The early Paleozoic accretionary tectonic regime that was established along the Laurentian margin of the Newfoundland Appalachians provided a favorable setting for shear-hosted gold mineralization along a major terrane suture, the Baie Verte-Brompton Line. The Stog'er Tight prospect is one of several mesothermal-style gold occurrences hosted by shear zones within accreted ophiolites and oceanic arc terranes on the Baie Verte Peninsula. It is an epigenetic, stratabound deposit that is confined to shallow-level gabbro sills within the volcanic cover sequence of the allochthonous Point Rousse ophiolite complex. Gold mineralization at Stog'er Tight is associated with hydrothermal mineral assemblages represented by chlorite-calcite, sericite-ankerite, red albite-pyrite (±Au) and chlorite-magnetite alteration zones. Gold occurs with pyrite within the intensely altered gabbro, along the margins of syn- to late-shear, quartz-rich, replacement veins. The Stog'er Tight gabbro served as a rigid body conducive to shear deformation and fluid penetration, whereas, its high Fe-Ti oxide content induced fluid oxidation and gold-pyrite precipitation. Hydrothermal alteration involved progressive CO 2 , S, Na, and LILE metasomatism, along with significant enrichments in the REE, HFSE, and Th in the high-grade ore zone. Temperatures of vein formation and alteration are constrained by oxygen isotope thermometry to be between 250°C and 480°C. Isotopic compositions of vein quartz from the Stog'er Tight prospect are uniform (δ 18 O = +12.5 ± 1‰) and fall within the range cited for many shear-hosted, auriferous quartz veins. A U-Pb zircon igneous age of 483 +3/−2 Ma for the Stog'er Tight gabbro is consistent with its stratigraphic correlation with other Ordovician ophiolitic and volcanic arc/back-arc assemblages in Newfoundland. The U-Pb age of a rare variety of hydrothermal zircon recovered from the high-grade ore zone directly constrains the timing of gold mineralization to 420 ±5 Ma, in accord with a major orogenic episode of Silurian age that produced many of the magmatic and metamorphic rock suites in north-central Newfoundland. Our results are consistent with a post-peak metamorphic, late-magmatic model for gold mineralization that occurred during the waning stages of Silurian orogenesis, driven by emplacement of I-type granitoid intrusions into the crust.


An asymptomatic man was found to have bilateral small pulmonary infiltrates on a preoperative chest roentgenogram. Over a 4-wk period there was rapid progression of the infiltrates with a clinical picture suggestive of adult respiratory distress syndrome. Open lung biopsy showed a high grade lymphoma filling and distorting the pulmonary parenchyma. Flow cytometry of pleural fluid showed an aberrant phenotype consistent with T cell lymphoma. The patient died of progressive respiratory failure 6 wk after the first radiographic abnormalities were detected. With further experience, immunophenotyping of pleural fluid may secure definitive diagnoses in certain clinical situations, obviating more invasive procedures.


The ability to visually discern shape, form, and value is fundamental to observational drawing. However, developing this skill requires a drawer to perceive a "raw" version of the scene being drawn, often referred to as regaining the innocence of the eye. This work investigates how interactive projected light cues can be used to alter the perception of drawing objects and understand how users might control their own perception. We introduce an augmented reality system capable of dynamically projecting interactive light cues onto objects within a live drawing studio. We present the design of three cues that address challenging percepts for novice drawers: gauging proportion, discerning shape, and shifting visual attention. In a formal user study with novice and intermediate drawers, we evaluate the effectiveness of these cues in supporting observational drawing. We demonstrate how cues can be designed to correct subconscious errors and visually guide users in learning to draw.


Marx's humanism haunts the 1844 Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts, which reserves species-being for humans alone, with the capacity for free conscious life activity. This is problematic and seemingly does not represent what we know about the lives of other species. This essay departs from the humanist tradition and argues that Marx's relational ontology and concept of species-being can be extended to the nonhuman world, bringing Marx up to speed with evolutionary biology and animal studies. Nonhumans possess the capacity to change our material world and live subjective lives, and many times they are the better examples of Marx's ideal species-being. Enlarging Marx's concept of species-being provides space for the consideration of nonhuman animals by enlarging the scope of the polis. This situates nonhumans as vital members of political and ecological communities capable of enacting material change while acknowledging the agency of diverse organisms and their dependence on one another in creating their communal lives.


Objectives and design This trial evaluated the effect of bandaging of acute painful ulcerative bovine digital dermatitis (DD) lesion (stage M2) in dairy cows, tested using two different topical treatments. Design Randomised clinical trial. Setting This study was conducted using Holstein-Friesian cows ranging in age from heifers to fourth lactation in a single dairy herd and diagnosed with acute ulcerative DD lesions (stage M2) on the first examination (week 0). Cows were randomly assigned into either a non-bandaged or bandaged group across two treatment conditions: topical chlortetracycline spray (CTC) and Intra Hoof-Fit Gel (IHF). Lesions received standardised bandaging and treatment on a weekly basis. Unhealed lesions could receive up to five repeated treatments, at weekly intervals, within a four-week period. Both M-stage and locomotion were also evaluated and scored weekly. Cows with healthily formed skin (stage M0) were deemed healed and subsequently released from the study. Results In total, 163 M2 lesions were diagnosed at week 0. Bandaged M2 lesions had a significantly higher probability of cure than non-bandaged lesions regardless of treatment type (HR: 4.1; P<0.001; 95 per cent CI: 2.5 to 6.8). Most healing occurred within the first three weeks of trial. Furthermore, bandaged lesions (group 2 and group 4) were significantly less likely to progress into the chronic hyperkeratotic or proliferative stage (M4) than non-bandaged lesions in group 1 and group 3 (HR: 0.10; P<0.001; 95 per cent CI: 0.04 to 0.22). Out of concern for the cow's wellbeing, this study investigated the effects of bandaging on locomotion. Bandaging had no effect on locomotion for either cows treated with CTC (group 1: median Sprecher score, 2; IQR=1–2; group 2: median Sprecher score, 2; IQR=1–3; P=0.3) or IHF (group 3: median Sprecher score, 2; IQR=1–2; group 4: median Sprecher score, 2; IQR=1–3; P=0.3).


Neo-modernism emerged when the term post-modernism began when the term began to become a common discourse when many experts began to get displeased with the negative effects that modernity, either from the aspect of sociocultural structure or scientific aspects. Neo-modernism, if traced to its existence, is in the thoughts of Fazlur Rahman (1970). While in Indonesia itself has Neo-modernism figures namely Nurcholish Madjid and Abdurrahman Wahid. As moralists and democrats, they have a complete, comprehensive, inclusive, and even free understanding of Islam. Therefore, their ideological and political actions often cause controversy. Even if they differ in practice, they have a paradigm of Islamic thought. Since Cak Nur put forward the jargon "Islam yes" and "Partai Islam no" in the 1970s, the integration of Islam and national opinion began to surface. Since then, the struggle for Islam through cultural channels has continued, and Muslims have also begun to participate in nation-building. In 1984, when NU under the leadership of Gus Dur approved Pancasila as the only precept, the relationship between Islam and the State grew stronger.


This study is about the progress of a cohort of students who commenced a Project 2000 pre-registration nurse education course in April 1991. The research was undertaken entirely within one setting - in a College of Healthcare which was one of the 13 Demonstration colleges in England - and was conducted over a period of three years and ten months. The aim of the study was to evaluate what was considered by the nursing profession, government officials and educationalists, to be a radically new and innovative nursing course. A case study research approach of illuminative evaluation was used, within which a three stage framework of observation, further enquiry and evaluation was followed. The emphasis of the research was on the illumination of the processes, perceptions and contingencies which resulted in particular outcomes for the participants. This has enabled a comprehensive understanding of the complex realities which surrounded this innovative course, and the effects that a number of contemporaneous events have had on the findings. A description of these events has been presented, as has a literature review, overviews of both the history which preceded the introduction of Project 2000 and the professional concerns regarding the rapidity with which it was implemented. Multiple data collection methods were used to obtain the required information from the April 1991 cohort, the teachers involved with these students, the practitioners from three health authorities and other members of the College staff. The analyses of the data and the progressive focusing on the findings, have resulted in the identification of numerous positive and negative aspects and outcomes, together with problem areas and particular issues associated with the rapidity of the implementation of the course and the management of change. The placing of the negative and positive findings in a broader explanatory context, demonstrates how they relate to each other and with the research literature, and how the resulting conclusions have been reached. The research demonstrated that there were some very positive aspects and desirable outcomes which arose from the P.2000 programme. However, the concerns are the detrimental effects which arose from the introduction of numerous innovations into a constantly changing environment. The nursing profession had placed great importance on the introduction of P.2000, but insufficient time had been allowed for the application of management of change theories which would have enabled a more successful implementation to take place.


Node classification is a classical graph representation learning task on which Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) have recently achieved strong results. However, it is often believed that standard GNNs only work well for homophilous graphs, i.e., graphs where edges tend to connect nodes of the same class. Graphs without this property are called heterophilous, and it is typically assumed that specialized methods are required to achieve strong performance on such graphs. In this work, we challenge this assumption. First, we show that the standard datasets used for evaluating heterophily-specific models have serious drawbacks, making results obtained by using them unreliable. The most significant of these drawbacks is the presence of a large number of duplicate nodes in the datsets Squirrel and Chameleon, which leads to train-test data leakage. We show that removing duplicate nodes strongly affects GNN performance on these datasets. Then, we propose a set of heterophilous graphs of varying properties that we believe can serve as a better benchmark for evaluating the performance of GNNs under heterophily. We show that standard GNNs achieve strong results on these heterophilous graphs, almost always outperforming specialized models. Our datasets and the code for reproducing our experiments are available at https://github.com/yandex-research/heterophilous-graphs


This paper discusses a theoretical framework to study the issues of competition and incentives without relying on the standard profit-oriented market model in the context of the debates about public service reform in the UK. It uses the idea that the production of public services coheres around a mission, and discusses how decentralized service provision can raise productivity by matching motivated workers to their preferred missions. Our focus on competition and incentives cuts across traditional debates about public versus private ownership and allows for the possibility of involving private non-profits. We also address concerns about the consequences of allowing more flexibility in mission design and competition on inequality.


A classical ensemble is employed to investigate double ionization of helium for laser wavelength 390 nm and intensity 1.1 PW/cm{sup 2}, below the threshold for recollision impact ionization. Significant numbers of trajectories that lead to electron energy above 2U{sub p} are shown to be present and to feature a time delay between recollision and final ionization. Processes through which nuclear and laser forces combine to give an electron final energy above 2U{sub p} are identified.


The goal of this study is to determine the effectiveness of mind games played by secondary school sixth grade students as classroom activities in math and grammar courses on their perceived problem‐solving skills and achievements. In the quantitative part of the study, the nonequivalent groups pre‐test–post‐test control group design from single‐factor quasi experimental designs was used. Qualitative data collection and analysis approaches have also been used to support and explain quantitative data. The study's sample group, which was formed using a convenience sampling method, consisted of 48 sixth grade secondary school students who studied in a moderately developed city center in Turkey and their teachers. An achievement test, perceived problem‐solving skills scale and semistructured interview guide were used as the data collection tools. According to the findings, the students in the experimental group who played mind games showed development in their perceived problem‐solving skills and achievements compared to the control group. The opinions of the teachers and students on the effects of the mental practices were also found to be positive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


Memory is one of the oldest and most researched cognitive domains, and while
much is established about verbal memory, research about visual memory is largely
inconclusive. Past research acknowledges that visual memory is a complex function and
research regarding visual perception, in particular the two streams hypothesis, clearly
highlights an anatomical and functional demarcation between spatial and object
processes. The current project consists of three experiments that investigate
performance on a series of visual memory tasks that were designed to measure memory
for spatial information and for object information separately. Each of the experiments
extended upon the results and ideas that emerged from the previous experiment's
findings.The purpose of the three experiments included:
1. The development and piloting of an electronic visual memory test battery that has
clear assessment tasks that measure spatial and object abilities separately for short
term, working and long term memory function.
2. Investigating the differences between spatial and object memory performance to
determine whether each stream potentially has a distinct capacity for visual
information in comparison to the other.
3. Developing further assessment tasks to assess performance capabilities for
information within each stream. This experiment explored the impact of frame of
reference on spatial information and for contextual cues on object information.
Major findings from the series of experiments suggest that visual memory is a
complex cognitive system and that performance and capacity for information, is
dependent on the nature of the information being remembered. This thesis highlights
that spatial memory function and object memory function should be considered separate
to both each other and to verbal memory function. Furthermore, context and the ability to verbalise visual information has the ability to enhance visual memory
performance, even when presented with simplistic geometric lines. The utilisation of
electronic media as a mode of assessment showed promise and allowed stimuli to be
presented in a dynamic and standardised manner. While the developed electronic tasks
showed promise further development is needed to successfully incorporate virtual
reality into psychometric test batteries as well as to establish if a distinct capacity for
each component of visual memory exists to mirror the known standard capacity of
verbal memory.


Abstract We evaluate a development programme with an important maternal health care component in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh. The region and its mostly indigenous people experienced violent conflict in the past and face a constant risk of recurring conflict. Given this fragile setting, our work differs from conventional impact evaluations by incorporating two conflict indicators: the household's actual experience of violence and fears of future violence. We find that the intervention undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) succeeded in boosting maternal health care utilisation: antenatal care (ANC) check-ups rose by 18 percentage points, while deliveries at health facilities increased by 23 percentage points. However, household experiences of violent conflict and perceptions of insecurity dampen maternal health care utilisation. Impacts on ANC check-ups are concentrated among households without experience of conflict (19 percentage points compared to 4 percentage points among households with such experience). And households without fears of violence see relatively larger impacts on deliveries at a health facility (37 percentage points compared to 11 percentage points). The programme is successful in raising maternal health care utilisation but its effectiveness has been constrained by the violence experienced and perceived by households.


Remedies are central to understanding EU merger control. They come in many variations - from massive divestitures paving the way for deals such as Bayer / Monsanto to intricate interoperability remedies in cases such as Google / Fitbit - but they all share the same goal: ensuring that mergers do not cause lasting harm to competition.

In spite of their importance, few works discuss remedies in any depth. This work tries to - pardon the pun - remedy this.

It aspires to describe and analyze the contemporary law and practice of remedies in EU merger control. It deals with fundamental questions, such as: have remedies been effective? how are remedies designed and enforced? But it also covers nuts and bolt issues such as fix-it-first remedies, upfront buyer clauses, arbitration clauses and purchaser criteria.


Abstract Photographic imagery became modernized during the first decade of the 20th Century. In Norway this coincided with the nation's break with the Union between Sweden and Norway.  This conjunction of events highly fused both the photographic renewal and the modernization of the national discourse. Overnight this found its most important visual expressions in modernized photographic imagery. The article uses some of Jacques Ranciere's ideas presented in The Politics of Aesthetics: The Distribution of the Sensible (english version 2004) to discuss how the Norwegian photographer Anders Beer Wilse's (1865–1949) photographic imagery can be seen to open new fields for identity politics in Norway during the early 20th Century. In this, the article concentrates its analysis on four royal photographs that led to four richly illustrated books about the Norwegian nation during the years 1905 to 1908.


This paper contains two articles that discuss major ideas from the history of agricultural finance and farm management. The agricultural finance article focuses on ideas that emerged prior to 1960. These ideas are classified into those emerging from action and scientific-framing eras. The second article characterizes the evolution of farm management and production economics from its beginnings in about 1900 to the start of the 21st century. Emphasis is placed on the melding of ideas from agriculturalists and economists.


Projection in the situation calculus refers to answering queries about the future evolutions of the modeled domain, while progression refers to updating the logical representation of the initial state so that it reflects the changes due to an executed action. In the general case projection is not decidable and progression may require second-order logic. In this paper we focus on a recent result about the decidability of projection and use it to drive results for the problem of progression. In particular we contribute with the following: (i) a major result showing that for a large class of intuitive action theories with bounded unknowns a first-order progression always exists and can be computed; (ii) a comprehensive classification of the known classes that can be progressed in first-order; (iii) a novel account of nondeterministic actions in the situation calculus.


White mold caused by Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a serious disease affecting snap and dry bean production. Management is reliant upon fungicides to protect flowers from infection by ascospores. The inability to use conventional fungicides in organic production represents a substantial hurdle, although products approved by the National Organic Program (NOP) offer a substitute for disease management. In many cases, copper-based products are central to disease management programs in organic production, but the potential for crop loss from premature flower abscission in snap and dry bean owing to phytotoxicity when applied at high temperatures and for other undesirable environmental outcomes has driven interest in biopesticides registered by the NOP as alternatives. Five small-plot, replicated field trials (three in snap bean and two in light red kidney bean) were conducted across three years (2016 to 2018) to evaluate the efficacy of the biopesticide Double Nickel LC (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens D747 strain) for the management of white mold. Trials were inoculated with S. sclerotiorum ascospores to ensure uniform disease potential. The incidence of white mold in plots receiving two applications of Double Nickel LC (2.34 liters/ha) was not significantly different from the conventional fungicide standards. No significant difference in white mold incidence was found between 2.34 and 4.68 liters/ha of Double Nickel LC in either crop. Responses in pod yield components from improved white mold management in either crop were variable. The potential of Double Nickel LC for use in organic production of snap and light red kidney bean for management of white mold is discussed.


Through her thirty-five years of service as head of the Illinois State Archives, her numerous writings in library and archival publications, and her involvement in the establishment and growth of the Society of American Archivists, Margaret Cross Norton helped establish the archival profession in America. Her emphasis on the legal and administrative functions of archives and on the use of archives by governmental officials instigated a shift in the American archival mindset and provided a basis for professional respect. She defined and redefined the nature of archives and archival work, providing an example for advocacy and education that resonates in the profession today.


Surface-sensitive vibrational spectroscopy is a common tool for measuring molecular organization and intermolecular interactions at interfaces. Peak intensity ratios are typically used to extract molecular information from one-dimensional spectra but vibrational coupling between surfactant molecules can manifest as signal depletion in one-dimensional spectra. Through a combination of experiment and theory, we demonstrate the emergence of vibrational exciton delocalization in infrared reflection–absorption spectra of soluble and insoluble surfactants at the air/water interface. Vibrational coupling causes a significant decrease in peak intensities corresponding to C–F vibrational modes of perfluorooctanoic acid molecules. Vibrational excitons also form between arachidic acid surfactants within a compressed monolayer, manifesting as signal reduction of C–H stretching modes. Ionic composition of the aqueous phase impacts surfactant intermolecular distance, thereby modulating vibrational coupling strength between surfactants. Our results serve as a cautionary tale against employing alkyl and fluoroalkyl vibrational peak intensities as proxies for concentration, although such analysis is ubiquitous in interface science.


The term "autism" has become a fashionable label for children who fail to make normal social adaptation. O'Gorman's small text on this subject was first published in 1967 and has now run to a second edition, which is perhaps a measure of the interest in the topic. He draws attention-as many others have done-to the higher intelligence and social status of parents of autistic children, and suggests there is a danger that children of intelligent parents may have abnormally sensitive brains which cannot stand up to adverse circumstances. A major difficulty in considering the distribution of such a nebulous and ill-defined condition is that there may be a considerable bias in selection of cases. Literate parents who have a child which is failing to progress are more willing to accept that their child is "autistic" than that it is "subnormal." Professional advisers readily accept mental retardation as a diagnosis for children of dull parents, but are impelled to seek for some more subtle explanation in children of more gifted parents. Intelligent parents often try very hard to help their backward child to overcome his handicaps. This may distort a simple picture, producing special facility at certain tasks or in conversation which gives the child an "oldfashioned" air or produces incongruity. Other backward children subjected to pressure become negativistic and disturbedfeatures which may be interpreted as autism.


A spherical-statistical optical model (SOM) has been used to calculate and evaluate the neutron interaction with medium nuclei (40 ). Empirical formulae of the optical potentials parameters are predicted with minimize accuracy compared with experimental bench work data. With these optical formulae an evaluation of the shape and compound elastic scattering cross-section of interaction neutrons with 56 Fe nuclei at different energy range (1-20) MeV has been calculated and compared with experimental results. Also, volume integrals for real and imaginary potential energies have been evaluated and matched with the standard ABAREX code. Good agreements with have been achieved with the available experimental data.


Differences among religious communities have motivated—and continue to motivate—many of the deadliest conflicts in human history. But how did political power and organized religion become so thoroughly intertwined? And how have religion and religiously motivated conflicts affected the evolution of societies throughout history, from demographic and sociopolitical change to economic growth? War, Peace, and Prosperity in the Name of God turns the focus on the "big three monotheisms"—Judaism, Islam, and Christianity—to consider these questions. Chronicling the relatively rapid spread of the Abrahamic religions among the Old World, Murat Iyigun shows that societies that adhered to a monotheistic belief in that era lasted longer, suggesting that monotheism brought some sociopolitical advantages. While the inherent belief in one true god meant that these religious communities had sooner or later to contend with one another, Iyigun shows that differences among them were typically strong enough to trump disagreements within. The book concludes by documenting the long-term repercussions of these dynamics for the organization of societies and their politics in Europe and the Middle East.


The Zaanstreek—northwest of Amsterdam, The Netherlands—has been a highly industrialized region for nearly four hundred years. For most of this period, it showed a strong sense of community and a high degree of cooperation between firms, which is usually considered to be typical for an "industrial district." However, between about 1840 and the First World War the character of this industrial district was dramatically transformed. In response to the rapidly growing integration of markets in the national and international economies since the 1840s, the Zaanstreek went through a radical change in energy base, as well as a fundamental shift in industrial structure. This essay addresses the questions of what happened to interfirm cooperation in the Zaanstreek when this fundamental transition in energy base and shift in industrial structure came about and how and to what extent entrepreneurs in the Zaan district between 1840 and 1920 managed to preserve the sense of community and interfirm cooperation that were the hallmarks of this region since the seventeenth century. It shows that the principle of mutuality eventually proved no longer strong enough to keep the actors in these institutions together. Ties between [End Page 550] firms within the industrial district were in several respects replaced by, or subordinated to, ties between firms outside the industrial district. What kept interfirm cooperation in the district nevertheless intact for much of the period after 1920 were ties of regional family networks. The essay concludes with a few observations about the relevance to the study of industrial districts in general.


A 21-year-old man experienced sudden and intense rotational vertigo. A moment later, he was amazed to see the whole visual world rotate clockwise progressively by about 160 degrees. On the following day, the visual tilt was only 30 degrees, and it soon receded completely, while headache appeared. CT scan, magnetic resonance imaging, vertebral arteriography, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis were normal, and the aetiology could not be ascertained. Illusions of visual tilt are an unusual consequence of disorders affecting the vestibular system. The locus of the impairment is usually in the brainstem, particularly in association with Wallenberg's syndrome. However, the peripheral vestibular pathways or the vestibular projections into the cerebral cortex may occasionally be involved. In the latter case, the visual tilt is part of a vestibular epileptic seizure.


One of the most important extensions of the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) is the vehicle routing problem with simultaneous pickup and delivery (VRPSPD) where customers require simultaneous delivery and pick-up service. In this paper, we propose an effective ant colony optimization (EACO) which includes insert, swap and 2-Opt moves for solving VRPSPD that is different with common ant colony optimization (ACO). ACO is a meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the foraging behavior of real ants. Artificial ants are used to build a solution for the problem by using the pheromone information from previously generated solutions. An extensive numerical experiment is performed on 68 benchmark problem instances involving up to 200 customers available in the literature. The computational result shows that EACO not only presented a very satisfying scalability, but also was competitive with other meta-heuristic algorithms such as tabu search, large neighborhood search, particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm for solving VRPSPD problems.


Abstract Monoclea forsteri Hook. is a thalloid liverwort species that is found in damp habitats and can, therefore, be expected to be sensitive to dehydration. It does, however, have some unique chemical constituents and anatomical features that could play a role in dealing with the adverse effects of water deficits. Corresponding to the habitat, M. forsteri lost its turgor at high relative water content (RWC≈0.90) and did not survive drying below 20% RWC. Moreover, the gametophytes showed an increase in malondialdehyde content and a depletion of the ascorbate pool during dehydration, indicating oxidative damage. Cellular constituents did not affect turgor pressure during drying and electrolyte leakage from the cells was greatly increased at RWC<0.20. Photosynthetic processes seemed not to be affected by the loss of turgor, but a decline appeared to correlate with an increase in electrolyte leakage. A speedy and fully sustained recovery from dehydration was realized from water contents above 30% and seemed only to be possible if membrane integrity could be preserved. Anatomical characteristics within M. forsteri gametophytes deserve further investigation to better understand their physiological functions.


MPEG coding dramatically reduces the amount of data required for video. On the other hand, its bursty and cyclic nature creates a challenge for transmission in ATM networks. Various methods have been proposed to transmit MPEG streams, such as priority coding, dynamic bandwidth allocation and smoothing. This paper suggests another scheme to solve the problem. The original MPEG streams are split into n substreams and the substreams are skewed by a fixed amount of time from each other. The substreams are transmitted with the forward error correction code. This provides a deterministic bound on the delay and has the implementation simplicity needed for high-speed video applications. We have tested the scheme on five real MPEG-coded video/movie stream traces and found that it significantly reduces the peak cell losses at the price of longer delay.


Medical literature is abundant. A MEDLINE search using the MeSH heading "clinical trials" identified over 10000 articles published in the past 5 years alone. In a health care environment in which evidence-based medicine is being actively promoted, practitioners are increasingly asked to evaluate this mass of medical publications as an aid to their clinical decision making. With expanded use of the Internet and easy access to MEDLINE, it is easy to obtain articles, but practitioners need to know more about how to critically evaluate these same articles. To fill this gap, Richard Riegelman and Robert Hirsch, both from The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, have written this book based on their years of experience teaching students how to read the medical literature. In a most enjoyable manner, the authors outline a practical step-by-step approach to help the uninitiated wade through the masses of published articles and


Common aspects and differences of xeroradiography and ionography are reviewed briefly. Tendencies connected with latent image formation in ionography, and the development of electrostatic latent images are set out. Apart from gaseous absorbers, liquid or solid absorbers may be employed for latent image formation. A sensitivity increase in gaseous inography may be achieved by charge amplification, although with reduced resolution. As an alternative to aerosol and liquid development methods based on the distortion of deformable layers are described. A procedure yielding multiple copies with different image characteristics (edge contrast) via copies of the latent image is outlined. Finally possible closed ionography systems are mentioned which are necessary for real time imaging.


The Managed Competition strategy for health care financing reform would push most people into cut-rate versions of health maintenance organizations chosen for them by their employer and owned by an insurance company. Many of those who currently enjoy good coverage would be forced into bare bones plans, and would forfeit the right to choose their health care provider. There is little evidence that the rigidly multi-tiered system created by Managed Competition would be more efficient or less expensive than the current U.S. system, and administrative costs would likely rise. Promises to expand coverage for the uninsured are likely to fall by the wayside if cost containment fails, and no current Managed Competition proposals address long-term care. In rural areas including at least 30 percent of the U.S. population, price competition central to the Managed Competition strategy is untenable since a long hospital or other provider cannot compete with itself. Managed Competition would empower vertically integrated corporate health care insurer/providers and disempower patients and the clinical work force.


Recent work has hinted at the linkage disequilibrium (LD) dependent architecture of human complex traits, where SNPs with low levels of LD (LLD) have larger per-SNP heritability after conditioning on their minor allele frequency (MAF). However, this has not been formally assessed, quantified or biologically interpreted. Here, we analyzed summary statistics from 56 complex diseases and traits (average N = 101,401) by extending stratified LD score regression to continuous annotations. We determined that SNPs with low LLD have significantly larger per-SNP heritability. Roughly half of the LLD signal can be explained by functional annotations that are negatively correlated with LLD, such as DNase I hypersensitivity sites (DHS). The remaining signal is largely driven by our finding that common variants that are more recent tend to have lower LLD and to explain more heritability (P = 2.38 × 10−104); the youngest 20% of common SNPs explain 3.9x more heritability than the oldest 20%, consistent with the action of negative selection. We also inferred jointly significant effects of other LD-related annotations and confirmed via forward simulations that these annotations jointly predict deleterious effects. Our results are consistent with the action of negative selection on deleterious variants that affect complex traits, complementing efforts to learn about negative selection by analyzing much smaller rare variant data sets.


We set sensitive upper limits to the X-ray emission of four Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. SN 2002bo, a normal, although reddened, nearby SN Ia, was observed 9.3 days after explosion. For an absorbed, high-temperature bremsstrahlung model the flux limits are 3.2 × 10-16 ergs cm-2 s-1 (0.5-2 keV band) and 4.1 × 10-15 ergs cm-2 s-1 (2-10 keV band). Using conservative model assumptions and a 10 km s-1 wind speed, we derive a mass-loss rate of Ṁ ~ 2 × 10-5 M☉ yr-1, which is comparable to limits set by the nondetection of Hα lines from other SNe Ia. Two other objects, SN 2002ic and SN 2005gj, observed 260 and 80 days after explosion, respectively, are the only SNe Ia showing evidence for circumstellar interaction. The SN 2002ic X-ray flux upper limits are ~4 times below predictions of the interaction model currently favored to explain the bright optical emission. To resolve this discrepancy, we invoke the mixing of cool dense ejecta fragments into the forward shock region, which produces increased X-ray absorption. A modest amount of mixing allows us to accommodate the Chandra upper limit. SN 2005gj is less well studied at this time. Assuming the same circumstellar environment as for SN 2002ic, the X-ray flux upper limits for SN 2005gj are ~4 times below the predictions, suggesting that mixing of cool ejecta into the forward shock has also occurred here. Our reanalysis of Swift and Chandra data on SN 2005ke does not confirm a previously reported X-ray detection. The host galaxies NGC 3190 (SN 2002bo) and NGC 1371 (SN 2005ke) each harbor a low-luminosity [LX ~ (3-4) × 1040 ergs s-1] active nucleus in addition to widespread diffuse soft X-ray emission.


A new technique for energy-preserving phase-only light projection is demonstrated. The phase-only encoding is based on an extension of the Zernike phase-contrast method into the domain of full-range [0; 2pi ] phase modulation, breaking the usual small-phase-angle limitation. Controlling the spatial average value of the input-phase pattern and choosing appropriate phase retardation at the phase-contrast filter yield pure-phase-based image formation. Experimental results demonstrate close to 90% energy efficiency. Output intensity levels with magnitudes more than 3.5times that of the input intensity level were measured in the brightest regions of the projected images.


Objective: Few studies have evaluated moderators of mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) for substance use disorders (SUDs). We tested whether baseline patterns of scores for SUD symptom severity and depression and anxiety symptoms moderated the efficacy of MBRP. Method: We used a latent class moderation approach with data from a randomized trial of MBRP compared to cognitive–behavioral relapse prevention and treatment as usual (TAU; Bowen et al., 2014; N = 286, 71.8% male, 48.4% non-White, mean age = 38.44 years, SD = 10.92) and a randomized trial comparing MBRP to TAU (Bowen et al., 2009; N = 168, 63.7% male, 44.6% non-White, mean age = 40.45, SD = .28). Indicators for the latent class models were measures of SUD severity (Severity of Dependence Scale and Short Inventory of Problems), depression symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory), and anxiety symptoms (Beck Anxiety Inventory). Results: In both trials, 3 latent classes provided the best fit: a high–high class characterized by high SUD severity and depression and anxiety symptoms, a high–low class characterized by high SUD severity and low depression and anxiety symptoms, and a low–low class characterized by low SUD severity and depression and anxiety symptoms. In both trials, we found significant latent Class × Treatment interaction effects: There were significant and large effects of MBRP on substance use outcomes in the high–high and high–low classes, but no MBRP effect in the low–low class. Conclusion: MBRP may be an optimal treatment for preventing relapse among clients with severe levels of SUD symptoms and depression and anxiety symptoms, as well as clients with only severe SUD symptoms.


The software powering today's vehicles surpasses mechatronics as the dominating engineering challenge due to its fast evolving and innovative nature. In addition, the software and system architecture for upcoming vehicles with automated driving functionality is already processing ~750MB/s - corresponding to over 180 simultaneous 4K-video streams from popular video-on-demand services. Hence, self-driving cars will run so much software to resemble "small data centers on wheels" rather than just transportation vehicles. Continuous Integration, Deployment, and Experimentation have been successfully adopted for software-only products as enabling methodology for feedback-based software development. For example, a popular search engine conducts ~250 experiments each day to improve the software based on its users' behavior. This work investigates design criteria for the software architecture and the corresponding software development and deployment process for complex cyber-physical systems, with the goal of enabling Continuous Experimentation as a way to achieve continuous software evolution. Our research involved reviewing related literature on the topic to extract relevant design requirements. The study is concluded by describing the software development and deployment process and software architecture adopted by our self-driving vehicle laboratory, both based on the extracted criteria.


Accurate assessment of effort, time and resources for estimation of project cost is a challenging task for project managers. Several methodologies are commonly practiced around the globe for project cost estimation based on the project's scope, type, and availability of resources. In developing countries like Pakistan most of the construction projects face delay and cost overrun, and construction industry continues to use traditional methodologies for preparation of project cost estimates. Present study developed a probabilistic framework for project cost estimation using Monte Carlo Simulation. A probabilistic model is proposed for estimation of total project cost using data on key risk factors that included (1) labour efficiencies, (2) machine efficiencies, (3) construction material wastages, and (4) construction items' prices. Using data from completed highway projects, model validation results revealed that developed model has the ability to predict reliable future project cost.


Thermus thermophilus ribonuclease H was overexpressed and purified from Escherichia coli. The determination of the complete amino acid sequence allowed modification of that predicted from the DNA sequence, and the enzyme was shown to be composed of 166 amino acid residues with a molecular weight of 18,279. The isoelectric point of the enzyme was 10.5, and the specific absorption coefficient A$:, was 1.69. The enzymatic and physicochemical properties as well as the thermal and conformational stabilities of the enzyme were compared with those of E. coli RNase HI, which shows 52% amino acid sequence identity. Comparison of the far and near UV circular dichroism spectra suggests that the two enzymes are similar in the main chain folding but different in the spatial environments of tyrosine and tryptophan residues. The enzymatic activities of T. thermophilus RNase H at 37 and 70 "C for the hydrolysis of either an M13 DNA/RNA hybrid or a nonanucleotide duplex were approximately 5-fold lower and 3-fold higher, respectively, as compared with E. coli RNase HI at 37 "C. The melting temperature, T,, of T. thermophilus RNase H was 82.1 "C in the presence of 1.2 M guanidine hydrochloride, which was 33.9 "C higher than that observed for E. coli RNase HI. The free energy changes of unfolding in the absence of denaturant, ACIHzO], of T. thermophiluo RNase H increased by 11.79 kcal/mol at 25 "C and 14.07 kcal/mol at 50 "C, as compared with E. coli RNase HI.


A simple and efficient analysis method of the shielded membrane microstrip (SMM) line using the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is presented. New FDTD equations are derived using the contour path FDTD concept for the Yee cell which contains three thin dielectric sheets of membrane. The characteristic impedance and the effective dielectric constant of the SMM line are calculated using our proposed method. The method is validated by comparison with the results shown by Robertson et al. [1996].


Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), a highly conserved molecular chaperone, has been proposed to play a vital role in tumorigenesis. Hsp90 has two isoforms, of which Hsp90α is the major isoform of the Hsp90 complex and has an inducible expression profile. The molecular chaperone Hsp90α has been recognized in different cancers and it is implicated to play a role in cell cycle progression, apoptosis, regulates invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis. It is being recognized as a promising target in cancer treatment. Previous studies in our laboratory have demonstrated hsp90α expression in both primary glioma tissue and cell lines, but not in normal healthy brain tissues and cell lines. Enhanced chemosensitivity was observed upon specific inhibition of hsp90α expression by siRNA, suggesting that inhibiting hsp90α expression could possibly be a favourable therapeutic approach compared to conventional chemotherapies. In this novel study, Hsp90 was inhibited by either treatment with 17AAG or shRNA oligonucleotide targeting hsp90α (shhsp90α) in the U87-MG glioma cell line. The inhibition profile of Hsp90α was observed at the protein levels in control and treated cells by FACS analysis (quantitative) using a flow cytometer and Hsp90α ELISA kit. The results demonstrated a significant reduction of Hsp90α protein levels post treatment with 17AAG and shhsp90α. The activity of Hsp90α was assayed by quantifying the levels of Akt/PKB in the samples. Significant reductions (>50 %) of Akt/PKB levels were observed post hsp90α inhibition. Cell cycle analysis carried out reported S and G2 phase arrest, post Hsp90 inhibition by either 17AAG or shhsp90α. Interestingly, it was reported that 17AAG shows a better silencing profile compared to shhsp90α.
To analyse the downstream effects of Hsp90 inhibition and to determine the client proteins affected, proteomic analysis was performed. Proteomic analysis identified several proteins which were either upregulated/downregulated post Hsp90 inhibition. IPA analysis further identified "cancer" as the top network significantly transformed post Hsp90 inhibition. Upregulated proteins include Hsp70 family members, Hsp27 and gp96, thereby suggesting the role of Hsp90 co-chaperones in compensating for Hsp90 function post Hsp90 inhibition. Moreover, members of the glycolysis/glucogenesis pathway were also upregulated, demonstrating increased dependency on glycolysis for energy supply by the treated glioma cells. Considering Hsp70 and its role in anti-apoptosis, it was postulated that a combination therapy involving a multi-target approach could be carried out. Subsequently, inhibition of both Hsp90 and Hsp70 in U87-MG glioma cell line was carried out resulting in 60 % cell death along with S and G2 phase arrest. Thus, in the effective treatment of glioma, the inhibition of multiple targets needs to be taken into consideration.
Conclusion: It can be thus concluded that, combination therapy involving silencing of Hsp90 and Hsp70 could be of possible significance in glioma therapy.


In this paper we present a model to study the end-to-end delay performance of a satellite-ATM netowrk. We describe a satellite-ATM network architecture. The architecture presents a trade-off between the on-board switching/processing features and the complexity of the satellite communication systems. The end-to-end delay of a connection passing through a satellite constellation consists of the transmission delay, the uplink and downlink ground terminal-satellite propagation delay, the inter-satellite link delays, the on-board switching, processing and buffering delays. In a broadband satellite network, the propagation and the buffering delays have the most impact on the overall delay. We present an analysis of the propagation and buffering delay components for GEO and LEO systems. We model LEO constellations as satellites evenly spaced in circular orbits around the earth. A simple routing algorithm for LEO systems calculates locally optimal paths for the end-to-end connection. This is used to calculate the end-to-end propagation delays for LEO networks. We present a simulation model to calculate the buffering delay for TCP/IP traffic over ATM ABR and UBR service categories. We apply this model to calculate total end-to-end delays for TCP/IP over satellite-ATM networks.


Private property is a necessary but insufficient tool for environmental regulation. Why is it necessary? There are several reasons. First, it settles who controls a resource, making rational management possible. While this may sound trivial, countries with weak or fragmented systems of ownership--or where enforcement of law is tainted by corruption--find it impossible even to begin to preserve resources or prevent pollution. (1) This is especially the case when different individuals make conflicting claims to the same plot of land. Second, private property owners have the incentive to preserve the capital value of their land. They can reap where they (or nature) have sown. They postpone harvesting their property (by cutting a forest, for example) until a propitious time. This choice is a cousin to environmental protection. Private ownership involves control of appetite and rational planning. It similarly solves the problem of open access to a resource, which leads to destruction, because all may have an incentive to reap but none have any incentive to sow--or even to defer use. (2) Private property owners can also be effectively regulated. Regulators can easily locate owners of land and many other natural resources. To the extent that the resource is valuable or the owner competes in a market, regulators have a generally effective lever for enforcement of laws. This obvious point is not unimportant; clear expectations of effective enforcement are an aspect of the rule of law. Reducing enforcement costs enhances the efficiency of regulations in reaching public goals. Private property generally encourages innovation by simplifying decision-making and safeguarding the fruits of success. In some instances, it can similarly encourage innovation in achieving environmental goals by allowing an owner to capture the economic benefit of the innovation. Regulatory systems that create such benefits harness private initiative for public ends, but are themselves complex public creations that require enormous sophistication in regulatory agencies. (3) I will discuss this further below. Consequently, private property may be necessary for environmental protection in a market economy. (4) Nearly everyone, however, recognizes that property rights alone are insufficient. While an owner may manage her land to protect the value of some economic service or product it provides her, she may not take steps to protect its ecological health, at least in spheres unrelated to economic return. A farmer may assiduously cultivate a field for corn, but remain indifferent to the consequences of destroying wildlife habitat. Moreover, the fertilizer spread on the fields and the drainage system for rainwater may weaken the natural health of nearby bodies of water. (5) Owners might also rationally conclude that exhausting the entire value of a resource immediately is more valuable to them than preserving it, even if this eliminates options for future users. (6) They make choices that impose costs on others without taking those costs into account, which is the fundamental economic problem of externalities. Environmental law starts from the recognition that: 1) environmental benefits are public goods, so individual owners do not have a strong incentive to produce them, and 2) legal institutions are needed to make owners take account of the costs that they might impose on others. A near consensus on these points seems to exist, both in the legal academy and on this panel, although with a great deal of pulling at the margins. Professor Ely distinguishes between pollution control regulations, which address harms to the public, and other regulations (such as those preventing the destruction of privately-owned wetlands or woodlands) that seemingly try to gain some public environmental benefit. He argues that the former is unobjectionable because no one has the right to use his property to harm another, a familiar principle drawn from the common law of nuisance. …


A feminist analysis of a feminist poet's collection, the oppression of women, and the alternatives . During the past few years, the public has witnessed an exodus of Philippine women workers to different countries. Some have gone off to Japan to work as cultural dancers, some to Hong Kong to become domestic helpers; others have flown to meet their prospective husbands as "mail-order brides." This is a prevailing trend because many women believe that the money they will earn abroad is definitely more than they can ever hope to receive if they stay in the Philippines. .


ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa is known to invade epithelial cells during infection and in vitro. However, little is known of bacterial or epithelial factors modulating P. aeruginosa intracellular survival or replication after invasion, except that it requires a complete lipopolysaccharide core. In this study, real-time video microscopy revealed that invasive P. aeruginosa isolates induced the formation of membrane blebs in multiple epithelial cell types and that these were then exploited for intracellular replication and rapid real-time motility. Further studies revealed that the type three secretion system (T3SS) of P. aeruginosa was required for blebbing. Mutants lacking either the entire T3SS or specific T3SS components were instead localized to intracellular perinuclear vacuoles. Most T3SS mutants that trafficked to perinuclear vacuoles gradually lost intracellular viability, and vacuoles containing those bacteria were labeled by the late endosomal marker lysosome-associated marker protein 3 (LAMP-3). Interestingly, mutants deficient only in the T3SS translocon structure survived and replicated within the vacuoles that did not label with LAMP-3. Taken together, these data suggest two novel roles of the P. aeruginosa T3SS in enabling bacterial intracellular survival: translocon-dependent formation of membrane blebs, which form a host cell niche for bacterial growth and motility, and effector-dependent bacterial survival and replication within intracellular perinuclear vacuoles.


Background and Purpose— The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is used commonly to identify cognitive impairment (CI), but there are multiple published cut points for normal and abnormal. We seek to validate a pragmatic approach to screening for moderate–severe CI, by classifying patients into high-, intermediate-, and low-risk categories. Methods— A total of 390 participants attending an academic Stroke Prevention Clinic completed the MoCA and more detailed neuropsychological testing. Between April 23, 2012 and April 30, 2014, all consecutive new referrals to the regional Stroke Prevention Clinic who were English-speaking, not severely aphasic, and could see and write well enough to complete neuropsychological testing were assessed for inclusion, and consenting patients were enrolled. CI was defined as ≥2 SDs below normal for age and education on at least 2 cognitive subtests. A single cut point for CI was compared with 2 cut points (high sensitivity and high specificity) generated using receiver operator characteristic and area under the curve analyses. The intermediate-risk group contained those scoring between the 2 cut points. Results— Thirty-four percent of participants had a symptomatic or silent stroke, 34% were seen for possible or probable transient ischemic attack, and 32% were diagnosed with other vascular or nonvascular conditions. Using a single cut point, sensitivity and specificity were optimal with MoCA ⩽22, (sensitivity=60.4%, specificity=89.9%, area under the curve=0.801, positive predictive value=48.5%, negative predictive value=93.5%, positive likelihood ratio=6, and negative likelihood ratio=0.4). Using 2 cut points, sensitivity was optimal with MoCA ≥28 (sensitivity=96.2%, negative predictive value =97.6%, and negative likelihood ratio=1.27), and specificity was optimal with MoCA ⩽22 (specificity=89.9%, positive predictive value=48.5%, and positive likelihood ratio=6). Conclusions— Stratifying participants into 3 categories facilitates the identification of a homogenous group at low risk for CI, as well as 2 other groups with intermediate and higher risk. This approach could facilitate clinical care pathways and patient selection for research.


Abstract A single-site field experiment was carried out to investigate differences in quantitative traits between survivor and original baseline populations of two white clover cultivars (AberHerald and Grasslands Huia). The survivor populations had been generated from vegetative samples collected after growth for 2–3 years at a range of sites across Europe. The aims of the experiment were to determine the extent of genetic shift due to selection in these populations compared with the baseline material; to relate the nature of any genetic shift that occurred to the environments in which the selection operated; and to determine whether the survivor populations formed distinct groups. Directional selection occurred in many traits in populations of each cultivar. Correlation analysis was carried out to determine the influence of basic climatic variables at each site on traits of the survivors. Few correlations were found, except for a tendency for flowering date in Grasslands Huia to be delayed in sites with cold winters and high levels of radiation in the summer. Multivariate analysis showed that in each cultivar the populations from Finland were distinct from all others and conformed to a typical 'northern European' morphology. Analysis of the variation within survivor populations showed that stabilizing selection had not operated at any site, even those with extreme climates. For the range of traits measured, the survivor populations had not reached an equilibrium between their genetic structures and the selective forces acting upon them.


Diagnostic and therapeutic management options in cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage secondary to aneurysm rupture are discussed. Particular em~hasis is given to the diagnosis, medical treatment and timing of surgery. The problems raised by the presence of an intrace rebral hematoma, acute hydrocephalus and multiple aneurysms are reviewed. The author also discusses the management of incidental aneurysms, partially treated lesions, familial and genetic aneurysms, lesions which ruptured during pregnancy or associated with arterio venous malformations, and the question of a negative angiogram in cases of subarachnoid hemorrhage.


Hajj is the annual gathering of Islam practitioners in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. During the
event, gastrointestinal infections are usually experienced and outbreaks have always
been a concern; nevertheless, a deep and integrative study of the etiological agents has
never been carried out. Here, I describe for the first time the epidemiology of
pathogenic enteric viruses during Hajj 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The focus of this study was the common enteric viruses Astrovirus, Norovirus, Rotavirus
and Adenovirus. An enzyme Immunoassay established their presence in 14.9%, 15.0%
and 6.6% of the reported cases of acute diarrhea for 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
For the three years of study, Astrovirus accounted for the majority of the viral
infections. To our knowledge, this is the first time an epidemiological study depicts
Astrovirus as the main viral agent of gastroenteritis in a mass gathering event.
Hajj is rich in strains of Astrovirus, Norovirus and Rotavirus. A first screening by RT-PCR
resulted in ten different genotypes. Strains HAstV 2, HAstV 1 and HAstV 5 were
identified for Astrovirus. GI.6, GII.3, GII.4 and GII.1 were described for Norovirus and
G1P[8], G4P[8] and G3P[8] were found for Rotavirus.
The majority of the Astrovirus isolates could not be genotyped suggesting the presence
of a new variant(s). Cases like this encourage the use of metagenomics (and nextgeneration
sequencing) as a state-of-the-art technology in clinical diagnosis. A sample
containing Adenovirus particles is being used to standardize a process for detection
directly from stool samples and results will be obtained in the near future.
The overall findings of the present study support the concept of Hajj as a unique mass
gathering event that potentiates the transmission of infectious diseases. The finding of
Norovirus GII.4 Sydney, a variant originated from Australia, suggests that Hajj is a
receptor of infectious diseases worldwide.
This work is part of the Hajj project, a collaborative effort with the Ministry of Health of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to describe entirely the epidemiology of
gastrointestinal diseases in Hajj. It is expected that the results of this study will serve in
the refinement of public health policies.%%%%Hajj is the annual gathering of Islam practitioners in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. During the
event, gastrointestinal infections are usually experienced and outbreaks have always
been a concern; nevertheless, a deep and integrative study of the etiological agents has
never been carried out. Here, I describe for the first time the epidemiology of
pathogenic enteric viruses during Hajj 2011, 2012 and 2013.
The focus of this study was the common enteric viruses Astrovirus, Norovirus, Rotavirus
and Adenovirus. An enzyme Immunoassay established their presence in 14.9%, 15.0%
and 6.6% of the reported cases of acute diarrhea for 2011, 2012 and 2013, respectively.
For the three years of study, Astrovirus accounted for the majority of the viral
infections. To our knowledge, this is the first time an epidemiological study…


A network of locally interacting agents can be thought of as performing a distributed computation. But not all computations can be faithfully distributed. This paper discusses which global linear transformations can be computed in finite time using local weighting rules, i.e., rules which rely solely on information from adjacent nodes in a network. Additionally, it is shown that the degree of nonholonomy of the computation can be related to the underlying information exchange graph. The main result states that the degree of nonholonomy of the system dynamics is equal to D - 1 where D is the diameter of the information exchange graph. An optimal control problem is solved for finding the local interaction rules, and a simulation is performed to elucidate how optimal solutions can be obtained.


Color woodcut printmaking was not new to Britain, America, or Japan in the late eighteenth century. Yet after Japan was opened to the West in 1854 and deeper cultural exchange began, Japanese prints captured the European and American imagination. The fresh colors, simplicity of materials, and departure from traditional compositions entranced western artists and the public alike. Likewise, Japanese audiences and artists were intrigued by the styles and techniques of western art, which was broadly available in Japan by the end of the nineteenth century. Artists there created images of the strange foreigners and imagined what American cities looked like. By the beginning of the twentieth century, artists were not content to merely imagine what the other side of the world looked like. As prints traveled around the globe for study so did artists, and with them spread the tricks and techniques of color woodblock printmaking as well as appreciation for the prints. Woodblock printmakers in the West started to investigate Japanese processes, and Japanese publishers began to seriously seek out the print market outside of Japan. Important themes began to emerge; scenes of nature and old-fashioned architecture outnumbered modern city views, and images of animals were nearly as popular as those of human figures. Imagery was often idyllic and beautiful, attractive to an international audience. Twentieth-century art, however, moves at a furious pace, and the ferment of the international woodcut style quickly ran its course. Artists appropriated what they needed from the color woodcut, then developed techniques, subjects, and styles in their own ways. An ever-expanding range of prints became indebted to the artists of the previous generation who had reinvigorated woodblock printmaking styles and practices around the world. This full-color catalogue includes many prints from this colorful exhibition and shows how the progression of styles became more similar as international artists learned from and competed with each other, then stylistically diverged as artists of each country took what they learned in new directions. The three essays each focus on the influences and contributions made to the international style by three countries: Japan, Britain, and America.


A sedimentation survey, cesium 137 analyses, and soil loss calculations were used to estimate the average rate and variability in rates of sediment deposition in Silver Lake, Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, Missouri, and soil loss rates in the Silver Lake drainage area. The rates of soil loss and sediment deposition have been relatively constant since 1957. Silver Lake has an estimated remaining life of 280 years. Continued sediment deposition in Silver Lake will, however, induce flora and fauna changes.


Background: We recently presented several 3D/4DUS-based fetal cardiac functional measures: end-diastolic and end-systolic ventricular volume and myocardial mass, ejection fraction (obtained by 3DUS), contraction fraction (CF), and 4D-MPI in uncomplicated cases. Management decisions in MCBA twins are traditionally based on degrees of poly/oligohydramnios and Quintero staging, as well as fetal 2DUS-Doppler based measures, myocardial performance index (MPI), or mid-cerebral artery measures. We now applied the above 3D/4DUS-based measures to the evaluation and management of MCBA twins. Methods: During a 12 month period, 15 MCBA twin pregnancies were followed in our center with both classic U/S parameters and 3D/4DUS cardiac functional parameters. During bi-weekly (or more as indicated) examinations, Quintero staging and other 2DUS Doppler parameters including umbilical artery, MCA, and aorta Doppler, shunt determination, and others were evaluated, and in addition 3D/4D based measures: cardiac volumes and mass, EF, CF, and 4D-MPI. Results: 15 MCBA twins were followed. Group I: 6 cases with TTTS (Quintero stage 2–3, 4 of whom eventually required laser ablation); Group II: 4 cases that developed selective IUGR; and 5 MCBA pregnancies progressed normally. In Group II we observed intermittent absent or reversed diastolic flow in the UA, but no other pathologies were noted in 2D or 3D/4D examination. In all Group I cases we observed that in the recipient and the donor, 3D/4D measures: ventricular mass, IVS, EF and 4D-MPI were consistently outside normal range (1–2 SD). Appearance of cardiac functional pathology preceded the appearance of Quintero stage parameters. Following laser ablation, cardiac functional parameters, except for ventricular mass, returned to normal within 96 hours, preceding normalization of Quintero parameters. Conclusions: 3D/4DUS cardiac function surveillance may add to the armamentarium of the evaluation and management of MCBA pregnancies, may be more sensitive to developing or resolving pathology.


In this study, a comparison of the sealing properties of three different resin-based sealers, AH26, Diaket, and EndoREZ with those of the root canal sealer zinc oxide-eugenol-based U/P Root Canal Sealer was performed. Eighty extracted single-rooted human mandibular first premolar teeth were used. The coronal part of each tooth was removed at the apical 17-mm of roots. The root canals were prepared to a size 7 with ProFile 0.06 taper Series 29 rotary instruments in a crown-down manner before lateral condensation of gutta-percha with the tested sealers (n = 20). A fluid filtration method was used for quantitative evaluation of apical leakage. Statistical analysis revealed that there were no significant differences between the resin-based sealers groups (AH26, Diaket, and EndoREZ) (p > 0.05). U/P Root Canal Sealer, zinc oxide-eugenol-based sealer, leaked significantly more than other tested groups (p < 0.05). Under the limitations of this study, resin-based root canal sealers were found more effective in sealing root canals than the zinc oxide-eugenol-based sealer.


The development of microwave range filter play important role in many RF or microwave applications. Filters are two
port networks used to control the frequency response in an RF or microwave system by allowing transmission at
frequencies within the passband of the filter, and attenuation within stopband of the filter. This research project consist of
the elementary principle of microwave theory, the elementary knowledge of microwave filter design as well as fabrication
and performance evaluation of Chebychev bandpass filters. The purpose of the research project is to compare the
compatible microstrip filters design and the material used in the layout designs in order to get the better performance of
the filter.
The insertion loss method was used to produce the parallel coupled quarter wavelength resonator filters. The compatible
filter mentioned in this project able to filter out the required frequency for Digital Radio Broadcasting in the range of
1.452 GHz to 1.492 GHz. The designs were implemented using development simulation software Microwave Office 2003
(V6.01). Different prototypes of Chebychev bandpass hairpin line filters were designed. The filters were fabricated on the
two different types of substrate material, which is FR4 epoxy glass and the ROGER4003C material. The entire filters
design and the performances of the substrate materials to the designs are contrast. The bandwidth for FR4 hairpin filter
design differs from that of the ROGER4003C design.. In term of scattering parameters for Sll and S22, the
ROGER4003C microstrip filter design shows low loss condition compared with FR4 filter design results. The research
shows that ROGER4003C has produced better performance for the microstrip filter design


Summary Objective: To compare safety and efficacy of pantoprazol , metoclopramide, ondansetron, as compared to placebo, in controlling gastrointestinal (GI) complaints of thyroid cancer patients treated with I-131these patients. Design: Four-armed, parallel group, single blind, randomized controlled clinical trial, setting: A university hospital, registration: database for clinical trials IRCT2013061713705N1. Patients: 85 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who received 131I. Main outcome measures: Post- radioiodine nausea and vomiting within three days of therapy (primary endpoint); occurrence of adverse reaction. Results: The patients' characteristics were similar within the study groups. Among the study variables, age, sex, administered dosage, history of previous GI complaints, and history of hyper- emesis gravidarum in female patients were not statistically different among the groups (p > 0.05). The results revealed that only ondansetron shows a therapeutic benefit over the placebo in controlling nausea (p < 0.05); however, it does not prevent vomiting (p > 0.05). The other two drugs, pantoprazole and metoclopramide, did not control nausea (p > 0.05) or vomiting (p > 0.05). Conclusions: This study may demonstrate that the therapeutic dose of ondansetron could be an effective prophylactic agent in controlling GI complaints in differential thyroid carcinoma (DTC) patients following RAI therapy; however, these preliminary findings should be validated in larger studies.


As the climate was warming during the last deglaciation, a millennium-long return to near-glacial conditions—called the Younger Dryas (YD) stadial—occurred about 12.9 to 11.7 ka ago. Prior studies have characterized the vegetation and climatic impacts of the YD stadial in the US upper Midwest from a network of fossil pollen records. The goal of this study was to locate the pronounced rise in organic matter and Pinus (pine) pollen—associated with the latter part of the YD event—in a sediment core from Silver Lake, a kettle lake in Summit County, Ohio. Based upon radiocarbon dating of the Silver Lake sediment core, an increase in sediment organic matter at 1,070 cm (35.1 ft) core depth dates to 12,130 calibrated years (cal yr) BP within the latter part of the YD stadial. A pollen study spanning the change in organic matter displays a gradual decline in Picea (spruce) pollen as well as a pronounced increase in Pinus pollen, similar to published records of the latter part of the YD event. Thus, the Silver Lake pollen record adds a new site to the network of fossil pollen sites, and further refines the vegetation changes within the Allegheny Plateau of Ohio that occurred during the latter part of the YD event. Furthermore, identifying the pronounced rise in Pinus pollen allows for biostratigraphic correlation between the Silver Lake record and another local dated pollen record. This biocorrelation adds further support to the Silver Lake radiometric age model.


Street vendors play an important role in securing access to food for the residents of low-income settlements in many cities. Yet they are often seen as providing unsafe food and contributing to environmental degradation. In Nairobi, the local federation of the urban poor, Muungano wa Wanavijiji, set out to explore how to improve food safety and work with street vendors and livestock keepers, who are in most cases also local residents. This briefing describes how community-led mapping, including innovative techniques such as balloon mapping, helps create knowledge, and identify new initiatives that reflect local communities' needs and priorities.


Sustainable energy management becomes more important due to the ever more actual problems of environmental pollution and limited natural resources. The fuel cell technology is one of the most attractive solutions in this sense. During the past decades fuel cells have been investigated and demonstrated for several applications. One of the most attractive applications is using fuel cell system for stationary energy cogeneration (CHP), since they are capable of producing thermal energy and power with higher efficiencies and in a more environmentally friendly way than most of the conventional commercial techniques.The purpose of this work is to investigate the feasibility of integrating a PEMFC system with a commercial greenhouse and to assess the mutual benefits deriving from this integration. The main task of this connection is to recover the low temperature wasted heat delivered by the PEMFC system and by the fuel reforming process in order to meet the thermal energy demand of a commercial greenhouse.In this study an energy analysis was performed in order to evaluate the energetic performance of the system. To achieve this aim, first, a model of the whole system was developed in TRNSYS environment. In addition to the aforesaid, a sensitivity analysis was also carried out varying the main influencing operating parameters in order to evaluate an optimal configuration of the system.Considering a commercial greenhouse's usual thermal and electrical demand, the results shows that by integrating a 3 KW fuel cell system, able to cover approximately the 25% of the electricity requested during the year, and taking into account both heat recovery from the fuel cell system and the ones from the fuel reforming, roughly 30% of the heating demand of a 1000 m2 commercial greenhouse can be supplied.


Background Chest compressions during neonatal resuscitation are an infrequent event during neonatal resuscitation. Objectives To investigate if chest compressions (CC) during simulated neonatal cardio-pulmonary resuscitation affect percentage of mask leak. Methods 21 neonatal staff members (11 Neonatal nurses, 10 Neonatologists) delivered positive pressure ventilation (PPV) to a modified, leak-free manikin via face mask using a Neopuff T-piece device. After 90 seconds of PPV-only (baseline) an assistant provided chest compressions (CC) at a ratio of 3:1 chest compressions to inflations for further 90 seconds (PPV+CC). Mask leak was measured with a Florian respiratory function monitor. Results between PPV-only and PPV+CC were compared using dependent t-test for paired samples. Results A total of 2726 ventilations and 3058 chest compressions were analyzed. Overall the mean (SD) mask leak during PPV-only and PPV+CC was similar 35 (±30)% versus 40 (±33)% (p=0.2). However, in the neonatal nurse group mask leak significantly increased from 27 (±26)% in the PPV-only group to 43 (±35)% in the PPV+CC group (p=0.04). In comparison, mask leak was similar in the neonatologist group in the PPV-only and PPV+CC group 42 (±33)% and 37 (±34)% (p=0.65), respectively. Conclusions Overall, mask leak did not change once chest compressions were started. However, mask leak significantly increased in the neonatal nurse group once chest compression were provided, but remained similar in the neonatologist group.


Spin coating technique is employed to produce thin phthalimide films using novel p-phthalimidobenzoic acid (FIBA) and N-(phthalimido)-p-aminobenzoic acid (FIABA) materials. Several spin speeds and various solution concentrations are chosen to monitor the thin film deposition process of these new materials. The optical properties are studied using UV-visible spectroscopy and spectroscopic ellipsometry methods. The absorption of the FIBA and FIABA films against the spin speed showed an exponential behavior. π →π ∗ transition is occurred. The thicknesses of thin films at 2000 rpm are obtained
15.86 nm for FIBA and 12.99 nm for FIABA using spectroscopic ellipsometry results.


The proposed work included a re-test of individual pharmaceutical wastes from Puerto Rico to see if the pattern of algal toxicity found in the studies in 1979 would repeat in a new set of samples collected in 1980. In addition, Bristol waste, highly toxic in the 1979 and again in the 1980 algal bioassays, was subjected to purging or exposure to sunlight to gauge if toxicity was perhaps volatile or photosensitive. Bristol and Upjohn (the second most toxic waste) wastes were also examined for any immediate effects on photosynthesis with organism PR-6. Six of the individual wastes were also mixed in approximately the same proportions as they occurred in a composite waste, and bioassayed with the marine blue-green alga, PR-6, to ascertain the waste or wastes contributing the most algal toxicity to composite samples.


Ion implantation simultaneously produces compositional changes and radiation damage in the target. If the latter is not annealed, amorphization should ultimately result. Can implantation of a covalent solute into a transition metal host stabilize the damage and hence produce an amorphous alloy at lower concentrations than other techniques ? We have studied the composition-dependence of the resistivity and TCR of thin (600-800 A) Pd films implanted at 6 K with Si ions : The results are compared to those obtained on the corresponding well-documented quench-condensed alloys, which are amorphous at Si concentrations ~.18. The resistivity of the implanted films saturates at about 90 µΩ·cm for Si concentrations above ~.18. Thus, the critical concentration for amorphization is presumably the same for the low-temperature implanted or quench-condensed Pd-Si alloy, confirming that local structure effects dominate amorphous alloy formation criteria. In a further experiment, hydrogen was implanted into the amorphous Pd-Si films (again at 6K). The resistivity increased sharply, doubling at H concentrations around 100 %. The resulting systems were superconducting ; their maximum critical temperature was 2.6 K.


Preliminary studies of twelve residential colleges located in the University of Malaya campus, Kuala Lumpur were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of their current implementation of bioclimatic design strategies, as well as their performance in terms of electricity usage. It was found that residential college buildings designed with an internal courtyard and balconies for each room achieve the most efficient electricity use, within a range of between 24 to 33 kWh/m2/year, while other residential college buildings recorded annual electricity use of between 40 to 125 kWh/m2/year.
One of them, 5th residential college (5th RC) was selected for the case study due to its best implementation of bioclimatic design strategies that encourage efficient energy use. Furthermore, its uniform building layout minimises uncontrolled variables in further field investigation and evaluations.
The satisfaction and perception surveys show that a majority of respondents at 5th RC are at a comfortable level. This is based on findings from all performance indicators of functional elements, thermal comfort and indoor air quality, as well as, visual comfort and landscape elements. The 5th RC is capable to provide a comfortable living space with indoor temperatures ranging from 28°C to 30°C with 70% to 78% relative humidity. Different locations have different effects on room conditions and higher temperatures were recorded at rooms on the top level of the building compared to rooms at the lower levels. There were no significant differences detected owing to different orientation of rooms which are largely due to the effects of the green landscape. Higher values of daylight intensity were recorded in the corridor compared to the daylight intensity in the rooms which even varies in amount at different areas within the same room. Further analysis show that night ventilation provides better thermal comfort for residents compared to other ventilation options like full-day and daytime ventilation or no ventilation at all.
The living behaviour assessment reveals that residents of 5th RC have adapted well to maintain the comfort level in their rooms. Only light activities were conducted in the rooms which reduces the metabolic heat production. Ceiling fans were fully utilized at the maximum speed of five for maintaining air circulation in the rooms where the operable windows are closed most of the time due to the safety issues. Light clothing was worn at most times, especially on sunny days. In fulfilling the need for privacy, curtains have been overused and leading to the use of artificial lighting.
The study concludes, residential college buildings that implement the appropriate bioclimatic design strategies, particularly to address natural ventilation and daylighting issues tend to achieve a desired comfort level and efficient electricity usage. With a well-planned design improvement, better results can be achieved without sacrificing the needs and comfort level of the residents.


The effect of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on precipitation in Mexico is analyzed. Unlike previous studies, the amount of data used is larger and the Mexican territory is more widely covered. In this paper, daily precipitation from the CLICOM database updated to 2015 was used. The studied period spans from 1961 to 2013 and was divided into two periods: 1961-1990 and 1991-2013. For the same periods two separated seasons were considered: the cold and dry (November-April), and the warm and wet (May-October). Thus, the number of stations that exceed the amount of continuous information criteria for a certain period increases considerably. The Pearson correlation coefficient with a significance of 5% was used in order to test for the existence of a relationship between precipitation and the Multivariate ENSO Index (MEI). The results are presented in maps where regions of precipitation above or below average are observed. During the summer/warm months, the northwestern region of Mexico is clearly identified with a direct relationship between MEI and precipitation, whereas an inverse relationship in the part that lies south of latitude 22o N is seen. In the winter/cold months, there is a general increase in precipitation with increasing MEI. Distributions of normal rainfall for both winter and summer are also shown.


The Huffman code in practice suffers from two problems: the prior knowledge of the probability distribution of the data source to be encoded is necessary, and the encoded data propagate errors. The first problem can be solved by adaptive coding, while the second problem can be partly solved by segmenting data into segments. However, the adaptive Huffman code performs badly when segmenting data into relatively small segments because of its relatively slow adaptability. A fast-adaptive coding algorithm which tracks the local data statistics more quickly, thus yielding better compression efficiency, is given. >


[1] Very little information exists on Amazonian peatlands with most studies on tropical peatlands concentrating on Southeast Asia. Here we describe diversity of Amazonian peatland ecosystems and consider its implications for the global diversity of tropical peatland ecosystems. Nine study sites were selected from within the most extensive wetland area of Peruvian Amazonia: the 120,000 km Pastaza‐Marañón basin. Peat thickness was determined every 500 m from the edge toward the center of each site, and peat samples were collected from two cores per site. Samples from the entire central core and surface samples from the other core were analyzed for nutrient content. Topography of four peat deposits was measured. In order to study differences in vegetation, pixel values were extracted from a satellite image. The surface peat nutrient content of the peatlands varied from very nutrient‐rich to nutrient‐poor. Two of the peatlands measured for their topography were domed (5.4 and 5.8 m above the stream), one was gently sloping (1.4 m above the stream), and one was flat and occurred behind a 7 m high levee. Five different peatland vegetation types were detected on the basis of pixel values derived from the satellite image. The peat cores had considerable variation in nutrient content and showed different developmental pathways. In summary, the Pastaza‐Marañón basin harbors a considerable diversity of previously undescribed peatland ecosystems, representing a gradient from atmosphere‐influenced, nutrient‐poor ombrotrophic bogs through to river‐influenced, nutrient‐rich swamps. Their existence affects the habitat diversity, carbon dynamics, and hydrology of the Amazonian lowlands, and they also provide an undisturbed analog for the heavily disturbed peatlands of Southeast Asia. Considering the factors threatening the Amazonian lowlands, there is an urgent need to investigate and conserve these peatland ecosystems, which may in the near future be among the very few undisturbed tropical ombrotrophic bogs remaining in the world.


Listed below are 2017 publications, in English, within the general area of accounting history. The definition of what constitutes an accounting history article is not always a straightforward matter, and the description has been interpreted broadly to include any accounting article with a significant historical input. Malcolm Anderson's bibliographies from 2010 and through 2016 form the basis for the search terms used. For business history articles, see Business History. For a review of financial history publications, see Financial History Review.


This document is designed for users of the program developed at Sandia Laboratories by the authors to generate Latin hypercube samples. Latin hypercube sampling is a recently developed sampling technique for generating input vectors into computer models for purposes of sensitivity analysis studies. In addition to providing a cost-effective and reliable sampling scheme, the Latin hypercube sampling technique also provides the user with the flexibility efficiently to study effects of distributional assumptions on key input variables without rerunning the computer model. 5 figures, 2 tables.


Series of 4-acridin-9-yl-3-arylimino-5-phenylimino-[1,2,4] dithiazolidines have been synthesised by the interaction of 1-acridin-9-yl-3-aryl thiourea with N-phenyl S-chloro isothiocarbamoyl chloride in refluxing chloroform medium followed by basification with dilute ammonium hydroxide solution. Initially 1-acridin-9-yl-3-aryl thioureas have been prepared by the interaction of 9-amino acridine hydrochloride with N-aryl isothiocyanates. Constitutions of synthesized compounds have been delineated on the basis of chemical transformation, elemental analysis, equivalent weight determination, IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, and mass spectral studies. The title compounds were evaluated for their antimicrobial activity against the microorganisms like S. typhi, E. coli, B. subtilis and S. aureus.


We investigate the linear growth and vertical structure of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in weakly ionised, stratified accretion discs. The magnetic field is initially vertical and perturbations have vertical wavevectors only. Solutions are obtained at representative radial locations from the central protostar for different choices of the initial magnetic field strength, sources of ionisation, disc structure and configuration of the conductivity tensor. The MRI is active over a wide range of magnetic field strengths and fluid conditions in low conductivity discs. For the minimum-mass solar nebula model, incorporating cosmic ray and x-ray ionisation and assuming that charges are carried by ions and electrons only, perturbations grow at 1 AU for B . 8 G. For a significant subset of these strengths (200 mG . B . 5 G), the growth rate is of order the ideal MHD rate (0.75Ω). Hall conductivity modifies the structure and growth rate of global unstable modes at 1 AU for all magnetic field strengths that support MRI. As a result, at this radius, modes obtained with a full conductivity tensor grow faster and are active over a more extended cross-section of the disc, than perturbations in the ambipolar diffusion limit. For relatively strong fields (e.g. B & 200 mG), ambipolar diffusion alters the envelope shapes of the unstable modes, which peak at an intermediate height, instead of being mostly flat as modes in the Hall limit are in this region of parameter space. Similarly, when cosmic rays are assumed to be excluded from the disc by the winds emitted by the magnetically active protostar, unstable modes grow at this radius for B . 2 G. exist. For strong fields, perturbations exhibit a kink at the height where x-ray ionisation becomes active. Finally, for R = 5 AU (10 AU), unstable modes exist for B . 800 mG (B . 250 mG) and the maximum growth rate is close to the ideal-MHD rate for 20 mG . B . 500 mG (2 mG . B . 50 mG). Similarly, perturbations incorporating Hall conductivity have a higher wavenumber and grow faster than solutions in the ambipolar diffusion limit for B . 100 mG (B . 10 mG). Unstable modes grow even at the midplane for B & 100 mG (B ∼ 1 mG), but for weaker fields, a small dead region exists. When a population of 0.1μm grains is assumed to be present, perturbations grow at 10 AU for B . 10 mG. We estimate that the figure for R = 1 AU would be of order 400 mG. We conclude that, despite the low magnetic coupling, the magnetic field is dynamically important for a large range of fluid conditions and field strengths in protostellar discs. An example of such magnetic activity is the generation of MRI unstable modes, which are supported at 1 AU for field strengths up to a few gauss. Hall diffusion largely determines the structure and growth rate of these perturbations for all studied radii. At radii of order 1 AU, in particular, it is crucial to incorporate the full conductivity tensor in the analysis of this instability, and more generally, in studies of the dynamics of astrophysical discs.


A novel, multi-octave differential (180°) power divider is described. The power divider circuit is based on a new kind of Magic-T circuit composed of a balun and two parallel coupled transmission lines. Results show that the proposed Magic-T circuit can achieve octave bandwidth with excellent isolation and balance. This fundamental Magic-T block is then used to create a multi-section 180° power divider capable of multi-octave performance. A 2–12 GHz, 7-section design is experimentally evaluated which exhibits excellent performance in terms of isolation, return loss, insertion loss and amplitude/phase balance.


Let G be a connected graph. Let f be a proper k -coloring of G and Π = (R_1, R_2, . . . , R_k) bean ordered partition of V (G) into color classes. For any vertex v of G, define the color code c_Π(v) of v with respect to Π to be a k -tuple (d(v, R_1), d(v, R_2), . . . , d(v, R_k)), where d(v, R_i) is the min{d(v, x)|x ∈ R_i}. If distinct vertices have distinct color codes, then we call f a locating coloringof G. The locating-chromatic number of G, denoted by χL(G), is the least number k such that Gadmits a locating coloring with k colors. In this paper, we determine the locating-chromatic numberof Halin graphs. We also give the locating-chromatic number of Halin graphs of double stars.


This paper describes the methodology and results of a detailed study of the field data and artefact samples collected in the Fogliano surveys, dealing with both the lithic and the ceramic periods. The backbone of this study is formed by a site catalogue and an accompanying lithic and sherd catalogue describing all diagnostic materials collected in the survey. The study has resulted in a more precise diachronic perspective on the general developments described in the previous reports.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the frequency and type of vascular changes and neurologic abnormalities in patients with erythromelalgia.

DESIGN
Prospective study of patients with no spontaneous symptoms at the time of their visit and with provoked symptoms.

SETTING
Tertiary referral center.

PATIENTS
Sixty-seven patients presenting with erythromelalgia at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn, from 1999 through 2001.

INTERVENTIONS
Testing nerve and vascular function in patients without symptoms present; testing vascular function after provoking symptoms with exercise or by increasing ambient temperature.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
In patients in whom symptoms could be elicited, vascular function with and without symptoms was assessed by measurement of local skin temperature, laser Doppler flow, and transcutaneous oximetry. Neurologic assessment included electromyography, nerve conduction studies, and autonomic reflex screening (using the quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test, adrenergic function testing, heart rate response to deep breathing, and the Valsalva ratio).

RESULTS
Autonomic reflex screening was performed on 57 (85%) of the 67 patients. Of these 57 patients, 46 (81%) had abnormal quantitative sudomotor axon reflex test results; 14 (25%) had abnormal adrenergic function; and 15 (26%) had abnormal cardiovagal function. Put in another way, results were abnormal for 49 (86%) of the 57 patients who had autonomic reflex screening. Severe sudomotor abnormalities (ie, absent or markedly reduced sweat production) were present in 46 (94%) of these 49 patients; 14 (29%) had abnormal adrenergic function, and 15 (31%) had a cardiovagal abnormality. Electromyography and nerve conduction studies were performed in 24 (36%) of the 67 patients. Of these 24 patients, 14 (58%) had abnormal electromyographic results and 10 (42%) had abnormal nerve conduction study results. Vascular function studies, with and without symptoms present, were performed in 13 of the 67 patients. During symptoms, the mean temperature of the toe skin increased by 7.8 degrees C, and blood flow increased 10.2-fold. Paradoxically, mean transcutaneous oximetry measurements did not change.

CONCLUSION
This prospective study extends and confirms our previous observation that, in addition to other forms of neuropathy, most patients with erythromelalgia have small-fiber neuropathy.