Biological and Synthetic Apatites (R.Z. LeGeros). Calcium Phosphate Apatites in Nature (D.K. Smith). Hydrothermal Processing of Hydroxyapatite: Past, Present, and Future (M. Yoshimura and H. Suda). Formation and Dissolution Mechanisms of Calcium Phosphates in Aqueous Systems (G.H. Nancollas and J. Zhang). Pathological Crystallization of Calcium Oxalate and Calcium Phosphate (S.R. Khan and R.L. Hackett). Characterization of Mineral Phases in Cardiovascular Calcification (B.B. Tomazic). Chemistry and Structure of Calcium-Containing Coatings and Modified Surfaces for Titanium Alloy Orthopedic Prostheses (M. Spector, J.G. Hanlon, G.H. Nancollas). Formation of Hydroxyapatite in Cement Systems (L.C. Chow, S. Takagi, and K. Ishikawa). Octacalcium Phosphate Carboxylates. 5. Incorporation of Excess Succinate and Ammonium Ions in the Octacalcium Phosphate Succinate Structure (M. Markovic, B.O. Fowler, W.E. Brown). The Effect of Ethanol on the Solubility of Hydroxyapatite in the System Ca(OH)2-H3PO4-H2O at 25 and 33 C (M.S. Tung, C. Lin, T.H. Chow, and P. Sung). Constant-Composition Study of the Precipitation Behaviour of Calcium Phosphate in the Presence of Non-Collagenous Bio-Chemicals (A.T.-C. Wong and J.T. Czernuszka). Dual Constant Composition Kinetics Studies of Ceramic Hydroxyapatite and Hydroxyapatite Plasma Coated Implants (E.P. Paschalis, B.E. Tucker, S. Mukhopadhyay, K. Wikiel, N.B. Beals, J.A. Bearcroft, M. Spector, G.H. Nancollas). Comparative Utility of Mineralized Collagen as an Osteoinductive Material (S. Gunasekaran, I.C. Bathurst, B. Constantz, J. Quiaoit, J. Ross, P.J. Barr, and D. Gospodarowicz). Maturation of Poorly Crystalline Synthetic and Biological Apatites (C. Rey, H-M. Kim, M.J. Glimcher). Prediction of Precipitation and Transformation Behaviour of Calcium Phosphate in Aqueous Media (A.T.-C. Wong and J.T. Czernuszka). The Role of Interfacial Chemistry in Surface Nucleation and Growth of Calcium Oxalate Monohydrate (L. Song, A.A. Campbell, and B.C. Bunker). Effect of Particle Size of Metastable Calcium Phosphates on Crushing Strength of Self-Setting Bioactive Calcium Phosphate Cement (M. Otsuka, Y. Matsuda, Y. Suwa, J.L. Fox, and W.I. Higuchi). An Hydraulic Cement for Biological Uses (E. Mejdoubi, J.L. Lacout, P. Michaud, and P. Rodriguez). Synthesis of Dahllite: The Mineral Phase of Bone (I.C. Ison, M.T. Fulmer, B.M. Barr, and B.R. Constantz). Deposition of Hydroxyapatite Coatings by Laser Ablation (G. Sardin, M. Varela, J.L. Morenza). Grafting of Phosphorylated Molecules on Apatite Surface (A. Lebugle, M. Subirade, and V. Delpech). Influence of the Crystallinity of Plasma Sprayed HA-Coatings on Their Osseointegration (P. Frayssinet, P. Conte, F. Tourenne, and N. Rouquet). In Situ TEM Observation of Radiation Induced Amorphization of Crystals with Apatite Structure (L.M. Wang, M. Cameron, W.J. Weber, K.D. Crowley, and R.C. Ewing). Carbonate-Containing Europium Apatite (J.L. Lacout and A. Taitai). Apatite Channels and Zeolite-Like Properties (C. Rey). Preparation of Calcium Phosphates Powders by Water Extraction Variant of Sol-Gel Process (A. Deptula, T. Olczak, W. Lada, A. Borello, C. Alvani, L. Lorenzini, and A. DiBartolomeo). Thermal Stability of Synthetic Hydroxyapatite (Y. Fang, D.K. Agrawal, D.M. Roy). Human Bone Marrow Cell Culture-Analysis of Cell Behaviour at Biocompatibility Testing of Ceramics (A. Wilke, S.V. Hirschheydt, and J. Orth). Mineral-Organic Interfacial Bonding: Effect of Strain Rate on the Mechanical Properties of Bone (W.R. Walsh, H.D. Kim, D.P. Labrador, N. Guzelsu). Structural Analysis of the Human Tooth Enamel by Transmission Electron Microscopy (J. Reyes-Gasga and C.M. Alcantara-Rodriguez). The in Vitro Growth Potential of Human Bone Derived Cells on Polytetrafluoroethylene Grafts (M.L. Olmedo, A.-P.C. Weiss, W.E. Walsh, L. Zou, M.G. Ehrlich). Ultrasonic Properties of Cortical Bone Following in-Vitro Fluoride Ion Treatment (W.R. Walsh, D.P. Labrador, H.D. Kim, and N. Guzelsu). XPS Study of Apatites and Related Calcium Phosphates (A. Lebugle and B. Sallek). Calcium Phosphate Deposition in Rat Kidneys (S.R. Kahn, J.H. Adair, A.A. Morrone, G.P. Latorre). Isolation of Calcium-Phosphate Crystals of Mature Bovine Bone by Reaction with Hydrazine at Low Temperature (H-M. Kim, C. Rey, and M.J. Glimcher). Author Index.


We study the self-assembly of a new family of amphiphilic liquid crystal (LC) copolymers synthesized by the anionic ring-opening polymerization of a new cholesterol-based LC monomer, 4-(cholesteryl)butyl ethyl cyclopropane-1,1-dicarboxylate. Using the t-BuP(4) phosphazene base and thiophenol or a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) functionalized with thiol group to generate in situ the initiator during the polymerization, LC homopolymer and amphiphilic copolymers with narrow molecular weight distributions were obtained. The self-assemblies of the LC monomer, homopolymer, and block copolymers in bulk and in solution were studied by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarizing optical microscopy (POM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All polymers exhibit in bulk an interdigitated smectic A (SmA(d)) phase with a lamellar period of 4.6 nm. The amphiphilic copolymers self-organize in solution into vesicles with wavy membrane and nanoribbons with twisted and folded structures, depending on concentration and size of LC hydrophobic block. These new morphologies will help the comprehension of the fascinating organization of thermotropic mesophase in lyotropic structures.


Determining how assembly rules (e.g. limiting similarity, environmental filtering and neutrality) shape community structure along environmental gradients and across spatial scales is still controversial. The study of functional relationships between coexisting species may help to disentangle among these assembly rules. Here, we compared pairwise functional dissimilarities between fish species to their corresponding pairwise co-occurrences. Fish assemblages (n = 835) were sampled monthly in Patos-Mirim system (Brazil) using both bottom trawling and beach seining. Species occurrences were recorded and functional traits related to locomotion and food acquisition were measured on several individuals from each species. The region studied was divided in two areas corresponding to each side of a floodgate located in Sao Goncalo Channel: a freshwater channel up the floodgate and, down the floodgate, the Patos Lagoon estuary. The relationship between functional dissimilarity and co-occurrence between species pairs was assessed using quantile regressions for each month and at different spatial scales. Overall, quantile regression coefficients between functional dissimilarities (either based on locomotion types or feeding habits) and co-occurrence values were negative, suggesting that co-occurrence increases with functional redundancy regardless of spatial scale. Our results support the assumption that environmental filters have more influence than biotic interactions on the structure of fish assemblages even locally.


Monitoring is one of the main activities explaining the existence of banks, yet empirical evidence about its effect on loan outcomes is scant. Using granular loan-level information from the Italian Credit Register, we build a novel measure of bank monitoring based on banks' requests for information on their existing borrowers and we investigate the effect of bank monitoring on loan repayment. We perform a causal analysis exploiting changes in the regional corporate tax rate as a source of exogenous variation in bank monitoring. Our identification strategy is supported by a theoretical model predicting that a decrease in the tax rate improves bank incentives to monitor borrowers by increasing returns from lending. We find that bank monitoring reduces the probability of a delinquency in a substantial way and that the effect is stronger for the types of loans that benefit most from bank oversight, such as term loans.


A novel approach for the long-term medical treatment of the inner ear is the diffusion of drugs through the round window membrane from a patient-individualized, drug-eluting implant, which is inserted in the middle ear. In this study, drug-loaded (10 wt% Dexamethasone) guinea pig round window niche implants (GP-RNIs, ~1.30 mm × 0.95 mm × 0.60 mm) were manufactured with high precision via micro injection molding (µIM, Tmold = 160 °C, crosslinking time of 120 s). Each implant has a handle (~3.00 mm × 1.00 mm × 0.30 mm) that can be used to hold the implant. A medical-grade silicone elastomer was used as implant material. Molds for µIM were 3D printed from a commercially available resin (TG = 84 °C) via a high-resolution DLP process (xy resolution of 32 µm, z resolution of 10 µm, 3D printing time of about 6 h). Drug release, biocompatibility, and bioefficacy of the GP-RNIs were investigated in vitro. GP-RNIs could be successfully produced. The wear of the molds due to thermal stress was observed. However, the molds are suitable for single use in the µIM process. About 10% of the drug load (8.2 ± 0.6 µg) was released after 6 weeks (medium: isotonic saline). The implants showed high biocompatibility over 28 days (lowest cell viability ~80%). Moreover, we found anti-inflammatory effects over 28 days in a TNF-α-reduction test. These results are promising for the development of long-term drug-releasing implants for human inner ear therapy.


Researchers reporting on clinical weight loss programmes have been challenged to provide information about long-term follow-up. To evaluate long-term weight reduction, a methodology was developed for analysis of longitudinal data. Under this method, a pattern of interest is defined a priori, and the proportions of patients attaining the pattern are compared between treatments. The methodology permits objective summarization and statistical analysis of the data. Applications of the method and corresponding results demonstrate its utility for assessing the treatment effect on weight reduction and systolic blood pressure. To show that the method may be further generalized, suggestions for alternative types of patterns are presented.


Graphene forms an important two-dimensional (2D) material class that displays both a high electronic conductivity and optical transparency when doped. Yet, the microscopic origin of the doping mechanism in single sheet or bulk intercalated systems remains unclear. Using large-scale ab initio simulations, we show the graphene surface acts as a catalytic reducing/oxidizing agent, driving the chemical disproportionation of adsorbed dopant layers into charge-transfer complexes which inject majority carriers into the 2D carbon lattice. As pertinent examples, we focus on the molecular SbCl(5) and HNO(3) intercalates, and the solid compound AlCl(3). Identifying the microscopic mechanism for the catalytic action of graphene is important, given the availability of large area graphene sheets, to spur research into new redox reactions for use in science and technology.


The objective of this article is to study the effect of various components of earthquake on sloshing response of liquid storage tanks. First, commonly used theory for unidirectional analysis of liquid behavior in cylindrical tanks was reviewed. Second, the Finite Element Modeling (FEM) strategy which was used to simulate dynamic response of the liquid tank system was described. The FEM was validated using a set of experimental measurements reported by previous researchers. Third, a parametric study for some vertical, cylindrical tanks with different aspect ratios excited by various time series of earthquake accelerations was performed. Each tank was subjected to unidirectional and bidirectional excitations of earthquake accelerations. Fourth, provision suggested by some seismic codes for the estimation of Maximum Sloshing Wave Height (MSWH) were reviewed and the accuracy of the codes prediction was numerically investigated. Finally, the available simplified formulation for evaluating MSWH under unidirectional excitation was extended for bidirectional excitation.


Rice is the main staple food for Indonesian society. Almost 95% of Indonesians consume rice. Along with the increasing population in Indonesia, the level of rice consumption each year has increased. But on the other hand, the amount of paddy fields has decreased due to the development of settlements and industry. Consequently, the business of fulfilling rice consumption needs should prioritize agricultural intensification method. This agricultural intensification program requires good supporting data. One of the supporting data required is a plant health condition that can be represented in data on rice stress levels. Monitoring the stress level of rice plants can be done using remote sensing methods based on satellite imagery. One of them is Landsat-8 satellite imagery with certain algorithm. In this research, a modification algorithm of Rice Paddy Stress Index (RPSI) was obtained by integrating Leaf Water Canopy Index (LWCI) and Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI). LWCI is used as a representation of water content in vegetation and EVI is used as a representation of the greenish level of plants associated with chlorophyll content. Plants that experience a decrease in health will decrease the content of chlorophyll and water. The results of this study indicate that in 2015 planting season 2 in Kendal Regency there are 1696.26 ha of rice fields indicated experiencing stress and 3493.85 Ha of rice fields have a potential stress. The result of validation test shows that RPSI algorithm method has 75% accuracy for determining rice stress level.


Aims: Among the oral infections, candidosis may be considered the
most frequent, and C. albicans the most prevalent species. Meanwhile,
the non-albicans species may also be related to other infections
processes and be able to affect the oral cavity, including periodontal
disease. In this sense, understanding the relationship between Candida spp. and host, it is necessary and justified the search of mechanisms
modulators of infections and treatments against diseases associated
with these yeasts. Methods: Nineteen patients with periodontal
disease were involved in this study. The aim was evaluate the
susceptibility to azoles antifungals fluconozole, itraconazole,
ketoconazole and the polienic anfotericin B against Candida spp
isolated from three different sites of the oral cavity from these
patients (periodontal disease, being periodontal pocket, oral mucosa
and ridge gingival), by the minimum inhibitory concentration method
 MIC. Results: Among the samples of C. albicans, 88% showed
susceptibility depending on the concentration (SCD) and 3.6 % were
resistant to at least one antifungal azole studied. Among the others
species, 57% presented SDC and 42.8% showed resistance to at least one
of the antifungal azole tested. Regarding to Anfotericin B, 90% of the
C. albicans isolates and 3% of the nonalbicans showed resistance. There
was no occurrence of resistance to the fluconazole and only 3.6% of C.
albicans and 40% of the non-albicans were SDC to this antifungal.
Conclusions: Patients with periondontal disease showed relevant levels
of colonization by Candida spp, mainly at the oral mucosa and
periodontal pocket showing important occurrence of SDC and resistance
to the antifungals drugs tested.


Multi-soft-core systems are a viable and interesting solution for embedded systems that need a particular tradeoff between performance, flexibility and development speed. As the growing capacity allows it, many-soft-cores are also expected to have relevance to future embedded systems. As a consequence, parallel programming methods and tools will be necessarily embraced as a part of the full system development process. Performance analysis is an important part of the development process for parallel applications. It is usually mandatory when you want to get a desired performance or to verify that the system is meeting some real-time constraints. One of the usual techniques used by the HPC community is the postmortem analysis of application traces. However, this is not easily transported to the embedded systems based on FPGA due to the resource limitations of the platforms. We propose several techniques and some hardware architectural support to be able to generate traces on multiprocessor systems based on FPGAs and use them to optimize the performance of the running applications.


The anomalous magnetoresistance effect in compositionally modulated TM/TM films (Co/Pt and Co/Pd) has been investigated. Results of measurements on samples at room temperature as a function of the strength of the applied magnetic field are reported. For each sample three different configurations are investigated in which the direction of the applied field is (i) perpendicular to the plane of the film, (ii) in the plane of the film and parallel to the direction of the electric current, (iii) in the plane of the film and perpendicular to the direction of the current. During these measurements the extraordinary Hall effect and the magneto‐optical Kerr effect have also been monitored. This additional information, together with the magnetization measurement results obtained from a vibrating sample magnetometer, are used to analyze the data and to explain some of their interesting features.


From best-selling author David Morley, this book presents a set of interlinked essays which discuss and examine some of the key debates in the fields of media and cultural studies.

Spanning the last decade, this fascinating and readable book is based on interdisciplinary work on the interface of media and cultural studies, cultural geography and anthropology.

Clearly structured in five thematic sections, the book surveys the potential contribution of art-based discourses to the field and offers critical perspectives on the emergence of the 'new media' of our age.

Including discussion on the status and future of media and cultural studies as disciplines, the significance of technology and new media, and raising questions about the place of the magical in the newly emerging forms of techno-modernity in which we live today, this is a media student must-read.


The general topic of this dissertation is the development of synthetic receptors for organic ammonium ions in near physiological conditions using disulfide dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC). Chapter 1 explains the importance of this development and the associated difficulties when using the conventional, iterative approach: design, synthesis and testing. Then it introduces the external template effects in disulfide DCC that can be used as an alternative, superior approach to conventional chemistry for obtaining synthetic receptors able to work in near physiological medium. Chapter 2 presents a successful use of this approach to develop a synthetic receptor for nicotine. The receptor features an affinity comparable to those of synthetic receptors reported thus far, and is obtained with relatively better yield. Chapter 3 describes the design of a DCL of which nearly all of its macrocyclic, oligomeric members can be amplified, with size selectivity, after being exposed to 30 organic ammonium-ion templates. Chapter 4 shows that the macrocylic oligomers can be amplified, with length-size selectivity, after being exposed to aliphatic α-ω diamines. In chapter 5, a fitting program (DCLFit) was used to reliably estimated the binding affinities of the amplified DCL members to four chosen templates. The binding constants were in close agreement with the ones obtained by ITC, and found to be the highest reported so far for synthetic receptors. Chapter 6 describes the derivatization of the DCL building blocks with natural amino acids to allow the DCL to acquire additional diversity, chiral centers, recognition property, flexibility or rigidity. Valine side chains played a crucial role in the types of the formed products, resulting DCL distributions and DCL responses to templates. Undesirable side reactions were also observed upon introducing the valine residues.


removed – there were no cases of malignancy. In a study of 55,278 pregnancy terminations, there were 2 cases of malignancy. We have prospectively evaluated 3000 consecutive women who presented to the Early Pregnancy Unit. The prevalence of ovarian cysts was 5.3%. These women were managed expectantly and followed until resolution of the ovarian cyst occurred, intervention was required or the pregnancy concluded. 72.2% resolved spontaneously, 23.6% persisted and 4.2% required intervention – there were no cases of malignancy. Only 0.13% (1.3/1000) of all women in this longitudinal study required acute intervention. We concluded that examining the ovaries in the first trimester is of no value. Expectant management is advocated, at least until the pregnancy is beyond 14 weeks' gestation. If symptomatic, simple ovarian cysts diagnosed during pregnancy can be successfully and safely treated with sonographic guided cyst aspiration. Adnexal masses can be accurately classified according to TVS. However in the few cases when the nature of the cyst is in question, one must balance the risks to the pregnancy from intervention versus the risk of malignancy.


The article presents a detailed analysis of the underwater morphology of the entire Black Sea basin beyond the shelf break. The focus is on submarine valley systems on continental slope and rise zones, and partially in the abyssal plain area. The present research is among the very few studies that have undertaken a morphological analysis on a regional scale, for an entire marine basin. This achievement was possible by using the publicly available EMODnet bathymetric map of the Black Sea. The Black Sea submarine valleys networks are presented in a map-sketch. It includes 25 valley systems, 5 groups of simple first order channels, and other number of simple, not associated channels. The 25 valley systems are adding up more than 110 main channels and tributaries. Morphological description and analysis of each of the mapped systems is given – shape and plan view morphology, dimensions (length and surface) and slope gradient. Some considerations about the amount of sediments supplied by the valleys from the shelf to the basin floor, forming the deep-sea fans, are presented.
For a more detailed and precise image of the Black Sea network of submarine valleys additional work would be necessary to cover the entire basin with a minimum standard network of modern bathymetric mapping and of high resolution seismic survey lines. To take into account the composition and geological structure of different sectors, as factors that influence significantly the morphology of the seabed, would be also particularly useful.


Unless relaxation of the stringent response is achieved, all nongrowing bacteria rapidly develop resistance to autolysis induced by a variety of agents, including all classes of cell wall synthesis inhibitors. We now describe inhibitors of cell wall synthesis which were unusual in that they could continue to effectively induce autolysis in relA+ Escherichia coli even after prolonged amino acid starvation. The process of cell wall degradation seems to be catalyzed by similar hydrolytic enzymes in nongrowing and growing cells, yet the activity of these new agents capable of inducing autolysis in the nongrowing relA+ cells did not involve relaxation of RNA or peptidoglycan synthesis. We propose that the suppression of autolysis characteristic of nongrowing cells can be bypassed by a novel mechanism of autolytic triggering which is independent of the relA locus.


Two of the major surface Ag of Borrelia burgdorferi, the 31-kDa OspA and 34-kDa OspB proteins, are encoded by a 49-kb plasmid. In this study, mAb and monospecific polyclonal antibodies were used to define cross-antigenicity of the OspA and OspB protein to each other and to other lower molecular mass proteins by Western blot analysis. Two mAb studied, 105.5 and 184.1, were directed predominantly against the 31-kDa OspA protein. However, each also reacted with other minor bands, though with different specificities. Using V8 protease digestion and cleavage by cyanogen bromide, we demonstrated that each mAb reacted to the 31-kDa protein differently. Monospecific polyclonal rabbit and human antibodies directed against the 34-, 31-, 22-, and 20-kDa proteins were eluted from blots and used to further corroborate the cross-reactivity among these Ag. Rabbit antibodies to the 31- and 22-kDa Ag gave remarkably similar peptide maps after V8 protease digestion of the 31-kDa OspA protein, as did mAb 184.1, suggesting that this mAb recognized an immunodominant epitope common to the 22- and 31-kDa proteins. It seems likely therefore that the humoral immune response to Borrelia surface Ag may be due to a limited number of cross-reactive epitopes on distinct, but related, gene products.


Familial Mediterranean fever, an autosomal recessive disorder, is a member of the periodic fever syndromes, and considered to be the most common cause of recurrent febrile episodes in children. It is important to understand the disorder as familial Mediterranean fever falls on a spectrum of various presentations; the recurrent episodes of familial Mediterranean fever may be so severe that the quality of life may be affected in such patients. Therefore, physicians should not delay the evaluation in such cases and promptly initiate treatment to not only improve quality of life but to also avoid complications, such as amyloidosis. This study reports two different cases of familial Mediterranean fever, with varying clinical presentations, and established diagnosis via genetic testing as well as cessation of symptoms with a trial of therapy. Furthermore, this study discusses the various manifestations of familial Mediterranean fever, laboratory findings, and current therapies available for management.


The aim of this study was to determine the absorbed doses of radiation in the skin region of temporomandibular joint (T.M.J.), maxillary sinus, parotid gland, body of mandible and thyroid gland during 14 periapical radiographs. For this purpose were used: a minim-X, 2000 CIAS international (Kvp:50, mA:10, t:0.1, sec, 0.2 sec), 31 male patients and 31 female patients about the same age, weighing and height who were selected from the Oral Diagnosis Clinic of Athens University, and had indication for periapical dental radiography. The calculation was performed with thermoluminescent dosimeters (T.L.D.) which calibrated by a Known source of Co60 before use. Dosimetry were calculated in T.L.D. detector Model 2000 A-2000 C Harchaw Chemical Co. and the results of calculation which were evaluated statistically using the student t-test, were the following: 1. Dose above 1.00 cGy received the body of mandible region and the maxillary sinus. 2. Dose below 1.00 cGy received the parotid, the T.M.J. and the thyroid region. 3. The male patients received greater doses than the female patients in all anatomical regions which were examined. 4. Doses on the right side were greater than the left side.


A 35-year-old woman had a circumscribed pigmented scleral lesion overlying a pigmented mass in the ciliary body and trabecular meshwork. Sclerectomy and iridocyclectomy were performed. Histologically, the lesion proved to be a melanocytoma. This represents to our knowledge the fourth reported case of scleral extension of a ciliary body melanocytoma.


Detection of lane boundaries of a road based on the images or video taken by a video capturing device in a suburban environment is a challenging task. In this paper, a novel lane detection algorithm is proposed without considering camera parameters; which robustly detects lane boundaries in real-time especially for sub-urban roads. Initially, the proposed method fits the CIE L∗ a∗ b∗ transformed road chromaticity values (that is a∗ and b∗ values) to a bi-variate Gaussian model followed by the classification of road area based on Mahalanobis distance. Secondly, the classified road area acts as an arbitrary shaped region of interest (AROI) in order to extract blobs resulting from the filtered image by a two dimensional Gabor filter. This is considered as the first cue of images. Thirdly, another cue of images was employed in order to obtain an entropy image. Moreover, results from the color based image cue and entropy image cue were integrated following an outlier removing process. Finally, the correct road lane points are fitted with Bezier splines which act as control points that can form arbitrary shapes. The algorithm was implemented and experiments were carried out on sub-urban roads. The results show the effectiveness of the algorithm in producing more accurate lane boundaries on curvatures and other objects on the road.


This paper studies whether rule-based circuit breakers in the form of short-lived volatility interruptions exhibit a magnet effect in times of high-frequency trading. Based on a sample of 3,271 volatility interruptions on two major European venues, we analyze whether trading aggressiveness, trading activity, and volatility accelerate close to volatility interruptions indicating a magnet effect. Although the duration of the interruptions is meaningful given today's high-frequent securities markets, we do not find any evidence for a magnet effect. Rather, our results show that trading aggressiveness, trading activity, and volatility gradually slow down towards the triggering threshold and that price changes even revert in case of downward-triggered interruptions. These findings hold both for different levels of high-frequency trading activity and for disclosed and undisclosed price limits triggering the circuit breaker.


Recommender systems have become very important for many online activities, such as watching movies, shopping for products, and connecting with friends on social networks. User behavioral analysis and user feedback (both explicit and implicit) modeling are crucial for the improvement of any online recommender system. Widely adopted recommender systems at LinkedIn such as "People You May Know" and "Endorsements" are evolving by analyzing user behaviors on impressed recommendation items. In this paper, we address modeling impression discounting of recommended items, that is, how to model user's no-action feedback on impressed recommended items. The main contributions of this paper include (1) large-scale analysis of impression data from LinkedIn and KDD Cup; (2) novel anti-noise regression techniques, and its application to learn four different impression discounting functions including linear decay, inverse decay, exponential decay, and quadratic decay; (3) applying these impression discounting functions to LinkedIn's "People You May Know" and "Endorsements" recommender systems.


This article identifies variables that might help an analyst to classify a stock market as either a developed or an emerging market. Although these terms are used widely, the basis for the application of the two descriptors has not been examined, using quantitative method(s) to verify the characteristics associated with each. The aim of this article is to do that, through identification of those variables associated with developed and with emerging markets. Discriminant analysis is applied, to identify a number of characteristics that do successfully differentiate between each group of markets, and helps to provide authenticity to the terms – developed and emerging.


Epidermolysis bullosa is a genetic disease characterized by an alteration in the proteins involved in the binding of the dermis to the epidermis. It can also affect the mucous, causing inner injuries. It is classified into three main types: simple, junctional and dystrophic, and, depending on its inheritance, can be dominant and recessive. There is no specific treatment and its evolution is chronic, significantly affecting the quality of life of patients. The caretaking required by people with this disease is a real challenge for the nursing professional and it is very important to have the support of his family. In our case we explain how we got to modify the healthcare that this patient received for years, who was averse to changes, both himself and his family. Counseled by DEBRA nurses, the association of those affected by this disease and their families, and also by a cures-specialist nurse that DEBRA introduced to us, they helped us convincing thepatient and his family of the need of changing the hydrophilic cotton gauze dipped in antibiotic ointment with different concentrations depending on the zone, to more advanced cures, with dressings for wound healing in a moist environment, gaining time and comfort, given that previous cures were slow and painful. The pain, odor and time needed for healing has decreased. The patient has gained comfort by reducing the time spent on cures. Nursing has achieved its goal to improve the quality of the patient's life.


Previous studies have demonstrated that glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) undergoes NAD(H) linkage to an active site thiol when it comes into contact with .NO-related oxidants. We found that a free-radical generator 2,2'-azobis-(2-amidinopropane) hydrochloride (AAPH), which does not release either .NO or .NO-related species, was indeed able to induce the NAD(H) linkage to GAPDH. We performed spin-trapping studies with purified apo-GAPDH to identify a putative thiol intermediate produced by AAPH as well as by .NO-related oxidants. As .NO sources we used .NO gas and two .NO-donors, S-nitroso-N-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine and 3-morpholinosydno-nimine hydrochloride (SIN-1). Because SIN-1 produces .NO and a superoxide radical simultaneously, we also tested the effects of peroxynitrite. All the .NO-related oxidants were able to induce the linkage of NAD(H) to GAPDH and the formation of a protein free-radical identified as a thiyl radical (inhibited by N-ethylmaleimide). .NO gas and the .NO-donors required molecular oxygen to induce the formation of the GAPDH thiyl radical, suggesting the possible involvement of higher nitrogen oxides. Thiyl radical formation was decreased by the reconstitution of GAPDH with NAD+. Apo-GAPDH was a strong scavenger of AAPH radicals, but its scavenging ability was decreased when its cysteine residues were alkylated or when it was reconstituted with NAD+. In addition, after treatment with AAPH, a thiyl radical of GAPDH was trapped at high enzyme concentrations. We suggest that the NAD(H) linkage to GAPDH is mediated by a thiyl radical intermediate not specific to .NO or .NO-related oxidants. The cysteine residue located at the active site of GAPDH (Cys-149) is oxidized by free radicals to a thiyl radical, which reacts with the neighbouring coenzyme to form Cys-NAD(H) linkages. Studies with the NAD+ molecule radio-labelled in the nicotinamide or adenine portion revealed that both portions of the NAD+ molecule are linked to GAPDH.


An universal reprogrammable architecture for implementation of the dedicated image processors (DIP) is presented. This paper considers a new strategy of implementation of the DIP based on replacing specialized hardware by a reprogrammable structure. It affords the possibility of creating a flexible image processing system consisting of a reprogrammable hardware structure. The flexible processing system links real-time hardware processing speed with the flexibility of software processing. A new outlook of software and hardware cooperation and co-design in image processing is presented.


Background In photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedures, a variable superficial central corneal scar formation (haze) can be observed following removal of corneal stromal tissue. Today, a near to normal slit lamp finding is observed one year postoperatively in most patients. We employed the slit scanning confocal microscope to study the corneal morphology years after PRK. Methods We selected 5 patients, who had been subjected to unilateral photorefractive surgery 1-3 years earlier and who had no corneal haze upon slit lamp examination. As controls we investigated the non - treated corneas of these patients, healthy controls and 5 contact lens wearers. The confocal microscopic investigation was performed with 25x, 40x and 50x water immersion objectives. The video signal was synconized with the slit scan and stored on S-VHS video tape. By reviewing the videos in the single frame mode, all corneal layers could be qualitatively evaluated. Results Some minor abnormalities were observed in the epithelium of all PRK - treated eyes. In the epithelial basal cell layer some round structures of about the size of a cell with high reflectivity were observed. These changes were only occasionally found in contact lens wearers, but not in non-treated or normal control eyes. Bowman's layer was absent in the PRK treated eyes, instead, a fine layer of collagen tissue of increased reflectivity was found. The subepithelial corneal nerve plexus was normal in all non - treated eyes, whereas in the PRK - treated corneas nerve shape and branching pattern were changed to quite an extent. In the anterior stroma the keratocyte nucleus patterns indicated an increased cell density and irregular spacing, whereas a normal keratocyte pattern was found in the deeper stromal layers. A significant finding was the observation of rod and needle shaped highly reflective structures, which were limited to the area of the excimer laser keratectomy with a predominance in the anterior stroma. These longitudinal structures themselves consisted of linearly arranged highly reflective granules, which sometimes also were found as isolated dots within keratocyte processes. In long term contact lens wearers a comparable granule type, however with a singular and scattered arrangement, was variably found in all corneal regions and layers. In normal controls none of these findings were present. In contact lens wearers and PRK patients with a contact lens history, the corneal endothelium showed some degree of polymegathisms but no other specific findings. Discussion Up to now, refractive surgery with the excimer laser has been reported to elicit no other stromal changes but a mild fibroblast activation with subsequent scar tissue formation. In clinically clear corneas after PRK, we have described a new type of stromal deposit observed 1-3 years after surgery. As acute wound healing responses might have been exspected to have passed at this point, this highly reflective stromal deposit can be assumed to consist of linear keratocyte processes filled with some highly reflective (degenerative?) matter as well as a corresponding exracellular stromal deposit arranged parallel to the stromal collagen bundles. Possibly, these stromal deposits represent the result of an inflammatory or degenerative stromal response resulting in the formation of stromal lipofuscein deposits. Visual acuity was not impaired in the patients investigated in this study. As these stromal deposits appear to be persisting years after surgery and possibly are irreversible in nature, a long term effect on the corneal physiology and function should carefullv be monitored.


A study of the factors of climate and their relation to wheat and short grass yields was conducted at Hays, Kansas. Statistical correlations were made between the elements of the climate and wheat and short grass yields, also correlations between elements of the climate. A 22-year period was used for forecasting short grass yields and a 30-year period for wheat. In the study, September temperature, spring temperature and spring precipitation, all showed a significant correlation when compared statistically to short grass yields. September temperature was the only element of fall climate that showed a significant amount of correlation when compared to the following year's grass yields. September temperatures can accurately be used to forecast average short grass production nearly a year prior to harvesting. Spring temperature and spring precipitation accounted for 75 percent of the variability in short grass yields. When comparing September and May soil moisture data to short grass yields, no correlation existed in the study at Hays, Kansas. A highly significant negative correlation existed between temperature and precipitation at Hays, Kansas. Spring temperature, fall precipitation and September precipitation, all showed a significant correlation when compared statistically with wheat production. Fall precipitation, approximately at the time of planting, can accurately be used to forecast average wheat production.


Current models of galaxy formation applied to understanding the large-scale structure of the Universe have two parts. The first is an accurate solution of the equations of motion for the dark matter caused by gravitational clustering. The second consists of making physically reasonable approximations to the behaviour of baryons inside dark matter haloes. The first uses large, computationally intensive, N-body simulations. We argue that because the second step is, at least at present, uncertain, it is possible to obtain similar galaxy distributions without solving the first step exactly.

We describe an algorithm that is several orders of magnitude faster than N-body simulations, but that is, nevertheless, rather accurate. The algorithm combines perturbation theory with virialized halo models of the non-linear density and velocity fields. For two- and three-point statistics the resulting fields are exact on large scales, and rather accurate well into the non-linear regime, particularly for two-point statistics in real and redshift space. We then show how one can use this algorithm to generate mock galaxy distributions from halo occupation numbers. As a first application, we show that it provides a good description of the clustering of galaxies in the PSCz survey.

We also discuss applications to the estimation of non-Gaussian contributions to the error bars and the covariance matrix of the power spectrum, in real and redshift space, for galaxies and dark matter. The results for the latter show good agreement with simulations, supporting the use of our method for constraining cosmological parameters from forthcoming galaxy surveys.


Autonomous mobile robots need internal environment representations or models of their environment in order to act in a goal-directed manner, plan actions and navigate effectively. Especially in those situations where a robot can not be provided with a manually constructed model or in environments that change over time, the robot needs to possess the ability of autonomously constructing models and maintaining these models on its own. To construct a model of an environment multiple sensor readings have to be acquired and integrated into a single representation. Where the robot has to take these sensor readings is determined by an exploration strategy. The strategy allows the robot to sense all environmental structures and to construct a complete model of its workspace. Given a complete environment model, the task of inspection is to guide the robot to all modeled environmental structures in order to detect changes and to update the model if necessary. Informally stated, exploration and inspection provide the means for acquiring as much information as possible by the robot itself. Both exploration and inspection are highly integrated problems. In addition to the according strategies, they require for several abilities of a robotic system and comprise various problems from the field of mobile robotics including Simultaneous localization and Mapping (SLAM), motion planning and control as well as reliable collision avoidance. The goal of this thesis is to develop and implement a complete system and a set of algorithms for robotic exploration and inspection. That is, instead of focussing on specific strategies, robotic exploration and inspection are addressed as the integrated problems that they are. Given the set of algorithms a real mobile service robot has to be able to autonomously explore its workspace, construct a model of its workspace and use this model in subsequent tasks e.g. for navigating in the workspace or inspecting the workspace itself. The algorithms need to be reliable, robust against environment dynamics and internal failures and applicable online in real-time on a real mobile robot. The resulting system should allow a mobile service robot to navigate effectively and reliably in a domestic environment and avoid all kinds of collisions. In the context of mobile robotics, domestic environments combine the characteristics of being cluttered, dynamic and populated by humans and domestic animals. SLAM is going to be addressed in terms of incremental range image registration which provides efficient means to construct internal environment representations online while moving through the environment. Two registration algorithms are presented that can be applied on two-dimensional and three-dimensional data together with several extensions and an incremental registration procedure. The algorithms are used to construct two different types of environment representations, memory-efficient sparse points and probabilistic reflection maps. For effective navigation in the robot's workspace, different path planning algorithms are going to be presented for the two types of environment representations. Furthermore, two motion controllers will be described that allow a mobile robot to follow planned paths and to approach a target position and orientation. Finally this thesis will present different exploration and inspection strategies that use the aforementioned algorithms to move the robot to previously unexplored or uninspected terrain and update the internal environment representations accordingly. These strategies are augmented with algorithms for detecting changes in the environment and for segmenting internal models into individual rooms. The resulting system performed very successfully in the 2008 and 2009 RoboCup@Home competitions.


Morinda citrifolia , commonly called noni, has a long history as a medicinal plant and its use as a botanical dietary supplement has grown tremendously in recent years. This has prompted a concomitant increase in research on the phytochemical constituents and biological activity of noni. It has been reported for its antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antitumor, antihelminthic, analgesic, hypotensive, anti-inflammatory and immune enhancing effects. This plant has also been popular as a source of red, yellow and purple dyes. In order to encapsulate the medicinal value and therapeutic effects of the noni fruit and to summarize scientific evidence that supports the traditional claims, a literature review and recent advances in noni research has been detailed.


We report here the use of a peptidomic approach to revisit the extracellular proteolysis of Lactococcus lactis. More than 1800 distinct peptides accumulate externally during growth of the plasmid-free protease-negative strain L. lactis IL1403 in a protein- and peptide-free medium. These peptides mainly originate from cell-surface- and cytoplasmic-located proteins, despite the fact that no cell lysis could be evidenced. Positioning each identified peptide on its parental protein sequence demonstrated the involvement of exo- and endopeptidase activities. The endopeptidases responsible for the release of surface and cytoplasmic peptides had distinct specificities. The membrane-anchored protease HtrA was responsible for the release of only a part of the surface peptides, and its preference for branched-chain amino acids in the N-terminal side of the cleaved bond was established in situ. Other yet uncharacterized surface proteases were also involved. Several lines of evidence suggest that surface and cytoplasmic peptides were produced by different routes, at least part of the latter being most likely excreted as peptides from the cells. The mechanism by which these cytoplasmic peptides are excreted remains an open question, as it is still the case for excreted cytoplasmic proteins.


Financial institutions have witnessed numerous episodes of financial crises all over the world during the last four decades. The researchers, academicians and policy makers in the field of finance studied these episodes extensively and to mitigate the risk involved in these crises have proposed several measures in the financial literature, but Value at Risk (VaR) has emerged as a more popular risk measurement technique. Although a number of studies have been undertaken in this area of research for developed markets but very few studies have been conducted in developing and emerging market economies. This study makes an attempt to evaluate the performance of VaR in emerging markets namely Brazil, Russia, India and China by considering Historical, Monte Carlo and GARCH Simulations to calculate VaR for the period 1998 to 2015. The study found that GJRGARCH Simulation is more suitable for Brazil and China while Historical Simulation for Russian and Indian Stock Markets based on the backtesting experiment.


IT HAS been more than a decade since the Code of Federal Regulations1clearly defined the responsibility of the research investigator to obtain written consent from human subjects engaged in clinical trials. The "elements of consent" have been widely disseminated by various federal agencies concerned with the protection of human subjects engaged in research.2,3 Researchers, regulatory affairs experts, and institutional review board members possess more than a basic knowledge of consent requirements. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fact sheets are readily available for reinforcement, and most hospitals circulate consent form prototypes as templates. Why, then, is the consent form the biggest stumbling block for most investigators? Why, in the face of easy, step-by-step instructions for the investigator, do most consent forms require two and three revisions? How can principal investigators be taught to view the consent form as a useful tool in educating prospective subjects rather than a


Skeletal muscle surface membrane is constituted by the PM domain and its specialized deep invaginations known as TTs. We have shown previously that insulin induces a rapid translocation of GLUT4s from an IM pool to the PM in rat skeletal muscle (6). In this study, we have investigated the possibility that insulin also stimulates the translocation of GLUT4 proteins to TTs, which constitute the largest area of the cell surface envelope. PM, TTs, and IM components of control and insulinized skeletal muscle were isolated by subcellular fractionation. The TTs then were purified further by removing vesicles of SR origin by using a Ca-loading procedure. Ca-loading resulted in a five- to sevenfold increase in the purification of TTs in the unloaded fraction relative to the loaded fraction, assessed by immunoblotting with an anti-OHP-receptor monoclonal antibody. In contrast, estimation of the content of Ca2+-ATPase protein (a marker of SR) with a specific polyclonal antibody revealed that most, if not all, SR vesicles were recovered in the Ca-loaded fraction. Western blotting with an anti-COOH-terminal GLUT4 protein polyclonal antibody revealed that acute insulin injection in vivo (30 min) increased the content of GLUT4 (by 90%) in isolated PMs and markedly enhanced (by 180%) GLUT4 content in purified TTs. Importantly, these insulin-dependent changes in GLUT4 content of PM and purified TTs were seen in the absence of changes in the α1-subunit of the Na+-K+-ATPase, a surface membrane marker. Isolated IM components such as LSR, HSR, and triads (terminal cisternae plus junctional TT) contained low or barely detectable amounts of GLUT4; furthermore, insulin treatment did not change the distribution of the transporter protein within these fractions. In contrast, a unique IM fraction that was not associated with either SR or triad markers, contained significant amounts of GLUT4 and showed an insulin-dependent decrease (40%) in GLUT4 protein content. These results show that acute insulin treatment induces the translocation of GLUT4s to both the PM and TTs from a unique intracellular organelle not associated with the SR.


ABSTRACT This paper presents a spatio-temporal fusion method for remote sensing images by using a linear injection model and local neighbourhood information. In this method, the linear injection model is first introduced to generate an initial fused image, the spatial details are extracted from the fine-resolution image at the base date, and are weighted by a proper injection gains. Then, the spatial details and the relative spectral information from the coarse-resolution images are blended to generate the fusion result. To further enhance its robustness to the noise, the local neighbourhood information, derived from the fine-resolution image and the fused result simultaneously, is introduced to refine the initial fused image to obtain a more accurate prediction result. The algorithm can effectively capture phenology change or land-cover-type change with minimum input data. Simulated data and two types of real satellite images with seasonal changes and land-cover-type changes are employed to test the performance of the proposed method. Compared with a spatial and temporal adaptive reflectance fusion model (STARFM) and a flexible spatio-temporal fusion algorithm (FSDAF), results show that the proposed approach improves the accuracy of fused images in phenology change area and effectively captures land-cover-type reflectance changes.


This analysis of data from the 1987 European Men's Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour strongly supports the hypothesis that the level and structure of prizes in PGA tournaments influence players' performance. Specifically, players' performance appears to vary positively with both the total money prizes awarded in a tournament and the marginal return to effort in the final round of play (a value that varies among players largely depending on how the prize money is allocated among finishers of different ranks). The authors suggest that these results, together with the similar results of their earlier study of the 1984 U.S. Men's PGA Tour, may have implications for the design of compensation systems for certain groups of workers, such as corporate executives, college professors, and salespeople.


Butyrophilin plays an important role in secretion of milk lipid. The present study describes polymorphism of butyrophilin gene. This is the first study of butyrophilin gene polymorphism in Najdi cattle of Iran. We used the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCRRFLP) technique to screen for DNA polymorphism in 109 cattle. In all cattle, we amplified an 863 fragment consisting of part of exon 8. The amplified fragment digested with HaeIII restriction endonuclease and subjected to electrophoretic separation in ethidium bromid-strained 3% agarose gel. Two alleles were observed, A and B. Five HaeIII restriction site were found in the A allele as 371, 231, 185, 83 and 32 bp fragments. In the B allele, 371 bp were replaced with 338 bp. Three genotypes were observed, Frequencies were 73.4, 25.68 and 0.92% for AA, AB and BB, respectively. This gives frequencies of 0.86 and 0.14 for A and B alleles.


Microstructure evolution of high energy milled Al-50wt%Si alloy during heat treatment at different temperature was studied. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that the size of the alloy powders decreased with increasing milling time. The observable coarsening of Si particles was not seen below 730°C in the high energy milled alloy, whereas, for the alloy prepared by mixed Al and Si powders, the grain growth occurred at 660°C. The activation energy for the grain growth of Si particles in the high energy milled alloy was determined as about 244 kJ/mol by the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) data analysis. The size of Si particles in the hot pressed Al-50wt%Si alloy prepared by high energy milled powders was 5-30 m at 700°C, which was significantly reduced compared to that of the original Si powders. Thermal diffusivity of the hot pressed Al-50wt%Si alloy was 55 mm2/s at room temperature which was obtained by laser method.


This thesis provides an analysis of the roles fulfilled by educational assessment in
primary education. This analysis is called for, now that many policy-makers hold high
hopes for the improvement potential of educational assessment.
The field research discussed in this thesis derives from Egypt as a political context and
an Egyptian primary school as a case study of practice. From these particular arenas,
and from literature relating to assessment, conclusions and implications are drawn up
which have relevance to other less-industrialised countries and indeed moreindustrialised
countries, about the purposes and effects of assessment.
In this thesis, purposes for assessment are defined as either stated or unstated; effects of
assessment as either intended or unintended. It is suggested that policy makers' official
purposes for assessment may be certification or selection; accountability or system
improvement; or the improvement of the individual's learning.
Government purposes for assessment in Egypt have focused more on selection than
certification; more on accountability than system improvement; and more on all of these
than on the processes of learning in the classroom. Longer-term purposes have also
included political or economic improvement.
This research shows that pupils, parents and teachers depend on certification and
selection for their personal, social and economic status. As a result, examinations for
certification and selection take on prime importance in their daily lives. They may also
be associated with pressure and anxiety, a restricted social life and a sense of underachievement
and powerlessness, as well as limiting curriculum and teaching methods at
school.
A prime implication from this research is that assessment could improve the processes
of learning and teaching, at the same time as fulfilling summative purposes such as
certification and selection. The data imply that learning benefits: when pupils are
motivated by tests and examinations; when assessment material in tests and
examinations is of high quality; finally, when classroom assessment is skilled.


Purpose Posterior uveitis (PU) is an important anatomic form of uveitis in which the primary site of inflammation is the choroid or retina, with or without subsequent vitreous involvement.


Chlamydial cell culture isolation rates from 51 unselected homosexual men were 9.3% from the urethra, 4.3% (pharynx), and 6.5% (rectum). All the positive cultures showed extremely few inclusions. Direct immunofluorescence with the Microtrak reagent (Syva) was an acceptable alternative technique for non-genital sites, whereas the infectious disease enzyme immunoassay (IDEIA) (Boots-Celltech) was unsuitable.


The objecctive of these research was to study response of Mucuna seedling on planting media from waste oil palm and mycorrhiza. This research conducted at the Silau Dunia, PTPN III, District Dolok Masihul, Serdang Bedagai, North Sumatra, on October 2014 to January 2015. The design used randomized block design factorial. The first factor was planting media from palm oil waste with composition: (Top Soil+ Sandy soil; Top Soil+ empty fruit bunches+ Fiber; Top Soil+empty fruit bunches+Solid Decanter; Top Soil+empty fruit bunches+Sludge; Top Soil+ Fiber+ Solid Decanter; Top Soil+ Fiber+ Sludge and Top Soil+ Solid Decanter+ Sludge). The second factor was asosiation with Mycorrhizae (micofer aplication and not). The result showed that planting Media Top Soil+ empty fruit bunches+ Sludge can increased Mucuna growth. Mucuna seedling that symbiosis with mycorrhizae can improve all growth parametrs compared without mycorrhiza aplication.


This article outlines how a realist evaluation of dementia care in hospitals used non-participant observation to support the refinement and testing of mechanisms likely to lead to the use of person-centred care. We found that comments and explanations of their actions from hospital staff during observation periods provided insights into the reasoning that generated their actions for care in real time. This informed subsequent data collection and analysis. Two worked examples of mechanisms first identified during non-participant observation demonstrate (1) how they were uncovered, and (2) how this informed research activities for theory refinement. Early, iterative engagement with the analytic process, primarily involving reflection and debate with the research team, maximised the potential of observation data to support surfacing underlying mechanisms, linking them to specific contexts and outcomes.


Non-crashing functional bugs of Android apps can seriously affect user experience. Often buried in rare program paths, such bugs are difficult to detect but lead to severe consequences. Unfortunately, very few automatic functional bug oracles for Android apps exist, and they are all specific to limited types of bugs. In this paper, we introduce a novel technique named deep-state differential analysis, which brings the classical "bugs as deviant behaviors" oracle to Android apps as a generic automatic test oracle. Our oracle utilizes the observations on the execution of automatically generated test inputs that (1) there can be a large number of traces reaching internal app states with similar GUI layouts, and only a small portion of them would reach an erroneous app state, and (2) when performing the same sequence of actions on similar GUI layouts, the outcomes will be limited. Therefore, for each set of test inputs terminating at similar GUI layouts, we manifest comparable app behaviors by appending the same events to these inputs, cluster the manifested behaviors, and identify minorities as possible anomalies. We also calibrate the distribution of these test inputs by a novel input calibration procedure, to ensure the distribution of these test inputs is balanced with rare bug occurrences. We implemented the deep-state differential analysis algorithm as an exploratory prototype Odin and evaluated it against 17 popular real-world Android apps. Odin successfully identified 28 non-crashing functional bugs (five of which were previously unknown) of various root causes with reasonable precision. Detailed comparisons and analyses show that a large fraction (11/28) of these bugs cannot be detected by state-of-the-art techniques.


Systems of interacting objects often evolve under the influence of field effects that govern their dynamics, yet previous works have abstracted away from such effects, and assume that systems evolve in a vacuum. In this work, we focus on discovering these fields, and infer them from the observed dynamics alone, without directly observing them. We theorize the presence of latent force fields, and propose neural fields to learn them. Since the observed dynamics constitute the net effect of local object interactions and global field effects, recently popularized equivariant networks are inapplicable, as they fail to capture global information. To address this, we propose to disentangle local object interactions -- which are $\mathrm{SE}(n)$ equivariant and depend on relative states -- from external global field effects -- which depend on absolute states. We model interactions with equivariant graph networks, and combine them with neural fields in a novel graph network that integrates field forces. Our experiments show that we can accurately discover the underlying fields in charged particles settings, traffic scenes, and gravitational n-body problems, and effectively use them to learn the system and forecast future trajectories.


The diets and the trophic niche overlap between seven flatfish species were studied in a coastal nursery adjoining to the Tagus estuary (Portugal). Fish were sampled monthly, from March to November 1999, using a beach seine. Arnoglossus imperialis (Rafinesque, 1810), Arnoglossus laterna (Walbaum, 1792) and Arnoglossus thori Kyle, 1913, fed mainly on crustaceans. The diets of Buglossidium luteum (Risso, 1810) and Dicologoglossa cuneata (Moreau, 1881) were mainly composed of Bivalvia and Polychaeta, while for Scophthalmus rhombus (Linnaeus, 1758) the main food items were Mysidacea and Teleostei. The diet of Pegusa lascaris (Risso, 1810) was mainly composed by Cumacea, Bivalvia, Decapoda and Amphipoda. Based on diet similarities two main groups were identified: one composed of A. imperialis , A. laterna, A. thori and S. rhombus , and the other grouping B. luteum, P. lascaris and D. cuneata . For the most common flatfishes, a similar pattern of diet seasonal variation was found, such that Amphipoda presented higher indices values in the period from March to June, while from July to November, Decapoda were more abundant. Although high values of diet overlap were obtained among some of the species, the main items in the diet of flatfishes are probably the most abundant prey in this coastal area, which suggests a generalist and opportunistic utilization of these food resources. Furthermore, niche overlap between these species is probably minimized by differences in resource use in other niche dimensions, namely time and space.


Graphene oxide (GO) thin films on various substrates show surprising variations of their structural and optical properties. These variations were also studied by depositing GO via introducing a gold nanoparticles buffer layer on quartz substrate. The effect of the substrate as well as buffer layer results in short range order crystallization in deposited GO films with an increase in inter-planar spacing. XPS analysis shows that GO undergoes reduction when spin coated on ITO/glass substrate. The deposited GO films exhibit luminescence emission, and the introduction of gold buffer layer results in a blue shift of the photoluminescent emission spectra. The GO on gold buffer layer shows almost constant optical absorption in the whole visible spectral region like graphene. The present study indicates that buffer layer effects and the interaction between different substrates and GO is strong enough to affect the oxygen linkages in GO which in turn changes its structural and optical properties, which may find potential application in graphene based optoelectronic device fabrication.


Based on kinematic data observed for very young, massive clusters that appear to be in dynamical equilibrium, it has recently been argued that such young systems are examples of where the early residual gas expulsion did not happen or had no dynamical effect. The intriguing scenario of a star cluster forming through a single starburst has thereby been challenged. Choosing the case of the R136 cluster of the Large Magellanic Cloud, the most cited one in this context, we perform direct N-body computations that mimic the early evolution of this cluster including the gas-removal phase (on a thermal timescale). Our calculations show that under plausible initial conditions which are consistent with observational data, a large fraction (>60%) of a gas-expelled, expanding R136-like cluster is bound to regain dynamical equilibrium by its current age. Therefore, the recent measurements of velocity dispersion in the inner regions of R136, which indicate that the cluster is in dynamical equilibrium, are consistent with an earlier substantial gas expulsion of R136 followed by a rapid re-virialization (in ≈1 Myr). Additionally, we find that the less massive Galactic NGC 3603 Young Cluster (NYC), with a substantially longer re-virialization time, is likely to be found to have deviated from dynamical equilibrium at its present age (≈1 Myr). The recently obtained stellar proper motions in the central part of the NYC indeed suggest this and are consistent with the computed models. This work significantly extends previous models of the Orion Nebula Cluster which already demonstrated that the re-virialization time of young post-gas-expulsion clusters decreases with increasing pre-expulsion density.


Objective: Human carbonyl reductase 1 (CBR1) plays key roles in the regulation of oxidative stress and tumor progression. However, the detailed mechanism and clinical correlation between CBR1 and tumor progression in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is largely unexplored. This study will focus the effects of CBR1 on head and neck cancer progression and explore the possible mechanisms. Materials and Methods: CBR1 mRNA expression was analyzed according to lymph node metastasis (LNM) status in patients with HNSCC from publicly available databases. CBR1 protein levels were measured and compared in HNSCC patient tissues, with or without metastasis, using immunohistochemistry (IHC). The invasive ability of HNSCC with modulated CBR1 expression was assayed using an invasion assay. Expression levels of EMT marker proteins were analyzed using immunoblotting. Results: HNSCC patients with LNM showed lower expression of CBR1 than those without LNM. In addition, IHC in tissues indicated that patients with LNM had relatively lower levels of CBR1 in cancer tissue. Consistently, in vitro invasion assay, we found that CBR1 inhibition using specific short interfering RNA treatment resulted in two- to three-fold increased invasion ability of HNSCC cell lines. Also, we proved that depletion of CBR1 activated marker proteins participating in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signaling. CBR1 inhibition increased levels of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) in HNSCC cells leading to upregulation of β-catenin, one of main transcription factors that induce EMT-related genes. Conclusion: Our findings suggested that CBR1 plays an important role in metastasis of HNSCC tumors via regulation of ROS-mediated β-catenin activity, and that CBR1 may be marker for progression of HNSCC to metastasis.


Abstract The aim of this article is to present the results of statistical analyses of laboratory experiment results obtained from an ITB ZW-K2 apparatus, Kamieński tubes and grain-size distribution curves. Beside basic statistical parameters (mean, sum, minimum and maximum), correlation analysis and multivariate analysis of variance at significance levels α < 0.01 and α < 0.05 were taken into account, as well as calculations of LSD confidence half-intervals. The research material was collected from the valley of the Odra river near the town of Słubice in Lubuskie province. The research involved mineral, non-rock fine-grained, non-cohesive soils lying at the depth of 0.3-1.5 m.


Based on differences in the permittivity of coal and limestone rock, a resonant cavity measurement technique is presented for the rapid determination of the proportions of coal and limestone in powdered mixtures. The ratio of the resonant frequency shift and the change in the transmission factor when mixed coal and limestone samples are inserted into the cavity provides a means for estimating the percentage of coal in the mixture relatively independent of the bulk density of the mixture. The technique might be developed for rapid tests of dust in coal mines to determine whether the 65% noncombustible content requirement is being met for prevention of coal mine explosions.


The project Massive Unseen Companions to Hot Faint Underluminous Stars from SDSS (MUCHFUSS) aims to discover subdwarf-B stars with massive compact companions such as overmassive white dwarfs (M > 1.0 M⊙), neutron stars or black holes. From the 127 subdwarfs with substantial radial-velocity variations discovered in the initial survey, a number of interesting objects have been selected for extensive follow-up. After an initial photometry run with BUSCA revealed that FBS 0117+396 is photometrically variable both on long and short timescales, we chose it as an auxiliary target during a 6-night multi-color photometry run with Ultracam. Spectroscopy was obtained at a number of observatories in order to determine the binary period and obtain a radial-velocity amplitude. After establishing an orbital period of P  = 0.252 d, and removing the signal associated with the irradiated hemisphere of the M-dwarf companion, we were able to detect ten pulsation periods in the Fourier spectrum of the light curve. Two pulsation modes are found to have short periods of 337 and 379 s, and at least eight modes are found with periods between 45 min and 2.5 h. This establishes that FBS 0117+396 is an sdB+dM reflection binary, in which the primary is a hybrid pulsator, and the first one found with this particular melange of flavours.


This paper presents the results and key messages that have been obtained from Phase 1 of a participatory action research project that was undertaken with 5 developers to investigate the practical design and construction issues that arise in making improvements to the airtightness of speculatively built mainstream housing. Two construction types were represented in the project, masonry cavity and light steel frame. Phase 1 of the project sought to assess in detail the design, construction and air permeability of 25 dwellings that were constructed to conform to the requirements of Approved Document Part L1 2002. While the total number of dwellings reported here is small, the results suggest that there is not a consistent approach to the way in which developers present information on air leakage to those on site, a mixture of approaches are utilised on site to achieve the same specification and there appears to be a lack of foresight in the detailed design stage, resulting in specifications that are practically very difficult to achieve. Despite this, the air permeability results suggest that dwellings constructed with a wet/mechanically plastered internal finish, can default to a reasonable standard of airtightness by UK standards, without much additional attention being given to airtightness.


FROM ANIMALS TO ANIMATS, edited by Jean-Arcady Meyer and Stewart W. Wilson The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts (USA), 1991, x+551, author index (Pbk £49.50). This book represents the proceedings of a conference entitled 'Simulation of Adaptive Behavior: From Animals to Animats', held in Paris (France) on 24-28 September 1990. The aim of the event was to assemble a multidisciplinary group of research workers in artificial intelligence, cybernetics, ecology, ethology, robotics and allied fields in order to discuss the mechanisms and behaviors of animals and, potentially, robots to adapt and survive in uncertain environments. Some common ground seems to have emerged among the participants in regard to the adaptive behavior of animals and animats. The 62 papers in these proceedings are grouped in ten sections, as follows: The Animat Approach (artificial animal research and A I); Perception and Motor Control; Cognitive Maps and Internal World Models; Motivation and Emotion; Action Selection and Behavioral Sequences; Ontogeny and Learning; Collective Behaviors; Evolution of Behavior; Architectures, Organizational Principles and Functional Approaches; Animats in Education. This conference appears to point in the direction of a new field of scientific enquiry concerning adaptive behavior in animals and animats, a recent much welcome addition to cybernetics. A very useful volume.


The family of feedback alignment (FA) algorithms aims to provide a more biologically motivated alternative to backpropagation (BP), by substituting the computations that are unrealistic to be implemented in physical brains. While FA algorithms have been shown to work well in practice, there is a lack of rigorous theory proofing their learning capabilities. Here we introduce the first feedback alignment algorithm with provable learning guarantees. In contrast to existing work, we do not require any assumption about the size or depth of the network except that it has a single output neuron, i.e., such as for binary classification tasks. We show that our FA algorithm can deliver its theoretical promises in practice, surpassing the learning performance of existing FA methods and matching backpropagation in binary classification tasks. Finally, we demonstrate the limits of our FA variant when the number of output neurons grows beyond a certain quantity.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Thulium fiber laser technology is an emerging field for laser lithotripsy that addresses inherent limitations of the Holmium:YAG laser including high current requirements, limited pulse frequency, and poor coupling with sub-200 µm core sized fibers. The Super Pulse Thulium fiber (SPTF) laser system was compared to a 120W Holmium:YAG system with respect to retropulsion and laser fiber burn back. METHODS: A force sensor was used to measure retropulsion when laser energy was applied to a Begostone phantom. Both fragmentation and dusting settings were measured (n=15). The retropulsion force was recorded both per pulse and per second at each setting. Laser fiber burn back was measured with the Begostone phantom in contact with the laser fiber tip. Two hundred micron fibers were utilized for the testing. RESULTS: The SPTF laser produced significantly less retropulsion compared to long pulse dusting and fragmentation settings of the 120W Holmium:YAG laser (p<0.001). Retropulsion of the Thulium fiber laser was similar when compared to the Holmium:YAG laser in Moses mode (Figs 1 & 2). Laser fiber burnback was significantly less for the SPTF laser as compared to the Ho:YAG laser at all settings tested. (p<0.001, Fig 3). CONCLUSIONS: The SPTF laser created less retropulsion in comparison to the Holmium:YAG laser at all tested settings with the exception of Moses mode, which was equivalent. The Thulium fiber system had diminished fiber burnback in comparison the 120w Holmium:YAG system. Figure. No caption available. Figure. No caption available. Figure. No caption available. Source of Funding: Olympus America


By use of wood chips as a carrier and coal donator, azo dyes are biodegraded by the native microflora inhabiting forest residues chips from the south east part of Sweden. Due to background emissions from the forest residues chips the microflora are successfully transferred to soft sood chips from Norwegian spruce (picea abis) and Scots pine (pinus sylvestris). The azo dyes used in this study are reactive red 2 and reactive black 5 in combined artifical wastewater. The dyes are at a concentration of 200 mg/l degraded within 20 days with additional yeast extract of 1 g/l and 30 days without.


Human whole-genome sequencing generally reveals about 4,000,000 genetic variants, including 20,000 coding variants, in each individual studied. These data are mostly stored as VCF-format files. Although many variant analysis methods accept VCF files as input, many other tools require DNA or protein sequences, particularly for splicing prediction, sequence alignment, phylogenetic analysis, and structure prediction. However, there is currently no existing online tool for extracting DNA or protein sequences for genomic variants from VCF files with user-defined parameters in a user-friendly, efficient, and standardized manner. We developed the SeqTailor webserver to bridge this gap. It can be used for the rapid extraction of (1) DNA sequences around genetic variants, with customizable window sizes, from the hg19 or hg38 human reference genomes; and (2) protein sequences encoded by the DNA sequences around genetic variants, with built-in SnpEff annotation and customizable window sizes, from human canonical transcripts. The SeqTailor webserver streamlines the sequence extraction process, and accelerates the analysis of genetic variant data with software requiring DNA or protein sequences. SeqTailor will facilitate the study of human genomic variation, by increasing the feasibility of sequence-based analysis and prediction. The SeqTailor webserver is freely available from http://shiva.rockefeller.edu/SeqTailor/.


Fish contains nutrients which are essential for our organism, vitamins (for example: A; B1; B2; D), minerals and various unsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids (for example: Omega 3 fatty acid). The latest cannot be produced by our organism, but indispensable to its normal operation. There is literature on its various effects on the brain, immune system, and it is widely known that it plays a significant role in preventing cardiovascular diseases, since due to its anti-inflammatory effect it is able to cure inflammations on the vascular walls. Omega 3 fatty acids appear mainly in marine phytoplankton and in sea fish in large quantity. We can see that our organism would need regular fish consumption. Researches show that one should take 1 gram of Omega 3 fatty acid on a daily basis. Experts state that fish is one of the indispensable conditions of a healthy diet, so we should consume fish twice a week. Despite the fact that fish is delicious and healthy, it is not part of our everyday menu. The ideal consumption of oily fish would be more than 15 kg/capita/year, but in Hungary this is hardly 4 kg/capita/year.


Financial illiteracy is widespread and leads to bad financial decisions (high debt, insufficient savings). Individuals cannot answer basic questions about inflation, compounding, and diversification. While financial literacy can be enhanced, are individuals teachable, and if so, what should they be taught and how lasting is the training? Prof. Merton suggests that some individuals can only be helped with innovation; Prof. Richard Thaler has argued for making the financial system more "user-friendly". This paper argues that given the challenges posed by finance theory and financial instruments (in turn for financial literacy programs), a complementary approach along the lines of Profs. Merton's and Thaler's recommendations would introduce new financial instruments that embed goal-specific compounding and inflation protection. These interest-only real bonds (with goal-specific indexation), with a forward start date, would pay coupons for the period required for the respective goal. Further, there is ample potential supply from natural issuers. This innovation trivializes the investment problem to just simple multiplication or division thereby addressing the challenge of financial illiteracy with financial innovation across a range of saving/investment goals!


This book compiled under the editorship of Marriane Simmel, a loving pupil of Goldstein honors a great investigator of the human mind who died in 1965 at the age of 87. The editor has written the story of his personal life, Walther Riese the eminent historian contributed a chapter concerning "The Man and His Work," and Joseph Meiers collected the extensive bibliography of Goldstein's writings. Within the book are essays by his pupils, colleagues and investigators who have been influenced by Goldstein on subjects related in varying degrees to his creative work. By far the most interesting chapter is Shakow's contributions from schizophrenia to normal psychological function. There is no question that Goldstein has contributed greatly to psychology and psychiatry but his own writings in journals and books give a better idea of his unique creativity. The current volume fails in


INTRODUCTION
Acute sinusitis is defined pathologically, by transient inflammation of the mucosal lining of the paranasal sinuses lasting less than 4 weeks. Clinically, it is characterised by nasal congestion, rhinorrhoea, facial pain, hyposmia, sneezing, and, if more severe, additional malaise and fever. It affects 1-5% of the adult population each year in Europe.

METHODS AND OUTCOMES
We conducted a systematic review and aimed to answer the following clinical questions: What are the effects of treatments in people with clinically diagnosed acute sinusitis, and with radiologically or bacteriologically confirmed acute sinusitis? We searched: Medline, Embase, The Cochrane Library and other important databases up to August 2007 (Clinical Evidence reviews are updated periodically; please check our website for the most up-to-date version of this review). We included harms alerts from relevant organisations such as the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

RESULTS
We found 19 systematic reviews, RCTs, or observational studies that met our inclusion criteria. We performed a GRADE evaluation of the quality of evidence for interventions.

CONCLUSIONS
In this systematic review we present information relating to the effectiveness and safety of the following interventions: antibiotics (amoxicillin, co-amoxiclav, doxycycline, cephalosporins, macrolides, different doses [amoxicillin, co-amoxiclav, doxycycline, cephalosporins, macrolides], long-course regimens), antihistamines, cephalosporins or macrolides, decongestants (xylometazoline, phenylephrine, pseudoephedrine), doxycycline, saline nasal washes, steam inhalation, and topical corticosteroids (intra-nasal).


It is noticeable that in some incidents crews deviate from standard procedures and continue the flight in deteriorating conditions until a triggering factor makes them return towards normal flight conditions. To be more precise, the procedures that frame the conduct of a flight refer to standards and are within a safety envelope that calls on training and reduced capacity for adaptation. The course of the flight and the reality of operational constraints may lead the flight crew to fly at the limits of the envelope. The situation can then deteriorate in a more or less prolonged or serious manner. When the crew reacts, if they do, their capacity for adaptation will either allow them to return to a normal situation or not. An investigation often makes it possible to explore the reasons for deviations from standards, though it is more difficult to explore the crew's determination to continue the flight in deteriorated conditions: the factors that lead a pilot to perceive danger and to decide to take corrective action remain little known, as do the resilient processes that are mobilized. Based on an example of a near-CFIT, we will demonstrate the need to better characterize the evolution over time of a crew's capacity to react when faced with a dangerous situation in order to limit the consequences.


Context There are no clear indicators of which ultrasound findings in an emergency department (ED) renal colic population are predictive of urological surgical intervention. Objective To determine the sonographic findings of renal colic that predict surgical intervention. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 500 consecutive ED patients with a diagnosis of renal colic that had ultrasonography (performed by radiology) during their ED visit. Our main outcome was urological surgical intervention. This was defined as extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy, percutaneous nephrostomy or ureteroscopy performed within 16 weeks of the initial ED presentation. Results Of the 500 identified patients, 483 met our eligibility criteria. Of this group, 67 (13.9%) received a surgical intervention. Ultrasound (US) findings were 97% (95% CI 88.7% to 99.5%) sensitive and 28.1% (23.9% to 32.8%) specific in 'diagnosing' the requirement for surgery when the ultrasound (US) showed either at least a stone present or showed moderate to severe hydronephrosis. The presence of stone and moderate to severe hydronephrosis had a + likelihood ratio (LR) 3.86 (2.46 to 6.07) and a −LR 0.72 (0.60 to 0.86). Having a stone ≥6 mm had a sensitivity of 77.6% (65.5% to 86.5%), a specificity of 73.6% (69.0% to 77.7%), a +LR of 2.94 (2.39 to 3.6) and a −LR 0.30 (0.19 to 0.48). Conclusions Radiology performed ultrasonography is a valuable tool for identifying renal colic that will go on to receive a surgical intervention in the 16 weeks following an ED visit. Further studies are needed to confirm the utility of ultrasound findings of stone visualisation, stone size and moderate to severe hydronephrosis in determining which patients need outpatient urology follow-up.


Abstract : Automation is being introduced increasingly in an effort to improve the accuracy and timeliness of information processing within complex computer-based systems. One task that has received considerable attention in this respect is the detection and tracking of targets on sensor and tactical systems. However, initial experience with automated detection and tracking systems has been less than satisfactory. They are often seen as being unreliable and workload intensive. When they are perceived as being reliable, operators often fail to monitor them adequately. Most of the effort to improve the performance of these systems has focused on finding better algorithms. In contrast, the research presented in this paper has focused on understanding when and how operators make use of automated detection and tracking systems and the conditions under which they are likely to improve performance and reduce workload. This paper summarizes the most pertinent results of our research examining human use of a simulated automated detection and tracking system as a function of reliability, workload, and experience. Our research shows that each of these factors impacts on system performance and on the perceived and actual usefulness of the automated system. Best performance tends to be associated with a moderately reliable tracking system with a low false detection rate while perceived reliability tends to be associated with low workload. Under low workload conditions, the operators' ability to detect targets improves, but their ability to detect automation induced errors does not. Suggestions for improving the usefulness of automated detection and tracking systems are offered.


China's rapid urbanisation in the past 30 years has been a prominent issue all over the world. Few studies have elaborated the urbanization in China, especially the overly speedy building intensity growth in contemporary China from the perspective of local decision makers. This study aims to explain the local decision-making driving force of the rapid growth of the degree of building and land use by analysing the interaction between local decision makers' turnover and the degree of building and land use. The Secretaries of Municipal Party Committees (SMPCs) have been selected as the representatives of the decision makers of Chinese local governments while the newly increased floor area has been selected as an indicator of the degree of building and land use. On the basis of the panel data of 35 large- and medium-sized Chinese cities from 2000 to 2014, Stata 14.0 has been applied to implement a regression analysis. The research findings show that any turnover of the Secretaries of Municipal Party Committees (SMPCs) may create new floor area. The causal mechanisms hypotheses have also been proven. Generally, the SMPCs are motivated by a need to promote urban growth, and especially, when the SMPCs hold power by the same-ranking lateral transferring or same-ranking vertical dispatch in the municipality, its floor area is more likely to increase. Furthermore, the more the floor area increases, the greater the possibility of promotion will get. These findings could be an explanation for China's high-speed spatial urbanization from a public administration point of view and a practical understanding of the Chinese decision-making mechanism in urban development.


The purpose of the present investigation was to determine a practical method of vaccination against bacillary dysentery. It has been emphasized that the toxicity of the dysentery group of organisms, especially that of the Shiga bacillus, is such as not to permit of their employment in simple saline or aqueous suspensions. If, on the other hand, their toxicity is removed by the addition of certain chemicals, the antigen of the bacilli is so changed as not to be suitable for immunization purposes. The toxicity of the bacilli can also be diminished by the addition of immune serum. There is no essential difference in the result whether unmodified serum is used or that modified by Gibson's method. The use of serum with vaccines cannot be recommended, in spite of the relative non-toxicity of such mixtures. The specific immunity response is reduced, while the parenteral injection of horse serum in large groups of men is objectionable because of the serum sensitization which it produces. It has been shown that a certain vegetable oil, almond oil, (and this statement may apply to a number of non-irritating, absorbable oils) is capable of overcoming many of these disadvantages. The oil acts as a passive agent in merely suspending the bacteria without altering their properties. The slow absorption of the suspended bacteria from this vehicle mitigates the toxic effects of the dysentery bacilli. At the same time it does not interfere with the immunity response—antibacterial and antitoxic. If the absorption is too slow, however, as in the instances in which lanolin was added, less satisfactory results follow. The proper rate of absorption is as important a factor as the proper vegetable oil. The latter condition has been emphasized in the consideration of the effects of an objectionable olive oil. The neutralization of the oil should be complete. F. G. S. and J. W. S. suffered from severe local reactions, the results of the local deposition of soaps, which are difficult of absorption. As a result of the slow absorption of the dysentery bacilli from the oily suspension only slight local and general reactions follow, and it is possible to give at one time and in a single dose a sufficient number of the killed dysentery bacilli to incite a high degree of immunity. The precise series of events following the injection of the oily vaccine are: During the 1st day, an erythematous area develops at the site of injection, which is not especially painful. There may be a slight systemic reaction, consisting in headache and slight chilliness. After 24, sometimes after 48 hours, an induration appears at the site of injection, varying from 2 to 4 cm. in diameter, which remains unchanged for a few days, then begins to recede, complete absorption requiring from 1 to 3 weeks. The induration remains localized and has no tendency to break down. It causes no inconvenience. During the period of absorption the organism of the host continually receives antigen. The rule of immunology is that while antigen is circulating the antibodies are usually not demonstrable; it is only after all the antigen disappears that the antibodies appear in greatest concentration. Since the vaccine is slowly absorbed, the reasons for the delayed appearance of antibodies, as well as their persistence, become obvious.


type="main"> We examine business continuity in the context of fraud and accounting for an organisation as a going concern. The issues addressed are timely and focus on two points. First, fraudulent activities in business are increasing worldwide with related costs reaching trillions of US dollars. Second, the conventional accounting concept of a going concern that typically signifies business continuity is arguably formed on a static view of business. As such, this view does not help mitigate opportunities for fraudulent statements of account. We contribute to the accounting literature by emphasising the dynamic nature of business and in doing so extend the discussion on Type 1 and Type 2 going concern errors. In that context we provide evidence of a possible Type 3 going concern error in an organisation's financial reporting. Drawing on an international fraud case involving an Indian company, Satyam, we illustrate the adaptive behaviour of resilient business organisations. The findings of our study show that even in the face of fraud dynamic, adaptive organisations can achieve business continuity.


Sir .—As recommendations for the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) virus vaccine seesaw between 12 and 15 months of age, Faust and Thompson's article 1 prompts the following suggestion: If a rigid lower limit of age must be set for MMR vaccine, let it be 11 months (335 days). Antibody titers change little for immunizations given at 11 months of age or thereafter. Wilkins and Wehrle 2 found the following percentages of children with hemagglutination inhibition titers of 1:8 or greater, according to age at immunization: 9 months, 72%; 10 months, 84.6%; 11 months, 95.2%; 12 months, 95.4%; 13 months, 96%; 14 months, 95.2%; 15 months, 92.9%; 16 months, 100%; and 17 months and older, 93.2%. Differences in measles attack rates, according to age at immunization, are negligible so long as the MMR vaccine is given at or after 11 months of age. Marks et al 3 reported the only


BackgroundAkinetic mutism is a behavioral state wherein a patient seems to be awake but does not move or speak. We present a patient who developed akinetic mutism after total resection of huge parasagital meningioma Case presentation: The patient is a 35 years old woman that referred to our hospital with a history of headache for 2 years ago. Neurological examinations were normal. MRI show a huge parasagittal mass lesion with shift of the midline and peripheral edema. Brain MRV showed occlusion of superior sagittal sinus with the mass. The patient underwent surgery with diagnosis of parasagittal meningioma. The tumor was resected totally (sympson's classification grade 1) and the superior sagittal sinus was ligated between the middle segment and posterior segment. After surgery the she extubed and referred to ICU .she remained aware, mute and motionless. The CT SCAN showed peunomocephaly. 2 week after surgery she was speaking one-syllabe word and three week after surgery she was speaking normally and has quadriparesia. After 2 month of surgery she recovered her motor function fully. Conclusion: Akinetic mutism is an infrequent complication that can occur after brain surgery although this condition usually is transient. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA