exchanged and digital technologies used to promote sharing of goods and services. This article focuses on the social aspects of the collaborative consumption movement to construct a full picture of the concept. It presents a case study of an Australian grassroots community group, MamaBake, which promotes the communal cooking and sharing of meals between mothers, and shows that even non-monetary currencies, such as the shared norms of reciprocity used by MamaBake, can be stigmatizing under certain circumstances. In doing so, it imagines alternative manifestations of the collaborative consumption movement that go beyond market orientation and instead focuses on promoting soft, non-economic values.


cylindrical forms and considering the interference in common optometric practice as a great number of ametropic populations have astigmatic refractive error and need cylindrical correction to relieve their symptoms. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD: 100 patients with astigmatism of age 15 up to 60 years was carried out. Visual acuity of patient was taken using log Mar Chart at distance. Visual acuity of either eye was examined in log Mar notation. Refraction was done in these patients. Refractive error of patient was recorded. RESULT: Out of 100 Patients 52% (52) were male and 48% (48) were female. Astigmatic patients of 15-20 years were 23% (23), 21-30 years were 37% (37), 31-40 years were 7% (7), 41-50 years were 16% (16), 51-60 years were 17% (17). Preference of minus cylinder was 47% (47). Preference of plus cylinder was 40% (40). Preference of both plus and minus cylinder was 13% (13) CONCLUSION: There is strong prevalence of accepting minus cylinder in Astigmatic patient Plus cylinder was accepted in young and old age patients. Clinician should not prescribe the high cylindrical power more than patient acceptance and full prescription should not be given at first visit.


The aims of this study were to evaluate genetic variations in yield and reproductive developmental characters among peanut genotypes in response to drought and relate these responses to pod yield under different soil moisture. Eleven peanut genotypes were tested under three soil moisture levels [field capacity (FC), 2/3 available soil water (AW) and 1/3AW] in field experiments. Data were recorded for number of flowers, pegs (RSs), immature pods and mature pods per plant, seed per pod, 100-seed weight and pod yield at harvest. A drought tolerance index (DTI) for pod yield was calculated as the ratio of pod yield under stress treatment to that under well-watered conditions. The differences among water regimes were significant for pod yield, number of RSs, immature pods and mature pods per plant, seed per pod and 100 seed weight and differences among genotypes were significant for all traits. Drought reduced pod yield, number of RSs, pods and mature pods per plant. Early peak of flowering is important for the formation of mature pods under drought conditions. Two different strategies were used in maintaining high pod yield under drought. High yield potential was important for ICGV 98348 and ICGV 98353, whereas low pod yield reduction was important for ICGV 98305, ICGV 98303 and ICGV 98300. Tifton 8 showed the lowest pod yield and poor seed filling. High RSs and well-filled mature pods were the most important traits contributing to high pod yield in drought resistant genotypes.


We summarize recent progress aimed at observing biochemical and biological dynamics using confocal microscopy with 3D spatial resolution down to a few hundred nm and temporal resolution to 15 fs. We also review recent control of population dynamics using tailored ultrafast pulses, i.e. quantum control. Progress is described for i) feedback control, ii) multiphoton control, and iii) molecular (pi) pulse. Finally, using ultrafast light pulses, we combine confocal and quantum control techniques to produce a new way to measure the microscopy chemical environment, int his case pH, potentially with a spatial resolution of a few hundred nanometers.


Soya-bean is among world's major crops, cultivated for its high oil, proteins content and its ability in soil-fertility amendments. The study assessed the determinants, constraints and profitability/gross-margins of soya-bean production in Western Kenya. Multistage sampling technique and field surveys were used in data-collection process covering 370 households. Regression, gender, profitability and gross-margins were the analyses done. Results indicated gross-margins of soya-bean production within the study sites differed significantly from zero (KES 13,401-20,545); it was profitable because net profits ranged from KES 9243-13,548 for 2010. All gender-cadres shared in soya-bean production activities (5.0-18.0%). The mean technical-, allocative- and economic-efficiencies obtained were 0.78, 65 and 0.59 respectively. Smallholders/farmers' economic-inefficiencies arose from many negatively-signed and statistically significant factors/coefficients with p-values of 0.0000-0.0240. Increased use of these factors and county governments and other stakeholders' interventions would positively impact smallholders' efficiency resulting into higher output and profitability.


Drawing on corpus-based critical discourse studies that investigate out-group representations of sexual identities, this study identifies representations instantiated in three purpose-built corpora about gay people, homosexuality and LGBTQ+ laws produced between 2005 and 2015 in Chile. These are made up of 51,188 and 86,271 words of articles from the websites of Evangelical and Catholic churches, and a 231,467-word corpus of transcriptions of parliamentary debates. The methodological approach undertaken uses corpus tools to carry out a qualitative analysis of expanded concordance lines and incorporates aspects from Reisigl and Wodak's (2016) Discourse Historical Approach (DHA), van Leeuwen's (2008) framework for the analysis of legitimation, and Fairclough's (1989) three-dimensional model for critical discourse analysis. These allow for the identification of representations and legitimation strategies, and the explanation of similarities and/or differences across the corpora considering contextual factors. In the analyses of the corpora, representations of gay people, homosexuality, gay marriage, same-sex relationships, and the different churches were identified. In the Evangelical Churches Corpus, the most overtly homophobic of the three corpora, representations negatively characterise gay people, homosexuality, and gay marriage, and positively portray the Evangelical churches in relation to their representations of these entities/phenomena. Similarly, the Catholic Church Corpus negatively represents homosexuality and same-sex relationships. The homophobic stance is expressed through more subtle and depersonalised ways, while positively representing the Catholic Church. Finally, the Parliamentary Debates Corpus represents gay people, homosexuality, the churches, and gay marriage in ways that foreground contesting arguments, covert homophobic stances, and the role of religion in politics. The contextual analysis carried out helps to provide explanations for the differences and similarities among the representations and the manner in which they are instantiated in the three corpora, considering discursive and social practices as well as the historical context. In this way, the thesis provides an account of the ways that language is employed strategically within a society that is undergoing great change.


Administration of vitamins or metals may cause severe side effects. Retinoids (derivatives of vitamin A) used for the treatment of various skin disorders are teratogenic, hepatotoxic and may induce a substantial increase in serum lipids. A case report demonstrates that vitamin D supplementation in a patient under total parenteral nutrition can cause hypercalcemia. The isolated administration of vitamin B1, without concomitant vitamin B6 and nicotinamide may precipitate potentially life-threatening pellagra encephalopathy. Repeat blood transfusions may produce clinically overt organ hemosiderosis, e.g. cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes mellitus or myocardiopathy. The literature contains reports on a few cases of sarcoma associated with orthopedic metal implants. The controversial issue of the potential dangers of dental amalgams is briefly mentioned.


ABSTRACT Compositional characteristics of limestones are fundamental to the interpretation of depositional environments, with an assumption that preserved grain assemblages preserve sufficient evidence of initial sediment input to enable delineation of environments. It is acknowledged, however, that a range of early diagenetic processes (including encrustation, fragmentation, abrasion, microboring, dissolution, cementation, and recrystallization) may influence grain preservation potential, and thus bias the composition of resultant grain assemblages. This study examines the effects and relative importance of a range of early diagenetic processes across a fringing reef at Discovery Bay, north Jamaica. Physical processes (abrasion and fragmentation) are most important at shallow fore-reef sites, whilst back-reef sites are dominated by biochemical processes, including microboring, recrystallization, biofilm-related calcification, and dissolution. Grain susceptibility to each process is highly variable and influenced by mineralogy and skeletal structure. Coral fragments, for example, are most susceptible to the effects of microboring, whereas Halimeda plates are most susceptible to dissolution. Extensive alteration of grain assemblages is predicted within the back-reef, where dissolution of coral and Halimeda occurs because of intense microboring and pore-water undersaturation. Fore-reef assemblages, by contrast, remain relatively unaltered. Results have implications both for improved ecological interpretation of carbonate sedimentary sequences and for understanding of how and why carbonate microfacies develop.


Most laboratory animal studies of the behavioral or neurophysiological effects of repeated exposures to volatile organic solvents find little evidence for substantial tolerance. This study examined the development of tolerance to the effects of 1,1,1-trichloroethane (1,1,1-TCE) on fixed-ratio responding in four mice. The subjects were exposed to 6000 ppm solvent vapor for 20 min of the daily 45-min operant sessions. Once a week, a series of four concentrations (1000-8000 ppm) were substituted for the daily exposure in order to obtain a cumulative concentration-effect curve. This proved to be a rapid and reliable method with which to ascertain the effects of 1,1,1-TCE over a range of concentrations. During the 15 days of 20-min exposure, the subjects showed a slight but significant increase in both response rates during exposure and in the rate of recovery following exposure. Maximal changes in these measures were evident in the first 7 days, with no further decreased sensitivity over the final 8 days of exposure. The concentration-effect curves determined during and after the daily exposures showed no significant shifts in either direction from the initial curve. Thus, while some alteration in the daily acute effects was noted, this tolerance was not of large magnitude and could not be detected as a change in the concentration-effect curve.


Little empirical data are available concerning the cognitive abilities of gifted individuals in general and especially those who excel in mathematics. We examined visual processing abilities distinguishing between general giftedness (G) and excellence in mathematics (EM). The research population consisted of 190 students from four groups of 10th- to 12th-grade students who differed in their G and EM levels. The students performed a battery of visual processing tests: visual-spatial memory, visual speed of information processing (SVIP), visual perception (VP), and visual attention (VA). The results demonstrate that EM type has a significant effect on the Backward Corsi-Span, whereas G type has a main effect on the Pattern-Recognition test and d2-CP (concentration performance) and d2-E (number of errors) scores in the attention test. SVIP and the fluctuation rate in VA tests (d2-FR) were associated with both G and EM types. The current study identified two different components of visual processing that were accordingly termed Visual-Serial and Pattern-Recall. It seems that G-EM students can be characterized by superior performance on Visual-Serial processing.


IPO underpricing harms pre-existing shareholders and reduces the capital firms can raise to fund their growth. This paper shows that relationship banking can reduce IPO underpricing by decreasing information uncertainty. I develop a theoretical model showing that good firms – those with a lower dispersion of market value – are harmed and bad firms benefit from IPO price uncertainty when there is no borrowing and, thus, no distinguishing information on firm quality. When investors receive signals about firm value only from publicly observable transaction lending, good firms benefit while bad firms suffer. However, when firms have access to loans through relationship banks and when such lending decisions are kept confidential, firms experience reduced IPO price uncertainty, which benefits both good and bad firms. I confirm this result empirically through difference-in-differences and reduced form instrumental variable regression designs. I use variation in the strength of the lending relationship between IPO firms and their underwriters generated by the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999, which allowed commercial banks with close ties to their client firms to underwrite those firms' equity issuances.


The origins of the Galilean satellites – namely Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto – is not fully understood yet. Here we use N-body numerical simulations to study the formation of Galilean satellites in a gaseous circumplanetary disk around Jupiter. Our model includes the effects of pebble accretion, gas-driven migration, and gas tidal damping and drag. Satellitesimals in our simulations first grow via pebble accretion and start to migrate inwards. When they reach the trap at the disk inner edge, scattering events and collisions take place promoting additional growth. Growing satellites eventually reach a multi-resonant configuration anchored at the disk inner edge. Our results show that an integrated pebble flux of ≥ 2 × 10−3MJ results in the formation of satellites with masses typically larger than those of the Galilean satellites. Our best match to the masses of the Galilean satellites is produced in simulations where the integrated pebble flux is ∼ 10−3MJ . These simulations typically produce between 3 and 5 satellites. In our best analogues, adjacent satellite pairs are all locked in 2:1 mean motion resonances. However, they have also moderately eccentric orbits (∼ 0.1), unlike the current real satellites. We propose that the Galilean satellites system is a primordial resonant chain, similar to exoplanet systems as TRAPPIST-1, Kepler-223, and TOI-178. Callisto was probably in resonance with Ganymede in the past but left this configuration – without breaking the Laplacian resonance – via divergent migration due to tidal planet-satellite interactions. These same effects further damped the orbital eccentricities of these satellites down to their current values (∼0.001). Our results support the hypothesis that Io and Europa were born with water-ice rich compositions and lost all/most of their water afterwards. Firmer constraints on the primordial compositions of the Galilean satellites are crucial to distinguish formation models.


Extreme programming (XP) is one of the most widely used agile methodologies for software development. It intends to improve software quality and responsiveness to changing customer requirements. Despite the facts that the use of XP offers a number of benefits and it has been a widely used agile methodology, XP does not offer the same benefits when it comes to medium and large software projects. Some of the reasons for this are weak documentation, lack of strong architecture and ignorance to risk awareness during the software development. Owing to the ever-increasing demand of agile approaches, this study addresses the problem of XP's ability to handle medium and large projects. Most of the companies that employ XP as a development methodology for medium and large projects face this problem, which echoes the importance of this problem. To address this problem, in this study XP model is extended in such a way that it equally offers its benefits for medium- and large-scale projects. As an evaluation of the extended XP, three independent industrial case studies are conducted. The case studies are described and results are presented in the study. The results provide evidence that the extended XP can be beneficial for medium and large software development projects.


ABSTRACT When specific metals are cooled to a very low temperature (typically colder than about −200°C), they become superconductive and can make magnets levitate. This paper reports on a collaboration between physicists and designers to exploit this quantum levitation. The main goal of this collaboration was to create artistic displays, experiments and videos to engage a large public with fundamental physics. Beyond its public success, this "SupraDesign" project enabled an encounter between two communities: researchers in physics and designers. The collaboration revealed unexpected similarities in working methods, such as testing through experimentation, engaging in teamwork and making use of creativity in a constraining environment.


This paper discusses the fact that US coal mining organisations are losing the knowledge they need in order to be able to respond to emergencies. The authors note that knowledge management provides a useful perspective from which to view the problem, but that the debate about what constitutes knowledge should be broadened to include a debate about what constitutes management. It is argued here that knowledge is actually shared knowing distributed across group members; that such knowledge can be managed by cultivating it; and that narrative is the medium through which this may be done. The paper then examines NIOSH research that has attempted to use such an alternative knowledge management approach to help potential mine emergency responders better deal with the predicaments they are likely to encounter on-site.


In 1949, Sorsby described a familial fundus disease with progressive visual loss and bilateral hemorrhages and exudates of the posterior pole. The dystrophy, whose inheritance was apparently autosomal dominant, was called pseudo-inflammatory macular dystrophy because of extensive macular lesions that could suggest a post-inflammatory change. The ophthalmoscopic signs include the presence of diffuse drusen-like deposits with extensive changes of retinal pigment epithelium and focal atrophy of the choriocapillaris, particularly in the posterior pole. Some eyes grow subretinal neovascularization, which appears associated to retinal edema, deep hemorrhages and hard exudates. These cases ultimately result in a disciform macular scar. Atrophy of peripheral fundus is typical of advanced stages. We present the case of three sisters whose fundus lesions resembled Sorsby's pseudo-inflammatory macular dystrophy. In two of them, where there was a great suspicion of macular subretinal neovascularization, the laser treatment seemed to positively condition the course of the disease. In our opinion, even though a generalized atrophy of the choroid and retina cannot probably be avoidable, laser treatment can delay the loss of central vision, by blocking the capillaries from leaking, thus preventing secondary destruction from bleeding and fibrosis.


This student guidebook offers a clear introduction to an often complex and unwieldy area of literary studies. Tracing epic from its ancient and classical roots through postmodern and contemporary examples this volume discusses

a wide range of writers including Homer, Vergil, Ovid, Dante, Chaucer, Milton, Cervantes, Keats, Byron, Eliot, Walcott and Tolkien
texts from poems, novels, children's literature, tv, theatre and film
themes and motifs such as romance, tragedy, religion, journeys and the supernatural.
Offering new directions for the future and addressing the place of epic in both English-language texts and World Literature, this book takes you on a fascinating guided tour through the epic.


In this paper, we adopt constrained relaxation for distributed multi-view video coding (DMVC). The novel framework integrates the graph-based segmentation and matching to generate inter-view correlated side information without knowing the camera parameters. Moreover, graph-based representations of multi-view images are incorporated to form more distinctive feature constraints. The sparse data as a good hypothesis space aim for a best matching optimization of inter-view side information with compact syndromes, from inferred relaxed coset. The plausible filling-in from a priori feature constraints between neighboring views could reinforce a promising compensation to inter-view side information generation for joint multi-view decoding. In order to find distinctive feature matching with a more stable approximation, PCA-SIFT and TPS (thin plate spline) are adopted to reduce the dimension of SIFT descriptors and construct a more accurate inter-view motion model. The experimental results validate the high estimation precision and the rate-distortion improvements.


The Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) is widely regarded as the greatest and most significant English-speaking philosopher and often seen as having had the most influence on the way philosophy is practiced today in the West. His reputation is based not only on the quality of his philosophical thought but also on the breadth and scope of his writings, which ranged over metaphysics, epistemology, morals, politics, religion, and aesthetics. The Handbook's 38 newly commissioned chapters are divided into six parts: Central Themes; Metaphysics and Epistemology; Passion, Morality and Politics; Aesthetics, History, and Economics; Religion; Hume and the Enlightenment; and After Hume. The volume also features an introduction from editor Paul Russell and a chapter on Hume's biography.


pouches seen in our Pouchitis Clinic from 2002-2012 were studied. The pouch outcome in pediatric patients was evaluated in comparison with adults by both univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS: All eligible patients were included into the study (N 1⁄4 1,289), of whom 108 (8.4%) were pediatric patients (<18 years). Male accounted for 50.9% of pediatric patients and 55.5% of adults. Pediatric patients had a younger age at the time of IBD diagnosis and pouch construction and a shorter duration from IBD diagnosis to colectomy. Fewer pediatric patients had a history of smoking (9.3% vs. 20.7%, P 1⁄4 0.004), concomitant extra-intestinal manifestations (21.5% vs. 39.1%, P<0.001), and dysplasia as the indication for colectomy (0.9% vs. 13.6%, P<0.001) than the adults. On the other hand, pediatric patients had higher rates of pouch surgery-associated complications (21.3% vs. 13.9%, P 1⁄4 0.036), postoperative pouch-associated hospitalization (25.9% vs. 13.4%, P<0.001) and postoperative use of anti-TNF biologics (16.7% vs. 7.9%, P 1⁄4 0.002) than the adults. Pouch failed in 100 patients (7.8%) after a mean follow-up of 10.666.8 years, including 13 (12.0%) in the pediatric group and 87 (7.4%) in the adult group (P 1⁄4 0.082). Risk factors for pouch failure in the multivariate analysis included preoperative use of anti-TNF biologics, postoperative use of anti-TNF biologics, Crohn's disease of pouch, pouch surgery-related complications and postoperative pouch-associated hospitalization. However, pediatric patients were not found to be significantly associated with pouch failure in neither the univariate nor multivariate analyses, with a hazard ratio of 0.67 (95% confidence interval: 0.36-1.24, P 1⁄4 0.2) from the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION(S): Pediatric patients suffered from a higher incidence of postoperative pouch complications than adults; however the long-term pouch retention rates were comparable.


The working-age female participation rate in the United Kingdom increased by 7 percentage points between 1984 and 2002. The purpose of this paper is to quantify how much of the rise reflects changes in the socio-demographic structure of the female population and how much can be attributed to changes in behaviour or other uncontrolled factors. The paper uses a time series of cross-sections from the Labour Force Survey, and applies a method of growth accounting. The results show that, between 1984 and 2002, changes in the structure of the female population contributed to two thirds of the growth in female participation, whereas one third is explained by changes in behaviour or other factors.


Soil-contamination from toxic explosive residues at military bases throughout the world, is a major environmental concern. A strong candidate for TNT soil-contamination within Greece, is the military base/airport of Maleme in Crete. While soil sampling was in progress new routes of trace analysis for explosives in soil were explored. Solid-phase micro-extraction (SPME) was used to selectively preconcentrate analytes prior to GC/MS. In the preliminary experiments (effectuated on water-spiked samples) optimization of the SPME technique was achieved by controlling parameters such as sampling method, salt content and sample agitation. As immersion of the SPME fiber was found to be more efficient for extracting most analytes of interest, a pretreatment step was introduced for the soil samples which simply converted them to water samples. The developed SPME protocol was able to screen explosives in spiked-soils, in concentrations well below the certified reporting and detection limits.


PURPOSE
The purpose of the present systematic review was to investigate at the histological level if a modified titanium surface abutment could affect the behaviour of soft peri-implant tissue (connective tissue adhesion and soft tissue inflammation).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
An electronic databases research (MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) until 24 June 2019 for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials and non-randomised studies of interventions (NRSI) was performed. The focused question was: "In healthy patients with at least one titanium healing abutment connected to a dental implant, is the effect of a healing abutment surface modification different from machined titanium at the histological level?" The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions to assess the risk of bias in individual studies was used for RCTs. The Newcastle-Ottawa quality assessment scale was used to evaluate NRSI.

RESULTS
In total, 192 records were evaluated for titles and abstracts. Seven studies were included in the review. Five of them reported an enhanced soft tissue adhesion in the modified abutment group without increasing the soft tissue inflammation. One study reported no significant differences among titanium-modified (double acid-etched) and titanium-machined groups. One author demonstrated at the 6-month follow-up period a higher level of inflammation around acid-etched surfaces, with a higher number of T and B lymphocytes and expression of vascular endothelial growth factor.

CONCLUSIONS
Short-term data (< 6 months) suggested an enhanced connective fibre attachment next to titanium abutments with a modified surface and a similar inflammatory response, in comparison with machined surface titanium abutments. However, modified surfaces may lead to a long-term increased risk of a higher degree of inflammation in the peri-implant tissues. Due to limited available evidence, further long-term studies are needed to confirm these results.


Adjustment of small, medium, and large Vermont dairy farms to successively tighter constraints on phosphorus loss was modeled using linear programming. Aggregate response to phosphorus control was estimated for an area from farm marginal costs. Medium and large farms have lower costs than small farms and could achieve higher levels of phosphorus reduction at the same proportional loss of income.


It is very risky to improve the performance of network protocols without the assurance of its functional correctness, especially for protocols that with complicated and concurrent behaviors. However, in most of current model based protocol engineering projects, two independent models are adopted for individual functional verification and performance analysis, which could not guarantee the performance model satisfying the functionality correctness, and usually cost more in protocol design and maintenance. In this paper, we propose a colored Petri nets (CP-nets) based method to integrate functional verification and performance analysis procedures, and focus on the BitTorrent protocol as a representative example to illustrate the practical effectiveness of our proposed methodology. That is, the functional CP-nets models of BitTorrent protocol are constructed and validated firstly, and then performance related temporal constrains are added into above models to form its performance CP-nets models for corresponding simulation based performance analysis. Because such closely related CP-nets models are utilized where every occurrence sequence in the performance model corresponds to an occurrence sequence in its functional model, it is guaranteed that both models satisfy the functionality requirements of protocol systems. Besides, model maintenance becomes more convenient.


Abstract Thoroughbred incentive programs are subsidy policies funded from state parimutuel tax revenue designed to promote regional race horse breeding and ownership. At issue is an ongoing debate concerning the effectiveness of alternative policies. Empirical results indicate that incentive programs have a positive economic effect, but gains to Thoroughbred breeders can be obtained by reallocating tax revenue to non-restricted purses. A policy allocating tax revenue to non-restricted purses shifts yearling demand and increases prices, while breeder subsidies shift only the supply function and therefore lower prices. Consequently, breeder revenues increase in response to a policy that favors non-restricted purses over subsidies.


Layered hybrid perovskites have recently re-emerged as potential technological viable solutions for photovoltaic and optoelectronic applications. Their environmental stability and immunity to moisture coupled to their exciting optoelectronic properties, have given them a new opportunity in the search of efficient solar cell and light emitting devices1,2. Understanding their fundamental optical and electronic properties will be important for optimization. To this aim, we present a systematic theoretical method that considers layered perovskites as composite materials3 in which band alignment between the perovskite and organic layers becomes affordable. Such an alignment is an important performance criterion in the operation of optoelectronic devices. We investigate effects such as the thickness of the perovskite well, its chemical composition and the length of the organic barrier on the confinement potentials. Moreover, we extend the method to inspect dielectric profiles with the salient feature of allowing the clear identification of the contributions of the perovskite and organic layers to the total dielectric profile. Finally, with the insight gained from the different effects on band alignments, we propose design guidelines with the aim of achieving efficient optoelectronic devices. Hence, using the composite approach, we establish alternative theoretical methods to investigate the properties of layered perovskites and forecast that the approach will be relevant to inspect other 2D materials


One of the best features of the UNIX™ Shell is that it provides a framework which can be used to build complex programs by interconnecting existing simple programs. However, it is limited to linear combinations of programs, and building of more complex programs must be accomplished by executing sequences of commands. This paper introduces Backus' FP (Functional Programming) as an alternative command language for UNIX. In FP, programs are true functions and another distinctive feature of FP languages is that they contain functional forms, which are constructs for combining programs to build new programs. Also, the functional style of programming provides a natural way of exploiting parallel machine architecture.


Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesized from arginine by NO synthase (NOS), and the availability of arginine is one of the rate-limiting factors in cellular NO production. Citrulline that is formed as a by-product of the NOS reaction can be recycled to arginine by successive actions of argininosuccinate synthetase (AS) and argininosuccinate lyase (AL), forming the citrulline-NO cycle. AS and sometimes AL have been shown to be coinduced with inducible NOS (iNOS) in various cell types including activated macrophages, microglia, vascular smooth muscle cells, glial cells, neuronal PC12 cells, retinal pigment epithelial cells, and pancreatic beta-cells. Coinduction of endothelial NOS (eNOS), AS, and AL are observed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In contrast, arginase can downregulate NO production by decreasing intracellular arginine concentrations. iNOS and arginase activities are regulated reciprocally in macrophages by cytokines, and this may guarantee the efficient production of NO. In contrast, iNOS and arginase isoforms (type I and/or II) are coinduced in immunostimulated macrophages, but not in PC12 cells and glial cells. These results indicate that NO production is modulated by the recycling and degradation of arginine. Arginase also plays an important role in regulation of polyamine and proline synthesis.


Newer immunotherapeutic agents such as Nivolumab and Pembrolizumab have changed the landscape of management of metastatic melanoma, with a subset of patients achieving durable responses. The ideal duration of therapy in patients who achieve a complete response with these agents has not been determined. We report a case of a 68 year old man with metastatic melanoma who progressed with Ipilimumab and BRAF-directed therapies, but achieved a complete response with Nivolumab monotherapy and continues to be in remission at almost 2 years after discontinuation of treatment. Review of the current data indicates that discontinuation of anti-PD-1 antibodies after complete response is achieved is feasible. The majority of these patients maintain their responses long-term. In those who relapse, re-treatment with the same agent is effective in most cases according to the current data. Prospective studies are necessary to determine the optimal duration of therapy and strategies to maximize the benefit of these drugs.


The formation of cyclic polyester antibiotics (macrotetrolides) from nactinic acids in a cell-free system in the presence of a mycelium homogenate of Streptomyces chryzomallus var. macrotetrolidi, a producer of a complex of homologous macrotetrolide antibiotics, was demonstrated. An enzyme catalyzing the formation of an ester macrotetrolide ring and possessing a specific activity of 360 mumol/min/mg of protein has been isolated for the first time from the mycelium homogenate and purified 176-fold with a 18% yield. Macrotetrolide synthase represents a macromolecular complex with a molecular mass of 360 kDa formed by several heterogeneous polypeptides. The effects of physico-chemical environmental factors on the stability and activity of the enzyme were demonstrated. The optimal conditions for the manifestation of the synthase activity (10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.0, 10% ethanol, 2% glycerol, 200 micrograms/ml of nactinic acids) were selected. The kinetic parameters of the enzyme-catalyzed macrotetrolide synthesis reaction (Km = 2.9.10(-4) M, V = 22.3 microM/min) were determined.


Societies embarked on the fragile transition from war to peace face enormous economic, social, and political challenges. In attempting to support this transition, the international community often provides substantial amounts of external assistance. This aid can play an important and constructive role in meeting pressing social needs and building a durable peace, but it would be naive to assume either that positive effects are the automatic result of good intentions or that donors are motivated entirely by the objective of peacebuilding. This paper reviews evidence on the impact of aid in "post-conflict" settings and offers suggestions for making aid more effective in supporting efforts to build a durable peace. Part I discusses how economic assistance and conditionalities can be realigned to better serve peacebuilding objectives. Part II considers the other side of the coin: how peacekeeping operations and peacebuilding assistance can better support economic recovery, in particular by helping to build state fiscal capacities. Finally, Part III examines the interests and incentive structures that shape the behavior of aid donors, suggesting that their actions can be part of the problem as well as part of the solution.


This paper presents a methodology to identify key priority areas for transport investments. The methodology uses a geospatial data-driven approach and then proposes an innovative economic analysis for project appraisal. The two main steps involve (i) prioritization of road interventions based on a set of economic, social, and risk reduction criteria; and (ii) assessment of monetized and nonmonetized costs and benefits of road interventions under many scenarios covering the uncertainty on future risks and other factors. This methodology is used at different stages of project preparation for a rural roads lending operation to the Government of Mozambique. In the two regions of Mozambique considered, the analysis prioritizes regions along the coast when combining agriculture, fisheries, poverty, network criticality, and hazard risk criteria. With a limited budget of US$15 million per district, the results show that investing in repairing and rehabilitating culverts and bridges is the intervention that performs better under most of the scenarios.


The short-term effect of calcium supplements (1200 mg Ca/d) on daily nonheme-iron absorption was measured in 14 healthy adult volunteers by using stable isotope extrinsic labeling and fecal monitoring techniques. Mean (± SEM) nonheme-iron absorption from a low-calcium (< 320 mg/d), moderately high-iron (15 mg/d) diet was 15.8 ± 2.1%, but in the presence of calcium (400 mg/meal) as calcium carbonate, absorption fell significantly to 4.7 ± 1.4% (P < 0.001). The long-term effect of consuming calcium supplements with meals (1200 mg Ca/d) on body iron (functional and storage iron) was investigated in 11 iron-replete adults over a 6-mo period. An unsupplemented control group (n = 13) was also monitored to correct for any seasonal changes in the biochemical measurements. There were no changes in any of the hematologic indexes, including hemoglobin, hematocrit, zinc protoporphyrin, and plasma ferritin resulting from the calcium supplementation. The results clearly show that long-term supplementation with calcium did not reduce plasma ferritin concentrations in iron-replete adults consuming a Western-style diet containing moderate to high amounts of calcium in most meals. Am J Clin Nutr 1998;68:96–102.


This needs assessment study was done as a preliminary step in developing Multimedia Laboratory Module In The Learning of Electrochemmistry (MLMLE). This study involved 176 form 5 and 41 form four students to investigate the topics difficulty level of chemistry
form four syllabus and the problems in the learning of electrochemistry. Results from the Topics Difficulty Level survey showed that the respondents rated Electrochemistry (M = 3.99, SD = 0.821) as the second most difficult topic in Chemistry form four syllabus. From the Electrochemistry Achievement Test, 65.8% of the students have poor understanding of the electrochemistry concept with the lowest mean score is for write half chemical equation (M = 0.24, SD = 0.353), followed by construct the electrochemical series (M = 0.30, SD = 0.439) and identify the flow of electron (M = 0.35, SD = 0.477). To overcome this problem, a MLMLE was planned to develop. This module is hope able to help the students in improving their understanding in concepts in the learning of electrochemistry with animations to support the abstract concept.


Background Communication technologies can play a significant role in decreasing communication inequalities and cancer disparities by promoting cancer control and enhancing population and individual health. Studies have shown that technology, such as the mobile phone short message service (SMS) or text messaging, can be an effective health communication strategy that influences individuals' health-related decisions, behaviors, and outcomes. Objective The purpose of this study was to explore usage of communication technologies, assess the acceptability of mobile technology for delivery and access of health information, and identify cancer and health information needs among Deep South Network for Cancer Control trained Community Health Advisors as Research Partners (CHARPs). Methods A mixed-method design was used, and a triangulation protocol was followed to combine quantitative and qualitative data. Focus groups (4 focus groups; n=37) and self-administered surveys (n=77) were conducted to determine CHARPs mobile phone and text message usage. The objective was to include identification of barriers and facilitators to a mobile phone intervention. Results All participants were African American (37/37, 100%), 11/37 (89%) were women, and the mean age was 53.4 (SD 13.9; focus groups) and 59.9 (SD 8.7; survey). Nearly all (33/37, 89%) of focus group participants reported owning a mobile phone. Of those, 8/33 (24%) owned a smartphone, 22/33 (67%) had a text messaging plan, and 18/33 (55%) and 11/33 (33%) received and sent text messages several times a week or day, respectively. Similar responses were seen among the survey participants, with 75/77 (97%) reporting owning a mobile phone, and of those, 22/75 (30%) owned a smartphone, 39/75 (53%) had a text messaging plan, and 37/75 (50%) received and 27/75 (37%) sent text messages several times a week or day. The benefits of a text messaging system mentioned by focus group participants included alternative form of communication, quick method for disseminating information, and privacy of communication. The main barriers reported by both groups to using mobile technology to receive health information were cost and not knowing how to text message. Ways to overcome barriers were explored with focus group participants, and education was the most proposed solution. Majority of CHARPs were in favor of receiving a weekly text message that would provide cancer/health information. Conclusions The findings from this study indicate that CHARPs are receptive to receiving text messages focusing on cancer/health information and would be likely to engage in mobile health research. These findings represent the first step in the development of an interactive mobile health program designed to provide cancer/health information and a support network for the Deep South Network Community Health Advisors as Research Partners (DSN CHARPs).


We provide a brief introduction to questions about the fundamental physical limitations of the computational process, and to reversible computation, without any attempt to repeat more complete and self-contained discussions. We explicitly question, in connection with the existing quantum mechanical descriptions of the computational process, whether the Hamiltonians invoked in these descriptions correspond to the modest number of parts considered to be reasonable for a computer. Our main goal, however, is an analysis of classical reversible computers, in the presence of noise and friction. Such computers can be driven by an externally applied driving force, independent of time and of the computational progress. Alternatively, they can be driven by time dependent force fields, much as ordinary computers are clocked. It is shown that clocked reversible computers can minimize the ratio of diffusion, i.e. unpredictability in the progress of the computation, relative to the intended speed of motion. The analysis emphasizes the case of heavily damped systems, but indicates that lightly damped systems behave similarly.


Two dimensional (2D) fractal structures were observed to form from fairly uniform Ag island films (equivalent mass thicknesses of 1.5 and 5 nm) on insulating silicon dioxide surfaces (thermally grown silicon oxide on Si or quartz) upon immersion in deionized water. This result is distinctly different from the previously observed three-dimensional (3D) growth of faceted Ag nanocrystals on conductive surfaces (ITO and graphite) as the result of an electrochemical Ostwald ripening process, which also occurs on native oxide covered silicon surfaces as reported here. The fractal structures formed by diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) of Ag species on the insulating surfaces. We present the experimental observation of this phenomenon and discuss some possible mechanisms for the DLA formation.


INTRODUCTION
Bouveret's syndrome is characterized by piloro-duodenal obstruction following the implant of a giant gallstone with gallstone ileus origin. It constitutes the less common variety of gallstone ileus (1-3%), mainly affecting elderly patients with chronic degenerative illnesses, possibly with high mortality.

OBJECTIVE
We report the case of a patient with a less common variety of gallstone ileus. The patient was treated at a third-level care hospital.

CLINIC CASE
Patient is a 52-year-old male with gastric obstruction and secondary dehydration. Studies were supported by a series of esophagus-gastric-duodenal and broad endoscopy. Piloro-duodenal obstruction by a giant gallstone was reported which could not be extracted by endoscopy. The patient was taken to surgery where a giant gallstone lying in the duodenal site was found and biliary vesicular scleroatrophic. Gastrotomy is effected with the extraction of the gallstone and gastrography. Gallstone duodenal fistula is then identified with support analysis.

CONCLUSIONS
Bouveret's syndrome is a rare entity whose diagnosis has a high sensitivity and specificity with a supported radiographic diagnosis. Endoscopy is difficult in the case of a giant impacted gallstone, making surgery the best therapeutic choice.


. A new bionic biped walking mechanism (BWM) was put forward in this paper. Simple in construction, easy in control and droved by usual motor are all advantages of this mechanism. But disadvantage should not be ignored. Especially up and down bumpy of the centroid will influence the smoothness of the motion during walk. Through theoretical analysis of kinematics, motion characteristics and the movement of the spindle were obtained in a circle. To aim to bring down the uneven of the BWM, the relationship of all parameters was found and the scope of the fluctuation was established. In the end, all of the results were verified by simulation program of Matlab. The result provided theoretical guidance for optimal design of the mechanism in the further research.


In the operation of hydrokinetic turbines in tidal sites, the effect of onset flow turbulence on device performance and reliability deserves particular attention. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models capable to describe this complex phenomenology are necessary to predict harmful operating conditions and to implement design strategies to mitigate the impacts. Similarly, the description of the interaction between turbine wakes and eddies in the onset turbulent flow is important in the study of tidal arrays.
An original CFD methodology to simulate the operation of a tidal turbine in an arbitrary turbulent flow is presented. The methodology falls within the class of Synthetic Methods (SM). A randomly fluctuating velocity field is generated by a volume force distribution acting as forcing term in the Navier-Stokes equations. With respect to existing volume-force SM, an original definition of the forcing terms, and a control strategy to enforce a prescribed turbulence metrics are proposed. Volume force terms are imposed in a thin layer in the upstream region of the computational domain by a sinusoidal distribution with random variation of both intensity and phase. A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control is applied to minimize the difference between the intensity of the generated flow turbulence and the prescribed conditions.
In [1] the model was applied to describe a turbulent stream in an unbounded flow by Detached Eddy Simulation (DES). The capability to generate eddies that evolve into a homogeneous, isotropic turbulent flow was demonstrated. Here, the model is applied to analyze the interaction between the generated onset turbulent flow and a tidal turbine. A computationally efficient approach is used here in which the turbine is described by a volume force method, in a similar fashion as turbulence generation is modelled. Specifically, a hybrid viscous/inviscid methodology is applied in which the DES solver is strongly coupled with a Boundary Integral Equation Method (BIEM) solver. At each time step, the blade load distribution is calculated by a time-accurate BIEM solution and recasts as volume force terms that are plugged into the DES solution. Examples of BIEM validation studies are given in [2, 3, 4] and in the results of a recent blind-test benchmark to be presented at the EWTEC 2023 Conference [5].
The numerical application described here deals with a 3-bladed horizontal-axis tidal turbine in a 16% intensity, isotropic turbulent onset flow. In the full paper, the overall methodology is described, and numerical results are presented and discussed. Particular attention is given to characterize the generated turbulent stream in terms of key metric quantities like turbulence intensity, Power Spectral Density (PSD), time and spatial scales, isotropy, Probability Density Function (PDF). The results are analyzed to discuss the capability of the methodology to render a physically-consistent description of the phenomenology governing turbine operation in a real tidal flow.

Gregori, M. et al., Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022. (https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10101332)
Sarichloo, Z. et al., Marine Energy Journal, 2022. (https://doi.org/10.36688/imej.5.77-90)
Dubbioso, G.A. et al., Proceedings of EWTEC 2019.
Salvatore, F. et al., Mar. Sci. Eng. 2018, 6, 53. (https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse6020053)
Willden, R. et al., Submitted to EWTEC 2023.


This book consists of five chapters: Correlation, Regression, t – Test, ANOVA and Crosstabs Procedure with worked examples and review exercises. For the purpose of helping students to master the skills of this subject, step by step easy approach has been designed and adopted by the authors of this book. This is deemed as the best approach when the design of the content is structured and well-organized. Furthermore, a large part of the syllabus involves the mastery of manual mathematical calculation and step by step, direct instruction is the best approach in order to obtain an answer. In addition, for students who are not so good in math-logic reasoning and dealing with numbers, this method may enable them a sure way of obtaining the correct answer by following a set of given guidelines. Assessment is the process of evaluating the extent to which students have developed their knowledge, understanding and abilities. It involves determining what does the student know, understand, and can do with the knowledge gained from the lessons. For the purpose of evaluating whether the students have achieved the objectives of the chapters, exercises in form of assessments based on theory was used. In order to maximize the student's learning capability, the authors took effort in providing extra exercises that cover the manual calculation and SPSS calculation for all different chapters. The Step by Step Leaning SPSS would also work as a good guide book that enhance the level of understanding of the concepts and enable students to execute the appropriate steps in coming up with the correct interpretation.


A new interferometric technique is described to measure the complex modulation curve of a spatial light modulator. Based on a lateral shear imaging interferometer, it enables the amplitude and phase modulation for several modulation levels to be displayed simultaneously in a single interferogram. As an example of the power of this technique a heuristic optimization of input and output elliptical polarization states for a mostly-phase operation mode was obtained within a few minutes for a commercial twisted-nematic liquid crystal display.


Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are considered to be a novel marker of cerebral small vessel disease. However, the link with cognitive impairment remains unclear. We investigated whether CMBs—independent of other traditional markers of cerebral small vessel disease—are related to cognition. Chinese subjects from the population-based Singapore Chinese Eye Study, who failed an initial cognitive screening and were recruited into the ongoing Epidemiology of Dementia in Singapore Study, underwent neuropsychological testing and 3 T brain magnetic resonance imaging. The presence and number of CMBs were graded using Brain Observer Microbleed Scale on susceptibility-weighted images. Other magnetic resonance imaging lesions that were graded included presence of lacunes, white matter lesion, and total brain volumes. A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered and cognitive function was summarized as composite and domain-specific Z-scores. Among 282 subjects, 91 had any CMBs (32.3%), of whom 36 (12.8%) had multiple CMBs. CMBs were—independent of cardiovascular risk factors and other markers of cerebral small vessel disease—significantly associated with poorer cognitive function as reflected by composite Z-score (mean difference per CMB increase: −0.06; 95% confidence interval: −0.11, −0.01] and with domain-specific Z-scores including executive function, attention, and visuoconstruction. Among Chinese subjects CMBs were, independent of other concomitant markers of cerebral small vessel disease, associated with poorer cognitive function.


Introduction: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a common reason for attending hospital emergency departments (ED). A complicated urinary tract infection (UTI) is associated with structural or functional abnormalities of the genitourinary tract or presence of any underlying disease.
Objective: To assess the antibiotic sensitivity in complicated and uncomplicated UTI.
Materials and Methods: The study was carried out in the Department of Medicine and Department of Microbiology. The urine samples were collected from the OPDs (outpatients departments). These sample collection sites were chosen as they mostly covered the urban area of the city. The duration of the study was one and a half year from July 2018 to January 2020. The urine samples of 200 patients, comprised of 60 males and 140 females, who attended the outpatient departments (OPDs) of three hospitals and had clinical evidence of urinary tract infection, determined by treating physicians, were included in this study.
Results: Most common isolated pathogen was Eschericia coli 170(85.0%) followed by staphylococcus aureus 40(20.0%) and Klebsiella (10%). Multiple organisms were found few cases. Regarding drug sensitivity it was observed that maximum sensitivity was to Amikacin 94.0% followed by Nitrofurantoin 92.0%, Levofloxacin 90.0%, Meropenam 88.0%, Amoxicillin+Clavulanate 70.0% and Cefixim 70.0%.
Conclusion: Female patients were predominant most common isolated pathogen were Eschericia coli, staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella. Amikacin, Nitrofurantoin, Levofloxacin, Meropenam and Amoxicillin+Clavulanate were more sensitive antibiotic.
Medicine Today 2022 Vol.34(1): 70-74


Arginase was isolated from human liver and erythrocytes. The purification procedure used acetone precipitation, heat-treatment, (NH4)2SO4 precipitation, DEAE-cellulose chromatography and gel filtration on Sephadex G-200 in the presence of 2-mercaptoethanol. Both enzymes migrated to the anode at pH8.3 on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. After incubation at pH8.0 and 37 degrees C the purified anionic liver arginase migrated to the cathode on polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis. It is assumed that the multiple forms of the enzyme reported in the literature are partly artifacts of the purification procedure. The liver arginase showed a mol.wt. of 107000 determined by gel filtration and a sedimentation coefficient of 5.9S. Treatment of the liver enzyme with 0.25% sodium dodecyl sulphate at pH10 demonstrated an oligomeric structure of the enzyme with a mol.wt. of the subunit of 35000. The kinetic properties determined for the purified liver arginase showed an optimum pH of 9.3 and an optimal MnCl2 concentration of 2mM. The Km for L-arginine was 10.5 mM and for L-canavanine 50mM, and L-lysine exhibited a competitive type of inhibition with a Ki of 4.4mM. L-Homoarginine was not a substrate for liver arginase.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Arthur J. Mariano. No. of pages in text. (242) This dissertation uses near-surface current velocity observations from Global Drifter Program (GDP) drifters, combined with a suite of satellite products, to investigate the air-sea exchange of mechanical energy at global scales. In particular, this work tests the conclusions of recent numerical studies that air-sea coupling mechanisms operating at the ocean mesoscales, arising from the dependence of wind stress on surface currents and on mesoscale SST fluctuations, can create non-zero air-sea fluxes of mechanical energy associated with the quasi-geostrophic ocean variability. First, the slip bias of undrogued drifters is corrected, thus recovering about half of the GDP dataset; and a new approach for decomposing Lagrangian data into mean, seasonal and eddy components is developed to reduce the smoothing of spatial gradients inherent in data binning methods. The sensitivity of the results to method parameters, the method performance relative to other techniques, and the associated estimation errors, are evaluated using statistics calculated for a test dataset consisting of altimeter-derived geostrophic velocities subsampled at the drifter locations, and for the full altimeter-derived geostrophic velocity fields. It is demonstrated that (1) the correction of drifter slip bias produces statistically similar mean velocities for both drogued and undrogued drifter datasets at most latitudes and reduces differences between their variance estimates, (2) the proposed decomposition method produces pseudo-Eulerian mean fields with magnitudes and horizontal scales closer to time-averaged Eulerian observations than other methods, and (3) standard errors calculated for pseudo-Eulerian quantities underestimate the real errors by a factor of almost two. Next, the influence of mesoscale SST anomalies on the near-surface winds is analyzed, aiming to determine the intrinsic spatial-temporal scales where the effect takes place and its association with the mesoscale eddy field. Specifically, crossspectral methods are used to examine the linear spectral relationship between SST and equivalent-neutral 10-m wind speed (w) fields from satellite products at scales between 10–10 km and 10–10 days. The transition from negative SST/w correlations at large-scales, to positive at oceanic mesoscales, is found to occur at wavelengths coinciding with the atmospheric first baroclinic Rossby radius of deformation; and that the dispersion of positively-correlated signals is compatible with tropical instability waves near the equator, and with Rossby waves and/or mesoscale eddies in the extratropics. Transfer functions for the spectral linear SST/w relationship are used to estimate the SST-driven w response in physical space, a signal that explains 5–40% of the mesoscale w variance in the equatorial cold tongues, and 2–25% at extratropical SST fronts. The signature of coherent ocean eddies is clearly visible in the SST-driven w, accounting for 20–60% of its variability in eddy-rich regions. The cross-spectral analysis is repeated in two climate model (CCSM) simulations based on ocean grid resolutions of 1◦ (eddy-parameterized, LR) and 0.1◦ (eddy-resolving, HR). A realistic relationship between both quantities is only obtained in HR, highlighting the importance of ocean phenomena with wavelengths between 20–250 km, typical of mesoscale ocean eddies, for conditioning the SST-driven coupling characteristics revealed by satellite observations. Finally, concurrent drifter and satellite observations are used to estimate the contribution of time-mean, seasonal, and eddy components of the wind stress and surface geostrophic velocity fields to the total power exchange. It is found that, of the ∼1.22 terawatts (1 TW = 10 W) supplied by the winds to the general ocean circulation via the time-mean and seasonal components, about 0.23 TW is lost back to the atmosphere via the covariances between the eddy fluctuations in the winds stress and the quasi-geostrophic velocity fields. Estimates of the impact of the wind stress dependency on surface ocean currents to the mechanical energy fluxes, obtained (a) via theoretical expressions, and (b) by recomputing the energy fluxes using wind stress estimates with the current influence removed using drifter observations, indicate that the negative covariances can be largely explained by the current-driven air-sea coupling. The influence of SST-driven coupling mechanism is detectable and produces well-defined large-scale patterns, although its magnitudes are, on average, about 30 times smaller than those driven by the current effect. These results provide observational evidence that the current-driven coupling gives rise to a non-negligible sink of kinetic energy for the oceanic quasi-geostrophic variability, and may serve as a basis for evaluating the competing conclusions of recent numerical experiments on the impact of the SST-driven coupling to the ocean energetics.


High-pressure and/or high-temperature analysis of geo- and material science samples routinely employs diamond anvil cells (DACs) as a research instrument. In particular, DACs allow for various in situ characterizations (e.g. Raman and Fourier transform infra red spectroscopies, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray spectroscopy including fluorescence (XRF) and absorption (XAS)) at elevated pressure and temperature. The measurement of pressure (P) and/or temperature (T) in the sample chamber is crucial, but not always accurate, more specifically in the case of low-pressure applications (a few GPa). The development of modified diamonds (intelligent anvils 'i-anvils') adapted to a new generation of DACs (intelligent diamond anvil cells: iDAC) can contribute to solve this problem, as the diamond itself serves as the PT sensor, being prepared, for example, by high-energy ion implantation [H. Bureau, M. Burchard, S. Kubsky et al., This volume (2006).] on a micrometric scale. Several most interesting measurement methods used with DACs are based on X-ray techniques (e.g. XRF, XRD, XAS). We present the first results of X-ray transmission measurements with iDACs, performed at the hard-X-ray microfocus beamline ID22 at the ESRF (European Synchrotron Radiation Facility), Grenoble, France. Sensor response to intense irradiation as a function of X-ray energy (E ph∈10;18.1 keV) was investigated. The values of the sensor were found to be independent of the irradiation in the investigated energy range and thus validate the use of these sensors for precise and reliable measurements on a wide range of applications with high-energy synchrotron radiation. No influence of the sensor on the X-ray transmission properties of the anvil has been found.


In the first part of this thesis a facile method for preparing poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF)-gpoly( styrene sulfonate acid) (PSSA) membranes by radiation induced graft polymerization is reported. Sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) monomer has been used for the grafting of SSS from PVDF powder in aqueous dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solution, and it precipitated after synthesis. Later on, the resultant PVDF-g-PSSS graft copolymer membranes were prepared by means of vapor induced phase separation (VIPS) technique at 60% relative humidity (RH), and dried under vacuum at high temperature to achieve PVDF-g-PSSA proton conducting nano-porous membranes. It was found that these membranes exhibit encouraging results in terms of higher conductivity and better mechanical properties compared to Nafion® NR-211. In the second part of thesis, the effect of divinylbenzene (DVB) as a cross-linker on the graft polymerization of 4-vinylpyridine (4-VP) from poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE) films was studied. The resulted films were doped with phosphoric acid (PA), and examined for mechanical properties and fuel cell performance. The cross-linked membrane obtained from grafting a mixture of 4- VP with 1% DVB improved the polymerization kinetics, and resulted in 50% graft level (GL). The resulted membrane additionally exhibited proton conductivity as high as 75 mS/cm at 50% relative humidity and 120 °C, besides doubling the power output of fuel cell comparing to a non-cross-linked membrane.


Adaptive quality-of-service (QoS) techniques can effectively respond to time-varying channel conditions found in wireless networks. In this paper, we assess the state-of-the-art in QoS adaptive wireless systems and argue for new adaptation techniques that are better suited to respond to application-specific adaptation needs. A QoS adaptive data link control model is presented that accounts for application-specific adaptation dynamics that include adaptation time scales and adaptation policies. A centralized adaptation controller employs a novel utility-fair bandwidth allocation scheme that supports the dynamic bandwidth needs of adaptive flows over a range of operating conditions. Three wireless service classes play an integral role in accommodating a wide variety of adaptation strategies. In this paper, we discuss the design of the utility-fair allocation scheme and the interaction between the centralized adaptation controller and a set of distributed adaptation handlers, which play a key role in intelligently responding to the time-varying channel capacity experienced over the air-interface.


The idea that conscious control, or more specifically akratic wrongdoing, is a necessary condition for blameworthiness has durable appeal. This position has been explicitly championed by volitionist philosophers, and its tacit influence is broadly felt. Many responses have been offered to the akrasia requirement espoused by volitionists. These responses often take the form of counterexamples involving blameworthy ignorance: i.e., cases where an agent didn't act akratically, but where they nevertheless seem blameworthy. These counterexamples have generally led to an impasse in the debate, with volitionists maintaining that the ignorant agents are blameless. In this paper, I explore a different sort of counterexample: I consider agents who have acted akratically, but whose very conscious awareness of their wrongdoing complicates their blameworthiness. I call these cases of "complex akrasia," and I suggest that they are a familiar aspect of moral life. I interpret these cases as supporting non-volitionist accounts, and particularly Quality of Will accounts.


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Changing American Psychiatry: A Personal Perspective is both a history of an extraordinary time in psychiatry and a psycho-socio-economic analysis of factors influencing the development of the discipline, enriched by the author's role as a major participant/observer in the field's transformation and growth. The title alerts the reader to that dual role—the term "changing" not only refers to changes in psychiatry but also suggests the active role of the author in influencing and effecting as well as reporting change. As a bit player in that drama, I was particularly interested in how the story would be told, and I was not disappointed. Dr. Sabshin, with his usual intellect and insight, describes his career in the context of the development of 20th-century psychiatry (and a brief foray into the 21st) and intertwines his work and that of APA with the many external developments that affected the field: the trajectories of psychoanalysis, community psychiatry, and biological research; the role of DSM; the development of advocacy groups; and the impact of APA leadership in public policy and public information. The chapters address the field from a linear perspective, beginning with post-World War II and Dr. Sabshin's own career development and continuing through the present. The chapters also discuss special topics such as evidence-based diagnosis and treatment, psychiatric education, international affairs, and APA governance and leadership. While there has been more to the development of psychiatry in the last half-century than APA, and while there are concepts or conclusions with which one can take exception, there is no doubt that during Mel Sabshin's quarter-century tenure, and through his understanding and energy, APA became a key leader in the important growth and strength of the profession. This volume is quite rich and full and can best be absorbed by a chronological reading, with a return to the special topics of the latter chapters. Even though we recognize that the historical report is shaped by the author's participation in it, the analytic critical assessment of the interplay of the pivotal factors that have shaped our profession is an important base for future planning. The remarkable view and experience of the author and his important role in this change make a compelling and enjoyable "must-read" for current and potential leaders of our profession, as well as those who wish to have a greater understanding of psychiatry's history. For me personally, the volume is particularly timely, as it speaks to my presidential theme: Our Voice in Action: Advancing Science, Care, and the Profession. Dr. Sabshin, with consummate skill and advocacy, led psychiatry to a new and important maturity based on science and professionalism in the service of patients worldwide.


Throughout its history, the field of computer graphics has been striving towards increased realism. This goal has traditionally been described by the notion of photo-realism, and more recently and in many cases the more ambitious goal of perceptual realism. Photo-realistic image synthesis involves many algorithms describing the phenomena of light transport in a scene as well as its interaction with various materials. On the other hand, research in perceptual realism typically involves various tone mapping algorithms for display devices as well as algorithms that mimic the natural response of the human visual system in order to recreate the visual experience of a real scene.
An important aspect of realistic rendering is the accurate modeling of the scene elements such as light sources and material reflectance properties. This dissertation proposes a set of new techniques for efficient acquisition of material properties as well as new algorithms for high quality rendering with acquired data. Here, we are mostly concerned with the acquisition and rendering of local illumination effects. In particular, we propose a new optical setup for efficient acquisition of the bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) with basis illumination and various Monte Carlo strategies for efficient sampling of direct illumination.
The dissertation also looks into the display end of the image synthesis pipeline and proposes algorithms for displaying scenes on high dynamic range (HDR) displays for visual realism, and for tying the room illumination with the viewing environment for a sense of presence and immersion in a virtual environment. Here, we develop real-time rendering algorithms for driving the HDR displays as well as for active control of room illumination based on dynamic scene content. Thus, we propose contributions to the acquisition, rendering, and display end of the image synthesis pipeline while targeting real-time rendering applications, as well as high quality off-line rendering with realistic materials and illumination environments.


Hierarchical aluminosilicate-based MFI zeolite single crystals with intracrystalline macropores were fabricated in one pot for the first time. The strategy involved the outward dissolution of the aluminosilicate precursor and simultaneous recrystallization of Si and Al species under the guidance of the organic template tetrapropylammonium bromide. The interesting outward dissolution of the aluminosilicate precursor from core to shell led to the formation of intracrystalline macropores. The Si/Al ratios of these macro/microporous ZSM-5 single crystals could be easily tuned in a wide range by varying the aluminum and alkali contents of the aluminosilicate precursors. The hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolite with highly interconnected macropores exhibited high performance in the 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene cracking reaction due to the improved intracrystalline diffusion. This study provides a new strategy to fabricate highly efficient zeolites with hierarchical porosity in a simple and cost-effective way.


This article examines, in the Australian context, the status of technology-based legal document generation services provided directly to the public, where the service provider is not a lawyer or law practice. A brief overview of how legal practice is regulated, what legal practice is and who can engage in it under Australian law is provided to consider the circumstances where this type of service may amount to the unauthorised practice of law.


To guide technology transfer, a simulation model of the innovation diffusion process is developed in which the five attributes of an innovation (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability) interact with adopter characteristics. These attributes are combined into a measure of innovation "fitness" to modify adoption rate. A measure of "exposure" is also developed to integrate time, communication channels and prior adoption to predict adoption rate. Behavior of the simulation is explored in relation to sparse data sets, especially in the field of information technology.


An array of microfabricated interdigitated electrodes (IDEs) is one of the most commonly used forms of electrode geometry for dielectrophoretic manipulation of biological particles in microfluidic biochips owing to simplicity of fabrication and ease of analysis. However, the dielectrophoretic force dramatically reduces as the distance from the electrode surface increases; therefore, the effective region is usually close to the electrode surface for a given electric potential difference. Here, we present a novel two-dimensional computational method for generating planar electrode patterns with enhanced volumetric electric fields, which we call the "microelectrode discretization (MED)" method. It involves discretization and reconstruction of planar electrodes followed by selection of the electrode pattern that maximizes a novel objective function, factor S, which is determined by the electric potentials on the electrode surface alone. In this study, IDEs were used as test planar electrodes. Two arrays of IDEs and respective MED-optimized electrodes were implemented in microfluidic devices for the selective capture of Escherichia coli against 1 μm-diameter polystyrene beads, and we experimentally observed that 1.4 to 35.8 times more bacteria were captured using the MED-optimized electrodes than the IDEs (p < 0.0016), with a bacterial purity against the beads of more than 99.8%. This simple design method offered simplicity of fabrication, highly enhanced electric field, and uniformity of particle capture, and can be used for many dielectrophoresis-based sensors and microfluidic systems.


This work deals with the complete stability analysis in the case of two dimensional fluid flows searching for steady and Hopf bifurcations.The stability analysis starts with the computation of steady bifurcations. It is realized by first considering the monitoring of an indicator which is a scalar function. The indicator is computed via a perturbation method: the Asymptotic Numerical Method. Steady bifurcation point corresponds to the zero of this indicator. From this singular point, all the steady bifurcated branches are computed by using the perturbation method.Then the stability analysis is pursued with the computation of Hopf bifurcations by a hybrid method. This latter consists in coupling a continuation method with a direct Newton solver.The continuation method allows the bifurcation indicator to be determined using alternating reduced order and full size steps resolution. The quantities coming from the bifurcation indicator are used as initial approximations for the direct method iterations.Then an augmented system whose solutions are Hopf bifurcation is solved by a direct method of Newton kind.The examples of the one side and two sides lid driven cavities show the reliability and the efficiency of the proposed numerical tools.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Supply chain management as the delivery of enhanced customer and economic value through synchronized management of the flow of physical goods and associated information from sourcing to consumption, though, achieving the real potential of supply chain management require integration not only of these entities within the organization, but also of the external partners. The purpose of this research project was to provide a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the effect of government regulations on the supply chain performance of oil marketing companies in Kenya. The study is based on a survey of 50 Kenyan oil marketing firms with respondents mainly from supply and procurement departments. The findings clearly indicate that government regulations affect the supply chain performance of oil marketing companies in Kenya. The study recommends that oil marketing firms should investment in supply chain management strategies. The study also suggests that ERC should recognize macroeconomic factors affecting oil firms when formulating oil prices. The study provides an insight into understanding the SCM practices, the benefits of effective SCM and the hindering factors.


Water drinking provocative test was carried out in 28 chronic simple glaucoma and 17 borderline cases of chronic simple glaucoma. These tests were carried out twice on the same patients with an empty stomach and after taking breakfast at an interval of 15 days. It was observed that there was no significant difference in the outcome of the results even when this test was carried out with a full stomach.


The purpose of this article is to provide a first comment to the new provisions on virtual currencies included in the European Union Directive 2018/843, amending Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, known as Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive. The Directive requires States to include, among the obliged entities to respect anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing requirements, such as 'knowyour-customer', the 'providers engaged in exchange services between virtual currencies and fiat currencies.' To the big dilemma: 'to regulate or not to regulate' virtual currencies, including Bitcoins, the EU answered that yes, we must regulate. However, what is the meaning of regulating Bitcoins? After presenting what VC are and which challenges they pose to international law, I will argue that regulation is fundamental in order to avoid the exploitation of these currencies for the purposes of money laundering and terrorism financing, but that, at the same time, regulation as it was conceived at EU level might pose numerous challenges because it only concerns the moment in which the 'real' world meets the 'virtual' one, and is applicable only to the obliged entities that fall under the scope of the EU legal instrument.


The research reported here documents the awareness of ecolabels among visitors to Christchurch, one important visitor destination in New Zealand. Around the world there is a growing debate about ecolabels and how visitors respond to them. We propose to inform this debate by studying the relationship between visitor response to ecolabels and their environment values. In interviews with 295 visitors to Christchurch it was found that only one-fifth recalled any place with ecolabels, and only 13% had ever heard of any tourism ecolabel. However, 33% of visitors had some experience of ecolabels. Data were cluster analysed to find that 61% of respondents expressed biocentric values and 39% expressed ambivalent values but not anthropocentric values towards nature. Further analysis of the data showed that the clusters had different responses on many dimensions of ecolabels. Biocentric visitors were concerned with the environment in which they travel, believed that ecolabels are needed in New Zealand, and said they would choose accommodation with an ecolabel. Their reports of their actions were consistent with their expressions of concern for the environment. Results suggest that many visitors will favourably receive ecolabel developments in New Zealand and that ecolabel development and use should be supported.


Lung cancer is the most common cancer worldwide. In 2008, the number of incident cases was estimated to be around 1.6 million (13% of all incident cancers). Mortality is high with 1.4 million of deaths the same year (18% of all deaths from cancer) (www.globocan.iarc.fr). Overall, survival rate at 5 years is <20% but heterogeneity is important and the search for prognostic factors has led to the publication of an impressive number of papers. However, due to the design and often retrospective nature of prognostic factors studies, few of these factors can really be used in routine care to guide management and to determine prognosis. More recently, with the development of so-called targeted therapies, more and more attention has been paid to the identification of predictive factors that might be better tools to guide therapy.

In the present paper, we will review how prognostic and predictive factors are different and how they can be identified. We will also present some well-known and important factors although we will not attempt at all to make an exhaustive report. This is virtually impossible; in 2002, Brundage et al . [1], in a systematic overview of prognostic factors for non-small cell lung cancer, identified 887 articles published during a decade and more than 150 possible prognostic factors for non-small cell lung cancer.

A prognostic factor is generally defined as a factor, measured before treatment, that has an impact on a patient′s outcome "independently" of received treatment or of the general class of treatment. Populations of patients used for prognostic factors identification may be very broad (from resected stage I patients to stage IV patients scheduled to receive chemotherapy) or more specific such as patients treated with radical radiotherapy or stage III patients. Outcome is most often defined as overall survival but …