Granular activated carbon (GAC) can be used to quench residual hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) after ultraviolet (UV)-H2O2 advanced oxidation processes in drinking water treatment. Bench- and pilot-scale studies examined the possible loss of GAC reactivity due to continuous exposure to natural water from a water treatment plant in both the presence and absence of H2O2. Six common types of GAC were evaluated. The bench- and pilot-scale tests consistently showed that all GACs lost a significant degree of reactivity with H2O2 during the first 25,000 bed volumes of water treated, but then further deterioration to beyond 100,000 bed volumes was minimal. The loss of reactivity was due mostly to exposure to the natural water, with continuous exposure to H2O2 having little impact, suggesting that the reaction with H2O2 may be catalytic whereas the GAC becomes fouled by natural organic matter or other constituents in the natural water. The six GACs exhibited different reaction rates with H2O2, suggesting that GAC type might be an important consideration for process design.


The mixing of fuel and air in combustion systems plays a key role in overall operability and emissions performance. Such systems are also being looked to for operation on a wide array of potential fuel types, including those derived from renewable sources such as biomass or agricultural waste. The optimization of premixers for such systems is greatly enhanced if efficient design tools can be utilized. The increased capability of computational systems has allowed tools such as computational fluid dynamics to be regularly used for such purpose. However, to be applied with confidence, validation is required. In the present work, a systematic evaluation of fuel mixing in a specific geometry which entails cross flow fuel injection into axial non-swirling air streams has been carried out for methane and hydrogen. Fuel concentration is measured at different planes downstream of the point of injection. In parallel, different CFD approaches are used to predict the concentration fields resulting from the mixing of fuel and air. Different steady turbulence models including variants of Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) have been applied. In addition, unsteady RANS and Large Eddy Simulation (LES) are used. To accomplish mass transport with any of the RANS approaches, the concept of the turbulent Schmidt number is generally used. As a result, the sensitivity of the RANS simulations to different turbulent Schmidt number values is also examined. In general, the results show that the Reynolds Stress Model, with use of an appropriate turbulent Schmidt number for the fuel used, provides the best agreement with the measured values of the variation in fuel distribution over a given plane in a relatively time efficient manner. It is also found that, for a fixed momentum flux ratio, both hydrogen and methane penetrate and disperse in a similar manner for the flowfield studied despite their significant differences in density and diffusivity.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The quasi-stable state model of one-dimension frost forming process is introduced and solved using numerical methods. The effect of the velocity and relative humidity of wet air and the temperature of the cold surface on frost forming process is discussed in length. The calculation results indicate that interfacial and inner sublimation jointly contribute to frost forming process. Higher velocity, higher relative humidity and lower the cold surface temperature correspond faster frosting. There is a critical point on the increment of frost density, after which deeper frosting dose not necessarily lead to acceleration of heat transfer deterioration therein.


A growing body of work has been devoted to studying the smartphone addiction in youths and its impact on their lives, but less is known about the predictors and effects of youth habitual use of smartphones. Guided by social cognitive theory, this study investigates how habitual smartphone use affects sleep quality and everyday memory based on a nationally representative sample of Chinese students (N = 2298). It uses a cluster-randomized sampling with stratification of different areas, consisting of both urban and rural students aged 6–18 years from elementary, middle, and high schools across China. It found that Chinese students exhibited a habitual smartphone use, who were generally confident in using mobile devices, but few had smartphone addiction. Significant gender and age differences were identified concerning the habitual use of smartphone. Specifically, boys demonstrated higher levels of habitual use and smartphone self-efficacy than the girls. High school students showed the highest level of habitual smartphone use compared to those in elementary and middle schools. Smartphone use duration, frequency, and self-efficacy predicted the habitual use, which also led to poorer sleep quality and worse memory outcomes. Prebedtime exposure moderated the relationship between habitual smartphone uses and sleep quality. The results show that students' habitual smartphone use had a significant impact on their health, cognition and more, even when they exhibited little smartphone addiction. The findings contribute to a better understanding of smartphone impact on school-age youths.


Abstract. Wildlife research often requires marking and tagging animals to collect data on survival, reproduction, movement, behaviour and physiology. Identification of individual marine mammals can be carried out using tags, brands, paint, dye, photogrammetry, telemetry and other techniques. An analysis of peer-reviewed articles published from January 1980 to April 2011 addressing the effects of marking revealed a preponderance of studies focussed on short-term effects such as injuries and behavioural changes. Some marking techniques were reported to cause pain and to change swimming and haul-out behaviour, maternal attendance, and duration of foraging trips. However, marking has typically not been found to affect survival. No published research has addressed other possible long-term effects of marking related to injuries or pain responses. Studies of the more immediate effects of marking (mostly related to externally attached devices such as radio-transmitters) have shown a variety of different types and magnitudes of responses. It is important to note that studies failing to find treament differences are less likely to be published, meaning that the present and any other reviews based on published literature may be a biased sample of all research conducted on the topic. Publishing results that found no or low impacts (i.e. best practices) as well as those that found significant impacts on animals should both be encouraged. Future research under more controlled conditions is required to document acute effects of marking, including injury and pain, and to better understand longer-term effects on health, reproduction and survival. We recommend that studies using marked animals standardise their reports, with added detail on methodology, monitoring and sampling design, and address practices used to minimise the impact of marking on marine mammals.


Bowen's disease is an intraepidermal squamous cell carcinoma usually consisting of a solitary lesion. However, multiple Bowen's lesions are one of the characteristics of arsenicalism in endemic areas where people drink deep well water containing high concentrations of arsenic along the southwest coast of Taiwan. This work seeks to clarify the differences between multiple Bowen's disease in the blackfoot disease endemic area, and solitary Bowen's disease in a non-endemic area by means of Ks 8.12 monoclonal cytokeratin antibody staining. Ks 8.12 may be regarded as a specific antibody for Keratin 16 in the skin and is used as a marker for hyperproliferation. Our results show that Ks 8.12 staining of normal skin in patients with a solitary Bowen's lesion is patchy and always restricted to the basal cell layer. By contrast, the normal skin of patients with multiple Bowen's lesions shows diffuse Ks 8.12 staining of the basal cell layer and various degrees of staining of the suprabasal layers. Similar results were observed in both solitary and multiple Bowen's lesions showing diffuse Ks 8.12 staining of the epidermis. Our results revealed clear differences in keratin expression between the clinically normal skin of patients with solitary Bowen's disease and that of patients with chronic arsenicalism. Finally the clinically normal skin of patients with multipole Bowen's disease showed characteristic changes in the expression of Keratin 16 in the suprabasal layers.


An experiment was conducted to study the ability of the pig to recover from the effects of a period on a food deficient in crude protein (CP). Forty young pigs were given free and continuous access to foods with either 150 (L) or 252 (M) g CP per kg in period 1 of the experiment, from 6·3 kg to 13·4 and 12·3 kg live weight respectively. These live weights were expected to give equal lipid-free empty body weights. In period 2, four males and four females from each of the period 1 treatments were given access to either M or a food with 377 g CP per kg (H) to a live weight of 30 kg, when the 32 pigs were killed. Pigs on L took 11 (s.e. 0·6) days longer to complete period 1, and had, at the end of this period, 0·20 (s.e. 0·03) kg less protein and 1·20 (s.e. 0·06) kg more lipid in their bodies than the M pigs, at a common ash weight. In period 2, pigs from L grew at a faster rate (750 v. 633 (s.e.d. 20) g/day), ate food at the same rate (1115 v. 1085 (s.e.d. 35) g/day) and converted food more efficiently (0·676 v. 0·585 (s.e.d. 0·016) g gain per g food) than those from M. At 30·3 kg live weight the pigs from L had corrected their protein deficit relative to ash and reduced their fatness, so that they had the same protein: ash ratio and only 0·47 (s.e. 0·12) kg more lipid in their bodies than those from M. This was the result of a higher rate of gain of protein and water, a lower rate of lipid gain and similar rate of ash gain by the pigs from L than those from M. In the first 7 days of period 2 the pigs from L gained weight at 1·4 times the rate of those from M. In the final 7 days there was no significant effect of period 1 treatment on growth rate. The pigs from L given food H in period 2 were more efficient than those given M in period 2 (food conversion efficiency (FCE) values of 0·884 and 0·791 respectively; s.e.d. 0·027), but this difference was reversed in the final 7 days (FCE values of 0·521 and 0·603 respectively). t I is concluded from these results that a period of eating a food of low protein content produces a reduced protein: ash and an increased lipid: ash ratio in the body and reduced growth rate and efficiency. When subsequently pigs are given a food of sufficiently high protein content, the protein: ash and lipid: ash ratios return to normal. The repletion of labile protein reserves, with their associated water, leads to a substantial increase in the rate of live-weight gain. The lower lipid content of the gain leads to a high efficiency. The duration of these effects depends on the protein content of the food given.


Looking at Classical warfare from the perspective of the non-belligerents, Robert A. Bauslaugh brings together the scattered evidence testifying to neutral behavior among the Greek city-states and their non-Greek neighbors. Were the Argives of 480/479 B.C. really "Medizers," as many have accused, or were they pursuing a justifiable policy of neutrality as they claimed? On what basis in international law or custom did the Corcyraeans claim non-alignment? Why were the leading belligerent states willing to accept the inclusion of a "neutrality clause" in the Common Peace of 371? These questions have not been asked by historians of international law, and the answers provide a far more complex and sophisticated picture of interstate relations than has so far been available. Despite the absence of exclusively diplomatic language, the concept of respect for neutrals appears early in Greek history and remains a nearly constant feature of Classical wars. The problems confronting uncommitted states, which have clear parallels in modern history, were balanced by widespread acceptance of the need for limitations on the chaos of warfare.


Combining philological investigation and theoretical reasoning, this book offers a completely new interpretation of the economic role of the state in ancient Egypt. The first part provides background outlining the relevance of Keyne's General Theory to the ancient Egyptian economy. The central part uses ancient Egyptian texts as the foundation of an analysis of words commonly assumed to relate to taxation during the New Kingdom (c. 1540-1070 B.C.E.). The conclusions summarize the philological results and explore the role of the temples in the ancient Egyptian state during the new Kingdom. The result places ancient Egyptian taxation and state economic activity in an Egyptian economy based on an analysis of primary sources.

The book is thus directed at a broad audience including Egyptologists and all scholars interested in economic history in general and the political development of early antiquity in particular.


INTRODUCTION Experiences Developed in Different Countries to support the Professional Development of Teachers for, in, and from Practice: Introduction to the Purpose of the Book -- Nadine Bednarz (Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada), Dario Fiorentini, (UNICAMP, Brazil), Rongjin Huang, (University of Colorado Denver, USA) PART 1: EDUCATION OF PRACTICING TEACHERS IN MATHEMATICS - INTERNATIONAL HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND ISSUES Situating Mathematics Teacher Education in a Global Context -- Barbara Jaworski (Loughborough University, UK) PART 2: PROFESSIONAL LIFE OF MATHEMATICS TEACHERS AS PART OF THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT-IN-PRACTICE Professional Development of a Mathematics Teacher in the Role of a Subject Leader -- Claudia Canha Nunes (University of Lisbon, Portugal) Mentoring as Professional Development: A Case from Secondary Level Mathematics -- Ginger Rhodes (University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA), Patricia S. Wilson (University of Georgia, USA) Facilitating Mathematics Teachers' Professional Development through Ranking and Promotion Practices in the Chinese Mainland -- Yeping Li (Texas A&M University, USA), Rongjin Huang (University of Colorado Denver, USA), Jiansheng Bao (Suzhou University, China), Yadong Fan (Suzhou Secondary School, China) PART 3: CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE BY TEACHERS Secondary Teachers' Professional Development through the Exploration of School Mathematics -- Jerome Proulx (Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada) Dialogue among In-service Teachers in an Internet-based Mathematics Education Program -- Mario Sanchez (Roskilde University, Denmark) In-service Professional Development for Teachers of Pre-University Mathematics -- Bernard Murphy (Mathematics in Education and Industry, UK) PART 4: DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES SUPPORTING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN MATHEMATICAL TEACHING In-service Teacher Education: A Collaborative Experience with Non-Specialist Teachers who Teach Mathematics. -- Nielce Meneguelo da Costa (Bandeirante University of Sao Paulo, Brazil) Formative Processes: Sharing Learning Experiences in Geometry -- Adair Mendes Nacarato and Regina Celia Grando (Sao Francisco University, Brazil) Collaborative Work and Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers: Analysis of a Brazilian Experience. -- Ana Cristina Ferreira (UFOP, Brazil), Maria Angela Miorim (UNICAMP, Brazil) Assessing a Research/Professional Development Model in Patterns and Algebra. -- Ruth Beatty (University of Toronto, Canada), Cathy Bruce (Trent University, Canada) Professional Development: Moving from Telling to Listening. -- Christine Suurtamm and Nancy Vezina (University of Ottawa, Canada) Continuing Professional Education of Mathematics Teachers: Learning through Mathematics Investigation -- Carmen Lucia Brancaglion Passos and Maiza Lamonato (Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Brazil) The Role of Self-Regulated Learning in Professional Development of Mathematics Elementary Teachers -- Bracha Kramarski and Tali Revach (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) Investigating and Writing in the Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers -- Maria Teresa Menezes Freitas (UFU, Brazil), Dario Fiorentini (UNICAMP, Brazil) PART 5: REFORMS, CURRICULAR CHANGE AND CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Factors affecting the Implementation of Reforms in Secondary School Mathematics. -- Naomi Chissick (ORT, Israel) Interrelations between Teacher Development and Curricular Change: A Research Program -- Dario Fiorentini (UNICAMP, Brazil), Rosana G. S. Miskulin (University Estadual Paulista, Brazil), Regina C. Grando and Adair M. Nacarato (University of Sao Francisco, Brazil), Carmen L.B. Passos (University of Sao Carlos, Brazil), Dione L. Carvalho (UNICAMP, Brazil) Researching Effective Continuing Professional Development in Mathematics Education. -- Els de Geest (University of Oxford, UK),Marie Joubert, Rosamund Sutherland (University of Bristol, UK), Jenni Back (Kings College London, UK), Christine Hirst (Birmingham University, UK) CONCLUSION -- Nadine Bednarz (Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada), Dario Fiorentini (UNICAMP, Brazil), Rongjin Huang (University of Colorado Denver, USA)


Alkaline Lonar Lake in India having a unique ecosystem, formed by meteorite impact on basaltic rock, situated in Buldhana District of Maharashtra State, India. The hexavalent form of chromium is the most toxic and carcinogenic and produces health hazardous effect. Hence attempt was made to isolate chromium remediating microorganisms from halophilic environment such as Lonar Lake. In these studies, water and sediment samples were collected from alkaline Lonar Lake and inoculated in Nutrient broth containing K2Cr2O7 (100µg/mL). Isolate was characterised by cultural, morphological, biochemically and 16S rRNA gene sequencing identified the organism as Proteus mirabilis. The chromium remediation ability of the Proteus mirabilis was estimated by the Spectrophotometric method of Di-phenyl carbazide. Proteus mirabilis oxidized 68% of chromium after 96 hrs of incubation respectively. Results of this study showed that, the Proteus mirabilis found to be highly efficient chromium utilizer and could use for bioremediation on polluted sites.


Water surrounded Algonquian peoples of the Northeast, and they highly valued it for sustenance, medicine, travel, spirituality, and other purposes. When English settlers in Plymouth Colony and surroundings areas attempted to claim territorial rights in the seventeenth century, they also sought water sources, including freshwater springs, to support colonization projects. Native/colonial tensions escalated in mid-century, and when the indigenous uprising known as King Philip's War broke out in 1675, a place called Kickemuit Spring seemed to have been a vital locale. Situated in Wampanoag homelands, near an especially protected and fertile peninsula of vital cornlands, the spring appeared in various records as a meeting-place, a boundary-marker, and grounds of deliberate pushback against English troops by Native parties. In the conflict's devastating aftermath, both Natives and colonists transformed such springs into sites of memory, which attempted to convey their respective—and frequently divergent—understandings of historical violence. Tracking the material and symbolic evolutions of Kickemuit, as well as other environmental features linked to memory, demonstrates the sharply contested character of "placemaking" in the Northeast. It also highlights the ongoing pressures of settler colonialism in the region, where enduring Native communities continue to challenge entrenched Euro-American convictions of place-ownership.


Environmental and economic apprehensions behoove a eduction in food processing wastes and processing of food residuals to new value added products, enzyme being one of the means of obtaining the same. In this chapter we intend to exemplify the initiatives engendered by different groups to confront the issue of waste disposal and searching a more environment friendly method of handling the bio wastes. This has been elaborated by the panoramic view of the waste generated worldwide. In addition different enzymes produced using the industrial waste has been discussed. In the subsequent section, the trailing towards protease has been made. In continuation, an initiative made by different food based industries in the employment of protease in degradation of the industrial wastes has been touched on upon in the first section of the chapter. In the second section, the research on the use of various organic wastes generated by the food industries for the protease production by solid state fermentation has been discussed. This would in turn help in value addition of the organic waste generated.


In nutritional epidemiology, development of valid dietary assessment instruments specific to populations in diverse settings is of paramount importance. Such instruments are essential when trying to characterise dietary patterns and intake, investigate diet–disease associations, inform and evaluate nutrition interventions, assess nutrient–gene interactions, conduct cross-country comparison studies and monitor nutrition transitions. The FFQ is a relatively inexpensive tool for measuring long-term dietary intake for large populations and for allowing researchers to track dietary changes over time. However, FFQ must be population specific to capture the local diet and available foods. Collecting 24-h dietary recalls and utilising community feedback to build the FFQ ensures that a culturally appropriate instrument is developed. This article presents several examples describing FFQ development and utilisation in different settings globally. In the Canadian Arctic, FFQ were developed and utilised to inform and evaluate a community-based intervention programme, characterise the diet and track dietary changes occurring among Inuit and Inuvialuit, populations experiencing rising rates of chronic disease and likely to be extremely vulnerable to the potential effects of climate change. Another example is an FFQ developed to assess sodium intake and evaluate a sodium reduction trial in a high-risk population in Barbados. An example is provided from Brazil, where an FFQ was developed to assess associations between diet, heterocyclic aromatic amines and colorectal adenoma among Japanese Brazilians and to conduct cross-country comparisons. These and other case studies highlight the diversity in dietary intake between populations and the need for FFQ to be developed to capture this diversity.


PURPOSE
The combination of cisplatin and radiotherapy is a standard treatment for patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Cetuximab-radiotherapy is superior to radiotherapy alone in this population, validating epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) as a target. Erlotinib is a small-molecule inhibitor of EGFR. Adding EGFR inhibition to standard cisplatin-radiotherapy may improve efficacy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Patients with locally advanced SCCHN were randomly assigned to receive cisplatin 100 mg/m(2) on days 1, 22, and 43 combined with 70 Gy of radiotherapy (arm A) or the same chemoradiotherapy with erlotinib 150 mg per day, starting 1 week before radiotherapy and continued to its completion (arm B). The primary end point was complete response rate (CRR), evaluated by central review. The secondary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). Available tumors were tested for p16 and EGFR by fluorescent in situ hybridization.

RESULTS
Between December 2006 and October 2011, 204 patients were randomly assigned. Arms were well balanced for all patient characteristics including p16, with the exception of more women on arm A. Patients on arm B had more rash, but treatment arms did not differ regarding rates of other grade 3 or 4 toxicities. Arm A had a CRR of 40% and arm B had a CRR of 52% (P = .08) when evaluated by central review. With a median follow-up time of 26 months and 54 progression events, there was no difference in PFS (hazard ratio, 0.9; P = .71).

CONCLUSION
Erlotinib did not increase the toxicity of cisplatin and radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced HNSCC but failed to significantly increase CRR or PFS.


This paper presents an experimental study of the seam performance of PET/nylon-elastane woven fabrics. In this study, plain and twill fabrics were woven with three different weft densities. Two different sewing threads were used during the sewing of the fabrics. Therefore, 12 samples having different specifications were obtained. For these fabrics, nylon-elastane air-covered yarn was used as the weft yarn and PET air-covered yarn was used as the warp yarn. Seam strength, seam slippage strength, sewing needle penetration force and seam efficiency were determined for these fabrics for seam performance. The purpose of this study was to identify the suitable sewing conditions in order to achieve good seam performance. This study also investigated the effects of weft density, weave type and sewing thread on the seam performance.


* Co-Director, The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre, Health Information Research Unit, McMaster University, Faculty of Health Sciences, Room 3H7, 1200 Main Street West, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8N 3Z5. Phone 1-905-525-9140, ext. 22487; Fax 1-905-546-0401; Email: firstname.lastname@example.com ** Director Evidence Based Neonatal Care and Outcomes Research, Department of Paediatrics, Mount Sinai Hospital and Division of Neonatology, Department of Paediatrics, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Professor Departments of Paediatrics; Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto. Professor (part time) Department of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Director, The Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre. Kathie Clark Arne Ohlsson


Over the last decade, combating corruption has taken a place alongside human rights, labor rights, and environmental protection as one of the major issues in corporate social responsibility (CSR). Major CSR initiatives and activities now play a role in helping to try to reduce the supply-side of corruption. Due to the increased enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), it is important to consider how CSR and the enforcement of antibribery laws can support each other. This brief essay reviews how the major CSR initiatives seek to influence corporate behavior, with a focus on the major themes of disclosure, dialogue with stakeholders, and development of the firm's ethical culture. Then, as an example, the essay explores how one of the suggested reforms of the FCPA — the compliance defense — could best be implemented to ensure the reforms support and further the goals of the CSR activities related to anti-corruption.


Purpose: The study analyzes social and environmental responsibility and the implementation of corporate social responsibility in relation to social, environmental and market sustainability by referring to Law No. 40 of 2007 concerning Limited Liability Companies in relation with the management of natural resources. Approach/Methodology/Design: The approach method used in this study is an empirical juridical approach, meaning that research is carried out by examining the juridical regulations and connecting with the implementation of regional water company's social and environmental responsibilities in the community. Findings: The results showed that regional water supply companies of Kudus Regency carry out social and environmental responsibility activities which are still very limited, only carried out in the form of charity assistance. Social and environmental responsibility for consumers is still very limited, which is limited to obligations related to water quality. Practical Implications: This study is useful for policy makers, corporate management, practitioners, scholars, and environmental activists. Originality/value: The originality of this study lies in the comprehensive study of the implementation of public company regulations in the context of the social and environmental obligations of regional water companies.


Taking Mt. Namjagbarwa region as an example, this paper explores a complete remote sensing image processing method for glacial geomorphology research. Based on the selection of Landsat7 ETM+ images, the remote sensing image processing method such as band selection, overlap, fusion, mosaic and so on is carried out. The result shows: ① right selection of remote sensing images and proper process based on the characteristics of research area and research purpose, not only reduce the process difficulty, but make a firm foundation for subsequent glacial geomorphology research; ②according to the computation of correlation coefficient between fusion images and original multi-spectral images, panchromatic high resolution images, the result shows that the principle component transformation method has better effect than IHS transformation method in remote sensing image fusion process.


The law classically provides strong protection to whatever is inside a home. That protection is lost now that our photo albums, notes and other documents have become digital and are increasingly stored in the cloud. Even if their owner never intended these documents to be shared, their copies in the cloud may be accessed by law enforcement, under possibly lower conditions than apply to home searches. In this paper, we study this problem from a theoretical perspective, asking whether it is possible to establish home-equivalent legal protection of those private digital storage spaces (smartphones, private cloud storage accounts) that most closely resemble the home as a storage environment for private things. In particular, we study whether it is possible, using technological design, to clearly separate digital storage spaces that are used privately versus storage spaces used to share data with others. We sketch a theoretical architecture for such a 'digital home' that most closely resembles the physical home in terms of the space that is the most personal storage environment for private files. The architecture guarantees the data are indeed only stored for private use, and can never be shared with others unless the device used for storage itself is shared. We subsequently argue that the law should offer 'home' protection to data stored using this system, as an intermediate stepping-stone towards more comprehensive legal protection of cloud-stored data. Such protection is needed, since nowadays, not the home or the smartphone, but the smartphone/cloud ecosystem holds 'the privacies of life'.


The study engages with the ways in which gender mix plays out in public spaces as a key issue in exploring social diversity and vitality of the urban public life. The paper introduces a mapping method to unravel how gender differences are spatially manifested in urban public spaces. Thus, urban mapping has been considered as a method for producing a kind of spatial knowledge that has the capacity to shed light on how different socio-spatial patterns play out in public open spaces. The proposed mapping method documents where and the extent to which female and male users appropriate urban public spaces. The database for developing and testing the proposed method emerges from two site areas in the city of Tehran. In doing so, the study draws upon direct observation, fieldwork notes, visual recording, and urban mapping as research methods. In this way, the paper raises questions about the importance of gender mix in public space and the ways in which mapping has the capacity to inform urban research.


The present study evaluated the effect of 25(OH)vitamin D3[25(OH)vit D3] on the phosphaturic action of calcitonin in anesthetized parathyroidectomized rats. In group 1, calcitonin was given intravenously over six clearance periods. In group 2, after three periods of calcitonin given intravenously, 25(OH)vit D3 was added and given together with calcitonin for three additional periods. During calcitonin infusion, Cp/CIn 0.18 +/- 0.02 (mean +/- SE) in group 1 was not different from the corresponding Cp/CIn 0.18 +/- 0.03 in group 2; but when 25(OH)vit D3 was added, Cp/CIn 0.12 +/- 0.01 in group 2 was lower (P less than 0.001) than the corresponding Cp/CIn 0.26 +/- 0.02 in group 1. With intravenous calcitonin the urinary excretion of cycle AMP (UcAMP) 97 +/- 29 in group 1 did not differ from the corresponding UcAMP 86 +/- 27 pmol/min in group 2, but when 25(OH)vit D3 was added UcAMP 41 +/- 12 in group 2 was lower (P less than 0.001) than the corresponding UcAMP 131 +/- 14 pmol/min in group 1. This study demonstrated that 25(OH)vit D3 blocks the phosphaturic action of calcitonin. The associated fall in Uctamp suggests that25 (OV)vit D3 acts possibly by inhibiting the calcitonin-induced activation of adenylate cyclase in the kidney. However, other alternative mechanisms of action have not been excluded.


A description is given of a supervised textured image segmentation algorithm that provides improved segmentation results. An improved method for extracting textured energy features in the feature extraction stage is described. It is based on an adaptive noise smoothing concept that takes the nonstationary nature of the problem into account. Texture energy features are first estimated using a window of small size to reduce the possibility of mixing statistics along region borders. The estimated texture energy feature values are smoothed by a quadrant filtering method to reduce the variability of the estimates while retaining the region border accuracy. The estimated feature values of each pixel are used by a Bayes classifier to make an initial probabilistic labeling. The spatial constraints are enforced through the use of a probabilistic relaxation algorithm. Two probabilistic relaxation algorithms are investigated. Limiting the probability labels by probability threshold is proposed. The tradeoff between efficiency and degradation of performed is studied. >


User-defined effects and effect handlers are advertised and advocated as a relatively easy-to-understand and modular approach to delimited control. They offer the ability of suspending and resuming a computation and allow information to be transmitted both ways between the computation, which requests a certain service, and the handler, which provides this service. Yet, a key question remains, to this day, largely unanswered: how does one modularly specify and verify programs in the presence of both user-defined effect handlers and primitive effects, such as heap-allocated mutable state? We answer this question by presenting a Separation Logic with built-in support for effect handlers, both shallow and deep. The specification of a program fragment includes a protocol that describes the effects that the program may perform as well as the replies that it can expect to receive. The logic allows local reasoning via a frame rule and a bind rule. It is based on Iris and inherits all of its advanced features, including support for higher-order functions, user-defined ghost state, and invariants. We illustrate its power via several case studies, including (1) a generic formulation of control inversion, which turns a producer that ``pushes'' elements towards a consumer into a producer from which one can ``pull'' elements on demand, and (2) a simple system for cooperative concurrency, where several threads execute concurrently, can spawn new threads, and communicate via promises.


This book came about due to the author's experience with regards to a very little discussed topic in Sicily: the existence of Dolmens in the land. The archaeological proofs which the author has been able to collect show that at least one of these dolmens in particular, that of 'Cava dei Servi', was used as a burial place between the end of the third and first half of second millennium B.C. The first chapter concerns the origin of these enormous European monuments that according to the Australian archaeologist V. Gordon Childe, were built by mythical megalithic missionaries.   The perfection of the absolute dating system (C-14), has proved that the oldest megalithic tombs originated in central-north Europe around 4500 B.C.   The author therefore describes the principal characteristics of the dolmens (and the menhirs and cromlechs) of Brittany and United Kingdom and reflects on the Mediterranean dolmens (Spain, Balearic Island, Sardinia, Apulia). The chapter ends with the discovery of Sicily dolmens. Subsequently, the second chapter revolves around the discovery of Sicilian dolmens: 'Monte Bubbonia', 'Cava dei Servi', 'Cava Lazzaro' and 'Avola'. Every dolmen differs from the other, but they all are classified by the European typology. In 'Cava dei Servi' the author was able to find a few earthenware fragments dated back to the early Bronze Age and anthropological remains which confirmed the burial purpose of the artifact.   The dolmen of 'Avola', as found by the geological analysis conducted for the aims of this book is a natural construction on which the human hand interfered. In the third chapter, the author speculates on what could explain the disappearance of the great Maltese civilization which lived between 4000 B.C. and 2200 B.C., that of the people who built the megalithic temples of Tarxien. The archaeologist Themistocles Zammit attributed the disappearance of the "Culture" to an epidemic. In the late 50's, J.D.Evans ascribed that an Apulian invasion occurred: this by the analogy of the Maltese dolmens with Apulians. The discovery of Sicilian dolmens, similar to the ones mentioned above, would disprove this theory... Description: The book can also be viewed from the URL below URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/54500 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1--bhNFD6fMuwWV1_z7oMiR8o5BloIC7-/view ISBN: 978-0-9565106-2-4 Appears in Collections: Melitensia Works ERCASHArc


Discussion among learners in MOOCs has been hailed as beneficial for social constructive learning. To understand the pedagogical value of MOOC discussion forums, several researchers have utilized content analysis techniques to associate individual postings with differing levels of cognitive activity. However, this analysis typically ignores the turn taking among discussion postings, such as learners responding to others' replies to their posts, learners receiving no reply for their posts, or learners just posting without conversing with others. This information is particularly important in understanding patterns of conversations that occur in MOOCs, and learners' commenting behaviors. Therefore, in this paper we categorize comments in a FutureLearn MOOC based on their nature (post vs. reply to others' post), classify learners based on their contributions for each type of post-ing, and identify conversations based on the types of comments composing them. This categorization quantifies the dynamics of conversations in the discussion activities, allowing monitoring of on-going discussion activities in FutureLearn and further analysis of identified conversations, social learners, and course steps with an unusually high number of a particular type of comment.


Percutaneous renal biopsies were performed in 30 diabetic patients who presented with proteinuria. Tissues were studied for evidence of an immune lesion using immunofluorescence techniques. No consistent pattern of binding of FITC labelled polyvalent, monospecific IgG, IgA, IgM and labelled bovine insulin antisera in various diabetic renal lesions could be demonstrated. The binding of labelled insulin was observed even in biopsies of patients who had never received exogenous insulin therapy. It was therefore concluded that there is no evidence to support an immune pathogenesis in the morphogenesis of the diabetic renal lesions, nor do these lesions occur as a result of insulin therapy.


ABSTRACT Introduction: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) have been associated with facial affect recognition (FAR) alterations. Methods: This study examined accuracy and response times for general and specific FAR in whole face and eye-region stimuli. FAR was assessed in matched samples of children and adolescents with ASD (n = 35), ADHD (n = 32), and typical development (TD) (n = 32) aged 8.6–15.9 years (M = 11.6; SD = 2.0). Results: Compared to TD, the ASD group performed less accurate and showed longer response times for general and specific FAR, mostly driven by problems in neutral and happy face identification. The ADHD group responded faster than the ASD group for global FAR. No differences between ADHD and TD were found. Attentional distractibility had a significant effect on FAR performance in ASD and ADHD. Conclusions: Findings confirm FAR alterations in ASD, but not ADHD, and endorse effects of attentional distractibility on FAR in ASD and ADHD. FAR and attention function training is clinically meaningful in ASD. Future studies should include control for visual attention and facial configuration skills, use naturalistic FAR material and also investigate implicit FAR.


Hughes M, Caudrelier T, James N, Redwood-Brown A, Donnelly I, Kirkbride A, Duschesne C. Moneyball and soccer - an analysis of the key performance indicators of elite male soccer players by position. J. Hum. Sport Exerc. Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 402-412, 2012. In most sports, it is found that the important performance indicators (PI's) vary from coach to coach. Therefore, if sets of PI's can be identified and clear operational definitions defined, there is significant scope/benefit for consultancy and research, particularly in commercially orientated sports such as soccer. The aim of this study was to use the unique opportunity of a large number of performance analysts coming together to discuss this problem and its application to soccer, and define sets of performance indicators for each position in soccer. In the early spring of 2011, staff from 9 universities, from all over Europe, brought 51 level 3 Sports Science students to Hungary for an Intensive Programme in Performance Analysis of Sport (IPPAS). The 15 staff, all experts in PA, had a total of over 200 years of experience of PA between them. The most experienced 'experts' (N=5) acted as mentors, introducing the area, defining the aims and managing the groups. The rest (N=10) and the 51 students were distributed evenly as possible across 7 groups, in which their aim was to define the key PI's for one of the positions in soccer. The positions used were:- Goalkeepers; Full Backs; Centre Backs; Holding Midfield; Attacking Midfield; Wide Midfield and Strikers. In conclusion, 7 sets of KPI'S, were defined for each of these classifications within 5 category sets: Physiological, Tactical, Technical Defending,Technical - Attacking, and Psychological. These KPI's were different from position to position within the team, particularly for the Goal Keeper. The KPI's for the outfield players were very similar, differing only in their order of importance. This enabled a 'generic' set of skills required for outfield players in soccer. Key words: MONEYBALL, SOCCER, KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS, ELITE MALE, POSITION


Despite the fact that the association between cancer and pulmonary embolism is well recognised, screening for malignancy is not conducted routinely. However, screening for malignancy can be life-saving for some patients. We present the case of a 53-year-old woman who was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism and concomitant idiopathic venous thromboembolism (VTE) without any prominent risk factors for a hypercoagulative state. Clinical and laboratory tests were used to detect the potential causes of idiopathic VTE, such as occult cancer. Consequently, abdominal magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography revealed caecal tumour. Pathological test results indicated early-stage colonic adenocarcinoma. Right hemicolectomy was performed by general surgery and the patient was discharged from the hospital without any problems. Although there has been no consensus about screening for an occult malignancy routinely in idiopathic VTE, occult cancer should be considered in unexplained hypercoagulative states.


In order to assess the bonding of brazing alloys to diamonds, an investigation was conducted to measure the forces while shearing brazed diamonds. A device was designed to shear diamonds and shearing forces were recorded under different brazing parameters. The morphologies of diamonds were followed before and after shearing. It is found that the shearing force reduces with the increase of grit protrusion height. For specific grit protrusion, shearing forces decrease with the increase of holding time in brazing.


Cross-spectral techniques are used to analyze the relationship between gravity and bathymetry at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the East Pacific Rise crests. The resulting transfer functions were used to study the nature of the isostatic mechanism operative at these ridge crests. The most satisfactory results were obtained for models in which the oceanic lithosphere is treated as a thin elastic plate overlying a weak fluid. The best fitting elastic thickness to explain gravity and bathymetry at the fast spreading (v > 5 cm/ yr) East Pacific Rise is in the range of 2–6 km and at the relatively slow spreading (v 80 m.y.) parts of the oceanic lithosphere. This difference is consistent with the fact that ridge topography is formed near the ridge axis, where isotherms are shallower and the lithosphere is thus weaker than in older regions. The difference between the elastic thickness of the East Pacific Rise and Mid-Atlantic Ridge is significant and may represent differing temperature structures at these ridges. Simple models in which it is assumed that the elastic thickness represents the depth to the 450°C isotherm show that these variations can be explained by differences in the spreading rate at these ridges. Thus the lower effective thickness at the East Pacific Rise can be attributed to higher average temperatures at shallow depths in a region surrounding the ridge crest. This is due to the faster spreading rate which results in isotherms having a shallower dip away from the axis than at the slower spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This model cannot, however, explain gravity and bathymetry data over the Rekyjanes Ridge. The best fitting elastic thickness for this slow spreading ridge is similar to the thickness determined for the East Pacific Rise, suggesting an anomalous thermal regime at this ridge crest.


Using a photometric method, a comparative analysis based on 717 human tear samples was made between systematically collected non‐reflex, open eye tears and tears associated with prolonged eye closure (sleep), as well as for certain reflex provoking conditions (mild mechanical irritation, irritating vapours and osmotic imbalance). Although the closed eye tear glucose mean for the 8 young adults studied was found to be less that their open eye mean (5.01 versus 7.00 mg%), those 2 values were not found to be significantly different. However, statistical comparisons made between non‐reflex open eye tears and the mechanical, irritating vapour and osmotic responses were found to be different at the P < 0.05 level of significance, a higher mean concentration being found for the mechanical and osmotic conditions, and a lower mean concentration fo the vapour induced condition.


This paper presents a methodology for the automatic selection of heuristic scanning positions in unknown indoor environments. The surveying is carried out by a robotic system following a stop-and-go procedure. Starting with a random scan position in the room, the point cloud is discretized in voxels and they are submitted to a two-step classification and are labelled as occupied, occluded, empty, window, door, or exterior based on a visibility analysis. The main objective of the methodology is to obtain a complete point cloud of the indoor space and accordingly, the next best position is the scan position minimizing occluded voxels. Because the method locates doors and windows, the room can be delimited and the scan can continue for adjacent rooms. This approach has been tested in a real case study, in which three scans were developed.


Hyperspectral (HSI) and Multispectral (MSI) images consist of multiple images taken at different wavelengths (bands), often at different times. Analysis of these images require high accuracy of correlation between the different image bands. As the image bands are taken at different times, different positions, or both, this entails that the images must be processed before the images can be analysed. The process of alignment between two images is referred to as image registration. A test-set consisting of 40 image bands was created, consisting of wavelengths in the range of (415-557nm). These images are 1601x1401 pixels, and have introduced simulating errors, to be corrected by the registration process. This enables validation of the registration results. Insight Toolkit (ITK), a C++ library, was explored and implemented for this test-set. ITK was chosen, as this library contains most known registration methods, and boast high customizability. Six registration methods were implemented and tested against this image set. One of these registration methods, Rigid transform, was found to achieve subpixel precision across multiple input parameters, with 0.22 standard deviation from the true pixel coordinates, and 0.018 standard deviation from the true angular value. This method has an optimal run time of six hours per image band using one central processing unit (CPU) core. The remaining five registration methods showed promise, but were not reliable against the test-set. These registration methods ranged between 33 and 76 standard deviation from the true pixel coordinates. Rigid transform was then run on the unknown hyperspectral and multispectral image sets. Quantifiable accuracy results are not available for these image sets.


Regarding the future of the economy and human progress, the great political economist James Buchanan often described himself as a pessimist when he looked to the future but an optimist when he looked back because surely the world should be worse off than what it is. My position is slightly different and might be characterized as "pessimistic optimism." My optimism is grounded in the force of argument from Adam Smith to Julian Simon about the creative forces of the human imagination. My pessimism is equally grounded in the force of argument from Thomas Hobbes to James Buchanan about the war of all against all and the self-serving capacity of political interests. Squeeze these intellectual arguments together — Smith and Hobbes, Simon and Buchanan — and what you get is optimism about productive specialization and peaceful cooperation being realized by diverse populations plus a tempered pessimism due to the desire of many to rule over others and the attempt to control the economy.


Nowadays, high-voltage circuit breakers have reached such high short-circuit capabilities that testing them under the full rated voltage is generally not possible with direct tests, and they are conducted by using the synthetic test methods. Although the phenomena associated with making tests is of particular importance especially in case of load break switches, but making tests are rather disregarded in power studies. The aim of this paper is to present an innovative simple test circuit for single-phase short-circuit making test which can properly test the breaker at a reasonable cost, eliminating the need to large capacity power sources. The test circuit satisfies all relevant standard requirements and its results are conformable to those of reputable international testing laboratories.


Robust and accurate indoor localization has been the goal of several research efforts over the past decade. In the building where the GPS is not available, this project can be utilized. Indoor localization based on image matching techniques related to deep learning was achieved in a hard environment. So, if it wanted to raise the precision of indoor classification, the number of image dataset of the indoor environment should be as large as possible to satisfy and cover the underlying area. In this work, a smartphone camera is used to build the image-based dataset of the investigated building. In addition, captured images in real time are taken to be processed with the proposed model as a test set. The proposed indoor localization includes two phases the first one is the offline learning phase and the second phase is the online processing phase. In the offline learning phase, here we propose a convolutional neural network (CNN) model that sequences the features of image data from some classis's dataset composed with a smartphone camera. In the online processing phase, an image is taken by the camera of a smartphone in real–time to be tested by the proposed model. The obtained results of the prediction can appoint the expected indoor location. The proposed system has been tested over various experiments and the obtained experimental results show that the accuracy of the prediction is almost 98.0%.


Interactions between rat prostate non-histone chromosomal proteins and DNA were studied by using a nitrocellulose-filter-binding technique to monitor the formation of DNA--protein complexes. The total binding activity of the non-histones, as measured by binding of proteins to a trace quantity of labelled DNA, displays no preference for rat DNA relative to Escherichia coli DNA. Sequestration of non-specific binding proteins by preincubation with unlabelled bacterial DNA enables detection of a fraction of rat prostate non-histones that binds preferentially to labelled rat DNA relative to labelled E. coli DNA. After castration of adult male rats, both total and specific binding activities decrease. Administration of 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone to castrated rats stimulates both total and specific DNA-binding activities of prostate non-histones; specific binding is stimulated to a greater extent than total DNA, indicating that the specific binding proteins constitute a larger fraction of the non-histone proteins in the presence of androgens. The specific DNa-binding activity is dependent on the dose of steroid administered.


New toolkits of biological parts allow powerful cell programming by synthetic biologists The field of synthetic biology envisions designing genetic circuits to program cells and tissues. These circuits will enable cells to detect disease states and act to remedy them, direct cells to produce useful substances and materials, and even allow cells to self-assemble into new, user-defined tissues (1). Starting from circuits comprised of a few components (2, 3), registries of biological parts have been curated, and increasingly larger circuits have been engineered in cells (4), but the size and capabilities of these circuits have been limited. A key challenge to engineering larger systems is composability: the ability to connect any two parts and achieve predictable behavior. On page 1252 of this issue, Gao et al. (5) describe a composable protein-based system for building circuits, and on page 1217, Andrews et al. (6) describe a sequential logic system with many states. Recently, Toda et al. (7) used synthetic cellcell signaling to drive differentiation and adhesion to form prototype tissues. These studies demonstrate that careful attention to composability can expand synthetic biology beyond its traditional limits.


Ibuprofen is a well-known endocrine disrupter. In this study, highly selective molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with different morphologies were synthesized via precipitation and bulk polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) and trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TRIM) in the presence of ibuprofen as a template. Non-imprinted polymers (NIPs) were also synthesized via the same procedure in the absence of ibuprofen. Spherical and monolithic MIPs were obtained using different experimental conditions, and the spherical MIP was shown to have better sorption towards ibuprofen. The optimum sample pH, sorbent amount, sample volume, and sorption time were determined to be 8.0, 25.0 mg, 10.0 mL, and 30.0 min, respectively. A methanol water mixture (MeOH : H2O, 80 : 20, pH 3.0) was employed as an eluent with >97% (±0.8, n = 3) desorption. The MIP demonstrated high selectivity towards ibuprofen in the presence of naproxen and ketoprofen. The validity of the proposed method was checked via spike recovery tests using drinking and tap water samples. The method worked efficiently for both water types, resulting in the recoveries of 97.2% (±0.3, n = 3) and 97.7% (±0.2, n = 3).


Little is known about cooperative adjustment to industrialized agriculture. This inductive study hypothesizes that cooperative adjustment to industrialization is a function of critical resource changes, managerial vision, and ideological change. Agrarian-oriented cooperatives sought to maintain farmer control over agriculture. They feared production from industrialized agriculture would displace family farm production, weakening cooperatives. "Top-down" corporate vertical integration presaged a new era of feudal control over agriculture. Open market decline would lock formerly independent, entrepreneurial producers into the feudal dependence of "serfdom" as contract growers—the equivalent of hired labor. The "serfdom" metaphor motivated cooperatives to buffer producers from structural change by establishing more markets. As integrated, industrialized production grew commodity by commodity, cooperatives increasingly regarded producers as a scarce and critical resource. Yet, agrarian-oriented cooperatives did not foresee that the moral hazard associated with pork contracting would limit grower exploitation. Nor did such cooperatives recognize how productivity-enhancing technologies accelerated farmer attrition. Visionary cooperative managers compensated for agrarianism's ideological weaknesses by creating new, global cooperative goals such as "feeding the world." By the end of the 20th century, cooperatives had come to regard capital as their scarce and critical resource.


James M. Scott examines a denarius minted in Rome in 55 bce which is visually fascinating but conceptually enigmatic. On its obverse, around the head of a female figure with turreted crown, appears the name A. Plautius, who held the office of aedilis curulis in that year; on its reverse is a camel, in front of which a male figure kneels on his right leg, holding the camel's reins in his left hand and extending a branch in his right hand; the legend reads: BACCHIVS IVDAEVS. Scott's study argues that the oft-suggested connection between Aristobulus' gift of the golden vine (from the Temple) and the Bacchius Iudaeus denarius does seem to merit further investigation. To that end,he examines, first, Pompey's own agenda in having the coin minted. It is shown that the year the denarius appeared, 55 bce, was the same year in which Pompey dedicated his spectacular theater-temple in Rome, and, furthermore, that these very public displays are related as expressions of Pompey's Dionysian pretensions. Second, Scott examines each element of the denarius in question, looking for clues as to the meaning of Bacchius Iudaeus. It is shown that the Latin inscription refers first and foremost to the god Bacchus/Dionysus via an interpretatio Romana. Finally, he explores the possible implications of his investigation for the precise date of the fall of Jerusalem in 63 bce. Scott's study delves deeply into Judaism at the beginning of the Roman era, using the Roman coin to highlight the complex interface between Greco-Roman and Jewish religiocultural institutions of the period.


AIM UCD operates a Six-Year undergraduate medical programme which includes a basic science curriculum in Year one. Entrants also require any one school laboratory science. The purpose of this study was to consider how specific school or university basic sciences contribute to enhanced performance on the medical programme and to explore whether six year medical programmes are justifiable. METHOD Quantitative data was collated for all Leaving Certificate (LC) students entering the programme from 2006 to 2009 (n=413). Correlations between entry criteria (LC subjects and points, HPAT scores) and outcome measures (Year and Degree GPA) were analysed and linear regression used to examine the relationship between models of predictor variables and outcome measures. International medical education practice in the UK and Australia was considered alongside student opinion. RESULTS Five year programmes are prevalent in the UK with A-Level Chemistry a common entry requirement. Ireland and Australia, having similar broad-based second level exit examinations, still offer a number of six year programmes. An ASTI report in 2012 showed a decline in the availability of Chemistry (-11%) and Physics (-21%) for the LC programme. Student consultation indicated a preference to a medical programme, which offers access to a broader educational experience. There was no statistically significant difference in the medical programme performance of students with/without prior knowledge in a school science. The presence of Honours Maths was predictive of performance in all years, particular years one to three (p<=.05). Significant but weak correlations found the LC and it's constituent subjects to be weak predictors of medical programme performance (r values from -0.073 to 0.277). Regression analysis found second level English, Maths and a science subject to be the strongest model to predict programme performance (r2 values from .022 to .17). Performance in the first years of the programme, including performance in the basic science curriculum, was highly indicative of later performance. CONCLUSION Our research suggests that university basic sciences are more predictive than LC sciences of success in later studies. This, alongside the reducing availability of chemistry and physics at second level, justifies the inclusion of basic sciences within medical curricula in Ireland. Advances in medical practice are increasingly based on a foundation in these subjects, with nano biology, advanced therapeutics and radiographic imaging requiring graduates intellectually agile enough to truly understand the diagnostic and therapeutic tools of the future


The hepatoprotective action of Hepatophyt was studied on Wistar rats with experimental hepatitis caused by exposure of the animals to tetracycline. Hepatophyt was administered per os in a dose of 0.1 g/kg. Its significant pharmacotherapeutic action was due to the content of biologically active substances, mainly of polyphenol nature. As natural antioxidants, they provided stabilization of the biomembranes and increased the energetic potential of the hepatic cells and the contractile capacity of the pericanal microfilaments, thus stimulating the synthesis and transport of the cholates and excretion of bilirubin and cholesterol with bile.


Abstract. Air–sea flux of carbon dioxide (CO2) is a critical component
of the global carbon cycle and the climate system with the ocean removing
about a quarter of the CO2 emitted into the atmosphere by human
activities over the last decade. A common approach to estimate this net flux
of CO2 across the air–sea interface is the use of surface ocean
CO2 observations and the computation of the flux through a bulk
parameterization approach. Yet, the details for how this is done in order to
arrive at a global ocean CO2 uptake estimate vary greatly, enhancing
the spread of estimates. Here we introduce the ensemble data product,
SeaFlux (Gregor and Fay, 2021, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5482547,
https://github.com/luke-gregor/pySeaFlux, last access: 9 September 2021); this resource enables users to
harmonize an ensemble of products that interpolate surface ocean CO2
observations to near-global coverage with a common methodology to fill in
missing areas in the products. Further, the dataset provides the inputs to
calculate fluxes in a consistent manner. Utilizing six global
observation-based mapping products (CMEMS-FFNN, CSIR-ML6, JENA-MLS, JMA-MLR,
MPI-SOMFFN, NIES-FNN), the SeaFlux ensemble approach adjusts for
methodological inconsistencies in flux calculations. We address differences
in spatial coverage of the surface ocean CO2 between the mapping
products, which ultimately yields an increase in CO2 uptake of up to
17 % for some products. Fluxes are calculated using three wind products
(CCMPv2, ERA5, and JRA55). Application of a scaled gas exchange coefficient
has a greater impact on the resulting flux than solely the choice of wind
product. With these adjustments, we present an ensemble of global surface
ocean pCO2 and air–sea carbon flux estimates. This work aims to support
the community effort to perform model–data intercomparisons which will help
to identify missing fluxes as we strive to close the global carbon budget.


Books and articles frequently exhort developers to build secure software by designing security in. A few large companies (most notably Microsoft) have completely reengineered their development process to include a focus on security. However, for all except the largest vendors, software security (or software assurance) is a relatively recent phenomenon, and one with an uncertain payoff. In this paper, we examine what real vendors do to ensure that their products are reasonably secure. Our conclusion is that software vendors put significant energy into software security, but there is significant variation in where they invest their money.


The lightweight deflectometer (LWD) is currently not standardized; as a result, there are a number of commercially available LWD designs that yield different deflection and elastic modulus values. This proves problematic because transportation agencies are beginning to prescribe target deflections and/or elastic modulus values during earthwork construction. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive investigation into the influence of LWD design characteristics on measured deflection. The influence of the sensor type (accelerometer versus geophone), sensing configuration (measurement of plate versus ground surface), LWD rigidity, and applied load pulse were investigated through field testing and finite element analysis. The investigation revealed that the sensing configuration (i.e., the measurement of plate versus ground surface response) is the predominant cause of differences between the Zorn and Prima LWD responses (deflection normalized by peak force). Vertical plate deflection exceeded ground surface deflection by 65 % to 310 % on soils and by 20 % on asphalt. The relative influences of the sensor type (accelerometer versus geophone), plate rigidity, and load pulse each led to relatively small differences (<10 %) between Zorn and Prima LWD responses. The results of this investigation illustrate that each of the two LWD configurations will always produce different deflection and elastic modulus values for the same ground conditions, and that the differences will be difficult to predict.


PURPOSE
To describe the nature and features of delayed venous thrombosis following embolization of arteriovenous fistulae.

METHODS
Retrospective review of the available clinical history, details of embolization procedures, and results of follow-up angiography were carried out on all embolization procedures performed on high-flow vascular malformations of the brain done at our institution since 1987.

RESULTS
Four patients were identified who had delayed (greater than 1 week) venous thrombosis/occlusion after embolization of the malformation associated with neurologic complications. Two patients had arteriovenous fistula and two had vein-of-Galen malformations. These patients had no untoward embolization of the venous outlet as a cause of the venous occlusion.

CONCLUSIONS
It is postulated that thrombosis in the arteriovenous fistula group was induced by conversion (due to embolization) of a patulous high flow venous outlet into a slow flow system; in the vein-of-Galen group, the occlusion was thought to be due to high-flow venopathy.


Sparse linear system solvers are computationally expensive kernels that lie at the heart of numerous applications. This paper proposes a preconditioning framework that combines approximate inverses with stationary iterations to substantially reduce the time and energy requirements of this task by utilizing a hybrid architecture that combines conventional digital microprocessors with analog crossbar array accelerators. Our analysis and experiments with a simulator for analog hardware show that an order of magnitude speedup is readily attainable despite the noise in analog computations.


PURPOSE
Proton therapy is more sensitive to both setup and beam range uncertainties than the conventional photon therapy due to the finite range of protons. For the purpose of evaluation of plan robustness in the face of such uncertainties, we developed a method to quantify and visualize the uncertainties in proton plans using comprehensive statistical analysis. The application of the proposed method is shown for selected patients in various clinical sites.

METHODS
Clinically approved 20 lung, 10 prostate, and a brain cases were retrospectively analyzed. For a selected volume of interest, probability density function (PDF) describing variation in point dose value for every tissue element under setup and range uncertainties was computed based on over 600 dose calculations per plan. The expected dose-volume histogram (E-DVH) was calculated by weighting the probability of each tissue element receiving a specified dose level. Similarly, standard deviation of the E-DVH was calculated (SD-DVH). Furthermore for each volume element, their probability of receiving greater dose than the dose constraint was visualized as color-wash, mapped onto the patients CT images for spatial visualization and assessment.

RESULTS
The E-DVH value of target coverage under the uncertainties was consistently lower than that of the nominal value, with a mean difference of-1.1% (-0.9% for breath-hold), -0.3%, and -2.2% for lung, prostate, and a brain cases respectively. The organs that were most sensitive to the uncertainties were esophagus and spinal cord for lung, rectum for prostate, and brain stem for brain cancer.

CONCLUSION
A clinically feasibly plan robustness analysis tool based on statistical simulation has been developed for proton therapy plans. The passively scattered beam lung plans and scanning beam prostate plans appears to be robust in terms of target coverage. However, structures that are small in volume or located near the target area showed greater sensitivity to uncertainties. This project is supported by grant P01CA021239 from the National Cancer Institute.


ABSTRACT Liang Bua, a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, has a depositional sequence that spans the last 95,000 years and includes well-preserved faunal remains. Birds are well represented throughout the stratigraphic sequence at Liang Bua. Here, we present the results of the first comprehensive study of avian remains retrieved from Sector XI, a 2 m by 2 m archaeological excavation along the east wall of the cave. A total of 579 specimens were identified as avian, with 244 belonging to at least 26 non-passerine taxa in 13 families. The late Pleistocene assemblage (23 taxa) includes the first recorded occurrence of vultures in Wallacea, as well as kingfishers, snipes, plovers, parrots, pigeons, and swiftlets. Together, these taxa suggest that during this time the surrounding environment was floristically diverse and included several habitat types. Two of these taxa, the giant marabou Leptoptilos robustus and the vulture Trigonoceps sp., are extinct. Eight taxa were identified in the Holocene assemblage, and five of these were also present in the late Pleistocene. Imperial pigeons Ducula sp. and the Island Collared Dove Streptopelia cf. bitorquata appear only in the Holocene assemblage. The differences in faunal composition between the late Pleistocene and Holocene assemblages may reflect a change in avifaunal composition due to climatic and environmental changes near the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, possibly amplified by impacts associated with the arrival of modern humans; however, the small Holocene sample prevents a firm conclusion about faunal turnover from being made.


ABSTRACT During the Cold War, the United States deployed nuclear weapons in South Korea continuously for 33 years, from 1958 to 1991. The South Korean-based nuclear arsenal peaked at an all-time high of approximately 950 warheads in 1967. Since the last US nuclear weapons were withdrawn from South Korea in 1991, the United States has protected South Korea and Japan under a "nuclear umbrella" using nuclear bombers and submarines based elsewhere. While defense hawks in Seoul and Washington have, in 2017, called for the United States to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea, the authors argue against this idea. Doing so, they say, would provide no resolution of the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons and would likely increase nuclear risks. Redeployment would also have serious implications for broader regional issues because it would likely be seen by China and Russia as further undermining their security.


Distributed stochastic algorithms, equipped with gradient compression techniques, such as codebook quantization, are becoming increasingly popular and considered state-of-the-art in training large deep neural network (DNN) models. However, communicating the quantized gradients in a network requires efficient encoding techniques. For this, practitioners generally use Elias encoding-based techniques without considering their computational overhead or data-volume. In this paper, based on Huffman coding, we propose several lossless encoding techniques that exploit different characteristics of the quantized gradients during distributed DNN training. Then, we show their effectiveness on 5 different DNN models across three different data-sets, and compare them with classic state-of-the-art Elias-based encoding techniques. Our results show that the proposed Huffman-based encoders (i.e., RLH, SH, and SHS) can reduce the encoded data-volume by up to 5.1×, 4.32×, and 3.8×, respectively, compared to the Elias-based encoders.


for Sick Children, Glasgow, during the last 5 years the condition has been seen most commonly in association with hypertonic dehydration. During this period 14 infants have been diagnosed as having renal venous thrombosis and in 6 of these the lesion was thought to be bilateral. All 14 infants were aged less than 6 months and in each the biochemical findings of hypertonic dehydration were present. In all infants renal enlargement and haematuria were detected and in 8 cases the renal enlargement was confirmed radiologically. 13 of the 14 infants studied had demonstrable thrombocytopenia and in 4 of these detailed serial coagulation studies were carried out. All infants received intravenous fluid therapy and 5 were treated with peritoneal dialysis. In 6 infants continuous intravenous heparin was administered during the acute stage of the illness. 7 infants are alive with normal renal function. One is alive but with impaired renal function bilaterally and one has required nephrectomy for systemic hypertension. 4 infants died during the acute stage of the illness and a further child died 15 months after the acute illness of unrelated disease, his kidneys being normal histologically at necropsy.


Nerve cells release nitric oxide (NO) in response to activation of glutamate receptors of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) subtype. We explored the hypothesis that NO influences the changes of cerebral blood flow (CBF) during cortical spreading depression (CSD), which is known to be associated with NMDA receptor activation. CBF was monitored in parietal cortex by laser-Doppler flowmetry in halothane-anesthetized rats. Under control conditions, CSD induced regular changes of CBF, which consisted of four phases: a brief hypoperfusion before the direct current (DC) shift; a marked CBF rise during the DC shift; followed by a smaller, but protracted increase of CBF; and a prolonged CBF reduction (the oligemia). NO synthase inhibition by intravenous and/or topical application of NG-nitro-L-arginine enhanced the brief initial hypoperfusion, but the CBF increases and the oligemia were unchanged. L-Arginine prevented the development of the prolonged oligemia after CSD but had no influence on the marked rise of CBF during CSD. Animals treated with L-arginine recovered the reduced vascular reactivity to hypercapnia after CSD much faster than control rats. Functional denervation of cortical and pial arterioles by tetrodotoxin accentuated the pre-CSD hypoperfusion and the oligemia but did not affect the CBF increases. The results suggest that NO is important for the changes of cerebrovascular regulation following CSD. The observations may have clinical importance, since CBF changes during migraine may be triggered by CSD.


Purpose: To develop a software framework which allows analysis and evaluation of outcomes for patients treated with hypo‐fractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy(SBRT)Method and Materials: An outcomes‐study database was designed, under IRB‐approval, to collect and analyze medical information for lungcancer patients undergoing SBRT. The outcomes‐study database incorporates a variety of patient information, including demographic, social, diagnostic, treatment and follow‐up data. A software tool with a graphical user interface was developed to calculate biological dose indices, including TCP, EUD (Niemierko) and NTCP (Lyman‐Kutcher‐Burman and relative seriality models). Biologically effective doses are determined from dose distributions and DVHs, automatically imported from the treatment planning systems. Results: Approximately 200 SBRT patients' medical records have been populated into the outcomes database. To demonstrate the functionality of the software framework, 11 lungcancer patients treated with SBRT (12 Gy/fraction × 4 fractions) for central lesions (tumors within a 2 cm zone of the proximal bronchial tree) were reviewed. The linear‐quadratic (LQ) adjusted mean lungdose was 13.38 Gy (range: 9.24 Gy to 16.50 Gy) with an α/β ratio of 3.0 Gy. Observed lung toxicities were reviewed using the database and showed the regimen to be well tolerated: none of the patients developed grades 3–5 toxicities and only 2 lower‐grade toxicities were noted. The calculated NTCP ranged from 1.73% to 8.22% using the LKB model, with parameters n=1, m=0.33, TD50 =30.5 Gy. Conclusions: One of the goals of the outcomes database is to enable the investigation of correlation between dose, volume and effect for patients treated with SBRT, using non‐standard, hypo‐fractionated RT doses. Parameters specific to biological dose models are being updated using maximum likelihood analysis of calculated probabilities vs. observed outcomes for this large cohort of patients. Such outcomes studies are important in understanding the efficacy of new treatment paradigms.


Radar rainfall estimates have become increasingly available for hydrological modellers over recent years, espe- cially for flood forecasting and warning over poorly gauged catchments. However, the impact of using radar rainfall as compared with conventional raingauge inputs, with respect to various hydrological model structures, remains unclear and yet to be addressed. In the study presented by this paper, we analysed the flow simulations of the upper Medway catch- ment of southeast England using the UK NIMROD radar rainfall estimates, using three hydrological models based upon three very different structures (e.g. a physically based distributed MIKE SHE model, a lumped conceptual model PDM and an event-based unit hydrograph model PRTF). We focused on the sensitivity of simulations in relation to the storm types and various rainfall intensities. The uncertainty in radar rainfall estimates, scale effects and extreme rain- fall were examined in order to quantify the performance of the radar. We found that radar rainfall estimates were lower than raingauge measurements in high rainfall rates; the res- olutions of radar rainfall data had insignificant impact at this catchment scale in the case of evenly distributed rain- fall events but was obvious otherwise for high-intensity, lo- calised rainfall events with great spatial heterogeneity. As to hydrological model performance, the distributed model had consistent reliable and good performance on peak simulation with all the rainfall types tested in this study.


We present an optical frequency divider based on a 200 MHz repetition rate Er:fiber mode-locked laser that, when locked to a stable optical frequency reference, generates microwave signals with absolute phase noise that is equal to or better than cryogenic microwave oscillators. At 1 Hz offset from a 10 GHz carrier, the phase noise is below -100 dBc/Hz, limited by the optical reference. For offset frequencies >10 kHz, the phase noise is shot noise limited at -145 dBc/Hz. An analysis of the contribution of the residual noise from the Er:fiber optical frequency divider is also presented.


Glucose is a primary fuel source to the brain, yet the influence of dysglycemia on neurodevelopment in children with type 1 diabetes remains unclear. We examined brain activation using functional MRI in 80 children with type 1 diabetes (mean ± SD age 11.5 ± 1.8 years; 46% female) and 47 children without diabetes (control group) (age 11.8 ± 1.5 years; 51% female) as they performed a visuospatial working memory (N-back) task. Results indicated that in both groups, activation scaled positively with increasing working memory load across many areas, including the frontoparietal cortex, caudate, and cerebellum. Between groups, children with diabetes exhibited reduced performance on the N-back task relative to children in the control group, as well as greater modulation of activation (i.e., showed greater increase in activation with higher working memory load). Post hoc analyses indicated that greater modulation was associated in the diabetes group with better working memory function and with an earlier age of diagnosis. These findings suggest that increased modulation may occur as a compensatory mechanism, helping in part to preserve working memory ability, and further, that children with an earlier onset require additional compensation. Future studies that test whether these patterns change as a function of improved glycemic control are warranted.


In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, synthesis of the small ribosomal subunit requires assembly of the 35S pre-rRNA into a 90S preribosomal complex. SnoRNAs, including U3 snoRNA, and many trans-acting proteins are required for the ordered assembly and function of the 90S preribosomal complex. Here, we show that the conserved protein Mrd1p binds to the pre-rRNA early during transcription and is required for compaction of the pre-18S rRNA into SSU processome particles. We have exploited the fact that an Mrd1p-GFP fusion protein is incorporated into the 90S preribosomal complex, where it acts as a partial loss-of-function mutation. When associated with the pre-rRNA, Mrd1p-GFP functionally interacts with the essential Pwp2, Mpp10 and U3 snoRNP subcomplexes that are functionally interconnected in the 90S preribosomal complex. The fusion protein can partially support 90S preribosome-mediated cleavages at the A0–A2 sites. At the same time, on a substantial fraction of transcripts, the composition and/or structure of the 90S preribosomal complex is perturbed by the fusion protein in such a way that cleavage of the 35S pre-rRNA is either blocked or shifted to aberrant sites. These results show that Mrd1p is required for establishing productive structures within the 90S preribosomal complex.


The project of design's engagement with sustainability over the past two decades has been fraught; one, the discourse has been about consumption and western lifestyles, and two, the construction of the practice of sustainability has been reactive. For a long time design positioned itself as a profession that would react to design briefs set by a client and this directly created a format for design for sustainability as an activity of redesign. When engineering adapted methodologies of manufacturing practice, such as TQM and value engineering, to include issues of pollution they created new specializations of engineering that could handle incremental transformation of product manufacturing towards more environmentally appropriate practice. The fact that big industry would not be needing designers to work of the eco-redesign of their products did not dawn on the profession of design and even less on design academies. This fact of being repeatedly rendered irrelevant in the discourse of sustainability is the essential character of design's engagement with sustainability over the past two decades. However this fact is not acknowledged and quite effectively hidden as the profusion of published outcomes allows design to talk within its community of practitioners without needing to seek acknowledgement from the wider world. As a marginal discourse sustainability is high profile and very visible in exhibitions, websites and books. Queried as a valid practice with examples of best practice design has little to show. I propose to create a still point where we can pause and ask if the new fascination with service design and social innovation is valid in its claim to be the new face of design for sustainability. I propose that it is not though it does expose a fundamental flaw in the way the practice of design was constructed in the last century. I then go on to show that the emerging trends point to interesting possibilities of reinventing the practice and for the complete transformation of the way we look at studio practice in design education.


Harm reduction is a public health strategy based on the concept that while a person may not stop a high-risk behavior, there is value in promoting behaviors that reduce health, social, and economic costs. It focuses on reducing the harmful outcomes of the behavior, and not the behavior itself. First used in the context of drug addiction, the concept has evolved and provides a useful framework for patients who suffer the effects of entrenched unhealthy habits but are unwilling or unable to change their lifestyle.


Carbon-containing meteorites provide a natural sample of the extraterrestrial organic chemistry that occurred in the solar system ahead of life's origin on the Earth. Analyses of 40 years have shown the organic content of these meteorites to be materials as diverse as kerogen-like macromolecules and simpler soluble compounds such as amino acids and polyols. Many meteoritic molecules have identical counterpart in the biosphere and, in a primitive group of meteorites, represent the majority of their carbon. Most of the compounds in meteorites have isotopic compositions that date their formation to presolar environments and reveal a long and active cosmochemical evolution of the biogenic elements. Whether this evolution resumed on the Earth to foster biogenesis after exogenous delivery of meteoritic and cometary materials is not known, yet, the selective abundance of biomolecule precursors evident in some cosmic environments and the unique L-asymmetry of some meteoritic amino acids are suggestive of their possible contribution to terrestrial molecular evolution.


In this study, the concentrations of selected heavy metals (Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, Co, Fe, Ni, V and Zn) in roadside soil samples were determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) after microwave digestion. A total of sixty roadside soil samples were collected during July 2018 from seventeen sampling sites (5 km apart) from both sides along Irbid-Amman highway, Jordan. The average concentrations (±SD) of the investigated metals in the analyzed soil samples were found to be 18400 (± 11200), 6.0 (± 4.7), 132 (± 47), 49 (± 26), 695 (± 310), 96 (± 53), 78 (± 32), 31800 (± 12600), 116 (± 67), 141 (± 74) and 129 (± 112) µg/g for Al, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, Co, Fe, Ni, V and Zn, respectively. With exception of Mn, the enrichment factors for the investigated metals in roadside soils were found to be more than 10, indicating anthropogenic sources such as automobile traffic. In the absence of any industrial activities in the sampling sites, the high concentrations of the investigated metals suggest that automobile emissions are the major source of roadside soil pollution. The results obtained in this study showed that metal concentrations in the analyzed soil samples are strongly influenced by the wind direction and traffic density in the investigated area. The higher metal concentrations on the west side of the road were due to the easterly prevailing wind in the studied area. As expected, the concentrations of heavy metals decreased with increasing distance from the edge of the road. The results obtained in this work were compared with the literature values.


In this paper we address the problem of rapid distance computation between rigid objects and highly deformable objects, which is important in the context of physically based modeling of e.g hair or clothing. Our method is in particular useful when modeling deformable objects with particle systems—the most common approach to simulate such objects. We combine some already known techniques about distance fields into an algorithm for rapid collision detection. Only the rigid objects of an environment are represented by distance fields. In the context of proximity queries, which are essential for proper collision detection, this representation has two main advantages: First, any given boundary representation can be approximated quite easily, no high-degree polynomials or complicated approximation algorithms are needed. Second, the evaluation of distances and normals needed for collision response is extremely fast and independent of the complexity of the object. In the course of the paper we propose a simple, but fast algorithm for partial distance field computation. The sources are triangular meshes. Then, we present our approach for collision detection in detail. Examples from an interactive cloth animation system show the advantages of our approach in practice. We conclude that our method allows real-time animations of complex deformable objects in non-trivial environments on standard PC hardware.


Abstract Orchardgrass was stored at 50% dry matter as large round bales to study short-term effects, and ryegrass (33% dry matter) was ensiled in laboratory silos, which were incubated at 35, 55, and 75°C for up to 46 d to study long-term effects of heat on the chemical composition of grasses. Bale temperature reached 70°C by d 6 postbaling and maintained that temperature for the remaining 7 d of the experiment. In the bales, concentrations of acid and neutral detergent insoluble nitrogen, acid detergent fiber, and lignin increased, whereas hemicellulose decreased over the 13-d storage. Concentration of total amino acids was 99.06 mg/g dry matter on d 0 and decreased linearly at the rate of 1.64 mg/g per d. Total nitrogen remained constant. Concentration of amino acids not soluble in acid detergent was 3.73 mg/g dry matter on d 0 and increased logarithmically (15%/d). Changes in chemical composition of the ryegrass stored at 75°C were similar to those of the orchardgrass. Composition of 35 and 55°C silage was not affected greatly by temperature. Concentration of total amino acids in fresh herbage was 55.86 mg/g dry matter and 47.08, 47.61, and 37.77 mg/g for the 35, 55, and 75°C silage after 46 d of storage. Amino acids insoluble in acid detergent constituted 7.2, 21.4, and 75.0% of the total amino acids in the 35, 55, and 75°C silage on d 46. In summary, heat damage reduced greatly the amount of amino acids present in the forages and altered their distribution.


In this paper, we analyze the delay performance of a secondary user (SU) under dynamic spectrum access. We design simple time-threshold policies for the SU to minimize the average delay while satisfying the collision probability constraint of the primary user (PU). Such policies perform closely to an optimized policy found by a Markov Decision Process (MDP) formulation, while facilitating analytical analysis of the delay and collision probability. For general PU busy and idle period distributions, we analyze the performance of threshold policies through a one-dimensional Markov chain, and develop analytical expressions to approximate the delay and collision probability. The accuracy of the Markov chain analysis and the analytical approximations is examined under various busy and idle distributions. We investigate the impact of busy and idle distributions on system performance. We find that while the idle distribution determines the time capacity of SU access, the busy distribution significantly affects the delay performance of the threshold policies. The effect of imperfect sensing is also studied.


X-rays diffraction pictures time dependence of deformed alloy Pd-Ta being charged with hydrogen has been shown to be possibly caused by multi-pits character of energetic relief in the states space. Phenomenological model representing alloy structural evolution as a occasional roaming on minima of internal energy of non-ergodic system, has been offered in Lorenz synergetic scheme frames. Here, order parameters are the part of minima occupied by the system, conjugated field is considered to be Edwards entropy and control parameter is taken to be internal energy. Thermodynamics interpretation of Pd-Ta-H alloy evolution structure as a complex non-ergodic system is offered


While progress in developing countries as a whole, in terms of growth, poverty reduc-tion, and several MDGs, has been quite good in recent years, fragile states lag behind in levels of MDG achievement. To understand the link between fragility and MDG progress, and also to identify the most effective policy interventions to achieve the MDGs, it is es-sential that fragile states are appropriately defined and classified. While the amount of literature on how to engage with fragile states is rapidly accumulating, only very limited analysis exists that investigates to what extent the levels and trends in the MDGs differ significantly between different definitions of fragile and non-fragile states. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the usefulness of the fragile state concept in tracking the levels and progress of the MDGs. In doing so, this paper applies several definitions of fragility in order to study the MDG progress between 1990 and 2006. It compares aver-age performance in levels and trends of MDG progress between fragile and non-fragile countries and also compares within-group heterogeneity. The paper shows that fragile countries are, indeed, performing worse in terms of MDG levels. In terms of MDG pro-gress, progress is not necessarily slower in fragile states. Only a rather small number of countries suffering from compound disadvantages are doing significantly worse in terms of MDG progress. Lastly, the heterogeneity of MDG performance among fragile states is so large that it is not very useful to treat them as a group; the problems they face, as well as the solutions required, differ greatly and have to be developed and treated sui generis.


Currently, there is intense clinical research into various aspects of the medical risks relating to epilepsy, including total and cause-specific mortality, accidents and injuries in patients with epilepsy and mortality related with seizures. Seizures occurring in precarious situations and resulting in injuries are still an important concern for patients with epilepsy, their employers and their care-givers. Submersion injuries, motor vehicle accidents, burns, and head injuries are among the most feared epilepsy-related injuries. These concerns seem valid because the hallmark of epilepsy, episodic impairment of consciousness and motor control, may occur during interictal EEG epileptiform discharges, even in the absence of a clinical seizure. In addition, psychomotor comorbidity and side effects of antiepileptic drugs may contribute to the risk of injuries in patients with epilepsy. Published risk factors for injuries include the number of antiepileptic drugs, history of generalized seizures, and seizure frequency. In general, epidemiological information about incidence of injuries has been conflicting and sparse. In general, studies focusing on populations with more severe forms of epilepsy tend to report substantially higher risks of injuries than those involving less selected populations. On the other hand, studies based on non-selected populations of people with epilepsy have not shown an increased frequency of injuries in people with epilepsy compared with the general population. Some studies have shown that patients with epilepsy are more frequently admitted to the hospital following an injury. Possible explanations include: more cautious attitude of clinicians toward injuries occurring in the setting of seizures; hospitalization required because of seizures and not to the injuries themselves; and hospitalization driven by other issues, such as comorbidities, which are highly prevalent in patients with epilepsy. Potentially the high rate of hospitalizations could be related with the severity of the injury. This article reviews the best available epidemiological information about injuries, including incidence and risk factors. Also this article reviews information about specific types of injuries such as fractures, burns, concussions, dislocations, etc. Information about accidents in people with epilepsy is also discussed.