Ectopic pancreatic tissue is an uncommon developmental anomaly. The condition mostly occurs in the gastrointestinal tract and is usually asymptomatic. It rarely causes symptoms of inflammation, bleeding and perforation, and has potential for malignant change. Though it is an uncommon condition, cases of ectopic pancreas have been reported worldwide. Preoperative diagnosis of ectopic pancreas is challenging because of its nonspecific symptoms and signs. Owing to the revolution of minimally invasive surgery, submucosal tumors of the stomach can be resected by laparoscopic techniques. We have earlier reported on a case of ectopic pancreas in the stomach treated by robotics-assisted laparoscopic wedge resection. Herein, we report a case of ectopic pancreas in the prepyloric region of the stomach. A 44-year-old female presented with a two-week history of epigastralgia with radiation to the back. She received endoscopy check-up which disclosed a mass in the stomach. By endoscopic findings, a submucosal lesion in the prepyloric region with umbilical folding on the mucosa was identified. The umbilical folding on the mucosa hint the orifice of the duct of ectopic pancreas into the gastric mucosa suggestive of ectopic pancreas. Contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography showed a 5 cm cystic mass with heterogeneous content. To sum it up, the patient was diagnosed as ectopic pancreas in the stomach. She underwent laparoscopy-assisted antrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis (excision of the antrum and prepyloric region with reconstruction of gastrointestinal continuity by gastroduodenostomy) and had an uneventful hospitalization course. The histopathology of the resected tumor demonstrated ectopic pancreatic tissue in the gastric wall. To the best of our knowledge, excision of gastric ectopic pancreas using laparoscopy-assisted antrectomy with Billroth I anastomosis has never been reported in the literature.


I wish this evening to discuss with you a period of about fifteen days towards the end of the life of Robert Burns. It is of course too late a period to have influenced his writing, and probably for this reason little is written about it, but I find the period to be helpful in developing my personal view of Burns the man. The talk then will be partly a factual account of the days, how he came to be at Brow and what happened on his return; and part speculation.


To assess the sensitivity and negative predictive value of sputum examination for Pneumocystis carinii in HIV-positive patients, follow-ups were performed in HIV-infected patients who had been investigated for the presence of Pneumocystis carinii (376 examinations of sputum and 71 bronchoalveolar lavages). Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia was diagnosed 65 times in 64 patients (57 male and 7 female, median age 35 [23-67]years). In 52% of the cases (n = 34) the pathogen was identified in the sputum, in 48% (n = 31) by means of the bronchoalveolar lavage. Of 342 negative findings in sputum examination, five were definitely false negative since the subsequent lavage yielded pneumocysts. In nine further cases Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia could not be excluded because of the course of the disease. In patients from whom sputum samples were available the sensitivity of pathogen identification was at least 70.8% and the negative predictive value at least 95.9%. Since preceding prophylaxis did not render identification in the sputum more difficult, examination of spontaneous or provoked sputum is indicated as a first hand measure in all patients infected with HIV in whom Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia is suspected.


PURPOSE
To describe how molecular and genetic markers influence the response to therapy in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

SUMMARY
Cisplatin resistance has been associated with high rates of expression of endonucleases, a family of DNA repair proteins that includes ERCC1 and BRCA1. Gemcitabine is thought to produce its antitumor effects by several mechanisms, including inhibition of ribonucleotide conversion to deoxyribonucleotide through the inactivation of ribonucleotide reductase. One type of gemcitabine resistance occurs when the inactivation of ribonucleotide reductase decreases, which correlates with increased expression of the M1 subunit of ribonucleotide reductase. Taxanes produce their anti-tumor effects by binding to and stabilizing intracellular microtubules, which are necessary for DNA replication and cell division. High expression of beta-tubulin III, a microtubule subunit with low taxane binding affinity, appears to confer resistance to taxane therapy. High expression of thymidylate synthase, an enzyme that is important in purine synthesis and DNA replication, has been associated with decreased response to uracil antimetabolites, and may also be an important prognostic factor in patients receiving pemetrexed. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a cell- surface receptor with an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain that is thought to modulate numerous cellular functions that contribute to tumorigenicity, tumor invasiveness, and resistance to therapy. Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that treatment response to small-molecule and monoclonal antibody inhibitors of EGFR is greatest for patients who have a higher EGFR gene copy number.

CONCLUSION
Several genetic, molecular, and histological markers may affect treatment response in patients with NSCLC. Evaluating patients for such markers is important not only for treatment efficacy, but also to improve safety and tolerability by avoiding exposure to treatments that are unlikely to produce significant benefits. Nearly all of the available information regarding the predictive value of these markers has been derived from retrospective studies. Prospective clinical trials are important to validate marker evaluation methodology and the prospective utility of biomarkers in clinical decision making.


OBJECTIVE
To explore the influence of Astragalus membranaceus (AM) on serum cytokines, Th1, including interleukin-2 (IL-2) and gamma-interferon (gamma-IFN), and Th2, including interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interleukin-10 (IL-10), in patients with herpes simplex keratitis (HSK).

METHODS
One hundred and six HSK patients were randomly divided into the AM treated group and the ribavirin treated group. Levels of serum IL-2, IL-4, IL-10 and gamma-IFN of all the patients and 62 healthy person, selected from donors for control group, were determined by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique.

RESULTS
Levels of serum IL-4 and IL-10 in HSK patients were significantly higher and those of IL-2 and gamma-IFN were significantly lower than those in the healthy control (all P < 0.01). These parameters were significantly improved in the patients of the AM group after treatment, but with no change in patients of the ribavirin group.

CONCLUSION
AM can modulate the imbalance state of Th1/Th2 in HSK patients, improve their immune function disturbance, that shows important significance in treating HSK.


Machine learning has revolutionised speech technologies for major world languages, but these technologies have generally not been available for the roughly 4,000 languages with populations of fewer than 10,000 speakers. This paper describes the development of Elpis, a pipeline which language documentation workers with minimal computational experience can use to build their own speech recognition models, resulting in models being built for 16 languages from the Asia-Pacific region. Elpis puts machine learning speech technologies within reach of people working with languages with scarce data, in a scalable way. This is impactful since it enables language communities to cross the digital divide, and speeds up language documentation. Complete automation of the process is not feasible for languages with small quantities of data and potentially large vocabularies. Hence our goal is not full automation, but rather to make a practical and effective workflow that integrates machine learning technologies.


We study discrete conjugate nets whose Laplace sequence is of period four. Corresponding points of opposite nets in this cyclic sequence have equal osculating planes in different net directions, that is, they correspond in an asymptotic transformation. We show that this implies that the connecting lines of corresponding points form a discrete W-congruence. We derive some properties of discrete Laplace cycles of period four and describe two explicit methods for their construction.


ABSTRACT There is increasing awareness of the need to correct for freshwater as well as marine reservoir effects when undertaking radiocarbon (14C) dating of human remains. Here, we explore the use of stable hydrogen isotopes (δ2H), alongside the more commonly used stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen isotopes (δ15N), for correcting 14C freshwater reservoir offsets in 10 paired human-faunal dates from graves at the prehistoric cemetery of Shamanka II, Lake Baikal, southern Siberia. Excluding one individual showing no offset, the average human-faunal offset was 515±175 14C yr. Linear regression models demonstrate a strong positive correlation between δ15N and δ2H ratios, supporting the use of δ2H as a proxy for trophic level. Both isotopes show moderate but significant correlations (r 2 ~ 0.45, p < 0.05) with 14C offsets (while δ13C on its own does not), though δ2H performs marginally better. A regression model using all three stable isotopes to predict 14C offsets accounts for approximately 65% of the variation in the latter (r 2=0.651, p=0.025), with both δ13C and δ2H, but not δ15N, contributing significantly. The results suggest that δ2H may be a useful proxy for freshwater reservoir corrections, though further work is needed.


Green synthesis using biological agents has been an effective approach for the preparation of various forms of nanoparticles. In this study, according to a green protocol, ethanolic and aqueous extracts of Urtica dioica L. have been utilized for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs). To evaluate the physical characteristics of the ZnO NPs, common techniques such as X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Photoluminescence (PL) and UV-visible spectroscopy have been employed. Analysis of the XRD patterns confirmed the hexagonal wurtzite structure and the crystallite size was calculated using the Debye–Scherrer formula to be 19 to 28 nm. Also, the crystallite shape and size of the ZnO NPs were determined using FESEM. The FTIR results confirmed the presence of various functional groups in the NP structure. Some biological assays including in vitro cytotoxicity, hemolytic, and antibacterial activities were performed to evaluate the biological characteristics of the ZnO NPs. The cytotoxic effects of the NPs were determined after exposure to different concentrations (5–200 μg mL−1) at 24, 48 and 72 h. Light microscopic examination was performed and the cell viability was measured using an MTT assay. The results demonstrated that ZnO NPs prepared using ethanolic extracts had lower toxicity than those prepared using aqueous extracts in fibroblast and MCF-7 cell lines. The NPs showed good blood biocompatibility and also reliable antibacterial activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.


DAVID PITT. HELEN FLYNN. JOANNE CHAXANOVSKIS. P. RoBOZ. P. PEARCE. half-life of three days, and I am wondering If other observers may be able to correlate the giving of this drUg with jaundice in the newborn, as one of the breakdown products from diazepam is apparently a. glucuronide. This is by no means proven and there may well be other causes for this; but the association here seems relatively strong.


Animal's rhythmic movements such as locomotion are considered to be controlled by neural circuits called central pattern generators (CPGs). This article presents a reinforcement learning (RL) method for a CPG controller, which is inspired by the control mechanism of animals. Because the CPG controller is an instance of recurrent neural networks, a naive application of RL involves difficulties. In addition, since state and action spaces of controlled systems are very large in real problems such as robot control, the learning of the value function is also difficult. In this study, we propose a learning scheme for a CPG controller called a CPG-actor-critic model, whose learning algorithm is based on a policy gradient method. We apply our RL method to autonomous acquisition of biped locomotion by a biped robot simulator. Computer simulations show our method is able to train a CPG controller such that the learning process is stable.


P & T Committees were established as an institution's primary organizational tool for the development and maintenance of the formulary. Traditionally, P & T Committees have focused on the safety, efficacy, and acquisition cost of medications to be considered for formulary approval. Today, the impact of pharmaceuticals on patients' quality-of-life and total health care expenditures are increasingly important considerations to be weighed by P & T Committees. Pharmacoeconomic analyses and quality-of-life outcomes represent valuable contributions to the formulary decision-making and management process.


Geometries and interaction energies for methane clusters with naphthalene and pyrene were studied. Estimated CCSD(T) interaction energies for the clusters at the basis set limit were -1.92 and -2.50 kcal mol(-1), respectively. Dispersion is mainly responsible for the attraction. Electrostatic interaction is very small. Although the benzene-methane cluster prefers a monodentate structure, in which a C-H bond of the methane points toward the benzene, the methane clusters with the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons do not prefer monodentate structures. In the benzene-methane cluster, the weak electrostatic interaction stabilizes the monodentate structure. On the other hand the dispersion interaction controls the orientation of methane in the naphthalene and pyrene clusters. The dispersion interactions in these clusters are significantly larger than those in the benzene-methane cluster. The methane prefers the orientation which is suitable for stabilization by dispersion. Hydrogen atoms of the methane locate above the centers of hexagonal rings of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the stable structures. The structures have a small steric repulsion and this positions them only a short distance from the aromatic plane. The large dispersion contribution to the attraction shows that interactions between carbon atoms are mainly responsible for the attraction, and that hydrogen atoms are not important for the attraction. This shows that the interactions between the methane and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are not pi-hydrogen bonds.


Human umbilical cord blood (CB) is a potential source for mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) capable of forming specific tissues, for example, bone, cartilage, or muscle. However, difficulty isolating MSC from CB (CB‐MSC) has impeded their clinical application. Using more than 450 CB units donated to two public CB banks, we found that successful cell recovery fits a hyper‐exponential function of time since birth with very high fidelity. Additionally, significant improvement in the isolation of CB‐MSC was achieved by selecting cord blood units having a volume ≥90 ml and time ≤2 h after donor's birth. This resulted in 90% success in isolation of CB‐MSC by density gradient purification and without a requirement for immunoaffinity methods as previously reported. Using MSC isolated from bone marrow (BM‐MSC) and adipose tissue (AT‐MSC) as reference controls, we observed that CB‐MSC exhibited a higher proliferation rate and expanded to the order of the 1 × 109 cells required for cell therapies. CB‐MSC showed karyotype stability after prolonged expansion. Functionally, CB‐MSC could be more readily induced to differentiate into chondrocytes than could BM‐MSC and AT‐MSC. CB‐MSC showed immunosuppressive activity equal to that of BM‐MSC and AT‐MSC. Collectively, our data indicate that viable CB‐MSC could be obtained consistently and that CB should be reconsidered as a practical source of MSC for cell therapy and regenerative medicine using the well established CB banking system. J. Cell. Biochem. 112: 1206–1218, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Introduction: This study examines the nature of trauma laparotomies performed primarily by trainees and those performed under the direct supervision of a consultant.Materials and Methods: A retrospective review was undertaken at the Pietermaritzburg Metropolitan Trauma Service (PMTS), South Africa. All patients who underwent a trauma laparotomy were included. Admission physiology, organ injury and outcome were assessed. Statistical comparison using STATA was performed. Chi-squared analysis was used for categorical variables and unpaired T-test for physiology.Results: A total of 562 patients for trauma laparotomy were identified. Ninety percent (506/562) were male and the mean age was 30 years. The in hospital mortality was 7% (40/562). A consultant was present at 35% of cases (197/562). Consultantlead operations were found to have a higher rate of mortality 16% vs 2% (32/197 vs 8/365: p < 0.001) and ICU 45% vs 25% (89/197 vs 91/365: p < 0.001) than trainee only. Significant differences in many parameters of admission physiology were identified. Consultant-lead procedures had a higher lactate (3.7 vs 2.9: p 0.0043), respiratory rate (RR) (22 vs 20: p 0.0005), heart rate (HR) (102 vs 96: p 0.0035) and a lower systolic blood pressure (SBP) (115 vs 122: p 0.0001) diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (69 vs 73: p 0.0350) pH (7.34 vs 7.36: p 0.0216) base excess (BE, mEq/L) (-4.1 vs -2.5: p 0.0036) and bicarbonate (HCO3, mEq/L) (21.3 vs 22.5: p 0.0043) than trainee only procedures. Consultants were more likely to be called in for a gunshot than a stab wound (p < 0.001). Of the solid organ injuries, consultants are more likely to be called in for cases with liver injury 23% vs 16% (45/197 vs 58/365: p 0.005) and pancreatic injury 15% vs 3% (30/197 vs 11/365: p < 0.001).Conclusion: Trainees can safely undertake a subset of trauma laparotomies. However, patients with deranged physiology and complex hepatobiliary injuries should be operated on directly by a consultant.


One of the key drivers of youth migration of inequitable distribution of land which denies them access to work environment. Youths hold limited small land sizes even when they migrate and this limits there involvement in agriculture. Majority of the rural youths have low education levels and professional skills which hindered their ability to access decent jobs. The results of the hypothesis test revealed that there is relationship between the ages of migrants and their reasons for migration to the cities while migrant's marital status was not significantly related to their reasons for migrating motives. This study recommends that the government and non-governmental organizations should endeavour to establish skill acquisition in the devolved counties in Kenya centres in the rural areas to stem the rate of rural-urban migration.


•This article reconsiders the category of `commodity' by exploring its historical and contemporary articulation with the category of `drug' and the way in which both have been figured as transformative. I argue that ideas of substance, substance-dependency, willpower, structures of feeling and social struggles over power amass or materialize at particular moments in their cultural circulation. They coalesce temporarily into a structure conventionally apprehended as a commodity. Thus, values, norms, ideals and feelings substantialize in the form of the commodity. In turn, our relationship to commodities is called on to substantiate or legitimize a particular framing of our social order and control of social groups structured around `good commoditydrugs', `bad drugs' and so-called addictive consumption practices. Through such a framework, I analyse the category of `commodity' as transformational prism which tracks its complex discursive trajectories through pathology, social order, materiality, willpower and feeling. •


In this thesis a set of interlocking arguments is fashioned. Each argument serves a dual purpose: it contributes to the acceptability of the main theme developed In the thesis and it increases the acceptability of the other arguments. At all stages the price paid for refusing to accept the conclusions drawn is cited.

There are two driving forces behind the construction of the set of arguments. The first involves a recognition that there is a need for some 'underiabouring' work to be done for the Social Sciences; the second, relatedly. that there is a need to relocate the current debate in Anglo-Saxon Philosophy on, the question of Personal Identity.

The colligation of the arguments accomplishes an 'underlabouring' task for the Social Sciences. This task consists of the identification of some of the Implications of the acceptance (whether tacit or explicitly stated) of two notions: the notions of what constitutes a person and what constitutes society. it Is argued that Possible uses of the concept of a person, inherent in any Interpretation of social phenomena, will constrain the explanatory power of any social scientific theory (or even ofa common system of beliefs) In which the interpretation is embedded. If one accepts a social scientific theory (or any common system of beliefs) which subsumes a concept of a person which does not see persons as essentially subjective, essentially social and essentially knowledge-seeking then one has to pay a series of penalties. Foremost among the penalties Is the sacrifice of the possibility of the expansion of the understanding of social phenomena.

There are two concepts of society, embedded in contrasting systems of beliefs, whose acceptance has the effect of reinforcing the constraint on the explanatory power of the systems. One concept Involves a view of society as an object with causal powers, the other sees only Individuals as social causal agents. Whether it is Implicit or explicitly stated, the acceptance of either concept of society will cement the constraint on the expansion of one's understanding of social phenomena. The arguments go on to show that only the acceptance of a concept of society seen as an ensemble (itself devoid of detectable causal power) of social structures with causal powers can induce a lifting of some of the restrictions on the expansion of one's understanding of social phenomena.

At the core of the arguments lies a fundamental distinction. This is the distinction which needs to be made between the functions of epistemological and ontological concepts which underpin one's understanding of social phenomena. It Is argued that, while such a distinction needs to be made, the relationship between the two functions is a symbiotic one - neither can operate without the other. The differentiation between the two functions is achieved by focusing on the distinction between knowledge and being - encapsulated in Chapter 2 by the distinction made between 'cultural environments' and 'social environments'. Linked to, and sustaining, the distinction between social and cultural environments is a distinction between two aspects of cognitive interactions between Individuals. These two aspects Involve a contrast between an Individual's sense of 'Interacting with' and a sense of 'being with' other Individuals. The former Involves Individuals in operating 'social kinds' while the latter involves them in sustaining the operating parameters of social kinds$ operations of social kinds are needed for changes in states of understanding to occur (in other words the operations have epistemological significance); by contrast the sustaining of the operational parameters of social kinds is significant with respect to the functions of ontological concepts.

The failure of many theories of Personal Identity to address the problems generated by conflating epistemology and ontology In the social sciences renders such theories Inadequate to the task of providing a comprehensive analysis of Personal Identity. The arguments In the thesis pinpoint the nature of this Inadequacy, and show how it might be avoided.


Monitoring of flocculation processes is of great practical importance and can give very useful information on the action of different coagulants under various conditions. It is shown that a continuous optical monitoring technique provides a convenient means of following the formation, break-up and regrowth of flocs under standard mixing and stirring conditions. Examples of results using this approach are given, with alum and PACl coagulants as well as a cationic polyelectrolyte. PACl products give larger flocs than with alum, but they show about the same relative degree of breakage when the shear rate is increased. With all of these coagulants, floc breakage is not fully reversible; i.e. flocs only re-grow to a limited extent when the shear rate is reduced. This is in marked contrast to the action of a cationic polyelectrolyte, where floc breakage is almost completely reversible. Some possible reasons for these observations are discussed, but, so far, there is no adequate model available.


This article compares the decision‐making structures of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with those of the European Union (EU). It asks whether the EU is an appropriate template for ASEAN or whether, given the apparently unique circumstances of European integration and Southeast Asian regionalism, analogies between the two are counterproductive. Attempts, for example, to model ASEAN's Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) on the EU's Committee of Permanent Representatives (Coreper) throw into relief the latter's uniquely consensual modus operandi. Can this consensus be replicated by ASEAN simply by institutional mimesis? First, the EU's evolution is briefly outlined; second, ASEAN's institutional architecture is set in the context of the ASEAN Charter's innovations that most invite comparison with the EU; and third, the two organizations are compared by assessing a 'zone of discretion' between setting ambitious, but realistic, goals for ASEAN's greater integration and adopting structures that might be inappropriate to ASEAN.


This paper describes two methods for controlling the surface of a liquid in an open container as it is being carried by a robot arm. Both methods make use of the fundamental mode of oscillation and damping of the liquid in the container as predicted from a boundary element model of the fluid. The first method uses an infinite impulse response filter to alter an acceleration profile so that the liquid remains level except for a single wave at the beginning and end of the motion. The motion of the liquid is similar to that of a simple pendulum. The second method removes the remaining two surface oscillations by tilting the container parallel to the beginning and ending wave. A double pendulum model is used to determine the trajectory for this motion. Experimental results of a FANUC S-800 robot moving a 230 mm diameter hemispherical container of water are presented.


The use of centrifugal filtration for protein purification and concentration represents an important improvement for the application of vibrational spectroscopy to analysis of bodily fluids based on protein fractions with specific molecular weight. Vibrational spectroscopic techniques are highly specific and can potentially detect small variations in the protein content indicating the presence of different diseases, and are therefore usable as markers for early diagnostics. However, due to the high sensitivity of the techniques, it is essential to verify that no molecular contamination occurs during the preparation of the samples. Concentration of the blood serum using commercially available centrifugal filters has been shown to result in an improvement in the spectral intensity and quality. However, the presence of contaminant features, identified as deriving from glycerine, can be found in the data collected after use of the centrifugal filters. It is demonstrated in the present work that careful washing of the filters is required before the analysis of body fluids based on concentrated samples. The demonstrated protocols for spectroscopic measurement of human serum are applicable to a range of bodily fluids and should accelerate potential clinical applications.


Although Japan, South Korea, and China share a similar history of tattoo criminality spanning thousands of years, in modern times they all hold different legal policies concerning the practice of tattooing. South Korea has the strictest laws, requiring a medical doctorate to legally tattoo, while Japan has only recently reaffirmed the legality of the practice outside of health professionals. China, on the other hand, has few restrictions on body art. This paper explores this interesting difference via observational fieldwork in the major cities of Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Beijing as well as interviews with local people within and outside the tattoo scene. In doing so, this paper hopes to explain the connection between a new tattoo culture supported by a younger generation and the level of democracy and development of each country. Although a strong social stigma towards the art remains salient in all three nations due to the historical connection to criminality, a new, younger generation with greater access to the internet and the outside world has been able to adopt a tattoo culture unrelated to previous trends. Tattoos in East Asia are becoming less about rebellious self-expression, which could be threatening to authoritarian governmental systems like China, but are instead symbols of a modern society rising alongside a younger middle class, one unburdened by previous decades of poverty or struggle. The rising prevalence of a tattooed population may be less an indicator of a strong counter-culture then, but instead, a signal of a globalized, developed society.


Student discipline and control entered a new era in 1994 when the federal government passed P.L. 103382, tagged the Gun-Free Schools Act. Prior to this time state legislation was not nearly so specific with regard to student discipline and control and generally decreed it to be a local issue. The most common law on the books was a general requirement that local boards have in place a policy on discipline, suspensions, and expulsions. The federal legislation made the eligibility for ESEA (Elementary and Secondary Education Act) funds contingent on a state's enacting a "zero tolerance" law with the goal of producing "gun-free" schools. While a few states had zero tolerance laws before the federal legislation was enacted, most states used the event to strengthen and add new state laws. State Legislation Beginning in 1994 and carrying on into 1995, all 50 states came into compliance with the federal mandate. The guidelines from the U.S. Department of Education were summarized by the National School Boards Association in the following manner: * Private schools are not subject to the act. * In order to be eligible for ESEA funds, local school districts must have an expulsion policy consistent with the required state law. * The one-year expulsion requirement does not allow school districts to waive the due process rights of students. * State law must allow the chief administrative officer of each local school district to modify the one-year expulsion requirement on a case-by-case basis. * In its application to the state for ESEA funds, each local school district must include in its policy a requirement that students expelled for weapons violations be referred to the criminal justice or the juvenile justice system. * The requirement for the case-by-case exception may not be used to avoid overall compliance with the one-year expulsion requirement. * The term "weapon" in the federal law does not include knives or common fireworks, though a state law implementing the federal act may use a broader definition of weapon that does include knives. The federal definition of weapon does include guns, bombs, grenades, rockets, and missiles. While the state legislation generally set out to meet the intent of the federal guidelines, subsequent legislation has begun to broaden the definition of a weapon and to add additional implementation procedures to give greater discretion to local school administrators. At stake here was the perceived inability of local officials to react to situations in which judgment could alter an automatic maximum penalty. The media, of course, have been quick to pick up on stories in which the penalty appeared more serious than the infraction. In Colorado, two incidents brought this to public attention. One involved an elementary student who brought a paring knife to school in a lunch box to be used to cut an apple. The case went to the school board for automatic expulsion before it was modified. Another incident involved a kindergarten student who brought a loaded pistol to school. District follow-up revealed that the parents did not possess a weapon and that a relative/house guest brought it into the home without their knowledge. In both cases, the media ran numerous stories on each incident. State legislation now appears to be going in two directions. Some states are trying to clarify the "accidental" situations, while others seem bent on extending the coverage of the law to include drugs, alcohol, and other items. The following are a few examples of state legislation that has been enacted or proposed. * Arizona, enacted 1995. A school district or charter school shall expel from school for a period of not less than one year a student who is determined to have brought a firearm to a school or its jurisdiction, except that the school district or charter school may modify this expulsion requirement for a student on a case-by-case basis. …


The Sasanian Empire (224 - 624 AD) covered a vast geographical area, which expanded from Mesopotamia and Southern Iran into Central Asia, the Caucasus and the Arabian Peninsula. Its highly organised socio-political and military system enabled the foundation of new urban centres, intensification of agricultural land and expansion of trade networks into farfetched regions such as India and China. One impressive aspect of the Sasanian Empire was its ability to construct and maintain complex large-scale irrigation systems, which required a significant labour force to construct. Recent investigations of the northern and southern frontiers by the Persia and its Neighbours Project have identified a wealth of evidence for Sasanian landscape investment. Irrigation systems such as surface canals and channels, and underground aqueducts (qanats) were the most prominent features identified in the lowland regions, while in the uplands, agricultural terraces and field systems dominated.

The aim of this thesis was to draw upon landscape survey methodologies, combining luminescence and geoarchaeological techniques, to gain a better understanding of the timing of construction, maintenance and abandonment of key landscape features. The main methodological issues raised during this research were the complex taphonomy and landscape alterations that occur in many research areas, thus requiring intensive landscape survey, small-scale excavation and testing of samples to identify sites with the best potential for further investigation.

The results of the combined luminescence and geoarchaeological methodology have demonstrated the complex formation histories of Sasanian irrigation systems. The cleaning and maintenance events identified in upcast mounds, revealed important indicators for human-environment interactions at the frontiers. The demise of the Sasanian Empire did not result in the abandonment and collapse of these irrigation systems. Alternatively, canals were maintained into the Early Islamic period, suggesting 'continuity' rather than 'collapse' of key elements of Sasanian society.


Digital preservation is one of the ways to make history of a nation keeps alive. The history of a nation rooted in its cultures and nature. The wealth of these cultures and nature spread in many entities and in many areas. Their existences are in a vulnerable position. One of the efforts to preserve cultural heritage and natural history is by utilizing information and communication technologies (ICT) as enabler. In this paper we overview a series of research progress on integrated approach to digital preservation of eCultural Heritage and Natural History (eCHNH) Framework. The research results show that the availability and accessibility of cultural heritage and natural history are improved. Furthermore, the unification of these assets that are spread in several entities and several geographical areas, are established through seamless integration.


Vegetation density in Banda Aceh is an important aspect of monitoring the recovery process after being hit by a tsunami on December 26, 2004. The tsunami disaster had a tremendous impact on Banda Aceh city, both physical and non-physical damage. As a result, a lot of vegetation was swept away by the tsunami waves. After the tsunami disaster, Banda Aceh City carried out rehabilitation and reconstruction to change the land cover. The increasing population growth in the city also has affected land cover. Changes in land use not following the spatial plan of the Banda Aceh can reduce the quality of the environment, e.g., reducing the vegetation density in some areas. This paper presents the utilization of Landsat 7 and Landsat 8 images to analyze the vegetation density in Banda Aceh city before dan after the tsunami in the last 15 years. This study aims to determine the ability of satellite imagery to detect vegetation density in Banda Aceh in designated years before and after the tsunami. This study uses the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index analysis to observe the trend of vegetation density in the Banda Aceh. Results show that the vegetation density in Banda Aceh City in 2004, 2005, 2009, 2015, and 2020 was dominated by low-density classes. Still, in 2015 and 2020, there was an increase in medium and high vegetation density classes. This finding shows the pattern of the vegetation density follows the progress of the recovery after 15 years hit by a tsunami.


Directors of solvent companies owe a fiduciary duty to shareholders qua the company. If a company becomes technically insolvent, the duty switches to the company's creditors. This is uncontroversial. However, the duty is also said to switch some point before, i.e., in the 'vicinity of insolvency'. Therefore, directors must be able to make decisions which do not prejudice shareholders, in a way that is free from exposure to claims by creditors. This uncertainty stems from the case law, where the rules of company law have been confused with the policies underlying insolvency law. The two bodies should be considered separately despite their interrelationship in practice. Doing so reveals the proper and fair function of the duty. Its application should be limited to cases of actual insolvency only. While exceptions may be made for cases of irresponsible or negligent risk-taking, this should be the exception – not the rule. This essay is the first of two parts, and examines the emergence of the duty and possible justifications.
company law, insolvency law, directors' duties, fiduciary duties, agency costs


Evidence indicates that children with a well-developed number sense are more likely to experience long-term mathematical success than children without. However, number sense has remained an elusive concept. In this paper we summarise the development of an eight dimensional framework categorising what we have come to call foundational number sense, or those non-innate number-related competences typically taught during the first years of schooling. We also show, drawing on grade one lessons from Hungary and Sweden, how teaching focused on conceptual subitising, the teaching of children to identify and use easily recognisable groups of objects to structure children's understanding of number, facilitates students' acquisition of a range of foundational number sense-related competences.


The roles of the heterotrimeric G-protein, Gi2, in regulating the actin cytoskeleton and the activation of store-operated Ca2+ channels in rat hepatocytes were investigated. Gαi2 was principally associated with the plasma membrane and microsomes. Both F-actin and Gαi2 were detected by Western blot analysis in a purified plasma membrane preparation, the supernatant and pellet obtained by treating the plasma membrane with Triton X-100, and after depolymerization and repolymerization of F-actin in the Triton X-100-insoluble pellet. Actin in the Triton X-100-soluble supernatant co-precipitated with Gαi2 using either anti-Gαi2 or anti-actin antibodies. The principally cortical location of F-actin in hepatocytes cultured for 0.5 h changed to a pericanalicular distribution over a further 3.5 h. Some Gαi2 co-localized with F-actin at the plasma membrane. Pretreatment with pertussis toxin ADP-ribosylated 70–80% of Gαi2 in the plasma membrane and microsomes, prevented the redistribution of F-actin, caused redistribution and fragmentation of the endoplasmic reticulum, and inhibited vasopressin-stimulated Ca2+ inflow. It is concluded that (i) a significant portion of hepatocyte Gαi2 associates with, and regulates the arrangement of, cortical F-actin and the endoplasmic reticulum and (ii) either or both of these regulatory roles are likely to be required for normal vasopressin activation of Ca2+ inflow.


Vitamin D and its analogues are effective in the treatment of psoriasis. The principal concern about the use of these agents is the possibility of adverse effects on systemic calcium homeostasis. We review the effects of vitamin D and its analogues on systemic calcium homeostasis and discuss the implications for patients with psoriasis.


With the publication of NFPA 68 (2013); a major change is in progress in venting area calculation methods for gas explosions. Old methods referring to the Kg parameter proved to be inappropriate for real applications. The present work provides new data to correlate real gas concentration and initial turbulence conditions to flame propagation and explosion overpressure during a vented gas explosion. Explosion tests were performed in a 4 m 3 rectangular chamber equipped with transparent walls and vented (0.49 m 2 square vent) on one side. The chamber is filled with a turbulent or quiescent hydrogen-air mixture with a purposely built injection system that allows to vary the turbulence intensity and the length scale. Gas concentration and turbulence parameters are measured with concentration gauges and Pitot probes distributed in the chamber (Duclos, 2017). Then the flame propagation is fully characterized with high speed video and explosion overpressure is measured inside and outside the chamber. The paper presents the parametric study performed by varying the initial turbulence and focuses on its influence on the inside explosion overpressure. Then physics of vented gas explosion is discussed, results are compared to developing phenomenological model.


Motivation in writing is important to make students' interest in writing is improved. thus, The teacher in SMK 1 Sepulu provided many home works to make the students become Independent learner. However, the home works that are given to the students in SMK 1 Sepulu have no aims such as it would make do the homework only copying from his or her friend's works. Refering to those problem, Creating enjoyable and comfortable learning atmosphere is one of the ways to increase the student's motivation in writing. Here, The use of Self-regulated strategy development (SRSD) is one of appropriate strategy to be implemented in SMKN 1 Sepulu in guiding the students to be an independent learner. The objective of this study was to find out and analyze the influence of self-regulated strategy development towards students' writing motivation in recount text. the researcher used quasy-experimental method in this study . The researcher conducted the reaserch to first grade students of SMK 1 Sepulu.. The researcher took two classes as the sample: X TKJ 1 as the experimental group and X TKJ II as control group. The instrument of this study were questionaire which consist of pre and post questionaire and interview. the writer used T-test to analyze the data. The result of this study showed that The obtained t0 is 10.02 was higher than t-table as 5% level of significance = 2.00 and. so, the writer can conclude 2.00 < 10.02. therefore, the first hyphothesis (Ha) was accepted and null hypothesis(H0.) was rejected. Additionally, in the data gained by interview with the respondents, they admitted that their motivation was improved by the implementation of self-regulated strategy development. therefor, it can be concluded that self-regulated strategy development is effective to be a strategy in English teaching and learning writing particularly in increasing students' motivation to write.


ABSTRACT The current longitudinal study investigated how classroom second language (L2) learning modulates the neural correlates of bilingual language control during language production. Chinese college freshmen majoring in English undertook two test sessions (i.e. pre-learning and post-learning) over the course of one year. Specifically, while in the scanner, participants were instructed to name pictures in either their first or second language in response to cues. Behavioral results showed that language switch costs in the post-learning session were reduced as compared to the pre-learning session. fMRI results showed that, compared to the pre-learning session, the connectivity strength between the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus and the left caudate was increased in the post-learning session. Critically, this increased connectivity strength was correlated with the reduction in language switch costs. These findings suggest that the language control network used during bilingual language production could be modulated by long-term L2 learning in a naturalistic classroom setting.


This paper introduces a new architecture of a six degrees-of-freedom parallel robot suitable for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication. The robot consists of only revolute joints for the passive joints, and linear actuators located at the base for the active ones, both of which are easier to manufacture in MEMS technology. The hybrid kinematic structure contains three single-loop submechanisms connected in parallel to the moving platform. The solutions of the inverse and direct kinematics problems are presented


The effects of dietary casein level (5-40%) on the liver microsomal phospholipid profile, delta 6-desaturase activity and related variables were investigated in rats to examine whether the dietary protein level affected the delta 6-desaturase activity through an alteration of the liver microsomal phospholipid profile. The effects of supplementing a 10% casein diet with certain amino acids were also investigated. The concentration of hepatic S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), the ratio of phosphatidylcholine (PC) to phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) and the delta 6-desaturase activity in liver microsomes, and the ratio of arachidonate to linoleate of microsomal PC increased with increasing dietary casein level. There were significant correlations between the dietary methionine content and hepatic SAM concentration, hepatic SAM concentration and microsomal PE concentration, and microsomal PE concentration and delta 6-desaturase activity. Supplementation of the 10% casein diet with methionine significantly increased the hepatic SAM concentration, PC/PE ratio, delta 6-desaturase activity, and arachidonate/linoleate ratio, whereas cystine supplementation had no or little effect on these variables. These increases induced by methionine were significantly suppressed by additional glycine. The results obtained here, together with those in our previous report, suggest that quantity and type of dietary protein might affect the delta 6-desaturase activity through an alteration of the liver microsomal profile of phospholipids, especially PE, and that the alteration of phospholipid profile might be mediated by a hepatic SAM concentration that reflects the dietary methionine level.


Infertility can be an agonizing experience, especially for women. And, much of the agony has to do with luck: with how unlucky one is in being infertile, and in how much luck is involved in determining whether one can weather the storm of infertility and perhaps have a child in the end. We argue that bad luck associated with being infertile is often bad moral luck for women. The infertile woman often blames herself or is blamed by others for what is happening to her, even when she cannot control or prevent what is happening to her. She has simply had bad luck. We focus on the self-blame of infertile women and show how it stems from pro-natalism that targets women. We also argue that overall for women, regret is a better moral response to infertility than self-blame.


OBJECTIVE
To determine which anthropometric measurement is the most reliable alternative for fat distribution as measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA).

DESIGN
Population-based survey carried out in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
A total of 376 individuals (200 women) with a mean age of 36.5 years and mean body mass index (BMI) of 24.0 (+/-3.1) kg/m2 underwent various anthropometric and DXA measurements of central (CFM) and peripheral fat mass (PFM). Furthermore, for the assessment of apple-shaped body composition, CFM-to-PFM ratio was calculated. Anthropometric measurements were waist and hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), BMI, waist/length and the skinfold thickness of biceps, triceps, suprailiacal (SI), subscapular (SS) and upper leg. We determined whether equations of combined anthropometrics were even more reliable for the assessment of fat mass.

RESULTS
In both women and men, reliable alternatives for CFM are central skinfolds and waist (Pearson's correlation (r) >or= 0.8). Peripheral skinfolds are the best predictors of PFM (r >or= 0.8). In contrast, WHR correlated only marginally with any of the DXA measurements. Equations based on several anthropometric variables correlate with CFM even better (R2 >or= 0.8). CFM-to-PFM ratio has the highest correlation with the ratio (SS+SI)/BMI in women (r = 0.66) and waist/length in men (r = 0.71). Equations are reasonable alternatives of CFM-to-PFM ratio (R2 >or= 0.5).

CONCLUSION
Waist and skinfolds are reliable alternatives for the measurement of body fat mass in a cohort of Caucasian adults. WHR is not appropriate for the measurement of fat distribution.


Excitons of tetrapod-shaped nanocrystals made of CdTe, CdS, CdSe, ZnTe, and ZnSe were investigated systematically by numerical diagonalization of configuration interaction Hamiltonian based on single-particle states obtained by finite-element method. Both one-particle and exciton wave functions have high spatial symmetries due to the tetrahedral symmetry of the nanocrystals, which leads to a distinct selection rule for optical absorption and emission. The absorption spectra thus calculated were compared with available experimental data and good agreement was found.


ABSTRACT A major factor in removing RNA primers during the processing of Okazaki fragments is DNA polymerase I (Pol I). Pol I is thought to remove the RNA primers and to fill the resulting gaps simultaneously. RNase H, encoded by rnh genes, is another factor in removing the RNA primers, and there is disagreement with respect to the essentiality of both the polA and rnh genes. In a previous study, we looked for the synthetic lethality of paralogs in Bacillus subtilis and detected several essential doublet paralogs, including the polA ypcP pair. YpcP consists of only the 5′-3′ exonuclease domain. In the current study, we first confirmed that the polA genes of both Escherichia coli and B. subtilis could be completely deleted. We found that the 5′-3′ exonuclease activity encoded by either polA or ypcP xni was required for the growth of B. subtilis and E. coli. Also, the 5′-3′ exonuclease activity of Pol I was indispensable in the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus. These results suggest that a 5′-3′ exonuclease activity is essential in these organisms. Our success in constructing a B. subtilis strain that lacked all RNase H genes indicates that the enzymatic activity is dispensable, at least in the wild type. Increasing the 5′-3′ exonuclease activity partially compensated for a defective phenotype of an RNase H-deficient mutant, suggesting cooperative functions for the two enzyme systems. Our search for the distribution of the 5′-3′ exonuclease domain among 250 bacterial genomes resulted in the finding that all eubacteria, but not archaea, possess this domain.


ABSTRACT Background: To compare the frequencies of risk factors, we describe risks for depression as a function of race among consecutively admitted participants in a randomized clinical trial of indicated depression prevention in later life. Methods: Seventy-two black and 143 white participants were screened for risk factors for depression. Results: Black participants were more likely to have fewer years of education and lower household income. They were more likely to be obese, live alone, experience functional disability, have a history of alcohol and drug abuse, and have lower scores on the Mini-mental State Examination and the Executive Interview (EXIT). White participants were not found to have greater prevalence or higher mean score on any risk factor. On average, black participants experienced approximately one more risk factor than white participants (t(213) = 3.32, p = 0.0011). Conclusions: In our sample, black participants had higher frequencies of eight risk factors for depression and a greater mean number of risk factors compared to white participants.


Differences in volume and margins among the various products point up the importance of volume-cost-profit analysis adapted to the particular sausage manufacturing firms. The relationships of the various cost and revenue factors to volume are of extreme importance in determining the profitability of the sausage manufacturer. The individual functional decision areas are closely related to overall volume-cost analysis. For purposes of this study, the functional decision areas considered included: formulation problems, raw material procurement, product line policy, physical facility utilization, interplanting green materials and finished product, gang size for labor hiring, production planning, and the general area of sales policy, particularly distribution and pricing decisions. A normative linear programming model was built to simultaneously consider all the decision areas and alternatives. The analysis was undertaken as a case study to permit incorporation of consistent data in the model. In addition, it permitted building the model around the type of management analysis necessary for it to be useful in an operational setting. The model tested for the case firm contained 727 variables representing activities of the firm and these activities were controlled by 585 constraints. The model was designed as a weekly decision model representing a three-plant firm selling seven major sausage product lines in two major types of markets. The sausage division represented by the model could purchase up to l6 ingredients from job-lot, car-lot, or in-company sources. The firm is generally a price taker in both the product and ingredient markets. traceable variable costs were allocated to the appropriate products, whereas common variable costs are a function of total output. The model was designed to maximize short-run contribution to fixed costs and profit. Maximization of the long-run contribution is the actual objective of the firm and this is considered in setting constraints on the short-run decisions. Four phases were analyzed for tne case firra. The first phase analyzed involved production capacity as the limiting factor. In the second phase analyzed, market sales became the limiting factor, ceteris paribus. The third and fourth phases likewise were limited by market sales as the levels of ingredient and product prices changed. The optimal solutions obtained from the different phases showed changes for the various decision areas. Ingredient procurement sources and quantities of each ingredient used at different plants changed as prices varied. Formulas for products with their associated meat costs varied among plants under a given set of conditions and between time periods at the same plant as conditions changed. Production location also changed under varying conditions even though total production volume remained constant. Closely related to these production shifts were changes in the optimal labor-hiring patterns. Contribution to fixed costs and profit varied widely with changing market conditions. The amount by which estimated profit contribution exceeded the profit objective in the analyses indicated the general magnitude of profit improvement a attributable to use of the model. These figures represented approximately 9 percent increases in contribution to profit above the profit objectives. Use of the model adapted to the individual company's conditions way be expected to result in improved profits through reduction of suboptimality for the company.


Backgrounds: Group-A streptococcal serology is used for the diagnosis of poststreptococcal diseases, such as acute rheumatic fever, and occasionally for the diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis. Experts recommend that the upper limits of normal values for streptococcal serology should be determined for each individual population because of differences in the epidemiology of group A Streptococci (GAS) between these populations.
Objectives: This study was conducted firstly to determine the normal values of the upper limit of anti-streptolysin O (ASO) titer in Sana'a city. Secondly to determine the factors that might affect the levels of ASO among the selected children.
Methods: Participants with a history of GAS disease, including pharyngitis or impetigo were excluded. A total of 404 serum samples collected from children aged 5-15 years (with a sample enriched with school-aged children) were tested for the ASO titer. Reference values, including titers that were 95% of the upper limit of normal (ULN) were obtained by the calculation of 95% prediction interval (PI 95%) using a parametric method instead of the traditional non parametric approach.
Results: Normal values for the ASO titer declined in the early childhood and rose slightly in the late childhood. The estimated ASO titers that were 95% of ULN for the total was 276.2 IU/ml.
Conclusions: This study data were similar to those reported in countries with temperate climates, suggesting that a uniform upper limit of normal for streptococcal serology may be able to apply globally.


Compliance with food group and nutrient recommendations, and self-efficacy, stage of change, perceived barriers and benefits for healthy eating were assessed among a convenience sample of college students majoring in health-related disciplines. Dietary and psychosocial data were collected using three-day food records and scales, respectively. Means (SD), frequencies, and percents were calculated on all data, and logistic regressions were used to determine whether any of the psychosocial correlates predicted the stage of change for healthy eating. Noncompliance with food group recommendations ranged from 53% for the meat/meat alternates group to 93% for the vegetables/juice group, whereas noncompliance with nutrient recommendations ranged from 26% for cholesterol to 99% for potassium. A majority of students (57%) self-classified in the preaction and 40% in the action stages of change for eating healthy. The students' self-efficacy to eat healthy was highest in positive/social situations and lowest when experiencing emotional upset. The most important perceived barrier to healthy eating was that friends/roommates do not like to eat healthy foods, and the most important perceived benefit was that eating healthy foods provides the body with adequate nutrients. The difficult/inconvenient self-efficacy subscale predicted the stage of change for healthy eating. These students would benefit from interactive learning opportunities that teach how to purchase and prepare more whole grain foods, fruits, and vegetables, enhance their self-efficacy for making healthy food choices when experiencing negative emotions, and overcome perceived barriers to healthy eating.


Report of a Discussion meeting held at Burlington House on 15 May 1981, and chaired by Dr S. H. U. Bowie. Much of the land now available for development in inner cities and urban areas has been contaminated by previous use for industry, waste disposal and other activities. The degree and forms of contamination are extremely varied, but there are potential hazards particularly when redevelopment schemes for relatively sensitive purposes, such as housing, are proposed. The aim of this meeting was therefore to consider some of the issues relevant to the problems of contaminated land, and to discuss possible approaches towards providing effective solutions to them. The morning session concentrated on the problem of setting appropriate numerical values as guidelines for acceptable concentrations of some of the metals commonly encountered on contaminated land. These issues were introduced by Dr N. J. King and discussed in detail by Mr M. A. Smith, whose paper dealt with the principles on which such guidelines must be based. The lively discussion which followed showed the high degree of awareness and interest among the audience, with some topics generating particularly strong opin- ions. Several speakers were concerned about the scope of the guidelines and the need to ensure their comparability with similar sets of figures proposed for other purposes. In general there was substantial agreement that such guidance was necessary. The initiative taken by the Department of the Environment in recognizing the need for guidance and developing the advice to its present


This study examines the potential applications of the rational expectations hypothesis (REH) in information technology (IT) investment and adoption decision-making. Although REH has been widely used in other areas of microeconomics and macroeconomics, we have not yet seen common use of the related theory in the information systems (IS) field. In this paper, we introduce REH theory together with some of its applications in non-IS/IT areas. Despite the fact that rationality is commonly assumed in economic analyses, the REH's rather strong assumptions make it a unique theory and allow us to offer new perspectives on IS/IT adoption and investment decision-making. We discuss how the theory can potentially be applied in IS/IT cases by presenting several illustrative examples. We then examine issues in the evaluation of adoption and investments of new and emerging ITs. Based on the theory, we argue that managers that are risk-averse are most likely to wait and adopt or invest in new and emerging technologies later than managers that are risk-takers. We suggest that for the earlier adoption or investments, the conventional method for estimating investment value may not be appropriate. We also suggest research directions with regard to the application of REH in the IS field.


PURPOSE
Pancreatic carcinoma is one of the most malignant tumors of the alimentary system, with relatively high incidence rates. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of two regimens for advanced pancreatic carcinoma: continuous transarterial infusion versus systemic venous chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil.

METHODS
Of the 48 patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma receiving chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil, 24 received the selective transarterial infusion, and 24 the systemic chemotherapy. For the continuous transarterial infusion group (experimental group), all patients received gemcitabine 1000 mg/m2,given by 30-minute transarterial infusion, on day 1 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles, and a dose of 600 mg/ m2 5-fluorouracil was infused on days 1~5 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles. For the systemic venous group (control group), gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil were infused through a peripheral vein, a dose of 1000 mg/m2 gemcitabine being administrated over 30 min on days 1 and 8 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles, and a dose of 600 mg/m2 5-fluorouracil was infused on days 1~5 of a 4-week cycle for 2 cycles. The effectiveness and safety were evaluated after 2 cycles according to WHO criteria.

RESULTS
The objective effective rate in transarterial group was 33.3% versus 25% in the systemic group, the difference not being significant (P=0.626). Clinical benefit rates(CBR) in the transarterial and systemic groups were 83.3% and 58.3%, respectively (P=0.014). The means and medians for survival time in transarterial group were higher than those of the systemic group (P<0.005). at the same time, the adverse effects did not significantly differ between the two groups (P>0.05).

CONCLUSION
Continuous transarterial infusion chemotherapy with gemcitabine and 5-fluorouracil could improve clinical benefit rate and survival time of patients with advanced pancreatic carcinoma, compared with systemic venous chemotherapy. Since adverse effects were limited in the transarterial group, the regimen of continuous transarterial infusion chemotherapy can be used more extensively in clinical practice. A CT and MRI conventional sequence can be used for efficacy evaluation after chemotherapy in pancreatic carcinoma.


Munc13 proteins form a family of three, primarily brain-specific phorbol ester receptors (Munc13-1/2/3) in mammals. Munc13-1 is a component of presynaptic active zones in which it acts as an essential synaptic vesicle priming protein. In contrast to Munc13-1, which is present in most neurons throughout the rat and mouse CNS, Munc13-3 is almost exclusively expressed in the cerebellum. Munc13-3 mRNA is present in granule and Purkinje cells but absent from glia cells. Munc13-3 protein is localized to the synaptic neuropil of the cerebellar molecular layer but is not found in Purkinje cell dendrites, suggesting that Munc13-3, like Munc13-1, is a presynaptic protein at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses. To examine the role of Munc13-3 in cerebellar physiology, we generated Munc13-3-deficient mutant mice. Munc13-3 deletion mutants exhibit increased paired-pulse facilitation at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses. In addition, mutant mice display normal spontaneous motor activity but have an impaired ability to learn complex motor tasks. Our data demonstrate that Munc13-3 regulates synaptic transmission at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses. We propose that Munc13-3 acts at a similar step of the synaptic vesicle cycle as does Munc13-1, albeit with less efficiency. In view of the present data and the well established vesicle priming function of Munc13-1, it is likely that Munc13-3-loss leads to a reduction in release probability at parallel fiber–Purkinje cell synapses by interfering with vesicle priming. This, in turn, would lead to increases in paired-pulse facilitation and could contribute to the observed deficit in motor learning.


What I propose to do in this short paper is to outline two different approaches to needs in Greek philosophy. The first is the reasonably familiar approach used by Aristotle, and, in some moods, by Plato; the second is a rather less well-known approach which can with some justice be associated with Socrates, and/or Plato when he is not in an Aristotelian mood (if I may so put it)—and also the Stoics, who seem to have picked up some distinctly Socratic ways of thinking. The Aristotelian line, if not necessarily familiar as Aristotle's, will be familiar just insofar as it gives some degree of that recognition to needs that most moderns would suppose the idea should be given. What I am calling the Socratic line, by contrast, appears to leave no room for the idea of needs at all (or at least, that will be my way of putting it for now; I shall need a rather different formulation later on). It is this second, 'Socratic', approach that primarily interests me, not least because it is non-standard.


This work on texture detection was inspired by the general problem of object recognition in two dimensional still images. One of the crucial challenges associated with the object recognition is selecting and obtaining discriminative features. In analysis of real scenes, like nature or urban places, many objects contain textures, which can be considered as one of the object features. Texture detection may also significantly improve image segmentation, which is one of the tools used for object recognition. This report presents a novel method named Feature Co-ocurence Texture Detector (FCTD) which allows for fully automatic detection of textures common in real scenes, like water in lakes, tiger skin, fields of flowers or tree crowns. The method searches for an alternating color pattern, like for example black and orange stripes covering tiger skin, which is very often present in those textures. The final result is a hierarchy of textures (described by their boundaries and a set of features) detected at multiple precision levels, which can be used for further analysis or texture classification. It is achieved through hierarchical clustering of color pairs related to adjacent image segments, where each segment represents a low color gradient, simple shaped patch of pixels in the image. The results are presented on some images from the Berkeley database.


Using the relativistic impulse approximation with empirical NN scattering amplitude and the nuclear scalar and vector densities from the relativistic mean-field theory, we evaluate the Dirac optical potential for neutrons and protons in asymmetric nuclear matter. From the resulting Schroedinger-equivalent potential, the high-energy behavior of the nuclear symmetry potential is studied. We find that the symmetry potential at fixed baryon density is essentially constant once the nucleon kinetic energy is greater than about 500 MeV. Moreover, for such a high-energy nucleon, the symmetry potential is slightly negative below a baryon density of about {rho}=0.22 fm{sup -3} and then increases almost linearly to positive values at high densities. Our results thus provide an important constraint on the energy and density dependence of nuclear symmetry potential in asymmetric nuclear matter.


Czochralski lifting device is the key equipment for crystal growth. Due to laser crystal growth mechanism could decide its slow growth speed, so Lifting device is required to operate under the ultra-low speed situation chronically. According to shock, shake, fraction and crawl of movement system affected speed stability, the paper carries out a nobel design to laser Czochralski lifting system through alternated servo technology and its precision is analyzed comprenshensively. The long-term experimental data showed by using changed plus PID control method that the system has high precision and better reliability and it is suitable to grow large-size laser crystal. Meanwhile, the design system makes use of common spare parts and can meet the requirements for large scale industrialization.


We derive analytic, closed-form solutions for the light curve of a planet transiting a star with a limb-darkening profile that is a polynomial function of the stellar elevation, up to an arbitrary integer order. We provide improved analytic expressions for the uniform, linear, and quadratic limb-darkened cases, as well as novel expressions for higher-order integer powers of limb darkening. The formulae are crafted to be numerically stable over the expected range of usage. We additionally present analytic formulae for the partial derivatives of instantaneous flux with respect to the radius ratio, impact parameter, and limb-darkening coefficients. These expressions are rapid to evaluate and compare quite favorably in speed and accuracy to existing transit light-curve codes. We also use these expressions to numerically compute the first partial derivatives of exposure-time-averaged transit light curves with respect to all model parameters. An additional application is modeling eclipsing binary or eclipsing multiple star systems in cases where the stars may be treated as spherically symmetric. We provide code which implements these formulae in C++, Python, IDL, and Julia, with tests and examples of usage (https://github.com/rodluger/Limbdark.jl).


understanding that Paul's so-called 'apocalyptic' perspective is the key to his thinking. The bulk of the book consists of competent surveys of the situation, structure and content of the letters. The section on Paul's theology gives brief summaries of what the apostle says on a number of major topics. Although all the letters in the Pauline Corpus are surveyed, the theological summaries draw only on the seven undisputed letters. If Soards had made a clearcut decision to devote the book only to the historical Paul, his treatment of the apostle's life and work and his theology could have been less abbreviated. Nevertheless, and especially if one holds that Paul's eschatology is the right way into his thinking, this book can be recommended as giving a good start for the student in his or her study of Paul. ATL


Testing fMRI predictions of a Cognitive Model of the Problem State Multitasking Bottleneck Jelmer Borst University of Groningen Carnegie Mellon University Niels Taatgen University of Groningen Carnegie Mellon University Hedderik Van Rijn University of Groningen Andrea Stocco Carnegie Mellon University Abstract: It has been shown that people can only maintain one intermediate mental representation, or 'problem state', concurrently. When multiple problem states have to be maintained, performance decreases sharply, an effect referred to as the problem state bottleneck. We investigate this bottleneck using a triple-task, in which participants have to solve subtraction problems, enter text, and perform a listening task concurrently. The triple-task confirmed the existence of a problem state bottleneck. To explain the behavioral results in detail, a cognitive model was developed using ACT-R (Anderson, 2007) and the threaded cognition theory (Salvucci & Taatgen, 2008). The model showed a close fit to the emperical data. It was subsequently used to generate fMRI predictions for five brain areas. These predictions where tested in an experiment, showing a good correspondence between model predictions and fMRI data, indicating that the problem state bottleneck is probably located in the intraparietal sulcus.


Relying on the relevant date from China Statistical Yearbook and Chinese Rural Statistical Yearbook, the coolabarative performance of main body of agricutlural technology innovation is evaluated by taking four –power innovation body as the sujects and by estalbishing the index system from the perspectives of inout and output. The results show serious dislocation of main body and bad collabrative performance. On the basis, the quaternary -parties motivation system cocerning agricutlural enterpises, agricutlural science and technology acanamy, rural hosueholds and governments is established. The system is capable of integrating market, sciencetific reserch and diffusion collection into a whole part and solving the seperation of agricutlural innovation supply and demand.


We present a structured, iterative methodology for user-centered design and evaluation of VE user interaction. We recommend performing (1) user task analysis followed by (2) expert guidelines-based evaluation, (3) formative user-centered evaluation, and finally (4) comparative evaluation. In this article we first give the motivation and background for our methodology, then we describe each technique in some detail. We applied these techniques to a real-world battlefield visualization VE. Finally, we evaluate why this approach provides a cost-effective strategy for assessing and iteratively improving user interaction in VEs.


touch 1. Review of Main Concepts (a) Cumulative Distribution Function (cdf): For any random variable (discrete or continuous) X, the cumulative distribution function is defined as FX (x) = P (X ≤ x). Notice that this function must be monotonically nondecreasing: if x < y then FX(x) ≤ FX(y), because P(X ≤ x) ≤ P(X ≤ y). Also notice that since probabilities are between 0 and 1, that 0 ≤ FX(x) ≤ 1 for all x, with limx→−∞ FX(x) = 0 and limx→+∞ FX(x) = 1.


The transition towards next-generation communication technologies has increased the need for accurate knowledge about the wireless channel. Knowledge of radio wave propagation is vital to the continued development of efficient wireless communications systems capable of providing a high data throughput and reliable connection. Thus, there is an increased need for accurate propagation models that can rapidly predict and describe the propagation channel. This is extremely challenging for indoor environments given the large variety of materials encountered and very complex and widely varying geometries.Currently, empirical or ray optical models are the most common for indoor propagation. Empirical models based on measurement campaigns provide limited accuracy, are very costly and time-consuming but provide rapid predictions. Deterministic models are applied to the geometrical representation of the environment and are based on Maxwell's equations. They can produce more accurate predictions than empirical models. Ray tracing, an approximate model, is the most popular deterministic model for indoor propagation. The current trend of research is focused on improving its accuracy. Full-wave propagation models are based on the numerical solution of Maxwell's equations. They are able to produce accurate predictions about the wireless channel. However, they are very computationally expensive. Thus, there has been limited attempts at developing indoor propagation models based on full-wave techniques. In this work, the Volume Electric Field Integral Equation (VEFIE) is used as the basis of a full-wave indoor propagation model. The 2D and 3D formulations of the VEFIE are applied to model the propagation of radio waves indoors. An enhancement to the 2D VEFIE, called 2D to 3D models, is developed to improve its accuracy and utilise its efficiency. It is primarily used for the prediction of time domain characteristics due to its high efficiency whereas the 3D VEFIE is shown to be suitable for frequency domain predictions.


BCIs are presumably supposed to require the full attention of their users and to lose accuracy if they pay attention to another task. This assertion has been verified with several BCI paradigms (e.g. P300). But the cognitive demand of the promising SSVEP paradigm had never been specifically assessed yet. We measured the accuracy of an SSVEP-based BCI used by 26 participants in various conditions of mental workload. Our analysis revealed that surprisingly, for this type of BCI, little attention is actually needed from participants to reach optimal accuracy: participants were able to successfully perform a complex secondary task (N-back) without degrading the BCI accuracy. The same observation was made whether visual or auditive attention was solicited. These results indicate that SSVEP is a low-demanding paradigm in terms of cognitive resources, and are encouraging for its use in complex interaction settings.


During a visit of three weeks to the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie, Leiden in 1974, I examined, through the courtesy of Prof. L. B. Holthuis, unidentified galatheid specimens collected by the Snellius Expedition. According to Boschma (1936) collections of biological material were made mostly on shore in order to avoid interference with the principal aim of the expedition which was hydrological and geological investigation in the eastern part of the East Indian Archipelago. Therefore the present material consists mainly of common reef-dwellers; however, a few were collected by dredging. There were also several additional unidentified galatheids in the Museum which were collected from New Guinea, the Maldives and the Seychelles. On examination they proved to be reef-inhabitants and have been included in this report. A total of 17 species are dealt with here, including a new species of Munidopsis. For the biological data of the Snellius Expedition the reader is referred to Boschma (1936) which also provides extensive notes on topography. I am grateful to Dr. L. B. Holthuis for offering me the opportunity and facilities to study these interesting specimens, and to Dr. H. Boschma for encouragement. I thank Miss Janet Haig of the University of Southern California who at my request compared the Ryukyu specimen of Galathea subsquamata with the Australian G. aculeata and confirmed that they are conspecific. Dr. Fenner A. Chace, Jr. of the Smithsonian Institution kindly reviewed the manuscript. ACCOUNT OF THE SPECIES Galathea aegyptiaca Paulson, 1875 Galathea aegyptiaca Paulson, 1875: 94, pl. 12 figs. 1, 1a, 1b; Nobili, 1906: 126, fig. 8,


Promoting self-awareness of wellbeing in beginning teachers will contribute to their longevity and productivity. As the profession ages we are faced with the fact that many teachers are retiring, creating some shortages; increased numbers are leaving the profession prematurely; fewer applicants are entering teacher training; and some argue that the current workforce of teachers cannot relate to current students' life worlds. For beginning teachers, this raises issues related to their wellbeing and ability to transition and cope, and also justifiably provides challenges and opportunities for school reform, leadership and curriculum renewal. Additionally, teachers must be able to 'connect' with children and young people if they are to make a difference in their learning, health and wellbeing. In this paper we argue that the retention of teachers is dependent on having a wellbeing strategy in place that clearly identifies inhibiting and enabling strategies. Beginning teachers need to be able to identify such strategies to remain well – for themselves and the future of our children and young people.


ABSTRACT This paper investigates the wage assimilation of foreign immigrants and internal migrants in Italy, comparing them with stayers. Control for the selection in out-migration is performed using a new duration version of the Heckman correction and by taking into account both return migration and moves to other destinations. Internal migrants experience only minor wage differences when compared with stayers. By contrast, foreign immigrants earn about 8% less than stayers and internal migrants at the beginning of their careers, and the wage gap increases over time. Both language distance and job segmentation contribute to immigrants' lack of wage assimilation.


Spotify is a music streaming service that offers access to a vast music catalogue; it counts more than 24 million active users in 28 different countries. Spotify's backend is made up by a constellation of independent loosely-coupled services; each service consists of a set of replicas, running on a set of servers in multiple data centers: each request to a service needs to be routed to an appropriate replica. Balancing the load across replicas is crucial to exploit available resources in the best possible way, and to provide optimal performances to clients. The main aim of this project is exploring the possibility of developing a load balancing algorithm that exploits request-reply latencies as its only load index. There are two reasons why latency is an appealing load index: in the first place it has a significant impact on the experience of Spotify users; in the second place, identifying a good load index in a distributed system presents significant challenges due to phenomena that might arise from the interaction of the different system components such as multi-bottlenecks. The use of latency as load index is even more attractive under this light, because it allows for a simple black box model where it is not necessary to model resource usage patterns and bottlenecks of every single service individually: modeling each system would be an impractical task, due both to the number of services and to the speed at which these services evolve. In this work, we justify the choice of request-reply latency as a load indicator, by presenting empirical evidence that it correlates well with known reliable load index obtained through a white box approach. In order to assess the correlation between latency and a known load index obtained through a white box approach, we present measurements from the production environment and from an ad-hoc test environment. We present the design of a novel load balancing algorithm based on a modified ' accrual failure detector that exploits request-reply latency as an indirect measure of the load on individual backends; we analyze the algorithm in detail, providing an overview of potential pitfalls and caveats; we also provide an empirical evaluation of our algorithm, compare its performances to a pure round-robin scheduling discipline and discuss which parameters can be tuned and how they affect the overall behavior of the load balancer.


This article is directed towards learning, sharing, validation and dissemination opportunities provided by the online communities for the benefit of software developers. Web- based communities are ideal for learning from other professionals new development methodologies, for receiving code writing tips or acquiring cutting edge algorithms. Online communities are also presented as suitable environments for sharing information, code or even developers when it comes to flexible projects. Web-based communities are rapidly becoming important feedback tools for validating metrics, hypotheses, management methodologies or even pricing policies. Dissemination of results obtained by implementing innovative projects is very cost effective, fast and efficient if online communities are involved. Only innovation focused communities are target by this article and predominantly software development communities are reviewed. The article presents well established communities as well as emerging groups. Software development is chosen as the focus of the article because web-based communities originally consisted solely of programmers. Innovation is the main attribute of successful software development projects and consequently an important segment of any online community. The distinct features of online communities are analysed and ways of exploiting particularities are proposed. Relevant innovation oriented online communities are referred and their specific activities are depicted in the article. Ways to exploit the opportunities created by the online communities are submitted by the author. Learning opportunities are highlighted and information sharing is emphasized as native processes in online communities. The theories, information and facts enunciated throughout the article are summarised. A coherent picture of online communities focused on IT innovation is assembled.


INTRODUCTION: We present a prospective clinical study on use of tranexamic acid mouthwashes in patients taking oral anticoagulants and who have to undergo minor ambulatory oral surgery, without modifying their anticoagulant therapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty patients (18 men and 22 females) aged from 42 to 81 were studied from April 2000 to December 2002. All patients were under the same anticoagulant, vitamin K antagonist, (Sintrom) for different pathologies. The anticoagulant therapy was not modified neither before nor after surgery. More than 70 oral procedures were carried out under local anesthesia. The International Normalized Ratio of prothrombin time (INR) was<=4. Tranexamic acid 5% (Exacyl) mouthwashes were prescribed during and after surgery. RESULTS: All the patients were followed up during 2 weeks after surgery. There were no postoperative bleedings. DISCUSSION: Use of tranexamic acid mouthwashes under a specific protocol is an efficient, reliable and economic method in preventing postoperative bleeding in patients under oral anticoagulant therapy.


This article investigates the syntactic properties of deponents in finite and nonfinite contexts in several Indo-European languages (Vedic Sanskrit, Ancient Greek, Latin, Hittite, Modern Greek) and proposes a novel definition of deponency: deponents are morphologically nonactive verbs with noncanonical agent arguments that are merged below VoiceP. Since VoiceP is spelled out with nonactive morphology in those languages if it does not introduce an external argument itself, the result is a surface mismatch between morphological form and syntactic function. This proposal predicts that only certain nonfinite forms of deponents will surface with the syntax/morphology mismatch, namely, those that include VoiceP. Nominalizations without VoiceP will appear to suspend the voice mismatch. These predictions are shown to be correct with respect to the behavior of deponent participles in the languages under study.


This study examined Schwann cell behavior during paranodal demyelination induced by beta,beta'-iminodipropionitrile (IDPN). The stimuli for Schwann cell proliferation, extensively studied in vitro, are less well understood in vivo. Most in vivo systems previously used to examine Schwann cell proliferation in disease are dominated by loss of internodal myelin sheaths. As used in this study, IDPN administration produces neurofilamentous axonal swellings and paranodal demyelination, without segmental demyelination or fiber degeneration. We asked whether Schwann cells would proliferate following the restricted paranodal demyelination that accompanies the axonal swellings, and if so what the sources and distributions of new Schwann cells might be. IDPN was given as a single large dose (2 ml/kg) to 21-d- old rats. Neurofilamentous axonal swellings formed in the proximal regions of motor axons, reaching their greatest enlargement in the root exit zone 8 d after IDPN administration. These swellings subsequently migrated distally down the nerves at rates approaching 1 mm/d. The axonal enlargement was consistently associated with displacement of the myelin sheath attachment sites into internodal regions, and consequent paranodal demyelination. This stage was associated with perikaryal changes, including nucleolar enlargement, "girdling" of the perikaryon, and formation of attenuated stalks separating the perinuclear region from the external cytoplasmic collar. Schwann cells proliferated abundantly during this stage. Daughter Schwann cells migrated within the endoneurial space (outside the nerve fiber basal laminae) to overlie the demyelinated paranodes of swollen nerve fibers. In these regions, local proliferation of Schwann cells continued, resulting in large paranodal clusters of Schwann cells. As the axonal calibers subsequently returned to normal, the outermost myelin lamellae of the original internodes returned to their paranodal attachment sites and the supernumerary Schwann cells disappeared. Formation of short internodes, segmental demyelination, and nerve fiber loss were rare phenomena. These results indicate that paranodal demyelination is a sufficient stimulus to excite abundant Schwann cell proliferation; neither internodal demyelination nor myelin breakdown is a necessary stimulus for mitosis. The 3H-thymidine incorporation studies indicated that the sources of new Schwann cells included markedly increased division of the Schwann cells of unmyelinated fibers and, as they formed, supernumerary Schwann cells. In addition, there were rare examples of 3H-thymidine incorporation by Schwann cells associated with myelinated nerve fibers.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


In nucleus-nucleus collisions, the Quark-Gluon Plasma behaves like a perfect fluid and
the azimuthal anisotropy of the observed particle final-state distributions reflects its properties.
This anisotropic flow, arising mainly from initial-state geometry and its fluctuations,
highlights the collective behavior of the particles produced in the collision.
It is well-described by hydrodynamics and explains the long-range near-side correlations, known as the ``ridge'',
observed experimentally in AA collisions and, more recently, in small systems such as pp or pA collisions.
The CMS experiment has studied this correlation in details by extracting the momenta of the Fourier decomposition of azimuthal
particle-distribution in the final state ($v_\mathrm{n}$, n = 2 - 4). The $v_\mathrm{n}$ are extracted using di-hadron correlation
and multi-particle cumulant methods in both pp and pPb collisions. In this talk, results from CMS on the ridge in small systems
are shown and compared with those in PbPb collisions, demonstrating that the collective nature of the ridge
is present also in small systems. The correlation between different Fourier coefficients is further
investigated using a symmetric cumulant analysis and compared across colliding systems.
The latest results on $v_\mathrm{n}$ correlations in pp at 13 TeV and pPb at 8.16 TeV collisions are also discussed.
All these results give us a better understanding of collective effects from small to large
colliding systems and provide more insights on the nature of the ridge in pp and pPb collisions.


This paper examines the use of an online forum for the discussion of laboratory science. It is argued that such forums are significant in the light of claims made for the impact of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on scientific research, and of broader debates about the role of ICTs in reconfiguring social boundaries. It appears that the impacts of ICTs on scientific research are likely to be diverse and unpredictable, in line with emerging findings in other application domains. In particular, the potential to break down the boundaries between science and lay persons, and between different areas of scientific research, is likely to be limited by the ways in which particular forums are preserved as bounded spaces for specific specialisms. In the case of the forum studied in this paper, discursive practices function to re-establish laboratory boundaries in the online setting. Laboratory talk on the Internet may help to break down barriers between individual laboratories, but is not, in itself, any more accessible to lay people than talk in the private spaces of the laboratory.


The estimation of the hemispherical reflectance and the instantaneous albedo of canopies from top of canopy satellite reflectance data was investigated. The study was designed to approximate the specifications of generic sensors aboard satellites like NOAA, VEGETATION, MERIS, MISR, MODIS, and PRISM. These sensors acquire reflectance data in two to six wave bands distributed along the visible, near-infrared, and middle infrared domains. Five great biomes (grassland, sparse vegetation, tropical forest, boreal forest, and bare soil) were approximated, simulating the corresponding top of canopy reflectances as observed from the satellites using well-known leaf, soil, and canopy radiative transfer models, including the effect of cloud cover that limits the actual data acquisition scheme. Albedo was accurately derived from the hemispherical reflectance observed in only a few wave bands. When using six wave bands, albedo was estimated within 1% relative accuracy. The MRPV bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) model was tested to derive the hemispherical reflectance from the top of canopy bidirectional data as sampled by the generic sensors during a 32 day orbit cycle. Results showed that this is the main source of error, with a relative accuracy around 6%. This showed the importance of the directional sampling scheme and possible improvements that may be made to the model and the way it is fitted to the observed data. The algorithm developed produced a relative accuracy less than 7% for the albedo estimation, when using the six wave bands and a ±45° across-track directional scanning capacity. The results were discussed with particular emphasis on the optimization of sensors and algorithms dedicated to albedo estimation and to the use of hemispherical reflectance as a potential normalized geophysical product for monitoring vegetation.


A nonlinear layer can be a model for a cloud of gas bubbles in a liquid, a crack or split plane in a solid, or contact between two tighted surfaces. Solutions were derived for media under strong load. Numerical calculations based on Preisach-Mayergoyz space description (nonlinear stress-strain relationships typical for solids containing mesoscopic inhomogeneities or defects) have given results like those obtained from LISA (see results by Delsanto). IMVITED. Non-uniform massdistribution of grains immersed into a vibrating fluid create internal forces which is responsible for generation of higher harmonics. Tests on slow dynamics were performed.


In order to avoid ruinous price competition, companies are intensely seeking new ways to stand out from competitors in a global market scenario. In response to this aim, value bundles provide an approach to grade up existing offerings from isolated goods and services to integrated problem solutions for specific customer needs. This differentiation strategy relies on supply networks as an essential enabler. However, the effect of RFID as a major innovation in supply chain networks on their ability to enable value bundles is widely unexplored. In this paper we use the morphological method to identify typical characteristics of value bundles in RFID-enabled supply networks. The outcome is a set of characteristics which allows for categorization and, based on this, structured comparison of any respective value bundles. The categorization is illustrated and validated with three case studies.