This research has examined the way loans repayments are managed at the National
Microfinance Bank Headquarters Dar es Salaam. The idea came up as a result of
analyzing loan repayments basing on facts found through Observation, Interviews
and Document analysis conducted in the department concerned revealed the need to
understand fully the management of loan repayments and how to improve the same.
For the effectiveness of the research, the researcher used a research design and data
collection and analysis were used to arrange the information in such a way that
enabled the researcher to come up with the reliable recommendations and
conclusions. Different methodologies were employed which were research design,
study population, sampling design, research instruments and analysis of data where
the researcher used pie charts, and presentation done in bar graphs. It was realized
that the performance of any micro finance institutions as far as loans are concerned
depends on its existing loan process or rather policy at any given time period thus
NMB use loan process to evaluate the credit worthiness of its customers hence this
has enabled the bank to run smoothly and effectively. It was also found out that
NMB uses collateral/security policy which helps them to rate the credit worthiness of
its customers. Collateral policy also helps the bank to reduce the defaulters and the
NMB keeps and check the financial records of their clients. Despite the good
performance of NMB due to its credit policies, the bank had however faced some
challenges' which had hindered their operations hence this has caused bad debts in
the bank. These are improper appraisal, conmen, poor supervision, political
influence, weak legal system, diversion of funds, non- compliance and poor
payment.


We analyzed the recent (< 25 yr) spread in New Hampshire, USA, of the exotic tree Kalopanax septemlobus, native to Asia. The invasion was likely initiated by a single tree planted ca. 1972. Our objective was to assess the viability of the invasion, especially in light of the small propagule size. We tallied, mapped, aged, and measured the height and growth of K. septemlobus individuals at two sites, the University of New Hampshire campus (UC) and Thompson Farm (TF), both in Durham. We found over 3,800 plants at UC and 270 at TF in < 120 ha (296 ac) total area. Plant age ranged from 0 to 22 yr, and UC plants were as far as 775 m (2,543 ft) from the purported parent tree. Annual height growth was comparable to midtolerant native trees. Plants occurred in both open and forested habitats, and the mean level of photosynthetically active radiation incident on understory plants was 4 to 6% of full sun. The large population size, shade tolerance, rapid height growth, and ability to sprout from damaged stems suggest potential for K. septemlobus to invade and persist in forests, the most common natural ecosystem in the northeastern United States. We further suggest that small propagule size, likely a single tree, has not prevented K. septemlobus from initiating a spatially extensive and vigorous population. Kalopanax septemlobus has been planted as an ornamental in the northeastern United States, and prevention of region-wide invasion might depend on removal of these trees, even when they occur as single individuals. Nomenclature: Castor-aralia, Kalopanax septemlobus (Thunb.) Koidz. Management Implications: Castor-aralia (Kalopanax septemlobus) is capable of spreading via seed from planted individuals to urban and natural forest landscapes in southeastern New Hampshire. The invaded forest types, eastern white pine and sugar maple–beech–red oak, are common in the northeastern United States. Although the impact of castor-aralia on North American communities and ecosystem processes is not yet known, colonization of forest understories and rapid height growth there suggest it is capable of competing with economically important native plants. At present, early detection coupled with rapid removal is a sensible strategy. Because a single castor-aralia individual is capable of seed production, even small populations and isolated individuals should be eradicated. The large potential dispersal distance and success of seedlings in human-influenced habitats means that even isolated plants in urban environments, including those at urban arboretums, should be removed. Data on age and size of first reproduction are limited, but generally trees must be > 20 cm in diameter at breast height or in their second decade of life before they produce seed. Consequently, in populations of diverse age and size, trees exceeding these values should have first priority for removal. The long juvenile period also means that once all trees have been removed from a site, a second round of control need not occur for ca. 10 yr. No data on herbicide effects are available for castor-aralia, but plants can be killed by uprooting. The ability of cut plants to produce root and butt sprouts, however, means that removal of entire plants including major roots is essential.


We study the large deviation rate functional for the empirical distribution of independent Brownian particles with drift. In one dimension, it has been shown by Adams, Dirr, Peletier and Zimmer that this functional is asymptotically equivalent (in the sense of $\Gamma$-convergence) to the Jordan--Kinderlehrer--Otto functional arising in the Wasserstein gradient flow structure of the Fokker--Planck equation. In higher dimensions, part of this statement (the lower bound) has been recently proved by Duong, Laschos and Renger, but the upper bound remained open, since the proof in \cite{DLR2013} relies on regularity properties of optimal transport maps that are restricted to one dimension. In this note we present a new proof of the upper bound, thereby generalising the result of \cite{ADPZ2011} to arbitrary dimensions.


Secondary amyloidosis is a complication typical for patients on long-term haemodialysis (HD). The first clinical signs are usually shoulder joint pain and CTS. We have questioned 74 patients who were on regular HD treatment and divided them into 3 groups according to the length of HD. Group I--on HD for 1-4 years: there were 35 patients in this group, 15 of them (i.e. 43%) had shoulder joint pain and/or CTS. None of these patients had such symptoms, which would require surgical treatment. Group II--on HD for 5-9 years: there were 22 patients in this group, 15 of them (i.e. 68%) had shoulder joint pain and/or CTS. 3 patients from this group had severe night pain and were therefore indicated for surgical treatment for CTS, each of them on 1 hand only. In 2 cases there was amyloid present in the histological examination. Group III--on HD for over 10 years: there were 17 patients in this group, 13 of them (i.e. 76%) had shoulder joint pain and/or CTS. 5 patients from this group were operated on both hands for severe night pain due to carpal tunnel syndrome. Only 1 patient had positive amyloid on both hands in the histological examination. All the 8 patients (i.e. 13 hands) were examined by EMG before the operation, showing reduction of motor conduction on n. medianus by 30.7 +/- 15.1%. After the operation the EMG control was done in 4 patients (7 hands), showing no improvement in 2 cases and in 5 cases the conduction on the n. medianus was found to be in the normal range.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The lawyer's professional independence is considered to be the core principle of the profession. It is often used as defense against the state intervention in the regulation of lawyers. However, drivers in the legal market, such as an increase in competition, concentration of lawyers in large law firms, as well as the globalization, development of information technologies and social networks, which influence the commoditizing of the law and consumer awareness, certainly have shaken up the foundations of the legal profession and require the renewed approach to seemingly immovable values of the profession, including the principle of lawyer's independence. Hence, the goal of the article is to answer the question whether this principle is still valid in the context of commercialization of the legal market. The first part of the article analyzes the dimensions of the principle of lawyer's independence, i.e. independence from the state, from the client and other influences, by comparing continental and common law systems. The second part reveals how different approaches to the role of the lawyer influence the realization of this principle in legal regulation and practice. The third part is devoted to the analysis of radical changes in the legal market and new forms of legal services, such as incorporation of law firms, that affect the devaluation of the principle of lawyer's independence. The article justifies that the lawyer's independence from the state is realized primarily through strong self-governance and independence of the bar, but the trends in common law countries show that legal professional associations have lost their previous positions, especially in the area of self-disciplining, as they were not able to cope effectively with customers (clients) complains. In addition, the legal market liberalization reforms in Australia and the UK, which enable outside capital invest into law firms, have a tendency to expand to other jurisdictions. Changes in capital ownership structure of legal firms can change the governance and decision-making processes that may lead to the devaluation of the principle of lawyer's independence yielding to the idea of entrepreneurship.


After clarifying the relationship between the closely related concepts of ecology and epidemiology as they are used in plant virology, this article provides a historical perspective on the subject before discussing recent progress and future prospects. Ecology focuses on virus populations interacting with host populations within a variable environment, while epidemiology focuses on the complex association between virus and host plant, and factors that influence spread. The evolution and growth of plant virus ecology and epidemiology since its inception to the present day, and the major milestones in its development, are illustrated by examples from influential historical reviews published in the Annals of Applied Biology over the last 100 years. Original research papers published in the journal are used to illustrate important ecological and epidemiological principles and new developments in both fields. Both areas are multifaceted with many factors influencing host plants, and virus and vector behaviour. The highly diverse scenarios that arise from this process influence the virus population and the spatiotemporal dynamics of virus distribution and spread. The review then describes exciting progress in research in the areas of molecular epidemiology and ecology, and understanding virus–vector interactions. Application of new molecular techniques has greatly accelerated the rate of progress in understanding virus populations and the way changes in these populations influence epidemics. Viruses cause direct and plant-mediated indirect effects on insect vectors by modifying their life cycles, fitness and behaviour, and one of the most fascinating recent fields of research concerns plant-mediated indirect virus manipulation of insect vector behaviour that encourages virus spread. Next, the review describes the current state of knowledge about spread of plant viruses at the critical agro-ecological interface between managed and natural vegetation. There is an urgent need to understand how viruses move in both directions between the two and be able to anticipate these kinds of events. To obtain an understanding of, and ability to foresee, such events will require a major research effort into the future. The review finishes by discussing the implications of climate change and rapid technological innovation for the types of research needed to avoid virus threats to future world food supplies and plant biodiversity. There has been lamentably little focus on research to determine the magnitude of the threat from diseases caused in diverse plant virus pathosystems under different climate change scenarios. Increasing technological innovation offers many opportunities to help ensure this situation is addressed, and provide plant virus ecology and epidemiology with a very exciting future.


Central Asia comprises a large fraction of the world's drylands, known to be vulnerable to climate change. We analyzed the inter-annual trends and the impact of climate variability in the vegetation greenness for Central Asia from 1982 to 2011 using GIMMS3g normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data. In our study, most areas showed an increasing trend during 1982-1991, but experienced a significantly decreasing trend for 1992-2011. Vegetation changes were closely coupled to climate variables (precipitation and temperature) during 1982-1991 and 1992-2011, but the response trajectories differed between these two periods. The warming trend in Central Asia initially enhanced the vegetation greenness before 1991, but the continued warming trend subsequently became a suppressant of further gains in greenness afterwards. Precipitation expanded its influence on larger vegetated areas in 1992-2011 when compared to 1982-1991. Moreover, the time-lag response of plants to rainfall tended to increase after 1992 compared to the pre-1992 period, indicating that plants might have experienced functional transformations to adapt the climate change during the study period. The impact of climate on vegetation was significantly different for the different sub-regions before and after 1992, coinciding with the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It was suggested that these spatio-temporal patterns in greenness change and their relationship with climate change for some regions could be explained by the changes in the socio-economic structure resulted from the USSR collapse in late 1991. Our results clearly illustrate the combined influence of climatic/anthropogenic contributions on vegetation growth in Central Asian drylands. Due to the USSR collapse, this region represents a unique case study of the vegetation response to climate changes under different climatic and socio-economic conditions.


Author(s): Hench, Christopher Leo | Advisor(s): Largier, Niklaus | Abstract: For years, scholars of medieval German have grappled with how to analyze formal characteristics of the lyric and epic poetry while taking into consideration performance, musicality, mouvance, linguistic variation, and aggressive editing practices. The scholarship has justifiably resorted to restricted explorations of specific texts or poets, or heavily criticized region-specific descriptions with several caveats. The many challenges this multifaceted poetry presents has also obscured one of its most central features—–the medieval voice. With the little evidence we have often being ambiguous or contradictory, how are we to understand the role of the medieval voice in the German corpus as a whole? This project seeks to shed light on this forgotten aspect by taking advantage of computational methods to demonstraterelative formal and thematic relationships based on sound and voice. In doing so, it presents several new prosodic analytical methods. The first chapter of this project underlines the importance of sound and voice to medieval performance and composition. It additionally justifies the syllable as the foundation of the novel formal methods presented in the following chapters. Chapter two presents a newsyllabification algorithm that combines two linguistic principles: the Sonority Sequencing Principle and the Legality Principle. This algorithm is then customized and computationally implemented to perform accurately on medieval German across dialects and editing practices. Chapter three employs this syllabification algorithm to characterize different phonological soundscapes in reference to theme and voice using a modest corpus of only medieval German lyric poetry. While chapter three intends to quantify the vocal affect of a soundscape, chapter four aims to account for the sequencing of these soundscapes within the larger text and corpus. Chapter three therefore lays the foundation for a structural model of medieval German form. Finally, chapter five reduces the corpus once again to a very small subset of medieval German Vierheber (epic poetry with four stresses per line). It presents a supervised machine learning model to predict scansion for these texts according to the theory proposed by Andreas Heusler, and draws conclusions from how different poets took advantage of the freedom this structure allowed.In each chapter, I present the aggregate statistics to confirm and supplement our knowledge of the medieval German corpus as a whole. Yet more importantly, I return to individual texts in order to demonstrate how these newly discovered formal soundscapes manifest and function within a smaller narrative. This combination of "distant reading" and "close reading" supports my overarching argument that medieval German form and content were demonstrably and quantifiably highly intertwined. In many cases markedly different formal, phonologically-influenced structures were implemented to trigger connections to related texts and formats. This project thus creates a new understanding of intertextual relations in medieval German literature.


Influence of ouabain on changes in transmembrane potential (TMP) and the membrane conductance has been studied in developing embryos of the loach Misgurnus fossilis L. Ouabain does not cause any significant changes in TMP level within 10-15 min after treatment but the membrane was then depolarized to a degree depending on developmental stage. Exposure to ouabain increases the conductance and changes the selectivity of membranes. Reversion potential of ionic current is then decreased from -70- -100 to -5- -30 mV. It is supposed that gradual membrane depolarization owing to the decrease of K+ gradient favors the membrane conductance changes under the influence of ouabain. It has been established that the active transport of Na+ and K+ takes part in realization of the rhythm of TMP level periodical oscillations during synchronous cleavage division.


Purpose
Fish quarantine is a measure to prevent the entry and spread of quarantine fish pests and diseases abroad and from one area to another within Indonesia's territory. Based on these backgrounds, this study aims to identify the knowledge, knowledge management (KM) processes and knowledge management system (KMS) priority needs for quarantine fish and other fishery products measures (QMFFP) and then develop a classification model and web-based decision support system (DSS) for QMFFP decisions.

Design/methodology/approach
This research methodology uses combination approaches, namely, contingency factor analysis (CFA), the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) and knowledge management system development life cycle (KMSDLC). The CFA for KM solution design is performed by identifying KM processes and KMS priorities. The CRISP-DM for decision classification model is done by using a decision tree algorithm. The KMSDLC is used to develop a web-based DSS.

Findings
The highest priority requirements of KM technology for QMFFP are data mining and DSS with predictive features. The main finding of this study is to show that web-based DSS (functions and outputs) can support and accelerate QMFFP decisions by regulations and field practice needs. The DSS was developed using the CTree algorithm model, which has six main attributes and eight rules.

Originality/value
This study proposes a novel comprehensive framework for developing DSS (combination of CFA, CRISP-DM and KMSDLC), a novel classification model resulting from comparing two decision tree algorithms and a novel web-based DSS for QMFFP.


To investigate the sites of action of aldosterone (Aldo) and chronic potassium loading (high K) and to determine whether dietary K can modulate collecting duct structure independent of Aldo, a morphometric study of the structure of the initial collecting tubule (ICT), the cortical collecting tubule (CCT), the medullary collecting duct in the outer stripe (MCDOS) and the inner stripe (MCDIS), and the papillary collecting duct (PCD) was carried out in a rat model in which plasma levels of Aldo were clamped at basal or physiologically elevated levels and high K could be induced without concomitant hyperaldosteronism. Elevated levels of Aldo increased cell area (Ac) and basolateral membrane surface (BLM) from control values in the ICT, CCT, and MCDOS but not in the MCDIS or PCD. High K with normal physiological levels of Aldo increased BLM in the ICT and CCT without a concomitant change in AC. No response was seen in MCDOS, MCDIS, or PCD. It is concluded that Aldo can modulate principal cell structure in the collecting duct system in segments extending from the ICT through the MCDOS in the rat and that high K independent of Aldo can influence collecting duct structure only in the ICT and CCT.


ABSTRACT The Upper Ordovician Effna, Botetourt, and Liberty Hall limestones of Virginia record deposition in several paleoenvironments along a carbonate ramp during the early history of the Taconic Foreland Basin. Four distinct lithofacies are present, i.e., biohermal mudstone and wackestone, biostromal grainstone, nodular deep-flank limestone and shale, and basinal mudstones and shale, and each of these is associated with different trilobite biofacies. Cluster analysis and ordination define biofacies, and characterize gradients and patterns within the trilobite relative abundance data. Biofacies are clearly delineated along a depth gradient, with gradational compositional changes between associations. The moderate-diversity bioherm biofacies is dominated by illaenids (Illaenus, Bumastoides) and cheirurids (Sphaerexochus). The high-diversity biostromal biofacies is also an illaenid-cheirurid association, but is proportionally enriched in cheirurids, and includes off-bank elements not common in the bioherm. The high-diversity deep-flank facies is associated with an Ampyx-Isotelus-Nileus assemblage that gradationally replaces the biostromal biofacies. The deep flank gives way to a low-diversity Isotelus-Calyptaulax-Raymondaspis association of cosmopolitan trilobites in the outer slope and basin environment. These biofacies characterize local environments in the Taconic Foreland Basin just prior to, and in the initial phases of tectonically driven oceanographic change that led to regional extirpation of the buildup fauna and the reorganization of deep-water trilobite biofacies. New associations of taxa not found elsewhere in Laurentia are common within the foreland basin, suggesting that the archetypal biofacies described here are reorganized with the onset of regional environmental change.


In central British Columbia, ice flow during the late Wisconsinan Fraser glaciation (ca. 25–10 ka) occurred in three phases. The ice expansion phase occurred during an extended period when glaciers flowed westward to the Pacific Ocean and east-southeastward onto the Nechako Plateau from ice centers in the Skeena, Hazelton, Coast, and Omineca Mountains. Initially, glacier flow was confined by topography along major valleys, but eventually piedmont and montane glaciers coalesced to form an integrated glacier system, the Cordilleran ice sheet. In the maximum phase, a Cordilleran ice divide developed over the Nechako Plateau to 300 km inland from the Pacific coast. At this time, the surface of the ice sheet extended well above 2500 m above sea level, and flowed westward over the Skeena, Hazelton, and Coast Mountains onto the continental shelf, and eastward across the Rocky Mountains into Alberta. In the late glacial phase, a rapid rise of the equilibrium line caused ice lobes to stagnate in valleys, and restricted accumulation centers to high mountains. Discordant directions in ice flow are attributed to fluctuations of the ice divide representing changes in the location of accumulation centers and ice thickness. Ice centers probably shifted in response to climate, irregular growth in the ice sheet, rapid calving, ice streaming, and drainage of proglacial and subglacial water bodies. Crosscutting ice-flow indicators and preservation of early (valley parallel) flow features in areas exposed to later (cross-valley) glacier erosion indicate that the ice expansion phase was the most erosive and protracted event.


Hypermobility of the first ray, which is caused by an instability of the first metatarsocuneiform joint, is one of the factors that induces hallux valgus and can be caused by technical mistakes in ballet practice. Correlation between ballet practice and hypermobility of the first ray. Using a modified Klaue device, mobility of the first metatarsocuneiform joint was measured (hypermobility ≥ 10mm) in both dorsal and dorso-medial directions in 264 feet in 2 groups of people: ballet dancers (non professional) and a control group of nondancers. 45° mobility is statistically higher than dorsal mobility, and mobility in the ballet dancer group is higher than in the control group, but there is no correlation between hours of ballet and en-pointe shoe practice, and hypermobility of the first ray. First ray hypermobility, and even hallux valgus, in ballet practice is related to anatomical-hereditary factors and to incorrect technical execution.


Photoredox catalysis and organocatalysis represent two powerful fields of molecule activation that have found widespread application in the areas of inorganic and organic chemistry, respectively. We merged these two catalysis fields to solve problems in asymmetric chemical synthesis. Specifically, the enantioselective intermolecular α-alkylation of aldehydes has been accomplished using an interwoven activation pathway that combines both the photoredox catalyst Ru(bpy)3Cl2 (where bpy is 2,2′-bipyridine) and an imidazolidinone organocatalyst. This broadly applicable, yet previously elusive, alkylation reaction is now highly enantioselective and operationally trivial.


PurposeThis mixed-methods study assesses a pilot library curriculum in a general education English composition course. Case-based learning (CBL), a form of problem-based learning (PBL), was used to scaffold information literacy skills and concepts across sessions. This article explores the approach's impact on student learning and engagement.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were enrolled in four sections of an undergraduate composition course. Two sections were taught with the CBL library curriculum, and two with the standard library curriculum as a control. Pretest/posttest surveys included quantitative and qualitative measures to assess students in several areas of information literacy. Weekly reflections from a subsample of students were analyzed, and the research team conducted structured classroom observations and teaching reflections.FindingsQuantitative survey results did not support the hypotheses that the CBL curriculum would increase students' confidence and skill levels compared to their control section peers. Although there was no significant difference between sections in measured information literacy outcomes, students generally agreed that the case studies used in the CBL curriculum taught skills applicable to their research. Teaching observation data revealed the cohesion of the curriculum across library sessions and increased student engagement in classroom activities. However, some of the case studies could be improved, and some limitations in study design point to the need for further research.Originality/valueThis study addresses a gap in the literature through a mixed-methods assessment of CBL pedagogy using a control group, contributing to an understanding of the role of PBL pedagogies in information literacy curricula.


Heat transport in the solar corona and wind is still a major unsolved astrophysical problem. Because of the key role played by electrons, the electron density and temperature(s) are important prerequisites for understanding these plasmas. We present such in situ measurements along the two first solar encounters of the Parker Solar Probe, between 0.5 and 0.17 au from the Sun, revealing different states of the emerging solar wind near the solar activity minimum. These preliminary results are obtained from a simplified analysis of the plasma quasi-thermal noise (QTN) spectrum measured by the Radio Frequency Spectrometer (FIELDS). The local electron density is deduced from the tracking of the plasma line, which enables accurate measurements, independent of calibrations and spacecraft perturbations, whereas the temperatures of the thermal and suprathermal components of the velocity distribution, as well as the average kinetic temperature, are deduced from the shape of the plasma line. The temperature of the weakly collisional thermal population, similar for both encounters, decreases with the distance as R−0.74, which is much slower than adiabatic. In contrast, the temperature of the nearly collisionless suprathermal population exhibits a virtually flat radial variation. The 7 s resolution of the density measurements enables us to deduce the low-frequency spectrum of compressive fluctuations around perihelion, varying as f−1.4. This is the first time that QTN spectroscopy is implemented with an electric antenna length not exceeding the plasma Debye length. As PSP will approach the Sun, the decrease in the Debye length is expected to considerably improve the accuracy of the temperature measurements.


The expression of displeasure on a consumer's behalf towards an organization, product, or event is denoted via the speech act known as complaint. Customers typically post reviews on retail websites and various social media platforms about the products or services they purchase, and the reviews may include complaints about the products or services. Automatic detection of consumers' complaints about items or services they buy can be critical for organizations and online merchants since they can use this insight to meet the customers' requirements, including handling and addressing the complaints. Previous studies on Complaint Identification (CI) are limited to text. Images posted with the reviews can provide cues to identify complaints better, thus emphasizing the importance of incorporating multi-modal inputs into the process. Furthermore, the customer's emotional state significantly impacts the complaint expression since emotions generally influence any speech act. As a result, the impact of emotion and sentiment on automatic complaint identification must also be investigated. One of the major contributions of this work is the creation of a new dataset- Complaint, Emotion, and Sentiment Annotated Multi-modal Amazon Reviews Dataset (CESAMARD), a collection of opinionated texts (reviews) and images of the products posted on the website of the retail giant Amazon. We present an attention-based multi-modal, adversarial multi-task deep neural network model for complaint detection to demonstrate the utility of the multi-modal dataset. Experimental results indicate that the multi-modality and multi-tasking complaint identification outperforms uni-modal and single-task variants.


This study aims to examine the argumentation regarding freedom of speech and the statement "je suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie") in eight opinion articles from different Swedish web magazines. Two doctotral dissertations who's main topics are the freedom of speech and different types of arguments regarding freedom of speach, was used in this study. The study also uses the actual Swedish law surrounding the freedom of speech, as well as the freedom of the press and breaches of these laws. Also mentioned as different types of theories are; utilitarianism and journalism ethics and standards.This is a qualitative study using rhetorical analysis as a main method, but the study also uses some tools from the field of argument analysis, such as theses and main arguments.The results from this study shows, amongst other things, that various arguments can be used when trying to get your view surrounding the freedom of speech across. However there seems to be a clear difference between the writers who argue that the freedom of speech is more important than the right to not having to be discriminated by a statement or an utterance, and the writers who argue that the right to not having to be discriminated by a statement is more important than the right to potentially disciminate someone while uttering something. The writers who share the first view presented here, that the freedom of speech is more important, are also the ones who support the expression "I am Charlie", and the writers who don't think that the freedom of speech is of more importance than the right to not having to be discriminated, does not support the expression "I am Charlie". However, while looking at this study, it's imoportant that the reader bares in mind that the results from it doesn't say anythning about anything else apart from the articles studied.


Although regular aerobic exercise improves overall health, increased physical activity can lead to heightened exposures to a variety of air pollutants. As such, the cardiovascular health benefits of exercise may be abrogated to some degree by the harmful actions of inhaled pollutants. This review aims to provide an up-to-date summary for health professionals of the cardiovascular responses as well as the risks of exercising in air pollution. Aerobic exercise augments the overall inhaled air pollution dose, potentiates the diffusion of pollutants into circulating blood, and augments oxidative stress and inflammation. The inhalation of particulate matter during exercise can raise blood pressure, impair vascular function, and unfavorably affect autonomic balance. Several studies suggest that air pollutants can increase ischemic symptoms and signs during exercise and can even be capable of impairing exercise performance in some scenarios. The overall evidence supports that the risk-to-benefit ratio generally favors that health care providers continue to strongly encourage their patients to perform regular aerobic exercise. Nevertheless, a greater effort should be made to educate patients about the risks of air pollutant exposures during exercise, particularly those at heightened cardiovascular risk. Although no strategy has been directly tested to reduce morbidity and mortality rate, several prudent actions can be taken to lessen the degree of exposures during exercise which may thereby help mitigate the adverse effects of air pollutants on exercise performance and cardiovascular risk.


UNLABELLED We conducted a prospective, multicenter, double-blinded, dose-ranging study to compare the risk/benefit ratio of large- and small-dose aprotinin with placebo after major orthopedic surgery. Fifty-eight patients were randomized into three groups: Large-Dose Aprotinin (4 M kallikrein inactivator unit [KIU] bolus before surgery followed by a continuous infusion of 1 M KIU/h until the end of surgery), Small-Dose Aprotinin (2 M KIU bolus plus 0.5 M KIU/h), and Placebo. Bleeding was measured and calculated. Bilateral ascending venography was systematically performed on the third postoperative day. Measured and calculated blood loss decreased in the Large-Dose Aprotinin group (calculated bleeding, whole blood, hematocrit 30%, median [range], 2,023 mL [633-4,113] as compared with placebo, 3,577 mL [1,670-21,758 mL]). The total number of homologous and autologous units was also significantly decreased in the Large-Dose Aprotinin group (2 U [0-5 U] as compared with placebo, 4 U [0-42 U]). No increase in deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism was observed in the aprotinin groups. Large-dose aprotinin was safe and effective in dramatically reducing the measured and calculated bleeding and the amount of transfused red blood cell units after major orthopedic surgery. IMPLICATIONS Large doses of aprotinin decrease blood loss and transfusion amount in major orthopedic surgery.


ANKHD1 is required for tumor carcinoma. Absract Background: Tumor metastasis is the major reason for poor prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after hepatic resection. SMYD3 has been demonstrated to promote liver tumor metastasis in mice. However, the detailed molecular mechanism is still largely unknown. Methods: The effect of SMYD3 on invasiveness and metastasis of HCC was analyzed by immunohistochemistry, migration assay, invasion assay, wound healing assay and in vivo lung metastasis assay. Mass spectrometry analysis was conducted using proteins pulled down by H3K4me3 antibody in SMYD3-overexpressing cells. Luciferase reporter, chromatin immunoprecipitation, Electrophoretic mobility shift assay were used to measure the regulation of SLUG transcription by SMYD3-ANKHD1. In addition, the role of SMYD3-ANKHD1 in determining clinical outcomes for HCC patients was investigated by immunohistochemistry in 243 HCC tissues. Results: SMYD3 was an independent prognostic factor of HCC and promoted migration and invasion of human HCC cells. ANKHD1 was identified by mass spectrometry as a co-regulator with SMYD3. ANKHD1 interacted with H3K4me3 when cells were overexpressing SMYD3. The pro-migratory and pro-invasive effects of SMYD3 were attenuated when ANKHD1 was knocked down by siRNA. Furthermore, we found that SMYD3 bound and activated the SLUG gene promoter in a manner associated with elevating H3K4me3, H3K9Ac and H3K14Ac. Knockdown of ANKHD1 could attenuate the SMYD3-dependent activation of Slug expression. We further detected the expression of SMYD3 and ANKHD1 in 243 HCC patients and found that patients with positive coexpression of SMYD3 and ANKHD1 (SMYD3 + ANKHD1 + ) had the shortest overall and recurrence-free survival. Conclusion: Our findings provide a novel molecular mechanism for the SMYD3-regulated HCC migration and metastasis, and indicates that SMYD3-ANKHD1 may be a potential target for treating HCC.


notions a slightly more human face (and especially before we proceed to introduce any mathematics), we pause briefly to provide two examples of second-order liability rules. The first is an existing common law rule, and the second is a proposal for a modification of a common law rule made several years back by our colleague, Robert Ellickson. A good example of a second-order liability rule in the common law is the incomplete privilege of private necessity available in cases of intentional tort. In the famous case of Vincent v. Lake Erie Transportation Co.,' the Minnesota Supreme Court used the doctrine of incomplete privilege to hold a shipowner liable when his ship damaged a dock while he attempted to moor the ship during a storm.4 Yet the court simultaneously acknowledged that the dock owner would have had to pay damages to the defendant if the dock owner had subsequently unmoored the defendant's ship, causing it to be damaged.42 38. It is certainly possible to construct examples in which property rules produce better bargaining But there are no a priori reasons to think that property rules facilitate trade when transaction costs are low 39. Under the privilege of necessity, a defendant is permitted to commit an intentional tort to another's rights in property or realty to protect a more valuable interest in property or an interest in bodily security or life. See RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 262, 263 & cmt. d (1965). Where the more valuable interest belongs to a large number of persons, for example, where a city must be sasd from a fire. the privilege is one of public necessity, and the defendant owes no compensation. See id. § 262 & cmi. d. However, where the more valuable interest belongs only to the defendant or a small number of persons, the privilege is classified as a case of private necessity, and the defendant must still compensate the plaintiff for the harm caused by the invasion. See id. § 263(2) & cmt. e. Because compensation is oiscd. the privilege is said to be incomplete. However, because the defendant has a pnvilcge. the plaintiff must pay for the damages caused by any self-help she undertakes to avoid the taking. See id. § 263 cmt. b. Yee aIso Ploof v. Putnam, 71 A. 188 (Vt. 1908). 40. 124 N.W. 221 (Minn. 1910). 41. See i&2 at 222. 42. Vincent's discussion of Ploof v. Putnam makes clear that the shipowner's option to take can itself be retaken if damages are paid: In Ploof v. Putnam ... the Supreme Court of Vermont held that where, under stress of %% cather. a vessel was without permission moored to a private dock at an island in Lake Champlain owned by the defendant, the plaintiff was not guilty of trespass, and that the defendant w-as responsible in damages because his representative upon the island unmoored the vessel. permitting it to drift upon the shore, with resultant injuries to it. If. in that case, the vessel had been permitted to remain, and the dock had suffered an injury, we believe the shipowner would have been held liable for the injury done. Vincent, 124 N.W. at 222. The shipowner's option--a liability rule-is itself protected by a liability rule. 19961 The Yale Law Journal Jon Hanson and Matt Stowe have identified Vincent as a vivid example of how the common law protects an option to take an entitlement (a liability rule) with another liability rule.43 The dock owner holds the initial entitlement to the physical security of the dock. The shipowner (because of the exigencies of the storm) has a first-stage option to "take" the dock by mooring the ship to it and by paying damages for any injury that results. The dock owner has a second-stage option to unmoor the ship, but at a cost: The dock owner gives up a cause of action against the shipowner for damages and exposes himself to tort liability for any resulting damages to the ship and its crew. Exercising this second-stage option imposes on the dock owner a direct cost (potential tort liability) and an opportunity cost (potential tort damages). 44 Our second example comes from Robert Ellickson. In the early 1970s, Ellickson proposed a modification of nuisance rules that would amount to a second-order liability rule, and our Essay has in large part been inspired by his analysis.45 Ellickson argued that when a landowner committed an intentional nuisance or other unneighborly activities, the landowner would be liable for damages, but that other parties could enjoin continuation of the activity if they were willing to compensate the landowner for any losses he suffered from that injunction.46 Under Ellickson's proposed regime, the defendant (polluter) decides whether to purchase the right to pollute, and the plaintiff (pollutee) then decides whether to purchase an injunction to stop the pollution.47 43. Hanson and Stowe refer to the Vincent standard as a "two-sided" liability rule. Jon Hanson & Matt Stowe, Lecture Notes, Torts, Harvard Law School (Fall 1996) (on file with the Yale Law Journal). 44. We emphasize this dual cost because readers are likely to imagine that the total cost of the dock owner's action is the payment of damages. It is important to account for these opportunity costs-foregoing damages created by the other party's previous taking-if we wish to understand how much exercising an option really costs an actor. 45. See Robert C. Ellickson, Alternatives to Zoning: Covenants, Nuisance Rules, and Fines as Land Use Controls, 40 U. CH. L. REv. 681 (1973). In fact, Ellickson, Hanson, and Stowe, to our knowledge, are the only people who have seriously analyzed the potential utility of higher-order liability rules. In 1980, Mitch Polinsky saw that the law could give both polluters and pollutees a liability option to change the initial amount of legally permissible pollution. See A. Mitchell Polinsky, Resolving Nuisance Disputes: The Simple Economics ofInjunctive and Damage Remedies, 32 STAN. L. REV. 1075, 1086-88 (1980). Polinsky opined that this type of regime "has not to my knowledge been considered by legal commentators or the courts. Since this remedy turns out to be unhelpful in most of the situations examined in this article, I will hereafter ignore it." Id. While Polinsky's article included a pathbreaking analysis of first-order liability rules, he never addressed the sequence in which second-order taking options might be exercised. See also Morris, supra note 4. at 822, 891-93 (recognizing possible usefulness of second-order liability rules, but not pursuing question of when these rules might be efficient). 46. See Ellickson, supra note 45, at 748. Ellickson described this proposal as a combination of two different types of entitlement regimes originally offered by Calabresi and Melamed. See id. at 738. Calabresi and Melamed's "Rule 2" gives the polluter an option to pollute and pay damages, while their "Rule 4" gives the pollutee an option to enjoin pollution by paying damages to the polluter. See Calabresi & Melamed, supra note 2, at 1115-24. 47. In contrast, the "purchased injunction" featured in the famous case of Spur Industries v. Del E. Webb Development Co., 494 P.2d 700 (Ariz. 1972), represents a first-order liability rule. The polluter, in this case the owner of a feed lot, has the original entitlement to pollute. However, this entitlement is only protected by a liability rule. The neighbors have the option to stop pollution by paying damages and purchasing an injunction. Their taking is then protected by a property rule in the form of that injunction. See id. at 705-08. (Vol. 106: 703 Entitlements as Auctions In the end, we will argue that reciprocal taking options are most likely to be efficient only where: (1) there are two (or a small number of) potential entitlement owners; (2) property rules (because of strategic bargaining) fail to induce efficient trade; (3) the process of takings itself does not destroy value; and (4) the prospect of takings does not undermine people's incentives to create and develop property. Many readers will no doubt object that the first two conditions are almost never met, because two parties will normally be able to capture the potential gains from trade. Yet the theory of bilateral monopoly4" argues that substantial inefficiency can persist even when there are only two bargainers and the only transaction cost is incomplete information. For example, the case of contract renegotiation (described infra Part V) is a classic case where such bilateral monopoly problems routinely


The evidence of the infilling, shape, longevity and setting of the Carboniferous basins of northern Europe, long available in the public domain and now, with additions from the petroleum and coal-mining industries, is assembled. It suggests that their nature and origin are products of a sequentially and spatially nesting hierarchical mechanism of crustal change, within a framework that remains stationary within the bounds of the subcontinent. The observed dynamic morphology of subsidence in the coal-mining basins suggests an alternating sequence of downwardly narrowing linearly elongated, generally rectilineal zones, across which vertical movement takes place in the crust. The narrowing sequence of vertical movement is elliptically basinal or domal in the near surface, with subordinately horizontal tensional and compressional zones within it; rotational and counter-rotational respectively, below the wider, overlying, tensional and compressional zones; and finally, a vertical plane lying beneath the transition point between the two rotational zones. It is concluded that, to produce the observed pattern, the earliest cycles in the mechanism have cumulatively underprinted their successively more primary lines of disturbance, to produce the upward diminishing hierarchy of sizes of rectilineal block motions, responsible for the Carboniferous, preceding and succeeding basins.


The theoretical hydrodynamic pressure modeling were presented for flow of coolant fluid through the grinding zone in flood delivery grinding using roughness surface grinding wheel. The simulation results show that the hydrodynamic pressure was proportion to grinding wheel velocity, and inverse proportion to the minimum gap between wheel and work surface and the maximum pressure value was generated just in the minimum gap region in which higher fluid pressure gradient occuring. It can also be concluded the surface roughness of grinding wheel and workpiece makes the contact zone's hydrodynamic pressure rough and unstable, i.e. the value curve considering roughness is not smooth, leading to the micro-elastohydrodynamic lubrication phenomenon.


A new X-band wind field algorithm (XMOD) based on a linear approach is discussed in another paper to describe the relationship between normalized radar cross section (NRCS), wind speed, wind direction and incidence angle. But XMOD could only be applied with VV polarization SAR data. To be use the HH polarization SAR data, two C-band polarization ratio models were analysed and modified to X-band. To demonstrate the applicability of the two models, 10m height wind speeds were computed with XMOD from several VV/HH TerraSAR-X images and validated by QuikScat and DWD model results. In addition, the wind speeds were retrieved and compared to each other from the HH and VV polarization TerraSAR-X images of the same scene at the same time.


We present a novel approach to detect and track independently moving regions in a 3D scene observed by a moving camera in the presence of strong parallax. Detected moving pixels are classified into independently moving regions or parallax regions by analyzing two geometric constraints: the commonly used epipolar constraint, and the structure consistency constraint. The second constraint is implemented within a "plane+parallax" framework and represented by a bilinear relationship which relates the image points to their relative depths. This newly derived relationship is related to trilinear tensor, but can be enforced into more than three frames. It does not assume a constant reference plane in the scene and therefore eliminates the need for manual selection of reference plane. Then, a robust parallax filtering scheme is proposed to accumulate the geometric constraint errors within a sliding window and estimate a likelihood map for pixel classification. The likelihood map is integrated into our tracking framework based on the spatio-temporal joint probability data association filter (JPDAF). This tracking approach infers the trajectory and bounding box of the moving objects by searching the optimal path with maximum joint probability within a fixed size of buffer. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach on real video sequences where parallax effects are significant.


Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic disorder of lipoprotein metabolism resulting in elevated serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels leading to increased risk for premature cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The diagnosis of this condition is based on clinical features, family history, and elevated LDL-cholesterol levels aided more recently by genetic testing. As the atherosclerotic burden is dependent on the degree and duration of exposure to raised LDL-cholesterol levels, early diagnosis and initiation of treatment is paramount. Statins are presently the mainstay in the management of these patients, although newer drugs, LDL apheresis, and other investigational therapies may play a role in certain subsets of FH, which are challenging to treat. Together these novel treatments have notably improved the prognosis of FH, especially that of the heterozygous patients. Despite these achievements, a majority of children fail to attain targeted lipid goals owing to persistent shortcomings in diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment. This review aims to highlight the screening, diagnosis, goals of therapy, and management options in patients with FH.


Purpose

The "virtuality" of a team collaborative interaction is the extent to which it is accomplished in the same place, in fully distributed virtual teams, or in a hybrid combination of the two. However, existence, strength and process of potential association between virtuality and effectiveness in construction project teams have remained elusive. This paper aims to address this gap in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, a conceptual model demonstrating the association between virtuality and effectiveness of teams was developed through integrating the input-process-output (IPO) model and the "Big Five" theory. This conceptual model was contextualised for the construction industry drawing upon conducting 17 semi-structured interviews with hybrid team experts.

Findings

The findings provide the first model mapping the associations between virtuality and dimensions of team effectiveness for the construction context.

Practical implications

The discovered patterns of associations between virtuality and dimensions of effectiveness for hybrid construction project teams (HCPTs) will assist managers in designing and running more effective teams. In addition, the findings help construction practitioners better understand how virtuality influence the performance and satisfaction of team members in HCPTs. The present study concludes with outlining a set of recommendations based on the findings of the study.

Originality/value

As the first study in its kind, the present study offers a new insight into the concept and impacts of virtuality for construction teams and provides instructions and guidelines for designing and maintaining the effectiveness of such teams on construction projects.


The psychosomatic aspect of the psoriasis was always wondered and scrutinized. In many studies carried out before, it was showed that there was a meaningful relationship with psoriasis among depression, anxiety, and worriment. But, there was very few studies researching the possitive or negative effect of the pschologic stresses of the patients. In this study, we researched whether depression, hopelessness, worriment and anxiety have the negative effect to the examination, or not. 50 psoriasis patients receiving the narrow-band UVB (NB-UVB) phototherapy were included to the study. The severity of disease, pre-treatment, and following 20 seans were reckoned by being used the Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). Morever, the patiens were evaluated in terms of depression, hopelessness, worriment and anxiety by being used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale -Anxiety subscale (HAS). The patients were examinated in two groups: those are reaching to PASI 50 after 20 seans NB-UVB treatment and those cannot reach. These two groups were compared in terms of sociodemographic attributes, scale scores, disease duration, and the first PASI values by being used the statical methods. Beck Depression Inventory score was found to be statistically significantly higher in patients who did not reach PASI 50 than the other group in our study. Also, no significant difference was observed in other questionnaire scores. However, in multivariate analyses; lower depression score according to the BDI is independently associated with reaching PASI 50 after treatment (OR=0.840, 95% CI= 0.742-0.950, p=0.006). We can increase the effectiveness of the treatment by providing psychiatric support before treatment in psoriasis patients with psychiatric distress such as depression.


Previous published studies have identified a class of women, Normal Weight Obese women (NWO) with normal BMI and high fat content. An important role of Interleukin-15 (IL-15) has been documented in facilitating muscle proliferation and promoting fat depletion. Indeed the presence of three types of IL-15 receptor subunits in fat tissue suggests a direct effect on adipose tissue. We studied three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of IL-15Rα receptor gene and investigated their relationship with NWO phenotype. We considered two classes of women according to their BMI and percent fat mass (%FAT), class 1: including 72 overweight-obese women (high BMI-high fat mass) and class 2: including 36 NWO (normal BMI, high fat mass). Three sites of Interleukin-15 receptor subunit α gene were examined, located respectively in exon4, exon5 intron-exon border and exon7. Genotyping of the identified polymorphisms was performed by restriction fragment length polymorphism. Haplotype frequency estimation was performed by using the Mendel-University of Chicago program. Odds ratio analyses were calculated by EPISTAT program. Highly significant differences were observed for exon 7-exon5 intron-exon border and exon 4-exon 7 haplotype distribution between class 1 and class 2 women. These results strongly support the hypothesis that genetic variability of the IL-15 receptor has an important role in body fat composition. Our data underscore previous findings that suggest a potential role of IL-15 cytokine in NWO syndrome.


The nonstructural NS2 protein of influenza A/PR/8/34 virus was efficiently expressed in bacteria, and monospecific antisera were prepared against the bacterially synthesized polypeptide. These antisera were cross-reactive among the NS2 proteins of various influenza A viruses. However, they did not react with the NS2 of influenza B/Lee/40 virus nor with other proteins of influenza A viruses such as NS1. Antisera against NS2 were used to determine that the NS2 protein is localized in the cell nucleus during influenza virus infection, as shown by immunofluorescence microscopy. Cells infected with simian virus 40 recombinants containing the influenza virus NS gene revealed that both the NS1 and NS2 proteins appeared in the nucleus, even in the absence of expression of other influenza virus-specific components.


PURPOSE
To investigate the relationship between nurse staffing and quality of life in nursing homes.

METHODS
This is a descriptive, correlational study. The independent variables were nursing staffing hours per resident day (HPRD), skill mix HPRD, and turnover rate of nursing staff. The data for the dependent variables were collected using the quality of life (QOL) section of minimum data set (MDS) version 3.0. Hierarchical linear models were used for data analysis.

RESULTS
Few staffing variables were statistically associated with residents' QOL. More RN HPRD were associated with better comfort and enjoyment domains, more licensed practical nurses (LPN) HPRD were associated with better dignity, and more certified nurse assistant (CNA) HPRD were associated with better functional competence domains. In terms of skill mix, the unique contribution of more RNs (to less LPN or CNAs) was supported in the functional competence of residents. However, surprising results were that: (a) as the HPRD of RNs increased, the scores of meaningful activity and relationship decreased; and (b) the contribution of LPNs (more LPNs to less RNs) were supported in the autonomy and spiritual well-being domains. Interestingly, nursing staff turnover is positively correlated with some domains of QOL: (a) a higher score in the enjoyment domain with increased RN turnover; and (b) a higher score in privacy, relationship, and individuality domains with increased turnover of LPNs.

CONCLUSION
This is a preliminary study to investigate the relationship between nursing staffing and QOL for nursing home residents. Further examination is needed to confirm the relationship and provide policy guidelines, including nurse staffing recommendations.


This chapter presents three instances of innovative practices pursued by Croatian trade unions in the aftermath of the economic crisis, which could be singled out as particularly important for the future of the trade union movement in the country. The first case concerns union involvement with direct democracy which was chosen due to its growing popularity as an alternative tool for channelling labour discontent. It is arguably the most visible example of union innovation and its overall success and potential will be analysed. The two other cases deal with trade unions' participation in the development of vocational education programmes and their efforts to represent temporary agency workers. Both concern rather isolated activities which, however, carry much potential as examples of best practice. The selected initiatives are subsequently assessed with respect to the so-called dimensions of innovation, developed in the Introduction to this volume.


Since the late 1970s, private equity has become an increasingly important financial asset class with significant economic impact. The article addresses private equity characteristics, delineates how fair value accounting practices entered the industry, and empirically examines the implications of fair value accounting practices on LBO returns. Nevertheless, the question of how to account for private equity funds' unrealized investments remains highly controversial. This article empirically examines whether fair value accounting provides more accurate valuations and enhances comparability with public databases. The results show that time lags in private equity reporting have to be considered in return attribution and that leading buyout return indices have become more correlated since 2000 with the use of fair value accounting.


Backgroud: Tumour recurrence and metastasis lead to poor prognosis in colon cancer (COAD). Therefore We aimed to identify a lncRNA signature through an integrative analysis of copy number variation, mutation and transcriptome data to predict prognosis and explore its internal mechanism.Methods: The lncRNA expression profile were collected from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). TCGA data was randomly divided 3:1 into training and testing cohort. In the training, we performed integrated analyses of three candidate lncRNA sets that correlated with prognosis, copy number variations and mutations to establish a signature through Cox regression analysis. The robustness was determined in the testing and GEO. Results: An 11-lncRNA signature that was significantly associated with prognosis was constructed in the training (P<0.0001, HR=2.014) , And this signature was validated in the testing (P=0.0019, HR=3.374) and GSE17536 (P=0.0076, HR=1.864). The signature is significantly related to MSI status and clinical prognostic factors. The prognostic-related risk scores were significantly excellent than the other five models have been reported. Furthermore, GSEA suggested that the signature was involved in COAD development and metastasis-related pathways.Conclusions: We identified an signature has strong robustness and can stably predict the prognosis of COAD in different platforms and may be implicated in COAD pathogenesis and metastasis and applied clinically as a prognostic marker.


The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has the primary responsibility of maintaining stable prices conducive to a balanced and sustainable economic growth. The year 2008 posed a challenge to the BSPOs monetary policy making as inflation hit an official 17-year high of 12.5 percent in August after ten months of continuous acceleration. The alarming double-digit inflation rate was attributed to rising fuel and food prices, particularly the price of rice. A high inflation rate has impact on poverty since inflation affects the poor more than the rich. From a macroeconomic perspective, a high level of inflation is not conducive to economic growth. This paper proposes a method of estimating inflation-at-risk (IaR) similar to the value-at-risk (VaR) used to estimate risk in the financial markets. The IaR represents the maximum inflation over a target horizon for a given low pre-specified probability. It can serve as an early warning system that the BSP can use to identify whether the level of inflation is extreme enough to be considered an imminent threat to its inflation objective. Extreme value theory (EVT), which deals with the frequency and magnitude of very low-probability events, is used as the basis for building a model in estimating the IaR. The estimates of the IaR using the peaks-over-threshold (POT) model suggest that while the inflation rate experienced in 2008 cannot be considered as an extreme value, it was very near the estimated 90 percent IaR.


The α-arrestins domain-containing 1 and 3 (ARRDC1 and ARRDC3) are two members of the α-arrestins family. Yes-associated protein 1 (YAP1) is a key downstream transcription co-activator of the Hippo pathway essential for cancer initiation, progression, or metastasis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The aim of this work was to elucidate the role of the α-arrestins in ccRCC tumorigenesis by identifying molecular interacting factors and exploring potential mechanisms. In this study, we identified YAP1 as a novel ARRDC3 interacting protein in RCC cells through tandem affinity purification and mass spectrometry. We confirmed that ARRDC1 and ARRDC3, but not other α-arrestin family proteins, interact with YAP1. Binding of ARRDC1/3 to YAP1 is mediated through the WW domains of YAP1 and the PPXY motifs of ARRDC1/3. Functional analysis of ARRDC1/3 by lentiviral shRNA revealed a role for ARRDC1/3 in suppression of cell growth, migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in ccRCC cells, and these effects were mediated, at least in part, through YAP1. Mechanically, ARRDC1/3 negatively regulates YAP1 protein stability by facilitating E3 ubiquitin ligase Itch-mediated ubiquitination and degradation of YAP1. Moreover, ARRDC1/3 mRNA levels were significantly downregulated in ccRCC specimens. A negative correlation was identified between ARRDC3 and YAP1 expression in ccRCC specimens by immunohistochemistry. This study revealed a novel mechanism for ARRDC1/3 in the regulation of YAP1 stability and provided insight in understanding the relationship between ARRDC1/3 downregulation and aberrant Hippo-YAP1 pathway activation in ccRCC.


The data archival process starts with the acquisition of information on scientific projects. This applies specially to time-consuming and cost intensive acquisition of data in remote polar regions. Within the ingestion framework for raw data at AWI, the data acquisition and processing workflow has been defined as a generic RDIF project. Once a RDIF projects has been defined, a seamless data transfer from scientifc acquisition systems to data archives follows atomatically. In the framework of the data flow, the datasets undergo a "file structure" validation process in which not only the associated metadata is created but also a digital object identifier (DOI) is assigned. The assigned identifier beomes an integral part of the metadata being used in all following processing steps and visualization procedures.


Significance Our knowledge of the effect of a specific lack of education on the brain and cognitive development is currently poor but is highly relevant given differences between countries in their educational curricula and the differences in opportunities to access education. We show that within the same society, adolescent students who specifically lack mathematical education exhibited reduced brain inhibition levels in a key brain area involved in reasoning and cognitive learning. Importantly, these brain inhibition levels predicted mathematical attainment ∼19 mo later, suggesting they play a role in neuroplasticity. Our study provides biological understanding of the impact of the lack of mathematical education on the developing brain and the mutual play between biology and education. Formal education has a long-term impact on an individual's life. However, our knowledge of the effect of a specific lack of education, such as in mathematics, is currently poor but is highly relevant given the extant differences between countries in their educational curricula and the differences in opportunities to access education. Here we examined whether neurotransmitter concentrations in the adolescent brain could classify whether a student is lacking mathematical education. Decreased γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentration within the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) successfully classified whether an adolescent studies math and was negatively associated with frontoparietal connectivity. In a second experiment, we uncovered that our findings were not due to preexisting differences before a mathematical education ceased. Furthermore, we showed that MFG GABA not only classifies whether an adolescent is studying math or not, but it also predicts the changes in mathematical reasoning ∼19 mo later. The present results extend previous work in animals that has emphasized the role of GABA neurotransmission in synaptic and network plasticity and highlight the effect of a specific lack of education on MFG GABA concentration and learning-dependent plasticity. Our findings reveal the reciprocal effect between brain development and education and demonstrate the negative consequences of a specific lack of education during adolescence on brain plasticity and cognitive functions.


This essay questions a key takeaway from the Ferguson/Gaza convergence that catalyzed the current wave of Black-Palestinian transnational solidarity: the idea that "equivalence," or a politics of analogy based on racial or national identity, or racialized or colonial experience, is the sole or primary grounds for solidarity. By revisiting three recent spectacular moments involving Black intellectuals advocating for Palestine—Michelle Alexander's op-ed in the New York Times criticizing Israeli policies, CNN's firing of Marc Lamont Hill, and the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute's initial decision to deny Angela Davis its highest honor—this paper suggests that their controversial positions must be traced back to the post-1967 moment. The convergence of Black urban rebellions and the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war birthed the first significant wave of Black-Palestinian solidarity; at the same time, solidarities rooted in anti-imperialism and Left internationalism rivaled the "Black-Jewish alliance," founded on analogy of oppression rather than shared principles of liberation. Third World insurgencies and anti-imperialist movements, not just events in the United States and Palestine, created the conditions for radically reordering political alliances: rather than adopting a politics of analogy or identity, the Black and Palestinian Left embraced a vision of "worldmaking" that was a catalyst for imagining revolution as opposed to plotting coalition.


The 2004 update to the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines goes farther than the 2001 version in suggesting an optional low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goal of less than 70 mg/dL for patients at "very high risk." It recommends starting both diet and drug therapy in all patients at high or very high risk whose LDL-C level is above the goal level, with the goal of reducing LDL-C by 30% to 40%. These more aggressive guidelines are based on results of five clinical studies published since 2001.


The detection efficiency of an ionization counter and the resulting energy spectra of samples can be dependent on the sample geometry. This is especially important for samples that are large compared to the size of the detector since some of the alpha particles emitted near the edge of the samples might not be collected if their trajectories fall outside the active area of the detector. We examine this effect in detail by measuring the alpha particles detected for rings and disks of various sizes, and compare the results to analytical and Monte Carlo models.


Thirty-three cats' femoral and carotid arteries repaired and grafted with microsuture techniques were examined histologically 11 to 23 months following surgery. Scar tissue was found at the site of longitudinal and circumferential repairs. Vein-patch grafts were completely replaced by fibrous tissue, and a new internal elastic lamina had developed. Segmental and bypass grafts maintained their three vascular layers, but some degree of fibrosis developed at all levels. The reason for the difference between the behavior of the vein patch and the segmental vein graft when implanted in an artery may lie in the ratio of surgical trauma to the size of the graft.


Abstract. We present a detailed numerical study on the effects of a non-dipole magnetic field on the Earth's plasma sheet electron distribution and its implication for diffuse auroral precipitation. Use of the modified bounce-averaged Fokker-Planck equation developed in the companion paper by Ni et al. (2012) for 2-D non-dipole magnetic fields suggests that we can adopt a numerical scheme similar to that used for a dipole field, but should evaluate bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients and bounce period related terms in non-dipole magnetic fields. Focusing on nightside whistler-mode chorus waves at L = 6, and using various Dungey magnetic models, we calculate and compare of the bounce-averaged diffusion coefficients in each case. Using the Alternative Direction Implicit (ADI) scheme to numerically solve the 2-D Fokker-Planck diffusion equation, we demonstrate that chorus driven resonant scattering causes plasma sheet electrons to be scattered much faster into loss cone in a non-dipole field than a dipole. The electrons subject to such scattering extends to lower energies and higher equatorial pitch angles when the southward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) increases in the Dungey magnetic model. Furthermore, we find that changes in the diffusion coefficients are the dominant factor responsible for variations in the modeled temporal evolution of plasma sheet electron distribution. Our study demonstrates that the effects of realistic ambient magnetic fields need to be incorporated into both the evaluation of resonant diffusion coefficients and the calculation of Fokker-Planck diffusion equation to understand quantitatively the evolution of plasma sheet electron distribution and the occurrence of diffuse aurora, in particular at L > 5 during geomagnetically disturbed periods when the ambient magnetic field considerably deviates from a magnetic dipole.


In view of the epidemic proportions of obesity in South Africa and its relationship to cardiometabolic diseases, such as hypertension, a cross sectional study was conducted to investigate the utility of obesity indicators for predicting hypertension among older persons (≥60 years, n = 350) in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The WHO STEPwise approach was used to collect data on demographic and lifestyle factors. Anthropometrics and blood pressure were measured according to the standard procedures. Receiver operating characteristic curves (ROC) were used to investigate and compare the ability of obesity indicators to predict overall hypertension and either increased systolic (SBP) or increased diastolic (DBP) blood pressure. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was used to assess a certain indicator's potential to predict overall hypertension and either increased SBP or increased DBP. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship of hypertension with obesity indicators. The mean age of the participants was 69 years (±SD = 7), and hypertension (46%), general obesity (36%) and abdominal obesity (57%) were prevalent among older persons. The obesity indicator body mass index (BMI) (AUC = 0.603 (0.52; 0.69)) was the best predictor of hypertension in older men. Waist circumference (WC) (AUC = 0.640 (0.56; 0.72)) and waist-to-height ratio (WHtR) (AUC = 0.605 (0.52; 0.69)) were better predictors of hypertension than BMI and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) in older women. After adjustment for risk factors, only WC (AOR = 1.22 (1.16; 1.79)) was significantly associated with hypertension in older women, proposing WC as a screening tool for the prediction of hypertension in South African older women.


This thesis examines the chemistry of Small Cyano Anions (SCAs), specifically dicyanonitrosomethanide (dcnm) and dicyanonitromethanide (dcnom). The aims of this work are to observe the coordination modes offered by these SCAs and their derivatives as well as the propensity of both anions to undergo transition metal promoted nucleophilic addition as a means for in situ ligand synthesis. Chapter Two of this thesis illustrates the chemistry of the carbamoylcyanonitrosomethanide (ccnm) anion, which is the product of water addition to a nitrile arm of dcnm. In some cases the formation of ccnm was observed in our attempts to induce nucleophilic addition of aromatic amines and a primary alcohol. The structure of the octanuclear manganese cluster [MnII4MnIII4O4(ccnm)12]•4MeCN•7H2O was found to possess a rare tetra-capped distorted cubane topology that displayed dominant antiferromagnetic interactions. The addition of base to a reaction involving ccnm caused deprotonation, yielding amidocarbonyl(cyano)nitrosomethanide (acnm) species. Chapter Three discusses the ability of alcohol addition products to construct a diverse range of metal complexes, ranging from mononuclear to polymeric structures. A series of coordination networks structures were obtained by reacting dcnm anions with FeII and a range of alkali metals in methanol. The unprecedented coordination mode displayed by cyano[imino(methoxy)methyl]nitrosomethanide (cmnm) in these structures allowed the formation of 2D network structures, containing cmnm bridging both FeII and alkali metal centres. Also observed was a new coordination mode of cmnm, a syn-isomeric form as opposed to the predominant anti-isomeric form, in the 1D polymeric structure [Zn(cmnm)2(4,4′-bpy)]•2H¬2O. The nucleophilic addition of alcohols was not just limited to small alcohols, as demonstrated by the formation of hydroxyethylaminobis(ethoxy(imino)methyl(cyano)nitrosomethanide (hbnm) and methylaminobis(ethoxy(imino)methyl(cyano)nitrosomethanide (mbnm) from the addition of triethanolamine (teaH¬3) and N-methyldiethanolamine (mdeaH2) respectively. With attempts to observe the nucleophilic additions of aromatic amines with pyridyl functionalities unsuccessful, attention was turned to aliphatic amines (while retaining the pyridyl functionality), and specifically n-aminomethylpyridines (n = 2, 3, 4). The results of this study are given in Chapter Four. Each of the primary amines was observed to undergo nucleophilic addition to the nitrile arm of dcnm, with solution studies for a zinc complex suggesting that water is necessary in this reaction. The addition of m-xylenediamine to dcnm resulted in the formation of a "triple-decker" structure, with the orthogonal arrangement of Cu(dx2-dy2) orbital yielding ferromagnetic coupling. Another notable feature of this compound was that deprotonation of the cmnm ligand was observed for the first time. Chapter Five discusses the formation of pyrazole (Hpz) addition products, which are the first examples of addition of solid nucleophiles to dcnm. A series of mononuclear, metal cluster and 1D zigzag chain structures were obtained from these reactions, although the reaction was observed only for copper ions. Magnetic studies on these complexes revealed the imido bridge with a bridging angle of ~120o led to very strong antiferromagnetic interactions. Chapter Six describes the chemistry of dcnom anion. Two reaction procedures were conducted involving this anion, conventional bench top and solvothermal reactions, each of which resulted in different products being obtained.


We analyzed the largest simultaneous collection of full-payload packet traces from a core component of the global Internet infrastructure ever made available to academic researchers. Our dataset consists of three large samples of global DNS traffic collected during three annual "Day in the Life of the Internet" (DITL) experiments in January 2006, January 2007, and March 2008. Building on our previous comparison of DITL 2006 and DITL 2007 DNS datasets [28], we venture to extract historical trends, comparisons with other data sources, and interpretations, including traffic growth, usage patterns, impact of anycast distribution, and persistent problems in the root nameserver system that reflect ominously on the global Internet. Most notably, the data consistently reveals an extraordinary amount of DNS pollution -- an estimated 98% of the traffic at the root servers should not be there at all. Unfortunately, there is no clear path to reducing the pollution, so root server operators, and those who finance them, must perpetually overprovision to handle this pollution. Our study presents the most complete characterization to date of traffic reaching the roots, and while the study does not adequately fulfill the "Day in the Life of the Internet" vision, it does succeed at unequivocally demonstrating that the infrastructure on which we are all now betting our professional, personal, and political lives deserves a closer and more scientific look.


Extended Trubnikov emissivity is evaluated to oblique propagation to the magnetic field in the spherically symmetric relativistic Maxwellian case. Using the extended Trubnikov expression, electron cyclotron emission (ECE) spectra and electron temperature profiles are calculated in a reactor-grade tokamak. We investigate the possibility of electron temperature profile Te(r) measurement from second-harmonic extraordinary (X)-mode ECE by changing the propagation direction. The observation angles all are scanned in solid angle to find out when the relativistic effects of the third-harmonic ECE on second-harmonic ECE decrease are minimal. The measurable Te from second-harmonic X-mode becomes high by increasing the angle between the propagation sight line and the equatorial plane because of the avoidance of the overlap region between the second and third harmonics, but the spatial resolution becomes worse. The antenna is not necessarily located around the equatorial plane. The second X-mode and the fundamental ordinary (O)-mode for the Te(r) measurement from ECE are best in the cases of Te(0) ≤ 24 keV and 24 keV ≤ Te(0) ≤ 50 keV, respectively. When the electron density, the magnetic field, and/or the inverse aspect ratio increase, the measurable Te decreases.


Sustainability has become a buzz word within the socio-economic development agenda. Sustainability creates and maintains conditions under which society can cope and viably support livelihood requirements. Lack of economic growth and a rapid rise in urban population have created unintended consequences impacting on the economy, social fabric and the environment. Africa is urbanizing at an annual growth rate of 3.4% (United Nations 2011). Zimbabwe, akin other developing countries is also urbanizing at a high rate. Ironically, as urban population grew, conventional public transport declined, mainly as a result of an adverse operational environment. The twin factors of increasing population and the dearth of conventional public transport stimulated the growth of the informal public transport and private car ownership. As the informal sector and private motorisation expands, the city's main urban public space is increasingly more congested impeding rather than facilitating the urban population's ability to access the required social and economic services. A clear mismatch between the demand for traffic space and its availability is evident. Demand for traffic space exceeds its supply, inevitably resulting in congestion which can be protracted. Urban productivity is key to the growth of our urban economies and this requires the provision of a reliable, efficient transport system to move goods and labour. The paper examines and assesses the various strategies that can contribute to achieving a sustainable urban transport system. Data was collected through unstructured interviews from key stakeholders in both private and public sector. Stakeholders are agreed on the need to improve transport in Harare and proffered solutions which included mass transit, infrastructure improvements, institutional capacity and good governance among others.


Abstract OBJECTIVES We reviewed the incidence of coronavirus disease 2019 cases and the postoperative outcomes of patients who had thoracic surgery during the beginning and at the highest point of transmission in our community. METHODS We retrospectively reviewed patients who had undergone elective thoracic surgery from 12 February 2020 to 30 April 2020 and were symptomatic or tested positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection within 14 days after surgery, with a focus on their complications and potential deaths. RESULTS Out of 101 surgical procedures, including 57 primary oncological resections, 6 lung transplants and 18 emergency procedures, only 5 cases of coronavirus disease 2019 were identified, 3 in the immediate postoperative period and 2 as outpatients. All 5 patients had cancer; the median age was 64 years. The main virus-related symptom was fever (80%), and the median onset of coronavirus disease 2019 was 3 days. Although 80% of the patients who had positive test results for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 required in-hospital care, none of them were considered severe or critical and none died. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that, in properly selected cases, with short preoperative in-hospital stays, strict isolation and infection control protocols, managed by a dedicated multidisciplinary team, a surgical procedure could be performed with a relatively low risk for the patient.


relieved of his symptoms by the establishment of a by-pass between the aorta and superior mesenteric artery. The diagnosis of intestinal ischremia may be suggested by a history of abdominal pain brought on by food, and tending to become easier before the next meal. Chronic ischremia should be considered in patients with atypical pain, after other commoner causes have been excluded, and especially if there is evidence of some atheromatous lesion. Next to pain. weight loss is the main common symptom. probably the result of reduced food intake as the patient is aware that food brings on the pain. Although malabsorption has been observed, it is present only in a minority of patients. Confirmation of the diagnosis requires aortography, particularly with lateral views to display the origins of the superior mesenteric and creliac vessels. Laparotomy and the examination of the pulse in the affected vessels may also be necessary to establish the diagnosis. Surgical treatment is simplified by the fact that the Obstructive lesion is usually near the origin of the superior mesenteric artery, where it is a reasonably large vessel and easily accessible. The successful methods of treatment that have been reported include the construction of a by-pass (with the use of a vein graft, homograft or prosthesis) to the superior mesenteric artery beyond the obstruction, from any convenient vessel such as aorta, splenic artery or iliac artery.


and Implications The impact of dietary vitamin A, E, and C concentration on rate and efficiency of body weight gain and serum vitamin E (a-tocopherol) concentration was determined in pigs experiencing a low or high level of antigen exposure (AE). Pigs were reared via two management schemes that resulted in either a low or high level of AE. Dams of the pigs received a corn and soybean meal diet devoid of supplemental vitamins A, E, and C from day 60 of pregnancy through lactation. Postweaning, pigs were individually penned and self-fed a basal diet containing 25% of the estimated requirement (1) for 11Ð22 lb pigs for vitamins A and E, and 3.64 mg of vitamin C per pound of diet. At 21±2.6 lb body weight, pigs within a litter were randomly allotted to the basal diet supplemented with vitamins A, E, and C equivalent to 0, 100, 200, 300, and 400% of NRC (2 mg of C added per 1 IU of E). Low AE pigs had lower serum alpha-1 acid glycoprotein concentrations (466 vs 726 mg/mL) indicating they experienced a lower level of AE. Low AE pigs also gained body weight faster (1.39 vs 1.27 lb/day) and required less feed per unit of gain (1.37 vs 1.45) than high AE pigs fed from 21 to 55 lb body weight. As dietary concentrations of A, E, and C increased, daily gains increased quadratically, but the magnitude of response was greater for the high AE pigs. Serum vitamin E concentrations increased with increasing dietary concentrations of vitamins A, E, and C in low AE pigs but remained constant in high AE pigs. Based on these data, dietary needs for one or more of vitamins A, E, and C are greater in pigs experiencing a high versus low level of chronic antigen exposure. Furthermore, the needs of high-antigen-exposed pigs are greater than current estimated requirements (1).


This pathbreaking study of region, race, and gender reveals how we underestimate the South's influence on the formation of black masculinity at the national level. Many negative stereotypes of black men - often contradictory ones - have emerged from the ongoing historical traumas initiated by slavery. Are black men emasculated and submissive or hypersexed and violent? Nostalgic representations of black men have arisen as well: think of the philosophical, hardworking sharecropper or the abiding, upright preacher. To complicate matters, says Riche Richardson, blacks themselves appropriate these images for purposes never intended by their (mostly) white progenitors. Starting with such well-known caricatures as the Uncle Tom and the black rapist, Richardson investigates a range of pathologies of black masculinity that derive ideological force from their associations with the South. Military policy, black-liberation discourse, and contemporary rap, she argues, are just some of the instruments by which egregious pathologies of black masculinity in southern history have been sustained. Richardson's sources are eclectic and provocative, including Ralph Ellison's fiction, Charles Fuller's plays, Spike Lee's films, Huey Newton's and Malcolm X's political rhetoric, the O.J. Simpson discourse, and the music production of Master P, the Cash Money Millionaires, and other Dirty South rappers. Filled with new insights into the region's role in producing hierarchies of race and gender in and beyond their African American contexts, this new study points the way toward more epistemological frameworks for southern literature, southern studies, and gender studies.


A dumbbell-shaped copolymer (PDMAEMA)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAEMA)4 with a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) and redox responses was first synthesized by the combination of ring opening polymerization (ROP), click chemistry and atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). Then a dumbbell-shaped copolymer (PDMAPS)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAPS)4 with an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) and redox responses was obtained through the quaternization reaction between DMAEMA and excess 1,3-propane sultone. Both (PDMAEMA)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAEMA)4 and (PDMAPS)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAPS)4 were amphiphilic, and they could self-assemble into spherical micelles under certain conditions. Benefitting from the LCST-type thermoresponse of PDMAEMA and UCST-type thermoresponse of PDMAPS, both dumbbell-shaped copolymers (PDMAEMA)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAEMA)4 and (PDMAPS)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAPS)4 presented temperature-responsive properties. The morphology and size of their assemblies would be changed when the temperature is altered. Meanwhile, due to the redox-response of disulfide bonds, both (PDMAEMA)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAEMA)4 and (PDMAPS)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAPS)4 showed redox-responsive properties. When DL-dithiothreitol (DTT) was added into the systems, disulfide bonds were broken, causing the change of (PDMAEMA)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAEMA)4 to PCL-(PDMAEMA)4, while (PDMAPS)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAPS)4 changed into PCL-(PDMAPS)4. The distributions of Rh for both (PDMAEMA)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAEMA)4 and (PDMAPS)4-PCL-SS-PCL-(PDMAPS)4 assemblies broadened with asymmetric peaks, giving rise to curves with double peaks. After 24 h, DLS curves became symmetric with a single peak, and the Rh was about half that of the original assemblies. In the meantime, dispersed spherical micelles could be observed by TEM.


We study the financial leverage of firms that collude by forming a cartel. We find that cartel firms have lower leverage ratios during collusion periods, consistent with the idea that reductions in leverage help increase cartel stability. Cartel firms have a surprisingly large economic footprint (they represent more than 20% of the total market capitalization in the U.S.), so understanding their decisions is relevant. Our findings show that anti-competitive behavior has a significant effect on capital structure choices. They also shed new light on the relation between profitability and financial leverage.


In this article, we discuss variant of the multi-depot vehicle routing problem where depots can act as intermediate replenishment facilities along the route of a vehicle. This problem is a generalization of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). In the sequel we developed a Lexi-Search algorithm based "Pattern Recognition Technique" to solve this problem which takes care of simple combinatorial structure of the problem and computational results are reported.In this paper, we consider a real-world problem with a loaded vehicle. The vehicle is available for pickup and delivery service. Single-commodity cargo, that is, same cargo type, is present at the customer sites. The vehicle is able to carry out a Pickup and delivery service of such cargo among the customers. By starting and ending at the origin depot, the vehicle follows a route without having a predefined sequence of Pickup and delivery services.


This paper examines part of the interface between intelligent medical systems and statistics, with an overview of the most promising areas for development. From the biostatistics viewpoint, few intelligent systems have been subject to rigorous trials. The implementation of rigorous testing, analogous to pharmaceutical clinical trials, is suggested. By contrast, neural networks look promising as statistical tools.


Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is defined as intermittent complete or partial upper airway obstruction during sleep, causing mental and physical effects. Both the local and systemic inflammation observed in OSAS induce certain potent pro-inflammatory mediators, which may contribute to the development of cardiovascular consequences. The present study was designed to evaluate the plasma levels of TNF-alpha, which is one of the known pro-inflammatory cytokines, in patients with OSAS and to assess the effect of surgical treatment on the levels of TNF-alpha levels. Twenty seven patients diagnosed to have OSAS, 7 non-apneic patients with chronic tonsillitis (non-OSAS patients), and 4 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. Blood samples were collected one week preoperatively and postoperatively, and the plasma TNF-alpha levels were measured using high-sensitivity ELISA. The plasma TNF-alpha levels in patients with OSAS were significantly elevated in comparison to normal healthy subjects. In contrast, there was no difference between the patients with non-OSAS and healthy subjects. Moreover, the surgical treatment to enlarge the upper airway in patients with OSAS significantly decreased the levels of TNF-alpha levels. Surgical treatment of patients with OSAS reduces the plasma TNF-alpha levels, thereby ameliorating the systemic inflammation and preventing the development of cardiovascular consequences.


Since the introduction of the current system of floating exchange-rate regimes, the empirical literature on its implications has grown, with various studies exploring the effects of exchange-rate volatility using different data selection and modeling techniques. Most of these results have been mixed, finding that risk can have positive, negative, or insignificant effects on export and import flows. This study extends the empirical literature by focusing on the role of exchange-rate volatility on trade between the USA and Indonesia. We use disaggregated trade data by commodity and investigate 108 US export industries to Indonesia and 32 US import industries. Our results show that more than half of export and import industries are affected by real exchange-rate volatility in the short run. However, only a third of the export and import industries register long-run effects. We find that, for large industries, exports and imports behave similarly, but that far more small Indonesian exporters see their trade reduced by increased risk.


The physicians often forget to ask their patients if they would like to discuss other complaints or topics. It is sometimes quite difficult to explore the patient's complaints; while the physicians tend to focus on the immediate problem, the patients may have not only one, but several hidden agendas during a visit. In a caring relation there is a clear advantage to clarify the implicit. The search for the hidden agenda is to improve the care of i) biomedical problems ii) the social quest presented to the physicians. The sentence "Oh, by the way, doctor..." should not be only understood as an information but also as a relational expression and a reaction to the imminent separation from the physician.


In the recognition of complex patterns it is becoming more apparent that segmentation (object isolation) and pattern classification cannot be performed by independent procedures. A pilot study is described which employs feedback to control the interaction of segmentation and segment classification in a system under development for automatic recognition of continuous speech. The potential advantages of employing such interaction in this work are discussed and data are presented which indicate that this approach is promising.