Different synthetic-methods were explored to pursue novel gallium and
germanium sulphides. Materials were characterised using single-crystal and powder Xray diffraction. Elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform
infrared spectroscopy and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were used to analyse
materials further. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis was performed when the metalcontent was ambiguous.
Hybrid T3 supertetrahedra [Ga10S16(L)4]
2- were formed, where T3 denotes a
tetrahedron with three [GaS4]
5-
tetrahedra along each edge and L is a pyridine-based
ligand. Discrete-cluster based [C12H13N2]0.5[C6H8N]1.5[Ga10S16(NC6H7)4](C6H7N)0.5 was
synthesised, using an ionic liquid as a structure-directing agent, in 4-methylpyridine (4-
MPy). [C6H8N]2[C12H14N2][Ga10S16(NC6H7)4]2(C12H12N2)(C6H7N)2, consisting of
discrete T3 units and [C3H3N2C4H9CH3][C6H8N][Ga10S16(NC6H7)2(NC6H6)2](C6H7N)0.5,
containing chains of clusters linked via ethylenedipyridine (EDPy), were also
synthesised using this method.
Materials containing T3-supertetrahedra were also synthesised solvothermally in
4-MPy. [NC6H8]2.5[N2C4H6][C3H5N2]0.5[Ga20S32(N2C12H12)2(NC6H7)5] consisted of
dimers of T3 clusters linked via EDPy, whereas [C6H8N]4[Ga10S16(NC6H7)3(NC6H6)] -
[Ga10S16(NC6H7)4](C6H7N)2 contained a 1:2 ratio of dimers to discrete clusters.
[C6H8N]6[Ga20S32(NC6H7)6(N2C12H12)][Ga10S16(NC6H7)3(C6H6N)](C6H7N)6 contained
both dimers and chains. The synthesis of a tetrahedron of supertetrahedra
[C6H8N]14[Ga10S20]7(NC2H7)4(NC6H7)8(N2C12H12)8 was also optimised throughout this
work. Some materials showed photoluminescence, as measured by collaborators;
materials absorbed in the UV-region and emitted in the visible region.
T2 germanium-sulphides were also synthesised in 4-MPy, including a novel
trimer of T2 units [NC6H8]8[Ge12S28] and a polymeric T2-based structure
[NC6H8]2[Ge4S9](C6H7N)0.5. Germanium-gallium sulphide frameworks were also
produced. [C6H8N]2[Ga2Ge2S8] had the double-diamond structure, whereas
[NC6H8][GaGe3S8](NC6H7)(H2O)5 was constructed from single tetrahedra, with a
structure which has not been observed before.
[(CH3(CH2)5)3P(CH2)13CH3]0.25[NH4]5.75[Ga10S18](NH3) is the first example of a
double diamond net of [Ga10S18]
6-
clusters, synthesised using an ionic liquid with no amine. The first non-hybrid discrete T3 cluster [Ga10S16(SH)4]
6- was synthesised in
polyethylene glycol-400, to give [C9H18N2]6[Ga10S16(SH)4]. [C7H13N2][GaS2],
containing chains of [GaS4]
5-
tetrahedra, with different packing to those previously
observed, was synthesised in 1,5-Diazabicyclo[4.3.0]non-5-ene .
Single-crystals of [NH4][Ga3(SO4)2(OH)6] were obtained, where the sulphate was
unusually formed from gallium nitrate and sulphur.


Software tools for Contract Management (CM) are designed to support a wide range of contracts, but they can fall short in the case of cloud contracts. Cloud services, in fact, cross national boundaries and this entails complex problems (security, non disclosure, privacy, …) about applicable laws, jurisdiction, accountability, third parties etc. Moreover, cloud services must be monitored and managed according to specific contract's elements (service level agreements, penalties, etc. ) and this prefigures tighter integration among CM tools and other IT management tools. These aspects are even more relevant to Small and Medium IT Enterprises (SMEs) adopting open CM tools to manage their contracts about own cloud services, because they often lack skills, maturity and sophisticated tools already acquired by the larger companies. In this scenario we propose a requirement elicitation approach based on CM process modeling and information modeling to extend the current generation of open CM tools with the above mentioned features, for SMEs.


This paper presents a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) approach for classification of low power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies such as Sigfox, LoRA and IEEE 802.15.4g. Since the technologies operate in unlicensed sub-GHz bands, their transmissions can interfere with each other and significantly degrade their performance. This situation further intensifies when the network density increases which will be the case of future LPWANs. In this regard, it becomes essential to classify coexisting technologies so that the impact of interference can be minimized by making optimal spectrum decisions. State-of-the-art technology classification approaches use signal processing approaches for solving the task. However, such techniques are not scalable and require domain-expertise knowledge for developing new rules for each new technology. On the contrary, we present a CNN approach for classification which requires limited domain-expertise knowledge, and it can be scalable to any number of wireless technologies. We present and compare two CNN based classifiers named CNN based on in-phase and quadrature (IQ) and CNN based on Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The results illustrate that CNN based on IQ achieves classification accuracy close to 97% similar to CNN based on FFT and thus, avoiding the need for performing FFT.


De Novo Asymmetric Syntheses of Bioactive Natural Products and Carbohydrate Motifs Yalan Xing De novo asymmetric syntheses of daumone I-1 and the fluorescent analog have been described. This route took advantage of the Noyori asymmetric hydrogenation of acetyl furan and alkynyl ketone, the Pd-catalyzed glycosylation and various postglycosylation transformations to finish the total synthesis of Daumone I-1, which provided materials for mechanism of action studies. In an effort to mimics natures use of rare sugars in the synthesis of biologically important natural products (e.g., the carbohydrate portion of Daumone I-1), the O'Doherty group has been interested in developing new methods for practical and stereoselective synthesis. As part of these efforts, a concise synthesis of benzyl α-6deoxy-altro-pyranoside and benzyl-ascarylo-pyranoside has been developed. The synthesis relied upon a Pd-catalyzed glycosylation reaction, a highly diastereoselecitve epoxidation and ring opening. An enantioselective synthesis of cladospolide B, C and (ent)-cladospolide D has been achieved. This synthesis not only provided access to these antimicrobial natural products but also corrected the structural assignment of cladospolide D by means of a de novo synthesis and kinetic/thermodynamic alkene isomerization. The synthesis coupled the Noyori reduction of alkynyl ketone and the alkyl zipper reaction with the conversion to and asymmetric oxidation of dienoates to enable the successful synthesis of cladospolides B-D. A de novo asymmetric total synthesis of aspergilliges has been investigated. The challenge of our route is using a novel palladium-catalyzed addition of a vinyl group to install the key trans-pyran ring system. To date, an intermediate which is five steps away from a formal synthesis of aspergillide C has been prepared by Pd-catalyzed Cglycosylation and Julia olefination. Noyori reductions of furyl and propargyl ketone, alkyne zipper reaction and Au-catalyzed alkyne hydration have been utilized.


The difficulty of measuring the prevalence of doping in elite sport is a recurring topic in the scientific literature on doping. The Randomized Response Technique is a method for asking such embarrassing or even threatening questions while allowing the respondents to answer honestly. It was used to measure the prevalence of doping among German squad athletes by Pitsch et al. (2005, 2007). In a replication study with better sampling control, it was possible to replicate the general trend of the data from the 2005 study. Nevertheless, there are differences in the details between the two sets of findings. An additional explorative analysis reveals that gender has an important impact on doping decisions. Most theories of doping, especially those derived from systems theory or economic game theory address neither the central findings nor the influence of gender. Based on these findings, we will discuss questions of theory development in relation to empirical evidence.


Global conservation has changed over the last two decades. As conservation NGOs have grown in size and stature, they have increasingly turned to businesses and market mechanisms and they are increasingly replacing the state in delivering conservation programs. This article argues that at the heart of global conservation lies a small, well-connected elite, made up of directors and senior staff of key conservation NGOs, state politicians and bureaucrats, corporate directors, scientists, celebrities, and media actors. This elite network works as influence, ideas, and money are spread in formal spaces, such as conferences and meeting rooms, and in informal occasions such as social events. Drawing on emerging studies of conservation bureaucracies and NGOs, this article outlines the workings and structure of this elite, illustrated through four detailed vignettes. It situates the elite in the emerging literature on neoliberalism, arguing that this elite is at the forefront of driving the neoliberalization of conservation.


This paper presents the formulation and application of Multi-Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) for the design and optimization of a smart hanger, which simulates the manual handling of garments to facilitate the inspection process. Due to the symmetrical nature of clothes, the hanger is expected to expand only half of the clothes. Thus, a four-link robot consisting of three revolute joints and one prismatic joint is employed to model the hanger. With a Proportional and Derivative (PD) controller, the hanger can regulate the link positions by adjusting the applied torques and force. The objective functions are to (1) maximize the link portions within the "effective regions" at final state, (2) minimize the force or torque required to finish the stretching process, and (3) minimize the settling time of the stretching process. In addition to the control gains, the lengths of the four links as well as the desired movements of the joints are the design variables in this optimization problem. The required transient behavior of the system is defined by the constraints on the settling time and the maximum overshoot. Besides, to prevent the clothes from being destroyed by the links when stretching, geometrical constraints are imposed to the motions of the links. MOGA is applied to tackle this integrated optimization problem. The optimization results are presented in the form of Pareto solutions. After analysis, optimal parameters are selected, and numerical simulations are conducted. Results show the feasibility of the hanger.© 2006 ASME


Traditional ecological knowledge can be defined as an interpretation of the information that the human population accumulates through the relation between the use and dependency established with the natural resources. The National Forest of Amapa (FLONA/AP), State of Amapa, Brazil is a federal conservation unit localized at the central region of the state and holds high land and varzea ecosystems which are well preserved and have great biological importance. Being a sustainable use area, there is a small local population that utilizes its natural resources for survival through traditional activities such as artisanal fishering. This study had the objective of interpret the traditional ecological knowledge of the FLONA/AP fisherman and to conduct the characterization of the fishering activity gathering the information given by the people that develop the activity. The methodological procedures included interviews, questionnaire application and direct observation; also photos were taken of the catch and the artifacts used. Citations of the fisherman were annotated, analyzed and compared to the existing scientific references. This allowed to demonstrate the level of understanding of those people of the environment as well as the resources that they use. It was identified 29 species and 6 etnofamilies grouped by the fisherman and that agree with the taxonomic classification. There was also the description of the atisanal fishering adopted in the area, showing the main characteristics and fish captured. One may conclude that the phrases used by the fisherman to describe the fish behavior are congruent to the ecology studies; besides they arerelevant to the elaboration of the fishery agreements and management plan of the conservation unit.


SUMMARY

Inconsistencies between an object and its image delivered by tomographical methods are inevitable. Loss of information occurs during the survey through incomplete and inaccurate data sampling and may also be introduced during the inverse procedure by smoothness constraints inadequate to the resolving power of the experimental setup.

A quantitative appraisal of image quality (spatial resolution and image noise) is therefore not only required for successful interpretation of images but can be used together with measures of efficiency of the experimental design to optimize survey and inverse procedures.

This paper introduces a low-contrast inversion scheme for electrical resistivity tomography that supports the reconstructed image with estimates of model resolution, model covariance and data importance. The algorithm uses a truncated pseudo-inverse and a line search approach to determine the maximum number of degrees of freedom necessary to fit the data to a prescribed target misfit. Though computationally expensive, the virtue of the method is that it reduces subjectivity by avoiding any empirically motivated model smoothness constraints. The method can be incorporated into a full non-linear inversion scheme for which a posteriori quality estimates can be calculated.

In a numerical 2-D example the algorithm yielded reasonable agreement between object and image even for moderate resistivity contrasts of 10:100:1000. On the other hand, the resolving power of an exemplary four-electrode data set containing classical dipole–dipole and non-conventional configurations was shown to be severely affected by data inaccuracy.

Insight into the resolving power as a function of space and data accuracy can be used as a guideline to designing optimized data sets, smoothness constraints and model parametrization.


Information on the properties of proteins of the macroglobulin family taking part in the host protection from viral, fungal and bacterial pathogens is reviewed. High plasticity and polyfunctional character of these proteins makes it possible to realize different protective functions. They inhibit the lysis of the cell wall by binding the hydrolases of the pathogen thus blocking its penetration into the cell, directly participate in the presentation of antigens to immunocompetent cells, transport antibacterial substances (interferons, lysozyme) to the zone of infection. In addition, macroglobulins take part in the apoptosis regulation in infected cells, utilization of the lysosomal enzymes of annihilated pathogens. The complexes of macroglobulins with some proteins are powerful inductors of antibody production. Further studies of the properties of these proteins will result in a better understanding of the nature of infectious process. The possibility of artificial formation of macroglobulin complexes with pathogen components or with substances possessing protective or anti-inflammatory properties opens prospects for using these proteins in the fields of vaccinology, gene therapy and molecular biology.


SUMMARY We assessed the long-term feasibility, safety, and tolerability of two regimens of aerosolized pentamidine (AP) as primary prophylaxis of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP) in a large sample of infants and children with symptomatic HIV infection in 21 pediatric departments. One hundred forty children were assigned to receive 60 mg every 2 weeks (n = 60) or 120 mg every 4 weeks (n = 80) of AP, delivered by the ultrasonic nebulizer Fisoneb under the supervision of trained personnel. Children underwent monthly clinical and laboratory controls for toxicity and/or development of PCP for an 18-month period. Baseline characteristics were similar in the two treatment groups. The median age was 5 years. The feasibility of administering AP was excellent in 84 (60 percent) and good in 38 (27 percent) children. All children aged <2 years showed excellent or good feasibility. Long-term compliance was good with both regimens. No child had severe adverse reactions requiring discontinuation of the treatment. Cough, sneezing, and bronchospasm were the most frequent side effects occurring, respectively, in 12, 3.7, and 0.7 percent of the 60-mg treatments and in 19.1, 6. 1, and 2.8 percent of 120-mg treatments (p < 0.05). Their incidence was not different in children younger or older than 5 years. Two episodes of PCP were observed in the group receiving 120 mg monthly, whereas none of the 60 children in the biweekly schedule had PCP (p = 0.20). AP can be safely administered to very young children with few adverse side effects.


Spontaneous fluctuations in oxygen consumption (R) and ventilation frequency (VF) of stoplight parrotfish Sparisoma viride were measured simultaneously in small now-through respirometers to establish the relationship between these variables. Respiration of 11 fish of varying size (14 to 1052 g) and life phase (juveniles, initial and terminal phase adults) was measured at naturally fluctuating temperatures. A large proportion of the variance in respiration could be explained by the equation: R = 0.00035 x VF1.369 x W-1.118 (r(2) = 93.1%, n = 380, p <0.001), with R in mg O-2 h(-1), VF in beats min(-1) and fish weight (W) in g. Oxygen concentration in the respiration chambers could drop below natural levels. Comparison of the R-VF relationships at different concentrations showed that correction for [O-2] hardly affected the predictions. No important differences were found between the 3 life phases, and inter-individual differences were no larger than the variation between replicate measurements. We conclude that the equation above appears quite robust and can therefore be used to predict the metabolic rate of undisturbed fish in their natural environment.


Immunologic analyses of sera from 47 selected individuals living in a mixed filariasis transmission zone in Gabon were carried out. Onchocerca volvulus, Loa loa, Mansonella streptocerca, and M. perstans are transmitted in this region. Based on parasitologic findings and age, the 47 individuals were stratified into four groups: microfilaria negative (Mf-) children (3-15 years old), Mf- adults (> 15 years old), microfilaria positive (Mf+) children and Mf+ adults. For descriptive purposes, the term microfilaria positive refers to individuals with skin and blood microfilariae. Antifilarial antibody titers were determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with Dipetalonema viteae antigens. In general, children had higher titers of IgG antibodies than adults. For the IgG1, IgG2, and IgG3 subclass responses, both age and microfilarial status appeared to be important variables since Mf- children consistently had the highest titers whereas Mf- adults had the lowest titers. For the IgG4 antifilarial response, only the microfilarial status was an important variable. All Mf+ individuals had significantly higher levels of IgG4 antibody than Mf- individuals. Pooled sera of Mf- and Mf+ individuals reacted with similar O. volvulus antigens on Western blots. Control sera of individuals who did not reside in the study area, but who had single infections with L. loa or M. perstans, did not react with any O. volvulus antigens.


Background In 2010 new staff were employed and formed into a formal joint Mortuary & Bereavement Service for the Trust. Aims To develop the service whilst reviewing quality and turnaround time. Methods Review of existing facilities and practices revealed many areas ripe for development and this presentation describes how the changes were achieved for an area which remains largely hidden to the rest of the hospital. Results A professional looking uniform and investment in staff training and development; rebuilding and modernization of the entire mortuary and bereavement suite (include colour changing lights for skin effects) on two sites; development of a bed cover allowed dignified, respectful transfer of in patients' beds, rather than a concealment trolley, with resulting reduction in manual handling. Mortuary sessions for hospital staff improved understanding, reduced fear of the unknown, improved communication with families and compliance with care after death procedures. Procedural changes resulted in improved quality of death certification and the resulting documentation presented more professionally and respectfully in specially designed folders with useful information. Many small touches – quality 'property bags' for patients' effects; 'last thoughts, words and wishes' cards; 'forget me not' seeded cards; keepsake pebbles; ribbon ties and muslin bags for hair locks; free parking for those collecting certificates have served to improve a difficult experience. Redesigned, more user-friendly bereavement booklets; staff cards with prompts for discussing tissue donation and departmental cultural awareness posters produced to ensure cultural sensitivity to individual need; support for parents facing the loss of a child and those who have miscarried, ensure burial and cremation facilities are appropriate. Conclusions Feedback from patients is collated and used in real time to continue change. This presentation describes the difference this sensitivity and creativity have made to bereaved families' experiences.


Cloud Computing technology enables the sharing and collaborating of wide variety of resources. To fully utilize these resources, effective discovery techniques are necessities. Proposing and designing a resource discovery scheme based on Economic Agent. Base on the economic model and the technique in agent of grouping nodes sharing similar files to improve efficiency, this thesis suggests a resource discovery scheme based on economic agent, which is called EAGRD. Theoretical models on resource discovery are provided, under which EAGRD is compared with existing schemes theoretically. By controlling propagation of message into related communities, EAGRD improves time and network efficiency at the cost of topological maintenance overhead. Results from simulation demonstrate that this architecture is very effective in Cloud Computing resource discovery.


The impact of agglomeration on flavor and flavor stability of whey protein concentrates 80% (WPC80) and whey protein isolates (WPI) has not been widely addressed. This study examined the impact of agglomeration on the flavor and flavor stability of commercial WPC80 and WPI across 18 mo of storage. Duplicate agglomerated and nonagglomerated WPC80 and WPI were collected from 4 facilities and stored at 21 degrees C, 50% relative humidity. Volatile analysis using solid phase microextraction (SPME) with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and descriptive sensory analysis were conducted every 2 mo. Solubility index, bulk volume, dispersibility, moisture, and color (L, a, b) were tested every 3 or 6 mo. Consumer acceptance testing with protein beverages was conducted with fresh and stored whey proteins. Higher intensities and more rapid development of lipid oxidation flavors (cardboard, raisin/brothy, cucumber, and fatty) were noted in agglomerated powders compared to nonagglomerated powders (P < 0.05). Volatile analysis results confirmed sensory results, which indicated increased formation of aldehydes and ketones in agglomerated products compared to nonagglomerated powders (P < 0.05). Consumer acceptance scores for protein beverages were lower for beverages made with agglomerated WPC80 stored for 12 mo and agglomerated or nonagglomerated WPI stored for 18 mo compared to fresh products while trained panelists detected differences among beverages and rehydrated proteins earlier. Agglomeration with or without lecithin decreased the storage stability of whey proteins. These results indicate that the optimum shelf life at 21 degrees C for nonagglomerated whey proteins is 12 to 15 mo and 8 to 12 mo for agglomerated whey proteins.


Modelling A Markov model was constructed to simulate the clinical and economic outcomes associated with ICD and control therapy. The model served also to extrapolate short-term trial-based results to a lifetime horizon. The cycle length was one month. Patients who received an ICD were at risk of death from the implantation procedure. Patients who did not die from the procedure and patients assigned to control therapy entered the Markov tree and were followed until death. A patient could die from arrhythmia, non-arrhythmic cardiac causes, or noncardiac causes. If the patient survived, he or she remained well for the 1-month period. Patients who had an ICD could have a lead infection or failure that could cause them to discontinue treatment.


The Un-Americans: Jews, the Blacklist and Stoolpigeon Culture, by Joseph Litvak. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. 282 pp. $22.95. A quarter century ago, a graduate student doing some research for a professor in my department at Brown University calculated the book and journal references to "Identity" in the campus library. There were a lot, but more interestingly, the proportion of Jewish references was phenomenal. It is not likely to have fallen since, as any Wikipedia check will surely reveal. There are good reasons, of course, but have Jews more difficulty with identity than, say, Inuits, Armenians, Roma, and other peoples with or without states of their own? Or is it the proportions of Jewish author-scholars that may be decisive? If this question seems ultimately imponderable, the lure of pondering its aspects is not likely to go away. To the expanding literature, Joseph Litvak has added a remarkable and sometimes dazzling footnote. Any number of scholars (myself included) writing on Ashkenazic Jews in the European and North American diaspora have come to Yiddish and Yiddishkayt as the root source. In their various locations, Yiddish speakers borrowed not only their language in its many varieties and adaptations, but also elements of the accompanying popular cultures. In the long run, by 1900 or so, this proved decisive to Jewish participation in the emerging commercial popular cultures. No degree of supposed global political or financial influence, no earthly or spiritual power is likely to surpass the Jewish influence on the mundane worlds of film, television, music and so on that reach people in every language and culture. And yet so little of the content is identifiably Jewish! We have, here, a paradox of major proportions. Joseph Litvak wants us to focus our attention on one particular aspect largely forgotten in the last two generations. He examines, in his own ways, the Blacklist, specifically the Blacklist in the entertainment world, its impact upon popular culture, and implications for Jews everywhere. Talk about metaphors, the cover of the Un- Americans sports one of the most self-revealing of blacklistees, and at the same time one of the most iconic and tragic Jewish American entertainers: Zero Mostel. Now best remembered as the theatrical star of Fiddler on the Roof (replaced, somewhat mysteriously, by the Israel actor Topol, for the film version), Mostel was of course a leftwing actor and, before that, a stand-up comic. His role best preserved (that is, in film, although he was even better as a live act) for future generations must be as stand-in for Philip Loeb in The Front, playing the actors' union pioneer, long-time character actor in Gertrude Berg's assorted vehicles, and blacklistee driven to suicide. Humiliating himself before investigators, Mostel as Loeb could not, however, become a friendly witness: that would be like conversion to Christianity. Others will remember a little art film, The Angel Levine, playing opposite Ida Kaminska, a dying wife whose angel of death is schwartze hipster Harry Belafonte, but whose real drama may be Mostel saying goodbye to life as well as fictive wife. …


Since 1961 world vegetable consumption and production have been increasing steadily at annual average growth rates of 3.24 % and 9.29 % respectively. Tomatoes represent the largest annual world production volume with an average share of 62% followed by carrots (13 %), lettuce (10%), cauliflower (8%), spinach (6%) and onions (2 %). The study estimates the full Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) and provides an in-depth analysis of fresh vegetables in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metropolitan area, which is largest market for Northeast Texas producers. The study estimates expenditure and price elasticities using AC Nielsen Homescan consumption data on carrots, cauliflowers, lettuce, onions, spinach, tomatoes, and precut salad mix. It is critical for vegetable growers and agribusinesses to understand the substitution patterns among different types of vegetables as well as current production and consumption trends at the retail level. A discussion about how various types of fresh vegetables perform at the retail level is presented. Several cases of substitutes and complements fresh vegetables were identified. Our disaggregated analysis may help producers better identify products that are highly marketable in the area. Our results may also provide insight in determining which fresh vegetables are most profitable for local producers.


The strategic importance of standardization activities in today's changing society cannot be denied. They play a key role, "inter alia", in the information and communication technology (Ict) industries, where they provide the lifeblood for the development of networks. Many authors have already clarified that standards are essential ingredients in driving market growth and boosting the welfare of the whole society. At the same time, however, the processes leading to the implementation of standards may raise several legal concerns, at the intersection between Ip, contract and competition laws. On the one hand, patent owners need to be rewarded for their investments in innovation, in order to preserve their incentives to promote technological advance; on the other, it is essential to ensure that standardization environments maintain a desirable level of healthy competition. In this context, the award of injunctions to innovators, whose standard essential patents (Seps) have been allegedly infringed, may have a cascading impact on the outcome of standardization and ultimately on innovation-driven welfare. It seems thus fundamental to consider carefully the scope and the effects of this remedy, so as to strike the right balance between the objectives of all the stakeholders involved and remove any roadblocks to the blossoming of new groundbreaking standards.


Kaempferia galanga Linn. leaf and rhizome oils, obtained by hydrodistillation, were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). One hundred and eight components were identified in the leaf oil. The major components were linoleoyl chloride (21.42%), caryophyllene oxide (11.75%), cubenol (9.66%) and caryophyllene (5.60%). Eighty one components were identified in rhizome oil with the main components being 2-propenoic acid, 3-(4-methoxyphenyl),-ethyl ester (63.36%), ethyl cinnamate (6.31%), 4-cyclooctene -1-methanol (4.61%), caryophyllene oxide (4.37%) and limonene (3.22%). The compositions of both oils varied qualitatively and quantitatively. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/cujbs.v3i1.13407 The Chittagong Univ. J. B. Sci.,Vol. 3(1&2):65-76, 2008


Instravenous infusion of ildamen (0.8-1 mg/kg) into anesthesized cats caused an increase in coronary blood flow and oxygen consumption by the heart to an approximately equal degree; the resistance of the coronary vessels diminished. The values of cardiac activity (cardiac output, contractions, pulse rate) increased simultaneously with increase of the coronary blood flow. In distinction to ildamen, nonachlasin (6 mg/kg) reduced the arterio-venous difference in oxygen and increased the content of oxyhemoglobin in the draining coronary blood. In anesthesized animals cardiac activity altered in two stages. Since beta-adrenergic blocking agents prevented the increase in coronary blood flow and the intensification of cardiac contractions induced by both drugs it is assumed that their effect is caused through stimulation of the beta-adrenergic structures. Besides, ildamen and nonachlasin possess the property of inhibiting cardiac activity. The combination of these two opposite effects evidently plays an important role in the realization of the antianginal effect of the substances studied.


Functionals were discovered and used by Volterra over a century ago in his study of the motions of viscous elastic materials and electromagnetic fields. The need to precisely account for the qualitative effects of the cohesion and shape of the domains of these functionals was the major impetus to the development of the branch of mathematics known as topology, and today large numbers of mathematicians still devote their work to a detailed technical analysis of functionals. Yet the concept needs to be understood by all people who want to fully participate in 21st century society. Through some explicit use of mathematical categories and their transformations, functionals can be treated in a way which is non-technical and yet permits considerable reliable development of thought. We show how a deformable body such as a storm cloud can be viewed as a kind of space in its own right, as can an interval of time such as an afternoon; the infinite-dimensional spaces of configurations of the body and of its states of motion are constructed, and the role of the infinitesimal law of its motion revealed. We take nilpotent infinitesimals as given, and follow Euler in defining real numbers as ratios of infinitesimals.


Abstract : The Chief of Naval Operations defines FORCEnet as the "operational construction and architectural framework for Naval Warfare in the Information Age which integrates warriors, sensors, networks, command and control, platforms and weapons into a networked, distributed combat force, scalable across the spectrum of conflict from seabed to space and sea to land." The Trident Warrior experiments are the Navy's premier FORCEnet Sea Trial experiments. The purpose of the Trident Warrior experiments is to provide "speed to capability" and to develop supporting tactics, techniques, and procedures. The purpose of this thesis will be to provide a basic overview of the Trident Warrior Experimentation Process. Through a step-by-step analysis, this thesis will explain and justify the many steps required to complete a successful experiment/experimentation campaign.


We employ the finite state machine (FSM) model for networks to investigate fault identification using passive testing. First we introduce the concept of passive testing. Then, we introduce the FSM model with necessary assumptions and justification. We introduce the fault model and the fault detection algorithm using passive testing. Extending this result, we develop the theorems and algorithms for fault identification. An example is given illustrating our approach. Then, extensions to our approach are introduced to achieve better fault identification. We then illustrate our technique through a simulation of a practical X.25 example. Finally future extensions and potential trends are discussed.


Blended reality seeks to encourage co-presence in the classroom, blending student experience across virtual and physical worlds. In a similar way, Mixed Reality, a continuum between virtual and real environments, is now allowing learners to work in both the physical and the digital world simultaneously, especially when combined with an immersive headset experience. This experience provides innovative new experiences for learning, but faces the challenge that most of these experiences are single user, leaving others outside the new environment. The question therefore becomes, how can a mixed reality simulation be experienced by multiple users, and how can we present that simulation effectively to users to create a true blended reality environment? This paper proposes a study that uses existing screen production research into the user and spectator to produce a mixed reality simulation suitable for multiple users. A research method using Design Based Research is also presented to assess the usability of the approach.


Proc Amer Assoc Cancer Res, Volume 47, 2006

4395

Thalidomide (TL) has been used in the treatment of multiple myeloma and due to its anti-angiogenic effects has been postulated to be a potential radiosensitizer for squamous cancers in vivo. We first investigated the effect of TL on growth of IL-3 dependent murine hematopoietic 32D cl 3 cells in semisolid methylcellulose containing medium also supplemented with TL ranging from 0 to 200 μM. The cells were incubated at 37°C for 7 days at which time colonies of greater than 50 cells were counted. TL increased cell colony formation 2-fold over the dose range of 10 to 100 μM. In serially decreasing concentrations of IL-3, TL (50 μM) was growth stimulatory of 32D cl 3 colony formation in 15% IL-3 and 10% IL-3 conditioned medium (146.2 ± 7.2 and 89.3 ± 2.4 colonies/500 cells plated in TL vs. 110.8 ± 11.4 and 58.0 ± 2.1 without TL, p = 0.0304 or 0.0006). To determine whether TL was a radiosensitizer, cells were placed in: 0, 50, or 150 μM TL in three protocols: 1) 1 hour before irradiation; 2) 1 hour before irradiation plus also in methylcellulose following irradiation; or 3) were placed in TL containing methylcellulose only following irradiation. Cells were irradiated to doses ranging from 0 to 800 cGy and plated in methylcellulose containing medium. Seven days later, colonies of greater than 50 cells were counted and analyzed by single hit, multi-target or linear quadratic models. Cells grown in 50 μM TL which stimulated cell growth resulted in an increased radiation resistance compared to control irradiated cells (D = 1.87 ± 0.02 vs. 1.30 ± 0.09 Gy, respectively, p = 0.0366). However, 150 μM TL (which did not stimulate cell growth) increased radiation sensitivity compared to control irradiated cells (D = 1.22 ± 0.5 vs. 1.64 ± 0.11 Gy, respectively, p = 0.0245). To determine whether TL radiosensitized tumor cells in the therapeutic 150 μM range, SSC-VII murine squamous cell carcinoma cells were grown in TL at concentrations ranging from 0 to 200 μM and were assayed for colony formation. In contrast, SSC-VII cells showed no detectable stimulation or inhibition of cell growth for unirradiated cells in any concentration of TL. However, at 150 μM TL, SSC-VII cells were radiosensitive when incubated in TL before irradiation compared to control irradiated cells (D = 2.02 vs. 2.55 Gy, respectively). Thus, thalidomide may be a clinically valuable radiosensitizer.


Virtual reality systems often co-locate the display and input (motor) spaces. Many input devices, such as the mouse, use indirect input mappings, and are disjoint from the display space. A study of visual/motor co-location was conducted to determine if there is any benefit to working directly "in" a virtual environment. Using a fish-tank VR setup, participants performed a 3D object movement task. This required moving an object from the centre of the environment to target regions, using a tracked pen, in both co-located and disjoint display/input conditions. Results were analyzed in the context of Fitts' Law, which models rapid aimed movements. Ultimately, no significant differences were found between co-located and disjoint conditions. However, when analyzing object movement in specific directions, the co-located condition was somewhat better than the disjoint one. In particular, movement into the scene was faster when the display and input device were co-located rather than disjoint.


A criticism of mechanism design theory is that the optimal mechanism designed for one environment can produce drastically different actions, outcomes, and payoffs in a second, even slightly different, environment. In this sense, the theoretically optimal mechanisms usually studied are not "robust." To study robust mechanisms while maintaining an expected utility maximization approach, we study a multiagent model in which the mechanism must be designed before the environment is as well understood as is usually assumed. The particular model is of an auction setting with binary private values. Our main result is that if the prior belief about the correlation in the agents' values is diffuse enough, the optimal Bayesian-Nash auction must also satisfy dominant strategy incentive constraints. Furthermore, when the optimal auction does provide dominant strategy incentives, it takes one of two forms: (i) if perfect correlation and negative correlation are excluded as possibilities, the auction incorporates all information about the prior belief over the possible correlations, and (ii) if either perfect correlation or negative correlation is a possibility, the auction does not incorporate any correlation information and can be described as a modified Vickrey auction.


PURPOSE
The aim of the present study is to investigate means for the reduction or even elimination of enhancement kinetic curve errors due to breast motion in order to avoid pitfalls and to increase the sensitivity and specificity of the method.

METHODS
115 women underwent breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). All patients were properly immobilized in a dedicated bilateral phased array coil. A magnetic resonance unit 3-Tesla (Signa, GE Healthcare) was used. The following sequences were applied: (I) axial Τ2-TSE, (II) axial STIR and (III) Vibrant axial T1-weighted fat saturation (six phases). Kinetic curves were derived semi-automatically using the software of the system and manually by positioning the regions of interest (ROI) from stable reference points in all the phases.

RESULTS
376 abnormalities in 115 patients were investigated. In 81 (21.5%) cases, a change of the enhancement kinetic curve type was found when the two different methods were used. In cases of large fatty breasts, a change of the enhancement kinetic curve type in 13 lesions was found. In cases of small and dense breasts, only in 4 lesions the kinetic curve type changed, whereas in cases of small and fatty breasts, the kinetic curve type changed in 64 lesions (50 were observed in left breasts and 14 in right breasts).

CONCLUSIONS
The derivation of enhancement kinetic curves should be performed by controlling and verifying that the ROIs lay at the same location of the lesion in all the phases of the dynamic study.


Abstract Introduction Research on social networks in public health focuses on how social structures and relationships influence health and health-related behaviour. While the sociocentric approach is used to study complete social networks, the egocentric approach is gaining popularity because of its focus on individuals, groups and communities. Methods One of the participants of the healthy lifestyle health education workshop 'I'm moving', included in the study of social support for exercise was randomly selected. The participant was denoted as the ego and members of her/his social network as the alteri. Data were collected by personal interviews using a self-made questionnaire. Numerical methods and computer programmes for the analysis of social networks were used for the demonstration of analysis. Results The size, composition and structure of the egocentric social network were obtained by a numerical analysis. The analysis of composition included homophily and homogeneity. Moreover, the analysis of the structure included the degree of the egocentric network, the strength of the ego-alter ties and the average strength of ties. Visualisation of the network was performed by three freely available computer programmes, namely: Egonet.QF, E-net and Pajek. The computer programmes were described and compared by their usefulness. Conclusion Both numerical analysis and visualisation have their benefits. The decision what approach to use is depending on the purpose of the social network analysis. While the numerical analysis can be used in large-scale population-based studies, visualisation of personal networks can help health professionals at creating, performing and evaluation of preventive programmes, especially if focused on behaviour change.


The San Joaquin Valley and Tulare basins in California's Central Valley have intensive agricultural activity and groundwater demand that has caused significant subsidence and depletion of water resources in the past. We measured groundwater pumping-induced land subsidence in the southern Central Valley from March 2015 to May 2017 using Sentinel-1 interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data. The InSAR measurements provided fine spatial details of subsidence patterns and displayed a superposition of secular and seasonal variations that were coherent across our study region and correlated with precipitation variability and changes in freshwater demand. Combining InSAR and Global Positioning System (GPS) data, precipitation, and in situ well records showed a broad scale slowdown/cessation of long term subsidence in the wetter winter of 2017, likely reflecting the collective response of the Central Valley aquifer system to heavier-than-usual precipitation. We observed a very good temporal correlation between the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite groundwater anomaly (GWA) variation and long-term subsidence records, regardless of local hydrogeology and mechanical properties. This indicates the subsidence from satellite geodesy is a very useful indicator for tracking groundwater storage change. With the continuing acquisition of Sentinel-1 and other satellites, we anticipate decadal-scale subsidence records with a spatial resolution of tens to hundreds of meters will be available in the near future to be combined with basin-averaged GRACE measurements to improve our estimate of time-varying groundwater change.


This paper examines monetary valuations of lost passive-use benefits associated with damage to a unique environmental resource – a national park, elicited through contingent valuation, and compares them with actual donations to the same end, where the latter are interpreted as a quasi-market expression of willingness to pay for non-market resource services. The relationships between the two valuation approaches were investigated in the specific context of an environmental episode which damaged a unique natural endowment, Israel's Carmel National Park. The empirical analysis is based on data from two sample surveys; one sample was drawn from the population of people who either pledged or pledged and donated during a fund-raising campaign following the episode, with the proceeds dedicated to rehabilitation or prevention of future episodes; the second sample was drawn from the general population of the country. The results cannot be interpreted as providing unqualified support for the reliability of contingent valuation as a means for obtaining passive use values.


Background Cancers are a major source of morbidity and mortality for HIV-positive persons on combination antiretroviral therapy, while the clinical benefits of smoking cessation are not well established. Methods Participants were followed from 1 January 2004 until first cancer diagnosis, death, or 1 February 2016. Smoking status was defined as ex (<1,1-2,2-3,3-5,>5 years since stopping), current, and never smokers. Outcomes considered were any cancer, lung cancer, other smoking-related excluding lung and smoking-unrelated cancers. Adjusted incidence rate ratios (aIRR) were calculated using Poisson regression, adjusting for demographic and clinical factors. Results 35442 persons from the D:A:D study contributed 309803 person years of follow-up. At baseline, 49% of people were current smokers, 21% were ex-smokers, 30% had never smoked. Incidence of all cancers combined (N=2183) was highest <1 year after smoking cessation compared to never smokers (aIRR: 1.66 95%CI: 1.37, 2.02) and not significantly different from never smokers 1-2 years after cessation. Lung cancer incidence (N=271) was elevated <1 year after cessation (aIRR: 19.08 95%CI: 8.10, 44.95) and remained 8-fold higher 5 years after smoking cessation (aIRR: 8.69 95%CI: 3.40, 22.18). Incidence of other smoking-related cancers (N=622) excluding lung was elevated in the first year after cessation (aIRR: 2.06 95%CI: 1.42, 2.99) and declined to a level similar to non-smokers thereafter. Incidence of smoking-unrelated cancers (N=1290) was unrelated to smoking status. Conclusion Lung cancer incidence remained elevated for more than 5 years after smoking cessation. Deterring uptake of smoking and smoking cessation efforts should be a priority to reduce the future risk of


In the global marketplace of the twenty-first century a proliferation of festivals, or festivalisation, has produced an increasingly pressurised and politicized environment for international arts festivals. Through a case study of the Edinburgh International Festival the thesis explores what strategies the Festival is adopting to maintain its lead position in this increasingly competitive international landscape. It examines recent cultural policy development in Scotland and the UK exploring how creative industry theory promotes the argument for 'investment' in cultural festivals as economic drivers and city or region profile boosters. Edinburgh's cultural policy is to brand itself the Festival City and it has supported the establishment of a number of competing festivals in the city. The case study investigates how the Edinburgh International Festival is managing a range of new initiatives at a time of rapid political change in Scotland. These include: exploiting changing technology to assist marketing and audience development; establishing partnerships and collaborations with a growing range of non-cultural public and private bodies, and cultural diplomacy – the development of international initiatives on behalf of the Scottish and UK Governments. The case study also explores a unique model of co-opetition which has developed between the Edinburgh International Festival and rival festivals, producing new strategic cultural organizations. The thesis establishes how current cultural policies in Scotland and the UK require international arts festivals to engage in non-cultural roles in order to create profile and advantage for themselves and their stakeholders in addition to fulfilling their cultural remit and in an environment of dwindling public and private sector support. In conclusion, it considers the opportunities and risks for arts organizations of an instrumental approach to cultural policy.


The microbial contamination of mobile phones belonging to food vendors in different canteens in Ago-Iwoye town, Ogun State was investigated. Fifty swab samples were randomly collected from the food vendors. Sterile swabs were firmly pressed on the handset both front and back and then inoculated into nutrient, MacConkey and Sabroud dextrose agar for bacteria and fungi growth. The predominant bacteria isolated were Staphylococcus aureus (50%), Streptococcus faecium (34%) Bacillus cereus (32%), Escherichia coli (26%), Micrococcus luteus (10%), while the fungi isolated were Penicillium notatum (24%), Aspergillus fumigatus (16%), Aspergillus niger (14%), Mucor sp. (14%) and Aspergillus flavus (4%). It was concluded that mobile phones of food vendors pose a potential health threat to consumers. Personal hygienic and sanitation measures such as hand washing, cleaning of the environment and washing of hand before and after handling of food and phone decontamination should be adopted by food vendors to prevent food borne disease.


Thymopoietin and thymopentin are well characterized polypeptides influencing immunoregulation by several mechanisms. Proposed as a therapy in diseases with major immune abnormalities such as rheumatoid arthritis, thymopentin improved within 2 weeks some clinical parameters as pain and joint swelling. The hypothesis that this spectacular effect could be mediated through interactions with anti-inflammatory (ACTH) and pain relieving (beta-endorphin) hormones producing cells was tested on the rat isolated pituitary cell model. Thymopentin and thymopoietin can enhance in vitro the levels of ACTH, beta-endorphin and beta-lipotropin in a time- and dose-dependent fashion for physiological concentrations ranging from 10(-12) to 10(-8) mol/l. The action on pituitary cells was restricted to those molecules as no changes occurred in LH, FSH, GH, TSH and PRL levels, after otherwise identical experimental conditions.


Promising new research is addressing the vexing problems of survey data quality by using a combination of laptop computers and headphones. New experiments suggest that the creative use of new technology may allow researchers studying sensitive issues to at least partially overcome problems imposed by some respondents9 limited literacy and their concerns about privacy. As the best of the new techniques can only ameliorate these problems, a multidisciplinary approach will be useful in improving our ability to validate the quality of survey data.


In this chapter, we propose a novel add-on electric drive system for propelling a manual wheelchair on the floor together with an advanced function to climb and descend a step with no human support. The proposed add-on mechanism consists of an active-caster drive wheel and a reconfigurable link mechanism with a linear actuator to change the location of the drive wheel relative to a wheelchair. By attaching the mechanism to a man- ual wheelchair, we build a five-wheeled wheelchair. Since the drive wheel is attached on the back of the wheelchair, a risk of falling to the back is significantly reduced. To surmount a step with no help, we develop a step-climbing and -descending strategy by using the proposed wheelchair with a reconfigurable link mechanism. The five-wheel configuration guarantees a static stability of the wheelchair when some wheels are hovered from the ground. The function is used in step-climbing and -descending strategies to realize the transfer of a wheelchair user. In order to reduce the effort of a wheelchair user to control the complicated step surmount strategies, semiautomatic system is installed on the prototype wheelchair whose availability is verified through experiments.


Large Language Models (LLMs) have made the ambitious quest for generalist agents significantly far from being a fantasy. A key hurdle for building such general models is the diversity and heterogeneity of tasks and modalities. A promising solution is unification, allowing the support of a myriad of tasks and modalities within one unified framework. While few large models (e.g., Flamingo (Alayrac et al., 2022), trained on massive datasets, can support more than two modalities, current small to mid-scale unified models are still limited to 2 modalities, usually image-text or video-text. The question that we ask is: is it possible to build efficiently a unified model that can support all modalities? To answer this, we propose UnIVAL, a step further towards this ambitious goal. Without relying on fancy datasets sizes or models with billions of parameters, the ~ 0.25B parameter UnIVAL model goes beyond two modalities and unifies text, images, video, and audio into a single model. Our model is efficiently pretrained on many tasks, based on task balancing and multimodal curriculum learning. UnIVAL shows competitive performance to existing state-of-the-art approaches, across image and video-text tasks. The feature representations learned from image and video-text modalities, allows the model to achieve competitive performance when finetuned on audio-text tasks, despite not being pretrained on audio. Thanks to the unified model, we propose a novel study on multimodal model merging via weight interpolation of models trained on different multimodal tasks, showing their benefits in particular for out-of-distribution generalization. Finally, we motivate unification by showing the synergy between tasks. The model weights and code are released here: https://github.com/mshukor/UnIVAL.


That peace and justice is the solution to the flux and insecurity in the church and in the state cannot be denied. In fact, it is exigent to ask this question thus: can there be peace and justice in the religious institution in the first instance, without religious liberty and of course, civil liberty untwisted? There is no gain-saying the fact that sacred and secular histories have tended to answer this question in a clear and precise illumination. In answering the aforementioned question as a stimulus to conversation and discussion on this topic we have to remind ourselves that this is a question that had been tinkered about and had received rigorous and provoking thoughts in the evolution of mankind. Religious bigotry is a global flux and spike leading to social, ethnic, racist, political and religious wars of which the insecurity in the religious institution and among nation-states are effects. Global insight into what we have called Adamic crisis or flux must begin with appreciation of the historicist and phenomenological trajectory of its essence as well as the ontology and theodicy of its origin. In this essay religious liberty as far as insecurity, injustice and instability in the religious institution and in the state are concerned, is a prime liberty among civil liberties, and as far as religion has become interlaced with social and political generation and development, religious liberty must not be compromised.

 Key words: Existential phenomenology, religious liberty, security, religion, politics.


Atrial septal defect (ASd) is one of the most common types of congenital heart disease and is associated with a significant increase in the morbidity and mortality of affected individuals. Accumulating evidence indicates that genetic defects play important roles in the pathogenesis of congenital ASd. However, ASd is genetically heterogeneous and the genetic determinants for ASd in the majority of the patients remain to be identified. In this study, the entire coding region of GATA4, a gene encoding a zinc-finger transcription factor crucial to embryogenesis, was initially sequenced in 120 unrelated patients with ASD. The available relatives of patients carrying the identified mutation and 200 ethnicity-matched unrelated control individuals were genotyped. The functional characteristics of the GATA4 mutant were compared to its wild-type counterpart using a luciferase reporter assay system. A novel heterozygous missense GATA4 mutation, p.G21V, was identified in 2 unrelated families with ASd, which was not detected in the control population nor reported in the human gene mutation database. Alignment of multiple GATA4 proteins displayed that the affected amino acid residue was highly conserved across species. Functional analysis showed that the p.G21V GATA4 mutation was associated with a decreased transcriptional activity. The findings underscore the pathogenic link between compromised GATA4 function and congenital ASd, providing new insight into the molecular mechanism involved in this common form of congenital cardiovascular anomalies.


Emotional content is known to enhance memory in a content-dependent manner in healthy populations. In middle-aged and older adults, a reduced preference for negative material, or even an enhanced preference for positive material has been observed. This preference seems to be modulated by the emotional arousal that the material evokes. The neuroanatomical basis for emotional memory processes is, however, not well understood in middle-aged and older healthy people. Previous research on local gray matter correlates of emotional memory in older populations has mainly been conducted with patients suffering from various neurodegenerative diseases. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine regional gray matter correlates of immediate free recall and recognition memory of intentionally encoded positive, negative, and emotionally neutral words using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) in a sample of 50-to-79-year-old cognitively intact normal adults. The behavioral analyses yielded a positivity bias in recognition memory, but not in immediate free recall. No associations with memory performance emerged from the region-of-interest (ROI) analyses using amygdalar and hippocampal volumes. Controlling for total intracranial volume, age, and gender, the whole-brain VBM analyses showed statistically significant associations between immediate free recall of negative words and volumes in various frontal regions, between immediate free recall of positive words and cerebellar volume, and between recognition memory of positive words and primary visual cortex volume. The findings indicate that the neural areas subserving memory for emotion-laden information encompass posterior brain areas, including the cerebellum, and that memory for emotion-laden information may be driven by cognitive control functions.


Microplastics have attracted considerable attention because of concerns regarding their environmental risks to living systems. The interaction between the lipid bilayer and microplastics is important for examining the potential harm to biological membranes in the presence of microplastics. In addition, membrane coatings may change the surface and colloidal properties of microplastics. Herein, phosphatidylcholine (PC) lipids, whose headgroup is most common in cell membranes, were used as model lipids. The adsorption and rupture of PC liposomes on microplastics were systematically studied. We found that divalent metal ions, such as Mg2+ and Ca2+, facilitate liposome adsorption onto microplastics and induce 40-55% liposome leakage at 2.5 mM. In contrast, to achieve a similar effect, 300 mM Na+ was required. Adsorption and rupture followed the same metal concentration requirements, suggesting that liposome adsorption was the rate-limiting step. After adsorption with liposomes, microplastics became more hydrophilic and were better dispersed in water. A similar behavior was observed for all five types of tested microplastics, including PP, PE, PVC, PET, and PS. Leakage also occurred in ocean water. This study provides fundamental insights into the interactions between liposomes and microplastics and has implications for the colloidal and transport properties of microplastics.


Introduction: To assess the prevalence of possible dementia among nursing home residents in the Faroe Islands. Method: This cross-sectional study, undertaken in 2017, included all nursing homes in the Faroe Islands (n = 30), housing 591 residents. All residents were invited to participate, except those with an existing clinical diagnosis of dementia or living in dementia units (n = 207). A total of 232 residents participated, while 39 declined and 113 were unable to give consent, had died, or were not permanent residents at the time of examination. Cognitive screening was carried out using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline (IQCODE). Results: Possible dementia was found in 49% to 78% of the participants depending on the method used. According to both MMSE and IQCODE (AND rule), possible dementia was present in 105 participants (49%). According only to IQCODE, 119 participants (55%) scored above the cut-off (≥3.6), according to MMSE alone, 162 participants (72%) scored below the cut-off (≤24 on MMSE), while 175 participants (78%) screened positive according to either MMSE or IQCODE (OR rule). A rough estimate of the prevalence of possible dementia in the entire nursing home population (n = 591) including residents with known dementia and those with possible dementia from this study was between 61% and 73%. Conclusion:A high percentage (49–78%) of the participating nursing home residents without a pre-dementia diagnosis were assessed to have possible dementia based on screening with standardized tools, indicating a high degree of dementia underdiagnoses in Faroese nursing homes. This high prevalence of dementia is of significance for the clinical practice, running, and planning of nursing homes and pinpoints a need to act upon this, not only in the Faroes but also worldwide.


Background: The world's older population is increasing at an alarming rate. This comes up with several health problems and the preparedness of health facilities in handling the elderly is under investigated in Kibera urban informal settlement, Kenya. Aim: This study examined perceptions of the elderly on quality of care and fundamental factors to utilization of health services. Subjects and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study targeting the elderly, to identify factors influencing access to healthcare. Mixed Methods entailing qualitative and quantitative parameters and a multistage sampling approach were used. Quantitative data was analyzed using statistical package for social since. Manifest content analysis was used for qualitative data. Results: Access to healthcare is low 40.4% (161/399). Access was high among very satisfied {unadjusted OR 0.012, 95% CI (0.001-0.157), and satisfied {unadjusted OR 0.012, 95% CI (0.001- 0.157) respondents. Facility (χ2=19.763, df=3 p<0.001), health worker preference (χ2=6.819, df=2 p=0.033) and family support (χ2=21.539, df=4 p<0.001) influenced access. Respondents who preferred treatment by any health worker and those for same sex were less likely {unadjusted OR 2.701, 95% CI (1.022-7.136), p values =0.045 and OR 5.322, 95% CI (1.613-17.555), P value= 0.006} to be associated with access. Access increased with satisfaction of service received. Those very satisfied {unadjusted OR 0.008, 95% CI (0.001-0.091), p value<0.001 and satisfied (OR 0.005, 95% CI (0.001-0.026), P value<0.001) were highly associated with access. Conclusion: Access to healthcare among the elderly in informal settlement is low. Availability and acceptability are major challenges. This calls for perception change among policy and health workers to elderly clients and qualitative research to ascertain the under lying reasons for low acceptability.


The aim of this study was to develop new nitration systems using zeolite catalysts for the nitration of a highly activated compound, phenol, and for highly deactivated aromatics. It was hoped that such systems would produce high yields of the nitro products and in high pora-selectivity. Chapter One Chapter one describes the important role of Green Chemistry in the chemical industry. For example, modern synthetic methods should ideally be safe, be atom efficient, generate minimal waste, not involve solvent, have minimal energy requirement, be based on renewable resources, and be environmentally benign. Advances have been made by the use of solid catalysts such as zeolites and employing green solvents such as water, supercritical carbon dioxide and ionic liquids. Chapter Two Chapter Two describes a literature survey for the use of zeolite catalysts in nitration reactions of various aromatic compounds. Zeolite catalysts offer approaches to para-nitro aromatics, with the advantage of easy separation of the catalyst from the reaction mixture by filtration. Zeolites can be recovered and reused several times to give almost the same yields and selectivities as those obtained when fresh zeolite is used, with the avoidance of toxic waste generated by traditional Lewis acids. Chapter Three Chapter Three describes the nitration of phenol over several types of zeolites using wo-propyl nitrate as the nitrating reagent. Zeolite Hp with a Si/Al ratio of 12.5 was the most active of the catalysts tried and also gave the highest proportion of para-nitrophenol, but the paralortho ratio was still only around 1:1. Mono nitrophenols are formed in high yields when reactions are carried out over two days in refluxing dichloroethane as a solvent. A somewhat higher yield of mononitration products and a slightly better paralortho ratio could be achieved with a larger quantity of HZSM-5 under otherwise similar conditions. The reactions also produced small quantities of z'so-propoxybenzene as the main by-product. Chapter Four Chapter Four describes the nitration of deactivated aromatics using a nitric acid/acid anhydride/zeolite system. Various types of zeolites were used including proton-exchanged and passivated Hp. For example, nitration of benzonitrile over Hp produces a quantitative yield of nitrobenzonitriles comprising only 3- and 4-nitrobenzonitriles, with no 2-nitrobenzonitrile produced in most cases under the conditions tried. Trifluoroacetic and chloroacetic anhydrides were found to be the most active of the anhydrides tried. Also, zeolite Hp with a Si/Al ratio of 12.5 was the most active of the catalysts tried and also gave high pora-selectivity. The highest yield of 4-nitrobenzonitrile (33%), with a paralmeta ratio of ca. 0.50, was obtained using passivated Hp. Furthermore, heating easily regenerates the zeolite, which can be reused up to six times to give results similar to those obtained with a fresh sample of the catalyst. The process was found to be general for the nitration of monosubstituted deactivated aromatic compounds and gave significantly increased proportions of para-substituted isomers compared with the results obtained from the traditional mixed acid method.


With the appearance of small cells and the move of mobile networks towards an all-IP 4G network, the convergence of these with Wi-Fi becomes a possibility which at the same time opens the path to achieve what will become 5G connectivity. This thesis describes the evolution of the different mainstream wireless technologies deployed around the world and how they can interact, and provides tools to use this convergence to achieve the foreseen requirements expected in a 5G environment and the ideal user experience. Several topics were identified as needing attention: handover between heterogeneous networks, security of large numbers of small cells connected via a variety of backhaul technologies to the core networks, edge content distribution to improve latency, improvement of the service provided in challenging radio environments and interference between licensed and unlicensed spectrum. Within these topics a contribution was made to improve the current status by analysing the unaddressed issues and coming up with potential improvements that were tested in trials or lab environment. The main contributions from the study have been: 1. A patent in the wireless security domain that reuses the fact that overlapping coverage is and will be available and protects against man in the middle attacks (Section 5.3). 2. A patent in the content distribution domain that manages to reduce the cost to deliver content within a mobile network by looking for the shortest path to the requested content (Section 6.3). 3. Improvements and interoperability test of 802.21 standard which improves the seamlessness of handovers (Section 4.2). 4. 2 infill trials which focus on how to improve the user experience in those challenging conditions (Sections 7.2 and 7.3). 5. An interference study with Wi-Fi 2.4GHz for the newly allocated spectrum for 4G (Section 8.2). This thesis demonstrates some of the improvements required in current wireless networks to evolve towards 5G and achieve the coverage, service, user experience, latency and security requirements expected from the next generation mobile technology.


All decision models use some form of language to describe domain elements and their interactions. The terminology is often specific and even unique to the algorithm and is a choice of designers. Nevertheless the domain elements and concepts of any decision problem are almost never unique and are used and reused in many other decision problems. The same is true about the information about those elements in the context of different decision problems. Put together, the information about any given element forms our knowledge about the element and if stored properly in a knowledgebase, can be used and reused as necessary without the need for duplication.In this paper we discuss creation of an ontology using UMLS vocabulary and semantic network that provides an abstract understanding of elements (or objects) in the problem domain. Based on this ontology, a knowledgebase will be constructed that provides further information about the object in relation to another object or objects as described in the semantic links.A knowledgebase structured as such will have the benefit of problem-independence. It can be expanded as needed to include other objects that are used in a different series of problems and therefore, will have a one to many mapping between knowledgebase and decision models. Updating the knowledgebase will update the decision models seamlessly and maintenance will be less of an issue across decision models and within the knowledgebase. We are using this approach in building Bayesian decision models using Bayesian networks; however, this approach is not limited to Bayesian networks and has been and can be used for other decision making purposes.


Background: Letrazole is an aromatase inhibitor, which is useful in ovulation induction. However, evidence on its efficacy over clomiphene citrate, which is the first of drug used for therapy of anovulation, is insufficient in Indian patients. Aims: To compare the efficacy of letrozole and clomiphene citrate in attaining optimal follicular growth. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in the infertility clinic of Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry, India from June 2008 to December 2009. Fifty women with ovulatory dysfunction as a cause of infertility were enrolled and randomized into two groups of 25 each. Group 1 received clomiphene citrate in incremental dose from 50 mg up to150 mg and Group 2 patient received letrozole in incremental dose from 2.5 mg to 7.5 mg, depending upon the ovulation response. In both the groups, number of follicles, diameter of large follicle, endometrial thickness, and serum estradiol and pregnancy rate were compared. The data from both groups are represented as mean and standard deviation and statistically compared using Student's t test. Results: The number of follicles (1.89 ± 0.9 vs 1.18 ± 0.393) and serum estradiol levels (437.5 ± 293.7 pg/mL vs 291.82 ± 59.86 pg/mL) were higher in Group 1, while follicular diameter (20.67 ± 0.970 mm vs. 20.76 ± 0.903 mm) and endometrial thickness (8.5 mm vs.7.4 mm) were similar in both the Groups. Conclusions: Although letrozole is used for ovulation induction in anovulatory infertility, no significant beneficial effects of letrozole compared to use of clomiphene citratewere observedin ourstudy. Hence, we concur with the use of clomiphene citrate as the first line of drug for ovulation induction in Indian population and warrant larger size studiesto further validate our results.


The electronic concept for hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of austenitic steels is developed based on the hydrogen-caused increase of the concentration of free (i.e. conduction) electrons. It is shown that, as consequence, the shear module locally decreases, which in turn leads to the decrease in the stress for activation of dislocation sources, the line tension of dislocations, the distance between the dislocations in pileups and, in consistency with the theory of hydrogen-enhanced localized plasticity (HELP), promotes the reversible hydrogen brittleness. The analysis of the electronic and elasticity approaches to HELP is carried out using the experimental data. The effect of alloying elements on the mechanical properties is studied and a concept for design of hydrogen-resistant austenitic steels is proposed.


One of the most commonly utilised methods of diagnosing surface wave plasmas in recent years has involved the measurement of the electric fields surrounding the plasma column. However, such work has almost exclusively been confined to plasmas with generating frequencies typically greater than 200 MHz. The research reported in this thesis represents the first systematic diagnostic investigation of low frequency surface wave plasmas. Three distinct diagnostic methods are employed which have been developed specifically to facilitate the diagnosis of low frequency surface wave plasmas. Each diagnostic technique is comprised of a two-stage process. The first stage involves the measurement of the electric fields surrounding the plasma, from which point determinations of the surface wave wave number, B, are obtained. In the second stage, an axial plasma density gradient is inferred from the B values using a theoretical surface wave model. The thesis begins with a general introduction to the characteristics of surface wave plasmas and details the principle research objectives in the present investigation. Previous work in related areas is reviewed and its relevance to the present study highlighted. The equipment employed for the experimental part of the research programme is discussed in detail. The theoretical surface wave model is then developed which serves to interpret the experimental measurements. The design of the Axial and FRD diagnostic techniques is described together with their application for diagnosing the low frequency surface wave plasmas. A new diagnostic tool; the parasitic test-wave technique; has been developed and the results from which serve to validate the data from the Axial and FRD techniques. The thesis concludes with a summary of what has gone before and suggests topics for future research.


Research on the human-nonhuman animal bond has focused primarily on its advantages to the human. The purpose of this study is to investigate behaviors of caregivers (owners) of companion animals (pets) and to examine the relationship between such behaviors and scores on a pet attachment scale. Participants were 501 largely nontraditional (older, married, employed full-time) college students living with a pet dog or cat. The study categorized owner behaviors as essential, standard, enriched, or luxury care. Almost all participants reported engaging in essential care behaviors, with numbers declining from category to category. Pet attachment scores appeared related to standard and enriched care behaviors but not to essential care. Too few participants reported doing luxury care behaviors to link them to attachment. The results suggest that even pet owners reporting low attachment provide beneficial care and attention to their pets and that pet attachment may be of limited use when looking at the benefit of the human–animal bond to the companion animal.


Shapley values are one of the main tools used to explain predictions of tree ensemble models. The main alternative to Shapley values are Banzhaf values that have not been understood equally well. In this paper we make a step towards filling this gap, providing both experimental and theoretical comparison of these model explanation methods. Surprisingly, we show that Banzhaf values offer several advantages over Shapley values while providing essentially the same explanations. We verify that Banzhaf values: (1) have a more intuitive interpretation, (2) allow for more efficient algorithms, and (3) are much more numerically robust. We provide an experimental evaluation of these theses. In particular, we show that on real world instances. Additionally, from a theoretical perspective we provide new and improved algorithm computing the same Shapley value based explanations as the algorithm of Lundberg et al. [Nat. Mach. Intell. 2020]. Our algorithm runs in $O(TLD+n)$ time, whereas the previous algorithm had $O(TLD^2+n)$ running time bound. Here, $T$ is the number of trees, $L$ is the maximum number of leaves in a tree, and $D$ denotes the maximum depth of a tree in the ensemble. Using the computational techniques developed for Shapley values we deliver an optimal $O(TL+n)$ time algorithm for computing Banzhaf values based explanations. In our experiments these algorithms give running times smaller even by an order of magnitude.


In this thesis I aim to investigate the Swedish preschool teacher interested in change and her work, here conceptualised as gender pedagogy. I will take my departure in sexual difference theory to contrast some of the assumptions behind preschool work, gender pedagogy and gender equality. I am also reflecting upon the concepts of normalisation, freedom and change and their relevance for preschool work. To help me with this endeavour I have interviewed five preschool teachers about their work and their interest for change. The thesis is divided into three chapters mirroring the themes of the interviews. In the first chapter I reflect upon normalisation as a process inherent to preschool work, both historically and in the present, connected to notions of class, cognitive ability and sexual difference. Through the statements of my informants and theoretical discussion the concept of normalisation is nuanced and understood as a process inherent to the whole of society as well as the preschool but also as a practice that might not be possible to abolish in its entirety. In the second chapter I move my focus towards gender pedagogy. An outline of different strands of, and discussions on, gender pedagogy is given as well as a critical discussion on the aim to go beyond gender in gender pedagogy and feminist theory. As an alternative and additional approach I suggest sexual difference theory as a possible source of inspiration for gender pedagogy. In the second part of this chapter the preschool teachers express their views on, and their work with gender pedagogy. This allows for a more entangled and process oriented understanding of gender pedagogy and its different strands. I conclude this chapter by stating that gender pedagogy could be understood in terms of normalisation and even as reinforcing the masculine norm, however the process oriented understanding of change as highlighted by my informants, as well as the use of multiple strategies, theories and methods, might allow for a practice where difference instead of likeness serves as a condition for the gender pedagogical work. In the last chapter I turn to the preschool teacher as such and her history entangled with notions of femininity, motherhood and gender equality. Employing the strategy of "working through" as described by Braidotti I lay bare how the position of the preschool teacher and her work has been represented as stereotyped woman's work and thus connected to less worth, but simultaneously how the actual work of the preschool teachers strongly denounce this view of woman's work, as well as motherhood and femininity. I also show how the work of preschool teachers put into question such prominent binary pairs as mind/body, emotion/intellect, practice/theory and adult/child. I conclude that the misrepresentation of woman's work also has material consequences in terms of working conditions for preschool teachers. To conclude the whole thesis I emphasise how the view of the female preschool teacher and the view of the child cannot be radically separated and therefore the importance of considering both adults and children in the gender pedagogy work. I also conclude that what gender equality or gender pedagogy is, is not settled ones and for all, but rather the importance to fill these concepts with a positive view of difference.


The use of technology to support learning is well recognised. One generation ago a major strand of human–computer interaction research focussed on the development of forms of instruction in how to interact with computers. Today, however, the advanced usability of modern technologies has all but removed the presence of many user manuals. Learners, educators and developers now need to know not how to use the technology per se: the adoption of user-centred design has solved much of this. Rather, they must understand the nature of learner behaviour across contexts: insight is required into 'how to learn' using mobile technology and 'how to manage and structure' learning behaviour across changing contexts whilst mobile. To this end, we advocate a reinvention of effective user instruction at the metacognitive level, and use a classic framework developed in the early 1980s to structure our conceptualisation of the onward research and development effort that is required for 21st century user instruction and support.


We present a psychophysiological study of facial expressions of happiness (FEH) produced by advertisements using the FaceReader system (Noldus, 2013) for automatic analysis of facial expressions of basic emotions (FEBE; Ekman, 1972). FaceReader scores were associated with self-reports of the advertisement's effectiveness. Building on work describing the role of emotions in marketing research, we examined the relationship between the patterns of the FEBE and the perceived amusement of the advertisements, attitude toward the advertisement (AAD) and attitude toward the brand (AB). Differences were observed between FEH scores in response to high-, medium-, and low-amusing video advertisements (AVAs). Positive correlations were found between FEH and AAD and FEH and AB in high- and medium- but not in low-AVAs. As hypothesized, other basic emotions (sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust) did not predict advertisement amusement or advertisements' effectiveness. FaceReader enabled a detailed analysis of more than 120,000 frames of video-recordings contributing to an identification of global patterns of facial reactions to amusing persuasive stimuli. For amusing commercials, context-specific FEH features were found to be the major indicators of advertisement effectiveness. The study used video-recordings of participants in their natural environments obtained through a crowd-sourcing platform. The naturalistic design of the study strengthened its ecological validity and demonstrated the robustness of the software algorithms even under austere conditions. Our findings provide first evidence for the applicability of FaceReader methodology in the basic consumer science research.


More than a decade after the publication of his acclaimed The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World , Avi Shlaim returns to Ze'ev Jabotinsky's theory as a framework for understanding Israel's Arab policies, this time focusing on the post-1967 period. The author revisits the theory's formulation by the leader of Revisionist Zionism in 1923 and its near total convergence with the (unacknowledged) strategy followed by Labor Zionism. Examining each Israeli government since 1967, he shows that all zealously followed stage one of Jabotinsky's strategy (constructing an "iron wall" of unassailable military strength) but that the lesser known stage two (serious negotiations with the Palestinians after being compelled by stage one to abandon all hope of prevailing over Zionism) has been completely ignored except by Yitzhak Rabin. Indeed, the recent periods have witnessed a full-blown return to the iron wall at its starkest, with increasing resort to violence and unilateralism.


Background: The fruit peels' of Solanum melongena L. which is a common vegetable in Egypt, were investigated for biologically active metabolites in an approach to find any medicinal benefits from such waste products.Methods: The Methanol Extract of the Peels (MEP) was subjected to fractionation and purification for the isolation of its major constituents. Identification of the compounds was carried out on the basis of physico-chemical properties and spectral analysis (1H NMR, 13C NMR, COSY and HMBC). The MEP together with the isolated compounds were tested against five human cancer cell lines representing the most common types of cancer in Egypt: colon cancer cell line (HCT116), larynx cancer cell line (HEP2), breast cancer cell line (MCF7), cervix cancer cell line (HELA) and liver cancer cell line (HEPG2). MEP was tested in vivo against the CCl4- induced hepatocelular carcinoma (HCC) in rats at two dose levels (100 and 200 mg/kg.b.wt).Results: Five steroidal compounds; three steroidal alkaloids: solasodine (S1), solamargine (S4) and solasonine (S5) together with two steroidal glycosides: β-sitosterol-3-O- β-D-glucoside (S2) and poriferasterol-3-O- β-D-glucoside (S3) were isolated. The MEP and the five isolated compounds exhibited moderate to potent activities against the tested human cancer cell lines however their pronounced activity was revealed against HEPG2, accordingly, MEP was tested in vivo against the CCl4- induced Hepatocelular Carcinoma (HCC) in rats. The MEP showed a dose dependent anticancer activity through stabilization of the hepato-cells revealed by reduction in α-fitorotein (AFP) (which could considered as tumor marker), it also restored the levels of AST, ALT and albumin in a dose dependent manner. Histopathology of liver tissues treated with MEP strongly supported our results.Conclusion: Our findings supported the reuse of such waste products as a new remedy for treating cancer.


Medical ethicists have recently addressed the use of storytelling in medical practice. This essay examines the medical and detective fiction of Arthur Conan Doyle, a doctor turned writer, to demonstrate the value of a narrative approach to engagements between doctor and patient. Current discussions of medical ethics that focus on the communication between doctor and patient attend to the use of narratives in medical practice. Kathryn Montgomery Hunter advocates a literary critical model for doctor-patient interaction, arguing that attention to narrative power dynamics will allow for more collaborative, less hierarchical interchanges between doctor and patient. "The recognition of the patient's life story as distinct from the case history and a renewed and careful attention to its nuanced meaning are part of the therapeutic interaction" (171). But Howard Brody, who has championed the increased use of illness-and-life narratives between doctors and patients, as well as what he calls "narrative reasoning" (Healer's 247-52) in medical ethics, admits that patient narratives pose problems for doctors. "Overworked and harried physicians display little tolerance for any information from patients that is not already formulated as [...] the standard 'medical history?'" It is no easy task "to s it in an office all day while one patient after another comes in to tell him his or her life story in full, frank, and intimate detall"(Stories 3). The difficulty of appreciating a series of short, similar stories, bracketed by time constraints and duelling generic expectations surfaces in nearly all practical and theoretical texts about doctor-patient relationships. The question of how short, repetitive stories relate to one another through lapses of time is also of central concern to literary theorists of the short story and of serial fiction. Critics such as Jennifer Hayward discuss how the diversity and complexity of serial fiction tends to disrupt narrative hierarchies among author, reader, and character, allowing for a more diffuse array of power within an "interactive, responsive text" (15)--in short, the same sort of jumbling of traditional power dynamics advocated by Hunter and Brody. As the goal of doctor-patient storytelling is greater interaction, what Thomas Gordon and W. Sterling Edwards call "a collaborative approach," in which the patient is "an active participant in the diagnosis" (31), the narrative dynamics of the serial short story should offer useful insights, particularly if the writer is himself or herself concerned with medical issues. Arthur Conan Doyle's work seems perfectly suited to such an investigation. Not only was he a doctor when he began writing, but he also developed a new serial short story form in the Sherlock Holmes stories in which a single main character reappears in discrete narratives. Doyle gave up medicine for writing, and the connections between medical and literary forms are emotionally charged for him. His anxieties about narrative power and healing emerge vividly in his short stories about the medical life. Doyle portrays the ability of a doctor to engage in a sort of interactive story-making with his patient as the ideal form of medical narrative, but he also investigates how the constraints and anxieties of medical life push toward more controlled and combative narrative forms. I begin this essay with a discussion of how Doyle, in portrayals of his medical mentors, focusses on the importance of narrative control in the medical encounter. Next, I demonstrate how Doyle's anxieties about his first profession appear in several of his medical short stories in which doctors find themselves in danger of losing this control, though Doyle as writer manages to maintain it through literary technique. Finally, I examine how Doyle's development of the serial short story is consistent with his portrayal of spontaneous, interactive story-telling between doctor and patient and offers a model for the kind of collaborative diagnostics called for by Brody and Hunter. …


Abstract: In the assessment of central airway obstruction and disease, no imaging technique is an adequate substitute for bronchoscopy. The indications for rigid bronchoscopy include multiple malignant and benign disorders, with most interventions performed for treatment of complications of lung cancer. The rigid bronchoscope is a useful tool for managing most types of airway stenoses, and it facilitates other endobronchial therapies, including stent placement, argon plasma coagulation, balloon dilatation, electrocautery probes, and laser therapy. Certain patients with benign lesions or postintubation or post-tracheostomy stenosis may benefit from rigid bronchoscopic techniques instead of surgery. Although use of the rigid bronchoscope requires general anesthesia, it provides a stable airway and often results in fast removal of foreign bodies. (J Respir Dis. 2006;27(3):100-113)


CONTEXT
Ovarian hormones modulate insulin sensitivity, but their exact role remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE
We tried to determine whether different doses of 17-beta-estradiol cause changes in the regulation of insulin receptor substrate (IRS-1) levels, and if so, the possible implications in insulin sensitivity.

DESIGN
Ovariectomized rats were treated with different doses of 17-beta-estradiol at 6, 11 and 16 days.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting for IRS-1 were performed in different tissues.

RESULTS
We found that estradiol treatment has an influence on the amount of IRS-1 but that it acts in different ways depending on the tissue studied, on the length of treatment, and on the doses employed.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that low concentrations of 17-beta-estradiol could be responsible for the upregulation of insulin receptor substrate 1, increasing insulin sensitivity in muscle and adipose tissue. However, insulin receptor substrate 1 is downregulated with high concentrations of 17-beta-estradiol, thus these high hormone plasma levels could favour insulin resistance in peripheral tissues. The role of 17-beta-estradiol seems to modulate insulin receptor substrate 1 levels in insulin dependent tissues, but in a different manner in each tissue. These novel findings are important for improving knowledge about the possible risk for insulin resistance in women taking oral contraceptives or receiving hormone replacement therapy at menopause.


Although firesetting can have severe negative consequences and knowledge on this offence and its offenders can contribute to much needed prevention, the firesetting phenomenon has received little attention in research. This study aims to contribute to the current body of knowledge by answering the central research question: How can Dutch firesetters be identified and individualized, and how can treatment be tailored to these persons? The first part places firesetting within a historical, contemporary and theoretical context. An extensive review of historical medico-legal literature regarding pyromania and firesetting from 1800 to 1950 shows that the views on firesetting as a culpable crime or an excusable expression of pathology changed over time, resembling a pendulum movement. In the first half of the nineteenth century firesetting was considered a pathological act caused by pyromania, whilst in the second half of that century punishment of firesetters was favoured over treatment; and in the first half of the twentieth century underlying pathology influencing firesetters was again emphasized. A more contemporary analysis of pre-trial forensic mental health assessed Dutch firesetters from 1950-2010 shows that having a mental disorder has become less important and the risk of being a danger to society more important in the forensic mental health advice given to the judiciary over time, indicative of a current societal movement emphasizing risk management more than treatment of mentally disordered firesetters. A theoretical background is provided for by the development of a multidisciplinary explanatory model of firesetting incorporating criminological, psychological and pathological perspectives to give insight in the question why a person sets fire. The second part comprises literature reviews on characteristics of firesetters, categorizations of firesetters and treatment of these offenders proving an up-to-date overview of the current body of knowledge. Results show that firesetters are a heterogeneous offender group that must be differentiated. In addition, although evidence based treatment is scarce, some promising interventions exist. These literature reviews constitute the starting point for the empirical study that is described in Part III. This empirical part is based on various populations of Dutch firesetters who underwent pre-trial forensic mental health evaluation and/or were convicted for firesetting. First, these populations are described and differences explained. Then, populations of firesetters are subdivided resulting in the following six subgroups: vandals, disordered firesetters (of which psychotic firesetters are a distinct component), disturbed-relationship firesetters, opportunists, desiring firesetters and multi-problem firesetters. Following, subgroups based on the population of convicted firesetters are compared based on characteristics that can aid identification of offenders by the police resulting in guidelines for both criminal investigation and interrogation. And finally,a new model of…